Disclaimer: I do not own Harry potter or final fantasy X.
Chapter Two! (Just a warning, Everything after the second page was written while I was semi-drunk.)
Harry gasped for air, where was he? "Rikku?" he called, and not surprisingly she didn't answer. If he squinted he could make out docks in the distance, so he started to slowly swim to them… He was terrible at swimming and he was tired.
"Hey! You okay?"
Harry looked up with a startled expression on his face, he must have zoned out, for he was now at the docks. He grabbed onto the edge and pulled himself up, panting as if he had just run a marathon.
"You okay?" the man asked again.
"I think so…" Harry replied through his gasps for air. "Where am I?"
"Kilika island…" the man replied.
"Oh." Harry whispered, having no idea where Kilika was.
"What were you doing so far out in the ocean?"
"I was on a boat…with friends; Sin attacked and I was thrown overboard… and now… I- where is Kilika? I think Sin's toxin has effected me, the only things I can remember is being on a ship, and the name Luca…" Harry looked down, he felt bad about lying, but to say he was from Earth… he would probably be locked up in a mental ward; if this place even had mental wards.
"You survived a close encounter with Sin? You must be infected with Sins toxin. But you're still alive, so praise be to Yevon." the man did a weird bow thing and smiled at him.
Harry frowned; Rikku had said something about Yevon not liking her people. He shrugged slightly, he needed help, this guy looked helpful. Before he could speak up the man smiled at him.
"You can stay with me and my wife, I'll take you to the temple priest tomorrow… maybe he can help you regain your memories."
Harry gave the man a grateful smile. "My name is Harry."
"Jophua." The man replied. "Come Harry, you must be starved."
Harry's stomach grumbled in reply. "I guess I am kind of hungry…" he grinned sheepishly.
"I wonder where Tidus ended up…" Harry paused in his musings and sat up to stretch his aching muscles, Jophua had taken him in for the night, but the 'bed' he was laying on was harder then the mattress he had to sleep on when he lived in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry grinned suddenly and pulled out his wand. He pointed his wand at the bed and concentrated on transfiguring the bed into something softer, but nothing happened. "Okay... let's try something else. Transfiguration was never one of my strong points anyways..."
"Maybe if I had more light..." Harry lifted his wand again. "Lumos." He cried. The wand tip didn't light. "Lumos!" He whispered more urgently. Again, the wand stayed lifeless and dark. "So my wand doesn't work here? Great." he grumbled.
He glared at the wall and continued talking to himself, "I should probably get to sleep, Jophua was going to take me to the Temple tomorrow…and he said it was a long ways away.
Harry gave the bed an annoyed glance but quickly shrugged and mentally berated himself. These people had taken him in out of the kindness of their hearts, and here he was, complaining about it not being good enough. He sighed again and lay down on the bed, he fell asleep almost instantly.
Rikku stared at the water, her face void of all emotion. Harry was gone, and it was her fault. Even if he did survive, and it was unlikely, but even if he did, he didn't know enough about Spira to survive. Add on to the fact that she hadn't told him that his wand was useless here; She blinked back tears, she shouldn't have brought him here.
"Rikku,Fa yna pylg du Rusa."
She looked up, Her brother was leaning over the railing beside her, the boat had just docked at the Oasis. "Kuut. Damm Pops dryd e ys mayjehk. E ys kuehk du ku muug vun Harry. Yc muhk yc drana ec y lryhla dryd ra luimt pa ymeja, E femm muug vun res."
"Frana yna oui kuehk du muug vencd?"Aniki asked.
"Luca. E dumt Tidus E fuimt dyga res drana, yht Harry fyc mecdahehk du sa, cu E drehg drydc frana ra fuimt ku." She tried to smile, but it felt forced."E ruba."
"E femm ku fedr oui." Gippal exclaimed, interrupting the siblings conversation. "Cid's kejah cusa uv uin baubma y haf secceuh. Fa'na kuehk du dno yht cdub dra Cissuhanc bemknesyka, ymdruikr, dryd'c hud fro E's kuehk."
"Fro yna oui kuehk?" Rikku asked looking up at him with a slightly annoyed look in her face.
"Dra Spirans yna rambehk ic fedr yh ubanydeuh dryd luimt buccepmo dyga uid Sin vun kuut. E's eh lrynka uv sygehk cina dra Spirans tuh'd ku pylg uh draen funt yht ynnacd uin baubma."
"Ruf muhk ryc Sin paah pylg drec desa?" Rikku asked, hating that she had to stretch her neck to look up at her once childhood rival.
"Ynuiht drnaa oaync." Gippal replied.
