Chapter 16

The Making of Lord Harry James Potter Part 3

Harry was shocked. Not the normal something life shattering has happened but my world has disappeared shocked. He could not believe what he was hearing. More than that, he could not believe what Merlin was saying.

His shock turned to dismay and his dismay turned to anger and then his anger turned into rage; hot white seething rage.

Merlin was amazed at the power which was flowing out of his grandson. His counterpart in the Gringotts vault had told him of the maximum aura Harry had achieved was Golden. That's why the ritual had ended and also that his normal aura was red until, during the meeting, it suddenly turned into blue.

Now, as he saw the aura around Harry, it had turned from blue to red for a split second and then in a very rapid succession it moved from red to blue, then to dark blue and now it was a very bright purple with flecks of gold in it. The presence of a purple aura meant that the wizard was of mage caliber. Golden aura was unique in itself and signified the being as high lord of magic, or high mage as they were sometimes called. There have been so few of them, that this knowledge was mostly lost in archaic tomes and scrolls.

Merlin began to wonder just really how powerful Harry was. Then for a brief moment, a slight golden glow came out and Harry potter, the boy who lived had passed out.

Lily was inside Harry's mind and crying. She had been with Harry now for several years and had grown even fonder him. As she had no life of her own, she lived with her son, in her son. Slowly, she decided, if it meant that she had to die for her son to live, she would die. Now the only problem was that the spell she had cast had bound both of them. At the time she had created her spells, she had ended up with a single transfer only spell. Now she was so closely bound with Harry's mind and soul that if she were to be extracted now, both of them would surely die.

Then she felt a power surge pass thru. Inside she could see the Harry's core becoming larger and brighter. More than that, the channels thru which the magic moved about the body began to enlarge to accommodate such a flow. She saw how beautiful the magic looked. It grew brighter and brighter. It was like a symphony. She could almost see the underlying magic. Then there was a huge explosion of light, as the growth in release of magic far exceeded the growth in magic itself. Soon the body could not cope up and nearly instantaneously, everything blacked out.

Sheila, John Lovegood's secretary, in the meantime was trying to get thru to her erstwhile employer. News is a very dynamic business and a split second decision can make a difference between a scoop and a bust. Hence, John had a charmed watch. Through this, he kept in touch with the few key employees at his office.

At the moment, he was in the mountains at the Alps. His daughter, Luna was very fond of the muggle sport of skiing. And she was damn good at it. He glanced at her from the sidelines as he saw her exhilaration. Her eyes were alive. She normally wore a very blank and lost expression. It was a façade.

She was a brilliant girl and normally far ahead of her peers. It was just that he had made her promise to downplay her intelligence and power. As the owner of a newspaper, he was under a threat as is. He did not want his daughter to become a target because of her unusually high intelligence.

She had told him that the sorting hat had wanted to put her in Gryffindor but she had asked it to put her in Hufflepuff. She wanted to be nondescript. It was not to be. In the end, they had settled for Ravenclaw. Considering her intelligence, it was probably ok. Still, respecting her promise, she had shown herself to be a lot less than she was. She was far more mature than he had been at her age. He loved her.

Lost in his muses, he was surprised out of his wits as somebody barreled straight into him. He lost his footing and fell in the snow. As he looked up, he saw the most beautiful smile on the most beautiful person he knew, his daughter.

"Hi dad! You lost or something. I have been waving at you trying to get your attention for so long." She went on in the flow as most teenagers did when they are excited. She was having the time of her life.

John got up slowly, wiping off the snow from his overcoat. He pretended to be angry with her daughter. Luna, who saw the ploy before it even came out, kissed him on his nose (she had done that since she was a kid) and said, "Come on dad! Don't be a fuddy-duddy. Join me. Remember, it was you who taught me." Smiling, he got up. He could never fool her. He was just about to put on his skis when he heard a faint vibration in his wrist.

He saw the face of his secretary Sheila and then took out a muggle cell phone look alike and started to talk to her. No one would have looked at him and thought that he was anything but a high class business executive.

Queen Trastek was amazed as she saw a magical scroll appear in front of her bearing the Merlin's magical seal. She was astonished. She opened and read thru. Taking it as gospel, she immediately called her assistants and the goblin high council. Ten minutes later, offer to several magical as well as muggle scholars as well as people of very high caliber in all the fields of knowledge. These people were from all races of magical beings, a few of them being wizards. A few of them were muggle scholars, a few were experts in the magical fighting, and a few of them were even political specialists.

Money was not an object and hence, neither were the people. The wheels of fate had started rolling.

