Harry Potter and the Guardians of Power
Usual Disclaimers apply, folks – but you know that don't you.
AN: Please review and thanks especially to those of you who have reviewed every chapter and added this story to your favorites list. Well I don't think I will have this done and posted in just a month. I started posting on October 12th and am posting this on November 10th. I think it will take more than 2 more days to finish the last 7 or 8 chapters, but not too long! Hang in there though, I won't quit and I like to update frequently. How about some suggestions for the next story? Author's page updated to answer some questions.
Chapter 16: Hogwarts: a History Begins
Merlin spent time over the next two days helping Harry construct his staff. Harry had used his earth elemental powers to 'carve' the holly into a beautiful shoulder high staff. The top had his golden griffin caught in the act of launching into flight, with the crystal from the lake under the front feet, the wings swept up and back in grace and power. The sides were carved with all of his animagus shapes intermingled with runes of power and strength. He had used fine sand and clear polish to make the wood glow with a lustrous silver white finish. It looked powerful even before the introduction of the magical cores. Harry shifted into the griffin, the phoenix, and the unicorn as Merlin chose the two feathers and the tail hair that would give the staff its magical core.
Harry laid his griffin feather next to his staff without them touching and, calling upon the element of air, he used its magic to insert the symbol of that power into the staff. Then he repeated it with his phoenix feather, and finally his unicorn hair. Each item glowed with energy and raw magic before seeming to sink into the holly, leaving no mark or blemish to show behind. Harry was exhausted before he picked up his staff in his right hand. A surge of power, similar but much stronger than the one in Ollivander's shop flowed through him; bathing each cell in his body with power. He felt as alive and empowered as he had when Severus had held him under the waterfall during the Purification Ritual.
He looked at his Master and found a wistful knowing look on his aged face. "I remember my staff bonding as if it was yesterday, young Harry. And I still can find no words to adequately describe the feelings. Now, go show Severus and then practice your forms, we will do no more work today."
Four days after they warded the castle, the first of the returning apprentices came back. The Founders and Merlin would use the next two weeks to train the apprentices on how to teach the younger grades and familiarize them with the new Hogwarts and how it would work. All apprentices would be a part of all four houses so that they could enter any common room and as such should be impartial in granting and subtracting points during their classes. But they would study and sleep in their own quarters as they had before the expansion of the castle.
As Harry lay in bed that night in his room in their quarters, he thought about the last few days and what he wanted to tell his friends. Severus had given him a journal shortly after his birthday and had Harry write to his friends every night about what he had done that day and anything he wanted to share with them so that he could remember everything when they returned home and it had helped lots, but he still missed them. Harry wrote to them of his elementals and his excitement at bonding with his staff. He figured his journal might be enough to keep Hermione too busy to ask him too many questions, at least he hoped it would be!
The following afternoon while Harry was working on learning to duel with his staff by dueling with Severus while Merlin watched and made suggestions, he felt an uncontrollable mental pull to return to their quarters that made him drop his staff. His momentary lack of concentration allowed Severus to clobber Harry in the left temple with his own staff before he could even realize the boy wasn't going to block the heavy blow. Harry dropped like a stone, bleeding and unconscious. Severus stood in shock at what he had done, ashen faced and trembling with horror. Merlin knelt beside the teen and ran his hands over Harry, a golden glow reaching from the palm of his hands to Harry's body.
"He has a fractured skull and a concussion, but he will be all right in a few days, Severus. Help me heal him and then you can return him to his room to rest. Severus, Severus, I need your assistance." He spoke sharply to gain the shocked man's attention.
"I hurt him, I promised I would never hurt him, I broke my promise. What have I done?"
Severus was speaking softly, almost to himself. He couldn't hear what the older wizard was saying to him, lost in the horror of what he had done.
"Severus, he will know it was an accident, that you did not do it deliberately! Now, pull yourself together, I need your help." Merlin was finally able to break through the man's distress.
"What do you need? Should I fetch Helga?"
"No, I shall be able to heal him. I just need you to hold him still and make sure he doesn't move his head while the magic heals the bones." Merlin spoke softly once more.
Severus nodded and knelt with a knee on either side of Harry' head. He took his son's head into his own long, tapered fingers and gently held the boy's head still. Harry tried to move from the tight, painful hold by squirming, but his father held him in an iron grip. Merlin called up his power, until he was glowing softly golden. He held his hands out, cupping the boy's head without actually touching it, and sent soft flows of magic into the wound on his temple.
