Granny Morgaine

By: White Angel of Auralon

Fandom: harry potter

Summary: The battle against the basilisk opened the path to a destiny Harry would never have expected. But, to his immense relief, his family steps up to support him along the way. Even if it was family that others considered to be legend.

Fic type: Books/Harry Potter

Pairings/Main char.: Harry P., Ron W., Sirius B.

Published: 2019-12-24

Last updated: 2021-11-21

Words count: 157,311

Chapters count: 24

Converted using www.FF2EBOOK.com
Date: 2021-12-18

1. Discovered Heritage

Hi everybody.

Merry Christmas. I'm back with a new story for the holidays. Even if this one is longer than the previous Christmas stories. Further chapters will be posted after the holidays :)

This story plays partly in the period of Camelot, and I used the Avalon saga of Marion Zimmer Bradley for inspiration in that area. This isn't a crossover with that saga but those that have read the books will recognised some parts. Otherwise, I again play in the sandbox of J.K. Rowling and I don't own anything of either stories.

Happy reading.

Discovered Heritage

The basilisk fell to the ground, dead. But there was the pain. Such horrible pain from the arm where one of the basilisk's fangs had pierced through. Venom was rushing through his veins. Harry knew that this was his end. Basilisk venom killed in less than a minute. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be. Perhaps he should simply have died that Halloween with his parents. Growing up with them in the afterlife would have been so much better than the hell he had gone through at Privet Drive. But he wouldn't let Riddle have this last triumph. He, Harry, wouldn't be the only one to die here. He would take his foe with him. The diary had caused this mess, so if he destroyed it, Riddle would go with him. He used his last strength to pull the fang out of his arm.

Riddle was mocking him; he didn't really hear the words. But the diary was lying on the ground next to him. He grabbed it and plunged the fang into it with rage. It seemed to be the right thing to do. Riddle screamed and dissolved after Harry plunged into the diary a second time. He thought he heard another similar scream to Riddle's, but then his vision blackened he fell down and knew no more.

Fawkes was watching how Harry Potter, the boy whom Albus Dumbledore had caused so much pain for, was bravely destroying the diary that had nearly enabled Tom Riddle to get a physical body back. It was an abomination of magic, he knew that well, but this situation had been foretold by Lady Rowena and so he would let it play out until the dark shadow in the boy's scar was gone. He could feel it, Albus knew about it too, but contrary to him he didn't think that there was a way to save the boy. Basilisk venom was one of the few ways to destroy such a soul shadow. And now it raced through the boy's body and he could see the scar pulsing under the onslaught. Only a few seconds now. He was ready to neutralize the venom as soon as possible. There was the scream he had waited for and the shadow left the boy's lightning bolt scar.

He started dropping his tears into the wound immediately. It was a race with time. Once the wound had closed, he used his powers to have Harry lie on his back and cried some tears into his mouth. The boy really needed some major healing for all the shit Albus' choice in his so-called home had caused. Once that was done, he turned to the red-haired girl that had been ensnared by the diary. She would wake up soon, now that the diary was gone. But her mind really needed help. All the stupid stories she had been told growing up about Harry Potter had distorted her sense of reality. Not to mention the influence of that dark book she had written in all year. Well, perhaps she could do with some mind-healing. He flew over to her and before she could wake he sang and tried to undo some of the idiocy the girl's mother had caused in her plans to make her family rise in importance.

Once he thought it was enough for now, he flew back to Harry. He needed him more right now.

Harry woke up in a strange place where nearly everything was a form of white. Where the hell was he? He also noticed that he felt better than before. He wore clean robes that fit him perfectly, but they were definitely not his school robes. He also didn't wear his glasses he noticed, and still he could see perfectly. The best part was that the dull pressure that had been in his head for all his life was gone. It was freeing in a way.

"I see you noticed the changes," A kind female voice said, and Harry spun around to look at her.

She was a beautiful woman with long, shiny black hair, a gorgeous figure and wore an old-fashioned green dress. She smiled at him.

"You showed real courage facing your death, Harry. I couldn't be prouder to call you my grandson. Well, many times great-grandson, but who cares for the details?" She asked making a dismissive hand movement.

"You are my many times great-grandmother? Who are you and where are we?" Harry asked a bit confused.

"Well, this is what humans have dubbed limbo. It is a gateway between the world of the living and the world of the dead. You are here because currently it is being decided if you move on or go back to your body. That phoenix friend of yours is doing his best to make sure you live. And the old guy is stubborn as hell to prove Rowena's prophecy right. Well, he was her familiar when she was alive. And for whom I am, I am the High Priestess of Avalon, Morgaine," She answered, "But many called me Morgana Le Fey."

"Morgana Le Fey; like in the dark witch that fought against Merlin?" Harry asked shocked.

"Ah, those stories have been passed down with a few changes to what really happened. Merlin wasn't even his real name; it was a title that the leader of the druids of my time got. I got along with the first Merlin I met, his name was Taliesin, really well, we did many great deeds for magic and England together, but his successor, with his interference in politics at my brother's court, really got on my nerves. Coldrinur wasn't the most powerful man ever, and he couldn't hold a candle to Taliesin. Why he was chosen, I never fully understood. But enough of that.

"As I said, I am the High Priestess of Avalon. I am tasked with keeping the balance of magic in the world or was it in my time. Sadly, my aunt Morgause got to my son Mordred and turned him into a monster. I never should have allowed him to grow up with her, but I was in emotional distress over the manipulations my other aunt Viviane had used to make me sleep with Arthur, my brother. She wanted to have a child with both the powers of me and my brother to ensure that the old ways didn't die under the growing influence of Christianity. As if the goddess could be that easily pushed aside. She always finds a way to be remembered," Morgaine said fondly.

For Harry all of this was completely new. He had never heard that part of the story. He had a hard time accepting that he was descended from Morgana Le Fey. And who was that goddess she spoke of? Then he noticed a wailing that came from under some kind of bench. It repulsed him even if the wailing should have made him want to help.

"That thing is still here? Well, it will definitely go on into death. It will get a straight ticket into hell. Such an abomination of magic shouldn't have been allowed to be created. Thank the goddess that it was destroyed by the basilisk venom," Morgaine mumbled, making Harry look even more confused.

"I can tell that you have many questions, Harry, and I will do my best to answer them, but our time here is limited, and I need to tell you some important things first. Magic is suffering greatly, thanks to the stupidity of the people in your time. Magic gets her power from the Earth itself, but with how people destroy large parts of it, she has problems retaining her powers. And it isn't simply the fault of the mundanes; the magicals do their part as well. Nature can and will strike back with natural disasters and will cut down the number of stupid mundanes where it is necessary. But magic, as sentient as it may be, needs a certain number of magicals to recharge. The problem is that, thanks to the Dark Lords Grindelwald and Voldemort, the number of magical people in Europe has been cut down horribly. Magic has tried to counter that problem by increasing the number of mundane borns, but it isn't an optimal solution, because they don't believe in the true nature of magic, that it is sentient.

"They think magic is just a power given to them to use as a tool, but it is so much more. The old houses understand that, but they went about solving the problem the wrong way. They try to kill off the mundane borns or to push them away from the magical world. And without somebody to restore balance, magic will cease to exist in Europe in a few generations. With Europe's magic gone, the world won't be in balance anymore and catastrophes will be unleashed that will end all life on Earth. Therefore, it is vital that somebody ensures that the madness ends. Magic can choose a champion among those that live in the times when the balance is threatened. About every five hundred years a challenge for the magical people is set up. Normally that should have been Grindelwald. You see, he could have been stopped early on, if only Albus Dumbledore hadn't shied away from his destiny," Morgaine revealed, surprising Harry.

"Gellert Grindelwald was a young man with a lot of bitterness inside of him. He wanted the mundanes to pay for his suffering, but he could have been stopped, if Albus Dumbledore hadn't been blended by the lure of power and glory in his youth. Now, the two became friends when Albus had just graduated from Hogwarts and was pushed into a difficult position and Gellert was visiting his aunt Bathilda in Godric's Hollow. Had Albus seen the darkness in Gellert at that time, he either might have turned him away from the darkness, or not have given him more ideas how to conquer the world. He regretted that a lot after in a fight between his brother Aberforth and Gellert that got completely out of hand, his sister Ariana, who had been hurt so badly by mundane children that she feared to use her magical powers and couldn't control them properly, was killed. It ended his dreams of leading a revolution to bring the magical people to the top, ruling over the mundanes.

"The point that caused most of the problems was that he didn't want to fight Gellert early on. He was the most powerful wizard who was not following Gellert. He was the chosen champion. But he nearly failed completely to fulfil the task set for him. He should have stopped Gellert after seeing his darkness and spared Europe the slaughter that was the Second World War," Morgaine explained to Harry.

"So, if Dumbledore had simply taken out Grindelwald early enough, a lot less people would have died?" Harry asked shocked.

"Yes. You were taught in primary school how the war started, weren't you?" She asked and got a nod, "Gellert imperiused Hitler to kill off as many mundanes as he could, and sometimes one of Gellert's magical political opponents. The whole genocide was driven by finding a group of people who made easy scapegoats. The Jews were just unlucky to fit that category. The only intention was to make the mundanes kill each other off in masses. Millions died in that war. While Gellert's puppet killed mundanes, Gellert went after his opponents that were magical. Thousands of witches and wizards died fighting him and his followers. Albus only acted when the cries for help were too loud to ignore anymore. He could have ended the war early on once Gellert started the attacks. Many didn't realize that he had started early on by laying the political base to succeed. The pursuing of ethnical minorities and killing of 'imperfect people' wasn't that focused until the war started and distracted everybody."

Harry had a really bad feeling where this would lead.

"Normally only a few hundred would have died, if Albus had acted once he found out that Gellert was killing people all around him. But he only decided to act once he found out that Gellert had won the allegiance of the legendary Elder Wand, one of the so-called Deathly Hallows. Your Invisibility Cloak is another one and the last one is the Ring of Resurrection. You can read up more about them in the book 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard', it's a book of child stories that are based on things that really happened, though of course they were a bit modified. The story you want to look up is the 'Tale of the Three Brothers'," Morgaine told him.

"Back to history. As Albus, now, could no longer deny that nobody but him had any chance to defeat Gellert, he acted and duelled against Gellert in April 1945. Many years after Gellert had started his campaign. The first signs were shown in the twenties, which means Gellert had over a decade to kill people. The escalated World War II was only the visible escalation of his actions. Albus' skill won over Gellert's power. It showed clearly, because the imperius on Hitler broke, but it was far too late to really undo the damage. Europe's magic had suffered and nearly couldn't take the loss of magicals. On top of that, the mundanes had to rebuild after the war, which cost natural resources and therefore more magical power."

Harry noticed the grave look on her face.

"There are good reasons why areas that are full of natural life have a higher magical population than others. Nature itself is magical. Every plant, every mineral, every animal has at least a little connection to magic and helps keeping the world in balance. Even people who can't use magic have some. Nothing alive can't not have some magic, because it is what allows us all to live. That's also the reason why nobody has managed to recreate live artificially. In the tiniest cell there is magic. Not always enough to have an effect, but it is still there. Scientists have tried to research how life came into existence; it's simply that magic came into being," She explained, fascinating Harry.

"Now, it wouldn't have been that bad, if only Albus would have prevented Voldemort's rise. But that man was never one for action, he was a man of words. Not necessarily a bad thing, but useless if you have to face a real danger. Had Albus taken out Gellert early on, Voldemort would never have risen. He was a product of the harsh life in the non-magical world and the wizarding world ignoring magical orphans until they went to Hogwarts. Tom Riddle was born to Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr. in 1926 during the last minutes of 31st December. His mother, who had been left by his father, after she had got him to marry her using a love potion and stopped giving that potion to him, had died shortly after giving birth and naming him after his father and her father.

"When Tom was a small child, the world economy crisis happened. It was a first strike of Gellert to be honest. He wanted to weaken the mundanes and make them more desperate for solutions, no matter how violent. Now, the magical world of Great Britain was fairly isolated from the problems of the mundanes. They had their own economy and while many mundane borns call our world backwards, we lived that way because it worked for centuries and kept us in balance with the world and magic. During that time there were very few mundane borns. Your generation only had about forty children in each year at Hogwarts, back then it were about two hundred," Harry's eyes went wide hearing that. That was five times as many as today.

"I can understand your surprise. But, back then, the wizarding houses had a much bigger choice of partners to marry. Families normally had about three children, which ensured that the population grew slowly. It was a good balance. But Gellert killed off about half of the magical people on the continent in his crusade against the mundanes, because the others opposed his way of reaching his goals. That is the reason for the current imbalance. If that had been all, magic would have been able to recover from that blow in a few decades. Probably fifty years later the damage would have been undone. It would have been hard, but with the numbers of children being bigger than the number of old people dying, it would have worked. And some countries had been spared like England, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Portugal and Greece. Gellert didn't get that far.

"People started rebuilding after Gellert was locked away in his own prison. Albus was celebrated as a hero, but he still was wary of taking real action. He didn't want to be tempted by power again. He didn't trust himself after his sister's death. With the imbalance of magic, sadly more children in magical families were born as squibs. It also was due to many couples being too closely related. The marriage arranging between families, which formerly hadn't really caused problems, now did. In that situation Voldemort's rise happened and, from the late sixties to the early eighties, he killed a third of the British magical population. That was too much for magic to take. While she had managed to somewhat balance out the loss of strength, by creating more mundane-borns in your mother's generation, she couldn't take that hit like before. Therefore, she, in a last-ditch effort, made sure you were born, Harry. I said the test happened every five hundred years. You could say this one never ended, even if Gellert was defeated. And, as the first champion failed to protect magic, it was decided to revive the old blood of the priestesses of Avalon," Morgaine stated gravely.

"Wait, you mean I have to save the world? But how? I'm nothing special. I only am average at school and I don't learn easily," Harry protested the idea.

Morgaine smiled at him reassuringly and stroked his hair, which was a completely new feeling for Harry. He had never had somebody touch him like that, gently and lovingly. It felt really nice.

"You have the blood of Avalon in you, Harry. And the reason why you didn't notice your true powers, until now, is that they were leeched off of you by the soul piece that accidentally was attached to you in your scar. The wailing creature you noticed before, is its representation. Voldemort only survived the backfiring of the killing curse, because a piece of his instable soul split off from the main part and latched onto the only living thing in the room, you. Otherwise the events of your first year at school wouldn't have happened in the way they did.

"The wraith wouldn't have been able to possess anybody without the magic that was transferred to it from you. It would have existed, true, but without help it wouldn't have stood a chance in hell to do anything. That is the risk making more than one horcrux, which is what Voldemort used to stay anchored to this plain. If you split your soul more than once, it loses power and is not able to function on its own. Making more than one horcrux might sound like a good idea, as it reduces the risk of the soul being destroyed if somebody finds out about the horcrux, but, in reality, as soon as the main soul is forced from its body, in that case it is helpless.

"But the basilisk venom killed it off as it did the diary. The diary was another horcrux, a soul anchor, the most abominable form of magic. True black magic. Magic normally is just that, magic. There is no dark or light magic; it's the intention of the user that makes it good or bad. But there are a few very strong exceptions. Voldemort made five in total; he wanted to make six, to have seven pieces of his soul, the most powerful magical number, now he is down to four. You need to find them and destroy them. You will know them when you come across them," She assured him, "Now, that the soul piece in you was destroyed, your true powers will show. You will be stronger magically and physically, your mind will be more powerful, which means easier processing information and using mind magics easily."

"But how would I learn to use all those powers? I mean, I have to return to the Dursleys, and they won't like me having more power than before. And I can't use magic, or I will be expelled from Hogwarts," Harry said exasperatedly.

"You will have all the time and support you need, Harry. You will be taken back in time to my brother Arthur. He will make sure that you are trained physically with aspirants for becoming knights of Camelot. The training normally starts at your age, thus you will fit right in. I will personally train you in the full use of your magic. One year there will have you healed from the abuse you suffered in your childhood and be ready to begin your task. You will never return to your mother's sister, because each summer Fawkes will take you back to us. On the outside nobody will notice that you aged a bit faster than others, but once you graduate, you will be about a year older than your peers," She explained.

Harry was shocked. He would be trained by Morgaine and King Arthur's knights? That was incredible. He felt a little better about the task before him. At least his grandmother was willing to properly prepare him and give him the training he needed.

"The one downside is that you can't tell your friends or anybody else the whole truth until you are ready to face Voldemort. He will attempt to come back again soon, with the help of his followers. But by that time, you should have a good chance against him, especially as he can't leech off your magic anymore," Morgaine said with a smile.

Harry nodded. He kept his family life a secret anyway. Keeping time-travelling a secret didn't seem so hard.

"Now I promised to answer some of your questions, Harry. We have a little time left before you will wake up. I got the information that Fawkes was successful in healing you and now your body simply needs a little time to recover," Morgaine said.

"You said I was your descendent. So, as Mum was mundane born, my Dad was a descendent too, right?" He asked and got a nod, "Why wasn't he chosen to do this, I mean, he was alive while Voldemort was killing people. He fought against him."

"James didn't have the right mind-set for this task. He was a good man and powerful in his own right, I mean he defied Voldemort three times and lived to tell the tale, which was really rare. But he also could be cruel to others he didn't like. Your Professor Snape was one of them, not that some of his actions weren't justified, but he was really arrogant in his youth. He had some of the powers you will have, but not all. His instinctive understanding of Transfiguration and Runes were part of his heritage. For this task, which is more than simply killing Voldemort, a person with a pure heart is needed and you have such a heart, Harry. Avalon's magic can never be used by a truly selfish person," She answered.

"When I go back in time, will you tell me more about my family?" He asked.

"Of course. I will tell you all I know," She promised.

Harry felt strange.

"Ah, you're waking up. One thing before you go, be careful around Albus. He is too lost in his great plans to see the individual. Fawkes will help you whenever he can. And now that your mind is free of the parasite, put more effort into your studies please. That's also a request from your Mum," Morgaine said.

"I will. Till the holidays, grandmother," He said and vanished from the white plain.

Harry opened his eyes to see Fawkes sitting on his chest, spending warmth to him while a little away he heard sniffling.

"Hey, Fawkes. Thanks for saving me," Harry said gratefully and got a happy trill from the phoenix that nuzzled his cheek with his head.

"Harry?" He heard Ginny asking hoarsely.

He turned to face her while slowly sitting up.

"Hey, Ginny, I'm glad I was on time to save you," Harry said kindly.

She threw herself into his arms sobbing.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have written in that diary. It was all my fault. I didn't want to do those things, but he made me. I should have shown the diary to Mum and Dad, but it was so nice to have somebody listen to my worries, who didn't tell me I was stupid crushing on you. Fred and George made fun of me all the time when you were there, and Ron was jealous and didn't want me to be around you. I don't know why I was so stupid. Dad warned me to not trust anything that I didn't know where its brain was. They will expel me from Hogwarts. But I wanted to come ever since Bill went," She babbled while crying into his blood-stained robe, "I thought you died, and it would have been all my damned fault."

"They won't expel you, Ginny. I will tell them the truth. Nobody can expel you for something you did while the diary controlled you. You didn't do it willingly," He tried to calm her down, "Let's get out of here. Ron must be going spare with worry by now."

"Ron is here too?" She asked.

"Yes, we were separated when the idiot Lockhart tried to obliviate us with Ron's damaged wand. It backfired and the ceiling caved in. I was on this side and Ron on the other. He said he would try to get enough stones out of the way to give us a way back up to the castle," Harry explained.

For Harry the next few hours were like a blur. He, Ron and Ginny went back to the castle with Fawkes' help, and they took the amnesiac Lockhart as well, and they found out that Dumbledore had returned. Remembering what his grandmother had told him Harry only told Dumbledore what had happened in the Chamber and that he had blacked out from the venom before Fawkes tears had healed him. There was no reason to tell that man anything he didn't need to know. And confronting him wouldn't do him any good either. He wasn't strong enough yet. The one highlight was that he was able to free Dobby from Lucius Malfoy. Served the git right for trying to get the muggleborns killed and the Weasleys blamed.

Harry celebrated with the others the end of the terror after changing clothes and taking a shower. There was no way that he would go down to the Great Hall looking like he had been in battle and got the short end of the straw. He had won the fight, even if he didn't want to air the news to everybody. If asked, he would tell the truth, but he wouldn't boast. That simply wasn't like him. He had done it because Ginny's life had been in danger and things had happened so fast that there had been no way to let the teachers take care of things. Not because he wanted to be a hero. Ron of course told everybody what he could about their adventure, and how he had been down in the Chamber with Harry. He let him enjoy his moment of glory. Ron had been brave going down there to save Ginny.

And he had freed the way back for them. Had Lockhart not been such a bastard, Ron would have helped him against the basilisk and Riddle. It led to Harry getting more looks of awe though, which made him uncomfortable. He was happy though when the petrified students were coming back, Justin admitted what an idiot he had been and apologised to Harry. Hermione hugging him and Ron while saying 'You solved it' over and over again was also really nice. Hagrid appeared halfway through the feast and was greeted with cheers and applause. Nearly as many cheers as the announcement that exams were cancelled after the horrendous year that they had gone through. Thanks to Harry and Ron's massive points winning for saving the school from the basilisk Gryffindor again won the House Cup, though Harry was more concerned about how he would spend his holidays. And how he would get back to his grandmother's time without alerting anyone.

The last few days Harry took care of a few things he knew he wouldn't have time for during the summer, as he would be away. First was looking up proper information on the new electives and the teachers that would teach the classes. He was thoroughly cured of taking Divination after finding out that an insect like teacher called Professor Trelawney, who liked to predict students' deaths each year, was the teacher and that real seers were rare. He directly decided to take on another subject. As Maths had never been his favourite class in Primary School, and Arithmancy sounded a lot like it, he decided to go with Ancient Runes. It sounded useful and fascinating what you could do with it. Thus, he went to Professor McGonagall and told her about his decision to change from Divination to Runes. She nodded and wrote the change down in his file and then sent him on his way again.

There was a strange development concerning his eyes. After a week, during which his eyes had tingled and itched a lot, he didn't need his glasses anymore. When he asked Madam Pomfrey, she told him that it was probably a side effect of the phoenix tears that Fawkes had used to save his life. And boy had she been angry to hear he had been bitten by a basilisk and not been sent to her for a thorough examination. She remedied that part immediately. Harry liked not having to wear his glasses anymore. He remembered too well how Dudley and his gang had always mocked him for them, next to breaking them constantly.

Another thing was that he read up a bit on the legend of Camelot. If he would go to that time, he should know a bit more to not stand out too badly. Blending in with the other people would be invaluable. When Ron and Hermione asked what he was doing reading so much, when the end-of-year exams had been cancelled, he simply told them that he found that time-period fascinating and wanted to know more about it. With not having to review for exams, he had the time. Hermione took it stride and praised him for wanting to learn; Ron didn't understand and declared him barmy.

Harry didn't need to have worried about the way he would manage to get away. When he left the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross, Fawkes appeared just after he had said goodbye to the Weasleys and Hermione. He settled on Harry's shoulder and with a flash of white flames he took Harry together with Hedwig back in time.

How did you like it? Next chapter will be the first part of Harry being in Camelot. Until tomorrow.

2. Camelot

Hi, everybody.

Here, like promised is chapter 2 of the story. Happy reading.

Camelot

When they reappeared, the travel hadn't felt uncomfortable at all and was much better than using the floo in Harry's opinion, Harry saw a very different landscape surrounding him. There were no built roads for example, only sandy or rocky paths, made by people walking along them for some time. He noticed that the trees looked much healthier than many in his time and some of the animals he saw were extinct in his time, so he could safely say that the time-travel had worked.

"I am happy to see you, Harry," He heard his grandmother's voice.

Where had she come from? She hadn't been there a moment ago. He turned towards her voice and saw her standing next to two horses. One was white and one black. From the saddles on the horses he guessed that the white one was his grandmother's, as it carried a woman's saddle while the other one had a man's saddle. How did he know the different kinds of saddles? He had never been close to a horse, because Aunt Petunia didn't like animals in general.

"I guess you wonder about some of your new knowledge, Harry. Well, that's part of our family's magic. The knowledge of our family is too valuable to be lost, in case a child loses its parents before they can teach it all it needs to know. So, in case it happens, the child gets access to a kind of mental library. There is common knowledge like which plants are edible and which aren't, how to avoid dangerous situations the child isn't prepared for and basics of geography for example. But it also includes spells that are unique to our line, rituals that help us do our duty to magic and so on," Morgaine explained, "You couldn't access it, thanks to the soul piece of Voldemort, because, if you had had access to it while that leech was inside of you, he would have had access as well and that would have been too dangerous."

"I understand. That must be a really complicated bit of magic to have it ingrained in a child's blood like that," Harry pondered, and Morgaine nodded smiling. It was an impressive magical achievement to have that knowledge accessible by all children born of Avalon blood, "It's great to see you again, grandmother," Harry said smiling.

"Come on, we need to get going. We have a lot to do and my family is eager to meet you. I told Arthur that I would bring you today or tomorrow, so he could get to know his nephew. We have decided to present you as my son from one of the lords that I slept with as part of my duties as a priestess. As you can see, I am too young to pose as your grandmother, and as you are a child of my line, it doesn't really matter how distantly related we are. Blood is blood and it is important," She explained.

Harry nodded, ecstatic that he would have a mother here, even if she was his many times great grandmother. He wondered what her duties included that she slept with men, but he was sure he would learn it soon enough. He knew that this time had different ethics than his and he needed to be open-minded. Additionally, she followed another religion than Christianity, which meant that things that were unthinkable for Christians were normal for others. Not that he was really taken with any religion, as fanatics that used any religion as their justification for violence against others simply didn't sit right with him. He looked at the black horse. It looked great, but he had no clue on how to ride one.

"I guess you are worried about not knowing how to ride a horse, Harry," Morgaine again seemed to read his mind.

"Yes, I have never been close to a horse and have no idea how to ride one," Harry confirmed.

"It's easy enough to learn, as you already have a good sense of balance. We will start slowly, and I will teach you the basics while we travel to Camelot. Don't worry about highwaymen and other untrustworthy folks. Nobody would dare attacking a priestess of Avalon. The old ways are still strong. Being the sister of the king helps as well. Now, I have brought some clothes that are more fitting for this time period, Harry," Morgaine said and handed him a sack, "You can use the bushes to change into them to not stand out while we travel. And I think your owl would like to travel on her own better than being restricted to her small cage."

Hedwig hooted agreeing with her statement.

Harry nodded, let Hedwig out, and took the sack from Morgaine. He went behind the bushes and looked into the sack to see what was inside. He saw that the clothes were made of thick wool. Good for travelling. A brown pair of pants that stuck close to his legs, which would probably come in handy for riding, a long-sleeved, dark green shirt, brown, soft leather boots that went up to his knees and were held in place by silver buckles on the outside on top of them and a dark green cloak which was held by a brooch in the front. He had seen the crest on the brooch on Morgaine's brooch as well, so he guessed it was either the crest of Avalon, or his family. He put the clothes on and put his old ones back into the sack. He stepped out from behind the bushes and walked to his grandmother, no he should start thinking of her as his mother to avoid slipping up.

"You look good in them, Harry. Just like a young nobleman should," She told him appreciating his looks.

"Thank you, mother," Harry replied which made her smile, "By the way, if I pose as your son, who is supposed to be my father?"

It was a good question.

"Lord Benwick of Ceredigion. He was my partner during the Beltane blessing fourteen years ago, therefore is easy to believe that you are the child from that union. On top he died defending his family eight months after that, so it is easy to explain why you were raised at Avalon and not with your father's family, like it is normally done for sons of priestesses. We normally only raise our daughters at Avalon. In your case I have cleared with Taliesin, the current Merlin, that he will back my story. Nobody outside of Avalon will suspect anything and he is the only one that travels around. He is sometimes helping Arthur with the ruling of the kingdom by giving advice. He will back up that you were taught like any other nobleman and instructed in the basics of the druidic traditions. As you are only going on thirteen, that is normal," She informed him, "Some of that knowledge will come instinctively to you, some I will tell you during our travel."

Harry nodded. He already got some information on the blessing rituals that the priestesses of Avalon did and while it was completely different to what he had learned of proper behaviour in his time, he didn't really have a problem with it. Probably a side effect of having access to that mental library as he dubbed it. He listened to his mother explaining how to mount his horse, she told him that he should decide on a name for him, and then they set off towards Camelot.

Travelling with his mother was an interesting experience for Harry. Wherever they went, people bowed to her and many asked for help with one thing or another. Some wanted blessings for their children; others had illnesses that their local healers couldn't heal. Morgaine took the time to help them all and showed Harry how things were done. He helped out with easier wounds like when they helped with the aftermath of a fire in a small village. He remembered clearly how to brew a potion to cure burns from his classes with Snape, to his surprise, and he immediately set to work once he had collected the ingredients, which could be found in any forest, which was a relief, and handed out the finished salve to the people. He was overwhelmed with their gratitude for something so basic. Many blessed him for his help and were happy that a young lord like him took the time to help the common people.

Many were even more impressed when they found out that he was the nephew of Arthur Pendragon and his mother not any priestess of Avalon, but High Priestess Morgaine herself. They were given some freshly baked bread and dried meat by the grateful people. It humbled Harry how far a little help went with these people. He swore to not take anything he had for granted in the future.

They reached Camelot the next day, as the stops they had made had caused his mother to decide to spend the night in a village a few hours away from Camelot. The people had happily offered them a place to sleep. They told them about a problem with a nest of poisonous snakes that they had found. Harry offered to take care of the problem for them. After talking to the snakes, he found out that there was a high rat population in the village which was why the snakes had decided to settle there. Harry asked them if they would promise to not bite the villagers and keep the rats under control. The snakes readily agreed with that.

Harry informed the village leader of the deal he had made with the snakes and to his surprise this made the villagers very happy. They didn't fear his talent and thanked him. They seemingly knew that snake speakers were rare, but that they were the only ones able to protect villages like theirs from poisonous snakes like the ones they had found. Normally dealing with a nest the size of the one they had found cost a few men their lives, because snake bites were hard to treat without antidotes, which were really expensive. From his mother Harry found out that parselmouths, or snake speakers, as they were called by non-magical people, were revered and if one was found in a village, they made sure he or she was treated well. Snakes were a common danger in these times.

Harry wondered how that had changed so much over time. Perhaps because with time other ways were found to safely dispose of them and with growing religiously motivated wars and condemning of magic because of it people changed their behaviour to not stand out of the masses. Not to mention that, thanks to the story of Adam and Eve losing their place in paradise, because the snake seduced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, they were seen as evil by Christians. Well, he was happy enough that he would live in this time where the people accepted magical abilities as given and liked those that used them to help others.

Camelot was grand. The castle was bigger than Hogwarts and the stone shone white in the morning sun. Harry had got used to riding a bit, even if his butt and legs had been sore after yesterday. He knew he would learn it soon enough. Every nobleman had to know how to ride a horse, as they were the fastest way of travelling in this time. There was no floo network, no apparition and no portkeys, as his mother had informed him. In some ways that was nice. It made magicals appear like the other people and not stand out so much. Owls were still, or rather already, used to deliver letters, which made sending messages faster than the muggles could, though here they were called non-magical or mundane, which Harry admitted sounded nicer than making them seem a completely different species of humans.

Camelot wasn't only a castle that sat alone; it was surrounded by a big city. The castle, which towered over the city, sat in the middle. They easily passed the guards at the gates of the city and rode towards the castle. Morgaine was greeted by some people and they stopped sometimes so she could chat with them. Harry was introduced to a lot of them and politely returned the greetings. Finally, they reached the castle.

"Good morning, Lady Morgaine. How are you today?" One of the guards greeted her warmly.

"I am well, Sir Gawain, thank you. It's lovely to see you again. Are you doing well? Did Arthur inform you of our visit?" She asked.

"Yes, he told all of the knights to look out for you. And I'm quite well, Milady. So, I guess this is your son that you announced to him?" Sir Gawain asked.

"Yes, this is my son Harold, son of Lord Benwick of Ceredigion. Though he prefers to be called Harry," Morgaine introduced him.

"Good morning, Sir Gawain, it's nice to meet you," Harry greeted politely like he had learned from his mother.

"The same to you, Harry. I heard you would start training to become a knight. I hope you will put your full effort into it. Becoming a knight of Camelot isn't easy," Gawain replied.

"I definitely will," Harry stated sincerely which got an approving nod from Gawain.

"The king said to tell you that he was awaiting you in his rooms. He is busy working out a treaty with the barons of the north," Gawain informed Morgaine.

"Thank you, Sir Gawain. We will leave you to your duty," Morgaine said pleasantly.

Harry and Morgaine rode through the gate and into the inner bailey of the castle. One of the squires that were training there took over the two horses and Morgaine led Harry into the castle proper. There another squire took care of their cloaks after Morgaine told him to bring them to her normal rooms. She knew that Arthur had the rooms next to her suite cleaned for Harry. Harry was very impressed with the castle. While Hogwarts looked like an old castle with a lot of history, this one looked new and full of life. He followed his mother a bit tense about meeting King Arthur. He wondered how he might be.

A guard at the entrance to the king's office went inside to announce them and soon they were asked inside.

"Morgaine, it's lovely to see you again, sister. And you must be Harry. Morgaine told me all about you and why she brought you here," Arthur greeted them warmly.

"It's good to see you too, Arthur. You look like you didn't get enough sun though recently. Are you doing too much paperwork again?" She asked hugging the young king.

He had short black hair and brown eyes. His clothes were more practical than showy Harry noticed, and the only outward sign that he was the king was a golden necklace he wore. Harry could see the crown sitting on a pillow next to the desk which was overflowing with documents. His sword was at his left hip.

"Not everyone can be as blessed as you in avoiding too much paperwork. The new treaty is being difficult to finish, as the barons want a lot of privileges that I'm not willing to simply grant them. I need to read them all thoroughly to make sure nothing untoward is added in them. But now let me see my nephew," He replied, grinning brightly as if this was a great prank, "Hello Harry, I'm Arthur Pendragon, but while you are here, please call me Uncle Arthur. It's great to know that my sister's line will continue so far into the future."

"Thank you, Uncle Arthur," Harry answered smiling, "I'm happy to be here. It beats staying at my mother's sister's house by far."

"Yes, Morgaine let a bit of that slip in her explanation why she conspired with a phoenix to get you here during your summer holidays from Hogwarts. To think that the school those four started a few years ago will be that successful. I wasn't fully convinced when Sir Godric asked for a leave from the court to pursue his idea with his friends, but hearing how important this has become, I am glad I let him go with my blessings," Arthur said.

Harry was stunned. The founders were alive in this time and his head of house one of King Arthur's knights. Perhaps he would even meet them one day. No, he had to concentrate on the here and now. This was King Arthur he was meeting right now, and he was telling him to call him uncle. Nobody would ever believe him if he told the story, not that he would without his mother's permission.

"I will introduce you to the members of my court tonight during dinner. Tomorrow you will start your basic physical training to get you to the level you need to be at to start training to become a knight. You will be given to one of my knights as a page until he deems you ready for harder training as a squire. You will have some duties like all the others in training to become a knight. Don't expect special treatment because you are family," Arthur warned and Harry quickly nodded, "Typical duties of a page are taking care of the armour of the knight you are serving, doing message runs, taking care of the horses in the stables, serving during dinner and doing errands. Some of them overlap with the duties of a squire. It depends if the knight in question trains one at that time. Normally your training takes four hours each day in the morning, starting at six, half an hour for eating follows, then you get some duties for two hours before lunch. Then you are trained in basic weapon use early in the afternoon. As you are also going to learn your mother's skills, you will go to her after your weapons trainer dismisses you. Each page has to do dinner duty for two days each week, the other evenings you are free to follow your likes."

"That's alright with me, Uncle Arthur. I don't want special treatment. If I am treated like everybody else, I am perfectly content with it," Harry said.

Arthur saw the sincerity in the boy's eyes. He wondered how long it would take until the girls caught sight of him. Once Harry got over the effects of being underfed by his abysmal relatives, he would be quite handsome. Many daughters of the lords would try to win his favour. It would surely be amusing to watch. Too bad that he belonged to the future. But with how Morgaine had described his life-mission, it was really important that Harry learned to fight both non-magically and magically. He couldn't imagine that magic would die if Harry failed. It was an everyday part of their lives. And he wasn't stupid enough to believe the horror tales of magic being the work of the devil. Magic was simply a gift certain people were born with. Even he had some, though he hadn't been trained in using it a lot.

He used it with Excalibur and by sensing people's intentions when they came for an audience with him. In battles it was also useful, as it allowed him to somewhat predict his opponent's movements before they used them. The way one used magic made the user good or evil, but not the magic itself. If only the stubborn priests would accept that and stop preaching condemnation for those belonging to the old ways. He was for having freedom of belief and a co-existence of both religions.

He pondered which knight he should entrust with Harry's training. He would need a good, but strict teacher who pushed him beyond his limits. Lancelot was too nice for that, Gawain had two squires already that he taught, Percival perhaps. His former squire was getting the rites in a week, so he would be free to take up a new student. Edmund also was a possibility. He had no squire right now and he had complained that none of his pages had the talent to become a good knight because they were too whiny for the training.

"Good, then go and get refreshed. I will see you at dinner. And Morgaine, Guinevere asked me to get to see our nephew too before he is introduced to the others at dinner. She is in the salon organising the summer feast," Arthur said.

"We will go and see her once we are refreshed and rested a bit, Arthur. Until later," Morgaine replied.

Harry bowed like he somehow knew he should and followed his mother out of the room.

After a short visit with Arthur's wife Guinevere, who was a very nice blond woman and welcomed Harry into the family, Harry was free to explore the castle on his own. He was told, if he introduced himself to anybody, to give Harold of Ceredigion as his name. It would take a while to get used to be a noble in this time. But he was looking forward to learning how to be a knight. For him a knight was someone who had the power to protect innocents, and that was what he wanted. He didn't like the brutality that came with fighting a lot; it was just a necessary evil. If he could become strong enough, he reasoned, some fights might even stop before they began, because nobody wanted to risk making him angry enough to have to deal with the instigators. That was his reason to become strong and skilled in both magical and non-magical fighting.

The castle was huge. It would take a while to get used to it. But he had found his way around Hogwarts quickly enough, after getting lost a few times in first-year. And Camelot wasn't as confusing as Hogwarts was. No direction changing staircases for example and no dud secret passages. He wondered what his training would include. He knew he would have to do a lot of hard physical training, because those armours were heavy. Without enough muscle mass he couldn't fight in one of them. He met a few pages running around doing errands for the knights and sometimes others. And still life here seemed peaceful. More than his life in the future had been so far. Privet Drive only appeared peaceful; he had suffered there. Hogwarts had one adventure or the other waiting for him and somehow, he always risked his life in the process.

This would definitely be hard to do, he had no illusions about it, but at least here he would have a teacher who wanted him to do his best and succeed. He would have somebody he could ask for advice without feeling too awkward. He had a mother in this time, which made everything worthwhile. And Morgaine was nothing if not patient and happy to teach him all he wanted to know. It was a strange feeling. Normally he should have felt completely out of place, not knowing how to face this new time. But he didn't. He felt right here, as if he belonged here. Admittedly not everything was great in this time. People led hard lives and had to fear thieves, highwaymen and other criminals, but they were being forced back by Arthur's knights, sheriffs and governors.

From what his mother had told him during the journey, the area a day's riding distance from Camelot was already really safe. There were wild regions, but Arthur was working on helping the people there by either forcing the lords to shape up or replacing them basically. A lord was responsible for the people living on his land and somebody shirking that duty didn't deserve the title.

In the evening, after taking a bath, Harry put on the clothes that his mother had told him to wear. For dinner Harry had been given a higher-class outfit representing his status as the son of a Lord and the High Priestess of Avalon, not to mention the King's nephew. They were more elegant than his travelling clothes. His trousers were black now and he wore a white long-sleeved shirt under a dark red vest. On the left side of the vest over his heart the crest of Ceredigion was embroidered and on the right side the crest of Avalon was shown. A black leather belt through lashes at the vest held his trousers up. He wore shorter, soft black leather boots than for the travelling. When his mother came to inspect his looks, she was satisfied. She wore an elegant-looking red dress which had the crest of Avalon on her right shoulder. She wore delicate golden jewellery with small rubies in the earrings and necklace.

"Yes, you are looking good, Harry. We can introduce you to the court now," Morgaine nodded contently.

"Thank you, mother. I only hope that I don't make a fool out of myself," Harry replied.

"Don't worry, you will do fine. Just be polite and try listening more than talking," She advised, and he nodded.

He and Morgaine were led to the Great Hall where dinner would be held. The hall was sparsely decorated; it was more functional than grand. Harry liked it. It was homely, even if the number of people there was a lot like eating in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. He could see Sir Gawain, who had greeted them at the gates, talking with two other men, about a dozen pages were carrying plates with food and pitchers with drinks. He guessed doing duty during dinner time would be taxing, but as everyone who wanted to become a knight had to go through it, he didn't mind. From what he had found in his mental library, it was meant to teach the aspiring knights humility and patience. No matter what family name a page or squire had, he had to start at the bottom if he wanted to become a knight.

It was a much better system than in his time where the influence was simply given with birth and depended on money. Here even the son of a minor lord could achieve great things, if he worked enough for it. Sure, there were things that weren't as advanced as in his time; women for example didn't have the same rights as men, though many still had a lot of influence. Look at his mother or Aunt Guinevere. Compared to that the children of lesser pureblood families would never get into the truly important positions at the Ministry and don't get him started on those not being purebloods. One's blood wasn't as important for one's life here as one's dedication. Even the son of a farmer could get into a fairly high position if he was determined. There were two boys working in the stables that were the sons of farmers.

They got training in caring for the horses, as they were talented in it. If they did well, they would one day be in charge over the stables, a well-paid and respected position. Society was still a bit elitist, but it was slowly changing. Harry also noticed that at the table for the squires his new acquaintance Daniel of Gloucester was sitting. He remembered their meeting.

Flashback

After exploring the inside of the castle a bit, Harry had gone outside to explore the grounds. He watched the training of the knights for a while before walking towards the stables. There it was quiet. He heard the snorts of some horses, but the majority was outside. He read the plates on the stable doors. There was the name of the horse and the knight it belonged to written on each one. In the back he heard strained breathing and found a brown horse sweating heavily. It seemed to be in pain and Harry was worried. He thought about getting somebody to help, but somehow his newfound knowledge told him that the mare was close to giving birth to a foal. The big belly was a tell-tale sign of a pregnancy. He saw that the mare lay too closely to the wall for the foal to be born and she was close to pressing it out. He did the first thing that came to his mind and levitated her a little distance away from the wall. It didn't take long for the foal to come out.

Harry was awed seeing the little horse being born. But something still wasn't right. The sack around the foal didn't tear and if nobody did anything, it would suffocate. He quickly, but carefully, entered the box and went around the mare who was breathing heavily from giving birth. He took the birth sack and tore it open at the head of the foal. It started breathing quickly and he knew that it had been close. Had he gone to get help, the foal would probably not have made it. It felt good knowing that he had managed to save this young life. After completely freeing the foal, he stepped back to let the mother get introduced to the foal. Now that he had the time, he saw that it was a dark coloured foal, he wouldn't be able to say if it was black or really dark brown because of how wet it was. The mare suddenly stood up and started licking the foal's fur.

"What are you doing here?" A harsh voice suddenly spoke up behind him and a young man appeared.

"I heard strange sounds coming from one of the stables in the back and went to see what was going on. I noticed that the mare was about to give birth, but was too close to the wall, so I made her move a bit away so that the foal had space to be born. Once it was out, the birth sack didn't tear, so I did that for the foal to be able to breath. After that I let the mother and child get used to each other. I was told I could have a look around the castle and the grounds," Harry answered.

"These stables in the back are for the horses of the king and queen. Nobody but the ones responsible for them are allowed to come here. You should know that," The young man explained, now a bit friendlier.

"Sorry, my mother and I only arrived today, and the king didn't say anything about areas where I wasn't allowed to go to," Harry explained, not wanting to be treated differently for being the king's nephew. Though he guessed it wouldn't be kept a secret for long.

"So, you were introduced to King Arthur already? That's unusual. What's your name? I'm Daniel of Gloucester by the way. Squire to Sir Lancelot," The young man introduced himself offering his hand to shake which Harry did.

"I'm Harold of Ceredigion. Nice to meet you, Daniel. I am going to serve as a page to one of the knights from tomorrow on. So far, I grew up with my mother, Lady Morgaine of Avalon," Harry introduced himself.

"Lady Morgaine? So that is why you were allowed to go where you wanted, King Arthur is your uncle," Daniel realised.

"Yes, but I don't want any special treatment, so could you simply treat me like any other page? I want to earn any respect given to me for my achievements, not because I am the king's nephew," Harry asked.

"I can do that. I'm glad that you aren't a stuck-up pampered prince. We get those a lot of times. Some of the richer barons think that they are better than others and that their sons deserve to be trained by the best Knights of the Round Table, like Sir Lancelot or Sir Gawain. Not that it helps any. The knights decide themselves which boys they take under their wing," Daniel told Harry grinning, "Now let me see the foal. Hm, you seem to have done a good job. It is already trying to stand up to drink. We can simply watch and only interfere if anything happens. By the way, Harold, how old are you?"

"I am thirteen, and could you call me Harry? I like that better than my full name," Harry answered, "And you?"

"Eighteen. I am scheduled for taking the rites of knighthood in two months. Sir Lancelot is really thorough with his training. Others were knighted when they were sixteen or seventeen, but I don't mind waiting a year longer, if it means I get the complete training Sir Lancelot can give me. I mean, he is the best of the Knights of the Round Table. It's a real honour to be trained by him," Daniel raved.

Harry smiled. He could imagine how exciting it had to be to be trained by one of the Knights of the Round Table. They were legendary and not only in the wizarding world in his time. Everybody knew the story of Camelot. Though some of it was exaggerated as he now knew.

Daniel took Harry for a tour of the stables and Harry tried to memorise the layout. Daniel said that cleaning the stables was part of the duties of the pages and that it was done thoroughly twice every month. The other days the stables were only filled with fresh straw and the horses were given their hay and oat in the mornings and evenings. Water was given four times a day. After feeding in the morning, at noon, after feeding in the evening and the last time before everybody went to bed. The horses were important for the knights and needed to be in top condition in case the knights had to go to battle at a moment's notice.

Harry listened intently how the pages and squires had to clean the horses every morning after they were done with physical training. It seemed that most of the duties of a page were to the knight's horse, armour and weapons. Well, he had never been somebody to shy away from hard work. Once they had finished the round they returned to the stable and saw the foal drinking from its mother. Harry smiled seeing that. He thought that it was really cute.

Flashback end

In the Great Hall they were led to their seats next to Arthur and Guinevere. Arthur introduced them, Harry more than Morgaine, as most knew her already, to the assembled people. Many looked at Harry with interest. As far as they knew, he was the first-born son of Lady Morgaine. Her other son, Mordred, who was raised by Lady Morgause, was younger than him. They mostly appreciated that the king's nephew would go the normal way to become a knight of Camelot. It was seen as a sign that the Royal Family was closely connected with the people.

The food was great, and Harry made polite conversation with the other guests when he was asked something, but mostly he kept to his mother's advice of listening to learn.

3. Training Hard

Thanks for all the reviews. I'm really happy how many like this story already. Enjoy the next chapter.

Training Hard

Morning came too soon. Harry was down at the exercise field at six, together with twenty-one other pages. He still didn't know who the knight he would have to serve was. But the physical training was the same for all of them. Thus, the knights rotated doing the morning drills. A second group, consisting of the squires, was in the neighbouring field doing their drills. One of the two knights that would observe the morning training stepped forward.

"Some of you are already used to this, some of you are new. For those who don't know me yet, I am Sir Percival," He was a tall man with dark brown hair and a moustache. He wore his hair in a ponytail and wore simple clothes that belied his status. The only sign was his sword that was at his right hip. "You are all hoping to one day achieve the honour of becoming a Knight of the Round Table. It is a long way until that time and getting in top physical shape is the base. Therefore, don't even think of slacking in your training. We will start with running three kilometres for warm-up. After that we will do stretching and muscle building exercises. Now, the ones that have been at this for some time know the route. You are running route 2 today. You have at most thirty minutes. As we have new pages in this group, we will refrain from strapping weights on you today to get to know the route. From next week on, you will each run with five extra kilos on your back. The weight will be increased over time. Get to it!" Sir Percival called out and the older pages took the lead.

Harry was now very grateful for two things. First was all the running away from Dudley and his gang, second the fact that Oliver Wood was a training maniac. Those two factors had given him decent stamina. He had a good level of endurance and was about average in this task. It was clear that the older pages were much better and used to doing this. In fact, most of them looked very relaxed while running at the head of the group and were talking to each other. The new pages were mostly trying to keep contact to the leading group, as they were the ones knowing the way. Still, he was the best of the new pages. He finished the three kilometres with about three minutes' time left. It was hard and he was trying to regain his breath while the others returned one after the other.

"You will have to do better in the future. Eric, you are normally faster, I expect you to show your full abilities again tomorrow. Don't hold back just because you didn't have to wear your weights today. Peter, you need to work on running at a steady pace, otherwise you waste too much energy. John, more steps that are shorter and quicker, your long steps hinder you more than they are useful. Richard, work on your breathing, in through the nose, out through the mouth, otherwise you risk stitches in the side," Sir Percival addressed the older pages and they all nodded.

"And while I know that today the morning run was actually very easy for you, as your are used to working harder, that should be even more reason to present your abilities much better. I won't pass that on to your teachers, as the new pages needed to get to know the route and thus profited from your relaxed training pace, but I don't want to see this repeated, just because you don't have to wear weight. I want to see your full speed tomorrow for morning training. After all, you basically only ran as fast as you did with weights."

The older pages nodded in acknowledgement and it was clear that they wouldn't repeat this low-performance attitude the next days. The second knight that was around now took over.

"Now to the new ones, you are a sad bunch and will have to shape up a lot to get anywhere. The only one to at least keep up with the older pages was Harold. Still, you need to work up your endurance too, Harold. Even out your breathing and run at a constant speed, otherwise you tire out too fast. Now start stretching, following the exercises we show you," The second knight said, He had long red hair that he wore open and a scar that looked like a jagged cut on his chin, "I will make sure you all learn how to not make a fool of you and Camelot, as sure as I am Sir Brian."

Sir Brian turned out to be a ruthless taskmaster. For twenty minutes the pages had to stretch each part of their bodies, and then Sir Brian barked out commands for strength and speed exercises. Thirty push-ups were followed by a fifty-metre sprint out of the crouching position, then fifty knee-bends, quick-paced side steps through wooden rings in a forty metre line, then thirty pull-ups on a bar. Harry sweated heavily under the harsh training. He wanted to fall down in pain more than once, but he saw how Sir Brian reacted to that when others did, so he bit through. After two hours Sir Brian finally let them rest for ten minutes, which included getting a large cup of water to replace the fluids they had lost from sweating, while he instructed them on the correct technique to use a staff, the first weapon they would be schooled to use.

He demonstrated the correct grip and how to spin the staff to move it through certain positions. Then he started the drilling on technique and the moves that had seemed so easy when Sir Brian had performed them were a lot harder to do themselves. Many hit their neighbours while trying to control the staff. Harry learned to keep an eye on his surroundings, because being hit by his neighbour during the exercise hurt. Thankfully they only had to perform four moves at the moment. A thrust with the staff forward, while holding it with both hands parallel to the ground, from that position turning it upwards and to the left, which would be needed to block attacks later they were informed, then upwards with both arms, again for blocking and last the staff turned upwards to block from the right.

It still took a lot of concentration. They kept doing training with the staff for nearly an hour and Harry really felt his arm muscles. They were aching horribly. But there was still one more hour of training to go. And by now he was hungry. He would need to make sure to eat something light before starting training in the morning. The only thing they were allowed between exercises was a cup of water each.

None of the pages realised that other knights were watching to decide which of the new pages they would take up as a student. To make this possible, there were intentional holes in the tall wooden fence that separated the stables from the training fields for the pages and squires. Those candidates that were absolutely hopeless after a week of training would be pushed into the normal training to become skilled foot soldiers. The others got until the end of the month to prove themselves. Only the best would continue to train becoming knights.

"There are a few talented ones in the beginners group, but more than half are lacking," Sir Gawain commented, tying his blond hair up again.

"True, I miss the fierce determination in some of them. Without that they won't go far," Sir Edmund agreed. He was shorter than the others by a head, but muscular. He had short black hair and a full beard.

"That or sheer stubbornness. Some can make up natural talent with that and hard work," Sir Lancelot added.

"True, but those are really rare to find. If you have such a student though, he normally goes far," Sir Gawain admitted.

"What do you think of Lady Morgaine's son?" Lancelot asked.

"Not bad. He seems to have good basic endurance and the will to see this training through. Though it is clear that beyond physical training he didn't learn anything about fighting yet. Probably he was trained more in his powers than fighting. That wouldn't be strange for a student from Avalon," Percival now spoke up.

"Who is going to train him?" Gawain asked.

"We aren't sure yet. The king is considering three choices. Percival, Edmund and Robert," Lancelot answered.

"At least they will have a good chance to get him to a proper level fast. The boy is driven and doesn't think anybody owes him because of who he is related to," Gawain grunted thinking about two boys he didn't like because of their arrogance.

"That's true, my squire Daniel told me that Harold has helped one of the king's mares with giving birth to her foal and reacted properly when the birth sack didn't tear on its own. Shows that he doesn't hesitate to get dirty when needed. Something those spoiled brats should learn quickly, or they won't last long," Lancelot agreed with his friend.

Harry wanted to sleep. He wanted to sleep so much, but he still had work to do. Of course, on the first day of him becoming a page the stables were due for a complete cleaning. And he was sure this was a test to see if the pages would complain about the dirty and stinking work. After having got a good late breakfast, they had been taken to the stables. The older pages led the horses outside so that the younger ones could start clearing the stables of the dung. Two carts were used to bring the dung to the dung-hill and the older pages were the ones manning them, so the younger ones had to work getting the dung out with pitchforks.

Harry privately thought that the dung smelled better than Dudley's room, which he had been forced to clean up more times than he cared to remember. Thanks to the high number of horses, clearing up the stables took the full three hours till lunch. Today, as it was known that the stable duty always took longer than other things, the early morning training had only been done until nine, then some breakfast, and then they all had to work in the stables. On other days the morning training would take an hour longer. After that they had to put fresh straw into the boxes before being allowed to go cleaning themselves up which was needed for them to be allowed to eat in the kitchens.

Lunch was a fun affair. Harry got to know the other pages better. He made two friends in Cameron and Frederick, who were also just starting out. Wilbur and George, also new pages, he couldn't stand though. They thought they were so high and mighty, because their fathers ruled over big baronies. They all exchanged some stories and wondered which knight would be in charge of them. Normally it would be decided once the first month was over. Wilbur and George were sure they would impress one of the most famous knights. After all their names were important. Harry just wanted one, who would teach him properly, so that he wouldn't be killed at once when he had to face Voldemort again in his time. Though he didn't say that.

Weapons training consisted mainly in teaching about how to properly care for a sword the first day. A sword needed to be in top condition for the knight to rely on it in a fight. Hence, rust, shards and dulling of the blade needed to be dealt with regularly. The pages were relieved that instead of strenuous training this time they had to do more precise work in repairing as much damage as possible with sharpening tools, putting oil on the blades once that was done and exchanging leather at the grips. After the weapons master, today Sir Gawain, dismissed them Harry went to his mother's rooms to get started on his magical training.

When he knocked at her door he was called inside.

"Hello Harry, how are you feeling after your first day of training?" Morgaine asked kindly.

"Exhausted. I knew it would be hard work, but this was much more than what I had expected. I'm still happy that I managed to get through it. I just fear that I will be sore tomorrow," He answered and rubbed his shoulders.

"That's normal in the beginning. Just persevere and you will be fine in the end. Now we will start your training in the magical arts of Avalon. Before you can learn spells that have a chance to help you in a fight, you need to get in harmony with your magic. Therefore, you will start with meditation. I want you to undress until you only have your underwear on," She instructed, and he followed her orders, "Good, now sit down in the circle I drew on the floor with herbs. Look at them and tell me which ones you recognize from your studies and which you simply know."

Harry looked concentrated at the herbs before naming the ones he knew. He got nods for those he could name correctly, others he was corrected on.

"The mixture consists of twenty-one herbs that have either calming effects or induce trance. The reason that there are twenty-one of them is that the number has power as it is three times seven. Both three and seven are powerful magical numbers. Now I will pour hot water over the herbs which over time will let them set free their effects. I want you to control your breath. Close your eyes while sitting in a lotus position and count to four before breathing in, then count to four before breathing out. Once your breathing is smooth and in the rhythm I told you, try feeling your magic. Feel its flow, feel its warmth and feel its power. It will take some time to reach that state, but you have time," She instructed, and Harry did as he was told.

He lost feeling of time while breathing in the fumes of the herbs and trying to feel his magic inside of him. He could sometimes feel sparks of it, but never the flow his mother had described. Too soon he was called out of his meditation. He felt refreshed to his surprise.

"A good attempt. It should have helped you to smooth out some knots that were caused by your training. This kind of meditation actively relaxes your muscles and gives them time to heal from over-exposure. Now let me put some healing salve on your muscles so that they will be ready for another day of training tomorrow. I will also teach you how to make the salve. From what my visions showed me of your life, to let me prepare your training here properly, your teacher in Potions so far was an idiot to not teach you and your classmates proper techniques. That will be one of the first things I remedy until you are ready to use magic actively. Which will probably be in about three months. Before you don't find a balance of your magic, I won't start you on that," She stated.

Harry just nodded and let her rub the salve onto his back, legs, chest and arms. A warm feeling spread from the salve and he enjoyed it. He was told to apply the salve each day after practicing meditation.

That night Harry didn't have duties, so he accompanied his mother to dinner. From what he had been told, he was on dinner duty on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. With twenty-two pages in the castle, nine of them had to serve during dinner each evening. As today was Tuesday, he could enjoy sitting with the adults and listen to their stories.

Harry really enjoyed his time in Camelot. The first month was the hardest, as he had to get used to his training schedule. The group didn't learn many new things besides basic skills for pages that would come in handy later as knights, but next to fighting with a staff and, in the last week of the month, wooden knives to simulate real ones later on, they all learned how to ride a horse properly. They had two training horses that were used to not give beginners too hard a time. They learned to keep balance in the saddle if they couldn't already ride, which was true for most of them. Harry and four others were the only ones not being able to properly ride a horse. They could stay on the horse's back in the slower gaits if the route wasn't difficult to follow but didn't have experience for more. The main reason for that, as Harry learned, was that their families didn't have many horses. Those that they had were normally needed for farming or their fathers used them all the time, not giving them the chance to practice a lot.

While knights were generally horsemen that governed some estates for the king, it didn't always mean that they had a lot of land to call their own. Some only had a few farmer families living on the land and didn't gain a lot of income from that. Meaning, they couldn't afford to keep lots of horses. One reason why some of them tried to have their sons trained in Camelot to become knights. It was a lot more cost efficient. If a boy was accepted as a page by a knight, the costs of the training were paid by the king. Sure, the lords had to pay taxes to the king, which in the end also paid for this, but it was still a lot cheaper than having to do it on their own. But the boys learned quickly enough, even if they didn't have a lot of previous training. After the month was over, Harry had no problems at all keeping upright in the saddle no matter how fast his horse went.

His trainer was content with that and told him he would start learning jumping over obstacles next. Two others would also learn that, while the last two needed a bit more training. Of course, the arrogant twats Wilbur and George made fun of those just learning to ride, but Harry and Cameron shut them up quickly when they sparred with the staffs. Cameron had learned fighting with one from his uncle, who was a master with that weapon, and Harry had a knack for learning new things. And his hand-eye coordination was unparalleled by any of the other pages. Probably why he was so good at playing seeker.

Overall his trainers were happy with his progress, as was his mother. He had made a lot of progress with getting in harmony with his magic and the spells he had learned during the past two years at Hogwarts were much easier for him to do now. While the real magic of Avalon was still out of his reach, normal wizard magic wasn't and once every week Morgaine would test how much he had improved with his control over the spells by making the use of the spells harder by having Harry train using the spells without the incantations. She wasn't a friend of the crutches as she called the incantations. They were good for learning the spell, but as soon as a student was capable of using a spell, he should work on doing the spell wordless. After that, once the magic was in harmony, he could work on using the magic without a wand.

From her lectures Harry learned that using magic was all about intent and connecting with one's inborn magic. For example, making things levitate only needed a thought from her. No hand gesture, no incantation, only a simple thought. She didn't even need to concentrate on it because her magic knew her so well that after the initial command it kept doing her bidding until she told it otherwise. It took years to get to that level, but Harry would be able to do it in the future. She revealed to him that she wasn't the most powerful witch ever; she just was the first one to be completely in harmony with her magic. The same was true for Taliesin, the current Merlin. He was powerful, but he surpassed all others before him, because he was in complete harmony with his magic. Harry had only met him once when he came to Camelot for a short visit, passing through on a journey. Harry had liked him immediately. He was like a kind and wise grandfather and he was sincere about his wish to help people.

