Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 34: Those Left Behind
Heero paced in agitation as his fellow Gundam pilots, Rashid, Abdul, Cathy, Zechs, Sally, and the eight members of Taliesin's squad watched him pensively. It had been close to seventy-two hours since Cathy had sent out a frantic call in a blind panic babbling about some damned bird flaming into the room and kidnapping Taliesin right before her eyes. The shrunken Wolfstar had gone completely feral just minutes after Taliesin had vanished and they still hadn't bothered to repair or replace the various pieces of furniture and musical instruments the suit had destroyed (using nothing but its fists since its weapons had been locked at the time) before Quatre had caught him and dropped him into an empty ammunition box with the help of Heero. The suit's small fists could still be heard pounding on the side of the thick metal box in the silence that filled the room.
None of the five teens that Taliesin called brothers had gotten much sleep since they'd returned to the Winner Estate in the wake of Cathy's frantic call and none of them had bothered even pretending to eat. In fact, they hadn't even left the conference room since they'd first gathered (not counting using the bathroom out of necessity); as if walking out of the room would somehow make Taliesin's abrupt disappearance more real or worse, permanent. They didn't care about anything except figuring out how to get their brother back because the idea that they would never see him again was far too painful for any of them to contemplate (it was the same reason why'd they'd surrendered to Zechs after the man had captured the wizard a second time).
The problem, was that the five teens had had no idea how to go about trying to find their missing brother and no starting point at which to begin a search; for how does one travel between different worlds without magic? None of the adults had had any idea of what to do either and the longer Taliesin was gone, the shorter the Gundam pilots' tempers had gotten until they were practically snapping at each other. Cathy had been a mess the entire time because she blamed herself for talking Taliesin into naming (and therefore calling) the bird that had taken off with the wizard.
If not for the various soldiers and other pilots taking up their slack, their efforts to stop the war might have ground to a halt as the five of them practically ceased being able to function. Rashid, Abdul, Sally, and Zechs were a big help in keeping the five pilots from doing anything rash or stupid though, in addition to making certain everyone else carried on with business as usual. The four of them also functioned as a sounding board for any harebrained ideas that the five teens came up with in order to get Taliesin back (such as the one that had all five of them taking off into space in an attempt to track down Taliesin's alternate world).
Zechs was also worried about Taliesin but felt the teen wizard could handle any trouble sent his way and fully believed that Taliesin would find his own way back to them (the pint-sized teen was just that stubborn after all). That was a belief shared by the other eight pilots that made up Taliesin's squad; the eight of them had seen Taliesin pull off some amazing stunts both inside and outside of a suit, after all. The only reason they weren't out on any missions at the moment was because they hadn't felt right going out without their squad leader (even if Zechs could have led them since he was technically the second in command of their ten man squad).
It was into this morose and tense atmosphere that a bright, silvery stag unexpectedly danced through the wall radiating a steady wave of peace and happiness that was overlaid with palpable grief just minutes before one o'clock in the afternoon.
"If the lot of you are done running about like chickens with their heads cut off, I could use a ride," Taliesin's voice drolly announced in a voice that was laced with tension and pain as the stag pranced to a stop facing Heero. "I seem to have found myself unexpectedly stranded somewhere in Scotland and either the distance or the level of magical saturation in the valley I am in is interfering with my connection to Zero and Wolfstar. I don't know where exactly I am in Scotland but if you bring Wolfstar with you, he might be able to find me if my connection to Zero is restored once he gets close enough."
The stag then swung its head so that it faced Trowa and Quatre who were sitting side by side as it continued, "I'm sorry I didn't contact you sooner but I was blindsided by a few things when I first got here and there were a few things I needed to do. There's also the fact that I only just now learned how to use my patronus to send messages and it took me a good two hours to get the spell to work properly. I don't know how long it'll take this message to reach you or how fast a patronus can travel but to give you an idea of the time involved it's currently eight-fifteen a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on August third. Don't know how useful that information will be though."
"I'll send another message in twelve hours if you haven't found me by then and see if I can't give you a little help in case the magic hiding the valley continues to interfere with your ability to pinpoint my location," the stag added as it turned towards Wufei and Duo. "Don't worry about me, I'm not in any danger because anything dangerous that would have made a home here is long dead and their bones long since turned to dust. I… there's much I'm going to have to tell you guys when you get here."
The magically created stag then walked up to brush against Cathy (a silent offer of comfort that was Taliesin's way of letting her know that he didn't blame her for Fawkes taking off with him) before it faded out of existence and as one the five Gundam pilots turned to face each other hardly daring to hope that they'd just seen and heard what they thought they had.
"Did I really just see and hear…?" Sally asked in disbelief, the only one present who hadn't known about Taliesin's magic until she'd been filled in by the others two days earlier when they sought her help in finding their brother. The holographic-like stag was the first bit of proof she'd seen aside from the oddities revolving around the Star Suits and the Gundams that she had written off as technological advances.
"He's in Scotland," Heero hoarsely stated as he leaned weakly against the table. "He's here in this world; in fucking Scotland, of all places."
"Well, why da hell are we just sittin' around here when we coulda been halfway there by now?" Duo demanded as he jumped up from his seat and strode to the door.