Harry's body twisted and squirmed with the onslaught of power not his own, but his father's inflexible grasp held his head completely steady. It only took a few minutes until both men could see the indentation in the child's head flatten out and then return to the normal curve of his skull. The deep cut sealed itself and Harry's eyes fluttered open, to look straight into his father's nearly black eyes. Harry was shocked to see the depth of caring and love expressed there before he closed his eyes once more.
He roused once more to find his father tucking him into his own bed and struggled to sit up. Severus put a gentle hand against his chest and pushed him back into the soft pillows. "Harry, you need to take several potions and then you need to sleep." His voice cracked with emotion as he continued, "I'm so sorry child; I never meant to hurt you. Can you forgive me? Please?" Harry couldn't see Severus' face through his long black hair hanging in curtains, hiding his shamed and worried expression, but he could hear it in his quiet voice. Harry looked startled, "It wasn't your fault. I lost my concentration and dropped my staff. My phoenix is getting ready to hatch and she called to me. I need to hold her in my lap for her to hatch and bond. Can you hand her to me since I can't get up?" Harry softly ran his hand over Severus' arm in silent comfort and forgiveness.
Severus nodded and reached over beside the bed where a soft pillow cradled the glowing, very large egg. It felt even warmer to the touch than it had when Harry had shown it to him before, and it shuddered slightly in his grasp. He quickly handed it to Harry; it wouldn't do for him to be holding it when it hatched. It would bond with the person holding it; Harry had told them when he returned with it. He knew he would have to talk with Harry later about what had occurred this afternoon, but for now he would help Harry with the hatching phoenix.
Harry had just grasped the egg when it started to quiver and tremble even harder. A tiny crack appeared at the top with a tiny tip of black beak just visible. Harry soothed, "Come, Carus, you can do it. Keep chipping, I cannot help you; you must do this for yourself. Come on, my little girl, keep pecking."
Severus was quietly in awe, watching the boy encourage the tiny creature to break out of her shell. It took almost an hour and Harry never stopped talking comfortingly and encouragingly to the baby, even when Severus handed him several potions to swallow. Finally, she had a piece of shell broken big enough to climb out of. Harry carelessly put the eggshell aside, absent mindedly conjuring a soft woolen blanket to rub the new phoenix, which looked remarkably like a wet, plucked, overly large chick. He cuddled and caressed her, talking gently and soothingly to her. Severus carefully gathered each piece of the rare and costly phoenix shell, one of the rarest and most useful ingredients for very powerful healing potions before curiously asking Harry, "Did you name her Carus? I hear you calling her that. It seems to fit her you know."
"Yes, I did, it means my beloved in Latin and it is how I feel about her. I've felt a bond with her since the moment I first touched her shell when her mother pledged her to me. I thought about names that had to do with fire, like Fawkes, or lightening but they just didn't seem to be quite right. And then I thought, 'What can I name my beloved phoenix, and it just came to me, Carus." Harry noticed the protective way that Severus was cradling the eggshells in his hands. "I suppose those are very useful in healing potions? I've never heard you or Lord Sal speak about them though."
"That's because they are usually so rare as to be nonexistent. I've never come across the smallest piece of one, let alone a whole shell. This is worth more than a lifetime's wages as a Professor in our time. Since phoenixes live phenomenally long lives, a phoenix only has two or three eggs in her lifetime. It was a tremendous honor for that phoenix to give her egg to you. Of course, a single phoenix can have many 'masters' if you will during it's lifetime since wizards don't live as long as they do."
"Oh, so Professor Dumbledore hasn't had Fawkes since he was an egg?"
"No, he bonded with Professor Dumbledore shortly before the battle with Grindelwald, about 1938 I think. Albus defeated Grindelwald in 1945. I believe that Fawkes might be as old as Hogwarts, or even older. Since no one can talk to a phoenix, no one knows for sure. But records have shown that Fawkes had two or three other 'masters' over the years that we know of and probably more we know nothing about. Our first records of him are around the 1060's when he bonded with Galen when he became the second headmaster of Hogwarts after the death of Godric. But he was old even then. Though he does disappear for long periods of time and no one knows where he goes when he disappears at the death of his current bonded. I use the term 'master' very loosely. Most wizards would call Fawkes, Dumbledore's familiar; but I sometimes wonder if it should be the other way around. I don't think anyone can actually own or command a phoenix, they are too independent and intelligent to be owned by anyone."
