The Warlock and The Pale Dragon
Chapter 1: A Botched Ritual
Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
My writing time has been shorter than usual as I ordered the inheritance cycle and those have been eating up some free time that normally got used for writing, but it also made me want to write another crossover!
"Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just a part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn't have the courage to say "yes" to life?" -Paulo Coelho
-LINE BREAK-
"I really can't thank you enough for helping me with this Nev." Harry said gratefully to a blushing Neville.
"It's no trouble Harry, really! I'm honored that you'd ask me for help with something like this. If you actually manage it, all of us involved will get loads of recognition in our own right, and that'll be good for me when I decide to open my own greenhouse." Neville replied modestly.
"Truth be told, I couldn't care less about all that, just more drops of fame into the bucket you know," he said dismissively. "What I'm interested in is how it'll help me with more projects in the future. Someone has to keep Hermione on her toes you know, otherwise all she'd do was work on more laws or amendments to laws and we'd never see her."
"I'll have you know I've been doing that anyways!" Hermione called out from the other side of the large basement where she was checking a large runic circle drawn into the floor. "I must admit Harry, this is awfully impressive for you. Are you sure you didn't drag Padma or someone over here, I remember she's a fair hand at rituals." she teased him.
"I'll have you know I did all this myself! Besides the arithmancy calculations you did of course, oh and Neville's supply of magical plants he provided, and Luna's help researching… But I did all the rune and ritual related work myself!" he attempted to sound important, only for Hermione to giggle at him and turn back to the circle, speaking to her Dicta-Quill.
"It's alright Harry, you did great work on the ritual so far, there's no need to let the nargles distract you now, not when there's still work to be done." Luna stated.
"You're right, Luna, and thanks for THE RECOGNITION." he attempted to sound angry at Hermione, but his smile gave him away.
"Harry, are you sure we can't make this stone any smaller? It's nearly half the size of a wardstone, something as wide as Molly Weasley and half as tall isn't very practical now is it?" Hermione asked.
"We've been over this Hermione, I can't make it smaller because then I wouldn't be able to fit all the rune circles on there that I need to. I'd prefer to be even larger so I could have room to carve more onto it in the future, but if it becomes necessary we can just repeat the ritual. That is of course if this is successful."
"With all of us working on it, of course it will be!" Hermione said proudly. "Just imagine it, a philosopher's stone made without Alchemy! We'll be written into the history books!"
"Pretty sure we're already in the history books 'Mione. You know, the whole beating a Dark Lord and his army thing." Neville pointed out.
"That was as much luck as it was any skills we had. This is something we've done entirely by ourselves, no luck or outside forces of fate interfering."
"She does have a point Nev. We were lucky as shite." Harry added.
"Fair enough." he conceded and left the room to get another plant from upstairs.
"And this isn't a Philosopher's stone Hermione." Harry told her, but she only shrugged.
"If it quacks like a duck Harry, it's probably a duck. You're basically making a battery for things you wouldn't normally be able to do. This one might not be able to make the elixir of life right off the bat, but I doubt Flamel's did either. Call it what you want, but the Philosopher's stone is basically a battery that he used to power alchemical rituals too draining to perform otherwise, like making large quantities of gold."
"...not a philosopher's stone…" he mumbled rebelliously.
"Mate, I'm with her, it's a clunkier stone." Neville betrayed as he sat down yet another plant inside the room, slapping the venus fly-trap looking thing down when it tried to bite him.
"I hate you all, besides Luna. she's with me, right Luna?"
"It is Harry's baby, so he deserves to name it himself, whether its a philosopher's stone or not is beside the point."
"...I'll take it."
Harry went back to helping Luna and Neville move the flora into the room while Hermione finished up, then three of them went into a side area of the room he had installed with impervious charmed windows looking in, along with bricks strengthened with runes. All in all it would prove to be a very formidable wall to protect them should the ritual go wrong.
Harry was left the only one in the room, as he would be the one performing the ritual. His general Idea for the ritual, which he got Hermione's help to perfect, was to activate the runic circle on the floor, then activate the stone in the center of the circle. The large circle would begin drawing the magic from all the plants inside it, and considering the circle covered most of the floor that was a lot, while the stone would absorb the ambient magic in the air and store it, turning it into a battery. He was of course taking precautions by adding magic nullifying runes to the walls to prevent it from drawing on the wards around Potter Manor, where he was performing the ritual.
He activated both sets of runes, and began pouring his magic into the floor circle to keep it charged, muttering "Mater tua sponte naturae industria dabo eos in omnem ventum." over and over as he did. When the air inside the circle was so charged he could see a visible aura forming a beam of light that made seeing the stone hard, he stopped chanting and focused on keeping the power contained. After awhile, the light dimmed, and Harry could see the energy getting drawn into the runes on the stone, which were glowing themselves at this point.
