Chapter 16
"So the elves will arrive tomorrow, they'll need an escort the whole way. Harry could inform the other commanders, tell them that they'll be eating with the elves this evening?" Albus asked, looking to Harry who was sitting beside him.
"Sure, and I'll put out a few threats to keep everyone else from acting up," he added, his eyes sparkling, he half hoped someone would try something; he hadn't pulled a good prank in nearly a week.
The council rose and left the room, Harry and Dumbledore went back to Hogwarts. Just inside the entrance hall Harry turned to Dumbledore for a moment.
"I've got a new lead with the skull I need to work out, and it could just possibly be dangerous, I'll be down in the lab all afternoon, if I don't come to dinner try to contact me telepathically, if even Sirius can't get anything then you'll know I'm dead or too hurt to respond." He said, the headmaster's eyes went wide, but he didn't protest the experiment, trusting Harry's judgment to keep himself safe.
Harry sat down in a chair, the skull on its table in front of him. Beside him stood a tray with a dozen phials of blood on it, Harry waited, watching the blood, but no change was occurring. These samples were all from people who could withstand the skull's power for nearly five minutes. Harry took a small knife out of his pocket and neatly made a long slit on his left palm. Blood began to pool in his hand, Harry lifted his hand scraped the blood off into a small tube until he had enough of it. Then he healed his palm and stood, watching the stopwatch on the table. At just the right moment he poured the blood out of the test tube and onto the gold symbol on the skull's forehead. Everything went black.
He couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't smell, couldn't feel, he felt like he was being skinned alive, the only sense that was working was his ability to feel pain, unknowingly Harry collapsed to the floor, but was unable to feel himself hit it. Pain, and the darkness was everywhere, what was going on? Suddenly through the darkness a symbol appeared, Harry recognized it instantly as the one on his right palm, it was glowing gold, and growing bigger and bigger, and coming closer. Just as it was about to hit him Harry threw up one arm over his face to block it, his right arm, with the right palm facing outwards. Instantly the symbol hit his palm, burning into his flesh and bone, Harry screamed, but was unaware that he was screaming. Now the symbol form the skull appeared, but it was no longer fuzzy, and he could see it clearly.
It was an eight-pointed star, but one point was longer than all the others, the top point was longer. And in the center of the star was a rune, the rune for earth. He could feel the symbol calling, calling, but it wasn't calling him, who then? It was burning itself into his mind; Harry tried to force it away but was unable too, finally he lifted his right palm and pressed the symbol on it to the one blazing in his mind, and everything went dark as he passed out.
The first thing Harry noticed when he woke was that he was lying on the floor, the second thing he noticed was that his right palm was covered in dried blood. He rolled to his knees and shakily stood and sat down in the chair again. He glanced at his watch, and was astonished to find that nearly three hours had passed. He turned quickly to look at the phials of blood.and stopped, his eyes going wide with shock, they were still red. The blood cells hadn't exploded, in three hours nothing had changed about them. Then he turned to the skull, it too was different, the symbol on his forehead was clear now, a glowing gold, the same symbol he had seen in his mind. The eight pointed star, one point longer than all the others, with the rune for earth at its center.
** "Silence!" Harry's voice rang out; there was instant silence in the commanders' lounge. He had just walked in the door to see them all chattering excitedly, something about the elves. After trying to get tem to listen for nearly a minute Harry had just simply yelled. Now they were all staring at him, Harry very rarely raised his voice at anyone.
"Sit, all of you." He told them firmly, they all scrambled for chairs, Harry sat down in an armchair, hoping that his recent trial with the skull didn't have any visible effects.besides the fact that his right palm ached.
"Earlier today the Phoenix Council received news that the elves are returning to Hogwarts tomorrow. They will arrive tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock if all goes well. Each of you commands one of the Hogwarts armies, and all of you will be allowed to dine with them tomorrow at dinner. Tomorrow evening is not an especially important event, the talks with the elves and al the ministries will start the day after. Hogwarts will be hosting the elves for five days, not including tomorrow, for the talks. The first and second years will remain in the lower school and have no contact with them. Their schedule will remain as it is. Our however will change. Classes will be scheduled around the talks because some of the teachers will need to be present. Each day's classes will appear on your schedule every morning. At some time or other some of the seventh year students might be asked to teach a class while a professor is absent, and the guests will be watching any battles they choose to." Here he had to pause as nervous chatter broke out. He held up a hand for silence and finally they all became quiet again.
