Innovator; Chapter 16: The Prophecy of Destruction (Patreon)

Author’s Note: Hello my dear patron family. Here’s chapter sixteenth of Innovator. Hope you like it! Do tell how it was in the comments. Also, Chapters 1-13 are on my fanfiction and ao3 profile.

Author Out!

Less than ten chapters of INNOVATOR are left now, including the Epilogue.

“I am Talking.”

‘I am Thinking’

Spells

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One important key to success is Self-Confidence, 

And important key to Self-Confidence is Preparation.
~Arthur Ashe

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INNOVATOR

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 16: The Prophecy of Destruction~~

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His gray eyes flit around the room, looking warily at each and every corner that he passed. He had just arrived in Hogwarts, and he was already missing the safety of his home. Hogwarts wasn’t as safe in his opinion as it was a few months ago, not with monsters like Harry Potter on the prowl.

Yes, Draco Malfoy was scared of the emerald-eyed mage, so much that he had made sure to step foot in Hogwarts, only when he had been assured that the beast had left due to some work. The Malfoy heir had immediately seen this as a chance to get in his lord’s trusted ranks, and attain the safety that his mere presence provided.

The dark lord was scary, yes, but he had needs. Needs that could easily be fulfilled by having House Malfoy, and by extension, the heir of said house safe. But Potter? He had no such needs, hell Draco was quite sure that the boy was richer than half the houses in Britain.

“Crabbe, Goyle,” Malfoy muttered, “The Dark Lord has ordered you two to stay close to me, and guard me from any harm and danger. I have had an important mission given to me, and I won’t have you two messing it up for me, got it?”

The two boys grunted in unison, Draco knew that it was as best as he could get from the two boys. The idiots were somehow dumber than trolls and slower than a filthy slug. The Malfoy heir sometimes wondered what heinous crimes their fathers could’ve done to bear these two as the future of their houses.

Malfoy shook his head, the door to the Slytherin common room was within sight now, he knew that he shouldn’t take rest or something, but he knew that he was here till the Yule Ball on Twenty-fifth, which was in five days.

‘I should make my plans to retrieve what the Dark Lord has asked,’ Draco thought as he neared the blank wall that was the gate to Slytherin Common room, ‘Finishing it up sooner would be better than to wait till the end of the Yule Ball ’

“Superiority.”

The wall shifted open and the trio stepped inside the Common room, thankfully the common room was mostly empty. There weren’t that many people inside the common room, which meant that he could easily reach his bed and get some well needed sleep.

He checked around once more and he sighed when there was no sign of his nagging girlfriend. Don’t get him wrong, Pansy was a good one if he had to be brutally honest. She had changed her looks, she was from a rich noble house that was just a station beneath his own, and the girl’s loyalty was unwavering.

But sometimes, she was too demanding. It felt good to throw the fact that he had a girlfriend in the younger Potter boy’s face and watch him go red with anger and green with jealousy. But those starting days were long gone and all he now had to deal with was an attention seeker as a girlfriend.

Something, that he more often than not, wanted to run away from.

“Evening, Heir Malfoy, I see you have decided to grace us with your presence once more.”

Draco was about to snap at the person who had decided to interrupt him. Tell them that he didn’t want any disturbances till it was absolutely necessary. But he didn’t.

Why? Because Draco Malfoy recognised the voice quite well. It also helped that in the entire castle, there was no one else who could turn a normal sentence into a praise with the thinnest hint of contempt and the perfect amount of sarcasam.

“Heiress Greengrass,” Malfoy sneered, “How I wish to have met you sooner, so that I could carve that haughtiness out of your face.”

Surprisingly enough, instead of getting even a bit angry, as he had hoped she would, the girl smirked, “Oh? Well we have met now, heir Malfoy, you wish to try what you just said?” There was a hint of dangerousness in the tone, something that draco detected quite easily.

“I have better things to do than waste my time here,” Malfoy spat, “I need some rest after the trip back to this hell hole called school.” And with that Draco turned on his heel and started pacing towards the boys dorms, completely ignoring the tinkling laughter from the Greengrass heiress that mocked his power to take her down.

Yes, he knew she was strong. Stronger than many in his year, but maybe they were on equal footing if they crossed wands? He would like to think that much.

Still, it gave him a lot to think about. Beaufort had been silent after her last letter a few days ago when she had told him that the aurors had left the premises and Greengrass had pulled the case back. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that the Greengrasses had forgiven the slight against their heiress, but maybe they were waiting for something to happen? Why else would they do what they did?

