Ten minutes later, Harry was in a parlor in the west wing of the palace with Eil. Everyone else had gone to get ready for dinner. Eil and Harry were skipping it to prepare the west wing for the orphans that would arrive the next day. Many others had volunteered to help, but Harry insisted that it wouldn't be too much work- that he could do it entirely by magic- and that he should be done in a few hours.
Harry scanned the parlor. It was elegantly decorated, with many breakable, antique decorations.
Harry couldn't help but think that he couldn't possibly change such a beautifully decorated room. Suddenly, he had an idea. Instead of changing the west wing, he could build an entirely new wing onto the palace. He asked Eil what he thought, and Eil wholeheartedly agreed.
"Besides," Eil added. "This way we can design the building to gear it more towards children."
"But where should we put it?" asked Harry. "I was thinking maybe to add it onto the back of the palace, and just make another entrance through the back so we won't have little kids running through the palace."
"Good idea. How many floors do you think?" Eil said, thinking aloud. They had begun walking to the back of the palace, passing through large hallways. As they cut through the main library, Harry spoke.
"The palace itself is seven stories… so I'm thinking about five stories for the orphanage. I don't think it needs to be all seven."
"I agree."
They both walked in silence- Harry in deep thought about how he would lay out the orphanage. Eil was probably thinking about the spell Harry would perform on him later that evening that would show him his family tree.
When they reached the back of the palace, Harry asked Eil for the list of children who had been orphaned in the attack and who had been in the previous orphanage. From the list, Harry could tell that the orphans that would be coming ranged in age from 1 year to 15 years old.
Harry stared at the blank space on the lawn that would become the orphanage. He felt happy that he could do something to improve their lives.
"How big are you making each floor?" Eil asked.
"This big," Harry said, as he used wandless magic to build the walls of the first floor. It was fairly big- just the perfect size. Harry added a walkway that extended to the street, and double doors at the entrance. Harry and Eil walked in the double doors and found themselves standing in a large, empty room with grass floors. Harry quickly changed this, making the walls royal purple in color, and adding hardwood floors. He conjured a reception desk, which he made lime green. Harry figured that if this was going to be a place for kids to live, it should be cheerful- not hospital-white.
Harry quickly added more walls- behind the reception desk he added several cabinets, and a muggle computer for storing information. He stocked it with many office supplies. Then he added a little waiting room with two lime green couches and an EVT over to the side. On both sides of the reception desk, Harry added a door. The door to the left led to three small, white rooms. Harry put desks and adoption forms in these, as well as comfortable black leather chairs. These rooms would be where the adoptions took place. As an after-thought, Harry added a few children's toys to the back corner of each room. He added hardwood floors.
Through the door to the right, Harry placed a small hallway that lead to another door. Through this door was a gigantic playroom filled with little kids toys and books. The room was done in cheerful, bright colors. Harry wasn't much of an artist, so he figured he could maybe get someone to paint a mural on one of the walls with animals. The room had very soft carpeting, and was entirely childproofed. In one corner of the room, Harry added a bathroom. In another, he added a staircase. A gate closed the bottom so that the kids wouldn't be all over the place. Upstairs, Harry put down blue plush carpeting over the entire floor. He filled this room with couches, EVT's, muggle video games, computers, and toys for older children. In one corner, he added a few bathrooms. Toward a back corner, he put a bunch of chairs, and many books. In the corner where the staircase had come up, he added another one going up. Harry made the walls white with big bubbles of color everywhere.
"Nice," commented Eil.
"Thanks," added Harry as he walked up the staircase. "What do you think would work best for the room situation? Individual rooms, or rooms for families, or dorm rooms based on age…"
"Hmmm…" Eil said, deep in thought. "We'll definitely need a separate nursery for the babies. And a separate playroom- because the one on the ground floor is geared towards like… 4 to 7 year olds."
"Yeah," Harry said, checking his list once more. "There's three children 2 and under, and three 3-year-olds. But I think that three is too old to be in a nursery with littler babies. I think I'll do individual rooms- no doors though, that way little kids can't accidentally lock themselves in."
"Good thinking. Wouldn't it be fun to customize the rooms to the kids? We've got a bit of information on each of them." Eil asked.
"Well, we've got to do something with them anyway." Harry agreed.
Harry finished the third floor, which was composed of the nursery, bathrooms, and rooms for the fourteen children that were between the ages of three and six. At this point in time, the children's rooms had bare walls and floors- Harry had wanted to finish the basic building structure before he got into personalizing the rooms.
