Author's notes:
Standard disclaimer: It all belongs to JKR. Except where I might use some song lyrics which I will call out at the time and give proper credit. Thank you JKR for letting us play with your toys.
HARRY POTTER AND THE MUGGLE'S DAUGHTER
Ten
Part I
HPHPHP
Harry eyed the potion curiously. It was translucent blue and looked like weak blueberry Kool-Aid. They had been brewing it for the last week as they prepared to begin their Animagus training with Sirius. The potion was supposed to put them in a dreamlike trance where they would be able to journey to meet their Spirit Guide. "Well it looks better than polyjuice anyway," Hermione observed.
"Good thing, that," Harry said. "Cause that stuff was nasty."
"But it made you so much more bearable to look at," she taunted.
"Ha-Ha," Harry retorted. "You know I don't know why you're bothering with the potion at all. It's obvious your Spirit Guide's a Hyena."
"Better than a boar," she snapped back.
"Alright you two," Sirius interrupted.
"Which would still be an improvement on your appearance," she launched a last jab at him.
"Alright!" Sirius said. "I swear, you'd think you two were brother and sister or something."
"I can't imagine a little brother could possibly be as maddening as he is."
"You're just angry I beat you at practice yesterday."
"Did not."
"Did."
"Six, four," Harry said.
"I'm going to pour it out," Sirius threatened. Harry and Hermione stopped bickering and focused on him. Sirius was holding both flasks over the sink.
"Do you remember it?" Harry asked.
"Of course," Hermione said.
"So we can just make it again and do it without him, yeah?"
"Of course we'll have to brew a new batch of shrinking solution first," Hermione said.
"The one that works on body parts, right?" Harry asked.
"That's the one."
Sirius glowered at them. The shrinking solution on his boxers was a rather fresh memory. "Watch your backs, Kiddies," he said. "I was pranking professors before you were even a gleam in your parents' eyes. And you two are well past your free passes."
"Scared," Harry retorted.
"Shivers and everything," Hermione added. The two of them gave false shudders.
Sirius took his wand out and silenced them. "Sit." They stared at him for a second, then looked at each other and, as they were already sitting on tall stools at the brewing table, shook their heads sadly. Sirius rolled his eyes. "The couches." The two climbed down from their stools and took seats on the two couches in the lab where they pointedly gave him looks of utmost patience. "Any chance at all you two can be serious for ten minutes?" He groaned and face palmed as they promptly slid to the floor in silent laughter.
Some ten minutes later Sirius felt he might have regained some sense of control over the two. "Now, tell me again what the four Spirit Guides are?"
"Messenger, Journey, Life and Shadow," Hermione ticked them off on her fingers.
"And what is the purpose of each one?"
"The Messenger, is supposed to help us in a specific situation," Harry said. "It stays with us till we hear what it says and deal with it appropriately."
"The Journey, is similar to the Messenger," Hermione said, "but appears when there is a fork in the road or a choice to be made. It is supposed to stay with you till the journey for that situation is complete. Even if it takes years."
"The Life, is just that," Harry said. "It is a reflection of your spiritual makeup. It is supposed to remind you of your strengths and innermost abilities. And it stays with you for life. It's the Guide that represents your form. It's even possible you might have more than one. As it's impossible to have more than one Animagus, you have to pick between them if you have more than one Life Spirit."
Sirius interjected before Hermione could state the characteristics of the fourth Spirit Guide. "Given that I know of one registered Animagi and three unregistered, let's not say it's impossible to have two forms, just that it's never been recorded."
"That makes sense," Harry agreed.
"Good," Sirius said. "And the fourth guide?"
"The Shadow," Hermione said. "Its purpose is to test you. It will most likely scare you because it represents your fears. It appears when you are on the wrong path and stays till you make changes to correct yourself."
"Good," Sirius said. "And how many are you likely to see when you journey to visit them?"
"We could very likely see them all," Hermione said.
"And how do you know which is which?"
"Time and patience," Harry answered.
"How so?"
"Well," Hermione said, "As we visit and get to know our Spirits, and examine what they mean to us on this particular journey, some of them will disappear; leaving our Life Spirit by default."
"And if you have two of those?"
"Go with your gut," Harry said.
"Exactly."
"Did you have more than one Life Spirit?" Hermione asked.
Sirius shook his head. "No. But James did."
"He did?" Harry asked.
Sirius nodded. "Yep. A panther and a stag."
"A stag?"
"Yes. Can you guess why he chose the panther?"
Harry thought about it for a second. "Remus didn't have the Wolfsbane Potion back then, did he? Without the potion a stag is nothing but prey to a werewolf, isn't it?"
"Precisely," Sirius said. "He chose the panther because the wolf would view it as an equal or perhaps even an alpha for our little pack; which is exactly what James was." He stopped and eyed them for a few moments. "Are you ready to give it a try then?"
"YES!" Harry and Hermione said together.
"What one rule have you promised you'll obey?"
"We won't try to merge with our Life Spirit."
"And why not?"
"Because we could end up stuck for the rest of our lives in the Spirit Walk if we aren't able to tame it when we do," Hermione said.
"I mean it," Sirius said, focused on Harry specifically. "If I get even an inkling, I'll rip you out of the trance and there will be hell to pay. And then I'll give you to your mother."