‘Well, Beaufort did say she wanted to meet with me when I returned, something about discussing a few things in private’ Malfoy thought as he opened the door to his dorm room, ‘I’ll call her tomorrow for the meeting, maybe she knows more about what is happening’

Down in the Slytherin common room, Daphne Greengrass smirked when she saw the retreating form of Draco Malfoy. Her prey was finally here, and soon he would be between her fangs, she was quite sure about it.

“Come Tracey, we should get some sleep too. Tomorrow is Sunday and I am not going to be up till ten at least,” Daphne moved towards the girls dorm.

“You are quite scary when you do that, y'know?” Tracey muttered as she fell in step with her.

“Do what?”

“The thing that you did with Malfoy just now, I don’t know why you keep antagonizing him, he’s an annoying brat, but that doesn’t mean he is weak y’know,” Tracey bit her lower lip.

“Ah, Trace, don’t worry about me,” Daphne waved her friend’s concerns away, “If there is one person that couldn’t touch even if their life depended on it, it’s Draco Malfoy.”

“Why?” Tracey asked her, “Wait, do you know something about him?”

The only answer she got was Daphne’s confident smile as the girl went inside the dorms.

.

Harry followed the statue of the Grim Reaper as they traversed through the serpentine corridors of the Guild, he knew that there was something really important that was going to happen tonight, something that the Guildmaster had been referring to for months.

“The Masters are waiting for you at the end of this,” The reaper said, pointing towards the stairwell that led to the Guildmaster’s chambers.

“The Masters? Who else is there?” Harry asked the reaper, but it stayed silent.

“Answer me, Reaper,” Harry glared at the guard’s statue, “Or are you forgetting who I am.”

The statue bowed a bit, “I know who you are, Commander Anubis, Master of the First and Third Hallow of Death,” The statue whispered in its eerie voice, “But the Guildmaster forbid me to tell anyone about anything related to the masters, you will have to go down to witness them, Commander.”

‘The Guildmasterhas forbidden it? That’s…’ Harry looked at his Guardian Spirit who nodded towards the stairwell, the message was clear, and so, the duo descended down the spiral stairwell.

Harry reached the end of the stairwell and entered the Guildmaster’s chamber through the runic archway made of Black granite and white ash, he was surprised to find two more individuals other than the Guildmaster.

“Greetings, Guildmaster, Master Atticus and Master Flamel,” Harry bent his knee to the three individuals who he respected more than any other, “I hope I am not intruding in something important that the Triumvirate was doing.”

Harry knew he wasn’t intruding, otherwise the Reaper wouldn't have allowed him to descend in the first place, still, it was the formalities that he had to follow.

“Anubis,” Achlys’ happy tune greeted him, “We were waiting for you, come, join us at the table,” She called him towards the central round table.

Harry stood up, but before he could take a step forwards, warm hands engulfed him and his face was pushed in the motherly bosom of the one person who took him in when everyone else had announced his doubts on him, “Master Flamel,” Harry greeted her.

“Oh c’mon Harry, what happened to calling me ‘Grandlady’?’ Perenelle smiled at the boy without releasing him, she could see a faint blush on his cheeks that made her giddy, it was always fun to tease Harry, she felt good when she saw the cold boy showing some emotions.

“Master Flamel, I was a child back then,” Harry said as he extracted himself from the lady’s tight embrace, “Also, you don’t look like an old lady.”

“That’s because she used that daft potion again to get that plastic coated face of hers,” Atticus grumbled from the table, “Nicholas was much better and more responsible with the stone than this foolish woman,” He ignored the glare Perenelle sent his way and instead looked at Harry, “Thales,” He greeted the boy.

“Master Atticus,” Harry dipped his head, he carefully ignored the all too familiar barb-war between the two Guildmasters.

“Can’t we do it without this grumpy old man?” Perenelle asked Achlys who laughed and denied her, and welcomed both Harry and the Flamel lady at the Triuvirate’s table.

“You think your meager brain could even think of the correct times and calculate the potency of the ritual?” Atticus challenged her, “Not everything can be done with faux beauty.”

“Oh? How would you know if you never had it in the first place?” Perenelle threw back at the Arithmancer who bristled at the barb.

“Why you-”

“Guildmasters,” Achlys broke the glare-war, “You aren’t children anymore, kindly leave these follies of youth behind yourselves and focus on the important tasks that we all have gathererd for.”

Harry sighed in relief when the two grubled but agreed, it had been a long going barb-war between the two Guildmasters for as long as the innovator could remember, the seniors in the respective guilds said that they have been at odds for decades now and neither one of them wanted to let go of it first.

