Chapter Five – Destiny Is Never an Easy Choice Pt. 2

It was another 10 years before he was once again hinted to go back to the human world by Mab. Currently he was listening to a dispute between two neighbors over herding rights of a band of wild elhorns that had stumbled upon and thus grazed on both farmer's lands.

The farmer on his left was a stout young elf by the name Ithil, and on his left was Tirith – a wrinkly and aged Gnome. Taking a half step forward Ithil was the first to assert himself – "Please my Liege, the elhorns first grazed upon my pastures, surely meaning that I am to be the one to offer them home on my land?"

"But Lord, the heard was also doing the same on my land, must they not then go to me as my land is also suitably worthy of such a graceful heard?" reasoned Tirith.

Harrison took his time to study both men, both of which he knew to be peaceful and honorable men. Ithil was widely known to offer free produce to neighboring small towns that had trouble traveling to the main cities where such products were regularly sold. Tirith was also a fine mason and had also worked on such site like that of his palace, and the main city longhouse to name a few. Thinking about how to solve this dispute in a way to keep both neighbors on amiable grounds, he offered them an alternative. "I have been informed that I will be heading back to the human world in another day or so gentlemen, and I think I have an alternative for the both of you," both men listened on bated breath to their king. "I want you both to leave the elhorns as they are for now and let them graze where they will until I return. If in that time they decide which pastures they prefer, then that is where they can remain so long as they choose. I will be looking into an issue with a heard of unicorns that I fear to be in danger in the coming months and will be offering them safe harbor in my kingdom. I will bring them to the other gentleman's land, where they can then choose to take refuge."

Both men, as well as the rest of the court, looked aghast at what they had just heard from their king. It was commonly known that the unicorns and the elhorn were related, and thus both breads were to be cherished as beings of purity and hope. To hear that any of them were in danger was enough reason to go to war and protect them.

"I do not wish war with the humans over the malicious actions of a few, hence why only I will be going. I will bring back the unicorns and offer them home on they land not being occupied by the elhorns. Can you both agree to this?" he asked of the elf and gnome.

"Yes, my Lord" they both replied.

"Excellent! In that case, this dispute will be resolved upon my return. The court will be adjourned for the day, but you are all welcome to stay and socialize." With a parting smile Harry rose from his thrown and descended the stairs leading to the entrance hall, and out into the public gardens that surrounded his palace. He needed to speak with Mordred before he left on his next trip.

Meeting he close friend and brother by the door, he looped his arm around Mordred's shoulder as they left the hall. Harry was greatly loved by his people due to his fair and kind nature. While he was commanding on his throne as any leader should be, when he was out and about, he treated everyone he met as a friend.

"Mordred, come walk with me my brother." As they passed the entryway and moved out into the gardens Harry continued to smile and way to his subjects as he spoke. "As you have heard I will be leaving again soon. I should only he gone for a few months at most, but it is nearing time for me to step down as our ruler."

"Yes Sire, but there is still time for you to reconsider. You see how much our people love you don't you Sire?" Mordred, as much as he desired to be a ruler, be also loved his friend and brother. Even when he was a younger man and lusting for power, Harry never treated him as anything less than a brother. He steered him to a less self-destructive path, and even offered him his thrown once he stepped down. Needless to say, Mordred accepted and now aspired to the example set by his older brother.

"Too true, but that is not my destiny Mordred. I have seen to your studies and how you have helped with my duties these past 60 years. You are still young for a Gnome, but you have a strong heart, and our mothers, your father, and I are all immensely proud of the way you have grown. I am happy to turn my kingdom over to you in the next few years my friend."

Mordred could say nothing. He was immeasurably glad to be living up to Harry's standards. "Yes, my Lord. Thank you."

"As such, while I will be gone you will rule in my stead. Now, I need to go pack, before Dobby gets it into his head that I will need to take a kitchen sink with me," at this they both gave a hearty chuckle as they both knew that, as loyal and well meaning as Dobby could be, he was a few sandwiches short of a picknick.

