Disclaimer; I don't own, nor did I create, Harry Potter. I did however created the rules for weather magic we'll see later on.
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"Good morning Grandmere!" Gabrielle called out as Odette Delacour approached the split level home the next morning. She was happily munching on a pastry on the small balcony that overlooked the hillside and the path leading up.
"Good morning Gabrielle, you're looking particularly happy this morning." Odette gave her a saucy wink and a smile as she climbed the stairs to join her granddaughter. "Is Harry up yet?"
"He's all tied up at the moment, was there something you needed to speak with us about?"
"No, if he's busy it can wait but a lot of his friends asked me to bring you both messages when I came. Your husband certainly knows how to stir up a bee hive," Odette pulled out a small stack of letters and set them on the table. "I wasn't going to let them interrupt you during your honeymoon though. So how long do you expect he'll be?"
"Oh he's not busy, he's just tied up," Gabrielle giggled a bit as she blushed.
"Oh." Her grandmother smiled. "Well you're only young once, we'll let the poor boy have a lie in just this once."
"No need," Harry said as he joined them, still rubbing his wrists. "After dealing with Death Eaters and my relatives I think I know a bit more about knots than she does." Babette popped in with his usual breakfast and he sat down to eat. "So what's the news from home?"
"Chaos, turmoil, and other unpleasantness I'm afraid. People seem to think you've been kidnapped or are on the run. Your friends seem to know the truth but even there the reactions are mixed."
"How so?"
"Oh what's the name of that boy Fleur is dating? Bill... His young sister, you know the redhead, is very jealous. I think she had a bit of a crush on you. The other young lady with the bushy brown hair is upset with you because you didn't invite her to the wedding. They both tried to send you letters but there are very few owls who can fly halfway around the world even if I was willing to tell them where you were." She reached out to touch his arm sympathetically, "You have my condolences by the way. I had never realized just how hard it could be to deal with Monsieur Dumbledore. His reputation did not prepare me."
Harry shook his head sadly, "He means well, I think, but he can't see individuals. For him everything is about the big picture. Has there been any news about the Dark Lord?"
"Just that the two of you had agreed to stop fighting and about the children being left out of the war, I do believe your friends made a lot of money from that story. It was in every newspaper and magazine the very next day. They sold one photo to each paper and by the time they were done it seemed to the average wizard and witch that your family's home must have been a major press conference because there were so many "exclusive" photos. Should there have been more?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Well now that Voldemort knows it I don't suppose that it will hurt anything to tell my family. Please don't spread it around because it might cause a panic, but there is a prophecy about the Dark Lord and I. Basically I am the only one who can kill him permanently and vice versa. Honestly I half expected a massacre as soon as he realized he was immortal so long as I wasn't fighting."
"You forgot something important though," Gabrielle pointed out. "He knows that you can kill him. He might be holding off any major offenses until after he kills you."
"Why would he do that? He knows he has a free pass for the next year."
Madame Delacour shook her head, "He might not be able to die, but all of his forces can. If he moves now and takes over the Wizarding world in one massive bloodbath, he will be almost defenseless when you come back."
"So now the fate of the Wizarding world rests on whether Voldemort is a good strategist, or if he thinks I am one... Not a very appetizing prospect but nothing we can do about it now." Harry didn't quite know how to feel about that, so he just gave a half hearted shrug.
"Exactly, there's no use crying over spilt milk," Odette nodded approvingly. "Now we must move on to more practical matters. Have you given much thought to how you both are going to complete your educations? A young love and early wedding is always a joy but a proper gentleman will do his best to educate himself."
Harry nodded thoughtfully and considered how to approach the issue, "I agree with you. We have a lot to learn still both about magic and about how to live as an adult but the only thing I can say is that I am willing to work hard and learn. I talked with my father and he told me I should try to study as many types and fields of magic as I could until I found what really worked best for me. I think this might be good for Gabrielle too."
"Oh?" The older woman looked both scandalized and intrigued. "How do you think a patchwork education of many different styles could benefit you and your wife over a top education like Hogwarts or Beauxbatons could provide?"
"Well I think there are two reasons it will be better. In the short term, the prophecy says that I will have a power Voldemort doesn't know. Voldemort is the best student Hogwarts has seen in the past century and even surpasses Albus Dumbledore in some areas. I won't learn anything there that Voldemort does not already know. But when I consider the long term, I still might be better off. If we attend Beauxbatons or Hogwarts we will learn the same magic as everyone else, which means we will be competing with them for the same business opportunities. If we individually or together have a set of skills that are unique, our chances of adding to the family name and reputation are much improved."
