Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognize!
A/N: Well, It took me a long time, I know. To make up for that, I made the chapter a bit longer than usual.
Thanks to all the people who reviewed, I'm in holidays in a week and I'll take time to thank every reviewers from the last chapters as I don't have a lot of time now…
Thanks to The Red Dragon Order for betaing this story.
I hope you'll like this chapter.
Enjoy
Naia
..
Chapter Twelve
"Why do I have a bed feeling about it?"
o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤
I was right, we're doomed
, thought Harry sulkily. From Teneb's facial expression, he could say that identical thoughts were crossing his mind.They were standing on a cliff, face to face, waiting for their guardians' instructions.
~ Alright, take one of your knife, you need to do a blood exchange to be able to see each other in the Spirit plane. ~
"A BLOOD exchange!" shouted the two youths at the same time, looking at each other with wide eyes.
~ I'm not deaf you know… ~
B-But a blood exchange means that will have a latent connection between us, stuttered Harry.
~ Good, you listen at least to one of the things I taught you. Where is the problem? ~
I resent that! And the problem is that I don't think neither of us want to have connection built between us.
~ Why? You're friends, right? ~
We're partner, replied Harry, emphasizing the word partner.
~ That's the same thing… ~
Not exactly.
~ Well, though luck because you aren't getting out of this one. So shut up and concentrate. ~
Sighing, Harry brought his attention back to Teneb.
He didn't seem really overjoyed by this too.
"Well, I suppose we don't have a choice in the matter"
"Not really…"
Harry pulled out one of his throwing knives and made a small cut in his palm before passing the sharp blade to the elf.
Once he had cut himself, they pressed their palms against each other. Their hand glowed faintly and they felt a little tingle in their arms.
"Done," said Teneb, healing the cut.
~ Good, now go to the plane. ~
Seconds later, Harry found himself in the Spirit plane.
"So what are we going o do now?"
Arxeren appeared near him.
~ Train, my dear boy, train… ~
"Where is Teneb? I thought you said I'll be able to see and interact with hi in this plane?"
~ He should come in no time. He had a little less practice. ~
At this, they saw an elf popped out of thin air.
"Teneb!"
He looked towards them and walked in their direction.
"It worked!"
"Yes, where is your guardian?"
~ Behind you young one. ~
Harry whirled on his heel. He came face to face to face with an other dragon, which looked like an Emnag.
"Harry, this is Kaelia."
Harry bowed to the dragon before turning to Teneb.
"The crazy overgrown lizard here is my guardian, Arxeren."
He could see the corners of Teneb's mouth twitch.
Arxeren didn't look really pleased at this introduction but the laughter of Kaelia stopped him from doing anything harsh.
~ Well, ~ he snapped at the young wizard, ~I believe we're here to train, aren't we? ~
"Touchy aren't we?" smirked Harry.
Arxeren threw him a dirty look. Harry was going to regret having tease his guardian in front of Kaelia…
o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤
Harry exited his trance, panting. What he had been doing had affected his body as well. He was sore, bruised and to put it simply, completely exhausted.
They had started slowly, dueling and using easy wandless spells and in Harry's case, with a wand too. The level of the spell got higher and higher and soon they were casting complex and powerful hexes. Once the duel was over, with Harry as winner, their guardian had them practicing a few new spells and again they summoned opponents. Once they were done with that, they had moved to Mind magic. In this field they each had their forte. More generally, Harry seemed to have a knack for fighting skills whereas Teneb was more adept at other fields like Healing, Pisting, Telekinesis… He was a good fighter, but not a natural.
The two youths completed each other, they were starting to form a great team, but the past year still hung between them, preventing them from becoming real friends.
Mind Magic was followed by Magic, then a duel against each other, and to finish, a fight: students against guardians who had taken a human form for once.
Harry and Teneb were crushed. Totally utterly crushed. They had always thought themselves as good fighters, quite above the average level of the Daryns. But they realized that they had still a long to reach the level of their guardians.
Shaking his head, Harry dusted himself and stood up.
"We should go Teneb, or they'll notice our absence…"
The elf sighed.
"A few more minutes, please…"
"Teneb," said Harry, warningly.
"Alright! I'm coming."
He straightened himself and followed Harry to their horses, before galloping back to the Headquarters. Harry dismounted behind Shadow's paddock so that nobody could see him riding the stallion. As they were already a bit late, they shifted to their Animagus' forms.
