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Before Harry could speak, he heard her whisper something under her breath, and felt the earth spin beneath his feet. And suddenly, with a twist of the shadows, they were gone.
AN: Spells are italicized. When the Malkins speak in their own language, the type will also be italicized, following J.K's practice with Parseltongue.
Chapter Three - Explanations
When the spinning sensation ceased, Harry looked up to find himself in a vast stone hall. Its walls and floor were of a dark color. Candelabras and torches throughout the room illuminated a long, wooden table that lay in the room's center, surrounded by tall, throne like, wooden chairs. Where am I, Harry thought to himself. What is this place?
"Come, let us sit," said the man, interrupting Harry from his musings. He motioned to three chairs toward the head of the long table. "I'm sure you have many questions, Harry," the man began. Harry merely nodded in agreement, still too shocked by their sudden departure to speak. "Before you ask them, allow me to tell you a history. Will you let me?" Once again, Harry simply nodded yes. "Very well then," he continued, "let us begin.
"A long time ago, thousands of years before the birth of the warlock Merlin, a great, magical people lived isolated on a hidden island. They called it, in their tongue, Thammiatwa, but it came to be known in English as Avalon. Using their magics, each member of this nation could live for hundreds of thousands of years, and could control the world around them in an amazing way. They lived there, alone and isolated, for thousands of years, barred from entering the mortal world by the ancient forces, for their power was considered too great for the world to bear. This people became known as the Maylkan, the united clans, and were eventually called the Malkins by the people of the mortal world. Are you with me so far, Harry?"
"Yes," Harry replied, captivated.
"Then I shall continue," spoke the man, resuming his edifying tone. "It came to pass, that 600 years before the birth of Merlin, there lived a warlock of great power, who practiced his magics by summoning and controlling the spirits of the world. They told him of the Malkins, of their isolation, and of their immense power. He came to believe that if he summoned a Malkin spirit from Avalon, he would be able to control it as he did the other spirits, and increase his power by awesome proportions. And so, he went to a lake that the spirits had shown him, and in it created a portal to Avalon, through which he summoned the Malkin spirits. He was wrong, however. He could not control them. Unbeknownst to him, when he began his summoning, the leader of the Malkins, Eriv Sa, travelled through the portal in his ethereal form and possessed the body of the warlock. Now, possessing a body, Eriv Sa used his vast power to expand the work of warlock, and, over many days, created a bridge between the Malkin isle and the mortal world, forming the Lake of Avalon."
"So the Malkins were able to enter the mortal world... our world," Harry asked.
"Indeed they were, Harry. And the consequences of such were enormous. See, when they Malkins entered the mortal world, the came solely with the desire to rule over it and its people. But soon after entering, the Malkins found that the more they stayed in the mortal world, the more they themselves became mortal. Time began to pass for them the same as it did for the humans, and their powers too began to weaken."
"So," Harry interrupted, "Did they leave?"
"Oh no, Harry, it was far more terrible than that. The Malkins found a remedy to their suffering. By draining mortals of their life forces, and consuming them, the Malkins were able to sustain their own power, as if they were still on Avalon. Thus, the Malkins decided to enslave the mortals, so that they could sustain their own power by consuming their lives. With terrifying power, Eriv Sa and his high council summoned an army demon creatures called shades, creatures made of the darkness, and very powerful in their own right. They could take on any form that they were commanded too, corporeal or incorporeal, and could control the elements of the world. And worst of all, the shades could suck the life force out of mortals, and deliver it to their Malkin masters.
"The humans became soon became divided. Many mortals, confronted with the Malkin's awesome power, treated them as gods, and worshipped them. Others feared that to align themselves with the Malkins was like submitting to their own deaths, and took up arms to defend themselves. But, as you could imagine, the first group was far more successful. They aided the Malkins in conquering, and offered many of the captives that war brought as sacrifices to the Malkins. And so it came to pass, that by the time of Merlin's birth, there were very few human kingdoms that were free of the Malkins reign. Fortunately for the humans, Merlin was born in one of the strongest of them, Camelot."
"But, how did the humans manage to stay free," Harry asked, confused. "Surely the Malkins were powerful enough to conquer them."
"Indeed they would have been, Harry, had they still been fighting at the time," the man replied. "But at that time, the Malkins did little of the fighting themselves. The bulk of the fighting, for several hundred years by then, in fact, was carried out by the human servants of the Malkins. Anyway, I'll continue. So Merlin was born in one of the strongest of the still free human kingdoms. He was born with a great magical ability, greater than any mortal before him. Being as powerful as he was, Merlin quickly rose to become the leader of the resistance against the Malkins. But even with him fighting, the mortal armies still lost ground to those of the Malkins. But Merlin knew that the Malkin armies were much more powerful than those of Camelot. So, Merlin devised the earliest of the modern magics. Using his power, Merlin bestowed magical ability on a select group of mortals, and fashioned them wands with which they could cast spells.
