HELLO ALL! Yes I'm back, yes I'm alive. No I will never abandon this story. Sometimes it's just hard to write or be inspired as some other authors might know. Now this is more a filler chapter which is why it was so hard to write. But there is a big surprise at the end, but not a happy one. We see Harry slowly revealing his abilities to his family and getting closer to his parents which is something he always wanted.
There's just one thing I want to point out. While it might seem like it sometimes this is NOT a Super Harry or God Harry fic. I need you guys and girls to trust me on that. Yes Harry can do things no other wizard can, but only because they never knew to try. Harry is only applying his power in unique ways to give him advantages over others and he has a lifetime of practice which is why he doesn't have to try to do anything. Others that he teaches will have to learn from the beginning.
Now please enjoy. I will try to get the next chapter out faster.
(Potter Manor, Outside)
It was about the time angry red and black crystal spikes started shooting out of her son hand and began moving up his arm that Lily Potter decided she would never be surprised by anything again. After the whole life and death situation not a week ago where she admittedly lost it for a while to the situation she faced right now. The scripts Nicholas brought that Merlin himself had written with an added secret note that linked them to Harry's condition.
Harry of course being the only one able to read the scripts but still unable to tell them exactly what it said. More strange magic at work had instead sent Nicholas Flamel out for supplies and then concocted some sort of strange ritual. In retrospect she probably should have been more involved and asked more questions. But it seemed that before she could work her head around what was happening Harry was done doing, well whatever it was that he was doing and made some sort of ring.
Again she probably should have spoken up then and asked Harry what the scripts said the ring was for BEFORE he put it on. Thus ending up in the situation he was in now, apparently being eaten by living crystals. Regardless no matter how many times your child's life is put in danger if you're a Mum then you're probably going to react the same way each time. "HARRY," she cried as she began to sprint towards him, James, Dumbledore and Nicholas right with her. Harry who was on his knees his right arm almost completely covered in red and black crystal growth managed to stager back to his feet held up his left hand in a spot motion and shouted.
"WAIT STOP DON'T COME ANY CLOSER YOU GUYS," against her and she was sure the others better judgment that she stopped less than five feet short of her son. The glowing crystal growth began to grow into his chest down his waist and up the right side of his neck and onto his cheek. She wanted to scream and cast spells and just stop whatever it was that was happening. The sudden cry of Phoenix song, Arya, eased her nerves as the woman in her bird form landed on her shoulder looking not at all upset at what was happening as far as she could tell.
Suddenly the crystals shot out of his back forming strange wing like shapes and then, froze stiff the rapid uncontrollable growth halting as soon as it had started. Breathing deeply with his eyes squeezed shut Harry seemed to stiffen and then the same glowing veins from before appeared under his skin. The crystals that had consumed almost a third of his body started to glow brighter and then suddenly changed color from Red and Black to Green Silver and Gold. Slowly, ever so slowly the crystal growths seemed to retract back the way they came. Flesh and skin closing up as they seemed to disappear right into his body, the large crystal wings going first and Lily noticed before the crystals on his head retracted that they seemed to form almost a circlet like crown around his brow.
Then just his right arm was covered, and then his hand and then just his middle finger. Finally the adults surrounding him watched as the ring from before became visible again, the last of the crystals retracting back into the original crystal. But the ring had changed, where before the band had been plain and simple the gem round and smooth the band had gained what looked lilt two twined dragons surround the bright green gem faceted and slit like a cat pupil and glowing faintly. The craftsmen ship and attention to detail was beyond the skill of both the Goblins and the Dwarves whose race prided themselves on their skill of such things.
Sighing a deep sigh of relief he looked at the adults and smiled a wide smile letting out an exhausted laugh that broke the tension of the others. Lily grabbed her son in a tight hug and James wrapped around them both. Nicholas and Dumbledore looked at each other smiling but with expression that said they both wanted a stiff drink. After a minute Nicholas decided to ask, "Harry what was that that just happened? Can you tell us?" Both his parents and the headmaster looked at him expectantly and he put on a sheepish look as he started to talk.
"Ah yes, sorry for the scare. The notes said there would be a test and warned me that if anyone who was, well not like me put on the ring that the Aetherium crystal would consume them. Bust since the crystal was made by me and by my magic it responded to me and aligned itself to me allowing me full access and control over my magic. Pretty neat huh dad?" While both his Parents and the headmaster looked confused and relieved at the same time the Alchemist look shocked at what he had said.
"Harry, please tell me if I misheard you, but I though you said the crystal you made was an Aetherium crystal. Do you mean to tell me that that's what is powering that ring?" Harry put on a face of confusion as did the other adults but it was Dumbledore who asked him.
"Nicholas, pray tell what an Aetherium crystal is. I'm afraid the term escapes me though I must admit it does seem like something I have heard before." The Potters nodded in agreement while the Alchemist looked at them all and then sighed deeply before beginning to explain.
"While the term Aetherium is the real name of the substance most people would refer and remember it as crystal manna," this got the right reaction as they all gasped though Harry kept his confused innocent face on, "Yes that's right, that's crystallized magic. Living magic given a physical form, the dead crystals in museums are all we have of them. Before now no one knew how to make more or if there were any active crystals still hidden somewhere. If word gets out that Harry can create Aetherium every single treasure hunter and power seeker will come after him. Legends say the crystals were once used by ancient Atlantis and was the cause of the cities destruction." This seemed to get all their attention, including Dumbledore who turned to Harry at once and said.
