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 48: The Birth of a Nation
Harry stood, with both phoenixes perched upon his shoulders, at the top of the main staircase just above the Entrance Hall behind an illusion ward that hid his presence and watched as his family, friends, employees, and guests (both willing and unwilling) gathered in the entryway. He'd spent the past three hours cleaning up both the Entrance Hall and the Great Hall and organizing the food and entertainment in preparation of the rather rushed gala he was hosting in Relena's honor. If it wasn't for magic, it wouldn't have been possible but Harry always managed to do his best when hard pressed for time. It also helped that he had family, friends, and close to one hundred portraits of knowledgeable witches and wizards that were willing to help him to pull off the impossible.
A small number of the Maganacs had agreed to prepare the feast which would be comprised entirely of traditional English and Scottish dishes that were pre-made (Harry having pulled them from the last of the supplies that Sirius had sent through time with him). To drink he'd pulled out a large supply of butterbeer, pumpkin juice, and Rosmerta's mead in addition to water, wine, and several types of juice. Finally, for desert there was a large selection of pies, cakes, puddings, and tarts as well as a variety of wizarding treats (including some homemade fudge from Honeydukes that Harry had taken from the stash in his trunk). A group of Maganac had fetched, sanded, and cleaned the tables that Harry, Brian, Haddock, and Takoda had salvaged from around the castle while Harry used his magic to hang up several banners that included the Hogwarts' coat of arms, all four Founders' crests, the Potter Crest, and the Black Crest on the walls.
Obduro had agreed to stand as Harry's herald for the evening once Harry had explained what he was trying to do to the aged centaur. Harry's brothers would each be escorting one of the unattached ladies that had been invited on the tour; Heero was escorting Relena, Duo was escorting Hilde, Trowa was escorting Iria, Quatre was escorting Major Po, and Wufei was escorting Cathy. Zechs had chosen to escort Lucrezia and Treize was escorting Une (Harry had considered banning those last two from the tour but he decided it would be far too petty of him and he knew he could insure their silence with a non-disclosure contract or a memory charm or two if needs be).
The young ladies that had been attending Relena's school of pacifism (most of whom were the daughters of prominent political figures from those nations on friendly terms with the Sanc Kingdom) were being escorted by one of Harry's unattached employees, or one of the unattached pilots that had followed Harry and his brothers to Earth. Harry himself would be escorting Dorothy while the rest of Quatre's sisters that were on Earth were being escorted by their husbands or significant others (if they were not single and their partner was present) or one of the Maganac. The five rebel scientists that he'd rescued (twice now) were there as well and Harry frowned briefly as he eyed the obvious technological prosthetics used by Doctor J; worried that the magic saturating the valley might be causing him problems.
He made a mental note to address the issue after his introduction.
Once everyone had gathered, Harry would be introduced by Obduro before he gave what he was privately calling the two-bit split-second tour of the castle with a dash of history; the time spent guiding everyone through the castle meant to give the Maganacs on cooking duty close to two extra hours in which to prepare the meal and finish setting up the Great Hall. When he was done giving the short history lesson and tour of the castle, he would lead the group down to the Great Hall for the feast. After the meal, he planned to give them a tour of the grounds and the clinic while the Maganacs cleared the Great Hall for the evening's entertainment.
Harry's attention was brought back to the present as Obduro gave a long, low call on the hollowed ram's horn he carried with him (one of three musical instruments the centaurs favored – the other two being the pan flute and the cornet). Silence fell over the gathering as the single note faded away and every eye turned expectantly towards the aged centaur. Harry pulled out his wand and gathered his magic as he waited for Obduro to introduce him; he planned to make an entrance that those watching would not soon forget.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I bid you welcome to Hogwarts Castle; the ancestral seat of Crystal Valley, former school of witchcraft and wizardry, and home to the Last Mage. May I present to you your host for the evening; our uncrowned king, the Last Mage, Taliesin Bard."
Harry frowned briefly over the centaur calling him their king (crowned or not) before he pushed the matter out of his mind and conjured a small swarm of fireflies that lit up the top of the staircase before he brought forth a shower of red and gold sparks from his wand and used a weak whirlwind spell to make them dance about in front of his still hidden body. He then created a column of silver light directly in front of him before he dropped the illusion ward and stepped through the light to make it appear as if he'd been traveling inside of the light.
To the surprise of those Harry considered his family; the young mage had not dressed in a tuxedo as expected. He had traded his jeans for a pair of black dress pants, his black undershirt for a white undershirt, and his running shoes for a pair of black dragon hide boots. The red button up shirt he'd been wearing earlier had been exchanged for a white silk shirt that he'd buttoned up and tucked into his pants for once before he'd added a black tie and cumberbund.
Over top of that he wore a set of Gryffindor red graphorn hide battle robes that he had left unbuttoned which allowed the robes to frame his torso before they flared out slightly at his waist to allow for freedom of movement. The robes had originally belonged to his godfather and on the taller man had ended just below the knees but because Harry was still fairly short (just under five feet five inches after his second magical growth spurt) the hem fell just above his ankles. On the back of the robes, stitched in gold thread, was the outline of a dog's paw print and arching above the paw print was the word Padfoot in two inch high letters.
The robes had been a gift to Sirius from Harry's father when he accepted the appointment as Harry's godfather and the man had subsequently given them to Harry before sending him through time. Belted around his waist, was a black dragon hide belt and matching sheath that currently held Gryffindor's blade and on his ring fingers he wore a pair of ancient rings (the ones that Sirius had sent through time with him).
The one he wore on his left ring finger was the Potter Family Ring while the one on his right ring finger was the Black Family Ring; both rings sported the family crests and mottoes. The Potter Family Crest was a black Hydria shaped, two handled Grecian vase with a gold broadsword (point down) centered on the vase. The vase was bracketed by a pair of rampant gold lions with the words 'Brave till the End' (the Potter motto and creed) etched onto a banner beneath the crest. The crest had been carved into a stone the color of blood and set in a gold ring.
Like the Potter Crest, the Black Crest had a pair of rampant animals only they were dogs instead of lions and they bracketed a fourteenth century shield that was black like the vase on the Potter Ring. The shield was bisected by a white chevron with a five pointed star in both the right and left upper corners of the shield. Centered below the chevron was a silver sword (point up) and in the banner beneath the crest were the words 'Toujours Pur' (always pure). The stone bearing the crest was a highly polished onyx that had been set into a silver ring.
