Innovator; Chapter 9: Call of the Ancients (Patreon)

Author’s Note: Hello my dear patron family. Here’s chapter nine of Innovator. Hope you like it! Do tell how it was in the comments. Also, Chapters 1-7 are on my fanfiction and ao3 profile.

(Unfortunately my beta reader is suffering from some personal problems therefore, this chapter is raw and currently undergoing beta reading, so please ignore the spelling and grammatical errors. They'll definitely be corrected soon, Thank you!)

The previous two chapters will be corrected tomorrow and this one will be corrected within 2 days. Thank you for your patience, my beta reader and I are working on the chapters. 

Author Out!

“I am Talking.”

‘I am Thinking’

Spells

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our Powers.

~Henri Frederic Amiel

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Innovator

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 9: Call of the Ancients~~

.

News of the debacle spread around the world like wildfire. Each and every user of the magical arts who was connected with the world or was mentally stable enough to know about the incident was talking about it.

‘Demolition of the Dragons’ they called it. And even though, there were 4 dragons as well as three other groups that had subdued their dragons. The only one who was getting his name around the globe was Harry Potter, The Dragon Slayer or as he was being referred to, The one true champion.

Every newspaper, every magazine and almost the entirety of ICW and other national bodies of the respective nations…..every single person knew the name Harry Potter now. Adults who were crossing One hundred and seventy to kids who were just starting to learn the letters knew the name Harry Potter, the Dragon Slayer.

And it was a big feat. To slay a dragon as ferocious as Horntail and a nestling mother dragon at that. The best thing was, he was all alone, the news reporters conveniently forgot that the dragoness was tired and wounded because of her earlier match with the youngest Potter and that the elder Potter had some help in the beginning stages thanks to Dumbledore.

To them, a single hero coming out of the crowd and saving the entire population of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade from a mad and angry dragoness was something out of legends and their stories were doing their level best to squeeze out every last drop of juicy news from the incident.

It was after all something that might happen only once in a lifetime as the last time this had happened was in the 1400s when John the Brave had killed an old dragon all alone and buried it beneath the mountain the dragon was living in.

French, Russian and the British Ministry of Magic was continuously sending mails to Sirius Black, Harry’s manager. To ask him the dates he was free so that they could felicitate him with the necessary awards and offer him their thanks.

Sirius for his part was having the time of his life. Using the political techniques drilled into him by Orion and Arcturus Black he was using Harry’s name and fame to the very ends so that he could get his hands on the best deals that his godson could get. Signing the deal with beautiful witches was just a side bonus and said witches falling for his roguish looks and humor was not his fault. Nope, never his fault.

Till date, said manager had been able to attend quite more than a few parties hosted around the world and had already signed deals for more than a few million galleons for the elder Potter. Harry Potter’s name would soon be in the top ten richest and most famous wizards in the world.

The best response, according to Sirius, had come from the Goblin nation where the warrior race of the Goblins was impressed with the feats of one Harry James Potter and therefore had offered him the honor of becoming the first goblin friend in the last four hundred years. Along with the Golden Axe award known as ‘The axe of Gnathrax’, founder of the goblin race and the first king of the Goblins.

.

The world at large was still recovering from the stunt that had been pulled by one Harry James Potter or as he was being known these days- The Dragon Slayer.

“....Point is, that even though it wasn’t what Harry himself wanted, he is now the youngest Dragon Slayer recorded in history. Slaying the strongest and the fiercest of all Dragons- The Hungarian Horntail at a mere age of Fifteen. He was so powerful, flying up-”

“Blaise..shut up.” Harry grumbled as he buttered his toast.

“Huh? But Harry, I haven’t even reached the best part of the article yet!” The Italian heir complained, “The flight scene as you killed the dragon with Fienfyre is described in detail. They made it look as if you're a fabled hero who is here to save the village…Actually that’s kinda accurate too.”

