Chapter 20
"I'm too old for this, why me?" Dumbledore asked Harry once he'd gotten over the fact that he had just been chosen by the second skull as one of the Eight and now had the power of a fire elemental. Dumbledore was standing by the window, looking out into the whiteness, it had started snowing at precisely midnight, Harry had been practicing a bit of weather magic by night lately. It was interesting, but draining in the extreme.
"Too old? Hmm.I guess I forget to tell everyone that the average life span of one of the Eight is significantly greater than any other's? And that the Atlantians had longer life spans in general didn't I?" Harry said, not looking up from the paper he was writing, he was using a computer to do so, they were so much better and he didn't get ink on his fingers. No one in the room said a word; he looked up to find them all looking at him.
"You work too hard." Miranda finally said, "give it a break, you've been working non-stop on the running of the school, the skulls, Atlantis legal systems, life-style, magical abilities, animals and plants, and their technology, and this war with Voldemort, do you ever stop working?"
"When I sleep, when I eat." Harry replied, pausing in his typing to save the pages he'd written.
"When you eat you're thinking about new research methods and uses for the information, when you sleep you're watching death eater meetings and working out war plans." Miranda responded, Harry dropped his mental shields.
Kid's got too much responsibility for someone so young. Alanna.
Does he even know how to stop working anymore? Sarlan
Workaholic, puts Granger to shame. Severus
The price to pay for being a genius, I'd try to stop him, but we need him and that brilliant mind of his too much. This form Miranda
It's sad, he's only 17, he should be worried about other things, like girls, not the future of an entire species. this last was Sirius, Harry pulled up the shields again, noticing that he could feel a tumult of sympathy, his empathic abilities had been slowly getting stronger.
"I like to be useful, when this is over, Voldemort is gone and.ah.other things have settled down.then I will have plenty of time to relax." Harry said, stopping himself from going too far just in time, he hoped that no one would ask about the 'other things' and just assume he meant Atlantis, which he did, just not the stuff they would be thinking of. "Besides I'm not working with the elemental bloods anymore, it's all in specialized storage, all six hundred gallons that I managed to get. And I've stopped my research on that potion to reverse insanity caused by the cruciatus curse. I've got basically no schoolwork, seeing as I'm only taking Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology. (Having passed his NEWTs for everything else with astounding grades) I'm not a part of the new battle training system, I stopped training with the Order Recruits when school started, I'm not working on my fire gazing anymore and my powers have finally stabilized. basically, so the UAD has no reason to waste yet more time on them." Harry protested when they all remained silent.
"And the Unusual Abilities Department is throwing a fit over that latest change in your powers." Sirius said, Harry winced, remembering all to clearly the magical and muggle tests he had been put through by that branch of the Order of the Phoenix, which had ended with no real results. It was time to change the topic.
"Albus, Miranda, we'll have to find time to start testing and training you with your elements soon. And I'm sure that the public will want to see those skulls, now that they're no longer dangerous. I'm heading out this weekend to retrieve the next one."
"How do you know where it is?" Albus asked him.
"Well there are eight skulls, so I made a three dimensional eight pointed star, placing the star's center at the center of the earth and lining up two of the points with the locations we found the first two skulls at I can see where I might expect the others to be. The SPD is going with me, I've written to the Ministry's of the countries we'll be traveling too, and they've sent back replies on any dark activity in the areas we'll be going into. If they are properly informed then it should be safe." Harry explained, pointing to a globe sitting on a stool. It had small black toothpicks sticking out where the skulls had been found, and blue ones marking the sites where the other six skulls should be.
"Ingenious as always Harry," Albus said, looking up at the clock he continued, "and it is time for dinner so we'll be going, Miranda, Sirius, Sarlan, Alanna, will you be staying?" The four rose to leave through the fire.
"No, the Austrian Ministry needs help planning for the attack on Baden, since we still have no clue when it's scheduled, and we have a few prisoners to interrogate about that, good night." Miranda said as she stepped into the fire and vanished.
