Disclaimer; Okay, I've stopped taking Mescaline and realized I don't own any of the characters here except Lucy, and none of the locations.
/This is an indication of mental prowess. I own all you bitches in this area./
Lucivar brought Harry back to reality with a bucket of water.
"I don't know what kept you out so late last night, but you know you are supposed to be on my field by seven."
Harry got up and followed Lucivar out to the courtyard, thinking that a bucket of water was worth it if that was the cost of a good snog session with Ginny.
"Since last week I taught you the basics of attack and shielding with Jewels, this week revolves around stealth. You still need to do your exercises with stick, knife, and bow, plus your shield and attack drills, but we will spend most of your time with me studying stealth for now."
"Yes sir."
"Good, now here is your first lesson. We are not alone here. There are three other people in this courtyard and I want you to find them."
Harry opened his senses as if preparing for an attack. He looked around him carefully. He also opened his mind and fed his sense of where magic was into the mix. After a few moments, he noticed a wolf walking through the grass. It was suddenly obvious once he found him, but tricky to spot in the first place.
"Smoke, you're spotted. Thanks for your help." Harry didn't even have time to mention seeing him.
Returning to his task, he focused on how he saw Smoke, the combination of visual clues and sensing the power. There was another power source nearby. There, halfway up the wall, Daemonar was standing on a balcony. A curtain brushed against him.
"Good job son, you lasted longer than Smoke at least."
Instinct told Harry that the other one was close. Something felt wrong. He could tell that there was a power source nearby, and it was close. His instincts told him it was moving but he couldn't see any signs of its passage. The power felt dark, but how dark?
Harry closed his eyes and centered himself. He sent a small wave of power out with his mind, hoping to catch an echo as if learning to see with sonar.
Red. Someone with a Red jewel was nearby.
Suddenly all of Harry's instincts screamed at him, he was under attack. With instinct honed from years of quidditch and dueling with Dark Lords, Harry dove to the left. And caught a massive paw between the eyes for his trouble.
Harry lay on his back and looked up at the last member of the team. A gigantic white cat loomed over him, and Harry knew what it felt like to be a prey animal.
"Harry, this is Kaelas. He is another Red Jeweled Warlord Prince and he will be helping to train you. We will go through these drills until you have eyes in the back of your head and can react at a moments notice to any threat. Acerian cats like Kaelas hunt their prey while using sight shields."
/Nice to meet you Kaelas. Would you mind getting off of my chest? /
/Alright. Hedwig and the Lady say good things about you, so I will trust you for now. /
/I hope we can be friends on our own soon without needing other people to say nice things./
/Perhaps, we will see. /
"If you two are done chatting, we can get back to the lesson. I am actually impressed that you found Smoke and Daemonar so easily since you didn't know how to look properly. When you started looking for Kaelas you finally stumbled onto the right way to look, but it took you too long to do."
"What is the right way to do it?"
"When you send out some power and watch what it bounces off of. This will show you where someone is, or at least a general area. You can compare the areas your mind can sense with the ones your eyes can't see and find people. If they are weaker than you, they will appear. If they are stronger than you, you won't sense them or see them. And as you've noticed, if they wear the same jewel you do, you will be able to sense them and whether they are close, but not much more."
"Ah, good to know."
"Weaker opponents like Smoke and Daemonar should not be able to hide from you now using only sight shields, but you need to listen to your instincts and always be one alert."
"Constant Vigilance eh? I know a man who teaches that."
"He's got the right of it then. Any good warrior knows that you need to expect the unexpected. Any one that plans to become a Master of the Guard in service to a Queen needs to know that everyone is a threat, even in peacetime."
"One last thing before we get back to work, when I was out and about in your world, I noticed something. Without Jewels to stabilize them, your people fluctuate in power greatly. If you ping your surroundings looking for who is a credible threat, you need to know that that is only their current power level. You won't immediately sense their jewel strength because they don't have one. Instead you get an impression of their strength. Do not discount someone offhand. They may just be tired and weak. When you let loose a spell with a Red jewel it is always the same strength whether you are fresh in the fight or exhausted. Your spells will either be full power or not at all depending on how much strength you have left."
They returned to the lesson on how to see people trying to hide, and how to hide from people trying to see.
When breakfast wound down, Harry asked Lucy to come to the lesson with him and Jaenelle.
"I asked to see you both together because while I was in England yesterday somebody asked me for a favor."
