Chapter 11 – Does this ever end
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Time was passing as Daphne and my training at Gringotts continue in what seemed a never ending schedule.
"Harry its Hogsmeade village weekend for the students so could we go to the Three Broomsticks so I can have a chat with Tracy?"
"I don't see why not, our glamour charms have fooled everybody so far. Do you have any other plans for the weekend?"
"Don't worry Harry you will be one of the first to know."
As we stepped out of the 'Floe' into the three broomsticks Daphne dropped her glamour charms as she had spotted Tracy. I also I saw somebody I needed to talk with…
"Daphne I see someone I want to talk with so how about I join you in a bit, I'll be just outside."
I went straight over to one of the booths...
"Oh, Hi Harry, you trying for new look?"
"How did you recognize me, is my glamour charms failing?"
"Not at all Harry the Bottlewigs told me that you were approaching."
"Luna can have a word with you outside?"
"Of course Harry you can have a couple of words, you are here to give me an interview aren't you?"
I gave Luna a quick interview for the Quibbler where I stressed that I would not be part of a society that demands that I save them. To save them was I to be locked away and only released at their whim to hunt and destroy. Would I be held in a cell? No! I refuse! I further added that with somebody like Fudge in office, who would do anything for the cheapest of bribes, I wouldn't even consider helping the magical community no less be controlled by them.
"So what are you going to do Harry?" Luna inquired as she scribbled on a notepad.
"I will be packing up my bags and will be leaving England. I've honestly had enough."
I didn't realize just how quickly that my leaving would occur. Aurors were arriving and upon seeing us started throwing stunners at everyone. I transformed and flashed to my apartment. Daphne arrived moments later via Hedwig in a ball of fire.
"Harry what the hell is going on? One second I'm sitting at the Three Broomsticks visiting with Tracy and the next I see Aurors charge in throwing stunners in my direction. Dobby popped in and pop me to Hedwig and here I am. So I ask again what the hell is going on?"
"Apparently Fudge was not metaphorically speaking when he says he's going to protect Harry Potter. I think he was going to lock you up in a dungeon under his personal control until I agreed to turn myself into his yes boy."
"I think we best don our glamour charms and have a chat with Ragnot."
/Scene Break/
"I'm afraid you two are in a world of hurt if you step out of Gringotts. Fudge has notified the ICW that you are wanted criminals. So if you are picked up anywhere in the world that country is bound to turn you back over to England and Fudge."
"Well the first thing were going to do is head off to my private island until this stink quiets down. You know how to contact us should there be any problems more than we already have."
/Scene Break/
We enjoyed the island for a couple of months before we started getting island fever. Daphne and I finally came to the conclusion that we were in love each other and not just playing a game under a sham marital contract. We had not heard the news out of England as our wireless only was picking up the United States and Canada. Besides it was only on for the music and not the depressing world news.
Daphne and I were sitting on the beach in each others arms enjoying the setting sun looking across the sea. It looked as if the sun was sinking into the sea as multi-colors stretched across the sky and water. The setting sun, the sea lapping on the shoreline and my love in my arms was making for a perfect evening. That's when the cranky Hedwig dug her talons into our shoulders and we were flashed away.
Her talons in my shoulder had hurt and she had left me and Daphne on that same lower limb of the tree with the same good view of the deserted town and library. But this time getting to the ground without breaking something was not favorable. First off I was not that 11-year-old kid any longer and with Daphne's added weight…crack… was the sound of the branch breaking followed by several other tree limbs, as we crashed to the ground.
"I'm going to have to sit down and have a beak to beak conversation with Hedwig before I pluck that Pigeon bald."
"Harry, do you think a color spell could work? A flamingo pink should make her a happy buzzard."