"But Severus, I can talk to phoenixes. At least I talked with Carus's mother and now with Carus. I can talk to any species that is one of my forms, or even closely related to one of my forms. I can talk to a horse, because it's close to my unicorn, for instance. And I can talk to Artemus' dog, because he's close to my wolf. The dialect is a little different, but we can understand each other if we talk slowly."
"You can? That's phenomenal. Perhaps we can hear some of Fawke's stories. I know Albus swears that sometimes Fawkes can plant information into his mind, and I know he can read Fawkes' emotions pretty well, but I know he can't actually talk to him. Maybe we can get Fawkes to help set up Albus for a prank. Now, that would be fun!"
"What is it with you and pranks lately? I never thought you would be one to do jokes."
Harry asked curiously and a little surprised.
Well, you haven't been around the castle lately so you haven't seen it, but Godric, Sal and I have been pranking each other since Godric didn't tell me about Sal's lack in levitation skills."
"So what have you done to each other, fess up now!" Harry leaned forward in excitement. He continued to stroke the now sleeping baby wrapped in her blanket, warm in her beloved's arms.
Severus got a gleam in his eyes as he sat beside Harry after carefully sealing the eggshells into an unbreakable container he conjured and placed on Harry's nightstand. "Well, it all started after I got out of the infirmary. I figured that Godric had never heard of thong underwear. Well, he has now, and I understand that Rowena really liked them, I mean really liked them."
Harry and Severus spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and sharing the best pranks they had done or that had been done to them as well as the accident that had happened that afternoon. Severus was surprised to find out that none of Harry's jokes had been done in a malicious or hurtful manner, and almost all of them were against his friends and dorm mates, not others. Harry really never had been like James, he had been just too prejudiced and full of hatred to see it. It was also a relief to know that Harry really didn't blame him for the accident that afternoon and could even joke about it. He had dutifully promised to never undertake anything remotely dangerous again on a day that his phoenix egg was supposed to hatch and bond with him ever again.
His sleep that night had images of stones being laid upon stones, of towers rising into the sky, of generations of children running through the halls, eating meals, learning magic and through it all he heard the deep mellow voice of Hogwarts telling him the children would be safe, that she would keep them all safe until her Master Harry would return again. He awoke, refreshed with vague images that disappeared as soon as he sat up, but a feeling of deep love and safety that filled his soul.
Just hours later, two dark heads peered around a corner, watching as Godric and Sal walked through an invisible cloud, to emerge, dressed in pink robes, hair in braids and bows, holding hands while skipping in to breakfast in the Great Hall. They heard peals of laughter followed by twin bellows of outrage and decided maybe they weren't hungry after all as they ran back to their quarters, promising each other to replay this prank on the Weasley twins.
Over the next two weeks Harry gained much in strength, stamina, and grace after mastering his elementals and practicing in his animagus forms. He found he could now keep up with any of Godric's apprentices in physical endurance and dueling. And only Merlin, Godric and Severus could beat him in magical dueling or with staffs. He was just too fast and his elemental senses and enhanced physique made it impossible to sneak up on him. He had also diligently worked with Merlin and Artemus until he could send spells with either hand. He still preferred his right hand, but he had learned very early at the Dursleys how to use his left hand if his right hand was injured, and he thought, ruefully, at least one good thing came from his time there!
The remaining time had passed in a blurred haze of activities and last minute panics, but all was ready by the morning of October 1st. The students would be arriving all day as their parents brought them, but everyone was supposed to be there before the feast that was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. sharp. Harry was almost as excited as he was for his own sorting ceremony.
Rowena and Merlin had enchanted the ceiling into the familiar Great Hall, it looked so much like home that Harry expected Ron, Hermione and Ginny along with all of his other friends to come through the huge wooden entrance doors at any minute. He thought that even Colin Creevey would be welcome right about now! He knew Severus was almost expecting Albus Dumbledore to walk in and sit in the center of the staff table, just like he was. He had to admit he really didn't miss the Slytherins or Mister Filch, though!
