Stein Vabo Normal Stein Vabo 2 56 2003-07-07T10:49:00Z 2003-07-07T10:49:00Z 1 6252 35640 Kr.sand Bedriftshelsetjeneste 297 83 41809 10.2625 Clean Clean 21 4,5 pt 2 2 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Chapter Fifteen: The Galen
"Well, actually, all those who fight against dark forces, like terrorism, war, torture, poverty, injustice, etc, etc, are Guardians of Light, while all those who oppose them are Guardians of Dark," Harry explained. They were back in his chambers, the book about the Children of Power open in front of them. "There is always a balance between Dark and Light. Neither of them can be extinguished, but sometimes one of them can be the ruling one. When Dark is ruling, we see little peace and justice in the world, whereas when Light is ruling, we see international problems being solved, wars stopped, and the like." He turned a page in the book, and translated the first sentences for Hermione. "'The Elements of Dark and Light are always there, to varying degrees. Sometimes one is almost non-existent, sometimes the other. Also, the influence they have is not the same everywhere; when there is war one place, there is peace elsewhere; when one is tortured, another is laughing in delight and happiness; when one is hungry for the lack of food, another one is spoiled with everything his eye desires; some places Dark is at its height, other places Light shines through.'"
Hermione nodded. "Yes, that sounds logical. But you still haven't explained why we are here, and why a Pectal and a Citatio pop up at times. You said you had an explanation for that, too."
"That's because when we were still a race, rather than an occasional happening, we were the Guardians of all elements," Harry said. "As I told you, the Guardianship of the four other Elements was passed on to four different humans, from generation to generation. The Guardianship of Dark and Light however, was passed on to all intelligent beings. Those who choose to follow the Dark are the Guardians of the Dark, and those who choose to follow the Light, are Guardians of the Light. As mentioned, Dark can't destroy Light, and vice versa, but sometimes, the balance between them gets to be uneven. Then, someone -or something- who can re-establish the balance, pops up. When Light is too weak, someone very powerful comes to fight for it."
He turned to another passage in the book. "'Light can never destroy Dark, and Dark can never destroy Light, but sometimes Dark overpowers Light, keeping it captured, and almost completely out of sight. Then Light will send powerful warriors to fight for it, so it shall not be forgotten.'"
"As you see, we are 'warriors of Light', while Voldemort is the one who has overpowered it." Harry continued. "It also goes the other way. Listen to this: 'If Dark is suppressed, hidden, it will try to gain more power. It will send its messengers out, to gather Dark's followers and fight the Light'" He stopped reading.
"Who are 'its messengers'?" Hermione asked.
Harry frowned a second. "I don't really know. I've never heard of 'Dark Messengers' before. Perhaps they only visit evil persons," he said, the last part rather jokingly.
Hermione pondered on it a second. "'Messengers' is probably only a word for peoples' desire to seek out evil," she concluded.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Sounds logical," he said, nodding. Then he continued in his teaching manner. "Dumbledore, though not a Citatio, is a powerful wizard, and he was the warrior under Grindelwald. The other Pectals and Citatios we hear about were also warriors of Light. Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw didn't actually fight many battles, but they fought ignorance and prejudices. At that time you had witch-hunts and burnings, and many wizards and witches hated Muggles. Many Muggle-borns never even knew they had magical talents, and those Muggles who knew about magic feared it. Also, ancient knowledge was lost, because many wise wizards and witches took their knowledge to the grave, and never passed it on. That happened when the wizard or witch didn't have any children, and didn't want to pass it on to people who weren't family," Harry said.
"And therefore, Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor decided to build schools, so everyone could learn everything," Hermione said, nodding excitedly. "They gathered knowledge in books, so it could be used by later generations, and gathered wizards and witches in one community, who worked together for the best of everyone. In short, they were there to secure knowledge for future generations."
Harry grinned. "Which page in which book, Hermione?" he asked.
Hermione swatted his arm. "I didn't find that in a book, prat. It was simple logic."
He chuckled, and Hermione found herself staring at him. He was rather… scratch that- very- handsome, especially when he smiled or laughed. Hermione had a sudden urge to bury her hands in his hair. Her eyes travelled to his eyes (startling, emerald green) to his nose (straight, cute) and to his mouth (very…tasty). Suddenly, she realised that he was looking back at her. Hermione raised her eyebrows in question, pulling her thoughts away from his, er, mouth.
