Hello everyone, thank you so much for all the reviews, they make me really happy and there are some that even give me some ideas as to what to write in the next chapter, although I have to say that I have the general idea already finished in my head and notebook.
Anyway, here's the next chapter. It took me longer than expected due lots of exams that had me plagued until last week and very little time to use to write on my stories.
This chapter is NOT betad yet! I don't know whether Lexi has the time to check it up before I go on vacation and since I'll be gone about a month and don't know whether I get the chance to use a comp, I decided to post it the way it is.
Please forgive all my mistakes, there are more then usual, I mean my friend calls me the coma-eater and that I tend to write the sentences the way I think of them in German.
So here I present you the NOT BETAD chapter and hope you enjoy it and makes up for the long time it took me to update.
Chapter 12"The Water turned to blood…" the figure on the ground coughed his breath poisoning the air with the illness of death. "Blood of my soul…"
"It stopped bleeding…" another figure said steadying his walk by leaning onto the cave's wall. "Or maybe it's a trick of my mind…"
"Scars are being torn open… Will they ever cease to bleed? … " The one covering on the ground asked hoarsely before closing his eyes feeling that the thin cord that held his soul bonded to the flesh of this mortal body was ripping apart. "I think I'm happy…" he whispered barely audible for the other to hear. "I think I'm seeing a light in the darkness of my existence…" the oxygen to his blood was decreasing with every second his lungs denied to work properly. "But all that is left is blackness… eternal darkness…"
The one approaching fell to his knees, crawling over as tears streamed down his face and he cried out in loss of a friend... a brother…
The dark haired young man stood by the window, his shoulders hanging down not only from the injuries he had received, but also because he was lost. Lost within a war that he had never imagined to witnessed, never thought possible to reach him in the safety of his home.
"For the first time I could only thinking of nothing else but fear…" he said slowly, not turning around to face his listeners. "The first time I confronted it… It was like those eyes didn't see anything at all… they held no emotion… no life whatsoever."
The tall blond woman at the corner lifted her hand to her lips sensing the pain the young man was going through narrating what had occurred to him a few days earlier. One part of her wanted to help and try to comfort him, but her other side, the rational and leader side of her wanted to hear the rest. No… not wanted… Needed to hear the rest to know how to proceed in the battle.
The young man turned to them, his eyes no longer holding the innocence in which they had shone while in the human world. Those eyes held the age of one who had wandered upon the surface of the earth for more years than any of the people in the room had been alive.
"It was a mass of darkness…" he passed a hand over his face forcing himself to stay calm and not let the fresh memories get the better of him. "A vengeful… evil spirit… Its whole presence radiated an aura that must surely be older than anyone I have ever encountered… It was like a spirit without will of his own crawling over corpses and spewing his stench of death about." His hand fell to his side as he starred at them with panicked eyes. "I could feel the desire to consume everything, the crave for more blood that festered all within it. And those it controls are empty shells, soulless bodies coming together to do the will of the Lord of Chaos…" he shook his head before looking at the figure standing with a band covering his eyes and forehead. "No matter how you call out, Harry, your voice will never reach him again. There no longer is the man you knew. The only thing left is that thing which can just kill us all without batting an eyelash!"
"Death is so much easier to take in the dark…"
"Don't say things like that, Severus!"
"I don't know what we can possible do now to stop this spreading darkness. You can barely hold it from controlling me, Harry!"
"Shh… Don't say more, Sev… Please, just relax for now and let me threat your wounds. Let us think later of a solution…"
"Are you saying that because you saw a way out?"
"Did you see something?"
"…"
"Well, neither did I."
The figure stirred lifting his wings from his body and spreading them like a bird about to fly away. He moved his head slowly up opening his eyes, which held nothing but a golden color in them. Unfocused, they starred around slowly. He undid his arms from holding his legs pressed to his chest and stretched to a standing position gliding gently down to the ground. Again he closed his eyes for a moment, and as they opened this time they held a slid pupil from, but still in gold. Yet this time he noticed the woman standing before him dressed in an ancient fashion such he could only recall from before the Dark Ages… or was it just yesterday…? Or maybe it was still to happen… He couldn't tell. Time no longer flew in a straight line around him, but he could see millions and more streams of possibilities drowning his vision and pulling him along to witness. Things that had already happened, things that could have happened in another universe, things that were to come and things that were happening just now.