"Harry my boy, I'm sorry but you have to hand that ring over, it's too dangerous both for you and for your family," he expected the boy to fight but was surprised when he simply took the ornate ring off his finger and handed it to the headmaster. Unfortunately as soon as he took it the ring seemed to weigh several hundred pounds causing him to drop it at once. Absentmindedly Harry picked it back up and slid it onto his finger again then spoke.
"Sorry headmaster but the ring won't let anyone else take it but me. Worst case scenario it might even attack you like it did to me at first. But for you it would not stop, at least according to Merlin's scripts only the maker of the ring or at least a magical like me can use Aetherium crystals without losing control of them, sorry." The old man look shocked but seeing as he could not take the ring the man began to talk to his parents and Flamel about how they had to keep this a secret and what not. Not really listening he walked away from the group of adults and mad a gesture with his hand at some trees. Immediately three of them uprooted themselves, another flick and the trees began to twist together into a single larger tree which he then planted back in the ground. Turning back to the group all four of them were staring at him with awed expressions, he merely smiled and said, "well that was easy, what should I try next?"
All the adults looked frozen in shock at the sudden display of powerful magic but like usual it was Dumbledore that stepped forward and made a suggestion. "Harry my boy, we have to be careful. We don't yet know the extent of your abilities. It would be dangerous to go throwing your magic around without knowing the side effects."
Harry knew the headmaster was looking for an angle to control him with, labeling him as dangerous might allow him some measure of control over his life. He couldn't allow that at all, "But professor it's ok. Really I can FEEL the magic inside me now and it won't cause anymore problems I promise, LOOK." Harry raised his hands again making the adults gasp and flinch but he didn't make any big flashes of power. He just gathered some of his own magic and the magic from the spaces around himself until he had a glowing multicolored ball of prismatic light floating in his hands.
"Remarkable," Flamel sighed in wonder coming closer so he could observe the light he held. It was pure focused energy, power of existence gathered into a corporeal form.
"Oh my," said Lily also coming forward with James and Dumbledore behind her. Smiling at them all Harry tossed the ball of light at the ground in front of them were it burst and exploded, plant life for a hundred meters in every direction suddenly started growing at a accelerated rate creating a beautiful variety of plant life.
"See," Harry said with childlike innocence, "Its safe now." The adults couldn't really argue with him then. And honestly they hardly understood what had happened, only that for the moment Harry's magic seemed to be under control. They debated for a minute finally asking him to try a few things like making lights, levitating small objects or changing an objects color. They were all first year spells bit for Harry he used neither incantation nor wand movement. They tried to get him to but he explained that it felt easier just to think about what he wanted instead of trying to word a spell. Exhausted from the effort of it all they decided to call it a day and work out the details later. Ollivander, Flamel and Dumbledore all bade them farewell though the headmaster looked reluctant to leave even he could not think of anything else he could gain from the situation at that moment, only that he needed to keep a close eye on Harry Potter.
Finally the only ones left were the Potters and their children. Lily Potter let out a exhausted sigh from all the stress she had suffered that day and decided it was time to turn in. "Alright everyone bed time," she called out picking up Little Lily and taking her inside James and Harry following. She put her children down one by one until only Harry was left. He had changed into his pajamas and was fixing up his bed. He smiled when he noticed her standing in his doorway, Arya was in bird form resting on the headboard of his bed.
"Hey Mum," he said all smiles and happiness. Lily couldn't help herself and smiled back as she walked into his room and embraced him. Picking him up and sitting on his bed she stroked his new long hair and held him close to her chest. She really didn't know how much more she could take before she cracked. She really hoped things would settle down for awhile and just be normal again, though she had to admit she enjoyed holding her son without him being all embarrassed and trying to get away. Instead he just held her back and enjoyed the moment. Her eyes fell on his right hand where the ring was located and she picked his hand up to look at it, the emerald aetherium stone glowed slightly and she shivered at the power it held. "It's all gonna be ok Mum I promise," Harry mumbled as though he could hear her thoughts.
"I hope so baby," she mumbled into his hair kissing his crown before tucking him into his sheets. With one final kiss on his cheek she left the room and closed the door behind her with a whispered good night.
After a few minutes when the house had gone silent Harry got up out of bed and with a wave of his hand impressed him power onto his door preventing sound from escaping and placing detection based spells to alert him of anyone coming to check up on him. He paused as the door glowed and when he was sure he wouldn't be disturbed let loose a loud groan of pain and feel to his knees clutching his head the focusing ring on his figure glowing brightly.
Arya flamed to her human form and rushed to him falling to her knees and embracing him with arms and wings as he gasped and groaned. She didn't say anything, she knew what was happening to him. He had explained it earlier after he had put the ring on his finger. It only lasted a few minutes but as the shaking stopped she felt something press against her mind but felt nothing like legilimency.
Man that really hurt, Harry's voice rang in her head bypassing all her magical mental shields like they weren't there. And to Harry that was actually the fact, his new abilities did not use magic so her magical defenses could not protect her against them. Harry called them Newtype powers, he had explained them earlier when he had been showing off his ring's power to the others from the rest of the families perspective they had been talking with her via legilimency.
