Okay, because I have two fantastic readers who have both e-mailed me to get
me to get off my butt, and have been ever so nice, I have updated. And
while most of you are probably like, why didn't she update before? I have
a good reason. Unfortunately the sequel I was planning, and had gotten
like 250 pages done on, was deleted. All of it. So even though I've
restarted it, it's moving really slowly. Sorry about the wait, but like I
told the other two, it's hard to retype all of it. Thanks for being with
me so long, I don't really want to lose any readers and I'm hoping that
you'll continue to stick with it, because even though it's been really slow
moving, I am determined to finish it-eventually. Thanks and please keep
reading and reviewing!
Harry woke up the next day with the sun shining in his face and an empty bed and room. During his sleep, all of their things had been removed and it was like they had never been there. Briefly Harry thought they might have been arrested for kidnapping but doubted he would have slept through that. He put a hand down on the side table to prop himself up and came in contact with a thick envelope. Curiously, he tore it open and dumped the contents into his hand.
A letter, a filled glass vial on a string and a silver ring with a red stone in the middle. He unfolded the letter in hopes that it would reveal what purpose the odd jewelry had.
Dear Harry,
You're probably wondering where we are. Well, Allie went to California again for the same reason we did last time and I'm going to help out with the dream-weaver at the Council HQ. We probably won't be back until September first so I assume we'll see you on the holidays if you choose to come home with us.
Anyway, we suppose you're wondering what the necklace and jewelry are for. Do you remember what father said about blood relatives having to be close to you? Don't panic! Even though we're in America, you still have our protection because during our research, we found that it is not so much of a blood relative as the blood of a relative, which is what is in the vials. The vial has my blood in it. This is Andrea if you're wondering.
And the blood in the ring is mine. Allie now. And as an added bonus, the ring has some magical qualities. For further information, check your level five-potion book in the section of Human/Humanoid Blood Properties. That's all for now, but we'll write you later and send you presents from Cali.
Love,
Andrea and Allie.
Harry's brow furrowed as he walked over to his trunk intent on pulling out his potion book. However, the door swung open revealing a sleep rumpled Ron who rubbed his eyes tiredly and motioned for Harry to follow him downstairs.
"Hey, mate. Sleep well?" Harry nodded with confusion. "That's good. You know I had the strangest dream about you." He began and Harry's eyes widened. They didn't remember that the events were real. This was both beneficial and deleterious to the innocence of the twins and himself. If they thought it a dream, no one would question where he had gone or threaten to hunt down Andrea and Allie. On the other hand, if they began comparing their dreams, no doubt that they were the same, they would be able to piece together last night and interrogate him. He ran a hand through his messy hair that fell all over his face and followed his best friend into the kitchen where everyone else was sitting.
"Morning." Harry grunted and was met with a chorus of hellos.
"Try afternoon." Hermione said. "It seems we all slept late so we're just having breakfast at 2:30."
"Hey, what happened to those two girls?" Fred said after a moment of silence.
"Yeah." George agreed as he put down the fork he was eating his pancakes with.
"Um............" Harry began as he picked at the food that was placed on his plate.
Ron jumped in next. "Harry, why were you in their room? I couldn't find you so I thought you might have been with the girls and there you were." He said happily as he speared a sausage.
"Right, well, they left." Harry said lamely. "And I was there because I was looking for them and that's when you found me." He said and everyone nodded. Harry gave himself an internal slap on the back for that logical lie.
"Oh. Did they say why they left?" Hermione asked. She didn't really care for the twins but it was obvious that they were close friends of Harry's.
Harry shrugged. "Just some business they had to take care of." He then turned to the side and started up a conversation about Quidditch with the Weasley boys and surprising Mr. Granger who was eager to learn about this new sport. The girls just rolled their eyes and continued eating with a quiet conversation.
After his summer of leaving after staying for only a few days, Harry was relieved to finally find a place to be comfortable for a long period of time. And with the necklace and ring, he might be able to visit Ron in the Burrow. It had definitely been a long time since he was able to have these meaningless talks with Ron and his brothers and Harry missed them dearly. He had spent the whole summer talking to Dorothy about his grief over Cedric, but the retired Auror convinced him he was blameless as she herself often had had missions where she had to leave someone behind or accidentally led her troops into a trap.
Harry hadn't known Cedric well when he died; sure, the boy was smart, kind and handsome but other than that, they had never spoken before. Cedric hadn't risked his life for Harry; he risked his glory of winning. What Harry needed to do was to stop placing the deceased Hufflepuff as the selfless martyr and instead give him the position of the kind-hearted student who valued teamwork and friendship over victory. Not everyone who had died with a connection with him had died because of him, a fact he was having a hard time getting over.
But he had known Dorothy. It made the pain of loosing someone even worse, but he knew the old witch had made her own decisions and would have defended him in any way she could have, with or without his consent. Harry also knew that he would have done the same for her.
Harry then felt a prodding on his arm and he turned to see Ron who was standing up. "Harry? Are you going to get up or are you just going to sit there?" His friend added with a laugh. Harry looked up to see that everyone had already left and he let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah. Sorry, I was just caught in my thoughts." He got up and jogged up the steps to his room, but not before making a quick stop in the twins' old room and grabbing the letter, ring and necklace. Then, once in his room, he dug through his truck and pulled out this year's potion book. Flipping to the Table of Contents, he found the Human/ Humanoid section and quickly found the page speaking about it. He skimmed through the sections of centaurs, merpeople, veela's and elves until he found the section on empaths.
'Blood of Empathy: This rare blood is carried only by empaths as the name suggests. The blood is normal in all appearances, but possess strong magical properties. When seen alone, the blood had the ability to change colors to reflect the emotions in the air and often times when left in a room with too many people in an open container, the blood will begin to change colors rapidly before disappearing. In history, the blood was often used to test the faithfulness of the love of a spouse or lover by having it place near the test subject. At one time, it was even used as means of decorating by the wealthy because of its constant color change. However, the blood collected for the decorating was in such high demand that in order to obtain the largest amount, many empaths were bled to death. Now, it is collected in a more peaceful fashion and primarily used in small amounts in potions for testing emotions and even in certain forms of truth potions.'
Harry closed the book and stowed it in his trunk. Picking up the ring, he smiled and thought it to be the muggle equivalent of a mood ring. He slipped it on his finger and watched it turn a light blue. He had no idea what light blue meant but figured it was nothing bad as he was feeling content right now. The door creaked open and Harry turned to see Ron and Hermione step it.
"Hey." He called out as he slipped the necklace under his pillow thinking that his friends wouldn't react well to seeing bottled blood. "All right?"
"We're fine." Hermione assured as she perched herself on the bed and shot a pleading look towards Ron.
"Well, Ginny, Fred and George have already left, but before I go we wanted to talk to you about something because we didn't want to wait until the next time we see each other." Harry smiled at his nervousness.
"By the way this summer has been going, it might not be until school." Hermione added.
Harry nodded and briefly considered using his telepathy to figure out what was going on, but changed his mind when he assumed it would be about his two best friends who were now in a relationship. "What did you want to talk about?" He asked as he joined Hermione on the bed.
"Well, as you know Harry," Hermione began in her calm and collected tone, but he could see that she was wringing her hands nervously, "Ron and I are now together so things are going to be different."
"Don't worry about it." Harry assured them, knowing where this is going. "I know you two will want to spend more time together and that's fine. I do have other friends." He added wryly.
"We know that." Hermione said quickly.
"Yeah. But if we start ignoring you, you can speak up." Ron said as he ran a hand through his hair.
Harry's mouth quirked into a small grin. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Just, if you guys get into a fight, don't put me in the middle?" He asked imploringly.
Both of his best friends laughed. "Of course Harry. We're not trying to make you into our relationship councilor."
