Hurray double post in one week! Great fun to be had by all, please enjoy. ~F
Chapter Eleven
Revelations
Draco saw the wild, semi-mad glint in Hermione's eye during the end of Care of Magical Creatures, but didn't understand the importance until right after that evening, after dinner.
Will and Harry hadn't shown up after the Gryffindor's Herbology lesson, and Hermione grumpily informed him that the two boys had gone up to the Room of Requirement early and were planning to eat there. She then launched into her suspicions of Will from what had occurred during Care of Magical Creatures, referencing some muggle thing about a 'super-man.'
Draco and Ron exchanged a look of utter confusion before Hermione bothered explaining that she was referring to how Will conveniently disappeared right before the Kitsune and Faykan's shade appeared and then just as conveniently returned immediately after they had vanished.
After she mentioned Harry calling Will 'Fay,' Draco stood up, "That enough," he declared, marching toward the entrance hall, Ron and Hermione in tow, "I'm getting to the bottom of this right now."
Storming up to the Room of Requirement, Draco threw the doors open just as Ron said, "Draco, wait I don't think…" but it was too late.
The room was transformed into a forest clearing, littered with small boulders and surrounded by tree's Draco remembered from the forest of Fanghorn. Sprawled out on a large flat rock were Harry and Will. They were laughing together, and the remains of their own lunches were on the grass next to them. Draco didn't care anymore; he and Hermione were getting answers, now.
"Harry, get away from him," Hermione declared, and she drew her wand. Draco and Ron followed her lead, aiming at Will, who started smirking slightly.
"Why?" Harry said, looking confused.
"Harry, do as she says," Will said, still smirking at Draco and the two Gryffindors.
Harry slowly back off to the side, and Will rose to stand on top of the flat boulder, "You know I'm surprised at you all, it didn't take this long to figure out about the Philosopher's Stone…"
"How do you know about that, you weren't here when that happened?" Draco said, readying to cast a stunner at the boy if he made any sudden moves.
"Perhaps you haven't got it quite yet then…" Will said in a disappointed voice.
"What are you talking about," Hermione said hotly.
"MY NAME!" Will roared suddenly, making them jump, "I CAN'T BELIVE YOU HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT!"
"He's mad; we should just stun him and let the Madam Pomfrey sort him out." Ron commented.
"It never occurred to you why I only introduced myself as Will, never William or anything other than that shortened name… I am surprised at you all, especially you Hermione, of everyone I thought you would have caught that the quickest. On the eve of receiving your best friend's last testament I arrive, Will Stanton. A quaint yet shy boy who arrived as mysteriously with Severus Snape just as Faykan departed with him. I knew Dumbledore was a fool, but I never expected to completely deceive you three so easily."
With that Will shook his left hand and a wand fell into it. All three of them wasted no time firing stunners off at Will, just as brilliant white light engulfed the boy, blinding them all. "Let the veil be drawn from their eyes!" a voice of pure radiance spoke from across the room. "Who are you!" Draco yelled into the light, "Show yourself!"
The light dwindled, revealing the boy in its midst, his long black hair and robes being tossed on a conjured wind. The crystal blue eyes of Faykan bored into each of them, and Draco felt the stirring on his own mind, the Occlumency block recognizing its creator. Faykan leaned lightly on a staff made of pure silver wood, crowned with a large sapphire, which was shaped like a spear-point.
"From the realms of the Undying Lands, I return to you all…" Faykan declared, his voice sparkling with majesty and power.
"Faykan?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice, and Draco saw tears in her and Ron's eyes.
"I am he, Hermione, Ron, and Draco, dear friends. I have been reborn from the fires of death." Faykan said, his voice still ringing with what felt like the wisdom of all the ages of the earth. With a swift movement Faykan leapt from the boulder to land near them upon the grass, Harry walking to his side.
Hermione wasted no time dashing at Faykan, embracing him and sobbing openly. Ron and Draco followed, but refrained from wailing as they each in turn embraced their friend, if only to prove that he wasn't a figment of their imagination.
