The Master of Death
Chapter 6: Training and Start of the Year.
A/N: I'd like to thank Sir Chucky, blagyz, Raikaguken, wazjoe, Charles Ceaser, PascalDragon, Darth Vader, kgnmike88, hybrid3y3, , Time313, gginsc and .3950 for your reviews.
"Normal speak"
'Normal thought'
"Spells,"
§Parseltongue§
"Scripts/Familiar speech."
-X- Line Break -X-
"I believe that we were in the middle of something, Mr Potter." Augusta gained his attention once more and Harry looked into her indifferent gaze. He couldn't tell whether she was angry or happy. He would only tell when he said his piece, but perhaps choosing his words carefully would help him a little bit.
Giving one last glare towards Neville who chuckled nervously, Harry turned to Augusta and gave his best charming smile. The two stood in silence as Neville watched slowly, inching away, but a look from his grandmother stopped him from doing so.
"Now then, tell me why my grandson has the Philosopher's Stone in his possession, and don't lie to me." She added at the end when she saw Harry open his mouth to speak. There was a few more moments of silence in which Harry tried to think of the best way to explain the situation.
"What are the main attributes that make an individual a member of Slytherin?" While not understanding were this was going, Lady Longbottom answered.
"Cunning and Ambition."
"Exactly. My parents died fighting Voldemort," she flinched, as did Neville at the use of the Dark Lord's name, "yet no one remembers them. I believe it was they who killed Voldemort or did something that would give me the means to do so. I am praised for their deed and I want to be remembered for something more than that."
"This is nice and all, but it does not explain why my grandson had the Philosopher's Stone." While her voice was indifferent, he could hear signs of her annoyance at his avoidance of her questions.
"My desire is to become a powerful wizard on a level surpassing Dumbledore. The Philosopher's Stone is the key to gaining the knowledge that the Flamel's hold." He could see the realisation on her face. "However, I couldn't go to the Flamel's with the Stone on me as they wouldn't agree to do anything, so I gave it to someone I could trust." Here they both looked towards Neville.
While angry that her grandson had been used, she could understand a child's desire to become something great. That didn't mean she would forgive him. No, she would work with him for as long as it ensured her family's survival. If he betrayed them or her grandson died under his orders, there would be hell to pay. Nothing would stop her from getting revenge.
Giving a stiff nod, Augusta handed over an envelope. Harry took it and opened it up at the top. There at the bottom was a ruby red stone.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Lady Longbottom." He bowed in thanks.
"You're welcome. Come Neville." Augusta said stiffly, before walking away.
"See you later Harry." Nodding his head, Harry watched the two go before turning to face the wall. It shimmered slightly and then Nicolas revealed himself. Neither said anything as Harry passed him the envelope and watched as Nicolas looked at it in silence.
"It's the real deal." Harry confirmed.
"Of course it is. I just forgot how beautiful it is." Nicolas replied as he placed the envelope inside his robes.
"That's nice and all, but do you have what you promised me?" Nicolas nodded and pulled out a sock and handed it to Harry.
"A portkey that will take you to Rome, keyword is 'activate'. Then when you get there, let your magic flow into the first pillar that appears in front of you."
"Thank you." Shrugging his shoulders, Nicolas walked away, leaving Harry alone once more. His eyes fixated upon the sock in his hand.
-X- Line Break -X-
Harry stood still for a few moments as he allowed the nausea to fade away. While he had grown used to apparition through constant training, using a portkey was much worse. It was possibly due to the longer distance he had travelled that the nausea he felt was much worse. It was the only logical explanation available to him.
When the dizziness subsided, he looked around to see that while dark, Rome was still beautiful. His emerald eyes then turned towards the Colosseum. While partly destroyed it didn't take away from its natural beauty.
Doing as Nicolas had said, Harry walked towards the first pillar and placed his wand upon the entrance. Allowing his magic to pass through his wand and into the wall, he pulled it back and looked at the glowing blue writing now forming.
What country is the dependency of the Netherlands?
A question? That's what he had to answer.
Sighing, Harry began to think on what the answer could be. Well, the Faroe Islands and Greenland are the two countries controlled by Denmark. So which one was it? Greenland was by far, the bigger of the two and widely known. Deciding to play it safe, Harry chose to go with that one.
"Greenland." The writing glowed blue before more writing appeared on the wall.
Bright like diamonds, hard like rock. I'm crushed or cubed or solid block. Look inside me.
Now this was confusing. Why give a question with the answer of a place, then a riddle? Was this the type of magic he would be learning or something else? Once again, it was the only thing that made sense to him.
'The one time I don't have Theo with me, is the day I get a riddle.' He could solve riddles, but it took him awhile. Theodore was very good at solving riddles, much better than he was.
For a few moments he stood there, his eyes narrowing upon the writing as he tried to decipher what the answer could be.
The flapping of wings sounded in his ears followed by a sudden weight on his shoulder. Looking to the left he turned to see Hedwig perched on his shoulder. The owl rubbed the top of her head against his cheek before staring deeply into his eyes.
"Ice." His eyes widened in shock as he heard a feminine voice sound in his head. "Honestly child, you can speak with that barbarian snake in snake tongue, is it so weird that you can communicate with me mentally." Harry hummed with a shrug of his shoulders before looking towards the wall once more.
"Ice." Then the writing changed once more.
The Isle of Man separates Great Britain and what?
"That's quite an easy one." Harry had to agree as he answered the question instantly.
"Ireland." Like he expected, the writing glowed blue and changed.
I reach for the sky, but clutch the ground; sometimes I leave, but I am always around. What am I?
"The trees." Harry would be the first to admit he was getting a little creeped out by his owl familiar's ability to solve riddles. Hedwig must have read his mind because she gave him and inquiring stare. "Owls are naturally wise and intelligent creatures. Is it so surprising that I can solve riddles easily?"
