A/N: I am sorry that this is a bit late, but I firmly believe that a piece of writing will not be its best if it does not sit for a while. Authors that rush out their chapters for the sake of readers will more likely than not write a sub-par story. And I want my story to be great.

Enjoy.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Mage

By B. Peter Adams

Chapter Two: Awakening

Privet Drive lay in chaos. People swarmed about; all sense of order and control had been lost. Befuddled and horrified wizards mingled with confused and terrified muggles. There were several people screaming. A group of the muggle women stood in a huddle off to the side, sobbing, their emotions taking over. A group of men stood, gazing in complete and utter horror at the hole in the ground before them.

The only person that seemed to have any inkling of any path of action was the strangely dressed man who was busy securing the perimeter of Number 4, Privet Drive. This man, old as he appeared to be, and dressed in purple robes of all things, had a purpose, and so exuded an aura of confidence that others drew into themselves. His assuring gait, his single-minded actions, and his calming attitude all helped the scene from deteriorating further. The muggles, who had absolutely no clue what was going on, felt strangely calm in this man's presence. This man of course, was Albus Dumbledore.

After the explosion rocked the street, and probably the entire town, Dumbledore sat on the ground, completely and utterly stunned. Such a display of power, one he had seen in very few wizards of that young age. If Dumbledore thought of it, he had actually never seen such a display of raw magical energy. Dumbledore was simply stunned. Then the worry crept in. That explosion could have killed Harry!

Dumbledore sprang to his feet with purpose in his step. "Hey you!" he shouted at the Ministry officials. "Could you please keep those muggles back? If there is any backlash magic, they could be killed." This was of course, less of a request than a command. "And you," Dumbledore continued gesturing to another official from the Ministry of Magic, "contact some of the Unspeakables and Aurors. There's going to need to be an investigation." Both men set off on their given tasks. After all, you did not refuse the most respected man in all of Magical England. Even if he had just gained back a bulk of that respect.

Dumbledore was easily settling into the role of a commander, of a leader. These skills were those he had picked up in the 1930s and early 1940s. That was when much of his respect had been gained. That was when he had become the leader so many people took him to be.

"Bill, come here, maybe you can help me. You are good at sensing residual magic, correct?" Bill stepped forward, pleased that the older wizard had recognized his talents, even if the situation appeared dire. "Yes sir," Bill said, "what are you thinking?" he asked.

"If Harry is indeed dead, then his magic should be around here somewhere in a residual form. That is why we need an official from the Department of Mysteries. They are bound to have someone who specializes in residual magic after death. Just look around for left over magic. I will be able to identify it as Harry's."

Bill searched and searched, and eventually found a strong aura of magic designed to kill. It was not so dark as the Killing Curse, but Bill Weasley knew enough about reading auras to read intent. His job after all depended on it. In the tombs of Egypt, every curse breaker needed to be proficient in the skill, so that they would know whether or not it was safe to proceed, assuming they could not remove the protections. And this aura held a certain ambience of harm about it.

"Sir, look at this. I don't know if it is Harry's but there is some magic here. And it is not the remnants of a Killing Curse."

Dumbledore strolled over, looking where Bill indicated. He drew in a gasp of air upon seeing the brilliance of the aura. He was impressed at the pure magical energy that permeated the spell. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that rather than using some spell, Harry had simply unleashed his magic in its purest form, bending it to his will. But that was impossible. The only magical creatures even rumored to be able to do that were the Mages of millennia past, long believed extinct, hunted down and destroyed from within.

But one thing that Dumbledore concluded from this manifestation of seemingly pure magic, was that the boy was still alive, somewhere. But evidently, and mysteriously, he had vanished from Privet Drive. How had Dumbledore come to this conclusion? Being so old, Albus Dumbledore had had a lot of time to learn, and so had learned the basics of nearly every kind of magic over his extremely long lifetime. And he knew that when a magical being died, its magical core deteriorated. Any ambient magic left from the individual would either break down or become infused in its surroundings. This is what had happened with the founders of Hogwarts, and why the castle itself was so magical. When the founders had died, the magic left over from their time there integrated itself into the very bricks of the castle. Slowly, over time, the same happened to the magic left by her subsequent students. Therefore, today, the castle of Hogwarts was truly the sum of all her previous occupants.

Dumbledore did know that he was of course no expert of the subject, however, so had essentially sent for one. Dumbledore, understanding that he could do little to help the situation, sat on an unearthed stone to wait for the Unspeakable. He did not wait long. After barely five minutes of waiting Dumbledore heard two more pops, signaling the arrival of the Unspeakable and Auror.

"Finally!" exclaimed the Headmaster. Dumbledore quickly explained to the Unspeakable his theory regarding the magic surrounding the area, and asked him to confirm his theory. The Unspeakable did several tests on the area, using some complex spells that nobody else there knew of. Even the headmaster, as learned as he was, did not recognize the magic the man was doing. While the Unspeakable conducted his business, Albus and the Auror conversed quietly.

"Kingsley, you know we need to perform memory charms on the muggles, correct?" Albus asked the member of the Order of the Phoenix.

