Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff.


Alia Surana was having the worst day of her life. Unfortunately, it looked like it was going to be the last day as well.

Everything had begun normally enough, waking in the apprentice quarters and starting to study for her upcoming Harrowing. She knew it had to be soon. Alia was still only seventeen, but the older mages had all praised her skills over the last few years, and she was sure that she felt ready. Her best friend Galen- her only friend, really- had passed his just a few weeks prior, only to unfortunately get caught up in the chaos of Jowan's escape. But Galen had confided in First Enchanter Irving about the rebellious mage, and so he had remained at the Circle even as the templars fumed about the blood mage escapee.

All of that only served to remind her of poor Lily, a Chantry initiate who fell in love with the wrong man and had been forced to pay for Jowan's crime. Alia could relate to her, as she kept her own feelings for Galen long buried because of the fear that the templars would find out. Mages in love were routinely separated, supposedly to keep them from doing anything forbidden. But Alia knew the truth was the templars just didn't want anymore children being born with magical powers. Wynne had confessed that she had once had a child, with a templar as the father of all things, and hearing of how the baby had been taken from her had hardened Alia against the templars that much more.

Even now, Alia struggled to remember what she could of her childhood, the happy time spent with her parents in Denerim almost a decade ago. Regardless of the poverty and assorted hardships, Alia had been loved and well taken care of until that fateful day when a human (a filthy shemlen as she remembered her mother cursing him) in armor had come to 'assess' the goings on in the alienage. She remembered how all the older girls hid away during the man's visit, not realizing just why they did so until much later.

Unfortunately, the stress had brought out some accidental magic, and life as she knew it came to an end.

The weeks spent traveling with the templars had been completely terrifying. Only eight years old, the one thing she knew for certain was that she would never be able to see her parents again. Every day, she had feared that the armored humans would turn their swords on her. When they had finally arrived at the Circle Tower, the anxiety that replaced it was about how she would now have to try to fit in with a group of complete strangers, all the while the templars kept them locked up and under close watch for any hint of forbidden magic.

Galen Amell had been her hero from that very first day. He was less than two years older than her, but he had already lived at the Tower for almost half his life and so was eager to show her around. Years later, when she asked him why he had been so nice to the new little elven girl, he admitted that she reminded him of his sister. Or what he could remember of her anyway- the girl couldn't have been more than three years old when he had been stolen from his family- but Galen swore he could still remember her face, the tears rolling down her face as her big brother was taken away. And just like that long lost sister, Alia had fiery red hair.

His occasional 'big brother' behavior hadn't done anything to stop Alia from developing a crush on her best friend though, and in spite of her fears, Alia had asked Galen one night several months ago if he ever thought of her as something more than a friend. He had blushed and stammered, and it had made her want to kiss him that much more... only to have that bastard templar Cullen interrupt the moment.

And she knew why. Cullen watched her more than any of the other templars. It was so creepy and wrong, and he made her skin crawl. As if she could ever have even a hint of affection for the prison guards that rigidly denied her all the happiness and even small amounts of freedom that she wanted.

Galen had later told her that, no matter his own feelings, they couldn't be together. He couldn't bear to lose her if they were discovered. Alia had understood, or at least she claimed that she did, but it still made her that much more resentful of her life in the Tower.

If she had been in his place, she thought she may well have tried to flee with Jowan instead of reporting the blood mage to Irving. Galen always seemed a lot less angry than she herself felt though, so she knew he wouldn't have accepted the blood mage's offer. Of course, by then, he'd already passed his Harrowing, and thus his phylactery was no longer stored at the Tower, so Galen would have been in terrible danger if he had tried to run. But he wouldn't do that.

Not if it meant leaving Alia behind.

"Get behind me," he whispered as she tried to block out the tortured screams of another mage coming from the center of the room. Alia looked over at his face and she could tell he was just as terrified as she was, but he was doing everything he could to try to keep a brave face.

"What would it matter?" she exhaled. "We're doomed."

"Even if it's only a few more moments, maybe..." his voice trailed off as Galen looked away from her. "Maybe someone will come."

"Be brave, children," Irving added, speaking low so as to not draw Uldred's attention. "These monsters can feel your fears and they will prey upon them when given the chance."

