Disclaimer:
J.K. Rowling is the owner of Harry Potter. Stories she has written and characters that she created are not mine. I don't take credit for any of her work. I do thank her for providing such a wonderful universe to dream about and write in.
Harry Potter and the Shadow of Evil
By: Starwin
PLEASE NOTE -- THIS CHAPTER HAS CHANGED
As of June 21, 2005. If you read it before that, please read it again because it is NOT THE SAME STORY. See author's notes
Chapter 18 – The Lost Chapter
The white flash of light subsided. Harry rubbed his eyes. They were outside someplace, he wasn't sure where. Everything seemed a bit blurry.
"HARRY!" Hermione cried. He felt her arms wrap around his body crushing him against her. She pulled back to look at him, there was a very wide smile across her face and she was positively glowing.
"I'm glad you're okay," Harry said uneasily. Even though he was happy to see her, he wasn't. He couldn't explain it but he felt as though he had lost something. He felt detached. Harry looked around. "Where are we?"
It was a strange setting, the sky was nearly cloudless and the stars glinted like tiny jewels. Around them was an odd assortment of stones. Some were connected like archways, while others stood alone. They seemed to be sitting in the middle of some kind of giant stone ring on a circular piece of flooring that looked like it belonged inside a hospital.
"Stonehenge," Solaris said. Solaris was resting heavily against a rock a few paces away. He looked very tired and his voice sounded forced.
Harry had heard of Stonehenge. It was some kind of strange gathering of rocks. But muggles only speculated about its meaning and Harry hadn't any real interest in it. It was just a trivial fact in the back of his head.
"Are we really?" Hermione stood and turned in a circle looking at the rocks around them. As she did Harry could see her naked backside and he felt uneasy.
"Uh, Hermione," Harry said. "Your robe doesn't…err cover you very well." Hermione clasped her hands over her butt, turned away from Harry and quickly sat back down. Her face was very red and her eyes were very large. "Here," Harry said pulling his robe off. He always had a school uniform on underneath and today was no exception. Hermione took the robe with a grateful nod and pulled it around her.
"I can't believe we are really at Stonehenge," Hermione said. The overwhelming urge to explore caused her to stand again. Even though it was night, the stones were visible under the starlight. Harry looked over at Solaris. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be asleep.
"Solaris, are you okay?" Harry asked moving over to him while Hermione wandered off.
"Just tired," Solaris said heavily not opening his eyes. Harry stood and moved over to Hermione who was admiring one of the larger stones that stood alone.
"Its amazing isn't it," Hermione said running a hand along the rock. "More than 5000 years old and even wizards don't know why it was built here or even why it was built at all! Well there's speculation of course, there always is with something like this. But I don't remember it having so many stones the last time I was here. Of course I wasn't allowed to come inside, they have it all fenced off."
"Yeah," Harry said dully, looking back at Solaris with unease. "But what are we doing here?" Harry asked.
"Well, that I don't know," Hermione said following Harry's eyes over to Solaris. "Is he alright?"
"I don't think so," Harry said. The two of them moved back over to Solaris.
"Professor, are you alright?" Hermione asked kneeling next to him. Solaris didn't answer. Hermione looked over at Harry who shrugged. "Professor," Hermione tried again putting her hand on his chest and shaking him.
Solaris's hand suddenly snapped up and grabbed her wrist. His eyes had surprise in them and… fear? The emotion faded. Solaris released his grip on Hermione and leaned back against the rock.
"I am sorry," Solaris said uneasily. "The trip here was most difficult."
"How exactly did we get here?" Hermione asked. "We couldn't have apperated, and you couldn't have made a port key."
"Why not?" Harry asked. That was what he had been thinking. Harry had seen Dumbledore make port keys before to get around anti-apperation wards.
"Because," Hermione said, "You can only make a port key out of a magically protected area if you were someone who helped protected it. Honestly, you should read…"
"Hogwarts, a history," Harry said along with Hermione. She looked surprised but smiled at him. "If you keep saying that, maybe one day I will read it and then you won't be able to correct me every time." Harry teased. For a brief instant it had felt good and he had felt happy. But the instant faded and he felt horrible inside. "Sorry."
"You don't need to apologize, I thought it was funny," Hermione said with a smile. "But Professor," Hermione said returning her attention back to Solaris, "how…" Solaris' eyes were closed again and he apparently hadn't been listening to them.
