Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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5 May 1995, Greengrass Manor

Harry quickly closed the portal as it was getting even harder to see anything and appeared in front of a horrified Daphne who was staring with shock at his injuries. He gave her a slight grin, "You should see the other guy," before falling down unconscious.

Harry woke up feeling like every single cell in his body was aching. His head throbbed, and his limbs felt heavy, making movement a painful endeavour. Blinking against the dim light, he took in his surroundings. It was a familiar room, Daphne's room. He groaned as he tried to sit up, and the blonde practically materialized to his side, her expression a mix of concern and determination.

"Harry, you're awake," she said softly, gently helping him sit up. Her hands were steady, but her eyes betrayed her worry. "What happened?"

"I got a bit blindsided," he simply retorted.

"Blindsided," Daphne answered with an incredulous tone, "Let me get this straight. You came here, in my room, unannounced, while also covered in blood. You had three stab wounds, a hole in your kidney, five broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken leg, and a concussion. And you have to gall to tell me that you've been blindsided. Let me put this into words. You're going to tell me exactly what happened and why you were in this state. Then I'll think of an appropriate response for your recklessness."

"Hey, I wasn't reckless," Harry protested, only to shut up when he saw the look in her eyes.

"I was really worried about you, Harry, and I think I deserve an explanation. I assumed that you went to hunt down the Lycans for what they did to Arcturus. I sort of expected it, really. But I really doubt that they'd be able to do this to you. What happened?"

The last Potter took a deep breath, "I was doing just that. I got my answers, but then things got complicated."

"How complicated?"

"Dumbledore was involved. He apparently told the Lycans I killed Lily and pushed them to hunt me. I think he wanted me to kill them or something, and use that to push his own agenda and convince them that they needed his help to get their revenge. Willingness makes certain kinds of magic a lot more efficient and that was probably what he was going for."

Daphne hummed, "He wanted to take over Lily's army. I'm guessing some kind of brainwashing was involved."

That was one of the things he liked most about Daphne. While she didn't really keep up with him when it came to magical knowledge, she more than made up for it when it came to politics and strategy. It was where she shined the most. Harry could see her having a career in politics and leaving Astoria to take care of her family's business.

Huh, now that he thought about it, with Astoria healed, would Daphne still want to be a healer? Technically speaking her core motivation was gone, and the entire world opened up. There was no reason she couldn't do both, but it would split her time.

Harry nodded in agreement, "Exactly. It was a mixture of Light enhancement and come compulsion to obey Dumbledore. I didn't have the time to really analyse their bodies, not really, but it definitely wasn't good for them. I think it used their life force for some reason, so they were disposable pawns at best."

"That would still technically give him control over the largest fighting force in the country."

"Don't worry, Lupin warned the rest, so we curbed what he was planning. But still, he came to kill me. We fought, and well, you saw how I ended up."

Daphne muttered, "Light curses, that's what those were."

"What was that?" he asked.

"Nothing. There was just this residue in a lot of your wounds. It made it very hard to heal them. I was able to use Blood Magic to overcome it, but I couldn't do much about the scars. It's like curse wounds. I've never really seen anything like it before. I didn't even know that Light curses could exist."

"So, how long have I been here?"

The blonde grimaced slightly, "About two days. I had to ward my room so that my parents and their house elves wouldn't see you."

"What?" he answered with a roguish smile, "Are so ashamed of me or something?"

"No," she protested, "I haven't told them that we're dating yet, and I didn't think it was a good idea to tell them while you're unconscious in my bedroom."

Harry snickered at her embarrassment, and she threw a pillow at his face, "You're very chipper for a guy who just lost another duel to Dumbledore."

"Lost? What makes you think I lost?"

And just like that, the amusement evaporated from the room, with Daphne staring completely flabbergasted at him before exclaiming with pure shock on her features, "You won?"

This reaction would have been insulting if it hadn't made so much sense. Albus Dumbledore was a monster, the Magical Titan that everyone measured themselves with. He was literally the largest stick and had remained so for half a century. The main reason Voldemort even got so many recruits was because it was said that he could rival Dumbledore in magical might, and he did pull his weight in the few duels they fought. People called the man the second coming of Merlin, and as a Champion of Light, it was disturbingly spot on.

And like it or not, their last duel was one that Harry won. If one looked at the end of the fight. Both of them were injured, but Dumbledore was the one that lost the most. Flesh wounds could easily be handled. Grindelwald was still alive despite Lily practically blowing herself up with the power of a dimension at the man.

But power, well, that wasn't exactly recoverable once lost. Harry looked at the wand next to him. The Elder Wand. Neither one from this universe nor the other. Somehow, reality decided to destroy the paradox, the wrong existence of the foreign wand by merging them. Harry still didn't have time to experiment with it. From their duel, Harry gained the allegiance of the Elder Wand, and Albus Dumbledore lost it, and that made it his victory.

He didn't even know how much of a difference using the true Elder Wand would be. He had only used it once, in that last spell against Dumbledore. He had used the soul of one of the Light-enhanced Lycans, to enhance a cutting charm that would affect all dimensions at once. It felt a lot more powerful than what he used against Grindelwald, but Harry couldn't know for sure about its effect. Whatever Dumbledore was doing near the end was terrifying, and Harry had just sent the spell and got out as quickly as he could.

