Blade of Balance
Chapter 2: The Creed
By Jamnaz79
"I am a wizard? Magic doesn't exist; my Aunt and Uncle have told me before many times!" The young boy looked excited at the prospect but in his eyes lingered doubts.
The Duke frowned at Harry for his outburst. While he did not mind to see spirit and conviction for the boy's beliefs especially since the environment that the boy had lived in, he did not appreciate being questioned. He raised his hand upwards and the ring on his finger glowed faintly. A moment after the glow of the ring the chair next to Harry transformed into a large St. Bernard dog. The dog barked twice loudly before shifting back into a chair.
Harry stated at the chair next to him wide eyed. He tentatively reached out and touched it and it felt like a chair. But, only moments before it had been a dog! The young boy looked back at the duke his mouth hanging open but no questions would come out.
"Yes Harry, you can do that too in time with proper training. It is part of the reason that I purchased you from your relatives." The Duke continued after seeing his display had changed the opinion of the child. The older man stared at the boy in silence and consideration before speaking, "I will be blunt with you young man. So please do not interrupt till I am done. When I am done you will be given a choice. You will keep quiet till then and respond only when questioned."
Andrea waited till the boy gave his nod of assent. When that was given he leaned back into his chair as his eyes watched the emerald greens of this child, "Your full formal name is Henry James Potter, Heir of House Potter and Peverell. Henry being one of a number of names that is commonly called Harry for short."
The Duke paused again and provided a small smile as he saw the excitement fill the boy's eyes at learning his name. In the back of his mind not for the first time today he contemplated the demise of the Dursley family. "Your father was James Charlus Potter named after his own father Charlus Henry Potter. Your mother was Lily Potter nee' Evans. I do not have any pictures of them but if you would like I will acquire some for you to see. I doubt your relatives would have provided you much knowledge of them or pictures."
The boy nodded eagerly at the man's words and looked hoeful. Andrea again smiled warmly to the boy before he continued, "Your family is an ancient family that can trace their decent back to the days of Rome and the Empire's coming to Britannia. You will someday be an important man in Britain and elsewhere. This is exactly why I have purchased your freedom to become my ward Harry. You will not be a slave of this family, but a ward or protected child of this Household as you grow up."
The kindly eyes of the Duke turned hard as diamonds as he stared at the young man, "I have need of a young man with talent and potential to continue my trade. My family you may have heard about in the muggle history books of your schooling yes?"
The Duke continued after he saw the swift nod of the boy. Duke Andrea looked wistful as he spoke his right hand raised shoulder height before him and a ball of glowing light floated above his palm. The light formed into a globe of the world that slowly rotated on its axis, "We were the controllers of Florence, the family that led the way to the Renaissance. The Medici name had power in the Holy Church, politics and prestige in all of Europe. We were known as far as ancient China and guided the hand of mankind out of the darkness of the middle ages. Officially our family has passed into history and no longer lives in the realm of muggles. Muggles are the common name for non-magical people."
"In truth our family had two secrets. First, we have always been wizards hiding in open sight before even the Jesuit hunters of the Holy Church. There has been a direct line of my family flowing back til lteh time of the triumvirate and Caesar's Rome. It is our magic that helped us try to guide peace and prosperity in the lands surrounding Florence. We wished to see our people safe and prosper, while they are only muggles, they are our muggles. Some wizarding families believe that it is right to rule over muggles by force since we are a higher grade of humanity. We are the evolutionary end of the homo-sapiens. Others believe that we must keep separate our worlds and lives for protection. That wizard and muggle should never interact, never to know each other's worlds instead to live in our own cultures. The Medici family believed instead that we would guide the muggles and raise them up from darkness into a brighter future. I would like to this this was successful for a time." The nobleman paused and raised a goblet to his lips to sip. To Harry it seemed that the Duke was lost in his own thoughts and concerns as the man looked away.
The silence broke as the goblet was lowered down and the Duke looked back at the young man wit ha smile, "Wonderful wine here. I hope you will come to love the taste Harry. Now, as I was saying our family was heavily part of the world of muggles. But, it was decided by the ICW, agroup of powerful wizarding countries, that Wizards must be separate from the muggle world. Hence we were far too public and had to disappear from the world around us."