"Now, armed with magic, the armies of Camelot were much more successful in their resistance. So successful, in fact, that soon reports were delivered to Eriv Sa and his council that a free mortal army was reconquering kingdoms, and freeing them from Malkin rule. The Malkins, of course, would not let this stand. They devised a two pronged plan. Firstly, they would grant magical abilities to a select group of their own followers, in order to combat the armies of Camelot on equal terms. Secondly, they decided that one the members of the councils would chose a human to disguise himself, infiltrate Camelot, and kill Merlin when the time was right. Morgana le Fay, the most powerful of the half Malkins, was chosen for the task."
"Wait," Harry cut in, "Morgana was a Malkin?"
"A Half Malkin, Harry, and a powerful one at that."
"Wait. What do you mean Half Malkin," Harry asked, his confusion apparent.
"Good question. Remember, by that time the Malkins had been in the world for over 600 years. In that time, many Malkins interbred with their mortal servants. Their offspring were half Malkin, half mortal, very powerful wizards and witches indeed, who came to call themselves the Dark Families. Of them, Morgana was the most powerful. Now, should I go on?"
Harry eagerly nodded in assent. The man continued.
"So now, armed with magic even more powerful than that which Merlin had bestowed upon the soldiers of Camelot, the human armies of the Malkins began to regain their ground, and Camelot was once again thrown into, what appeared to them, as futile resistance. It was to this Camelot that Morgana arrived, claiming to be a sorceress from a far off land who wished to aid Camelot in her fight for freedom. Morgana played her part well, and convinced everyone that she was truly trying to help them. Then, one night, Eriv Sa travelled from Avalon in his shadow form to Morgana, and instructed her to kill Merlin. She arose that very night and went to Merlin's chamber. There she fought him, and casted upon him the most powerful killing curse that she knew. But Merlin's power was such that he did not die, but was mortally wounded instead. Having failed her task, Morgana fled to the Lake of Avalon to request further instruction from Lord Sa, her master.
"Meanwhile, back in Camelot, Merlin knew that he was dying, and had little time left. Merlin gathered his followers to him, and told him that he was, on his death bed, going to perform a ritual, in which he would sacrifice his own life in order to banish the Malkins from the mortal world. If it worked, he told them, the Malkins would be bound in Avalon once more. With his followers surrounding him, Merlin performed the ritual, and with his death drove the Malkins from the world, leaving his followers with nothing but their magical talents, and the warning to never intermarry with the Dark Families."
"So the humans won then?" Harry asked hurriedly. "And why the warning about the marriage?"
"Hold on ,Harry. See, even Merlin's sacrifice could not remove the Malkins for ever. They were too strong for that. The spell had a caveat. It was such, that on the day when Merlin's direct descendants and descendants of the Malkins mixed, the Malkins would be able to return to the mortal world only as creatures of the night, bound to the shadows in the incorporeal forms. Hence the warning."
Harry nodded in understanding.
"Now, among the Malkins were seers of great power, who had foretold these events long before they came to pass. And so, as the Malkins withdrew more and more from the fighting, the began to plan for their inevitable banishment. They carved out pieces of the world, and bound them to Avalon, so that they could withdraw to many 'islands' throughout the world, when the banishing would take place. Of course they weren't really islands, you understand. Yet, it was as if those parts of the world had never existed, but were extensions of Avalon itself. But even so, the Malkins would have no way of reopening the portal to the mortal world. So Sa devised a brilliant plan. He built a secret tomb next to the Lake of Avalon. In it, someone would be able to wait, sealed from the world in a dormant state, in order that one day, that someone could be reawakened, and open the portal once more. And do you know whom was placed there, Harry?"
"No..." Harry said softly.
"Morgana was."
A look of understanding appeared on Harry's face.
"See Harry, not only did the seers foresee Merlin's spell, but they foresaw Morgana's failure to kill him. And thus, when Morgana fled to the Lake of Avalon to speak to Sa, he placed her in a deep slumber, and sealed her in the tomb. He then called to all of his mortal allies, but not the Dark Families, and told them to withdraw to the 'islands' that he and his council had created throughout the world. And so, when the Malkins were thrown from the world by Merlin's ritual, and confined to their islands, a large number of their mortal supporters were sealed there with them."
"So... the humans got what they wanted then. Why did you say that they didn't win?"
"Patience, Harry. Allow a few more minutes to finish. Now, Merlin's son, now leading the fight, rushed out into a land now vacant of almost all his enemies."
