Chapter 1: The Potter Retreat Cycle
Harry Potter was lay in the bed at #12 Grimmauld Place counting down the seconds to his fifteenth birthday. He'd been doing this since his eighth birthday by asking his uncle for a watch so he would know when to start cooking their meals, Vernon, of course, struggled with this decision as it would involve spending money on his nephew. In the end, well-timed meals won out. The reason for this tradition is because the only time he was able to celebrate his birthday was as soon as it started, and it continued because it was tradition and he felt it was his way of starting his birthday right.
With 20 seconds to go and Ron's continuous stream of snores helping him stay awake, Harry started his countdown to midnight but moments later he started to feel magic building, swirling and twisting around him, making his veins burn with something he'd never felt before. Then suddenly with a loud crack and a startled yelp from a gangly redhead Harry Potter was gone.
^~0~^
Harry landed on his face in a much lighter room than he had just come from. In a second he was on his feet with, wand in his hand. Six days earlier his godfather had caught him sleeping with his wand in hand and had told him he's likely to take his head off in his sleep so had given him a black family basilisk skin wand holster, stating he "had enough black blood to use one".
He started scanning his surroundings for danger when a deep voice complimented him.
"Nice reflexes"
Spinning around he saw a portrait with a handsome, stoic man with messy brown hair and hard brown eyes eyeing him critically, and a beautiful woman with black hair and soft blue eyes smiling at him warmly. Noticing there was no danger he turned his attention completely to the painting.
"Who are you and where am I?" Harry said.
The couple seemed to frown at that as if they didn't think that was what he was going to say.
"You should know the answer to both of those questions," The man said, "did James and Lily not tell you this?"
It was Harry's turn to frown. He was not surprised and them knowing who his parents were, he was well used to that, but at them thinking they had ever told him anything he could remember. Thinking for a moment he realized he couldn't be sure how old these portraits were.
"What do you mean?"
"Your parents, they were supposed to inform you what all of this is and why you're here"
Harry was extremely unsure how to proceed, he'd never had to tell anyone he was an orphan before. "umm, my parents died when I was one"
They both went stiff and the women gasped softly, starting to cry. The man remained stoic as if he had just locked down all of his emotions, but at the same time, his eyes held intense and restrained sorrow. He wasn't expecting this. He thought he'd get solemn looks and sympathetic smiles but not... grief.
After a few moments of silence, the man spoke up, his voice cracking for a moment, "well then, I suppose introductions are in order, my name is Charlus Potter, and this is my wife Dorea Potter nee-Black, and we're your grandparents."
^~0~^
At Grimmauld Place, emotions were all over the place. Albus Dumbledore found himself confused, he was worried, of course, Harry was the closest he had to a grandchild. But he couldn't understand the magic at work here, he felt the power radiating from the boy's bed and the room itself but he did not recognize the magic at work. Sirius Black was busy thinking about how he might have failed to protect his godson this time and that Lily really was gonna kick his arse when she sees him. Molly Weasley was being her usual frantic self, bustling around fretting about Harry in between making meals for everyone. She and her son, Ron, made quite the team as he currently stressed eating everything the Weasley mother hen was cooking. Though he did look pale.
Hermione and Ginny were both looking very worried. Hermione was worried that her brother in all but blood would be harmed wherever he was or worse he was already dead. Ginny was along the same lines but also disappointed that she may never kiss the boy that she's held a torch for since the summer after her first year.
"I'm not sure what to say," The aged headmaster finally spoke up. "What I can tell you is that I do think that he is ok '' At this everyone looked hopeful. "All magic gives off a sort of intent residue where you can tell why the magic is cast if you know where to look, and this magic seems to have been done with good intent. What I can't fathom how he just disappeared'' Frustration and confusion was a strange look for the headmaster. "It's as if he disapparated or took a portkey with how quick he left but with the wards that should be impossible and the magic residue is much different… stronger"
"But Albus surely the wards can deal any method taken for leaving, and they are still up for Merlin's sake" Mrs Weasleysaid.
"Molly I assure you where ever Harry is he is in no danger, the magical residue seemed like family magic and I know for a fact Voldemort does not have any"
"That doesn't do much for me Albus," Sirius reprimanded. "I want to know he is safe and have him back here where I can keep him that way"
"I feel the same way Sirius but my hands are tied right now I am at a loss for what to do"
Sirius was running his hands through his hair now, racking his brain for a solution.
