CHAPTER 19
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were allowed to leave soon after. Wisely, they didn't ask Harry any questions. Harry got his homework and slipped out of Gryffindor Tower and headed to the Library. On his way, he ran into Helga. " 'Arry, go home fer a minutes, we'll meet ya there." She then disappeared.
Startled as he was, Harry obeyed and teleported to The Hideaway. True to her word, Helga and the other founders appeared in the living room frame just moments later. "What's going on?" Harry asked, curious.
"We left some things out," Godric said, "Things we kept for the Heir." Harry sat down and looked at them, ready to listen.
"During our lives, we each created a spell that was customized to us," began Salazar, "We would use them to protect our students and ourselves. Bits of these spells are in the wards on Hogwarts, but no one else knows that. Remember how I told you that being the Heir was a tool? Well, this is one of the reasons why."
"'One of'?" Harry repeated, they nodded.
"I also only told Dumbledore the main vision," Rowena said, "The other dream-vision I had about the Heir stated that Hogwarts itself would echo the Heir's feelings, and the wards could also be bent by the Heir. Apperation wards included."
Harry's jaw dropped, he looked at Salazar. "You were definitely right." The founder chuckled.
"Well, want t' try our spells?" Helga asked. Harry set his homework aside.
"Sure!"
"Repeat after me: hufflenza domec."
"Hufflenza domec."
"Good, now try it with yer wand."
Harry got out his regular wand and repeated the incantation. A golden dome sprang up from the ground and, by the way the other three founders squinted, Harry could tell it was very bright to others. Only Helga wasn't affected. "Very good, now ya just got t' will it away." Harry did, and the dome vanished.
"For my spell you must flick your wand," Rowena told him, "The incantation is: Rovenis Staveno."
Harry flicked his wand and repeated, "Rovenis Staveno."
He felt his wand twist and grow. It transformed into a twisting mahogany staff about six feet in length, with dark blue runes carved around the top, which read: swift wings and strong talons. The base of the staff was shod in iron, and had a pointed tip.
Rowena nodded. "You can use it as you would a regular staff, or it amplifies your offensive magic when you cast with it. Willing your wand to return to normal shape is enough to cancel the spell."
Harry returned his wand to normal and Godric revealed his spell. Harry held his left arm across his chest and said, "Godera Contego." A scarlet light flared and something moderately heavy pulled down on Harry's arm. A shield with a golden lion painted on the center had appeared. It was approximately two feet in length and a foot and a half wide; pretty large, in Harry's opinion. "It doesn't block magic very well," Godric said, "but if a hundred bludgers hit it, it wouldn't even shake an inch. Plus, you'll automatically move to block what ever's coming at you."
Harry whistled softly. "My turn," announced Salazar and Harry willed the shield away. "'Salithren Excalibera' is the incantation, and you need you other hand open."
Harry obeyed and a green and silver sword appeared in his left hand. The blade was three feet long, curved, and made of silver with something written on the side. The hilt was black and, upon further inspection, proved tohave two black snakes entwined around it. A green gem was set into the pommel of the hilt, and an emerald green glow surrounded the entire thing. The words etched onto the blade moved, but not around; just squirmed, like miniature waves. "You'll get a headache trying to read that." Salazar drawled.
"What is it?" asked Harry, looking up from the confusing words.
"Parsloz script," he answered promptly, "Only when you understand Parlsetongue to the full extent will you be able to read and write it. As for the sword, your arm will naturally move to attack if you wish it. Comes in quite handy, if you ask me."
Harry nodded and willed the sword away. "Thanks for telling me about these."
"Yer welcome," Helga replied cheerfully, "But ya might want t' head back t' school, in case someone notices yer gone."
"Alright, see you later then." Harry picked up his homework, checked the Marauders' Map, and teleported to the library. "Mischief managed," he whispered, the map went blank, and Harry began his homework.
Splikvin's hawk left Harry a note a few days later. It said: 'Room of Requirement today during your Free Time. Be ready; Others will be there. –S.S.'
