Harry Potter and the Search for the Soul Rod

Welcome to my newest story, the sequel to Harry Potter and the Sword of Destiny! Thanks to my wonderful reviewers, I have improved on my old story, and this one should be MUCH better. This will be much longer, and hopefully more in depth, so if you don’t pay attention you will get lost!

I recommend that you read my old story before you read this one, it will help clarify some things.

Alright, next on the list is I have a few things to clarify.

 Disclaimer: This story and any content relating to the Harry Potter franchise     are not authorized by J.K. Rowling, or Scholastic Press. I do not own any of the original Characters…and if I did I wouldn’t be writing this…

The Character of Merc Thompson is not my creation, but is the creation of the wonderful writer Vicarious Leigh I’m sure most of you here on Portkey have read her wonderful creations, but if you havn’t, then I highly recommend that you read them, they are as powerful as the books themselves. If you would like to read her stories, please join her Yahoo group! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/triumvirateofverbosity/

I would also like to thank Kristen, for being my beta for this chapter and the rest of the book! A big thanks goes out to her.

Chapter One: The Party

Harry walked into the brightly-lit room, his arm tightly wrapped around Hermione’s waist. Balloons were floating everywhere, bouncing off of one another, and making noises. They were of course inventions of Fred and George. "Weasley’s embarrassing Balloons" currently as Harry walked into the room, one floated over his head and made a loud belching noise. By this time everyone at the part was used to these noises penetrating the music, but partially because it was Harry, and partially because it was the loudest one yet; everyone looked his way.

Harry saw many familiar faces as they turned to look at him. He of course could pick out Ron and the rest of the Weasley without much trouble. Their red hair made them stick out like a sore…bleeding thumb. He also saw some people he didn’t know. One of which was tightly linked to Ron’s arm.

Interesting, Ron’s finally snagged himself a girlfriend. About time… Harry thought to himself.

This was actually the first time he was going to be seeing them in around four years. Harry was twenty-five now, and he had done a lot in the past eight years since he got out of school. After he finished his seventh year at Hogwarts, he had to do the public thing. Once again, he was a celebrity. This time it was a little different though, instead of it just being "Harry Potter the Boy who lived", it was now "Destiny’s Army, the defeaters of Voldemort". Harry personally liked it much better this way. His friends now, were equally famous.

After he had finished being famous – which had taken all of four years – he decided to go to a wizarding collage. was one of the best schools on the Asian continent. The only reason he had survived those long four years were the fact that Hermione had been with him the whole time. So now technically they were….

"Dr. Potter has arrived!" Ron bellowed out from the front of the crowd.

Within minutes, people were swarming around them, hugging them, shaking their hands, and introducing themselves, asking how he was. Harry thought he was going to suffocate. Thankfully something saved him.

A loud belch erupted from the back of the crowd, and thankfully everyone turned to look at where the monstrous sound had come from. Fred stood there grinning like the fool he was. Everyone erupted into loud laughter, and provided a nice escape from the crowd for Harry and Hermione.

The crowd slowly dispersed and Harry was finally able to greet his friends properly.

"How are you mate?" Harry asked Ron.

"I’m fine. I have to say though, I have missed you." Ron said, pulling him into a manly hug.

"Who is your friend." Harry asked, adding a wink.

"This is Merc Thompson." Ron said, blushing just a little.

"I am perfectly capable of introducing myself thank you."

The woman before Harry stood nearly five feet and nine inches tall. She had long flowing chestnut hair. Unlike Hermione’s, it was straight as an arrow and generally had little body whatsoever. Her skin was pale, but clear, and like Harry’s own eyes she had green eyes. They were certainly not the piercing emerald green, but were understated, not unlike their owner. She was in good shape and under her well-fitting robes stood an athletic frame that no-doubt ensured she was no stranger to the term "tomboy." However, her robes indicated something else. She was intelligent. She would have to be in order to wear the blue and white scarf signifying her place in the Ravenclaw House.

"As this git here already told you," Merc said shooting a glare at Ron. "I’m Merc Thompson." She said.

At about that time, Hermione walked back to Harry after chatting with Ginny and Luna. She came up and stood next to Harry, and looked at Ron’s new girlfriend.

"Merc!" Hermione cried as they launched themselves into a hug. Ron and Harry just stood there petrified, how did they know each other? Hermione looked at the expression on Harry and Ron’s faces, and let out a laugh.

"Merc was my study partner in Arithmancy! She and I were partners for four years." Hermione said as if they should know this.

"I never knew that you were friends with the Great Harry Potter Herm. You never mentioned them." Merc said puzzled.

"Well that’s ok, because she never mentioned you either." Harry interjected.

"I see, well that’s ok, were all here now." Merc said good-naturedly.

"Why do I feel left out again?" Ron said jokingly.

They all laughed at this comment, and slowly mingled into the party again. The party was going very well, and not even the Belching behemoths could not spoil Harry’s fun. Everyone was having a great time, not a care in the world. For about two hours the party went slowly like this.

The doors bust open suddenly, and a disheveled nineteen year old dashed in. He was tall, thin, and sort of pale. His long straggly black hair was whipping around his face.

"What did I miss?" James asked as he ran into Harry’s back.

Harry turned around not knowing what had happened.

"James! I thought you were still at Harvard?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I was! But you know me, I like finishing early." James smiled wickedly.

A small tinkling noise from the front of the room notified them that there was an announcement to be made. Draco and Luna were standing at the front podium, and Luna was delicately hitting the wineglass.

"I think it is time to announce something." Draco said. "Luna and I are going to be getting married at the end of the summer!" Draco said happily. Luna was smiling too, her blond hair hanging in front of her reddened cheeks.

Everyone applauded of course, and that made Luna blush even further. Harry decided to take the attention of his shy friend. So he whistled shrilly. This of course made everyone look at him and Hermione.

"I have an announcement to make as well." Harry said, gripping Hermione’s hand tightly.

"Hermione is going to be having a baby soon." Harry said wondering what the reaction was going to be. He looked at Hermione’s face, and knew that it didn’t really matter what the reaction was she didn’t care.

The reaction though was not something that needed to be worried about. The crowd erupted into more cheering, and some catcalls were heard from the back of the room. Fred and George even charmed one of the balloons to cry like a baby when it popped over Harry’s head.

Harry laughed along with everyone else who had heard the cry, but he couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what he was going to be hearing for the next three years or so. Harry turned back to his late coming friend.

"James, why did you go to a Muggle school anyways? You passed Hogwarts with top grades what did you need that for?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, I went there for Physics, Chemistry." James said. "Both of those subjects have to do with the study of Atoms. With that extra knowledge, I can manipulate Atoms in more ways than ever." James concluded.

"English please." Said Ron, popping up behind Harry.

"In more simple words, I can create my own spells much easier." James said, with a small huff. He always got slightly annoyed with Ron’s ignorance.

"So, James, did you bring your fan club this time?" Harry asked.

"No." James said a little indignantly. Ever since he had invented the Anti Avada Kedavra spell, he had been famous too. Death tolls had gone down world wide, and generally there was less violence altogether. "I decided to leave them at the school," He leaned forward as he said this. "They think I am still in my dorm room."