Chapter 4: The Revelation
A/N: Okay, please don't kill me! I know that it has been a while since I last updated but due to my A-Levels and a massive writer's block, I have been unable to update. Thanks to all those who have sent in reviews….guys, love em all. Thanks for all the queries, I hope that the people who wanted answers have got them. Some basic points though, this will NOT, I repeat, will NOT be a day to day account of the Phoenix Warriors' lives because that will be way too boring. I will only have one more day or so and then it will flash forward to when they are all 17. Hope that clears some things up. Also, there will be no mention of any abuse whatsoever. Sorry if that floats your boat but I don't like talking of any abuse. The most that happens is parents ignoring their offspring and/or said offspring being called names by their peers/siblings. Anyway this is rather long so I will get on with the story!
Chapter 4: The Revelation
Previously
He turned away and followed the rest of his male team members out of the room before glancing back at the strange boy. Somewhere deep inside of him, he knew that this boy would be facing many trials in his future. Sighing deep inside he whispered, "Good luck, Harry Potter."
In his safe warm bed, Harry settled contentedly into his afternoon nap, hands slowly furling over the soft luxurious sheets. The bed hangings swayed gently in the light breeze that drifted through the room and all went quiet save for the gently snoring that Ron was emitting behind his own bed hangings. Indeed, Harry had no idea of what awaited him the next day however, for now, he was content to sleep his troubles away.
The Next Day
Harry woke slowly from his warm bed and as he turned round glanced into the face of Ron and Blaise whose faces were currently mere inches from his. With a loud shriek, Harry rapidly turned over and fell out of bed still caught up in his sheets. Ron and Blaise were in absolute hysterics though Harry wasn't really impressed with this and promptly tackled them both to the ground.
It was in this state that Calrian, William and Draconis found three of the boys in with the rest of the 'sprouts,' as they had fondly termed the trainees, currently on theirs beds cheering their dorm mates on. As much as they would have loved to leave the boys to their own devices they knew that certain females on their team might ahem leave them in a bad position. They wouldn't have to worry about reproduction again. Heck knows that they did it before and with that thought, they all simultaneously winced.
Deciding to break up the boys before the females went to see what the trouble was, Draconis cleared his throat and the boys immediately stopped.
Calrian, deciding to put the boys out of their misery, said, "Right, now in that wardrobe," pointing to an antique cupboard situated in a crevice, "Are robes for all you boys. Each of you must put it on and you must clean your face and hands too. After you have done that, come back into the room where Draconis, William and I, will take you down to the Hall. There you will participate in a ceremony with the Crystal of Truth. Don't worry about knot knowing what to do, you will be told during the ceremony. Now get moving."
As one the boys immediately rushed to the wardrobe, ripped it open and started handing out the robes. Calrian, Draconis and Will, as he was fondly named, watched in amazement as the 8 boys took it in turns in who went to the bathroom and who helped to put on robes. The men smirked at each other. This would be a highly efficient and dangerous team by the time they had been trained enough.
Collectively within the space of 10 minutes, all the boys were ready and waiting, though the muggleborns of the group were a bit perplexed by the robes and as Dean said in horror, "I'm not wearing a dress!". Calrian smiled at them before saying, "Let's go." As one the boys followed him down in silence, realising that this was the time when something big was about to happen.
Harry, meanwhile, was continuously attempting to flatten his messy hair. He couldn't understand why he had to inherit his father's messiness while his twin, his parents' favourite, managed to inherit Lily's calmness, in terms of hair, though both had inherited their father's jet black hair.
Nervously, all the boys were led into the large room where the 4 girls were already waiting for them. At the front, where the large table sat, were Phoenix Warriors with a large blue crystal in front of them. Along the length of the hall were various adults all in exquisite dress robes, Harry thought, though there seemed to be a common theme running through the robes.
One of the warriors moved just behind the crystal with a pretty brunette at his side. She smiled at the nervous children below and gave them a cheeky wink. The man beside her merely rolled his eyes before saying with a loud voice, "Welcome, young warriors, to the Crystal of Truth ceremony. Now don't be scared . . ." he said before the woman beside him snorted in amusement. He glared at her before continuing on, "As we call you up name by name you will put your hand on the crystal. This crystal tells all and will say whether you will be a leader, a team member or even if you will be the Commander. It also tells us of your heritage, though this rarely happens for most of the time you know your family history." Several children nodded their heads in accord to this statement. "Right then, my wife, Annabel, will read out your names and one by one you will make your way to the crystal."