"I swear, Sirius," Harry said. "I can follow the rules."
"You better, Kid. I'm perfectly aware which of you two is the instigator."
"Alright, already," Harry said, exasperatedly. Sirius turned to Hermione.
"I promise, Sirius."
"Good girl." He then offered them their phials. "Drink up."
They each grabbed one and shared a look. Harry raised his phial to her. "Here's hoping you're not a hyena."
She smirked. "I still say a boar would be an improvement, but I hope you get something you like." She tipped her phial back, downed it and quickly lay back on the couch. Harry followed suit and was dead to the world inside of a minute.
When he came to again he found himself at the edge of a dizzying fall. A harsh wind rushed up the cliff and pushed him back from the precipice. He fell flat on his back and lay there with his eyes closed till his rampaging heart calmed. Heights didn't bother him. At least they didn't when he was on his broom, or strapped into a rollercoaster, or otherwise generally prepared for the potential plummet to his death. But just opening your unsuspecting eyes to find you were half a step from a thousand foot drop, with accompanying sudden stop at the end, that he could do without.
Once he was certain he wasn't plunging to his death and his heart was no longer threatening to beat itself to a pulp against his ribcage he opened his eyes and sat up. A quickly turned circle reveled he was atop of a plateau no more than twenty feet in diameter. The plateau appeared to be centered in some sort of massive cauldron that was completely encircled by mountains – their amazing peeks made frightening by the glistening and inhospitable ice that capped them – many thousands of feet taller than the plateau they surrounded. Approaching the edge of the plateau – actually, it might have been better described as a spire – Harry made a quick circuit of it. Far below there were four, very distinct, topographies; each exactly filling a quadrant of the vast caldron that surrounded him. Sea, gave way to jungle, gave way to desert, gave way to savanna, gave way to sea. Each quadrant was like a massive piece of pie, only some fifty or so feet across where it abutted the spire but far in the distance where each area terminated against the mountains encircling the cauldron they stretched many, many miles across. A second, more careful circuit of the spire revealed no easily discernable way down.
Not quite sure what to do with his current situation Harry looked out over the vista with a rather bemused expression on his face, scratched his head, said, "Bugger," and sat down to think. At least the view was interesting.
He'd been there quite some time when he became aware of a few things other than the view; one, the sun was quite intense, two, there was no shade and three, he was thirsty. He glanced around again. There really was nothing… Unless… He thought long and hard about a beach umbrella like they'd used in Key West; unfortunately to no avail. "Should have known that wouldn't work," he muttered. This wasn't Occlumency. He wasn't in his own mind where, with enough effort, he could create anything he liked. He was elsewhere; thanks to the potion somewhere in the Spirit Realm; a place just as real as where he was from and he'd no more be able to create an umbrella from nothing here than he could back at the Briar Patch.
"Might have been a good idea to have waited till after I'd learned to conjure things before trying this," he muttered.
Out of sheer curiosity he held his hand out and attempted to levitate a small stone that was laying about a foot away. Harry's head snapped back as the stone went rocketing up and out of sight. He had given it up for lost when well more than two minutes later it came plummeting back down and slammed into the ground beside him. A small explosion of dirt and dust erupted from the impact, leaving a mini crater about a foot across with the stone smoking in the center. After a minute or so of staring at it he stretched his leg out and nudged the stone with his foot. It crumbled to dust. "Won't do that again," he said.
His attention was drawn by a shadow that raced across the plateau. Looking up his keen eyes quickly picked out a black spec circling in the vast blue sky. It seemed to be spiraling downward and as the speck became a dot he realized it must be far higher than he first though. The dot grew larger and though the type of bird remained a mystery, wings and a body became discernable. A few seconds later the thought that it was too large to be any bird he knew of came to mind.
His subconscious knew it the instant before it clicked in his brain. It was no bird circling ever lower, growing larger and larger, it was a dragon! And it was plainly coming for him. Harry scrambled to his feet, frantically looking for an escape that didn't exist. A glance back to the sky confirmed the dragon was only another few seconds from arriving. A frantic sweep of the spire told him he had two options. He could jump; and hope that if the impact didn't kill him, the water was deep enough. Or, he could try using his seemingly overpowered magic to launch the quaffle-sized rock at his feet at the beast.
His heart hammering in his chest he couldn't help but stare in awe as the dragon approached. It glided on wings that stretched near a hundred feet across and from nose to the tip of its spiked tail had to be near sixty feet in length. It's wings were glistening black that gave way to dark greens and violent purples on the scales of its belly and chest. The dragon swooped around the spire, dropping below it in a wide circle before angling back. Harry braced himself, reaching out with his magic to wrap it around the stone. He lost sight of the dragon for just a second and then it was there, wings beating with a massive WHUMP as it slowed. Harry felt the impact of the beast through the ground as it settled and the spire swayed under the sudden weight of the creature. It's tail dangled over the edge and sent a trail of crumbling stone crashing down the face of the rock. With a last shudder its front legs slammed down on the ground. Harry decided his rock would be useless against such a colossus and settled for jumping if it came to it.
The dragon folded its wings away and regarded him. Harry slowly drew himself up, meeting the dragon's sapphire gaze. It dropped its head. Harry's eyes widened. Kaa had displayed the same behavior with his mum, Hermione and Tonks when she wanted to pay them respect without asking him to translate for her. Cautiously, he returned the gesture.