“Anubis, I am assuming you brought the artifact that I had asked for?” Achlys asked Harry who nodded and pulled out the leather pouch that had the artifact which had been retrieved from the shack by him and Dumbledore.

“Master Flamel, if you would?”

Perenelle opened the bag and everyone immediately winced at the dark energy that leapt out of the bag and raged war against their mental shields.

“Here, let me help you woman,” Atticus levitated the black box out of the bag and carefully opened it, the power of compulsion strengthened ten-folds. Each of the members within the guild fortified their mental shield to maximum strengths.

Harry’s eyes widened in shock when he saw the artifact that was inside the box they had retrieved. There it was, sitting on a gold band that was holding it, The second Hallow of death, The stone of Renaissance or as it was known, The Resurrection stone.

“Are you ready for it?” Atticus asked the Enlightened One who nodded as she herself brought out a red crystal ball with blue wisps of smoke swirling aroung it.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!”

The green ray of death lept from Atticus’ wand and hit the gold band that was holding the stone. There was an ear-piercing screech as the stone broke free from the band and black liquid poured out from the golden annulus. The putrid liquid stopped pouring out and instead started turning into smoke.

Harry was surprised when before the entire thing could turn into smoke, his Guildmaster placed the cruystal she was holding and placed it over the liquid, her eyes turned green as she started chanting a soul-binder curse in the ancient tongue of Avalon.

The Crystal glowed green once before the smoke swirling around it turned from blue to charcoal black. Harry saw the smoke collected inside the crystal, it was trying to break-free from the curse. But the innovator knew that the cursed soul won’t be able to escape, because, not only was the soul cursed with the soul-binder, the Crystal itself was protected by the spirit that was resided within the crystal.

And true enogh, Harry witnessed along with others as the wisps swirling aroung the red crystal started turning back to blue, the black wisps were there too, it was as if there was a duel going on between the spirit residing in the crytasl and Voldemort’s soul piece.

They waited with bated breaths as the quartet watched the ongoing duel between the two spirits, suddenly there was another glow, this time blue, and the wisps turned back to blue while Voldemort’s soul piece floated in the crystal.

“Well, that was entertaining,” Perenelle sighed in relief as The Enlightened One went away to put the Crystal back.

Harry looked at the broken ring, there was no more pressure on his mental shields and the golden annulus had rotten completely. But the stone on the other hand, it looked as new as he had seen in the books and scrolls that were present in the Guild’s bibliotheca.

“Fascinating, isn’t it Thales?” Atticus asked Harry, calling him with the name that was given to him in the Arithmancer’s Guild.

“Yes sir, the stone is one of the things that have never been researched by anyone, not even by those that had Gaunt blood,” Harry agreed, “I am quite sure that the same goes for the other two Hallows, as well.”

“And rightfully so,” Achlys said as she came back and looked at Atticus, “The stone was never meant to be researched by humans,” She looked at Harry, “And same goes for the other two Hallows that are currently in your possesion, Anubis. Something, that we should talk about.”

Harry nodded, “I have the Wand with me, Guildmaster,” He pulled out said wand and placed it on the table, “I have no idea, and I won’t pretend to understand, why you asked the Headmaster to give his control over the Hallow, but I assume the reasons would be very important.”

“And you assume right, Anubis,” The Enlightened One’s tone was serious, “There is an ancient prophecy of Destruction that was given by the infamous seer, Cassandra, seven centuries ago, the prophecy got active now and we are preparing for it’s eventual completion.”

Harry frowned at that, “A prophecy that proclaims Destruction? From Seven centuries ago?” He asked the Guildmasters who nodded, “It’s not my place to question the Triumvirate, but are we really sure that this is the prophecy that the seer foresaw?”

“Maybe you would be more agreeable once you listen it yourself, Anubis,” The Enlightened One looked at Perenelle and motioned her to recite the Prophecy of Destruction that all of the Seven Guilds knew about.

Perenelle took a deep breath, she concentrated her memory on the Prophecy given by Cassandra that spoke of a Descent of Madness, and then she recieted it verbatium;

“The Army of Damnation shall unfurl its might,

The Seven Guilds face war, the Triumvirate guides the plight.

The Chosen one confronts the Possession of the Populace,

The Champion of Death may falter or ushed in an age balance.

The Rift shall be opened wide, a gateway if never be closed,

Descent of Madness will be rained unopposed.

The Beginner must be vanquished by the Chosen One,

Lest te world will be razed and burned…”

Silence ensued Perenelle’s words. Each one of them, except Harry, had known about the prophecy from the time they took their position as the Guildmaster, the ICW and the other guilds did the same. There was a reason Albus Dumbledore agreed to give up the Deathstick’s allegiance readily. Being the Supreme Mugwump, he already knew about the prophecy.

