NEW BLOOD INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY
Disclaimer: I own only the original characters in this story. All other characters belong to their rich owners.
Chapter Five
Solutions: Part 2
Giacinta Evans was born a healthy baby girl on a hot summer afternoon in late 1895. Owning a sharp tongue that tended to displease her social peers, Giacinta often found herself lonesome. On her ninth birthday little Giacinta finally entered into service within the household of the Bastiens, a local aristocratic family. Whilst Giacinta's sharp, almost shrew manner continued to displease the household staff, the Lady of the house found her amusing and took a shine to the child. Bestowing what some viewed as an unacceptable amount of time on a little servant girl, Lady Bastien taught the child to read, write, sew and the musical arts.
When Giacinta turned eleven she received a strange letter from a school called Magica Accademia d'Italia. The school claimed it was an academy suited to the magically inclined, of which Giacinta belonged, and invited her to attend. Giacinta, a pragmatic girl, was both elated at finally knowing why the dishes sometimes washed themselves when she was very tired, and very very frightened. Her parents, as much as they were good people and loved her, were not particularly open-minded individuals, especially towards the paranormal. Rightly fearing for her life, Giacinta quickly burnt the letter before anyone could see it's contents and vowed to take the knowledge of what she was to her grave. So when Lady Bastien enquired of the whereabouts of her acceptance letter she was met with extreme shock. Seeing the rising panic in the child's eyes, the Lady sought to sooth by giving an explanation of the Bastien family, magic, and the possible benefits to one such as Giacinta. An offer of sponsorship with an additional offer to join the Bastien family, and by extension the Kuriyama Clan, upon completion of schooling was also extended to the little girl. Giacinta, far from the fool the kitchen maids called her, accepted at once. This was confirmed by her shocked, happy parents only an hour later who were really only informed of their daughter's sponsorship to an elite school by their Lady.
Five years later Giacinta graduated with honours from Magica Accademia d'Italia at the phenomenal age of sixteen and membership of the Bastien house was confirmed both magically and legally. The next three years would prove some of the hardest for young Giacinta whom up until this point had no idea what the Kuriyama Clan demanded from its members. Yet she rose to the challenge, quickly gaining a reputation of sharpness and concluding her years of instruction with high praise. Now that the time had arrived to join her Mistress as her social equal, Giacinta, to the shock of her fellow Clan members, declined the invitation. Kneeling before her Lady, she took and kissed the hand of the woman who had never treated her as her servant status demanded, and swore fealty instead. Giacinta's only wish was to be her Lady's living shield and sword. Though Lady Bastien tried in vain to dissuade her of this course, Giacinta remained adamant to her goal.
She became her mistress's shadow. During her tenure as official hand maid but unofficial bodyguard to her Lady, Giacinta would go down in Clan legend as one of the greatest warriors of the Kuriyama and would gain the title, Giacinta Evans du Bastien, Knife of the Kuriyama Clan. Unfortunately, shields have short lifespans, and a shield to Lady Bastien, Head of the Kuriyama Clan, had a lifespan that was even shorter. One early day in March in the year 1916, the Lady was attacked by a force large enough to give even her substantial skills some trouble. In the heat of the battle the Lady failed to notice an attack upon her blind side. Giacinta, quickly noticing what her Mistress did not, snapped a magical shield in place, eyes widening when the small ball blew through the shield. Without hesitation, Giacinta phased in front of her Mistress, placing her body directly in front of the weapon and taking the bullet straight through the heart. She died instantly.
It is perhaps interesting to note at this point that Lady Ginevra Bastien was the youngest Head in the Clan's history. Contrary to most of her Clan, she was a kind, gentle soul who preferred flower pressing and quiet visits with friends to fighting or killing though she was rather good at both. Up until this point in her life she had simply fought to disable her enemies rather than kill, regardless of the disapproval of the Clan elders. For this reason alone Ginevra experienced far too many bold assassination attempts by those who viewed her mercy as a weakness. However, watching the woman that she secretly acknowledged as the daughter of her heart take a fatal blow for her caused something within Ginevra to snap. For Ginevra had inherited a unique Clan trait, one of their strongest, and she was considered a prodigy in it's usage.
Lady Ginevra Bastien was a Blood Bender.
As the power sang within her veins, a picture of a nine year old girl sounding out her letters one by one flashed through her mind and her fury knew no bounds. Reaching out with her hand, Ginevra pulled, ripping the blood from five attackers at once. With an almost lazy roll of her wrists she turned the blood in the air into vapour, a cold look upon her face.
"Sercë Raumo." *
And the sky opened up and cried acid blood.
