Chapter 13
The trip back to Hogwarts was uneventful. They'd let Draco go on his own to King's Cross under the protective eyes of Tonks who'd changed her appearance to look like Draco's cousin who he supposedly spent his summer with. The others went together since it wasn't a bit suspicious for all of them to be seen together. They had Mad-Eye and the Weasleys as escort.
Besides Lavender and Neville who found a compartment all their own, the other five had to take care of their responsibilities as head boy and girl and prefects. To their surprise, no one, not even the Slytherins were inclined on making trouble. Since Draco had been the only one torturing them in the past, without him, Crabbe and Goyle were not intelligent enough to think of even annoying a fly.
Draco did have to keep up appearances and pretend to annoy Harry a bit. Harry would pretend to be annoyed and they'd laugh it off when people weren't around.
"At first, we thought you were seriously back to your old self," Ron commented. "It was a bit more fun than I remembered though."
"That was because it used to be real," Ginny answered him.
"Well, if you all don't mind, I'm going to make my way to see if Lavender and Neville are doing okay."
"No, you go ahead. Harry and I should check on the first years," Hermione said and then gave Ginny a knowing look. She'd asked her to arrange a few moments with Draco since they wouldn't be able to freely see each other back at school.
Harry picked up on Hermione's motives and let her to the back of the train to check on the first years. He'd gotten the first reaction as expected when they'd heard his name. First a look of awe then a slight shift of the eye up to his forehead to see if the scar in the shape of a lightning bolt was actually real. He'd been used to it. After seven years of having people do the same thing over and over, one tended to get over the annoyance.
He looked at the young people and he couldn't even imagine being as eager and naïve as those that were looking at him at that moment. From the first moment he stepped foot in the wizarding world, he'd been famous for something he didn't even remember. From the moment he stepped into doors of Hogwarts, he had enemies who wanted him dead. The only great thing he remembered was finding his friends, his family after seven long years. He knew after the last term, he would either be free to live his life with the woman he loved or cease to exist. He looked at the first years and hoped that he would be strong enough to give them a world free of Voldemort.
The weight on his shoulders felt heavier after the train ride, but he knew he had no choice in the matter. He would fight Voldemort and end the war even if he died trying. They continued to the Great Hall and saw that Remus was already at the staff table. He'd exchanged eye contact with him as well as Dumbledore and McGonagall.
They all sat through another sorting song and all the sorting. The gryffindor seemed to grow in numbers as the slytherins grew less. Harry exchanged brief eye contact with Malfoy and because Pansy had seen it, Malfoy gave him the old Malfoy smirk. Pansy giggled in appreciation. She kept trying to put her arms around him and he kept taking it away.
Ginny was getting a little annoyed and looked to Harry for help. Harry decided to put a protective bubble around Draco. He closed his eyes and muttered the spell under his breath. When he opened his emerald orbs, Pansy shrieked at the shock she received when she tried to put her hand on Draco's thigh.
"Malfoy, you git! What are you about?" she screamed. Snape gave her a look that stopped her ranting enough to get back into her seat.
"What?" Draco asked unaware of the spell that was put on him.
"You did something when I touched you. Whatever it was gave me a some kind of shock," she told him through gritted teeth. Draco looked at Harry who was looking directly at him as well. He nodded to thank him for whatever it was he did then looked at Ginny who was sporting a gigantic smile.
"I didn't do anything. If I had, don't you think I'd have my wand out?" he told her with an even voice.
She grunted in response and left him alone for the rest of the feast.
After their duties were completed for the night, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lavender, Ginny and Neville gathered in their secret room. Ginny had managed to slip a piece of note into Draco's hand to tell him to prepare to be leaped at 9:00 P.M.
They all gathered around each with their own beanbag, except for one that was empty for Draco. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated in leaping Draco into the room. It was getting easier for him to use the power of leaping. He'd even been able to ascertain Draco's state before leaping him at 9:00 on the dot.
"Hey, mate. Glad you could join us," Neville said.
"Well, glad to be here. I never thought I'd get away from Pansy. Geez, she's like a bundle of hormones." Ginny snorted in response. Draco pulled her into a warm embrace and a soft kiss to placate her.
"Harry, how did you know it was safe to leap Draco over here?" Ron asked.
"I felt for people near him. I couldn't feel anything except from a few inanimate objects."
"What do you mean, inanimate objects?" asked Lavender. "I thought inanimate objects had no feelings because they aren't alive and breathing."
"Oh, come on now Lav. You talk to your things don't you? Especially in the wizarding world, a lot of old inanimate objects have a different feeling to them."
