Song: 'nostalgia' by FictionJunction Yuuka (album: 'Destination')

Thanks to Menecarkawan for beta-reading!

Insert lyrics fragment in this chapter: 'Tattoo Kiss - The Power of my Kiss' by r.o.r/s (Japanese version of the song in the anime Kaleido Star)


Ch. 12: Nostalgia

Even though Janryu and Harry were feeling much better, they barely ate that night. Both still had mild fevers and needed to rest. To complicate things, the next day the village received a visit from the shadow men. Dianeia and Kroy united powers to create a secret door where they hid the others, with the exception of Janryu. The shadow creatures smelled Janryu, poked him, and rechecked him several times looking confused, but in the end, they left. Janryu seemed to be holding his breath the whole time and let it loose once they were gone. Dianeia and Kroy were also relieved to see the young vampire had passed the child testing, confirming his adulthood.

Dianeia made the secret door reappear and the young companions came out. They had to leave the village as soon as they could and Harry and Janryu were completely recovered.

"How are we going to travel this time?" Neville asked Harry.

Harry blinked and frowned: "I'm not sure about trusting ships anymore and we don't want Dianeia's magical form being seen either, but we have to leave this land... There is nothing else here. We have to finish looking for the fragments to go to the dark lord's kingdom." He turned to Dia and Kroy. "What's the dark lord's name? Everyone calls him dark lord, but no specific name. It reminds me of my world where they would call Voldemort 'He Who Must Not Be Named,' 'You Know Who,' dark lord... Still, everyone avoided saying the name."

Dia and Kroy looked at each other and then at Harry: "I don't know," said Dia truthfully.

"I know." They all looked at Soshlan. The elf-fairy seemed very knowing in many aspects. Harry already considered that Soshlan was like a combination of Hermione's knowledge and Ron's behavior. "His name is Nebureth. The Elves know it because he was born from an Elf and a human. It's the reason why Elves have been forbidding marriages with humans since some time ago. They now think that such marriages produce dark children." Soshlan looked saddened and then added. "Of course, truth is no one knows where he got his dark power from, I mean before he started kidnapping children to increase it. His power didn't come from his Elf side. That's certain."

They all stood up and the young ones, including Harry, cloaked themselves in beige hooded cloaks to leave the village. They were just out of the Inn when they found themselves surrounded by men that looked like bandits. "Well, well, well! What do we have here?" expressed one of the men. "We love travelers, don't we guys?" He looked at his own companions and they were all smirking. "They also have a beautiful girl with them! We love girls too!" The man grinned, showing that he had several broken teeth and some golden ones. The men also had beards or stubble on their faces. "Why do these hide their faces, beardless one?" he asked Kroy.

Kroy looked very uncomfortable with those men and looked at Dia, but she simply glanced back not knowing what to communicate to him. He turned to the man that had spoken: "There's no need for you to see my companions' faces if its their will to keep them hidden. They are not bothering anyone by hiding themselves."

"There's a problem, pretty lad. We've heard rumours, haven't we guys?" They all nodded and the man continued. "Rumours of a prince traveling with some companions. They are exactly eight and you are eight. They are supposed to be cloaked as they are hiding the prince, who is supposed to be young and handsome, still a child, eighteen years old. You see, we love money and there is someone paying a very nice amount to the one who brings him the child prince who has been hiding for so long."

"You already have a contradiction then," stated Kroy very sure of himself. "Yesterday we were nine, not eight. You found eight today due to a mere coincidence. Now if you'll excuse us..."

But the man wouldn't let them go. "Oh! You are just trying to confuse me with the numbers, lad! I want to see your companions' faces. Just that and we will let you go. If you are not hiding the prince then you have nothing to fear, right?"

Neville whispered to Harry: "This isn't good, Harry."

"Let's just wait. They might just let us go," Harry whispered back.

"Hey! Stop the foolishness already! We're not hiding any stupid prince. What kind of idiot would make his prince sleep in a shabby Inn like this one?" Janryu spat.

The man looked at Janryu. "Look lad, I just want to see the faces. We can go somewhere private if you prefer."

"Why don't we fight?" Nemaisse whispered behind Harry.

"We don't want to draw any attention," Soshlan answered for Harry and Harry nodded in agreement.

Luna suddenly spoke aloud making everyone place their eyes on the cloaked girl. "The heavens look so beautiful today. It's a sunny day with very few clouds. No one should quarrel or fight on a beautiful day like this. It spoils the warm atmosphere. Just listen to the beautiful song of the birds..."

Harry wanted to cover his face even more than it already was and Neville actually did lift his hands towards his own facial features under the cloak.

Kroy completely ignored what had just happened, although the men were looking confused. "Okay, we'll leave this village and enter the woods. They can show you their faces there."

The man agreed and they all walked toward the woods and entered them. Right after a few paces, the men stopped them. Harry was the first to remove his cloak followed by the others. The men studied the children and there was murmuring about all of them being children. Certainly the prince was not traveling with children himself as it was plain foolish, but...

"This one could be the prince. He is young and handsome..."

Harry looked incredulously at the bandit. "I am no prince!" One of the men grabbed Harry's face making him react violently against the touch. "You don't have to touch me!"

"Only royalty wouldn't want us to touch them!" Harry rolled his eyes at the leader's stupidity. "You are all coming with us! Even if you are not the prince we will get a nice reward for finding hidden children."

Janryu was about to get a knife out of his clothes when both Kroy and Harry stopped him at the same time. "Not yet," whispered Harry to the vampire.

Janryu scowled, but obeyed. That whole day they walked with the bandits, who had disarmed them at some point and bound the hands of all the males. They had left the females free. By evening, they were around a fire in the woods.

Dianeia had spoken to the other girls during the day. She had told them a very odd thing: "From my experience bandits, like to make females dance and sing before raping them. I have an idea."

Luna had whispered: "I can't sing." Nemaisse had concurred.

Dianeia still calmed them though: "I'll do the singing, but we have to tell the boys to charm their ears not to listen and not to look at us while we dance because we will be weaving a sleeping spell while we dance."

"How will we know the dance?" Nemaisse had asked.

Dianeia produced two white spheres from her mouth and inserted them into the mouths of Luna and Nemaisse when the men weren't looking. "Now you'll know."

Just like Dia had predicted, that night the bandits wanted the girls to sing and dance for them. Dia had already communicated telepathically with both Kroy and Harry, who was surprised when he saw he was able to hear what Dia was communicating to Kroy and he had revealed this to her. She was also surprised, but kept it a secret. It was obvious he was starting to develop abilities from the young woman's race.

Dia created a strange musical atmosphere and started her song and dance along with Luna and Nemaisse. (You can just skip the song to the next paragraph although it's short.)

If you can believe in what you feel

And if you can feel in what you love

And if you can love what you are feeling

Feel in me

And if you and me could be together

This is how we'd be

Believe in the power of my kiss

Because you know It's what you're missing

Are you listening to me?

Believe in a love as true as this

And feel the power of my kissing

You are everything to me

If you put your trust into a dream

And if you can dream a fantasy

And if you believe in love

I want you loving me

Do you know what you've been missing?

It's the power of my kissing

For a second Neville started to watch and his eyes were closing, but the others woke him. They used the distraction to break their binds. Dia moved to the music as she sung and a strange aura surrounded the three females and kept spreading reaching each of the men. The music lasted for five minutes and by the time it ended all the bandits were snoring loudly.

The group took their weapons and escaped from the bandits as quickly as they could, although Dia assured them that the men would sleep for three days in a row. Janryu found that very amusing, and the other males in their group thought it was almost scary.

As they camped in another area of the woods very far from the bandits, Harry spoke: "I didn't expect bandits to be looking for children for money too. It's sickening and it only makes it worse for children if not only Nebureth's creatures and soldiers are looking for them."

"It's not only the dark lord's minions and good people. There are bad people too." When Soshlan said, that Harry was yet again reminded of the wizarding world. It wasn't divided in Death Eaters and good wizards either. There were bad wizards that weren't necessarily Death Eaters too. The similarities were incredible and Harry found himself thinking that it was just the way worlds were.

Harry found himself aching for home. So far, he had pushed thoughts of Hogwarts to the back of his mind, but suddenly found himself thinking about Ron and Hermione, who were probably worried sick about him. He thought about Hogwarts and how he had always felt at home there. He thought of Remus Lupin and Dumbledore with the Order of the Phoenix, but then he thought of Voldemort. One thing had been Voldemort on his list, but now it was Voldemort plus Nebureth and it seemed Nebureth would have to go down first, or would he? A strange feeling crept through him, as if he could feel his own world all of a sudden. Someone was calling him. "Does anyone have a mirror?"

Luna gave him a mirror saying: "You heard the voice too, right?"

