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Chapter 44: The Lady of the Hot Tub?

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Harry closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he waited for the spirit flames to consume him. After a wait that seemed an eternity, but was actually only a few seconds, and he had still not felt anything happen, he slowly opened his eyes to look around. The deadly green flames were burning all around them, but they were safe inside a protective sphere. Harry quickly checked the others to see that they were all safe, and they were, though badly frightened. With another wave of her hand, Nimue made the green flames disappear.

Harry now knew that he had been right, this was the test that Merlin said Nimue would demand of Harry and his coven. Were they truly bonded? Would they stand as one in the face of danger, or death? All five of his coven had remained true to Harry and to each other. More importantly, Harry had remained true to them when he had all to gain and everything to lose by not doing so.

Harry had first had his suspicions when Nimue had so easily begun taking an offensive tone. She seemed to be deliberately provoking Ginny, knowing that she was Harry’s chosen favorite. Harry had wondered earlier what sort of test Nimue would give them, and he had reasoned this might be it. The second clue that Harry had was when he had stood before Nimue. She was wearing Lily’s perfume that told the wearer’s mood; Harry had not felt any anger from her. It was possible that the perfume didn’t work on nymphs, but Nimue had said that in her current form she was biologically human. Harry had literally bet his life that the perfume was betraying that she wasn’t really angry.

“Bravo! Oh, bravo!” said Nimue as she returned to her seat clapping. “Quite impressive, Harry. Master elf, another round of this fine cognac please. I think your Master and his ladies can use it after that.”

The spell that had held the others in suspense was lifted and they cautiously moved around. “It was just a test,” said Harry accusingly to Nimue as he returned to the table and took his seat. “You were testing us to see if we would stay together.”

“But of course, dear boy, why should I trust you with the sword of power if your coven will only pee their knickers and run when you stand face-to-face with Voldemort?”

“Well we passed your test Nimue, we stood as one. Am I worthy of the sword now?”

Nimue smiled as she looked at them. “Yes, I’d have to say that they are truly bonded to you, Harry. You pass the test.” She then reached inside the pouch at her waist and retrieved a flawless, crystal clear diamond. She set the diamond on the table before Harry, finished her drink, and then stood to leave.

“An interesting evening if I may say. I think I shall retire to my bed … alone,” she said the last with a quick smiling glance and a wink at Ginny. “Good night, everyone.”

“What am I supposed to do with this?” asked Harry as he picked up the diamond and turned it over in his hand a few times.

“Figure it out, consider it a homework assignment,” said Nimue brusquely with a stifled yawn over her shoulder as she disappeared into the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “If you have the sword by tomorrow I’ll show you how to use it without killing yourself.”

As she left sight of the veranda, the others began to properly show the fear they had just experienced for their friends. Desiree was still upset; she ran to her daughters and hugged them. “My babies,” she sobbed, “I thought you were going to die.”

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder, turning he saw a grim faced Remus Lupin standing at his side. “Harry, it takes a lot to make a werewolf piss himself; but you came closer there a minute ago than anything I’ve seen yet. And I have seen some scary shit go down.”

“Did you know you were just being tested?” asked Balzhoff quietly as she walked up.

“I had a sneaking suspicion that it was, but nothing definite, it just felt wrong. I did what Moody taught me to do in such situations, I followed my instinct,” said Harry. “But I tell you what, when the best shield spell I’d ever seen put together fell to pieces in front of her spirit fire spell, I thought I was dead. Even worse, that I’d gotten Ginny and the others killed with me.”

Harry got up and walked around a bit, he was still shaking a bit from the adrenaline his brain had pumped into his system by the bucket load. Luna was there a bit away from the others still sobbing. Harry took her in his arms and kissed her cheek gently. He held her there, and his mind willing her to be at peace. Her shaking and sobbing came to a stop. Harry saw Neville standing nearby unsure what to do. Harry motioned for him to come over and comfort Luna.