"That's good." Harry said with a chuckle.
"Oh, by the way Harry," Hermione began, "I remember something in your letter you sent us in the hospital about us beginning a research project."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Of course she remembers that."
Harry was about to laugh at Ron but remembered the importance of what they needed to find out. "Well, apparently there's a prophecy. Don't roll your eyes Hermione." The young woman blushed, as that was what she was planning to do. "This is a real prophecy and apparently it concerns me and Voldemort. Possible you two as well." He added as an afterthought.
"Are you sure Harry? I mean, from what I've gathered from Divination class, that branch of magic is based on guess work and bluffing." Hermione asked hesitantly.
Harry shook his head. "No, this is real and it's going to happen. Besides, divination isn't all fake." At his friends' skeptical looks he held up his hands in defense. "No really. I met a couple of diviners."
"Seriously, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Seriously Ron. Now if we don't have any more questions, I think I'm going to take a shower." He said as he grabbed a towel and threw it over his shoulder. "See you later Ron. Is that invitation for the Burrow still there?"
The redhead's smile grew. "It always is. Won't Dumbledore have a problem with it, though?"
"No. It'll be fine." He called as he disappeared through the door.
Hermione's voice called out to him before he reached the bathroom. "Make it quick Harry. My cousins are going to be here soon."
"Okay!" He yelled as he hopped into the shower. Ten minutes later he was dressed and running downstairs as he pulled his towel-dried hair up into a ponytail at the nape of his neck.
"There you are!" Hermione said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the living room where her parents and two other people were waiting. "Harry, these are my cousins, Leila and William." They said their hellos politely.
"Harry, we were just about to go for a walk. Would you like to come?" Mrs. Granger asked as her, her husband and her niece and nephew were heading out the door.
"Sure." Hermione grabbed the inside of his arm and then froze, as did Harry. She had come in contact with a bit of raised skin, scars from mutilation at that he did with his own hand this summer.
She gasped and dragged him near the stairwell. "Harry." She breathed as she turned his arm over. She could see the small white scars from the minor cuts but she could feel the ragged skin where the skin had grown together after a deeper cut. "What did you do to yourself?"
"Its nothing. I was just hurt." He said as he yanked his hand away.
She shook her head. "No. Leila's a psychiatrist and I've read some of her books. These are self-mutilation scars." She shook her head sadly. "Why'd you do it Harry?"
"I told you Hermione. It's nothing. It's over. I'm not going to hurt myself anymore." He tried a small smile. "I'm better now."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Her voice was a little more than a whisper and he could see tears clouding her eyes.
"There's nothing to tell."
"Oh yes there is. We need to get you help. I should owl Dumbledore." She said in a hurry as she turned to go up the steps. Harry's arm stopped her.
"No, you will not owl Dumbledore." He said in a quiet voice that had a dangerous edge, the same voice that he had used at the pool, the voice that had frightened Hermione. "Just forget you ever saw them."
He turned to follow her parents but Hermione's shrill voice stopped him. "I will not! You are my friend Harry."
"Just forget about it." He growled through clenched teeth. Harry had already dealt with this with Dorothy who understood the need to hurt oneself or to feel such guilt to drive someone to do it. He didn't need to listen to a schoolgirl who had read one to many books and dubbed herself an expert. She would never understand, Harry thought bitterly.
"NO!"
"Hermione-" He was beginning to get frustrated with her.
"No, Harry! I am going to owl-"
"No you won't!" He was practically yelling now and so was Hermione.
"Yes, I will! You need help."
"What I need is for you to just let it go!"
"No!"
"JUST FORGET ABOUT IT, HERMIONE!" He screamed and closed his eyes trying to push all the anger away. He opened them again when Hermione hadn't said anything in a while. Figuring he scared her, he prepared to apologize. "Herm, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-" He stopped when he noticed Hermione's expression. Her eyes were glazed over and she was swaying slightly as she stood. He waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Hermione?"
That snapped her out of it, but it was strange. Her bright smile was on her face and she looked eager. "There you are, Harry! I want you to meet my cousins Leila and William." She looked around the room for a moment. "Where'd they go?"
"Er, Hermione? I already met your cousins. Don't you remember?" He asked quietly. Then a thought ran through his head.
Just forget about it, Hermione
God, he thought, please don't let me have memory charm my best friend.
"No, because you haven't met them yet. Are you okay Harry?" She asked gently.
"Fine." He mumbled. "Your cousins are outside. They're going for a walk. Tell your parents I'm going to stay here." He said distractedly as he tried to figure out what to do. Hermione nodded, slightly confused by his actions today. As she headed towards the door, Harry ran upstairs to his room and began throwing all of his things back into his trunk. A voice from the bed startled him in the middle of his frantic packing.
"Hello Harry." He turned around with his wand out and noticed the graceful black woman from the council. Once again, she was wearing green robes.
"Hi." He said nervously as he put his wand away. "Kali, right?" She nodded. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help you."
Harry groaned. "Don't say you want to help me. Last time someone wanted to help me, they got memory charmed." He said feeling more that a little bit guilty. The only things that eased this were that it was only a small amount of time lost in her memory and it was only an accident.
"Yes I know. But I want to make you an offer." She waited and Harry gestured for her to go ahead. "As you know, the Diviners Council is open to all who possess unique gifts in the field. In many ways, we're like a boarding school."
"No way." Harry said. "I'm not leaving Hogwarts."
"We're not asking you to." She replied calmly. "What would happen is that for the rest of the summer, you would receive training from different telepaths. You would receive your own room and receive meals with us. We do grant you permission to leave if that is what you wish."
Everything she had said so far sounded like a pretty good deal and he was finding few reasons to decline it. Harry knew that if he didn't take this opportunity, something like downstairs could happen to one of his friends, maybe even worse than this time. He didn't want to take that risk. "Okay. What exactly in the training?"
She smiled widely at his acceptance. "Mediation is always an important part of our society. Everyday at seven in the morning and then seven at night, we have our meditation sessions. Once you are able to do this successfully, we'll begin your mental barriers. That's probably all we'll have time for."
Harry nodded his head. "Will Andrea be there?"
"No." She said sadly. "The dream-weaver is still on the loose so we've sent every mystic, seer, psychic, medium, and prophecy layer to another one of our bases. Some are in America, some are in France or Spain. A few have families that they are with right now. We don't want the dream-weaver interfering with visions. So far, nine of our seers and psychics have given us incorrect information."
"Right. Will it affect the telepaths?" He asked hesitantly.
"Most likely no. But it is of little significance to the world if we are affected. Do not worry, Harry Potter. You'll be safe."
"That's good. So I would need to stay there all summer?" She nodded.
"You are free to visit with friends but for no more than five hours."
"And I would need to leave now?"
"Once your affairs are in order, yes."
"Guess I'll just leave a note." He said as he rummaged through his trunk and pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink. "Done." He said a few minutes later and he place the parchment on his bed.
"Don't forget about that vial under your pillow." She reminded him as he closed his truck.
"How did-" He shook his head and smiled. "Right. Telepathic." Together they dragged his trunk downstairs and stood in front of the fireplace. Harry remembered doing this with Allie a day ago and Andrea a few days before that. Suddenly something occurred to him, something Andrea had said. "Kali, is it possible for diviners to have more than one power?" She cocked her head to the side in a silent question. "Andrea told me that I have another power. I'm not quite sure what it is yet."
"Let me check." She placed her hands to his temples like she had yesterday and concentrated. "Yes, you're right."
"Well, what's my other power?" He asked expectantly.
"You're a fire-starter." She said with a smile. "If you'd like, we can find someone to help you manage that gift." He looked at her oddly.
"But fire-starters wouldn't be diviners."
