Merry Christmas to all of you guys. FYI if you have a problem with me not using happy holidays here's how I think it should work. When I say Merry Christmas, you can reply with you as well, Happy Hanukkah or happy holidays and no one whines about it because we have paid respects to both our own and each other's believes. I even accept happy Dawning for the hardcore fans. Moving on, gonna try and get chapters for my other stories banged out before either the 25th or New Year's but I suck at mushy drama so no promises other then I am going to try. Every review is like a little present for me so come on readers I can use some superfluous holiday cheer lol. Hope you enjoy my gift to all of you this Christmas.
Justus3138
I have seen some ugly things in my time as a guardian. None of the enemy races were pretty to look at. Except maybe the Vex. They had the whole killer future machine look down pat.
But right now, Ron is giving the Scorn a run for their money with his dress robes. I understand that the Weasley's aren't well off, but this is just giving Malfoy ammunition.
Ron turned around and finally noticed me.
"What are those?" he asked incredulously.
"My dress robes." I answered.
"Well, they're all right. More than alright if I'm being honest." He half accused half admired.
I couldn't disagree with him. Most of the boys from Hogwarts went with the typical dress robe style which consisted of muggle suit pants shirt and vest followed by a hybrid of robes and suit coat that turned out bulky.
I on the other hand had this formal attire from when I would visit the Awoken and was invited to such events. Again, black suit pants and dress shoes, a deep red dress shirt, black embroidered vest and solid black tie. My suit coat complemented my form much better then everyone else's. The waist section however when down to just below my knees like some Warlock robes from the Last City did. Lastly, while it was black the Awoken seamstresses had added a dark violet gloss to it. So, when the light catches it right you can see a faint purple glow similar to the amethyst in the Dreaming City.
In short, I was dressed like sex on legs.
"And there is nothing good I can say about yours. That lace should be burned. Ghost, can you fit my backup suit to him and extend the coat line to hide its nonmagical origins?" I asked my first friend from the future.
"What am I? A fairy godmother?" She asked with a bit of sass. Something she never did. It took me a moment to reboot.
"One, good of you to come out of your shell, and two, as long as you don't turn him into a pumpkin at midnight you can call yourself whatever you like.
With what passes for a shrug from her. She moved over to him and circled while shooting out a beam of light. In seconds, the abomination was replaced by a typical wizarding suit.
"I don't know how to thank you Harry." Ron spoke. Once the shock wore off.
"You can thank me by making sure your Patil has a nice time tonight." I replied.
With that we made our way down to the great hall.
As we were making our way down, I was taking a moment to admire the decorations.
The Dawning celebrations in the Last City featured mostly white and sky-blue colors with gold and silver trim. The dawn on a cloudless winter morning. It combined all of the Christmas traditions that the refugees brought to the city into one celebration that went on until the fifth day of the new year, the end of the dawning of a new year.
Hogwarts was the poster child for European decoration. Red was not common for other cultures to use in December. It was refreshing for me and a reminder of what I had forgotten.
Over the past week I have been getting a crash course in British holiday traditions that I couldn't hope to remember after centuries of fighting. Hopefully, I will be able to learn about the French and Bulgarian traditions as well.
Ron speaking broke me out of my self-reflection.
"Who?" I asked.
"Hermione of course. Come on Harry why do you think she wouldn't tell us who she's coming with?" he replied.
"Because you were an ass, and she wants to spite you?" I answered knowing that it was at least partially true.
"Nobody asked her. I would have taken her myself if she wasn't so bloody proud." He declared.
"Somebody definitely asked her Ron." I shot back.
Before he could reply our dates for tonight showed up.
The Patil twins were dressed in near identical east Indian style dresses. The only difference being they alternated colors.
"Hello boys." They said in sync.
"Don't you look dashing." Parvati said while looking the both of us up and down.
Before I could reply Professor, McGonagall approached us.
"Oh, there you are Potter. Are you and Miss Patil ready?" She asked, sounding out of breath.
"Don't the other students have to be seated before we parade in? I asked.
"Yes, but it would be preferable if I knew where each of the Champions are Mr. Potter." She replied.
"Then are you ready milady?" I asked, turning to Parvati.
"Most definitely." She quickly answered.
While the professor left, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to look up the stairs.
I was floored.
It was Hermione.
Apparently if you take away the mountain of books normally on her back and sick a stylist on her she can be incredibly beautiful.
Her dress was a light blue with bits of gold and white thrown in. She must have found some books in the Dreaming City about The Dawning cause the balance of those colors was giving me flashbacks to those festive times.
Krum walked right up to her and offered his arm to her. I called it and all I could think was 'Go Hermione.' I wonder how Ron is going to take this. Probably not well. Teenage jealousy can be a very ugly thing.