Harry and Albus arrived late at dinner, but no one questioned it, it was all too common for some of the teachers or students to be late these days. Students coming in to the dinning hall late, eyes red from crying over lost family, staff members leaving suddenly for days, Order of the Phoenix agents arriving and leaving and guarding the school, it was all commonplace now at Hogwarts. Christmas break came in two weeks, Satan's unrelenting attacks came every few days. Harry hadn't gone more than four days at a time without ending up at the Fortress healing, planning, or fighting since Halloween.
Harry chose to sit with a group of first and second years, Ira joined them shortly, the younger students immediately bombarded both with questions about the war.
"Easy there, one at a time!" Ira said hurriedly, one of the first years went first.
"What happened at the Salem Wizards Academy?" Every student over fifth year in hearing range winced at memories. The attack on the Salem Wizards Academy had been only four days before, and with the Order spread thin, the aurors annihilated last year, the Hit Wizards slow to rebuild their demolished ranks, the older students of Hogwarts had joined the fight. They had had the best training offered to anyone, and they were well organized. They never went into the really dangerous situations, but the Salem Wizards Academy had been an exception. Vivid mental images of the burning school, rubble falling about, horrible screams. Death eaters surrounding the building, curses, hexes, jinxes, dark magic flying everywhere. Spells rebounding off shields, or blasting through, horribly injured people fleeing, Harry clamped down on the memory.
"We're not ready to talk about that yet Tracey, and most of us never will be," Harry said softly, remembering vividly two fleeing students being cut down by killing curses before eh could reach them, the scars on his arms from deflecting the killing curses throbbed, nearly one hundred and fifty young men dead from that attack, the survivors going to the Salem Witches Academy, one Hogwarts students dead, Anne Rashire.
"How are your arms?" Ira asked him as the younger students, sensing that they weren't going to get anything from the older students, began chattering softly.
"They ache, your leg?"
"Not as bad as yours, it's completely healed," she replied, picking at her food. Harry heard soft sobs and looked over to the Hufflepuff table where a fourth year was crying, a letter and a black envelope in her hand, the black owl that had brought the death letter just flying out the window. Ira caught his attention again, "looks like Dumbledore's got an announcement." Harry turned and looked at the head table as a very tired looking headmaster rose to speak.
"I have just received word that Satan has just led his army into Brazil, Voldemort remains in the shadows. All students over fifth year will be going to South America to help evacuate and organize defenses and attack plans. We leave tomorrow morning." He sat down again, the hall was silent, and then people began talking softly again.
"He's trying to take over the whole continent? That's a little ambitious even for him." Ira said in a sort of horrified amazement.
"It makes sense, South America has the smallest population of wizards and witches, no one knows why, and he has supporters in their Ministries, many of them. But yes a whole continent seems a little over confident. Hogwarts will be taking in all the refugee students, the battle training will stop, there just isn't time anymore. Some of the teachers form the South American schools will come here as well, they're building another building to add to the school." Harry said softly, envisioning a rather grim future.
"What fun" Ira said sarcastically, "what's happening in Austria?"
"Little so far, a lot of talk, enchantments are being put up all over Baden." Harry said, and went pale a brief wave of nausea gripped him and his scar tingled.
"You alright?" Ira asked, lowering her voice so as not to catch the other students' attention.
"No, I-I think it's another prophecy." Harry whispered, his vision swam and he fought off whatever image might have been brewing.
"How long do you have?" Ira asked, carefully looking around. Harry tried to respond but an image was forming before his eyes coupled with burning pain from the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Then the image of an Order Agent, Blue Patrol, came into being, just as the agent's head was blown off, blood sprayed everywhere.
Ira winced as she heard a faint rumble of thunder, Harry was either highly distressed, in danger and getting ready to fight, or really ticked off. His chalk white face and blurred green eyes giving no hint as to which it was.
"Not long," Harry finally replied softly, he closed his eyes and concentrated of long deep breaths, then opened his eyes and focused on his dinner intensely, pushing the vision aside.
