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NOTE!: to al those who voted thank you very much for all your great suggestions! also if what you voted for does not appear in this chapter, don't fret! all suggestions have been duly noted for future reference, and therefore abilities and elements with them may appear later. Hope you enjoy the show!
Integration:7 Harry Run!
The morning light shone bright through the castle windows, casting a watery light over the paintings and suits of armour. The only signs of life were the few busy house elves that were still present over the holidays, the fluttering of the school's owls, and the movements of five figures of different heights through the long corridors.
Professors Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore, as well as Madame Pomfrey and Harry Potter, strolled along the top-most corridor of Hogwarts. The corridor had windows basically covering both walls, and the August light illuminated the figures.
Harry made small jumping movements in excitement as he went along next to the transfiguration teacher, who was sporting a stern yet amused expression.
"Severus, I believe the reason that your bond with Harry has ended is because he now has no more need for your help at a distance. He has you for real now after all." Dumbledore smiled benevolently at the other man. They had just been discussing the connection, or lack of it at the moment.
"It was his magic reaching out to you after all."
"So, you believe it may come back?" Severus asked, genuinely curious.
"It may, if there ever arises a need." The elder replied cautiously. Severus sensed the man becoming secretive again and chose to leave the conversation.
The group entered a wide room, the ceiling and walls completely glass, across the top of the room large cogs and hands turned in a never ending dance, like the inner workings of a clock.
Harry stared at the moving objects transfixed, long black tail swishing faintly. It was almost as though he might pounce on them. Dumbledore moved forward and stood next to him.
"Harry." Once he had gained the younger's attention he continued. "Is this the forest?" He indicated the looming mass out the window with a long finger.
The cat-child moved forwards slowly, then all but pounced onto the small window seat, face pressed up against the glass. Severus, Minerva and Poppy shared glances, as though expecting a light display, or some sign of power from either the boy or the forest. There was none however. Only Harry's endless wonder gave any indication that there was a connection.
"That's right..." Harry murmured softly.
A loud crack suddenly echoed through the room, Harry jumped up in shock to stare at the small creature on the floor. The house elf bowed fretfully to the occupants of the room.
"The Minister of Magic is in the great hall and is wishing to see the professors and nurse, he says that he has come to see the young Potter child!" The elf recited very fast and squeakily.
"Thank you Lobo, please tell him that I will be right down." Dumbledore spoke kindly and calmly as the elf nodded.
"But sir, he is already coming up here to see you!"
"Ah, well in that case please return to the kitchen, thank you." The elf nodded and disappeared. "Poppy, Minerva, please hold up the Minister, try to deter him, if you will."
The two witches nodded and dashed off swiftly.
With that Dumbledore waved his wand deftly at the window Harry was standing next to. The glass folded up, effectively opening itself.
"We will need to hide Harry." He pointed out to Severus unnecessarily. Pointing his wand at Harry he spoke again. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry lifted off the ground, and he yelped in surprise as he drifted out the window.
"Do you not think the Minister may be slightly suspicious?"
"We will have to deal with that when the time comes." Dumbledore answered in an infuriatingly calm voice as he lowered the floating child onto the grounds below the window. Harry was quite bemused at the phenomenon, but he could sense the magic flowing around him and found he enjoyed the feeling of freedom. Evidently the child was not scared of heights, Severus thought with some relief.
Suddenly the door burst open and Poppy dashed in, quickly shutting it behind her. She was panting and looked quite scared.
"I'm sorry Albus, but I've just done something terrible!"
"What happened Poppy?" Dumbledore asked once they were sure Fudge wasn't going to burst into the room.
"Well, he was asking us all these questions, we didn't know how to slow him down and he was becoming very persistent, I couldn't think, so, so I said the first thing that came into my head!" She looked quite frantic now, wringing her hands, insistently. Severus made a mental note to never have this women with him in a desperate situation.
"What did you say?" Albus asked calmingly.
"I-I, I told him that Harry was dead!" She all but screeched, covering her eyes. Severus pinched his nose to prevent himself from hexing the stupid woman, and double checked his mental note. Even Dumbledore's eyes widened incredulously at the women.
"What happened then?" The headmaster questioned in an only slightly less calm tone.
"Well, I pretended to cry and ran out, made it look like I was heading for the hospital wing and ran here. As I left I heard Minerva telling the Minister that he had suddenly deteriated, but then the Minister insisted that he search the castle and grounds in case we were lying!" The medi-witch panted as she finished, trying to avoid Severus' furious glare.
"Well, it can not be helped Poppy, who knows, you may have done us a favour." Dumbledore spoke as he waved his wand. "Fudge is coming. Severus, tell Harry to hide." Albus said swiftly in a serious tone.