"But we have many connections." She said and then turned her head as she heard voices coming from the side of the house. "Your friend is coming back so we better leave quickly." He did as she said and in less than a minute, they were standing in the familiar parlor of the Diviners Council HQ. The woman in the blue was standing with the woman in yellow and the two were speaking quietly.
"Hello, Harry Potter." The woman in the blue said. "I am Cassandra and this is Abigail." She said, gesturing towards the woman in the yellow. "I see you have accepted the training." Harry nodded and she smiled. "Good. Let's get you settled in." They stepped out in the hall and Harry was surprised to see large numbers of people running up and down the hall in haste.
"It isn't normally like this." Abigail said as she watched two people collide. "We're trying to get a majority of our members out before the dream-weaver strikes again. Soon it will just be the telepaths and the spiritualists." She said sadly.
"Are you leaving as well, Cassandra?" Kali asked the other woman.
"Yes." She replied desolately. "I hate to leave, but it is for the best. I'm heading to the German retreat." All women nodded and Harry just trailed along. He followed them down a similar corridor to the one he found last time and was ushered into an empty room that was an exact replica of the one he had broken into before. "This will be your room. You're welcome to use it whenever you'd like whether it'd be a week from now, a year or ten." Harry nodded and Cassandra then turned to open the armoire door revealing cotton white robes. "This is the uniform you will wear for the time being. It signifies that you are in training. When you graduate, you will be given green robes like Kali."
"What do the colors mean anyway?" Harry asked as he sat down on the small bed, which was surprisingly comfortable.
"The colors are to represent your power. That way, you don't need to find a medium if you have a spirit problem. Instead, you just look to anyone wearing red." Abigail explained.
"So red is a medium. What's a medium?"
"They can communicate with the dead." Cassandra explained. "Anyway, green in for telepaths, blue is for seers, yellow is for spiritualists, silver is for mystics, brown is for prophecy layers, and purple is for psychics."
"Right." Harry said. "When do I get to wear green?"
"When we think it fit." Kali said with a smile. "It won't be as long as you'll think."
Abigail smiled at him and then looked slightly dreamy. "I remember when I first got mine. It felt like I had finally become an adult and that I had all of this power."
Cassandra smiled knowingly and then proceeded towards the door. "It's about time I left. They're already beginning to leave."
"I'll see you out." Abigail said and together they left. Harry looked to Kali who offered him her hand and pulled him off the bed.
"I'll show you around, if you'd like." Harry nodded and allowed himself to be shown around for an hour.
During the whole hour, Harry couldn't help but notice that the Council Head Quarters was a lot like Hogwarts is some respects. The building was really a castle about the same size of Hogwarts and like his school; the castle had passages that changed and doors that revealed different things behind them every time you opened one. The eating hall was larger and more elegantly sculpted with ornate flying buttress at the corners that supported a ceiling full of blue and white tiles that, to Harry, looked like just a bunch of random lines connected to each other. When he mentioned this to Kali, she laughed.
"That's what I thought when I first arrived, but actually, when you look hard enough, the tiles form a labyrinth. No ones been able to solve it yet because every day, the tiles rearrange themselves. Some muggles explorers who discovered this castle built the mosaic as a representation of the twisting halls, which is how the castle gained the name 'Labyrinth Halls'."
"Why can the tiles move if muggles created it?" Harry asked as he tried to trace the ceiling with his eyes but kept coming up to dead ends.
"This castle was built on magical ground by wizards in the past as a way to confuse the enemies. However, once something is carved or cemented to the stone, it too has the ability to move. The poor explorers didn't understand this and tried to take the tiles off the ceiling when the pattern wouldn't stay. The castle grew angry and a month later when a servant came to work at the castle, she discovered all of the members dead."
"How?" Harry asked quietly and made a note to himself not to anger this castle.
"Starvation. They couldn't get out and they couldn't get to the kitchen. They just kept finding themselves in blocked corridors."
"That's sad." Harry said and Kali nodded.
"Yes it is."
"Well how did the diviners get the castle?"
"The young servant girl." Harry looked at Kali strangely. "She was a diviner and a witch. She understood the magic in the area and struck up a deal with the castle. The girl promised that her and her followers would protect and care for the castle if it did the same for the inhabitants. It agreed and here we are today."
Harry nodded and they resumed walking. "Who was this girl?" He asked, wondering if he had ever heard.
"Her name was Cassandra."
"Not the same one I met." Harry said incredulously.
Kali shook her head no. "The one you met is the descendent of the Cassandra in the story."
"Family name?" He inquired as he ran his hands along the smooth walls of the corridor.
"You could say that." He looked at her and waited for her to finish the story. "Cassandra comes from a long line of diviners, seers mostly. Ever hear the story of Cassandra, the Trojan seer?" Harry nodded his head. For the little he paid attention in History of Magic, he still managed to retain some information. "Well, that's where they all get the name."
"From their ancestor." Harry finished and Kali nodded. "So is everyone in their family named Cassandra?"
"Not the men." Kali said and Harry rolled her eyes. "Cassandra's sisters are not either."
"How do they decide who to give the name?" Harry asked as they stepped out into the courtyard.
"Firstly, only someone named Cassandra can give the name to their child. Cassandra's sister Susan could not name her child Cassandra. Then, usually during the nine months one of the Cassandra's is pregnant, a vision will occur and you'll know that this child deserves the name. And sometimes, the name will skip a generation and that is the only time any of Cassandra's descendents are able to give the name to their child, but only if they have a vision."
"So much for one name." Harry murmured.
"Yes. But the diviner, and it usually is a seer, named Cassandra becomes head of the Council."
He looked shocked for a moment. "But that's not fair!"
Kali smirked. "Did you not notice our password was divine right?" Harry laughed and allowed her to lead him through a grove of citrus trees. They stepped out on the path again and saw a man dressed in yellow meditating on a stone bench. Kali motioned for him to follow her and they left him in peace. "It is very important not to interrupt someone when they're meditating. Who knows where they mind might have wandered?"
This was a strange concept to grasp, but Harry just nodded his head and they continued walking.
"This is the meditation garden." Kali pointed out. "Usually after dinner or in the morning a majority comes here. The remaining diviners either stay in the hall or retreat to their rooms." They came to a large green hedge and Harry had to fight down the shivers as he remembered the maze for the tournament last year. Kali noticed and quickly said it was the maze before walking down a small path of stones to a koi pond. Passing through the trees, Harry saw two people locked in a passionate embrace. He blushed and Kali coughed slightly. Both smiled when the two flew apart. Kali took notice of a silver robe and a green one. "Sarah," She said gently to the one in the silver, "It's time you left. We've already begun the clear out." Sarah's eyes widened and she prepared to leave. "We'll all escort you." The four of them walked back through the gardens and to the arrival/departure room. Sarah looked slightly reluctant to go but the man in the green squeezed her hand tightly and probably began talking to her mentally.
"Be safe." She said allowed and hugged him. "All of you." She added tearfully.
"You as well." Kali replied and in a moment, Sarah had left.
"Kali," The man in the green said, "Are we any closer to capturing the dream-weaver?"
She shook her head sadly. "No. He hasn't done anything besides that act with Caleb, but we are sure it was not a one time thing."
"Was it one of his enemies?" She shook her head. "Are you sure?" Another negative response. "Kali, don't let your feelings for him cloud your judgment." He started.
"My feelings have nothing to do with this, Alexander. This is not happening because of Caleb." She bit out and opened the door to leave.
"I hate to say it Kali, but he's the only one who's been attacked recently and lets face it, he doesn't do everything by the book. Besides, he is known work with quite a few of the more infamous weavers. He might have angered one or even picked up their traits himself." He said slyly.