"Goodbye mother, I will see you soon." Harry said giving Mab a kiss on the cheek as he was greeting ready to leave.

"Be careful my son. Remember to write and if you need any help just summon Firebrand. His son Fawkes has not been heard from for a few decades now, but if you hear anything, please let him know."

"I will mother. Goodbye Frik, Arianna, Mordred. I will see you all soon." With his goodbyes now said a done, and making sure Hestia was comfortable around his toned stomach, Harry opened a portal to his office in Hogwarts and stepped through.

#

Taking his first look around his office he was happy to see the slumbering portraits of his old friends once again. He was surprised however to see the vast number of newer portraits that accompanying them.

Moving over to Salazar he softly tapped on the solid rosewood frame to not wake him up too harshly. "Salazar old friend, wake up now please."

Coming to lazily, Salazar was surprised to see his old friend once again, "Harry, is that you old boy?" taking a moment to regain his faculties, he shouted in joy, "HARRY!"

This had the side effect of waking up all the other portrait rather abruptly, something Harry was trying to avoid. Giving a small chuckle as the now groggy faces of his friends he replied, "Yes Salazar, I have returned once again. I see we have some new faces; would you like to share what has been happening these past 10 years?"

"It is the young fool again Harry," spoke Helga. "He tried to place a dark soul bond upon their portraits; he wanted to turn them into his spies around the castle. It is deplorable that what he is doing."

Here Rowena picked up, "he as placed a curse on one of the teaching positions, not any one of the faculty themselves, but the teaching position of Defense Against the Dark Arts, to slowly harm or expel anyone who takes up the post. Due to the method used, the castle's wards were not able to stop him."

Harry was deeply perturbed by this news. It was one thing to curse someone or something, but to curse a teaching post, that did not sound quite right to Harry. "I will look into this my friends. For now, what else can you tell me of the goings-on around here or the magical world as a whole?" at this Harry opened the discussion to the other portraits as well as the ones of his friends.

At this one of the other portraits spoke up, "Excuse me young Harry, but how do you know the founders, and how were you able enter this office? From what I and the other heads of this school know, this office was sealed by Merlin himself before his departure."

Looking to the name plate on the picture frame, Harry could see that the lady who had spoken was a previous headmistress, and celebrated Herbologist, Phyllida Spore. Before he could say anything however, it was Godric who replied for him. "This is Merlin my dear. Harry is his first name; or should I say Harrison Merlin Potter is his full name." Grinning broadly, he was amused to see the shocked faces of his colleagues around the room.

"But how is that possible, this young man only looks to be around his mid-20s?" asked another, this time by the name of Phineas Nigellus Black.

"I age quite differently to regular humans you see Mr. Black. I was born from the egg of a Phoenix, and I am from the Faery Kingdoms. I am currently around 1132 or 125 years old, but my mental age is closer that of my 30s. Due to my ageing process, I age only one year for every nine of yours." Seeing the stupefied looks on the faces of the previous Heads of his school he continued; "that said, my body actually stopped ageing somewhere in my 20s."

"Sir, you mean to have us believe that you are well over a century old, and are one of the founders of not just Hogwarts, but of the very system of magic still used to this day?" Asked Phineas.

"What system of magic?" puzzled Harry, "and yes, I was one of the founders along with my old friends Helga, Rowena, Salazar, and Godric. We all played an equal part in its creation."

"He's referring to the Merlinian Scale Harry, in which you are our Prime Merlinian." At this, the other four founders laughed at Harry rolling his eyes for the umpteenth time.

"How's it my fault that the darn book kept burning up," groused Harry to the amusement and confusion of the others.

"You see ladies and gentlemen," explained Salazar for the benefit of the others in the room, "the reason we named it the 'Merlinian' scale, was in fact a small jab at our friend here. Our first attempts to find all magicals in the world, failed rather heatedly, as Harry here is so powerful that just being in his presence was causing the runes on the book to instantly burn out. Hence, the 'Merlinian' Scale." Salazar finished.

