Harry Potter and the Tribe of Mystics

by Lord of mystics

Harry Potter is competing in the Triwizard tournament as someone is out to get him again. meanwhile, Susan Bones is trying to get to him. But what is the interest of mystics in Harry Potter? Who are they and why are they interested in Harry Potter? Why the blue eyed slytherin want to get to Harry Potter? Starts at end of year 4. [COMPLETED]

23. Chapter 23

A/N- So, a lot of people gave their awesome reviews regarding this story and I thought I would reply them here. Thank you Raymondjay, ObsessedwtihHPFanFiction, Anarion, Great of all and Reap the souls and Hypergym for your reviews.

Epicweaver- Thank you for taking so much time to read this fanfiction and giving your reviews.

Park 850G- Thank you so much for your detailed review of the story and I really appreciate it. The anomaly you pointed out. Nymphadora told him that he is her cousin through her mother but he did not knew it before. Sirius was reminiscing about whatever family he had left when he visited the Black Town House. Becoming a Lord does not automatically means that he would know about everyone. IF there are any other such anomalies which are bothering you, please let me know. Thank you.

Thank you Hypergym for editing this chapter before I posted it.

This chapter will end with Harry Potter returning to Wizarding Britain and after a couple of chapters we would be back to Hogwarts.

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A week later, India

In the last week, as promised, Harry had been at the lake before dawn, swimming across it without magic, alternating between breast stroke, back stroke, butterfly and crawl. When he did use magic, he rocketed across the lake coming near the same speed he could attain when running. He kept getting stronger and the work outs just kept getting more intense. Yes, Harry had kept his word, but; "Constant vigilance!" but Vari still had to test and make sure that Harry was remembering his lessons. He didn't enjoy it much. The teen was getting the best of him most mornings. Harry had taken to creating very convincing illusions or creating animated replicas of himself, slumbering peacefully then protecting them with elaborate wards and traps which were well concealed. He had started adding other things to the wards so that once when Vari tried to enter the room he was petrified, another time he set off a caterwauling charm and another time, before he knew it, he had been stunned from behind. To add insult to injury, the boy wasn't even there. He was already in the lake.

The mystic grumbled about being shown up by an upstart. Not to mention that it was embarrassing, but; inwardly he was happy that the young warrior was taking his lessons seriously now. When he first saw Harry, he doubted that this small, skinny lad could have done any of the deeds that he was reported to have done. There was no denying that the lad had guts. But, he was so small and he seemed to have almost no skill. In the last few weeks, Vari had watched him grow in leaps and bounds, in every way. When he had seen, first-hand, how the lad had accepted every challenge, then rose to meet them with courage, determination and an inner strength which did not compromise, he began to understand how he had stood up to Voldemort.

As he watched Harry touch the opposite shore and turn around to swim across the lake again, he recalled the time when he expressed his doubts to Harsh.

-Flashback starts-

Harsh was busy reading some reports which had come in about the increased dark wizard movements from Burma and a letter sent by Chakrapani when Vari came to speak with him

"Guruji, are you sure this boy can defeat that abomination?", he asked Harsh.

Harsh replied in his usual jovial tone, "Varunesh, that boy is more than he looks like. He is a child of destiny which alone makes him more powerful than anyone. His magical core is big and it will grow as he has time to reach of age. He already has clashed with Tom Riddle or some form of him since starting Hogwarts and every time he came on top not to mention he recently escaped Tom Riddle again. He has slain a thousand year old basilisk already with a sword and drove away a hundred dementors at the age of 14. Not to mention he outflew a dragon and rescued a hostage from depths of black lake and bested creatures like Sphinx in the maze."

Vari's eyes grew wider as he heard each achievement. He still had some reservations. He remained silent for a few moments, gathering his thoughts before he spoke again. "These are incredible feats for anyone to perform, never mind at his age. Do you believe that he is capable to learn what we have to teach him? I have seen him and he looks malnourished, skinny and too small. The physical training alone may be too much for him."

Harsh smiled, "He will be able to do it. We would have to be extremely harsh with him and over-burden him with work and exercises but that is the only way it will work. Mother magic has agreed with the way we have to train him. There is a time of great change coming for Avalon and Harold James Potter will need to stand up to ensure that they are not for the bad. If I could I would have raised our army and marched in force against that abomination, but; Mother Magic has assured me that what we shall do is sufficient. We know better than to tamper with fate."

Vari nodded, "To expose ourselves would be like bringing chaos into already fragile society. The most that we can manage is to give a nudge here and there. I will train him but I want a free rein in this. I will treat him the way I like because treating him with kid gloves would only feed his ego and help no one. I see lot of potential in him but he is hindered by his moralities. To be a warrior he has to act like one."

Harsh smiled brightly, "you can train him anyway you prefer. Just remember that he must be able to duel and kill that abomination."

-Flashback ends-

Harry vaulted out of the lake and producing his wand, seemingly from nowhere, cast a non-verbal Homenum revelio before he even dried himself off. The charm did showed his result as negative however that was not very reassuring. As he ran, he set up a shield as a precaution, then worked his way rapidly through his detection charms. Finding no one, he increased his pace and remained alert. The entire last week he had spent duelling mystics while he ran. They would appear out of nowhere and engage him in a duel. Vari had set the rules that he was to defeat his opponent as quickly as he could and then keep running. Each morning, Harry Potter fended off at least 20 mystics in the four laps around the track and then he would proceed to his push ups which also had become torture. Vari had decreed that push-ups were becoming too easy for him so he started piling weight on his back while he did his push ups. That was really torture but Harry did not complain. He had long since accepted that Vari did not like him though he did not know why. The mystic never treated him as if he was the dirt on his shoes but he did not respect him like other mystics. Harry had not been able to win a duel against him either. Although Harry was getting better at it, Vari was the master of "The Slippery Fish" and Harry just could not hit him. Their duels often lasted for an hour before Vari would eventually win. Harry was trying hard and hoped to win against the mystic.

The potions master had long since given up on teaching Harry anything more but always encouraged him to do something innovative. He had introduced him to a lot of herbs and their properties and told him to work on it. When Harry had asked him, he merely shrugged telling him that he would love to see another potion added to the Potter's contribution to the art of potion making. The polyjuice was finished and worked perfectly as they had discovered when Harry pranked Harsh into drinking it and he ended up looking like Prathiman. However that had earned him the ire of Harsh who was taking every chance to prank him.

Five days ago, he and the potions master had made an excursion by night into the forest to catch a werewolf. He remembered how they had eventually succeeded in catching one.

-Flash back starts-

Prathiman had summoned him to the dungeons in the evening and he arrived promptly to find his mask and cloak was waiting for him. As he donned his gear, he asked, "Where are we going, sir?"

He replied casually, "We are going to catch a werewolf, Harry."

He spluttered, "What... Why... What do we need a werewolf for?"

The mystic smiled, "Harry, remember we are brewing a different version of the wolfsbane tomorrow? We will have to start our test on a werewolf and feed him the potion for a week to see if we are successful. I do not have to tell you that if we can find a suitable substitute for aconite then it will make it painless for many who have to willingly take the poison in order to keep their sanity."

Harry nodded. He recalled discussing this with the potions master earlier and now they were to do it. Remus had told him that the reason he looked so ill around the full-moon was that aconite is poisonous to werewolves. But, he had to take it because the alternative was too awful to even consider. He reminded Harry about the night when Wormtail escaped and how he could have attacked Harry, Ron and Hermione because he had not taken his potion that day. He would rather die than take that chance again. Harry was determined to find a better way. His hopes were pinned on this trial. If it worked, it meant a better life for Remus and a better life for all the afflicted who wanted to have something like a normal life.

The two of them walked out of Adrishpuram . As soon as they were outside of the wards, Prathimaan took Harry by the hand and they apparated. They arrived in dense woods which were nothing like Adrishpuram or the forest around the Takshshila School of Magic. These woods felt different from those forests.

He turned to the mystic, "Mr. Prathimaan, where are we?"

Prathimaan turned to him with a smile, "We are somewhere in what the muggles call Tarain or the foothills of the Himalayas. There is a settlement of werewolves not far from here. We are to catch one of them and take with us to Adrishpuram to test the potion on him. We will see if we succeed."