"No I guess not." He then turned to the pillar and said, "The trees." Then the writing glowed blue.
You have your destinations and objectives.
Clicking his tongue in annoyance as he was once again denied training, he activated his portkey to France and then he felt the familiar tugging around his navel. When he arrived, he found himself at the Ministry and so, he activated his first portkey that would take him to England.
-X- Line Break -X-
Entering Gringotts, Harry ignored all those currently waiting in line to be served and the looks. He instead, headed straight towards his Account Managers room. Entering the room he found that it had been completely refurbished.
There were numerous desks, ten lined up in a row. On each were large piles of paper with goblins signing and looking over multiple documents. Lining each wall were large folder cabinets, organised in alphabetical order. There were a few goblins constantly moving around the room, up and down ladders and towards the desk, carrying folders and documents.
"Mr Potter." He looked down to see a Goblin warrior dressed in a suit of armour stood before him. "Follow me." He did so and walked down the middle of the rows and looked over a few of the files. Seems more of his plans were being put into effect. That was good, very good.
"Your cleverness will get you killed one day, child." Ignoring what Hedwig said, Harry continued down until he came to a small office. The glass had a certain texture to it that made it impossible to see in it, but there was a different pattern in each window. The Coat of Arms for his different Lordships and on the glass was a single Coat of Arms, which he assumed belonged to Ripclaw and underneath it said, Account Manager Ripclaw.
The guard knocked and they heard Ripclaw say, "Come in," and the guard opened the door to allow him in. There, behind a desk of his own was Ripclaw, looking over a few final documents.
Walking forwards, Harry sat down on the comfortable leather chair and waited for Ripclaw to finish looking over his documents.
"You're back early. Though not without success it seems." He gave a nod of his head toward the newspaper.
"It came out early." Harry took the newspaper and read over the contents before sneering at the way it presented his success been down to his conquest as a child.
"I don't know what you've been doing since the end of the tournament, but it is nearly lunch time and the tournament ended yesterday evening." That was news to him, he hadn't realised how long he had been in Rome. "Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley are now yours and Project Cadmus is around a quarter of the way to completion."
"Will you show me?" Giving one of his signature smirks, Ripclaw rose from his seated position and walked towards a second door behind the Goblin. Harry followed him through the door and they came towards a Y-intersection. The two moved down the left hand corridor and Ripclaw opened up the door revealing a large circular room.
Overall, it was pretty plain with three stone slabs in the centre. On them were three bodies and on the middle one lay the body of Marcus Flint. All of them had various states of modifications.
The one on the left had his right hand replaced with a mace. The one on the right hand the same hand replaced with a jagged piece of steel in the shape of a blade and Marcus Flint had his left hand replaced with a similar looking blade. On their hands that was whole, were multiple runes, with a slight bump underneath the skin.
"As you asked, all three have had their non-wand hands replaced with a weapon that can easily be detached and replaced with a different weapon. Their wands however, have been broken down and using a Goblin ritual have fused with their bodies making their arms the wand itself." Harry nodded his head and walked towards the slabs and looked at the chests of the three men.
The one on the left had his chest bare except for a single rune, Marcus's body was half covered in runes, while the final one was completely covered in runes.
"The rituals you asked for have begun with only these three out of twenty surviving so far. I have another batch of possible candidates coming in next month. You should have more of your personal bodyguard next month."
"Are any complete?" Harry asked, and Ripclaw nodded as he indicated towards the man with his chest covered in runes.
"This one here. His brain having lost all memories due to the last ritual and our Goblin healers have made them simple sleeper agents, loyal only to you." Smirking, Harry turned to Ripclaw.
"You've done well."
"We Goblin's make sure any job given to us is completed to its fullest. As long as you pay us enough." Ripclaw added at the end. "And you have made sure we are paid very well."
"I've seen." He said with amusement clearly heard in his voice. "What about recruitment?" Ripclaw laughed uproariously.
"This is why I like you Harry. You don't care for small talk, its straight to business." The two moved out of the room and back to the intersection before moving down the final corridor. There they opened the door and Harry found himself on a balcony looking at around ten to fifteen men and women training in magic. "Eight men, five women, all muggleborns that had been unemployed in both worlds. There are many others, but all are unwilling to do so as they believe it a pureblood scheme to show their superiority."
Humming, Harry looked down and watched as the group stopped their physical exercises and split up into different areas to train on their own. From what he could see, there was close combat weapons such as, swords, spears, axes, etc. There was also modern technology like, pistols, semi-automatics, etc.
"Are there any trained and ready?"
"No, we've had to build them up from the bottom physically and magically, they had lost a lot of their previous strength and we had to restart them on the basics as well." Ripclaw informed.
"I see."
"So mind telling me why you're back so early?"
"The Flamel's agreed to teach me on the condition that I would learn from seven individuals before coming to them. However, I have to learn some assigned skills before they will begin to teach me I believe. So I need a portkey that will take me to Greenland and Ireland. How long will it take you sort out a portkey for those two countries?"
"I can get you one within the hour." The two reached an agreement there and shook hands to confirm it. Both sharing a smirk as the plans they had put into place were coming into fruition.
-X- Line Break -X-
Harry groaned as he rose out of bed. His shoulders popping as he laid back down into the bed of his small room at the Leaky Cauldron. He had gotten back yesterday and had gotten the first good night's sleep of the Summer Holidays.
Standing up, he looked at the mirror to see he had changed a little over the holidays. His body had become leaner, with the makings of a six pack and while he would never be bulky, he would be toned. His hair had grown slightly longer and had lost some of its wildness, now becoming curly. A few bits of hair had fallen down into his face and in front of his glowing green emerald eyes.
They were by far the most noticeable feature now. Before, one could mistake them for being blue from a distance. Now though you could easily tell what colour they were as the seemed to glow subconsciously.
