Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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10 May 1995, Azkaban

Yeah, maybe Harry was a little irritable. Perhaps it was a stupid idea, but he was out of fucks to give. Funnily enough, that seemed to amuse Solomon more than anything, given the small upward twitch of his lips, "Yes, young hero, I believe it's time for us to have a proper conversation."

They stayed silent for minutes, Harry not really knowing how to start the conversation. There was a lot that he wanted to ask him, mainly about how he defeated the Light and Dark, and why he didn't help him before. A part of him wanted to ask him about his magical system, why he even let himself die – because functional immortality shouldn't have been much of an issue for him.

However, whatever he had to say just wouldn't leave his throat and Solomon decided to speak up first, "You made the right decision."

Harry gave him a confused look and the King clarified, "In Ekrizdis' tomb, killing the man with the broken soul, it was the right decision. The world is so full of greys that it's rare to really differentiate between right and wrong. When I was king, I made many decisions for the good of my people, and the decision you made was for the good of the world. No good would have come from sparing that man."

The young wizard froze at that before answering, "It doesn't feel like it. I've killed people before, but it was always in a fight, and they were always enemies. Voldemort was an ally, and I killed him when he was imprisoned, bound to a cavern, stuck with an oath that he would never fulfil. I didn't kill him because of what he could do, but what someone else could do with his survival, for a greater good, I suppose. I can't help but wonder if that's what they felt like – Dumbledore and Grindelwald, I mean – when they got started in the journey that twisted them so."

The former monarch gave Harry a sympathetic look, "Like it or not, the idea of the 'greater good' itself isn't evil. It's a slippery slope, a justification that people use to justify their misdeeds. However, the idea itself is a noble one. I find that judging the act itself, without any external form of validation tainting my view, always helped me decide on whether or not to take that action. Tell me, how many people have you hurt by killing this man?"

"Only Voldemort," he replied, "And he deserved a lot more than death for what he had done."

"And thus, your decision to end his life was a good one. It's always a fine line to walk. I, myself, devoted decades to mastering divination to get a clearer idea of the consequences of my decisions. Unfortunately, you do not have decades to do the same. Ragnarök is coming."

The last Potter let out a bitter chuckle, "And here I thought you wanted to talk about philosophy. I just stopped one apocalypse, what's one more."

"Perhaps, in another life, we would have spent more time discussing our interests. However, as pressing as it all is, there's something that I need to tell you first."

Harry braced himself for the worst, only for the former monarch to speak up, with a gentle look on his face, "You've done a good job."

He froze. The last Potter didn't even know why he did, but that had to be the last thing he expected from the King of Mages himself. If anything, Solomon seemed even amused by his reaction, "I've seen your feats, your decisions, your failures and successes. I can tell you, without a doubt, that generally speaking, I don't think there's anyone who could have achieved what you have. Perhaps it truly is destiny that dictated that someone like you would be born when the world needs him most, perhaps it's a complete coincidence. Who can tell? But that doesn't matter; you did a very good job fighting the Light and Dark, perhaps more than anyone else has in history."

The young wizard didn't know why he was so taken aback by Solomon's words. Perhaps it was because no one ever really validated his actions and decisions. No one told him he did a good job because it was very rare for there to be an outside opinion that was aware of the scope of his actions.

Harry shook his head, denying it, "But I started Ragnarök. I killed the World Serpent. I caused all of this."

He did feel a lot of responsibility for what happened, mostly because he started Ragnarök by killing the World Serpent. The fact that his ignorance could possibly have caused the end of times, was weighing pretty heavily on him. It was one of the reasons why he didn't grab his close ones and fucked off to another universe, living comfortably. He was tied to Ragnarök, perhaps as its hero, and he learned that there was no outrunning this.

Solomon's smile, though, was gentle, "Whoever said that Ragnarök was a bad thing?"

"What do you mean? It's literally the end of the world."

"Is it?" the white-haired man spoke up in a smug tone, "You've learned dozens of times that prophecies are rarely absolute, and people seldom truly understand them."

Harry didn't look convinced and so, Solomon spoke up, "Do you want to know what would have happened, had you not killed the World Serpent? The Champions of Light and Dark would have continued scheming in the background. After graduating, you would have moved away from Europe, consumed by your research of magic. Eventually, in a couple of decades, the magic that remained in the Grimoire would have failed. Ekrizdis would have been free. He would have killed all the residents of Azkaban in a ritual, but he would have overshot it, unknowingly releasing enough magic for the breach to destabilize. Unknowing of his blunder, he would have ignored it and hunted down the Light and Dark, and perished horribly. However, the breach would have slowly expanded, and after a century or two, Nidhogg would have consumed the material realm."

Whatever response Harry was expecting, well, it wasn't that. A part of him wanted to deny it, but it all felt so possible. He was fully willing to leave Britain after his graduation, stay the fuck away from Dumbledore and Grindelwald. He could see himself easily do that, and without Ragnarök, the Champions of the Light and Dark wouldn't have had to do their elaborate ritual, breaking prophecies, and would have continued scheming. Ekrizdis' misdeeds wouldn't have been known, and when he was eventually defeated, without anyone knowing about the breach in Azkaban, then there was nothing to stop Nidhogg from eventually winning.

But there was something that Harry didn't like about that explanation, "Then why did you let Ekrizdis use the Grimoire to summon Nidhogg in the first place?"

