Decisions
Flashback - June 27th, 1992
Harry and Lyra were reclining on the coils of the Usurper, while The Giver sat to the side. They stared at the three strange wizards that had come to their island with an offer from their homeland.
"So you want us to come with you to go to this magical school?" Harry asked.
"That is correct," said Alastor
"When do we have to decide?" asked Harry.
From the look in their eyes at his question, Lyra thought they must have been under the impression that she and Harry would be leaving with them today. No one was going to drag her away from her home and her family. She could feel her hair getting hot.
"We would like to speak with others and return here tomorrow. Would that be ok?" the younger of the three asked.
Harry whispered to Lyra, "We need to be careful with them. I don't trust the one who knows your father."
"I don't trust them either," she whispered back. "If they cause a problem, we need to have all three of the Protectors ready to help us."
Harry leaned over to The Giver and said,
§They wish to come back tomorrow with others.§
The Giver was focused on the ground in front of him, then responded
§I need to speak with both of you and the Usurper.§
§If they bring others, they must swear the same oath.§
Harry turned back to the three wizards. "That would be acceptable, but any you bring here would need to swear the same oath." He held up his hand to illustrate what he meant.
The three wizards nodded and stood up, vanishing their chairs.
Tristan bowed to the children, "Thank you for agreeing to meet again."
Then the three wizards vanished with a snapping sound.
As soon as the wizards had vanished, Harry jumped to his feet.
Saying first in English, and then in Parseltongue, "I'm going to the north side to speak with the Protector there. Lyra needs to go up the mountain and alert the hoohoo. We'll meet back tonight at The Giver's tree."
After he had translated that into Parseltongue, he and Lyra started running towards the mountain to reach their respective destinations.
Lyra didn't envy Harry's task. He needed to go past the Creeping Death, though he knew to stay far far away from it. Then he needed to go through the snake pits which he mostly complained about because the lesser snakes were annoying. They would all just cry out in fear of him and then demand snacks. After that, he needed to find The Protector during the daytime, which for anyone else would be impossible, and for Harry was just really hard. All she had to do was hike up a mountain and talk to some gorgeous birds.
When Lyra got back to camp in the afternoon, Charlie was sitting next to the seeing staff, his eyes glowing blue.
She waited patiently, and ate a mango until he was finished, then asked him, [Tomorrow][When Others Arrive?]
Time was particularly hard to communicate with the Hidden, but they had worked out signs by angling their arms to demonstrate the sun's position in the sky. They would also use props to demonstrate certain events.
To answer her question, Charlie took a banana, placed it on one of his arms flat in front of him, and then placed his other arm angled slightly above the banana, which she interpreted as [After Breakfast].
[How Many?] she signed.
[Five] Charlie held up five fingers.
[No snakes][Usurper][Hoohoo][Protector][Will come] she signed to Charlie. He just nodded.
Lyra went off and found Whispers, who was picking berries in a field. She told him verbally while signing, [We Go][Clean Beach][Tomorrow][You Go][Meet Others][Tell Them Swear][After Breakfast].
The two of them left and cleaned up all of the banana leaves on the beach, discarding them in the jungle. On the way back, Lyra swatted down a small snake that tried to bite her. Harry would need to deal with their welcoming party before they went to The Giver. Luckily, by the time she was back, Harry had just arrived and collapsed in the clearing, exhausted after all the running.
"How did it go?" she asked.
"I can never tell with him," Harry said. "It's not like the hoohoos, they seem to understand you, even if all they do is chirp back. The Protector either just wants to play or stares at me like he's waiting for something."
"Well, if he doesn't come, we've still got that army of snakes you left on this side of the island."
"Ugh, should I send them back or just kill them?" Harry asked, exasperated.
"Try sending them back and any that stay we can kill and eat," Lyra advised him.
"The field snakes can have their fill too," Harry got back up off his back and went to try and corral the snakes from their welcoming party.
Harry could tell that nearly all of the snakes had fled at his proclamation that they would be fed to his large, hooded allies if they did not return to the north side of the island by tomorrow. There would be a few arrogant snakes that would stay, and he'd need to hunt them down quickly. Though they did taste good and all of the Hidden could predict their movements to avoid being attacked.