The mage in the center of the room cried out again in pain from whatever fell magic Uldred was using. Alia couldn't remember his name- it was something like Rob or Rod- and she lamented that she too was going to die in such a horrible way, her life meaningless and ultimately forgotten. The two abominations that were aiding Uldred had been her colleagues just a few hours before. Poor Eadric, a serious young apprentice and one of the few other elves there, had been twisted and deformed by the demon that had taken over his body.

"Do you accept the gift that I offer?" Uldred asked as he strode forward, magically raising his victim up in the air and lifting his chin. No longer able to resist, a feeble nod was the only answer as another round of magic began to course through the young apprentice's body, light flaring as flesh and sinew bulged outwards and then a demon claimed his form.


Harry Potter had seen a lot of terrible things over the course of his long life. The worst of them had been in the years after the last war- some people may have tried to label it World War III, but in truth it had been more a number of foolish smaller conflicts all boiling over one after another rather than one great Us versus Them calamity. Mankind had been its own worst enemy.

In spite of all that, he was still rather sickened as he burst into the Harrowing chamber at the top of the Circle Tower and witnessed a mage being turned into an abomination right before his eyes. Standing in the middle of it all, a bald mage with a pointed nose smiled before smugly turning to see who had disturbed his disgusting work.

"Ah, look what we have here. An intruder-"

"Avada Kedavra!"

The rage that Harry felt was more than enough to cast the killing curse as he saw this monster torturing his own people. And for what exactly? Even if they had succeeded in claiming the Tower and killing all the templars, more would eventually come. With all Circle mages being forced to create what this world called phylacteries- really they were more like permanently bound blood tracking devices- the Chantry would hunt them to the bitter end.

The good news was that Uldred's monologue was cut off as he fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The other three abominations looked stunned for a moment and Harry prepared to cast again when a roar came from the corpse. What had once been Uldred the blood mage erupted in a shower of gore, becoming a hulking jagged form that must have been nearly twelve feet tall.

"Fuck me," Sirius gasped.

"I was afraid of that," Harry muttered. "Keep the other mages behind us!"

Harry summoned one younger mage across the room from him and floated him over with the rest of the survivors. He then followed that up by sending a blasting curse at the enormous demon in the center of the room. Unfortunately, other than knocking it back slightly, the monstrous thing merely laughed in response.

It was more than a little shocking that a demon could laugh.

Meanwhile, the animated stone statue had moved to engage with one of the lesser abominations. Morrigan had frozen one of them with another cold spell and Wynne had followed her by shattering the monster with a conjured fist of stone. That left Leliana and Sirius to deal with the third while Harry tried to think of something more powerful.

Unfortunately, it looked like soul magic didn't work well with spirits, hence why the killing curse had merely separated Uldred from the demon now inhabiting his form. Still, it was probably for the best. No one needed a twelve foot tall behemoth that could also throw all sorts of magic at you.

As the others all finished off their foes, he kept firing explosive spells in order to keep the demon from closing in on them. When arrows started to stick into its torso with little noticeable effect, Harry realized that he would need to go deeper into his bag of tricks. And he definitely knew one spell that should be able to destroy it.

"We'll need something more powerful to deal with this pride demon!" Morrigan shouted.

"I know," Harry replied. "Everybody stay back!

"Daemonis Ignis!"

"Oh, son of a bitch," Sirius said as he pulled Leliana back a couple of steps while a gout of flame large enough to swallow a man whole shot out of Harry's wand. The magic soon coalesced into the shape of an enormous serpent, a basilisk he would have guessed due to what he knew of Harry's adventures.

"What in the name of the Maker is that?" Leliana asked.

"Fiendfyre," Sirius answered. His godson was now sweating as the spell swept around the room before wrapping itself around the pride demon which roared in pain.

"Truly, he has been holding back," Morrigan said with her eyes wide, staring at the raging inferno.

"No, there's a damn good reason he hasn't cast this spell before." Sirius shook his head as he kept an eye on Harry but knowing that disrupting his concentration would be a terrible mistake. "All of you should get out of here."

"Why?" Wynne asked.

"Because if he loses control of the flames, the magic will try to kill everyone."

Leliana quickly turned and began to cut the surviving mages free from the ropes that bound their hands behind their backs.

Joining her, Wynne began to cast healing spells, making sure that they were all in good enough shape to leave the Harrowing chamber. "Are you alright, Irving?"

"I've been better," he coughed out a chuckle. "But we're still alive, which is more than I can say for far too many of our friends."