Luckily, someone thought it would be a good idea to feed everyone before the dance. Unluckily, I was seated next to Percy. Bagman would be a better conversationalist then this brown-noser.
Having menus for everyone to decide what they wanted to eat tonight was a smart decision in my mind. No sense trying to cook a Christmas supper to satisfy all three different cultures tastes.
Case in Point. Fleur was comparing the decorations to what would have been setup in France and what would have happened to Peeves. While she did have a point, her delivery of those critiques could have used a little more tack. Wizarding Britain seemed to always be reacting to problems rather than being proactive and try to head them off before they got out of hand. Peeves hasn't caused any serious injuries yet but why risk it?
My goulash was delicious and listening to Hermione trying to teach Victor how to say her name was hilarious. I don't know what it is that Ron is so worried about. Krum would not be able to keep Hermione engaged beyond his good looks and the current Cinderella fantasy he provided. That gets old real fast for intellectuals like her.
Igor was getting nervous when Victor started telling her about his schools' layout. I almost snorted when Dumbledore somehow squeezed chamber pots into his reply.
Before long, the Weird Sisters showed up and started to make their way to their instruments. We champions' and our partners had to open the dance. With the grace of a millennium old hunter, I lead Parvati around the dance floor.
The Last City and the Awoken would host similar functions when times permitted it. I felt that it was necessary for the Iron Lords to attend such events when invited, to keep the morale and relations with the lightless up. Watching Fellwinter and Saladin trying to dance was something I would always remember.
After a couple dances Parvati and I made our way to Ron and a disgruntled Padma.
"Have you guys danced yet?" I asked.
Ron didn't answer but Padma's eyeroll was all I needed.
At this point Hermione showed up, flushed from dancing. I could almost hear Variks in my head talking about dismantling mines.
"Hermione! The Patils and I were just trying to figure out how you went from book worm to queen of the dancefloor. While you three discuss." I gestured at the three females. "I need to have a chat with Ron."
Before anyone could even get a word out, I grabbed Ron and frog marched him out of the great hall and into a boy's bathroom out of the way from everyone else.
"Talk." I commanded.
"What?" was his intelligent reply.
"You haven't danced with Padma yet and have been glaring at Hermione and Krum all night?"
At that his face contorted and he remained silent probably hoping I would drop it.
Oh, how wrong he was.
Slap!
I actually had some good wind up on that slap across his right cheek. But the glower was gone and replace by befuddlement.
"Do I have your attention now?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Good. Now I didn't set you up with such a beautiful woman so that you could glare at Hermione like Professor Snape. If you have a problem with her going to this dance with Victor, you should have asked her sooner."
"I don't care who she dates." He interjected.
"Really?" I said, not believing a word of it. "Then what's the problem?" I challenged.
"She's fraternizing with the enemy." He answered.
I actually laughed at that.
"Good god Ron. I've roshamboed with eldritch gods and came out on top and it wasn't the rock paper scissors kind. In what world am I afraid of Victor Krum?" I near shouted.
He remained silent.
"Teenagers!" I exclaimed.
"So are you." He shot back.
That particular foot in his mouth caused something in me to snap.
"No Ron I'm not. I haven't been a teenager for nearly a thousand years! I've been fighting for longer than most countries have existed. I've seen more death and destruction than anyone should. I've seen families torn apart by the ravages of war and lovers waste away missing their other half. So yes. Your dissatisfaction with Hermione looks like a child crying about not getting the toy he wants to me."
I shouted but wasn't finished.
"I tried everything to come back home. I can't even count the number of times I have died trying and while I was sitting in the Infinite Forest feeling sorry for myself my friends were trying to build something out of the rubble humanity had become only to all die one last time on a fool's errand! And they are never coming back!" I half sobbed.
After my rant I was drained and slide down onto the floor, you could cut the tension with a knife.
"Sorry." Was all I could muster.
"No Harry you don't need to be sorry." Ron spoke while joining me on the floor.
"A thousand years huh?" he asked after a moment of silence.
I couldn't help the small smile.
"I look good for being older than Dumbledore, don't I?" I quipped, slowly pulling myself together.
"Ha, that you do. In all that time, did you have a girlfriend?" he asked.
"Oh Ron. In all that time I've had many girlfriends, I've even had a few boyfriends and countless friends with benefits. It's a small miracle that I don't have an army of children at this point." I joked.
"Given your experience, got any advice for me?" Ron asked with a smile playing at his face.
"Ya, don't be an ass."
He looked like I struck him again.
"Go dance with that pretty little Indian girl who waited through at least two songs to dance with you. Have fun tonight and worry about your feelings for Hermione another day. I can tell you from just tonight that Hermione is going to get tired of two-word Krum and break it off eventually. Provided there was anything even going on in the first place." I offered.
