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Harry Potter and the Dragons Lair
CHAPTER 3:
Four people were sitting around the campfire.
A woman with short auburn hair and blue eyes sat nearest to him. She nudged a man with reddish-brown hair and light brown eyes who in turn shook his head and prodded the fire.
"Where am I?" Harry asked again.
A female wearing a hood on the other side of the fire glanced (well that's what it seemed, Harry couldn't see her eyes) at the blonde man next to her then said, "Rhona, you're in Rhona."
"Where?"
The blonde man opened his mouth but the woman covered his mouth.
"A very different place from where you come from." she said.
Harry must have expressed surprise be she remarked amused, "Yes, I know where your from. Not many fall from the sky and hit the ground, most stop half way down." She ladled something from a pot into an earthen bowl. "You from the Other Place, as we call it. We haven't had contact with your kind for many years."
Harry himself thought that half a millennia could not be described, as 'many years' more like, 'many, many, many years'.
"My kind?" Harry asked befuddled.
"The isolated ones." she said with a slight smile as she handed him the bowl with a spoon, it was only then Harry realized how hungry he was. Harry thought he saw something on her hand but it withdrew back into her sleeve.
"What is your name?" Harry asked although he already knew this was Althea. Harry looked at the soup and took a small sip; it was good Harry admitted as he took a few more.
"Why you know it your self, don't ask me." she grinned.
"How- what-huh?" Harry was confused.
"Althea," said the one Harry identified as Troy by his voice, "you're scaring the kid." Then in a stage whisper he leaned toward Harry and said, "She reads minds."
Harry didn't know whether he was kidding or not but what she said next shocked him so much he dropped his bowl.
"Harry Potter, you have been told you were destined for great things, now you will see that 'great' was only the beginning."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Petunia Dursley was looking through the spice cabinet when a bright flash flooded in through the window. In shock she dropped the half empty jar labeled 'Nutmeg' and it shattered on the floor. Leaving the jar on the floor she wandered over to the window cautiously and peered out. It was a normal scene by her high standards.
The Hedge that were clipped yesterday were still in order, the freshly weeded garden was trim, the pathway didn't have any weeds in the cracks, and the ivy stayed on the trellis and didn't stray off onto anything else. Only one thing was missing.
Her darling nephew.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry things were not so calm.
In fact any one who said it was anywhere near calm deserved to be stunned on sight.
~~~~
Sirius Black (still a fugitive of Azkaban), was saving up money to buy a house when the caught weasely rat, Pettigrew. He needed a job and brought his case to Dumbledore who complimented Sirius on looking for a job instead of asking for money. Of course Dumbledore had only one job left that the whole staff had shunted to one side: Addressing envelopes to students.
Of course this was magically done, it required a spell in which you say the students name and the incantation, but you have to do each one at a time. Last Severus Snape got stuck with the job, the year before that was Minerva McGonagall, and the year before that it was Gilderoy Lockhart (He thought he was addressing fan mail), and so on and so forth. The job was one that got shunted every year, leaving it to Dumbledore to trick someone into doing it. Last year he asked for the most responsible teacher to show up at his office, Severus Snape got their first only to find an empty office with a stack of letters and envelopes with a note that said:
Congratulations!
You have been chosen to address the envelope to our wonderful students. On their behalf I thank you for accepting this job to invite them back for another school year.
I am sorry I couldn't be here but a very pressing matter was called to my attention,
Albus
Needless to say, it is a very good thing Minerva McGonagall got to the door while it was slightly open to hear Professor Snape's string of curses to know not to enter.
Well Sirius tried not to complain, after all Albus had done for him, and took the job. Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall were in such a kind mood after hearing the job was already assigned that they were seen talking civilly with each other in the Staff Room.
Sirius Black was sitting in the third floor corridor, which once held Fluffy, and had just addressed the envelope to Sally-Anne Perks. He yawned and looked at the list to see who was next. 'Potter, Harry' stood out in loopy green handwriting. Sirius quickly grabbed an acceptance letter and flipped it over and after finding a quill and a half-empty ink bottle he wrote:
Dear Harry,
I think you can guess where I am right now. Lupin had to come here for some meeting and I came along. I started looking for some work and Professor Dumbledore was kind enough to give me a few odd jobs around here.
Now for the serious part, and yes you must read this,
Be careful, don't go anywhere without a wand. Now that Voldemort's back dark times are ahead of us. Mundungus Fletcher came back with some news on him, in doesn't sound too good. Don't talk to strangers, but listen; even in muggle newspapers there are hints that can be picked up. You may end up coming here for the summer, Mrs. Weasley has been here four times asking Dumbledore if you could come, so far he has turned her down.