"Yes, sir, that is a given. I have already sent word for the Obliviators. But what shall we do with this giant hole in the ground? There is too much pure magic in the air to repair the damage. Doing too much magic, I know could cause a deterioration of the existing magic, essentially destroying the remaining area," Kingsley said, "so I have no clue what to do. Even if we Obliviate the witnesses, they are going to notice such a colossal hole in the ground. It's sort of hard to miss."

"Yes, yes of course. What are we to do? Harry has disappeared somehow, leaving us to clean up this mess without knowing exactly what has happened."

"Sir, I've just found an interesting trace of magic over here, near where the back of the house was," interrupted the Unspeakable, "put these on, Headmaster, it will make it easier to explain." The Unspeakable handed the Headmaster a pair of spectacles, which were a Department of Mysteries invention. Rarely, if ever were they used by a non-Unspeakable.

The Headmaster replaced his own glasses with those offered to him, and gasped at the multitude of colors around him. There was a large amount of residual magic in the area, magic he had previously been unable to see. Most of it shared a common pattern; one he recognized as the same that he and Bill had surmised to be Harry's magic.

"Now, see here, Headmaster, this one pattern, the striped blue one, with little streaks of brown and purple? That is Harry Potter's residual magic. Many of these pieces of magic have traces of intent to heal. Almost as if, at one point in his life, Potter needed to use his magic to survive. Had he been young at the time, this might have served to strengthen his magical core. Which would explain some of the stranger circumstances surrounding the boy. However, this is not what I was bringing you here to see." The Unspeakable explained, keeping his thinking simple, much simpler than the actual theory behind his thinking. Those that had not studied this branch of magic for years would not understand it.

"That patch of black magic is of course the residual from Voldemort's curses. I recognize the pattern from my inspection of the Potter home in 1981. This is also expected. Even the boy's counter attacks and attacks, those residuals were also expected. This, however, is not anything I expected to find," The unspeakable gestured a field of magic near where he had spent some amount of time, "This residual magic, as you can see, is of a different pattern from the others. It's intent is also different. Radically different. See the slight variance between these two patterns, and yet they are nearly the same. That indicates that the same person cast the spells, but the spells' intents were different. I have surmised that this one," the man indicated the one on their left, "and this one," indicating the immediately adjacent one "are blocking wards. I believe that these indicate the wards you had difficulty breaking through when trying to gain access to the property. Now this third one, I believe, is a portal."

The Unspeakable looked at the Headmaster, waiting for Dumbledore to make the connection.

"Are you telling me, sir," said Dumbledore in as even a voice as possible, given that one of his students had seemingly just disappeared from the face of the Earth, "that some unknown person or persons has taken Harry Potter to an undisclosed location?"

"Precisely," answered the Unspeakable. "On the plus side, I have surmised, as you had previously, that wherever the boy has been taken, he is alive."

Dumbledore was visibly uneasy about this small assurance. His prized student was gone, taken by an unknown party, but they had concluded that he was indeed alive. This was a small comfort for their very large predicament.

"And the explosion?" prompted Albus, "what are your findings on the cause of that?"

"Those, are somewhat less surprising, but I cannot confirm without actually conducting tests on the boy. As I expected going into this situation, all indicators show that the boy's magical core was the cause of the explosion. For a reason that I cannot confirm without performing a test, the magical core seemed to be unstable during the duel," explained the Unspeakable.

"You are saying of course that you think that his magical core expanded somewhat rapidly," stated Dumbledore, having some knowledge of the subject, having something similar happen to himself in his youth. When he had been young, his magical core went through an expansion and the uncontained magic had blasted a hole in the wall of his room. It was on a much smaller scale than whatever Harry had done, but it was comparable.

"Precisely, although based on my previous findings, I would say that it was an extremely rapid expansion. For the excess magic to neutralize such a large area and cause such a disturbance, the core must expand much more rapidly to attempt to get this pure magic back under control. Once it is finished expanding so rapidly, the explosion happens to get rid of excess magic that it could not accommodate. I have a feeling that Harry James Potter is now a very strong wizard."

Dumbledore stood in stunned silence. This was not anything he had expected. He knew that the boy was extremely powerful already. It had shocked him in the past just how powerful the core had appeared, even at the age of eleven. And now this Unspeakable was telling him that it was possible Harry was even more powerful? It was unthinkable. But not entirely unwelcome, given Harry's task. The issue remained, however; where was the boy?

Harry felt completely, utterly tired. He could barely move, his muscles ached, and he felt incredibly warm under these covers. Blearily, Harry opened his eyes, only to be greeted by a blinding white light, to which he promptly snapped his eyes shut once more, giving a groan of pain. The sudden light had given the boy a headache.

"Aha! He's awake! About goddamned time!" came an unknown voice, assumingly in response to the groan.

"Give him a break, sir, he has after all gone through a very rapid expansion of his magical core," came a second voice, this one feminine, and kinder sounding. "Actually, judging from that fever he's running, I would say that the core is still solidifying. Almost nobody wakes up until after that stage of healing!"

