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A/N: Thanks a lot to Anna for correcting this chapter.

Chapter Nine


A few weeks had passed since Harry met Amber in the desert. In fact he was there for about two months. The situation hadn't changed: he was still rejected by the other apprentices and the target of their jokes and taunts. But revenge was slowly being built in Harry's mind. He wasn't going to undergo this treatment without reacting. But first he needed to become a novice. They would see what he was made of; he wasn't a Marauders son for nothing. The first part of his plan was ready to be put in action; they would never know what had hit them. He had put all his mind, strength and will in his lesson, surprising the masters. They had first been quite strict on him, apparently sure he would be quite arrogant, due to his peculiar abilities. But they slowly learned to respect him. Amber appreciated his sharp mind and his easiness with fires manipulations wasn't stranger to her liking to the Boy-who-lived. Yana had quickly lost her strict side with him. She had expected to find a boy sure of himself and ready to show off, but she had faced a skilled and determined young men, ready to listen to her advice. Indeed, Harry's attitude towards the teachers was one of a perfect student, something that would have given Ron a heart-attack: he studied most of the time, practised, asked questions to the professors, listen to them..

In fact being the perfect student was sometimes unnerving the raven-haired boy, but becoming quickly a novice had his price.

Kenet had been conquered by this. Earth was Harry's worst class, so it was there that he put most of his effort. This was rewarded by Kenets respect. Assims was harder to earn. The water master was cold and collected he rarely let others see his emotions, keeping most of them to himself. He was the man Harry respected and admired the most here, despite his cool demeanour. Thorough the past two months he had seek the masters knowledge. His persevering in reaching the perfect minds state, his will to gain a good control over his emotions had earned the mans attention.

He had first consider Harry as a common student, someone who thought he was superior, that he could do anything in order to attract attention, like all the apprentices were. All the masters were well aware of the behaviour of the apprentice and knew of the treatment that was inflicted to Harry. But they had chosen not to interfere, wanting to know how the boy would react. Assim had been surprised first. He had thought that having control over the four element would have made any boys gloat. On this opposite this stranger was trying to earn respect and didn't take it for granted just for what he was, while ignoring the taunts of his comrades. He had observed him carefully over the weeks. This boy was peculiar and Assim wanted to know more about him, not just because of his strange situation, but also to understand him better. What he learned was quite positive and he opened up a bit to the youth. Harry's efforts in his class paid as controlling water became more and more easy for him. It was never as easy and natural as using fire or air, but it wasn't too difficult either now.

At the end of these two months, Harry felt ready to pass the test according access to the novices level. To pass, an apprentice had to conjure his or her elements animal. This was the first manifestation of power of an Elemental, a bit like a surname. The second one was more personal, it granted the access to the mastery: a novice had to conjure his or her elemental spirit guardian to became a master. This spirit gave him or her, his or her elements name, something which had to be kept secret, only given to people the Elemental trusted the more as it gave power over the Elemental.

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At the end of the dinner, as Harry was about to leave, Amber stood up and clapped twice in his hand.

"Alright everyone. Listen carefully. Test would be held tomorrow for this apprentice wishing to try for novice. Those who are interested have to see a master to participate. A schedule will be announced tomorrow morning. That's all. Good night."

Quietly, Harry made his way to Assim and stopped near him.

"Harris? Is there a problem?"

Harry shook his head. He had had a hard time getting used to be called Harris. Amber had explained that the name Harry would seemed too strange, thus the change.

"I wish to do the tests tomorrow."

Assim nodded.

"Very well, which ones?"

"Fire and Air, but I don't know about Water and Earth."

Assim looked sharply at the young men before him.

"As far as Water is concerned I believe that you can pass the test. Ask Kenet about the Earth."

"Thank you Master."

Assim nodded in reply and watched the dark-haired student talk to Kenet who smiled and nodded. Harry would be the youngest apprentice to pass the test. In general, people studied at least for six months before choosing to be tested. He looked forwards finding what his elements animals would be.

This night, Harry had trouble falling asleep. He was a bit nervous about next days trials. He scolded himself, forcing his mind to follow the relaxing pattern Assim had taught his class. He quickly felt his mind drifting away and fell in a welcome slumber.