Giacinta's parents were devastated at her death. Her mother, a luscious red-haired vixen whose beauty was considered on par with many of the famous ton, fell into a massive depression, worrying severely both her husband and her Lady. Pleading with a grieving, guilty Mistress, Augus Evans begged to be allowed to take his wife back to his home country, away from the constant reminders of their loss that the environment provided. So in late December that year the Evans quietly made the journey back to Augus's home country, England. Eventually, without constant reminders surrounding her, Mrs Fiorella Evans did get better and the couple welcomed a surprisingly late addition to the family in August 1920, a calm quiet little boy called David Eugene Evans. Unlike his late sister, David was non-magical, though sometimes when he was truly enraged, his antagonist experienced the rather odd bad luck of a nosebleed. David grew up and married Stella Hughs and was blessed with two beautiful girls, Petunia Rose Evans, and Lily Jasmine Evans.
Present: Hermione Granger
'What is magic? How is the body accessing magic? Is it something to do with the brain? Do wizards have access to certain parts of the brain that muggles don't? What percentage of the brain do wizards use? Or is it some aspect intertwined in the molecules of their genetic codes? What causes two muggles to have a magical child and two magicals to have a muggle? If a child is a squib does he or she still have those aspects of the brain that magicals do but due to missing?damaged? genetics they are unable to access those parts of the brain anymore? Or maybe it is that their magic is just internalized? Would healers have this information? I'll have to ask one but not Madame Pomfrey though she never answers my questions... no one ever answers my questions they just make fun of me. Why is it most of the magicals in Britain are lacking in common sense or academic curiosity? Don't they ever wonder…'
Knock Knock Knock!
Jumping slightly, Hermione Granger shook her head clear of her never ending questions and stood up from her peach and white coloured bed. Walking towards the bedroom door, she threw it open to reveal an impatient honey blonde grey-eyed woman clothed in a brown luxurious vicuna shawl, a tight fitting pair of Earnest Sewn rustic brown jeans and a pair of rich brown Jimmy Choo ankle boots. Ellene 'Sweets' Granger was the elder half sister of Hermione, born to a wild eighteen year old Jonathan Granger, seven years before he had even met Hermione's mother, Katherine Herby. Having been a successful lawyer for Bill Gates for the last fifteen years, Ellene had recently retired (at forty-five!) to a rather cozy ten-acre lot in Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, now that she had the time, Ellene had zoomed in on her little sister like some predator bird, and Hermione was equal parts thrilled and apprehensive of the attention bestowed upon her by her brilliant, though slightly frightening sister. Thrilled because more than just the sibling bond, Ellene understood Hermione and was the only one the girl felt comfortable bouncing ideas off. Apprehensive because her sister was a force to be reckoned with and Hermione most of the time felt out of breath just trying to keep up with her.
Raising a delicate eyebrow at the bushy haired teen's strange ensemble of green shirt beaded with gold sequins and a red calf-length skirt, Ellene just shook her head mentally and sighed. At some point she really had to drag Hermione shopping. The only fashionable thing the girl had in her closet was that dress Ellene gave her for that ball at Hogwarts.
"Are you ready? The school rep will be here in five minutes."
"Yes I think so. I have everything. Do you think this school is as good as it looks on paper?"
Hermione absentmindedly touched her blue studs, a subconsciously nervous gesture that let Ellene know her sister wasn't as calm as she looked. Ellene had noted at least five such gestures today. She was going to have to train the girl out of that. No one should be able to so easily know your state of mind, it leaves too many opportunities for manipulation.
"Well that's why you're taking the summer tryouts, yes? Stop worrying I'll be renting a place for the summer there as well."
Hermione looked up at her sister in shock. Ellene smirked at her.
"I know you kid. If this school is even half the school it looks on paper then it's already got Hogwarts beat. You're unhappy at the pig school and far too good for it. So I called the number that came with the information pack and told them I wanted to spend the next summer with my little sis. Family obligation, not about to let her out of my sight. Filled out all the papers from last year. Sent my stuff off with that school rep yesterday."
Smirk softening into a real smile Ellene looked down into brown tear filled eyes.
"I want to see this place for myself, Hermione. None of that sending you off without even seeing the place thing. Da and Ma really shouldn't have done that. They took a serious chance. I won't even let you know the details of the massive argument I had on the phone with Da about it. Just because someone comes and show she could do magic does not make her intentions solid gold. Suppose those Hoggywarts people had been lying and they'd really been child trafficking magical children instead of taking you to a school? So no I'll be coming with to see this place. Let's see if they're as welcoming of muggles as they say." Lips curving in an amused smile she gave her sister a knowing look.
"And stop worrying about your friends, if they're really your friends they will understand why you're getting the hell away from that backwater Pigwarts place. There's a Hitler wannabe just fresh off the catwalk of death and his main goal is to kill people like you. The Minister is guest starring in his own horror movie as the Ugly Ostrich about the whole thing. The only logical thing to do in that kind of circumstance is move away as far and as fast as you can whilst shaking the stupidity off your boots."
Giggling a little at the imagery, especially of Voldemort walking down a catwalk, Hermione gave a huge smile at her sister and would have hugged her if the doorbell didn't ring downstairs. Ellene smirked at her baby sister and picked up one of the bags lying around.
"Showtime babycakes."