Don't blame yourself for anything; you know it is not your fault. The last thing you need is to go crazy.
Sorry if I sound like Moody but as your Godfather I have to.
Sirius
Sirius was confident enough to put in his name because it was a very good thing the Ministry didn't check school acceptance letters.
He folded the letter and shoved it in the envelope and quickly muttered the incantation. Slowly in green ink formed the address of the Boy-Who-Lived.
Sirius picked up the letter and smiling dropped it in the mail slot that magically sent it to the owlery.
~~~~
An hour later he had finished addressing the last envelope to 'Zabini, Blaise' when Professor Dumbledore walked in with Professor Snape.
"Finished already?" the Headmaster smiled, "That has to be a new record."
Snape's frown just deepened, then it lifted as he said, "You missed one" and he pointed to a face down envelope in front of the mail slot.
"It's just one, I might have missed." Sirius said, slightly strained, then bent down to pick up the letter.
"You've missed a lot of things." Snape provoked.
Sirius just sent a quick glare and looked at the front of the envelope. He expression changed from angry to puzzled as he said, "It's blank."
"Open it up, the spell may have just passed through the envelope but hit the letter." Dumbledore suggested.
Sirius tore the seal and pulled out the letter and it read,
Dear ,
You have been invited to Hogwarts School....
"There is no name on it either." He said.
"There is something on the back." Snape stated.
Sirius turned the letter over and looked to Dumbledore, "It's the note I wrote on the back of Harry's acceptance letter."
"That is not allowed according to regulations." Snape said smirking slightly.
"Well at least we know who it belongs to." Sirius said.
"Sirius, get another envelope and readdress it." Dumbledore said sending a warning glance to Snape.
Sirius did as he was told but the envelope remained blank. Dumbledore told him to do it a few more times then he did him self. Only a faint imprint on the paper appeared:
M-. H---- ------
R----
---- V-----
D------ C------ ----
Sirius said what everyone was thinking, "That's not his address".
Severus then voiced the next question, "Then what is it?"
"Severus," Dumbledore said, the twinkle in his eyes left, "Call the Order."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry looked down from the passing scenery. For two hours, according to Troy, they had been riding and were now in the East Valley. He was pondering what Althea, who still had an oversized navy robe on, said. 'Great things' was all he seemed destined for. Whatever happened to small things? And how will he accomplish them here? Where was here?
Gravel crunched under Kele's horse. Harry looked up, a city that seemed centuries after its prime rose above him. Ruins and crumpled pillars fell into river that just flowed through the entire city turning buildings into miniature islands. Harry looked around for some bridge of some sort and found one, with the middle missing.
Althea dismounted and motioned for Harry to do the same, Harry never rode a horse before and had no clue how to do it, so he made a mistake. He drew one leg over to the left side of the saddle and hopped off, well he didn't get that far. The horse was caught by surprise at this dismounting tactic and reared then thrusted forward a bit, sending Harry into the river.
Spluttering, he crawled out of the water. In his peripheral view he caught Troy holding onto his horse for support from laughing so hard. Kele was just shaking his head as he unloaded his horse, Deidra was now chewing out Troy in what seemed to be two different languages, and Althea seemed not to notice that Harry just did a swan dive off her horse.
A flat boat was tied to a pillar that was snapped in half. Kele and Althea put the packs on the boat and Deidra and Troy loaded the horses on. Harry, still sopping wet, followed.
The boat seemed to be guiding itself along the stream and Harry was reminded of the boats leading across the lake into Hogwarts in his first year. Harry gulped and wondered if there was a giant sea monster lurking under them as well.
They came to a stop at a giant marble building. Kele and Althea got off and motioned for Harry to follow. When the boat drifted away with Deidra and Troy still on it Althea must have done that mind reading thing again because as she lifted up her hand to wave good-bye, she said, "They don't work here at the Council."
Harry vaguely remembered the Council being mentioned earlier but his thoughts ended abruptly when he saw Althea's hand slip out from under the cloak. He stared at the hand and recounted the finger as many times as he could but the total always came to three, a thumb and two fingers. The outermost finger and ring with a crest he could not make out, it appeared to have wings, but Harry wasn't too sure. The hand curled up and withdrew back into the cloak and Althea walked into the building through the archway and signaling for him to follow.
When they entered the building Althea took of her cloak and hung on a hook which was a fang on an entire jaw of some huge animal. Harry wondered for a second how scary that skull would seem in the dark. He then looked at Althea.
Her silvery hair cascaded down her back over a dark blue robe with black embroidery. Her eyes were a golden amber and again Harry wondered if he was in the right hands.
