As the fellowship of the ring set about setting up camp Gandalf approached Harry cautiously. For a moment Harry, caught in his musings didn't notice his presence but shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to speak with the elderly wizard.
"What do you seek to know, the grey, that I can answer?" was Harry's quiet query.
"What have you summoned, I recognize the Fayth stone that you carry as such; but I do not know what you expect of us now that you have fulfilled your side of the bargain we struck." Gandalf was quite earnest when he quietly replied to Harry's question, and was gripping his staff quite tightly.
Harry could not help but smile at the fear that Gandalf could not help but show to him; not out of pleasure but rather a gentle amusement that one who was so much older than he could be frightened of him when he had yet to show any sign of hostility. With a small sigh he gestured towards a log and waited for Gandalf to settle himself. Once settled the grey eyes of the older wizard turned to the younger with slight impatience, causing Harry's smile to widen slightly as he stepped forward to answer him quietly. "I have summoned a Chira that is bound to my family, it has been centuries since we have walked this world and we need the knowledge that the Chira gather to themselves to understand what our place is in this time of this world… no, I am not asking you to tell me" he quickly said in response to Gandalf's mouth opening to start telling him what he knew. "I need an impersonal point of view; and while I know what you are Maiar, I also can tell that you have walked amongst the mortal's for too long of a time to be truly impartial as I need to be when I make my choices."
Gandalf looked solemn for a moment before giving a slow nod and turning inward with his thoughts. Harry turning to watch the camp several yards away decided that he needed to make a quick announcement and strode towards the fire that already the human that had carried him had a rabbit roasting over. "May I have all of your attention for a moment please? Thank you, I need to let all of you know that I have summoned a creature here to give me some knowledge that I lack in this present time… as such I would appreciate if none of you would cause it any harm as if harm were to come to the Chira I would be forced to avenge it." At their acknowledging nods he gave them a swift smile and a short bow, and turned back to Gandalf, who was still sitting upon the log a short ways away. "The grey? I seem to have been remiss in not asking your name, would you honor me with such?"
"Gandalf" was the simple reply of the old Maiar in gray robes. "I know that it is not my place to ask you this, but I feel the need to ask all the same." Harry gave him a sharp glance and then turned his back upon the man and gave an even sharper nod. Gandalf held in his sigh of relief as he continued. "I actually have a few questions…. First, you spoke of a time when you were here previously, when I was not yet of this world, when was this? And also, why did you leave, or return for that matter? Or even more confusing is that I know my purpose in the world but what is yours?" Gandalf realized rather abruptly that he was asking in depth questions without leaving Harry time to answer and quieted himself… and then promptly blanched as he realized he had not asked in the proper protocol of a mage, he could not help but shiver a little as he held himself still, hoping desperately that Chaos would not be offended by his manner. Little did he know that harry was hiding a smile at the old man's babble.
Without turning to the Istari he took a deep breath, letting it go, he sighed as he had a small flashback to that fateful trip to Gringott's bank.
IN RAGNAROK'S OFFICE
Still reeling internally about what he had learned this day he sat slouched in the chair across the desk from Ragnarok. Finally he steeled himself and forced himself to do a quick review of what he knew; Dumbledore was paying the Dursley's to treat him like they did… which now that he thought about it, completely explained… the other. The Dursley's for all of their blather about his uselessness had been paid to keep him. He had more money than he knew what to do with… which had been hidden from him by Dumbledore. He was the Lord of two ancient families, and he should have known about that much sooner than he had.
As he went over these he realized that there must be a lot more that he didn't know about that had to be a part of Dumbledore's schemes; and he needed to find out what that was. The more he accepted these painful facts the quicker his brain came up with questions, and so he turned to Ragnarok and started to ask some of the first to come to mind. "As a lord of families do I have specific duties?" was the first to come from his mouth.
Ragnarok smiled a sharp-toothed grin that if Harry hadn't been so desperately holding himself together might have frightened him. "Indeed, young lord you have several duties. First duty can be held at the end of this conversation… do you remember the tomes that I handed to you earlier?"
"Of course," replied the boy, thinking about what the goblin had said about them "you said that if I read them while wearing the rings I would gain all the knowledge of the previous lords… wait a minute if I can gain knowledge like that what is the point of going to school? Wouldn't all the ancient houses just give the books to their children and have them temporarily wear the rings so that they would learn quickly?"
At the well thought out question Ragnarok grinned even more broadly. "Indeed Mr. potter; if they could do that a great many families would train their youngsters in that fashion. Unfortunately, while nearly every ancient house of the wizarding world has the books that match the family head ring; unless the magic of the book themselves considers you worthy they are completely invisible, only the caretakers and the chosen can see the books at all, and only the chosen can read from them." Here the goblin looked closely at Harry and continued when he had verified that Harry was indeed listening to him. "You are the first wizard in over 154 years to see even one book much less the two that were given to you; that combined with the two eggs that you have been deemed worthy of parenting is a much larger deal than you could understand right now."
Harry thought about the answer to the first question he had asked and realized that in a way it had been completely answered, because the book itself would tell him of his duties. With a quick decisive nod to himself he turned his attention back to the goblin sitting in front of him and asked his next one. "Do you have a way to see any other ways that Dumbledore may have imposed himself upon my life?" this question was asked quietly… but there was no mistaking the anger being held in check.
