So, here is the third chapter of the story. It contains the major part of the ritual and should answer some questions. I worked on this for hours so it is possible that some mistakes slipped in as I am dead tired.
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Gringotts, Diagon Alley, about ten thirty in the morning, the same day
The walk from Ragnok's office to the ritual chamber was longer than before. Not a word was spoken and it gave me all the time to worry and work myself into a panic about the whole situation. Before the panic could truly get a hold of me, we stopped, and I recognized the doors that we were standing in front of.
The director turned to me. "I cannot tell you what will happen once the ritual starts, but there are a few things that you need to know. It is impossible for me to enter the room with you or to watch the events in any way. The moment you have fully stepped inside the room I must close the doors. After that, it is up to you. I will be notified a half hour after the ritual has finished, which will give you the necessary time to get your bearings. After that I will bring you to our hospital ward, where you will be given a full magical, mental and physical health check, after which you will be allowed to sleep for a few hours.
It is right now ten thirty in the morning, and the ritual usually takes one and a half hour, plus the extra half an hour leaves us at twelve thirty in the afternoon. Then you can sleep till five after which dinner will be served. Once you are done a goblin will come and bring you back to my office to arrange some last things. A room has been arranged for you in the Leaky Cauldron, and you will be escorted there. Do not worry about the expenses, all has been arranged. Tomorrow morning you will have time to shop after which you are expected here in Gringotts again at one in the afternoon."
Seeing my glazed look the director nods to himself and resumes his speech. "I will repeat all this to you later when you will be more awake. Oh one last thing. This ritual will give you magic, that magic will need to settle. In order for it to do so it will rush out of your body and permeate the air. Thus creating the necessary pathways through your body that will allow you to actively use and channel your magic. I would advise not to try and stop this process. You could, and it would not be disastrous, but it would make it all much more painful than it needs to be. It is better to leave magic to do its work. Neither do you need to call that magic back to you. It will serve no purpose if you do. We call it used magic; magical waste, you could say, that is left over from a ritual. It is harmless but no longer useable. I will see you this afternoon, good luck."
With that he opened the heavy stone doors with a wave of his hand and bowed me inside.
~*~HP~*~ ~*~HP~*~ ~*~HP~*~
Stepping inside the ritual room I had originally landed in, my attention was immediately drawn to the runes that were carved into the opposite wall. Vaguely I heard the heavy stone doors close behind me. Not paying it any attention, I walk to the middle of the chamber in a daze. My attention still focussed on the runes on the wall. Though I could still not understand what was written, I started to recognize something in them, like from a far distant past, something I had once known and understood. I could not explain in words the draw they had, the fascination they inspired in me.
Having reached the middle of the room, the runes stared to emit a soft golden glow. It was joined by four beams that came from the ground. Red, green, blue and yellow light shone from the cardinal points of the pentagram I now realised was carved into the stone underneath my feet. Slowly, feeling foolish for doing so, I started to undress, in the back of my mind saying a quick thanks for the fact that I was alone. Once I was fully unclothed, my clothing disappeared, but strangely enough I could not be bothered by it.
Once again taking a small step to be in the centre of the pentagram once more. The moment I was stood there the intensity of the golden light increased. The four coloured beams arched and connected themselves right above me. The intensity of the golden light kept increasing, until it was near blinding. Slowly I started to feel myself float. The four colours came loose from their places on the pentagram and formed a ball around me. The beams multiplying until I was encased in them. The golden light had come loose from the runes that had originally emitted it. Slowly my sluggish mind realised that it was no light I was seeing, but magic.
Staring in wonder, my mind could hardly catch up with what was happening. The ball of colours started whirling around me, four beams of magic disconnected and slammed into my body, changing me form the inside… but I could not fear what was happening. The rotating stopped and the ball started opening slightly though the four beams kept attached to me. Reaching inside me, turning all I was into something new.
When the openings were big enough the golden magic burst inside through them. Reaching for me, settling on my skin, changing me from inside out, choking me with the sheer strength and intensity of the magic and experience. I could take no more. There was no pain, only a near suffocating pressure on my body, heart, mind and soul. I could feel my consciousness slipping and I let it. Somehow knowing that it had to happen.
