Title: Harry Potter and the Elemental Destiny
Author: Elemental Destiny
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does. I just mess around with her characters. Anyone you don't recognize is my own creation . As a matter of fact, I own nothing you recognize, period.
Summary: With 5thyear over, Harry is stuck in a deep depression. Yet with his 16th birthday approaching he will come to learn that not all magic is wizarding magic, not everything dark is evil, and that sometimes the correct path to follow is lying right before your eyes. AU Post OotP
A/N: Hello again all! Thanks for all the great reviews and hits; you all are awesome, as always. I'm still fairly new to writing on this site and just discovered that I can reply to reviews. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask because now I can answer easily. I hope you all like this chapter, as it has been one that I couldn't wait to write. We see Harry training a bit and watch as he gets a visit from an unsuspected source. We also see a new side to an old character. On to chapter 9, Happy Reading!
Italics = Thoughts
~ Italics ~ = Thoughts between Harry and his familiar
Chapter 9: You Know What Happens When You Assume
After receiving his daily instructions from Talasien, Harry set off into the woods to find a place to meditate. As usual his first task of the morning was to find a place to meditate and attempt to summon a shadow ball. It was the same task he had been trying to accomplish for almost two weeks, so while he intended to try he wasn't very optimistic.
He walked through the trees trying to find a suitable place. Harry tried to change where he went everyday, hoping it would change his results but thus far he was the same everywhere he went. He wished that Kayla was with him but she was off training and even if she wasn't Talasien always said meditation worked better when done alone.
After a few more minutes of searching he found a nice, quiet glade with plenty of soft grass. Walking to the middle of the glade he sat down and began the process of calming his mind. In a few moments he was in the peaceful trance of meditation and began looking inward towards his elemental core. He found the swirling ball of silver and concentrated on it, memorizing its feel. Now all he had to do was concentrate on that feeling and call out to it and the shadows of the earth should come to him. But they didn't, just as always his hands were left empty.
Harry opened his eyes and sighed before shutting them again, intending to attempt the action again.
" Why?"
Harry eyes shot opened and he jumped up from the ground, quickly scanning the glade looking for the source of the voice. There was no one around though and this made Harry nervous.
" Who are you?" He questioned warily, hand on his wand.
" Why?" The mysterious voice repeated.
Now beginning to panic Harry drew his wand and after scanning the glade again yelled, " Where are you?"
" Right in front of you."
Harry spun around to face where he heard the voice originate from. The air in front of him shimmered slightly and a man's form came into view.
" You? What are you doing here?" Harry questioned, bewildered and also very much annoyed as he faced one of the last people he wanted to see.
Lord Shayden smirked and said, " Now young one, keep talking like that and I am going to start thinking that you are unhappy to see me."
Harry looked distastefully at the master in front of him. Out of all of the high council, excluding Lord Darren, it was the shadow lord that Harry disliked the most.
He opened his mouth to answer back but the words of his familiar echoed in his head. As much as he disliked the arrogant and emotionless lord, Shayden was a great deal more powerful than he was. It would be unwise to provoke him.
" How did you get an invisibility cloak big enough to cover you completely?" Harry asked, after casting about his mind for a topic for polite conversation. Plus, he was also interested. He was on the smaller side and his own cloak barely fit over him when he crouched. He couldn't see how one could fit over the shadow lord who towered over him.
Lord Shayden laughed coldly and said, " I do not require a cloak to become invisible."
"Oh," Harry said while silently berating himself. What a stupid thing to say, he should have known that. Why was it that whenever he was around this man he ended up putting his foot in his mouth. He decided however that as long as he had already sounded stupid he might as well get the information he now wanted to know.
" How, the headmaster at my school can become invisible without a cloak but you don't have wizarding magic he does."
" True, but I do posses a great deal of mastery over the shadow element." Lord Shayden said.
The shadow lord looked pensive for a moment before speaking again.
" Consider this a lesson child, of what you could eventually achieve. Watch my eyes if you don't believe that it is shadow magic." The master said.
Lord Shayden waved his hand in front of him and began to slowly fade from view. He left his head for last, locking eyes with Harry before fading completely from view, eyes that were outlined in glowing silver.