Harry glared at the boy and he immediately backed down, still he couldn’t remove the smirk on his face and Harry knew that. It had been three days now and still the bloody newspapers had his face on the front page. Wasn’t there anything else of importance going on?

“Bonjour ‘arry, Blaise.”

Blaise waved his hand while Harry grumbled his good morning.

“What’s got you down oh ‘The-one-true-champion’?” Marietta asked him to make the proper face as both Blaise and Fleur laughed while Harry facepalmed.

“Honestly, all these cringe titles are giving me headaches now. I really want to kill these writers who are doing nothing more than write made-up stories about me.” Harry grumbled.

“Oh don’t kill them yet dearie, you can simply do what they want and get them off their backs.”

The group as whole turned to the new member, “Rita, the one person who I didn’t want to see anytime soon.”

Rita laughed before she patted Harry’s arm, “Love you too sweetheart, still the charmer I see.” She smiled as she bent down and picked up a cherry from the offered fruit bowl on the Ravenclaw table.

“Is it that time already?” He asked the woman wearing the bright green robes and a ton of make-up.

“Yep, why else would I be here?” She said, “Mr Black is meeting with the headmaster regarding a few things and told me to go ahead. He’ll join us at the designated location.”

Harry nodded before standing up, “Let’s get this over with as soon as possible, I have a meeting with the headmaster too.”

“Where are you going, Harry?” Blaise asked his friend who shrugged, “Sirius says that giving an interview to one newspaper would shut others and they’ll all stop badgering both of us for some time.”

Blaise made an ‘o’ in understanding before he pointed at Skeeter who was standing a few meters away from them, “Are you sure she is the right person for that?” He asked, “You know after the last time…”

Harry smirked at his innocent friend, “Oh yes…this time she won’t print anything that’s not wanted. Sirius has ensured that.” And with that the boy went for his interview.

.

Alandale Henry Potter, the boy-who-lived and the fourth champion of the Triwizard tournament was sitting in his hospital bed, glaring at the wall in front of him. The empty bedside table taunting him of his failure to accomplish the task.

It had been two days, two days since the blasted first task, the thing that was supposed to bring him back as a forgotten true hero had instead turned the tables and become his worst nightmare. Something which he can’t get rid of, even if he wanted to.

Alandale was angry. Really angry. He was angry at everyone, Dumbledore, the tournament, the blasted goblet, his friends, Malfoy, his house but most of all he was angry at his brother. Ron had just left to get some snacks from the great hall as Madam Pomfrey wasn’t willing to let him leave the hospital wing for the next two days.

‘Fleur is winning with forty-five points, followed by Krum at forty-two and Diggory at forty-one’ Alandale thought of the points that Ron told him had been announced the next day in the great hall, when he had been unconscious.

‘And Alandale Potter….’failed’ to acquire the egg, therefore he gets ‘zero’ points’ That wasn’t true, he had been awarded mercy points but they had been deducted almost immediately because his antics had caused all the mayhem and endangered everyone’s lives.

And then there was his brother, Harry Potter. The boy who was now known as the ‘youngest dragon slayer’ and the ‘one true champion’. Instead of throwing the boy in prison for killing such a rare species of Dragon, the entire world was clapping and praising him. Alan hated that and he hated his brother for making this look so easy.

Alandale Potter was the boy-who-lived, the savior of the entire wizarding world. The boy who had defeated the darkest wizard in history just months after he was born. Everything had been going good for him.

The redhead didn’t remember much of his formative years, the only thing that he did was that sometime when he was about 3-4 years old, his mother had disappeared along with his brother. It had been a shock to find his mother three days later outside the door in a coffin.

They told him that the world had grieved at her loss. As for himself, he had been given to the Weasleys and Dumbledore had called off the search for his brother, presuming that he was dead too.

Things had gone great till he turned eleven. People around the world loved him, he had a good family that loved him, he had a roof and good food and of course he was very popular. Then he had stepped inside Hogwarts and everything had come crashing when he saw that his brother was not only alive but also doing quite well for himself.

