Chapter 10: The Change
Harry shrugged and put his right hand onto the sphere. Nothing happened for a few seconds and Harry was beginning to wonder if he was being put on, then out of nowhere it happened. Harry's world exploded around him.
Harry felt as though his mind was being ripped apart, thoughts and memories that he had treasured more than life itself seemed to be ripped from him, and other thoughts that he wished he would never have to relive were brought roughly to the surface. He felt as if someone were taking a jagged knife to his mind and soul and carelessly cutting pieces away from him. Beyond all that was going on mentally and spiritually, his physical pain was even worse. Harry felt as if he were under the Cruciatus curse, except cast by an infinite number of people, all of them infinitely stronger than anything Voldemort could have ever inflicted on him.
Harry noticed that someone was screaming louder than anything he had ever heard ever before, the person who was screaming could put the crowd of the Quidditch World Cup to shame. Then Harry noticed that it was HE that was screaming. This was his last coherent thought as the pain: physical, mental, and spiritual intensified infinitely. Harry soon felt himself, everything that made him Harry Potter, his feelings, his memories, everything, slowly slipping away to be replaced by the all encompassing pain that he was experiencing.
Soon, Harry felt as if he had always felt this pain, that the pain was all that there was in the universe, all that there was, all that there is, and all that there would ever be. He could not remember a time that he had not felt the pain, and believed that the pain, the white-hot, infinite pain that defined him was all there was to life. Then, he felt something behind the pain pushing to the surface; it was determination.
NO! it shouted. I will not give in! I will NOT be beaten! I WILL NOT GO PEACEFULLY INTO THE VOID! I DEFY YOU!
With nothing but sheer determination to defy the pain, Harry fought back. Through everything he was experiencing, he slowly, painstakingly but resolutely, began putting back together the pieces of Harry Potter, finding pieces that he had believed lost, as well as pieces that he didn't even know was there to begin with. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Harry finished shrugging off the pain, and he was Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived once more, more complete and truly himself than he had ever been before.
Opening His eyes, Harry saw that he had not moved, his right hand was still on the Sphere, and he was still standing, but the globe looked smaller than it had before, actually everything seemed out of proportion and blurry. Harry barely noticed this, however, as his physical body protested. Harry felt awful, worse than he ever had in his life. His entire body hurt, even his hair, and his throat was so bloody and raw that Harry was sure that he would only be able to speak in a very hoarse whisper for the rest of his life. Then, suddenly, the Sphere exploded, sending shards of…whatever the substance was, seemingly all into Harry. What surprised Harry, even more than the exploding sphere, was the fact that he barely registered the pain. He felt it, but it did not seem to matter any more. Looking around, he finally noticed that everything was blurry, and opened his mouth to speak.
"Don't try to speak," said a kind female voice. A redheaded blur got up and slowly approached him, handing him a goblet. "You damaged your vocal cords by your screaming, and you won't be able to talk at all." At her words, Harry felt panic seize him. As if she sensed this, the redheaded woman put a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder and went on. "This potion will heal your vocal cords, and take care of any other bruises and hurts that you have experienced. Go ahead and drink it," came her calming voice.
Harry, deciding that he had nothing to lose and everything to gain, raised the goblet to his lips and began to drink. Bracing for the pain as the liquid hit his damaged throat, he was pleasantly surprised. Instead of pain, Harry felt instant relief, in not only his throat, but also everywhere else on his body as well. Heck, the potion even TASTED good, which was something that NO other potion that Harry had experienced ever achieved. Harry quickly drained the goblet and smiled his thanks at the blurry woman.
In response she patted his shoulder reassuringly, and said, "Now isn't that better?" When Harry nodded, she reached up and took his glasses off him. The room immediately came into focus. Harry looked down at the stunningly beautiful redheaded woman who was smiling up at him warmly. "You don't have to worry, you can speak now," she said.