"Drnaa oaync... E ryt vunkuddah ypuid dra desa tevvanahlac padfaah dra dfu funmtc..." She gestured at the two guys, "E sayh cina, E ghuf drana'c yh upjeuic desa tevvanahla, E ghaf dryd frah E vencd taletat du ku du Earth... pid E ryt hajan dygah ehdu ylluihd ypuid fryd ed fuimt sayh frah E kud pylg."
"Ed'c cdnyhka vun cina." Gippal replied, "Oui'na cu ouihk... pid frah oui mavd fa ryt paah dra cysa yka." He gave her a slightly annoyed look, "Oui cruimth'd pa dryd ouihk."
Rikku frowned, "E'ta cdemm pa ouihk, zicd hud yc ouihk."
"Cdemm, ed'c cdnyhka, oui ryja paah kuha vun amajah oaync, Cid's kenm. Oui cruimt pa ymsucd dfahdo oaync umt."
"E ryth'd naymewat frah E mavd zicd ruf silr uv y desa tevvanahla drana fyc. E sayh vun sa, ed'c uhmo paah ceq yht y rymv oaync."
"Cu ruf umt yna oui huf?"
"Ymsucd ceqdaah."
"Drec ec cu cdnyhka... frah oui ryt mavd oui fana uhmo dfu oaync ouihkan dryh sa... huf oui'na mega cajah oaync ouihkan." Aniki gave his sister a half hearted glare, "E cruimt ku du dryd Earth bmyla vun yfrema yht mad oui lydlr ib fedr sa eh yka."
Rikku laughed softly, and then realized why they had been talking to her so much, they were trying to keep her from worrying. "Yhofyoc, E's kuehk du ku lydlr y puyd fedr dra Phychs. Yna oui lusehk fedr sa Kebbym?"
"E'mm lydlr ib fedr oui mydan, E cdemm ryja du saad fedr Cid."
"Ymnekrd, caa oui eh Luca?"
"Caa oui drah."
Hermione looked up at the strange looking house, it looked more unstable than the Weasleys home. "Are you sure this is where she lives?"
Ron nodded, "Her and her father moved here when she was nine, and I warn you now, if you thought she was strange... Her father is worse."
"Arty's not bad." Ginny interrupted, as she stepped past the two and knocked on the tall bright orange door. "Although, I still find it strange he insists on being called Arty. I called him Mr. Lovegood once and he started laughing hysterically. It was actually rather frightening," She smiled slightly at the memory, "It was the first time I had ever seen Luna look so exasperated at something."
"I can't even picture her looking exasperated..." Ron laughed.
"Oh yeah, Hermione, please don't mention anything about the creatures he looks for not existing... he gets really upset." Ginny said as the door started to open.
"Why hallo there little mud-puppets!" The man cried gleefully.
"Hello Arty." Ginny grinned up at the tall eccentric man, "Is Luna at home?"
Artemus frowned slightly, "Yes she is." He gave the three of them a sad smile.
"Great!" Hermione exclaimed. "Can we talk to her?"
The man frowned, "But she isn't here, she went home."
"But... Isn't this her home?" Ron asked.
"No, she was just staying with me for awhile to get over the grief of losing her Mother to Sin."
Hermione frowned thoughtfully, "But I thought your wife was..."
"Luna told us she had died." Ron finished bluntly.
"My wife?" Artemus the two of them a confused look, "I've never been married before."
"But, Luna's mum-"
"Was my sister-in-law." Artemus finished.
"You're not Luna's Father?" Ginny asked, surprised at this turn of events.
"No, I am her uncle. She came with me from our home to escape the tragedy that had befallen. I'm afraid my memory of the events are still slightly blurred. I'm lucky to remember anything at all, it's only been this last year that I remembered that Ri wasn't actually my daughter. I haven't actually told her that I remember though, because I was afraid she would want me to go back with her."
"Where is she? She took one of our friends with her, and we need him back. It's not safe for him to be out on his own, especially now that You-Know-Who is back at full power." Hermione said, her voice full of urgency.
"You're friend is safe from everyone on this planet who wishes to find him, you will not see him until he wishes to be seen, unless Sin gets him first. But I'm sure Rikku will take good care of him."
"Who's Rikku?" Ginny asked.
"My niece." Artemus frowned at her, "You mean to tell me that although you've been friends with her for nearly six years, she hasn't told you her first name? That's very unlike her."
"Are you saying... that Luna's actual name is Rikku?" Hermione asked, being the first to put together what he had said.