It took nearly ten minutes after he stopped chanting for the energy to be absorbed fully, and when it was over Harry was drenched in sweat with the effort of holding that much magical energy in. he shakily got up off his knees and walked over to examine his work, calling out, "I think it's safe, the stone doesn't feel like it's in danger of exploding." to his friends. Neville was the first one out, having faith in Harry, followed by Luna who was just on the other side of the room. Hermione had a better idea of the dangers, and warily left her safety net to examine their success.
All of them could feel the power radiating off the stone, Rivalling, or possibly even surpassing even Harry's mighty strength, which bested even Voldemort, the greatest evil since the Dark Lady Morgana.
The gem itself had been changed by the ritual as well. What once was obsidian that Harry created himself by apparating to an active volcano for its high melting point and known magic conductivity, had transformed to a green crystal that neared neon green in color, with glowing runes etched on all sides of it.
"I can't believe it actually worked on the first try." Hermione breathed.
"Your lack of faith disturbs me." Harry said, getting a side eyed glare from her.
"It's 'I find your lack of faith disturbing' for one, and for two I know you're just as surprised as me. You expected to have to make alterations just as much as I did. I was expecting at least the first three to be trial runs."
"What can I say, I'm just that good." Harry said.
Neville was focused on the plants that he'd brought in, which had been drained to the point that they were crumbling to dust. "This will take a lot of plants to keep charged Harry." he noted.
"Eh, the plants were a substitute, I just need them until I can find a way to put my own energy in this thing without it draining me to that point."
Luna had been practically mesmerized by the crystal that neared her chest, short as she was. She walked up to it in a trance-like state, unknown to the other three until it was too late to stop her. Harry noticed and shouted for her to stop just as she laid a hand on the thing. He picked her up by the waist and dragged her back to the safe room only seconds after she touched it, but nearly half of her magical energy had been drained in that time.
"Luna, what the fuck were you doing!" he shouted incredulously.
"Hmm," she seemed to snap out of her trance. "Did you say something Harry? I'm sorry, but did you hear the voice coming from it? It was like nothing I've ever heard before, a language of power, I could feel the words resonating with me, though I don't know what they meant." she was already staring at the stone again, curious.
"No Luna, I didn't hear anything," he sighed. "I better go make sure that didn't mess anything up, but stay here. I don't want to risk that happening to you again." patting her on the shoulder, he left and used colloportus on the door, overpowering it to hell to make sure she couldn't get out unless he cancelled it.
Harry could already tell that something was off with the stone when he returned. Where before the stone was all green, he could see a sliver of silver in the stone now. Not to mention the stone was heating up, projecting this heat on the room. "We may want to get to the safe room, it looks like this one was a trial run after all!" he laughed nervously as they all ran back.
He barely managed to cancel the spell and usher them all inside before things went pear shaped. They all watched as the crystal began to grow smaller and smaller, looking like it was shrinking in on itself. Very quickly it vanished, and only a minute later the smallest speck they could see disappeared from view.
"Do you think it's over?" Neville asked warily.
"Knowing my luck, prob-"BOOM. Their safety room was torn open by the explosion like little more than a curtain, only Harry's fast as lightning shield protecting them from shrapnel. In the center of the room lay a wormhole, a vortex sucking in everything around it, growing more powerful as it went.
"This is bad!" Harry shouted around the wind.
"No shit!" Hermione shouted back, causing Harry to look at her in shock for a moment as Hermione rarely used curse words, as her vocabulary was large enough to have replacements without resorting to 'those basic, vulgar words'. For her to be so angry, the situation must really be dire. "If I'm right, we have to outlast all the magic that thing absorbed without getting sucked into that!"
"At what rate is it consuming the magic." he asked desperately.
"I don't know." she replied grimly, grabbing onto a bit of stone still attached to the floor, causing the other three to do similarly. The vortex just grew stronger and stronger, pulling on them harder and harder. Luna was the first to go, actually letting go to fly into the vortex, her eyes giving away that she was back in the trance-like state from before. They shouted their grief, but it was for naught, as Neville followed next, the bit of stone he was hugging breaking and flying into the portal with him.
Harry and Hermione were crying at the loss of their friends, but holding desperately to their rapidly crumbling shields. When Hermione's broke, Harry didn't even hesitate a moment before jumping up and grabbing his best friend, his sister in all but blood, into a hug and shielding them both with his powerful aura as they entered the wormhole. Even the walls meant to contain magic were crumbling around them, and soon Potter manor was crumbling inwards, collapsing into the vortex. The entirety of the library along with half the manor proper were absorbed, leaving ruins behind as the portal finally faded from existence, drained of magic.
-LINE BREAK-
-somewhere in The Spine, Alagaesia-
When Harry and Hermione fell through the exit portal, their landing was surprisingly soft, which would have been curious were it not for the oof's they heard beneath them. They saw Neville first, sprawled out on top of Luna, who was in a similar position on the ground. Harry and Hermione quickly hugged their friends for all they were worth, joyous that they had lived.