“Oh Neville,” she said loudly as she laid her head against his shoulder, “I was scared we weren’t ever going to have another chance to try and fuck again.” Neville’s face turned beet red as he held Luna while everyone around did their best to keep from laughing. Whatever embarrassment it caused Neville it finally broke the ice around the room, as everyone crowded around Harry to look at the beautiful gemstone Nimue had laid on the table.

“I hope you know what that probably is,” said Balzhoff expectantly.

“Yes,” answered Harry, to the amazement of the others who hadn’t a clue other than it must be an enchanted item. “It’s a crystal used to capture and hold a spirit creature. Whatever is confined in here either has the sword or is the next link in the chain to finding the bloody thing. Question is how do we let it out and get it to cooperate.”

With Balzhoff’s guidance Harry tried a bevy of release spells, all to no avail. Desiree and Fleur helped Harry to try a few old magic spells that called spirits to a wizard, this too failed. Harry looked at Hermione to see if she had any suggestions, but found she had left to return to her room.

“Whatever is trapped in there I don’t know how to release it,” said Balzhoff.

“Maybe it isn’t trapped in there,” said Luna. “Maybe it lives in there and we just need to ask it nicely to come out and help us.”

“Well that is an idea,” said Harry as he held the stone up to his lips. “Hello, my name is Harry Potter and I’m looking for the sword named Excalibur, could you help me please?”

They waited a moment while staring at the stone, but nothing happened. “Nice idea, Luna, just not right.”

“But she might be on the right track,” came the voice of Hermione as she reentered the veranda with several old looking books tucked under her arm. “I went back and checked all the sources I had that mentioned Merlin and the sword. None of the accounts credit either Merlin or Nimue as being the final guardian who held possession of the actual sword. The accounts say a spirit known only as the Lady of the Lake appeared in still water with the sword, and Arthur drew it from her reflection in the water.”

“Too bad we don’t have a lake handy,” said Balzhoff.

“We have a huge hot tub right over there,” said Fleur. “Water is water, right?”

“The Lady of the Hot Tub?” said Harry with a doubtful tone as he carried the diamond over to the pool. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to try.”

The water jets were turned off and the water was allowed to become still. Using his wand Harry levitated the diamond gently into the water and deposited it on the tile bottom of the tub. Everyone gathered around and watched as diamond began to glow faintly, and then the glow became stronger until the light just seemed to leak out of the diamond into the water. For a few seconds the glow was just sparkling light, but it then became more coherent and began to form an image that was a reflection in the water. The image was that of a young woman dressed in a white robe, in her hands she held a bronze colored object that had to be the sword. Harry stared at the image for a moment before he knew what he had to do. Kneeling by the edge of the pool Harry addressed the young woman’s reflection.

“I am Harry Potter, I am the descendent and heir of Merlin. I need the sword of my ancestor for a just cause and ask you to surrender it to me.” Harry plunged his hand into the water and reached for the reflection of the handle of the sword. As his hand closed on the water he felt the reflection become real in his grasp, it was cold and heavy in the warm water. Harry paused for a moment in surprise that he could really feel it in his hand.

Harry raised his hand from the water and the sword broke the surface. As the blade cleared the surface there was a pulse of magical energy released that everyone felt. Whatever this was, it had a great deal of magical energy stored within it. The reflection of the lady vanished from the water. Harry levitated the crystal out of the water and back into his hand. Then he slowly walked over to the table and laid the sword there to look it over. It wasn’t what Harry had expected. He thought Excalibur would be shining steel and jewel encrusted like Gryffindor’s sword; it wasn’t like that at all. It was a short, double-edged, bronze sword, dull in coloration, and the edges were nicked in a couple of places. It was just a dodgy looking old sword.

“Doesn’t look like much, Harry,” said Ginny as she stood by his side. Harry looked around and saw that none of the others seemed eager to touch it. If this truly was the fabled Excalibur then it was an ancient magical artifact of great power. Such things were always dangerous to touch, sometimes even to look upon.