"I AM PLEASED BY YOUR PRESENCE," it rumbled.
Harry couldn't help cringing. The dragon's voice pounded the air and against his chest and made very real the power it so obviously possessed. He quashed his first response. Obviously it could speak. "Erm, thank you."
The dragon surveyed the vista. "A MOST FASCINATING REALM."
Harry frowned. "Isn't this your realm?"
The dragon focused on him again. "NO. THIS PLACE IS BETWEEN… IT EXISTS SO WE MAY MEET AND SO I MAY UNDERSTAND YOUR JOURNEY."
"My journey?" Harry asked. "You're not my Life Spirit then, are you?"
"THERE IS NO ESCAPE. ALL AROUND YOU DANGER THREATENS. THE PATH TO THE MOUNTAINS IS MANY. EACH IS NARROW AND FROUGHT WITH PERIL. ONE FALSE STEP AND THE MOUNTAINS WILL BE LOST. YOUR FINAL TRIAL WILL SEE THE MOUNTAINS REDUCED TO RUBBLE OR YOU WILL BE BURIED UNDER THEIR WEIGHT."
Harry frowned. "So you're a Messenger Spirit, then?"
"I AM… I AM ALSO, A RIDE. COME, I WILL DELIVER YOU TO THE NEXT."
"Ride?" Harry asked.
The dragon lowered its great body to the ground. "UNLESS YOU WISH TO EXECUTE YOUR PLAN TO JUMP."
Harry stared at the beast for some time. A row of nasty spines ran along its back, but just at the base of its neck was a space large enough he could sit. Wondering if Sirius would frown on riding a dragon as much as he would merging with his Life Spirit Harry took a deep breath and blew it out. "Not particularly," he said and climbed on. What Sirius didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.
The dragon rose up and Harry lurched about as he got a feel for his mount. "I FEAR THE ROCK WOULD HAVE BEEN RATHER PAINFUL. THANK YOU FOR NOT THROWING IT AT ME."
"You're welcome." He tried not to worry too much that the creature seemed able to read his mind.
"HOLD ON." Harry had just enough time to grab hold of the spine in front of him before the dragon launched itself from the spire. It kept its wings tucked and plummeted headfirst towards the sea.
He probably should have been frightened, but Harry was a bit of an adrenalin junkie and this seemed like the ultimate rollercoaster or Wronskie Feint and he bellowed "WAHOOOOOO!" as they plummeted down. The dragon waited till the last possible moment before it unfurled its wings, arresting their descent mere feet above the water. They raced across the surface and soared back into the sky with Harry screaming his joy the whole way. With powerful beats of its massive wings the dragon drove them forward and up till the air began to cool and Harry's breath formed clouds that whipped past in the rush. He lay down alongside the spines of the dragon's back, and the great inferno that roiled within the creature radiated directly into him, keeping him warm despite the frigid temperatures. All too soon the dragon began to spiral back down and they were landing with a jarring lurch to Harry's spine on a small bit of beach at the base of the spire. The dragon lowered its body and Harry slid off.
"That was amazing!" he gushed. "Thank you."
The dragon inclined its head to him. "I AM PLEASED." It lumbered forward, splashing into the water where it drank deeply. Reminded of own his thirst, Harry waded out to his knees and scooped water up to his mouth. It was cool and clear and wet on his parched throat and Harry couldn't remember drinking anything so pure in his life before. His thirst quenched, he waded back to the shore and waited for the dragon. Eventually it was satiated as well and it lumbered back to the shore with water cascading in rivers from its scales. It glanced about before settling on the beach. "WE WILL WAIT HERE. COME AND REST YOUNG ONE." The dragon stretched out one wing, forming a tent under which Harry could shelter from the fierce sun. Harry ducked under and settled on the sand, finding a comfortable spot to snuggle in between the dragon's leg and belly. In seconds his eyes grew heavy and he drifted away.
When he woke again, Harry could tell he'd been out a while. The sun was no longer high in the sky, but threatening to dip below the mountain peaks. His stomach rumbled. Apparently the need for food here was as real as the need for water. He stretched a bit before climbing to his feet and making his way out from under the dragon's wing. "YOU ARE RESTED?"
"Yes, thank you."
The dragon dipped its head. "IT MAY BE SOME TIME YET FOR THE NEXT TO ARRIVE."
Harry frowned. "Do you have any idea how much time has passed where I'm from?"
The dragon appeared thoughtful. "I THINK, NOT SO MUCH."
Harry didn't find the answer particularly helpful, but wasn't sure there was much he could do about it. Sirius hadn't said anything about how long their Spirit Walk might last, or if they would need to choose to end their journey or anything like that. There really didn't appear to be much of anything he could do so he shrugged and waded out into the water for a drink. Hopefully he'd wake before he got too hungry. If not, well, he'd gone hungry before. The dragon heaved itself from the ground and crashed into the water. It went much further this time, actually swimming out a bit before turning back to the shore. It then spread it's wings and lowered them into the water. With a powerful thrash of its tail it slowly drove its body forward. The water surged before the great beast, pushing up the shore before it spilled back into the sea and rolled in a wave over it's out stretched wings. Once it got closer to shore again, it stopped swimming and drew its wings forward and in. Water surged up the shore and with it, scores of large fish. The dragon rose out of the water, keeping it's wings spread wide to prevent the fish from flopping their way back into the sea. It then lowered its head and began flipping twenty and thirty-pound fish into the air only to snap them up and swallow them whole. After the fifth one it paused and focused on him.