Dashing to the window as Poppy disappeared down a trap door that held a tunnel leading to the infirmary. Looking down at Harry, Severus only hoped that he would listen. The child was watching him steadily, tail swishing anxiously.
"Harry, run!"
He could not hear what they had been talking about, but he could almost taste the tension, which only mounted when he saw Severus at the window. It was the tone rather then the words that got Harry moving. He could feel the older man's nerves and anxiety as if he had yelled his thoughts rather then instructions.
Harry didn't question it or hesitate as he spun around towards the forest, half way through transforming into his animagus form and streaking away across the grass.
Harry, although scared, couldn't help but enjoy the feelings around him. The wind rushed through his fur, the ground was soft under his delicate paws, and he couldn't remember ever running this far or fast. The adrenaline made him push himself faster, practically flying across the ground to the welcoming dark of the forest.
Since he could remember things clearly, he hadn't felt as capable as he did now, instinctually darting swiftly over and under tree roots, jumping only to land expertly on one paw with impeccable balance.
He came to a stop a good distance from the first trees. He could feel none of the power he felt before, he looked down at his paws to see the bars of jade that clasped his front legs. The magic seemed close and far at the same.
Feeling the need to alert the forest to his presence he began to meow desperately, the calls would not have made sense even to a cat. He kept on Mewing, it was the only thing he knew to do.
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Back at the castle an irate Fudge was stomping down the marble staircase to the great hall. He had finished searching the castle by enlisting the help of the paintings, which had no reason to lie to him. He was furious, true he had not found the boy, but he had found no body either, and even though all four members of staff had told him they had burned the body and scattered the ashes to lay him at peace, he did not believe a word of it.
The four followed the Minister as he made his way to the door to continue the search. Severus let off a silent plea to Harry for him to be smart and not let himself be caught, he realised that he could have been more specific in his instructions, but there had been no time. He was ready to curse Fudge, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
The bright side was that if they managed to pull this off, at least they wouldn't have to worry about Fudge insisting he should take the child. Dumbledore was always up for a daring scam anyway, one could tell just by looking at his face and the amused expression, coupled by the ever-twinkling eyes.
Back in the forest Harry's voice was becoming hoarse, he hadn't made this much noise in ages, and it was showing. The sudden cracking of branches around him caused him to jump and fall quiet. He glanced around, unable to see what was drawing closer until a shadow loomed over his back.
Jumping around Harry stared up at a huge four legged creature. Several more emerged, circling him, looking down at him whilst their feet made interesting clicking noises on the twigs and stones. Harry's breathing was short and sharp, ears flat and fur standing on end.
"It is a cat Firenze! cats are not supposed to be in our forest!"
"Bane, can you not feel it's magic? This is not merely a cat." As the attention of the second creature once again returned to him, Harry let out a soft hiss, what did they want anyway?
"What are you child?" Harry backed away, only to run into a hard surface. Swinging around he could not make out what the shadowy figure was. He Transformed back to human and jumped backwards, letting off a small yelp as he met two white eyes in a bony face. Looking further he saw a few many legged creatures with numerous beetle black eyes staring at him.
Harry spun around, each way he faced seemed to hold different types of creature, birds, beasts, insects, reptiles, all looking at him fixatedly.
"Look, the true power is being masked by the jade, but it's still there." The creature from before spoke again.
"That is not important Firenze! It does not belong in our forest!" At his words the tension from the surrounding creatures increased, and many released what Harry interpreted as anger. Before the creatures had just been curious, now they were mad. Harry could tell that many were conversing, due to the noise however, he could not understand.
His head was beginning to throb, and he could not make the forest hear him.
"I think we should eat it, then kill the centaurs, what do you think Maxwell?"
"Oh yes, certainly the proper course of action Cuthbert." Harry looked to the side to see two blood red snakes debating. He could feel the world spinning as the noise grew.
"STOP IT!" Harry yelled, and in a last attempt to connect with the forest, pushed all his emotion and forced out all the magic he could feel in him. Drawing on his magic he could feel it surface slowly at first, as if pushing against some resistance. Opening his eyes, he saw the jade rings glowing faintly, his own magic was dying down.
Almost as soon as he felt this, he saw the forest creatures drawing back, vines were moving towards him, the grass beneath him was growing, tentacles of unknown plants were reaching for him.
Harry once again felt the forest's magic pulse around him, and realised that it was trying to help. He drew up his magic again, feeling it hit and shrink against the resistance, but he kept drawing on it this time. All around him the forest sensed the magic and rushed to the source. Harry saw enlarged blades of grass and vines wrapping around the jade and squeezing it.
Tiny cracks begun to trace up the rings, as the cracks met and grew Harry felt his magic surge out. His own magic appeared as a bright green, blending in with the deeper, emerald green pulses of the forest, as they grew together, Harry became intensely aware of his surroundings. He could hear, smell, taste and see to a whole new level. He could feel the forest growing, knew of all the creatures in it, could see the hidden parts deep within. Suddenly, Harry experienced a rushing on his senses, he felt in tune with every molecule of the forest, through the onslaught of input on his mind, the forest seemed to direct him.