Prathiman continued talking, "Now Harry, we are going to capture one of the werewolves and take it with us. This may turn bloody but remember that you can kill him if you are threatened. The alpha of the werewolves called Kichak is a sadistic vermin who will get what is coming to him very soon. Guruji wanted to exterminate them long ago but Shravya Vahan stayed his hand on the promise of Kichak that he would not cause trouble. Recently we confirmed that they are turning young innocent children and so we take one of them captive and the alpha will do something stupid. Shravya Vahan who is a force in himself would have put him down while exterminating others if it came to this."

"But what about the innocent ones? Those who have not done anything? Would you punish them for other's mistakes?", Harry protested.

The potions master sighed, "You do not think that we would exterminate the innocents. Do you? The innocent ones are already ready to move and when we take one of them captive today, they will leave before Shravya Vahan comes down hard on them."

Harry had nothing to say because the mystics had thought about everything in advance. He was getting to understand their true character now. They were assassins, manipulators, guardians of ancient knowledge and much more than met the eye.

Before they proceeded any further, Harry applied a silencing charm to his feet and put himself under a disillusionment charm. The mystic nodded his approval and did likewise. Harry said, I don't know if disillusionment will do much against werewolf night vision, but; it can't hurt." Then when he concentrated on seeing into the darkness and his eyes became those of the snow leopard in response. As he turned and looked in the mystic's direction, he could plainly see that the charm did nothing against his vision and made a mental note for his next morning encounter with Vari.

They trekked toward the werewolf settlement stealthily, taking care not to make a noise. Harry had taken his sword in his right hand and his wand in his left, a curse ready on his lips. As they walked for a kilometre or more, they came upon the settlement and Harry saw a couple of werewolves patrolling the perimeter.

He raised his wand to cast the stunning spell and Prathimaan caught his arm signalling him not to do so. When he raised his eyes to the mystic, he pointed him towards the trees lining the perimeter and Harry could see the guards hiding there. The two of them could likely defeat the whole lot, but; that was not the mission and there was no reason to take the risk.

Harry thought that a diversion would do the job. He transfigured a convincing looking lion from a deadfall branch that was lying on the ground nearby. Then, with one of his best animations yet, the lion came to life, roared and pounced on one of the guards, making a gory mess out of his chest and face. As the other guards responded, the lion charged off along the path and they pursued it. Harry disapparated with the mystic and apparated somewhere further up the path where they were sure to cross the werewolves. They concealed themselves and waited for them to pass. A few moments later, the lion ran by followed by the werewolves. Prathiman picked off the second from the last by banishing a boulder at him. Harry took out the straggler with a hay-maker to the jaw. He could tell by the sound of crunching bone that he no longer knew his own strength. The two werewolves were levitated before they could make any noise hitting the ground. The mystic bound their prisoners using incarcerous and they apparated back to Adrishpuram before any of the other werewolves realized what was going on.

Werewolves heal fast and these two were no exception, however, Harry took the opportunity to practice some of the bone mending he had been learning to repair the damage to the two prisoners. The results were less than satisfactory as he had neglected to set the bones first. Something he would have to take up with the healer later, he thought.

Later they interrogated the werewolves and both turned out to be ruthless savage creatures. The worst of the worst. If Remus were there, he would have executed them himself. They were patrolling the borders because they had heard a rumour that they were going to be slaughtered by forces unknown.

Harry wanted to try mind magic on one of them. Prathimaan advised him against it. When Harry asked why, the mystic explained that a werewolf's mind was a dangerous place and if anyone tried to enter it, they would be torn to shreds.

Harry's recent training had given him other ways of gaining information. He practiced his torture technique on one prisoner while the other was forced to watch. This had the desired effect. When Harry explained that they were testing a new version of the wolf's bane potion and they were looking for volunteers, the second prisoner readily agreed, hoping that he would be spared the torture. His hope was in vain, but; there was no reason to correct him just yet.

-Flash back ends-

For the last five days, the potion seemed to work and what's more, without any toxic side-effects. Tonight was the night of the full moon and this would be the real test. If these two retained their minds that would be all the proof they needed to know that the new formula works. Sadly, these two were so completely savage in their human form, that it may be hard to tell the difference. If the stuff worked, it would mean a better life for Remus and many more like him. If it didn't, it may be years or even never before coming up with anything else that might work.

Another new trend that had cropped up in the past week was that whenever he was walking between classes one of the mystics would apparate in, shoot a spell at him and vanish with a pop. Sometimes he was hit, sometimes he dodged and at times, he managed to hit the mystic who had just attacked him. A couple of times there was a group of mystics who would apparate in, shoot spells at him from different directions and disapparate. While he scrambled to defend himself another pair of mystics would apparate in, shoot a spell and would be gone. These were the hardest because he had no idea what the mystics would shoot at him or from which direction they would come. Sometimes, he had even found them dropping from the sky and hitting him. It was all rather tiresome and when he complained to Harsh, the mystic told him that this was normal for other trainees and everyone went through this. This was meant to teach him to react faster than one can blink, and to test his defences.

There had been lessons of fighting from Horse (or Hippogriff back) where he had been taught to fight with staff, or sword or wand from the back of a beast. The mystics taught him to fight from Hippogriff back telling him that he could course through the skies and hex a lot of them at once this way. They also taught him the way one of them had jumped on his hippogriff in their first skirmish. All in all this had been a wonderful lesson so far and he wished to take the most advantage from it.

Then there was the celebration four days ago when he turned 15. He appeared to be sleeping when Harsh negated his wards, making note of a rather nasty set of jinxes that would have been set off the moment he set foot in the room, and levitated Harry's bed 20 feet into the air.

As Harry woke up he found his bed to be hovering around 20 feet in air and jumped down with leonine grace to find a large group of mystics waiting for him. It looked like every single mystic was present there. Before he could finish drying off, a crate of magical fireworks was let loose which formed the words, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY".

Harry was awed. He had never had so many people gathered to wish him Happy Birthday before. Then it was time for the gifts. Pawan had presented him with special tools to craft his runes. There tools included a calligraphy pen which acted with a thought and used one's magic to draw the runes. This was meant to draw runes easily into harder surfaces like stones, wood etc.

Ambar had gifted him a little chest containing vials of memories which contained applications of transfigurations and charms in battle (she had asked Achala for those memories) as she (and Achala) had done on numerous occasions. While this was not an ideal gift yet it was sure to be useful in the upcoming war. She confided in him that if he wished, he could share some of the most common transfigurations and their use in battle with his friends except the dangerous ones. She told him to keep up practicing at Hogwarts so that his skills would only improve with time.

Achala gifted him a bag which was like any ordinary bag that he had seen until she told him to open it. He opened it and his eyes spread in surprise. There were a number of books in the bag and yet it did not look like it. She explained him with a wink that she had enchanted the bag with an extension charm to make it bottomless and intertwined in a feather light charm to make it easy to carry. The pack contained what she called survivor gear which was the standard survivor pack for mystics. It included a tent, books, a change of clothes and a number of potions which could be used to save someone. The tent also had a kitchen which was stocked with utensils, a magical burner except for food but he could easily forage for it now that he had lived with the mystics almost for a month now. He knew where it came from and how to procure it.

Anal had gifted him what he found to be the most exciting. He had given him a sheath made of dragon hide fused with goblin silver and told him that the sheath had in-built runes so it would adjust to any sword. It also had a strap so it could be strapped to one's back. The mystic had told him to kill any werewolf he met who was on the side of Voldemort and that not all werewolves deserved his pity. He should not stay his hand when he met any creature of dark because not all of them deserved mercy. Most of them were driven by their inner desire and as such had to be put down. He also told him of a design for a catapult which would be helpful for slaying giants and cautioned him that the contraption would take time and energy to create besides requiring materials from the best builders possible.

Vari had likewise given him memories of his own and some other masters he had met in the tribe (there were mystics spread throughout the world and almost every country had some who would report to Adrishpuram if they needed help from them) and a set of battle robes like the one he had but these were more bulky. He told him that this set was crafted from the hide of a Ukrainian Ironbelly (the best body armours were made from its hide however since the dragon was on the verge of extinction, there were not many Ironbelly Armours available in the market). He also told him that Harry could always call upon the mystic and he would come to help him.

Harsh gave him a book titled, 'Onto Nothingness: A Journey' which was written by one Sarang Varun and Harry grinned because he knew who Saran Varun was. This book detailed the journey one must take to attain nothingness. Harry decided to look into it as soon as he could manage.

There was a huge cake which had been baked by Rachael for his birthday and it had been a delicacy after eating the mystic's food for a month. She also gave him a photograph of Charlus and Dorea with baby James in Doea's arms telling him that she had enough of their memories to remember them but he needed something to cling to.