Harry suddenly remembered the dream in which instead of his reflection he had seen young Al. It had been a strange dream, but the symbolism of the mirror had to mean something. Harry looked at his face in the mirror and the image started to change making him gasp.

XxXxX

Hermione had gone to Dumbledore with her questions and the old headmaster had smiled at the smart girl. "I see that you've found out many things Miss Granger. Lemon drop?"

"No thank you, sir. I just want to know if there is a way to communicate with Harry. I have a feeling there is. You have to tell me!" The girl almost pleaded.

"There might be, there might be not." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"Sir! Please don't confuse me! Is there?"

"There is always a way for everything, Miss Granger. For every problem there is a solution."

Hermione wanted to yell at the man. "I know that, but... Is there an answer to this particular problem? Did you ever communicate with anyone while you were in that world?"

"That was so long ago, Miss Granger... I'm afraid I can't remember." Dumbledore chuckled as if he had amused himself. Hermione wanted to scream.

"Please try to remember... Please!"

"There is a way," he stated sighing.

"How?"

"If I tell you, wouldn't that just spoil the adventure of finding out?"

Hermione had blinked at that, but had quickly ran out of the office after a quick 'thanks, sir.' She had once again gone to the library to look for ways of communicating between dimensions. There was little information on alternate worlds, but plenty on ways of communicating through long distances and some considered as possible ways of communicating between alternate universes. She kept rejecting all the ways she found until she found a clue: Mirrors.

After fetching Ron, both Gryffindors had secretly gone to a classroom that night with a mirror. Hermione had tried several spells to no avail, but when she tried the first of the last three spells and called Harry's name several times alternating with Neville's and Luna's her image in the mirror started to fade. An unrecognizable face appeared and she gasped: "Who are you?" The face in the mirror frowned at the question, but the bushy haired girl's face looked suddenly horrified. "Harry! What happened to you?"

Ron was also shocked. "Mate! What the hell did you do to your bloody face?"

"You look odd," stated Hermione raising her eyebrows.

"Well, thanks for a very pleasant way of starting a conversation..." Harry said feigning hurt. "I won't get into details about what happened to me. That's not important right now, I think. How did you manage to communicate?"

"By researching and almost no help from Dumbledore!" Hermione looked a little angry.

Harry laughed. "You should know how he is by now, Hermione... But wait! Did you know about him?"

"Yes! It's in the school records! He disappeared for almost a complete school year! I should ask him how he was able to finish that year when he didn't go to classes!"

"And you will probably receive a very awkward answer..."

Hermione looked angrier when Harry said that. "So are you, Neville, and Luna alright?"

"No part is missing from our bodies so far, so yes, we are alright."

"When are you going to come back, mate?" Ron asked looking troubled.

There was silence and Luna spoke softly and with a smile: "We have to defeat a dark lord."

"Over there too?" Ron frowned. "But you're still lucky!" The redhead brightened. "You're free from Snape! He's been abusing us in class like always!"

Neville looked terrified at the mention of Snape. "Is he still horrible even when Harry is not there?"

"Are you kidding? He is always horrible! Now that Harry is not here he looks in a better mood though," Ron said thoughtfully. "Harry... What happened to your hair? It looks good though, in a very strange way..."

"You'll learn eventually, but it's still me," Harry said that with a half smile, even if inside he was truly worried about his changes. "How are classes?"

Hermione and Ron looked at each other and Ron replied: "Not the same without you, mate. I'm always with Hermione and she only wants to make me study." Hermione slapped Ron's head hard gaining an 'ouch!' from him. "It's true! She is bloody insane studying!"

"That's because it's N.E.W.Ts next semester, Ron! How many times do I have to tell you?"

Harry laughed, but Neville looked horrified. "Gran is gonna kill me if I don't graduate!"

"Your grandmother is actually in St. Mungo's, Neville. Don't be alarmed. She is fine, but when she learned you had vanished from school she had a stroke." Neville looked almost on the verge of tears as Hermione said that. "But like I said, don't be scared. She is fine now, but they've been observing her a lot in St. Mungo's. Dumbledore even influenced the hospital staff to keep her there until you return. By the way, I wanted to tell you that when Dumbledore tra..." The communication started to falter at that point and the mirrors in both worlds turned normal.

"I guess the time was limited," observed Harry.

"What was she saying about Dumbledore?" Neville asked.

Harry sighed. "Do you remember that boy we saw in the recording?"

