Disclaimer: To own or not to own, that is the question…
Authors note: Again, sorry for the (very) late chapter. I am not sure how much detail to go into with these initial stages… Should I glance over events such as the choosing of wands and buying school items such that the story progresses faster, or would that degrade the story? Please leave your opinion with a review.
Harry Potter: Son of the Sky
Ch.3: Magic
Harry awoke feeling strangely pain free considering what he had just been through, but his memory felt a bit fuzzy and he couldn't seem to place what had happened before he went to sleep. He was lying on a white bed in what he presumed to be a hospital (the sheer whiteness of it all being a dead giveaway, not to mention the layout of the room itself with empty beds neatly arranged in a row to one side and shelves to the other containing vials of mediciny-looking stuff). Looking around there were a few oddities he noticed; where the room at first glance had seemed exceedingly normal, upon closer inspection it became clear that it was anything but. Firstly, the pictures – beautiful depictions of animals playing around in the sunshine with people flying around on broomsticks in the sky - were moving, running around the room and soaring through the clouds. The room felt alive and although Harry was the only person present in it, he felt as though he were surrounded by a group of friends. The air itself seemed welcoming and he felt a strange urge to go back to sleep. It was difficult but he managed to overcome this and stood up. There was a sense of … wrongness in the air, as though some presence was intertwined with it and was forcing it away from its natural flow. Harry tried to 'push' some of it away from him, but it resisted and when he forced it, he felt it fighting back. For a moment it threatened to overtake him, but as it stayed away, Harry felt his head becoming clearer and it became easier and easier to resist the pressure of the air.
This 'wrongness' in the air, could it be a spell? Fascinated, Harry attempted to force it into a corner and found that the more he manipulated it and displaced it from its original position, the more difficult it was to keep it there. In the end he found that he could move it such that two-thirds of the room was free from it, and now some fog could clearly be seen in the remaining third of the room.
Just as he had accomplished this, the door at one end of the room opened and the fog (and with it the pressure on his mind) immediately vanished. Striding into the room was an elderly woman who momentarily had a surprised expression as she looked at Harry before she controlled her expression.
"Hello Harry, I am professor McGonagall and you are in the East Wing of the medical centre at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now, I am sure you have many questions, but they will have to wait. Please follow me." – She spoke with a strong voice that commanded authority and, once done, promptly turned around and walked out of the room with purposeful strides.
Harry, seeing little choice in the matter, followed her out of the room. They walked through several doors that opened and closed by themselves before finally reaching a large hall with a small gathering of children and a few adults. Professor McGonagall directed Harry to the other children before walking up to a small podium and began speaking, her words echoing through the room.
"Students, the people you see around you are your fellow classmates and teachers for the following year during which you will be attending Hogwarts. I understand that some of you have not been fully briefed yet as to your current situation. Suffice to say, magic is real and the world we are living in is much more dangerous than you could ever have imagined. You are all witches and wizards, all possessing magical blood that allows you to accomplish great deeds far outreaching your wildest dreams. But this blood attracts monsters, who would like nothing more than to feast on your flesh. You are not safe out there, beyond the borders of our magical society and so we, the teachers, have a duty to teach you such that you might handle yourselves. You are all what our society would classify as muggleborns – children who have grown up without magical parentage. There will be rules here, rules restricting your movements and limiting the time you can spend with your guardians, but please understand that these rules are in place for the mutual safety of yourselves and your respective loved ones. You will all be living here on the castle grounds for the time being. Now, I will assign you all teachers who will help you buy the materials you will need to complete your year in school, please step forward as I call out your name and go with the teacher I assign you."
It was a lot to process and looking around Harry saw quite a few people who were close to breaking into tears at the news, but he found it difficult to sympathise. Indeed, he felt rather happy that he would be avoiding his aunt and uncle for the time being. The part about the monsters? It seemed like a dream come true. He still couldn't remember much about what had happened before he awoke here but one thing that did stick was the exhilaration he had felt during his battle, he had felt alive. The prospect of learning magic and fighting monsters was very appealing.
"Hermione, Harry Potter and Anthony Goldstein, please go with professor Snape."
