Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognize.

A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed and to my betas.

Chapter Three

Harry walked around the camp for a while. He stopped near a paddock in which he could seeaw several horses. He watched them for a few minutes, thinking how they were so peaceful.

"They're superb, aren't they" said suddenly someone behind him suddenly.

He turned and saw Thers with Veradis, a girl called Raia and a boy, Yrs, he remembered. He turned back to the horses.

"Yes." He answered simply.

"Sorry, about Andra, he was just his usual self." Said Veradis.

"No need, he isn't worth it" replied Harry. There was an awkward silence. Seeing their uneasiness, Harry spoke.

"Could you give me a tour and some tips about your camp?"

The four friends smiled.

"No problem, come."

They spent an hour talking about the place they were and the members of the tribe. Harry learned that Andra was the son of one of the counsellors, so were Thers and Raia.

They told him about the teachers of the tribe that all of which were warriors and in general quite nice, except one, Dezer, who taught horse-riding. He also got to know about the daily life of the tribe, the two common meals, the training and so forth.

Then it was time for them to go to dinner. Harry sat near Thers who showed him the important people, especially the ones he shouldn't cross.

After that Thers showed him where he was going to sleep and said that he would wake him the next morning.

"Good night Thers, Yrs, and thank you"

"Good night Harry" answered the two boys.

All of themAnd they fell asleep quickly.

As usual, nightmares came. Once again, Harry saw Cedric being killed, Voldemort being resurrect. He woke up, sweat pearling on his forehead, breathing heavily, his scar pulsing and bleeding.

'Even millennia away, the connection is still strong' thought Harry, bitterly. Then he saw Thers looking at him with concern.

'Fantastic, more questions!'

"Don't worry, it's normal," he said, praying the boy wouldn't ask any more. He didn't want to talk about it.

It was evident that Thers didn't believe him, but he didn't ask for explanations and went back to sleep. Sighing, Harry laid on his back, knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Finally he got up and silently left the tent where he slept. Once he was outside, he went away from the camp, avoiding the guards. When he was far away enough, he sat and started practising his magic without his wand.

As soon as he saw the sun rise, he went back to the tent and saw Thers waiting for him.

'Just my luck!'

But curiously Thers didn't ask him what he was doing outside, he just told him to follow him for the meal. Once they were done, they headed towards a paddock where they would learn how to ride.

Harry's first encounter with Dezer was everything but friendly

Thers, Yrs and Harry arrived early at the paddock and found that Veradis and Raia were already there. They talked a bit until Dezer arrived.

"Well I have been told that a new student has joined us, where is he?" said the man.

Harry raised his hand.

"Come here," barked the warrior. "So, what's your name?"

"Harry"

"Harry" repeated Dezer, spitefully "a real South name"

Harry remained silent.

"So, Harry, do you ride?"

"No."

"No, master!"

"No, master."

"Have you ever ridden?"

"No, master."

"Do you know how to ride?"

"I've read about it."

"You've read about it! Really?! Very well, we're going to see how much you have read about it! Andra, go and bring Sheitan!" Andra got up. Harry could see he wasn't very happy with this task, but he was also looking at Harry scornfully.

The remaining students started to whisper.

"Silence!" shouted Dezer.

Everyone waited silently for the Andra's return.

Harry was confused. What was wrong with Sheitan to make Thers and the others send him worried glances?

Finally Andra came back and with the help of another warrior, he was dragging a horse behind him. At first sight, Harry understood the meaning of the glances.

The horse, which was entirely black, kept trying to attack Andra or the warrior. He was rearing up or kicking out continuously. How they had managed to equip it, was a wonder.

Dezer replaced Andra who seemed quite grateful.

"Well, show us what you have learnt." He said before hitting the horse that had tried to bite him. The horse had several scars and a few open wounds were bleeding. Apparently they had strong ways to control him.

Harry approached the horse. Once he was close enough, Sheitan tried to bite him. Harry easily dodged his teeth. 'Think of Hagrid, of Buckbeak, animals sense fear…' thought Harry.

In a really quick movement he grabbed Sheitan's head and looked straight into his eyes. They were a greenish colour and a fire was blazing in them.

Sheitan struggled, but Harry was holding him tightly. Green met green and it was a battle of wills. Harry could sense the wildness of the animal, but also his intelligence. Finally the horse gave up. Harry released his head. He came closer, petted his neck, then climbed onto him.

Even if the horse had lost a battle, he hadn't completely given up. At the moment he felt a rider on his back he started to jump, to rear and kick, trying to get rid of him. Harry grabbed the mane and tried to follow the horses movements. It wasn't an easy task.