We limped out of what I assume was the same forest I was in before. As we got across that meticulously mowed pastureland and entered the town a couple of phoenixes flamed in and started circling. The circle around us became smaller in what I thought was attempt to herd us into a certain building. The phoenixes dispersed as we started entering the building. The interior was one gigantic hall into which phoenixes started entering through open spaces in the walls. They started perching on wooden rails, each long rail was higher than the last, the rails reached from the floor almost to the ceiling. I conjured a squishy chair for Daphne and a perch for myself, I then transformed into my phoenix form, apparently there was going to be a meeting.
I settled on the perch knowing that I would be able to communicate better in my phoenix form. As usual nothing for me is ever that simple. My poor brain was trying to glean what was the reason for this meeting. A silver phoenix joined me on my perch which startled me and caused me to crane my neck to look at the squishy chair for Daphne to see if she was safe or also had company. At the same time the voices from other phoenix in the room reaching my brain with song words like, "excellent… fantastic… outstanding… extraordinary."
The squishy chair did not contain Daphne but on the back of the chair rested Hedwig the pink phoenix. Turning to the silver phoenix on my perch full of questions but before I could say anything…
"Surprise Harry, the animagus training worked just fine." This flowed into my brain.
The laughter coming from the other phoenixes caused me to turn my head in their direction only to find about a dozen phoenixes perched on those railings. "Welcome to the land of the phoenix." chirped one of the phoenixes.
Their spokesmen continued…
"We know you are confused, we will attempt to clarify. But first we must state that we are happy that you have found your bond mate. Hedwig has been told not to explain why you have been chosen, while Fawke has been told not to speak with you but today that changes. Today you begin to receive some of the knowledge. You're use of this knowledge will determine if our support continues. What you do learn from our talk today and knowledge of our kind and our affiliations in the future of course cannot be disseminated outside our circle."
It wasn't long before I got my brain sorted. Its one thing for me to use my vocal cords to chirp, I'm use to that, but receiving and sending thoughts from my brain was a tad disorienting. I was actually doing some 'fast learning' as a flood of information assaulted my poor brain. It was the differences like when I walked out of the muggle world and into the magical world, the phoenix world was no different, the difference and the knowledge was almost overwhelming.. The phoenixes had this land of the forever sun and constant temperature. There was the multi-fruit orchard that seemed to stretch forever. There was mating rituals and the rules over coming to their land and we learned of the existence of their bosses.
Daphne was having trouble assimilating all this information and she reverted back to her human form. I could feel her mentally shaking her head in acceptance but yet in disbelief, it was too much too fast. So they zeroed in on me. It was not like the majority of the information had any immediate use. Think of absorbing in minutes what you learned in your entire years of schooling. I was not turned into superman but what they did give me had me mentally shaking my head. At least all this exclude the muggle world and its problems.
In a summary the phoenix collected knowledge as some of a hobby, no it was more of an assignment. They provided this knowledge to the person who was to lead the humans' magical world. This was determined by their bosses upstairs who remain undefined. Their role was not to rule or conquer it but lead the magical community so that the people could produce a bigger and better magical world through the hatchling. In words or song, "The leader of the light".
"That hatchling was Dumbledore's, until he ran off the rails. Fawkes provided him access to our knowledge and directions for many years to lead him along the right path but now Dumbledore's access has been terminated. Fawkes now only observes."
"But why me? What happened with Dumbledore? How am I to lead?"
"Unfortunately hatchling, that information is restricted even from us. You can say the gods, the Fates, Death, oh they all exist but so does the nebulous entity of magic, and needless to say they have selected you. Fawkes may fill you in later on his perspective on how Dumbledore started down the wrong path. One could argue or seek an answer but it's like the argument 'which came first the egg or the hatchling' you will not find an answer only a path to follow."
A different phoenix started speaking, "You can manipulate for the greater good if it is not to the detriment of others. You may kill in righteousness, there is no exact definition. That is the light.
Another phoenix chimed in, "Enjoyment of death, pain and agony, which is the dark is forbidden within the light."