Althea walked over to the a desk on the other side of the room. Harry hesitated a bit in following, smoke rose in thick plumes from the desk but seemed to disappear when Althea arrived.
"You really should stop this, it's a very bad habit." Althea stated as if saying 'hello'.
A squat, old lady sat behind the desk balancing a long thin pipe between her fore and middle fingers. In a raspy, stretched voice she croaked, "Ahh, Althea. You know I'll outlive anyone in this building." she then hacked a not-so-gentle cough.
"My messages?" Althea said calmly as she twisted her ring around her finger.
"Dra'agorn Elyisa, called you three times, each message containing- cough- a warning about tree sprites causing a ruckus -hack -on his property." She said riffling through a stack of papers.
"It's not his property, he crossed the Nylaris Border twenty times, if he's complaining about tree sprites he just wants an excuse to see the Council."
"Well he got it." the old woman said then went into a coughing fit.
"What! Who gave the okay?"
"Heh, Atalanta did, apparently the scales will tip to our favor then."
"Atalanta? She never calls people in." Althea said confused.
"You should have seen her- hack hack- hehehe, she was so mad. He came here to schedule a meeting-"
"He what!" Althea shouted, her voice echoed slightly off the marble walls.
"Hehehe-cough- She blasted him through the door. He hit Deren Ko!- hack hack hack- She was so-"
"I haven't heard about Atalanta getting angry for, what is it, eight months." Althea seemed thoughtful.
"And Rior! He was scared-"
"I'll have to schedule a private meeting."
"then Ecthal came- hack hack- bounding in and he picked his butt up and ran out!"
"I'd imagine." Althea said dryly as the lady went into another coughing fit.
"Dain called too." the lady said her eyes slightly watered but grinning all the same.
"Now Nera," Althea said what Harry assumed was her name, "What is that absolute idiot to you?"
"A chance to see a Binding ring on your finger." She smiled and Harry winced at the yellow teeth that came from the constant smoking of incense.
Althea did not respond to the last comment but said, "I have to see the Council now."
Nera looked up and asked, "All five?"
"Yes."
Nera wrote something on a slip of paper, put it in a jar sealed the lid tightly, then walked over to a wall with multiple holes in it then with a motion of her hand the jar disappeared into one of the holes with a splash of water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Should I continue?
Your thoughts count.
Harry Potter and the Dragons Lair
CHAPTER 3:
Four people were sitting around the campfire.
A woman with short auburn hair and blue eyes sat nearest to him. She nudged a man with reddish-brown hair and light brown eyes who in turn shook his head and prodded the fire.
"Where am I?" Harry asked again.
A female wearing a hood on the other side of the fire glanced (well that's what it seemed, Harry couldn't see her eyes) at the blonde man next to her then said, "Rhona, you're in Rhona."
"Where?"
The blonde man opened his mouth but the woman covered his mouth.
"A very different place from where you come from." she said.
Harry must have expressed surprise be she remarked amused, "Yes, I know where your from. Not many fall from the sky and hit the ground, most stop half way down." She ladled something from a pot into an earthen bowl. "You from the Other Place, as we call it. We haven't had contact with your kind for many years."
Harry himself thought that half a millennia could not be described, as 'many years' more like, 'many, many, many years'.
"My kind?" Harry asked befuddled.
"The isolated ones." she said with a slight smile as she handed him the bowl with a spoon, it was only then Harry realized how hungry he was. Harry thought he saw something on her hand but it withdrew back into her sleeve.
"What is your name?" Harry asked although he already knew this was Althea. Harry looked at the soup and took a small sip; it was good Harry admitted as he took a few more.
"Why you know it your self, don't ask me." she grinned.
"How- what-huh?" Harry was confused.
"Althea," said the one Harry identified as Troy by his voice, "you're scaring the kid." Then in a stage whisper he leaned toward Harry and said, "She reads minds."
Harry didn't know whether he was kidding or not but what she said next shocked him so much he dropped his bowl.
"Harry Potter, you have been told you were destined for great things, now you will see that 'great' was only the beginning."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Petunia Dursley was looking through the spice cabinet when a bright flash flooded in through the window. In shock she dropped the half empty jar labeled 'Nutmeg' and it shattered on the floor. Leaving the jar on the floor she wandered over to the window cautiously and peered out. It was a normal scene by her high standards.
The Hedge that were clipped yesterday were still in order, the freshly weeded garden was trim, the pathway didn't have any weeds in the cracks, and the ivy stayed on the trellis and didn't stray off onto anything else. Only one thing was missing.
Her darling nephew.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry things were not so calm.