He could see four figures at the entrance of the forest, moving slowly and akwardly through the dense undergrowth. The feeling of tension radiating off them was almost overwhelming. Anger, nerves, aggravation, and a truly penetrating state of calm. Harry realised that this was not only Albus, Severus and the other cat, but also the one he should hide from.
Harry felt the forest smiling at him, comforting him. Inexplicably knowing what to do, Harry drew in the surrounding pulses with his own magic, tuning it into himself and to his own magic. Flawlessly, the pulses timed with his own and died down. The visual signs of magic had gone and Harry noticed his surroundings once more, he could not distinguish it from his own magic, but could feel the tranquillity of it under the surface.
Feeling the approaches of the others Harry pushed himself against a tree nearby and released magic into it, directing the tree with it. Harry drew the released magic around him, and soon felt himself encompassed in the tree. Though he could not see, he could sense his surroundings through the tree. It was a strange, but not an unpleasant experience.
"This is ridiculous Minister, if you are so disbelieving of our tale, please do try summoning the child yourself." Dumbledore remarked in an amused manner to the frustrated Fudge.
Severus did not know quite what the headmaster was playing at with this plan, Harry would surely be revealed. His question was answered soon enough though.
"Although, I must insist that if that does not provide the results you are hoping for that you end this little charade for once and for all." Severus felt the headmaster was placing a lot of faith in the boy, and that he had not simply hidden under a bush, but managed to tune completely. He hoped it was not misplaced. Fudge however, seemed mightily pleased with this, hopelessly oblivious to greater magic then the summoning charm.
"Yes, excellent idea. Accio Harry Potter!" The minister exclaimed with wand aloft. The increasing tension decreased dramatically after several minutes of nothing happening, not even the snap of a twig.
"Well Minister, you have your answer, now please depart, and think no more on this." Dumbledore commented cheerily, and turned to the transfiguration teacher. "Minerva, will you please escort the Minister to the gates? Thank you."
After a hasty assent, Minerva led the red man away, who was muttering about the complications of having to cover this matter up somehow.
"Well that went well. Harry, feel free to come out now." Snape all but gawped at the headmaster, and really did gawp when Harry begun to appear out of the tree directly in front of him, with the ease of a ghost moving through a wall.
"How..."
"I believe Harry has managed to connect with the forests magic, am I right?"
"Yup! All good sensing!" Harry said merrily as Dumbledore beamed, Snape decided to just accept that Harry had connected and leave it at that. The child was evidently still confused with words, but at least he seemed stable now, and more focused.
"Also I believe that we can assume the forest contained the element of earth due to Harry's new found ability to blend with trees. I think we can assume that the ability he gained from the forest's power was some variety of plant affinity. We should research this more soon, it could be vital information in understanding this power."
The snapping of twigs nearby alerted the three to the sudden presence of two centaurs.
"I told you to leave it Firenze! You will be out of the heard unless we leave now!" The lighter centaur approached Harry none the less, who seemed to be able to sense that this one meant no harm.
"You must be quick with your task child, none of us have much longer. They must be united child, good luck." With that the centaur galloped back to the other and they disappeared into the dark.
"What does all that mean Albus?" Severus questioned softly. Dumbledore had a thoughtful look on his face.
"I do not know." Harry turned to the pair, tail swishing softly and ears relaxed.
"It's clear! The others have to be all together with this one, I think that that will make them happier!" The meaning this time reached Severus despite the stunted language.
"I believe it means that Harry must tune himself to all of the seven ancient powers and unite them. Why? I have no idea, but perhaps we will find out." The two men shared a glance. They soon left the forest to go and ease the worries of the other two, and to allow Pomfrey to feed her 'dead' patient. Severus vaguely thought that he may not get himself into these problems if he had never become a teacher.
:YAY! Finished another one, I hope you liked and are not disappointed hehe, also: IMPORTANT!!
:ANOTHER VOTE!: I know I just did one, but this is to keep me focused and on track, otherwise it may take me ages to write again as I just finished what I was working up to!
:HERE IT IS!: which element should be found next, just voting on elements not powers right now, you can choose from: water, fire, air, lightning, life and death. Please let me know ya thoughts and any ideas that you have, they are, as always, endlessly helpful!:
:The majority of the votes were for earth and plant affinity, so woop for those that voted that, and like I said, do not be upset if your vote was not used, for all were excellent ideas and will and have helped greatly!:
:AND! special thanks goes to Sethrial who betad this, great job and I will see you next chapter -:
:Thank you for the reviews and ideas, they make my day:
:Please let me know ya thoughts, shadowtheo: