By the time the clock hit quarter to six, we were ready to leave. Even if this was just a 'meeting', I do not doubt that the apparition spot will be heavily watched. So obviously we would not be doing that, but that meant that if I wanted to keep my means of transportation a secret, I had to open up the portal further away from the village.
"Where should I open up the portal to?" I asked Pyra.
"Probably the Shrieking Shack. We can fly from there." She replied after thinking for a bit.
"Okay. One crisp portal coming right up!" I said, and the dilapidated inside of the Shack came into view in the portal. The house had seen better days. There were cobwebs everywhere, the furniture was all but splinters, and numerous deep scratch marks marred the walls.
"Wow, Lupin has done a number on this place, that's for sure." I said, impressed by the destruction.
"Well, what do you expect? They locked up a werewolf in here."
"True. There is nothing here, let's go." We made our way out of the building and watched the village sprawl under the hill.
"How quaint. Now, where the hell is the Hog's Head Inn?" I muttered once we set foot into the village proper. I liked the witchy aesthetic this place had going on, and I once again had to wonder why wizardkind seemed allergic to straight lines and right corners because no matter where I looked, everything was at least a teeny-tiny bit crooked.
"Over there, by the river." Pyra pointed at the building beside the small dock, marked only by a worn, barely readable sign above the doorway. We made our way there and were greeted by Tonks, who was waiting for us. Now that I think about it, why was Dumbledore always sending Tonks? Eh, maybe it was because of her familiarity with us or something like that?
"Thank you for coming. Dumbledore is already waiting for you inside." She said and opened the door for us. I immediately sensed two additional people besides just Dumbledore, Tonks, and Aberforth.
"Lead the way." And we followed her inside. The interior was dim, dirty, and smelled of goats. Tonks led us upstairs to one of the unoccupied rooms and knocked on the door.
"Password." Came the muffled, but unmistakable voice of Alastor Moody.
"Kinder Surprise Egg." and the door opened slightly, just enough for Moody to poke his head out and look into the hallway. After what I assume was scanning us with his magical eye, he let us into the room. In it was a large table capable of seating at least eight people, and Dumbledore with McGonagall were already sitting behind it.
"Good evening, everybody. I'm Emily Strauss, and this is Pyra Aegis." I introduced us, but I'm sure they already knew our names.
"Good evening to you as well. I'm sure you already know, but for the sake of propriety, I'm Albus Dumbledore, this is Minerva McGonagall, Alastor Moody, and Nymphadora Tonks. Please sit, we have much to discuss."
"Thank you, though I'm kinda surprised, I was expecting Harry to be here as well. After all, my offer was for him."
"I'm afraid that until I verify the authenticity of your claim, Harry will not be stepping a foot near you." Albus shook his head.
"Eh… I don't care, but do you want these people to know? Greed is a powerful thing, I would know." I did not want to deal with people trying to steal my stuff, it would not end well.
"Don't worry about that. I trust these people implicitly." He said with an air of finality.
"Okay. How about we start? I know you must be burning with questions." I said with a grin.
"I would first ask for a vow of truth. I'm afraid that without it, this meeting is rather pointless." He said with a pointed look. So this was how he wanted to play this? It's a pretty smart thing to ask for. Firstly, I have to swear on my name. My true name. Secondly… well that's obvious, I can't lie.
"Alright, you take one as well, and we both can choose not to answer if we don't want to."
"That's more than fine with me, Miss Strauss. What about your companion?" He turned to Pyra, probably expecting her to agree like I did.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Dumbledore, but I am not a witch. I cannot swear a vow." This caused the four people's eyes to fall out of their sockets.
" *EHM!* I find that hard to believe." Dumbledore said, nearly choking.
"Believe what you want, the world is far bigger than you could ever imagine. I'm simply a being you've never encountered before."
"Why does that matter anyway? You'll be talking with me, not Pyra. I'm not going to demand the vow from your associates, so don't demand it from mine." This caused the headmaster to pinch his nose and nod in agreement.
"Very well. The vow, please, Miss Strauss."
"Right. I, Emily Strauss, swear on my life and magic to speak nothing but the truth during this meeting." I recited, and watched as a golden mist enveloped me for a brief moment, and the vow settled in. Dumbledore was watching me like a hawk. When he found nothing of suspicion, I saw his posture relax slightly.
He swore the same vow as me, and frankly, the guy had way too many names. Now the fun would begin.
"Let us start then. Ask away."
"Who— No. Are you Voldemort?"
"No, I'm not." Everybody watched me and waited for the vow to trigger.
"Then why do you have his wand?"
"I just took it when I killed him at the graveyard." This caused everyone but Dumbledore to look at me with disbelief.
"As I thought. I assume that you already know how he managed to achieve his immortality, correct?"
"Yeah, I do. Most of them are gone, I already destroyed them. The last one is with Kreacher."
"Impossible! I would have noticed something with my eye." Moody cut in.
"I seriously doubt it because it's being concealed by a strong house-elf magic. When they are told to hide something, it will be hidden."
"It can't be… Regulus?" Dumbledore muttered, more to himself than to me, but I heard him.
"Yes, he took it and tried to make Kreacher destroy it. It obviously failed. Those things are nearly indestructible."