To Harry's joy the foal he had helped being born grew well and was the pride of Queen Guinevere, whose mare was the mother. It turned out that the father was King Arthur's stallion, and everybody hoped that the foal would also grow into a powerful battle horse like its father. For now, the young stallion was happy to follow his mother around the paddock and the meadow where the mother mares with the foals were kept.

Hedwig had also become very popular with the women of the castle. Not only was she beautiful, she kept the mice and rat populations down. Arthur had decided to get some more owls and a few cats, as with keeping a high number of horses, rats and mice were a real problem in the castle. Harry also offered to get a few snakes for the grounds, but his uncle decided to leave that for when there was no other option. Snakes were feared by many and while they would quickly get the upper hand, they would not make life at the castle more peaceful.

Though whenever a snake got lost in the castle, Harry was called. It was put down positively in his reports as a page. Sir Edmund, who was responsible for Harry's training, kept a book where he marked down Harry's progress in the fighting arts, his stamina and his performance during his duties. So far that report was good. Harry did as he was told, didn't complain about the difficulty of training and did whatever jobs Sir Edmund had for him. Harry thought that even if the work he had to do was hard, at least Sir Edmund didn't emotionally abuse him, beat him for things he had no control over and if he really messed up, he would be doing additional harsh training instead of being starved, so it was at least productive. Sir Edmund was known to be the strictest knight in regard to training somebody. Harry thought it might have to do with Uncle Arthur wanting to stop any rumours that Harry didn't earn his knighthood once he was ready.

Anybody who managed to pass Sir Edmund's training, deserved to become a knight.

Harry was currently working through the new balance exercise Sir Edmund had given him. It was meant to both teach balance and strength. He had to walk over a plank which was just wide enough for one of his feet and he held a two metres long pole which had a one kilo heavy stone tied to each end. He had to hold up the pole while walking over the plank. The plank was about a metre above the ground. So far, that didn't sound too difficult, but after mastering the first stage, he was being pelted with small sand filled sacks by the other pages. It was much harder to either dodge, while keeping balance, or ignore being hit, while still keeping his balance. And, to make things more interesting, there was a one metre deep pool of water under the plank, meaning, whenever he fell, he would get wet and the plank got more slippery with each new attempt.

Each page had to go through this kind of training and during the last month they had done so with the basic exercise. Now that they were declared fit to become knights one day, if they kept up their training like before, the exercises they had to do were getting harder. For example, they all had to run with weights in the morning, their physical exercises increased in numbers of repetitions and some harder ones were added. Their duties also added to their working out schedule. Carrying heavy sacks of flour down into the cellars of the kitchen was hard, as was chopping wood for the fires of the castle. While in summer there wasn't as much that was needed, they were storing a lot for winter.

They also got to do exercises that tested their dexterity and their endurance. Their riding skills were constantly improved and sometimes they got to deliver goods from the castle to the surrounding villages on horseback.

Flashback

The group of new pages had assembled after morning training was done, to be informed which duties they would have to perform for the morning. Harry was allowed to go with a group to a village that was about three hours on horseback from Camelot. He had only been given general clearance for this type of duty after his riding skills had been declared adequate by Sir Brian. The village had been hit by bandits and the villagers had asked for help from the castle. While the three knights that had accompanied their group had gone to search for the bandits, the pages and squires were tasked to help with the rebuilding of the houses that were burned down.

Listening to the villagers, it became clear that many had suffered burns from tying to extinct the fires. Seeing how they were in pain but still had to get their homes rebuilt, he turned to the leader of the village.

"Sir, would it help if I brewed some salve to treat the burns that many villagers have got when they tried to extinct the fires?" he asked politely.

"It would certainly help, but do you have the knowledge for that, young man? I mean, even our village's best-trained healers didn't know of a way to treat the burns, except for cooling them in water whenever possible," answered the old man, "not to mention where would we get the things needed for something like that?"

"The ingredients are actually very common and can be found in any wood. My mother and the druids on Avalon taught me how to make it. If you could provide me with a cauldron and a place to set up a fire safely, I will set to work as soon as I have collected the things I need," answered Harry.

"You are in training with the druids? Then you might actually be able to help us. I will see to it that you get the cauldron you need for this. What is your name by the way? I'm Jacob Finning, the major of the village."

"I'm Harold of Ceredigion, page to Sir Edmund," Harry introduced himself.

"It's nice to meet you," nodded Jacob and then went to get things arranged while Harry set out to collect the ingredients for the salve.

The other pages and squires looked at him with wide eyes when he started brewing competently and quickly created a salve that truly helped with the burns the people had suffered, once it was finished and had cooled down enough to be useable. They seemingly hadn't known that he could do that. Harry didn't pay them much attention. He used his rudimentary knowledge of healing, which had also been part of his studies with his mother to help with problems some people had. After hearing that he had training from the druids of Avalon, many approached him for help with their ailments.

Mild colds and infects were the most common. He told the villagers which herbs they should collect in the woods and described them if they didn't know them. He explained how to brew herbal teas for common ailments and how to clean wounds to prevent infections. One man was suffering from an infected wound at his leg and Harry had to do a small surgery. He gave the man some herbs to numb the wound as best as he could and to make the man slightly dazed and then cut it open. It was still painful, but not as much as if he had done it without the herbs. The infection went deep, and Harry had to clean a lot of pus from it.

To the utter shock of some people he asked them to get him some maggots to put into the wound. When asked why on earth he would put maggots into a wound he answered that they lived from rotting flesh. They would only eat the rotting flesh and leave the healthy flesh be. On top they would only stay for a short while until they were ready to pupate and shortly after that leave the now cleaned out wound as fully developed flies. It was a painless way to heal the wound, as otherwise he would have to cut out a lot of healthy flesh with the rotten parts. After all, he didn't have anything to disinfect the wound properly, as these villagers didn't have anything like alcohol to use for that. When one of the squires accidentally stuck his foot into a snake nest, Harry called the snakes that had attacked to defend their nest back and quickly treated the bite wound that the squire had got.

Overall the respect everybody had for Harry rose immensely from that day on. The villagers told the tale of the young page Harold, who was willing to help the common people and taught them basic healing techniques that they could practice without having to consult a trained medic. Those were rare after all. The pages and squires told how he could control snakes and helped with dealing with the bite wound. The bitten squire had only needed two days of rest before he could start training again once he was back at Camelot. He didn't suffer a fever or an infect, just the wound needed a bit of time to heal.

After taking care of the medical issues, Harry helped cleaning out burned houses and repairing roofs. The knights needed four days to find all the bandits and either arrest them or kill them if they didn't want to give up. Of the ten bandits only two were that stupid. They weren't well-trained and after those two died, obviously the leaders of the group, the others were easy to overwhelm for the knights. When they returned to the village, it looked much better than before and Sir Percival noticed that many gave Harry admiring looks, especially girls around his age. They were witnesses when an old woman begged him to help with a complicated birth. Harry blushed horribly and told her that he wasn't trained as a midwife, but it was to no avail. The villagers obviously believed that Harry was the one with most knowledge about medical treatment.

It was true as well. Their squires and pages told the knights about Harry's actions over the past days and they were impressed to say the least. Thus Harry, for the first time in his life, witnessed the birth of a child. From what they could find out, the normal midwife of the village was out to help with the birth of another child a day ride away from the village. The young woman hadn't been due to give birth for another two weeks, so nobody had expected it. Harry found that helping a child into the world was put down in the family library, hence he followed the instructions he was subconsciously given. The child was too big for the mother to press it out normally, so he asked for a bit of space. He knew he would have to use magic for this.

Thankfully this could be achieved with a small transfer of magic into the birth channel. He only needed it to widen for a while to give the baby space to come out. And this was something he knew how to do wandlessly and disguise as a massage. The basic principle was similar to his meditation techniques. He needed to channel his magic for five minutes until the child was finally out. Other women took the child and took care of the mother. Harry was overwhelmed with what he had achieved. He had helped bringing a child into the world. He felt elated about it.

Though when the happy new father asked the knights who Harry's family was, their awe of him increased tenfold. They didn't connect the name Harold of Ceredigion with the name of Morgaine of Avalon. The news that the king's nephew had started training as a squire in Camelot had spread around. Just not a description or his name. Though worship of his mother Morgaine as the High Priestess of Avalon was far greater than his relationship with the king. To honour his deed, the young father decided to name his son Harold. It really touched Harry. The knights congratulated him on helping here in the village and it was another very positive report for the file Sir Edmund kept on his training.

Flashback end

Morgaine watched happily while her son trained in the inner bailey. He had now been here for four months already and it showed. He had hit a growth spurt and, thanks to being rid of the leech and getting proper meals and physical training, he was becoming very interesting for the younger girls in Camelot, be they maids or noble daughters. She had heard giggling more than once and hushed whispers when her son passed a group of girls. She was sure it would be similar when he returned to Hogwarts in eight months. Time magic was really incredible. For the people in this time, Harry would only be gone for two months, in which he would accompany her to Avalon for some rituals she needed to perform and wanted him to learn. The rest of the year he would be training under Sir Edmund. She had to return to Avalon again in a week and would leave Harry here to continue his training. His magic was now in harmony with his body and he was starting to practice the easier skills Avalon taught. He could influence the wind to change direction as long as it was a soft breeze so far.

It was nothing on her control over the elements, but everybody needed to start at the bottom and work his way up. Harry knew he needed to continue practicing both his magical and non-magical skills. According to Sir Edmund's estimations Harry would be ready to be promoted to squire after one year of training. That meant he would start after returning from his third year at Hogwarts. She would tell him how he could continue with his training even when he was at Hogwarts, as it was essential. Sir Edmund would be most displeased if his student, after just getting ready to train as a squire, fell back in his physical strength.

His skills in brewing had shot up impressively. She had found out that with good instruction and a relaxing atmosphere while brewing Harry was really good at this art. He now could make the herbal salve that helped with sore muscles all by himself, could make simple pain-relieving potions, some basic potions for common illnesses like colds, menstrual problems, morning sickness and disinfecting salves for wounds.

Contrary to Harry's positive development, Arthur and Guinevere still didn't manage to conceive a child. For some reason, no matter what she tried to help Guinevere, she couldn't get pregnant. She knew it wasn't Arthur's fault, as his fertility was proven by Mordred's existence. But from her examinations, Guinevere was healthy and should be able to get pregnant. The only other possibility was a curse, but she couldn't determine it yet. It was one reason she needed to return to Avalon. She wanted to address the goddess with the problem and see if she showed a solution. While nobody was pressuring Arthur and Guinevere so far, if they didn't have an heir to present to the lords within two years, they might be told to simply try having Arthur have a child with another woman. Something that would break Guinevere's heart. Not to mention Arthur's, as he loved Guinevere deeply.

Hence why, for now, they had thought up a solution that would satisfy the lords and make them shut up. It was well-known that Harry was Arthur's nephew and, as he was her 'official' oldest son, he would take the position of crown-prince until the problem with Arthur and Guinevere was solved. Not that they would tell Harry very soon. He should concentrate on his training and she knew he disliked too much attention. He was already confused how to take the deserved praise for his accomplishments in training. Nobody knew that Mordred was Arthur's son and the real heir, thankfully that included Morgause, but she knew how her son would turn out under Morgause's tutelage and there was sadly nothing she could do, as she had given up all rights to her son in her distress about having been used by her aunt Viviane to get a powerful child. At that time, she hadn't realised that Morgause was far worse than Viviane.

Morgause had thought that Mordred was her first-born son, and, as Arthur and Guinevere didn't have children at the time, they were still just engaged back then, she had taken the chance to have a possible heir to the throne under her direct control, to raise him the way she wanted to. At the question of the identity of the father, Morgaine had thankfully managed to just tell her that it had been her last partner during the Beltane rites and that the magic had prevented her to know. Her complaints about her aunt messing around with her life were explained by ensuring that Morgaine got pregnant for sure this time around, probably because her partner was specifically chosen by Viviane.

As long as Arthur didn't acknowledge Mordred, he had no claim to the throne, except as her second son. In this time there was no way to prove who the father of a child was, and Mordred didn't look a lot like Arthur, he looked more like her father. That was why in the future he would duel Arthur for the throne, stating it was his birth-right. She didn't know if bringing Harry here to learn was changing things, but she hoped some things could be avoided. The future would be a much better place if Arthur lived longer. Sometimes having the sight wasn't all that great. It was as if she had already lived through this life several times and even if she tried to make things better, she always failed at some point as if she was cursed. The main problem was that no matter what she tried Guinevere didn't get pregnant, which left the throne open for usurpers and those thinking they could bully their way to the top.

Camelot was surrounded by white fields. It had started to snow in mid-November and by now everything was hidden under a thick blanket of snow. The morning training of the pages now consisted of regularly cleaning the bailey of the snow. Some also had to use their horses to create a basic path to the closest village in case somebody needed help from the castle. As shovelling the snow to areas where it didn't hinder people was really taxing, the normal strength exercises were replaced by it. Thanks to the stored wood, the castle was kept warm all the time. Though transporting the wood to the rooms with the big fireplaces still took some time.

The knights that had stayed at Camelot, most were only spending a few months of the year at Camelot, the other time they lived at their own estates, were getting very creative to keep the pages busy. Right now, only Sir Brian, who didn't have a big estate, Sir Edmund, who was courting the daughter of one of Arthur's advising lords, Sir Gawain, who had just returned from patrolling the borders and Sir William were staying at Camelot. As winter was the least likely time to be attacked, as the attackers would have lousy conditions to get to the castle, there was no need to keep as many knights at the castle as usually.

Many had taken their squires and pages with them too, so the remaining ones had to do more of the duties that they normally shared with the others. But the overall number of chores had gone down, therefore it was still manageable.

Harry was mostly studying the books his mother gave him. He helped shovelling the snow each morning and then helped with carrying the wood to all the fireplaces in the castle. After that he studied more to learn the magics of Avalon. He was getting better and better. But there was still so much to learn. Next to learning small elemental manipulations, he learned how to create water from the very air by manipulating the tiny water molecules in it, a feat that needed utmost concentration and a very intricate knowledge of how air was built. It wasn't simply one element, there were many different gases that combined the air everybody breathed.

Harry was surprised that chemistry was so useful to know in magic. His mother explained that a lot of knowledge had been lost over time. Magic and science didn't oppose each other, magic built up on basic scientific facts. The best Transfiguration masters knew the objects they transformed down to their very elemental structure. Transfiguration was, as Harry learned, changing of one matter into another through influencing the materials one had available with magic. But there were limits. It wasn't possible to conjure food, because food was created from living beings, be they plants or animals, and magic, while being able to give spark to life, wasn't able to copy it. It was possible to duplicate existing food though by splitting the tiny spark. The best ones using those spells could multiply a basic meal that was enough for three persons to feed three thousand.

Hence why, even if one transfigured a cup into a dove, it wouldn't be a real dove. It would be a cup, which's structure was transfigured to look like a dove and take its mannerisms, but it didn't live. Life needed a soul and that was only achieved by natural reproduction. Harry learned a lot about biology and natural balance. How predators and prey kept each other to a limited number. If one kind was too numerous, there wouldn't be enough prey and more predators would die from hunger. That would allow the prey to grow in numbers again, which would lead to more predators. Nature had a way to keep balance and humans needed to be careful how much they took to not destroy that balance.

Harry also learned a good number of basic runes and how he had to carve them to charge them magically. His mother explained that a skilled Rune Master could theoretically create a runic array that encompassed a whole castle to heat it from one common source. Harry liked the idea and worked on creating such arrays for use in larger areas. It was complicated, as he needed to have the runes strong enough to contain the power from the source of warmth, but also give it out to keep a stable temperature in the rooms. It took him a month to get an array perfected that would work for three rooms. He was allowed to test it with the study of his uncle, his bedroom and the salon where Uncle Arthur greeted guests. The main fireplace in the study was the source for powering the runes. After one failure, the second attempt worked, and it saved some firewood as only one fireplace needed to be kept going.

Soon Harry installed those runes in key areas of the castle. After all, a castle was really cold during winter. He also started keeping a journal where he wrote about his experiences and his learning progress. He wanted to have something to look up things if he forgot some details. The residents of Camelot were very grateful for the indoor heating. It made working much easier. Morgaine was really proud of Harry's achievements. He was learning quickly, and it would definitely help him in the future.

Harry was working in the stables, cleaning all the horses and making sure that they got exercise. With the grounds being completely covered in snow, there were many possibilities. The younger ones could go and play on the meadows. The thick snow blanket would prevent that they hurt their legs from the frozen ground. The older ones he normally took for twenty minutes into the indoor riding arena. Thankfully one of the old barns had been remodelled, as Uncle Arthur had realized that, if the horses didn't get proper training during the winter, they would need much more work in spring to get into full battle-readiness. And that wouldn't do, in case an emergency came up or anybody wanted to wage war against Camelot. Peace was still shaky and there were regular fights that Uncle Arthur had to deal with.

With as few pages and squires as there were, the ones that were there had to take care of all the horses. Harry basically had six horses each day, which he had to ride to keep them in training. While twenty minutes weren't much, with the number of horses and riders it was all they could do. There were only four pages and three squires living at the castle at the moment, and some needed to keep doing jobs in the castle too, so they normally did the riding in shifts. Harry, Cameron and Euan were riding their horses in the morning, Richard, Walter, Simeon and Charles in the afternoon. With each horse taking up twenty minutes of riding and ten minutes of getting ready before and after working with them, they were each using three hours to get everything done. Thankfully clearing the bailey of snow wasn't a problem currently, as it hadn't snowed for a week. Therefore, the cleared parts of the ground stayed in that state for now.

"We will be in good form for the Beltane Race with all the training in the saddle that we get," Euan commented.

"Definitely. I doubt the others at the estates of their teachers get as much practice. I don't think that they have an indoor riding arena like Camelot has," Cameron agreed.

"I think Sir Gawain and Sir Lancelot have small buildings where they can let the horses run around in a circle. They use them to train young horses who haven't been trained to carry a saddle yet. It is quite a good idea to not give the young horses much space to run away," Harry told them, "They might be used for limited riding practice too. I think they have cleared the inner area of some straw storage buildings for that."

"That would make sense. You only need dry ground to practice and if they have sand in the middle they could use it like you said," Euan agreed pondering how that could work, "Still, we are better off, even if we have a lot more work than during summers. I so hope that I win that race. Not only are the prizes always really great, you get a kiss from one of the prettiest girls around. Last year Daniel won and got a kiss from Lady Georgina."

He had a dreamy look in his eyes. Euan was fifteen and Sir William's squire. His short red hair reminded Harry a bit of the Weasleys, but it was another shade, more a reddish-brown. He was currently the oldest boy at Camelot. It was a well-known fact among the other pages and squires that he was horribly taken with Lady Georgina and had been crestfallen when she had kissed Daniel after he won the last Beltane race.

"We won't make it easy for you," Cameron promised and the three got a good laugh out of that.

Basically, every page and squire dreamed of winning the Beltane race. It was a great honour and the winner always got a privilege granted. Daniel had got the assistance of the king in courting his chosen bride. The father had been a bit apprehensive that the young soon to be knight had wanted to court his fifteen-years-old daughter, but with the king supporting it, he would have been a fool to not accept the obvious honour he was given. Now Daniel, who had been knighted by now, and Rachel were engaged and planned to marry next spring. Sometimes the privilege was set up beforehand, sometimes you could ask for a favour that wasn't too far-fetched. Harry wondered what the prize would be next year.

That's it for today, the next chapter will come out on New Year's Eve. Until then.

4. The Crown Prince

Hi, here is chapter 4. Hope you like it. Thanks for all the nice reviews you left. I will freely admit, I totally forgot that the metric system was only invented far later than the time of Camelot. Please simply ignore that anachronism, as I really don't want to switch all the parts around in the story. I'm sure it won't hinder the flow of the story that much :p

Happy reading.

The Crown Prince

Harry stirred his horse only by subtle shifting of his weight and soft commands with his legs. He really wanted to win this race. The prize was astonishing, and he wanted to win it. One week of training under King Arthur himself in all aspects of leading the kingdom. From politics to economy, fighting to strategy. All pages and squires of England had been invited to participate in the race, which was taken on horsebacks. Harry was a good rider and he knew that, but there were others that were also very good. The course they had to absolve was long and he needed to keep his horse from running itself tired too early on. He was a bit behind the leading group, letting others out-power their horses first. He was going for a steady pace, which he knew his horse could keep up for three hours on end if necessary.

It was the same horse he rode when he had come to Camelot ten months ago. He had arrived in June and now it was April. Beltane to be precise. He knew what this day meant, but he wouldn't participate in the activities around the fires that would be lit once darkness fell. Beltane was an important day in the old religion and couples would unite in sexual activities, blessing the earth for the next year to bring good fruit. He didn't feel ready for that kind of action at all. He was uncomfortable enough with the adoring looks the girls gave him now. He was growing a lot and it made it harder to coordinate his body. Thankfully he wasn't the only one having to deal with those problems.

Having a mother who had no problems with telling him exactly what having sex with a woman entailed, he was probably better informed than most others and knew how to please his partner once he felt ready and wanted to be with a girl.

As the king knew that many of the younger teenagers wouldn't be included in the evening activities, he had set up this race for them to enjoy and have the chance to win an incredible prize. He had trained every day since he had been told that Sir Edmund would be the knight to train him with his horse to get an understanding between them. No matter what the weather was, he was doing drills or exploring the surrounding forests in his free time on horseback. He had named his horse Thunder. Now he would hopefully reap the results of all of his work.

They were going onto the last kilometre and the front runners were finally slowing down. No wonder when their riders had pushed them to top speeds for over an hour already. The course had been fifteen kilometres long and all that distance going gallop wasn't easy on the horses, especially as they had to cross two rivers and climb three hills in the process. Harry had prevented Thunder from going all out in the beginning and had only kept close to the leading group to not be too far behind. He knew that Thunder was strong and came from a line of excellent battle horses. That would pay off in the end. Now he let Thunder go, giving his head free. Thunder jumped at the opportunity and let his powerful legs pound the ground, constantly gaining speed and getting closer to the leading group. Now that the others were tired, there were fewer chances of the other horses trying to bite or kick Thunder when he overtook them.

To his immense pleasure Wilbur was in this group and he shouted at his reddish-brown horse to run faster and not let Harry pass them. It didn't work and Harry overtook the group. A hundred metres from the finish line he left the last one of the group behind him and Thunder wasn't about to let this lead go. He rushed forward and they crossed the tape that symbolised the finish line first, Harry pumping his fist into the air to the cheers, applause and stomping of legs of the spectators that were assembled there. He was greeted by a massively grinning Sir Edmund, who complimented him for the great race and thanked him for winning him a good amount of gold and silver from the other knights that had bet on the outcome of the race.

Harry laughed. He had no problem with his teacher betting on his success. Once all the others had reached the finish, Harry was led towards the area where the prize would be handed over. Not only would he get the one week of training, there was also a trophy in form of a new leather saddle and headgear for Thunder. Lady Beatrice, the fifteen-year-old daughter of Lord Gregory of York was handing the prize over and gave Harry a kiss on the lips. He blushed heavily, not being used to that kind of open showing of attraction. And Beatrice was really pretty with long honey-blond hair and warm brown eyes. Some of the others had looked more forward to getting the prize and kiss from her than winning over their competitors. And they were a competitive bunch.

It was obvious with how some were protesting Harry's victory, but they were quickly shut up by the knights whom they served. Harry had won fairly and one of the things a knight had to learn was accepting defeat. There was no shame in being beaten by a better opponent. It should only make the loser train harder to win the next time around. The race was followed by an archery competition which was open to all people no matter if noble or commoner. It was really popular, and many knights competed with the others. Sir Percival and Sir Brian were among them. Harry wasn't that good at archery, therefore he had decided to skip this event. He was walking around with Cameron and Frederick. Both had been in the race but had ended coming in tenth and twelfth. It wasn't bad, considering that over seventy had been in it.

They all wore tunics today that showed their family crests on the back. Gloucester for Frederick, he was the younger brother of Daniel, whom Harry had met on his first day in the stables, and who had been knighted early last September, Ceredigion for Harry and Egremont for Cameron. They amused themselves taking in the things the vendors had to sell and sometimes they bought themselves some treats. As they didn't have any duties today, King Arthur had arranged for the feast being served by maids tonight, they could do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't misbehave.

They tried their hand at some of the games that were offered, and Cameron won a decorated green pillow at throwing balls at pyramids made of wooden bottles. Harry was surprised that the game had been around in this time. Another game was throwing rings at targets, something Frederick was good at. He got a hat for this. Harry had to talk to many people who wanted to congratulate him on his victory in the horseback race. He thanked them for their kind words and walked on once he had talked to everybody who wanted to. He had learned a lot about handling people during his time here.

At five in the afternoon the big feast started in the castle gardens. Harry and the winner of the archery competition were guests of honour at the King's table. They got to sit to the right and left of the king and queen respectively. While Harry had sat with his uncle before, it had never been in a position like this. He was expected to talk with the other guests around him and thankfully he had learned how to not embarrass himself and his family doing so. He gave evasive answers if his time living at Avalon was mentioned, but enough information to be convincing. Harry also overheard that while the celebration was welcomed, there was tension among the lords. They were not happy that King Arthur still didn't have an heir. Some were pondering about bringing their daughters for the king to choose one of them to replace Queen Guinevere if she couldn't provide the king with an heir.

Harry didn't like talk like that. His aunt and uncle were very much in love and really wished for a child. Perhaps he could find a solution in the future. His mother frankly admitted that she didn't have that much knowledge of the future. She knew about some general things and some more details concerning her family's development, especially Harry's life, or things like the tests for the champions, but as she wasn't all-knowing, perhaps there had been a reason he could find for Aunt Guinevere's problems to get pregnant.

Harry enjoyed the week he spent with his uncle immensely. He hadn't known the dimension of different things that being king included. Uncle Arthur was responsible for so many things. Thankfully he had reliable staff to help him deal with it all. He delegated a lot of jobs, but, to make sure they were done properly, he needed to know who was really skilled at which kind of work. Then he had to keep up his own training to not get out of shape in case he needed to fight with his knights in a war. It required serious time management. Harry was taught about politics and how Arthur managed to keep peace between the barons and lords, who all were looking out for their own benefit first. It was a balance act to not offend one by helping another one. Sometimes Uncle Arthur needed to use his power, but mostly he convinced the lords of his opinions in subtle ways.

Harry was told about battles Uncle Arthur and his knights had fought to make Camelot as safe as it was today. Strategy lessons were given within the History lessons. At the end of the week his uncle asked Harry to follow him into his private study.

After sitting down Arthur looked at Harry seriously.

"Harry, you have now been here for quite a while and I think you overheard some comments that the lords made about me and your aunt Guinevere not having a child to be my heir yet," Arthur started.

"Yes, I think they are completely out of line. How can they think about forcing you to have a child with another woman than your wife? A wife you deeply love at that," Harry nodded disgruntled.

"I know and I share your opinion on the matter. But, as this land stands and falls with the reign of my family, and the lords will only keep more or less quiet about the state of affairs for so long, Guinevere, your mother Morgaine, Sir Lancelot and I thought about how we could stop all the demands early on. The main problem is that if I don't have an heir when I die, the land will fall in disarray again. Only my power and reputation keep the weaker lords in line and prevent them from battling each other for dominance," Arthur explained.

"I have already planned to look up things about infertility caused by curses in my time. Probably this was documented somewhere as the story of you and Camelot is a really famous one, Uncle Arthur. I will do all I can to help you get the child you want so much," Harry promised.

"Thank you, Harry. I hope that you will succeed in that endeavour. But it will still take some time until we can implement a solution. Hence why, for now, we will go a simpler way. We will present an heir that will be the next in line for the throne until I have a child of my own," Arthur said.

"Huh? How does that work? You can't simply adopt a child and then cast it aside when your own child is born," Harry wondered.

"No, you are right, I can't do that. But there is a much easier solution. I happen to have a sister who incidentally has a highly talented son, who would make a perfect heir to the throne to stop the talking of the lords for a long time," Arthur informed him, grinning, "A son who has impressed all the knights at my court with his determination, talent and hard work, not to mention his attitude in his training."

Harry didn't believe what he was hearing.

"You mean me?" He asked disbelievingly.

"Indeed, I do. Think about it. While Morgaine is only my half-sister, as we don't have the same father, she is my only blood-sibling. And the Avalon line is the strongest of all magical lines. You are her oldest son. While I know that you are in reality her many times great-grandson, nobody else does. And the most important part is you are a blood-relative. The lords know you as Harold of Ceredigion, son of Morgaine of Avalon, High Priestess of the Goddess of the Moon and Benwick of Ceredigion, an important lord. You are the best choice I have for an heir, if I can't have a child of my own. This will at least buy us four years of time. Time you and Morgaine can use to perhaps find a medicine for Guinevere," Arthur explained.

Harry tried to comprehend that news. From a logical point of view, he could see the benefits. Uncle Arthur would have an heir that nobody could complain about. He was closely related to him as far as the barons knew and from a respected bloodline. And he was training to become a knight like all young nobles and not getting everything handed on a silver platter. That had impressed many and Harry knew it very well. He was also becoming really popular with the next generation of lords, as he knew. Daniel of Gloucester was his friend as was his younger brother Frederick. Daniel was the heir to the title Lord Gloucester. Cameron was much in the same position as Harry would be now. His uncle, Lord Egremont, had only had three daughters who couldn't inherit the title, as it was only given to a male heir. Therefore, his oldest nephew was the heir until he had a son or grandson, whatever happened.

"It will only be possible until I have to take up my duties in my time, you are aware of that, Uncle Arthur?" Harry asked.

"Of course. Your mission is too important to not support you in any way I can. But I can't really imagine that you would be ready for anything before you turn eighteen at least. And by then we have hopefully solved this problem," Arthur confirmed.

"Alright, I will do my best to not bring shame on you. I guess I will have to do more training in politics in the future," Harry sighed.

"Thank you for understanding, Harry," Arthur said smiling, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.

The time had gone by too fast in Harry's opinion. Tomorrow he would return back to his time for the next ten months. He had been really happy in this time. He would miss his friends; even if for them only two months would pass. He had packed all those things he wanted to take with him, like his new knives, which had been a present from his mother, now that he had passed the test that allowed him to go from being a page to being a squire. Sir Edmund would start him on that kind of training next summer when he returned.

It had been turbulent two months after Uncle Arthur had announced that, until he was blessed with a son of his own, Harry would be the heir to the throne. Most of the knights heartily greeted the decision, as it finally gave the kingdom some stability in the line of succession, but some lords didn't look pleased. Their plans to force one of their older daughters onto Arthur were stopped before they could really implement them. But they wouldn't give up that easily. Now they planned how to get a daughter at Harry's age close to him. Sadly, the training as Sir Edmund's squire would take up a lot of Harry's time and he probably wouldn't have much time for a love affair before he turned sixteen. Not to mention that it would be really hard to maintain a relationship if he had to regularly go back to the future. He had trouble thinking that one day he had to leave forever. Perhaps there was a way around this.

He was somewhat apprehensive to return to Hogwarts. The past year had helped him greatly in healing from the abuse at the hands of the Dursleys. He was more confident in his abilities and had grown a good bit. He didn't look much too young anymore. He was standing at an average height for his age and his mother had informed him that his real growth-spurt would probably hit him when he turned fifteen. He had asked her how they would keep his major development over the summer a secret, as he looked totally different than at the end of his second year at Hogwarts. She assured him that he wouldn't stand out too much. The excuse that he had seen a private healer at the recommendation of a wizard he had met in Diagon Alley at the beginning of the summer holidays would cover that part nicely.

And as long as he kept up with his training, nobody would be able to say the further development of his body would be unusual. She let him know of one special room at Hogwarts, which was called the Room of Requirement. She had visited the founders while they were building their school and had had a talk with Rowena Ravenclaw. She had decided to build a room that could become whatever one wanted. The trigger would be passing the entrance three times while thinking hard what kind of room was needed. That room would be finished in Harry's time, he only needed to find out where it was hidden, but that was completely possible with his new magic sensing abilities, which he had trained under his mother's tutelage.

He had been declared accomplished enough in the basics of the things she wanted to teach him that she would start his intermediate training once he returned for another ten months. His body would only age at a quarter of the normal speed as long as he was here; the only exception had been this past year. Therefore, he wouldn't be much older than everybody else with each switch of time period.

Next to basic weather manipulations, Harry now could control water and wind completely, feel the magical energy of nature, use many plants for brewing special potions and he could determine with his new magical sense what ability each plant had. That was dead useful in brewing. He would have a much easier time now in his classes, even with that bastard Snape teaching him. Really, the gall of the man to sabotage so many children's knowledge of Potions. It couldn't be called anything else.

Harry and Morgaine rode to the place where Harry had first appeared in the past. Fawkes would collect him and Hedwig from here. Harry had been given some good advice how to keep training by his uncle when he had no sparring partner. A small problem would be how to keep up with his riding skills, but there was always the possibility to work with thestrals, which Morgaine knew were living in the Forbidden Forest. Thunder would stay here in this time. It wouldn't work to take him to Hogwarts. Harry had no idea where he could put his horse without making Dumbledore suspicious. He would be suspicious enough about Harry's training and he would throw a hissy fit and try to guilt trip Harry for not returning to the Dursleys over the summer.

Harry couldn't care less. They had abused him and if, thanks to that, they didn't have shields anymore, he wasn't the one to blame for that. He wouldn't sacrifice his happiness and health anymore only so that they could be safe. He wouldn't go as far as to not warn them if he found out about an attack or make sure they moved to another place if Voldemort really came back before he could properly tackle that problem, but keeping up wards for them, only to be abused in return? No, never. It was very clear to him how they would react, now that they knew he couldn't use magic over the summer. He wouldn't take a repeat of last summer ever again. He could go to a place where Voldemort could never follow him to. The time of King Arthur. No protection that the old man could set up could top this.

Sure, this time had its dangers, but they were not as bad as a crazy megalomaniac wizard bent on killing him for whatever idiotic reason he had. From what everyone at Camelot knew, Harry was accompanying his mother to Avalon to get some more specific training in his magical gifts. It wasn't unusual that a page was allowed to leave for home once he passed the test for becoming a squire. Once Harry returned, Sir Edmund would get most of Harry's time to train him up in the fighting arts that knights needed to know. Proper etiquette was also part of how you became a knight and Harry had had to promise to prepare for that. He had got a book from his uncle to read while he was at Hogwarts. He knew he would be quizzed on it when he returned.

They reached the spot where Fawkes was already sitting on a tree-branch.

"Alright, Harry. It is time for you to go back. Remember what you learned during the past year and don't let others make decisions concerning your life. I don't really know what has happened during the summer in the future so far, as my only connection to that time is through you. I got all the knowledge I gained when you were sent to limbo to meet with me," Morgaine reminded him.

"I know, mother. I won't forget. I will keep up with my training both magical and non-magical. And I will put more effort into my studies. Now that my mind only has to sustain me, it will be a lot easier. I will also keep on guard for whatever Dumbledore might do this year," Harry promised and hugged her, "Thank you for everything you did for me this year."

"You're very welcome, Harry. It was a great pleasure being able to help you. You are a good boy and I am so proud of what you have already achieved," She said moved and kissed his forehead, "Be watchful and never forget what you learned and who you are."

Harry nodded touched about the praise and the show of love and then called Fawkes over.

"Please take good care of Thunder for me. I will miss him and you and all my friends," Harry said.

"Don't worry, I will. He will be waiting for you when you return," She promised.

Harry had Hedwig sitting on one of his shoulders. Fawkes would take the other one. His clothes were some that he had specifically ordered to not look too out of place in the future. He had a sleeveless beige shirt and simple black trousers. At first sight nobody would find anything strange about them. And he would have three days until the Hogwarts Express left to get new fitting clothes in his time next to his school supplies. Fawkes trilled and flashed them away in white flames again.

And the first part of the training in the past is done. Next up Harry's third year at Hogwarts. Until next time.

5. Back to the Future

Hey, thanks to all those that favoured and reviewed the story. I'm really happy about the large response. Now, it's time for the first chapter of Harry being back in his time. Happy reading.

Back to the Future

Harry landed in a small side alley of Diagon Alley. He looked around and thankfully nobody was around.

"Thank you for the ride, Fawkes. I guess I will see you at school," Harry addressed the phoenix that nodded and nuzzled Harry's cheek before flying off his shoulder and flashing away, "Hedwig, I think we should get a room at the Leaky Cauldron for the last few days and then I will collect my books for the new school year. I wonder what happened to my letter, as I wasn't here."

Hedwig hooted assuring and Harry thought it meant another owl would deliver it soon now that he was back. When Harry stepped out of the small alley his eyes quickly found the numerous wanted posters of a man with shaggy hair who seemed to be a prisoner. He read the name, but it didn't ring any bells with him. He decided to do some research. He went to the Cauldron and walked up to the bar where Tom the barman was cleaning the counter.

"Hello, I would like to rent a room till the 1st of September," Harry asked.

"Sure, that will be a galleon and two sickles," Tom said, "If you want three meals a day, it will cost two galleons and five sickles."

"I will take the room with full meals, thank you," Harry said, "I was out of the country for the holidays, therefore I was wondering what the wanted posters were about."

"You don't know? Muggleborn I guess. That's Sirius Black they are looking for, he was You-Know-Who's right hand man when he was powerful. Deceived everybody back then not revealing his true loyalty until the end. He pretended to fight against the Death Eaters at the side of Professor Dumbledore. Lost everything when Harry Potter defeated You-Know-Who. Most think he went insane then, as he killed a bunch of muggles with one curse and a wizard, Peter Pettigrew, when he tried to stop Black. Pettigrew was like Black a friend of James Potter at school, so I guess he wanted revenge for the death of his friend. I remember that group being here a lot of times. Especially when they sneaked out of Potter Manor during the summers. Old Charlus had to get his son back so often; I think he was seriously considering putting tracking charms on the boy," Tom reminisced.

Harry was struck by that information. He had never even heard those names whenever he had asked about his parents.

"So, Black was in some way responsible for their deaths?" Harry asked, using a technique his mother had taught him to hide his feelings. It was better to not give facial clues if he wanted to get information.

"Yes, I actually would never have thought that about him. He seemed like a good boy back then. He and James could have been brothers with how they behaved. But perhaps the pressure the Blacks put on Sirius was too much. Dark family the whole lot. His brother Regulus was a Death Eater too. Died, as far as I heard, early," Tom answered, "Now, under which name should I book the room?"

"Harry Potter," Harry answered, shocking Tom.

"Merlin, I didn't recognise you. You look totally different last time you were here with Hagrid two years ago," Tom exclaimed, "Sorry for bringing up that story. It must be hard for you."

"No, I am glad that I know. Nobody ever mentioned the friends my parents had before. I only was told how much I look like Dad and have Mum's eyes. It's hard, but I prefer being informed of a potential danger rather than running into it blindly," Harry replied.

"That's probably a good decision. But where have you been? The Ministry has been looking for you everywhere. They fear you could be Black's target," Tom asked.

"Abroad. I went to a healer that swore to keep my visit a secret. As you can see the treatment worked," Harry answered without giving up too much information.

"That it did. You for one don't wear glasses anymore," Tom remarked.

"Yes, that's one of the major advantages I got from the treatment," Harry agreed smiling.

Tom then led Harry upstairs to room eleven.

"Could you perhaps keep my being here a secret as far as possible, Tom? I don't want to be swarmed by people. They will find out that I am okay soon enough when I return to Hogwarts, which is only three days away anyway," Harry asked.

"Sure, a few days more won't harm anybody. Just make sure you don't wander off into places that are suspect. And tell me if you go into muggle London, as I can then send somebody out if you stay away for too long," Tom stated.

"I can do that, thank you, Tom," Harry agreed.

The owl with Harry's school letter arrived that evening, looking a bit disgruntled at only being able to deliver the letter this shortly before the new school year started. Harry took the letter and soothed the owl's temper with some owl treats. Reading the letter, he saw that he only needed to get the two books for Ancient Runes, one for Defence Against the Dark Arts and the Standard Book of Spells Grade 3. With the school letter owl another owl from Hagrid had arrived and the book he had given him for his birthday was coincidentally the one for Care of Magical Creatures. Harry wondered about that but using his magical senses he realised that the book could be calmed down by stroking the spine.

It was something only Hagrid could come up with. Was he the new assistant teacher for COMC? He would surely find out soon. Next to the books, Runes required one set of carving tools and one special quill. He suspected that they were the more advanced versions of the ones he had been taught how to use by his mother for the studies in runes that she had him begin. Normally, that should give him a head start compared to other students that had never done anything like carving. He would get those tomorrow. For now, he ate the food that Tom had sent up. It was a stew with meat and tasted really good. Once he was done, the plate vanished, probably back into the kitchen.

Harry took a relaxing shower and then went to bed. He wanted to be rested for tomorrow and he had got into the habit to go to bed early, as he had to be in the bailey for training every day at six in the morning. He would see where he could do his morning run here. Probably non-magical London's Hyde Park would work out best. From what he knew, Hyde Park was not even two kilometres away and he could also jog alongside the Thames. He would use the time to explore a bit. His normal running distance was about five kilometres if he did work-outs after that, but he could easily run ten if he didn't do too much afterwards. Thus, he decided, as he wanted to know more about where things were, to skip working out for running a longer distance.

Early the next morning Harry woke up like he was used to, thanks to having an alarm charm on his wand, something he had been taught by his mother. He put on his training pants and a short-sleeved shirt and went down. Nobody was awake yet, so he left a note for Tom where he had gone. He didn't expect anybody to attack him early in the morning while running. And if they did, they would get a nasty surprise. Hand-to-hand combat had been part of the training he had got over the past year. He wasn't really that good yet, but it was more than enough for common thieves. And to be honest, what kind of dumb thief would attack a jogging kid? There was nothing a thief could gain by doing that.

His estimations of the distance proved true and soon he could enjoy the scenery of Hyde Park. He took his time and looked around while running. As it was summer, lots of flowers bloomed, the trees were green, and the leaves swayed lightly in the soft breeze of cool morning air. He wasn't the only one there; he crossed paths with three other joggers. After running for forty minutes, he went back to the Leaky Cauldron. He noticed that, even at seven in the morning, there wasn't much business. Well, most guests probably were still asleep. He knew from last year that the Ministry only had workers coming in at nine normally and the shops in Diagon Alley would also only open at that time if not a bit later. The only business that opened earlier was Gringotts, which opened at half past seven. Time was money for the goblins.

Upstairs Harry took a shower and took care of other morning business. He dressed in the clothes he had worn the day before and went down to get some breakfast. He wasn't overly hungry yet, as he was used to eating after four hours of training by now. But it would be better if he ate while fewer guests were there. He ordered a bowl of porridge with fruits, fresh milk and a cooked egg. Tom looked a bit surprised, but Harry got what he wanted. The fat English breakfast wouldn't do him any good after his exercise. He knew that from experience. He would only get stomach cramps. After eating he set out into Diagon Alley to get the books and equipment he needed for the new school year. His first stop was Gringotts where he also had to take care of some family business. His mother had told him to claim the Avalon ring.

It would give him allies in the goblins and other magical races. Only House Avalon had that kind of connection. All magical races had sworn loyalty to the Lord or Lady of House Avalon. And by right Harry was the next Lord Avalon. He wouldn't be able to use the title before he turned sixteen, but it would help him a lot. Not to mention that claiming the Potter ring on top of that would give him some much-needed political clout. Using his seats on the Wizengamot wasn't possible until he turned seventeen, but he could sit in on sessions with the ring and learn how the current members went about making laws and so on. Those sessions were normally held under the week, but the three major ones that required the full attendance were held on Saturdays. One in April, one in July and one in October. They all were in the week leading up to the important magical dates of Beltane, Lugnasadh and Samhain.

It was part of his family library in his mind. The dates had been set up like that, as people in older times took them really seriously. The dates were celebrated for their magical power. Beltane the blessing of the awakening earth. Couples came together in love to unite sexually to symbolise the fertility of earth to grant a good harvest that year. Lugnasadh was the start of the harvesting period and marked the point of life at its fullest. Then Samhain was the day where the veil between the plain of the living and the dead was at its thinnest.

Now, assembling the week before them eased arranging the meetings a lot, as people would do so anyway for the festivities. And in older times travelling had been a lot slower. While communication was easier for magicals than mundanes, thanks to owl post, travelling hadn't been different until apparition was discovered. And that had been a few hundred years after the Wizengamot was created. All the families that had been part of the founders of the Wizengamot were called the Ancient and Noble houses today. The title didn't hold as much power today as it did in the past, but it was still important. Therefore, Harry needed to learn how to use his political power properly, especially concerning his mission to save magic.

From what his mother had told him, in more detail than she could in limbo, there was a chance to prevent the worst if Harry managed to stop the pureblood idiots from killing off the mundane borns. And the mundane borns needed to accept that magic was sentient. It would be hard, but it needed to be done. On top of that he needed to perform some rituals to strengthen the magic in itself. Some were not possible for him to perform yet. He needed to learn more about Avalon's practices first, but once he came of age, he would be ready from what his mother had told him.

He reached Gringotts and entered. He saw that there was only one other customer, so he could directly approach the teller at one counter.

"Good morning, my name is Harry Potter and I would like to speak to my account manager as well as a member of the inheritance department," He stated politely but firmly, "Further I would like to go to my vault to withdraw some money, here is my key."

The goblin took the key and examined it. It was the real one.

"Very well, I will have someone inform Corpnik and Copperarm of your requests. They will be available in half an hour. That should be enough for you to get some money. Gornuk," He called out, "Accompany Mr Potter to his vault."

Harry was led towards the trail for the carts and soon was in front of his vault. He went inside after Gornuk had opened it and collected a bigger sum, as he planned to get a complete new wardrobe of good quality. Hearing what magic could do, he thought about how cold he had been during winter at Hogwarts and how easily heating charms that were woven into the clothes could have taken care of that. He would see what kind of everyday clothes that weren't robes were available at the Alley and then decide if he bought everything he needed here or if he went shopping in the non-magical world too.

Once they had returned to the bank proper, Harry was led to an office down a corridor. The name plate on the door said Corpnik, Account Manager Potter, Longbottom, Peverell, Greengrass and Boot. After his goblin guide knocked, he was called inside. The office was filled with drawers at the walls each showing a different family crest.

"Mr Potter, I expected you two years earlier, but no matter, we have a lot of work to get done," Corpnik said.

He was an older goblin with white hair, but a very intelligent and crafty look to him.

"I wasn't informed that I should come here, Corpnik. Had I been, I would have come. But two years ago, I just found out about the wizarding world and my position in it. Well, the part about being the so-called Boy-Who-Lived. No matter, what do we need to do?" Harry asked, knowing that goblins had little patience for small talk.

"First, you are scheduled for the traditional inheritance test. Copperarm left the documents for us to use, as he is too busy to be here for it. It will show which titles you can claim, and which vaults you can access. Most should already be accumulated in the Potter Family vault, as your father had the same test done when his parents died, and he ascended to being Lord Potter. As you are the last of your family, we have to administer the test now," Corpnik stated.

Harry nodded understanding that.

"A normal blood-test?" He asked.

"Yes," Corpnik confirmed.

Harry pulled one of his knives out of his boot, making Corpnik raise his brow a bit, and cut his finger without flinching. He was handed a piece of blue parchment and let three drops of blood fall onto it. Lines spread out from his blood and pushed the blue colour away. After a minute the parchment was white with writing on it. Harry only raised his eyebrow seeing that his first name was really just a shortened form of Harold. His full name was Harold James Potter and not Harry James Potter. Well, it made more sense this way. After all, his father had been from an important family and wouldn't give his son a nickname for his real name.

"Interesting, I didn't expect Peverell and Slytherin," Harry commented before handing the parchment to Corpnik.

"Indeed, an interesting turn, but not completely unheard of. Tell me; did you by any chance defeat Tom Riddle, who is also known as the Dark Lord Voldemort, three times?" Corpnik asked his eyes shortly having widened reading the parchment.

"Uh, if you count me surviving his killing curse as a baby, then yes," Harry answered, "Once I prevented him from stealing the Philosopher's Stone in my first year and destroyed his host body in the process to keep him from killing me. Then last year I destroyed his diary and the memory of him that was preserved in it and killed Slytherin's basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. That would make three times."

"It is a magical law that if you beat the head of a line in magical combat with no rules hold three times, then you can claim the headship of the defeated head's house, as long as he doesn't negate that achievement by defeating you in turn. And yes, your reflection of the killing curse back on him counts, as it was a magical attack aimed to kill you, even if you couldn't consciously control what you did, due to your age," Corpnik confirmed, "Well, as I can see, you can claim four titles if you choose so. Potter, Peverell, Slytherin and Avalon. The last one I didn't expect at all, but you seemingly did."

"Yes, I did. I found out a lot about my heritage over the summer," Harry answered not giving up too much information, "And I want to claim all of those titles. I have a mission to fulfil and need all the support I can get."

"Very well. I will call for the rings," Corpnik nodded and sent two messages.

One would go to the department that stored the rings of the old families that weren't with the heads of the houses. The other one would go to Director Ragnok. Having the future Lord Avalon at Gringotts required his presence. While they were waiting, Corpnik informed Harry about his holdings. They weren't massive, especially the Slytherin vault was basically empty, except for some books that couldn't be removed, but from which he could get copies. The main value next to the books was the size of the vault, which he could use to store valuables that didn't fit into the other vaults anymore, or which he simply wanted to be stored at the highest possible security level. All founders' vaults had got that level Harry was informed.

The Peverell vault had been combined with the Potter vault already by his grandfather, so there was nothing to add to his vaults. The Avalon vault though held some treasure and many valuable books that couldn't be found anywhere else anymore. The Potter vault was a bit bigger than the trust vault he was used to. It had been a surprise to Harry that his vault that was already so full of gold, silver and bronze coins was only his trust vault meant for his schooling. The family vault would be accessible to him at sixteen.

That wasn't a bad thing; he wouldn't need the money before that. His trust vault was more than enough to cover his expenses for the time being. Though it wasn't as if, even with adding the whole Potter fortune, he would be a millionaire. He would do well that much was for sure, but he couldn't buy anything he wanted and never work a day of his life. That would have been too boring anyway he thought. The most valuable possession he inherited was Potter Manor itself. It would need some repairs after not having been lived in for a while, but that was manageable. At least he wouldn't have to worry about a house once he settled down. For the coming years he would have no use for the house and could get the repairs done. Over the summers he would be in Camelot training and the rest of the time at Hogwarts.

Finally, two goblins entered, one looking like a normal worker, but the other wore a suit that identified him as really high ranking.

"Director Ragnok, thank you for coming this quickly," Corpnik said bowing deeply.

"I got your message and not greeting the future Lord Avalon would have been an inexcusable insult," Ragnok replied.

Harry instantly realised how important this goblin was.

"Good morning, Director Ragnok. I'm honoured that you took the time out of your busy time-table to greet me," He said politely while giving an indicated bow.

"The pleasure is mine, Scion Avalon. It has been long since your house had a proper Lord or Lady. We feared the worst reading the signs, after the last war the wizards waged," Ragnok said.

"That is the reason my house was revived. I got the first training during the past summer to get ready to help magic to get back in balance and prevent it from dying," Harry revealed.

"The goblins will do everything in our power to assist you with that task. We may be restricted in what we can do, thanks to the treaties that were forced upon our people, but there are still many areas where we can be of assistance. While humans have scorned us for a long time, House Avalon has always been a loyal friend to all magical races," Ragnok stated.

"I hope I can live up to those expectations, Director Ragnok. I will do all in my power to succeed in my mission," Harry promised.

"Then I think it is time for you to claim your family rings. They don't have a lot of powers, but they will help you detect mind intrusions of any kind and block the intruder. Until you are skilled in the mind arts yourself, you should keep cautious though. They can't stop a really determined master of mind magics," Ragnok warned.

"I will remember that," Harry said and took the offered rings one after the other. They were all beautiful and in the end they all fused into one overall ring. It had a red stone with a white stag in the background, a stone with a sword next to it. Harry wondered about the latter image.

"Hm, that is curious," Ragnok commented seeing the new crest, "That stone is the one holding Excalibur before King Arthur pulled it out of the stone and the sword should be kept at Avalon. But the Avalon line doesn't have any claim to the throne of Camelot."

Harry suspected it might have something to do with him officially being declared heir of Camelot until Uncle Arthur and Aunt Guinevere had a child of their own. He just wondered if the crest would change if they found a way for the two to have a child.

The shopping trip was going well. Thanks to all the training outside in the sun Harry had developed a healthy tan and thanks to the horcrux being destroyed, the scar was far less pronounced than before. So even if his fringe slipped slightly to the side occasionally, nobody recognized him. It was great to just blend in with the masses. Getting measured for new clothes took a while, but he was happy with the clothes he found. It turned out that Madam Malkin had one assistant that was a mundane born witch and knew what kind of clothes would let him blend in if he needed to go into the non-magical world. He also got three sets of working out clothes. Thanks to certain spells on them, they had an advantage over those available in the mundane world. Like absorption and vanishing of sweat. That would be useful in winter. He would buy swimming wear in the non-magical part of London in the afternoon, as that was a lot better than wizarding ideas of bathing suits. That was simply too old-fashioned for him.

Even at Camelot the pages and squires wore simple shorts when they went swimming. Not those horrible full-body suits Madam Malkin tried to sell him. He steadfastly refused. After getting his clothes packed up and shrunk, he left and headed for the bookstore. The employee seemed to want to hug him when he said he already had one of the Monster Book of Monsters and cried in gratefulness when Harry told him how to make the book behave. Harry got all of his books at half their normal price and decided to use that for getting some more books that interested him like ancient curses and their counters, more books about runes and magical creatures and some books about potions. He would normally have had to pay twenty galleons for all the books he bought, but now he paid ten and was told to come again soon. Probably the fact that his information prevented the poor shop assistant from being bitten all the time justified that reaction.

Getting a few general supplies like parchment and quills was last on Harry's list and he did it quickly. Once he was finished, he carried his purchases back to the Leaky Cauldron and started packing them into his new trunk. Well, new wasn't really true; the trunk had been stored in the Potter family vault and had been one item that he was allowed to take out. His grandfather had placed it there for future Potters to use when they needed it. The trunk had five compartments without being bigger on the outside. One was a complete walk-in wardrobe, the second one a potions storage cupboard, the third a general storage area, the fourth a small library with a desk and comfortable chair and the fifth was empty and could be modelled how Harry wanted. He also got a manual for the trunk which he found in the general storage compartment. Harry thought it would make a good room to train in when he couldn't go outside.

The Scottish winters were hard and training outside would be difficult with all the snow they normally had.

Harry walked casually in his new clothes towards the portal to Platform 9 ¾. He had spent the past days with reading up on the first chapters of his new books, he knew his mother would be disappointed if he didn't do well at school, and shopping one afternoon in non-magical London. He had noticed that he thought the term muggle strange now. He had become so used to saying mundane and non-magical that he felt strange hearing people say muggle. The best part of his new looks was that he wasn't recognised when he went out, even in Diagon Alley. He noticed some girls looking at him interested, but they didn't immediately approach him or behave like fangirls. That was a major improvement to before.

He had got somewhat used to female attention over the last year, after his mother had explained the reasons and helped him somewhat overcome the ingrained behaviour from his time at the Dursleys. It was only a sign that he was attractive in their eyes and that for now they would like to get closer to him. Thanks to Uncle Arthur, he had some idea how to behave in female company and how to express an interest without making a complete fool out of himself. He also knew how to politely decline an offer, which was something he had already needed after winning the Beltane Race. He had got offers of some pretty girls to accompany them to the Beltane fires. But he simply wasn't ready for something like that yet.

He passed through the barrier, this time thankfully without incident, and pushed his trolley towards the train. He could see that more aurors, he had asked Tom how they looked like, were watching the platform. Probably to protect the students from Sirius Black. Harry had tried to find out more about the whole story, but there had been disturbingly little information. It was as if somebody was intentionally suppressing all information on the Sirius Black case. Harry had wanted to get insight in the trial transcripts to find out why he had betrayed his parents to Voldemort, but he couldn't find anything in the short time he had been back in this time. He had asked for a copy of the trial transcript from the Ministry, but so far, he had got nothing.

He hoped that they would owl him the copy to Hogwarts. Because if he didn't deserve to know the why, then who did?

Funnily there was still nobody who recognised him when he boarded the train. He looked for a compartment and hoped that Hermione and Ron would find him there. In case they didn't recognise his looks, he had placed Hedwig in a way that she couldn't be overlooked. After all, she hadn't changed. It was interesting to see how some other students passed his compartment and many of the girls around his age seemed to be interested, but also confused who he was. This was so much fun. It wouldn't hold of course; as soon as the feast started he would be seen sitting at the Gryffindor table and then some would put the clues together, but until then he would enjoy the looks he got.

Hermione and Ron passed his compartment twice before Hermione pointed at Hedwig and opened the door.

"Harry, is that you?" She asked not believing what she saw.

"Yep, took you a while to figure it out, Hermione. And here I thought you would realise it when you saw Hedwig," Harry said grinning, "How are you?"

She seemed to start getting furious and relieved at the same time.

"How could you simply vanish; do you know how worried we have been when Professor Dumbledore came to our houses to ask if any of us had seen you? Where were you?" She berated him; Ron was wisely not getting into her way.

"I was abroad to see a healer on recommendation of an older wizard in Diagon Alley. He said that I looked as if I needed to see one urgently. From there I went to Gringotts and asked if they knew a good one and they gave me the address and a portkey after I paid a fee of fifteen galleons. That was only for the portkey of course, the services of the healer cost extra. It helped a lot, as you can see. And I didn't tell anybody, because I didn't want that anybody interfered with my healing and dragged me back to the Dursleys. I had the best summer ever. The healer, sorry that I can't tell you his name, but I had to sign a contract to not reveal any information on his person or the clinic, not only took care of healing all my health issues that were caused by the abuse from the Dursleys for ten years and one summer, but he also helped me get into a better physical form," Harry explained, knowing that this would take the wind out of Hermione's rant.

"Abuse?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

"Did you really think that people normally put bars on windows of a child's room, Ron? You and the twins had to break me out last summer and you saw how thin I was. I was the smallest boy in our year and that was not due to me having small parents. My father was pretty tall, and my mother also was above average height for a woman," Harry countered, "I have had the chance to really talk with my healer about it and he agreed with me that I would be best off to not go back to England before the school year was about to start. He had the power to keep me at his clinic for medical reasons, not that anybody asked for me there. And as I don't have a magical guardian that I know of, and the Dursleys were the cause for my problem, nobody needed to get informed."

Hermione didn't look happy about that information, but it sounded like it was right. A doctor could take such measures. Her parents had once mentioned that in cases of child abuse that they spotted they could keep the child away from the suspected abusers, even if it were the legal guardians of a child if they could claim medical issues.

"So, the way you look now is due to the treatment you got over the summer?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, once the effects of the Dursleys' 'care' were dealt with, my healer told me to take up a type of sports. I decided to go for sword-fighting and staff-fighting, because there was another patient, that one an adult, who practiced them and had offered to teach me. I'm not that far with a sword, but I'm pretty good with a staff. The clinic also had some horses and offered lessons how to ride one and, as I had nothing better to do, I signed up for them. I found out that my sense of balance from flying was pretty neat for horseback riding as well and I can control a horse in all gaits now. I'm going to ask Hagrid if there is a way for me to continue at Hogwarts. It's a lot of fun," Harry explained grinning.

"Seems like you had a good summer then. Got to fly too?" Ron asked now more relaxed.

"Not very often. The clinic, while a bit isolated from non-magical settlements, wasn't far enough away for clearly magical hobbies that were done outside. The area was popular for hikers, so flying wasn't really a possibility. And during the first month my magic needed to settle down again after the treatment. I learned some useful meditation exercises to get a better feeling for my magic because somehow the basilisk venom in combination with Fawkes' tears caused a strange reaction. My magic was in chaos and I needed to balance it out. I was even allowed to use some first-year spells to test the balance exercise's success," Harry said, "And to be honest, I'm not used to getting to fly during the summer break. It wasn't that big of a loss to not fly regularly, like we did when I stayed at the Burrow last summer. All the advantages clearly surpassed the few disadvantages, if one can call them that."

"So, did you also get your homework done?" Hermione asked.

"Yep. Everything is done. It helped a lot that I had some experts on many types of magic there. The healers were really proficient and one old woman was a history nut. I could probably give Binns a run for his money concerning the Camelot period of history. Her stories of that time were great. Much better than anything Binns ever tried to teach us. She made it appear so real," Harry raved.

He had decided to early on prevent that his knowledge would seem suspicious. If he told Ron and Hermione up front that he had talked with healers about certain things, his increased knowledge in healing and brewing wouldn't be too strange. And he was aware that he could sometimes slip up about his time in Camelot. Hence, reasoning that the old woman had told him all she knew would probably take care of that issue for now. He would have to wait and see what happened next.

