Scenics- I am Indian. The name Harsh Vardhan is inspired from a King who was brave, charity loving and benevolent while Varah Mihir is considered the God of Astrology in Hindu Mythology. Thanks for your review.
Hypergym- thanks for your precious comment and your help.
I have enlisted assistance of a muse namely Hypergym who is benevolent enough to look over and edit the chapters for me, making them look more beautiful and praiseworthy.
AdrishpuramAfter Harry finished Rachael's thorough session of gentlemanly manners and the ways of Lords, it was late in the evening and the sun was about to set inthe west. The entire sky was tinted with orange coupled with streaks of and the green of the woods just made the scene more picturesque. Harry wished he had his broom with him so that he could have flown towards the mountains and seen the sun set remembering all the situations he had faced so far, he thought better of it. Giving a sigh, he turned to go to his room when a female mystic approached him.
"Mr. Potter, a minute please."
Harry gave a slight bow to her, "yes my lady, what can I do for you this fine evening?"
"You have to do nothing for me yet, however that might change if you can flirt as good as you handle your wand", she smiled suggestively and Harry blushed. "Guruji told me 15 minutes ago that he wishes to see you in 20 minutes. So you have 5 minutes to change and go to his room."
"But that's just not fair! It's not my fault", he protested.
"No but I could not find you. Now stop your whining and run.", she smirked. Harry turned and dashed off towards Harsh's quarters and arrived there in 3 minutes without breaking a sweat. As he entered, Harsh glared at him,"Did I not expressly instruct you to change before coming?".
"Guruji, the one who was sent to fetch me just told me 5 minutes ago that you wish to see me.", Harry whined,"It's not my fault that she couldn't find me while I was attending Rachael's lessons.".
"No, it is not your fault Harry.", Harsh said,"but you must keep track of your time. You were supposed to be done with Rachael about 30 minutes ago. You will need a lesson to remember the value of time.".
Harry cringed at his tone but only shook his head,"I will accept your decision, Guruji.".
Harsh whipped his wand out and after a few casual flicks Harry was dressed in clothes like the mystics. He raised an eye brow towards the mystic,"Why do I need to be dressed like this, Guruji?".
"Harry, there is no dress code but I often feel that I can concentrate more when I am feeling at ease. I think my definition of ease is different from yours.". He raised his wand again and a few seconds later, he was wearing a heavy woollen robe which was quite comfortable to him.
He directed Harry to sit on a mat nearby, "Take a seat, Harry. Now sit crossing your legs and your hands resting on your knees with palm facing upwards. Close your eyes and concentrate on one thing to exclusion of everything. It can be anything, irrespective of whether is real or not. However, it should be something pleasant, something which soothes you. Keep attention on it and keep thinking about it.".
Harry did as instructed and in a few seconds, he was concentrating on the scene he had seen just before he woke from his coma, the cottage at Godric's Hollow. His family together and waving to him, the faces lit with smiles and their eyes shining. Harry thought about his father who was one of the most talented wizards of his generation, who had helped his friends to become Animagi without any help, one who had gone toe to toe with Voldemort three times and lived to tell the tale, who had given his life to protect his wife and son. He thought of his mother who had died shielding her son from an enemy, who was the brightest witch of her age, who had performed a feat unimaginable. He thought of the strict looking man his grandfather was who looked every inch the warrior he was touted to be. His thoughts strayed to his grandmother who was kind yet fierce as per the accounts that Rachael told him.
As Harry was wandering, he felt some kind of void in front of him beyond which he could not see. As he stepped into the void, Harsh's voice came to him 'Come back, Harry. This is enough for today.'
As Harry opened his eyes, he found that he was mentally drained. "How long were we doing that?", he asked.
"Just over an hour.", Harsh replied,"What did you see?".
"I was in Godric's hollow with my family and was thinking of them when I felt a kind of void in front of me. I felt like it was pulling me towards it.", Harry said,"I was afraid to enter it yet I not turn away. I just had to know, had to feel what was in that place.".
Harsh smiled,"very good Harry. That void as you say is your mindscape. It is nothing right now but you will have to build something over there like I have this castle as my mindscape.".
"What would be good, Guruji?", he asked,"something that would be secure.".
"You have just answered it for yourself Harry.", Harsh said,"something that would be secure."
"Umm... what about Hogwarts Castle?", Harry asked hesitantly.
Harsh laughed,"you are really Voldemort's equal. His mindscape is the Hogwarts castle with the chamber of secrets and a few undiscovered rooms. I would rather choose different mindscape so he would not have run of the place if he succeeds in entering your mind", Harsh said, "Now Harry, you are to do this exercise before you go to sleep and with different thought. May be some idea would come to you about your mindscape. If it does, I want you to describe it with great detail in your Mystic Journal so that you can make your mindscape just like that.".
Harry nodded and was about to leave before Harsh started again, "As soon as you are done with your dinner, you will report to Pashupati in the stables. He has some job for you as your punishment. This was the first chance and it was not intentional, I am going easy on you and letting you escape with minimum punishment."
Harry nodded his head in agreement and left for his room. After half an hour, he was standing in the stables where Pashupati was waiting for him 'First you are to untether your hippogriff and take it to a ride. After you are done with that, you will help me find some wand wood in the woods.' He tossed an ordinary wooden staff to him 'Keep it when you are up in the air. Who knows what you would find?".
