CHAPTER 50: JAMES VS. HARRY, A NEW BEGINNING & UNDERSTANDING
Over the next week Harry started to train with his mother and father. There were certain things about dueling that James taught Harry and ancient magical charms that Lily taught him. As it turned out his dad taught him how to fight with different types of swords.
"Okay Harry now that you've mastered the Fencing Foil the last on the list is your own sword," James said to him.
"You mean Godric's sword?" asked Harry.
"Son, remember that Godric gave it to you."
Yeah dad I know, but it still is his sword."
As Harry took out the sword James took out a white handled Katana. "Are you ready Harry?" he asked him. He saw Harry nod and tip his head. "Begin."
Father and son stalked one another. James made the first move by running at Harry with his sword to the side. Harry sidestepped him and brought his own sword to bear and parried the attack. Harry flipped backward and went into a defensive posture. He focused himself as he saw his father once again start on the offensive. Harry ran back at him and slashed up as James' blade came slashing down. There was a small spark from the two blades but they kept on fighting.
As the fight continued there were curious eyes watching them. The first were Salazar and Rowena who looked astonished at the sword Harry was using.
"Row, isn't that Godric's sword that Harry is using?" asked Salazar.
"Yes. He lent it to them this morning. Today is Harry's last test to see if he's mastered sword fighting."
"Well it looks to me that I'd be dinner if it was us fighting."
"Oh I don't think so. I seem to recall that it was you who bested Godric when you tested for your mastery. It took him a long time to get over it."
"Well that's good to know."
The two watched as father and son continued to fight. They were mesmerized by the fight that they didn't notice two people come up from behind them.
"I see that Mr. Potter has started his blade test," spoke a soft voice.
Rowena and Salazar turned and faced the speaker. "Oh Master Chan," Rowena bowed slightly. "I'm sorry we didn't hear you."
"That's quite alright my dear. You weren't meant to, but it appears someone did." He pointed to the room where both James and Harry were fighting. Both father and son were standing with their swords flat against their chest facing Master Chan. "Continue!" he yelled.
Harry quickly pushed his sword out against his father, but James wasn't ready and nearly got caught. Just as the fight restarted Godric, Helga and Lily came down the corridor to the Training Room.
Lily gasped as she saw the two men she loved more than anything fighting with swords. "I can't watch this."
"Easy Lily," Helga said. "They won't hurt each other……much."
"I don't think that either of them wants to hurt the other," spoke up Godric.
They continued fighting both were equally matched, but James was gaining the upper hand. He lifted Harry's sword and body blocked him throwing the younger Potter to the ground. Harry continued the roll and sprung back up keeping hold of the sword. He looked at his father and started to smile. He spun the sword in his hand and stopped suddenly with its tip on the ground. He drew a circular line in front of him daring his father to come through it.
James saw that Harry's eyes were shut during that display and was quick to wonder why. His answer was forthcoming as Harry opened his eyes. 'His eyes are glowing,' James thought to himself. 'I wonder what that is about.' His son jumped at his father letting instinct take over just as he did against Voldemort. The attack was quick and focused. Finally Harry sidestepped his father and threw out a sweeping leg that downed his father.
James looked up and saw his son above him with his sword pointed at his throat. "I yield," he said not looking happy.
Harry smiled and stepped back. "It's about time I beat you dad," he said. He helped his father up and shook his hand. "You didn't let me win, did you?"
"Absolutely not," he said. "You have my word as a Marauder."
From above them they saw everyone except Master Chan looking happy. "Excellent young one," he said to Harry. "You've passed your test. Tonight we will hold the Ceremony of Swords. I expect all of you to be there." He turned to walk away. "By the way James, it is done if you wish to see."
"Thank you Master Chan," replied James.
"What was that about," asked Harry.
"You'll see tonight son. C'mon I expect your mom is ready to fry us both for scaring her."
They walked up the ramp and were almost knocked over by Lily's embrace. "Oh you two," she said. "You scared me to death."
"Sorry," they said in unison.
The Founders stood around them and congratulated Harry on his mastery of the sword. They walked down the corridor and emerged to the other side of the tunnel.