He shook his head feeling overpowered by these visions unable to tell which was his own reality. Reaching up with his hands to hold his head, he tried to clear his mind, but it was getting too much, his body was starting to panicking filling his veins with adrenaline. He tried to focus but it was all becoming more than he could handle, his mind was about to blank out from the rush of oxygen his lungs were absorbing. It was maddening. He screamed.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They were back at the empty and seemingly endless grasslands. The hooded man lifted his hands slowly to his head pushing the fabric aside that had hidden his face up until now, revealing James Potter to Severus. The Potion Master held his breath unable to react, startled by the revelation and yet he had to admit that somehow deep inside he had known all along that the man had been none other than Harry's father.
Unexpectedly he had no sense of anger or fury towards the other as would have been expected, but rather a calming and reassuring peace within the depth of his soul. It felt like accepting something he had tried to neglect for many years. An inner calm that seemed to wash a heavy weight from his shoulders. Like being… whole.
"James…" his voice seemed to taste the sound of the name, flaring curiosity and hundred of questions within Severus head.
The other man did not smile but held a serious expression; something Severus didn't remember having seen too often. He lifted his hand moving it swiftly over his chest and changing his robes to clothing the Potion Master had never seen before, they were strange almost inhuman. Taking a closer look at the man Severus started to see the changes the familiar face was getting through. His features altered, his hair becoming longer and his ears stood out of the black mop, they were long and looked like an elf's. But most amazing of all was the change of his eyes, as the blue changed from a circle form to a slit similar to what Minerva's eyes looked when she was changing to her cat form. And strange signs marked the skin that had become visible on his arms and neck as well as face.
And still Severus was not alarmed, because he had seen this before. Many years ago he had witness this by mere chance. The Potion Master's eyes widened in slow understanding.
"You blocked my memory!" He finally said in shocked surprise. "When there was an explosion in the lab while I worked on…" he paled. "While I worked on the virus…" he starred down at his hands. "I was the one who found the papers and started to work on it. The lab you showed me… that was mine…"
James nodded. "Yes, it was you who started it. And you were a fool to try to master such an old art."
Severus narrowed his eyes angrily. "I didn't try to master it, I wanted to understand it!" he snapped.
"And what was the price?" the other asked annoyed. "You almost got yourself killed. If I hadn't been around you would have died!"
"But the virus only affects those of half blood." Severus said defensively.
The other rolled his eyes. "Normally, but you were at the experimenting stage which affected even people like you!" You could have killed everyone in the mansion!"
Snape shrugged. "Would have been better than have Voldemort on the rampage. Well, look what happened to you!" he paused raising an eyebrow. "Which brings me to the question… Aren't you dead?"
This time James smiled, the wicked and smut little smile of his. "More or less…" his lips parted to an amused grin. "I can only die when you die Severus, because I bonded my soul to yours in order to create a balance for the Yorae." He shrugged slightly. "Although I must admit, that when I first had the vision about you and my son, I thought for real that he was me. It really freaked me out…"
"Wha…What?!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The dark was rising swiftly and united as a strong front. Through the grounds they blazed their black fires filling the air with malicious laughter and echoes of deaths as it passed. A summon of many coming to join as one. Their power wielding as a shield against their opponents to the front leaving a trail of destruction and foul breath with every step they moved.
"To the west gates!!" the orders rebounded through the ancient building waving out towards their enemy. "Seal the gates!!"
More voices broke out to mix with the battle waving at the front. Spells were fired off of both live and ruin throughout the caves up to the foot of the Sanctuary. The movements became more frantic and faster with every voice that joined in. Corpses went flying over a pile of other dead ones against the walls clearing a path for the ongoing darkness. Ancient Beings held up their hands to join their strength while others raised their staffs to balance their defenses crying out in a voice of power, words that had for a long time gone unspoken upon the face of the earth. But the flaring and uncontrollable darkness creep closer and closer towards the doorways of the building pushing the small front back breaking here and there one of the casters.
Hectic commands to hold the enemy back were starting to become useless, the old beings realized that soon even their strength would be broken and that they would have to bend to the will of the stronger and still growing darkness.
The last thing that was heard echoing though the empty caves was the painful sound of souls vanishing from their bodies building an almost silent crescendo of glee and solace for those who remained upon the world as a warning that the war had finally started.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hermione walked next to Ron up to the infirmary to visit Harry. For the last days, they knew there had been something going on that Harry was not telling them, and they were going to confront him now.
"You think he told Sirius or Remus what happened to him?" Ron asked.