Meanwhile, Morrigan was still watching Harry's magic. Sirius grabbed her shoulder to get her attention. "You should go too."

"Yet you will stay?"

"It's my job to keep him out of trouble," he shrugged. "Or at least try to drag him out of it when he's already in the thick of things."

One last roar came from the middle of the flames. It was hard to see what had happened, but the fire slowly began to shrink. The serpent's head spun around to stare at Harry and it shrieked at him, yet he kept his wand pointed at it and willed the magic to end.

The snake made of flames spun around, its long body trying to lash out. Sirius cast a shield charm, just in case. It wouldn't be able to help for long, but doing anything felt better than having to watch Harry struggle to reel the Fiendfyre in.

Slowly but surely, the flames kept shrinking until nothing was left but a sizzle of steam rising from the charred floor. Harry let out a breath and stumbled to his knees. Hurrying to grab him, Sirius was barely able to keep his godson from collapsing. "Are you alright?"

"That took a lot out of me," Harry exhaled.

"I'm impressed," Morrigan said. Looking up at her, she continued, "I wouldn't have believed even the most powerful primal fire magic could so utterly obliterate a pride demon like that."

"It got our stone friend too," Leliana added.

Harry chuckled. "He will be missed."

"Everyone, may I introduce First Enchanter Irving," Wynne announced as the rest of the group turned to see the older mage leading the survivors forward. "Irving, this group has come asking for our help in dealing with the darkspawn and the Blight."

"Cleaning up this mess has certainly been a good first impression," Irving replied.

"Glad to help," Harry chuckled as he took a few more deep breaths and pulled himself back to his feet. "We're going to need all the magical power we can get to deal with the army of darkspawn."

"I have to agree," Wynne said. "After what I saw at Ostagar, there can be no doubt that this truly is another Blight."

"We will give whatever aid we can," Irving answered. "Although sorting the Tower back out will also be a concern, I suppose there won't be a Circle Tower left if the darkspawn bring their full might here."

"Have you heard of Lothering?" Harry asked.

"I know of it," Irving nodded.

"The darkspawn haven't reached it yet."

"In other words, they are still confined to the far south of Fereldan," Irving finished. "Yet, who knows how long it will take for them to overrun places like that."

"Yeah, there weren't any defences that could hold back a horde when we passed through," Sirius added. "We tried to warn people to flee the town, but I don't know that they were taking our warnings seriously enough."

"We need to get you down to speak with Greagoir," Wynne suggested. "He won't accept that the Circle still stands until he hears it from you, Irving. Otherwise, he already has plans to use the Rite of Annulment."

"Disappointing and yet probably prudent as well," the old mage winced. "Uldred had corrupted too many of our fellows and grown far more powerful than I had suspected."

The group began their trek down the Tower and almost immediately came upon the templar named Cullen, now freed from the magical barrier that had trapped him.

"Alia, you're alive?" he asked, and Harry noticed the young elven mage glare in response. "And the First Enchanter too?"

"Indeed, young man," Wynne answered. "We tried to tell you that we would succeed in freeing the Tower from the abominations. I can only hope you are more calm now."

"How can I be sure this isn't another trick?" Cullen demanded, reaching for a sword that he did not have at the moment.

"How can we be sure that you aren't possessed by a demon?" Harry countered. "You've been the more emotional and violent one."

"Grey Warden or no, your lies won't fool me!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Hey, Sirius, want to try a cheering charm on him?"

"Why me?"

"Because I'll be ready with something more powerful, if need be."

His godfather chuckled and raised his wand. "I'm glad I'm not as paranoid as you, Harry."

A moment later, the templar was in a much better mood. He was also making starry eyes at the young elf girl who tried to keep the entire group of people in between the two of them. It wasn't hard to notice, but Harry was more amused by the way the two youngest mages they had saved from the Harrowing chamber kept surreptitiously looking at each other.

Smirking to himself, Harry couldn't help but remember the way Neville had been around Hannah Abbot after the final battle against Riddle and his Death Eaters. Survive the war and be praised for his heroism, sure, but trying to work up the nerve to ask a girl out made poor old Longbottom stutter and blush. Luckily for the both of them, Harry and Susan had teamed up to form a brilliant plan- marching them at wandpoint to the Room of Requirement, already decked out with a cozy little love seat, warm fireplace, and a couple of extra strong butterbeers, all in order to get them to admit their feelings. Harry had always thought Gryffindors were supposed to be the brash, impulsive ones, but then Susan had shoved Hannah inside and practically yelled at her to 'just kiss the boy already!' and he could have sworn that he had laughed for five straight minutes as the door had closed behind them.