"I'm actually waiting for you to tell me why there was a Pectal and a Citatio in ancient Egypt, Hermione," Harry said, his eyes glittering amusedly.
Hermione swallowed. It was really unfair. Why did he have to be so…cute? "Egypt had enemies on all sides, because it was such a rich land. It needed strong and wise leaders." She wracked her brain, trying to come up with anything else, but her head was on the wrong track. She decided to blame it on the fact that she was squeezed into a chair together with Harry. The chair was a bit too small for two persons. But that didn't bother you two minutes ago, a voice in her head argued. She dismissed her brain's argument.
Harry nodded. "Yes, that's partly it. But in the chapter about elements in this book, there is a lot of information about the four other elements, too. At the time the book was written, they knew a lot more about such stuff, 'cause at the time they still knew who were the Elemental Guardians. Gryffindor didn't just limit this book to 'The Era of the Children of Power', bless the man, but he also added lots of information which today is lost, among those things, about the Elements."
Harry shifted nervously. Hermione had suddenly figured that his shoulder was a nice pillow, and her hair tickled his neck. It was rather nice actually, but rather distracting.
Clearing his throat, he continued. "You see, the four other Elements are neutral, but since Dark has a tendency to destroy everything in its way, they like being protected by Light, who always fights Dark. While we are kind of warriors for the Light, the Guardians of Fire, Earth, Water and Air are more shepherds than anything else. They try their best to guide their Element, but they have not control over it. However, at times, the Elements 'gather' in one place. It doesn't mean that they abandon any place on earth, but their 'eyes' are directed at one place, and they manage to co-operate. Now, the Elements don't have eyes, it's just a way of speaking…" he paused, wracking his brain for a better way to explain it. "They 'settle' in one place. The Guardians have nothing to do with this choice, the Elements themselves decide that they like the place, and then settle down there. As I said, this doesn't mean that they are only there…" He paused again.
"Damn difficult to explain. There is no explanation; it's just the way it is. Anyway, this place will then have very much wealth and prosperity. Few harvests will go lost, few will die of diseases, there will be few catastrophes, drought and rain will come at the right times, and there will be plenty of food."
"Oh!" Hermione said. "And since the four Elements are kind of gathered, they will need extra protection, is that so?" She tilted her head upwards, still resting on Harry's shoulder, to look at him, and he could feel her hot breath in his ear. The book almost slipped out of his hand.
"Err, yeah," he said, gulping slightly. "That's about it."
They both fell silent for a while, trying to come up with more questions to find the answer too.
"So," Hermione said hesitantly. "What does the book say about the Pectal/Citatio relationship? You know, about this destined-to-be-together-rubbish." Hermione immediately regretted her words. Why, oh, why did she call it rubbish? It sounded like she didn't like it…
Harry would have preferred that she hadn't called it 'rubbish'. "It doesn't say much, just that we can't fall in love with anybody other than our counterpart after we fully come into our power." He tried to keep his face void of emotion. "So that means that I can't fall in love with anyone but you, and you can't fall in love with anyone but me." Then he hastily added. "Of course, there's no rule without an exception, and quite frankly I don't believe it." Harry smiled thinly, a smile Hermione didn't see, because she was too busy staring at her hands. "I mean, love is a powerful thing…" he trailed off.
"But Ramses the Pharaoh had more than one wife," Hermione said, wondering why it was so important to her to know that she could fall for not only Harry. Then she realised it wasn't important at all.
"You don't have to be in love with the woman -or man- you want to have children with," Harry said. "In those days, continuing the blood-line and having many sons and daughters was more important than love. And many signs tell that he was very much in love with his first wife, Nefertari the Pectal."
Hermione took a deep breath, and laid her arms around his waist. Startled, Harry looked down at her, and into her very beautiful brown eyes. "It doesn't matter," she whispered. "You're the one I love. I want no one but you."
Harry blushed slightly. He did have strong feelings for Hermione, so strong that he was more than willing to forget everything about their past, and he knew she had for him too, but hearing her say it like that was a bit special. He kissed her lips tenderly. "Love you, too," he said.
~*~
Sirius was determined. Since he'd first met with his godson a month ago, they'd barely spoken. Harry had been busy with his classes and Hermione's lessons, and he had been busy with Hermione's animagus training, and after that he'd been sent on different errands for Dumbledore. Now he was going to have a chat with his godson.
