Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter
Potter Farm, Living Room
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Two months have passed since Harry arrived at Potter Farm. The expedition team had arrived as well, and the time they were taking was worrying both Merlose and Harry.
"Hey, Spark, any news on the expedition team?" asked the young wizard. The team's last report was on the entrance of the mysterious ruins that were part of the island. That was a week ago. The house elf shook his head in denial.
On the seat next to Harry, Merlose frowned. "That is worrying. Those ruins do not have any special protection that prevents them from sending reports outside. I've gone there a few times."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "You know, you never told me why do you have teams patrolling the outer roads. Does that have anything to do with the ruins?"
The officer downed his glass of Firewhiskey. "Yes. In this island, the stories about monsters coming out from places of the past are way too real. We've had an undead infestation two years ago. Went in there and wiped some streets in. We never dared to go too far, though. We've... heard and seen things... Can you believe there are walking suits of armour there? Dullahans... we'd need to bring some decent firepower there, not just the regular equipment." The man shivered at the thought. "I sincerely hope they did not run into those guys."
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Island Ruins, Town Centre
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The wizard ran through the empty streets, his steps echoing in an eerie way in the still air. Behind him, he could hear the groans of those... creatures.
His team was exploring a cave when they were ambushed by birds with human faces. One of them never left the room, being turned to stone by the bird's gaze.
The rest of them proceeded to get out of there as fast as they could, dodging the zombies that weren't previously there. Slowly but surely, the group was cut down one by one, until only one person remained, running to warn the world about what happened.
He descended through the stairs, skipping steps in an effort to go faster, his breath ragged from the effort and his legs on fire. Still, he pressed on. He could not afford to stop for rest. Most of his equipment was lost anyway, dropped in his run for survival. The only things that remained in his possession were his diary and his wand, clutched in his hand like it was his last lifeline.
He turned a corner, dodging a sword strike from an armoured skeleton. He could see a hole in the wall. A hole for freedom. A hole for survival.
But alas, that was not to happen. As he ran the last stretch of terrain that would allow him to jump to the outside of the walls, an axe caught his neck from behind, beheading the last survivor of the expedition team.
However, a joke of destiny assured that the world knew about the face of those wizards and witches. The momentum from his run dictated that the severed head would fly through the opening, triggering the entrance wards and notifying the security forces of the island.
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Potter Farm, Living Room
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Merlose jumped to his feet, rummaging through his pockets, searching for something. He finally recovered a silver amulet, currently shining orange. "Somebody got out." he said, running to the coat rack and grabbing his coat. "Let's check it out, Harry!"
The boy promptly took a coat of his own. "Spark, please be ready to pop there if I need you, okay?" he requested, before following the older wizard through the door.
The trip to the ruins was tense. Merlose was silent, concentrated in driving his van through the rocky road. Harry, riding shotgun, nervously checked the ammo clip of his handgun, idly wondering if he would need to use it.
After some twenty minutes, they finally arrived at the ruins. Merlose all but jumped out of the van, frantically looking around, looking for someone. Harry, pulling the safety of his gun, carefully stepped out of the vehicle, eyeing his surroundings, the lessons from Alastor Moody coming to his mind.
After a few minutes of frantic searching, the green-eyed wizard spotted a strange lump on the ground. "Hex, I found something here!" he called.
Hexior's head turned in the direction of the boy. "What? What did you found?" he asked frantically, as he approached him. Harry was kneeling on the ground, his body hiding the object from the officer.
"Just a head..." Harry said, looking to the ruins. "A full team, and the only thing that returns here is a head. What the fuck happened there?"
The elder wizard shook his head, eyeing the ruins. "We may never know that, Harry."
Just as they were looking at the ancient walls, the Dullahan showed up on the other side of the hole, seemingly staring at them. Both wizards went for their wands, blasting the spot with Bombarda spells. The rocks around the hole flew through the air, but the animated piece of armour was long gone by then.
Shaking his head, Merlose conjured a wooden box and placed the head inside. "Let's get back and report this to the goblins. There's not much we can do now, apart from that. Exploring is a dangerous business. Things like these happen every now and then... of course, they usually deal with more traps than... dark beings, but they knew what they were getting into."
Harry shook his head. "I know that, but still..."
"It is not our fault. I've always said that an exploration team would need significant fire-power to explore this ruins. My ancestors went inside several times, and I still remember my grandfather telling me about the horrors they found inside. If my blood chills just by seeing a Dullahan, I can't even start to think about my reaction if I saw some of the nastier things there."
Shaking his head, the boy grudgingly returned to the vehicle, while his older friend placed the box in the trunk. In their minds, similar questions were floating: What happened there?
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Five Years Later, Hogwarts
.
She felt dead inside. Ever since the Battle of Hogwarts five years ago, everything in that castle seemed to make her remember the bodies of her students. How many possibilities to recover the wizarding Britain were lost to the madness of Voldemort? Still, it was the bravery of all the students that saved the wizarding world in that fateful day, where Harry Potter finally brought the demise of the Dark Lord.