"Maybe we should let him rest," Harry said. Hermione nodded and started to stand. Harry rose to his feet but Hermione had knelt back down next to Solaris and was looking at something. "What?" Harry asked when Hermione did not move.
There was a second's pause and then Hermione lifted something in both hands and moved over to Harry. It was the round stone Harry had seen Solaris use back in the hospital.
"Harry," Hermione breathed as she looked intently at the stone. "I don't believe it! Do you know what this is?"
"Uh, a port key?" Harry ventured.
"No, well yes, it is port key," Hermione said shaking her head. "It's the port key we used back on Avalon." Hermione said turning round stone to examine it closer. "Solaris must have brought it with him on the night we left, but I don't see why it took us here.
"Maybe it's not just a port key, it must be a Tepex Stone." She said it like the words were earth moving. Hermione glanced over at Harry correctly interpreting his blank expression. "A Tepex Stone is a port key that can take you to lots of different places. I read all about them when I was researching N.E.W.T. spells. Port keys, are of course, well beyond the N.E.W.T requirements, but it never hurts to be prepared."
"Hang on," Harry said, "last time you said it was cry-something."
"Crypto-nix," Hermione corrected. "A crypto-nix is a puzzle spell, the stone was hidden inside." Hermione said matter-of-factly. Harry shook his head still having no idea what she was talking about. Hermione raised her voice and moved closer to draw Harry attention back. "Anyway, the runes along the outside act like a sort of phone dial, by pressing them in a certain order you can go many different places. Solaris must have hit the symbols to bring us to Stonehenge. "
"That's great," Harry said. "But how do we get it to take us to Hogwarts?" The air was starting to get cold now that Harry had given up his robe. He was also starting to feel tired.
"Well we just need to know the number for Hogwarts, I guess," Hermione said. "There're 14 symbols on the stone representing letters, and seven symbols representing numbers. If an address can be any non-repeating combination from one to twenty 21 characters in length then…" Hermione closed her eyes her lips moving and counting. "Well, a very large amount of combinations."
"I saw Solaris press six different symbols," Harry said. "I think the first one was this." Harry pointed to the top most symbol.
"That's the Ree," Hermione said, "The fourth letter in the alphabet but it could also mean earth or hills. In this context though, because the alphabet is in order I assume it just means Ree. You didn't happen to see any of the other symbols he pressed?" Harry looked over the stone. They all looked pretty much the same to him.
"No," Harry said.
"I don't think we should try and push things at random," Hermione said. "We might be taken some place we don't want to be." Harry yawned. The grip of sleep was taking him in.
"What if we pushed all the symbols, wouldn't that take us back to Avalon?" Harry asked. His eyes felt heavy.
"Hmmm, maybe," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"It's better than freezing out here isn't it?" Harry asked. Hermione looked at the stone and finally nodded.
"Alright, let's give it a try." Hermione said. "Let's move over by Solaris so that we take him with us." They moved next to Solaris and knelt. Harry took hold of the stone with one hand and Solaris with the other.
"Right," Harry said nodding.
"Right," Hermione replied. She took a deep breath and began to push the rune symbols along the outside in order. As she touched them the runes began to glow, and they remained lit even after her finger moved on.
Her finger hovered over the last rune. Harry nodded. Hermione pressed the rune and… the glow vanished. There was a long moment of pause but nothing happened.
"Didn't we need some kind of password or something last time?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded uncertainly. Again she pressed all the runes in order and said "Excalibur," after pressing the last rune. As before the glow vanished and nothing happened.
"Maybe it only works on Avalon?" Hermione asked looking up at Harry.
"We'd best find a place to stay for the night," Harry said with a shiver. "It really is getting cold. It feels like it the middle of winter instead of the end of summer." He looked around wondering how far away the nearest town was, or even if one was nearby at all.
"We can't stay here in any case," Hermione said. "Maybe we can find someone at the visitor center!"
Harry was about to agree when the sound of voices broke the night air.
"It came from here, I'm sure of it!" said the voice. Harry and Hermione froze. Had someone heard them? What if it was muggle policemen coming to arrest them?
"Come on we have to hide," Harry said taking one of Solaris's arms. The two of them dragged him into the shelter of a nearby arch. Harry crouched down against the stone watching for the people that had been speaking.
