Harry Potter: Divergent Paths
Chapter 48 – Surprises and Solutions
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! I swear, I don't! I have way too many convoluted ideas to write a proper story at the moment! Or do I? (Probably yes)
What locations in the world were considered magically significant? A question that no doubt entered the minds of many a wizard and witch over the passage of time. In a natural world where the unnatural lurked in every shadow, awaiting discovery of its dangers and mysteries, how were sites of magical significance discovered? From ancient to contemporary times, the best answer was always…exploration and experimentation.
It was only through exploration and adventure that people came to discover those locations deemed magically significant. Secrets were buried in every inch of the earth, waiting for unsuspecting individuals to stumble upon them. Whether they were classified as veritable treasure troves, relics of lost civilizations, or treacherous death traps would rely on said results from experimentation. Try as they might, modern wizards and witches from all over the world simply could not work out a safe method to discover and determine the composition and contents of these territories of magic.
The Forbidden Forest, the Bermuda Triangle, the Prison Island now known as Azkaban, and the Underwater City of Atlantis were all examples that came to mind of magical locations. The latter two had various question marks surrounding their true nature, as their creators were unknown to the world as a whole. The fortress of Azkaban had been present ever since the Ministry of Magic came upon the mysterious structure. The former two locations were places within nature that had grown to become cesspools of magical influence and held host to a plethora of dangerous, unknown magical fauna and flora. And yet, there were still more secrets within the world for the wizards and witches of the world to discover…but those would be stories for other times.
Over the past week or so, Adrian had been considering the true nature of the Forbidden Forest. The books claimed that the existence of the dark woodland predated even the construction of the majestic Hogwarts Castle. While the external size of the Forbidden Forest at a glance did not seem large enough to hold host to anything of mass importance, it was simply a layer of deception that the ancient forest made use of. Even upon the first time that he stepped into the forest and the shade of the trees overhead muffled the sun, he could feel an archaic and overbearing force lying dormant within the imperceptible depths of the forest. Even Kurama and Kyoka refrained from venturing too deeply into the domain and he could feel that the true depths of the Forest were inaccessible to him for the time being.
While his hopes that a clear solution for finding safety for the unicorn herd was obscured by the confusing nature of the forest, his request for Narcissa, Remus, and Sirius to assist in his research had resulted in a sufficient resolution for the time being.
While the threat of a permanent predator that was quite capable of preying upon the unicorns with consistency was indeed a serious one, the unicorn herd and Astrella didn't have quite the same understanding of the situation at hand as he did. Adrian was quite aware that the predator wasn't a new, permanent fixture of the forest because Quirrellmort would soon be leaving the grounds of Hogwarts for good. Chasing away the wraith-possessed professor and keeping him at bay for a week or two would be utter simplicity by himself, let alone the additional assistance from Narcissa and company.
No, he aimed to make life easier on the unicorn herd while getting rid of Quirrell. While he could correct Astrella and the unicorn herds' perception of the situation, he didn't mind looking like an over-achiever and reaping some potentially additional benefits from them. He would never accept anything that seemed too detrimental for them to provide, but given the opportunity, he wouldn't pass up the chance to gain more protection for his friends and family or better prepare him for the future and his final stand against the Seven. He was no saint…and he didn't have to be. He lived true to himself and this was the decision that he made, and would make time and time again. A way of life that it seemed even a unicorn could find no true fault with.
…..
Four figures in obsidian black, emerald green, and royal purple robes and hoods made their way through the Forbidden Forest swiftly, though one pair was proceeding more quickly than the other two. Eventually, the individual furthest back stopped, panting heavily.
"Heh…heh…" one of the figures wheezed. "How are you two…not…tired…I…understand Remus, but…come on…"
All four took their hoods off to take in a breath of fresh air. Narcissa and Adrian were stood side-by-side in the front, breathing lightly with little fatigue. Remus followed behind their, breathing slightly more labored, but the physical improvements from his condition helping him out in keeping up. Sirius was the worst off, but he just needed a little break to recuperate.