"Well if he isn't in any danger then he might be able to reply to the letter so why don't we just send one. Hedwig is definitely his familiar. If anyone can find him it's her."
"I know her the best, she's always staying the night at my house so I can send a reply back to harry because I don't have an owl of my own" Hermione said rushing down the stairs to where they keep the owls.
"Hedwig!" said owl did not take kindly to being shouted at "Harryismissingandweneedyoutotakealettertohim" luckily Hedwig is a very smart owl and completely understood the distraught girl you sometimes kept her warm and fed. After she had written a note on some parchment asking if he was ok and to write back, Hedwig was on her way.
^~0~^
"I probably should have let you down easier than that, sorry I'm just not used to anyone not knowing what happened to my parents"
The couple took a few minutes to process this information they heard, and come to grips with it. Harry wasn't sure what to do in this situation, he never thought that he would have to console someone over his own parent's deaths. Never mind the fact that they are literally only made of paint and magic, does that mean they have feelings? He decided that he would just stay quiet for a while and let them have their silence.
It was his grandmother who finally found her voice
"So my grand-nephew raised you then, Sirius, he was always such a sweetheart at least you had a good upbringing"
It was almost as if she was begging for it to be true, he almost thought he should lie. It was sad
"Sirius was framed for the murder of twelve Muggles and facilitating my parent's murders. He spent 12 years in Azkaban"
The looks of utter horror on their faces made him wish he had lied and now he just wished the floor would just swallow him up.
It was once again several minutes before one of them spoke again.
"What about Alice Longbottom, she was your Godmother," Charlus said " I always liked her, she had good resolve and the drive to back it. A good las that one." His smile pushed him further towards lying.
Harry took a few seconds to debate whether or not to tell them, but he could see they thought something was wrong. Likely because of his hesitation.
"I found out this year she was tortured to insanity along with her husband shortly after my parents died in an effort to locate Voldemort"
Charlus was now holding his wife while she quietly sobbed into his robe, while he buried his face in her hair, clearly seeking comfort and some sort of sense of stability in the action.
Some time passed and Harry just sat on the floor and waited. Around twenty minutes later they both regained their composure and turned to look at the young man in front of them.
"It seems you have a long story to tell" Charlus finally said, "how about you start at the beginning, and don't lie, the wards in the room will let us know."
And so he did, he told them how he grew up, his cupboard, his overbearing clothes, his lack of food and the rare backhands his uncle gave him for when he made a mistake or something else. He moved on to his school years, speaking of his wonder of the magical world and Voldemort's attempt to steal the stone, him defeating a basilisk, onto his reunion with his godfather and Pettigrew once again escaping. And finally, on to his fourth and hardest year, he went through every task and how he prepared for them, his spat with Ron and the disastrous yule ball. The events of the graveyard were the hardest to get through, but they remained patient and sometimes smiled reassuringly.
By the end, Charlus and Dorea were feeling a large range of emotions. Dorea's motherly instincts were kicking in and she desperately wanted to hug her grandson and tell him it was going to be ok, especially when he talked about his childhood and seeing his parents in the graveyard.
Charlus, however, was feeling many things, but fury and pride were the strongest. Half of his mind was focused on how his grandson, the heir to the potter line, his own flesh and blood had been degraded, neglected and hurt his whole life and if he were still around...heads would roll. But then he feels pride. He feels proud of his grandson because despite all of this he is still a nice young man. He's proud because instead of giving up and running away he took everything life could throw at him on the chin and is still here, alive. He's proud because he knows that this young man will take the potter name to new heights and he will make it through this war and anything else that gets in his way.
"I think we should explain what you are doing here," Charlus said "this is what is called the potter retreat, and you'll be here for the next 6 months."
"You should probably start at the beginning this time," Harry said "I mean I people looking for me now and I go back to Hogwarts soon and... oh shit my trial, if I don't turn up to my trial they'll snap my wand" suddenly looking like his entire world is crashing around him.
