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Basilio Magiknos: Magical Kingdom.

Minimos: grounder

Magkeri: a type of magical candle (from Greece)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Chapter 11: Basilio Magiknos

Harry was halfway back to the castle before the reality of the night finally hit him.

He'd been traveling through the forest in a daze with shock, nothing around him was important enough to notice. Not the Snidget tagging along, or the eyes that trailed after him in the shadows, or the protective guardian tracking his every step.

Everything had happened so fast. One minute everything was relatively normal in his life, and in a matter of moments his only stable foot had been knocked out from under him. Sure he was irritated with what had happened, but it wasn't Illian's fault he was a unicorn. And even if he was hesitant to talk to her at the moment, he would have eventually.

She was so nice, he'd never known anyone like her, not Mrs. Weasley, not Tonks or Professor McGonagall, and certainly not Aunt Petunia. She'd had an…aura of peace and love surrounding her. Just remembering the night he'd met her woke a longing in him he'd thought long gone. He ached to be held, to be loved.

A lone tear trailed down his cheek, and not just for the lost Unicorn Maiden. No, this single tear held all the pain and loss and longing he held in him. He found himself wishing his mother could hold him, comfort him; but he knew that was impossible. She was dead too.

And what was worse was the gnawing sensation near his heart.

It was his job to protect Illian, and he had failed. This wasn't his first failure either. He'd also failed at the attack in Diagon Alley. What good was a prince if he couldn't protect his subjects?

Harry was shaking slightly now, his fists clenched at his sides and he clenched his jaws together, determination washing through his veins.

It wouldn't happen again. He'd make sure of it. He'd protect every single one of his people from suffering the same fate as Illian. As his mother.

But even as the vow echoed through his soul his weariness pushed it aside. With every step he took his eyelids seemed to grow ten times heavier, and his feet began to drag.

He was vaguely surprised when he found himself sinking into the heavenly cocoon that was his bed. He didn't even have the strength to take off his shoes before slumber took him.

The small jeweled eyes of the beautiful bird he'd rescued watched him from her new perch on the crimson colored pillow. She blinked once at him before hiding her head in her sun kissed feathers and finding sleep herself.

Dmhpdmhpdm

Harry had been starting a dream where he was back at the Dursley's working in the flower garden when he woke up a small fairy sleeping in the sun on the soft petals of a snow white tulip. He was trying to apologize when the bloody thing bit him! The pain of the bite was not felt in his finger, but centered in his very heart.

He didn't get much farther in that dream before everything went all topsy-turvy on him. The colors all began to bleed together and it seemed his world was beginning to melt. He was only mildly concerned until he felt the tugging (not unlike that of a portkey). He'd just begun to panic when he found himself in a familiar setting. The calming magic of his garden started to take effect immediately, easing the anguish he felt even as he slept.

He glanced around and instantly pinpointed the man from before.

A large smile broke out across Harry's face, he couldn't say why, but seeing the man made Harry's heart grow and he was afraid his chest wouldn't be able to contain it much longer.

He couldn't see it, but he just knew his companion was smiling as he took Harry's hand and pulled Harry down to sit on the grass beside him, "You kept me waiting, love."

"Did I?" Harry inquired in bemusement, "I hadn't known we were to meet again." for some reason it didn't bother him at all when the other boy used the endearment for him, it felt…right.

"Oh yes, love. We should be meeting every night." he didn't explain further, but Harry found he needed no further explanation than that.

A gentle hand on his shoulder urged him to lay down. He did so, resting his head in the other's lap and feeling his body relax further as the waking world and all his problems drifted further and further away.

His eyes slid closed and he relished the feeling of those wondrous fingers as they carded through his hair.

"You're so tense, love." The voice above him murmured, sending a wave of belonging over the reclining boy. "So many responsibilities lie on your shoulder's. You don't need to worry about any of that, love. Not while you're here, with me."

And Harry believed him; it was such a sweet thing he was promising, after all. Just a few hours peace couldn't be bad, could it?