The Duke stood up and stepped from the chair slowly pacing over to the large wizard. His hands folded behind his back cupping the left wrist by the right palm as he stared outside at someone. It was obvious that the man was getting older but he still had a muscular physique to his body. While his eyes lingered down below into the gardens he spoke up, "There was a second cause of my family throughout history. We have been part of a pair of unending wars against those that would fight the light of humanity. We fight against those that want to enslave and control the free will of others for their plans. We were dedicated members of a creed, a creed of assassins. For a thousand years the Medici family has had members in the brotherhood who worked behind the scenes alone or in groups against those that would bring harm to humanity. The first were the Crusaders who would become later known as the Templars and Jesuit order. They are now known as the witch hunters for they were responsible for the hunts against wizards and witches throughout the world. We fought them over relics of the lost continent of Atlantis for a thousand years before a truce came and our disappearance from the world."
"Instead we turned our attention to the demons in our own society. The monsters in the dark that remained hidden from sight. We fight against these monsters that are nothing more than beasts and killers in our society." The Duke paused at this moment and turned his gaze back towards the young man. As the sun set in the background the light fell onto the shoulders of the man blocking the sight of the older man's eyes from Harry. His voice though cam strong and clear in accented English, "We are those that walk the night for the betterment of our world Harry. We do not take innocent lives, we do not commit acts that others would shun, but we do it for the right causes. We save lives because we end these threats to the world. We are not a band of murders, we follow a code, a creed of life."
Andrea could see the boy was confused but interesting. He was feeding him so much information at once it was a wonder that his head had not exploded, "The Creed has the following tenets; First, say your blade form the flesh of an innocent. The second tenet is to remain hidden from sight. The final tenet is to never compromise the brotherhood. In the words of wise master passed down through the generations, 'Our creed does not command us to be free. It commands us to be wise."
The man stepped from the window walking slowly forward till he stood before the young man. The dark eyes of Andrea kept locked onto the boy before him as he lowered down his hands to rest on the child's shoulders., "You ask your young Harry, why would I say all of this to you? You question what I have in hope for you?"
The large man slowly lowered down to one knee so he was eye level with the boy as he spoke firmly not wavering his gaze, "My line cannot continue. I have lost my wife and my own child cannot continue offer a son or daughter to become the next member of the creed. I need someone that will be willing to learn, train and become my apprentice. I need someone that will have the skills and potential to become worthy of being a member of the brotherhood. I need you Harry. I want you to become my apprentice and learn the ways of the assassin. Our days in the muggle world may be over but there are many duties needed in the magical one for us. I would have you become one of the brotherhood young Harry. What do you say?"
The young boy was enchanted at the idea. For the first time in his life an adult was treating him like a person. At home or school he had always been treated as second to Dudley at best and trash at worst. Not only was this adult treating him well but he wanted Harry's help! He could do something important, he would be someone important. He had already told him more about who he was and his family then the Dursley family ever did! This important man wanted him to become part of his family, part of this order. The idea of swinging swords and casting spells filled the mind of the young man. Harry knew his answer, it was the answer any child that had lived unwanted and abused would want to give when shown caring and the feeling of being needed. He smiled brightly at the idea and nodded his head firmly, "Yes Sir. I will do it!"
The Duke was pleased and a bright smile spread over his lips as he squeezed the shoulders of the boy gently, "Wonderful Harry. We will start your training secession soon but first let us go to dinner. There is a second reason I acquired you as my ward and I want you to meet her. I am certain you will both get along wonderfully."
A commanding presence back on the nobleman he stood up and turned to walk from the room. "Come Harry. Let me introduce you to my Sofia."
Author Note: A small second chapter for the story but a compact one for information added into it. I would most likely expand it out for another 2k words into the explanation if I do write the full story. I love some of the ideas of some of the reviewers for this story so I think I would go with QueenLyssa's plan for the daughter which he would work with/be a lover with eventually. That would be well into the time he goes to schooling though. I hope folks like the chapter, I have another written up for it already and a chapter of Wizard and Wagtail is done to post soon.