The Druids Apprentice
Ch 2, Explanations
The boy stood stunned, gaping into the distance as the old man stepped out of the doorway and into the clearing. "Come Harry and walk with me. I'll explain as best I can."
Following the man to the banks of a nearby stream the little boy asked, "It's... but... how?"
Merrill grinned at the boys confusion, "I'm a wizard Harry, as are you."
The man sat himself down on the bank and watched his young companion digest this news. The raven-haired boy sat beside him looking sightlessly at the water for several minutes before finally turned to face him. "You said you're a wizard and I am too... Mr. Forester, how can I be? I'm just..." The boys face scrunched up as if he'd bitten into something truly sour. "Uncle Vernon says that magic isn't real and that thinking about it is freakish and abnormal."
"Oh he did, did he?" Merrill replied, his face becoming serious and almost threatening. "You're going to find that your uncle is mistaken about a great many things." The old man paused for a moment, shook his head with a smile and laughed. "Muggle television... Wonderful thing but I seem to pick up the silliest phrases."
Merrill pulled out a long pipe, stuffed it with tobacco from a pouch at his waist and snapped his fingers. A small tongue of flame appeared on the tip of his thumb. Using it he lit his pipe and resumed his explanation to a rapt audience of one.. "Magic is real and you are a wizard, as good, if not better than your parents. Yes, my boy." The man assured the boy before he could ask, "They both were wizards and trained at one of the finest modern schools of wizardry still standing, Hogwarts."
"Wizards have lived alongside non-magical folk, we call them muggles, since the earliest times. People being what they are, the muggles feared and disliked wizard kind because of their power and at one point nearly wiped them out. Over the centuries wizards and witches built their own communities hidden from the outside world and go to great lengths to remain unnoticed. Your father was from a prestigious pure-blood family and your mother was born of muggle parents but had ancestors neither she or her family knew about that were exceedingly powerful."
"They both went to Hogwarts and eventually fell in love." the old man continued, "They married and had you. The night they died your mother sacrificed herself trying to save you and succeeded far beyond that even she could hope. Lilly awakened magics that had slept within her family line for nearly a thousand years. It saved you from a curse that should have killed you and called to me that I would come to protect and teach you." Studying the lost expression on his young wards face the man continued, "Harry, I'm your great, great, great... well anyway I am your many-times removed grandfather, and if you like you may stay with me until you turn eleven and go to Hogwarts as parents did."
The little boy shook his head, "but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon... they won't..."
"They won't even know you've gone." Holding out his hand, Merrill whistled a call and down swooped a sparrow. They seemed to carry on quite the conversation for several moments until he finally nodded and sat the bird down on a nearby stump. Placing one hand upon Harry's head and the other over the bird. he chanted softly as the sparrow grew and changed until sitting in its place was... Harry.
"M... Merrill?" Said the boy, shrinking away from the transformed bird.
Hearing the frightened tone from the boy he spoke soothingly. "Not to worry Harry, our young sparrow here has volunteered to stand in for you with your relatives until you are old enough to go to school. He will talk and act exactly as you would." The boy stepped closer to examine his mirror image but nearly fell as a dizzy spell came over him. "Careful, my boy, you two are connected. Getting too close to him may cause some lightheadedness, like trying to walk down the street while seeing double. Your connection, however, will allow you to be aware of what is happening to your twin at all times."
The changeling waved timidly at Harry and said, "Hi."
"Um... Hi," returned the boy, "but... what do I call you?""Call him James, lad." said the druid. "it would be less confusing." Harry nodded, not trusting himself to speak at that moment. He turned as Merrill knelt in front of him. "What happens now is entirely up to you my boy. James can go and play your part at the Dursleys while you stay and learn or I can return your double to his true form and I will simply be your neighbor. I won't force someone to become anything you don't want or aren't ready to be. Not after Arthur. I will be your grandfather and protector no-matter your choice. There are just too many people in this world that will be trying to use you for their own ends."
Harry looked doubtful. "Aren't you doing the same thing?"
Merrill laughed heartily. "As a matter of fact I am my lad. The difference is that with you I will be totally honest and forthcoming about it. And if you decide to live a normal life until you're eleven then I will support you that way as well."
The old man stood him back up and they started walking. "I have lived more than two thousand years, Harry. In that time nations have risen and been swept away by the sands of time. Now my mortal life is nearing its end and I need someone to take my place, to learn what I have to teach and use it to keep the balance." The man gazed into Harry's eyes, "Will you let me train you?
Harry looked into the older mans eyes for a time, "What are you going to teach me to be?"
"What I already am," he replied, "a druid." The old man directed the two boys to follow him along the path as he continued. "Druids are protectors of the land, they work to find and maintain balance in all things. Everything in nature has a balance Harry." Merrill pointed up into the sky as the clouds parted. "Were the sun to shine all the time, never a night or a cloud in the sky the land would become parched and die." Just as quickly the sky then clouded over and a gentle rain started. "So it is with the rain, were it to fall continuously the land would be covered in water and drowned."
They crested a hill and stood overlooking a small valley with a village nestled inside. The scene was idyllic. Children played in the streets as their parents either worked about their homes or at their jobs. "We are in Avalon. It
is a magical land, separate from the rest of the world. All those who live here understand their place in the world and work to keep the balance. Mankind on a whole, however, has no knowledge or care for keeping equilibrium. Muggles believe only in their science and Wizards rely on their magic even for the simplest of tasks. Now the great powers, Dumbledore for the light and Voldemort for the dark, have become polar opposites, each trying to shape mankind to fit their philosophy. At these times the people need a leader strong and wise enough to hold the balance. That, Harry, is where you will come in."
Harry audibly gulped. "You want me to become their leader?"
The old man shook his head, "Harry I am going to ask you to become something far more difficult. You will become the teacher, friend and moral compass of the next great leader of the wizarding world."
The boy said the first intelligent thing that he could think of. "Huh?"
"My boy," The old druid explained, "Great leaders are not born, they are made. Over the past thousand years I have guided many great men and women with varying success to keep natures balance. Of late my efforts have been greatly in vain."
"They need a strong leader who will guide them from the darkness but have the strength and ruthlessness to hold his power and give the dark forces a second thought about attempting to usurp it. Long ago I tried to create a
champion of good to defeat the dark forces but he was too pure. Through treachery and deceit they destroyed him and his shining kingdom. When you enter Hogwarts as a student one of your classmates will become your own unwitting pupil. We will have six years normal time in which to lay the groundwork of your training. Fortunately, here on Avalon, you will have twelve."
Harry stopped him there, "But Merrill, you said that I would go to Hogwarts when I was eleven. I'll be seventeen if I train for twelve years."
"Ah but you will be eleven my boy." The old man said with a wink, "Time passes differently here. For every year that passes in the normal world, two will pass here. Since you are rooted in the normal world, however, you will age as if you were there." The ancient wizard in bunny slippers stood before the boy, "Your answer Harry, back to your relatives or will you let me train you?"