"Exactly. Luna is her middle name, well a nick-name of her middle name." He smiled at the three of them, "I need to go though, I've got a port-key to catch. I'm going looking for Crumple-Horned Snorklacks. Unless of course," He smiled at them invitingly, "Do any of you wish to go with me?"
Hermione stuttered an excuse and quickly said goodbye to the man before she led the two Weasleys away from the house.
"Harry, it is time to wake up." Luina whispered as she shook the teen slightly.
Harry reached towards the side for his glasses before remembering that he no longer needed them as he had gotten his eyes surgically corrected at the beginning of the summer holidays. "Hello, Luina." he smiled sleepily at the petite brunette woman.
"I have made some breakfast, so you can eat before your long trek up to the temple today."
Harry smiled gratefully and quickly followed her out of the room, he would have to find a way to use his magic later, as his trunk was currently shrunk and unusable. "Good morning, Jophua." He smiled at the man and quickly accepted the plate of food the mans wife Luina placed in front of him.
The married couple watched him, their eyes filled with pain, he reminded them so much of their own son who had been killed by Sin two years ago. "Did any of your memories return last night?" Luina asked softly.
Harry looked up from his plate with a deer in the headlights look. What should he say? He felt terrible about lying to these people when they were being so nice to him. Finally, he decided on a vague answer that didn't involve him lying through his teeth. "I remembered a bit, I remembered that we were on our way to a place called Luca, we had found someone who was effected by Sins toxin and all he remembered was that he was a Blitzball player, so we were going to take him to Luca to see if anyone would recognize him."
"Do you remember what his name was, or the names of anyone on your ship?" Jophua asked sympathetically.
"Yeah, the guy's name was Tidus, and the girls name was..." He paused, not wanting to give out Rikku's name as they may be able to tell she was Al Bhed by her name. "And the only other person I remember was my friend Luna."
"Well that is a start, maybe the rest of your memories will return with some prayers to Yevon." Luina exclaimed, happy for the teen.
"Yes, and if that doesn't work, A boat to Luca is leaving tomorrow." Jophua said.
"Right! The Besaid Aurochs are coming today aren't they?" Luina smiled, she was a bit of a fan of the Aurochs as she had grown up in Besaid.
"They should actually be almost here." Jophua replied. He shifted in his seat and picked up his now empty plate, "We should head to the temple now Harry, before the boat coming from Besaid gets here. Kilika tends to get very busy when there's visitors, and we don't want to be caught in the hustle and bustle if we want to make it to the temple by noon."
Harry nodded and carried his plate to the sink. "Are the Aurochs a Blitzball team?"
"Yes, although they haven't won a game in a very long time." Jophua laughed slightly, "You should see how irritated Lu gets when people mock them."
"Harry, before we go... I have something for you. Wait here, I'll be right back." Jophua shared a long look with his wife and then walked into one of the small back rooms of the tiny cottage. He came back a few minutes later, holding a bundle of clothing. "This is for you, it belonged to our son, but he never got the chance to wear it, so I think you should have it. I think it will fit you, and it wont stand out as much as the black cloak you are wearing now."
Harry accepted the bundle of clothing gratefully, "I'll go change now." He stepped into the room he had slept in the night before and closed the door softly. He was glad he had something to change into, as the weather here was a lot warmer than he was used to and he had been roasting in his cloak. He put the new clothes on and turned to view his reflection in the mirror. It looked as if the clothing had been made for him. He wore baggy black shorts that had many pockets, they went to about five inches past his knees, his tee shirt was an emerald green color with a black vest on over top that was shorter than the shirt itself it also had many pockets. To finish the outfit off he had a red belt with a pouch on one side, and a small empty sheath on the other side. The outfit looked good on him. Harry smiled at his reflection, he hadn't ever had clothing that fit him this well before. He stepped out of the room with a smile, "They fit great, thank you."
Luina and Jophua shared a smile, "We're glad. Do you have a weapon?"
"A weapon? Why would I need a weapon?" Harry asked, folding his cloak over his arm awkwardly.
"To fight the fiends of course..." Luina cut herself off, "Did you forget about the fiends too?"
Harry nodded slightly, Rikku hadn't said anything about fiends, but then again, they had been on the go pretty much steady since he had got here. "What are fiends?"
"The spirits of the dead, when they are not sent to the Farplane by a Summoner, they become angry with the living, and they turn into fiends... terrible monsters that attack the living. It's not safe to go out without a weapon of some sort." Jophua frowned, "Do you have a sphere grid?"
Harry frowned and pulled out the chain that went under his shirt, "Is this it?"
