Merry Christmas to you all, and in a couple days, a happy new year. And as an early new year present (or late Christmas present) here is chapter 5 of the Eldar Wand. Sorry for the wait.
"You can understand our scepticism in what you have told us," said Autarch Feraela "For millennia, we believed our goddess dead, lost to us as much as our dark kin who dwell in the Webway. While this circlet appears genuine, and very well may be, it would take an immense amount of psychic energy to pierce those void shields. Our Bonesingers devoted centuries to making them near impenetrable, in the event that you ever had to use them."
"Nothing is certain," said Farseer Kurethan "We seers know that more than most."
"Why me, though?" asked Farseer Irthan "The boy said that she instructed him to give it to me. If it is truly genuine, why would she try to contact me? If it is a fallacy, we have the same question. She did not ask for rescue. She acted out of concern for the Seers of Lugganath, if I am not mistaken. Perhaps the Lord of Decay intends to unleash this particular plague on the galaxy."
The council seemed to have forgotten the two of them were there, discussing potentially galaxy-shattering events, and the merits of weather his vision was true or false.
"The boy has a name, you know," said Harry, as Professor McGonagall gave him a stern look, which he ignored "And why can't you read my mind, and see the truth of what I say."
"You speak of things that do not concern you, Mon-keigh," Feraela snapped back "This is not your world, this is not your galaxy, and this is not your affair, so listen quietly while we discuss what to do, or go to your quarters."
"Peace Feraela," said Arunion "The boy has been through a lot in these past few days."
Alara turned to Harry. "The mind can be befuddled and bewitched, Harry Potter, weaker minds befuddled to such an extent that they fully believe whatever these new memories are."
"Our people have ways of altering memory, too," said Professor McGonagall "But we have also found that memory charms can be broken, and as such have ways of checking if a memory has been altered. Tell me, if you were to see his memory, experience it as if you were there, would you be able to tell if it was truth or fallacy?"
"Our seers have ways of weaving and dispelling illusions," said Kurethan, looking to the five council members "Are there any seers left on the Craftworld that you would say were proficient enough to tell the difference?"
"None that aren't already in this room," said Irthan "I would be curious how we would see his memory of it without reading his mind, however."
"What do we have to lose?" asked Arunion "My vote is that we see what these strangers have to show us."
"As do I," said Autarch Kiirthan, who had not yet spoken up in the discussion "If nothing else, it will give us a chance to see your magic in action."
Professor McGonagall pulled a small bag out from under her robes, placed it on the ground, reached inside with both hands and began struggling to pull something out. As the edge of a circular stone object appeared at the edge of the bag, McGonagall pulled out her wand, and said: "Wingardium Leviosa" levitating the rest of the Penseive out of the bag and setting it down on the ground
"This is a Penseive," said Professor McGonagall "It allows a person to copy their memories and review them at a later time, with all the wisdom of their later years." She turned to Harry "I won't make you do this if you do not wish to do so, Harry, the showing of someone's memories is a very personal thing."
Harry didn't say anything for a moment "This isn't going to work if we continue not trusting each other," said Harry "But trust goes both ways. You just spent two hours discussing our fate as if we were not even in the room, as if we were less than you. That can't continue if our relationship is to work. We need help, and we are willing to offer you things in exchange for that help, but you need to trust us."
"It is not a matter of trust in this case, Harry," said Feraela "We are not calling you untrustworthy, but the Warp is, by its very nature, deceiving to everything that passes through it. It may tell a version of the truth that will nonetheless lead one down a dark path. Nevertheless, we shall see if your vision holds any truth. How does it work?"
McGonagall showed Harry how to extract memories and add them to the Penseive.
"Now, just gaze into the Penseive, and you will enter it," said McGonagall. Merekwoad's Council, Harry and McGonagall gazed into the Penseive, and they entered the memory.
The ten of them appeared behind the memory Harry, as he looked around the area he was in: a garden where everything was growing in rotten. As Harry looked around again, he saw that there were other forms of life in the garden, and the Seers that were burning their way through the garden with psychic flame were meeting resistance from this life. The creatures he could see were more disgusting than the blast-ended skroots that Hagrid had shown them in their fourth year. Vaguely humanoid, they were covered in boils and pustules seeping strange liquids. He turned back to watch as memory-Harry approached the cage, and he listened as the woman who was apparently Isha gave her message, and her token.
The group exited the Penseive, the Eldar reeling from the experience.
"That was unusual," said Alara "It certainly seems genuine. What do you think?"
