Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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10 May 1995, Azkaban

There was something very wrong going on, and the young wizard was definitely not going to trust some projection without any form of assurances. He looked the projection straight in the eyes and spoke up, "Tell me everything you know about this Nidhogg. Then we'll talk about whether or not we'll help."

Nidhogg, the serpent of the end, the dragon who gnaws at the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasil. First Ragnarök and now this. It was very odd how it all came around to Norse mythology all the time.

Solomon's face fell for a fraction of a second when Harry didn't immediately agree to follow his lead. It was almost imperceptible, but the young wizard was actively looking for it. An easy way to see past a disguise is to make people irritated, and prideful people are so easy to be irritated. The former king's eyes obviously narrowed at the disrespect, at not being taken at his word immediately. Then again, Kings were used to being immediately obeyed without question. He has probably never been refused once in his life.

Of course, the white-haired man, a former king, perked up instantly and spoke up, "Every culture across the multiverse has a very fundamental concept that is the end of times. It's logical, really, that everything that had a beginning must have an end. But realms themselves suffer from the same thing. Realms are born from the chaos between worlds, when by pure coincidence, a form of order, a concept perhaps, gains enough energy to shield itself from everything around it. And since realms are born, realms must also die. Death comes in many forms. The most common problem for young realms is running out of energy and succumbing back into the chaos from which it was born. However, old realms are far more resilient, and even as they expand enough that the concentration of energy is so low that whatever purpose it holds is gone, it's still taking up place. Chaos found a solution to that, a culling so to speak."

"Nidhogg," Harry muttered.

"Exactly. It's a predator realm, capable of infecting other realms, creating small tears, before absorbing its energy, and recycling it back into the void. It will never be full, never stop devouring realms, until all realms are nothing but chaos."

"Can we negotiate with it or try to convince it that our world shouldn't be devoured some other way?" Voldemort asked while obviously calming himself.

"I don't think you quite understand what we're facing. This isn't a human being. It's a concept that was so powerful that it formed its own realm and gained consciousness. It's pure hunger and we're the food. It doesn't understand right and wrong, peace and war, Light and Dark. All it understands is its Hunger. It wasn't really supposed to affect the material realm, not until the heat death of the universe, but Ekrizdis, in his hubris invited it in, and made a connection to it, hoping to use it as a weapon against the Light and Dark. He did not think that he could defeat their champions, so, he built creatures, avatars of Nidhogg, to suck the champions' energy. He had hoped that by offering traces of the Light and Dark to Nidhogg, it would act as a beacon, turning them into targets. Of course, he failed. He never considered the idea that all this did was attract its attention further to the material realm. He never expected the Avatars to slowly be consumed by the realm. He never expected that the creature would be intelligent enough to open a breach here. He sacrificed his life sealing any ambient magic from reaching the island. People turned this place into a prison of all things, and then some idiot allowed magic to flow back in, and now you can see the result."

To be completely fair, Harry could have never guessed this to be the dementors' origins, and a part of him really wasn't convinced. Sure, he could see someone being desperate enough to do something like this. It was a pretty ingenious idea to use an outsider predator against two essentially living realms.

However, there was no guarantee that Nidhogg would target the Light and Dark, or that it would even work. There was a lot that Harry didn't know about how dimensions behaved, and this was proof of it.

And even if it could work, even if it was a viable plan, then that also didn't explain the Dementors' behaviour after Ekrizdis' death.

If they really were the avatars of an Eldritch being, like Solomon said, then why would they just obey wizards and witches, and act as fancy guards in a prison, for centuries? They would have been trying to unseal whatever Ekrizdis had done to block the Ley Lines, doing their best to let their patron return.

Something definitely wasn't adding up, and Harry decided to push a bit, "And where were you? Why didn't you stop Ekrizdis, if what he was doing was so fundamentally stupid."

"I'm not the Grimoire, Potter," the projection spoke up, "I'm a safety guard. I wasn't activated until after Ekrizdis created the breach."

Yes, the young wizard was confident that the projection wasn't being completely truthful. And whatever it wasn't sharing was unlikely to share it later. Harry wasn't planning on doing anything drastic without some proper reassurance. He didn't want to deal with another Diary situation, this time with the Grimoire of the greatest mage to ever exist.