After that, it was as if he had gone down the hill while Harry rose steadily to fame. Going as far as to get Order of Merlin(s) and Invitations from international guilds. The boy was given one complete suite to himself while Alan had to share a room with four other boys, three of which hated him now.

“All will come to realize it soon.” He muttered to himself, “Everyone will soon learn that I am not someone who they should have made fun of.”

For now, he knew that he should focus more on the second task. He knew the date thanks to Ron, but he had no idea what the task entailed. He knew he’ll have to find that soon or end up being underprepared like he had been in the first task.

.

“Harry.”

Said boy looked around the office that he had entered. It was still the same. The same trinkets, the same portraits of previous headmasters, things strewn across in a haphazard yet strangely organized way.

And of course, the same person sitting behind the table, peering at him with his half moon spectacles, his blue eyes twinkling madly, ‘Of course he is happy.’

“Headmaster.” Harry muttered and before Duumbledore would have offered, denied the bowl full of bright yellow candies, “I am here to request a leave sir.”

Dumbledore frowned at that, “Oh? What happened to Harry? Everything alright?”

Harry showed him the summon that he had received from the Necromancers Guild. He saw Dumbledore’s expression change from confusion to understanding to trepidation before finally resignation crept on the old man’s face. Harry knew that the man couldn’t refuse him now because refusing the summon was equivalent to declaring yourself as an enemy to the guild.

And getting one of the big guilds as your enemies is most certainly not something you would want in your bucket list. Much less the scariest of the big three.

“I see.” Dumbledore sighed. “Perhaps you have some idea as to why they are summoning you so soon?”

“Unfortunately, this time I don’t have any idea sir. But I have to leave tomorrow. I can’t delay it anymore than that.” Harry shrugged, he could already hear the next request that was about to come.

“I am hoping that you might take this as a chance to seek help regarding our project?” Dumbledore asked him, he knew that the guilds were ancient storehouses of knowledge. Knowledge that can actually change the shape of the world if used in the wrong way.

“I won’t make any promises that they’ll help me, but I’ll definitely try.” Harry agreed, “Be sure professor that their chances of helping us are far lesser than them ignoring us. After all, the guild-master has a way of dealing with things that benefit the guild more than the members themselves. He might not compromise the entire guild by helping us.”

“The guild masters do tend to be like that.” Dumbledore gave a wry smile, remembering his days in the Transfiguration guild when he was an apprentice there and had to work hard under the guild master and the experts.

Harry looked at Dumbledore before he raised his eyebrow as if to silently ask the man whether he was going to sign on the scroll or not. Dumbledore immediately did just that as he signed a small note before making it official with the Hogwarts stamp.

Moving out of the Headmaster’s office, Harry straightaway went to the office of the head of his house. He needed the goblin professor’s signatures and then he would immediately be off to the Guild.

.

Draco Malfoy, son of Lord Lucius Abraxas Malfoy and Lady Narcissa Cassiopeia Malfoy nee Black. Was sitting in the living room as he read the headlines of the paper. It had been three days since that accursed prank that had turned into an accident and all Malfoy knew was that there was a prison cell in Azkaban with his name on it.

Draco still didn’t know how things turned out the way they did. His work was to simply create enough commotion and panic so that people would start running like headless chicken. After that it was Angelique and Higggs’  job to capture both of their targets, namely Daphne Greengrass and Harry Potter.

All he had planned that time was to simply mix a small dreamless sleep draught in the dragon handler’s drink who was guarding the dragons in the cage. Then he was supposed to wait till the man fell asleep. After that he had to go and open one, just one of the dragon’s cage and be gone from the place as the dragon started wreaking havoc which would have made people run away in panic.

But that plan backfired spectacularly. He had waited for the guard to fall asleep and then he had opened the doors of the Swedish Short Snout. After that he had decided to go to the first task so that he could have a perfect alibi if the investigations reached him.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t taken account of the fact that the dragons weren’t called the strongest creatures in existence just because of their durable scales, flight and their ability to breath fire so hot that it could melt stone. They were called the most dangerous because of something that other creatures didn’t have: The ability to think and decide their benefits.