Faykan laughed, his voice full of mirth, which seemed to pull them out of the stupor that Hermione, Draco and Ron had seemed to be placed in.
"But… how." Hermione said confused, "How are you alive though, even if you weren't hit with Avada Kedavra, the explosion of your wand would throw you magical core out of balance and have killed you instantly."
"Indeed Hermione, I did die. And only now am I beginning to understand how I still live. It was all thanks to Harry…" Faykan said. Everyone gaped at him.
Faykan laughed again at their looks of stupor, "Yes, when Harry broke the last barrier of his magic he, in essence, jump-started my magical core, restoring it to functionality. But I was still very much dead."
After waiting a moment in their silence, Faykan smiled and continued, "Severus took me back to Orthanc, where my house elves prepared a funeral pyre, and at the same moment I was placed on it, Harry's magic sounded again, and summoned Fawkes to my tower home."
Draco and Hermione gasped in awe.
"Fawkes called my spirit back to my body, and granted me a single feather to construct my new staff with. Severus took care of me until my magic was restored completely, and smuggled me back to Britain and right into Hogwarts under Dumbledore's nose." Faykan added with a grin.
"…and the Kitsune?" Hermione asked.
"Do you like my new animagus form?" Faykan responded, and they all laughed.
However Faykan was the first to sober from the humor, "And now my task is all but begun, and there is so much that needs to be done, and very little time with Voldemort on the rise once more. Four of the six have been collected, and only one of the great objects of power is under the hand of the Light..."
"The what?" Ron asked, being the first to admit confusion at their friends cryptic words.
"I'd like to understand more about that myself," Harry admitted, and Faykan merely smiled, tilting his head in submission to their wishes.
"Will Stanton isn't a name I chose purely for the irony of my pleasure…" he explained, "It was an identity I took on before, when I needed to fulfill a very important task, and that task had begun once more to seek the signs of the Light, and gather the greatest weapons that we can use against the Dark."
"What object would that be?" Hermione asked, and Faykan shook his head.
"This is a quest for me alone, for the time being. When I have need of aid I will approach those who fulfill the prophecy regarding those items. However I will show you the first." Faykan said, summoning from the corner of the room the wooden Goblet of Fire that had been hidden there.
"The Goblet of Fire?" Draco asked, baffled, "but that's only used for the Triwizard Tournament."
"Not so…" Faykan countered, holding the goblet aloft, and the wooden form seemed to melt away, revealing a plating of pure gold, inlaid with precious gems.
"Behold, the Grail; the first item of power that will lead us over sea and under stone to victory!" Faykan declared, and a sense of great power seemed to pour forth from the gold and jeweled cup.
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Harry arrived rather early to the last D.A. meeting before the holidays with Faykan, and looking at his best friend. Harry still couldn't completely understand how in the world he had returned, breaking the cold grasp of death just to be reunited with them. Not to say that Harry wasn't immensely pleased to have his best friend back, it was just that something was different, or Faykan was different.
Where before he was confidant to the point of arrogance and carelessness, now he was more reserved, more so than he already was, and if anything, a little less prone to charging into situations before planning out his tactics.
It had been quite an interesting month with Ron, Hermione and Draco trying to readjust to Faykan being back in their lives. Not that they were having an overly difficult time, they were truly overjoyed to have their group well and whole again, but watching them struggle to not refer to him by his true name in the company of others was rather humorous sometimes.
"So, Harry," Faykan said as the D.A. room formed out of the wall, "I have a few suggestions for the D.A., if you'd care to hear them."
"Sure!" Harry said happily. He had wondered why Faykan hadn't taken charge from the beginning, but any advice would be welcome.
"I was thinking of perhaps creating a more 'Advanced' class for the D.A. for certain members, you know to start teaching them the things I taught you lot; swordsmanship and Occlumency, among other things."
