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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 82: The Protectors
The next morning, Harry was staring at ten black stone golems who stood in front of him. They were imposing figures, hewn from dark, enchanted obsidian, standing as silent, formidable guardians.
A lot of material was lost due to his corrosive and piercing spells, so he had to adjust their numbers and size a bit.
"Mmm… what do you think? Do they look boring?" Harry asked.
"Who cares about that?" V had to admit that they looked more plain than the ornate, rune-etched ones at the ancient tomb. "Can they fight like the others?"
"They should. The materials from their bodies have been recycled from them. I made some modifications to their runes to change their behaviour slightly. They will protect anyone who is tied to the wards from intruders, and use any means necessary to do so."
"Any means necessary sounds deadly," V pointed out.
"And?" Harry didn't see the problem. "They will only attack intruders. No one else."
"I have never felt more proud of you!" V exclaimed. "But...isn't ten of them a bit too much? You have already reinforced the existing ward using five of those arkstones you bought from the weird lady," He added.
"Oh, I'm not leaving all ten of them here. Five are coming with me. I'm planning on using them to protect my tower."
"That white tower you made in the forest?"
"That same one. I still have plans for it. I just… haven't had the tim—"
Both V and Harry felt it at the same time. Someone had appeared at the border of the wards.
"You'd better hurry, before the old man gets roasted," V advised him.
Harry wasted no time getting outside before Dumbledore tried to enter.
He found the old Headmaster looking towards the Weasley house while pointing with his wand, his expression one of analytical curiosity.
"Don't try to poke it with that thing, unless you want to get shocked," Harry advised him.
"This wasn't here when I last visited," Dumbledore said.
"Yes, it was. It had just lost its power. I only had access to some tiny arkstone crystals. Now it's much more potent than before," Harry explained.
"I see." Dumbledore seemed to be pondering something. "I suppose I no longer need to worry about them. It has been weighing on my mind after the attack."
"I promised that I would keep them safe." Harry extended his hand to the Headmaster. "Hold on to me. I will tie you into the wards so they won't attack you."
"They?" Dumbledore sounded suspicious, but still grasped Harry's arm.
When they walked past the boundaries of the pyramid-shaped ward, Dumbledore could finally see what was inside.
His eyes widened with shock. "What are… those?"
"Obsidian Golems. They will serve as additional protection. I was just done giving them their finishing touches."
"They are magical constructs, like the ones we have at Hogwarts." Dumbledore got a bit closer, his blue eyes missing no detail.
The old wizard extended his hand, and just as he was about to touch one of the golems, this one let out a sharp sound and its eye began to glow like a pair of yellow torches.
Dumbledore gasped and took a step back, a faint shimmer of protective magic flickering around his fingertips.
"These are a bit different," said Harry. "Extremely resistant to magic and physical attacks. Extremely difficult to damage. I had to put a lot of effort into destroying the original ones."
"What do you mean by original ones? I thought you made them."
"More like… refurbished." Harry snapped his fingers, and four more golems became active. "Go to your positions and wait for instructions. You won't move again until then."
The golems began to walk in different directions, each one of them moving to a different part of the garden with heavy, earth-shaking steps.
Once they reached the boundaries of the ward, they stopped, turned towards the house, and remained completely still. Their glowing eyes disappeared, returning to dormant stone.
"And the others?" Dumbledore pointed at the remaining five, who remained inactive.
"I have other plans for those." Harry pulled out a small black box and enlarged it while moving it over the golems.
A moment later, they were all gone, and the box returned to rest on the palm of his hand.
"I'm assuming you didn't call me here just to show me this," Dumbledore said.
"I did not." Harry stored the box inside his pocket. "I wanted you to see that the house is safe again, so you can go tell the family. Also…"
"You want me to tell them that all these protections are my own doing." Dumbledore could guess his intentions, as the Weasley family remained unaware of what he could do. "Very well. But don't you need to tie them into the ward? We don't want them being attacked the moment they set foot in their house."
"That won't happen. Ginny had already placed some of her blood into the core array. The Weasley family has nothing to fear from these protections or the golems."
"And the hole? I couldn't help but notice that it was still there when I arrived," the Headmaster pointed out.
"I promised that I would fix it, and I will," Harry responded.
Dumbledore nodded. "Very well, I will leave it in your capable hands then. I will now go in—"
"Any news yet?" Harry interrupted the man. "About the Dark Lord."
"I'm afraid not, Harry. You cannot rush these things. Severus is currently away, and I will probably not receive any updates for a few days yet," Dumbledore explained. "Impatience will get you nowhere," the Headmaster added after seeing the expression on Harry's face, his tone gentle but firm.
"Listen to the old man, Harry," V told him.
"I will go fix the hole now." Harry walked away from Dumbledore. Right now, he did not want to say what he really thought about his slow methods, the frustration a cold stone in his gut.
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