"If you will excuse me I have to look at some potions," said Salazar. "Congratulations Harry. I'll see you tonight."
"Sorry Harry he's just a bit out of sorts today," Rowena said. "He was reminiscing about his test with Godric."
"Don't tell me he's still on about that," said Helga. "I'll go talk to him about it. Excuse me."
"Sorry for asking, but what is this Ceremony of Swords?" asked Harry.
"You'll find out tonight Harry," Godric told him. "For now there is no need to worry about it. Go get cleaned up and meet me in the library. There's something that we need to talk about."
"Okay grandfather," he replied.
The four remaining people watched as Harry walked happily away.
"What do you need to talk to him about Godric?" asked Lily.
"Harry has only three more weeks before his school term starts. That means he only has three more weekends with his friends. I think that we're going to have a problem with that."
"I don't think so," James said. "If we talk to him about the issue he might come up with a solution on his own."
"I think James is right," Rowena said. "He is very bright and will listen to reason. Talk to him about the training and not being able to see them and it will come."
"You're right of course," Godric conceded. "He'll be alright with it."
"Yes he will be," Lily said. "Hermione will not. She's going to be very upset."
Harry went up to his room slowly. He was very tired from his test, but glad that he had passed. It was the first of his Mastery Tests that Godric had told him about. The next was his Charms Test with his mother. He was better than her at Charms so he wasn't worried about it. It was the others starting with the Martial Arts Test that he was worried about.
'I guess I should shower and change,' he thought to himself. He opened his trunk to get a pair of socks that Dobby had made for him. They were both grey socks but they had the color design of a person riding a broomstick with his hand outstretched trying to catch a golden snitch. He remembered back to Christmas when he was given them. Dobby was upset that the socks were the same color, but he had no other material to make him a different colored sock.
He grabbed the socks and noticed that there was an envelope lying underneath them face down. He took the letter and knew immediately that it was from Hermione. He smiled and opened it.
Dear Harry,
Hello my love. It is 4 in the morning and I can't sleep. I know that we finally went to bed a few hours ago, but I just couldn't sleep. You're going to be leaving me tonight for another long week. The only saving grace is that Ron and I will be starting our Anamagus Training with Minnie. (She told me to call her that. Can you believe it?) Anyway I'm writing you from bed and as I look down at your sleeping body I can't stop smiling. I want to tell you that I love you. You are everything to me.
I was talking with Dumbledore earlier. He told me that they are still going to continue searching for anything about the Killing Curse. As of yet Ron and I haven't found anything, but there still are lots more boxes to go through. There are a few questions I have for Godric too. I wonder if you could ask him for me. Would it be easier to write them down next week and give them to you? There are a few you could ask now though.
Does he know anything about the Ancient Ones? Will it be difficult for you to complete the staff? Is there a reference that Ron and I could look through to tell us about more of our powers? What will happen to the visits once school starts?I hate to ask that last question because I know what he will say. I must admit that he would be right. If you were to come back every week then people would get suspicious, but I do have a theory about that. If you were to visit then you could just write me a letter and send it with a house owl. That way I would know that you are safe and no one would know that it's from you. That is unless you use Hedwig of course. I'll bide my time until you're ready to come home for good. Please be careful love. I don't want to see you hurt.
The last thing I will write to you about is us. I want to tell you that when school starts I will continue to wear my Promise Ring. I know that the other girls will want to know who it's from, but I won't tell them. I'll wait until you're back. They'll all think (those that don't know) that Harry Potter is still single. Won't they be surprised? Did you tell your parents about us? What did they say? Were they really happy? I hope so.
I love you Harry. Please don't forget that. I know I won't.
Forever in love,
Hermione Ann Potter – Heir of Ravenclaw
Wisdom Mage
Harry smiled at how she signed the letter. 'It'll be interesting to see their reactions to that,' he thought. 'They'll have a shock.' Harry finished getting ready and was down in the library in thirty minutes.
"Hi mum," he said walking through the door.
"Hello Harry," she replied.
"Do you know where Godric is?"
"He's with your father talking about the ceremony tonight."
