Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Dragon Age.
"That tickles," Leliana moaned as she started to wake. Something was... licking her feet?
She sat up and groggily looked down at the dog that started to whimper. "You may have kept the foot of my bed warm, but I am not thrilled by your choice of wake up call."
The dog sat up proudly, barked once, and wagged its tail happily. Leliana rolled her eyes. "Should I be worried that you have a foot fetish? I have heard of such a thing, you know? The kink itself wouldn't bother me, as long as you give good foot rubs."
She giggled as Sirius Black resumed his human form and grinned. "No, I've always been more of an arse man. Might be the whole 'doggy style' thing."
"You are incorrigible, Sirius."
"I know," he kept on grinning. "As for the tongue, well, Padfoot has something of a mind of his own. All those canine instincts are a lot stronger than you might think. Just be glad he hasn't tried humping your leg yet."
"Maybe I should get a collar and leash then?" Leliana replied with a laugh.
"If you're into that sort of thing," he shrugged. "I try not to judge."
"What about a tag that says, 'belongs to Leliana,' and perhaps a little jingly bell?"
"Now look, I don't believe in rushing into commitment," Sirius grimaced. "Especially when we haven't even slept together yet."
"Last night doesn't count?"
"Padfoot keeping your feet warm is definitely not the type of fun I was hoping for."
"Play your cards right, and we shall see what the future holds," Leliana stretched and threw back the covers. She smirked as Sirius' eyes bulged while looking over her underwear and the soft shirt she'd slept in. "You will have to leave now. A gentleman would not try to watch a lady get dressed, would he?"
"What's all this about then?" he waved at her frantically.
"A hint of things to come," she purred. "If you can behave yourself."
"I'll be good!" he yelped as he ran for the door.
He wasn't too hard to handle, poor Sirius was only a man after all. But he was sweeter than most, and with a noble sort of bearing as he had immediately joined the quest to stop the Blight, so Leliana was quite happy to play with him for now. If anything more came of it...
Well, perhaps she could try to open her heart again one of these days.
The afternoon ground Leliana's good mood to a halt though, as Harry Potter boldly announced that Wynne was an abomination. Leliana had immediately liked the older mage, her grace and kind heart evident as she had helped them to restore the Circle Tower, and yet now she was unsure of what she should feel.
"But she's... so different from what we saw in that tower," Sirius frowned. "Are you sure?"
"I've had to deal with soul magic since I was a teenager," Harry replied. "I know more than most, and right now, I can see that Wynne has another spirit inside her. That's pretty much the definition of an abomination."
"I must admit that you are correct," Wynne sighed. "But, I feel that I should also explain. What do any of you know of Spirit Healers?"
"I am familiar with the concept, although I have no personal experience," Morrigan answered. None of the others really knew much either.
"For the most part, people only think of the spirits in the Fade as being horrible demons. Things that embody the basest of desires- rage, pride, lust, things of that nature. But there are benevolent spirits that live in the Fade as well, those who we would see as being focused on fortitude, compassion, hope, and faith. Those mages who choose to follow the path of the Spirit Healer seek to commune with such spirits, asking them for aid in our abilities to heal and protect life.
"When I was at the Tower, protecting the children as they fled, I felt myself die as I defeated the final demon that was attacking us. But before I could cross over to whatever lies beyond, I felt a spirit of faith renew me. She... she had stood by me in some of my darkest moments before, and I trusted her to help me save the children."
"And now, this spirit keeps you alive," Harry finished.
"Yes," Wynne said. "I do not know how long I may have left, but I will give everything I can to stop the Blight."
"Why do you think the spirit is female?"
"It is merely what I felt," Wynne replied. "I suppose I should say 'it' instead, but the spirit seemed feminine to me."
"I suppose that could be a reflection of the Chantry's beliefs," Sirius suggested. "Instead of Jesus, they've got this Andraste woman, right?"
"You suppose that the spirit felt feminine because of my own perception?" Wynne wondered. "You may have a point."
"Well, this could make things harder from here on," Harry sighed. "Your faith is literally keeping you alive. I hope we don't have too many religious arguments."
"Your dabbling in blood magic could also be a problem," Wynne replied.