Despite his dislike of the lord, Harry was still impressed by the feat and when the shadow lord reappeared he asked, " How do you do that?"
" It requires a great deal of concentration and a large amount of control over the shadow element, as you are in a sense, cloaking yourself in shadow." He replied.
Harry thought about his own non-existent skill with the element that he was beginning to distrust and despise.
He really is so much more powerful than me.
He also realized that he would never be able to do what he had just seen, which, feelings about his element aside, upset him greatly.
" Now that reminds me of the reason that I am here. I am eagerly awaiting your answer." Lord Shayden said.
" What answer?" Harry asked, confused.
" The one to the question I was asking you when you first heard my voice. Why?" The shadow lord replied.
" Why what?" Harry snapped, his patience regarding the shadow lord finally coming to an end.
Shayden sighed and said, " Why aren't you trying to train in your element."
Harry's eyes widened and he stared at the shadow lord while trying to calm his worried and sometimes angry thoughts.
How does he know that I haven't been able to do any shadow magic? Why does he care? Talasien couldn't have told the high council about this, he would have told me. Wouldn't he? What does he mean not trying I have been working my butt off trying to get this stuff to work. I may not be succeeding but I am trying.
He finally calmed his thoughts and answered.
" I don't know what you are talking about. I am trying to train; I've been trying for almost two weeks. It is just taking me a little longer than most to get the hang of it. It's not magic that I am used to."
Before the lord had a chance to respond Harry fired a question at him.
" Why are you here anyway? I am sure that as a council member you have a great many important things to do, so why waste your time coming here."
Shayden smirked at Harry's obvious attempt to change the subject, but answered him nonetheless.
" I am here because of the problems that I hear you have been having, problems that you have just confirmed. You are one of the first shadow druids to come into your powers in quite some time and in this realm we take care of our own. As I am also a shadow druid that makes you one of my own, thus making your problem my problem."
Lord Shayden smirked again at the look on Harry's face before continuing.
" So if you are done trying to change the subject we can return to the question of why your aren't trying.
" I am trying." Harry insisted.
" I've watched what you call trying young one. You can see you elemental core you get right up close to it but you don't touch it. You havenever immersed yourself in your core, never let yourself become one with your element, even though I know Talasienhas instructed you to do so. Your excuse of trying might work with others but it doesn't fool me, so why?"
" That's not true, I have been trying." Harry snapped, defensively.
Lord Shayden sighed and said, " Alright, if you wont tell me then you leave me no choice but to guess."
" Guess away my lord since you obviously know so much more about me then me." Harry spat out sarcastically.
" Hmm, maybe you just wanted the attention, people will keep hovering over you until you get it. Yes the attention could be a reason."
Harry glared at the shadow lord but held his tongue, Kayla's warning once more ringing in his ears.
" No. Hmm guess I'll try something else. Perhaps you are simply lazy and don't feel like having to do harder work. If you stay down at a pre-beginner level Talasien can't really ask much of you."
"I am not lazy!"
" Well then I suppose I will just have to keep guessing, unless you would care to make it easier for me and simply answer my question." Lord Shayden said, his eyes gleaming in cold delight.
" I told you, I am trying." Harry said with conviction.
The shadow lord then did something that Harry hadn't thought possible. He laughed, hard. In fact if it hadn't been for the fact that the shadow lord was laughing in his face Harry probably would have noticed and made note of it.
" Child, you have little skills at lying and absolutely no skills at lying to me." Lord Shayden told him bluntly.
" At least I'm not a cold arrogant bastard." Harry mumbled under his breath.
" Shall I continue then," Shayden said apathetically, ignoring Harry's anger.
" By all means." Harry managed to ground out.
" Well I do have one last idea. Maybe it is that you don't want to use druidic magic. Maybe our common, dirty magic is just isn't good enough for the precious Boy- Who – Lived."
Harry, who had stood by and watched himself be slandered by a man who knew nothing about him and managed to say all of it with an emotionless expression, finally snapped. He forgot about his wand and simply leapt at the man, violent intent shinning in his eyes.