Hermione seemed to be happy about that information. She always approved if somebody learned more. And Harry had already shown interest in that time-period before the end of their last school year. Thus, him using the chance to learn more about it wasn't that strange. Ron seemed unable to understand how Harry could find history interesting but kept quiet for once. The topic changed to their expectations for the new electives. Ron was surprised to hear that Harry was taking Ancient Runes and not Divination.

"But why? I thought you took the same subjects as I did?" Ron asked.

"I looked up a bit more information after the threat of the Chamber was gone. And I overheard some older students ranting about some Professor Trelawney predicting their death again. That didn't give me much faith in Divination, so I went with Runes, which I found to be much more interesting from the short description I found on the subject and what it could be used for. I didn't like Maths in primary school, so I didn't think Arithmancy would be a good choice for me and I find magical creatures fascinating, so I kept that class," Harry explained.

"And why didn't you tell me?" Ron asked.

"You said you wanted to take easy classes, which were Care of Magical Creatures and Divination from what your brothers told you. I didn't think you would want to learn a bunch of runes and how they worked together. It's a completely different language," Harry answered.

"Oh, well, I guess you're right there. I wouldn't want to learn another complicated language," Ron admitted.

When the train slowed down before it was time to reach Hogsmeade, Harry and Hermione wondered what the reason could be. They had discussed the escape of Sirius Black and Harry had told them what Tom the barman had told him. Hermione was worried about Black possibly being after Harry and Ron said something about his Dad telling him that the Azkaban guards being ordered to protect Hogwarts because of Black. Harry didn't have a good feeling concerning them. His fear was confirmed when he saw the first signs of an evil his mother had warned him of. Soul suckers. But they should be banished. They had been imprisoned by Taliesin and his mother's aunt Viviane, because they were too dangerous to be left roaming the lands. That seal should have held five thousand years without new powering, thanks to the ambient magic of Avalon being used to create it. And the time of Camelot only was only about one thousand years in the past.

Could somebody have tempered with it? Or did the losses to magic cause this? His mother had told him that strengthening magic and preventing it from dying was his mission. Whatever, he wouldn't let those beasts close to the students. He quickly called up his magic. While this would be something he would be hard-pressed to explain to Ron and Hermione, this needed to be done. Those monsters could kill souls of innocents if they were allowed to do it.

"Ron, Hermione, I am going to use something that I found out about at Gringotts at the beginning of the summer. I did a heritage test there and I am the heir of a few houses and what I am to do falls under family magics. I need you to keep quiet about what I can do. It isn't dangerous, but I don't want it to be known to the wrong people. And that includes the teachers until I am sure which ones I can trust with this," Harry stated seriously.

Hermione looked scandalised but nodded when she saw the look on Harry's face.

When the monster appeared at their door, Harry blasted a wave of pure white energy from his body, directed through his outstretched arms in front of him, and confronted the now shrieking monster while having his body glow in the same white energy.

"Your kind isn't welcome here. You were banished by the Merlin Taliesin and High Priestess Viviane of Avalon," Harry darkly said, "The crimes your kind committed were an affront to magic itself."

The being in front of him shrieked harder, somehow knowing that this wasn't a wizard it should cross. Then Harry started chanting in Gaelic, the native language of the land he was born in, which made Hermione and Ron wonder what exactly he was doing, but they could feel the magic radiating from their best friend.

"By the power of Avalon, I hereby banish you and your kin behind the seal. Magic be my witness. I hereby freely offer use of half of my magical power to renew the seal my ancestors created. So I say it, so mote it be," Harry intoned and not only the monster in front of him shrieked before being sucked into a vortex of light, all others of the same kind of monsters that floated around the train or were inside were grabbed as well and pulled away.

Harry stumbled and sat down heavily on the bench in the compartment, feeling incredibly drained. Using half his power wasn't a feat one did carelessly. He had been warned by his mother that he needed to be very careful if he attempted higher level magic of Avalon. It was incredibly powerful, but it took a lot out of the user. Especially one that was still in training like he was. When he was older, it would be easier for him to use spells like this one, but right now, he really had to rest. Thankfully he would be up to full power again in three days. And, which he also would keep in mind, he was to never use up all of his reserves. That would kill him and then he wouldn't be able to fulfil his mission to save magic, meaning, nothing would be won. Self-sacrifice, according to his mother, was stupid in most cases. It was only a very last resort if nothing else could be done to save himself and others he was protecting. And normally, once he was properly trained in the magic of Avalon, he shouldn't be in situations that might put him into that place.

"Harry," Hermione exclaimed concerned, "What did you do? What language was that?"

"I banished all the soul suckers back behind the seal from where they shouldn't have been capable of escaping before another four millennia were over. And it was Gaelic," Harry brought out, "Does somebody have chocolate? I need some pure energy."

Ron quickly brought out two chocolate frogs that he had bought from the trolley earlier. Harry ate them gratefully.

"I will buy you a few new ones at the first Hogsmeade weekend, mate," Harry promised.

"Don't worry about them. How did you do that? That was incredible. Dad said the Azkaban guards were really bad," Ron asked.

"I am the last of the Avalon line. I have the blood of the High Priestess Morgaine in my veins. I found out after the incident with being poisoned and healed that I had access to some kind of mental library with my family's knowledge. It's a bit hard to explain, especially as the knowledge always comes to me unexpected. I have no control over it," Harry told them.

"Is that why you are so fascinated with the time-period of Camelot? Because your many times great-grandmother lived back then?" Hermione deducted and Harry simply nodded.

"I always wanted to know more about my family. After I got glimpses about that, I wanted to know all I could. From the heritage test I could confirm that Morgaine of Avalon was my ancestor, which I had only been suspecting. I only knew the connection to Avalon and the legend of King Arthur was the only one I could remember hearing that name from," Harry explained.

"Wow, that's really cool. Do you know what that means, Harry?" Ron asked excitedly.

"No, I know that my family was really important in that time, but I have no idea what it means today," Harry answered.

That wasn't completely true, but it wouldn't be wise to give up all the information he had. He could hint at things, but he wouldn't go farther.

"The Avalon line is the most important and oldest line in Wizarding Britain. It even tops the Pendragon line of King Arthur. The Avalon line is said to be the guardian of magic itself," Ron exclaimed excitedly.

"What?" Hermione asked shocked, "How do you know that Ron?"

"My Mum told us the story when we were small children. All kids raised in the wizarding world hear it as far as I know. It's like the Tales of Beedle the Bard. Everyone knows them," Ron explained, "Though many thought that the line had died out. Some even blamed the lack of a guardian for a lot of magical incidents. Like the flood in winter of 1988. It was the worst one for some years. Dad said that the Ministry of Magic had noticed a magical outburst shortly before it happened. Some muggles died because they couldn't escape early enough. Several magical families just managed to evacuate, as the Ministry gave out a warning about the outburst over the WWN. But some of their homes were destroyed. Some people are worried that worse events could happen in the future."

"And you think Harry could stop that?" Hermione asked sceptically.

"I don't know if I could, but my family has indeed watched over the magical balance for centuries. And it will be my job to continue that work when I am old enough. It's part of my heritage," Harry said.

Hermione was shocked hearing him say that.

"How could you be responsible for something that big?" She asked aghast.

"Hermione, you have to understand that magic isn't just a power you have. The best way to describe it is that magic is alive. Every being has some magic in it, be it plants, animals, humans, even minerals. The amount differs greatly, but it is everywhere. If magic is in balance, things are going smoothly, but that only is the case if enough magic is available," Ron tried to explain.

This was something he had learned from when he was very young. His parents had been firm to have their children understand how important preserving magical life was. All life, which was why the Weasleys were so supportive of muggleborns in their society.

Hermione didn't look as if she believed that.

"From what Mum and Dad explained to us, the reason muggleborns exist is that even muggles have some magic in them. If there aren't enough witches and wizards to have children that could help with getting the amount of magic out there up, magic makes it that more muggleborns are born. In our generation there are a lot more muggleborns than in previous ones. In Mum's year there were only three muggleborns from what she told us, we have at least twelve while there are forty students overall in our year. And Mum's year was at least twice as large as our year," Ron continued.

"But that can't be right, how can magic be alive?" She asked protesting.

"It's true. Magic is sentient. Some families are more in tune with it than others. Mine is one of them. That's why we were chosen as its guardians long ago. There are different varieties of connections. Some have an instinctive grasp of a certain aspect like Transfiguration; some can easily calm down even the fiercest creatures. Newt Scamander, who wrote one of our textbooks 'Fantastical Beast and Where to Find Them' was said to have that special connection to all magical creatures. Others can see different realms of magic and appear strange to others because they can't express what they see properly. The possibilities are endless," Harry tried to explain.

"So, you want to tell me that because magic noticed that there were too few wizard-born children, it created more muggleborns, using the fact that a little magic was already in the muggles that had the magical children?" She asked.

"That's right," Ron confirmed happily.

Hermione still looked sceptic and Harry was sure that she would look that up in the library. But he got a promise of both his best friends that they would keep quiet about this.

It was a strange sight for Remus Lupin when he saw the dementor that had searched the compartment in which he had been be sucked into a vortex of light and disappear. What the hell had caused that? The four students that had been in the compartment, one of them clearly Alice and Frank's boy from the looks of it, had been frozen by the dementor and then suddenly, just after it had started sucking the happiness through the air, it had happened. He had left the children with some chocolate to get over the effects and had gone to talk to the driver. How could he have let dementors on board of a train full of defenceless children? He had no idea what had caused the phenomenon he had witnessed, but he would inform Professor Dumbledore about it. He looked into the other compartments while on the way to the driver and saw a black-haired boy looking a bit exhausted while a brown-haired girl and a red-haired boy were trying to help him it seemed.

Probably one of the children that had bad memories that the dementor had dragged up. But as he saw that the boy was eating a chocolate frog, he wouldn't need immediate attention. There were probably more like him on the train. Perhaps he should send a patronus messenger to Hogwarts to inform Madam Pomfrey to have some chocolate bars and lots of hot chocolate on the tables for dinner. Most students would need it he suspected.

Albus Dumbledore pondered what the phenomenon that Remus had described to him could have been. He had never heard about something simply sucking a dementor into a vortex. He would have to consult his books. The dementors that were stationed around the school seemed to be agitated and frightened for some reason. He couldn't explain it. Those beasts normally didn't fear anything. Even the patronus couldn't destroy them; it could only chase them away. There were stories about them having appeared suddenly from nowhere, but nobody could say where that had been. Approximately the time had been sometime at the end of Gellert's war on the continent. Could he have been the reason?

Albus knew that he should have acted earlier. So many people had died, but he abhorred violence. He wasn't born to be a war leader; he was meant to lead the next generation by example and showing them that killing wasn't the right way. He had taken out Gellert when there had been no other choice, but he couldn't bring himself to kill. It wasn't in him to perform such a horrid task. Therefore, he had imprisoned him in his own prison Nurmengard for life. He feared what Harry would have to do according to the prophecy. Either must die by the hand of the other. Those were the damned words. If only there was another way, but in a way Tom was much worse than Gellert.

He would have to wait and see. Harry was still very young and shouldn't be burdened with such a fate. Let him enjoy what he had left of his childhood. He had found out that Harry had got his letter around the end of August. That was a relief. Now he at least could be sure that the boy would return to Hogwarts. Though he would seriously reprimand him for simply disappearing like he did. It was much too dangerous and thanks to his impulsive act the wards at Privet Drive were barely holding up. Harry would have to return there over the Christmas break to salvage them. If the boy only wouldn't be so reluctant to see that staying with his family was necessary for him.

Another chapter finished. Hope you liked it. Until next time.

6. New Classes

Hi everybody, thanks so much for all the nice reviews. Here is the next chapter for you. Enjoy.

New Classes

Harry stepped into the Entrance Hall and was overwhelmed with the intensity of magic that he felt. He had growled at the soul suckers that were positioned around the entrances of the school. Sadly, he couldn't take care of them right now. He first needed to replenish his power. While banishing the rest wouldn't take as much power as re-establishing the seal, he still needed to have his full power to attempt doing so for as great numbers as were here. To think that the fools at the Ministry trusted demons like them to not turn on them. Through their new Defence Professor, who had been on the train too, he now knew why they were around. At least Professor Lupin seemed to be more capable in his subject than his previous two teachers.

Hermione had been called out by Professor McGonagall for something and Ron and he continued their way into the Great Hall. They sat down and watched the Sorting. This time Professor Flitwick was leading the first-years inside. Probably because Professor McGonagall was busy with whatever she had to discuss with Hermione. Probably how she would manage her five electives. It would be hard to fit them all into one time-table. He applauded for every new Gryffindor. Interestingly nearly all eyes around him were looking at him trying to figure out who he was. The girls with blushes on their faces. He knew he looked different, but it shouldn't be that much, right?

Ron noticed it as well and considered it a great unintentional prank on Harry's part. He knew how Harry had hated the looks he had due to his lousy relatives. While Harry hadn't said much, discussing a few things with Fred and George after they had rescued Harry the previous summer, had put things a bit into perspective for him. Being older and used to not always believing what they were told, they tended to see more than others and think outside of ways that most others would. And when Ron told them about things he had noticed, things he was worried about, as Harry was his best friend, they had explained a lot of things to him. They had told him how even muggles didn't consider locking up a child with bars in front of the window acceptable. While they might not know that much about them, they knew the basics, enough to spot inconsistencies.

The fact that Harry's room had been turned into a veritable prison, one where he had been starved for days, was very worrisome. But the way their mother reacted to the mere mention of it, by automatically believing that they had made it up, reduced their hopes of being able to get Harry out of the place permanently. And after hearing from Ron that Dumbledore had refused Harry's request to not have to return there for the summer break, they just knew that their mother and father wouldn't act, even if they believed them. They followed Dumbledore's word without any refusal or thought he could be wrong. Ron and they had decided to subtly support Harry over the adults that were too stubborn in their belief that they knew best.

Now that Harry had his new looks, looks he would have had if not for the lack of actual care by the muggles, things would be different. It was unavoidable. People would gossip once they found out that the new and good-looking boy next to Ron was Harry Potter. And gossip at Hogwarts was frightening. And Ron knew for a fact that Parvati and Lavender were the biggest gossips in their year and the two above them. They would spread the news and if Harry told them how it was that he had changed this much, it would force the adults to act for once. It stood to be seen if their action would go along with Harry's new confidence. And a scion of House Avalon wouldn't be deterred like other children. Avalon's magic was too powerful to be cowed and since it had awoken now, it would be interesting to see the results.

Finally, the last student was sorted into Ravenclaw and Professor Flitwick took the stool and the Sorting Hat away. Hermione joined them at the Gryffindor table looking very happy for some reason, but no question Ron asked got her to answer. Professor Dumbledore opened the feast and let the students eat before he would probably give some information, amongst it warnings about the dementors as they were called now.

Dumbledore looked over the Gryffindor table and he couldn't find Harry Potter immediately. Only by looking for his friends he got an idea that the taller, tanned and muscular black-haired boy sitting between them could be Harry. It was a shock. How could Harry have changed that much over one summer? He needed to find out and that would only be possible by calling Harry to see him in his office. Probably tomorrow after his classes were over. Tonight, he knew he wouldn't get anything from him.

He would have to see what the boy said where he had been over the summer. That he hadn't been able to track him at all was very worrisome. The boy couldn't simply leave. It was for his own safety and that of his relatives. He would have to ensure that Harry saw reason.

Harry had to suppress a laugh when Professor McGonagall was handing out the new timetables the next morning. She seemed to have problems to find him. Some of the other Gryffindors seemed to have noticed too. Yesterday evening there had been many comments over Harry's new looks, among them from Oliver Wood that he hoped that Harry would still be fast enough to catch the snitch even if he was now taller and had filled out a bit. Harry assured Wood that his flying skills hadn't suffered at all and that he would see during their first training session, which calmed the Quidditch maniac down.

The three girls on the team had complimented him on his new looks and Katie had flirted with him a bit. She had been surprised when he flirted back, but neither of them had wanted to back down. It led to some lecherous comments from the twins, who were quickly whacked over the head by Angelina and Alicia. They assured Harry that he looked great now and he shouldn't listen to a word those two jokers were saying.

Finally, Professor McGonagall seemed to decide that, as he was sitting with Hermione and Ron, he had to be Harry Potter.

"Mr Potter?" She asked.

"Yes, Professor. Did you have nice holidays?" He asked charmingly.

"You had us all horribly worried with disappearing like you did," She scolded him.

"I apologize, but I wasn't aware that a student needed to inform the school he attends to his summer vacation plans. As far as I know, what I do during the summer break is my concern alone. And you can't deny that getting treatment from a professional healer to deal with the problems growing up in a house where I was loathed for being a wizard and treated like an abomination was necessary," Harry replied politely, but firmly.

It shocked his head of house. Not only his tone, but also the message.

"What do you mean, Mr Potter?" She asked shocked.

"Well, let's see. I was smaller than all other boys in my year and a majority of the girls and neither Dad nor Mum were on the small side. That alone should have been a clue. I was skinny as hell and lacked all knowledge about my heritage. My hesitation to do my best in class should also have caused alarm bells to ring, especially as I know that I slipped up on some occasions. Not to mention that my first Hogwarts letter was addressed to the 'Cupboard under the Stairs'," Harry listed, "I have come to understand that what my relatives did was wrong and child abuse. My healer used my medical issues to prevent me going back there to avoid them undoing the progress I made in the clinic where I stayed at for nearly all the summer break."

He saw how she had paled drastically. She definitely hadn't put the clues together.

"I have no idea who my magical guardian might be, I even only found out that I should have one after my healer asked me who it was, to inform him or her of my treatment there. So, by the way, could you tell me who it is, so I can get my permission slip for Hogsmeade signed? My healer has declared the Dursleys unfit guardians and forbidden me to have contact with them again. I will petition that I can take care of my business alone from now on, as heir of several old houses, but that will take a while to go through. As my magical guardian didn't see fit to contact me at all since I re-entered the magical world, I see no reason to keep him or her as my guardian. It would just be nice to get that signature for Hogsmeade before I get that procedure over with," Harry stated.

"You were not informed who your magical guardian is?" She asked disbelievingly.

"No, do you know?" Harry asked having a suspicion.

"I think it is Professor Dumbledore, but I would have to ask him to be sure," She answered.

"If he is, I don't think he should stay my guardian. If he didn't think I deserved to know at least that bit, not to mention that he didn't take care of me beyond what he does for all students as headmaster of Hogwarts, I don't think he is suited as my guardian. A real guardian would have a lot more contact with his ward. Aren't there any relatives on my father's side of the family left?" Harry asked.

"Not that I know of, Mr Potter. He was a single child and your grandparents died before you were born. Your granduncle was killed in the war and the relatives of your grandmother are the Blacks and of them there are none suited to take you in," She answered.

"Like Sirius Black? Interesting. I heard he was my father's friend and as close to him as a brother. How did he go over to the dark side?" Harry wanted to know.

"Where did you hear that?" She asked surprised.

"Tom, the barman of the Leaky Cauldron told me. I stayed there for the last days of the summer break," Harry answered.

McGonagall seemed to murmur about irresponsible behaviour.

"Isn't it better that I am aware of a possible danger? Not that I think Black would be worse than those soul sucking demons around the school. They did more damage than one man could ever do, and I would include Grindelwald and Voldemort in that category," Harry stated.

Many around him flinched. They had listened interestedly, but the typical reaction to Voldemort's name was annoying.

"If you fear to hear Voldemort," cue flinching and squeaking, "so much, call him Tom Riddle, that's his birth name. Half-blood wizard born to a witch mother and a muggle father. His memory told me that himself last year down in the Chamber of Secrets before he let the basilisk loose on me."

Many gasped hearing that piece of information. McGonagall swore she would talk with Dumbledore soon. Harry Potter had really changed, and she really needed to get to the ground of his accusations against his relatives. And she had to end this conversation, as he would now be bombarded with questions by his fellow students about the basilisk he had mentioned, as that beast was a known wizard killer and could have caused a lot more damage than it did in the end. They had been lucky to not have to grieve for any killed students last school year.

"As interesting as this is, here is your timetable, Mr Potter. I will ask the headmaster in regard of your Hogsmeade permission slip," She said.

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," Harry said and took his new timetable.

Professor McGonagall continued handing out the timetables to the rest of the students.

Harry had a look at his new timetable. He saw that his first class would be Ancient Runes followed by Transfiguration, after lunch Care of Magical Creatures and then History. That was okay for the first day. The only class that would be boring was History. Then he was distracted, as several other Gryffindors wanted to know what he had meant with the comments about the basilisk and the memory of the dark lord that should be dead. Harry told them some things but excused himself when it was time to go to class.

Harry watched Hermione and Ron walk towards North Tower where Divination was located. He walked towards the West wing for Ancient Runes. Hermione was in another class than him, hers strangely was tomorrow at the same time as Charms. It was probably a trick to let her be in two places at once. Perhaps time magic? He had experience with that from his 'summer break' after all. He would look it up. It was interesting. He saw that the other students that had the class with him were mostly Ravenclaws. There were only six other students next to him waiting for the class to start. Four Ravenclaws, a Slytherin girl, who he thought was called Daphne Greengrass, and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff. He found himself sitting next to Hannah, who told him, while blushing slightly, that the other Hufflepuffs that she knew had chosen this class had it the next morning, but her timetable hadn't fit like that with her second class being Muggle Studies and her third being Care of Magical Creatures. Harry nodded.

It would make sense that with five different electives they wouldn't be mixed by houses like in other classes. He knew that Hermione, the only other Gryffindor in Runes, was at the same spot as the other Hufflepuffs. And she had three classes put down at the same time Monday mornings. Arithmancy, Divination and Muggle Studies. Harry knew that Care of Magical Creatures had the biggest group of students, followed by Divination and Muggle Studies. Arithmancy and Runes had been seen as difficult classes, so a lot had shied away from them.

Professor Babbling, their teacher, started them off with an introduction in the possibilities the usage of runes of all kinds offered magicals. It was basically a little more detailed than what his mother had told him when she had started him on runes. Though he doubted that they would do as practical an approach in class as she had done for him. No matter, they started with the Norse runic alphabet, of which he knew some runes already, but many he didn't. He made extensive notes on how each rune worked, its meaning and how basic combinations of runes worked. He didn't really notice how time passed and was surprised when the bell rang to announce the end of class. They only got memorizing the runes they had discussed today as homework.

On the way to Transfiguration Harry thought about having found a class he could really enjoy. Professor Babbling was really knowledgeable in her subject and made it interesting by giving examples what exactly could be done with the runes they learned. Otherwise the basics would have been pretty dull. One first had to get a good understanding of some runes to be able to get into the practical part. Harry knew that learning runes was a matter of constant, concentrated work. It took time to gain a thorough understanding of runes to use them like he had done in his heating array. A mistake could cause real problems. That was why his mother had checked his heating arrays twice before allowing him to place them on the walls.

His first attempt had failed because of one rune that he didn't carve precisely twice. He corrected that one and then the array worked.

Sitting in Transfiguration, watching the rest of the class being subdued, was a really strange experience for Harry. What the hell had happened in the last two hours that he hadn't seen his classmates? Finally, Professor McGonagall, after only he had applauded for her animagus transformation, decided to find out the reason for the others' strange behaviour.

"Alright, what is going on? Why is only Mr Potter applauding my transformation? You are the first class that didn't cheer for it that I ever had," She asked.

The others looked hesitantly at each other. Finally, Hermione raised her hand.

"Please Professor, we just had our first Divination class and," she started hesitantly.

"Don't say anything else. Which one of you is going to die this year?" McGonagall asked and Seamus nervously raised his hand.

"Well, Mr Finnegan, you seem to be in perfect health to me. Predicting the death of a student is the favourite way of Professor Trelawney to greet a new class. So far none of the students whose death she predicted left us. True seers are really rare and Professor Trelawney, well I generally don't talk badly about my colleagues," Harry could tell she wanted to do it very much, "considering the circumstances, you will excuse my decision to not exempt you from homework. Though, if you should miraculously die before next Monday, you of course won't need to hand it in," She tried to lighten the mood.

Some of the others still didn't seem to be convinced, citing incidents that had happened in that class. Harry was so glad that he had dodged that bludger. After class Professor McGonagall told him that Professor Dumbledore wanted to meet him after his last class today and told him the password to his office, this time 'acid pops'.

Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors, it seemed they all had chosen Care of Magical Creatures, trooped down to Hagrid's Hut where they were supposed to meet with him. It had been a surprise that Hagrid was the new teacher. Harry could have understood if he had become assistant to the former teacher first to get some idea how to go about teaching, but perhaps this would work out this way too. And if not, he would try to help Hagrid with his lesson plans. Harry knew that Hagrid knew lots of things about magical creatures, so his knowledge base couldn't be doubted. As they had the class with the Slytherins, sadly that included Malfoy, he was on guard for anything in case the blond pest might try to give Hagrid problems.

Harry had told all the other Gryffindors how to open the books, thus, after Hagrid had led them to a corral where he would bring the magical creatures they would study today and told them to open their books, the Gryffindors as one stroked the back of their books to make them fall still, smirking at the Slytherins. After all, if all of Gryffindor could figure out how to do it, how could Slytherin complain about it? It would look as if they were too stupid to figure it out. Harry could see the displeased look on Malfoy's face. Gryffindor 1: Slytherin 0.

Then Hagrid came back with majestic creatures. They had the head and front legs of a hawk or eagle and the back of a horse. Long elegant wings spread from their sides. They looked powerful and intimidating.

"Now, these beauties are hippogriffs," Hagrid said, and Harry quickly remembered the information he had read about them.

"The first thing you need to know about hippogriffs is that they're proud. Never insult a hippogriff or it could be the last thing you ever do. To approach them, you slowly walk towards them and stop at a distance where the hippogriff can clearly see you. Don't blink too much, they don't trust you if you do. Then you bow and wait. Let them come to you; it's polite, you see? If he bows, you can touch him; otherwise get back, because those talons hurt. Now who wants to go first?" Hagrid asked and most of the class was less than enthusiastic.

"I want to, Professor," Harry said and stepped forward, grinning while taking off his robe, making the girls swoon over seeing his fit body.

"Good man, Harry. Let's see how you get along with Buckbeak," Hagrid said and took off the collar around the hippogriff's neck.

Harry stepped forward, but before he could bow to Buckbeak the whole hippogriff herd sank into low bows in front of him, surprising the whole class and Hagrid. Harry sighed, that had to happen, he had underestimated the connection that House Avalon had with all magical creatures. He walked forward and gently petted Buckbeak on the head, scratching him behind the feathery ears. Then he motioned to the other hippogriffs to stand up again with a polite nod.

"Blimey, Harry, I have never seen something like that happen before," Hagrid commented, "I guess Buckbeak will have no problem with letting you ride him."

Harry's grin got even wider and he easily swung himself onto the majestic grey hippogriff's back. A light tap with his heals and Buckbeak ran forward only to soar up towards the sky after getting enough speed. Harry easily stayed in perfect balance on his back, immensely enjoying the flight. This was a lot like riding Thunder without a saddle, only in the air. He flew over the castle and the grounds, not going near the boarders of the grounds because he didn't want to tempt the dementors into attacking him. He still needed a few days before he could get rid of them. Still, the grounds were big enough for him to have a great flight before he heard Hagrid's whistle telling them to come back. He directed Buckbeak back to the rest of the class and landed elegantly.

The Gryffindors cheered for him, the majority of the Slytherins glared at him, though he could see two girls having dreamy looks on their faces. Great, he had fangirls even in Slytherin. Once Buckbeak came to a hold, Harry climbed down, after stroking the hippogriff's feathers on his head, thanking him for the great ride. Encouraged by Harry's success, the rest of the class stepped forward, following the instructions that Hagrid had given them earlier.

Malfoy seemed really disgruntled that none of the hippogriffs reacted to him like they had done to Harry. While he managed to get the black one he practiced with to bow to him, he had had to perform the way Hagrid had told them to use. Harry was kept busy by Buckbeak, who wanted to cuddle a bit more. Really, he behaved like an overgrown puppy. Other hippogriffs also wanted some of his attention and on top of the group that Hagrid had brought, some others appeared, two that were seemingly mothers with baby hippogriffs. Harry enjoyed playing with the two young ones a lot, under envious looks of his fellow students. None of them were let even close to them by the mothers.

He prevented Malfoy turning the lesson bad by subtly hitting him with a silencing charm to prevent him from insulting the hippogriffs. Malfoy was a lot like Wilbur, but, thanks to seeing how the knights dealt with him and his arrogant buddy George, Harry had no problem taking him on now without letting the blond goad him into getting into trouble. The lesson ended after some time and Harry promised the hippogriffs to come visiting when he had time. The two young ones nearly brought him to the ground, trying to nuzzle his face with theirs.

Only Ron had an idea why the hippogriffs reacted like they did to Harry. Ron knew that Harry was destined to be the next guardian. It was said that all magical creatures instinctively knew a guardian when they saw one. And he knew that Harry was the last of the Avalon line. He could see that Hermione couldn't accept Harry's special powers and the truth of the nature of magic. Her beliefs from growing up muggle were hindering her here. Ron knew that Harry would need support for his duties. And it was one of the greatest honours known in the magical world to stand at the side of the chosen guardian. This was something that none of his older brothers had achieved. While Fred and George were friendly with Harry, he, Ron Weasley, was Harry's best friend. And if he knew one thing, Harry never deserted his friends.

After History of Magic, which had been as boring as ever, Harry left his book-bag at his dorm and walked towards the headmaster's office. He had a very good idea what the old man wanted. Information about his summer whereabouts. Not going to happen. He strengthened his occlumency shields, while not being perfect, all his meditation exercises had helped him build ones strong enough to detect weak intrusions and zap the intruder to get out. As long as nobody launched a full legilimency attack at him, he would be fine. He gave the gargoyle the password and rode the stairs up to Dumbledore's office. He knocked at the door and was called inside.

"Hello Harry. Please take a seat, lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, thank you," Harry declined, sensing something on the drops, "Hello Fawkes," He greeted the phoenix who trilled a greeting.

Harry sat down and looked expectantly at the headmaster.

"Do you know why I called you here, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"The only reason I could imagine would be to give me my signed permission slip for Hogsmeade in case you were really my magical guardian, sir," Harry replied.

Dumbledore didn't let anything show on his face.

"I called you here to talk about your disappearing act over the summer break. That was completely irresponsible of you. We were worried you could have been in danger with Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban," Dumbledore replied, "You should at least have asked for permission from your guardians and me."

"Why would I do something that stupid?" Harry asked shocking Dumbledore, "Let's list the facts, headmaster. You, as far as anybody informed me, are just the headmaster of my school. While you are a very knowledgeable and powerful wizard, that has no meaning in my decision where to spend my holidays. I respect you for your knowledge and experience, but you have no say in how I spend my time when I am not at school. Second point, the Dursleys are completely unfit as guardians for any child, be it magical or mundane. I learned over the summer that their babying of Dudley, feeding him way too much food and letting him get away with all the misdeeds he does is another form of child abuse and will probably result in Dudley getting extreme medical problems in his future if he doesn't change his eating habits and does more sports. Now, they clearly hate everything that has to do with magic and my healer had a lot of discussions with me how what they did to me was child abuse, which I at first had a hard time accepting.

"My healer also decided, in his capacity as my healer, that returning to the place where I was abused for ten years on end, and then the summer after first-year when I returned there, wasn't good for my healing. Therefore, he let me stay at the clinic, which had been recommended to me by the goblins. An old wizard that I met in Diagon Alley at the beginning of the break told me that I looked like I really needed to see a professional healer. Now, while Madam Pomfrey is a very capable medi-witch, she isn't a fully qualified healer, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to take that advice. As I didn't know how to contact a good one and I was already in front of Gringotts, I asked the goblins. They set me up with a portkey for a fee of fifteen galleons and I spent the rest of the summer break at the magical clinic.

"Next to going through certain examinations and treatments, I was told that taking up a sport that I liked would do me some good, so I asked another patient there, who practiced staff and sword-fighting, if he would teach me the basics, as his exercises looked interesting," Harry told his story with a straight face keeping his shields up all the time, "Next to that the clinic held some horses and offered classes in horseback riding. Thanks to my balance, I seemed to have some talent in that area and learned to ride pretty well."

Dumbledore pondered the information Harry had given him. His changed body seemed to support that he had sought out a professional healer. His changed behaviour would also be perfectly explainable with having mind-healing sessions over the past months. Now how could he get the boy to return to the Dursleys to keep the wards up? With how that healer had interfered, Harry would block all attempts of going back there.

"While your aunt and uncle may not have been the nicest people to grow up with, and I am very sorry how they treated you, you need the protection that the blood wards around their house give you. You only have to return there once a year to power them up, but if you don't, they will fall, enabling Voldemort and his followers to get there," Dumbledore tried the direct approach.

"I will never return there. If those wards are so important, why wasn't I told about them before? Do the Dursleys know about them?" Harry asked.

"In the letter I wrote to your aunt to inform her of your parents' death and why you needed to stay with her, I explained the wards that are based on your mother's sacrifice for you. As long as you can call the place where your mother's blood lives home, Harry, Voldemort can't touch you there," Dumbledore explained.

"Then they should have realised that their behaviour risked their own protection. I won't risk my health anymore, only for them to be protected. There are more than enough ways for me to be safe from any attempts to find me, like I proved this summer. There are numerous wards that can be used to hide my whereabouts. I have been starved to nearly death the summer after first-year, just because Lucius Malfoy's house elf levitated a pudding over an important business partner of Uncle Vernon.

"I was beaten bloody after that and locked up in Dudley's second bedroom that I only got after they were too afraid that wizards were spying on them to keep me in the cupboard under the stairs anymore. What, didn't you know that? Didn't you read the addresses of the numerous letters you sent to Privet Drive to get me my Hogwarts letter?" Harry asked sarcastically, "I am not responsible for the repercussions the Dursleys have to face for their own actions. If you want to protect them when Voldemort comes back, inform them and advise them to move somewhere else. I won't keep those wards up. I don't want them dead, but I also don't want to see them ever again."

Dumbledore was shocked hearing how casually Harry refused to power the wards up again. And it would be hard arguing against his valid points. There were other ways to magically protect him in another place. But they weren't as strong as those wards. He tried a weak legilimency probe but was rebuffed by strong basic shields.

"And I would appreciate if you didn't try to look into my head. My thoughts are private, headmaster!" Harry stated coldly.

That had gone badly.

"Please forgive me, Harry, I am really concerned that you let your bad feelings for your family cloud your judgement for your safety," Dumbledore tried to save face.

"They aren't my family. Family is where you are loved, welcome no matter if you make a mistake, where people want you to be around. The only place where I got a glimpse of that was when the Weasley twins and Ron saved me from the cell my so-called relatives turned the bedroom, which I was only grudgingly given after the first letter was addressed to the cupboard I might mention, into, after the pudding incident, which cost Uncle Vernon that huge business deal. I was lucky if I got a tin of cold soup every three days, so don't tell me ever again I let my emotions cloud my judgement. To me it seems you let your plans cloud your sense of right and wrong," Harry accused.

That sat. Did he really do that? He looked at Fawkes and saw his phoenix companion look at him accusingly. Fawkes seemed to agree with Harry. He better gave up on that idea. He would need to think of something else to keep an eye on Harry. For now, he could probably get a bit of goodwill back if he signed that Hogsmeade form for him. It wasn't really dangerous for Harry to go. There would be enough adult witches and wizards that Sirius wouldn't get the chance to approach Harry in any way. If he did, they would catch him. He would stand out like a sore thumb, as he wouldn't have access to useable means of disguise like polyjuice potion.

"I see; I will let this issue rest for now. As none of the ones named in your parents' will were capable of taking care of you, you were left at your mother's closest living relative. I was named your official magical guardian, but as your aunt and uncle were your direct guardians, we never told you about this, which I admit was an oversight on our part, as it left you without a contact person for your questions about the wizarding world," Dumbledore admitted, "I will sign your form under one condition. I want you to promise me that you won't stroll from the village itself and keep to places where adults are present. As you probably have heard by now, Sirius Black has escaped and there is a high probability that you are his target. The Minister of Magic wants to keep this a secret from you to not worry you, but, as I can admit that leaving you without some important information in the past caused a lot of problems, I will tell you the basic information."

Dumbledore was encouraged by the interested look on Harry's face. Good, he wasn't totally lost to listening to him, so he might be able to salvage the situation with time. Probably Harry only needed to calm down to understand that he needed to listen to his headmaster. As long as the Dursleys weren't part of the plan, it might not be too difficult to convince the boy.

"Your parents were part of a resistance group, called the Order of the Phoenix, that I had founded to fight against Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters. We tried to stop their taking over of the British wizarding world, but they were far more numerous than we were. The Ministry had lot of problems arresting the Death Eaters and countless people died. Those involved in the fighting and innocents. Now, we got information from one of my spies that Voldemort was targeting your family and your parents went into hiding. But they were still found everywhere. We were sure that someone close to them was forwarding information to Voldemort, but we couldn't find the spy. Hence why I suggested using an ancient spell, the Fidelius Charm. You hide the secret you want to protect, in this case your location, in the very soul of a person, the so-called secret keeper.

"Your parents' secret keeper was your father's best friend and your godfather, Sirius Black," Dumbledore said gravely, "We thought that Sirius would never betray them, but only one week after the charm was done, Voldemort attacked your home and killed your parents. The only way he could have found the place would be if the secret keeper, meaning Sirius, had told him where to find them. Otherwise he could have looked through their living room window and never found them."

Harry had to digest that story. While Tom had told him some things, this was the complete version with a lot of information that he hadn't had. Still, while this sounded like Sirius Black was without a doubt guilty, Harry had doubts about the information of the mass killing that had taken place in Manchester.

"What happened in Manchester? Tom told me a few things, but only rudimentary information and the Ministry still hasn't sent me a copy of the trial transcript," Harry asked, fighting to keep his calm.

"Another friend of your parents, who was also an Order member, Peter Pettigrew, found Sirius in Manchester and cornered him. He asked how Sirius could have done what he did to your parents. Then Sirius shot an explosive curse at Peter and killed him and thirteen muggles that were close by with it. The street was ripped open down to the sewers. From Peter only a finger was left and his robe. The Department of Magical Catastrophes were the first ones at the scene and found Sirius laughing uncontrollably. He always repeated like mad 'I killed them.' It was taken as a confession of his guilt. Barty Crouch, the head of Magical Law Enforcement of the time sent him directly to Azkaban. The evidence that was found was collected and it proved without a doubt his guilt. Being the secret keeper and finding evidence how Peter had died was enough for Barty to decide to skip the trial and not waste time for a cut and close case," Dumbledore informed Harry.

"Because of how dangerous Sirius is, Minister Fudge insisted on placing dementors around Hogwarts to stop Sirius. I don't like that at all, because dementors aren't good guards in any case. I fear they will target the students if they start feeling hungry or restless."

Harry thought about the information he had been given. He wouldn't tell Dumbledore that they would need new guards very soon, as he wouldn't waste any time to banish the remaining dementors behind the seal again as soon as his power levels were up again. They would see that for themselves. But with how it sounded, he would need more power than he had planned. If there were also those guarding Azkaban to consider, he needed to have help. And they needed to secure Azkaban to not let the worst prisoners escape after he took out the guards. Perhaps an anonymous letter would be appropriate, addressed to the head of the Ministry and the head of the DMLE.

"I can agree to that condition, headmaster," Harry said, "Though I would advise that all students at least get informed about basic counter measures against the dementors. I read up on them in the Monster Book of Monsters and know that only the patronus charm is really effective against them. If your fears come true, perhaps the older students could get started on it to avoid a catastrophe."

Dumbledore nodded, agreeing that it would be a good idea. He would tell Remus to show the NEWT students how to do the spell. Even mist would help a bit until a real patronus could be used. He signed Harry's permission slip and handed it to the boy. He got a nod in return while Harry put it into his pocket. Harry bid goodbye and left the office leaving Dumbledore to ponder about his next steps. He would regret not having asked Harry about his performance in Care of Magical Creatures, as that could have warned him about things about to happen.

Harry was hidden behind three big stacks of books, which were placed on his table at the library. He had placed a notice-me-not charm on the table to be able to study in peace. Recently Hermione was annoying him with more and more questions about his sudden jump in his class performances. Did she really need to know everything? She should be busy enough with her twelve classes. He by now knew that she was doing some form of time-magic, but not the exact way. He wondered who in their right mind allowed that kind of time manipulation just to let one girl take all the classes that were offered at Hogwarts. He could understand that Hermione wanted to learn as much as she could, but really, as a muggleborn she knew all there was to know about muggles, so wasting time in that class was useless, no matter how interesting she might find the viewpoint of wizards on the subject.

Next to that she was ranting a lot about Divination being a completely woolly subject. If she disliked the subject and the teacher so much, she should simply drop it, she had more than enough other subjects that would be more up her line. And then she could switch into his Runes class, to have a normal timetable again. But no, she was too stubborn and proud to even consider being smart about this. She insisted she could do the work, so she would. Currently Harry was reading his book on ancient curses, trying to find a way to help Aunt Guinevere conceive a child. Something had to be in here. He had already calculated how much magic he would need to banish all dementors in existence behind the seal again and secure the seal for another thousand years at least if there was no new powering. But for that magic to work he needed to use a magically powerful time. Normally he would attempt something like that on a day like Beltane, because the powerful magic of life would work against the dementors, but he felt that he didn't have that much time.

Imbolc would be another possibility, but again it was too far away. Samhain would be the worst possible day with its connection to death and therefore the dementors would be more powerful than normally that day. And he doubted they would leave him alone for long. He was the only one capable of banishing them again. Hence why he suspected that they would use the first opportunity to attack him, that being the first Quidditch match of the season, where he would be out in the open and they could disguise an attack as an interest in the high emotions the match would bring with it. Harry wanted them gone before that. Especially as the first match was always close to Samhain. Any advantage he could get he would need to use.

Therefore, Harry would use the help of the unicorns in the forest. With him being the next guardian, it would be easy to win them for this cause. They hated the demons as much as he did, and they would gladly add their pure magic to help him banish them again. The centaurs would perhaps help as well with their knowledge of the stars. They could tell when the best time for such a ritual would be. He intended to go into the forest soon to ask. Probably one day when he went to visit the hippogriffs again. Hagrid had told him he could come and ride one whenever he wanted. That was great and helped with his wish to keep practicing his riding skills.

After two hours he had still found nothing that could be Aunt Guinevere's problem. But the book still had many more pages and the library had other books on this as well. Perhaps some healing books would be a good choice. He would find a way. His aunt and uncle deserved to be happy.

Harry sat in Charms listening attentively to what Professor Flitwick told them about the drying charm they were covering today. It was really useful to dry clothes, either on one's body or not, or make wet paint dry quicker. They were warned though to not use it for their hair, as it would look completely messy after that. He demonstrated the effects of the charm if used for drying your hair on himself and the class got a good laugh out of the afro that their small Professor sported now. Professor Flitwick chuckled and corrected his looks again. They were each given a wet towel to work on drying it with the charm. Harry, to the utter surprise of Hermione, got it to work nearly perfectly on his first try. She meanwhile only got half of the water out.

"Very well done, Mr Potter, take five points for Gryffindor," Professor Flitwick said pleased, "You need to add more power into your spell, Ms Granger."

Hermione looked displeased and continued practicing the charm. By the end of the lesson she had it down, but Harry was visibly better than her. He could easily dry two towels at once now. Professor Flitwick set an essay on the requirements for the drying charm to work properly and let the class go.

The pattern repeated itself in many classes. Harry now easily performed better than Hermione in all practical parts. To not have her be too stressed out, he refrained from showing off too much on the theoretical side. He only answered questions if he was asked. Though he showed his knowledge in his essays. He rarely got anything below 95 %. Not that he told Hermione. He didn't understand where her urge to be best came from. While he knew that studying was really important for her, he had never realised how much she hated not being best in class.

Ron meanwhile had proven to be really supportive of Harry. He more than once told Hermione to lay off of Harry. He reminded her that she had told them many times to study more and now that Harry seemed to do so, it still wasn't right for her. The two started to bicker about things and Harry really wanted for them to stop. It was giving him a headache. Thankfully he found a distraction. He overheard Neville saying that his grandmother had him take lessons in sword fighting, because it was a traditional part of the education of the Longbottom heir. Harry jumped at the chance to get a training partner. Thus, he asked Neville if he wanted to spar once or twice a week, because he too had started learning it over the summer. Neville easily agreed.

Probably the most interesting class that week was Defence. Professor Lupin really knew what he did and let them practice banishing a boggart. Harry was curious to find out his greatest fear. He really had a hard time determining it. When the boggart, that had formerly been the giant spider of which Ron took the legs away, turned to him Harry only got a glimpse of a dead looking world, sand over which the dry wind blew, before Professor Lupin jumped between them, seemingly he had already been about to interfere. Did he think that Harry wasn't capable of facing something as simple as a boggart? The boggart turned into a glowing orb. Was that a full moon? Or a crystal ball? It didn't stay for long and was turned into a balloon which was pierced. Neville got to finish the boggart off. His Snape in a dress boggart was really a funny sight. But he would really need to find out why Professor Lupin had interfered with Harry facing the boggart.

And that's another chapter done. Until next time.

7. Dealing with Dementors

Hi, chapter seven is ready, one day later than normal, but hopefully still great. I was busy yesterday, so I upload it today. Happy reading.

Dealing with Dementors

On Saturday of the first week Harry went down to the hippogriff herd to ride one into the forest to find the unicorns. He briefly spoke with Hagrid and then took a brown hippogriff called Jadeyes for a ride. First, they flew a bit over the grounds and Harry told the hippogriff his plan.

"Do you by any chance know where I can meet the unicorns and the centaurs, Jadeyes?" Harry asked and got a positive squawk, "That's good. I need to find a date on which I can banish the remaining dementors behind the seal again. Without the power of Imbolc or Beltane to increase my own power, I need pure magic and as good a star alignment as I can get for it to work without knocking me out for long. I don't want to reveal my position too early on. I know that all magical creatures recognise me instinctively now, but the wizards wouldn't. Too much has been forgotten."

Jadeyes squawked again this time sounding angrier.

"Yes, I know. They shouldn't have forgotten. They should remember how important balance is to magic. And they should have realised how foolish relying on the soul suckers is," Harry agreed with the squawk.

Jadeyes turned to the left and went lower. Harry saw that two centaurs were standing close to a small clearing. Jadeyes prepared to land and Harry helped by shifting his weight back. They landed and came to a stop five metres away from the two centaurs. One Harry recognised as Magorian; he had been in the forest when he had had his detention in his first year. The other one he didn't know the name of. But she was female. Harry got off of Jadeyes back and nodded politely to the centaurs.

"Good morning, future guardian of magic," Magorian greeted Harry respectfully.

"Good morning, Magorian. It's nice to meet you again under better circumstances than two years ago," Harry replied friendly.

"I'm honoured you remembered me. I'm very sorry that I didn't recognise you back then," Magorian said, "May I introduce you to my daughter Calissa?" He nodded at the female centaur.

"It's a great honour to meet you, guardian," She said, inclining her head.

"Thank you; it's a pleasure to meet you, Calissa," Harry replied smiling, "And please call me Harry."

"What brought you this deep into the forest, Harry?" Magorian asked.

"I need to banish the soul-sucking demons that are known as dementors back behind the seal that my ancestor Viviane and the Merlin Taliesin created to save the world from them. Normally I would attempt something like that on Imbolc or even better Beltane, because of their powerful magic that is connected with life. I already banished a few of them that were around to search the Hogwarts Express back behind the seal, which I restored to full power. It cost me about half of my power to do that and I had to rest to regain it for a few days, but by now my power level is back to full capacity. But for the banishment of all remaining dementors I need more power, if I can't rely on Imbolc or Beltane magic. Therefore, I wanted to ask the centaurs for advice which date would be best to use. I fear they will try to attack me shortly after Samhain when the first Quidditch match of the season will commence. They will know who I am and that I am the only one with the power and knowledge how to banish them behind the seal again," Harry explained.

"Indeed, a noble and just cause to ask for our help," Magorian replied.

He pondered about the information the stars had revealed to the centaurs recently. There was one time where a lot of power would be available.

"The greatest power will be available when Diana's blessing can be used. But beware of the cursed child," Magorian said.

Harry hated that centaurs didn't answer clearly, but he could figure this out. He knew the name Diana. It was the Roman goddess of hunting. Probably she had other meanings as well. He would see.

"Thank you for the advice," Harry said, "I need to ask the unicorns for their support of my mission too. Their pure magic will help me find enough power to banish all the dementors in one go. Otherwise I fear some might try to do something desperate and attack innocents."

"You are probably right, Harry," Magorian agreed, "At the chosen night the centaurs will stand guard and defend you against any of those demons if they attempt to stop your mission."

"Thank you, Magorian; I appreciate the help you are willing to give to me," Harry replied, nodding his head.

Then Magorian and Calissa retreated into the forest again and Harry and Jadeyes took off again to find the unicorns.

Hermione was angry. Harry was not himself anymore. After he returned from the summer break, he was completely different. Not only did he look different, that was a definite improvement to before, he behaved differently. He was more secure of himself, did well in classes, seemed to study a lot and worked out in his free time. That all should be positive, but somehow, she didn't feel like it. Before last summer Harry had told her and Ron everything, now he was keeping secrets. When she wanted to know how he was so good now, he held some information back and that irked her. Ron of course didn't seem to care that Harry suddenly had secrets.

She wanted to demand that Harry told her what was going on, but he wouldn't let himself be forced to reveal anything, stating that he was allowed to have secrets just like she was. And Harry was gone from the tower a lot doing one thing or another. She knew he wanted to go down to see Hagrid's hippogriffs. But she really couldn't understand why. And why did they react to him like they did in their first class? It wasn't typical behaviour. She knew that much. While Harry had always had a good connection to animals, one just had to watch how he interacted with his owl Hedwig, this was not like that. It was much more.

And none of the books in the library could give her an answer so far. She had looked up all about hippogriffs she could find, but there was no mention of something like that happening. Then Harry's disappearances from time to time. And to her annoyance she couldn't follow him, because she had too much work to do for her twelve classes. She hadn't seen Harry in Ancient Runes, as they were in different classes, but from what she had heard, he had performed well in the first two lessons. She would find out what was happening with her best friend.

Ron watched Hermione brood over Harry's sudden changes. For him it was obvious what happened, and it was somewhat funny to see Hermione not making the connections, even if she normally was so smart. Harry was changing because of his heritage. It happened in small steps. Ron guessed that the incident in the Chamber had more of an effect than Harry was willing to admit. Well, getting bitten by a basilisk and being healed by a phoenix would do that to a person. Having a close call with death again as well. Now that Harry knew that he was the last of the Avalon line, combined with understanding the meaning of that, it was logical that he would be different to prepare for that responsibility. Ron wasn't stupid. He simply didn't like studying a lot. He had a lot of knowledge about legends and old wizarding knowledge, because his mother loved those stories and had told him and his siblings about them.

He suspected that more than Harry's visit at the clinic and getting healed had happened to Harry over the summer. He knew better than to bother Harry about it though. From what his mother had told in her stories, the Avalon line kept many secrets of magic. They had an instinctive understanding of magic, which would explain why Harry suddenly was so good at performing spells. All creatures revered them, which explained the reaction of the hippogriffs. And they would try protecting magic's people, which explained Harry's reaction to the dementors. Ron knew that Harry would try to get rid of all dementors. The question was just how and when. And if he was prepared for the reactions that would cause.

Ron was also thinking how to help his best friend in the future. Not everybody would be happy about a new guardian. Many would lose power once Harry stepped out into the open and started causing changes. Changes that the older generation wouldn't like. He knew from his father that things at the Ministry of Magic weren't good, mainly because many people only looked out for their own benefit. While Harry would have a lot of political as well as magical power once he was Lord Avalon, which would happen when he came of age, as far as Ron knew, many old politicians and businessmen wouldn't want to let him tell them they had to do things differently.

And in the stories about the guardians of magic in the past, there had always been protectors that would shield the guardian from those trying to kill them. Ron knew that magic needed a new guardian and that people would assemble behind Harry once he revealed himself. But if certain people succeeded in taking Harry out before he could truly do what was needed, it would be really bad for magic itself. Perhaps he should look into what kind of people the protectors of the guardian of magic had been in the past. He knew he was a good strategist, which could be valuable for Harry. And the idea of losing his best friend because he had been too weak to protect him from something like an assassin made him feel sick to his stomach.

No, as much as he liked lazing around and goofing off, he would not let anything truly bad happen to Harry.

Harry again was in the library reading up on Diana. He knew that she was the Roman goddess of hunting, but how would that be in any correlation to stars? The unicorns had easily agreed to help him in his quest with their power, now he only needed to find out which time Magorian had referred to. Finally, in one of the books about gods and goddesses of old, a really dusty tome that clearly hadn't been read for some time, he found that there were more aspects to Diana. She was not only associated with the hunt, but also the moon and birthing. So probably the night Magorian meant was the next full moon or new moon. Birthing could mean that it meant the night of the new moon. Perhaps the second clue could help. Beware of the cursed child. What child could be cursed in combination with a phase of the moon? The first thing that came to his mind was werewolves.

A human cursed to transform under the light of the full moon into a vicious beast. Malfoy had said that there were werewolves in the Forbidden Forest when they had had their detention in first year. Could that mean that Diana's blessing was the night of the full moon, because then werewolves were running around? It would make most sense. But to be sure he would look up things about moon-phases in an Astronomy book. Harry out of interest looked through the descriptions of other gods, both Greek and Roman. The Romans had the habit to adopt other gods anyway to not risk offending one of them unintentionally.

He came across one very interesting goddess. One that you better didn't offend if you wanted children. Juno, the queen of gods. There were rumours that she could send a curse to a woman that offended her, refusing her the joy of motherhood. That sounded like a possible start to find out what Aunt Guinevere's problem was. Harry didn't believe in Roman gods, but there was a possibility that a revengeful priest of Juno had developed that curse to make people believe that they had gained Juno's ire and had to make certain payments to her temple to be able to have children. If somebody had come across that curse, it might explain why Aunt Guinevere, despite being completely healthy, couldn't conceive a child.

Seeing that it was nearly time for dinner, Harry checked out two books on Astronomy that dealt with the moon and one on legends about Juno. He would read them tonight in the common room.

Harry only needed an hour to get his homework finished. As he hadn't left it for the weekend this time, he had only had the Charms essay left. It was much nicer to have more free time on the weekend. Soon Oliver would take some of that time again for Quidditch training, but normally the first week was training free to get back into school rhythm. That and the Gryffindor team had decided to boycott Oliver's ideas for early morning training this year. They had told Oliver at the end of last year that, while they all wanted to win the cup, they wouldn't get up earlier than eight on the weekends for training and not under the week, because they would be too tired for classes that way. Oliver had grumbled about that but caved in.

He had announced that the training would start the second week Monday evenings and next to that they would train Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoon, because Ravenclaw had the field in the morning. Hufflepuff and Slytherin would get Sundays. More training time would be set up where necessary, which meant in Wood-speech, whenever he could get it in before a match.

He got his book on Astronomy out and started reading about connections of Diana and the moon phases. He hoped to determine if he should attempt banishing the dementors on full moon or new moon. He didn't really notice much of what was going on around him. Most others were still working on their homework to have tomorrow for themselves. The fifth years in particular seemed to be stressed for those that looked around in the common room, but it was even topped by Hermione, who was working with a whole table to herself. She sometimes shot suspicious looks at Harry, which he would have wondered about had he seen them.

Hermione finished her work before Harry was done with his book and after putting her things back to her dorm she decided to find out more about what Harry was doing.

"What are you reading, Harry?" She asked.

Harry looked up and was confused why she looked annoyed.

"A book about phases of the moon," He replied.

"What for, we aren't covering the moon phases in Astronomy at the moment," She said bossily.

"I need to find something out and this book might give me the information I need," He replied, not knowing why she seemed to be annoyed with him. She normally nagged him and Ron to read more.

"So, what are you trying to find out?" She wanted to know.

Harry pondered if he should tell her. She wasn't really involved in this and he didn't want to get her into trouble for what he had planned. The Ministry would undoubtedly be angry about the loss of their prison guards, but they didn't realise that the demons were using the Ministry for their own gains. If they were allowed to leech too much life energy of humans, they would be able to breed and slowly reach levels where they could simply make the humans their slaves. That was why they had been banished in the first place. Harry didn't want to get his friends dragged into this. It was his duty to prevent them from having a chance to enslave the humans and feed of their energy.

"I have heard something about Diana's blessing. I want to find out if that is the night of the full moon or the new moon," Harry answered, giving her some information, but not all.

"For what?" She asked not liking the vague answer.

"Certain dates have special powers and I want to know more about this one. It might be needed in the future," Harry answered.

"Shouldn't you concentrate on your schoolwork instead of looking up something that sounds this vague?" She asked.

"My homework is completely done, so I can do whatever I want with my time," Harry replied, not liking the look on her face as if she didn't believe him, "Hey, I can do my homework on my own and on time."

"You never did before," She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Things change and finding out about my heritage made me realise that I needed to step up my work if I want to take up my family's position in the wizarding world," Harry said hoping she would quit arguing.

"You're not talking about those ridiculous beliefs about how magic is sentient. I found no mention about that in any book," She countered.

"Because it is something that is passed down from father to son and mother to daughter," Neville to their surprise spoke up, "My grandfather told me about it when he was still alive. He also said that in past times it was part of the History of Magic classes, but since Binns took over, it was ignored."

"You don't believe that, do you?" Hermione asked disbelievingly.

"Of course, I do. Everybody has some magic inside of him. The question is how much magic and how it shows. I know for a fact that my family on my mother's side has a connection to earth and that is why I am doing much better in Herbology than in my other classes," He blushed at that, "I can feel the magic in plants and the earth. I know it is alive."

"But magic is just energy that witches and wizards can use," She tried protesting, "It doesn't have a will of its own."

"Then why do some people have more problems learning certain spells than others?" Percy now spoke up, "It isn't a matter of how powerful the witch or wizard in question is either, it is a matter of being in harmony with your magic. Silent casting, which you learn after taking your OWLs, requires you to get a better understanding of how to contact your magic. Gaining that understanding takes some time and it is the reason why silent casting is only taught to NEWT level students, as they have learned enough to already have a feeling for how to use their magic. You will learn that in the introductory part of Charms and Transfiguration if you take it at NEWT level."

It was hard to argue with Percy on something like that, especially if Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were telling their students that. Hermione huffed and walked away, trying to find a place where she could think in peace.

"She really has a hard time accepting certain things that aren't logical," Seamus mentioned.

"Yes, she is too fixated on the beliefs she was taught growing up," Harry said, "She is limiting herself by doing it."

"How come you are accepting this so readily, Harry, I mean, you grew up with muggles too?" Dean asked, "I had a lot of trouble getting it when Seamus explained it to me in first year. But then again, having magic in itself wasn't logical, so I simply went with it and by now it's something I simply take as a given."

"My muggle relatives hate magic and told me lots of lies about my parents and that magic doesn't exist. I have come to the conclusion that everything they said was a lie and with some discoveries I made over the summer I am absolutely sure that magic is sentient," Harry replied, "Therefore, I don't believe in what I was taught growing up, but what I find out in the magical world. There are a lot of fascinating things to discover if you just look around."

Others nodded. They knew that that was true.

Hermione didn't talk to Harry for three days, more or less taking up residence in the library to find out something about magic being sentient in any book. There were mentions in some books covering wizarding religion, but the believes were too far-fetched for her to take seriously. She tried asking Professor McGonagall, but she was only told that what her house mates had said was true and that it was knowledge that was passed down from one generation to the other. She didn't like that at all, as it went against everything she had learned so far.

On top Harry was getting more admirers, which he didn't outright send away, but talked with politely, which made him more popular with the girls. She simply didn't understand why all these things were suddenly so different. She had got a look at the marks Harry got in his assignments for classes and he was constantly getting over ninety per cent in each essay. He had never done so well before and never without her help. How did he do it suddenly?

But she couldn't find out, because her twelve subjects took all of her free time. She was doing homework all day and only got to rest while sleeping. She knew from what Parvati and Lavender told her in their dorm that Harry was working out each day on the grounds before breakfast for two hours. He got up really early to run some laps around the lake and then worked out physically. Many girls were considering already getting up early too to watch him. He was becoming a much-desired boy. Not only was he hot, he was also the only heir of the Potter family, which entailed a title and a nice family fortune.

But many also said they would even take him if he was poor, because he was so yummy. The third day she didn't speak with Harry she saw him walking up to Neville, who then nodded to whatever Harry had asked and stood up from his game of Exploding Snap. They walked out of the common room. She kept an eye on the door and they only returned two and a half hours later, wet with sweat, but looking very pleased with themselves. What the hell was going on?