Harry would admit, the past six weeks had been enlightening. The first three weeks he had been in Ireland, the first three days he had been travelling. Using a mix of apparition to travel all over the island. Then he had come across a small tribe of Druids. There he had learned that the connection to nature was one of the most important figures.
Using his magic to manipulate plant life and they seemed to have learned a way to use nature in both offense and defence. However, he had been taught that what one must take from nature, they must return something of equal value. He had also learnt to sense the vibrations of the earth to pinpoint the location of others, to see without seeing they called it. Not only that, but he learned how to gain a greater connection with his magic, and therefore greater skill in wandless magic.
The final three weeks he had been in Greenland, learning the wonder of Water, Wind and Ice magic. While he was nowhere near as proficient as the natives were, he was still quite skilled. His desire to learn, made him push himself harder and harder each day. Not only had he been doing that, but the natives of Greenland believed that for you to truly become skilled, you must first train your body.
With a quick flick of his hand, his trunk opened up and clothes floated towards him. The clothes moved around him for a few moments before slipping onto his body.
His outfit consisted of a white, short sleeved top with a grey trench coat that was unbuttoned over the top, black skinny jeans and a pair of dress shoes. Giving a quick nod to himself in the mirror, Harry exited his lodgings and went onto the streets of Diagon Alley. One of his Project Cadmus survivors had been fully trained and ready, now waiting for him to judge him.
After that, he, along with his new bodyguard, would meet up with a few clients before going to meet up with his friends.
It didn't take long, around five minutes before he found himself outside of Ripclaw's new office. There he entered and sat down in the leather chair across from Ripclaw, two guards having disappeared down the Y-intersection to collect his bodyguards.
"Here are their files." Ripclaw said as he handed over four files to the Potter heir.
The man was called Dirk Cresswell, he had been the Head of Goblin Liaison Office before being mysteriously attacked after leaving the Ministry. He had lost his right arm and had instantly been decided as a suitable candidate for Project Cadmus. His wife had been told he had died due to his injuries and now, Dirk was officially dead to Magical world.
The door soon opened and in entered three figures. His slightly fattened body had become big and bulky with muscle, from his right hand was now replaced with a single jagged piece of steel that gleamed dangerously. His face had been scarred beyond recognition. Dirk's outfit consisted of a single black robe that blended in with his pants, but also had a flare at the back.
The one thing that stood out the most, was the emotionless eyes that regarded him with indifference.
"We have codenamed him Bear and I assure you, he is fully trained and equipped with the modifications you asked for." Harry leaned back into the chair and then he shot forwards. His hand gripping hold of letter opener and launching it towards Dirk at great speeds.
To the shock of the Goblin guards, Dirk's hand shot up and caught the letter opener before it could pierce his eye. Then, to further their shock, Dirk clenched his fist bending the metal and crunching it up into a ball before dropping it to the ground. Harry smirked and once again leaned down into the chair.
Besides the detachable weapon and wand fused arm, he had undergone multiple runes and rituals. There had been seven magical strengthening rituals that would improve the overall amount of magic and ones connection to their magic. Then there had been seven body improvement rituals - ones that would improve the body's physical capabilities. Finally, there had been seven awareness rituals. This would improve the wizard/witches ability to sense incoming attacks, both physical and magical.
After the rituals there had been multiple runes inscribed into the body. Such as, skin and bone strengthening runes that make them equivalent to metal. Weightless, unbreakable, healing and finally a shielding rune. The first two did exactly as they sounded, but the third allowed the wizard/witch to heal from small cuts, the deeper the cut, the longer it took to heal. The final rune made a shield that could stop low-powered spells only.
"Are they impervious to pain?" Ripclaw smirked and nodded his head towards one of the Goblin guards. Pulling out his blade, the Goblin made a deep cut into Dirk's arm and not even a grunt escaped Dirk's mouth.
"Does that answer your question?" Smirking, Harry stood up and Dirk tensed in preparation for an order. "Just give him an order and he shall follow it without question."
"Put up your hood." Bear followed his order without question and as soon as the hood was up, his face was covered in shadows. "Follow." Then he walked out of the office and then Gringotts himself. One thing Harry instantly picked up on, was the way the blade shimmered as soon as they reached the lobby of Gringotts before taking the appearance of a hand. It was no simple glamour charm or rune as his eyes that had been improved by the Druids would have instantly picked up on it. No, this was a ward.
From there, the two walked down into Knockturn Alley and down into a small dingy pub. Entering it, they could see multiple figures, all of them were scattered around the pub. Some were smoking, others drinking and a few eating.
Harry knew that it was all an act. Pretending to be simple customers, but were in fact mercenaries paid to be the owners bodyguards. Bear also noticed this as he positioned himself slightly in front of him so that if spells were fired, he would be the one to absorb the impact.
"Hello Gentlemen." Harry greeted casually as the guards tensed as they gripped their wands underneath the table. Their eyes moving from him to Bear and the newly revealed blade. "Is the owner of this fine establishment around?"
"What do you want kid?" An elderly voice sounded from bar, and there stood an aged man with greying hair. Moving around Bear, Harry made his way towards the bar. Fully aware of the way the eyes warily followed him and Bear. Once he arrived at the bar, Harry took a seat and stared at the man.
"You see, my name is Hadrian James Potter." He smirked when he saw the widening of the man's eyes. "And while I have been out of touch from the Magical world for a while, it doesn't take a genius to know that the person with the most money and information will always get what they want. It's the natural order of things. The weak follow the strong."
"Where are you going with this?" The Potter heir raised one hand to silence him.
"I'm getting to that." Harry admonished in a condescending fashion. "You see, I'm not someone that likes to be controlled and so I set out to be a powerful individual. I'm credited for been the only person to survive the Killing Curse, slaying Voldemort, a Troll and winning the Under 13s World Championship. I have also gained ownership over the entirety of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. So imagine my surprise when I hear there's an unnamed pub that has escaped my notice. So I've come to offer you a deal."