Managing to arrive downstairs first (Hogwarts flights of stairs kept a girl fit you know), Hermione loudly slammed the door straight into the wall in her excitement. Her parents who arrived just seconds after their overly excited daughter looked on in amusement as they made sure to stay out of the teen's way. Their amusement however faded when their daughter just stood there and stared.
For standing in the doorway dressed in a black, sleeveless, tight fitting spandex shirt, a tight fitting grey metal looking vest (and woahhhh where did those muscles come from?) and a pair of black pants was none other than a widely grinning Remus Lupin.
And standing behind him giving her a one hundred watts smile was Harry Potter.
The first impression Harry got of Ivor Lonnath was expensive. It was like some movie version of the infamous city El Dorado but instead of gold everywhere there were crystals. With clear, slightly purplish gleaming walls made of amethyst quartz, and a black polished floor made from what looked like pearls of all things, the Customs building looked more like a bank for the rich and famous than an inspection and security point. Shocked, the group stared bug-eyed in every direction.
Remus chuckled. He was so glad he'd called in that favour Jeff owed him. When Jeff had called him to say his godson just sent in an acceptance form he had been thrilled. Finally he could get to know his godson without any interfering old Headmasters around. Finding out that the other student he had to pick up in Britain was Hermione Granger had just been the icing on the cake. The girl was so brilliant it had saddened him to be prevented from giving her more advanced work but Mcgonagall had been adamant. As fond as she was of Hermione, the Gryffindor head was afraid to encourage the girl in ideas above her station. Muggleborns, McGonagall argued, did not go far in their society and it would do Hermione well to learn from early to keep her ideas to herself and curb her excessive curiosity. Remus had held his tongue though anger and frustration had bubbled up within him. This kind of attitude was exactly the reason why Magical Britain was so behind the rest of the world. So far Remus had to admit he was enjoying his former students' reactions.
"Wha...how..wha..What the...What is this...how the hell are they paying for this!" demanded a shocked Hermione.
If this was an example of the average building here then she wasn't sure her parents could afford to pay the standard cost of living she would have to undertake and she might have to pass up on the school. Petunia was of a similar sentimentality. She had never even heard of a building being made entirely of pearls and crystals before. Ahead of them was a neat line in front of a door with a sign written: Check in/Check out, Magical Scan, and Baggage. The group headed to the door as Remus explained things.
"Actually what you're seeing is very common here. Now that we've arrived I can fill you in on some very vital information. We are on an island called Ivor Lonnath which is High Elvish for Crystal Haven. Ivor Lonnath is the largest of six islands called The Crystal Isles that are located directly above the Earth's crystal point. They were once a part of the Forgotten Realms but broke off during the Crown Wars when the islands were placed in complete lockdown for several thousand years. The native inhabitants had no desire to be forced into war. The exact location of the Crystal Islands is still unknown to anyone but the High Lord, his advisors and the heads of the military. Everyone gains entry and leaves through the use of pendants or some sort of jewellery with the exception of Black Ops and ANBU who travel to and from using a specially constructed tattoo. Precious stones and gems are as common here as trees and not even half as expensive. "
Hermione's hand shot up in the air so fast that it nearly hit Harry in the eye. Ellene snorted in amusement.
"There's no reason to raise your hand Hermione, we're not in class. What do you want to ask?" Remus asked, lips twitching.
"Um Professor Lupin, what's a crystal point? And why didn't we learn of the Crystal Isles or the Crown Wars in History of Magic? And what are the Forgotten Realms? Where is that? 'World Magical Societies' doesn't cover it and it's never been mentioned in other books...and what are ANBU? Or Black Ops?"
"Hmm well I don't want to go into detail since we'll be checking in soon and all of this will be covered in either your history class (if you choose to take it) or magical theory class, but I'll give a quick answer on what's a crystal point.
A crystal point is a specific location on a planet where the core of the planet's power is created. Every planet has one though extremely large planets are known for sometimes having two. From this point or points power gently flows out, a bit like sound waves to the rest of the planet providing the energy necessary for life to exist.
Now a planet's power is reiryoku in nature. This affects the planet's inhabitants both spiritually and physically. On the spiritual side of things, each spirit is made up purely of planetary energy, the planet's children so to speak. Everytime you die your spirit returns to the ocean of soul energy of which you came from before returning to be born in a new body. The more re-incarnations you have undergone the higher your spiritual energy. In some cases very sensitive beings also absorb minute amounts of planetary power physically and their genetics undergo slight alterations to adapt. These beings might display power during their lifetimes or not. For example, there is a study underway right now on the mundane mutants in America. The researcher is arguing that the last major Earthquake there may have caused a massive flare of planetary reiryoku in the area thereby causing slight and in some cases major genetic alterations in the more sensitive. It depends on how far the genes were able to adapt. I'm inclined to agree since magical children being born in America right now are measuring at almost three times the power of their parents. Either way once a gene sequence is adjusted, whether it be activated or not, it will be passed on to any descendants. In general, all beings are capable of using the planet's power; it is simply how far they can do so."