"Nonsense" Dorea said "none of this matters because once Voldemort comes out into the open the minister will be so far up your arse that you get anything you want from him. Plus mark my words you, grandson, will be the one to end this war."
"And," Charlus said "you'll be getting a Potter wand if anyone else even tries to touch it the wand will burn their hand off. Much more powerful too"
"How can I end this war? I'm 15."
"Yes but that, son, is why you're here. You need to grow and lay the foundation that will become the rest of your life. Potter boys have been becoming men in this castle for over 900 years. You'd be hard pressed to find a better place to learn. Here you will learn how to control your magic and likely go beyond Hogwarts level in around a month and a half, as far as practical magic goes that is. Then you can go around the castle and learn whatever you like. You, of course, will be learning how to fight and essentially stay alive during what's to come."
Harry just nodded and tried to take in what an amazing opportunity he had in front of him, finally he was going to take control of his life.
"So my dad went through this too?"
"Yes although we weren't able to talk about it at the time and I didn't know it was going to happen until after we got married. It's just the way the fidilus works." Dorea explained
"I thought the fidilus charm just hid a location"
"It does," Charlus said, proud that his grandson knew what a fidilus charm did. "But this is a special charm invented by Signus Potter, the man who created the charm and only published the part you know about to the public. In fact, this very castle is protected by that charm, it's likely the largest fidilus affected area in the world. But we also use an extension of the charm which hides the knowledge in the Potter bloodline and their wives, women go through the same thing but their husband and children will never find out. Each new arrival has been greeted by their grand-parents, where the castle is explained to them because their parents have only told them they would be going away for six months to a potter owned castle for a different education and that they can't tell anyone. He is also the man who purchased this castle, set up all the wards and furnished it, excellent library."
"And why did he start all of this" After so long of only hearing what his parents looked like and that they were "good people", it was refreshing to hear more about his family.
"For several reasons, one is that his son died in a wizarding war because he could not fight properly because he was never taught how to. Another is that he noticed because of vast wealth and lack of a need to work, many children from rich families were becoming soft, always running to their father and asking him to fix everything for them, who in turn would throw money at the issue because he did the same thing not too long before that. Your ancestor would hate to see future Potter children become this, "staying a boy" he called it. He fixed up this place and performed a blood ritual with his two brothers, the last remaining Potters and the time so that all children of Potter blood and name would be brought here on their fifteenth birthday. He incorporated the fidilus into the ritual to protect the secret. Since then the cycle has stayed strong. Every now and then it is used for something much more important. For example, 500 years ago Lady Myrum Potter gained the status of Battle Mage and defeated 2 dark lords using the skill set that started here and developed throughout her 170 years alive. I myself used it to protect the lands and I eventually was given an order of Merlin."
"I don't know what that is. I think i saw it in one of Professor Dumbledore's letters"
"You are given an order of Merlin by proving yourself worthy to protect the lands from threats, I gained mine after I killed several giants that were about to attack Godric's Hollow, they gave it to me for that and several other acts," Charlus said puffing his chest out, Harry thought that this was clearly a brave man in front of him and wicked with a wand, but he was also quite childish. He was quickly starting to idolize the man, which is something that has never happened before. Not even with Dumbledore. "There are other ways to gain one however. For example, Elijah Macmillan received one for creating the blood replenishing potion a few hundred years ago."
"Was my dad any good at dueling?"
"He was above average, as he was at everything he did really, but I believe he spent most of his time here learning about our family history. Apparently, when it is history, in general, it is extremely boring but when it is about our family history it suddenly becomes "wicked interesting". I think he spent the rest of his time owling his friends. He told us it was about lessons and other general things but Remus let slip one day that the two main topics were pranks and your mother, sometimes they crossed paths in the form of scaring away potential suitors, which apparently infuriated your mother to no end"
During the few moments he took to reminisce Harry noticed Dorea had just been smiling at him, as if him just being was the best thing she could ask for, it made him feel nice a way he had never felt before. Something that he put down to feeling as if he actually had a family.
It was his grandfather's voice that broke him from his thoughts.
"But we're getting off topic, I need to tell you about the different facilities we have here. We have the best training facility that we know about with lifelike training dummies. An extremely extensive library, as big as, if not bigger, than the one at Hogwarts. You also have access to both the Black and Potter family magics which the books for can be summoned through these family spells."