He walked resolutely up to the door, as Padfoot. With a 'pop', he was Sirius the second it took to cast the 'Alohomora', before another 'pop' announced that he was Padfoot again. Then, he trotted into the room as a black dog. He had been right, it seemed. Either, he was keyed to the wards Harry had around his room, or, it didn't catch animals. Sirius scoffed. He would have to talk to Harry about being so careless.
His nose told him that Harry was in the room, together with another person. It took a second before Sirius realised it was Hermione. Grinning dogishly, determined to find out exactly what the teen-agers were up too, (probably nothing good) he looked around. He hadn't been here before. It was a nice living area, with a small kitchen in the corner, a fireplace with some chairs, a couch, some more chairs, a table, and a desk. A door led into what he supposed was a bedroom.
Sirius quickly decided that Harry and Hermione had to be in the chairs before the fireplace, as that was the only place in the room where they could be out of sight from where he stood. Also, he could hear shuffling sounds and low voices from there, when he strained his ears. He couldn't make out words though.
Sneakily he edged forward, suspecting that the two were up to something else than studying. Studying books anyway.
He was quite right, and he could have spared the effort of sneaking. He rounded the chairs, and found them quite … busy.
~*~
A bark startled Harry and Hermione out of their rather comfortable situation. Harry's head snapped up, and he was in action almost before his lips had left Hermione's. Hermione wasn't far behind, and poor Sirius found himself hovering five feet up, not any longer in his dog form, and quite unable to move or reach his wand. A wall of shimmering silver shielded his godson and his girlfriend, both from view and attack
"Sirius!" chorused two exasperated voices, and the shield was lowered, while the two teens busied themselves in separating from each other.
"Why didn't you knock, like normal people tend to do?" asked Harry, rather crisply.
Sirius cocked an eyebrow. "And ruin your snog session?"
The two teens blushed. "Well, you did anyway," Hermione countered.
Sirius ignored that. "Could you put me down? As much as I like this- Owwww!" Sirius was cut off in mid-sentence and fell the five feet to the floor.
Harry snickered. "So why are you here, Sirius? If not to spy on me?" he asked.
Sirius scoffed. "I came to talk a bit to my godson, who I haven't had a proper talk to in two years. The same godson, who has been avoiding me the last month," he said.
Harry shifted his feet. "Sorry about that," he said, a bit sheepishly, casting a sidelong glance at Hermione. She understood immediately.
"I'll leave you two to catch up then," she said lightly, before she kissed Harry on the cheek and left.
Sirius absolutely despised awkward silences.
~*~
It was a while later, and the two of them had finished the small talk, told each other a bit about what had happened to them the last two years, and especially the last month. Harry had told Sirius about his relationship with Hermione, and Sirius had, of course, teased him endlessly, for which Harry blushed slightly, but other than that, just smiled. It appeared to Sirius that he was completely smitten with the girl, and how that was possible was a mystery to Sirius. After all, he had been away for two years…
He could, of course, have liked her from before he left, but that was a very young age when it came to falling in love. And so absolutely in love… Well, love was a very weird thing, and completely unpredictable. You could never know when it came and swept you off your feet.
Sirius might be blind at times, but even he could see that the youths were deeply in love with each other. The way Harry spoke of Hermione, the way they looked at each other, touched each other, and smiled at each other. One could get emotional from just watching. The only thing in the way for them to confess their undying and eternal love for each other was their own insecurity. The way Sirius saw it, neither of them thought they were old enough, or mature enough to go into such an intimate and binding relationship.
Well, that Voldemort had something to do with it was rather likely, too.
And perhaps Harry was still bitter because of Azkaban.
Perhaps they weren't very sure of their love for each other, either.
Sirius' few moments of insight were efficiently drowned.
"Harry," he asked. "What- er, how do you feel about Azkaban now?" He knew the question wasn't something Harry wanted to answer, but he felt it had to be asked.
Harry looked surprised for a moment, before he frowned slightly. "It's kind of difficult," he said, sighing. "I no longer feel bitter about it. I guess it was a feeling that slowly dissipated once when I returned." His frown deepened. "It's weird, really. Before I returned to Hogwarts I was very hateful and bitter. And now, I'm not." He looked down at his hands, and knew he could share this information with his godfather. After all, he had been betrayed and locked up in that horrid place for twelve years. Harry himself hadn't even been there.