Ira tapped at the buttons on her watch, Ron, Draco, and Hermione all felt the watches grow cold and then warm, then cold and warm, cold and warm, signaling an emergency. All of them glanced at their watches while still eating, hoping no one would notice, as words replaced the digital numbers.
Leave the hall after Harry and I do, he's going into another prophecy, Ira.
Glancing around each of the other three tapped the return code to show they had gotten the message.
As dinner drew to a close, and Harry's condition worsened, Ira and he left the hall, following a group of other seventh years, a few moments later the other three followed.
Harry sank down into the couch before the fireplace, and immediately felt his stomach roll and his vision haze over at the sight of the red/orange dancing flames, he looked away with and stifled groan, jaw clenching, concentrating hard on the door. Ira came in and sat down next to him, giving him a worried glance.
"You're sure you're okay for this? You look as pale as a ghost."
"Yeah I'll be fine, but whatever it is it isn't good news." He said, and shuddered as another wave of pain emanated from the scar, which glowed a dull reddish color.
The door opened and Ron and Hermione came in, looking worried, they both sat down on the other couch. A few moments later Draco entered and sat down in the armchair, Ira got up and got some paper and a pen form his desk, Harry waited until she was seated again before getting up and moving to kneel before the fire.
The flames leaped and blurred before his eyes, fading into a swirl of color, he could hear the blood pounding in his ears as he concentrated. Then everything turned dark, the swirling stopped.
Harry found himself looking up at the night sky, dark purple/black, suddenly one of the stars flashed gold, drawing his eye to the speck of light.Atlantis.Atlantis orbited that star. He could see the faint glow of a torch to his right and turned. There was a group of people standing in a group around a huge piece of parchment. He could feel magic in the air and saw three people glowing green and whispering the words of a spell as they transferred the image of the night sky onto the parchment. Harry instantly understood, they were making the star maps that covered the ceilings of the caves in which the skulls were hidden.
The fact that he was seeing something that had taken place over a million years past astonished him, that it was all so clear visually, even if he couldn't hear it, was shocking. Harry tried as hard as he could to memorize which star Atlantis was and which ones were near it and their formation. The vision faded, now he was presented with the globe again, a flash of bright red light on it, Harry leaned over a touched the red light on the globe, and it was so hot it made his finger hurt. Then he saw a skull seated upon its pedestal in a chamber, it seemed to be calling to him. Then Harry began to hear words echoing through his mind, it was his own voice, but so far away, the skull faded. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on drawing the voice to him, there was a sudden flash of pain across his scar and he winced, but the voice never stopped speaking.
Harry's eyes flew open and he gasped and leaned back from the fire, the flames were just ordinary flames again.
"Harry? You back with us?" Ira asked when he didn't move, she squeezed his shoulder lightly, and Harry blinked, coming out of his dazed state.
"What did I say?" Hermione looked at the paper Ira had been writing on and read it aloud.
1.1.1 1.3.1 2.1.16 3.6.2 4.1.6
"Do you have a copy of the prophecy?" She asked.
"In the desk, on the right, second drawer." Harry said absently, there was something else, he'd been trying to remember something, something important. Memory surged, Atlantis! He leaped to his feet and ran to his lab, the star map would be on the ceiling in the chamber room.
"Harry? What is it?" Ron called as the door shut, "okay whatever, Hermione?"
"Just a sec," she said, figuring out the letters using the prophecy. "Got it! Talas!"
"Wherever that is." Ron said, "and there is probably more than one."
"I can't think of any place by that name, come on, we'll have to go through the maps in the library." Hermione said, getting up and heading for the door she paused and turned back. "Do you think he's alright?" She asked, gesturing to the door Harry had left through.
"I'll wait here, you go to the library, he probably just had another sudden stroke of genius," Ira said reassuringly, the other three left quickly.
I'm really sorry this took so long, I've been really busy (my cat had surgery twice in one month and I've been caring for him) And I'm having a bit of a problem with writers block on this story. Please review?
