I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I will be continuing this story to its conclusion, even after the next book is released. I appologize to Ian, who gave me a really good idea, but I unfortunately have most of the rest of the story planned out, and I can't really fit that parcticular new character in! Great idea though, Ian!
Chapter Twenty Four:
An hour later Harry stretched human arms and back in delight, it had been incredibly simple, the answer to his problem, and everyone was wondering why they hadn't thought of it before – all he had to do was change from the form of the Canis Dracis to that of the panther, and from there to human.
In test, Harry had changed to Canis Dracis again, but once more could not return to human form, and had to go through the other forms first.
"I wonder why that is?" Mused Lilith. "I'll have to contact some of the other rulers, and see if anyone knows something about it."
In all of the commotion, last nights dream was shoved aside in Harry's mind, and forgotten for the time.
"Now, I have a feeling that Tigris will want you to continue trying to take on new forms, since he's helped you through the first one, now you have to make your own way forward," Lilith said. "This shouldn't happen again, not being able to change back, but if it does, you know the trick of it now."
"So I do," Harry agreed, mildly amused. "I only had to go through the whole process from the very beginning and spend what feels like forever out of human form."
The others laughed and they went on their separate ways, Harry heading to catch up with Karan, since he'd only been in the palace for a day in human form, and he did want to catch up with his long time friend and companion.
Elisa and Sky wandered off together. "A remarkable young man, your brother," Sky remarked. Elisa smiled, knowing that Harry would be ecstatic that Sky had said that.
"He is at that. In our world more so even than this," she told the other woman.
"How so?" Sky was obviously curious.
Elisa began the long tale of her god-brothers life, Sky's eyes widening with every new adventure or quest, Harry half listened in Elisa's mind, smiling to himself at the effect his story had on the young woman that he thought he loved.
Harry walked through the Palace with Karan, trying not to think about what Elisa and Sky were talking about, but talking to his old friend took up a lot of his concentration.
"We've been doing a lot since you left," Karan remarked. "We are concentrating more than ever on our magics and development of new charms and such, and one of them, I really need to talk to you about … privately."
Intrigued, Harry followed Karan to the room that Harry had first become acquainted with in Atlantis – the doctors surgery.
"What is this 'big secret' that you are about the let me in on?" Harry asked, feeling a little amused by Karan's sudden secretive behaviour.
"I have to make sure that no one is going to over hear us, this is only known by me, the others who worked on it were all Obliviated, at Lilith and Jaram's request," Karan replied.
Harry whistled, "big then."
"Very big," Karan agreed nodding. "Sit down please, this may take a while to explain."
Mystified, Harry obeyed, perching on the bed that he had once lain on to be healed of the inner troubles that he had.
"You know of the Avada Kedavra curse," Karan began, eyes grave. "It is a curse that kills the body, and usually the soul. From what you've told me about Voldemort – Tom Riddle – made a spell that set his soul free, rather than leaving it to die with the body, which he could replace."
"So, you're saying that Voldemort's soul will live on, no matter how many times I kill him?" Harry asked, feeling a sinking sensation in his stomach.
"Not quite. You just have to kill his soul first," Karan corrected him. "Rather like a … Dementors kiss, I believe it is called, we don't have Dementors here …"
"Sensible of you," Harry dryly.
"So, with the permission of Lord Jaram and Lady Lilith, myself and a team of others have been labouring since you were gone to devise a spell to kill the soul first, and then the body … all the others had their minds wiped, if I speak of this to anyone but you, a magical power will rebound and destroy me – that is the lengths that we have decided necessary to keep the information secret, and to help you. Such violence is totally against our society," Karan said.
Harry was overwhelmed by the generosity of his these people, and he leaned over to rest his hand on his old friends shoulder. "When I've taught it to you, I'll have the information wiped from me mind, I don't want to know of it."
"Thank you so much, Karan," Harry whispered, knowing what it must have cost the peaceful Atlantean to do this for him.
Karan smiled. "You are quite welcome Harry, but you must understand this – the casting of this spell could easily kill you, it'll use a lot of magic, and you'll only be able to perform it once in a life time. So be careful about when you do cast it."
"So how am I supposed to learn it, if I can't cast it?" Harry asked, now feeling confused.