Hpdmhpdmhp

Ron Weasley was a very heavy sleeper. This was a well known fact throughout Gryffindor Tower. Every morning was the same: Harry Potter would wake up bright and early (courtesy of his aunt Petunia's insistence that he rise with the sun and have breakfast on the table by the time everyone else crawled out of bed) and he always woke Ron so they would have plenty of time to get to breakfast.

But with Harry's new sleeping habits there was no one to wake Ron up, not without getting clobbered to death by an irate, sleepy redhead.

So it would be fairly reasonable to assume Ronald Weasley would panic when he woke up to discover he had slept through breakfast and there was only minutes before classes started for the day.

"Harry! Wake up, we're going to be late." The gangly boy screeched as he tore open his best friends bed curtains. The boy yin the bed made and unintelligible sound and flopped over, sinking his face into his pillow.

"Come on, Harry, we don't have any time to waste, wake up!" A hand roughly started shaking the sleeping wizard.

"Alright, alright." Harry mumbled, shoving a pillow at his annoying best friend to get him to stop.

Ron let the pillow drop onto the floor, his mind now on getting dressed since Harry was finally awake.

Harry pushed himself up on his hands and knees and stared down at his bed with haze filed emerald eyes.

Harry sat back and watched his red headed friend run around the room like a chicken with It's head chopped off. With one last call to hurry up, Ron was gone, leaving Harry alone in the dorm room.

Harry stared at the doorway for a few, blank moments. At length he decided he should probably get up as well.

So, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the Unicorn Prince, pulled himself out of bed. He tried to ignore the biting cold of the stone floor on his bare feet.

'Why don't they put carpets in the dorms?' He mused as he bent down to retrieve his abandoned pillow, only to roan in irritation when he saw the gaping hole in the center and the smooth slash branching out across his brand new pillow. "No way. That is so not cool" he griped to no one in particular.

It was amazing how disemboweling ones soft new pillow tends to wake a person up, because harry was no longer very sleepy, his frustration and annoyance having driven it from his mind.

He tossed the pillow back onto his bed with a mental note to buy a new one after classes.

There was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed, obviously having arrived while he was still sleeping. He picked a couple random boxes and set about getting dressed In their contents.

He pulled on his robe and headed out the door, covering a light yawn with his hand, only to come face to face with his new little friend, the Snidget. The little ball of lemon-hued feathers settled itself onto the boy's horn, with a small chirp for him to continue on his way.

A small smile played on his lips, before a slight frown replaced it. Why did he feel like he was forgetting something?

DMHPDMHPDM

Draco Malfoy didn't get much sleep that night, he was too busy pouring over his new books (He'd finished all his homework the previous evening).

It was very interesting to read about life in Troy (a purely wizarding kingdom) before it's destruction. There were not many accounts about the great war, and the only reliable source was the muggle Homer's epic poem.

According to Cassandra Trelawney, Helen was a veela princess tricked into marrying the Greek king. Then Paris had down up and 'fallen in love' with her. It wasn't very hard to convince her to run away with him. She was a veela, after all, and everyone knows that veela are being of love, lust and beauty. The king was old and ugly, especially when compared with the handsome young prince, Paris. It wasn't much of a choice for the poor veela.

No one had know it would start a war of such proportions, but it seemed the muggle world needed little encouragement to begin a war with the wizards.

Troy was outnumbered; slaughtered, and left to burn. Only a small group managed to escape, and they lived in hiding for a few hundred years, Cassandra was among those few.

That was the story found in the thickest of Cassandra's journals. The remaining three continued the witches notes. These ranged from potions, to spells, to Seeing.

Draco yearned to begin right away, but his promise to the professor kept him in check.

Unfortunately he couldn't bring his books outside the dorm with him, for fear of someone finding out what he was reading and then that getting back to his father. Even with illusion charms placed over the books, it wasn't fool proof. All someone had to do was try to read one and it would be obvious.

So, Draco left them in his room, tucked safely inside his trunk.

Consequently this left him nothing to do and he often found his eyes (and thoughts) drifting towards a certain black-haired Gryffindor.

The boy-who-lived seemed a little out of it that morning. He was wrapped securely in a slightly heavy robe, designed for cooler weather, and he kept trying to nod off into his breakfast. The boy's jaw breaking yawns were enough to make anyone tired and Draco found himself resisting the urge to yawn as well.