Harry stepped up together with a girl with long brown hair and a boy with sharp eyes and short black hair. They were directed to a man with long, black hair and brooding eyes. His face turned into a sneer as he looked Harry directly into the eye before swooping his cloak and leading the way out of the hall without so much as a whisper. The man looked so intimidating that Harry suppressed the questions that were bubbling up in his throat and followed the man silently, his peers doing the same. They were led deeper into the structure, coming to a halt at a cupboard from which Snape produced a small silver candle holder.
"Hold onto this" Snape said as he held out the candle holder and the moment all three students touched the candle holder, they were gone. It was only for a moment, but Harry experienced it as though it were an eternity. He felt as though he were being forced through a tube much too thin to actually fit him and his atoms seemed to be pulled in every direction all at once. The process itself was painless but it was extremely uncomfortable and the moment the three children found were out of it they collapsed to the ground and were breathing heavily as though they had just come out of hard exercise. Not giving them any time to catch their breath, Snape forged on into a mass of people with the children forced to half run to keep up with his uncompromising pace. Above there was a big clipboard on which it was written "Welcome to Diagon Alley" and all around there were shops with all sorts of interesting artefacts and magical items. The shops all seemed to have rather simple medieval designs, but the building Snape was moving towards was large and made completely of white marble, majestically looming over the alley. There were large pillars dwarfing everything in sight with "Gringotts, The Wizarding Bank" engraved in golden letters above the massive doors. To the right and left of the doors stood small, green-hued creatures the size of human children. Each wore an impressive set of medieval armour and hoisted a massive halberd showing off their immense strength. They were grim-faced creatures with long noses and skin that looked more akin to scales than anything else.
Snape, speaking only for the second time that day, said solemnly "Be wary of these creatures, they are called goblins and much bad blood exists between them and wizard-kind. Woe be to the wizard who breaks his vow against a goblin". Still, they let Harry and his classmates pass without interfering, allowing them to go into a huge hallway which elicited a gasp from Harry; the ceiling being at least ten meters high and there were several more guards positioned around the room. The walls were decorated in beautiful engravings and there were several hallways leading out of the chamber where goblins were running in and out. Towards the centre of the room there were a number of goblins sitting in high chairs such that even the tallest of men would have to look up to see the goblins eye to eye. They sat at desks and seemed hard at work as they wrote or passed on papers to the goblins running in from the hallways.
Snape led Harry and the others to one of the desks and simply waited. They stood there in silence for some time before the goblin finally looked up from his papers and peered down at them.
"And what, professor, brings you here today?"
"Oliver Rivers and Anthony Goldstein are here to set up Hogwarts support vaults and Harry Potter needs to access his family vault".
"Very well" said the goblin before whispering something to one of the goblins to his side who promptly ran off,
"And does Mr. Potter have his key?"
Snape took out a small key, passing it to the goblin for inspection.
"Follow me" the goblin finally said before taking off towards one of the doors leading out of the chamber. They were led through a number of corridors before finally reaching a part of the building that hadn't been covered in worked marble but was rather raw rock. They all got on a cart that was connected to a rail leading deeper into the cave. Then the goblin flipped a switch and they were sent hurtling into darkness.
After a long and trying journey the cart finally came to a stop next to a large metal door. The goblin proceeded to unlock the door and Snape, Hermione and Anthony left leaving Harry alone with his thoughts. Things had been progressing so fast over the past few hours that he hadn't had the time to fully process it all. Magic was real, and he was in the middle of the secret society he had been dreaming of ever since he discovered his powers, but some things led him to believe that his quixotic view of magic that had come from childhood storybooks was not quite in sync with reality. For example, while it was true that he was glad to be rid of the Dursleys, he admitted the possibility that he was being shut out from the world and taught propaganda from the magical society, but how much veracity there was to that claim remained to be seen. In truth, what worried Harry most was that as he seriously considered the magical society, he became suspicious as to why the world at large knew so little about it. There clearly were quite a few wizards and witches in the world as evident per his stroll through Diagon Alley, and magical creatures too. On his way to Gringotts he had spotted quite a few creatures that seemed… different, and what about monsters? How was it possible to keep all of it hidden from the world? The two most likely possibilities seemed to be centred around memory or sight manipulation, and both had potentially dire implications. If it was sight manipulation, could he trust anything that was happening around him? And memory manipulation was even worse, was he truly Harry Potter, a boy who had grown up with the Dursleys? It was entirely possible that the Dursleys had been added to his memories such that he would view the wizarding world as heroes and not as cruel villains who had taken him from his loving family. Were his thoughts being monitored even now? But he understood that there was little chance of him finding out anything more about it now, so there was little to do but play along whilst taking each teaching with a grain of salt. Not knowing the truth of the people who had taken him without permission, Harry decided that it would probably be best to hide his powers until further notice, such that if they, and he did not think this likely, were as yet unaware of the extent of the powers, he might have an ace up his arm.
