Chapter 18
The young must grow old, Whilst the old grow older, And cowards will shrink, As the bold grow bolder. Courage may blossom in quiet hearts, For who can tell where bravery starts?
Truth is a song, oft lying unsung, Some mother bird, protecting her young, Those who lay down their lives for friends, The echo rolls onward, it seldom ends.
Who is that one, loyal and brave? Who never turned and ran, but stayed? This is a warrior born not made! The warrior is one of wisdom Living in peace, aye many a season, Calm in life, sound in reason.
Peace shall lie over land and sea, Until the great evil arrives, With a wicked horde, Driving a warrior to pick up his sword, The challenger rings then, straight and fair, Justice is with us, beware. Beware!
1.4.6 1.2.20 1.2.3 4.6.1 1.2.3 1.3.19 1.1.8
2.2.11 2.1.8 4.4.1 1.1.3 3.1.11
Harry looked around at the others in the room. Albus was looking over the paper thoughtfully, Sirius had a slightly bemused expression on his face, Severus was looking highly doubtful, and Miranda was studying the number sequences closely.
"Are you sure this is what you said?" Sirius asked him for the second time.
"Yes Sirius I'm sure, this is exactly what I said, any ideas?" All he got was silence, "alright, just think on it will you? I haven't a clue." Harry said as he rose, he needed something to eat, having missed lunch, and a shower to wash the blood out of his hair. The wound was healed, though it still ached, and he needed to oversee his army's practice. He gave a tired sigh and turned to go, but Albus stopped him.
"Wait a minute Harry." Harry turned and came back over to them. "Harry I know it's only two days until Halloween so I thought this would be a good time to talk to you about this, sit down for a moment." Harry did so, looking curiously at the other four.
"Harry we've decided to remove you from the training program, it isn't really helping you any, and you are far more useful in other ways. I know this shouldn't surprise you any, we'll appoint a new commander for the Wolf army and move you to your own rooms elsewhere." Albus announced, Harry nodded, having expected as much at some point.
"When?" Was his only question.
"Tomorrow afternoon, now how about you go and get some rest, you look exhausted. We can work on the castle defense plans after the Halloween celebrations." Miranda told him, Harry nodded and left.
"I can't believe you're leaving!' Janice McKinnion complained, pouting. The Wolf army watched as Harry got ready to leave.
"Hey no mater who you get you're still the best army in the school.actually I'm supposed to choose the new commander form among you." At this everyone sat up quickly and looked at him expectantly.
"Neville, you're a good strategist, and you're a good teacher too, I think you'll take over." Neville fell off his bed in shock as everyone cheered.
"Harry.me? I'm not that good a fighter at all." Neville said later when everyone else had left for dinner.
"Yes you are, you got three in our last battle, and dueled with two at once in the one before that. You can be very organized, in everything but Potions. Just do what I've taught you, stand up to everyone and keep the team in shape. You've got good strategists in Janice and Pearl, Stilgar's steady as a rock in any situation, he's quick and an excellent fighter, he'll be commander after you I think. You can do it Neville, I know you can, now come on, lets see if there's anything left to eat." Harry said reassuringly, Neville nodded slowly and followed him.
** The new rooms were, well, wonderful, Harry had designed them himself. Putting them right next to his laboratory, he even had made his own small library. Besides school, in which he wasn't taking that many classes anymore, his only concerns were the Order and Atlantis. Which was more than enough to keep him busy. Harry had a large living room with a fireplace, a large bedroom, a bathroom, a small library, the skulls laboratory, and another room for his potions and anything else. Zarith flew in the window and landed on his gold perch, whistling happily. Curled up on the window sill Tiger purred contentedly.
"You approve huh? So do I." Harry said as he put his things away, then he went to set up the living room and send out some letters, hopefully no one would be too busy to come to the meeting that night.
