So we've reached the end of the first year of Hogwarts. The subsequent years/chapters will be added on after this, rather than as separate stories as people have requested, so don't worry about this one ending. Many thanks to those who continue to review, the words of encouragement have been most helpful in keeping me busy with editing these chapters and moving along on my other projects as well.

Epilogue

Changed Forever

Harry woke up to see lights sparkling above him. It looked curiously like the Snitch. He blinked, and saw that it wasn't the Snitch at all. He blinked again, and the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore blearily swam into view above him, even as the kindly Headmaster settled Harry's glasses upon his nose for him.

"Good afternoon, Harry," Dumbledore said politely. Harry immediately began telling Dumbledore everything, about Quirrell, the Stone, the fight down in front of the mirror, when Dumbledore interrupted him.

"Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times," said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone."

Harry began to speak again, now to ask questions of what he had missed, but the Headmaster held up his hand to stop him. "Harry, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out." Professor Dumbledore said, a small smile on his face.

Harry swallowed and looked around him. He realized he must be in the Hospital Wing. He was lying in a bed with clean white linen sheets, and next to him was a small table piled high with what looked like half a candy shop. In a bed nearby was Faykan, still unconscious and badly burned from head to foot. Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey were tending to his burns and setting other injuries. Harry desperately wanted to know if the boy was all right, but the Headmaster chose that moment to begin speaking.

"What happened down in the dungeons between you, Mr. Undol and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows." Professor Dumbledore said, smiling again at the end.

"How long have I been in here?" Harry asked.

"Three days." The Headmaster answered quickly, "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried about both you and young Mr. Undol." Harry took another look at Faykan's motionless form. He looked terrible, his entire body dark red and even blackened in some places from the burns. His wand lay on the bedside table with charred marks etched permanently into the wood.

"But sir, the Stone?" Harry asked, turning back to Dumbledore.

"I see you are not to be distracted," the aged wizard sighed, "very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say."

Dumbledore continued to explain that he had feared for Harry's safety as the effort involved in him holding on to Quirrell quite nearly killed him. He then assured Harry that the Stone was going to be destroyed, but warned Harry that there were still other means for Voldemort to return to the physical world.

Harry nodded, but stopped quickly, because the action made his head hurt. Then he asked, "Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can tell me... things I want to know the truth about..."

"The truth," Dumbledore said, with muted surprise, "is both a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie to you."

"Well..." Harry started, suddenly very self conscious about what he was asking, "Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?"

Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time. "Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today, not now at least. You will know, one day... but put it from your mind for now, Harry. When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are ready, you will know, I promise you."

And Harry just knew it would be no good to argue. "But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?" he settled on asking, to change the subject.

Dumbledore explained to him about how his mother's sacrifice to save him created a kind of shield that prevented Voldemort from being able to bare to touch him, Quirrell, being possessed by Voldemort, therefore couldn't touch Harry either. Harry then asked how he got the Stone out of the mirror. At that, Dumbledore smiled, explaining that as one of his own more brilliant ideas, only someone who wanted to find but not use the Stone could have gotten it out of the mirror.

Dumbledore finally bid Harry good day, and went to talk with Professor Snape while Madam Pomfrey came to check on him, and he managed to wheedled his way into hero allowing in Ron, (still wearing his golden crown from the chess match,) Hermione, and Draco in for five minutes to talk to Harry. They all sent sad looks over at Faykan's unconscious form, covered in burn salves and other potions. Ron and Draco both grilled Harry for everything that happened after the chess room. He told them everything, from the potion room with Hermione, and the battle that Faykan had with Quirrell in the mirror chamber. It was one of those moments where the truth was far more exciting than the wild rumors.

They all had questions left unanswered, mainly spiraling off how Faykan could possibly outduel a fully grown wizard, but with the boy unconscious they had no way to ask him about it at all.

