Tribe of mystics: Reworked

by Lord of mystics

This is a rewritten version of the earlier story of the same name. Some incidents in the story have been rewritten in detail so that any unanswered questions can be addressed.

12. Chapter 12

Ministry of Magic

Amelia Bones was at her desk, pouring over activity reports from various departments when Gawain Robards quietly entered her office. He remained standing until she looked up from her work, "Yes, Robards, report."

Robards stood at attention while he spoke, "Madame Bones, the Minister's security detail is ready to report as per your orders."

She spared a glance at the stack of transfer orders on one side of her desk. This wasn't going to be pleasant, but it must be done. She sighed then said, "Show them in. That will be all. Thank-you Robards."

As the team filed in, Amelia thought about how just a few days ago she would not have even considered doing what she was about to do. But, what these men had done was shameful and since her meeting with Fudge over certain documents, she wasn't going to put up with this anymore.

She glared at each one of them in turn, then began, "I have a complaint here that you accompanied our minister on a mission to intimidate one Barnabus Cuffe, Chief Editor of the Daily Prophet. It is signed by several eye witnesses. Your assignment was to provide security for the minister, not to act as his hired muscle. You take your orders from me, not him. I cannot and will not have my officers acting like a bunch of thugs! Am I clear!"

They all snapped to attention and said, "Yes Ma'am!"

She continued, "Right is right and wrong is wrong. If you don't know the difference, there is no place for you in the Auror corps. For your participation in this heinous act, I could have your badges and, if Mr. Cuffe brings a law suit against you, that will happen. As it stands, each of you will have a reprimand on your permanent record for conduct unbecoming according to our code of conduct." She thumped her well-worn copy of "The Auror Code of Conduct" that sat on her desk for emphasis. Then taking the stack of transfer orders, she stood up and walked around her desk to present each Auror with their new assignments.

"If I had my way about it, you would all be cleaning the lavatories at Hogwarts for the next six months for a start. But, we are short-handed and they have staff for that. Here are your new assignments:

Williamson you are assigned to the graveyard shift patrol in the wizarding district at Manchester.

Anderton and Acker, you are on the graveyard shift to patrol Knockturn Alley.

Berrycloth and Compton, you two are transferred to the Auror outpost at Azkaban."

They each accepted their transfer papers with varying expressions of resignation and disgust. Amelia made her way back to her desk and sat, "This will be the last time I have this discussion with any of you. One more toe out of line and I will end your career. Dismissed!"

When the last one filed out, Robards came back in. Of course, this was all agreed ahead of time. It would be bad form to discipline officers in the presence of other people.

Amelia addressed him, "Robards, have you assigned new security for our Minister?"

Robards responded, "Yes Ma'am. I placed Proudfoot in charge of that detail. They have been advised according to your instructions."

She nodded, "Very good. I know this is more work for you, but rotate that detail every week. I do not, under any circumstances, want another incident like that last one."

The Marichika

As the Marichika approached the coastline, it was deserted for miles. In every direction as far as Harry could see, there was not even a bird in sight. Even from his vantage point on the bow of the ship Harry could not see any signs of habitation. There was a lone pier with none of the usual warehouses, cranes or activity that one would expect to see at a commercial port. It was picturesque in some ways but worrying in others. It would be a difficult place to defend in case of an attack because there were no buildings or hard-cover anywhere in sight. As the flying ship descended, the weather was hot and humid compared to the mild weather of London.

When the ship deployed bumpers and sailed up to the pier, Harry saw as many as 20 men seem to appear out of nowhere to receive the hawsers and tie the moorings. As the gang-plank thumped down, they lined up on either side, wands out, as if to form a corridor for the travellers to walk through. Harsh walked off the ship alone and the men who had lined up on both sides of the gangplank sank to their knees as he passed through. It was fascinating to see the level of reverence that they held for him.

One of the mystics called for Harry's attention, "Mr. Potter, Guruji has asked us to enlist your help."

Harry nodded and followed the mystic to the lowermost level of the ship where there was a storeroom. As he looked about he could see that the hold was filled with a disorganized heap of items and some trunks. Harry could not remember seeing the hold earlier but shrugged. He didn't see the brig either until Harsh revealed it.

"Mr. Potter", the mystic said, "your job is to sort these items and store them into the trunks neatly and you can use magic for the task."

There were a lot of items. Harry had no idea about how to do the job until inspiration hit him. As he could see, among the things scattered around the hold, there were cauldrons, scales, a couple of brooms, a heap of books and a variety of other items.

He raised his wand and incanted, "Accio Books!" The next moment a barrage of books pelted him as anything in the room that might even be considered to be a book answered his summons. And there were a lot of them. The mystic, who saw what was coming, made a dive to get out of the blast radius and escaped the mayhem. When he saw the top of the pile move and Harry's head emerge, unhurt from the pile, He was helpless with laughter. Harry's face was a glowing shade of red as he climbed out of the pile.

The mystic said, "Nothing to feel embarrassed about, Mr. Potter. You could summon every book at once is a testament to your power but I feel you have not been taught to use the summoning charm to collect things. I will teach you to use the summoning charm this way. Observe."

He raised his wand and flourished it in the required motion and keeping it raised, he directed the books flying through the air to an open trunk. Within seconds, all the books were stacked neatly in the trunk. As soon as the last book was in the trunk, he upended the trunk and the books were again littered on the floor. He banished them throughout the hold.

Grinning, he looked at Harry, "Could not have done your work for you, could I?"

Harry shrugged but did not say anything. He raised his wand and did as the mystic had taught him but mid-flight, the books stalled and fell to the floor. The mystic again sent the books all over the room. This time Harry raised his wand and used the charm with all his power. The books came flying from all directions and fell into the trunk in a heap leaving the mystic laughing, but at least this time, they didn't land on Harry.

"Mr. Potter," he said, wiping tears from his eyes, "did you use all your power?"

Harry sheepishly grinned, "I didn't want the books to stop half-way again."

The mystic nodded, "Yes, but you need to learn how much power you need to use. You are like a power house full of unlimited power but if you do not know how to
use that power, it will cause accidents like this. Now sort these books into neat stacks."

When Harry told him that he did not quite get the charm the Mystic already showed him, the mystic showed him the charm and the motion again. It was not a very complex motion but he had not used it before so he had to try it more than once before getting it right. A few tries later and the books were sitting in orderly stacks in the trunk.

Instructing him to sort the rest of the items into the other trunks, the mystic left him there. After 20 minutes, Harry had everything arranged in the trunks with the lids closed. As he waited and the mystic did not come back, he shrunk the trunks, placed them in his pockets and went to the deck where he found the mystics making arrangements to go forth.

His hippogriff, Blackstorm, was tethered to the rail with a flying horse, He remembered that they were called Pegasus, alongside. As soon as he emerged, he was approached by the mystic who he had been helping below decks, "Mr. Potter, you will travel with Guruji on your hippogriff. You both are taking the route from Gujarat to the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, then the state of Punjab from there you will reach near the Himalayas. This evening you both will reach the mystic camp in the Thar Desert and will stay there for today. Tomorrow, you will be given directions for the journey ahead. Now I must warn you about the perils ahead. We have many enemies and most of them have tried to sabotage our order by directing attacks on Guruji. We have averted all their attacks so far but they have never ceased. It is your duty to ensure that no harm comes to him. You will be his guard for today and use anything that you have in your arsenal."

The order unnerved Harry for a bit. Any of the mystics was more powerful than him so to expect a wizard with only 4 years of magical education to guard him was ridiculous. Yet, he was determined to make his mark on the mystics.

"Are you ready for the journey, Harry?" Harsh's voice brought him out of his musing, "we better be going. The journey is long and the path is hard."

Approaching Black Storm, he bowed. When the beast lowered its head, he patted its flanks before mounting. As soon as he was mounted, Black Storm took three strides on the deck while spreading his mighty wings and took to the air instantly. As he ascended, he found that Harsh's Pegasus was flying at the same speed as him. The flying horse was a regal creature with its chestnut colour, 15 feet spread of wings and tall musculature. They headed north, gaining altitude as they raced through the sky.

Thar Desert

About two hours into the flight, the clear, blue skies above, yellow-brown dunes beneath and the steady beat of Black Storm's wings had a nearly hypnotic effect. Even from his vantage atop the Hippogriff, Harry could only see the desert stretching out ahead.

Harry broke the silence with some questions, "Guruji, what was that place? I mean where you docked the Marichika? It seemed deserted and undefended. What would you do in case of an attack? And, what is this place we are flying through?"

"First, this", Harsh made an expansive gesture with his arms, "is the Thar Desert. One of the biggest deserts in the world and this particular area is the part of the no-man's land between India and Pakistan. This is the international border where none of them can claim sovereignty. This desert is important to us magicals because there are so many things found in the sands which are useful for us only. We have been keeping a post in here since the tribe was formed. And the shore where we landed used to be a popular choice for ships to drop anchor before the local port was constructed. We have always preferred it because the mystics control this area and no enemy would be able to pass us without our leave."

"Guruji, I have been curious about your tribe." Harry asked, 'I mean how can one join you?"

