Harry Potter & The True Power
Chapter 12 : The Merlin's Vault
Harry was totally blown off. He had not expected this. The riches were not important to him. Money never had much value for him. He had longed for one thing in his life, love. He had found it in the Weasley family. Though Ron could be a git, he was sure that Molly loved him. Friendship had come to him in the face of Hermione, Ron and very lately Neville, Luna and Ginny had been added to the list. And the most important addition of all, his mother. This event had totally changed his life. He had to acknowledge to himself that he had undergone a huge change in the last 2 days, at least his last two days. Just that time ago, he was a personal wreck. He was about to die and now here he was, probably happier than he had ever been, legally free of all dependence and the only thing left for him was to do was to take care of Voldemort.
Strictly speaking, he had no thirst for revenge at the moment. He was happy and did not care about that snake. He was ready to let bygones be bygones if only he would leave him and those he cared about be. "Fat Chance", he thought to himself. Cornelius Fudge was another issue. People knew what to expect from Voldemort but they were being cheated by the-big-fat-hungry-for-power-oaf.
Looking up, he saw all the goblins looking at him expectantly, hoping for a response. It was not everyday that some wizard found out that he was the richest person on the earth, scratch that, he was the controlling share holder of Gringotts. Innumerous persons, both goblins and wizards had died for this ambition. Yet he felt nothing. Maybe he was numb from all the shocks he had endured very recently. This no longer was a biggie it might have been just a few days ago. He saw that everybody was looking at him expectantly.
"I would like to thank you for all the curtsy you have shown me and am honored that you considered me worthy of all this information." He knew that it was what their mentor had told them to do and considering the fact that they thought of his diary as their Holy Book, it only showed a small part of the respect they had for him. Neither did the fact that he was being trusted with the very future of a whole race escape him. His ingrained politeness was urging him to thank them and he did. He looked around and saw a smile of appreciation appear in all the goblins. It seemed his approval meant something to them. Maybe more than he thought it would.
Over the last few hours, all his perceptions of them had changed and now he could appreciate their society as well as the individuals. Now, he knew he had to uphold the faith his great descendant had put on him.
Queen Trastek nodded. She picked up the diary from a magically sealed glass shelf and came forward. Standing opposite Harry, she said, "I, Queen Trastek, the noble am discharging our oath to our mentor by giving his designated descendant the 'Holy Book of Merlin' to Lord Harry James Potter."
With that there was a flash of light and Harry found himself in a huge hall, at least twice the size of the great hall, with a roaring fireplace in front of him. Besides the fire were two recliners. There was a young man with jet black hair sitting on one of chairs, with a glass of beverage in his hands.
He turned and said, "Hello Harry! Good to see you. I am Merlin."
In the lobby of St.Mungo's, one could feel the ire of Molly from one end to another. When she had found out that none of them knew where Harry was, she had gone into a rage. How could Tonks be so irresponsible?
"I can't believe all five of you. You just left him alone at Gringotts. What were you thinking? I sent all three of you to make sure that Harry was fine and you left him. What was important enough for you to leave him?" she would have gone on like that but a medi-witch came from behind her and put a sedation charm on her and floated her onto a stretcher.
Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the twins and Tonks were looking shamefully at their shoes. Their thoughts, that they had gone about in an ordinary fashion was doing nothing to assuage their guilt. It was not that he was alone, without any moral support at Gringotts which was filling them with shame. It was the fact that they had forgotten about him in all the mayhem. Each one of them knew that should the situation be reversed, Harry certainly would have remembered each and every one of them.
Tonks on the other hand was berating herself for not fulfilling her duty. More than the duty, she liked Harry. He was the godson of her favorite cousin. More than that, in the time she had known him, he was a very good person. Then suddenly she remembered Alastor. He was supposed to be with Harry. She took out a small mirror and called Mad-Eye on it.
Alastor at the moment was looking about making sure that everything was fine. Though everything was up & running again, he thought it prudent to look and make sure. He had already stationed two trainee aurors at the Gringotts to make sure that he found out when Harry comes out into the lobby of the bank. It had been nearly four hours since he had left with that goblin, silktrat or something. Mad-eye was no means a bigoted man. In his long career, he had seen a lot of things, and he knew like in the Wizarding world, every race had its own good and bad. It was just that he had never been any good with the goblin names.