"We have an unfair advantage, in a manner of speaking," Narcissa responded with an amused smile, referring to Adrian's, and by proxy, her, ability to augment their bodies with magic. Of course, Adrian was just generally taking it easy on all three of them. "And you were aware of it anyway, so stop complaining so much, Siri."
Sirius grimaced at the pet name, while Remus just chuckled and looked further into the forest. "How much more do we need to go, Adrian? I can't say that the wolf inside of me particularly enjoys the feeling of the Forbidden Forest, even after all these years…"
"Well, Sirius picked a good time to stop. We're exactly where we need to be," Adrian laughed. He spotted multiple silhouettes that were obscured with magic nearby. He locked eyes with a particular equine and recognition flickered in its eyes.
The adults gasped in astonishment as the herd of unicorns walked out of the shadows of the clearing. Now that they were no longer concealed with their own particular brand of magic, Adrian could more easily feel the sensation that this clearing belonged to the unicorns. It held the same sensation, the same aura that the clearing of their last meeting did and with two samples, he could get a clear grasp on what Astrella meant by overflow due to the unicorns' presence.
In a timely manner, said centauress chieftain galloped into the clearing, bow already drawn. Narcissa, Sirius, and Remus drew their wands in defense by reflex, but Adrian held his hand out. The centauress chieftain realized who she was aiming at and smiled apologetically, putting her weaponry away. She leapt off the ledge she had taken for the high ground advantage and stopped in front of Adrian and his group.
"Adrian, you have returned. Am I to presume that you have come up with a solution for the threat that the unicorns face?" Astrella asked, gazing curiously at his new companions.
"More than a solution to that singular issue," Adrian said with a smile. He gestured at the clearing. "Am I safe to presume that this is their current spot of safety?"
"Yes, the unicorns will reside here for as long as they safely can," Astrella answered.
Adrian smiled and gestured, summoning three shadow clones. Remus, Sirius, and Narcissa proceeded to the West, East, and North in the clearing, each accompanied by a clone, while Adrian moved to the South. After turning and making they were as far as out as possible, while also equidistant from one another, they began to inscribe runes onto the ground. The clones were there to direct the three adults, in the event that any of them forgot how to scribe the sigils that Adrian taught them.
The unicorn herd and Astrella watched carefully, while the centauress moved her fingers around. The grass, roots, and other flora near each of the four humans wiggled around slightly, readied to subdue them if necessary. While Astrella liked Adrian and had full confidence that his current actions were in the interests of the unicorns, she had a responsibility and duty to fulfill as the guardian.
Two shadows darted out from underneath Adrian's robe, the crimson shadow moving to the northwest and the silver shadow to the southeast. Astrella was intrigued to see two magical foxes, one just the same as last time, but the other one seemingly the polar opposite of the former.
A surge of magical energy startled Astrella and the unicorns, though the adults were oblivious. Kurama's eyes shone an all-encompassing light while Kyoka's revealed an endless void, facing each other equidistantly. The shadowy images of eight tails flickering behind them appeared and their bodies grew from their adorable fox kit size into a stature more befitting a pair of adult wolves. Adrian grimaced as his face paled and he coughed out a small amount of blood.
Simultaneously, the four humans completed their inscriptions. Kurama and Kyoka slammed their tails into the ground, sending shockwaves of magic outwards. When they came in contact with the cardinally-inscribed runes, a perfect circle formed, linking the focal rune configurations together. Lines shot inwards from the cardinal directions and met in the middle perfectly. The ground flashed brightly and a screen of magic lifted from the ground, forming a spherical enclosure around the entirety of the clearing, including underground. As Astrella, the unicorns, and the adults, who had returned to the middle, gazed at the shining screen of magic, they realized the significance of the ward that Adrian was erecting.
"East to South, Yang intensifies. Light and warmth shall create you a domain of Yang. West to North, Yin obscures. Darkness and cold shall conceal you within a domain of Yin. Yin-Yang Protection Formation!"