To put things simply Newtype powers came in two categories. The Active powers and the Latent powers, Harry was a Latent dominate and Active secondary making his pupils metallic silver and having metallic gold rings around his eyes. Active powers had the most variety though Harry had less than an Active dominate he still had access to most of the abilities just less potent. The most basic of Active powers was telepathy, the manipulation of psychic energy to facilitate communication of thoughts, ideas and even memories from one person to another. Empathy, the ability to broadcast your emotions to another and to read their emotions in turn.
A big hitter among most Actives being telekinesis, using psychic energy to control physical objects. However this particular ability was rare and even the strongest TK users could only lift two or three times their own body weight without boosting the powers with another person. However most TK is not about how much force you could use but how much control and precision you had. With TK you could sever an artery of cut the brain stem of a enemy with little to no effort on your own part, and if your control was fine enough you could control the movement of molecules to create pyro cryo or aether kinesis. Basically create fire ice or lighting attacks that were very powerful and almost impossible to block with or without magic.
Then there was body systems control, the ability to highjack the nervous system of someone else and controlling them like a puppet by blocking their brain's singles to their own body and replacing them with your own. Mostly the ability was used by doctors as it allows them to actually control an injured person's conscious and unconscious muscle movement, basically everything from moving their arms and legs to controlling their heart beat. Finally there was psy-sight, the ability to see the psychic mental energy all living beings give off. It was different from having mage sight which let you see magic and it allowed you to construct a mental image of the thing you were observing based on their mental energy.
However Harry's active powers were secondary to his Latent powers. Active powers as the name suggested needed to person in question to consciously try to use their powers for them to work if an active wasn't thinking about them then the powers weren't on. Latents however were the exact opposite. Their powers only worked on instinct, if you tried to control them they wouldn't work at all. The only way to "control" them was to trick your own mind by focusing on your emotions or senses and allowing your instincts to react naturally fueling the Latent powers.
Latents had the innate ability to amplify the abilities of other Active or Latent Newtypes either by physical touch or by emotional bonds like friendship or love. At the same time they can also hijack and steal powers from other newtype for a shot time the same way, touch or emotional connection. As for personal abilities the most common and basic ability was called Extraspatial Awareness, it allows a Latent to maintain near perfect awareness of his or her position with regard to numerous other objects, even when all of them are in motion on different vectors and at different speeds. With this Latents barely ever trip or stumble or stub their toes because they hardly ever misjudge the distance between themselves and objects in their environment. At best this ability can make them seem preternaturally agile and surefooted, able to run across ropes or jump and flip while on slick ice as easily others would on a gymnastics mat.
Next ability was actually Precognition, nothing like magical seers the ability allows Latents to feel events coming before they actually happen. The most powerful Latents can actually get visions of events that are to come though usually the new untrained Latents only got urges or twinges that prompts them to take action before they are physically aware of a threat directed at them. Once mastered though Precognition can be split into two different categories, Wide Sight and Deep Sight. Wide Sight is the ability to accurately predict what will happen in the next dozen seconds or so and because it is so close to the present it is rarely ever wrong. Deep sight is the ability to see what will happen in the next dozen minutes or so but because the events of time are always in flux what you see in Deep Sight can change instantly between the now and the time the events actually happen mostly because you say it happening and acted in response to whatever you saw. Basically the further you looked into the future the less accurate your vision becomes.
The third ability of a Latent is the power to produce what is called a luck field. This power affects the physical universe in direct proximity to the latent in question, actually bending the laws or reality to the benefit of the Latent. The result is that in time of great crisis the Latent is just luckier than anyone has any right to be. And things just end up happening in their favor, like being able to shoot down a barrel of a gun before it fires or for an armed grenade to fail to explode. Not all Latents have a Luck field and it cannot really be controlled to any noticeable extent and only last for a second or two at any given time.
However those that do have the ability to control a luck aura can develop the fourth and final ability a Latent can have. That ability is time dilation, based on how time moves differently in your subconscious or your dreams a person can actually affect how long a second lasts in direct correlation to their own time stream. Making a second last anywhere from 1.5 times normal to 5 times normal time giving the Latent extreme advantages in reaction speed and reflexes. However long term use of time dilation can have major side effects on the body especially the heart. Too long dilating time could pump your heart into cardiac arrest or burn out your oxygen supply before you can take another breath in normal time. Regardless it was clear that while the Latents had fewer abilities than Actives they were just as powerful as or maybe even more powerful than their Active counterparts.
To say she was impressed was an understatement. Quite frankly Arya was astounded that sentient being could develop such powerful abilities and all without an ounce of magic or focused power as Harry was apt to call it. Yes Harry's focused core allowed him to accelerate the natural mutation on his brain and allow him access to Active and Latent powers at the same time where normally a person would only develop one of them. But according to Harry normal unfocused magicals and even non magicals would begin to develop Newtype abilities all on their own though not for a few hundred more years.
Done basking in my greatness? Came Harry's smug voice in her head. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at him seeing that he was smiling now his silver pupils reflecting the dim light and the gold rings around the emerald shining as well.
"Cheeky boy," she murmured kissing his forehead lightly and getting up allowing them both to stand. "Is it over then?" she asked him.