Over the past month, since the presentation's ceremony, Harry had worked on his forms and Teneb had asked him to teach it to him. The Potion should have taken a year to brew normally, but thanks to his friendship with Terio, Harry had managed to get hold of some. Once they had both been able to transform every parts of their body, they drank it and had been practicing their transformations since them. Teneb had three forms: an Emnag, a cougar and an eagle. Both had managed the feline forms and were working on the birds ones now. A snow leopard and a cougar were now running side to side towards the Headquarters. Both of them were rather big, a bit more than usual. Harry had the end of his tail, his ears and his paws white, blazing green eyes with golden streaks, and a silver lightning bolt hidden on his right shoulder. Teneb had a white mark around his muzzle making it look like a mask. His tail end was inky black, as were the tuffs of hairs on top of their ears, his right-front paw was marked with a small black crescent. His light blue, almost gray eyes were hypnotizing.
The day passed uneventfully. The teachers were growing harsher on the Daryns, as the bonding ceremony was approaching. They went on with their routine: get up, training : Arxeren and Kaelia were getting more and more exigent with them and they always ended quite sore and tired after these morning sessions; breakfast, morning classes, lunch, classes, free time which Teneb spent with Inir, Opheria and Kobalt an Harry practicing his Magic with a wand or in the planes, either with Arxeren in the Spirit's one, or with his parents in the Soul's one. Harry had gone a few more times in the second plane and talking with his parents or some other people who wished to talk to him had eased his mind a bit. With them he could talk about his fears, his nightmares, his doubts, they would listen and guide him on his way. Then it was training time again. Each night they crawled up to bed, exhausted but conscious of their progresses. However, this was taking it's roll on Harry. Because of his nightmares, he couldn't have a quite night of sleep, having to witness Voldemort's doing over the wizarding world. The bags under his eyes were getting bigger and bigger and despite his efforts to hide it, his weariness was starting to show: shorter temper, uncontrollable reflexes… He had put a hiding charm on his face, but he knew he wouldn't be able to go on like this.
This night, Harry laid on his bed, dreading the moment he would fall asleep. But, in the end Morpheus was the strongest and Harry's eyelids fell, sending him in his haunting dream-world.
O:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:O
Voldemort was standing in front of a building. You could see that fights had been occurring there not a long time ago. There were holes in the walls, burns, rumbles, cracks…
Death Eaters were assembled before him.
"Death Eaters!"
A roar answered him.
"We're standing strong, the world fears us again, the Dark Mark is rising everywhere. Durmstrang has fallen, and today Beauxbâtons will meet its doom too. Today we'll strike. Show no mercy!"
An other roar. The Death Eaters were getting excited now.
"Tomorrow morning, there will be only one obstacle left on our path," the Dark Lord paused, "HOGWART!"
A silenced fell on the people.
"But not for long! We're powerful, more than we've ever been and this time the old mudblood-lover won't be able to stop us! Hogwart shall fall and then, we'll reign!"
Roars.
"The world will finally be purged of its filth and the pureblood will stand above as they should have a long time ago. For we, the ones of pure blood are the one fit for the grand task of commanding. The World will be our!"
Hadn't the situation be serious, it would have been ridiculous: a half blood was pushing wizard to slay the ones of muggle blood…
Cries answered Voldemort's speech. The Death Eaters were completely excited now.
"To Beauxbâtons!" yelled Voldemort.
Immediately, the cloaked men apparated to the French School.
The French school was already quite damages. It had been under siege for about a month now and it was showing.
Most of the army was stationing around the French building, except for those close to Voldemort who had just appeared. The leaders of the different parts of the Dark army walked up to Voldemort and bowed to him. The Dark Lord looked at them, pleased with what he saw. Before him was standing a werewolves, a vampire, two Death Eaters, a Dementor, a Demon, a Dark Elemental, a Troll, and a Beast tamer which was responsible for the team of timers which organized the Dark Beast which had joined them.
"Report?"
One of the Death Eaters stepped forwards, a bit shakily which pleased Voldemort: he relished in the fear he inspired his men.
"The defenses are weakening. We had broken through three quarters of them. I Think the siege is taking their toll on them as they don't retaliate to our attacks with as much strength as they did at the beginning."
"Good, be ready to attack in an hour. We're going to finish this once for all. Yvan, you and Zanya will coordinate it."
"Thank you my Lord," he bowed deeply and stepped back to the other Death Eater, his wife, apparently.
Voldemort gave his order to the other leaders before dismissing them.
"Lestrange!" he called out suddenly.
The man, Yvan turned and faced his Lord.
" Yes Master?"
"Bring me Wormtail."