"A deal?" The elderly man asked sceptically.
"Yes, an agreement between two people." By the glare he received, his joke was not found amusing. "Each shop I own, has to pay twenty-fivw percent of what they earn to me each year. In return, I offer protection."
"I have no care for your deals. So I'm going to have to ask you to leave." By some unspoken rule, the ten guards in the room stood up and pointed their wands at them. Bear gave an animalistic growl as he once again positioned himself in the line of fire. "Now." The elderly man warned dangerously.
"Humour me?" Slowly, the man nodded and with it the guards lowered their wands ever so slightly. "Thank you. Now my deal is quite generous. You have to pay no tax, you will be protected and I will even pay ten percent for any produce delivered to you as long as I know what it is. In return, you will comprise a list with every secret, plan and rumour you have found as I know that you have your own spy network. Then you will deliver it to a Goblin called Ripclaw and say it is from a friend of his. Every week after that, you will comprise a list of every valuable person that has entered your pub, the reason they did so and what business they spoke of doing and once again you will deliver it to Gringotts to the same Goblin. The next thing you will do is give me any information I ask for, for half the price. What'd you say?"
"It's a nice answer, but my answers still no. So leave." The situation descended into a tense one once more.
"That's a shame. Really it is." Harry palmed the wand in his right hand. "Because I'm not leaving until you agree to my terms."
"Yes, I guess that is a problem." The elderly man agreed as he nodded his head towards the ten guards. Harry and Bear were the first to react.
"Reducto! Bombarda!" Harry roared and with it two spells shot forward. The first collided with the chest of the guard to his left and launched him back into the wall. The second spell struck the ground in front of a group of three launching them through the wall and out into the streets of Knockturn Alley.
Bear was not ideal as he took the blow from six spells before launching himself towards a pair of men. His blade piercing through the man's stomach and lifting him off the ground while firing a Reductor Curse to the second man separating him in half.
Not wasting the shock Harry's actions gained, Bear summoned a fire whip that he used to wrap around the body of the man nearest to Harry. With a quick tug, the man was reduced into a pile of ashes while he simultaneously removed his blade
Harry was not idle as he fired off a Bone Breaking Curse and the Entrail-Expelling Curse. The two spells struck the same man and while it wouldn't kill him, it would badly injure him, making another candidate for Project Cadmus.
The final two men dropped their wands to the ground in surrender and Bear summoned them to his waiting hand.
Releasing a breath, Harry tugged at his trench coat pulling it further up and getting rid of any creases that had formed. His eyes looking around at the pub before landing on the bar tender. Walking forwards, he took a seat once more before regarding the elderly man with indifference, gone was the child act he had put on.
"Now then." Bear miraculously appeared behind the bar tender, who turned around in shock. The cloaked figure gripped his neck and slammed him onto the desk while placing his sword dangerously close to the man's face. "I believe you were going to rethink my proposal weren't you?"
"Y-yes." He stuttered in fright. There was a few moments of silence as the bar tender stared at Bear in fear.
"What's your answer?" The man still said nothing and Harry sighed. With a click of his fingers, Bear's grip on his neck tightened as his blade dug into his cheek. "Don't make me ask again. What's your answer?"
"Y-yes, for fucks sake, yes!" He shouted and Harry smiled. Patting the man's cheek, the Potter heir got out of his chair and made for the door, Bear following behind him.
"You won't regret this." Harry said and then he looked towards the wall. With a quick wave of his wand, the wall instantly began repairing itself. "If I need something I will send Bear or someone round to meet you. I expect you to uphold your end of the deal and I'll uphold my end. Also send one of your men to the Goblins, I have use for him." He indicated to the dying man.
With that he was gone, leaving the bar tender to rub his neck. He then turned to face the two kneeling men and snared angrily.
"What the fuck are you kneeling there for?! Get the rest of them up and clean this place up!" He roared and the two men did so with a grumble. Meanwhile the bar tender continued to glare at them, but his eyes trailed towards the door and became fearful. He knew that if he stepped out of line, they would be back. He liked living and would try to avoid doing that.
-X- Line Break -X-
Stepping out onto the alley, Harry looked at the three guards who regarded his bodyguard with fear. Behind them he could see a few men and women looking at them curiously, but wisely knew not to do anything. Any business or fight that happened in Knockturn Alley was to be ignored because you may be drawn into it.
Raising his eyebrows at the guards, the three looked up at Bear before down to his blade only to see an ordinary hand, but they moved into the pub anyway.
"I knew the moment I saw you in Moribund's that you would be interesting, Heir Potter." Harry put on a charming smile and turned around to see the Greengrass family. With them he also saw Tracey Davis and what he assumed to be her family.
"Lord Greengrass." He bowed to the man and gave similar greetings to the others. "What brings you down to Knockturn Alley today?"
"My youngest daughter requires a wand." He placed his hand on his youngest, Astoria was her name if he remembered correctly.
"I'm assuming she is entering Hogwarts this year." Lord Greengrass nodded his head and Harry turned his smile towards the young girl. He found it incredibly amusing when she blushed and hid behind her mother. He wasn't the only one as the others, except for Daphne, showed various states of amusement at the byplay. "I'm terribly sorry, I seem to have been ignoring you, Lord Davis I assume?"
"You would be correct Heir Potter." Lord Davis answered. "Tell me, what business have you been conducting? It looked to be very…interesting."
"Oh, it was just business." The way in which he said it, made Lord and Lady Greengrass and Davis wary.
"I see." Lord Davis drawled. "Come along Tracey, we have our own affairs to get in order." It made Harry inwardly smirk as he realised that he scared a man who had survived through the Blood War, though it probably had something to do with the intimidating figure of Bear as well. "It was nice to finally meet you Heir Potter."
"And it was nice to meet you, Lord and Lady Davis. I shall see you at the start of the year, Tracey." The girl in question smiled and nodded her head before following after her father and mother.