"Bah! You're a Healer, you know nothing of the training this boy must go through!" answered the first voice.

Harry's eyes snapped open once again at this statement, questions flying around his head, as the second voice, apparently that of a Healer, snapped back, "But I am a Master Healer, I'm positive I know more about healing than that of a Master Warrior Mage! You keep to your specialty, and I'll keep to mine!"

"Um, excuse me," said Harry quite confused about the situation he found himself in, "but what are you talking about? What training, and where are we and—"

"He speaks!" shouted the man, who, now that Harry had taken a good look at him, certainly appeared to be a military man. He had a black battle robe on, trimmed with gold. He stood regally, very sure of his stature. On the man's soldiers were epaulets, and pinned onto these epaulets stood a few pins: three gold stars, a bird, that appeared to be a phoenix, and several gold and silvers bars. On the front of his coat, where those in the muggle military might hang medals they had been awarded, were several more pins. These were a pin of two swords crossed, two wands crossed, a hand, a bow and arrow, and a few other pins, which Harry could not identify. Overall, the man made for an impressive, intimidating stature. He was fairly tall, probably about 5 foot 11 inches tall, and had a stalwart look about him. The way he carried himself suggested a confidence that had been ingrained into his very being. He was strong, but not necessarily huge. If Harry were to guess, he'd say that the man was nimble, and could probably use that to his advantage in battle.

"Ah, young Harry, I believe I can explain that," said a third voice, which came from a man who had been calmly observing the discussion between colleagues. "The place you currently find yourself is the Healer's Ward within the Academy of Mages. I am Grand Master of the Academy, Grand Master George S. Mallory, and this man here, is Grand Master of Battle Tactics. He is in charge of all apprenticing of Battle Mages. That is why you are here. Our Order has deemed you powerful enough to train into a Mage."

"But how is that possible? I am nowhere near powerful enough to be a Mage! Mages don't even exist!" exclaimed Harry.

"Is that true? Or have we simply faded into the mists of time, fading into legend and myth, until we became little more than memory? It has happened before," stated the Grand Master. Then suddenly, "It will help you greatly in defeating the one who calls himself Voldemort."

Harry started; demanding, "How do you know of that!" he jumped up, before hissing in pain, and falling back onto his bed.

"Calm down, young one, you must rest," said the Healer, before looking at the others, saying, "Explain to him more deeply. And how our Order works. He is going to need all the help he can get."

"Alright, Healer Demkovitz. I'll give the simplest explanation I can. He will learn it more in depth anyway in his classes on the history of our Order," said Mallory, before turning to Harry and explaining, "Tom Marvolo Riddle was recruited, in much of the same manner as you have been. However, we saw the evil in his heart, and cast him out of our ranks. He then went and joined our enemies, the Sorcerers of Avalon. They, essentially, are our evil counterparts. They gave him the power that he searched for. He then went back to Earth, the very land we are charged to protect, and the rest you undoubtedly know."

Harry looked at him, surprised at Voldemort's past. This must have happened in the intervening years between when he had been in school and his first rise to power. "Alright, then, what do I need to know?" asked Harry, finally somewhat accepting. If Voldemort gained his power wherever they were, then Harry could certainly use the training these Mages would give him.

"You will recuperate from your magical expansion for the rest of the week. Please read these books in the intervening time. It will fill you in on the history of the Order of the Mages, and explain its basic organization and such. At the end of the week, I will send one of your fellow apprentices to go downtown and retrieve the items you will need to begin your training. Before becoming an Apprentice, you must complete a three-week course, which will prepare you for your training."

With that, they left, leaving Harry to his own devices. What am I to do now? Thought Harry. After a few minutes of thinking, Harry decided to take the Grand Master's advice and read the books the man had given him. Immediately, he was enthralled.

The Grand Magical Order of the Mage, loosely termed, is a group formed to combat the evil of Earth. This charge was handed down from the High Elves, who are the keepers of all Magical Realms. These societies are unique in that they actually have a religion. The Mages believe that their powers were given to them to a God; their religion holds a striking resemblance to that of Christianity…

Harry read on, learning that this Ancient Order dated back to before Merlin (Merlin was a Grand Master, serving on the Council. The Council was the ruling group of Mages, appointed by the current Supreme Grand Master Mage, the head of the Council. Upon the death of the Supreme Grand Master Mage, the Grand Assembly of Mage Masters gathered, voting from among them a new leader.

The way that Harry could best understand the ranking system was to compare it to that of the military. While in training, you used Chevrons and Rocks to denote rank, Harry currently being without rank, as he has not yet completed the mandatory three-week physical training, which would gain him his first chevron, and a master. This master would serve as his mentor, making sure that his apprentice succeeded in becoming a master. The better the apprentice did, the more respected the master would become.

A Mage Apprentice became a Mage Master upon the mastery of two subjects. The subjects consisted of Swordsmanship, Battle Magic, Archery, Martial Arts, Healing, Transformation, Defensive Magic, and Special Magic. Special Magic was essentially a whole slew of miscellaneous magic that did not fit into the other specialties.

Harry felt like he was going to spend his time in the lost City of Atlantis.