He was lost in his thoughts when he felt his mirror vibrate. Some muggle born had joined the auror force three years ago and had borrowed a lot of ideas from a cell phone. He shook his head, smiling, as he took out his mirror and turned it on. It was Tonks. Damn, he had forgotten all about it.
"Mad-eye", called Tonks on her mirror. It was almost like a cell phone her father used. In a few seconds, she saw an amused face of mad-eye on her screen. She felt a bit relieved. If something had happened to Harry, mad-eye would have been cursing like a sailor.
Taking heart, composing her-self a bit, she asked the million galleon question, "Where is Harry?"
After the response she heard from mad-eye, she was worried; a lot. All five of them, who had been listening to the senior auror, had grief stricken, guilty faces. Two of them were crying.
Another one of destiny's strange play of cards was seen that night. One of the younger healers, who was taking care of Voldemort, was, at the moment of explosion, in the Knockturn alley buying certain potions from a, lets say, not a reputable shop. The huge magic wave which had passed thru, led to the bursting of certain potions. Certain semi-prepared potions, which had been kept in a stasis field, were exposed to too much of magic. One of the potions was the truth potion, "Veritaserum".
When a healer was taken from Knockturn alley to St.Mungo's, the fates would see it fit to let the favorite beetle of the Wizarding reporting be present. And boy was she in for a scoop!
Harry had been surprised to many-a-times very recently. So when he saw a good looking man in his early thirties, looking at him straight in the eye, said he was Merlin himself, he never as much as blinked. He simply walked down, and sat down on the recliner. As if by magic, which it obviously was, a glass of butterbeer appeared in his hands. Not even deigning as much as a look, Harry proceeded to sip. He was thirsty.
Merlin looked at his descendant and approved. He was not exactly Merlin per se, but an enhanced version of an image of his spirit. To be more exact, he was an enhanced version of an enchanted painting.
Inside this vault, when he was alive, he had worked for nearly 30 months instead of thirty days. He was proud of his creation. It had wonders of all his imagination at work. He was after all, the grandson of Hercules. This young man in front of him, despite all the pain he had suffered in his life and all the heartbreak & abuse, was worthy of Zeus himself.
"I see there have been too many surprises in recent times." He smirked. "well that's how life goes. Here, let me tell you a bit of why you are here. I believe you already about the beings which came out of the sky and were the reason for magic to sprout on earth." Harry nodded.
"Then let me tell you something you don't know. One of the last gods to return was Zeus, the king of all Gods. Actually they were from a separate plane of existence. They were the royal family who had been forced to flee their world because of a war which was raging in their home world. They came here to become free of the repeated assassination attempts on them. They needed to regroup and attack a counter offensive. And they needed time. So they came here. They time in our part of the galaxy moves a lot faster than in theirs. This was the reason of their very large life spans. Though they lived a very long life in their reality, their excursion here was nothing more than an extended stay. It also gave them a lot of time to plan and proceed. Actually that was the reason for the emergence of human race, we were a sort of chess board to them. And they played several ploys to recreate the position in their world. Yet, they did fall in love with their creations and due to that, unwittingly, they left a part of their power here for us. My Grandfather was one of those. He was a philanthropist. A very strong half-god, and a very powerful man. But due to his difference in opinion with his father, he rarely used his God-like abilities. Yet they were passed on. When nearly 3000 years ago, at last king Zeus went, he took his son with him. But I chose to stay behind. I had my adventures and in last days, I found my true family at last, the Goblins.
In those days, the wizards were very strong, at least in comparison with what I have lately come to know and I had a lot of enemies." He smiled. "One joy of my life was my daughter. I never knew about her till she had grown up. She was already married to a very good & strong wizard. So I let them alone. I had no intent of playing with their happiness. Though they were short of finances, they were not short of good intentions. So, I helped them a bit" both Harry and Merlin laughed. Little help indeed.