Karan smiled mirthlessly. "We'll have to do a memory transfer, and that's pretty dangerous in itself, though less so here in Atlantis, I'm lead to believe, than in your world."
Harry paled slightly. Memory transfers most often left people gibbering and magic-less in his own world, neither fates that Harry liked, nor wanted to have happen to him.
"If that is the only way, then that is the only way," he said finally, shuddering slightly.
"I don't particularly want to do this either, but we'll have the very best team of people working the spells, all of them Imperial Mages," Karan told him.
Harry relaxed a little, Imperial Mages would know what they were doing, no one could reach that status who wasn't the very best that the world had to offer.
"When are we going to do it?" He asked, not letting any more of his uncertainty show.
"As soon as bloody possible," Karan muttered in response. "I really dislike having this information and I cannot wait to be rid of it!"
Harry smiled humorously. "I like that idea – that way I don't have time to dwell on impending doom."
"No need to be like that – if you must be pessimistic, be so in your own mind and don't make me get started," Karan retorted.
Harry smiled faintly, and the moment of seriousness passed, the incident almost forgotten, but there was a foreshadow of doom over the rest of their day.
That night, Harry told Elisa what he was going to do – he owed her the truth, and she appreciated the danger as much as Harry himself did. "But the risk is worth the potential gain," she remarked for him.
"Exactly – I can't let any opportunity to get Voldemort once and for good pass," Harry agreed. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the kids around here, the ones you haven't met, and we can play a game of Quidditch!"
This immediately lightened the mood, and the two teenagers raced off, happy just to be in each others company, doing something they loved.
Three days later, Harry was called to the Council Room, where all of the leaders across the world of Atlantis met up occasionally to catch up with the news and present any problems they might think others had the answers to.
Harry knew immediately that they were going to perform the memory transfer, and he was feeling very nervous. 'Calm down, we are here,' Lily instructed him.
Harry forced his body to calm, his mind taking control, banishing the thoughts of all outcomes but the positive ones. Walking forward to the centre of the room, he could feel his tense body relaxing, months at the Seekers Academy taking control over his reluctant body.
He could see that Karan was shaking and sweating, and rested a comforting hand on the others shoulder. "Calm down, Karan, it'll be fine. These guys are the best, remember!"
Karan gave him a water smile, but his shaking calmed a little bit. Harry smiled faintly and then turned his head to watch as Lilith and Jaram entered the room.
There were few words exchanged before the spell got right on the way, it seemed that everyone wanted to get this over and done with, and Harry knew he was in safe hands.
It still bit deep into his mind to have to trust anyone with something like this, but he knew how important it was, and so didn't make any fuss at all.
He was sat comfortably in a chair, Karan beside him, and the Imperial Mages moved into a circle, rotating around the pair of them, chanting softly.
He sat still, feeling magic in its raw form caressing his body, swirling and dancing in the air, though his eyes could not quite see it, slowly the magic was formed into a spell of sorts, and crept towards his mind.
About to fight off the invader, Harry forced his mind to allow the foreign magic to enter his brain and then leap out, rather in the same manner than the golden light had formed the bridge between Atlantis and Earth.
Then there was a slight stab of pain and Harry felt his mind linked to Karan's. The young doctor was very scared, both for his own life and that of his friend.
Accustomed to having his mind linked to someone else's, Harry sent waves of comfort and peace towards his friend, and was rewarded by the almost instant relaxation.
Fight it and we will both be destroyed, Harry remarked. Karan sent a feeling of agreement back, not knowing quite how to speak with words in another's mind.
The magic was back, Harry could feel it flicking through Karan's mind, as a secretary flicks through the many papers in her folder, searching for the correct one.
Then it stopped – they'd found the file, now information was streaking through the link between Harry and Karan's mind, there was a burst of information and suddenly all Harry knew was darkness.
**
AN: I wish that this was the end of a chapter *grumbles* perfect place for a cliffie … but unfortunately, I've only got 1700 words, so I can't stop YET!
**
Harry woke up, groggy, he wasn't sure exactly how mush later, but he had a fearful headache.