"Is that how we get magic?" Harry asked, highly interested. He had always wondered about that.
"Yes it is. Magic is in fact the result of the planet's reiryoku altering our gene sequence in a specific way. This allows us to be able to access and use our spiritual energy. In some cases it may take several generations to accumulate enough reiryoku to allow activation of the gene. There are also other gene variations on the planet that allows the user to express their stored reiryoku in a unique way. You'll probably meet quite a few classmates that express reiryoku in a different way from you. I'll tell you the rest later since it's our turn now." With that Remus opened and entered the room, the group following him.
In the room were two people dressed in black and white, one behind a desk and the other standing by a clear floor to ceiling tube with strange symbols on the base. Remus led them first to the woman behind the desk.
"Papers please" the woman asked in a brisk professional manner. The group handed over their passports, Visas and Hermione's and Harry's admission letters. The officer examined everything carefully before stamping all their papers and scanning them into her system.
"Hermione Granger?" the woman suddenly called out still typing. Hermione blinked in surprise.
"Yes?"
"Step over here please." the officer said pointing at the machine besides her desk. "Place any magical items on your person in the tray to your left. Then look directly into the lens and place your hands face down on the clear surface."
"Um ok" Hermione said and did as she was told. A light scanned both her eyes and hands as well as her wand, quickly sending the information gathered into the computer. The process was duplicated for the rest of the group.
"Thank you. Collect your wands and head over to the Magical Scan Area." said the officer while handing them back their passports.
Bemused the group shuffled over to the clear tube-like thing where a very severe-looking man stood.
"One at a time please. Enter the Scanner and look straight ahead. Wait there until I tell you to leave."
Remus decided to go first to show the group how it's done. A light scanned him head to toe and a ding sound was heard before a slot on the side of the tube shot a print out. The officer looked over the print out then frowned a bit.
"Come out and stand behind the yellow line."
Remus's eyebrow shot up in surprise and a bit of concern. This was different. Normally you were only told to stand behind the yellow line if they found something dangerous or illegal on you. Hiding his worry he smiled at the rest of the group and moved over to stand behind the yellow line. Luckily everything went smoothly for everyone else, that is until they got to Harry. Frowning harshly the officer scanned the teenage boy three times before telling him to stand behind the yellow line. Mr. Grumpy (as Remus had begun calling him in his head) looked very displeased. He spoke into the microphone attached to his earpiece and another officer arrived. He spoke to the new officer in whispers showing him both Harry and Remus' results. This new officer frowned at Remus's but looked downright annoyed at Harry's. Turning to the rest of the group he told them to please leave the room and head towards the Baggage area. Confused, Ellene and Hermione left, Ellene having to forcefully drag her indignant sister with a hand placed firmly over her mouth. Ellene would have loved to question the officers too on what the hell was going on but she knew custom officers could be very touchy. Whatever this was about they felt it necessary to separate the group. Petunia however stood her ground.
"I am the boy's guardian. If there is a problem then I want to know."
"Very well, follow me." said the other officer and led the three of them to a door on the left that turned out to be leading to a corridor of other doors. Knocking on one marked "Healer Goodperson" he opened the door and indicated they should proceed him. Harry snickered a bit when he saw the name, relieving a bit of the tension that had been building up. An old, greying man in a white coat sat behind a desk. A bed lay on the right of the desk and a cabinet loaded with books, scrolls and bottles filled with various coloured liquids on the left. The old man, obviously Healer Goodperson, looked up and regarded the four with curiosity.
"Hello Johnson it's been awhile since I've seen you last. Who are these people?"
"Mr. Goodperson, I've been occupied lately you know how it is. May I introduce you to Mr. Remus Lupin and Mr. Harry Potter. Mrs. Petunia Dursley here is Mr. Potter's guardian."
Conjuring three chairs, Healer Goodperson invited the group to have a seat. The newly named Officer Johnson handed the results of the scans to him as Harry, Petunia and Remus nervously sat in the chairs in front of the desk. Officer Johnson leaned on the closed door behind the three and Remus felt the hairs on his neck rise with paranoia. He really didn't like people at his back. Reading the results of Remus's scan first made Healer Goodperson frown. He turned to Remus with a sharp look in his eyes.
"Mr Lupin, why do you have a Level 15 banned substance in your bloodstream?"
Huh? Remus just blinked before his eyes widened and it finally dawned on him what the healer was talking about. Oh good grief the wolfsbane! Well...crap! That's considered on the level of cocaine here. He forgot to flush that shit from his system before coming back. CRAP!
Petunia's brain took only a moment to fully understand what the magical doctor was saying before throwing the werewolf a look of complete outrage. Drugs! DRUGS! The man was a drug addict! Or a drug dealer! This man had been Harry's teacher? This man had been one of the better teachers? Petunia felt enraged on behalf of all the good mothers who sent their children to that crackpot school, ignorant about the school's drug dealer professors and mentally ill Hippie Headmaster.
