Chapter three: Deus Ex

Harry woke up, for the first time in a week, in his own bed in his London flat. Yawning profusely he pulled himself out of said bed and got dressed. He noticed the Portkey pendant hanging from his neck, thankfully there was no response from it. After all, he had just left the Guardian compound, he'd hate to have to go back so soon. He stepped over to his special seven-chambered trunk, identical to the one Mad-Eye spent the majority of Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts inside of.

He was about to open it when a blaze suddenly lit in his fireplace and Ron's head poked out from the flames. "Alright there Harry?" His best friend greeted.

"Hey Ron. What's up?" Harry walked away from the trunk and over to the fireplace so that he could better talk to Ron.

"Oh, Mum's having everybody over for lunch and she wanted me to call over and invite you. Hermione's going to be there too."

"Yeah, that sounds great. You can tell your mum I'll be over there in about half an hour."

"Great. See you then Harry." In another flash of fire, Ron's head disappeared. Harry went back over to his trunk and closed the lid. He had been planning on doing some maintenance to his old Firebolt broom, which he kept in there. But now he had something better to do. After all, the Weasleys (Along with Remus, Sirius and Hermione) had been the closest thing to family Harry had ever had. He still remembered that summer when he was seventeen that Fred and George had tried to show him that by magically dyeing his hair red.

On the one hand he had found it kind of funny, at least until he realized how much he looked like Percy. Then he wasn't quite so keen on it anymore. At any rate He'd always looked forward to Mrs. Weasley's cooking, and that alone was more than enough reason to go to the Burrow that afternoon.

So at exactly quarter to noon he Apparated to the Burrow. Immediately Ron and Hermione rushed out to greet him.

"Hey Ron, long time no see." He joked and Ron rolled his eyes.

"Right Harry." He muttered rolling his eyes, as Harry gave Hermione a greeting hug.

"How are things at Hogwarts?" He asked her as the three of them walked up the driveway towards the Burrow.

"Oh they're fine." She muttered evasively.

"Hermione, you're not still nervous about teaching are you?" Ron questioned, a bemused smirk on his face. "You've been student teaching for four years now."

"Well yes, but Arithmancy's a complicated subject. What if I forget something? I'd hate for the students to mess up because I forgot to teach them something important."

"She's totally mental." Ron muttered to Harry as an aside. "She knew that stuff better by fifth year than even Professor Vector did."

"I heard that, and that's not the point! Add that to the fact that I have to take over as head of Gryffindor after Professor McGonagall decided she had gotten too, um, on in years, to do that and teach and be deputy headmistress all at once and well…"

"Hermione, relax. You'll do fine." Harry reassured her. "I promise."

"So, who've they got teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year anyway?" Ron wondered.

Hermione made a disgusted face. "You won't believe this but, Malfoy's teaching it."

"Excellent!" Ron grinned.

"Excellent?" Harry gaped at his red headed friend. "How, exactly is that excellent?"

"Well," Ron replied with a shrug. "I mean it does suck a bit that he's teaching, but you know how Defense teachers are, with the curse and everything. Maybe something gruesome will happen to him. Maybe he'll, I don't know, get savaged by a Manticore in the Dark Forest or something."

"Ron!" Hermione nudged him sharply with her elbow.

"Well, between Malfoy and Snape I don't particularly relish Gryffindor's prospects for the house cup. In fact I'll be surprised if there's any points left by the end of the first term." Harry replied. "I don't care if Malfoy did turn coats against Voldemort at the end, he's still a spoiled, arrogant son of a bi-"

"Well let's go and see what Mrs. Weasley's cooked for lunch then shall we?" Hermione asked brightly as they entered the Burrow's front door.

"Oh, hello Harry dear. How's your summer been?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she bustled about the kitchen.

"Oh fairly ordinary." Harry replied trying to suppress a grin, as he wasn't allowed to say anything about Guardian after all.

"How's lunch coming mum?" Ron asked peeking into one of the pots before Mrs. Weasley smacked him on the back of his head with a wooden spoon.

"Lunch isn't quite ready yet." She said, shooing them all out of the kitchen, Ron grumbling darkly as he went, rubbing the small lump on his head. The three decided to see what Fred, George and Ginny were up to that was making so much noise out in the back yard. Turns out they were testing the latest stock of Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs. Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived just in time to see a massive explosion of red and gold sparks that formed into the Gryffindor Lion, along with the words "GO GRYFFINDOR!" That flashed in red and gold.

"Hey there Harry!" George shouted and waved. "What do you think? Hogwarts Pride series. They're meant to be used during Quidditch games. We've got one for every house."