She turned around and clenched her hands into fists. "And now you're accusing him? I know you're upset about everyone leaving, especially Sarah, so I'll cut you some slack. But don't you dare try to accuse Caleb of any of this. Don't even think it." She then stormed out of the room and stopped. Harry followed behind her and looked to see what stopped her. There stood probably all that was left of the diviners at the council in a crowd of yellow and green. All of them were staring at Kali, who in turn was only looking at one person. Harry peered around her and regarded the man.
He was a tall man with light blonde hair that hung around his face. It wasn't as pale as Draco but instead was more of a honey color. He was dressed in green robes like Kali was and had a sincere smile on his face. But his eyes.........his eyes were chilled blue and seemed to haunt you. Harry didn't trust this man.
"What's with all the yelling?" He asked gently.
"It's none of your concern." Kali bit off and stormed down the hallway leaving Harry to trail after her and listen to the whispered speculations from the diviners. He finally caught up to her when they were nearing the halls near his room.
"Kali, who was that?"
"Its of no importance Harry." She sighed. "Get yourself settled in and we'll begin training tomorrow." He nodded and headed towards his room.
Training with the diviners, as it turned out, was not all meditation and relaxing like Harry had assumed. In the two weeks he had been here, he couldn't remember one night where he hadn't fallen onto his bed in complete exhaustion. On his first few days they sat for hours on the dark blue mats in a grove outside. The whole process left him with stiff joints and muscles and he felt he was making little to no progress. On the fortunate side, he was receiving a tan from the whole thing. Later in the week, Kali had decided it was time to begin martial arts training. Why? Harry had no idea why these psychics would need to learn how to flip people over, a common occurrence for Harry right now. But thinking back to Andrea being held against a brick wall, he supposed that they might come in handy.
As of now, he was learning the basics although he was often used as test dummy for some of the more advanced throws. Kali said his muscles needed to be built more so they then began muscle conditioning. Between all of these activities, the hour meditations that everyone followed and the meals of vegetables and fruits, his energy was depleted.
So now he was lying on his bed, hoping that Kali wouldn't find him and drag him off to another practice.
No such luck.
A knock on the door sounded and Harry groaned as a type of permission to enter. It was Kali like he had thought only instead of holding some type of weapon or such, she was holding a tan canvas bag.
"Are you going somewhere?" He asked as he sat up in his bed.
She nodded to him and looked up at him with sad eyes. "I'm going to the German retreat. Things have grown too hostile." She said miserably.
Harry just nodded; he couldn't think of much to say. Ever since his first meeting with that strange man, whom he later learned was named Isaiah, tension had been high around the castle. Many seemed to think that after Kali's outburst that she was hiding the dream-weaver or helping it and she became the recipient of dirty looks and stares of mistrust. He didn't blame her for wanting to leave; he had felt the same way during the Chamber of Secrets fiasco.
"Okay." He said quietly. "What's going to happen about my training?"
"I'm turning you over to Alex. He'll probably be a better trainer anyway." He nodded and she turned to leave. "Good luck. Good-bye Harry." He waved and then flopped on his bed. For a brief time he wondered what to do.
He considered sending his owl to Draco but thought better to. The blonde was obviously busy, or he gathered the impression from the one letter he had received. Truth be told, he didn't gather much out of the letter except that Draco was going to stay until the end of summer and that basically he was whoring himself out to every available elf, neither were of any surprise. Then he thought of Ron and Hermione. Sending a letter to those two were only mean more explanations he wasn't ready for. He sighed and pulled the pillow over his head. Maybe he would just sleep.
The next three days he spent them training with Alex. Kali had been right about him; he was a better opponent for Harry because he was about the same size and build and not much more advanced than Harry was. It had taken only about an hour to understand his style, but other than that, everything was going fine.
Of course, when Harry thought this, he should have considered Murphy's Law.
On the ninth day after Kali had left, he was sitting at one of the tables in the breakfast hall eating a fruit salad. He waited for a moment after he finished because Alex was supposed to pick him up and begin training with him. But after half an hour, there was no sign of him. Or of Isaiah, he thought as he glanced around the room. He caught Abigail's eyes who was just starting on her breakfast plate and smiled at her. She returned the gesture and began eating.
Finally deciding to find Alex instead of wait around, he left the hall and began walking towards the chambers. With the intended destination in mind, he walked confidently, not paying any attention to the changing walls of the Labyrinth. However, at ten minutes of walking, he realized he wasn't getting closer and instead he was in a corridor with dimmer lights and dusty floors. He felt slightly nervous and tried to calm himself. Then, reasoning that if he walked backwards he would find his way out, he proceeded to do just that.
To Harry's relief the corridors grew brighter but he couldn't stop his mind from drifting to the story of the first inhabitants. He shuddered slightly and stumbled onto a dark hallway with a shape hiding in the darkness. Fearing it was the dream-weaver, Harry backed up a bit and pulled out his wand. But the shape didn't move. Cautiously, he crept closer until he saw the outline of a leg. He prodded the leg with his toe and watched as it lied there, dead. So, sucking in a breath and summoning all of his courage, he muttered the lumos spell and raised his wand high. First he saw the green robes, but there was something dark spilled on them and Harry, fearing the worst, he closed his eyes before raising the wand to reach the person's face.
When he did, his eyes widened and he felt the bile rise in his throat. He turned around and heaved all of the contents of his stomach out until he could only dry retch. Harry backed up against the wall, not caring that he was probably sitting in his vomit, and held his head in his hands. The image was burned onto his eyelids forever and not even looking Voldemort in the eye had ever been this frightening. Placing a hand down to hoist himself up, he came into contact with some sliver of material. Whatever it was, it had a moist feeling to it with a light fluff of hair dusting the surface. His eyes widened and he snatched his hand away and tried to run into another corner.
Then wondering if perhaps it had been the dream-weaver, Harry raised his wand again and let it cast its rays into the corner. He snatched it back quickly when the image was the same.
Because there, lying in the corner like a rag doll, lay Alex with brown eyes wide and still. Blood still dripped down his robe and was now beginning to make puddles on the floor now that there was no skin to hold any of it in. Someone or something had skinned his teacher, leaving all muscles in tack and glistening with dropping blood that fell down his bare cheek like tears. Over in the corner were strips of the protective covering, the skin. It had been shredded off and looked like it had been gnawned on.
Standing shakily, Harry managed to run back down the corridor that he came from with hot tears streaming down his face. He came to a dead end and pounded his fist into it in frustration, ignoring the sharp crack and the blood that fell down his hand steadily. Harry put his arm against the wall and rested his head against it and cried. The death of Alex was my fault, he thought bitterly, if he hadn't been my teacher, he would have been fine. He remembered Sarah and slumped to the floor in frustration; he had ruined so many lives. What would Sarah think when she found her boyfriend dead and realized it was his fault? Going against what Dorothy and the twins and even Draco had told him, he began to blame himself for everything he thought he could put past him. Falling to the floor, he cried until his eyes began to burn and he fell asleep.
When he woke up hours later, the hallways were still dimly lit from the few torches scattered on the wall. There were no windows in this part of the castle but he could feel that it was at least late evening. He stretched tiredly and rubbed his legs that had gained cramps from the odd position they had been in. Finally standing up, he grabbed a torch and waved it in front of him in the direction he had first arrived. Of course he could have used his wand, but the hand he had punched the wall with, which was now purple, stiff and covered in dried blood, was his wand hand. It throbbed painfully but he ignored it and instead gasped in surprise as he stared across from him.
It seemed that in the hours he slept, the walls had decided to move again and now one was blocking his way. He approached it slowly and ran his hands over the rough stones and the mortar to try and find any type of door to get him out of this closed off space.