On the fourth floor, Harry put rooms for children age's seven to eleven. There were thirteen of them. In the other half of the floor, Harry added a cafeteria-style room. He filled it with a few tables that were normal height, and then added a bunch of child-size tables for the smaller children. He also added three muggle high chairs for the babies. In a corner, Harry placed a purple counter and a long row of magical microwaves. Each child would be given three tokens per day for snacks, and when they wanted one they could put their token in the microwave and think of the food they wanted, and it would appear. It was a fairly new invention, but it worked well.
During regular meal times, food would appear on the tables, much like at Hogwarts.
Finally, on the fifth floor, Harry added six rooms for the remaining children aged 12 to 15. He also added a few extra rooms just in case, and put in some rooms for the adults who would be in charge. Harry was going to put together an entire Orphanage Committee to make sure that the children were getting good care.
"Glad that's done," Eil said when he added the final wall. "Now we can decorate!"
'Yeah," Harry agreed. "The wall part isn't very fun."
"Lets start up here and work our way down."
"Sure. Who's the oldest kid?"
"Iliana. Fifteen years old, favorite color- purple, favorite animal- dolphin, one little brother named Jabajo. Her father was on the council." Eil read.
Harry envisioned a room with lavender walls and a canopy bed with a royal purple bedspread. He added many coordinating designs, and soon the room was a Vision in Purple. He finished the other rooms on the fifth floor, and pretty soon, Tyjaer, Mia, Pyrair, Calalae, and Thalor had rooms of their own. Each person's room contained a double bed, with their name spelled out in stuffed cloth letters above it in their favorite color. Hardwood floors covered the older children's rooms. Harry also gave them each a small bathroom, dresser, trunk, set of clothing in the appropriate size, a clock, a few toys, and a muggle radio that coordinated with the theme of their room. For the six rooms on the fifth floor, Harry added doors. He figured that the older children deserved them.
For the younger children's rooms, Harry added soft carpeting in their favorite color, along with almost everything that the older children had. Their toys, granted, were more appropriate for their age. They also got bathrooms, however it was one for every two people. Harry finished decorating all of the rooms, added many final touches to the building, and finally proclaimed it ready to be occupied by orphans the next day.
After, he had teleported to Eil's flat and they had talked for a while. Harry had cast an invisibility charm on Eil, and cast the spell on him that would show his family tree. Because the tree took twelve hours to write itself, Harry had teleported back to Cael's house with the family tree, which hadn't begun to develop yet, and went to sleep.
Harry awoke the next morning at six o'clock, as usual. He changed into his training robes, took a long shower, and went down to breakfast.
"Good morning!" he exclaimed lightheartedly, taking his seat at the table.
"Easy for you to say." Zara said, clearly in a bad mood. "You don't have to go to instruction today."
"It's only a half day, Zara! Why are you in such a bad mood?"
Zara mumbled something under her breath about wanting to go somewhere.
"I'm sorry. What was that?" Harry asked.
"I wanted to go with you to the opening of the new orphanage. But I can't because I'll be at instruction. And today's topic is so boring- we're learning about the Famine of the Third Century."
"Sounds interesting to me." Harry commented positively.
"You know, you're a great liar." Zara responded.
"Thank you!" Harry exclaimed. "How about if I wrote you a Mentorship Notice so you could miss today?"
"Would you do that?" Zara said, brightening.
"Sure. I've got to go to the Training Center at seven this morning. I've got a practice duel with Bael at seven-thirty, and then I'm going to work out until nine. I can teach you a few things so that I won't be lying about the Mentorship thing. Then I have to meet up with Eil because I've got the results of a spell that he asked me to do. At nine-thirty, I have to head over to the Palace for the opening of the Orphanage. I figure I'll be there until around one-thirty. Then I'm sparring with Cassian. He wants me to help him with fencing. Then back to the Orphanage at three, until about five. I'm volunteering there quite often, actually. Then I can drop you off back here around five-ish, and I'll meet you at dinner. Is that okay Ari? Cael?"
"That's fine, Blaze."
"I want to come too!" Ana exclaimed. "There's no pre-instruction today! Please, please, please!"
Harry laughed. His cousin loved to follow him around. "Sure, you can come. And Karo too."
"Yay!" exclaimed the small boy.
"Now go get changed," Harry told the smaller children, who were still in their pajamas. They ran to their rooms to get changed.
"Thanks," said Ari. "You have no idea how much this means to them. Besides, I'll finally be able to get a day of peace and quiet!"
"A well-deserved day of peace and quiet," Harry agreed.