"Yeah it's done," he said reverting to speaking out loud. "The aetherium crystal in my focusing ring sent my focused seed core into overdrive for a moment. Another side effect of doing all this before my physical body was eleven. My core started sucking in energy for the space around me and the crystal and was about to bleed out of my control. So I sent the spare energy into my energy root system and it jump started my newtype abilities. They should have taken weeks to manifest and power up but now they are at full power along with a few more side effects." To demonstrate he lifted his shirt showing clear definition developing where there had been little to none before.
"So what do we do now Harry? Your powers are developed and your ring has been made mush more quickly than you expected." Arya looked concerned, things seemed to be spiraling out of control and she was scared that Harry would lose control of the situation and get caught.
"I admit this all happened a lot quicker than I was expecting. I'm really gonna have to keep a low profile around my family for the foreseeable future if I don't want to be discovered. Especially now that my Newtype powers have developed. Don't think I can't sense your emotions Arya, I can't read your mind unless I make a connection but emotions are more like smells than anything else. I can tell what you are feeling just by being near you. However I NEED to get my company up and running and for that I need several special items."
Harry walked over to his closet and gathered some of his power and pushed it into the space existing in his closet making it bigger on the inside but also charming the new space with the equivalent of a muggle repelling charm but focused on magicals. He then pulled out the spinners he had used to materialize and construct his ring and set up two different actualization fields. Finally he set the fields to absorb the spare molecules in the air and he used the memories in his mind stored to construct two specific items. Arya watched interested as he worked so he started to explain. "I need two specific items to actually get started. However both these items are complex pieces of technology with many specific parts. The actualization field is only supposed to be for constructing specific magical items so I have to make these two items in parts and construct them when the individual parts are done. By my estimation it will take about 6 months before they are done."
"What are you making," Arya asked eager to discover another facet of Harry's world. But Harry just chuckled and closed the closet door and got back into bed ushering Arya over.
"No, no that would ruin the surprise. I think I will hold off on telling you this one. But feel free to guess to your heart's content." Arya just huffed and tried to needle it out of him with flirting and kissing but it did her no good and finally she gave up to sleep. Harry after all had an image to keep up and it wouldn't do to give away all his secrets right away.
(Potter Manor 2 Months later, 31 July)
Nick Potter woke up on the morning of his ninth birthday excited for the day ahead. His parents had hinted at several surprises for that day. As he hopped out of bed and started to get dressed he thought back to how his life had changed since Harry had almost died. Those first few days had been crazed but since Harry had decoded those old texts from Merlin himself and made that really cool ring, things had been mostly normal.
Well normal in that nothing life threatening or trauma inducing had happened. Things had almost gone back to normal in the day to day life. Harry played with him and Mark when he came over and even played games with their siblings. Though Sarah for some reason insisted on hanging out with them even more than usual. The babies Little Lily and Claire were the big surprises though as both girls seemed to become attached to Harry and Harry to them who seemed to have grown to like taking care of them. Though for the life of him Nick couldn't see why, they were babies and didn't really have a place to play their games. It was the parents job to take care of them not Harry's, but he insisted on spending lots of time with them and his mum and Mark's mum both gushed whenever they watched Harry play peak a boo with them.
But that was just the normal stuff. Though Harry played with him and Mark and did a lot of the stuff they used to do together he also spent a lot of tie in the family Library reading books. Tons and tons of books. Honestly Nick was starting to think Harry was mad, they had another two years before they were supposed to go to Hogwarts and be forced to read, so he couldn't understand WHY Harry was reading so much so early. Also he spent a lot of time in his room experimenting. Apparently he remembered everything he read perfectly and he use that knowledge to mess with things like Potions and Arithmancy. Explosions were not uncommon now a days coming from his room. Also with his ring he could use spells now, Headmaster Dumbledore had once tried to put a underage trace spell on it didn't work, though he didn't use spell names or wand movement like his parents did.
He apparently had gotten a hold of his mums old school spell books and almost instantly managed to replicate the effects of the spells without trying. In all honestly he was insanely jealous of the fact that his twin got to use magic and he didn't. Funny thing was Harry seemed to realize this and had confronted him about it, in the end offering to take requests. Funniest day of his life was giving Mark a peacock tail and beak and having his chased around by female peacocks.
He was still jealous from time to time but he counted himself lucky that Harry didn't seem to hold it against him. Finally dressed he rushed down the stairs into the entrance hall and then to the dining room where his parents and Maddy were already waiting. His mum was holding little Lily in her arms and as he entered Iris, Camellia, Orchid and Kyle all jumped out and yelled, "SURPRISE!" As loud as they could.
A hand came down on his shoulder and he looked behind him to see Harry grinning with Arya on his shoulder. He noticed that he had to look up to see his twins face. Unlike like him Harry looked almost ten instead of nine and was almost two inches taller than he was. He was growing faster than was normal. Another thing that made him different than before which again made him slightly jealous and ashamed of that feeling because Harry had pointed out that just because he looked older didn't mean he was actually older than him.
"Happy birthday Nick," Harry said giving him a brotherly sideways hug.
""You to Harry," he replied as he hugged him back as the rest of their family approached. Suddenly they both found themselves being hugged by their parents and brothers and sisters and ushered into the dining room where the food and most importantly the cake was located. As they all started to get settled the chime for the floo system went off and his dad went to greet the visitors.
He returned with Uncle Remus, Uncle Sirius and Aunt Christina along with Sarah and Mark who ran to greet him and Harry and Rose who was in Aunt Christina's arms. In all honesty he couldn't have asked for a better celebration as they all ate and joked together and then cut the cake which was in the shape of a Quidditch pitch and had moving pictures of players and balls. It was around lunch time that his dad announced it was time to open presents which got him really excited.