He had been summoned in the evening by the wand-maker Shilpagya who eyed him for a while before he said, "Too mighty are you, boy? Wand lore does not fascinate you? Never came to see after I crafted a good wand for you."

He bowed his head, "Honourable wand-maker, I did not purposely ignore you. I have been well occupied these last few weeks. However I would willingly accept any gift of wisdom you may choose to bestow."

The wand maker softened a bit, "Just that never let your enemy disarm you in a duel because if you lose it, it would change its loyalties and then would not work for you. They follow the law of victor. To win back, you would have to defeat your opponent again. Just to be sure that such misfortune does not come to you I would advise you to go to Ollivanders and ask him to fit you for a new wand. His wand would be helpful to you for school work and your own wands can remain a secret."

"This is something that I did not know and would not have considered until it was too late. I thank you."

Harry thought for a moment then started, "But why would he sell me another wand? Would he not ask how I have been able to live without a wand for this past month or so?"

The wand maker grinned, "No. Just ask Dumbledore to write a letter to this effect. Talking of Dumbledore, ask him to return the wand of destiny to you. It is yours by right of inheritance."

Harry nodded in affirmative.

The wand maker tossed him two wand holders, "Strap them to your wrists and keep your wands in them. Such fine wands must be kept in wand holders and not stowed inside your pockets. They deserve to be treated regularly. Purchase some wand polish and treat them regularly. They are not weapons but your arms. Happy Birthday, Peverell."

After that the day had been very ordinary. Pawan had spent each day giving him a ward to make. When he was successful in doing so, he would be asked to make a cluster. He tested Harry on everything and often asked him questions about the seven languages, the rune symbols and how the wards worked. He also taught him to make the ward explosives which were made by stones which were found on ley lines. Since these stones absorbed the earth's energy from the ley line, they were already full of magic. There was a specific rune designed by the mystics of the past which would tap into the energy and give it the power to explode the wards. The rune was designed with three functions viz., to tap into the energy contained in the stone, to convert it into explosive energy, to destroy the wards by releasing the energy. He had spent good time the past week learning to create those stones and now had a respectable arsenal of ward explosives which he could use in battles. Pawan also had him practice some runes which could be used to attack some dummies and he had been having fun doing it. To see that they could be killed, disabled or even bound by runes was interesting and he regretted not having taken the subject before but that was short lived. He realised now that there was perhaps no student who would be able to best him in the subject.

Achala had taught him everything that she could and most of the time, she would pull a memory and they would watch it together and he would notice everything that she did or did not do.

Ambar was done teaching everything but she and Achala had started ganging up on him. They both teamed up on him to duel him and usually he ended up losing to them. In all the duels that they fought, he had lost to them but not before giving them quite the scare.

During their first duel, Ambar had sent a transfigured dog at him while Achala hit him with a smokescreen. Blinded by the smoke screen, he tried to get his bearings and could not hear things. He whipped his wand in front of him slashing the smoke screen in two. Achala was going to subdue him with a incarcerous and he rolled away before the charm hit him. Ambar conjured some birds to attack him and he conjured some hawks to kill those birds with one wand while he released pitch black smoke with the other. Soon no one in the room could see anything and even his leonine vision was no help. He tried the homnum revelio and it was of no use either. He conjured a snake and asked it, "Where are the humans in the room?"

The serpent hissed at him, 'There are no humans in this room except you, sspeakerr. There is a four legged creature and two clawed one which seeks to kill me. Our mighty enemy the falcon."

Harry hissed again, "where are they? Point them out to me."

The snake replied, "in the north-western corner, the four legged one is standing with the wall to its back while the falcon is flying, stalking me."

Harry heard the rush of wings and the snake's pleas for help while it was being carried away by the falcon. He shot a couple of stunners in the air and a thud told him that he had found his mark. He shot a spell chain of petrification hex, stunner and incarcerous in the north-west corner and a thud told him he was successful.

He dispelled the mist to find the falcon sprawled on the floor while a fox was stunned and bound in chains. Grinning he went to enervate the fox and was stunned from behind.

As he was enervated, he found the two witches smiling at him and he was tied with chains. He cast a wandless finite and freed himself.

Achala was smirking at him, "Not so smart, are you Harry?"

Harry sheepishly smiled, "So you are both animagi, huh?"

Ambar laughed, "you did not think that we would tell you all our secrets, did you? You were brilliant but failed when you thought that the falcon was stupefied. You conjured that snake and that was some quick thinking. However, as you started throwing stunners around, I simply played possum, dropping to the floor making you believe that I had been stunned."

Harry lowered his head, embarrassed. He had never thought for a moment that they may trick him but the mystics were crafty in their ways and often pulled some surprises on him.

In yet in another duel, where he was pitted against the two of them together, he had raised a wall of earth between him and them and was hiding behind it to shield himself from the barrage of spells when suddenly his own conjured wall grew hands and grasped him. He apparated out of its grasp and reappeared a little distance away and as soon as his feet touched the earth, two hands rose to grasp his feet. He immediately used a reductor on them while Achala shot him with an ascendio and he was sent flying. Mid way, he pulled both wands and shot pavak (incendio) at both of them forcing them to dodge. As he landed, he pursued them with a barrage of pavak and they kept dodging his spells. As he became lax and dropped his guard, Achala returned fire with a flame freezing charm which froze his pavak charm and Ambar willed the earth to rise like a big giant cage around him and tendrils of earth captured him, pinning down his arms and for good measure she gagged him.

Duels like these continued throughout the week where he often was on the verge of defeating them and they would coordinate their attacks against him and pull some tricks at the last moment.

Vari duelled with him regularly and once decided that he wanted to test his shields. He gathered a bunch of mystics and they all shot all kinds of spells at him forcing him to raise a new shield every time a more sinister curse was used on him. At last, when they were using the most lethal curses in their repertoire of spells, he reluctantly conjured the golden mage shield which could stand against the onslaught of all lethal spells except the unforgivables. The mage shield amazed the mystics because it could not be lightly used by someone unsure of his abilities. It also required a good amount of energy to maintain one. Each time a curse hit the shield a gong like sound would reverberate. By the time he dropped the mage shield, a lot of mystics had gathered to see the spectacle. After the practice, Harsh had congratulated him on his feat telling him that maintaining a mage shield for that long and to remain standing was a testament to his extra-ordinary powers and no death eaters could stand against him now. Even Tom Riddle had not been able to maintain a mage shield for more than a few minutes when Harsh had fought him.

Another day, Vari decided that Harry would cast with abandon while the mystics would defend. They all started with the reflector shields which would reflect his spells back at him. After dodging his own spells a few times, he started firing high powered shield breakers which shattered their reflector shields and they conjured the protego maxima horriblis which was easily the best shield after the mage shield. They all joined their shields together and they fused to form a kind of block around them and no spell could pass them. He kept casting for an hour and all his spells were stopped. Vari later told him that to break such a shield he must use his most lethal spell with all his power. Since he was more powerful than most of the mystics, their shield would not be able to take it for more than a few hits.

Vari's duels were often tiring for him. The mystic never started a duel with a non-lethal spell but would use some dark spell which he would be forced to dodge. This would go for sometime before he got the chance to retaliate and often he retaliated in kind to him. He used all the spells that he had learned from the memories and the mystic would bark his appreciation whenever he would feel that Harry's execution of the spell had been flawless. However the mystic often would disapparate all over the arena and fire at him from whichever direction he preferred. He often made Harry keep moving and on his toes. During the duel, he would often surprise him with something which would cause him to be distracted and in that moment the mystic would win over him.

Once while the fight was very intense and they were trading spell for spell, the mystic sent a volley of conjured arrows at him. Harry conjured a wall to block the arrows then banished the wall towards the mystic. Vari transfigured and animated the wall into a stone golem that attacked Harry. As he was busy sparring with the golem, the mystic sent a spell chain of petrification hex, a stunner and a bone breaker. Harry was in a fix because dodging the spell chain would allow the golem to pummel him and getting hit would lose the duel. At the last moment he pushed his magic out and flew out of the way of the curses which hit the golem instead. Vari was anticipating his narrow escape and the incarcerous bound Harry before he reached the ground again.

The mystic freed him and grinned at him, "Don't worry about it lad. You are learning fast. However you could have used your other wand to blast the golem away while you shielded the spell chain I sent at you. You could have conjured a shield while you flew so the incarcerous would be ineffective."