"W-Who are you?" he asked. "What happened? How did my eyesight change… wait a second, why is everything so out of proportion?"
The woman laughed a musical laugh. "I am Morgana Le Fey," she answered. At Harry's slightly horrified expression, she laughed again and added, "ah I see you've heard of me, but not to worry, the stories about me were… inaccurate. I think that my husband, Merlin, should answer your other questions, however, because quite truthfully I'm not quite sure as to the answers." Harry looked at her in surprise when he found out that she was, in fact, Merlin's wife. She looked so young, maybe 21 or 22 at the oldest, and Merlin was… well Merlin was ancient, or at least he had been.
Sitting in the chair that the old man had occupied was a man who looked surprisingly like Harry. As Morgana took her seat at the man's right hand again, Harry surveyed the room. Before, the room had been occupied by extremely old looking witches and wizards, but now, everyone that Harry saw was quite young, 22 years old at the oldest, and quite good looking. Harry turned his attention to the man that sat before him. He looked a lot like Harry except with the same startling blue eyes that Harry had noticed before, in his room. Well… he looked like Harry if Harry had the physique of a Greek god that is.
"Perhaps you should take a look at yourself Harry," said Merlin in amusement. "You might be surprised at what you see." At this, Merlin gestured and a mirror appeared in front of Harry, who stared at it in unbelief. Staring back was a person that Harry did not know.
Instead of his normal short, skinny reflection, Harry saw a 22-year-old man standing six foot five inches tall who had the body of… well… a Greek god. His hair was long, falling past his shoulders, and his eyes were the most startling emerald green that Harry had ever seen. What was more impressive was the fact that this man radiated power in waves. It was not anything physically visible, but just looking at him, you could tell that this man had an infinite amount of power at his disposal. His stance was strong and confident, that of a fighter, and his bearing was of the power and authority of a natural leader, the man that stared back at Harry Potter, that WAS Harry Potter, was an extremely dangerous man.
After a few moments, which Harry stared at his new self, he looked back at Merlin, who looked a great deal more like him now that Harry had had a chance to see himself, and the mirror vanished. "To answer your questions, what you just went through was an ordeal that all of us have had to go through, well… all but the last. It is called the Test of Pain, and it was created for the sole purpose of unlocking your true potential. The sphere that you placed your hand on is…well… was known as the Sphere of Power. It was created to unlock all your talents, and infuse you with power. Before it can do this, however, you must pay the price."
"The Test of Pain," said Harry, knowing exactly what the price was.
"Yes," replied Merlin. "If you are not the right type of person to become an Arch-mage, if you do not have the character, courage, will, and determination, the Pain would take you, and you would not be able to stand it. It would drive you mad, and finally kill you.
It is said," he added after a moment, "that the more powerful the wizard who is to become an Arch-mage, the worse the Pain is. That theory has not been totally proven until today. No other Arch-mage has ever had to face a Test of Pain worse than my own, and no other Arch-mage is as powerful as I am," here he paused for a moment. "That changed today," he informed Harry, who looked at him in surprise. "The Test of Pain that you went through would have broken any and all of us, and was infinitely more than anything any of us has had to face. However, you are also now infinitely more powerful than any of us are, or actually all of us combined are, so you see that old myth had truth to it after all."
Harry took this news in silently. After a few moments thought, he spoke, "And the changes?"
"Your physical transformation was a by-product of the infusion of power by the Sphere. You're body needed to be changed in order to control the amount of power you now possess."
"In other words, you are just going to have to deal with being a stud for the rest of your unnaturally long life," added Morgana, a note of teasing in her voice.
Harry, ignoring her teasing manner, noticed something else. "Unnaturally long life?" he asked.
"You no longer age," answered the man to Merlin's left, Godric Gryffindor. "You, like all of us here, will look exactly as you do now, right after your transformation into an Arch-mage for as long as you live."
"So I'm immortal?" asked Harry in disbelief.