"Good, at least you still have that. We'll have to purchase you a weapon before we go into the forest though, what weapon would you be most comfortable with?"
Harry frowned, he would prefer to use his wand, but since it doesn't seem to work here... "I would have to see what they have. But how would I purchase a weapon? I don't have any money."
Jophua shook his head as if it didn't matter, "I'll buy you one." He said simply.
"No, That would be too much, you've done so much for me already." Harry exclaimed.
"Money is not a problem, Me and Lu are both from wealthy families, please Harry, let us do this for you."
Harry frowned slightly but nodded anyway. "As long as you let me pay you back some day."
Jophua smiled, "I'm sure we can work something out."
"You two should really get going though, if you want to purchase a weapon and leave the village before the Besaid boat gets here."
Jophua grinned, "Right you are. Let's go Harry." He frowned slightly, "You can put your cloak in one of your pockets, they are a lot bigger than they look... I'm not sure how the mages do it, but it's quite handy to be able to fit something huge into something so small. All of the pockets on your outfit have the charm."
Harry smiled and stuck the clothing into one of the pockets in his shorts, Jophua was right, it fit fine and when he patted his shorts you couldn't even feel he had something in the pocket, it also seemed to be weightless. Harry followed the older man to the door and slipped on his dragon hide boots.
"You ready?"
Harry nodded and slipped his wand into his boot, his shrunken trunk was in one of his vest pockets. "I'm ready."
Jophua smiled at everyone he passed on the street, even stopping to say good afternoon to a few of them, until finally they came to be standing in a small shop with a single booth, a petite woman was standing behind it eying Harry critically. "Hello Trin, Can we see your supply of weapons?"
The black haired woman nodded and started pulling out weapons from behind the booth, "Anything in particular?"
Harry eyed the weapons until he found something that seemed to call out to him. It was a golden rod about three feet long with a ruby on each end. "That one." He pointed it out.
"Oh, no one has ever even looked at that one before," Trin smiled, "Why do you want it?"
Harry frowned, and looked over all the other weapons, they all looked much more useful than the small golden rod, but it seemed to call out to him, and he couldn't resist the call. "I'm not sure, I just think that it's the weapon I need to have."
The woman nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer. "I think you'll find the weapon a lot more useful than it looks." She carefully handed him the weapon, "That will be 10,000Gil."
Jophua gasped slightly, that was a lot of money!
Harry instantly went to put the weapon back when the woman held up her hands gesturing for him to stop. "I'll cut down the price by 100Gil for each of these that you take," She gestured to a half hidden box, and grabbed one of the things in it.
Harry gasped, it looked like a snitch, except that it wasn't trying to fly away, it just hovered above her hand. "What do they do?"
"They're an Al Bhed creation that somehow got shipped to me, they are similar to grenades but the are infused with magic, you can tell the element infused in them by the color of the wings. And although they are one of the few Al Bhed devises not banned by Yevon, I do not want them in my shop, and I refuse to make a profit over something that those heathens created."
"Just how big are the pockets on my outfit, Jophua?" Harry asked with a contemplative look on his face.
"They are charmed to hold ninety nine of each object, no matter the size, the pouch on your belt can hold ninety nine of lots of different objects while the pockets on your vest and shorts can only hold ninety nine of one object."
Harry nodded, "How many of those magic grenades to you have?"
"Eighty two."
"I'll take them all." Harry replied.
"Okay, then that will cut the price of your purchase down to 1800Gil."
Jophua smiled at her and payed the required amount. "Before we go, you said that his golden rod was a lot more useful than it looks, what exactly does it do?"
Trin grinned, "Hold the weapon out and squeeze the middle of it." She instructed.
Harry did as he was told and gasped as the two rubies on each side of the weapon turned into crimson colored blades. "Wicked. How do I get the blades to turn back into rubies?"
"Stop squeezing it."
Harry again followed her instructions and loosened his hold on the weapon. The blades retracted instantly into their previous forms. Harry smiled at the woman, and slipped the weapon into the sheath on his belt, strangely enough, it fit perfectly, as if the sheath was made for this weapon. Harry quickly pocketed the Snitch-Grenades, making sure to put them in a pocket that was easily accessable.
"Come on Harry, we should go now, the boat from Besaid will be here anytime and I really want to be out of town before the roads get crowded."
Harry nodded and followed the man down the docks towards the forest.
They had been walking for fifteen minutes before the screaming began. "Sin!" Jophua cried as he took off towards the village, running as fast as his legs would take him.
"Jophua!" Harry shouted worriedly before taking off after the man. His weapon in his hand, blades out. Running full out, he made it back to the village in around six minutes. But Jophua was no where to be seen. "Jophua! Where are you?"