"Al?" Neville asked confused.

"That was Dumbledore," Luna said dreamily before Harry could say it himself. He simply nodded confirming what Luna stated. Neville gaped.

"So those two were from your world?" Kroy asked from behind Harry.

"Yes." The trio from Hogwarts answered in unison.

The ache Harry had felt before increased that night. He had been happy seeing Ron and Hermione, but a strange sensation encompassed him. Would he really return to his own world? What if he wasn't human anymore? What would happen? Certainly Dumbledore hadn't screwed up and mutated himself somehow while he was in that strange world, or had he? Dumbledore was indeed a strange fellow. Harry had read that phoenixes couldn't be domesticated and Dumbledore was the only known wizard with a domesticated phoenix, Fawkes. Perhaps Dumbledore had gone through strange things too while he was in that world. Harry fell asleep thinking about all those things.

XxXxX

He could feel the wind on him as he flew. He wondered when he had learned how to fly, but it came naturally to him, just like when he soared through the Quidditch pitch on his Firebolt. He kept going higher and higher and he could feel the clouds around him, but it wasn't cold at all. That was very strange as clouds were very cold indeed. He could still remember how he shivered as he traveled with Order of the Phoenix members toward Number Twelve Grimauld Place for the first time in his life. Mad Eye Moody even wanted them to keep going through the clouds when they were all freezing. If it wasn't for Tonks, they would have surely taken their time to get there...

Harry could see the beautiful red sun setting on the horizon as he started his descent, but he encountered a huge and tough looking winged unicorn. It was diamond white and had diamond white hair like Dianeia, but it was incredibly immense and had an emerald horn. Steam came from its nostrils and its eyes reddened in anger. The creature launched an attack on him, trying to stab him with its horn. They both landed on earth and kept fighting, but it was obvious who would win. Soon the emerald horn pierced his heart and Harry woke up sweating.

He got up, noticing that everyone was still sleeping except for Janryu. The vampire was draining the blood from a strange bird and noticed Harry. "Can't sleep?"

"Had a strange dream."

"Did you die in your dream?" Harry was surprised by Janryu's soft question and nodded. "I had a dream where I died too. I'm afraid I might die during this quest. I guess my fears have taken their toll on my mind giving me nightmares, but it's normal, you know?" Janryu sighed and threw the dead bird a few meters away. "Just don't think too much about it, Harry." He looked curiously at Harry and asked in a whisper: "How did you die in your dream?"

"A winged unicorn stabbed me exactly in my heart."

"Are you sure it was where your heart was?" Harry nodded as he sat down beside the vampire. "In my case, I dreamt that the dark lord pierced my chest with a fire spear. It burned me from inside and I started to get consumed by flames."

Harry looked at Janryu with a bit of fear. "I will do my best so that no one will die."

"You don't have a hero complex, do you?" Janryu asked laughing.

"Me? Of course not!" Harry winked at the vampire.

Janryu laughed a little and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Don't worry about me. Now go back to sleep and I'll do the same."

Harry gazed at the vampire thoughtfully. Janryu could act very immature sometimes, but it didn't mean that he was completely immature. In fact, the vampire was as worried about everything as everyone was and had his fears too.

XxXxX

The next day, the group left the woods after a quick breakfast. They reached a shore and Harry scanned the air before telling them that he wasn't sure about traveling by ship. Janryu looked at Soshlan. "Can you turn into a Pegasus after having watched Kroy in Pegasus form?"

Soshlan blinked and noticed everyone's eyes on him. "I've never tried a flying creature before, but I can fly so I guess so..." He was still doing some deep thinking about it.

He closed his eyes and his body started to change and, indeed, a dark yellow Pegasus copycat stood in front of them. The Pegasus flapped its wings as if testing them and nodded.

Kroy also changed into a Pegasus and Luna and Neville mounted him, while Janryu and Nemaisse mounted Soshlan. Harry wasn't sure about three on each Pegasus and Dianeia smiled at him. "It will be alright. I'll change and you can mount me."

Harry reddened a bit before saying: "But one thing are Pegasi and another is a winged unicorn... You might be seen."

"I'll cloak myself." She changed in seconds and Harry mounted her.

"Let's go! To the next country!" Harry exclaimed and the winged creatures took off with Dianeia producing a kind of Disillusionment charm on her magical creature form.


Thanks to the reviewers: lovenotknown, Fk306 animelover, bandgsecurtiyaw, and mscs3

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