August 2013, Harry's Bastion, Foyer
Harry had woken up the day after the demons invaded his house weak and in need of rest. Natasha, Wanda, and Pietro all picked up the slack around the house, Harry was of course thankful. It took nearly a week for him to finally be up and about again. The first thing he did when he could stand on his own was check on Teddy. The ice poison in his body made a comeback when he was pulled into the ice dimension, this frustrated Harry but Hank reassured him that everything was fine, he would just need more time to wake. With nothing he could do Harry started trying to figure out how the demons bypassed his wards.
"Master Potter. It's good to see you." Yao said as she stepped out of a portal into Harry's home. Harry just smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Don't act like we didn't see each other for tea last month Yao, and again it's Harry. Not Master Potter. Though I am sorry I wasn't able to visit, but as I told you, my godson is on the mend. " Harry said with a smile. Yao smiled in response as she was led to the kitchen where a steaming pot of tea was already waiting.
"Yes, I was quite happy to see you found a cure for young Teddy." Here she frowned and gave him an intense look, "Whatever you used to keep him alive hid him from my ability to see the future. Be cautious with who you share that ability with." Harry frowned and scratched his chin as the teapot lifted itself and poured two drinks.
"You didn't know about Teddy before I told you?" Harry asked as he picked up his tea cup, intrigued. When she gave a negative hmm as she sipped her tea Harry looked up, "Stasis… Ah! The stasis chamber was designed to stop his degradation. The poison he was infected with was moving quicker than our research, so we created a way to freeze him in time." Yao looked up at that and smiled.
"Marvelous! What an extraordinary feat of magic. Would you mind letting me see this 'stasis chamber'?"
"Not at all. I'd be more than happy to show you." Harry said with a smile.
"The magic from your world is so fascinating. It never ceases to amaze me with the limits it breaks compared to sorcery." She took another sip of tea, "Don't get me wrong, sorcery is plenty in its uses and powerful to boot, but it can be so very limited in the costs it exacts."
"Well I believe that it has something to do with the inherent powers available to witches and wizards in general. You see, when I started studying sorcery I found that my magic could be used to pay the cost of using high level dimensional sorceries. Instead of borrowing the power, my body would adapt my magic to do it for me."
Yao found that to be fascinating and they continued to discuss Harry's unique examples of using sorcery and how he adapted the usage with his own magic. When the tea was finally done Yao sat back and gave Harry a smile. "This was wonderful , but I know you called me to ask for my help."
"Yes." At this, Harry frowned, "My home was invaded by ice demons a week or so ago. I know the protections from your order stop most invasions, but you can't block every attempt when the net surrounding earth focuses on the larger demon kings and inter-dimensional warlords. What I'm worried about is their ability to bypass my wards." Harry finished. Yao sat there and closed her eyes as her mind viewed the wards covering the home. She hummed and stood, she slowly started to walk around and wave her hands through the air. Harry just watched as she inspected the wards, he even prompted them to give her better access for her inspection. Suddenly she stopped and walked directly from the kitchen, Harry quickly followed. He found her standing in front of the Portal Frame.
"This is the problem." Yao said as she looked over the frame. "There aren't any protections on the frame. It's basically an open door if you can find it." Harry frowned. He liked the ability for his friends to come and visit. Suddenly he remembered, it was lost in the furor of Extremis and Teddy but Harry had planned on upgrading the Frames when he found the Yggdrasil pathways.
"Ah, yes, well I had planned on upgrading them soon. How secure would a connection be using this?" Harry asked as he waved his hand to the side and made a silver portal, instead of the typical orange. Yao's eyes lit up as she approached it and studied the magic.
"Fascinating! A series of universal pathways. Where does it connect to?" She asked as she stuck her head through and brought it back. Harry had created a portal to the pathways themselves and not another location.
"Well, remember 'the convergence' that happened a few months ago?" Harry asked Yao nodded as she looked slightly irritated.
"Yes, quite well. Some idiots thought to use it to bypass my protections." Here she clicked her tongue in frustration. Harry was grinning at her demeanor. He loved seeing her lose her cool and be a bit more human. Yao noticed and rolled her eyes, "So you were saying?"