"Oh okay. Do you know when the Mastery of Charms test will be?"
"Why?"
"Well I wanted to try something," he said smiling. "I did something when I went home and just thought that-"
"What'd you do?"
"Well it was weird actually. When I went down to the library to see Ron and Hermione I floated down the steps. I didn't think anything of it then, but I just did it again."
"What did you just do again," asked a voice from the doorway.
"Hey dad," Harry said turning. "I was just telling mum that I floated down the stairs."
"Were you having a flashback to when you were a baby?"
Harry looked at him puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Ignore him Harry," Lily said. "When you were a baby I put you in your crib and went back downstairs to sit with your father. I think that it was about an hour later that you came floating around the corner laughing and giggling. Your father started to laugh too, but me, being the more conscious one, took you back to bed and sang you to sleep. I wrote to Albus and he assured me that everything was fine. He reminded me of what it was to be you."
"You see Harry," his dad interrupted. "Albus told us that you would be more powerful than the both of us combined seeing that you were a true Gryffindor Heir from my side. He said that you probably missed us when you woke and just followed the voices as it were. Since you couldn't walk you levitated yourself down the stairs."
"You levitated down the stairs Harry?" asked Godric as he walked in the room.
"Yes. Once when I went home, once here and once when I was a baby," he replied.
"Interesting," he said. Godric pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "Elementus Primos!" he said. A golden beam shot out from his wand and encircled Harry.
Harry noticed that there were four colors surrounding him. "Um not to be rude, but what did you do?"
"Oh sorry about that," Godric said smiling at him. "The spell I just used is to test for one's Elemental ability. I knew that there would almost certainly be a red color, but not really the others."
"What do they mean?"
"Well Harry," said his mother. "Red is obviously for fire, blue is for water, green is for Earth, and white is air."
"Great. Will this ever end?" He saw them looking sympathetically at him. "Are there any books that I can read about this?"
"Yes," said James. He reached up and grabbed a big leather bound book. "This was written by Alfred Winningsly and Remic Lee. Alfred was an Earth and Water Elementalist while Remic was Fire and Air. You'll notice that two elements cannot survive without the other."
"Fire needs air and the Earth needs water," Harry said quickly."
"That's right," Godric spoke up. "This now changes your timetable. You'll have to be trained in the elements now." He looked at his grandson and sighed. "Alright Harry go up and start reading. We'll call you down later for the ceremony."
"Okay grandfather. Oh, by the way, Hermione wanted me to ask you something."
"What might that be?"
Harry pulled out the letter and handed it to Godric. James and Lily gathered around him and read the letter too. 'Here it comes.'
"Hermione Ann Potter?" asked his mother.
James saw Lily getting antsy. "Lily. Breath please," he told her.
Godric was smiling. "So much like Rowena," he muttered. "The fourth question is what I wanted to talk to you about."
Just then Lily exploded, "Harry James Potter!" she yelled. "You did not get married before you finished school, did you? How could you? You aren't even in your twenties. At least your father and I waited until we were out of school. I'm gonna kill Sirius. Just wait until I get my hands on him. He's your Godfather for God's sake. What was he thinking? ---"
"Are you done Lily?" asked James.
"No! You're to blame for this." She stuck her finger out at him. "You had to choose him as a Godfather! You couldn't choose the more responsible one."
Finally Harry had enough. "Mum!" he yelled. As he did so, there was a loud boom all around that shook the house. He noticed that there was complete silence and that all eyes were on him.
"H-Harry?" she asked quietly.
Harry's eyes were glowing as he was surrounded by flames. "It's okay mum," he said to her. "Now sit and I will explain." Harry snapped his fingers and the chairs in the library came right to them. He took a deep breath and the flames dissipated leaving only his blazing emerald eyes. His head snapped to the door and he raised a finger. The doors opened up to allow the people running to the library in. "Thank you for coming," was all he said.
"Harry what's wrong?" asked Helga.
"Oh nothing really," he said. "It's just a misunderstanding. That's all, but there is something the rest of you might want to know."
"What might that be Harry?" asked Salazar.