Hermione shrugged. "I have no clue. But I really hope he did, because I think he's in something really deep this time that he even won't confine in us."
Ron nodded as they reached the floor where the infirmary was. "And also I think that Malfoy might be involved in this."
"How did you get that idea?" she asked stopping and turning to him.
He stopped his steps as well crossing his arms. "I overheard McGonagall talking to Madam Pomfrey the other day."
She narrowed her eyes accusingly as she moved her hands to rest on her hips. "And it occurs you now to tell me?"
He grinned sheepishly. "I had forgotten it with all the studying you had me doing lately."
She sighed letting her arms fall to the side again; she opened her mouth to say something but stopped at the sight of Madam Pomfrey exiting a room nearby followed closely by Neville. Hurriedly they moved behind a statue to hide. After all the Medi-witch had forbidden them both to go visit Harry until he was feeling better. If she saw them now, she surely would send them back to their dorm.
"And he's here now?" Neville asked taking a quick look around that they were alone.
"Apparently, yes." She said so low that Ron and Hermione were barely able to hear. "I mean you saw Fred and George enter with the Yorae God."
"I have never felt so strange in the presence of anyone but Harry and Master Salazar." Neville said crossing his arms, seeming to age by years with this mere action, even his voice held calm and strength in it that the two hiding Gryffindor's were not used to.
"You know Salazar Slytherin?" she asked impressed.
"Long story. " he said dismissively. "Anyway, if the Yorae God is here, it means that the prediction of the late Yorae Dragon is coming true after all."
"You mean the war?"
"Partly." He put his finger on his lips in thoughts. "It has been a long time since I was at the Inner World, I don't know how things stand now, but if the urgency the Dragon's see to bring the Yorae God here has anything to say to this, the situation must be really bad."
"Which means that soon, the High Council and the Shaman Circle will be calling all Dragons and Gods back to the Inner World." Her features became sadder. "And to be true I don't want to go there, I was born here, I don't want the humans to deal with this on their own, because in the long run we will also be affected by this. We are all connected, what happens to one race will automatically affect the other. That is the balance on which our worlds are based."
"You know a lot for being only half God." Neville said slowly in curiosity.
"My mother was Ares." She said.
The boy's eyes widened. "The God of War?"
She nodded.
He laughed. "I have to tell you, I was amazed as how your mother managed to pass herself as a man."
She sighed. "Don't ask, just don't ask."
He smiled. "Well, we should get going if we want to talk to the Yorae God while he's here." He said and she nodded.
Hermione and Ron watch them pass in confusion.
"Herm…" Ron said as they came out of the hideout. "Would you mind explaining me what we just heard?"
"I think I need to go to library…" she said slowly before heading back down the stairs quickly leaving Ron on his own.
"I really hate it when people leave me like this!!" he said after her, hurrying to catch up and forgetting completely why they had come here in the first place.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Drake watched as the Yorae Dragon struggled to remain calm. She knew that his powers were probably too much for him to comprehend and control. So she had awoken the moment Draco had laid eyes on the winged creature. And now here she stood, in her gowns as a Priestess of the Yorae Clan, the tattoo that marked her as such flaring vividly on her bare arm. It was reacting to this boy's energy.
Extending her arms to her sides spreading her powers to seal the room from the rest of the world, assuring protection not only to the boy himself, but also for the others that might come in unaware of the danger they would be exposed.
She remember how James had suffered with the visions that plagued him, but unlike his father, the boy held power beyond comprehension to her and that probably meant that the visions must be worse for him to live through. She had heard far too often in the past what it meant for a Pureblood Yorae to awaken to his powers. Back in the Ancient days, they had to wear many controllers to suppress their power, but even then, there had come the time when they had gone mad from the cheer amount of it.
The boy screamed desperately, his nails growing incredible fast, and if he held on to his head like that he would end up hurting himself unnecessarily. He was starting to turn into his full dragon form, and that was something she couldn't allow, his size alone would not fit in the room, and besides that, there was still someone laying closed off next to the boy.
So she moved closer to him, but he slapped her away onto the ground, scratching her arm with the tattoo causing her white blood to smear her skin. She looked up to see him staring down at her. His golden eyes scared and confused. He probably wasn't even aware she was there. Slowly she gathered back to her feet not taking her eyes from him. And then suddenly with an unimaginable speed he rushed at her smashing her head with his hand against the stone floor again. Her vision turned black and she could feel a pounding wound at the back of her head. Her sight cleared just in time to see him raise his hands to hit back down on her. Getting hold of his arms she struggled against the boy's strength. She starred into those empty golden eyes that narrowed angrily at her without real recognition.
