Chapter 7 – The Return

Harry Potter and the Valeru

By Lady Urquentha

PG – 13

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental.

Telepathic Speech

Beast Speech

Chapter 7

Harry rolled his neck as he sat up in bed. He'd been in the Elvish realm for 2 years, and had to return to the mortal world. In that time, his education had grown enormously. The first thing he'd learned was to ride a horse both with and without a saddle and bridle. He'd learnt elvish fencing, which he'd unconsciously combined with the human style, and converted into his own unique style. His archery and dagger throwing abilities had tripled under the expert tutelage of the elves, as had the rest of his warrior skills. He'd learned to track, scout and creep up on someone without leaving any trail or alerting anyone to his presence. He could climb like a monkey, fall like a cat and run like the wind. He walked with a graceful elegance, with confidence and assurance in every stride, making absolutely no noise when he moved or walked. He had super-fast reflexes, thanks to continuous unwarned attacks by his teachers, and had real combat experience from a number of Death Eaters who'd passed near the elvish borders. Thanks to a combination of handy elvish potions, Harry's eye-sight had been finally been cured, to a point where they were better then even normal human eye-sight. His other senses had changed too; they were almost elven now, boosted by potions and years of training and honing.

He hurried into the bathroom, and then emerged, dressed in a set of elvish robes. He preferred elvish clothing to wizarding or muggle clothing. Muggle clothing was so constricting, but wizarding clothing was too thin. Elvish clothing was like wizarding clothes, but with more layers, with the added benefit of looking much more regal, especially with the circlet he was permitted to wear, though he chose not to wear it often. The royal family wore silver circlets with jewels, whereas nobility had the circlets without jewels. This time, his outfit was a simple lavender array.

He flopped down on the couch, and then looked up sharply as a soft sound was heard from above. A soft, loving smile appeared on his face as the red and gold bird landed gentle on his arm.

"Hey, girl," he murmured.

Good morning, Master Harry, she trilled lightly. The phoenix, Mela, fluttered lightly down to his arm. Her name was elvish for love, which is what she was the embodiment of. She had bonded to him about a year and a half earlier when Harry had been out, wandering the forest. He'd come across the newly-hatched phoenix, being stalked by a wolf. New born phoenixes were defenseless against predators that did not use magic. Harry had saved the phoenix, and they had immediately bonded. Now Mela was Harry's friend for life, her magic was much more effective on him, not to mention the fact she wasn't an ordinary phoenix. She was a Royal Phoenix, which meant her magic was much more powerful. She wasn't intended for war or battles, but her talons and beak were sharper. She looked the same as an ordinary phoenix though, except for a slight difference in size.

Harry looked up from his phoenix as the bathroom door swung open, to reveal Carmen. Unlike normal, when she wore the stunning elvish dresses that she claimed made her feel more 'feminine', she had chosen to go with her standard formal outfit for Valeru. They were returning to mortal world that day, or rather Harry was but she was returning to the BSS. They would remain in constant mental contact though, so they wouldn't be completely alone. He smiled at her, a smile that conveyed warmth and affection. He rose, carefully balancing Mela, and then kissed her deeply.

"Come on," she said regretfully when they parted, "we'd better get moving; you've got to get back to the Dursleys."

"And prepare to face the music," Harry muttered, but nonetheless shrunk and packed all his things with a flick of his wrist. As a gift from the elves, they'd been told they could take all the clothing in the rooms if they wanted, as the royal family had noticed that they loved elvish clothing. Harry had taken every over-robe and under-robe in the room, while Carmen had selected every dress, while leaving the robes.

He opened the door to their quarters and stepped out of the room. Mela swooped out of the door and landed lightly on his shoulder.

"How are you going to disguise Mela?" Carmen asked, "there are people who can see through her invisibility spells, like Albus Dumbledore." Harry shrugged,

"she can just stay away during the day," he answered, "and if someone sees her, I can say I met her during my 'training'." Carmen glanced at him sharply, but then shrugged and started off down the corridor.

Ten minutes later, they were standing by the river, preparing to cross it. The prince and princess, with whom they'd become good friends during their time there.

"We'll see you again," the prince said, as he clasped hands with Harry.

"I hope so," Carmen agreed as she hugged the princess.

"You'll always be welcome back here, both of you," the princess informed them archly, "even if you're a criminal in the wizarding world." Harry smiled,

"Hardly likely, but I thank you for the offer," he returned, embracing the princess.

"If you ever need our help, you know how to contact us," the prince embraced Carmen formally.

With that, Harry and Carmen stepped into one of the boats, and were soon on the other side of the river. After exchanging one last spoken farewell with the royal siblings, the two of them apparated out. There was a special secret to apparation into and out of the elven world, which not many people knew. It was a way of thinking and adjusting the magic.

