Harry Potter and the Staff of Slytherin
Chapter 12 - Travelling
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Disclaimer: I did not invent the HP universe. That would be down to Mrs JKR
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If anyone wishes to join the Mailing list, leave your email address in a review and I'll email you whenever I put up a chapter.
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This life that lasts a thousand years
Will soon be gone
~ Queen – A Kind Of Magic
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Chapter dedicated to Orion the Hunter: my 100th reviewer!!!
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A week after Harry had returned to the village, a rider came through. The rider approached him and got off his horse.
"Hello, young man. What happened to this village? I rode through here only a year ago and it was thriving."
"All the Villagers are dead except me. I am resting here for a while before travelling to a town."
"You can ride with me if you like, as you have no horse. Tell me, are you…"
He trailed off, making Harry wonder what it was he was going to ask. "Am I what?"
The strange rider seemed to be thinking.
In truth, he was thinking of a way to ask him if he was a wizard while trying to make sure he didn't mention magic. Wizards and Witches were feared and hated by Muggles in these times.
"Have you heard of quidditch?"
"No, I haven't. I do not know my name, as I lost my memory some months ago, but the Villagers who kindly took me in when I was helpless called me 'Midnight Rider'."
"My name is Godric."
Had the strange teenager been a wizard, Godric could have asked a friend of his to perform a complicated, but worthwhile, memory-locator spell which would have returned his memory, but the spell would either leave a muggle's mind damaged or even kill him.
"Where are you riding to, Godric?"
"I am riding to a town called Hogsmeade to meet with two friends of mine and a cousin. I cannot take you into Hogsmeade, but there is a town nearby I can take you."
"Thank you."
The more time Harry spent with Godric over the next few hours, the more he felt some sort of power flowing through him, like he had when he had shot lightning bolts at the English. He decided to ask Godric about this.
"Godric, when I am near you, I feel some strange power flowing through my blood. Is there any reason for this?"
"I have my suspicions, but I would rather wait until we get to Hogsmeade to try and confirm them."
Godric then told him that he must have been a wizard before he appeared in the forest. He had also been told that there was a magic spell that could restore his memory. However, a lady called 'Rowena' would be better at this spell than Godric.
Harry at first didn't believe this ludicrous story but then Godric started demonstrating magic, which he couldn't ignore.
As they entered Hogsmeade, they tied up the horse and walked into a small pub called 'The Three Broomsticks' in which they were meeting his two friends, Rowena and Salazar and his cousin, Helga.
"Godric, cousin. So good to see you after these many years."
"And you, Helga. This is a friend of mine. I think he was a wizard but his memory has been wiped."
"I don't know why you choose to ride here on that infernal horse instead of simply apparating, Godric," Salazar said with a smile.
"I enjoy the ride, plus I wouldn't have found this man if I had not ridden. Also, I don't like apparating since I splinched myself when I was a child."
Salazar seemed to be laughing at the memory while looking at Harry with mistrust.
"Are you sure this man can be trusted, Godric? After all, we live in Dark Times."
"I'm not sure why, but I would trust this man with my life."
"This is a powerful spell, it may take time. I suggest we wait until the morning before restoring his memory, lest negative occurrences happen." The other lady, Rowena, spoke for the first time.
"So be it," said Godric, "And about our plans. What are we going to call this school?"
"How about 'Sluffendors'?"
"Nah."
"Anselms?"
The suggestions continued from the four Founders until a thought triggered in Harry's mind and he blurted out 'Hogwarts'.
"Hogwarts…" the others echoed, pondering the name in their minds.
"Hogwarts it is! A great name!" Helga smiled.
For the rest of the night, the Four Founders and Harry drank and discussed plans for the School. It was decided that there would be four houses, each with the same name as its founder. They decided to handpick the students that were most like them to go in their house.
The school was to be built over the next year and opened after the summer. They had decided to start the school year on the first day of September. This was because the school would be finished by then, and also because the muggles started their school year at that time, so the muggle-born wizards would not have to leave their school during the year to go to Hogwarts.
When they were talking about Muggle-born students, Harry noticed Salazar looked somewhat angry, as if he disagreed with the others about something. Later he learned that Salazar did not want to grant entry to Muggle-born magical people, but his idea had been outvoted 3-1.
That night, Harry could not sleep. He was excited about regaining his memory and also about the school that he was going to help build.
The morning saw Harry and the Founders travel to the area destined for the school. It was a nice spot. It was on the edge of the forest in which Harry had stayed, it was close to Hogsmeade and there was a lake. It was around this lake that Rowena decided to perform the memory relocation spell. It was quite a complicated spell and Rowena decided to meditate for a short while before performing.
When the time to perform the spell came, Harry and Rowena knelt on a mat on the damp grass adjacent to the lake. Rowena drew out her wand, a 9 inch white wand made of Holly and the hair of a Reachin, a now-extinct creature, and pointed it at Harry. Harry could feel the power that she and her wand were emitting and was quite frightened and humbled by this mini-ceremony.
The ground began to shake slightly in the small area they were covering and the wind began to howl menacingly. The day had started out to be a nice calm day but was now a thundering blizzard of wind and magic.
Salazar, Godric and Helga were blown away by a few metres by some invisible force but did not seem to be hurt.
While all this was going on, Harry's mind was filling with memories at an incredible rate.
He had a vision of a younger Harry getting locked in a suitcase by Dudley and his friend, Piers for 4 hours and then getting shouted at by Uncle Vernon because one of the zips had broken.
His memories suddenly went to the later years of his life before he got transported through time and his first few years at Hogwarts.
Then, with a shot of pain, he had a long vision of being held by a red-haired pretty lady who was singing some sort of lullaby to him. This memory filled him with emotion and he broke off the link between him and Rowena and collapsed to the ground with a thump in a puddle of blood.
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Next chapter: The Weasleys finding out about Harry's disappearance.
If anyone wishes to join the Mailing list, leave your email address in a review and I'll email you whenever I put up a chapter.
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Thanks to the reviewers:
Coolpadfoot
TuxedoMac
G3tog4
wanderingwolf
starwave
sarah r. potter
lady fortune
Orion the Hunter x 2
Lady Phoenix Slytherin
Star estrella
Hiddencamera
Linky2
Melissa
Crimson devil
Reviewer Questions:
Wanderingwolf: the midnight rider wouldnt happen to be salazar slytherin would he? is he going to get back his memory? will he own his own snake?
The 'Midnight Rider' was Harry.
TuxedoMac: you had me worried with the frist port key thing then this well the only thing i don't like is the memory loss
Well I couldn't have Harry with his magic – or he could have simply got out his Firebolt and flown away. I needed him as a muggle to get him tough. Also, I couldn't have had him lose his magic but not his memory – as there would have been no explanation for the loss of magic, so I had to have him memory-less in order for the story to work.
SS Todd: You can make the story better by posting faster.
Once a week ain't enough for you? It's more than most Authors on ff.net post!
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