**
When Albus, Sirius, Mundungus, Arabella, Severus, Minerva, Miranda, Felara, Fred, George, Alastor, and Alanna met in Harry's living room that evening. He had magically enlarged it for this, and all fit in comfortably, giving odd looks to the metal box covering something in the center of the room.
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," Harry began, taking a seat in an armchair he leaned forward and lifted the box off whatever it was covering.to reveal an obsidian skull, one of the real ones.
"What the heck!?" Everyone was on their feet at once, but Harry quickly waved his wand and muttered a spell, the door shut and locked, everyone was thrown back into their seats.
"Potter just what-"
"I see you have noticed that this is infact one of the real skulls, and the reason I wanted to have you all met here."
"To kill us!?"
"Yes Severus I spent so long researching these things just to use them to kill you all." Harry growled, annoyed, "relax, its ability to kill is gone."
"Harry you'd better explain." Miranda said, relaxing into her chair. Harry nodded and began to explain about what had happened in the lab not long before, with the skull's symbol becoming clearer.
"I tested it on the other skull to make sure, and I'm convinced, I'm not entirely sure what I did, but I do know that the skulls are no longer a danger to anyone." Harry said, massaging his palm, the effect of.fixing, the skull's powers two days before had a long lasting effect.
"Interesting, so they cannot harm anyone?"
"No one." he paused, looking intently at Miranda, her eyes had slowly glazed over, and were now glowing gold. In response the symbol on the skull's forehead was glowing even brighter.
"Miranda?" Sirius asked, Harry signaled hi to be quite, the glowing gold got brighter still, then Miranda leaned forward, and before anyone could stop her she placed the palm of her right hand over the symbol on the skulls forehead.
Instantly a bright flashes and sparks of gold shot form where her hand covered the symbol, glowing and shining so brightly that they had to cover their eyes. Sparks flew, Harry looked carefully, he could see the glow form the symbol shining right through Miranda palm, looking even more closely he could see blood from her palm running down the skull. Then there was a huge flash of white light, and all the light vanished as quickly as it had appeared; Miranda slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Miranda!" Sirius said quickly, going to her he lifted her palm and gasped. Harry came over to kneel beside them and examine her palm, already knowing what he would see.
Branded on her palm in dark gold lines was the symbol that had formerly been on the skull's forehead. A circle with eight points, the top point near the base of her middle finger longer than the others, in the center the symbol for earth. He looked at the skull, it looked fine, the blood gone, and the symbol had vanished.
"What happened?" Sirius asked as Miranda blinked and sat up.
"It chose her as one of the eight." Harry replied simply.
"What in the name of everything good are the eight?" Sirius asked, helping Miranda to stand and sit down in her chair. Harry went back to his and sat down, and started to explain everything he had told to the elf king.
"It has been calling, searching, for days, ever since the symbol first started appearing actually. It is one of the skulls of Earth and it chose her as one of the Council of Eight. She now has control over the element of Earth, the most powerful of the elements I believe. Now, the other skull." Harry said, turning to the table beside him he lifted the second skull off it.
"Harry.on its forehead, did it have that symbol there before?" Albus asked him. Harry looked closely; a dull gold glow had appeared on the second skull's forehead, where before there was nothing. It was still far to dim to figure out what it would become, actually he didn't think the skull had decided what element to be yet. Mentally he gave himself a pat on the back, he'd been right.
"There is a method to the choosing of the eight. First one is chosen, then the next skull begins to glow, it will take four months for that glow to become a clear symbol, then another two months will pass, but at the next of six months it must choose the second member of the council."
"Is that how it worked on Atlantis?" Miranda asked, it was the first she had spoken; she was examining her palm closely.
"No, on Atlantis the emperor would chose the Council member, then the next skull would give him six months to choose the next one. If he didn't it would choose for him. But we have no emperor so the skulls will have to choose the Council. Apparently they intend to restart the Atlantian government, and the Eight were the focal point of that."
"But we would need an Emperor." Albus said.