Light appeared under one of the arches on the other side of the stone ring. For a moment Harry wasn't entirely sure what he was seeing. A man with a shining silver hat was holding a burning torch in one hand and in the other a long metal spear. He was draped in a red and gold tabard. Metal chain mesh ran down his arms and legs.
Harry crouched lower. A second man appeared, almost the same except he did not have a torch.
"I'm telling you it was a flash of light as bright as the sun," the man with the torch said. He held it out illuminating the circle. Harry held very still hoping they wouldn't spot him.
"I see nothing here. Perhaps it fled at our approach. Come, we must report back to Master Merlin," the other man said. Harry was sure he was hearing things. None of this could be real. Somehow he had gone mad. The two men turned and the light faded after them.
"Harry," Hermione whispered loudly as she clutched his arm. He had forgotten she was there. "Did you see them, did you hear them, Merlin!" Harry was nodding. His brain had already figured it out but hadn't let him in on the joke yet. "We were wrong, it's not were we are it's when. Ohhh, Harry this is bad. We can't be here, we shouldn't be here, it's against the law to change the past."
"But we don't have any other options," Harry said. "We have to see Merlin. If we are stuck in the past he is probably the only person that can get us home."
"What should we do about Solaris?" Hermione asked. "I mean we can't take him with us."
"He should be okay if we leave him here," Harry said. "We shouldn't be gone too long." Hermione's eyes looked pained but she nodded. Harry stood and followed after the two men as fast as was possible without making a noise.
The archway on the other side was like a tunnel. Many stones sat together creating a passage. When they emerged out the other side Harry knew they would have no problem finding where the men were headed. A huge encampment of tents lay stretched across the grassy fields. Torches burned brightly and Harry could make out many, many soldiers.
"I really don't think this is a good idea," Hermione said.
"Well," Harry said, "at least we aren't breaking any law. It hasn't been passed yet." Harry was sure he could hear Hermione pursing her lips behind him.
Moving slowly towards the encampment Harry was trying to think of words to say. Nothing was coming. Everything sounded stupid or insane. They just had to find Merlin quickly and see if he knew how to get them home.
"HALT!" Shouted a voice from behind Harry and Hermione. Before Harry had time to react spears had come down around them. Harry stood very still as the razor tips hovered only a foot from his face. Harry felt Hermione clinging against his arm. "Identify yourselves!"
"Um," Harry said he couldn't take his mind off the spear pointed at him. Nothing was coming, his brain had frozen.
"We've come to see Merlin! We're wizards like him!" Hermione cried. The spears did not move away, nor did they advance. There was a long unpleasant silence. Harry was starting to have a bad feeling about this idea.
"Stand aside, stand aside now!" said a gruff voice. A large man, who was missing an eye, made his way between the soldiers surrounding Harry and Hermione. The spears parted just enough to let him stand toe to toe with Harry.
He was a monster of a man, huge in every respect of the word. A shaggy black beard clung to his chin and there was a hint of grey at its edges. A large hideous scar ran down his face obscured only by an eye patch. For some reason Harry thought this man looked very familiar.
"There not but children!" The man said looking down at Harry and Hermione. "Away, this is no place for you." For some reason Harry felt angry. He wasn't a child.
"We've come to see Merlin," Harry repeated. The large man did not move.
"Have you now," the large man said. "And what business do you have with him?"
"Please it's very important!" Hermione said franticly.
"I don't think they'll be any trouble," the large man muttered over his shoulder to someone behind him. "Best lock um up till we can figure out what ta do with em."
"Aye Captain!" the man replied. Harry felt his hands being pulled behind his back. Hermione let out a cry.
"Hermione!" Harry shouted. With a fast jerk Harry pulled himself free sending the soldier to the ground. Harry had enough time to pull his wand out and point it threateningly at the soldiers. "Back off all of you!" Harry said, his eyes aglow with rage. The soldiers took a step away as Harry pointed his wand at them. The one-eyed man did not move.
"Well, you've got some mighty fine fight in you," the large man said. "But yah need ta know when you're licked." Faster than Harry could comprehend, the large man's fist leapt out and struck him across the face. The spinning ground rushed up to met him.
---
Someone was talking distantly in a low voice. Harry's head was pounding. He felt like he had been hit full on in the face by a rogue bludger.
"Wake him," said a voice. Harry felt cold water crash against him. The stinging chilled him to the bone. His eyes snapped open. Harry struggled to reach for his pocket to get his wand but his hands were bound behind his back. He was sitting in a chair unable to stand. Harry balled his fist pulling hard at the ropes trying to break them.