Ragnarok sat back in his high chair and was visibly thinking how to answer the young lord. Finally he made a decision while looking Harry in the eye he leaned forward and quietly said "We as goblins have many magics that are intrinsic to our race they are abilities that are literally woven into the fabric of our existence; the rarest of these powers is the ability to read ones magic and usually we do not discuss this, as it is a precious gift that the wizards at one point tried to strip from us. Because we at Gringott's did not help you prevent theft from your vaults I will allow you to have this gift used on you… in return I ask that you never speak of it to wizards or witches."
Harry nodded quickly and followed the goblin when he got up. Swiftly leaving the office section of Gringott's behind they headed deep into the tunnels of the bank until finally the goblin stopped before what appeared to be a blank wall. It took but a moment for the goblin to find something hidden in the rock but once he did the wall swung into itself leaving a doorway. He entered a large cavern after Ragnarok and followed him to a young looking goblin female who spent but a moment looking at Ragnarok before nodding and gesturing for harry to follow her; harry followed without commenting not looking back at the goblin he left behind for fear of losing sight of the swift gobliness. After many minutes of following he came before a large clean pond and on the other side of the cavern was a pedestal. The gobliness quickly caught his attention and mimed for him to remove his clothing and swim across the water and then continued to gesture that he should sit upon the pedestal; harry had quickly caught on that he wasn't to speak when she held a finger to her lips when he opened his mouth and quickly pantomimed what she said for verification. She nodded to him and he silently sighed and nodded.
After a moment of waiting he realized that she wasn't going to leave; blushing brightly he dropped his head to hide his red cheeks, unknowingly giving her a large amount of amusement, and swiftly undressed, taking a moment to fold his overly large rag-like garments and stepped to the water… this was going to be cold, he just knew it would be. Finally with a quiet sigh he stepped forward and completed the actions requested of him.
It took him over an hour to get across what had appeared to be a simple pond. The appearance of the water was indeed deceptive as he found when he entered he felt something shift around him and suddenly the pond was a lake with a current that would put the undercurrent of the ocean to shame. Harry by no means was a great swimmer; he had very little practice at such things, a few school field trips in his former years. But he could float with the best of them, and as he strained desperately not to drown he felt his magic help him in his struggle against drowning here in this place far below the ground.
Eventually he reached the other side and literally crawled upon the ground to the small altar like pedestal upon the far shore, he sat upon it and desperately tried to sit up straight… it was rather a sad attempt though, his exhaustion showing through in his posture. Eventually as he sat there he grew colder and felt his body become even more chilled. He quickly accepted that he couldn't maintain a dignified stance and curled up to retain his warmth; slightly surprised that his magic was once again trying to help him… it was now straining to keep him warm and lessen the shudders that his shivers quickly grew into.
BACK WITH THE CAMP
Legolas watched Chaos as he sat upon a rock a short distance from Mithrandir; his back turned to the grey wizard. He blessed the sharp hearing of his people for he felt a desperate urge to hear anything and everything that the mage would say. He had only once before felt such a strong pull, and he had been rewarded by the tight brother-like friendship with Estel. He listened intently as the mage sighed and twisted upon his rock to see the wizard.
"I was here once long ago; the first of the Valar had need of my services. Melkyor had been enthralled with the vampires of several nearby realms and wanted to create his own with all of the traits that he most admired in them. He made a few mistakes in their construction and while they had minds and great possibility, they lacked any form of control over their powers and their bloodlust.
The Valar had agreed that he could create a race since he had been yearning to and so would not destroy the vampires. But they also could not let them reign unchecked upon Middle Earth. As such they called upon me to help them; I had a great deal of experience with the vampires of my then current realm and a great deal of power and knowledge, I found a way to give the vampires the control they desperately needed, and unintentionally took a great price from them.
Vampires used to be able to shape-shift and at one time they could travel in the son… my aid cost them that but gave them control over their bloodlust and their bodies. Many considered it an even trade; and a few declared me a monster unworthy of life. Either way; I was distraught to have cost them so much, and could not bring myself to inflict my presence upon them and left shortly there-after."
The mage gave a quiet sigh. "I was promised a place in this world to recuperate if I should ever need it, and so apparently they have decided that I have need of such and am here. I await my Chira to confirm this or to tell me how I am needed." The mage stood then and turned to the wizard; "I will not be traveling with you any further either way; I feel a call being sent to me… I have noticed the anxious glances that you have cast towards the mountains, and the call leads me in another direction. You need not worry about my presence after this night." And following these simple words he used his staff to regain his feet and walked away into a stand of trees a distance away, quickly swallowed up by the treeline.
Legolas accepted that Harry would not stay, but felt a sharp, hard pang of sadness that the mage would not be with them. He quickly turned his attention back to the fire and thought over what had been said; feeling awe at the power the young appearing man must have, to have gained to attention of the Valar. He shook his head and let his thoughts drift… he wondered what was calling to the wizard…
Harry sighed as he felt the shadows of the treeline embrace him into their depths; he had felt the curious gazes of his watchers. And while not meaning him any harm it had been unsettling. He was glad now that the book of black had been the first to be read, and as such the memories offered were the first to have settled into his mind… even then, though he knew that this world had changed a great deal in what he remembered as his time as the first tiered war-mage of a race of people long forgotten by time. The book had been what the goblins had said… and so much more that it wasn't even amusing.
The book did not just give knowledge, it gave the full memories, in effect making you both the previous heads of the family and yourself, fusing the entities together in their entirety. Harry's attention was drawn from his musings by a rather painful thud as something slammed into his stomach shoving him into the ground painfully; causing his head to slam into a small rick on the ground, and swiftly sending his mind into the deep realms of darkness… Harry knew no more.