Slowly, Harry opened his eyes and saw a very worried Merlin pacing about on his vigil. His whole body was aching. He was discovering muscles he never knew existed. Hell, he was inventing muscles to bear more pain than ever. Suddenly, as Merlin saw Harry wake up, he came and sat on a chair facing him.

"Hello Harry. You must really get out of the habit of passing out. You had so much magic pouring out of you that even these ancient wards were recharged. All of us were supposed to recharge in a couple of months. It will be now couple of years before we need to do it. All the phoenixes thank you. It's a draining affair."

Harry saw thru the obvious ploy to some levity. He had matured a lot during his time with his mother. At long last, he had been a kid. Hence, he was now a man. But he appreciated the thought none the less.

"You are welcome grandpa. But I don't think we should get off the topic. I think you were trying to suggest something." Harry said in a serious tone. Harry's artificial calm was meant to hide his underlying anger, but it didn't fool Merlin for a second. He knew it was not a joking matter. He bowed his head and kept silent. For the love of all gods, he had no idea how to come up straight and tell a son that if you wish to survive, your mother needs to die. Had it been just Harry's life, he would have done nothing. But the fate of all magical beings was depending upon what Harry chose.

Thinking of a way out, he said, "I think we should speak with your mom present. What do you think?" Harry nodded and closed his eyes. A split second later, they were looking at a much harried looking lily. Several papers were in the trash bin. Several more were on the floor besides. She had numerous tomes in front of her. She was busy scribbling. For the first time, if you forget the time that she was sleeping, lily didn't even realize that she had visitors.

Both of them waited for a few minutes, awaiting her to look at him. But it didn't happen. Harry looked up the pages and he saw several arthimancy equations and recognized a few of them. They looked very similar to the matris munus or mother's gift. That's what they had decided to name the spell she had come up with. As he saw the equations, he was horrified. He recognized them for what they were. It was an attempt to release Lily's soul from his body without any side effects. They both knew that they were too closely linked now, nearly impossible. Hence, he snatched the papers from his mother and in less than a heartbeat, had incinerated them. Lily, totally taken aback, shot up as she saw all her work of the last several weeks go up in flame. Fueled by anger and rage, she turned to Harry. Her eyes were like two burning suns and before anybody realized something slapped Harry right across the face with all the might that she had.

A sharp crack rebounded off the walls.

Both Luna and her father were back in their cabin. John had just finished speaking with Rita Skeeter. Luna knew about Rita from several discussions amongst Hermione and Ron. Both of them believed Luna to be lost in her own world and several times had spoken of how Hermione had had her put in a museum for a year in an unbreakable jar.

She knew about a lot of things that went on. Because of the reputation she had inculcated, people didn't stop talking about their secrets if she entered the room. Everybody thought of her as loony Lovegood, even Hermione. The only exception to this rule was Harry Potter. When she had first gotten into Hogwarts, a year behind the boy-who-lived, she had rued the day. She was sure that he would be some spoilt brat, who thought himself a bit too important. Her opinion wasn't been far different from Snape's.

But over the years, she had seen that he was a shy boy, maturing quickly into a fine young man. By the accounts she had overheard, she knew that he had a very bad childhood. His bravery, his selflessness and his righteousness was not difficult to find. If everybody chose to be blind, she wasn't the doctor. She had heard about the incident of the Sorcerer's Stone. Then next year, he had saved Ginny's life. The year after that, there was that strange business about the Dementors and Sirius Black followed immediately by the Tri-Wizard tournament. And last, but not the least, the DA and the DOM.

The only reason she had joined the DA was because she had come to respect Harry Potter and if she was being honest with herself, she had a little crush on him as well. The most important thing for her was that Harry, never once, had treated her as Loony. He always had treated her as an equal. He had always treated her as Luna.

Now as she heard all the news that Rita gave her father, her mind was made up. If Harry could be helped, she would make sure he gets it. She owed it to him, whether he knew it or not. Then she started to think about several possibilities and a million scenarios flashed thru her mind.

John looked back from the floo and saw his daughter lost in thought. He was an intelligent man and had known about the crush his daughter secretly carried. He was sure it would be an interesting summer.

Voldemort had been very busy looking through his library. He had been able to find something references to the disembodiment phenomena in some ancient texts. But nothing he could find had a close enough parallel with what he had experienced. The limbo, he had been stuck in was shown as a kind of personal space, a place where the soul could be trapped. Every one had his own magical signature and everybody had its own space. If one was to die, this is the place from where the next journey starts. No-one had ever returned from this place on its own. Some had been sent back by some higher power, but this information was so old and archaic, he did not know how accurate it was.