"Hold your horses," Rashid ordered. "The lad won't be pleased with any of you if you show up looking like death warmed over and smelling like fresh camel dung on a trash heap. Go gather up anything you think might help you pinpoint his exact location, grab something to eat so you don't pass out from low blood sugar, and for crying out loud go take a shower and put on clean clothes!"
"I'll get a cargo plane ready; since we'll need something that will fit most of us and flying a dozen or so mobile suits isn't really advisable least we attract unwanted attention," Zechs added as he rose to his feet before he pointed to the three space pilots Taliesin had befriended during his early days as part of the Resistance out in space. "You three, however, will be taking your suits just in case we need the firepower in the event that Taliesin isn't as safe as he thinks he is or we run into OZ, Treize, or the Alliance en route. Sally, Rashid; I trust the two of you will hold the fort here until we get back?"
"Of course," Sally replied automatically as she shook off the shock of seeing and hearing a glowing silver deer talk with Taliesin's familiar voice.
"I will go with you," Abdul declared after glancing towards Rashid, the Maganacs' second in command very fond of Taliesin as he saw the wizard as his honorary nephew (as did most of the other Maganacs).
"Don't bother with the cargo plane; if the place where he ended up is as saturated with magic as he believes it is, then the plane would only fail the moment we got close enough," Heero interjected before Zechs could leave the room. "We'll have to take one of the two warded shuttles that we returned to Earth in."
Three hours and twenty minutes later, the seventeen of them (sixteen humans and one rather angry suit) were racing off towards Scotland in one shuttle and three mobile suits. Those not occupied with piloting a suit or the shuttle were busy pulling up maps and satellite feeds of Scotland so that they could figure out where Taliesin was likely to have ended up (Quatre continuing to keep an eye on the still imprisoned Wolfstar to make certain the sentient suit didn't cause any more trouble).
Shortly after losing sight of the silver stag, Harry resumed his wandering around the grounds and after a few hours spent picking his way through the ruins of the school's greenhouses, he found himself staring sadly at the melted remains of the three goal posts that had once stood proudly on the north end of the Quidditch Pitch. He then glanced up towards the Forbidden Forest that somehow seemed empty and pathetic as opposed to dark and dangerous as it had the last time he'd seen it. The aching in his heart increased with each additional sign of mindless destruction as Harry slowly made his way to the half burnt shell of Hagrid's old cabin sitting just a few feet away from the edge of the forest.
He was absently toeing what he was certain was one of Hagrid's infamous rock cakes (apparently not even time or weapons of mass destruction could destroy the hard cakes) when he heard a sound coming from the direction of the forest and felt eyes watching him. Turning slowly, keeping his face pointed towards the ground so as not to let who or whatever it was know he'd heard them; Harry scanned the edge of the forest from the corner of his eye. He was a bit startled to find a couple of skeletal horse-like creatures (that looked half starved) watching him from the shadows beneath the trees.
Lifting his head so he could see them better, Harry held the rest of his body perfectly still as he tried to think of what they might possibly be. As he watched the pair, a smaller version of the strange winged horses pushed forward from behind them and trotted out a ways towards Harry. The adult creatures whickered at what could only be a baby version of them and Harry nearly cringed as the sound they produced wasn't exactly pleasant.
Apparently, the baby creature didn't listen to its minders any better than a human child would when overly curious, as the gangly thing continued to move closer to where Harry was standing in the middle of Hagrid's former home. Not wanting to appear intimidating, least the two adult creatures attack in defense of the little one, Harry slowly moved to the edge of the ruins and sat down on the stone steps that once led to Hagrid's front door with his hands in plain sight. The baby paused and glanced nervously back at the two adults before trotting several feet closer, it's wings twitching much like Harry's often did when he was nervous.
"You're a brave little boy, or girl, aren't you?" Harry asked softly. "Wish I knew what you were; it would be easier to know what to expect because for all I know you're only interested in getting closer to me because I look like a tasty snack." The sound of Harry's voice must have fueled the baby's curiosity because not a minute after Harry had finished speaking the creature had dashed right up to him and stopped just out of reach.
Now that he could see it up close, the animal looked like a strange cross between a dragon and a winged horse with scaly skin that had absolutely no fur. Its wings reminded Harry sharply of Norbert's wings (or possibly a bat's wings) as they appeared thin and leathery rather than feathered (like a winged horse's wings). Its mane was made up of short, thick, coarse hairs that stuck out stiffly from its neck. The long hairs of its tail were just as thick and coarse and probably would have stuck out like its mane if not for the fact that each strand was nearly two feet in length. Its eyes were an unsettling luminous white with no pupils and far more intelligent than Harry had expected them to be. A casual glance towards the underside of the animal revealed the baby to be a little girl.
"A girl, well I suppose you could be considered beautiful for whatever it is you are," Harry murmured as he slowly lifted his hand out palm upwards (his fingers carefully held together); curious to see if she would come any closer. He took his eyes off of her for only a split second to note that the two adults had finally stepped out from beneath the shadows of the forest before glancing back at the filly. "It looks like your parents are a little worried that I might be trouble."