“So this…” Harry trailed off as he looked at the Triumvirate, each of them nodded seriously. Telling him that the Prophecy was indeed true and now active.

“Is there any way to stop all of this?”

.

The door to the dark lord’s throne room opened and Bellatrix skipped inside the chamber. She came to a halt in front of the throne-like chair that had its back towards the door, and bowed deeply.

“My Lord.”

Voldemort looked up from the letter that he had received from the Vampire that had helped him last war, they didn’t seem pleased with the fact that he had promised more to the werewolves and gave the Vampires left.

It was not because the Vampires were less useful, it was more because the Vampire Queen had refused to follow him as her lord. Not even a single Vampire captain had taken his mark, while the werewolves didn’t have the same problem.

The Vampire had free reigns to work and were even allowed to mingle with the crowd, while the werewolves were considered to be rambunctious beasts of prey that would lose all semblance of control the moment they got their maws around warm flesh.

“Bella, I hope that you are here with some good news?” Voldemort asked his most ardent follower as he turned his throne with just a simple twirl of his finger.

“Yes my lord, the news is good,” Bellatrix spat, “Amycus’ bird came with pleasant news my lord, Fenris has agreed his support this time, he will shortly gather his pack and join us as soon as the pack is gathered, the beast wants blood again master.”

Voldemort hummed as he rubbed his chin in deep thought, “And what of the Giants? Any news regarding those overgrown trolls?”

Bellatrix cackled loudly at her lord’s choice of diction before she immediately silenced herself and shook her head, “The giants want more, my lord, they are dubious of our victory this time considering…last time,” She whispered softly.

Voldemort’s jaws clenched but the Dark Lord controlled his words and instead calmed himself with the help of his shields. It still irked him that despite being the best user of Mind reading arts, his mental shields and temperament weren’t as good as they used to be.

He attributed it to being reincarnated, the fractures in his soul hadn’t helped the matters anymore than they had been. The one thing that he missed most after being reincarnated was the cool mind that he had before he had fractured his soul all those decades ago. The ill-effect was his tendency to lose control to meager matters that didn’t seem to concern him once upon a time.

“They will get what they want, send Macnair to meet with their Gurg, Karkus, and see what is it they want, if Karkus isn't willing, then the giants will need to appoint a new Gurg sooner than they think,” Voldemort announced before his red eyes focused on the woman in front of him, “Now, if there isn’t anything of import, then I don’t want to be disturbed for another five hours.”

“There is one more thing, my lord,” Bellatrix said, “The ones that were released from Azkaban are healing quite slowly, I don’t think that they are quite ready to fight yet, Gibbon and Travers aren’t even recovering now.”

Voldemort frowned at that, this wasn’t good. It was quite expected for those who were released from Azkaban to take some time to heal, but not healing at all? That was something that he hadn’t expected. Maybe the duo had suffered far more than the others? Maybe.

“Give them time to recover, Bellatrix,” Voldemort ordered her, “Cater to their needs and see to it that they are ready to hold their wands in the coming weeks. You took about five months to recover from Azkaban before you started your search for my rebirth.”

“But I didn’t have anyone to look after me, my lord,” Bellatrix wasn’t one to whine, but it certainly seemed like she was doing that, “And they have the best healing potions, a bed, protection of the roof and healthy meals.”

“They also suffered the prison for more years than you did, Bella,” Voldemort reminded her, “I am not undermining your efforts, you are after all one of my strongest and most powerful leutinents, still, give them a few more weeks to regain their sense of self and hold the wand again, rushing it won’t help us in such matter.”

Bellatrix bowed her head, “As you say, my lord,” The crazy woman then smiled once before she left the Dark Lord to his thoughts, something that he had been doing a lot lately. It was a good thing to finally retain a physical form for more than a week without any ill-effects of possession, still the world was a chaotic place and he was slowly rising back to his previous powers.

The only things that were in his way were his inner circle’s recovery, and the support of a few creatures as well as the ministry. Then he will wage war once more, and this time destroy the Potters, Dumbledore and anyone else who would dare stand against him and his path to victory.

The world will fear Lord Voldemort once again, “And this time it will be permanent,” His red eyes gleamed with malice as he turned the throne again and went back to his work.

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Harry looked at the way the entire Guild was working, there were all the available members working tirelessly on creating the runic circle, managing the rune stones, carving the ancient Egyptian tongue on the walls and floor of the ritual chamber. Everyone from the rank of a Guild Member to the Archmaesters were working tirelessly for the grand ritual that they were about to participate in.