At this point, the others returned, and they set off again. This time they stopped at a much fancier door and the goblin led Harry into the Potter vault. He was given a small pouch to store some money in and told by Snape to collect some gold and then be out again, at all speed. The goblin remained outside the vault.
Harry was in awe as he gazed upon the riches in the potter vault. There were heaps of gold, silver and copper in front of him gleaming under magical torches that lined the walls. He took his small pouch and began filling it, but as the money entered, it appeared to fall much further down into the pouch than he had expected, indeed, than what should be possible. Curious, he reached in with a hand and found that his arm went all the way in before reaching the bottom and finding the coin. Feeling around inside, he found that the space was more that of a small sack than a pouch. More than a little thrilled, Harry began filling the pouch and was also pleasantly surprised at how light it was despite the money inside.
As he was doing this, he felt a small breeze and looking up saw a door in the vault, above which it was written "Potter Vault Artefacts". Interest immediately piqued, he closed the bag and, quickly glancing back to see the goblin staring idly at its toes, entered this second vault. Inside there were a number of items on pedestals scattered around the room, about 10 in all, as well as a door at the far side of the room. Harry was unwilling to reveal to Snape that he had been in the room, fearing that the man might confiscate any item he took, and so he quickly looked around and grabbed the smallest item he could find – a small ring with the inscription "Éskhatos ekhthrós katargeítai hó Thánatos", which Harry inherently understood as meaning "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death". Hiding the ring amongst the gold in his sack, he exited the vault and went back to the cart, Snape gazing suspiciously at him but saying nothing.
Soon they were hurtling back towards Gringotts exit, their pockets quite literally filled with gold. Reaching the bank, Snape directed them to a small bench and muttered about something administrative he had to take care of before threatening them of dire consequences should they decide it were a good idea to wander of and promptly left their vicinity, leaving the three children alone for the first time. After a few moments of awkward silence Hermione was the first to open her mouth.
"Hi, my name is Hermione Granger, and your names are?" she asked.
"Harry Potter"
"Anthony Goldstein"
"So what house do you think you will be sorted into? Personally, I am hoping for Gryffindor, but all the houses are good, I suppose" Hermione continued.
"Houses?" Harry asked as both he and Anthony looked at Hermione in confusion
"Weren't you given 'Hogwarts: A History' to read? I suppose not. There were two wizards and two witches who banded together to create Hogwarts; Godrick Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin. Therefore, there are four houses in Hogwarts, the houses of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, named after the four great founders. All students are sorted into one of these four houses at the beginning of their schooling and remain in that house until the end of their seventh year."
"Well, how do you know which one to choose?"
"Well… Each house is supposed to represent people with different personalities or abilities. For Gryffindor, that's bravery. For Ravenclaw, wisdom or intelligence. For Hufflepuff its hard work and for Slytherin it's ambition. There is a sorting ceremony at the start of each year for new students such as us, I don't exactly know what it entails which makes it really difficult to prepare! Suppose that it's a magic test, that means we only have the few days between when we get our wands today and the ceremony. How are we supposed to be able to prepare? What if we fail and get thrown out? And"
"And we don't know." Anthony interrupted "Moreover we cannot know at this point what such a test would include, so there is little point to fretting about it. Even if we could know, judging from what the teacher who took me here told me, it can take weeks to master a single spell! I doubt they would give us an impossible task. What I am more concerned about is that they don't seem to have any intention of letting us contact our parents anytime soon. I don't even remember how I got here! One moment I was falling to sleep in my house and the next I was waking in a white hospital bed. I wasn't even given the opportunity to say goodbye to my parents before I was taken."