"I guess we should also take out leave. Lord Davis is not the most, direction oriented individual." The joke made Harry snort in amusement.
"It was nice to see you again, Lord and Lady Greengrass." Then Harry turned and returned the shy wave given to him by Astoria with one of his own and a smile. "See you at Hogwarts Daphne."
"And you too…Harry." The boy in question smiled at the difficulty she had in referring to him by his actual name. Seems she still wasn't fully into the idea of calling him by his name. Giving the Greengrass family one more smile, Harry turned and left the alley.
As soon as they did, Harry was instantly noticed by those around them. There, shouts of his name gained the attention of more and more as they all piled up around him to get a look. Bear reacted and moved in front of the oncoming crowd and while no one could see the glare he was fixing on them, they could feel it.
"Move." It was a whisper, but he might as well have been shouting as they all flinched and moved out of the way as quickly as they could. Harry had to admit, Ripclaw had outdone himself.
'If this is the reaction a single one gets, I can't wait to see what the others will cause.' The thought made him give a chilling smile that went unnoticed by the crowd as they were frightfully fixated upon the intimidating stature of Bear.
"Harry, over here." Looking in the direction of the voice, he just managed to make out a small hand that appeared and disappeared over the tops of the crowd as the owner of the appendage jumped to be seen. Closing his eyes, he allowed his magic to flow into the ground like the Druids taught him and instantly his magical signature locked onto what seemed to be over a hundred other magical signatures. However, he ignored them all and instead focused on the magical signature that kept on jumping.
It was frustrating as every time he got a lock on the signature, it disappeared. So he then focused on the two signatures beside it. Both were distinctly familiar, but one stood out the most.
Sighing, Harry decided to take a risk and walked towards the signature. Bear glaring at anyone that got too close. When he exited the small prison of bodies he found himself looking at Neville, Susan and Hannah. All three had different looks on their faces. Hannah seemed to be more focused upon Neville, though she did spare him a smile and a wave. Harry smirked upon seeing the obvious crush Hannah had on the Longbottom heir. He couldn't wait to tell Blaise and Theo, Neville wouldn't here the end of it.
Susan, much like Hannah, hadn't changed much besides growing a little taller. She, unlike Hannah was completely fixated upon the ground, which Harry found strange as she had been the one that was trying to get his attention.
Neville had changed the most by far. He had grown tall and was around five foot with his baby fat starting to give way to muscle. However, he still looked quite chubby.
A grin formed on his face as Harry stepped forward and shook hands with Neville.
"You alright mate?" Neville greeted and Harry nodded his head as he felt Bear's presence disappear into the distance.
"Yea, you?"
"Never been better."
"I can see that. Put on a bit of muscle." Neville smirked and flexed his arms jokingly causing them both to chuckle in amusement. Harry then turned to Susan and Hannah and gave them one of his charming smiles. Susan blushed brightly and ducked her head, while Hannah's cheeks were only dusted pink slightly. "How are you two?"
"I'm good Harry, thank you for asking." All three turned to the blushing Susan who opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out except incoherent mumbling. "Susan's fine too, she's just lost the ability to speak." Susan blushed even brighter, but she also glared heatedly at her friend.
"Yes, it seems Susan has lost the ability to speak." Neville piped in and received a similar glare from Susan.
"Oh whatever will we do? To be denied the sound of Susan's voice is a travesty." Harry said dramatically and Hannah and Neville joined in with the theatrics. The Bones heiress seemed to be on the verge of passing out, but she was saved by the sound of clapping. The four turned around to see Blaise, Theo, Peter and Graham walking towards them.
"'Sup guys." Blaise greeted casually. Peter and Graham gave their own form of greetings, while Theo simply nodded his head, which was expected. He was never one to speak without reason.
They had all changed. Peter was around the same height as Harry, but much lankier. Theodore was the tallest of them all however, he was just as lanky as Peter, maybe a bit more. Blaise and Graham on the other hand were only slightly taller than they were last year, but each seemed to have become more toned.
The group conversed for a while as they moved through Diagon Alley. Most of the conversation steered towards the direction of what they had all done this holiday.
The Most Ancient and Noble House of Nott had discarded their plans of allying with the Grey faction under the rule of Jonathan Greengrass and had instead, allied with the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter. Blaise, Peter and Graham's families had followed in Theodore's family's footsteps and had done the same. However, the Ancient and Noble Houses of Montage and Pike had been named vassals, which was the only option available to them due to their status.
They had only accepted this because been a vassal to a house that was continuing to rise in power like his was would benefit them as well.
Neville and his grandmother had also revitalized the old alliance between their families. The Bones' had also re-joined the alliance and now Harry had all the old families that were a part of the Grand Alliance that were still around today, part of it once more, with a few extra houses along with it.
Harry also learned that Neville, Theo, Blaise, Peter and Graham had begun training with the retired Auror, Alastor Moody. From what he had heard, Moody was well-known throughout the Magical World as one of, if not the most infamous Auror with the greatest track record ever.
He could tell from the way his friends magical cores seemed to be larger, but much more refined than before. Neville's was almost comparable to his own, though nowhere near as controlled. Theodore and Blaise had the greatest control almost as good as his own.
"Sweet Merlin." Hannah gushed with a blush staining her cheeks. All of their group look towards her and then towards Flourish and Blotts to see a large cue of wizards and witches, mainly witches. It only took a few moments before they all saw the sign that mentioned Gilderoy Lockhart was doing a book signing.
Harry sneered in disgust and he turned to see that everyone except Hannah had the same look or similar disgust of the man, as him.
"Come on Susan." The Hufflepuff barely managed to gasp in surprise before she was dragged by her friend towards the bookshop. She spared a glance back at Harry before joining Hannah willingly so as to not be dragged along the floor. This action hadn't gone unnoticed by the others as Harry soon found out.