The Alchemists and the Arithmancers guild had also sent their Archmaesters to help with the rituals’s procession and successful completion. Surprisingly enough, there were a few members who were wearing a blue uniform and were busy preparing a completely isolated corner that was just outside the Ritual chamber. They were working with potions and herbs along with a few rune casted stretchers.

“The health guild,” Atticus muttered as he joined Harry in observing the preparations that were being done, “They are located on the poles of the planet, and monitor all the Health organizations that are running in all the countries in the world, they also have members within the WHO to sync their work with the Muggle world.”

“Highmaster,” Harry dipped his head before he looked at the health guild maesters, “That does seem like a lot of work, if they are so important, how come they aren’t in the Triumvirate?”

Atticus chuckled at that, “The Triumvirate isn’t made on the basis of importance, Thales,” he muttered, “It is made on the basis of your abilities to handle the calamitous forces of nature, something that can only be managed by the Alchemists, the Necromancy and the Arithmancers Guilds.”

Harry knew that there were seven other Guilds, they each managed an important aspect of world government. The Guilds were autonomous and only listened to the ICW as well as the Triumvirate.

They were each located in one of the seven continents; Arithmancers in Asia, Alchemists in Europe, Necromancy in Africa, Defense in North America, Transfigurations in South America, Wildlife or the Creatures in Australia and lastly, Health Guild in Arctic and Antarctica.

The continent that they were present in was called the heart of that particular type of art, it was also one of the reasons that the guilds were established in that continent in the first place. It also helped the fact that the Guild’s latent magic seemed to increase the type of art in that continent.

“Thinking about the ritual, Thales?” Atticus asked the boy who was a part of Arithmancers guild and like a grandson to the old man, “You know Achlys won’t let any harm befall on you, right? I will try my best too, and as much as I hate to admit it, Perenelle also has a good head on her shoulders and thinks about your safety more than I or Achlys do.”

Harry shook his head, “I am thankful for your words, Highmaster, and I know that nothing will happen to me especially since I am in the care of three of the strongest and most powerful individuals on earth.”

Atticus gave a rare smile at Harry’s words, “I am glad that you think so, the ritual is being done for the first time in almost a millenia and therefore the last minute preparations are being checked again and again. No one wants to take any risks regarding this ritual, a single thing wrong and everything would end. The power you will be receiving is great, almost phenomenal and said to be on the level of a literal god, but the sacrifices are almost the same, are you really sure you want to do it?”

Harry had thought about it, the Guildmaster had called him earlier today, after Voldemort’s soul had been captured. She explained everything from the prophecy’s words to the Crevice in Creation, the Army of Damnation and the level of chaos that the army would cause.

Part of him wanted nothing more than to cause harm for all of them who had tortured him in his developmental years, to harm them and to finally give them the mercy of death after they begged him for it. But that part was small, really small.

The people who had made him suffer weren’t that many, not when compared to the billions of humans and creatures out there. He had asked the Guildmaster, as to how she was assured that it was only him who could fulfill the prophecy? There could be someone else, someone who would be much more suited for this.

“The moment you stepped in the Guild, he showed me a glimpse of your destiny, and what would happen if you denied it.”

That’s what she had said, and that had been the end of discussion. The choice before him was to say ‘No’ to Higmaster Atticus right now and leave everything, but then the Crevice would open and he just couldn’t bear losing the really small circle of people he cared for or the happiness that he had shared with them.

Therefore, “Yes Highmaster, I am ready for the ritual,” he agreed and was pleased to see how Atticus sighed in relief, the old man was probably wondering what he would have to tell the other Guilds if Harry had denied.

Well, he shouldn’t have worried, it wasn’t like Harry would run away from his destiny anyways. He might be many things, but one thing that Harry Potter wasn’t was a quitter and a loser. He didn’t quit when he had been tortured all those years ago, he didn’t quit when his mother was killed in front of his eyes, and he wouldn’t quit even now.

Especially considering the safety of the entire world was at stake.

“Master Atticus?” Harry called the elderly man beside him, “I was going to approach you with this later in the year, but this is as good a time as any. I needed a favor from you that would help us all.”

The highmaster frowned in confusion, “Speak freely, Thales, I am all ears.”

“How would you go on constructing a spell or a ritual that would remove the soul-piece from a living horcrux without having any harmful effects on the container?”

Atticus’ eyes widened in shock when he heard the question, there was only one query in his mind, “Who?”

"My brother, Alandale Potter."

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Ending note: There you have it fellas, chapter Sixteen of Innovator, hope you liked it.

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