The little girl snorted and danced on her hooves before she reached forward and snuffled at Harry's hand. Hardly daring to breathe, Harry held his hand still and prayed he wasn't about to lose any fingers as the filly inched two steps closer. A second later, Harry had a handful of muzzle as the baby nuzzled his hand and he marveled at the unexpected coolness of her skin as it felt much like snakeskin, only smoother since it lacked scales. He let his fingers tickle and scratch her chin and in no time at all she was crowding in closer to him and rubbing her face up and down on his chest as he stroked and scratched her neck.
The two adults moved close enough that Harry could see them clearly not long after that (though they remained well out of reach) and Harry caught a brief glimpse of razor sharp incisors and canines when one of them cried out a second time; a clear indication that these horse-like creatures were not herbivores. It made him all the more conscious of just how close he'd potentially come to losing a finger or two by offering his hand to the baby that was enjoying the attention he was lavishing on her. The other thing that Harry noted about the two adults was that they appeared to be far older than he'd originally thought as their black hide was turning gray in a number of places.
"The stars foretold you would one day return; Child Torn from Time," A deep, gravely voice declared and Harry jerked his head around with frightened eyes to find a grizzled old centaur staring at him from the center of what had once been Hagrid's pumpkin patch. "Do not be alarmed, neither I nor the thestrals will harm you. None of those that have taken refuge in the forest would harm the last mage."
"Thestrals? Last mage? Child Torn from Time? I don't understand… Who… May I ask you who you are?"
"The youngling that is so infatuated with you is called a thestral; she is only one of three foals born to the dwindling thestral herd in the last century (all born within these last three years) and the hope of her entire race along with the older two young males. I am called Obduro, as my sire and my sire's sire were called before me. And I am the last centaur as you are the last of the race of humans known as mages or as the humans once called themselves; wizards."
"The last…? You mean there are no other wizards anywhere? No witches? But… but I know humans that have traces of magic… they may be squibs but they still possess magic."
"Magic began dying when the stars fell silent and the other humans killed the wizards out of fear. The earth wept and the heavens remained dark for many decades until a single star foretold that the Child of Prophecy would one day return to us. A child who had been torn from time and sent across the ages to save those that remained," Obduro rasped before he coughed harshly, his health obviously in decline. "I had feared that I would join my ancestors amongst the stars before you were found. Long have the centaurs watched and waited for you so that you might claim your legacy and save those that were left behind least we fade from the world for all eternity."
"I have healing potions… is there something I can do for you to ease your pain?"
"Potions can not cure old age though your offer warms my heart because it means you hold none of the old prejudices my sire and my memories told me your kind once held for those not of human descent."
"Is there nothing I can do to help you?"
"If you truly wish to help; promise me that you will care for those who need you," Obduro rumbled as he gestured to the filly still nuzzling Harry. "Your magic is all that stands between the last of the children of those who were left behind and certain death."
"How is that even possible? Don't magical creatures have magic of their own?"
"Yes, but unlike wizards we are not born with magical cores. We draw our magic from the world around us and without any human mages to feed their magic to the earth we've slowly been starving. These past three years there has been more magic in the air than there was during my sire's entire lifetime and is the sole reason why many of the refugees that hid in the once flourishing forest have given birth to a record number of children over the last three years. Yet it is not enough for those of us who are at the end of our lives; such as the phoenix on your shoulder. When the steady flow of magic cut off abruptly last autumn we feared that you had been lost to us until the magic returned stranger than ever this past spring and the heavens grew brighter in anticipation of the day you would walk the hallowed grounds of your ancestors once more."
"Three years? I woke up on a beach in Japan three years ago… wait… did you just say that Fawkes is dying?"
"Yes. He does not have enough magic left to fuel his rebirth after having brought you to us," Obduro solemnly stated with a grave nod before he broke into another coughing fit. "He too has long waited here for your return and the moment he heard you call upon him, he sacrificed more than half of his magic to bring you here so that the others might live."
"Things are all so confusing, up until Fawkes dragged me back here I didn't even know I was still in the world I was born in; I thought Padfoot had sent me to a completely different world. Then I learn that I was actually shoved through time while the world went insane after I disappeared which resulted in all magical beings and creatures being hunted down by muggles like rapid wolves. And now you're telling me that not only am I the only wizard left on Earth but I'm the only one standing between a future for an untold number of magical creatures and complete and utter extinction?"
"It is a painful burden we must bear to keep magic's legacy alive."
"I can't make any promises that I can do what you are asking me to do," Harry stated in a pained voice as he slowly rose to his feet and nearly got knocked over by the filly before he steadied himself. "I am only one person and I don't know much of anything about caring for magical creatures (not counting the few creatures I learned about in class) but I can promise to at least try. I think the world would be a poorer place if there were no magical creatures in it."
"Then I can rest easy knowing that I have fulfilled my duty," Obduro intoned as he pulled a thick tome from a bag that hung across his back and pushed the heavy book into Harry's hands. "This is a written record of the creatures still living in the forest as well as a record of those that were lost through the years. I do not know if there are other survivors in other magical forests around the world but I have diligently kept track of the numbers here as my sire and his sire before me did when they were called Obduro and it was their duty to guard magic's legacy."
"What will happen to you now?"
"I will return to my home and die knowing that I fulfilled my duty despite also knowing my death will mean the end of all centaurs."
"You know… humans can create life. Not just in the normal sense but with their science they can bring forth life without needing both the male and female of any species. I don't know if it would work for magical beings and creatures but it couldn't hurt to try. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you are willing to take a chance, you might not have to be the last centaur to ever walk this world."