"Oh good!" Elisa's voice, pitched low, though it still hurt his head, reached his ears. "You're awake, I'll go and get the Imperial Mages … they want to give you a proper healing, but thought it best to wait for you to wake up."
Harry winced as the sound of her voice made his head ache all the more, and she seemed to pick up on it, because she rested a hand on his shoulder, conveying wordless sorrow for her actions, but, thankfully, did not try to mind-speak him.
She left, the grating of the chair across the ground, and the dull 'thump' that her feet made as she walked of the room made his head pound and stars dance in front of his eyes.
This is one killer of a headache, he thought to himself, and thankfully, his father had the good sense not say anything in return to that thought.
A moment later, Harry was aware of another presence, robed completely in white, gliding across the floor, feet making no sound whatsoever.
Harry was insanely glad of this, because otherwise his head would be aching. The person, he wasn't sure whether it was a male or female, glided over to him, extending it's hands towards Harry's head.
For a moment, Harry thought that he should duck, or move, or something, then remembered that he was in Atlantis, where no one would harm him.
Cool hands touched Harry's scalp, and immediately the pain receded. Massaging gently, the white glad figure seemed to pull the pain up out of Harry's skull and get rid of it completely.
Then the hands receded, and the figure glided off, leaving Harry feeling tired, and moments later he fell back into a deep, healing sleep.
Elisa watched her brother sleeping, his body so relaxed, his expression so gentle, that she realised just how much of a toll his life had exacted.
She sighed softly and brushed the hair from his face, just watching the peaceful side of him that had only just begun to emerge, here on Atlantis.
With one last look at her brother, Elisa turned and hurried from the room, pausing a moment to glance at Karan, who was in a similar state to Harry, though he looked rather the same sleeping as he did awake.
It must be Atlantis, Elias decided on her way out the door, pausing to bow carefully to the Imperial Healer Mage who was tending her brother and his friend.
The Mage nodded it's head – it was impossible to tell what sex any of the Mage's were. They simply existed.
Elisa hurried out, and nearly ran into Sky, who was evidently waiting for her. "How is your brother and the doctor?" Sky asked her, as they made their way through the corridors of the Palace.
She and Sky had become great friends in the short time that Elisa had been in Atlantis, and the Atlantean woman had taken the off-worlder under her wing as quickly as Karan had once taken Harry.
"They are doing as well as can be expected – the Mage says that they should both be awake and moving around very soon," Elisa replied, smiling happily.
Sky smiled with her as they made their way outside, to stand beneath the white, hot sun and watch the well-cared for land that was rarely to be seen in Elisa's own world.
"Tell me of Earth?" Sky repeated a much overused question.
"What do you want to know?" Elisa asked in response, smiling faintly as they played out the well worn tracks of the conversation.
"Tell me of your school," Sky this time asked.
"Hogwarts, how can one put Hogwarts into words?" Elisa mused. "Hogwarts is a huge castle, almost as large as this Palace, with huge towers and deep dungeons, classrooms, halls, chambers … everything. It has a huge lake in the front of it, with a giant squid. There is a forest on the grounds that is really dangerous and scary, it's called the Forbidden Forest, and it's just that, forbidden.
"Then there's the …" Elisa let herself get lost in the memories of home, translating the beauty of her life there into mere words that failed to do justice to the place, but Sky was enchanted by them.
Elisa wished that her other half would wake up again, she desperately wanted to speak with him again, as they hadn't had much of a chance since they'd come here, but she didn't let her sadness show in her voice, not wanting to upset Sky.
It was three days before Harry was up on his feet, though he wasn't allowed to do much physical work.
"I'll have to work three times as hard to get back to my former physical prowess," he grumbled privately to Elisa at one point. "Oh well, what's to life but the challenges?"
Elisa laughed at him, and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don't try to do so much, Harry. Rest, you've earned it. You've found a way to destroy Voldemort once and for all, you've discovered that you have the ability to change form into several shapes and you've even been stuck in an animal form for over a week!" She said.
Harry looked at her for a moment. "You know," he said slowly, "I think I will."
And so they did, they spent the rest of that year being happy, playing Quidditch with friends, racing each other in their Animagi forms, Harry learnt knew forms – a stag like his father, a golden eagle, it's blazing green-gold eyes alight with joy as it swooped and danced through the air.