"Even Slytherin?" Harry asked with a grin as the Lion gave off a deafening roar.

"Even Slytherin." Fred replied. "We may not like them, but we'll gladly take their money." He said with a wink. "Besides, the Serpent's the most expensive anyway."

"Oh don't look at us like that Hermione. It's only the most expensive because the silver sparks are hard to create." George said with a grin to the withering look Hermione shot at both of them.

"Right…" Was all she said.

"Dumbledore's already arranged to buy enough of each house to use for the next four years. He says he plans to launch off the colors of whatever house wins each game. He said he might also use them at the end of the year feast, too." Ginny added with a smirk.

"Always said that Dumbledore was a smart man." George said as he lit of a Ravenclaw House firework, "Smart, and able to determine good, quality products."

Hermione shook her head and rolled her eyes in a very exasperated way. Fortunately she was saved having to comment by Mr. Weasley calling them to eat in the garden. They paused to watch the bronze Eagle of Ravenclaw swoop around the yard, trailing blue sparks as it went, before heading off to lunch. Looking at the giant pyrotechnic raptor circling in the sky, Ron was suddenly reminded of something.

"Harry, I've been meaning to ask you something. When did you become an Animagus?"

"A couple of weeks ago." Harry muttered with a shrug. "I'd would've told you guys. I just sort of forgot about it. I felt it was something I had to do, on my own you know?"

"I knew about it." Ginny offered, helpfully.

"Wait, why'd you tell her and not us?" Hermione asked with an arched brow.

"In order to be legal about it I had to get a physical done by a trained healer. To make sure I was healthy enough to pull off the transformation." Harry shrugged. "I figured why not just have Ginny do it?"

Ron shot him a strange look. "Just how complete was this physical anyway?" He asked. Ginny decided to head off the over-protective brother mode Ron was gearing into.

"Ron would you relax? I'm a bloody HEALER for gods sakes. It was purely professional."

Ron nodded, like he understood. Still… "Maybe someday you could teach me how to do it, Harry. Being able to turn into an animal would be pretty cool."

"It is. Especially the Falcon. Flying without a broom, you have no idea how cool that is."

They entered the garden to see that Bill and Charlie had laid out a couple of picnic tables and they were now heavily burdened with a lot of food. Once they sat down to the table, all talk of Animagi vanished as they began to eat and talk of more normal things… like Quidditch.

"Harry I honestly can't believe you'd say such a thing!" Ron gasped looking highly offended. "What do you mean you think the… Tornadoes of all teams, are going to take the championship this year?"

"I just think they stand a good chance." Harry said with a smirk. It was fun to rile up Ron like this, and so easy. "They've got Chad Williams playing Keep this year."

"Doesn't matter. The Cannons will take it, never fear."

"No fear of that." Fred scoffed. "As they haven't won in twenty-five years."

Ron looked visibly put off.

"Personally, my money's on the Harpies." Ginny said as she took a bite of chicken.

"The Harpies Ron choked back a laugh. "Sorry Ginny, but there's no chance of that happening."

"Oh you're one to talk of 'no chance' Ron." Ginny shot back. "Why, exactly, have they no chance?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, for starters they're all-" He stopped abruptly, then went back to eating,

"All what Ron?" Ginny wondered with a cocked eyebrow.

"Nothing." Ron muttered, poking at his potato salad.

"You were going to say 'because they're all women' weren't you Ron?" Hermione supplied with a very bland expression.

"Er, no… no, I wasn't" Ron said in a very unconvincing tone.

Ginny looked like she was about to launch into a very long tirade, when suddenly she winced in pain. And Harry knew why, because the exact same thing was happening to him and Ron. At that exact moment their Guardian pendants had suddenly grown very hot. Almost to the point of causing a burn.

Ron cleared his throat. "Uh, sorry Mum, we got to go, Harry and me" Ginny kicked him under the table. "Oh yeah, uh, Ginny too. It's a Ministry thing we sort of forgot to do. We'll be back as soon as possible. Promise."

Before Mrs. Weasley or any of the others could raise a protest Harry and the two redheads had bolted around to the other side of the house.

"I hope it's not anything serious." Ginny panted as they prepared to use their portkeys.

"If it wasn't serious they wouldn't be summoning us, would they?" Harry muttered grimly as he disappeared.

They reappeared what seemed like a second later in the Redhawk Common. The rest of the team was either already there or appeared a few seconds afterwards. Collins was already there, looking grim and Harry could here alarm sirens going off all over the compound.