Harry was pretty sure that Diana's blessing meant the full moon now. There had been a legend that originated from the time where the Roman gods had been worshipped speaking of: 'The world was bathed in Diana's light, receiving her blessing. This magical night where all animals were safe from the hunter, only taking place once every year when autumn is about to fall, was the one night I dared requesting news of my loved ones that I had been separated from while fleeing the demons.' The legend was longer and talked about a hero who was trying to find his family, from which he had been separated in a demon attack, with the help of the goddess Diana. Of course, in the end he found them after fighting off the demons with the 'light of pure emotions', probably the patronus charm, which required the user to concentrate on happy emotions before conjuring a patronus to defend you against the dementors.

It led to Harry making a mental note to research the patronus charm more, to see if it could possibly be powered with more than just happy memories, if it was called 'the light of pure emotions'. There were many other pure emotions after all.

So, going by his research, he needed the full moon closest to the start of autumn. The start of autumn was in the last week of September and thankfully the 22nd September was this year a night of the full moon. Now he only needed to figure out why Magorian had warned him of a werewolf.

Sirius Black was constantly walking towards Hogwarts in his animagus form. He avoided big muggle settlements, because Lily had told him that they had people who caught stray animals. Well, more like threatened to find a way to lock him in his animagus form, if he didn't stop driving her up the walls when she had been pregnant with Harry, and give him to the dog catchers, which would put him into an animal asylum and castrate him first thing. Never piss off a pregnant, red-haired witch! He had backed off then and now he really didn't want to get caught and be put into an animal asylum. He had a purpose, that purpose was finding the rat that had betrayed James, Lily and Harry to Voldemort. Who had caused the deaths of Sirius' best friends. Who would attack little Harry if he ever thought the time was right to get back into the good books of Voldemort. He needed to protect his godson from the traitor.

He knew that the Ministry was looking for him and had the muggles involved. But he didn't really care. Nobody but Remus knew about his animagus form and, from the little he had managed to overhear, Harry didn't live with Remus. He lived with Petunia. Of all possible people to let Harry grow up with Dumbledore had to choose Petunia, who hated magic. He didn't want to imagine how Harry's life had been during his childhood. He blamed himself for letting Hagrid take Harry away. If only he had protested more, if only he had accompanied Hagrid to Dumbledore to demand custody of his godson.

He could have avoided the whole trip to Azkaban by explaining the deception they had come up with to trick Voldemort and his Death Eaters. But no, he had to be stupid and let his hothead take charge. But now wasn't the time to dwell on this. He had a mission. Only he knew that the rat was still alive and close to Harry. He needed to reach Hogwarts. Hopefully the dementors wouldn't notice him slipping into the grounds, but then again, they hadn't noticed him slipping out of his cell. Stupid monsters. He was now fairly far north. By his estimations he should reach Hogwarts around the twentieth. Then he could see where to hide best. There were many places around Hogwarts he could use to hide, not the least the Shrieking Shack. He sighed mentally; so many good memories were connected with that place. From a time where the Marauders were still united.

Harry was getting ready for the ritual. It required him to cleanse himself to not disturb the magic of the night. Therefore, he meditated in only a white robe within a circle of herbs that supported the cleansing after taking a thorough shower. He had asked Ron to distract Hermione tonight so that she didn't disturb him. While it was improbable, he wouldn't take the risk tonight. Finally, after an hour of meditating, he opened his eyes, determined to banish all dementors from the world again. He had already sent a message with a school owl to the Ministry while Hedwig delivered hers to the head of the ICW. Harry figured that with a Danish wizard she wouldn't be known as his owl. The letters were written in letters which he had cut out of newspaper articles.

He didn't want to reveal himself. Neither was he ready to take the attention that his revealing as the next guardian of magic would cause, nor the accusations for 'endangering the British society' by banishing their prison guards. Harry put on his invisibility cloak to sneak out of the school undetected. He had already organised that Buckbeak would wait for him at the entrance of the castle to fly him to the prepared ritual site. He had placed the elemental stones, which he had got through use of an owl order catalogue, of course he had looked up what they could be used for except this ritual to have an alibi, in a pentagram on the ground.

Fire, water, air, earth and lightning. One stone for each of them. The flight didn't take long. Five unicorns were already waiting for him, standing behind the stones at the tips of the pentagram to add their pure magic to the ritual he was going to perform. He bowed slightly to them and got bows in return. The centaurs also gave them bows of their upper bodies. They were, as Magorian had promised, standing guard around the clearing he had chosen for this ritual. Harry was barefoot and stepped into the centre of the pentagram. This ritual was more difficult than the one on the train, because he had to reach out much farther than just around the Hogwarts Express.

"I call upon thee, goddess of the moon, bless my quest tonight," Harry started intoning the long prayer in Gaelic to use the full magic of the night. His arms were staying relaxed by his sides, "I come before thee to right a wrong that was committed decades ago. I seek to banish all soul suckers behind the seal that my ancestor, High Priestess Viviane, and the Merlin Taliesin created to save this world from the darkness of the demons."

Harry felt something like a light presence answering his call. But it didn't feel like that presence agreeing to help him yet.

"I am Harold James Potter of the houses Potter, Peverell, Slytherin and Avalon. As the next in line to become the guardian of magic, it is my duty to free this world from the darkness that the soul suckers are. I seek for Diana's blessing to help me fulfil my quest," He called out and this time the answer was stronger, but still not fully on his side.

"I seek the power of tonight's magic to regain the balance of magic in itself that was carelessly destroyed by people. Be they Grindelwald, Voldemort or others that thoughtlessly slaughtered thousands of magical people, which were needed to keep magic itself strong. Let me be magic's servant in this task and protect the balance. I plead my power and magic to this cause," This time he had the support of the magic and felt his oath taking place.

Magic swirled around him, filling him with power and a feeling of complete peace. It was incredible. Harry reached out to the stones that lay around him and the power the unicorns freely offered. It was incredibly pure and powerful magic. He needed to concentrate to keep it all under control and directed at their common goal. Without the mental library guiding him in this, he wouldn't manage, that much was clear.

"By my word, I call upon the power of the Avalon seal. Pull in the demons that fled you, pull in the offspring they produced in the time they were free again. Take the magic freely offered by me, the elemental stones and the unicorns to power up the call. Free this world from the demons that would slaughter innocents whenever they feel like it. Free this world from the demons that would condemn a soul to eternal torture to satisfy their hunger. Free this world of those demons that place everybody they come close to in despair. Free the world from the stealers of life energy. I willingly give you all the magic you need for this task until I can't give more without forfeiting my life," The power crescendo was now at its height and Harry was sure it must be felt at Hogwarts, "Power of Avalon hear my call. As magic's next guardian I call on you. Free this world!" The last words he shouted and then the power blasted off.

Harry felt a major part of his magic being pulled from him. More than at the train when he had given half of his magic to banish the first patch of soul suckers and re-created the seal. He fell down to the soft ground. From the corner of his eye he saw the water stone dissolving into dust, and he could faintly hear the shrieks of outrage from the dementors that had tried to stop the ritual. He had felt them coming closer; they had sensed the danger the ritual posed to them. They were all sucked away into light vortexes and the sky was alight with them. It would be difficult to explain his absence now that he thought about it. He wasn't sure if he was up to the task of returning to his dorm tonight. Once the shrieking was over, he only felt himself being lifted from the ground.

"You did well, Harold of Avalon. You performed your duty flawlessly. The centaurs will acknowledge your ascendance to the throne of Avalon once the time has come. Now go back, Buckbeak will make sure that you reach the school safely," Harry heard a male voice that he knew didn't belong to Magorian or any centaur he had spoken to yet. But he simply couldn't keep his eyes open.

He felt Buckbeak's soft back under him and then his invisibility cloak was placed over him again. Buckbeak started walking towards the castle Harry assumed. He fell into a daze, he only made sure to hold onto Buckbeak, because he wouldn't be able to do anything if he fell off. He heard the sound of hooves walking alongside. So, one of the centaurs was guarding him until they reached the edge of the forest. There Harry heard people shouting into the night. But they were a good distance away. Buckbeak silently continued his path towards the windows under Gryffindor Tower. There Harry was surprised when the invisibility cloak was taken from him.

"Don't worry, Harry. We will sneak you in," He identified the voice as the one of Fred Weasley.

"Can't have our hero fall into the hands of authority," George Weasley added.

Harry was lifted from Buckbeak's back and put onto the back of one of the twins. He couldn't say which one.

"Alright, the route is free. Everybody is around the Entrance Hall and streaming outside to investigate the light show," Fred said.

"Good. Put the cloak back over us Fred," George replied, and Harry heard the rustle of his cloak.

"How?" Harry managed to get out.

"Dear Ron was behaving a little bit suspicious while trying to deter Hermione from marching up to your dorm and lay into you for supposed irresponsible behaviour. He accused her of wanting to peek on you in front of the whole common room. We didn't know he had it in him. While it made Hermione furious, she didn't want to go up there anymore. We, being more resourceful than her, simply looked up where you were and saw you heading out into the forest and then suddenly you were surrounded by a great number of names we never read on the map before," Fred explained while leading the group towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Map?" Harry asked confused. Damn was he tired.

"Yes, a map that shows all of Hogwarts. The secret to our success. Taught us more than all the teachers combined. We will tell you more when you are fully restored. But you have to tell us what you were doing. We promise to not tell anybody you don't want to know. It must be really important though and the results were spectacular," George commented.

"Right," Harry mumbled.

The return to the tower was interrupted twice by Filch and Mrs Norris. But they got back undetected. It was already two in the morning now and nobody was left in the common room. Fred and George carried Harry to the third year boys' dorm and put Harry into his bed without changing his clothes. They supposed that Harry would rather do it himself when he woke up again.

"Alright, sleep well, Harry. Anything you need before you are out like a light?" Fred asked.

"Potion in my trunk. Green," Harry mumbled.

George looked through Harry's trunk and found the potion he wanted.

"Do you need to drink it now or after you wake up?" George asked.

"Now, restores energy faster," Harry mumbled and felt the bottle being pressed to his lips.

He opened his mouth enough to let the potion flow inside and he gulped all of it down.

"Thanks," He managed to say before finally falling asleep.

The twins left the room silently after storing all of the things that could look suspicious in the morning in Harry's trunk and putting the blankets of his bed over Harry's sleeping form.

Harry woke up around twelve. While he wasn't at full power, he could pretend that nothing was wrong. It wouldn't be that different from the beginning of the year. And as it was Sunday, nobody would comment on him sleeping in. Others did that a lot more often than he did. He quickly took a shower and put on some comfortable clothes. When he walked down to the common room, he saw that Hermione was glaring at him. Just what he needed.

"Where have you been? You have been breaking rules again, haven't you?" She accused him.

"Do you have any evidence to that, Hermione? Do I need to remind you that you too have broken many school rules during your time here? Where does this negative attitude towards me come from? I am tired of having you lay into me every chance you get. What the hell did I do to you?" Harry asked, being short on patience today.

He still felt drained from the ritual he had performed, and Hermione's attitude didn't sit right with him. This had been coming for a while and he had enough of her insulting and accusing him over things that didn't concern her.

"You are cheating to be good in class for once. You are doing things that are against the school rules, like going into the forest and you are insisting on that nonsense you are talking about being the truth. There are no books about magic being alive or sentient. You are all making that up to be more important," She snapped.

"I don't need to cheat to get good grades; I just need to put my mind into my work, something I didn't really do the last two years, because I had it ingrained into myself, sometimes very harshly, that I couldn't do well at school. Something many talks with a mind-healer managed to accomplish. I have very good reasons for my actions, reasons you refuse to accept, because you are too narrow-minded to accept anything that goes against the things you learned growing up. Magic isn't always logical; you can't rely on books, because many things aren't written down, but passed down by word of mouth or through the power of family magic. Haven't you learned anything last year with Lockhart? None of what he wrote in his books was true. How can you say that books are always right? And if I have to deny my heritage, which I am really proud of by the way, to just satisfy you, I find myself doubting if you really are my friend. Why can't you simply accept that I have changed over the summer thanks to finally getting help that I desperately needed?" Harry exclaimed loudly at the end.

He then turned away from her and stormed out of the common room. Even his patience had an end and she had just caught him at a bad moment. But still, what right did she have to criticise all he had done? He was finally putting more effort into his schoolwork like she had nagged him for two years. Why couldn't she bloody accept it?

Hermione stood shocked in the Gryffindor common room. She couldn't believe what had happened. Harry had never lashed out against her like that in all the time she had known him.

"Are you happy now, Hermione?" Neville asked accusingly, "You couldn't simply ask nicely, could you?"

"What do you mean, Neville?" She asked, still under shock.

"He was keeping his negative feelings about what you did bottled up for some time now. He was really annoyed and hurt that you couldn't accept the changes in him. You can be happy if he accepts an honest apology for your behaviour. We told you that your beliefs about magic aren't shared and that we were taught about magic being sentient from the time we were little. Think about this, do you want to lose your best friend? Because that will happen if you continue like you did," Neville said and left the tower, hoping to calm Harry down.

Hermione sat down, really thinking what she had done. After an hour she came to the conclusion that she had made a horrible mistake. While there were still some things she couldn't accept, why did she hold them against Harry so much? Just because she couldn't deal with competition for the top spot in classes? Neville was right, she had been a horrible friend. She really needed to apologize to Harry.

The Ministry was in panic. Not only had the dementors disappeared from Hogwarts, but from Azkaban too. The only good thing about the situation was that Amelia Bones had been informed about this going to be happening beforehand and had mobilised a group of aurors to take up the slack of the missing dementors, if the warning was indeed genuine. Now there wasn't one single dementor to be found. The aurors made sure that Azkaban was still secure until they could set up wards that would take up the slack that the loss of the dementors would cause. Due to that, all magic inhibiting cuffs were used on the prisoners. They first needed to get more to be able to use them in their normal jobs. Which would cost a lot of money, but letting more prisoners escape from Azkaban would be so much worse.

Fudge was in panic mode. He tried to blame somebody for this event, but nobody could explain to him what had happened. Nothing like this was reported anywhere. And as much as he wanted to blame Sirius Black for all of this mess, everybody with some sense would tell him that even the infamous Blacks couldn't have achieved this incredible bit of magic, or there wouldn't be so many of their family members still at Azkaban. And Sirius Black would need to recover from being stuck with dementors for over a decade, no matter how he had managed to escape from Azkaban. There were studies about the effect of long-term dementor exposure that the Department of Mysteries had done in the past.

The Department of Mysteries was also very unhelpful, as they said they should celebrate the dementors being gone, because they were much too dangerous to be left roaming freely and that the only reason they had been instated guarding Azkaban was that the wizards hadn't found a better way to get rid of them. They sacrificed the prisoners to the dementors to keep them peaceful, though they had been working for decades on a way to get rid of them, because they had the habit to join dark lords. They had been on Grindelwald's side and later on Voldemort's.

Many politicians tried to milk the situation, but nothing really came out of it. Nobody was claiming credit for the act, probably smart with how the Minister criminalised that heroic act, and the ones to profit from the situation were warding specialists, as Azkaban needed to have the wards upgraded to a level that the worst criminals couldn't escape once the effect of the missing dementors would allow them to get a bit stronger again. Though some seemingly didn't take the sudden disappearance well. There had been five reported deaths already, probably from the changed magical balance around the prison. Not everybody could take sudden changes after being in a certain environment for years.

Especially as nobody cared to supply the prisoners with the potions that would help with adjusting faster. The wardens suspected that others would follow. Among the dead were three high-ranking Death Eaters like Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov. Fanatic Voldemort supporters and nobody was really sad that they were gone forever now. It was the one light in the darkness that the Ministry was able to announce. Though there was also one effect of whatever had happened that would only be noticed months later.

The main problem Fudge had was that he had to withdraw members of the DMLE to guard Azkaban, simply because without the dementors the few wardens weren't enough to prevent a possible escape if several prisoners tried once they got over the first effect. And, which the Ministry until now had never cared about, even a muggle would be able to break out of that prison. The place was old, and maintenance had never been high on the agenda of the Ministry. Why would they care, as the dementors dealt with any attempts to flee easily? If a physically large prisoner threw himself against the bars of the door often enough, they would break out of the hinges. And then the few wardens would be overwhelmed quickly.

Once one prisoner figured that part out, others would follow. And the prisoners outnumbered the current wardens fifty to one. Those odds were impossible to overcome, even if the wardens had magic on their side and the prisoners had theirs suppressed by the cuffs. It was a political nightmare, caused by mismanagement and greed in the past. Purebloods like Lucius Malfoy had managed to get budget cuts for the DMLE through after the war, and once they had consolidated their power again. Many muggleborn and halfblood aurors as well as lower law enforcement officers, had been fired when the need for them had not been seen anymore. Now these people would be needed urgently, but most wouldn't want to return to their positions. They wouldn't let the bastards that had only used them get power over them again.

Another chapter done. Until next time.

8. Halloween Attack

Hi, everybody. The next chapter is ready for you. Hope you enjoy it.

Halloween Attack

Harry ignored Hermione's attempts to talk to him for two weeks. She looked terrible, but this was needed so that she would learn to not expect all people to do what she wanted. True, Harry and Ron had mostly followed her ideas in the past two years, except when Harry led them into an adventure, but she needed to accept that things changed, and the boys could make their own decisions. During that time, he concentrated on his studies and getting back to full strength. The ritual had really drained him. Probably ninety per cent of his magic had to be replenished. The one good thing was that none of the Professors noticed, because they did a lot of theoretical work that didn't require much magical power.

Sadly, the Potions lessons were the ones where he needed most magic to keep his cauldron protected from flying ingredients that Malfoy and his goons tried throwing into his cauldron. Did those idiots know nothing? Tempering with potions was dangerous. If one didn't concentrate on it, one could kill people in this subject. And of course, Snape did nothing to rein his Slytherins in. But there was nothing Harry could do except protecting his work. He had charmed his vials unbreakable and therefore petty attempts to destroy his work were thwarted, much to Snape's ire.

Snape was in a bad mood in general. The school was patrolled by aurors all day, now that the dementors were gone. And they gave Snape nasty looks. Most probably wanted to get back at him for his horrible teaching that had made getting into auror academy extremely difficult. A lot of work for an auror was connected to brewing potions, so a NEWT in the subject was a must. Now, getting into NEWT classes required an O in the OWLs, but with how Snape taught, it was a very small group of students that managed to do so, nearly all Slytherins and Ravenclaws, and most had to get tutored during summer to catch up and then sit the NEWT at the Ministry.

The twins had told Harry about the Marauders Map and how they had found it in their first year and how much it had helped them learn about the castle and its secrets. With how it showed everybody around, they could always avoid being caught by the teachers. Harry borrowed the map to see where all those secrets were hidden. It was amazing what the map could do. Though one thing he thought suspicious. There was a dot labelled Peter Pettigrew around Gryffindor Tower a lot. What did that mean? The map didn't show the ghosts, so he had to be alive. The only ghost it showed was Peeves. He asked Fred and George and they promised to keep an eye on this curiosity and try to find Pettigrew.

It was time for the first Hogsmeade weekend and Harry was really looking forward to it. As Hermione still hadn't got over her problems with Harry outperforming her in class and generally catching up to her, Harry had decided to go to the village with Neville and Ron. Ron and Harry had more or less taken the shy blond into their group and were working on his lacking sense of self-worth and confidence. It did Neville a world of good. Since they had started, he had managed to get better at using magic and his essays now earned really good marks. The teachers had definitely noticed his improvement.

Not to mention that his regular training with Harry helped him to become fitter and it showed in how he looked. Where he had been pudgy before, he now started to lose weight and developed some muscle. It wasn't a lot yet, but others had noticed. The three boys walked around, investigating what kinds of shops were in the village, buying what they liked, mostly sweets, and having a good time. The whole village was guarded by aurors, which had replaced the dementors. They didn't look good though. Probably there were too few to cover the new guard schedule at Azkaban and keeping Hogsmeade safe. Well, that was the result of wrong management at the Ministry during past years.

Harry knew from Ron and Neville that the auror office had hired very few trainees in the past years. Ron knew that Charlie had applied before he got the job at the dragon preserve, but had been refused, stating his grades hadn't been good enough. Charlie had graduated with O's in Care of magical Creatures, Charms and Transfiguration and E's in Potions, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies. Normally that should be enough to get him into initial training. But Neville also knew that his Gran had ranted about the cuts for the DMLE that had been passed by Fudge. She couldn't understand that such an important department was bled dry. She had been especially angry, because Neville's parents had been aurors before they had been attacked by Death Eaters.

By now all the Gryffindor third-year boys knew what had happened with Neville's parents. One evening they had exchanged stories about their families and who had been lost in the war. Seamus had lost his aunt, who had been caught up in a raid on Diagon Alley in June 1979. Dean was muggleborn, though his father had simply vanished in November 1980 and, from the descriptions of the others, he figured he might have been caught in one attack on muggles. Ron told about his uncles Fabian and Gideon Prewett, who had died fighting, and Harry of his parents and grandparents. Neville then told them that, while his parents were still alive, they had been tortured to insanity.

They had all been very sympathetic to him, none of them could imagine how it had to be to know your parents were still alive but didn't recognise you.

The boys visited Zonko's, the joke shop, Honeydukes, the sweet shop, the post office, the pub 'The Three Broomsticks' and some general shops. They ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks and Harry really enjoyed butterbeer. On their way towards the Shrieking Shack they noticed a shaggy black dog sniffing the ground. First Ron thought it was a Grim and the dog looked up at them startled by the shout. Harry quickly stated that it wasn't a Grim. He had a feeling for those things. The dog was magical though, but there was no aura of the dead. Harry also cleared up the misunderstanding about Grims. They were spirit guardians, not omens of death. They guarded the rest of the dead by keeping dark spirits away from the graves. It took a while for a soul to completely pass on, so Grims were normally found around graveyards where a person that had recently died was buried.

Dark spirits, and sometimes dark wizards or witches, regularly tried catching the souls of the dead and feed on their spiritual power. Grims prevented that by keeping the dark spirits under control. And they tended to attack dark witches and wizards that were out to steal the souls for their dark magic practices brutally. Normally it led to the death of the one that was attacked, and it was probably the origin for the myth of seeing a Grim causing the soon-to-follow death of the one seeing the dog. Both Neville and Ron were shocked to hear that. Harry meanwhile got the dog to come over to him and fed him with a bit of sandwich with turkey breast, which he still had in his backpack from lunch. He hadn't been sure if there was a place to eat something proper in the village, so he had made himself two sandwiches in case he needed to eat lunch. Now that he had eaten at the Three Broomsticks, he could easily give those sandwiches to the dog. The dog happily ate them and licked Harry's face for the food. Harry only laughed about it.

Harry then told Neville and Ron about the strange appearance of Peter Pettigrew on the Marauder's Map that Fred and George had.

"But how can he be on the map if he is dead?" Neville asked confused.

"That's what I want to find out," Harry answered.

"Really strange. I have never seen anybody that didn't belong into Gryffindor tower, only the students," Ron said, "I mean, even Professor McGonagall only was there once last year, when she made those announcements after Hermione and Percy's girlfriend were petrified by the basilisk."

"And when she tells us off after the Quidditch team has won a match and we party till two in the night," Neville added grinning.

"That too," Ron agreed chuckling.

"By the way, Ron, how is Scabbers doing, I haven't seen him in a while," Neville asked.

"Not good. That stupid cat of Hermione's doesn't leave him alone. He has lost a lot of weight already. I keep him in our dorm all the time now to prevent that beast getting him," Ron growled, "He would recover if that cat would only leave him alone."

"You said it started after you returned from your family trip to Egypt, didn't you?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I guess he didn't like the sun and heat too much. He is old after all," Ron admitted.

"How old exactly? I only know he was once Percy's pet," Neville asked, and Harry also wanted to know that.

"Let me think. Percy had him since I can remember. I don't know exactly how long," Ron answered.

Harry frowned. That would mean Scabbers was over ten years old. How could that be if he didn't show any magic?

"Did Scabbers ever show magical powers?" Harry wanted to know, "I mean for a common garden rat that is way too long to live."

"No, he didn't," Ron said frowning now.

"That's definitely not normal. We should investigate that more," Harry said.

"What could be the reason?" Neville asked.

"I don't know yet, but it is strange. Perhaps there is more to Scabbers than we think," Harry pondered.

None of them noticed the dog listening intently to their conversation.

That evening the students enjoyed the great Hallowe'en feast. They laughed, talked about the Hogsmeade trip and ate more than their fill of the treats that the house elves had prepared for them. Finally, they went back to their common rooms, still laughing and talking. Though the Gryffindors were for some reason stopped before they could get into their common room.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked.

"No idea. Perhaps someone forgot the password?" Lavender who was behind them suggested.

"Not this many people. Someone would know it and the Fat Lady only changed it yesterday," Neville stated, as he knew perfectly, because he always forgot the passwords.

"Maybe she is at some other portrait?" Ron suggested.

"Not likely. She knows that we would come back from the feast around this time," Harry replied.

"Let me through, I'm headboy," They heard Percy's pompous voice, "What's the matter? You can't have all forgotten the password."

The group parted and Harry got a glimpse at the portrait where normally the Fat Lady sat. It had clearly been attacked, probably with a knife. Just who would do something like that?

"Get Professor Dumbledore at once!" Percy shouted and some of the students in the back reacted and went to get the headmaster.

After some minutes Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall appeared and Dumbledore inspected the attacked portrait.

"We need to find the Fat Lady to find out what happened here," Dumbledore said.

"Hiding she is," Peeves cackled.

"What do you know Peeves?" Dumbledore asked sternly.

Peeves sobered. He didn't dare playing around with Dumbledore. He told him that Sirius Black had attacked the Fat Lady and that she had fled over the attack after she had refused to let him inside Gryffindor's common room without the correct password.

"All students are to go to the Great Hall immediately. The teachers will search the whole school for Black," Dumbledore ordered and strode away to inform the other teachers.

Harry stayed at the back of the group and inspected the portrait. Something was strange here. He felt a familiar presence, but where had he felt it before? It hadn't been long ago. Perhaps in Hogsmeade? Had he coincidentally come across Black without noticing? He would have to think about it and try to remember it.

When all students were assembled at the Great Hall, Dumbledore conjured sleeping bags for all students after informing them that Sirius Black had been seen in the castle and that the teachers would look for him. They were to go to sleep in the sleeping bags.

Harry lay down in his sleeping bag next to Ron closest to one of the walls. He pondered the events and really tried to remember the strange presence. The most curious part was that Black's presence didn't feel like he would have expected a lunatic mass-murderer's presence to feel. It was more like a deep sadness and rightful anger. And longing. But why would it feel like that? His ability to sense magical signatures wasn't that developed yet. He could only sense anything within a few minutes after a person had left a location. After that he wouldn't get anything. That would be part of what he would be learning next year when he returned to Camelot. His mother had told him that much already. How he wished that he could contact her now and ask for advice. But she lived in the past. Perhaps the Room of Requirement she had mentioned could give him some answers. He would look for it tomorrow.

Sirius was cursing silently inside the Shrieking Shack. He had been so close. Peter was inside of Gryffindor Tower the whole time, but he couldn't get inside because he didn't have the thrice cursed password. It had been so great to see Harry again in Hogsmeade, exploring the village with Frank and Alice's son and the redhead was probably one of Arthur and Molly's brood. They had had seven already when he had been arrested. Harry had looked well. He had been really worried when he had overheard during his escape that Harry had disappeared from his aunt and uncle's house. Finding out that Harry had grown up with Petunia of all people made Sirius angry. It was common knowledge among the members of the Order that Lily's sister's jealousy of her sister having magic had turned into hatred. To send a defenceless child into such a house was asking for disaster.

No, he could fully understand that Harry had run away. After all, he had done the same when he had been sixteen. He only hoped that Peter wouldn't act against Harry as soon as he realised that the boys were investigating him closer. The man was dangerous if cornered. The blasting hex that had killed twelve muggles was proof of that. And if he fired it inside of the Gryffindor Common room, when students were there, it would end in a blood bath. That was why he had tried to get Peter during the feast. There would be no students at the tower at that time.

His movements had been a little more restricted since the dementors had been replaced by aurors, but it also helped him regenerate better. He didn't know what had happened, but he had seen the light vortexes sucking them in the day after he had arrived in Hogsmeade. Whatever that had been, it had been incredible and full of powerful ancient magic. He knew that somebody had used the night of Diana's blessing. His growing up in the Black family, who had been big on Astronomy, sometimes had its uses. But to use that power, a witch or wizard normally needed a special connection to magic and as far as he knew there was no guardian of magic left. The Avalon line had died out long ago. It had been one thing his mother had truly regretted. Walburga Black was a firm believer of the old ways and she would have been honoured to support any guardian of magic, even if that would have meant standing against Voldemort.

Sirius knew that something was up with magic and the balance. It was part of his blood heritage. While the Blacks didn't have any talents that they could use from it, they could feel magic. It was part of why he had been so good at finding hidden passages back at school. He could feel the 'openings' in the magic of Hogwarts. He had been the main intel giver for the marauders map and found the needed runes. James had worked out the Arithmancy to connect the map to the wards to show everybody in the castle and their movements. Remus had done the Charms work for showing the map and deleting it by using passwords. Peter had brewed the potion to make the parchment hold the charms and runes indefinitely.

Back at that time they had truly been the best of friends. How he wished that things would never have changed. That they would have stood together all the time. Then James and Lily wouldn't have died, Harry would have grown up with them and his marauder uncles and would have learnt the noble art of pranking from them. The next generation of the marauders. But because Peter had gone over to Voldemort, all of that hadn't happened. Now Sirius could only try and protect Harry from the traitor. And he wouldn't fail again.

Harry used the next day to ponder all the information he had. Peter Pettigrew was somehow alive and showed up at the Gryffindor common room regularly. At the moment he wasn't there though, the twins had checked. Sirius Black had managed to get past all the aurors that patrolled around and inside of Hogwarts during the Hallowe'en feast, which should have been impossible. How could he have managed to get inside without being seen? Of course, now the stupid Minister was again whining over losing the dementors. As if they would have been able to stop Black getting inside. They had already failed to keep him at Azkaban. How would they have been able to stop him at Hogwarts?

The reason for Fudge's whining was also very obvious. He was getting a lot of nasty backlash in the press for having been majorly responsible for the lack of aurors at the DMLE. Not that he was the only one. Those that had voted for cutting down the actual teeth the DMLE had once had, the ones that had lobbied for 'saving the money' and using it 'better', were now being verbally flayed by the public opinion. Several others that had argued against cutting the budget of one of the most important departments at the Ministry of Magic were now pointing out how stupid it had been. After all, while Black was dangerous, he was just one man.

They used the opportunity to paint a much worse scenario. What if somebody decided to step into Voldemort's position? Most people didn't believe him to still be alive, but many argued that not all of his followers had been caught. What if somebody like Black would assemble those that remained unknown to the DMLE back after the war had ended? What if they continued the crusade for their sick goals? How would the toothless tiger that was the current DMLE deal with that kind of threat? They couldn't even successfully recapture one man. How should they do the job when several dozen or hundred dark witches and wizards revolted against their world again?

Fudge was quickly rushing towards a very nasty end of his career. He realised that, which was why he was whining about losing a race of monsters that normal witches and wizards were actually glad to be rid of. Things that sucked out their souls were better off not threatening them and their children again. Especially as many people remembered how unreliable they had been in the war. There had been many suspicions of them helping Voldemort, as he would give them more power than the Ministry was willing to do.

The ones that Fudge tried to push the blame to, the aurors and general DMLE staff, had, in form of Amelia Bones, the head of the department, given a public statement, complete with schedules that each and every one of them was working under. Combined with the question, how they should manage to work eighteen hours day after day without rest, most abusing potions to manage staying alert enough on their job to not fail at critical moments. It was impossible for any witch or wizard. It might work out for a week or two, but that was it. And it showed in how the aurors at Hogwarts looked like, and how the DMLE couldn't send more than two teams of two at all times to be present at the school.

They simply didn't have the aurors that certain reporters cried out for, a nasty article from Rita Skeeter had been answered by a counter article by Madam Bones, who had given the cold, hard facts of the situation, as she was sick of everybody only criticising her department, when they already worked overtime as much as they could. She also explained with details how the remaining aurors were nearly all over a certain age and how this situation would have been handled in the past, as it was simply fact that the older a witch or wizard got, the harder field work became. Normally, any aurors over fifty years should have been transferred to mostly desk work, teaching positions at the auror academy or low level guard jobs, like patrolling places like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade during peace times.

While their magic was still powerful and they had experience, their reflexes had dulled and that could cost them their lives in real fights. Amelia Bones, much to the chagrin of Cornelius Fudge, had laid open the hiring numbers that the DMLE could afford with the budget they had and how old their equipment actually was. The had replaced the dragon hide vests that aurors were forced to wear by law on potentially dangerous jobs in 1980 the last time. At the height of the war against Voldemort. Everybody knew that those vests, if worn regularly, needed to be replaced after five years with good maintenance. Since the end of the war, they had hired three new cadets for the aurors, as certain politicians had claimed that they didn't need to keep a large force anymore.

Amelia Bones was not willing to be blamed for things she had argued over for years. Especially not when she had proof how Fudge had built his rise to the position of Minister on the votes of the ones that had got the laws that restricted her subordinates now passed. She had given an easy way out of the situation. The DMLE needed to get a one-time fund to replace all their equipment that was too old and didn't guarantee the safety of the aurors on duty. Then they needed a generally higher budget each year, to hire young graduates from Hogwarts, the few that actually had the necessary grades to make it into their department, to train them up for the job. To have the DMLE ready for another conflict, they would need at least fifty new cadets on the spot.

And she also pointed out that if the ones in charge of the budget hadn't saved money at the wrong end for years, she didn't openly say and directed said money into their own pockets, even if many could read that implication between the lines, they could have hired between three and five new cadets since the end of the war each year, to now not have to face this problem. Saying that nobody could have predicted the disappearance of the dementors didn't cut it. Everybody had known that they were too dangerous to fully rely on. While using them as a filler until they had the numbers, okay, she could support that stance, but to foolishly reduce the number of witches and wizards that could even keep them at bay, that was insanity at the highest level.

Harry was convinced that several heads would roll at the Ministry, now that Madam Bones was done keeping her mouth shut. And Black had to know secrets about Hogwarts that others didn't know. He had to have a way to move undetected. A probably non-magical way, because the wards would have otherwise detected it.

For some reason Harry didn't buy the reasoning that Sirius Black had tried to get into the tower to get Harry. After all, he must have been hiding around Hogwarts for a while to have managed to avoid the auror patrols. Hence, he had to know that it was Hallowe'en, the one day around this time of the year where all students would be in the Great Hall for the feast and not their common rooms. More, the perfect place for attack would have been in Hogsmeade. While Harry had kept his promise to Dumbledore to not go anywhere alone, if Black had wanted to, he could have attacked Harry there. He would have taken a major risk, but if his only goal was indeed to attack Harry, it would have been easiest there. Perhaps not in the village, but the way down there would have made it easy to simply hide in the bushes around and fire a spell.

Then a thought hit Harry. What if Sirius Black wasn't after him but Peter Pettigrew? He had no idea how he could have found out about that, but perhaps after his escape he had done so? It was far-fetched, but it was a theory that wasn't too far off to be put off. Just how to find out? Thankfully he had managed to convince Professor McGonagall that if Black hadn't attacked him in Hogsmeade, he would be safe enough there to continue going there on the weekends when students were allowed to go. He wanted to see if he could find the magical signature he had recognised yesterday again. If he could, he might be able to give the aurors the chance to arrest Black to question him. After all, without a trial there was no undisputable proof of Black's guilt or innocence.

Albus Dumbledore was in a problematic situation. Despite all their efforts to keep Sirius out of Hogwarts and away from Harry, they didn't manage it. While Sirius hadn't met Harry, thankfully, or the boy would be dead already, he had managed to sneak the whole way up to Gryffindor Tower and only the missing password stopped him from gaining entrance. Now Cornelius, the fool, tried to change public opinions, again, of the Ministry being incompetent by taking overly hasty actions. He wanted to place Harry under 24/7 protection. Albus knew that Harry would never let them do that and that he would lash out. And after how rebellious the boy had become since the end of last year, he would make sure to succeed.

He was friends with the Weasley twins, which could only end in embarrassment for the poor guards Cornelius would assign. And Harry hated being in the spotlight. This could blow up in their faces, because, as Harry's magical guardian, even if Harry's request for emancipation was going through the official channels now, right now Albus was responsible for the protection of his ward. While he was sure that Cornelius was blocking the process where he could, he could only stall for so long. Harry was right about being able to claim emancipation. He was the last of the Potters; he had the financial means to look after himself and the grades to prove he could live on his own. Since the beginning of the year Harry had incredibly improved and he was getting more and more confident in his abilities.

And controlling the boy had become really difficult. While Harry was still respectful to his teachers, except for Severus, whom he fully ignored now, he didn't do anything he didn't want to. He even refused to go to any detention that was set unfairly, stating that he would only attend detentions that were conform with the school charter and not some temper tantrums incompetent and arrogant teachers threw. That was clearly directed at Severus. Really, there was some merit to Harry's arguments, but Severus simply didn't want to see that Harry wasn't his father. And any sabotage attempts in class Harry directly brought up with Minerva and she rescinded all points taken unfairly and all detentions that were the same. Harry had even gone so far as to provide a pensieve to show his memories of each incident. And with that kind of proof, Minerva was not inclined to let Severus do as she had done previously. Where Harry got that pensieve or even knew what it was, he didn't know, but it was a highly efficient counter to Severus' claims. Albus feared that if Severus went too far and attacked Harry, he wouldn't like the consequences.

Hermione was trying to get Harry alone, but that wasn't easy. He was always with Ron, Neville, Fred or George these days. His performance in class had been fantastic and while she still was annoyed that she wasn't the undisputed number one in class anymore, she had managed to get used to that idea. Not that she wouldn't fight for her spot, but Harry completely ignored her. She knew he was really busy with the first Quidditch match against Slytherin coming up. But still, she had never felt as isolated as now. Well, at the beginning of her first year. She had thought she was over that, but it seemed with how she had treated Harry, the others were all against her. And Harry was more open with their other classmates too. She had observed him, and he talked a lot more before and after classes with those being in other houses.

Well, not so much in Slytherin, but he treated those that never went against him or tried to harm him neutrally and politely. He also stopped general disparaging comments about all Slytherins being evil. Which in return earned him some goodwill from the neutral faction within Slytherin. She simply didn't understand him anymore. He was so totally different than last year and still there was a lot she associated uniquely with Harry.

She had tried to pass him up when he came back from training, but the other members of the Gryffindor team were normally with him when they were done with that day's training, mostly joking how Oliver Wood was really desperate for the cup, which they somewhat understood, but still had to suffer from. They were now training every day, no matter what kind of weather. And still, she didn't have as much time as she would have liked to find Harry, because her workload didn't get lower at all; the contrary was true, she got more and more work. She wouldn't openly admit it, but she really doubted secretly if she could do all the things she had decided to do this year. Especially all alone.

The day of the first Quidditch match was overshadowed by horrible weather. A devastating thunderstorm was raging around Hogwarts. No one wanted to play Quidditch in that weather, but sadly Quidditch wasn't cancelled or moved just because of horrible weather. Thus, the two teams had to soldier through it. Not that the Slytherins didn't try to get out of it, but as they couldn't find any viable reason to have another team take their spot, they had to bite this time. Gryffindor was really eager to show them that their precious brooms were worth nothing in conditions where raw talent was more deciding. After all, speed alone wouldn't help them in a storm.

Harry was now doubly glad that he had disposed of the dementors. If he would have had to face them in these conditions, he would have been dead for sure. With the rain and wind, they would have been able to sneak up on him and either push him from his broom or suck his soul out high in the air. After all, with enough of them attacking him, their effect would have overwhelmed him quickly. And banishing them all at the same time would also have resulted in him being drained and falling down. Not to mention it would have revealed him as the one to deal with them permanently. Now he only had to work against the storm and hope that he found the snitch before he was drenched completely and frozen to his broom.

Thankfully he only had to look for the snitch half an hour before he spotted it. And neither Malfoy nor the Slytherin beaters had a chance to stop him. He chased after it for a total of ten seconds before he closed his hand around the small golden ball. He wondered if Madam Hooch had noticed that the snitch was caught. Seemingly not as the game went on below him. He flew around, looking for the Flying teacher who refereed and showed her the snitch in his hand. She blew her whistle, looking embarrassed and ended the match. The end result was 210:20 for Gryffindor. Slytherin really hadn't done well in the storm.

After the match Hermione finally managed to pass up Harry to talk to him alone. While he looked at her sceptically, he agreed to talk in private. They went to an empty classroom.

"Alright, Hermione, what do you want? I really want to get a hot shower," Harry said.

"Harry, I want, I wanted to apologise for how I behaved. I shouldn't have treated you like I did. I should have known that you wouldn't cheat to get good grades, but your changes were so big, and things were suddenly so different than in the first two years that I couldn't understand it. And then we never really talked anymore, and I simply couldn't accept the concept of magic being alive," She rushed out, "I can't explain why those things around you suddenly happen and that irks me immensely. I have realised that in my wish to know everything, I was a horrible friend and when you explained to me why things happened to you, I didn't want to believe them. It's like last year when I fawned over the faker Lockhart because he was good looking, and his books were so amazing."

"You really hurt me with your behaviour, Hermione, and it will take more than this to regain my trust. I forgive you for your behaviour, as I can see that you are honestly sorry. But please realise that I won't share the secrets I would have shared with you before this as readily as I did in the past. Many of the things I don't tell you or others are dangerous in the wrong hands. I can't be found out too early on. Those who know my heritage, at the moment that's you, Ron, Neville and the twins, have sworn to not reveal it. While you know my heritage, you haven't really understood what it means for those raised in the wizarding world. I told you that the blood of Morgaine of Avalon flows in my veins. Morgaine was also known as Morgana Le Fey," Hermione's eyes widened at that.

"The house of Avalon has always protected magic, but she was vilified by those that hated that a woman had so much magical power and political influence," Harry said, "My many times great-grandmother wasn't a dark witch, but neither was she a strictly light witch. The boarders between light and dark aren't as stringent as people want us to believe today. Read up on magical balance and guardians and you might be able to understand a little why Ron behaves like he does and why the twins are willing to cover for me whenever I should need it."

"I will, I promise. And I will try to not blow up over things I don't have all information about again. It's just, I think I am doing too much, but I also don't want to give up any of my subjects," Hermione admitted unhappily, "In that stress you suddenly started to compete with me for the top spot in most classes and it simply overloaded my understanding."

"No amount of knowledge is worth working yourself into the ground. You need to find a balance. You have five years remaining at Hogwarts. Concentrate on what you really want to do. Don't keep up with certain subjects out of false pride. You said we didn't talk anymore, well, when would you have had time? You work from the time you go to the common room till late in the evening and then you fall into bed fully exhausted. You are burning yourself out. Take a break from doing your homework that isn't due the next day tomorrow and use the time to really think what you want to do with your life. For example, while Muggle Studies might interest you because you want to know the wizarding perspective of things, you don't need the class and would ace any test without preparation. Next is Divination, which completely clashes with your personality. It is a lot about belief, which is something you lack. And you have to simply accept that you can't be the best in everything. As soon as you accept that, you will see more about what we have tried to tell you since the year started," Harry told her, "Now excuse me, I need a hot shower, I don't want to catch a cold."

With that he left her to her thoughts.

That's it for this chapter. Until next time.

9. Rat Catchers

Rat Catchers

Till Christmas the friendship between Hermione and Harry was somewhat repaired, but she could feel how he kept her at arm's length. She knew she had only herself to blame for that. Her false pride and inability to accept change and other opinions had led to him losing faith in her. He was polite and friendly again, but he still kept a lot of secrets. Her nature wanted him to tell her everything she wanted to know, but she knew better than to push him. She had been lonely without her friends and she didn't want a repeat performance. Because she knew that Harry wouldn't offer her a second chance to redeem herself, should she do something that stupid. She had followed Harry's advice and looked for books on magical balance. There she found a few methods that helped reaching a balance with one's magic, how the natural magic needed to be in balance so that catastrophes were prevented and that certain people, called guardians, were believed to be entrusted by magic with the job of protecting the balance.

She found nothing about the Avalon line, except that it was legendary and believed to be extinct. But Harry wouldn't lie about this; that much she had realised. What she had found out was that Harry and Neville practiced sword-fighting regularly. That was where they went together and why they were always drenched in sweat when they returned to the common room. She wanted to hit herself for being so stupid. Harry had told Ron and her on the train that he had started sword-fighting. It was only logical that he would want to continue his training. And Neville had mentioned that he got lessons over the summer too.

So far, she still hadn't given up any of her subjects, but she was seriously considering dropping Divination. She really couldn't stand Professor Trelawney and her horror predictions. Perhaps Harry was right, and she should reduce her workload. And Divination was rubbish for her and the teacher a fraud. Perhaps there was some merit to the subject itself, but, with how it was taught, it didn't help at all. Harry would be staying at the school this year again, even if she thought to see some kind of longing in his eyes when he looked outside at the snow. She wanted to ask, but she didn't want to destroy the little connection she had managed to regain with Harry. Ron and Neville were a bit more open, but they clearly showed her how she had messed up. And thanks to the stupid Ministry trying to put Harry under constant watch, which he had blown up over, his nerves were already strained.

The announcement of the next Hogsmeade weekend was met with great joy among the students. The guards the Minister had placed around Harry tried to insist that he didn't go, but he blatantly told them that they had no say in his decision to go to Hogsmeade and that they could plan for him sending an official complaint about their dilettantish behaviour to Madam Bones. What they did had nothing to do with protection but hurting his right of privacy. The DMLE head would get his complaint this morning and if they wanted to keep their jobs, they should better shape up. There was no proof that he was Black's target, after all, he didn't say: 'Harry is at Hogwarts' in his sleep, therefore Black could mean somebody else.

Harry had even gone so far to approach the niece of Amelia Bones, said head of the DMLE, to hand her a copy of his complaint in person, just in case that his letter was interfered with. He didn't trust Fudge a bit; the man seemed totally incompetent in his eyes and he wouldn't trust him with a dwarf rabbit, not to mention his own safety. Why should he trust a man who threw innocent people to the soul suckers just to be seen doing something? Investigation of crimes was simply not done properly, and Harry detested that habit in the wizarding world. He refused to believe that Black was guilty until they had proven it. He had finally got some information about the investigation back in 1981 and he was disgusted on how flimsy evidence they had condemned a man to Azkaban. The statements were from mundane people who couldn't know what had happened. They found a finger from Pettigrew and no other body parts, they didn't even find blood, which Harry knew should have been there if he got blown up by a powerful blasting hex.

Those things left a right mess if they hit a living target. When Professor Dumbledore had told him about only a finger being found, Harry had thought that it was just the biggest identifiable part. That everything else was too destroyed to be told to be a certain part of the body. But there wasn't a huge mess, with flesh, blood and gore, just a torn robe with some blood splatters on it and the finger. There was no way a finger was the only remains of a whole body, especially not with a more or less undamaged robe. Some tears as the only visible sign of a supposedly powerful blasting hex? Please, that was simply impossible. Then the fact that Black didn't put up any resistance. Which criminal would do that? An insane mass murderer wouldn't stop at taking out as many of the ones tasked with bringing him in if he could betray his best friends and kill one of them. Or who had just slaughtered twelve muggles with one curse. This didn't add up.

For the trip Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione walked towards the village on their own. Harry had frozen his shadows unnoticed by the others. They simply didn't want to listen. Well, their problem. He wouldn't mind if they had simply joined the overall auror guard that was present during the Hogsmeade weekends and shadowed him from afar. That would have been okay, but he wouldn't let them single him out. On top of that he wanted to see if he could find the magical signature of Black that he had noticed on Hallowe'en. Perhaps that way he would find more clues to this mystery.

Harry was walking through the village with his friends and enjoyed the snow-covered landscape. It was really beautiful. So far, his supposed guards hadn't turned up. He wondered when somebody would find them and use a finite incantatem to unfreeze them. He had intentionally set it up that that spell could stop the effect, it would be suspicious if a third year knew a charm that couldn't be undone by it, but, with how he had shoved them into Fluffy's former room, he suspected that it would take some time. Well, perhaps they learned something from this. Taking them out had been ridiculously easy. Just three stunners from behind and then three full body binds. Levitating them into the room on the third floor had been easy as well, as this part of the castle was rarely frequented.

If they didn't turn up until the morning, he would give the teachers an anonymous hint. After all, who would be able to prove it had been him? The idiots surely not, as he had got them from behind without them ever suspecting a thing. Not professional at all and if they were supposed to be his protection, he would go without and be better off, thank you very much. Of course, he wouldn't say that in front of Hermione. She would blow up and he really didn't need that now. While she had been better recently, she was a rule stickler and worried about him. Well, those three wouldn't help any in a dangerous situation. He also thought that it was a waste of personnel to assign three aurors to him personally, as the others had to work even more to make up for that stupidity. And they were already at their limit.

To his joy they came across the black dog again. It looked a lot better than last time he had seen it. It had gained some weight and seemed to remember him. Harry smiled and walked over to scratch the dog behind the ears.

"Seems like you enjoy living in Hogsmeade. You look a lot better than on Hallowe'en," He told the dog, then he felt strange, then realisation hit him.

That dog felt the same as Sirius Black's signature in front of the Gryffindor common room on Hallowe'en. But why? Was he Black's pet or an animagus? Harry's thoughts raced with the second thought. If Black was this dog, then Pettigrew could also be an animagus and that could be the reason they never found him since Hallowe'en even if they had looked a lot. If he was a small animal, he could hide easily. Perhaps even one of the pets of the students. Cats were plentiful in Gryffindor and then there was Scabbers, Ron's rat, Lee's tarantula, the owls normally lived in the owlery, but he knew that there was at least a rabbit with one of the girls. What should he do to confirm his theory?

"Why don't you come with me to buy you some sausages?" He asked the dog and got a delighted bark and a whacking tail, "Guys, I'm over at the butcher's to get the dog a sausage. I will meet you at Honeydukes in twenty minutes, okay?"

"Sure, you really like that dog. Last time the sandwiches and now you even want to buy him sausages," Ron commented still not comfortable seeing how the dog looked like a Grim.

"Well, I somehow think I remember a dog like him from somewhere. I don't know from where it could be. The Dursleys never had a dog and the only ones I met were the horrible beasts from Aunt Marge. Her 'precious Ripper', a vicious bulldog," Harry explained, thinking that the excuse sounded true in his mind.

Harry and the dog went to the area where students rarely went to and normally only the villagers shopped. Harry made sure to keep an eye on the adults around and then took a turn into a small alley. He quickly cast a notice-me-not charm.

"Alright, I know that you aren't a normal dog. I think you are Sirius Black, but too many things are strange that I don't really think you are guilty of everything you have been accused of and I know for a fact that Pettigrew is somehow alive. What I want to know is, is he an animagus as well?" Harry asked, seeing the shocked look on the dog's face as confirmation that he had guessed right, "It wouldn't be good if you transformed back here. While I put up the notice-me-not charm, the aurors might be using tracking spells that are not working while you are in dog form. I want answers and you can give them to me. So, this is my suggestion: as you can obviously sneak into the school, we will meet in the abandoned classroom on the sixth floor of the east wing at one in the morning. I will give you one chance to tell your side of the story. If I think you are really innocent, I will see if I can help you prove your innocence. If not, I will go ape-shit on you and invite the aurors to help. You will be back at Azkaban within days after you got a trial this time."

The dog nodded and looked grateful if Harry interpreted it right. Then he took down the charm.

"Okay, for cover I still need to buy you those sausages," Harry stated and the animagus barked happily.

Harry was pacing in the empty classroom. He had set up ward stones around the area directly behind the door that would prevent any kind of magic above third-year level to be used. They would also trap anybody entering the area until he let them out. He needed to be sure that Sirius Black couldn't do anything really harmful to him and he knew with his abilities that he had learned from his mother and Sir Edmund he would be easily able to take on the older wizard if he needed to. He had considered taking some of his friends with him to the meeting but had in the end thought of an alternate option, as it wouldn't be good if Black smelled a trap and didn't enter the room. Instead, the twins were keeping watch with the map, both for actions of Black and Pettigrew. Ron had been given the receiver of an emergency alert, which Harry could trigger, in case he was wrong, and Black tried to attack. The aurors would be here very fast if Ron called them there. And he could last that long with the ward he had set up.

Finally, at a minute past one, he saw the black dog slip through the open space between the door and the frame. It walked towards the space behind the door and transformed. In place of the dog now stood a tall man, ragged looking with filthy hair, beard and clothes. Still, on his face was a small smile that reached his eyes. He seemed to be honestly pleased to get the chance to explain himself. He also didn't seem to notice the ward going active around him.

"Hello Harry. Thank you for giving me the chance to tell you the whole story," Sirius said.

"With the many holes in the explanations that are spun around my parents' death and your involvement, I decided that taking this slight risk was worth it. Especially after I found out that Peter Pettigrew was still alive and appears on the Marauder's Map constantly," Harry replied, his wand ready in his hand, "I would like to know how that works. It would be great to replicate the effect on other areas."

"The recognition is tied to the wards of Hogwarts. The school can always tell where a person is. In crisis it informs the headmaster or headmistress of this. It's the reason why Dumbledore seems to know everything that goes on around here, not to mention that the portraits report to him." Sirius explained.

Harry looked surprised.

"How do you know that?" He asked honestly curious.

"I was part of the group that created the map. My nickname at school was Padfoot for my animagus form," Sirius answered.

"So, my Dad," Harry started, thinking of the piece of parchment that was currently with the Weasley twins, considering it in a new light.

"Was Prongs. His animagus form was a stag. The other two, Moony is Remus Lupin and Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew," He growled the last part, "We were the best of friends at school. We were young, felt invincible and never thought that any of us could betray the other. That's what led to the biggest mistake I ever made in life and the second biggest one shortly after that," Sirius sighed.

"Perhaps you should start at the beginning. I need to know the truth finally," Harry stated.

"Yes, you deserve that. Well, when we left school, we were full of idealistic opinions. We would make a difference in the war and bring the Death Eaters down. After one battle against them, all of our assumptions were torn apart. You can't truly understand war until you have been in one. You can prepare, you can train spells, hand-to-hand-combat, duelling and train your endurance, but before you have truly fought, you can't imagine what it is like. The blood, the screams and the fear of falling next, thanks to the ruthless use of unforgivable curses that the Death Eaters used. Such a situation either brings the best out in a person or the worst. For James and me it was the former, for Peter the latter. Remus fell somewhere in the middle. Peter was always scared of those who had more power and sought out powerful protectors. He could be courageous, but very rarely and only if nothing major was at stake.

"I should have seen it earlier, but I trusted my best friends. Remus started to withdraw from us more and more and was unable to find a job because of prejudices against him. It was probably that behaviour that made me fall for the concerns Peter raised about his behaviour. Peter one day joined Voldemort. I never suspected it. I don't even know when it happened," Here Sirius looked to be far away, "We were all part of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret group that Dumbledore had founded to fight against Voldemort and his minions. Many good people belonged to it too and many of them lost their lives in battles against the Death Eaters. Too many. Before you were born Dumbledore was told a prophecy about somebody being born that could defeat Voldemort. It could have been you or Neville Longbottom. Both of you fit the description of the prophecy. A Death Eater overheard part of it and told Voldemort, which led to both your and Neville's parents going into hiding with you to protect you both. But you were constantly found and had to flee from several safe houses.

"We deducted that we had a spy in the Order, but we couldn't find out who it was. Someday Professor Dumbledore found an ancient spell called the Fidelius Charm. It hides a secret in the soul of a person. If the secret keeper doesn't give up the secret, nobody would ever be able to find out what the secret keeper was hiding. In this case it would have been the hiding place. Dumbledore offered to be the secret keeper himself, but with how he always was at the front lines of the battles, there was a risk of him dying and with the death of the secret keeper all those that have been told the secret become the new secret keepers. Hence, we needed somebody who didn't always have a prime target painted on his back that was still completely trustworthy."

"And you should have been that person?" Harry asked.

"Yes. But I thought I was too obvious. I was your Dad's best friend, we were like brothers and if Voldemort found out about the charm being used, and I don't doubt he would know its workings, he would think that I was the secret keeper and come after me. Therefore, I decided to trick Voldemort by tricking everybody else too. I suggested to your parents to use Peter as the secret keeper and I would play decoy. Even if they caught and tortured me, they wouldn't get anything. I also planned to go into hiding myself and have Peter hide to make things even safer and keep up the ruse. Peter wasn't the most magically powerful wizard, but I thought he was on our side. And his small animagus form would have allowed him a quick escape, even if he were found. Especially as nobody but us knew about those animagus forms. But one week after the charm was put in place by your mother, Voldemort came to your house and … you know what happened," Here Sirius looked really pained.

Harry had tears in his eyes. This was what had happened? Peter had been the traitor?

"So, the events that led to the muggles being killed were out of revenge?" He asked hoarsely.

"Not completely. True I went after Peter because I thought I had nothing to live for anymore. Your parents were dead, Hagrid had told me that Dumbledore had decided to have you grow up with your aunt, probably not trusting me in the least, which meant it would be horribly hard to get custody of you and the only thing in my head was getting Peter. I wouldn't let him get away with what he had done. But in my fury, I got careless and that was my downfall. Peter shouted for all the muggles around to hear: 'Lily and James, Sirius, how could you?' before pointing his wand behind him and blasting the sewers open. I believe he also hit a gas pipe, as the explosion was so big. I was so shocked and had to shield myself against the blast and flying debris that I couldn't do anything about him cutting his own finger off, turning into his rat animagus form and disappearing into the sewers which had been blasted open," Sirius explained.

"But why didn't you tell the aurors what had happened?" Harry asked, "If you had told them about your innocence, they would at least have questioned you under veritaserum and it would have proven your innocence."

"Do you really think I got the chance? I was in shock when Peter had disappeared. I had already been blaming myself for James and Lily's death because I had been the one to suggest the changing of the secret keepers. I was the one to suggest Peter. I as good as handed them over to Voldemort. Well that was what I told myself in my grief. I don't know why I started laughing, probably the stress and shock getting to me. I was carted off to Azkaban the same day without a single question being asked. I never had the chance to tell anybody what had really happened," Sirius said.

"But why did you break out after all this time? Why not earlier when you could?" Harry wanted to know.

"I never had a motivation. Some subconscious part of me perhaps even felt that I deserved punishment for getting your parents killed. Even if now, that I'm away from them, my head has become a good bit clearer in that regard. But dementors influence emotions, so those subconscious bad ones were dragged to the surface. The dementors are blind and they can't really tell one person from another. Most human guards at Azkaban avoid them like the plague and leave them to deal with the prisoners. Thus, when things became too much for me, I turned into my dog animagus form. In that form, with its simpler thought processes, I managed to keep my mind, even if I won't say that I wasn't affected. I was. I relived the scene of finding your parents dead over and over again. I saw Peter blowing up the street. I remembered the torture my own parents inflicted on me for not following their dark views. The one thing the dementors couldn't take from me was the knowledge that I was innocent. But I also felt that guilt for suggesting Peter as the secret keeper," Sirius explained.

"Survivor's guilt," Harry lowly said.

"Something like that. But during Fudge's last inspection visit, I asked him for his newspaper. I was seriously bored in my cell and thought doing the crossword would be nice. But on the front page was Peter with the Weasleys. And nobody but me knew that he was still alive. And with the boy being close to you in age, I knew that Peter had the perfect position to attack you, if there was ever a sign of Voldemort returning. The one thing I wished for was for you to be safe. I didn't realise that with your aunt Hagrid meant Petunia. I honestly thought he was speaking about Andromeda. While she was a cousin of your Dad, for you she was an aunt and you even called her Aunt Dommy," Sirius told Harry.

Harry was really surprised finding out that he had more relatives than the Dursleys. But perhaps he shouldn't have been with how many titles he had inherited. There had to be others, even if a bit distantly related.

"The knowledge about Peter created a burning fire inside of me that the dementors were unable to extinguish. One day, when I was brought what they call food, I slipped through the bars in my dog form. I was so thin that I just got through. I used my form to swim to the mainland and then took some time recovering. I made my way towards Hogwarts. While I was really concerned about you being missing, I knew that the only place you were bound to appear was Hogwarts itself. I watched you from the Forbidden Forest whenever I could. I have to say you are good in form," Sirius grinned saying that.

Harry had to smile.

"Thanks, I try my best to be in top form physically and in my studies. I want to prove myself worthy of my heritage which I have just discovered this summer," Harry said now fully believing his godfather.

"More than the Potter heritage?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Yes, but please don't be cross that I won't tell you right now. I first need to find out more about you to trust you completely. Right now, the knowledge of my full heritage could cause major problems for me," Harry apologised.

"It's okay. We can take our time. But first we need to get the rat," Sirius said.

"I can take care of that. It's the pet of my best friend and we were already suspicious of him," Harry stated.