"The tribe is like a big family where we have wizards and witches of extra ordinary abilities. This tribe is a force which often clashes with the forces of evil. As I had told you, our primary task is to serve mother magic and do her bidding. To be a part of this tribe, one has to give up all their attachments and identities. Once you become a part of us, you forgo your previous life.", Harsh said, lost in thought, "No one can join it by themselves but we seek them out. We always test them and their characters and see if they are susceptible to corrupted by power. If we find someone is power hungry and would use it to wreak havoc, we never go to them."

"Have you ever taken someone in and then had to kick them out?"

"That never happens Harry. It is a service of lifetime and once you give up on your identity, there is nothing else out there that can tempt you back or seek to corrupt you. However, we often scout potential recruits before we approach them. Decades ago, we were studying two men who were extra ordinarily powerful and talented but we found one of them though was powerful but could use our secrets to bring destruction and the other wanted to expose all our secrets to the world. The first never sought us out and we never approached him and we avoided the second and dissuaded him from finding us with some difficulty. Years later, those men were turned to be heroes and villains to the wizarding world."

"Are you talking about Head Master?", Harry asked hesitantly.

"Yes", Harsh smiled, "Your head master was adamant about finding us to learn our secrets but those secrets being known to others would have caused much more damage than they prevented. We had given a thought to invite Albus to be a part of this tribe but we gave up on the idea instantly because we knew he would never give up on his identity. He had the best interests of Wizarding Britain in his heart and he could not be convinced otherwise in any way."

"Identity?", Harry asked in confusion.

"Yes", Harsh replied, "as I said, to become a mystic you have to give up on your life. You have to renounce everything that you were in life, your family, your identity and even your name. Albus loved Wizarding Britain too much to give up on it. We have had members from around the world in our tribe since we started and at times, we take help from witches and wizards who do not wish to join us."

"I do not understand", Harry said.

"You remember I told Mr. Longbottom that his family wand was given to me?", Harsh asked. "The wand belonged to Lord Harfang Longbottom who was powerful in his own might. We were in a war in Bulgaria where we were fighting a dark lord who had a massive army at his side and we sought his help. He along with your ancestor Lord Potter, Lord Bones, Lord Macmillan and a few other members of your family's alliance answered to my pleas and we raised a force. We won the war but the Lord Longbottom succumbed in the war trying to protect his sworn brother. The wand was given to me by Lord Longbottom to keep and return it to a Longbottom who is worthy of it while his body was taken to Avalon by your ancestor. We have sought help from many people around the world in many conflicts but those people do not become members of the tribe."

Harry nodded thoughtfully absorbing every bit of the information he was being told.

"What is the story of the goblins?", Harry asked Harsh, "why were they not allowing you into the bank?".

Harsh chuckled, "We are the defenders of everyone who is innocent, vulnerable and being oppressed. The goblins are none of those yet we never had any animosity with them. They have been powerful and wanted all the rights as a wizard does but wizards were not in favour of them. The first Goblin Rebellion was mostly because they deemed that they were not getting enough representation in the Wizengamot. The rebellion took place in 1612, near Hogsmeade and the wizards used the Three Broomsticks as the headquarters to quell the rebellion. We were watching too and the rebellion did not end in a bloody war. Whatever violence was committed, it ended before we were forced to participate and the Goblin Liaison department was established. The second Goblin rebellion was a bloody mess. It took place in 1752 and the goblins had allied with the werewolves and things became nasty. The war went on for months with countless wizards dying, or being turned or ending up in dragon pens deep in the bank. That rebellion destroyed the career of two ministers namely Albert Boot and Basil Flack. Hephaestus Gore became the minister after them and he knew of our existence. He sent a message to us through Lord Bones and we responded to the call for help. I led an army of 500 wizards through the deep levels of the bank, destroying one cavern after another where they were hiding. Werewolves died in hundreds of numbers, their blood turning the blade of my sword red. On that day we killed nearly 300 goblins and innumerable werewolves in a matter of few hours. We also destroyed all the wards and charms employed by them to stop the advance of any force against them. After we had destroyed the stronghold and their forces, Lord Bones sent message to the ministry to make the move to quell the rebels. The rebellion was quelled in next two days but so many goblins were killed with a lot of wizards. When it was time to frame a treaty, the goblins sought for me to be punished but I had already vanished with all my warriors. The treaty was entered into and the Goblins were forbidden to carry a wand but they expressly banned me from entering any of the branches of Gringotts. I never had much use of the bank before but sometimes, I had to go to them and they get in a tizzy. I have fought them many times since then but never a full scale war. The last time I visited was about 70 years ago when I was trying to find some ancient relics and I suspected them to be housed in a high security vault. The goblins denied me entry and when I refused to leave, they attacked me. I was successful in entering the bank but they were too many. I slaughtered too many of them and Iron Fist who was one of their best warriors fought me to almost standstill before I was able to hang him as an egg for a dragon. While they hate me for killing a lot of them, they respect anyone with power."

Harry smiled thinking of the story. He said, "there is a good chance that I slept through it, but I don't remember professor Binns ever mentioning anything about the Mystics being involved in the Goblin rebellions. But, it is said that the wizards made a last effort even inviting mercenaries, Aurors from other countries to raise a force to end the rebellion."

Harsh shrugged, "As I said, we work from shadows Harry. When we have to work in open, we take different identities. Hephaestus knew that our involvement could not be known to the people therefore, he spread the information that some external help was sought to kill the rebellion. As there were not many fighters and the number of Aurors was going down, we were welcomed without any questions asked."

"That is an impressive tale, Guruji", he said, "But what are we going to do next?"

"Now Harry, we are going to land near the sand dunes there", Harsh pointed to a cluster of dunes nearby, "there is the stop for tonight."

Thar Desert Fortress

The dry desert heat hit Harry like a wall as they descended toward the sand in the early afternoon sun. They landed near the designated spot and as soon as he dismounted, a mystic appeared at his side to take the reins of the hippogriff.

Harry could see nothing in sight and turned to Harsh, "Where is the stop, Guruji?"

Harsh smirked and said cryptically, "You need to know where to go. Magic always leaves its traces. Tell me Harry what you experienced when you visited Ollivander's for the first time?"

Harry thought back to the moment 4 years ago when he stepped into Ollivander's and he felt a rush of wind which raised his hair for a moment. He nodded to the mystic, "When I visited the shop for the first time, it gave off a sense of peace and calm but there was something in the shop which raised the hairs on my head for a moment. It was like someone had ruffled my hair in a fond sort of way."

Harsh smiled, "Interesting. You had spent a decade away from the magical world and were no better than a muggle born yet you distinctly felt the magical tingle on your skin. It says a lot about your magical prowess. The tingle that you felt was magic. Ollivander's shop is very old and exudes ambient magic with all those people going in to find a wand suitable to them. You felt the magic which lingers there and that shows that you are blessed by mother magic."

He then thrust his hand forward and asked Harry to do the same, "Harry, concentrate on the environment around you and try to find the same feeling that you had got in Ollivander's. As soon as you get that feeling, thrust your hand in that direction and try to grasp anything which may be present there. I would not be disappointed if you do not find anything."

Harry closed his eyes and tried to feel something. For five minutes, his mind kept wandering to different thoughts like Hogwarts, Susan Bones, Sirius Black, his parents, how incredibly hot the desert is and many other things which kept popping up for no reason. As he tried harder, he thought he could feel some tingling sensation. When he tried to advance his senses in that direction, he could not find anything more. Frustrated, he opened his eyes to find Harsh looking at him curiously.

Harsh said, "Did you find anything Harry?"

Harry shook his head, "I could not concentrate at first. I mean, it's really hot and things kept popping up in my mind. After trying hard, I felt a tingling sensation but that was all."

"Don't worry Mr. Potter.", Harsh said, "It is normal to happen. No one gets it in the first chance. This place does not even have that much residual magic for novice to feel around. However, after you training you would be able to feel it easily. But, it is hot. Even mad Arabs know better than to be outside at this time of day."

Harsh grasped something in the air. Within a second, he had a rope in his hand. As he pulled on the rope, a door appeared and they went inside. Once inside, Harry could see that behind the door was a portcullis which was currently up. Harry felt relief from the oppressive heat wash over him the moment they stepped through the door. They seemed to be passing through a tunnel in the sandstone that was about 15 feet long. They emerged into an enclosure that was open to the sky. Looking up, they were in a fort surrounded by walls about 35 feet in height with towers on each corner about 70 feet high and smaller towers on either side of the entrance that housed the machinery to defend and open the main gate. The whole appearing to be carved out of the bedrock or possibly some kind of concrete with a lot of the native desert sand as aggregate. Within the walls was a three story structure, its outer walls made of the same material. There were windows and arrow-slits, but no doors or windows on the ground level. There were unlit torches in sconces at 10 foot intervals and guards in the towers and on both sides of the gate.

As Harsh led Harry around to the right side of the building, Harry got a closer look at the stone-work. These were massive sand-stone blocks, fitted without mortar, the joints so tight and smooth that they were very nearly invisible. Harry asked, "How do you keep all this invisible from the outside, Guruji?"

Harsh simply shook his head and said, "This is a secret we do not share."