Annabel stepped forward before saying, "Susan Bones" in a loud voice.
Susan stepped forward hesitantly and quivering, placed her tiny hand on the crystal. Nothing happened for a moment before the crystal glowed a dark blue. She looked up at the man.
"Don't worry. It means that you are a team member. Go over to Athena" he said, whilst pointing at the red head over in the corner. Relief written over her face, Susan nearly flew over there, eager to get out of the spotlight.
"Terry Boot" Annabel continued.
The young Terry moved over to the crystal and placed his palm on its shiny front. After a few moments, the crystal glowed a dark blue. He realised this meant he should go over to Athena and made his way over to Susan.
"Ernie Macmillian" Annabel said.
Ernie made his way over and the crystal glowed a dark blue for him too.
"Hannah Abbott" Annabel pronounced.
The crystal too glowed a dark blue for the young girl.
"Luna Lovegood."
Luna made her way over to the crystal calmly and gently placed her hand on its front, unlike the team mates who had gone before, who nearly had to be pushed to the crystal. The crystal glowed a dark blue for her too and she calmly made her way over to where Athena was.
Harry could sense a rising tension through the Hall. 5 trainees down and there were still the four spots of Leader that needed to be made. Harry could hear bets being cast as to who were the Leaders and who was the Commander. He glanced shyly around the Hall, quickly darting his head away if he ever made eye contact with anyone. He turned his head back to see the ceremony once more. Theo and Seamus had just been made team members. 5 were left.
"Ron Weasley."
Ron made his way hesitantly over to the crystal and placed his trembling hand on its front. After a few seconds, the crystal turned a vibrant red. As one the Hall let out a sigh of relief. Ron was petrified wondering what he had done wrong.
"You have done nothing wrong," the man said, "You have been chosen as a Leader. Go over and make your way to Ferdinand," he stated whilst pointing at the brown haired man.
"Dean Thomas."
Dean made his way to the crystal though after a few seconds it glowed the dark blue once more. Whilst the Hall was slightly disappointed and money started to change hands as the losers lost their bet, Dean looked slightly relieved that he wasn't a Leader.
"Blaise Zabini."
Blaise made his way confidently over to the crystal and as his hand touched the crystalline surface it glowed a vibrant red too. He then slowly ambled over to where Ferdinand and Ron waited.
The Hall was almost bursting with excitement as Hermione and Harry were left. Everyone collectively held their breath as "Hermione Granger" was called out, waiting to see if this was the new Commander.
As she placed her hand warily on the crystal there was a few seconds pause before the crystal shone with a bright metallic silver colour.
She glanced up to the man wondering what had happened. A frown was positioned on his face before her turned to her and said, "Go to Calrian." She hesitantly made her way over to the man before noticing that the Hall was watching her every move. Calrian looked in deep thought as she made her way to him. As she was at her side, she looked back she saw that the man at the front was in deep conversation with his wide.
"Mr. Calrian, sir. What happened?"
Calrian looked at her before replying, "Hermione, never has the crystal glowed silver although we know what it can mean." At the look on her face he continued. "This means that either there will be two commanders or . . ." He trailed off before looking at Harry expectantly.
Hermione looked exasperated and impatient. "Or?" she said.
Calrian looked back at her. "I cannot say as only the Commanders and their wives know, though if this means what I think it does, then you will know soon enough."
Harry was a little worried as the man at the front turned back to face him with an expectant look on his face. 'Uh oh,' though Harry.
"Harry Potter," Annabel said calmly though inside she was in a turmoil of emotions.
Harry made his way to the crystal slowly, certain that even the very foundations of the Hall was holding its breath. He placed his sweaty palm on the crystal tentatively. The silence was deafening as no one said a word or even breathed.
All of a sudden the crystal shone in a brilliant gold and out of the magnificent rays came the sound of animals as a lion jumped out, followed quickly by a raven, a snake and a badger. A few seconds later a phoenix flew out in brilliant colours.
Whilst this was happening, Harry chanced a glance at the man in front. 'This isn't good,' he thought. The man's face was comic. His jaw had dropped and Harry supposed that if more excitement came, even his eyes might bulge out even more.
Turning back to the animals, Harry thought it was all over until out of the crystal rose a circlet made of interweaving silver strands with small diamonds situated within the weaves. 'No,' Harry though, 'This wasn't good at all.'