All the parents were lining the walls, sitting at their own tables, looking variously proud, nervous, and just plain awe struck at the magnificence of Hogwarts. They would all be staying for several days in the castle to rest up before the long journeys back to their homes, and to help their student get all the supplies they needed for the year. Master Ollivander and his four sons were in the castle to fashion wands for each student who didn't have one, several seamstresses would be fashioning school robes, and there were many merchants there to sell parchment, quills and inks, school trunks, cauldrons and potion supplies, and anything else a student might need.
Harry was sitting at a table directly below the staff table, facing the student tables with the other fourteen apprentices waiting for Lady Rowena to bring in the new students. Lord Godric had been made Headmaster as neither Sal nor Helga wanted the paperwork or responsibility. Merlin had transformed into an older man that looked exactly like Professor Binns; but alive, of course. Harry had to keep from laughing every time he caught sight of the old wizard.
There was no sorting song from the hat, they hadn't managed to enchant it that far yet, but it was placed upon the head of each new student, all 304 of them, and they were quickly and quietly sorted into houses with the proud parents watching from the side tables. The sorting had started with upper years, a combined 5th, 6th, and 7th year category, since no one knew how much magical training any of them had had, so they would be eventually split up into different grades as they were evaluated. The first four grades would be split as normal; each child could be tutored by the apprentices, if necessary, to catch up. Slytherin had the fewest sorted into it with only 70 total students, Ravenclaw had 75, Gryffindor had 81, and Hufflepuff had the remaining 78. All together, the founders were pleased with the sorting.
The staff table was much fuller than Harry had ever seen it. Since most of the new students had no formal training in their magic, each class was to be much smaller and there was more than one teacher for each class as well as the apprentices. There were also more class offerings than Harry or Severus was used to. Harry wanted to take the one on Healing from Helga and he looked forward to the one that Rowena was going to teach on household spells; that would be dead useful, especially after he graduated. She and Merlin would also be teaching him spells used in the library, and doing research to find a way to stop Voldemort as well as return to their own time. Godric was continuing with physical fitness and fighting, as well as magical dueling.
Professor Snape would also be teaching dueling as well as several fascinating classes on just potion ingredients and how and why they were used in different potions. He expected his students to be able to develop their own potions by the end of the year.
Merlin would continue to train him on his elemental powers as well as the two of them working on defeating Voldemort and returning home. Merlin would shift himself into a duplicate of Professor Binns to teach History of Magic and Wizarding Traditions. Harry hoped he could keep from laughing as he was reminded of his only ghost teacher who was so boring he put Hermione to sleep. He also suspected that Divination with Lady Rowena would be much different than with Professor Trelawney!
They had a fellow named Professor Grey who would be teaching upper level transfiguration, and upper level charms would be taught by a witch named Professor Brookes. Harry wouldn't be taking any of their classes as he could already surpass both Godric and Rowena in those subjects. Harry would continue classes with a new professor in both ancient languages and Arithmancy, both of which he found fascinating, but he had not met those professors yet as they had not reached Hogwarts before the feast. But Lady Rowena would be teaching him how to design and combine spells which he was looking forward to. He would have formal potions classes with Lord Salazar, and of course, he and Severus would work together to develop a cure for Lycanthropy.
Lady Helga and Artemus would continue to teach Herbology, but Artemus would only teach his mind magic to a very select few that he and Merlin would choose.
He was certain even Hermione would look at his schedule as very demanding and he didn't want to hear what Ron would say about it! At least he was exempt from teaching any grade one to four classes like the other apprentices had to do. His schedule was just too full.
He was looking forward to teaching an early form of Quidditch to the students who wanted to learn it though. He mentally thanked Ron for having him practically memorize Quidditch through the Ages so he knew how the very first games were played! He really hated that they used a live bird called a golden snitch though. He knew that the early Quidditch players frequently killed the bird while catching it and it had been depleted to the point of extinction before being banned in favor of the modern metal one. He just hoped he could convince the students not to kill it, or maybe he could figure out how to conjure one just for the games. There would be no formal games though, just pick up ones for pleasure and practicing broomstick skills.
Harry spent part of the evening exploring and packing away some of the things he wouldn't need for a while in his new trunk that Severus had surprised him with that night. Severus had ordered two custom made trunks from the vendor before they came to the castle, they were an ordinary size, but each had three storage areas, and two actual rooms inside it, one a living quarters with two bedrooms, a library, and a bathing chamber; the last chamber would eventually become a training room, but would store all of their new belongings and anything else they had to take back with them to their own time. It shrank down to fit into a pocket easily and Severus had bought one for each of them. And they had only cost one galleon for the two of them! Godric was of course upset about the outrageous price that Severus had paid, but he didn't know that Severus had traveled back through time with about 65 galleons on him and even Harry had over 30!