Summoning the wind around her she send him flying backwards, but he spread his wings and gained his balance quickly again. She saw him now, smiling that smug little way his father used to before practically spitting his energy at her and attacking her physically at the same time. Before she could react she felt the stench of pain on her face as his nails scratched her skin. She stumbled to the ground but she could still see him smile darkly at her.
No this boy was nothing like his father. This boy was beyond control, she needed to stop him in order to perform a spell and help him seal part of his power.
He moved over to her and she starred in fear up to him. What should she do? She couldn't think of a way out. The boy raised his closed fist as energy gathered around him to attack her once more. She had to do something, otherwise he would continue rampaging around and there was no one able to stop him.
Suddenly he screamed again and he held his head in his head painfully.
This was her chance. Standing up she reached with her left hand to her tattoo on her right arm and scratched the outline with her nail open while murmuring a spell, her blood started to crawl over her hands gathering and forming into solid material. She tried to fasten the process as the boy stopped screaming and simply stood there gazing into nothing ness.
Drake could feel her heartbeat becoming faster with every second that passed. Just a little more time, a little more.
Then the boy started to walk slowly towards the bed that was still closed off. His golden eyes fixed on the curtains and as he pushed the fabric aside she saw the body of man laying on the bed motionless. He approached it carefully and as he reached out to touch the face, she pulled him back with the wind throwing him hard to the ground. He shook his head confused for a moment, ready to attack her again, but she had finished her seal. And so before the boy could even react, she had pulled the band over his eyes and forehead closing it around his head with another spell. He fell back like a lifeless puppet. For a moment she was worried, but then she saw his chest rise up and down in calm rhythm. She looked down at the band, runes on its border and where one would normally see his scar the same sign she wore as a tattoo hid it.
She sighed relieved looking up to the figure on the bed. "I hope you know what you're doing James…" she said as she saw the man's energy resonating with the soft energy that radiated still from the boy.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Who are you?" Sirius finally managed looking utterly lost.
Tom smiled sadly. "I am the current Head of the Yorae Clan. I'm the last Yorae God…"
The humans starred at him as though he was mad. But before Tom had the chance to keep explaining there was a knock on the door. They all looked at each other surprised to have been interrupted.
"Headmaster?" the voice from outside called, it was Madam Pomfrey. "Can I come in for a moment?"
Albus looked at Tom who nodded as he laid his cloak over again and put his hood over his face once more, while Sirius returned to his Animagus form.
"Yes, Poppy, come in…" Dumbledore said glancing one last time at Tom before turning to face the door.
The door was pushed opened and Madam Pomfrey stepped in followed by Neville Longbottom who closed the door again behind him.
"How can we help you, Poppy?" Albus asked wondering why the boy was here too.
"Actually Albus, we didn't really come to talk to you." She said before turning to Tom in his seat. "But to you, Master Tom." She said bowing before the hooded man.
The others looked more confused than before if that was even possible, even the Yorae was surprised.
"You are a…"
"God." Neville finished Tom's sentence. "I bid you greetings Yorae." He said barely nodding his head.
Tom pushed his hood back again and stood slowly up. "You're Thot, the Egyptian God of Writing and Knowledge!" He said surprise. "I remember you from a picture on my great-great- grandfather's desk. You're the one who introduce him to Godric Gryffindor and made them friends!"
Neville smiled amused. "Well, it certainly has been a very long time since anyone has called me by my real name, young Yorae God." He said. "And I didn't make Salazar become friends with Godric… It was Godric who insisted for me to introduce them to one another."
"Wow…" Tom let out an impressed sigh. "I've heard all sort of stories about you, but I never actually thought to meet you! My brother idolized you like crazy when he was little."
Neville raised an eyebrow amused. "Well, I don't know what Salazar told you, but whatever he accused me off, he was just as bad if not worse, young Yorae God."
Tom laughed. "Believe me, I learned that first hand once my brother found out." And extended his hand towards the boy. "And please call me Tom."
Neville met his hand with the back of his own, as it was tradition between Gods. "Master Tom."
"No, just Tom."
The boy nodded before turning Tom's attention to Madam Pomfrey. "And I believe you already know her."
Tom bowed the same way Neville had to him. "Of course I know Ares' daughter. It's been a long time Poppy."