As they passed around the corner of the building, the main entrance came into view. They passed under another portcullis and through a short tunnel with several arrow-slits in the ceiling before passing a final portcullis. They entered a grand hall, rivalling in size the grand hall at Bones manor. The walls were decorated with tapestries depicting scenes from battles and other historical events. The ceiling was high enough that it must have been as high as the main roof. There were cat-walks around the walls at the second and third floor levels. The afternoon sun showed windows and arrow slits at both of the higher levels. Unlit torches in sconces were ready to light the room after dark. When Harry looked back at the way they came in, he saw a coat of arms displayed over the entrance. It was a two headed bird soaring through the air alongside an owl with wands crossed in the background and a motto beneath it in a language that Harry did not know. On the far side of the room, there was a raised platform on which sat a comfortable looking arm chair. There were a number of chairs arranged in two rows in front of the platform.

Harsh climbed the platform and sat on the chair. Harry stood dumbly not knowing what to do until he was prodded by a mystic that gestured to him to stand behind Harsh. That was when he remembered that he was supposed to be guarding Guruji. He climbed the steps and stood behind the chair in a ready position with his wand out, scanning the room for any perceived threats. The meeting went on for about an hour as Harsh heard reports and gave orders.

After they were done, Harsh proceeded to the dining room where Harry again noticed that many of the mystics did not touch any meat on the dining table. Harry tried some of those dishes and found them to be both spicey and quite delicious. As dinner ended, one of the mystics cornered him, "Mr. Potter, as I understand you are working as security for Guruji. For the next 4 hours, you will stand guard outside his bed chamber and then you will be relieved of your duties. It is your duty to ensure that no harm comes upon him."

2 hours later, as Harry was alertly guarding the entrance of the bed chamber, he heard approaching footsteps but could not see anyone. At first he was confused but soon he realised that whoever it was, must be using the disillusionment charm which he had seen at Privet Drive. As he looked more carefully, he saw shimmering in the air at 4 places. Immediately he whipped his wand out and fired a rapid series of stunners at the distortions. Two of the attackers became plainly visible as they fell unconscious to the floor. The other two became visible in the next second as they started firing off their own hexes.

Harry conjured his best shield and deflected the first volley with it while assessing the spells coming at him. Even with two of them down, he was still outnumbered, but, there being two of them and the corridor restricting their movements, their option to dodge was limited.

A light blue hex came at him. He recognized it as a blasting hex with not a lot of power behind it which he took on his shield. The other was a shield breaker which he dodged. Before they cast again, Hary decided that his best chance at beating them was to cast as fast as he could go, not just stunners, but anything that came to mind.

Time seemed to stand still as spell-fire filled the corridor, neither side giving an inch. The attackers were hard pressed to cast anything slower than stingers as their spell casting was constantly being interrupted. On Harry's side, keeping up the barrage took a lot of effort. Some of the spells were grey, that is boarder-line dark, not the ones he would normally use. On the other hand, shielding or dodging the few spells the attackers managed to squeeze in at him was almost effortless, but still keeping him on his toes.

After only 20 minutes, that could have been hours for all Harry knew, his energy was getting low from keeping the attackers pinned down. Remembering Harsh's lesson and believing this to be a life or death struggle, Harry was determined to prevail or die. He was breathing hard, sheened with sweat and getting unsteady on his feet when Harsh appeared.

"At ease, men", Harsh called out.

The two men immediately lowered their wands and Harry did the same. Harsh revived the two unconscious men then signalled all of them to follow him into the hall. Once there, they all sat in the regular chairs, Harsh joining them, leaving the high seat empty.

Harsh started, "What is your assessment of Harry, Viraksh?"

The mystic Viraksh gathered his thoughts for a moment before he spoke, "Guruji, Mr. Potter is very powerful and has a knee jerk reaction to events around him. He had situational awareness around him and he heard our footsteps from about 100 feet away and within seconds, he had fired stunners at us. These two were lax and paid for it with being stunned before they could even fire a stinging hex and Mr. Potter did not allow us to fire more than a handful of hexes. He kept us at bay for 20 minutes and that is impressive considering he did not incapacitate us but only kept firing high powered hexes at us. To keep firing such high powered spells for so long is a testament to his prowess. Whoever is training him has trained him well. But he will need to be trained intensely if he is to match that abomination in a battle."

Viraksh tipped his head in acknowledgement towards Harry while the other mystic did the same.

Afterwards, they were dismissed for the night.

Once the adrenalin from the fight left his system, Harry found that he could barely manage to shuffle off to bed. He slumped onto the bed without bothering to change and pondered while he waited for his aching muscles to relax, content that he managed to hold off four Mystics, feeling hopeful and encouraged with what they said about training him. He was glad there was someone who was interested in training him to deal with Voldemort for good. He had started taking notice of things which he had observed happening in himself. He was feeling confident and he had started to regulate the amount of power that went into his spells. Otherwise, he may have only lasted 5 minutes in that fight. He also had started to try to connect with his magical core as it said in the book. This was proving frustrating to him because he could not feel a thing within him and the book said that it was important for him for any witch or wizard to find their magical core since it would help them to use most of their magical strength.

He was surprised that Hermione never brought up this subject and neither did Ron but then probably they didn't know about it. He would ask them when he returned.

He also thought of his friends and extended family there. The first he thought was of the Marauders who tended to him like their own child and always tried to do their best by him. He thought of Hermione who was off to France with her parents on holiday. He thought about what her reaction would be when she found out what he was learning. He could imagine her nagging at him to teach her everything he had learned.

Then he thought of Neville and his parents who had quickly adopted him as one of their own. He thought of the Weasleys who considered him as their extended family and treated him as such since the day he had gone to the Burrow before his 2nd year.

He thought of Susan Bones and his heart did a little somersault as he remembered those tear filled eyes the last time he saw her. He thought of Amelia and her kindness towards him. He wondered how they were preparing for war. He knew that whatever they were doing would be useful for the war. He idly wondered whether the head master had found any more of the Horcruxes. Eventually he fell asleep tired out from his exertions of the day.

Ministry of Magic

"Ma'am, an unspeakable has come to demand an audience with you", Amelia's secretary said.

Amelia knew that the chief unspeakable wouldn't come himself on being summoned but send someone in his place. He was like that and she did not begrudge him the same.

"Send him in."

The unspeakable came in wearing a mask as they usually do, "Madam Bones, I am told you have a message for the chief?"

"Yes. Please tell him that I am initiating the pre-war protocols on my own level. Also tell him that since the ministry is not recognizing the threat, due to some unexplained reasons, he must do so secretly and on his own level. Specifically, he is not to escalate the same beyond his own department. Also advise him that your department is an asset of the ministry. It won't do to have it leak like a sewage pipe. There is a war ahead and he will need to ensure that every unspeakable is loyal to the department alone."

"It will be done", he said, "And in his turn, he bids you to start preparing for war also."

Black Town House, London

"Headmaster,

I am writing to you to call a meeting of the most trusted members of your Order. I have discovered something very significant that can be useful to us in our war against Tom Riddle. I will be there at 8:00 in the evening.

Please remember to not invite Severus Snape to this meeting. I don't want him to put himself into more trouble on account of the confidential information I carry.

Amelia Bones."

Dumbledore received this letter from Amelia Bones this afternoon. He immediately summoned all the members of his inner circle. He sat in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place enjoying a cup of tea as he waited for them to arrive. He trusted every member but not all of them were capable anymore so it was no use giving confidential information to them and risking their lives but a select few. Amelia was also a valuable asset to him in this war because she was already trying to cull the ministry of those whose loyalties were in question or undoubtedly towards Tom.

"Albus, everyone is in the meeting room.", said Molly Weasley.

He stood up to go to the room where everyone was already present. Sirius and Remus who sat on his left and right were talking with each other, Nymphadora was talking with Moody, Hestia and Emmeline. They were talking about something and stealing glances in the direction of the marauders while Amelia was laughing at something Minerva just said. The only one who could not attend was Kingsley as he was guarding the muggle prime minister that night.

"Welcome everyone to this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix", Dumbledore announced, "Madam Bones has called this meeting saying she has some new business to share with us."

He pointed to Amelia, who started, "Thanks to the efforts of some students, I came into possession of some information which has given me unprecedented leverage over the minister. Now I am generally above things such as blackmail but Cornelius has forced our hand and I will do anything to remove him from that office. Armed with this information, I confronted Cornelius the other day. Power loving fool that he is, he has agreed to do my bidding. He had been adamant that I get Peter Pettigrew kissed by Dementors without presenting him before the Wizengamot but I have persuaded him that it would be in his best interest to allow a trial for Sirius Black. As many of you have already received notice, you know that this session is the day after tomorrow to move things along. With the evidence we will present, I fully expect that Sirius Black will be cleared of all charges promptly."

"That is very pleasant news, Madam Bones", Dumbledore said happily, "Sirius being free will remove a heavy burden from my heart and also give him the chance to go out and do more for the Order. As we know, the political clout of House of Black is substantial, Sirius can work towards accumulating the power before Harold Potter returns and takes over the reins of the family. With the number of vassals that the House of Black has, we may even reach a majority in the Wizengamot without any worries."