"It does," said Kurethan "I would like more time to study it, but it seems Harry did get a message from somebody. If that was truly Isha, or something else, I am uncertain."
"Oh, it was her," said Irthan, as he moved over to sit down on his chair.
"What troubles you, Irthan?" asked Kiirthan
"In the memory," said Irthan "She spoke to me directly." He indicated the circlet of flowers, still in his hand "This must be a key, along with Harry's memory, to speak with her."
"What did she say?" asked Alara
"She told me Nurgle's target," said Irthan "He plans to target Lugganath, his Lieutenant, Mortarion will lead his Death Guard to unleash a perfected version of the plague used on Lugganath's Seers. We need to send aid."
"We can't," said Kurethan "You know why that plague was so effective against the Seers of Lugganath, it's most effective against those trained in the psychic arts. We cannot risk our seers falling to the same fate."
"What if you didn't have to?" asked McGonagall "We have many gifted in different types of magic. You've helped us, and your goddess appears to desire our cooperation, so why not let us help you?"
The Council exchanged looks. "Allow us some time to discuss this, and decide on a course of action. Alara, can you take them back to your ship?"
"Very well," said Alara, and started walking towards the door.
"Uh, may we keep the Penseive?" asked Irthan "In-case we must review the memory later."
"We will need it back," said McGonagall "But you can keep it for now."
Irthan nodded, as Alara led them out of the room.
"They didn't seem enthusiastic about us helping them," said Harry
"Like I said, we aren't on the greatest of terms with the human Imperium," said Alara "The implications of working with you would have an impact on our entire race. It's not a decision we can make lightly."
"Your doubts are understandable," said McGonagall "But it would seem that our actions would speak louder than words."
"Perhaps," said Alara "But millenia of mistrust is hard to ignore. The vast majority of the Eldar see humanity as stubborn, short-sighted idiots that caused most of the universes current problems. And they're partially correct."
"Partially?" asked Harry
"In all honesty, the real reason they see humanity the way they do is because they see too much of themselves in humanity," said Alara "The ancient Eldar created Slaanesh in their hubris, and while they might pretend that they're no longer like they were in the past, but really half of them continue to wallow in the same obsessions they endured before the Fall, while the other works at something to the point of obsession, before switching to another one."
"Is that why you don't spend a lot of time there?" asked McGonagall "You said so on the way here."
"We usually don't," said Alara "But Merekwoad is different. We discovered it after the Fall. As such, we had a little more influence on what happened here. That is why myself and Arunion are on the council. A Corsair Prince and Void Dreamer would usually never be allowed to sit on a Craftworld's council, but we do. There must be change, but change has been slow."
"Do you think they will accept our offer of aid?" asked McGonagall.
"If Arunion has anything to say about it, I think they will," said Alara "He'll probably come up with some outlandish plan that they will agree to as it'll be the last thing the enemy will expect. He's good at that, and sometimes it works."
"Sounds familiar," said McGonagall, looking over at Harry with a twinkle in her eye.
Council Chambers
"Maybe what your allies' views of deploying untrustworthy soldiers is should not be your primary concern," said Arunion "You could see this as detrimental to your relationship with other Craftworlds, I see this as an opportunity. If Nurgle's followers see these wizards, they will immediately interpret this as Tzeentch's magic, and will call more and more daemons to aid them. The more daemons are called, the more of Nurgle's attentions will be fixed on Lugganath, which means we can slip into his realm unnoticed, and rescue our goddess from right under his nose."
A musical, pealing laughter came from the entrance to the chamber. The council turned to see one of the warriors of the Laughing God standing in the doorway. Clad in the blue and silver colours of the Masque of the Raven's Call, the troupe was famous for its cunning ambushes and feints, unpredictable in the extreme, but always with a plan. They were rightly feared across the galaxy, for their coming heralded death for a very specific person on a planet they landed upon. The Harlequin danced forwards into the centre of the chamber "That scheme is one worthy of Cegorach himself, and The Laughing One would see it done, if you should choose this course."
"We're already in their debt," said Kiirthan "I do not like owing the mon keigh."
"They have about as much relations to the mon keigh of this universe as the Eldar have to them," said the Harlequin "Take a chance on them, they might just surprise you."
"And I'm not entirely sure if it's us that owe them a debt," said Arunion "At least, not yet. Put yourself in their position: you've ended up in a different universe, with alien technology and people, where most of the things in that universe want to do unspeakably horrible things to them. We were an ally where they had none. A light in the darkness. It could be said we were their only hope. They certainly wouldn't be opposed to doing a few favours for us in exchange for our protection."