Harry untethered his hippogriff and he brought him out and was petting it when Pashupati growled "Who would put the tack, Harry? You intend to ride bare back?".
Shrugging Harry went to the store room which was at the side and took out the tack he remembered using earlier and set to work. After 10 minutes, the beast was saddled and Harry mounted it. As he petted its side, Black storm extended his mighty wings and ran outside. In a few minutes, Harry was soaring in the sky, exhilarated by the rush of air through his hair when he noticed a squadron of winged horses flying towards him.
They all had men with swords mounted on them and when they neared him, they moved to the attack. Harry dived hard and as he was levelling the hippogriff, he found that the attackers too had dived with him. Knowing no way out, he started manoeuvring the hippogriff in mid air, making it fly in unpredictable patterns while he tried to make it to the ground, however his pursuers seemed to know his mind and they kept blocking him at every turn. It frustrated Harry because he knew that if he was allowed to do magic that he could have escaped easily. He remembered that the staff which Pashupati had given him was strapped at his back. He loosed the staff then wielded it as he had learned to wield a two-handed sword. The staff was a little longer than his practice sword, light weight wood and was sturdy. As the first attacker came into range, he swung the staff with all his might and clipped one wing of his opponent's horse, forcing him to descend. The other attackers immediately started keeping their distance from him, but; not allowing him to escape. As he was getting tired, one of his opponents suddenly attacked him and it was only with the quick reflexes of his hippogriff that the attack was rendered futile.
While his opponent was readying a new attack after the failed one, Harry swung his staff and heard the distinct sound of bone breaking then he was left with two opponents. They decided to attack him together and soon, he was facing dual attacks. What was making it harder was that they were cloaked in dark hooded robes which, against the night sky, made it nearly impossible to see them. Too soon, he heard rushing wings and tried to dodge away from the incoming animal when he felt a weight fall on the hippogriff. An opponent had leapt on his hippogriff from his horse, hit Harry on the head with the flat of his blade making him almost faint and jumped to the ground. Before he lost consciousness, he willed his hippogriff to return to the ground and passed out.
He was enervated by Pashupati who looked kind of disappointed,"I thought you would do better than that, Harry. You should have felt the moment he jumped from his horse.".
Harry who was feeling angry for all the times that he was used as a whetstone by the mystics, snapped, "Four on one, in the dark, complete surprise and no magic. I had a great time I'm sure! Is that your idea of fun?".
Pashupati gave him an evil smirk,"It was not but how would you be prepared if you did not know what you can face. They were only trying to teach you.".
"And just what Am I supposed to learn from being knocked out of the air?", Harry asked sarcastically.
"They will teach you aerial warfare. They were just taking stock of your abilities. They think you can be a great fighter' Pashupati said 'and they also said that your familiar bond is rather weak.' 'I want you here every day in the morning to look after your familiar and you will do everything to make this bond strong", he said in a stern voice and Harry could only nod in agreement.
After that he took Harry with him to the woods in the settlement where they were going to search for wand wood. He asked Harry how would they find wand wood and Harry was stumped for an answer till he remembered a certain creature he had read in Fantastic Beasts.
"I will look for bow truckles in the trees.", he said confidently,"Bowtruckles or tree guardians as they are called live in trees which have wood fit for wand making. When I find one, I will try to offer it wood lice, its preferred food or fairy eggs which it loves and ask for wand wood. A wand wood given voluntarily by a tree guardian is better for a wand than one forcefully taken.".
Pashupati beamed at him,"It looks like you have a way with beasts, Harry. Did Hagrid teach you about these wonderful beasts?".
Harry snorted,"His definition of wonderful is a bit different from mine. Beasts that I would avoid because they are huge, scary or flat out dangerous, he thinks they're cute and cuddly and wants to take them home and adopt them as pets.".
Pashupati laughed,"Still he has a heart of gold and his knowledge of beasts is second to none except famous magizoologist Newt Scammander who I believe wrote a book on fascinating beasts he found during his travels.".
Harry nodded,"His book is popular with the students and the public in general and his brother was a decorated Auror. I read that he fought in the Grindelwald wars.".
"You are right Harry", the mystic said "Newt, his brother and few of his friends aided in the war effort. By the way, how many fascinating beasts have you seen in real?"
Harry smiled to himself,"more than I would like to see. Most of them were looking to kill me or maim me at the least. In my first year at Hogwarts, I watched a dragon hatch from an egg and then I fought a three headed dog at the end of the year. In second year, my friend Ron and I were carried off by Acromantulas then at the end of year I faced a thousand year old Basilisk and had to kill it. In third year, Hagrid showed us Hippogriffs. In fourth year, I was introduced to blast ended skrewts which were some monstrosity Hagrid had bred, then I faced a dragon and I had to steal a treasure from it, then I had to face merpeople to rescue what I would miss most and in the maze, I faced a blast ended skrewt, an acromantula and a sphinx. Here I have seen a Yeti, a Ganda Berunda, made a familiar bond with a hippogriff, saw a thestral and now we are trying to find a bow truckle in the dead of night with nothing to help us to see in this darkness."
Pashupati chuckled,"You had quite the experience with the beasts, Harry. Perhaps you should write all your encounters with the beasts in the journal.".