Turning around, the Potter heir turned to see them all having a knowing smile that seemed to fill him with dread. Narrowing his eyes in question, he asked unsurely.
"What?" This only seemed to make their smiles widen as they turned to each other and started whispering amongst themselves. "What?" Simultaneously, they all turned to look at him with Cheshire-cat grins on their faces.
"Harry and Susan sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." They all started singing, Peter and Graham forming kissing faces. "First comes love-"
Harry allowed his wand to reveal itself and all of them closed their mouths with an audible click that made those listening cringe. The Potter heir stared at them for a few more moments through narrowed eyes before nodding his head. Turning on his heel he walked towards the queue where Susan and Hannah were stood. Behind him, the boys studied his back and the wand still held in his hands. Then by some unspoken rule, they all followed after him.
"Susan, Hannah." The two girls looked towards him. "Come on, I'm not waiting in this queue."
"But Harry, I want to see Gilderoy, he's a legendary figure and has won Witch Weekly's most charming smile award five times in a row." Hannah gushed over the legendary figure. Beside her, Susan rolled her eyes at her friend. She then blushed brightly when she saw the amused smile directed towards her by Harry.
"He's a fraud." Those witches in hearing range all turned to glare at Blaise. Raising his hands in a placating manner, he then mumbled something under his breath that only Theodore heard causing the quiet boy to snort in mirth.
"Well, if Hannah is dead-set on visiting this legendary figure." The sarcasm in his voice was clearly heard as the witches once again turned to glare at him, but Bear who had disappeared so as to allow his master to interact with his friends, appeared and simply stood there. The cold glare not been seen, but felt. "Then let's go see him. Bear, if you wouldn't mind." He indicated towards the crowd and Bear who was about to disappear to guard his master from a distance.
The wraith like figure stalked forwards, giving an animalistic growl to anyone in his path. Behind him, Harry and company followed using the path created for them.
"Harry, who is that?" Theodore asked curiously.
"That is Bear, I met him over the holidays and saved his life. Since then he declared himself my loyal servant and has assigned himself to be my personal bodyguard. As you can see; he is very effective." They all watched as a wizard squared up at Bear, obviously trying to stand firm and not allow his position to go. Beside the wizard, a young girl tugged at the man's sleeve begging him to stop. The man refused and turned to Bear, only to find the throat gripped tightly. The crowd shrieked as they saw the man struggling to breathe as he clawed at the hand choking him.
"A little too effective." Blaise piped in. Sighing, Harry walked forwards and gripped hold of Bear's arm and instantly the man dropped to the ground, coughing and heaving for breath.
"That is enough Bear." Harry ordered and Bear bowed his head. Then he turned to the coughing man and pulled out a small bag of galleons. "I'm terribly sorry for that, Bear tends to get a little too eager when it comes to intimidating people." The wizard nodded his head as he stared up at him in a mix of shock and awe.
After that there was no incidents as they entered the shop and looked around. Hannah's squealing and her gaze allowed them to find Gilderoy instantly.
The legendary wizard was sat behind the desk in the middle of the shop. On either side of the desk were multiple books piled high, each with a picture of him printed on the front. To make the fool look even more arrogant, there was a cut-out image of him stood with a charming smile and wand in hand raised into the air.
"You can leave, Bear." The man bowed his head and apparated out of the shop. Hannah once again got into the queue with an unwilling Susan, while the rest of them moved towards a nearby bookshelf and occasionally would pull out a book and read the blurb.
"So, did they agree?" Blaise asked eagerly.
"In a way." Harry's answer was vague, something he did to purposely annoy Blaise. It worked, as the boy glared at him.
"Come on Harry, just answer the question before Blaise gets proper pissed." Peter pleaded jokingly as Blaise turned his glare towards him.
"Too late." Graham added and Neville cracked a smile before deciding to take pity on his brown skinned friend.
"Alright Harry, tell us what happened?"
"Well, they agreed to train me, but on the condition that I learned from their seven other students." This bit of information was surprising as not much was known about the Flamel's. To know that they had taken on seven students was quite interesting and many would pay money just to know information such as this. "The thing is, I have to learn the basics of the magic they specialise in before I can enter their homes."
"That's why you went to Ireland and Greenland." Neville said in understanding.
"Wait, what?" This was the question from Peter, Blaise and Graham.
"Yea, I went to Ireland and Greenland this summer. It was quite interesting and educational."
"What'd you learn?" Theodore pressed.
"Well, in Ireland I met a tribe of Druids and learnt how to manipulate nature itself. Not much, just little things like increase the rate in which the plants grow, and also learning to manipulate plant life and wildlife into doing basics such as, attacking and defending me. I also learnt to sense the vibrations in the ground allowing me to know what is happening beneath my feet, but also around me as people move and creating a magical sensing bubble. Anything that enters, I will instantly know it and it will create a lock on it." Harry explained.
"I heard about that." Graham said. "My great, great grandma joined a tribe of Druids after the death of her husband and would send letters to us about what she had learnt and seen."
"So, what did you learn in Greenland?" Peter asked this time.
"I learnt how to use Water and Wind magic in all sorts of situations. Attacks, defences, carving, etc." There was a short pause as Harry thought back to what else he had done. "Then I learnt how to combine the two to create Ice and how to manipulate Ice magic. Trust me, they make it look easy but it really isn't. After that it was pretty much just learning how to fight in close combat without a wand."
"You have to teach us." Blaise begged and Harry smirked.
"Of course I am. It just depends if you can actually do what I did." Neville leaned forward and jokingly slapped the back of his head.
"You're being arrogant like Malfoy." He explained, gaining a horror filled gaze from Harry and chuckles from the others.
"What about Malfoy?" The group looked towards the owner of the voice and saw the one person who had been the bane of their existence throughout the first year Hogwarts, even more so than Draco.
Ronald Weasley.