To complete the look, Obduro had talked him into wearing the red and gold, pointed wizard's hat that went with the battle robes and the result was that Harry for once looked like a bona fide wizard.
Stepping onto a small charmed rug (taking care not to disrupt the phoenixes riding on his shoulders), Harry floated down the stairs instead of walking (something that drew more than one gasp from a few of the adults watching and several excited squeals from the younger children present). When he reached the bottom, Harry stepped off the rug as the two phoenixes took flight (their first true flight) and sang a few short trills of welcome before they landed on Obduro's outstretched arm.
Harry smiled over the antics of the two young birds before he bowed respectfully to the ancient centaur as he warmly intoned, "Thank you, honored elder; may the heavens shine down upon you with words of wisdom through the untold seasons to come."
"And may the stars speak of your greatness for generations yet unborn, young mage."
Ritualistic greeting over, Harry smiled up at the centaur before he turned and gave a shallow bow to those gathered in the hall, "Please allow me to formally welcome you to the Hogwarts Magical Creature Reserve, formerly Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and my home." As had happened when he'd formally offered to give Relena a tour of the castle, Harry unconsciously drew an aura of authority around him; catching his friends and family (those individuals that had not been present to see him earlier) off guard.
"I would also like to apologize for springing tonight's event on you without much of a warning but I do hope that you will bear with me and enjoy what I have planned for you. I'd like to start by giving you tour of the castle and a short history of Hogwarts. I'm going to ask you to please make certain you keep up with the group as we move through the castle as it is very easy to get lost and there are some sections of the castle that are unstable due to the structural damage the building sustained close to five hundred years ago."
Harry then turned to the five scientists crowded around Dr. Watanabe and addressed a man he disliked on general principle (because he was the one that had basically ordered Heero to commit suicide), "Doctor J, it just occurred to me that you might be at a disadvantage here in Crystal Valley due to your dependence upon active technology. I'm uncertain of the exact extent you rely upon the devices in your day to day life or if any of them are essential in supporting critical bodily functions."
"I have found that magic and technology do not mix well, I am afraid, and you may have already noticed some problems cropping up since the moment you set foot in the valley or possibly since you came into contact with Wolfstar. I can either have you transported to another location of your choice or if you wish to remain here as a guest for the time being, I can ward each of your devices in order to protect them from the magic. That offer is open to anyone currently living in the valley as I would not wish for any of my guests to be placed in mortal peril due to a conflict between magic and technology when it is relatively easy for me to resolve the conflict."
The wily old scientist exchanged a quick glance with the other four scientists that Harry had rescued before answering, "The loss of functionality in the various devices upon our persons was not fatal though it is an inconvenience and we would be greatly interested in protecting the replacements we'd intended to build or buy to replace them protected against what you are calling your magic."
"I will make time tomorrow to meet with you in order to address the issue then," Harry replied after studying all five scientists for a moment; quickly deducing that there was something in the Valley that the five men wished to study since they did not ask to be returned to space or moved to a magic free environment.
Having dealt with the matter, Harry turned away from the small group and made his way towards one of the two entrances off of the Entrance Hall that led down into the dungeons. As he crossed the chamber, Harry paused and bowed low to Dorothy as he held her gaze and held out his hand as he addressed her, "Miss Catalonia, would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you for the evening?"
There was a split second when Harry thought she might refuse but it passed quickly as she daintily placed her hand in his and he brought her hand up so he could brush a brief kiss over her knuckles before he tucked her hand into his elbow. He then led the gathering towards the dungeon entrance after making eye contact with each of his brothers, Zechs, Rashid, Abdul, and a few other key individuals so that they knew to either fall into step with him or migrate to the back of the group (the six young men in his squad falling in the latter group as they would be making certain that no one wandered away from the group). Stopping in the doorway, Harry turned to address the entire group.
"Hogwarts Castle was originally built in the tenth century sometime around the year nine hundred forty-six A.D. by a quartet of powerful individuals. It was built as a gathering point for young witches and wizards so that they could learn how to harness their magic and was the first such school of its kind; prior to Hogwarts all witches and wizards were apprenticed to a single sorcerer or sorceress and were taught the branch of magic that their master specialized in. The creation of Hogwarts would revolutionize the way young magicals were educated as for the first time in history a witch or wizard could learn multiple disciplines without spending years trying to find multiple masters willing to teach them."
"The names of the Founders were; Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Helga Hufflepuff. Gryffindor was born in Godric's Hollow; a small village found on the wild moors near what used to be known as the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. Slytherin came from the fens somewhere near Norfolk, England; though the records are unclear on the exact location he was born. Ravenclaw was born here in Scotland near the Great Glen area close to Loch Ness. And lastly, Hufflepuff hailed from the valleys of Northern Wales; though like Slytherin the records are unclear on exactly where she was born."
"The original castle consisted of the dungeons, much of the ground floor including the Great Hall, and three of the sixteen towers. The original curtain wall encompassed well over ten thousand acres of forest, a large portion of Crystal Valley, and the Black Lake which sits below the cliff upon which the castle was built. Through the centuries since the castle was first built, various Headmasters and Headmistresses of the school added to both the castle and the grounds as the number of students attending the school grew over time."
"The last addition to the castle was made in the early fourteen hundreds and by that time the castle had grown so large that it became rather difficult to navigate. By the middle of the fifteenth century, the Headmasters and Headmistresses of the time began incorporating secret passages and shortcuts throughout the castle in order to make it a little easier to get from one place to another."
"We'll be starting our tour in the dungeons of the castle where Slytherin and Hufflepuff both chose to house the students that they personally taught. The dungeons have also typically housed the potions labs, the kitchens, several storerooms, and a series of prison cells that were used to hold unruly students until sometime around the end of the eighteen hundreds. The entrance we are using is the one that leads to the Potions Classroom, Potions Storeroom, and the Slytherin Common Room and Dorms. We will not be venturing that far into the dungeons however due to the on-going reconstruction of the western side of the castle which had collapsed during an assault on the castle early in the twenty-first century."