"No you can be killed, even though it is extremely hard to do so, and in your case I doubt that the entire wizarding world would be able to do such a thing, even with all of us helping," informed Merlin. "You will just never age."
"But I saw you as an old man before," countered Harry with a frown of confusion on his face. "In fact, I saw all of you as old witches and wizards before."
"Yes, well, we felt like we should act the part of the ancient and powerful Council when you came in," replied Morgana with an impish grin on her face, "Thought it would make for a better effect on you."
Harry chewed over this bit of information for a while, and then looked around at the group of 100 or so witches and wizards. "So, what now?" he asked.
"Now," replied Merlin suddenly serious, "you must be trained."
"Trained?" asked Harry.
"Yes," replied Godric. "There is a lot that you must know before you return to the world, which we must impart to you: knowledge about your powers, and your limits just to name a few. You must also create your Staff."
"My Staff?" questioned Harry, looking around. He then noticed that each man and woman had a Staff, which was leaning on their chair. Each Staff was different, obviously according to each person's preference, but every Staff was magnificent. "Let me guess, the final thing that I need to do before I become a member is create a Staff, right?"
"Right," informed Merlin. "Now then, let's get started."
Harry quickly found out how little he truly knew about magic. The Four Hogwarts founders were his first teachers. Each one taught him everything that was taught in Hogwarts. They started back at the first year level, and this time, went explained everything in a lot more detail than he had ever heard before. Harry had little to no free time. Whenever he was awake, he was receiving some type of training, whether it was Godric teaching him to duel, with a wand and with a sword, or whether it was Rowena teaching him Charms or Helga teaching him Arithmancy and Divinations, he was always learning. What surprised Harry was that, no matter how hard he was pushed, he was never pushed over the edge, and he retained everything that he learned. In fact, his memory was perfect.
Once he was finished with the Hogwarts material, he was trained in more advanced magic. Every single Arch-mage assisted in his training. Circe, Merlin, Morgana, Romulus, Remus, Artemis, Apollo, Hermes, Thor, Odin, Ra, and Callisto were only a few besides all four Hogwarts founders. Over the long time, Harry was never sure how long, but it seemed like centuries, he quickly learned all there was to know about magic. He poured through volumes upon volumes of material, finishing every single book that the Hogwarts' library owned, including those in the restricted section, early in his studies. He also poured through grimories on all the Sorcerer Level magic and above. Finally, when he had learned all he could without it, he was ready to begin the creation of his Staff.
By now, Harry knew all about the purpose of a magical focus, even though he could now wandlessly and wordlessly perform almost all spells up to and including several Mage Level spells. A wand, which was what the rest of the wizarding world used, was not powerful enough to support anything about the Sorcerer Level, so a Staff was needed.
Before he began creating his Staff, Harry decided to take a break. He had been studying, for so long, that he had forgotten that he was supposed to be a sixteen year old boy. He created a Viewing Globe, to check in on his friends. He had done this several times during his stay in Avalon, but only extremely briefly, and usually right before he fell asleep, exhausted. This time, however, Harry decided to study them, watch them as they lived their everyday lives, and remember who he had been before coming to Avalon and becoming Harry the Arch-mage. Harry had received a few letters from his friends, mostly from Ginny Weasley, who Harry had enjoyed writing to immensely. When he checked on his friends, he also decided to check on her as well. What he saw astounded him. Gone was the blushing girl that he knew, and instead, as if she had gone through just as dramatic a change as Harry had, there was a stunningly beautiful woman in her place. Harry watched as she went about her everyday life, noticing how graceful her movements were, and how she now seemed to fill out her robes in all the right places. He watched her in desperation, knowing that they both now lived in different worlds and that, even though he wished it was different, she could be nothing more than a friendly acquaintance.
It was at that time that Circe walked into his suite of rooms in Avalon and caught him gazing hungrily at the Viewing Globe.
"Who is she?" asked Circe, startling Harry from his vigil.