The familiar modern taijitu, the common emblem used for the representation of yin and yang, began to swirl around rapidly on the magical dome above them. The black and white gradually separated, as the dome began to flicker between pure Yin and pure Yang. Whenever the pure Yang flashed, the unicorns would feel a unique sense of comfort, while Astrella, Remus, Narcissa, and Sirius would feel their spirits naturally uplifted, an uncommon feeling in the Forbidden Forest. When the pure Yin revealed itself, they felt as if the dismal and foreboding effect of the Forbidden Forest was being multiplied and pressed down upon them, causing great discomfort to the unicorns. This process continued a few more times until the pure Yang imposed itself upon the inside of the dome, then the visible ward lines disappeared altogether.
Before anybody could even say anything about the spectacle they had just witnessed, Adrian returned to the group with a small smile of satisfaction.
"What…did you just do?" Astrella asked in confusion. "The forest, it has never been inviting to those who reside within it, even to the creatures of a Darker alignment. Now, however, it feels as if you have morphed the very nature of the forest, past beyond even the safety that the Unicorns' Clearing offers when fully concentrated with their aura."
Adrian laughed slightly. "The task of chasing away a being that can prey on even unicorns consistently seemed daunting, so I considered a different avenue of approach. How might I be able to solve the issue that the herd are running into about being forced away from their clearings? I couldn't find any inspiration for a solution by scouring books and theories that were sourced from the Western world. Instead, I considered magic from elsewhere.
Unicorns, under general categorization by one of the many Eastern schools of magic, are beings of innate Yang, associated with light and with a preference for females, who typically contain an affinity to Yin. In fact, after contemplating it, the Forbidden Forest itself could be said to give off the aura of being aligned to Yin. If considered that way, the primary issue lies in that the gradual concentration of Yang by the unicorns in a forest of Yin, which acts as a glowing beacon of Yang to the Darker, Yin-attributed, Yang-seeking magical creatures, a beacon which is only accentuated by the nature of the forest. In keeping with that logic, I devised a basic formation with the help of the Yin and Yang attributed magic of my familiars, Kurama and Kyoka," Adrian stated, gesturing to the pair of small foxes who were simply sitting on Adrian's shoulders wearily.
"As for the process, I had Sirius and Remus inscribe the runes for South and East, the directions corresponding to Yang, to slightly boost the effectiveness as their magical natures are naturally more attuned to Yang, even if they don't practice Eastern-style magic. The same went for Narcissa, while I myself can simulate Yin with the aid of Kyoka. The final step was the infusion of pure Yang and pure Yin magic from Kurama and Kyoka to activate the formation, which has created an area with an internal environment attuned to Yang in order to comfort the unicorns and an external shell attuned to Yin cut off the aura of the unicorns and blend into the Forbidden Forest's nature. The surrounding area outside of the barrier will have a distinctly lowered concentration of Yin, which should prove to be uncomfortable for natural residents of the forest and ward them away. The formation is also theoretically self-sufficient, as it should feed off of the natural Yang emissions of the unicorns and Yin atmosphere of the forest. If my experiment was successful, then the unicorns should be able to stay within this clearing indefinitely, without fear of danger."
Astrella's mouth opened and eyes widened slightly in amazement, as she considered the theory. Her head turned to gauge the response of the unicorn herd, but an unexpected sight greeted her eyes. The unicorn foals were playfully rolling around on the grass, the adults watching them cheerfully and fully relaxed, laying upon the grass. While not an entirely unusual sight for equines in general, she had never seen the unicorns so relaxed for as long as she'd been alive.
She could understand why they never had. Every two weeks, they would be forced to migrate from their clearing and find a new temporary residence to take shelter in, until it was eventually time to move again. They never had the time to relax, always on guard as they prepared for the event that they were found regardless of how long they had stayed. The sense of security was a fleeting thing for this unicorn herd, and if Adrian's ward formation worked successfully…
The unicorn leader turned his head from the children and looked into Astrella's eyes. The centauress nodded in acknowledgement, while the leader turned back to his herd and took the time to relax. While they would need to prepare in case Adrian's formation didn't work out, he would take the time granted to allow his herd a brief respite.