Harry led the group down into the cool, dim hallway using his wand to light the torches so they could see where they were going. Ten minutes later, he came to a stop right outside the potions lab and studiously avoided looking into the open door even as he encouraged everyone else to step inside so that everyone could see the room. "The classroom you are standing in was the former potions lab (last used sometime around the end of the twentieth century). The potion recipe written out on the blackboard is a rather simple potion that any eleven year old student would be expected to be able to brew by the end of their first year of school."
Harry's hands shook slightly as he shoved unpleasant memories to the back of his mind while he allowed the group to get a good look at the classroom. He felt all five of his brothers' eyes on him more than once as they stood there but he didn't dare turn to meet their gaze least he loose his composure (the five younger teens well aware that the potions lab featured heavily in some of Harry's worst memories). After another five minutes, Harry moved the group down the hall away from the hated room and stopped outside the entrance to the secret passage that Harry had led Heero and Duo through the day before.
"The next portion of our tour will take us up to the seventh floor of the castle using one of the many short cuts that have been created with magic. Like all of the secret passages, this one requires magic to open it so I am going to ask that you don't sneak down here on your own in an attempt to use the passage in order to get up to the seventh floor just because you don't wish to climb the stairs. Once the castle has been fully restored, I will be able to modify the passageways in order to allow non-magicals the ability to utilize the shortcuts but that will take time. Heero, could you please lead everyone into the passage until you reach the top of the first ramp and have them stand against the left wall? That should give us more than enough room to get everyone inside while I hold the passage open."
Heero nodded and Harry summoned several dozen unlit torches that he lit one at a time and handed them out to a random selection of individuals as they passed by him in order to make certain there would be enough light in the tunnel for them to see by. Once everyone was inside, Harry glanced around to make certain no one was watching before he stole a kiss from Dorothy (to her surprise and pleasure) before he guided her into the tunnel and allowed the door to swing shut as he lit the tip of his wand and carefully began making his way back to the front of the group.
He took the time to greet everyone individually as he passed them (except for Treize and Une) and made certain that the children weren't bored (they weren't; learning magical history was far too fascinating and using secret passages far too exciting). He soon reached the front of the line and called back to let everyone know they would be moving out once more as he started leading them the rest of the way through the hidden passageway. As they walked, Harry described the various types of shortcuts that could be found throughout the castle; magic carrying his voice back to those at the end of the line.
He listed the various quirks of each passage, emphasized the fact that no two passageways were alike (and how some of them were different each day of the week or sometimes led to different places depending on the time of day), and passed along amusing anecdotes of the times he or someone he'd known had gotten lost or trapped inside of a shortcut. It wasn't long before Harry was holding the exit door open as he collected and extinguished the torches before banishing them back down to the dungeons with a single spell.
"Some of you will recognize the stretch of hallway in which we are now standing. This is, as I mentioned earlier, the seventh floor of the castle and the highest level of the main castle not counting the various towers. On this floor you will find the only entrances to two of the three original towers that were built by the four Founders; the towers in question formerly belonging to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."
"The entrance to the former Gryffindor Tower and Dormitory is just a few feet to our left and I ask that you not wander in unless you are invited as the tower has been converted over into my private rooms and labs. Those of you who think it might be a lark to sneak in on a dare or a bet or just to snoop, I'll warn you now; my rooms are guarded by well over two hundred venomous and non-venomous snakes and they will not take kindly to you intruding upon their domain without permission."
"Along this corridor you will also find the various suites assigned to the families of the employees that we have hired over the past few months to help me rebuild the castle and repopulate the surrounding environments with an assortment of wild creatures that have gone extinct over the course of the past five hundred years. I ask that you please respect their privacy and not enter their rooms unless invited."
"And here we are at the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower which has been converted into a series of apartments for our single employees. You are welcome to visit the common room and library at your leisure so long as you respect the rules and stay out of the individual apartments unless invited. Unfortunately, there aren't really many books in any of the libraries spread throughout the castle at the moment because we've moved them all into storage until they can be inspected for damage and harmful curses and so that they can be inventoried before we return them to the shelves."
"The next stop on our tour is a rather unique room that was created by powerful spells that were lost long before my great grandfather was born. It is a phenomenal room that can become whatever you need it to be. It has been called the Room of Requirement, the Come and Go Room, and the Room of Hidden Things just to name a few of the titles it has gained through the years. Allow me to show you."
Harry spent about ten minutes calling up several different rooms, allowing different members of the group to step inside each room to prove that it was real before he closed the door to reset the room and call the next one into being. At the end of those ten minutes, he called one final room into existence and ushered everyone into a room that looked like a cross between an amphitheater and a movie theater. He asked everyone to take a seat as he escorted Dorothy up to the front row where the rest of his family sat along with the few delegates and representatives from different nations or organizations (such as Relena and General Po).
As they took their seats, a number of people cast curious glances at the rather decrepit old hat that was sitting on a stool at the front of the room beside the podium but held their questions. While everyone else was getting settled, Harry walked up to the podium, used his wand to restore his portable larder, and disappeared inside of it for a moment in order to gather up a case of bottled water and another of chocolate frogs. Two spells sent a wrapped frog and a bottle of water to each member of the group to hold them over until the feast and because he needed a drink but hadn't wanted to be rude by not offering some to everyone else.
He smirked as a few of the ladies present screamed over the jumping chocolate frogs even as he unwrapped his and caught it the moment it became airborne. The laughter and giggles of the children allowed a real smile to grace his face and he couldn't help but grow curious as to what it would be like to hear his son laugh for the first time before he refocused his thoughts on the present.
"What you just experienced is your first magical candy; a chocolate form animated to mimic the frog it looks like. Don't worry, it is made from nothing but chocolate and the magic will unravel the moment you bite into it and will have no adverse affects on you. Chocolate frogs were one of the more popular wizarding treats; especially amongst the children as you might imagine."
"The cards inside of the wrapper are collectable and at last count there were well over four hundred different cards in the set. Sadly, the manufacturers of wizarding treats such as the one you just sampled are no longer among the living and it has been over four hundred and sixty years since the last chocolate frog was produced. It was magic that preserved the animated candy so that it was as fresh today as it was on the day it was first enchanted."
