ENDLESS NIGHT
"Colton should be grabbing a power restoring potion from the stockpile already," Keir assured him, "Now. What do you remember from when we left off?"
"I'm half-demon," Harry blurted, shaking his head slowly, trying to push past the pain that shattering the mental block induced, swaying slightly as memories fitted themselves back into position. "I'm Solani, a Nightshade Demon. You mentioned a war," he continued, "You said something about the 'Curse', then I felt Hermione wake up and I had to leave".
"Indeed," Keir confirmed, the two of them sitting opposite each other in brightly coloured armchairs within a darkly decorated room. "Our ancestors – the ones who came before me, even – kidnapped several Whitelighters – guardian angels for good beings – and experimented on them. And yes," he added as Harry's face twisted into a grimace, "I personally find it to be rather distasteful as well, however it was merely one clan of our species that did this not the Solani as a whole. They experimented on the Whitelighters, pushing evil and shadows into their hearts, changed them".
"Into what?" Harry asked when Keir paused with a scowl, "What did they become?"
"The first Darklighters," the elder demon explained stiffly, "Assassins, hired muscle these days. But back then they were the warriors we lacked, the Solani have always numbered a mere few compared to other demonic species".
"And the Elders weren't happy about it?" Harry realised, "If it was the Elders that invoked the Curse, not the Whitelighters?"
"The Elders are Whitelighters," Keir corrected absently, "Their strongest, their leaders. They declared war upon seeing the 'travesty' of what our kind had done to their own, and well… they destroyed us utterly," the man admitted softly, "I was only a child during the war but I remember it so well".
Sighing, Keir pushed himself up out of his chair and moved away from it, staring into the darkness surrounding the room for a moment before shaking his head. "The excuse we were given, for the actions of those who corrupted the Whitelighters was just," he explained bluntly, "They sought to eliminate the greatest weakness of the Solani, to eliminate those who could kill us with a wave of their hand. Not even the Source of All Evil could eliminate us as easily as the Whitelighters could".
"Why? Uh, how?" Harry questioned, not willing to test the strength of his legs by standing just yet. "The name?" he realised making Keir's eyebrow rise, "We're Solani, it means 'Nightshade', but they're Whitelighters which is pretty obvious to put together. They're the light to our darkness?"
"Very good," Keir praised quietly, making Harry's lip twitch for a moment as the man spread his arms out and took a deep breath. "The Whitelighters are formed entirely of white orbs of light, while the Solani? The full-blooded Solani at least?"
Closing his eyes, Harry watched as Keir's body wavered for a moment before black smoke seemed to explode out from his skin, as if his body had popped. His human body vanishing in a swirl of darkness, Harry's jaw dropped as he stared at the swirling mass of shadows that hovered in the air before him, blending in almost perfectly with the blackness of the room itself.
"We are the Night"
Harry flinched back instantly, hearing Keir's voice in his head the same way he'd heard the voice from the basement. "You…"
"Indeed. As I said, I am one of two beings left in this realm to truly understand the power of the Solani," Keir's voice whispered in his mind, "The other is my brother, we two are the only remaining survivors of the Elder's war on our kind. All Solani that exist now, are descended from either myself, or from Dow, the one who attempted to escape his binding within the Halliwell Nexus through you"
"Halliwell Nexus?"
Before his eyes, the shadow that was Keir shifted and warped, compressing down and then evaporating to reveal Keir's human form standing there. "Harry," the demon began, striding forward and kneeling before him, "You can never return to that basement," he ordered bluntly. "Within that basement is something called a 'Nexus', a point of incredible energy. Dow attempted to claim that power for himself, he wished to use it to break the Curse and destroy the Elders. He was caught however, by a witch named Penny Halliwell, she resided within the home with her three granddaughters. And, because she was unable to kill him, the witch banished Dow into the Nexus. He's..." Keir paused to search for the words, reaching out to rest a hand on Harry's forearm as Colton quietly re-entered the room to stand in the shadows. "Trapped, half-way between the Nexus itself and this world, like a cork. To access the Nexus one would need to access him, to release him," he explained.
"He's a fucking psychopath," Colton's voice muttered darkly, making Keir glance over his shoulder with a scowl.
"He's my brother," the demon said in warning.
"And my Uncle," Colton countered coldly, moving forward into the room with a tray in his arms. "That doesn't make him any less crazy," the young man argued, "If you release him then he will attack the Elders, whether he can win or not. Then the Elders will realise we still live, and will wipe all of us out, no matter how guilty we are".