It's not like Daphne and I didn't have other questions to ask but we soon became exhausted from the whole encounter. We asked for a pause and went to the orchard to pick some fruit as we knew we had to eat something. Mentally I was asking myself if time was standing still like last time, plus a dozen more questions I wanted to ask...
"Harry why don't we just sit here under a tree and take a quick rest, it's a long walk back to the town."
"No argument here, besides I'm not sure the phoenix would have a use for a real bed."
We sat under a nice large fruit tree, we chatted as we munched on some of the sweet fruit. Somewhere in our chatting we must've fallen asleep.
I woke from the gentle nudging from Daphne and found myself sitting on a couch. It was obvious we were back on the island. "Daphne do you think this was all just a dream?" I knew better but then there was always hope.
Daphne's eye contact fell downward, which I followed, to see some fruit still sitting in our hands. "I guess not."
/Scene Break/
Hedwig was nowhere to be found and was not answering our calls. So much for the cranky old bird providing us any information or answering questions. The phoenix said they were there to advise us but Hedwig was no fountain of information. Although I should've asked earlier, I still would like to know, what the difference between a phoenix flaming and flashing. Hedwig and Fawkes always left in the ball of fire how come I just had a small flash? We haven't seen any other silver phoenixes that raise another question. All this was raising more questions than answers. I just hoped that their advice would not lead me into the fatal crosshairs of the Dark Lord's wand.
/Scene Break/
We both agreed that we had enough of the good things and we 'flashed' back via Greenland to our flat in Knockturn alley. The next morning under glamour charms we reported to Ragnot for information and scheduling of further training. We found that nobody missed us while we were gone...well if you didn't count the Ministry, Dumbledore and the general public.
"I see you two are glutton for punishment by returning here to England. I do have some good and bad news for you. Fudge was fired just two days after the Quibbler released your interview. Seems there was a delay in releasing your interview, it was because of their important article on something called Crumple-horned Snorkack. The bad news is the ruling that you be put under the Ministerial control has not been lifted and I fear the new Minister would be happy to get his hands on both you. Further, Riddle has been quite as a mouse, the Goblin Nation is awaiting his spectacular reemergence. "
"Harry and I are very good at glamour charms so unless something really weird happens I don't think they'll find us. By the way who was appointed as the new Minister of Magic? "
"An idiot called Skidmore who was just as if not dumber than Fudge and twice as corrupt. If Voldemort hadn't been seen at the end of the tournament no one would believe he was back."
"Speaking of disappearing, where's Wendy what has she been up to while we were gone?"
"Safe and sound I assure you. Wendy stayed with her boyfriend most of the time. Since you two have been out of country Libby has been following her around full-time."
"We still want to keep up the training because if that prophecy is for real that means that Voldemort will hunt me down for a final battle."
"That will be us Harry! I will not leave my bonded alone in this battle."
"I'm afraid that the wizard prophecy is probably real. Harry I'm afraid you're going to need to hear this but there is a Goblin prophecy that states in part that you will fight the 'False Lord' and overcome the Dark Lord as the 'Chosen One'. The prophecy further states that you will lead the Goblin Nation into a brighter and more prosperous future."
"And of course there is no way that your prophecy could mean someone else."
"Sorry Harry but our prophecy refers to the dark piece we removed when you first arrived here at Gringotts."
"I know we have to worry about surviving but what are we going to do when this is all over? Without the required testing we will never be able to establish careers." Daphne definitely wasn't happy.
"I think the two could pass your NEWT exams. If you want to spend the galleons we can import testing officials and have the results recorded at the Ministry."
With a quick look to Daphne she sent a nod. "Ragnot we will spend the galleons, set up testing as soon as you can. It will be worth the money just watching the attention and renewed activities to capture us once the paperwork hits the Ministry."
/Scene Break/
Daphne and I did indeed take our NEWT exams. The Ministry did indeed go into overdrive in their hunt for Harry Potter along with Daphne Potter when the Ministry received the NEWT results. There were still no major Death Eater attacks to focus the Ministry's attention, in any direction.