The Lestranges left and minutes later, a short balding man ran to Voldemort. Panting he bowed to him and waited for the Dark Wizard to speak.
"Did you find the book Wormtail?"
"Y-Yes my Lord," he rummaged through his robe before handing Voldemort a small brown leather book. Immediately the eyes of the Dark Lord lit up and tore the book from Wormtail's hands.
"Djaisra's diary," he whispered, passing his finger on the cover as if not daring to open it.
He pocketed the book in his robes before turning his attention back to the man before him.
"Good Wormtail. Your job there is done. I want you to do the same at Hogwart: find any information concerning the school defenses, state, the people who live there, their weakness, if some are likely to turn to us. I want a detail report at the end of the week. We'll launch our first attack then."
During the next hour, Voldemort walked through his troops, exciting them.
Then the Dark army was ready. Voldemort amplified his voice.
"Today we'll win!"
The Dark fighters cheered.
"Today, this place fall!"
Cheers
"Today the Darkness will rule!"
"Voldemort! Voldemort!…" the Army was chanting his name. Voldemort smirked. He had done a good work with them. Now all he had to do was launch his army of puppets against the School.
He raised his wand and suddenly the Dark Mark appeared in the sky.
Immediately a deafening roar erupted from the rank of the Dark soldier as they rushed to the French school.
The battle started.
The Dark army was swarming the place. The French soldiers stood no chance and many of them were slaughtered. Slowly the last defenses started to crack under the hundreds of spells cast. Voldemort encountered several bad surprises: a vampire triggered a rain of silver arrows which cost the Dark Lord several werewolves and vampires. Traps had been set up. But they could only slowed down Voldemort as for each Dark soldier out, two came to take his place.
Finally the last ward fell, allowing full access to the school. Bellowing at the top of their lung, they ran into the building.
Voldemort's smirk widened as he saw this. He was standing, with his closer Death Eater on a nearby hill about a kilometer away of the Battle. He decided to let his men have a little fun with the inhabitants of the school. He wouldn't stop them.
As quite a lot of people was inside the school started to glow.
BAM!!
A huge explosion took place. Voldemort fell on the floor as the shock wave hit him. He scrambled back to his feet and cursed. Instead of the magnificent building which had once been the magical school of France, there was a huge crater. All the people within two hundred meters were dead, the others were either injured or knocked out.
He cursed loudly and turned to his follower by his sides.
"Follow me, we're going to teach them not to mess with me. Haphazard Street."
The twenty DeathEaters nodded silently and apparated away.
They appeared in a calm street, the lights cast shadows on the tart, nobody was out. A small cat could be seen at a corner, eyeing the strangers with caution.
"Destroy" hissed Voldemort. "Kill them all, do whatever you want with them, but let's this be a lesson to those fools. Nobody best Voldemort." His voice was a deadly whisper, barely audible.
What followed would forever stay marked in Harry's mind. Never, in all the vision he had experienced had he seen such cruelty.
They crept in the house, storming in the bedroom, sometimes killing the people on the spot, other times using other ways. They put a five year-old girl under Imperius and forced her to kill her parents by slicing their throat, slowly, before making her jump of the window.
They raped some women in front of their family, forced parents to kill their children. Let some bleed to death, cast spell that made them burn from inside, putting them on fire, used Crucio several times… Every way possible to kill or give pain was used.
As Harry was watching helplessly at a girl being tortured, he was jerked awake.
He sprang on his bed, to meet a pair of worried eyes.
"Teneb? What are you doing?"
The young elf relaxed a bit and sit besides Harry. He opened started to tell him what had happened.
Flashback
He had fallen asleep quickly and had been dreaming as usual, then his dream had been replaced by a battle beside a huge building. People dressed in black were attacking and then it exploded.
A strange one with blazing red eyes stood up and popped out to a street. There, with other men he started to torture the inhabitants.
Teneb shuddered as he came to this part of his story. He had never seen that much cruelty. Elves' children were sheltered all their life, they never had to face the hardships of life.
He had been woken up panting by a loud sound. He could hear a strong wind outside as the windows cracked. He looked around, sweating, trying to clear his mind from what he had just seen.
His attention was diverted by the sound of trashing on his right. He glanced at the sleeping form of Harry. The human was restless and sweating. He could see his lips moving in silent prayers or screams.
Without thinking twice about it, he got up and walked to Harry's bed, shaking him.
End of the Flashback.
"You finally woke and that's all."
Harry didn't look in Teneb's eyes.
"What was this building?"
