Chapter 2:Elemental Guidance
Ginny sat up in bed contemplating what to do. She had just had a dream about her long-time crush: The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter, Slayer of Dark Lords and Basilisks, her hero in shining armour and mostly 'just Harry'. It was this latter Harry that she really and truly loved, no longer a crush, but a full blown massive, giant-sized love for the no longer boy, but not yet man.
She chuckled ruefully, she had managed to convince Ron that she was dating other people and was no longer mooning over Harry and her overprotective brother had started to be bearable again. But that also meant she had convinced Harry she no longer crushed on him.
Damn it all, she thought, why isn't there an easier way.
She felt sorry for him for losing Sirius so abruptly. Yet another loved one who he had only know for a much too short a time. She could only imagine how it must have felt to lose him.
Sure she could compare a bit by how her father had been attacked by Voldemort's pet snake, but there still was the huge gap between her father being alive and Harry godfather being murdered.
Startled by a particularly load snore by her brother Ron, she finally settled down for the night, determined to do her very best to win her Harry for her.
She fell asleep with a smile playing around the corners of her mouth.
Harry raced for the door and bumped into something huge and soft, that something being his Uncle Vernon who had just opened the door to see who had rung.
The full-grown man was in Harry's opinion a bit TOO full-grown as the man, no scratch that, 'whale' was almost too fat to fit in the hallway and could not have been avoided by a teenager at full speed.
It seemed that the man hadn't even noticed the brutal crash because he was ravaging against a fairly amused looking Albus Dumbledore.
"Oh good", thought Harry, "He doesn't at least cower in fear for that bugger of an uncle of mine."
"…even have the nerve to show up on my doorstep you fool!! What do you think the neighbours will think of us seeing you standing there in a DRESS!!"
"Please Mr. Dursley, calm down, you are not helping any of us. I am only here to pick up young Harry and we'll be off in a jiffy."
"WHAT!" Vernon bellowed. He turned around to look at the still prone form of his nephew and nearly screamed " you're not going anywhere boy! You are going to weed the garden and do the chores to pay for your expenses made over the previous years!"
At that statement, an already agitated Harry exploded in a roaring fury. " I'm leaving you fool, and what expenses are you even talking about, the expenses for the upkeep for a BROOM CUPBOARD?!! You should be paying me, you abusive piece of…"
"Harry, what do you mean by broom cupboard?" Dumbledore asked with an inquisitive stare.
"I'm talking about the cupboard on my left here where I lived and slept in for the first ten years of my 'wonderful' stay here. I only moved to Dudley's second bedroom after the first series of Hogwarts-letters."
At this, the Headmasters eyes flashed dangerously, only to be replaced by a sudden expression of grief.
"I am sorry Harry, I had no idea. But don't worry, your Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon shall hear from my lawyers."
Vernon was opening and closing his mouth goldfish-style, an expression of shock evident on his fat face.
He started spluttering but that was all he could do to stop Harry and his Headmaster from leaving.
"Goodbye Dursley, I won't see you again, and for that I am ever so grateful.
I hope you rot in hell with that giraffe of yours and that blob you call a son"
With that said, Harry turned and left, side by side with one of the most powerful wizards of modern times gaping at him and exuding not a small amount of pride for the newfound Avatar.
Dumbledore came to a halt in the small park in Little Whinging, silently looking for any Muggles who might see them. Satisfied when he saw none, he instructed Harry to hold on to a quill. As soon as Harry touched it, he felt the familiar tug behind his navel and was Portkeyed to a to a remote location in Wales.
Harry looked around in bewilderment at his surroundings. All he could see was the ruins of a home… His home he suddenly realised. He was fighting the tears and losing the battle as he looked upon Godric's Hollow in ruins.
The place where his parents were murdered by Voldemort and where he became the famous Boy Who Lived.
He could hear Dumbledore say something in the background and tried to tune in his words. "Harry, I have arranged for you to legally become an adult. But there is something we need to do here before we begin your training."
Harry whipped his head up to see the old man with a sad look on his face staring at the ruins of the former house of Lily and James Potter. "Training?" he asked. "What do you mean?"
"I am going to train you personally in Potter Manor from now on, using a Time Turner from the Department of Mysteries. You see, I noticed something after the night at the Ministry.
While you were trashing my trinkets at my office, you didn't notice that you never touched any of them, there was a distance between your hands and the trinkets, but still they moved as if hit."
Harry's brain was working at blistering speed. What is he talking about? Of course I hit those things, I could see the sparks flying from them… Wait a minute. Sparks? That's not right.
As if he could read Harry's mind -whichhe probably could- Dumbledore spoke up.