"I will need to consult the stars for your words have stirred a long dead dream inside of me," Obduro replied slowly after staring at Harry for nearly eight minutes in stunned shock. "I will return at sunrise next to give you an answer."
Harry watched the centaur slowly trot away and Harry felt his heart ache for all that had been lost because of the foolish actions of three power hungry wizards. He glanced down at the filly that had curled up at his feet and fallen asleep and simply watched her breathe for a few minutes. Harry then groaned as he realized that his brothers were currently on their way to get him. A soft trill from Harry's shoulder let him know the phoenix was once again awake and Harry knew that he couldn't just walk away from the creatures that so obviously needed him. This wasn't something he could pass along to someone else because if what the centaur had said was true; then Harry truly was the only one that could save the remaining magical creatures.
Glancing down at the book he still held in his hands (absently noting that the cover had been made from tree bark and the pages from pressed wood pulp and plant fibers); Harry sighed, sat back down, opened it up, and skimmed through the foreword at the front of the book (frowning as he read through the information written about ley lines) before he flipped to the last entry at the back of the book. He felt his breath catch as he noted the date of the entry before he tore his eyes away from the damning numbers to read what Obduro had written.
Once he finished reading that small section, he began skimming backwards through the rest of the entries and felt his heart grow heavy as he noted just how many creatures had died through the years and how many species no longer existed as far as Obduro knew. He did feel a little lighter knowing that there were still a few unicorns and that there was a trio of hippogriffs left in the forest but the knowledge that so few of them remained still hurt. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly thrilled to learn that there was still a small colony of acromantula living in the forest but supposed that they had just as much right to live as any other creature.
It didn't take long for Harry to get lost in the tome of records as he flipped through the pages. It wasn't until the napping filly woke up and forcefully sought his attention that he pulled his nose out of the book and absently scratched the young thestral as he glanced at his watch to find that he'd missed lunch completely. Seeing that it had been nearly eight hours since he'd sent off his patronus, Harry glanced up at the sky to see if he could see one of the Gundams, a plane, or something. When he found nothing but blue sky, a few sparrows, and a handful of scattered white clouds, Harry sagged in despair as he'd hoped they would have gotten his message and started looking for him by now.
He closed the book he'd been skimming through at that point and stared at the cover for several long minutes. The words of the centaur proclaiming him as the last wizard echoed through his mind as the enormity of what he'd promised the ancient being hit him hard. Tightening his grip on the magical census, Harry felt a wave of panic wash through him at the mere thought of being responsible for an entire world. He tasted bile as his stomach threatened to unload itself and he swallowed thickly as he beat back the need to vomit alongside the anxiety. No matter how daunting the job he'd just been tasked with by Obduro, he had to at least try; he owed it to the innocent creatures and beings that suffered due to the actions of his kind.
After a few minutes of indecision, Harry called forth another patronus and gave it a new message to pass along to his brothers, "Guys, there's something that's come up… I… I don't know how close you are or if you even got my first message but well… I don't think I can come home just yet. I can explain better once you get here since I doubt you'll just turn around and go home without at least attempting to drag me with you but well… It'll be easier to show you when you get here. If you don't find me before the sun sets, then I will set off some fireworks to mark my position and hope you will see them. If I don't see you before eight p.m. this evening, then I will assume that you never got my first message and will send you another to give you more information."
Harry watched the stag speed away, absently noting that the two adult thestrals had moved closer and watched the stag as well. He then spent the remainder of the afternoon watching the filly frolicking about while he kept one eye on the sky for any sign of his brothers and the other on his watch to mark the passing time. The minutes began to crawl with agonizing slowness as the sun neared the horizon and each minute that passed without any evidence that his brothers were coming for him unearthed another old insecurity.
It didn't help that he'd spent the past three days being hit with blow after blow while trapped in the one place that had been both hell and home for him for four agonizingly wonderful years of pain and pleasure. Old memories, most of them rather painful, had been dredged up from the depths of his sub consciousness and only added to uncertainty and he couldn't help the seeds of doubt that sprouted in his heart. Were his brothers happy that he'd disappeared? Were the others pleased that they were no longer burdened with his presence? Were they actually celebrating the fact that he was gone?
Shaking his head, Harry sharply told himself to stop tormenting himself; his brothers had risked worse than a blind trip from the Arabian Peninsula to Scotland to save him or protect him. He knew they cared about him; they had shown him time and time again just how much they cared for him over the past year. His fears then veered sharply in the other direction. Did his messages even reach his brothers? Were his brothers still alive? Had they been captured once again? Was he really in the same world or could this just be some sick illusion that Dumbledore had trapped him in the moment Fawkes returned him? Had the last three years actually been nothing more than an elaborate vision intended to torment him? Did his family actually exist or had they been nothing more than a fevered dream created by his fractured mind?
Before he could descend into a complete panic, a comforting trill from the sleepy Fawkes soothed Harry's anxiety and allowed him to get a grip on his out of control imagination. As soon as his fears receded the phoenix nuzzled his neck fondly before he drifted back to sleep. Taking a deep breath, the teenaged wizard took a few minutes to center his emotions before he checked the position of the sun and noted that night was rapidly falling as the sky continued to darken. Realizing that there was a chance that they hadn't been able to locate him due to the magic surrounding Hogwarts, Harry pulled out the trunk filled with the countless boxes of magical junk he'd collected and began hunting for the ones he'd taken from the twins' store so he could dig out some of the fireworks he recalled packing up.