"If you think you can convince them to help," said Kiirthan "I'd be in favour of this plan."
The rest of the council chimed in with their agreement.
"I'll go see if I can convince them, then," said Arunion "While you start working on a battle plan."
Craftworld Merekwoad- Quarters of the Hogwartians: Training Room
The quarters that had been set up for them to use had a variety of different amenities, provided by those walking the Path of Service. Not having had alot of experience catering to humans, the Eldar had created something for almost every eventuality, having everything from training room, stocked with some basic Eldar weaponry, to a large, luxurious bathing area. In this training room, an impromptu meeting of Dumbledore's Army was taking place. Harry, using his repaired holly and phoenix feather wand in place of the Eldar Wand, was facing off with Neville in a duel, on the pretext of seeing what they had been teaching while he, Ron and Hermione had been out hunting horcruxes.
Neville had come a long way since he and Harry had sparred in their fourth year, managing to attack and defend well enough to make Harry work for it. Using a trick he had learned when protecting some students from the Carrows, Neville disillusioned himself, and used his camouflage to attack from an unexpected angle, which Harry blocked just in time. Harry apparated behind Neville, firing a stunning spell at where he thought Neville was. His spell passed through empty air.
"Revelio," said Harry, using his magic to search around for what his eyes couldn't see. His instincts warned him just in time, as Neville aimed a stunning spell at him from above. He dodged, and aimed another back at the now-visible Neville. Neville apparated back to the ground, then aimed two more stunners and a paralysis spell at him. Harry blocked the stunners, and tried to dodge the full body bind, but was just a fraction of a second too slow. The next thing he knew, he was waking up on the slightly-humming floor of the Craftworld.
"There is clearly nothing more I can teach you, Neville," said Harry, as he got up, clapping Neville on the back "You've done very well. I'm proud of you."
Neville swelled with the praise, as out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Arunion watching.
"Neville, why don't you take the first lesson today, I'll be back in a bit," Harry said, and walked to where Arunion was waiting.
"Your magic is interesting," Arunion stated, as Harry joined him. Neville had called Ginny up to demonstrate something to the assembled students "It appears as sorcery, but I detect none of the Great Schemers deceptions in it. Your breed of sorcery does not appear to draw on the Warp at all."
"Is that a good thing?" asked Harry. Arunion frowned.
"I'm not sure," he replied "I suppose it is a good thing that you do not draw on the Warp, for the predations of the Chaos Gods shall not become you, or your friends. What does worry me, is that the source of your magic may be more sinister still."
"That would be a question for someone other than me," said Harry "If there is an answer to that question, I don't know it."
"Forgive me for philosophising to you, Harry," said Arunion "I'll just get to why I'm here. The Council is planning a rescue mission."
"For your goddess, or the Craftworld you mentioned, Lugganath, wasn't it?" asked Harry.
"With your help? Perhaps both," said Arunion "You have had the Warp explained to you before, but you have not heard about the nature of Chaos itself. There are four entities within the Warp which antagonise the galaxy as we know it. Nurgle you already know, he is the god of death, decay and despair, and he is who holds Isha captive. Tzeentch is the god of lies, trickery and sorcery, his schemes are sometimes many, many years in the making. Khorne is the god of war and blood, and-" Arunion broke off, as if the name of the last god had caught in his throat.
"We do not speak the name of the last of the pantheon," said Arunion "For she is the doom of all that we are, all that we were and all that we will be."
"A wise man once said," Harry began "That fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself."
"He must have been wise beyond his years," said Arunion "Very well. Her name is Slaanesh, and it was the hubris of the ancient Aeldari that created her, and doomed us all. Her birth heralded the death of our old gods, bar three."
"I take it Isha was one of those three?" asked Harry "And who were the other two?"
"Cegorach, The Laughing One, escaped into the Webway, and became patron to the Harlequins, a faction of our people who do not carry spirit stones, for they know their souls are promised to Cegorach when they perish," Arunion explained "Khaine, the Bloody Handed One, was not slain, but ripped into fragments, which were scattered into the material realm, and became Avatars, which we can awaken to march to war in times of dire need, although this is done very sparingly, as it requires the sacrifice of an Eldar life, which is all the more precious in these dark times."
