CHAPTER 5
After they both left, not at the same time of course, Harry teleported to the Hideaway and greeted the founders, then went to the dungeons to his exercise room. He stayed there for at least two hours, which left him completely exhausted; feeling good, but exhausted. Harry dragged himself to the potions lab, and drank a pepper-up potion, this got him back to his normal self.
After dueling a few times with Godric, talking about classes with Helga and Rowena, and working on a potion with Salazar, Harry returned to Hogwarts just in time for lunch. Ron told the team that practice would be Tuesday evening, and then sat down to eat his own meal.
Professor Splikvin was at her desk grading papers when Harry first entered for his elemental lesson. "One moment," she said, and finished the current paper in front of her. She tapped the assignments with her wand, and they vanished. Splikvin then beckoned Harry over to the open window, "Change," she said, "and follow me." Selena jumped out the window into the air, and changed into a thestral as she plummeted towards the ground. Harry followed suit, but turned into a phoenix while inside, then flew out the window.
Splikvin led him upwards, then steered towards the forest; she seemed to be looking for something. Finally, she began to descend, with Harry right behind her. When they landed, it was in a clearing with a small pond, some moss covered boulders, and a few young trees. "Take a seat," she said, becoming human once more. Harry also returned to normal, and sat cross-legged on the ground. Selena also sat down across from him. "Harry, I want you to relax. Let everything go, allow your thoughts to leave. Be calm, and be at ease." Harry closed his eyes, and emptied his mind. Selena continued, "Feel the air around you? Feel the tiniest breeze, gliding through the trees? Listen for them Harry. Feel and listen. They have voices Harry, you can hear them if you listen with your soul."
"Not with my ears then?" Harry murmured.
"No Harry, not with you ears. Your ears only hear the echo of the wind, your soul hears its voice." Harry drifted in his mind, blocking out all sound except for Splikvin's voice. Suddenly, there was a whisper, speaking to him. "Hello nephew," it said. In his surprise, Harry jerked out of his trance.
"I see you finally heard it," Splikvin noted. Harry nodded sheepishly. "I want you to listen for the wind again, and try speaking back to it. It is important to establish a good relationship with the elements. Otherwise, they will not answer to you after you call out, like you did with the storm." So Harry listened again, not with my ears, he reminded himself.
"Welcome back," the voice whispered, amused.
"Thank you," Harry said, "Sorry I left, I was surprised."
"Think nothing of it, I am glad you returned. How fares your resentment?"
"Better," Harry answered, "Thank you for coming then, and thank you for believing me."
"Not at all, tell me nephew, what is your name?" it asked.
"Harry Potter, or Tallon—which ever you want to call me." Harry replied.
"Tallon then. I must depart Tallon. Until next we meet, farewell." The whisper vanished from his mind, and Harry opened his eyes. He was extremely stiff, and winced as he stretched. "Does talking with elements always make you stiff?" he asked.
Selena's mouth twitched in a smile, "Only when you have been at it for several hours."
Harry stared at her, "Hours?" he repeated. She pointed up at the sky—it was sunset.
"Three hours and twenty minutes to be precise," she told him with a small smirk. "And dinner is in ten minutes I, personally, am hungry. Shall we go, or do you wish to continue?"
Harry shuddered. "I don't want to be out in the forest when the sun goes down."
Selena raised an eyebrow, "I believe you have done so before."
"Yeah, once in detention, and another in second year; we were trying to find proof that Hagrid was innocent." Harry explained, "Still, neither trip was good."
"Very well, let's go." They flew back to Hogwarts, and returned through her classroom window. "Again on Thursday Harry, after dinner. Is that suitable?" Splikvin asked as Harry made for the door.
"Yes Professor, and thanks again for helping me." Harry glimpsed a stunned look on the Defense instructor's face as he exited the room.
Monday flew by, and it was only as he was heading down to the quidditch pitch for practice that he realized something. He was an elemental, the elements lent him their power. What he realized was that he had what might be the answer to the question he'd been pondering when he'd returned to Hogwarts that year: what was the power 'the Dark Lord knows not'? Could his newfound elemental abilities be the power? He didn't think Voldemort would be able to stop a tornado, or worse. Then again, he hadn't thought that Voldemort would use his, Harry's, blood to come back, or that Sirius would've died… Harry felt the wind stir, and he quickly evicted all such thoughts from his mind.
He kept it that way all through practice, which mainly consisted of him teaching Dennis a few things about the game, and taking part in the team drills Ron had come up with.
The next morning, Dumbledore stood up at the podium. "May I have your attention for a moment? Thank you. It is now that I will announce that on Halloween night, we will be holding a masquerade dance." There was an excited applause from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, and a polite one from the Gryffindor and Slytherin ones. "Also, the first quidditch match, I'm sorry to say, has been moved from the seventh, to the twenty-first of this month. The same teams will be playing of course. Thank you, and that is all." He stepped down, and Harry turned to Ron. "Who's up first?"
"Us against Slytherin," he answered. "What do you think of the dance?"
