Disclaimer- While the plot is mine, the characters are not… I'm just playing with them.
A/N- I normally try to answer all the reviews that come in with the exception of the ones marked "anonymous". Two late anonymous reviews for the previous chapters came in with the last chapter's posting that I must address and as I can not answer them privately, will need to do so here because they apply as much to these recent chapters as the ones they were posted to. I also think everyone should hear my answer anyway…
Rebecca, be happy I'm answering yours as a rather rude critique and not a flame. Bad writing and trying to "dumb down" a subject of expertise to someone completely ignorant of the subject matter are two entirely different things. The latter takes time to explain, even when reader does comprehend the subject in question. The notes in question are background information that plays very little importance to the overall of the story. The only point this proves is why an author should NOT beta their own work. I do not want a beta that stops after using the spell-check. I can do that quite well on my own, thank you.
*sweat drops* To the one that calls themselves "WTF", this story would be abandoned before I withheld chapters. I mentioned once already that I can not stand such practices and as amusing as it was to see the reaction spawned by that first A/N, temptation and actual doing are not the same. The reviews I get only matter in that they tell me how well the story is being received and what I need to fix (one of the reasons why I enjoy receiving critiques) or explain later. So while I might complain about not getting more than three reviews per chapter, I have posted several times already with less than that. So yes, please ignore the grumbling that comes from the mouth of the great Lissa. She is trying to perfect her image of a good cynic (or would it be a pessimist?).
*shrugs* She should also inform the reader that if it takes as long to post the next chapter as it did this one, she's probably in bed recovering from another one of her frequent migraines. Those tend to chase off the muse for several days…
On a lighter note, behold the scene that refused to end! So, on with the story…
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Chapter 13
He bemusingly watched his mortal companions as they passed through the first of the spiritual gates separating the Mortal World from the Faerie Realms for signs that they noticed the shifting winds of radiating energies and was disappointed when the only reaction was a momentarily look of confusion from the werewolf. The humans remained oblivious to change although the animagus' questioning as to whether it getting darker was a bit unexpected. He would have thought that the Fae-blood humans should have sensed something more than that. Other mixed bloods had in the past. He was not expecting the children to. They had proved already how unobservant they were during their run-ins together four years ago.
The puppy, at least, managed to show him how well he was able to blend in with the mortals.
He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
The puppy's teasing that had followed the end of that first year, he could have done without. He couldn't help it that soft music with a full stomach made him sleepy.
Yet it was nice to see the pup laugh, and he would be a lot happier to see the pup finally acting like a puppy instead of a spy or human soldier. His time at Hogwarts had allowed him to meet with the staff and elves there and it earned him some insight on how mortals worked while in an unguarded state. The crass man the puppy claimed and the little Professor that was also there intrigued him but he figured it may be because of the Fae blood he felt in them. His old friend did well to find friendship in them.
The sight of a half-giant walking through the streets in the company of a half-goblin, two hounds and a Sidhe prince would never gain same amount of attention in his homeland as it would have in the human realm. There they were barely tolerated.
That grim knowledge was another reason that he was glad to go home.
The main reason was a bit more personal.
He really did care about his old friend but what was Hagrid thinking by naming him "Fluffy"?
Traveling through the second gate sparked a reaction from the mortals as the Metamorphmagus stopped in her tracks looking around wildly while her cousin cursed loudly next to her. The two children looked onward in confusion but the werewolf had closed his eyes. He could see the tenseness in the werewolf's stance and grinned.
So the werewolf was already feeling the call of their homeland? That was very good to know. It meant that the human had not completely isolated the wolf but it also meant that he would have to keep a closer eye on the werewolf should he lose control of the wolf and transformed. He was in no danger from it; he could not say the same about the humans that traveled with them.
"What the bloody hell was that just now?" The animagus demanded of him.
He could explain or he could let them figure things out themselves but as these mortals already proved to be difficult, decided that an answer would be the easier path.
"That was the second of the Realms' defenses you felt. There are three more."
"Wait, what defenses?" The animagus snarled, torn between what was obviously anger and confusion caused by what he presumed was an unfamiliar situation.