More than that, he wanted to rule and to take revenge on the world. If he got someone even more powerful than him involved, he wasn't sure if that somebody would help him achieve his destiny or took it away after he had won with his help.

He had to find more answers. He was getting frustrated.

Harry felt the sting on his left cheek. He could have been furious for being hit. He didn't know of a single person he knew, who was of his age and wouldn't be furious at being physically hit. He, on the other hand, was not. He felt a lot of love for his mother, possibly even more than he had felt before. He had recognized where that equation was going to lead. His mother was sure a brilliant witch.

It was the golden rule of all magic. Everything had a polar opposite. If there was somebody light, there had to be someone as dark. If a thing was good, there had to be something bad. If there was harmony, there had to be chaos and if something could be done, there had to be a way for it to be undone.

It was the theory of balance.

And his mother was working on undoing the charm and releasing herself from him. She must have heard his discussion with Merlin.

Slowly, his tears began to flow, just as her mother's were flowing out. He stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, "I can't loose you, I won't loose you" repeating this mantra, they both cried their hearts out.

Merlin was standing, his own eyes not bereft of tears. Everyday he spent with his grandson made him even prouder of him. He had never seen a soul so powerful, but at the same time, so caring, so loving, so selfless, so human... He had run out if adjectives to describe his grandson. He too stepped forward and put his hand over both of them and he too cried.

Sometime later, when all of them had calmed down, they all sat down next to a very comforting fireplace. They were sipping earl grey with lime. Before anyone could say a thing, Harry took the initiative and looked squarely into his mother's eyes. He said "Mom, why do you think I want to fight with Voldemort? I can promise you that a few days ago, when I found out I had you, I had nearly forgotten about all my thirst for revenge.

Lily looked blankly. Though she knew the answer, she did not want to accept it.

"I want to fight Voldemort because he would hurt the ones I love. I really don't care much about the Wizarding world. Most of them are bigoted fools who have done nothing but to idolize the boy-who-lived one second and trample me under their feet the next. To some I am just a weapon. To others, I am somebody who is the reason they are not on the top of the world. I know and understand that ninety nine percent of the population is not involved. But let me assure you that they would not be much affected either way. Tom wants to rule, to have his superiority not only be accepted but to be hailed for it. He won't kill if he wins. It will be autocracy, "total control by the elite." But believe me, its not so different out there now."

"The way fudge is controlling all and flouting his own laws, believing every verbal diarrhea out of his mouth is the word of law. You tell me, what is different from the way it's going to be, nada."

"I have heard people talk about pure blood superiority and that's what every death eater talks about. Tom is an intelligent wizard, nearly a genius. You don't get to be the most feared dark lord without lots of brains and guts. I think all of the purebloods are going to be in for a shocker when tom finally wins."

"So you tell me one thing, one reason I would even risk loosing my mother. I don't mind fighting for the right thing. I don't even mind risking my life for it. But I draw the line at risking the lives of my friends and family, especially my mother"

Both, Merlin and lily, sat stumped. They had never heard Harry being so eloquent. Both there faces were beaming with pride. They might disagree with some of his deductions, but they definitely were impressed with his eloquence.

"When did you get so eloquent?" lily asked.

Harry flushed, then replied very slowly, "my three years with you weren't wasted. I had a lot of time to think. What did you think I thought of?"

"So we will never talk of this again. I am prepared to do anything else to make sure I win but we-will-never-talk-about-this-again" Harry stressed the last few words to make sure he was not misunderstood.

"So what is your plan?" he asked Merlin.

"The plan is pretty simple. I will join you everyday in your mind and train both of you in ancient magic for nearly 40 minutes real time. That's nearly I year. I will teach you how to control your mind and how to organize and guard it. It's far superior to anything modern day wizards know. This way, you will remember everything and comprehend everything. You will have a near photographic memory. But certain thing might still be out of your grasp because of… you know? Then, I hope to teach you everything I know.

Harry nodded, understanding what was being implied.

"Besides that, I have already organized several experts in several areas from muggle knowledge to obscure magics practiced by several magical species such as elves, vampires, trolls, goblins, phoenixes and some dragons as well. You will be trained in all kinds of fighting techniques, both muggle & magic, and a few special ones from me. And last but not the least, political science and history. You learn from other people's mistakes by learning history as well as the art of war. By the time we are finished, you will be educated and trained, you will be polished. I hope to make you fit for what destiny has in for you. You have been blessed with great power. I doubt that you will lead an ordinary one, how-much-ever you want it. This is my gift to you for missing all those Christmases and birthdays, for not rescuing you thru every second of hardship you had to face."

By the end of his statement, Merlin's voice was choked.