"The one with the red eyes?"
"Yes."
"Don't you remember what you saw in my mind?"
"Not really. I remember some important facts but there other things that I can't remember."
~ Sure, we can't have him know all your secrets… ~ said Arxeren
Harry was a bit relieved at that.
What does he knew? And why was he able to see my dream.
~ Well the basics; your life story at his simplest version: Halloween's night, a bit of your life with the Dursleys, the Sorcerer's stone, the Diary, Sirius, the Tri-wizard Contest, Voldemort's resurrection. ~
Well enough as far as I'm concerned
~ If you say so… ~
"It was Beauxbâtons, the French school for wizards and witches."
"They attacked a school!"
"Welcome to my life," answered shortly Harry.
There was a silence as both of them were deep in their thoughts.
"Why were you seeing that? When did it happened?"
Harry sighed.
"This night."
"But… How?"
"Do you see this scar?" he pointed to the scar which had made him so famous in his world. "You know how I got it, right?"
Teneb nodded.
"Well you know you can't repeat this to anyone, don't you?"
An other nod.
"Good, to sum up, this scar links me to Voldemort: I can see what he's doing at times."
"Okaayy. Does it happen often?"
Curiosity had got the better of Teneb. Elves were curious as long as they deemed the subject worthy of their interest.
"Every times he does something when I sleep, which means every night lately."
Once again Teneb didn't know what to say. What could he say? He knew a lot of things about the human, more than Harry knew about himself.
He nibbled his low lip, a clear sign of his uneasiness.
"Why did I see it too?"
"I don't know, it has never happened before."
~ I know why! ~ said Arxeren in a singsong voice.
Then why don't you tell us if you're so smart?
~ Come to the plane, it'll be easier to explain there. ~
It'd better be.
~ Come there immediately. ~
Alright, you're so easy to tick off…
Harry didn't wait for his guardian to reply as he reported his attention to Teneb, ignoring the angry shouts of the spirit.
"You know?"
"Yes."
"Let's go then."
They nodded and found themselves quickly in the Spirit plane.
Their guardians were already there.
~ OK, we don't have a lot of time, so listen carefully ~ stated Kaelia. ~ You remember the Blood Exchange we made you perform? ~ Seeing their nods, she continued. ~ Well, one of the possible effect of this is the apparition of a light mental link between the two who performed the exchange. ~
She was cut by two stunned cries.
"You mean we're linked!"
~ Our hearing is still good… ~ interrupted Arxeren. ~ For now you're only able to perceive the strong emotions of the other or the things he sees under a very stressful situation. It's, for now, a kind of empathic link. ~
~ If you want, ~ continued the female guardian, ~ we can help you improve it to the stage of a full mind speech link. ~
Harry and Teneb glanced at each other.
"No offense Teneb, but I'm not ready to do that, not yet…"
"None taken."
~ If you ever change your mind, warn us. ~
~ You should go back to sleep… Tomorrow you have your training as usual. ~ added Arxeren.
Groaning, Harry, followed by Teneb went back to his plane. He looked at his companion who seemed quite troubled. He yawned loudly.
"I'm going back to bed, Voldemort must be done now" 'Or at least I hope…' he added in silent thoughts.
"Wait."
Teneb barely whispered this word but Harry stopped dead in his track.
"What?"
Teneb fidgeted with his fingers, looking quite unsure.
"I-I think you deserve to know more about me and my people."
"And how?"
"My memories."
Harry was stunned. Was the elf saying what he thought he heard?
"Are you sure of your…"
Teneb nodded slowly.
Harry pondered on this.
On one hand he was a bit reluctant: looking in Teneb's mind would mean that he had to let him in his, something he didn't really looked forwards to. He stared at the elf, trying to see his motives for this. Could he trust him, trust him completely? Teneb had saved his life, given the choice he had stood by him. If he didn't deserve his trust yet, he deserved his respect at least and the truth. Having made up his mind, he took Teneb outstretched hand.
" I accept your proposition and the return will allow you to vision my memories too, up to a certain level, of course. There are things better being ignored."
" Let's agree on a mutual respect of our shielded privacy."
"Agreed. Ready?"
They sat, leg crossed on Harry's bed, face to face and entered a deep trance.
O:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:O
Teneb entered Harry's mind like he had done months ago. But this time he didn't encounter the walls that had stopped him before. He viewed Harry's memories, He had already seen a good part of them but hadn't been able to remember them. Once he was done, he didn't regret his decision, the human was worthy of his respect and maybe of his friendship.