"Well, I'm off to work." Cael said. "I want to get some things set up before Cassian gets to the training center. And I wanted to thank you for sparring with him later. My trainee is horrendous in fencing, and I can't seem to figure out why."
"No problem. Cass is one of my best friends!"
"One of your best-looking friends too!" Zara giggled.
"Fourteen year olds," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey! You're only three years older than me!"
"Yes, but Cassian is about ten years older than you," Harry pointed out. "I'll have to remember to tell him that you fancy him."
"You wouldn't dare!" Zara gasped.
Harry laughed. "Wouldn't I?"
"I swear, Blaze, you are completely hypocritical," Ari said. "You roll your eyes at Zara for acting immature, but then you act just as immature as she was!"
Ten minutes later, Harry, Ana, Zara, and Karo were walking down to the training center. Normally, Harry would have just teleported them all there, but it was a nice morning.
"Can I see your new dagger, Blaze?" asked Karo, bouncing.
"Once we get to the training center, I'll show it to you." Harry responded. Karo loved seeing all of Harry's swords and daggers. Harry owned eleven swords-including Dragonblaze. Three of them, he'd made himself. He'd also acquired twenty-two daggers, including the one that Eil had given him the day before.
"And will you take me horseback riding?" Ana asked.
"I'm sorry Shorty, I can't take you today. This weekend, I promise."
"Okay!"
They arrived at the training center a few minutes early, so Harry took them to see Kaya. He still remembered the first days he had been here, when she'd taught him Elvish.
"Aunt Kaya!" exclaimed Ana, enveloping her in a hug.
"Hi sweetie!"
"Guess what?"
"What?"
"Blaze is gonna take me horseback riding on the weekend!" she squealed.
"That sounds like fun!"
"How are you doing?" Harry asked.
"Great! I wanted to thank you for appointing me to your Council. It means a lot."
"How could I not appoint you? I mean if it weren't for you, I'd be totally lost in the whole Elven Customs and Language thing."
Kaya laughed, "True. You'll be at the Orphanage at…"
"Nine-thirty. I know that they won't be arriving until around ten-fifteen, but I wanted to finish some last-minute things."
"I'm heading over there right now," Kaya said. "I want to see what you've done to the West Wing."
"Oh," Harry said. "About that… I decided not to change the West Wing. It might not exactly be useful, but it was so beautifully decorated… I guess I just didn't want to mess with history."
"Where did you put it then?" Kaya said, beginning to look panicked. As Councilor of Internal Improvements, she was in charge of the Orphanage Project.
"I just added on to the back of the palace. That way there'll be no way for kids to be running around the palace unsupervised. It's just not safe."
"Good idea. I'm dying to see what it looks like."
"Me too!" Zara exclaimed. "I've signed up to volunteer every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from two-thirty until five."
"That's great, Zar!" Harry exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Wanted to surprise you." Zara said.
"That's funny," commented Ari. "I signed up for Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday from two-thirty until five."
"Guess I won't be seeing you there," said Zara.
"Both of you might be seeing me." Harry said. "I'll be spending a lot d time there. I really feel for those kids, because I know what it's like to grow up without your parents. And where I grew up, I might as well have been sent to an orphanage."
"So what times are you volunteering?" asked Kaya, interested.
"Everyday, varying times…" Harry said. "Basically, whenever my schedule permits."
"I bet you'd just love to move in there and play with little kids all day," Kaya said knowingly. "You'd probably adopt all of them if you could." Harry loved little kids.
"Yeah," Harry said. "We've got to run- I've got to get to the dueling room. I'm supposed to meet Bael."
"Catch you later!" Kaya said, and teleported to the palace.
Harry teleported them to the dueling room, where Bael was waiting.
"Looks like someone brought their fan club," Bael said.
"Maybe," Harry responded as he conjured a bench for them to sit on, and put a protected shield around them so that they wouldn't be able to be hit by any stray spells.
"Rules?" asked Bael.
"No curses. No shields, no Unforgivables, no spells that cause permanent damage. No elemental magic, and no weapons of any kind. This is strictly wandless magic. And no destroying the shield that I put up around those three. Anything you'd like to add?"
"Yes. First stunned wins."
"And Zara will be acting as Ref." Harry added.
"Dueling positions," instructed Zara. Harry and Bael got into position.
"Bow." They each took three steps forward, bowed, turned, and took three steps back to where they'd started.
"Ready… begin!"