Kilika looked as if it had been hit by a hurricane, but Harry knew that was not the case, he could see Sin in the water beyond the village. Harry felt sick, he had never seen a disaster like this before, and he had never felt so helpless in his life, because usually when there were matters of life and death, it had to do with him... but this, this was different. This was just mindless, complete, annihilation. No wonder Rikku had come to Earth, Harry wasn't sure why she had wanted to come back. "Suddenly, Voldemort doesn't scare me half as much as he used to." Harry murmured to himself. From his spot above the village, he could see a boat docking at the destroyed port. He walked towards it, hoping to himself that Jophua and Luina were alright, but knowing in his heart that there was a very good chance they were dead.
He stopped at the dock and watched as a girl around his age, maybe a year or so younger started dancing, it was beautiful, but it filled him with sadness and he didn't know why. Once it was over he pulled his eyes from the girl and looked around the crowd, hoping to see Luina or Jophua. Instead, his eyes found someone else familiar. "Tidus!" he called out, making his way to the other teen.
The blond teen looked up, his eyes scanning the crowd, He turned to Lulu, "I'll be right back, I know that guy!" he jogged over to the wizard, "Harry! You're alive, what about Rikku and the other Al Bhed? Are they-?"
Harry frowned and looked over the water. "I'm not sure, like you, I was thrown from the boat... but I ended up here in Kilika, while I'm guessing you ended up in Besaid."
Tidus nodded slightly. "I really hate Sin."
"I do to." Harry replied solemnly. He turned, seeing a flash of black hair, "Trin! Have you seen Jophua or his wife Luina?"
Trin nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "They're both gone. Luina was in her house, and it was decimated by the wave... and Jophua, he saved my life, I had been trapped in my store, but he dug me out... and then the ceiling collapsed and he pushed me out of the way, but he didn't get out of the way himself." She broke off into tears and Harry awkwardly patted her on the back. "I'm sorry. They were wonderful people, they helped me a lot."
Trin smiled at him slightly, her eyes tearing up again. "I'm going to go see what I can salvage of my store... Come by if you need anything, any friend of Luina and Jophua is a friend of me." She gave him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder and walked away.
Harry turned back to find Tidus talking to a man with red hair, and a very bright outfit. He walked towards them, "So, Tidus, what are your plans now?"
Tidus turned away from the redhead and smiled slightly, "After we visit the Temple here, I'm heading to Luca, what about you?"
"I'm heading to Luca as well. I'm hoping that's where Rikku went."
The redhead stepped forward, and Harry realized his hair was actually orange, not red. The man smiled at them and looked to the blond. "Tidus, ya know him?"
Tidus nodded, "Yeah..." he paused, knowing about Wakkas intense hate of all things Al Bhed. He turned to Harry and mouthed the words he hates the Al Bhed.
Harry gave a slight nod and smiled slightly, "My name's Harry."
The man held out his hand, "Name's Wakka, Coach and Captain of the Besaid Aurochs."
"My friend Luina was a fan of you guys..." Harry admitted, giving Wakkas hand a firm shake.
Tidus winced and looked around at the destruction that surrounded them, "Was she... here today?"
Harry nodded and gave a sad smile, "She had been really looking forward to seeing you guys."
"So how do you two know each other?" Wakka asked.
Harry looked towards the blond, " Tidus, our friend Rikku and I got separated a couple days ago, we had been on our way to Luca, hoping that someone would recognize Tidus."
Tidus nodded. "When I had first woke up after being sent here from Zanarkand, Harry and Rikku saved me."
"We had been on a boat that Rikku's father owned when Sin attacked, Tidus and I were thrown overboard... I'm not sure what happened to Rikku." Harry frowned "Do you guys mind if I go with you to Luca? I would probably get lost if I tried to go on my own. I have a worse sense of direction than Rikku."
Tidus snickered. "Does she have a really bad sense of direction?"
"Oh yeah. She got lost taking me to her own Home." Harry smirked, "I used to always see her wondering the halls of our school, and at the time I had thought that she just liked to wonder aimlessly, but now I know that whenever she was wandering, she was actually lost."
"Is that how you two know each other?" Tidus asked.
"Yeah, we met in my fifth year of school, her fourth year. She helped me and a group of friends out, and we've been close friends ever since."
"Where did you go to school?" Wakka asked curiously.
"Uh, you wouldn't know it... it's kind of far away." Harry laughed nervously.
"Try me. I was really good at Geography when I was in school." Wakka smiled proudly.