"Oh right. Well during that I was fighting some dark elves with Thor and I noticed a thin wall between us and a dimensional pathway. Spending some time meditating I found myself able to enter this set of pathways, all linked to Yggdrasil." Harry explained as he led her through the portal. They found themselves standing in the middle of what Harry now knew to be a giant root or branch. Silvery walls lined the area as the void surrounded the outside. "In here I can find my way through the universe quite quickly." Yao was looking all over and sending out probes with her mind. She then pulled her sling ring and waved her hand to the side making a silver portal back to Harry's home.
"How marvelous…" she said in a faint voice, "So many years and there is still much to learn." Her voice turned melancholy for a moment before she pulled a smile back on her face and turned to Harry, "I don't sense any other dimensions linking to this space so it should be safe, but others who can visit this space would be free to use your doors, so shield them." Harry nodded as they both walked back to his foyer. The rest of the day, Harry got Yao to help test his wards as he tore them down and rebuilt them. He even created the new portal frames that used Yggdrasil, instead of the dimensional portals previously used. When all was said and done they were once agin sitting in his kitchen sipping tea. Halfway through the pot Wanda and Pietro walked in and stopped as they saw the bald woman sitting across from their adoptive father.
"Good afternoon kids, how was school?" Harry asked with a smile on his face.
"School was fine." Wanda paused for a moment and watched them sip tea, she then huffed and asked "Are you going to introduce us?" She moved to her dad's side and set down her back pack. She had an odd feeling looking at this woman, part of her felt light and comforting, but underneath that was something vile and putrid. Yao, noticing Wanda's apprehension, smiled at her with a twinkle in her eye.
"She is quite gifted Harry, any thought on having her train with us? I wouldn't mind another student." Yao said conversationally. Harry raised his eyebrows at that. He knew Yao didn't take students often, but I guess now that Wanda is older she could start to learn the Mystic Arts. Harry moved his gaze to his daughter who was now looking intrigued and less guarded.
"Wanda, Pietro, this is the Ancient One, a Master of the Mystic Arts. She actually taught me when I first came to this world." Harry said with a smile. Wanda's eyes lit up in recognition.
"Oh you're the one who helped save me from those crazy priests a few years ago right?" Wanda asked as she sat down and made herself some tea. Yao watched the young magic user make tea and smiled brightly when she noticed her familiarity with the action.
"Quite right little one. If you want, I could train you in sorcery. I know your father is teaching the magic of his people?" Yao asked. Wanda nodded prompting her to continue, "Wonderful! Master Potter," she said with a wink to the girl, "was quite the student. He mastered what I could teach in little more than a year. Why if it wasn't because I knew he would reject me, I would take him as my apprentice." She finished with a big grin. Wanda watched as her father hammed it up by making a sour face in reaction to that notion.
Harry soon got up and started on dinner for the four of them. Yao was more than happy to field any questions by Wanda and Pietro. She even suggested Pietro learn a variation of the martial arts taught to the sorcerers. "With your speed the average punch would hurt, but what if you knew how to use your elbows and knees as weapons, hmm?" Yao asked as she sipped her tea. Pietro's eyes got a certain shine to them as his head slowly turned to Harry.
"I'll teach you if you wish to learn Pietro." Harry said without even looking at the grinning speedster. Wanda giggled nearby as food started to plate itself in front of the occupants of the table. Conversation remained light throughout dinner and soon enough Harry was leading Yao outside the house to the gardens, Wanda and Pietro were cleaning up before heading upstairs to do homework. Harry and Yao both stopped and stared up at the star filled sky.
"Sometimes I think back on everything that's happened since I got here and wonder if it was all a dream." Harry said, his gaze never straying from the dog star. "There were times when I was younger, that the life I have now was all I wanted. Is it wrong that I wish to save my world with everything I now have?" Yao let the silence linger for a moment.
"Sometimes the life you have and the life you want aren't the same. It is never wrong to strive to be better or want more. You just have to weigh the sacrifice against the goal." Yao said. Harry's hands clenched slightly. He loved his life and didn't want to sacrifice anything in it, but he owed his friends and family the chance to be more than a destroyed world. "Don't worry too much." Harry finally looked over at Yao who was giving him a soft smile, "Sacrifices come in many shapes and sizes, I already gave you the hint that I obtained." Yao turned back to look at the darkened sky. Harry remembered that first conversation with Yao and smiled, not a big smile, but something content. He remembers now, he can save them but not remain. He doesn't mind staying in this world, he just hopes he can save his old one.