"Hmm… Yes… House elves would not be able to destroy it… I have to ask, how did you destroy the one in Harry without killing the boy in the process? As far as I know, that is the only way." His admission made McGonagall bristle and look at him with a sharp look, one that promised a heavy verbal lashing in his future.
"That is something I will not share. Just be glad that I did it this way, and move on. But to ease your worries, there is indeed another way to do it than mine." I would not reveal my Zanpakuto, it was my trump card.
"Pray tell, what is it?"
"All the Horcruxes would have had to have been destroyed first, then Harry would have had to be killed by Voldemort. The protection his mother used all those years ago would have made it so that only the Horcrux was destroyed, thus making Voldemort mortal again." I told him his plan from the future.
"Theoretically, that's possible, but it's quite a long shot."
"Of course it is. There has never been a living Horcrux, as far as I know."
"I wouldn't know, I have not delved deep into the subject, but you seem to have?" Was there a hint of accusation in his voice?
"Now, now, Dumbledore. Don't throw out accusations like that, but just for the record, I have not." I said with a hint of displeasure. He must have sensed it.
"My apologies then. Do I assume correctly that you wish to destroy the last one as well?"
"I do. If you could have it brought here, it would save me a lot of hassle trying to find it." At this, the headmaster looked rather pensive.
"Though, if you'd rather destroy it yourself, I don't care. But for the love of god, do it with Fiendfire or bathe it in basilisk venom. Nothing else would work." Surprisingly, I was willing to let the power boost go. I was already plenty powerful for this world, and it would not change when I leave for the next one. I figured out that knowing this world and its characters made me hesitant to act. I didn't want to ruin my childhood memories of this world with slaughter.
"Oh, that explains the charred remains of the Gaunt Shack… I can have the item brought here, but I insist on watching you do it."
"Works for me. Just tell Kreacher to bring the locket he got from Regulus, and don't let anybody but him touch it. Those things are parasitic and latch onto you."
"Alas, I cannot order Keacher myself. Do you mind if I contact Sirius?"
"Nah, do it." I said and watched him make a messenger patronus. Not even a minute later, a pop resounded in the room, and Kreacher was standing there, watching all of us with contempt.
"The bad master ordered me to bring this and give it to you." Kreacher said with as much hate as he could and threw the locket onto the table, and looked at me searchingly.
"Thanks, buddy."
"..."
"Pft~ Fuck you too."
"Anyway, if you want to check it's legit, go ahead." I nodded to Dumbledore. He then proceeded to cast numerous detection charms, each more obscure than the last. After ten minutes, he seemed to have had his fill and nodded with satisfaction.
"Please everybody, move away from the table, and whatever you do, do not touch the flames."
"Are you suggesting that you're going to cast Fiendfire inside the room?!" McGonagall yelled.
"No. I have a way better spell for this, just watch."
"Infernum Mors!" I decided to make the spell appear less threatening than normal. After all, my only goal in coming here was to get the stone to Harry, and unleashing spells with more power than Fiendfire was definitely not going to help me win any favours.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" Moody yelled and drew his wand, aiming it straight at me.
"A spell of my creation. A sort of controllable variation of Fiendfire if you will. Now calm the hell down, or Pyra will make you." I said, pointing at Pyra, who was looking at Moody with a murderous look. The man, probably remembering his earlier defeat at her hands, shuddered and lowered his hand.
"Well, I'm about to destroy it." I said and pointed my wand at the locket. All of them were watching as the snake flew straight at it and enveloped it with its whole body, like a constrictor would.
"Here it comes." I called out when I saw the black smoke starting to form. A desperate, shrill scream was the last thing Voldemort had ever done in the world of the living.
"That's done then. Voldy is gone for good." I dusted my hands and sat back down behind the table.
"It appears so… but I will make sure your claims are true." Albus said, thinking about going to check on the prophecy. After all, it should be dark if it were fulfilled.
"Do what you want. And while this distraction was nice, it's not why I came here. Neither did you, am I correct?" I forcefully steered the conversation to a different topic. I didn't want to waste hours talking about Voldemort, the man was dead, and I simply didn't care about him anymore.
"You call supposedly defeating the Dark Lord a distraction?" McGonagall said with disbelief.
"Lady, I would hardly call this defeating. I didn't face him in a one-to-one duel to the death, I just destroyed some artifacts. Anybody could do it if they knew what and where they were." I dismissed her with a wave of my hand.
"But the fact stands that they didn't, you did." Dumbledore said with a searching look. Ugh— this is getting annoying.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm awesome. Now let's talk about the stone. That is why I'm here." I said, pulled the ring out of my pocket, and placed it on the table.
"This is it?"
"Yep. This is the resurrection stone. Though that name is a lie. It doesn't resurrect the dead, it just pulls their souls from the afterlife into the world of the living." The man deflated after hearing that. Oh right, something about his sister, right?
"Try it if you don't believe me. Think of somebody dead you want to see, and turn the stone three times in your hand." I told him how to do it, and the man cast a glance at Moody.
"Hmm… I don't know what it does, but it is not cursed in any way."
"Thank you, Alastor."
One
Two
Three
As he turned the stone the third time, a soft white mist appeared right next to him, slowly taking the shape of a young woman in her teens. The clearer her form became, the more I saw the similarities between her and Dumbledore. So this was his sister.
"Hahaha~ Albie! You're very old!"