"I also found that strange" Harry replied "Though I wouldn't recommend voicing your complaints. We have no idea what magic is capable of and I wouldn't want to find myself on the wrong side of a memory altering spell, after all, a society willing to kidnap would surely not be above 'taking care of' your worries should they go out of hand. If they have already been willing to ignore the rights of your parents, they would likely have no qualms with overlooking ours. But, doesn't this conversation in itself seem strange to you? Admittedly this is the first time I have been kidnapped by an unknown organisation, but I wouldn't have expected to be so coldly rational about it as I have been"
"yes, could it be that even now we are under a spell?" Anthony replied
Harry was just about to continue theorising when Hermione interrupted.
"Boys, BOYS, stop! You are clearly overthinking things. Didn't Professor McGonagall herself give us a legitimate reason for taking us from our parents, did she not tell us that we weren't safe? That there are literally monsters in this world who want to eat us? And unlike the two of you, I actually did get the opportunity to say goodbye to my parents before I left. Professor McGonagall came and told them about magic before getting their permission to take me away. Their Permission. I don't know what you two are talking about, but I really do think that you're overthinking things. Perhaps you have forgotten saying goodbye to your parents, I remember reading that the memory can take some time to recover after having been under the calming charms of the magical hospital and since you, Anthony, say that you have already been there perhaps that's what causing you to forget. And these same calming charms might also be the reason you are so rational, as your emotions are being suppressed for the time being, preventing you from breaking down emotionally over your so-called-kidnapping. Your theories are just ridiculous."
Both Harry and Anthony opened their mouths to respond before simultaneously spotting the man standing right in front of them with his arms crossed. Professor Snape had returned. Thus, the shopping for school materials started, though the situation did not seem as tense as before and the three students dared to converse with each other, but they stayed well away from any potential conspiracy theories having silently agreed on a taboo on the topic in the presence of adults.
First on the list of supplies was books, but to the disappointment of the students, they never actually entered a bookstore but rather just collected the supplies in one bundle each from a warehouse. Next on the list was cloths, including a pair of expensive dragon-skin gloves, which, as the name implies, were covered in green dragon scales that had a dark and sinister glow to them. Then, finally, came the moment the three had been looking forward to most – the choosing of wands at Ollivanders'.
Snape led them up to the peculiar building that housed the finest wands of the wizarding world, but seemed conflicted as he reached for the handle.
He said "I'll leave you here, get your wands and then wait outside the shop until I return" before turning around and walking away with quickened steps.
Thus, Harry, Hermione and Anthony entered the shop. It was by far the most disorganised of the shops they had been to, with all sorts of magical relics arranged around the room, with a counter to the far side of the room and, behind it, a door. Though there was no one else present in the room, it was far from quiet as the constant ticking of various machines could be heard; there were at least three clocks that they could see, though none seemed to be measuring time. One looked like a timer but the units for it was years rather than minutes and it was counting down, though, as they looked it jumped a few years back in time before considering its journey. Above it were the ominously labelled words: "Time left until the end of the world". But this didn't worry the children who not only took note that it would be hundreds of years until this came to pass but also doubted its authenticity. This was, in part, due to the clock that sat to its right that was labelled "Stop Reading! Current number of people who managed to stop reading this before it reached its end" and was currently on 7. The third clock was written in another language and had several hands that seemed to be moving spontaneously rather than following any form or pattern.
Some other curiosities that caught the eye of the students were a statue of an older man that had been depicted at twice a normal humans height such that he was bowing his head to avoid hitting the room as he sat and snored on a chair that was much too small for his size and some mops that were autonomously cleaning the floor.
This was soon interrupted, however, when a man of short stature and uncombed hair entered the room. He looked at his customers in turn, his eyes focused and uncannily seeming to perceive more than just the physical. Indeed, as his
gaze floated over them the children felt transfixed by his gaze, and no one dared speak.
Finally the man was done and he relaxed back, the pressure in the room seeming to vanish instantly as he smiled brightly.
"I see that the time of year for Hogwarts has started anew, and not a moment too soon. Please do forgive an old man who has spent much too much time behind doors for asking, but you children wouldn't have happened to see a red moon in the sky of late, have you?" Asked the man.
The children exchanged a cautious glance before Hermione answered "No".