Anal started duelling with him often using wandless magic. He could not even guess what the mystic would throw at him in such duels. Once when they were duelling, he shot a disarming hex at Harry and his sword clattered to the ground and the mystic kept him on his toes, forcing him to fend off like a muggle. Harry wandlessly conjured another dagger while he was dodging around and used it to block his sword strikes. The mystic shot a incarcerous at him and he jumped out of its way but the rope kept following him no matter what he did. Finally he cast an incendio causing the rope to burn and found the mystic to be laughing hard.

He pouted, "What was that sir?"

When Anal was finally able to control his laughter, he answered, "It is a slight variant of incarcerous where the caster keeps guiding it to the target unlike the normal ones. Remember it. It may come in handy some day for you." He showed Harry the movements and the necessary requirements for the spell.

Harry had become more adept at transforming his body to his snow leopard form, but; he still had a way to go before he could transform completely at will. There were some parts on which he was still working and hoped to finish the transformation soon. He was able to morph his hands and legs into paws whenever he desired like his leonine vision and sometimes, while he was duelling with Anal, he would morph his hands and attacked the mystic with his claws which would throw him off balance giving him a chance to score a win.

Anal was the only mystic that he had been able to defeat a couple of times. Each time that Harry had managed to defeat him, it was because Harry had found something in the environment to give him an advantage. To Harry's surprise, Anal seemed happier on the occasions when this happened.

Harsh had been giving him some more lessons in fighting where he had taught him the art of taking over someone else's animations like he had seen Ambar do against him. He had duelled with Harry for sometime only using transfiguration and Harry had animated a stone statute to attack Harsh but Harsh enchanted the animation to attack Harry instead and then he sat explaining the intricacies of taking over another's animations. There was not much to it but a slight variation to the animation spell at the end which would allow one to control other's animations.

He taught him another beautiful technique where he taught him to flick aside other's spells. It was hard at first and Harry was hit with bone breakers twice before he got the gist of it.

-Flashback start-

Harsh met him in the arena while he was practicing with the dummies, using different spells with different wands in each hand. He watched Harry for some time before he called, "Halt!"

He turned to the mystic, "Yes Guruji? Is anything wrong?"

The mystic smiled, "No Harry. It is just that I wish to teach you something that can be useful and kind of intimidating for lesser enemies."

He asked curiously, "What is it, Guruji?"

The mystic grinned at him (he had started to hate it when a mystic grinned for no reason), "Fire your most lethal curse at me."

Harry blanched for a moment. He knew that his most lethal curse would reduce any normal wizard to a rapidly expanding cloud of vapor if used at full strength. What if Harsh didn't block it? Instead, he cast a bone crusher, knowing that he could heal it if the spell actually struck home. The brilliant violet spell made straight for Harsh's chest.

Harry did not need to worry. With a motion that was nearly too quick for Harry to perceive, the mystic flicked his wand and batted the curse aside, saying, "Keep them coming, Harry."

Harry shot every spell that he knew and all were batted aside by the mystic. Finally, he had to leap to one side when his own bone breaker came straight back at him.

He shouted in indignation, "Were you trying to curse me, Guruji?"

The mystic chuckled, "No, Harry, I have seen you dodge. There was no chance that would hit you. I was teaching you an art form which would give you some leverage over your enemies if you find yourself in conditions where you are hard pressed to dodge or shield or there are multiple foes and you have to bring them down while defending yourself at the same time."

So he started to teach him the art of batting aside a spell. "The trick is to have quick reflexes since some of the curses are really fast while some give you decent amount of time to ready yourself and retaliate. You must be able to see when your opponent cast a curse at you and move your wand so that you are able to bat it aside. Remember speed and agility is the key to it."

He started casting spells at Harry asking him to bat them away or send them back. To send them back, he was to move his wand in an arc like motion with a jab at the end. It took two bone breakers to the wrist before the lesson set in.

-Flash back ends-

The healer had also taken this week to teach him some healing. He told him that possessing some healing skills may come in handy someday when he was hard pressed and there was no healer around. He gave Harry a book on counter curses to most dark curses and told him how to perform them. He even had some of his mystics hexed and then showed him the counter curses by performing them. While it was hard, he was confident that Harry would be able to pick up at least some rudimentary skills which may save some lives one day. He also encouraged him to approach Poppy Pomphrey to ask for some healing tricks because there was so much to healing which could not be taught in a day.

All the week, he would call Harry for a lesson and together they would attempt the counter curses on mystics who were hexed and most of the time, he would leave Harry while he would merely watch though he did step in if it looked like Harry was getting something wrong.

A few nights ago, he had started studying the concept of nothingness in the book which Harsh had gifted him. The book was a little complicated and very interesting. Harry had been engrossed ever since he started. What most intrigued him was the concept of nothingness. It said:

"Nothingness is not meaning nil but it is a state beyond our physical presence. In this state the physical matters not but only our essence. Every one of us is made of some essence which is magic. Magic is what remains and what matters. Magic is our driving force and without it, we cease to exist. The physical form can change, a person can obtain a new body and the old can become young if they know of the concept of nothingness.

Not all mystics have been able to achieve nothingness but most have some degree of proficiency in it. When one is ready to let go of this physical form, willing to surrender their essence to mother magic then mother magic can be really kind to them blessing them with nothingness however most of us are somewhere conscious of this physical form and the ties associated with it so we are afraid to give up.

Mother magic may ask one of his willingness to give up his identity and if they hesitate even for a moment, that may be their downfall since then they would not achieve nothingness. But for that happy moment to come, one must have accepted their identity truly. They must accept what they are before the choice is presented to them.

So, dear reader, this begs us the question, 'Do you know who you are and do you accept this truly?'

Remember that knowing your true self and accepting it are two different things. You may see yourself as chivalrous, valiant and generous person while in reality you may be mean, coward and cruel to others. Sometimes knowing our true self can cause us agony and you must be ready to face all that comes if you want the state of nothingness.

I entered the state when I was going through a very hard time in my life where I had lost everything which I ever held dear, my loved ones were dying and I was standing alone. I knew I was coward because I could not convince myself to stand against injustice and unjust violence which resulted in everyone dying around me. Mother magic took pity on me and gave me a chance to serve her."

The reading had been eye opening for him. He had to think exactly who he was and that was a question that he had to answer for himself and no one else could. Sure he was brave because he was a Gryffindor, he loved his friends and family, he stood for what was right rather than what was easy but that was it. There was nothing more to it, was there? Who was he really?

The question had been pestering him since he started thinking about it and even talking to Harsh had yielded no result which was surprising since the mystic always sort of knew of the right thing to say.

The mystic's answer seemed rather cryptic, "Harry, this is your quest to decide who you are."

This was a big question which would need to be answered because it was now a question about his essence, in a very literal sense.

Longbottom Castle

The last week, Alice and Frank had been declared fit by the healer and Frank had wasted no time in showing her the door though she had promised that she would return eventually. From the time they had been declared fit, Frank had started to use magic and the first few days had been very hard because his magic was unstable and difficult to control from not being used for years. His spells were over-powered or of no use at all and there was nothing in between. When, out of desperation, he called healer Lynn back, she grinned and told him, "I told you I would be back."

She gave them exercises to do before they were to start using magic telling them these were recommended so that their magic would be in control again. After a few days of exercise, their magic was more stable and they were able to use it but Healer Lynn had cautioned them not to overwork themselves and start small like the stinging hexes, stunners etc and gradually try the more complicated things.

Neville had been able to return Frank's wand to him. It felt as comfortable and familiar as an extension of his arm. However, Bellatrix Lestrange had destroyed Alice's wand years ago and being imprisoned in her own mind ever since, there had been no need to replace it. Augusta brought a number of wands from the family vault for Alice to try. Not one of the wands felt as her old wand did. She chose the best of the lot and it served her well enough for now. She vowed to visit Ollivanders to get another wand as soon as she could. She was already trying to remember where they kept the floo powder.

For now their primary concern was to get fit in time for the next session of the Wizengamot which was scheduled for the 15th of August where they were to make an appearance before the wizarding world. They were fit enough to walk and had even taken to doing some exercises to get their bodies back into shape. There were a lot of things to do and not much time to do them.

They were practicing the easier spells and getting used to the feeling of magic coursing through their veins again. The thrill of using a wand, seeing Neville everyday and to be able to talk to each other was all that they wanted for now. Turning the entire wizarding world on its head could wait just a bit longer.

