Chapter 20
Sirius and the Dragons
Hogwarts
(cont. from last chapt.)
"First things first, I have to explain why tonight was so special. Astronomy.
"Sure, what I know about tonight flies past most conventional Astronomy. I get bad marks in class because I subscribe to a different breed of the stuff. The school teaches star maps in accordance to fate and its reign on Earth, but I study it in accordance to Summoning.
"My mother was a Summoner. She was pretty powerful, too. My father was a Muggle psychologist. Most would say boring, I suppose, but it helped me to learn things in a different light. My different light for Astronomy was teaching myself because I wanted to learn how it pertained to the Summons.
"My mother died in front of me. She didn't know she had. I was there, watching her dragon fight Voldemort's, and when hers got overpowered, Voldemort used her as the sacrifice for the dragons. He had summoned three. Mum had only called one, but her dragon was fueled by the power of her magick- not normal magic, but Summon Magick, the old Magicks- and the blood sacrifices of all the people Voldemort had killed before her. She wasn't supposed to use the Dragons, you see, she was supposed to summon mere faeries, angels and genii, not the Dragons. But when Voldemort had killed everyone else and turned on her, she was determined to kill him.
"She had cast the circle before to summon the other spirits, but now she had to break it. She called up a new circle, one of fire, and she tossed in the herbs.
"3 parts Rosemary for Consecration, Protection, and Exorcism. 2 parts Basil for Success and Luck. 1 part Thyme for the Crossing. 2 parts Cinnamon, for Purification and Healing. And for the Fire element, a mix of equal parts Dragon's Blood and Pepper, the mix to be counted as 1 part. Yes, I do know this spell. I know everything about this spell.
"She said the incantation, which is hard to translate. It's not Latin or Olde English, this magick is so old it's in old Gaelic, ancient. Mum taught me old Gaelic and Latin as a child, while Dad was saying I should take French as a second language. But it's useful, all right.
"She kept repeating it over and over, louder each time, the way it's meant to be said. At the appropriate time, she held the dagger.
"I kept this. It's always in my pocket, along with it's mate. Different daggers for different Dragons. The daggers are meant to cast the circle, to spill the sacrificial blood if there isn't any blood already spilt, and to direct the dragon's fight. The daggers are different materials based on the dragon type. The Fire Dragon, Mum's final Summon, was led by an Obsidian- Birthed in fire- blade, covered in fire gems and rubies.
"The Dragon came of course. It was fed on the blood of the fallen and my Mum's magick, and later I found out my own was sent to it as well. The Spirit Dragon of the Element Fire rose up and was directed by that beautiful black and red blade to attack Voldemort. It was so full of Blood and Magick, I think it might have succeeded.
"Except Voldemort also knew how to Summon. He cast up a wall, Element Water, and called not one but three dragons, elements Metal, Earth and Wood.
"I was seven years old. I had just had my birthday the day before, December 21st, Winter Solstice, or the Yule Shabbat. Sagittarius. Born under Sirius and Polaris crossed to Jupiter on a waning moon. Yes, all of this is important to Summoning and more so to tonight.
"The battle lasted until finally the numbers just gave in. Mum was offered as Voldemort's sacrifice for the dragons.
"I remember he tried to take me, he'd known I was there. He left, but not without sending them to fetch me. Them. The Dementors. My first experience with them, not my last. Voldemort seems to know my weakness to them, because I'm allergic to chocolate and therefore easily given into them. And the bad memories do not help.
"They were coming when Dad started to say an old Muggle nursery rhyme to me. I suspect he did it to cure himself of the dementors as well, but the poem. Mum always said that one to me to get me to go to sleep without nightmares.
Hush little baby, don't say a word.
Daddy's gonna buy you a mocking bird.
"I started to cuddle in his arms crying quietly, waiting for them to take me. He just held tight, but then Dumbledore came and shot them away. He picked me up gently, smiling. He told my father that I was probably the most powerful wizard he'd ever seen, and in a few years he would be more than happy to help submit me to Hogwarts. He then gave me a warm drink and handed me back to my father, while they talked. I remember I slipped down and ran over to Mum's corpse.
