Hi everyone. Welcome back to this story of love and honor. Thanks to all those who have reviewed. It really makes my day when I read the reviews.
I would like also to point out that I know that I do make mistakes; English is my second language and I know I've improved a lot since my first fic but nobody's perfect and there is always room for improvement.
To those who are wondering how long this story is; well it has sixteen chapters.
I don't own Harry Potter and co.
Thoughts will be indicated by ( )
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CHAPTER SEVEN-GRADUATIONS
It had been two years to the day that Draco had been in the elven realm and he was about to graduate from his formal warrior training. He still had a year where he would go out on training patrols and go on missions. The atmosphere around the castle had been one of pride. Their young prince was graduating at the top of his class. Now they were getting ready for the ceremony that would give Draco's his place in the royal army. Out of a class of thirteen elves only five would get to graduate today. The others had to continue on for at least another year.
Draco was happy that he had finished his training one year early. Being a wizard had given him advantages in some of his training. The harder courses for him had been elven politics as it was totally different from the wizarding one. Being Slytherin had helped him on that aspect of his training but he still would prefer to be able to just be a healer. His grandfather explained that the fact that he was both a healer and a warrior would help him become a great king. He would have both compassion and strength.
The ceremony was about to start. The Lords from the other realms would be present; it wasn't everyday that an elven prince graduated form the academy. The king was sitting on a special platform that had been erected for the occasion. He talked to his advisors while waiting for the proceedings to begin. Suddenly a hush came over the crowd as the academy's leader General Serell came on to the stage followed by the other teachers. All were dressed in their ceremonial uniforms. Once they sat down on the row of chairs on the stage the five men who were graduating came into the hall. They were all wearing simple dress uniforms that had no decorations on them. They would receive different pins and medals depending on their exploits to place on them at the ceremony. The five men stood up in front of the stage waiting for their leader to speak.
The General got up and started welcoming everyone to the ceremony. He talked about how it was a great honor to graduate from the academy. Then after having introduced the other four graduates and giving them their awards he stopped and took a few moments for the crowd to settle down.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present to you our next graduate. This academy has not seen another royal graduate since King Lirendel himself graduated one hundred and ninety two years ago. When this young man came to us two years ago, we were shocked and surprised to find out that the next king was half human. Many of us didn't believe that he would be able to take on the role of our future ruler. I was in the crowd the day that one of the senior royal guards confronted the young man and I was amazed at the power and skills of the prince. To see one so young able to defend himself against one fully trained elf was simply amazing." The General was looking strait at Draco as he talked. Draco felt a small blush appear on his cheeks. It still surprised him that in this world he had respect because people liked him and not like in the wizarding world where people feared the Malfoy name.
"In two years this young man was able to perfect his skills that he had already acquired when he was a wizard but with the help and training of the staff of the academy, he was able to improve and add new skills to his already extensive repertoire. Our young prince is also a skilled healer and has acquired attained his level four in that particular skill."
The audience gasped. Healers had six levels that they had to obtain; to be able to use their skills officially they had to have at least a level four. The people now looked at the prince with new eyes.
"The prince has also made a promise that he will, with time, acquire the other two levels. I personally have no doubt that he will do so. He is a very determined young man. The prince graduates today with the rank of Lieutenant. As an officer of the royal army he will lead his troops into battle and missions in other realms. We congratulate him today and wish him the best in his future. Now I'm please to present His Highness Prince Draconis Lieutenant of His Majesty's army."
Draco slowly made his way up the stage; the cheering was deafening. When he was standing in front of the General he saluted him. The General returned the salute then bowed to his prince. Draco was handed his medals and as soon that they touched his hands they appeared on his uniform. Draco thanked the teachers for helping him then he turned towards the crowd. He smiled at his grandfather who was now standing up and applauding his grandson. They two men had grown quite fond of each other. Draco received the affection that he so desperately needed and the king enjoyed being surrounded by Draco and his friends. He kept joking that it kept him young, even if they had celebrated his two hundred and twentieth birthday a few months ago.
Draco made his way down the stage to stand next to the other graduates. All five saluted their superior officers and turned back to leave the hall. Once the graduates left the General thanked everyone for coming and ended the ceremony.
He met his grandfather in another ceremonial hall. There was a reception planed in his honor. When he came into the room the crowd parted to both side of the room. He saw his grandfather sitting on a throne like chair across the room. Standing strait and proud he made his way towards the king. As he walked the people in the room bowed. When he finally stood in front of his grandfather he waited for him to speak as protocol dictated.
The king got up and stood in front of Draco; instead of the long speech that they were expecting he gave Draco a hug and exclaimed loudly "I'm so proud of you son." Draco returned the hug "Thank you grandfather."
Then Lord Aldron came and stood next to the king and Draco. He smiled at the youth which was something that he rarely did.
"You make the royal house proud young prince. Congratulations, enjoy yourself today because tomorrow you will be leaving on a mission and will probably be gone for a month or two. Cyriel and Wendel will be accompanying you."
"Thank you Lord Aldron, I will do my best to succeed in the mission."
"Of that I have not doubt young prince."
Lord Aldron bowed and gave his place to the other Lords who all gave their congratulations to the prince. Four hours later a very tired but happy Draco was finally able to return to his rooms. He took a quick shower and went strait to bed knowing that the next day would be quite busy and exiting.
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Meanwhile in the human world, another type of graduation was taking place. Harry, Ron and Hermione had finally finished their auror training. They had been able to finish in a year and a half thanks to private tutors and teachers. Now they were at the ministry receiving their license and they would receive their auror battle robes. Their robes were blue trimmed with gold. The insignia of the ministry was sewn on their left arm and on their right they had a thin band going around their arms that was black. The color indicated their ranks. Black was the color of new aurors. After six month the color would change to light blue to indicate that they had finished their probationary period and were true aurors.