"Most of you will recall that Obduro, the centaur who greeted you this evening, introduced me as the Last Mage though you might not have understood the significance of that title at the time. It is not, as some of you might have speculated, a revered title granted to a powerful witch or wizard when they reach maturity. It means exactly what it says; I am the last mage on earth or the colonies."
"I am all that remains of a once thriving society of magicals that had their own laws and government, their own history, their own schools, and their own way of life. There are a few distant descendants that still walk this world; they are usually labeled as Newtypes due to the various talents that they manifest such as empathy, telepathy, telekinesis, animal charming, and elemental manipulation."
"I won't go into the cold cruel details but suffice it to say that there was a time when the world went mad and three power hungry wizards destroyed a large portion of what was once north-eastern Europe and the rest of the world fought back. Because of those three wizards the non-magical population committed genocide to prevent any magical being from ever carrying out such large-scale destruction again."
"They succeeded so well that magic itself began fading from the world and from that point forward every creature and plant that relied upon magic to live began dying out. Millions of lives were lost; both in the purges and through the long years of slow decline. There has not been a true wizard born in close to five hundred years because there isn't enough magic left in the world to create and nurture a child's magical core."
"How is it possible for you to claim to be the last mage then?" Treize demanded and Harry met his eyes for a long moment before he slowly nodded.
"Tell me, Mr. Khushrenada, do you remember the answer I gave you and Quinze when you asked me when I was born?"
"You said you were born long, long ago."
"Correct… four-hundred-eighty-nine years ago to be exact… well in another month it will be exact."
"Are you saying that you are close to five hundred year old?"
"Technically, yes," Harry replied with a nod and a self-depreciative smile. "However, I skipped a few hundred years in between so, physically, I am only nineteen years old. Magic brought me to this point in time for reasons I have not yet learned. If any of you are the type who needs absolute proof, you are more than welcome to view the D.N.A. files that Dr. Watanabe has on both me and my birth parents after you sign a confidentiality contract. In the mean time, I would like to introduce you to one of the few remaining magical artifacts created by the Founders of Hogwarts that is still functioning today; the Sorting Hat."
To the shock of a number of the people in the room, the tattered hat sitting on the stool shifted to look out at them before it turned to address Harry, "I must say, Mister Potter, that what you are doing is highly unprecedented and very unusual but I suppose it is not entirely unexpected; you are, after all, a Gryffindor through and through. Godric would have been tickled pink to know one of his own dared to stand alone in opposition of tradition in order to preserve our way of life so fearlessly."
"And yet, you nearly placed me in Slytherin where you swore up and down I would be great," Harry countered with a wry smile and a small laugh.
"And you would have been great but as a Gryffindor you have become legend," the Hat rebuffed smugly to Harry's mortification. "Oh how it galled Dumbledore each time you survived one of his little tests. No matter how high the odds were stacked against you, you managed to come out ahead and it drove Dumbledore up the wall. Those four years you attended Hogwarts were the most entertainment I'd had in centuries! They were also some of the darkest years that I'd ever had the misfortune to witness; bar the years of madness that followed on the heels of the disaster that was your fourth year."
"That is enough, Hat," Harry quietly ordered, his face blank of all emotion and his voice curt. "I requested your help this evening to give an overview of wizarding history since you witnessed much of it first hand not dredge up that which is best left dead and buried."
"My apologies, my liege, I did not mean to offend you," the Hat contritely apologized as it cringed on the stool as if expecting Harry to set him on fire any second.
Harry waved away his apology and simply instructed him to begin and the Sorting Hat spent the next hour giving a more complete overview of wizarding history and answering dozens upon dozens of questions. As it spoke, the Room of Requirement provided images and videos of important events that had played out through history in startling detail (though Harry made certain that the room did not show anything too violent due to the children present).
At the end of the hour, Harry thanked the Hat for its help, sent everyone a second chocolate frog, packed up the extra candies and water, and continued the tour; his good mood restored now that the focus was no longer on him. When he led them out of the room, they ended up, not on the seventh floor as expected, but on the fifth floor landing of the main stairs. Harry quickly smothered a smirk over the brief moment of disorientation a few individuals displayed before he led everyone onto the stairs leading from the fifth floor down to the fourth floor and stopped once everyone was on the staircase.
"There are three things that I will never forget about the night I first set foot in this castle over four hundred and fifty years ago; my first glimpse of the castle shining like a beacon in the dark the night before I began my first year at the school, seeing the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall for the first time, and discovering the wonder that was the main staircase of Hogwarts. Earlier this year I restored the ceiling in the Great Hall and just for this evening I would like to allow you to experience the marvel that is the main staircase. Please remain calm and keep your hands and feet between the banisters at all times."
Murmurs of nervousness broke out and his brothers exchanged mildly concerned looks though Quatre could feel Harry's amusement and anticipation. Harry nearly snickered as he excused himself from Dorothy's side, moved to the foot of the staircase, gathered his magic, and cast the spell that would activate the staircases. He poured just enough magic into the spell to keep the stairs moving for about a half an hour and stared upwards as the staircases came alive. He could hear many cries of fear as the section they were suddenly moved along with more than one whoop of joy coming from adults and children alike. Those that gathered enough courage to glance over the side of the stairs gasped as they watched the shifting staircases below them.
"The spell will only last for approximately half an hour because leaving them active at this point with so much of the castle inaccessible due to structural damage is impractical. I just wanted to give everyone a small glimpse of what magic can do and show you one of the wonders that this castle once held. If everyone will move down to join me, the section we are on will be docking onto the third floor landing that will lead us to our next stop on the tour."
Dorothy was one of the first to join Harry at the base of the stairs and Harry offered her his arm once more, his eyes twinkling madly with suppressed laughter as she latched onto him tightly. Duo, Hilde, Heero, and Relena were the next ones to move forward and Duo was grinning like a loon while Heero was smirking and shaking his head. Everyone else followed with Brian and Takoda urging those at the back to keep moving until everyone was gathered on the bottom third of the staircases. Not long after they were in place, the stairs ground to a halt and Harry used his wand to lock them in place as everyone quickly moved onto the landing.