After a few minutes to calm down, Neville asked. "What the bloody hell just happened? I could have sworn I was going to die when my hold broke, but besides that odd voice in the pitch black, I barely felt anything until I Landed on Luna."
"By my guess, somehow the magics of man and nature mixed, and reacted to form a portal to somewhere random when they were in tandem with the mess of runes I had carved on that thing. Who knows honestly, we should figure out where we are, I don't want to risk a cross planet apparition, the last time I did that the crack was loud enough to break every window in Diagon."
"I agree with Harry, we need to get our bearings back." Hermione said as she took the hand Harry offered to get up. The four used line of sight apparition, short distance though it was in the mountainous forest, until they spotted a town just inside the forest's borders, a dirt road leading out. What was truly surprising was that the hamlet looked like it came straight out of medieval times, people walking around in clothes that looked more at home among the founders of Hogwarts than it did these modern day graduates. The buildings also looked primitive, no modern tudor or victorian manors in sight, nor the electric wiring always present in the muggle world.
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Harry breathed, and Hermione nodded in agreement.
"I could have told you that. The magic of this world is different from ours." Luna stated in her usual dreamy manner.
"...Different how?" Harry asked after digesting that statement.
"It feels… heavier for lack of a better word. Think of our magic like water, the magic of this world is more like an oil, a thicker consistency. Our bodies will be able to use it the same as before, I think, but it is different nonetheless."
"How do you know this?" Hermione broached.
"I felt for it. I can sense magic you know. I've been able to since the ritual my mother attempted when I was 9. I can see it too, along with nargles and wrackspurts and a few of the other creatures I bring up in the Quibbler."
"Luna's explanation aside, what does this mean for us?" Harry asked.
"We shouldn't risk opening another portal, I'm fairly certain a return trip would just send us to another random world, reality, universe-wherever we are!" Hermione finished aggravatedly.
"So this is our world now?" Neville asked.
"I'm afraid so." they all looked sad at that, but also curious at the opportunity to see an entirely different world.
"Should we change our clothes to match theirs? I don't know how much we should stand out, we don't know who rules this area, the political stability, whether its a monarchy or democracy, or merlin forbid a dictatorship. There's so much we need to figure out-"
"Hermione." Harry interrupted her exasperatedly. "No, we shouldn't. Clothing doesn't matter a terrible amount, not to mention the fact that I refuse to change my robes into THAT. What we should be worried about is whether they speak english or not, and if they're friendly. If we can figure out how rare magic is in this world, we may not even have to hide it!" he finished excitedly.
They exited the town hours later with a wide breadth of knowledge they lacked before, and a map of the land they found themselves in that Hermione was clever enough to geminio charm a duplicate of. When they returned to their entry point into the world, their de facto base camp for the moment, they were shocked by the presence of rubble everywhere. Littering the rubble was the knowledge that Harry recognized from Potter Manor's library. After the shock passed they quickly got to work gathering up the books and giving them to Hermione, who put them in her beaded handbag enchanted with a space expansion charm.
By the time they had finished, even with the aid of magic, the sun was setting and the air around them was gaining a chill. Harry took it upon himself to fix that, and began repairing the different pieces of the manor scattered around, before piling them into a nice shelter. Once he was done, he transfigured the structure into a whole house, which on top of all the magic he'd expended already today, drove him to his knees. "Won't last forever, but it'll last the night at least…" he said around heavy breaths.
Hermione helped him up and into the place, followed by Neville and Luna. She still had the cots they used in the war stuck in her bag, so she grabbed those three, along with the spare she'd bought in case one of them had managed to break a cot, and set them up. Harry practically dove into his bed, and soft snores were heard in their cabin moments later.
"He still pushes himself way too hard." Neville noted.
"He wouldn't be Harry if he didn't try to take on the whole burden himself. We'll just have to show him we won't let him." Hermione said determinedly. They also fell asleep quickly, uncomfortable though the cots felt.
The dawn arrived all too quickly for Harry, who groaned under its glare shining through a window he'd made. All the same, he woke up and went to examine the map they got yesterday. The paper gave picture to great forests in the north, mountains along the west coast with a few islands dotting the ocean. It spoke of highlands and more mountains to the south, the Beor mountain range. All of this bordered the plains and desert sprawling across the center of the map. The forest of Du Weldenvarden and the Beor mountains appeared to be uninhabited, at least according to this map, and the capital city stood in the plainsland, named Uru'Baen. Harry figured they could line of sight their way along the coast to explore some of the towns and harbors, then head inwards to the capital to get a feel for their new homeworld.
Luna was surprisingly the next to wake, and together they spoke in hushed tones about his plans while they waited on the others to join them. Luna wished to visit bookstores and libraries in the cities and find out what the language was that they heard in the void between the worlds. Harry was honestly curious to, as she described it similarly to how witches and wizards cast spells with words of power, usually in ancient, near dead languages. Except she described this tongue as much more powerful than a simply stupefy or expelliarmus.