"Shit." He mumbled as he found no opening and then left that wall to search another. Once again, that story Kali had told him came to mind and he desperately hoped that he would have better luck than those muggles. After thoroughly searching for an hour, the torch was beginning to burn down and he still had found no exit to the small room he found himself in. Sighing, he placed the torch back on its holder that was attached to the wall and curled up on a corner to wait for the walls to shift again. His stomach growled loudly as he hadn't eaten anything all day, unless you counted the breakfast he had thrown up. But that food was doing him no good now since it was now lying in another part of the castle.
So he waited.
Harry woke up the next day with the sun shining in his face and an empty bed and room. During his sleep, all of their things had been removed and it was like they had never been there. Briefly Harry thought they might have been arrested for kidnapping but doubted he would have slept through that. He put a hand down on the side table to prop himself up and came in contact with a thick envelope. Curiously, he tore it open and dumped the contents into his hand.
A letter, a filled glass vial on a string and a silver ring with a red stone in the middle. He unfolded the letter in hopes that it would reveal what purpose the odd jewelry had.
Dear Harry,
You're probably wondering where we are. Well, Allie went to California again for the same reason we did last time and I'm going to help out with the dream-weaver at the Council HQ. We probably won't be back until September first so I assume we'll see you on the holidays if you choose to come home with us.
Anyway, we suppose you're wondering what the necklace and jewelry are for. Do you remember what father said about blood relatives having to be close to you? Don't panic! Even though we're in America, you still have our protection because during our research, we found that it is not so much of a blood relative as the blood of a relative, which is what is in the vials. The vial has my blood in it. This is Andrea if you're wondering.
And the blood in the ring is mine. Allie now. And as an added bonus, the ring has some magical qualities. For further information, check your level five-potion book in the section of Human/Humanoid Blood Properties. That's all for now, but we'll write you later and send you presents from Cali.
Love,
Andrea and Allie.
Harry's brow furrowed as he walked over to his trunk intent on pulling out his potion book. However, the door swung open revealing a sleep rumpled Ron who rubbed his eyes tiredly and motioned for Harry to follow him downstairs.
"Hey, mate. Sleep well?" Harry nodded with confusion. "That's good. You know I had the strangest dream about you." He began and Harry's eyes widened. They didn't remember that the events were real. This was both beneficial and deleterious to the innocence of the twins and himself. If they thought it a dream, no one would question where he had gone or threaten to hunt down Andrea and Allie. On the other hand, if they began comparing their dreams, no doubt that they were the same, they would be able to piece together last night and interrogate him. He ran a hand through his messy hair that fell all over his face and followed his best friend into the kitchen where everyone else was sitting.
"Morning." Harry grunted and was met with a chorus of hellos.
"Try afternoon." Hermione said. "It seems we all slept late so we're just having breakfast at 2:30."
"Hey, what happened to those two girls?" Fred said after a moment of silence.
"Yeah." George agreed as he put down the fork he was eating his pancakes with.
"Um............" Harry began as he picked at the food that was placed on his plate.
Ron jumped in next. "Harry, why were you in their room? I couldn't find you so I thought you might have been with the girls and there you were." He said happily as he speared a sausage.
"Right, well, they left." Harry said lamely. "And I was there because I was looking for them and that's when you found me." He said and everyone nodded. Harry gave himself an internal slap on the back for that logical lie.
"Oh. Did they say why they left?" Hermione asked. She didn't really care for the twins but it was obvious that they were close friends of Harry's.
Harry shrugged. "Just some business they had to take care of." He then turned to the side and started up a conversation about Quidditch with the Weasley boys and surprising Mr. Granger who was eager to learn about this new sport. The girls just rolled their eyes and continued eating with a quiet conversation.
After his summer of leaving after staying for only a few days, Harry was relieved to finally find a place to be comfortable for a long period of time. And with the necklace and ring, he might be able to visit Ron in the Burrow. It had definitely been a long time since he was able to have these meaningless talks with Ron and his brothers and Harry missed them dearly. He had spent the whole summer talking to Dorothy about his grief over Cedric, but the retired Auror convinced him he was blameless as she herself often had had missions where she had to leave someone behind or accidentally led her troops into a trap.
Harry hadn't known Cedric well when he died; sure, the boy was smart, kind and handsome but other than that, they had never spoken before. Cedric hadn't risked his life for Harry; he risked his glory of winning. What Harry needed to do was to stop placing the deceased Hufflepuff as the selfless martyr and instead give him the position of the kind-hearted student who valued teamwork and friendship over victory. Not everyone who had died with a connection with him had died because of him, a fact he was having a hard time getting over.
But he had known Dorothy. It made the pain of loosing someone even worse, but he knew the old witch had made her own decisions and would have defended him in any way she could have, with or without his consent. Harry also knew that he would have done the same for her.
Harry then felt a prodding on his arm and he turned to see Ron who was standing up. "Harry? Are you going to get up or are you just going to sit there?" His friend added with a laugh. Harry looked up to see that everyone had already left and he let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah. Sorry, I was just caught in my thoughts." He got up and jogged up the steps to his room, but not before making a quick stop in the twins' old room and grabbing the letter, ring and necklace. Then, once in his room, he dug through his truck and pulled out this year's potion book. Flipping to the Table of Contents, he found the Human/ Humanoid section and quickly found the page speaking about it. He skimmed through the sections of centaurs, merpeople, veela's and elves until he found the section on empaths.
'Blood of Empathy: This rare blood is carried only by empaths as the name suggests. The blood is normal in all appearances, but possess strong magical properties. When seen alone, the blood had the ability to change colors to reflect the emotions in the air and often times when left in a room with too many people in an open container, the blood will begin to change colors rapidly before disappearing. In history, the blood was often used to test the faithfulness of the love of a spouse or lover by having it place near the test subject. At one time, it was even used as means of decorating by the wealthy because of its constant color change. However, the blood collected for the decorating was in such high demand that in order to obtain the largest amount, many empaths were bled to death. Now, it is collected in a more peaceful fashion and primarily used in small amounts in potions for testing emotions and even in certain forms of truth potions.'
Harry closed the book and stowed it in his trunk. Picking up the ring, he smiled and thought it to be the muggle equivalent of a mood ring. He slipped it on his finger and watched it turn a light blue. He had no idea what light blue meant but figured it was nothing bad as he was feeling content right now. The door creaked open and Harry turned to see Ron and Hermione step it.
"Hey." He called out as he slipped the necklace under his pillow thinking that his friends wouldn't react well to seeing bottled blood. "All right?"
"We're fine." Hermione assured as she perched herself on the bed and shot a pleading look towards Ron.
"Well, Ginny, Fred and George have already left, but before I go we wanted to talk to you about something because we didn't want to wait until the next time we see each other." Harry smiled at his nervousness.
"By the way this summer has been going, it might not be until school." Hermione added.
Harry nodded and briefly considered using his telepathy to figure out what was going on, but changed his mind when he assumed it would be about his two best friends who were now in a relationship. "What did you want to talk about?" He asked as he joined Hermione on the bed.
"Well, as you know Harry," Hermione began in her calm and collected tone, but he could see that she was wringing her hands nervously, "Ron and I are now together so things are going to be different."
"Don't worry about it." Harry assured them, knowing where this is going. "I know you two will want to spend more time together and that's fine. I do have other friends." He added wryly.
"We know that." Hermione said quickly.
"Yeah. But if we start ignoring you, you can speak up." Ron said as he ran a hand through his hair.
Harry's mouth quirked into a small grin. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Just, if you guys get into a fight, don't put me in the middle?" He asked imploringly.
Both of his best friends laughed. "Of course Harry. We're not trying to make you into our relationship councilor."
"That's good." Harry said with a chuckle.
"Oh, by the way Harry," Hermione began, "I remember something in your letter you sent us in the hospital about us beginning a research project."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Of course she remembers that."