Harry and his friends knew all the colors by heart because Tonks had made sure that they would be able to recognized different higher ranking officers and not make fools of themselves. Moody was now back as the head of the department had a gold band around his arm; Kingsley who was now his second in command had a silver band. Tonks herself had bronze which meant that she was a captain and was in charge of her own unit. Even if she was a klutz she was a damn good auror. Remus who was now an auror too also had a bronze band around his arm. After he had finished teaching the kids a year ago he had been given a spot as an auror. He didn't have to go through the training as he was already a defense master. The new minister Arthur Weasley had abolished the stupid werewolf law that said that werewolf couldn't get jobs and Remus had finally been able to do the job he had trained so hard for. Harry was very proud of his honorary godfather. Together they had worked on getting over Sirius' death; although they both sometimes wondered about the veil in the department of mystery.
After the ceremony they all met at Grimauld Place so that they could celebrate with their family and friends. The whole Weasley clan was there, professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Hagrid were also amongst the guest. One surprise guess was Narcissa Malfoy who was now Narcissa Snape. She had married Severus a year after her son's disappearance and the death of her husband. They had been school sweethearts but because of her engagement to Lucius they had not been able to marry. It had been an arranged marriage and she had not been able to get out of it. The only good thing that had come out of her marriage had been her son. She missed him greatly and always wondered where he was.
The headmaster gave a speech congratulating the three fine young wizards who were now embarking on a new path. He spoke of the second war that was not beginning to get pretty nasty. They had a new enemy who had allied themselves with Voldemort but they didn't know who. They had new spies placed in the inner circle and were hopping to soon find out. The three young wizards were also initiated in the order of the phoenix. When Harry's turn came up to give his vow a golden light surrounded him. The phoenix song could be heard and a voice spoke out.
"YOUNG PHEONIX, YOU ARE NOW THE LEADER OF THIS ORDER. YOU WILL REPLACE THE WISE ONE AND WITH THE HELP OF THE DRAGON YOU WILL SLAY YOUR ENEMY. NOW MY SON BE SAFE."
Harry was pale when he turned towards the headmaster. The old man had a twinkling in his eyes that usually meant trouble for Harry.
"It would seem that you Harry, are now the leader of the order. I expected this, it happened the same way for me when I was to fight Grindewald. You have the skills and the power to become our leader and you've known for a while now that it would be your destiny to defeat Voldemort."
Harry nodded "I know Albus; I just didn't expect to lead so quickly. With auror work and this I'm going to be very busy." Harry turned to Hermione and Ron. "You two will help me, right?"
"Of course Harry, what kind of question is that? We've always been there for you. It won't change things anyways since we've known for a while now that you were meant for this. What I don't understand is what the voice meant that with the dragon you will defeat Voldemort." Hermione seemed to be thinking really hard as to what the message meant.
"We don't know, but I guess we will find out in time." Said the headmaster. Now lets get back to our meeting. Harry if you will please take your assigned seat. Albus gestured towards the head of the table.
Once everyone sat down they started discussing some strategy as to how they would be able to stop some of Voldemort's attacks. An hour into the meeting someone came into the room wearing a dark cloak. The man took the hood off his head and revealed his identity. It was Blaise Zabini; he had become a spy for Dumbledore after the Dark Lord had his whole family killed for wanting to remain neutral. Blaise who had wanted to follow the Dark Lord had been severely brought back to reality when he came home one night to find the dark mark floating on top of his home. He had gone into the house to find the bodies of his father and brother in one room and the bodies of his mother and two sisters in another. It had been also obvious that the females had been raped. It had shocked Blaise who had already taken the mark. He had thought that his family would have been safe. When he broke down in school after returning from the Christmas holidays professor Snape had helped him. With his help he had become a spy for the headmaster and had never looked back.
Taking his seat at the table he waited to be asked how the last meeting with Voldemort went. He noticed the change in seating arrangement as Harry Potter was not sitting at the head of the table with Albus sitting to his right. He let out a deep sigh because he knew that the news he had to tell them was not good.
"Blaise" said Harry "can you tell us how it went tonight?" Harry looked at the young wizard with whom he had made peace.
"Yes, I found out who our new enemies are."
The news got everyone's attention.
"Well who are they?" asked Ron
"I'm afraid that Voldemort was able to get the dark elves on his side. One fully trained elf is worth four to five wizards. Only a few humans would have the power to resist them." Blaise looked at Albus and Harry; they got his meaning. It was to be a bloody battle if elves were now involved.
"I think we will need outside help to defeat the dark elves. Only one other race can easily defeat them."
"Who is it Albus?" asked Minerva.
"Why the light elves of course. Now we need to get in contact with them and tell them that our world is being attacked by elves. They have laws that don't permit any kinds of elves to interfere with humans; I think I could get help from the king."
"How do we contact them?" asked Harry.
"I have a friend that might be able to help us. He is an elf that now lives in the human world because he fell in love with a human and he wanted to marry her. Now he lives somewhere in the forbidden forest. Give me a few days to find him and see if he can help us."
Harry thanked Blaise for the information and asked him to be careful. Voldemort was already responsible for many deaths and Harry didn't want his added to the total. After the meeting was done Harry dismissed everyone and retired for the night. He had a lot to think of. With his new role as leader of the order and the secret he had learned about his heritage he would be able to bring the fight to Voldemort instead of always waiting for an attack. But now he would wait to see how it went with the attempts to contact the elves. Hopefully things would look better after a good nights rest; a few minutes later he was sound asleep.
TBC
Well that was the next chapter. The other one will be posted soon. Please review.
Kungzoune