Hey Hey! Had lots o' fun in Vegas. I got my first champagne, learned to shoot a handgun, and drive crazy all over the desert in less than 24 hours. Guess that time-turner is good for someting after all *grins* Yes. I'm trying to get this story finished for you, but I can't decide how long i want it to be, and with school coming up *ARGH* i'm frightened it won't get done. Hope not. Any suggestions of what you'd like to see would be great. Any criticism is well appreciated, because I can't get any better a writer without it *gives you the "it's all good" sign* Thanx to those whose threats and encouragement made this possible, and thanx for being so very patient. now, let's get down to it....
Chapter 5- Explanations
***********
"Helllllloooooo....." The thing addressed Harry again. He was too frightened to move. "Helllllloooooo...?"
"H-h-hi..." Harry was staring directly into the amber eyes of the shadowy creature hovering just slightly above his bed, and it in turn seemed to be staring right through him. That familiar cold seeped through Harry's blankets and chilled his very soul. Slowly, he looked to Madam Pomfrey's office for help, but couldn't see her anywhere. He pinched himself. No, it wasn't a dream. His eyes returned to the thing on his bed that was watching him intently. For a long time, neither moved nor said a word, and Harry hoped against hope that Madam Pomfrey would decide to make her rounds. She never did. Luckily for Harry, his Gryffindor courage soon found him and he spoke to the thing. "W-what are you?" The shadowy form moved closer to Harry, and he tensed up, anticipating an attack that never came.
"We arrre the Dractnox." It stared at Harry and Harry stared at it. The thing had no mouth, so how had it spoken?
"W-what are Dractnox?"
It's voice came to Harry once more, if that's what you'd call what Harry heard. "We arrre the ssshadowssss of ssshadowssss; the left-overssss of warssss, dreamssss, and time. We arrre of the ssshadow realmsss. Dractnox." It stopped with it's explanation matter-of-factly, but Harry was still confused.
"What do you want?"
It looked into Harry again, and spoke from it's whole. "We don't waant anything."
"But why are you here? Where are you from?" Harry asked, getting braver by the minute. "Why can only I see you?"
"We arrre left-overssss. Thisss iss where we are. We arrre alwaaays everywhere."
"Okay. But why can -I- see -you-?" Harry didn't like the riddles this creature, or Dractnox, as it said, was talking in.
"We can seee you. There arrre not many like you who can seee us, Harry Potter." Harry's eyes grew large at the sound of his name.
"H-how do you k-know my name?"
"We know nothing and everything. You summoned usss to you, Harry Potter."
"What?!"
"You entered our realm little by little. We arrre curious about you. There arrre not many."
"Many...?"
"Like you. They cannot see usss, and we arrre everywhere. You are like us; you can see us and speak to us. Not at first, noooo, but little by little you came, Harry Potter."
"I never summoned you! I've never ever heard of you! I'm tired and I've been seeing things, that's all!"
"That's usss. We were drawn towards you, entering our realm, bringing yours to usss."
"I've done no such thing!!" Harry was getting desperately frustrated. He was scared of whatever was happening to him, and even more scared that he'd end up in a mental institution.
"Many have."
"What?"
"There are many in your mental institutions. Some like you, who have seen." Harry was about to royally flip out. Did it just read his mind? Was it doing it now? He couldn't shut his mind up to this creature now that the realization hit him.
"We do not hurt you, Harry Potter....We can only see...Yes, we saved you from the hex...You arrre here with usss and we arrre there with you and so it shall remain..."
Harry spoke aloud. "Why me?"
"Do you need something, dear?" Madam Pomfrey's voice came to Harry from a side curtain. "Do you feel alright?"
"I-I'm fine. Just taking my potion..." It seemed to Harry to have been hours since he'd taken his potion, but Madam Pomfrey just nodded and went back to whatever she was doing. Harry heard the swish-swish of the Dractnox and watched as it retreated to the shadows. He still had questions that needed answering; to prove to himself and the rest that he was not crazy. "Wait..." he whispered after the thing.
