Quest of the Seekers: A New Haven
Year Three at Hogwarts
Chapter 24: A New Haven
(break)
"I win again," Matt said laying down his last card in Exploding Snap.
Tyler let out a breath of impatience at his 4th straight loss in a row. Morgan was watching the game with interest while Sam was choosing his new classes for next term, Lutz and his pal Bruce Baker were close studying for their end of the term exams coming up in less than two weeks.
"I must be at a dry spell now," Tyler said sinking into the chair he was sitting in. In truth, he didn't care that he lost but he knew it was best for Matt to have a time to rub it in someone's face for a while or he'll be a snapping wreck. Also, he didn't feel that he could concentrate with Morgan staring at him. Now, everything that she usually did before had started to make Tyler feel on edge and it was driving him crazy.
"Well whatever is causing you to lose against me, I won't be complaining about it," Matt said a little pompously.
"I'm sure you won't," Morgan said with pointed eyes.
Before anything else could happen, their head of house Professor Reckler appeared in the common room. That was surprising since Tyler couldn't remember any time when he had seen her enter the common room in his entire school life. She had a neutral expression on her face so nobody could tell if she was here for good or bad business. She let out an unnecessary whistle since everyone was looking in her direction anyway.
"Settle down everyone. I've come here because I have a bit of news that will affect everyone in this common room." This generated some murmur among all the slytherins but Tyler ignored it because he was deeply curious. "I'm here to announce that at the end of the term I will no longer be your Potions Professor or be your Head of House. This is due to the fact that I'm retiring at the end of June."
The common room exploded with talk as soon as Professor Reckler left with the subject of their Head's retirement. Tyler joined in with Matt and the others.
"Can you believe it?" Sam said amazed.
"Reckler retiring? I've only known her for less than a year."
"Same here Lutz. We didn't even get a chance to know if we were really going to like her or hate her."
"Trust me, you wouldn't have cared. She didn't really try to make us think any way of her," Morgan said brushing her hair with a wooden brush.
"Yeah, and we're going to have a new Potions Master? Maybe it'll be someone better. Mind you, I don't think she taught it well enough. She just gave us the page in our Potions texts to use when we were brewing." Tyler said without regret. He always thought that she was a little useless since she never actually put herself in the middle of their potion making saying if they were doing something right or wrong but only said something when it was finished. "Let's hope we get someone better; maybe it's time that we get some new blood around here."
"Hm...Maybe Tyler's right," Matt said seeming to consider this line of thinking.
"Of course I am."
"Tyler, don't start," Morgan said with a little warning in her voice that anyone who knew her would definitely take seriously.
"Yes Morgan," he said a little timidly that caused Morgan to laugh as well as the others and soon even Tyler joined in.
(break)
"Reggie, are you reading that book again?" Laura said to Reggie in the 3rd year boys dorm in Ravenclaw Tower.
Reggie was sitting off in his bed reading alone in the boys dormitory until Laura found him. He had been reading the book on Elementals that Tyler had taken from his house two years ago and Reggie was reading more into it.
"Yeah, I want to know more about elementals now that my friends and I have our powers unshackled by the Earth Spirit."
"But I thought you read everything in that book already. I remember in first year that you kept on poking your nose in that big book and now you're at it again? Can't you read something else?"
"I read your muggle book on folklore." Reggie said making a point.
"Okay...one different book but come on, something else."
"Why do you care so much about what I read?" Reggie asked befuddled at his friend's behavior.
"I don't, it's just that it's a boring sight to see you with that book and I'm sure the other girls wouldn't mind a change in your image too."
Reggie immediately put the book down at that. "Do you think this will be better for them?" he asked a little too anxiously.
"Reggie, sometimes, I swear, I think that when you're not thinking of studying, you're thinking about how to make yourself more appealing to the ladies."
"Duh." Reggie said with a stupid look to his face that was completely strange for him to have on.
"Anyway, why were you reading that thing again? Surely you finished it a hundred times."
"Well Laura I did, but the thing is that when I first read it, half the book was blank. And now, ever since I saw the spirit of the earth, the pages that were blank filled in."
"The pages filled in? How's that possible?"
"I don't know," Reggie said shrugging his shoulders with his gaze on the now closed book. "Still, the stuff that's in there now is so interesting. You won't believe some of the things I've read about wind elementals like me and some of lightning, fire and water elementals."