Several times, he nearly fell, but all his training on a broomstick finally paid off and he managed to stay on the horses back. After a few minutes, Sheitan started to tire. Then he stopped. Harry petted him, whispering a few words in his ears and climbed off.

Once he touched the ground he realised how much this had tired him. He stumbled a bit, then steadied himself. He turned and looked at the others; they were staring at him, mouths slightly open, apparently in shock. On the opposite, Dezer seemed to be on the edge of explosion. He was literally red with anger.

"Well, it seems that you have learnt a few things." he said extremely reluctantly. He quickly changed the subject. "Alright, students, today, we're going to work on the circuit, go take your horses!"

When all the students had left, he approached Harry.

"You may have been able to ride Sheitan, but you're not going to manage this. And that's a promise." He said with a sadistic glint in his eyes.

He was true to his words. He made them work on the circuit and Harry soon realised that Sheitan hadn't been trained. So, Dezer took his pleasure in shouting at Harry for every mistake he made.

At the end of the session, Harry had to restrain himself from yelling at the warrior. He clenched his teeth, climbed off Sheitan and followed Thers.

After having taken care of their mounts, they headed towards a tent where they were given some food. Then Thers lead them to a quiet place.

As soon as they had finished their meal, Harry looked at the four friends.

"Why does he hate me? What did I do?"

Thers, Yrs, Veradis and Raia looked at each other uneasily.

"Well, you see, he doesn't like the South and everything that is linked to the South."

"That's all?" Harry was surprised.

"Yes, but don't worry, you're not the only one he doesn't like. In fact, the only ones he likes are Andra and his little friends," said Veradis.

"I noticed, they reminded me of a teacher and some students from where I come from," said Harry jokingly.

"Really?"

"Yes. Well, is there anything I should know about the next lesson?"

"No, Robian is nice, his lessons are about plants and animals. Then we have fight lessons and you already know the warriors, Kev and Eira."

"Good, I don't feel like being shouted at during another lesson," said Harry.

The others laughed at that.

"I don't see what is so funny," pouted Harry.

Yrs managed to calm down a bit.

"You should have seen your face, it was priceless."

Eventually, they all managed to recover.

"How did you manage to mount Sheitan? Even the best riders haven't managed to stay on his back!"asked Ria.

Harry shrugged.

"Maybe he liked me." After all, he couldn't say: 'No, it's my Quidditch training and dumb luck which allowed me to stay on him!'

The four friends didn't seem convinced by this explanation. However, before they could ask, Robian arrived and the lesson started.

Harry quickly realised that most of the plants were different from the ones in his own time. Robian was a good teacher, and Harry enjoyed this lesson. Then, it was time for the fighting lesson. Harry was dreading this a little.

Once all the youths were there, Kev and Eira began to explain to everyone what they were going to do.

"Alright, listen. You're going to work on the moves we showed you yesterday. Work in groups of three or four. We're going to have a little contest afterwards."

Then Eira turned to look at Harry.

"Come with us Harry."

He did as he was told.

"Good, we're going to test you, to get to know your level. Ready?"

Before Harry could answer, the two teachers lunged at him. For one second he was paralysed, then... he knew.

Without even thinking, he blocked them and pushed them back. Then he got into a defensive position. Eira started to kick him, but all her kicks were blocked.

During this, Kev moved behind Harry and jumped on him. Harry jumped to his right, rolled and landed on his feet. His body was fighting automatically.

Finally Eira and Kev stopped and looked at him quizzically.

"Have you learnt how to fight?" asked Kev.

Harry shook his head, puzzled. How came he was able to fight like that? It was like a part of his mind had been activated when he had started to fight. It had seemed so natural. He resolved to ask Odyeus later.

"Really? Then you must be a natural. It's not really common, but it sometimes happens. Odyeus is one too." Said Kev thoughtfully.

"Well," said Eira. "Take this!" she gave him a knife. "Ready?"

Once again, Harry felt the sudden rush of knowledge overwhelming him.

As if he had done it countless times, he blocked every attack from both Kev and Eira.

"That' s settled, he is a natural at fighting," said the man finally.

"Indeed, but he needs to learn what his body is doing," said Eira.

"Yes, Thers?"

Thers looked up, something which earned him a hit by one of Veradis's punches.

"VERADIS!"

The girl looked apologetically at her friend

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"You'd better have to" replied Thers before approaching the two warriors. They were looking at the teenager amusedly.