Voldemort spoke up once more, "And do you have a plan, now that the breach is almost free?"

The projection immediately perked up, "The main priority is to stop Nidhogg's influence from spreading. We can purify and try to contain the breach afterwards, but as long as we contain the threat, I'll be satisfied."

"Isn't that just a temporary measure at best? Nidhogg will remain a threat either way," the young wizard protested, "And didn't sealing the Ley Lines kill Ekrizdis?"

"Who said anything about sealing Ley Lines? It took me centuries, but I was able to find a way to upscale the golden shield that protects this place into something sustainable in the long run. It's just a normal ward, but one that needs someone capable of casting."

Harry gave him a dubious look, "I don't know about Voldemort, but I could barely make out a fraction of the shield and believe me, I'm very good at analysing magic."

The projection's grin turned slightly smug, "I did tell you that I'd teach you Solomon's magic. The truth about my creator is that he wasn't a very powerful mage, at least in terms of raw power, but he was a genius. He made a very impressive discovery. The way people used magic was one-dimensional. People assumed that magic was just energy and manipulated it into crafting spells and thought that this was it, but the truth is that magic is layered. What we see, and what we experience, as living beings is just the surface. There are a lot of causes and effects that are hidden when that happens, which aren't actually being properly manipulated. It took some time, but my creator was able to find a way to manipulate it, to craft spells that would only cost him a fraction of the magic that it did other mages. He elevated the craft by even adding elements of the magic that no one could break, no one could truly comprehend. It was so alien that even the Light and Dark couldn't protect themselves against it, and on the shoulders of that single discovery, he built a Kingdom that the world had never seen the like again."

Voldemort seemed doubtful, "Then why were none of the other Grimoire holders able to do the same? No one was able to seal the Light and Dark as Solomon did. No one was able to create wonders, to reshape the world like Solomon did, especially if all he did was figure out a way to cast magic differently."

The white-haired man seemed almost insulted, "All he did was figure out a way to cast magic differently? Solomon was a genius, who was clever enough to bind forces of nature, of immedicably figuring out the weaknesses in anything and exploiting them like a scalpel. What the Grimoire holds is not the sum of his knowledge. It's barely more than the scribbles he made when he was bored. This man could reshape dimensions, bind gods, and destroy demons with barely any preparation. If he had been inclined to, he could have ascended to the ranks of the gods themselves, become an immortal ruler, joining the ranks of the Olympians, and perhaps even surpassing them. You could spend decades studying a single spell and still not have a quarter of his insight when he crafted it on a whim in minutes. No one had seen anything like it before or since. Perhaps, no one will do it again."

To be honest, Harry did have to agree with the projection's point. Truly understanding magic could be very overpowered. Objectively, his Arcane Hearing alone had made him one of the most terrifying mages in recent history and he wasn't even fifteen yet. Sure, he was intelligent, but he had no delusion that he would have come this far without this skill.

But as useful as a new form of magic was, this was all sort of useless. Harry didn't really have the time to master an entirely new form of magic in a month. What he came here for was a way to finally put an end to Dumbledore and Grindelwald, nothing more. He had no intention of being involved in another mess with another dimensional clusterfuck.

Yes, the safest bet was for them to regroup, maybe ask Vlad for advice and then decide whether the Grimoire was worth dealing with a fucking Eldritch Entity. Perhaps, the vampire would have more clues or help them avoid the subject. Or maybe he could have known something to solve this entire thing altogether. They weren't exactly in a hurry to make a choice, which was why Harry spoke up, "Your offer is exciting, but do you mind giving us more time to make a decision? You see, we're sort of trapped here and we're not exactly prepared to perform mass rituals or anything of the like."

The projection narrowed its eyes at Harry, "You're willing to risk the world being consumed by Nidhogg?"

"Azkaban was destroyed a year ago and the corruption didn't make it past the island. We can afford a few days to prepare and put our affairs in order."

"You are not prisoners here. You can leave if you want to, but the Grimoire must remain here. I am bound to this place and will not leave as long as the breach remains open. However, I cannot see a way where you'd be able to escape intact. You will be swarmed by Nidhogg's creatures as soon as you step out of the barrier. I'm afraid that I will not be able to help you, not without teaching you the magic held within the Grimoire."