Harry shot a 'Petrificus Totalus' at Bael, who casually dodged it. Harry had a distinct strategy, which was to get his opponent in a position where they couldn't dodge what was sent at them, and then to launch the most powerful spell at them.
Bael sent several stunners at him, which he ducked, and responded with an 'Everte Statum Bael', which successfully knocked Bael off his feet and sent him flying across the room. Harry had been working on modifying the spell so that it would seek out his opponent and knock him down. However, it was only a temporary spell, and Bael quickly got to his feet. It was an excellent charm for gaining time to rethink strategy.
Bael sent another stunner at him, which he deflected with a "protego!" It bounced back, and came very close to hitting Bael in the chest, but he leaped out of the way in time.
Harry fired three stunners in a row, each one that missed him by about a half an inch. He dodged a purple curse that was headed for his head, and then cast another 'Everte Statum Bael'. While Bael was down on the floor and struggling to get up, Harry shot a particularly powerful stunner at him. Bael keeled over and hit the ground.
"Blaze wins!" cried Zara, as Harry was reviving Baeldeth and helping him to his feet.
"Good match," Harry said.
"I really wish you'd quit going easy on me. We both know that you could have hit me square with a stunner the second that the duel started, and what about how…"
"Oh, shut up." Harry said, ignoring Bael's rant about Harry going easy on him. When he was finished ranting, Bael teleported away to go see his wife, and Harry took the three up to the large workout room. There was a little kid's gym over to the side with tumbling mats and a small play area like you'd find at a muggle McDonalds. Harry dropped Ana and Karo off there, and asked Zara to keep an eye on them while he did some conditioning. Zara agreed, and Harry went to work out.
His workout was simple. On Monday, he worked his chest and triceps. Tuesday, he did cardio and ran for quite a while. On Wednesday, he worked his back and biceps. Thursday, he always practiced with his swords or fencing, which was a workout in itself. Friday, he conditioned his shoulders and legs. Saturday he took off, and Sunday he worked his abdominal muscles and did a bit of weight training.
However, he always started with a ten-minute jog, 50 sit-ups (100 if it was Sunday), 30 pull-ups, and ten minutes of weight lifting, and ended with another ten-minute jog.
When Harry was finished training, it was 9 o'clock. He had been working out since 8. Harry fetched Zara, and told her that they had about ten minutes spare time in their schedule.
"So, what'd you want to learn?" Harry asked.
"Could you show me a few Wizarding Spells?" asked Zara anxiously. "I've been dying to try a few!"
"No problem," Harry said. "And particular ones?"
"What's the door-unlocking spell? That would be useful for pranking!"
"Why not just use the Elven version?" Harry suggested, and then muttered "Why would I want to teach you another spell that I'll end up getting pranked as a result of?" under his breath.
"You know just as well as I do that everyone has charms on their doors to keep that spell from working!"
"Yeah, well if you came to the Wizarding World, then only the elven one would be any use!"
"I'm not in the Wizarding World though, am I?"
"Good point," Harry said, giving in. "The incantation is 'Alohamora'. Normally, the wand movement is sort of a flick, but since you don't have a wand, it doesn't really matter. Why don't you try it out?"
Harry conjured a doorway out of this air, and locked it.
"Alomahora!" exclaimed Zara. Harry laughed.
"No, its Alohomora." Harry corrected.
"Alohomora!" exclaimed Zara, once more. When it didn't work, she became irritated. Zara liked to get things right the first time, and often reminded Harry of Hermione- if she were a prankster.
"Alohomora!"
"Alohomora!"
"Alohomora!"
Zara still couldn't get it.
'Wow,' Harry thought to himself. 'This reminds me of the time when I…'
"Bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed. "Zar- will you try something for me?"
"Sure," agreed Zara, confused. "What?"
"Concentrate really hard on this door unlocking," Harry instructed. "Just picture it opening."
Harry watched as Zara's face contorted in extreme concentration, and changed into a bemused look when the door swung open.
"Woa…" Zara said. "How'd I do that?"
"Zara, I think you're a mage…"
"A MAGE? THAT'S AWESOME!"
"I need to run some tests first, though. You might not be. Your magic might not allow for Wizarding spells… and could be making up for it through your pendant."
"Oh."
"Yeah, that's why I didn't want you to get too excited."
"Can you run the tests now?" asked Zara.
"Yeah, they should only take a few minutes," Harry responded. "I'm a mage, and I'm your cousin, so it's very likely that Eol's line has a history of mages."
"Just run the tests already!" Zara exclaimed. "This is killing me!"