A veritable fortune, Severus and Harry were looking to buy a piece of property before they left. Merlin was making inquiries into who owned the acreage that contained the 'Lake of the Innocents' to see if they could purchase it before they left. They had figured that would be the best way to make sure the lake survived clear until their age. They could leave money and instructions in Gringotts to have the property carefully managed during the intervening years.
As he went to sleep in the quarters that he shared with Severus after the sorting ceremony, he thought about all the things that had changed in his life in just over three short months. He hoped his friends hadn't given up on him, then with a glimmer of hope he remembered the guardian of the lake telling him that time passed much quicker in the past than in the future so maybe they were still thinking of him just like he was thinking of them.
Thinking about tomorrow reminded him there would be an exhibition of magical dueling between Severus and him, followed by one between Godric and Merlin after the evening meal. He had never seen them full out dueling, just teaching so he knew it would be fantastic. He knew he would lose to Severus, but he still looked forward to it. He went to sleep with a smile on his face and slept peacefully through the night, even looking forward to potion's class in the morning.
Harry sat in Master Severus' Theory of Potions Making class the next morning a full five minutes early. He had parchment and ink ready and his favorite quill shaped and sharpened. He really liked the new apprentice robes that Rowena had designed. The regular students had robes very similar to the ones he had seen for the last four and a half years, but the apprentices wore a robe that showed who their Master was and since Harry was Merlin's only apprentice, he was the only one who got to wear deep purple robes with the badge of Hogwarts on the left breast, gold embroidery proclaiming Apprentice Potter with Elemental Magic underneath, both written in delicate script, on his right chest. With his new tall and muscular frame; combined with his dark hair, now just past shoulder length and tied back into a short ponytail with a black silk tie, and glittering green eyes; he thought he looked rather dashing. And he liked being stared at in school for something he had actually done. None of that bloody 'boy–who-lived', or 'heir of Slytherin' or whatever the Daily Prophet had written about him. Here he was just Harry and everything he was known for, he had earned on his own merits.
The classroom had slowly filled up as Harry sat musing, until with a loud bell, the first class in Hogwarts history began. Master Severus swept into his classroom, with a patented swirl of black robes, strode briskly up to his desk and slapped his book down sharply with his trademark snarl firmly in place. Harry almost flashed back to his first ever class in potions, until he noticed the small smile on his father's face and a discreet wink when he turned in his direction.
Harry sighed and settled down to take notes. Severus had assumed that no one in the room knew anything about brewing potions and had started with the very basics, why you used a cauldron of a certain metal for certain ingredients, the difference between dicing and chopping and all of the other terms, why it made a difference if you stirred clockwise versus counter clockwise and many other things that Harry had never heard before and that finally made sense to him. He took so many notes, his hand was cramping around his quill, but he was excited to think he would finally understand what potion making was all about. Here was another book that needed to be written when he returned. Perhaps he could convince Severus to write this one!
After the others left the room, he went up to his father and congratulated him on a brilliant class. "Can we have a class like this for all the first years when we get home? I didn't know any of this stuff and I don't think many others do either, especially the muggle born or raised like me."
"I don't see why not, but I expect you will be teaching it next year if Albus has his way. I am certain you will be taking NEWTS after we return. I can't see Hogwarts curriculum being any more challenging than what you have already mastered here. Perhaps we can have you apprenticed to me when we return so you can remain living with your friends."
"I don't think I want to do that yet. Why don't we wait on anything like that until we defeat old Tom? If he thinks I'm still just a fifth year student, won't that give us an edge against him and particularly the death eaters?"
"Good point, Harry, perhaps we should. We will definitely need to keep your powers secret until we really prank Albus and all the other teachers first. I can't wait to get back at them for all the years of talking about me as if I couldn't hear them."
"Well, you did sort of act like an old bat you know." Harry offered.
"Well, perhaps I did, but we can still have fun while they don't know that we can do wandless, soundless magic, can't we son?" Harry didn't think that Severus' black eyes could twinkle, but they sure did. The two laughed and Harry headed off for his lessons with Merlin.