"In my prime ladies and gents, I was the strongest of the other four founders, with my reading round 3502 mels," said Godric. "Harry, or Merlin here was always around the eight million mark. Keep in mind folks, that the scale is on a factor or three to accommodate for this one." Godric chortled.

"Okay, okay, folks. Getting back on topic, what else can you tell me of what has been going on these past years?" Harry tried to get them back on track. He knew he had time before he needed to move the unicorns, but left unchecked, these portraits could take for days on end.

"Good morning Master Merlin, I am Armando Dippet and I was the last head of this school before Dumbledore was appointed by the board of governors." Another man introduced himself. "In the years that I ran, we had out first and only death at the school. A young girl by the name or Myrtle Warren; she was lured into the Black Forest and fed to the colony of acromantulas. I was saddened by the loss of life, but I am happy to say that we caught the culprit quickly in the form of another student, Rubeus Hagrid. A half giant with a penchant for not knowing when certain animals are more harm than they are worth as pets."

At this Harry could see a noticeable murmur going around the frames as a difference of opinion was being voiced. "I disagree with your choice of culprit Headmaster Dippet," spoke Helga. "Yes, we can all agree on young Hagrid's unfortunate choice of pets; however, I believe that this was not the boys' doing. He is far too gentle a soul to do something so horrific. I believe it was the boy casting doubt upon they boy; a Mister Riddle if I am not mistaken?"

Harry could clearly see Dippet's chin purse at this accusation, as Riddle was a prized student for the school at the time, even surpassing the previously held scores of Albus Dumbledore. "I will look into this matter ladies and gentlemen." Harry stated, as he too had a bad feeling in his stomach at the mention of the incident. Not to mention, it sounded like he had an infestation in need of care also.

"Also Harry, while you are out and about, could you check on my old diadem?" requested Rowena. "It would seem that my daughter lifter if from its display case some time ago, but it was never returned."

Giving a small nod, Harry decided it was time to take a stroll around the castle for himself. It would seem that it was time again the start of another school year; the first week no less. He could still remember the first few years of the school after it opened; all the first years scurrying about in the halls between classes, and the elder years intermittently lining the walls to laugh and reminisce their times in such positions.

As he was making his was down a corridor on the fourth floor, he suddenly stopped when the castle's wards alerted him to the presence of something that should not exist in the human world, let alone have made it through the wards of his school. Making his way to the location he was being directed to, he was surprised to see the shoddily yet still potentially harmful obstacles. Such obstacles would pose no issue for any magical about a first-year education, but that is what worried him – why would such things like devil's snare and winged keys be left unchecked in a school?

As he got to the final obstacle, a room surrounded by green fire and a table with a riddle and a set of deadly poisons, he calmly looked upon the table and willed the harmful substances out of existence. Once done he steadily and without pause, walked right through the flames and into a large antechamber with nothing in it but a pedestal and a blood-red rock.

As Harry approached the pedestal, he had to hold back the bile at what he knew to be a philosopher's stone. A vial creation that required the death of thousands to make. He had no doubt that he would be having words with the one who created such a monstrosity while he was on this trip. Taking the stone and pocketing it, Harry left the room going back the way he came and clearing the traps as he did.

Once Harry stepped back out into the corridors of the castle, he made his way to the Black Forest. As he was entering the tree line, he could clearly feel the oppressive air that had settled over the area since he was last here. When he had learned about the Black Forest, it was called such due to the trees being so large that they blocked out the sun and cast the forest floor into shadow, now it was known that way for a more sinister nature.

He continued his trek for another half hour before coming upon the den of the acromantulas. Sighing at the act he was about to perform, he closed his eyes and felt for the magic of all the cursed spiders in the area, and to make sure no innocents were to be harmed with what he was about to do. Seeing nothing to stop him, he opened his eyes and cast his Phoenix flames from his fingertips into the depths of the spider's den.