"I'm too old for this, why me?" Dumbledore asked Harry once he'd gotten over the fact that he had just been chosen by the second skull as one of the Eight and now had the power of a fire elemental. Dumbledore was standing by the window, looking out into the whiteness, it had started snowing at precisely midnight, Harry had been practicing a bit of weather magic by night lately. It was interesting, but draining in the extreme.
"Too old? Hmm.I guess I forget to tell everyone that the average life span of one of the Eight is significantly greater than any other's? And that the Atlantians had longer life spans in general didn't I?" Harry said, not looking up from the paper he was writing, he was using a computer to do so, they were so much better and he didn't get ink on his fingers. No one in the room said a word; he looked up to find them all looking at him.
"You work too hard." Miranda finally said, "give it a break, you've been working non-stop on the running of the school, the skulls, Atlantis legal systems, life-style, magical abilities, animals and plants, and their technology, and this war with Voldemort, do you ever stop working?"
"When I sleep, when I eat." Harry replied, pausing in his typing to save the pages he'd written.
"When you eat you're thinking about new research methods and uses for the information, when you sleep you're watching death eater meetings and working out war plans." Miranda responded, Harry dropped his mental shields.
Kid's got too much responsibility for someone so young. Alanna.
Does he even know how to stop working anymore? Sarlan
Workaholic, puts Granger to shame. Severus
The price to pay for being a genius, I'd try to stop him, but we need him and that brilliant mind of his too much. This form Miranda
It's sad, he's only 17, he should be worried about other things, like girls, not the future of an entire species. this last was Sirius, Harry pulled up the shields again, noticing that he could feel a tumult of sympathy, his empathic abilities had been slowly getting stronger.
"I like to be useful, when this is over, Voldemort is gone and.ah.other things have settled down.then I will have plenty of time to relax." Harry said, stopping himself from going too far just in time, he hoped that no one would ask about the 'other things' and just assume he meant Atlantis, which he did, just not the stuff they would be thinking of. "Besides I'm not working with the elemental bloods anymore, it's all in specialized storage, all six hundred gallons that I managed to get. And I've stopped my research on that potion to reverse insanity caused by the cruciatus curse. I've got basically no schoolwork, seeing as I'm only taking Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology. (Having passed his NEWTs for everything else with astounding grades) I'm not a part of the new battle training system, I stopped training with the Order Recruits when school started, I'm not working on my fire gazing anymore and my powers have finally stabilized. basically, so the UAD has no reason to waste yet more time on them." Harry protested when they all remained silent.
"And the Unusual Abilities Department is throwing a fit over that latest change in your powers." Sirius said, Harry winced, remembering all to clearly the magical and muggle tests he had been put through by that branch of the Order of the Phoenix, which had ended with no real results. It was time to change the topic.
"Albus, Miranda, we'll have to find time to start testing and training you with your elements soon. And I'm sure that the public will want to see those skulls, now that they're no longer dangerous. I'm heading out this weekend to retrieve the next one."
"How do you know where it is?" Albus asked him.
"Well there are eight skulls, so I made a three dimensional eight pointed star, placing the star's center at the center of the earth and lining up two of the points with the locations we found the first two skulls at I can see where I might expect the others to be. The SPD is going with me, I've written to the Ministry's of the countries we'll be traveling too, and they've sent back replies on any dark activity in the areas we'll be going into. If they are properly informed then it should be safe." Harry explained, pointing to a globe sitting on a stool. It had small black toothpicks sticking out where the skulls had been found, and blue ones marking the sites where the other six skulls should be.
"Ingenious as always Harry," Albus said, looking up at the clock he continued, "and it is time for dinner so we'll be going, Miranda, Sirius, Sarlan, Alanna, will you be staying?" The four rose to leave through the fire.
"No, the Austrian Ministry needs help planning for the attack on Baden, since we still have no clue when it's scheduled, and we have a few prisoners to interrogate about that, good night." Miranda said as she stepped into the fire and vanished.
