The Blood At Dusk (HP AU)

Chapter 12: Free soul

7:15pm. Shacklehook pushed a box towards Harry that had green, red, yellow and blue jeweled rings with silver bands sitting neatly in the velvet box. "These are your Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw lord rings, in this box are your Potter, Evans, Black and Lupin lord rings." He pushed another box towards Harry. The jewels on the golden bands were dark red for Potter, light blue for Evans, green and red for Black and purple for Lupin.

The box was wooden with a lion on the front, small rubies in it's mane. "If you wish, you can compact the rings into one emblem. Just focus your magic on the rings and they will appear as one." Harry did as he was instructed and just as explained, the rings morphed together to form a colourful ring. The band was silver, intertwined with gold and the jewel was a mix of light green, bright red, yellow, dark blue, dark red, light blue, dark green and purple. It looked like a rainbow. He placed it around his right wrist.

7:16pm. Another box was pushed towards Harry, except this one was longer and was a darker wood with golden frames around the box. "These are all your heirship rings, the reason you have not got a Slytherin ring is because the dark lord is the heir and is still living. But once he has passed, the position will be yours." Even the mention of Voldemort made Harry's head spin and his body hurt.

The Potter ring was a golden band covered in small rubies, simple yet it held great meaning to the last Potter alive. The Evans ring had a silver bad with swirling blue colours in it. The Black ring was pitch black and had emeralds and rubies on it, like the Potter ring. The lupin ring was a simple golden band with an inscription that said, "Even when you feel like it, you are not alone". The Gryffindor ring was pure ruby shaped into a band that had a lion carved into it. The Ravenclaw had a silver band that swirled round the bottom half of the finger and sapphires in between the gaps of silver and a feather shape in the midst of the silver band. The Hufflepuff rings was also a pure jewel band, but it was made out of an amber coloured topaz, there was a pattern of a black badger on the inside of the band. The pendragon ring had a golden band and a red dragon figure spiraling round. The Le Fey ring had a silver band and a lavender coloured flower figure on it. The Emrys ring was a pure diamond band with a deep purple dragon round the band.

"Again, the rings can be combined, it's the exact same instructions as before." The ring's band was a silver, gold, black, red, yellow and light blue and it covered the whole of the bottom of Harry's left index finger. Surprisingly, the rings didn't irritate his injured hand in the slightest. The jewels were placed randomly on the band, the colours were different shades of red, blue, yellow, green, purple etc; a marble patterned stone sat on the top of the ring, all the colours from the previously mentioned rings were melted into it and if you looked close enough and hard enough, you could see moving images of a red and gold lion, a yellow and black badger, a red dragon, a purple dragon and flower petals and feathers fell around them. Finally, to top it all off, there was the Lupin phrase "Even when you feel like it, you are not alone" floating above the prancing animals.

7:18pm. Harry was amazed, he looked at his left index finger and right wrist and smiled with newfound confidence. "Let's get those damn blocks off." Shacklehook smirked proudly, as if his own son had graduated from Hogwarts.

7:20pm. Harry and Shacklehook make it to a large set of doors, probably the size of a two story house. Shacklehook places his bony hand against the doors and says another chant in gobbledegook. "Open so thy souls can be cleansed." It sounded like an old phrase from the shakespearean times.

Many echoing clacks of locks filled the silence that surrounded the hallway. After a few moments, the doors opened slowly. The room was lined with dozens of protection and cleansing runes. There were carvings in the floor leading to a circle in the middle, and surrounding the carvings were exactly 10 goblins with their eyes closed, but senses heightened.

"Stand in the middle of the circle and the goblins will start chanting, you are not in danger. I promise." Another goblin spoke, sensing Harry's anxious demeanor. "Depending on the amount of blocks you have on you, this could last for 5 to 20 minutes. I'm warning you now, it will be painful and some even pass out, but I doubt you will." Harry gave him a questioning look. "I can feel your magic, it is powerful and stable. You will feel much better afterwards."

Harry's confidence started to bubble inside of his soul, his magic already showing strong abilities, even with the blocks on. He took a deep breath and walked into the circle and the goblins surrounding him gave a bow, and he bowed back. They smiled and started chanting, their eyes all focused on Harry, seemingly staring right into his soul.

7:27pm. A slight tingle in his chest could be felt. 

7:30pm. The tingle became a throb.

7:32pm. The throb became a stabbing pain.

7:34pm. The stabbing pain became excruciating. It felt like his magic was being ripped out of his body.

7:37pm. A bright turquoise light swallowed the whole room as Harry was relieved of his blocks. His inheritances showed up. His hair turned from a straight dark brown to a wavy pitch black that was shaved at the sides. His right eye gleamed an even brighter green, an astounding contrast to his pitch black sclera. His left eye became a blinding blue and the sclera became red. His jaw became stronger and sharper. His ears pointed and his figure grew to 5"7.

His markings shined through his jacket and t-shirt like a flashlight, and the gold and silver markings grew slightly, covering his whole right arm, whole chest, half of his sides, and half of his back, swirling majestically round the places where his wings expand out of.

His neck, wrists, shoulders, waist, knees and ankles split momentarily before reattaching with dark green and black stitches. Horns sprouted from his head, some thicker, longer and more curled round.

And finally, two large pairs of wings expanded from his shoulder blades. One pair with black feathers, the other scaley like a dragon's with a sharp horn at the elbow of the wings.

7:39pm. Harry's body finally stopped glowing and he fell on his hands and knees once the goblins had stopped chanting. 

7:41pm. Harry had sat down, leaning forward on his elbows. His body was screaming from pain. Not from the ritual, well, not mostly, but because of his back. He had managed to strain his presumably ripped muscles in his back and leaning forward was the only thing his body would let him do. But despite all the pain, he could feel his magic running through his veins and to his fingertips down to his toes then up to his head, an it kept repeating and repeating and repeating. It felt good, free even...

Shacklehook approached Harry and helped him lay on his back onto the stretcher that Ripclaw, the goblin who had talked to him before, had asked for. He noticed something was causing pain for Harry but did not know what until he saw the strained muscles even through his jacket. 

7:43pm. Harry blacked out from the pain.