"Err, it's in a place called Scotland."
Wakka frowned and then shrugged, "Never heard of it."
"Wakka. We need to head to the Inn now, so we can rest up before we head to the temple tomorrow morning."
Harry looked at the speaker, she was very pretty with her long black hair and very pale skin, but she had a strict look that reminded him of Professor McGonagall. "I'll go with you guys, I was on my way to the temple when this happened, but I think I should stay in town today and see what I can do to help." He gestured to the destruction around them. "I can go to the temple tomorrow, I was going to talk to the priests and find out more about this area... you see, it's very different from where I come from."
"Really? Different how?" Tidus asked, as they followed the group through the town to the inn.
"Well, for one thing, magic is very different, and the kind of magic I'm used to using doesn't seem to work here, and since magic is the only thing I'm actually good at fighting with, I have to teach myself how to use a weapon."
"That's got to suck."
The Order was in a panic, Harry Potter was missing, and no matter how many locater spells they used, they couldn't find him. I meant one of two things, ether he was being protected by a ward or some sort, or he was dead.
Molly Weasley was crying softly in the corner, In his letter he had basically said that he was cutting all ties with them, didn't he know how dangerous it was for him to be out on his own? And he was with Luna of all people, and she wasn't even old enough to use magic out of school.
"Mum, we're back!" Ginny cried, as she walked into the room. Her face was set into a scowl, she still couldn't believe all the lies that Luna had told her over the years.
"Thank goodness!" Molly stood up and pulled her daughter into a hug, "I was afraid you had all decided to stupidly go after him."
"Mum... we found out some things, that are kind of disturbing."
"We went to talk to Luna's father." Hermione admitted.
"Who it turn out, isn't actually her father." Ron added.
"Did you know that her name isn't even Luna?" Ginny asked, her face showing her sadness at the betrayal of trust.
Molly blinked, "Did Mr. Lovegood tell you all this?"
The three teens nodded. Ginny forced a smile, "He was in one of his sane moods today."
"Wait, Luna? As in Luna Lovegood?" Alistar Moody asked urgently. "Why didn't you say he was with Lovegood?" He sighed exasperatedly. "Everyone, call off the search. We wont find Potter."
"What do you mean, 'call off the search'?" Molly screeched.
"Lady Highwind has taken him to her Home-land, and the only other person who can open the portal, would rather be sent to Askaban for the rest of his life than open it for us."
"Lady Highwind?" Molly screeched, "Luna Lovegood is Lady Highwind? Why wasn't I told? I've lived by her family since they moved here!"
Minerva, who had been listening in to the conversation was the one who spoke. "Can you imagine if it had gotten out that an Al Bhed was living among us? The people would swarm her. And can you imagine if Voldemort got his hands on her and forced her to tell him of the Old Magics? It would be disastrous, and not only that, but if something had happened to her, they could break the treaty and allow Sin access to our world."
Molly gasped, "I never thought of it that way..."
"Would they really break the treaty and allow so many people to die?" Tonks asked.
"They may. I know that it must be very difficult for them to keep their world closed off, that is why the Department Of Mysteries is closed off to civilians, only the Al Bhed can control the gateway between worlds, and as much as they try to keep us safe from their world, sometimes things come through, things that they call fiends. Our magic doesn't work on them, so Lady Lovegood has to come in and get rid of them for us."
Alastar sighed, "It takes a lot of magical energy to keep the worlds separated, The current King of the Al Bhed, Lord Cid, explained it to me when he sent his daughter to live here. In order to keep the two worlds separated, they had to make a sacrifice, a very large sacrifice; they had to put a stop to their natural cycle of death. It makes it so when they die, they are forced to wonder the world between life and death, they can not interact with the living unless they give up their humanity and become fiends, and they can not join the dead unless they are sent by a magic user called a Summoner, and few people become Summoners because at the end of a Summoners pilgrimage they have to sacrifice themselves."
"And eventually, when no summoner sends them, the spirits of the dead become angry with the living... and the more anger they feel, the badder the fiend they become." Tonks finished, remembering when she had first seen a fiend. It had been her first time patrolling the DOM. She had been terrified, nothing she did seemed to stop the monster, so she used her wand to amplify her voice and cry for help and then she hid. She had been shocked when two wizards came into the room minutes later with a tiny blond girl, not even in her teens yet. She was even more shocked when the girl jumped forward, grabbed something from the fiend, and then threw it back, causing a small explosion immediately followed by the fiend falling to the ground and exploding into tiny floating lights.