"The dragons only take the blood and the magick. The body stays there. Her magic, not the kind she'd used for the spell but the kind that made her a witch, was there. And even so young, I was not apprehensive of death. My father had explained long ago that they would die, most likely before me. I was not scared that Mum was dead. Disappointed, a little bit, but not to the extent where I was sobbing at her side. I just looked at her, told her I loved her one more time, told her I'd be a wizard she would be proud of, and took the summoning weapons. A set of small arrows for the fey folk, a set of small round arm bracers for the angels, a set of rings for the genii, and of course the daggers.
"I keep them all, but I only plan to Summon Dragons. The daggers have stayed with me ever since.
"I feel that my mission is to reclaim Mum's final battle. The Summon she never finished.
"Except I will win.
"So as a child I began to research Summoning. I skipped the stuff about how one should go for smaller summons such as Faeries or even minor Sprites first, and went straight from basics to Dragons.
"At eight, I had already attempted three Summons, each failing. My first Success was on my 8th birthday, Midnight, during a full moon. My birthday being the Winter Solstice, a power day, and it being the day of the Yule Solstice once again- this only occurs on occasion- I had a lot of power backing. I also had lit several green candles for luck, and I was wearing a necklace that I have shortened to an anklet now made of hematite, tiger's eye, and amethyst. This bracelet has never left my body since- Hematite is for health and mental protection, tiger's eye for luck and success, and amethyst for physical protection. Plus it looks cool. I'm making one for Remus's birthday February 12th.
"My amateur status prompted me to try my first Summoning with only five dead rabbits and the Magick of an untrained eight year old, so I would have been surprised to find even a sprite at my altar beneath my dagger.
"Imagine my surprise when I found the Omni Dragon.
"Perhaps I should explain. There are five Elements, and one Dragon for each of them. Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, Wood. And each of these Dragons is perfectly balanced between the four Cardinal Points- Earth, North, Air, East, Water, West, and Fire, South. Even if it is a Water Dragon, it is balanced between Earth and Fire, with Air to top it. Same for the others. They all share Air in common, and this led them to meld the Air energy, forever ago, into one Dragon. Their melding created a creature balanced perfectly between the five Elements and four Points, yet at the same time created a fifth Element- Ashaka, or Spirit.
"The Ashaka Dragon, the one with the power to make more Dragons if necessary, sat beneath my blade. I was startled, especially when it asked me what my purpose for Summoning was.
"I explained that I just wanted to see if I could call a dragon when necessary, and he offered me my heart's desire.
"I responded with the ability to call him at will, but he replied it was impossible. So I asked instead for the power to defeat my enemies and protect those I love.
"He laughed, saying that a child with five rats for a blood offering needed to have some serious magick to be able to call him forth, so he didn't need to give me any power. I asked for help to fulfill my wish of defeating enemies and protecting my loved ones, and he offered me something he'd never offered anyone else.
"My own Dragons to call. He asked my Elemental preference, and I said Fire. He handed me an egg, saying it was a Spirit Egg. If I trained it right and learned to share my Magick, it would be my personal weapon. He would give me all the Elements, one at a time after I master taming each one, and in the end I would have five dragons that could meld a new Omni, giving me an army of six. He also suggested I learn walls. To train my Dragon, I learned and taught it Fire Walls. I would spend various phases of the moon, particularly third quarter waxing, summoning and teaching it. I named it Ryalth, and it was able to be Summoned with only my Fire Dagger, the spell itself and anklet after only two years. I then got a Metal Dragon, which I named Förnre, and learned Metal Walls. Within another two years- this year- I mastered it as well, and now I'm waiting for my Earth Egg to hatch.
"My Dragons are powerful, good at spells, quick, listen to me and come when called, sometimes as soon as I mutter the words before the herbs hit the ground. I must be a fine Summoner, but I never trained them for combat.
"And if things kept up the way they were going, I would be forced to combat them.