The boy had spread rumours about Harry being a dark wizard in the making. Even more so when he slayed the Troll, claiming it was done through the use of Dark magic. Each time Harry achieved something such as performing magic correctly, getting homework done to Outstanding, or just simply doing nothing, you could guarantee that he would come up with a new, more imaginative rumour. They were quite amusing.
"What are you doing here?" Peter sneered at him. Ronald flushed with anger at being looked down upon.
"I heard you talking bout Malfoy and wondered what you were on about." Ronald said, but they could hear him trying not to get angry as they still looked down at him.
"Ah, Harry Potter." An elderly voice said. All of them looked up to see a man with ginger hair walking towards them. Harry plastered a fake smile on his face and walked forwards. It became even more strained when he saw what seemed to be the rest of the Weasley family, minus Percy walking towards him. "Arthur Weasley, pleasure."
"Hadrian James Potter." He shook hands with Head of the Weasley family. To his shock, the Weasley matriarch pulled him into a deep hug that made Harry short of breath. Wriggling free, he glared at the woman. "I'd like it if you didn't do that again." His emerald eyes glowing ominously, making everyone watching hide away as they were reminded of the Killing Curse.
"Harry Potter, now you listen here. I –
"- no you will listen. I have never met you in my life and so I do not trust you. Not only that, but two of your children." He kept their names secret, but he turned to glare at Ron making it clear on who one of the children were. "Have constantly been spreading rumours and trying to get me in trouble all year. Only two of your children," he then turned to the Weasley twins, "have made the effort to befriend me without insulting me or anything of the sort. So don't think you can tell me what to do. I am my own person and will continue to be so." The Weasley matriarch turned a similar shade of red to her son.
Nodding his head at a job well done, he turned to Arthur, the young Weasley girl and the Weasley twins with a smile and bowed his head. Arthur returned his bow with one of his own, the Weasley's gave over exaggerated bows, while the girl blushed brightly and hid behind her elder brothers.
"Harry Potter, I cannot express how good it feels to finally meet you!" Harry ground his teeth together as he turned to see Gilderoy strutting towards him. Before he could even speak, his hand was forcibly being shook by Gilderoy and then he was blinded by a bright flash. "I can see us already on the front page of Witch Weekly." He gave another charming smile as another flash blinded him even more.
For a few moments, Harry stood dazed as he waited for the white spots to disappear from his eyes. Gilderoy however, did not wait and turned Harry around to face the crowd of witches.
Giving a grunt as he felt a pile of books thrust into his arms and knocked the wind out of him, Gilderoy began addressing the crowd.
"Out of the goodness of my heart, I will pay for the books required for this year's Defence Against the Dark Arts for Harry and his friends as I believe that a teacher should help his students." Another flash followed this declaration as the crowd murmured about the new development. "That's right, I, Gilderoy Lockhart, will be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for Hogwarts."
A few more flashes later and Harry then found himself back with his friends, his eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to see once more.
"Look at you, Potter. Can't go to a simple bookstore without getting your name on the front page." An arrogant and disgust-filled voice drew the group's attention towards the Malfoy family. The two male Malfoy's strutted in a manner more arrogant than Gilderoy, while Narcissa seemed to glide towards them.
"Shut up!" A young female voice exclaimed drawing everyone's gaze towards the young Weasley girl. Upon seeing everyone's attention on her, the girl blushed and disappeared behind the bodies of her family members.
"Got yourself a girlfriend I see, Potter." Draco sneered. This made the young Weasley blush bright red, while the Weasley matriarch smiled widely at the development.
"Hardly." He found it incredibly satisfying to see the Weasley matriarchs smile drop. For some reason he believed that he should be careful around her, his mind told him that she would do something eventually, but he didn't know what.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Neville asked.
"I'd watch how you speak to your betters, Squib." Draco snarled angrily.
"When I see one, you'll be the first one to know." Neville shot back, much to the enjoyment of those watching as they saw Draco flush red with anger and humiliation.
"Enough Draco." Lucius ordered and Draco looked like he was about to argue, but a glare from his father stopped him instantly.
"I suggest you keep your son under control Lord Malfoy." Blaise said, but his eyes lowered when he saw Lucius turn his glare towards him. Seeing this, Harry stepped forwards to take the brunt of Lucius's anger. While allied to his family now, the others were unwilling to stand up to the Malfoy's yet. It was understandable, each had grown to fear the power the Malfoy's had brought using their vast wealth.
"Like Blaise was saying, keep your son under control. He insulted the heir of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Longbottom, a house that is better than your own in all aspects. Not only that, but they are allied to my family. If your son continues, I will bring forth your sons claims to the Goblins." The threat made the pale complexion of Draco become even paler, while Lucius narrowed his eyes, before giving a stiff nod of his head.
"Come Draco." Narcissa said, while pushing Draco away from the group. Lucius soon followed.
"Bloody hell, that was awesome!" Ron exclaimed. Blaise sneered at the lack of tact before walking out of the shop. Theodore, Peter and Graham following afterwards.
"You sure that was wise?" Susan asked as she walked towards them with a bag held in her hand.
"Oh yea, the Malfoy's needed to be reminded of their standing in Britain." Neville spoke up, while glaring at Draco's back. His hatred of the word 'squib' was well-known, having been referred to being as such for a large part of his life.
"Ok." Susan held up the bag with a smile on her face. "I got the books he said he would buy for our group. He didn't look happy when he found out how much he would be paying for."
"Thank you Susan." The Bones heiress blushed brightly at the smile she received from Harry, and shyly nodded her head. Hannah and Neville rolled their eyes at Susan's actions before the four of them left the shop to find the others.
-X- Line Break -X-
Harry's eyes snapped open in shock when he heard a screeching noise in his room, his mind taking a few moments to fully wake up before he cast the Wand-Lighting charm to allow him to see what was going on.