After Harry had both books and looked eager to learn, for once, the conversation continued.
"Did you say that you're a parselmouth?" At Harry's nod, Dorea continued "It's that since it's a Black family gift there is some parselmagic in the Black family grimoire as well as some books in the family vault. You'll also notice too that there are some healing spells that I could never use because I lacked the ability, and was therefore quite jealous. Instead, I just created a few of my own that did the same thing" she finished with a smirk.
"You'll also notice the difference between the two family books," Charlus said " The Potter one does have some offensive borderline dark curses created by your ancestors. But it also has many spells on things like wards and enchantments. The spells to create our training dummies are in there."
"But the Black family magic" Dorea continued "mainly focuses on dark and very painful and lethal curses. But that isn't the only stuff in there like I said I made some of my own healing spells, during my 20-year career at St. Mungos, that you will find in that book. There are some Black family wards too, granted they are mostly lethal but they still serve to protect instead of attack. I would advise you to wait to read about the curses though, if taken lightly these can be harmful to the casters mental state.
Harry was about to ask more about her healing career when he remembered something she said earlier. "Professor Dumbledore said that the magic left from the night Voldemort tried to kill me transferred the ability to speak to snakes to me" there was no malice in what he said, nor was he defending anyone. He was just confused.
"I'm not surprised he got that wrong, this isn't widely known and is possibly only known within the Black family, but the way Salazar became the first parselmouth was through a blood ritual. This ritual gave him, and anyone born from his blood, the ability to speak to snakes. What most won't admit is that the ability is scarce now because of the sheer amount of inbreeding that goes on between the blacks. It doesn't surprise me that you have the ability considering your father married a muggle-born, therefore... your blood, through lack of a better term, is cleaner than any Black's has been in centuries."
Before that conversation could go any further, a snowy white owl swoops through an open window. "Smart owl, must have been to get through the wards. And it must have a deep connection with you Harry to even be able to tell where you are."
"Beautiful too" Dorea complimented. Hedwig of course just puffed her chest out importantly and ignored her friend's mutterings of heads already being too big. Both of which made Dorea laugh. "Careful though, it could have something dangerous on it"
"Impossible," Harry said "Hedwig would never allow herself to bring a letter that would put me in danger. It's likely just as much to do with her pride as an owl is it is to do with her feelings for me." earning him a glare from his familiar. "No, it's likely just from my friends making sure I'm ok." He said untied the letter. Reading through the letter confirmed his prediction.
"Should I just reply saying I'm on "family business?''
"Yes, that is what we have always done," Charlus confirmed.
Harry took a few moments to think and began writing his response.
Dear Order and company,
I am sorry because I do not doubt I have worried you but it appears I have been taken. Do not worry as I am perfectly fine and do not need assistance. I will be away for quite a while and, sorry Hermione and Weasleys, but I will not be returning to Hogwarts this year, at least not until at the earliest around February. I have no doubt that Hermione is nearly tearing her hair out with frustration from an unanswered question and professor Dumbledore is likely quite cross that he can't find me. Hedwig is the only owl that can reach me, yes Headmaster, that does include Fawkes, so communication will be scarce. I'll write when I'm not busy and you can feel free to write if Hedwig visits.
Regards, Harry
Rolling up the letter, tying it to Hedwig's leg, and after giving her a few strokes, the owl was on her way with his reply.
"Well, I think that that is enough for tonight. Off to bed Harry, big day tomorrow. You'll be getting a new wand and your training will begin. Cindy!"
An elf pops in "yes Mistress?"
"Please take my grandson here to his room for the night and could you please retrieve his belonging from... where were you staying?"
"It's under fidilus but there are a bunch of elf heads on the walls and the house elf's name is Kreacher I believe." He said hoping it would help.
Thinking for a moment, she seemed to mouth the Elf's name before Dorea continued "Oh Gosh you're saying there? Please go to 12 Grimmauld Place in London for Harry's things."
With a soft *pop* Harry was in a large bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and an adjoining bathroom. "Cindy is happy that new young master is heres. Cindy bees lonely here with just other Elf and paintings of old Masters and Mistresses for company."