The mystic produced two glass vials which looked ordinary till he lighted the bluebell flames in them and handed one to Harry,"Now you can see in the dark. I want you to find a bow truckle.", He produced a pouch from his clothes."Here, take this batch of doxy eggs and offer them to the bow truckles and appease them to give you wand wood.".
An hour later, Harry had an armful of wand wood and he returned to the camp with the mystic who promptly dismissed him. As Harry returned to his chamber and lay on his bed, he started thinking of a suitable his concentration wavered and he went into his library to find a book which might help him a little. He found a curious little book about mindscapes which was hand written by Archibald Potter titled Mind Magics- the magic you should be afraid of.
There was a chapter in the book which discussed was even a detailed description by the author of his own mindscape."my mindscape is the Potter Castle which used to belong to the Peverells before the line was merged together. The castle is easily the size of Hogwarts though not as grand. It is three stories tall and sprawls over an hundred acre field. There are also the adjoining grounds and the is situated somewhere in a valley in the highlands in Scotland. The castle is surrounded by every kind of ward available and sits on 4 ley lines which keep the wards charged at full power. The woods are as dense as the Forbidden Forest and all kinds of creatures live in it. The most delightful thing is the river that flows through the property and is a home to a tribe of merpeople...".
Harry kept reading the description till he fell didn't take long. He was mentaly and physicaly exhausted from all the lessons and activity of the day.
Ministry of MagicAmelia was in her office doing some paperwork when her secretary came in."Mr. Black is here to see you, Ma'am."
"Send him in.", she said wearily, having been tired of the ordeal that the day had been.
Earlier in the day, the wizengamot, in an emergency session convened at her behest, tried Dolores Jane Umbridge on the charges of unauthorised use of dementors, muggle baiting, possession of Class B non- tradable artefacts in the form of a handful of blood quills and for some other crimes that she had confessed under the effects of the entire wizengamot seemed to despise her for some reason and with the minister leading the mob demanding her head on a platter, she was sentenced to the dementor's kiss.
Sirius Black entered the office, looking every bit the regal man that he was, adorned in expensive robes which screamed wealth, a cloak billowing out behind him and a smile gracing his face.
"Amelia.", he said, taking a seat across from her place at her desk.
"Sirius,", she replied with a nod,"how can I help you?".
"I have come to request that you have my wand brought up from the archives", he said, "The one I am currently using did not choose me and I find it hard to use it while doing some intricate magic."
Amelia sighed, "I am sorry Sirius but your wand was destroyed. I spent several days scouring the archives, looking for it, before. Proudfoot informed me that Cornelius had it snapped when you escaped Azkaban."
Sirius's reaction of shock and rage was plain to see, but; he reined it in before he spoke, "I see. Perhaps I will have to pay a little visit to a friend afterall."
He left Amelia to go down to the atrium when he collided with someone who snapped at him, "Watch where you're going!"
As Sirius looked up, he found himself face to face with one Percy Weasley who had an air of haughtiness about him, but when he realized who he had just snapped at, he quickly deflated, "Mr. Black", he nodded, "Pardon me. I was not paying attention." Percy then fled as quickly as he could manage without actually breaking into a run.
As Sirius was getting down to the Atrium, he was accosted by Moody,"What are you doing here, Black?".
As Sirius recounted everything that had happened, concluding with how his wand was destroyed, Moody listened sympathetically, then paused to consider before advising, "you'll want to stay clear of Ollivanders. You're not a school boy and you'll want something better than an off-the-shelf wand. Get one custom made. That'll do you right."
Sirius nodded and disapparated as soon as he was in the atrium.
Cottage on the hillFilius Flitwick was having fun for the first time in decades. This morning he had decided that he wanted to test the students. He put them in teams and duelled each team in turn. The rules were simple, charms only. As he suspected, none of them had any idea of how to use charms in a battle. So, he was enjoying himself at their expense.
First up were Fred and George. Their opening gambit was ganged banishing charms which he casually flicked aside while grinning at them. One of them managed to get a summoning charm in under his guard, but as the tiny professor hurtled through the air towards them, first, one of the twins found himself dangling in the air, held up by one ankle. Next he used Aguamenti to blast the other twin in the face with a jet of water followed up with Tarantallegra and for a finishing touch, used a sticking charm and stuck his wildly tap-dancing victim to the wall.
Next up were Susan and Hermione who wildly fired off all the charms they could remember from their charms professor merely dodged them all with apparent ease clearly demonstrating what a nine times international duelling champion can do. When their barrage of spells let up for the briefest instant, he sent Hermione flying with an overpowered banishing charm, who landed on her bottom some distance away. He followed up by dousing her with a jet of water then freezing it, encasing her in ice and trapping her where she sat. Then turning his full attention to Susan, hit her with ascendio, sending her soaring high into the air. She started to fall back to earth, but before she hit the ground, a cushioning charm saved her from any real harm.
For the finale, he faced Ginny, Neville and Ron together. Ginny immediately went on the offensive forcing him to raise a shield. Ron also went on the attack, trying to flank him. Neville just stood there, his wand raised, but doing nothing else. He started by firing a locomotor charm at Neville which sent him gliding across the room until his head hit the wall, knocking him unconscious. Keeping his shield to Ginny, he duelled with Ron for some time, who dodged his spells until he connected with Petrificus Totalus stopping him, then banished him to a cabinet in the room and followed up by locking it with a final flick. Taking his shield down, he then turned to Ginny, dodging her charms as she cast everything she knew. She was able to keep him occupied for some time until he connected with a well timed deep sleep charm and Ginny slumped to the floor.