"Fine, fine." Harry said. "There's three tests- all spells. If it comes up as a positive for each spell, then you're a Mage. If not, then you're channeling it through your pendant. By the way, I need you to take it off."
"My pendant?" Zara asked.
"No, your shoes. Of course your pendant!"
Zara carefully removed the pendant from around her neck, and placed it on a table that Harry had conjured.
Harry cast the introductory spell, which linked Zara's magic to a sheet of paper with three circles drawn in it. As Harry cast the spells, each circle would turn a color (according to the results of that particular spell). If the color in the circle turned a greenish-black color, it meant that the person was a mage.
"Aelaelandri eisi!" Harry said, casting the first spell. He checked the paper, which had turned the greenish-black color.
"Aelaestaelalandri eistai!" Harry cast the second spell, and circle turned greenish-black once again.
"Vaelaelaestandri syrdyr!" Harry said, completing the third spell. Zara held her breath as Harry picked up the paper and examined the results.
"Zar…" he said. "You're a mage."
"Wow…"
"You do know what this means, right?" Harry asked.
"No, what?"
"You won't be able to go to instruction anymore," Harry said. "You'll have to go right into the MTP, and get a trainer to teach you to master your powers. If you don't, you could end up hurting someone."
"MTP?" Zara asked. "And no more instruction? Yes!"
"Don't sound so excited." Harry said. "With the kind of training you will be doing, you will wish you were sitting in a nice chair, almost falling asleep. The Mage Training Program isn't easy. And I'm a High-Class mage."
"What class am I?"
"Well, because you aren't an Elemental Mage, you're not considered a High-Class Mage. On the scale of regular mages, you'll be about a…" Harry trailed off and cast the spell that would reveal the highest potential number on the scale that Zara could reach with training. "A three."
"Cool," Zara said. Even though a three on a regular scale of mages wasn't that powerful compared to Harry's Class 16 on the Elemental Mage scale (which would have been a 32 on the regular mage scale- off the charts, as the highest class there was a 26), a level three mage was still very powerful.
"I'll talk to your Dad when we I drop you off at the house later on."
"Thanks, Z!" Zara squealed. "This is wicked!"
"No problem, cuz. Now let me show you some neat things I've picked up…"
At twenty past nine, Harry arrived at Eil's flat with Ana, Zara, and Karo.
"I decided to let them tag along today," Harry said. "Why don't you guys go into Eil's kitchen and raid his junk-food drawer?"
"Yay!" squealed Karo, as he and Ana ran for Eil's kitchen. Zara followed.
"So?" Eil asked. "Let me see!"
"Truthfully, I haven't even seen it yet. I left it in my apartment because it was still developing." Harry said, picturing the parchment on the table in front of them. "Here you go."
"I can't," Eil said. "You look first."
"Okay…" Harry said looking down at the piece of parchment. At first, he was puzzled.
"Eil, take a look at this." Harry said, confused.
Eil glanced down at the parchment, and saw Harry's family tree, for both parent's sides.
"What?" Eil asked. "I don't understand. This is your family tree, not mine."
"Look," Harry said, pointing to a spot on the tree. Coming out of the left of Harry's name was a squiggly line, and connected the other end of it was Eil's.
"What does that mean?" Eil asked.
"No clue," Harry answered truthfully. "I'll have to check my books when I get back to the house later. I don't understand though- this is just my family tree with your name linked to mine with a squiggly line!"
"Yeah, what happened to my family tree?"
"I'm really not sure, Eil. I promise I'll look into it tonight, especially now that it is really involving me."
"Thanks, man."
"No problem. Now, lets get over to the orphanage. I want to make sure everything is perfect," Harry said.
"You're one obsessive dude," Eil commented. "It was fine yesterday when we left!"
"I know. This is just a big deal to me, I guess." Harry said. "By the way, did you sign up to volunteer yet?"
"Yep. Took care of it first thing this morning. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from eleven until two-thirty."
"That's great!" Harry said.
"Surprisingly, most of the time slots were already filled when I got there. It was crazy. I had to wait in a line to sign up."
"Oh, I got the time sheet first. I had to pick times that would work around my busy schedule- with the intense training picking up again soon, and being King, my schedule isn't exactly flexible anymore."
"No kidding," Eil said. "So, what times did you end up volunteering?"