Harry shrugged, "It's okay I guess." He glanced at the Headtable, Remus was talking with McGonagall, and Snape and Splikvin were glaring at their plates. "But I'll stay away from those two, that's for sure."
Ron chuckled when he saw who Harry was looking at. "Too right mate."
In transfiguration that day, they began to work on turning pieces of thread into birds. Harry had already done this of course since Mark had learnt it, and then Harry'd practiced more with Godric, but with his mind on other things, he didn't realize how easy it was. Unfortunately, because of it, he finished a few seconds before Hermione, but those few seconds were enough to get the class' attention. "H-H-Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, looking at his brightly colored parrot.
"Er—yes Hermione?" he replied, cringing inwardly.
She beamed at him, much to his relief. "Condratulations!"
Harry blushed slightly, "Um, thanks…you too." He evaded all questions by simply saying he'd gotten lucky, and by avoiding anyone but his friends. In the common room after dinner, Ron made another announcement. "Oy, Gryffindor quidditch team! From now on, we practice four times a week; two hours each time! They'll be on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Got it?"
"Yes Cap'n." Ginny mocked, saluting her brother as she sat next to Dean. Ron grinned despite himself, and gave Dean a suspicious look, which the other boy squirmed under.
Harry and Malfoy officially began their truce in DADA the following day. "I want you to pair up with someone who is not your friend, nor in your house." Splikvin instructed. When they got out from their desks, the furniture sank into the floor. The students waited, looking somewhat uneasily at each other. "Today would be a good time," the professor drawled. Harry and Malfoy both approached each other at the same time, and everyone else followed suit with others. "No one can claim we're friends," Malfoy said with a tiny shrug.
Harry nodded. "True."
"Alright, for the next few months of lessons you will be in these partnerings, and no complaints. With your partner, for the next four days, you will face off with another pair. Your task is to subdue the opposing pair, and to protect your partner. Anyone who attacks or purposely allows their partner to be hit, will find their house ten points less, is that clear?"
"Yes Professor." They answered.
"Good. Line up and begin at my whistle. Anything legal goes. One… two… three-" the shrill whistle blew and they began. Harry and Malfoy were versing Hermione and Blaise. Harry mainly dueled Blaise, and Malfoy did the same with Hermione, until Splikvin bellowed "Attack both of your opponents!" Neville jumped, she'd been right behind him. The shouts grew in volume and amount as the duels continued. More than once, a silver patronous slipped out of someone's wand as the caster when through every spell they knew. When Hermione used her otter to distract Malfoy, Blaise cast a full-body bind at him. Harry quickly said, "expecto patronum," and his silver stag took the hit, but didn't vanish until Hermione fired multiple stunners at it. "Not bad Potter," Malfoy whispered, throwing a jelly-legs hex at Blaise.
"Thanks," Harry replied, "same to you."
"Alright, cease fire!" Splikvin yelled. They all stopped except for the Slytherin-Ravenclaw pair that was going against Ron and his partner Susan Bones. Splikvin walked across the room, wand out. She said something too quiet to hear, but Harry recognized the two blue bolts as the Parsloz version of a full-body bind. The spell hit both of Ron's and Susan's opponents. "I said stop." She told them, voice deadly quiet. "Ten points from both Ravenclaw and Slytherin, do it again, and it shall be fifty. Is that clear?" Though they couldn't nod, their eyes said yes. "Good." With a wave of her wand, the two were released. When she returned to the front of the room, Harry let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Alright, not bad. I see some of you actually used a few evasive maneuvers, continue to do so is my advice. Next lesson we will begin to work on them more, again, in partners, as well as paired dueling. The homework for today will be to read chapter five in your book, and to do a few stretches. Does any one not know at least one?" a few people raised their hands. "I suggest you ask a quidditch team member if you do not. Now, before we end, who needs some undoing of hexes?"
Harry and Malfoy watched as three Hufflepuffs with rubbery arms, two Ravenclaws with boils, and eight Slytherins with various effects, walked up. "And not one Gryffindor," Malfoy commented, putting away his wand.
"Most of us were paired with Slytherins," Harry said. "And, no offense, but I think the other houses ganged up on yours." He added quietly.
Malfoy sniffed, "Not surprising."
Coming Up:
Harry's potions abilities are slightly revealed
Death Eater Attack #2
The new Gryffindor
Then:
Snakes vs Lions
The Moonwalkers
(A/N: this review response is very late, as it is to a review I recieved for Red Bolt of Lightning, my apologies.)
Mid: You do have a point. However, just because Harry can do undetectable magic, does not make it legal magic. If he were spotted using magic outside of school and underage, he could be arrested. Not that I'm saying they could keep him arrested, but still. He goes to Hogwarts so he can graduate and do legal magic eventually. The founders do know some of the more ancient magic, but Harry does need to know about the magic that is used in the current time period. The double, Mark, can only be used to study one thing, and Harry chose Transfiguration, so Mark would be unable to learn from entire libraries as you suggested. He only used it once because he doesn't need to know anything more about Transfiguration this year. Of course, he might need to learn more Transfiguration later.
Review Response: (to reviews about this story)
athenakitty: Yes, Draco is choosing sides.