"What's the situation?" Jack asked as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. "We're not under attack or anything are we?"

"No." Collins looked haggard. "There was a sudden rush of magic energy down by the fount, it caused tremors all over the island." He was speaking very quickly. "All squads have been summoned and put on damage control. We're being sent down to the pens to get control of the situation down there."

Ron suddenly looked very pale. "The Archavia trees!" He cried. "We can't let anything happen to them."

Collins nodded. "Exactly. Now get going!" The fourteen sorcerers turned and bolted out of the door and down to the creature pens where the Magic fount was. They could hear many shouts, both human and animal, coming through the door. To the Menagerie.

Harry charged out of the compound and towards the ranch-like ring of stables with his wand drawn and at the ready. The first thing he saw was the fount itself in the center of the ring of barns and stables. It was normally a crystal clear pool that was smooth as glass. Now the entire thing was boiling over.

Harry turned in time to see a dragonet shoot a ball of fire out of it's mouth and hit one of the wranglers in the chest. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

Harry pointed his wand and a jet of cold water shot out of the end and doused the flames on the wrangler's body. "Ginny! You'd better tend to him quick!" Ginny nodded and dragged the wrangler away from the chaos.

"Alright people let's move!" Asher snapped into action. "Tonks, Ramirez and Ryu, get anybody who's going to be under foot out of here. The rest of you, see if you can get these damn beasts under control!"

All around them were a stampede of panicking magical creatures. Nimbus Pegasus were especially skittish. A number of the brightly colored winged horses had already taken to the air.

"Easy Perseus, Easy!" Ron was trying desperately to calm an onyx colored Unicorn, who was trying just as hard to run Ron through with his lance-like horn. The equine screamed defiantly and reared up on it's hind legs and was about to drive it's horn through Ron's head, when John jumped in, knocked Ron out of the way and blocked the horn with a long gleaming sword with a blade made out of what looked like polished diamond.

"Go Ron!" He shouted. "I've got him!" Ron nodded and ran off to help to calm some of the other creatures.

Harry meanwhile, was in his Falcon shape and tearing after one of the Pegasus who'd gone airborne. He'd gotten above one of them and dove, transforming back just in time to land on the creature's back. It neighed loudly and surprise and began wildly bucking trying to throw Harry off.

maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Harry thought to himself as he grabbed at the feathers of the horse creature's mane and tried desperately to hang on.

Fleur was having a comparatively easy time calming the unicorn stallions, through a combination of her femininity and Veela charm. Krum was attempting to stun one of the Chimera into submission, but it's three heads weren't cooperating.

Ami saw one of the Gorgons galloping haphazardly through the stables and everything else that got in it's way. Unfortunately the blind cloths that the Wrangler's used to keep the Gorgon's stare in check had really become more of a hindrance than a help. She bolted after the bull-like creature and leaped on it's back, hoping to wrestle it to the ground.

Collins ran up to Ron and asked for a status report. "Harry's up there trying to bring Copernicus back down to the ground, Miazuki's trying to hog-tie Gilgamesh, Ginny's taking care of those that have been gored, maimed or burnt, Kara and John are trying to calm down Perseus. I think I saw Krum tangling with a Chimera, Fleur's working with the Unicorn stallions and I have no idea where everyone else is."

Collins nodded, then jogged over to Ginny who was quickly bandaging up a woman with a broken leg. "What's the casualties?" He asked as he helped the ragged looking young woman set another busted bone.

"No one dead, yet." Ginny grunted as she pushed the bone back into place, the woman she was working on bit back a scream. "eleven wounded so far, nothing terribly serious although a few will have to be bed ridden for awhile. Some for as much as a few weeks."

Collins nodded. "Keep it up Weasley." Then he made his exit.

Procyon looked nervously at the herd of unicorn that were bearing down on him, horns flashing and hooves pounding. He held his ground and narrowed his eyes, focusing his gaze. Then, with the toe of his left boot, he drew a runic symbol in the sand in front of him. The symbol glowed for a minute and then, at least as far as Procyon Black was concerned, time seemed to slow down to a crawl. Until the unicorns in front of him were no longer galloping madly towards him, but plodding as if they were running though quicksand. He calmly drew his wand, and at a leisurely pace, Stunned each and every one of the creatures.

Harry, still high in the air, blinked. Did he just see what he thought he'd just seen? It looked like Black had taken out his wand and shot off a steady stream of red light, hitting each member of that herd in turn, and then they'd all fallen over. The creature beneath him gave another angry buck and Harry turned his attention back to staying mounted. All thoughts of Procyon Black forgotten, for now.