Madam Pomfrey finally threw his friends out, and Harry was released soon after with orders to go straight to his dormitory and go to bed. When Harry climbed into bed, he saw a present on his bedside table which read 'to Harry, from Hagrid.' Opening it quickly, Harry found a leather covered book, filled with wizard photographs of his parents, smiling and waving at him. Harry fell asleep with the book clutched tightly to his chest, happiness flooding through him, over even the sadness of his best friend still being in the Infirmary.

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Severus was mentally cursing the stupidity of Gryffindor children as he worked hurriedly to get the burn salve onto Undol's body before too much damage was done by the enchanted fire he had made to protect the stone. The boy was covered from head to foot in these burns, ranging from moderate to life-threateningly severe; Albus said he had found the boy unconscious in the very room Severus had prepared to defend the Philosopher's Stone.

From what the Headmaster had learned from Potter, Undol had been in a powerful magical duel with a Voldemort possessed Quirrell, and was doing rather well against the man if Potter's word was to be trusted. Not only until Quirrell used a powerful reducto curse did the boy finally go down, having been thrown backward through the magical fire separating Severus' defenses from the mirror room.

After he was finished speaking with Potter, Albus had come over to where Severus was just finishing putting the salve on the boys back. "How is he Severus," the headmaster asked.

"It's bad, Headmaster, but at this rate, he'll live," Severus replied. He was still surprised, however, at how the boy had managed to survive the fires at all. The redness of the burns was already starting to fade, even though the black fire was meant to kill any who tried to pass without the correct potion. Still, it was a fine line that the boy was walking until Severus was certain that the boy would recover completely

"When do you think he will awaken?" Albus asked, clearly desirous to learn the full measure of the story from a second perspective.

"Sometime in the night, if we are lucky, else tomorrow morning at the absolute latest." The Potions master guessed.

"Good, he should be healthy enough to attend the feast then I presume?" Albus asked.

"Probably," Severus answered vaguely, as he still wasn't completely certain. "Headmaster, I was wondering if you knew anything about these marks on his back." He indicated the two grey twisting lines that started at Undol's neck and traveled down the boy's back as well as spiraling down both his arms and legs, with runes tattooed in miniature writing all along the spirals. It was almost disturbing how exact and small they were, and Severus shuddered at the thought of how much pain having them applied could have caused.

Dumbledore studied the markings for several moments, and then finally came to a conclusion. "Ah, it explains a lot about this boy, very interesting indeed. Especially when you consider his family…"

Severus looked puzzled "What is it Albus?"

Dumbledore looked at Severus, blue eyes twinkling with excitement, "They are an ancient magic, called the Venficium, the Marks of Sorcery, a ritual that the members of the oldest groups of wizards to ever walk this earth participated in to maintain and cultivate great power. Only one family historically had close enough of contact with those beings before the vanished from history forever… However…"

The man fell silent, which Severus knew meant that he was straining his brilliant mind to come up with speculation from that point on, and when Albus recommenced speaking, it was certainly less certain than before, "But, I was not aware that the mighty wizards of old ever passed down such secrets, granted so very little is known for certain?"

Severus looked at the boy again. If indeed this boy was marked with the ritual created by those ancient wizards, it would mean he was capable of tremendous power. It answered much, but still left just as many questions, where had he received such marks, and for what purpose? Severus had no memories of the boy's father where Severus could have possibly seen such marks, as they had been in different years of Hogwarts, and Lucius, who was far closer to the man, had never mentioned such things.

"Let's not worry too much about this right now, Severus." Dumbledore said, turning to walk away, "Clearly the boy is on our side for now, since he defended Harry from Quirrell, therefore who he is and what his goals are we can figure out in due time, it would just be best to give him the benefit of our trust for the time being."

Severus turned to follow his mentor, but some small sounds from the boy turned them both back to look at Undol. Tears has blossomed between the boy's shut eyes, probably from the sheer pain that he was in, but the muttering gave a far different reasoning. "Gaze on me… Lady of gold…" he managed to say, before Undol went silent once again, but the tears continued to flow.

The two wizards exchanged glances, not knowing what the words referred to, but Severus stepped back toward the boy, feeling some sort of draw to stay at the boy's side and make sure he was healing properly.