"I remember the war, through my own memories and those given to me," Keir said hesitantly, jaw clenching as he watched Colton place the tray on a table between the armchairs before throwing himself into the demon's armchair lazily. "A war against demons, against witches, we could survive. But Whitelighters? They have no trouble killing us, they are our one true weakness, for all our power we cannot stand against them".
"So don't go back to that basement, no matter how annoying that bastard gets," Colton muttered, making Keir growl slightly. "Hey it's true, he's constantly reaching out to harass us".
"So one of the last true Solani is our leader," Harry said slowly, "While the other one's a raging psychopath?"
"Pretty much," Colton agreed.
"I… cannot argue that," Keir confessed, rubbing his temples for a moment before falling back into a pink armchair that appeared in a puff of smoke. "Just… just understand, there are three laws that all Solani must follow. The first is never expose yourself; if word gets back to the Elders, they'll exterminate us for good. The second law is to avoid the Charmed Ones and the Halliwell Nexus at all times; the Charmed Ones could vanquish you with a flick of their wrists and to access the Nexus is to release Dow. And thirdly, never vanquish another Solani; there are too little of us as it is. Do you understand?"
"Uh… yeah? I do?" Harry confirmed slowly, making Keir nod in satisfaction and wave his hand dismissively at the shadows surrounding them, making the darkness fade away to reveal the entire room. "Where are we?" he asked curiously, looking around at the black room slowly, taking in the large mirror on the wall and the ladder leading up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
"San Francisco," Keir said simply, pushing himself up out of his chair and gesturing for Harry to follow. "Near the wharf, to be more specific. Above us is the mortal home of Colton and two of our Solani brothers, as they are half-human they still need to dwell on the material plane".
"Material plane?"
"This," Keir explained slowly, "This is the material plane, and that, that leads to the home of the Solani," he finished as they came to a stop in front of the mirror. "And yes, we have no reflection," the demon added as Harry's jaw dropped again, the black-haired wizard twisting around to look back at the glass Colton was holding, which was floating of its own accord in the mirror. "Because this is not truly a mirror, but a doorway".
"To where?" Harry asked, only for Keir to step through the mirror in answer.
"You might want to follow him," Colton's voice said from behind him, "He'll only get testy if you don't. I swear he enjoys being all dramatic when new Solani are discovered".
Reminding himself that it was no different than the barrier to platform nine and three quarters, Harry moved forward to step through the mirror as well, shivering slightly as it felt like stepping through a thin wall of cold water. Blinking quickly so his eyes adapted to the duller light on the other side of the mirror, he slowly looked around the wide enormous cave he and Keir were standing in, taking in the dark mist covering the ground and the three men sparing in what looked like a large boxing ring.
"Where are we?" he whispered, unable to shake the feeling of home in his chest.
"The Arctic," came the man's response as he watched the sparring men fondly.
"Like… the Arctic ocean?" Harry asked slowly, staring at the demon in shock.
Keir just shook his head in response, "No, I mean the Arctic. Welcome to Nighthaven," he declared, clapping his hand down on Harry's shoulder. "Welcome home".
"So… I like you and all… but I'd rather not get caught in a broom closet with you".
The answer to Harry's statement was an unimpressed look from Colton that would have made both Professor McGonagall and Hermione proud. "You do realise I'm a guy, right?" the older half-demon asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I can feel that," Harry deadpanned, smiling innocently at the man pressed up against him in the broom closet. "That's the problem, actually," he added making the man grimace.
"Just go lay down," Colton ordered, "The power unbinding potion took a lot out of you. Keir will be in touch".
"As long as he doesn't touch me like you are," Harry said bluntly, making the other Solani pull a face and vanish in a swirl of darkness, leaving him to shudder slightly. "I vote we never do that again," he muttered to himself, listening carefully for a moment before pushing open the broom closet door and stepping out, smoothing his shirt down as he automatically started towards the hospital wing.
He wasn't going to go lay down, a pepper-up potion would more than re-energise him, but instead he was going to see if he could drag Hermione up to the Room of Requirement to talk. Keir had 'allowed' him to tell Hermione about the wiccan world, so long as he lied and claimed that he was a wiccan as opposed to confessing his demonic side. And while he didn't like the idea of lying to his only friend that… hugely… he understood why he had to do it. While he trusted her and looked upon her as his sister, he couldn't trust her not to over-react to the whole half-demon side of things, not when muggle religions paint demons as evil beings.