He unlocked them the moment the last person stepped down off the stairs and as one, everyone turned to watch them head back up to their original position. Still grinning, Harry led them into the right hand third floor corridor and down to the room that had once held a large three-headed dog. When he reached the door he stopped and stared at it for a long moment, the grin sliding off his face as he recalled the first two times he'd passed through that door. Sighing softly, Harry turned around to address the group once more.
"During the brief history lesson the Sorting Hat gave you earlier, it spoke of the wonders that the wizarding world had once created as well as some of the darker aspects of our society. As most of you know I am trying to bring back many of the various magical species that have been lost through the centuries starting with those that are currently hovering on the verge of extinction. And while most of the creatures are harmless, there are many creatures that are dangerous; just like there are many non-magical creatures out there that are dangerous."
"Some of you might ask why I would bother reintroducing the less pleasant creatures and beings and the truth of the matter is that magic requires balance; the good can not survive without the bad. Just like the non-magical world needs both rabbits and wolves the magical world needs both unicorns and dragons. Behind this door lays the remains of one of the deadliest creatures to ever exist in the magical world."
"It is a creature that the snakes fearfully refer to as the Spawn of the Damned because it is an unnatural creature; one man has often mistakenly labeled as the King of Serpents. I am speaking of the basilisk; a deadly serpent born of a snake's egg that was fertilized by a toad and hatched by a rooster. The basilisk can kill with a single glance though it has been proven that if you do not gaze directly into its eyes but into the reflection of its eyes that it will petrify you instead. The venom of the basilisk is so potent that a single drop could kill a man in less than five minutes. This particular specimen was over one thousand years old when I slew it at age twelve with the help of a phoenix so you have nothing to fear from the creature."
Harry unlocked the door at that point and led the group into the room and close to a dozen frightened screams rang out when their eyes landed on the enormous carcass of the dead basilisk. Harry absently patted Dorothy's hands as she clung to his arm, her nails digging into the graphorn sleeve of his godfather's battle robes hard enough that he could feel them. The basilisk was contained behind a shimmering blue shield to prevent anyone from getting to close to it as Harry didn't want to take a chance that anyone could cut themselves on the sharp fangs nor did he want some curious researcher trying to get a D.N.A. sample that could potentially be used to clone the dangerous creature.
"I wanted you to see the basilisk, not to frighten you, but to show you that the world I am trying to bring back from the brink of death is full of dangers as well as full of wonders. I do this so that when I give you a warning or tell you not to do something or not to go somewhere, then you will know that I am doing so to protect you from something that could kill you or worse. Magic can do many wondrous things but even I can't bring the dead back to life and while I can heal broken bones or even regrow a bone that has been damaged beyond repair; I can't heal damaged nerves nor do I have a cure for cancer."
Harry then directed the group to the trapdoor set in the center of the room and led the way down into the chamber that had once held a mass of Devil's Snare. All that remained in the room now was a pile of dust and ashes that Harry vanished with a flick of his wand as he led the way into the key chamber. The winged keys that had once flown through the room were scattered about the floor, their wings long since crumbled to dust and Harry gathered them up with a few quick summoning charms, shrunk them down to the size of his thumbnail, and tucked them into his pocket to deal with them later.
There were a few whistles of appreciation for the gigantic chess set in the next room and Harry fondly patted the frozen statue of the white queen as they crossed the board unmolested (he'd come back to collect them another day). The remains of the dead troll in the next room were tucked into a crate and passed to Dr. Watanabe so they could be used in conjunction with the other troll remains Harry had found out in the forest. In the room that once held Snape's riddle, Harry nearly destroyed the vials of poison, potion, and wine before he thought better of it and instead sealed the various vials and tucked them into another small crate along with the riddle after numbering the vials so he'd be able to recall which vial contained which substance.
He tucked that into his pocket with the keys and led the way into the final chamber (the fire enchantments that had blocked both doorways the first time he passed through that room long since disabled) where he was more than a little surprised to find the Mirror of Erised still standing.
"Please wait here a moment; I do not know if the enchantments on the mirror are still functioning and I would rather not risk one of you getting caught up in them if I can help it," Harry ordered as he gently reclaimed his arm from Dorothy and walked up to the mirror that had haunted his dreams throughout the second half of his first year. He closed his eyes for a moment as he stepped up in front of the mirror and hesitated for a brief moment before he opened his eyes and stared into the Mirror of Erised.
For a split second he thought maybe the magic in it had died before he realized he wasn't standing close enough and he blushed at his own mistake even as he walked the last two steps. He let out a soft whine and reached out to touch the mirror with one hand as he hungrily drank in the image that the mirror showed him. Tears burned at the back of his eyes even as he tore his eyes away from the mirror while he used his wand to conjure a thick curtain of velvet that he dropped over the mirror and secured in place with conjured ropes. Wiping his eyes, Harry reached up to pull free his necklace of trunks and restored the trunk that held the bulk of his fortune and magical heirlooms.
"Trowa, Heero, and Wufei; can I get the three of you to give me a hand moving this down into my trunk so there is no chance of anyone stumbling across it and wasting away in front of it, please?"
All three teens hurried forward to help as Harry grabbed hold of the mirror and flipped it forward so that it was face down. He then used his foot to open the trunk so Heero and Trowa could start down the stairs while Wufei and Harry guided the mirror. It took the four of them about ten minutes to get the mirror down the stairs and tucked far in the back where it wouldn't be in the way. All three teens then whistled appreciatively as they took in the vast piles of precious metals, huge crates of gem stones, numerous glass cases filled with expensive jewelry, organized stacks of antique furniture, and the shelves of magical artifacts that filled the trunk.
"I knew you had a fortune but I didn't think you had quite this much tucked away in your trunk," Heero commented as Harry led the way back up the stairs.
"This isn't even all of what I would have had in my vaults; the goblins would have taken one third of the Potter and Black Fortunes when Sirius had the majority of it converted to precious and semi-precious metals and stones," Harry admitted offhandedly as he absently glanced around the trunk. "That isn't even counting what he kept for his younger self, gave away to charities, and bequeathed to various individuals. He also sold off most of the property both families owned. When I first found it I would have traded it all for a chance to be back with my godfather. Now I can appreciate what it is worth because without it, I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell to rebuild the magical world."