“Everyone, it has been a long and interesting day for us all,” said Harry. “There is nothing more we can do right now but get some rest and continue with this in the morning.”

“What about the sword, Harry?” asked Remus.

“For right now I’m going to hang on to it, it stays with me,” Harry answered. Turning to face them all, Harry looked upon those who had chosen to follow him knowing that the path was dangerous. “Thank you.”

Harry then held out his hand to Ginny who took it and they went to their room. Harry placed the sword upon the bedside chest; he called Bustanut and told him to set a close guard over the room till morning. Then Harry and Ginny cast protective spells upon the walls, ceiling, and floor to prevent entry to the room while they slept. Finally, they tiredly undressed and slipped between the sheets of the bed. Harry pulled Ginny close to his body and held her tightly, kissing the back of her neck.

“So, what’s it like to shag a sea nymph, Mister Can’t-keep-his-britches-buttoned?” Ginny asked softly after a bit. “Is she better in bed than I am?”

When no answer was forthcoming, Ginny turned to look at Harry, he was sound asleep.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Does anyone seem to know what it was?” asked the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, of those senior Ministry officers assembled before him.

“Nothing as of yet, Minister,” answered Kingsley Shacklebolt. “I have sent out all available Aurors to try and determine the point of origin. So far we only know it was northwest of London, up country somewhere.”

“Does the Inquisition know any more about this, Erinyes? Like, what was it?”

“Only in general terms, Minister,” answered Erinyes Bartleby. “It was a burst of magical energy. Reportedly, it has been felt all over Britain. There seems to have been no actual harm done other than to frighten people. There are a great many who felt it and thought that You-know-who was attacking them, but we can find no connection to Death Eater activities.”

“Maybe it was something natural,” suggested Kingsley.

“The hell this was natural!” shouted the Minister. “Too many weird things are happening. I want you two to make it a priority to find out what this was. If it’s related to Voldemort then we had better be ready. He still has enough followers to mount another attack, and he’s not going to just give up and go away. He has at least one hurrah left in him.”

The Minister left the conference room; most of the officers followed him quickly. Erinyes and Kingsley were finally left alone to talk in private.

“I take it you already know where it was centered?” she asked.

“The Godric’s Hollow area was what my people informed me. I have every available Auror there incognito, but everything appears normal. I know you know something I don’t about this. I know from my people that Hooch has spent a lot of time there. Would it help if I said ‘please,’ and asked you to tell me what the fuck is going on there?”

“Are you kidding me, Kingsley?” Bartleby asked with a mildly amusing smile. “You should have better access to information than I do. I figured you were holding back.”

“Erinyes, I swear to you I don’t know what’s happening with this, and why there is the interest in Godric’s Hollow. Is it related to Potter and this Merlin connection you told me about?”

“You really don’t know?” asked a somewhat surprised Bartleby. “Neither you or Moody has worked it out yet.”

“Moody been busy monitoring the traps, I haven’t seen him much, plus he holds back on me too,” said Kingsley. “He’s suspects that Harry is hold up in Godric’s Hollow somewhere, maybe hiding with the Delacours. I haven’t seen or heard from Harry since the funerals for those killed at Hogwarts. I haven’t had a chance to follow up this descendent of Merlin thing either.”

“Harry is in Godric’s Hollow, and he is associating with the Delacours. Remus Lupin is with him, Euripita Balzhoff, Poppy Pomfrey, the Weasley girl, and Neville Longbottom are with him too. He is still working on what you and Moody started with him last summer. I’m sending Roe Hooch back there tomorrow to make contact and see if whatever it was that happened is bad news or good news. I understand that Moody wanted to make the boy into a weapon, well, maybe he has finally succeeded.”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Rufus Scrimgeour was not the only one frightened by the wave of power that had been felt that night. Lord Voldemort had felt it too, and he was sure that it was somehow connected to the Ministry’s hunt for him, that they might be closing in on him. The ring was already tightening upon him; many formerly safe places were now destroyed, or had been turned into traps. There was also the fear of betrayal; the Inquisition had placed spies in his organization before. It was through them that the Potter’s had been warned and nearly evaded him. Then after the resulting fiasco with killing the Potters, the bastards had immediately turned on each other; betraying their sworn brothers and sisters into Azkaban in exchange for leniency.