Sirius and the Dragons
Hogwarts
(cont. from last chapt.)
"First things first, I have to explain why tonight was so special. Astronomy.
"Sure, what I know about tonight flies past most conventional Astronomy. I get bad marks in class because I subscribe to a different breed of the stuff. The school teaches star maps in accordance to fate and its reign on Earth, but I study it in accordance to Summoning.
"My mother was a Summoner. She was pretty powerful, too. My father was a Muggle psychologist. Most would say boring, I suppose, but it helped me to learn things in a different light. My different light for Astronomy was teaching myself because I wanted to learn how it pertained to the Summons.
"My mother died in front of me. She didn't know she had. I was there, watching her dragon fight Voldemort's, and when hers got overpowered, Voldemort used her as the sacrifice for the dragons. He had summoned three. Mum had only called one, but her dragon was fueled by the power of her magick- not normal magic, but Summon Magick, the old Magicks- and the blood sacrifices of all the people Voldemort had killed before her. She wasn't supposed to use the Dragons, you see, she was supposed to summon mere faeries, angels and genii, not the Dragons. But when Voldemort had killed everyone else and turned on her, she was determined to kill him.
"She had cast the circle before to summon the other spirits, but now she had to break it. She called up a new circle, one of fire, and she tossed in the herbs.
"3 parts Rosemary for Consecration, Protection, and Exorcism. 2 parts Basil for Success and Luck. 1 part Thyme for the Crossing. 2 parts Cinnamon, for Purification and Healing. And for the Fire element, a mix of equal parts Dragon's Blood and Pepper, the mix to be counted as 1 part. Yes, I do know this spell. I know everything about this spell.
"She said the incantation, which is hard to translate. It's not Latin or Olde English, this magick is so old it's in old Gaelic, ancient. Mum taught me old Gaelic and Latin as a child, while Dad was saying I should take French as a second language. But it's useful, all right.
"She kept repeating it over and over, louder each time, the way it's meant to be said. At the appropriate time, she held the dagger.
"I kept this. It's always in my pocket, along with it's mate. Different daggers for different Dragons. The daggers are meant to cast the circle, to spill the sacrificial blood if there isn't any blood already spilt, and to direct the dragon's fight. The daggers are different materials based on the dragon type. The Fire Dragon, Mum's final Summon, was led by an Obsidian- Birthed in fire- blade, covered in fire gems and rubies.
"The Dragon came of course. It was fed on the blood of the fallen and my Mum's magick, and later I found out my own was sent to it as well. The Spirit Dragon of the Element Fire rose up and was directed by that beautiful black and red blade to attack Voldemort. It was so full of Blood and Magick, I think it might have succeeded.
"Except Voldemort also knew how to Summon. He cast up a wall, Element Water, and called not one but three dragons, elements Metal, Earth and Wood.
"I was seven years old. I had just had my birthday the day before, December 21st, Winter Solstice, or the Yule Shabbat. Sagittarius. Born under Sirius and Polaris crossed to Jupiter on a waning moon. Yes, all of this is important to Summoning and more so to tonight.
"The battle lasted until finally the numbers just gave in. Mum was offered as Voldemort's sacrifice for the dragons.
"I remember he tried to take me, he'd known I was there. He left, but not without sending them to fetch me. Them. The Dementors. My first experience with them, not my last. Voldemort seems to know my weakness to them, because I'm allergic to chocolate and therefore easily given into them. And the bad memories do not help.
"They were coming when Dad started to say an old Muggle nursery rhyme to me. I suspect he did it to cure himself of the dementors as well, but the poem. Mum always said that one to me to get me to go to sleep without nightmares.
Hush little baby, don't say a word.
Daddy's gonna buy you a mocking bird.
"I started to cuddle in his arms crying quietly, waiting for them to take me. He just held tight, but then Dumbledore came and shot them away. He picked me up gently, smiling. He told my father that I was probably the most powerful wizard he'd ever seen, and in a few years he would be more than happy to help submit me to Hogwarts. He then gave me a warm drink and handed me back to my father, while they talked. I remember I slipped down and ran over to Mum's corpse.