Nothing more was said as they stepped out of the trunk and Harry shrunk it back to a more manageable size and replaced the necklace around his neck. When he finally glanced back up to take in those gathered in the room, he let his eyes linger on those he considered family before he got caught up in a pair of violet eyes and for a moment his magic swirled around him as a maelstrom of emotions hit him. Swallowing thickly, Harry shoved the memories of what he'd seen in the Mirror of Erised to the back of his mind and clamped down on his magic in order to bring it back under control.
The tour continued a moment later, as Harry led them up through a hidden passage way that opened up into another part of the dungeons. This time they passed by the kitchens and the Hufflepuff Common Room before heading back up to the Entrance Hall, entering from just beside the main staircase on the opposite side of the room that they'd left from. The tour ended at that point as Harry led the way into the Great Hall and there were many murmurs of appreciation as the group took in the thousands of floating candles that lit the room, the bright banners depicting the various crests of the school houses and Harry's families, and the dozens of elegantly decorated tables that were spread throughout the room.
Seating for the meal was assigned and Harry urged everyone to locate their seat even as he led Dorothy up to the long table he'd set up in the exact spot where the staff table had once sat on the slight raised dais. Harry helped Dorothy into her chair but remained standing while he waited for everyone else to take their seats; those he considered family joining him at the head table with their assigned escorts while the rest of the guests were scattered at the smaller tables arranged about the hall. The moment everyone else was seated, Harry raised his wand and incanted the spell that would transfer the food from the kitchens below to the empty platters placed on each of the tables.
Conversations throughout the meal centered around the lost magical world, the newly reborn Wizarding Nation, and the Creature Reserve that Harry was building from the ground up. Harry himself was drawn into a political debate with Princess Relena about the merits of announcing the presence of the Wizarding Nation to the world now versus waiting until the budding kingdom was firmly established.
While Harry had no intentions of reinstating the Statute of Secrecy and hiding away from the non-magical world in general (unless it became necessary), he was also in no hurry to expose the floundering magical world to the vultures when he was pretty much the only thing standing between the magical creatures and extinction. When she tried to convince him to come forward by telling him he'd be able to have a voice in the E.S.S.C., he reminded her that he already had a voice in the Coalition because he and his brothers were part of the Freedom Fighters or rather part of the newly formed Universal Police Force.
After the meal, dessert was served in the same way as the main course had been and Harry enjoyed everyone's reactions to the various wizarding candies and treats he'd offered. He especially enjoyed the reactions to the different flavors of the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as even the adults dared each other to try another after getting one of the less pleasant flavors. The Pepper Imps were a great favorite of the younger children when the fiery candies caused steam to pour out their ears, nose, and mouth. Eventually, everyone had eaten their fill and Harry sent the leftover food and desserts back down to the kitchen so that they could be packed up and preserved.
Harry then led the group out into the courtyard where he was nearly bowled over by an excited Wolfstar. The sentient suit was content to trot at his heel until he led the group out towards the clinic at which point he whined and slunk back to the castle much as he had the previous day when Harry had approached the crater where Epyon slept (the wolf intimidated by Epyon's much larger size now that Harry had reduced him to the size of a Great Dane). The moment Harry pulled even with the pit, the three heads of the hound reared up out from the center and several people screamed and started to scatter until Harry called for them to remain calm and stay where they were.
Knowing he couldn't afford for the suit turned hound to continue frightening anyone who walked by (completely unaware that it only reacted to his presence); Harry brought out his wand and used it to shrink the formidable suit down to the size of a cocker spaniel. He used another spell to repair the damage from his crash landing the day he destroyed White Fang and fell back to Earth; filling in the crater so that all that remained to remind people the hound had crashed there was a large patch of bare dirt.
The hound trotted up to him and leaned against him a few minutes later and Harry had to cast a quick Feather Light Charm to prevent the weight of the suit from crushing him or anyone else in the event that it accidentally stepped on a foot. It took ten minutes to gather the group again, Takoda and Haddock both doing a head count to make certain that no one had been lost during the brief moment of panic. More than one uneasy glance was directed towards Harry during that time or more specifically towards the suit that sat at his feet but Harry ignored them and the three-headed hound as he patiently waited for everyone to settle down.
The rest of the tour continued without any further disruptions as Harry allowed Dr. Watanabe to take over the moment they entered the clinic. As the geneticist explained the various projects they were currently working on, Harry studied the faces of his employees and guests; searching for any sign of contempt or disgust. He was exceedingly pleased to find none and felt a measure of hope that the new magical world could find peace alongside the non-magical world. The five newly hatched diricawls generated a lot of interest, especially when Harry mentioned the fact that they had also once been commonly referred to as the dodo bird.
Once that portion of the tour was over, Harry led the group to the stable where the twin Aethonan yearlings that had been born the previous year were being kept. Both winged horses nickered in greeting as did the small herd of wild unicorns that had stayed even though winter was long since over. More than half of the group present couldn't see the trio of young thestrals that were hovering just outside of the barn though most everyone laughed when the young mare knocked Harry down when she greeted him enthusiastically.
For the benefit of those who could not see them, Harry dug into his food trunk a second time and pulled out a ten pound pack of raw ground beef and split it between the three young thestrals. Feeling playful, Harry formed the ground meat into small balls that he tossed casually into the air and the thestrals would launch themselves up after them making it look like the raw meat was simply vanishing into thin air for those that couldn't see the draconic horses. The best proof that the creatures existed for those who couldn't see them though, came when Harry asked the young nine year old in the group if he'd like to sit on the back of one of the thestrals.
Harry stood up by the head of the oldest male thestral, who was almost four years old, while Duo lifted the enthusiastic boy up onto the back of a creature he couldn't see. The thestral shifted nervously but Harry calmed the creature with a few soothing words and kept his hand on its face while the boy furrowed his brow and stroked the unseen neck and wings of the thestral. He was helped down a moment later and Harry continued to hold the thestral's head as a few other individuals stepped forward to touch what they couldn't see and more than one person walked away with an expression of wonder.