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He woke up at dawn, an habit he had conserved from his stay in Odyeus tribe. He got up, dressed up after undoing the usual work the apprentices had done on his clothes and other belongings. It was getting boring, every morning he would wake up finding half of his possessions burnt or drenched or sprouting leaves. He would then bring everything back to normal. After the first days he had make sure to cast protection charms on everything he owned and hide his most important things. He sighed before the lack of imagination of his comrades. But soon he would show them the true meaning of pranks.

Twenty minutes later he was ready. He went out for his morning work. He had decided to keep in shape, not wanting to waste the time he had spent with Odyeus, Thers and his friends. Every morning he ran for about an hour before practising his fighting skills: knives-throwing, hand to hand combat; but also his reflexes and agility. Once he was finished he still had more than half an hour before breakfast. He took a quick swim in the lake before drying himself and heading to the common room. He quickly ate and waited for everyone to finished, thinking about his revenge. Finally Amber raised on her feet. Silence fell on the room.

"Well, quite a few of the apprentices had asked to be tested. You will be given a parchment each. On it, you'll find when you'll have to pass. Be there on time, we wont wait for you. Good luck."

Whispers broke everywhere in the room as parchment were distributed. Harry was one of the last to get his. He looked at it: he had Air first, then Water a bit before lunch. Earth was in the middle of the afternoon, immediately followed by Fire. He went to his dorm and sat cross-legged on his bed, following in a light trance, allowing him to focus on his powers. It was finally time to go to his first test. He walked to Yanas class where he found her waiting.

"Heritha Harris, come in" said the woman, smiling.

"I hope I'm not late." Said Harry.

"You're perfectly on time, the last candidate just finished earlier" replied the young woman. "Well, you know what to do." He said, motioning for Harry to start.

Harry nodded. He took long, calm and slow breaths. Closing his eyes, he severed all contacts with reality, letting his mind free. After a few minutes, he mentally saw what he was searching. Air was a free and changing element, it refused any type of bind. Controlling it was like walking on a taut cord: you had to always put the right amount of force behind your manipulations. If you put too much, it would backfired, and if there wasn't enough power it would play with you. Harry slowly started to concentrate the element, with invisible hands he made a small ball formed of the pure power of the Air. The manipulation was taking time as it was the first time Harry had to give a shape to the element. In general he had just to tap on the elements power and direct it with the right state of mind, it only took seconds with training. But now it was different. When he felt he had well gathered the element, he started pushing the ball in him. This was the delicate part of the manipulation.: the ball could escape from his control, or overwhelm him. But everything went fine. Harry smiled as he felt the air power running under his fingers.

To conjure the element animal for the first time, an apprentice had to take some of the element power in his body to print his mark on it before letting it out.

He opened his eyes and looked at the master who was observing him carefully. He opened his hand, palm turned towards the ceiling. He let the power free, and felt it rushed out of him. Slowly the air around shimmered and a figure started to appear. A few seconds, a wild stallion was standing before him. It shook its head, its long silver mane moving like if a small breeze was playing with it. It was huge and just by looking at it, you could feel its power. The stallion looked physically a bit like Sheitan, the same muscles, the same wildness radiating from it. The horse stamped its hove on the floor and swung its tail. Harry smiled and approached it. He bowed before it and the animal bowed back, before disappearing.

There was a small moment of silent.

"Impressive Harris. It was quite a powerful animal." Said finally Yana, smiling proudly at him.

Harry thanked her before leaving the room.

He had still an hour before the Water test. He meditated the whole time.

Assim and Theri were quietly discussing when Harry entered their room.

They greeted him and asked him to start.

Water was completely different of Air.

If Air was freedom, Water was rules. This element needed a total calmness, a heavy concentration. It was powerful and once you started to use it, you have to be strong enough to prevent it from flooding your mind. As Harry gathered the element power, he put strong bind on it which would allow him to stop whenever he wanted. He had to be totally concentrated on his task the smallest mistake could have the worst consequences. Finally he had concentrated the power of Water in a ball like he had done for air. Then instead of slowly pushing it in his body, he created a link between him and the orb. The power flowed out of the ball to him. He could felt the power filling him. It was different from the air. This power was calm, steady but also threat if it escaped from control. He turned his palm, this time towards the ground and unleash the element. A swirl of water erupted from the ground. The jets of water were inter-crossing themselves, slowly forming a shape. Finally a huge snake stood before Harry. His head was at the same level as Harry's and ocean blue eyes bored in emerald eyes. The scales of the reptile were shining each of a type of blue: dark blue, light blue, greenish blue, turquoise. Harry thought it was a Royal Cobra but wasn't sure. He bowed to the snake which bowed in return before disappearing.