What followed was an unholy wailing of the dying spiders that lasted for a good five seconds. Once he was done however, nothing would be left of the accursed creatures. Such things were not tolerated in the Faery Kingdoms, as while regular and even other magics species of spiders were welcome, acromantulas were nothing more that hunger-crazed eating machines that would happily feast on entire towns. It was a miracle that Hogsmeade was still standing.

With the destruction of the acromantulas' den, he could immediately start to feel the oppressive air lifting from the forest. Continuing onward, he made his was deeper into woodland in search of the unicorns. Soon enough he was approached by a lone foal and let to the rest of the herd. Once they arrived, Harry was happy to see another herd of centaurs accompanying the unicorns. "Greetings friends, I am Harry, King of the Faeries. I am here in hopes to aid the unicorns. Would you be willing to entertain me?"

Harry immediately came to be surrounded by male centaurs, all holding drawn bowstrings. "Halt, what business do you have to be here human?"

There was such venom in that word that it threw Harry for a second. Taking a moment to compose himself, he slowly raised his arms in universal sign of peace and surrender. "Easy there friend. My name is Harry, and I am not a human. I am the current Faery King, and I am here in efforts to help protect the unicorns."

Hearing this the centaur who spoke scowled fiercely. "That is a lie, we all know that the Faery kingdom forbids any from traveling between realms." Growled the spokesman.

"Not true friend, we only prevent humans from coming to our side, we do not restrict travel of magical creatures coming to our realms not from our citizens who wish to travel the human realms. This was to ensure the wars of man are not inflicted upon our kind." Taking a moment to catch his breath Harry continued,

"That is why I am here. My mother, the former Queen Mab, has informed me that in the coming months, an evil presence would make itself known in the forest, and would feast upon the unicorns. I am here in the hopes to offer them sanctuary in the Faery realms so that they may live in peace and flourish," thinking quickly he made another proposal. "If your herd wishes, they may accompany the unicorns to the pastures we have for them, to ensure their safety; and should you wish it you would also be welcomed in the Faery kingdom as its citizens."

This time another centaur presented themselves to speak for the herd. "I am Firenze, and the other who spoke is Bane. How are we to know if that what you speak of is the truth, when to our eyes you are just another human?"

"If it would help, I can bring one of you to my kingdom first to see how it is that we live? We have a herd of elhorn currently grazing in another pasture close to the one I would bring the unicorns to. They are cousins to the unicorns and hold the same place in ours hearts and the unicorns do in yours. Also, I could summon Firebrand to speak for me, as he is a Phoenix whose flock birthed the egg from which I was laid."

Bane scoffed at the mention of the Phoenixes. "We will not take the word those fire turkeys after they have sided with the fool up at that school."

Again, Harry was thrown by Bane. "What do you mean by that good sir? I am not aware of any Phoenixes within the school, in fact that is where I just traveled from."

"Dumbledore has the assistance of a young Phoenix named Fawkes, who he uses to seem kind and benevolent as a way to further his goals." Spoke Firenze.

"I see, we have been looking for Fawkes for a while now," replied Harry. "Firebrand is Fawkes' father and had asked me to look for him while I am here. I will have to look into this further. For now, I will leave you be to roam as you have and will return once I find the truth behind what you have told me, thank you both."

This surprised the centaurs, as the last one to come to them had been Dumbledore, and when they refused him, he had tried to tempt them with riches before they had chased him off. To see another simply accept their distrust instead of fighting it was new to them.

Slowly Harry made his way out of the forest and called to Firebrand once he was in sight of the school. "Firebrand, thank you for coming so quickly. I have some puzzling news and may require your assistance my friend."

"Anything my Lord." With that said both beings made their way up to the school. It was dark out now, and the dinner feast would be taking place in the main hall. A perfect place to get his answers.


Author's Note:

Hey guys, thank you again for reading my story! Please enjoy, and remember, any constructive criticism is welcome.

Until the next chapter.