Others? Harry wondered, why'd she capitalize it? Maybe she wanted me to look at it? Why did she change the meeting place? While going through his morning classes, Harry continued to think about the 'Others' and ran through the words he knew that started with 'o'. By the end of Potions, he'd come up with Owen, owl, ostridge, out, open, and old. None of them seemed important, but then he looked at Hedwig and remembered 'Order' and 'occlumency'. Order members will be there, he thought, then again, it could've been meant for occlumency, so maybe it's Snape?
He's an Order member too, another part of him argued, and 'Others' is plural, so it's more than one person.
Why couldn't she of just said who the Others were? A third voice of his mind sighed.
That's what Slytherins do, the second part replied. Harry shook his head to clear it; he wondered if that's how crazy people felt. Harry then came up with an idea and checked the Marauders' Map. Sure enough, Selena, Dumbledore, Moody, Sirius, and Remus were there.
Harry wiped the map blank, got his wand, and jogged down to the room. He took a breath outside the door, then entered, making sure to keep his face blank.
The room had changed so that it resembled the clearing Splikvin normally took him to, but the trees were larger than the saplings in the forest were, there were more rocks, and there were several large open windows. Sirius was once again wearing the ring, and was talking to Remus. Dumbledore was looking out the window while Moody stared suspiciously at the trees. Splikvin was the only one to noticed Harry's silent arrival. "'Afternoon Professor." Harry said. Moody jumped and fired a stunner; Harry dropped to the ground to avoid it.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter." Splikvin replied, a smudge of amusement in her voice. "I see you do pay attention in my class." Harry got up from the ground with a tiny smile but didn't reply. He looked at Sirius, "When'd you get here?"
"I wanted to see what Selena was teaching you, so I came in a few minutes ago." He replied. Harry detected a slight uneasiness in Sirius' voice.
He looked at the other adults. "No offense meant, but why are all of you here? Professor Splikvin explained everything a few days ago."
"Yes Harry," Dumbledore replied, "But I wanted to speak with you about your and my decisions over the year."
"With all due respect Sir, if it's a matter of us two, I don't understand why others are here, or why you chose to talk during this lesson."
"In truth Harry, we are curious about your abilities, and I myself hoped to make amends."
Harry's magic flared and the leaves stirred with the new breeze. So Dumbledore had brought Moony and Padfoot to help smooth things over had he? Splikvin, sensing his anger, straightened from her seat on a rock. "Harry, if you want to run your own life, you must show understanding, patience, and control." She hissed quietly in Parsletongue. "Do so now."
Harry exhaled and calmed the wind. "If you want to talk Sir, then I will. But I'd like to do my lesson first."
Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you Harry. Do you mind if we stay to watch?"
"No Sir." he answered.
So the other wizards resituated themselves while Harry sat down on a rock opposite Splikvin. She just nodded and Harry did his normal routine of greeting the elements. He could now contact them in the blink of an eye, and have a fairly long conversation in just seconds. When he opened his eyes, Splikvin nodded again, then Harry began to clear his mind. Again, it only took him seconds to do it.
"May I?" Splikvin asked quietly as Harry kept his eyes closed. He nodded. Splikvin softly said, "Legilarua." Harry felt the professor probe his mind, taking care not to look into his memories. It was more for her well being that she asked Harry to look first, neither of them wanted her to get zapped out on accident.
The part she probed was a subconscious part of his mind; the part that showed his aura. He never could tell what it was she saw, but apparently she was satisfied because she ended the spell. "Now that you have an understanding of what you are, and are at your center, you will learn how to channel you energy, your magic, into the things around." She spoke quietly, barely above a whisper, and nothing else was louder. "Go inside yourself, to the place where you speak with the elements. It glows; tell me, what color is it?"
Harry frowned slightly, concentrating. Odd, he could see nothing—it just…was. "Clear," he said, "Not white, not black, just—clear."
"Not surprising. Wind, air—neither of them has color in their raw form. I want you to gather that clear space, gather it with your mind, and then move it from side to side."