He looked back at Sirius. "Actually, I feel kind of guilty." Sirius's eyebrows flew up, but Harry continued before he could say anything. "I mean, I escaped Azkaban. I never went there. And then, when people realised the truth, and learnt what they'd done, they regretted it. Yet, I didn't forgive them." He sighed again. "They must have felt terrible; first they realise what kind of mistake they've made, and then they have to live with the fact that I'm angry with them."
That boy, thought Sirius, is way too self-sacrificing. "Erm, Harry," he said. "I don't think you have to be sorry for that… I mean, they did betray you. I wouldn't say they didn't deserve what they got, and now you have forgiven them. If you're okay with that, they're okay with it, too. There's no reason to dwell on it."
"I know, Sirius," he answered. "But Hermione had a horrible time, you know."
Ahh. That's where it comes from. "I don't think you need to worry about Hermione, she seems to have forgiven you," he said with a grin.
"I know that," Harry said, rather irritably. "But I can't remember you taking half a year when it came to forgiving people," he said.
Are we actually sitting here discussing whether or not Harry has the right to be angry with the whole world for turning against him? Sirius asked himself incredulously. He chose not to voice the thought. "I think I have the explanation to that, Harry," he said. "I was in Azkaban for twelve years, and was robbed of every good memory I had when I met Remus again. Remus reminded me of so many things I could not remember; so many good and happy memories came back to me when we talked to each other. I guess this kind of overpowered all bitter and angry thoughts, because that was the only thing I'd known for twelve years, and I wouldn't voluntarily let them come back to me. My way to fight Azkaban was to rejoin with the good parts of my life. And Moony definitely is a good part of my life."
He paused briefly. "You, however, had two years to contemplate and rethink all those bitter thoughts, compare the good times to the bad, and wonder why and how they could turn against you. When you came to Hogwarts, your brain chose to remember all the good times, and forget the bad times, 'cause that's how the human brain is. So, after a while, you were able to forget about your bitterness. And now, when you can't really remember those thoughts, you regret them." Sirius grinned wickedly. "And I guess a certain lovely young lady helped the progress quite a bit, didn't she?"
Harry blushed again. "Can't you stop that?" he asked.
"No," Sirius said simply. "I just have to make sure you will invite me to your wedding."
Harry rolled his eyes heavenwards. "Sirius," he said warningly.
"I guess you will want Ron as your best man, won't you?" Sirius asked, paying Harry no heed.
Harry sighed. Sirius wasn't exactly difficult to read, and what he really was asking was why Harry hadn't talked to Ron yet. Harry hadn't told anyone what he knew about Ron, and didn't plan on it either, because he knew that there was a possibility that Ron would outgrow his silliness, and find his place in the world. He'd shown several times that he wasn't completely beyond redemption. "Sirius," he said. "Please drop that. I have decided it will be best not to let Ron into this. Please respect my decision." His tone clearly stated that he'd said his last word on the subject.
~*~
Hermione was back in Harry's quarters. This time however, they weren't being naughty. In fact, Harry had been able to cast a translation spell on the book named Talents. Only one who knew the language he/she was going to translate, could cast such a spell. He had also decided that he would cast a Language-learning spell on Hermione, so she could learn it too. That Language Talent sure was handy.
Thus, they were now going through this Talents book. It seemed that this book was going to reveal quite a lot of forgotten things. Apparently, Salazar Slytherin, (not Slandrin) also had a Talent. The book called it Foresight. While it was not exactly a Seer Talent, it was a Talent which allowed the user to foresee certain things. Among those 'certain things' was the fact that lots of knowledge would go lost, despite the Founders' desperate strivings to preserve it. Salazar had, obviously, sensed that Talents (or much of the knowledge about Talents) was something which would go lost, and thus, the five founders (they had yet to split up) had crammed all their knowledge about Talents into that book, written it in the language of The Children of Power, and hidden it where it would be found by the next Pectal or Citatio in a time of need. Salazar, obviously, 'sensed' this too.
"Well then," Hermione said, eagerly, practically bouncing with joy. "Let's get started!" Harry grinned at her enthusiasm, but felt he was eager, too. So many mysteries were spun around the Talents, and no one really knew anything about them anymore. They had already discovered that at least one of them had gotten lost; the one both Harry and Voldemort had.
The first startling revelation came when they read about Mind-Reading and Soul-Searching. Apparently, the two of them were related Talents, and according to the book, one person couldn't have both of them. Sometimes however, they appeared in some kind of cross-breed, where Mind-Reading/Soul-Searching were one Talent interwoven with each other. This could happen with a few others too, like Shapeshifting/Beast-Speaking, but both were rather rare.