Still he was not without his wits; he had always retained a set of hiding places known only to him to operate from if needed. It would mean moving in the open and chancing exposure, he would also have to relinquish his tight hold over his remaining lieutenants. Maybe it would be best to give them a bit of freedom and see what happened. If there were traitors in his midst this might just give them enough rope to hang themselves.

Lord Voldemort paced the night away quietly in his private study located in his subterranean hideaway. He had already grown bored with his virtual self-imprisonment. Even the little Parkinson cunt was less and less satisfying, but so far she was better entertainment than nothing. He still retained a substantial force at his command, but he couldn’t afford to be wasteful as he had been at Hogwarts. He still had one trump card that had not yet been brought into play, these were soldiers that he knew would never fail him, but they were being held in reserve for now. He also didn’t have the confidence in his Death Eaters that he once had. He had to strike a decisive blow to have any chance of victory now. His forces were failing after the disastrous defeat at Hogwarts, and the Ministry was rallying. Still he hesitated.

The problem of Harry Potter deeply troubled Voldemort’s mind. It wasn’t just that Potter still lived, it was whether he himself had really fulfilled that supposed prophesy by his actions that night. Had he really raised Potter from the grave by destroying Merlin? Was Potter now more powerful than he? Did Potter truly possess the power of immortality that had been promised to him so long ago? If Potter did possess this great gift, then could he take it from him before he killed him? He couldn’t move with surety until he knew.

Apparently, Potter had dropped out of sight. The Daily Prophet said that no one seemed to know what had happened to the Chosen One. That kind of stuff set Voldemort on edge. He feared more the enemy he couldn’t see, but Potter had to be eliminated. He was now the hero of all those fools who opposed him. The damned newspaper had made him a legend by telling that Potter had survived the killing curse directly from him twice now. Then telling how Potter had decimated his forces in the castle.

Voldemort knew that Harry had found a lair, and felt safe there. Potter had to be located and destroyed before anything else could be done. Voldemort knew that there was one person who knew the answer to all his questions, one person who knew more about Potter than Potter himself knew. That was the one with whom he needed to have a little sit down chat. However, getting a private appointment would be incredibly difficult. It would have to be an inside job to get himself placed on this person’s appointment calendar. Fortunately, he still had his contacts within the Ministry.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Pansy couldn’t believe these arseholes lived like they did. They had always acted like they were the nobility of wizardry, now on the run they acted like they were some kind of Robin Hood’s merry men and such silly bullshit. They didn’t take proper baths, or other hygiene. They stayed in constant fear of capture by the Ministry, and what they knew would happen next after capture. The food they could steal or smuggle in, tasted like cardboard, when they could get it. Even the water from the tap smelled like a muggle crack whore had washed her knickers in it first.

Crabbe and Goyle now smelled like they had shit themselves. They hadn’t gotten a change of clothes since leaving Hogwarts, not even pants. The others were still suspicious of her, at least that was the excuse given for watching her. She figured that most of them were quite horny and hoped for a chance to bed her when the Dark Lord wasn’t watching, or cared. The Dark Lord called for her less now, the newness of having her around was wearing off, and he was becoming more focused on what Harry Potter was doing. The megalomaniacal arsehole was even more unbalanced now after the Harry Potter coming back to life thing.