"Well done Harris." Said calmly Assim. "It was quite a powerful animal." He added.

Theri was gaping at Harris clearly shocked. He quickly composed himself again.

"Excellent Harris." He managed to say.

Harry nodded, thanked the two masters and left to take his meal. The room was buzzing with talks. The Air and Water apprentices who had succeeding in calling their animals were gloating and describing their animal with lots of details. Others who had apparently failed were being comforted by their friends. Harry went to the lake once he was finished. He had spent hours at the lake, contemplating the water, the sun playing with it, illuminating the surface, listening to the wind in the palm trees. He only left ten minutes before his meeting with the Earth masters.

He entered their room quietly. With a smile, Imir greeted him.

After a few words, Harry started to concentrate for conjuring his Earth animal, which would be the hardest for him. Contrary to Water, Air or Fire where you have to find the power of the element inside you, to control the Earth element, Harry had to linked his spirit with the earth, thus accessing the power. The difficulty was that the mind had to be in the same condition than the earth: extremely calm, still, passive. It was a state Harry had problems to reach. He could calm his mind quite well, but keeping it still an passive was an other story. With water it was his mind which imposed the bind to the power of water, with earth, he had to open his mind completely to the earth, be one with the element. It was something which went against him. He was used to keep things hidden and being totally open was giving him a feeling of vulnerability he couldn't get rid of. It was often blocking him and asked for a huge effort to lower his defences. But this time he had to manage it. Slowly, one by one, he took of the walls keeping his inner secrets hidden. He didn't like to do this but it was the only way. Finally he was completely open. He mentally sent himself towards the grounds, linking with the power emanating from all the living beings, the stones. Not wanting to prolong the experience longer than necessary he started to gathering the element power. Through the link, it filled his body, giving him the feeling to be whole, to belong to the world. He liked this feeling. Carefully he severed the link with earth and raised his mental walls around his mind. He came back to reality and opened his eyes.

Falling on one knee, he put his hand on the ground, letting the power leave him. The grounds shook a bit, then something sprout from it. In a few seconds, Harry was facing a huge wolf, looking a bit like Arrow, the wolf he had met during his stay with the tribe. They bowed to each other then the wolf disappeared.

He immediately headed for the Fires test.

Amber was waiting for him, smiling as usual.

"Heritha Harry."

He returned his greeting. She was the only one to use his real name, but only when they were alone.

"Well, I heard you managed to conjure all your animals, and that they were quite interesting, I trust you will manage this one too." She said.

"Ill try." replied Harry, jokingly.

"Go ahead"

Smiling, Harry concentrated. Quickly he accessed his inner power. Fire was the element he could use the most easily. The only thing he had to be careful about was to keep his control over the element. The power of fire was huge, but wild. It have to be channel. To reach it, Harry had to find his inner power and to snap it. He didn't know how to explain; it was like striking a match. But here, his inner power was the match and his mind was his hands. He had to compress it, then gave it a little push and it exploded. It was an inner fire which was burning inside him. It was the feeling Harry loved the most, this pure and wild power which was running through him. He closed his right hand and threw it in the air like he was punching something.

A ball of fire shot from his hand. Slowly it started to transform, assuming the shape of a Golden Eagle. The bird flew for a few seconds before landing on Harry's shoulder. Harry bowed his head to him, and the bird of prey returned the gesture before flying away and disappearing.

"Perfect Harry" exclaimed Amber, pride visible in her eyes. "It was really impressive." She added.

"Thank you."

"No need. Well, it looks like you'll move with the novice. Ill have someone move your belonging in your new dorm." She said

Harry nodded.

"Well it will be soon dinner time. Well announce the new novices then."