Harry just chuckled. "Oh, I've more than dabbled in it- just not the blood magic of your world. From what I've gathered, it is potent but so very clumsy. It's no wonder that it's so dangerous here- from all I can tell, the practitioners are wielding it without restraint or precision."
"What do you mean exactly?"
"Imagine you're eating a meal and you need to cut a piece of meat," Harry sat back and took a sip of the wine Sirius had brought out earlier. He was glad that it was one of the French ones that Daphne had favored; he never really enjoyed Italian wine nearly as much. "Would you rather use a small knife or a two handed sword? While both may cut your steak, one of them is relatively safe and the other is likely to break the table."
Morrigan laughed at Harry's metaphor.
"Magic tied to the blood in my world was very precise," he explained. "If you did anything slightly wrong, it would not work, or the effect could be catastrophic. Now, admittedly, they did have the blood boiling curse, but that was a mistake that maniacs took to with glee. The spell was originally developed to treat hypothermia."
"Hypothermia?" Wynne asked.
"Someone exposed to incredibly cold temperatures," Harry added. "If the body becomes too cold, you can die. A healer created the spell to help warm someone back up, to keep them alive. Unfortunately, those of less scrupulous means decided to take it beyond that purpose and use it to kill."
"Nasty way to go too," Sirius nodded. "I saw my crazy cousin Bellatrix use it once. Not something I would ever recommend."
"Right, but like I said, that spell is actually more like the blood magic of this world- potent but messy. Compare that to the little blood-infused runic bomb I created out of a fist sized piece of stone while we were in the Tower last night, and I think you can start to get an idea of what I mean. It took very little blood and yet it still decimated a group of our enemies."
"I think the potency is what draws most to blood magic," Wynne argued. "Mental domination in particular- with blood magic, that can get past even the most experienced templar's defenses."
"Fair point, but I was trying to suggest that there is plenty of potency without going to such extreme measures."
"Blood magic can also be used to circumvent the need to rely on the energies of the Fade or of lyrium potions," Morrigan said. "That is another benefit that sets it apart from other forms of magic use."
"And I think that could be a very useful ability, if one uses it with caution," Harry agreed.
"The problem comes when mages use the blood of innocent victims to power their spells," Wynne pointed out. "It is said that is how the ancient Tevinters tore open the Veil in search of the Golden City, with the blood of thousands of slaves that they murdered."
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to do something like that," Harry said. "Nor would I teach people to do so, but I think some measured usage could be beneficial."
"There is always danger in excess," Wynne replied.
"That's true of most things," Harry shrugged.
"A skilled swordsman can kill people quite easily," Leliana added. "Maybe not as quickly as a mage could, but there is danger regardless. Soldiers, bandits, and thieves are a huge menace to the common people, and assassins in particular can be of even greater danger than mages."
"And yet none of them are nearly as hated as mages," Morrigan scowled. "Nor are they hunted down on behalf of the Chantry."
"I think the templars are a necessary evil," Wynne sighed. "I wish it were not so, but-"
"I wouldn't be quite as angry if not for how vile Tranquility is," Harry said. "Well, and the fact that they're all complete fucking hypocrites about blood magic."
"How so?" Sirius asked.
"Wynne, what are phylacteries?" Harry prodded.
"A magical elixir made with a mage's blood," she answered with a sigh.
"Blood forcibly taken from every single mage child in the Circle," he added. "And the templars use these things- these blood bound tracking devices- to hunt down any who try to escape their prison.
"Let me tell you a little story," Harry sat back and forced himself not to growl. "My life was saved by blood magic when I was a baby. My mother used a blood magic ritual, with the final ingredient being the willing sacrifice of her own life, to allow me to survive the killing curse, something thought to be impossible. Blood magic broke one of the supposed laws of magic of our world. And as a baby, I became the miraculous savior of our country.
"But Voldemort had used a horrific process to mutilate his soul, tearing pieces off and hiding them in magical items that kept him from truly drying. He was still out there as a sort of wraith, biding his time until he could find a way to come back.
"When I was fourteen years old, I was captured, tortured, and had my blood stolen by one of the darkest wizards my world had ever seen. He used that stolen blood to create a new body and to get around the blood protection from my mother." Harry closed his eyes and took a breath to try to calm down. "So, I hope you can understand why I am enraged by the idea of stealing blood."