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling like mad, his mind in over drive about the leverage against Fudge. He turned to Amelia, "Can we use the information to coax him to increase the budget of the DMLE or initiate emergency measures?"

Amelia shrugged, "No, Albus. For one thing, we don't want to give that idiot emergency powers. That would make it nearly impossible to remove him from office before the emergency is over. And one thing we cannot do is get budget changes approved without getting the consent of the majority of the Wizengamot. As far as we know, right now even with all 11 of Harry's votes and all the Great Alliance together, we will be short of a majority because the dark and neutral faction together are larger than light. We need to break the neutrals to gain any advantage."

Sirius, who had been sitting quietly all this while, turned to Dumbledore, "Who will be looking after Harry's seats? I mean he is not of the age where he can attend the Wizengamot according to the rules, so there will be a regent. He has 4 houses and I believe there have to be 4 regents in that case."

Dumbledore sat smiling for a moment then said, "This will depend on Harry alone but if I were to guess, he would name you, Remus and Amelia as the regents for those houses. Probably you will handle two of his houses."

"Is there any preparation to be made in anticipation of this trial?", Albus asked.

"Yes. I will get the trial conducted in absentia and have him acquitted of all charges. He merely needs to send a barrister to represent him in this session", she said as she turned to Sirius, "I also need you there in the Wizengamot hiding under an invisibility cloak. There will come a time when I will need you to appear before everyone."

Sirius nodded. It was already promising to be a fun outing. As there was not much else to discuss, the meeting was adjourned quickly and each one went their own way.

Malfoy Manor

It was the first time that Voldemort held court since his resurrection. His resurrection had not gone according to his plan. He went underground and sent his followers to spread the word. He even along with those who returned, was not powerful enough to deal with Dumbledore before hostilities broke out properly between them.

In the ball room of Malfoy Manor, where he was holding court, all of his followers were present. Most of them were his old followers, some were those who had returned to him the night he came back, others were those who had supported him from the sidelines without taking the mark. The best thing was that many of these followers worked at the Ministry but were never branded by him. Many of these were aurors or part of the ministry in the capacity of Department heads or at obscure positions where they could work for him without anyone finding out about it. Keeping these followers unmarked was a brilliant stroke because even if the ministry started arresting those with the dark mark, it would never even suspect that he had unmarked followers. In fact, he didn't ever summon these followers and they were his ears and eyes in the ministry.

Admittedly, his return had been messed up by that thrice damned boy. While it was true that using the boy's blood had, at least, made it possible for him to touch the boy without being burned, but that was as far as it went.

Part of the original plan for his resurrection was a humiliating death for the boy. Before the grand audience of his faithful ones, he would inflict pain and despair while the boy vainly begged for his life. Then, in the end, when he finally begged for death, Voldemort would graciously grant his wish.

What happened instead left him truly astounded. First Harry Potter had resisted the Imperius curse, his Imperius curse, a thing that had never happened before. Then their wands locked together which prevented anyone from interfering with their duel. The duel had been a shock to him when the shades of people killed by his wand had returned to haunt him for the last time and allowed the boy to escape. And finally, the little wretch survived his killing curse... again!

That had scared even Lord Voldemort because his most swift and never failing weapon had failed to kill his target. Had his death eaters seen the fear in his eyes? Had they noticed the shock and temporary weakness he experienced when his killing curse hit the boy? No, he did not think so. It was dark and they were all very busy trying to stop the boy. But they failed and the little wretch escaped. At least the wizarding world at large did not believe in his return. It had been surprisingly easy to manipulate the minister with a little nudge and gracious donations from Lucius to use his position as minister to suppress, discredit and deny any account of his return.

One thing which was lying heavy on his mind was how the boy managed to escape from him twice. The boy had been hit with the killing curse twice now but he still lived. Perhaps he was immune to the curse. What's more is the first time the boy survived the curse, it rebounded on him, breaking his power and leaving him a disembodied consciousness, even less than a ghost. The second time, he felt shock and weakness, as if a part of him was destroyed instead of the boy dying. He would have to research more to be certain. He was sure that the boy could still be killed. There are worse ways to kill someone than the killing curse. Voldemort favoured that form of execution because, for some reason, killing someone while leaving no sign of injury on their body was somehow much more intimidating than leaving a mangled mess. Ah, well, he would just have to make a mess, this time. The death will be gruesome and painful, of course. The boy had escaped him too many times and for him one was far too many. To complete his quest for world domination, he would have to kill Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. Those two had been thorns in his side for far too long. He knew that he could not be killed but he needed to hear that prophecy. Pity Severus had only heard a part of it. His men's attempts at the department of mysteries were getting nowhere with the order playing guard all the time and the unspeakable security. He would need inside help in the department. His old faithful, Rookwood was incarcerated in Azkaban. He would need to break him out. Then he would be able to do something but for the time being, his followers were trying different methods to obtain the prophecy.

Another thing that had worried him initially was the locked wands which had happened when he and the boy were locked in a battle of wills. How the boy was able to beat him was beyond his comprehension but it showed that the boy was powerful for his age. It could mean that in a few years, the boy will be more powerful than him and it did not bode well. The boy will need to die before he did anything.

The boy, the boy, it kept coming back to the boy. He had tried and failed to kill the boy three times now. He needed to kill the boy and that cursed prophesy held the key to killing the boy and he must have it. His thoughts went round and round. Then Lucius coughed into the silence, breaking him from his reverie.

The biggest loss at the moment for him was that he had lost two of his faithful servants of which one had served him diligently and even murdered his own father for his master.

"Severus, tell our friends about what happened with Barty", he commanded.

"My lord, as I have said, I did not know that the person who impersonated Alastor Moody was Barty Crouch Jr. I only came to know of it on the night of the third task when the boy appeared at Hogwarts in a coma with the dead body of Cedric Diggory. Barty was attacked by the healer trainee as he tried to rescue Wormtail", Severus drawled, "it was then when his polyjuice wore off and I realised that someone had been impersonating Mad-eye the entire time."

"Where are Barty and Pettigrew?"

"Last I saw, Amelia Bones took Barty and Pettigrew into custody and transported them to a safe-house." He answered, "That was the day of the third task. Since then, I have not heard if they have been moved or if they have divulged any intelligence."

Voldemort turned to Lucius, "Keep an eye on the Wizengamot, Lucius. If she has Wormtail, she will try to present him before the body to get Black acquitted of his crimes. If that happens, our ambitions will be hurt."

"I will ensure that never happens, My Lord. ", He said, "I have Fudge in my pocket. He will not make any move without my say-so."

"Is there anything else that you want to tell me, Severus?", he asked.

"Yes my lord but it should be done in private", he said and Voldemort turned to the hall in general, "Go away each of you. Keep your head down and keep doing the good work."

When they were gone and even Lucius was forced to leave, he turned to Severus, "What is it?"

"My Lord, I understand that you had some difficulty in duelling the boy due to your wand?", he asked.

Voldemort nodded and he continued, "this is likely because your wand and his both had cores from the same phoenix, specifically Dumbledore's companion, Fawkes."

Voldemort's vertical pupils widened a bit at this revelation.

Snape continued, "That won't be a problem anymore. When the boy woke up from his magical coma, it was found that his wand was destroyed by a stray curse as he fled from the graveyard. A new wand with the same core and wood was made for him but it did not work for him. Whatever happened there has changed him."

"This is the first good news that you have brought to me", Voldemort said, smirking, "Now tell me where is the boy? At his muggle relatives?"

"My lord, the muggles have left their residence severing their ties with him. The house where they lived is vacant now. It is my understanding that only Dumbledore knows where he is but he is keeping that information secret."

"Severus, the time will come when the current storm has settled and we will free my most devoted ones. You need to devise a plan to attack Azkaban while keeping the attention of Dumbledore elsewhere. But that can wait. For now, we are to lie low and keep recruiting to add to our numbers. In thee mean time, try to find out how we can get our hands on that prophesy and also what happened to Crabbe Sr. and Caldwell who have been missing for a week now. I assigned them to scout out St. Mungo's and they have not been seen since. Perhaps they have deserted my ranks. If that happened, they and their families will be punished obviously."

"My Lord,", Lucius said as he entered the ball room, leaving the door open behind him, "We have tried every way we could think of to take that prophecy from its shelf but it has not yielded any results yet. Marcus Flint is still in St. Mungo's being treated for his injuries from his attempt. The hopes of his recovery are next to nothing."

Voldemort was feeling frustrated because even his most reliable spy did not discover any useful intelligence about his missing people and welcomed the opportunity to entertain himself, he raised his wand at Malfoy, "Crucio".

He laughed inwardly as he watched the least trustworthy of his death eaters squirm and struggle not to cry out. A full minute passed as he relished the pain and made his point for all those in the room who might think to defy him before he lifted his wand. In his high, cold voice, he spoke slowly and deliberately, "You dare to enter despite being forbidden? You dare to speak out of turn, Lucius? You forget your place."

Malfoy said nothing, but shook his head fervently.

The Dark Lord addressed the people that followed Malfoy into the room, "I want the prophecy by any means necessary. I do not care what you have to do to obtain it but, obtain it, you shall."

