Chapter two: New Beginnings

Harry stood there, in the darkness, completely stunned. Standing in front of him, in the flesh, was the Merlin. The father of magic! As if Merlin read his mind, he said, "I am, of course, afraid that what you are seeing is just a shadow of my form. After I died, I left a shade of myself behind in order to contact and be the mentor of my heir."

Harry finally snapped out of his daze and ran his hand through his hair. "Your heir?" he asked, knowing he probably sounded like a fish out of water. "Yes," Merlin replied. "Please sit down, and I'll explain everything." A room suddenly materialized around them. They were standing in a small stone room with a hearty fire blazing in the hearth. There were two soft, leather chairs facing the fire, slightly facing each other. Merlin took a seat, and motioned for Harry to take one as well. Harry sat stiffly in one, and it immediately adjusted itself to fit to Harry's shape. It was probably the most relaxing, comfortable chair he had ever sat in. A table appeared suddenly between the two chairs, with two mugs of steaming brown liquid on it. Merlin took one, and said, "My special hot chocolate. Take one," he said with a warm smile. Harry took a mug, and let a few drops touch his lips. It was the sweetest, most intoxicating drink he had ever tasted. Harry briefly wondered whether everything in this place was heightened to the extreme. Harry mumbled thanks, and Merlin began his story.

"I created this shade, as I said, to be the mentor of my heir. I knew when I died that the world will fall to ruins once I left. I knew that there would only be one way to save the world from itself, and that would be to find someone who could continue my legacy. Every child that is born with a magical core is examined by a spell I invented to determine the path which that child will walk when it is older. That child would have to have an aura so pure that I would not be able to doubt the child's future intentions. It does dabble in Divination, I'll admit, but it is fairly accurate.

"When you were born, Harry, you had an exceptionally Light path. The spell followed you, and after a year or two would have left you, however something happened in your past when you were one year old that heightened the Light in you to the extremes, to a measure beyond any doubt. Along with that Light, came tainted Dark, yes, but you were not to blame for that. Your mother's death secured your future as my heir, and now I am going to provide you with the gifts that comes along with that title."

He took a pause to examine Harry's reaction and Harry nodded, taking another sip his hot chocolate. "Thank you, sir, but what would those responsibilities entail?" Harry knew he sounded very formal, but he still felt a little shocked, and so felt more comfortable using formalities.

"I am surprised, Harry. I thought you would have asked about the gifts first." Harry smiled meekly. "But that is good, I suppose. Your responsibilities will include ridding the wizarding world of prejudices, both related to magical creatures and blood prejudices. You will have to rid the world of those Dark Lords and Ladies who terrorize both the wizarding and muggle world, amoung other small things."

Harry stared blankly at Merlin, and finally said, "That will take forever! I can't possibly live long enough to do all that!" He tucked his shock away, though, when Merlin just looked amused. He finally said, "Harry, you have yet to hear of the gifts you will receive. I believe your task will be much easier when you hear about them." Harry sipped his drink, and listened again.

"To aid you in your quest, you will have the gift of all my power. You will therefore be the most powerful wizard in the world. You must be fully prepared to expect people calling you by a title that is appropriate for someone of that power. The power of every wizard and witch in the world combined would only be a stone compared to the mountain of power you will have."

Harry started panicking. He immediately said, "I don't think it is a good idea. I don't think I trust myself with that kind of power..." He trailed off lamely as he saw Merlin's stern gaze, clearly telling him not to be silly. "Please let me finish, Harry," he quietly said. He sounded patient, but dangerous, none the less.

"Along with the power, you will receive all of my worldly possessions and immortality."

Harry was completely shocked now. Would he have to live all of eternity? Again, as if Merlin read his mind, he said, "Of course, you will not be living alone for the rest of your days. Your soul mate will be drawn to you and you will know that you are soul mates immediately. The moment you are bonded, she will be immortal, too. Her magic will be increased to be only second to your own and if she is a muggle, she will receive a magical core and the same will apply to her. Do you understand this, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, I understand. I would honour your name and your wishes if you believe that I am capable to." He smiled for the first time after entering this chamber, and finished his hot chocolate.