"Oh geez…" Harry said. "Monday from three a.m. until six a.m. and then five p.m. until eight-thirty p.m., Tuesday from nine a.m. until eleven a.m. and them from eight-thirty p.m. until ten p.m., and Wednesday from five p.m. until eight-thirty p.m. Then on Thursday, it's six a.m. until nine a.m. and then eight-thirty p.m. until ten p.m. Friday, I'll be in from nine a.m. until two-thirty p.m., and then five to eight p.m. Saturday, it's eleven a.m. until five pm., and Sunday it is six a.m. until eleven a.m., and then five p.m. until eight-thirty."
"Wow…" Eil said. "You weren't kidding when you said that you'd be over there a lot. And hey, on Saturday I'll be there when you're there!"
"You'll be there from eleven until five?" Harry asked.
"Heck, no. From eleven until two-thirty." Eil said.
"Oh well, Zara'll be there from two-thirty until five with me," Harry said.
Five minutes later, Harry, Eil, Zara, Ana, and Karo headed for the Orphanage. Harry dropped the three off in the playroom on the first floor, and he and Eil went to do a last inspection of the building, to make sure everything was childproofed.
It was close to ten by the time Harry declared everything perfect. Harry met Kaya down in the offices, and took a look at the Volunteer Schedule. It was quite full, with only a few open spots left for alternates.
"Wow…" Harry said. "I never expected this to get such big community support."
"It's a good cause," Kaya said. "Besides, elves generally love children."
"Then why weren't they doing anything about it before?"
"People tried- King Mallon said that the Kingdom didn't have sufficient funds."
"Didn't had sufficient funds?" Harry questioned. "I've seen the balance for the Royal Account. There's plenty of 'funds'."
"What can I say?" Kaya said. "He was sort of greedy. A great King, but greedy."
"I'm so tired," Harry yawned. "This King thing is really going to get to me."
Harry had a sudden thought. "Hey Kaya, didn't you do a lot of research on your family history last year?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"It turns out that Eil's royal, right? So I did this spell on him that would produce his family tree. Except his family tree didn't show up on the parchment. It was mine- with his name connected to mine with a squiggly line. Do you know what that means?"
"Squiggly lines represent adoption."
"What?"
"It seems as though you've adopted Eil as your brother."
"I don't get it," Harry said.
"But I do," Kaya said, as she smiled knowingly. "After all that research, I learned that if an Elven child is orphaned before they leave their mother's womb (In other words, their mother is killed, but the child in her womb survives), then the magical levels inside the child's body change around their DNA so that they appear to slightly resemble the first person they lay eyes on. However, even though the child had a mother, it's really got no ancestors because of a complex inner-change that occurs."
Kaya paused. "These children are called Earth-Children. They typically have royal blood, although from seemingly nowhere. I think that Eil is such a child- how else could he have royal blood? When you completed the spell to find his family tree (which he doesn't have), the spell's inner workings took it upon themselves to bond you and Eil as brothers."
"Wow… I better get Eil down here." Harry said. A second later, Eil was standing in the room.
"Zar, I've told you a million times. I'm not…" Eil said, finally realizing that he was no longer in the playroom. "I HATE when you do that, Z!"
Harry laughed. Every time.
"Kaya just saved me some research," Harry said. "She knew what the squiggly line meant."
"Really?" Eil said, looking interested. "What?"
"Adoption." Harry answered simply.
"But that still doesn't explain why I've got no family tree of my own."
Kaya explained to Eil what she had just told Harry.
"Is that why that spell hurt so damn much? I couldn't sleep at all last night."
"Sorry, Eil." Harry said. "Come to think of it, I had a huge headache last night too. Is that anything to do with it?"
"Most likely," Kaya answered.
"Anyway, this is kind of cool… bro." Eil said.
"Yes. Yes it is." Harry replied, nodding.
Approximately ten minutes later, Harry and a number of other people were standing outside the orphanage, awaiting the arrival of the orphans. Because the attack had only occurred the day before and many of the new orphans would still be very upset, Harry had only allowed his advisors, and a few of their family members, to attend. The volunteer schedule would not be put into effect until the next day.
"Are they coming soon?" Ana asked.
"Soon," Harry said, nodding.
A moment later, a group of many children appeared. It was apparent which of the orphans had been at the orphanage before. For one, they appeared extremely happy, which the others weren't. And secondly, they were dressed in rags. It made Harry angry to see how mistreated they'd been.
"Hello," Harry said lightly, going to open the doors. Zara held the main doors open, and Harry led them through the entrance to the main playroom. All of the orphans sat down on the carpeted floor. Harry stood in front of them, his advisors on his left.
Harry observed their reactions to their surroundings. The younger orphans appeared to be in awe of the number of toys in the room. The orphans from the old orphanage seemed startled that they'd get to live in a place as nice as this. The older children looked depressed, which was completely understandable.