More so when they actually moved outside onto the manors grounds toward their Quidditch pitch. He could only think of one reason they would be opening their presents on the field and his excitement soared at the prospect. So it was of little surprise to him when they reached the middle of the pitch and two piles of presents set out on tables greeted them along with Maddy who had apparently gone ahead to set it up.
"Alright boys," said James Potter lifting two long packages from the two piles and handing them to them both, "since we are already out here why don't you open these ones up first. I don't think you have to guess what they are but I won't say anyways just in case you are really are that clueless." The excitement in his voice was unmistakable as the boys started to rip into the long packages. Both boys tore back the raping paper to reveal a pair of Nimbus 1900's.
Nick let out a whoop of joy that made James Potter smile like a loon. He had been looking forward to this moment for years. Flying on a broom was one of life's greatest joys in his honest opinion and all his children had expressed varying degrees of skill on the children's brooms he had bought for them as toddlers. Now however he had managed to convince Lily that his two oldest were ready for their first REAL brooms and the Nimbus 1900's were the top of the line models.
He looked over at Harry expecting to see a similar expression compared to Nick's. After all Harry had been as excited to fly as Nick had been. But that had been before, his smile faltered when he saw the bitter sweet expression on his son's face. It was an expression that should not have been on any nine year olds face, especially on his birthday. Harry looked up at him, his expression changing to one of apology as he met his questioning gaze.
"What's wrong Harry?" He asked gaining the attention of everyone as they stopped talking to look over, including Nick who had been consumed with his own broom he hadn't noticed his brother's lack of reaction. Harry didn't respond, he just held up the broom at waist height and let it go. Instantly gravity took hold and the Nimbus 1900 fell to the ground with a soft thunk. James felt his heart plummet just like the broom; brooms did not have any magic of their own. The used a complex set of engraved runes and spells to take magic from their rider to power the flight. The broom should have used Harry's magic to float at waist height so he could easily mount it, but it had fallen and that meant the broom couldn't pull magic from Harry. It meant that he couldn't the broom, or any other broom, ever.
"I'm sorry." Harry said voice dejected. The emotion wasn't faked; the broom was a lot like wand was. But it used runes instead of a core to pull magic from his body. He had stopped the flow of magic on his own, to prevent the broom from exploding but to everyone else. "My magic, it's too different now. It stopped at my hand and wouldn't go into the broom. I tried to force it a little but the runes almost instantly overloaded so I pulled the magic back."
James picked up the broom his heart breaking at the resigned look his son had. It wasn't fair! Why did everything thing have to happen to Harry! Hadn't he suffered enough! Harry sensing his father's emotions starting to turn for the worst he decided to move the situation along. "Come on dad cheer up. It's still my birthday after all and I still have a lot of presents to open. Let's not let this one thing ruin our moods today."
Putting motion behind his words he grabbed Nick's hand and led him over to the rest of the presents where he started to make a show of opening them one by one in a silly fashion to the delight of his younger siblings. Nick, setting his broom down joined his brother's game as they discovered the joke sets and new muggle clothes and packs of magical candies.
Sirius and Remus walked up to their friend who was still holding Harry's defunct broom watching his son with a mixture of sadness and pride. "Damn if anything James that boy has a stronger spirit than any I have ever seen," Sirius said.
"It's just not fair Padfoot," James said in a soft voice. "He can't use a wand like everyone else and now he can't use a broom. What else is he going to be denied because of what happened to him."
"Look on the bright side James," Remus added smiling as Harry used a sparkler to entertain little Lily and Rose while their Mums watched with bright smiles. "He did get that ring, which is probably better than a wand anyways. He can use magic like he's a little Merlin. As for flying, who knows, maybe he will think of something else he can do instead of flying.
James grimaced at the thought but nodded. A few minutes later after everyone settled down Nick begged him to teach him to fly. He hesitated but Harry, who was holding little Lily, insisted that he teach Nick and to make things even better he asked if he could give his new Nimbus 1900 to Mark. This raised a few objections mostly from the mums but Harry insisted that because it was his present and because he couldn't use it anyways that Mark should have it. So that Nick could learn to fly with their friend and so the broom wouldn't go to waste. Really who could argue with that logic, so it was that a wide eyed Mark got his first broom while thanking Harry over and over. If there was anything better Harry could have done to cement a lifetime of friendship in Mark no one there could think of it.
Lily watched as Nick and mark took to the air for the first time guided by James, along with Sirius and Remus who borrowed brooms. The five of them flew in swooping patterns and she could hear them laughing. She looked away and walked over to her grounded son, he was sitting in the shade with a board on his lap. He had muggle paper and pens instead of parchment and ink, he had asked for them weeks ago for his studies and he was writing quickly on the paper. "What are you working on this time Harry?" she asked with a smile, he had been working on a lot of theories and spells from the books he read, trying to better understand his own abilities and to test his limits.
He smiled back at her and handed her the pad, on it were several complex rune schemes and diagrams. None of which she could understand, and at her questioning look Harry answered. "Those are the rune schemes for those Nimbus 1900's Nick and Mark are flying up there." Lily looked surprised at his words and Harry just grinned.