She sat there on the edge of the cot in what was termed her room, a dingy alcove in the wall with a door transfigured across the opening back into the hallway. She was considered fortunate to at least have running water in her room from an old utility sink set in the stone wall at the back. The door opened without the courtesy of a knock, and Severus Snape walked in.

“Come with me, there is a need for you,” he said curtly.

“I’m not dressed or ready for him…”

“Now!” growled Snape. “This is service you can perform with your legs and your mouth shut.”

In the Dark Lord’s quarters she found Voldemort talking with the Carrows. Amycus and Alecto Carrow were brother and sister sadists, as had been their parents before them. They were an incestuous couple with Alecto very deeply in love with her slightly older brother. The Carrow family carried the concept of pureblood marriage to fanatical lengths. She lived just to please his whims, and was extremely jealous of his attention. Wormtail was there also; his expression was hard to read. He seemed to be trying to shield his thoughts from those around him while looking uninterested.

“Ah, yes,” said Voldemort, “our servant Pansy is here with us now. We have decided to relocate our person to another site to further confound our enemies. Snape will be going with us to serve as our chief of staff. Bellatrix will leave to take charge at another location. We are placing our trusted servant Amycus in charge of another cell. Pansy, you and Wormtail will form part of his group along with our dear Alecto. You will all obey his orders as you would ours. We are changing the focus of our attack; we will seek out where the Potter boy is located and destroy him first. If he truly is the possessor of special magic of benefit to us then we shall determine how to take it from him.”

Pansy wasn’t sure what to think, she wasn’t discovered, but now she was being separated from her main target. All this time and work to get near him; and now bugger all to show for it. In addition, she knew of the Carrow’s cruelty, and Amycus’s appetites. His eyes always followed her with a hungry glare to them. There would be no woman to woman support from Alecto either; she always stared at Pansy with unmitigated hatred in her piglike eyes whenever her darling big brother looked at Pansy. Her anger had always been kept in check by the knowledge that Pansy was the Dark Lord’s whore. Now that protection was being removed. After Voldemort and Snape had left Amycus and his sister met with Wormtail while Pansy returned to her quarters to get her things together for the move.

“The Dark Lord desires that we seek out Potter,” said Amycus, “and we can’t do that sitting on our arses around here. He has left to take refuge in an area unknown to any of us. Snape will coordinate with us through me. We are going to join in the search, any ideas where to look for Potter?”

“I have an idea,” said Wormtail. “I’d like to check out some leads in Godric’s Hollow.”

“Bellatrix is already looking there, along with Mulciber and Avery. I don’t know that they need anymore help.”

“But are they looking in the right places?” asked Wormtail. “How would they know where to look, or whom to suspect of aiding the boy? Remember, I knew the boy’s parents back in Godric’s Hollow. I know who among the townsfolk there was kindly with the Potters. I think he’s found refuge with some local family there who knew James and Lily. There are all sorts of old caves and hideaways in the woods near there; I roamed those woods as a boy with James so I know where they are. If I had the Parkinson girl to help me I could start checking them out and report back to you.”

“Just you and the new girl all alone out there, eh?”

“Single men moving around Godric’s Hollow would draw attention, especially now. We get some hair cuttings from muggles, mix it with polyjuice potion and we become a young couple looking for a secluded place to shag. Nothing suspicious about that in Godric’s Hollow.”

“Snape and Bellatrix both warned me not to trust the Parkinson girl out of our sight,” said Amycus, while his expression intimated that he had been told not to give Wormtail a great deal of trust either.

“Very well then,” countered Wormtail immediately, “surely you trust your own sister. I’ll take Alecto to Godric’s Hollow with me to help search the woods and caves there. You keep the Parkinson girl here close to you so you can watch her.”

Alecto saw the lustful leer forming on her brother’s face, and, as Wormtail had expected, went ballistic on her brother. “That little whore is not staying here alone with you, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to tramp around in the fucking woods in the freezing cold looking in fucking caves.”

