Chapter Seven: A Weapon A Friend A Wand
The gray wand with blue streaks laid silently near Ion's bed; it awaited the trials of the next day with eager zeal. The wand, an extension of Ion now, shared his feelings of desire—desire to reach greatness, to become his own person. The young boy turned quietly in his sleep; the next day's long training impending. The morning came. Ion quickly prepared for the training of the day, and eventually strutted to Dumbledore's office where the final sessions of his rather difficult training began. He went up the staircase and finally went through the large doors of the office.
"Good morning professor," Ion yawned.
"Hello, Ion," the man seemed amused at the disheveled look of the boy. "We have some interesting matters to discuss before we begin your training."
"Oh, anything very serious?"
"Serious? Oh my, yes. It is very serious indeed, but you need not worry much at all." The man looked at Ion with amusement because Ion's face became rather stolid fast. "I have scheduled your O.W.L's for one week from today. I am very sorry I couldn't give you more time but, the grading commission needs time to evaluate your scores in time for class to being."
"Oh. So we will be training for the rest of the week then?" Ion asked.
"Well, we will be finished with the rest of the material you need to know in roughly two days. After that I urge you to study whatever you feel you would need for the test, use your discretion. " A smile began to creep along the old man's face. "In addition, and of course this decisions is entirely up to you, Harry Potter has inherited an island, and he has approved of you residing there for the rest of the time you have left until school. You may also stay there while you study any loose ends for the tests."
"How was that suggestion brought up?"
"Well, I thought it would be incredibly beneficial for you and Harry. He is currently recovering from some rather traumatic events, and you have been training alone for what must seem like months. It would be nice if you got some sun and human interaction." The old man looked rather sad at Ion.
"I guess I will go. But, will he mind too much?"
"I doubt he will mind in the slightest."
The training continued along as usual; Ion using the Pensieve and training with Dumbledore. As usual he returned to the room of requirement to master everything he had learned. He decided to not use his new wand until he thoroughly tested it. Eventually, the final day of his training arrived. After his Time-Turner training that night in the room of requirement he would be heading to the castle, where he would dwell for the remainder of his summer.
'So this is the last time I will be in this castle for a while. And I won't ever have these sessions ever again, I guess that's good. Well, I guess it's time to test this thing out.' Ion's hand gripped the wand tightly and caressed it softly. The ash-like wand's cobalt blue streaks shimmered in the dull light of the room. The wand in his hands simply emanated power; the blue streaks seemed to produce light from the various cores.
'I need a place to test the wand to the fullest.' The woods that the room took place for Ion's usual training simply froze in time. Time, in that room, that moment seemed to stop completely in its tracks. The room seemed to be a statuesque sea of leaves frozen in mid-air. Then everything in the room seemed to glow slightly gray. Suddenly the room seemed rapidly become completely blindingly white. Then with zero warning, blackness. Alone in the cool crisp void, panic had yet to set in on the boy. Then with a forceful jerk and Ion seemed to fall onto a new platform, but he color has not revealed itself. Then as a sunrise would, a dim view appeared that quickly laminated to full luminosity. It was a vast expanse of grasslands; riddled with targets and dummies—a sea of dummies as far as the eye can see.
A small smile crossing his lips, Ion raised his wand and felt a surge of power flow through his body. The wand seemed to be a part of him rather than a simple tool used for his benefit. With violent flick of the wand, an incredible stream of fire exploded from the wand onto a near target. The metal target was completely melted down in a matter of seconds. Without extinguishing the fire from the tip of his wand and an additional flick of the wand, the fire morphed into a thick whip of angry flames. The flames crossed numerous wooden dummies with a single swipe—consuming them with the hungry flames. After leveling nearly one hundred wooden dummies, he began ending a barrage of spells at the distant targets—targets that were so far they looked like tiny dots in the distance, but with his ring they seemed close enough to demolish with ease.
In the distance he spotted a series of boulders increasing in size—the largest seemed like a rather small mountain than boulder. Ion began levitating the boulders in increasing order, most with incredible ease. The gigantic boulders rocketed into the air, until he reached the extra large boulders. These seemed to not budge with all of his initial attempts; then, with some focus he tried to bring the full potential of his wand out. Closing his eyes and focusing on the goal, his wand seemed to understand what needed to be done, with a struggle the largest boulder rose a few feet off of the ground. With a swish of the wand it moved higher into the sky but descended after reaching only roughly fifty feet from the ground. Then as if to add insult to injury, a loud shout of Reductor Curse the sky began to rain tiny dust-like fragments of the boulder.
