Hello!

Here's another chapter of Eywa's Will.

I think I forgot to write it but I think you all know that the story, both the previous chapter and every following, I don't own the right's to either HP or Avatar. Just to get that out of the way.

13 & samanthabene97: Thank you. Hope you didn't feel like you had to wait too long.

Mitkon2001: Right? I think so too!

Till95: My german is not the best, but now?

Okay! We're jumping right into it.

Putting on 'Welcome to the Jungle' by Guns N' Roses.


Chapter 02 - Welcome to Hell's Gate

"Eyes front children! My name is Alexander Apone and as head of security, it is my job to keep you all alive during your stay. I will not succeed, but I will not be at fault! You will!"

Head of security Alexander Apone was an intimidating man, Harry thought. Broad-shouldered, muscular and fierce-looking, he wasn't a person you wanted to get on the wrong side of. Harry felt like he could hear the fabric of Apone's shirt strain when he crossed his arms.

"This isn't your Grandma's backyard, kiddos. This is Pandora! Everything that walks, runs, crawls, flies is out to make you its next meal. You're nothing but fertilizer for the world outside these walls."

Apone stood in front of a panorama window the view of the beautiful Pandoran landscape spread as far as the eye could see. The occasional tree shook as if a large animal hit it and others took wing and scattered from the treetops as to emphasize the unknown dangers lurking out there.

Apone narrowed his eyes at the look of incredulity from some of the new recruits.

"Quaritch, get your skinny ass up here!" He shouted as one of the young RDA soldiers standing at the wall moved to the front, removed his hat and turned around, getting a couple of gasps.

Three angry red scars that looked like they just healed stretched from the back of his head, past his right temple to his eye and cheek.

"Quaritch had the same look as some of yall. Soldier since he could hold a rifle, on tours since he was able to, first day on Pandora," Apone pointed at Quaritch, "and he was lucky." He nodded to the kid as Quaritch went back to stand at the wall.

"As some of you might know, we also have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na'vi. They have bones reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fiber. They might not have any modernized weaponry but they're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that will stop your heart in one minute. They are very hard to kill. We learned that the hard way. Try not to start anything, since the bossman on the top floor wants to try a new approach which is why we have a bunch of white-coats joining our camp." He nodded to the back where Grace and Harry stood with some of the technicians they arrived with. "Play nice and obey the rules: Pandora rules."

What followed was an introduction to the general rules and regulations as well as the base layout and team leaders before they were dismissed

As they left the room, Grace and Harry were discussing their plans. They had wanted to get into their avatars ASAP but because of breakthroughs in the link technology back on earth, new updates and link-pods had arrived with them and they'd have to wait at least a month before the setup was complete.

There was something positive though. At the end of the meeting Apone had called them up and told them that they were invited to a location known as the Blue Lagoon to start Grace's research and see some more of the planet up close in a relatively safe environment, for which they wholeheartedly agreed to.

.

.

.

The flight with the VTOL AT-99 Gunship, or 'Scorpion' as Harry was told by the pilot, didn't take long but it was beautiful.

Seeing a colony of stingbats flying past Harry wondered what the Na'vi called them. Remembering that he was there to basically write the dictionary for the language was a huge undertaking but he couldn't wait to get started.

Tugging on the mask of his exopack, to make sure that it was on correctly, he exited the scorpion and for the first time felt the earth of Pandora and it felt… electric.

He could describe what it was, but there was something more. The closest he could think of was so far back in his memory it felt foggy, but when he entered Hogwarts for the first time. it felt as if it was veiled as if he didn't have a complete connection to it but with the little he felt, it was as if a warmth spread through him and he closed his eyes enjoying the feeling.

"It's even more beautiful up close."

Harry opened his eyes and looked at Grace who looked like a child in a candy shop.

"Please step away from the scorpion!"

Shaking out of their stupor, they looked at each other and blushed as they stepped away towards the person who had shouted out to them.

It was a buzzcut latino woman dressed in standard RDA camo pants, dark green tank top, red bandana, and a SN-9 WASP handgun strapped to her leg.

"You're Harry Black and Grace Augustine?" She asked.

"Yes Ma'am." Harry answered her, "In case you were wondering, she's Grace." He said pointing his thumb at Grace who punched his shoulder, hard, but it had the effect he hoped for as the woman in front of them cracked a smile.

"Thank you for the clarification. I'm Jenette Vasquez, SecOps. I'm here to help you during your stay."

"Thank you Ms. Vasquez." Grace said.

"None of that, Vasquez is fine. I was told you'll spend around a month here while the gear back as Hell's Gate is being set up."

"That's correct." Harry said as they followed her off the helipad.

"Welcome to The Park." Vasquez said as turned towards them and spread her arms as if presenting the place.

"The Park?" Grace asked.

"This here is one of the largest RDA operations on Pandora." Vasquez said and gestured to the tall metal fence that seemed to surround the perimeter, "See that fence? That frontline allows us to work within the jungle in relative safety from viperwolves and other beasts, though if a sturmbeest or hammerhead was to ram it, it wouldn't last."