He was ready to answer but the human girl beat him to it, "Oh, I know this! Ron, I know our research would pay off! We're at the dividing barrier between our world and the Faerie Realms, right? How fascinating… the books never said that there were five of them…"
"Wait, five of them? How do you figure that?" Her red-haired friend protested.
"Fluffy said this is the second gate. We must have already gone through the first one and did not notice it," she smugly answered. "How far back was the first gate?"
"Shortly before your companion asked whether it was getting darker in the hall," He answered, amused when the animagus' grey eyes lit up in delighted realization.
"So what do these gate defenses do exactly?" The Metamorphmagus asked and he wondered as to whether she would pass on the information to her masters upon their return to the Wizarding World. It did not matter if she did or not; the Wizarding community did not have the knowledge or strength to duplicate the barriers' abilities.
"The first three gates you need not worry about. The stones protect you but it is your wits and the presence of someone that has navigated the gates before to take you through the last two." He answered. He had their full attention, but was rather amused when all but the werewolf turned their gaze towards the elf stones they carried. "The three the stones aid you in are the defensive barriers designed to keep trespassers and lost mortals from venturing into the realms. The only ones allowed to pass unrestricted are either dead or of Fae descent."
"But my family is of Fae descent!" The animagus angrily argued, "And Moony is a werewolf… Doesn't that count for something?"
"The wolf needs not the stone to pass," He smugly told them. "He is Fae enough by virtue of the wolf he houses. Your blood, however, is too weak. You did not sense the first gate as even an eighth blood would have."
"Eighth blood?" The boy asked only to have his friend answer.
"I think he means that every human offspring after the fourth generation is too diluted in Fae blood to sense it," she said, trying to rationalize things out. It wasn't quite what he meant but the explanation was close enough to pacify them.
"And the rest of the gates?" The werewolf asked.
"Hold on a moment, Moony," The animagus protested before turning to face him. "What exactly do you mean by the dead?"
"Now that you will see as we arrive." He grinned at that, not surprised when the mortal's gaze went to the brainy teeny that traveled with them.
She was hesitant to answer, "The stories I found all say that the Forsaken Realms are part of the World of the Dead."
The Metamorphmagus agreed, "We did come through a burial tomb after all…"
The Wizard and the boy both paled before the younger of the two stammered out, "You're joking right?"
"You'll be seeing the rivers shortly," he told them.
"Rivers?" The boy asked, puzzled.
"Yes, rivers," she told him. "In Muggle mythology there are five rivers that separate the World of the Living and the World of the Dead. The most famous is the River Styx, which is also called the Sanzu. The other four rivers are called the Lethe, the Acheron, the Cocytus, and the Phlegethon. Will we need to pay the ferryman also?"
He couldn't help it but laugh as the Metamorphmagus protested. "Hermione, we're not dead!" She gave them all a sheepish look when she realized what she had just said.
She then gave him a fearful look and asked, "But is the rest of the stories true then? Because if it is, do we have enough food?"
"What are you harping about, Mione?" The animagus asked as the redhead boy paled.
It was the Metamorphmagus that answered, showing that she at least knew the Muggle teachings. "Those stories also say that if a mortal eats or drinks anything in the Faerie Realms that they are trapped there, unable to leave."
As was expected, the animagus exploded with protests. The hellhound wondered if his hearing would survive the rest of the trip if the Wizard remained so vocal. He had to answer or the Wizard would more than likely fail to be silent, "There is some truth to that. For a living mortal wishing to return to the Living World, they need the permission of the Lord of the Realm and must cleanse themselves physically of all substances that they encountered while there."
"What does that mean?" The boy asked, looking confused.
The werewolf answered quietly, "You fast."
"Fast?" He repeated, dumbly.
"No eating or drinking of anything until both the stomach and intestines are completely empty," The werewolf answered. "That generally takes between two and three days."
"But won't that kill us?" The boy asks, no doubt fearing for his stomach if the pup's stories about his two mortal friends were to be believed.
"A human body can last up to a month without food and a week without water, Ron," The Metamorphmagus answered immediately. He looked at her curious, wondering if she picked that knowledge up during her Auror training.