"Good, Harry." A paper appeared in front of him, floating in mid air. It appeared to be a contract, although by far the simplest one Harry has ever seen. "Just sign it with your quill and the transfer will be complete." Harry saw a quill appear and took it and held it over the line where he had to sign. He hesitated for a moment, but finally put quill to parchment and signed Harry Potter.

Everything suddenly went dark. He felt enormous amounts of magic flowing into him. His magic level increasing non-stop. He fell to his knees in the darkness and put his hands over his head. It felt like an eternity as power flowed into him like a never ending waterfall, crushing him under it. It was overwhelming. Finally it stopped, and Harry lifted his head, feeling power blazing in him like never before. It was the most beautiful feeling in the world, like a million small kisses caressing his skin every moment. Strips of light were peeling off him, and his magic was whispering ideas to him about everything he could do with all this power. He stood up and felt that his magic was playing around, making it appear as though he was standing on a pedestal for all the world to see.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him in the darkness. "Wonderful, isn't it? Now, Harry, there are two more things that needs to be done before you can go." Harry turned around, and saw Merlin's shade smiling at him. "What?" Harry asked, curious. He heard his voice was being carried and played with by his magic, and making it deeper, more commanding. Harry bristled. He would have to get his magic to stop doing that. Harry didn't like to sound commanding if he could help it. His magic immediately listened to him, and left his voice alone.

"Firstly, here is a book," he said, as a book appeared in front of him. Harry took it, and examined the cover. It was covered with black leather and on the cover, in gold letters, were the words Scientia est vox. "Knowledge is power, Harry, and this book will tell you everything about every subject and directions to do anything in the world. Just tell this book what you want to know, and the pages will fill with information about that subject."

Harry stared in wonder at the book, and his magic took it and shrunk it for him and placed it in his pocket. Harry thought he needed to train his magic not to just do everything it wanted to and to wait for instructions to do things, and not just do something before Harry wanted it done.

"Thank you so much, sir! This is probably the best gift I've ever received." Harry saw Merlin smile, as he said, "My pleasure, Harry." Suddenly, there was a bright spark next to Merlin, and the most beautiful phoenix Harry had ever seen was sitting on Merlin's shoulder. "This was my phoenix, Harry, but she belongs to you now. She will be your familiar and friend. Her name is Bellus and she will take as good care of you, as I know you will of her." Bellus flew over to Harry to sit on his shoulder. Bellus felt warm on his cheek and was very light and comfortable weight on his shoulder.

Harry felt a presence in his mind. He knew it was Bellus trying to create a connection with him in his mind to be his familiar. Harry allowed it, and he heard a soft female voice in his head say, "Hello Harry, my name is Bellus." Harry didn't know what to say exactly, because he never really had a bird talk to him in his mind before. He didn't know how to reply, for that matter. Instead he settled on thinking, Hello Bellus. Thank you for being my familiar. I really hope we can be good friends. Bellus warbled beautifully, and rubbed her head against his head.

Harry smiled at Merlin, and said, "Thank you, sir. I will return if I ever need to speak with you again. I will try my best to fulfill your legacy." Merlin smiled then, bowed, and disappeared.

Harry found himself inside a vault, then. He looked around, and saw the largest space he had ever seen before. It was probably the size of the entire Diagon Alley and Great Hall in Hogwarts combined. Inside the large room were mountains of golden Galleons. He saw an official Gringotts bag lying in front of him. He saw a note that said that you only had to say the amount you required to the bag, and the bag would fill with that amount, taking it out of your vault. It was obviously a bag that would never become heavier or larger, because Harry presumed it could be rather heavy and bloated otherwise. It was a royal blue colour with a golden strap which Harry used to hang it over his left shoulder to hang on his right side.

He nodded at nothing in particular, feeling his magic waiting to be used, and walked out of the vault.

To his utter dismay, when he saw Gritspear waiting by the cart, Gritspear's eyes widened when he sensed Harry's magic, and fell onto his knees, bowing on the floor in front of Harry. Harry knew, because his magic told him so, that a magical being (human or not) would feel compelled to bow to a person who is that powerful, to submit to that person's every wish.

Harry felt a little uncomfortable, so he used his magic to bring Gritspear back to the dignified position of being on his feet. Once the uncomfortable silence was over, Harry climbed into the cart with the Goblin, and they drove back to Diagon Alley.

Harry knew he would attract some attention.