In Every Darkness
Chapter Twenty Six: Named
7.8.1996 (morning still)
Grimmauld Place was thrown into chaos a few minutes later when Ron discovered his friend and the griffin, unconscious in their room.
"Did you have to give it to him this morning, Severus?" Dumbledore asked his potions master wearily, watching everyone bustling around in something only just short of blind panic.
"Dumbledore, you know very well that this potion is very delicate. If Mr. Potter wants to enjoy full use of his body, and of the abilities the potion will give him, it must be as fresh as possible. Now, if you'll excuse me," Snape took the opportunity to withdraw.
Dumbledore sighed, watching as Molly Weasley fussed over Harry while the Aurors did everything they could to wake the boy with spells. Only time could bring a halt to the potion that Severus had given the boy.
Suddenly there were cries of delight and relief, and Dumbledore smiled – Harry must be recovering then. Before anyone had really grasped what was happening, the griffin threw itself from where it had been lain, landing in a bundle on Harry's chest.
Harry gave an 'oof' of surprise as his eyes shot open, then surprise melted and he smiled at the little creature that settled on his chest, almost purring, if an eagle's beak could ever produce such a sound.
The boy stroked it's head almost absent-mindedly as he looked at the bustle that surrounded him in something very close to surprise.
"Are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley demanded, forcing her way through the gathered members of the Order to stand beside Harry. "Do you remember what happened?"
"I … can't quite remember what happened, no," Harry responded, from his place by the wall, Dumbledore was unsurprised. Severus would have covered his trail well. "But I feel fine," he added, in a vain attempt to halt Mrs. Weasley's protective temper.
Through this confusion, Dumbledore just managed to overhear Ron's soft comment to Hermione, "I guess we won't be going to Diagon Alley today after all."
Dumbledore nodded in an agreement that neither child saw, and strode from the building, already late for an appointment with the Minister of Magic.
Harry felt very tired, and all of the people around him didn't help. The moment he mentioned this, everyone seemed to flee his room as if pursued by rampaging dragons.
Mrs. Weasley was the last to leave, and Harry knew that she would be standing guard outside his door to make sure that he was not disturbed.
He smiled down at the griffin which was still lying on his chest.
***Flashback***
It was weird, a place almost like the centre, but this place was not as familiar and welcoming.
Harry looked around, his green eyes searching the darkness for any sign of life. He was torn by conflicting emotions, at one time, he wanted to get out of this place, and never return, but at the same time the darkness offered an alluring mystery that made him want to remain here forever, or at least until he solved it.
Suddenly he could sense another presence was here also. His idle speculation that this could be some part of his centre vanished, for no one could enter another's centre.
He looked around, trying to find where the presence was, but he could see nothing. Then a voice, as beautiful as the chimes of a hundred tiny bells, whispered around him. "No fear, Harry-Parent, you will not be harmed here. I will not allow it."
"Who are you?" Harry asked, and, to his amazement, his voice held the same beauty as that which had addressed him.
"I have not chosen my name yet," came the elusive response. "But you know me, and I know you. We are here together, to form a bond that will last a life time."
"That hardly gives me any information," Harry remarked, voice dry. He could sense the other being's humour, and suddenly light flooded the dark place, and Harry saw at his side a towering tawny coloured beast.
The huge, adult griffin looked at the human by its side with a predators golden eyes. Harry looked down at himself and gaped – his body was that of an adult, as was that of the huge creature beside him.
"This place stands outside of time," the griffin told him, and its golden eyes smiled. "Here we appear as we each would in the prime of our lives."
"Ah …" Harry said, still feeling more than a little lost.
"A member of your house gave you a potion that would allow us both to come here, to perform a ceremony that would never have been possible otherwise," the creature added.
"Snape," Harry realised.
"Such was the humans name," came the response, though Harry noted that the beautiful voice was tinged with dislike. "We come here to bind our lives together, as a baby griffin does with its parents before its birth."
"How can you do anything before your birth?" Harry asked curiously.
"Griffins are not humans. Our magic allows us do things that yours does not," came the cool reply. "Come, follow me."
The griffin rose of powerful legs and led the way forward, and Harry followed it quickly, because the light was moving with it.
"What did you mean before? When I asked you what your name was?" Harry asked it curiously.
"Why I told you I had not yet chosen a name? A griffin chooses its own name when it believes itself ready for one," the griffin responded calmly.
"Oh."
They walked in silence for some time, until Harry could see another light ahead of them. "What is that?" he asked curiously of the magnificent creature beside him.
"That is the light that symbolises life," the griffin responded. "We must go there, and there our minds will link, as the potion we were given wants."
Harry nodded, although he didn't really understand what was happening. They reached the golden light, and stepped into it. Harry blinked, once, to clear his vision slightly.
He felt something alien in his mind, and after a moment he identified it as the griffin. "My name is Grypis," the griffin announced, sounding both happy and pleased.
Harry felt a sudden knowledge in his mind, and, like the griffin, he spoke out. "My name is Gryfas."
"In the human world your name will remain Harry, and mine will be Gryphon, no human may know the names we were given here," the griffin told him.
"Why not?" Harry asked curiously.
"Because they are the names of our souls, and to know the name of someone's soul is the key to controlling them," came the reply.
Harry blinked. "I think I get that," he admitted. "So if any other person knew my name, they could control me?"
"Yes. Any being can control you completely if they know your souls name, it is completely inescapable," Grypis replied calmly. "Come, the waking world awaits us both, tell no one a word of what happened here."
***End Flashback***
Harry had not spoken, as Grypis had advised him. He knew that Molly was worried that he 'could not remember' anything that had happened, but that was, unfortunately, unavoidable.