Kara had gotten John to back away from the unicorn and had calmed it down herself. John and Ron both had apparently forgotten that Unicorns don't often trust males, and a panicked unicorn least of all.

Ami had finally succeeded in wrestling the Gorgon down onto the dusty ground. Before the snorting monster could regain it's feet she pointed her wand and long coiling ropes made of metal shot out of the end of it and bound up the creature securely. Then she stunned it for good measure.

Jack glanced up at Harry and his little aerial rodeo. "That just won't do." He muttered as he glanced around, his eyes landed on a pile of rope and a plan formed in his head. He signaled to Ami, Tonks, Ryu and Ramirez. "Hey, we got to get Potter down from there. That beasts flying like a Willy-Willy."

"He's fine. We got bigger things to worry about!" Ramirez grunted looking around at the chaos that was still going on.

"I'm in yer boot here, Ramirez. He's going to lose what little control, he's got." He gestured to the rope. "If we all put a lasso or two on that crazy thing we should be have a fair go at pulling it down."

"I can't throw rope!" Tonks muttered.

"Well, I ain't exactly a champion jackaroo myself but if we don't, Potter's gonna end up in a rum prang he's not going to walk away from, so let's quit grizzling and get in the air!"

"Do you have any idea what he just said?" Ramirez muttered to Ryu who just shrugged.

Nevertheless each of them grabbed a length of rope, tied them into lassoes and mounted some of the brooms that were kept in a shed nearby. In a flash they were in the air. Ami immediately stood up on her broom and sped off towards the thrashing Pegasus, twirling her lasso above her head she tossed the rope and it landed squarely around Copernicus' neck.

Kara looked up then immediately rushed for a broom. She had to get Harry off of that animal before they tried to drag it out of the sky. Things were starting to calm down and the wranglers had pretty much rounded up the other animals.

Kara was pulled up alongside the creature. "Harry, climb on the broom!"

"No, that's-YAH!- okay I -WHOA!- I have it under control."

"Harry! Don't be stupid!" Kara shouted. "Get on the br-" suddenly Copernicus made a sharp turn and his wing buffeted Kara and knocked her off her broom.

"KARA!" John shouted as she landed in the middle of the fount with a loud splash. She resurfaced for only a second before her water-heavy robes dragged her back down. John dashed towards the shore stripping his robes off until he was just wearing a pair of jeans He took a leap and dove into the water with barely a ripple.

John had a second to peer through the murky depths for some sign of his wife, before the magic of the fount struck him like a hammer. He felt it in every nerve ending like lightning coursing through his body. It was flowing through his veins setting his soul on fire.

That doesn't matter! John shouted to himself, forcing his eyes open. I have to find Kara! It wasn't an option, he had to find her. His brain was rapidly running out of Oxygen, but he had to find her.

I'd known her since we were little kids. We'd gone through grade school together. I first met her when I'd chased off some older kids trying to push her around. Since then she followed me around everywhere. At first I'd sort of just considered her a pest. After all, at that age, what boy wants to hang around with a girl anyway? Eventually though, she wore me down to the point where we'd become friends, best friends. Next thing either of us knew, she was packing her bags for Massachusetts so she could attend the Salem Witches Institute, meanwhile I was staying in Wisconsin so I could attend the Midwestern Academy Shamanism.

We still kept in touch. We Owled each other at least once a week and visited each other over every break. It was almost like we were still in the same state… almost.

Kara cast her eyes towards the shimmering barrier that was the surface of the water. It seemed so far away, and it was getting further with each passing second. She was sinking, physically and mentally. She too, felt the magic in the water, but for her it was like ice shards were being plunged into her body. Parts of her were completely numb, others were racked with sharp stabbing pains.

John! Her mind cried out. John please, help me! But she knew that there was no way he'd ever be able to get her to the surface. Not with her brain going through oxygen deprivation as it was. looks like he's saved my life one too many times. She thought with a delirious smirk.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Vachter, but your daughter's ailment is very severe." The healer was a balding old man with small, thick wire-frame glasses and lime green robes. He faced my parents and I with a grim look on his face. I started to cry and my hair suddenly started to shoot off sparks.

"What is it?" Father asked

"It's Cardamon's Syndrome." The healer replied. Then, after seeing our confused looks, "It's a very, very rare condition that causes a witch or wizard's magic to… bleed out of them. It can cause magical accidents, like her hair, right now. Unless something is done, she'll be a squib in less than a year." The thought horrified me. I couldn't imagine losing my magic, that meant I'd have to stop going to the Institute, that I'd lose… him.