Since there was no one and Draco had left the area as soon as the Short Snout’s cage was opened, the youngest Malfoy didn’t have any solid proof but he knew that somehow the dragoness he had freed had gone ahead and freed the other two before launching a combined attack. This had also resulted in the death of the guard who was the first human they saw after attaining their freedom.

The horntail’s madness was also not something that either of them could have accounted for. The dragoness had gone mad because of something Alandale had done to her and therefore instead of leaving the stadium like they had predicted him to do, Harry Potter had chosen to fight the dragoness head-on.

And what a battle it was. Draco, in all of his fourteen years of existence, had never seen anything like that. His entire philosophy on the boy named Harry Potter changed then and there. Flying hundreds of feet in the air on a flying dragon and having enough strength to literally roast the dragon from inside? That….was what true power was and the person wielding it was the literal powerhouse.

It was not normal. To have that much power in the hands of a teenager was not a normal thing at all. Draco had always respected power. That was how he had been raised by his father who had always taught him that there were only two kinds of people in this world.

One, those who had that kind of power and second, those who were too weak to handle that kind of power. Draco knew that the Dark Lord was the type of person who held that kind of power. And till date, he had not found another one who could ever hold that much strength in him.

But now he did. And he didn’t know what to do with that kind of information.

Harry Potter for a lack of better words was always someone who was better than him and had the ego as well as attitude that would have given his grandfather and father a run for their money. He was intelligent and quite famous because of his inventions. But that’s where all the things ended.

The youngest Malfoy had presumed that Potter always had a stick up his bottom only because he was famous, rich and had good connections. It was true that his father had told him to stay away from the boy and that the boy was a freaking Monster with a capital ‘M’. But he had not realized how much his father’s words rang true.

The boy was indeed a monster. A freaking beast who was on a thin leash. The beast was happy and satisfied right now, he was busy and had work therefore the beast never showed his true face. But what if at some point the work finishes and the beast is left to his devices? What if at some point the beast finally snaps and decides to kill everyone inside the castle?

‘No….Potter won’t do that. He has friends too..there was Zabini and that Chinese Chang who always buzzed around the group a-and there was that French Veela too. Fleur…Potter will take care of them…he won’t attack us, he doesn’t have the guts to do it’ Draco thought but then his memory supplied Potter’s livid face as the boy mercilessly killed the dragoness.

He was not ashamed to admit it. After that display of power Draco Malfoy was absolutely terrified of the elder Potter. He had always been on guard whenever Potter was in the room because of his father’s warning but now? Now he didn’t want to be in the room instead. He just wanted to run as far away as possible from the Monster, the beast named Harry Potter.

‘And to think I had been plotting against him the whole time and I am the one responsible for Potter’s battle against the dragons…..’ Draco really wished he hadn’t smirked at Potter when the boy had looked at him when the First task was about to end. The Malfoy heir knew that there was no way that Potter would be able to trace the attack to him and that he was safe where he was.

Still..there was this lingering doubt that he was forgetting something and that something was vital for his survival. Vital for his survival because for some reason he knew that he would be crossing wands with the beast soon and that his fate won’t be much better than that dragoness who was nothing more than a roasted carcass now.

.

Harry Potter moved out of the castle gates. He looked around at the cold scenic beauty that was around  Hogwarts. The snow-clad mountains, the frozen black lake and the soft snow on the canopy of the forbidden forest, it was as if the whole picture was out of an artist’s imagination.

The innovator trudged the cobblestone path to get out of the ward line that prevented any form of portkeys or apparitions unless you had permissions to do so from the headmaster. There was a small sensation as he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand and the general comfort of home leave his consciousness. This meant that he was finally out of the ward line.

Harry pulled out the black scroll once more and held it tightly in his right hand, “Domus Mortuorum.”