Neville came everyday and often stayed late into the night and they would trade stories, anecdotes from their times at Hogwarts. One thing which had angered them was Severus Snape's attitude towards their son. To hear of all the things that he had said or done to him made their blood boil and setting him straight was definitely on their agenda.

Neville thought that this was a good time to tell them about the bogart. "Professor Snape got a bit of his own back", Neville began. "You see, Professor Lupin was teaching us how to deal with boggarts in my third year. When he asked me what I thought the boggart would become for me, Snape was the very first thing that came to my mind. He took me aside and asked me how I would make that seem silly and I had no idea. You see, I found the thought of him too frightening. And then he asked me about Gran and, well, I thought that he would look silly in Gran's clothes, stuffed vulture hat and all. So, when that greasy git came skulking out of the closet, I pointed my wand at him, pictured just how silly he would look and, 'Riddikulus!', poof and we were all laughing at him."

They all had a good laugh at the story, and when they came up for air, Neville said, "He was even nastier when he heard about it. But, I just kept picturing him in Gran's clothes and he's never seemed quite so scary since."

He also told them how he had stood up to the golden trio, trying to stop them from going after Quirrell in their first year. Frank told him that Neville was no different than himself because he also had at times tried to stop the Marauders from going on their mischief making spree and at times had told on them to the teachers. Whenever he went to the teachers, the marauders mercilessly pranked him till he went to them asking for their forgiveness.

They also heard about how Minerva was still tough but fair. They had another chuckle when Neville described how thin a line she could make with her mouth when a student displeased her with sloppy work. No matter how hopeless Neville had been at transfiguration but it was his favourite subject because it presented him a challenge before but now with his own wand and the training he received, he hoped to breeze through it.

They heard of Flitwick who was still there and teaching generation after generation of students with the same enthusiasm, making things fun for them and being the most adorable teacher as he used to be.

Frank also wanted Neville to learn basic occlumency and mindscape. Frank's own mindscape had been severely damaged over the last 14 years and he had to set it in order before he could teach Neville himself. For now, Croaker would have to teach him the basics and help him get started with the skills. Neville had a long discussion with the unspeakable and Frank. After thinking hard and a long discussion, they decided upon making a mind scape mixed of Hogwarts and Longbottom Castle with many other features. There were a lot of details involved and Croaker even gave some parts of his mindscape the touch of the department of mysteries. In the last week, they had made the mindscape where the castle had seven floors plus dungeons. The outside of the Castle resembled Castle Longbottom. The seven floors contained memories in order of importance. The entrance to the castle was not like the double doors but the entrance of the department of mysteries where you had to speak where you want to go. The Dungeons were his worst memories which he never wanted to bring up, so the entrance had been barred by a solid wall after he sorted his memories. The first floor was about his life yet, his memories, and his friends. The second floor was his school years which he had spent on the fringes, watching everything and yet not getting embroiled in anything. The third floor was all the knowledge of his family magic which he had obtained in the last month or so while the fourth floor was dedicated to all his other knowledge or memories. The fifth floor contained secrets and he had a lot of them considering that he only sat on the side-lines. The sixth and seventh floors were vacant and would remain so with only traps and snares which Croaker had come up with. There was a central staircase which would vanish for anyone who would try to intrude in his mind sending them tumbling to their deaths, or would snare the intruder and treat them horribly. The first floor was guarded by a legion of trolls who while they were idiotic, they were also magic resistant and hard to kill, the second floor was guarded by a battalion of suits of armour and the entire floor was covered with magic suppression runes, something Croaker had suggested, the third floor was guarded by elves solely and there were a lot of them. The fourth floor was guarded by the three headed dog that he had seen in his first year and like the second floor it was covered in magic suppression runes. The fifth floor had some serious protection, like the arcane magics protecting the prophecies in the hall of prophecy in the DoM, the brains which would latch themselves to anyone living and cause them grievous injuries. The entire castle was warded with wards the likes of which were found only in one place in Wizarding Britain i.e. the Department of Mysteries. The sixth floor had a number of traps which were meant to incapacitate anyone who was foolhardy enough to walk into them and the seventh floor had a replica of the death veil for an entrance.

The entire mindscape was surrounded by death veil like walls and anyone who tried to cross it would face some other defences which would activate with any foreign intrusion like fiendfyre or devil's snare or some more dangerous plants which could prove fatal.

Beyond the entrance to the mindscape, the first level of defence was plants which could kill. Then there were the hippogriffs as were raised in Longbottom castle and the beasts were wild. They would cheerfully trample anyone with the slightest provocation. There was a big dragon which prowled the grounds and there was a boggart hidden somewhere in the mindscape.

Frank taught him the basics of the mindscape and how to detect an intrusion and while Croaker tried to penetrate his mind, he would often give tips to Neville about detecting foreign intrusion, how to fight it, how to distract it and finally how to shut someone out of their mind.

Hogwarts, Headmaster's study

Albus Dumbledore was counting the days now. There was about a week left before Harry Potter would return from his time with the mystics. Getting set up to defeat Voldemort was going to take a lot of work and there wasn't much time to get it done. He was also eager to know what the mystics Had taught Harry and he was willing to do some passive legilimancy to be absolutely certain that Harry had not turned to the dark side. Albus had no problem with the teen killing dark wizards but he hoped that Harry Potter would not turn insensitive to death because that was a path which was fraught with darkness. Besides, Albus wanted to learn some of the mystic's secrets and even a glimpse into their world would be like an old wish coming true. He wished he could have joined them when he was young. (Of course Albus had no idea that the mystics had watched him for a long time before they gave up on inviting him to become a mystic).

His main concern was that this year students should learn enough to be able to survive in the coming war. War never came looking for someone of particular age or blood status but it was indiscriminate. It came for everyone and devoured every offering yet would remain hungry for more. There had been so much death and strife in the last year but Albus hoped this time there would not be so much heartache.

Minerva had vowed to be more considerate towards her students and try to understand them more since she had learnt that Neville had been using his father's wand yet she never realised it. She hoped the teen would not hold a grudge against her for not being more helpful towards him.

Albus was thinking to introduce duelling again in Hogwarts but Pundariksh had discouraged him saying that there were children of death eaters in the school who would use the knowledge against the defenders in case there was an intrusion. Besides once they graduated, they would join the abomination's army and that would only cause more troubles for them. So, Albus had dismissed the idea but resolved that if he lived through this war, he would introduce some classes which were removed years ago. Hogwarts standards had fallen a lot and it was about time that he did something about it.

As Albus was pondering over the events which had passed and events he anticipated, an owl flew into his office. It bore the Longbottom crest on a silk collar around its neck. Albus accepted the letter and as he opened it, he smiled, "And so it begins."

India

Harry Potter woke up before dawn broke and remembered the meeting last evening with Harsh who had summoned him to talk about something. The mystic told him, "Harry, the chief of Nagas had visited me a few days ago as I had told you. Since we have taught you almost everything that we could within this short period of time and now he want to train you in parsel tongue and I have agreed to his proposal. You will leave as dawn breaks and will return every evening to Adrishpuram. You will not hesitate to learn anything that they are teaching you and will not balk off at anything. However, before you leave you will finish your physical exercises every day."

Harry nodded his head and Harsh continued, "After a week, you have to return to Avalon and this time I will not be going with you."

"What do you mean?", Harry asked him, "How will I go then?".

Harsh said, "I have arranged a portkey for you under the name of Jameson McAllister and it will take you to Port of London where the mystics who are placed in London will meet you. Vari will be escorting you all the way for your safety till you reach the Black Town House."

Harry felt very tense all of a sudden, "Then where are you going, Guruji? Why will you not go with me? And what about Blackstorm?"

The mystic smiled, "Harry we have the world to look after and something or other keeps taking my attention. I have to go deal with some problem which had arisen in Africa and I am told it is rather very grave. Perhaps another battle and as such, we are taking the Marichika with us. This is why I have arranged portkey for you but do not worry. I will be there when you will need me. Your hippogriff will be sent to Wizarding Britain and from there to Hogwarts, if he does not reach you by 1st September."

As he remembered that the mystics were moving out today, he rushed out after his daily oblations and saw more mystics than he had seen assembled to fight the previous battle. Vari and his other trainers were not going however and he asked Vari, "Why are so many mystics here and where did they come from?"