Harry smiled at the idea; he knew exactly which students would be happiest for extra study like this. "But…" he said, losing a bit of confidence, "Who would teach them, I don't know Occlumency and I'm not certain I could teach all the things you taught me as easily."
Faykan merely smirked at him, "I'll help you Harry, and as for the things you can't teach, I'm sure we could get Professor Snape to help us. I mean, who'd suspect the dungeon bat of Hogwarts helping students undermine another teacher?"
They both laughed loudly at this.
At this time Luna Lovegood arrived at the room, smiling in her absentminded way that some people found odd.
"Hello Harry, Faykan…"
Faykan smiled at her, while Harry laughed nervously. Even Faykan had hesitated to explain why Luna knew exactly who he was. As far as Harry understood it, Luna's family possessed special gifts that could see through magical disguises and concealments, as well as a touch of seership. So despite the many mad things that Luna was prone to come up with, occasionally she wasn't far from the truth, even if she got minor details like names wrong.
"Hello Luna," they said together.
Thankfully they were saved from starting a conversation with the Ravenclaw girl by the arrival of Angelina, Katie and Alicia. All three were rather breathless and looked very cold.
"Here you both are, Harry, Will, we've been looking for you both." Angelina said.
"Oh, why's that?" Harry asked innocently, and Faykan looked at him skeptically.
"So Will, Harry says you've been holding out on us, that you're a pretty good flyer." Alicia said, smirking at Faykan's obvious flush at the statement.
"Well… I… I wouldn't say…" Faykan stammered.
"Oh, don't be modest Will, Harry told us all about your exceptional flying, and we're going with his word on this, you're going to be our substitute Seeker until Umbridge is gone and Harry can play again."
"ME?!" Faykan said loudly, "you want ME to play Quidditch? No! No…no…no… Definitely not… no! no way!"
Harry sneaked away while the three chasers cornered and started to guilt Faykan into playing for Gryffindor. Harry was confidant that Faykan would buckle and play, he never could pass up helping those who asked enough times. The rest of the D.A. arrived in twos and threes, ending with Draco and Blaise sneaking in through the Slytherin entrance.
"Ok," he said, calling them all to order. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break…"
"We're not doing anything new?" said Zacharias Smith, in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come."
"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," said Fred loudly.
Several people sniggered; Harry waved his hands for silence and continued, "We can practice in pairs. We'll start with the Impediment Jinx for ten minutes, and then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."
They all divided up obediently; Faykan partnered Neville as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of "Impedimenta!"People froze for a minute or so, during which their partner would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx. Neville in particular had improved beyond all recognition, thanks to Faykan's patient coaching.
After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor and started practicing Stunning again. Space on the platform was really too confined to allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over.
At the end of an hour, Harry called a halt.
"You're getting really good," he said, beaming around at them. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff… maybe even Patronuses."
There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Harry a "Happy Christmas" as they went. Feeling cheerful, he collected up the cushions with Faykan, Draco, Ron and Hermione and stacked them neatly away.
"So Faykan came up with a brilliant idea," Harry happily explained when they were the only people left in the room, "about an advanced class for select members who are ready for the stuff we studied the last two years."
Hermione, Draco and Ron beamed at the idea, "Who'd you have in mind?" Hermione asked Faykan.
"Well, us five obviously, as well as Neville, Ginny, Blaise, Fred and George, those three Ravenclaw boys, and perhaps Cho Chang as well, for a start... perhaps others later when we are sure we can trust them." Faykan said, ticking the names off his fingers
Everyone agreed that those people were the most loyal to Dumbledore's Army, and that forming an 'Advanced D.A.' would be an excellent idea. Faykan said he would pitch the idea to Professor Snape that night before they all went to bed, and that they would inform the selected people when everything was set up.
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Severus grinned at Faykan as the boy explain his brilliant idea of an 'advanced class' for their secret defense group, and how he wanted Severus to teach them Occlumency and oversee the rest of the special training they were going to attempt.
When Faykan had finished, Severus only had two questions, "How are you going to get me up to the seventh floor?" and "How am I to know when the meetings will be?"