He never had the problem that he'd had with the Canis Dracis form, though, for which he was very grateful.
Elisa continued her lessons, learning the things that Harry already knew while her brother took a holiday from his responsibilities that he so badly needed.
"What are you doing today?" Elisa asked him one morning, just passed halfway through their year in Atlantis.
"I just remembered something from when we came, we left so suddenly that I forgot all about it …" Harry replied musingly. "Those books that I found in the Library at school, written in a language I suspect is one from this country, though I'm not completely certain …"
"Well get them out and let's go see Lilith!" Elisa said impatiently, now that she too remembered the books, Harry had shown them to her just before the journey.
Harry rummaged around for a little time, as the books had gotten to the bottom of his trunk, which was why he'd never seen them when he went to his trunk – though that didn't happen very often at all, since there was little in it to interest him any more.
Grabbing the books, Harry and Elisa then made their way to Lilith, who was sitting outside, hands resting gently on her growing belly.
"Ferux, Celeres! What a lovely surprise! How are you this morning?" Lilith was obviously in a good mood this morning, which was very important.
"We've got some books that I found in Hogwarts, hidden in the Library. Two of them, which I brought with me, are written in a language that I do not recognize as one of Earths, and it seemed vaguely like the Atlantean script that I already know. I was wondering if you knew the language?" Harry said in a rush.
Lilith raised an eyebrow delicately. "Well, show me the book, Ferux, and I'll tell you," she told him, smiling.
Harry grinned back and offered it to her. She took the book, and immediately sighed heavily. "Is something wrong?" Harry demanded quickly, surprised.
"Not really. I know the script, but I cannot read it – it's in the language of a nomad tribe of priests and shamans, who dislike anyone knowing their script who is not one of them … you'll have to ask them to teach you how to read it, or to translate it for you," she replied. "Show me the other, though I think that we'll find them both to be in the same," a glance over the other book quickly confirmed this statement.
"So what should I do?" Harry asked.
"Like I said, you'll have to ask them for help, and that means you'll have to find them, and I can only give you so much aid in that," Lilith replied.
"Well, I think that it's important that I find out what is written in those books, so I'll have to get to those priests," Harry said after a little thought.
Lilith sighed. "Very well, the only information I can give you is that they are in the far north, they live around a large mountain, snow-capped, with a huge lake in front of it. You'll find them in camps, look for the one that has a huge white tent at the centre, this is the leaders tent. They speak normal Atlantean to those who do not known their language."
"My thanks, Lilith. I'd best get started," Harry said, smiling at her.
"One last think, since you'll be travelling in Animagus form, take only one change of clothes, I've no doubt that they'll provide you with their own," Lilith told him.
Harry smiled at her, half bowed, and changed form smoothly to the Canis Dracis, bounded gracefully into the air, huge wings swooping down to carry him up, the books suddenly disappearing from Lilith's hands, reappearing on Harry's back, between his wings.
Goodbye for now, Lilith, Celeres, I'll talk to you soon! He sent to them, before swooping out of sight, wings beating in a smooth rhythm, he headed away from the Palace, into the unknown world of Atlantis, which, apart from Tigris's place and the journey back, he'd never seen.
His speed was easy, and he felt alive – he'd never been stronger, his weakness after the memory transfer had faded completely.
His mind shied from the idea of that memory transfer, he'd locked the memory away in the depths of his mind so that he was not have to think about it until it was needed.
Karan had pretty much gone straight to Atlantis's equivalent of an Obliviator to have his memory modified, he didn't want to wait any longer than necessary to have it done, so anxious was he to get away from the 'unclean' information.
Now, though, Harry was concentrating on where he was going, not the past. He'd have to be careful to rest his wings and run the moment he smelt the sea in his sensitive nostrils, and he'd have to stop over night as well, probably, so that he would be well rested by the time that he had to fly – he wasn't sure how long the sea would go for.
With thought firmly in mind, Harry flew on, losing himself in the rhythm of his flight.
It was close to sunset when Harry reached the sea-shore, he'd run the last three hours without stopping once, his wings furled tightly against his back.
When he reached the sand, Harry flopped down, exhausted, falling immediately into a deep, restive sleep.