Harry reappeared down the road from the Dursleys, wandlessly changing his robes to a normal muggle outfit consisting of a pair of black jeans and a green top, at the same time as an invisibility spell cloaked him in it's folds. The Ministry normally detected both magic done with and without a wand, but there was ways to circumvent the detection system. An elaborate spell would disguise his magical signature to the point where wandless magic wouldn't be sensed, but wand magic would be. Harry had had the spell cast on him before he left, and so could use wandless magic.

He plucked his glasses from his pocket and slid them on. A moment later and his glasses had tuned in to allow him to view through invisibility spells and cloaks. He scanned the road, searching for the watcher that should have been on the road. Harry saw two figures nearby, one in the garden, reading a magazine and one sitting on the wall by the Dursley drive. The one in the garden Harry didn't recognize for a moment, before he realized that it was Tonks beneath the bright yellow hair, tank top and shorts. On the drive Harry recognized Remus Lupin, whose eyes were fixed on a window on the second floor. Harry almost sighed in relief when he didn't spot Alastor Moody, who might have been able to see through his invisibility spells.

A moment later he'd switched his vision to seeing magic. He looked around the house, searching for any sign of wards, magical objects or any magical signature. He blinked rapidly and his eyes watered as an extremely bright light hit his eyes. Extending around the entire block of houses was a magical ward of white light that was intended to halt anyone bearing a Dark Mark and to warn the person it was linked to of the attempted breach.

Swearing in his mind, Harry dampened the light effects on his glasses and continued searching. He recognized new anti-apparation wards, strengthened wards to keep out magical creatures, notice-me-not wards, wards to force an animangi out of their shape and even more wards to conceal the wards from a wizarding viewer.

Tut, tut, he sighed silently, nothing about repelling the undead, summoned creatures or anything like that.

They don't know it can be done, Carmen reminded him, those wards you came across were in ancient Chinese books.

Still, without all this training, I'd be toast if even one undead decided to drop by, Harry muttered.

Undead don't decide to do anything, they are commanded, Carmen drawled sarcastically, even you should have figured that out by now. Harry rolled his eyes at his girlfriend, and turned back to his examination of the wards surrounding his house.

They were full of raw power, even if the wards themselves were quite simple. Obviously Dumbledore had had something to do with them, probably him and a couple of other wizards. They'd keep out everyone, including Voldemort, but no undead, elemental or otherworldly creature would be affected by them at all.

He felt the comfortable weight of Mela settle on his shoulder and saw the flash of bright color as she landed, although he knew she had turned herself invisible to all eyes except her master's. Royal Phoenixes couldn't be seen by anyone except the people whom they wished or had prior experience with phoenixes and could detect the signs, a fact that Harry was planning on using during the next few months. At Hogwarts only one or two people could see through the spells, and since they weren't expecting to see a phoenix they wouldn't see her. Even if they did, they would mistake her for Fawkes.

He turned to the house, scanning the house itself. He saw nothing resembling magic in or on the building, something that seemed slightly abnormal to him. He'd have expected them to plant something magical in his house or something, to keep track of him.

Darling, remember that they wouldn't think of something like that. You only thought of it because of your training here, Carmen reminded him gently, don't blame them. The Order isn't infallible you know.

Don't I know it, Harry said grimly, thinking of a specific room in the Ministry. He felt a mental caress followed the feeling of a pair of lips on his, as Carmen soothed him.

Shrugging off the depressing thoughts, Harry turned off his vision, returning the sunglasses to normality. One last check of all his weapons and gear, and then Harry gritted his teeth as he reached out along his bonds. Over the seven years of his time in the Time Wing, he'd developed a mother-son bond with Ingrid. It was deep and strong enough to allow him the same access to her powers as he had to Carmen's. He could tap into either person's powers if he tried hard enough and if they were willing, although it was substantially more draining and wasn't always accurate. He could, with extreme effort, tap into Gregorio's powers, but that drained him until he was virtually useless otherwise.

He pulled lightly on the bond, searching for her magical core. Reaching out, he lightly snagged her telekinetic powers, and pulled. There was the brief moment of halt as Ingrid noticed what he was doing, and then it came easily as she allowed him access. He pulled the power through and wrapped it around himself, concentrating hard on the Dursley's smallest room.

He released the power he'd taken, letting it flow back to Ingrid as he reappeared in the corner of the room. He remained perfectly still as the boy sitting on his bed whirled into a fighter's crouch. After a moment, the boy straightened with a low laugh. Harry examined him critically. He was an exact copy of what Harry had been, except slightly taller and more muscled.

The boy stepped away from the bed, away from the window. No-one could see him from the garden now.

"So, you're back, my lord," the boy said softly as his form changed. He grew substantially taller, his eyes turned blue and his hair went blonde. His face and body changed quite a bit, as the metamorphagi returned to his natural form.