"All apostates like myself, and anyone who practices blood magic, like Harry, are labeled as maleficarum, and given an automatic death sentence by the Chantry," Morrigan replied. "And yet the templars themselves use blood magic to hunt down and slaughter their prey. The hypocrisy is astounding."
Wynne frowned and took a drink of wine. "I think that I can adjust to you being a blood mage since you are not what I would normally think of as a blood mage. Can you do the same for me?"
"Since you are not the usual monstrous sort of abomination?" Harry asked and Wynne nodded. "I can handle that, yes."
"Then we should focus on our common cause," she suggested. "The darkspawn are an enormous threat to us all, and we should decide where we are going next to find more allies."
"Is there any place in particular you think we should start with?" Sirius asked.
"The two closest potential allies would be either heading north to find the dwarves in Orzammar or heading south to the other side of the lake to find Eamon Guerrin, the Arl of Redcliffe. With the loss of King Cailan, he is one of the most powerful members of the nobility left who could bring in a lot of support." Wynne took another dip of wine. "With Teyrn Loghain's betrayal of the King at Ostagar, Eamon may be even more necessary for our cause."
"Do any of the rest of you care which one we start with?" Harry asked.
There were a few shrugs before Morrigan stood up. "Let me see the map of Ferelden please."
Harry brought it out and unfolded it on the table. Morrigan pointed to Redcliffe, which lay at the far southern tip of Lake Calenhad and was almost directly south of the Circle Tower. "I believe it would be wise to start in Redcliffe while it is still safe from the darkspawn. Who knows how quickly the Blight may advance, and once it moves through Lothering-"
"Other southern cities will be in the most danger," Harry finished. "Good idea. Let's wait until tomorrow before we get moving though. We'll have speed on our side, and I believe you and I should practice before we get into another battle."
"Excellent," she agreed. "I was hoping to move quickly through these rather simplistic levels."
"Yeah, I thought you would," he grinned before turning to his godfather. "You should come too, Sirius. I want to find out if you can cast something."
"What?"
"Come outside and find out."
"Alright everyone, it's experimenting time," Harry announced once they had all gathered in the clearing outside of the tent. "We're going to find out a few things and possibly teach a new spell to one or more of you. First things first, Sirius can you manage the Patronus Charm?"
"I never have before," he admitted. "Would it even be necessary here? I doubt the dementors followed us all the way from Azkaban."
"Hopefully not," Harry grimaced. "But if they did, then it's your fault for jinxing us."
Sirius slumped and sighed. "That's fair. Murphy always was a bastard."
"Indeed." Harry turned to the others with them and thought for a moment, wondering how best to demonstrate everything. "Leliana, this may not be of much value to you, since you aren't a mage, but it may have a beneficial effect for you as well. I would like for you to focus on some of your bad memories- whatever would make you miserable. If this works, it should be able to shove those negative feelings aside. Can you do that for me?"
"This is not the most pleasant of tasks, but I suppose it is for a good cause," the redhead frowned and closed her eyes. "Don't take too long, please."
"No worries," Harry agreed and turned to Wynne. "I am not sure if you will be able to cast this spell without finding a wand for you."
"I have a staff," she replied. "From everything the Circles have learned over the years, they are much more powerful focusing tools than wands ever were."
"My theory is that spells from your world will have that be true, but in our world, wands were the weapon of choice for wizards and witches," Harry answered. "I am only guessing at the moment, but I believe that spells from our world will work better with wands- they may in fact be necessary. We'll find out soon enough. But, I don't want to keep the good sister waiting, so...
"Expecto Patronum!"
Harry bellowed out the spell and was disappointed to see that Prongs did not immediately appear. There was plenty of bright light but the mist did not coalesce properly so he tried to focus on the memories he had once used and realized what the problem was. There was too much pain attached to those old thoughts due to the deaths that had followed; he needed something more recent.
Closing his eyes, Harry thought of Daphne, but focused instead on the dream he'd had recently. It had been the first time he'd been able to speak to her in so many years.
"Prongs!" Sirius gasped.
Sure enough, Harry discovered that had done the trick as he opened his eyes. One large glowing stag trotted around them.
"He is magnificent," Morrigan said.
"How can you tell it is male?" Wynne asked.