It would never do for a Malfoy to show such a base weakness.

He also noticed that the Gryffindor Golden Boy didn't participate very much in the conversations going on around him, nor did he try very hard in any of the classes they shared. No, the boy was too busy fighting to stay awake to concentrate on something as unimportant as schoolwork.

The sleepy boy's actions weren't going unnoticed by his friends. Weasley kept elbowing his friend to help him stay awake (not that it was making that much of a difference) and the mudblood kept shooting him concerned looks.

Draco almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Finally, after dinner was over, Draco was able to slip away to Trelawney's Tower.

Walking into the room was a bit of a shock. The usually mystical and slightly foggy classroom was completely barren. All the tables and chairs were gone. The walls and ceiling had been stripped of the decorative veils, and the window was, for once, open.

There was one single candle in the middle of the room in front of a Gryffindor Red pillow. On either side of the pillow were incense holders.

The door on the far side of the room opened and Trelawney floated into the room carrying three incense sticks, two of which she placed in the holders on either side of the pillow.

"Well, sit." She instructed, gesturing impatiently at the…unsightly…pillow. Draco hurried to comply, intrigued despite himself.

"What is all this?" He asked while silently wondering if it was even necessary.

"this is to help you ease your way into the Basilio Magiknos." The professor explained. "It is a difficult place to reach, and many people loose their way the first time. Without your Minimos it will be very dangerous. Hopefully the Magkeri will help you in the place of your Minimos."

Draco had read little about the Basilio Magiknos, not many Seers felt inclined to explain it in too much depth. It was a private thing, something most wizards would never even know existed.

Trelawney bent down in front of him to take the candle in her hand and light the wick. She did the same thing on either side of him, although she was lighting the incense instead of a the candle.

"Now, close your eyes." Draco did so, inhaling deeply. As the warm scents of the candle and incense combined and twined around him, something took shape in the darkness.

It was faint, only a hint of light at first. It stemmed from four sources. One directly in front of him, two more rooted to the left and right of him, and the last gliding around him in a steady circle.

The three faintest wisps met the more solid source in front of him to make a sturdy…string. That was the only way to explain it, a string of power.

This string resonated with his very core, urging him forward. Almost without thinking, Draco let himself follow it. He reached out to grab hold of it, letting it slip through his fingers as he moved, following it's straight path through the darkness.

The longer he followed it the darker it became. He could sense something in the darkness with him, that something was vaguely familiar. It soon came into view and he realized the familiarity he felt was because of how similar it was to the string he was currently following.

The second string crossed in front of him, merging with the string he was clutching, before continuing on into the darkness in a different direction.

Draco stared at the spot the two strings merged to become momentarily one. He wasn't sure why they had done that, nor what would happen if he touched the spot, so he carefully avoided it, then moved further into the darkness, making sure to follow his string.

As he traveled through the darkness, more strings began to emerge. Some lingered and followed a path similar to the one he traversed, others vanished into the darkness without making any sort of contact at all.

Soon he was surrounded by a multitude of strings. They arched above and below him, stretching into the darkness in a massive web. Every time two would brush, a merging would happen, but it was always brief and the two would continue in their different directions.

The string he still held vibrated. The next instant Draco felt himself falling, as if the world around him had been tipped onto it's axis. Surprisingly he hit no strings as he fell, his fingers still trailing down the string he had followed.

When the string vanished, Draco was once again in the classroom on the floor. Draco stared up at his teacher, "That was…amazing." he admitted, his awe overpowering his Malfoy mannerisms.

Trelawney nodded, removing the lump of melted wax and wasted ashes with a wave of her wand. 'I'm' sure it was, now, tell me about what you saw." Even in her serious state, her voice had a misty quality to it, but her eyes were unusually sharp as she hung on his every word like it was the elixir of life.

As Draco explained about the giant web of strings he'd been surrounded by, Trelawney was nodding, "Do you understand what it is you were seeing?" She asked, an eager edge in her voice that he never imagined her to possess.

