The Wizards of the Djinn

A/N; Sorry about the delay, see either chapter 28 of Catcher or 18 of Lord of Stone Tower for details on a Charmed-HP crossover I'm planning. Also I've just read the third in the Trilogy of Bartimaeus books, there are some things different in it that upset this story, like the more-powerful-than-Carver Daemons but I don't intend on changing anything as that is the only thing I can find that disagrees with my story…except for the downfall of Wizards using Djinn but you'll just have to ignore that I'm afraid.

Chapter 8; Develar Dratis

The group looked around at each other and for the first time took in their rough appearance, and in Harry's case a general dirtiness from his time first in Azkaban and then later in the recently levelled mountain near Hogsmeade.

"Oh great!" Alter sighed, "We have to go in looking like tramps come in off the street!"

"Don't be such an idiot!" Gaia snapped and then sighed before her eyes drifted closed and her human formed rippled looking as if she was going to shift shape before it snapped back into focus, her leather clothing perfect again. She looked at Alter and lifted an eyebrow.

"Oops." he muttered sheepishly before he and the others followed suit.

"Shall we just tell this Develar Dratis that we found Harry in a ditch on the way to a party then?" Chris laughed as Harry couldn't do the same as the others.

"Yes, very funny Chris," Harry rolled his eyes before shifting Luke into a better position in his arms, "Lets get going, I think we have a lot to do if we're going to sort out the Wizards above us before they find this place."

Gaia nodded before she moved forward to open the door. Her fingers barely touched the handle when she was blown backwards away from the door as they flashed a dark red. Chris caught her before she could be hurt but still lost his footing as the force of the trap overpowered his strength and they both toppled over onto the floor.

"You ok Gaia?" Harry asked worried.

"I don't think so, only my pride." She said checking herself over.

"I'm fine too you know!" Chris grumbled before rolling to the side and pulling a stone from under his back with a feeble "Ouch."

"Maybe you should try it Harry?" Everyone turned to look at Alter like she'd grown another head. Well actually that wouldn't have been so shocking in the case of the Djinni as they could do that type of thing.

"What are you on about?" Lucid spoke for the first time.

"Actually she does have a point Lucid." Tolan said. There was a pause as Harry waited for the explanation but it wasn't from Tolan that it came.

"What he means is that the Cavern opened for you and the City awoke for you, perhaps you have to break these seals as well." Denier put in as the silence dragged out.

"Wont hurt to try." Alter pointed out.

"Maybe not for us." Chris pointed out with a smirk and for some reason a small giggle as he took a huge step back away from the door and with a flourish raised a Shield around himself.

Harry raised an eyebrow in a good imitation of Draco Malfoy before shrugging and handing Luke over to Lucid.

'You might want to brace yourself Carver.'

'I'm not worried.'

'What do you mean? This place looks powerful enough to kill us.'

'I don't think it would attack you.' Carver said carefully and continued before he could be interrupted, 'Look don't worry, I'm not sure just yet but I have my suspicions about who this Develar Dratis is. I'll tell you later.'

Harry sighed at the cryptic answer before powering up a powerful Shield around himself in case this didn't work. After tensing up he put his hand on the handle and in an anti-climatic ending the door swung easily inwards.

He heard several breaths being released and realised that he was holding it in as well so let it out in a whoosh of air.

The group padded into the door, senses alert for any danger but they were greeted with a massive entrance hall. Opposite them was a large Oak door shaped in a sweeping shape starting at fifteen feet wide at the base before rising to a height of almost thirty feet at the top where the two sides met on the sides of a Family Crest. It was obvious that when opened the crest would remain in place and the doors would open into the room beyond so that the doors would have a circle cut from the top.

The Crest itself was symbolic. It had a dark red background surrounded by a gold and silver frame. The symbol itself was of a white pentacle but the pentacle was incomplete; the two sides of the top point didn't quite meet.

On both sides of the Oak door were two identical marble stair cases that branched up to either side of the entrance hall where they met a balcony covered in intricate archways. Along the walls of both floors were normal sized doors leading further into the building.

Harry noticed offhandedly that he had to fight Carver to control his eyes but as it was his body he won out but he quickly let the control issue go to stare up at the ceiling. It was covered in intricate arches that divided the halls ceiling. Within the complex pattern of overlapping and weaving arches ten glowing balls of light lit the room, looking like balls of glowing water trapped in a web of melted marble.

He felt his eyes tug down again and gave into it.

'What's so interesting about the crest?' he asked Carver when he realised that was what he was looking at…or more correctly staring at.

'It's the official crest of your family. The Pentacle is the basic means used to trap Daemons so your family who stood for the freedom of all Daemons replaced their crest with the broken Pentacle that you see now symbolising freedom of Daemons.'

'So why's it here.'

'We'll see soon enough I believe, whoever decided to leave this city won't have left it without a Guardian of some kind.'

'That sounds ominous.' Harry tried to joke rather unsuccessfully. To the others he motioned towards the doors before them and started towards it himself. The others kept up with him but stayed behind him in an attempt to avoid anymore traps that hit them but didn't go off at Harry.