When all were awake and gathered together, Harry recited his plan once last time, and got agreements to it all around. They left the small shack, and Harry cancelled the transfiguration, causing the once again rubble of Potter Manor to collapse into a pile, which Harry set alight with an incendio before he turned to his friends, who were watching him with a small amount of sadness. He smiled reassuringly at them and said, "Just a house, guys. I'm sure I'll have ample opportunity to build a new and improved manor here."
"Yeah," Hermione began. "But I'm still sorry you lost the things from your manor, Harry. I know you had a lot of things with sentimental value that belonged to Sirius, Remus, and your parents in there…"
"They were just objects. I still have the memories, and I know how to make a pensieve. I might not be as good as the Creevey's at magical photography, but I can replicate most, if not all, of the pictures of them from inside my memories. And those are the most important things to me." he slung an arm over her shoulder and gave her a side-hug.
Neville hesitated for a moment, then said. "We should probably start moving now, even with L.O.S apparition, we still have a lot of ground to cover. How are we doing this, me and Luna and You and Hermione?"
"Sounds good to me. We can start by heading over to that tree across the valley that looks like it got struck by lightning, see the one?" he questioned.
"By the big boulder?"
"That's the one." Harry and Hermione disappeared silently.
"Arrogant bugger, he's always happy to show off that he knows how to do that silently." Neville muttered amusedly.
"Harry takes pride in his skills, it does make him a little cheeky at times though." Luna assented with a grin, before she put her hand in Neville's and they rejoined the other two.
They continued in this pattern throughout the day, slowly but surely making their way through the foothills known as The Spine. They stopped for a lunch at a lake that, after a quick check on the map, was identified as Flam Lake. the Lake itself was small, but its seclusion away from the advancement of man made it a beautiful place to take a break and marvel at their surroundings while they rested.
It took longer than they would have preferred because of their chosen route, having to sometimes hike up the small mountains to find another vantage point for an apparition of decent range, but the four finally made it to another settlement, a city known as Teirm, where they decided to stop for the night.
Calling Teirm a settlement did it no justice, though. Its thick white walls rose up at least a hundred feet, casting a long shadow on the four with the help of the setting sun. Harry could see a citadel in one corner of the city that housed a towering lighthouse. It seemed as though the town itself was built on a hill, the buildings arrayed in such a way that the ones surrounding the citadel were twice as high as the ones surrounding the outer wall.
As the quartet drew close to the large gate that marked the entrance, they were stopped by two guards wielding spears and bucklers. "Name and business." one of the two stated, a pudgy man with a mustache that reminded Harry of his Uncle Vernon.
"Harry of Carvahall, myself and my companions are travellers wishing to find an inn to stay the night." Harry said, using the small hamlet that appeared near to give themselves a little backstory.
"What you travellin' for?" the second guard nasally asked.
"We seek to make a business arrangement with a trader in Uru'Baen."
"Very well, you may pass." the Vernon look-alike said.
As they were passing through the city, Harry felt an odd magical energy coming from a Herbalist's shop. Harry told everyone about it, and they all agreed to check it out, entering the shop one at a time.
Inside, the shop seemed like organized chaos, things strewn about on shelves and racks. There didn't appear to be anyone behind the counter, so Harry just browsed for a moment, looking at the ingredients littering the shop, ranging from frog's eye to Urgal horn dust, whatever an Urgal was.
Harry was startled by what appeared to be a large cat, Harry thought it was some species of Lynx, rubbing against his leg, tail swishing at his lower stomach. Harry was outright shocked when the Lynx looked up and locked eyes with him before stating. "Greetings, Master of Death."
Harry stiffened, as did his friends, and he hissed, "How do you know that title, cat?"
The lynx hissed back, literally, and said. "Referring to me as a cat is the same as referring to a dragon as a mindless wyvern. You would do well to remember this, Harry Potter; not all is the same in this world as from your own, some beings here were mindless in your world, yet have a timeless knowledge and unknown power here. As to your question, I am Solembum the werecat, and I have the gift of sight. Past, present, future, I can see the threads of time as they intersect. I can see what one stitch in the fabric of time would cause as compared to another, and Your arrival here shifts the entire pattern being woven. You will change a great many things in Alagaesia, and the world beyond."
"If you can see as well as you claim, you would know I put no stock in Divination."
"Nor should you. The future is yours to write, just as fate ordained. There are many paths the future may take, your arrival in this world is just one of many. You could just as easily have been erased from existence, or been sent to a completely different world. But forces conspired to bring you here instead of allowing you to end up elsewhere. Don't get that distrustful look, these beings wish you no ill will, they only wish to have you lend an ear to their plea, and possibly a hand to their plight if you prove to be amenable. Hear my words Potter, in the northernmost edge of The Spine, beyond even your point of arrival, where the hills turn white, you will find what seeks you. If you go, you shall gain a friend to stand by your side through the test of time and the passing of the ages. And remember, creature though they may appear at first, they have more knowledge and wisdom than many could ever hope to achieve in the time they have lived."
