Happy New Year, everyone! This will be my last update for any of my stories for 2015, but certainly not the last overall for this story! Enjoy it, and the new year!
"Hey, stranger." Roxy smiled at Harry as he approached her in their favourite spot in Magix Park.
"It really has been a bit since we last met in person, hasn't it?" Harry smiled back at her as Hedwig swooped over his head and perched herself on Artu's back, greeting the dog with a hoot.
"Only a little over a week, really but it felt like longer..." Roxy took Harry's hand and the pair (plus their animals) sat on a nearby bench, gazing at the pond across from them for a few moments.
"With all that excitement going on, it took me away from you and the somewhat normal life I got to have here in Magix..." Harry sighed.
"You're not going to have that anymore. People are hearing about the things you've done on Earth ever since you asked for help with that Hogsmeade attack." She then started counting off other reasons on her fingers.
"Then they started paying more attention to you since they realised that you're my boyfriend and with me being the Princess of Tir Nan Og, the formerly sealed away magical kingdom on a allegedly non-magical Earth... Plus you were seen at the Young Royals Gala with me and you talked to the Winx Club and their boyfriends/fiancés/whatever there, then rescuing the De L'Or children... Yep. You're famous around these parts now too..." Roxy put an arm around his waist and leaned in closer to him.
"Oh joy..." Harry sighed. "Just what I need. More fame..."
Roxy rubbed his back soothingly. "You handle it very well though. I was able to catch the press conference you did on Isis during a free period with my roommates and we all thought you (and the others of course) did well. Krystal mentioned that you looked like a pro up there. Even my parents and my aunt were impressed with how you handled yourself. My dad particularly mentioned his admiration of how you were able to keep things on track and not get flustered at all despite it being your first time doing something like this..."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? I never got the impression that your father admired- or even liked anything about me at all..."
"Of course he likes you! Why would you think otherwise?" It was Roxy's turn to raise an eyebrow.
"The looks he gives me when you're not looking..." Harry admitted.
"He does, does he?" Roxy scowled briefly. "Mom likes you, my aunt likes you and yet he doesn't... I wonder why..."
"Possibly his protective father instincts raging inside him. If I had a beautiful daughter, I'd be protective of her too..." Harry smiled flirtatiously at her.
"You flatter me so..." Roxy leaned in and gave him a brief kiss.
"Isn't that part of the job description for being your boyfriend?" Harry smirked, a truly rare expression to be on his face.
Roxy rolled her eyes. "Anyway... you said you were going to tell me about your most recent adventure when next you saw me in person. Now is that time, so... it's story time, dear boyfriend of mine..."
Harry rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Well, as you know, the guys and I went on that trip out to the wild lands for Professor Maximus last weekend..."
"The somewhat crazy professor that teaches your survival skills classes?" Roxy asked.
"He teaches us Geography and Navigation too, but yes. His reputation is known outside of Red Fountain, it seems..." Harry looked somewhat amused at the fact.
"Oh yes. We Alfeans have relatives, friends and boyfriends..." Roxy brushed his hand lightly. "...there too, you know. And I'll have you know that girls aren't the only ones who can gossip about their teachers..."
Harry tsk-tsked. "Anyway, here's how it happened. Lucas and I had separated from Aki and Darian to do our own bit of exploring. We stumbled onto some silver rosebushes and while we were gathering them, we heard the most bloodcurdling scream of terror that one could imagine..."
As Harry wove the story Roxy listened attentively, never once interrupting him.
Once he was finished, Roxy took a few moments to let it all sink in, before speaking again.
"Wow..." Roxy shook her head. "You can't even go on a simple school trip without you finding trouble..."
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, indignant. "Trouble finds me! I don't go looking for it!"
Roxy snickered. "No doubt Ron and Hermione would disagree with you!"
Harry sighed.
"Really though. It's lucky that you were there, otherwise, who knows what could have happened to them?"
"Jasper dying, Amethyst being sold as a slave and neither of them ever getting to see their families again." Harry nearly growled.
Roxy winced. "This just goes to remind you that there really are some terrible kinds of people in this world and out of it..."
"Speaking of terrible people outside of this world, this whole rescue thing rather solidified in my mind that I made the right choice when I decided to stay here after I ended up here accidentally. I've learnt so much from Red Fountain and from your family and people... It gives me so much more of an edge over Voldemort than I ever had before..." Harry admitted.
"It's a good thing you stayed then." Roxy smiled.
"Yeah. I'm even starting to be a little more independent of my wand. So far, it's only Stunners that I can pull off without my wand, but I'll learn more with practice eventually..." Harry held up a hand and looked at it; the same hand that had cast the finishing spell in the fight with Amethyst's and Jasper's kidnappers.
"Isn't that supposed to be really hard for your kind of wizard?" Roxy queried.
"It is. It's really rare. Dumbledore can do some, Voldemort can as well, I've seen Remus do some as well, plus I'm sure some of the more powerful wizards I've met or heard of can do some as well. The extents of which they can, I don't know, but still..." Harry said.
"That's a great advantage to have then. Most witches and wizards you know would be useless in a fight without a wand. You're finally developing the ability to use wandless magic, you're learning how to fight in hand-to-hand combat as well as with weaponry- magical and otherwise... I'm sure that when the time comes, you'll be ready to put down that monster for good..." Roxy squeezed his hand reassuringly. "When that times comes, all your friends and I will be right behind you, picking off his followers for you while you zoom in on him for the final blow."
Harry nodded. "Then when I saw the looks on Amethyst's and Jasper's faces when they were reunited after all that had happened to them... I knew."
"I can imagine." Roxy nodded.
After a while of them just sitting together and discussing other things, the pair got up.
"Well, let's not sit around here all afternoon. It's a lovely day. It would be a shame if we were to waste it..." Harry took Roxy's hand.
