Disclaimer:
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 80: The Summon
Harry cleared his throat. "Was I being too dramatic?..." He glanced at the nervous elf.
"N-No! Master is incredible!" Blinx hurried to say.
"Mmm… anyway. I should begin already. This ritual works better during the night." He turned his attention to the box the efl had brought the took some of the materials stored in there.
After spending a few minutes preparing everything and placing some black ointment on the stone altar, he turned his attention towards the terrified girl lying paralyzed on the altar and produced a knife with his wand.
"Ideally, I would use a proper ritualistic knife. But a conjured one will do for this time." Harry told the girl. "Don't you think?"
"Right… you can't talk back." Said Harry. "And you probably won't care what kind of knife I use to stab you. It would be impossible for a mere Muggle like you to appreciate what I am about to do."
He positioned the knife over her chest and began to chant in a strange tongue.
As he did so, bizarre things began to manifest around them.
The wind picked up, the clouds bundled together, creating occasional sparks of lightning.
Harry finished his chant by stabbing the girl in her heart with the ritual knife. "Demons of the Netherworld, here is your feast! Come and get this human soul. It's yours…"
A small black circle seemed to appear out of nowhere, right above the altar. It looked like a disk made of pure obsidian, and with the thickness of paper. It merely hovered in the air, perfectly parallel to the ground.
"Ehh!" Blinx saw this and immediately moved away. Even if the house elf had no understanding of demonology, it was at least able to feel the danger emanating from that portal.
All of a sudden, ripples formed on the surface, and three small monstrous creatures came out of it.
These creatures were around the size of the average dog. They had crimson skin, sharp teeth, and black eyes.
With two arms, two legs, and one long tail, they were somewhat similar to monkeys.
Hairless, red-skinned monkeys with claws and long fangs.
As they landed on top of the dying girl, the black portal vanished.
"Three imps?... I suppose I shouldn't have expected much for the soul of one mere human." Harry looked a bit disappointed by the result, but not overly so.
His expectations had been low to begin with. The book mentioned that this ritual would be enough to summon a low-rank demon after all.
The three imps glared at him for a moment, as if they were waiting for something.
"Go on. Her soul and body are yours. In exchange… you will serve me for ten years."
The demons responded by making some happy noises and biting into the girl's flesh.
As they consumed her body, the creatures were also eating away at her soul, which was unable to escape due to the ritual that Harry had performed.
Once the creatures were done, the only remnants of that young girl were a few bloodstains on the altar and her torn clothes.
"M-Master!" Blinx became terrified when he saw the demons turning their attention to him.
Harry chuckled when he saw this. "As amusing as that would be… none of you are allowed to touch any of my servants. Is that clear?"
The imps turned to him and made some grunting noises that he could identify as complaints.
These low-rank demons did not have the capability of speaking, and their intelligence was very limited, but they would always understand what their contractor was saying.
Now that Harry had sealed their deal, the demons would have to serve him for the next ten years, and then they would return to the Netherworld to continue their existence — or until someone else made a contract with them.
Ten years of servitude for one-third of a human soul may seem like a steep price, but for demons, even low-rank ones like these three, that amount of time was nothing, as they were eternal beings.
To them, it was no more significant than paying a few pounds for a quick meal from a food cart.
"Go away. There will be many more feasts in the future. I will call upon you when you are needed."
The demons obeyed his command and disappeared.
"See? That's the kind of followers that I need…" Harry commented.
"M-Master?... the scary red monkeys are here to stay?" Blinx asked.
"Yes, and many more will come after them." Harry pointed at the altar.
"Clean that up. I will be using it again tomorrow. It is time to rebuild my army. Now, I'm going to rest."
<><><><><><><><><><>
When Harry opened his eyes again, he saw the sun shining through the curtains of his room.
Wondering how long he had slept, he used a 'Tempus' charm and realized it was already close to midday.
After a quick cleaning, Harry went to the living room, where he found Susan reading a newspaper with an expression of concern.
She turned to look at him after hearing his steps. "Blinx brought it this morning."
"I know. I asked him to do that. Owls cannot find this place, so the house elf needs to go out to get some information about what is happening outside." He pointed at the paper. "Bad news?"
She handed it to him. "It mentions what happened to my aunt…"
"Mmm…" Harry had no interest in that. But he did care about what the front page was saying. "How dare they…"
Apparently, Voldemort had broken into Azkaban and rescued five of his most dangerous and loyal servants.
"He thinks he can go into my house, take what he wants, and leave without consequences…" Harry was filled with rage.
Even if he wasn't currently in control of his old fortress, he still found it offensive that someone would break into it, damage its precious walls, and take some of the prisoners he was planning on using as ingredients later on.
'It is time that I begin planning my return and take what is rightfully mine.' For that, he was going to need more forces, though.
Three imps, one house elf, and one young witch were not going to be enough to take Azkaban back. But more importantly, they would not be enough to keep it, since the Ministry was unlikely to just give it up without a fight.
Luckily, he already had the tools he needed to regrow his forces. Now he just needed to use them.
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