"Why else? It was because you needed to see it."

"You couldn't have sent a note or something? Thousands of people died because of what he did."

The former king looked solemn for a minute, "It wouldn't have been enough. As I said, you needed to see it. It might seem confusing now, but you'll understand eventually. I am not asking you to trust me, because I do not need it. The past is the past, there is not changing it. The future will be up to you."

Harry deflated, anger still simmering before speaking up, "What now? I stopped one terrible fate but how is Ragnarök not worse?"

"Nidhogg's victory would have decimated everything, but whoever said that Ragnarök would have the be the end. As impossible as that might seem there is a path to victory, one that has been paved for you, prepared for thousands of years. Fate and Death are on your side, but nothing is absolute. But I suppose a little help wouldn't be amiss."

Before Harry could even process the words, a small ball of golden light flew towards Harry's chest, integrating into his family crest, which started to glow faintly, "What the hell was that?"

"As I said, a small gift. In your crest are now the details on how to use my magic, with a few small gifts along the way."

Harry channelled his crest slightly and gasped. It wasn't because of Solomon's magic, not really, but a small piece of information, something that truly gave Harry hope, "The location of the Light and Dark, their original dimensions before their expansion, their core. How?"

Solomon answered his question with one of his own, "Do you know how I defeated the Light and Dark."

Harry shook his head, and the former monarch continued, "It wasn't some grand feat or battle like you ever expected. They were barely teens at the time, powerful, but unrefined. I tricked them into a battlefield and sealed their soul into myself. They barely felt anything, and I couldn't use the Light and Dark, not directly without them noticing. I usually used them as ways to channel more magic from my body, nothing more. But in my century of life, I did my best to understand the entity behind them, enough to have a target. A lot of divination showed me that my chances of victory were very slim, and so, I passed on my duty forward."

"You couldn't have contained the Light and Dark. You didn't have to die."

"I did. What do you think would have happened if I had remained living? The Light and Dark would have eventually realized what had happened, that I tricked them. It might have taken centuries, but it was inevitable, the Light and Dark would either find a workaround or would have overwhelmed me enough to free the souls of their Champions. They would have come back with a vengeance and would have raised my nation, who wouldn't have known hardship for centuries, to the ground. Everything ends, young hero, me included. It was my duty to aid humanity as much as I could, and I did so by choosing you, and dying at a time which made the chances of victory be at their highest."

The young wizard was suppressing the urge to shudder at the responsibility on his shoulder, "Why me?"

"I needed someone to pass my duty into, in an era where the very circumstances would help, where the stars would align. In a weird way, Fate aided me. My visions were too precise, too explicit, to be natural. Prophecies shouldn't be broken, and if they were, no form of divination should have predicted them. Something was aiding me, letting me see past what was possible. And so, I looked forward and saw a path to victory, a true victory, your path. I put things in motion to give you every advantage that you can have and hope for the best. My grimoire was one of them. Knowledge which I enchanted to be known in an exact moment it was needed. Ekrizdis was my greatest gamble, but one of the most important. And now its purpose is fulfilled. I have faith in you, Harry Potter, but do not despair, your existence, your actions, cannot make things worse than what they could have been."

There was a detail, though, that angered Harry, "So, everything I suffered, everything I lost, it was all part of a script. Did any choice I make even matter?"

"Of course, they mattered," Solomon replied, "Your choices are yours. I just knew what they were before you made it. You were never forced to do anything. You were never constrained. Everything that you ever experienced was completely due to your decisions. You can leave, you can give up, you can do whatever you want. No one is going to force you. It's also why I said that you had a path to victory, not that it is assured. It's a very faint difference, but it's an extremely important one. Your choices are your own, Harry Potter. They always have and they always will be."

Having calmed down slightly, he uttered, "How can I trust you? How can I know that you really did all of this? How do I know that you won't keep dictating my actions."

The white-haired man let out a smug smile, "That's easy, young man. You do not have to trust me, you do not have to fear me, because I am not here. I have died thousands of years ago. The Grimoire was never sentient. It had preordained instructions. Even this conversation is one that I recorded before my death. So, let me assure you, you have everything you need to succeed. Whether you walk the path I laid for you will depend on your choices and yours alone, but I have faith in you, Harry Potter, Slayer of the World Serpent, Last Peverell, Master of Death, and the Raven's Chosen. Your legacy always was one of greatness, whichever path you take. I believe it's time for you to go home, for a storm is coming and may fortune favour."

And just like that, the man faded away, the Grimoire having disappeared with him, leaving a gaping Harry flabbergasted by the idea that he was talking with someone who had recorded his answers years prior. He felt a touch of absolution for everything he had ever done in his life so far, every wrong, every death, that his actions had accidentally caused. He hadn't realized how much he blamed himself until some invisible weight disappeared from his shoulder. But most of all, he felt relieved. There he had it, there was a path to victory, a way to win. Even if he didn't know what it was, not really, someone who knew the future had faith in him, and that removed any idea of giving up, of escaping to another universe from his mind.

He would find that path and walk it, if only for the sake of everyone who suffered for thousands of years, who died to forge this. With barely a gesture, Harry opened a portal and walked forward. He had one last stop to make before going home after all. After all, there was still one piece of the puzzle that was missing.

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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.