The doors opened soundlessly at a push of Harry's hand but Harry didn't doubt that when locked they would stand up to a lot of force before giving any. The room beyond was pitch black but as soon as Harry's group stepped over the threshold identical balls of light appeared in their hands as they used their magic to light their way. Their lights didn't reach the walls of the room so it was obvious that the room was large. Denier on his right and Lucid on his left fired their lights to their respective sides and they flew till they winked out against the walls forty feet to either side.

They spread out slightly as they walked so that their lights lit both walls without losing sight of each other and headed forwards to try and find the other end of the hall. They all walked silently to try to listen for any attackers.

They hadn't reached further than a hundred feet before the room was flooded in light that made them squint against the brightness. In fact it wasn't that bright, much dimmer than outside but after the all encompassing darkness. They all looked up to see a ceiling towering over them with the same intricate arches weaving across and around the liquid lights.

A sound in front of them made them all react. The six Djinn extinguished there lights and balls of flames appeared ready to be fired. The sound had been a figure lowering its hood. Before them was a tall figure. Shrouded in shadows even with the lights above them. His newly lowered hood revealed a handsome young face. He looked no older than twenty-five, had short raven hair as dark as Harry's own and eyes darker than Harry's but still a green colour.

'Be warned Harry,' Carver spoke warningly, 'I can sense that he is a Beta Marid.'

The figure said nothing but it was obvious that the others recognised him for what he was. Powerful. They started to slowly move inwards and Harry noted in a part of his head that he should feel complimented at the fact that they were moving to protect him.

A few minutes past in this manner before Harry decided to try to start a conversation.

"What's a Marid like you doing hanging around in the dark like this?" He asked in a very Bartimaeus way.

The Marid shrugged and said in reply, "I was told to so I did."

"Who are you?" Harry asked, "Are you free or bound?"

"I am Tom." He said simply, and then paused as if figuring out who his was talking to before continuing. "As for the other question I can't answer that without first testing you."

"What do you mean?" Chris interrupted starting to worry about what was being implied.

"If he is who I think he is then I was ordered to test that he is before we continue." Tom said plainly as if it pained him.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Harry asked.

"Only your family can wield the power of an Alpha Marid and therefore only you can withstand a Beta Marid's raw power in an attack." Tom once again stated plainly.

Before anyone could react both Tom and Harry were moving. Carver was already drawing all of his power up and collecting it. Pain bloomed up in Harry's chest and head as he felt the raw power building up in what seemed to be an eternity. In reality it was less than a second and in that time Tom had done the same except inside of just holding this power he threw it in a huge wave of power directed solely at Harry's chest.

Carver didn't even try to dodge but instead seized control of Harry's trembling hands and threw them palm out towards the oncoming assault. Harry's pain became worse than a Cruciatius Curse as he felt the raw magic that Carver threw out of him to block the attack.

The six Djinn stood in shock as the two waves of bright power battled before the waves from Harry battered the ones from Tom away and slammed into Tom throwing him backwards across the floor.

Harry collapsed to the floor in pain as Carver pulled the magic back. Harry shuddered as the memory of the pain wracked his body. Carver seized control of his voice and the groans of pain stopped long enough for Carver to tell the others to help both him and Tom to somewhere comfortable so that they could recuperate and that Tom would need a power transfer to make up for that lost.

Chris took picked Harry off of the floor and held his head up against his chest to calm the body as it shivered. Gaia and Alter moved across to take Tom and Luke was given to Lucid and they headed out of the room.

Harry soon lost consciousness and five minutes later the group came across a room with a queen sized bed that they laid Harry, Luke and Tom on.

They then stood guard around the bed.

Chris was the first to speak. "What the hell just happened?"

Another few minutes passed as only the breaths of their friends filled the silence.

This time it was Alter who spoke and summed up the situation in only four words.

"Harry is Develar Dratis!"

A/N; I know its shorter than usual but the next bit is too long and needs to stay together. It'll be out soon though cos I've already written the next chapters for my other two stories.

19 reviews! That's cool, this story already has almost the same hit/review rate as my other two stories and it only a fraction of the size. Please keep it up and review, if you read my others then please review them too!

Nick5000 (and most other to be honest); I'm really sorry but it has been a very tough year, I'm making these stories one of my resolutions to try to get them going.

Gtip6688; I'm still thinking on the technology, problem is the trilogy is set in modern day (or there abouts) and my story isn't and AU like the trilogy is so its kinda hard to fit them in…I will try for some things though.

Zombiewolf; Harry wont need a circle/pentacle when dealing with free Daemons cos they wont hurt him and even the nasty ones he has Carvers powers…plus his own. Pentacles will be used sometimes though.

I'm also really relieved that I didn't get any thoughtless critics like my other stories have…normally they moan that my stories arnt close enough to the HP series…I'm in the way of thinking that this is the farthest from the books…anyone disagree…just thought I'd ask!

Till next time,

Phoenix Catcher