"In the Muggle World there are also a group of people, called Monks, that conditioned their bodies to a point where they can endure extremes like hunger, dehydration and even pain, for much longer periods of time than a normal person," the girl immediately agreed. His head popped up at that knowledge. He knew about the Asian monks and that piece of information sounded interesting. Maybe he would track down a guǐ or yūrei later to see if that was indeed true.
"So what are these last two gates then?" The werewolf finally asked and the rest of the humans turned their attention back to their guide.
He merely smiled, "The fourth gate is the time barrier. The last one is the Trial of the Sanzu."
"The what and the what?" The two Wizards asked as the two female member's eyes widened in horror.
Once again the werewolf beat him to the answer. "The time barrier is what Hagrid mentioned before we left. It's the force that causes the time differences between the Mortal and Faerie Realms. I'm not sure what the other is."
"It's the only difference between the legend of the Sanzu and Styx rivers." The girl told him warily, "Legend says that as you cross the Sanzu River, your soul is judged and the end result determines not only your placement in the afterlife but whether or not the judged person is eligible for reincarnation."
"Reincarnation?" The animagus asked. "What's that?"
"An inaccurate concept for another time," he answered. "Let us hurry. I do not wish to be late."
"But…," the girl protested, and he could tell that she wanted to have this debate now.
"Until we get past the Time barrier we will be traveling as though we were in the Core," he told them, "Any time spent here is too long."
"Why is that?" The werewolf asked.
"Because time does not move in the Core," he said grimly. "There is a reason why the Fae travel the greatest distances in the Mortal Realm, opposed to in the Forsaken Realms. The farther we are from the Heart of the Forsaken Realms, which we call the Core, the faster time travels. The ways that connect the realms together are all direct passages to the Core."
"I heard about the Core…,"the Metamorphmagus said warily. "Several ingredients used in making time turners are thought to come from there."
"Really?" That got the girl's attention. At least they were walking again. "How do you know that?"
"She probably overheard her mother at the floo," the animagus said amused as the woman blushed. "Andromeda was an Unspeakable."
Other than some snickering at the Metamorphmagus' flush, the conversation slowly dried up and the mortals once more fell into an uneasy silence. The silence remained until after they passed through the third gate.
"Wow, the cave really is getting darker! Was that another gate we just went through?" The girl squealed after his nod.
The boy stammered out at her delight, "Should we be feeling them?"
He sighed, unsure how to answer that. The pureblooded humans should not be feeling it at all. How was it possible for the girl to do so?
"Only if you're sensitive enough," was a safe enough answer.
He had a mystery to solve once they arrived in Sifra.
cwn
Filius Flitwick had perfected his persona of cheerfulness over his years of teaching but that mask was on the verge of breaking from the sheer venom that was spewed from the poor excuse of a witch that called herself the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He knew that Albus was having problems filling the DADA position but the present situation was ridiculous. He had not believed that it was possible to top Gilderoy Lockhart for incompetence until now, yet the Headmaster had managed not only to find one but TWO of them at the same time, and quite frankly felt that if the man was going to pacify a corrupt official on a power trip to at least find some that could teach.
He wasn't sure if he was more frustrated with Albus or the Ministry as both failed to make his job easier. The students were on the verge of rebelling, the ghosts already were, and the majority of the competent staff now was already under observation from the Ministry, like Albus was, or had stopped teaching altogether. The Ravenclaw Head of House already sympathized with the OWL and NEWT students and hoped they could retake the tests at a later time. His Ravens at least were hitting the books in their free time.
Delores Umbridge's latest rant on blood purity had most of the staff at the Head Table gritting their teeth and he was already debating as to whether or not to show her just how "intelligent" the non-human Magical beings really were.
He had several offers from several house-elves already, all waiting for the chance to poison her. They were even promising pictures after Peeves relieved his stash of what had been done to Severus' replacement earlier that week. No one was certain what exactly had happened as the man still refused to leave his quarters or even see Poppy. The photographs showed that he been pranked (which probably meant that at least one Weasley was involved), but the method was still unknown.
Hagrid and Sybil had already been chased away by the Ministry pair although they both were still on the grounds. Both Professors had been fired and replaced by more Ministry personal Umbridge whom had overridden the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress' authority of the school. She had even gone as far as making her missing partner her deputy. Fortunately she did not have the authority to make them leave. Sybil had continued asylum at the school and Hagrid was still the acting groundskeeper.