"Are you trying to make a broom that you can fly?" She asked hoping that maybe if he could he could someday join his father in the sky. She could easily see how much it was affecting James for Harry to be unable to use a broom. But her small hope was dashed when he shook his head.
"No, there's no way to make one that could stand my magic. The power is too pure, too refined for simple runes to handle. The would overload the moment I tried to power them, however," he trailed off a small smirk forming on his lips. It was a look that told her that Harry had thought of something special and one of a kind. She was seeing this look more and more often as the days passed and she had a feeling she would be seeing it for years to come.
"However…." She continued leadingly. In answer Harry rose up and walked past her to the middle of the pitch beckoning her to follow. She did and when he reached the middle he motioned for her to stop a few feet away. The flyers up in the sky stopped moving several hundred feet in the air and watched realizing that Harry was about to try something.
"I hope," Harry stated as his ring started glowing faintly and the air around him started to shimmer, "that if I can replicate the effects of the ruins and charms used on most brooms and apply them to myself I can replicate the abilities of a broom, without the broom." Lily Potter could only stare in absolute awe as after a moment of his clothes flapping in a intangible wind Harry slowly lifted up into the air and floated about three feet off the ground and held his position.
James flew down to his son staring as for a moment before he let out a bark of joy, "Harry that's amazing you wonderful boy you! Can you do more than this?"
"Hold up one second," Lily snapped derailing James praise and making them both look at her. "Harry this is amazing I admit, but I want you to go slow and James I want you to stick close to him at all time got it." Both father and son nodded eagerly and Harry motioned to his dad to give them some room. In his head Harry was glad to have an excuse to fly. It was a simple as willing himself to lift off the ground and then will himself forward, but he also had to add things like protection against the wind and cushions against sudden impacts. It was easy enough to push his magic through his skin and around his whole body.
His current body didn't have as much endurance as it would in a few years but he could easily pull power from open space, but he probably wouldn't have to. It didn't take too much power to fly otherwise normal witches and wizards would be unable to fly on brooms. In the end it all came down to experience which he had. Slowly he leaned his upper body forward and floated forward while still remaining mostly upright. His dad called encouragements to him while the others above him cheered.
Deciding to speed things up a little he leaned forward even more and kicked up the speed. It was pure bliss with the wind flapping around him and the ground beginning to blur below he went faster and faster till he was zooming around the pitch going 70 miles per hour. His dad was flying behind him cheering the whole way though starting behind, so he did a few loops and twists and banked back to him mum who was watching his progress in wonder.
Landing in front of her he mimed stumbling and she caught him. His dad his brother and everyone else landed around him all exclaiming their awe. Pretending to pant from being tired he looked at his dad and said, "Wow that was exhausting. I'm gonna have to try that again some time."
James just shook his head, "Merlin Harry, if it's not one thing it's another. Hey, you know what? I bet there's no rule in Quidditch that says you can't play WITHOUT a broom. If you can master that think about how good a player you could be!" Harry just laughed, glad his dad's funk was gone. Now he could spend the next few weeks with his dad "mastering" his new flying ability. And on the plus side he could get to know his dad better than he had ever had before.
(September 13 2012, France, 13th Realm/Expanded Space "Notre Dame")
Twelve year old Fleur Delacour lay sunbathing on her family's private beach situated behind the manor and sealed off from any prying eyes by the wards around said manor. The manor was almost 400 years old and was crafted in the classical French architecture. Her family was old and wealthy so they could afford the powerful and complex wards. At age twelve she was well into her puberty and he body was reflecting her heritage as a Veela. Her hips widening and her breasts swelling at an alarming rate causing her to look like a 15 year old as opposed to a 12 year old.
So it was that between her new more mature body and the privacy of the manor's wards that she had decided to forgo the normal swim wear and tan nude. Being a veela allowed her to enjoy tanning without any risk of bad skin burns of peeling. Her natural healing factor would take care of that, which was great but there was also the down side of the effort it took to get an even tan and avoid unsightly tan lines. Mostly due to the large white silver wings that sprouted from her back. With a wing span of 13 feet and growing it was a real pain when she was trying to tan her back and bum having to constantly move her wings around so she usually took care of that first.
Now after a few hours on her belly she finally flipped to lying on her back, arms over her head and fully relaxed. The sky above her shimmered and danced at random, mostly due to the expansion wards that had created this specific realm. The sun above her was the real sun, the complex and ancient wards letting the outside sun and sky in without affecting the surrounding space of the mundane world and tipping them off to their existence.
However her relaxing day in the sun was not to last. She barely managed to register the sudden lack on sunlight through her closed eye lids when she suddenly had about ten years scared of the end of her life span by a sudden crashing explosion of noise. Startled she jerked upright crying out in surprise as her eyes shot to the sky above her. The image that greeted her made her heart leap up into her throat and her stomach drop down somewhere around her ankles.
Weather in the Realms was independent of the weather outside the realm. In fact the weather was controlled completely, meaning they could schedule things like rain or snow or sunshine whenever they wanted and the schedule for the weather was public knowledge to everyone who lived in the Realm. Though depending on the size of the realm in question the weather could be different in certain sections of that realm.