Ah, Susan... well, she had been particularly relieved that all of her loved ones had survived that final battle, so it wasn't too surprising that she was in such a forceful mood. Could've been all the hormones too, but he had been chastised many times over the years for even mentioning that word, so he kept his thoughts and pleasant memories to himself.


While Harry was daydreaming, the group made its way down to the bottom floor. Finding all the survivors they had run into along the way, it was a large crowd that followed them out into the entryway hall of the Circle Tower. Wynne and the First Enchanter went to the fore and were met by Knight Commander Greagoir, who seemed quite relieved that there were survivors.

Unfortunately, the cheering charm on Cullen either failed or wore off, and the young templar tried to butt in and claim that all the mages were possessed. Harry was ready to step in and deal with the problem, but Sirius beat him to it, stunning the man.

"I believe the young man may need time to heal and cope with what he saw," Sirius said. "He was practically out of his mind when we found him."

"I have seen many good men have troubles after dealing with bloodshed," Greagoir nodded. "We will all feel better once some time has passed, but it may be for the best if Cullen's duties are transferred elsewhere."

"The Circle will rebuild," Irving said. "Uldred is dead... but I must wonder how much I am to blame in not suspecting him before all this occurred."

"He was most devious," Wynne added. "For the last few years, Uldred had always been the first one to root out those drawn to blood magic. Now it seems that he was merely casting aside those who weren't of use to him in order to better hide his own crimes."

"I am not sad to see the last of him," Greagoir sighed. "Uldred always was troublesome, but I did not think he would go so far."

"Irving, I have a request," Wynne said. "The Grey Wardens came here for our aid in dealing with the Blight. I wish to accompany them as they build up the forces necessary to deal with the darkspawn."

"Your aid would be most great here as we get things back in order," Irving replied. "But I suppose stopping the Blight is the greater need."

"We will most likely return here," Harry piped up. "Armies will be of great help, but mages can do a lot more than normal people. Besides, I would like to help and to make sure that everything is going well here. I was magical long before I took up the Grey Warden cause."

"From what I saw of your skill today, we would be glad to have it," Irving agreed. "Perhaps your group would like to rest here for the night before setting out for your next destination?"

"Sadly, there are plenty of empty rooms," Wynne lamented.

Sirius and Leliana both nodded while Morrigan scowled, but as late as it was Harry figured that it would probably be for the best. They would need to have a pretty big discussion the next day before the group set off for wherever they would be going next. He could help clean up some of the carnage too.

They joined the surviving mages in heading back towards the various quarters. Wynne was leading the efforts at getting the young apprentices settled, so he left her to that task and went up to the second floor.

Somewhere along the way, Sirius and Leliana had gone off to do their own things, and Harry had to wonder at how well things were going for his godfather on that front. The Orlesian (clearly not French) redhead was a beautiful woman, and if he weren't already absorbed in trying to help Morrigan, Harry might have briefly considered something there. But Sirius was probably a much better match anyway, and the whole religious angle would have been a large obstacle for any sort of relationship, especially with how the Chantry treated mages.

At least she seemed somewhat open minded, so for now, Harry was just hopeful that he could remain on friendly terms with Leliana. Wynne too for that matter, as she had mentioned her own belief in the Maker.

Morrigan was walking beside him. "Shall we try to find some privacy? I have a few questions about tonight."

Harry grinned widely. "I was hoping you'd try to get me alone someday, but I didn't think I had won you over yet."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Questioning you about your magical abilities is hardly what you seem to be hoping for. Didn't you claim that you were going to teach me?"

"Sure," he shrugged.

"Sirius mentioned the danger of using that final spell that you killed the pride demon with," Morrigan added. "Could you explain more about it? 'Twould seem a useful spell, if a mage were capable of keeping the destruction in check."

"Oh, it is. The problem is how much willpower and concentration is required to do so. I've seen at least five or six different wizards and witches killed by their own spell when they couldn't keep it under control. Of course, in a couple of those cases, they were so angry and desperate that they might not have cared about dying. Going out in a blaze of glory and all that."

"That seems most foolish to me," Morrigan snorted before carrying on. "I believe it might be wise for you to do some magical research of your own while we're here."