His eyes instantly looked onto the sight of Balthazar wrapped tightly around the body of a House Elf tightly. The creature pitifully wriggled, trying desperately to break free but Balthazar only wrapped around him tighter.
§Balthazar, release him. § The order was followed without question as the creature was released with a gasp. Stepping out of bed, Harry summoned his wand to his hand and pointed it at the House Elf, his eyes narrowing as the creature looked up at him in shock. "Now, do you mind telling me why you are in my room?" The creature looked towards Balthazar, before turning back to Harry.
"Dobby is here to warn Harry Potter." The creature whispered in awe.
"Warn me of what?" Harry pressed, the creature wrapped its fingers around his wand hand and stared deeply into Harry's eyes, something which greatly unnerved him.
"Warn you of terrible things, sir. Terrible things are going to happen at Hogwarts, sir." Then out of nowhere, the Elf began slamming its head against the wall. Each time shouting, 'Bad Dobby!' With a quick indication of his hand, Balthazar shot forwards and wrapped around Dobby's body, stopping it from moving. Even then it continued to struggle. A hiss from Balthazar that revealed its fangs froze the creature.
"Dobby." The Elf turned to Harry with tear filled eyes and Harry was instantly reminded of a younger version of himself that used to suffer at the hands of his relatives. "What terrible things?" Dobby shook his head rapidly.
"Dobby cannot say sir, Dobby cannot say." Sighing, he indicated for Dobby to be released.
"Go home Dobby." The creature shared a glance with Balthazar before turning back to Harry.
"Harry Potter sir, must agree not to go back to Hogwarts." Dobby all but begged.
"Just go Dobby, before I get annoyed. I need my sleep." Balthazar hissed and slithered towards the House Elf threateningly. With a quick screech, Dobby apparated out of his room and to wherever he belonged.
Sighing, Harry collapsed onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. His mind alight with not only what Dobby said, but the rune he had seen inscribed onto Dobby's magical core. It was unlike anything he had seen before, ancient and extremely powerful.
'That must be what keeps the Elves from returning to their original power. I need to get hold of my heritage and find out what seal he used and how to break it.' Harry thought. Already he could imagine what he could do with an army of powerful warriors. 'But what did he mean about terrible things? Great, now I can't sleep.' Groaning, Harry cast a quick spell that showed the time.
03:00.
His groans increased even more as he realised he had to wait for another four hours until he and the others had agreed to meet on the train.
Pushing himself out of bed he got changed into a pair of sporty clothing before leaving the Leaky Cauldron for a jog around the quiet alley. He could sense the presence of Bear a little ways away.
-X- Line Break -X-
"You look a little tired." Blaise mocked for what seemed to be the millionth time and like he had done previously, Harry glared at him with his glowing emerald eyes. Last year the sight had been terrifying, now the effect had worn off.
"Alright, let's leave Harry alone now. He's had a lot of problems as it is." Neville decided to play the peacekeeper between the two of them. Even so, he found Harry's situation incredibly amusing. The train had been about to set off, before Harry arrived. His excuse having been that the barrier had been closed, making it impossible to pass through. Then he had suffered a long train ride to Hogwarts being teased constantly by Blaise, Peter and Graham.
Susan had tried to defend him, but then she had been teased by the three, along with Neville and Hannah. The girl had blushed a shade of red so bright that they all thought she would pass out. She didn't, but she did keep quiet for the rest of the journey.
"Come on, this one here." Theodore, who had walked ahead interrupted as he indicated towards an empty carriage. All of them got on, but Harry stayed outside as he stared at the horse like creatures at the front of the carriage.
"Come on Harry!" Peter blurted out as he stuck his head out of the carriage.
"Don't you see them?" Harry asked breathlessly, as he walked towards the strange creatures.
"See what?" Harry turned around and stared at Peter incredulously.
"You don't see them?" Walking towards the creatures, he raised one hand and stroked the creature's neck. It leaned in to his touch and Harry found himself marvelling at the rough, but smooth quality of its hide.
"Harry, you're starting to creep me out." Peter said worriedly. Pulling away, Harry stepped into the carriage and tried to think on what the creature was.
"What were you doing?" Theodore asked.
"I was looking at the creatures pulling the carriage."
"Harry, nothing pulls the carriage, it pulls itself." Graham informed.
"Unless it was invisible to only a select few." Blaise answered the unasked question.
"Threstral's." Neville spoke gaining everyone's attention. "They can only be seen by those that have witnessed death. Hardly any child has seen death so it would make sense to have them pull the carriage."
"Were they a horse-like creature?" Theodore asked.
"Yep, though unlike any horse I've ever seen."
"Then it was definitely a Threstral." No one dared ask who Harry had seen die, each of them knowing, or could at least guess, who he had seen. The ride up to Hogwarts was done in an awkward silence, no one dared talk due to what had happened.
Entering Hogwarts, the eight of them moved towards the Great Hall before separating into two groups. Neville, Susan and Hannah going towards the Hufflepuff table, while Harry, Blaise, Theodore, Peter and Graham moved towards the Slytherin table. For a few moments, the five of them sat speaking about odd bits and pieces that held no relevance to anything important. Then the door opened and in came the crowd of First years.
"Pst, guys." Harry and the others turned to look at Blaise in confusion. "Were we that small?"
"Blaise, you're not that much taller than them." The brown skinned Slytherin glared at Graham who returned it with a smirk.
"Shut up Graham." Harry and Peter restrained themselves from bursting out in laughter, and instead sniggered as quietly as possible. There was a few more jabs at Blaise, who was the smallest in their group. He in turn returned fire as best as he could, but it was obvious he was running out of insults. This only served to fuel their entertainment.
They hadn't realised that they had missed the beginning of year speech and the induction of the First years, until food appeared over the tables.
A/N: Sorry for the wait on this chapter, but I finally managed to finish it. Hope you enjoyed and please leave a review so that I know what you think and if you have any ideas.