"Almost all," asked Harry.
"The Dark Families remained, Harry. They were Malkins after all. Remember, Sa was aware of the limitations of Merlin's spell. He needed them to stay."
Once more, Harry silently nodded his head in understanding.
"Now, as you could imagine, the humans were eager to ascertain that the Malkins would never return to their lands. And so, Merlin's son claimed the Land that surrounded Lake Avalon, now dormant, and built there a fortress, so that no one would ever be able to summon the Malkins forth again. Little did he know, however, that by doing so, he did more harm that good for his people, for his fortress also protected Morgana's tomb."
"What happened then," Harry asked excitedly.
"Well, as you might have surmised, the humans then focused their attention on destroying the Dark Families. But the Dark Families remained powerful, and used their magics to ward their lands, villages, and towns, so that their enemies could not find them.
"Many years passed, and the numbers of non-magical humans soon became much, much larger than the number of the Light Wizards, as the descendants of Merlin's followers called themselves. Consequently, the wizards no longer led the people, whom were now ruled by non-magical kings. And soon, the non-magicals began to regard the wizards with suspicion, and blamed them for helping to hide the Dark Families, for not trying to find them in earnest. And so, the non-magicals, muggles, as the wizards began to call them, turned on the wizards, and began to attack them."
"Was that the beginning of the witch-hunting," Harry asked in a curious tone.
"Yes Harry, it was. And the wizards did not know what to do. So they went to their leader, the descendant of the direct line of Merlin, known by the name Gryffindor. He, ruling the wizards from his small fortress at Lake Avalon, then known as Hogwarts Castle, decided that the Light Wizards needed to find the Dark Families, and convince them to allow the Light Wizards to join them in hiding. Hearing of the non-magicals betrayal, The Dark Families allowed the Light Wizards to find them, and heard their pleas. The Dark wizards were prepared to help the Light Wizards who came to them for help, but only for a price. The Dark Families coveted the wands of the Light Wizards, as their own magic had steadily diminished since the departure of the Malkins from the world. The Light Wizards acquiesced, and using their new wands to access their old powers, the Dark Families hid their magical brethren from the muggle world.
"A generation after the Light merged with the Dark, it was decided that the wizards needed to build a school to teach magic to the next generation en masse, for now their numbers had doubled. Godric Gryffindor, son of the Gryffindor who led the Light to merge with the Dark, volunteered the small fortress of Hogwarts Castle. Along with two of his friends from the Light, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff, and one of the most prominent leaders of the Dark, Salazar Slytherin, Godric tore down the existing fortress, and the four began to build a new castle, to act as a school, with each responsible for one fourth of it's construction.
"Now the Dark Families retained their lore better than the Light, and remembered Morgana, and her tomb. Thus, Salazar chose to build his portion of the castle nearest to the lake. Underneath it, he built a secret labyrinth, far underground, that at the end of which lay Morgana's tomb. To protect his labyrinth, he placed a terrible, serpentine monster at its beginning, and it became known as the chamber of secrets. Soon, however, the other three founders became suspicious of Salazar, and he parted from them on bitter terms. Since then, even though the Light and Dark have gone to the same school, the two sides have remained in a cold alliance, with the Light always cautious to mix with the Dark, though not quite sure why."
"So that's why the Light and Dark are so mistrustful!" exclaimed Harry. "It's amazing that they're still bitter... most of them probably don't even know why."
"Yes Harry, but well, that's where you come in, isn't it," said the woman.
Both Harry and the man turned to look at the woman, who had spoken for the first time since they had sat down.
"Well," she said, nudging the man with her elbow, "go on."
"Yes, well," the man continued. "Merlin never anticipated any of that, Harry. He never anticipated that the Dark Families would survive long after the banishing, or that the Wizards would eventually hide themselves from the muggles, or that Hogwarts Castle would ever be built. But most of all, Merlin never anticipated the attitudes of blood purity that would form. So mistrustful of the humans they were, that the wizards adopted the practice of expelling all children born without magic from their world. Squibs, they called them. Anyway, Godric only had one child, a son, and he was one such squib, casted out of the wizarding world as a boy, with no recollection of his prior family. And even though the wizards then considered the direct line of Merlin to be dead, it was not, for the boy, though not magical, was his direct heir."
"What happened to him," asked Harry.
"I'll tell you. He grew up in the muggle world, and went by the name of Jeremy Evans. He married, and had a family, who after many generations begot the first magical member of its line since the time of Merlin –– your mother, Harry, Lily Evans."