"I told ya he got fight in him," said a gruff voice from next to Harry. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. Harry looked around. He was inside some kind of tent. There were four men standing around a table. Each had on a different color of plate armor. The man nearest to Harry was dressed in gold, on his side sat a sword that glowed with a light of its own. Hermione was not here.
"Where's my friend?" Harry snarled angrily, his eyes boring into the man in the gold armor.
"Hold your tongue," said the gruff voice. The hand on his shoulder squeezed hard. "You shalt not address the King of England with such disrespect." Harry felt surprise, 'the King of England?' It couldn't be...
"King Arthur?" Harry said looking at the man. His face was youthful with a strong chin. His eyes were blue like a cloudless sky. His brown hair had been cut very short to his head. The man seemed to glow. His very presence in the room drew eyes to him. This wasn't possible, how could he be sitting before King Arthur. Were had Solaris taken them to?
"You know my name, wizard," Arthur said. "However you have not told me yours."
"It's uh…" Harry thought, he didn't know anything about the laws of time. What if by telling his name he somehow caused himself not to be born, or something like that. "It's Harry," Harry said at last. He didn't see how making up a name would do any less harm.
"Well, Harry," Arthur said taking a step towards him, "how is it that you and your friend managed to find our camp?"
"You weren't exactly hard to miss," Harry said without thinking. "I mean you're a huge camp of tents sitting near Stonehenge." With lightning fast speed Arthur pulled his sword from his side and pointed the blade at Harry. The tip was only inches from his throat.
"You have no doubt heard of the magical sword Excalibur? Forged on the mystical island of Avalon, imbued with ancient magics." Arthur said. Harry looked down the long silver blade. He had seen this sword before, in Arthur's tomb on Avalon.
"Perhaps, you also have heard tell, that Excalibur can reveal falsehoods." Arthur said. "Speak, are you friend or foe." Harry looked into Arthur's eyes and without questioning his answer spoke.
"Friend," Harry said. The tip of the blade glowed with a white light. There was a long pause at last Arthur swung the sword away and returned it to his side.
"You speak the truth, Harry," Arthur said. "Release him, Hagar." Harry's head whirled on his shoulders looking up at the giant of a man standing next to him. In the light of the tent Harry was shocked. They didn't look exactly alike but there was a striking resemblance.
"Hagar?" Harry asked unable to stop himself as the ropes were cut from his hands, Harry rubbed his wrist. The name had flicked on a switch in Harry's head. The large man's one eye looked down at him.
"You've heard of me?" Hagar asked.
"Ah, yeah," Harry said, "sort of."
"Well on your feet then Harry," Hagar said lifting Harry from his chair and placing on his feet.
"I believe that this is yours," Arthur said picking Harry's wand up from the table handing it back to him.
"Uh, thanks?" Harry said confused. He couldn't believe that was it, a simple answer and he was no longer the enemy? Arthur smiled and chuckled.
"You must forgive my rudeness, but caution is best in these troubled times. Excalibur finds your heart to be trustworthy. If you had been dishonest it would have struck you down. So when you say you are friend I have no reason to doubt." Harry nodded.
"Uh, where is Hermione?" Harry asked. Arthur motioned to one of the men in behind him.
"Fetch the lady," Arthur said. "Your friend with be with us shortly. Best we knew your intentions first."
"The rest of you, leave us. I have words to speak that must be said in confidence." Arthur said looking at the others. They bowed and left. Hagar began to move with them. "Hagar, you may stay for your council may yet be needed this night.
"You claim that you are wizards and thus I ask for your help."
"My help?" Harry couldn't believe he had just heard that. They had come here to get help. "What can I do?"
"You know magic, do you not?" Arthur asked. Harry nodded. Arthur took a moment considering his next words carefully. "The things I am about to say must never be said again." Arthur waited for Harry to answer.
"Alright," Harry said. A feeling of unease had come over him. What if Arthur was going to ask him to fight? Harry knew it was a request he could never take on. He had to get out of here as soon as possible.
"Merlin has fallen ill," Arthur said. Harry could not believe what he had just heard. It wasn't possible! "He is dying. His magic cannot heal him, but there is something you do to restore him."
"I… I can't," Harry said. "I don't know any healing spells." Arthur nodded. He seemed to be expecting this.