An hour later, the students were sitting in the classroom looking at the charms professor who was grinning at them."None of you seem to know how to use charms effectively in combat. Do you suppose that only hexes, jinxes and curses are any use in a fight? Today, all of you have experienced first-hand exactly what charms can do and you must learn to use that for your own advantage."
Headmaster's office, HogwartsAlbus Dumbledore was having to work pretty hard considering it was supposed to be the summer break.
Generally he used this time to attend the annual ICW convention. This year, however, he sent his regrets for being unable to attend to the conference committee in Greece.
Aparichit, whose real name he did not know, had taken up residence in the castle and was busy remodelling some unused class rooms for his purposes. When Dumbledore had expressed his astonishment, he merely told him that the rooms would be used to teach or train his classes. He had put some of those rooms under the strongest privacy wards which Albus had never seen before. He was actively searching the entire castle discovering ways in and out and other entrances which nobody stranger did not share everything that he found with Dumbledore but he knew that Harry James Potter would be told everything and that was sufficient for him.
Ever since Harry's departure with the man who had masqueraded as a healer trainee, Albus's thoughts were with the boy he had come to love as he would his own grandson.
When Harry arrived at the castle to start his first year, Albus wanted to start giving him private lessons, but delayed his hand, telling himself that he was giving Harry the time to have the childhood that he never had at number 4 Privet Drive. Each year, he considered his decision again and each year he told himself that the boy was still too young. Finally, at the end of third year, he decided to start Harry's training at the beginning of fourth year. After driving off a hundred dementors single-handed, boy or not, he certainly had enough power to be Albus's apprentice. Then the Triwizard tournament came to Hogwarts, forcing another change in plan and Harry's training was delayed again.
The mystic had come as a blessingand a relief to him. They would be able to teach Harry more than he ever could.
He supposed that after Harry had become his equal in versatile and arcane magics that he was unlikely to become his apprentice. He would have to choose another for that honor.
He had thought long and hard about all the promising young witches and wizards he knew and narrowed down the options. The select few that came to the top of the list were, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Susan Bones and Neville Longbottom. Hermione Granger was an extremely capable witch. Selecting her as his apprentice would send a strong message to the wizarding world. But, as brilliant as she was, she had her limitations. First, she was too quick to judge, and her muggle upbringing meant that she judged things by muggle standards. Her narrow minded attitude and ignorance of deep and ancient wizarding ways meant that she could offend and even cause harm in the name of what she thought is justice. She could be taught. Other muggle borns had overcome their own prejudice, learned about the wizarding world thoroughly and embraced it whole heartedly. Some were even the heads of cadet lines and welcome in pure-blood the problem that could not be overcome was that she simply lacked sufficient power to learn much of what Albus wanted to pass on.
Ronald Weasley was ineligible for a lot of reasons. He was a pureblood but could not rise above the bias of house colours. He had a deep-seated belief since childhood that Slytherins were evil. Albus had met many Slytherins in his life who were anything but evil. His friend Horace Slughorn who had been one of the most popular teachers of Hogwarts was a Slytherin and head of house of Snakes for decades. Alastor Moody was a Slytherin during his time at Hogwarts and so was Andromeda Black. Even Cedrella Weasley nee Black had been a Slytherin and she was his grandmother. He was also very lacklustre in his studies and tended to avoid working hard. It was a surprise considering his siblings had made their fame by working hard for it. William had been a head boy for his impressive academic record and became a curse breaker at Gringotts. Perhaps one of the best that they had and his warding abilities were superior to most. Charlie was an extremely talented quidditch player who had become captain in his day and could have played for the National team but went on to become a dragon handler, an ambitious career. Percival was the most ambitious of them and knew about how to exploit his advantage. He was a top student and became a head boy in his day. The twins while were not into academics but they were brilliant inventors. Albus personally liked their pranks and kept a diligent watch on them. If they kept up the pace, they would have their own brand of family magic soon. Young Ronald had disappointed him so far with his work ethic. He could not be an apprentice if he did not rise above his bias and did nothing to become more studious and hard he had not yet shown that he was powerful enough to be eligible for the position.
Susan Bones was a powerful and resourceful witch but he did not think that Amelia would allow her to become his apprentice. Besides he did not know much about her abilities or anything else about her other than her being Amelia's niece.
Neville Longbottom was everything he needed in an apprentice. He was well versed in the ways of the wizarding world, came from a family of powerful wizards, had a long magical ancestry behind him and was as powerful as Voldemort if not more so. Albus felt that he had focussed his attention on Harry for too long at Neville's He deserved equal attention because he could, just as easily have been the child of the prophesy.
Neville Longbottom was easily as powerful as Voldemort; but all those years of living under the care of a grandmother who was disappointed that he wasn't his father and trying to use his father's wand had hampered his growth and undermined his confidence. He will need a mentor to guide and support him as he grows into and refines his powers and becomes his own man. Neville would make an excellent apprentice should he choose to accept his offer. Albus just hoped that Harry would not resent him for this choice.
Looking out of his office window, Albus could see that the day had passed on into evening. It was likely that the students were done with their lessons and drills for the day. It had been too long since he last visited Green Hues. Now would be a good time to remedy that oversight. He whistled for Fawkes and the red and gold plumed phoenix appeared before him. No sooner had Albus grasped his tail feathers than they both disappeared in a flash of red and gold flames.