Tomorrow when they arrive there is a possibility that death eaters may attack them on the way. There will be Order of the Phoenix Agents with them, they'll be taking a portkey to Hogsmead and riding in the carriages up to the castle. But they may need additional guards. The two best from each army, not including the commanders or your seconds, will be posted in groups of four along both sides of the road. All of them will be able to communicate via spells and anything out of the ordinary is to be passed to me immediately. If there is an emergency these guards will be expected to aid the Phoenix agents in fighting off the attack. The agents will chase down any death eaters, the guards will be expected to stay at their posts, and keep anyone from coming close to the carriages. In addition the older members form every army will be assigned guard duties for the days that Hogwarts is hosting the elves and our other guests. During this time they'll each have a corridor to patrol or a station to guard. They'll do this in groups of two. Any further instructions will appear at the bottom of each student's schedule. Now you nee dot go inform your armies of this, you and your second will be responsible for making sure that no one in your army misbehaves and that everything goes smoothly. Go now." In a great wave the commanders stood and left the room, Harry waited until they had all left before he stood and walked down the hallway to the Wolf dorm.
** Harry waited with the other commanders in the great hall, the elves would be there shortly, so far everything had gone fine. He stood a little apart from the group, half hidden in the shadows, watching everything warily. Arthur Weasely and three others whom he did not know had arrived ten minutes before, now Arthur was talking to the headmaster in a whisper. Albus's face looked worried and quite stormy. Harry had listened in on their conversation for a bit, something about a ministry official vanishing. One of the guards reported that the elves had arrived; Harry sent back a message for all of them to come inside and go to their dorms. He turned purposefully to the doors, the others in the room, catching his sudden movement, turned as well.
The huge doors swung inward and the king and queen of the elves, followed by a score of others, entered. Albus walked forward to meet them halfway and bowed.
"Greetings good king, lady, I hope your journey was uneventful?" The elf king and queen bowed in return.
"Enjoyable Albus," the king paused looking around the great hall, "it is nice to see this place is still unchanged and still standing." Dumbledore straightened.
"Indeed it is." He made a quick signal to the auror guards, they all scattered around the room along the walls. Then the headmaster began to introduce everyone, Harry purposely stayed to the back so that he was last. When his name was called he stepped forward and bowed, straightening he met the elf king's eyes, to everyone's astonishment, including to some extent his own, the king gave him a short bow, when he rose he looked into Harry eyes and signaled that he needed to talk with Harry later. Harry inclined his head slightly and swept off to his seat silently, the elf king allowed the headmaster to lead him to his.
Harry was relatively quiet all through the meal, his palm ached horribly and he was tired after his ordeal with the skull. Ira and Draco tried to draw him into a conversation but he didn't respond very well so they gave up. The elf general of the mounted elven warriors was sitting on Harry's left, Harry figured out quickly that he had been asked by the king to question Harry about he skulls, or he was just very interested in them.
"So you're not very worried about Voldemort getting them?"
"Yes I am, those skulls do have a very real purpose and they are necessary, and Voldemort's power could damage them badly."
"Ah so you have figured them out?"
"Yes I believe I have."
"It is not public knowledge yet though?"
"No not yet, I want to be certain first, which will require a another round of experimenting."
"Interesting, you have put so much effort into these skulls, do you think it is worth it?"
"Yes indeed, it certainly is."
"Would you care to elaborate on that?"
"Yes I would, I have only by theories and I am not yet ready to announce them to anyone." Harry said, half amused at the other's attempts to get him talking. The elf noted his amusement and chose a different topic, Voldemort, very quickly Harry managed to draw almost everyone at the banquet into a discussion of Voldemort, and the skulls were momentarily forgotten.
"So Albus, you've rearranged the school a bit I gather?" The king asked the headmaster.