The shadow lord dodged Harry's punches for a few moments before disappearing from view.
" Come out and fight me you coward." Harry screamed.
He continued to rant at the air, throwing wild punches as he went. He had been doing this for some time when the hair on his neck began to stand on end; the instinctually warning however came to late. Harry was thrown the ground and before he even had time to register what had happened his wrists were pinned to his back and a weight settled on his legs. He struggled trying to get up but found that he couldn't move. Upon noticing the lack of mobility he struggled anew trying to break the hold on him.
Turning his head he saw the shadow lord reappear and saw that while the lord held his wrists behind his back, it was pure shadow energy that held his legs down.
He continued to struggle wildly, trying again and again to rise from his current position.
" What the hell do you want with me!" Harry yelled, struggling once more before continuing.
" You can't expect me to believe that you are here to help me. You are a cold emotionless bastard who doesn't care about anyone other then himself. I've seen how you act. The only one who can stand you is your familiar. All anyone sees when they look at you is a arrogant and apathetic old man." Harry continued to rant in frustration.
The shadow lord's eyes narrowed as he increased his hold on Harry and leaned down over him so that his head was next to Harry's.
" You and all others see only what I wish for you to see, nothing more and nothing less." Lord Shayden said dangerously.
" What do you want from me?" Harry repeated, his voice raw from yelling.
" I seek only the truth to the question I asked."
" I told you, I have been trying." Harry insisted desperately.
" You know you are quite small and don't weigh very much, our sad attempt at a fight and your even sadder attempts at escaping didn't even tire me at all. In fact I bet I could hold you down here all night if I had to. Now you can keep lying and we can test that theory or you can tell me the truth and I may consider letting you up."
Harry remained quiet for some time, still trying to escape the older man's iron grip. Time after time he was thwarted and eventually tears of frustration began to appear in his eyes. He turned his head, trying to block his face from view of the shadow lord. He might be in a bad position but he still had his pride.
" Why are you doing this, why do you care?" Harry mumbled depressingly into the ground.
At his words, Lord Shayden looked down at the desperate and distraught young shadow druid that he had pinned down against the ground. He sighed and his eyes softened as he saw the tears of frustration that the Harry tried to hide.
" What is it young druid?" He questioned softly. " What has you so frightened that you wont even touch your core."
He felt Harry stiffen at his words and shake his head slightly. Knowing that he was on the right track, he continued.
" It s alright to tell me young one. I am of the shadows, and we do not judge. Why are you so afraid." Lord Shayden said, his once cold voice now calm and soothing.
Harry closed his eyes, tired, exhausted and realizing that he had no choice left but to answer. He spoke in a hollow voice saying , " I can't risk it, it is too much power."
" Can't risk what shadow cub, tell me." The shadow lord encouraged, thankful that they were finally getting somewhere.
" I can't become corrupted by the shadows, it is too dangerous, I could hurt someone." Harry said, voice still hollow and slightly drowsy.
" Please don't tell me that you believed the utter garbage that was printed in that book." The shadow lord said suddenly, understanding slamming into him and loathing of the book clear in his voice.
He suddenly released his grip and helped Harry, who by this point was too tired to think of escaping, into a sitting position.
" I think I know what is going on now. If I am right then you and I need to have a major discussion on shadow druids. " Shayden told him.
" I've read all about them, what more is there to know." Harry said bitterly.
" Tell me something, what do the purebloods of your world think of muggleborns," Shayden questioned.
" That they are scum with dirty blood who will never be as good as they are." Harry replied, confused.
" Is that true?" Lord Shayden questioned.
" What, no. Of course not! Muggleborns are just like everyone else." Harry told him passionately.
" You know that but what would happen if someone who had never been in your world before read that muggleborns had dirty blood and would never be as good as purebloods. What would that person think?" Shayden said, setting him up for his next question.
" That muggleborns had dirty blood and would never be as good as purebloods. " Harry answered automatically.
" What then would happen if a wizard came into the druidic realm and read that all shadow druids were dangerous and became corrupted by their powers? What would they think?" Shayden asked.
" That it was true." Harry said in a soft voice, truth slamming into him.
