Harry Potter and the Mystic Force

By Michael Weyer

First Meetings

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"Rootcore?" Harry started. "I was looking for you! Well, I mean, not you specifically but I was told to come here for safety."

"Told?" Udonna asked. "By whom?"

"Ah…to tell the truth, I'm not really sure," Harry said with a frown. "It was a letter really and I wasn't quite in the mood to question who sent it."

Udonna nodded slowly as she looked him over. "You are a wizard, I can tell that. And a brave one to survive a battle with Koragg."

"Who?" Harry frowned before brightening. "Oh, was that who that knight thing was?"

Udonna nodded. "Indeed. A dark and twisted warrior in service to a master more evil than you can imagine."

"I can imagine a lot, trust me," Harry muttered.

Udonna frowned and was about to ask what he meant when a figure burst into the room. "Udonna! Udonna…Oh!" She stopped short as she saw Harry. She appeared to be young, a teenager not that much older than Harry was. Her dark blond hair fell around her pretty face and she was clad in a patchwork-like dress. "Um, hello."

Udonna smiled. "Harry Potter, meet Clare, my apprentice."

"Nice to meet you," Harry politely said.

"Hi," Clare said as she leaned in toward Udonna. "Um, where'd he come from?" Her attempt at a whisper was poor to say the least.

"A question I was going to ask myself." Udonna turned to Harry. "Well?"

Harry rubbed at his head. "It's…sort of a long story."

Udonna gave him a warm smile. "As it happens, I rather enjoy long stories."

Harry took a deep breath and began. It took quite a while for him to start with the day the first owl came to his acceptance to Hogwarts, the Stone, the Chamber, Sirius, the Triwizard Tournament and up to the events leading to his escape. He finally finished and took a long drink of tea to soothe his throat.

Udonna's face was filled with sympathy while Clare just stared in amazement at it all. "Wow," she whispered. "That's…amazing!"

"Not quite the word I'd pick right now," Harry muttered. He looked about. "Whoever left me the portkey told me to come here for sanctuary. But frankly, I've never heard of any 'Rootcore' before."

"I'm not that surprised," Udonna said. "We tend to stay out of the way of the main human wizarding world. We really have our own problems."

Harry frowned. "Problems? What do you mean? And you talk like you're not part of the same magical world."

"In a way…we are not." Udonna stood up slowly and began to pace as she spoke. "What I am about to tell you may very well go against your preconceived notions of what magic is, Harry. However, I believe it is quite important for you to believe it." As Harry slowly nodded, she went on. "The world of magic is divided into various…sections for lack of a better term. The one you know is the one where wizards live just under the cover of the regular humans, the 'muggles' as you term them. But there is another realm of magic, Harry and that is the realm you are in now."

She spread her hands around. "This forest is linked to a human town named Briarwood. Long ago, a great battle was held between the forces of good and evil. It..was not an easy battle." Her eyes clouded with painful memories. "The side of good lost many great warriors that day but their sacrifice was not in vain. They managed to defeat the evil wizard and his armies and seal them away beneath the ground for eternity. The magical energies unleashed sealed the forest away from the human world by a dimensional shield. And as I'm sure you are aware, humans are too willing to let anything they do not believe in be classified as magical."

Harry had to admit that was right as Udonna continued. "For many years, I have lived here at Rootcore, protecting the magical forces and beings here. For a prophecy was foretold long ago that evil would arise and five warriors would come to fight them off. The Mystic Force."

"More prophecies," Harry sighed. "I really don't like prophecies."

"I know," Clare said. "I mean, they're always so vague and using old and fancy words and you just want to go 'come on, give us the truth already!'" She became aware of Udonna staring at her coolly and backed up. "Um, sorry."

Shaking her head, Udonna turned back to Harry. "As I was saying, recently, that time has come. The seals have been broken and the forces of evil have arisen with Koragg their key agent on this plane. Fortunately, the other part of the prophecy has also come true. The Mystic Warriors have come and aided in keeping the evil back."

"Good to know," Harry said. "What's this have to do with my wizarding?"

Udonna smiled at him. "What it means, Harry is that the power of this magical world is far, far greater than anything your community can create. As bad as this Lord Voldemort may be, he is nothing compared to the horrors we must fight."

Harry's eyes bugged out at that. "I…I find that hard to believe. I mean, I've seen the power Voldemort has and he's incredibly twisted."

"Perhaps," Udonna allowed. "But he is still human. The beings we fight are most decidedly not."

Harry rubbed his head. "I still can't believe that it's so bad."

"Believe it," Clare quickly said.

Harry frowned. "But if it's so bad, why would our wizards not be concerned about it?"

Udonna sighed as approached a large book on a shelf and paged through it. "I'm not sure if you are aware, Harry but the fact is that your wizarding community can be somewhat…short-sighted."

Harry had to smile at that. "I do know a bit about that."