"Talking to yourself again, Potter?" Malfoy's whispered voice came to Harry. He was just creeping back into the hospital wing, and passed the Dractnox without any conscious notice of it being there.
"Where have you been, Malfoy?" Harry noticed the smirk on Malfoy's face and the few patches of hair on his still balding head. Apparently it was harder for the hair to grow back than he thought. Harry noticed Malfoy staring at his bedside.
"Taken your medicine I see, Potter."
"What's it to you?" Harry's suspicion of Malfoy and foul-play on his part grew as the smirk on Malfoy's face turned to an all out grin. He wondered what Malfoy did to his potion.
"Goodnight, Potter." Malfoy climbed silently back into his bed and Harry could hear him sniggering to himself. He'd probably be in here two more days for whatever Malfoy might've pulled.
Stupid prick.
***********
"Okay dear, you've got a clean bill of health."
"I'm free to go?"
"Well it's not prison, dear." Harry wondered if she knew that he and Malfoy had injured one another, and if he were to be punished.
"You mean there isn't anything wrong with me...like...anything extra?"
"Does it seem like there is something wrong? I know I didn't miss anything."
"Erm...well...no."
"Well then get on with you! You're to stay in your dormitory until classes tomorrow and not to get ill all over again. You're only to go out for lunch and then dinner, understand? No classes."
Harry agreed all too easily. She didn't need to tell him twice not to go to class. Although Hermione would probably throw a fit. Harry grinned at Malfoy who's pitcher of potion still sat by his bed. Harry mouthed 'nice hair' behind Madam Pomfrey's back and Malfoy stuck up a most undignified finger. Harry left the hospital wing smiling.
It was still too early for lunch, and of course Hermione and Ron were in class. //Should I go see Dumbledore now?// He remembered that Ron had wanted to go with him, more for moral support than anything. But after last night, Harry decided to seek out Dumbledore on his own. Harry took a brisk walk to the Headmaster's office, wanting to get directly to the bottom of this. Dumbledore was one of the few Harry could fully trust with anything, even his life. He spotted several Dractnoxes floating about here and there, and heard the familiar swish-swish that they made, but none either spoke nor paid attention to him. He was grateful for that much at least. He wasn't sure what he would exactly do should one approach him in broad daylight.
He arrived at the statue guarding Dumbledore's office, and realized he didn't know the password.
"Sherbet lemon? Lemon drop? Candycane? Caramel corn?" //Hmmm...what other muggle confections are there?// "Candied Apple? Nutty Fudge?" //Aww screw it...// "Chocolate covered crickets?" He heard a rumbling and the staircase to Dumbledore's office started to move. //That man has some of the weirdest tastes I've ever heard of.// He hoped onto the rotating staircase and waited to reach Dumbledore's office.
The staircase stopped moving and Harry approached the door.
"You're not crazy, Harry," a familiar voice told him.
"We'll see..." Harry replied mechanically. Then he realized what the voice belonged to, and whizzed around, facing a Dractnox. "What are you doing here?!" His heart was in his throat and he was shaking.
"We felt that Harry Potter wasss in distress, so we came to him." The Dractnox's amber eyes were glowing eerily and for once, not staring directly into Harry's being.
"Well I'm not in distress! But I may certainly be now!" He was wondering if The-Boy-Who-Lived was to die of a heart attack right then and there. //How ironic that would be.//
"Harry, are you alright? I heard shouting." Dumbledore stood right behind Harry in his open doorway, and looked at the boy before him, eyes twinkling. "Come in, my boy."
Harry entered the Headmaster's office and looked behind him as Albus closed the door. The Dractnox followed, right through the door itself. Harry forced his attention to Fawkes the phoenix, sitting on his perch looking a little worse for wear. He figured that the phoenix would burn up soon.
"Is everything alright, Harry?" Dumbledore sat in his chair and motioned for Harry to do the same to the one opposite him. They both knew he was not talking about Harry being in the hospital wing, and Harry wondered if Dumbledore could read minds.
"No, he cannot..." Harry looked behind him to see the Dractnox swish-swishing around the office. Dumbledore looked too, and Harry slowly turned to the Headmaster, trying to decide if he could see them.