The mystic muttered, 'Portkeyed during the night from all over the world. We have headquarters in almost all the countries around the world. The situation in Africa is grim and will require a lot more planning, effort and resources and as such, we have called for additional troops. Guruji himself will be taking up residence there till we
can be sure that the situation has been sufficiently addressed. Nobody knows how long that will be."

Harry was curious, "How many mystics are out there?"

The mystic smirked, "You think I would tell you that? No, lad. You are not entitled to information because it exists."

As Harry looked, hundreds of mystics left by portkeys or by the mystic's means of transportation and in an hour, the settlement was almost empty. Harry was thinking of all the things that Harsh had taught him and the enchanted thread which was still on his wrist when a powerful stinger jarred him out of his musings and rubbing his backside, he glared at Vari who was openly smirking, "Don't think I will cut you some slack. Start running Potter, there is too much to do and so little time. The Nagas are impatient people."

After his daily routine of being pummelled and getting a chance to pummel the mystics at the track, Harry left for the Naga village where they were apparently waiting for him.

Naga Village

As he materialised in front of the chief, the man gave him a smile which Harry knew too well and it never bode well for him. The same smile that Vari gave when he had some new torture planned for him.

"Welcome Harold, son of Peverell", the Naga chief said.

Harry hissed back, "I am Potter."

The Naga chief smirked, "Are you sure you are Potter and not Peverell? I have heard otherwise. Are you still trying to find you?"

Harry said nothing but processed the Naga's words. These words sounded like someone was answering a question he had but could not find the answer to it. The only question that he had been pursuing lately was "Who am I?"

He shelved the thought for later and answered the chief, "That is a question I am trying to answer myself. I am trying to find myself and when I do, I will answer to you. For now, I wish to learn some parsel magics from you."

The chief replied, "You come from a family which had some prominent speakers in its blood line but the ability was lost to inbreeding. In their delusional attempt to keep their magic pure, they have lost the benevolent gifts of mother magic. You are part of some very powerful bloodlines therefore Mother Magic saw it fit to bless you with this gift."

Harry nodded. He had little instruction in these matters which basically fell into the domain of magical research and these facts were not publicly available and yet here it was. He lapped up eagerly all that he was being told.

The chief was continuing, "For your instruction, it is necessary that you can learn the language without being faced with a snake. While if you were brought up in your family in days of old you would have been taught to control this but since there has not been one who could speak the language for generations now, I daresay there are none who could teach this to you."

He instructed Harry to go and make small talk with everyone who was there in the Naga settlement in the snake tongue and that others were instructed not to say anything unless he opened the conversation between them. When Harry expressed his inability, the Naga told him that he had to simply will his magic forth and it would be easy.

Harry spent the next few hours trying to coax his magic out while trying to talk to others in the Naga settlement. At first he was hesitant as to what would they think of him. But his suspicions and doubts vanished as he talked with the first man. He was hunch backed and looked ancient and talked with him very jovially, even giving him a few tips on how to speak the language without putting too much stress on his magic. After that it was easy and he even sat with a group of men and talked about life in Wizarding Britain, his family and little things just to ease into speaking the language. After about 5 hours, he was spent and hungry. The upside was that he had become fluent in speaking the language.

Lunch was another affair and he found that it was a communal lunch in that the entire tribe sat together and partook of the food without caring too much about him. In fact he was included in their revelries as much as they engaged their own.

After the lunch, the chief took him aside and asked him, "What do you know of spell casting in Parsel tongue?"

He hesitantly explained, "I never tried to. In Avalon wizards look down upon those who can speak the language and therefore I did not use the tongue so much among them."

The chief said nothing for a few moments before he replied, "Harold, it is not a matter of embarrassment. As I have explained to you, being able to speak to serpents is a blessing and it is foolish to scorn of such blessing simply because you care about people's opinion which changes every day."

Harry nodded his head. He had seen how fickle the wizarding world was and how it could make him a hero one day and a villain the next.

The chief was saying, "Now Harold, casting in parsel tongue is easy. You can say the words of spells as you know from other languages in parsel tongue and your magic will work for you. For example if you use pavakam or incendio in parsel tongue, you will get the same result with the only difference being the effect. You put even minimum power in the spell and the effect would be fourfold. We often use spells in Sanskrit and use minimum power and yet get exemplary results because both are magical languages."

After that Harry practiced what the chief had just taught him. He tried stunners, stingers, bone breakers and while he did not put much power into it, the spells were powerful only because they were being cast in parsel tongue. He tried to imagine what would happen when he had achieved fluency in Sanskrit because it was also a magical language.

Unlike parsel tongue , however, Harry had no innate gift to speak Sanskrit and he would have to learn it the hard way. It would take some time before he was fully fluent like the mystics. He decided to cast those spells he knew though. For the next few hours, he cast every spell that he knew and was often amazed at the results. The drain on his magic was minimal and that would give him a definite advantage in battle.

As he was leaving, the chief asked him, "Did Lord Harsh put you through the Kayakalp ritual?"

When Harry replied in the affirmative, the chief asked, "Would you go through another ritual which we do? This is not anything special but it would help you decide who you are. It is an awakening ritual which wakes up one's consciousness and opens the door to the answer to this question. However I must remind you that you would still be presented with the question and you will have to have firm conviction in your answer because if you wavered, the ritual would be useless."

Harry thought for a moment before he spoke, "I want to think this over because this could be a life changing decision for me. I want to ask a few others whose opinions matter to me and who have the right to be informed about every such decision."

The chief nodded and said, "Take all the time you want, just as long as you have an answer for me when you return here tomorrow."

Harry understood from the chief's words that this was an important decision and it should not be put off. He bowed to the chief and replied, "As you say, Honourable Chief." And Harry disapparated without a sound.

Adrishpuram, Harry's Chamber

Harry made a brief visit to the library to try and obtain a copy of Harsh's book in the original Sanskrit. "Ah, yes, Mr. Potter. I have been expecting you", said the mystic attending the library as he produced the volume from under the counter. "May you find it enlightening", He said as he placed it in Harry's hand.

Harry gave the mystic a bow, muttered a thank-you in Sanskrit and headed to his Chamber to read. His grasp of the ancient language was still shaky, but, he thought, He had already read the book twice in English and maybe this would help with his understanding of the written form of Sanskrit and his understanding of the book itself.

He had the two volumes open, side by side on his bed, making notes and reading the original text as quickly as he could manage.

Prathimaan appeared at his door and said, "I have good news Mr. Potter." And there was a huge smile on his face.

Harry looked up from his work and pointed his wand at the potion master's chest and asked him, "What potion did Prathimaan gave to Harry Potter to brew for the first time when Harry Potter came for his first class?"

"That, Mr. Potter, was a pepper up potion with some of my own alterations", He said without hesitation.

Harry lowered his wand, "Please excuse my rudeness, Mr. Prathimaan. It is just that you have never visited my chamber before."

"You speak the truth, however, you failed to come and visit me this day and being an impatient man, I have come to see you", his eyes smiling at the formality.

Harry conjured a chair and invited the potions master to sit and be comfortable.

"What is the good news, Mr. Prathimaan? Will you accompany me back to Britain and take up the post of Potions Master at Hogwarts, thus ending the reign of terror of the dungeon bat? Have you come up with a potion that will restore the hair on a muggle's head and you are prepared to make a fortune? Are they forming a quidditch league here at Adrishpuram and they want me to be a team captain? What is it? Wha-wha-what?!" Harry spoke faster and faster with each word bouncing on his bed like a hyper-active pre-schooler.

By this time, the mystic was nearly falling off his chair laughing. Between gasps as he recovered, he said, "Any of those would be good news indeed, my fine young student,", and he pulled his best doleful expression, "but alas that is not my news.".

Then, much more sober, Harry asked, "Is it the Wolfsbane potion?"

The genuine smile returned to Prathimaan's face, "Yes, Harry. The sixth dose has gone well for our volunteer. If the final dose goes as planned tomorrow night, you may place your name upon the alteration", he said rising from his chair and patting his student on the shoulder.

"But, Mr. Prathimaan, That's not right. This was at least as much your work as mine. I insist that my name will go on the alteration only if yours appears first", Harry said earnestly.

Prathimaan's expression became a rueful smile, "My young friend, it was my quest for glory which lead to me becoming a mystic. I have had my fill of glory for one lifetime. No, my name shall not appear on this alteration and not on any other. Besides, it was your love for your friend which made us take this risk and to this discovery and Mother Magic has rewarded you for that."