"I'll take your words under advisement." Harry assented after a moment's thought.
"As you should," a young woman that just exited another room said seriously. "Werecats are wise beyond belief, and those lucky few that can hear them should listen avidly to any advice they offer."
"Angela I take it?" Harry asked.
"Yep!" she brightly said. "Sorry about the wait, I was performing an experiment in my laboratory. To be honest I still am, but I heard Solembum talking and figured this was much more interesting than testing whether or not a wyvern's fire sac can be used to fuel a lantern." she grinned. "So far the answer is yes, though you need to keep the flame low or you risk it melting through the lamp." she winced for a moment. "Now what can I help you with?" she asked kindly.
"Just...browsing." Harry said lamely with a shrug.
"We felt some odd magic while walking by, and decided to see what it was." Luna explained further, causing Harry to wince internally.
"Odd magic eh… it was probably me or Solembum." she said with a shrug. Harry decided to test that by extending his power, creating the bright green aura around his body that usually appeared when he was in an emotionally charged situation or in combat, and felt both the magic of the cat and the witch. The cat's felt odd, but differently to what attracted them to the store, but Angela's… hers was the mixture of magics that felt sewn together, the odd feeling of many magics piled on top of one another and forced to merge. It was what had drawn them to the building.
"It was you." Harry said after he lessened the magical energy permeating the room, rolling his shoulders as they suddenly felt stiff. "Your magic… it feels odd. Like there's more than one type of magical energy inside of your body."
"Sometimes I eat my ingredients to test what they'll do, that's probably it." she said noncommittally.
"If you say so…" Harry replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, do any of you want me to read your fortunes?" she changed the subject, suddenly getting excited.
"No thanks, as I told the ca-werecat, I have no interest in knowing the future, as saying what will happen only gives that future more power, thus making it harder to fight that fate."
Angela pouted, before looking at the other three hopefully. "Any of you want your fortunes read?"
Hermione shook her head along with Luna, but Neville was curious enough to hear her out. "I guess I'm willing to have mine read." he said after a moment, strolling over to Angela.
Angela cheered, before grabbing him by the wrist and draggin him over to a table. She grabbed a handful of bones from a pouch at her waist, and shook them around in her hands before dumping them into a large, nearly flat metal bowl on the table. As she hunched over the bones with her eyes closed, Harry felt magic charging the air, and matched the power with his own at the foreign energy blanketing the shop. He narrowed his eyes at the table, staring hard at the bones.
She finally opened her eyes and looked at Neville. "You are a hard man to get a read on, sir." she said, taking a deep breath. "But I'm cool enough to manage. Now onto the first part of your fortune, see these three bones, they form the Oak tree, it shows you will live a long life, longer than average though not forever. Most get the Elm or Aspen, which shows a normal lifespan. The second is the wandering path, followed by wolf. This shows you will have many choices ahead of you, I can see great change occurring around your group. The wolf describes more of what I just said, you and your pack shall travel together, and overcome obstacles that would best you all separately. The last omen is the star, which signifies a romance in your future, though I cannot be more specific than that as the star is the most vague telling of a future romance."
"You all certainly are interesting, do feel free to come find me anytime you want to liven up my day." she said after they all digested Neville's fortune, the man in question still wide eyed at the last part of his fortune. Harry nodded, and pulled Neville up, before urging them all out of the store, trying to leave before anything else… interesting occured.
He waited until they were a good distance down the street before stopping and turning to his friends. "That was intense." he said blankly, causing Hermione to snort.
"That's one word for it." she suddenly got a serious look on her face. "Are you going to listen to what the werecat said Harry?" she asked carefully. "I'm not trying to force you into it, but if what Solembum said is true, then whatever is in the northern area of those mountains brought us to this world, and it's friendly. Plus there's the fact that he said you would gain a lifetime friend by going up there, and I don't think you should pass that up Harry." for not trying to strong arm him into it, she began sounding awfully assertive near the end of her reasoning.
"I'll think about it tonight and give you an answer by tomorrow, does that sound alright?" at her nod, he continued. "Okay, now we need to find a place to stay at unless you lot want to go back and rough it in the woods or somewhere."
They all chorused. "Inn is fine… inn is fine."
Harry located an inn quickly enough, and rented them a room for the night, throwing up some notice-me-not's and muggle aversion charms on it before magically expanding it and letting the other three compile the few household spells they each knew to give the room a thorough cleaning. Soon the dirty room with a single bed was easily large enough to fit all three of them and was so clean Harry thought if he used a lumos the wooden floor would shine.
After they settled and got some food, talk turned toward their travel plans for tomorrow.
"So if we do go back north tomorrow, where are we going to go afterwards? It would cut into our plan of going to Dras-Leona then Uru'Baen and into the Hadarac from there." Hermione asked as she made a copy of their map and summoned a quill, ready to make alterations to their travel plan.