He turned to face the animals that were behind him, as one the animals all bowed, or in the case of some, lowered their heads.
The man seemed to have been granted the power of speech and hesitantly said, "Harry . . .please make your way over to Hermione and Calrian." Harry slowly moved over to his friend and teacher before chancing a glance around the Hall. Everyone was speaking and continuously looking over at Harry with something akin to amazement.
Harry looked up at Calrian, "What does this mean?"
Calrian looked down before saying, "This means Harry that you are the new Commander and Hermione is your Second."
"Oh," was the only thing that Harry could reply with. He didn't know what to think. He knew though that the gold light emanating from the crystal wasn't supposed to happen judging by the looks on everybody else's face. "What happens now?"
"Now we do nothing," Calrian said, "Tomorrow though you begin your training as the next generation of Phoenix Warriors and something tells me that you will become an invincible force."
After the cacophony had died down the rest of the ceremony begin, passing in a blur for Harry. The feast, Annabel's pranks on her husband and his team, all whizzed by until before he knew it, it was bedtime.
Sleep didn't come easily for Harry. All he could think about was 'Tomorrow though you begin your training . . .' Harry sighed to himself tossing around and around. Finally as dawn approached, he allowed his eyes to drift shut and thought of nothing but sleep.
The training began and it was hard. The children trained harder and harder as each day passed. Rising at dawn, they soon learned tracking, stealth, defensive and offensive magic and much more.
Each trainee became a qualified animagus twice over. They all had phoenix forms though Blaise and Ron had their wings dipped in a vibrant red, different to the other team members who had blue tinged wings.
Hermione's phoenix form took on metallic silver, though still had the normal 'flame' coloured wings, however she did tend to look like a speeding bullet at times. Harry was different from the rest of them. His phoenix form was golden with hints of bronze and silver mixed in. He was majestic and even the other Commanders didn't have a form that had the awe inspiring effect that his did.
All the other forms that each person had seemed to be linked to whichever team Leader they belonged to. Ron's team, Ron, Terry and Luna, all had birds of prey. Blaise's team, Blaise, Hannah and Theo, all took wolf forms though these tended to vary in their magical ability as Blaise had the tendency in his form to start spouting laser beams through his eyes. Hermione and Harry's teams were closely linked together. Hermone's team of herself, Dean and Seamus, had a panther (Hermione), Leopard (Seamus) or a cheetah (Dean).
Harry's team of himself, Susan and Ernie, also had feline forms though theirs were more mountain lion and African lion based. Nonetheless each team worked effectively with their forms and trained hard.
Along the way they had developed their own language that not even the other Phoenix Warrior teams could crack. The others had watched in amusement as the children had first developed the lilting language though this turned into amazement when they had realised that each trainee knew what the other was saying, as if they were speaking any other language.
The trainees' bond grew and they quickly turned into an effective taskforce not limited just to magic but also well versed in swordsmanship, martial arts and also how to properly wield fire arms, which the boys seemed to enjoy using. The trainees also held a special nickname for each of their team mates due to what abilities they possessed.
Luna turned into Claw, as she was lethal in her other animagus form. Terry took the name of Avenger due to him getting revenge for a prank played by Dean. Poor Dean was hospitalised for well over a week. He himself took the name of Speed purely for his ability to travel great lengths incredibly quickly. Ernie became Stealth due to his form being eerily silent. Susan took the name of Fang as her mountain lion form seemed to have an unnatural urge to rip apart any prey she caught. Seamus was christened the name of Rings for the spots on his leopard back. Hannah as a wolf was Selene as she constantly howled at the moon in her form. So too in his form, Theo took the name Lycan as he became a wolf possessed during any mock battle or real battle that they had.
Blaise was christened Shadow for he blended into the background with ease and was incredibly dangerous when not noticed. Ron became Pyros for his flame coloured hair. Hermione turned into Blade as she proved a deadly swordswoman and Harry became Thor for his incredible strength. Indeed not even his teachers had first realised how powerful he was. In a duel he could beat the First Commander incredibly easily, despite the Commander's experience.
A 17 year old Harry awoke suddenly just before dawn. He listened to the soft sounds of the birds waking up before climbing out of bed. Calrian had said that today there was going to be a special announcement. Harry held a lot of respect for his teacher, the same as for his Uncle Moony. Sighing to himself he wondered what it would be like if he were just a normal wizard. One who wasn't a Commander of the Phoenix Warriors, one who wasn't the Prince of Hogwarts, which he thought to himself was the whole of magical Great Britain, and even one who wasn't the magical heir of Merlin and destined to defeat Lord Voldemort, though that wasn't high on his list of priorities.