And with a large ‘POP’ Harry Potter was sucked into a vortex of inky blackness.

.

Daphne rubbed her temples once more, she could already feel the headache that was about to come. She looked around her room, it was the same as before. The same old canopy, the same pastel green walls and cream coloured ceiling. The same paintings that she drew on the wall when she was no more than six years old. All of her stuffed toys occupied the other half of her queen size bed.

Yes, her room at Greengrass Manor still looked like it always did. And yes, she still didn’t like it here.

Her parents had been worried at first when Madam Pomfre had told them the condition she was found in after that they had been shocked when Pomfrey told them that someone had probably trampled her memories and obliviated her to forget the last few hours before she was found.

Her father had filed a complaint and an investigation was started shortly after that. The first person who had been interrogated was her friend Tracey who said that Daphne was completely fine till they were sitting in the stadium. But then just as they entered the castle, she started running back towards the stadium.

On asking Tracey had looked at her for a short time before answering that she had gone in search of Harry Potter who was fighting the dragoness inside the arena. Daphne had blushed beet red because she was sure that it was something that she would have done voluntarily. Still, her parent’s knowing smile wasn’t something she wanted to see anytime soon.

On her mother’s advice, her father had taken her home to rest and recover from the ordeal. She had wanted to meet Harry at least once but unfortunately she hadn’t been allowed to leave. Their house elf had been sent to gather her belongings from her dorm room while she had used the floo in the hospital wing to leave Hogwarts.

Now, she was feeling many things at once. But three things stood up from the rest of her emotions: Tired, Curious and Bored. Tired because of the whole ordeal as well as her occlumency practices that her mother was helping her with.

Bored because there was nothing to do right now. Thankfully, their elf had also brought her research paper over the project that she and Harry were working on. And since she didn’t have anything else to work on, she decided to use her family library and work on her project instead.

Now, her last emotion was because of a single thing. Who had wiped her memory? And why? The first person who’s name had come to her mind when the auror had asked for anyone who might try to harm her was Draco Mallfoy. He had tried to harm her before too and it didn’t matter that it was in their second year. Next was Pansy Parkinson for obvious reasons.

But the third person who came to her mind was someone who she had recently slapped in Hogsmeade. The French diva, Angelique Beaufort. She didn’t know why but Angelique was someone who seemed capable of doing something like this.

Still, as she was a famous personality as well as a foreigner, the aurors couldn’t do anything against her unless they had an arrest warrant or had solid proof against her.

All Daphne could do…was wait.

.

Black mountains. As if made from charcoal and dead ash surrounded it. Overhead, the skies had black clouds with lightning streaking through them every now and then.

There on a floating plateau, on the black soil stood a large castle made entirely of black granite. Its walls gleamed in the small amount of moonlight that streaked through the small pores in the dark clouds. Its large towers and turrets all had an ethereal golden glow to them along with a few shadowy figures that floated around the castle which gave a mist-like appearance.

The entire ground beneath the floating plateau was covered with many marked and unmarked graves. There were graves of all types and for as far as one could see, they could only see graves which also gave the place a unique name, The Valley of the Dead.

A small cyclone formed in the black sand at the front gates of the castle and out of the cyclone stepped a boy. Wearing clothes that would have suited someone of a royal heritage or someone who was attending a function of the highest order.

A white button down shirt accompanied with black trousers and shiny black shoes. Thick arms covered in a raven black coat that had various gold and silver trinkets on it along with a series of medals on the right chest that showed his rank.

The boy peered down at his clothes before smirking, the magic of the guild was still working even after all these years. He grabbed the golden chain of his long black capelet with the guild’s symbol on the back and red on the insides. He gave it a small tug and saw a pedestal arise from the ground in front.

Harry placed the black scroll that had been used to summon him. He saw the scroll get absorbed in the pedestal before he placed his hand on the pedestal to confirm his identity.