Seeing Petunia's dirty look, Remus decided it was time to practice the grand art of bullshitting your way out of trouble. Good thing he's had so much practice. He took a deep breath then, without an ounce of remorse, proceeded to gleefully throw Albus Dumbledore under the bus. He explained the Headmaster's requirements to teach at Hogwarts and Magical Britain's extreme prejudice towards werewolves to his very interested audience. At the end of the long winded explanation Harry's eyes were wide, Petunia still looked judgemental and the doctor looked at Remus with a raised eyebrow.
"Well we can't let you leave here before flushing this from your system Mr. Lupin. Wolfsbane is illegal in Ivor Lonnath. You are no stranger here so you should know this. You can not enter the country with an illegal substance in your bloodstream, I repeat you should know this. I can't even begin to understand why you agreed to Mr. Dumbledore's demands. There are other much better paying schools whose administration will not demand you consume addictive drugs that are both physically and mentally harmful to you in order for you to work there."
He got up from his seat and took one of the bottles with a blue liquid from his cabinet, handing it to sheepish-looking Remus. Officer Johnson spoke up then, his voice hard.
"You will have to call someone to pick up your charges and show them to the school Mr. Lupin. I WILL be placing this on your permanent record since you dared to enter my country doped up on a drug that is known for resulting in a feral werewolf. A feral werewolf is a danger to itself and others! Take this potion now while I'm watching you. Afterwards, you will be escorted to a room where you will remain under surveillance for the next forty-eight hours. You will report to Healer Goodperson every day for the next two weeks to deal with any side effects. You will also report here three weeks from now for the next full moon. If you should show any signs of addiction or possible damage to your psyche you WILL be admitted to the Drug Abuse ward at the Crystal Hospital. Failure to comply will result in an immediate voiding of your residency visa and you will be deported. So, I hope for your sake, Mr. Lupin, that it doesn't come to that."
Remus nodded and drank the potion with a pale, shocked Harry looking on whilst Petunia just nodded in agreement. As far as Petunia was concerned Remus was an adult and should have known better. 'I forgot to flush the drugs out of my system before coming here' and 'he made me do it' were hardly good excuses. And of course Dumbledore had demand such an illogical thing. The man was surely going senile.
Harry never knew wolfsbane could do all of that. Why did Dumbledore ask that of Remus? Surely there were other options? After ensuring Remus drank the potion, the healer turned his attention to Harry's scan results. He began scowling. Returning to his cabinet once more he took out a small black box. Removing the cover he liberated from the box a strange looking deep red crystal with steel wiring around it in a net design.
"Mr. Potter is it? Please have a sit on the bed." he said. A puzzled and nervous Harry did as he was told. Remus got pulled up because of something wrong he did so therefore Harry himself must have done something wrong. The Healer, seeing the boy's nervousness cleared his face of the scowl and gave him a kind smile.
"Don't worry son I'm just going to ask you a few questions, then we're going to be doing a completely painless test. Your scan revealed a few anomalies that is a bit concerning. Depending on the test I'll put a few precautionary methods in place then we'll sit down and you'll finally get your explanation as to what's going on. Is that ok with you? "
"Um ok."
"Ok then. Do you get headaches often Mr. Potter?"
"Sometimes."
"Sometimes? How often is this? Once a week? A month?"
"Um a few times a week."
Healer Goodperson took out a form from his desk and started to fill it.
"Have you ever had any dizzy spells?"
"Yes? I mean a few times after quidditch."
"Do these occur after an accident? A fall perhaps?"
"Sometimes."
"Sometimes? So sometimes it happens without any outside influence?"
"I guess."
"Hmmm. How's your magic flow?"
"My what?"
"Your magic flow. Do you find it difficult to perform magic sometimes? Like you have to force it?"
"Oh. Um sometimes. Only for certain subjects though like transfiguration."
"I see. Does your head hurt while performing magic?"
"Yeah. Depends on subject though."
"Like transfiguration?"
"Yeah and DADA and Charms."
Remus frowned during the entire questioning. It sounded like Harry was sick. He had noticed power fluctuations behind some of Harry's casting but when Remus had mentioned it to Poppy she said it was just puberty. Remus felt upset with himself. Puberty had never affected the power behind his spells so why would it affect Harry's? Healer Goodperson tapped Harry's head with a finger while muttering in an unknown language and Harry felt something water-like break over him. Healer Goodperson wrote something on the form, shaking his head the entire time.
"Ok Mr. Potter please hold this." he said, handing over the small deep red stone. As soon as Harry held the stone it started cycling colours from red to mud brown to pitch black then back to red. Healer Goodperson looked momentarily shocked, before catching himself and clearing his face. Shaking his head again he wrote something on his form. He walked to his desk and took out a small pot of ink and a paintbrush. Remus's right eyebrow went up as a thread of alarm passed through him. Sealing ink? What on earth was Healer Goodperson sealing?