"Yes, it has Master Tom."
Tom looked from one to the other. "But this isn't a social meeting and you came to see me for a reason risking the knowledge of your true self to be exposed." He said motioning with his hand at the others in the room.
Neville sighed. "Indeed… We came for two reasons. First I sensed a great amount of energy disturbing the balance and also… are the late Yorae Dragon's predictions coming true?"
Tom didn't answer but walked back to his seat and nodding shortly to George to answer for him.
"Master Thot, what you sensed was the start of the war, soon the Council and the Circle will call all, even the Old Clans back to our World." George explained. "You as we know of the laws that forbid us to help the humans… all we can do is warn them."
"But that's not right!!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. "If the Outer Shell is harmed beyond repair, as it surely will happen, then it will affect us too!"
"We don't know ourselves how to handle this situation!" Fred snapped. "You think we wouldn't bring this before the High Council and try to convince them otherwise if we knew of a way to stop it?!"
Tom sighed as he listened to Poppy and the twins argue frenetically.
/While those three argue I have a few more things I have to tell you, just nod if you can all hear me in your heads./ Tom said resting his elbow on the armrest of his armchair and leaning his head on his hand.
The others nodded slowly a little taken back by the intrusion into their minds.
/As I was explaining earlier I am the Yorae God, my job is to absorb the negative waves that you humans produce, in coordination with my twin I would under normal circumstances be able to perform the ritual to purify the energy and return it, but he's dead./ He paused taking a deep breath trying to control the imbalance of power that was starting to spread through him again. /In other words, at the moment the energy keeps on gathering in me and will eventually go out of control./
~So you might burst like a balloon about anytime?~ Sirius asked.
/Sort of…/ and he continued explaining the problem and the circumstance to the war with the Death Eaters.
*Okay, basically what your telling us is that the Yorae that hasn't awakened, is nothing else but a filter for the energy you absorb.* Remus said slowly.
/Yes, and I don't think he will awake in time…/
*Is what Poppy saying the truth, you would leave our world exposed to the danger of that darkness and destruction that will be coming?* Remus asked on. *I mean what kind of creators are you if you let us die without helping or even protecting us?!*
/I will tell you something my mother said once to my father: "There is the light and the darkness, they will battle on for eternity. Such is the way of this world. Because of that I will never agree with you or any of your people for that matter. It's simply an impossibility that we could work together..."/
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Someone was caressing his hair gently; they held him comforting like a mother a child. He opened his eyes but there was nothing he could see but darkness. His heart made an alarmed jump but his mind provided him with a rational explanation, maybe the room was simply dark as well, and that's why he couldn't see anything. He pushed slowly away from the one holding him, feeling the warmth of the arms leave him. He reached slowly out for his wand but he couldn't find it.
"Harry?"
He turned his head to the source of voice next to him. It was a woman, a voice he had heard before. "Draco?" he asked slowly.
"Drake…" she answered.
"Why is it so dark?" he asked as he tried to call out for his wand, but nothing happened. This was starting to make him uncomfortable. Not only couldn't he see, but he appeared to be without magic as well. It made him vulnerable.
"You have to activate the sign on the band on your eyes to see without releasing your powers." She explained as she took his hand and leaded it up to his face.
His finger came in contact with a fabric he had never before touched it was strange, like nothing he had ever come across. He could feel the slight irregularities on the surface as though something had been stitched on it. And between his eyes up to his forehead seemed to be a larger mark.
"Try to will it to let you see." The woman said calmly.
Harry closed his eyes although he wasn't sure what for, he couldn't see more or less with opened ones. Concentrating he thought of wanting to see what was around him, he felt unwell in the dark. And as he re-opened them he saw his vision clearing, it was as though seeing through glasses.
He turned to look at the woman next to him and gasped at the sight of her. She was identical to Draco, except for the fact that she was… female.
"I'm Draco's twin." She explained as she smiled softly.
Harry blinked.
"Hoe!" the boy waved leaning over the balcony at the man in the garden. "Hoe!!"
The blond young man looked up annoyed. "What do you want? Who the hell are you anyway?"
The boy grinned. "Well, aren't you the strange one?"
The blond raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean, you're the one tangling after me since I entered the city walls."
"He's just annoyed that all." Said another voice coming from one of the trees near the balcony. "That's the only reason he has been following you around. You're a new face and he's just excited."
The blond turned to the one in the tree, he looked a lot like the on the balcony. "Twins?… Are you dragon leaders?"