Being the Prince wasn't something Harry looked forward to. Indeed he could have found it a burden though Hermione, his girlfriend, his soul mate was always there to listen to his thoughts and worries. 'Sometimes,' Harry thought, 'Sometimes I don't know what I would do without her.'
-Indeed,- Hermione 'spoke' in his head, -what would you do without me?-
Harry snorted. –Hermione, you need to get ready and get down to the Hall. Calrian said that he had an announcement.-
-I know,- Hermione responded, -that's why I'm waiting for you.-
Harry sighed to himself before saying, -Alright, give me five,- before breaking off the connection and quickly getting dressed. He scrambled out of the dormitory and down the stone steps before bursting into the corridor.
"Well if we run we'll be slightly late. . ." Harry trailed off.
"Feline forms then?" Hermione queried lightly before slipping into her panther form watching as Harry turned into a majestic lion. Quickly they 'ran' to the Hall and burst through the doors slipping once more into their human forms and taking a seat at the table.
Calrian stood at the front looking down at the trainees. No, he corrected himself, warriors. They had turned into one of the most deadly forces he had seen and as there were only twelve 17 year olds, that was quite impressive, he conceded.
He slowly stood up before saying, "We have received a request from a certain Mr. Dumbledore," he said whilst grimacing before continuing, "That our youngest team of Phoenix Warriors attend 7th year at Hogwarts."
There was instantaneous uproar. All of Harry's team were in disbelief. They knew magic far beyond the level of a 7th year. Heck, if they were in a school they would be in 100th year of more!
Calrian raised his hands and shouted, "SILENCE!" At once the noise level dramatically decreased. "You will go because now is the time that the Phoenix Warriors showed the magical world that we are a force to be reckoned with. The First Commander has agreed with this. You will go to Hogwarts and will most likely be sorted into Houses. It doesn't matter that you might not end up in the same House as your team mates. Deal with it! He has asked for help in order to protect," the word being spat out sarcastically, "His precious golden boy, James Potter. You will go. Your mission is to eliminate Voldemort. That shouldn't prove too difficult a task for you. So get packing!"
As one the Warriors stood and bowed to the 4th Team Commander as he exited. Harry stood nonplussed. 'Great, just fantastically great.' He would have to go to Hogwarts and see his brother again, though he didn't really consider him a sibling, more like an unfortunate biological acquaintance. Hermione slipped her hand inside his.
-It will be okay,- she 'said,' –I'm here and we will all be there to help you. Don't forget that for some of us, we have 'biological acquaintances' in Hogwarts,- she said with amusement.
Harry sighed again before smiling at her gently and leaded the way to the dorms in order to pack for this unwanted mission. Still at least he would be going with his family, as the team thought of themselves.
A group of cloaked people stood before Hogwarts Castle in the pouring rain. Glancing at each other they made their way through the castle until they reached the Great Hall according to the maps they had. Inside they could hear Dumbledore speaking. They knew what the miserable coot sounded like for one of their earlier missions had been to trail him and report back what they had heard. Dumbledore had proved to be a manipulative bastard, all the more dangerous for the general public thought him innocent and a beacon for the Light.
'Well,' thought Harry, 'That will change.'
"Get into entrance positions!" Harry whispered.
"Aye, aye, Capitan," Seamus said with a grin.
Harry rolled his eyes before looking for the team members. As he all got a collective –Ready Commander- from them, he glanced back at the doors with a smirk on his lips.
He could hear Blaise and Ron situated behind him betting as to how many students wet their pants at the sight of them. Indeed they were dressed in their Battle Wizards outfits, complete with their two guns handy by their sides, their sword, daggers in their boots and many other dangerous paraphernalia.
Inside Harry could hear Dumbledore saying, "Now we have some guests who will be staying with us for the course of a year. They have all been educated elsewhere. I must ask that you treat them with respect. . ." before Harry gave the signal for the team members to apparate onto the four House tables. Shrieks could be heard from inside.
'Yes,' he thought whilst glancing at Hermione, 'Let the games begin!'
A/N: Hope that was enough for you all. Thanks so much for all the reviews once again. Just to warn you all that the next few updates will be sporadic due to my upcoming exams though I will try to post as often as possible. Keep the reviews coming in!
Miraen