"Tell me what you think is the most special one." Laura said sitting beside Reggie seemingly excited by Reggie's tone.
"Well, it turns out that Elementals have the potential to...fly."
"Fly? But we can do that anyway."
"No, I mean without broomsticks. We would be able to fly as if we had wings."
"Wow, that's pretty amazing. Imagine that being an elemental has the potential to fly."
"Oh, wait, I've gotten ahead of myself. It says that out of the eight types of elementals only four of them have that potential only."
"Which ones?" Laura asked but it seemed that she already knew what Reggie was going to say.
"Fire, Water, Lightning and Wind. Metal, Earth, Wood and Ice elementals can't fly though."
"Still, it's sounds fantastic. I can't imagine that this bit of magic is of the Dark Arts. It sounds too beautiful to be evil."
"You know, you're right. I wonder why the Ministry classified the art of being an Elemental to be among the darkest of the Dark Arts."
(break)
June had broken and it had become the Friday that the Seekers planned for using the Potion of Fecundity. They couldn't afford anything to go wrong with their planning. They needed to get to the secret corridor but it was still on a staircase and there was always the chance that they would be seen. So, the seekers talked it over with Professor Squall and came up with a plan. Since Defense was Tyler's last class on that friday, Squall would simply ask for Tyler to stay after class and he would also ask the others' heads of houses to bring Jacke, Reggie and Brad to him after their last class for a private chat. Then he would escort them to that corridor like they were being led to detention.
The plan was good for all four of them and Jacke just had to comment on it to Tyler. "Honestly Tyler, your godfather surely is the coolest teacher here."
"Tell me something I don't know Jacke," Tyler said with a smile at the compliment toward his godfather.
Tyler had already poured some of the potion into a big flask that he "borrowed" from the Potion's classroom and corked it. Tyler was waiting anxiously for Defense class to be over even thoughhis godfatherwas teaching an excellent lesson on werewolves. Brad and Jacke were in Greenhouse 4 and were making mistakes which Professor Sprout took off points for because they too were anxious for their class to be over so they could use the potion. Reggie was in Ancient Runes and even though he was also anxious he had the self control to focus on runes used for propelling broomsticks. When the bell rang, the first phase of the plan went off without a hitch. Tyler was held back and Jacke, Reggie and Brad were all told that Professor Squall required their presence in his office. He escorted them to the place where the secret corridor was hidden and left them to their business after insuring them that the coast was clear.
They entered the dusty corridor and Tyler reached into his bag for the potion flask while Jacke took out the blueprint map of Avalon and Brad took out the outline for the front portrait portal. They walked over to the blank canvas on the wall and Tyler uncorked the vile. "This is it." He said bringing all the emotion of suspense and long lasting anxiousness to the room with just those three words.
"Let's see if what Orichai told us is true," Reggie said with his gaze on the Fecundity Potion.
"Let's get creative," Brad said looking toward the empty canvas.
"Honestly, let's not put this off any more. If we don't use the potion this very second then I swear I could kill somebody," Jacke said deeply excited.
"Okay, okay," Tyler said smiling at his anxious friend.
He poured a drop on the canvas and immediately the four of them focused on the outline of the painting that they planned to have there. In a flash, there was a painting of four teenage wizards in different quidditch robes coming from four sides with their hands outstretched for a snitch in the middle. The background had a sunset orange to it with clouds here and there.
"It worked, look at painting, it's brilliant." Brad said gazing at the new portrait.
"We created the potrait for our portal," Tyler said feeling pride at what they've done.
"That's not all," Jacke said looking around.
The seekers turned their gaze and found that all the dust and cobwebs that couldn't be removed had been cleaned away and the room had a distinct shine to it like it was brand new.
"How did this happen?" Reggie said stroking the wall with his finger and amazed to see it clean.
Tyler looked on and was just as stumped as Reggie. Jacke didn't have a clue what had happened either but Brad had a look of comprehension form on his face. "I think I know."
"What Brad?" Jacke said looking at his friend.
"Well, when Tyler poured the potion, I kinda wished that this place wasn't so dirty and I guess it did that too."
"Whoa, if the potion made our portrait portal and cleaned the corridor to perfection in one drop, then we could bet Orichai wasn't joking about the power this stuff has," Reggie said looking from the portrait to the potion still in Tyler's hands.