The boy went for hours leveling what seemed to be miles of dummies, targets, and boulders. Rather exhausted, he used the Time Turner and returned to his room for a great night's sleep. The thought about leaving the castle and going to an island owned by the boy, who his father has vowed to destroy. It promised to be an interesting future.
"My things are packed; when are we going?" Ion asked the tall brightly robed man.
"We shall be leaving right now, Ion." The man pulled out an old boot and tapped his wand to it. "Touch the shoe and we shall be off." Never traveling by Portkey, Ion was unaccustomed to the strange feeling in his navel and he felt disgusted after landing on the great island.
"Holy hell…" escaped Ion's mouth as he took in the great island. The island was very large; it has a great forest of odd looking trees. A strange tingling feeling went up Ion's spine as he took in the sweet air of the island that was rich with the fragrances of the trees. "Do you feel that?"
"Very perceptive. Yes, it is the trees. They are wand trees; they possess a fair bit of magic to them. But, I assure you it is nothing to be alarmed of; you will be used to the sensation very soon." Surely, Ion quickly got used to the feeling and continued to walk up the path to the large castle protruding from the trees. "This island is protected by incredibly powerful charms and devices; it is not as strong as Hogwart's, of course. So you should be able to completely relax here without any dangers."
"That's…nice." They walked to the large door of the castle and Dumbledore knocked loudly. A moment later the door opened widely to show Harry Potter looking out toward the guests.
"Hello Professor, hi Ion." Harry showed them through to the main living room which was huge and ornamental. After very little talk Dumbledore left and Harry showed Ion to his room. It was a large room similar to the room in Hogwarts.
"Thanks, Harry."
"It's no problem, I am the Lord of the Castle, remember." Harry said with a small smirk. The thought of him being the lord of anything seemed rather funny, especially since the past few years he had spend summers in a relative hell-hole.
"Not that, I mean letting me in your home. You didn't have to; you barely know me and I feel like I am intruding. Seriously, I really hope I am not unwelcomed," Ion said rather uncomfortably.
Harry looking equally as uncomfortable said, "It's okay. We are a lot alike I guess. We both come from nothing, but magic sort of 'saved' us from a dismal life. Plus, Dumbledore approves of you, so I do too." Ion just smiled as he brought his luggage into the room with his wand.
"Hey! Harry!"
"Hey." Harry said with a small smirk after running backwards to the door way to Ion's room.
"Who is here?" Ion looked genuinely curious.
"Okay, let's see. Me, you, Ron, Ginny, Molly, their mother, Hermione is coming later tonight, and order members come and go because this is the new headquarters."
"Order?" Ion looked rather intrigued.
"Oh, you don't know about that? Well, it is a group that Dumbledore leads, whose goal is to defeat the Death Eaters. I am sorry, but I can't tell you anymore, because its top secret and they don't even tell me most of it."
"I see. I guess I won't be hearing any of that news anytime soon. But, it seems like a foolish move on Dumbledore's part to put me, of all people, here in his headquarters." Ion said mostly to himself.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked concerned.
"Oh he knows very little about me, it just seems like it would be risky." Ion smiled a little.
"Yeah, Dumbledore is a good judge of character, and he trusts people." They shared a couple more short words and Ion began unpacking his luggage. After a short time of unpacking his things, Harry returned to Ion's room. Harry asked Ion if he would like a tour of the house. The two boys walked through the castle and Harry showed him most of the rooms.
"Where is Ron, and his sister?"
"They are around with their mother, which you will be meeting very shortly." After Ion's look of concern Harry quickly added, "It's almost lunch time. And Hermione will be here a few hours before dinner, so you have time to catch up with her. Well, I think we should head to the kitchen, I am starved." The two boys walked to the kitchen to enjoy a large lunch. "Before we get into the kitchen I have some important advice; don't look too surprised by the sea of red hair that will be there when you walk in," Harry said with a smirk.
They both walked into the kitchen to find: Mrs. Weasley near the stove, Ginny helping her mother, Ron sitting at the table looking extremely famished, while he asked when the food would be done—by the looks of the women when they replied, it hadn't been the first time he asked, Tonks, Ions and Harry's previous guard, with bright red hair looking amused at Ron's blight. Ion greeted the people he knew kindly—he was actually very happy to see them, even Ron. Ion had been so lonely recently he seemed to appreciate friendly faces. Harry introduced Ion to Mrs. Weasley who gave him an odd look initially, then smiled and said hello. Harry noticed her lapse in kindness and found it to be quite odd.