It ended up taking him nearly forty-five minutes to find the box he'd packed the fireworks in and then another ten minutes to set up one of the larger rockets that was labeled 'deluxe dragon'. Once he managed to launch the rocket, he finally noticed that the sun had long since set but figured his brothers wouldn't complain too loudly since he hadn't been too terribly late. On the plus side, Harry wouldn't need to set off another firework because the huge neon green dragon that had exploded into existence wouldn't fade for another eight hours (according to the adverts on the box the firework had been packaged inside). As he lit the surrounding area with several soft globes of light, he only hoped the dragon didn't wonder off too far or otherwise his brothers would miss him completely.
It turned out that Harry needn't have bothered with the fireworks to pinpoint his location as the mental connection he shared with Zero and Wolfstar slammed back into existence quite unexpectedly about thirty-eight minutes after he'd set off the dragon. He was nearly overwhelmed by the agitation that flowed through the link but he quickly scolded the childish suit to calm it down before giving it the mental equivalent of a comforting hug. He realized the suit was just distressed by the disruption of their bond (as much as an artificial being could be distressed) but he couldn't allow the suit to bombard him like that, least the sentient suit take it as a sign of weakness and make an attempt to take over his mind once more.
An hour after he reconnected with Wolfstar, the shrunken suit dropped down out of the sky and latched onto Harry as a familiar trio of mobile suits landed on the former Quidditch pitch (the flattest place on the castle grounds). The arrival of the suits ended up spooking the thestrals and the two adults instinctively fled back into the forest while the little filly crowded up against Harry. Fawkes stirred for a moment on his shoulder but didn't wake and Harry felt a pang of grief shoot through him at the blunt reminder that the phoenix was nearing the end of his life. His earlier anger at the mythical bird for taking him away from his family and refusing to take him home long gone in the wake of everything he'd learned from the portraits and the centaur.
"What did you do to irritate your brothers now, Taliesin?" Takoda called out as he walked up to Harry while another three members of Harry's squad spread out to secure the perimeter and search for hostiles. The pilots of the other two suits stayed in their suits in order to send their current coordinates and potential safe landing zones to the plane carrying Harry's brothers.
"Trouble found me like it usually does," Harry called back with a pained laugh as he gave the thestral a few reassuring pats while the pilot curiously studied the sleeping phoenix on Harry's shoulder. He then glanced towards those that were checking out the grounds and raised his voice as he ordered, "Do not enter the forest, do not wander out of my line of site, and whatever you do, don't shoot or kill anything no matter what you see."
Once Harry was certain that the other three wouldn't be in any danger and wouldn't accidentally wipe out any magical creatures, he turned his attention back to Takoda as the nineteen year old asked, "So that's the critter that kicked the hornet's nest three days ago, huh?"
"Yeah… turns out he'd been waiting on me to call him for a few years at least. How far out are my brothers and who all is coming with them? Oh and what are they flying? There aren't that many safe places they can land around here. Damn, I hope they don't try to land in the lake; they might cause problems for the creatures living in there. Hold on, I better contact them. Keep an eye on sleeping beauty here for me, will you?"
Harry passed the sleeping phoenix to Takoda without waiting for a reply and restored Wolfstar before quickly scrambling up into the cockpit to talk to his brothers, taking the time to give Wolfstar a few reassuring pats to let him know he had missed him as well. Two minutes later, Harry was being chastised by all five brothers at once as they talked over and around each other on their laptops.
"Are the five of you quite finished now or do I have to turn the radio off and give you an hour to calm down?" Harry inquired with a touch of exasperation as he stared at them over the top of his glasses after giving them a few minutes to vent. "I told I'd tell you what happened and what I'd learned when you got here and it's easier to show you the problem while I explain. Now, what are you flying in on and where are you intending to land? The ecosystem here is in an extremely fragile state and even a single death could well send an entire species into extinction because there are only one of some of these guys still around."
"We're in the original shuttle that you had warded and there's a lake…" Heero began only for Harry to cut him off.
"Absolutely not! The lake is home to dozens of dying species and introducing any pollutants into their ecosystem could see them all wiped out in an instant. There should be some overgrown train tracks about eight miles south of the castle ruins, you can land on those; they should be flat enough and there should be a long enough stretch of level land to pull it off. I can send Wolfstar to pick… I guess not, he's growling at me. I can ask the guys to go pick you up once you land."
"Alright… we'll be there in about forty-five minutes," Trowa replied after glancing away from the screen for a moment.
"Oh and Taliesin… nice touch with da dragon," Duo drawled as he sent Harry a stunning picture of the glittering firework dragon that had been taken by one of the many satellites orbiting the earth.
Harry laughed as he admired the photo for a minute before he stated, "I'll see you guys in a bit. I'd stick around longer but I need to go collect the phoenix from Takoda before the bird thinks I've abandoned him and he gets upset with me." That of course set his brothers off as they were worried the bird would take off with Harry a second time only for Harry to yell at them in return this time.