Harry and Albus arrived late at dinner, but no one questioned it, it was all too common for some of the teachers or students to be late these days. Students coming in to the dinning hall late, eyes red from crying over lost family, staff members leaving suddenly for days, Order of the Phoenix agents arriving and leaving and guarding the school, it was all commonplace now at Hogwarts. Christmas break came in two weeks, Satan's unrelenting attacks came every few days. Harry hadn't gone more than four days at a time without ending up at the Fortress healing, planning, or fighting since Halloween.
Harry chose to sit with a group of first and second years, Ira joined them shortly, the younger students immediately bombarded both with questions about the war.
"Easy there, one at a time!" Ira said hurriedly, one of the first years went first.
"What happened at the Salem Wizards Academy?" Every student over fifth year in hearing range winced at memories. The attack on the Salem Wizards Academy had been only four days before, and with the Order spread thin, the aurors annihilated last year, the Hit Wizards slow to rebuild their demolished ranks, the older students of Hogwarts had joined the fight. They had had the best training offered to anyone, and they were well organized. They never went into the really dangerous situations, but the Salem Wizards Academy had been an exception. Vivid mental images of the burning school, rubble falling about, horrible screams. Death eaters surrounding the building, curses, hexes, jinxes, dark magic flying everywhere. Spells rebounding off shields, or blasting through, horribly injured people fleeing, Harry clamped down on the memory.
"We're not ready to talk about that yet Tracey, and most of us never will be," Harry said softly, remembering vividly two fleeing students being cut down by killing curses before eh could reach them, the scars on his arms from deflecting the killing curses throbbed, nearly one hundred and fifty young men dead from that attack, the survivors going to the Salem Witches Academy, one Hogwarts students dead, Anne Rashire.
"How are your arms?" Ira asked him as the younger students, sensing that they weren't going to get anything from the older students, began chattering softly.
"They ache, your leg?"
"Not as bad as yours, it's completely healed," she replied, picking at her food. Harry heard soft sobs and looked over to the Hufflepuff table where a fourth year was crying, a letter and a black envelope in her hand, the black owl that had brought the death letter just flying out the window. Ira caught his attention again, "looks like Dumbledore's got an announcement." Harry turned and looked at the head table as a very tired looking headmaster rose to speak.
"I have just received word that Satan has just led his army into Brazil, Voldemort remains in the shadows. All students over fifth year will be going to South America to help evacuate and organize defenses and attack plans. We leave tomorrow morning." He sat down again, the hall was silent, and then people began talking softly again.
"He's trying to take over the whole continent? That's a little ambitious even for him." Ira said in a sort of horrified amazement.
"It makes sense, South America has the smallest population of wizards and witches, no one knows why, and he has supporters in their Ministries, many of them. But yes a whole continent seems a little over confident. Hogwarts will be taking in all the refugee students, the battle training will stop, there just isn't time anymore. Some of the teachers form the South American schools will come here as well, they're building another building to add to the school." Harry said softly, envisioning a rather grim future.
"What fun" Ira said sarcastically, "what's happening in Austria?"
"Little so far, a lot of talk, enchantments are being put up all over Baden." Harry said, and went pale a brief wave of nausea gripped him and his scar tingled.
"You alright?" Ira asked, lowering her voice so as not to catch the other students' attention.
"No, I-I think it's another prophecy." Harry whispered, his vision swam and he fought off whatever image might have been brewing.
"How long do you have?" Ira asked, carefully looking around. Harry tried to respond but an image was forming before his eyes coupled with burning pain from the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Then the image of an Order Agent, Blue Patrol, came into being, just as the agent's head was blown off, blood sprayed everywhere.
Ira winced as she heard a faint rumble of thunder, Harry was either highly distressed, in danger and getting ready to fight, or really ticked off. His chalk white face and blurred green eyes giving no hint as to which it was.
"Not long," Harry finally replied softly, he closed his eyes and concentrated of long deep breaths, then opened his eyes and focused on his dinner intensely, pushing the vision aside.