"Yup," Harry agreed, as he cast wandless illusions on himself, "but call me Harry." He sighed as his body returned to what the other boy had looked like, although nothing could hide the no longer sad and unhappy eyes. The metamorphagi shook his head,

"As you wish, Harry. I don't see how you managed fifteen years with those relatives of yours," he remarked, "I'm going crazy after less then a month." Harry laughed,

"practice."

"Okay, a quick low-down of what's happened. You got 4 letters from Mr. Weasley, 5 from Miss Granger, and three from Mr. Lupin," the boy said as he went into agent mode, "I sent the required letters every three days, making them brief and short. I replied to each of your other letters, but they were all short." Shorter letters would make it harder for his friends to realize it wasn't him writing.

"I kept copies of the letters that I sent for you to read," he gestured to a pile on the desk, "as for your relatives. I stayed out of their way, and saw Dudley only twice and Petunia once. Meals haven't been too good though, so be prepared." Harry nodded his understanding.

"Been doing some conditioning in the park, push-ups, sit-ups, running etc. Hopefully it'll mean you don't have to hide as much of your muscle during school. They also think I've been studying a lot, so that'll help as well. By the way, Dumbledore sent a letter for you a couple of days ago, trying to patch things up. He didn't sound pleading, more like an equal to an equal. I replied that I or you would forgive him but he's on probation, and had to tell you about what goes on in the war." Harry nodded, it'd make his job easier if he got on with the headmaster.

"Tomorrow you need to send another letter to the Order," the boy added, almost as an afterthought.

"Sure," Harry nodded, storing the information away.

"I'd better get going," the boy said at last, "I'll need to report in to the Lord and Lady." Harry nodded his agreement, and then watched as the boy tapped the watch on his wrist and then vanished. After a moment, Harry headed to his desk. He looked down and saw his half-finished Potions essay on the table, exactly the same as when he'd left the house almost three weeks earlier. His double clearly hadn't wanted to do his homework for him, which Harry could see the point of. It didn't really matter, after all his training, he could brew this particular potion with his eyes shut. With a sigh, he settled down at the table to complete the assignment.

Harry was in his potions lab, brewing an ancient truth potion, when Mela appeared beside him, clutching a letter. She'd obviously taken it from an owl that had landed outside, and brought it to him. She knew well enough not to land on his shoulder or give it to him yet, as she'd quickly learnt what potions could do if left untended. There had been numerous explosions in the lab the first few days while she was learning.

He carefully added a pinch of griffin hair, and stirred constantly until they had dissolved. He lowered the fire slightly, and then left the potion to simmer. He took the letter from Mela with a word of thanks, and then opened it.

Dear Harry,

Mate, we'll be going to Diagon Alley on the 25th, hopefully you can make it there. Dumbledore says you can come over that day, or if the Dursleys won't let you, someone will pick you up and bring you over to Headquarters, where we are now.

Ron

Harry grinned, he'd get there one way or another. A flick of his wrist summoned a piece of parchment, an inkwell and a quill. A second charm enchanted the quill to write with his handwriting as he dictated. He was still brewing the potion, and couldn't stop to write the letter himself.

A few moments later, the letter was complete. A flick of his wrist folded the letter up, and he handed it to Mela. She vanished in a burst of flames, gone to get Hedwig to deliver the letter. As a phoenix, all light animals would follow her requests and commands and most dark animals would as well.

Harry doused the fire, and then muttered a cooling charm. When he judged it was cool enough, he carefully poured the potion into the vials he had ready. He tapped each with his finger and labels appeared on the bottles neatly. He carried them over to the shelves surrounding the room and carefully placed them on the truth potion shelf. This particular potion was an extreme measure if the intended victim refused to cooperate, showed resistance against all other potions, and the suspected victim was suspected of murder etc. It caused the victim to see things that they were scared of, and with each false answer it moved ever closer. Few could resist that kind of interrogation.

Dear Ron

I can make it; my uncle will drive me there. I'll see you outside Gringotts on 25th August, at 10 am? I'll bring my trunk as well.

Harry

"MUM, HARRY CAN COME!" Ron hollered down to his mother. Beside him, his sister winced, anticipating what was to come. Exactly on cue, a female voice began shrieking from down the corridor.

"Filth! Letting Mudbloods into the house with no wizarding pride..." the voice was cut off abruptly, as Hermione shut the curtains sharply across her. Ginny sighed in relief.

Dear Harry

Mum agreed. See you there.

Ron

A/N: There, seventh chapter complete. I hope you liked it, we're finally back in the mortal world. And here we'll stay. Next chappie...Diagon Alley.

E.N. Ok, Anyone that's pissed because the chapters take 2 long, it was my fault. But you try having 6 major projects in one week and about 4 major essay's and see how much time you have left! (I'm slowly going crazy!) Anyway, REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!