He'd take Pants and Jared with him on the hunt as they were particularly good at predicting last-second dangers. He always chuckled when he thought about Pants. When Harry started wearing pants they found on the garbage beach, one of the Hidden had started to wear them as well, and earned himself a name. He looked like the weirdest of the tribe wearing the same cutoff jeans that Lyra found in the boxes, with a hole cut in the back for his tail. Jared was just the Hidden that spent most of his time with Pants and Harry just picked a name randomly from one of the kids in his kindergarten class.
It was starting to get late now, so Harry and Lyra started to head to The Giver's home. They knew the way now perfectly and could almost do it with their eyes shut. When they arrived in the clearing in front of his tree, The Giver was nowhere to be found. Lyra approached the tree and banged on the side of it with her staff a few times, then sat down by the fire pit. Harry walked out of the clearing a bit and used his staff to create a push of energy that rolled over a large log and revealed all the bugs underneath it. He gathered a few of the juicy ones and returned to Lyra where they snacked on them while they waited.
Eventually, The Giver came out of his dark cave in his tree. The Usurper came out right behind him. Harry and Lyra hadn't yet been inside, in all the time they had been on the island. It must be quite expansive inside for The Usurper to fit inside. He brought out with him a knife, a wooden bowl, four paintbrushes, and a sack of wriggling rodents.
Lyra groaned at the sight of the materials. Harry wasn't a fan of this either, but it meant he had something very important to tell them.
The Usurper opened its mouth and extended its long forked tongue. Holding the bowl underneath, The Giver used the knife to cut into the serpent's tongue and blood dripped into the bowl. When enough blood had been spilled, he put the bowl and knife on the ground and reached into the sack, and retrieved a small squirrel. With a glowing hand, he moved the injury from the snake's tongue to the throat of the rodent, killing it and healing the Usurper at the same time.
The Giver then repeated the same process with himself, then Lyra, and Harry. Once they had a full bowl of blood, Harry and Lyra pointed their staves at the bowl. Harry's staff glowed with white light, Lyra's with orange. The Giver raised his hand over the bowl and it glowed yellow for a moment, then The Usurper opened his mouth wide and let out the strange cry he would make. The blood in the bowl bubbled for a few seconds and then remained still.
The Giver, Harry, and Lyra each picked up one of the paintbrushes and dipped them in the bowl. The Giver turned to the Usurper and painted half-circles behind the small holes next to his eyes, then two long strokes under its chin, along the jawline. Then it opened its mouth and one more long stroke was applied along its tongue. Harry and Lyra had meanwhile painted long strokes all the way around their ears, and down their jawlines to connect under their chins. Then painted one final stroke along their tongues, but did not close their mouths after. When The Giver had completed the same strokes on his face, the three of them with staves, slammed them into the ground, activating the magic in the blood potion they had made, while the Usurper cried loudly into the evening sky.
They had created this ritual a few years ago, to better teach Lyra magic. It was too complicated for Harry to reteach everything he learned from The Giver to her, so they worked hard on a better way of doing things.
Lyra sat down on the ground and grumbled,
§I really hate doing that§
Harry shrugged, and said,
§That's not even the worst part.§
§When you can figure out a better way, we can do that.§
Then, to The Giver, he said,
§Do you have something you want to do with our visitors?§
§They will be back tomorrow with others, I think we should deal with them like the others.§
The Giver addressed them,
§No, not yet.§
§The place they mentioned, Hogwarts§
§The name resonates with the memories of the spirit I took from you.§
§There is an incredible wealth of memories, and a feeling of home.§
Lyra asked,
§Then what do you want to do?§
The Usurper spoke up,
§I will guard you with the other protectors.§
§Learn as much as you can from them.§
§About magic, about Hogwarts, about yourselves.§
The Giver continued,
§I will try to dig through the memories of the evil spirit.§
§I will learn about what makes Hogwarts so important.§
§Why it feels like home to this... Voldemort.§
§I will call you back when I have more to tell you.§
Lyra sounded annoyed,
§That's all?§
§You could have just told Harry that.§
The Giver shrugged,
§I felt it was important.§
Then he turned back and walked into the blackness of his cave.
The Usurper looked at the two children and said,
§End the spell, I will guard you as you sleep.§
Harry and Lyra nodded, picking up their staves. They tapped them on the ground and felt something like a rubber band snapping in their minds. As soon as it snapped, they both dropped their staves and fell to their knees. They proceeded to vomit blood as the painted markings around their ears and jawlines vanished. Once the lines on their faces were gone, they both fell to the side and passed out.