"Harry? Is there anything I can do for you?" Albus offered Harry some tea, and he took it, but didn't drink.
"Actually..." he looked to the side of the Headmaster this time, "There's something I wanted to ask you...or...erm...talk to you about."
Dumbledore gave Harry one of his most comforting looks, and Harry swallowed a big gulp of tea. "I-I've been seeing things lately, sir." He waited for Dumbledore to laugh at him, or even some indication that the Headmaster thought he was crazy. Dumbledore just watched him intently, and Harry continued. "There are these things, sir. These shadows." He thought he sounded like a little kid afraid of the dark or something. "I'm kind of confused..."
"That's alright, Harry. Take your time." Albus poured Harry some more tea, and sat back in his chair.
"Well...They, -the shadow creatures- I mean. They say they're called Dractnoxes..." A look of understanding went over Dumbledore's face, and Harry let out a sigh of relief. //Good. Dumbledore's at least heard of these things.// His eyes went to a corner of the room where a Dractnox was swish-swishing about. "I've been seeing them everywhere, Sir! No one else can! I think I'm going crazy!" To prove his point, he held up a finger and pointed to a table on Dumbledore's right. "There's one right there, Sir!"
Harry was at his wits' end, and started to pant as Dumbledore got up and went to his side. He put a hand on Harry's shoulder that comforted him to no end, and he waited for Harry to calm down.
"Harry, I want to show you something. It may help you to understand a bit more." Dumbledore left Harry's side and went to one of his great bookshelves, and pulled out a great yellow book that looked to Harry about a million years old. "This, Harry, is called the Book of Worlds. It pre-dates most wizarding texts by millennia and is, as far as my knowledge goes, the only copy left to date." He handed Harry the book, who wished he hadn't, as he was afraid he might damage the delicate thing. "It's quite durable, Harry. You will not break it."
//He -must- be able to read minds,// Harry thought.
"No...He saw you holding it ssso softly..."
Harry jerked his head to look behind at the Dractnox floating there. He looked right into it's searching amber eyes and addressed it quite irately. "Could you please not sneak up on me like that?!"
Dumbledore gave Harry and amused look, and Harry immediately apologized.
"N-not you, Professor! The Dractnox...It keeps telling me things out of nowhere..."
Dumbledore gave a slight chuckle and looked out of amused eyes. "What kinds of things does it tell you, my boy?"
Harry was kind of reluctant to tell Dumbledore that he thought he was a mind reader. So he decided on something more general. "Well...it's like this, sir. Last night in the hospital wing, I was sort of wondering if I was going to end up in a mental institution of some sort, and...well...the Dractnox said that many have, and that I was not crazy. But...it was like it read my mind. When I'm wondering things sometimes, it answers my wonderings. Like tells me whatever it is I'm wondering."
Dumbledore gave him a smile and motioned to the book Harry now held. "Turn to page three-hundred and fifty-seven, Harry." He did as he was told, and looking back at him from the page 357 was a moving illustration of the Dractnox.
"That's it, Sir! That's it right there!" Harry pointed at it and looked up at Dumbledore frantically, who appeared to Harry very pleased with his findings.
"Read the passage, my boy. It should explain a lot."
Harry read to himself from the Book of Worlds:
~Dractnox~ A creature living in the shadowe realms, theye are thee bi-products of spelles and as old as tyme itself. Theye are rarely, if ever, viewed withe the wizard eyes. Their shapes are indeterminate, as they are only as the shadowes of shadowes, and have molasses-like bodies. Theye are neither alive nor dead. Their amber eyes can see into the minds of most creatures, and thus are the great knowledge keepers of any plane of existence. Dractnox are able to communicate freely with those under the influence of the Midste potion, which is brewed during the time of the Violete Star when the Dractnox are most active. These shadowes can be manipulated by the ones who summon them through the training of kings, and have the ability to protect the summoner. Theye are unable to die as theye are not alive, and theye cannot be extracted from their world for any purposes. Dractnox simpley dwell between the worlds, existing everywhere and nowhere.
Harry looked up from his reading, and saw both Dumbledore and the Dractnox watching him.