A large lion, made entirely of the ethereal energy that surrounded the guild jumped from the ground beneath him, it was the spirit of the guide who was assigned to him by the guild. The lion moved around him as the beast seized him for any signs of weakness.

This was the last test that everyone who wanted to become an apprentice had to give. After a series of tasks and your ability to solve them, the guild gave you a spirit animal that would judge you every time you stepped on the guild’s land. If the spirit animal didn’t find you up to the mark, you’d end up becoming one of the graves beneath the plateau.

To think they were all the graves of aspiring apprentices who had failed this test. It was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. Terrifying because they died because they failed and exhilarating because he had passed it.

The beast, finding its partner to still be as good as they had first met, stopped moving and instead gave his mortal a small lick before placing its large body behind him and sitting on the ground. The feline gave a loud roar before he glared at the main doors, commanding them to open for his partner.

“Welcome to the Necromancer’s Guild, commander Anubis. Master of the third Hallow of Death.” A booming voice came from the statue of the grim reaper that was floating in the entrance hall welcoming him as he entered the hallowed halls of the guild.

Harry’s guardian spirit walked beside him as he traversed towards the deeper sections of the castle. He saw a few familiar faces that were in the guild, they were either practicing something or learning or were apprenticing under one of the guild masters. They immediately bowed once they noticed his rank and didn’t get up till he left.

The innovator knew that he was a master in the guild too. But that was not because he had finished his mastery or was officially a necromancer. No, it was more because of the fact that he owned one of the legendary hallows of Death that were given to his ancestor Ignotus Peverell by Death itself.

The Necromancer’s guild was started in the thirteenth century by the three brothers. And therefore the descendants of said brothers always had a special place in the hallowed halls. Being the owner of the third hallow was a bonus point.

Therefore as Harry was both, a descendant as well as the owner of the cloak. He was immediately given the rank of a commander and the title of Anubis who was the Egyptian god of the death.

Likewise, if the other two owners of the hallows ever  joined the guild and proved their ownership they would also be given title of the gods and rank of the commander. It depended mostly on the spirits that surrounded the guild, they were the major connection the guild had with its patron entity who decided how things went around in the guild.

It was the same entity that had met Harry in a state of lucid dream when he had passed the final test and gave him the name along with something akin to a boon. The entity had told him that one day Harry would know how to use the boon and what to do to attain it. Till date, the boy was as clueless as before.

Harry or as he was known in the guild–Anubis, stepped inside the arched gateway and started moving down the stone stairs. He knew that the person who he was supposed to meet was waiting for him at the lowest level of the castle.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, Harry entered what looked like a chamber made of bones.

The entire chamber was filled with skulls of different sizes, it had a large bookshelf on the far right while torches illuminated the scribbels done on the skulls as well as the walls. Harry ignored all of that as his focus zeroed down on a single woman that was sitting cross-legged among a pile of scrolls.

Said woman smiled when she sensed the familiar presence approaching her, “Welcome Anubis, I see you found my summon safe and sound.”

The guardian spirit vanished in a small show of gasses and twinkling green lights as Harry went down on one knee and bowed to the strongest woman in the entire world who was also the Guildmaster of one of the most powerful international guilds and the only one who was capable of hoisting the spirit of the most powerful entity till she wanted.

“Rise Anubis, for there are many things that we have to discuss. Our family is in need of your services now. It’s time you are shown the path to achieve your goal and accomplish the value of your life.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ending Note: There you have it fellas, chapter nine of Innovator, hope you liked it.

Liked it? Loved it? Needs some changes? Please, do tell.
Next chapter's release date: October 15th, 2023.

I am waiting for all your comments. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Those who have joined my discord server, please tell one of the mods or me about it in the server to get the patrons role, I am most active in my server so you can freely ask anything there.
Link: https://discord.gg/Gcbcv4dxGx
Name: Dev Black's Empire

But you’ll have to tell me or one of the mods within the server, that you are my patron and tell your patron account name.

Thank you for reading and comments.
With regards,

Dev Black