Draco opened his mouth, then hesitated. With a shake of his head he admitted his lack of understanding.

The divination professor grinned dreamily, "I had thought not. Young Malfoy, what you have just witnessed is magic in it's most basic form. Each string you saw represented a different being, a different source, if you will. Most sources of magic have a living core. Wizard, dragons, and certain plants are examples of such sources. Other strings root from non living sources, such as wands, potions, and be-spelled items, although the magic from these is considerably weaker."

Draco nodded, his eyes unfocused as he thought about what she was saying. It made sense, now that he thought about it. It had never really mattered to Draco before, magic was magic. As long as it worked, who cared about anything else.

"Now," the professor continued, "I've never had the honor of visiting Basilio Magiknos, but from what I've read the strings from a living source have a different feel than strings with a non living source."

"As fascinating as this is, I don't se how any of this applies to me. I'm a Seer, remember. I don't deal with magic in that way." Draco interrupted.

Trelawney ignored his rude behavior and answered anyway, "Of course it's important. Those strings are how you enter a vision, but we'll go into that later. Now, you must be careful when traveling through the Basilio Magiknos. Imagine you accidentally slip into a vision based on a non living source, say a potion. Knowing when that potion is going to spill or the bottle shatter, will be an incredible waste of a vision, don't you agree. Each time you have a 'forced vision' as they call it, takes energy. If you use to much, you won't have enough to return and will be lost. Also, it's easy to get lost in a vision, seeing the future can be rather…captivating. That's why it's imperative you find your Minimos as soon as possible."

"Now I want you to try again, only this time I want you to try and find a living string. Try not to touch any place that two or more strings merge, we will need you're Minimos before going into that."

As the witch spoke she summoned another candle and sticks of incense. Draco closed his eyes and instantly began searching for the string he'd followed earlier.

Before he even realized what was happening he was waist deep in strings, the web stretching into the darkness around him.

Draco started on his assignment quickly, reaching toward the nearest string. Surprisingly he felt the string of magic jump under his fingers.

Curious, Draco began to inspect it more closely. The string was made up of a pale pink…light. That was the only word he could think of to explain the string, which was made of pure magical energy if Professor Trelawney was to be believed.

The string was pulsing faintly, and twisting in his light grasp.

The string merged with another string further down. As much as Draco wanted to inspect the merge, he resisted. Instead, he turned his attention to the other string involved.

This string was a pale smoky color and didn't buck when he touched it. It pulsed, just like the other, but it was faint.

He thought he might know which string had the living source.

Returning this time wasn't quite as startling. Somehow he could sense the direction he needed to go.

Careful not to disturb the web around him, Draco waded his way back to consciousness.

When he opened his eyes, a truly frightening sight greeted him. The professors face was less then a foot from him.

"That, child, was incredibly stupid." She announced, straightening, "What if you had become lost, or accidentally slipped into a vision. There would have been nothing I could do to bring you back without you're Minimos."

Draco stared at her in confusion, "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything wrong, I even know the difference between a living source and non living now." He snapped.

The glare the professor leveled at him was decidedly frightening, especially coming from this particular professor, "You idiot Child! You entered the Basilio Magiknos without the aid of the Magkeri!"

"But that's a good thing. That means I don't need it." Draco didn't see how that could be a problem, he hadn't even known he had left before the candle lit until she had pointed it out.

"It most definitely not a good thing, Mr. Malfoy. The Magkeri is the only way I have of bringing you back to you're body. Without it to guide you, you could very easily get confused. The Basilio Magiknos is not like our world, Draco. There are…levels involved. You have barely touched on the first of many. Layers upon layers of magic course through the world, you haven't even been outside this room yet."

"What do you mean?"

"That web you saw was the lowest, least complex web within the Basilio Magiknos. That web represented the basic set up of this room." The implications of what she was saying had Draco's head spinning. If that was all the magic in this room, and only in this room…

"You have a long way to go, Draco, and we can only do so much without you're Minimos with us. I want you to promise me you will not attempt to enter Basilio Magiknos again without the aid of the Magkeri and myself." Draco nodded to her once before retreating back to his Slytherin Dungeons.

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