"Sir? This still doesn't explain why I'm able to see these...creatures." Although he did have a better understanding of them now that he at least knew what they were, and that he was one-hundred percent not crazy.
"Page five-hundred and seventy-three, Harry."
Harry turned obediantly to page 573 and saw there something that looked similar to a recipe. It was indeed the exact instructions, ingredients, and definition of the Midst potion which had been in the previous entry. Harry excitedly read the passage that explained what the Midst potion exactly did:
Midst Potion~ A moste potente potion for summoning the creatures Dractnox. Ingredients must be exact, and tyming to the moon. Substituting such ingredients as Ingo Beans results in permanent hallucinations and should not be brewed by anyone but the best. Used by Kings and thee moste powerful of sorcerers for spying during the tymes of war, the potion is not meant for simple muggles or other creatures. This potion must *not* be used more than three successive times, at which it becomes irreversible, and the wizard in question will constantly be under the influence of the Dractnox creatures. Thee antidote to this potion must be taken immediately after usage. Souls which do not properly heed to this warning must be especially careful, as execution of persons accused as spys or knowing too much has been widely practiced by over cautious kings.
Harry's pale face looked to Dumbledore as he finished reading. He was quite speechless, and was wondering if there was still a cure to be found so many thousands of years later.
"Yes...many were put to death that spoke to us, Harry potter." Harry's attention went away from Dumbledore to a little above the bookcase.
"Harry?" Albus took the book out of Harry's hands and put it back to the shelf. "Anything you would like to tell me?"
"S-Sir? I've never taken any potion like that. I've never even heard of it before today." Dumbledore gave him a calculating look, and Harry felt his insides quivering. Now what explanation was there for him to be seeing these Dractnoxes?
"Well I don't need you to tell me that!" Harry shouted at the Dractnox. Dumbledore gave a questioning look Harry's way, and sat down in his chair.
"What did it tell you?"
"That you believed me..."
Albus chuckled and offered Harry a lemon drop. "That I do, my boy."
*********************************
harrypotter-fan15: happy are we? Now we know what the heck those shadowy things are...you're on the right track *gives you a present for your cleverness*
PhoenixPadfoot89: shadow-shadows....heh heh heh...your threats mean a lot! And thanx! i did have fun!
o Hell o Kitty o: Thank you soo much! I feel all warm and squishy inside...oh wait...i am.
Chapter 5- Explanations
***********
"Helllllloooooo....." The thing addressed Harry again. He was too frightened to move. "Helllllloooooo...?"
"H-h-hi..." Harry was staring directly into the amber eyes of the shadowy creature hovering just slightly above his bed, and it in turn seemed to be staring right through him. That familiar cold seeped through Harry's blankets and chilled his very soul. Slowly, he looked to Madam Pomfrey's office for help, but couldn't see her anywhere. He pinched himself. No, it wasn't a dream. His eyes returned to the thing on his bed that was watching him intently. For a long time, neither moved nor said a word, and Harry hoped against hope that Madam Pomfrey would decide to make her rounds. She never did. Luckily for Harry, his Gryffindor courage soon found him and he spoke to the thing. "W-what are you?" The shadowy form moved closer to Harry, and he tensed up, anticipating an attack that never came.
"We arrre the Dractnox." It stared at Harry and Harry stared at it. The thing had no mouth, so how had it spoken?
"W-what are Dractnox?"
It's voice came to Harry once more, if that's what you'd call what Harry heard. "We arrre the ssshadowssss of ssshadowssss; the left-overssss of warssss, dreamssss, and time. We arrre of the ssshadow realmsss. Dractnox." It stopped with it's explanation matter-of-factly, but Harry was still confused.
"What do you want?"
It looked into Harry again, and spoke from it's whole. "We don't waant anything."
"But why are you here? Where are you from?" Harry asked, getting braver by the minute. "Why can only I see you?"
"We arrre left-overssss. Thisss iss where we are. We arrre alwaaays everywhere."
"Okay. But why can -I- see -you-?" Harry didn't like the riddles this creature, or Dractnox, as it said, was talking in.