Green HuesNeville was sitting in the study with Croaker who was teaching him some magical theory when his personal elf, Sippy popped in, "A Mr. Dumblydore is on the ward line, Master. He be wishing to come in and has a fire bird."
"Firebird?", Neville said, confused.
"He means Phoenix.", said Croaker smiling, "Albus may have tried to fire travel into the house, but; when I was erecting the wards after the attack on your parents, I added an anti-phoenix ward just for the fun of it".
Neville laughed at this. Turning to his elf he said, "take him to the sitting room, Sippy. I will be along in a minute".
The elf bowed and popped away. Neville turned to Croaker,"A visit from the headmaster. Why do you think he came?"
"The only person who understands Albus Dumbledore is Albus Dumbledore.", Croaker said, "whatever he asks, do not commit to it too quickly. For once keep your Griffindor trait in control."
Neville shrugged and stepped towards the parlour and when he reached it, Dumbledore was sitting in a poufy chinse chair which Neville was sure did not belong to Green Hues. Seeing Neville he rose up, "Good evening Heir Longbottom and Croaker. Did I come at a good time?".
Croaker smirked at him,"Don't play your games on me Albus. You never go anywhere without a definite purpose. May be you can come to the point instead of beating around the bush."
"Harsh, but straight to the point as usual, my old friend" Albus said, amusement dancing in his eyes,"I had hoped that you would treat me with more courtesy.".
Croaker sighed,"Keep your secrets then."
"Not at all, old friend.", he said jovially,"I came here to make an offer to Mr. Longbottom."
"What offer?", said Neville, immediately suspicious. While the Head Master was a great wizard he never had much to do with Neville. Everyone at Hogwarts knew that he doted over Harry Potter. So, why the sudden interest in Neville Longbottom?
Albus faced him,"I will not remain young forever. (Croaker snorted) And one day, I shall depart on the next great is certain knowledge that I wish to pass on. I have to find someone who is worthy, willing and able to bemy apprentice. I have carefully considered my options and you,", he paused, "are my best choice for this role, if you will accept it. So, what say you to my offer, Mr. Longbottom?".
Neville was dumbstruck. He just stood there for a time with his mouth hanging open before speech found him again. Then he turned to Albus and began, "But why me, Head Master? I don't remember you seeking me out for anything. I would be willing to bet that I haven't crossed your mind more than ten times in your entire life."
Albus had the good grace to look properly embarrassed as he replied, "It is true that I have dwelt much more upon the welfare of Harry potter than your own. While Harry Potter's destiny could have been yours and vice versa, still, I followed him more closely because he has a certain knack for being in the thick of things when there is trouble. You have always had your grandmother and Croker, but Harry had no one until he came to Hogwarts. I paid attention to him forgetting you in the process. But when it came to choosing an apprentice, there were only ever two real possibilities, - you and Harry Potter.".
Croaker who was silent all this while, said,"what exactly is this destiny? Is it about one of the things which falls under my dominion and belongs exclusively to Harry Potter?"
Dumbledore understood the reference to the prophecy and nodded in agreement, "Voldemort's (Neville shuddered) decision to choose Harry changed the path of the future. If he had not acted, it would still be open for either of them but now it is irrevocably sealed with his name."
Then Croaker asked the question that Neville was already thinking, "Why didn't you make this offer to Harry Potter?"
"Young Master Potter's training is already being seen to by certain guardians of ancient magics. When they are done, there will be very little left that I could teach him but I realised lately that I also have a duty towards Neville who is equally important.", Dumbledore explained "Besides, one day I will have bragging rights that I was the master to such a worthy apprentice as him.".
These 'guardians'? Just who might they be?", asked Croaker with an eye brow raised.
"Someone who can enter and leave your department at anytimewithout you ever knowing. ", Dumbledore smirked at him, "they are a rather obscure bunchand more mysterious than unspeakables. Your lot would look like children and amateurs in comparison with them.".
Croaker frowned,"So, what I heard is true. They have made an appearance again.".
Dumbledore nodded his head,"they have. I would imagine that you would like to get your hands on one of them.".
"Why not offer it to Hermione or Ron?", Neville interjected.
"Excellent question Mr. Longbottom. I did consider them among others. Since you ask, Hermione Granger would be an excellent choice for an apprentice as a witch with ordinary power. She has an extraordinary thirst for knowledge and a mind which absorbs it readily. Although she is very capable, she lacks the power to use much of what I could teach her. She is also stuck in between the muggle and the wizarding world. She does not understand the intricacies of our world, its traditions, rules and customs. She does not realise that she cannot live in both worlds at the same time. Neither can she condemn thousands of years of traditions without even trying to understand why they exist. Finally, if she has a belief, she will not be deterred from it whether she is right or wrong. Ronald Weasley has issues with immaturity, insecurity and jealousy. He has a lot of growing up to do before he could possibly be a worthy apprentice. While he was brought up in our traditions and understands our customs, he frowns upon everything that his parents call 'ways of pureblood tripe'. Besides he is not so overtly powerful as you are" Dumbledore finished his reasoning while Neville sat quietly and listened.
"Head Master I am honoured by your generous offer. I request that you grant me time to consider it. In any event, I shall not be able to begin training with you until term starts. Great uncle has just started to teach me my family magics and that has priority over everything else for the present. Besides, I feel like this summer may be the last time that I will be able to enjoy my childhood. The coming war will take our innocence away", Neville said after thinking for some time.