"Well, let's try some more," Tyler said going to the portrait again. "Alright, let's focus on making Avalon like we envisioned it."
"I'm with you Tyler," Reggie said standing right next to him.
"Sounds good to me," Jacke said standing on his other side.
"Don't forget about me," Brad said standing beside Reggie.
Tyler poured more of the potion slowly on the painting while the four of them closed their eyes and put all the details of their planning and imagination into action. They put everything they memorized on their blueprint map in their minds as the canvas started to glow and let out a soft humming noise. The potion was soon emptied and the humming stopped and all four of the seekers opened their eyes. They just stared at the painting with tension and hesistance like it would be like walking into a full grown dragon's lair. After what seemed like forever, Jacke stepped up.
"Well, let's see if we did it or not. I don't want to be staring at this all day and not do anything. Let's see if it works." Jacke was doing his best to sound like he wasn't afraid but truth be told, he was terrified. He didn't know if it worked or if it didn't work or if the portal would lead not to Avalon but to hell instead but he knew that the others were too scared to go first so he thought that he might as well since, after all, he is the gryffindor of the bunch. "The Gryffindor Seeker is seeking today." he told the portrait.
The quidditch player in red nodded it's head in the painting and all of a sudden, canvas itself started to respond which meant that the password system they chose worked. The portrait slid open and beyond, they all saw what seemed to be an elegant room with polished maple wood floors and other paintings like it was a mansion's study. Jacke stepped in and felt like he was going through a very thin wall of water. He found himself in that room which was seen back in the corridor. He saw a window draped to his right and saw a half opened door with sunlight spilling from it. He was about to step over to it when he saw Tyler come in from the Portrait Hole Portal. Then Brad came in followed by Reggie with the Portrait Hole shutting behind him.
"Wow, I guess it worked." Brad said taking in the room.
"Yeah, this has got to be the mansion that we put in our plans to be at the northern part of the island." Reggie said taking in the appearance of the room too.
"Well than, let's check out the actual island outside first before we check out the rest of the mansion." Tyler said with an eye on the door.
"You read my mind," Jacke said before rushing to the door and pushing it open.
The scenery of Avalon was indeed breathtaking. There was healthy, green short grass everywhere with occasional trees here and there and the area had a hint of a type of air that Tyler or Jacke had ever taken in but Brad and Reggie could tell that it was sea-air. Behind them, about 20 feet was a cliff and beyond was the ocean. Tyler had never seen the ocean before from the look of his face and also, neither had Jacke. Brad took in a breath of the sea air since it had been ages since he had last tasted it while Reggie just smiled at the scenery because he tasted this air for a couple of times over the years.
"Just breathe in that sea air," Brad said with a face full of bliss. "I just love it."
"I've never seen the ocean before. I was always couped up in my home with my family and I never went anywhere other than Diagon Alley and been once or twice in Hogsmeade but that's all," Tyler said taking the size of the ever expanding ocean though beyond was the dark setting of the fog barrier which they planned and imagined.
"Tyler, you never saw the ocean before?" Reggie asked a little surprised.
"No." he said starting to feel left out all of a sudden.
"Don't feel so bad Tyler because I've never travelled very much so I never saw the ocean either." Jacke said gazing at the water and wondered how the ocean could be so blue.
"But Jacke, wouldn't you have traveled alot because of your father's work in the Department of Magical Games and Sports?" Tyler asked a little confused.
"Yeah, but we always took Portkeys to the places where we went and were never near any water so no."
The started to walk in the opposite direction which was south to find that Avalon seemed to be extended for what seemed like forever but they knew it was 2 miles. They saw the forest that they put to the eastern part of the island that reminded them of the pleasant look of the Forbidden Forest though people knew better but in this forest, they knew it was deserted. As they got more distance from the mansion, they saw that it was a three story one, with a good hint of gray coloring and made of brick and stone. Tyler smiled at it because it reminded him of his home back in the Great Down Mountains back at Sussex England. The further down into the heart of Avalon they walked then the weaker the scent of the ocean was. They walked and came to what they believed to be the mid-center of the island since they came up to the plateau hill they made.Reggie was the influence in this because it reminded him of a place he was at when he was a kid; a hill with a tree on the top where it had an amazing view. They reached the top of the plateau and from there they could just make out the whole island but barely. They saw the lake just beyond the forest's end on the eastern part of the island. They saw the bare space to the west where they didn't have enough imagination for anything...yet, they could make out the mansion at the north and on the southeastern and western tips they could see the small sandy beaches that they thought was a good touch from what Brad said about them.