Ira tapped at the buttons on her watch, Ron, Draco, and Hermione all felt the watches grow cold and then warm, then cold and warm, cold and warm, signaling an emergency. All of them glanced at their watches while still eating, hoping no one would notice, as words replaced the digital numbers.
Leave the hall after Harry and I do, he's going into another prophecy, Ira.
Glancing around each of the other three tapped the return code to show they had gotten the message.
As dinner drew to a close, and Harry's condition worsened, Ira and he left the hall, following a group of other seventh years, a few moments later the other three followed.
Harry sank down into the couch before the fireplace, and immediately felt his stomach roll and his vision haze over at the sight of the red/orange dancing flames, he looked away with and stifled groan, jaw clenching, concentrating hard on the door. Ira came in and sat down next to him, giving him a worried glance.
"You're sure you're okay for this? You look as pale as a ghost."
"Yeah I'll be fine, but whatever it is it isn't good news." He said, and shuddered as another wave of pain emanated from the scar, which glowed a dull reddish color.
The door opened and Ron and Hermione came in, looking worried, they both sat down on the other couch. A few moments later Draco entered and sat down in the armchair, Ira got up and got some paper and a pen form his desk, Harry waited until she was seated again before getting up and moving to kneel before the fire.
The flames leaped and blurred before his eyes, fading into a swirl of color, he could hear the blood pounding in his ears as he concentrated. Then everything turned dark, the swirling stopped.
Harry found himself looking up at the night sky, dark purple/black, suddenly one of the stars flashed gold, drawing his eye to the speck of light.Atlantis.Atlantis orbited that star. He could see the faint glow of a torch to his right and turned. There was a group of people standing in a group around a huge piece of parchment. He could feel magic in the air and saw three people glowing green and whispering the words of a spell as they transferred the image of the night sky onto the parchment. Harry instantly understood, they were making the star maps that covered the ceilings of the caves in which the skulls were hidden.
The fact that he was seeing something that had taken place over a million years past astonished him, that it was all so clear visually, even if he couldn't hear it, was shocking. Harry tried as hard as he could to memorize which star Atlantis was and which ones were near it and their formation. The vision faded, now he was presented with the globe again, a flash of bright red light on it, Harry leaned over a touched the red light on the globe, and it was so hot it made his finger hurt. Then he saw a skull seated upon its pedestal in a chamber, it seemed to be calling to him. Then Harry began to hear words echoing through his mind, it was his own voice, but so far away, the skull faded. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on drawing the voice to him, there was a sudden flash of pain across his scar and he winced, but the voice never stopped speaking.
Harry's eyes flew open and he gasped and leaned back from the fire, the flames were just ordinary flames again.
"Harry? You back with us?" Ira asked when he didn't move, she squeezed his shoulder lightly, and Harry blinked, coming out of his dazed state.
"What did I say?" Hermione looked at the paper Ira had been writing on and read it aloud.
1.1.1 1.3.1 2.1.16 3.6.2 4.1.6
"Do you have a copy of the prophecy?" She asked.
"In the desk, on the right, second drawer." Harry said absently, there was something else, he'd been trying to remember something, something important. Memory surged, Atlantis! He leaped to his feet and ran to his lab, the star map would be on the ceiling in the chamber room.
"Harry? What is it?" Ron called as the door shut, "okay whatever, Hermione?"
"Just a sec," she said, figuring out the letters using the prophecy. "Got it! Talas!"
"Wherever that is." Ron said, "and there is probably more than one."
"I can't think of any place by that name, come on, we'll have to go through the maps in the library." Hermione said, getting up and heading for the door she paused and turned back. "Do you think he's alright?" She asked, gesturing to the door Harry had left through.
"I'll wait here, you go to the library, he probably just had another sudden stroke of genius," Ira said reassuringly, the other three left quickly.
I'm really sorry this took so long, I've been really busy (my cat had surgery twice in one month and I've been caring for him) And I'm having a bit of a problem with writers block on this story. Please review?