"EAT."
Harry eyed the flopping fish. "Erm, raw?"
The dragon flipped another fish into the air and snapped it up. "YOU ARE A WIZARD, ARE YOU NOT?"
"Yes."
"AND THERE IS WOOD, IS THERE NOT?"
Harry glanced up and down the small beach. There were piles of driftwood up near the spire. "Yes."
"THEN MAKE A FIRE, WIZARD. OR DO YOU REQUIER ME TO COOK YOUR DINNER AS WELL AS SUPPLY IT?"
Harry flushed. "Right, sorry." He sighed and made for the nearest pile of logs. He'd not been at it long when a deep rumbling chuckle interrupted his efforts to pull the logs down the beach. "What?" Harry demanded.
"YOU ENTERTAIN ME, WIZARD."
Harry glowered at the dragon. "The last thing I tried to levitate here launched so high it turned into a meteorite." The dragon sighed and rolled its eyes before stretching and grabbing the log in its mouth. A flick of its head and it tossed the log near where they had slept earlier. It then, mockingly, spit out a tiny bit of flame and ignited the log. "Thanks," Harry said. He reached for some smaller branches and recoiled faster than Kaa could strike. "Arrrgh!" He scrambled backwards, falling to his bum in the sand where he continued his flight, scrabbling back as fast as he could.
The dragon started laughing so hard it collapsed to the ground with an earth shuddering crash. Harry kept going right into the water till his feet began settling and he found himself waist deep. The dragon roared, short blasts of flame accompanying its chortles.
"What are you laughing at!" Harry demanded.
"YOU," the dragon rumbled. "AFRAID OF YOUR OWN, SHADOW."
It took Harry a few seconds to process that bit. "THAT… THAT THING IS MY SHADOW?"
"WELL IT TERRIFED YOU. SHADOWS USUALLY DO."
"YOU TERRIFIED ME," Harry cried near hysterically.
"I DID NOT SEND YOU FLEEING WITH YOUR TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS."
"ONLY BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE ANYWHERE I COULD RUN!"
"COME OUT OF THE WATER AND EAT."
"I'M NOT COMING OUT WITHOUT KNOWING WHERE THAT THING IS."
"IT IS WHERE YOU LAST SAW IT."
Harry squinted, but with the sun long since set behind the mountains and only the feeble light of the fire he couldn't make out if the creature was where he'd first spotted it. "You better not be lying to me." The dragon drew a tremendous breath and let loose a deafening blast of flame at the rock. It lit up the shadows like day itself; revealing, in all its horror, his Shadow. Harry shuddered; chilled to the very marrow of his bones at the sight of a glistening black scorpion the size of a quaffle. Long after the dragon's flames had ceased he continued to stare at the spot, just able to pick out the creature's outline. "Will it stay there?" he asked.
"SPIRITS ARE EITHER CHOSEN OR CHOOSE. BY THE VERY NATURE OF YOUR BEING YOU HAVE CHOSEN YOUR SHADOW. YOU COME IN QUEST FOR THE SPIRIT OF YOUR LIFE. YOU WILL STUDY IT, EMBRACE IT BECOME ONE WITH IT. YOUR STRENGTHS CAN LEAD YOU TO GREATNESS… BUT IT IS AT YOUR PERIL YOU NEGLECT YOUR SHADOW. ATTENTION MUST ALSO BE GIVEN TO YOUR FEARS, WEAKNESSES AND FAULTS. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL BRING YOU TO RUIN."
Harry stared at the dragon. "Just as long as it stays over there."
"THE SHADOW COMES AND GOES AS IT CHOOSES. YOUR PATH HAS BEEN WELL CHOSEN OF LATE. AS SUCH, FOR NOW, IT HAS DEPARTED."
"It's gone?" Harry asked hopefully.
"IT IS NEVER GONE."
"Fine, I get it. It's always around. But it's gone for now?"
"YES."
Harry edged his way out of the water, staying well away from where his Shadow had been as he made his way to the fire. He knelt in front of it and stared into the flames as he contemplated what he'd seen and learned so far. "You know, I haven't asked if you have a name?"
"KIM."
"Kim!" Harry blurted before he could think better of it.
The dragon darted her head forward, knocking him flat on his back in the sand. "Is there something wrong with Kim?" She hissed softly.
"No," Harry squeaked.
She snorted, washing him with her hot breath. "OF COURSE THERE IS," she said, her voice rumbling with amusement. "KIM. AS IF A MERE HUMAN NAME IS WORTHY TO BE BORNE BY A DRAGON," she said with derision. She drew herself up regally over him. "I AM CALLED, ELITHEON."
Keeping a wary eye on her, Harry cautiously sat up. "What does it mean?" he ventured.
"IN YOUR TONGUE IT IS BEST SAID AS, OF THE MAGIC."
"Of the Magic?"
"YES."