"Ah, good, good. Then another year has past without worry, but we must always be vigilant. Just make sure that you always have your wands at the ready at all times." The man said before turning to leave.
"Wait!" said Hermione quickly, "that's actually why we came, our wands, I mean. We came to buy them from you."
"Right, I almost forgot. Now let me see here… Who is going first?" said Ollivander
"I am" said Hermione after a short silence, and immediately a number of strange tools, including a tape measure, came flying from various places around them and hovered around Hermione taking a number of measurements.
"That one, no! What about… yes, I think this will work nicely… here" Ollivander handed a wand to Hermione "10 and ¾ inches, vine, dragon heartstring. Great for spells of all kinds…"
Hermione took the wand and felt a moment of elation. She felt powerful and, giving her wand a wave, a swarm of beautiful golden butterflies emerged, fluttering over her for a moment before vanishing.
Anthony Goldstein was next and received a "11 inch, Sycamore, Dragon Heartstring" which was stated to be especially good for "Transfiguration and tricky spells"
When it came to Harry, it took a long time before he found a suitable wand, but in the end he was given a "11 inch, holly, Phoenix feather", followed by an ominous statement by Ollivander that this wand had a brother wand, and its owner did "Great things, terrible but great", but Ollivander refused to name said individual.
They went out of the shop, wands safely tucked away in wand hoisters that they had been given by Ollivander which they kept at their hips. Seeing that Snape was not around, Anthony immediately saw an opportunity and said "Come on, let's go explore on our own, then perhaps we can discover what the wizards and witches are hiding!" all the while tugging on Hermione's shoulder who immovably stood her ground, crossing her arms.
"We haven't even started our classes yet and you're already trying to get expelled!"
"Weren't you the one defending the integrity of the wizarding world? If they truly are as magnanimous as you claim them to be, then we have nothing to fear and they certainly wouldn't punish us harshly over our first small offence. And if myself and Harry are right in that we are living in a cruel, brainwashing society, then this might be one of the few opportunities we have to find out the truth. After this we'll be confined to Hogwarts and by the time we're out of that place have no doubt we would have been completely indoctrinated, whether by spells or other means. We need to know now if we have something to fear, and perhaps find a book or two that Hogwarts doesn't know about giving us a necessary edge over them."
"Have you even considered the possibility that this is a test? They could be watching us right now to see how we might react."
"Finally you're getting into the right mindset about this. However, I still believe that we should go now. As I said, this could be our last chance. We will just have to take that risk."
"Just to be clear, I was suggesting that it was a test not because I had been corrupted by your extreme paranoia and conspiracy theories, but rather I hoped to convince you by taking a page from your book. You have not moved me, I stand by my original stance."
"Wait", said Harry "How about this? There is a bookstore just across the street We each could go in and grab a single book, buying it and leaving with all expediency, surely that would satisfy both stances? If the society is evil, we would at least have, hopefully, something that they would not expect. And as for your fear of getting caught, Hermione, we were in that shop for at least an hour, the probability that Snape would return before we do, if we are fast about buying our books is extremely low. And didn't you say you wanted to be in Gryffindor? The house of the brave? What better time to show your bravery than now?"
"Bravery is meant to be a virtue, to twist it into an argument for breaking the rules is beyond me. That is not the bravery a Gryffindor is meant to exemplify, a Gryffindor is meant to show bravery in the face of evil, bravery to do what is right"
"Exactly!" Anthony interrupted "Bravery to do what is right, and what is a more noble cause for us now than to seek the truth of our situation at the risk of potential consequences for ourselves? Truth that can lead us to understand if what we are doing is right or wrong? Truth to combat ignorance that could itself lead to unintentional wrongs, I will admit the possibility that you are right, but can you not do the same for us? Admit that we could be right? And if we are, you are weighing the consequences of getting caught, which likely are rather minor should we feign ignorance as this is our first offence, against potentially being brainwashed by an evil organization! Even if the chance that we are right is small, it is worth the risk."
"Fine, I realise that I will not be able to deter you from this cause. However, we must spend no more than two minutes in that shop, agreed?"
