Deep Magic 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia, nor do I make any profits from posting this fanfiction.

Summary: Non-Epilogue compliant. Harry, mid fight against remaining Death Eater factions, finds himself somehow transported to a strange world, Narnia. He learns to live, to love, and eventually to be a little bit selfish.

Warnings: Slash. Cross dimension travel. Character death. Murder, violence, fighting.

Pairings: HP/EP. Potential PP or LP with a HP character.

Chapter 6

Narnia year 1007

The first week back in Cair Paravel was spent telling tales and catching up on each other's lives. Harry learned that Susan was being courted by several different Princes at once and, while enjoying the attention, was not particularly interested in any of their overtures. Peter was courting a girl, at least in so far as spending time with her doing various activities. He, similarly, was not serious about it and didn't have a lot to say about Althea. Even Lucy had a few young men after her attention, although she seemed a bit oblivious to it. Edmund, it seemed, had his own following of girls and young women. He was not as oblivious as his sister but he was stoic in ignoring all of the attention and would often make some sarcastic remark about silliness.

The group of them had been out walking through the grounds with Harry when Harry had become aware of the following Edmund had. Several young girls and young men had approached Peter, Susan and Lucy several times and so the group had obligingly stopped to allow a brief conversation before continuing onwards. When Edmund was approached he would keep his answers curt and monosyllabic as best he could. If that wasn't possible then he explained himself extremely quickly then shooed off whoever was bothering him. Harry would have been amused except he could see how hurt each of the people were by the brush off. Still it did not stop others from trying.

"They have a sort of wager on." Lucy muttered when she caught him looking at yet another pair of young women who had come up to Edmund.

"A wager? They have a wager on Ed?!" Harry didn't know if he was more shocked or outraged.

"The first person to get a kind word wins something. They are after his attention genuinely but there is a sort of competition there too. Of course, they have been trying for a few months and nobody has won so far. Edmund is mean to all of them. I should be upset by it, but I'm not. As bad as it is to say I am just glad he isn't taking his anger out on me." She sighed and then gave Harry a curious look. "Do you know what made him so angry all the time?"

"How would I know? I have been away for a year."

"Well yes but he was angry when you were still here too. I didn't know if you had any thoughts about it."

"I have no idea I'm afraid."

"Bother. Oh well, at least now you are back he might cheer up a bit."

Harry doubted that. Edmund had been curt and dismissive of him too.

By that evening Edmund was in a foul mood and had even gone out into the training courtyard to take out some of his anger on one of the training dummies. It hadn't done anything to relieve his anger except make him exhausted.

They all sat around lounging on sofas and talking as they had used to in the days before Harry had left. Susan was listening to one of her princes telling her one tale or another, Lucy was sewing and Peter was talking to Althea who was alternating between talking with him and playing her flute. Edmund was reading, as was Harry, but clearly his attention was not on the words of the book because whenever Harry risked a glance up at him Edmund was staring off around the room looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Why was he so angry? Why was he so upset all the time? Had it been Harry's doing? Was it Harry's fault? If it wasn't, what on earth had happened to poor Edmund? And if it was Harry's fault, how could he fix it? Harry felt like a moth to a flame. He couldn't ignore it, however dim that light was at the moment. He had to do something to help.

Harry's eyes fell on the untouched chess set. The gold and silver pieces looked dull with dust and even from a distance Harry could see marks in the dust where something had brushed it away but for the most part had left the chess board undisturbed. He wondered if Edmund was up for a game.

Harry stood up and wandered over to the chess set. It was covered in a reasonably thick layer of dust but nothing that would require more than a spell. One wave of his wand had the dust expelled. Another wave of his wand had the pieces buffered and sparkling. Harry touched the silver pieces…his pieces. Then he sat down and looked over at Edmund who was avidly reading his book. Or at least pretending to.

OK. If that was the way he wanted to play it.

Harry made himself busy lifting up each chess piece one by one and pretending to cast a spell at them to clean them, or at least appear to be doing something. He did discretely cast a spell at the Gold King to animate him, a spell Professor McGonagall had boasted about after the final battle and said she got to use it on a grander scale to help protect the castle. Harry had learned the spell from her, but had only remembered it when he had the time to reflect on his own in Calormen. The gold king stood to attention then crept from the board. He jumped down from the chess set to the floor landing with nothing more than a very quiet thud when he hit the rug on floor.

Harry watched as the king did as he was spelled to and crossed the room quickly and carefully. Harry caught Lucy watching with amazement and was grateful when she caught his eye and understood the finger on the lips gesture for silence that he gave her. She nodded and went back to watching the chess piece.

The gold kin walked right up to Edmund's foot. Edmund was sat with his legs crossed reading and had not noticed the chess piece which was probably a good thing because the gold king drew his sword.

Harry bit his lip.