"I do not ask healing magic of you, you're a wizard, not a cleric." Arthur said. The entrance to the tent parted and Arthur's hand came to rest on the hilt of his blade. Hermione appeared looking very windswept.
"Oh my god!" Hermione said coming to a halt her eyes on Arthur. "You're… you're…King Arthur!" Hermione said clapping her hands over her mouth.
"Lady wizard," Arthur said bowing his head slightly.
"Actually…uh I'm a witch," Hermione said automatically correcting him without thinking, surprise became evident in her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry." Hermione looked panicked.
"My mistake," Arthur said. "Please join us," Arthur held out his hand indicating that she should stand next to Harry. Hermione moved over, she took a long look at Hagar and then at Harry and finally her attention came to Arthur.
"We have traveled to this place, Stonehenge as you call it, because of an ancient legend known as the Fire of Life." Arthur motioned to the table. Upon it were strange objects and a roughly drawn map. Arthur pointed to a drawing that looked like a bunch of circles.
"It is said that the stone rings are the summoning location to beckon forth the Fire of Life. This ancient text tells of the ritual used," Arthur produced a very old piece of parchment. Harry did not recognize the language written upon it, except for one character… Ree. Harry couldn't believe it, the language was the same as one the round stone.
"Gather the tokens of life," Hermione said reading the parchment.
"The heart of the mountains, hidden underfoot.
The clouds of the sky that cover the mountains,
The breath of the earth that the moves the clouds,
New life unborn, that soars upon the breath.
That which turns life to ash.
A plume from the fire of life."
"Alas we have not found the last token," Arthur said motioning across the table. "Merlin said such words as you spoke now. I knew not what was meant by them but he asked of me to gather for him these objects." Harry looked at the things on the table. There was a brown leather bag, the kind used to hold money, a wooden bowl filled with water, a flute, an egg and two flat gray stones.
"Of course," Hermione said nodding. "Earth, water, wind… an egg… and fire." Harry looked at Hermione confused. "Oh, well, earth, water, wind and fire are the four elements that were thought to makeup the world centuries a… err rather that make up the world. I'm not sure what the egg means though. But we seem to be short one token, I mean these are only five objects and the list says six." Hermione read the last part again. "I'm not sure what it means, how do you take a plume of fire? And doesn't the line right before it seem to indicate fire too. You don't happen to know what it means?"
Arthur shook his head.
"Even Merlin did not know," Arthur said, "The full moon draws near its pinnacle if we cannot find the answer soon there may not be time to try again."
"This Fire of Life?" Hermione asked. "Do you know anything about it?" Arthur rubbed his chin.
"Not much I am afraid, Merlin is far wiser than I. If it were possible I would pray you ask him, but he is not fit for visitors. He spoke of a ring made of stones, built by ancient druids to summon forth the Fire of Life, but more than that I cannot say."
"I know a song written by druids," Hagar said speaking up. "Beggin your pardon, Sir." Hagar said bowing to Arthur. Arthur waved his hand for Hagar to continue. "My mum used to sing it to me but it's been a while since I've sung it myself." Hagar cleared his throat with a great cough and hummed trying to find the tune. Harry was mentally bracing himself for a horrible wailing of some kind but the song that followed was nothing of the sort.
A fallen star across the skies, the flame of life that never dies
A song to calm the heart of those who worry on and on
A strength to carry any man, to home
A fallen tear upon an open wound, will help the injured heal soon
A coat of red and gold that lights the fields around
A noble bird, we've found
A womb of stone we hence did make, so that this flame will never wake
A seal we placed upon the ring to close it for all time
A song we left, behind
Harry had never heard such a beautiful song before. He had expected Hagar's voice to be scratchy but the deep tones had given the melodies a lullaby like tone.
"A Phoenix," Hermione said excitedly.
"Yeah, aint it a lovely song, my mum had quite the voice, fraid I'm not as good. The Phoenix Lullaby," Hagar said wiping a tear from his eye.
"No I mean the song is talking about a Phoenix and a ring of stone," Hermione said. "You don't think that the 'Fire of Life' is a Phoenix, hidden inside Stonehenge?"
"It does kind of sounds that way," Harry said thinking the song over in his mind, "but that doesn't really bring us any closer to knowing what the last token is." 'Or finding a way to get home,' Harry thought to himself.
Hermione nodded thoughtfully. Hermione reread the parchment.