"Interesting," Hermione said. "Wonder why that is?"
Harry said nothing, and when Hermione looked at him, he had a rather shocked expression on his face. "What?" she asked, but Harry only grabbed the book and read the information about this other Talent, eloquently named Mind-Searching.
"'The Talent can be mistaken for Mind-Reading, but is much more. The wielder can read minds easily, but not only that. He can also read what the victim knows about what he's thinking. If, for example, the victim was thinking about Healing Potions, the Mind-Searcher can dive into the victim's mind and catch everything the victim knows about Healing Potions, from the smallest and most inconsequential little detail, to whatever secrets the victim may possess about the art. All this, even though the victim may not have thought about anything but which spatula he or she was going to use when stirring their next potion.'"
Hermione looked quizzically at Harry. "I'm a Mind-Searcher, Hermione," he said simply. "Not a Mind-Reader, as I thought I was." He thought back to when he had been reading Fudge's mind, and delved into his mind to get information about the Bonded.
Now it was Hermione's turn to look shocked, but only for a moment, before she snatched the book, eager to uncover more secrets.
The two of them got rather scared when they read about the 'new' Talent, which Harry had named Weaving. With that Talent you could weave magic into almost everything. The book spoke about weaving fear into air, and pain into water. They were relieved though, when they discovered that it had its limits; one could not weave very much at one time. Also, the larger an area or thing you wove anything into, the shorter it would last. Voldemort had been weaving fear into his name for quite some time, but they didn't know if he had to re-weave this. After all, a name was rather abstract, much more so than air.
They also discovered that Language and Beast-Speaking Talents didn't always cover every language or every beast. Harry and Hermione immediately decided that they would figure out how far their gifts stretched, as soon as they got time. Hermione also was very eager to try out her Talent, and was rather deflated when Harry told her that it had yet to awaken.
The most startling revelation however, had yet to come. Hermione's eyes widened as she read the passage. "'Every witch or wizard has at least one Talent. Indeed, even Muggles can have one. The most common Talent is Telekinesis, the second is Voice, and the third, Telepathy. After that comes Foresight, Destiny and Seeing -if the gift is very small. Some people go through their lives without even noticing it, dismissing Telekinesis as wandless and accidental magic, and Telepathy as a figment of imagination. Voice though, they often use without knowing they have it. The other Talents are more difficult to ignore.
The number of Talents varies, and depends on how much actual magical power the person has. A witch or wizard of average power usually has one of those mentioned above. Magicians of above average power can have two, in some cases three. Four is extremely rare, and no one, except a Child of Power has ever been recorded to have five. Of those few Children of Power there have been, the average is six, seven or eight Talents, where eight is rather rare. Only once, a Child had nine, but that was in the time just before the Pectals and Citatios started to fight each other.'" Hermione stopped reading, mouth dry.
"Crainigar's Tails," Harry whispered, mouth a-gape. "You're kidding me?"
Hermione shook her head slowly. "Number of Talents indicate about how powerful you are," she said quietly. "Then we are-"
"Way too powerful!" Harry exclaimed. "Hermione, you know you have at least ten Talents! At least!"
Hermione nodded. "And you have twelve."
Harry felt like banging his head against the wall. "Not even among Pectals and Citatios can I be normal," he said bitterly.
Hermione couldn't help herself; she started giggling. Harry scowled at her. "What are you laughing at?" he asked, and Hermione only shook her head.
"Oh Harry," she said laughingly. "When are you going to realise that you are anything but normal?"
Harry stuck his lower lip out and pouted cutely, sending Hermione into a fit of giggles yet again.
~*~
Harry and Hermione got little time to unravel more secrets about the Talents. Even though Hermione took both books and decided that she would go through them, she had her NEWTs, which she took together with Blaise. While Hermione continued her lessons with Harry (lessons which not always were strictly professional, mind you), Blaise was taken into the Order of the Phoenix, where she was to play a role in how to get the youngsters already involved with Voldemort, away from Voldemort.
The rest of the student body got no explanation as to why both of them disappeared from lessons, and only came to meals. Blaise usually took her meals in her new rooms though, especially when there were few teachers around, and often she was accompanied by Hermione. The two girls, being separated from the rest of the school for surprisingly similar reasons, soon became good friends, and gave Hermione time to talk with Ron when he came to visit Blaise. He was friendly and seemed to take the news about her being a Pectal nicely, but Hermione was a bit concerned by the feelings she sensed in Ron. They shifted from one to another so easily, almost as if he had split personalities. But it never showed outside.