"Elitheon," Harry said testing the name. "Of the Magic." He then nodded decisively. "That's a name worthy of a dragon."
Elitheon's lip curled upward. "THIS IS WHY I HAVE CHOSEN TO BE YOUR MESSENGER."
Harry settled in by the fire again. Staring into the flames he wondered if Hermione's Spirit Walk was turning out anything like his. For certain Sirius hadn't mentioned that his had been. He'd been sitting there a few minutes when Elitheon used on massive toe to flick his fish towards him. "YOU HAVE NOT EATEN."
Harry eyed the fish. "Got a bit distracted," he said. Truthfully his Shadow had left him rather uninterested in eating. Still, having been starved for more than half his life he knew he should eat while he could. Heaving himself to his feet he went in search of a stick he could use as a spit. Luckily, as it was quite dark by now, he didn't have to go far. An even greater stroke of luck presented him with sharp edged bit of obsidian he could use to clean the fish.
Returning to the fire with his prizes he knelt in the sand beside the fish only to find a new problem. He really had no idea how to clean a fish. Eyeing his makeshift knife, the fish and his work area he could only decide on one thing. He didn't fancy getting sand all over his meal. Grabbing the fish and the knife he went down to the water where he rinsed the sand from the fish and then found a flat rock to use as a table.
Still not quite sure what to do he turned the fish over a number of times as he sought an answer. Eventually he decided the guts were in the belly so he hacked a line down the middle of it. From there, he pried it open, nearly gagging in the process. Without any better ideas he steeled himself, reached in and scooped everything that wasn't flesh out. The water seemed as good a place as any to get rid of the guts so he tossed them as far out as he could. He then plunged the fish back into the water and cleaned out any remnants left.
Giving his hands a last wash he carried his prize back to the fire. The next question was how to spit it. That seemed best solved by just pushing the stick through the mouth and on out through the open belly. He gave it an experimental shake and decided it seemed secure enough. Taking a seat he then held the fish over an area of glowing coals and waited.
It didn't take long for the smell of the roasting fish to start wafting in the air and Harry's stomach instantly awoke. By the time he thought it might be done he was salivating with anticipation. Once again he had a small problem. The fish was too buggering hot and he had no plate. Heaving himself to his feet again he took his dinner back to the lake where he retrieved a large flat rock he could use to set the fish on and returned to the fire. Finally, he was able to remove the spit and gingerly begin pulling the flesh from the bones and skin. It might not have looked pretty, but Harry didn't think he'd ever tasted anything better.
"RATHER MORE EFFORT THAN IT WOULD SEEM TO BE WORTH," Elitheon observed.
"If you wanted a sushi lover you should have been Hermione's Messenger," Harry retorted.
"AND A RATHER SHARP TONGUE FOR SO SMALL A MORSEL."
Harry stopped eating to look at her. She opened her mouth and snapped it shut, clicking her teeth together threateningly. Harry eyed her calculatingly for another second before popping a bite in his mouth. "Am I the Hansel to your witch then?" he asked after he swallowed.
The dragon laughed. "THE EFFORT TO FATTEN YOU UP WOULD BE MORE THAN THAT TO JUST EAT THE FOOD I BROUGHT YOU. NO, MY HARRY, YOU ARE QUITE SAFE WITH ME."
Harry smirked and went back to his meal. Once he'd picked the last bit of flesh from the carcass he stood with his table and went to wash it in the water. Just before he dumbed the carcass he paused. "Do you want the rest?"
"IF YOU ARE FINISHED."
Harry flipped her the remains and she snapped it from the air. He then quickly rinsed his rock dinner plate and returned with it to the fire. He was a bit chilled and still a bit damp from his excursions into the water so he tossed another branch on the fire and sat down. "Thank you for everything you've done to help me."
Elitheon settled to the ground across the fire from him. "YOU'RE WELCOME."
Harry focused on the flames and considered his circumstances. He'd yet to meet his Life Spirit, but had met both his Shadow and Messenger Spirits. "You're my Messenger Spirit, yes?"
"I AM."
"And you've given me at least two messages so far."
"I HAVE."
"Do you have a third to give me?"
"NOT AT PRESENT."
"Then correct me if I'm wrong, and please don't take this to mean I want you to go, but you seem to be behaving more like I would expect of a Journey Spirit."
"I AM," she agreed.
"Why?"
"YOUR JOURNEY SPIRT CAME TO ME WITH GREAT FEARS… WELL THAT SHE DID. HER POWERS HERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ENOUGH AND YOU WOULD HAVE PERISHED. AS YOU HAVE NOW COME WHERE SHE NO LONGER IS, I HAVE COME IN HER STEAD."
Harry frowned. "Kaa," he whispered. "She's my Journey Spirit, isn't she?"
"SHE IS."
"Does she know about… this?"
"SHE DOES, AND SHE DOES NOT."
Harry frowned. "You answer questions just like she does."
Elitheon seemed to shrug. "IT IS THE ANSWER. YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND."
"And again," Harry retorted. A wash of light filling the cauldron distracted him. Harry looked up in time to see the near full moon rising above the mountain peeks. It was welcomed, from somewhere in the savanna, by the howl of a lone wolf. A few seconds later a dozen or more howls answered the first.