"We can seee you. There arrre not many like you who can seee us, Harry Potter." Harry's eyes grew large at the sound of his name.
"H-how do you k-know my name?"
"We know nothing and everything. You summoned usss to you, Harry Potter."
"What?!"
"You entered our realm little by little. We arrre curious about you. There arrre not many."
"Many...?"
"Like you. They cannot see usss, and we arrre everywhere. You are like us; you can see us and speak to us. Not at first, noooo, but little by little you came, Harry Potter."
"I never summoned you! I've never ever heard of you! I'm tired and I've been seeing things, that's all!"
"That's usss. We were drawn towards you, entering our realm, bringing yours to usss."
"I've done no such thing!!" Harry was getting desperately frustrated. He was scared of whatever was happening to him, and even more scared that he'd end up in a mental institution.
"Many have."
"What?"
"There are many in your mental institutions. Some like you, who have seen." Harry was about to royally flip out. Did it just read his mind? Was it doing it now? He couldn't shut his mind up to this creature now that the realization hit him.
"We do not hurt you, Harry Potter....We can only see...Yes, we saved you from the hex...You arrre here with usss and we arrre there with you and so it shall remain..."
Harry spoke aloud. "Why me?"
"Do you need something, dear?" Madam Pomfrey's voice came to Harry from a side curtain. "Do you feel alright?"
"I-I'm fine. Just taking my potion..." It seemed to Harry to have been hours since he'd taken his potion, but Madam Pomfrey just nodded and went back to whatever she was doing. Harry heard the swish-swish of the Dractnox and watched as it retreated to the shadows. He still had questions that needed answering; to prove to himself and the rest that he was not crazy. "Wait..." he whispered after the thing.
"Talking to yourself again, Potter?" Malfoy's whispered voice came to Harry. He was just creeping back into the hospital wing, and passed the Dractnox without any conscious notice of it being there.
"Where have you been, Malfoy?" Harry noticed the smirk on Malfoy's face and the few patches of hair on his still balding head. Apparently it was harder for the hair to grow back than he thought. Harry noticed Malfoy staring at his bedside.
"Taken your medicine I see, Potter."
"What's it to you?" Harry's suspicion of Malfoy and foul-play on his part grew as the smirk on Malfoy's face turned to an all out grin. He wondered what Malfoy did to his potion.
"Goodnight, Potter." Malfoy climbed silently back into his bed and Harry could hear him sniggering to himself. He'd probably be in here two more days for whatever Malfoy might've pulled.
Stupid prick.
***********
"Okay dear, you've got a clean bill of health."
"I'm free to go?"
"Well it's not prison, dear." Harry wondered if she knew that he and Malfoy had injured one another, and if he were to be punished.
"You mean there isn't anything wrong with me...like...anything extra?"
"Does it seem like there is something wrong? I know I didn't miss anything."
"Erm...well...no."
"Well then get on with you! You're to stay in your dormitory until classes tomorrow and not to get ill all over again. You're only to go out for lunch and then dinner, understand? No classes."
Harry agreed all too easily. She didn't need to tell him twice not to go to class. Although Hermione would probably throw a fit. Harry grinned at Malfoy who's pitcher of potion still sat by his bed. Harry mouthed 'nice hair' behind Madam Pomfrey's back and Malfoy stuck up a most undignified finger. Harry left the hospital wing smiling.
It was still too early for lunch, and of course Hermione and Ron were in class. //Should I go see Dumbledore now?// He remembered that Ron had wanted to go with him, more for moral support than anything. But after last night, Harry decided to seek out Dumbledore on his own. Harry took a brisk walk to the Headmaster's office, wanting to get directly to the bottom of this. Dumbledore was one of the few Harry could fully trust with anything, even his life. He spotted several Dractnoxes floating about here and there, and heard the familiar swish-swish that they made, but none either spoke nor paid attention to him. He was grateful for that much at least. He wasn't sure what he would exactly do should one approach him in broad daylight.
He arrived at the statue guarding Dumbledore's office, and realized he didn't know the password.