"Ginny Weasley," he answered mournfully. "She's my best friend's little sister, and she and I have exchanged letters since my birthday. I wanted to get to know her better, and become her friend."
"That's not all you want is it?" asked Circe, looking at Harry who looked extremely pitiful at the moment, her mission of finding out how much Harry had done totally forgotten.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry, a bit confused. "Not all I want? It doesn't matter what I want, does it? I mean, I'm here now, an Arch-mage, and she's out there," he finished sadly.
"Harry that's idiocy," said Circe, sitting down beside him. "I saw you a few minutes ago, how long have you been watching her?"
"All day," came his quiet reply.
"Harry, you're in love," Circe informed him.
When he looked like he was about to deny it, she held up her hand. "Don't argue with me on this Harry, I KNOW
when someone is in love, and you've fallen for this Ginny bad." At this, Harry hung his head, knowing that the
tan, dark haired female Arch-mage was speaking the truth.
"It doesn't matter if I love her or not," replied Harry. "It would never work out between us. I'm an Arch-mage, and she isn't. And thanks to me, she will never have the chance to become one either." Harry had found out that the Sphere of Power was not supposed to have shattered and be absorbed into him. The Council had actually been astounded to find out about that, knowing that the Sphere contained a nearly infinite power source that could recharge so quickly, it might as well BE infinite. They had quickly discovered that Harry inherited both the nearly infinite power of the Sphere, and its recharge time.
"Harry," said Circe. "It doesn't matter whether or not you are an Arch-mage or not, and it doesn't matter how long you have spent here studying. When you return to the wizarding world, you will still be a sixteen year old boy, no matter how much you have grown up here. If you love that girl and do nothing about it, no matter how long you live, you will regret it. I know this because I did that very thing."
At this revalation, Harry looked at the beautiful woman in surprise. "You fell in love with someone, but didn't do anything about it?" he asked.
Circe nodded," and every single day I regretted not following my heart," she said. "You see Harry; you will find that everything, the power, the knowledge, the wisdom, it all counts for nothing in the end. You can chose to forget about your emotions, and simply exist, as I once did, but you will not truly be alive, or you can acknowledge your emotions and deal with them, and find a life for yourself, regardless of the challenges that you will have to face along the way. That is the correct choice, trust me."
"How do I even know if there's something between us, Circe?" asked Harry, deciding that he had to deal with his emotions and not run away from them, they were a part of him as much as his power and knowledge were. "I don't even know if she feels the same way."
"I'm quite confident that anyone who was able to capture your heart is smart enough to know how great a catch you are Harry," replied Circe with a gentle smile. "And if she doesn't feel the same way as you do, send her to me and I'll turn her into a newt."
At this Harry had to chuckle, and he hugged Circe in thanks. Circe hugged him back, then told him that she would inform the rest of the Council that he was busy and not to be disturbed, she then left.
Harry, after gazing at Ginny for a few more minutes, quickly checked up on the rest of his family and friends. He even looked in on the Dursleys to make sure that they were ok. After making sure that everyone was safe and happy, Harry turned back to his task of creating his Staff.
He knew that his staff was supposed to be a representation of him, as well as a part of him. He thought about who and what he was, before and after his transformation. After glancing at Ginny's face in the Viewing Globe one last time, he knew what he had to do. He went into his bedroom and found Lily sitting on her favorite perch. Harry told her what he was doing, and asked her if he could pluck a few of her tail feathers, as well as several of her other feathers as well. Considering this, Lily gave her consent, and allowed Harry to pluck the three largest tail feathers that she had, and several large white feathers from her wings. Waiving his wand, Harry quickly grew new feathers for his loving phoenix, and walked back into his workroom, followed by his now curious phoenix. Harry studied the phoenix feathers intently, and then glanced at his reflection. Circe had told him to trust his emotions, and this just FELT right. Harry began to construct his Staff.