"You did well," Grypis murmured in Harry's mind, and the boy smiled.
"Thank you," he replied in like.
***
The next day Harry was up and moving, no one questioned him about the day before, and Harry assumed that Molly Weasley had spoken to them all very firmly on the subject.
"Can we go to Diagon Alley today?" he asked her at breakfast.
"Of course dear, if you feel up to it," was the reply.
"Thanks," he replied, and hurried over to sit with his friends, Grypis already crouched, cat like, on the table, gulping down his breakfast.
"What did she say?" Ron asked eagerly.
"We can go," Harry replied with a grin, and Ron smiled happily back. Hermione sighed in exasperation.
"Hermione, I don't need to be coddled you know," Harry told her. "I don't like being coddled."
"I know Harry," she said, sighing. "I still don't think it's a good idea to be going into a crowded street after yesterday though."
"You are entitled to your opinion," Harry said, shrugging. "And I am entitled to mine."
Hermione nodded. She'd been opposed to him leaving the house until everyone was sure that what had happened yesterday would not happen again, but both Harry and Ron had dismissed her concerns – Harry because he knew what she feared would not come to pass, and Ron because if Hermione thought it was bad, Ron would do it just to prove that it wasn't, even if he knew it was.
"Grypis, do you mind if we put a charm on you so that you appear to be a normal cat?" Harry asked his friend.
"You don't need to," came the reply. "A griffin can change into either an eagle or a cat at will, as both creatures are part of us. The charm wouldn't work anyway. Griffins do not lie, and lies are often revealed around us, so the charm would be of no use. I doubt anyone knows this, however, so if one of your companions were to use a charm on me, I would morph just as they did so, and all would assume that charm had worked."
"Thanks," Harry told it, happily, and approached one of the adults, asking them to perform the charm.
The moment the woman answered, Harry knew that it was the woman who'd been guarding him the day that he met Tatsu Kendo. "Yeah sure, I'm Katharine, by the way," she told him.
Harry nodded in greeting. Katharine took out her wand and pointed it at Grypis, muttering something. A beam of white light leaped from her wand to touch the griffin, spreading over its body. When it cleared, a cat with tawny fur and bright golden eyes had taken its place.
Of everyone in the room, Harry was the only one who knew that the spell had not worked, no one else would have so much as guessed.
Harry walked back over to Ron and Hermione, petting Grypis's head absently. "What are you going to call it?" Hermione asked curiously.
"He, not it," Harry replied, his thoughts seeming miles away. "His name is Gryphon." Hermione blushed a little at being corrected.
"Isn't that a little bit obvious?" She asked.
"No, because he'll be going under the guise of a cat while I'm with anyone who doesn't know the truth, and so Gryphon will seem fine, especially in the magical world," Harry replied, and Hermione was forced to nod in agreement – wizards often chose names of magical creatures for their pets.
When Harry stood up, Ron and Hermione followed suit immediately. "We aren't gonna let you out of our sight Harry! Look what happened last time!" Ron grinned at him.
Harry laughed and rolled his eyes. "Oh fine," he replied waspishly. "Come on then."
They headed out of the dining room to the living room to wait in front of the fire. It's a good thing I'm not like I was last summer, otherwise I'd be feeling really frustrated right now.
Suddenly Mrs. Weasley appeared beside him. "Here you are dear," she said, handing him a list of the books he would need.
Harry looked at it and mentally groaned. He knew he shouldn't have allowed Dumbledore to talk him into to taking so many subjects.
***Flashback***
"Well Harry, have you made your choices yet?" Dumbledore asked Harry, his eyes, as usual, smiling happily.
"Some of them. I'm taking NEWT level transfiguration, potions, charms, defence against the dark arts and I think I want to do astronomy," Harry replied. "But Snape said that you might have some more lessons for me to take."
"That is quite true. I think that you should take Divination," Dumbledore began, but Harry immediately interrupted.
"Why?"
"Because I think it's important. I cannot say why, exactly, but it is a feeling I get, a feeling that I have learned to trust. I think you should take divination," Dumbledore replied.
"Ok," Harry sighed, knowing that Dumbledore would probably badger him into anyway. "What else?"
"Care of magical creatures. I think it would prove useful, for reasons that you will soon discover," this time Harry just nodded. He didn't mind care of magical creatures nearly so much as he did divination.
"As Severus will have told you, you will be taking Occlumency lessons from him also, though we will have to come up with something other than remedial potions to use as an excuse. These lessons will keep up until it is believed that you are good enough not to need them.
"I also think that you should do Ancient Ruins, if you want to," Harry nodded, a little reluctantly. "Good, as Severus is fairly good at that, he will teach you a little of ancient ruins when you go for Occlumency lessons. That's a good enough excuse!" Dumbledore smiled happily.
Harry sighed. I knew I shouldn't have agreed to that. His asking should have made me at least a little bit wary, oh well, I'm stuck with it now.
"There may also be some extra-curriculum activities at some point in the year," Dumbledore had added jovially, before leaving Harry alone to fume about the lessons with Snape.
***End Flashback***
And now he needed a ton of books to get him through the year. Yay.
"Come on dears. Arthur, you go first, then you, Ron, then Harry, then Hermione, Ginny and I'll come last," Mrs. Weasley stated.
Harry knew that the order had been organised so that if there was an attack at the other end, Arthur could fight, and Ron, when he got there, would see if anything was the matter, and if it was, head straight back and prevent Harry from leaving.
Not saying anything, Harry watched as first Arthur, then Ron disappeared, then waited for five minutes to make sure neither came back, before leaving himself. What challenges, if any, would Diagon Alley have for him?
***
Ok, I think I'll leave it there! Next chapter, Diagon Alley!
~WolfMoon~