The Usurper didn't seem to suffer any negative effect as the lines of blood disappeared from its face. It looked at the sleeping children and leaned down to pick up and swallow one of the dead squirrels in one bite. It took its time with the other three and then twisted itself into a coil and lifted the two children by their shirts with his mouth, very gently, and dragged them on top of its coils for a better night's sleep.
Harry was woken up in the morning by what felt like a small bump under his back right in his kidney. Feeling the muscled body of the Usurper underneath him, he looked at what was poking him and saw there was a small bulge in the great serpent's body. Seeing a few more around the snake's coils, he remembered the squirrels from last night. He moved slowly and woke up Lyra. She got up slowly and stretched.
The Usurper started to uncoil from the bed he had made for them and Harry thanked him for the nest to sleep on.
Lyra was looking at the sky above them, "We need to get back, the wizards will be back 'after breakfast.' We need to be there."
"And we need to stall them for however long it takes for The Giver to figure out his stolen memories."
"Maybe we can learn new magic?" Lyra sounded hopeful. "The way they arrived and departed would be useful to get around the island."
Harry nodded. Before they left, they used some shovels they had constructed to dig up the blood-stained dirt from the previous night and carried it out of The Giver's camp. They hadn't found that the blood they vomited after the ritual had any negative effects, but it was blood in what was essentially their teacher's home.
As they walked, they left clumps of dirt in various places as they went, and picked various fruits and berries for their breakfast. Recently, Harry had started using the magic in his staff to knock down mangos and bananas from the trees, so they didn't need to do any climbing. As they got closer, Harry could hear some whispering of a snake in the distance.
§A good nest, lots of snacks§
§All mine, no sharing, all mine§
This must be one of the snakes that hadn't left, if it wouldn't leave, they would need to kill it.
Harry spoke to the snake, and commanded,
§This is not your nest§
§You were told to return to the other side of the island§
The snake responded with a hostile tone,
§No! This is mine!§
§I completed my task, I will take what I'm owed.§
§The kingsbane is not here,§
§You will do nothing!§
Harry frowned and looked towards Lyra, "He's not going to leave, I think you should take this one."
Lyra tried to protest, but her brother gave her a glare that he wasn't going to change his mind. She lifted her staff and activated the magic in the black fur as they got closer to where the snake was still hissing at them with protests.
The black fur of The Giver astounded Harry, he couldn't get it to work for him, but watching the magic for Lyra was strange and beautiful. When they got closer, Harry could see that the snake was a golden hooded snake. It would never reach the size of the banded type that Flare was, but it would still be very dangerous if left on its own. It rose up and displayed its hood for them to see.
Lyra moved very slowly, gripping her staff with both hands. Harry tried to hold his concentration, but every time he blinked, Lyra was in a different spot, a few steps to the side. There was a bit of a ghostly trail that was left by her, and Harry could see the snake couldn't keep up with her, always looking to where she used to be.
Once she was directly behind the snake, and it was still looking at Lyra's after-image in front of it, she brought down the top of her staff on the back of its head, killing it instantly.
Harry applauded his sister, "Good job, we can keep the skin to scare any others we find, and we've got some good meat for dinner tonight." Harry approached the dead snake and prodded it with the antler on his staff, just to be sure, then threw it over his shoulder and they continued to walk back to the Hidden Village.
When they got close, the two children could see the group of wizards had just arrived. Harry stashed the dead snake near a small group of rocks and then continued on. He felt a small vibration in his staff and was reassured, knowing The Protector was nearby. Even though it was daytime, he could feel its power and strength. Looking at Lyra, he could see that she was excited about learning new things, but Harry just wanted them to leave and let them live in peace. They were happy without anyone else. They had their family.
Gripping his staff tighter, they walked into the clearing of the trees to meet their guests.
Ten days later, the Usurper visited them at night. This was incredibly unusual as he did not like to leave the area around The Giver's camp, except to hunt larger prey a couple of times each year.
The guests on the island had been teaching them much about the magic that existed in the outside world. However, to perform any of the magic that they could do required a wand. These smaller instruments were far more versatile than the staves that Harry and Lyra wielded but didn't seem to be able to duplicate the kinds of magic they could do with incredible ease through the larger foci.