"Yes, but there are none of direct descent left I suppose, how the emperor is chosen will probably depend on the skulls, I don't know. All I know is that I have to find a third skull and.fix it powers, before the second skull chooses. They cannot choose with their powers messed up like that, and if there is no other skull ready when that one chooses then I haven't a clue what will happen, but it won't be good."
"What about those symbols on your palm? Do they have any meaning?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, I think that the skulls have somehow given me the ability to give others power over the elements, but now that the skulls are choosing I cannot anymore. My job is to help teach the Council how to use their new power. On Atlantis there was much more knowledge of how these powers work and the Council probably knew who would be chosen ahead of time and could start their training. Part of my job might be to help counteract her powers, should they get out of hand." Harry explained to them.
"Should we release this to the press?" Albus wondered aloud.
"Probably, they're clamoring for news on the skulls, everyone is. This might be helpful, and they're Atlantians, they have a right to know." Sirius said.
"But we'll have to make sure the Ministries don't get all worked up over having power taken away." Minerva said.
"If the Eight are going to return to power then it'll have to be done very carefully.depending on circumstances. I'll announce everything new I've discovered about the Atlantian government, then two days later we'll announce that it has chosen." Harry decided, grabbing some parchment he wrote a quick letter to the Daily Prophet, asking if they wanted everything new on Atlantis, which of course they would.
"Well I've had my shock for the day, anything else Harry?" Albus asked, standing up, Harry grinned mischievously.
"Don't use any pepper tomorrow morning at breakfast." All the teachers groaned and glared at him.
However they were very thankful for the warning the next day when every Slytherin who used pepper went about singing songs from the Wizard of Oz, the Hufflepuff sang songs from the Little Mermaid, Ravenclaws were signing songs from Peter Pan and the Gryffindors sang everything from the Lion King (duh you coulda guessed that) And all the poor staff members who did use pepper sang songs from Robin hood/Men in Tights. It was very amusing for all those who didn't like salt.
Sorry this took sooooo long.
The young must grow old, Whilst the old grow older, And cowards will shrink, As the bold grow bolder. Courage may blossom in quiet hearts, For who can tell where bravery starts?
Truth is a song, oft lying unsung, Some mother bird, protecting her young, Those who lay down their lives for friends, The echo rolls onward, it seldom ends.
Who is that one, loyal and brave? Who never turned and ran, but stayed? This is a warrior born not made! The warrior is one of wisdom Living in peace, aye many a season, Calm in life, sound in reason.
Peace shall lie over land and sea, Until the great evil arrives, With a wicked horde, Driving a warrior to pick up his sword, The challenger rings then, straight and fair, Justice is with us, beware. Beware!
1.4.6 1.2.20 1.2.3 4.6.1 1.2.3 1.3.19 1.1.8
2.2.11 2.1.8 4.4.1 1.1.3 3.1.11
Harry looked around at the others in the room. Albus was looking over the paper thoughtfully, Sirius had a slightly bemused expression on his face, Severus was looking highly doubtful, and Miranda was studying the number sequences closely.
"Are you sure this is what you said?" Sirius asked him for the second time.
"Yes Sirius I'm sure, this is exactly what I said, any ideas?" All he got was silence, "alright, just think on it will you? I haven't a clue." Harry said as he rose, he needed something to eat, having missed lunch, and a shower to wash the blood out of his hair. The wound was healed, though it still ached, and he needed to oversee his army's practice. He gave a tired sigh and turned to go, but Albus stopped him.
"Wait a minute Harry." Harry turned and came back over to them. "Harry I know it's only two days until Halloween so I thought this would be a good time to talk to you about this, sit down for a moment." Harry did so, looking curiously at the other four.
"Harry we've decided to remove you from the training program, it isn't really helping you any, and you are far more useful in other ways. I know this shouldn't surprise you any, we'll appoint a new commander for the Wolf army and move you to your own rooms elsewhere." Albus announced, Harry nodded, having expected as much at some point.