"As much as I want to believe that you can, Harry, Peter is dangerous. If he uses a blasting hex like in Manchester, there could be too many injured. That was why I wanted to get him on Hallowe'en. There wouldn't have been any innocent bystanders if he tried cursing his way out," Sirius warned.

"I can simply stun him when he is in rat form. I learned the stunning spell over the summer," Harry said, "After that I would simply have to let Professor McGonagall transform him back, right? Best with lots of witnesses and a vial of truth potion ready for use. That way the Ministry can't hush this up and has to give you a trial."

Sirius pondered about it. It sounded like a good plan.

"If you are really worried, I will ask Fred and George Weasley to help out as well. They are in fifth year already and really good at magic, even if they don't get good marks because they like playing pranks more than studying for class," Harry offered.

"Okay. It probably is the best plan, but where would you get veritaserum?" Sirius asked and was surprised when Harry pulled a vial with a clear potion from his pocket, "How the hell did you get this? The potion is highly controlled by the Ministry of Magic. No apothecary or Potions master would ever sell it to a child."

"I brewed it myself. I also had a very good tutor over the summer. Someone who wanted me to excel in all my studies and helped me deal with the neglect and abuse my relatives put me through as a child. It took some time, but, in the end, I am finally able to put the time at the Dursleys behind me and concentrate on the future," Harry replied.

"I am really sorry that you had to grow up there. But I never thought Dumbledore would be that stupid. All members of the Order close to your parents knew that Petunia hated magic because she was jealous of Lily. Any member would have happily raised you and your parents left instructions who you should go to if they didn't survive the war. All those with children in the Order did," Sirius commented, pained.

"Hm, in their will was nothing mentioned. Only that I inherited everything in case they both died. Probably those instructions were left somewhere else," Harry pondered.

"Each of your possible guardians got a letter," Sirius stated, "So somebody should have tried getting custody over you after I was illegally imprisoned."

"Who was on the list?" Harry asked.

"Well, after me were the Longbottoms Frank and Alice, then Andromeda and Ted Tonks, said aunt I mentioned before, Sylvie Myers, but she died before James and Lily, Mary MacDonald and last was Edgar Bones," Sirius listed, "That's why I was really surprised. While I, by now, found out that the Longbottoms, Sylvie and the Bones were unable to take you, you should have gone to the Tonks and Andromeda would have been given custody by the Department of Child Services at the Ministry without problem. She was your Dad's closest living relative that wasn't in any way connected to Voldemort and his ilk. Her younger sister is married to Lucius Malfoy who is a Death Eater, no matter how much he managed to pay the Ministry to get off on flimsy excuses, and her older sister is in Azkaban."

"I am related to Malfoy?" Harry asked horrified.

"Sadly yes. From what I observed, Draco is a worse brat than Lucius was when he was at school. Arrogant arses the whole lot. Not that Narcissa, my cousin, is better. Andromeda was really the only one of my rotten family I could stand after I was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin like all of my family," Sirius commented.

"I guess the family tree is complicated," Harry mentioned.

"Yes, and on my side of the family too closely related for my liking. All those pureblood fanatics led to second or third cousins marrying," Sirius shuddered, and Harry could only agree with him, "Your grandmother Dorea was the first Black in decades to marry outside the circle our family moved among. The only reason she wasn't blasted from the Black family tree was that Charlus Potter was a pureblood and the Potters are about as old as the Blacks."

"That really doesn't sound like a good place to grow up. How did you stand it?" Harry asked.

"I didn't. I ran away when I was sixteen. Went to your Dad's place and your grandparents took me in and treated me like a second son. Nothing of what happened to me would have been possible had your grandfather not died before your parents. I still believe it was foul play that got him and Aunt Dorea infected with that disease that St. Mungo's couldn't find a cure for in time," Sirius looked really sad now, "Your grandfather was a good man. A powerful duellist as well. He was well-respected at the Wizengamot even if he refused joining the Ministry, stating he wouldn't enter that swamp of corruption willingly. It miffed a lot of politicians, but Uncle Charlus was too smart to be open for attacks. Not to mention that nobody in their right mind would have angered Aunt Dorea. She was a force to be reckoned with and she had a knack for gathering information on all the pureblood families, especially dirt that they tried to hide, and to point out that she would have no problems publishing the information she got if her family wasn't left alone."

Harry laughed hearing that. His grandmother sounded awesome.

When Harry went back to Gryffindor Tower, he was already awaited by Fred, George and Ron. They were very relieved to hear that his instinct had been right, and that Black was innocent. The true culprit behind everything shocked them greatly, especially to find out that Scabbers, their family rat, was the true traitor that got Harry's parents killed. They took personal offence to him choosing their family to hide until he felt it was a good opportunity for him to shed the rat form and return to his despicable master. Thus they were eager to help Harry catch that rat in more sense than one to help free his godfather. Especially as that would ensure that nobody could ever even suggest Harry had to return to the muggles. There were still some idiots that brought it up from time to time.

Capturing Pettigrew turned out easier than Harry had thought. He got Fred and George to act as backup when he went upstairs to stun the rat. He knew that 'Scabbers' stayed at the boys' dorm during the day, because Hermione's cat Crookshanks hunted him down whenever he could. Not to mention that with Ron being in on the suspicions about the true identity of the rat, he didn't want to carry him around anymore. Harry pretended to want to get something for Quidditch training, which was why the twins were up at the third-year dorms with him. He used his wand to light his search in his trunk while the twins closed the door behind them. Harry aimed carefully at the sleeping rat and shot his stunner. The rat didn't even attempt to run away. Fred took a cage out from under his robes while George put the rat into it. They had enchanted the cage unbreakable beforehand to avoid Scabbers transforming back and escaping by breaking the cage.

Harry activated the map and checked it to be completely sure. There was clearly the name Peter Pettigrew on it next to his own name and Fred and George's in the third-year boys' dorm. They nodded at each other before setting of downstairs. Behind the door to the dorm, they were joined by Ron and Neville, who had stood guard, in case Scabbers 'smelled a rat' and ran before Harry or one of the twins could stun him. Hermione hadn't been informed, as she wouldn't have gone for the option where they would only tell a teacher after the action and not before. Which wouldn't have worked anyway, like Harry was sure. After all, the teachers never believed him when he had warned them about a danger before, so why would they suddenly start now and with something as far-fetched as this without giving up the map, which he wouldn't do at all, knowing they would confiscate it.

The group of five quickly made their way over to their head of house's office. Neville knocked and after they got called in opened the door. Professor McGonagall looked very surprised to see three of her third-years and two fifth-years trooping inside.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked suspiciously and Harry could only internally sigh.

Why couldn't their head of house be more open-minded for the problems of the students in her house?

"We caught the true traitor of my parents who was also responsible for the murder of the muggles in Manchester," Harry stated.

"What, you caught Black? Where is he?" She asked agitated.

"Black is innocent, and you will soon see the proof," Harry said and nodded at Fred who held the rat cage, "This is an illegal animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"Pettigrew? Preposterous, I don't know why you suddenly think you need to start pranking, Potter, but let me tell you I don't take jokes like that well!" McGonagall snapped.

"So, you won't even test my statement? You simply follow the masses without proof? I thought better of you, Professor, but after first year I shouldn't have placed any trust into your sense of responsibility to investigate the information I tell you. Ron, Hermione and I tried to warn you about the impending theft of the Philosopher's Stone, but you blew us off. Had my friends and I not gone after the stone, delayed Quirrel and Voldemort, Voldemort would have found a way to get the Stone out of the mirror before long. What then? We would be at war again right now and I would probably be dead, because Voldemort can't stop coming after me for some reason," Harry gave back icily, shocking his teacher into silence.

"The easiest way to see if I lie or not is doing an animagus revealing spell on the rat; something that takes only a few seconds. So why don't you try seeing if our statement is 'preposterous'?" Harry challenged her.

She looked disgruntled but nodded.

"Be aware that if this is a prank, you will all be in detention for a week," She warned them and did the spell.

To her surprise the rat glowed red, indicating an animagus.

"But how? I would know if he became an animagus," She spluttered.

"If he and his friends kept it a secret, how would you? Now would you please do your job and call the aurors that are patrolling the corridors that you determined an unregistered animagus in the castle? And while you are at it, call Madam Bones as well; she as head of the DMLE should be present at the interrogation. I also have some questions I want to ask this rat," Harry told her.

"Mind your tone, Mr Potter!" McGonagall warned, but Harry ignored her.

She fumed but went to her floo and called for the DMLE head. Soon after she sent a patronus to Dumbledore and called the aurors that were patrolling the corridors. Harry made sure to wait until he had enough witnesses that this matter couldn't be hushed up. Then he took the stunned rat out of the cage and McGonagall cast the animagus reversion spell on it, making Peter Pettigrew appear. The twins acted faster than the aurors and had him tied up on a chair and dosed with veritaserum before anybody could protest and cast an enervate spell on the man. They were briefed how the Minister, who had sadly also come, would try to hush everything up to not have the Ministry look bad.

Harry stepped forward.

"This is Peter Pettigrew, the man who handed my parents over to Lord Voldemort and killed the muggle in Manchester, blaming everything on my godfather, Sirius Black. I will ask him several questions and it would be good if you set auto-dicta quills up to record everything he will testify under the influence of veritaserum," Harry said seeing most of the adults flinch at the name.

"Preposterous, Pettigrew died," Fudge protested.

"Minister, you are here out of courtesy, thanks to your position. This is a family affair of House Potter. Under the British magical law, I have every right to interrogate the man whom I think sold my parents out to their murderer in every way I see fit. I had Professor McGonagall call you all here, because I want to make sure that the law is followed, and justice done. I won't accept any attempts to prevent the truth from getting out," Harry declared and turned away from the stumped man.

"What is your name?" He asked knowing the answer already.

"Peter Pettigrew," He answered monotonously

"Who was my parents' secret keeper?" Harry continued.

"I was."

This caused gasps from the adults and rolled eyes from Harry.

"Why does everybody believe Sirius Black to have been the secret keeper?" Harry pressed on.

"Because it was meant to be a trick to deceive the Dark Lord. Sirius was to play decoy and I would be safely hidden, nobody ever thinking I could be the secret keeper," Peter answered.

"Are you a Death Eater?" Harry asked, shocking the adults again, ignoring the protests of Fudge completely.

"Yes."

"When did you become a Death Eater?"

"In my seventh year."

"Why did you join Voldemort?"

"I had realised that the light was doomed to fail, and I didn't want to die for some foolish notions of right and wrong. I wanted power and the protection of the side that would win. So, when Severus asked me to join, I did," Peter confessed.

This time Harry turned his stormy glare at the headmaster who involuntarily flinched seeing it.

"We will talk about that piece of information later, headmaster," Harry spit out before concentrating on Pettigrew again. He had a job to do first. "When did you tell Voldemort our hiding place?"

"As soon as I was made secret keeper. The Dark Lord attacked a week later, because he wanted it to happen on a special night."

"What should happen?" Harry asked.

"The death of the one who was prophesized to be able to destroy him, you. Had your fool of a father not married the mudblood, he could have been spared, but he was a blood traitor and deserved what he got."

"What happened that night?" Harry asked, wanting to know how his parents had died.

"I don't know. I was told to wait at headquarters. When I felt the charm break, I thought the Dark Lord had succeeded and now the dark side would rule. I apparated to Godric's Hollow, but I didn't expect what I found. The roof was blown apart and there was no sign of the Dark Lord. I transformed and searched the house in my rat form. I only found the Dark Lord's wand in the nursery. I would have finished the Dark Lord's work, but that oaf Hagrid arrived, and I had to hide. With him being half-giant, he wouldn't fall to any of the spells I could use, and I wasn't sure what had happened to the Dark Lord, so I hid.

"I watched how Sirius tried to convince Hagrid to hand you over to him, but he refused. If the oaf had orders from Dumbledore, he couldn't be reasoned with, ever. So, Sirius gave him his motorbike. The fool always loved you as much as he would his own son. It was great to make him of all people look like the traitor. Wizards, especially Ministry wizards, are so stupid. It was easy to set him up. One false accusation in front of all the muggles, blasting up the street behind my back and faking my death and they sent him to Azkaban without ever letting him tell his side of the story. I, the weak Peter Pettigrew, the one who was always belittled, got one over the mighty Sirius Black," Peter laughed at this.

"Why did you hide as the Weasleys' pet?" Harry asked, knowing that Ron wanted to know that.

"To be informed when the Dark Lord would return. I knew I had to hide, because the other Death Eaters would think I had led the Dark Lord into a trap that led to his downfall. I needed to be taken in to get access to information in the wizarding world. Once the Dark Lord returned, I would kidnap you and bring you to him, proving my loyalty. Then I would have been honoured above all others. I would have finally brought him the one capable of destroying him," Peter said.

"What would you have done if you had been discovered?" Ron asked, looking green.

"As long as only one person found out, I would have obliviated him or her, otherwise I would have attacked. The Weasleys are all blood traitors anyway, so they don't matter. I perhaps would have taken the time to have some fun with Ginny before killing her too. I didn't get much action as a rat," Peter grinned maliciously.

The three Weasley brothers had to be restrained by the aurors to not attack the bastard for what he had planned to do with their sister.

"Where is Voldemort's wand?" Harry asked disgusted.

"In my pocket. I took it, as I was sure I would one day find the Dark Lord and give it back, giving me more power in his army," Peter said.

Harry used his wand to summon all wands from Peter and took Voldemort's. His skill surprised the adults. Summoning was after all only taught in fourth year.

"Have you heard enough? If you don't send this piece of scum through the veil, I will personally execute him by my right as the next Lord Potter," Harry said.

"Harry, as much as he deserves punishment, you can't wish for people to die," Dumbledore protested.

"Oh, why not? If this piece of scum is put into prison, one day Voldemort will break him out together with his other followers. And he is a rat animagus, he could sneak up onto people easily to kill them without them ever suspecting anything. Hey Peter, what crimes did you commit besides betraying my parents and Sirius?" He snapped.

"I gave up the location of Fabian and Gideon Prewett's safe house, I killed several civilians in raids, raped muggle girls on raids after we killed their parents before killing them too, I spied on the Order of the Phoenix for the Dark Lord, I used all of the unforgivable curses and at school I planned and executed ambushes on girls with other Death Eaters. We took turns raping them and afterwards obliviated them to not be expelled," Peter said.

"Do you regret your actions?" Harry asked.

"No, I enjoyed the feeling of power it gave me to do those things," Peter answered.

"Can anybody be forced to take the Dark Mark?" Harry asked remembering that 'Imperius Curse' had been a very popular excuse for getting off punishment after the war.

"No, you have to prove yourself to the Dark Lord by torturing and killing a prisoner in front of him to be worthy of the mark." Peter revealed and Madam Bones looked furious.

"So, you want to repeat your statement, headmaster? This man is scum and doesn't deserve to live. He would repeat his actions immediately if he was set free. I am all for allowing those that truly show remorse to have a second chance, but murder and rape are crimes that can't be easily forgiven," Harry stated.

"I assure you, Mr Potter, that we will make sure to hit him with the full power of the law, which includes execution through the veil of death in the harshest cases," Madam Bones promised, "Aurors, cuff him and put him in one of the holding cells at the Ministry. And after that, arrest those that pleaded imperius curse last time. I want them all questioned under veritaserum. Messrs Potter, Longbottom and Weasley, I will contact you for giving testimony in the trial as soon as a date is set."

Harry nodded and had to suppress a smirk seeing how the Minister protested the arrest orders on the 'forced Death Eaters'. Probably because he was bought by them. This was very likely going to be the last strike against him, after his name had been dragged through the mud for months already in the press.

"I expect you will also declare Sirius Black innocent now that you heard Pettigrew's testimony?" Harry asked.

"Of course. He will have to present himself for questioning, but the arrest warrant will be taken back. He will be asked to testify as a witness and inform us how he escaped Azkaban so that we can prevent future escapes," She informed him.

"Okay, that's fair," Harry admitted.

He would have to send Hedwig with a letter to Sirius to inform him about the events. Probably it would be good for him to wait until the Daily Prophet had announced Sirius' innocence and a lot of the Death Eaters were arrested. That way there would be less risk of Sirius having an accident on his way to the Ministry. After all, such a major blunder would come expensive.

The next morning outcries went through the Great Hall when the Daily Prophet announced that Sirius Black was innocent, and the true traitor of the Potters had been caught. An exclusive interview with Amelia Bones informed about the interrogation that Harry had performed, and which students had caught Pettigrew. It even told about the crimes that could be put at Pettigrew's feet next to betraying the Potters and murdering all the muggles in Manchester. The one thing that wasn't mentioned was that the Dark Mark couldn't be taken unwillingly to not give the Death Eaters that had gone free time to run away. The DMLE would be very busy the next few days and wouldn't want that information out in the open.

It was also not said what would happen to Pettigrew, perhaps because they first wanted to get more information from him. Harry had agreed to let them question him as much as they wanted, as long as his fate would be death. A nice side effect of the arrest would be, by decision of Madam Bones, that the reward for the capture of Sirius Black, would be transferred to Peter Pettigrew, after all, he was the one behind the crimes that had caused the size of the reward, and Harry, Neville and the Weasley brothers would get it. Considering that the Ministry had put five thousand galleons on Sirius' head, each of them would get one thousand galleons, which was a fortune for the Weasleys.

Ron and the twins had written home to their parents after the interrogation had been over, to inform them what had happened before they would read it in the Daily Prophet. Harry had allowed them to borrow Hedwig for this task, as she didn't get enough exercise during the year anyway, as Harry didn't have anybody he could send letters to regularly. They would wait for the reply of their parents before deciding how to proceed, but all of them agreed that some money should be used for the family as a whole.

Hermione had been worried about Harry's opinion, but she agreed that people like Pettigrew didn't deserve mercy. She had clearly been hurt that she hadn't been involved in the handing over of Pettigrew, but she thankfully didn't voice her complaints, probably remembering that she still was on thin ice with Harry.

The students whispered about the story, but most were more concerned about going home later this morning. The Hogwarts Express would take the students that wanted to go home, which was the majority, back to London at ten. The luggage that they wanted to take was already down at the train station. Harry would remain at the castle. He wasn't sad about that; he had planned some exploring. He wanted to find the room his mother had told him about, the one Rowena Ravenclaw had created that took the form of whatever one wanted it to become. He had tried finding it before, but so far, he didn't have any luck.

He would have to test lots of places. While he knew the method to get inside, he didn't know the location. But there were only so many stretches of wall he could walk past three times. And if he was one of the founders, he would have placed some kind of marker to find the room. His magic sensing would be useful for this endeavour.

Dumbledore discussed the handling of affairs with Amelia Bones and Cornelius Fudge. Neither of the first two was impressed with how the latter had handled the situation. Blind panic had reined instead of proper investigations. Sirius Black had appeared at the Ministry yesterday afternoon and had given his statement to Amelia Bones. He told exactly what had happened and how the aurors, on explicit orders of Barty Crouch, had thrown him, like many others, into Azkaban without a trial, just because Crouch wanted to get the top position and the hardliner way was, in his opinion, the only way to get there. If innocents were sacrificed on his way to power, it didn't matter. The statement didn't sit right with Madam Bones at all. She prided herself and her department on doing their job properly. Having it shoved into her face like this that huge blunders had happened, and not only in the past, irked her immensely.

They were all surprised when they found out that the method of escaping had been an animagus transformation that had been made possible thanks to the fact that Sirius knew that he was innocent. The faults of the dementors, which were still missing, were pointed out clearly. A human guard wouldn't have been hoodwinked. Madam Bones forced the Minister to agree to rearrange the warding scheme for the prison so that the prisoners didn't get a chance to escape, even now that the dementors were gone. And all the cells needed to be made stronger, as the problem with prisoners forcing their way out was still there. The main reason it didn't happen yet was that wizards generally didn't think of doing things the muggle way, too used that spells made things very easy.

They needed to find ways to suppress their magic and prevent attempts from the outside to free the prisoners. It would take some time to get a solution, as many different opinions were voiced. One success was the arrest of six Death Eaters that had confessed under veritaserum that they had willingly supported Voldemort. The number of crimes each one had committed was horrifying and Fudge was in a bad position as most of them were his biggest supporters. The only reason he still had his position for now was that Lucius Malfoy had somehow heard about the arrests and had fled with his wife. Draco had taken the train back to London normally and it would be seen if he returned to Hogwarts after the Christmas holidays.

Madam Bones had, after hearing the confessions of the caught Death Eaters, which included George Goyle, Burt Crabbe, Walden McNair, Evan Travers, Richard Nott and Severus Snape, who even Dumbledore couldn't protect anymore from being interrogated, truly thought about sending the worst ones through the veil and be done with it. Snape didn't really regret his actions, the only thing he regretted was that he had been the one to let the Dark Lord think that the Potters' son was the child of prophecy, which meant that the woman he was obsessed with, even if he thought he loved her, Lily Evans, would be the target and probably die. Snape clearly hated anybody related to the Marauders, especially James Potter, which caused his less than stellar performance in a classroom. The Marauders had all been in Gryffindor, hence why that house had to suffer. Harry Potter was the child of his archenemy, so he would bully him worse than he had ever been bullied by the boy's father.

Not that he accepted that he had started a lot of fights by bullying other students, which the Marauders retaliated for. While they had gone too far sometimes, most of their meaner pranks targeted those that followed Voldemort and harmed other students. But Snape was incapable of accepting any fault in himself. It was why Lily had drifted away from him more and more. He would spend the rest of his life in Azkaban for his involvement in crimes under Voldemort's terror. He had murdered, raped and sabotaged the Light by teaching abysmally and shattering the spirit of potentially dangerous students. Without proper Potions education there were less healers, aurors and Potions masters that could work against the Dark Lord after all. And Snape had now been a teacher at Hogwarts for thirteen years.

That was this chapter. A rat was caught and many others that got away were found out to be guilty as sin. Well, what will happen next? You will have to wait to find out. :)

10. Sirius' Deductions

This is the so far longest chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Stay safe and healthy. Don't risk anything with Corona.

Sirius' Deductions

The Board of Governors, after the debacle over the Snape issue and the actions of the Ministry at Hogwarts, decided that it was time for them to do their jobs properly. Dumbledore tried to prevent the complete investigation in how the school was led, how the teachers did their jobs and how the funds were used. The investigation still took place and would go on for the next month. All teachers were going to be interviewed and their classes would be visited once the next term started. The Board organised for a replacement teacher for Potions to take over Snape's place for the time being until a full-time teacher could be contracted.

The students found out about the decision through the Daily Prophet. Many were open to the investigation as they complained greatly about the History and Potions classes they had had so far. Those taking Divination were split. Worshippers of Trelawney and haters reacted differently. Overall most thought that it wouldn't hurt to have inspectors in the classes.

Harry meanwhile had finally, after looking for a week all over the castle, found the Room of Requirement. It was really a fantastic place. He could ask for anything he needed, and the room would provide it for him, except food for some reason. But that might have to do with the laws of Transfiguration that it wasn't possible to conjure food because of the life spark his mother had mentioned. Harry got some books about curses that prevented pregnancies in healthy women, next to their counters, now he had a list he could try when he went back in time to help his aunt and uncle, he didn't think that there were so many of those.

Next to that the room gave him training dummies for accuracy training with his wand and some to practice hand-to-hand combat against. It was one area where training with Neville didn't help much, as the blond boy only knew how to use a sword. Though Fred, George and Ron had also started working on their overall fitness, as they wanted to support Harry in the future. For that, this would be very helpful, and Harry had shared his exercises to harmonise with his magic with his friends. Especially Neville had a much easier time in class once he had some success there. While his friends wouldn't follow his much more intense program, Ron, despite his dislike to get up early, joined Harry in running in the morning, which Harry really appreciated, and Neville also joined them. The blond had come more out of his shell since Harry and Ron took him into their group.

Fred and George did train their own way, but it was clear that they were physically fitter with each passing week. The fact that the girls seemed to be interested in all of the boys that exercised was only a benefit to them, even if Ron and Neville were mainly confused by the sudden increase of looks from the girls. Fred and George, being two years older and more experienced in relationships, took it happily and sometimes flirted with girls they liked. Well, Harry wouldn't begrudge them those benefits of the exercising.

He also found muggle training machines inside the room that would help him work on his different muscle groups, including manuals that told him how to use each machine. After all, it wouldn't do to simply work by trial and error. The great part was that he could get a swimming pool. He liked swimming as a way to keep fit and as running inside a room on a set track got really boring over time, even if one had some different sceneries, it was limited inside the room, he was glad for the diversity.

This year Harry was alone in the Gryffindor common room. After the whole episode with Sirius and Pettigrew, the Weasleys had all returned home because their parents wanted to know what exactly was going on. Harry had told Ron that he didn't mind and that he would find more than enough to do to not be bored without him and that his family was more important right now. Not to mention that Sirius had promised to take him on a trip the weekend after Christmas to get to know him better. After being declared innocent, he had started medical treatment and until it was finished, he wouldn't be able to take Harry in full-time, but he could arrange for trips for up to a week, according to his healers. They were honestly surprised that he was doing as well as he did and allowed this concession, even if the big reveal had only taken place a little over a week before that trip. Harry was all for it, as he wanted to get to know the best friend of his father.

The one thing he didn't know how to solve was his return to the past next summer. If Sirius really wanted to take Harry in full-time, it would be impossible to hide that he was getting training in King Arthur's time. Perhaps he could ask Fawkes, after all he was the one taking Harry back in time and bringing him back to the present at the end of the summer. Harry didn't want to leave Sirius alone during the summer, but he also wouldn't interrupt his training; too much was at stake for that. He would never let magic die; he would do what was necessary to prevent that. And for that he needed to learn how to get rid of Voldemort and how to keep the balance of magic.

Sirius was happy to see his godson, dressed in warm winter clothes, walking down to the gates of Hogwarts accompanied by Professor McGonagall. He had planned this trip, hoping that Harry would like to see some of the sights of the wizarding world. In some talks with Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore he had found out that Harry had decided to get out of his relatives' house before he returned there last summer. He stated health issues and determination of abuse through a healer had caused his vanishing act last summer. Sirius, on the one hand, found it really funny how his godson had tricked all of Magical Britain, on the other hand he was seething that those muggles had abused his sweet little godson. He really wanted to hex them, but after twelve years of Azkaban that had been caused by his hot-head, he had learned some restraint.

He wanted to be part of Harry's life and he wouldn't blow this chance, no matter how much the muggles deserved it. The thought alone that Harry had been left with Lily's sister, who had been absolutely horrible to Lily whenever he had seen her, made him feel even guiltier for leaving Harry alone for all those years. If only he hadn't gone after Peter but had cleared up the confusion about who had been the secret keeper. Then he could have convinced Dumbledore that he, as Harry's godfather, should be the one to raise him, like James and Lily had wanted in case something happened to them.

But he was also angry at Dumbledore for even thinking about leaving Harry at Petunia's without ever checking on him in person, otherwise the abuse would have been spotted earlier. He had seen a photo of Harry in his second year, thanks to that kid with the camera that was a second-year Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall had confiscated it at the time and handed it over to Dumbledore, who had shown it to Sirius when he had met him to get more information about Harry. Harry looked nothing like he had back then, and Sirius couldn't help but wonder if two months of treatment at the clinic could really make that much of a difference.

He would have to wait to ask Harry though, as he knew that the boy had no reason to trust him yet and would probably not reveal anything personal. No abused child did, and it was already a great achievement that Harry could say that he had been abused. Most children couldn't and that was a reason that it was so hard to spot a lot of abuse that happened. Healers got special training to notice it, which made him wonder why the school medi witch didn't spot it. But most others wouldn't have the knowledge what to look out for. Even if some things were obvious. He knew from personal experience how much of a hell a home could become, if you didn't meet the expectations of the inhabitants. His own family had turned against him after he had been sorted into Gryffindor, not that they had been really happy with his behaviour before, but then he hadn't felt their anger as much. No, he could completely understand that Harry had taken the first chance to escape the place where he was hurt.

Harry and Professor McGonagall reached the gate and he saw that Harry had a black backpack shouldered.

"I expect you back tomorrow evening at ten at the latest, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said.

"Understood, Professor," Harry replied calmly and then stepped through the gate, "Hey Sirius, how are you?"

Sirius got the distinct impression that Harry wasn't happy with the Transfiguration teacher for some reason.

"I'm as well as I can be. The potions I have to take suck, as does having to talk to the mind-healer, but it helps getting over the effects of the dementors and that alone is worth the procedure," Sirius answered smiling, "Now, are you ready for a fun weekend?"

"Sure, where are we going?" Harry asked curiously.

Professor McGonagall, seeing that she wasn't needed anymore sniffed and walked back to the castle.

"I want to show you some impressive magical sights. By the way, what's the matter with you and McGonagall?" Sirius asked.

"She never believes me when I tell her something that is important for the safety of the school and I have taken to showing her what I think of her attitude. I guess she was also annoyed about the number of times I delivered proof that Snape was a biased arse and forced her to take action against him before he was arrested. I will tell you the stories later. For now, I would like to get going," Harry answered.

Sirius nodded and let Harry take his arm after explaining side-along apparition. Then he turned on the spot and they disappeared from the gates of Hogwarts.

When Harry felt the apparition end, he looked around. He was at a small village at the coast. He looked at Sirius to find out where they were.

"This is a pit stop, Harry. Apparating over large bodies of water is strenuous and attempting it should be done from one coast to the other when there are no more than a hundred kilometres of ocean between the coasts. We are in a small village close to Dover. We will apparate over to France in a few minutes; I just need to concentrate to get this right. Apparating over the ocean is harder if you side-along apparate somebody, so it needs more concentration," Sirius explained, "though most people would rather take a portkey to not risk anything, but I am trained in this type of apparition."

Harry nodded; it made sense that Sirius was being careful. Finally, his godfather gave him the signal that they would continue their journey and then turned on the spot again. They arrived in another small village.

"Let me guess, somewhere close to Calais," Harry said grinning.

"Correct, now we have a few options. We could go to Paris and take a tour of the magical sights of the city as well as the muggle ones, enjoy the good food and visit a theatre, I can apparate us over to a magical bathing resort where we could relax and enjoy magical free time activities, or we could go to Euro Disney and simply have a lot of fun," Sirius asked.

"Hm, I think for now I choose Paris. I would like to do the other two later though. I have nothing in my backpack for a bathing resort and I think one weekend is too short to really enjoy that. Same for Euro Disney. To see everything, you would need a few days without having to stress out," Harry decided.

"Good idea, perhaps we could visit the bathing resort and Euro Disney over the Easter break. You could simply take the Hogwarts Express with the other students and then we have the full three weeks to spend time together," Sirius suggested smiling.

"I like that idea. I have heard a lot of good things about Euro Disney and the only reason the Dursleys never went there was that it is in France and they speak no word French, which leads to them already disliking it. Not to mention that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon always look down on foreigners," Harry told Sirius.

"Stupid, the French are great, especially the women," Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"No perverted behaviour while I am around, Sirius," Harry warned.

"But looking is allowed," Sirius demanded.

"I can hardly stop you. Just don't make a fool of yourself and bother the women you find attractive. There is a fine line between admiring and ogling," Harry said.

"Harry, I can be the most charming man in the world. Just watch and you will learn a lot about wooing a beautiful woman," Sirius countered and then apparated them over to Paris where the Blacks had an apartment that they used for visits in the city. And he had made sure that the apartment was ready for their visit, in case Harry chose to do this.

Harry had to admit Sirius really was capable of being perfectly charming. Many women he flirted with giggled at his behaviour and were quite taken with him. Though Sirius was really surprised to see Harry charming girls without outright flirting with them. They approached him and from what he could see Harry blocked them all politely and they left talking about how shy Harry was. He asked Harry about that and was told that while he liked watching pretty girls, he didn't feel ready for anything more. He was after all just thirteen and girls were a mystery to him and before he didn't feel more confident about this, he wouldn't start flirting or even dating.

Sirius didn't understand that opinion, but he didn't comment on it more. He suspected it was due to Harry's lousy childhood that relationships and emotions were something he first needed to get used to before he would try dating a girl. Hence, he decided to concentrate on showing Harry the beautiful side of Paris from the Eiffel Tower to the magical botanic gardens that were home to some of the rarest magical flowers in the world. Magic was wonderful to allow all kinds of plants to grow all-year-around. Harry thought Neville would be in paradise here. He made a mental note to tell his friend about this place. Perhaps the Herbology genius would be able to replicate something like this.

Harry's ability to sense magic was in jubilation feeling all the powerful and pure magic all around him. Magic called out to her next guardian and the plants gifted Harry with their heavenly scent and sometimes a fruit. The herbologists that ran the botanical garden were astonished how the plants reacted to Harry. They had never before seen something like this. Sirius thought hard why the plants reacted to Harry like that. Things like this had happened before when Harry was a baby. All kinds of magical creatures and plants simply loved Harry, even Lily's cat despite Harry chasing her on his toy broom. He thought he had once read about reactions like these, but he couldn't remember where. Probably he could find the book if he looked through the library at Grimmauld Place. He knew it had been when he had been a child. And he didn't plan to leave the things that were valuable and which he could use in the house to collect dust. While he wouldn't live there ever again, there was no reason to waste knowledge and wealth.

It was one of the few philosophies of his mother that he could agree with. The others were that the magical world needed to stay hidden from the muggles and that if there was a new guardian of magic, the Blacks would support him whole-heartedly. Wait, wasn't the phenomenon part of the legend of the guardian of magic? He wasn't sure, but it would be a good start. Too bad that he had forgotten some of the memories he had from his life. Twelve years in company of the dementors were hard on the mind even if he had managed to keep his sanity, thanks to knowing that he was innocent. He was really happy that the monsters were gone, and it seemed for good. The light show at Hogwarts had been impressive. Whoever had done that had chosen the night of Diana's blessing to perform a powerful ritual, that much he could tell from his observations. If he ever found that person, he would honestly thank him or her.

The weekend had gone by too fast for Harry's liking and he was back at Hogwarts. He had thanked Sirius for the trip, and they promised to write regularly. Harry had the impression that Sirius was suspecting something about his guardian status, but he wasn't sure. The reactions of the plants had been a major clue. He could be happy that no-one else had seen it in its entirety. The employees had only seen a little part in the end. Not enough to connect Harry to House Avalon. Well, he would have to be careful until he was ready to reveal his position in the wizarding world. Many would eagerly stand by his side, but many others would try and get rid of him, fearing his power. It was the fate that each guardian had to deal with.

This time Hagrid greeted Harry at the gates and let him inside. Probably McGonagall didn't want to deal with him right now. Well, he couldn't care less if he stepped on her toes. She was the one always taking position against him and blindly following Dumbledore. Which responsible teacher would simply accept that a valuable magical artefact was used as bait in a school full of children? As deputy headmistress her first thought should be the safety of the children and still nothing had been done after the second petrification that worked. If the basilisk had come across a group of students that were led to another class by a teacher, it wouldn't have stopped. The responsible thing would have been to get the students out of school and search it top to bottom and check the wands of all inhabitants of the castle for dark spells to control a strong magical creature, check for possession and check for dark artefacts.

The whole fiasco could have been avoided by that, especially as Dumbledore had had suspicions about the one to open the chamber the time before. With that knowledge, it should have been obvious that someone was used as a middleman, if one believed that Voldemort didn't have any children. Then the way that the Ministry was able to place dementors around the school without any protection for the students being given. Every single time it had been up to Harry and his friends to deal with the problems that the adults simply let take place or were responsible for.

Harry then reached the entrance doors and went up to Gryffindor Tower to put his things back into their places from his backpack and get a nice hot shower.

Spring had finally arrived and with it the restart of the Quidditch season. To many people's surprise Draco Malfoy had been transferred to Durmstrang. Well, most only knew that he had been transferred. Obviously, Lucius had decided that for security reasons he needed to go to the ground. With Fudge just barely holding onto his position, and that only till the elections in July, as was common opinion, there was nobody who would protect the arrogant blond from legal persecution this time. And the only reason that Fudge was allowed to stay in office was that there were only a few months till elections. It would be a waste of money and time to prepare the emergency elections before that and then the normal elections. Because, for some reason, elections in the magical world only happened at set dates and additional elections didn't change anything about that. He was watched closely and instructed to simply not put his name up for re-election and he would get away mildly. Other candidates were positioning themselves and were trying to win supporters.

After the first victory against Slytherin, Oliver Wood was fully determined to keep them on the training regime they had done before. Harry was eager to test his new Firebolt. While he had tried to talk Sirius out of buying him an expensive present like that, Sirius had told him that it was for twelve years of missed birthdays and Christmases. Harry hadn't stopped thanking Sirius once he had his new racing broom in hands. He had got the broom on Christmas day with all of his other presents and Sirius had been more than happy to see Harry's astonished face over the fact that his godfather would spend so much gold on him. Oliver was of course over the moon when he found out about Harry's new broom.

They kept the existence of the firebolt a secret for as long as they could to have greater shock value in the match against Ravenclaw. While Harry doubted that they could keep it a secret for long, the Hogwarts rumour mill was simply too fast, it was entertaining to see how Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory looked pale when they looked at him now. Going up against an international standard racing broom was not encouraging.

Next to his Quidditch training, Harry continued his working out and extracurricular studies. He enjoyed learning about things that interested him, and the Room of Requirement offered him fantastic options to get exactly the books that covered the topics he wanted to research. With his main project for the year being done for now, he would see if one of the spells he had found would help Aunt Genevieve, he could start on other areas like Runes and Warding. The true history of Hogwarts was also very captivating. Who would have thought that Slytherin had been the one to set up all the wards that Hogwarts was famous for?

Or that Gryffindor had been the one to bring the unicorn herd to the Forbidden Forest because hateful non-magicals tried killing anything that had magic, even creatures known to be as pure as unicorns. The Christian church really did a lot of harm in those days. He could appreciate the fight of Uncle Arthur for equality and preserving all life that was good all the more. It was an incredibly big task and a huge responsibility. It was humbling to think that the burden to continue all of this until Uncle Arthur and Aunt Genevieve had a child of their own was currently on his, Harry's, shoulders.

The history books described how during the reign of King Arthur Hogwarts was fairly safe, not to mention that most non-magicals had no chance to get through the hostile parts of nature that acted as natural obstacles for most non-magicals. The part of Scotland where Hogwarts had been built, including Hogsmeade, was completely magical. Hogsmeade had in fact been founded by those that worked at Hogwarts to help supply the school with food, clothes, potion ingredients and other items. In fact, Hogwarts was a sovereign entity what with it being the property of Gryffindor. The other three founders brought their knowledge, Rowena for example gifted her library to the school and it built the base of the large collection of texts that it was today, Helga was one of the most famous healers of her time and Salazar had incommensurable skill in Warding not to mention his rare gift of speaking parseltongue.

Together they built the school and added to it until they were satisfied, which took several decades. During the time of Uncle Arthur's reign, Hogwarts cooperated with Camelot. If anybody found a magical child, it was brought to Camelot from where one of the founders would fetch the child after getting a message. It got harder the longer the people were poisoned by some hateful priests that saw all magic as the work of the devil, but as long as Arthur ruled, they were powerless. Only after his death they got more power and the local lords started giving into their demands more and more and handed over any magicals that they found to the church, which led to burnings on the stake if help couldn't arrive in time. Mostly that was true for children born to non-magical parents.

Harry swore that he would do everything to make sure that as many witches and wizards as possible could live in peace. He knew that his abilities set him apart and if he could perhaps convince many of the heirs of the lords that were in charge of the trials for magicals that were caught that only learning to control those gifts was going to be the right way, and the children would therefore be sent to Hogwarts, it would be a success. The classes had been inspected by now and the results were kept a secret. The rumour mill could only say that many inspectors hadn't been happy with certain teachers.

Sirius had finally found the books that described the legend of the guardian of magic. He spent a whole day reading up on how the guardian was chosen and that House Avalon was entrusted with the responsibility to keep magic in balance. House Black was one of the protectors of House Avalon. No wonder that his mother would have turned her back on Voldemort, if a true guardian had appeared. Over the course of history, the line had disappeared and only briefly reappeared when a guardian was needed. There were perhaps two hundred years at a time where it could be determined who was descended from House Avalon, but then it suddenly couldn't be told anymore, because some dark wizard or another had tried to kill all members off, and the children were hidden if they were to survive. Marriages also did their part to conceal the lines. Often branch lines produced a new guardian when the main line was extinct. Though there had also been other families to produce a new guardian. Avalon just had the highest number of them in their ranks.

The signs how to recognise a guardian of magic were really interesting. It was said that all magical creatures instinctively recognised a guardian and obeyed him or her without question and would do everything to assist in the duty that the guardian had. Magical plants would feel drawn to him and even the most vicious of them wouldn't harm him. Others would gift him with their fruits or make him feel happy if they were capable to do that.

The guardian had the power to banish truly dark creatures and would reign in others. There was an example how a previous guardian in 1426 had negotiated a peace treaty with the vampires of Transylvania where the vampires were allowed to feed on muggles and wizards, as long as they didn't kill anybody and only took a little blood from every person they fed on to not reveal their kind, as that would only lead to more superstitions among the muggles, which would in turn lead to witch hunts. The vampires to this day kept the treaty and, while there were tales of vampires existing in the country, even among muggles, most thought it was a fairy tale.

Could Harry be the new guardian? The reaction of the plants was telling and from the little he had seen and overheard, Harry had a certain connection with magical creatures. There had been stories going around about a whole herd of hippogriffs bowing to him before he could bow himself. That definitely indicated that Harry was a new guardian. And with the state of things after two wars against dark wizards in one century, it wouldn't be strange if magic had chosen a new guardian from a family that had a deep connection to magic, or, even if that was less probable, a dormant line of House Avalon had been reawakened. The best way to find out would be asking Harry when they were alone. He didn't think that Harry would want to reveal this, if it was true, to everybody yet. He was thirteen and needed to learn a lot before he would be ready to face all the challenges that awaited a guardian of magic.

Harry sat in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express with Ron and Neville. Hermione had decided to stay at Hogwarts to get ahead of her work in her now eleven remaining classes. After one too many horror prediction of Trelawney she had stormed out of Divination. She still had too much work on her schedule. But she wouldn't listen that she didn't need that many classes. She was making herself sick, but she needed to learn it the hard way it seemed. Harry was going to spend the holidays in London with Sirius. So far, he hadn't found a way to solve the problem what to do during summer. He didn't want to leave Sirius behind. He had enjoyed the regular contact via mail with his godfather and he would love to spend more time with him. If only he could go to the past as well. But he hadn't had a chance to ask Fawkes if he could make contact with his mother Morgaine to ask for her opinion. He needed the training and he wanted to see his friends in the past again.

He needed to get this done soon, because Fawkes would take him back to Camelot the day the Hogwarts Express arrived back at King's Cross Station. Ron planned to spend the holidays lazing around and enjoying his mother's cooking. As far as Ron had told Harry, the Weasleys had found a very reasonable way to deal with the money that they had got from Ron and the twins' part of the reward for Pettigrew. All three had told their parents that they wanted to help the family out with part of the money, which had made their parents immensely proud of them. Each of the three had got one hundred galleons to spend as they wanted. The twins also got one vault for both of them together, where they deposited one thousand galleons for their dream of their own joke shop. It would be the needed starting capital for when they had graduated school.

While Mrs Weasley wasn't happy about their career plans, she had agreed to let them have a chance to convince her that this wasn't some half-arsed plan. They would have to show her business plans, suggestions for products, calculations for costs and estimated income and alternate options if their plans failed. She also demanded that they would do their best in their OWL and NEWT exams, to have something to fall back upon, should this fail, which she feared. The twins could live with the stipulations they were given.

Each of the three had given four hundred galleons into the Weasley family account, which made living expenses much easier to cover. Ron's remaining five hundred galleons were put into an investment vault, which the goblins would manage for him until he graduated Hogwarts. He had discussed his options with his parents, who advised him to not waste the money for unnecessary things, as he would want to have his own house one day, and the money would allow him to buy a nice one. And the goblins were masters of investing money profitably. Ron was happy enough with the one hundred galleons that he could spend in any way he liked, but he also made sure to not waste them. He had put ninety of them into a trust vault that he had asked his parents to open for him, as he didn't want to have that much money lying around unprotected.

Harry knew that the Weasleys had used part of the money to replace the school robes of all Weasley children, next to buying Ginny her own wand. He truly hoped that with the money, this really nice family would have a better life. The absence of Malfoy might also help.

Neville had planned a trip with his Gran and his uncle. The one thing that had been mentioned so far had been the Quidditch World Cup, but Fawkes could time his reappearance in this time thus, if Harry got an invitation from Ron, which Ron had hinted at, he would be able to arrange that with the phoenix to avoid suspicion of his summer activities. He was sure that Dumbledore would try something to get more control over him again, but with Fawkes' help those would be easy to thwart.

Sirius side-along apparated with Harry to his flat in London. He had used some of the money he had got as reparation for his unjust imprisonment to buy it. It was really a whole floor of an apartment building that was hidden from the muggles that lived below him. His apartment was the one on the top and therefore easiest to hide with muggle repelling wards and the like. He would never move into his parents' old house, even if he had taken a lot of things from there that he wanted to keep for himself. Many books that weren't completely dark had gone into his small new library and the really dark ones were locked in boxes that could only be opened by the right password and had gone into his vault at Gringotts. He knew that destroying the books could come to bite him, because one needed to know the dark arts to fight them. It was very hard to fight the unknown properly.

Hence, the books went to the safest place he could think of under triple security measures. He didn't want that, in case somebody he didn't approve of inherited the Black properties after he died, and there were ways that Narcissa could try to place her son as the next Lord Black with enough bribes to the ones in high positions, they were abused, so the security measures needed to make sure that the really important things went to those he trusted.

He looked at Harry who looked around the flat curiously.

"Well, welcome to my humble abode. The flat is protected against anything I or any Black before me could think of and trust me that's a lot," Sirius informed Harry, grinning, "You can even use magic around here, as long as nobody sees you doing so. The underage magic radar won't notice. I know that you have filed for emancipation, but I also know that Dumbledore always tries to interfere with anybody that attempts getting emancipated," He growled saying that.

"Personal experience?" Harry asked.

"Yes. You see, I ran away from home when I was sixteen, because I couldn't take their abuse anymore. The Blacks were really dark, and my parents tried pushing me into Voldemort's service. The only way I could get away was finding a way that they didn't have power over me anymore. I tried to get emancipated with the help of your grandparents. It would have worked, if Dumbledore hadn't stopped the petition, saying that it was too big a step to make and that I should try to find an understanding with my parents and that I shouldn't let myself be ruled by anger. With as much pull as he has, the decision was postponed. Thankfully I only needed to survive one summer and one school year before I turned seventeen.

"But I was basically fair game for my darker family members as long as I didn't get my emancipation or came of age. And my cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa were on Voldemort's side and they were pressuring Regulus, my brother, extremely to also join 'their cause'. While Bellatrix had thankfully graduated the year before, there were more than enough of the Death Eater circle around that gleefully targeted me whenever my friends weren't around. That was definitely the year I got hexed the most," Sirius stated, "Once I turned seventeen, I had more protection. You see, coming of age doesn't only allow you to use magic outside of school, apparate legally after you pass your test and give you the freedom to decide where you live, you also gain the right to do anything you see fit to defend yourself and those around you. I used that to make the wannabe Death Eaters rue the day they targeted me. I'm not a Black for nothing. While I despise the dark arts, there are ways to make people realise how foolish they were without resorting to that foul magic," Sirius pointed out.

"And none of the teachers stepped in? They must have noticed how you were targeted," Harry asked.

"Of course, they did. But none of them cared enough to act. They believed too much in Dumbledore's policy of giving second and third chances. Passive resistance. It simply doesn't work against people that are willing to torture and kill to reach their goals. He never understood that. He thought that they could be redeemed," Sirius snorted, "As if my cousin Bellatrix could be redeemed. Not after what she did."

"You are talking about the Longbottoms, right?" Harry asked.

"Yes. I am ashamed that a member of my so-called family could do that to another person. Hell, the Longbottoms are one of the oldest families in the magical world, nearly as old as the Blacks. Not to mention that Frank was my second cousin once removed. His grandmother was Callidora Longbottom nee Black. By the reasoning pureblood fanatics were giving, they should have been the last ones to ever be targeted. Shows how hypocritical they truly were. Calling people blood-traitors, just because they didn't agree with the cause of a madman, is simply wrong. It takes the term completely out of concept. A blood traitor is a person who committed a horrible crime against his own blood. And simply disagreeing with a view of the world doesn't justify it. Things like raping a family member, torturing one or killing one in cold blood are things that get you branded as a blood traitor. Or if you do something like that to a sworn ally of your family," Sirius explained.

"I see. I can understand the reasons you listed for calling somebody a blood-traitor. Doing something that horrible truly deserves that punishment," Harry agreed.

He realised how much work he would have to do once he was ready. He needed to completely change the point of view of a good part of their population.

"Why have people forgotten so much about the fact that magic needs balance?" Harry asked, "Why did they start to kill off magical people?"

Sirius saw this as another proof that Harry was really the next guardian.

"They didn't forget it as such. My mother was a very strong supporter of the old ways. She just decided to ignore that for magic to stay strong, the number of magicals needed to stay high. I was taught as a child that the reason that the pureblood lines needed to be preserved was that with magic being weakened by dirty muggle blood being inserted into the lines, the balance would be thrown off," Sirius said.

"But that's nonsense. Magic is magic. And if you marry too closely to your own bloodline, there can be problems with the offspring. You need at least three generations distance to not have to fear immediate trouble," Harry exclaimed.

He had learned the problems of inbreeding from his mother.

"I know, and before Grindelwald most pureblood houses knew it as well. It was just a problem that there were so few real purebloods left. Many then took the stance that they would at least accept halfbloods into the families to avoid the problem, breaking the pure lines of their houses. It definitely helped them keep their magic strong. Others decided to look in foreign countries for long magical lines to keep the purity of blood and still avoid the issue. But some went extreme and it deteriorated the common sense of many. Actually, before the whole pureblood mania started fully, some lines also accepted good-looking humanoid creatures as spouses," Sirius informed Harry.

"Veela, sirens and vampires," Harry listed.

"Indeed. The Malfoy line has a veela five generations back, which gives them the pale blond hair and good looks. Lucius was in fact the first male descendent that was a firstborn. The Greengrass line has siren blood from seven generations back. Vampires are less common, but there was one in the Black line ten generations back. One reason why many of my relatives were quite bloodthirsty. In other countries you find humanoid demons that have taken magical human spouses. It isn't a well-known part, but it did happen," Sirius confirmed, "Ones like fox demons that are natural shape shifters, some powerful dog demons and the like in Japan are commonly known about."

"Interesting. Is that where your slight affinity to blood magic comes from?" Harry wanted to know.

"I have no idea how you found that out, but yes, it is," Sirius answered.

"I have looked through a lot of books this year trying to find out certain things. Mainly counter-curses to rare curses and some books told about the Blacks being rumoured having invented some based on blood-magic," Harry informed Sirius.

"Ah, yes, those rumours have been around for some time. Right now, the blood-magic affinity mostly comes into play in wards," Sirius explained, "Blood-based wards are some of the most powerful known to wizard-kind. There are only a few that are more powerful. Special seals that certain families could create based on their bloodlines."

Harry nodded, knowing that the Avalon bloodline was especially famous for that kind of seals. The one behind which he had banished the dementors was one of them.

Sirius then led Harry to the room he had set up for him. Harry looked around smiling. The room was like he had always imagined his room to be when he had still lived at the Dursleys. It was bright, the walls painted in a soft yellow, which, in combination with the sun falling through the window, made it look warm to him. The bed was queen sized and he had a wardrobe, desk, chair, drawers, some bookcases and a lot of space on the walls to hang posters if he liked.

"Thank you, Sirius. The room is great," Harry declared.

"It was the least I could do. You should have grown up in a room like this from the beginning. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you before, but I intend to change that," Sirius said sincerely.

Harry felt another stone in his stomach. How should he explain having to go back in time over the summer?

"I know that you are going to have to do special training for your future position," Sirius then said making Harry turn around to him surprised.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked not sure if Sirius really knew.

"I can read the signs, Harry. You are the future guardian of magic," Sirius spoke calmly, "The reaction of the plants in the botanic garden in Paris were pretty telling, then the stories I heard about the reaction of magical creatures to you, especially the hippogriff herd in your first Care of Magical Creatures lesson. The Blacks are one of the protector families of the guardians."

Harry felt immense relief. He hadn't known that the Blacks were chosen protectors. His mother had only briefly mentioned the term once and told him that there were families that had a close connection to Avalon and helped the priestesses do their duties to magic. And any guardian, current or future, could tell if the one claiming that status lied. And Sirius was clearly telling the truth. That meant he could tell him a few things safely.

"You're right. I'm the last of the Avalon line and I will become Lord Avalon once I turn sixteen. It's on my Dad's side of the family," Harry confirmed.

Sirius looked incredibly shocked. He had been sure that Harry was a guardian, but he hadn't really suspected House Avalon. The most important house in Magical Britain, next to the Pendragon line, which was said to be extinct.

"I will do all I can to help you, Harry, I promise. But why didn't James say anything about this?" He asked.

"He didn't know. I only found out after the soul piece of Voldemort that had attached itself to me was destroyed by basilisk venom," Harry told Sirius.

"WHAT?" Sirius shouted, "Where the hell did you get basilisk venom? Do you know how dangerous that is?"

"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" Harry exclaimed annoyed, "But I had to prevent that Ron's sister got killed in the Chamber of Secrets and no teacher would help us. When I rammed Gryffindor's sword up the head of the basilisk through its mouth, when it tried to eat me, one tooth got stuck in my arm and I was poisoned. Fawkes knew that the soul piece needed to be destroyed and this was a perfect chance to get it done. He waited till it happened and then healed me with his tears. They completely neutralised the venom. But the destroyed soul piece opened my access to the family library, so to speak, in my head and gave me a lot of information on what House Avalon was about and why our duty to magic was so important."

Sirius tried to calm down. The thought of his godson, who wasn't even thirteen at the time, fighting a basilisk for his life wasn't a comforting one. He knew he had a difficult task as the guardian of magic but taking on monsters like that as a child went too far. He could have lost him before properly meeting him for Merlin's sake.

"We are going to have a long discussion about your time at Hogwarts, Harold James, and we will talk about taking acceptable risks and avoiding unacceptable ones," Sirius said sternly.

Harry cringed hearing his full first name and middle name. His mother only did that if he was in serious trouble.

"Uh, you know that punishing me for things that happened in the past and that I couldn't avoid if I wanted to prevent catastrophes would be very mean?" Harry asked hoping it would work.

"We will see what kind of actions that were and what made you take them," Sirius answered, "So why don't you start with your first year and we work our way through the rest?"

Sirius look told Harry that, like with his mother, Sirius wouldn't be deterred and that talking was really his only option to get any say in what would happen. With his mother it had resulted in intense training, which made him truly understand the ramifications of his actions. It curbed a lot of his rashness and his urge to simply do things by himself. They went to the lounge and sat down on the couches. Soon some butterbeer was in front of them and Sirius motioned Harry to begin.

Harry started with his first year, the incident at his first flying lesson that got him onto the Quidditch team, the following fake challenge to a wizard's duel by Malfoy, Fluffy, how he and Ron had fought a troll to save Hermione, and then the quest to find out who Nicolas Flamel was. The suspicion that it was Snape who was after the Philosopher's Stone, puzzling out the clues to the secret, the trouble with Norbert and the following detention in the Forbidden Forest and then the rescue of the Stone after McGonagall ignored their warning.

"Well, I think we can safely say that troll was in no way your fault and you only wanted to warn Hermione, I can't and won't hold that against you, as I would have done the same when I was your age. Perhaps not for everybody, but if one of my friends had been responsible for the girl crying and being in danger, I would have gone to help her too. With not knowing much magic, you performed as well as you could. Agreeing to the wizarding duel was stupid to the extreme, but I can see where you were coming from, especially as your best friend had agreed for you.

"The first encounter with the Cerberus was also an accident, so you don't have to fear me being angry about that. Your father and I would have been the first ones to intentionally investigate the reason why the third-floor corridor was forbidden to be entered," Sirius stated grinning, "Any night time wandering under the cloak is also forgiven, I would be a hypocrite if I gave you a hard time over that when I did the same at school. But what the hell possessed you to take the transport of the dragon into your own hands? While helping Hagrid was honourable, you should have lent him the cloak to hide the crate with the baby dragon and let him take it to the Astronomy Tower. He is allowed to be out in the school at night."

"Honestly, we never thought about that. We only needed the dragon gone and Hagrid wasn't really happy about that. He wanted to keep it and having to hand it over to Charlie's friends would only have caused a new teary episode from him," Harry admitted, "It was hard enough to convince him of letting Norbert go."

"I need to have a chat with Hagrid about acceptable pets at a school where children live," Sirius sighed, "Next point, did you really think you could stop the thief from getting the Stone? A fully qualified wizard? And while I know that Snape is an arse, he is a powerful wizard. The man is a mean dueller and has invented some really nasty spells and potions during his life. He is a genius as much as I hate admitting that."

"Hey, we wanted to let the adults deal with the problem, but McGonagall only told us that the Stone was well-protected and that we shouldn't talk about it. She threatened to take away points from Gryffindor if we continued, and we had to go. After I realised that the same day the attempt at the Stone would be made, I didn't see any other option than getting it myself before the thief could do so," Harry explained.

"That reasoning might have worked had you been fifth-years perhaps, but did you honestly think you could overcome protections meant to stop a fully-grown wizard?" Sirius asked.

"We didn't really think about that; my one concern was that I couldn't allow that Voldemort came back. I didn't want the horror that the war against him was to happen again. He had killed my parents and after the incident in the forest, I feared he would come after me again any time. I had nightmares for weeks from that time on," Harry admitted, "I only later realised that everything had to be a huge test for me."

He had discussed that particular issue with his mother in length and had realised that for some reason the protections were too easy to overcome. It could only mean that it was to either test him or lull a thief into false safety before springing the real trap on him. As the trap part hadn't come to pass, it had to be a test. After all, why else would three first-years get through five supposedly strong protections for an invaluable magical artefact?

"I can agree with you there. Well, what happened in your second year?" Sirius asked and was then baffled by a story about a fraud of a Defence teacher, Harry hearing voices all over the school that nobody else could hear, the Chamber of Secrets being opened, students, a ghost and a cat being petrified and a dark magical object in form of a diary.

"You mean to tell me that Voldemort made a horcrux?" Sirius asked horrified when Harry described the diary and how it found its end.

"You know what it was?" Harry asked surprised.

"Harry, I'm a Black. My family was one of the darkest there is. Though it did start out as being those tasked to fight dark arts, soon the magic they studied corrupted them a lot. There also is one problem to consider. I told you that the Blacks are part of the families tasked to protect the guardian of magic. Without one, the balance that allowed my family to study the dark arts to understand them and to fight them efficiently, was destroyed. The more dark arts they studied, the more they fell into the lure they posed. Sure, magic in itself is neither dark nor light, but if you don't have strong mental discipline, you can get lost in the so-called dark arts.

"Being close to a guardian ensured that this balance was kept. With the last known one dying about three hundred years ago, there was nothing left to keep it. With each generation the Blacks lost more of their mental strength, but still studied the dark arts like it was our legacy. I think I probably developed that balance thanks to your Dad, knowing what I know now. Even the Blacks don't start teaching their children about the dark arts before they have the second major stabilising power boost in their magic, which is when they turn thirteen," Sirius told Harry the story.

"By that point I had spent two years in Gryffindor already and could reject the dark arts as a means to achieve my goals. I could study them as a way to know what I was up against. And my parents didn't keep any of the darkest arts from us. But even they warned us about black magic. We were told to never ever attempt using black magic, as it hurts your magic irreversibly. And a horcrux is the worst form of black magic. You split your soul to gain fake immortality. The soul is meant to stay whole, as it ties one's magic to one's body. Breaking your soul apart means breaking your magic and your body apart. But detecting if somebody made a horcrux is difficult. The person will perhaps look slightly unhealthy after the ritual, but that could also be attributed to other rituals that have similar effects."

"Why did nobody question Voldemort's looks then?" Harry asked, "I mean, the man is bald and has a face like a snake with no nose. Those that knew him in his youth must have been able to see that something like that was going on."

"They could, if they knew about horcruxes, Harry. And there are precious few, thank Merlin for that, that have enough knowledge about black magic that could have made the connection. When Dumbledore became headmaster of Hogwarts, he cleaned out the library from all books about the darkest arts. A wise move if you ask me, even if my parents ranted about his meddling ways. School children shouldn't learn about black magic and the worst dark arts. Not even under strict watch, as the books were in the restricted section. There are enough books that hold dangerous magic in them to satisfy the needs of children and young adults. If there was a university level after you take your NEWTs, those books would be something the mastery students of Defence should learn about," Sirius pointed out.

"That makes sense. There is too much potential for abuse with that kind of knowledge," Harry agreed, "It will be damn hard to get the people to see the difference between black and dangerous magic."