"Sherbet lemon? Lemon drop? Candycane? Caramel corn?" //Hmmm...what other muggle confections are there?// "Candied Apple? Nutty Fudge?" //Aww screw it...// "Chocolate covered crickets?" He heard a rumbling and the staircase to Dumbledore's office started to move. //That man has some of the weirdest tastes I've ever heard of.// He hoped onto the rotating staircase and waited to reach Dumbledore's office.
The staircase stopped moving and Harry approached the door.
"You're not crazy, Harry," a familiar voice told him.
"We'll see..." Harry replied mechanically. Then he realized what the voice belonged to, and whizzed around, facing a Dractnox. "What are you doing here?!" His heart was in his throat and he was shaking.
"We felt that Harry Potter wasss in distress, so we came to him." The Dractnox's amber eyes were glowing eerily and for once, not staring directly into Harry's being.
"Well I'm not in distress! But I may certainly be now!" He was wondering if The-Boy-Who-Lived was to die of a heart attack right then and there. //How ironic that would be.//
"Harry, are you alright? I heard shouting." Dumbledore stood right behind Harry in his open doorway, and looked at the boy before him, eyes twinkling. "Come in, my boy."
Harry entered the Headmaster's office and looked behind him as Albus closed the door. The Dractnox followed, right through the door itself. Harry forced his attention to Fawkes the phoenix, sitting on his perch looking a little worse for wear. He figured that the phoenix would burn up soon.
"Is everything alright, Harry?" Dumbledore sat in his chair and motioned for Harry to do the same to the one opposite him. They both knew he was not talking about Harry being in the hospital wing, and Harry wondered if Dumbledore could read minds.
"No, he cannot..." Harry looked behind him to see the Dractnox swish-swishing around the office. Dumbledore looked too, and Harry slowly turned to the Headmaster, trying to decide if he could see them.
"Harry? Is there anything I can do for you?" Albus offered Harry some tea, and he took it, but didn't drink.
"Actually..." he looked to the side of the Headmaster this time, "There's something I wanted to ask you...or...erm...talk to you about."
Dumbledore gave Harry one of his most comforting looks, and Harry swallowed a big gulp of tea. "I-I've been seeing things lately, sir." He waited for Dumbledore to laugh at him, or even some indication that the Headmaster thought he was crazy. Dumbledore just watched him intently, and Harry continued. "There are these things, sir. These shadows." He thought he sounded like a little kid afraid of the dark or something. "I'm kind of confused..."
"That's alright, Harry. Take your time." Albus poured Harry some more tea, and sat back in his chair.
"Well...They, -the shadow creatures- I mean. They say they're called Dractnoxes..." A look of understanding went over Dumbledore's face, and Harry let out a sigh of relief. //Good. Dumbledore's at least heard of these things.// His eyes went to a corner of the room where a Dractnox was swish-swishing about. "I've been seeing them everywhere, Sir! No one else can! I think I'm going crazy!" To prove his point, he held up a finger and pointed to a table on Dumbledore's right. "There's one right there, Sir!"
Harry was at his wits' end, and started to pant as Dumbledore got up and went to his side. He put a hand on Harry's shoulder that comforted him to no end, and he waited for Harry to calm down.
"Harry, I want to show you something. It may help you to understand a bit more." Dumbledore left Harry's side and went to one of his great bookshelves, and pulled out a great yellow book that looked to Harry about a million years old. "This, Harry, is called the Book of Worlds. It pre-dates most wizarding texts by millennia and is, as far as my knowledge goes, the only copy left to date." He handed Harry the book, who wished he hadn't, as he was afraid he might damage the delicate thing. "It's quite durable, Harry. You will not break it."
//He -must- be able to read minds,// Harry thought.
"No...He saw you holding it ssso softly..."
Harry jerked his head to look behind at the Dractnox floating there. He looked right into it's searching amber eyes and addressed it quite irately. "Could you please not sneak up on me like that?!"
Dumbledore gave Harry and amused look, and Harry immediately apologized.
"N-not you, Professor! The Dractnox...It keeps telling me things out of nowhere..."
Dumbledore gave a slight chuckle and looked out of amused eyes. "What kinds of things does it tell you, my boy?"