Cottage on the hill

It was early morning as Alastor was giving Tonks some pointers on duelling. Remus was there setting up for today's lesson with the students.

Patience was not a virtue that Moody usually possessed. He was an impatient man in general until he entered a battle. Then he became the predator, able to stalk his prey for hours. But, put him in front of a bunch of students who practically know nothing about duelling and that would get him grinding his teeth with impatience and frustration in short order, which was exactly what he had to put up with today.

The brats he had to train were green. They had seen nothing of war and their minds were not attuned to combat at all. If they continued the way they were going, they would never be ready for war or reach their full potential.

It irritated him that there could be students who would not want to know anything beyond the standard spells or curses which were taught in the academic curriculum. Yes, Hermione Granger was an exception but even she read solely for knowledge and research. She was too tied down by rules. The Weasley children were a different matter. The twins had a bond between them that none except them could understand. Rules didn't mean much to them either. They knew everything they wanted to know for their purpose. Too bad their main purpose was anything for a laugh. The other two just finished fourth and third year so, he didn't expect much from them.

Remus interrupted Tonks and Moody duelling to ask, "We've had two sessions with these students already, Alastor. What do you make of them?"

Tonks listened in because she was just as interested in the veteran Auror's opinion as Remus was.

Moody's dark eye squinted at the werewolf, his large blue eye rotating while he thought for a moment before saying, "Trying to make warriors out of that lot is harder than making a silk purse out of a pig's ear. The twins have the skills, but they only care about jokes. The younger Weasleys lack discipline and are easily frustrated. That Granger lass has the biggest repertoire that any girl her age has a decent right to, but she folds under pressure. But, the biggest disappointment of all are the Bones lass and the Longbottom lad."

"I don't understand. Those two have been doing the best out of the whole bunch on their evaluations. What's got a bee in your bonnet about them?", Remus asked.

"Don't you know your history? The Bones' have been one of the pillars of this society. For generations, many of them were in law enforcement. Being an Ancient and Most Noble House, they also possess a family magic which is suited to a warrior. Don't you remember Edgar who was a duelling champion in his time, a fighter and as we have heard, he fought you-know-who to a standstill. I just wish that his daughter inherited even half of his talent."

"I can understand", Remus said, "Edgar managed to defeat even you in a couple of duels, so you might expect more from his daughter. Why do you feel frustrated with Neville? He is a good wizard, powerful and learning new things daily."

Moody shook his head, "Frank and Alice were excellent Aurors and are still fondly remembered by the men in the ranks as being warriors beyond all compare. You would know that they were the only ones beside the Potters to have escaped you-know-who thrice. Coming from the line of Vikings, Frank surely inherited their prowess and their leadership qualities but he was also adept at learning new magics just like his ancestors. At Neville's age, Frank was already duelling people for fun", Moody said, "I just wish that Longbottom boy had shown this acumen a few years ago so that he would have learnt a great deal more by now. Since it is almost time for them to arrive, I will go and make preparations. You join me when you have time."

"I have heard a lot of stories about him and not all of them good", Nymphadora said watching the retreating back of the Auror, "I know he is a warrior and exemplary Auror. What was he going on about the Longbottoms, Bones and Potters?"

"Moody was an Auror captain during the war. He had four squads under his command. Of those squads, the one made up of Amelia Bones, James Potter, Sirius Black, Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom was his most cherished one. Right about the time when the war ended abruptly, Moody was in St. Mungo's critically injured having fought the Lord Rosier who almost killed him. When the news reached him of the deaths of the Potters and later incapacitation of the Longbottoms, he went into a rage. The rage worked wonders for him though because it cleansed his system of the curse from which he was suffering. Within an hour, Moody returned to the ministry demanding Crouch to give him a squad to hunt down whatever death eaters remained. The next few days, he went on a relentless manhunt, bringing in so many death eaters that it is still a record. When all the death eaters were either captured or killed, Moody tendered his resignation and went into retirement.

As for the Longbottoms, they were an extraordinary couple. To vouch for their exemplary skills, they fought with You-Know-Who three times and escaped him, a feat only rivalled by James and Lily Potter. Also, that squad was known for their efficiency and ruthlessness in the battle field. Their arrival in battle was often the decisive factor in favour of the Aurors. They were some of the best Aurors that Moody ever trained and he came to love them as family."

Moody watched the floo as the students came through, each of them with wands out and eyes peeled. Perhaps there was hope for this lot Afterall. Seeing that they were all present, he hobbled towards them. He barked orders to them to do some warm up before he ran them through the mill.

After about 30 minutes, he had all of them before him, panting and sweating.

Looking at all of them closely, he barked, "Who can tell me about the blasting hex?"

Immediately Hermione Granger started, "The blasting hex is one of the standard hexes which are used to blast obstacles into tiny fragments. It has two variants- Bombarda and Bombarda Maxima of which the Bombarda Maxima is more powerful. The required wand motion is half counter clockwise circle. The colour of the spell may vary from Light Blue to Purple depending on the power used in casting."

Moody muttered, "Typical Ravenclaw answer. Did you swallow the book, lass?"

Hermione looked flabbergasted but did not say anything.

Moody turned to the twins, "You two, how would you describe the blasting hex?"

One of the twins raised his wand and incanted, "Bombarda" shooting a light blue spell at Moody that bounced off a shield the Auror summoned before the spell even left the wand. The other twin instantly fired "Bombarda Maxima". Moody batted the deep purple spell aside with his wand.

Turning to the others, he manically grinned, "That's the kind of answer I'm looking for! This isn't Hogwarts and I'm not your professor. There won't be any essays or written tests. Don't waste your breath telling me. Show me. You are here to be trained in the way of the warrior so that you don't get yourself killed. I still need you to learn what is in those books. Your life may depend on it. Do not dismiss any spell as irrelevant. Even a simple stinging hex may get you an advantage."

"Now we're going to see if any of you can dodge or shield. I will fire hexes at you all randomly." As his wand blazed into action, firing off a stream of stingers, he grinned maniacally, "Don't get hit."

The twins already had their wands out and the first stingers bounced off their shields, the rest of the children yelped and ducked, ran for cover or got zapped as they all took out their wands. Hermione was the last to react and already took one before she conjured a shield.

The stingers came fast and furious. Sometimes they connected, sometimes they were dodged or bounced off shields. When Moody realised that they shielded more than dodging. He instantly started firing shield breaking hexes and sent all of them scurrying for cover. Soon enough, they all sported welts or bruises from all the times they failed at dodging or shielding and when their shields were broken.

THAR DESERT fortress, INDIA

Harry Potter woke up tired and sore, with the pre-dawn beginning to light his room. Yesterday had been a long day and he had only been able to sleep for a few hours. Every small movement was a new experience in pain. He gritted his teeth and persuaded his limbs to get out of bed, one muscle at a time. He got to his feet and stretched every joint and muscle through its full range of motion, feeling them protest as he did. In a few minutes, the soreness was still present, but he felt more limber and thought that he could bear it. Feeling a bit unsteady, but making his movements deliberate and slow, he made his way to the main assembly hall where the mystics were just sitting down to breakfast.

After Breakfast, he expanded his trunk which he kept in his pocket, and was rummaging around, trying to find his toiletries.

The mystic Vikrash approached him, "Mr. Potter, you will not use mundane methods to do your chores."

"Huh?", Harry muttered groggily.

The mystic suppressed his smile, "I mean Mr. Potter that 'til the time you are with us you will not use muggle ways to do things. For anything that you do, you are supposed to use magic for it. From brushing your teeth to other chores that you may have, you will use magic for it."

Harry nodded his head and using his wand, he summoned his toiletries. Vikrash directed him to a bathroom on the first floor of the building. The bathroom had a tub big enough for 4or5 people at once, but no taps. As he thought it over, he remembered the mystic's words about using magic for everything and raised his wand, "Aguamenti!" A thick jet of water flowed from his wand. In 5 minutes, the tub was filled but he felt quite the drain on his magic. As he slipped into the tub, he immediately forgot the exhaustion.

Twenty minutes later, he appeared in the main audience hall, dressed in a black robe with his cloak billowing behind him. There was the Potter crest on the left side of the robe with the Peverell crest and on the left side, he had another crest which he was sure was the mystic's crest.

As he entered the hall, he found the mystics carrying a large bundle out through the main door. When they laid it on the ground, one of them tapped it with his wand. The bundle unfurled itself and he found that it was a carpet like the ones he had heard about in fairy tales. The carpet was about 20 feet long, 15 feet wide, 6 inches thick and blood red in colour.

Harsh bid Harry to follow him as he stepped onto the carpet while the mystics retreated to a distance. Harsh tapped his wand to the carpet while muttering something under his breath which Harry did not understand. Within seconds, the carpet started to hover in the air. A few moments later, they were airborne.

Harry had flown on brooms, hippogriffs and now on a carpet. All were different experiences. Flying on a broom felt like he was in command. Riding a hippogriff was like an extension of his thoughts since he started riding Black Storm. While on a carpet, he felt like something else was in control.

He turned to the mystic, "Guruji, we could have apparated to the tribe's home. Why are we travelling this way?"