"Well, nobody ever said being the guardian of magic would be easy. How much out of balance are things really, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Very. The problem is the number of magicals and the destruction of nature. Grindelwald and Voldemort killed so many people. And while even the muggles have a small spark of magic in them, there isn't enough to counter the massive losses. Add to that the problem of wizarding families only having one child or at most two, the population isn't recovering. Mundane borns are born more often to counter it, but they don't believe in magic's sentience. Not that the pureblood bigots help any with that. They shun those without magical parents and complain about them not fitting into the wizarding world, but they also do nothing about it.

"Add to that the standards of teaching falling at Hogwarts and you have a ticking bomb," Harry showed the problems up, "If only the old pureblood houses would all get over their notions of superiority of pureblood lines and refusing to marry at least half bloods. That would solve a lot already. After all, it would slow the decrease of magic in their families down. Then the ministry needs to give more support to families with lots of children and not mock them like they do the Weasleys. Why do you think all the Weasley children are so magically powerful? It's certainly not because Molly helps it with potions and good food."

"No, both Molly and Arthur are at a normal level in magical strength," Sirius agreed, "From what I heard, their oldest is a curse breaker now and the second oldest is a dragon handler. Both jobs require raw power to be good at them."

"Correct. I could tell after I returned that all Weasley children are more powerful than their parents. That only happens when a very good combination of individuals comes to pass. Molly and Arthur are the perfect match from a magical point of view. Their traits enhance each other with him being calm and like a rock in the storm and her having a fiery temperament. Next to that Arthur is really good with wanded magic while Molly has a knack for things like potions, herbology, runes and creatures. In their children both sides come together and therefore the Weasleys all get through Hogwarts successfully.

"The greatest part is that Molly and Arthur didn't stop after three or four children but had seven. I think magic had something to do with that. It was an attempt to get as many powerful children from this perfect match as possible," Harry stated, "The land around the Burrow also seems to be blessed. No matter how poor the Weasleys might be, they never have to fear hunger. Their animals thrive and have lots of offspring that gives the Weasleys eggs, meat and milk without having to buy them. Molly's fruit and vegetable garden also never suffers from garden pests other than gnomes and there is always a big harvest. Ron told me about that peculiarity."

"It makes sense. Many wondered why the two had so many children, but when asked, Molly said that for some reason contraceptive potions and spells didn't work for them, so they simply decided to have children until magic was satisfied. Which was after Ginny," Sirius told Harry, "I guess you're going to have to train a lot more until you're ready. While I think that it was you that got rid of the dementors, there is a lot more you'd need to be able to do as the guardian."

"You're right. And I need to go back to the place where I train next summer again. I just feel bad that I can't spend time with you while I'm there. I want to spend more time with you and get to really know you," Harry admitted.

"Couldn't I simply accompany you?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know. I would have to ask, and Fawkes is the only one that could get an answer from the person who trains me," Harry answered.

"Dumbledore's phoenix? He's in on this?" Sirius asked surprised.

"Yes. As I said, he was the one to save me when I was bit by the basilisk. The basilisk venom destroyed the horcrux, but it hurt like hell, I can tell you. Since it is gone, I can access my family's metal library, and it helps me learning what I'll need to know in the future. The way to banish the soul suckers behind the seal and how to restore it to full power is part of that. You see, Viviane of Avalon and the Merlin Taliesin were the main persons to create the seal and banish the soul suckers the first time. That seal is part of the collective memory that the House of Avalon keeps," Harry explained, "On the Hogwarts Express I first restored the seal and then banished all soul suckers that were close to the train behind it. It took about half of my magical reserves to get it done and I needed to rest before I could even think of getting rid of the others. But I didn't account for their numbers. It took lots of magic to get them all."

"Which is the reason you used the magic of Diana's Blessing," Sirius realised, "It's about the most magically powerful night before Hallowe'en. And Hallowe'en wouldn't have given you the power you needed. It would have made the dementors stronger."

"Yes, the centaurs told me when it would work best. They and the unicorns also protected the clearing where I did the ritual. Without them, the soul suckers would have probably managed to stop me before I finished," Harry confirmed.

"Wow, that's incredible. You did the world a huge favour by getting rid of those monsters, even if some stupid Ministry bureaucrats will disagree," Sirius praised him.

"Thanks. I know about that issue and therefore I won't tell anybody I don't trust. None of the teachers know, but I think Hagrid and Professor Flitwick suspect something. Their part giant or goblin blood will tell them that I have special magic, even if they won't be able to fully tell what kind of magic it is," Harry told Sirius.

"That's a blessing right now. I guess we will need to wait to find out what your instructor says about me accompanying you during the summer. But for now, we can enjoy the Easter break. I have booked us for a wizarding beach resort in the Seychelles. We will be there for two weeks; everything is all inclusive. That means we can try out all kinds of free time activities, have three meals and all drinks we want already paid for," Sirius declared.

"Really? Thank you, that's incredible!" Harry exclaimed excitedly.

The Seychelles were a small island east of the African coast, at the Indian Ocean. They had some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world and warm weather all year around. It had been one of Harry's dreams to go somewhere like that.

And that's it for this chapter. Until next time.

11. Getting Away

Happy Easter everybody. I hope you are all well and safe. This is the last chapter before the journey back to Camelot. It may take a little while longer between the chapters from here on, as I first need to write the full part at Camelot before I publish new chapters. I want to keep the order of things logical and not forget anything. But I have another story ready to pass the time while I work on the next chapters of this one.

Happy reading.

Getting Away

Harry had truly enjoyed the time since he had gone on Easter break. The trip to the Seychelles with Sirius had been incredible. They had spent most of their days at the beach and in the evenings, they explored the clubs at the island where the wizarding resort was located. Between dancing, some flirting, enjoying drinks with low amounts of alcohol in them and watching pretty girls with little clothing, Harry had learned a lot about girls in his time. The ones back at the time of Camelot followed other ideas of proper behaviour. And he didn't let it go too far. Even if the temptation had been there.

He had returned tanned and a lot more relaxed than before. He had taken up his studies with new vigour and kept in contact with Sirius by owl post. Hermione had improved her behaviour even more and now she was nearly back to a casual friend level where he told her some secrets and what was going on around him. His friends had also improved, taking him as an example. Ron's grades had steadied at an above average level and Neville was doing much better than in any years previous. He had mostly needed some proper support and a wand that fit him. Having arranged for both, Harry could observe how Neville slowly crept out of the shell he had created during his childhood.

The regular exercising they did, both inside and outside the Room of Requirement also showed results. While Ron still tended to moan about having to get up early for morning training, he still did get out of bed, and he did remark how much more energy he had and that casting spells became easier and he was able to do it for longer times. And now that they all were on the way to reaching harmony with their magic, the power of each spell they cast also increased. It was noted by the teachers, even if they didn't understand the reasons behind the development.

Right now, only Hermione, Ron, Neville, Fred, George and Sirius knew about his heritage and they all had promised to not tell anybody until Harry gave the go ahead. Thanks to the deal with their mother, after the reward money had given them the starting capital for their dream of a joke job, even Fred and George were taking their preparation for their OWLs much more serious than before.

They were now seen looking through their books regularly. They planned to only take four or at most five NEWT level classes each, but Harry as well as Molly, could easily live with that. He knew that the twins were brilliant and as long as they did their best, he wouldn't nag them about things.

At Hogwarts and the general wizarding world things had changed a good deal. All those Death Eaters that had previously been let go with the excuse of being under the imperius curse, had been brought in, except Malfoy, who got away in time, and questioned under veritaserum. Malfoy was placed on the wanted list, but everybody at the DMLE knew it would be hard to get a hold of him. After the reading of Pettigrew's testimony to the Wizengamot, they couldn't protest anymore, as Amelia Bones had listed five laws alone that covered her having the authority to act like she did for the safety of the country, against the wishes of the Minister of Magic and the Wizengamot. Being threatened to be considered accomplices of criminals like the Death Eaters shut the critics up quickly.

And the things that had come to light had been horrible. Crimes had been committed and many people only now found out what had truly happened to their loved ones. The articles in the Daily Prophet for the trials hadn't kept much hidden, as these people had deceived their people for far too long, getting away by claiming rights given to them thanks to their pureblood status. This time around it didn't help them. They all were sentenced harshly and, beyond a certain number of crimes committed, that meant the veil of death. Nobody truly missed those people, instead the public had cried for the harshest punishment possible.

At Hogwarts meanwhile, the teaching standards inspection had brought up major problems. A few teachers got away easily, mainly Professors Flitwick, Sprout, Babbling, Vector and Sinistra. It was decided, as this time around no claims of everything being under control were accepted by the inspectors, which were neutral agents from the Department of Magical Education, with no connections to any of the major players that had used Hogwarts for their own goals in the past, clear changes had to happen. Professor McGonagall was told to give up one of her positions, either head of Gryffindor or Deputy Headmistress, as she clearly was incapable to do the work for both of them acceptably in addition to her teaching position. She had neglected her Gryffindors in favour of looking after the school, which was clear to not have worked out in the past, as she allowed clear conflicts in interest to disadvantage the students, like when she had had to also cover for the suspended headmaster last year.

It was simply too much work for one person alone. The inspectors weren't happy to find out that Remus Lupin was a werewolf, but they kept their last verdict for the results that the students achieved in their end-of-year exams. The fact that he could prove that he had dutifully taken all doses of wolfsbane potion and also had Madam Pomfrey place a ward on his rooms that made it impossible to escape from them in his werewolf form was in his favour. Not to mention that he had a clean record for ever being noticed in connection with criminal investigations. They allowed to wait and see the results as long as the supply with wolfsbane was guaranteed, which the replacement potions teacher promised.

The verdict on Professor Binns was clear, they needed to find a new History Professor, as the conversations with the students made it absolutely clear that nobody but a handful among all students could learn anything in the class. It was one thing to have a teacher that was a bit boring, but another to have nearly the full student body fall asleep in class or use it for playing games and doing other things that had nothing to do with the class itself. Ravenclaw even had a system of older students selling a History guide to the younger ones to manage passing their tests in the class, as even they couldn't stay awake in the class.

One student twenty years back had managed to enchant a quill to record all of Binns' classes for all years and then over the following weeks of summer break created a self-study guide that was used to this day. Though outside of Ravenclaw the guide wasn't really known for some reason. The reasons for the results of the OWL exams were now very obvious. And no argument about Binns being tradition helped. The class should teach the students the history of their world, it didn't do that at all and therefore it had to be overworked.

Professor Burbage was given the task to actually go into the muggle world over the summer to see how the muggles lived these days. Her curriculum, while she clearly didn't consider muggles beneath wizards, wasn't up to date, which was a disadvantage for the students that took the class. Still, overall, she got a good review on how she taught the material she covered and if she did the last part of keeping informed about newer developments, she would be a good teacher for the subject.

For Potions the change had already been implemented and the inspectors wanted to see how the replacement teacher worked in the long-term results before making a final decision. As Snape was executed as a Death Eater, they needed a new teacher anyway, therefore the temporary solution was for now enough. It was clear though that whoever took over the position needed to have more than the qualification of the subject. He or she needed to be able to actually teach. That was the major fault in Snape's way of conducting classes, next to the man's blatant bullying of students.

The Divination teacher also would need to either shape up or find a new job. Her way of horror predictions didn't prepare the students for their exams and the mental stress put onto the victims of the annual death prediction wasn't acceptable at all for a teacher. Next to that she got guidelines of what needed to be taught in class, as just predicting the future didn't do the full subject justice. Not many students had the gift of sight and would do better with a general overview over the subject instead of trying to do something they didn't have the talent for.

Dumbledore wasn't happy at all with all the criticism about his teachers and the way he led the school. Still, he had to accept the changes, or he would have been replaced, which he needed to avoid at all costs. Thus, he was busy working out how to implement the demands of the inspectors until the beginning of the next school year. And those demands included that there was also an orientation class for muggleborns into the workings of the wizarding world, as it couldn't be that they demanded that they integrated into their world properly but didn't give them the means to do so. It would suffice to have a class taught during first and second year, with a similar class on the basics of the muggle world being taught to the wizard-raised children. And the Board of Governors was forced to free the funds for it. The inspectors didn't like it at all how the education and safety of the children, and with the lack of knowledge, the safety of the statute of secrecy, was endangered by them being too greedy in what they got for their work as governors.

They cut their annual salary for the job down to a quarter and switched the freed funds into the general budget of the school. Next to that they went over the books with a fine-toothed comb and found ways to enable to school to better manage the money they got from tuitions and what the Ministry gave the school. Among the first things they started was reactivating previous fields for growing food for the students. Hiring some people to take care of them was easy, as there were more than enough unemployed witches and wizards that would be happy to finally get a job. Mainly those whose qualifications didn't suffice for better jobs, or who had been discriminated against, like muggleborns. While working at the Hogwarts farm wasn't a glorious job, it was honest work and gave them much needed money to live better lives.

It was very clear that Dumbledore was not good at managing finances creatively and was mostly doing things the same way Professor Dippet had done so. That wasn't good at all for a school like Hogwarts, but as the headmaster was always chosen among the previous teachers, nobody could truly expect any of them to be an expert in finances, as that subject wasn't taught at Hogwarts at all. It was a suggestion for an elective after the OWLs in the overall report of the inspectors though, as they saw the need to prepare the students for keeping their finances in check once they had graduated.

With the fields giving the school about half of their supplies of food as soon as the harvest was ready, the school would be able to cut down on a major cost factor. And that money could be shifted to other areas. One of the inspectors even got the Cleansweep Broom Company and Comet Broom Enterprises to donate a few basic brooms for the flying classes. Those old brooms were a safety hazard and were banned from ever being used again. The companies got the PR for the donation and Hogwarts could finally teach flying on proper brooms again. Madam Hooch was certainly happy about it. Not to mention that she easily agreed to take over the orientation class for muggleborns and muggle-raised students from the next year on. As her main duties were teaching flying and managing the Quidditch Cup, she easily had the time for that. It was much cheaper than hiring a new teacher, the inspectors simply decided to have her normal salary increased by the additional number of classes she would teach.

The headmaster was at least relieved that he knew the person that would teach that class well and wouldn't tell the students extreme opinions about how things in the wizarding world should be done.

One part the inspectors also wanted to keep an eye on was the set-up and election of prefects and Quidditch teams. They had got the request from several Quidditch teams in the British league that they would like if the candidates that came from Hogwarts got better structured training. It was after all not a good thing if players that had attended other European schools of magic clearly outclassed the native ones. The inspectors had taken up the complaint and would look into finding proper coaches for the Quidditch teams. Many were fans of the sport and supporting the students in getting better chances at becoming successful pros was only a good thing in their opinion.

And the prefects needed to be chosen for objective traits, not preferences of the teachers. Many of the current prefects, when the inspectors asked about how they did their job in the eyes of the students, didn't get good reviews. Many abused their authority or didn't really help the younger students. While for the current year, the inspectors let them keep their positions, mainly because there was too much to do otherwise, from next year on they would have a look at the way the heads of houses and the headmaster chose the ones that were given that responsibility and honour. Not to mention that they would implement a way to observe how their decisions concerning discipline and assistance for students were supported by the teachers. Some prefects had complained after all that certain teachers overrode reasonable punishments given by prefects all the time. Snape was in the lead for that.

It was one more aspect that Dumbledore felt they shouldn't interfere in, but his opinion was currently not worth as much as he would have liked, as the inspectors put most of the blame for the problems onto his shoulders, as the one that should have managed the school a lot better.

Harry sat through his end-of-year exams. His exams in Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and History were already over, right now he was working through Runes and Magical Creatures would follow tomorrow. The last exam would be Defence Against the Dark Arts and he was looking forward to seeing what Professor Lupin had come up with. He was a really good teacher. Harry didn't have much interaction with the man outside of classes, even if he had been a good friend of his father. Harry was a bit sad about this fact, but he had heard from Sirius how Remus had had to sign a contract that forbid him to interact too closely with any student outside of educational issues. Probably another attempt of Dumbledore to keep more control over what Harry learned about his family. The need to control everything that the old man had really annoyed Harry to no end. Well, Remus didn't plan to stay longer than this year if the clause in his contract wasn't changed. He had already talked to Professor McGonagall about it and she had agreed to look into the matter, as it wasn't fair for Remus to be put into that position.

Well, no matter what happened, Harry would be away for most of the summer. And Dumbledore's constant attempts to convince Harry to go back to the Dursleys or let him arrange alternate accommodations for the summer had been completely useless for the old man. Which Harry knew frustrated him to no end. Well, it wasn't his problem. Soon he would be back with his mother and his friends at Camelot. He would continue his training to become a knight and start the next level in his magical studies there. He was also looking forward to working with Thunder again. He missed his horse. He knew that for Thunder only two months would have passed, but Harry missed the constant work with his stallion. The level of understanding they had reached in their training.

Riding the hippogriffs was nice and all, but he didn't have the close connection with any of them that he and Thunder had created. He finished his translation and looked over everything again. He really wanted to get good grades in this year's exams.

Fawkes delivered a letter to Harry when he was reading on his bed with the curtains closed. His dorm mates were all really tired after the party the Weasley twins had arranged for it being the last day of their OWL exams. While some others still had the last exams to do, they had still joined the party. There was no reason at all to pass up a good party after all, especially as the Quidditch Cup had finally been won by Gryffindor and the House Cup normally should also be theirs again.

Harry took the letter and thanked Fawkes, stroking the firebird's plumage. Fawkes trilled happily before vanishing in a burst of flames. Harry opened the letter, knowing that Fawkes wouldn't bring him anything dangerous, and started reading. At the end of the letter he had a big grin on his face. His mother had allowed that Sirius could come with him to the past. He needed to directly write a letter to Sirius and send Hedwig out to deliver it. They could spend the next year together in Camelot. His mother was sure that a qualified wizard like Sirius would have a lot of options for things to do. And informing him more about what was expected of a protector to the next guardian of magic would also be beneficial.

Harry happily looked at his report card. He had greatly improved his grades. He was now in overall second place of his year, Hermione had still managed to keep her top spot, even if she had run herself into the ground with taking too many classes. She had finally acknowledged that she had bitten off too much and cleared with Professor McGonagall that she would take two classes less the next year. She quit Divination and Muggle Studies. Harry was right now waiting for the carriages that would take the students down to Hogsmeade Station to go back to London. He knew that Dumbledore had prepared some stupid scheme to make Harry go back to the Dursleys, or at least one of his lackeys, but Harry had Fawkes on his side.

He and Sirius had arranged for Harry to not take the train, as any kind of interception would happen at King's Cross Station. Nobody would think that Harry could get away earlier. Ron and Neville were in on the plan and would state that he had entered the train with them, but they wouldn't say that he left it after that. His trunk was shrunken in his pocket already. The only thing Harry needed to do was putting his invisibility cloak on after getting onto the train, getting out again without anybody noticing, and then waiting until the train left. Nobody counted the students after the train had left. The teacher at the platform, mostly Hagrid, only made sure that no student was left behind. But the check was only visual. Once Hagrid, or whoever checked today, was gone, Harry would leave the platform using his firebolt and fly towards the mountains.

Sirius would be waiting for him there and Fawkes would flash them to the past. It was an easy, but perfect plan. After all, Dumbledore wouldn't expect any kind of trickery before the train reached London. And at that time, it would already be too late, and Harry and Sirius would be in the past.

Dumbledore sat in his office, sure that his plan to get Harry back under control would work out perfectly. With the boy having told about his relatives being abusive, there was no way that any of the other teachers or Order members would allow him to be returned there, even if Dumbledore claimed the power of the bloodwards. Even after some time having passed, Harry hadn't relented in his refusal to ever go back there at all. But they were very open to making sure that Harry was in the care of a responsible adult, which Sirius Black certainly wasn't. It hadn't been hard to convince Molly Weasley to take the boy with her to the Burrow from where he would be brought to Minerva's house after she was done with the last things that needed to be done before the school went into summer mode.

The boy was being difficult, but he would learn that he had to follow the instructions of those older and more experienced than him. So far, the emancipation had been stalled, but it wasn't shut down fully yet. Something he didn't like at all, but there were too many arguments for emancipating Harry to be ignored out of hand. And his role in causing most of Harry's valid arguments by neglect restricted his influence in the case. At least he hadn't started to hang around the wrong crowd. His friendship with Molly's and Arthur's youngest son Ronald was still as strong as ever, if not stronger. Additionally, he had reached out and included Neville Longbottom into his group of friends. That was a good thing. Alice and Frank had been members of the Order and the family itself had always been stoutly light. So, normally, the boy shouldn't give them a hard time over going to the Burrow. And after that Minerva would get him back to obey the instructions he was given.

While he knew that technically Sirius Black should be Harry's guardian, now that his innocence had been proven, he had managed to delay that decision, mainly because the petition for emancipation was still handled. He didn't want Sirius to influence Harry too much. No, this summer needed to be used to bring Harry back in line with his goals and position. Sirius might be allowed to visit once Harry was back under control. Thankfully, many also accepted the argument that Sirius should at least finish one year of healing before he was fit to take care of a teenager fully. He didn't notice that Fawkes was gone again. And he wouldn't realise the importance of this until it was too late.

Sirius looked up and saw a broom flying towards him. He grinned. It seemed as if their plan to have Harry slip through the net had worked perfectly. He stood from the boulder he had used as his seat when Harry landed. He had already put on the clothes that Harry had given him, and he had brushed up on his history of the time where they would go to. Next to him on a tree branch sat Hedwig, Harry's owl, who Harry had sent to him in advance to not have to transport her from the platform.

"Hello, Harry, good to see that things worked out like they were planned," Sirius greeted.

"Hi, Sirius," Harry replied smiling brightly, "It worked perfectly. We'll be long gone before anybody notices that I'm not even on the train."

Then Fawkes flashed next to Harry, trilling happily.

"Hey, Fawkes, good to see you. Give me a moment to change, then we can go," Harry said, and the phoenix trilled in agreement.

Harry took his trunk out of his pocket and enlarged it. He had put the clothes he would wear on top of everything else to have easy access to them. He went into the cave that was behind Sirius and put on the older fashioned clothes. Normal warm travelling clothes with a cloak that was held up by a brooch with the Ceredigion crest. He had noticed that Sirius had a similar one, just with the Black crest. Once he was done, he left the cave and looked at his godfather.

"Looks good on you," Sirius commented, "Which name do you use in the past?"

"Harold of Ceredigion. Son of Lord Benwick of Ceredigion and High Priestess Morgaine of Avalon," Harry answered.

Sirius whistled.

"Wow, that's pretty high-ranking. And you're training under one of King Arthur's knights, I got that right?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, I've been promoted to squire just two months ago, going by the timeline we will return to. For all others, I spent the last two months travelling with my mother to Avalon and learning some more about my family's magic and duties to the people. Upon my return, I'll have to take up my new duties as a squire and start harder training than I got as Sir Edmund's page," Harry explained, "You can keep your normal name and position as head of the House of Black. The plan is to introduce you as a wizard who apprenticed under one of the druids of Avalon and then travelled through the country learning more about magic. You said you were especially good with Runes and Transfiguration?"

"Yes. While I wasn't at James' level, I was second in our year and I was top student in Runes. I was always fascinated with my ancestor Sirius Black, who was a famous warder in his time. He was also one of the honourable members of my family. Well, many of them were before some idiot decided to follow pureblood supremacy beliefs. As you know, without a guardian, in best case from the house of Avalon, to keep our studies of the Dark Arts in balance, many got lost to the dark," Sirius reminded Harry who nodded.

"Then you could offer your services as a warder. It wouldn't look too strange if people already knew about another Black that was active in the warding business. And that sons or grandsons were given their father's names isn't that unusual in that time," Harry suggested, "Oh, and you should know that until we manage to get Aunt Guinevere pregnant, I'm the current heir to the throne of Camelot. I've looked up as many ways of preventing a healthy woman from conceiving a child as I could this year, as well as possible cures, and I hope that mother can use that information to help Uncle Arthur and Aunt Genevieve out."

"That's something I really need to know. How comes that you were chosen for that position?" Sirius asked.

"My supposed mother Morgaine, who's really my many times great grandmother, is King Arthur's older sister. Hence, I was introduced as the King's nephew when I arrived at Camelot. Thanks to several nobles plotting how to get more power and putting one of their daughters at the King's side to give him an heir, something needed to be done. I was gaining more and more approval among the Knights of the Round Table as well as nobles that visited Camelot since I had started my training. Being the oldest known son of the King's sister, I was the best choice to stop them for a while. With me being a male heir, we bought time to find a way to overcome Aunt Genevieve's problem," Harry explained.

"I see. Well, I think we should get going now before anybody rings an alarm," Sirius said, and Harry nodded.

He re-shrunk his trunk and put it back safely into his pocket while holding the cage in which Hedwig settled. She knew the procedure. Fawkes flew over and Sirius and Harry took hold of one tail feather. In a flash of fire, they disappeared to the time of Camelot's prime.

Until next time. Stay healthy.

12. Return to Camelot

Hi everybody. Merry Christmas. I have finally got far enough in this story to give somewhat regular updates again. The Camelor arc is nearly finished until the return to Hogwarts. I have the main part of the story for that time done, thus you can look forward to more updates for this story.

I wish everybody a peaceful and happy time with their families. Happy reading.

Return to Camelot

Sirius and Harry landed on a lush, green meadow. Harry recognised it as the one where he had met his mother for the first time around. One and a half days riding distance away from Camelot.

"Wow, this certainly looks different," Sirius commented.

"It's about one and a half days away from Camelot," Harry informed him, "I landed here when I first came to this time last year. I wonder where mother is, she wanted to greet us, when we arrived."

"Well, there seems to be a letter tied to the saddle of the horse over there," Sirius commented, pointing at two horses, the black one Harry recognised as Thunder.

He walked over and greeted his horse happily. He had really missed the stallion in the future. The brown horse next to Thunder was another stallion. He took the letter from Thunder's saddle and started reading it.

Dear Harry,

I'm sorry that I couldn't be there when you arrived, but an emergency has come up and I had to get to Camelot as fast as I could. There was a battle against some bandits and a high number of knights and foot soldiers were injured and they need all the help they can get. I left Thunder and a horse for your godfather to take you to Camelot, as I couldn't be sure on which day Fawkes would bring you back.

Please take the same route we used last year to come to Camelot once you're back. Sir Edmund has finished setting up the plan for your training and sent it to me by a messenger to let me plan your magical lessons around it. For now, it seems that your magical training will have to be held either in the evenings or on the weekends, as being a squire takes up more time than being a page.

I hope to see you soon at Camelot

Love

Your mother Morgaine

"We've got to make our way to Camelot alone, Sirius. Mother had to go on ahead because of an emergency of a battle against some bandits," Harry informed him.

"No problem, as long as you know the way," Sirius replied.

"I do. Can you ride a horse?" Harry asked.

"Sure. The Blacks were always high on traditions and riding a horse, or any horse-like magical creature, were taught before we attended Hogwarts. I'm probably a bit rusty, but you never forget how to do it once you've learned it," Sirius assured Harry.

"Then let's put our luggage into the saddlebags and get started. If we don't have to keep to slow gaits, we can probably reach Camelot by the evening if nothing happens," Harry said.

Both did just that and soon they were on the way. Sirius asked to first get some time to get used to how his horse moved before getting into a long ride in a fast gait. And they didn't have a time limit to when they had to reach Camelot. Hedwig was let out of her cage again, which Harry shrunk and stored in his trunk, and she happily flew over their heads.

After four hours of travelling they reached a small river where they let the horses drink and rest a bit. Harry took out some pastries that he had packed for food and handed Sirius two of them. He thanked Harry and started eating. The horses then got to graze for half an hour before the two wizards climbed back into the saddles and continued their journey. Harry was greeted by a lot of people when they passed through and stopped to talk to them. Most were villagers that he had met during either his trip with his mother when he had just arrived here, or when Camelot had sent out help to the surrounding villages that had called for them. He was also known as the current heir to the throne, so people were happy to meet him.

They spent their second break in the afternoon talking to a few craftsmen that told Harry about a new method to make houses better protected against catching fire, as in other villages that were farther away from Camelot bandits had started to use that method to make the villagers submit easier. Here Sirius spoke up and offered to help the villagers out. He could create wards carved into a metal plate. The plate just needed to be kept inside the house and the house would be protected against most natural causes of destruction like fire, floods and lightning. The owner would still have to make sure that the wood wasn't decomposed regularly, but it would help against outside influences.

Many villagers were grateful to hear this and brought all kinds of metal plates to get the service done. Sirius spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with engraving the plates with a basic runic matrix that would produce a protective sphere against natural destruction around a small house. The villagers paid him as best as they could. First, he and Harry were given rooms for free in the major's house for the night, as they had agreed to continue their travel in the morning, and they were presented with a feast. Those that knew a bit about healing herbs gave him a basket full of them that they had collected in the forest surrounding their village. Sirius thanked them and Harry took care of a few injuries and illnesses while he was there, next to watching Sirius carving the runes, next to asking some interested questions about the array he used.

The next morning, they were bid farewell by the whole village. The villagers promised to spread the news about Sirius' business to other villages and that he could be reached at Camelot. Being the godfather of the royal heir apparent elevated his status a lot. And, thanks to being used to the old religion, nobody had problems accepting that Sirius could use magic. He had helped them with a big problem and made them safer. While Christianity was spreading, the whole 'magic is evil' thinking hadn't done the same yet. Harry hoped that with positive examples like they were giving, things wouldn't become as bad as they had. But it was only a small hope.

They travelled till noon and then they could see Camelot from the top of a hill.

"Wow, that's incredible," Sirius said awed at seeing the legendary city and castle.

"I know, I felt the same when I first came here," Harry agreed, "Come on, we should get going and perhaps we might be in time to get some lunch."

"That sounds like a great idea," Sirius commented.

They stirred their horses down the hill in trot and only slowed down when they reached the gates of the city.

"Good afternoon, Sir Brian," Harry greeted the knight overseeing the gates while a number of pages collected papers from merchants to see if everything was in order.

"Prince Harold, good to see you back. Your mother informed us to keep looking for you, as you would arrive some of these days. I guess your travelling companion is your godfather Lord Black?" Sir Brian asked.

"Yes, may I introduce Sirius Black?" Harry asked, "Sirius, this is Sir Brian, one of the Knights of the Round Table."

"A pleasure to meet you, Sir Brian," Sirius said politely and after dismounting his horse, he shook the man's hand.

"Same to you. I'm glad you didn't have trouble on your journey. A group of bandits is getting quite bold. Be careful when you take rides outside of the castle. Up to a day's distance from the castle things are calm, but further away there are problems. The King is working on a strategy to get a hold over the problem," Sir Brian warned them.

"I'll keep that in mind thank you, Sir Brian. I'm going to meet my mother then. Until later. By the way, training still starts at six in the morning, right?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but as a new squire, Sir Edmund will give you some information on your new duties and training plan either this afternoon or directly tomorrow morning, so ask him first before simply going down to the training ground," Sir Brian advised.

"I'll do that," Harry promised and then he and Sirius made their way up to the castle.

They arrived and Harry's question about the whereabouts of his mother were answered with the hospital wing. There were about fifteen men that needed constant medical treatment and twenty others that were less severely injured. Harry decided to first deposit his things in his rooms, which were still the same, with Sirius having got the ones next to his, and then led Sirius to the hospital wing. He supposed it would probably be helpful if he could give his mother and the others a helping hand. When he entered, he was overwhelmed by the stench of blood, vomit and sweat. Moans of pain were heard from several patients, even if there were six women going around and giving out drinks to lessen the pain.

Sirius nodded at Harry and they walked up to Morgaine.

"Mother," Harry greeted.

"Oh, Harry and Sirius. I'm glad you got here alright. I don't have much time right now, we're totally understaffed, even if Arthur sent us all those with some healing knowledge inside the castle. It's really bad with those bandits," Morgaine explained.

"Don't worry, I understand, mother. Can we do anything to help?" Harry asked.

"You could set up a new batch of pain-relieving potion, Harry. We are close to running out and some of these men can only endure their injuries thanks to it," Morgaine explained.

Harry nodded and left the room to get to the room designated for his and his mother's brewing of healing draughts. Sirius stepped up.

"Would it help if I set up a ward that prevents germs getting into the room and one which helps the men to sleep deeply at night?" Sirius asked.

"That would be great. In their pain they reopen their wounds unintentionally and make the healing much more difficult," Morgaine said gratefully.

Sirius set to work. He determined the cardinal points of the room and started working his way along the run of the sun from east to north. He carved many runes into the stone walls with precision and continued placing others onto the beds. Then he pondered something and continued carving on the floor. He charged the runes after one hour of carving and the effect was immediate. The men that were nearly asleep, fell into a quiet sleep and stopped moving around and aggravating their injuries more.

Then Sirius swished his wand in all directions of the room and freshened the air. The nurses were stressed enough without having to deal with the stench all day. Half an hour after Sirius finished, Harry arrived with the potions, filled in bottles in a crate. He placed the pain relief potion as well as a disinfecting potion on a shelf at the side of the room and then was told to go and see his uncle. The women thanked the two for their help and then continued doing the work that needed to be done.

Harry led Sirius to the rooms the King used as his office. He knocked at the door and waited until he was called in.

"Good morning, Uncle Arthur," Harry greeted while walking up to him.

"Good morning, Harry, good to see you back. And I guess this is your godfather that Morgaine announced?" Arthur greeted Harry with a hug.

"Yes, this is Sirius Black, my godfather. Sirius, this is Arthur Pendragon, King of England," Harry introduced him.

"It's an honour, your majesty," Sirius said bowing.

"Please be at ease, I only have people follow protocol when there are official events. And right now, these things only cost us time. We have enough trouble with the bandits as it is," Arthur told them.

"Yes, we heard about it during our journey and then saw the injured knights and soldiers in the hospital wing. How did the bandits get the upper hand over so many knights? They should be trained worse and not that hard to beat, even if they had numbers on their side," Sirius asked.

"They were guided into a trap by a bandit that pretended to be a villager that begged us for help. He led them to a clearing that the bandits had prepared. They came down on the group that I had sent from the trees and thanks to having the surprise moment, they managed to injure a lot of the group before they could fight back. In the end our losses were worse, even if they had more of their number die, because when they realised that they would lose, they ran away. And the wood is too large and thick to completely search it without a massive force," Arthur explained, "We lost ten soldiers and one knight. Many others are injured as you saw. And the villagers are afraid of the bandits attacking them. They have killed too many civilians already, even if they didn't fight back."

"That's horrible. What are we going to do?" Harry asked.

"We need to find their hideout. Only then we can strike efficiently. But finding it takes time and with each day we don't find them, we lose more innocents. I have stationed patrols in the villages up to four days travel of Camelot, but that's only a minimal assurance. The lords of the land have also sent out their soldiers, but it's impossible to cover all the area we would need to cover," Arthur answered.

"Well, I at least managed to secure the houses in the village we came through on our journey. If you spread the news that I'm willing to engrave metal plates with protective runes that will cover the space of a normal house, as long as they're kept inside of them, we could probably mitigate the damage those bandits do to our people," Sirius offered.

"That's a good idea, thank you. Now, Harry, are you ready to continue your training?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, I am. I made sure to keep up with my physical training and the sword practice with a classmate of mine, who had also learned it at home and, thanks to the hippogriffs at the school, my riding skills didn't suffer a lot. I also looked up what I could find about spells that might be used to prevent that Aunt Guinevere becomes pregnant. I'm going to show my notes to mother and then have her see which counter spell might help," Harry said.

"I pray that you found the right one. I really wish for a child of my own to love and see growing up," Arthur replied moved.

"I understand, Uncle Arthur. I would like a little cousin as well," Harry said.

Sirius and Harry left the room, Sirius to get settled in at the room he had been given and to prepare for his new planned business and Harry to find Sir Edmund. He needed to find out what his new training plans entailed.

Sir Edmund was working with two pages that had got punished by their superiors for mistreatment of a horse that didn't want to comply with their ideas. Something like that wasn't tolerated at Camelot and the ones doing it got harsh punishments. In case of these two, they had to pull the carts with the new delivery of flour for the kitchen all the way from the mill to Camelot. The mill was ten kilometres away. The idea was to make them see what kind of important work the horses did for the humans and why they should be treated properly. And normally there were about three carts of flour that needed to be taken to Camelot for one delivery.

"Hello, Sir Edmund," Harry greeted.

"Ah, Harold, you're finally back. Hm, seems like you didn't slack in the two months since you left. Ready for the next step in your training?" Sir Edmund asked.

"Yes, I am. I was told that you wanted to discuss my new training schedule with me before I appeared at the training grounds tomorrow morning," Harry informed him.

The two pages looked in interest at Harry.

"I didn't tell you that you could slack off! Go back to work. Unload the flour sacks so that the cart can be taken back to the mill. And be happy that I allow you to ride on the cart while a horse pulls it back. Normally you should have to do that yourselves, but we need to get the flour to the castle!" Sir Edmund barked.

The two boys quickly hurried to get back to work.

"What did they do to get that kind of punishment?" Harry asked.

"They abused a horse that didn't want to follow their commands. No matter that they are snot-nosed idiots that were spoiled by their parents and never had to learn how to work with horses properly. If they don't shape up soon, they'll fail their initial period and will be sent back home in disgrace. They're worse than Wilbur and George were in the beginning," Sir Edmund commented.

"Idiots!" Harry agreed, "Everybody knows that a knight has to look out for his horse, as we depend on them in fights and to get us to faraway places."

"Exactly. Well, let's go over your new training plan. Physical training starts at six like normal, but, as a squire, you'll get more weights to wear on you during the whole day. You'll also be expected to run longer distances than the pages. This year, due to the strong rainfalls in spring that you will remember, we had to postpone the start of the normal training of new pages, meaning, the ones that are here, haven't got as much training as you did at the same time last year. While at the moment we keep the two groups together to impress proper training attitude on the new pages, in about three weeks we will separate you. After the running, you still get physical exercises to do, but I expect more repeats of each kind than you had to reach as a page. Your normal set was seventy when you left, so you now have thirty more to make it a round hundred. The obstacle courses will vary from day to day.

"After breakfast we will work on your sword fighting skills. While so far, I taught you the basics, now I'm going to up the ante. You're going to accompany me on all patrols that I am assigned and are responsible for my horse, my weapons and my armour. The knights that have patrol duty for the next fortnight are Lancelot and Percival. I have it the week after that. So, I have two weeks to get you to the level you need to have by then. You've probably been informed about our bandit problem, so be ready to fight them off in case they attack during patrol," Sir Edmund said seriously.

"I will, Sir Edmund," Harry confirmed seriously.

"Good. In the afternoons you'll get training in fighting from horseback with both sword and lance. We're going to wait with the mace until you have the other two down. Once you learned the basics of that, we'll add the shield on the ground and then on horseback. It's going to be hard for the next one or two months, but after that your body should have got used to the new level of physical work. On Saturdays you only have to do the morning training and take care of my horse, otherwise you're free to do the studies under your mother. Sundays are free days for you, except we are on patrols," Sir Edmund continued.

"I will do my best, Sir Edmund," Harry promised.

"I know you will, otherwise I wouldn't have approved your promotion after just one year. You're the first of the pages I trained that got that promotion in under one year and nine months, which was the previous record. Keep doing your work like you did before and I'm sure you'll go far, Harold. Now I'll leave you to settle back in, I'll see you in the morning," Sir Edmund dismissed Harry, who nodded and went back into the castle to go and visit his aunt, who he hadn't seen yet.

Harry spent the evening after dinner before he went to bed telling his mother what had happened over the last year at Hogwarts. Morgaine was especially concerned that the soul suckers had managed to break from the seal before the time it should have even weakened. That was awfully bad. Avalon's magic shouldn't be influenced from outside sources. Especially demon sealing was a branch that was as good as impenetrable to anything except time. And shortening five thousand years estimated life span to a mere thousand was not normal. Especially as that seal had been set by two of the most powerful witches and wizards of any time. Taliesin was the Merlin that was associated with the tales of Camelot when people spoke about Arthur's mentor.

And he was immensely powerful. Viviane was one of the most powerful high priestesses of Avalon of all times, and with both of their powers combined, it needed something devastating to even weaken the seal a tiny bit. She would have to investigate this. She was hopeful that with all the material that Harry had looked up about preventing pregnancies with curses, they would find a way to cure Guinevere. Harry's progress in his studies was also discussed as well as Sirius' family's position as one of the protectors of the guardian of magic. Morgaine would have to talk to Sirius about his knowledge and perhaps give him some more instruction. She was glad that there would be an adult that Harry could turn to in the future.

While she knew bits of the future, those mainly were things that had been revealed to her in a dream vision shortly before she appeared to Harry in his mindscape after he had been bitten by the basilisk. Nowhere near enough to tell Harry which way would be right and what would lead to failure. He needed to find his own way to fulfil his destiny. She could only prepare him as well as possible and give him stability in his life. She could fill a hole that had been created after his parents' death by that stupid old man Dumbledore, who sent him to a family that hated magic. Together with Sirius she hoped that they could help Harry overcome the last problems from his time with his maternal relatives.

At ten Morgaine sent Harry to bed to have him awake for his first morning training as a squire. It would be really hard, and she planned to let Harry have the first three evenings of his new training schedule free to get used to the new workload better. And she had prepared the herbal salve in advance to let him deal with the training better.

Harry stood next to the group of other squires. He was certainly one of the youngest boys there. Most boys his age were still training as pages for up to another year. Today was the first day that the new pages got the weights added to them for running and he knew that many would have trouble. It had been the same during the last year when he had started out as a page. He turned his attention to Sir Edmund, who had a sadistic grin on his face. That didn't cause confidence for the planned training session.

"Well, from today on you all get to use training weights. The older ones among you are already used to this, the younger ones that just started out a week ago will soon do the same. The weights will increase the further you come in your training. And the sooner you get used to them, the sooner you'll get into more advanced training. Now, for today we knights agreed to let you run route 8," Sir Edmund informed them and some of the older ones blanched.

That route was devilishly tricky. Especially without being used to a new level of weights.

"The time limit for the route is an hour. Anybody that's not back by that time, will have the pleasure of spending the coming week after morning training with pulling the carts with the logs from the forest to the east to the castle and storing the chucked wood in the storage rooms," He informed them.

They all knew that he would make good on that threat. Everybody knew that training under Sir Edmund was harsh as hell, which was one of the only reasons why nobody even spread rumours about Harry's quick promotion to squire not being earned. Sir Edmund didn't play favourites.

Harry ran among the head of the group. He knew that he had to go at a constant speed to manage this route in the time allowed. He had at first made the mistake to run too fast from the start and then have his strength fail him. He had first needed to train his regular running speed up to go at the speed he was going now. And that required training every morning and not slacking off on his free days. While he knew about the importance of rest, it was relative what rest meant to oneself. For Harry it meant that instead of running at quick speed with weights that steadily increased each month four times around the Black Lake, he did a relaxed jog without weights one time around it. The rest of the day could be spent without strenuous activity, but some physical activity was better for him he had noticed. Perhaps it had to do with his magic, which felt more balanced when he had performed some activity.

He was glad that his training at Hogwarts had been enough to keep his body in shape and improve on his basic physical strength. Even with more weight than he was used to from the past, he wasn't that much slower than he normally was, as he had taken weight training into consideration while setting up his schedule in the future. He didn't have a watch, but when he reached the castle after finishing route 8, he was still in the first group to be back. He walked a little after catching his breath to bring his pulse down and slowly let his muscles in his legs recover. They had to wait for a while until all pages and squires were back from the run.

"Well, that was pathetic," Sir Edmund commented, looking at the hourglass he had used to measure the time, "Except for ten out of fifty-five you all failed to be back within the time limit. I guess that the horses get some rest today, as you're going to improve your physical fitness by pulling carts with logs. I want Euan, Cameron, Frederick, Harold, Dylan, Callum, William, Zachary, Jonathan and Kyle on the left, as they did manage to get back in time, and the others to the right. We're going to go through the basic workouts for all of you and then you're going to do your respective tasks for this morning, meaning most of you get to help in the forest with the logs."

The boys obeyed and then took to doing the sets of exercises that the knights that were responsible for their training, or in case of the new page candidates that hadn't passed the initial phase yet, the ones that the knight in charge of their training had given them to work on until they could do them. Harry felt how much more taxing doing the thirty more repetitions of all exercises was on his muscles, but he knew too well that complaining and giving up would only end in nasty tasks from Sir Edmund. Hence, he kept his mouth shut and worked steadily until he was done. Still, his arms were shaking after doing a hundred push-ups and pull ups. Even the break for doing the sit-ups between them didn't help that much. Well, he had chosen this, and he would see it through to the end.

After breakfast was over the group that hadn't met the time limit during the run was accompanied to the forest by Sir Gawain. The others were taken to train by their teachers.

Harry looked at Sir Edmund and watched closely how he moved his sword and listened to his explanations why he had to hold his sword in a certain way when he performed the more advanced moves. A lot came down to size, strength of muscles and reach. One had to look out for a lot of things while fighting against an opponent with a sword. He also had to be quick on his feet and had to be able to coordinate where to put his feet. Until now, Harry had only learned the basics of sword fighting, as, being a page, he had to first get his physical level up and learn other skills. And even with Neville he didn't advance that much. They mostly kept practicing the basic moves until they were instinctual, which Sir Edmund even praised him for. Especially as that training got Harry some much needed strength in his arms to hold the sword up for long periods of time. Now, as a squire, he was expected to learn more.

Sir Edmund, after showing him what to do, commanded him to attack a dummy with the sword, trying to copy the moves that he had been shown. Harry did his best, but Sir Edmund barked a lot of corrections at him. From long experience Harry knew that he simply had to do what he was told and not question the knight. Normally he had a reason for his instructions. Still, it was hard. The sword was heavy and doing fifty repetitions of certain techniques was taxing, especially after the harsh morning training. Harry had to work for an hour without break before he was allowed to rest for a while and get a snack and drink a bit. The kitchen helpers had placed some raw carrots on a table with a jug of cold water.

The carrots had been left over from dinner preparations the last evening and were well-suited to be snacks for the training boys. And physical training required the boys to regularly drink a bit, as they lost a lot of water from their bodies with the hard work. After ten minutes' break, Harry was required to attack Sir Edmund with a practice sword, which had blunted edges. It had the same weight as his normal sword, but the injuries he would get while being hit were limited to bruises. No need to harm anybody in training matches after all. Harry had known that Sir Edmund was great with a sword before, but now he found out just how far away he was from that level.

He was thrown around by the man, who easily deflected any attack Harry tried. He also got hit by painful slashes with the sword many times. His arms hurt from the times he blocked the strong attacks with his own sword and thankfully he was excused from this part after thirty minutes.

"Not bad for a first attempt, Harold," Sir Edmund nodded, "Still a lot of work to do before you can be called competent with a sword, but there are some nice basics. You need to look out for your footwork when you fight. You made it harder on yourself by blocking too many of my attacks with your sword. Use your flexibility and agility more. Dodging is a viable way to react to a stronger opponent's sword being about to hit you."

"It's really hard. I guess I need to put more time into training my arms now. Otherwise I won't last long enough in a swordfight," Harry commented, while rubbing his aching upper arms.

"That's true. But I don't expect you to be ready to become a knight before you're at least sixteen. You were really fast to go through the training that I expect a page to absolve and reached the level where I could reasonably say that you're ready to take the next step in your training. Now though, you're going to have to really master all the skills that a knight needs to have. There aren't just the physical skills, you're going to be required to act according to your standing in society and represent your house. As the current crown prince, you are under even more scrutiny than other squires. But those things will come into your schedule in about four months at the earliest. First, we train up your body, then your mind. Once you can use both together in perfect balance, you might be ready for the last step. But all at the right time," Sir Edmund informed Harry.

Harry had to agree with that assessment and continued his exercises.

In the evening Harry was immensely glad that he didn't have to serve at dinner. His arms were murdering him, and he had trouble using the cutlery properly. His hands were shaking somewhat and many of the adults were looking at him with understanding looks. It was probably completely normal for a squire that had just started his training to be impaired to some degree. Harry sat with Sirius and his mother during dinner and they exchanged stories about their days. Sirius, it turned out, had taken to working for Arthur and had started to map out weak points in the defences of Camelot. He would give the castle the best possible protection he could over the time he was there. Which would be for at least the next year.

Harry could see that Sirius was happy how easily people accepted him in their midst, and he was already shamelessly flirting with some pretty women. Thanks to people being idiots in their own time, Sirius had trouble going out in public without some still accusing him of being a Death Eater, even if the opposite had been proven. Some people simply couldn't let go of prejudices and preconceived notions.

Harry didn't have much energy to listen to the conversations. He waited until it was polite to leave and go to bed. Most adults simply smiled at him when he excused himself. He only made sure to put the salve he had for his sore muscles on every part of his body before he pulled the sheets that he used as a blanket over him and was asleep within at most a minute.

The training continued in the way it started, but Harry adjusted to the level and became able to continue his magical studies as well. He learned more about the principles of magic and how to perfectly harmonise with his own magic and how to call onto the magic surrounding him. A lot of times Sirius sat in on the lessons and learned a lot of things about being a protector to the guardian of magic. The lessons about harmonising with his magic were new for him as well, even if he had a much better understanding of how his magic worked, thanks to having finished his magical education at Hogwarts already, contrary to Harry's beginner level when he came to Camelot the first time. Thanks to his family falling into the dark without a guardian balancing their nature out, much had been forgotten. And he was determined to protect Harry.

His task was large, and he needed all the support he could get, especially as there would be many that would try putting stones into his way. Sirius and Morgaine also talked about Sirius working on training new protectors for Harry in his time as well. Sirius planned to test the Weasleys in that regard. Ron, Fred and George had left a good impression with him so far, and their family was a good one, even if Molly was known to be a Dumbledore supporter. Neville Longbottom was also a candidate, even if he first needed to overcome his own problems before he would be ready.

Sirius' mastery over Runes brought him lots of work as well and he travelled around a lot to set up protections for villages and estates of nobles that were allied with Camelot. Many villagers also travelled to Camelot itself to get metal objects engraved with the protective runes for their homes. Often a village sent a few men to ask for his services with a large number of items.

Sirius happily did the work, next to also working on getting his swordsman skills back to the level they had once been at. Sword fighting was one of the few things he had liked learning from his parents. The knights easily helped him, as it was clear to their expert eye, that Sirius had once been really good at fencing, but had lost his edge. From his looks they brushed it off as a side effect of an illness that had taken a lot of his strength and had only recently been overcome. That wasn't too unusual. Long illnesses cost the one suffering from them physical strength and one needed to slowly get back to his previous level.

Thus, Sirius could often be seen training with some of the knights in the afternoon, as he always used the mornings to do his work. He had two rooms set up as his workshop and office. He used the office to meet with new clients and the workshop to engrave things or make them if he had special orders. Like a necklace for the daughter of a noble that wanted her protected against poisons in her food and drink, but not look suspicious to the ones trying to kill her.

Sirius could charge good money for his services or got other useful things from those that didn't have much money, like medicinal herbs and the like. Anything he could sell was also okay. He also got a lot of interested looks from young women in the villages or in Camelot. It did him a world of good, as the loss of his previous really good looks had hit him harder than he had expected. He had always been conscious of his looks. And sometimes their loss was a reminder of what he had lost in his life. The injustice shown to him. The time he had lost with his godson. Thankfully, Morgaine realised his trouble and took the time to talk to him, similar to how she had done it with Harry the year before and worked on healing his soul.

Morgaine also put as many lessons into the evenings with Harry as she could before he would be away for a week on patrol with Sir Edmund. It would take place in three days and Harry was already busy going over everything that he needed to be aware of with his teacher. They would be accompanied by a group of ten soldiers and patrol the main travelling routes. Thanks to Camelot providing a horse for all soldiers, they could cover a lot of routes this way. It was one reason why the master of the stables bred as many horses as he did each year. The military of Camelot needed a lot of good horses.

With the horse being the only way of travelling long distances in a moderate amount of time in these times, having a sufficient number of them available was vital for the kingdom. Riding forces enabled the king to send help to any part of the country in relatively little time. And most common soldiers would never be able to afford a horse like the nobles could and the knights normally came from those families.

That's the first chapter. Tomorrow Righting Past Wrongs gets updated and the following day Granny Morgaine again. Next update with ne New Year's Eve after that. :)

13. Mordred

Thanks for the nice reviews. I'm happy that so many people like this story. Happy reading with the next chapter now.

Mordred

Harry checked everything for the start of their patrol under the strict eyes of Sir Edmund. Sir Percival had returned yesterday, and they would leave today. He checked that they had enough food for the week, plus some extra for unexpected interruptions, that there was food for their horses, proper storage of everything to not tire the horses out or cause injuries to them and that everything he had been told to have there was in proper condition. He thankfully didn't find anything out of order and reported to Sir Edmund that they were ready to go. Sir Edmund had watched closely and knew that Harry had done his job properly and therefore only gave him a satisfied nod.

"Alright, we're going to ride in formation of three men next to each other on those roads where it is possible. On narrow paths, we're riding in a line. I'm taking point, Harry will be in the third line in the middle. Everybody else takes the other positions and the outer ones are to keep their eyes open for any kind of suspicious activity. The inner ones are going to transport our main supplies. Be on guard, as we can't be sure when bandits will attempt something," Sir Edmund informed the group.

It was left unsaid that everybody had to make sure that Harry didn't die. It was unusual for the crown prince to be allowed to go on a potentially dangerous patrol, but the king had made it clear that Harry wasn't to get any special treatment. To conceal his identity, as his looks weren't that well-known outside of the castle and the city around it, Harry had refrained from giving any hints of being from the house of Ceredigion. Normally he would wear the Ceredigion crest, but for safety reasons he didn't. He wore neutral clothes that any other squire would also be wearing, and many boys had black hair.

And Harry's abilities with first aid and healing would be beneficial for the group if something happened. Not to mention that he could cook a lot better than most knights and soldiers and therefore normally was given kitchen duty when they were travelling for a few days on end while other squires and pages did other tasks. Every knight was relieved to not have to live from slightly burned rabbit meat on patrols and missions after all.

The journey had gone well for the first three days. Then they had come across a village that was bothered by thefts of a small group of thieves, but these ones at least didn't resort to murder and arson in their attacks. They sneaked in during the night, stole food and a few useful items and were gone without anybody being any the wiser. Sir Edmund promised the major of the village that they would see if they could catch the thieves by laying a trap for them. After some discussions and conversations with the villagers that had become victims of the thieves, they decided to position the men around the village inside those houses that hadn't been hit yet. The horses were hidden at a barn to not tip the thieves off that anybody that didn't belong into the village was there.

The men slept in shifts to cover all of the night, as they still had to continue their patrol later on. Nothing happened during the first half of the night, but during the second half the thieves arrived. The men gave each other signals with their hands, which was only possible thanks to being positioned at the very few sources of light during the night and positioned themselves to spring the trap. Thankfully, there was just enough light for the men in one house to communicate this way, even if they had to keep it to general pointing. There were only three thieves, meaning the five men, all of them trained soldiers, were clearly in the better position. When the thieves opened a backdoor to one of the houses that had been determined as possible targets, the men struck and one of the thieves was immediately knocked out with a well-aimed hit at the back of the head.

"Run, it's a trap!" One of the men shouted to the other, but his warning didn't help any.

It only took two minutes for the two thieves to be tied up and the villagers arrived, being woken up by the shout and the noise of the fight. Sir Edmund arrived with Harry following him.

"Well, let's see who we have here," Sir Edmund declared, and two villagers washed the dark paint from the faces of the thieves, which was actually a clever method of hiding in the darkness. The moonlight would have highlighted their faces otherwise.

"Hey, isn't that Philbert's son?" One man exclaimed when one of the men, well, older teenagers actually, was cleaned and his face looked at under the light of a torch.

"Yes, but I thought his family was killed off," Another confirmed, a bit confused.

"And that's Rayne's boy. She died of a lung problem last winter and the boy just vanished," An old man stated after looking closely at the second awake thief.

"So, you know these boys?" Sir Edmund asked.

"Yes, they lived with their families close by until a while ago. I never would have thought they would become thieves. They never made the impression before," The old man nodded.

"What do you have to say for yourselves?" Sir Edmund addressed the boys sternly.

"We needed to survive. We didn't really want to hurt anybody, so we always came in the night, when everybody would be asleep. And we only took a little from all the places, as the people here needed to eat as well after all. But we would get in real trouble with the nobles if we hunted in their forests, and there aren't many other edible things around. We tried finding work, but we couldn't," The son of Rayne answered dejected, "The bandit attacks caused a lot of damage and started mistrust among the villages around. Nobody was willing or capable of hiring a group of teenagers that they didn't know well. We didn't want to starve to death."

Sir Edmund sighed. These were just kids in a bad situation that they didn't know how to get out of. And the reported thefts, while unsettling and annoying, hadn't caused a lot of damage. But still, it was a crime to steal and it couldn't just be left standing. But he also didn't want to paint them with the same brush as really bad criminals.

"What shall we do with you? And how many others are part of your group?" Sir Edmund asked.

"There are six others. We split in groups of three to move quickly and undetected. We found a stream where we thought we might be able to catch some fish. The nobles don't care about peasants catching a few fishes here and there, as they can't really control their numbers anyway. The other six went there to see if we could catch some to finally have a full stomach again. We didn't really get to eat a lot since we were left alone. And three of the others are just twelve and thirteen years old," The boy answered.

"Sir Edmund, how about we find a punishment that helps them at the same time?" Harry asked respectfully, knowing that his rank needed to stay a secret right now.

"That would be good, but what kind of punishment would work that way?" Sir Edmund wanted to hear his suggestion. The boy had learned a lot from his uncle about making wise decisions in difficult situations after all.

"There is a lot of work to be done to help with the rebuilding of houses, fences and many more things that King Arthur plans to get started with soon and for which he is looking for workers. My godfather told me about it, as he will be part of the team working on that aspect. These kids could be forced to work on the teams for lower payment until the damage they have caused is paid back. After that they can get the normal payment all the others get. The work will be hard and teach a lesson about having done wrong, but they will have a way to earn their living in an honest way. And they didn't do it out of malice, but desperation," Harry pointed out.

"That could work," Sir Edmund nodded, "I heard about that project and it would definitely solve a problem. The younger kids could be sent to the kitchens of Camelot to work there, as the physical work of building houses is too hard for younger kids. The older teenagers could do it."

The two awake thieves, the third was still out cold, looked at the men hopefully. This would solve their plight and they could find a way to not have to continue stealing from good people, which they hadn't liked at all, but desperation drove them to this.

"Would you accept this punishment for the group?" Sir Edmund addressed the major of the village.

"I am more than happy with it. The kids aren't bad, but they need to get some punishment. If they get a way to get back on the straight path, all the better. I hate that we can't do more to help," The major agreed with the decision.

"You will show my men the way to the rest of your group and they will be told the decision that was made as well. We will be returning to Camelot the day after tomorrow and give the king our report about this patrol. He will decide which of you will be given what jobs. But you can be sure that he will give you the help you couldn't find here. We will have to see about a cart to get you all back to the city. We don't have the means to let you ride on one of our horses after all. We need to stay on alert in case of bandit attacks," Sir Edmund explained.

"Thank you, thank you so much for this chance. We will repay the damage we caused. Just let us work for money and food," The oldest boy sighed in relief.

Sir Edmund nodded, pleased that this incident had been handled without losses on his team's part. It just stood to hope that nothing else happened during the patrol.

The next day the group assembled the young thieves, who were resigned, but also relieved about the decision of what would happen to them. There were two girls and seven boys among the group. A cart was found behind an abandoned house. The owner had died last winter from the same lung disease that Rayne, the mother of one of the thieves caught during the night, had caught and not survived. The village's leader decided that the cart could be given to the group, with one of the horses of the soldiers being put in front of it, with the soldier holding the reigns, stirring the cart.

A quick check had made sure that the wheels were all in acceptable condition and that nothing would break if they loaded the kids onto the cart. Some more supplies were gathered in the wood, among them some rabbits, as the patrols didn't have to ask for permission to hunt in the areas that nobles that belonged to Camelot owned, which was contractually agreed upon. Harry also created a small, improvised oven to bake some simple breads for the travel. Two of the younger kids assisted him by mixing the dough for the bread following his instructions, while the older ones started on working off their debts.

The group needed until the early afternoon to be ready, then they packed everything up, with Harry making sure that Sir Edmund's horse and equipment was in top condition, as was his job as a squire, and then the group was given a nice farewell from the villagers.

They travelled until shortly before nightfall before setting up camp. The older youths were set on collecting firewood with one soldier guarding them, while the younger ones were helping with setting up camp. Two soldiers took care of cooking while the others performed different duties.

The group was about to return back to Camelot when they heard distant sound of fighting. Sir Edmund was immediately put on alert.

"Geoffrey, Patrick, stay back with the youths and the cart. Harry, I want you staying at the back of the main group, keep your eyes open and if needed, you know how to defend yourself," Sir Edmund commanded, "We are going to see what's going on."