Harry's easily went in Teneb's mind. He could have any time before, but he had morals and invading somebody's else privacy was out the question. But he had the permission of Teneb now. He decided to let the elf's mind show him and not to pry.
First he saw the childhood of Teneb. His mother, Ylesa, a courtier at Horevald, his father, Doryan, the king's counselor and Deila, his little sister formed a close family. The children, in the elves' society spent their ten first years with their mother. Then the father became responsible for the education of his sons and his heir. In general, elves didn't have a lot of children. Three children was really rare. The sons was trained in fighting, thinking, philosophy... The daughters were sent to an institution. This was solely dedicated to the education of young elves. They spent ten years under the tutelage of the Doijas, the priestess whose lives were dedicated to Lunai, the Moon Goddess, while the Deisers were serving Solyen the Sun God. But the sons didn't have to go to their temple. They could be educated by other people depending of what they wanted to be. Only those desiring to be clerks, searchers, priest or sage where sent to the Deisers. Teneb was sent to the court with is father at ten and his training started.
Harry saw as he studied under the authority of the masters in the castle, as he first held a bow, at the age of thirteen, as he nursed the bruises got during physical training… He watched as he was presented to Celen, the proud young prince, a bit too full of himself… He witnessed the fight that issued from this meeting and its dead-end. It marked the beginning of the complicity between the prince and Teneb.
They grew up together. Celen trusted Teneb as the young elf seemed to always been truthful with him and it was obvious to everyone that Teneb would be Celen's counselor. As they turned fifteen, they passed the Ritual. The elves had a lifespan ten times superior of the one of a human. They grew up until twenty then stabilized, and aged very slowly once they got over 500 year-old: a 700 year-old elf would look like a 35 year-old human. Each time an elf reach the age of fifteen, they would have to pass the Ritual, it was a kind of passage to adulthood and responsibilities. At dusk they were sent alone into the Norcasia, the forest encircling the elves' kingdom. They were led to a glade and left there for the night. They had to come back to the castle. Failure generally meant death as the forest was dangerous.
Harry watched his trials in the forest: his encounter with a werewolf, a chimera. His fight against a bred of Acromantula, his wonder before a herd of unicorns.
Finally he experienced Teneb's joy at receiving the mark of the Dragonmasters. Celen was happy for his friend, but sad at knowing he wouldn't be able to see him for at least one year.
Then came the memories of his time at the headquarters.
The memories started to fade and Harry came back to reality. Teneb had had a quiet and enjoyable childhood and had his future assured. He had jeopardized all of this for his morals. He didn't know if he would have been able to do this…
The two youth starred at each other. Their eyes spoke of their mutual respect.
"We should got to sleep…" said Harry.
Troubled, Teneb nodded and went back to his bed, but neither of them could sleep.
The next morning, once they were back to the real plane, after their training with their guardian, Harry faced Teneb. He had hesitated a lot and was still unsure about it, but he knew it was right.
Cautiously, Harry unsheathed one of his daggers, not his personal one but an other, and looked at it, pondering over something. He then looked up at Teneb. Slowly he stretched his arm, offering the dagger to him, the blade pointed toward his own chest, the handle towards the elf.
Teneb's eyes widened and he looked totally stunned by this.
The exchange of weapon in this fashion was called the Brotherhood ritual. When two fighters exchanged their weapons the handle first, they were asking for the other to became their fighting brother, the one they would fight back to back with, with who they trust their life. It was nearly as strong as a blood link and once you had accepted it, you couldn't back down.
Shaking, he grasped the handle and accepted the dagger. Then he took one of his own and repeated the gesture. Harry accepted it with relief and smiled.
Nothing was said, they didn't need it.
~ So, now that this is done, what about our offer? ~
Harry looked at Teneb, who apparently had received the same message from Kaelia and they laughed.
Teneb was surprised by the change in Harry's behavior and face. He hadn't seen the human this open, this carefree before. His face wasn't guarded and unreadable anymore.
Yes, you dolt! When do you want to start?
~ For that I could decide not to teach you… ~
But you know you love me!
Arxeren sent him the equivalent of a roll of eyes.
~ Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing it! ~
O:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:O
The next weeks passed in a blur: Harry intensified their training as the ceremony came closer. Things went easier after the ritual. They were still sometimes a bit awkward around each other but was starting to form a great team, odd but efficient, one that could become legendary.