Harry was about to laugh at Ron but remembered the importance of what they needed to find out. "Well, apparently there's a prophecy. Don't roll your eyes Hermione." The young woman blushed, as that was what she was planning to do. "This is a real prophecy and apparently it concerns me and Voldemort. Possible you two as well." He added as an afterthought.
"Are you sure Harry? I mean, from what I've gathered from Divination class, that branch of magic is based on guess work and bluffing." Hermione asked hesitantly.
Harry shook his head. "No, this is real and it's going to happen. Besides, divination isn't all fake." At his friends' skeptical looks he held up his hands in defense. "No really. I met a couple of diviners."
"Seriously, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Seriously Ron. Now if we don't have any more questions, I think I'm going to take a shower." He said as he grabbed a towel and threw it over his shoulder. "See you later Ron. Is that invitation for the Burrow still there?"
The redhead's smile grew. "It always is. Won't Dumbledore have a problem with it, though?"
"No. It'll be fine." He called as he disappeared through the door.
Hermione's voice called out to him before he reached the bathroom. "Make it quick Harry. My cousins are going to be here soon."
"Okay!" He yelled as he hopped into the shower. Ten minutes later he was dressed and running downstairs as he pulled his towel-dried hair up into a ponytail at the nape of his neck.
"There you are!" Hermione said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the living room where her parents and two other people were waiting. "Harry, these are my cousins, Leila and William." They said their hellos politely.
"Harry, we were just about to go for a walk. Would you like to come?" Mrs. Granger asked as her, her husband and her niece and nephew were heading out the door.
"Sure." Hermione grabbed the inside of his arm and then froze, as did Harry. She had come in contact with a bit of raised skin, scars from mutilation at that he did with his own hand this summer.
She gasped and dragged him near the stairwell. "Harry." She breathed as she turned his arm over. She could see the small white scars from the minor cuts but she could feel the ragged skin where the skin had grown together after a deeper cut. "What did you do to yourself?"
"Its nothing. I was just hurt." He said as he yanked his hand away.
She shook her head. "No. Leila's a psychiatrist and I've read some of her books. These are self-mutilation scars." She shook her head sadly. "Why'd you do it Harry?"
"I told you Hermione. It's nothing. It's over. I'm not going to hurt myself anymore." He tried a small smile. "I'm better now."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Her voice was a little more than a whisper and he could see tears clouding her eyes.
"There's nothing to tell."
"Oh yes there is. We need to get you help. I should owl Dumbledore." She said in a hurry as she turned to go up the steps. Harry's arm stopped her.
"No, you will not owl Dumbledore." He said in a quiet voice that had a dangerous edge, the same voice that he had used at the pool, the voice that had frightened Hermione. "Just forget you ever saw them."
He turned to follow her parents but Hermione's shrill voice stopped him. "I will not! You are my friend Harry."
"Just forget about it." He growled through clenched teeth. Harry had already dealt with this with Dorothy who understood the need to hurt oneself or to feel such guilt to drive someone to do it. He didn't need to listen to a schoolgirl who had read one to many books and dubbed herself an expert. She would never understand, Harry thought bitterly.
"NO!"
"Hermione-" He was beginning to get frustrated with her.
"No, Harry! I am going to owl-"
"No you won't!" He was practically yelling now and so was Hermione.
"Yes, I will! You need help."
"What I need is for you to just let it go!"
"No!"
"JUST FORGET ABOUT IT, HERMIONE!" He screamed and closed his eyes trying to push all the anger away. He opened them again when Hermione hadn't said anything in a while. Figuring he scared her, he prepared to apologize. "Herm, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-" He stopped when he noticed Hermione's expression. Her eyes were glazed over and she was swaying slightly as she stood. He waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Hermione?"
That snapped her out of it, but it was strange. Her bright smile was on her face and she looked eager. "There you are, Harry! I want you to meet my cousins Leila and William." She looked around the room for a moment. "Where'd they go?"
"Er, Hermione? I already met your cousins. Don't you remember?" He asked quietly. Then a thought ran through his head.
Just forget about it, Hermione
God, he thought, please don't let me have memory charm my best friend.
"No, because you haven't met them yet. Are you okay Harry?" She asked gently.
"Fine." He mumbled. "Your cousins are outside. They're going for a walk. Tell your parents I'm going to stay here." He said distractedly as he tried to figure out what to do. Hermione nodded, slightly confused by his actions today. As she headed towards the door, Harry ran upstairs to his room and began throwing all of his things back into his trunk. A voice from the bed startled him in the middle of his frantic packing.
"Hello Harry." He turned around with his wand out and noticed the graceful black woman from the council. Once again, she was wearing green robes.
"Hi." He said nervously as he put his wand away. "Kali, right?" She nodded. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help you."
Harry groaned. "Don't say you want to help me. Last time someone wanted to help me, they got memory charmed." He said feeling more that a little bit guilty. The only things that eased this were that it was only a small amount of time lost in her memory and it was only an accident.
"Yes I know. But I want to make you an offer." She waited and Harry gestured for her to go ahead. "As you know, the Diviners Council is open to all who possess unique gifts in the field. In many ways, we're like a boarding school."
"No way." Harry said. "I'm not leaving Hogwarts."
"We're not asking you to." She replied calmly. "What would happen is that for the rest of the summer, you would receive training from different telepaths. You would receive your own room and receive meals with us. We do grant you permission to leave if that is what you wish."
Everything she had said so far sounded like a pretty good deal and he was finding few reasons to decline it. Harry knew that if he didn't take this opportunity, something like downstairs could happen to one of his friends, maybe even worse than this time. He didn't want to take that risk. "Okay. What exactly in the training?"
She smiled widely at his acceptance. "Mediation is always an important part of our society. Everyday at seven in the morning and then seven at night, we have our meditation sessions. Once you are able to do this successfully, we'll begin your mental barriers. That's probably all we'll have time for."
Harry nodded his head. "Will Andrea be there?"
"No." She said sadly. "The dream-weaver is still on the loose so we've sent every mystic, seer, psychic, medium, and prophecy layer to another one of our bases. Some are in America, some are in France or Spain. A few have families that they are with right now. We don't want the dream-weaver interfering with visions. So far, nine of our seers and psychics have given us incorrect information."
"Right. Will it affect the telepaths?" He asked hesitantly.
"Most likely no. But it is of little significance to the world if we are affected. Do not worry, Harry Potter. You'll be safe."
"That's good. So I would need to stay there all summer?" She nodded.
"You are free to visit with friends but for no more than five hours."
"And I would need to leave now?"
"Once your affairs are in order, yes."
"Guess I'll just leave a note." He said as he rummaged through his trunk and pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink. "Done." He said a few minutes later and he place the parchment on his bed.
"Don't forget about that vial under your pillow." She reminded him as he closed his truck.
"How did-" He shook his head and smiled. "Right. Telepathic." Together they dragged his trunk downstairs and stood in front of the fireplace. Harry remembered doing this with Allie a day ago and Andrea a few days before that. Suddenly something occurred to him, something Andrea had said. "Kali, is it possible for diviners to have more than one power?" She cocked her head to the side in a silent question. "Andrea told me that I have another power. I'm not quite sure what it is yet."
"Let me check." She placed her hands to his temples like she had yesterday and concentrated. "Yes, you're right."
"Well, what's my other power?" He asked expectantly.
"You're a fire-starter." She said with a smile. "If you'd like, we can find someone to help you manage that gift." He looked at her oddly.
"But fire-starters wouldn't be diviners."
"But we have many connections." She said and then turned her head as she heard voices coming from the side of the house. "Your friend is coming back so we better leave quickly." He did as she said and in less than a minute, they were standing in the familiar parlor of the Diviners Council HQ. The woman in the blue was standing with the woman in yellow and the two were speaking quietly.