Harry focused and willed it to move; the clear space didn't budge. After his third try, he paused. Clearly he was doing something wrong. 'Gather it with your mind' is what she'd said.
Harry relaxed and pictured his mind as a cup. He dipped it into the space until it was all inside, then he moved the 'cup' from side to side; a breeze blew across him, first left, then right.
"Again," Splikvin told him; Harry obeyed, moving both fast and slow. Whatever he did in his mind, the wind did. "Good. Now, often times there will already be wind and you must learn to control it. You have your own air magic gathered, now I want you to cast it out-not all of it- towards the air. Once you do, I want you to capture the wind that is already in existence. Imagine your magic as a net, or something similar; it will help."
So Harry concentrated on the 'cup' in his mind, and pulled out ropes of his magic. Quickly he laid them across each other, forming a net like Splikvin had suggested, while leaving half of it in the 'cup'. He took a corner of it and 'threw' it out of him; the breezes in the room stopped. He could feel them in his mind, but not out in the space around him; they couldn't move because he held them in place. "Now free them." Harry undid his 'net' and gathered his own magic while the breezes leapt free. Opening his eyes, Harry was suddenly tired. He got a crick out of his neck and looked at Splikvin. "Does it always make people tired?"
She nodded. "Again, when you have been at it for an hour, and this is your first time trying, it will have after effects. The more you work at it, the easier it will be." She looked at Sirius. "Convinced that I'm not driving your godson to exhaustion?" she drawled in a less formal tone; Sirius blushed slightly.
"I never did," he mumbled.
Splikvin stood with a true Slytherin smirk, "You're a bad liar Sirius." Remus chuckled as Sirius colored further. She then looked back at Harry. "Again in two days, after dinner." Harry nodded, then she left.
"Keep working at it lad," Moody said in his gruff voice, "Never know when it'll come in handy."
"Yes Sir." Replied Harry. The grizzled auror nodded, then also left. Sirius and Remus departed soon after, with promises to talk later, leaving Harry alone with Dumbledore.
The room supplied them with a pair of chairs, though the outdoor setting remained the same. They were silent for a few minutes, each of them gathering their own thoughts. Finally, Dumbledore met Harry's gaze with tired eyes. "Harry, I do not believe you have and reason to accept what I am going to tell you. I do not believe that I have any right to say what I am going to tell you. However, I do believe that I should try anyway.
"Every person makes mistakes, and every person makes choices. My mistake was that I often did not give you a choice. I did not trust you to make your own decisions, even after you asked me to during the summer.
"You made a good point when you said that only by making your own choices would this war end; and we are on the same side. We should be helping, not hindering, each other." He shook his head. "Unfortunately, hindering you is all I have been doing lately. Both during the summer and the school year. In my efforts to keep you safe, all I have done is edge you further towards danger." He voice grew softer. "You are able to take care of yourself. The summer on your own, Voldemort's capture of you, the many Death Eaters you have both fought and survived against, all those things prove that one simple fact. And I was too old, too blind, and too stubborn to see it." He stopped, and Harry considered the older man's words.
Dumbledore was apologizing, but should Harry forgive him? Should he turn away? Make Dumbledore feel worse? Or should he make Dumbledore feel better slightly?
"Sir, I'm not going to say it's alright,"Dumbledore's face fell slightly,"but I will say this: everyone deserves a second chance if they ask for it. We didn't agree on things, and maybe we still don't, that much is obvious. We both did things that the other didn't understand, and probably didn't like. But I know that we both want to put that behind us. Personally, I don't like having to look over my shoulder all the time to see if an Order member is there." He gave a tiny smile so Dumbledore would know he was joking; the headmaster's eyes twinkled in response. "But, if you're willing to actually trust me, for real this time and not just say you do, then I'm willing to trust you too…again."
Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you Harry, you've given an old man hope."
Coming Up:
The Quidditch Cup
Finals
Then:
Ready and Waiting