Harry could sense the man was not content with his lot in life and asked, "Are you satisfied with being where you are?"

The potion master merely sighed, "I am happy here, Harry. I can tinker with potions to my heart's content and no one bats an eye lid. It's just that I have not been able to find myself yet. I did not find answer to the question, 'Who am I?'".

Harry raised his eye brows at the mystic, "From the way that you always seem to be happy and smiling and have no complaints about your life, I would have thought that you had answered that question for yourself. In fact I am more worried about me because I do not know who I am and now I have to tell a Naga if I have full conviction in whatever answer I have found because he wanted to do a ritual for me."

The mystic's eyes spread in wonder, "He offered you the nothingness ritual? That is offered to only a selected few and not even all of his Nagas are offered this. However I understand your dilemma. Any wavering in your conviction to your answer and the ritual is useless. My answer is that you try to find who you are really. Try to find this answer by lining up your faults, your qualities, what mother magic has decreed for you. When you have got an answer, stay firm by it no matter how bitter it may sound to you because this is all the answer that anyone can give to you."

Harry called the marauders who had been true to him every time he asked them something. He pulled out the mirror, tapping it and called 'Padfoot' and Sirius's grinning face appeared in the mirror. He was walking on a road somewhere and Harry immediately went berserk, "Are you insane, old man? Whatever possessed you to go out when there is a manhunt going on for you?"

Sirius barked out a laugh, "I will have you know that I am only in my late 30s pup. I am not an old man. Besides what is life without a little adventure? By the way, you do not have the moral high-ground to preach to me considering you are the same bloke who smuggled a dragon illegally out of Hogwarts, who arrived at the school in a flying car and almost destroyed the whomping willow, who fool hardily went into the chamber of secrets to slay a thousand year old basilisk with nothing but your wand and it never even occurred to you to use a rooster. As I remember you are the same bloke who stunned Snivellus, who used a time turner, who fought a hundred dementors single-handedly and broke me out of Flitwick's office on the top of the castle, the same runty bloke who outflew a dragon, dived in a lake without knowing how to swim to save his friend who was in no danger at all and then fought all sorts of creatures in that accursed maze. So tell me son, how you can lecture me about it?"

Harry shot back, "Padfoot, although it's true that I took a lot of crazy chances, in every instance, I did it because I saw no better alternatives. In most of those examples, I was trying to save people I care about. So, then tell me what life-saving mission you are on and I'll forgive you for taking stupid chances."

Sirius waved his concerns away, "Do not worry about it, son. I have ditched the Order and bamboozled the ministry. Besides, I am in Italy, far out of their reach. I needed some fresh air and to look up one particular wand maker. I need something special and I don't think that old Ollivander is quite up to the task."

Harry thought it over for a moment then said, "Not rescuing someone in imminent peril, but; getting yourself a decent wand will have to do as an excuse for going walk-about. Just be real careful. I don't want to hear about you being hauled-off to Azkaban or worse", Harry said with real feeling.

Sirius gave him a real toothy grin, "Don't worry about me, Pup. I'll be fine. How is your training going anyway?"

Harry's demeanour immediately fell, "I am trying to find the answer to a question and I have no idea what to do about it."

Sirius realised something was not right and asked him kindly, "What is this question, Prongslet?"

Harry sighed, "I am trying to find who I am."

Sirius said, "huh... what does that mean? You are Harold James Potter."

Harry shrugged, "A lot of things have changed Sirius. I visited a place where it is said that Mother Magic is most sentient and she identifies me as Harold James Peverell."

Realisation dawned on him, "And you are struck about not being a Potter anymore? You think that it would change your identity?"

Harry nodded, "That is my concern, yes. I am afraid of this change."

Sirius adopted a warm demeanour, "Look Harry, I told you before and I am telling you now. It will change nothing and you will be what you always were. A beacon of hope to many helpless wizards and witches, a source of joy to me and Moony who consider you family, a friend and non adopted son of the Weasley's, a brother from another mother to Hermione, something to Ms. Bones though I do not know what (he winked at him making him blush), and above all you will remain James and Lily's son."

Harry felt at peace with himself after talking with Padfoot and he realised he had found his answer. He knew who he was and how it mattered. Telling Sirius to take care, he slashed at the mirror breaking the connection. After performing his daily Occlumancy exercise, he retired to bed.

The Naga Village, The next day

When Harry appeared before the chief of the Naga, he showed that he was not a being to mince words, "Are you ready, Harold James Peverell?"

Harry looked the chief firmly in the eye and said, "Yes. I am ready."

The chief led him deep into the forest to a clearing where there was a symbol carved into the ground. Harry did not recognise the symbol. There were people sitting
on the symbol at specific points.

The chief spoke to Harry, "You see, we have anticipated your answer and all is in readiness. Mr. Potter or whoever you have decided that you are, you will remove all
of your clothing save the bare essentials. When you have done, sit yourself in the centre of the symbol and face toward me. You will then enter into meditation. I warn
you not to open your eyes until we stop chanting. No matter what happens, what you see or hear, continue your meditation. When the time comes, remain true and steadfast to your answer. If you waver, the ritual will fail."

Harry followed the chief's instructions to the letter. As he sat down, the people stationed around the symbol began to chant. As he meditated, from the words that he understood, they were chanting about waking up, praying to some primordial god asking for blessings. First the chanting felt alien to him but as time passed, he eased into it and after a few moments, everything ceased to exist around him except for the pitch black darkness which threatened to engulf him. He stood for sometime before he decided to explore. He could swear that it was getting darker which would have been ridiculous because there are no shades to dark. However in that moment, he felt like it was dark. His fears danced in front of his eyes, his nightmares tried to haunt him, every instance when he was mistreated or abused by Vernon or Petunia tried to claw its way to the front of his mind. Voldemort's red eyes seemed to be glaring at him in the dark. Harry wanted to run away or to hide but he somehow knew that this was some sort of test which he was determined to pass. None of this was real, he told himself, and even if it was real, so what? He had faced it all before and that was a part of him which made him strong. He heard Dumbledore's voice, "It is our choices which make us who we are.", and it was gone again.

Determined to find out what comes next, Harry strode off into the thickening darkness. When the darkness seemed so thick that he could no longer breathe, he saw something which made him almost cry. He saw that the ground was littered with the bodies of every one he had ever loved or cared about. The Weasley's were dead, there was Sirius who was sprawled on the ground, a big wound open in his chest, there was Moony who had his body bent at a crude angle and his eyes were lifeless. Dumbledore, Minerva, Hermione, Susan, the Longbottoms... everyone he loved was dead. He wanted to cry, to hold them but he told himself that it was not true. They were all safe in wizarding Britain and he would see them in a week.

Suddenly the darkness was dispelled as if it had been waiting to see what he would do and a woman stood there. Harry thought of her as a woman, but her features and figure were continually shifting, changing appearance to his view. Harry gazed at her face and watched, fascinated as her features continued to change from moment to moment. When she giggled, Harry realized that he had been staring at her for some time. He cleared his throat in an effort to say something but could not find his voice. The woman took pity on him and spoke, "who are you, child?"

Even her voice was pure melody. It was such a sweet voice the likes of which he had not ever heard.

He stuttered, "My lady, may I have the honour to know your name first?"

The woman laughed a girly laugh, "Is it gentlemanly manners to ask questions while not answering questions asked of you? Who are you?"

Harry said, "I am Harold James Peverell, scion of Potters. I am called saviour by some; brothers by others, a few even call me son, some may call me their world and some call me their enemy. I am something of everything and yet nothing. I am what mother magic has made me and beyond that I have no identity."

She giggled, "I made you? I do not remember ever making you, Harold James Peverell. Are you sure you are nothing more than this or that you do not exaggerate?"

Harry blanched as the woman called herself mother magic but he felt that she was speaking the truth. Her presence had made him feel at peace with himself. Such peace as he had never experienced in his entire life. He realised this was the moment where he had to have conviction, stand firm and he said without a trace of doubt in his voice, "I believe every word of what I have said here in your auspicious presence and it is the truth. I am what I say I am and nothing more nothing less."

She smiled, "Well answered, Harold James. You have my blessings and nothingness will become yours in a matter of time. To do so will be easy since one of my favoured children has already given you the way and I have accepted you into it. Never stop being true to yourself, your essence. Your physical form for the world matters nothing to me but your essence is mine. Remember child, when nothing is left all that matters is magic."