Faykan surprised him. The boy moved to the far wall of Severus' personal rooms and pulled the torch bracket. The empty fireplace swung aside revealing the brightly light room the boy had described for Severus months ago. Raising his eyebrows, Severus followed the beaming boy into the room, admiring the straightforward and elegantly made stonework of the dueling platform, and the many shelves of books and instruction manuals that lined the walls.
"And you say that Harry was the one to create this particular room?" he asked. Faykan nodded and Severus smiled. Clearly, the young boy had far more of his mother in him than his illustrious father.
Faykan ended the tour by handing Severus a small golden ring, emblazoned with a lightning bolt, identical to Harry's scar. "All I have to say Sev, is welcome to 'Dumbledore's Army,'" Faykan said with his cheekiest grin. After showing Sev back to his rooms, through a door that had a black bat painted onto the wood, to Severus' chagrin, Faykan trotted off back to Gryffindor Tower, while Severus admired the charm work of the small ring.
It clearly had both Granger's and Faykan's magical signatures on it, and was powered by a rather strong Protean Charm. Just for irony's sake, Severus slipped the ring on his left hand, figuring that his new alliance deserved the same limb that his old allegiance still clung to him by.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Dumbledore knew immediately the moment that Voldemort became aware of Harry's and his link via the curse scar.
A silver instrument of his, one tied to Voldemort's presence if he ever entered the school, started to smoke and spin maddeningly. Many of the portraits of old Headmasters and Headmistresses were eager to hear what had happened, and Albus calmly tried to explain, briefly, to them the situation. Minutes later he felt the presence of four people ascending the stairs to his office, and silenced the portraits as someone, Minerva McGonagall by the feel of the aura, rapped thrice on the door.
Albus opened the door wandlessly, and the Head of Gryffindor lead Harry inside, along with Ronald Weasley and Will Stanton, who were helping to support Harry as he trotted along rather shakily.
"Oh, it's you, Professor McGonagall… and… ah." Albus said, realizing that Harry must have had a vision so intense that Voldemort had become aware of him.
"Professor Dumbledore, Potter has had a… well, a nightmare," said Minerva. "He says…"
"It wasn't a nightmare," said Harry quickly.
She looked round at Harry, frowning slightly. "Very well, then, Potter, you tell the Headmaster about it."
Albus chose to watch his fingers as Harry explained, just in case Voldemort was currently lying in wait behind the boy's eyes, ready to possess him and attack at he slightest provocation.
"How did you see this? Albus asked, curious as to whether Harry saw through Voldemort's perspective, or as a third party observer. It would relay as to how linked they were by the connection.
"Well… I don't know," said Harry, rather impatiently "Inside my head, I suppose…"
"You misunderstand me," Albus said calmly. "I mean… can you remember, err, where you were positioned as you watched this attack happen? Were you perhaps standing beside the victim, or else looking down on the scene from above?"
Harry froze for a moment, then quietly confirmed, "I was the snake, I saw it all from the snake's point of view."
Albus closed his eyes, sadly accepting the closeness of the connection between Voldemort and Albus' greatest tool for fighting him. But then… Albus could exploit this connection, cause it so that Voldemort will lure Harry into a 'trap,' and in doing so expose himself for Albus to intervene and place himself further into Harry's trust, as well as test his foes regained powers.
"Is Arthur seriously injured?" Albus asked Harry, while watching Will Stanton's face, slightly frightened and full of concern. A loyal friend, Albus gleaned from his mind, and a willing servant of Harry's. Much more useful than the wild Faykan had been. Severus was right to bring him here.
"Yes!" Harry blurted immediately.
Quickly, Albus called upon two of the portraits, Everad and Dilys, to send for help for Arthur, and make sure he got to St. Mungo's safely. Turning to the students, while still avoid Harry's eyes, he decided to fill the time by explaining the portraits.