~*~HP~*~ ~*~HP~*~ ~*~HP~*~
When I came to, I was laying on a plush rug in front of a large hearth. Grumbling to myself that this was a softer landing than before, I slowly got up. Looking around I saw I was in a large round library. Before the hearth, and on the rug I had landed on, there was a small sitting area, cosy and functional for me to let myself comfortably get lost for a few hours in a good book.
The immediate wall surrounding the fireplace was covered in frames where paintings or pictures would come to hang. Four large ones were already occupied, together with five smaller ones. The four large ones held portraits of my mother, little brother and sister. The last one was a painting of young boy. I did not recognize him, that was… until I saw the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Then I realised that for the first time I was looking at Harry James Potter. I felt a tug at my heart when I watched his portrait. Though it did not move it emitted such a sense of sadness, of hopelessness and despair, that I wanted nothing more than hug him close to me. Assure him that all would be well, I would take care of him. Like I had done with my brother and sister when they needed me. At that moment I knew that I would do anything to be a good sister and friend to him.
Shaking myself I let my eyes rove over the other portraits. All containing pictures of my family, that I had now left behind. I felt a flash of panic. My mother must be so concerned. She already worried if I was half an hour late, especially in the evening, oh hell… she must be absolutely worried sick now.
Out of nowhere a picture frame flashed in front of me. It showed myself entering the door to my home on the evening I was taken. I watched as I hollered for my mom to hear that I was home. I could not understand it. I was taken that evening. I should have disappeared… not just entered the door as if nothing had happened. But… if what I saw was real, then how could I be in two places at once? Had they cloned me? The moment I thought that the frame flashed an angry red, taking that to mean that I was wrong, I thought further. Had I been copied? Red. Duplicated? Red. None of the terms I came up with were correct so there must have been something else done.
No it could not be, they could not have split my soul, my essence, in two and left one part there and brought the other here?! Green. Oh God. The room started spinning around me, and I sank down to the floor. They had made a horcrux of me. I, who I was here in this world, was no more than a horcrux of the original me. The implications of that were too much for me to take and I felt darkness taking me.
When I woke up and everything came rushing back, I started to really think about it. I could not be a horcrux. I was something similar, yes. But not a horcrux, no murder had been committed by me, my soul had not been prepared to split. Besides, the body I had here could not be anything but a copy. Also my time here had already somewhat changed me, the me here was now a different person as the one I had just watched coming home. And when this ritual was finished I would be even more different. So I could not be a horcrux. Something similar, but not a horcrux. With that comforting thought I gathered my strength and stood up. Resolutely shoving these thoughts away, though that did not prevent me from subconsciously still worrying about it.
With a determination I was not aware I possessed, I once again focussed on my surroundings. I was still standing on the rug near the hearth, quickly determining that it was a good vantage point for a cursory glance, it was not what would work in this instant. So slowly I walked to the tapestry that hung next to the hearth and its surrounding frames. It was beautifully embroidered, but it could not hold my attention long enough for me to want to figure out what was depicted on it. From my quick inspection I determined it to be a tapestry similar to the one that Sirius' showed Harry in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I must admit that I wasn't being very original, stealing such things from other authors and using them in my own imaginary tales.*
Next followed bookcases, enough to house a full library. They reached from floor to ceiling, but the first few I walked past were still empty. Apart from one shelf. Curiously I looked closer and realised that I was looking at all seven Harry Potter books. With a soft sigh of relief I determined that to be a good thing as it would mean I would have access if I needed to refresh my memory on some of the things that had happened in them.
I wondered what kind of books would come to fill these shelves. At that moment a new book appeared. Its cover read: 'Arriving in my new life'. Quickly I plucked it from its place and opened it. Before me I saw what looked like a photo album, with photos of everything that had happened since I was taken from my home.
That is when the bludger hit me. I must be in my own mindscape, there was no other explanation. And these bookcases, these shelves would become filled with my memories and knowledge, all spread out for me to access and revisit.