"Whoa...brilliant," Jacke said taking in the view and setting himself down by the tree half sitting, half laying down.
"Yeah," Brad said following his example and putting his back on the opposite side of the tree from Jacke. "It sure is."
"I can stare at it forever," Reggie said sitting down to the tree as well.
"We did great, didn't we?" Tyler said taking in the last available spot to lean on the tree so that they were on the four sides of it. "No one who would come here would guess that the four of us created this whole place." he said feeling very proud.
"Don't forget, we had a little bit of help," Jacke said catching Tyler's egotiscal tone.
"A little? I wouldn't call the most powerful potion and greatest power in this world a little bit of help Jacke," Reggie said chuckling.
"Yeah, we didn't exactly get shovels and dig this place up from the water." Brad said closing his eyes and feeling the breeze.
"Okay, we get it." Tyler said ending that trail of discussion. "Still...this has been one hectic year even by our standards."
"And it's not over yet. We go to America together in over 2 months." Brad said with excitement in his voice.
"Oh right. So, Brad, what's the final list, who's all the people that are coming?" Reggie asked.
"Let's see, there's the four of us, my parents, my sister,"
"Hey, I didn't know you had a sister," Tyler interrupted. "Is it big or little?"
"Little sister and you never did ask me about that didn't you."
"I can see I'm having an influence on your sense of humor Brad," Tyler said in between laughing.
"Yeah, let's see, oh, there's also my old muggle friend, you'll like him, my grandpa, and that's about it." Brad said counting them off his fingers. "My parents planned for us to stay inthefive boroughs of New York City for our trip."
"Wow, New York City, I think they call it the Big Apple over there," Reggie said with thought.
"I think there's a Wizard's School in that Area too." Jacke said equally with thought. "I think that my dad told me that once or maybe I read about it in a school listing."
"Well whatever is there, we'll experience it to the best that we can. I don't know about you three, but I want to take in as much from this trip as I can." Tyler said excited at going to another country for the summer.
They stayed in silence until Jacke brought something that was on his mind.
"Do you think that we should invite our friends and Professor Squall to come here since they do know we were planning to do this?" Jacke said turning serious.
"Yeah, but we don't have to do that right away," Tyler said getting himself ready for a nap. "At least we have this place to replace the cave to train and develop our powers without worry of being caught, a new haven."
(break)
The time after the Seekers created Avalon could be described as that of typical hogwarts students. Now that the time they put into creating Avalon was now free, they used that time tohave the experienceslike thirteen year old students should have.
They hung around with each other and their house friends, studied for end of the year tests and thought of the quidditch cup. The last game which was Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff had some shocking results. For the first time that anyone could remember, Hufflepuff had won the quidditch cup. In the match, Gryffindor had only scored one goal and while Hufflepuff managed to score two right before Brad caught the snitch before Jacke did. The snitch was spotted very early in the game and Brad beat Jacke to the punch awarding the cup to Hufflepuff.The Gryffindors did congratulate them but they were still feeling terrible over the loss of the cup which had been their's for the last two years straight after they won it from Slytherin. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws were more shocked then disappointed for they knew it would be a long shot should the cup be either of theirs with that tie but for it to go to Hufflepuff when it seemed Gryffindor had it in the bag was mindboggling.
The month of June came and went as fast as an lightning elemental letting out a bolt. They were unsurprised at the marks that each of them got on their final exams since the four of them recognized their strengths in their classes. The four of them did get high marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts as did many of the student body. Professor Squall tried not to looked to pleased with himself to the other professors of his ability to get students to actually catch on to his work. The sad part was that he would be leaving and Tyler above all would greatly miss seeing him at the castle and mourned that they wouldn't see him next term.
"It won't be the same without you Timothy. You were the best DADA teacher we all ever had and...you're...like the uncle I never had." he told him as he volunteered to help him with his packing.
"Don't worry Tyler. This isn't going to be the last time we see each other and you can always use your owl Pandy to keep in touch with me."