Harry was kind of reluctant to tell Dumbledore that he thought he was a mind reader. So he decided on something more general. "Well...it's like this, sir. Last night in the hospital wing, I was sort of wondering if I was going to end up in a mental institution of some sort, and...well...the Dractnox said that many have, and that I was not crazy. But...it was like it read my mind. When I'm wondering things sometimes, it answers my wonderings. Like tells me whatever it is I'm wondering."
Dumbledore gave him a smile and motioned to the book Harry now held. "Turn to page three-hundred and fifty-seven, Harry." He did as he was told, and looking back at him from the page 357 was a moving illustration of the Dractnox.
"That's it, Sir! That's it right there!" Harry pointed at it and looked up at Dumbledore frantically, who appeared to Harry very pleased with his findings.
"Read the passage, my boy. It should explain a lot."
Harry read to himself from the Book of Worlds:
~Dractnox~ A creature living in the shadowe realms, theye are thee bi-products of spelles and as old as tyme itself. Theye are rarely, if ever, viewed withe the wizard eyes. Their shapes are indeterminate, as they are only as the shadowes of shadowes, and have molasses-like bodies. Theye are neither alive nor dead. Their amber eyes can see into the minds of most creatures, and thus are the great knowledge keepers of any plane of existence. Dractnox are able to communicate freely with those under the influence of the Midste potion, which is brewed during the time of the Violete Star when the Dractnox are most active. These shadowes can be manipulated by the ones who summon them through the training of kings, and have the ability to protect the summoner. Theye are unable to die as theye are not alive, and theye cannot be extracted from their world for any purposes. Dractnox simpley dwell between the worlds, existing everywhere and nowhere.
Harry looked up from his reading, and saw both Dumbledore and the Dractnox watching him.
"Sir? This still doesn't explain why I'm able to see these...creatures." Although he did have a better understanding of them now that he at least knew what they were, and that he was one-hundred percent not crazy.
"Page five-hundred and seventy-three, Harry."
Harry turned obediantly to page 573 and saw there something that looked similar to a recipe. It was indeed the exact instructions, ingredients, and definition of the Midst potion which had been in the previous entry. Harry excitedly read the passage that explained what the Midst potion exactly did:
Midst Potion~ A moste potente potion for summoning the creatures Dractnox. Ingredients must be exact, and tyming to the moon. Substituting such ingredients as Ingo Beans results in permanent hallucinations and should not be brewed by anyone but the best. Used by Kings and thee moste powerful of sorcerers for spying during the tymes of war, the potion is not meant for simple muggles or other creatures. This potion must *not* be used more than three successive times, at which it becomes irreversible, and the wizard in question will constantly be under the influence of the Dractnox creatures. Thee antidote to this potion must be taken immediately after usage. Souls which do not properly heed to this warning must be especially careful, as execution of persons accused as spys or knowing too much has been widely practiced by over cautious kings.
Harry's pale face looked to Dumbledore as he finished reading. He was quite speechless, and was wondering if there was still a cure to be found so many thousands of years later.
"Yes...many were put to death that spoke to us, Harry potter." Harry's attention went away from Dumbledore to a little above the bookcase.
"Harry?" Albus took the book out of Harry's hands and put it back to the shelf. "Anything you would like to tell me?"
"S-Sir? I've never taken any potion like that. I've never even heard of it before today." Dumbledore gave him a calculating look, and Harry felt his insides quivering. Now what explanation was there for him to be seeing these Dractnoxes?
"Well I don't need you to tell me that!" Harry shouted at the Dractnox. Dumbledore gave a questioning look Harry's way, and sat down in his chair.
"What did it tell you?"
"That you believed me..."
Albus chuckled and offered Harry a lemon drop. "That I do, my boy."
*********************************
harrypotter-fan15: happy are we? Now we know what the heck those shadowy things are...you're on the right track *gives you a present for your cleverness*
PhoenixPadfoot89: shadow-shadows....heh heh heh...your threats mean a lot! And thanx! i did have fun!
o Hell o Kitty o: Thank you soo much! I feel all warm and squishy inside...oh wait...i am.