"Alright"

They parted after a few words. Harry went to the stables. There, he found Sheitan. He had been careful to continue to train his horse, at least once a day. But it has been three days since he last mounted the stallion. He didn't bother to take the horses trappings, he could rode without. He lead the stallion outside. He could felt the impatience of the horse, its desire to run. At the seconds he was on its back, the stallion started to gallop. Harry leaned on its neck, engulfed in the long mane. He was careful to not let the stallion gallop in the sand, knowing it may make him fall. He stayed with Sheitan for two hours. Once the giant horse had calmed his urge to run, Harry trained him, working on its reflexes, agility

After putting the horse in a paddock, taking care of him, feeding him, he took a small swim in the lake, dried himself and headed to the common room. He sat at his usual seat, ignoring the other apprentices as he always did.

After the dinner, Amber rose on her feet and cleared her voice.

"Apprentices, those who have passed the test must be waiting for this. Are made novices: Kamel, Moira, Ian, Jenal, Deis, Ismalia, Denor, Samira and Harris. Apprentices, stepped forwards."

The nine youths approached the young woman. The different master gave them a small ribbon symbolising their new status.

"You're now novices, joined your table, your new schedules will be given later." Added Amber.

They obeyed and sat at the novices table.

Without paying attention, Harry sat at the end of the table like he had done when he was an apprentice.

He didn't bother trying to speak with the other novices, knowing it would be useless.

As he was day-dreaming, looking through a window at the sky, wishing he could be somewhere else, he felt a hand on his right arm. Startled, he jumped.

Looking at the owners of the hand he faced a boy. He looked about seventeen-year-old, with dark brown eyes and short curly hair. He smiled at Harry, something the raven-haired boy wasn't used to, at least since he arrived here.

"Hethira"

Not knowing what to do , Harry remained silent.

"Quite a silent person you are, well I'm Traias."

"Harris" replied Harry, trying to understand why this young man was speaking to him.

"You're one of the newbies, aren't you?"

"Yes"

"If you want I could explain a few thing you'll need."

"Why not" answered Harry.

"Well, you see, being a novice is quite different than being an apprentice, for example." Traias started to explain him a few facts about being a novice.

Harry smiled to himself. Maybe being a novice would be better than being an apprentice. At least he may have a friend.

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Thanks a lot to all who reviewed!

Naia

Leo : Thanks for reviewing, hope you liked this chapter.

Zoe : Thank you.

pwestm1 : Thanks

Prophetess Of Hearts : Yes, thorough his training with his ancestors, Harry won't just learn spells, or how to fight, he must also learn about humans…. And that sometimes people are not what they seem to be or that not everybody is nice in the world…. I hope you like this chapter too.

? ? ? : I hope you didn't have to wait too long. Thanks for the review.

Kelly : Does this satisfy you ?

Suzybeth : I hope you liked this chapter. I try to make as little mistakes as I can, and I have this story being corrected. Thank you for reviewing.

Anja : You'll have to wait and see, I don't want to spoil the fun…. Anyway thanks for the review.

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? ? ? : I know it's mean, but Harry had to learn that the world isn't always nice… Anyway thank you for reviewing.

? ? ? : Hope you didn't have to wait too long for this chapter. Anyway, thanks a lot for the review.

coconut-ice agent h/h : Well to answer your questions, they're only using elemental powers, not magical ones. Then for the nemas well, let's just say I have a crazy imagination and a few friends who helped me a bit with them. Finally, concerning your last question, you'll have to wait for the next chapter, it'll be explained in it. Thanks for reviewing.

TheUnknown : Thanks for the pranks' suggestion, you'll see in next chapter what'll happen. It will be… a sight. Thanks for the review.

? ? ? : Thank you a lot for the review.

Sons : Thanks a lot for reviewing. As for Harry's life, well I don't want to spoil the surprise…..

BloodRedSword : Thank you for the review. Continue with your story, it's really good.

Rishi : Hope you like this chapter…

Phoenix of Light : Well, you're right, and as for what you said, well you'll have to wait and see. I won't spoil the surprise…. Hope you like this chapter.

PheonixMan : I think you'll get your wish in next chapter. Thanks for the review.

Life : Hope the delay wasn't too long, did you like it ? Thanks for the review.

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evie bellwood : Sorry for the wait, hope you liked it.

A-man : No they only do elemental magic., thanks for the review.

Arizosa : Listen to her Harry, you hear ? Well don't worry, Harry would react in next chapter. Thank you for the review.

The Red Dragons Order : Your French is quite good. Continue with your story, their great ! Thanks a lot for the review.