The school soon was in uproar though, when fifteen students suddenly disappeared, and Dumbledore darkly informed the school that Voldemort had begun to gather his forces. People disappeared from all over Britain and several from other countries, too. Quite a few of them were captured later, during Death Eater raids.
The raids became even more frequent, but most of the people caught by Aurors were young and often inexperienced. Voldemort was saving the really good ones.
The good news was that the Aurors now were recruiting people at a high rate, and managed to prevent several of the raids. Also, some of the students who had disappeared from Hogwarts came to Blaise, who they knew had deserted Voldemort, and became spies for the Order.
But alas, Dark activity increased, and a day did not go by without murdering or torturing. The only light in the tunnel was the Pectal and the Citatio, and they were doing their best to increase their power and control. The problem was that even though they should be ready to face Voldemort, they did not know where he was. After all, what was the chance of him showing himself as he'd done at the Ministry yet again?
~*~
"Whatever you do, don't take any chances," Harry said, looking worriedly down at his girlfriend. When the number of attacks had increased, Harry had left them to the Aurors, knowing it was impossible for him to take care of them all, to concentrate entirely on Hermione. Now, they had come to a point in her training that Harry didn't like. Exposing her to danger.
Hermione was looking out from behind the wall, trying to see everything from where she stood, in the small alley between two brick houses. The only person with her was Harry, and both of them were invisible. Several houses were on fire already, and black-robed persons ran around, sending curses in all directions.
She saw a Death Eater send a curse, saw it hit a young girl, perhaps fourteen years old or so, saw the girl being thrown through the air, and landing with a painful thump ten feet away. Saw him laugh. Felt her insides boil with anger.
A small crystal, three inches long rested in her hand. Magic surged through her, and a blue light shot out from the crystal, her focus. It hit the man squarely in his back, and sent him flying several feet, before collapsing in a heap.
Hermione concentrated on the skies above, and on the ground below her. Three minutes later water poured from the sky, and spouted out of small cracks in the earth, trying to extinguish the fires. She felt Harry beside her, calling the flames back. Soon, there were only small flickers of fire left.
Hermione stepped out from behind the wall, still invisible. Wordlessly she started to send curses, and before the Death Eaters knew what hit them, ten were out cold. Who had taken them down they didn't know. They were, unfortunately, intelligent enough to draw conclusions, and when they saw a red beam of light the next time, one of them quickly sent an Avada Kedavra in that direction. Harry was thrown into the air and only barely managed to flip around to land on his feet. The curse managed to disturb him so his invisibility shielding disappeared, leaving him exposed. Quickly he rolled behind a shelter, replaced his invisibility shielding, and Disapparated ten feet away, just as ten curses hit the car he'd been hiding behind. Calmly he replaced his Killing-Curse Shield, too, and sent Hermione a calming thought.
All this within a few seconds.
Hermione had frozen for a second when Harry had been hit, but shook out of it almost immediately. She shifted her position quickly, and managed to stun two Death Eaters, while all the others were conentrating on Harry.
Harry sent a curse too, from his new position, which took out another Death Eater, before he again Disapparated, this time onto a roof, just as Aurors started to Apparate in.
Hermione Apparated to a spot behind the Death Eaters and transfigured a trash can into a metallic human-like figure. A silvery light from her hands snuffed consciousness out of four of them, while the metal figure walked straight at a fifth one, and knocked him down. The Aurors did quick work with the remaining ones.
A tear slipped down Hermione's check, and Harry silently wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close. The girl she'd seen lay dead in the street, her blonde hair spread out, wet and dirty from the mud. The curse had broken her back.
~*~
"What kind of Shapeshifter are you, Harry?" Hermione asked.
Harry looked questioningly at her. "What?"
"What kind of Shapeshifter are you?" Hermione repeated. "Are you a Plant Shifter, a Predator Shifter, a Bird Shifter, a Magical Creatures Shifter, a Non-Magical Creature Shifter, a Fish Shifter, a Mammal Shifter, or-"
"Hermione, what are you talking about?" Harry asked, confused. "I'm a Shapeshifter."
"Yes," Hermione said impatiently. "I know that. But what kind?"
Harry tried to make sense of what she was saying. "Kind?"