The gold king took aim and lunged at the side of Edmund's foot.

"OW!" Edmund yelled and immediately threw himself to his feet looking down at the floor where the gold chess piece was. "What the…?!"

Edmund bent down and snatched at the chess piece. The gold king evaded the first attempt at capture with a swing of his sword which caught Edmund's thumb. Edmund gasped in pain, though it couldn't have hurt that much despite drawing blood. Then Edmund snatched at the chess piece again and caught the now squirming king who was brandishing his sword menacingly despite not being able to hit anything.

"How in the…" Edmund paused then transferred his gaze to Harry. Harry didn't know what the king's gaze meant but Edmund seemed to come to a decision.

Harry cancelled the spell on the chess piece, the gold king going still in his original position. Edmund looked back at the chess piece then clenched his jaw once. Harry could see the muscles in his jaw tighten then release beneath the smooth, lightly freckled skin. Edmund then silently stalked over to the chess set, sat in down in his chair, placed the king back in position then moved a pawn two places forwards.

"Your move." Edmund glanced up at Harry with a challenge in his eyes, but there was also something a little lighter in his expression now. His anger still simmered there but somehow some of it had been extinguished.

"Hm." Harry smiled a little and moved a pawn of his own.

Edmund moved another piece, jumping his knight out from the second ranks and into play. Then he held out his hand over the board with a gently bleeding cut face up.

"Your little king hurt me."

"Technically he is your king, and I didn't realise his sword was sharp." Harry drew his wand, pointed it at the cut and healed the wound.

"Of course it was sharp. It's a sword." Edmund rolled his eyes and Harry couldn't help but laugh.

"I suppose. Perhaps I wasn't expecting him to be so feisty."

"He's my king, what did you expect?" Harry didn't answer that, the smirk Edmund gave him silenced any words he might have said. The way Edmund's eyes glittered with good humour cheered Harry up immensely, it was good to have him back to his old spirits.

Late that evening when Harry had retired there was a knock on his door. He almost drew his wand and grabbed his sword before realising who it probably was…who he hoped it was.

"Come in Edmund."

The door creaked open and Edmund slipped inside with a brief grateful smile.

"What can I do for you?"

"Where did you go?"

"I went to Calormen, you know that." Harry frowned, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and standing up so he could move over to the chairs where he and Edmund could talk in comfort. Edmund gratefully sat down when Harry indicated to the other chair.

"Where did you go that it took so long for you to come back? What kept you away for a year?"

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his long hair, grasping it all at the nape of his neck then pulling the longer strands forward over his shoulder.

"I didn't go anywhere in particular Ed. I just travelled around. A new week a new place. I didn't stay in one place for very long at all, except Tashbaan where I did some research into the magic they know about. I stayed there a good while but I didn't stay in the same house. I moved from tavern to inn and even stayed in a Lord's house at one point because he wanted to know more about my magic. I didn't tell him anything of course, I did a few demonstrations but beyond that I didn't tell him much, nor did he tell me much. It was cheap living though and when I couldn't get a place for free and I couldn't pay for a room, I camped out. I'm very used to camping."

"Did you like Calormen?"

"No. I hated it. All that sand all the time, and the heat is oppressive I can tell you. The sun burnt me so badly at one point I had to travel only at night so I wasn't out in the sun. I was as red as a tomato."

"So you are happy to be here then?"

"Yes I am. I missed Cair Paravel. It's good to be home again."

"So you won't be going off travelling again then?" That question was weighted down with so many other questions. Harry didn't listen too hard, too afraid of the questions he would hear.

"No, not unless Narnia needs me to."

Edmund leaned back in his chair and smiled. The first smile Harry had seen from him in a long time.

"Owwwww! Ow ow ow no, go away! I am not moving again." Harry groaned as he sunk to the floor trying desperately to catch his breath. He was drenched with sweat and every muscle in his body that hadn't been hit with the practise sword was crying out in pain from over use.

"Come on, get up." Edmund cajoled and Harry groaned loudly and shook his head.

"No! Are you trying to kill me?!" He demanded and squinted past the sun's glare to glower at Edmund who had the nerve to laugh.

"It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?! I ache all over like I've been trampled on by a herd of elephants and you call that not bad?!"

"It will be worse later if you don't move now."

"By Aslan's mane, I am going to curse you when I have the energy to get my wand." Harry threatened but Edmund was right. He would feel a whole lot worse if he didn't move now. He rolled over and pushed himself up onto his knees wincing at every movement. A hand appeared in front of his face and, in his pain, it took him a moment to realise Edmund was offering him a hand up. He looked up at Edmund to check that he wasn't offering to help him up only to engage him in yet another practise battle, Harry cautiously reached out for Edmund's hand.

Edmund yanked him up then waited patiently for him to find his feet before releasing him and moving to stow away their practise swords.