Harry talked to them for a few minutes, describing the building and some rules. The older children (eleven or over) were allowed to leave the building any time they wanted, as long as they told someone and were back by nine at night. The middle-aged children (seven to ten) could leave with permission anytime from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. as long as they traveled in groups of four or more. Children five and six were allowed to go to pre-instruction, and play outside on the grounds. And kids younger than that needed an adult to go outside with them. Harry had charmed the entrances and exits so that the kids could only get out with permission.
"And now, I'm going to take the older kids upstairs now," Harry announced. "So if… Iliana, Tyjaer, Mia, Pyrair, Calalae, and Thalo would follow me…"
"Excuse me? Sir?" Tyjaer asked. He had flaming red hair, and dark brown eyes. He reminded Harry of Ron.
"Call me Blaze… or Z if you prefer."
"Well, um… Blaze, I was wondering if it would be possible for me to have a room near all of my siblings. They need me."
Harry glanced around, and saw many redheads. Now they really reminded him of the Weasleys. Harry thought for a moment.
"How old are your brothers and sisters?" he asked.
"Thistle's eleven, Sokai is nine, Shyr is five, Eiri is four, and Sori and Mira are three."
"Well, Thistle and Sokai will be on the fourth floor, and Shyr, Eiri, Sori, and Mira will be on the third floor. According to my Room Plan, Sori and Mira have attaching rooms, and Eiri and Syr have attaching rooms. Same with Thistle and Sokai. I think they'll be perfectly fine. But I'll grant you special permission to go down to see them whenever you'd like."
"Thanks Blaze," Tyjaer smiled. Harry led the six older children up to their rooms, and then left them to do whatever they wanted. He walked back downstairs, and called for the seven to eleven year olds.
"Can Thistle, Sokai, Vinnie, Jabajo, Sai, Eiloryl, Jhora, Belor, Carolae, Aelair, Eijer, Sylae, and Pyros please come with me?"
Harry showed them their rooms too, and then showed the three to six year olds (Shyr, Eiri, Sori, Mira, Carai, Thaer, Loni, Lomi, Lalai, Orasai, Sarei, Mara, Ailia, and Thal) to theirs, but brought them back down to the playroom afterward. Then, he took the babies (Ialai, Sakai, and Byr) up to the nursery and sat with them for a while. Ialai was a very small one-year-old, and had brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was sleeping soundly in one of the cribs. Sakai was a very cute two-year-old, with black hair and brown eyes. She seemed to be getting along well with two-year-old Byr, who had light brown hair, and was extremely happy. Sakai was the only one of the three who had been at the previous orphanage. It was noticeable in that she was very dirty, and had scratches and scrapes all over her body. Harry gave her a bath and changed her out of her tattered clothes, and into a cute pink muggle outfit.
After about a half-hour, Kaya came up.
"Hogging the babies, Blaze?" She said, laughing. "Figures. Let me watch them- go to the older kids playroom."
Harry complied, handing Ialai (who had been drinking warm milk from a bottle) over to Kaya, and exiting the room. He headed for the second floor, and was surprised to find many laughing children, including several of the older ones who had recently lost their parents.
"Look at this!" shouted an excited Jabajo, pointing at the Muggle Video-gaming system.
"They have DDR!" exclaimed Calalae, recognizing Dance Dance Revolution, probably from their old house. The Elven Realm was very well stocked with Muggle games.
Harry chuckled, as nine-year-old Sokai ran up to him, asking him if he'd play with him. Life was beginning to get more interesting.
At one-thirty, Harry headed back over to the training center, sparred with Cassian, giving him a few pointers, and then went back to the orphanage. Cassian came with him. Harry had gone to the younger children's playroom, and had played Hide-And-Go-Seek with the Ana, Karo, the six-year-old triplets (Loni, Lomi, and Lalai), the red-headed-twins (Sori and Mira- three years old), and Eiri (four), Mara (four), and Sarae (three). Before he knew it, it was five o'clock. Harry went with Ana, Karo, and Zara back to the house, and went up to his room to shower and get ready for dinner.
Later that night, Harry was awakened to the cry of an infant outside the house.
"What the…" Harry said, getting up. He climbed down the stairs, and walked outside. It was two-thirty in the morning. He saw what looked to be a baby wrapped in a blanket, lying in the middle of the street. Harry ran over to the figure, and saw that it was in fact a baby boy. He appeared to be about a year old.