"I understand, my boy", Dumbledore said sounding relieved, "I will await your decision however for my sake, I hope you will agree." He vanished the chair he was sitting in before taking his leave of them.
As Dumbledore left, Croaker turned to Neville, "I believe, that you, will accept his offer?"
Neville's face looked like he was deep in thought, "Only a fool would refuse such an offer. However, I had no idea that he would come to me with it. I never had any sort of help from him before. This is very sudden", Neville concluded.
Then after a short pause, with a puzzled expression he asked, "Uncle, what did you mean by 'it belongs exclusively to Harry?'"
"That, Neville, is Harry Potter's secret", Croaker smirked, "It is his to divulge, or not. Maybe he will tell you. But remember that it is such a secret that it could cost you your life if anyone else knew that you know.".
AdrishpuramHarry Potter woke up in his room with someone calling his name. As he opened his eyes, he saw Anal standing there frowning at him,"Get up, Potter. Dawn is about to break. I want you on the track in 10 minutes.".
As the mystic left, Harry rolled out of bed, grumbling about the unearthly hours of the mystics.
He dressed for physical training and reached the track with 1 minute remaining. As soon as the mystic saw him, he brandished his wand at him and growled,"Start running till you drop and I feel that you are slowing down for a minute, I will pepper you with bone breakers.'".
Harry did not need to be told twice. He headed off around the lake at a dead run and did not slow down until he completed a lap. He quickly picked up the pace again when a bone breaker struck the ground where his foot had been a split second before. He finished four laps of the lake, narrowly avoiding several encounters with the bone breakers before he collapsed to the ground panting.
The mystic started raining down stingers on him without saying anything. Harry got the hint and started push ups and kept doing them until he dropped from exhaustion. An hour from the time he had arrived at the lake, he was spent. The mystic apparently was not done with him and barked,"You will report to Ambar who is waiting for you in her class room."
Grumbling, he went to Ambar who wanted to discuss the anatomy of the leopard with him. He had read some of the chapters of the book and she questioned him extensively on them. When she was done questioning, she asked him to try to change his features. When he asked how to do that, she explained that he was to will his magic to do that for him i.e. coax his magic into doing his bidding. As he sat trying for sometime but it did not happen, she relieved him and asked to keep trying it whenever he had time.
The Potions master was in a chipper mood when Harry arrived in the dungeons, "Hello Harry, we thought we should do something today", the potions master said.
"What?", Harry asked feeling apprehensiveabout what task the potions master would set for him.
"I looked into my stores and found that I am running low on some of my most exotic ingredients. Since we usually collect in the forests there is a trip in order. We are going on a little trip but do not worry, we will come back by the evening."
Harry nodded and the potions master sent him off to wear something more fitting for the cold temperature outside. He wore one of the Weasley Jumpers over a robe which was made of some sturdy material, dragon hide boots and a cloak that Harsh had transfigured into a heavy woollen one.
As they came out, the potions master took his hand and Disapparated. Harry felt like he was being forced into a hose and pressure was constricting him but soon the pressure eased up and he found that they were in a heavily wooded section of the forest.
As Harry appeared out of the air, he stumbled on his feet. "What was that?", he asked, feeling nauseous from the experience.
The potions master smiled,"This is called apparition, Harry. It is one of the methods of magical travel but it seems that you do not agree with it."
"But I apparated with Guruji before and it was nothing like this", He said in confusion since apparition with Harsh had been painless and it felt like dissolving into nothingness, but this was like his body was being compressed through a hose and being squeezed out at the other end.
"That is not apparition, Harry", the potions master told him,"that is our own method of travelling which predates apparition and it cannot be hindered by any wards but Apparition can be limited by placing an anti-apparition ward around a place.".
Harry nodded his head. Now he understood how they could travel beyond wards and the wards would not be able to stop them.
"Now Harry, I want you to find these ingredients in the forest", the potions master said, handing him a list, "after you are done finding the ingredients, we will see to your instructions in potions further."
Harry scanned the list and found many familiar plants on the list which he had used over the years in Potions and had never thought where they came from. He had studied about many of them in Herbology class, but; that was the limit of his interaction with plants. As he thought about the connection between Herbology and potions, he had a thought which he wanted to confirm with the potions master,"Sir, can someone who is an expertat herbology be equally good at potions?"
"Yes Harry", the potions master said,"a person with good knowledge of plants and their properties can be prodigious talent in the field of potions because he would know of the basic things- property of the materials he is using."
Harry's thoughts went to Neville for a minute who was a prodigy student at Herbology but dismal at potions, but; then considering Snape's treatment of him, that was not unexpected. If Snape was not breathing down his neck, perhaps Neville would have been good at potions.
So, Harry started to gather the ingredients for the potions but for the first time outside the security of the greenhouses of Hogwarts. He worked extremely carefully in gathering all the required ingredients for a few hours when it happened. As he touched a plant, his entire arm went numb and the plant was poised straight, ready to strike him again. This was a plant he had never seen before and mistook it for another plant. His arm was paralysed and numb from the venom and he had no option but to go back and find the potions master who introduced the plant to him,"this is a magical version of an extremely common plant 'mimosa pudica'. While the mimosa plant shies away from touch, this one attacks the one who touches it. it in-built defence mechanism give it the ability to shoot venom at its target and touching it bare hand is certain death."