After dinner that evening, the tables were cleared, a rank of bleachers appeared on one side of the Great Hall and the students were directed to take seats. Harry noticed that the students didn't sit in any particular area, the four houses were intermingled. Maybe he could ease house rivalries when he returned, he liked sitting with anyone he choose for breakfast and lunch. Only dinner was required to be eaten at your house table.
Godric waved his wand and a dueling platform appeared down the middle of the room. He nodded at Harry, who raised his hands and made the air thicken stronger then transparent diamond would be to provide a shield to protect the students and the room from any stray spells. Harry waved his hand down his body and was dressed in black jeans and a form fitting deep purple turtleneck. He ignored the 'ahs' from the girls and the glares from the boys, and stood facing his father who was dressed in modern black dueling robes that he had conjured for himself. The robes currently available were too loose and were likely to trip you up or catch your wand; perhaps he could have the castle seamstresses design some for him Harry thought, though not in black.
Salazar called for quiet and announced the first duel between Master Severus and Apprentice Potter. He explained that in a formal duel such as this, each wizard would cast a spell and then wait until his opponent cast a spell before casting another one. There were to be no permanently crippling spells, and certainly no immediately lethal ones. Otherwise any spells could be used and any shields or defenses were allowed. The duel would begin at a wand spark from the judges and the apprentice was allowed the first spell against the Master.
Harry and Severus met in the middle, shook hands, turned and walked ten paces apart. They turned to face each other and bowed, then turned to the students and bowed, faced the judges, bowed a third time and waited. Godric raised his wand and shot a brilliant scarlet shower of sparks into the air. The duel was on.
Harry raised his right hand and cast a confundus against his father. At the same time, he raised an invisible air shield around himself with his left hand. Before his spell even reached half way across the platform, Severus had cast a slashing hex, stepped to his left to miss Harry's spell and jumped back to the right to miss Harry's next blasting curse. Harry just stood there as Severus' hex seemed to curve around him, deflected by the air itself. Severus sent to his son 'I think I'm in trouble now, aren't I?' Harry only smirked; he was getting very good at mimicking Severus' facial expressions.
The two settled down to serious dueling and the spells were flying so fast it was impossible to tell who's turn it was because they were both deflecting, dodging and casting at the same time. Harry had mastered the elegance and grace that were trademarks of Severus' dueling as he had developed physically and grown in confidence over the summer. It seemed the two were engaged in some macabre dance that only they knew the steps of. Of the adults watching the amazing display, only Merlin and Rowena seemed unsurprised. Merlin wasn't surprised because he worked so closely with Harry; and Rowena because she had seen Severus against the kidnappers. Neither man tired as they battled for over twenty-five minutes, but Severus was finally stunned when Harry threw a stunner with each hand at almost the same time, Severus ducked right to miss the first one cast and walked straight into the left hand one. As Harry enervated his father, the students and staff were giving him a loud round of applause and cheers. He offered a hand to Severus and gave him a brief hug and a big smile as he led the still slightly dazed man to their chairs at the judges' table.
Harry sat contentedly leaning against a mildly disgruntled father as the two of them enjoyed the duel between Godric and Merlin in his Professor Binns form. Merlin moved much as Severus had done, but with no where near the agility displayed by Harry. But he was almost 200 years older than the teen, wasn't that to be expected? Harry had a sneaky feeling though that Merlin was playing up a weakness that didn't exist! Godric had a lot of power behind his spells, but he was weaker with magical shields, relying on his physical prowess and swordsmanship skills to dodge most cast spells and hexes. Godric knew his grandfather was merely toying with him; he knew the old man could flatten him in a heartbeat if he used his elementals or his full potential. He suspected that Harry wasn't very far behind his Master and just lacked the years of experience to equal the old man's expertise.
After only ten minutes of dueling, he knew positively the old man had just been playing with him; to make him look good in front of the new students. Merlin nodded at him, letting him know it was over and let Godric's spell pass through his deliberately thin shield. He knew by the look in Harry's and Severus' eyes that they were cognizant of exactly what the old man had done too. He looked behind him at the judges table and saw the same mischievous glint and knew they were all aware of the falseness of his victory. Oh, well, he never would be able to beat his grandfather; he would never have the power available to an elemental mage!