A lot of the time they just learned about the school, Hogwarts, the types of magic they could learn, and how they could improve the magic they had already performed in front of their guests. Both Severus and Alastor seemed very nervous around Harry, particularly when he spoke with snakes, while Minerva looked more afraid at those times. Nestor didn't seem to be bothered and Tristan looked on with interest mixed with a small amount of hesitation.
From what they witnessed, Transfiguration interested Harry the most. Since he was always trying to find better ways to improve their lives on the island, being able to change one thing into anything else he could think of would be supremely helpful. Right now they had to rely on fabricated tools and materials from the garbage beach. Lyra, on the other hand, was looking forward to Charms and Flying. Minerva hadn't let them fly on her broom with her, and that gave Lyra a greater desire to go to this school she taught at and learn.
One of the things that interested them both more than anything was the animagus transformations that Nestor and Minerva could do. With the help of The Giver, they pieced together the ritual from the memories stolen from the spirit of Voldemort in Harry's scar and found some possible ways to improve it. Harry was a bit scared because of an earlier incident with some mushrooms he had eaten where he dreamed of being a turtle. Just the feeling of having no toes to wiggle gave him the shivers when he thought about it.
So when the Usurper visited them, and let them ride him back to The Giver's camp, they knew the news would be important. When they arrived, Lyra didn't even make disgusted comments as they completed the parseltongue ritual so they could all understand each other perfectly.
The Giver started them off with instructions that Harry did not want to hear,
§You will need to go to this school, Hogwarts§
Harry was angry, he didn't want to leave,
§This is my home, why should I need to leave?§
The Giver stared down at him,
§Not only is it an incredible place of stone and magic,§
§Not only will you learn far more than you ever would here,§
§Not only are there things that you could bring back to this island, that will help your family,§
§The most incredible thing I have learned from the memories is:§
The Giver paused for a moment before glancing at the Usurper,
§There is a King that resides at Hogwarts.§
The Usurper raised his head high and twisted around to look The Giver straight in the face. The red crest on the back of its head rose to its full height and its long fangs started to stick out of its mouth.
§A King? A King is there? Not a lesser snake or a pretender, but a real King to hear my voice?§
The Giver nodded,
§Yes, this Voldemort found a King at Hogwarts, living in a secret chamber.§
§I could find no memories that would lead me to think it has moved or died.§
Lyra asked,
§So we need to go?§
Harry remained firm in his opposition,
§You know where it is, you can go, this is your purpose.§
§Lyra and I will stay in our home.§
The enormous serpent turned to Harry and rose higher, to twice his height, and gave an angry hiss,
§Remember your promise, hatchling.§
Harry felt his body stiffen from some unseen force, and he remembered the promise he made years before, the echo of what he and Lyra had said ringing in his ears.
§Both of us will commit ourselves to find a king to hear your voice and taste your venom§
Harry remembered they had agreed and committed themselves to helping the Usurper with its life's goal, its purpose. He would need to find this King to fulfill the oath he made.
Harry bowed his head,
§Both of us will find this King and send for you.§
§So it may hear your voice and taste your venom.§
Lyra looked a bit relieved that Harry would be going to this school, even if it was because he had sworn them to help the Usurper.
She asked,
§How will we find the King at Hogwarts?§
§Where is the secret room?§
The Giver answered,
§The memories are fragmented,§
§I have pieced together only a little§
§There is a secret room, it leads down below the castle.§
§There is a door of serpents, and a great statue.§
§The King sleeps inside the statue.§
§It can only be released by a Lordling.§
§The owner of these memories, this Voldemort,§
§He was a Lordling, an emissary of The Serpent King.§
The Usurper made a noise that sounded like a growl,
§Then the two of you will be my emissaries.§
§I will grant you protection from being subjugated by the King.§
To The Giver, he said,
§Fetch me a bowl and use it to gather my tears.§
The Giver opened a chest near the entrance to his home and pulled out a bowl. Holding it next to the face of the Usurper, the great snake blinked several times until a viscous fluid started to accumulate at the base of its golden eyes. When it had built up enough, it dripped into the bowl, until it was full. He then passed the bowl to Lyra.