We had just left our Wednesday training session and were walking down the steps of the bank when a half dozen Death Eaters stormed out of the alley next to Gambol & Japes. They of course threw curses at the people on the street and at the stores in the area. As always this was to cause as much damage and mayhem as possible. What was surprising was the appearance of about twenty Aurors causing the Death Eaters to portkey away.
"Harry that was some Auror response time! It looks like the Ministry is finally on top of things."
"It's odd that Voldemort only sent a half-dozen fighters, from what I've heard he usually sends a lot more."
"Well we best head back to our apartment because Dumbledore and his little club has just arrived."
/Scene Break/
Saturday had arrived and we like many other magical's we were shopping in Diagon alley…
"Harry it's too crowded let's head over to Knockturn alley I need to pick something up at Arke Alterations."
"That's fine with me and then we can do a little shopping on the upper level."
Daphne just finished picking up her new dress robe and we were slowly strolling further down Knockturn alley. No sooner had we gotten in front of the Coffin House heading in the direction of Borgins & Burkes when the dark minions of snake face started pouring down the stairs.
The stairs from the upper level were on the far side of Borgins & Burkes from where we were standing. We were also lucky to the extent that there were stores on either side making this a narrow alleyway. Death Eaters were pouring down the steps in what appeared to be a endless stream.
To recall much of what followed with any accuracy would be impossible. The first mistake I made was thinking that something was up and our interfering could only help. Thinking back I would guesstimate that there was about forty Death Eaters but squeezed in the narrow alleyway it appeared to be a lot more. They got a lot of our curses that we threw while they were limited. Only a few of them in front of their gang could throw curses at us because of the narrow alleyway, unless they wanted to hit their own people in the back. Libby was elsewhere so we had to use our own shields so we weren't all that protected. Two medium powered curses were as bad as a powerful one and so we needed to continuously raise a new shield as the last one failed. The narrow alleyway slowed the bad guys dramatically as they had difficulty getting over their fallen comrades bodies while still throwing their curses and maintaining their shields. Our shields were receiving continuous pounding but we gave them hell in return.
We were somewhat surprised to find out that Daphne and I were an awesome fighting force and we seem to know what the other was doing as we acted as one. Not that we were winning in some grand and noble battle, the tide was unstoppable. Curses slip around our shields but other than our glamour charms falling we had only received minor cuts. We were being forced slowly backwards past the Shrunken Heads Shop then past the Giant Spider Shop and finally into Diagon alley. We were forced into Diagon alley and finally up the steps of the locked down bank. We found Diagon alley was in the middle of its own fight with the dark forces. Unfortunately the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix were not trying to divert any forces against Daphne and my attackers. The doors of Gringotts suddenly cracked open wide enough for us to slip inside before the doors were again slammed shut.
"So Harry have you been having fun today?" Ragnot grinned.
"Quite" I replied while Daphne growled. .
"While you two rehash this day's fun I could do with a sit down and some tea." Daphne growled.
After arriving in Ragnot's office and with a tea cup firmly grasp in Daphne's hands I asked, "So the beginning of the weeks attack was only to find out the response time and the number of Aurors that would respond."
"Apparently so. The Dark Lord again sent a dozen fighters to appear in front of Ollivanders while the next dozen delayed arriving in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies until after the initially arriving Aurors were engaged with the first group. This caught the first group of Aurors in the middle in an overwhelming force of Death Eaters. Dumbledore and his little group showed up about the time you got to Diagon alley. By you delaying your group of Death Eaters in Knockturn alley you to stopped them from gaining a total advantage and overwhelming of any of the good guys still standing. After you stepped into the bank another wave of Aurors finally arrived and Voldemort's forces ran. "
Upon arriving back in our apartment Daphne explained how she would rip off my limbs and beat me up over the head if I ever was that foolish again.