Udonna nodded. "Then you are aware that too often, these people can be tied too much in their own affairs to notice the true power and danger. It's because of this that your wizards tend to be more limited in magic, unable to tap into its true potential."

That got Harry's interest. "What do you mean?"

Udonna gazed at the book as she spoke. "Magic is a delicate power, Harry. The veins and currents of it run throughout your world in different ways and are only accessible by certain people. But in some places and with some people, it is simply stronger and easier to tap into. Your world, your section of wizards, are unable to do it as greatly as others can." She let a soft smile come to her lips. "They, of course, are utterly unaware of this. I'm sure even this Dumbledore of yours believes he is able to control magic better than anyone when the truth is many novices across the world are able to tap into greater power."

Hearing that the greatest wizard of his time was, for all intents and purposes, a novice was enough to send Harry's mind reeling. He licked his lips and shook his head in disbelief. "I…I can't believe that."

"I thought you might not," Udonna said. "However, we shall have time to talk about this later. Given your…situation, you should stay here for now, for your own safety."

Harry was surprised at the offer but nodded. "I guess I don't really have many options right now." He sighed as he slowly stood up. "Um, is there anywhere I can, ah, wash up or something? I've gotten a bit grubby."

"Down the hallway and to the right," Udonna said, pointing behind him. "Your clothes will be cleaned by the time you're done." Harry gave her a grateful smile before walking off.

Clare watched him go and then moved toward Udonna. "Um, can we trust him?"

"He is a wizard, Clare, and one who needs our aid," her mentor stated.

"Yes, but…"

"He also has a purpose to play in our world as well as his," Udonna said. "I am not wholly certain what that is as of yet but I know it was not mere chance that brought him here."

"No, it was a note from someone he doesn't know," Clare pointed out. "Oooh, I just remembered why I was coming to see you. One of those gem thingys Koragg was looking for? I think I found a trace on it."

Udonna was instantly alert as she moved quickly to the large crystal ball on the stand and stared into it. She watched the swirling images before nodding. "I must investigate. Stay here and make sure Harry is treated well." With a snap of her fingers, she vanished in a flash of light.

Clare sighed as she walked off, snapping her own fingers to no effect. "Gotta learn how she does that…"

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While not wholly solving his problem, Harry had to admit he felt better after a nice warm bath, even if it was in a wooden tub. As promised, his clothes were laid out, all cleaned as if fresh from the dryer. He slid them back on as he began to walk toward the main chamber of the building. His mind was still dealing with all that happened from the accusations to learning of this new magical realm.

His face fell as he suddenly remembered Hagrid. In all the madness, he hadn't had time to think of the gentle giant and his apparent death. It didn't seem real to him yet, not until he saw the body. The idea of that friendly man, the first friend he'd had in the magical world, being silenced just seemed impossible for him.

He wiped at his eyes behind his glasses, trying to keep his emotions in check for now. It wouldn't do to break out crying before Udonna, especially after the kindness she'd shown him. Later…later, he could deal with it. With all of it.

He sat down beside the large book and paged through it. Most of the pages were blank but he saw some nice drawings there and writing in a language he couldn't make out. He was peering over it when the large door on one side opened to allow a group of people to enter.

"All I'm saying, is that it was an easy mistake," claimed the man in the lead, a handsome boy Harry's age with dark hair and an easygoing smile. The others appeared to be his age and it took Harry a moment to realize that they all wore basically the same outfit of a pair of jeans, tennis shoes and a black cape with an odd symbol and trimmings of certain colors. In this case the speaker, whose voice carried an odd accent, was wearing green.

"Easy mistake?" asked the boy following him who had dark hair and tanned skin with handsome features and a red color to his cloak. "Mixing firework powder into the ingredients was an easy mistake?"

"Blame Chip, he was the one who labeled the bottles!" The other boy motioned to the third male who had yellow to his cape with oddly matched his reddish-blond hair. The boy seemed insulted by this. "Hey, I was in a hurry, I just had to initial them."

"So you figured FP was enough to tell us?" This was from one of the two girls whose cape was laced in pink. She was attractive with short dark hair cut over her ears that had a streak of white dyed into it. Following her was another girl, slightly shorter, also pretty with long black hair and a patient expression. "Like we'd know the difference between firework powder and fugart powder?"

"See, honest mistake," the first man said with a nod. He stopped in place as his eyes fell on Harry, causing everyone else to run into him from behind. They all paused as they looked up and took him in.

"Hi?" Harry said carefully.

"Who are you?" the boy in red demanded in a hard tone. "How'd you get in here?"

"Um," Harry started only to have all five pull out what looked to be devices similar to those portable phones Dudley's friends had. However, all five were pointed like wands and aimed right at Harry.

"Tell us how you got in here," the leader demanded. "And where's Udonna?"

As he was seized by a feeling of déjà vu, all Harry could do was take in their accents and think one thing.

Wonderful. The one thing as bad as Deatheaters. Americans.

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Next (assuming you want me to continue): Harry meets the Mystic Force. All comments welcomed.