"Yes indeed, the students still have classes of course, but they're learning self defense and getting battle training now."
"Ah, that sounds rather like what we elves have, are you sure it is wise though?"
"It promotes team work, the students are organized into groups, which we playfully call armies. It gives every student a team to work with, and the older students can develop useful leadership qualities. It also teaches them self defense that in today's world is very useful indeed." The headmaster explained, he had everyone's full attention.
"Yes, very useful in today's world," the elf king said with a sigh, with Voldemort on the rampage a little training would save many lives. "What of students who do not wish to be fighters?"
"Then they may practice strategy in their army, and since magic is almost always allowed they may be the ones to find spells for the others to use. And should anyone be injured we try to have the students heal each other, unless of course it is a serious injury in which case the hospital wing is always open. Of course after school they don't have to remember any of it, but if they do choose a fighting profession they are already well begun in their training. "
"Still such training might leave out other parts of life that your students might need."
"A professional swords man does not go around challenging people and loping off heads. Nor does a master of the martial arts beat people up constantly. The training teaches discipline, the abilities they are taught take time and patience to master, they have to really work at it. By the time they leave the school they will be used to working methodically and persistently toward a goal. The training also makes them much healthier, too many wizards and witches are overweight and unhealthy, the physical exercise is good for them. It also has a long-range goal to making wizarding society stronger. If everyone were to have such training, to learn to cooperate and work with others, and if they had the connections and good friends they make through this training then perhaps fewer would join with dark lords such as Voldemort. Little forges a stronger friendship than overcoming hardships and challenges together." The headmaster explained calmly and the elves nodded satisfied. Albus met Harry's eyes briefly, and Harry was sure the headmaster winked at him, that last speech had been taken directly form what Harry had said when explaining the program he had planned to the staff.
** Harry retreated to his room early that day, exhausted and still shaken form the skull's power, but all the more convinced that he had been right in the skull's power and place in the Atlantian society of old.now he just had to try the same procedure with the other skull to test it.
Hey yal, sorry this took so long! Hope you liked it!
Miranda Flairgold
"So the elves will arrive tomorrow, they'll need an escort the whole way. Harry could inform the other commanders, tell them that they'll be eating with the elves this evening?" Albus asked, looking to Harry who was sitting beside him.
"Sure, and I'll put out a few threats to keep everyone else from acting up," he added, his eyes sparkling, he half hoped someone would try something; he hadn't pulled a good prank in nearly a week.
The council rose and left the room, Harry and Dumbledore went back to Hogwarts. Just inside the entrance hall Harry turned to Dumbledore for a moment.
"I've got a new lead with the skull I need to work out, and it could just possibly be dangerous, I'll be down in the lab all afternoon, if I don't come to dinner try to contact me telepathically, if even Sirius can't get anything then you'll know I'm dead or too hurt to respond." He said, the headmaster's eyes went wide, but he didn't protest the experiment, trusting Harry's judgment to keep himself safe.
Harry sat down in a chair, the skull on its table in front of him. Beside him stood a tray with a dozen phials of blood on it, Harry waited, watching the blood, but no change was occurring. These samples were all from people who could withstand the skull's power for nearly five minutes. Harry took a small knife out of his pocket and neatly made a long slit on his left palm. Blood began to pool in his hand, Harry lifted his hand scraped the blood off into a small tube until he had enough of it. Then he healed his palm and stood, watching the stopwatch on the table. At just the right moment he poured the blood out of the test tube and onto the gold symbol on the skull's forehead. Everything went black.
He couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't smell, couldn't feel, he felt like he was being skinned alive, the only sense that was working was his ability to feel pain, unknowingly Harry collapsed to the floor, but was unable to feel himself hit it. Pain, and the darkness was everywhere, what was going on? Suddenly through the darkness a symbol appeared, Harry recognized it instantly as the one on his right palm, it was glowing gold, and growing bigger and bigger, and coming closer. Just as it was about to hit him Harry threw up one arm over his face to block it, his right arm, with the right palm facing outwards. Instantly the symbol hit his palm, burning into his flesh and bone, Harry screamed, but was unaware that he was screaming. Now the symbol form the skull appeared, but it was no longer fuzzy, and he could see it clearly.