"I'll leave you to it then," Albus said, departing to take care of other business that was of great importance to the running of the school.

Potter's friends came and left, providing a good distraction for the boy's eyes, which continually burned into Severus' back and he checked the progress of Undol's burns, constantly making sure that there was enough of the ointment applied to keep the deadly fire from doing its intended work.

Eventually, the boy himself was also dismissed, and the sun set out in the windows. Poppy Pomfrey tried several times to get Severus to depart, that she could tend to the boy just as well as he, but Severus refused. It was a strange thing, but the boy that he remembered from his years at Hogwarts had so many similarities to the boy lying before him, and Severus couldn't bear to part from him without knowing that the child was going to awaken. Or, possibly, was Severus just so desperate to see his old friend again that he was rearranging the memories in his mind to make it seem that this boy was his friend reborn?

Severus shook himself; this wasn't the time or the place to ponder such things. Eventually the boy stirred in the night, speaking in his unconsciousness, but far more clearly than before, however the words were of a language that Severus had never heard before, "A laiqa alcar, O Ehtele lisse, Nimrodel A Nyére auta..."

Severus smiled at this good sign. The boy's breathing had returned to normal, and he looked far more relaxed as he continued his slumber. It was clear that he would recover, and from what he could find, there was no permanent damage done to his body. It was nothing short of a miracle among a world of magic, but Severus could now rest easily knowing the son of his closest ally, aside from sweet Lily, would live to see the sun once more.

He strode out of the hospital wing to go and sleep himself, cloak billowing behind him, and never noticing his patient opening his eyes to watch him leave "Sev…" the boy groaned once, before falling back into slumber.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Draco wasn't sure how well he was going to enjoy the end of year feast, as on the one hand the Great Hall was bedecked in Slytherin silver and green, as they had won the House Cup. From across the room, he could also see his friends Harry, Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table, looking sullen and gloomy, but at the same time they didn't seem to see the décor or anything going on around them, and Draco knew the reasons; they were all worried about Faykan, who still hadn't been released from the Hospital Wing. Next to that knowledge, even the House Cup was a rather moot point.

But then a sudden hush fell over the entire school, Draco and many other people's heads turned to the door to the entrance hall. Faykan stood there, looking very tired and most of his body was still wrapped in bandages and salves for his injuries. Apparently Headmaster Dumbledore had pulled some strings with the hospital matron to let him attend the feast. Harry Ron and Hermione looked like they were about to rush Faykan and tackle him in their joy at seeing him awake and walking again, but at that moment Dumbledore stood and started his end of year speech, which allowed Faykan to slip silently into a seat between Harry and Ron.

"Another year gone," Dumbledore started cheerfully, "and I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts..." Many laughed, Draco included, so overjoyed he was at the sight of his friends across the hall.

"Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding," Dumbledore continued, patting the massive cup that stood on the Head Table beside him, "and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty two points; second, Ravenclaw with four hundred and twenty six points; and in first place, Slytherin, with four hundred and seventy two points."

Draco cheered with the rest of Slytherin house, able to enjoy the victory now that he was sure that his friends were safe and well. Down the table from him, Nott was banging his goblet on the table enthusiastically, sneering toward Harry, Faykan and the other Gryffindors. Even Draco felt a little sick watching him, and that soured his mood over the Cup once again, so that he settled down far sooner than the rest of his housemates.

"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore, shushing them with his hands as he continued, "however, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. Some of the Slytherins' smiles faded a little. Draco was watching the Headmaster whose eyes were twinkling, and suddenly Draco knew a bit of what the old man must be planning. Those who saved the Stone were going to be rewarded.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore, breaking the sudden silence. "I have a few last minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes... First to both Misters Ronald Weasley, and Draco Malfoy..."

Draco went pale; he looked over at Ron, who looked like he was turning into a radish at the sudden attention from the entire school.

But Dumbledore continued, much to the confusion of some of the students that hadn't heard all the rumors that were circling about the five first years and their end of term adventure "...for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor and Slytherin house fifty points each."