The orders were confirmed and the soldiers, plus Harry and Sir Edmund shot off, pushing their horses into gallop. The two that were tasked with guarding and protecting the kids gave instructions on how to behave and that they would be staying hidden behind a group of bushes that grew about a hundred metres away and which were high enough to also cover the cart when it was behind them.

Sir Edmund quickly assessed the situation he found when his group reached the place where the fighting sound came from. There was a carriage with the crest of a noble family. About twelve soldiers had accompanied the carriage it seemed, but four were on the ground, bleeding from several wounds. Their condition wasn't clear yet. He couldn't tell if some of them were still alive. The other eight were fighting desperately, but were outnumbered by masked attackers, a group counting around twenty.

"In formation, protect the carriage!" Sir Edmund bellowed.

The soldiers were well-trained and immediately attacked the masked ones, backing the fighting soldiers up, which got new determination when the backup suddenly arrived. The battle waged back and forth, with fighters falling and being injured on both sides. Harry, as ordered, kept his distance with Thunder, but he assisted with some magic when he safely could. He had learned a good number of spells that influenced the surroundings. Letting roots suddenly rise from the ground, making the attackers stumble for one of the soldiers or Sir Edmund to take them down worked well, or spooking their horses into running away and throwing their riders off, well, the three horses that there were, by simply using an illusion also was a great success.

Slowly but surely, the soldiers succeeded, and the last attackers were brought down after ten minutes of intense fighting. When the situation was under control, with all but one attacker dead, as they wanted to interrogate him later on, Harry directed Thunder next to Sir Edmund.

"Sir Edmund, should I begin treating the wounds of our men?" He asked.

"That would be a great help, Harry," Sir Edmund nodded, "Begin with Beauregard and Raleigh. They seem to have got injured worst."

"On it," Harry confirmed and got out of Thunder's saddle and started treating the wounds, asking where the men were hurt and bandaging wounds after cleaning them out with a solution he carried around with his first-aid kit.

While Harry was busy, Sir Edmund went to the carriage. He looked inside and found a woman he thought looked familiar with a small boy, who was clutching onto her in fright it seemed.

"Madam, the danger has passed. My men and I are the regular patrol from Camelot. I'm Sir Edmund," He introduced himself.

"So, my nephew's precautions to make these areas safer seem to at least work out somewhat. Even if he doesn't manage to deter bandits fully," The woman declared and when she proceeded to correct her hair, Sir Edmund recognised her.

"Lady Morgause, this is a surprise. I wasn't aware that you were going to visit Camelot," Sir Edmund commented.

"Well, I had business a bit further south and I decided that visiting my nephew and his wife would be appropriate while I was already this close to Camelot," The woman stated, and then addressed the child, "Mordred, show a bit more decorum. The danger had passed, thanks to your uncle's knight and soldiers being in the right place at the right time."

The small boy looked up, clearly not reassured in the least, and looked at Sir Edmund fearfully.

Harry had overheard some parts and he was genuinely surprised that his mother's other son was also there. He wanted to see the boy who would become a feared character in history and would fight against his uncle Arthur for the throne. While he knew that Mordred actually was Arthur's son, this was kept a secret, simply because the stability of Camelot could be in danger if it got out, especially as the church would condemn the king for having a child with his half-sister. The old religion didn't have those problems, but the truce between the religions was fragile at best. Currently both religions were protected under the king's rule.

He continued treating the injured soldiers before looking at Sir Edmund to see what he wanted him to do. No matter what Harry would like to do, meaning meeting his supposed little brother, and perhaps seeing if he could set him onto a different path than wanting the power of the throne for himself, currently he was just here as Sir Edmund's squire. His relation to the people in the carriage was kept secret for a reason after all.

"I'm done with the treatment that I can perform right here, Sir Edmund. Anything else can only be achieved by letting the wounds heal over time. Thankfully, there were only two deaths of those that had already been defeated when we arrived. The other two will heal with time," Harry told Sir Edmund.

"That's good news. We will dig two graves for the soldiers that lost their lives and bury them appropriately. The dead bandits will be buried in a mass grave. The injured soldiers will be transported back on the cart, as well as the bandit that we captured, but we will tie him up thoroughly to prevent him escaping or taking his own life to not be questioned. We should have just enough space on it to manage that. And the lighter injured ones can ride on the horses. It was luck that we arrived here just in time to prevent worse," Sir Edmund commented.

He called four soldiers that hadn't been injured to take care of the graves, even if Lady Morgause wasn't pleased to have to wait until she could continue her journey. But she clearly understood that it was much better to have the protection of the patrol instead of travelling with just her reduced contingent of men.

They needed a few hours to have the fallen soldiers and bandits buried and Sir Edmund held a short ceremony for the soldiers before the group got ready to continue their journey back to Camelot. Mordred, as Harry found out when the boy left the carriage for the small memorial of them, was currently just six years old with the same black hair that Harry himself and Morgaine had. He had brown eyes, who mostly looked curiously around his surroundings. Lady Morgause meanwhile was clearly a calculating woman that wouldn't shy away from shady actions to reach her goals. And it was clear that she considered Mordred her ticket to achieving those goals. Harry suspected that her journey to Camelot also had another purpose.

The news about Uncle Arthur having an heir in Morgaine of Avalon's oldest son would have angered her, as an older brother of Mordred would mess up her plans to put him onto the throne, should Uncle Arthur and Aunt Guinevere not have a child anytime soon. Harry's existence was a major thorn in her side, and he would have to be cautious of her actions. Thankfully, he wasn't introduced to her, as none of the group, except for Sir Edmund, were of interest for Lady Morgause.

Once everything was done, one of the soldiers had called the two that had stayed with the kids and the cart back to the main group, the severely injured soldiers were put onto the cart to make it easier for their wounds and the two oldest kids were allowed to ride on the horses that now didn't have a rider anymore. It was better to lessen the weight on the cart if possible after all, not to mention that there were space restrictions with having two men lying on the cart and three more sitting there. Sir Edmund then ordered the group to start moving, with him in front, then three soldiers behind him, then the carriage of Lady Morgause and Mordred, then two more soldiers, the cart followed next and then the remaining soldiers. When there was more space, a group of four soldiers flanked the carriage and the cart to be on guard if another attack took place.

The speed with which the group travelled wasn't high and they needed to take breaks every few hours for Harry to change the bandages of the injured soldiers. He needed to prevent infections of the wounds, which somewhat surprised Lady Morgause, as normal squires didn't have the knowledge Harry clearly showed. She deduced that he was the son of a better situated noble if he had that level of education. Still, she wondered why he didn't wear the crest of his house then. A question that Sir Edmund easily brushed off with security precautions, as they currently didn't let any squire show his house affiliation, as it would only encourage the bandits to target them during patrols. She couldn't really say anything about it, as it wasn't her business to know. But she would find out once they reached Camelot.

They travelled until dusk, after that they set up camp, not wanting to give bandits a better chance at success during the night. Lady Morgause wasn't happy about the delay, but considering the current circumstances, she didn't have a choice. Mordred was more than happy to be out of the carriage for a while, as he found the whole having to sit still more than boring. The kids were put onto different tasks, from collecting firewood to getting water, while the soldiers set up camp. Mordred for some reason drifted over to Harry, who was setting up the cooking spot.

"What are you doing there?" Mordred asked.

"I'm preparing the spot for the fire to cook the evening meal on. I need to ensure that the fire can't spread and set anything in our group on fire," Harry answered.

"Is that difficult?" Mordred wanted to know.

"Not really. You just need to know what to look out for. See, first there is the size of the cauldron we will use. As there are a lot of mouths to feed in the group, we need to use two cauldrons today. At a house, you would be able to use a bigger cauldron, but here you have to work with two instead, as you can only store things up to a certain size while travelling on horseback. Today we will have a basic soup with rabbit meat. I take the size of the cauldrons as the base for the size of the pit in which we will set up the fire. We travel with some equipment that allows us to hang the cauldron over the fire as well. It's been made by the smith at Camelot for exactly this reason," Harry explained the young boy patiently.

"Oh, so the hole you are digging is meant to have a safe fire?" Mordred asked.

"Very well spotted," Harry praised the boy, who beamed at him.

"What will go into the soup?" Mordred wanted to know.

"Well, some carrots, a parsley root, we have some leek in our supplies, and we got a few cauliflowers from the village where we were at last. Those will work well for the soup. While travelling you can't be too choosy, as you have to consider limited space for supplies. Especially as we also needed to have all the weapons for the soldiers, Sir Edmund and me with us," Harry answered.

"You are Sir Edmund's squire?" Mordred asked.

"That's right, my name is Harry," Harry introduced himself.

"I'm Mordred. Can I help with the food? Just sitting with my aunt is boring," The small boy stated.

"Well, you can help digging the pit and placing stones around it. Just stay away once I have the fire going, as I don't want you to burn your hands. Your arms simply aren't long enough to reach the cauldrons safely," Harry told the boy, who eagerly nodded and took a smaller shovel from Harry and happily started digging into the ground to have a fire pit ready.

Harry smiled. At the moment, nothing showed Mordred as the villain that history told he would become. He really hoped that he could influence him away from that path. It would be great.

Harry then showed Mordred how to prepare the carrots and other ingredients, but he kept the sharp knives out of his little brother's hands. He found other jobs that he could do, which made the boy more than happy. Once the fire was burning, Harry showed Mordred how he went about cooking the soup. The rabbit meat had been cut into small pieces and was cooked with the peeled carrots, the cut leek and the parsley root. One of the kids had also found some berries while looking for firewood and Harry let Mordred and the youngest two of the kids help prepare them for dessert. It wasn't anything fancy, but it would be welcome. Half an hour after the water had started to boil, the soup was done, and Harry handed it out to the members of the group.

Sir Edmund sat on a log next to Lady Morgause, who watched the group with veiled disdain of having to spend time with people that she considered beneath her station.

"Your squire seems to be good with children," She commented after swallowing a spoonful of the soup, which she had to admit wasn't as bad as she had feared it to be.

"That he is. The children in the castle like playing with him during the few free hours that he has, as my training doesn't leave him with much free time," Sir Edmund nodded.

"I just worry about Mordred getting the wrong ideas if he plays with children like those you brought from that village. Really, thieves?" She asked.

"They are just desperate children, Lady Morgause. They didn't want to hurt anybody, but they also didn't want to die or break main laws, like hunting in the forests of the nobles. You know how the nobles would react to that. They will work off their debts, and I can assure you that the work won't be easy for them. But they will have a chance to make something out of themselves if they keep to this solution. And the villagers that were the victims agreed to the punishment. As long as that happens, I'm all for showing lenience and not dishing out the same punishments that wait for those that use violence in their thefts," Sir Edmund stated.

She sniffed and Sir Edmund just kept his face even. He was glad that the king worked on changing things so that children like these didn't get into this kind of situations as often anymore. And he was somewhat looking forward to Lady Morgause's face once she found out Harry's true identity. That would be entertaining.

"Camelot ahead, sir," One of the soldiers announced to Sir Edmund.

"Thank you, it's good to soon be back again. I want you all to first take care of relocating the injured to the hospital wing, then take care of the horses. Though Joseph and Rayleigh will watch the prisoner until we get him into the dungeons. Harry, you are to first take the kids to the kitchen and tell the head cook to set them to work, after that you perform your normal duties," Sir Edmund instructed.

"Yes, sir!" Was the answer of everybody and about half an hour later they entered through the large gates of the city.

"I see you had some problems on the patrol, Sir Edmund?" Sir Brian asked.

"Yes, Sir Brian. I will have to report to the king about an ambush of bandits, which we interfered with. We thankfully were just in time to prevent worse for Lady Morgause and her nephew Mordred's travelling group," Sir Edmund informed his fellow knight.

"I see. Good that you were at the right place at the right time," Sir Brian nodded, "How many of the attackers did you get?"

"We killed nineteen and caught one for interrogation. That's the tied-up man on the cart. The kids are here for punishment for minor theft out of desperation. I decided it would be a good idea to let them work off their debt in the rebuilding project that the king will start soon," Sir Edmund explained.

"I see. Yes, hard work is a good way to deal with that. Well, you best get going," Sir Brian nodded, and Sir Edmund returned the gesture before leading the group towards the castle.

They caused a lot of interest with their large group, which was unusual for a returning patrol. Especially as it was clear that something had happened. Once they had reached the castle itself, there were already a number of people waiting for them, Sir Lancelot among them.

"Good to see you back, Sir Edmund. I heard that you had trouble?" Sir Lancelot asked.

"Yes, but nothing our group couldn't deal with. We didn't have any losses among our group, but two of the guards that Lady Morgause brought died in an ambush against her group. Otherwise we have injured, but so far things are limited to wounds that need some regular treatment, which Harold already started and took care of during our journey here. Good thing he learned so much about healing from his mother. It was a real boon on this patrol," Sir Edmund answered.

"Definitely. I see you also got a prisoner and some other additions?" Sir Lancelot nodded towards the tied-up bandit and the kids, which Harry directed off the cart now.

"Yes, I will tell you the story later. First, we need to secure the bandit that we caught while we interfered in the ambush in the dungeons and then we can report to the king," Sir Edmund replied.

Harry meanwhile organised the group of teenagers to get off the cart, so that the soldiers could take care of taking the injured to the hospital wing and the prisoner to one of the cells in the dungeon.

"Alright, follow me now, I will take you to the kitchens and tell the cook to give you something to eat before you are told where to start working. Here at Camelot there is always a lot of work. Anything beyond that will be told to you later on. Sir Edmund first has to report to the king, but I guess your part will be discussed after the more important things are dealt with," Harry told the group.

The nine teenagers nodded and followed Harry through some corridors. The walk to the kitchens took five minutes.

"Ah, Harry, I see you are back," Harry was greeted by Frederick, who came out of the storage room.

"Hello, Frederick. We just arrived," Harry replied, "Do you by any chance know where the head cook is at the moment? I need to leave these nine in his care."

"Last time I saw him, he was scolding that clumsy boy, I think John was his name, for breaking another clay jug," Frederick answered, "He should be over at the pottery's storage hall, getting another jug."

"Thank you, Frederick," Harry thanked his friend and continued his way.

Like Frederick had predicted, Harry found the cook at the pottery's storage hall, pulling the kitchen boy after him by the ear.

"Excuse me, Gilbert," Harry addressed the cook.

"Oh, good afternoon, Prince Harold. Back from the patrol I see," The cook greeted him, to the absolute astonishment of the teenagers.

"You are the prince?" Henry, the son of Rayne asked baffled.

"Yes, I am. But I want to be treated like any other squire. I work for what I get, like any other boy my age that is in training to be a knight. There is no favouritism going on, which is a good part of why the knights respect me," Harry confirmed.

"But why wouldn't you wear your house crest then?" Anna, one of the two girls asked.

"Security reasons. Can you imagine what would happen, should the bandits find out when I go out with a patrol? They would try to kidnap me to ransom with my uncle," Harry pointed out, "And the king can't make deals with criminals that murder and burn down villages. Outside of Camelot my looks aren't really known, beyond that I have black hair. And that is true for too many boys to be a useful trait to identify me. Having the Ceredigion or Avalon crest on my clothes would be a much bigger clue for them."

"Very true. Now, why did you bring this lot to me?" Gilbert the cook asked.

"This group needs something to eat and then Sir Edmund asked me to tell you to put them to work in the kitchen until their final jobs are determined. They were in a bad situation, what with not being able to find work around their villages, and having too little to eat, so they will be working on the rebuilding project that Uncle Arthur has thought up soon," Harry explained without telling the cook that the kids had stolen to survive.

"Ah yes, I understand. Well, I can always use more helpers. Come on, follow me. There is some carrot stew left from lunch, which you can have and then I'll show you where to sleep before we get to the jobs I need done," Gilbert took command over the group.

"Uhm, Prince Harold, I, I want to thank you for this chance. I know that you were the one to suggest this solution to Sir Edmund, even if he was the one to decide to go with it," Henry said.

The others nodded and added their own thanks.

"You can thank me by not wasting this chance. That will be enough," Harry told them, "Now I need to go back, I still have to take care of the horses and Sir Edmund's equipment before I get off duty."

He left the group behind, with them all firmly having one thing in mind. The prince of the country was a really good person, and he was willing to give people a chance, even if they had had done something wrong. As long as they were willing to repent, he would be good to them. The word would spread among the workers on the project later on, increasing the positive reputation that Harry already had earned.

Harry didn't get to rest for some more hours, until it was nearly time for dinner. Taking care of Sir Edmund's horse, Thunder and the equipment took him one hour. Then he had a quick bite down in the kitchen, just some raw carrots, before going up to the hospital wing, where he found out that his mother had been too busy to brew a new batch of potions, meaning they were running close to empty. He took that job and brewed pain relief potion, burn salve and disinfection ointment and put them into the storage cupboard. The women that treated the patients were very happy about having new potions again.

Thankfully, the hospital wing was now a nicer place to work, thanks to Sirius' wards taking care of preventing new infections and keeping the patients calm and deeply asleep at night. Making three potions took him two hours and then he went to quickly get washed up for dinner. He knew that his uncle would want to introduce him properly to Lady Morgause and he couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she found out who he was. Well, it would give him the opportunity to get to know Mordred better and place a few seeds of thoughts into his mind. Seeds that Morgause definitely wouldn't like his little brother to have.

But she wouldn't keep a close eye onto a child while she wanted to get information from the other adults. He also knew that his mother really wanted to spend some time with Mordred without Morgause interfering, which he needed to arrange. It was unfair to her that she couldn't raise her own child, just because she had been in a bad state of mind after her giving birth to him. Well, he dressed to show his station for dinner, having learned the subtle methods that Uncle Arthur liked to use to impress and / or intimidate guests while doing nothing overtly. Once he was done, he walked towards the Great Hall, occasionally stopping to talk to a few people, who wanted to get some information about the patrol, as rumours had already spread over the castle.

He found that Cameron was one of the pages that were on serving duty tonight and he greeted his friend with a smile, which was returned, but it was part of the duties to not be distracted with idle talks, thus Cameron didn't approach Harry and simply worked on the preparations. Harry walked alongside the table, until he reached his aunt.

"Aunt Guinevere, you are looking good tonight," Harry greeted her with a smile and a kiss to the back of her hand, knowing that in public he had to keep some formality.

"The same to you, Harry. I'm happy to see you back from your first patrol as a squire without injury," She replied.

"I'm glad that I could avoid it too. Which seating order will we have tonight, as I assume that Lady Morgause will be dining with us?" Harry asked.

"Well, Morgaine has decided that she would offer her normal seat to Arthur's left to her aunt for her visit, as she can easily talk to her brother any other time. You are sitting to my right, as the crown prince. I fear tonight will be a more formal kind of dinner than the normal dinners we have, where we don't have to look out for formality as much. I also am to tell you that during the visit of Lady Morgause you are excused from serving at dinner. She plans to stay for three days," Guinevere told Harry.

"I see. But my normal training won't be influenced?" He asked to be sure.

"No, you will train every day like you normally do. Tomorrow you have just the morning training, as Arthur wants you to attend some discussions with some of the lords, but otherwise nothing changes. He just wants you to sit at our table during those days, mainly to keep an eye on your younger brother Mordred and keep him from being too bored," She explained.

"Of course. I will do that. Probably he would like to see a bit more without his strict guardian around," Harry agreed with a smile.

Guinevere just gave him a knowing smile. Then they watched how more people joined them inside the Great Hall and Harry took his seat next to his aunt, waiting for the guests to appear.

Morgause was glad that she had had enough time for a nice, warm bath. Camelot really had all the luxuries that a lady of her station could demand. It was a wonderful place and one day, she would reside here permanently, when she had managed to put Mordred onto the throne. It was doubtful that Arthur would ever manage to get Guinevere pregnant, not with the curse she had paid an incredible amount of gold for to be placed on her. And the promise of the old woman that she had paid the gold had so far held true. Not even Morgaine had managed to find out how to counter Guinevere's childlessness. One thing she hadn't accounted for was the appearance of an older son of Morgaine. She had never mentioned having another son besides Mordred. No other children at all.

It was why she had manoeuvred things the way she did to raise the boy to her liking. Otherwise she wouldn't have bothered with the brat. She wasn't the motherly type and had avoided becoming pregnant herself, mostly thanks to some accidents her so-called husband suffered on the way from his chamber to hers, on their wedding night. She had, as his wife, inherited everything after his death, with people assuming that after consuming their marriage he had been exhausted on the way back to his chamber. Nobody wondered about his high level of alcohol, as the wedding had been celebrated all day and she had used it. But a slight push with the little magic that she could use, as she didn't get any kind of formal training on Avalon from her sister Viviane, had been enough to make him fall down the stairs. Everybody, as no outside influence had been detected, considered it a tragic accident.

She had pretended to grieve for her husband for a while, which was appropriate for a young widow, and then proceeded to gain control over his land. Thankfully, people didn't consider it wrong that the wife of their late lord ruled the land, as the old ways allowed women to rule, as long as they weren't married. And even then, the lord often shared his power with his wife, sharing the responsibilities in different areas. Especially lords of areas that had need of a strong, visible protector left leading the household to their wives, while they secured the lands they ruled over.

She had put on one of her most impressive gowns, as she wanted to impress the assembled nobles at Camelot. She was the king's aunt, and she would play up the relation. And she needed to find out who the obstacle to her plans for Mordred was. She knew that the new crown-prince was Morgaine's son from Beltane rites fifteen years ago, and the father was the late Lord Benwick of Ceredigion. That had to be the first or second time her niece participated as a priestess of Avalon if she took her age into consideration. His name started with an H, but she had forgotten what exactly it was, as she fully planned to get rid of the boy. She wouldn't let her plans be derailed by anybody. But not right now. She would play at a happy family reunion.

She looked into the room that Mordred had been given, which was located next to hers, and found the boy somewhat ready to go down to dinner. She sighed, corrected some of his clothes, the pains of having to pretend to care for the child itself, and then led the boy along the corridors to the Great Hall. It would have been much more appropriate to have some servant show them the way, but currently the castle was working with minimal personnel, due to the needs of dealing with the aftermaths of the bandit attacks. Many able men were sent out to help with building new houses for the peasants. Arthur clearly had too soft of a heart, paying for it and giving up the time of the servants that should be there for the nobles at Camelot. Well, once she was at the top, she would change those things.

On their way to the Great Hall she had to reprimand the child to behave more than once. Really, she would be really angry if he embarrassed her. While she might normally be able to place any fault at his misdemeanours onto Morgaine, with her being his mother, it would be hard to argue with the better educated nobles, as Morgaine had no hand in his upbringing. Finally, they reached the Great Hall and she found it quite filled, with Arthur sitting at the head table.

"Lady Morgause, young master Mordred, King Arthur has asked me to escort you to the seats he has reserved for you at his table as soon as you would arrive for dinner," A page or squire addressed them.

"Thank you, please show us the way," Morgause nodded regally and followed the boy. At least her nephew had thought of this.

Then she had to take a second look. Mordred didn't take as long.

"Harry!" The child cheered and ran forward to the same squire that had accompanied the patrol under Sir Edmund's command that had interfered with the bandit attack.

Morgause watched in horror how the teenager smiled and stood from his seat, walking around the table to catch the excited child when it tackled him. Why had that boy sat next to Guinevere?

"Hello again, Mordred. I hope you had a nice afternoon after the eventful journey you had," Harry said.

"I did. Even if I had to take a bath, it was nice, as the water was warm and I got to play with a wooden boat that another boy gave me," Mordred nodded.

"That's great. Come on, you are sitting next to me tonight. Aunt Guinevere thought that you would like that better than having to listen to the adults," Harry informed the child.

"Aunt Guinevere?" Morgause asked shocked.

"Ah yes, I didn't have the opportunity to really introduce myself, due to the needed security precautions. Great Aunt Morgause, it is a pleasure to officially make your acquaintance. I'm Harold of Ceredigion, son of Lord Benwick of Ceredigion and Lady Morgaine of Avalon," Harry gave her a perfect bow, which was what was expected while greeting an older family member for the first time.

Morgause needed some time to deal with this information.

"And Mordred, if you ever need anything while you are here, just come and find me, if I'm free. I'm your older brother after all," Harry smiled at the child.

"That's so cool!" Mordred cheered and hugged Harry's legs, "I always wanted a brother."

Most of the adults in the hall smiled at the cute scene. Then Morgaine used the chance to greet her son as well.

"Hello Mordred. I'm happy to see you again. I'm your mother, Morgaine," She told the child.

"Hi, will I stay with you now? I mean, Aunt Morgause told me you were so busy that she took over taking care of me," Mordred asked, like only a child could.

"I would love to raise you full-time, but we will have to make do with the time we can get. With all of my duties as the High Priestess of Avalon I travel a lot and that is currently too dangerous for you. There simply are too many bandits and the like. You are much safer within the walls of a strong castle. But I would like it very much if you came for visits much more often than so far," Morgaine stated, keeping to the agreement that she was forced into, but also making it much more difficult for Morgause to isolate and poison her son's mind further.

"Of course, Aunt Morgause, why don't you allow my younger nephew to stay here at Camelot for some time? I would love to get to know him and having a young child around would be wonderful. Sir Edmund told me that you had plans to travel further south for some business before returning to your castle. Why not deal with that without the burden of looking after Mordred all the time and picking him up again when you return?" Arthur suggested cheerfully.

Morgause didn't like how she had been pushed into a corner. She couldn't refuse the king the time with his nephew when he had reasonable arguments when it would also be in her favour of allowing it. But it would pose a danger to lose control over him. But then again, the child was just six years old and hadn't really started the main part of his education. If he played around a bit, people would get used to his presence here and later on take it easier once she put him on the throne as her puppet. While she hated allowing Morgaine this small triumph, she would be able to deal with the results easily. She would be gone for at most a month after all.

"A wonderful idea, dear nephew," She sweetly replied, "I have nothing against this. I would just ask that you arrange for somebody to ensure that he doesn't slack off in his lessons too much. After all, children learn much faster while they are still young."

"Certainly, that won't be a problem," Arthur nodded, "Now please take your seat to my left. As you don't come for visits that often, I decided that I wanted to have the chance to talk to you during dinner."

Morgause nodded gracefully and took the seat she was offered. She watched how Mordred took the seat to the right of Harold, which put him between the teenager and Morgaine. Well, she would have to adjust some plans for this, but it would work. She would have more than enough time to slowly poison Mordred against his mother and brother.

And a long chapter done. Hope you liked it.

14. Brotherly Bonding

Happy New Year! to start the new year off, here the promised update for this story. Happy reading.

Brotherly Bonding

The next morning Harry was up again as early as he normally was. He went on the run with the other squires before starting his exercise program. The one hundred repetitions were becoming easier the more often he did them. During patrol duty he hadn't had the time to do this, but other aspects made up for some of it. When he and the others were getting ready for breakfast, he noticed Mordred curiously watching the training grounds, sitting on a stone, with his mother standing behind him, probably explaining some things to him. Harry told his friends to go on without him and that he would catch up to them after greeting his family. They nodded and he walked over to them.

"Good morning, mother, Mordred," He greeted them with a smile on his face.

"Good morning, Harry," Morgaine returned the greeting.

"Morning, Harry," Mordred chirped, "Are you done training?"

"No, this was just the beginning. After breakfast I will have to continue until lunch. And for the afternoon, I have to attend some meetings with Uncle Arthur and some lords. It comes with being the current crown prince," Harry answered, "For the next days, things will also be changed. Sir Edmund indicated this, but I didn't get more details about things yet."

"Oh, can we play if you have time?" Mordred asked.

"If I get some free time, we can. But until then, why don't you go playing with mother and let her show you more of the grounds and the City around Camelot? It's really beautiful," Harry suggested.

"Okay," Mordred agreed after thinking about it for a short while.

"I'll see you two later, I'm hungry," Harry told them, and Morgaine nodded, happy to get some precious time with her son.

Harry went to the kitchen and found a seat with the other squires. While he wasn't as close to them as to some of the pages, simply because he had started training at the same time as they had done, he got along well with most of them. He gave a quick explanation of his little brother wanting to play with him when he had some free time and they nodded. Many of them had younger siblings and knew how they acted. And Harry told them that he hadn't met Mordred before, as he was growing up with his great-aunt, instead of being raised at Avalon, like he had been. It wasn't too strange that priestesses only raised their daughters at Avalon and sons were raised by their families. Harry was simply one of the rare exceptions, mainly because Taliesin had decided that his magical potential was too valuable to be wasted without competent instruction.

"I heard all our schedules for the next few afternoons are going to be changed," Rory, a boy a year older than Harry mentioned. He had long blond hair, which he wore in a ponytail.

"I only knew about today and tomorrow, but it could very well be a few more days. Did any of you hear the reason why?" Harry asked.

"I think it has something to do with the bandit attacks and better preparation for the patrols," Wallace commented. He was a stocky boy with short brown hair and sharp eyes.

"Do you know anything, Harry? After all, you were on the last returning patrol," Neill asked, pushing his red fringe from his eyes.

"Only that the bandit attacks have severe results for the people. We brought a group of teenagers back with us, who turned to small thievery, as they didn't find other ways to survive. They didn't dare hunting for small animals in the wood, as they feared being punished for that, as only the nobles can allow it. And the rare fishes they caught, next to what they could collect, didn't suffice for a group their size. There were nine teens, the youngest one eleven years old. The older ones tried finding work, but with the bandits around, nobody would give strangers work, not to mention that they couldn't give up any food either. It's really horrible," Harry told them, "The teenagers were children from people that died for one reason or another, often diseases during the winter months."

"True, a lot of people die of them," Angus nodded.

"But what kind of training would that cause for us?" Neill wanted to know.

"Perhaps we will have to help with the rebuilding for the closer villages?" Wallace suggested, "I mean, they might replace our normal duties outside of having to take care of the equipment and horse of the knight we serve with some of that. Like preparing planks for houses and the like, so that it can be transported to the villages where it is needed."

"Possible," Harry nodded, "I guess we will see this afternoon."

The others nodded and continued eating. They knew that they wouldn't get more time than the allotted thirty minutes to eat and rest, so they had to make most of the time they had.

Come afternoon, the squires and pages were all assembled in the inner bailey.

"As you have all been told, from today on, your afternoon training will be changed for a while. The bandit attacks have grown to be a serious problem for the kingdom and the people in the villages live in fear," Sir Lancelot addressed the assembled group, "As Knights of the Round Table we have held council and thought about ways to assist the people in their need. The bandits don't refrain from attacking anybody, the last patrol luckily came across a new attack just in time to kill the group of bandits and capture one of them. But the carriage that was attacked belonged to Lady Morgause, the King's aunt, in which also Lady Morgaine's younger son Mordred travelled. If the bandits dare attacking targets that pose as high a profile as that, they have something that lets them believe that they can escape the justice of the King.

"We need to teach them better and we also need to ensure that the villages have better protection. We have got messages from the lords that govern parts of the country that the bandits are using similar strategies everywhere, which indicated that it is one main group that is behind the events. To protect the people, we will supply all villages with warding, created by Lord Black. He will engrave any kind of metal plates that we can get our hands onto with a special warding scheme to prevent that the bandits can easily burn whole villages to the ground, which they have already done five times so far, as far as we are aware.

"The knights will spread out into the country and distribute those plates. The older squires are tasked with assisting the blacksmiths with forging enough plates for Lord Black so that he can prepare as many of them as possible. The King has decided to distribute those plates for free, simply because the cost of the plates is much less than the cost of having whole villages destroyed and our people killed. Any of you that are strong enough physically, will be taught the basics of smithing, simply because the number of plates is too large to simply leave it to our normal blacksmiths. The younger squires and the pages will work on different areas.

"One group, which is under the command of Lady Morgaine and Sir Percival, will go out into the woods and collect as many healing herbs as they can. We need to create as much healing salve and medicine as we can. Another group will prepare planks and other parts for the repair of the villages. The sawmill five kilometres from the castle will assist, but we need people to fell enough trees and to transport them to the sawmill. The pages will mainly be tasked with sawing the branches from the logs and securing any branches that are suitable to be turned into spear shafts and arrows."

The teenagers looked solemn. This was basically preparation for war. The King had decided to mount a large military operation to deal with the threat of the bandits once and for all.

"For the next few weeks, you will only have the basic training in the mornings, as we need most of your time to prepare for the inevitable collision with the main group of the bandits and to have enough material to get the villages rebuilt. It might happen, if the bandits lash out against the villages before we can at least mitigate the worst damage, that people flock to Camelot. We will stock up on supplies, which will also need your assistance. Your daily work schedules will be filled from morning until the evening, as we will also prepare you for possible fights. We can't assure that the patrols aren't intercepted and to not die if you are attacked, you need to know how to defend yourselves," Sir Lancelot pointed out.

"Yes, Sir," The group chorused, being used to confirming orders.

"Now, listen closely, as you will be assigned to a certain group until you get different orders from the knight that is responsible for your training or the one in charge of your current group," Sir Lancelot said, Sir Gawain started reading out names, and the boys sorted themselves into the groups.

Harry wasn't too surprised to be put into the group under his mother and Sir Percival. He was among the few that had the knowledge of healing herbs and how to prepare the salves and potions that they needed for the impending confrontation against the bandits. He didn't really mind. He would be able to learn more from his mother while making sure that the kingdom was ready for any enemy. And he had known that they couldn't afford to let the only heir to the throne that they currently had, the one that allowed the king to stall any demands of barons and lords to choose another wife to finally get an heir of his own, to be in danger from fighting. He knew that, while a squire normally had to accompany the knight he served into the field, it was only done once a squire had more than a year of training as a squire. Being a page didn't count.

The kingdom would choose those squires that had the needed experience to serve all the knights that were out fighting while the less experienced ones would be trained up until they were ready as well. It wouldn't do to get them all killed in situations they weren't ready for after all.

Harry sat behind his uncle in the meeting with the lords that were the ones hit most by the bandits and some of the Knights of the Round Table. It showed how many bandits there had to be to cover this much space and how ruthless they were to cause as much death and destruction as they did. So far, the lords had reported the incidents they knew about, then the knights that had encountered the bandits reported their impressions of tactics, strengths and weaknesses.

"The main problem we have is that we don't know where they hide," summed Arthur it up, "They manage to hit hard, hit fast and then disappear before we can catch them."

"Very true, your majesty, but we really don't know how to change that part," commented Lord Roderick of Kent, "We have sent out patrols to search for trails of the bandit groups soon after we heard where they had hit, but they seem to know the woods much better than our men do. And even villagers that helped couldn't find conclusive clues how the bandits manage to disappear like they do."

"I for one have sent my best hunters and trackers to assist with this task, but even they, who are used to reading all kinds of tracks have come up empty-handed," added Lord Allen of York.

"The sleuths also didn't catch any scents?" asked Sir Lancelot.

"Nothing. It's really strange. I mean, the dogs are trained well to follow all kinds of tracks, but they fail regularly," remarked Lord Daniel of Dorset.

"Could it perhaps be that they use plants that disguise their scent?" asked Harry, having the lords and knights look at him curiously.

"What do you mean, Harold?" asked Arthur.

"Well, I learned in my studies of different plants that they have all kinds of traits. Some help with skin irritations, some can help to sleep easier, some calm people down, some help with an upset stomach and so on. I know that the senses of animals are also much different than those of humans. That is why we use dogs to track by scent after all. Some plants have a distinct scent that might be used to irritate the noses of the sleuths you used to try finding the bandits. I mean, the possibility of them having this knowledge is clearly high, as they have to have intelligent leaders to manage to evade capture this long," explained Harry his idea.

"That could be possible. We need to find out which herbs might achieve something like this," nodded Lancelot and wrote a note to not forget this.

"Even if we manage to find out how they do it, how could we counter that part? I mean, normally, we would have to clean the users of the plant to allow the dogs to smell them again," pointed Sir Percival out.

"True, but perhaps there are other things that can somewhat immunise the dogs from the effect," pondered Arthur, "though even with that, it will be exceedingly difficult to search every bit of forest in the Kingdom to find the bandits. It's simply too much space to cover and they will know the place much better than we do. And we can't afford getting lured into ambushes again."

Harry thought about that. What kind of ways could there be to track down people like the bandits? Then he had an idea.

"How about you turn their methods around?" he asked, again concentrating the looks on himself.

"In how far?" asked Sir Edmund, who knew how smart his squire was.

"Well, we know that the bandits attack villages, steal anything of worth and leave while killing many people to sow terror and burn down houses to bind all manpower to put out the fires instead of having villagers follow them while they escape. What we need is a clear way to follow them to their hiding places to track them down. But they are too good to leave tracks that can be followed with normal methods. What if the method was unnoticeable for them? Like we prepare a valuable item with a scent that the dogs can follow easily, and which won't diminish over time. Or we could ask my godfather if he has a runic array that acts like an invisible beacon we can follow with a counterpart," suggested Harry.

"That has promise, Harold," agreed Arthur, "We can certainly try if either way works. I like the idea of switching the roles around, being the one acting instead of having to react to whatever the bandits do next."

The other men nodded in agreement and many made mental notes that the crown prince was just as intelligent as his uncle and had the advantage of not being too fixed in his ways of thinking.

"Who would know what kind of scent we could use, and how to add it to the bait unsuspiciously?" asked Sir Percival.

"I would say the trainers of the sleuths. They will know what kind of scent the dogs can easily notice but a human wouldn't really take in," pondered Lord Allen.

"That makes sense. We will call the best trainers we have here at Camelot and ask them what they suggest. Further, I will ask Lord Black what might be possible to track via means the bandits can't know about. Runes are after all a field of study that only those blessed with magical powers can take up," nodded Arthur.

"Would he perhaps be willing to take on talented youths as apprentices?" asked Lord Daniel.

"I haven't talked to him about something like that, as he only recently arrived here at Camelot," answered Arthur, "But the possibility is there. He is quite open to explaining things he does, and he might even enjoy the challenge to pass on his skills."

He wouldn't mention that Sirius, like Harry, was from the future and wouldn't stay at Camelot indefinitely. But the option to pass on what he could while he was here was certainly valuable. That way, they wouldn't completely lose support from runic arrays when Sirius returned to the future permanently. He would also have to contact Sir Godric at Hogwarts to see if the school might assist with the training of specialist magic users that could help protecting the kingdom. Hogwarts was under the king's protection after all.

The lords and the knights then discussed measures to prevent the attacks in the future, as that was particularly important until they could capture the bandits. There were suggestions from fortifying the villages with walls, relocating the villagers in places far away from garrisons of the king's army to leaving trained dogs there for protection. The main problem again was that there was a lot of space to cover and little manpower to achieve it.

Mordred looked at his big brother happily. Harry had come to find him once the meeting with the lords was finished and to spend some time with him. He loved the fact that both his mother and his brother took the time out of their busy schedules to spend with him. While he might live with his great aunt at her castle, she never spent much time with him. He had a nanny that was mainly responsible for taking care of him. Aunt Morgause rarely wanted to see him. Normally, she would call for him once or perhaps twice a month. Mostly that was when she had some important people that she wanted him to meet. Or when she taught him some things, and then she was extremely strict and demanded that he listened closely and didn't speak. That was so boring.

He liked the time here at Camelot a lot better. His mother and brother were warmer than his aunt. While he knew that he couldn't spent all the time with them, it was much more than what his aunt gave him. Right now, Harry was taking him to meet his horse Thunder. Of course he had already seen the black stallion during the journey to Camelot, but Harry had promised him that he would be allowed to take a ride on the stallion with him. So far, he didn't get any riding classes at his aunt's castle. She didn't think he was ready for that yet. Not to mention that Mordred knew that she disliked horses and only tolerated the need to keep them for transport. She didn't know how to ride a horse and always travelled in a carriage.

Mordred happily helped Harry get Thunder ready for a ride. They would of course stay at the outdoor riding ring. Due to the preparations all the squires and pages were tasked to do, there currently was only one other rider on the ring. Harry recognised him as Sir Reginald.

"Good afternoon, Sir Reginald," he greeted politely.

"Good afternoon, Sir Reginald," copied Mordred his brother.

"Ah, Prince Harold, good afternoon. How come you are out here and not busy with a task?" asked the knight.

"Today, I was freed from the tasks to attend the meeting of my uncle with the lords and some of the knights. He wanted that I, as the crown prince, learned from attending the meeting. As the meeting ended, and it is still an hour and a half until dinner will be served, I went to look for my little brother Mordred here. As, due to the fact that Aunt Morgause raises him, I didn't meet him before, I now want to use the chance to spend time with him while I can. I will join the group I was assigned to tomorrow," explained Harry.

"Ah yes, that makes sense," agreed Sir Reginald, "So, you will let him ride together with you?"

"Yes, Thunder is reliable, and we will simply go around to let Mordred get a feeling how it is to ride a horse. Aunt Morgause hasn't arranged for proper riding lessons for him yet," confirmed Harry.

"A good way to start the education of a young noble boy in the noble art of horseback riding. Listen to your brother well, young Mordred, he is one of the promising squires we currently have. If he continues working on his education as a knight like before, he will one day join us at the Round Table," addressed Sir Reginald the child.

"I will," nodded Mordred seriously.

Harry was happy that Sir Reginald held him in high esteem. Then he lifted Mordred onto Thunder's back and climbed behind him afterwards. He directed Thunder to walk around the outdoor riding ring while keeping one arm around Mordred to secure him from falling down. Mordred enjoyed the experience a lot. He pointed at many things he hadn't seen before and Harry patiently explained what they were used for. Then, suddenly, a shout was heard, followed by a loud crash. Sir Reginald's horse went onto its hindlegs, but the experienced knights easily stayed in the saddle. Thunder jumped to the side, away from the noise, but Harry could calm him down quickly, while still holding onto Mordred.

"What was that, Harry?" asked Mordred.

"I don't know, it sounded as if something heavy fell down from somewhere," answered Harry, "Are you okay?"

"Nothing happened," answered the child grinning.

"Good, I don't want you to get injured," said Harry.

Mordred smiled at the care his brother showed him. Then they watched how two horses ran towards their position, both dragging some leather harness behind them.

"They bolted from wherever they were," declared Sir Reginald, "We have to herd them to a place where we can catch them and calm them down. Follow me, Harold, we will use our horses as obstacles to get them to the paddock behind the stables. It's currently empty and I know the gate is open."

"Alright, Sir Reginald. But what about Mordred?"

"I guess he will get his first experience of how to work with horses. I believe he would be safer on the back of your horse than on the ground, where he might accidentally get into the way of the horses," answered the knight.

"That makes sense," agreed Harry and quickly used some sticking charm wandlessly to keep Mordred in front of him, "Hold on tight, Mordred, we are going to help Sir Reginald with the escaped horses."

"Okay, Harry," nodded Mordred seriously, excited to be included in what he considered a great adventure with his brother.

Harry pressed his calves into Thunder's side, urging the stallion to gallop to follow after the escaped horses. He still kept an arm around Mordred, mainly stirring his horse with his legs and weight. Soon the two riders had caught up to the two escaped horses, which were hindered by the harness they were still in. Harry went to limit their movement on the right side, while Sir Reginald went to the back. They wanted the horses to take a left turn around the stable after all. The difficult part was making them run through the gate into the paddock and then closing the paddock before the horses could get out again.

Harry knew how to herd horses; it had been part of his training under Sir Edmund. He closed in on the one on the right, this operation was made easier as the two horses were still tied together by the harness and used Thunder's imposing stature to push the right horse over to the side. Thunder was bred as a battle horse. These horses, while strong and bred to pull heavy things, didn't have his kind of muscles or instincts. Then Sir Reginald overtook them and cut off the route forward, making some noise to scare the horses to run into the left direction. It worked well and after a few more moments the paddock was in sight. They only needed to keep the two horses locked on the path directly to the open gate.

To Harry's relief, there was one of the stable boys that saw them galloping towards the paddock.

"Boy, prepare to close the gate once we have them inside!" shouted Sir Reginald.

The boy seemingly nodded and ran towards the side of the gate where he could push it close once the two horses were inside the paddock. In there, they could run around as much as they wanted until they calmed down enough to get them out of the harness. The fences around the paddock were one metre fifty high, meaning the horses wouldn't be inclined to jump over them with their harnesses on. If necessary though, both Thunder and Sir Reginald's horse could jump over them easily.

It took them two attempts, as the two horses managed to run into the wrong direction one time, before they had them on the right course. Harry had to keep Thunder pressed against the horse on the right, to prevent that it ran off again, while Sir Reginald did the same on the left side. Then they were before the gate and the two horses rushed inside, and the stable boy hurried to close the gate to prevent that they could escape again. Harry managed to stop Thunder having to jump, as he didn't want to risk it with Mordred in front of him. Sir Reginald, as the horse on the left was trying to not run into the paddock, which was the side not having the open gate of the paddock giving some direction, had to stay in his position and easily took the jump over the fence. It wasn't a problem though. The paddock was large enough to let him land easily and the stable boy let him out when the two recaptured horses had calmed down enough to not risk them running off again.

"Now, that was quite a way to work up some appetite for dinner," commented Sir Reginald chuckling.

"This was so exciting!" exclaimed Mordred happily, "And how your horse jumped over the high fence, Sir Reginald, that was incredible!"

"One day you will be able to do that as well, if you train to become a knight, Mordred," promised Sir Reginald.

"I will," nodded Mordred determined, "I want to be as strong and cool as you and my brother."

"I'm sure you will get there, if you keep up that determination," nodded the knight.

"Sir Reginald, what shall I do with the two horses once they are calm enough to get them out of the harness?" asked the stable boy.

"Just leave them there. They will need some time to get over the excitement. As far as I can see, they didn't get injured. Once the harness is off, feed them some hay. I will inquire which ones they are and what happened. I suspect there was an accident from the sound of it and it spooked them," commented the knight.

"I will do that," agreed the stable boy.

"Well, we better get back to the outdoor riding ring, Mordred. We will have to bring Thunder back to the stable and towel him off, as he worked up some sweat from the race," stated Harry.

"Can we go gallop back there?" asked Mordred excitedly.

"Well, you clearly showed that you can deal with it, so why not?" agreed Harry.

"Go, you two. I can take care of everything else, good work," acknowledged Sir Reginald.

Harry nodded and spurned Thunder back into gallop to go back to the outdoor riding ring, with Mordred cheering the stallion on to go faster.

At dinner Mordred excitedly told the story how he, Harry and Sir Reginald had chased the escaped horses and herded them back into the paddock.

"And then Sir Reginald jumped over the high fence with his horse to not allow the panicked horses to escape again. It was so cool!" exclaimed Mordred to the listening adults.

"That indeed sounds like an exciting afternoon, Mordred," nodded Guinevere.

"It was great. And Sir Reginald said I did well in keeping calm and that I already had a great sense of balance on horseback. I can't wait to learn riding on my own," babbled Mordred.

"Well, Sir Reginald knows what he's talking about," nodded Arthur, "Perhaps we can find a nice pony to let you get started during your visit here. I think a large horse would be difficult for you to ride, as your legs are still too short to properly push the horse into movement. With a pony that wouldn't be the case."

"Really? Thank you, Uncle Arthur. That would be great!" Mordred thanked him happily.

"Is that really a good idea, Arthur?" asked Morgause, "I mean, he's just six years old."

"Oh, don't worry, Aunt Morgause. Every young nobleman needs to learn how to ride a horse and children learn this much faster and easier than teenagers. Not to mention that if he is busy with riding lessons, he won't be bored and get up to mischief," here he winked at Mordred, telling him that he didn't mean that in a bad way.

Mordred grinned. He liked his uncle. He could see that Aunt Morgause wasn't that happy about it, but she could hardly ague against the king. He was really looking forward to finally getting real riding lessons.

"Well, then I suggest we start them tomorrow morning," commented Morgaine, "I'm sure that Mordred will do well. I can take him down to the stables at ten. By then, the general morning training of the pages and squires is finished and one of them can show him how to clean a horse properly before putting a saddle and bridle on one. After all, a horse is the most important companion to a knight, and all boys should learn to respect and properly treat them."

"Very true, dear sister," approved Arthur.

Again Morgause had to keep her opinion to herself. She disliked horses and only tolerated them to pull her carriage. Of course she knew that horses were important for knights, but this would only plant stupid ideas into the child's head. He would expect to continue these blasted riding lessons at her castle, and she didn't have a pony he could use to continue those lessons. And she didn't like the idea of having to buy one. A horse, even a pony, cost a lot of money, which she would rather invest into things that helped her plans along. Her original plan had been to wait until he was older to let him learn on one of the horses she already had. That would have been a lot more cost efficient. But with Arthur of all people suggesting it, it wouldn't work to forbid Mordred the riding lessons and it would look bad on her, should she not continue them. And she needed a good reputation in general for her long-term plans to succeed.

At least it seemed that even Morgaine hadn't managed to figure out what kind of curse had robbed Guinevere of the ability to give Arthur an heir. As long as that was true, she had the time to get rid of Harold, the main obstacle to her glorious future, being the shadow ruler of Camelot, with Mordred on the throne, once Arthur was taken out of the picture. He was on borrowed time in her plans. He was needed to further unite the kingdom until Mordred was at least ten years older. None of the knights would take a small child serious as ruler. And while she was his guardian, if he was brought to Camelot to rule too early on, the knights would insert themselves as his guides in how to rule the kingdom. And right now, Mordred was too easily influenced by their example. No, to succeed, she needed to bide her time and raise him to follow her opinions.

He might take on some unwanted habits during the month he would spend at Camelot, but those could be cured once he was back at her castle, with the teachers she paid to raise him the way she considered right.

Until next time.

15. War Preparations

Hi everybody. I hope you are doing well. Thanks to those that left a review for the previous chapter(s).

As promised, the new update for this story. Enjoy.

War Preparations

Sirius listened to the explanations of Arthur what the council had discussed regarding the bandit attacks and how they might finally have a chance to follow them to their hideouts to take them all down.

"Well," he started once Arthur was done, "there are runes that can be used as tracking beacons. The main problem will be to keep the receiver in range of the sender. Nothing I know has unlimited range. Next to that, the runes have to stay intact. It would be easy for somebody to destroy a carved rune by drawing a knife through the rune. Thus, the best chance of the deciding rune not being detected would be including it into a pattern that seemingly is just meant to decorate the item it is placed on."

"I see. While that limits the options, it doesn't thwart this plan," nodded Arthur, "Could the runes perhaps be hidden under paint?"

"Possibly. Or a second bottom in an object," pondered Sirius, "I have never tried hiding runes on objects. I can't tell if paint would ruin the effect. Or at least reduce it."

"Then we might have more success with the second bottom option. Perhaps it will work if we pretend to transport an important delivery from a further away point to Camelot. The transport would stay in some of the villages that are within the area that the bandits are known to target. Of course with a proper escort. Should the bandits attack the transport to steal the valuable goods, the bait could be taken. If that bait is something like a jewellery box, inlaid with cloth to better protect the jewellery placed in it, it might be enough to hide the true intent. And cloth shouldn't interfere like paint. Perhaps, I could even have the box designed to have a part that can be lifted out of the box to reveal the lower storage part. And the runes are carved into the part that is taken out but fully covered in cloth. No bandit would ever suspect that to be bait," stated Arthur.

"You are right, your majesty, no bandit would work that part out. I think it would work. We still would need to triangulate the location afterwards quickly. We don't know if the bandits only have one hiding place, or, which I think is more probable, several ones that they can leave quickly if the soldiers come too close to their location," pointed Sirius out.

"True, we need to keep that in mind. It would actually explain a lot about the difficulties of finding the group," nodded Arthur, "Do you by any chance know of something that wouldn't look strange in such a delivery but that would always be smelled by sleuths?"

"Lavender oil," answered Sirius immediately.

"Lavender oil?" asked Arthur surprised.

"I don't know if you were informed about it yet, but I am capable of transforming myself into a large black dog. It is called animagus transformation and a very advanced magical ability," explained Sirius, "As I become a dog with that ability, I know very well how the senses and thought processes of dogs work. While for humans, lavender oil is mainly a pleasant smell, for a dog's nose, while not unpleasant, it is much more intense. When I just worked on getting the transformation right, one of my friends spilled lavender oil onto his robes accidentally. We never thought anything about it, but I managed to always find him, even after the robes were laundered, as my nose could detect the smell for weeks afterwards. If you want to have the dogs assist in the search, have some unsuspicious items treated with that oil."

"Thank you for the information, I will do that. I believe that I can simply have some glass vials filled with lavender oil be part of the delivery. It wouldn't look strange at all, as many women like to use the oil to treat their skin," nodded Arthur, knowing that Guinevere was among them, "And none of the bandits will wonder why a little of the oil sticks to the outside of the vials."

"True, while filling such vials a little spilling isn't uncommon," agreed Sirius.

"Good, then would you please prepare the runes on a special jewellery box to be bait? I will see to it that vials with lavender oil are prepared and transported to the place where we want the bait delivery to start. I think it would work out best if I had the delivery arrive in London and then have it transported here. The harbour in London is known to receive goods for Camelot regularly, so the general transport wouldn't appear strange to the bandits," commented Arthur.

"You're right, it wouldn't look strange, your majesty. I will take care of the box. I believe I should have it finished within a day," promised Sirius.

"Thank you, Sirius. That will help us a lot," replied Arthur gratefully.

He really needed to stop the senseless killing and destruction soon.

Harry stood among the pages and squires that were tasked to collect herbs and other ingredients for potions, healing salves and the like. There were twenty boys overall. In front of them stood his mother and Sir Percival. Morning training had been kept to the necessary parts, meaning it ended at nine, then they got to eat breakfast, and the weapons training was stopped at eleven. After that, the knights in charge of the morning training had to tend to new duties that the king had given them. The squires and pages were instructed to use the time until lunch at half past one to ensure that the horses got exercise. The stable boys had already taken care of cleaning the horses that were on the schedule to be ridden by the pages and squires, thus they could start with that immediately. The stable boys also took care of having the next horse ready after the previous one had been ridden for half an hour. It was efficient and the boys could ensure that all the horses got exercise while the knights were otherwise busy. Due to the number of boys riding the horses, all of them were done by lunchtime.

"You have all been chosen, as you are trained in recognising all kinds of herbs," started Morgaine, "As you know, the bandits that cause major trouble in the kingdom right now, are vicious and several people were injured badly. To help the victims of the bandits we need to prepare salves, tinctures and teas for example. Due to the numbers of victims, the previous way of gathering the herbs doesn't suffice anymore. I have prepared lists with the kind of herbs, mushrooms and roots that I need to create the necessary medicine.

"We will set out into the forest and collect whatever we can find from these lists. I want you all to stay vigilant. We don't know if there will be bandits about that might attack our group. The probability isn't that high, as we won't travel too far away from Camelot, but the bandits are getting bolder the more time they aren't caught. The last village that they attacked was just two days of travel away from Camelot. Normally, they would fear the swift retribution of the king too much to act like that."

"Lady Morgaine is correct," continue Sir Percival, "for that reason you will all take those weapons with you that are proficient enough to use in case of an attack. Meaning, staffs, knives, slings or whatever other weapon you learned up to that point. You will spread out once we reach the forest where we know many of the plants we need to grow. Your task is to find the plants that are listed, if you can, take samples that can be further cultivated at the castle. It is much better for us if we can breed those healing plants instead of always having to travel into the forest to collect them."

The boys nodded, seeing the sense in this method.

"Further, none of you is allowed to give any sign of your identity. Not your family crests, not family colours, nor calling each other by name. As you know, Prince Harold is part of this group. We can't afford that any bandit captures him. He is the only suitable heir to the throne we currently have. While Lady Morgaine's younger son Mordred is also of the right bloodline, he is just six years old, and you all know that with the situation in the kingdom being dangerous, people want to see that the royal family is strong enough to protect them. Illogical in some parts but a teenage heir who is already a squire gives a stronger feeling of safety than a six-years old child that can't prove itself yet," pointed Sir Percival out.

"Still, Harold is a squire like any other, and he will perform his duty like all of you. To make it much harder to find out who he is, as outside of Camelot his looks are only known in general parts, we can avoid target attacks much easier this way."

He didn't mention it, but some black-haired boys in the group had been added intentionally to confuse possible attackers more. Not to mention that one squire and one page had been discreetly briefed to play decoy in case of attacks to keep the attackers from realising Harry's identity. Both had a passable resemblance to Harry and were close enough to him in age to make the deceit possible. Harry wasn't informed, as he would protest that others were placed in danger for him.

"To make this possible while you are inside the forest, you will use codenames. We will keep this simple. You will be put into five groups of four boys each. You know that we trained you in groups of that size regularly, as many strategies that knights use on missions profit from a clear distribution of jobs. Thus, this concept is familiar to all of you. The groups are red, blue, yellow, green and orange. Each group will have members numbered from one to four. Meaning, if Frederick is in the red group and gets the number three, he is to be addressed outside the castle as Red Three. Nothing else," explained Sir Percival.

The boys nodded again, understanding it easily.

Then Sir Percival gave them the set-up of the groups, with Harold and one of the briefed boys being in the green group. Coincidentally the other two boys also had dark hair, even if it wasn't black. Inside the forest that would be more difficult to distinguish.

"We will start our job at the forest that is just one hour of riding distance at high speed away from Camelot. You have fifteen minutes to change into standard training clothes and then be at the stables to get started," instructed Sir Percival, and the boys took off to switch into simple clothes that didn't give away any of their identities. Some stayed, as they had worn simple clothes already, Harry among them.

His mother had told him what would be expected during the job and he fully understood why these security precautions were needed. He thought it was smart to not give too much away. They were fairly sure that there weren't any spies inside Camelot, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. To make things even safer while he was outside the castle, he would have Hedwig scouting the situation from the air. His owl was very smart after all, and with a camouflage spell that his mother knew, Hedwig wouldn't stand out of her surroundings, despite her white plumage being very distinct normally. Not to mention that owls were normally nocturnal. Magical post owls were trained to resist that when it was necessary though.

Soon the first others returned, now wearing colours that would easily blend into the normal scenery of a forest, meaning earthy colours. All of them were back before the fifteen minutes were over.

"The way we travel is simple," spoke Sir Percival, "Each group that was put together will travel to a different part of the forest. You have all been there at least once already, so you should be familiar with the route. Team Yellow starts at the western border of the forest, at the fork that leads to either Remistatt or the general route to Cornwall. Team Green will start at the boulder that looks like a hare. Team Red starts at the clearing opposite the fork leading down to the sea. Team Blue will take the path into the forest until they reach the pond and start from there. Last but not least, team orange will start at the three large oak trees that surround the five metres tall boulder."

"Understood," the boys confirmed their orders.

"Then onto your steeds and good luck," nodded Sir Percival and went over to his own horse. He would travel with Lady Morgaine to start at a different place.

The group soon rode towards the gate of the castle. While they rode through the city, they had their horses walking, as it would be too dangerous for pedestrians if they had them go faster. That was only done in case of true emergencies, like when an injured person needed to be brought to the castle for treatment, and it was life or death. Then, of course, they would gallop through the city, with one rider going ahead to clear the path.

At this speed, the time from the castle to the city gates took them twenty minutes. The people went to the sides of the street when they heard the horses coming closer. At the city gates, they had to wait for a minute, as the guards first needed to open the heavy gate. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table had decided to not take any risks during the dangerous times they currently experienced. Who knew if those bandits would dare sneaking into the city one day to rob the much richer people living inside Camelot? Thus, all those asking for entry into the city were controlled and their carts searched for possible stowaways and hidden weapons.

The people of Camelot didn't mind. A herald had announced the changes and their reasons everywhere and they were glad that their king took their safety this seriously. Having to wait a bit longer when they travelled out of the city and returned, well that was much better than the alternatives.

As the travel of the group had been planned beforehand, the gate guards simply opened the gates and waved them through. As soon as the horses were all on the other side of the moat that surrounded the city walls, making it even more difficult for attackers to attempt climbing the high walls that protected the city, Sir Percival urged his horse into gallop and the boys and Lady Morgaine soon followed his example. For the trained horses that everybody there was riding, it was no trouble going at that speed for hours on end.

Team Green reached the boulder in form of a hare that was their starting point without any trouble. The boys got off their horses and tied the reins to some lower branches of the trees. This way, the horses wouldn't simply run away. There also was enough grass in easy reach for them, so they could graze while they waited.

"Alright, how are we going to do this?" asked Kendall, a squire a year older than Harry, using the codename Green Two.

"I suggest we first have a close look at the list we got, then quickly revise where these plants commonly grow and then start walking in a wide line, perhaps five metres between us, to not overlook our targets in the forest," suggested Green One, the oldest among the group, whose name was Lyam and who was the one briefed to keep Harry safe.

"That makes sense. I suggest we work thoroughly and mostly silent. We don't want to attract more attention than necessary to our jobs. While for normal people this mission wouldn't cause any distress, the bandits might think differently, or even try to steal the plants we collect. Either to prevent that we can treat our people, or to use them for their own injuries," pointed Harry out, he was going to be called Green Three.

"Yes, that wouldn't be a good thing," nodded the last boy in their group, Green Four, whose name was Nathaniel.