"The others come," Elitheon rumbled softly in his ear. "Wait and be silent." Harry didn't need to be told twice. The wolves exchanged calls for a number of minutes before they went silent, leaving the night seeming far more still than it had been. This made it seem only more shocking when, from the area of the jungle a startled shriek of terror shattered the night for a brief moment before everything went still once again. Harry edged closer to Elitheon. They had both needed to eat earlier. There were fish in the water. It stood to reason there were other creatures here that needed food and that last cry had carried the tenor of death with it. "Watch the shore," Elitheon whispered. "By the savanna."
Harry tore his eyes from the jungle and directed them to where the savanna bordered the water. Before long he saw them; pairs of eyes appearing in the tall grasses. He held his breath and waited. The wolves were coming to drink. First one and then the rest emerged. Coats of grey and white glistening in the moonlight they slinked their way to the shore and dropped their heads to lap up the water.
Harry thought they had all appeared but then, nearly a minute after the rest a truly massive shadow emerged from the grass. A step behind the all black wolf came a last, smaller one. It's coat was different than the rest as well; brownish perhaps but he couldn't quite tell. The black wolf led the second to the water and then stood watch while she – Harry instinctively knew it was a she – slipped past to drink. Only when she had finished did the black wolf take his fill. One by one the rest of the wolves slipped from the shore back into the grasses till it was just the black wolf and his mate that remained.
She spotted him first and only then did Harry realize he'd moved around the shore to the savanna edge. He froze, acutely aware that he had left the protection Elitheon gave behind. The Black wolf followed her gaze and immediately glided between them. She growled and nipped sharply at him before moving around him to trot closer to Harry. The black wolf quickly followed till both were only about ten feet or so from him. They stopped there and for the first time Harry could pick out the reddish tints in her coat. She tipped her head curiously at him while the black wolf bared its fangs and growled softly.
Harry held his hands up. "Easy," he soothed. And that was when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. There was something behind him. And it wasn't Elitheon. Slowly Harry turned. His heart skipped a beat. Not ten feet from him, its jowls still glistening with the blood of its kill, was a massive black panther. It bared its fangs and matched the growl of the black wolf.
Harry bolted up from the couch in the potions lab. "HOLY!" he gasped.
"Harry!" Mum cried. She grabbed him in her arms and crushed him to her. "Thank Merlin," she gasped.
"Mum," Harry protested. "Can't breathe."
Mum pushed him back and held him by the shoulders. "What the hell were you doing!"
"You promised not to merge with your Spirit!" Sirius yelled.
"I swear, Harry, if you can't be trusted to follow one simple rule," Mum berated him.
"I ought to box your ears, Harry."
Harry blinked bewilderedly back at them. "What are you talking about?"
Mum shook him. "Don't you even, Harry James Potter."
"But I didn't!" Mum's eyes narrowed and her lips pressed into a thin line. "I swear, Mum, I didn't try to merge with my Spirit."
"We heard you growling, Harry!" Sirius accused.
Harry ignored him. "Mum?" he asked fearfully.
"Harry, we've been trying to get you to wake for almost three days," she said.
Harry shrugged out of her grip. "Fine," he snarled and stormed for the door.
"Harry Potter!" she shouted.
"Get Back Here!" Sirius bellowed.
Harry slammed the door on them, his magic propelling it with enough force that it broke the frame and crashed to the floor. He ran without thought and, rather foolishly, straight for his room. Like he wouldn't be found there. Thinking quickly he grabbed his wallet and ran back down the stairs. He yanked the front door open only to see Remus turning onto the lane with his mum's car. Spinning round, he wracked his brain for somewhere to go. There! he exclaimed. He yanked the door open and ducked in, pulling the door shut just before his mum and Sirius came in the back door.
"HARRY!" his mum cried rushing past and up the stairs. He heard her enter his room and then searching the rest of the upstairs. "HARRY!"
"HARRY!" Sirius called with her. Moments latter they came thundering back down again.
They stopped in the entry. "Search the cellar," Mum said.
"Right," Sirius said. "Harry held his breath as Sirius went past his hiding place. If he just stayed quiet he might eventually be able to sneak out.
"LILS!" Remus shouted. "Oh, sorry," he said. "Didn't expect you to be right there. How come the door was open?" There was a pause. "What's wrong?"
Sirius ran back into the entry, stopping just outside his hiding spot. "He's not in the cellar."
"He ran away," Mum whispered.
"What?" Remus asked. "Who ran away?"
"He took his wallet," mum gasped. Feet pounded up the stairs to his room. Seconds later she ran back down them again. "He keeps his wallet on his dresser."
"HE'S RUN AWAY?" Sirius bellowed. "I'll kill him."
"WHO'S RUN AWAY?" Remus shouted.
"HARRY!" they shouted back.
"Come on," Mum said, "he can't have got too far." The three of them barreled out the door and it slammed shut. Harry slowly relaxed. It'd probably be a good idea to wait a bit. He hissed loudly for Kaa. Hopefully she'd find him soon. Otherwise he'd have to look for her before he left.
Harry startled awake and his eyes darted frantically about. He hadn't thought there was anything he could hate more than rats, but scorpions managed it. So why on earth did he have to dream about them? The events of earlier that day flooded back in on him… That was why. His was planning to run away and his damn Shadow didn't approve. "Stupid Animagus training," he muttered and swiped angrily at his cheek. He would not cry.
