Well, it took a bit of time, but we're finally at the end of 2nd year, and what fun there is to come, if I say so myself. relax and enjoy, and for those who read the ending notes, there is finally new content to discuss here, and will be for the near future! ~F

Epilogue

Dobby's Master

Albus watched for a long moment as the two boys in front of Minerva's desk glanced between each other and the now firmly closed door that separated them from seeing Lucius' departing form. The fact that the Pureblood Lord quickly pounced upon Albus' return was unsurprising, but the fact that he legitimately parted with a precious possession, as House Elves were an expensive and quite prestigious luxury, was incredible. Albus would bet quite a deal that the man was going straight to the Hospital Wing to visit his son, despite his stone cold exterior. Aside from that event, which proved that Lucius Malfoy did indeed have a heart, Albus was more concerned with the strange child before him, who clearly possessed a weapon of great history and lore.

Turgon... Gondolin… Glamdring… Morgoth… none of these names rang any bells in the great mind, and yet the young boy, not quite thirteen years old, said them in their native tongue, and then translated them immediately afterward with a familiarity that rang of long hours spent truly knowing and understanding the meaning of these words.

To be fair, Albus briefly considered that perhaps the boy had devoted himself to this knowledge in order to better identify with his deceased parents, an option that poor Harry was denied by the Durleys, but at the same time it felt to be something even more than that. It was almost a cause that he had undertaken, to remember these long forgotten people and places, a caretaker of the lore of old almost.

"You both may go," he said finally to the pair of them, watching sadly as Harry exited first, followed closely by Faykan. But the blue eyed boy paused in the doorway and sent a look of understanding back to Albus, and gratitude, which puzzled the Headmaster, as he had done little to nothing to deserve thanks from the other boy, aside from granting them awards and House points that he was sure Faykan cared little about.

It had to be that the boy, so mature and knowledgeable for his age, was aware of what the validation meant for Harry, to know that he was trusted to make good judgments, even if he was defying authority to do so. Although in Albus personal opinion, Harry ought to have been placed in neither this circumstance, nor the fiasco with the Stone the previous year. He had not predicted that Voldemort would try so soon to get at Harry, nor that the brilliant children would solve the riddles on their own and try to thwart what they felt to be a grave injustice by one of their own teachers.

He swore to himself that from then on, he would do everything in his power to prevent such things from happening in his school ever again, so long as it was his to run. Never again would he purposely try to use the school as a battleground, or keep things here over the safety of his students. Not when even things beyond his control were trying to creep in to attack Harry, and anyone else that got in their way.

Albus knew that the wards must have been weakened over the time since the last war, as there had been no such threats placed within the school during the entirety of the previous battles against Voldemort, and to counter that he himself would use the Elder Wand to fortify the school how best he could. It was the least he could do to remedy the situation that caused so much grief and pain to his students and their families for two years in a row now.

Suddenly feeling every bit his age, Albus slumped back in his chair, his mind wandering from topic to topic, until recalled the bright and happy words of Faykan Undol from their chat last year, when the boy had just started recovering from the Hospital Wing. The song he sang, while full of power and quite frightening to Albus at the time, had a buoying effect on his old soul, even as a mere memory. He smiled. Perhaps he had been too harsh on the boy at the time, but truly there was great danger in those powerful ancient words, that only the very best and most powerful of Sorcerers ever were to utter, let alone use casually.

But if he truly was grooming himself to be some sort of caretaker of the past, perhaps there was a bright future for the boy after all. Not only could he be a powerful ally for Harry in the war to come, but it had been too long now since Hogwarts had had a History of Magic teacher that taught more than their last partial term's worth of material over and over. Another wonderful pushback by the Ministry and Lucius, but Albus lacked the authority to fight too hard on such a softer target than what was needful in the last few decades.

After the war, he would do everything he could to make the school great again, and setting Faykan Undol on the road to teaching their children the truth of their magical heritage would be near to the top of his list.

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

Harry had been to several Hogwarts feasts in the past, but none had been quite like this. Everybody was in their pajamas, and the celebration lasted all night. Harry didn't know whether the best bit was Hermione running toward him, screaming: "You solved it! You solved it!"; or Justin hurrying over from the Hufflepuff table to wring his hand and apologize endlessly for suspecting him; or Hagrid turning up at half past three, cuffing Harry, Faykan and Ron so hard on the shoulders that they were knocked into their plates of trifle; or their six hundred points for Gryffindor securing the House Cup for the second year running; or Professor McGonagall standing up to tell them all that the exams had been canceled as a school treat.