The cheers from the student nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Some Slytherins patted Draco on the back, but the reaction from the other tables was all directed at Ron. His older brother Percy could be heard even from the Slytherin table telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! He got past McGonagall's giant chess set!" Fred and George could be seen forcing the golden crown Faykan had transfigured back onto Ron's head.

At last there was silence again before Dumbledore continued, "Second to Miss Hermione Granger... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor House fifty points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms; Draco strongly suspected she had burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves, they were a fifty points up.

"Third to Mr. Faykan Undol…" Dumbledore continued. "For the will to be a beacon of strength when others were in grave peril, I award Gryffindor House fifty points."

Faykan just smiled up at Dumbledore, before some foolish Gryffindor slapped him on the back and he almost fell off his chair, apparently the burns were still rather raw. The Gryffindors were going mad with their cheers; they were now one hundred points up.

"Fourth… to Mr. Harry Potter..." said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet, waiting for the verdict, "for pure nerve and outstanding courage; I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had five hundred and twenty two points, exactly the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the house cup… if Dumbledore had given Harry just one more point…

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent. "There are all kinds of courage," the Headmaster said, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

The Hall exploded, Draco and the Slytherins didn't clap, but internally he was very happy for his friends. Nott looked like Christmas had been cancelled, the look of horror on his face almost made Draco laugh out loud. The cup didn't matter to him anymore. The cheers from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables were dwarfed by the roars of delight coming from the Gryffindor table. Neville had disappeared under a pile of people congratulating him with slaps to the back, hugs from girls, and handshakes.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, which died down as the Headmaster spoke. "Assuming my calculations are correct, a change of decorations is in order."

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver turned to gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Draco looked at Harry; his friend looked like he was having the time of his life.

And for him, Draco was very glad. Now he could truly enjoy the ending feast.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

The last few days of the school year were the best Harry could have hoped for. He completely forgot about the exam results until they were handed out by Professor McGonagall.

Harry and Ron both had passed with good marks, Draco had done better, and Hermione had the best grades of the first years, but only barley beating Faykan, whose bad History of Magic essay was the only reason he wasn't first in the class "But Binns' nonsense is all inaccurate!" he complained loudly, but his heart was clearly not into his argument, as he finally just let it go, letting Hermione have the spotlight as smartest in their class.

Before Harry realized it, they were speeding back to muggle London on the Hogwarts Express, the teachers had passed them all notes to inform them that magic was not to be used outside of school. Faykan had ignored his, and Harry had a suspicion that he might get into major trouble over the summer.

Only once they were all locked into their own compartment, did Harry finally remember even a portion of the many, many questions they had for Faykan. "So, how much of what has happened can you tell us, truthfully?" Harry asked his best friend pointedly, while Draco, Hermione and Ron all glanced over in sudden interest.

"There isn't much yet, but I promise soon I will be able to tell much more," Faykan said, caught slightly off guard by the sudden change of their topics of discussion, "I am probably a bit more advanced in magic than I ever let on, but there was reasons, such as when we fought with Voldemort and Quirrell. There are many secrets that are tied to my family, and until I know for certain that I can assist you protect them also I can't share them with you. Not long yet, maybe a year or two, but you will know all before…" he stopped suddenly, shaking his head to prevent himself from spilling something else.

That was all that they could get out of him, despite each in turn giving it a chance, but Faykan was not like Hagrid, able to be tricked into giving information that he was to keep secret, and Harry had to accept that this wasn't the time for them to learn more, and he allowed the flow of conversation to return to more normal things.

As they all changed back into the muggle clothes, Draco almost choked on his Every Flavored Beans that he was eating, as the pureblood boy would be leaving directly from the station with his parents, when he saw the tattoos Faykan sported on his back, which made them all laugh loudly.

Finally it was time, as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Faykan exited the barrier back to the muggle world, Harry could see Ron's family waiting for them.

"There he is, Mom, there he is, look!" said Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, but she wasn't pointing at Ron. "Harry Potter!" she squealed. "Look, Mom! I can see…"

"Be quiet, Ginny, and it's rude to point." The red headed woman said, smiling down at them as they approached, "Busy year?" she asked.