The group ate the fantastic lunch Mrs. Weasley made; Ion was used to the school food, which was fantastic, but her food had a more homely feel to it—a feeling Ion enjoyed. "So, can you or Harry give me some tips for my battle coming up next week?" Ion asked Ron.
"Battle?" Ron asked with his mouth full, which granted him a reproachful look from his mother.
"O.W.Ls, I am taking them next week."
"What!? Next week? Why aren't you studying, or freaking out?" Ron asked again with his mouth full.
"Well, it isn't that big of a deal is it? Dumbledore told men to not worry about it." Ion seemed rather confused.
'The man's gone nutters he has, its super important," Ron said with an empty mouth this time.
Ginny broke in, "Well, if Dumbledore told him not to worry about it, maybe he thinks Ion is well prepared already," she looked at her mother for an opinion.
"Well boys, the test is very important. I don't think Ion should have an attack about it like Ron suggests, but you shouldn't take it too lightly; don't get lured into a false sense of security. Hermione will be arriving earlier than expected so she may be able to put you through a routine to see what you need to improve on." She smiled at the boy and continued eating.
"That seems to be the most logical idea, thank you."
"Not a problem, dear. Well, I am going to go to Harry's large garden; it is in shambles; I believe I will plant some things. You all may join me later if you wish," Mrs. Weasley told the boys pleasantly.
"Actually, we were planning on going back there to fly for a bit. So we will be out there," Harry answered. "Ion would you like Ron and me to show you how to fly a bit?"
"Can't say that I do. It seems kind of unpleasant, honestly. But, thanks for the offer, I will go out there with you all, though," Ion said plainly.
"Well if you change your mind about flying, we will be glad to help." This time Ron made the kind gesture. The younger students remained in the kitchen lounging about and eating slowly, discussing O.W.Ls for Ion and Ginny's benefit. The group decided to explore the island and try to discover anything interesting. They searched the grounds and found nothing of any importance but, Harry remembered all of the grounds—something he thought was very useful in case of emergencies. After slightly over an hour of exploring, they returned to the castle to greet Hermione, who had just arrived to spend the remainder of her vacation.
The girls gave each other a quite loud greeting, while she gave a hug to all the boys. "Hermione, Ion is taking O.W.Ls in a week; what do you think about that?" Her face seemed to freeze for a moment then change to a serious stare very quickly.
"Why are you out here and not studying!?" Ron laughed quietly behind her back so only Harry and Ion could see. "Come on!" She grabbed his shirt sleeve and dragged him to where her books were packed, the others followed amused. Hermione gathered a large stack of books and began searching for something. She pulled out a note book that seemed very old and worn down. "I originally saved this for Ginny, but you can give it to her after you're done. It is a notebook of all the things you definitely need to know for the test, with some things that you may not need. Come on we will help you and Ginny study. Right Harry… Ron?" she asked rather sternly.
They both answered simultaneously similar to how they answered Professor McGonagall, which made them pass amused glances at each other. Hermione tested Ion and Ginny on everything they needed to know for hours. Harry and Ron were exhausted; they were on the floor pretending to be dead. Hermione made a list of all the weak points of both of her pupils. Ginny's list consisted of nearly everything covered in fifth year, while Ion's list had barely anything but a few spells that they learned to have just in case.
"Ginny, it seems you just need to learn everything from fifth year, and you are set. It is really impressive you remembered everything since first year. Ion, I am shocked, you need to learn some spells that we learned for special situations, which are pretty advanced, but we can help you. Actually let's do them right—"
"Hermione! I am hungry and tired! Please let the man relax," Ron yelled from the floor where he seemed very comfortable.
"You guys can go ahead, this won't take very long at all. I just want to teach him a few easy spells and the Patronis, which I should be able to teach. If only Harry could teach him, it would only take a few more moments of his time," she seemed sad.
"I am not a fool Hermione; you do not have to guilt me into doing it. I am head of the DA." After explaining what the DA was, Harry taught the Patronis Charm to Ion. After a few attempts he finally made a fully shaped conjuration, which took the shape of a serpentine dragon. After much enthusiastic discussion about their Patroni, they ate dinner, which was fantastic.