In fact any one who said it was anywhere near calm deserved to be stunned on sight.
~~~~
Sirius Black (still a fugitive of Azkaban), was saving up money to buy a house when the caught weasely rat, Pettigrew. He needed a job and brought his case to Dumbledore who complimented Sirius on looking for a job instead of asking for money. Of course Dumbledore had only one job left that the whole staff had shunted to one side: Addressing envelopes to students.
Of course this was magically done, it required a spell in which you say the students name and the incantation, but you have to do each one at a time. Last Severus Snape got stuck with the job, the year before that was Minerva McGonagall, and the year before that it was Gilderoy Lockhart (He thought he was addressing fan mail), and so on and so forth. The job was one that got shunted every year, leaving it to Dumbledore to trick someone into doing it. Last year he asked for the most responsible teacher to show up at his office, Severus Snape got their first only to find an empty office with a stack of letters and envelopes with a note that said:
Congratulations!
You have been chosen to address the envelope to our wonderful students. On their behalf I thank you for accepting this job to invite them back for another school year.
I am sorry I couldn't be here but a very pressing matter was called to my attention,
Albus
Needless to say, it is a very good thing Minerva McGonagall got to the door while it was slightly open to hear Professor Snape's string of curses to know not to enter.
Well Sirius tried not to complain, after all Albus had done for him, and took the job. Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall were in such a kind mood after hearing the job was already assigned that they were seen talking civilly with each other in the Staff Room.
Sirius Black was sitting in the third floor corridor, which once held Fluffy, and had just addressed the envelope to Sally-Anne Perks. He yawned and looked at the list to see who was next. 'Potter, Harry' stood out in loopy green handwriting. Sirius quickly grabbed an acceptance letter and flipped it over and after finding a quill and a half-empty ink bottle he wrote:
Dear Harry,
I think you can guess where I am right now. Lupin had to come here for some meeting and I came along. I started looking for some work and Professor Dumbledore was kind enough to give me a few odd jobs around here.
Now for the serious part, and yes you must read this,
Be careful, don't go anywhere without a wand. Now that Voldemort's back dark times are ahead of us. Mundungus Fletcher came back with some news on him, in doesn't sound too good. Don't talk to strangers, but listen; even in muggle newspapers there are hints that can be picked up. You may end up coming here for the summer, Mrs. Weasley has been here four times asking Dumbledore if you could come, so far he has turned her down.
Don't blame yourself for anything; you know it is not your fault. The last thing you need is to go crazy.
Sorry if I sound like Moody but as your Godfather I have to.
Sirius
Sirius was confident enough to put in his name because it was a very good thing the Ministry didn't check school acceptance letters.
He folded the letter and shoved it in the envelope and quickly muttered the incantation. Slowly in green ink formed the address of the Boy-Who-Lived.
Sirius picked up the letter and smiling dropped it in the mail slot that magically sent it to the owlery.
~~~~
An hour later he had finished addressing the last envelope to 'Zabini, Blaise' when Professor Dumbledore walked in with Professor Snape.
"Finished already?" the Headmaster smiled, "That has to be a new record."
Snape's frown just deepened, then it lifted as he said, "You missed one" and he pointed to a face down envelope in front of the mail slot.
"It's just one, I might have missed." Sirius said, slightly strained, then bent down to pick up the letter.
"You've missed a lot of things." Snape provoked.
Sirius just sent a quick glare and looked at the front of the envelope. He expression changed from angry to puzzled as he said, "It's blank."
"Open it up, the spell may have just passed through the envelope but hit the letter." Dumbledore suggested.
Sirius tore the seal and pulled out the letter and it read,
Dear ,
You have been invited to Hogwarts School....
"There is no name on it either." He said.
"There is something on the back." Snape stated.
Sirius turned the letter over and looked to Dumbledore, "It's the note I wrote on the back of Harry's acceptance letter."
"That is not allowed according to regulations." Snape said smirking slightly.
"Well at least we know who it belongs to." Sirius said.
"Sirius, get another envelope and readdress it." Dumbledore said sending a warning glance to Snape.
Sirius did as he was told but the envelope remained blank. Dumbledore told him to do it a few more times then he did him self. Only a faint imprint on the paper appeared:
M-. H---- ------
R----
---- V-----
D------ C------ ----
Sirius said what everyone was thinking, "That's not his address".
Severus then voiced the next question, "Then what is it?"
"Severus," Dumbledore said, the twinkle in his eyes left, "Call the Order."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry looked down from the passing scenery. For two hours, according to Troy, they had been riding and were now in the East Valley. He was pondering what Althea, who still had an oversized navy robe on, said. 'Great things' was all he seemed destined for. Whatever happened to small things? And how will he accomplish them here? Where was here?
