Harry woke up, the morning of his trials, to a siren like noise blaring through his room. He shot up looking for the thing that was creating the wailing noise. He cast a wandless silencing charm so that he could concentrate, and then he got to work looking for signs of the mysterious noise maker. He quickly found the culprit, Brom in his infinite wisdom had decided to get him up even earlier than usual, but not only that prank him at the same time. Oh how he loved and yet loathed that man.

He was soon done with his workouts, so he got started on making his breakfast. After all a sleepy underfed boy wouldn't do any good in an exam, that is if it was an exam, Brom still hadn't told him anything about the trials, just that they were designed to test him in all aspects of life. From the amazing feats that magic made possible, to just plain and simple muggle martial arts they would test him depending on what they, the council, wanted to see on that day.

He was through his morning ritual in hardly any time at all and was once again as most other days searching the library for tomes he had yet to read, and there was so many he was stuck for choice. He eventually decided runes was a no, no he already understood most runic arrays and so he sat himself down in one of the comfortable chairs off to the side with a tome on ritual magic and the types of rituals he could possibly do.

So engrossed in his book, he didn't see when the clock hung high on the wall turned to 11:45, 15 minutes before he was to travel by Portkey to the designated destination he would take his trials.

Brom found him with minutes to spare. Deciding now was not the time to berate him, after all he was doing what he told him to do, Brom quickly checked to make sure he had everything he needed before thrusting one of his smelly gym socks into his hand, just in time for the boy's face to scrunch up before being whisked away into the ether towards his destination and his destiny.

Brom stood there smiling a small smile, a leftover from the look his apprentice left with, but it soon turned into a look of apprehension. He couldn't wait to find out what happened, but the only problem was that could take days after all the trails were dependent on the one taking them. Some had lasted as long as two weeks, but them usually involved an unimaginably difficult trial and therefore required the necessary time to complete them.

Whilst Brom was walking back and forth through the shop front to the back room looking at the clock every few minutes, Harry was still travelling by Portkey. Usually they didn't take so long, but he came to the conclusion that where he was being tested must be far, farther than he had ever travelled by Portkey and therefore most likely a different country.

It seemed like hours passed but it was in reality 15 minutes, the Portkey seemed to slow down and "WHAM", he crashed to the floor.

'I hate portkeys' was a constant thought as he picked himself up hoping that the council he was to be trialled by wouldn't look badly upon his portkey landing. He looked around, only to stare at darkness constantly around him. Wary of his surroundings he tried stepping backwards, only to nearly fall down what seemed to be a hole or descent into nothingness. He righted himself once more and stepped forward, relief flooding him as his foot touched solid ground.

He continued step after step into darkness until he heard a groaning whistle and "BANG", green lights popped into existence before his eyes, held in fire pits, the eerie lights lit up the path ahead. A narrow winding of steps could be seen winding up the mountain that was in front of him every 100 metres or so a fire pit on either side helping him see where he needed to go.

Step after step he climbed, and even with his stamina, gained through his intense training he still found it tiring. 100 steps, 500 steps, 1000 steps and so on he soon lost count, the only thing he knew was his legs were aching, a fire like none he had felt before was burning through them. He continued up till he reached a landing far up on the mountain. He stopped for a rest, trying to get a normal like feeling into his legs instead of the intense burning.

Half an hour later you would find him in a meditative position, calming his body and easing the rushing blood through his body. He slowly got up stretched and then started up the next flight of steps towards well he couldn't see as further up there looked to be fog covering the path making it difficult to see anything else ahead.

The fire regrew with more vigour inside his legs, but he pushed himself. He knew that this must be a part of his trial but not only that he wasn't going to let himself down, Brom down and he definitely wasn't going to let his dream of showing the Potters that he, the so called lost son, was not meant to be hidden in the shadows.

Once again he lost count on the amount of step he climbed, but his hearing soon picked up noise coming from further up the mountain. He pulled his wand out, readying himself for anything he might come across. He soon came upon another landing, this one much bigger than the last.

On said landing there were many crude circles drawn into the floor with strange symbols on them. He soon recognised them as ritual circles, he started looking around for the next flight of steps, but all he found was more circles and more mountain side. He decided figuring out what each circle did would be his best bet to decide where or what he was to do next.