Solomon's projection was definitely trying to push them into a corner. Harry had no idea what it wanted, but he could tell that it wouldn't be good for them, and unfortunately, they were in a bit of a pickle.

He and Voldemort had come to the tomb hoping to find the Grimoire, and if that failed, Harry would have done his best to copy the ward on the entrance, or at least, try to adapt it in some way to help them escape. If the projection was telling the truth, then he was missing a vital piece to be able to replicate the feat, so that was a lost cause.

That didn't mean that escape was impossible. He could combine some enchantments with his Animagus form, a way to accelerate flight perhaps, or an enchantment to slow his perception of time. He couldn't cast any magic while in flight, but enchanted items could still work. He could start by clearing things up a bit with a Patronus Charm and escape as quickly as he could while there were as few of those black creatures roaming around as possible. He's fought worse odds before.

There was another option. The invisibility cloak. How did he not think of it before? He had some luck merging it with his Animagus form. That would be an easy way to remain undetected while flying away. In fact, it was pretty likely to succeed. So, yes, he had options, but the bigger problem was Voldemort.

All of Harry's escape plans were due to magic that only he could cast. He had no clue how the so-called Dark Lord would fare. They hadn't exactly fought together and had both kept a lot of capabilities secret from one another in case they needed to fight once more. He didn't doubt that the man hadn't been planning some sort of escape.

Speaking of Voldemort, he also looked angry. He probably didn't like the projection's obvious attempt at screwing them over in some way. Or maybe he just didn't like Harry taking control of the conversation and deciding their next move. Who could tell with this guy? He was as unstable as they came.

As the young wizard walked out of the room in silence, the Parselmouth walked furiously behind him and hissed, "Explain yourself, Potter."

"We need to get out of here. Do you have any plans of escape?"

"Escape? We found what we came for. We can use the Grimoire, cast a single ward, and leave this cursed island without looking back. What I don't understand is why you seem so reluctant to take what we came here for."

That brought Harry short, and he gave the Dark Lord an incredulous look, "You seriously don't see it? Please tell me you're joking or something."

"This is not the time for jokes, Potter!"

"The projection," the young wizard spoke slowly, deciding to voice his thoughts, "It's definitely not some innocent Grimoire that wants to save the world. It has an ulterior motive, one that obviously involves us, probably not in a good way. This cavern is obviously some form of trap and we need to get out of here."

Voldemort sneered at him, "Your hesitation is proof of your weakness, boy. I understand hesitating before greatness, but all we have to do is cast a ward around the island. And in exchange, we're learning a new form of magic. How is this in any way duplicitous?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted, "But that doesn't mean there isn't something wrong. You can't tell me that this doesn't feel weird to you! Being close doesn't mean that we can afford to be careless. So, please, for once, can you please trust me? We can come back later after a proper conversation away from this place and take him up on his deal. We don't have to do this now, Riddle!"

He saw a complicated look on Voldemort's face. It had been there for barely more than a fraction of a second, before disappearing, "I will follow your lead on this, Potter. You've brought us this far."

Harry slagged in relief. They were near the entrance of the cavern and he answered softly, "I'm sorry about being too stubborn about this. It's just that something doesn't feel right."

He didn't hear Voldemort's answer because he felt something push him out of the cavern towards the black sea. As quickly as he could, he thought of Daphne and cast, "Expecto Patronum!"

In a white pulse of light, the sea around him turned to normal once more for a fraction of a second before trying to attack him once more. However, this was enough time for Harry to turn into his Animagus form and fly back to the cavern. He made it just in time as the black tar that made up the sea around Azkaban tried to viciously penetrate the golden shield.

He turned towards where Voldemort used to be only to find the cavern to be completely empty, "Damn it, Riddle!"

He had been so lost in his own head, in possibilities and plans, that he hadn't noticed Voldemort subtly leading him outward, into the place where his Arcane Hearing didn't work. The Dark Lord must have noticed that Harry was sensitive to magic and tried to use that against him.

At least it wasn't a killing curse.

He did deserve it for showing his back Voldemort of all people. He was so used to his Arcane Hearing warning him of incoming spells that he thought he was safe. He also shouldn't have assumed that Voldemort would be more sensible, even if the man probably didn't want to kill him. As he ran back to Ekrizdis' tomb, he remembered the look on Voldemort's face a few seconds prior. He recognized it, now. It was complete desperation.