Before they knew it, they woke up one morning, realizing that today was the first day of the bonding ceremony. They got up early and for once didn't train as hard as they usually did. It was just a little warm up for the trials of the upcoming day. They dressed up: The robes for this were blood red, with a golden trim. They were sleeveless and large, allowing ample movements. Under they wore black trousers and a thin black shirt. Harry and Teneb both wore a thin black leather belt which could be easily pulled off and used as an arm. At their side, hang their swords, in their sheaths. Two throwing knives were fixed on each forearm, what looked like little decorative spikes on their belts were in fact darts, most of them a bit poisonous, but not lethal. They wore boots. Harry had fixed a dagger on each of them, being careful that they didn't prevent him from moving freely. Teneb had favored two knives. The daggers were useful for close combat, something Teneb, despite a good level, didn't like.
Both of them had their bows and quivers stropped on their back. They had equipped their horses with great care after having checked the for any injuries. Both of them had simple trappings, not fancy ones. They knew that the others would use their best but preferred using some on which they could rely. They put protection on the legs of both of their stallions., brushed them, checked their hooves before putting anti-tripping, anti-sliding spells on them. They then led them near the Den.
Daryns weren't allowed to bring their horses, they had to come to their call. Both Teneb and Harry had carved small whistles they always had on them as well as their necklaces.
Once Shadow and Myst were settled and ordered to stay there until they were called, Harry and Teneb looked at each other.
"Well, Let's give them the shock of their life."
Seeing Harry's smirk, Teneb was happy to be his friends and returned the smirk, he couldn't wait to see the faces of the riders when they'll see Harry's power…
They walked towards the Den, unaware of the stares they got from the riders they passed. It had shocked a lot of people to see Teneb befriend the human and everyone beside Inir, Kobalt and Opheria had then avoided him. But as they saw him and the human walking with large strides to the Den, they couldn't help but felt a bit of awe: Both of them were tall, dark-haired, heavily armed, had the same determination on their face, and a similar figure, the main difference residing in Teneb's elvish features; they radiated power.
They arrived at the entrance of the Den and stopped. They shared a last look before entering it.
O:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:O
Demenor was in the stands ready for the opening of the ceremony. He surveyed the different Daryns. A fine group this year from what their teachers had said. He expected an interesting show this year. Most of them were standing in the middle of the Den, looking around a bit anxious. As he counted them he found two missing. Doryan's son wasn't here yet, as well as the human. It had shocked him to learn of their friendship, what could a human hold that could interest Teneb? He remembered vaguely the young human, a scrawny little boy with black hair and fearful green eyes. He had forced to take him as his Daryn, but he had been too busy to assume his role so he had asked the teachers to take care of that matter and deal with him. He had asked them to come to him only in last resort. He had never heard of the human after that… He was thankful for that as he had had enough worries without adding this one to it. The last one was the odd behavior of the linked dragons. They had distanced quite a lot from their riders: only talking to them when asked, shielding their minds to their partners, colder. Demenor had tried to ask why to Ulras, his own dragon, an Azurean, but the mighty creature had dismissed his questions.
He heard whispers and looked up. Two people ha just entered the Den. He suppressed a small gasp of surprise at their appearance. They stopped near the other Daryns, keeping their distances with them.
Demenor couldn't help but see a difference between them and the others: they were standing straighter, and had an aura of confidence around them that the others lacked. He looked at the human. He had quite changed. Ushering these thoughts away, Demenor stood up, bringing silent over the stands. Only the soft growls of the dragons present could be heard. The Sowaroc and the Emnag were here again, much to the happiness of Demenor.
"Daryns! The first part of your training had come to an end. Now show us the skills you have mastered and bring us honor!"
A cheer rose from the stand. The Ceremony had started.
O:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:O
Hogwarts:
Dumbledore, Mme Maxime, the staff of Hogwart, the member of the Order of the Phoenix, the leaders of the remaining Auror forces, the different European Ministers were seated in the meeting room of the Order. A giant screen was showing them the events taking place at Beauxbâtons. Mme Maxime was on the verge of tears as she watched her school being attacked countless times. Hagrid was squeezing her hand, offering her a support which she gladly accepted.
They had watched as Voldemort had raised the dead to launch his first attacks. But not being a full Necromancer yet, the Dark Lord couldn't maintain them for a long time. Now they were witnessing what looked like the final attack.
On cue, the last wards of the school fell, and the dark fighters rushed inside. Mme Maxime made a small cry and everyone supported grim faces.
"Olympe?"
"Yes Albus?"
"We don't have much of a choice left… Do you want to do it?"