"The antlers," Morrigan and Sirius replied in unison. He winked and laughed, waving to allow the witch to continue explaining. "A doe, or female deer, does not have them."
"I do not see anything," Leliana said.
"I didn't think you would," Harry answered with a shrug. "In our world, people without magic could not see them. But do you feel different?"
"I believe so," she frowned. "The sorrow I had thought of slipped from my mind."
"Good," he nodded. "The Patronus is supposed to drive away dark thoughts and bad memories. I was hopeful that you could still notice that effect even without being able to see the spell the way the rest of us can. Now, the next question is how much use it may be in this world. I'm going to have to try it out if we run into dangerous spirits again, but I'm not sure if it will be of much use on demons."
"Shall I try to cast it then?" Morrigan asked.
Harry turned to her with a smirk on his face. "I have to warn you that this spell will be much more difficult than anything else you've tried from my world."
"If you are suggesting that this magic is beyond me, then I will be that much more inclined to prove you wrong," she smirked.
"I know," he chuckled. "Alright, you heard the incantation, and I see you've got your wand out, so you may think you're ready, but-"
"He hasn't mentioned the hardest part," Sirius interjected. "It's not just willpower and concentration, like what a lot of the more advanced spells from our world require. You have to have the right frame of mind. That's why I never managed it before."
"Well, time to see if you're doing any better then," Harry suggested. "Give it a shot, Sirius."
"I suppose I should see how well I can do," his godfather shrugged. "Here goes nothing- Expecto Patronum!"
A bright white light came from his wand, but it did not shift into a guardian form.
"Not bad," Harry said as Sirius canceled the spell. "I've seen a lot worse efforts, and you do have your past working against you on this one."
"Yeah, well... maybe I'll be able to get some better inspiration for it one of these days," Sirius replied with a laugh.
"I hope so."
"What is the correct frame of mind?" Morrigan asked.
"Joy," Harry grinned. "For lack of a better word, anyway. You need to bathe yourself in the strongest positive emotions you can feel, something that utterly overwhelms you. Just as the spell can drive off negative feelings, you have to feel something similar inside you and channel it out into the world. The people I've known who have been able to cast it often focus on feelings of love- perhaps remembering a wedding or a birth of a child, something like that."
"Happiness?" Morrigan scoffed. "I can do that."
"No," he replied. "Happiness is not even close to being enough. It takes a lot more than that."
"We shall see," she said, and Harry grinned as the witch rolled her eyes. "Step aside. Expecto Patronum!"
And yet, in spite of her confidence, Morrigan's wand produced only the barest trickle of light before she lowered her hand and scowled. "I need more details so that I can learn this. Well Harry? Prove yourself as a teacher."
He smiled at the way she shifted the blame onto his shoulders. "I tried to warn you. Like I said, it takes a lot more than just happiness. The first time I was able to conjure Prongs requires a bit of a story."
"Then tell it."
Harry nodded at her demand. "After my parents were killed when I was an infant, and Sirius stupidly got himself locked up in prison-"
"Hey!" the old dog whined. "I was out of my mind with rage and grief. That's the only way Wormtail could have beaten me."
"Underestimating the traitor is what got my parents killed," Harry replied. "You shouldn't have done it again. But anyway, we're getting off track. After that tragedy, I was taken to the home of my maternal aunt and her atrocious family. I was left on their doorstep with nothing more than a letter.
"Unfortunately for me," he exhaled and continued, "Petunia Dursley was a spiteful bitch who hated and resented my mother and the magical world in general. The whole damn family took out that resentment on me, and ... well, let's just say that my childhood was awful. No need to dig up old wounds. But, in part because of how shitty much of my life had been, I had trouble finding the right mindset to create a corporeal Patronus.
"Then, one night I met an escaped fugitive by the name of Sirius Black." The godfather in question proudly smiled. "For the first time in my life, I had someone that treated me like family. Someone who offered to let me come and live with him. It was that thought- escaping the Dursleys and living with Sirius- that allowed me to create Prongs."
"And, in fact, Harry's Patronus was so powerful that it drove off a swarm of nearly a hundred dementors that night," Sirius added as he threw an arm around his shoulders. "He was only thirteen, and he not only managed a spell that few adults could handle, but driving off that many of the fucking monsters was legendary.