"I had planned on it," Harry nodded. "I'll say more when we're alone."

"Very well."

They turned and went down a new hall and saw the young elven witch along with her human wizard friend, pulling his hand and leading him towards a doorway. Neither of them looked to be out of their teens, and Harry was pleased to see that they were smiling despite everything they'd gone through earlier.

"Come on, Galen."

"Alia, what if we're found?" the young man asked quietly.

"We almost died," Alia replied. "Now there's darkspawn coming too, and I am tired of being afraid. So, I am taking what I want tonight."

"But-"

"Get in here right now."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the young man's blushing face. Far too much like poor old Neville, but at least the girl wasn't nearly as shy as Hannah. They spun around when they realized they had been overheard.

"Please, don't tell anyone," Galen begged.

Looking around, Harry found that there was no one else in sight. He walked forward and peeked into the room the two youngsters had been about to use. Sadly, it was a dingy little place, little more than a storage closet, so Harry pulled out his wand and swept it over the entire room, leaving them with plenty of space and a nice big fancy bed. There was a gasp behind him. "Have fun, you two."

"Thank you," Alia said as she pulled Galen over to the bed.

"Yes, um, thanks," he added.

"No problem," Harry smiled. "I'll make sure no one disturbs you tonight."

"You hear that, Galen?" Alia smirked. "Now, are you going to take those robes off or am I going to have to do it for you?"

Pulling the door shut behind him, Harry cast sound muffling and notice me not charms so that the lovebirds could have plenty of fun without any disruptions. He sighed happily. "Ah, to be young and in love."

"Truly, seemed more like lust to me," Morrigan said.

Harry shook his head. "No, I've seen that sort of look before. They've been interested in each other for awhile. The girl definitely has."

"Perhaps," she shrugged. "So, shall we find some privacy of our own?"

"You are such a tease," Harry laughed.

Morrigan raised an eyebrow at him. "Who says I'm merely teasing?"


"Are you sure this is safe?" Morrigan asked as Harry marked off a circle around her.

"What do you mean? This is a pretty low level spell where I come from."

"I mean, are you certain that none of the local mages will discover what we're doing?" she elaborated. "Your type of magic seems to have some form of overlap with what these Circle mages practice."

"That's one of the reasons for the temporary boundary surrounding you," Harry replied, pointing to the runes in chalk he'd drawn on the floor. "I was originally putting it up to make sure you didn't overpower the spell, but I also believe that the Fade shouldn't be able to 'leak in' so to speak, so you won't be able to subconsciously pull any power from it."

"Alright."

"Why so nervous?" he asked. "Is this about the templars? Because I can promise you that I won't let them try anything if they do find out you're an apostate. Hell, by their standards, I'm one too."

"I do not like being in enemy territory," Morrigan grumbled before taking up her new wand, that of the former dark lord. Harry hadn't voiced his concern on that level, but he was wondering if she may be more powerful due to the piece of yew now in her hand. "But I shall try to put those thoughts aside. Now then- Incendio!"

Sure enough, the gout of flame was fairly impressive for someone who had never cast it before. Even counting this world's native spells, Morrigan was not inclined to fire magic. Then again, she wasn't a novice to the magical arts either.

"Excellent," Harry applauded. "Now see if you can control the power. Try to make the flames you conjure smaller. Visualize a straight line of fire coming from your wand and point it at the boundary of the circle."

Morrigan nodded and did as he asked while Harry watched, taking note of how the protections he'd put it buckled slightly. 'Daphne was right,' he thought to himself. 'A powerful witch indeed.'

"That was good," he said. "I'm going to have to consider your strength even more than I thought."

"Is that a compliment I hear from the great Harry Potter?" she smirked.

"I may be more prone to giving them out to beautiful women," he replied with a smirk of his own. "But I knew that things would be different. I've taught and mentored a number of magical people over the years, but in all of those cases, I started out with younger students. My children, for example."

"Did you never teach a spell to one of your wives?" she asked.

"I... I did, actually," he remembered. "Maybe that could help. But I don't think we'll be getting to the Patronus Charm just yet. I'm not sure if there would even be much use of it here."

"What is that?"

"A spell used for driving off particularly foul creatures of darkness," he replied. "It could theoretically work on some forms of undead here, I suppose, but I would have to experiment to see what it would have an effect on. We had things like what we saw today in my world, but we called them Inferi. Or zombies, to those who didn't grow up in the magical world, but the Patronus wasn't of great use against them."