She wondered how was he doing. She recalled a particular conversation they had on that summer. "Let Neville, Ron, Hermione and the other appreciate it... to quote Churchill: 'This was their finest hour.' Let them reap the rewards. Let them be famous and happy. Let them change the world. My job is done." He had seen death so close... so many times. He seemed to be tired of being a hero. He never wanted to be a hero.
And now she understood what he felt. The empty feeling that came from surviving while others died. And she knew... she knew that he, too, saw that she was like that for a long time. She realized then the reason why he left her that letter.
"Well, I guess it is time to open it, then." she sighed, opening the drawer where she reverently kept the closed letter. She anxiously took the letter from the envelope, noticing there was a small necklace attached to it with a sticking charm. A Finite later, she finally opened the letter that was closed for the past five years.
Dear Septima,
If you're reading this, then you finally got too tired of staring at the walls of Hogwarts and remembering the past. I wonder how long could you hold out. In that point, you were always tougher than me. But I digress.
The small necklace attached to the letter is a portkey. If you wish to take a time off from the world, you just have to sat 'Potter Farm' to activate it. You'll always be welcome here.
The Arithmancy teacher grabbed the necklace, thinking about Harry's invitation... for about five seconds. With a skip on her step, she started her formal resignation from Hogwarts.
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Island of Nowhere, Learning Hall
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"It is with the greatest joy that, in the name of the International Confederation of Wizards, declare Harry James Potter a fully fledged Master of Defense Against the Dark Arts!" the elderly wizard said, handing Harry a scroll that formally stated his Mastery, much to the applaud of the inhabitants of the island that had amassed there to see the ceremony. Harry bowed respectfully to the aged wizard, before turning and joining his friends from the Island Patrol.
"Harry! Or should I say Master Harry?" Merlose teased the green-eyed wizard, who grinned evilly at the teasing. "Oh, then that means I'd have to call you Master Hexior as well, right?"
Hex grumbled something about cheeky brats in response, much to the laughter of the entire Patrol. "Come on, the pub awaits us!"
Hours later, Harry stumbled out of the pub, holding a very much drunk Merlose. "And, remember Harry. Tab A goes to Slot B! (hic) And never, never mix up names, or else you will be performing maintenance for that night!"
"Yes, yes. Now get into the car, John will drive you home, you bloody drunk!" Harry said, snorting at the man's lewd comments.
"But you have so much to learn Harry! (hic) You won't be a virgin forever!"
"And you are too drunk to teach! Now get your arse on the car before I call your wife!" Harry said sternly, eliciting a yelp from the man, who entered the vehicle without another complaint. Using Sophie Merlose as a threat was a sure-fire way to get the officer to behave.
Shaking his head, the young man walked down the street, taking the road to return home after a day off from his farm and DADA studying. Had it been five years already? He felt like he arrived only yesterday... So much had happened since then: his NEWTS, joining the Island Patrol, the obligatory monster outbreak... he shuddered at the last one. A group of lizardmen managed to get out of the ruins and raided several houses on the outskirts of the town. He was patrolling at the time and the two groups has a small but bloody skirmish on that place. When he was done, there were body parts and dead lizards everywhere. It was pretty much his first combat experience there, and he saw first hand the effect of 'shock and awe' that the Muggle weapons he learned to use there had on his enemies.
His mind, however, quickly ceased his thoughts as he saw a familiar figure near the Farm's gates. He was now wondering if it was really her that was there, or it was just an effect of the drinks. His questions were quickly answered as she turned around, revealing the face of his friend. "Septima!" he shouted, laughing fondly as he ran towards her, receiving a tight hug from the raven-haired former teacher.
"Harry, good to see you again. You sure have changed since then." she stated, checking him out. He smiled sheepishly, breaking the hug and scratching the back of his head. "This place has been good to me. You haven't changed, though. Sorry for making you wait here, had a big party at the town." he raised the scroll.
"Don't worry about that, I've just arrived. That scroll.. did you get a mastery?" she asked, a grin spreading across her features.
Harry nodded enthusiastically "Yep. But let's get inside, it's almost time for dinner. I'll tell you everything then, okay?"
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Potter Farm, Kitchen
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"No way. Was he that drunk?" Septima said, trying to control her laughs regarding Harry's last birthday party.
"Believe me, that is one event that makes me want to Obliviate myself at times. A pole dance made by a drunk old man is just wrong." he said, shuddering at the thought. "It's as wrong as..." his expression turned dark. "... never mind."
Vector had seen that expression before. She recalled he only got like that when something really bad happened. "Harry, I know that face. What happened?"
Harry sighed, shaking his head. "Remember the Gringotts expedition? Well, they came and went to explore the ruins... The only thing that came out was the head of one of them."