"Everard and Dilys were two of Hogwarts' most celebrated Heads," He said, as he swept around Harry, Will, Ron and Minerva to approach Fawkes on his perch beside the door. "Their renown is such that both have portraits hanging in other important wizarding institutions. As they are free to move between their own portraits, they can tell us what may be happening elsewhere…"
"But Mr. Weasley could be anywhere!" said Harry.
"Please sit down, all four of you," said Dumbledore, as though Harry had not spoken, "Everard and Dilys may not be back for several minutes. Professor McGonagall, if you could draw up extra chairs."
Minerva pulled her wand from the pocket of her dressing gown and waved it; three chairs appeared out of thin air, straight-backed and wooden. Albus stroked Fawkes's plumed golden head with one finger awaking his old friend immediately. He stretched his beautiful head high and observed Albus through bright, dark eyes, asking what was needed of him.
"We will need," Albus responded very quietly to the bird, "a warning."
There was a flash of fire and the phoenix had gone. He would clearly understand the warning would be if Dolores realized what was happening.
Albus now swooped down upon one of the fragile silver instruments, sat down facing the group of four people again and tapped it gently with the tip of his wand.
The instrument tinkled into life at once with rhythmic clinking noises. Tiny puffs of pale green smoke issued from the minuscule silver tube at the top. Albus watched the smoke closely, his brow furrowed. After a few seconds, the tiny puffs became a steady stream of smoke that thickened and coiled in the air… a serpent's head grew out of the end of it, opening its mouth wide.
"Naturally, naturally," Albus murmured to himself. He was already aware of the connection between Harry and Voldemort the smoke represented, "But in essence divided?" he asked of the instrument.
The smoke serpent, split itself instantly into two snakes, both coiling and undulating in the dark air. With a look of grim satisfaction, Albus gave the instrument another gentle tap with his wand: the clinking noise slowed and died and the smoke serpents grew faint, became a formless haze and vanished.
"Dumbledore!" Everad shouted from his portrait.
"What news?" Albus replied at once.
"I yelled until someone came running," said the wizard, who was mopping his brow on the curtain behind him, "said I'd heard something moving downstairs - they weren't sure whether to believe me but went down to check - you know there are no portraits down there to watch from. Anyway, they carried him up a few minutes later. He doesn't look good, he's covered in blood, I ran along to Elfrida Cragg's portrait to get a good view as they left…"
"Good," Albus said as Ron made a convulsive movement. "I take it Dilys will have seen him arrive, then…"
And moments later, the silver-ringleted witch had reappeared in her picture, too; she sank, coughing, into her armchair and said, "Yes, they've taken him to St Mungo's, Dumbledore… they carried him past my portrait… he looks bad…"
"Thank you," Albus said. He looked round at Minerva. "Minerva, I need you to go and wake the other Weasley children."
"Of course…" Minerva got up and moved swiftly to the door. "And Dumbledore - what about Molly?" she said, pausing at the door.
"That will be a job for Fawkes when he has finished keeping a lookout for anybody approaching," Albus replied calmly. "But she may already know… that excellent clock of hers…"
Albus rummaged in an old cupboard and from it carrying a blackened old kettle, which he placed carefully on his desk. Raising his wand he murmured, "Portus!" For a moment the kettle trembled, glowing with an odd blue light; then it quivered to rest, as solidly black as ever.
Albus marched over to the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black, and attempted to rouse him from his pretended slumber.
"Phineas. Phineas."
The rest of the portraits lining the room were no longer pretending to be asleep; they were shifting around in their frames, the better to watch what was happening. When the clever-looking wizard continued to feign sleep, some of them shouted his name, too.
"Phineas! Phineas! PHINEAS!"
He could not pretend any longer; he gave a theatrical jerk and opened his eyes wide. "Did someone call?"
"I need you to visit your other portrait again, Phineas," Albus instructed. "I've got another message."
"Visit my other portrait?" said Phineas in a reedy voice, giving a long, fake yawn (his eyes travelling around the room and focusing on Harry). "Oh, no, Dumbledore, I am too tired tonight."