Harry looked at the man wide eyed, the disbelief clear upon his face. "No... it can't be. My mother was a a muggle-born! Dumbledore told me that..." Harry's brow wrinkled in confusion. Dumbledore told me that, he thought. Who knows if it's really true... "How do you know this," asked Harry forcefully, looking into the face of the man.
"It's simple Harry," the man replied. "My name is Lazhan Malkin ––"
"And mine is Aldora Malkin –– " the woman interjected.
"And we," the Lazhan said, wresting back control of the conversation, "are two members of the High Council that came to the mortal world with our master Eriv Sa all those years ago. When you were born, Harry, from the blood of Merlin on your mother's side, and the blood of Morgana's on your father's, we felt our bonds melt away ––"
"But the Potters had always been a light family," Harry shouted.
"Did Dumbledore tell you that," Aldora asked with a sarcastic smirk, in her characteristic, flowing tone. "True, the Potters were one of the few Dark Families that abandoned their ways and joined the Light during the merger. The Parters, Harry. You were first known as the Parters. And though your family did part from its traditions and loyalties, it could not part from its blood. Look at you Harry, look at me, look at us. Can't you see the relation?"
Harry, of course, could see the relation between the three of them easily. "So you're saying... that I am a Malkin," Harry asked slowly.
"Our blood runs in your veins along with that of Merlin," answer Lazhan. "Of course, your inheritance of our traits would have been stronger if Dumbledore hadn't bound you magic when you were a baby ––"
"If Dumbledore hadn't done what!" Harry bellowed with outrage.
Lazhan proceeded before Harry could continue yelling. "Harry," he said, returning to his commanding tone. "It's time for you to make a decision. You have two choices. You can choose to be sent back to the Dursleys, and all will be as it was before, or you can choose to join us. What will it be Harry? Your true people, or the man who had locked in a cage for ten years," Lazhan demanded.
"Think carefully before you answer, Harry," Aldora cautioned him from her position down the table on Lazhan's right.
Dumbledore bound my magic, Harry thought. That manipulative son... what else has he done to me. No, I can't return to him. Who knows what he'll do. Perhaps it's time for me to look towards someone else. Harry broke out into a smile. After all, it's not like I've ever been safe while under Dumbledore's care... "I'll join you," Harry said with an air of finality.
"Excellent," Lazhan said in a near whisper. "You're decision is far more important than you know."
"What do you mean," asked Harry.
"Oh, we'll discuss that tomorrow, Harry. You've had a long day, and it's been a lot to take in, I'm sure. It's best you go to sleep now."
A house elf appeared as Lazhan snapped his fingers. Harry looked at him, surprised.
"What," scoffed Lazhan, "you didn't think that we would have house elves too?" He chuckled. Turning to face the elf, Lazhan ordered: "Handy, show Harry to his room."
"Go on, Harry. We'll see you tomorrow morning," Aldora said, looking at the young man of 15.
Harry merely nodded once more, suddenly realizing his own weariness. Tiredly, Harry turned, and followed the elf out of the hall.
"Well," continued Aldora, "I think I'm going to rest now too, after all, it's been several days since I last have done."
"Very well, Aldora," Lazhan replied, "I'll tell Him, the good news.
After nodding her approval, Aldora exited the hall as Harry had just done. Lazhan, however, walked the opposite direction, to a door at the far end of the room. He soon came across a stair case, and before he knew, stood in front of a set of large, wooden doors. Lazhan knocked twice, and entered once he heard a muffled voice from behind the door say "enter." Lazhan looked toward a man seated in a high back, leather chair at the far side of the room. It lay behind a large, mahogany desk. Light emanating from numerous candles around the room reflected off its polished surface. The man, closely resembling Lazhan in features, sat reclined in his chair, legs crossed, with his long fingers drumming steadily on the dest top in front of him. Each of his nails made a clacking sound as it came in contact with the surface.
"My Lord," asked Lazhan.
"Yes Lazhan, what is it?" Eriv Sa straightened slowly in his chair to gaze fully at Lazhan in the doorway.
"The boy has decided to join us. I thought you would want to know."
"Indeed I do," replied Eriv, his mouth curving into a smile. His white teeth shined like the dark wood of his desk top. "Thank you for telling me. When will you and Aldora perform the ritual?"
"Tomorrow, my lord," Lazhan answered quickly.
"Excellent. You may go now, Lazhan, if that is all."
"It is, my lord."
"Very well. Goodnight Lazhan."
Lazhan returned the farewell, and exited the room. Eriv resumed his prior pose, reclining back into his chair. Excellent, he thought to himself, still smiling. Everything is going exactly, according to plan.
AN: Lazhan pronounced with long As and accent on the last syllable. Aldora is pronounced with long vowels as well, with the accent on the first syllable. Once again, forgive me any formatting issues.
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