" Would it be true though?" Lord Shayden said, checking to be certain his point was understood.
" No, it wouldn't be." Harry said, believing the truth of his own words.
" You let yourself be taken in by false, prejudiced words. Your element is not going to corrupt you; you will remain who you ever have been. Every person must decide their own path; there is nothing that decides it for them."
" That's not true, if I could choose my own path I wouldn't have to deal with my world's stupid prophecy." Harry said.
" You don't have to follow the prophecy. You could let the dark lord walk up and kill you. You could run away and hide and forget that you ever heard it. You could leave behind family and friends. It is an option." Lord Shayden pointed out.
" But I would never do that." Harry insisted.
Lord Shayden smiled, " Then you prove my statement is true. You may not like the prophecy but you are choosing to make it real. By refusing to run away you are choosing the path of the prophecy, setting up the confrontation it describes."
" I never thought about it that way." Harry told him.
" Well now you have so don't forget it. You havebeen handed a harder lot that most but in the end you can do no more or less than anyone else. Play with the hand that is dealt to you and use it to forge your own destiny" Lord Shayden said.
With that Lord Shayden rose to his feet and Harry followed suit.
" Well, it is late and I've probably distressed your familiar enough for one day." Shayden said.
" Kayla knows what has been happening." Harry asked with a wince, thinking of just how annoyed with him his familiar was going to be.
" Oh I wouldn't worry about her reaction. Lets just say I would be very surprised if you were the only one pinned to the ground this day." Shayden said with a laugh.
" Nemesis" Harry guessed.
" Indeed." Shayden replied.
" Lord Shayden?"
" Yes shadow cub." Shayden replied.
" Nemesis called me that when I first met her," Harry told him distractedly before continuing. " Why are you so different, I mean I like this side of you, it is better. Why don't you show it?"
Lord Shayden sighed and said, " One thing that the books got right is that shadow druids usually do not trust easily and I am a prime example of that. It is easier to keep people away when you project a cold and emotionless exterior.
" Oh," Harry said, sensing the subject was closed.
The pair then walked out of the glade, heading for Talasien's house. The conversation was light and Harry felt himself begin to re-evaluate the shadow lord. There really was more to him then Harry had first thought
They were met in the forest by their familiars and Lord Shayden's prediction proved to be true. Harry and Kayla sheepishly shared their experiences while the shadow lord and his familiar smirked.
They finally reached Talasien's house where they were met by Talasien himself who had a worried look on his face.
" There you are, I was beginning to worry. I see you ran into some friends." Talasien said eyeing the shadow lord and his familiar.
" Yeah, something like that." Harry mumbled, still embarrassed by the events that had taken place.
" Well now that you are once more in safe hands I believe I shall take my leave. Talasien, I believe that you will find Harry to be quite capable of accessing his shadow magic from now on. I shall keep an ear out however and if problems continue, be sure to send word." Lord Shayden said while firing an almost predatory look at Harry, who gulped.
"Yes of course, thank you my lord for taking time out of your busy schedule."
Shayden nodded and began to walk off, Nemesis at his heels.
" Lord Shayden wait." Harry called suddenly.
He turned to face Harry and said, " What is it shadow cub."
" Why did you do it? I am grateful but I don't understand, why did you help me." Harry questioned.
" I told you before young one. Druids take care of their own, and as a shadow druid you are one of my own." Shayden said.
The shadow lord sighed heavily and then continued, speaking to Harry but focusing his gaze on Talasien.
" I have also seen before what can happen to a child in distress that is left alone, helpless to fight their inner demons. It is not a pretty sight and after I saw it I swore that I would never let it happen to any child again if I could help it."
Talasien's eyes widened as he gazed at the shadow lord in almost fearful confusion. He gaze remained locked on Shayden though, as if he was trying to place a name to his face.
The shadow lord then turned his gaze to Harry and Kayla.
" Be well young ones and remember, I'll be watching."
Harry and Kayla nodded and watched as Lord Shayden and Nemesis faded from view.
Having recovered slightly Talasien said, " Sounds like you two had an interesting morning."
Harry and Kayla exchanged a quick glance.
" Talasien, you have no idea."