"My Harry?" Kaa asked. Harry cracked the door open and she slithered in. "Why are you in here?"
Harry scooped her up, bowing his head to rest on top of hers. "I'm glad you're here."
Lily Potter could barely walk as Remus guided her up the steps. They'd not been able to find Harry anywhere. After everything they'd been through, all the progress they had made, one moment had torn it all away and he was gone. She blindly followed Remus into the house and stood there as he closed the door. "Come on," he said gently. "Let's get you…" he trailed off as Kaa glided out from the cracked open door to the cupboard under the stairs. The door slowly swung open revealing Harry standing there.
"Harry," she breathed.
"I've never lied to you," he accused. Not once."
"I'm sorry," Lily whispered. The two watched each other for a second before she opened her arms. He launched himself to her. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She pulled him down to the floor and cradled him in her lap. "I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry," she whispered over and over. Neither noticed Remus slip out of the hall to the kitchen.
Twenty minutes later the front door banged open. Everyone but Tonks and the Grangers were present and Tonks was back at Hogwarts for her last year so Harry had a pretty good idea who it would be before she skidded to a stop in the parlour entry. "HARRY!" Hermione cried and launched herself at him. Harry hugged her tight till she wiggled away from him. "First you're asleep for days and then you run away!" She emphasized her point by beating him about the chest. "What is the matter with you!"
"I'm sorry!" Harry cried, fending her off.
"Don't you ever do that to me again!" She took a last swipe at him.
"Alright, alright! It's not like I knew I'd been out for days!"
"Oh, I know!" she cried and latched her arms around his neck in another bruising hug. "I'm sorry. But I've been so worried. And then I heard you ran away… And I can't lose you," she wailed.
Harry held her tight. "I'd have found you," he whispered.
She pushed him back. "Promise?"
Harry nodded. "Promise." She finally let him go but retained a tight grasp on his hand. Harry then became aware that her parents had followed her in. "I'm sorry to have frightened you as well, Mr and Mrs Granger.
Mrs Granger glowered at him. "I understand what caused your behavior, Harry, but this will be the last time you pull a stunt like this, yes?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Good." She wrapped him tightly in her arms. "I'm glad you're safe, Luv. And stop calling me Mrs Granger."
"Yes, Mali," Harry answered. She stepped to the side and Mr Granger gave him a glare. "Sorry, Sir."
"Good." He reached out and ruffled Harry's hair. "Now what do you say Sirius gets me a glass of that whiskey, we all sit down and you tell us where you've been the last three days?"
Harry flopped back on the couch with Hermione joining him. It seemed she was even less keen to let him out of her sight than his mum was. "I don't even know. I only experienced it as a single day. And when I asked, Elitheon said she didn't think I'd been gone very long."
"Elitheon?" Andromeda asked.
"My Messenger Spirit. She's a dragon."
Sirius coughed, spurting whiskey across the room. "Your Messenger Spirit was a dragon?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah." He then launched into the tale of what had happened on his Spirit Walk. When he'd finished all anyone could do was shake their heads.
"Am I to understand Kaa is your Journey Spirit manifest in this world?" Andromeda asked.
Harry nodded. "That's what Elitheon said."
Kaa moved from the back of the couch to lay across Harry's shoulders. "Thisss makesss sssenssse. It explainsss why I wasss drawn to you. Why I did not bite you that firssst encounter before we had ssspoken."
"She says that it explains why she was drawn to me," Harry translated, "And why she didn't bite me before she knew I could speak with her."
Mum held her hand out and Kaa moved from Harry's shoulders to coil around her arm. She raised the serpent to eye level. "I know I have expressed my gratitude for you many times, Kaa. Thank you once again for everything you have done for my son. Kaa stretched out and rubbed the top of her head against her cheek before uncoiling from her arm to glide up and rest on her shoulders.
"Mum," Harry said in the silence following the display from Kaa.
"Yes, Love?"
"Can I get a tattoo?"
For the second time Sirius was reduced to a hacking fit after spraying whiskey across the room. "A tattoo?" Mum asked
"Yes."
"Why on earth would you want to do that?"
"You have one."
"Yes, that I got when I was nineteen and had some idea of just what a permanent mark on my body actually meant."
"I want a scorpion," Harry said. He turned his arm over and indicated the inside of his right forearm. "Here."
Mum stared at his arm for some time before responding. "Your Shadow?"
Harry nodded. "Maybe if I keep it there it'll stay out of my dreams."
"Your dreams?"
"When I fell asleep in the cupboard, I dreamed I'd been petrified and there were thousands of scorpions crawling all over me." He shuddered. "I think my Shadow was trying to tell me I was being an idiot because I was going to run away."
Mum took a deep breath. "I'll think about it."
"But—"
"If you were sixteen I'd say yes," she cut him off. "But your body is going to grow and change a lot between now and then. If you get a tattoo now it will look like arse by the time you're done growing."
"Oh," Harry said. "I guess that makes sense."
"You could get Henna," Hermione piped up.
"Henna?" Harry asked.
"Yes. It's a dye they use to do temporary tattoos and markings on the body. They usually last about two weeks. I've had one once. It was really neat."