"I think we could explore Du Weldenvarden instead. I heard from the gossipers in town that it could put the forbidden forest to shame with how magical it feels." Neville put in.
"Sounds interesting if we do go north, the question is… do we?" Harry asked curiously. He was content to just leave the people Solembum told him about alone for now, as he didn't know how much the werecat could be trusted, though the idea of new friends and allies was appealing.
"I still think we should. You can never have too many friends Harry, especially now that we're in a place where we know literally no one besides each other and now that herbalist, Angela and the werecat."
"I agree with Hermione, also I want to see who the voices were in the vortex. The lady said that they helped bring us to this world, so that means the voices we heard could have been them." Luna stated her opinion.
"I'm okay with either way, I'll leave this discussion to you guys." Neville said.
Harry debated it for a moment, before slumping slightly. "Alright, we'll go look for them tomorrow. After we've spoken to them we'll explore the magical forest. Who knows we might even find new plants for you to hoard Nev, though we'll need to build a greenhouse first. That's another thing, while we're travelling, look for a place we could build another manor at. We need a place to stay at permanently, one I could ward to hell and back so it would be safe for us." they all agreed that a headquarters was high up on their list of priorities and nodded at that. Soon they grew weary, and tucked in for the night.
-LINE BREAK-
"Do you see anything?" Harry called out from his place at the bottom of the cliff, looking up at Luna and Hermione who were gazing into the distance, looking for signs of life.
"Nothing," Hermione shouted back. "No houses anywhere, not even smoke from a fire or anything else to indicate a campsite." they apparated back down after scanning the horizon for a few more moments.
"Solembum could have given us better directions than the northern spine where the hills turn white." Harry griped.
"We'll find them eventually," Luna said in her usual calm, dreamy tone. "We just have to keep searching. I quite like this, it reminds me of snorkack hunting with daddy. Though I do miss the safari hats we wore…" she pouted slightly.
"Unfortunately we are running short on safari hats…" Neville started to say, but Harry picked up a rock and transfigured it into one, before throwing it to Luna who squeaked as she put it on, a large smile on her face.
"Thanks Harry!" she beamed.
"No problem, it'll wear off in a few hours, I'd give it… 4 or 5?" he questioned himself. "So I'd take it off before then unless you want to get bonked on the head by a rock."
"Alright."
The quartet searched hilltop to hilltop for over two hours, applying warming charms consistently to stave off the frigid cold. Finally, when it was so cold even the warming charm was failing, and the snow completely covered the ground, they saw a smoke stack in the distance. They raced towards it, eager for the warmth, and not ten minutes later they found themselves facing a man and a woman sitting close together at a roaring fire that looked as though it was caused by a strong incendio, as the ground around it was charred as well, all the snow in a small radius melted.
Harry was the first to notice an oddity with the female of the group, in that she had pointed ears reminiscent to what Harry thought an elf looked like from Lord of the Rings. He was the first to sit down by the fire, welcomed by warm smiles from the two.
"Hello, Harry Potter." the woman said.
"Erm… hi. Are you the ones that brought us here?" Harry asked abruptly.
The man shook his head exasperatedly before looking at the woman. "It appears you were correct Itu, the youth of today have no patience whatsoever."
"Well we would be curious in his shoes as well, would we not?" she said, looking at him fondly. "You must remember, dear, that they are in a new world with little to no knowledge of how they got here or why we brought them."
"Yeah, I would like an explanation for that, If you don't mind." Harry butted in.
"Ah, apologies, we get carried away in our conversations at times." she said, though she didn't look very apologetic. "I'll answer your questions. Firstly, we brought you here, shielded your friends from the void, though you and the young Miss Granger would have come through fine because of your protection. We brought you here because we are in desperate need of help. The king of these lands, Galbatorix, is mad with power and seeks to subjugate all before him. He is a ruthless tyrant and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals."
"So… depose him." Harry stated plainly. "It's been done many times in my world, just get rid of him and put someone else on the throne."
"Were it so easy, it would have been done already." the man stated irritably. "Galbatorix is a rider, and a skilled wizard on top of that."
"I'm sorry, rider? I don't know what that is." Harry confusedly said, hearing thumps around him as his friends decided it was alright to join them around the fire.
"A dragon rider. his dragon, Shruikan, has been enhanced through dark magics and is by far the greatest dragon alive today."
"You can tame dragons?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"We do not tame dragons, we bond with them." the man sneered for a moment, and Itu smacked him on the shoulder.
She continued for him. "Dragons here are different from dragons on your world. Dragons are sentient in this land, nearly immortal and very powerful. When a dragon finds a suitable rider, a bond will form and their egg will hatch. The bond between dragon and rider is sacred, more powerful than you could understand without being a rider yourself. The bond will also change the rider in certain ways, creating a mental link between dragon and rider, and rendering the rider immortal, or nearly. But you know about immortality already don't you, Ebrithil abr Freohr."