"What is the use of this plant?", Harry asked, disgusted.
"This plant is used in making poison. A poison which is of our own making and even a whiff of it can kill a grown man", the potions master explained, "sometimes we use to kill dark wizards who are better prepared and in heavy security or those we cannot kill without exposing our world."
Harry nodded in agreement but skirted away from the plant while the potions master simply uprooted the plant putting a stasis charm on it and slipped it in his robes.
"Are you immune to its poison?", Harry asked curiously.
"No Harry, I stunned it before I approached it", the mystic smirked, "in stunned state, its mechanism goes inert."
Harry could think of a lot of uses for the plant and he was planning to ask for a sapling for the greenhouses. As he made his request, the potions master nodded, "Good idea Harry. You can take any plant you wish but before that you have to write a composition about its general qualities, its features so that I know it would not die due to lack of care."
Harry groaned from all the reading they were making him do. So far he had started Runes, was reading ahead for Potions, Transfigurations, Charms and had many other books for Defence, and yet more were being foisted on him.
"So Harry, Guruji has told me that you are learning Occlumency and Legilimency", the mystic was continuing,"have you had any success so far?"
Harry shook his head, 'I just started last night and he tasked me with finding a suitable mindscape. I was reading a book on mind magics by one of my own ancestors where he was describing Potter Castle but I did not get far before I fell asleep. He gave a good description of the surroundings of the castle but nothing more in the book."
"And now you wish to know more?", the mystic asked,"so that you can see if you can make it your mindscape?"
Harry nodded in agreement.
"Harry, while I would not claim to have seen Potter Castle but as you have a good description of the surrounding around it, maybe you should add other feature to it by yourself. A mindscape is unique to a wizard and I do not think you want to have one similar to another?"
Harry could see his point and conceded so.
"Now Harry I want you to take the position as Guruji told you and start meditating. As you come to the black void, delve into and it and try to imagine a castle starting to build from it. Make the foundations as you want them to be and then add all other features you want in it.".
Harry sat in meditation as had been taught by Harsh and after 15 minutes of trying to concentrate, he reached the void. It was pitch black and he could not even see his hands in front of him. He walked further and it felt like walking on air since there was nothing beneath his feet. With every step he felt like his heart would jump to his mouth. He kept walking forward gingerly and sometimes he felt like he would simply fall off. Suddenly he felt a jerk behind his navel and found himself sprawled on the ground. As he rose to his feet, he found that it was not dark anymore but more like a night full of stars where he could see everything. As he looked around, he felt his legs turning to jelly, too horrified to think how he got in front of him was the grave stone marked Tom Riddle. Somehow he had reached the grave yard. As he turned around, he saw Wormtail performing the ritual to bring Voldemort back who then subdued Harry again and started torturing him under the Cruciatus Curse. As he was shaking violently, suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and the words of the mystic in his ear, "Come back, Harry. You can get out of there. You are more powerful than him. Fight him and come back."
Harry used all his might to throw off Voldemort and ran to where he was sure was the way out.
Then he was in the clearing, his body drenched in sweat and the mystic looking at him with concern. "What happened, Harry? What did you see?", the mystic asked, his voice trembling,"You were doing fine till you started shaking violently."
Harry looked down feeling ashamed of himself, "I was in the graveyard."
The mystic flinched, "I should have known. I am sorry Harry. Do you have nightmares often?"
"No.", Harry shook his head, "I was plagued with them while I was at Hogwarts but when I returned to London, I have been so tired everyday that I don't have dreams of any sort, never mind nightmares."
"You will need to see Charak." the mystic said, "he is our healer and he would be able to help you. You should have seen a mind healer immediately after the incident."
Harry wanted to refuse but could not since he knew that the mystic had a point and there was no reason to have unnecessary pain and nightmares when one could avoid it.
"Now Harry, since we cannot get to construct your mindscape right now, perhaps we should use this time to teach you something else?", the mystic said.
"Teach me what?", Harry asked.
"Apparition, Harry.",the mystic said,"that will be useful to you. I have heard you make quite spectacular exits out of the floo, so maybe you would be able to avoid all the embarrassment."
Harry rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue to the mystic who mock huffed.
"I guess I can learn Apparition.", Harry said,"it would be useful in making hasty get-aways."
So, it was that the mystic sat teaching him Apparition which he found to be hard. The first thing was three D's which he could not understand at all. He knew what the three D's stood for: Destination, Determination and Deliberation, but; he had no idea how that would help him apparate.
After an hour of fruitless effort, without Harry apparating so much as a toenail, the mystic, who seemed quite fed up said, "Forget everything I said Harry. Just follow these steps and it may work you easy."
He nodded his head. The mystic pointed him to a cluster of trees in the distance 'Keep that place in your mind, commit to your memory'. As Harry did so, the mystic said further,"Now, order your magic to propel you towards it while do not move your body at all. Keep willing your magic to take you there with a sense of urgency."
Harry started to try summoning his magic and after a few moments he could feel his magic responding to him, surging within in waves. As he saw the destination in his mind, he willed his magic to take him there quickly. With a loud pop, Harry Potter appeared at his destination and almost fell over his own feet.
The mystic was already standing there beaming at him, "Congratulations, you did it!"