"There you go," Mum said. "You can do that for now. We'll find a place and I'll take you tomorrow if you like."
"Alright," Harry agreed.
HPHPHP
The following day, Harry was sitting with Hermione in her room. True to her word Mum had taken them both to get Henna that morning. Harry sported the dry and flaking mud on his forearm while Hermione had her hair piled up on her head to keep it off the bird she had chosen to get on the back of her neck. It was supposed to be a Blue Jay, but as Henna didn't come in colors, it was the best she could do. Unlike Harry, Hermione had not met all of her Spirit Guides on her Walk; just her Journey Spirit had joined her before she had woken after a much more appropriate two hours verses the three days Harry had spent. Sirius had warned them it might take a number of attempts for them to reach any of their guides so Harry was excited for her that she'd managed even that. He was also secretly pleased the Jay wasn't her Life Spirit. A jaguar or a wolf would have a tough time hanging out with a blue jay.
"Hermione?" he asked.
She flipped the page of her book. "Yes?"
"What do you think the prophecy says?"
"I should think that would be fairly self evident."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well would you mind pointing it out to us mere mortals?"
"Obviously it says something about you being able to defeat Voldemort."
"Yeah, that's kind of what I thought."
Hermione snapped the book shut and tossed it to the floor. "Utter tripe!" she said disgustedly. Harry blinked owlishly at; Broaden Your Mind by Sibyll Trelawney, Official Seer to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Since 1980. Books were like divine beings to Hermione. For her to do anything at all that might damage one was akin to sacrilege. "Honestly, Harry, divination is a very indefinite branch of magic, very wooly. Even the prophecies of the most accomplished seers of history failed to come true far more often than they did. Whatever it says, I'm not certain you should place much faith in it."
Harry grinned at her. "So that means you won't be taking divination come third year?" Hermione sniggered and they broke into peels of laughter. After they'd spent a good while mocking various excerpts from the divination book they'd fallen silent and Harry was contemplating just what an amazing friend he'd made in Hermione. Nothing she learned about him ever even made her blink. She stuck by him as steadfast as his mum and he was extremely grateful to have her in his life. It seemed almost unfair that she never had a burden she needed his help with. Not that he wanted her to suffer anything bad or difficult, he just wanted the chance to show her she could count on him just the same as he counted on her.
"Harry?" she asked tentatively
"Yeah?"
"You like girls, right?"
"Erm," he stammered. "Yeah, I guess. I mean I like you and you're a girl."
She looked at him. "Harry, I'm not going to pick on you. I'm just asking if you like girls. You know, like some day you'd like to have a girlfriend."
Harry studied her. She seemed very unsure of herself and that, in and of itself, was a decidedly strange situation. "Are you asking me if I want to be your boyfriend?" he asked nervously. His heart was pounding and his mind was racing. He didn't know what he'd do if she said yes. He thought she was pretty. And he couldn't help but to have considered what it might be like if she was his girlfriend; not with the constant teasing they both got from Sirius. Once or twice, late at night in his bed, he'd even thought to ask her about it. Not if she'd be his girlfriend, but just to seriously try and understand why they got teased about it… But he'd never acted on it.
"Harry, I like girls too." She said it so softly he nearly missed it. But he did hear and he did understand. His mum was pretty forward thinking and he'd been given a talk about the various form relationships might take. But really he'd spent most of the talk just trying to wrap his head around the idea that some girls, like the one at the boat rental kiosk in Disney World, were very pretty. "Harry?" she whispered. She was biting her lip and appeared to be near tears. Harry snapped out of it.
"Cool," he said.
She blinked a number of times. "C–Cool?"
"Cool," he repeated solemnly
"Promise not to tell anyone?"
Harry took her hand, "I'll die first." A tear slid down her cheek and he pulled her to him so he could hug her tightly.
"T–Thank y–you, Harry."
Harry squeezed her. "You are my sister, Hermione," he said softly. "Nothing can change that." She hiccupped and started crying in earnest and he held her. Unlike nearly everyone else in his life, hugging Hermione had always been easy. It was just right. And shouldn't that be the way it was with your sister?
HPHPHP
Author's notes:
So the Animagus. It seems kind of a requirement in FF to have Harry and his friends take this on. My reasons for doing it stem in Lily trying to get Harry to understand his magic comes from within, not from his wand. Also, because of the dedication involved, it's a building block that should make it easier to learn all forms of magic. It honestly seems that JKR paints the reasons most sorcerers don't do it is because they're kind of lazy and don't want to put forth the effort. As to whether or not Harry and Hermione could learn it, I, of course, think they could. Looking at the facts JKR gave us we have one known registered animagus, (McGonagall) and five known unregistered animagus (Sirius, James and Peter, Rita Skeeter and Severus Snape). One assumes McGonagall followed all the proper protocols. Who knows when and how Rita or Severus did it. But James, Peter and Sirius all did it without a teacher when they were just students. And, despite it being very difficult and time consuming, somehow Peter manages it. And everything we are told about Peter is that he isn't particularly skilled, gifted or hardworking. So my opinion is that two children who are very gifted, highly motivated and have a teacher could manage it.
Also, a reader pointed out to me I didn't mention how a quidditch match ends in this world. It's a simple time limit. Win, lose, or draw, a match is 3 hours long.