The one on the tree burst into laughter. "Maybe."
The blond straightened his shoulder. "I'm Draco of the Wind Clan. I was told that I could meet the Yorae Dragon if I came here. Could you tell me where to find him or her?"
The two dark haired one laughed out in unison. "You came all the way here and you don't even know to whom you're supposed to talk to?" the one on the balcony asked amused. His smile was rather unnerving.
Draco sighed seeing that he wasn't going to get out a straight answer of either two. "Could you at least tell me where the Chronos' Sanctuary is?"The boy on the balcony jumped over the fence and landed gracefully on the ground, his brother joining him. They looked curiously at each other before turning to Draco.
"Only the Yorae and their priests and priestess are allowed there." Said the one with blue eyes.
"And you don't bear any sign to be either one." Finished the ruby eyed one smiling like his brother. "Why would you want to go there?"
This time the blond smiled and passed a hand over his face revealing signs and marks that reached over his neck down to his shoulders. "I think I have the right to go and also, my sister is there."
"Oi, oi…" The ruby eyed one let out an impressed whistle. "If that isn't the High Councilor."
"Hoe…" his brother nodded while putting an arm over his shoulder. "But look there, he's the Wind Leader as well."
The two grinned. "The Sanctuary is the building at the end of town, big place, can't miss it." They said together before laughing and running amused away.
Draco sighed, those children would make very bad leaders, and they even didn't wear their Clan signs.
Harry blinked again unsure of what he had just seen, before another vision washed over him.
Draco sighed relived as his sister came towards him. She hugged him to her.
"It's good to see you're doing fine, Drake." He said.
"Well, more or less." She said sighing.
He raised curiously an eyebrow.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm becoming a Yorae priestess and I can't stand the Yorae Dragon, I don't think that's a good qualification."
He laughed. "The Yorae can't be that bad."
"Worse!" she exclaimed as they made their way through the sanctuary grounds. "He's damned annoying, an ego-maniac and he's got nothing but trouble in his head and the fact that Master Salazar allows him to do as he wants is even more bothersome." She said annoyed. "And his brother is just as bad! Although, one can have a more or less rational conversation with him than with Master James." She gave the 'master' a mockery tone. "He's such… such…" she thought for a moment for the right words.
"Drake calm down." Draco said. "You shouldn't talk like that about the Yorae, especially here." He said looking around that no one had heard them.
Suddenly there was a scream from many voices and than angry calls from one of the buildings. Then two figures came running out, laughing their soul's out.
"You two!! STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" priests called after them, but the two boys just stuck their tongues out, running of to their direction grinning and laughing amused.
Draco recognized them immediately from earlier. He raised his hands and caught them with a wind spell restraining them.
"HEY!!" the blued eyed one called out angrily. "Let go of us!!" he said narrowing his eyes at them while his brother struggled to free himself.
"Draco." Drake tried to stop her brother, but he walked forward as the priests came rushing towards them as well.
"You two! What are you doing here!" he said angrily. "Don't you know this is holy ground!"
"LET US GO!!" the blued eyed one cried out before throwing his head back.
His brother stopped his move starring at his twin. The blue eyes starred shocked up at the sky, his breathing was becoming ragged, and he appeared to over ventilate any moment. The blued eyed boy let out an alarmed scream.
"DRACO!!" Drake called out alarm. "Let go of them!!"
"But…"
Suddenly the boy spread his wings breaking the High Councilor's spell, his eyes had turned golden and he exposed his fangs angrily. He gathered his energy around his body to attack. The priest stood in front of Draco and Drake raising their hands and staffs creating a shield to protect them. Then suddenly, his brother holding desperately on to him, threw the boy to the ground.
"James!! Calm down, I'm here!!" said the ruby eyed one. "It's me Tom, please, James listen to me. Everything is fine, what you're seeing is not real, nothing of it is real!"
James slumped against his brother's body holding on to the other, trembling all over. "There will come a time for war…" he said loud enough for the others to hear. "May there be gods and dragons… For the world to see and witness…to guide us in to future and show us what lays ahead…for their power to help us in need…to answer our prayers when we are lost…May there be gods and dragons… For us to become… And so the chants will go on and on breaking trough the silence of the world calling out onto those of power to shine and catch them in their brightness and change the way of the world, whether for the better or the worst..." with this he fell into a restless sleep.
The priest rushed over to the two of them while Draco remained unable to move next to Drake.