It was a complete contrast to the power-hungry look he had before. This was never about power, was it? This was never about becoming strong. No, Voldemort was afraid. He was always a coward, but the destruction of his Horcruxes must have shaken him. Harry hadn't really realized how much. He definitely wasn't thinking straight, and that made him very dangerous.

He wanted a new way to 'beat Death', a new way to be immortal. Harry suddenly realized that the projection had said something about ascending into godhood. It was playing Voldemort like a fiddle. How could he have missed something like that? Harry was never the target, Voldemort was.

He had thought that the projection was aiming to convince him to agree, that it wanted him, but he was wrong, wasn't he? It knew Voldemort's weakness and used that against him. He needed to stop Voldemort from doing anything reckless. He ran to the entrance and paled as he heard Voldemort's voice, "You have an agreement. My aid in exchange for Solomon's magic."

The white-haired man smiled at that, "So be it!"

"No!" Harry yelled as he ran into the room, but it was for nought. The projection released a pulse of energy, and the entire world shifted. Harry could feel as if his entire brain was melting. He activated his Arcane Hearing to understand what was happening. He was tempted to use the cloak to phase through whatever magic was happening, only to freeze as he finally realized what the projection meant as a change in perspective.

The white-haired man hadn't been joking when he meant that everyone had been taking a one-dimensional approach to magic. He could see it now, the layers, the chaos beneath every spell, and the way it was ordered in the wards around the cavern. It was a golden cage, completely built to negate any non-material form of entrance, essentially anything that wasn't born in the world. The black tar that surrounded the island wasn't really a physical thing. He understood now what it was, a physical manifestation of corruption, of energies that unravelled everything it touched, trying to turn everything into chaos, into a homogenous mush of nothingness.

He had thought that Nidhogg was a representation of Hunger, but it wasn't. It enforced Entropy on a cosmic scale, essentially a fancy garbage collector that took care of realms that became empty enough that it couldn't defend itself from being devoured. He could feel it now, staring at the material realm, like a serpent poised to strike at every moment, only held at bay from the protection the gods put in place around the material realm, that Mordred enforced. Yet Ekrizdis was able to make a sustainable breach, something that Harry didn't even think was possible.

It gave Harry so many ideas, ways to optimize spells, but most of all, ways to cast his fractal attacks – which were able to wound Dumbledore and Grindelwald – without the need of using a soul as a focus. It would be tricky, but it would be doable. But that wasn't the point now. He needed to focus on the task at hand.

Harry pushed his perception towards the breach and froze completely. Harry had things completely wrong. There were wards around the breach, but it wasn't there to stop it. Well, there were some safeguards to contain the breach, but there was something that literally also kept the breach open. The world wanted to breach it, but there was some magic actively making sure that it had access to Nidhogg.

He turned toward the grinning white-haired man, the realization slowly settling in, "You're not Solomon, are you?"

The projection faded away into modes of light, which slowly made its way towards the Ekrizdis' skeleton, which had previously held the grimoire in death. Slowly but surely, flesh started to grow from its bones. It could barely even be called flesh. It was more like white mud, that imitated the functionality. Slowly, a bald man with completely black eyes, which held black veins that spread all over his body, sat up from the altar and looked at them.

Both Harry and Voldemort stared at the being in horror as he spoke up, "I said you were a clever one. Ekrizdis, at your service. You have no idea how glad I am that you're here."

Well, shit. Why did Harry have to be right about this? Maybe there was an innocent explanation for what happened?

Who was he kidding, this guy had evil written all over him. Yeah, this definitely wasn't going to end well.

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AN: I'll be completely frank; this was definitely not my proudest work. I wrote it like 5 times, while I was sick. The chapter was meant to be a bit confusing, but I think I overdid it without meaning to. Stuff like why Ekrizdis gave them the 'power-up', and why he pretended to be a projection of Solomon, will be cleared up in the next chapter, but if there's something that feels off, please let me know. I'll also be clearing up a bit about Voldemort's stupid decision, so you can look forward to that. Harry sort of needs the power-up in the future, and this felt more appropriate for his personality. It might not sound like much, but it's pretty powerful. 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.