"Yeah...but what if you get hurt. You are an Auror and there is a war going on thanks to my cousin."
"Look Tyler," he said grabbing his shoulders. "I can take care of myself. I've been trained well and I know how to look out for myself on the field. It's been great teaching here and getting to spend time with you but I have to go back. Look...seeing you here has really helped raise my spirits. You're everything anyone could hope for in a godson and I am proud to see that Simon didn't raise a fool." Tyler laughed a little at this and Timothy continued. "Remember Tyler, I'm just an owl away if you need me and I'll be there."
The end of the term feast was already in motion and the Great Hall was decorated in Yellow and Black and Professor Sprout could be seen in tears. The points were collected and it turned out that points collected Hufflepuff's win of the quidditch cup was enough to give them the house cup by barely topping Slytherin. The headmaster Professor Dumbledore stood and announced that Professor Reckler was retiring and also was giving Professor Squall a formal farewell which caused the school to give him a great clapping ovation.
Tyler was with his slytherin pals on the train as he thought that he was lacking in spending time with them because of the excitement of creating Avalon.
"Another year." Matt said looking out the window.
"Yeah," Tyler said stroking Pandy's feathers while Chaos was snoozing in his trunk. "My most adventurous yet."
"And our most shocking one (pun intended)," Morgan said looking at Tyler causing him to redden a little.
"Hey Tyler, Matt, would the two of you consider coming over to my house over the summer?" Regulus said from the book of curses he was reading.
"Oh Regulus, I'd like that but you know I'm going to the US with the other seekers in August."
"No, I meant for a weekend."
"Oh, yeah, that'd be great."
"I would like that too," Matt said considering it. "But why?"
"Oh, my parents have heard so much from me about the two of you and they said that they should meet the two of you sometime and I thought this would be perfect."
"Sure, why not." Matt said shrugging his shoulders.
"Yeah, okay," said Tyler.
"Good, I'll owl when you guys could."
They arrived at Platform 9 and 3/4 where Tyler said his goodbyes to Regulus, Matt, Morgan, Sam, and Lutz when his parents came up to him. Before they got the portkey ready, Tyler spotted his fellow seekers saying goodbye to their house friends and he went to them to say goodbye.
"Bye guys," he said as he gave them each a good handshake.
"Bye Tyler. See you in a month. I better go because I'm sure my parents are waiting for me on the other side," he said before he went through the barrier to the muggle world.
"See ya." Reggie said as he headed to his parents.
"Bye mate." Jacke said as he went to his mother.
"Tyler," his father said. "Portkey's ready."
"Coming." And soon he was off, traveling back to the Slytherin Mansion.
(break)
End of Chapter 24
Tigercub15: Great that you think so. Also, with Tyler and Morgan, I am going to go more into that but I don't want to spoil any surprises that I have in store for them which I guarantee will blow your mind.
Dark 675: Glad you think it was brilliant.
Author Notes: Well there's the end of the third segment of the Seekers Series. I know that the ending seemed rushed but there wasn't anything else that was going to be going on after they finished Avalon. I've already developed plans for my fourth story and it's turning out that it might be way bigger and better than any of the three stories were chapter wise but every one of them will be worth it. Also, for some reason the marksthat I used to put to show breaks in my story don't stay on anymore with the Document Manager so I have to use this now, (break), so don't mind them.
High Serpent King
Coming Soon...
Quest of the Seekers: The Timeless Conflict
Year Four
If the four interhouse friends thought that the creation of Avalon was tough then they knew absolutely nothing. The Seekers are in for one hell of an action packed year where everything they know about the wizarding world is about to change. Starting with a summer trip to America, they come across a gang of American wizards their age that creates a major bump on their American trip. But that's just the summer, for when they return to Hogwarts, they encounter a series of events that gets them to know the true history of events that broke up the Hogwarts four and what started the great house rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin.To make matters worse, an old enemy forceof the Hogwarts School that time itself had forgotten until now resurfaces and it makes the threat of Tyler's cousin He who must not be Named seem like common bullying. The only thing that stands in it's way of total domination of the entire world are Tyler Slytherin, Jacke Walker, Reginald Falkner, Brad Carter and their band of friends as they find out the truth behind the founders past which changes everything. New friends and old will be introduced followed by new enemies both human and not. Let's hope they can accomplish all this and still keep their grades up.