"N-No, you do it. I can't…"
Sighing, Dumbledore went to the wall on his right and pressed a few stones. The wall disappeared and Dumbledore steeped in the hidden room, the others behind him. On a large table, stood a replica of the French school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Hogwart's Headmaster took of his wand and pointed it to the center of the building.
'Disemblia"
The buildings disappeared and the others could only see flows of blue light forming a small knot in the center.
'This knot is the point where several magic's flows meet. Beauxbâtons as every Magical school is built on one of them. It enables us to protect the school by drawing energy from this knot," explained Dumbledore. "For now, this knot is stable, but if destabilize, the Magic won't be able to circulate and will accumulate, leading to an implosion."
"Anc'asarn, i'oj Tala'anra, leem gerv parsam ol ter"
The power seemed to radiate from him and form a glow around the old wizard who was now showing some of the powers which were still frightening Voldemort. He pointed his wand to the flows leaving the knot and twisted them to connect them back to the knot which shook.
"Hato"
The knot stopped shuddering and started growing bigger and bigger as the flows faded slowly.
With grim determination, the old wizard put his hand on the knot and closed his eyes. A blue glow surrounded him as he closed his eyes. For the past minutes he tensed and frowned.
With fascination, the others watched as the knot became blinding white and suddenly exploded. They were blinded for a few seconds, but opened their eyes in time to see the end of the shockwave.
Dumbledore opened his eyes, breaking the contact with the knot, panting and looking exhausted.
"Done."
They went back to the meeting room and looked at the screen. Nothing remained of the school. Where had once stood the building was a huge crater.
"I think he has lost one third of his army at least," stated Moody. "The rest is unconscious."
"We could apparate and arrest them."
"No," said Dumbledore. "What I did destabilize the magic in a kilometer range. Any type of magic would go haywire."
There was a silence.
"He's likely to focus on Hogwarts now," said Mundungus Fletcher.
"Yes, I believe he will attack soon, so we have to prepare everything to protect all the people there."
They all nodded and spent the next two hours planning. An owl interrupted them.
Dumbledore opened it and read it aloud.
"Albus
Haphazard Street was destroyed and most of its inhabitants killed and tortured. I'll spare you the details. The attackers left at the arrival of a group of Phoenix. A few managed to escape injured and some were left, gravely wounded. We need help: healers, food, first-aid necessities.
Arabella Figg"
All exchanged horrified glances.
"Sirius, Moody, Mundungus, Selina, Poppy, go to Haphazard, I'll send you others as soon as I can. Minerva, Filius, Anna, Dan, go warn the students of each house. Sophie, Bruno, Gerard, you'll be in charge of the Beauxbâtons students."
The three French teachers nodded and left behind their English counterpart.
"Karl, you and Zora, are in charge of the Durmstrang ones."
They agreed and exited the room. Those who remained continued the planning after Dumbledore had called for help for those at Haphazard.
O:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:O
Ron and Hermione were in the Great Hall, with all the prefects from all the schools. They had called for this meeting to try to find means to take people's mind of the war and lighten the mood a bit. So far they had agreed on a Prank War, a Ball, the possibility of meeting in a room reserved to the student, some kind of talent show.
Ron and Hermione were acting as the representative of the students in a strange kind of way and nobody contested this. One of their worry was the defiance between the different schools and houses. They had managed to refrain the Gryffondors from playing tricks on the other houses or provoked the Slytherins. All the other prefects had done so, even the Slytherin ones (Blaise Zabini and Frederik Million). It had worked quite well. The tensions had lessened but not the defiance. The only ones to refuse to submit were Malfoy and his clique of wannabe-death-eaters. But seeing that the majority of Slytherin supported the decisions taken by the prefects. The opinion towards Slytherin had changed a bit. Most of those supporting the Dark Lord had been taken from the schools by their parents.
After the take-over of Durmstrang most of the surviving students had come to Hogwart which had been expanded for them. After hearing from the siege of Beauxbâtons, the teachers had decided to try and evacuate the French school. The solution had been found with the paintings.
Indeed they had witnessed the building of Hogwart and knew most of its secrets in which the existence of a link between the different European schools.
The castle was then searched for this link to no avail. Finally, Dumbledore decided to took off the wards of the school for a few hours to search the castle with magical means in its own magical structure. While he was looking for it, the teachers, helped by the students from fifth to seventh year had to fight off a small group of Death Eaters.
It took Dumbledore four hours to find it and set up the wards.