Harry and Grace nodded as they followed her further into the camp. Harry needed to drag Grace along a couple of times since it seemed like every plant needed to be studied.

"Ms. Augustine, please follow. You'll have time to play later." Vasquez told her when Harry had to backtrack to pick her up for the fifth time.

They were given a tour of The Park so they'd have an easier time finding around later and at the end led to their own quarters.

Since there was nothing on the schedule for the rest of the day they decided to get a head start as Harry followed Grace out as she began studying the local flora, using Harry as a secretary for her observations. Unfortunately for her, some of the people at The Park had already given some of the plants' names, such as the Banshee of Paradise (Grace made him write it down as Bansheba Terrestre) or the Puffball Tree (Obesus Rotundus). Grace tried to argue against the names but they seemed to stick.

.

.

.

At dinner, Harry tried to calm her down, but the snickers from the local RDA personnel didn't help.

"But Grace," Harry tried, "It could be worse!"

Grace looked up at him.

"How?" She gave him a look, "How could it possibly be worse than…" She looked down at the tablet and found a picture of one of the already-named plants, "Roosterhead!"

Harry searched on his tablet and held up a picture of a tall, colorful plant that kinda looked like a synth American football with a few, random orange leaves sticking out.

"It's not like they call this one 'Popsicle', right?"

Unfortunately for Harry…

"You guys! You know that weird purple, green zebra football? It's called a popsicle!" One of the SecOps people had 'accidentally' overheard them and decided to spread the news. This was followed by exclamations of agreement from the people who knew what he talked about as well as explanations to people who weren't in the know.

"Ha~rry~!"

It was Grace and it seemed more like a growl than a shout but Harry, having known Grace for years now knew what it meant… run… And that's what he did followed by a red-haired devil with a tiny silver pitchfork. It was too late though and the Capsulatum Virgatum was thenceforth known as the Popsicle.

.

.

.

As the days went by they had cataloged all the plants within The Park and Grace was itching to go exploring the rest of the Blue Lagoon, and by itching it meant that she asked and begged until finally, the local SecOps chief gave the green light for them to go exploring, but only if there was a team that volunteered to go with them.

They had asked Vasquez who agreed to go with them with her team, whom they were introduced to the following day, where a familiar face showed up.

"Black, Augustine, this is my team. This tall idiot is Dwayne Hicks and pretty-boy over there is Miles Quaritch."

"Nice to meet y'all!" Hicks said in a loud voice with a big smile on his face.

"So you're the plant lady?" Quaritch asked, lifting his left eyebrow.

"Got a problem?" Grace said, making Harry shake his head.

"Yes she is, and I'm linguist Harry Black." Harry said as he pulled her back.

"Oh, so you're the guy who's gonna talk with the blue monkeys?" Hicks asked, making Harry's eye twitch.

He met people like that before when he traveled the world visiting small tribes, but he also knew that there was little he could do right now.

"The short answer is yes. When will your team be ready to go?" Harry asked.

"This is your first trip outside the fence, so we'll plan where we're going and you'll listen, otherwise we'll go back immediately, understood?" Vasquez said, looking at Grace.

"Yes Ma'am." Grace said, straightening her back.

"Great!" Vasques said, "We'll meet at the northern gate tomorrow at 8 hundred hours."

.

.

.

The next morning bright and early the five met at the main gate, ready and excited to go exploring.

The gate in the fence slowly opened and Grace and Harry couldn't be more excited, while the three SecOps were sharp-eyed and geared up.

As they ventured out into the alien forest it was very different than in The Park.

It was untamed wilderness in the purest sense of the word. You could see where the RDA had been driving, but other than that it was seemingly untouched and dense.

Grace was in heaven as she fell in love with every little plant, taking pictures and making Harry help her catalog everything, just as she had done, if not more so, back at The Park.

Everything went fine until it didn't. Harry blamed his Potter luck.

Quaritch was the first to move, shouldering his rifle and aiming into the dense forest, making Vasquez and Hicks do the same.

Grace was about to ask when Harry held up a hand to quiet her.

"We should head back." Hicks whispered, getting a nod from Vasquez.

She took point as she started to move, having Grace behind her, then Hicks in the middle, Harry and then Quaritch covering the rear. Grace and Harry hadn't noticed how far they had actually walked into the forest until they had to walk back.

Slowly they moved, Harry keeping his eyes open when suddenly their guard opened fire as viperwolves came at them. While Grace ducked down, covering her ears and closing her eyes, Harry kept his open, knowing the danger of being caught off guard, but even then he felt something big and heavy suddenly pulling him off balance. Twisting and landing on his back, all he saw was the jaws of the viperwolf trying to take a bite out of his face. Quickly grabbing its throat he managed to hold it away as he used his other hand to fend against its claws. Suddenly it collapsed against him and he pushed it off, finding it riddled with bullet holes.

Feeling hands on his shoulders he was helped on his feet by Quaritch.

"Close one! Not just a limp-dicked science major. You got some fight in ya!" Quaritch said as he helped Harry to his feet. "You're luckier than me. It was one of those beasties that did this to me." He turned his head to emphasize his scars and kicked one of the viperwolves as if to make a point.