Filius was waiting for the day for the woman to oust Albus from the school. He feared that it would not be long. At the rate she was ranting on about blood purity, unfortunately the Charms Professor would soon be out of a job.
Hagrid wasn't the only one of the teaching staff with creature blood in his veins.
A movement out of the corner of his eye revealed the late arrival of one of his Fourth Year Ravens in the company of one of the Fifth Year Lions. As they took their seats for dinner, he scanned the tables taking note of the absences at each table. Several students, like young Malfoy and Potter, did not attend this year for one reason or another and several more had been pulled from the school by their parents since the start of the year. Each of the four houses was currently down by at least one student per year.
It was only then he noticed the small number at the Gryffindor table and mentally went back to do a head count. Several students that were still attending were missing and while he hoped that they had merely lost track of time, suspected that as unlikely.
A sudden shriek of shock and rage let him know what at least two of the missing students were doing as he turned in time to see the DADA Professor's hair turn a brilliant green before sprouting yellow and orange feathers. The resulting snickers and half concealed laughter did little to erase her ire but there was little she could do without a culprit.
No one would confess to this. With an exception to the few students that made up Umbridge's Disciplinary Squad, the school Houses was united again their common threat, which in this case was Umbridge and the rest of the Ministry lackeys.
He would need to inform Minerva later about her missing students later… after he rewarded the Gryffindors for a prank well executed.
Maybe he would take the house-elves up on their offer after all.
cwn
After what seemed only like a few minutes of walking in the dark, Ron finally noticed the moving energies that made up a Barrier. Unlike the previous gates, the Fourth Gate was visible to mortal eyes and could best be described as a fog bank of various colors.
"How pretty," Tonks had said. "It looks like the Northern Lights."
"Why is this barrier visible and the other three weren't?" Ron asked.
"Because this is the Time barrier and humans seem to base time on how fast light moves," Fluffy told him.
"Oh, I see!" Hermione stated, "It was getting darker in the tunnel earlier because time was slowing down, but now that time is speeding up, it's getting brighter again?"
"In theory anyway," the hellhound agreed.
"One that doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense," Ron muttered under his breath.
"Beyond this gate you will see the River Styx," Fluffy then told them, "but until you pass the Trial of Sanzu, the Forsaken Realms will be hidden from view."
"Hidden how?" Sirius demanded. The animagus wanted to see Harry as soon as possible to see whether or not his godson was alright.
"Judging from the shape of the barrier and the stories I've heard about this section of the Realms, I'd say fog, Padfoot," Remus answered, staring ahead while trying to regain control of Moony. He did not like this place and the fact that Moony was ready to break free at a moment's opportunity worried him. He knew something had sparked interest from the slumbering wolf blood, but was unsure of what it could be. Hopefully it would turn out to be nothing important, because he could not be certain of what would happen if the wolf took over.
He did not want to be the cause of even more grief to his loved ones. There were already too many bad memories.
Fluffy was the first one to enter the Time Barrier and they fell in step behind the giant.
The eerie greenish-grey fog was not as thick as he had expected it to be. It was enough to distort their surroundings and blur the shape of the people closest to him, but still thin enough to navigate through.
Fog also had the strange habit of warping reality and it felt like he was walking forever while his own paces contradicted those thoughts. It was only the brightening of the fog that encouraged him to continue forward. They would be out soon enough.
It was then he saw what appeared to be a streak of blue and the sound of the water that accompanied the gravelling voice of the hellhound.
"Welcome to the River Sanzu."
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Notes
Guǐ is the general name given for ghosts in Chinese while yūrei are ghosts in Japanese. Both guǐ and yurei have several subcategories.
What does monks have to do with dehydration? Just this- Several years ago I saw a documentary had quite a bit to do the Buddhist priests of Japan. The most of sacred of these priests would undergo a ritual that spanned several years that extracted all the water from their bodies before they were entombed in a well for another several years. If ritual worked as it should have, the end result was a mummy. Yes, the documentary was on self-mummification.