Harsh smiled at his thoughtfulness, "we could have done that Harry but think it as part of your training. Besides, all the initiates of the tribe have to go through this process. While you are not going to become a permanent member of our tribe, you have been accorded honorary member's status."

Harry smiled but said nothing.

"Harry, this area that we are passing through is notorious for attacks. We have been attacked too many times here by all sort of creatures and people. That is one reason that we use carpets to travel through this region but the most dangerous are the flying serpents which are some abominations bred by a nefarious wizard and used against us for a long time now", Harsh said to him, "I want you to use whatever you have to resist any attacks and make sure that no one is able to climb aboard the carpet."

Harry nodded while he tightened his grasp on the wand. His mind was furiously imagining all the scenarios which they might face, one of them involved him toppling over the edge of the carpet. As he raised the question to Harsh, he guffawed, "No Harry. Unless I wish it, none of us will drop over the edge. You see there is a layer of sticking charm embedded in the carpet which would keep you on board. Unless I wish you cannot leave of here by yourself."

Harry's mind started thinking over the other aspect of the situation- the flying snakes. If he had faced this problem before the first task, he could have simply talked to it but he had not tested his parsel mouth ability since the third task and as so many things had changed after being hit with the curse. Who knew if he retained the ability? Perhaps, it was time for him to find out.

As they sped onwards in silence, he saw some creatures flying towards the carpet and he started blasting them out of the sky before they could land. He successfully blasted some of them while he petrified others however a couple of them landed on the carpet. While he banished one off of the carpet, the other flew to him with the intention to strike him. Before Harry could banish it, it sank its fangs into his leg. Harry felt a little sting but could not feel the effects of the snake poison. Before he could devote more thought to the issue, he saw the snake dissolving with its flesh burning away like hot wax while the snake was writhing in agony. He saw another of the snakes near him poised to strike and Harry yelled,"Stop!"

"A speakerrrrr...", The snake hissed in reply, quivering all the time.

"Don't bite me or you will die", Harry hissed back to the snake, "Can you understand me?"

"You have scent of a speaker about you great one, I am not worthy to talk", the snake replied.

"My friend can you tell me why I did not die when that Snake bit me?", Harry asked pointing to the dead snake.

"You have the poison of the great serpent coursing in your blood, it protects you from all ssssnake poison", the snake replied.

"It's okay noble beast. Do you think you can leave here without causing any troubles to us?" Harry asked the snake.

The snake said nothing but dipped its hood towards Harry as a show of respect and flew away. Harsh who had been watching everything curiously turned to him, "Are you a parselmouth, Harry?"

Harry turned to him, expecting loathing in his eyes but he found intrigue,

"Yes Guruji. The first time I knew was when we were at the zoo for Dudley's eleventh birthday. There was a rather sad boa constrictor at the reptile house and Dudley was asking his father to try and wake him up. When he just kept laying there, the others lost interest and wandered off. Then I started talking to the snake and found out that he could understand me. Then there was that time at the duelling club when Malfoy, at Snape's suggestion, conjured a great ugly snake and set it on me. While I was deciding what to do next, Lockheart hurt it and the snake went after another one of the students. Next thing I knew, I went gliding across the room after it and called it off. That was when people started telling me how rare this ability is and that they thought only dark wizards could do it. I could also hear the great basilisk muttering to itself when it was moving through the plumbing. When I asked Head Master about it, he thought that I could speak to snakes because Voldemort transferred some of his power to me when he gave me this scar.", he tapped his forehead. "I thought I had lost the ability when the second killing curse destroyed the soul fragment within me."

Harsh nodded his head in thought while Harry continued speaking, "I also thought you would hate me."

"Hate you?", Harsh said in amazement, "Why would I hate you for having a gift of magic, Harry? This is a very rare gift and only those blessed by mother magic have this gift. It is the hypocrisy of British Wizards who classify things into light and dark. We embrace all the gifts that Mother Magic has so generously bestowed on us. While none of your Potter ancestors had this gift on their side, your Black heritage had some of their descendants gifted with this gift of Parselmouth having come from Egypt where wizards with parselmouth are still found in abundance."

Harry nodded feeling relieved. He had initially thought that the mystic would be repulsed that Harry was a parselmouth but he was finding that a lot of his apprehensions were baseless when it came to the mystics.

"What I am curious about is what did you say to the snake and why did not the poison of the snake kill you?", Harsh asked, eyeing him curiously.

Harry smiled embarrassed, "He told me that I am a speaker and that he is not worthy to talk to me. He said that I have basilisk venom and it protects me."

"Oh yes, the monster of Slytherin", Harsh smiled, "the basilisk he had put in the school to act as school defence in case of an intrusion."

"How do you know about the Basilisk?", Harry asked in amazement.

"If you are asking how I know there was a Basilisk in Hogwarts then you have to remember that I knew Salazar since he was a child", Harsh smirked at the look on Harry's face, his face showing surprise and his eyes wide, "Salazar told me that he intended to put a Basilisk in the hidden chamber where he had his living quarters. No one knows how the rumour that he hated the muggle-born started since he used to find and bring muggle born wizards and witches to Hogwarts and look after them personally. If you are asking how I know you faced a basilisk then Dumbledore recounted that tale to your godfather and I was there to listen. However, he had not mentioned of you being a parsel mouth."

Harry's mind was reeling with what he was told as he had never known half the things that Harsh was telling him notwithstanding that there was no public information available about any of the founders. He realised that he had been fed a long standing prejudice against Slytherin without any facts to support the statement.

He turned to Harsh again, "What do you mean that he used to bring muggle born wizards and witches to Hogwarts?"

Harsh started, "It was a dark time for wizards and witches all around, Harry. It was an age when wizards were hunted by muggles out of fear, their wands were snapped or they were killed in general by muggles. Muggle born wizards had it worst since their parents would kill them thinking them to be abnormal, freaks of nature or servants of Satan. Salazar recognised the need to save them and he devised a plan where he often went to families where they despised their magical child and he often whisked them away to Hogwarts from where they were taken in by wizarding families and raised as pure-bloods. Later, many of those wizards started their own families, many of whom are ancient families now. He had left on invitation from the somewhere in Europe to open a school to rival Hogwarts. Legends state that he had died in a battle which involved some rather nasty evil wizards who all ganged up on him and took him down. We tried to find what happened but never found a trace of it."

Harry was in awe of the story. Salazar sounded like a noble man who lived to serve magic all his life and even made efforts to make things easy for Muggle Born wizards. He resolved then to make friends with some of the good Slytherins when he returned to Hogwarts. He felt it unjust to condemn one-fourth of the school only because they belonged to a different house.

After Harsh finished his tale, they kept flying in silence.

By late evening, they left the dunes of the Thar desert far behind. The carpet descended and came to rest in dense woods. The moment the carpet touched down, 4 mystics appeared like shadows and escorted them to a clearing.

They gave a folded piece of fabric to him, "This is the tent Mr. Potter. Erect it while we make food arrangements."

As they left, Harry stood there with the tent in his hands, trying to remember the spell he saw Mr. Weasley use at the World Cup of Quidditch to erect the tents. "Erectus", that was it! He placed the tent on the ground and took a couple of steps back as he drew his wand. "Erectus!", with the wand movement of a quarter clock-wise rotation and a flick at the end. He kept the wand aimed at the tent as he watched it unfold and pitch itself. Within seconds, the job was done. On the inside it was three stories tall similar to the tents he saw at the Quidditch World Cup, but with the welcome difference that it did not smell of cats.

Next morning, Harry woke up refreshed. As he stepped out of the tent, Harsh grabbed his hand and they were gone.

Ministry of Magic, London

The last few days had been hard for Cornelius. From the time Amelia Bones walked out of his office, it had been a living nightmare for him.

As Amelia left, Dolores trotted back into his office, "Minister, what did she want?"

Fudge growled, "That, Dolores, is way above your pay-grade. If you pester me about it again, you can say good-bye to your job."

But, Umbridge, smelling blood, could not resist. She plastered her best look of concern on her face, "Was she blackmailing you, Minister?"

"How dare you, Dolores?", he thundered, "How dare you accuse me of being intimidated by anyone, least of all Amelia Bones? I am the Minister and I don't fear anyone. Now shut your fat mouth and find more ways to bring Dumbledore down."

"I am not accusing you, Minister", she said, "I am only saying that I can have her dealt with if she is trying to intimidate you. We can easily remove her from her post in the ministry."

Fudge rolled his eyes, "You really don't get it, do you? If you really descended from the old families as you claim, you would know why it is absurd to think that we can remove her from her post. Dolores, the ministry owes its existence to the Wizengamot which was established by the Council of Lords. The Council of Lords was made up of the thirteen original families which helped King Arthur and Merlin establish this society. These families still rule above all others and control the majority of the votes in the Wizengamot. Amelia Bones comes from the House of Bones, which is one of the originals and as such, she has a lot of political capital. House of Bones was also one of the founding members of the Great Alliance, the force which clashed with and defeated the Vikings. And on top of that, now she is Regent Potter which means she has double that power. It is a fool's hope to think that I will continue to be minister if I attempt to remove her from her post as head of DMLE."