"Talking about doing bad things on holy ground, brother." Drake said slowly as they watched the men take the two boys with them into one of the buildings. "One shouldn't attack the Yorae Dragon, no matter how much you want it, and especially not when he's going through his Seasoning."
Harry looked up at Drake. "You knew my father." He said as a matter of fact. "You're a…"
"Priestess?" she asked before nodding and pointing at the sign on her arm. "Yes, troublesome job if you ask me." She smiled gently at him. "But tell me, Harry, how are you feeling now?"
"Besides confused as to why you're here and the fact that I feel nervous as though something was calling out for me and I couldn't hear it. I think alright." He said passing a hand over his hair. "What happened anyway?"
"You're powers awoke and what your sensing is your energy resonating to his." She pointed over to the bed where the Potion Master lay. "Your body and his are adjusting slowly to meet the conditions as to make him your mate and equal partner."
"What?!" Harry exclaimed.
She smiled warmly and kissed his forehead. "You appear to have chosen him as your balance, so his body is being adjusted by the power of the last Yorae that rests in him, and your body will soon start to change as well, more than it has already."
"Are you telling me that my Seasoning started and that I choose SNAPE of all people?!"
She nodded.
He threw his hands up in the air. "Great! If it hadn't been already bad enough that I slept with him!!"
Drake blinked. "What?"
He smiled nervously. "Did I just say that out loud?"
"Hell, yes you did!" Draco reappeared.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They were sitting next to each other on the grass now in silence after James had finished explaining to Severus that he was chosen to be the balance point of the new Yorae Dragon.
"So you knew all this was going to happen?" Severus finally managed to ask.
James nodded. "Not everything of course, my powers aren't as great as the now awakening Yorae Dragon. Although I did see that he would decide for you to strengthen his control of his powers and that my brother was to become Voldemort."
Severus led himself fall back onto the grass moving his arm over his eyes while letting out a deep sigh. "All this… it's rather confusing, but…" he wasn't sure how to explain what he felt.
"You feel as though you knew all this already and you're confused by the fact that it all doesn't seem to bother you the way it would have had our conversation occurred a few days earlier." James said looking down at him.
Severus lowered his arm from his eyes and moved them to rest at the figure of the person he always thought to hate, but to whom he could only associate a calm understanding and thankfulness now. "Yes, exactly!"
James lowered himself onto the grass as well. "Well, that's because my energy is fusing with yours." He said. "When I started to have visions about what was to come it became clear to me, the moment I first met you, that you were the boy that would become the man I had seen at the side of the Yorae. You would not only become his strength and balance but also his friend and lover, in other words, the person that he needed." James turned his head to face him. "That was also the reason I was furious at Sirius when he almost got you killed and the moment I took the chance to link my energy to yours without telling my family." He grinned sheepishly. "You wouldn't guess how many laws I broke by doing just that." he laughed. "So you see for almost more than twenty years your body had been receiving as well as keeping my energy. But I also transferred my whole being onto you to melt with you and give you the powers I used to have when I died." He looked back to the blue sky. "I knew you wouldn't be able to handle all at once and therefore I sealed some of your memories waiting for this day to come, when you would finally become more or less one with me and be able to understand this gift I'm offering."
"So you're telling me that I feel like I don't care because subconsciously I already had twenty years to adjust to the whole idea of becoming James Potter?" the Potion Master glared at him pushing himself into a sitting position. "And you call that a gift?" He scowled. "You make it sound as though I had any saying in this, as though I could choose not to help! But you also said I'm already becoming you, which means that whatever I decide you could simply overrule my choice and make me do what you want and think is best!!!" Severus shook his head angry. "I wouldn't call that an offering…"
James shook his head taking a deep breath before locking his eyes with the black ones of the Potion Master. "No Severus, you won't become me…" he paused turning his head away evading his stare. "I will become you." He said slowly. "My memories will become yours, my thought will be yours from now on and my strength will be yours as well, only my emotions will become something that will be unique to me and will be nothing more to you than a far away echo of something long forgotten." He smiled sadly. "In the end I will be really dead."
"One only can be really dead if one is forgotten by the people who we loved in life." Severus replied quietly not sure why he felt the need to speak his thought out loud. "Only then you can call yourself as part of the other life."
James gave him a weak smile and they remained in silence after that for another long time and it was again the Potion Master who spoke first. "Why did you show me that?" he asked narrowing his eyes.
James turned puzzled to him "What do you mean?"