Astrella turned to the purple-eyed Sovereign Heir with a peaceful smile. "Return to the Forbidden Forest and seek us out in a month. If your formation retains its effectiveness at that point, then we shall consider your trial completed. That being said," she laughed, "From sensation alone, I have no doubt that this 'experimental formation' will be a success. Perhaps…I may now feel some relief that I have not read the stars incorrectly."
Adrian smiled and bowed. "Thank you for the kind words, Chieftain Astrella. We shall take our leave then."
The graceful centauress bowed in return and walked over the herd to speak with the unicorn leader. Adrian led his group the other way, leading them in the direction by which they came until they all felt as if they'd walked through a thin film of some kind. Suddenly, the temperature around them dropped a few degrees. When they looked up and backwards in shock, they realized that it wasn't their temperature dropping. It was simply that within the ward boundary, it was warmer. The clearing that the unicorn herd were resting within was no longer visible, given off a strange sensation of being present yet not when they looked at where it was located.
"A very impressive piece of magic, Adrian," Remus sighed in admiration as they were finally along. "And an amazing sight that you showed us today. I cannot imagine that the number of people who have seen a unicorn is particularly high, even within the magical world."
"They were truly beautiful creatures," Narcissa said in agreement, before looking concernedly at Adrian. "Are you all right? You must be tired after such a ritual. Would you like to come back home for some rest before returning to Hogwarts?" she asked, hugging the boy over to herself and helping him along.
Adrian laughed in slight embarrassment. "I'll be fine, Cissa. I believe it would be better of me to avoid skipping more school, considering exams are so close."
Narcissa frowned lightly. "I believe you should prioritize your health even still, Adrian. I have no doubt that you will pass both the regular and year advancement exams spectacularly, and the other children will no doubt be fine as well."
"You can never be too safe," Adrian answered with a vague smile.
Narcissa wanted to speak up again, but Sirius cut her off with a laugh. "Ah, come on Cissy. You can see on his face that he's got another one of his secret plans in progress, just let him go," he grinned before glancing at Remus. "Speaking of amazing sights though, did you see that amazing pair of knockers on that centauress chieftain?"
Remus just sighed in disbelief. "I can't believe you're even talking about this, Sirius…"
"Hey, I'm very Sirius about treating all great busts with equality and fervent admiration," the dogfather grinned.
Narcissa lost all energy to scold her man-child of a cousin, and just groaned simultaneously with Remus. Adrian couldn't help but laugh alongside Sirius.
"Come on guys…that was my first time using my best joke since I've been back! You have to give me more applause than that!"
"Please, don't use it ever again…"
"If that was your best, then your worst must be Unforgivable…"
…..
In the years to come, Harry, Iris, and the rest of the gang would forever remember the first set of exams that they ever took in Hogwarts. The reason was rather simple.
Their remaining few weeks up to the examinations were rather uneventful, outside of the conflict that arose between Harry and Ronald Weasley before Adrian returned. The red-head boy learned to keep his jealousy and seething at a safe distance from Harry and anybody else in the group after that incident.
The group were, simply put, quite confident in their ability to pass the end-of-year and extra year advancement examinations with relative ease, though Hermione still fussed over having a review session or two, which Adrian agreed to facilitating. They were quite justified in feeling so, as well, considering the amount of practice and time they had put in over the course of the year to keep up with Adrian's training schedule, even while he was out of commission.
Soon enough, the day of their examinations were upon them. The actual event would take place before the rest of the school, as an accommodation for the extended period of time they would need for completion. Thankfully, classes were stopped in the last few days leading up to exams anyway, to give the students time to just study. With summons to go to the Great Hall, they departed for the meeting place in groups as much as they could manage it. Hermione joined up with the Gryffindor trio, while Tracey met up with the Slytherin quartet.
When they arrived at the Great Hall, Adrian was the only individual that was remotely unsurprised at who they saw gathered in preparation for the exam. Madam Professor Griselda Marchbanks was present to facilitate the examinations, as a representative from the Ministry of Magic. When Dumbledore's application to revamp the Hogwarts academic system was put in to the Board of Governors and Ministry of Magic, the year-skipping clause was written to require an official to help oversee the procedures, and Griselda Marchbanks was appointed to manage this, along with her duties towards the O. and N.E. .