"Ah yes the sparks, and you're not even thinking about the pieces that were coming of the ceiling. You see Harry, those were just the last pieces of the puzzle that fell in place.
Harry… you are the next Avatar."
Harry looked at his mentor in disbelief en confusion. "Come again? Sir are you pulling my leg, I mean, I can't be this Avatar."
"Yes Harry, it is indeed the case, you are definitely my successor, my reincarnation."
Harry's eyes grew wide. "Sir that can't be, if I really am your reincarnation, you should have been…dead?" he asked in a small voice.
"Yes Harry, this fact is only known by very few, but I am a ghost. I know normally we are transparent but I just use a Glamour Charm and my wandless magic to remain solid-looking."
Harry was silent. He asked "How do you know for sure? It could have been accidental magic."
"No Harry, this was definitely Elemental Guidance."
"Elemental Guidance?" the boy asked.
"Yes Harry, that is what we call it, and WE as in we elemental masters. You see, the elements are far greater than we could ever understand. I believe we already had some proof that you were a Wind Elemental like your mother. That scar you received from Tom's Killing Curse could have been any one shape, a lightning bolt, a flame, a drop of water or a leaf.
Your mother used the ancient magic to protect you from the worst part of the Curse.
Your own Wind Guidance redirected the Curse back to Tom, but not before the Curse glanced of your forehead, resulting in that scar you now have."
"I will train you until I feel you have completed your new skills under control. You are like me a magical Avatar, we are exceptional in the fact that we are about three times more powerful in magic skills than the average wizard. This manifested itself in our ability to use wandless magic and hopefully for you another form of Elemental Guidance.
You see, a magical Avatar like is could become powerful enough to transform into the Dragon Avatar. Such a Dragon Avatar is capable of every form of magic and Elemental Guidance. For example, I am capable of the Animagus transformation for 350 animals.
It takes about 3 months for the first transformation, and the rest is just getting used to the process and after some time, you just have to think about the animal you want to become to complete a normally time-consuming task."
Harry's expression changed from wonder to pure joy to thoughtful. He thought Oh greatn more friggin power. I think I'll need the training desperately from now on.
Dumbledore continued "By the end of our training, 9 months of intensive training will have passed after which I believe you will be quite ready with your education. We just came here to help you through your grieving for Sirius and your parents.
Tears were coming to the surface again, but this time Harry let them flow freely. Dumbledore gently guided him to the top of the hill where under a massive tree two gravestones stood.
The graves of his parents, the two people who had loved him unconditionally and totally.
He sank to his knees and silently said "I miss you so much Mum, Dad. I wish you could be here with me, doing what a normal family would do, instead of me drowning in guilt over your and Padfoots death. I guess I will see you up there one day, but not now.
Right now I have to be strong so I can defeat Voldemort once and for all."
With that, Harry stood and walked away towards the previous Avatar and his mentor.
"Let's go", Harry said, "whenever you're ready sir.
With that, Dumbledore once again pulled another Portkey from his robes and swished the two of them to a manor in Northern Ireland.
Stubefy...stubefy, Harry my nose is broken! I'll carry Hermione, you take them down...
Terrible pain, like thousands of red hot knives giving him little cuts, even in his bones...
Neville woke up with a start, bathing in his own sweat. Damn, another nightmare he thought.
This has been going on since the battle and I'm slowly turning in an Insomniac.
He looked at the little clock that stood on the bedside table: 5 A.M. Well, no use in sitting around here all night. He slowly got out of his warm bed and made his way to the bathroom.
After a quick shower he headed for the kitchen to grab a decent breakfast, all the while thinking who he could talk to about his sleeping problems.
Harry! Of course, maybe he'll know what to do. I heard him tossing and turning in his bed often enough last year. Poor guy, more then a year now since the end of the TriWizard Tournament. Sleeping problems all year for something he couldn't help and now he lost his godfather. Neville shook his head. Sirius Black, who could have known he was an innocent man.
Neville headed for his room to get his quill and some parchment to ask Harry how he handled things, because until Neville would find some peace, he wouldn't be sleeping very much the coming weeks.
Ron was snoring loudly and did not notice the spider crawling up his leg making it's way to the boy's upper body.
He felt something tickling his cheek."go 'way Fred 'm sleeping" he murmured.
The tickling still wouldn't stop, so he opened one eye, seeing something black on his cheek.
Something that moved. Slowly Ron's brain started it's day: something black, little, moving, hmm kinda looks like a spider… Spider? SPIDER!!!!!
With that, Ron violently fell out of bed, screaming his head off.
Aaah yes, another day at the Burrow had started.