"Harry saved my life that night. A couple of times, actually."
"I really wanted to get away from the Durlseys," Harry chuckled.
"Whatever happened to those bastards?" Sirius asked.
"Officially, I have no idea."
"Officially?"
"Unofficially, I believe a couple of witches may have cursed them all with a number of things to torment them in the years after I no longer had to be in touch with them."
Sirius barked out a laugh. "Good riddance."
Morrigan spent the next hour trying to cast the Patronus without any progress. Setting aside her frustration, she decided to focus on learning other spells instead for the rest of the afternoon. Wynne was unable to cast the spell with her staff, so Harry went through the wands he owned trying to find her a match. After going through his entire stash with no luck, she decided merely to watch as Morrigan worked on learning new spells with some occasional help from Harry.
Sirius had been flipping through a book of spells from the Circle Tower and had decided to start by focusing on the Primal school, and soon bolts of lightning were blasting out of the staff he had acquired back in Lothering.
Harry laughed to himself at the fact that his godfather had immediately been drawn to the flashy and explosive elemental magic.
By the time sunset came, he was happy with his own progress learning the rest of the telekinetic line of spells. He was particularly looking forward to trying out Crushing Prison on an enemy as it sounded too good to be true- immobilizing and physically damaging an enemy at the same time. He'd already known plenty of spells that could do one or the other, but layering something like a nasty, harmful curse on top of the full body bind was going to be interesting to try out the next time they ran into some sort of monsters.
While making dinner that night, Harry made sure to look over his stockpile of food and drink. There didn't appear to be anything he would run out of too soon, but they had just added another party member which would burn through his supplies that much faster. He was going to have to remember to go shopping whenever they reached the next town large enough that it might have some sort of market.
The duplication charm was handy though, as long as none of the food or drink had any magical ingredients anyway.
Wynne was up bright and early the next morning, with wet hair and a towel draped over her shoulders when Harry came out into the main sitting area of the tent. She smiled and said, "Leliana told me about taking a shower last night, but I must say I was still quite happily surprised. I can't remember the last time I've had such a pleasant experience."
"Yeah, that's one of the things I would otherwise miss from my old world," Harry laughed. "Indoor plumbing and running water- or the magically created version of it anyway. Many years ago, I learned all the enchantments and runes necessary, which came in handy when my other tent got damaged."
"You have another of these magnificent creations?" Wynne asked.
"I do, but it's not nearly as big as this one. This is the one I bought for family outings a long time ago. That's why there are so many bedrooms, and..." Harry smiled to himself at the old memories, "I knew the pain of having kids arguing over who got to use the bathroom in the morning, so I made sure that each bedroom came with an attached bath in order to not have any of those fights when it was time to go on vacation."
"Well, you certainly won't hear me complaining about having to 'rough it' during our journey then," she laughed. "As much as I have enjoyed the occasional chance to see the outside world, I did always miss being able to sleep in my own bed back at the tower."
"I've got another treat to show you soon," Harry replied. "Because our trip will also be much less of a slog than hiking through wilderness thanks to my flying carpet."
"A flying carpet?"
"Yep. We all sit down on it and then fly to wherever we're going," he said. "It goes really fast too."
"Oh my! I can't wait to see that."
And about an hour later, sure enough Wynne was cheering and laughing as they raced through the sky, flying south above Lake Calenhad while staying invisible but also fairly close to the shoreline just to make sure they were heading in the right direction. Harry was going to have to remind himself to dig through his belongings and see if he could find a working compass. Of course, that was assuming that magnetic north would still read similarly for this planet and that the map he had was oriented with north being up like he was used to.
They had recently changed directions as the shore curved to the west, heading towards Redcliffe when Harry slowed down when he saw smoke rising from a small village.
The unmistakable presence of death also hung in the air as they closed in- it was something he knew all too well.
"Look, survivors!" Leliana called out, pointing to a handful of people fleeing down a path.
"Darkspawn," Harry grumbled as he saw the creatures chasing them. "I'm taking us down. Everyone, blast those things."
With Leliana's bow and the rest of the group's magic, they made short work of the few dozen darkspawn that had wrecked the small town. Outside of dragons, the world of Thedas didn't really have anything that could compare to an aerial bombardment such as what they were capable of.