The first circle he went to had a runic array the first meaning fire, joined with this was another meaning ball and a last meaning self. He worked this out to mean by being in the circle a fire ball would consume whoever was inside it. He quickly moved away from the circle before realising he needed a way of marking it as a circle he didn't want to go near. He decide to have a floating red cross of flames above it the flames would last only a few hours but that would be all he needed or so he hoped.

The next circle he went to was to the right of the fire ball one, this one had a larger runic array. He traversed his occlumensed mind finding the correct area that held his knowledge of runes and looked through searching, as if looking through a database, for the meaning or each runic composition. He soon worked it out to mean; travel, forward, fast, hit, rock. From this he decided that whoever stood in this circle would be propelled forwards towards the mountain side or any rock like object.

Again he spelled the flaming cross above it, forwards from this another circle lay. This one seemed to ooze powerful magic. Again searching his mind he worked this array to mean; strip, magic, hour, repeat. He quickly jumped from the circle he was kneeling next to, this one meant his magic would be stripped from him for an hour and then he would get his magic back again only to have it stripped once more.

This array was really dangerous, this was because; he once saw a duel at the international duelling completions last so long that both competitors suffered from magical exhaustion. The medi-wizards had to spell constantly for over 4 hours to speed up the recovery that if they were to do naturally would cause extreme pain and could cause them to either die or go into a coma. To have to go through this in one day, well let's just say most wizards wouldn't be getting up afterwards.

He decided the area he was in was most likely full of dangerous runic circle and moved closer to the centre of the landing looking at each circle, the next more deadly or scarier than the last. He soon came to one that had his imagination spiked and his curiosity wavering for him to step into it. The array held ruins for; fire, travel, upwards, area, safe, landing. He figured that this was his way up the mountain, thinking the fire travel part would be similar to what Dumbledore did with his pet phoenix. 'How the decrepit old man got a phoenix as his familiar I will never know'

He debated on whether or not it was the right choice before collecting himself and stepping in the circle. Nothing happened, nothing at all. He looked again at his runic information and realised he had to push magic into the array for it to work. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his magic, wiling it, like Brom had told him, into a form a pushing it towards the array. If there was anyone looking they would have seen the boy literally light up, in a variety of colours, as if his very pours were letting light out.

A clang like noise met his ears; he opened his eyes, only to shut them quickly as sun light flooded in causing him to see spots. He slowly opened them into a wince letting his eyes become accustomed to the light. He was soon enough able to see, but what he saw made him panic. There in front of him was a building that; would in its prime be a mystical looking structure similar to that of the Chinese temples. But it lay in ruins bricks were strewn across the floor as if the building had under siege and war machines used to end boulders at its walls.

He walked forwards, towards what was left of the building, only to his horror to see a sign on the floor. In a flourish like script, written in many languages, it read; Medri-Mekai academy. His hope left him, and he sat on a low bound wall in despair. He travelled up all those steps, only to find the building destroyed and no one around. He worked out all those dangerous runic arrays only to find himself stuck on the side of a mountain no way to get down.

A loud roar, cut into his musings. He slowly turned to find his breath taken away. For there a few hundred yards away was a thing of legend; a Nundu (a large feline creature, similar to a leopard, the size of a horse, it can kill with its toxic breath, its hide is more magically resistant than dragon hide or basilisk hide however it only remains that way if alive, it has razor sharp teeth and claws and historically has only been taken down by experienced teams of magical animal hunters with over 100 men) and yet it wasn't attacking him, ripping him limb from limb or breathing acrid breath that could kill thousands (a Nundu was the real cause of the black plague, a band of dark wizards tried to illegally transport one but it broke loose and wreaked havoc where ever it went, until it was eventually killed by a group of wizards known only as the seelors).

He tried to carefully move backwards closer to the area he first landed, but with every step the Nundu's eyes would follow him. He stopped still hoping to not antagonise a creature that no wizards alone had ever managed to kill, harm or escape once the Nundu had them in its site. To his utmost amazement or as most wizards would say luck, the Nundu just flopped to the ground, lying on its stomach, a large yawn escaping it.

Harry quickly realized something was amiss with this creature, it has never been reported that they just lay around when potential prey could harm their cubs and nests, yet here one was acting like a common house cat. He inched closer but the creature didn't move it seemed content with just falling asleep. He tried something that if wrong would put him in unimaginable danger but if he was right could rest easy in the knowledge that the animal was not a Nundu.

