You want to do it now?' Salazar didn't seem convinced it was a good idea. 'It's the morning.'
'How long will it take?' Harry asked, picking the canvas off the wall and carrying it out across the bridge into the main chamber.
The portrait leant its head to one side, thoughtfully stroking the head of his companion. 'Around an hour,' Slytherin decided eventually, 'depending on how quickly you manage to create the patterns of the ritual.'
'Just enough time before lunch,' Harry grinned, slightly nervous.
'You'll tired for the rest of the day,' the founder warned, 'and I don't mean the occasional yawn. You'll be fighting to keep your eyes open every second of it.'
'I've only really got one piece of magic I need to perform later today,' Harry shrugged. 'I'll venture to the hospital wing for a potion or two to keep me on my feet.'
'Well if you've made your mind up I can hardly stop you,' the portrait snarked. Harry propped it up against the usual effigy that doubled as Salazar's support and pulled out the book.
'What do I want?' He asked, flicking through the first few pages. 'I'm assuming something in patterns of seven, it is the magically strongest number.'
'Three concentric stars,' Slytherin confirmed, 'large enough for you to stand in, and unbroken.'
'I'll have to draw them in blood, won't I,' Harry realised.
'Yes,' the founder nodded seriously, 'and you'll have to do it quickly, the ritual needs the blood to be fresh, its effect fades once it has begun to congeal.'
'Perfect,' Harry commented dryly. 'I'll prepare the Wormwood, Bayberry and unicorn horn first, then.'
'Remember that you want the leaves to be cut fine, and well mixed,' Salazar instructed from his spot on the floor. 'I remember,' Harry replied lightly. 'Can I use magic? They're going to be covered in my blood regardless.'
'Magic will be fine,' Slytherin agreed.
Harry slipped his wand from his sleeve, casting the cutting curse at the ankle high pile of leaves over and over again until they had been reduced to tiny flecks of green.
'That's more than adequate,' Salazar told him. 'You'll want unicorn horn at every inner point of the smallest star, and the plants at every outer one.'
'So I just have to draw it all,' Harry realised, re-arranging the items with a flick of his wand.
He raised his wand and began to sketch all the relevant patterns and runes into the floor around him in burning, purple flames, correcting his design whenever Slytherin tutted and called out a mistake.
The three symmetrical, seven-pointed stars blazed especially bright when Harry carefully placed the unicorn horn and mixture of Bayberry and Wormwood leaves in their respective places. A circles of forty-nine runes surrounded the stars and, unlike the last two times, he understood their meanings and significance within the ritual. A description of his intent written in glyphs around him.
'That's as close to perfect as you'll be able to make it,' Salazar decided, looking approvingly over the patterns surrounding Harry. 'Now you just need to go over the stars with blood.'
He makes it sound so simple.
The stars were half a metre along each face; it was going to be quite a lot of blood. His toes curled uncomfortably, but he bared his wrist all the same and pressed the tip of his wand to it.
Harry gently drew the tip of his wand across the smooth skin, watching as it parted, stinging and burning as the trickle of crimson thickened into a stream and began to drip down onto the point of the first star.
He was pale and shaking by the time he managed to finish the final star, but an unbroken line of his blood, as thick as his thumb ran along every face of the shape.
'I'm ready,' he told the portrait, conjuring a rope to tie around his forearm.
'You should take off your glasses, then,' Salazar remarked. 'You shouldn't be needing those again.'
'Will I black out like last time?' Harry asked, stepping into the centre of the pattern, blinking at the blurry runes around him. He could only just make out those for blood or essence, body, sight and sacrifice at the top of the circle.
'No,' the founder shook his head, mirrored by his snake, 'it will hurt, though.'
'Everything seems to hurt,' Harry commented.
The runes were beginning to pulse, glowing a brighter purple, and the three stars shone a deep, brilliant crimson, even as the small piles of leaves hissed and burst into clouds of thick white smoke.
It stung violently at his eyes and Harry blinked furiously, trying to keep them open, but he swiftly pressed them tightly closed when the seven inner points of the stars flared a blinding white. Even closed his eyes still burnt, and it quickly became clear that it wasn't the smoke that was affecting them. A tingle of something cold wrapped itself around his feet, curling and climbing up his calves. It moved quickly, numbing his muscles as it spread across his stomach and chest from his legs. He felt like he was slowly being submerged in cold water.
Harry instinctively took a deep breath, choking slightly on the smoke, when the cold reached his lips, then it was across his face and the sensation in his eyes intensified a thousand times over.
He flinched, pressing his hands desperately into his brow, but it did nothing to alleviate the sensation. His eyes continued to burn and tingle unbearably, and the brilliant light of the ritual shone through his eyelids.
Abruptly the light vanished, and the stinging in his eyes went with it, but the cold grew stronger than before, freezing him to the spot, so he couldn't even open his eyes. Harry felt it draining away his strength, stealing his magic from him as his sacrifice to keep the effects of the ritual was finally taken.
The cold vanished, and Harry opened his eyes. The blurriness was gone, he could see every detail of the runes he'd inscribed around him, and take in every aspect of the blackened, bloody leaves and horn fragments about him.
'Did it work?' Salazar asked. Harry nodded, but the sharp motion of his head made him feel dizzy and nauseous, so he sat down heavily on the floor.
'Regretting not doing it in the evening?' Slytherin asked snidely.
'No,' Harry disagreed. 'I'm really very hungry. If I could muster the energy to get to the Great Hall for lunch I'd say I timed it perfectly.' 'The dizziness will pass,' Salazar told him. 'Go to the hospital wing before eating, then get some energy back and try do as little as possible for the rest of the day.'
'That last bit sounds like a good idea,' Harry smiled faintly.
'Then go,' the founder ordered. He looked around him irritatedly. 'You can leave me here for now, if you tried putting me back we'd probably both end up in the pool.'
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