"When?" Was his only question.
"Tomorrow afternoon, now how about you go and get some rest, you look exhausted. We can work on the castle defense plans after the Halloween celebrations." Miranda told him, Harry nodded and left.
"I can't believe you're leaving!' Janice McKinnion complained, pouting. The Wolf army watched as Harry got ready to leave.
"Hey no mater who you get you're still the best army in the school.actually I'm supposed to choose the new commander form among you." At this everyone sat up quickly and looked at him expectantly.
"Neville, you're a good strategist, and you're a good teacher too, I think you'll take over." Neville fell off his bed in shock as everyone cheered.
"Harry.me? I'm not that good a fighter at all." Neville said later when everyone else had left for dinner.
"Yes you are, you got three in our last battle, and dueled with two at once in the one before that. You can be very organized, in everything but Potions. Just do what I've taught you, stand up to everyone and keep the team in shape. You've got good strategists in Janice and Pearl, Stilgar's steady as a rock in any situation, he's quick and an excellent fighter, he'll be commander after you I think. You can do it Neville, I know you can, now come on, lets see if there's anything left to eat." Harry said reassuringly, Neville nodded slowly and followed him.
** The new rooms were, well, wonderful, Harry had designed them himself. Putting them right next to his laboratory, he even had made his own small library. Besides school, in which he wasn't taking that many classes anymore, his only concerns were the Order and Atlantis. Which was more than enough to keep him busy. Harry had a large living room with a fireplace, a large bedroom, a bathroom, a small library, the skulls laboratory, and another room for his potions and anything else. Zarith flew in the window and landed on his gold perch, whistling happily. Curled up on the window sill Tiger purred contentedly.
"You approve huh? So do I." Harry said as he put his things away, then he went to set up the living room and send out some letters, hopefully no one would be too busy to come to the meeting that night.
**
When Albus, Sirius, Mundungus, Arabella, Severus, Minerva, Miranda, Felara, Fred, George, Alastor, and Alanna met in Harry's living room that evening. He had magically enlarged it for this, and all fit in comfortably, giving odd looks to the metal box covering something in the center of the room.
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," Harry began, taking a seat in an armchair he leaned forward and lifted the box off whatever it was covering.to reveal an obsidian skull, one of the real ones.
"What the heck!?" Everyone was on their feet at once, but Harry quickly waved his wand and muttered a spell, the door shut and locked, everyone was thrown back into their seats.
"Potter just what-"
"I see you have noticed that this is infact one of the real skulls, and the reason I wanted to have you all met here."
"To kill us!?"
"Yes Severus I spent so long researching these things just to use them to kill you all." Harry growled, annoyed, "relax, its ability to kill is gone."
"Harry you'd better explain." Miranda said, relaxing into her chair. Harry nodded and began to explain about what had happened in the lab not long before, with the skull's symbol becoming clearer.
"I tested it on the other skull to make sure, and I'm convinced, I'm not entirely sure what I did, but I do know that the skulls are no longer a danger to anyone." Harry said, massaging his palm, the effect of.fixing, the skull's powers two days before had a long lasting effect.
"Interesting, so they cannot harm anyone?"
"No one." he paused, looking intently at Miranda, her eyes had slowly glazed over, and were now glowing gold. In response the symbol on the skull's forehead was glowing even brighter.
"Miranda?" Sirius asked, Harry signaled hi to be quite, the glowing gold got brighter still, then Miranda leaned forward, and before anyone could stop her she placed the palm of her right hand over the symbol on the skulls forehead.
Instantly a bright flashes and sparks of gold shot form where her hand covered the symbol, glowing and shining so brightly that they had to cover their eyes. Sparks flew, Harry looked carefully, he could see the glow form the symbol shining right through Miranda palm, looking even more closely he could see blood from her palm running down the skull. Then there was a huge flash of white light, and all the light vanished as quickly as it had appeared; Miranda slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Miranda!" Sirius said quickly, going to her he lifted her palm and gasped. Harry came over to kneel beside them and examine her palm, already knowing what he would see.