My curiosity having ignited with that realisation I quickly moved from bookcase to bookcase. The first few where empty, but if that photo album was any indication they would come to house all of my memories. Ones I had yet to make in this new place, this new life. The next five were not empty, but they were by no means full. Maybe one twentieth of the shelves were filled. I could make out titles like Quidditch through the ages, Hogwarts a History, Standard book of spells for every year at Hogwarts. This was all the knowledge I would need to be a competent witch. If I possessed this knowledge then I could practice magic. The only thing I lacked was experience, but that would come in time.
Now I did not have to worry about making a fool of myself and not being able to do anything with the magic that was being given to me. While I was watching more and more books seemed to appear on the shelves, some on law, others etiquette, languages, runes, arithmancy, divination, spell crafting, rituals, all standard books, but they meant that I would have a decent grasp of at least the basics of each subject. And it looked like for the Hogwarts subjects I at least knew everything up until NEWT level. I could not prevent the sigh of relief that escaped my lips at the thought.
The last three bookcases were actually already filled. When looking more closely I let out an almost hysterical sob and then started laughing while crying. These books and photo albums contained all my memories and the knowledge that I had accumulated over the years I had already lived, next to that I could see shelves filled with the books I had read for pleasure throughout my life, sheets and songbooks filled with the songs and music I listened to and loved. Sections with VHS and DVD's containing my favourite movies and tv series. I had not lost it. I was still in possession of everything. I was still me!
Completely exhausted I stumbled over to one of the comfortable armchairs and fell into it. Once again giving the room a once over I realised that the bookcases that held all my new knowledge about magic and the world I was about to live in were now about one tenth filled with books. Every section had been neatly labelled, making searching for a particular subject or book a lot easier. Then something of centre of the room caught my attention. Slowly there was a giant round standard forming. The ones that you would see in old movies, ones that would hold a round big globe. But this one was empty still but the longer I watched awestruck the more materialised. The wooden standard was now complete and slowly but surely a golden ball of magic was appearing in it.
Then out of nowhere I heard a kind man's voice say: "Do not worry. That is just your magical core that is now developing. It is something every witch and wizard has in his mindscape. Though I must admit that yours is larger than I expected."
I whipped my head around, and on the loveseat a couple was sat. I estimated both to be in their early twenties. They held a shimmer about them that wasn't natural. I got the feeling that these were not minds that had connected with my own, but were actually spirits.
The woman smiled and said: "And you would be correct. We are spirits. We are the two Potters that chose you to become the next Lady Wentworth. I am Lady Lily Potter nee Evans and this is my husband Lord James Charlus Potter. As you have guessed, we are Harry Potter's parents. The boy that will become your ward."
Quickly Lord Potter took over. "We would prefer it though if you just called us James and Lily. There is no need for formality. We are family after all. Now there is a small confession that I need to make. Your earlier break down over the thought of yourself being a horcrux was my doing. What you are is a duplication of your original self. So there is no reason to worry over that. I just needed to see how you would handle such a thing. I assure you that you did fine, especially since you managed to be rational about it shortly after you broke down. Now if you don't mind we would like to explain everything without interruptions, so if you could just let us talk it would make things a lot easier." He finished with a wink.
Lily rolled her eyes at her husband's action, but picked up where her husband had left of. "As you must have been told by director Ragnok you were chosen by the Potter family to protect its heir as to the terms of our ancient oath. To help you, and your predecessors before you, with this task this ritual was invented hundreds of years ago. It will give you your own magical core as you can now see forming. We are in your mindscape by the way, meaning that with the forming of your core you also receive the necessary occlumency. This is a standard thing to receive, but not known to the goblins, thus they could not have told you about it. They are the ones that initiate the ritual and are aware of the general changes it brings, but the specifics are only known to the participant and the Potter family."
Looking around Lor- James commented idly, "This room is a sight more tidy than you usually are, isn't it?"
At his question I could not prevent the rising blush. I knew perfectly well that I wasn't this organised usually. Most of the time utter chaos reigned in my room and I doubted that in the material world that would change anytime soon. Then again; the bigger the mess, the better I knew where I had left everything. If I cleaned up I often couldn't find the simplest things afterwards.