"A plume from the fire of life," Hermione said aloud. "If the fire of life is a phoenix, what's its plume?" Harry and Hermione looked at each other, it was the first time that both of the seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Not a plume of fire…" Harry said.
"A plume as in a feather, a Phoenix feather," Hermione said her eyes glowing.
"But, where do we get one of those?" Hagar asked.
Hermione grinned very widely at Harry, she knew exactly where they could find one.
---
King Arthur, Hagar, Harry, whose bottom was still sore from having a tail feather pulled, Hermione and a few knights stood around the inside of Stonehenge.
Hermione had placed the six objects in a circle on the linoleum flooring, the only place in the center of the circle that wasn't dirt. Hermione read the parchment again. There wasn't any magic chant or anything else to do but wait and hope something happened.
Harry could barely keep his eyes open. He didn't know what time it was but the bright moon in the sky seemed to make it seem like morning.
"Why does nothing happen?" Arthur asked Hermione quietly when they had waited more then an hour.
"Well, I'm not sure, it only says to place them in the center of the circle. There isn't any mention of what to do after that." Hermione said reading the paper again by wand light. Hermione flicked her wand again and the glow of the moon became the only source of light again.
Harry's eyes were half close, he felt like he was asleep. He was dimly aware of a humming noise in the back of his head. A hand shook him.
"Harry, Harry, wake up!" Harry opened his eyes. It hadn't been a dream. He really was standing in the center of Stonehenge with King Arthur.
The humming was coming from all around him. The stones, were humming. Not just humming but singing.
It was the melody that Hagar had sung.
"You don't think we're supposed to sing?" Harry whispered. Hermione shook her head, clearly not knowing the answer.
Suddenly the melody stopped. Some of the people were murmuring among themselves. The objects still sat unmoved on the linoleum circle.
A beam of white light erupted down from above and the melody resumed even louder, almost deafening. Harry looked up to see a giant full moon in the sky, its edges touching the open ring of the top of Stonehenge, Harry had never seen a moon so big before.
The white light became faster and brighter. The melody was drowned out by the roar of raw energy as it raced from the sky. A sound like thunder shook the ground as the beam of light vanished and a plume of flame opened into the night sky.
Harry blinked, forcing away the bright flash. There sitting upon the linoleum circle was a small pile of ash.
The night had become silent, the world made no sound. Arthur moved forward to the white circle and knelt down. His hands reached into the ash and pulled from it a bright red and gold egg that glowed with a warm inner light.
"Quickly," Arthur said cradling the egg. "We must make haste to Merlin's tent." For a man dressed in full plate armor King Arthur moved very quickly. Harry was in good shape but even he was having trouble keeping up.
Arthur reached a tent and entered without hesitation, Harry and Hermione followed him in. What was inside Harry was not prepared for. Bookcases, tables, chairs, a stove, a four poster bed with Merlin laying in it and Solaris sitting on a chair beside him. The two appeared to have been talking quietly.
"Merlin, my old friend," Arthur said coming to his side. "We have found for you the fire of life." Arthur held out the egg. Up until now Harry thought that Merlin's illness had been overplayed, after all he looked fine sitting in bed and talking, but as Merlin reached out a shaky withered hand to touch the egg, Harry could see the frailness. It was heartbreaking to watch.
Merlin's fingers touched the top of the egg. The shell cracked and there was a burst of flame as the egg vaporized in Arthur's hands. A baby Phoenix, featherless and small flapped its small wings. To Harry's surprise the tiny bird actually became airborne and landed in Merlin's outstretched hand.
For a moment Harry thought the bird might be too heavy for him to hold but Merlin's hand did not sink with the bird's weight. Slowly, painfully, Merlin moved his hand back to his chest. The Phoenix rested its head against him. There was a small pop of flame and it was like magic. The withered arms and frailness vanished. A smile came to Merlin's lips as he raised the tiny bird to eye level.
"Thank you my young friend," Merlin said stroking the baby phoenix gently down its back. "However, it would seem you are not the only one I have to thank this night." With his other hand he motioned to Harry and Hermione to come closer. Merlin glanced at the king and said softly, "Arthur if you would but give us a few moments alone, I have a debt to repay to these lost strangers."
Arthur rose from his knee and Harry saw a smile across his face as he departed from the tent.
"Well," Merlin said, Harry could see a gleam in his eye as he spoke, the same gleam that Dumbledore had. "It would appear I owe you my life this night. Had it not been for your arrival I doubt I would have had the strength to last much longer."