"Go on, I'd like to hear why this involves both of us and my daughter."
"Well it partly involves us but mostly it is about your daughter. The school I attend to learn my kind of craft has offered to teach Lucy. We are one of the top three most prestigious schools in our world. We only accept forty new students per year into the seven year program. I have a letter here for Lucy from the Headmistress."
"That is an interesting offer. What do they teach at this school of yours?"
"Primarily they teach Potions, Herbology, History, Transfiguration, Charms and Defense. Potions covers all manner of potions obviously. Herbology deals with the magical nature of plants; what they are used for, how to care for them, and where to find them. History may not be of much use, but it is an easier way to learn the culture. Transfiguration is an area I see that you do not practice here. It involves turning one object or type of object into something else. The animagus transformation we have been discussing is an example of this, and our transfiguration professor actually is an animagus. Charms seem to be one of your strong points, most spells from simply levitating something to enchanting a music box are examples of charms. Defense involves how to magically protect yourself from danger, whether it be a magical creature or an evil person intent on harm.
"We also study a variety of other subjects, like divination to predict the future, arithmancy to discover the magical nature of numbers and how they interact, a course on magical creatures other than people, and a study of ancient runes and the languages of magic. Our faculty is selected from the best minds around the world."
"It certainly sounds like a good school, but is it really necessary?"
"Well Jaenelle, that's where it involves you and I. For the past two weeks, we have been trading potions recipes and interesting spells. We have tried to compare the different ways we do magic, but I was not raised in your methods, and you were never taught mine. What we have here is a chance to educate Lucille in both schools of Craft and Magic. Tell me, how long have you been teaching Lucille craft?"
"Most of her life we gave her drips and drabs as she was able, but her formal tutoring began five years ago almost."
"I only have six full years of schooling and was never taught anything before that point. She has the opportunity through this school to become greater than both of us. Perhaps not stronger than you in terms of pure strength, but in control of her gifts and variety of things she can accomplish. Through that skill she can be a better Queen and improve the lives of others. But that's all the recruiting I am going to do today. I promised I would make the offer and explain things, but I won't pressure you into a decision."
"Mother, lets talk to Father about it and see what he thinks. I think I want to try it, but I don't know for certain yet, it would mean a lot more time away from the Hall. But it would also mean I could meet other kids my age and make some new friends!"
"Alright, we'll talk to your father. Thank you for telling us about this Harry."
"Come in Harry, you're right on time. We have an important lesson today, one I am sure will be very useful to you." Saetan was sitting by his fire looking relaxed as Harry showed up for his lesson in politics the next day.
"What will we be learning today sir?"
"Tell me Harry, does anything about the way we appeared in your room and offered to help you strike you as really odd now that you have had time to learn about us?"
"Well at first everything was really odd. Now that I know you, I know how you appeared there, why you chose to help, and even how you found me. So no, I can't think of anything too strange."
"Really, nothing strange at all?"
"Not really."
"What languages do you speak Harry?"
"I speak English of course and some Latin for my spells, same as you."
"But I do not speak English, I never even heard the language before I came to find you. Do you honestly think everyone here has been speaking a language native to a small island on another world?"
"Oh, well then what are we speaking, and how does everyone understand each other?"
"That my boy is the basis of today's lesson. What you have experienced is another spell. This is a bit of craft that all of the longer lived races learn eventually as well as anyone who deals with other territories extensively. Otherwise people would need to relearn their own language every few hundred years, as well as those of all their neighboring nations. This spell will allow you to tap into the speech centers of another person's mind. You will then be able to speak their language to them and understand it in return."
"Wow that makes a lot more sense now. What are the downsides of the spell?"
"You can speak anyone's native language to them, but you don't suddenly learn all of the other languages they might know. Also, you aren't really learning a language, so when they leave you can recall the conversation but not the language. Finally, just because you understand the words does not mean that you understand their meaning. Idioms, expressions, and the like are translated but not their intent. It is still possible to insult someone through ignorance, which is why we have been studying protocol and etiquette. They may be stuffy and formal, but it is a lot harder to insult someone accidentally."
"That makes a lot of sense, that spell would be very useful to me now that you mention it."
"Good, now here is how it's done…"
Entering Daemon's study that night was a scary thing. From the moment he approached the door, Harry knew that the gentle easygoing Daemon he had known in the past two weeks was not who was waiting inside. Daemon's face looked completely neutral, relaxed, but studious.