Pulling up a chair in front of Harry, the healer swiftly bit his thumb and mixed a few drops of blood in the ink. Both Petunia and Harry watched fascinated, though Petunia was beginning to get a bad feeling. It was obvious something was wrong but something in the way this was being handled kept her from demanding to know immediately what was going on.
"Please lie down Mr. Potter. I suggest you close your eyes for a bit while I paint this on. After I activate it you will black out for a few minutes but this is completely natural. When you wake up I'll explain to you why we're doing this ok?"
Harry felt very hesitant but a quick nod from Petunia eased him somewhat and he lay his small frame on the bed closing his eyes. The healer immediately went to work. To Remus's surprise, the old man started writing containment seals around Harry's scar. Remus frowned. There was some memory troubling him about this but he could not remember exactly. Wait...the headaches, the dizziness, the magic fluctuations. The more magic used the stronger the headaches. Suddenly, with perfectly horrific clarity, Remus knew what the good doctor was sealing. That stone...that stone must have been a...must have confirmed...
'It's there. It's SMILING. It's there, ALIVE. They don't know it's there.'
Laughter echoed through Remus' head.
It's...w.a.t.c.h.i.n.g.
It's...w.a.i.t.i.n.g.
It's looking at YOU.
It's in no hurry. It's just watching us all. It's just waiting for the boy to slip up. He'll slip up eventually. Children have such...terrible...tempers...'
Fear rocked the former DADA teacher. Oh merciful goddess how had they not noticed? The power fluctuations...the thing was feeding on the child's powers. Remus gripped the chair so hard that his hands left indents in the wood. The wood protested with a loud CRACK and Harry immediately opened his eyes, both he and Petunia turning to watch Remus in surprise.
"Remus?" the boy said, watching the chair in shock. He looked up to his former professor in confusion and for the first time Remus saw it. It was small, practically discernable. Just a spot, just a slight light reflection in the left corner of the eye directly under the scar.
It was watching them.
No wonder they refused to explain anything to Harry until after the procedure. They couldn't until the thing was sealed or risk It attempting to possess the boy in order to survive. With the amount of power it would have gathered over the years…
"I'm fine Harry" Remus said smiling at his godson whilst mentally screaming bloody murder at the thing.
"Just don't know my own strength."
He felt a brief spike of power in Officer Johnson though the man had yet to move or change his facial expression. The boy sent Remus another confused look before Healer Goodperson gently coached him into lying back again. Petunia however, was now convinced something was very wrong.
"Just a minute more son. Then you'll take a rest and then we'll have ourselves a nice talk hm?"
The healer smiled at the boy, but Remus noted the strain behind it and his tense movements as he continued writing the rest of the seals.
So they had seen It as well.
The healer finished then channelled some power into the seals. The seals turned even darker before giving a flash and turning a deep red. Then Harry passed out.
Everyone in the room gave a sigh of relief. Petunia could no longer take it.
"What is going on!" she shouted, both out of fear and annoyance. Healer Goodperson answered.
"Mrs. Dursley, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but our scanner indicated your nephew was currently suffering from a possession. What I just did is seal it away so it could never influence him or take control of his body. Since it's sealed it will no longer trigger warnings from our scanner."
The woman paled.
Remus noticed his hands were shaking. For all his training he never once had to deal with possession. The Healer turned to him.
"This is Harry Potter right? As in the so-called Boy-Who-Lived child?"
"Yes."
"We have a problem then Mr. Lupin. Considering the location of that spirit I think we'd be wasting our time in pretending we don't know who that is. That's no mere possession, your dark lord's been dipping in the black reiryoku arts. And that spirit is only a soul fragment. The idiot can't have known what that actually did. Or maybe he did. Maybe he knew that by doing so no one would dare take the risk of killing him."
Remus felt confusion begin to mingle with his horror.
"What do you mean no one would take the risk of killing him?" Petunia asked faintly, beating Remus by seconds from asking the same question.
It was the customs officer that answered.
"Mr. Lupin, when you use black reiryoku magic your soul becomes contaminated. Normally a single soul's contamination is too little to trouble the planet and is cleansed during re-incarnation. However, that is a whole soul with a bit of contamination. From what I can tell from this piece's strength, it seems like Voldemort added something to the ritual to give each of his soul parts enough life and awareness to have independent thought and actions. Whether intentionally or not, he has made each fragment a soul on it's own. Now one soul on its own might not cause the planet reiryoku any problems, several souls of pure black reiryoku however could potentially contaminate the entire pool!"
"Couldn't we just find and destroy the parts separately?" asked the desperate werewolf.
"Oh we could locate and destroy the parts but in truth we would only be destroying their containers. You cannot kill a soul by destroying it's parts separately. What happens when you do that is the supposed destroyed soul is now freed from whatever was containing it. Then it proceeds to locate and re-emerge with the original soul. Imagine the madness and power of the Voldemort you remember. His soul was already split then. Now figure out what would happen if one of those soul fragments, which has been feeding on the power around it from its creation, loses its container and re-joins with the original. Already we have no idea just how many pieces this psychotic cuckoo has created. I could just see some fool, picturing himself as a blasted hero, going and kill Voldemort after all the containers for the soul fragments were destroyed. Then Voldemort's now whole soul, with the blackness of several soul reiryoku, goes to the planet's pure reiryoku and infects the entire soul pool. The planet would be dead within a century. Depending on the level of his depravity we might actually have less time than that."