The weather for that day, heck for the next five days was all summer sunshine. Minimum to no clouds and a nice breeze. So suddenly losing the sunlight meant a really big mistake on the part of the ward control mages. But that was not what had scared her, no what scared her was two different things. The first being the ward dome in the sky, most of the time it was a barely visible shimmer. Now however she could clearly see the multi colored hue and curve of the wards, visible because of the sun bright white lighting arcing all across the wards making a constantly crackling noise that buzzed against her ears. The second was the storm clouds blocking the sun, regular old storm clouds as far as she could tell accept for the fact that the clouds were situated OUTSIDE the ward dome. Which was supposed to be impossible.
"FLEUR!" Came a sudden scared voice from above and behind her. She turned to see her nine year old sister glide out of the sky on wings identical to her own but with only a ten foot span. Gabriel Delacour her only sibling and best friend was still in that pre puberty stage of a veela's life making her a lot smaller than her. She landed running and right into her arms despite the fact that she was still naked. "What's going on? What happening Fleur?!"
Fleur opened her mouth to answer when another boom echoed over head silencing her, following right after the explosion of noise both she and her sister were thrown violently to the sandy beach by intense shaking. An earthquake, another impossible thing for a realm to have. The land in the realms were artificial, which meant the only way there could be a fault line below the land of a realm was if someone put one there and then added force to generate a earthquake.. The shaking stopped after only a minute, but following the whole world seemed to fall silent. The lighting still swirled above her head on the wards and she feared the disasters would start up again any second.
So it was no surprise when she flinched hard at a sudden screeching sound echoing in the air over and over again. The pulsating wards suddenly gaining hundreds of rune circles all across the surface filling the sky. The lightning bolts of chaotic magic suddenly started getting sucked into the center of the magical rune circles the whooshing sound of air being sucked into a vortex causing her hair to whip around her face. If she had thought her feeling of foreboding could not have been more intense she had been wrong.
"Non," she said in a whisper watching the disaster forming above her. Her family and her father had been among crafters of this realms undetectable expansion ward scheme. So she had access to a lot of the design functions that went into the realms wards and she knew what was happening. For some reason despite the massive power requirements needed to make the wards function properly they were overloading. How, she didn't know but she knew what was going to happen next, to prevent the wards failing and killing everyone inside the wards were going to vent the excess magic into the normal world to balance the wards and return things to normal.
When this realm had been constructed there had been a minimal muggle population situated outside the ward line. Now however the Realm was situated smack dab in the middle of what was the muggle city and central hub of France, Paris. She didn't know what the effects would be, but the venting of chaotic magic into the muggle world in the middle of a large muggle city could be nothing but disastrous. Silently she sent a prayer to those souls in Paris and hoped that they could survive whatever was coming.
(Paris, Muggle World, Same Time)
Tanner Stone, an American tourist visiting France with his family was just about to take a picture of his wife and two little boys and pressed the button when the camera exploded. "Ah crap, what in god's name." He said dropping the digital camera though not without getting a nasty burn on his hand. He cursed quietly under his breath and held his hand close trying to numb the pain but was distracted by the frantic yelling of his wife Claire.
"Tanner," she yelled and he looked at her only to see that she wasn't looking at him but up at the sky. He looked up as well and froze, not really understanding what his eyes were telling him. In the sky seemingly from thin air dark purple storm clouds were forming in a swirling hurricane like pattern. A buzzing sound was vibrating in the air around him and what little of his concentration that was not focused on the sky idly noted the suddenly malfunction and even explosion of all the advanced electronic items. The more advanced the quicker they overloaded and spontaneously exploded.
Arcing white lighting suddenly starting shooting through the clouds and all the bolts were colliding in the eye of the hurricane like cloud formation. A big ball of glowing white light began to form pulsing faster and faster like a racing heart. Unbidden his eyes fell from the awe inspiring and terrifying sight in the sky to meet his wife's no more than 20 feet away. He looked at her and she looked back at him and she seemed to understand what he instinctively knew was about to happen.
"I love you." She said simply and kneeled down to his two boys and embraced them. He couldn't move his feet rooted to the spot, his mind racing a million miles an hour but his body locked in place as the genetically encoded fight or flight response played ping pong with his reactions. He barely managed an "I love you to," to his wife weeping wife when his life came to a sudden and abrupt end.
The Realm knows as Notre Dame fell almost directly a magical ley line, basically the magical veins of the planet earth. As the alternate reality Harry Potter had predicted the planet's magic was confused at the surging presence of the 52 Magical Realms spread across the planet's surface and was just beginning to search for a way to correct the inconsistent presence of the expanded areas. First by moving the planet's magic through the ley lines trying to look for an answer. The Notre Dame however sits across one of those Ley lines and inadvertently absorbed magic directly from the planet. The wards could handle a lot and venting of excess magic was not rare but normally the amount of excess magic was minimal.
The magic being vented at that exact moment was more than 1000 times the amount the realms wards were rated to handle, that and because of the perceived danger the ward vented all that magic in on single amount instead of over a longer period of time as was normal. The effect was catastrophic as the beam of magic lanced down into the ground less than a mile from Tanner Stone and his family. The power returning to the Earth with the force of 10 megaton nuclear blast. The heat of the blast vaporized human beings within a mile and a half of the impact site, Tanner Stone going form man to ash in less than a one hundredth of a second a nano second after his wife and kids. The shockwave came next shattering buildings and sending anything not bolted to the ground flying. Including people, most of whom died before they realized anything was even wrong. Next the ground bucked in a rolling wave like the ocean toppling all structures and creating pitfalls and sinkholes sucking the rubble under the earth, the Eifel Tower long standing hallmark of France buckled and twisted before crashing down onto a tumbling double decker bus and being rolled under the wave of rock and stone.