There was one small note of sorrow in the midst of their celebrating, when Dumbledore announcing that, unfortunately, Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to his untimely and quite accidental death. They held a moment of silence for the man, although Harry couldn't help but feel that the old fraud at least deserved some of what he had gotten. Still, death might have been a bit much.

The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences: Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were canceled, despite Hermione's complaints, and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor.

Nott was no longer strutting around the school or acting as though he owned the place. On the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky. On the other hand, Ginny Weasley was perfectly happy again. Draco was still moody, but it was mainly due to finding out that his father had been behind the attacks. Harry had learned of this from Dobby, who had been more than happy to spill the Malfoys' dirtiest secrets to his new master, starting with Mr. Malfoy's hand in the plot that year.

At first, Harry hadn't had any idea what to do with his new servant, but Faykan helped him by suggesting that he send Dobby to Diagon Alley to get a new uniform that was more becoming of a Potter House Elf than the dirty pillow case that he usually wore. As an afterthought, Harry also asked for Dobby to wait in his room at Privet Drive for him to return during the summer.

The last day of the school year, Collin Creevey finally caught up to Harry and Faykan once again, practically begging them for one picture, and Harry finally consented, on the condition that he and Faykan could get a copy each of it that night. Collin was ecstatic, and together Faykan and Harry stood in the middle of the busy common room for the boy to take the perfect picture. They both even signed his copy for him, which sent the kid skipping away in pure joy.

Later Harry overheard Faykan telling Collin about the black fox that could sometimes be found in the common room, and how it didn't like being picked up or petted hard like a plush toy, and Harry almost burst into laugher at Faykan's attempts to control his frustration at the boy, as Collin didn't understand how Faykan could have known about the fox, since he was never awake at the times that Collin saw it.

All too soon however, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Faykan, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Draco and Ginny got a compartment to themselves. They made the most of the last few hours in which they were allowed to do magic before the holidays. They played Exploding Snap, set off the very last of Fred and George's Filibuster fireworks, and practiced disarming each other by magic just for the fun of it. Harry was getting very good at that spell.

Eventually, the Hogwarts Express slowed and finally stopped in King's Cross.

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" asked Hermione as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Proud?" replied Harry, "Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious…"

"Speaking of them, Harry. Are you ready to brave the muggles for another few weeks before returning to the wizarding world?" Faykan said.

"Do I have to?" Harry whined.

"Unfortunately," Faykan admitted, but then brightened, "Don't worry, I'll pick you up earlier this year, and maybe we'll all congregate at my home for a month or two this summer." Faykan replied cheerfully.

These words kept Harry happy the entire trip back to Privet Drive. Faykan left him on the doorstep and vanished with a loud pop while Harry opened the door. Aunt Petunia ignored him as Harry went up to his room.

Opening the door, Harry was greeted by an excited Dobby, who bowed low to him, "Welcome home, Master Harry Potter, Sir…"

To Be Continued…

Potential Spoilers Ahead, you have been warned!

Foremost, massive addition to the beginning with another new Albus section, mulling over the new information he's gleaned from Faykan regarding the ancient artifacts he possesses, on top of what I hope is a clearer picture of just how Albus truly is, a good person who is grasping at straws for a reasonable conclusion to the dreadful business of the war with Voldemort.

personally, I've been striving with the rewrite to showcase the characters as I had originally intended, and I think I've gotten closer this go around, but the next two 'books' worth of material will seal the transition more thoroughly I think, especially with the tournament and Albus' slow decent to disliking and trying to twist Faykan to his side. definitely looking toward rewriting the section where albus seeks to kill faykan, as I never really felt that that was in his character or desires to throw away a person that had information and knowledge that he lacked, and wasn't evil.

still, there are great additions and changes that I made to the beginning of 3rd year, and yes MORE INCLUSION OF LOTR lore at last, I know many have been waiting for it, and it will be upon us soon. Many thanks for reading thus far, and i'll "see" you next time! ~F