"Anyway, that covered that." He continued cheerfully after having stopped laughing at my blush. "As you have discovered the necessary knowledge to actually use your magic is there. You only need to practise. I will not tell you much more as that will spoil your fun. One more thing you need to do though, is chose three subjects you want a mastery in. You possess all the knowledge up until NEWT level for all subjects taught at Hogwarts but considering the job that is awaiting you, a few masteries would not be amiss. So which do you choose? This, by the way, is one of the standard things that come with receiving your magical core. We will discuss your personal gifts later."
Masteries? What would I choose. Somehow I knew that duelling would be a part of defence against the dark arts, so I almost at once decided that that would be the first. Another one that would come in handy, because it would actively help Harry, would be a potions mastery. It would allow me to tutor him as well as brew him every potion he needed, without him having to worry about someone having done something to it. I could even customize them. That would be good. And it would allow me to brew the Wolfsbane potion. That would probably earn me some brownie points.
The last mastery was more difficult to decide. There were several subjects that would come in handy. Arithmancy among them, but things as warding, spell crafting, law or healing were appealing and very useful as well. Thinking it over I dismissed warding and law. Those things I would be able to learn on my own. Law at least, I already had some basic knowledge on. Scanning the shelves I noticed a few books on wards as well. So those two subjects I would be able to handle myself. Spell crafting would be a lot more difficult, but as far as I knew I had the basic skills so that would have to suffice for now. No, healing was definitely the best choice. Considering what I knew of Harry, his upbringing, momentary living situation and his tendency to attract trouble, a mastery in healing would be something that I, in all probability, would need the moment I met him.
Having made my decision I looked up to see James and Lily softly talking. Watching the cute picture they made for a little longer, I started searching for the family resemblance that Harry was constantly reminded of. He did indeed have his mother's eyes, down to the shape and colour. The rest of his face turned out to be his fathers, apart from his slightly higher cheekbones.
Coughing softly I refocused their attention on myself. "I have made my decision. I would like a mastery in defence. One in potions and the last I would like to be healing."
James smiled at me and walked over to the shelves that contained my new knowledge, there he started softly chanting. Lily nodded in acceptance and calmly continued explaining.
"Very well, wise choices. You have been made aware of the physical changes that will happen so I will not discuss those any further. Now on to the fun part, as my husband would say. The personal gifts. But first I need to give a little explanation as to why you were chosen for this. One of our first reasons is that you will not try to be a parent to him. At least not actively. As you have grown up with younger siblings you know how to care for them and what they are going through in particular stages of their lives, as you have already faced those. We do realise that Harry is a little older than your own brother but we do not think it should be too big a problem. Just be a sister to him. Next is the fact that you are protective and caring, but often also seem to realise when to give space.
Furthermore, you are intelligent, kind, good at cheering someone up and listening. There are more reasons but they are not that important for you to know for now. The only two I will still mention are: one, your active imagination. It should allow you to adjust easier. The last has to do with the first personal gift you will receive. You are quite a spiritual girl. Aware that there is more between heaven and earth than the naked eye can see. In line of this your gift will be Sight. You will receive the ability to see the outcomes of the made decisions."
"WHAT?" I could not stop myself from shouting. The only thing I could picture was Alice Cullen zoning out and into one of her visions.
A chuckling James joined his wife on the couch and turning to me said "I'm afraid that is very much how it is going to work. Making you able to do as much as Alice but you will not be having visions as frequent as she. Things such as the way clothes will look on you, or the shop where you will find that one thing you have been looking for, will not pop up. Neither will you be able to predict outcomes of games or the like, unless they are vital for your plans."
'Well, that should keep things a lot easier. I didn't fancy having a vision about every little thing, every five or ten minutes.' I thought to myself.
"The next personal gift you will receive," James continued. "is one that is on the one hand not very rare, on the other extremely so. This gift is the gift of music. Allowing you to sing and dance like the best. Keep rhythm and the like. Everything that is necessary to be a musical prodigy. The next part is what makes this an extremely rare gift. Your songs, when combined with your magic, can have the same effects phoenix song has. You can bring hope, lift spirits, soothe, bring to sleep and heal a stressed or fractured mind. Beware this power is a big responsibility and should not be taken lightly."