They stood there for several more minutes before Harry suddenly had a gleam in his eye, "Want to see the birth of a creature new to this world?" Harry asked as he side eyed Yao.
"You would be welcoming this creature as a warden?" She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow before smirking and nodding. "This is shoring up to be a fantastic day."
Harry laughed as he led her back inside as he explained the familiar ritual and how he was going to birth this creature, before calling Wanda and Pietro downstairs. When they were gathered he led them to his workshop where he took them to the pocket dimension.
"So what are we doing down here?" Pietro asked as he looked around. He'd been in here several times but never really looked around.
"Are we headed to the library?!" Wanda asked with some excitement. While Harry had copied plenty of the library to the house's, The Library of Hermione was still impressive.
"Not tonight. Tonight we're headed to the warehouse for a ritual." Pietro perked up. Harry never let them run around in there. Evidently some of the objects in the warehouse were exceedingly dangerous. Wanda was more interested in what a ritual was like.
Harry led them down to the second door on the right before opening it up. Yao studied the room, impressed with the things she was seeing. Wanda was already looking towards the racks of magical artifacts, while Pietro was looking at the suits of armor, weapons, and stacks of metal. Harry led them to the back near the collection pensieves , where he stopped in front of a large old but sturdy chest. Slowly opening it they were all greeted by a large pillow and a single jade egg.
Harry took both Wanda and Pietro's hands and pricked a small bit of blood before lifting it up into the air. Wanda yelped and Pietro cursed as he stuck his finger in his mouth. Harry just rolled his eyes at them complaining before he took a ceremonial goblin knife and slashed his hand allowing a large amount of his blood to slowly float up and into a globe of blood, mixing with Wanda and Pietro's. The twins let out a gasp as Harry slashed open his own hand but were stopped from moving by the Ancient One who gave them a little shake of the head. Harry then took out two vials and let a small drop of Teddy and Natasha's blood flow out as well.
"What are you doing? Why did you take our blood?" Wanda asked as Harry gathered the blood together. Harry just smiled at Wanda's inquisitive nature. As she got more comfortable and recovered from the death of her parents, she became much more talkative and constantly asked Harry questions.
"This is a ritual to bind a familiar. My blood will be the main component, but adding other people's blood will ensure their safety from the familiar, as you'd be equivalent to family. With long lived familiars it uses the bloodline of the family to ensure the loyalty of the familiar." Harry said as he slowly started to wave his hand, letting magic lines be drawn in the air. He suddenly started hissing as the magic turned a vivid green. The jade egg started to glow and a small heartbeat was coming from the egg. Yao watched all of this with fascination, her eyes peering into the egg to see what would come out.
Slowly the blood started funneling down, disappearing as it hit the shell of the jade egg. When the last of the blood was gone the egg shook. Harry pushed everyone else back as he kneeled down right next to the egg. It continued to shake for over a minute before a sharp but soft crack broke the near silence. A small piece of the egg was pushed off and a small head poked itself out, its eyes closed as it slowly slithered down to the cushion below the egg shell. Harry smiled at the snake, its scales were a beautiful jade green, it had a small set of horns on its head, and it was barely 6 inches long. Slowly he brought his hand forward and hissed §Hello little one§
The snake, hearing its language, turned its head and slowly opened its eyes, revealing a soft orange color. Inspecting closer Harry saw that the eyes were double lidded. A thin clear lid now sat over its eyes as it approached Harry making small hissing sounds but not actual speech. Harry let it crawl onto it's hand as he once again spoke §Welcome to the world Sazala§
AN: Sorry about the timing, Kaspersky screwed me with some trojanware dressed up like antivirus. Took me a while ot clean it all up.
The-Geek-Who-Lived - Glad you like it. This is my first story so I'm aiming to improve as I write.
ChaosOmega98 - She'll make an apperance in time.
Blackdragon3665 - Hit the nail on the head.
Joe Lawyer - Hope I answered it in chapter, but for clarification they basically used the protal frame as a backdoor to bypasss Harry's wards. The wards or protections on Earth are more like a giant net, it'll catch Tuna all day, but guppies? They can shimmy through.
plums - Don't worry, more Ororo is coming. Teddy is key to Ororo joining.
midnightscar17 - Are just wanting longer chapters in general? Because it was average length for my HPSoS short though, even to me but I think action scenes have that effect.