Remus was speechless. So Voldemort really had made himself immortal through simply making his soul so dark that no one could risk killing him? Anyone who tried would potentially be sentencing the planet to death? The man was a serious basket case! The healer sat behind his desk warily. He looked at Remus.
"I follow international events Mr. Lupin so I'm aware the boy is claiming Voldemort has been revived using some dark ritual. Is this true?"
"Yes" answered a disheartened Remus.
"I...see. Johnson you're going to have to alert the High Lord about this. I'm not sure what can be done. Mr. Lupin, someone will also have to keep an eye on the child as well. A more permanent seal will have to be placed within the next month. His health has taken a bit of a hit from the possession so he's not physically where he should be at his age."
"Can't the soul fragment be transferred to something else? Like an animate or inanimate object?" Petunia suddenly spoke up.
"Unfortunately that's just not possible. The only way that soul piece is coming out is with the boy's death. I'm sorry Mrs Dursley." The healer really was sorry. He had a boy Potter's age and he couldn't imagine what he would do if given this kind of news.
Petunia sighed. She knew she had been grasping at straws but she didn't know how she was supposed to explain this to her nephew and then tell him there was nothing anyone could do. She watched as the Lupin fellow called someone named Jeff and arranged for him to pick them up.
'That would not have been necessary if you weren't doing drugs' thought a catty Petunia even whilst knowing the reasons why. Without further ado the customs officer then led a reluctant Remus from Healer Goodperson's office and down the hall, leaving Petunia to wait on Harry regaining consciousness. A door to the right revealed a small bedroom and he ushered Remus into the room.
"Mr. Lupin, I must ask if your dark lord is planning on leaving the boy alone?" Officer Johnson suddenly spoke up in the momentary silence. He didn't want to keep rubbing the man's face in reality but he had a job to do.
Remus hesitated. If they thought keeping Harry was too dangerous they might prevent him from staying in the country. That would put his godson right back to being in the middle of Dumbledore's little chess game. Johnson smirked at the werewolf's flash of indecision. For all that this man was a student of the Professor for so many years he was still very easy to read.
"We are hardly going to feed the boy to the wolves Mr. Lupin but we do need to know. You might want to alert the school as well. Certain precautions must be taken after all."
Stopping in the doorway he turned to face Remus.
"You might also want to convince his aunt to get in touch with their magical clan. I would think the Kuriyamas would be delighted to train one of their members on how to deal with overly confident dark lords with mortality issues."
Officer Johnson smirked as he shut the door on the shocked, gaping werewolf's face and whistled gaily as he walked with purpose down the corridor. He had a High Lord to see.
Jeff arrived around twenty-five minutes after the revelation in the healer's office and around fifteen minutes after Harry woke up. Petunia and Harry waited with the Grangers for the werewolf in almost suffocating silence. Harry refused to answer Hermione's questions leaving her fully frustrated and concerned. Actually he hadn't spoken since the conversation with Healer Goodperson and was in a state of shock. As a result of this he barely registered the group's arrival to the student apartments until aunt Petunia's loud exclamation of appreciation upon reaching his room. Shaking himself Harry plastered on the brave, happy mask of the Boy-Who-Lived and looked around, then did a double take. Wowwww. Ok. WOWWWWWW.
New Blood Hall was an apartment building that catered specifically to students. Whilst it lacked the crystal and gem glam of most of the buildings they had seen so far, this building was huge and so tall they couldn't even see the top. The first floor consisted of three laundromats, several small restaurants, a small grocery store, a potions shop, a small cinema, a small bookstore, an electronics store, a gym and an internet cafe. The apartments were apparently as impressive as the size of the building as well. Whilst they were small (300sq feet), Harry's came fully furnished with beautiful black hardwood floors, warm red walls, a wide screen tv and an open floor plan; he couldn't even believe this was where he was going to live. The kitchen was small and simple (though with quality appliances and a butcher block countertop), the bedroom was a good size with a mahogany bookcase, desk, wardrobe, and the bathroom had both a shower and a jet tub. Hermione's turned out to be very similar with the difference only being in wall colour, the kitchen-bathroom ratio (her kitchen was larger than his and had granite countertops instead but her bathroom was on the small side and only had a shower), and a door in the bedroom leading to a small balcony. Hermione was a bit disappointed about the lack of a tub but all in all it was pretty good for such low rent. Leaving the two teens' bags at their apartments, they followed Jeff back to the van and headed to New Blood for registration and the official tour.
New Blood International Academy was a marvel of architectural artistry. From the ground floor and up, each consecutive floor was made up into a crystal star design, with the ground floor being the largest and the top floor the smallest. Jeff, deeply amused at this group's reactions and wanting to show off a bit, decided to give the tour first before taking them to registration.