"Then what were the primary targets?" Morrigan asked. "If you can describe the creatures to me, I may be able to come up with an analog to something from this world."

"Good idea." Harry sat down on one of the beds in the mage's quarters they had been lent for the night while Morrigan sat across from him. "There were two specific monsters the Patronus was used against- lethifolds and dementors. Lethifolds were more rare, at least in the country where I lived, but dementors were the real danger. They were creatures that emanated a sort of mind affecting magic that could force you to relive your worst fears and nightmares. When I was young, being around them made me relive the night when my parents were murdered.

"Hmm," he paused. "I'm not sure what they would make me think of now, to be honest."

"That sounds unpleasant, but-"

"That's not all that made them formidable," Harry continued. "They were also supposedly impossible to kill, although there were questions of whether or not they were part-spirit creatures instead of truly alive. But, beyond that, dementors also had the ability to suck the soul out of a person. The dementors' kiss they called it- hrmph! Talk about a terrible date."

"Suck someone's soul out?" Morrigan raised an eyebrow. "Elaborate, please."

"The body would be left alive, but there would be absolutely nothing of the person left," Harry explained. "No ability to think, move, or do anything other than just lie there. It was horrific."

"Fascinating," she replied before sitting back and stretching, her eyes closed- which was a good thing too, as Harry couldn't help but appreciate her beauty. Or gape at her like a buffoon, but then that was only Daphne's mocking voice in his head.

"I've heard of spirits that were only partially able to cross the Veil," Morrigan said, breaking him from his stupor. "Places where the Veil is weak, and the spirits are only looking for a vessel or spark to draw them from the Fade. Usually they will inhabit corpses or animals if they have the opportunity, but it sounds like this spell of yours could potentially drive them off. Or, mayhaps, even be of use in repairing such a tear in the Veil."

"The Patronus has a positive mental effect too," Harry added. "It can be useful in stirring people from depression or worry."

"Can you show me?"

"Not here. We'll need more room. And..."

"And?"

"We might want to make sure that Sirius is around for it," Harry grinned.

"Why?"

"To make him cry like a baby," he laughed. "The Patronus takes the shape of some animal as a guardian, and mine turns into my father's animagus form- a stag. Or at least, it used to," Harry shrugged. "I haven't actually cast the spell in a long, long time."

"Can Black cast it as well?"

"You know, I've never actually asked him. Quite possibly not," he thought for a moment. "It is supposed to be a very advanced form of magic, but then, I was able to teach it to a number of my fellow schoolmates when I was still a teenager, so I'm not sure. But then again, Sirius was around those damn dementors for so long that they may have weakened him to their effects so much that it would be more difficult for him to try to cast it. I'll have to remember to bug him about it later."

"He and Leliana seem to be getting along well," Morrigan snorted. "I'm not sure what either of them sees in each other."

"Someone once told me that we cannot choose who we fall in love with," Harry sighed. "The heart is not rational. If it were, well, some things might be easier, but I think it would make the world a less magical place."

"Sometimes I think that you are an intelligent man," she interjected with a scowl. "But then you go and praise such foolishness and I worry that I will be wasting too much time listening to such drivel."

"You've never known love, Morrigan," he whispered sadly. "I am truly sorry for that, but I will try to see that you learn about it too."

"I know plenty to seduce any man to my bed, if I were so inclined," she replied as she rolled her eyes.

"As beautiful as you are, it wouldn't take much effort," Harry laughed. "But, much as you said earlier, that is merely lust. Love is so much more. Affection, intimacy, trust, vulnerability... faith even."

"I am not interested," she scoffed.

"That's Flemeth speaking," Harry countered. "You've had her indoctrinating you to so much cynicism, probably all your life. Now, some amount of cynicism can be useful, but to let it override everything else will only make you miserable in the long run. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I've had years of practice."

"And how do you plan on 'teaching me about love?' Because I must warn you, Harry, that so far your attempts are not impressing me."

He laughed. "That's alright. I knew you would be a challenge from early on. Honestly, the easiest way to learn is to become a parent. If you had a child, you would understand immediately. That's how you can tell that Flemeth isn't truly your mother- not your birth mother, anyway. I wonder if she ever gave birth. Maybe she lost a child, and that was what led her to becoming so bitter. I can understand that, if so."

"You speak from experience?"