"You're certainly right, Harry." Roxy squeezed his hand lightly. "A shame indeed..."
Voldemort was in a perpetual state of rage and any Death Eaters in his presence had to be careful around him, as if they were trying to avoid stepping on a mess of shattered glass scattered across the floor.
Ever since that rescue mission that had been mounted by those bloody Tir Nan Og fairies as well as Potter in the summer, the number of Death Eaters he had had been greatly impacted.
Several had been killed and many had grievous injuries that would impact their usefulness- many of those injuries up to now still remained unhealed.
Add the betrayal of the Trix beforehand and the damage they caused and the Death Eaters were in a rather sorry state indeed.
They'd been unable to muster up the numbers required to make any major strikes since that time and from what Voldemort could learn, that was luring the Wizarding public into a sense of security that in his opinion, was completely false.
He was still up and alive, after all.
For now, he would focus on building up new strategies, recruiting more witches and wizards to his cause, along with various dark creatures and a few more... personal assassinations.
In time, he would come after the pathetic masses and show them that no one, not even some otherworldly beings could stop his quest for complete power.
One afternoon, just after his classes had finished for the day, Harry found himself going down to the dragon stables to visit his favourite (and only one he actually liked) dragon, Freida.
"Hello, Dragon Lady. It's been a while, hasn't it?" He patted her snout gently, drawing back his hand when she snorted and a small gust of flame spurted out.
"You're not mad at me, are you?" Harry asked. "I have visited you since the semester started. Just... not that often is all..."
"Greetings, Potter!" the sound of an older male's voice made him look towards the entrance of the stables.
"Oh, Good Afternoon, Dragon Master Ormarr!" Harry stood up straighter.
"And a Good Afternoon to you too, Potter. I see you're finally sparing the time to visit your favourite dragon..." Ormarr observed.
"One, I haven't had a lot of time to come here since the semester started and two, Freida is the only dragon I've ever actually liked, so... I guess she is my favourite dragon if you look at it that way..." Harry admitted sheepishly.
"Calm yourself. I am only kidding. I know that you have been busy and dragons aren't for everyone, after all..." The strapping, blond haired, older man smiled.
"Good to know..." Harry muttered.
"You don't seem bad with her at all when you visit. Professors Ardal and Cordatorta mention that you do well enough in your Dragon Handling and your Magical Creatures & Wildlife classes- even though you are not at the top..."
Harry rolled his eyes.
"You have come a long way since arriving here, Potter. Oh yes!"
At these words from the Dragon Master, Harry had raised an eyebrow.
"Saladin asked us to keep an eye on you since the beginning of your first semester here. We did not behave like stalkers, if that is your concern. We merely watched you closer than the usual student when you were in class and around campus. We also paid attention to any unusual news or rumours about you."
"Is there any particular reason why he asked this of you lot?" Harry queried. He wasn't upset about it, however. He merely wanted to confirm what he had an inkling of.
"Being where you are from and with the events that resulted in the eventual liberation of Tir Nan Og, seeing you show up and claim to be from Earth was quite the surprise for the Headmaster. When he did a bit of digging about you, he found out more about your background and from that decided that you needed someone keeping an extra eye out for you. However, you've done quite well for yourself here and adjusted quickly..." Ormarr explained.
"I guess I have. I've gotten used to adapting to unusual and difficult situations..." Harry shrugged.
"You most certainly have." Ormarr noted wryly. "Now," Freida snorted again, reminding both men of her presence. "I do believe you came down here to visit a certain dragon, not have a chat with me, as pleasant as it was. I will leave you to it. I came down here in the first place to tend to a sick dragon anyway..." the older man walked off, leaving Harry and Freida alone.
Harry and the dragon looked at one another.
"Well then..." Harry spoke after a while. "What's new with you?"
Sometime later, Harry sat in his dorm room, alone, except for Hedwig, who watched from her perch, placed next to the window.
Aki had gone to visit a friend of his from home who had just enrolled at Red Fountain this year, Lucas was in the library and Darian was off somewhere on another date with some unknown girl.
He rummaged in his trunk and found his copy of one of the Hogwarts First Years' textbook, The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1.
"Well, girl..." he glanced up at the owl once he'd retrieved the book and shut back the trunk. "I want to try practicing my wand-less spells and what better way to do that by going back to the basics?"
"I wouldn't know. I'm just an owl..." Hedwig hooted.
"Some days, I really regret letting Roxy give you human speech capabilities..." Harry grumbled.
Hedwig merely gazed at him, looking rather indifferent to what he was about to attempt.
He laid the book on his lap and flicked through it to Chapter 2 where he found the Wand-Lighting Charm.
He read that section over a few times, then put the book aside- still open- and extended his right hand, stretching and shaking it a bit.
"Okay, Harry. You can try this. This is just a simple First Year spell. You've done the impossible before, and well, wand-less magic isn't impossible. It's just more difficult..." he thought.
He pictured the effect of the spell in his head, imagined the rush of performing a spell flowing through his body; magic gathering at his fingertips...
"Think of your body as the wand, Harry. You're using your own body to cast the spell instead of a piece of wood..." Harry psyched himself up for the attempt.
He opened his eyes, glanced at his outstretched hand and sighed.
"Well," he looked over at Hedwig, who was still looking as supremely unconcerned at what he was about to do as she was before. "here goes nothing..."
He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind of all irrelevant thoughts (something he was getting better at, thanks to his practicing Occlumency on the side whenever he could).
"Lumos," Harry enunciated the incantation firmly.
A rush of magic spread through his body and flowed through his outstretched arm, until he felt it gathering around his hand.
Taking a breath, Harry opened his eyes.
When he opened them, it was to see a faint, white glow around his hands.