It was an eight-pointed star, but one point was longer than all the others, the top point was longer. And in the center of the star was a rune, the rune for earth. He could feel the symbol calling, calling, but it wasn't calling him, who then? It was burning itself into his mind; Harry tried to force it away but was unable too, finally he lifted his right palm and pressed the symbol on it to the one blazing in his mind, and everything went dark as he passed out.
The first thing Harry noticed when he woke was that he was lying on the floor, the second thing he noticed was that his right palm was covered in dried blood. He rolled to his knees and shakily stood and sat down in the chair again. He glanced at his watch, and was astonished to find that nearly three hours had passed. He turned quickly to look at the phials of blood.and stopped, his eyes going wide with shock, they were still red. The blood cells hadn't exploded, in three hours nothing had changed about them. Then he turned to the skull, it too was different, the symbol on his forehead was clear now, a glowing gold, the same symbol he had seen in his mind. The eight pointed star, one point longer than all the others, with the rune for earth at its center.
** "Silence!" Harry's voice rang out; there was instant silence in the commanders' lounge. He had just walked in the door to see them all chattering excitedly, something about the elves. After trying to get tem to listen for nearly a minute Harry had just simply yelled. Now they were all staring at him, Harry very rarely raised his voice at anyone.
"Sit, all of you." He told them firmly, they all scrambled for chairs, Harry sat down in an armchair, hoping that his recent trial with the skull didn't have any visible effects.besides the fact that his right palm ached.
"Earlier today the Phoenix Council received news that the elves are returning to Hogwarts tomorrow. They will arrive tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock if all goes well. Each of you commands one of the Hogwarts armies, and all of you will be allowed to dine with them tomorrow at dinner. Tomorrow evening is not an especially important event, the talks with the elves and al the ministries will start the day after. Hogwarts will be hosting the elves for five days, not including tomorrow, for the talks. The first and second years will remain in the lower school and have no contact with them. Their schedule will remain as it is. Our however will change. Classes will be scheduled around the talks because some of the teachers will need to be present. Each day's classes will appear on your schedule every morning. At some time or other some of the seventh year students might be asked to teach a class while a professor is absent, and the guests will be watching any battles they choose to." Here he had to pause as nervous chatter broke out. He held up a hand for silence and finally they all became quiet again.
Tomorrow when they arrive there is a possibility that death eaters may attack them on the way. There will be Order of the Phoenix Agents with them, they'll be taking a portkey to Hogsmead and riding in the carriages up to the castle. But they may need additional guards. The two best from each army, not including the commanders or your seconds, will be posted in groups of four along both sides of the road. All of them will be able to communicate via spells and anything out of the ordinary is to be passed to me immediately. If there is an emergency these guards will be expected to aid the Phoenix agents in fighting off the attack. The agents will chase down any death eaters, the guards will be expected to stay at their posts, and keep anyone from coming close to the carriages. In addition the older members form every army will be assigned guard duties for the days that Hogwarts is hosting the elves and our other guests. During this time they'll each have a corridor to patrol or a station to guard. They'll do this in groups of two. Any further instructions will appear at the bottom of each student's schedule. Now you nee dot go inform your armies of this, you and your second will be responsible for making sure that no one in your army misbehaves and that everything goes smoothly. Go now." In a great wave the commanders stood and left the room, Harry waited until they had all left before he stood and walked down the hallway to the Wolf dorm.
** Harry waited with the other commanders in the great hall, the elves would be there shortly, so far everything had gone fine. He stood a little apart from the group, half hidden in the shadows, watching everything warily. Arthur Weasely and three others whom he did not know had arrived ten minutes before, now Arthur was talking to the headmaster in a whisper. Albus's face looked worried and quite stormy. Harry had listened in on their conversation for a bit, something about a ministry official vanishing. One of the guards reported that the elves had arrived; Harry sent back a message for all of them to come inside and go to their dorms. He turned purposefully to the doors, the others in the room, catching his sudden movement, turned as well.