"Enough! He didn't drag me up here to hurt me or rip me away from you guys; he brought me here because I am needed here. He's dying guys… he's a magical creature known for living thousands upon thousands of years, a species that is considered practically immortal, and he's dying. All of them are dying. The unicorns, the winged horses, the pixies… Hell there's only one centaur left and he's probably not going to last more than a day or two because he's so old and he's sick. He wouldn't even allow me to help him. Hundreds of other magical creatures and beings have already become extinct; they're gone. That's it, that's all, there ain't no more. Just g-o-n-e; gone."
There was complete silence as Harry cut off and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he shook beneath the onslaught of his volatile emotions for a moment. Once he'd calmed down a bit, Harry continued in a much softer tone, "I'm certain these past few days were almost as hard on you as they have been on me and I should not have yelled but there is far more at stake here than you know. I've been hit with shock after shock since the moment Fawkes carried me away and I was hit with the biggest one of all only a few hours after I sent my first patronus message. I… I'll see you guys in a bit."
Harry cut the connection and spent a moment reassuring Wolfstar that he wasn't angry with the suit before he dropped down out of the cockpit. He was bowled over seconds later by a frantic thestral and nearly had several tufts of hair pulled out by an equally upset phoenix. Sighing, Harry spent several minutes reassuring both creatures as Takoda watched him with a bemused look on his face.
"Can you take Brian and Haddock with you to go pick up the others from the southern side of the castle in about a half an hour? Better yet, can one of you head that way now and light up the overgrown train tracks that sit about eight miles south of the castle so they will have an easier time landing? The three of you can then bring them back with you because as much as I'd love to make them walk, just to give them time to cool their tempers, I think it would only serve to annoy them more."
"There's never a dull minute with you around, you know that Taliesin? One quick question… what exactly is that horse-like creature supposed to be?"
"She's something called a thestral but beyond that I couldn't tell you since I never knew such creatures existed until today. She's one of three babies born in the last three years and apparently the only hope for her species as she's the only female in her generation."
"The only…? Can't you just clone a few?"
"There's no guarantee that cloning would work for magical creatures," Harry softly explained as he ran his fingers through the small thestral's stiff mane as she leaned heavily against him and chewed on his shirt. "If it works, great, but I'd still need viable D.N.A. samples from which to work and it's not like I can just walk down to the nearest pet store to pick up a couple of thestrals or unicorns or dragons to run endless tests on."
"That does make it a bit more difficult. Wait… what… did you say dragons?"
"They're extinct. The last one died well over two hundred years ago according to the records I was given."
"Who gave you the records? I didn't see anyone else when we first arrived and I could have sworn that your earlier message said there wasn't anything living 'round here."
"I didn't know there was anyone or anything still alive in the forest when I sent my first message. And it was an old centaur who explained to me that the various magical creatures living here have been steadily dying out; a dying centaur who also just happens to be the last of his kind."
"That's depressing," Takoda murmured.
"If cloning works on magical beings, and he is willing, centaurs will be one of the first I work to bring back in honor of all that they did to save as many as they could."
Nothing further was said between the two of them as Takoda returned to Dogstar in order to carry out Harry's' earlier request while Harry struggled to free his shirt from the apparently teething thestral. Harry ended up conjuring a piece of ice for the filly in exchanged for his shirt hem and the teen had a good laugh over the antics of the filly as the young thestral got the ice stuck to the tip of her nose and began dancing about and making funny faces as she tried to get it off. He glanced up a minute later as the three suits headed south to light up the tracks so the others could land even as the familiar shuttle cruised by overhead before it banked south and east as it prepared to land.
While they were gone, Harry checked on the location of the three pilots patrolling the area and conjured several more globes of light before he dropped into his food storage and dug out a trio of five pound packs of ground beef to see if the thestral was hungry because the two adult thestrals had not yet returned and it didn't appear as if the filly planned to leave his side any time soon. As soon as he returned to the surface and opened the first packet, the little filly began salivating and dancing about him eagerly as she tried to snatch the entire pack out of his hands. He had to hip check her a couple of times to get her to settle down so that he could conjure a small wooden trough that he broke the ground meat up into so she wouldn't eat the packaging or his fingers in her apparent haste.
It was more than a little disturbing to see a creature that looked so much like a horse gobbling down clumps of raw meat but he supposed it wasn't much different than watching the snakes eat rodents and at least she wasn't demanding live prey like the snakes often did. She'd only worked her way through about two pounds of ground beef from that first pack when the suits landed once more on the pitch and a large group of people (far more than Harry expected) bore down on him (including the three that had been checking the area for threats).
All sixteen people stumbled to a stop when they caught sight of Harry feeding the thestral raw meat before they shook off the oddity and continued forward to hug him (Cathy and Quatre), slap him on the back (Wufei, Abdul, and Zechs), slap him upside the back of the head (Heero, Duo, and Trowa), or verbally greet him (the rest of his squad).
"What exactly is that?" Heero asked after everyone had finished greeting Harry.
"She's a thestral and the future of an entire species as she's the only female of her generation. There are two males slightly older than her somewhere in the forest but I haven't seen them yet. All three of them are the first thestrals born in over a hundred years."
"Where exactly are we?" Zechs asked as he glanced around at the ruined castle and the cottage they were standing beside.