Tour officially over; Harry led the group back to the Great Hall where a series of benches had been set up on the dais while the rest of the floor had been completely cleared. Once everyone was seated, he introduced the Maganac Corps before stepping off to one side to prepare for his performance while the Maganacs kept the audience entertained. While he waited for his turn, he couldn't help but notice how much everyone was enjoying the night of festivities and Harry wondered if he should do something like this more often (only on a smaller scale) in order to keep his employees from burning out over the amount of work needed to be done to make the reserve fully operational. He made a note to give the idea further consideration as everyone burst into applause when the Maganacs finished their various acts and made their way to the benches so they could join the audience while Harry strode out of the shadows he'd been standing in.
The first thing Harry did was conjure a coat rack to hold his hat and outer robes. He also ordered Wolfstar and the Epyon to sit beside the coat rack so that the two sentient suits didn't get in his way (both mechanical canines having followed him inside – Wolfstar no longer bothered by the Epyon's size since the three-headed hound was now smaller than him). After a moment's consideration, his bow-tie, cumberbund, and sword belt were also hung up out of the way. He then stepped away from the rack as he rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt and tucked his wand into his pocket as he pulled out a pair of his throwing knives.
Off to either side of him, Trowa and Abdul stood ready with an additional eight knives each and Harry nodded to them both as he flipped the pair of knives he was holding up into the air. At the same time, Trowa and Abdul both threw a knife at him and he deftly plucked both blades out of the air without looking and flipped them up into the air just in time to catch the first two blades on the way back down.
For the next ten minutes, Harry plucked blades from the air to add to those he was juggling in addition to pulling extra blades from his various hidden pockets until he was juggling a total of thirty-two blades. At the same time he performed each of the various tricks he'd taught himself over the past two years; throwing and catching blades from behind his back, spinning around in place, catching and flipping a series of blades off the top of his feet, and changing the pattern the airborne blades made as he repeatedly flipped them up into the air.
At the end of those ten minutes, Harry began throwing the knives down at the floor where they sliced through the stone like butter to the astonishment of more than half of the people watching. He had a circle of blades surrounding him when he finished but he was far from done with his performance as he pulled out his special silver cards and his wand. Instead of juggling the cards this time, he tossed them out one at a time with his left hand while using his right hand to cast the enlargement charm on them so that they were as tall as he was until he had all twelve face cards plus another eight random cards standing around him just outside of the circles of knives.
Another twenty spells had each card transforming into a life size model of the person whose face had been etched on the card, or into someone he knew for those cards that had no faces. Obduro trotted up into the light at that point with the phoenixes still perched on his back and began piping a rather whimsical tune on his pan flute as the animated clones paired up; James and Lily, Heero and Relena, Sirius and Sally Po, Remus and his wife (based upon a photo Sirius had put in his journal), Hermione and Viktor, Duo and Hilde, Quatre and Luna (again based upon the photo from Sirius's journal), Trowa and Iria, Wufei and Cathy, and himself paired with Dorothy.
While the ten couples spun and danced in a circle around Harry, he transfigured the rest of the cards into three inch high winged fairies that spun and danced above his head. Next a shower of multicolored sparks lit up the entire hall before a slew of red and gold bubbles joined the dancing fairies in the air. Harry then turned his attention to the knives stuck in the floor and began transfiguring them into butterflies that wove lazily around the dancing couples. Another spell multiplied the number of butterflies times ten and they darted upwards to cut through the bubbles that had been swirling around above Harry's head causing a shower of gold and red glittering to rain down all around him only to vanish the moment it touched the floor.
The dancing clones then began shrinking to half their size before they broke apart and formed two distinct circles with the young ladies on the outside and the young men on the inside. Both circles began circling around Harry again in opposite directions, the individual clones weaving in and around each other so that with every step the men and women traded places as they traveled around Harry. Above his head, the winged fairies morphed into phoenixes and spread out so that they were flying in a near solid cloud above Harry's head.
On the floor, the clones began shrinking again before Sirius, James, and Remus broke away from the circle and morphed into Padfoot, Prongs, and Moony with Lily and Dora (Remus's wife) changing into a doe and another wolf respectively. Next, Hermione became Crookshanks, Viktor a shark, Luna a wood nymph, and Cathy a winged horse. Trowa then became a lion, Heero turned into a badger, Duo a fox, Wufei a Chinese Fireball, and Quatre a hippogriff. Relena's likeness soon became a romanticized mermaid, Hilde an eagle, his own clone became a runespoor, and lastly Dorothy morphed into a silver unicorn.
While those creatures cavorted around Harry's knees, Harry began transforming the phoenixes into other magical creatures; adding a hippocampus (half fish and half horse), a griffin, a sphinx, a narwhal, another four dragons (one of each of the other breeds of dragons that Harry had personally encountered), a centaur, a satyr, a true mermaid, and an assortment of sprites, dryads, and nymphs. The copied butterfly knives then began exploding into showers of red rose petals that drifted lazily down onto the floor at Harry's feet where they slowly faded out of existence while the actual knives turned butterflies slowly morphed into a flock of rushlows, the tiny winged horses flying in a single line as they wove in and around the last few phoenixes still circling Harry's head.
By this time, Harry was sweating heavily as he maintained the large flow of magic required to keep the transformations and animation spells running. He was nowhere near exhausted yet though (thanks to the modifications he'd made to his core) and he conjured up a circle of bluebell flames at the feet of the creatures still dancing around him. The silver creations made from his deck of cards then began melting until there was a pool of quicksilver spread out on the floor around him out of which hundreds of snakes began forming.
Like when he was performing in the circus with Trowa and Cathy, the snakes swarmed towards Harry from every direction. Instead of climbing all over him though, they began circling around and beneath his feet until suddenly he began rising up off the floor on a pillar of silver snakes that melted together to form a small mountain upon which he perched. The ring of flames was extinguished at this time by a light sprinkling of water that Harry conjured from his wand and all that remained of Harry's creations were thirty-two rushlows lazily dancing around him and the six-foot silver mountain upon which he stood.
Said mountain shattered beneath his feet thanks to a low powered blasting curse and Harry dropped gracefully to the floor amidst a shower of silver cards as he ended the transformation on his deck. A simple summoning charm gathered the spilled cards from the floor and Harry plucked them from the air and tucked them away after shuffling them for a minute. Next he conjured a wooden target board and levitated it a few feet away before he ended the spells on the knives above his head. As the knives fell from above him, he plucked them from the air and threw half of them at the conjured target while the other half disappeared back into his hidden pockets.