"You lot didn't come out in the garden, where were you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Hurricane Hermione hit, and she brought books!" Ron said pseudo-annoyed. "She made Ion and Ginny test what they were good at for hours."
"That's good. Any good news?" Mrs. Weasley asked Hermione.
"Yes Ginny seems completely knowledgeable in everything but fifth year material, while Ion seems comfortable with everything." She made a prolonged glance at Ion and returned her eyes to Mrs. Weasley. After they finished eating they all played various games, and with some of Fred and George's store items. They talked about how the Twins had such a success on their hands with the store. They decided to visit them within a few days, pending on the approval of the Elders—the order and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
Suddenly, soon after dinner completed, Harry fell to the floor directly from his chair, screaming in agony—clutching his scar. The group alerted Dumbledore and brought Harry to his room—The Lord's Chambers.
"My Lord. I have arrived for the report," the dark-haired Bellatrix said while leaning down. She felt confident in a way, she thought she could possible please him the information she worked so dearly to get. On her knees she gave a glance up at the pale figure and returned her head to the floor.
The tall man in the chair covered in dark robes looked down, apparently frustrated with the stream of dismal news. Report after report giving bad news. Each as useless as the other, he began to get incredibly frustrated about these extremely difficult problems. 'It is one thing to fight an enemy who knows you are after them, it is one thing to fight an enemy you have seen or at least know what they look like. But, it is another thing to walk blindly on this Earth and search for an enemy I have never seen! It is another thing to search for an enemy nobody can identify. An enemy that seems to have no shape, no identity, but just exists to IRK ME! The damn bastard! Sneaking around the world leaving no traces no clues, except destruction. This damn thing kills the people before I can get to them, destroys building before I can search them. When I stop this thing, I will finally be able to handle my other goals. But, this takes priority over everything; so much rests in the hands of my enemies. That damn bastard and his damn Brotherhood! I bet they don't even know I am after them. That may be my only advantage.' The man's mind raced with anger, frustration and ways to outsmart this unseen enemy.
"Yes Bella? Please bring me good news. I have received noting but pathetic results. I thought I had an elite group of dedicated servants, but it seems I have a bunch of children that only consume my precious PATIENCE." He moved forward with incredible speed, grabbed her arm, and placed his wand upon her mark. The screams of various nearby Death Eaters could be heard. The man held the wand there for moments, letting his anger flood into the woman's arms from the tip of his wand. The various Death Eaters understood they were being punished for failing in fulfilling his requests. He let her arm go and returned to her seat; she seemed very ill but she returned to a faithful position kneeling before him.
"My Lord, I believe I may have some good news." The woman shuttered as she felt the man's eyes drilling into the back of her skull.
"What is it Bella?" he asked coldly, refusing to allow any hope in his quest.
"He has one. I have verified it. I was lead to a small town by word about the specific object. The one who held the item was murdered, and the item was stolen. Nobody in the town could give a description of the group responsible. It seems the person is a master of blending in a—" the man stood up and grabbed her by the throat.
"Bella, you said good news. This is by far the worst news yet. That means he is two ahead of me." He threw the woman down to the floor and sat back down. "Any other good news I should prepare for?"
"I'm sorry My Lord, I was nervous forgive me for the misunderstanding." She gulped and returned to her faithful position. She reached her hand inside her robes and removed small round object glowing neon purple. She offered it to the man in his seat, which he slowly reached out for and grasped.
He held the small round ball, roughly the size of a snitch, in his hand. He simple just gazed at it for a moment. "This is good Bella, this is good. I am very pleased with you, very pleased indeed. Please continue your story." The man seemed incredible happy now, much happier than seen in a very long time.
The woman on the ground felt completely elated now. "Yes, of course. As I viewed the remains of the home I encountered an old collector of objects. He too was searching the remains. We talked about the incident, and eventually he revealed that he was in search a small orb that the person who owned the building possessed. He was searching the ruins of the building to see if it had survived. I convinced him to show it to me, and then I destroyed the house similar to devastation of His work and took the orb."
"Good Bella, good. That means there is no way to trace it back to us now. I am very proud, Thank you. You may leave if you wish."
"May I stay and assist my Lord any way here?" She looked up to him with hopeful eyes. She seemed rather eager to win his favor.
"You may stay Bella, yes you may stay."