“ALL RIGHT! Damn it!” yelled Amycus. “The Parkinson girl will go with you Wormtail; she’ll follow your orders. If you feel the Master’s recall in your mark then return to him immediately. If you locate Potter, notify me immediately before you do anything else. Understood?”

Peter nodded and returned to his alcove to grab his few belongings. Pansy was ready when they met a little past midnight to leave. Amycus explained to Pansy that she would assist Wormtail in finding Potter. The Carrows then went their own way, leaving Wormtail and Pansy to apparate to the Shrieking Shack as before to discuss their plans. The landing seemed to be a bit rough, thought Peter; he needed to start practicing more as these were bad times to be out of practice in moving quickly.

“The Carrows were never very smart, all that damned inbreeding,” said Wormtail with a disparaging laugh. “I was hoping we could get away from there for a while. You definitely looked ready for a break.”

“I was close to going crazy in there,” said Pansy. “What are your plans?”

“I plan to lay low and rest a bit, but I really have no place to go. I was hoping you and your boss might feel a little appreciative of my getting you out of there safely. Is there any chance you can arrange for me to have some food and fresh clothing?”

“I can arrange for you to have a place to stay, a room.”

“Oh, I know all about your special guest rooms. I’m on the top ten most wanted list, I’d get deluxe accommodation from you lot all right. Strapped spread-eagle in a Sphere of Despair, getting my head split open by one of your first-rate skull fuckers, and once you got freshened up a bit you’d pop by to crush my balls under your bootheel for a laugh.”

“I perfectly agree,” said Pansy with a condescending I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile. “In fact, I would love to feel your nuts grinding beneath my boots, but right now I can’t because you are still very much a small fish that I need to get what I want. If you think I’m doing all this just to capture you then you are barking mad. You know who I want, Voldemort. I’ll do whatever I have to do to get him. If I’m the one that brings him in alive, or, especially, kills him, I’ll be more fucking famous than Harry Potter. I’ll make Deputy Chief rank in record time, on my way to the I.G. position itself. Then I’ll have all the perks of a Ministry bigwig, the money, the power, the choicest pieces of pretty young cock kneeling at my feet, begging for the opportunity to please Mistress. And if it means that I have to let a little fish out of my net to get the big one in it, then I’ll do it.”

“Spoken like a true Slytherin bitch. I’m starting to take a liking to you for the first time,” said Wormtail appreciatively. “But I’m still a little too smart to trust you.”

“But not as smart as you should be, deary,” said Pansy with an evil grin spreading across her face. “You carried me back to same place you did before, a place you stupidly told me the identity of, didn’t you think we’d have the place boobytrapped by the next day?”

In a flash of panic, Peter Pettigrew realized he had fucked up bigtime! He had returned to the same apparition point twice. Predictable was a very stupid thing to be these days. He immediately tried to disapparate away, nothing happened.

“SHIT!” he screamed as he now realized why the landing had been so hard, he’d apparated into a portal trap. The trap had closed immediately and sent him and Pansy into a mirage oubliette that looked exactly like the shrieking shack. He was trapped.

“Poor Uncle Peter,” said Pansy in a falsetto girlish voice. “He’s trapped like a rat. Will mean ole Miss. Pansy make the little rat squeak?”

“Let me out of here or I’ll do you,” said Peter desperately brandishing his wand at Pansy.

“EXPELLIARMIS!” came the spell from the side as the mirage quickly faded, revealing the cold gray stone walls of the oubliette, and the half dozen Inquisitors standing there surrounding them both with wands at the ready. Peter’s wand flew from his hands into the waiting grasp of Katie Bell.

“PATRIFICUS TOTALIS,” Katie shouted with a wave of her wand at Wormtail. Peter Pettigrew’s arms went immediately to his side and he was frozen in place, completely helpless and unable to move.

“Poor Uncle Peter,” said Pansy in that same silly little girl voice that was now so aggravating to Wormtail. “What’s to become of him now?”