Hermione Granger instantly fell in love with the library. The girl actually squealed and darted pass the librarian to start caressing books! Jeff nearly burst out laughing at the look of rapture on the girl's face. As amusing as Ellene found her sister's fangirlish tendencies to anything remotely resembling a book even she had to admit this was extremely impressive. A beautiful mural painted in the manner of the masters of old stretched across the roof in loving detail. There were four rooms and six levels of nothing but books and scrolls with beautiful, spiraling, hand designed staircases and doors to lead you to each one. Ellene noted that some of the students felt comfortable enough to even sit on the rouge carpeted floor with their work spread around them. There was a boy with brown hair in a corner way to the back of the last room that apparently felt so comfortable that he was fast asleep with his feet on the desk. Ellene shook her head in amusement. A door on the right of that room led to a state of the arts computer lab. Yes, this school was definitely shaping up to be worth something but Ellene would still reserve judgement until after the first two weeks of Hermione's classes.
"Mr. Anderson, are Harry and I the only ones from Hogwarts here?" asked Hermione. She sent a disapproving glance at the boy sleeping two tables from them. Honestly! The boy was even using one of his books behind his head as a pillow!
"Well no. Those new bloods and half-bloods raised in the mundane world who returned to Hogwarts for their fifth year either turned the Academy down outright or failed the summer session. You'll see a few classmates from your year here as well. One or two of your classmates already rejected the offer last year and a couple others attended the previous summer session and decided it wasn't for them. Not everyone can handle the pace this school sets and the hours it keeps. There are many even on Ivor Lonnath who choose to attend school elsewhere for this very reason. You need to understand that New Blood will drive you to the limit of your potential and sometimes beyond. Not everyone can handle the stress that comes with that. If you can make it through here you will be on the path to being the best you can ever be in your chosen field."
Hermione looked at their guide with shining eyes. With red cheeks and hands clasp in front as though in prayer she looked like some overly excited preschooler.
"Oh Mr. Anderson, that sounds perfectly wonderful! I was wondering if you would be inclined to answer a few questions for me? Or to show me to the nearest books with the answers? Oh I can't wait for class to start!"
Then without even waiting for a response Hermione was off.
"Professor Lupin said that a researcher believes the so-called mundane mutants in America are really just displaying some variation of the magical gene. Does that make them magical then? If they are magical will they be made to attend magical school? By being so public with their abilities aren't they breaking the Statute of Secrecy?
Can magic be explained using the fourth dimension? Or is its existent a key part of the fabled fifth dimension? Can you measure magic and if so how? And can we apply physics? I read a lovely book recently by Steven Thomas who argued that if one can find a way to establish a set of basic rules by which the paranormal found within such literature as 'Alice in Wonderland' can be explained scientifically, then one can indeed explain the phenomenon called magic. I saw a course on New Blood's list called Metaphysical Physics, was this branch of physics created to explain magic? Seriously though magic breaks so many key elements of physics can we even apply it here? Why do we even call our powers magic? The word magic indicates it is an impossible unexplainable process but that makes no sense. Is the magical core really a big glowing ball of power in the middle of our chest like George Matthews said in his book 'Basic Knowledge For The MuggleBorn'? Well? Aren't you going to answer?"
Both Ellene and Harry watched the excited babbling girl in patient amusement whilst Petunia just raised an eyebrow in surprise. Jeff, on the other hand, smiled at the bushy haired girl. There was a keen mind there though it was obviously untrained or the girl won't be shooting out all these questions like she couldn't help herself. The hardest thing for Hermione would probably be learning to relax. Jeff suspected that staying at Hogwarts would have eventually led the girl to burning herself out as she fitfully tried to discover everything for herself. He made a mental note to inform both the school nurse and her teachers so they can monitor the situation. People like that tend to forget to eat or sleep when they were deep into their research.
"Ok yes Metaphysics seeks to explain magic. I'll tell you what Miss Granger, why don't you wait for the end of the first week of school? If you still have these same questions after the first week then I'll make it my duty to provide you with detailed answers as well as provide books. As it is, your Magical Theory textbooks will have some of this information. If you decide to do Metaphysics then that will cover the rest of the information. Are you ready to go register?" Jeff said glancing at Harry as well.
"Yes!" Harry answered before Hermione could respond. Once Hermione started it was hard to make her stop. If he let her continue the group would stay here for a long time as their guide answered Hermione's many many many questions.
The group quickly headed out the library, Harry quietly trying to pacify an irritated Hermione. Narrowed intelligent eyes followed their departure before the supposedly sleeping boy got up and lazily sauntered out of the library. He pressed the earring on his right ear and activated what was actually a communication device. Static immediately greeted him as he spoke in a low bored tone.
"Daichi-san."
"Yes Sir?"
"Get me information on Hermione Granger."
Author Notes
*Sercë Raumo: Blood Storm
edited: apartment size. Minna Vipera had a very good point.