Harry's face fell. "I do."

Morrigan noticed his reaction, and for once, she seemed honestly sincere when she replied, "I am sorry for your loss."

He nodded. "I did mention that everyone I had ever known and loved was dead in my old world," Harry sighed. "That includes all of my children, grandchildren, and even a couple of great grandchildren. And I had a big family, once upon a time."

Morrigan shuffled in her seat uncomfortably. "Perhaps we should change the subject."

"Alright." Harry pulled a book out of his pouch and handed it to her. "This is the standard book of spells, year one. I doubt there is anything in here that would give you trouble in learning, although feel free to skip whatever spells don't interest you. I never really saw the point of turning a match into a needle, other than how simple it was as a lesson for beginners. Still, I think it would be better for you to make that decision for yourself, so I'll help with whatever you do want to learn. Whenever you finish that book, I've got six more volumes which will involve increasingly more difficult spells.

"As for me," he picked up a book from the nightstand next to the bed. "I'm going to start with the school of Spirit. The Telekinetic line seems quite interesting, and I have some experience with some similar spells from my world. I can see why Mind Blast is a starter spell for it too- keeping enemies from engaging a mage in close combat is always a good idea. Better to kill them before they can strike you."

"Indeed," Morrigan agreed. "Although there is something to be said for being close enough to watch your prey die in front of you."

"I'll have to remember that you're a shapeshifter," Harry chuckled. "That sounds like something a predator might say."

"I can become a bear or a wolf," she admitted.

"I'm not surprised," he nodded. "Daphne would have agreed with you too, especially in her later years. By then, we'd killed a lot of people together."

"That makes me wonder about how you have occasionally tried to spare those foolish enough to attack us."

"There's a difference between someone foolish, desperate and afraid, and someone that actually needs to die," he answered her unspoken question. "Someone like Uldred- that maniac who was torturing his own people- there can be no redemption for someone like that. Or imagine bandits that not only rob but rape and murder their victims- much better to put them in the ground than try to capture them for any sort of jail sentence.

"Besides, my first mentor once told me that death merely leads to the next great adventure," Harry laughed darkly. "I never understood why he was so reluctant to help people take the first step of that path."


By the next morning, Morrigan had finished pouring through the first year of the standard book of spells, picking out a few simple but utilitarian tricks to add to her repertoire. Once they were away from the Circle Tower, Harry was going to make sure that she had them all down pat before moving on. For his part, he'd mastered Mind Blast, a wave of telekinetic force capable of stunning all enemies around him within a certain diameter. It was supposed to only trigger foes within five meters or so of the caster, but Harry had a feeling that he could affect a larger area than most. Next up, he was working on a Force Field, which worked much like the ability he'd seen in a number of works of science fiction and comic books when he was young.

The group, now up to a quintet with Wynne joining them, gathered what supplies they might have needed before leaving the home of the mages behind.

Harry grinned at the two smiling young mages he'd seen the night before who had clearly enjoyed the night even more than he had. But it did make him wonder about something- were humans and elves capable of reproducing? While it was something that usually worked in the popular fiction he remembered from his home world, creating half elven hybrids, but that didn't mean that would be true here in Thedas.

Something to ponder for the future, he supposed, when Harry wasn't busy with trying to save the world.

They stopped in a clearing a mile or so away from the little hamlet on the docks near the Tower, away from the main road and out of sight. Harry went to work at setting up his magical tent again while Wynne gasped as she saw just how powerful and completely foreign the enchantments were. Following the others inside and sitting at the long table in the main room, she could no longer hold her questions back. "I have never heard of such a thing in all that I've read. You're not really a Circle mage, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Harry replied.

Sirius went to the kitchen area to get everyone something to drink. Leliana was sitting next to Wynne and she patted her on the hand. "While they may technically be apostates, from everything I've seen, you can trust Harry. He has shown kindness and restraint where possible, but a willingness to deal with problems as well."

"What about me?" Sirius asked as he returned with a bottle of wine and glasses floating along behind him.

"I trust you as well," Leliana said with a smile before turning to Morrigan. "I can't say the same thing for the witch."

"The feeling is mutual, I assure you," Morrigan snorted.

A giggle escaped before Harry could fully control himself. Catty women were so fucking funny though.

"Are any of you actually Grey Wardens?" Wynne asked.

"No," Harry replied. "As far as we know, they all died at Ostagar."