He quickly cast a revealing spell that would tell him if any magic had been performed on the animal and to his relief it came back positive for a transfiguration spell. He cast a counter spell and the animal was turned into a small black kitten, no larger than his hands. He picked it up and placed it in his pocket, after all no kitten would survive around here without its mother.

His thoughts soon turned to why such an animal was so high up in the mountainous regions, it wouldn't survive alone like he had found it and they weren't exactly a common animal for mountain ranges. He soon let the thought go, and decided to rest awhile, all the adrenaline from thinking a Nundu was going to attack had really took the oomph out of him.

His rest was disturbed a few hours later by a small paw wiggling out of his pocket and a whining meow from the kitten. He soon let it out and the kitten started walking towards the western most area of the landing. He followed thinking that the kitten could get into danger if a larger animal saw it, such as a hawk.

The kitten seemed to disappear when he blinked and he turned frantic believing the kitten had been taken from under his nose. He rushed to the edge only to find another winding staircase this time much smaller than the already small one's before. He climbed again following the kitten that was a few rough steps in front of him. He soon realized the steps where getting easier to travel as they went higher due to them becoming larger.

His legs were once again on fire, but he continued following the small feline up the seemingly never ending steps. Four stops and a couple hours later he could once more see the start of a landing. Parched, hot and tired he made it to the top of the steps and onto the landing. Their before his eyes, were cloaked figures sitting on ornate throne like chairs.

"Welcome Brom's apprentice, you are the first to ever complete this trial let alone in a day. Many have took the steps and only you have accomplished what they could not" a gravelly voice called from somewhere around the middle of the group.

"Young one step forward and drink with us you must be tired and thirsty from walking up all them steps, the heat and the scares" a kind womanly voice called from the right hand side

Harry walked forwards and took a glass of water that had been conjured in front of him. Drinking deeply he thanked them and stood wondering what he had to do next.

"You have come a long way, you have passed our trials. Many would have resorted to magic when they were in such situations as you. You however used your head, many at the beginning would try a point me charm, others a lumos spell to see. You charged forward the muggle way using your instincts to guide you. If you were to use magic at that time you would have been severely injured by traps we had placed on the area for such a thing.

Next you climbed many thousands of steps, to have very little rest and continue up more. This shows dedication we have not seen in years. Next you used knowledge to find the answer; many would have just given up instead of searching the many runic arrays as you did. You conquered where others would have failed.

You then came upon a site that made you lose hope, but you stayed true to your masters teachings, he sent you here. Why would he do so if there was nothing but ruins. You not only showed patience by watching but loyalty. Then when faced by danger many others would have run away screaming, you a young lad did not. You used knowledge in the face of danger and for this we congratulate you"

The gravelly voice once more spoke. "we shall now decide whether or not you are to be accepted"

A silencing ward was cast upon the area with the large group. He could see the cloaked figures turning their heads as if listening to each other. A few minutes past before the ward was taken down.

For you efforts this day we accept you into Medri-Mekai Academy of the arcane arts. Welcome. A letter will been sent to your master, he shall send your belongings and any other material you need once we have decided what courses you wish to take".

"thank you sir's and madam's for accepting me. But I already have all my things with me, the only things master Brom could send would be the things I need for lessons"

"ok youngling, we shall now transport you further up the mountain to the actual campus building. Whilst here your time is your own, do with it as you wish but do not waste our time. There are facilities around where you can buy and sell things. There are groups, teams and clubs that you can join. We are a community hidden amongst ourselves, so please do not divulge any information of the academy for this we shall have you take an oath if you will accept. In this oath you will swear upon your life and magic that you will not divulge this secret until the council allows you to be free of said oath. Do you accept?"

"yes sir, I Harry James Potter, do here by swear on my life and magic under the consequence of death, to never divulge any information about Medri-Mekai academy of the arcane arts to those who do not already know about it, until the time that the council releases me from this oath. By my magic I do so swear "

"good young one, usually we need to tell our pupils what to say, I believe I'm going to like you, clever and fit just what we need more of from the rest of our students, we shall now show you to your dorm, there you will share with five others, whether they be a wizard, goblin, dwarf, veela, siren and so on you will stay in the dorm from now until you leave unless the council agree to your moving"

"before we show you to your sleeping quarters, we shall introduce ourselves as we are most of the teachers here at the academy"