"But…"

"No, there are no buts.", he said, "I'd rather that you reach out to our friends and rally them. We have a trial to hold."

"Whose trial?"

"Amelia has informed me that Sirius Black never received a fair trial. She wants to give him one. I have no doubts about his guilt so I am going to fight it tooth and nail and clear the cloud of suspicion around the matter."

"Will Black attend the trial?"

"No, it will be held in absentia."

"Who will be the counsel for Black? Maybe, we can persuade or force them to give up Black?"

Fudge huffed, "It looks like I won't know that until they show up at the Wizengamot. Whomever it is, you can bet that Black won't choose any ordinary person to be his counsel. Send letters to our friends tomorrow informing them about this emergency session and ask them to be present. Tell the ministry employees holding the seats to be present in any case."

"When is the trial and when will we send the notices?"

"That is secretarial work, Dolores and you don't need to concern yourself with that."

He had already made clandestine preparations of his own to thwart the trial of Sirius Black but he feared every moment that somehow Amelia would catch a whiff of his deception and barge into his office with an arrest warrant. He also knew that if she presented all the evidence in the Wizengamot, half the ministry including him will end up behind bars.

He had directed the junior undersecretary, Percy Weasley to get the summons sent through the office of the Chief Warlock. Percy Weasley was another matter altogether. The young wizard saw through things and he would change sides if he saw the wind blowing the other way. The boy was knowledgeable, ambitious and cunning but he was also hard working and smart. There was also a sense of loyalty deep within him which Fudge hoped to cultivate in his favour. If Fudge had any brains at all, he would be keeping an eye on the young, smart and ambitious Percy Weasley. But, as things were, he couldn't even be bothered to properly learn the boy's name. He sort-of inherited the boy when Barty Crouch Sr. disappeared and he found Weasley running the department of international cooperation. But, fudge's future plans as Minister for Magic were irrelevant. His days in office were numbered and he knew it. With only a couple of days until the emergency session, Fudge let his faction know about his intentions immediately. Only then did he prepare the agenda for the rest of the body.

There was also an illuminating conversation which he had with his wife the other day:

"I see that you are very tense these days. What is the matter?"

"Things are coming to a head now", he confessed, "Things are turning for the worse like the old days."

"Don't talk in riddles", she said, "Speak clearly."

"Amelia Bones found documentary proof that I took bribes over the years. Now she is threatening that I must do her bidding or she will come with an arrest warrant."

"I warned you not to take bribes or engage in corruption", she said, "You promised in your speech to bring change to our world. But nothing changed. I sometimes pity your younger righteous self which you sacrificed at the altar of your ambition. What does Amelia want you to do to save you?"

"She wants me to give a trial to the fugitive Sirius Black."

"Wasn't he convicted when he was sentenced to Azkaban?"

"That's the problem. No, he was never tried but was sent directly to Azkaban. I have seen the file. But I realised this too late. Now I can't be seen giving him a trial."

"Why?"

"It will be political suicide. Black has been my favourite scape-goat and this sudden reversal would end my career."

"Better that your career ends than you end up in Azkaban when Amelia Bones brings an arrest warrant for you."

From his seat beside the seat of Chief Warlock, Fudge was watching the members file into the chamber when he found Lucius Malfoy walking towards him, rage on his face.

"Cornelius, what's this rubbish that you are giving that mass murderer, Sirius Black a trial? Have you gone mad?!"

"Yes, I am giving him a trial because he never had one", Fudge said, "And I think it is important that it is not only done, but seen to be done. With him properly convicted, we can go back to hunting him down like a dog."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Why should it matter to you, Lucius? As far as I know, Sirius Black is persona non grata from the House of Black and your wife's family has no ties with him whatsoever. Why the sudden interest in his life?"

"I am interested in his life because it is important to a lot of people", Lucius said, "And he is also the last Black. You know that if he is found innocent that he can claim the lordship of the House of Black? Do you know what that would mean to you? I am your biggest supporter and I hold the regency of House Black. If I lose that regency, I lose the political power that goes with it and it will be a disaster for us."

Cornelius already understood all this and more. He knew Lucius was right that all his political power came from being Regent of the House of Black. If Sirius Black were to take the lordship, that would be the end of any political support, not just from the Black seat, but all of the vassals to House of Black as well. But the choice Cornelius had was to hold the trial and likely get booted out of office or refuse and definitely change his address to Azkaban.

However, he still had two chances to stay in power: find Sirius Black guilty; or attempt to curry favour with Black and his allies. To that end, he was trying to warm up to those who were closer to Amelia Bones hoping it would help him. One result of Amelia's threat had been that Cornelius had no time to be petty or plot against Dumbledore or purge the ministry.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts and Chief Warlock took his chair beside the chair of the minister.

"Minister, it is most irregular that you sent summons for an emergency meeting from my office without intimating me of the same", Dumbledore said sternly, "You well know that the proper procedure is that the one who is calling the meeting sends the summons. Would you care to tell me why it is so?"

"Chief Warlock, I apologise for the same but trust me when I say that if I had these sent by my officer, the notice wouldn't have reached everyone", Fudge said, "There are people in my office who would have suppressed them and we would only have a handful in attendance."

"I will let it go this time", Dumbledore said. He scanned the room and saw that everyone was present, "Should we get started now?"

Without waiting for an answer, Dumbledore took his seat and boomed, "Close the doors."

"The emergency meeting of the Wizengamot for the month of June is now called to order", he announced, "this session has been called at the behest of Minister Fudge while my officer merely facilitated the same. Since he has called this session, I'll let him address it. Minister, the floor is yours."

"Thank-you Chief Warlock Dumbledore. This session was called urgently at short notice to correct a wrong which was committed long ago. As a part of the measures I have initiated to bring the ministry up to scratch as per recent events, it was brought to my knowledge by our esteemed Head of DMLE, Madam Bones. She came into office claiming that this person, who is also a scion of a Most Ancient and Noble House, was sent to Azkaban without a trial which is common courtesy for even the hardest of criminals. Now I am not giving my opinion about whether this man is guilty of his perceived crimes or not. That is a matter of law. Today we will put that question to the test and try this person as should have been done long ago. We have gathered here today to hear the facts regarding this case When that is done, it will be up to you whether he is acquitted or condemned. Regardless of the outcome, we will have, at the very least, have corrected the egregious injustice, which was committed by the previous administration, of holding this man without trial in blatant violation of his most basic rights. I give the floor to DMLE Head Bones", he nodded to Amelia and sat down.

Amelia stood and faced the assembly, "Thank-you Minister Fudge. Now the accused that I am talking about is a person named Sirius Orion Black, scion of the House of Black."

There was a general intake of breath mixed reactions of fear, loathing and surprise. A few even chuckled.

Malfoy's face was a mask of cold fury. With a contemptuous sneer on his face and a tone to match, he was on his feet, "You cannot be serious! There is no possibility that man is innocent! I move that we dismiss this proceeding and track him down like a dog! He deserves death!"

Dumbledore wrapped his gavel firmly and spoke, "Lord Malfoy, you are out of order. I should hope that a member like you should know how to conduct yourself in these chambers. This is not a barroom or one of your business concerns where you can speak out of turn. I hope this is the last time that you interrupt this body during this session. Now to answer your point, there was no trial for Sirius Black, therefore, the question of his guilt or innocence has not been established as per our laws. The fact that a man was held in Azkaban for 12 years without trial is an oversight that must be corrected. That is the purpose of the proceedings today."

Malfoys pointy pale face rapidly went from crimson to grey. He swallowed his angry retort and sat down muttering, "Yes, Chief Warlock Dumbledore."

Madame Bones waited a moment for the reaction to finish then continued, "Before we continue further, Chief Warlock, I want to draw the attention of this body to a bureaucrat who is sitting in this body as if they belong here while the truth is that they are neither scion or regent of any house nor were they appointed by the ministry to hold a seat in this body."

"Please clarify", Dumbledore said.

"I am talking about Dolores Jane Umbridge", Amelia said, "And I invoke this body to ask by what right, is she sitting here on this body as if she is among her peers?"

Umbridge's face went crimson with anger, "I am the senior undersecretary to the minister, Madam Bones. I am here because the minister wants me here."

"He has no power in this chamber", Amelia said indifferently, "So unless you are nominated, you don't belong here. Now go away."

"Madam Umbridge, please leave the Wizengamot", Dumbledore said, "You are not authorised to sit on this body until or unless the minister appoints you to a seat in this body."

The members waited in silence while the toad-faced witch gathered up her belongings and attempted to strut out of the chamber with her head held high. The effect was enough to get some of the less restrained members chuckling.

"Now returning to the agenda," Dumbledore said, "please continue, Madam Bones."

"Thank-you, Chief Warlock. Prior to his incarceration, the most serious charge against this wizard was for creating a nuisance in connection with his involvement in a brawl at The Leaky Cauldron Inn. The charges against him are as follows: First: conspiracy. In that as keeper of the Fidelius secret, that he did knowingly and with forethought, reveal that secret to Lord Voldemort (with the sole exception of Dumbledore, everyone in the room winced) who subsequently murdered Lilly and James Potter. Second: Murder in the first degree. In that he did knowingly and with forethought hunt down and murder one Peter Pettigrew. Third: Muggle Baiting. In that twelve muggles were killed in the explosion which the accused used to murder Peter Pettigrew. Fourth: Jail Break. In that having been incarcerated for his crimes, he did escape from custody at Azkaban. Is everyone present familiar with these charges?", and she paused as the assembly showed their assent.