The huge doors swung inward and the king and queen of the elves, followed by a score of others, entered. Albus walked forward to meet them halfway and bowed.
"Greetings good king, lady, I hope your journey was uneventful?" The elf king and queen bowed in return.
"Enjoyable Albus," the king paused looking around the great hall, "it is nice to see this place is still unchanged and still standing." Dumbledore straightened.
"Indeed it is." He made a quick signal to the auror guards, they all scattered around the room along the walls. Then the headmaster began to introduce everyone, Harry purposely stayed to the back so that he was last. When his name was called he stepped forward and bowed, straightening he met the elf king's eyes, to everyone's astonishment, including to some extent his own, the king gave him a short bow, when he rose he looked into Harry eyes and signaled that he needed to talk with Harry later. Harry inclined his head slightly and swept off to his seat silently, the elf king allowed the headmaster to lead him to his.
Harry was relatively quiet all through the meal, his palm ached horribly and he was tired after his ordeal with the skull. Ira and Draco tried to draw him into a conversation but he didn't respond very well so they gave up. The elf general of the mounted elven warriors was sitting on Harry's left, Harry figured out quickly that he had been asked by the king to question Harry about he skulls, or he was just very interested in them.
"So you're not very worried about Voldemort getting them?"
"Yes I am, those skulls do have a very real purpose and they are necessary, and Voldemort's power could damage them badly."
"Ah so you have figured them out?"
"Yes I believe I have."
"It is not public knowledge yet though?"
"No not yet, I want to be certain first, which will require a another round of experimenting."
"Interesting, you have put so much effort into these skulls, do you think it is worth it?"
"Yes indeed, it certainly is."
"Would you care to elaborate on that?"
"Yes I would, I have only by theories and I am not yet ready to announce them to anyone." Harry said, half amused at the other's attempts to get him talking. The elf noted his amusement and chose a different topic, Voldemort, very quickly Harry managed to draw almost everyone at the banquet into a discussion of Voldemort, and the skulls were momentarily forgotten.
"So Albus, you've rearranged the school a bit I gather?" The king asked the headmaster.
"Yes indeed, the students still have classes of course, but they're learning self defense and getting battle training now."
"Ah, that sounds rather like what we elves have, are you sure it is wise though?"
"It promotes team work, the students are organized into groups, which we playfully call armies. It gives every student a team to work with, and the older students can develop useful leadership qualities. It also teaches them self defense that in today's world is very useful indeed." The headmaster explained, he had everyone's full attention.
"Yes, very useful in today's world," the elf king said with a sigh, with Voldemort on the rampage a little training would save many lives. "What of students who do not wish to be fighters?"
"Then they may practice strategy in their army, and since magic is almost always allowed they may be the ones to find spells for the others to use. And should anyone be injured we try to have the students heal each other, unless of course it is a serious injury in which case the hospital wing is always open. Of course after school they don't have to remember any of it, but if they do choose a fighting profession they are already well begun in their training. "
"Still such training might leave out other parts of life that your students might need."
"A professional swords man does not go around challenging people and loping off heads. Nor does a master of the martial arts beat people up constantly. The training teaches discipline, the abilities they are taught take time and patience to master, they have to really work at it. By the time they leave the school they will be used to working methodically and persistently toward a goal. The training also makes them much healthier, too many wizards and witches are overweight and unhealthy, the physical exercise is good for them. It also has a long-range goal to making wizarding society stronger. If everyone were to have such training, to learn to cooperate and work with others, and if they had the connections and good friends they make through this training then perhaps fewer would join with dark lords such as Voldemort. Little forges a stronger friendship than overcoming hardships and challenges together." The headmaster explained calmly and the elves nodded satisfied. Albus met Harry's eyes briefly, and Harry was sure the headmaster winked at him, that last speech had been taken directly form what Harry had said when explaining the program he had planned to the staff.
** Harry retreated to his room early that day, exhausted and still shaken form the skull's power, but all the more convinced that he had been right in the skull's power and place in the Atlantian society of old.now he just had to try the same procedure with the other skull to test it.
Hey yal, sorry this took so long! Hope you liked it!
Miranda Flairgold