"Not my first rodeo." Harry said before he nearly fell over again from the fierce hug that Grace gave him.

"Better head back." Vasquez said as they moved on and safely made it back to The Park.

.

.

.

Even though Grace got a scare on her first trip she didn't let up on her research and more trips were made, without accidents.

They even saw a flock of direhorses on one occasion and even a hammerhead, though from afar.

They hadn't seen any Na'vi yet, but Vasquez told them that they were probably watching from somewhere.

Harry still helped Grace but it was getting hard to do since she was truly in her field and it was hard to keep up with her as she dived deep into the biology of the moon. He knew that he needed to keep an eye on her though since if he didn't she would forget to eat or sleep.

.

.

.

"Grace! I thought you stopped back at uni!" Harry said in surprise as he found her buried in papers, with a cigarette in her mouth.

Her head shot up and looked at him in embarrassment.

"Uhm," She so eloquently said, "I was out getting some fresh air when some of the RDA guys were smoking and I accidentally asked to bum one?"

Harry shook his head as he went over with his hand open in front of him. Grace, understanding what he meant, took the cigarette and handed it to him.

"Accidentally, huh?" Harry said as he crushed it and threw it away. "What would you do without me, Grace?"

"Probably be here by myself, smoking and getting more work done." Grace said grumpily, but the slight smirk playing at the corner of her lips took the heat out of it.

Harry smiled as he handed her a glass of water and a plate with food. He knew that when she was in this mood, she wouldn't leave for the mess hall so the only way to get her to eat is to bring it to her.

.

.

.

Hari had started to spend time with Vasquez, Hicks and Quaritch. It was a nice break from the heavy academia that was Grace. Apparently, he had scored some points with how he had handled the Viperwolf incident.

Other than just hanging out once in a while they taught about their weaponry and even some hand-to-hand combat. He had surprised them with his quick reflexes, even though he didn't have any formal training, but he was a quick study and even managed to pin Hicks at one point.

Harry enjoyed this new routine but a month is a short time and it didn't take long before they got a call that the new link units were finally installed and ready.

Both Harry and Grace had enjoyed spending time at the park but they were looking much more forward to finally getting into their avatars.

Getting into the scorpion they waved their goodbyes to the people who came to see them off.

.

.

.

The day had finally arrived; Avatar time.

Harry and Grace could barely hold in their excitement as breakfast in the mess hall at Hell's Gate.

They met with the head technician, a tall blond woman with bangs who introduced herself as Sally Nielsen, who brought them into a circular room with several link units stationed in a semicircle with a control panel in the middle of the room. Beyond the room was what was known as the Ambient room and through the glass Harry could see his and Grace's avatars lying on beds.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to find Grace standing beside him.

"We're finally doing it." She said as he tightened her grip on Harry's shoulder.

"So guys, are we ready?" Sally said.

Harry smiled as they both moved away from the glass and looked at the link units, which to Harry looked like futuristic coffins.

The inside of the link unit box contained a bed-like mattress made of warm gel. It was very comfortable and it was made to avoid getting pressure ulcers from being in there for hours at a time.

Both Harry and Grace knew what to do since they had gone through hundreds of hours of link-time and simulations back on earth so they followed the technicians to their units, while Sally looked over the instruments at the control panel.

Harry gave Grace a last look before he lay down in his unit. The chest monitor was pulled down and the lid was closed.

As he heard the hiss of the lid and the familiar link light went on Harry closed his eyes and relaxed as he had done hundreds of times before back on earth, expecting the familiar tug on his conscience, but what he felt this time was much more than a simple tug. It was like something grabbed him and pulled him, giving him the sensation of falling into a pensive, just much stronger.

Then the screaming and shouting started.

.

.

.

Soulmagic is a dangerous subject and one that was very frowned upon back when there were still witches and wizards back on Earth.

The psionic link that the link units create was a technological marvel which bordered on what could be counted as magic. While the consciousness was shared between the two bodies it was in that moment stronger in the avatar body than the real one, making it possible for the original body to lie still while the avatar was moving.

What wasn't well known was that the soul went along with the consciousness into the avatar, since a soul could only be split through very few means. This didn't happen in simulations since there was no real body to transfer to.

This was something that hadn't been studied since the people in charge didn't believe in souls, but it was something that would have been very important when dealing with magicals.

One's ability to use magic is strongly tied to the soul, so if a soul was transferred, for even just a moment, the ability to use magic was transferred with it, which was one of the many reasons why horcruxes were so dangerous.

The ability to use magic is also what creates, controls and regulates the magical core within magical beings. Now if the control suddenly disappears in beings that are mainly magic, one could end up like Voldemort or the phantom of Riddle's diary; disintegrating or exploding.

Talking about magical substances:

What Harry didn't know was that his seemingly eternal youth was due to the mix between the potent dose of basilisk venom he received as a child and the phoenix tears, making sure that the cells in his body were constantly killed and renewed, a struggle was powered by his magical core and regulated by his subconscious. He had just thought it was because his magic had gotten stronger.

This brings up the question: What happens when Harry's consciousness and soul which carries his ability to use and manipulate magic is transferred to another body?