Several hours later, hunger woke him, and he wished he'd been a little more thoughtful about what he'd need before he'd left the palace.
Shifting form back to human, Harry took a handful of sand and transformed it into edible food. He didn't make anything fancy, because making food was fairly difficult – it was also not a good idea to make too much, as there was a magical limit placed on all wizards and witches to prevent them from making too much food and robbing the shops of that income.
Gulping down the food, Harry backtracked to a stream he'd noticed and drank his fill of the cool, clear water, forgetting that he did not need to check for poison here on Atlantis.
Going back to the beach, Harry collapsed once more, changing to his panther form this time, remembering how bad it felt when he got sand under his scales.
The sun was overhead when he woke the next morning, though not much, he was glad to realise. Knowing that he'd probably got sand between his scales the night before, Harry took a bath in the sea water to make sure it all got done away with.
Taking off, Harry allowed the sun to dry his glistening wet scales as he flew steadily over the ocean.
'Harry? Can you talk?' It was Elisa – trust her to come and take away the boredom.
'Nothing I'd like more,' Harry assured her.
So Harry spent the rest of that day feeling a lot less bored than the day before. He stopped frequently at islands for short rest breaks, just to make sure he'd be able to get to the next.
Through most of the day Elisa was talking to him about various things, including home, Sky, home, Atlantis is general, home, the Place in particular, home, what she was doing at the time, and, did she mention, home?
As night began to fall, Harry speeded up his wing beats, heading for a landmass he could only just see on the horizon.
'You gonna be okay, Harry?' Elisa asked in concern.
'I'll be fine,' Harry assured her. 'I'll talk to you tomorrow, ok? It must be close to dinner time for you now.'
'Getting that way, and I have to change,' Elisa replied.
Harry broke of contact and settled into the easy beat of flying, though it was now speeded up as he tried to reach his destination before full dark.
He could see perfectly in the dark, but he wanted to rest for as much of the night as he could, so that meant getting there.
Once he got closer he realised that it wasn't like the small islands that he'd visited frequently that day, but a much larger landmass, and he'd be able to walk for a good bit of the next day. As far as he could see, however, there were no mountains.
It took him just over a week to reach the country in which he knew the tribes to be located, he could see the mountain rising majestic in the distance.
Harry landed and began an easy lope in the direction of the mountain. The daylight hours had changed here, and Elisa was still fast asleep, so he couldn't bother her with the news of his victory – at least, partial one.
Harry's thoughts ranged as he ran smoothly onwards, but that didn't make him miss the fact that he'd picked up company. He knew it the moment the two trackers started marking him, and soon began devising a way of getting away from them.
Soon, he found it, and used his magic to create a sound a little off the path, one of the hunters hurried to see what that sound was, and Harry quickly bounded over a large log in the path, twisting to the side and casting an invisibility charm over himself, even as he changed to the form of an eagle and Aparated into the air, where he removed the charm, smirking to himself at the ease with which he'd lost his perusers.
They were probably of the order he wanted to find, but he wanted to meet them on his own grounds in his human form, not on theirs in the form of a Canis Dracis.
Sweeping over the huge plain with his powerful wings beating, the golden eagle eyed out the groups of people, herd beasts and landmarks.
There were a lot of people, Harry realised, slightly surprised, he'd not expected this many, as there were well over five hundred. From what he could see, they camped in groups of fifty large tents, and the people wandered between the tents in the day time … or at least, they were today.
Winging away from the plain, Harry headed straight for the mountain, where he could rest for a while before returning to view the habits of these people, so he could learn how to best approach them.
Harry slept that night in the form of a fox, his latest achievement in shape-shifting, as he had come to call it. Settling his weary body on the ground, Harry allowed his eyes to drift close and the welcome arms of sleep to wrap around his mind.
His sleep lasted until the sun rose high enough to shine in his eyes the following morning, and Harry woke much refreshed. Stretching, baring small, snowy white fangs in yawn, Harry have himself a shake and automatically checked the area for human or Animagus followers.
Satisfied in finding none, Harry changed form, a golden eagle once more taking to the air, to scout around the camps on the plain below.