Now, it was Dumbledore's turn to speak as Chief Warlock, "Since the accused is not present in person before this body, he is being represented in absentia by Mr. Tonks and Mr. Vaughan."

Two wizards stood and bowed to the chamber in general, "Does the accused understand these charges?"

Ted Tonks said, "Acting in Sirius Black's stead, we are authorized to answer for our client. We understand the charges."

"So entered", Albus said. "And how do you plead?"

Ted responded, "On the charge of conspiracy, not guilty. On the charge of murder in the first degree, not guilty. On the charge of muggle baiting causing death, 12 counts, not guilty. On the charge of jailbreak, guilty with a provision."

Dumbledore responded, "And what is that provision, Mr. Tonks?"

Ted answered, "That provision being that the incarceration was unlawful in the first place. Therefore, we move that the last charge be dismissed. Here is our motion to dismiss the charge as being void an initio."

They handed the documents to Dumbledore which he leafed through.

After having perused them, Dumbledore responded, "So entered. We will now hear the evidence, pursue the records and questions witnesses, if any. Madame Bones?"

"Of all these charges, only the last has been brought during this administration. As DMLE Head, I found that the accused has been wrongfully imprisoned in that he has not received a trial in accordance with our laws and recommend that this charge be dropped immediately."

Dumbledore wrapped his gavel, "Very well. Since both counsels agree, the last charge is dismissed. Please continue."

Amelia then continued, "Now it is generally impossible to prove innocence or guilt in a crime where such a long span of time has passed. The ministry has also closed the case since it was open and shut for us with no witnesses in favour of the accused. However, the record also shows that, other than the accused, who was in no condition to testify, there were no eye witnesses for the prosecution either. It was a case where the guilt of the accused was presumed on circumstantial evidence which should not have been done. But, there was a second witness. To find out what really happened that night when those muggles were murdered, I am presenting before this body, Peter Pettigrew, a wizard we all thought a hero and martyr."

There was collective murmuring in the chamber as people started talking among themselves. Dumbledore rapped his gavel, "Silence, Madam Bones, bring in Peter Pettigrew."

Amelia signalled to one of her Aurors who went out of the chamber and returned a minute later with Peter Pettigrew was escorted in, flanked by Shacklebolt and Tonks, his right hand missing.

Albus turned to Amelia and asked, "DMLE Head Bones, have you examined the witness?"

"Yes, Chief Warlock Dumbledore", she answered.

"Are you satisfied that this is Peter Leone Pettigrew of whose Murder, Sirius Black was accused?", he asked.

"Yes, Chief Warlock, I confirm that this is indeed the same Peter Pettigrew.", she stated.

"Well then", said Dumbledore, with his eyes twinkling, "since the man is obviously alive, the charge of murder in the first degree, is dropped. We will now hear evidence regarding the remaining two charges. Call your first witness."

"Black killed those muggles, Madam Bones", Sneered Lucius, "I object to this line of questioning."

Dumbledore wrapped his gavel again, glaring at Malfoy, "Order! Lord Malfoy we have already established that Sirius Black never received a trial, a blunder on the part of the previous administration and we are gathered here today to correct that mistake and to save a man from a fate as horrible as the Dementor's kiss. And I have already warned you to respect the decorum of this chamber. If you have any tenable ground to object to this trial or some evidence which proves him guilty, please bring it forth otherwise please do not interfere with the Wizengamot or I will be compelled to eject you from this chamber for the remainder of this session along with imposing a fine for contempt."

Malfoy rose and thundered towards the exit while the entire assembly followed Malfoy to the door with their eyes, trying not to look like they were looking. When the door made a very solid thump and click as it closed behind him, Albus spoke again, in his usual pleasant tone, "Please proceed with your case DMLE Head Bones.".

She looked at the man being held firmly by the two aurors and said, "Chief Warlock, I seek permission to interrogate Peter Pettigrew with veritaserum so that we can determine the truth as he otherwise may be reluctant to speak the truth."

This time, there was a definite twinkle in the eyes behind those half-moon spectacles, "Permission granted DMLE Head Bones."

Peter was escorted to the stand, the chains on the chair engaged to hold down his arms, legs and torso. The Aurors administered three drops of Veritaserum and waited a few seconds before they began to question him.

Amelia first asked him, "Your name, for the record please?".

"Peter Leone Pettigrew.", he said, looking bewildered and defeated.

"To your knowledge, was Sirius Black the secret keeper for the location of the potters, James, Lilly and Harold?", she asked next.

"No. He was not."

Madame Bones tried again because, despite her desire to let Sirius Black go free, she was the Head of DMLE and had to make a good show of trying to find some evidence against Sirius. She asked, "Please tell the Wizengamot, who was the secret keeper for the Potters?"

This time, Wormtail broke down and wept, "I was."

"On the night of November 7 1981, there was an explosion which took the lives of twelve muggles and, until recently it was thought, you along with them. Were you present when this took place?", she asked.

The rat knew where this was going, but he had no more desire to try and fight it. He answered, "Yes. I was present."

Then she asked, "did Sirius Black set off that explosion?"

He looked around the Wizengamot seeing the hate in the eyes of the Lords and ladies gathered there and whispered, "No, he did not.".

She observed, "Mr. Pettigrew, you sound quite certain of that." Then she asked her final question, "Mr. Pettigrew, who did set off that explosion?"

Looking down at his feet, he answered, "I did."

Amelia turned to the Wizengamot and addressed the gathering, 'We all have heard the truth of what happened that night and as it turns out, the previous administration incarcerated an innocent man in Azkaban for 12 years. When he escaped that unlawful incarceration, the present administration initiated a manhunt for him that has gone on these last 2 years. I move that the charge of conspiracy be dismissed on the grounds that he was not the secret keeper for the Potters and therefore could not reveal that secret to You-know-who. I further move that the charge of muggle baiting be dismissed as Peter Pettigrew has just testified that he did, in fact, set off the explosion which caused those deaths."

Dumbledore now addressed the Wizengamot, 'We have heard the entire story of the fake death of Peter Pettigrew who also caused the deaths of those 12 muggles. In addition, he was the secret keeper for the Potter family, meaning that it was a secret that Sirius Black could not divulge even if he wanted to. His incarceration for 12 years in Azkaban was also illegal. Those who are in favour of acquitting him of all charges and exonerating him?'

Almost all hands went up, because Sirius was scion of an Ancient and Most Noble House, the houses usually stood together when it came to one of their own and Sirius Black had been an extremely popular Auror. The Great Alliance voted in favour because Amelia filled them in on the situation and about the innocence of Sirius Black. They knew that the addition of House Black to the Alliance would be a huge bonus.

Dumbledore rapped his gavel, 'Sirius Black is hereby exonerated of all charges and the manhunt going on for him is called off. He has been made subject to public ridicule and hatred at the behest of the Ministry. The lack of a trial, consequent incarceration in Azkaban and manhunt were grave mistakes for which no amount of Galleons can compensate. However, we will do what we can. The ministry will publish advertisements in the Daily Prophet and all other publications daily for a week wherein the Ministry will tender its apologies for besmirching his fair name and his reputation in addition to violation of his rights as scion of an Ancient and Most Noble House. Reparations to the tune of 1 million 2 hundred thousand Galleons shall be made by the ministry for the injustices meted out to him. It is also decreed that if Sirius Black be found, he shall report to the chief of DMLE and the minister shall tender his apologies in person to him in her presence.'

Just then, Sirius seemed to materialize out of thin air in the spectator stands making people cry in astonishment and wonder making Fudge pale. Sirius turned to the addressed Lords in general, 'Well, I am waiting for that apology from the Minister.'

Dumbledore tapped his gavel twice and declared, 'It is so ordered. Mr. Weasley, please ensure that those orders are complied with as soon as possible. And the minister is directed to issue an apology to Mr Black and brief the media about his innocence. Is there any further business?'

This time, it was Madame Bones, "Yes, Chief Warlock Dumbledore. In light of the evidence we have heard today, I move to remand Mr. Pettigrew into custody pending investigation of charges for conspiracy, multiple counts of murder and sedition in connection with activities as a death eater."

Dumbledore tapped his gavel twice more and said, "It is so ordered. Anything else?"

As Amelia gestured to the aurors to take the rat away, Sirius spoke, "Thank-you to all assembled here for correcting the injustices of the last 14 years. I am now a free man. As a free man and heir apparent of House of Black, I move that Lord Malfoy's regency over the Black seat be terminated as I am now capable of managing my own house."

"Let it be entered into the records that Sirius Black is the regent of House Black until he is new lord or there is a change in circumstances. Now this chamber is adjourned."

In the next hour, all the paperwork done and a notice delivered to The Daily Prophet, The Quibbler and Teen Witch Weekly. Sirius was a free man and he eagerly awaited his son's return.

Waiting for your reviews.