"Don't worry, love. It's Harry. You should know by now not to be surprised if he tells you something that you'd never heard of before," Ron soothed her.
"You're right. Sorry, Harry. Go on then?"
"Okay, we have to make some kind of plan. We can't all just meet here all the time in order for us to go to Fincayra. We have responsibilities, homework…" Ron snorted and Hermione glared at him. "We have to keep our appearances as enemies, Draco, we have quidditch and not to mention our lessons and training. We won't have time to come together and look for the songs. So, we should do it while we're asleep."
Lavender opened her mouth again to ask how, but she remembered that all through last year Harry received his training while he rested.
"Okay, how do we do that and how are you going to know that everyone is asleep if you're asleep yourself?" asked Hermione.
"Well, I figured that I'd been regularly leaping myself to Fincayra for the past month during a certain time in my REM sleep. I think I can program my subconscious to leap all of you at the same time, but the trick is, you have to give me permission to enter your subconscious mind."
"Okay, and how do we do that?" asked Ginny.
"That's the easy part. You just have to think it. Just say to yourself, in your mind, that I can enter."
"Okay, I guess it's worth a try," Draco agreed immediately.
"Should we try tonight?" asked Neville. He'd been getting used to every idea that Harry has come up with. He had total faith in him and his abilities. He'd stopped being scared of trying new things.
So they did. Harry leapt them to Fincayra after a short training session with Merlin. It was piece of cake for him to be leaping people, he was actually enjoying his new powers and Merlin watched him with pride.
The six teens were surprised to be in Fincayra dressed in their normal clothes instead of their pajamas. Although, Harry was just wearing pants, his regular apparel during his training sessions, he'd donned on a shirt after his friends' arrival.
It took only a moment for the others to orient themselves after the leap. They were getting used to that type of travel and were enjoying it immensely. They didn't think they'd ever go back to floo or portkey, but they were also aware that they'd have to settle with apparition since they did not have the power for leaping.
They'd settled for a few minutes and started their search. Merlin remained silent for he knew he was not able to give them any more hints to find the song. After about 20 minutes of fruitless search, they all sat on the chairs that spread throughout the living room inside Arbassa.
Harry shut his eyes to think where else he should look. After a few minutes of shutting his eyes words appeared in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw Merlin staring straight at him. He'd known he'd seen something. He smiled at Harry to encourage him to keep going.
Harry shut his eyes again and as he concentrated he could see everyone in the room, what they were doing. He opened his eyes to compare what he saw versus what was actually happening and he found there hadn't been any difference. He was actually seeing things with his eyes closed. He closed his eyes again and concentrated. He searched every inch of arbassa as he sat with eyes closed. He knew he saw the words, but he didn't know where. He was checking the walls for hidden alcoves or compartments until he came upon the wall by the stairs. There he found the writing on the wall.
"Hermione, quick grab something to write on and something to write with!"
"What?" Hermione looked at him strangely. She saw that his eyes were closed, but also saw that he was in deep concentration.
"Get some paper and pen. I think I've found the songs."
Everyone's ears perked up and all eyes were on Harry. He wanted to see what they were doing, but he didn't dare lose focus when it would mean that he'd found the songs that had eluded them for days.
"Okay I'm going to start reading something on the wall and you write it down." They thought he was losing his marbles. They all see him with his eyes closed and he was telling them he was reading something on the wall! Whatever they were thinking, they kept their mouths shut because they could see that Harry was concentrating hard on something.
"The seven songs of wizardry
One melody and many
May guide ye to your destiny
Though hope ye have not any.
Divine the truth within each song
Before ye may proceed
For truths like trees for ages grow
Yet each begins a seed.
Pursue the seven songs in turn
The parts beget the whole
But never move until ye find
Each song's essential soul
The lesson Changing be the first
A treeling knows it well.
The power Binding be the next
As Lake of Face can tell.
The skill Protecting be the third
Like dwarves who turned deep.
The art of Naming be the fourth
A secret Slantos keep
The power Leaping be the fifth
In Varigal beware.
Eliminating be the sixth
A sleeping dragon's lair.
The gift of Seeing be the last
Forgotten Island's spell.
And now ye may attempt to move on
To fulfill your destiny
But lo! Do not attempt to fight
Until the Songs are done.
For dangers stalk your every step
Especially for the chosen one." *
The six teens goggled at Harry. He'd found the elusive song with his eyes closed! Merlin was ecstatic to have someone else in the family who had the second sight. He could tell him, but then he'll let him dwell on it first.
*Mostly from the Lost Years of Merlin series except for a few word changes to make it apply to the story.
A/N: There you have the songs. Hope you enjoyed it and come back to join them in finding their song.