"Hello, Harry Potter." The woman in the blue said. "I am Cassandra and this is Abigail." She said, gesturing towards the woman in the yellow. "I see you have accepted the training." Harry nodded and she smiled. "Good. Let's get you settled in." They stepped out in the hall and Harry was surprised to see large numbers of people running up and down the hall in haste.
"It isn't normally like this." Abigail said as she watched two people collide. "We're trying to get a majority of our members out before the dream-weaver strikes again. Soon it will just be the telepaths and the spiritualists." She said sadly.
"Are you leaving as well, Cassandra?" Kali asked the other woman.
"Yes." She replied desolately. "I hate to leave, but it is for the best. I'm heading to the German retreat." All women nodded and Harry just trailed along. He followed them down a similar corridor to the one he found last time and was ushered into an empty room that was an exact replica of the one he had broken into before. "This will be your room. You're welcome to use it whenever you'd like whether it'd be a week from now, a year or ten." Harry nodded and Cassandra then turned to open the armoire door revealing cotton white robes. "This is the uniform you will wear for the time being. It signifies that you are in training. When you graduate, you will be given green robes like Kali."
"What do the colors mean anyway?" Harry asked as he sat down on the small bed, which was surprisingly comfortable.
"The colors are to represent your power. That way, you don't need to find a medium if you have a spirit problem. Instead, you just look to anyone wearing red." Abigail explained.
"So red is a medium. What's a medium?"
"They can communicate with the dead." Cassandra explained. "Anyway, green in for telepaths, blue is for seers, yellow is for spiritualists, silver is for mystics, brown is for prophecy layers, and purple is for psychics."
"Right." Harry said. "When do I get to wear green?"
"When we think it fit." Kali said with a smile. "It won't be as long as you'll think."
Abigail smiled at him and then looked slightly dreamy. "I remember when I first got mine. It felt like I had finally become an adult and that I had all of this power."
Cassandra smiled knowingly and then proceeded towards the door. "It's about time I left. They're already beginning to leave."
"I'll see you out." Abigail said and together they left. Harry looked to Kali who offered him her hand and pulled him off the bed.
"I'll show you around, if you'd like." Harry nodded and allowed himself to be shown around for an hour.
During the whole hour, Harry couldn't help but notice that the Council Head Quarters was a lot like Hogwarts is some respects. The building was really a castle about the same size of Hogwarts and like his school; the castle had passages that changed and doors that revealed different things behind them every time you opened one. The eating hall was larger and more elegantly sculpted with ornate flying buttress at the corners that supported a ceiling full of blue and white tiles that, to Harry, looked like just a bunch of random lines connected to each other. When he mentioned this to Kali, she laughed.
"That's what I thought when I first arrived, but actually, when you look hard enough, the tiles form a labyrinth. No ones been able to solve it yet because every day, the tiles rearrange themselves. Some muggles explorers who discovered this castle built the mosaic as a representation of the twisting halls, which is how the castle gained the name 'Labyrinth Halls'."
"Why can the tiles move if muggles created it?" Harry asked as he tried to trace the ceiling with his eyes but kept coming up to dead ends.
"This castle was built on magical ground by wizards in the past as a way to confuse the enemies. However, once something is carved or cemented to the stone, it too has the ability to move. The poor explorers didn't understand this and tried to take the tiles off the ceiling when the pattern wouldn't stay. The castle grew angry and a month later when a servant came to work at the castle, she discovered all of the members dead."
"How?" Harry asked quietly and made a note to himself not to anger this castle.
"Starvation. They couldn't get out and they couldn't get to the kitchen. They just kept finding themselves in blocked corridors."
"That's sad." Harry said and Kali nodded.
"Yes it is."
"Well how did the diviners get the castle?"
"The young servant girl." Harry looked at Kali strangely. "She was a diviner and a witch. She understood the magic in the area and struck up a deal with the castle. The girl promised that her and her followers would protect and care for the castle if it did the same for the inhabitants. It agreed and here we are today."
Harry nodded and they resumed walking. "Who was this girl?" He asked, wondering if he had ever heard.
"Her name was Cassandra."
"Not the same one I met." Harry said incredulously.
Kali shook her head no. "The one you met is the descendent of the Cassandra in the story."
"Family name?" He inquired as he ran his hands along the smooth walls of the corridor.
"You could say that." He looked at her and waited for her to finish the story. "Cassandra comes from a long line of diviners, seers mostly. Ever hear the story of Cassandra, the Trojan seer?" Harry nodded his head. For the little he paid attention in History of Magic, he still managed to retain some information. "Well, that's where they all get the name."
"From their ancestor." Harry finished and Kali nodded. "So is everyone in their family named Cassandra?"
"Not the men." Kali said and Harry rolled her eyes. "Cassandra's sisters are not either."
"How do they decide who to give the name?" Harry asked as they stepped out into the courtyard.
"Firstly, only someone named Cassandra can give the name to their child. Cassandra's sister Susan could not name her child Cassandra. Then, usually during the nine months one of the Cassandra's is pregnant, a vision will occur and you'll know that this child deserves the name. And sometimes, the name will skip a generation and that is the only time any of Cassandra's descendents are able to give the name to their child, but only if they have a vision."
"So much for one name." Harry murmured.
"Yes. But the diviner, and it usually is a seer, named Cassandra becomes head of the Council."
He looked shocked for a moment. "But that's not fair!"
Kali smirked. "Did you not notice our password was divine right?" Harry laughed and allowed her to lead him through a grove of citrus trees. They stepped out on the path again and saw a man dressed in yellow meditating on a stone bench. Kali motioned for him to follow her and they left him in peace. "It is very important not to interrupt someone when they're meditating. Who knows where they mind might have wandered?"
This was a strange concept to grasp, but Harry just nodded his head and they continued walking.
"This is the meditation garden." Kali pointed out. "Usually after dinner or in the morning a majority comes here. The remaining diviners either stay in the hall or retreat to their rooms." They came to a large green hedge and Harry had to fight down the shivers as he remembered the maze for the tournament last year. Kali noticed and quickly said it was the maze before walking down a small path of stones to a koi pond. Passing through the trees, Harry saw two people locked in a passionate embrace. He blushed and Kali coughed slightly. Both smiled when the two flew apart. Kali took notice of a silver robe and a green one. "Sarah," She said gently to the one in the silver, "It's time you left. We've already begun the clear out." Sarah's eyes widened and she prepared to leave. "We'll all escort you." The four of them walked back through the gardens and to the arrival/departure room. Sarah looked slightly reluctant to go but the man in the green squeezed her hand tightly and probably began talking to her mentally.
"Be safe." She said allowed and hugged him. "All of you." She added tearfully.
"You as well." Kali replied and in a moment, Sarah had left.
"Kali," The man in the green said, "Are we any closer to capturing the dream-weaver?"
She shook her head sadly. "No. He hasn't done anything besides that act with Caleb, but we are sure it was not a one time thing."
"Was it one of his enemies?" She shook her head. "Are you sure?" Another negative response. "Kali, don't let your feelings for him cloud your judgment." He started.
"My feelings have nothing to do with this, Alexander. This is not happening because of Caleb." She bit out and opened the door to leave.
"I hate to say it Kali, but he's the only one who's been attacked recently and lets face it, he doesn't do everything by the book. Besides, he is known work with quite a few of the more infamous weavers. He might have angered one or even picked up their traits himself." He said slyly.
She turned around and clenched her hands into fists. "And now you're accusing him? I know you're upset about everyone leaving, especially Sarah, so I'll cut you some slack. But don't you dare try to accuse Caleb of any of this. Don't even think it." She then stormed out of the room and stopped. Harry followed behind her and looked to see what stopped her. There stood probably all that was left of the diviners at the council in a crowd of yellow and green. All of them were staring at Kali, who in turn was only looking at one person. Harry peered around her and regarded the man.