Harry didn't know what that meant, but the power behind the words made him stiffen as a wave of magic washed over him. "I don't know what you're talking about." he said carefully.
"Yes you do," she sang. "As the 'master of death', you are already immortal. We made sure you would be up to what we would ask of you before we brought you here, Harry."
"So you looked between realities to find me? You know that's kind've stalkerish, right?" he wearily said.
"I apologize not for bringing you, but I do apologize for spying on you if it helps you."
Harry just sighed and pushed forward. "What do you want?"
"We want your help of course. What you do is up to you, just please, help the world against the mad king. You could fight him, help others hide from him, help his foes with your magical remedies and enchantments. There is so much you could do, we just ask that you do something!" she pleaded desperately, the man throwing an arm over her shoulder in a comforting manner.
Harry sat silently for a few minutes thinking about her plea. "I'll… think about it. I cannot promise much because I don't know the situation fully, but if it is as bad as you say, my 'saving people thing' as my friends call it won't let me sit back and do nothing." he smirked at them.
"Very well, I suppose we have no choice but to accept that. Now onto the second reason we called you here, Survonvith! Kurolnin!" two large snowbanks went flying, sending snow everywhere, and only Harry casting a quick ventus saved the fire keeping them warm. When everything settled, Harry was staring at two dragons of pure white, both with glittering eyes staring back at him, as though they were weighing his soul and judging it's worth.
"So… when you were talking about riders, should I assume you are both riders?" Harry asked, still staring warily at the large creatures.
"It would be a wise assumption." Itu said mischievously.
"Alright, I'll bite. What is this second reason? Are you trying to make one of us lunch for your dragons? I doubt we'd be more than a snack at best, just so you know."
"No, we wish for you to touch something." one dragon put its snout in the snow and began shifting it around, before it came back up with an egg clamped in its jaws. It moved forward and placed the egg at Harry's feet before backing away, not blinking once as it stared at Harry.
"You think… I could be a rider?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"You are a hero, whether you think of yourself as one or not is irrelevant. You also have a kind heart and a good sense of morals. I'm certain you will be a rider, the question is will this egg choose you or will a different one." the man confidently stated.
"Alright, if you say so…" Harry touched his hand against the egg and for a moment nothing happened. But then Harry's hand started burning fiercely, and he pulled it back to see a silver insignia on it that looked like an e, branded into his palm.
"Ah-ha! I was right, Itu, the Gedwey Ignasia appears!"
"I figured it would as well Thenn, but we had to be sure."
Harry watched the egg as it immediately started cracking, breaking open before his eyes.
"Ah, that one's impatient. Been in that egg for ages, she has." Thenn laughed as he watched the dragon knock off pieces of the shell with its snout.
When the creature finally managed to break out of the egg that resembled a pearl in color, a pure white dragonling appeared, an even brighter shade than her sires, who blended in with snow well enough to hide from Harry and his friends. She fumbled around on the ground, slowly making her way towards Harry, until he picked her up and held her in his hands. She kind of reminded him of the miniature Horntail figurine that he plucked from the bag during the triwizard tournament, except much more slender and graceful and less… killing machine that breathed fire.
Harry could feel the bond forming even as the dragon bit his finger and began nibbling on it, making him summon a hare from nearby and kill it, putting it and the dragon on the ground at his feet so the creature could feed. When he looked up, he saw the elf had approached him, and before he could react she put two fingers on his forehead and forced knowledge into his head before he could bring up his occlumency shields. He glared at her as she backed off, sorting through the information to find that it was a short history of dragons and riders, as well as how to properly care for dragons in this world.
"That… was unwise." he hissed angrily.
"I only apologize for not asking permission, as you needed the information." she said unrepentantly.
"You should be more careful around me. Remember that you brought me here because I might be powerful enough to succeed where you both have apparently failed, along with the rest of your near extinct order." they both flinched at that statement. "I have had my mind invaded many times before, and I grew to dislike it, to say the least. You caught me off guard as I was unaware there were other mind readers here, but I will not make that mistake again. Try something and I will not be held responsible."
"You should know…" the woman began timidly. "That the bond you share with your dragon will pass through your mental shields. She will be able to communicate with you and feel your presence no matter what, unless you learn the way riders did so to have privacy."
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, until then we're leaving." he stood abruptly, his friends following him. The dragons eyed him warily, but did nothing as they all apparated away, Harry having told his friends to head to just outside of Teirm.
-LINE BREAK-
"What are we going to do with her, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"She's the friend Solembum referred to I think, so keep her of course, not that the bond gives me much of an option." he patted her on the head, and she wrapped her tail around the back of his neck from where she was seated on his shoulder. "The problem is how to keep her secret. With the information the elf gave me, and yes she was an elf, Galbatorix will either try to kill or recruit me just for being a rider, so we need to keep that secret for as long as possible. I think we should focus on building a headquarters now, and ward it enough to make Hogwarts feel jealous so she will have a place to grow in peace. This will put a hamper on our plans to visit Dras-Leona for a bit, but it's a necessity now."