"You are improving."

"Yeah right. I feel like I am getting worse." Harry moaned, rubbing his aching shoulder muscles and trying to stretch them out.

"You aren't, you are getting better. You aren't up to the standard you were at before but we will get you there. You shouldn't have taken time off from training." Edmund teased with that infernal smirk on his face. Harry didn't dignify that with an answer, he just pulled a face that had Edmund laughing loudly. Giggling and high pitched chattering started up immediately and Harry looked over to the edge of the courtyard where a group of five or so young ladies, no doubt princesses or other people of rank, were gathered.

"Why are they here?! It's a training courtyard!" Edmund snapped and Harry shrugged and gave him a helpless look.

"What can I say, girls are all the same. They came to watch you no doubt and to get your attention."

"Well they should have saved themselves the time." Edmund's voice held a definitive note to them and he turned his back on them to look at Harry. Edmund's dark eyes gave him a critical once over. "I think perhaps a swim would do you good."

"Oh great, I'm in pain and all you can do is make fun of me stinking." Harry rolled his eyes.

"I was thinking it would help your muscles and I happened to overhear Lucy saying she and Susan were going to have a picnic on the beach at lunch time." Edmund defended then gave Harry a cheeky smirk. "But yes you do stink, you positively reek."

"Well you aren't exactly as fresh as a daisy yourself."

"Well then, we'll both have a swim. Simple. Come on."

Edmund seemed to be back to his old self, for which Harry was grateful. There had been a remarkable change in his behaviour lately, something in him had apparently become lighter and easier to bear. Harry hoped it was because they had mended the bridges between them even though no mention of their argument had been made. It was as if they were pretending it had never happened.

Harry followed Edmund from the courtyard, through the lower level of the castle, past all the guards, outside, down all the steps and then down the hill towards the path to the beach. The princesses, ladies and other titled young women followed them, complete with entourage of servants. Harry did his best to ignore them, copying Edmund's stoicism as best he could. His time at Hogwarts had prepared him to ignore being stared at but there was something about the young women that unsettled him and it was harder to ignore.

At the beach they found Susan and Lucy already set up with blankets and plates of food.

"Oh Edmund you are filthy!" Susan gasped then she saw Harry and she turned her nose up. "You aren't having a picnic looking like that. Why didn't you wash first?"

"We thought we would take a swim." Edmund indicated to the sea and Susan tisked.

"Then swim because you aren't coming to join us until you are a bit cleaner."

Edmund shrugged and walked towards the ocean. Harry followed then got shoved from behind which made him yelp.

"Last one to the sea is the loser!" Lucy declared and then ran on ahead.

"Damn." Harry muttered, wincing and trying to rub his protesting muscles. Edmund looked over his shoulder with a laugh.

"Alright?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Come on. I'll race you." Edmund declared and Harry groaned and rolled his eyes.

"I can't race I'm too bloody sore."

"Then I guess you are the loser aren't you." Edmund called and took off running. Harry groaned and pushed his sore, aching muscles into behaving for him as he forced himself to run towards the sea. He was the fastest runner out of all of them on a good day, but he was aching and sore and he only just managed to catch up with Edmund just as they both went hurtling into the waves.

The shock of cold water on his poor muscles had Harry gasping, but the resistance of the water somehow managed to sooth his muscles despite the cold. He moved around, splashed Edmund and Lucy, and had a bit of a swim until eventually, half an hour later, Peter's voice called them from the water.

"Ah the High King has decided to join us has he?"

"Well someone has to run the kingdom Lu." Peter responded patiently. "But even I need a break at some time. You look a right state."

"Oi!" Lucy screamed then laughed as she looked down on her water logged dress and sopping wet hair.

"Here Lucy, at least wash away some of the salt." Harry pulled his wand and started the water spell which soaked Lucy again but at least it was with clean water. She spent a few minutes bathing in the light spray then smiled her thanks and Harry cancelled the spell then spelled her dry.

"Me next." Ed demanded and Harry obligingly repeated the process, leaving Ed mostly wet as he asked, before cleaning down himself. They joined Peter and Susan on the blankets for a picnic lunch. Others had joined them but sat on their own blankets to either side of the one the Pevensie's were using.

"I'm surprised Prince what's-his-name hasn't joined us. And you Peter, where's Althea?" Edmund queried making a pointed show of searching around.

"I asked them to leave." Susan said which surprised nearly all of them. "I thought we would have a family picnic."

"Ah…then why am I here?" Harry queried quietly. His slight movement seemed to be taken as a precursor to leaving which had Edmund immediately telling him to stay sat down.

"You are family silly." Lucy replied.

Edmund pulled a face, unbeknown to anybody else except Harry who noticed it. "You don't count. You belong with us." Edmund stated firmly then bit into a piece of bread.