She nodded thoughtfully and Gabrielle was looking both proud of her husband for his ideas and excited about the opportunities, "I can see the idea has some merit, but you must not neglect the traditional curriculum. Did you have any ideas about what you intended to study?"
"I picked up a few books in St. Pierre about native magic styles of the Caribbean and South America. The Arawaks and Caribs developed some unique weather magic. Vodou could be useful, if for no other reason but to talk with my parents on occasion, but it seems a little Dark. The Aztecs and Incas had some of the strongest blood magic in the world. I don't know what I'll do after I at least try each of them, but I'm sure we can find something. I know Alchemy started in ancient Persia, I had to look that one up in my first year." Harry smiled relaxed a bit in the sunshine, "But truly mastering any field of magic is a lifetime of work. The Potters were a very respected and wealthy family so we can afford to take time and find our niche. Then we replace it all with interest."
"I'm glad to see you are taking the initiative, it makes it easier to treat you as an adult. Very well if my Granddaughter agrees that is what we will do. We'll have to include some lessons on etiquette and French of course, you still need to meet my son, but I think you just might get by." She then smirked evilly and asked, "Now when can I expect my great grandchildren?"
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A few weeks later Harry was able to re-establish contact with the Order and everyone in Britain. He repaired the mirror Sirius had given him for Christmas and taken it to one of the enchanters in the city. After taking the charms off piece by piece he agreed that he could make another set and asked if Harry was interested in selling him the design so he could start making them for others. Eventually a deal was struck and Harry had himself a set of four mirrors and a hefty chunk of change.
That had been the easy part, getting them back to England had not proved so simple. The mirrors left on a parrot to Haiti, where another bird took them to Florida. There they started hopping between birds towards Canada where they finally crossed the Atlantic. Harry was beginning to give up hope when he heard Lupin's voice shouting from his pocket.
As soon as he dragged it out Remus looked immediately relieved, "Harry, where the heck have you been? Everyone has been going crazy looking for you two."
" France of course, where else would we go?"
"Nice try Harry but where ever this package came from it sure wasn't France."
"If you say so, and you always could have tried asking people where we were?"
"We did, Dumbledore and the Order practically turned Britain upside down and then we started looking at France. Naturally this really upset the Delacours who thought Gabrielle was visiting her Grandmother. That crazy witch was smirking the whole time! And then she up and disappeared too!"
Harry had to laugh at the harried and put upon form of his surrogate uncle. "Well the short version is that we eloped. There was a bit of aging potion, a couple fake passports, and a very cooperative priest involved but that's really not important. All that really matters is that we're fine, you're fine, life is good and at least one of my in-laws should be shacked up in the whacko basket."
"Madam Delacour? She did strike me as a little... Odd I guess is the best word, but aside from hiding you I don't think she's that bad."
"Nope, trust me on this one, that woman is madder than the hatter and his personal talking octopus. I think it might be hereditary." Harry twirled his finger next to his temple for emphasis, "So now that I've checked in and you know I'm fine do you think everyone will calm down a bit?"
"Some of them will, but I don't think Dumbledore will be happy until you are safe and sound at Hogwarts." Remus told him.
"Well then he's going to be unhappy for quite a while because I have a lot of work to do before I can come home," Harry gave Lupin a brief summary of his plans so far, vague about what he'd actually be studying so as not to give his location away. "I'm definitely willing to work with Dumbledore and the Order, but if I do they have to understand that I'm not going to be a child who needs to be lead. I'm growing up and taking on my responsibilities. I'm becoming a man in my own right and I'd appreciate being treated like one. Just a little respect, you know?"
"Well I can't say 'it's about time' since you're barely sixteen, happy birthday by the way, but it had to happen sometime." Lupin gave a half hearted smile. "Just do your best and don't be afraid to ask others for help. Even adults need help sometimes and you definitely have more than your share of responsibilities to keep track of."
"If I need help, I've certainly got enough people I can go to. Madame Delacour is being very helpful and supportive; I think she is intending to join us on our little adventure. I can always talk to the Order through you, and as soon as you give them the other two mirrors I can chat with Ron and Hermione. If things get really desperate I have a way to ask Sirius and my parents what they think."