When the other schools had been built, the wizards of these times still knew how to create magical portals. The portal leading to Beauwbâtons was a wall in which a night sky with a flying gryphoon (the ancestor of the griffin) had been carved. To be opened, it need to be activated on both side with the pendant each Headmasters was given when he took his function in the school.
Mme Maxime was warned by Hagrid who refused to say how, saying that it was reserved to giants and giants only.
Finally the portal was opened. Slowly the school was evacuated from all its inhabitants and valuable things. Before leaving, Mme Maxime timed the portal on her side to close an hour after her departure. It worked well.
Sadly the French school had suffered quite a lot of losses. While the research and the evacuation, The Dark army had kept on launching attack upon attack against the school. Forty students were killed as well as three members of the staff.
The French students had settled quite easily in Hogwarts: the prefects had done everything in their power to facilitate their integration.
Hogwarts also hosted the Phoenix Order. Most of the families of the students had been hidden with Fidelius or by other means to guaranty their safety.
Classes were now completely orientated towards Defense, Dueling or dealt with fighting situations.
Hermione hadn't given up on her researches about the burglaries at the beginning of the second Rise of Voldemort. So far she hadn't found anything significant. The slip of Hagrid about the wizard who had stolen some of the same things hadn't helped a lot. But she didn't give up. She had set up a group of equally interested students and they had been researching since then. She had even gained access to the Restricted Section. Seeing the enthusiasm of the students, she, with the support of the prefects had ask Dumbledore if groups could be organized to help in war, arguing that the students were feeling useless, something which wasn't good for the morale.
The Headmaster had agreed and quickly groups had been set up depending on the interest and skills of the students. There was now a Potions' group which brewed potions, draught for the healers, but also poisons, and potions for attacks, or spying. An other worked with plants, setting up natural defenses, extracting ingredients for potions. Several were created for researches in different fields.
Moreover sessions had been created for those interested in gaining extra practice or knowledge. A new class had been opened: Physical Defense.
As the Head of Houses (Dan Jenkins, the Physical Defense teacher having taken the temporary lead of the Slytherin House) entered the hall, the prefects were leaving. The other students were in their common rooms as it was now forbidden to leave them after 10 a.m. and it was near midnight.
They escorted their prefect to their rooms. Ron, Hermione and the other Gryffindor prefects looked at McGonagall strangely. Their teacher looked quite saddened. They entered the tower and gathered everybody, despite the late hours.
"Gryffindor, it's my duty to inform you of the destruction of Beauxbâtons. We provoked the implosion of the school as a big part of You-Know-Who's forces were inside. He lost about one third of his army."
Cheer rang in the tower, quickly muffled at the grim face of their Transfiguration's teacher.
"Voldemort retaliated. He, with his inner circle went to Haphazard Street. Most of its inhabitants were tortured and killed."
Muffled cries erupted as some of the students had some relatives in Haphazard.
"I'm always ready if you want to talk," added the Professor before leaving, not knowing exactly what to do and being preoccupied by the situation.
No students slept well this night.
The next day, as soon as she could, Hermione ran to the Library and immersed herself in book, determined to find whatever she was looking for. She walked through the shelves of the Restricted section, looking at the title of the books, picking a few on her way. As she reached the end of the shelves she headed back to her usual table when a little brown book caught her eyes. She took it and placed it at the end of her pile.
Hours later she opened it, quite infuriated at her lack of results.
She dusted the cover which didn't have a title.
Opening it, she saw a faded writing.
"Diary of Wlad Gildren"
Shrugging she turned on the next pages, zooming over them. When an entry caught her eyes.
"Today, I met Olven. I can't believe what he showed me. The power he holds is unimaginable. He persuaded me. No Light wizard I know of hold the quarter of the power he demonstrated. This proves it, the true power reside in Dark Magic and I'll become the best Dark wizard ever. Everyone will know me, not as the good, gentle Wlad, but as Grindelwald. They will fear me. I swear it."
This was the diary of Grindelwald! Hermione was tempted to go immediately to Dumbledore, but curiosity got the better of her and she continued her lecture. As reached the final entry of the diary, her face was ashen.
She closed the book abruptly, gathered her thing and ran to Dumbledore's office.
The last entry rang to her ears.
"I've gathered nearly all the items, I have Djaira's diary, I'll open the Gates soon. Do you believe it? I told you about this light wizard, Dumbledore. He is growing quite powerful, but once the ritual will be completed he'll be powerless. I will achieve the greatest goal of all Dark wizards: Opening the Hell Gates!"
TBC
O:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:O
Well, here it is! Hope you liked it.
Thanks again for those who reviewed. You're the best!
Naia