After the last knife thudded into place on the target, Harry used a spell to clean the sweat from himself and his clothes, another spell to straighten up his clothes (his sleeves unrolling and buttoning themselves), and yet another to animate those articles of clothes he'd removed so that they returned to their proper places upon his person without him lifting a single finger. The hat he snagged out of the air before it settled on his head and Harry bowed low to his audience before he stood up and dropped the hat on his head. There was a full minute of stunned silence before the entire group burst into a round of applause and Harry bowed a second time before he started walking towards the dais.
He paused about halfway there and pulled his hat back off his head and spun it around between his hands and stared at it in contemplation before he held it upside down and began prodding the inside of the hat with his wand. A smattering of curious murmurs broke out when Harry tucked his wand away before plunging his hand into the hat. Half a minute later all five of his brothers and Cathy groaned and palmed their faces when he pulled out a white rabbit by the scruff of its neck while wearing a cheeky grin. The dozen white doves that poured from the hat afterwards were just overkill. Performance over, Harry set the rabbit free (knowing it would vanish on its own in less than ten minutes), replaced his hat on his head, and resumed walking towards the dais.
Harry came to a stop just a few feet away from where everyone was seated and let his eyes sweep over his friends, family, employees, and guests before he addressed them one last time for the evening, "I hope everyone enjoyed this evening's tour and gala and I would like to thank everyone who helped me make tonight possible. If anyone has any questions about any of the information that was discussed over the course of the tour; I will be available tomorrow to answer those questions as best I can or provide you with the books that will answer them. In the mean time, I will bid you good night."
Harry was swarmed for a moment by various people complimenting him on both the tour he'd put together in such a short time and his performance of the evening. He took the time to thank each of them as they bid him goodnight in return. The hall eventually emptied until it was just Harry, his five brothers, Cathy, Obduro, Rashid, Abdul, Zechs, Lucrezia, Relena, Dorothy, Treize, and Une.
Obduro was the next one to take his leave, the old centaur calmly passing the young phoenixes back to Harry before heading out to the forest. There was a brief scuffle at that moment as Epyon jumped up on Harry's leg while barking at the two phoenixes which in turn upset the two birds. Harry solved the issue when he simply flicked the sentient suit on the nose of the center head (an action that raised more than a few eyebrows) and firmly told it to behave before spending a moment calming the agitated phoenixes.
Rashid and Abdul spent a few minutes more talking with both Quatre and Harry before they too left along with Cathy who'd stuck around just long enough to tell Harry that he owed her a dance since he'd managed to wiggle out of hosting a ball that evening. Harry laughed and promised her the next time he entertained a large group that he would make certain there was dancing to following the dining and that she'd get the second dance. If any one noticed Harry's eyes cut towards Dorothy when he said that they didn't say a word. It was at that point the room filled with tension as Harry adopted a blank mask as he turned to face Une and Treize; his distrust of the pair evident in the stiffness of his posture and the small aura of magic that danced about him before he could suppress it.
Une paled drastically while Treize calmly thanked Harry for pulling him out of the Libra before destroying it. The former leader of OZ then beat a hasty retreat, dragging Une with him and the tension in the room melted the moment he vanished from Harry's direct line of sight. Relena thanked Harry for the evening at that time and requested an audience with him in a couple of days to discuss how the refugees of the Sanc Kingdom that were currently enjoying the Wizarding Nation's hospitality could repay his kindness. The young princess then imperiously ordered Heero to escort her back to her rooms and Harry couldn't resist snickering as they left with Zechs and Lucrezia trailing the pair at a discreet distance.
Duo vanished at the same time, the long haired pilot recalling that Harry had not yet dealt out his revenge which made Harry smirk. Harry spent a moment speaking with his three remaining brothers before they too headed off to bed, leaving Harry alone with Dorothy for the first time since Relena invaded his rooms earlier. The two of them just stared at one another for a few minutes before Harry silently held out his arm in an unspoken offer to escort her through the castle.
She accepted after spending another minute searching his eyes and he led her towards the shortcut that would allow them to bypass the stairs and therefore avoid any of the current residents of the castle that might still be wandering through the corridors. Once they reached the seventh floor, Harry silently led her towards his rooms but stopped just outside of the tower entrance to give her a chance to walk away. When she smiled and shook her head, Harry nodded once and opened the door to his tower before leading her to his bedroom.
The two of them would then spend a second night in each other's arms.
AN: Harry is a ham… and I will apologize for the cheesiness of having Harry pull a rabbit (and a flock of doves) from his hat but I just couldn't resist… that trick could also be seen as Harry silently teasing Catherine over the magic books she'd given him back when he first met her.
Anywho, the uncrowned king bit will be explained later; though I'm certain that some of you will guess where I am going with that. There were some other comments I intended to make about the chapter but they slipped through my fingers before I could type them up.
Anyway, thank you again for all of the reviews and for placing both this story and my author's page on your alert and favorite lists! I will try and make an effort to answer some of the reviews this weekend… I know I've been way too lax on that point since I lost complete track of which reviews have been answered and which ones haven't. ~ Jenn
12-31-13 AN: The description in this chapter regarding the origins of a basilisk was corrected as I previously incorrectly used the method used to create cockatrices as the method used to create a basilisk by mistake. The two paragraphs below have been copied and pasted from chapter fifteen of this story as a reminder of my interpretation of how a basilisk is created and the reason for snakes viewing basilisks as foul demons instead of their king:
Spawn of the Damned – this is how I wanted the snakes to see the basilisk instead of as the king of serpents or the king of snakes as so many FanFictions do. The reason for this is that the basilisk is not a natural born snake as it is born from a snake or toad's egg that was incubated by a rooster; something that isn't going to happen without intervention and therefore not natural which I think normal snakes and serpents would or maybe should feel disgusted over.
For this story, I am twisting the legends a bit and using the idea that it is a snake's egg fertilized by a toad and incubated by a rooster to create the basilisk in order to make it a little harder to create a basilisk. A toad's egg fertilized by a snake being incubated by a rooster will create an amphibious monster that I've not yet researched or named while a rooster's egg incubated by a toad or a snake will give birth to a cockatrice (which is how legend portrays the cockatrice being born).