"So, what can be done?" My mother asked, gripping my hand tightly.

The Healer hesitated for a moment, as if unsure whether to bring it up. "There is a process, it won't stop her from bleeding her magic, but it will stop her from losing it."

"I… I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"I can't stop her magic from leaving her, but if a person could be found, who was willing to… to link with her… This person, would also take on the disease but instead of their magic bleeding out into the world, they would instead bleed into each other."

My mother had a dark look in her eyes. "So you're suggesting she join souls with someone?"

"In a way yes."

John's arms were growing numb but he didn't dare stop swimming down, down, down towards the bottom of the fount. His vision was sliding in and out of focus, and his brain was wandering, but he didn't dare stop. He had to find her.

I remember the day the owl came, that would change my life forever. It was a simple note at first, it cut right to the chase. "John" it read. "I desperately need a favor." And I read on all about her extremely rare blood disease. About how I could help her. How I could save her. I was only thirteen at the time, but I understood exactly what was going to happen. I would irrevocably become part of her, and she, a part of me. It didn't matter. She needed me, that's what mattered.

Kara was fading fast and she struggled to hold on. John was coming she knew it. She could feel it. He'd always been there for her before.

It felt weird. Being linked to him, the process was relatively simple, it was an ancient ritual. Arcane in nature, but nothing too complicated. The potion we had to drink, however, tasted horrible. I remember trying hard not to think of what was in it. Stuff I'd never seen before and stuff I hoped never to see again. And our blood, both of ours. It might've been Dark Magic, it might've been illegal even, but I don't regret it. Or what it did.

Next thing I knew, we were joined. Permanently. It took some adjustment on both our parts. We traded a few personality traits, which took some getting used too. He got the better deal on that, though. It was amazing, we could sense what the other was feeling, if one got hurt the other would know, if blood was involved then both of us were wounded. Alcohol through one affected both, not that we tried that very often, of course.

Kara felt tears in her eyes, though they were quickly swept away by the water. She was going to die down here. She could feel it, she knew to the very pit of her soul. Unless she suddenly met with some divine intervention, she'd be meeting her maker soon.

John… I'm sorry. Kara felt herself slipping away, her eyes were sliding closed.

Don't say that Kara. Came a voice in her head. Her eyes snapped open again. John was floating down to her level, his eyes were dulled and his face had a bluish tint to it, but it was definitely him.

wait, what? …John?

Kara?

John's voice was in her head. That was new. Why aren't we dead yet?

you're not dead because I don't want you dead, yet. A new voice called out They looked around and saw a bottlenose dolphin swimming towards them. The creature circled them once and with a whirl of water it transformed.

Where there had been a dolphin before, there was now an elegant looking woman, Tall, with blue green hair all the way down to her waist, that floated around her like a nimbus cloud. Her eyes were clouded in the same way that John's were. Her skin was a pure white and seemed to have a pearl sheen to it. She wore a green dress of the sheerest silk.

"You two can stop holding your breath now." She spoke with a commanding tone. John took a tentative breath, and found that there was air there… somehow.

"Who are you?" Kara asked, grasping John's hand with her own.

"For now, you may call me Dee X. Machina." She rolled her eyes. "And as for your next question, I'm not allowing you to die because I'm going to need you, soon."

"I don't understand." Kara's brow was furrowed in confusion.

The women's eye rolled in a derisive manner. "I didn't much expect you to, at this point. Normally We're not allowed to interfere, but he's pretty much shattered the rules, therefore…"

She trailed off at their blank looks, with an exasperated sigh. "Sometimes I hate dealing with Mortals. At any rate, you've been spared, this time. Rejoice and be glad, drink and be merry blah blah blah. Now if you don't mind, get out." She waved her hand and a current of water caught the both of them and carried them all the way to the surface of the fount, right at the edge, where they collapsed back onto solid ground.

"They're alive!" Tonks screamed and next thing they knew they were being thrown onto magical stretchers and Ginny was bending over them barraging them with questions. John waited until she was busy dealing with Kara before turning to Harry and Ron. "How the hell long were we underwater?"

"About two minutes mate. We thought you both were long gone." Ron responded

"Really? Felt like two hours."

"What happened to you down there?" Harry asked.

"We saw…" John paused, and thought about it "Nah… there's no way."

"What?" Ron wondered.

"Nothing, just an oxygen-deprivation induced hallucination. Nothing more." At least, John hoped it was.