"Thank you, Cindy, I'm glad to be here," he said with a soft smile
"Cindy musts be goings now you get Master Harry's things now," the little elf said, beaming and popping away.
By the time she came back, Harry was already in bed asleep.
^~0~^
It was 6 AM and several members of the order didn't sleep well that night, as well as Harry's friends. Several people didn't sleep at all. Hermione, one of those who didn't sleep, had been glancing at the window with Ginny's head in her lap for the last 2 hours when she suddenly saw a white speck flying towards the window.
"Ginny," she said, rousing the younger girl from her sleep. "Hedwig's here!" She shouted, waking Ron, who had been sleeping on the couch opposite, making him fall on the floor, and waking Sirius who had fallen asleep at the kitchen table only 20 minutes earlier.
Mrs. Weasley immediately came down the stairs, running and floo called the Headmaster. After a few moments of conversion, Albus Dumbledore was also in the sitting room of Grimmuald Place.
Finally, Hedwig flew through the window and landed on one of the chairs in the living room and stuck her leg out. Once again Hermione was the first to get there but Sirius quickly snatched the letter out of her hand and quickly unfurled the parchment then read through it. The whole room watched him relax after 10 seconds of reading and then drop the letter on the table, slumping down into a kitchen chair in relief. The rest of the room gathered around Ginny who had picked up the letter, and read.
While Molly went to the kitchen the Headmaster was currently scanning the letter in his hands with his wand, wonder and confusion clearly etched on to his face. His honourary Grandson appeared to be ok and was clearly safe enough to joke with his friends. But it did not completely alleviate his worry. "Sirius, how many wards are on this house?"
"Around 22, why?"
"Because, excluding the wards on this house this letter must have gone through around 56 wards, meaning Harry is in a house with an impossible amount of wards." The confusion still clearly evident on his face.
"What do you mean Professor?" Hermione asked
"It should not be possible to put that many wards on a single site and weave them together, 30 is where it becomes extremely difficult for people who have years of skill and experience. I thought that Hogwarts had the most in the world, with 41 which many would say is impossible but this... this is remarkable." The aged Headmaster finished, looking at the letter as if it would suddenly form a mouth and unleash its secrets.
"Well, that just means he's safe, and by the sounds of it he is safer there than anywhere else in the world with all those wards. I just want to know what is going on and where he is. And what's this "family business"? I'm the only blood relative he has."
"You're related?" Hermione asked.
"Second cousins," he answered, "his grandmother was my great aunt Dorea. Other than Andromeda, Dorea and my grandfather were the only relatives I actually liked. Even if he was a prick, he was wise and wicked with a wand, he even refused to exile me from the family when my mother begged him to. He came to visit me when I ran away, made me his sole heir, told me that "I am only Black other than my sister with a pair of balls any more". And I definitely never wanted to be Lord Black before he said that. Aunt Dorea was so proud." He finished with unhushed tears in his eyes.
"God I hated my mother." He continued "I was shunned the moment I got home in my first year because I was sorted into Gryffindor." To everyone's surprise, he suddenly smiled "Harry told us we were opposites. I came from a family full of Slytherins and was sorted into Gryffindor much to my pleasure and was scared of everyone's reaction. While Harry, came from a family full of Gryffindors and was meant to be in Slytherin but wasn't because he was afraid of people's reactions and hated the idea of sleeping in the same room as Malfoy."
This brought everyone up short.
^~0~^
"Master Harry, it be time for Master Harry's jog."
Eyes fluttering open, he tried to process what the elf was saying. "A what?"
"Yes, Master Harry" Cindy confirmed, "Master Charlus said to tell Master Harry that yous needs to run around the lake twice, and then come and see him once yous is clean."
"Alright, Cindy I'm up." He got up with a groan and walked over to his trunk that Cindy had retrieved the night before and put on a loose pair of shorts and a grey t-shirt that draped over him. Once ready he was about to walk out of the door when Cindy called for him.
"Master Harry why yous be wearing such things"
Unsure and uncomfortable, Harry replied, "Well, Cindy, it's all I have to wear"
The little Elf just looked at him like he was stupid for a few seconds. "Cindy has put lots of clothes in Master Harry's wardrobe, they bes changing to fit Master Harry. Not like these clothes yous is wearing right now. Master Harry is a Potter, Potters be wearing good clothes." She finished with pride evident in her voice.