"Today's lesson is pain. A warlord prince must know pain, he must be able to fight through it and overcome it. In a battle, you will be hurt, you will burn and ache. You may even lose a limb, but you must never give up until you are dead. You will keep fighting until you die, then you will get back up and keep fighting until they are dead. Pain is nothing, determination is everything."
"Yes sir."
"Hurt me."
"Excuse me sir?"
"I told you to hurt me. You studied the nerves and human anatomy. Hurt me as badly as you can without killing me. I want to see if you understand pain."
"Sir, I understand pain. I have been tortured several times now. Are you sure you wish me to do this? The most painful spell I know is called unforgivable by my people for a very good reason."
"The only thing unforgivable to a Warlord Prince is hesitation. You are hesitating. Hurt me."
Harry really hated to do this. He knew first hand that the cruciartus curse was not nice. And it made him sick to have to do this, but this was a step on the road to defeating Voldemort and he must defeat Voldemort.
"Crucio." He said in a flat, dead voice. All the years of anger and pain, abuse and misery, all the years of loneliness locked in a cupboard came out in that spell.
Daemon dropped to his knees as every nerve in his body caught fire and was ripped to shreds. He was stabbed and beaten, sliced and filleted. This was hell, but he would not cry out, he had ridden through pain before and he would do it again.
Harry dropped the curse after ten seconds and rushed to Daemon's side.
"Sir, are you alright?"
"Again."
"What?"
"Again. I want you to make me scream."
"Yes sir. Crucio!" Harry thought about Sirius dying, about Bellatrix torturing Neville's parents. He thought about Wormtail murdering Cedric. He remembered the Chamber of Secrets and what Tom Riddle did to his precious Ginny. He thought about Voldemort and his parents. The hatred and rage welled up inside him. Voldemort was responsible for almost every bad thing that had ever happened to him! Whether directly or indirectly, Voldemort was where it all started, and he would be where it all ended.
Harry was lost in his own mind as the hatred and power coursed through him. He didn't know how long he had held the curse on Daemon, only that he was now on the floor screaming.
The door to the study exploded inwards as Lucivar and Saetan entered the room. Lucivar physically grabbed Harry and threw him across the room.
"Lucivar, get him to the practice yard now! Let him work off his rage there, I will take care of Daemon."
"No." Came a choked voice from the floor. "Leave us; he still has half of his lesson to finish."
Everyone shuddered at the sound in his voice. The Sadist was awake. Both men backed out of the room carefully, trying not to attract the attention of one of the most feared men in the history of the Blood. They knew what he was capable of and they wanted no part of it.
"Fix the door." The sound of his voice and the feeling of power in the room snapped Harry from his blind rage enough to notice he was still suspended a few feet off the floor by hands he could feel but not see. A wave of his wand repaired the damage caused by breaking the door down, and a curtain of power fell into place, sealing them inside.
"Your spell is powerful; no doubt about it, but it is just pain. That pain is constant and unwavering. Given time, I could have overcome it and so could you when I teach you. Now, it is time for the other half of the lesson. We will teach you how to handle pain…"
Lucivar did not come retrieve Harry the next morning for practice. He knew all too well what it felt like to be on the receiving end from the Sadist.
Everyone was surprised when Harry walked into the dining room that morning. He was subdued, but appeared to be physically whole. He walked to the head of the table where Sadi was sitting and everyone tensed, hoping to avoid a relapse. Instead he simply called in four vials of red fluid and a white bottle with a red cross on it.
"These red potions will repair your nerves after extended cruciartus exposure, take them every six hours and you should have no long term effects. The white bottle will remove your pain. A sip should last several hours, but take more as you need it. Let me know if you experience any shakes or muscle tremors after tomorrow morning. The curse I used on you can have long term effects requiring different potions. Since you appear sane, you've obviously avoided the worst of them."
"I thought you weren't trained as a healer?" Aaron was the first to test the waters.
"I am not, but I have a lot of first hand experience with what happened last night. I have several of these potions in my trunks. I never know when I will run into Voldemort or his followers again. I have always had these on hand since I was fourteen."
Aaron shuddered, not liking to think of experiencing something that could hurt Sadi as young as fourteen, nor having enough experience with healers to know how to repair it.
Breakfast was a quiet affair that morning.