Normally, Harry would have then moved on, but there was one more thing to check on- because standing in the middle of the town square was a huge stone statue.
"Is that a golem?" Leliana asked.
"'Tis a wonder to see such a thing so far from the dwarven lands," Morrigan added. "We should investigate, Harry. If we can get such a powerful creation, 'twould be quite the weapon to use against our enemies."
"Alright," he said as they landed. "I wonder if my magic can do anything to help us here."
"It appears to be stuck," Wynne chuckled as she took a closer look at the golem. "I wonder how it came to be so."
"What more can you tell us about these golems?" Sirius asked. "Because we could animate things like suits of armor, but I've never heard of something like this back home."
"They were created by the dwarves centuries ago," Morrigan replied. "Golems were mostly used to wage war against the darkspawn. In the underground kingdoms of the dwarves, the darkspawn are more of a constant threat. 'Tis only when they mass and break the surface that we tend to think of them creating a Blight, but these monsters are practically infinite."
"It is said that they were created when the ancient Tevinter magisters breached the Golden City of the Maker and corrupted it," Leliana explained. "When they returned, they were the tainted beings we now call darkspawn. Ever since, they delve deep underground looking for the great dragons that the Tevinters once worshiped known as the old gods."
"And when they succeed in finding one of the old gods, it is tainted by the darkspawn and becomes the next Archdemon, which heralds the beginning of the next Blight," Morrigan continued as she looked excited at the immobile golem. "With so many encounters against the darkspawn, the dwarves found some way of creating these powerful golems and used them to try to stem the tide. But over the years, the ability to make more was lost and so too have been most of the golems themselves. Finding one above ground, and in such a small hamlet as this, is a very unusual thing."
"So, has its magic failed?" Sirius asked. "Or, is it asleep or something?"
"Only one way to find out," Harry said as he drew his wand and began casting every diagnostic spell he could think of. The enchantments were varied though, and not of a sort that he recognized, but the golem was clearly soaked in very powerful magic. Most interesting of all though was that it also seemed to be alive- in a fashion anyway. There was a living soul bound to the body. "Huh."
"What is it?"
"I'm not sure, Sirius. The magic definitely hasn't failed, I can tell you that much. This thing is practically glowing with the amount of power it needed to be created. I would guess that it's more akin to being asleep."
"The eyes are open though," Wynne pointed out. "Maybe it was frozen in place by some sort of spell?"
"Possible, I suppose," Harry agreed. "Let's see if I can fix that."
But his energizing spell had no effect, and neither did any of four different attempts at dispelling whatever magic may have left the golem stuck in place.
"We could check the rest of the town," Leliana suggested. "If there are any survivors, perhaps they could tell us more about the golem; at least how it came to be here, if not the way to get it moving again."
"Should we go door to door?" Sirius asked. "It's not too large a place, but that could still take a fair amount of time."
"No need," Harry answered.
He took a deep breath, stepped away from the others and drew up the old, dark magic to his eyes. It was one of the things that no one else knew since he'd lost the last of his family all those years ago: one sort of gift of becoming the supposed 'Master of Death.' He could sense souls- even through buildings or underground, the living stood out like a beacon, a blaze against the darkness. Calling on the ability often made him feel disturbed though; in fact, it reminded him of the dementors, and he supposed there was something similar about those creatures made of darkness.
Harry slowly spun in a circle, searching through the town until he saw one building off to his right that had tunnels leading deep underground. There were several people hidden down there- and it looked like there were some of the darkspawn trying to get at them too. He recoiled a bit when he saw the tainted magic that animated the darkspawn as the creatures did not have what he would call a true soul, but there was a bit of foul magic that kept them tied to one another. The supposed hive mind like quality of the darkspawn fit with what he could perceive.
Unknown to him, Morrigan saw something of the darkness in his eyes.
"They're down there," Harry pointed to one building. "There are tunnels going underground. And they've got darkspawn keeping them company."
"Then we should hurry," Wynne said.
Author's Note: I moved Honnleath a bit- in the game's world map, it shows up south of Redcliffe, but I wanted to go meet a certain rocky someone now rather than later. Besides, I've had a couple of reviews saying that the party needs a tank.
Hope you enjoy!