I could only raise my eyebrow at this. So thanks to this gift I have just become a female, human Fawkes. An image popped up of myself covered in red and golden feathers, with claws and a beak where my mouth should have been. I couldn't help but let out a soft snicker at that. Well at least it is better than seeing everyone's death date floating above their heads. I tried to cheer myself with.
"Now there are but a few other things that need discussing at this time. We can always come back later for another chat." James cheerfully stated.
Lily quickly whacked him over the head, while rolling her eyes. "As this buffoon said ("Lily!") there are a few things that still need doing. One is the fact that we as Potters have two more gifts to give you. Normally this is not something that we do, but there has been decided that the situation is dire enough that we will provide you with these as well. The first is this cuff, that will go on your right wrist and contains your new trunks. We decided that this would be easier than give you a five compartment trunk. All five trunks are embedded in the cuff and can be taken out by tapping on the symbol that is visible on the lid. You only need to take out one to be able to travel between trunks. As they will all look the same to outsiders this will go unnoticed, unless you tell them.
Each trunk has its own colour symbol. The green one contains your new potions lab with a storage for the ingredients and the potions. The blue one is your new library. Of all the books that you see here in your mind there is a physical copy available there. The rest you will have to buy yourself. Your workout room is in the red one. This one is able to provide you with a gym, an track for running, a swimming pool or a duelling room complete with targets. The white symbol marks the trunk that contains your new apartment. You will need to furnish it yourself. It contains a living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, toilet, and has a walk in closet attached to the bedroom. Next to this there are four more doors that each carry the coloured symbol of the trunk they lead to. For example: the door with the green symbol will bring you to your potions lab. All trunks connect to the apartment but not to each other. So if you want to go from your library to the potions lab you will have to pass through your apartment."
She swallowed and seemed to be thinking about how to explain the last trunk. Seeing his wife struggling James quietly and sedately took up explaining. "The last trunk has a golden-yellowy symbol. This trunk contains everything that was meaningful to you in your past life. This means, all your books, photo's, clothing and everything else. It is more of a storage trunk actually but it will contain all of that. Though we would advise you to buy yourself a new wardrobe, it should not be necessary. All your clothes have been returned to perfect state and are made to fit your new body."
At that moment he could not go on as I had launched myself at them and was sobbing into their shoulders. Trying to convey my gratitude all the while. They rubbed my back and assured me that it was their pleasure and that there was no need to thank them as I would be the one to help their son. Slowly I calmed and looked up. Both were smiling a small sad smile. After I returned to my chair, feeling positively exhausted, I looked over and both were smiling.
"Do you have any questions for us?" Lily asked.
I thought everything over but decided that most was explained and it was all clear.
"Now we get to what is, aside from your magic, the most important gift for you. We give you all the knowledge you need to be Lady Wentworth. This means: politics, finances, etiquette, law, languages, the Potter family history and the necessary rhetoric skills to be able to debate and speak in public."
"Well I believe that was all." And before I knew it James had dragged his wife away, waved and they had both disappeared while the echo of Lily's "James!" still rang through the room.
I flopped into my chair and tried to comprehend everything that had happened so far and process all the given information. Which wasn't as easy to do as it sounds. The more I thought about it the more memory books appeared on the shelves. The bookcases that held my knowledge were now filled for about a quarter of the available space. New categories had been added, such as healing, occlumency, finances, languages, Potter family history and a few others.
Feeling dizzy because of it all, I decided it had been enough for today and allowed the oblivion of sleep to wash over me. I was nearly asleep when I woke back up with a jolt. There had been a bookcase added. This one held the sign: visions. Clearly my mind would be organised for the rest of my life, I grumbled. The moment my head hit the back of the chair I was asleep.
*deciding that you believe someone and actually believing them are two very different things I should think. That is what is going on here as well. Outwardly she seems to take everything in stride, inwardly though she's still convinced that she has become 'victim' to her own overactive imagination.
Well, this was the third chapter. For the next one I would like to know your ideas on which languages I should have her learn.
Please read and review!