Branded on her palm in dark gold lines was the symbol that had formerly been on the skull's forehead. A circle with eight points, the top point near the base of her middle finger longer than the others, in the center the symbol for earth. He looked at the skull, it looked fine, the blood gone, and the symbol had vanished.
"What happened?" Sirius asked as Miranda blinked and sat up.
"It chose her as one of the eight." Harry replied simply.
"What in the name of everything good are the eight?" Sirius asked, helping Miranda to stand and sit down in her chair. Harry went back to his and sat down, and started to explain everything he had told to the elf king.
"It has been calling, searching, for days, ever since the symbol first started appearing actually. It is one of the skulls of Earth and it chose her as one of the Council of Eight. She now has control over the element of Earth, the most powerful of the elements I believe. Now, the other skull." Harry said, turning to the table beside him he lifted the second skull off it.
"Harry.on its forehead, did it have that symbol there before?" Albus asked him. Harry looked closely; a dull gold glow had appeared on the second skull's forehead, where before there was nothing. It was still far to dim to figure out what it would become, actually he didn't think the skull had decided what element to be yet. Mentally he gave himself a pat on the back, he'd been right.
"There is a method to the choosing of the eight. First one is chosen, then the next skull begins to glow, it will take four months for that glow to become a clear symbol, then another two months will pass, but at the next of six months it must choose the second member of the council."
"Is that how it worked on Atlantis?" Miranda asked, it was the first she had spoken; she was examining her palm closely.
"No, on Atlantis the emperor would chose the Council member, then the next skull would give him six months to choose the next one. If he didn't it would choose for him. But we have no emperor so the skulls will have to choose the Council. Apparently they intend to restart the Atlantian government, and the Eight were the focal point of that."
"But we would need an Emperor." Albus said.
"Yes, but there are none of direct descent left I suppose, how the emperor is chosen will probably depend on the skulls, I don't know. All I know is that I have to find a third skull and.fix it powers, before the second skull chooses. They cannot choose with their powers messed up like that, and if there is no other skull ready when that one chooses then I haven't a clue what will happen, but it won't be good."
"What about those symbols on your palm? Do they have any meaning?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, I think that the skulls have somehow given me the ability to give others power over the elements, but now that the skulls are choosing I cannot anymore. My job is to help teach the Council how to use their new power. On Atlantis there was much more knowledge of how these powers work and the Council probably knew who would be chosen ahead of time and could start their training. Part of my job might be to help counteract her powers, should they get out of hand." Harry explained to them.
"Should we release this to the press?" Albus wondered aloud.
"Probably, they're clamoring for news on the skulls, everyone is. This might be helpful, and they're Atlantians, they have a right to know." Sirius said.
"But we'll have to make sure the Ministries don't get all worked up over having power taken away." Minerva said.
"If the Eight are going to return to power then it'll have to be done very carefully.depending on circumstances. I'll announce everything new I've discovered about the Atlantian government, then two days later we'll announce that it has chosen." Harry decided, grabbing some parchment he wrote a quick letter to the Daily Prophet, asking if they wanted everything new on Atlantis, which of course they would.
"Well I've had my shock for the day, anything else Harry?" Albus asked, standing up, Harry grinned mischievously.
"Don't use any pepper tomorrow morning at breakfast." All the teachers groaned and glared at him.
However they were very thankful for the warning the next day when every Slytherin who used pepper went about singing songs from the Wizard of Oz, the Hufflepuff sang songs from the Little Mermaid, Ravenclaws were signing songs from Peter Pan and the Gryffindors sang everything from the Lion King (duh you coulda guessed that) And all the poor staff members who did use pepper sang songs from Robin hood/Men in Tights. It was very amusing for all those who didn't like salt.
Sorry this took sooooo long.