"Then why the deception?"

"Grey Wardens are a symbol of hope in a time of darkness," Leliana answered. "We desperately need that hope, and someone to rally whatever forces we can before Fereldan is overrun."

"What about the Archdemon?" Wynne frowned. "All the legends say that only Grey Wardens are capable of killing them."

"I can probably figure out a way to deal with it," Harry shrugged. "I killed a supposedly immortal dark wizard when I was still a teenager; I'm fairly sure I'll find something that can stop this Archdemon. I may need to capture a few darkspawn first though, just to experiment with this taint they carry. I haven't come across something like that before."

"You will have to be very careful, young man," Wynne lectured him.

Harry snorted.

"The taint is no laughing matter," she continued while Sirius giggled too.

"I'm sorry, I was just getting flashbacks to old McGonagall," he announced.

"I know, right?" Harry nodded at his godfather. "Her scowl isn't quite as menacing though. Minnie could really glare a room full of students into submission."

"Minnie?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"We became friends over the years," Harry shrugged. "She liked me a lot more after I wasn't at Hogwarts causing trouble anymore. Well, that and helping to save and rebuild the school after the war I'm sure helped too."

"I am worried about our efforts if we are being led by an apostate and a charlatan," Wynne huffed.

"Oh, you haven't heard everything yet," Harry grinned. "I'm from another world too. So is Sirius."

His godfather waved merrily while Wynne's eyes went wide. "Another world?"

"Yeah, and I'll need to make sure that you're trustworthy before we continue on our journey," Harry replied. "That's why I wanted to stop here instead of moving on. You see, I need to know that you will keep my secrets if you want to truly be a part of our group. We have the treaties of the Grey Wardens, and I will be using them to persuade others to join us in fighting the darkspawn. I may not be telling the entire truth about who I am, but I am going to do everything in my power to stop the Blight. Without any actual Grey Wardens to lead the cause, well-"

"Harry volunteered to save your world," Sirius interrupted. "On the very first day that he got here, no less. Don't question his intentions, Wynne. You seem to be a good person, but don't let your scruples get in our way. Saving the world is a big enough deal that bending and breaking some of the rules might be necessary."

"As I said, I trust them," Leliana added. "The Maker works in mysterious ways, does he not? These two men have come from another world, something miraculous that I could not even imagine before. But the evidence is all around us," she waved to the magical tent they were inside. "I believe Sirius and Harry were brought here for a reason. Without the Grey Wardens, we're going to need someone."

"I must admit that you have a valid point," Wynne conceded with a frown. "That does not mean that I'm not worried as well."

"You're not the only one," Harry replied. "But now we get to the other side of the problem. We all need to trust each other so that we can succeed in this quest. If I expect you to keep and understand my secrets, then I'll of course be willing to do the same for you, Wynne."

"What do you mean?" Leliana asked.

"Our new mage friend is not what she seems," Harry said calmly while Wynne paled slightly.

"She's an abomination."


Author's Note: Boom! Harry sure knows how to mic drop.

I got stuck on this chapter for awhile, so I focused on my much sillier Harry as jock/bro story and that seemed to help rejuvenate the muse, as I wrote the vast majority of this over a couple of nights.

I referenced the fact that Cullen had a crush on the female mage PC of Origins, and I know some people like the fact that she could flirt with him, but personally that both grosses and creeps me out. Its basically like a prison guard and inmate situation only even worse as Cullen literally has life or death authority over Surana (literally, as he was the one who was supposed to kill her if she didn't pass her Harrowing), and that's why I made her dislike him. Plus, I've gone through the game a couple of times with mage PCs- once with a more 'good guy' male human and once with a bitter, angry, rebellious elven female, and hence why Surana and Amell have the personalities they do in this story.

Alia Surana had won the poll, so I gave her the POV scene to open the chapter, but having Amell still alive as Hawke's second cousin is too juicy of a plot hook for me to waste by killing him.

For those interested in the mechanical side of the magic, I'm having Harry focus on learning Spirit to start because it has some interesting stuff that doesn't really compare to the magic of the HP universe- Mana Clash, anyone? Plus, Crushing Prison is fucking awesome- too bad they got rid of it for Inquisition. And while the flashy Primal spells are the more popular 'throw fireballs and lightning bolts' type of thing, Harry already knows quite a few fire spells, as shown in this chapter.

Anyway, that's all for now, hope you all enjoy!