Harry broke up the last of the meat from the package he'd opened and dropped it for the thestral before he vanished the packaging and cleaned his hands off with a quick spell. He then strode a few feet away and swept his arm out dramatically in the direction of the moonlit ruins of the castle as he turned to face his friends and family and grandly intoned, "Please allow me to bid you welcome to Crystal Valley* and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; once known as the finest magical school in all of Europe."
"Hogwarts…? Wait… didn't you…? Wasn't that…? How is that even possible?" Cathy spluttered as she looked up at the darkened castle only to gasp and press her hands to her mouth as she took in the obviously less than perfect condition of said castle. "What happened?"
"Harry?" Trowa called softly when Harry's entire demeanor folded in on itself and he dejectedly walked back to where the thestral was licking the wooden trough clear of all the scraps and began breaking up another package of ground beef.
"The wizarding world was torn apart from the inside out by Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort after I vanished when they started an all out war against each other in their efforts to rule the world. It was then systematically destroyed from the outside by the muggles that they'd angered with their egotistical efforts to destroy one another," Harry began in a voice thick with suppressed emotion as he finished crumbling the pack of meat and cleaned his hands a second time.
"Some twenty years or so after my godfather sent me away with whatever magical device he'd found or cobbled together… close to eight thousand men, women, and children (all witches and wizards) were cornered here at Hogwarts; their last refuge from the ravages of war. They were then imprisoned and subsequently executed for the crime of being born magical by the muggles that had been hunting them for at least ten years due to the actions of a handful of magical terrorists. By the time another ten years passed all but a handful of witches and wizards had been exterminated like vermin and since then magic has been slowly fading and vanishing from the world."
Harry paused and glanced up to meet the concerned gazes of those who'd come to rescue him, his mismatched eyes filled with pain, anger, grief, and unshed tears as he continued, "Magical creatures and beings were also relentlessly hunted during that period of time. Hogwarts, or what is left of it, only remains standing because the castle sits on the nexus of some fifteen ley lines that run through Scotland. It is for that reason alone that the surviving magical creatures from all over this part of the world began gathering here to hide from those that hunted them."
"This book holds a written record of the steady decline of all magical species due to the endless persecution by muggles and the slow starvation caused by the vanishing magic," Harry added as he brandished the book of records entrusted to him by Obduro. "It was given to me by an ancient centaur who is the only one of his kind left in this world – unless by some miracle there are more scattered about the world but Obduro seemed certain he was the very last of his kind."
"My godfather didn't find a way to send me to a new world; he sent me forward in time and all this time… after holding onto the hope that my old friends still lived on somewhere… I find out they've been dead for ages and long since forgotten by the world and I wasn't there for them when they needed me. Everything, or nearly everything, an entire society wiped off the face of the Earth and the cold, hard truth of what happened to them long since stricken from the history books. I think I much preferred to believe that I'd ended up in some fantastical new world."
"The records in this book start in the year two thousand seventeen and the latest entry, written by Obduro the Third just three days earlier, is dated for July thirty-first, two thousand four hundred sixty-four. Four hundred and sixty-six years; my godfather threw me four hundred and sixty-six years into the future." Harry gave a bitter laugh as he glanced down at the book in his hands and reflexively tightened his grip on the tome as the bitter truth hit him full force once more.
"You know I never stopped wanting to believe that somewhere in this world there were wizards and witches hiding away and that one day I'd find them. In case you're wondering; there aren't. I am the last wizard. I am the only mage, as Obduro called me, in the entire world and according to him I am the only one standing between the last of the magical creatures and certain extinction. If I die, they die; because only a mage can breathe new magic back into the earth because mages are the only magical beings born with a magical core capable of producing magic."
"Apparently ley lines don't draw magic from the Earth's core and spread that magic throughout the known world as wizards once believed; they actually draw magic from the air and water and funnel it into the Earth where it is absorbed by the plants which in turn are eventually eaten by various creatures who are in turn eaten by other creatures, providing magical creatures with the magic they so desperately need to survive. It is human mages that produce the magic the ley lines draw upon; magic that witches and wizards breathe into the world with every breath they take and every spell they cast. Something that wasn't discovered until long after the last wizard died according to the foreword found at the beginning of this journal."
"The very air here is practically saturated with magic because the ley line nexus here (one of the largest nexuses in the world) has been drawing every last drop of errant magic it could draw from the world over the past four centuries. All of the magic I've cast over the last three years (while on earth) has also been drawn to places like Hogwarts. If not for the nexus, the remaining wards around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade would have collapsed hundreds of years earlier due to the magic being pulled from them by other nexuses. Another ten to twenty years probably would have seen them beginning to fail anyway if not for the sudden influx of my magic starting from three years earlier."
"What exactly does all of that mean for you?" Zechs asked while he eyed the juvenile thestral as she finished licking the trough clean a second time before she tried digging into Harry's pocket where he'd tucked the last pack of ground beef.
"Aside from the fact that I'm going to have to either clone myself or find a woman willing to tolerate me long enough to hopefully father a few little witches and wizards to breathe new magic into the world because eventually I'm going to grow old and die as well? I don't have a fucking clue. Obduro asked me to promise him I'd take care of the creatures and I promised I would try. Science and cloning might help bring the populations of those that are on the verge of extinction back from the brink but that is only if it is possible to clone that which makes a magical creature or being magical."