Harry didn't feel evil, but since when does the truth of things matter to wizards?
Or witches… wiccan witches that is. Keir and Colton both had warned him that wiccans had a habit of vanquishing first and asking questions never. The Solani thankfully, were more than capable of bluffing their way past several 'demon checks', since as half-demons they had no demonic form to revert to and as half-humans they had normal-coloured blood. They also 'froze' – whatever that meant – according to Colton who had subtly tested it out himself, however one tested out freezing. (Harry knew that they didn't mean ice freezing, but Colton hadn't gone on to explain himself any further and Harry hadn't asked).
"I'm worried about Harry, sir".
Coming to a crashing halt, Harry stared at the door to the hospital wing blankly, feeling himself 'turning off' his emotions as he heard Hermione let out a loud sigh.
"He had a hard enough time forgiving Ron last year," Hermione was saying, "I don't think he'll be able to do it again this time. He was hurt enough last year, but this time he actually had a bout of accidental magic when Ron attacked him".
"Accidental magic, Ms Granger?" Dumbledore's voice asked slowly.
"Of course, Professor, what else could it have been?" Hermione pointed out, "Harry never drew his wand, and as powerful as he is there's no way he cast a banishing charm wandlessly. Besides, it's not the first time he's had accidental magic, he inflated his Aunt in third year".
"So you believe that it wasn't Harry's fault what happened?" Dumbledore questioned, "That's why I'm here after all, Harry cited you as a witness and I wanted to make sure I didn't punish anyone unjustly".
Harry rolled his eyes at that. If anything it sounded like Dumbledore was just checking in to see whether or not he had to obliviate Hermione, something it seemed his friend had anticipated if her 'accidental magic' theory was any indication.
"Of course it wasn't Harry's fault!" Hermione exclaimed, sounding offended. "Ron attacked him from behind, he cast that disgusting slug expelling hex at Harry's back! I know you can't exactly praise Harry for fighting another student, but you have to admit that he was rather well restrained. Last year Harry would have fought back, but this time all he had was accidental magic. Do you think that's an aspect of occlumency?" his friend added curiously.
"Greater emotional control is a benefit of studying occlumency, yes," Dumbledore agreed simply, Harry hearing the sound of a chair being pushed back as the old man stood. "Very well, thank you for your aid, Ms Granger. I shall leave you to rest now".
"Of course Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said cheerfully, Harry looking around nervously as he realised he was going to get caught eavesdropping if he remained in the hallway.
Whatever his friend said next, Harry didn't know, as he turned and quickly rushed down the corridor. Sliding into an alcove and peering around the suit of armour, he couldn't help but suppress a snigger at how very 'James Bond' he felt watching the Headmaster leaving the hospital wing and striding off in the other direction. This year was going to be so very cloak and dagger it seemed, what with not only the Dumbledore's Army (that Harry really wanted to rename now), but with the new factor of Harry needing to keep his powers and heritage a secret from everyone.
"Harry!"
"What's it with everyone and screaming my name recently?" he drawled as he shut the hospital wing door behind him, glancing around to make sure it was just him and Hermione before sending her a tired grin.
Rolling her eyes at him, Hermione shuffled over and patted the bed beside her, making Harry move over to jump up. "What happened with the Headmaster?" she asked before he'd even had the chance to settle, "He was just in here asking about your little fight with Ronald. I told him it was just-"
"Accidental magic," Harry interrupted, making her nod, "I know, I was listening. And he obliviated me," he admitted bluntly, watching as his friend flinched back with a resigned look, "You were right. He seems to think this telekinesis of mine is dark, he didn't change anything about my argument with Ron, only changing my power to accidental magic".
"He didn't change the fight with Ron? I assumed he would want you two to be friends again?" said Hermione thoughtfully, the girl biting at her lower lip as she frowned.
"He claimed the reason he did it last year was because Ron was 'truly my first and best friend'," Harry explained softly, "And because the Weasleys are a 'light family'. He also didn't want Rita Skeeter getting involved," he added with a shrug. "I told him that I was still friends with Ginny and the Twins though, so maybe he doesn't care about whether I'm still friends with Ron as long as I'm still connected to the Weasleys?"
"Maybe," Hermione mused, not sounding at all certain. "I don't think we should just accept his word as true though, I don't think we should take anything at face value".
"No," Harry agreed slowly, gearing himself up to lie through his teeth to Hermione, "We really shouldn't".
ENDLESS NIGHT