Harry took a moment to look around himself not sure that he had really done it, but; after some time there was a little smile at the corner of his lips, "I did it!"
"Now you know how to apparate, Harry.", the mystic said,"but there are limits to this. An ordinary wizard can apparate upto 100 kilometres without any real trouble however beyond that there is a risk of them getting splinched and that is not something you want to witness. Second the powerful the wizard, the longer distance he can apparate. Thirdly you can take someone side along but it is not a good idea to take more than two people at once because it taxes your magic", The mystic continued after pausing a moment,"Now I want you to practice apparating all around this place and try not to use too much magic into apparating. The more magic you use, the louder the pop. If you can achieve silent apparition, it would be helpful in battle or in making escape if you are surrounded."
For the next hour, Harry apparated all over the place trying to use less energy than he had used before. After an hour of continuous apparition, the mystic asked him to stop and they returned to Adrishpuram.
AzkabanPeter Pettigrew was in bad shape. He had been captured by the boy when he was trying to get the jump on him and taken to Hogwarts and that had been the start of his nightmares. Amelia Bones had wasted no time to dose him with Veritaserum. When he started ranting about his rights, she had grinned ferally telling him that dead men had no rights. Since he had been declared dead on the night when he had framed Sirius Black, his rights had ceased to exist.
After being dosed, he sang like a canary, telling of everything that he had done in the service of the dark lord, and how he had ratted out many of the prominent members of the order to him including Edgar and Ellie Bones. Amelia had wanted to murder him then and there but had gritted her teeth and interrogated him about everything he had done or knew.
Sometime during the investigation, the hand the dark lord had given him rose to strangle him for betraying the dark lord when Amelia had hastily severed it from his arm and set it on fire. She cauterised his arm and gave him to the care of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-eye. They had taken him to a safe house where Mad-Eye tortured him to his heart's content. Mad-eye showed him why he had a well-earned reputation for breaking even the most hardened death eaters when he had cursed him with a lot of dark curses making him writhe around in agony but did not allow him to die. Every day that he was frustrated about something or someone offended him, Mad-eye tortured him. This went on for a few days before Amelia had come to order all torture to cease and he was patched up and presented before the Wizengamot. From there, he had been brought here where Dementors made him relive all his horrible memories. He had been placed in the maximum security wing in one of the top-most cells of the prisonwhere he was subjected to dementors almost daily. While Sirius was not a known animagus and was able to use it to keep his sanity, Wormtail's ability was well known and so, his prison cell was warded with an anti-animagus spell which did not allow him to change.
As he lay in his bed waiting for the Dementors to come and feed off his memories, he heard footsteps coming down the hall and a few seconds later, the door to his cell was opened and the warden entered followed by two men he had never wished to meet again.
'Hello Peter' said Remus Lupin, who eyes were flickering to amber from his usual brown 'I thought we should be good friends to you and pay a visit.'
Peter squealed like the rat he was as Sirius lunged at him, beating him to the earth with his kicks. As Wormtail laid whimpering, Sirius kept right on kicking him and Remus just stood aside, watching grimly.
After sometime, Wormtail was half dead from all the beating, Remus stopped him with a maniacal glint in his eyes,"Control yourself, Padfoot. Now let me have some fun with our wayward friend here."
Remus picked him up by his robes and growled at him, "You thought that you could escape us, Wormtail? You thought that this dreary place could protect you? You betrayed James who considered you more than a brother. You betrayed Lily who was unfailingly kind to you. You even betrayed Harry who had saved your you think, for even one second, that we would not come for our revenge? From the moment that I knew that you had betrayed my brother James, your fate was sealed, we have no more use for you. This is the end of you Wormtail."
As Remus drew a goblin made sword, the warden caught his arm, "Please gentlemen, not here. I like the prison cell as it is without any blood or gore. You want to settle your score with him, feel free to take him. I will keep the news from getting out that he has escaped and after a few days, I will just inform the ministry that a dementor has unfortunately kissed our dear resident."
Remus grinned, "you make an excellent suggestion, kind sir.' As they started to drag him out, the warden placed some magic suppression cuffs on wormtail (so that he cannot make an escape, he told them) and they kicked him down to the ground level from where he was unceremoniously dumped into a boat which an Auror (who was Tonks) was rowing. Mid-way from the prison to the shore, Sirius pulled Wormtail towards him and disappeared via a portkey.
The next day was the full moon and during the day, they tortured him every way they could think ofmaking him scream for mercy where there was none. As Pettigrew was getting thrashed, he could see James Potter with Lily and others he had ratted out, waiting for him in the afterlife and yet wanted the torture to end even if it meant his death. As it was nearing mid- night and there was a full moon, Sirius slapped a portkey on him which took him into the forest of Blackmoor dropping directly in front of a pack of werewolves who were in the middle of changing. We will not describe the details of Wormtail's grizzly demise. Sufficient to say that there was a chase, and the pack played with their food.
Serious Black and Remus Lupin found what was left of the man who had spent 12 years as a rat the next day. Without ceremony, they torched what there was left and that was the end of the infamous Peter Pettigrew.
The next morning the Daily Prophet announced that Peter Pettigrew had died in Azkaban. The article went on to say that during a transfer from one cell to another he broke away from his guards and tried to make a run for it. In subduing him, one of the dementors lost control and gave him the dementor's kiss. His soulless body died shortly afterwards.
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