"Well, you'll help Harry with fighting, train any time you can. He's a natural at fighting but needs to learn what he' s doing," said Eira, smiling at Thers shocked face.

He quickly composed himself, nodded and motioned Harry to follow him.

Before letting them leave, Eira told Harry that he would have to borrow some weapons until he was able to make his owns.

"Well," said Thers, "first, we're going to learn the basics. Watch me, then you're going to repeat the movement." Harry nodded. He carefully watched the boy who did a series of moves gracefully, as if each movement was the prolonging of the previous one. Thers repeated the series a few times.

Then Harry did it. Thers and Veradis, who had stopped fighting to watch how Harry was doing, were completely amazed. This boy, who had apparently never had got a proper training in fighting, was executing this series of moves as if he had done it times and times before. Even though the moves weren't really difficult, it was stunning. Moreover, his movements were so fluid that you couldn't see where one began and another finished.

While executing the movements, Harry had entered a sort of trance, as he had become one with his environment. It was strange, yet marvellous. He was feeling whole, as if he had found something which had been missing before. He loved this feeling. It was nearly painful when he finished the series.

He looked at Thers and saw that the boy, along with Veradis, who had apparently watched too, were starring at him, as if they didn't believe what they had just seen. Harry shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, unsure of what to say.

This seemed to bring them back to the real world.

"Something wrong?" choked Veradis with disbelief.

Then she burst into laughter, followed by Thers.

Completely clueless, Harry watched the two teenagers. They finally managed to calm down. Veradis whipped away a few tears.

"Sorry Harry, it's just that what you just did was amazing!"

"Really?" asked Harry, happy to have done it right.

"Of course!" said Thers. "Now, we are going to put these moves in practice. Come on!"

The two boys faced each other, bowed then got into position.

They started to throw punches and kicks, but they seemed to dance instead of fighting. Each blow was blocked, each attack was countered. At one moment, Harry directed a fist at Thers' chest. The blow reached its aim and Thers was sent to the floor by the strength of the blow.

A bit knocked out, it took him a few minutes to get his senses back. Then he looked at Harry, stunned by what had just happened. He snapped out of it and smiled a bit to show that he wasn't angry.

"Alright, this is definitively going to be your first lesson: How to control your strength," he said.

Two hours later, sweaty teenagers parted and Harry folllowed Thers and Yrs to a small stream where the boys were able to cleaned themselves.

Once it was done, Harry said he needed to see Odyeus and left his two new friends to head towards the tent of his ancestor.

Luckily for him, the man was here and ushered him in.

"So, what can I do for you Harry?" Odyeus was pushing him towards a pelt as he seated himself as well.

Harry sat, trying to find where to begin.

"Well, I was wondering, how can I be able to fight like this? And before I left, why did I seem to improve in everything? Why things seem to come naturally now?"

"It's quite simple. You know that everybody has a magical core, the difference between Muggles and Wizards being that Muggles can't access this core. Every magical being has an amount of raw power at his disposition at birth. But this power is locked and only appeared when the person is subjected to a violent emotion."

"Finally by getting a wand, a wizard can channel a part of it, but only a part. The amount depend on the wand first and of the wizard: the more raw power you have, the stronger your wand will be and the more power it'll be able to bear."

"The rune you received wasn't only a way for me to draw you through time, it also unlocked your whole power, at his raw state. That's why it was painful; apart from the fact that it would have been hurting a bit, even if the blockage hadn't been lifted. But this power had to be used in some way or you'll have burnt out. So it started to boost all your abilities…"

"And now, every time you learn something, this power will immediately put this knowledge to use, even if you don't have any idea about it. When you arrived here, you received the knowledge necessary for you live with us, including fighting methods, which you demonstrated today."

"Alright, so my body know how to do it, but not my mind."

"Exactly, until you learn whet your body already knows, you'll be acting on pure reflexes."

Both of them talked a bit, Odyeus explaining over points to Harry about this whole new concept.

Finally, Harry left to find his new friends, a bit reassured.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

After a few days, Harry started to fit in with his new life.

Dezer was still horrible to him. Apparently, making his life miserable was now his purpose of life. Just to make the warrior angrier, Harry proved to be an exceptional rider. He trained himself and Sheitan every time he could. This had allowed him to form a sort of link with the stallion.

Sheitan jumped over a trunk with ease. The horse was obviously enjoying himself. The following obstacle was a river to cross, then a slalom where the rider had to shot spears at moving targets. Next came the stone falling path as Harry had called it. Stones, bound to trees with ropes, were pushed and fell onto the rider who had to dodge them.