"I wasn't aware they left impressions behind for portraits," Remus said with raised eyebrows.
"Neither did I, he said as he changed the subject," Harry gave an impudent wink. "Now I would love to chat all day but I've made an appointment with someone I hope can teach me and I'm almost there. I really need to learn apparition, this walking bit can be tiring."
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As it turned out, walking to his appointment had been to his benefit. The teacher said it showed his patience and willingness to do things the old fashioned way. Harry didn't bother to correct him. The man Harry had found to teach him about weather magic was a Carib who looked positively ancient, as if a stiff breeze could knock him over. When Harry had written to him about the instruction he had been glad to hear there were two young people willing to learn what most considered and obsolete and dying art. That changed a bit when they told him that Gabrielle was a veela but he was still willing to try to teach Harry. Apparently weather magic was almost an elemental control of water and air. Veela, being creatures of fire, would never master the art. Gabrielle and Odette decided it was just as well and had stayed behind to begin tutoring the standard curriculum.
The teacher, who asked to be called Jack, told him that the first steps were mostly mental discipline so he would not have anything to show for his efforts for quite a while. A child, Jack said, could inspire a few drops of rain to fall or hear his mother calling his name, but it was rumored that some of the greatest mages who mastered their mind could summon a hurricane or listen to his enemies plotting in the night. It was powerful magic, as deadly and mysterious as the sea itself but also a source of safety and life.
Jack asked Harry to remove his shirt and led him in meditation as they sat on the sandy beach. He instructed Harry to clear his mind of all thoughts and focus on nothing. Harry had a lot of trouble with this as thoughts of everything he had to accomplish kept rushing. Eventually he forced himself to ignore everything and sit quietly. Once Jack saw that he was able to sit still and had a peaceful look on his face, they began the next step. Jack told him to listen to the sound of the ocean and to feel the wind that was blowing across them. He said that Harry must let them into his mind and fill his thoughts. Nothing existed but the see and the wind. Smell the spices in the air, hear the crush of the surf, feel the caress of the wind, and taste the salty sea.
Harry sank deeper into his meditation with each sense he engaged. He smelled the wind and tried to dissect all the flavors. There was ginger, nutmeg, citrus, cinnamon, anise, and a hundred varieties of flowers from the jungle. The waves came in a predictable pattern, but each one sounded slightly different. Did the wave break all at once, at one end and slide to the other, or in the middle and work its way out? The wind too caused different sensations as it blew across him. It felt sensuous as it gently moved across his bare chest, tickling slightly as it curled around to his back. It was like a joking friend tousling his hair or brushing by his arms. Every sensation Jack told him to focus on made the rest of the world less important.
On Jacks instructions he became so deep in his focus that everything else was unimportant. He couldn't remember his name, and didn't feel concerned about that at all. All that mattered was the air and the water. He felt like he was flying again, the wind cradled him and held him while the waves spoke to him and told him all there was to know. He was the wind. He was the water.
Jack watched Harry as he meditated, at one point his eyes had opened and Jack was tempted to reprimand him but they stared at nothing and did not blink. Finally he saw signs that Harry had reached the right state for instruction and began to tell him the secrets of the storm. The understanding of how magic, water and wind interacted had to be placed deep within the student's mind so that over time it almost became instinctive.
This was not the European way of only allowing a tiny sliver of power out and forcing it to work as the wizard demanded. A weather mage had to give himself over to the magic. They could summon a storm but they could not control who the lightning struck. They could call forth a wind to drive the storm away, but could not stop it from sinking the fisherman's ships. A weather mage embraced the water, the air, and the magic until they were everything. The water was their body and the air their blood, a storm their fury. They let loose great torrents of magic all at once to cause great change but if the were not careful they could easily turn loose all of their magic and die or become a squib. But what they did, they could also undo. They could absorb the power of the storm back into themselves, until it was just water and air once again.
Suddenly Harry's eyes shot open from their half lidded state and he gave a yelp. "I did it! I did what you said and embraced the water. I was trying to call it to me and that last wave just sloshed the back of my pants!"
Jack gave a heartfelt laugh as he smiled, "No child, that's just the tide coming in. It looks like today's lesson is over. I want you to practice controlling your mind. You must be able to reach that perfect harmony in your mind before you can bend the weather to your will. When you can reach that peaceful state quickly we will begin the next step. I will see you again next week."