"Very," said Harry. "Thanks for the fudge and the sweater, Mrs. Weasley."

Faykan merely smiled as Mrs. Weasley looked between them all. "Oh, it was nothing, dear." She said, suddenly flustered at being thanked for something almost six months previous.

Ron finally turned to Harry, Faykan and Hermione, just as his family started to leave, "You must come and stay this summer," said Ron, "all three of you… I'll send you each an owl." He called as he rushed to catch up with the rest of his family.

The Dursleys hadn't come to collect Harry, but Hermione's parents graciously offered to drop Harry and Faykan off at Privet drive, which they accepted. As Harry and Faykan walked up to the door, they turned back to wave as the Grangers drove off, and Faykan finally told Harry "Oh by the way, let me handle the Dursleys, there are going to be some pretty big changes this summer." Harry only grinned as they reached the door and rang the doorbell, although the thought of how they were forbidden to use magic still bothered him…

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Albus positively beamed as he found the book he was searching for, bringing it down from a high shelf in the Hogwarts library. The answer to all the mysteries had been ridiculously easy to solve, as the House of Undol had been a prominent pure blood family for generations. The Pure-Blood Directory was carefully and continuously updated by the recorders in The Ministry.

Flipping the book to the table of contents, Albus smiled as the Undol name gleamed toward the bottom of the list of twenty-nine pure blood families that remained in supposed sacred status among the wizarding nobility.

Thumbing through the pages to the back of the book, Albus searched until he came to the prescribed page number… only to find the entry blasted with magic, blackening out the majority of the page and preventing Albus from reading its entirety. Only scraps of information remained, acknowledging that the Undol's were very secretive, and the most ancient of all families in Britain, holding vast amounts of magical potential that they somehow managed to preserve from generation to generation, and that they had a very long streak of making dire enemies with the followers of the Dark Arts, usually leading to the prominent members of the family's deaths.

There were also side notes about their family wealth, which was not calculated by wizarding standards, as Gringotts refused to speak about that family specifically, but they were known to have houses on the continent, where they had originally come from.

Closing the book with a sigh, Albus pondered his next move. Someone, presumably an Undol, had destroyed the entry in the Hogwarts copy of the book. There were most likely other copies that Albus could find, but the majority of those would be kept by the wizarding aristocracy, many of whom Albus was not welcome to make requests from. The Weasley's might have a copy, but more likely not, as the book did not show them in the best of lights.

The problem had Albus rather stumped for the moment, but it was no matter. He would eventually unravel this mystery. He at least had some added information from Faykan Undol directly, when he had gone to visit the boy the morning of the leaving feast.

The boy had been in extremely good spirits, even singing in the Infirmary, a thing that normally Albus would have expected Poppy Pomfrey to disapprove of, but the Matron was smiling happily as she went about her duties, the boy's music seemingly having a calming effect on the entire room, not that there were any other patients.

"From the West she appeared… sunlight and stars in her hair. In her eyes an undying memory of home, a land that is magical and fair. When her feet came to rest deep in a canopied glade, she lifted her face and there as she danced, the realm of Lothlórien she made! Gaze on my Lady of gold! Reawaken my slumbering soul! Beacon of courage summon me home, to your haven of wonders untold!" he had started as Albus had approached, the enchanting melody spinning a vision in the old wizards mind of an endless forest, glittering with golden leaves, and some ancient Fae queen that existed beyond description.

It sounded so much like a tale that wizards would have told their children, but there was something that Albus couldn't place, something mysterious that had the ring of truth to it. But any thoughts of the meaning behind the song were dashed with the boy's next verse, and Albus' eye shot up in horror.

"Lórien laurë! A laiqa alcar. O Ehtele lisse Nimrodel A Nyére auta! A Lórien laurë! A Lórien laurë! Lórien laurë! A laiqa alcar! Orë áro… Lothlórien!" the boy sang out, the ancient language of power radiating golden in his boyish voice, but Albus reached forward swiftly, taking Mr. Undol by the shoulder and interrupting the song before he continued. He regretted the sudden dimming of the world around him as the song abruptly ended, but there were things that one ought not to play with as a toy or casual thing, and the ancient language from where all spells came was the greatest of these.