Harry couldn't help but wonder how Solaris had gotten in here.
"Solaris," Harry said looking at the Seraphim. "How did you get in here?" The Seraphim looked surprised and glanced down at Merlin, who smiled.
"How is it that you know the name of my son?" the Seraphim asked. Harry looked at Hermione who shrugged obviously not understanding either. The Seraphim looked between them. "I am Oberon, Lord of Avalon. Solaris is my firstborn son. He remains with my wife on Avalon."
"It is a story for perhaps another time," Merlin said gently raising his hand. "To go where you need to go use these symbols," Merlin moved his hand through the air and floating runes appeared. Merlin let his hand come back to rest against his side.
"You must be joking," Hermione said after looking over the runes.
"Why?" Harry asked, "what do they say."
"Hog-warts," Hermione said. Harry couldn't help but shake his head.
"Be warned that such a trip is most dangerous, the flow of time is not to be traveled lightly. You must focus and you must see in your mind, when, you wish to be."
"Okay," Hermione said, "how can you possibly know all this, we haven't told you anything. I know you're a great wizard but…" Merlin waved his hand in the air again.
"Time," Merlin said stirring the air with his hand, "is like a pool of water, if you look at the surface only see your reflection." Harry and Hermione's reflection appeared in the air as though they were looking into a pool of water. "But if you look beyond the now, to the bottom, all illusions become clear and all things, are seen as they really are, reflections in the water." The reflections in the air faded.
Harry was completely lost, was Merlin talking about water or time, or both.
"Hermione," Harry said rubbing his head. "Can we just go?" Hermione nodded Harry was sure she looked just as confused.
"On last thing," Merlin said. "Take heed, time is time, past, present and future are all in motion. Where you should go is not when you left. But where you should be now."
---
The sun was coming up as Harry and Hermione moved towards the outside of the camp and back towards Stonehenge. They had to find Solaris before returning to the future, or the present or what, when, ever the fuck it was.
The search did not take long. Solaris was lying on his side snoring in the same spot they had left him. "Care to do the honors?" Harry asked Hermione. The two of them knelt down next to Solaris. Hermione's hand hovered over the disk.
"Focus on the time we left," Hermione said. "Concentrate. When I press the symbols that's all we should think about."
Harry nodded. Hermione began pressing the symbols that Merlin had shown them. The stone suddenly erupted in a white flash of light. Harry was trying to keep his mind focused, trying to think of the place and time they had left. Light erupted outwards and Harry felt a sudden horrible moment of remembrance. With a burst of flame the three of them vanished.
Authors Notes:
Dear Readers,
This chapter has been rewritten many times, far more times than I would like. However this is the definitive version. No more changes (save a name or spelling correction) will be made once this is placed on would like to apologize to anyone that had to read the old Chapter 18. We all make mistakes and life goes on no matter how many bad pieces of literature we write.
This whole thing is a learning experience for me. And I learned that crap chapters should stay in the recycle bin where they belong.
That said the pervious chapter that used to be here is no more, so don't bother looking for it. I have to say it wasn't one of my better attempts at writing.
Starwin.
It seems only fitting that this chapter should deal with time travel since its predecessor has been erased from history.
It was such a good idea that I smacked myself in the forehead when one of my dedicated reads said that's what she thought (the time travel part) was going to happen in the chapter, and had been disappointed when it hadn't. So I set out in full force to create this chapter.
After a hard night of typing non stop and humming songs to myself to get words to rhyme you are left with the final version chapter 18, never to be rewritten again.
For those that have NO IDEA what I am talking about, just read on like nothing happened and ignore the crazy rambling of these Author Notes.
It is however a departure from the flow of the story and even though it does deal with events that are important to the over all story think of it more like a bonus chapter because for the life of me I just can't seem to make it fit.
Temporal Paradox Clause:
Hu, what? When but… how?
Who says you can't change the flow of time?
Because this chapter was never really part of the over all plan some MINOR events in the past, that is to say the future, have changed. As such the effective chapters have changed accordingly to comply with the ripple theory. Two, Six and Seven.
The changes are minor, by rereading any of those chapters again you won't gain a deeper insight into the story, they just give me a piece of mind when I sleep at night.
(Temporal adjustment made on June 21, 2005, if you're reading the story after this date your fine)