The three teens looked at each other in confusion, they had no idea what was going on. Hermione, being as perceptive as she was noticed something the other two didn't. "Wait, you said that Luna's father is a king... Does that mean that she's a princess?"
Molly, who had forgotten the teens were listening in quickly frowned and tried to usher them out of the room. "It's nothing you three need to concern yourselves with."
Ginny growled low in her throat, "On the contrary, I believe this is something that which concerns me greatly! Or have your forgotten that Luna is one of my best friends?"
Molly sighed, her daughter had a point. She looked over at the other three Order Members in the room, and at their nods, she started explaining what was going on. "Your friend comes from Spira, a different planet that years ago, used to overlap this one."
"Before we go any further, remember, the things we will be telling you are known only to the oldest wizarding families, and the things that happened were a long time ago, so the details may not be entirely correct, as few things in history are." Minerva looked over her glasses at them and nodded at the other three to continue the story.
Tonks nodded and continued where Molly had left off. "An entity, known as Sin appeared one day. It destroyed everything in its wake, leaving the entire planet in ruins. And then, when there was nothing left to destroy on Spira, it turned to the next closest place; it turned to Earth, before it could cross worlds though, it was defeated. The problem was, the woman who defeated Sin said that it was only a temporary defeat, and that it would last for only ten years."
Alastar spoke next, his voice gruff. "The Al Bhed, or what was left of them after Sin had destroyed their city, devised a way to stop Sin from doing to our planet what had been done to theirs. You see, our planets were connected in many ways, so they had to find a way to destroy those connections without destroying both planets. In the end, they managed to destroy all but one of the gateways that let people travel between the planets, leaving only one, which is now held within the Department of Mysteries."
"Why did they leave one of the gateways?" Hermione asked, her voice brimming with curiosity.
"They couldn't destroy them all without destroying both planets as well. They couldn't destroy the energy from any of the gateways though, just the archways that held the energy, so instead, the energy was channeled into the single portal left."
"By doing this, it cut down the chances of Sin getting to our world, but not entirely. The worlds were connected in another way, they were connected through death. The dead from both planets went to the same place. So the Al Bhed made a sacrifice. Because Sin had the ability to come back to life after it's ten year defeat, being that it was stuck in the last place that tied the worlds together, it would have a choice about which world it wished to come back to life in. The Al Bhed knew Sin would choose Earth." Molly stopped and turned away to get control of her emotions. She didn't think that if she had been in her place that she would have been able to make the sacrifice.
"The Al Bhed were extremely advanced in magic and technology before Sin had destroyed their city, so even though they no longer had the technology, they still had the knowledge. They found a way to use their magic to move the spirits who had died in Spira away from the spirits of those who had died on Earth. They created a new place for their planets dead to go. They knew it would have consequences, but they hadn't known what the consequences would be." Alastar's voice held a slight bit of awe.
Minerva took up the lecturing tone she used in her classes. "They found out the consequences when Sin came back to life and started it's rampage again. The dead no longer knew where to go, and got lost in the space between life and death."
Hermione's eyes widened, and a second later, so did Ron's and Ginny's. "Are you saying that these people actually managed to change where people go when they die?"
"I'm saying exactly that." Alastar sighed. "They could have easily changed things back how they were meant to be, but they refused, as it would allow Sin to come into contact with our world; and they wouldn't allow that to happen."
Tonks smiled slightly, "They still allow people to cross over between the worlds though, but usually only in the years when Sin is gone. "Lady Highwind came here with her Uncle Tytto a month after Sin was defeated the last time."
"Why have I never found any of this in the history books?" Hermione demanded.
"It was taken out of the history books, no one wanted to chance someone finding out how to activate the portals on our side." Tonks said. She was proud of her knowledge, it had allowed her to have some interesting jobs that she wouldn't have gotten otherwise.
"Then how do you all know about it?" Hermione asked.
"Sin only appeared around five hundred years ago, our time. So the older wizarding families still have the knowledge of what it was like when the worlds were merged."
"So you're saying Loony Lovegood is actually Rikku Highwind who happens to come from a entirely different planet that she has now taken our best friend to?" Ron exclaimed, finally coming out of his shock at the information overload.
"Honestly, Ronald. Don't you ever pay attention?" Hermione huffed.
"So is there always an Al Bhed on this side of the gateway to deal with the fiends that come through?" Ginny asked, surprising everyone that she was actually following the conversation.
"For the most part, yes. But not always, we have a special team that we call in to deal with the fiends when the Al Bhed are not around. Because while our magic is useless against them, physical combat works surprisingly well." Tonks looked over at Alastar, wondering if he would tell the teens.