The boy had looked at him in confusion, as if to question why such a good and great thing was to be denied, and Albus just shook his head, unable to explain even in the smallest part such a powerful and deep secret of their ancient history to one so young, although how the boy knew so much already didn't at the time strike him as odd from what he had already learned from Severus in examining the Venficium on his back. the spoke briefly after that, mainly confirming parts of Harry's story that Albus hadn't thought that the boy had remembered quite exactly, as well as touched on how Faykan had so effectively fought off Quirrell, but the boy was rather tight lipped regarding that matter, stating that it was imperative to his own safety that such things as his abilities remain secrets.

Albus had left it at that for the time being, only offering his deep gratitude that the boy had chance befriended Harry so early, and kept him safe. But the parting state of the boy had been the straw that set Albus' seeking his answers elsewhere. "Of course, while others were content to leave him alone to find his own path, I chose to make sure he had some light showing him the way…"

Albus was even now wondering why he had let the conversation end there, regardless of whatever thing he had to deal with as Headmaster that were pressing matters at the end of another school year, and demanded that the boy answer his questions, such as why the boy knew something so close to the details of how Harry had arrived at the Durleys. There were none but Minerva and Hagrid that knew that, and if this boy was indeed hinting at that knowledge, which meant that he had to be a strong Seer as well as all his other gifts, then what else had the boy Seen?

Albus was old, very old for a wizard, and therefore had many things in his long life that he wasn't proud of, things he'd very much prefer remained unknown to the world at large, at least until he left this world, and some had ties to people that still lived, things that could be extremely dangerous if the wrong people discovered them accidentally.

That was why now, not even a week later, Albus was still pondering over the boy, what he possibly could know or do, and whether it was possible that the boy was a threat to all that Albus had striven to build over his lifetime. Only time, and intense study would tell, and from all the seeming roadblocks thrown in his way, he would have to wait until Harry and his friends returned to Hogwarts to hope for another chance to learn more.

End of Year One…

(A) Lórien laurë : (O) Golden Lórien (Land of Gold)

A laiqa alcar : O green splendour

O Ehtele lisse : and sweet spring

Nimrodel : Lady of the White Grotto

A Nyére auta : O sorrow leaves

Orë áro : rising day

Lothlórien : Lothlórien (Lórien of the Blossom)

Potential Spoilers Ahead, read at your own risk!

So, major changes here, starting with Severus' perspective, intensifying the seriousness of Faykan's injuries, as it led him to be even more of a gary-sue when he was more or less unharmed by the black fire, Culmulating in the addition of yet another song about Middle Earth, that was later reflected in the new Albus section, which I felt shows much more about why Albus becomes so eagerly interesting in Fay over all else, aside from guiding and protecting Harry.

I've tried quite hard to retell this story as I had initially imagined it, that Albus was not a villain, but just a misguided and somewhat outdated hero, still trying to cling to his former glory and do what was right. The song as well was taken from the little known Lord of the Rings Musical, hinting at yet another character that will eventually make her way into the story (albeit not for some time yet). I hope to build more connections and tie things in better as we press on into book two, and especially once three through five commence.

Many people may be annoyed to know that Year 2 (Chamber of Secrets) will as of yet still focus heavily on the canon storyline, but as in the first edition many misunderstand what I am attempting to accomplish. Faykan isn't trying to change the storyline like a bolt of lightning, he's just as blind to some events as the others, and he can only adapt and alter events as we, the readers, know them after some time of integrating himself into the groups and policies of the Wizarding World and making a difference therein. that is part of the purpose of why he was given Narya on Christmas. it was a reminder that he was to guide the hearts of men, rather than control them, but that is a development as to who he is and why he is there that is better mentioned at a different time, rather than spoiling the major mystery so early, aside from those who have read the original and already know.

~F