The Usurper commended,
§Drink.§
§Drink until you can feel my strength.§
Hesitantly, Lyra drank from the bowl. Harry could see that it was not a pleasant taste. When she had forced herself to drink about half of the liquid, her hands started to shake. With his lightning-fast reflexes, The Giver snatched the bowl back before she dropped it, and Harry grabbed Lyra as she began to convulse. After a few seconds of twitching, she gasped slightly and her eyes glowed golden for a moment before returning to breathing normally.
Harry laid her on the ground, but she sat right back up, and said,
§Wow, that was very strange§
§I don't feel any different.§
The Giver passed the bowl to Harry and he sat down before drinking. The liquid tasted heavily of salt, and it was thick, like the insides of a bug, mixed with water. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but he didn't like drinking water from the ocean either. Once he had finished the bowl, he felt his limbs start shaking and he dropped the empty bowl and fell to the side, Lyra caught him before his head hit the ground. Harry felt like he was looking directly into the sun as someone was prying his eyes open wider, and wider until it just stopped and his body went limp for a moment. After taking a few steadying breaths, he sat back up again.
He told his sister,
§You were right, very strange, but I don't feel anything now.§
The Usurper stared at both with its golden eyes,
§You are now protected from being subjugated under the gaze of the King.§
§Find him for me, summon me, and I will show him why I am the kingsbane.§
The Giver was staring at the children with great interest through the whole ordeal. He told them now,
§Have you given these wizards any indication that you will return with them?§
Harry and Lyra shook their heads, and she said,
§I was following Harry's lead.§
The Giver continued,
§Start showing interest in leaving.§
§If you can, find a way that we can protect the island with you gone.§
§If the men with cages return, I will not be able to summon the hoohoo and the other protector the way that the two of you can.§
§I can not protect all of the Hidden the way I can protect myself.§
If they were to leave, that was the most important thing they needed to do. These wizards seemed very invested in having them return with them, so they would need to agree to this demand.
The Usurper's crest seemed to vibrate as it hissed,
§Go forth, my emissaries, return to me with news of my enemy.§
The Giver raised his staff, prompting the children to do the same with theirs. They slammed them into the earth and ended the spell. With the exception of the Usurper, they proceeded to vomit blood and pass out.
When they returned to the village the next day Harry informed Charlie of their desire to leave. The leader of the Hidden embraced him and ruffled his hair. Charlie had been named for one of the few adults in his past life that had been kind to him and genuinely smiled at him. Harry didn't want to leave, but he was compelled to do so. Once he had fully communicated to Charlie that he would be returning, Lyra came to them, accompanied by Whispers.
She signed to both of them, [Whispers][Come With Us][Our Brother][Learns With Us].
Harry didn't like this, [Dangerous][We Search][Enemy of Usurper][No Whispers], he signed.
Whispers jumped onto Lyra's shoulders and placed his hands on Harry's shoulders, then his eyes lit up. Harry, of course, couldn't participate in this dominance game, so after a few seconds Whispers gave up, and said, "I go… wiii yoo."
Harry shook his head no again, "You stay, stay with Chief, Teacher, and Charlie."
Whispers growled and vanished. Harry could see bits of light dancing as his little brother climbed a tree and got too far away to see.
Lyra looked sad, "He's our brother, he should be able to come."
"Too dangerous for him," Harry told her. "He is not an emissary, like us." Then he turned away and started to go to collect some fish for breakfast.
Just as he was about to get to one of the boxes of preserved fish in salt, he felt something on his neck. He reached back and pulled off a small worm-like bug with hundreds of tiny legs. It was one of the ones they had been warned not to eat by Teacher, so he threw it away from him and looked around for where it came from. When he looked up, it was just in time to see dozens upon dozens of various bugs falling from the sky.
He let out a very manly scream and instinctively vanished while he rolled out of the way from the downpour of insects. He grabbed at his staff as he got up and started to smash as many as he could into the earth. A chattering noise was heard next to him and he turned to see Whispers standing there with an empty box.
The little Hidden threw the box at him and said, "Yooo hid… I go wii."
Harry did not want to deal with insects raining down on him for the rest of his time there, and Whispers had won two contests of dominance. So he just scooped up his little brother and told him, "You go with us. You are our brother."
The little guy embraced Harry, then jumped to Lyra who caught him and embraced her.
Now all they needed to do was to start dropping hints that they wanted to return with the wizards to their homeland.
Author's Note: Short chapter, I know. I hope there were enough, "Oh shit! So that's what's going on?" moments to make up for it though.