Septima cringed at the mental image. "Is it that bad inside?"
"Let's just say that Merlose does not dare to go too far inside without decent fire-power. You know about some beasts from myth? They're way too real here. We killed a bunch of Lizardman the other day."
"How did Gringotts react to the news that their team was lost?"
Harry shook his head. "They got a nasty surprise when they saw my memories of the event. Do you know about those animated suits of armour from Irish legend? They're real, only they do not have a body. How do you kill something that has no body? Merlose and I have been cracking our heads trying to find an answer to that. A theoretical answer, mind you."
"I assume the gun closet I saw is part of your attempt to find that answer?" Septima asked, still trying to come to terms with Harry's story.
"Yes and no. I keep some nasty stuff there, yes, but that closet is there mostly to keep the standard Patrol weaponry there. Turns out that killing stuff with bullets and cold steel is a viable option to wand waving. We're not casting Jelly-Legs Jinxes, too, so deadly force is pretty much a base requirement."
The raven-haired witch rubbed the tip of her nose with the back of her hand, obviously thinking about something. After a few moment of silence, she asked the question that seemed to be bugging her since the beginning of the whole tale. "Who built those ruins, and why are they crawling with monsters, anyway?"
The young wizard sighed. "It is said that the ruins were build by ancient people with a understanding of certain types of magic. Apparently, that magic, somehow, went wrong, leaving the ruins on their current state and pretty much creating the beast. Don't ask how, I'm just giving you the short version of Hex's explanation, since he's pretty much the expert on those matters. When the first people arrived here, they explored the ruin and got a nasty surprise, so they just warded it to warn the head of the Island Patrol for entries and exits. The Island Patrol was created to handle the monster sorties and occasionally enter the outer part of the ruins and... reduce their numbers."
"I see. But let's change the subject: what about your wine?"
Harry sketched a smile at Septima's question. "Almost there. I guess this year's harvest will be good enough to bottle it as a Potter Farm wine. These last years have been decent, too but they lacked a little something, according to President Goldsmelter."
The former Arithmancy teacher looked at the young wizard. "Never thought you would be able to speak about it like it was something common. You've become quite the wine connoisseur, Harry." she said, winking at the young man.
Harry blushed at the woman's antics. "I had to learn a thing or two, and Goldsmelter is also very knowledgeable on the subject.
"Yeah, but you're the one doing the growing. It's good to know you're doing what you wanted to do." she said, amused with his reaction.
"Yeah, it feels great to get my hands dirty while tending the vines, and I just have to keep an eye for plagues and birds. Left me lots of time for studying and the Mastery, too. Of course, September is a busy month, with the harvesting. The first year I made the harvest, I forgot that the wine can brew quite fast, and filled the tubs too much... let's just say that the results were not amusing. The fact that I spent too much time in the cellar did not help either."
Septima snorted. "Let me guess, you smelled too much alcohol, killer headache."
The man nodded. "Yeah, not amusing waking the next that with what roughly equated to a hangover."
"I was about to say you can't get drunk with that, but you have a knack to redefine 'impossible', Harry."
"Oh, thank you for reminding me I'm Fate's middle finger." grumbled Harry, giving her a mock glare. She gave him a grin in return. "Why, you're welcome."
He slammed his head on the table, grumbling something about 'cheeky minxes'. Septima couldn't help but crack a full blown laugh until tear filled her eyes and she had to stop to get some air. "Oh Harry, you're still so easy to pick on."
He gave her another mock glare. "You done having fun at my expense?"
She giggled. "No."
The green-eyed Master filled his spoon with ice cream, which he proceeded to fling at Vector. Said ice cream hit her right in the nose, ceasing her giggling... for about a tenth of a second, before she decided to return fire. In the space of two seconds, the conversation had turned into an ice-cream flinging competition, with the two rather immature wizards transforming the room and themselves into a mess of ice-cream and giggles. Eventually, a slightly miffed Spark decided to end their fun by vanishing the ice-cream from the room, eliciting a moment of deep thought on the minds of the two wizards.
Which only lasted for a second or so, before both of them got up to their feet, laughing like they lost their marbles somewhere in the way.
"I haven't had this much fun in years!" said the former teacher, wiping the tears of mirth from her face. Harry nodded, mimicking her actions. "Me neither. Thanks for coming today Septima. I guess I'll get a bath now, the ice-cream is starting to melt."
"Yeah, same here. Do you have a spare bathroom?"
"Your bedroom is upstairs, third door to the left. You have a bathroom there." Harry said, climbing the stairs. "Oh, and Septima?"
"Yes?"
Harry gave the woman a warm smile. "I really meant it when I thanked you for coming."
And Septima is back with Harry!
Also, related to my stories, I created a forum where you can ask me about backstory details that I may not mention in the stories.
The address is forum . fanfiction . net/ forum/ Ask_Away_Harry_Potter_version/ 99328/ (remove the spaces)
See ya!