School settled into a routine for Harry and Severus during the following weeks and months. Harry steadily progressed with his elemental studies and shape shifting until the week before Christmas, Merlin declared him ready to stop lessons, except for potions. He could now beat Godric and Severus in a two on one duel, only Merlin still gave him a difficult workout. He had reached the limits of all of his teachers, including Godric's sword fighting and physical combat.
He had grown to about six foot two, and filled out muscularly, particularly his shoulders and chest from the hours he had spent flying in his animagus forms. His legs were well shaped and muscled from running in all of his forms. His confidence and security in his own abilities had grown as well, he was finally able to put the Dursleys behind him and move on. His feelings of family and support from all of the Founders had given him the confidence to finally express his feelings and admit when he needed help or comforting. He could now tell someone he cared for them and even loved them without worrying if he would be rejected.
His friends and school mates would not recognize the confident, muscular, and happy Harry that strode through the castle, glacier phoenix on his left shoulder, power radiating off of him, and secure in his own abilities. And having Harry in his life, as well as the removal of the dark mark, had changed Severus Snape beyond recognition too. He had finally matured beyond the bitter and harsh man stuck in the torment of his school days. The pranking with the other founders had settled to a manageable amount and their days were filled with work, friends, and fun.
Harry was looking forward to Christmas with his new family. He had discovered a new hobby while researching books about the dragonfly in amber that the guardian of the lake had told him was the key to destroying Voldemort. They had not been able to find the solution yet and were still looking diligently but he had found several fascinating ways to work with both noble and base metals and gems.
Harry had discovered he could combine his elements of earth and fire, and use them to make beautiful gold and silver jewelry. He had even realized he could make gems by compressing elements from the earth, heated with his fire and finally formed finely shaped stones by compressing the air using his air elemental powers. He had worked hard on all of his presents using these secret talents. He had a necklace of topaz in the shape of Lady Helga's animagus form, a badger. He thought it fit her temperament very well, feisty and very protective of anyone she considered hers, especially four month old Deaglan.
Lady Rowena had an elegant eagle of gold with star sapphires for eyes. He had made a charm bracelet for Bella with a charm of everyone's primary animagus forms and a short dull practice sword of gold with a ruby in the handle for Galen. It had been much more difficult to decide on items for the men. He finally decided on rings for Artemus and Salazar, and arm bands for Merlin, Godric and his father.
Merlin had been able to help Severus transform into his magical animagus form, a Peruvian Viper Tooth Dragon. Severus was ecstatic and he and Harry had spent hours flying as dragon and griffon through the wilderness of the high mountains to the north of the castle. Since the viper tooth only reached a maximum of fifteen feet in length and Harry's griffon was the smallest variety, they could fly at the same speed for hours. Both men developed phenomenally strong shoulders and arms while soaring and competing in duels of aerial feats.
So Harry had made Severus an armband, with a viper tooth dragon facing a golden griffon with a beautiful emerald stone between them, out of platinum, Merlin had one of his golden lion and his Pegasus forms with a brilliant ruby in the center, and Godric's had his griffin and his lion forms with a square cut ruby in shining gold. Salazar's ring was his winged snake chasing its own tail to form the ring, and Artemus' ring was decorated with his red fox and his niffler both sniffing a white diamond. It had taken Harry weeks to complete all the presents, but he was pleased with how they had all come out and hoped everyone liked them. He had also taken the time to design jewelry for everyone back home that he would continue to make whenever he had any free time.
They had used Arithmancy to determine that he and Severus would only be able to travel home on two dates each year, winter solstice and summer solstice. Winter solstice was in two days and they hadn't yet discovered the secret to Voldemort's downfall, so they were all aiming for summer solstice on June 21. They would have been in the past exactly one year then. Harry worried for all his friends back home, but there was not much he could do, and he took comfort in knowing that time didn't flow at the same rate in the two places. Through meticulous study of the stars, followed by a trip back to the meadow that Severus and Harry had materialized in, they found that they had appeared in the exact geographical location that they had disappeared from and the return trip would be the same, so they did not want to be in the meadow location to return, but rather wanted to return to Hogwart's castle directly in the room they would depart from. Everyone felt the best place to transfer from past to future would be in the middle of the Great Hall since that was the biggest open space. It would be like apparition in that they would be unable to materialize in a space that contained another person or object; the transfer energy would slightly shift until the area was clear so they would be safe in their landing.