Harry spent a week doing this, keeping a very careful watch on the people below. At night he came closer to the camps in the form of a fox with an invisibility charm cast over himself.
He was learning their ways well, and it was on the forth day that a stranger came to the tents. Harry came closer, casting a charm to turn eyes away from him, rather than risk anyone seeing a hawk suddenly disappear.
Landing, he switched directly to fox form, having found that this was possible during the past week. The prisoner was treated courteously, though the man was obviously not being allowed to leave.
Harry watched until evening when a meeting was called of all the Head Priests and Shamans, with the prisoner as the main topic.
The first thing to happen was for the man to be brought before them, and asked what it was he was doing there. The man replied that he needed help, one of his family was sick and he wanted to ask the Shamans for a charm to protect the rest of his family and his village from catching the disease, until a Mage could be detailed to them.
He was then taken away while the priests decided what they were going to do about it. Harry was somewhat relieved to learn that even if the priests did not choose to help a person, that person would simply be sent away with enough food and water to make it back to his or her home.
This time, however, the person was in luck, and the head shamans worked for most of the night to create the charm with the most magical power possible.
That night, having returned to his mountain 'den' Harry realised that he'd been stupid, this was Atlantis, no one was going to severely harm anyone else if it could be avoided, which it generally could.
No person on this world would knowing kill a person, no matter how different they were to the rest of the people on their world.
With this is in mind, Harry decided that he himself would go to the tents the next morning, and see what happened – if he was attacked in any form, he was perfectly capable of defending himself.
The morning came, and Harry forced his mind away from the brutal things that he knew had been performed on intruders in his own world. He knew that he would be safe enough here, but that didn't stop his nervousness at revealing himself.
Harry entered the forest from the far side and walking silently forwards at a good pace, waiting to get far enough into the forest to warrant curiosity.
It wasn't too long before two men appeared silently out of the forest on either side of him – Harry didn't so much as start at the suddeness of it, since he'd been aware of them for some time.
Nodding calmly to them, he kept walking, the two exchanged startled glances, and one of them reached out, catching Harry's shoulder.
Harry turned to look at him. "I desire to be taken to the Tents of your leader. If you must acompany me, do so," he told the man coolly, pulled his shoulder free and continued walking.
Another startled glance was exchanged, before the two of them fell into a loping jog, following a little behind Harry. A short time after this, another two people appeared, falling in step in front of him, as if to make sure that he was properly guarded.
It took them some time to reach the Tents, and no one spoke a word over the journey.
Upon their exit of the forest onto the plain, almost all activity stopped as everyone turned to watch the new comers. Harry didn't look at them, heading straight for the leaders Tent, which was where his guide-guards were heading anyway.
Aparently there was a meeting this morning, and he wasn't going to have to remain until night time, which would be good, since he'd have been bored stiff if that was the case – too long away from people to converse with.
He was stopped firmly by the two people following him as the two who'd been in the lead entered the tent. Harry heard them announcing that someone else had come to find them, and a moment later Harry and his other two guards were waved inside.
Everyone in the room was seated around a table, the two guards moved to the door, as if to prevent Harry from leaving, if he decided that he didn't want to be here after all.
"Sit," one of the older men instructed Harry sternly.
"I prefer to stand," Harry returned, his refusal polite by absolute.
There were a few murmurs around the room as it's occupants wondered at this refusal – why would they want to help someone who was being rude to them?
"Very well. What is it that you require our help with? I warn you that you will not necessarily receive it," the same man stated.
Harry smiled faintly and took the books out of what was apparently nowhere, stepping over to the table to place them there, face down so that no one could see what they were called.
"My name is Harry Potter – or Ferux, here. When I was on Earth, I found these books, written in a language similar to that of Atlantean, but at the same time different. After consulting Lady Lilith, I found out that it was written in the language that you write in. I require a translation, if that is possible," he stated calmly.
The room almost immediately burst into a gaggle of confused noise and sound. Harry winced and covered his ears to try and avoid the worst of it.
Finally he used his magic to create several loud explosive noises. The man who'd spoken to Harry looked at him and spoke gravely.
"So. You are the One."
*********************************************************
As good a place as any to leave off, don't you think? More about the One next chapter, hopefully!
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