He was a tall man with light blonde hair that hung around his face. It wasn't as pale as Draco but instead was more of a honey color. He was dressed in green robes like Kali was and had a sincere smile on his face. But his eyes.........his eyes were chilled blue and seemed to haunt you. Harry didn't trust this man.
"What's with all the yelling?" He asked gently.
"It's none of your concern." Kali bit off and stormed down the hallway leaving Harry to trail after her and listen to the whispered speculations from the diviners. He finally caught up to her when they were nearing the halls near his room.
"Kali, who was that?"
"Its of no importance Harry." She sighed. "Get yourself settled in and we'll begin training tomorrow." He nodded and headed towards his room.
Training with the diviners, as it turned out, was not all meditation and relaxing like Harry had assumed. In the two weeks he had been here, he couldn't remember one night where he hadn't fallen onto his bed in complete exhaustion. On his first few days they sat for hours on the dark blue mats in a grove outside. The whole process left him with stiff joints and muscles and he felt he was making little to no progress. On the fortunate side, he was receiving a tan from the whole thing. Later in the week, Kali had decided it was time to begin martial arts training. Why? Harry had no idea why these psychics would need to learn how to flip people over, a common occurrence for Harry right now. But thinking back to Andrea being held against a brick wall, he supposed that they might come in handy.
As of now, he was learning the basics although he was often used as test dummy for some of the more advanced throws. Kali said his muscles needed to be built more so they then began muscle conditioning. Between all of these activities, the hour meditations that everyone followed and the meals of vegetables and fruits, his energy was depleted.
So now he was lying on his bed, hoping that Kali wouldn't find him and drag him off to another practice.
No such luck.
A knock on the door sounded and Harry groaned as a type of permission to enter. It was Kali like he had thought only instead of holding some type of weapon or such, she was holding a tan canvas bag.
"Are you going somewhere?" He asked as he sat up in his bed.
She nodded to him and looked up at him with sad eyes. "I'm going to the German retreat. Things have grown too hostile." She said miserably.
Harry just nodded; he couldn't think of much to say. Ever since his first meeting with that strange man, whom he later learned was named Isaiah, tension had been high around the castle. Many seemed to think that after Kali's outburst that she was hiding the dream-weaver or helping it and she became the recipient of dirty looks and stares of mistrust. He didn't blame her for wanting to leave; he had felt the same way during the Chamber of Secrets fiasco.
"Okay." He said quietly. "What's going to happen about my training?"
"I'm turning you over to Alex. He'll probably be a better trainer anyway." He nodded and she turned to leave. "Good luck. Good-bye Harry." He waved and then flopped on his bed. For a brief time he wondered what to do.
He considered sending his owl to Draco but thought better to. The blonde was obviously busy, or he gathered the impression from the one letter he had received. Truth be told, he didn't gather much out of the letter except that Draco was going to stay until the end of summer and that basically he was whoring himself out to every available elf, neither were of any surprise. Then he thought of Ron and Hermione. Sending a letter to those two were only mean more explanations he wasn't ready for. He sighed and pulled the pillow over his head. Maybe he would just sleep.
The next three days he spent them training with Alex. Kali had been right about him; he was a better opponent for Harry because he was about the same size and build and not much more advanced than Harry was. It had taken only about an hour to understand his style, but other than that, everything was going fine.
Of course, when Harry thought this, he should have considered Murphy's Law.
On the ninth day after Kali had left, he was sitting at one of the tables in the breakfast hall eating a fruit salad. He waited for a moment after he finished because Alex was supposed to pick him up and begin training with him. But after half an hour, there was no sign of him. Or of Isaiah, he thought as he glanced around the room. He caught Abigail's eyes who was just starting on her breakfast plate and smiled at her. She returned the gesture and began eating.
Finally deciding to find Alex instead of wait around, he left the hall and began walking towards the chambers. With the intended destination in mind, he walked confidently, not paying any attention to the changing walls of the Labyrinth. However, at ten minutes of walking, he realized he wasn't getting closer and instead he was in a corridor with dimmer lights and dusty floors. He felt slightly nervous and tried to calm himself. Then, reasoning that if he walked backwards he would find his way out, he proceeded to do just that.
To Harry's relief the corridors grew brighter but he couldn't stop his mind from drifting to the story of the first inhabitants. He shuddered slightly and stumbled onto a dark hallway with a shape hiding in the darkness. Fearing it was the dream-weaver, Harry backed up a bit and pulled out his wand. But the shape didn't move. Cautiously, he crept closer until he saw the outline of a leg. He prodded the leg with his toe and watched as it lied there, dead. So, sucking in a breath and summoning all of his courage, he muttered the lumos spell and raised his wand high. First he saw the green robes, but there was something dark spilled on them and Harry, fearing the worst, he closed his eyes before raising the wand to reach the person's face.
When he did, his eyes widened and he felt the bile rise in his throat. He turned around and heaved all of the contents of his stomach out until he could only dry retch. Harry backed up against the wall, not caring that he was probably sitting in his vomit, and held his head in his hands. The image was burned onto his eyelids forever and not even looking Voldemort in the eye had ever been this frightening. Placing a hand down to hoist himself up, he came into contact with some sliver of material. Whatever it was, it had a moist feeling to it with a light fluff of hair dusting the surface. His eyes widened and he snatched his hand away and tried to run into another corner.
Then wondering if perhaps it had been the dream-weaver, Harry raised his wand again and let it cast its rays into the corner. He snatched it back quickly when the image was the same.
Because there, lying in the corner like a rag doll, lay Alex with brown eyes wide and still. Blood still dripped down his robe and was now beginning to make puddles on the floor now that there was no skin to hold any of it in. Someone or something had skinned his teacher, leaving all muscles in tack and glistening with dropping blood that fell down his bare cheek like tears. Over in the corner were strips of the protective covering, the skin. It had been shredded off and looked like it had been gnawned on.
Standing shakily, Harry managed to run back down the corridor that he came from with hot tears streaming down his face. He came to a dead end and pounded his fist into it in frustration, ignoring the sharp crack and the blood that fell down his hand steadily. Harry put his arm against the wall and rested his head against it and cried. The death of Alex was my fault, he thought bitterly, if he hadn't been my teacher, he would have been fine. He remembered Sarah and slumped to the floor in frustration; he had ruined so many lives. What would Sarah think when she found her boyfriend dead and realized it was his fault? Going against what Dorothy and the twins and even Draco had told him, he began to blame himself for everything he thought he could put past him. Falling to the floor, he cried until his eyes began to burn and he fell asleep.
When he woke up hours later, the hallways were still dimly lit from the few torches scattered on the wall. There were no windows in this part of the castle but he could feel that it was at least late evening. He stretched tiredly and rubbed his legs that had gained cramps from the odd position they had been in. Finally standing up, he grabbed a torch and waved it in front of him in the direction he had first arrived. Of course he could have used his wand, but the hand he had punched the wall with, which was now purple, stiff and covered in dried blood, was his wand hand. It throbbed painfully but he ignored it and instead gasped in surprise as he stared across from him.
It seemed that in the hours he slept, the walls had decided to move again and now one was blocking his way. He approached it slowly and ran his hands over the rough stones and the mortar to try and find any type of door to get him out of this closed off space.
"Shit." He mumbled as he found no opening and then left that wall to search another. Once again, that story Kali had told him came to mind and he desperately hoped that he would have better luck than those muggles. After thoroughly searching for an hour, the torch was beginning to burn down and he still had found no exit to the small room he found himself in. Sighing, he placed the torch back on its holder that was attached to the wall and curled up on a corner to wait for the walls to shift again. His stomach growled loudly as he hadn't eaten anything all day, unless you counted the breakfast he had thrown up. But that food was doing him no good now since it was now lying in another part of the castle.
So he waited.