Severus snorted "Potter, of course…"
James sat up. "Do you still not understand? He's my son, therefore the next Yorae…" Black eyes starred at him as though he had gone nuts. "I mean, you must have realized by now, with all you saw and the things I showed you, that Harry is the Yorae Dragon…"
Severus glared icily at him and his lips pressed together to a thing line.
James sighed. "Let me tell you something, Severus. Something about that child you seem to hate and who irritates you so much." The man said standing up slowly and releasing his wings, which caressed over Severus as he took off the ground lightly remaining a few inches in the air.
"You seem to believe that the boy choose his path…" the voice was starting to turn distant. "And to be true he seems to believe this himself as well. But that is not the truth." The man turned to look down at him. "You and him share the same path that the Gods and Dragons' have set out for you. You may struggle against it, but at the end, that is the only path you can take if you wish to remain alive." The man extended his hand to help Severus to his feet. "He choose the path he walks upon in the believe that by doing so, he may be able to help out more. The boy is aware of the danger he's putting himself into but has he ever, I ask you, has he ever willingly thrown himself into it if there was any other way out?"
Severus opened his mouth to comment but he realized that what the other said was the truth as the image of James started to vanish before his eyes.
The winged one smiled and came closer resting his hands on Severus shoulder. "I guess my energy is finally starting to leave me…" the voice was nothing more than a far away sound. "I wish we could have had met under different circumstances again…" he grinned the way he used to when they had been children before embracing him. "Good luck…"
Although startled by the other's action, Severus returned the gesture.
"Goodbye."
And James disappeared in his embrace and his arms fell onto his chest. Now he truly would never return and Severus remained alone in the darkness of his of mind.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She entered the school ground barely able to hold herself on her feet. The ambush at the Londoner Gate had been a hard battle and only few had managed it out alive. Her arm had been badly injured and her blood was not healing the wound the way it should. Her skin seemed to burn and she was covered in dirt from when the cave had collapse on them and given them the chance to flee from the dark. Thankfully they had managed to close off the gate in time before they took complete control of the underground sanctuary.
Tears mixed with the mud on her face and she smeared her sleeves as she tried to clean her cheeks. The dark had send his puppets and she felt a pain in her chest as she remembered that many of those that had been in the battle she had known personally for a long time now. But most of all there was one person's loss that was tearing at her heart, for she herself had been forced to take his life in exchange for her own and the promise to return with Yorae.
And unsteadily she moved up the stairs to the entrance, her eyes wanting nothing but to fall close and her body to rest, but her will to warn her son was driving her on.
She pushed the door open and stumbled into the empty Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. "Is anyone here?" she called out, knowing that she hadn't much strength left.
Nobody answered for a while but then a ghost came closer to her from under the ground. She could barely make out his face. "Nick…" she called out as the Gryffindor House ghost rushed to get her help. "Please… bring this to … the …" she took a deep breath reaching for something in her pocket. "To the Weasley twins…" she handed him a large parchment before collapsing on the cold ground.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Severus opened slowly his eyes, looking up at the ceiling of the infirmary. He sat up carefully focusing on his surroundings; his body ached although his mind was as clear as it never had been before. His senses seemed suddenly have gotten better and he could feel an incredible amount of magic flowing through his veins.
He pushed his feet over the border of the bed and got up to his feet. He let out a wince of pain as he noticed that somehow he seemed to have grown and his knees hurt or maybe those beds had always been this low. He shook his head and looked around, but the room was empty, not even Poppy was there.
"Hello!" he called out but no reply came.
Everything seemed unnatural vivid and the castle was vibrating and shining in different colors. It was as though the magic around him reflected the light in different spectrums to him. He walked over to the office passing something that reflected his image which he caught sight of from the corner of his eye. He turned slowly to the mirror and froze at the sight of what he saw.
Blue eyes starred in surprise at him, his hair ruffled and they were just a little curled at the ends, but the strangest thing of all was his skin, it was sunburned, no longer did it hold the paled undead charisma he was known to have.
Severus reached up to his face shocked. This wasn't him! No, this was some cruel joke! He wasn't James Potter!! He couldn't be!! He couldn't… just couldn't…
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AN:
Before I forget, Anna has done some wonderful new fanart to this story and you can find the link to her page on my profile. You might wanna see it, and hopefully I can soon find a scanner to add my own art…
Also, I hope the chapter wasn't as confusing as I originally wanted it to be. Well, please let me know if you liked it or not, yes^^.
Shayla