Gravel crunched under Kele's horse. Harry looked up, a city that seemed centuries after its prime rose above him. Ruins and crumpled pillars fell into river that just flowed through the entire city turning buildings into miniature islands. Harry looked around for some bridge of some sort and found one, with the middle missing.
Althea dismounted and motioned for Harry to do the same, Harry never rode a horse before and had no clue how to do it, so he made a mistake. He drew one leg over to the left side of the saddle and hopped off, well he didn't get that far. The horse was caught by surprise at this dismounting tactic and reared then thrusted forward a bit, sending Harry into the river.
Spluttering, he crawled out of the water. In his peripheral view he caught Troy holding onto his horse for support from laughing so hard. Kele was just shaking his head as he unloaded his horse, Deidra was now chewing out Troy in what seemed to be two different languages, and Althea seemed not to notice that Harry just did a swan dive off her horse.
A flat boat was tied to a pillar that was snapped in half. Kele and Althea put the packs on the boat and Deidra and Troy loaded the horses on. Harry, still sopping wet, followed.
The boat seemed to be guiding itself along the stream and Harry was reminded of the boats leading across the lake into Hogwarts in his first year. Harry gulped and wondered if there was a giant sea monster lurking under them as well.
They came to a stop at a giant marble building. Kele and Althea got off and motioned for Harry to follow. When the boat drifted away with Deidra and Troy still on it Althea must have done that mind reading thing again because as she lifted up her hand to wave good-bye, she said, "They don't work here at the Council."
Harry vaguely remembered the Council being mentioned earlier but his thoughts ended abruptly when he saw Althea's hand slip out from under the cloak. He stared at the hand and recounted the finger as many times as he could but the total always came to three, a thumb and two fingers. The outermost finger and ring with a crest he could not make out, it appeared to have wings, but Harry wasn't too sure. The hand curled up and withdrew back into the cloak and Althea walked into the building through the archway and signaling for him to follow.
When they entered the building Althea took of her cloak and hung on a hook which was a fang on an entire jaw of some huge animal. Harry wondered for a second how scary that skull would seem in the dark. He then looked at Althea.
Her silvery hair cascaded down her back over a dark blue robe with black embroidery. Her eyes were a golden amber and again Harry wondered if he was in the right hands.
Althea walked over to the a desk on the other side of the room. Harry hesitated a bit in following, smoke rose in thick plumes from the desk but seemed to disappear when Althea arrived.
"You really should stop this, it's a very bad habit." Althea stated as if saying 'hello'.
A squat, old lady sat behind the desk balancing a long thin pipe between her fore and middle fingers. In a raspy, stretched voice she croaked, "Ahh, Althea. You know I'll outlive anyone in this building." she then hacked a not-so-gentle cough.
"My messages?" Althea said calmly as she twisted her ring around her finger.
"Dra'agorn Elyisa, called you three times, each message containing- cough- a warning about tree sprites causing a ruckus -hack -on his property." She said riffling through a stack of papers.
"It's not his property, he crossed the Nylaris Border twenty times, if he's complaining about tree sprites he just wants an excuse to see the Council."
"Well he got it." the old woman said then went into a coughing fit.
"What! Who gave the okay?"
"Heh, Atalanta did, apparently the scales will tip to our favor then."
"Atalanta? She never calls people in." Althea said confused.
"You should have seen her- hack hack- hehehe, she was so mad. He came here to schedule a meeting-"
"He what!" Althea shouted, her voice echoed slightly off the marble walls.
"Hehehe-cough- She blasted him through the door. He hit Deren Ko!- hack hack hack- She was so-"
"I haven't heard about Atalanta getting angry for, what is it, eight months." Althea seemed thoughtful.
"And Rior! He was scared-"
"I'll have to schedule a private meeting."
"then Ecthal came- hack hack- bounding in and he picked his butt up and ran out!"
"I'd imagine." Althea said dryly as the lady went into another coughing fit.
"Dain called too." the lady said her eyes slightly watered but grinning all the same.
"Now Nera," Althea said what Harry assumed was her name, "What is that absolute idiot to you?"
"A chance to see a Binding ring on your finger." She smiled and Harry winced at the yellow teeth that came from the constant smoking of incense.
Althea did not respond to the last comment but said, "I have to see the Council now."
Nera looked up and asked, "All five?"
"Yes."
Nera wrote something on a slip of paper, put it in a jar sealed the lid tightly, then walked over to a wall with multiple holes in it then with a motion of her hand the jar disappeared into one of the holes with a splash of water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Should I continue?
Your thoughts count.