Hermione looked rather perplexed. "You mean you don't know?"
"Know what?!" Harry said, rather exasperated.
"There are several types of Shapeshifters. Some Shapeshifters can only change into birds, others can change into plants only, some can only change into animals or plants of the same family, like the dog family, including wolf, jackal, hyena, and so forth. Some Shapeshifters can only change into sea animals and others only mammals. Others can perhaps only change into sea mammals, while others only land mammals, or perhaps only birds." Hermione looked very excited, like she always did when she was learning something new.
"I already know you can be a tiger, a human, a horse and a thestral, 'cause you've showed me those, but what others do you have?" Hermione continued, practically bouncing around.
"Hermione," Harry started slowly. "I don't think I have any limit."
Hermione stopped bouncing. "No…limit?"
Quickly Harry changed into several different shapes, including a birch tree, a diamond, a dog, a dolphin, a vulture, an eagle, a cod, a tuna, an ivy plant, a lion, and a fly.
Hermione's jaw dropped. "But- but…"
"But what?" Harry asked gently, his eyes laughing.
"That's impossible," Hermione said lamely. "It's impossible to be a Complete Shapeshifter."
Harry slumped into the nearest chair. "I should have guessed," he said sarcastically.
~*~
During the next few days Hermione came up with several new revelations, not only the Shapeshifter thing. Harry still had problems with the fact that it, theoretically, was impossible to Shapeshift into everything. He tried hundreds of forms, but did not find any he could not Shift into. He started to realise that he might be more powerful than he had first thought.
One of the other of Hermione's revelations was about Seeing, much to her disgust. Apparently, Seeing was a Talent. Harry had long suspected it, but he hadn't been sure. The book had three chapters on Seeing only; one chapter dedicated to Trance Seeing, Vision Seeing, Foresight and Destiny, another to Future Seeing, and a third to History Seeing. It also talked about different strengths of Seeing. Hermione, much to her displeasure, figured that Professor Trelawney did indeed have a very weak Vision Seeing Talent, allowing her to See a few minutes into the future. She also had a stronger, though not much, Trance Seeing Talent. Trance Seeing was also called Prophecy.
Harry on the other hand, and a rather strong Vision Talent which was combined with a very weak Destiny Talent and a strong Foresight. The Destiny Talent allowed a person to See destinies, and it was a part of what had made him keep his powers secret. However, as any Seeing Talent it was not very reliable, as coincidences or twists of fate could change a person's path completely. Both his Foresight and Destiny was centred upon him, so he could not See other's destinies or Foresee anything not regarding himself.
Hermione, though lacking any Seeing Talent, for which she was grateful, did 'Foresee' that Harry would not like the fact that he indeed had not twelve, but fifteen Talents.
Being much better at studying than Harry, she also picked up a few facts from the Pectal and Citatio book that Harry hadn't. A very small comment gave them a small clue as to why Harry was born with his powers, and Hermione not. 'I, Godric, who was born first, trained the fair Lady Ravenclaw, as it is fit for a Pectal.' It wasn't exactly a proof, but she found out that Ramses was born before his Pectal, Nefertari, and Godric was born before Rowena. Thus, Hermione figured, since she was born after Harry, it had something to do with the order of their births. It seemed like it was the person who was born first who was the 'teacher', while the person who was born last was the 'student'. She didn't know if the female could be born first though. History did not tell of it anyway, and it wasn't until a bit later that she found that Merlin in fact had been a Citatio. History did not speak of any Pectal though, but some books, which were regarded as very unreliable sources, did speak of a woman who supposedly had trained him. Some said it was his mother, while other said it was a lover, and other an older sister.
Hermione started to re-write the book since it was written in an old language, and the writing style was rather old-fashioned. She hoped to have it finished before next autumn. She also started walking around in the school, using techniques the book spoke about, to find other students with Talents. Harry had used Foresight and Vision when finding her Talents, even though some of them had not yet awakened, and he had also, as a Citatio, been able to notice some of them. A very powerful wizard could do that. Also, all wizards could recognise someone with the same Talent as themselves, but it had to happen after the Talent's awakening.