"I'm an Elemental."
"Really Harry?" asked Rowena. "Which one are you?"
"All of them."
"Godric is this true?" asked Salazar. "Did you test him?"
"I did indeed Sal, and he is all four….i think. I will have to check something though." He motioned to the rest. "Harry, James and Lily have something to talk about so let's leave them to it." He handed the letter back to Harry. "Here you go Harry. We can talk about this later or tomorrow I think. You can have the rest of the day so have fun."
The Potters watched everyone file out of the room and close the door. Harry was the first to break the silence. "Now then," he started. "I believe you have a question for me mum."
"Yes Harry I do." She looked at her son calming herself before asking. "Can you tell me why your eyes were glowing?"
"I'm the most powerful wizard on the planet now. I have both your powers, Godric's and Merlin's." He started to smile.
"Why are you smiling son?" asked James.
"I have a secret that cannot leave this room." He saw his parents nod and he continued. "When Voldemort killed you he made a tactical mistake. I can see your deaths when Dementors are near. I can hear you, dad, yelling at mum to run and take me away. You stood first in line to protect her and me. When he killed you, it is my belief that some of your power transferred to me and mum."
"Why do you believe that Harry?" asked Lily.
"Do you remember what Professor Dumbledore told you about my Patronus?"
"He said that it was in the form of my anamagus. It's a stag."
"Yes. He told me that I found a piece of you in me. That's why I believe what I just told you. It was when he killed mum that he made his mistake." They both looked at him puzzled. "Mum died for me. When she did that there was an ancient protection charm that was placed on me. Now here is the tricky part. You remember that technically both of you died for me so now within me is my own magic that was created from the two of you. Added to that is part of your own powers, and when he tried to kill me the Killing Curse rebounded on to him killing him instead of me. Now add that all up and you get what?"
After a minute James started to smile. "You can't be serious," he said.
"What? I don't understand," said Lily.
"Lily, listen to what he said. We created Harry. Obviously our combined magic makes up his magic. When I died trying to protect the both of you part of my magic was transferred to Harry and you. When Voldemort killed you, you died to protect Harry alone so both of our protection and part of your magic went to him."
"Okay I get that part. What am I missing?"
Harry started to smile, but James continued on. "When Voldemort cast Avada Kedarva on Harry your protection made the spell rebound back. Instead of Harry being killed it was Voldemort. Voldemort died for Harry! Do you understand now?"
"He died for Harry so part of his magic was also transferred to him."
"That's why I can see him in my dreams when his anger and dark magic are focused. It's very painful though and I most of the time wake up. It was very bad after the Tri Wizard Tournament."
"What do you mean?" asked James.
"Dumbledore didn't tell you?" Harry asked him.
"No we really only got up to when you saved Sirius and um…"
"Buckbeak," he finished for his father. "In my fourth year the powers that be held the Tri Wizard Tournament at Hogwarts." Harry began to tell the story that led up to Voldemort returning.
"So you saw us through the Priori Incantatem?" Lily asked. She saw Harry nod. "I hope you realize that it isn't your fault that the other boy was killed."
"It took me a while, but yeah I realize it now." He smiled at them noticing that their hands were intertwined. "Next is this letter," he said waving it in front of them. "I gave your ring to Hermione mum. I asked her to wear it as a Promise Ring until I come home fully trained and able to protect her."
"She of course said yes," James said smiling. "We Potter men are irresistible son."
"Keep thinking that James," Lily said mocking him.
"'Mione did say yes and we…um…" Harry started to struggle with the words.
"It's okay son," James said to him. "We understand that part. Anyway, what's with the last name thing?"
"Well when I asked her about the ring she said, 'Hermione Ann Potter. I like the sound of that.' I told her that I did too so I started calling her that when we were alone. She probably thought that I would like the way she signed the letter."
"Do you?"
"Absolutely mum," he said. "I can't wait to have her in my arms again."
"My son is a man," Lily said softly. She began to cry and both Harry and James started to comfort her. "I have to write to her about this."
They soon left the confines of the library and went to their rooms. Two hours later they came down to dinner and the beginning of the ceremony.