"Oh, well thanks Cindy I'll just get changed again, I guess."
Five minutes later found Harry running around a large lake. The lake and the area around it were quite beautiful, the whole property was sectioned off by a layer of trees and you can just make out a tall hedge through the trees to finish off the border. On his run he saw several house elves tending to the grounds around the manor, watering plants, picking weeds, trimming hedges and the like. Due to years of vigorous Quidditch and running from his cousin have left Harry, in his opinion, quite fit. He had the startings of a six pack just showing through and the starting of some muscle on his arms. The issue he was having at the moment though is that he hadn't actually run in properly in a long time and since you only use your chest and arms in Quidditch it left him at a disadvantage. While Quidditch meant that he didn't have much fat in his legs, he also lacked muscle there and his lung capacity was not the best. This didn't stop him from running as fast as he could around this lake though and around an hour later found Harry, shirt in hand, breathing heavily and sweat dripping off of his face onto the grass below.
A quiet screech to his left broke his silence and thoughts, looking to the source of the sound he saw a grey almost skeletal horse running towards him about 2 foot tall. Once It reached him it started butting its head against his leg. Up until this point, Harry hadn't moved due to fear that whatever this thing was might bite him,once he'd decided it meant him no harm, he started to stroke the creature's head and watched as it nuzzled itself into his hands.
A second much louder screech brought his attention to a much larger version of his new friend. The new arrival was running towards him looking threatening, quickly deducting that this must be the mother or father, Harry quickly panicked. The smaller creature must have sensed his fear because it turned and screeched at the offending creature. They seemed to have a conversation for a few moments before the larger of the two walked over to Harry and butted its head against his shoulder.
"Are we ok now?" It just nuzzled further into his hand. "Is this yours?" He said pointing at the young creature currently nuzzling into noise it made next, he took for an affirmative.
For a while he just sat down with the smaller creature between his legs and the parent just laying next to them, watching the two play. After a good ten minutes of scratching and playing, Harry decided it was time to go in for breakfast. Bidding goodbye to his new friends, Harry started towards the castle's front doors. He was met by Cindy with a bowl of porridge and an apple.
"Cindy noticed Master Harry playing with Euphemia. Cindy is glad since her father died a few months ago she has been very sad. Her mother now leads the herd in his place."
"What were they?" Harry asked.
"Theys being Thestrals, Master Harry. Very smart creatures but many think theys is bad luck because yous only seeing them if yous seen death. But theys be smart and kind creatures"
"How many Threstrals are here Cindy? How come I didn't see any others?"
"Theres being twenty-seven Threstrals here on the castle grounds, theys were brought here by another potter, but Cindy is not knowing the story, Master Charlus might. Yous not seeing them normally because the herd lives in the small area of trees near the pond. Theys mostly being there but Euphemia likes to explore and Ana is always havings to bring her back."
^~0~^
Once Harry had finished his breakfast he left for the library, where his Grandparents portraits were. The castle seemed quite large and easy to get lost in, but luckily Cindy showed him the way to the library. He would have to go exploring.
Once he arrived in the library he was greeted by Charlus but not Dorea.
"Where's Dorea?" Harry asked.
"It's the tradition for the first morning to be only spent with the Grandfather, just so we can have a talk about your life goals, what you need or want to do, how you are planning to do it and what you need to get it done."
"Well I need to learn to fight and survive"
"Well then you need to continue with the exercise, what lots of people don't know or choose to ignore is that the more fit you are the better your magic flows and the better it flows the easier it is to manipulate it. Also being fit is extremely useful in a fight, you can easily defeat someone when they become slow and fatigued due to the length of the fight and you are still going strong and gaining momentum. There is a gym on the third floor with weights and other things to help you keep fit." Taking a moment to gather his thoughts and run his hands through his hair, something Harry noticed that they have in common. "On the Firth floor inside the training room you will find a portrait of a man called William potter, he was a battle mage and trained many people in the Aurors 500 years ago. He will have a lot to teach you from dueling tactics to how to cast more efficiently which is one of the most important lessons you'll learn here"
"So that's what I need to learn to become? A battle mage?" The very idea seemed to make him nervous.