Harry bent over, and picked the child up. Cradling him in his arms, Harry began to walk back to the house. He had figured that he could take in the child for the night, and then take him to the orphanage in the morning, where he'd be well cared for.
However, Harry had thought wrong. As soon as he'd taken his first step, there was a bright flash of pale blue light, and Harry felt pain like he'd never experienced. And, still holding the child, his world blacked out.
A/N: Wow! 20 pages! I think that's a record for me… This chapter didn't really turn out the way I wanted it to, but I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer, so I posted. Please review and let me know what you think!
SouthernBelle: Hey! I only left you hanging for a little bit over a month! And I've provided another cliffie for this chaper! Hehe. I love being evil… But anyway, I'll try and update soon.
Andine: Yeah. I know it can get unrealistic at times… I assure you there IS a reason for that. But that won't become a main part of the plot until much, much, much, much later. Glad you like it, though!
Missing Fairy: glad you like it! Hope you liked this chapter too! (this one's really not my favorite. I've been working on it for a while, and I can't get it to turn out the way I wanted to. I hope I can get the next chapter to sound a little better…)
Lady of Masbolle: Yep- I'm in 9th grade. And I agree that the whole interview thing was OOC. I've re-read it and I don't really like the way that it turned out. I'm thinking that when I've finished with this story (which won't be for a while) I'll probably do a re-write, if only for my sake. Hope you liked this chapter okay (even though I didn't- I don't think it turned out quite right).
Annie: Harry'll probably get back to Hogwarts in about two chapters. I think I've been stretching his stay in the Elven Realm a little too much… I don't know. But I'm glad you like it! Thanks for the review!
Musings-of-Apathy: This was a transitional chapter too… geez. I think I've got enough of them now. Hopefully there'll be a bit more action in the next chapter. Harry will return to the Wizarding World in about two or three chapters (although I've been promising it for a while now, it is definitely going to occur soon). I do have a pretty good idea of how Harry will return to the Wizarding World, but you'll have to just wait and see. (Smiles evilly) Thanks for the review- glad you like it!
CastusAlbusCor: I felt a bit guilty when I read your review, as I never intended for Harry to change the West Wing… hopefully him adding on to the castle was an okay substitute… Glad you like it!
Lady Lily3: Yes- you'll be seeing Harry's (wizarding) friends like Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in about two or three chapters. Thanks for reviewing- and I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Hopefully you liked this one too!
DoWNEr: Hmm… how to explain… I'm not sure I ever said that Dumbledore knew that Harry lived in a cupboard… but if I did, then here's how I figure it- I think that Dumbledore may have suspected it, but didn't want to believe it so shrugged the idea off as 'stupid'. In no way do I think that being forced to live in a cupboard is acceptable. I very much think that that is abuse. I have no idea where you got the idea that I thought it was from… Sorry if that sounded a bit harsh- I may have misunderstood you…
OrganiclyMe: glad you love the idea- took a bit of planning on my part. Thanks!
Kaaera: Is Eil going to Hogwarts? I'd love to answer your question but the plotline hinges on that so much that I can't. I promise that you'll find out soon enough (within 3-5 chapters).
VFPC: hope this wasn't too long of a wait for you!
Nogoalielikeme: It was Harry speaking at the end of Chapter 12, not Eil. I looked back on it, and it definitely sounds confusing. Thanks for pointing it out. Hope you didn't mind this cliffie too much!
Volleypickley16: glad you loved it! Hope the wait wasn't too long…
Holimontski: Sorry about the long updates- I have such a busy schedule that I don't often find time to write. Harry knew he had to divulge at least some of his history if he wanted the Elven people to trust him. As for Dumbledore, you'll have to find out! (smiles evilly).
HPFanChrissy1502: Hehe- I'm glad that you're happy that Harry's going to be King. Glad you liked the last chapter!
AthenaKitty: Yes, Harry will get his tan back (smiles). Couldn't have our hero without a nice tan, could we? Things will change pretty quickly, and the Dark Elves won't be idle for much longer.
Grey8: Yeah- this chapter wasn't action-packed, either. Hopefully the next one will be. I love writing Harry's interaction with Eil and Bael. It's fun. Glad you like it!
And to:
X Revolution
Bloodless Ace
Gohan/Videlgoten/Trunkslover
Lone Wolf Blade
Vorkvillebird
Mark Scheezle
Chrissy 227
Fluffy Pink Slippers
MysticRuby
KainIze
HecateDeMort
Pleione
Bandgsecurtiyaw
Glad you liked it! Thanks for reviewing!
Review please!