Christmas at Hogwarts had always been one of Harry's favorite times, but this Christmas with the Founders and Severus was the best he had ever had. The students didn't leave because of the travel time without the Hogwart's Express, but they had no lessons for a full week. They had snowball fights and snowman building competitions; they flew over the lake and then drank gallons of warm butter beer and hot chocolate. They had chess tournaments and played charades. Each house was open to the other houses and the feeling in the castle was even more magical than normal.
The Christmas feast in the Great Hall rivaled any that Harry had ever been to, the house elves that had been rescued from living in the forest, were so happy to be serving and safe once again that they outdid themselves. Harry didn't think he would ever be hungry again, but he surprised himself by nibbling on the food set out in Merlin's chambers as the family celebrated quietly that evening, before morphing into a child to play with Galen and Bella the way he did most evenings.
Everyone had 'ohhed' and 'ahhed' over the presents that Harry had made, and he was quite pleased with everything he had received. He couldn't wait to read the several books he had received; wear the new purple with black trim dueling robes that Godric and Rowena had given him, try out the sword from Merlin, and wear the whole new wardrobe from his father, Sal and Helga. They had noticed his clothing no longer fit and charms that made his clothes fit worked, but were not the most comfortable or long lasting.
He was sitting next to Severus on the couch in front of the fire, idly looking at the dragonfly trapped forever within the amber. He sat up suddenly, dumping Carus off his shoulder where she had been comfortably dozing and exclaimed, "What if we have been looking for something too difficult, and what if the answer is incredibly simple? Maybe we simply trap Voldemort in a piece of amber, like this dragonfly. He would still exist but could never be released. Or maybe not amber, which would melt in a high enough heat, but we encase him in granite, like the stones at Stonehenge?"
Severus looked excited, "Maybe that would work. We have been looking to destroy him but we haven't found anything reliable to keep him from just coming back. So we don't destroy him, we just trap him forever? That might work, especially if the stone was then magically bound to exist forever."
All lethargy from the meal and fire disappeared as the entire group began discussing Harry's idea. It would take some work to develop the spells, but for the first time they were certain they would solve the problem once and for all.
Several months passed while Merlin, Rowena, and Harry worked to find a way to trap Voldemort in granite. Harry could cast granite at him, just as he had done with his kidnapper, but it took way too much time and he would be vulnerable to attack by the other death eaters the whole time. Or he could disable Voldemort, or his death eaters, but not do both at once. They had set up the 'Come and Go Room' that Harry would later use as the 'Room of Requirement' for his DA meetings to test all their theories, but so far they were unable to accomplish all three goals at once. In frustration one day, Harry called upon Severus to help. "Look, your viper tail dragon is poisonous, how about you bite Voldemort while I stun his death eaters, then I'll cast him into granite. I know that youcan't kill him, but that should keep him out of my way long enough to stun everyone else and give me time to seal him into stone."
Severus looked at him in astonishment, "It might work, and if you flash us in as a phoenix, especially if we catch him during the daytime when there will be very few others in the manor, I could bite him and then transform and help you stun the others to give you time enough to seal up the bastard. The stone will break the binding on the dark mark; I think that will kill or at least severely disable all those who are marked and then we can cast spells that will seal the stone forever and move it to Stonehenge. If you make it look like one of the stones already there and replace that one with the new one, no one will ever notice. And Stonehenge is protected so no one will ever disturb the standing stone you place there!"
Plans were quickly postulated, modified and solidified. They ran through different scenarios and battle plans for the next few weeks until they finally were successful with each trial run in the room.
It had taken them until the middle of April to successfully work out all the glitches in the plan to destroy Voldemort in a way that he would never be able to return. Salazar tested the magical poison in Severus' Peruvian viper tail and discovered that while it would not 'kill' Voldemort, it would degrade the magical core that made up the wizard so that after a hundred years or so, there would not be enough magic left for anything to be reborn even if they managed to break through Harry's granite casting. Harry's final worry was laid to rest with that discovery. He had been afraid that Voldemort would somehow find a way to be reborn.
The group now focused on how to get Harry and Severus back to their own time. They had all been working on it before, but the primary focus had been on defeating the evil one. After all, it would have done no good to return if they hadn't discovered a way to help Harry fulfill his destiny.
With only nine weeks left until summer solstice, the group went to work with frenetic passion to once again solve a puzzle.
Next: Chapter 17: Christmas Eve 1996 Probably by this weekend at the latest. Thanks for continuing to read and review.