Charlus seemed to eye him critically for a few long moments as if trying to decide whether or not to answer his question.
"No, battle mages are extremely skilled duelists, but the problem with that is they are just duelists. They are very knowledgeable and are able to cast very quickly, but they mainly learn what they need to learn and then either become accomplished in dueling tournaments or they train others. They duel to incapacitate and possibly maim but that's all.
"William will be great for you to learn from, he may try to teach you that stunning will always be best but don't let anyone here influence your views on things like this. But make sure you think on it, it's important that you have your own values and beliefs or you just become someone you aren't.
There have been many "Leaders Of The Light" who have battled Dark Lords but each one of them has had backing, you will be going into this alone for the most part so that is how you need to learn how to fight. You need to learn how to survive against all odds and treat every fight like it is the one that could end your life. You need to learn to kill and dish out justice where necessary because by the sounds of your esteemed minister, you won't receive any help from him and he keeps your enemies as friends."
The silence that followed carried on for almost ten minutes and Charlus was beginning to think that maybe he should have waited to tell his grandson all of this, that he should have eased him into this, that maybe it might have been wiser to let him figure out all of this on his own.
"Ok" Harry finally said.
"Ok?"
"I understand and agree with you, no one else is going to do anything, the ministry is a mockery and is run mostly by the very people who are going to be on the opposite side from me in this war. Dumbledore, while based on the stories I've heard, is an excellent duelist and from my own experience is a great man, who cannot fight this war. He is barely old enough to lead a waltz, never mind a war effort. And he has the completely wrong way of going about it. If you stun a Death Eater, one of his friends will just wake him up, and even if you put them in prison they will just be broken out again. Death Eaters murder and torture for fun, they need to be put down as justice for what they have done and for my safety and everyone else. The world is much better off without them."
Charlus studied him for a few moments with something close to pride and a little bit of surprise."Well, then we need to get started then don't we. First things first, you need your wand. Cindy!" Said Elf pops in. "Take Harry here to the wand shop. I'll meet you up there." And with that, he walked out of his portrait.
Cindy took Harry's hand and he suddenly found himself in a room looking at a wall lined with hundreds of boxes that, he assumed, contained wands. Looking around the room he saw a portrait where a man with sandy blond hair and dull blue eyes were staring at him intently. He was about to ask who he was and introduce himself when his Grandfather walked into the frame.
"Harry this is Vulcanus, he made all the wands you see before you," He said while shaking the man's hand.
"Nice to meet you," The man said with a short bow.
"Hi, I'm Harry." He introduced "I don't want to be rude but how do you know one of these wands will choose me?"
Vulcanus gave a short chuckle. "They always ask that," he muttered. "My dear boy all these wands are the same and you will find that every wand in this room is the same. Ebony, 13 inches with phoenix feather and griffin claw."
"But how will I be able to use it properly? I've seen the difference between a chosen wand and a random wand first hand. They don't work the same." He wasn't annoyed, just curious.
"Each of these wands are very powerful due to the ingredients used but they are different from your average wand. You see, for any of these to work you need to bind yourself to it. Once done only you will be able to use it and your magic will flow through this wand much easier."
"How do I do it?"
"There is a knife over there on the table, pick it up. Now choose a wand from the wall."
Once he had a box he looked inside, after placing the knife beside him, and he had to admit what he saw took his breath away. Inside was a dark wand with small tendrils of wood, wrapping over and under each other woven through most of the wand, stopping just at the tip and several inches below at the very bottom of the wand, engraved in the smooth wood was the phrase "Natus Vincere".
"Now, make a cut in your palm," He did. "Now grab your wand and push your magic through your hand into the wood"
Harry did this and after a few seconds it was almost as if the wand was giving his magic back, he could tell it was his but it felt different. After a minute of their magic swapping, Harry knew he was done. this wand felt completely different, with his old one it felt like his magic could very easily flow through it with barely a thought. But this one, it felt as if it was part of his body, an extension of his magic itself.
"Wow."
AN: William Marshal is a famous English swordsman, I thought it was appropriate. Vulcan is what the Romans called Hephaestus, who was the blacksmith to the Greek Gods. Thanks for reading, please leave a review with your opinion.