In less than 3 minutes after the magic returned to the earth Paris France was nothing more than a pile of flattened rubble. More than Two Million souls lost in an instant, a tragedy of epic proportions that would reverberate through the magical and non magical worlds for years to come. The real sorrow though would come from the tension created between peoples, the blame unfairly placed despite the fact in the end it was really no one's fault. Magic in the Earth knew none of the tragedy and simply moved on looking for an answer to the inconsistency between the realms and reality.
(October 31, 2012, Ruins of Paris, Realm Gate Building)
A deep sadness welled up inside Harry's soul as he stared out across what used to be Paris France. The destruction of the great city was no one's fault but he still felt partly reasonable. He pushed such thoughts away as quick as he could, there was no way he could have known this would happen. Magic was looking for a way to correct what it thought was a mistake with the world, it didn't notice the people magical or not that walked its surface. Whether or not sentient life survived was irrelevant to the planet, from its perspective life would go on. It couldn't possibly know what would happen if it brought down the Realms wards.
"Harry! It's time to go!" His father yelled from behind him on the stairs of the gate building. The entrance to this areas realm was inside and though its wards had managed to protect it from the blast of magic they had failed soon after. Soon after France's muggle government had chosen it to be the center for the relief efforts in the area. While the city had been destroyed the population centers outside of the city for miles around had been affected as well and needed assistance. Also while rare there were some survivors scattered around the ruins. Mostly around areas with hidden magical buildings where the wards had gone into emergency protection mode and ended up extending into the muggle areas.
Harry ran up the steps to his father who had been chose by the English Ministry of Magic to lead relief efforts in France along with others from the surrounding European magical countries and the ICW. It was magic that had caused the destruction of Paris and both the magical world and the muggle leaders knew it was magic and no one beside him knew the reason. Harry had begged his father to let him come it had taken a little bit but he had managed it. It was also going to be his first experience entering a realm though he couldn't really enjoy it like he wanted to. Inside the building the quickly walked past the area designated for the muggles to use and past the wards to the gate room. It wasn't anything real fancy just two pillars with a fog like haze between them.
His father beckoned to him and put an arm around his shoulder. "Ok Harry just stay close to me, you didn't have any trouble with the Portkey coming here so the gate shouldn't cause any problems either. We can walk through to the other side on the count of three. 1…2…3…Now!" The both of them strode forward and as soon as he walked into the Haze it was like he was suddenly pulled forward into a long tunnel and spit out the other side in an instant coming to a stop in the Realm's gate room where the rest of the committee was waiting for them.
They both strode forward to meet the group of witches and wizards and s they reached them they were approached by a tall French man with a moustache and short dark hair. "Hello," he said in slightly accented English and extended his hand to his dad who gripped it instantly. "My name is Sebastian Delacour head of the ward division for the Realm. Please if you would come with me to my manor we can begin the discussion. The rest of the English crew is already there."
"Thank you," his dad said smiling, "I hope you don't mind but my son here insisted on coming to try and help if he could. He has some unique perspectives on magic due to his condition." Sebastian looked at him and flinched slightly at his silver cored pupils and gold rings in his eyes. But like any good politician he covered his reaction with a kind smile and extended his hand for him to shake which he did.
"I don't mind at all, it's a pleasure to meet you young sir. How old are you if you don't mind me asking 11, 12?"
"9 Mr. Delacour," he responded making the man blink in surprised but he just nodded. Harry just smiled as Mr. Delacour and his father started talking about the current situation and began walking away to the group. In a matter of minutes they had taken another Portkey to the Delacour manor entrance hall. Harry noticed both Madam Bones and Umbitch off to the side with a few other English wizards but was stopped from going into the room by his dad.
"Harry why don't you wait out here for awhile while we talk. If anything comes up that we could use your help with I will come and get you ok." Harry nodded knowing that they were going to discuss classified material concerning the wards and such. It wouldn't do to have a child in there with them.
Mr. Delacour had an idea however, "Mr. Potter why don't you let Harry send some time with my daughters Fleur and Gabriel. He can hang out with them for a little while." His father looked at him for his opinion and he nodded his consent. Honestly he couldn't believe his luck running into the Delacours again, at least so early before the Tri Wizard Tournament. He couldn't help but look forward to the opportunity. Sebastian Delacour gave him directions to the common area up the stairs to find Fleur and Gabriel. He smiled and thanked him and made his way there, he looked out the window walking up the stairs seeing the artificial ocean and large French buildings stretching out across the land. It made him somewhat sad that it would all have to go eventually. His thought were interrupted though as he reached the top of the stairs a silver white blur shot past him giggling.
He reached to top of the stairs and turned to follow the giggling blur only for his Latent abilities to scream at him from behind. He quickly turned around just in time to catch another larger silver white blur. Said blur hit him knocking him to the floor with a whoosh of air. Well almost to the floor as he managed to catch himself a few inches from the ground and ended up floating there. He turned to see the person who had hit him and his eyes locked with a sapphire eyed angel.
FINALLY! Dang that took a long time to write. Again sorry about that. This chapter was just a precursor to what comes next. Hope you enjoyed it!