So for the next fourteen days, he toiled and worked. Merlin had forgotten to mention one small thing. He had improved the charm on the phoenix vault. Now every day spent inside was equivalent to 3 months.

And hence, Harry began his training. For the next three and half years (plus fourteen years of soul-time), he was trained in every way possible and more. His maturity had left everybody agape. Due to all his training, physical and mental, not many people could recognize him. He was now a comfortable 5'10'. His body was lithe like a gymnast, his reactions faster than ever, his mind was even faster than that. In true power, he had the potential to leave Merlin far behind. He no more needed spells and charms, wands nor staffs. He was magic. His thought was one. Strangest of all, his magic had found a depth so infinite, that sometimes it seemed it was almost sentient. Although he never got angry or burst in rage, still he got upset. But his magic never did what he wouldn't do if he was calm. It was a strange feeling. Merlin often thought privately that this was because his magic was even greater than his, probably as great as his own ancestor's was.

The goblins had been a bit hurt by Merlin's abandonment. He told them that he would tell them the real story someday soon.

Harry, with the help of Merlin and his mom, had now come into his own. So much so that with the help of goblins, several key initiatives had been taken. Several Media companies had been bought all over the world. Several think tanks of the best wizards and witches were being formed. Discreet control of several muggle companies had been taken as well.

He had started his own little special project with Fawkes help as well.

Today, he had completed his training. But he was a bit sad. Everybody who had trained him had been obliviated of their involvement. It was a part of their contract. Nearly 70 people had been paid a million galleons each or equivalent.

Though they would all be happy, Harry had been feeling alone. He had not seen any of his friends in the last several years.

Luna & John had been back for nearly ten days now. They had tried to search for Harry but he was nowhere to be found. Luna had a strange feeling that she would find Harry's clue at the very place he disappeared. So for the last week or so, she could be found at Gringotts at one pretence or the other.

Fates, with their love or disdain for Harry's life, interfered once again.

Due to the fact that she had been booted by Gringotts security yesterday, today she came as the real Luna, the Luna we have seen with her father. A very pretty, beautiful and intelligent Luna.

Harry was walking through the lobby to the small conclave with the portal. He had promised himself not to use the ring except in dire emergencies. So here he was, walking a mere space of nearly 20 meters across the lobby when he saw a very beautiful girl. She looked familiar and hence, cursing himself for not being more vigilant, he hurried up. He did not want anybody to recognize him when he somebody ran up behind him and caught his hand.

Due to all his training including the martial arts, both ancient & modern, he had all the reflexes befitting a master.

A split second later, Luna flew over him and landed on the floor with Harry looking straight into the most beautiful and sparkling blue eyes he had ever seen.

"Harry!" came a surprised as well as croaked voice.

Recognising the voice, Harry was equally incredulous "Luna!"

Authors Notes:

Come on y'all. Nobody has even come close. I am still waiting.

What's going to happen to lily?

gt

PS : this is post submission addition to an anonymous review I received.

I think his criticism deserves a response, so here it is:

dear anonymous fan

As far as the matter of Luna is concerned, you are absolutely correct. My mistake. It has been corrected. Ty.

Example 1 : " At long last, he had been a kid." : you are incorrect in your interpretation of my sentence. I mean exactly what I have written. Harry had never been a kid. Being a kid or a child is not a matter of physical age but it is usually a time when a person is most secure and without any worries or responsibilities. As far as Harry can remember, there had never been such a time. Now, with his mother, he had two things which make childhood a real childhood love and security. He had it now. Those three years they spent in soul-time, I consider that as his real childhood.

No person is complete without one and hence, my sentence.

Example 2: I completely agree and I have changed the line to the one you recommended. I hope you won't mind I didn't wait to ask your permission. First, it was your suggestion and secondly, I don't know how to contact you.

Example 3: I agree, it could have been better.

Example 4: correct again

Example 5: they thing being alluded to is the reason for the whole "Lily may have to die" she is sharing his resources. It was the main event at the end of chapter 15. you should have understood.

Example 6: No. I mean exactly what I wrote. Worked and Toiled are two very different things. Work implies doing an activity. Toiled implies working hard to do something. I stand by my words.

Example 7 : We are talking about magic. There are more things done in the realm of impossibility than not. Anyway, what I meant was that things which are not normally possible due to one thing or the other were also being done. Be it with aid of one impossibility or the other. This is important and you will find that to be important in coming chapters.

You recommend a good editor or a beta reader. I have been looking for one. Are you interested?

gt

PS again: if any of you want to criticise, if possible, dont leave anonymous mails. I appreciate all constructive criticisms. you should ask Shadowed Rains. He keeps me on my toes most of the times.