"The dragons only take the blood and the magick. The body stays there. Her magic, not the kind she'd used for the spell but the kind that made her a witch, was there. And even so young, I was not apprehensive of death. My father had explained long ago that they would die, most likely before me. I was not scared that Mum was dead. Disappointed, a little bit, but not to the extent where I was sobbing at her side. I just looked at her, told her I loved her one more time, told her I'd be a wizard she would be proud of, and took the summoning weapons. A set of small arrows for the fey folk, a set of small round arm bracers for the angels, a set of rings for the genii, and of course the daggers.
"I keep them all, but I only plan to Summon Dragons. The daggers have stayed with me ever since.
"I feel that my mission is to reclaim Mum's final battle. The Summon she never finished.
"Except I will win.
"So as a child I began to research Summoning. I skipped the stuff about how one should go for smaller summons such as Faeries or even minor Sprites first, and went straight from basics to Dragons.
"At eight, I had already attempted three Summons, each failing. My first Success was on my 8th birthday, Midnight, during a full moon. My birthday being the Winter Solstice, a power day, and it being the day of the Yule Solstice once again- this only occurs on occasion- I had a lot of power backing. I also had lit several green candles for luck, and I was wearing a necklace that I have shortened to an anklet now made of hematite, tiger's eye, and amethyst. This bracelet has never left my body since- Hematite is for health and mental protection, tiger's eye for luck and success, and amethyst for physical protection. Plus it looks cool. I'm making one for Remus's birthday February 12th.
"My amateur status prompted me to try my first Summoning with only five dead rabbits and the Magick of an untrained eight year old, so I would have been surprised to find even a sprite at my altar beneath my dagger.
"Imagine my surprise when I found the Omni Dragon.
"Perhaps I should explain. There are five Elements, and one Dragon for each of them. Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, Wood. And each of these Dragons is perfectly balanced between the four Cardinal Points- Earth, North, Air, East, Water, West, and Fire, South. Even if it is a Water Dragon, it is balanced between Earth and Fire, with Air to top it. Same for the others. They all share Air in common, and this led them to meld the Air energy, forever ago, into one Dragon. Their melding created a creature balanced perfectly between the five Elements and four Points, yet at the same time created a fifth Element- Ashaka, or Spirit.
"The Ashaka Dragon, the one with the power to make more Dragons if necessary, sat beneath my blade. I was startled, especially when it asked me what my purpose for Summoning was.
"I explained that I just wanted to see if I could call a dragon when necessary, and he offered me my heart's desire.
"I responded with the ability to call him at will, but he replied it was impossible. So I asked instead for the power to defeat my enemies and protect those I love.
"He laughed, saying that a child with five rats for a blood offering needed to have some serious magick to be able to call him forth, so he didn't need to give me any power. I asked for help to fulfill my wish of defeating enemies and protecting my loved ones, and he offered me something he'd never offered anyone else.
"My own Dragons to call. He asked my Elemental preference, and I said Fire. He handed me an egg, saying it was a Spirit Egg. If I trained it right and learned to share my Magick, it would be my personal weapon. He would give me all the Elements, one at a time after I master taming each one, and in the end I would have five dragons that could meld a new Omni, giving me an army of six. He also suggested I learn walls. To train my Dragon, I learned and taught it Fire Walls. I would spend various phases of the moon, particularly third quarter waxing, summoning and teaching it. I named it Ryalth, and it was able to be Summoned with only my Fire Dagger, the spell itself and anklet after only two years. I then got a Metal Dragon, which I named Förnre, and learned Metal Walls. Within another two years- this year- I mastered it as well, and now I'm waiting for my Earth Egg to hatch.
"My Dragons are powerful, good at spells, quick, listen to me and come when called, sometimes as soon as I mutter the words before the herbs hit the ground. I must be a fine Summoner, but I never trained them for combat.
"And if things kept up the way they were going, I would be forced to combat them.