My last sentence about Krum brightened up his mood.
After our guy version of bathroom talk and my little meltdown, we made our way back to the great hall. By some miracle, the Patil twins didn't run off with some of the Beauxbatons boys. Ron actually apologized and made it through three songs in a row before taking a break.
At some point in the night the Weasley twins must have spiked the drinks cause my next memory was waking up in my bed in the afternoon.
For some reason, my clothes felt rough. Opening my eyes to see what the cause was I quickly found out.
I had fake paper pounds stuffed in my shirt and oh god they were in my waistband too.
Not even bothering to remove them I ran out to the common room looking for the only sane friend I have.
"Hermione! Did I pole dance last night?!" I near shrieked.
This was never a problem when arcstriders were still bladedancers.
Dumbledore POV
It's the little things that we take for granted in our youth that we treasure the most when we are wiser.
The Yule Ball was a splendid celebration. A chance for the students to simply have a little fun. Which was why I let the merry making go on well past midnight with minimum supervision. If the rumors are true, then the Weasley twins and Mr. Potter took full advantage of it. I only believe one of those rumors though. Probably some fans spread that cabaret rumor.
Sirius has finally agreed to test the Bad Juju. Leaving it in his possession was a gamble that has paid off.
L sent me a reply denying a face-to-face meeting. Disappointing but not entirely surprising. People like him normally don't reveal themselves until they either want to or something changes that affects their plans.
Though his idea of an apology is not unwelcomed. He also sent more memories. Just two this time, they were his interactions with two races that branched off from humanity.
The idea of not one but two sub-species who branched off from humanity makes this old scholar giddy with excitement.
Until I learned the origins of the Exo.
The actual result of putting a human mind in a mechanical body was astounding. So many possibilities, and the fact that it came from muggle ingenuity was even more breath-taking.
Then I learned the why and the corners that were cut to speed up its advancement.
Clovis Bray the first was just as vile as Tom. Does the search for immortality corrupt everyone like this? Or are these two just special?
Though Elizabeth seems to be handling her grandfather's research as responsibly as one can when faced with enemies on all sides and an egomaniac who is quite literally big headed.
After pulling myself out of the memories. Muninn was still sitting on Fawkes's perched next to said phoenix. If I had to guess, the two were chatting about something. Probably preening tips for all I knew.
Without another moment of hesitation, I removed the first memory and put the next one in, this one titled Awoken. Hopefully, they do not have as troubling an origin as the Exo. I thought as I dove into the memory.
It was better and so much worse.
All L had to go on regarding their origins was old books and secondhand stories. The Awoken are descendants of a space colony ship that was trapped in a spacetime anomaly. Allowing them to build a society over countless millennia. So similar to the wizards of today.
Mara Sov was always somewhere throughout the Awoken's history. She even was the first.
Eventually her and a splinter cell of the Awoken left their home, called the Distributary and built a home in the asteroid belt.
And the city that came after was breathtaking.
Not many know this, but you can stop a memory in places and explore the area it took place but only places that the person who made the memory actually has some recollection of. If the memory is of a city that they only visited once and only ever traveled from the entrance to their destination, then all other buildings will be empty and all the parts of other buildings that they couldn't see will look like cheap cut outs.
L must have explored every nook and cranny in the Dreaming City. I could not find any blank spots wherever I went and was able to see all of its majesty.
"You go where you are not supposed to." A disembodied voice called out.
Why did it sound like McGonagall?
"You seek knowledge that is not freely given." It said in Snape's voice now.
I did not try to find this voice; I know that its owner was not nearby.
"Indeed, I am not but I am also closer than I have ever been." It said, using Trelawney's voice now.
"You can hear my thoughts?" I asked, slightly alarmed.
"In a manner. I used to be able to grant wishes, while I can longer fulfill your heart's greatest desire, I can still see it. It and every other want you try to hide behind your platitudes of the greater good." The mystery speaker declared. Using my little sister's voice now as if to drive a bigger knife through my heart.
"Who are you? And how are you inside a memory that I stopped?" I asked, now more worried given its connection to desire. Like the Mirror or Erised.
"I was the architect of this Dreaming City. Now I am it's purified guardian and what is a memory if not a dream?" It answered using Harry's voice half-way through.
"You still haven't given me a name." I pointed out.
"Ah, yes, forgive my manners. I have not spoken with another outside of my warden in some time. I am Riven. Riven of a thousand voices." It said, still in Harry's voice.
An orb of white and black energy appeared before me with an unearthly sound.
"Come, Kinslayer, I would quite like to meet you." it spoke, using Tom's voice.