Harry returned to the inn with his new things and a new staff/wand. He placed his things in his room and looked at the clock, or rather an hourglass with grains of jades that fell lazily counting the hour. He somehow felt that there was still some times left before dinner and decided to take bath before meeting with Emry.
An hour later found Harry sipping on a mug of chilled milk. He watched as more druids entered the pub/inn and some looked older than even Emry or Gwynn. He sighed as Emry cleaned a mug before rounding the counter to sit next to him. Someone took the seat next to Harry's other side and Emry smiled, "Why, if it isn't our Gwynn!"
Gwynn smiled at Harry before scowling at Emry, "Who's your Gwynn, Emry?"
Harry coughed as the two bickered lightly with each other, "What are we going to do, Emry?"
Emry turned his attention from Gwynn and looked at Harry, his ember eyes glowing with excitement, "Well, we are going to drop a surprise visit to your Uncle's home!" At Harry disbelief look, he grinned, "Don't give me that 'it's impossible' look, Sal! If there's anything that wizards can't do, the druids can!"
He pulled at Harry and Gwynn waved at them as the two disappeared to the back of the inn. Emry led him before a stained glass doors that led to the garden with the Stonehenge look alike. He pushed Harry inside and Harry could feel a difference in the air. Emry smiled at him, "I bet you can feel that, Salazar. All druids can," He nodded.
He pulled Harry gently and the two stood in the middle of the small sized Stonehenge. He held his palm forward and a staff with azure stone appeared in his hand. Emry's staff was lightly coloured, almost white and the stone was held between the claws of a white dragon that merged perfectly with the staff.
He raised the staff and hit the ground beneath them lightly, just a tap but Harry could feel as if there was a tremor that shook him to the core. It was magic in its wildest form, answering the call of a druid. Like a still water disturbed by a stone dropped into its depth, the magical feel became like a sound wave, rippling around and beyond them. Emry's touch shook Harry out of his reverie and he felt himself being pulled through one of the archway. The scenery shifted like how dreams shifted and suddenly he was standing in the Dursley's living room.
Harry blinked, "Wow!"
Emry nodded, "Well, wizard do the thing that they call Disapparate and Apparate but I heard that it gave you a sick feeling in the stomach," He looked at the house, "Huh! Muggles! They can be so neat it's a bore! I preferred those Muggles that like a certain touch to their home that wasn't so…boring," He turned to Harry, "Where do you think you keep your things?"
Harry shrugged and walked toward the second floor, mindfully avoiding the stair that gave a horrid creak and noticed how Emry followed his steps nimbly. He opened the second bedroom's door and started to dig the loose floor board and sighed in relief when he saw that Vernon has yet to find his hidden stash. But just for extra protection, he had made an extra covering to hide the more important things like letters.
He dug through and picked out the more important things and beamed at Emry. He then moved after covering the floor once more and headed for the cupboard under the stair where Vernon had kept his school things. Opening the cupboard's door, he paled when he saw the empty space, "He had thrown them out,"
Emry frowned, "Anything important?"
Harry shrugged, "Some school books, my broom, the cloak my father left me…" He trailed away and dove through to search for the cloak. It was such a special cloak that he had hid it elsewhere, keeping it separate from the rest of his school's luggage and sighed when he find it hidden neatly where he had kept it. The cloak was used to hide a bag of wizard money and by doing that, it was invisible to those who did not know it was there. To Vernon, there was nothing at the small niche at the narrowest corner of the cupboard under the stair. Even if he did, the only other person who can squeeze through would be Petunia.
Harry sighed in relief and smiled at Emry, "Let's go,"
Just as they headed for the living room, Emry had the familiar distaste look on his face and then he took on the expression of a fox as he gleefully held his staff high and started to wave it slightly. As he does, something in the room changed but Harry never had the chance to find out since they were already been moved back to the inn.
He would, however, appreciate the changes had he the chance to find out that Emry had changed the Dursley's living room into something that resembled a chicken coop and a pig sty meshed together.
The next day, Harry decided to hunt for his book list of the semester and was delighted to find out that Gwynn has offered himself to accompany him. Although feeling awkward, he remembered that Emry told him that druids looked after their own as jealously as they kept their secret way. Gwynn was a fun company to have, as much fun as Emry had been that night although Harry was hard to figure out what Emry had changed the living room into.
During the book hunt, he bought himself a newspaper and found out that the Weasley family had spent their summer in Egypt after winning a first prize lottery. Knowing how hard the Weasley family were with money, he was glad that they had the chance to go somewhere had his family been alive, could go easily. It was such an irony but Harry wasn't jealous so much so that he would look on his best friend Ron with contempt. It made him wonder though, where would the Granger family spent their holiday? Hermione mentioned something about Paris last semester before the summer start.
Turning the page, he was faced with the poster of a wanted man who escaped from a wizard prison named Azkaban. He frowned as he read the man's name, "Sirius Black?"
Gwynn, who was busy buying a stick of sticky candy, turned to him, "Sirius Black you say, Sal?" He looked at Harry's now curly blond hair. He had transfigured Harry's appearance to look like a statue he remembered while visiting the Louvre in Paris. He recalled that the statue's name were Adonis. Since he couldn't transfigure the bloody scar as well, it was a stroke of fast thinking that he tied Harry's head with a blue scarf.
Harry nodded as he read the report written on the man, "How could one man murder so many in such a gruesome way?"
Gwynn shrugged, "You might want to know what his relation was with you, Sal,"
Harry looked at him, "What relation?"
Gwynn pulled him to a silent corner, away from eavesdropper and prying eyes as he explains, "He was your father's best friend. Also, during the reign of the Snake Prince, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he was your parent's Secret Keeper. I don't know what exactly happened but rumours say that he betrayed them,"
Harry gripped the newspaper in shock and a tang of betrayal, "Did he?"
Gwynn sighed, "Harry, you must always keep this in mind. There are many truths as they are many witnesses. The only truth will remain only to those who committed or experience it themselves. You should know this since you are Salazar Slytherin's Reborn,"
Harry looked at the screaming and taunting face of Sirius Black. Something in the man's eyes looked betrayed and hurt and he hid it all by behaving madly. Harry frowned, "I have always thought that Salazar Slytherin was evil since Voldemort was evil. But I should know that just because a man was a priest does not mean his son was one too," A whisper reminded him a painful thought, "The apple doesn't really always fall at the base of the tree. Sometime it rolled away,"
Gwynn nodded, "That was something Salazar said to me when we first met. He was still an apprentice then," This news took Harry's interest, "Who did he apprentice with?"
Gwynn raised an eyebrow at Harry, "Didn't you know? He was Emry's favourite student,"
Emry looked up in surprise when the door of his inn was banged open and Harry Potter stood there obviously been running to get back since he was out of breath. Harry dragged the heavy bags of books and once he reached the counter he asked, "You didn't tell me that Slytherin was your apprentice!"
Emry blinked, "Nobody asked,"