Alastar nodded gravely, "I was the leader of one of the combat squadrons, when a much larger fiend came through the gateway... there was no way we have won. I was the only survivor."
Rikku leaned over the side of the boat, ignoring everyone that passed her by. At least she didn't have to worry about the other Al Bhed treating her different, as they didn't know who she was. They all thought their princess was twenty years old, not fifteen. She had overheard a bunch of them talking about her, while she was in the room and had to stop herself a couple times from laughing. Of course, when Gippal finally caught up with her he would probably give away who she was right away, just out of spite. They had always been rivals, and now it was worse, because he was older and more experienced. Rikku silently cursed the time difference between the worlds.
"Hey you! You're blocking my view."
Rikku looked up with a startled expression. "Huh? Go around you big meany!"
"Cdibet pnyd." The guy pushed past her rudely and made his way up the stairs to the upper deck of the ship.
Rikku narrowed her eyes, the guy looked really familiar, but if it was who she thought it was, why was he being mean? She followed him up the stairs and leaned against the railing watching him with a critical eye.
A few minutes later he noticed her. "What do you want?"
"Nice to see you too, Buddy."
He stood up a little straiter and eyed her suspiciously. "Who are you?"
"You don't remember me?" Rikku gave him a sad look, "I mean sure, I'm a little younger than I should be, and I've been gone for around... I think they said it was around eleven years... but still. I had held out hope that my own best friends would remember me..."
Buddy blinked and took a better look at her, "Princess?" he then laughed, "You're so tiny and kid sized!"
Rikku grimaced, "I'll show you kid sized!" She shook her fist menacingly, taking a step in his direction.
Buddy's face broke into a big smile, "It really is you! Why do you look so young?"
"You know the legend of the Kyda-Fyo?"
He frowned slightly, "Isn't that part of the legend that says Spira used to be connected to another planet some thousand years ago?"
"Yeah..." Rikku smiled her trademark I-know-something-you-don't-know smile. "About that, it's not actually a legend. I've been on that other planet for the last six and a half years."
"But you've been gone for eleven years, not six and a half."
"Time moves differently on Earth."
"Earth?"
"Yeah, it's what the other planet is called."
"So you're saying the legend is actually real? All of it?"
"Well, most of it. Yeah." Rikku sighed, "It's the real reason the Al Bhed are hated by the other Spirans... although I think Yevon has them all so brainwashed that they honestly think we're bad because of our usage of Machina."
"Stupid Yevonites..." Buddy hissed, "It's not bad enough that Sin constantly tries to wipe us out; no, they have to constantly try to wipe us out as well." He looked up, "Is that why Sin comes after us more than the other Spirans? Because we're the ones who stopped it from reaching the other planet?"
"I think so," Rikku replied. "but it's also why Sin never completely wipes us out. Because it knows that we are also the only ones who know how to allow it access to Earth. You'll have noticed that while Sin constantly kills our people, it never attacks our home, even though it knows where it is."
"I had always wondered about that, but I had never thought the legend could be real. Does that mean that our people are truly Spira's guardians?"
"Yeah. We are the only ones who can grant other people access to our world through the Kyda-Fyo."
They both fell into silence, the waves crashing against the side of the ship the only sound, until minutes later Buddy spoke, "Princess, why did you come back?"
Rikku frowned. "Please Buddy, call me Rikku. I don't want people to know who I am; I've come to like being treated like a normal person." She gave him a half smile and drifted off into thought. "I've been attending a school of magic for the past five years, and while there, I met someone. His name is Harry."
"Did he hurt you? Is that why you came back? If so, you had better tell me where the Kyda-Fyo is so I can kill him."
Rikku laughed, "Were you always this overprotective- wait don't answer that. And no, Harry never hurt me, He wouldn't ever do that. He's the heroic type of person... If he was actually from here, he would probably be a summoner." She looked into the distance contemplatively before shaking herself from her thoughts. "In that world he's hailed as a hero. More well known than even Uncle Braska." Rikku ignored her now older friends gasp and continued. "There is an evil man out to kill him though, a man who the world had believed to be dead. It's Harry's destiny to defeat this man."
"So what does this have to do with you coming back?"
"I was given a mission. I was told to bring Harry here and teach him our magics."
"Who gave you this mission?" Buddy asked.
Rikku smiled wistfully and replied, "The only Earthling who has been to Spira and not only learned our magic, but also become a summoner." She paused dramatically. "Albus Dumbledore."
Sorry for the long delay, I had honestly completely forgotten about this fic until I got an email a week or so ago asking if I was ever planning on updating. Thank you for reminding me!