With this, and the help of the magical ways the book spoke off, Hermione was able to find the Talents of almost all students in school. It was true as the book said, that Telekinesis was a very common Talent, and she found quite a few with Voice, and the same amount of Seeing as Professor Trelawney. Much to her amusement Professor Snape was one of them, but he also had Voice. Professor McGonagall had Voice and something called Aura. People who had that Talent could emit an aura of what they were feeling. If they felt determined, they emitted an aura of determination. If they were sad, they emitted an aura of sadness. If they had control over the gift though, they could manipulate it, so even though they felt deadly scared, they could emit an aura of optimism and courage. This could be rather useful in a battle, and Hermione felt sure that Dumbledore had that as his second Talent. He was able to hide his Talents, all of them, even though he was only aware of one. Hermione felt sure that he had at least three, maybe four.
~*~
Professor McGonagall was rather startled when two men unannounced showed up on the Hogwarts grounds late one evening. One of them was clad in Muggle clothes with a blue cape, while the other was clothed in black robes.
The black-robed person spoke. "I am Asham Narnek. I wish to speak to Headmaster Dumbledore about one of his students." He spoke in a deep but soft baritone. "My friend William wishes to speak to him for the same reason, but about another student."
~*~
Seven persons from the Order of the Phoenix had been set task of doing research on Voldemort. Few had come up with anything they did not know.
It was late evening, in an old library in Chile, South America, and though the task Daniel Ramman was assigned was important, he was considering turning in. He had spent the last two weeks going through old books with references to powerful wizards and witches, and every ancient cult he could find anything about. Also, he had read about ancient civilisations, and old monuments, which people didn't rightly know who had built.
So far he had found a few bits and pieces in the old books, which the Muggles didn't even know existed. The ancient people who had been driven out by the Spaniards after America had been discovered, had left many documents behind, showing that they indeed had been a mixed culture of magical and non-magical people. Some of the books referred to a very powerful group of people, who were worshipped as Gods. When they left, the non-magicals believed that they lived on in those people with magical talents. The Gods had been known to start landslides, earthquakes and storms if they were displeased, but if they were pleased, everything went well.
Daniel was quite certain this was about the 'Children of Power' that Potter had talked about, but it wasn't very useful. One more book and I'll crash, he thought to himself. The book was very old, even though it was a newer copy of the original. It was a story, apparently. A fairy-tale to tell children at night, Daniel thought at first. But the tale caught his attention.
It was about a very powerful and very beautiful female, by the name Nuk'del'sheat. She had chosen a male named Andr'kelende, and wanted to have him as the father of her children. Andr'kelende however, did not want to, and refused Nuk'del'sheat. He was in love with another Goddess, Shemel. When Nuk'del'sheat understood that, she became angry. She believed that she, as a female, the one who gave birth to the next generation, was the one who should decide everything, and did not accept Andr'kelende's 'No'. Andr'kelende believed in equality, and would not marry on Nuk'del'sheat's terms, as he loved Shemel.
Nuk'del'sheat tried to steal Andr'kelende from Shemel, but she failed.
She tried to kill Shemel, but she failed.
She tried to kill Andr'kelende, but she failed.
All of Nuk'del'sheat's plans and conspiracies failed, but she was a great Seer. Nuk'del'sheat predicted that one day in the future, one of her blood would be born, and he would be of great power, and destroy the fruits of Andr'kelende and Shemel. He would come when the time was right, and he would bring great dark. But Nuk'del'sheat despised all men now, and did not want to have any of them.
Then, Nuk'del'sheat invoked great power, and made herself pregnant, without a male's aid. She got a son, and she named him Somr Ansalesh, which means Revenge's Justice.
But the other Gods did not. They called him Galen, Twisted One, for he had no father.
But Nuk'del'sheat was proud, and said that her son, many generations removed, would carry the power of a female, though being a male, and he would rule the world.
~*~
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Galen: I picked this from my own language. The first part, Gal, means Crazy (twisted), whiles the second part, en, is the number one. Also, you can in fact use galen as a word. (Especially where I live) If you say 'Du er galen' in Norwegian, it means 'You are crazy/mad/insane'. We use gal the most, though. And we write gal. Write galen on a test, and you will not get top marks…
It's pronounced GA-len, not GAH-len or GAY-len. It's important not to add the H, 'cause then it sounds weird.
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Well, that's that. Chapter fifteen finished. There is not many chapters left now. Oops. Shouldn't have said that…
Thanks to dragonmaster, for your information. I am fully aware that my 'Adonis' story is not complete, nor completely correct, but please bear with me. The point with it was to show that the name Adonis pointed to a very handsome male. I will not change it, but add that I know it is very incomplete. Thanks again.