Harry took the largest phoenix feather and Shaped it into a long staff made of cherry wood. Unlike Transfiguration, Shaping allowed the object to retain its magical properties. Harry then took the second largest feather and Shaped it into a golden phoenix in flight, and finally took the last tail feather and shaped it into a golden spike with a hole at the other end. He then fit the spike and the phoenix onto opposite ends of the Staff. Harry then turned to the several white feathers. He Shaped two of them into small rubies, which he put into the phoenix's eye sockets to create glowing red eyes, and Shaped another of the feathers into a large spherical ruby. He then placed the rest of the feathers INTO the rubies making them glow. He put the glowing rubies in open beak and eye sockets of the phoenix, and took hold of his Staff.
Opening himself and directing his magic, he slowly and carefully poured his magic into and around his Staff, changing a bit here, fusing a piece to another there, and finally with a quick slice of his dagger across his wrist, bonding it with him using a blood bond. He collected a fairly large amount of blood into a bowl before healing his wounded wrist with a thought. He then cast a quick spell to replace the blood that he had lost, so that he would not feel weak or faint, and then turned back to his task.
He carefully sprinkled blood over each part of the now constructed staff, and then poured the rest of his blood INTO the ruby, making it glow even brighter. When he was done, he touched his Staff with his magic again, and a blinding light flashed within the room as the magical focus was finished. Harry looked at the finished product in surprise.
The cherry wood body was polished to a shine and intricately carved with lions, eagles, phoenixes and holly leaves. About a third of the way down, this chain of carvings was broken by the seal of the Gryffindor/Potter family: A shield with a large phoenix with its wings spread, and a rampant lion inside the phoenix, the phoenix was surrounded by a wreath of holly leaves. On the opposite side of the Staff was the seal of Avalon. The gold spike and phoenix glittered as if polished as well, and Harry knew that, no matter what, no part of his Staff would ever lose its shine. The rubies that made up the phoenix's eyes, as well as the ruby in its beak glowed brightly. Harry grinned as he picked up his Staff; it was perfect.
Harry's life quickly became hectic again. The Council were all extremely pleased by the beautiful Staff that Harry had created, and were all surprised as to how powerful it truly was. They also found out that Harry was the only one able to use or even touch the Staff due to the strong blood bond that Harry had created with the magnificent magical focusing tool.
Harry soon began learning Mage Level spells as his training took off again. He was able to find time, however, to check on his friends and family, who he found himself missing dearly, especially Ginny Weasley. Once Harry finished Mage Level magic, he immediately jumped into Arch-Mage Level magic. By the third week of August within the wizarding world, Harry had learned all he could from the Council, and had been initiated as a member, and given the title of Arch-Mage.
Merlin also informed him as to his royal lineage, and informed him of the fact that he was actually a Prince. Morgana, who acknowledged him as a son, even though there were several centuries between her and Harry, gave him several sets of clothes: dress robes, work robes, every day robes, and muggle clothing, all impeccably made and all of which fit Harry perfectly for the first time in his life.
Godric and Rowena also took Harry aside and informed him of several protected places that they had stored the bulk of their wealth, telling Harry that since he was their only heir and they had no need for the money, that it was his. Harry was surprised at this, believing that the fortune within his Gringots vault was the remains of their vast fortune. They had smiled and informed him that the sum of money that started that fortune within his vault was barely scratching the surface, and that he should not be surprised if he was the richest man in the world.
Finally, Circe took Harry aside as he had finished packing and shrunk his trunk and slipped it into his pocket. She encouraged Harry to share his feelings towards Ginny as soon as possible. Once Harry was ready, he said goodbye to the Council, knowing that he wasn't really leaving, since they could all sense whatever any of the others were sensing, as well as hear each other's thoughts, regardless of the distance. He then Apparated to Diagon Alley and began to look for the one person that meant more to him than anything else at that point in time: Ginny Weasley.