Theoretically, it should have injured the former headmaster at least as much as it did Grindelwald, and that should have interrupted whatever he had been casting, destabilizing the magic. But that was guesswork at best, and Harry would need to investigate what remained of the farm to get a better picture.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by Daphne poking him, "Hey, stop getting lost in your own head. Did you seriously win against Dumbledore?"

"I suppose I did. I certainly came out having gained something and he's the one having lost something."

Huh, he had all three of the Deathly Hallows in his possession, probably the first in centuries. That last attack was technically a representation of that. He had used the resurrection stone to focus his soul magic and used the Elder Wand to cast the spell while wearing the invisibility cloak. Huh, did that make him the Master of Death? It was such an arrogant title, which he hoped didn't really mean much. He, thankfully, didn't feel any less 'mortal' or anything like that.

The only difference was his magical circuits, which seemed to have expanded unnaturally. Ever since his time in the Gardens of Avalon, Harry used the resurrection stone to act as a buffer between his soul and his body. It allowed him to control the magic coursing through his circuits, letting the maximum amount of magic through them without causing any damage.

But now, he felt as if they were expanded, meaning that he could channel a far larger amount at once, the most being whatever his soul could handle, which was a lot. That jump in power meant that he'd have to retrain his control, but it did bode very well for him. There was also something very odd happening with his family crest. It was more active, for the lack of a better word. He didn't really see anything different, but it felt like it was preparing for something. He didn't know whether to dread or look forward to whatever it would be.

"So, he didn't die," Daphne commented while sounding disappointed, again bringing Harry out of his contemplation.

That brought Harry short. She was right, as wonderful as this victory was, the former headmaster was still out there, "No. Unfortunately, Dumbledore is still alive. I don't think I have anything in my arsenal that can actually kill him. Hurt him, sure. But if he's anything like Grindelwald – which he likely is – then he can regenerate from anything I hit him with. Hell, even soul-based attacks, while he wasn't able to heal from them immediately, he still can regenerate from those. The only thing I saw that gave either of them a permanent wound was the dimensional cutter and even then, they could still heal from them."

Daphne grabbed his arm, comforting him, "But you still hurt them both. That, alone, is probably the greatest feat anyone who isn't a Champion has ever done. It's the first step towards actually killing them."

Harry took a deep breath, "You don't get it. I used every trick I had, every single plan I made up, literally everything, and it wasn't enough. This was it. Years of magical development, discovering lost magics and even creating my own, everything led to this. Lily sacrificed herself and her entire dimension, and it still didn't kill Grindelwald. Do you have any idea how insane this was? It was an entire fucking dimension's worth of energy. I don't think I can do anything more damaging than that, not even after years of research. And you know what's worse? Every single trick I used in the fights against them is now useless. They have the luxury of learning from their mistakes. I can't compete with that. No one can."

"Then come up with new tricks," the blonde answered while comforting him, "Think your way out of it, like you always do. Forget about raw power, that's not who you are. You're not a warrior or a fighter, even if you've been in your fair share of battles. Even as a first-year, you could have probably beaten most of the older students, not because you were more powerful. You weren't, not at the start at least. It was because you were clever because you strategized and planned, after researching everything you could. That's who you are. You're not a hero, Harry. You never were, and you never will be. You don't need to fight with a sword in your hand. You're a researcher, something who relishes solving mysteries and creating something completely new. Stop trying to match them in their playing field and use your own strength."

Using his own strength, going back to his roots. Huh, Daphne did have a point. He was a researcher, and he had gathered a lot of data when he fought Dumbledore and Grindelwald, very actionable data. Without the Light and the Dark, he would have won. That was the most undeniable fact. Even if he was outmatched in both fights, they obviously weren't omniscient and had made mistakes which would have killed most other duellers.

They relied on the Light and Dark, so what if he didn't fight the two Champions personally? What if he didn't attack them but their patrons? He'd never explored that angle before and that was because he had always been limited when it came to dimensional manipulation. But Harry did make a lot of roadways on that front since he'd been sent to another universe.

Was that how Solomon did it? Did he somehow bind the Light and Dark to him and then kill the former Champions? If he did, then it made his feat far more impressive than just defeating the champions themselves. If only he had access to his research, he'd have figured something out a lot sooner.

Alas, only Voldemort knew where it was, and he definitely didn't want to be found. Scrying didn't work in any way. Hell, even forms of divination just refused to perceive him for some reason. If only there was something that could bypass whatever bullshit protections he hid under. Harry froze at that.

Something that bypassed any sort of magic, a connection that could not be removed, even with different dimensions between them. A soul.

Theoretically, a soul fragment could be used to track him, and Voldemort had only a single Horcrux left. The conclusion was very clear. He needed to get to Hogwarts.

Daphne smiled at him, "Here you go. I knew you would come up with something. You always do."

Harry stood up and kissed her, "Thanks Daph."

The blonde watched, slightly dazed, as he opened a portal and leapt inside, before growling, "I didn't mean right now!"

The last Potter grinned before closing the portal. He could swear he could hear her voice saying, "I swear I'm going to hurt you, Potter."

With an amused smile still on his face, Harry walked through the familiar corridors of Hogwarts, ready to speak once more to Neville Longbottom.

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AN: I know that this chapter was pretty uneventful, but I sort of needed Harry to come up with other ways of fighting Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and thought that Daphne would be great at revealing that. I know I haven't really covered the whole 'Master of Death' thing, and there's a reason for it. It will be addressed properly soon. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.