Harry bowed low before the entity who called herself magic and she touched his head, causing his magic to swirl wildly in him and he passed out.

He woke up in the hut he had bunked in when he was on his way to find Adrishpuram and looked around to find the worried faces of Vari, Prathimaan who had their wands clasped in their hands firmly and the Naga chief who was grinning from ear to ear.

Vari grunted, "Are you alright, Potter?"

Harry felt hungry but could hear his magic singing. He said to the mystic, "Physically I am good, magically I have never been better but I am feeling very hungry."

Everyone present in the hut laughed. The chief had some food brought in and Harry tucked in with gusto.

A week later

The last week had been very fruitful for the raven haired teen because he had learnt the mystic's ways of travel however he was disappointed to find that his nothingness did not work any wonders with other aspects of his training and he still had to work on his skills as he had been doing. Prathimaan confided in him that if the ritual had done that, Harsh would not have sought him out to train to defeat Voldemort.

The Naga had taught him to duel wandlessly and to perform magic with his actions only. The Naga were what he called 'sons of earth' meaning they did not need any wands or staff to do magic. While Harry did not get the ability, they taught him to summon earth, to force it to do his bidding with only a thought and no wand waving or any fancy stuff.

They taught him to change someone's spell mid-flight and direct it back at them while changing its nature which would have been tricky if Harsh had not taught him the art of flicking aside other's spells. The trick was to hiss a word at the spell while flicking it and it would change its nature. He even showed Harry how to do this by asking Harry to cast a stunner at him. When Harry did, the Naga just waved his hand and hissed at the spell and in place of his stunner a bone breaker was flying back at him. Only his instincts made him jump aside from the path of the spell.

They taught him a few curses and jinxes in parsel tongue which all had some properties of snakes like one spell would spew snake venom at the enemies while other would entangle them in coils like a python which would get tighter as one struggled against it. There was the bone weaving spell which could be used to give some first aid in case someone's bone was broken or their bones had been vanished (*Lockhart* wink wink).

Another break through which had come for him was that the alternate component which they used in place of aconite in the wolfsbane potion had been a resounding success and the werewolf had been able to keep his sanity for the night. In return, the mystic kept his promise to set him free. He was indeed set free the next morning with the mystics hunting him and needless to say what had become of him.

Harry also heard from Vari that Shravya Vahan and some of his teachers had eliminated Kichak and his werewolves. Shravya Vahan had come with a huge army of 100 wizards which were teachers from the Takshshila School of Magic and killed all the werewolves. That is, the ones who did not flee after two of their numbers had been abducted by Harry and Prathimaan.

This morning Harry arose and felt sadness in his heart. He had come to love living in this place despite how hard Vari made it for him. In this place he was treated as ordinary as he wished to be and in fact they treated him like family. They did so many things for him without asking and showered so much love on him.

His portkey had been set for evening when it would be afternoon in London and he decided to make the most of the time he had remaining. He donned his best dress that was in his trunk and first went to Racheal. As he knocked on the door, she opened the door sleepy eyed and her hair in a bun on her head. She yawned widely before she curtsied, 'Lord Potter, how may I serve you?".

Harry was embarrassed with her curtsying all the time and decided to call her on it, "My lady, you are my grandmother's friend and in this place, you are my elder. It will always be my place to bow to you."

He spent an hour together with her and listened to her speak while she wiped her eyes when she thought he was not looking. She may have been formal with him in his instruction, but she had come to love him as her own child.

As he was leaving, she murmured, "Remember the request Harold. Seek Terrence out and save him if he can be saved but if he has sold his soul to the abomination then let him be at fate's mercy."

He went to Prathimaan next. He had a little trunk ready for him which contained the five plants he had found during his stay in India and the plants whose leaves could keep him warm (he had put them under stasis charms), a large number of potions which he had brewed in the course of his education and a lot of samples of the plant they had used to replace aconite in wolfsbane. It was a common plant called Cyperus Rotundus and Prathimaan had been doing experiments with it to determine if it could be used successfully. After an hour with Prathimaan, he said his farewell knowing full well that perhaps he would never meet the potions master again.

Ambar had hugged him telling him that he was the brightest student she had taught and that he should send her a letter and if possible photos when he had achieved his animagus transformation. She confided in him that she had every faith in him that he would be able to kill that abomination. After an hour when he left, she also told him to keep writing so he would not forget that he had a family among the mystics.

After Ambar, he went to Achala who did not say much but her moist eyes told him everything that there was to know. The charms teacher told him to work hard and bring some pride to her name.

Pawan bear hugged him telling him that he was honoured to have taught a student like Harry and that may be someday they would meet again and trade stories of werewolf slaying over drinks. Harry had no proclivity to drinking and he wished to keep it at the minimum knowing how much the Wizarding world savoured this particular habit.

Lastly he went to say farewell to the animals and Pashupati who was morose. He whined to Harry that not all mystics cared about animals and rather looked down upon it. He confessed that he loved talking about animals with Harry and that he would miss the most out of all the teachers because they all had recruits while he was generally free unless he was sent aboard the Marichika and with the Marichika sailing to Africa, he was stationed in Adrishpuram. He also told Harry that Blackstorm would be sent to Avalon sometime in the next week and that Harry would be able to see his Hippogriff after about two weeks. After grooming Blackstorm for about an hour while making small talk with the mystic, he took his leave to reach his chamber and packed his trunk giving necessary attention to details.

Some of the space in the library had been put under the Fidelius charm by him where he kept the mystic journal, the books the mystic gave him, the trunk he received from Pashupati, the caskets of memories he had received, the penseive and Salazar's necklace in a beautifully carved box etched with runes. These things were too dangerous in the hands of anyone else and he wanted no one to have them.

As he finished packing, he shrunk the trunk and stowed it carefully in his pocket.

He made his way to the library to return the copy of Harsh's book in Sanskrit which he had borrowed at the beginning of the week.

The mystic who was stationed there, said, "Mr. Potter. I am surprised to see you here. You had best make haste or you will miss your portkey."

Harry produced the book and laying it on the counter said, "I have come to return this. I don't know if I can pay overdue fines from Britain."

The librarian handed the book back to him, "Mr. Potter, this book is gift to you. Guruji wishes you to keep it."

Harry said, "Please thank him when you see him.", looking at his watch, " I must go.". And he ran from the library.

Green Hues

Neville had received Dumbledore's answer this afternoon and the headmaster had agreed to start training him when the next year started so that no one would find it odd. He intended to announce that Neville was his apprentice at the end of his training because announcing it before hand would put him under the lens of the wizarding world and it would not be conducive to his training.

Frank and Alice had returned to Green Hues because they complained that they got bored in the castle with nothing to do. As soon as they arrived there, Frank found their old Auror manuals and they started reading them, no doubt preparing to train themselves as soon as the healer pronounced them to be fit.

The healer had confided in them secretly that she had been told of the ritual by Harsh who had visited her a few days ago to check on their health. She had taken an oath not to disclose it. It would not have mattered anyhow because neither she nor anyone else she knew was powerful enough was nor knowledgeable enough to do the ritual.

London

Harry Potter started moving as soon as he felt the portkey had stopped pulling him and landed on his feet. He and Vari were met by several mystics and their leader Himvat (Harry recognised him from earlier) who put his fist to his heart and intoned, "Dharm aur Maan.". Vari reciprocated the gesture while Harry pulled his wand out and levelled it Himvat, "What was the name of the man who met Harry Potter in St. Mungo's when Himvat was escorting him?"

The mystic smirked, "He was an old bloke named Octavius Ryne whose family was killed in the last war and he has only a grandson left who works as a technomancer in Germany."

Harry lowered his wand muttering, "Sorry, had to check that you are who you claim to be."

Vari grunted, "Good move Potter." He turned to HImvat, "Did you bring me the secret to Black Townhouse?" he asked Himvat.

The other man produced a piece of parchment which Vari read quickly and burned with a wandless Pavakam.

Vari turned to Harry, "Remember Potter, you must stay vigilant in whatever you do. One of us will always be around you and it is upon you to find us. We will see if you can recognise one of us."

Harry nodded. He had suspicions that the mystic would keep someone around him and he would have to be pretty careful about the people around him and those who lurked in shadows.

Vari took his hand and they both disapparated to apparate in the middle of an Order meeting in #12, Grimmauld Place where a lot of astonished faces were looking at him.

Finally Harry Potter was home.

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