The portraits on the surrounding walls broke into a storm of protest.
"Oh, very well," said Phineas, after many of the portraits threatened and yelled at him to obey. "Though he may well have destroyed my picture by now, he's done away with most of the family…"
"Sirius knows not to destroy your portrait," Albus said. "You are to give him the message that Arthur Weasley has been gravely injured and that his wife, children, Will Stanton and Harry Potter will be arriving at his house shortly. Do you understand?"
"Arthur Weasley, injured, wife and children, Will Stanton and Harry Potter coming to stay," repeated Phineas in a bored voice. "Yes, yes… very well."
He sloped away into the frame of the portrait and disappeared from view at the very moment the study door opened again. Fred, George and Ginny were ushered inside by Minerva; all three of them looking disheveled and shocked, still in their night things.
"Harry, what's going on?" asked Ginny, who looked frightened. "Professor McGonagall says you saw Dad get hurt…"
"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix," Albus explained quickly, before Harry could speak. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you back to Sirius's house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than The Burrow. You will meet your mother there."
"How're we going?" asked Fred, looking shaken. "Floo powder?"
"No," Albus said, "Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You will be taking a Portkey." He indicated the old kettle lying innocently on his desk. "We are just waiting for Phineas Nigellus to report back… I want to be sure that the coast is clear before sending you…"
There was a flash of flame in the very middle of the office, leaving behind a single golden feather that floated gently to the floor.
"It is Fawkes's warning," Albus explained, catching the feather as it fell. "Professor Umbridge must know you're out of your beds… Minerva, go and head her off, tell her any story…"
She was gone in a swish of tartan.
"He says he'll be delighted," said a bored voice behind Albus; Phineas had reappeared in front of his Slytherin banner. "My great-great-grandson has always had an odd taste in house-guests."
"Come here, then," Dumbledore said to Harry, Will and the Weasleys. "And quickly, before anyone else joins us."
Harry and the others gathered around Albus' desk.
"You have all used a Portkey before?" Albus asked, and they nodded, each reaching out to touch some part of the blackened kettle. "Good. On the count of three, then… one… two…"
It happened in a fraction of a second: in the infinitesimal pause before he said 'three', Harry looked up at him, they were very close together, and Albus had taken his eyes momentarily off the kettle to look at him. The look of hatred and rage behind the green eyes chilled Albus to his very bones.
"… three."
And they were gone in a whirl of light as the portkey pulled them through space.
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Sirius had only a few minutes to prepare before the portrait of his mother started screaming at the arriving children from Hogwarts. He rushed up the stairs to find Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, Harry and Will mostly sprawled on the floor while his mother wailed and raged at them.
"Back again, the blood-traitor brats. Is it true their father's dying?" she screamed. Sirius was about to shout for the children to leave, but Will got to his feet immediately and faced down his mother's portrait. She glared at Will, then screeched, "The Lordly one, come again to stain the house of my forebears with his vaunted light powers, begone from here, Old One of the West…"
"Be silent!" Will roared at her, startling even Sirius with the power behind the young voice, "Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I did not pass through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm." The room quaked as the words rang around the room, and Sirius' mother quailed in fear as Will thrust one open-palmed hand and wandlessly pulled the curtains of her portrait shut.
Sirius hurried forward after the sensation of powerful magic died away, and helped Harry and the Weasleys to their feet, leading them down to the kitchen. "What's going on? He asked as they walked, "Phinease Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured…"
"Ask Harry," said Fred.
"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself," said George.
The twins and Ginny were staring at him. Kreacher's footsteps had stopped on the stairs outside where he had been retreating from the influx of people.
"It was…" Harry began, then paused a moment before continuing, "I had a… a kind of, vision."
Potential Spoilers Ahead: You Have Been Warned!
So the secrets out among the super-friends at long last! Took them long enough eh? Changes coming to the D.A. and Voldemort is still up to his old tricks as far as trying for the Prophecy is concerned. Until next time everyone! ~F