"And I left a small gift for my descendents. However i knew, the blood in our viens was strong in magic. And someday, one of my descendents would have the potential to be very powerful, nearly as powerful as our original ancestors. I designed this chamber as a sort of place where to train their powers. Because the amount of power they have, can be both a blessing and a curse. If they get out of control, it can really do some serious damage."
A small smile alit Harry's face. He was under no delusion that Voldemort would leave him and in the earlier state, he had only survived because he was lucky. Voldemort's host, professor Quirrel had died because by touching him, the second part of the curse had started to act again and tried to take the soul out of the body and kill it. As, at that time, Voldemort had a total control over Quirrel and he was directly feeding off his magic, both his magic and body disintegrated and Voldemort just survived the scare, becoming a lot weaker. Now, after numerous encounters and Harry being the sole survivor, he could not let Harry live if he was to rule absolutely. But now, he knew he had the power, and now, he had somebody to teach him.
Things were looking much better.
Rita Skeeter was having a field day. Today, after such a long time, not only had she had the proof of Dumbledore's other not-kindly face, but his utter decimation by the hands of the Goblin. Not many people knew of the reason behind Rita's animosity towards the professor. During the first war, her entire family had been killed by the death eaters. They were a proud family and very able. They had fought back and killed most of the death-eaters. Though, from a slytherin background, her family had openly sided with Dumbledore in the fight against you-know-who. She had been there when he had come and asked for their assistance. "it would be a hope for an alternative for all the slytherin families who, though did not want to join the dark lord, felt that they had no other option." He had stood there, in his twinkling blue eyes, radiating benevolence and smiling his ever irritating smile. He went as far as to guarantee all of their safety Foolishly, his family agreed. It was a well organized affair. When, only three weeks later, the death eaters attacked them all, for over 30 minutes, not even a single person reached there. Then he had the gall to come to her, while she was in the library and tell her that all the family she had, was dead. She was only saved because she was at school.
She vowed that day, someday she would expose him for what he was, "a-smile-on-the-face-and-betrayal-in-his-eyes" wizard. She had never forgiven him. She had went out of her way to malign Harry Potter, because it was well known that he was his blue-eyed boy. Her incarceration for a year by Hermione, though she was mad at her, had made her realize that he too was a victim of his benevolent game. She wanted to meet him and apologise. Someday, as soon as possible, she will.
And now, she had a healer, apparently under the influence of Veritaserum, saying that somehow, you-know-who was de-spirited. She had to see Harry Potter.
It had been 4 hours now that Harry was missing and Dumbledore was tearing his hairs out. Alastor had forced him to leave the Gringotts. He had been right, though, Dumbledore was forced to admit.
And Fawkes was again doing his vanishing act.
Fawkes had felt the call of his King, and at the moment he was flying there.
Harry, was looking at the young man in front of him and decided to ask him a few questions.
"May I ask a few questions?" Harry asked of the young man in front of him. Merlin amused as well as impressed by the young man. Most men he knew, hell he himself when he had found about his heritage were bowled over. Yet this young man had accepted this whole thing as if it was an every day thing to have your life turned around. Then, for him, it probably was. He just nodded, signing his acceptance.
"Why do you look so young?" Merlin laughed a hearty laughter, tears flowing from his eyes because of the same. He had not expected such a question. Anybody else would have tried to find out just how powerful they were going to be, or how much training it would take? Or so many other similar questions! But this young man was really an amazing person.
"You really are something young man." He said, still laughing aloud.
A few seconds later, controlling his laughter, he said "I am aware that most of my paintings & pictures show me as an old man, in the last stages of my life, but really, this is how I always saw myself, young at heart." They both smiled. Then Merlin continued "why don't we give way to all this formal stuff. You are my descendent, you might as well called me grand father or something like that." Harry, now tears showing in his eyes, smiled and nodded. In a space of few hours, he had found his mother and now someone, who might as well have been his grandfather. Making a decision, he closed his eyes and found himself next to his mother.
"Mom?" he asked the unasked question. He knew she knew what had been happening. He wanted to introduce her to him. He did not want any secrets in his family. Lily, whose eyes were already tearful, nodded her acceptance. Nodding, Harry willed himself back.