"What does all of this have to do with us?" asked Harry
"We want to mount a rescue for Isha," said Arunion "But Nurgle's realm is swarming with his daemonic children. We need a diversion, and that is something you and your friends are uniquely qualified to do. While the Gods of the Warp do work together on occasion, there are fierce rivalries between the four, one of the fiercest is between Tzeentch and Nurgle. If Nurgle believes Tzeentch has arrived on Lugganath, he'll divert a lot of his attention to what's happening on Lugganath, and his border with Tzeentch's realm, which means we may be able to slip past unnoticed."
"I can understand wanting to save both your goddess and Lugganath," said Harry "But my people have just been through a war. I don't want to lead them into another one."
"I'm sorry, young one," said Arunion "But war will find you in this galaxy weather you wish it or not. Better to choose your battles than have them thrust upon you when you least expect it."
"I will talk to them," said Harry "I would like to help you, but I fear that I will lose more friends if I should do so."
"All I'm asking is that you choose to enter battle to give my entire race hope for the future, than to fight merely for the survival of yours," said Arunion, as he walked towards the door "I will know when you come to a decision."
Harry walked over to where Professor McGonagall was watching him and Arunion talk.
"Gather everyone together," Harry said "There's something we need to discuss."
Craftworld Merekwoad- Quarters of the Hogwartians: Living Area
Harry sat on the comfortable furniture that didn't look comfortable in the slightest, looking at the assembled survivors of the Battle of Hogwarts. He had put them through hell, and had lost friends in the process: Percy Weasley had fallen, while defending Fred, the brother that had pranked him with such frequency in the past, and in so doing had redeemed himself in the eyes of the Weasleys for his betrayal of them. Tonks had fallen blocking a killing curse meant for her husband, Remus. Remus would have fallen too, if not for the timely intervention of Kingsley Shacklebolt. He still hadn't fully recovered from what had happened, and Harry wished more than ever that they had the time to grieve. Arunion was right, however, if this universe was as terrifying as Seamus and Dean said it was, they couldn't afford to wait for that universe to come to them.
"I don't know about this, Harry," said Dean "My knowledge of the Corsairs is sketchy at best, but I know that the majority of the Eldar race couldn't give a pair of dingoes kidneys what happens to pretty much every other race in the galaxy. If we're going to commit to this, we're going to need more from them in exchange."
"What did you have in mind, Dean?" asked Harry
"Probably some of their technology," Seamus chimed in "It's said in the books that the Eldar use their breed of magic to create their technology. If so, it'd be interesting to see how it reacts with ours, out of curiosity more than anything."
"Anything else?" asked Harry
"Yeah," said Dean "If we're being used as a diversion, we need them to commit some of their forces to that diversion as-well. Our shield charms might be able to block the weaponry of our opponents, but I have some doubts. We'll need some armour, and some backup."
"I take it you two think we should do this?" asked Harry
Seamus and Dean nodded.
"As much as I'm sure they don't trust, or care for us," said Dean "I do think we owe them for helping us, despite the fact we attacked them."
"We didn't turn away anyone in need during our 7th year," said Seamus "We know this Lugganath needs our aid, so I see no reason why we shouldn't give it to them."
"I, too, agree," said McGonagall "Though I think if we succeed at what they wish of us, they will owe us more than we owe them."
"Who's going to Lugganath?" asked Harry "I won't risk all of you again, we've lost too many. I'll only take those who volunteer."
Fred and George were the first to volunteer, their bags full of modified versions of their pranks. Modified to be more lethal. They had used them to great effect during the Battle of Hogwarts, restricting the Death Eaters movements in one area, their fireworks pushing them back in another. They also had some of their skiving snackboxes, though they had not yet managed to modify them.
Ron and Hermione also volunteered, as did Luna Lovegood. As Remus got up to volunteer, Harry stopped him.
"No, Remus," he said
"You'll need my help, Harry," said Lupin "You refused my help once before, and I wish to help now."
"I had a good reason before, Remus," said Harry "And I have a good reason now. You just lost your wife. If we ever make it home, I'm not going to tell your son he lost his father because he was reckless. Sit this one out, take some time to grieve."
Remus wasn't happy, but he sat back down.
"I should round out this team nicely," said Professor Flitwick "When do we leave?"
Harry turned to see that the communicator that was in the room was flashing. He reached his mind into what Arunion called the Infinity Circuit, and answered the call.
"Meet me on my ship when you're ready to go," Arunion's voice echoed in his mind. Harry wondered just how Arunion had known that a decision had been reached.
I think that's enough for now. Do you think this is too long? Was writing it over four days while I was in Ireland for Christmas (I'm half Irish and half Scottish), so it was a little longer than my chapters usually are, but hope you enjoy anyway.