Headmaster Dumbledore, Professors Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout were present, in both their administrative capacities as Heads of Houses and as the teachers for their respective examinations, while Professors Sinistra and Quirrell were simply there to help with their respective exams. All of this was as expected to the group as a whole.
The unexpected elements were the three other children who were waiting with the instructors.
"Hannah, Susan!" Tracey exclaimed, running up to her Hufflepuff friends. "What are you two doing here?"
"Well, we're here to take the exams of course, silly!" Susan Bones said with a laugh and a smile, meeting hands with one of her best friends in Hufflepuff. "We knew that you guys were planning to skip a year ahead of the rest of us in first year."
"And we decided that we wanted to too! You guys have been great to us over the year, even though we're not really 'part' of your group, better than anybody else really," Hannah said, "So, we thought if we passed the exams, you guys…might be ok with accepting us to your group with a bit more time? You guys always look like you're having a fun time and we'd love to have a chance to join!"
The rest of the group considered the thought and none of saw any issues with that. Susan and Hannah were great people, bubbly and generally social in a way that their group somewhat lacked, outside of Tracey and Blaise. They were also the only other students in their year group that actually genuinely got to know them, despite being outside of the 'group', per say. While the other first years were amicable acquaintances with them, with the exception of Ronald and Seamus, they had all formed their own little groups that they were satisfied with. The only real difference was that they weren't in the initial group that met together in the Hogwarts Express, so they didn't mesh together quite as fast as the rest of them did. It wasn't as if they weren't going to spend another three years minimum together anyway. They'd have plenty of time to get to know each other even more! The final decision hinged on a single person though…
"We'd love to have you," Harry answered before looking to their purple-eyed leader. "But the decision stands with Adrian in the end. He was the one who brought us all together. So…what do you say?"
Adrian just laughed, which confused the group as a whole. Susan and Hannah looked between themselves in confusion, before answering themselves.
"Oh! He didn't tell you guys already?" Hannah asked.
"Adrian's the one who's been tutoring us for the exams!" Susan declared. "And he said it'd be up to you guys, because he was perfectly fine with it."
And as one might expect, a few members of the group made a fuss about the pleasant surprise, which Adrian just redirected simply. "I'll explain the circumstances after the exams," he said with a laugh and a shrug.
They were forced to accept it, as they were ushered into the Great Hall by the instructors before the group could all ask questions about the other unexpected child present. Most of the others didn't even realize with their attentions directed towards Susan and Hannah, though Draco and Daphne didn't allow the extra person to escape their attentions. They realized Adrian would explain on his own time and simply proceeded along calmly. Adrian glanced at the Ravenclaw in question, who looked back with a glance of acknowledgement.
He would need to thank Su Li for her insights on Eastern magic later. There were different things to take care of for now and the girl was perfectly content with waiting for her own introduction to the growing group.
…..
A/N: Hehe, did you think I was done adding school/child-level characters? Nope, the cast isn't big enough for my liking! Where would a school year be without some more characters to develop, after all? As I've stated much before, I'm…rather ambitious to say the least. :3 Some interesting concept development (I hope) in the Forbidden Forest segment of this character, and a little reminder in this last part that, just as I usually do, Adrian always has plots boiling off to the side~
Susan and Hannah will get a good amount of screen time in the chaos that will ensue in the second/third year for our friends at Hogwarts, a rather integral part in the proceedings hopefully. I'm still considering some things in Su Li's respect, but she has her own part in the grand scheme of things, as everybody does~
Now, some questions to consider for you guys? :3 How will he end off this first year of events? When will he add the next character? What implications has he created for the next year, what school events should technically be happening, what might they turn out like in this universe, and what sort of foreshadowing has he done in the past chapters towards the next 'arc' of his story? All fun things for you to think about, if you have some time to just chill~
Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! My longest one in a while~ As always, I welcome critiques and reviews over the many assortments of things that I could be doing wrong, doing right, or doing confusingly~ See you guys on Wednesday, as I tread through the horror of summer school work... Cheers! Enjoy summer for me, my friends!