Merlin or grandpa, as now we will be calling him, saw Harry close his eyes for a split second. Though for a second, he saw somebody else, someone other than Harry. Before he could even think, Harry opened his eyes and said, "I would like to someone to meet you." Then he proceeded to tell the entire story.
To say grandpa was astonished would again be an understatement. Even he had not been able to do what this young mother had done. And he was known as the most powerful wizard ever. Even now, though he was only an enchanted image of himself, he had far more power than most wizards. He pondered for several seconds, then asked, "would you permit me to perform minor leglimency?" Harry nodded and then closed his eyes, moving himself back to his mother.
His mother had changed clothes it seemed and now was wearing a very pretty sundress. She must have wanted to make a good impression on this new addition to her son's family. He might have been her father-in-law for all intents and purposes.
And then she saw a sagely man appear in front of her. Harry looked kind of strangely at him and then he changed back into the young man they had all seen. This set the tone for the day as all of them sat and heard several tales of Merlin's adventures as well as Harry's adventures as a kid.
They spent nearly a week inside but less than half a minute in real time. By the time they came out, they all felt as if they had known each other forever.
When they came out, Merlin took out a ring from inside one ornate box. On it was a beautiful emerald. Engraved on it was a club and a bow & arrow with two wands on the side. All of it was on the backdrop of a lion's skin. Harry looked up to him, seeing the code of arms. "These are the code of arms of my grandfather, Hercules. He gave it to me, and I, now pass it on to you."
Accepting it, he looked at the ring and then slowly pushed it up his middle finger. As he put it on, he felt a strange but soothing sensation. He smiled. "What does it do?" smiling, like knowing a big secret, his grandfather just said, "you will find out! you will find out soon."
Okay, then what does the guardian do, exactly.
Merlin grew serious and said, "It finds out what your maximal potential is? That is, after all the knowledge and training, what is your maximum potential? And to get in, you must be a lot more powerful than I was."
Looking astonished, Harry asked the final question, "How long is the training to be?"
Merlin looked at him and said, "In real time, nearly 15 years."
Harry's face fell down. He could not afford to wait for 15 years. Merlin saw the look of despondency on him and said, but having the potential to win over Voldemort, is a separate matter. Come back tomorrow, we will discuss it. I guess you need to do a couple of other chores. It's been 4 hours since you came in.
Harry looked horrified. For him, nearly 9 days had passed. But it had been nearly all day here and he had totally forgotten about it. He quickly turned around and then stopped. He had come in with the diary and he didn't know how to get back.
"Just think about your office. You have a suite here now. You can go anywhere, this ring will take you anywhere you wish, anywhere in the world." Then it hit Harry. "Oh my God! All the council and the queen!"
"Don't worry. I left a message for them already, they will be waiting for you tomorrow." Sighing in relief, Harry nodded. Then he closed his eyes, willed himself at his office. Without the slightest sound, he disappeared.
Harry reappeared in a huge suite of offices. A goblin was already there.
"I am Korstaf, your personal assistance your highness. Is there any way I can assist you with anything?" Harry was again hit by the use of the title of your highness, but let it slide.
"Could you direct me to the lobby!", he asked. Nodding, the goblin lead him to a similar kind of gateway as the arch. He cursed himself. He totally forgot to ask about the portal. He will do it tomorrow.
"You just think of where you wish to go in the bank." It will take you to the nearest portal from there. As now you are authorized to use the portal system, you can see them. There is one in the lobby. Harry nodded. He could have used his ring, but didn't want to appear unannounced somewhere in the busy bank lobby.
Thinking of the lobby, Harry crossed thru the portal and appeared in a small alcove by the lobby. As he walked out, Hedwig, who had been waiting for him attacked him. Harry laughed and apologised. Harry then flew and sat on his shoulder. Just as he turned his head, he saw two unknown persons and the ever irritating Rita Skeeter approach him.
He was thinking of how to get away without letting others know of his new transportation abilities when Fawkes appeared right next to him. A strange thought appeared in his mind, as if asking, "will you go with me?"
Harry nodded, trusting Harry. In a heartbeat, Harry Potter, Hedwig and Fawkes disappeared in flames, leaving everybody with their mouths agape.