"Why would that prevent ya from comin' home?" Duo asked with a frown. "I mean… couldn't ya work from home where ya'd have access ta everything ya might need?"
"I could… but they can't," Harry replied as he gestured to the thestral still nosing his pocket, the phoenix sleeping on his shoulder, and the glittering eyes of small number of creatures that had been drawn to the edge of the forest by Harry's earlier uses of magic and the disturbances created by the mobile suits. "Taking them away from the gathered magic here would kill them within days and I can't exactly take care of them properly from a distance."
"Why do you have to take care of them? I mean, they've been doing just fine on their own for years. Couldn't they get by without you for several more while you continue to use your magic from wherever you are?" Wufei logically inquired.
"They haven't been surviving entirely on their own; the centaurs dedicated their lives to helping as many of the creatures survive as possible. Even if the adults of each species could survive on their own, most of them are old and at the end of their lifespan and the young would be defenseless if their parents died before they could grow up. Babies like this little filly wouldn't have a chance on their own; they'd become spider food the instant they tried to walk through the forest alone. And yes, there are still a number of giant spiders in there according to the records; even if they aren't anywhere near as large or as numerous as the ones I encountered in my second year. They have thrived in comparison to the other species because they will eat anything that they come across that can't fight them off."
"May I see the journal?" Wufei asked after taking a moment to digest Harry's reply.
Harry passed over the book without hesitation before he addressed the entire group softly, "I never expected something like this to be dropped into my lap but I wouldn't feel right just walking away from the responsibility knowing there is no one else out there who could take up the slack. And maybe everything the five of you have taught me over the last year will increase my chances of success here because there's no way in hell I will be able to do it all with magic alone. Just because I stay here though, doesn't mean that I won't ever see you guys or can't help you when you need me too. It's just… this is my legacy, to borrow the centaur's words, and if I don't at least try to save it; then it will all disappear in a few short years and it would have been my fault."
"What can we do to help?" Brian asked as he reached out and ran a hand over the back of the filly making her startle and turn around to eye him nervously; the older man speaking for Harry's entire squad. "We told you before we'll follow where you lead and I seriously doubt that you'll be able to do everything that needs to be done all by yourself."
"Any of you know how to build a barn or repair a broken magical castle?" Harry asked with a small smile of appreciation.
Translations: Latin to English
Obduro – to be hard, persist, endure, last, hold out. (I thought it a fitting name for the last three male centaurs that had lived their out lives to fulfill their duty to the other creatures of the forest.)
Notes:
*Crystal Valley – I was originally going to call the large valley where Hogwarts and Hogsmeade could be found the Valley of the Hogs (in order to keep with the 'hog' theme of the castle and the village) but each time I wrote that out I felt like I lost another brain cell because it sounded so stupid. So, I dove back into Arthurian Legend and stumbled upon a reference to Merlin's Crystal Cave and thought it would be appropriate to call the valley Crystal Valley as a tribute from the Founders to Merlin since they would have been after his time and would have potentially held him in high regards.
Just to be clear; in this story Merlin's cave is not in Crystal Valley, Hogwarts is not Camelot, Hogwarts is also not Avalon, and the only link Hogwarts has to anything related to Merlin is the fact that it is a magical school and that the Founders held the mage in high esteem.
AN: And now we know exactly when Harry ended up… specifics on why he ended up that far into the future will turn up in later chapters. We also find that Harry isn't the only magical survivor even if he is the only wizard left; there are squibs after all as we've seen with the five pilots. The reason why there are squibs but no full wizards or witches (even weak ones) will also be explained a few chapters down the road.
As for my logic in determining which species of magical creatures survived; I based it upon size, magical needs, and diet. Dragons are huge and require lots of food so naturally they would be harder to sustain than a magical spider. Those creatures that ate other magical creatures would also live longer because they would be surviving off of the other creatures. I also tried to take into consideration with lifespan of each species with the longer lived creatures enduring longer simply because they lived longer.
We also now know what it was that affected Harry when he left Earth's atmosphere and when he finally touched back down upon the Earth when they returned. It was the connection between his magical core and the Earth. I know you're probably sick of hearing me say this but more information on cores, connections, and souls will be visited in later chapters so I won't say anymore here.
Harry is also being forced to face the fact that his noble and selfish intentions of avoiding romantic entanglements are futile. The individual that I chose to play his counter part in this story will be properly introduced in the chapter after next and all I will say is that she is a canon character from the GW Verse. Those of you who were hoping that I might have brought someone else from the HP world forward; I'm sorry, Harry is the only HP canon character alive in the future. The fates of his old friends, family, and enemies will be revealed in later chapters.
In the mean time, I'll wish everyone a happy holiday and thank you in advance for your reviews as I'll not be posting anything else until after the twenty-fifth and probably won't even sneak on to read until afterwards either. The good news is that the twenty-sixth is only four days away. Anyway, the next chapter will address how Harry plans to handle his new responsibility and what part the other pilots will play in preserving Harry's legacy. It's mostly an informational chapter, unfortunately, but it's important information. It is a rather short chapter though, so hopefully it won't be too tedious.
Anywho… hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you again in four days! ~ Jenn