Death's Chosen Child

Chapter 4: Part four

When Harry, Remus, and Sirius land in Little Hangleton, everything screams at Harry to get away, far, far, away from it. But he tries to shake it off and plunders through.

Sirius and Remus also seem to be struggling not to flee the scene.

''There are some pretty strong wards around this place,'' Remus murmurs with his wand at the ready.

''Bloody hell, Moony! Strong is an understatement,'' Sirius grumbles while stepping closer to Harry. Harry feels amused that Sirius thinks he can or need to protect Harry, while Harry doesn't need it at all.

''What did you expect from the 'Dark Lord','' Harry snorts. The two adults both nod in agreement with a frown, and they slowly make their way towards the shack. Harry waves his hand to unravel the wards, it's hard work, but he hadn't expected anything less from Tom.

The man was brilliant when he was still sane and extremely powerful. It wasn't a surprise that he is the only Dark Lord that can help Magical Britain back to where they are supposed to be.

Harry steps forwards, and the wards disappear around him. It is as if the wards accept him. He doesn't want to know what the reason is behind that.

When he looks back, he sees Remus and Sirius watching him with worried expressions. They can pass the last wards and are pushing against it with no progress.

''I'll be fine, stay on watch. I'll be right back.'' He tries to assure them, but Sirius only pales.

''Why can't you take us with you?'' He pleads.

''Because the wards won't let you in, and I don't want to waste any more time to dismantle them. No need to worry.'' He dismisses, maybe it's harsh, but he really doesn't need any help with this.

Sirius and Remus definitely don't like it, but they let Harry go while staying watch. Sirius even turns into Padfoot to sniff around.

Harry turns back to the cabin, which seems ready to fall apart. Harry grimaces when he sees the dead snake nailed on the door and speaks in Parseltongue to gain entrance. Tom is easy to predict with this, he is the only Parseltongue in Britain, or so he was until Harry.

The door swings open, and out of habit, Harry brings up his wand. Even if it doesn't work for him anymore, well, it works, but it doesn't do much. His wandless magic is just as accurate as the wand, and he has another wand waiting for him. He only needs to get his hands on it.

He walks into the cabin carefully, fully expecting a trap, but it remains silent, and nothing moves. He walks through the cabin but can't find anything that screams Horcrux. He was so sure that the resurrection stone was here. He can practically feel it! But where the bloody hell is it?

Harry takes a step, and three things happen at the same time. The first thing Harry registers is the creaking of the floorboard he stepped on, the second is the slamming of the door he had left open on purpose, and the third is the echo of a hiss of way too many snakes.

Harry is just in time to jump to the side when from out of nowhere, hundreds of snakes emerge. They're all hissing, and Harry can barely make out the words, but some filter through.

'Kill - Protect - Master - Maim - Protect Master!'

''Stop!'' Harry yells in Parseltongue, and the snakes stop, much to Harry's surprise. And to their own, if Harry guesses correctly when a tentative ''master?'' is hissed.

''Y-Yes, Master, stop attacking. Go back. I need to retrieve something.'' Harry stumbles out, a little overwhelmed at the army of snakes in front of him that suddenly halted their movements.