Harry took one of his three spears and threw it towards a target with ease. He was pleased to see he had hit it in its centre. He did the same with the next two targets.

Arriving at the stone falling path, he slowed down a bit. He had learned to be cautious in this portion of the circuit. He felt something moving on his right and immediately flattened out. The stone passed a few centimetres above him. He dodged all the other stones in the same fashion.

He quickly finished this part, relieved to arrive at the last one, a big meadow. Harry smiled. The first time he had arrived at this part he had crossed it carelessly, something which had brought him a superb lecture from Dezer and a huge headache.

He galloped across the meadow, studying his surroundings closely. Suddenly something jumped on him, but he was ready. He raised his shield. The thing bounced off the shield. Then he heard a noise behind him. He turned and saw a stone coming towards him. He dodged it.

Sheitan continued to gallop. Harry had trained him not to stop before his rider gave him the order. After dodging several flying objects, he arrived at the end of the circuit. He prepared himself for the lecture he was most likely going to have to hear.

As predicted, he hadn't even climbed off of Sheitan when Dezer was already telling him all the things he had done wrong. Harry didn't listen. He knew he had done a good performance, but that Dezer wouldn't admit to that even if the world depended on it.

Thers and Raia, who had gone through the circuit before him, gave him thumbs-up signs. He smiled. He was happy to have good friends. After the first days, the curiosity had died and most of the other teenagers had returned to their previous occupations. Harry didn't mind at all. He didn't like all the attention he had previously been surrounded by.

"You were one of the fastest." said Raia.

"Yes, and you don't seem to be injured or tired" added Thers.

"Thank you, but it was Sheitan who did all the work" said Harry, petting his horse.

"If you say so." Said Raia, shrugging. "Look, its Veradis!"

Indeed, Veradis arrived. She looked fine except for a small cut on her cheek.

An hour later, all the Yon'hors had finished their circuit; and after a few words, Dezer dismissed them. They ate , then headed for their next class. Finally it was the moment, Harry had been waiting for: fighting class.

Eira and Kev looked at their students. They saw Harry and smiled.

"Alright, Yon'hors, as the Sarth'ahnra is in three days, today, we're going to rehearse everything we have learnt so far."

All the teenagers were nervous, wondering what was awaiting them during this test.

"We'll assign you partners: Andra and Mealin, Brox and Ferth, Veradis and Raia and finally Thers and Harry.

Thers groaned. He was Harry's partner. Eira smiled.

"I was joking, Thers and Yrs and Harry, you're coming with Kev and me."

Thers looked really relieved and hurried towards Yrs before the warriors could change their minds. Fighting was one of the rare things he didn't want to do with Harry. In fact nobody wanted to partner him in this class. It wasn't that he was bad, not at all. In fact he was too strong.

After one week, all the members of Yon'hors had understood that fighting with him wasn't good for their health, as it always ended with them being thrown metres away. Even if Harry tried to lower his strength level, he always won.

Fighting with him was a nightmare, but seeing him fight was a wonder. It looked so easy, so natural that it was nearly unreal. And Harry loved the feeling he had when he was fighting. After a difficult beginning, he had quickly outdone his comrades, only the warriors were a match for him, even though he was starting to beat them more often as well.

Two hours later, a bunch of sweaty teenagers finished their lesson and after having washed themselves, ate and went to sleep. To Harry's relief, nightmares weren't coming very often now, so he was finally able to have a full night of sleep.

Two days later, it was the day before the Sarth'ahnar. A big feast was organised. The Yon'hors had to wear a sort of uniform composed of a loin- cloth and a sleeveless vest, both in leather. Marks had been drawn on their body with ashes. It showed that their childhood had come to an end and that they were now entering the adult world.

First, there was a huge banquet, then the warriors did a show mixing dance and fight, followed by the Yon'hors. After that there was a fire game. It consisted of jumping over the fire and was really liked. Finally the elders told stories or people sang.

Harry was loving this night. He wasn't nervous about tomorrow, enjoying the present moment. He had decided along with Thers, Raia, Yrs and Veradis to go to sleep early to be ready for the next morning.

Not many of the Yon'hors imitated them and instead stayed up nearly the whole night.

The next morning they were woken up by the warriors who dragged them to a place in the centre of the camp. Most of them had a headache and were sleepy, except the few that had rested.

Odyeus stood up and silence fell.

"Yon'hors, today you're going to leave childhood forever. This test which we call Sarth'ahnra will mark this change. When it is finished you'll be adults. Now, I think we're all wondering what you'll have to do. I won't make you wait any longer. The Sarth'ahnra is..."