"Alright Harry, we're with you." Neville said and Hermione and Luna nodded along with him. "Where are we going to build a house though? I think one of the best areas was by Flam lake, or where we first fell into this world outside Carvahall."
"I'm thinking Flam lake Nev, it looks much nicer than our drop point."
"Flam lake it is."
They apparated back to the spot where they had lunch yesterday, and began setting up a small shelter for the night by transfiguring nearby objects into tents. Harry took longer to fall asleep than the others, as he had to contend with an energetic dragon. She finally curled up next to him after wiggling about in the tent for over twenty minutes and went to sleep, Harry following shortly after.
Dawn arrived all too soon, and after getting some food for his still unnamed dragon, Harry began using cutting curses to gather some wood for their manor. Harry could create a permanent transfiguration once he gathered the necessary materials by carving a rune in the ward stone he had yet to get that would feed the transfiguration from the ambient magic of the world without him having to do so. He also needed to go blast apart some stone, and burn some sand into glass, but the wood gathering was going very well and also serving the purpose of clearing an area for the house.
Neville, Hermione, and Luna began helping him once they were awake, and they made short work of material gathering, having distinct piles for the different materials organized not an hour later. Harry sent them off to find a suitable wardstone, while he began the process of house building. He made an image in his mind of Potter Manor, as it was the only manor he was completely familiar with, and willed his magic through his trusty holly and phoenix feather wand, willing the magic to begin crafting Potter Manor version 2.0. It took a fair amount of time, long enough for his friends to return and just watch the materials shift and move into the shape they knew, and by the time it was done Harry was sweating and breathing heavily.
He wasted no time, though, and Immediately moved over to the large rock they brought him and began carving away at it with his wand, using the method of having a cutting curse glowing on the end of his wand but not actually casting it to cut through the stone. He imbued each and every rune with his power initially to get them powered, then linked them together with the powering rune that charged from the environment. It took him longer to carve all the runes on the stone than it did to assemble the manor, and by the time he was done it was just past lunch judging by the sun's position in the sky, and he wearily levitated the stone into the manor, into the basement he'd had Neville clear out, and buried it in the hole he'd specified for Neville to dig just for the stone.
Before he filled in the hole, Harry went to Hermione and asked for a blank notebook from her bag, which she conveniently had, and enchanted it to be the Ward-Log and connected it to the stone through another rune. Once they were connected he added the names of his four friends to the book and flipped to the other end of the book, writing all the runic wards he could activate on that end.
Outside the manor, the trio plus a dragon felt a wave of magic wash over them as Harry's first set of wards activated, stifling the air for a few moments before going back to normal and allowing them to continue their lunch, Harry's plate set to the side under a stasis charm. He stumbled back outside and collapsed next to his friends, grumbling about how they started eating without him.
After he managed to refill his stomach and recharge his batteries, he went about putting up extra wards around the edge of the property, the second layer of wards, these being wand based instead of rune based and were anchored to the magic of the land directly instead of through a stone. Normally these wards are strongest close to ley-lines, such as the ones many manors are built on, or the multiple lines that cross over Hogwarts, but the magic in Alagaesia was stronger and thicker than Earth's magic, and thus the outer wards were as powerful as the Hogwarts wards even though Harry didn't think there was a ley-line anywhere near here.
"How long do you think it'll take all these wards to get to full strength, Harry?" Neville asked curiously in between bites of his sandwich.
"The inner ones, maybe a few weeks or less. The outer ones I have no clue how strong they'll get. Hogwarts' wards got stronger and stronger over the centuries, but eventually plateau'd because of the lack of additional ley-lines. But as far as I can tell, there are no ley-lines in this world, and the earth itself is magical, so they could just keep getting stronger forever, or at least until they reach the same plateau Hogwarts did, though it'll take much longer for these to even out. By the way, do you guys think I should put the Fidelius over us?"
"Not unless it's an emergency situation, we might have to let people through here sometime and it would get hassling having to show everyone the location." Hermione said after a moment's thought.
"Fair enough."
"So are we going to go to Dras-Leona tomorrow?" Hermione asked excitedly, wanting to look at other cities.
"We should leave someone here to look after the dragoness, but I think so, yes."
"I'll stay! I've never had the opportunity to care for a dragon before." Luna energetically stated.
"Just remember," Harry warned. "She is sentient, young yes, but sentient. She is an intelligent being that is mentally maturing rapidly, soon she'll be capable of telepathy, which is how they communicate. Don't treat her like an animal, please."
"Harry Potter! Who do you think you're talking to!" Luna stated angrily.
"I know, I know! Just making sure, Luna."
-CHAPTER END-
AN: yet another story i've started… It's gonna take me forever to finish all these stories, but I can't be bothered to care, I'm enjoying myself writing them and I hope at least a few of you are enjoying reading them. See y'all next chapter hope y'all enjoyed.