The two boys enthusiastically nodded and Hermione relented, letting them pull her to the shop. They ran into the shop and quickly split up, Hermione choosing to run for the history section, Anthony for combat magic and Harry for mind magic. Harry selected a book labelled "A Preliminary Introduction to Mind Magic; Spotting, Countering and Performing" figuring that anything else would be much to complex for him to understand at this stage. As he was rushing towards the counter, he spotted another book that caught his eye and quickly grabbed it as well. It was titled "All Known Forms of Magic", and he figured it might come in handy down the line. He was the first to reach the counter, and after having bought the books, taking care to hide his face from the shopkeeper (who could well be an enemy), who, fortunately, was rather inattentive as he was absorbed in a book he was reading. Hermione was the next to arrive, shortly followed by Anthony. After paying, they hid the books in Harry's money poach, whose elastic lip was able to expand enough to fit even Hermione's thick tome.
They ran towards the door and were just about to release the suspense that had been building in their chests, when the door opened and there stood Snape. Reacting immediately and playing on the fact that Snape was looking backwards as he entered, Harry led the way to the right, using the massive bookshelves as cover. Both he and Anthony thought little of the situation more than how to sneak past Snape and get outside, but Hermione wore a mask of terror, her heart beating furiously, so quickly and loudly that she was sure that, if nothing else, it alone would alert Snape to their presence.
"Do you think that Snape is here because he was tracking our location?" Anthony asked as they continued, albeit at a slower pace, further into the intricate maze of the library.
"Of course, how could we have been so stupid? Obviously the professor wouldn't leave us alone in the magical world without safeguards! This was a bad idea, when he catches us we'll be expelled for sure!" Hermione responded, whispering in a frantic tone.
"Hermione, don't give in to paranoia now of all times. We don't know anything for sure yet and there is little we can do to change things now. Lets just find a good place to observe Snape for now and we'll soon know the implications of his being here." Harry responded before leading the three to a stairway that led them to the first floor: a reading space within the library.
The library was fashioned in such a way that floors above the ground floor only occupied the edges of the room and so one could look down and observe the bottom floor, which is what the students did, lying down is a section of the floor where they would attract least attention and observing what occurred beneath.
They spotted Snape in the section of the bookstore labelled "Defence Against the Dark Arts", but he wasn't alone. Walking with him and greedily surveying the books was a child who looked as old as they with blond hair and a set of clearly tailored clothes. This largely calmed the children as they garnered that it was not for them that Snape had come and so there was still the chance that they could sneak out unnoticed whilst Snape was otherwise occupied, but as they were about to leave their post, an unspoken agreement having occurred between them, they noticed something that stayed their steps.
The blond boy had taken a small black book from the shelf, and as they watched, he took out his wand and waved it in the air; a big red eye appeared on its cover and turned to glare right at them, and they felt the unbridled malice of the gaze sweep over them. They were simply paralysed, unable to move as their vision changed and the world around them seemed to morph into devils and demons: screaming faces emerging from furniture and bookshelves collapsing into fiery imps. The roof broke off above them and the sky was red as blood, the moon staring down at them unblinkingly and echoes of death and destruction raining down on their ears. They felt a great presence approaching and reality itself seemed to tear apart as the being came closer. Closer. CLOSER! And then it was all gone. It left as quickly as it came and the students found themselves back in the library just in time to see the boy slip the book into his pocket, the world unchanged by the horrors they had just witnessed. Too terrified to speak words to one another, they sat, taking what little comfort they could in each other's presence, before slowly making their way towards the door, albeit with enough awareness to avoid their teacher and making a wide berth for the boy. They got out without problems and soon met up with Snape who took them back to Hogwarts, leading them to the dorms where they would spend the night. That eve none of the three could find much sleep, as every closed eyelid would be a portal back to the terror of the red world.
The guard walked his patrols as per regulations, though he saw little use to them. The prisoners were asleep after all. Always, eternally asleep. Sometimes they even got up and began hitting themselves against the bars. But they never woke. Still, walking through these halls always unnerved the guard, especially the last cell where he slept. All of a sudden, a prisoner started screaming, but the guard took no notice. After all, screams were often heard from the prisoners. He didn't hear the soft arcane words being muttered in the last cell. He didn't see the invisible messenger running through the walls with a singular purpose. He didn't understand that he was doomed as he sat back and re-joined the game of poker with his fellow guardsmen. That they were all doomed.