Harry had noticed that he was the youngest in this group that was completely made up of squires. It was obvious to him that Sir Percival and his mother had done this to give him capable support, should anything happen during their mission. He didn't mind. He knew too well that the current situation in regard to the succession to the throne was bad for the kingdom. Uncle Arthur and Aunt Guinevere had been married for five years now, and she still hadn't managed to become pregnant. His stepping into the position of Crown Prince, simply to stall the more ambitious lords for as long as possible, would only hold for so long.

He had also been warned to look out for those lords' daughters that tried to win him for themselves. While he was a teenage boy, and he knew that one day their offers would become terribly tempting, he had the problem that he didn't belong into this time. He didn't really know what would happen, should he actually get a girl pregnant in this time. He had asked his mother if his training here wouldn't be problematic for the cause of history, but she had assured him that, even if he had an important position, time was resilient. Even if he did something, time had a way to change things around that were influenced by him to let it appear in his time that nothing grave had changed. As if he had been meant to do what he did.

And, as the time of Camelot was about one thousand years before his time, it wouldn't influence things that strongly. And they were actively trying to change things to the better anyway. If that wasn't allowed, it would be impossible to know about future events. But seers were very real. His mother was one after all. And his travelling through time would have been blocked. But higher powers had allowed him to do this. After all, why else would Fawkes be perfectly placed to play a deciding role in this scheme?

Thus, Harry decided to simply take one day at a time and see what would happen. Due to the problem with the bandits, his mother was too busy to thoroughly read through all the information he had brought with him about the different ways he had found to prevent pregnancies in a healthy woman. But once this situation was solved, and it would be, one way or the other, she would concentrate on that part. It was important to solve the issue properly.

The four boys checked their lists and quickly discussed the things they remembered about the plants they were tasked to find. Some were common like leaves of a fern, others more difficult to distinguish, as two kinds of mushrooms looked similar to each other, but they only needed one of them. Harry, being the one best educated about plants, explained what to look out for and then they started their search. Each of them would collect the plants they found inside a bag slung over their shoulders. They were large enough to hold about four kilograms of plants. And they had been told that it didn't matter if everything was thrown into the bags unsorted.

The ones creating the medicine would sort them all out once they handed over their findings after returning to Camelot. Nothing on their lists would react with other things while it was being collected, thus they could concentrate on simply finding what was needed and bringing it back in decent state. Soon they started picking leaves, digging under plants to get to the roots and sometimes climbing up trees to get to things that grew up there. They kept looking for three hours, then their bags were full.

They signalled each other to return to their horses and made their way back to where they had left them. Thankfully, the horses looked relaxed, and they had reduced the grass around the trees quite a bit during the hours they had waited for their riders. The boys untied them again, got into the saddles and then urged them into gallop once they were all ready. Nothing happened during the ride and they reached Camelot around seven in the evening. After giving the password that Sir Percival had given them before they started their mission, they were let into the city and rode back to the castle.

Once they reached the inner bailey, they got off their horses again. The boys knew too well that caring for their horses always came first, except a task had been time sensitive. Then giving a report or handing over a delivery would be done first before caring for the horse. But in this case, their collected plants could be handed over at the hospital wing after the horses were back in their stables. Feeding them would be done by the equerry, like every day. The job was too important to let inexperienced boys mess something up. Not to mention that food resources for the horses were also limited. It wouldn't do to waste oat for example because one of the boys miscalculated.

The younger horses that weren't in training yet didn't get oat for example. During the summer, they weren't kept inside the stables. They were put onto meadows to graze there. They were only caught in fall, to bring them into large free-stall barns. During winter they were fed with hay, a bit of barley, sugar beets and got to graze on the meadows when the weather permitted it. The sheer number of horses needed by Camelot made it necessary to change meadows regularly, to ensure that they could regrow after a while. Though the younger horses normally were kept on meadows outside the city, simply because their numbers were too large for normal meadows on the inside.

Taking care of those horses was a task given to specially trained men that reported to the equerry at Camelot. Mostly, their job was keeping watch that none of the horses was badly injured by wild animals or thieves that thought stealing some of the horses would be a good way to get easy money.

Overall, the group needed fifteen minutes to have their horses taken care of and turned their steps towards the entrance into the castle that was closest to the direct route to the hospital wing.

Mordred looked down at the small board that he had been given to practice his writing. As he was just starting out, it would have been way too wasteful to let him use parchment. It was expensive to create parchment after all. His teacher for the afternoon was a nice man. He had told Mordred that he was a retired knight. He had served under Uncle Arthur's father Uther Pendragon already until the man's untimely death. Due to nobody knowing where Arthur had been kept hidden to protect the heir to the throne, the situation in the country had been very problematic. To prevent any wars for the throne getting out of hand, the current Merlin had set up a task to identify the next king. Mordred of course knew the story of how Uncle Arthur got Excalibur from the stone. But he hadn't known the history leading up to that point before.

Sir Placidus was great at explaining history in Mordred's opinion. Much better than the teachers he had back at Aunt Morgause's castle. They didn't make learning interesting. With Sir Placidus, he was eager to find out how things continued from a certain point. And the man involved him, letting him guess what could be the reasons for actions that had been taken. They had covered four subjects this afternoon. In the morning, Mordred had been allowed to help at the stable and got his first real riding lesson on a brown pony. That had been great, even if the Pony's gaits were much different to the ones he had experienced on Thunder.

It was difficult to remember all the things the squire that took care of teaching him told him, but he did his best. He didn't want to disappoint his uncle, who had allowed him to learn riding. And the pony was really nice. Its name was Danny and it never took anything he might do wrong badly. Danny had certainly earned the carrot he had given him as a reward after the riding lesson.

Next to history, Sir Placidus had covered maths, studies about nature and now he was working on reading and writing. His current task was writing five letters he had been shown twenty times each. The goal was improving his handwriting. The better he could write the letters, the easier it would become to write whole words in the end. This was also the last lesson for the day, then he would have some time to wash up before dinner. He hoped that after dinner he could spend some time with his mother and brother again.

The day before, they had spent the evening together, which had been great. While Harry had to study things their mother taught him, things about the magic of Avalon, it was interesting to watch, and Harry didn't mind talking to him when he didn't have to concentrate. And he had taken a short break when it was time for Mordred to go to bed. Both his mother and brother had accompanied him to his room and wished him a good night. His mother stayed a while longer and read him a bedtime story before he lay down to sleep. Harry had left them alone for that, returning to his studies. Mordred truly wished to stay with them. This was much more like family should be than what he was used to from Aunt Morgause.

"Hm, you have improved your letters, Mordred," complimented Sir Placidus.

"Thank you, Sir Placidus. The hint you gave me about how to hold the chalk to make it easier was very helpful," replied Mordred.

"Good. I don't see any sense in letting a child struggle with a task when some small hints can make learning more efficient and less time intensive," nodded the old knight.

Mordred agreed with that sentiment. He didn't mind studying, he was the nephew of the king and he couldn't be stupid. But he didn't like being left alone and told off for not doing well when he didn't get proper instructions. And if things were explained in a good way, like Sir Placidus did, it was even fun to learn new things.

"Once you are done with the letter S, you may pack your things away. You have done well this afternoon. We will meet again tomorrow after lunch," the man told the boy.

"Thank you, Sir Placidus, I enjoyed the lessons with you today," Mordred honestly answered.

"I'm happy to hear this."

Mordred returned the smile the knight gave him and hurried to properly finish the twenty letter S that he had to write. Then, after getting a nod for having done well from Sir Placidus, he cleaned his board, put it into the satchel he had been given by his mother to keep his school equipment, and stood from his chair.

"Goodbye, Sir Placidus, until tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Mordred."

Mordred left the room and started walking back to his room. He would wash up and then see if he could find Harry before dinner. He knew that Harry was on duty tonight, therefore, he wouldn't be able to talk to his brother otherwise. Just when he turned around the corner to the corridor to his room, he spotted Harry leaving his room, already wearing the clothes the pages and squires had to wear while serving at dinner.

"Hi Harry," he greeted and ran over to his brother.

"Hi Mordred. I see you finished your studies for today," commented Harry with a smile.

"Yes, Sir Placidus is a good teacher. He makes studying much more interesting than my teacher at Aunt Morgause's castle," nodded Mordred.

"That's good to hear. I'm sorry that I don't have much time to talk right now, I need to get down to the kitchen to start dinner duty, Mordred," apologised Harry.

"That's okay. I know that you can't skip your duties as a squire," nodded Mordred.

He had been explained what a squire needed to do by his mother the day after he had arrived at the castle and why it would happen that Harry would basically ignore him if he was on dinner duty. That was how the ones serving were expected to behave. It didn't mean that Harry didn't like him, it was part of his training to become a knight. Mordred knew that once he became a page, the same would be expected of him. And he wanted to become a knight one day too after all.

"Thanks, I'll see you later," said Harry and walked swiftly towards the kitchen.

Mordred went into his room, put his satchel onto a shelf and walked over to the bowl with a pitcher of water standing next to it. He poured some water into the bowl, holding the pitcher with both hands, and when he had enough, he took a small piece of soap from a plate. The soap had been made by his mother. He hadn't known soap at his aunt's castle. It wasn't something that was used everywhere, but his mother was selling it to those nobles that were interested in the item.

While he didn't understand everything his mother had explained about the reasons why eating with clean hands was important, he didn't mind doing so either. And the soap smelled nice. It was made with some powdered flowers as far as he remembered. Lavender if he smelled this right. Once he had used a towel to dry his hands, he went to his bed. He knew his mother would collect him before she went to dinner. He honestly wondered why his aunt didn't speak nicely of his mother. She wasn't bad and took more time out of her schedule to talk to him than Aunt Morgause.

For one week, preparations were done at Camelot with every capable hand being put to work. The orphans that Sir Edmund's patrol had brought back were included in that part. The older boys were busy cutting trees into the right parts that were needed, while the younger boys and the girls were put under the lead of the cooks in the kitchen. Many things that were often delegated to the pages or squires now had to be done by the kitchen helpers. Mainly because the pages and squires already had their duties and were busy all day.

Then the day the King and the knights had been preparing had come. Sirius Black had finished the jewellery box that was to be the bait for the trap. It was a work of art and Queen Guinevere had already voiced her desire to get a box like that for herself. It was an exquisite bit of craftsmanship. Even if the box was transformed from a normal piece of wood and then polished with magic to make it look highly appealing. The inside was unsuspicious as well. The fact that underneath the cloth that covered all parts tracking runes were hidden was difficult to believe. Sirius had really outdone himself in this part. He had actually set the small metal plate that held the runes into the wood, this way, even if the cloth was damaged, nobody would spot the runes and throw the box away.

To make it even less likely, King Arthur had sponsored a very pretty silver necklace with a ruby pendant in form of a teardrop to be placed inside. Needless to say that a normal tracking charm had been put onto the necklace. Those charms didn't hold as long as the runes, but they were still useful for a while. Next to the box, there was a second box that held six vials with lavender oil. They were sealed with some wax to prevent that the oil spilled out of them, next to the box being built to keep them upright.

The lord and knights had sent their best sleuths into the area and the dog trainers had made sure to have the dogs take on the specific scent of the oil. In fact, each hunter and dog trainer that was on call had a vial of the oil with him to let the dogs take up the scent. The box in which the oil was transported had also lightly been sprayed with some oil to make it more probable that the dogs caught the scent once the transport from the London Harbour to Camelot had been robbed.

It was unclear where the bandits would strike, but the ones involved in the planning were sure that it was too tempting a target to not happen. For this operation, the knights and the older, more experienced squires would be part of the operation. The younger squires and the pages would stay at Camelot. They wouldn't be of any help with this, instead they would make easy targets for the bandits. The goal was to finally bring the bandits down and restore peace and safety in the kingdom. Not lose knights in training who weren't ready for this kind of mission yet.

The ones staying at Camelot would have a lot of work. All the horses that weren't taken onto the mission needed to be exercised, preparations for supply runs had to be finished, after all, nobody knew how many bandits there were overall, and things like arrows or spears had to be ready to be replenished at a moment's notice, then medical treatment had to be ready and so on. Harry had spent many hours during the past week brewing potions and salves, both the magical and non-magical kinds, to stock up the storage of the hospital wing of Camelot. Next to that, he had been taught basics of first aid and healing in his evening lessons with his mother.

The mental library that his family had was a blessing for that. Just mentioning a method gave him the basics he needed to know. And Morgaine expected several injured soldiers and knights once the bandits were found. In the end, it was a foregone conclusion that they would be dealt with harshly, but the question that needed answering was at what cost for the forces of Camelot. How many would die fighting and how many be gravely injured?

The knights were going to spread out over a large area to not leave any holes in the net King Arthur wanted to create to catch the bandits and not let any of them escape. Camelot would only keep a small force to deal with possible attacks. Nobody really expected them, especially not from the bandits, but it wasn't a good idea to become careless. The ones staying at Camelot were mainly the older knights, next to Sir Gawain, who had the responsibility for the castle and the city while the other knights and the king were out to fight for their people.

It was a grand sight when the full force of Camelot mobilised, and the knights rode in formation through the city towards the gates. The idea was to have them visibly split up at the other side of the moat and make it appear that the king was sending out his knights to search in a big operation for the bandits. They would use standard procedures that patrols used and wait for the signal that had been agreed upon. Each of them had got a piece of copper, which was a message board created by Sirius Black again.

It wasn't large, barely the size of a large coin, but it was enough to spread messages among all the groups. If one group of dogs caught the scent of the bait, or the team including Lord Black, who monitored the other bait's position with his powers, found out where to find the camp of the bandits, they would turn their groups there to strike with force. The threat to the lives of the people of England would stop. One way or the other.

He wanted to laugh out loud. His plan had worked very well. To think that he could make the young king fall for the plot this easily. As if a few lives of peasants counted. Who cared if they were killed by the men he had hired to sow unrest and terror among the common people outside of Camelot? He had calculated his move carefully. He had wanted to grab power over England for years, and before Arthur Pendragon was chosen for the throne by pulling Excalibur out of the stone, he had worked from the shadows to assemble a sizeable force around himself. He could have convinced some of the important lords to support his claim to the throne and most others his forces would have defeated.

He had been close to victory, but then this hidden son of Uther Pendragon, the last king, had come out of wherever he had been hidden away. Some said he had been raised in the belief that Sir Ector was his father, which was only cleared up after he drew the sword from the stone. Sadly, he hadn't been able to verify if that story was true or not. Sir Ector had died of a severe illness one winter before he could be questioned, and Sir Kay, his son, fell in battle at the side of Arthur. Others didn't know if Arthur was Sir Ector's son or not, even if some servants declared that he had been raised at Sir Ector's estate as a nobleman. But it didn't matter anyway in the end.

He drew the sword, the test set by the Merlin Taliesin, which showed the true king of England. And Merlin had told the people that Arthur was Uther's son. He himself had tried to pull the sword out of the stone years before Arthur succeeded and failed each time. For the people, the story that Arthur was the son of the late King Uther was easy to believe. Who else but the true Prince of England would be chosen by the sword Excalibur? But it had thwarted his plans to rule the country. At first, he had tried to get the young man interested in his daughter, a beautiful young woman close to Arthur in age even, but the bastard only had eyes for Guinevere.

It was sweet irony that the wench was infertile as it seemed and couldn't give Arthur a child. Not even a girl. He had seen hope that soon he could insert his daughter as a replacement for Guinevere. A Queen that couldn't give the country and heir tended to have an accident and to be replaced by a woman that could perform that simple duty. But then his plans had been thwarted again. And this time, he needed a better contingency plan. It was a smart plan; he would grudgingly admit that. It was well known that Morgaine of Avalon was Arthur's half-sister on his mother's side. And she had brought her oldest son Harold to be trained to become a knight.

So far, that wasn't unusual. Of course the King's sister would want her sons to be taught by the best, and the best were the Knights of the Round Table. But the boy was dangerous for his plans. It was quickly obvious. Harold was a hard worker, charming to both his peers and the people living and working at the castle, was growing into his looks more and more and showed all the best traits for a future knight. He wasn't perfect, but he was willing to listen to those older and more experienced than him and take on their advice how to become strong. Many girls his age were soon smitten with the polite and respectful boy, who didn't try to take advantage of his relationship with the king. Instead the boy seemed a bit shy, but it lessened the more he got used to life at Camelot.

Many had celebrated the news that King Arthur had named Harold of Ceredigion as his heir until he had a son of his own. That was common to do among nobles. Several lords had named either their nephews or grandsons their heirs, should they lack a son to inherit, or had lost said son for one reason or another. It got Arthur some time to try finding a way to get his wife pregnant. He doubted it would work. Not even Morgaine with all her magical powers had found a solution for the problem over the years. Not even magic could cure infertility.

Some other lords had switched their original plans to the heir. After all, Harold was much easier to influence than Arthur, due to the fact that he was younger and not as experienced in the plots of the nobles. Not to mention that teenagers had to fight with their hormones all the time, and accidental pregnancies had forced many a young couple into marriage to avoid a scandal.

But he didn't want to play this game. He wanted the power over England now, not after Arthur had died, however long that would take. He would have accepted controlling Arthur through his daughter had he managed to make him marry her, but it would take way too long before Harold could be used. The boy had just turned fourteen after all. While that was a perfect age to try the trap with an unplanned pregnancy, nobody would accept a teenager as king, should Arthur die early. Harold would stay a prince until he was knighted, which normally would happen when he was seventeen or eighteen. Especially with Sir Edmund as his teacher. The man was thorough in teaching a future knight.

No, his plan was much different. He planned to take over the power in Camelot while Arthur was away. The few knights that were here were mostly old and out of shape. The only real danger was Sir Gawain. Once he was neutralised, he could let his plans commence. Let Arthur and the knights hunt the bandits. The men he had hired were used to moving through the woods undetected. And nobody would find the way they did it. It had taken two years of preparation but now his plan could be enacted to finally get what he believed his right. Becoming the new King of England once Arthur was killed in battle with the bandits.

Harold would suffer an accident soon after, as would Mordred, the second son of Morgaine. It wouldn't do to have people get the idea of letting the child become the new heir to the throne and have a regent installed until the boy was old enough to take over the throne. It was luck that he had both obstacles in his path to the throne right where he could take them down. This time, Camelot and England would be his to claim.

That's it for this chapter. Until next time.

16. Back at the Base

Hi everybody, another chapter is ready. I hope you like it.

Back at the Base

For five days the knights and the king had been gone, and no news about success had been sent to Sir Gawain. It wasn't surprising. The different groups had to first reach the spots meant for them to manage cornering the bandits. That took time. Even if they rode the best horses available to Camelot. Such big groups weren't fast when they travelled. So far, the ones guarding the transport hadn't reported about it being robbed. He was sure it would happen soon. The journey from London to Camelot for a transport as large as the one that was chosen as bait would take four weeks. That was a lot of time to get all the squads in position for the great hunt that would end the threat of the bandits.

The advisory group around the king expected the attack to take place one and a half weeks after the journey started at the earliest. London itself was one of the biggest cities in England. It had been considered as the capitol, but Camelot was chosen because it was a fortress in form of a city. London was less defensible in its entirety. While the transport was still inside the city or close to it, the danger of support forces being sent quickly would be too large. There hadn't been any signs for bandits being active close to the city.

While the transport would cross several well-defended areas, the majority of England wasn't that safe. King Arthur was working towards increasing the level of safety for all English citizens, but it needed time. The barons and lords that had sworn fealty to the king had their own standing forces, but their strength depended on the wealth of said noble. That was one reason why there was a structured program to train up new knights from all the noble families in England. The king also considered giving worthy young men of common birth the chance to enter the program in the future, but that was still impossible right now. They didn't have the infrastructure for that.

But to properly defend the country, to protect all citizens, the ones born into all their noble families didn't suffice. They couldn't spread that far. Sure, King Arthur could grant estates to the new knights that didn't stand to inherit their family estates in the future. That helped cover more space. But the profession of a knight wasn't suited for all the youths that dreamed of becoming Knights of the Round Table. They had to redirect several boys into other branches after determining that they weren't suited to become knights during the initial training phase. That they didn't have the right mentality or that their bodies simply couldn't take the training. That was normal.

Sir Gawain worried about the tactical situation. While Camelot should be safe enough from bandits, there were groups that were unhappy with the way the king ruled the country. The biggest danger of mutiny over the king and queen not having an heir for the throne had been stopped for a while, as Harold, Lady Morgaine's son, proved a great choice for the time being. But that wouldn't last forever, he knew that too well. Someday, the ones having tried to work against King Arthur would become louder again. They would demand that the king finally presented a son of his own to continue his line, arguing that while Morgaine was his sister, she wasn't the daughter of Uther Pendragon.

Her father was Gorlois of Cornwall. The main reason why nobody had argued harsher about that part was the importance of Avalon. Igraine, the mother of Lady Morgaine and King Arthur, was the sister of the former high priestess of Avalon, Viviane, and the daughter of Viviane's predecessor Ana. The old ways were still strong in England, even if many had taken on the Christian faith. King Arthur granted both groups protection to peacefully celebrate their faith in his kingdom. And people considered women to be bound closer to the land they were born on. Avalon was a place of powerful magic, and that connection was seen as highly valuable.

That was why, next to the boy's personal qualities, Harold had been accepted easily as the placeholder for the throne, and successor of the king, should something horrible happen and he die before he could have a son of his own. The problem he saw in the current situation was that, due to low numbers of knights overall, a mission like the one the king was currently performing, drew nearly all active knights away from Camelot. If somebody wanted to start a coup, it would be the perfect opportunity. He was the only knight in full fighting condition. Next to him, seven older knights had stayed, who had taken over the training of the pages and squires that were left behind, as they would be in too much danger during battle.

Lord Black was also at Camelot, and he was working in secret to fortify the castle even more than the walls and soldiers could do. While the man wasn't the strongest traditional fighter right now, as he was still rebuilding his former strength, which an illness that had lasted some months had taken from him, he had the instincts of a great fighter. With magic in his arsenal, he could easily match any knight. Unknown to all those outside of the inner circle of advisors to King Arthur, Lord Black had been tasked to create a net of wards over Camelot that would stall any attacking force. He would carve his runes into any doorframe inside the castle to detect those intent on harming the inhabitants. And bar entrance into the rooms through the doorframes to those that came with ill intent.

It was a long process and needed high precision from the man. But he didn't shy away from the challenge. In fact, he happily greeted it, saying that he had always wanted to work on a project that would write history. Well, making Camelot impenetrable to enemies would fall into that bracket. Though, to not give away the plan, he had to do so unnoticed to most. And he first needed to work out sequences that wouldn't be triggered by minor bad intentions, like kitchen boys wanting to prank somebody by putting frogs into their rooms. That would only cause too much trouble and bring work to a standstill.

Lord Black guessed that to perfect the array he would need it would take a week or so. Meaning, if an attack took place early, that plan wouldn't give them any benefits. Still, Sir Gawain hoped that it wouldn't come to that. And the probability of a successful coup was also low enough to risk sending nearly all knights outside of Camelot for a big operation. Any possible culprit behind a coup would also be limited in the number of men he had available. And smuggling more into Camelot would be noticed. They had secured all the entrances into the city, including the three secret ones. Even if their numbers were reduced, to overwhelm the ones left behind, it would need at least two hundred well-trained men. And those would be spotted before they could act decisively.

Harry was outside in his training clothes. The morning training that the group of knights that was tasked with protecting Camelot was over and all squires and pages had spent the next few hours exercising the remaining horses. Each boy was given eight horses to ride each day. That took four hours, with the stable boys taking care of preparing the next horse to be ready when they were finished with the work for the previous one. Each horse was exercised for half an hour and then the next one was brought. The only break in their exercising schedule was for lunch break, then they continued until all horses were exercised. Next to that, there were a few remaining chores that hadn't been delegated to the service staff of the castle.

Things like collecting wood from the storage areas for example. That still was done by the pages and squires and was always scheduled in the morning directly after breakfast, next to in the evening before dinner. That schedule was also easily understandable. Right now, in summer, the only place that needed wood was the kitchen. To cook the meals for the inhabitants of the castle, fires needed to be kept going. In the morning, the wood was brought for lunch and dinner, and in the evening for the cooking of breakfast the next morning.

It was different to not train as much to improve his abilities with a sword, besides basic exercises under the close watch of whichever knight was in charge of that part of morning training, but he understood why it currently had to take a backseat. Still, that didn't mean that he would slack. While several of the other boys that stayed behind at Camelot used the opportunity to reduce their working pensum in some part, he didn't want to let Sir Edmund hear that he didn't train as much as before. That would only lead to painful extra training when his teacher was back from the mission.

Thus, he performed the moves he had been shown previously, and tried to perfect them. He started slowly, making sure to hit the exact points he wanted to hit on the training dummy that was used for sword training. He increased the speed slightly after a set of twenty repetitions. That was how he had been taught to do it. Next to him. His friend Cameron was working on something similar, but with his staff. He wasn't promoted to squire yet, thus the time he spent with sword training was less than Harry's. Still, the current situation made it clear to the smarter boys that slacking could cost them their lives in bad circumstances. And none of them wanted to ever face that.

Harry wasn't surprised that Wilbur and George, the jerks in his starting year group that felt they were better than others, were among those lazing about. They didn't dare mouthing off against him too much, not after he had been named crown prince, but they sure didn't like that part. They certainly needed to learn some more humility before their teachers would consider promoting them to squires. Well, that was their problem, not his. He concentrated on finishing his set of moves before walking over to the table on which the pitcher with water was placed. He poured himself a cup and drank slowly. He had learned that drinking too quickly could be detrimental to further training. Soon after, Cameron was next to him, filling his own cup.

"You seem to get better with the forms you were working on, Harry," commented Cameron.

"Yes. They come easier after the many repetitions I did on them. But it is still a long way until I can do them flawlessly with useful speed," admitted Harry.

"I can imagine. I mean, Sir Percival has started my training with the sword, but that thing is seriously heavy. No wonder that it takes more than a year for most pages to become squires. How did you manage to reach that level so fast?" asked Cameron.

"Higher healing levels than normal I would guess. Magic does make healing from normal things like sore muscles easier. Not to mention that I brew a special salve of healing herbs regularly to reduce the soreness. And you know that when the body gets used to a certain level, the muscles simply grow stronger," explained Harry.

"Unfair, but understandable," sighed Cameron, "then again, I know that when I am off duty, you have to study some more hours with either your mother or uncle. I guess that balances it out."

"True. I don't have much free time," agreed Harry.

"How do you manage that much work?" asked Cameron.

"Great scheduling and discipline," deadpanned Harry, "Otherwise it would not work. If I push something I have to do off, or don't work efficiently, the whole thing will break down."

"Ouch. I certainly prefer having more time to learn those things. Have you heard anything about the progress of the bandit catching operation?"

"Not yet. My godfather has only got routine messages from the ones on the mission. They are still getting into their assigned positions in most cases. Mainly because the area they need to cover is large. Nobody knows where the bandits have their main base," answered Harry.

"That is a problem," nodded Cameron, "did you hear that Wilbur and George were outraged that they had to stay behind while the older squires were allowed to go with the knights and the king? They believe that they should have been allowed to join the operation."

"Them? They aren't at the level that is needed to last through a bandit attack," objected Harry, shaking his head vehemently, "I mean, I saw how such an attack goes when the patrol I was part of found Aunt Morgause's and Mordred's carriage being attacked. That isn't a joke. Those men tried to kill anybody in their path. And neither George nor Wilbur are strong enough to even lift a sword repeatedly to block common strikes. I am not ready for that kind of thing. I mainly stayed in the background and gave ranged support where possible during that fight."

"True. I don't get their attitude anyway. I mean, it should have by now become obvious that names don't count for much in training to become a knight. Still, they cling to their belief that their fathers' names and wealth will give them privileges. If they aren't careful, they won't become squires and wash out of training after two and a half years at the latest," stated Cameron.

Harry nodded. That was the second deadline in training to become a knight. The first one was the one month deadline. Those not managing the basic training at that point were either sent home to wait for one more year before they tried again to pass the basic training, or they were redirected to the normal soldiers. The second deadline concerned pages that didn't get to the level a squire needed to have. Each page had two and a half years to reach that level. And this included both physical and mental prowess. Those that didn't show the right attitude would also be kicked out. There was still the option for them to find a different knight outside of Camelot to continue their training, but that was unlikely to happen. Those refused by the knights of Camelot for further training after giving them those two and a half years would only get a teacher if there was either somebody in their family that could continue the training or if their family paid a lot of money for somebody to do so.

Neither option happened often.

"I'm sure their teachers won't let their behaviour continue much longer though. They will be put on the spot once the knights have more time again. I believe that the bandit problem will be solved within three months at most. Then the knights will concentrate on our training full time again, and anybody not doing their best will be in for a world of pain. Sir Edmund may be among the strictest teachers that we have, but he is by far not the only one that gets creative in punishing lazy students," said Harry.

"I agree. I remember too well how Sir Percival corrected my assumption of how I could skip some stages in training, believing I had already covered them sufficiently at home," winced Cameron.

"I guess we all experienced some lessons that cut our ego down to a manageable size," grinned Harry.

"Probably it's a good thing too. Arrogance can lead to an early death. Not something I want to be my future," nodded Cameron.

Harry could only agree with his friend. They took a second cup of water before they returned to their training.

Two weeks after the start of the mission Sir Gawain received a first message. The groups of knights and soldiers were finally all in position and the transport had passed the imagined line behind the protection of London. From now on, they were waiting for the bandits to take the bait. That was good to know. At Camelot things had found into a new routine and the knights that substituted in the training of the pages and squires wrote down who among them was lazy and who did continue to train properly, even if their normal teachers weren't present. They would allow for some reduction in the intensity of the training that the boys did, that was unavoidable, but some of them stood out negatively by just doing what was unavoidable for them and used the rest of the time to flirt with girls or causing mischief.

They would see where that got them once the knights were back. Especially the pages that were still on probation before they became squires should know better. But two of the ones that were already identified as troublemakers were leading in shirking their training. If they didn't shape up, they would be sent home. Some of the pages that were close to squire level might profit from their attitude in continuing to improve themselves. Initiative like that was to be rewarded and it would probably lead to them getting promoted the next turn it was tested, which happened three times a year. Nobody tested if the level was suited for squire training during the winter months. It was simply much more difficult to keep up proper training then.

He had heard from Lord Black as well. He had managed to determine a suitable array that would protect the castle's entrances properly. He had tested it with a barn outside of Camelot while letting a prisoner attempt entering the building while he kept a close eye on the man to not let him escape. Now he would start applying the arrays at strategic entrances into Camelot. Though for the moment he would only manage the castle itself. There were simply too many people that passed through the large city gates to manage applying the array there unnoticed, which was necessary to not give up the plan. And everything depended on secrecy. There were other entrances into the city and if the attackers avoided the prepared entrances, he could as well save himself the work.

That made sense to Sir Gawain. But having the castle better secured would already be a relief.

Soon, very soon his plan would begin. He had received a carrier pigeon with a message that his paid mercenaries had spotted a few groups of knights which, like he had informed them, would go out to bring them down. And it was only a question of time until one of the men got a good shot at King Arthur. Then the young upstart would die, and his family in form of his two nephews would follow swiftly. In the resulting chaos, he could take over control at Camelot and be the rightful king of the country. And this time, no meddling magician like Taliesin would interfere in his plans. Nothing like what the uneducated peasants called fate would stand in his way again. And, contrary to Arthur, he had an heir already. He had a son that could follow him onto the throne. He would start a dynasty that would last. And he wouldn't be stupid to allow the peasants too many liberties. They were there to work for the nobles, not demand personal rights.

Harry read a book his mother had left for him to study, as she was too busy with other duties to regularly teach him currently. He understood why it was necessary. The injured and sick patients at the hospital wing needed her more right now than he did. She was brewing countless potions and salves to be ready when the next wave of injured patients needed them, next to having everything packed to send first aid teams to where they were needed. And as she was the most accomplished person with any kind of medical knowledge, she would lead such a team, especially as she could also protect the members of said team against possible attacks on the group. Though the places where such emergency hospital spots would be set up were inside the safe territory around Camelot.

It had been decided by the knights that taking a medical unit with them, while it would help a lot, wasn't practical, as the knights and soldiers of each group wouldn't be able to properly protect them while fighting against the bandits. Battles weren't clearly structured and orderly but chaotic. Anything could happen and it would be really bad if during such a battle the civilians that made up the medical unit were killed. Dead they couldn't treat the injured soldiers and knights anymore. The main reason why there were spots outside Camelot to treat the injured quickly were to prevent as many deaths as they could. In many cases time was a deciding factor to prevent that the injuries led to death.

And many knights were instructed in basic first aid measures. Like stopping bleeding and stabilising sprained and broken limbs. Harry had shown many of the things he had been taught, both in the present time and the future, to his fellow pages and squires. He was convinced that knowing these things would only help them. Even if many knights that had overheard some of the things he taught had looked doubtful hearing that distilled alcohol could help prevent infections of wounds.

The current lesson he was working on was identifying and connecting with his personal element. Every magical being was connected to one of the common elements. Air, water, fire and earth. Most never figured out how to build up the connection to their element and could therefore never use it beyond basic spells. For example, every advanced wizard or witch in his time could use the spell aguamenti to conjure different kinds of fluid, most commonly water, but a water aligned witch or wizard that had worked on the connection to the water element could control the flow of a river or split a waterfall for example.

The examples in the book what a properly trained magical could do with the help of an element were astonishing. Harry knew that this would take months to properly learn, and years to become proficient but it was worth it in the end. Being in harmony with his element, as well as his general magic, was the main goal of his mother's lessons for him. Once that was achieved, any kind of spell was possible. It would of course need practice to learn a new spell, but spells that many people in his time had deemed impossible to achieve on their own were very much manageable for his mother. He had seen how she had demonstrated one of those seemingly impossible spells last year, when he had been here for five months.

Her element, as she had told him, was water. And after a very long period of heavy rain, when a large river had threatened to flood a village close to it, she had gone there to redirect the river into a safer path. Instead of following the previous path, she got it to dig a new bed for itself with its strength. The result was a new lake close to the village. The villagers were incredibly grateful to have their homes spared thanks to her interference. But in Harry's time, changing the path of a river was deemed impossible for any single witch or wizard. Harry had read up on this, as he had been curious. Such spells were normally performed by a coven of at least three magicals of high power levels, and that was for small rivers and not in emergency situations.

Those in harmony with their magic also had an easier time to use advanced spells of other elements but it was exceedingly difficult to directly manipulate those elements, like they could with their own element. He just finished the chapter he was reading when Mordred entered the room, looking very tired.

"Hey, Mordred, why are you still up?" asked Harry.

"Couldn't sleep," answered the boy.

"You look really tired, what's keeping you from sleeping?" asked Harry concerned.

"Voices. I hear them whispering and speaking of danger," admitted Mordred, "But I can't find the ones that whisper."

Harry suspected that Mordred had some kind of clairvoyance ability, which was acting up. He was worried that he was warned from danger while he was here at Camelot. The castle should have been safe, and there were no signs of the bandits managing to breach the walls in any way.

"Do the voices say anything in particular?" asked Harry.

"They say that I'm in danger, that somebody wants to hurt me and you," answered Mordred frightened.

"Come here," said Harry and held his arms open, which Mordred immediately accepted and climbed onto Harry's lap, who had put the book he had been reading onto the table next to him.

"I'm scared, Harry," admitted Mordred.

"I know. These are dangerous times. But I will protect you," promised Harry.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to you either," whined Mordred.

"I will do my best to be safe, but you know that sometimes things just happen. But I do train for situations like that. What you can do to make things better is being vigilant at all times. If somebody really wants to harm you, they will have to catch you unaware first. Being careful and looking for possibly dangerous situation can lessen the danger. And here at Camelot, any attacker would have a hard time anyway. While the strongest knights are away, the castle and the city are far from unprotected," Harry tried to assure Mordred.

Mordred leaned against Harry's chest.

"Why do they want to harm us?" he asked.

"Some people are jealous of our positions. We are the nephews of the king. Back before Uncle Arthur became king, there was a long time where there wasn't a clear situation who would take the throne. King Uther had died when Uncle Arthur was still a very young child. He knew that there was a big chance that he wouldn't live to see his son grow up to an age where he could follow him onto the throne. To prevent many wars, Taliesin, the current Merlin, set up a challenge. You know that Uncle Arthur was made King of England after he pulled Excalibur from the stone. Taliesin had put it there," answered Harry.

"Yes, Sir Placidus told me about that in one of the history lessons," nodded Mordred.

"The sword was stuck in the stone for fifteen years before he could pull it out. And King Uther died one year before that. Meaning, the country didn't have a king for sixteen long years. And without a clear ruler, many people decided that they should become king. But the people wouldn't accept anybody that didn't manage to pull the sword from the stone. It was a dark and insecure time. Bandits were much more plentiful back then than they are now, even if most of them weren't as well organised as the current group seems to be. After many, many failures of nobles and knights to pull Excalibur from the stone, some decided that they would find a way to become king without the sword.

"But those plans were stopped from working out when Uncle Arthur managed what had been believed impossible by that time. When Taliesin also identified him as King Uther's long-hidden son, the common people gained a lot of hope and many nobles that thought he was not qualified to rule tried to not give up their power. That's why there have been conflicts for years. Several nobles and knights were happy to have the question of who should rule the country solved and joined Uncle Arthur here at Camelot and they were among the first Knights of the Round Table.

"But some of the ones that wanted to rule themselves would like it better if they could gain power. And that power, they think, could be won, if they harmed us, the currently only heirs to the throne. You know that I am the crown prince of Camelot right now, as Uncle Arthur and Aunt Guinevere don't have children of their own yet. As you are my little brother, if you get warnings of danger, they think you could be a danger to their plans too, even if you are just six years old," Harry tried to explain it in a way Mordred could understand.

"But I never did anything to them," protested Mordred.

"These people don't care about that, even if you are right. Uncle Arthur also reduced the rights of many nobles and gave commoners more rights in turn. Some don't like that. It takes time to change the way things were done for a long time. Uncle Arthur needs to convince people that the way he wants to do things works better than the old ways. And he needs to find compromises that all sides can live with," explained Harry.

"That's complicated," complained Mordred.

"I know. I still have to learn a lot myself. I'm very relieved that I don't have to worry about things that are the job of a king right now. I first need to learn how to become a knight and learn all about my magic. As you know, my timetable each day if really full."

"Yes. You are busy all day and have little time to play," nodded Mordred with a small frown.

"You see, privileges, as I have them as crown prince of Camelot, come with a lot of responsibilities and duties as well, Mordred. Some people don't see that and are jealous. The best you can do is ignoring those people's words of spite but never dismiss them as dangerous. Even the actions of a single person can have grave consequences if the circumstances are right. For you, the most important thing to do right now is learning what you can. Be it in your lessons or by watching and observing people around you. Nobody expects you to take on many responsibilities at your age. Enjoy that for as long as it lasts. You are a member of the royal family of Camelot. When you are older, people will look to you for advice and leadership.

"To be better than the ones that those voices warn you about, I advise you to learn how to make smart decisions that are fair for all parties. Not everybody will be happy with what you might decide, but as long as the majority of them are good and just, people will like you and support you. Never forget that a good leader looks out for the people he works with and who work for him. Over the course of history, despots nearly always fall because somebody close to them decided to not take their actions anymore."

Harry hoped that Mordred would take that lesson to heart. If he could stop him from going to war against Uncle Arthur much would be won.

"That's difficult, Harry, but I will try," promised Mordred, yawning.

"Great. That's all anybody can expect from you. Do you think you can go to sleep now?" asked Harry.

"Can I stay with you?" asked Mordred hopefully.

"Sure, little brother. I just have to expand the bed to have room for both of us," agreed Harry, having no problem to assure the child for the night.

Mordred smiled happily about not having to deal with his fears alone tonight. Harry decided that he could get ready for bed, as he hadn't planned to read for much longer. He went to change into his nightclothes and made a brief visit at the bathroom at the end of the corridor. Contrary to most other buildings, Camelot had indoor plumbing, even if it was mostly a chute that made things from the toilet fall into a large underground pit for waste. Thanks to pipes, the location could be changed once one pit was full. It was highly progressive for the time. And there was no difference between animal dung and human body wastes to fertilise fields. And these pits were located underneath the fields that surrounded Camelot.

Magic was also useful to clean his teeth, as toothbrushes hadn't been developed yet. And he could hardly use one from the muggle world. That would be too big of an anachronism. A simple spell that he had learned at the beginning of his first year at Hogwarts in Charms class took care of keeping his teeth healthy. He had to grin remembering Hermione's face when she heard why wizards didn't need dentists like her parents. The spell prevented things like cavities. She had huffed at finding that out. Well, it explained to Harry at the time why Ron considered what she described her parents doing as barbaric. He simply was used to never having to worry about the things muggles couldn't simply prevent with magic.

When he was back at his room, he used a spell to expand the bed and the blanket and then had Mordred climb in first before lying down next to his brother. He wasn't used to sharing his bed, but he felt protective of the young boy. And playing giant teddy bear for Mordred was no trouble at all. Soon both boys were asleep, unaware when their mother had a look into the room an hour later, only to smile at the cute sight the two of them gave. Two mops of dark hair peeked from under the blanket on the pillows at the top of the bed. It was too bad that this time didn't have things like cameras yet. Otherwise Morgaine would have immortalised the image for a family photo album.

And that's it for this chapter. Until next time.

17. Attack

Hello everybody. Happy Easter. Hope you had a nice day so far. Enjoy the newest chapter.

Attack

Arthur listened to the report from one of the messengers. The transport had been robbed, like they had expected. The pigeon with the message had just arrived at their camp.

"I see, thank you for informing me," he addressed the messenger who nodded and left the king and the knights to decide what to do next.

"Alright, the bait was taken. The attack happened about a day away from any settlement," stated Arthur.

"Yes. We have three groups fairly close to the location. Those under Lancelot, Percival and Robert," commented Sir Tristan, "Did they also get messages?"

"Yes, the ones at the transport were to send one pigeon to a central point, mainly because hiding that many pigeons would have been suspicious, from where the ones to all groups would be sent," confirmed Arthur, "And the central point will have been informed where the attack took place and there is a map where our groups are stationed to choose those pigeons that would fly to the knights in question."

"Good, then they will move to find the bandits immediately," understood Tristan.

"And we need to direct the other groups to close any further holes in the net. We need to finally deal with the bandits. We can't allow them to kill more of our people," declared Arthur.

The men around him nodded in agreement. Too many had already been killed and they needed to end this and bring back peace. It was already hard enough for the people to survive each year anew, as storing enough food for winter was a challenge for everybody. With bandits involved, they often lost some of that valuable resource and with people being killed, hands to perform the upcoming harvests of corn and other things that would soon be ripe would become much harder.

"Inform the men, Tristan, we will move out in one hour. We will follow the previously agreed plans," ordered Arthur and Tristan nodded to give out orders to the soldiers.

Guinevere looked out of the window of her salon, sighing at the dark clouds that promised rain very soon. It would be hard for her husband and the knights to follow any tracks of the bandits with rain deleting tracks that the dogs could follow. She had grown up learning about how sleuths were trained. Her father bred hounds and often talked about successful methods to train them to make them more valuable for hunters and nobles. The better a dog was trained, the more money her father would earn when he sold the dog. Though he also did good business with selling the dogs that were too soft to be trained as sleuths to noble families as companions for their children. After all, a cute puppy that would play with them was popular. And thanks to years of experience he quickly determined which dog had the basics to be trained up and which to be left as a pet. After all, every dog bred by him showed impeccable character, which was important when dealing with dogs.

She heard somebody knock at her door and called the person inside. To her joy it was her nephew Harold.

"Harry, this is a nice surprise," she greeted him with a smile.

"Hello, Aunt Guinevere. Thanks to the clear signs of the rain starting soon, I found myself with a little time until dinner. I thought we could try and work through some of the material I brought with me," Harry said, not mentioning that it was from the future.

Those that might overhear something would think he meant he had looked this up at Avalon, where he had spent a bit of time with his mother after he had been promoted to squire, before they returned to Camelot.

"That would be great, Harry. Do you really think it might help?" she asked hopefully.

"We will only know once we tried it. As mother couldn't figure out what the problem with you conceiving a child is, we can already exclude those things that would show up on a general diagnostic spell. That caused me to look into things that need a special method to determine if the curse, potion or hex that can be detected that way was used," explained Harry.

"I see, that makes sense," nodded Guinevere, "After all, Morgaine did examine me thoroughly and determined that I should have managed to get pregnant long ago. That it wasn't due to me being barren."

That was the hope she held onto over the years. She should be able to have children, but for some reason she and Arthur couldn't conceive one.

"I have prepared the detection methods for three ways that can prevent that a woman becomes pregnant. If they don't work, well, I have about a dozen others that we can try afterwards," informed Harry her.

"There are that many ways to prevent that a woman can get pregnant?" she asked horrified.

"Even more, but those are the ones that wouldn't appear on general scans. And mother is a highly accomplished healer and would have noticed any of those ways already, had they been used. I don't know why, but preventing pregnancies seems to be a popular way to get revenge against rivals in history. Probably because having an heir to follow you is particularly important for all noble families," commented Harry.

Guinevere nodded, knowing how true that was.

"The first way I want to try needs two drops of your blood into this potion. I have prepared this piece of parchment to determine if there is a trace of a potion that would stop the production of fertile eggs," explained Harry the potion he held out.

"Eggs?" Guinevere asked, not knowing what he meant.

"Well," Harry blushed a little, being a teenager and having to talk about reproduction, was awkward, "You know that to make a baby a man and a woman have to sleep with each other?"

"Of course, I have been married for years and my father bred dogs," she nodded.

"Okay, that makes it a little easier. To make a baby, a man supplies sperm for the creation, and a woman an egg. These eggs are produced in the ovaries, which sit to both sides of the lower torso. Each month one egg is fertile and sent onto its way. For a few days this egg can be fertilised if a couple sleeps with each other. If the timing is right, the fertilised egg wanders into the womb of the woman and settles there. A woman will notice that it has happened when her period doesn't take place," explained Harry, making Guinevere nod, knowing that was how women knew they were pregnant. She just never knew the other parts.

"Well, the potion that I will test for, creates a block around the ovaries. This block shifts the timeframe to the disadvantage of the woman. The ovary will still produce an egg each month, but the egg is only fertile for about a week. Afterwards, it will simply be disposed by the body during the monthly period," Harry continued.

"I think I see where this is going. The block will prevent that the egg can get out while it is fertile, or the seed can reach it, but the egg will still be sent out of the body afterwards when the period starts?" she asked.

"Yes, that's what this potion does. According to my research, it would only need one dose of the potion to work for seven years. Afterwards you would need to give the woman a new dose to continue the effect," confirmed Harry.

"That's truly nasty," stated Guinevere.

"You're right," agreed Harry.

"Then let's see if this is what was done to me," she declared and used a small knife that Harry had also brought with him to prick her finger and have two drops of blood fall into the vial Harry held out with an orange potion.

She watched curiously how he swirled the potion on the inside and then, after it turned red, poured it onto the parchment on her table. Soon she could make out the beginnings of letters, but the potion still spread. Harry looked at it intently.

"Hm, interesting," he commented, "this is more complicated than just a potion."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Mother taught me how to read results of tests like this one. I did a blood test to determine some of my magical abilities, Aunt Guinevere. It was similar to what I did here. From what I can see here, the one that cursed you, didn't just use one method. The potion clearly latched onto the one I was testing for, but if that was all that was done, the result would be slightly different. This will be really tricky to figure out. We need to first know all of the methods used to prevent that you can get pregnant before we act, otherwise we might overlook something. I believe, but I will ask mother as well to look over the results here, that we are dealing with at least three layers of magical interference. No wonder that nothing that mother tried before worked," stated Harry.

"Three methods? Who would go that far?" she exclaimed horrified, but also glad to know that it was outside interference and nothing to do with her body itself. She had some self-confidence problems from not managing to become pregnant.

"Enemies that want the throne for themselves, I would guess," answered Harry, "Those that had hoped to marry Uncle Arthur, or at least have a family member marry him, to have power over England."

"How long do you think it will take to figure out the other parts, Harry? I really want to have a child of my own," admitted Guinevere.

"I will discuss this with mother after I had the other two tests done that I prepared. The more we know, the better we can act. And mother knows much more about magic than I do," replied Harry.

"Understandable. She is the High Priestess of Avalon after all," nodded Guinevere.

Harry nodded and continued with the tests. He tested for a curse that blocked sperm to connect to an egg, which came up negative, and one that would block the sperm from entering the area where the fertile egg normally waited, which also was negative. Well, they now had at least one part figured out, and hopefully Harry's mother would have an easier time determining the rest as well.

Harry was walking towards the study where Mordred was having his lessons with Sir Placidus. He had got a message that there was a problem with his little brother and as his mother wasn't available at the moment, he was asked to assist. He briefly wondered why somebody would think of him before Aunt Guinevere, but perhaps she was also busy. She was the queen after all. When he turned around the corner, his instincts yelled at him about danger and he stepped back just as an arrow flew past him right at the position where he would have been, had he not listened to his instincts. He ducked and had a quick look around the corner. There was a man in a black, hooded cloak that held a crossbow, aiming at the spot, already reloading the crossbow. He couldn't make out any features of his face, clearly a professional.

Another arrow flew at him, this time lower and he was forced to jump out of his cover to not be hit by it. He wanted to curse, but he was used to being targeted by people that wanted to see him dead. Therefore, he didn't freeze and could spring into action. And this assassin wouldn't know how to use magic or deal with somebody that could defend himself with its help. It was incredibly useful that Harry had wind as his element. One small gesture with his hand had the third arrow thrown off course by a strong gust of wind. Then Harry sprinted towards the archer, knowing that he couldn't allow him to continue firing or using a different weapon.

While running he drew his knives. While he had improved in using a sword, he knew far too well that an adult opponent was much stronger than him. He was still growing and had come from a bad starting position thanks to the abuse in his childhood. But he was agile and quick, which was perfect to use knives in a pinch. Not to mention that he had been trained to use them skilfully in the kitchen by his aunt since he was five. He had experience with this weapon, even if fighting with them had only been trained after he started as Sir Edmund's page.

The assassin was surprised to find Harry attacking instead of running away. That much was clear from his reaction, but he was quick to counter the attacks with the knives. Still, Harry managed to get in two hits against the arm that held the crossbow. The man cursed when the sharp blades of Harry's knives cut him but continued trying to kill him. Harry had to duck thrown punches and kicks, the crossbow used as a makeshift club and a thrown knife that managed to nick his clothes while he dodged. Then the man made a big mistake, which Harry used immediately. He tried to draw a sword, but that caused him to drop the crossbow, as his attempt to put it over his back failed with Harry attacking relentlessly.

Harry had learned to fire a crossbow. He also had learned to summon items into his hands. That had been part of the lessons in magic from his mother last year. He pulled at the crossbow with his magic when the assassin tried to put it onto his back and directly after had it in his hands, turned it against its owner. Aiming and firing the already loaded arrow was easy for him. At the short distance, his shot hit the man into the shoulder. The man screamed in pain and then tried to hit Harry with his sword, but his strength was hindered by the pain from the shoulder. He couldn't use both arms, which would be necessary to land a full hit. And Harry had been trained in sword fighting extensively by Sir Edmund since he returned to Camelot. Not to mention his work with Neville during the school year at Hogwarts.

He could somewhat read how the sword would be moved and get out of the way. While avoiding the first hit, he reloaded the crossbow with one of the remaining three arrows in its small quiver. He took aim and fired. Sadly, the man managed to block the arrow with his sword. Harry jumped back against a sword slash, but the man was getting slower, probably due to the wound. Harry reloaded again and before he fired, he shot a strong gust of wind against the assassin, which forced him to cross his arms in front of the body to protect himself, but it wasn't a good movement for the injured shoulder. Just when the man uncrossed his arms to continue his attack, Harry fired from the side of his attacker. The side of the injured shoulder. The arrow hit the chest and the man went down.

Not wanting to let the chance to interrogate the man pass, after all, in his experience assassins were rarely the mastermind behind a plan, he summoned the sword and then used his wand to tie the man up in thick ropes. He took a few deep breaths. That could have gone a much different way, had his instincts been less sharp. He needed to call Sir Gawain, who was in charge of the castle. If an assassin could get this far into the castle, the security precautions needed to be adjusted immediately. And Harry knew that all areas where he would normally spend time at were considered the ones with the highest security precautions.

It was one thing to trick him into coming to a specific place, which he now knew the message had been. Nothing but a trick at a time when he wouldn't suspect anything being amiss, as his mother wasn't present at the castle and therefore any problem with Mordred would be delegated to another family member. But it was a different thing to nearly succeed in killing the crown prince. For that, the assassin had to have help from the inside. Meaning, there was at least one traitor inside Camelot.

Then two guards came running around the corner, probably drawn by the noise.

"Prince Harold!" exclaimed one of them, understanding the situation quickly, which wasn't hard, as a tied-up man, strewn weapons and blood traces on the floor told a clear story.

"I'm alright, he didn't manage to land a good hit," assured Harry the guards, "But we need to inform Sir Gawain and find out who let that assassin into this part of the castle. And we have to check on Mordred. If somebody was after my life, they might also be after my brother."

"Eustace, you run over to Sir Gawain and alert him to the attack on the prince. I'll stay with Prince Harold to ensure that there isn't another attacker that will use a distraction over the defeat of the first attacker to try and finish the job," instructed one of the guards.

"Understood Clarence. I'll send Stephen and Richard here, they are patrolling close by as well," confirmed Eustace and ran off towards Sir Gawain's office.

"What can you tell me about the fight?" asked Clarence.

"I got a message that I needed to take care of a problem concerning my brother Mordred. I was on the way there when my instincts warned me of danger suddenly and I just managed to avoid being hit by an arrow. Had I continued my way around the corner back there," here Harry pointed at the corner, "I would be dead by now. The man then quickly loaded another arrow and fired again; I had ducked to look around the corner, but he adjusted his aim very fast. I had to jump forward to not have the arrow hit my head.

"I knew I needed to get out of the defensive position, thus I drew my knives and attacked. He wasn't prepared for that, but again quickly adjusted and fought me while using his fists, legs and the crossbow as a makeshift club. I manged to take away his crossbow when he tried switching to a sword. Probably because the crossbow wasn't a good choice in close combat, as he couldn't land good hits on me, as I was faster and more agile than him. I landed the first shot in his shoulder, as he was surprised. He blocked a second arrow. The third one landed, after I blinded him with a strong gust of wind," reported Harry.

"I see," nodded Clarence.

They heard more running towards their position. Soon they saw two more guards arriving at the scene, next to Sir Placidus and Mordred, who both were thankfully alright.

"Harry!" cried Mordred and ran towards him. Harry caught his brother and hugged him, glad that the attacker hadn't harmed him, "What happened?"

"I was attacked by an assassin, but I managed to overwhelm him, Mordred," answered Harry, knowing that Mordred would come to the right conclusions on his own anyway, as he saw the injured and tied up man.

It didn't take long for Sirius and Sir Gawain to arrive at the scene. Harry had to again tell what had happened.

"We will interrogate this man about his client and then lock him up until the king is back to decide his fate," declared Sir Gawain.

"Place a guard at the cell, Sir Gawain. He could only have got this far into the castle if he had inside help. And whoever paid him would want to hide his trail," warned Harry.

"Good thinking, Prince Harold. It would indeed make sense for the client to try and silence him forever," nodded Gawain.

Though the group was startled to hear the caught assassin groan and cry out in pain suddenly before falling limp. Sirius quickly checked.

"Shit, he's dead. Poison from what I can determine," cursed Sirius.

"But how? He couldn't have drunk some," replied Harry.

Sirius went over to one of the arrows on the ground and lifted it carefully, sniffing at the arrowhead.

"That's how. He poisoned the arrowheads of his arrows. Probably he wanted to make sure that you died even if he only managed to graze you. Truly nasty. I will have to do a proper analysis of the kind of poison on the arrowheads to know what it was. Perhaps the type of the poison can help us narrow the possible client behind him down. But we need to increase the protection around Harry and Mordred," stated Sirius.

"You're right. This won't be the only attempt on their lives. Shit, do you think the one behind this might also have assassins out to kill the king? It would only make sense to go after the heirs if they were sure to get the king as well," realised Sir Gawain.

"It's quite possible. We need to warn him to be on guard," agreed Sirius grimly.

Mordred held tightly onto Harry. This was far too close to the nightmares he had had. His greatest fear was losing his brother. Next to being killed himself.

"It's alright, Mordred, we won't let anybody harm you," assured Harry the boy.

"But what if another one surprises you? Or they find me? I can't fight yet," complained the boy.

"Don't worry, Mordred," Sirius spoke up, "I will create a bracelet or something like that with protection runes on it to prevent that anybody can hit you with attacks, be they magical or mundane."

"Why didn't you make one for Harry then?" Mordred demanded to know.

"He's too old for them to work perfectly," admitted Sirius, "while your small body doesn't allow you to protect yourself well yet, it has the advantage that I can cover its full size with a protective field created by runes. Harry is older and thus larger than you. I can create things that protect a certain area, like the head or the chest for example, but larger fields need larger anchors."

"Like what?" asked Mordred curiously.

"Have you heard about the wards I can create with metal plates for houses?" asked Sirius.

Mordred nodded. That had been the example some of the people working at the castle had used to describe what Sirius Black did.

"Good. These plates are larger than what can be carried on the body unsuspiciously. Not to mention that they will remain stationary, meaning in one place of the house. That allows them to draw magic from their surroundings to power the wards I create with the runes on the plates. For a person of Harry's size, the focus would need to be of a similar size if he were to stay in one position. It doubles if he moves around, which you will agree, is what will happen, as he still has his training, his duties and so on," explained Sirius.

"That is really big," nodded Mordred understanding the problem, "How can we protect Harry then?"

"We will set up a guard detail for both of you," decided Sir Gawain, "While we don't have many guards here at Camelot right now, the security of our current heirs to the throne is a priority. I will also have all the ones we have here at Camelot search the castle for more possible intruders or spies. Even if the latter will be more difficult, as we don't know who might have turned traitor."

"I will be vigilant, Mordred," promised Harry, "Forewarned is forearmed after all. Now that I know that there might be assassins still hiding inside Camelot, I can be on guard."

Mordred nodded hesitantly.

"I suggest both Harold and Mordred stay inside a room of the castle until we finished the search we need to perform," suggested Sir Placidus, "That way they will be safe for the moment. And we all know that the chance to find a traitor is bigger right after an attack, as he might slip up over the failure. If that doesn't happen, it is a skilled opponent that needs more work to track down."

"Very true, Placidus," nodded Sir Gawain, "We will do it that way. Though I suggest we let them take care of some horses in the stables. Nobody would suspect to look there. After all, the ones behind the attack might try to search inside the castle to quickly get their job done before running away to not get caught. The more time they give us, the higher the chance we find them."

"Again true, and I can place a glamour on both of them, meaning nobody will recognise them while they are there. Only we will be aware what they look like, adding an additional layer of security," suggested Sirius.

Both Sir Gawain and Sir Placidus nodded, agreeing with the plan. Sirius drew his wand and placed the glamour over the faces of Harry and Mordred, changing their hair colour to red while slightly changing their facial features to disguise them.

"Very well done. If I didn't know it was them, I wouldn't notice anything," approved Sir Placidus.

"Stephen and Richard, you are to keep a discreet eye on the two while pretending to search the area for intruders. Nobody will suspect anything. Harry, Mordred, I want you to clean the horses in the stables. Make it look as if Harry is teaching Mordred how to do it with some of the tamer horses. While I know that Mordred already had some lessons on that during his riding lessons, nobody will know that with his new looks," instructed Sir Gawain.

Everybody nodded and the two guards left with Harry and Mordred towards the stables, while the rest of the group went and assembled the remaining soldiers and knights to thoroughly search the castle for possible traitors.

The knights were in fierce battles. They had to defend their injured king. A cowardly assassin had managed to land a hit with some very well-hidden traps. The one thing they were grateful for was that they were numerous enough to slowly whittle away the numbers of the ones attacking them. They had followed the trail of the bait that the bandits had taken like planned. The bad part was, when they were close to the camp of the bandits, the tide was turned against them by the bandits suddenly appearing and springing several traps. And one of them had hit the king. The injury itself wasn't too bad. King Arthur was an experienced fighter and could deal with a little pain. And only one of the knives had hit him in the leg.

To not have the bandits be prepared for them coming, they hadn't worn their armours. They were simply too loud to use on a mission that required stealth. They had replaced the protection the armour offered with thick leather clothing where possible. That was the reason why none of them was dead, as the clothes had covered all vital parts of the bodies in thick layers of leather. But the knife wound made it harder for the king to fight at full power. The knife had got deep into the leg's flesh. Treating the wound would be manageable once they could safely do so. The knife wasn't too large, probably due to the trap firing several knives with some kind of catapult.

Then arrows rained down on their group and they raised their shields to block the rain of deadly missiles. It allowed the ones battling them directly to fall back and reform their lines. It was clear that this was a well-planned trap. The bandits had known that somebody would manage to follow and find them one day and had rigged their territory in the woods with all kinds of nasty traps.

"We need to overwhelm them," shouted Sir Lancelot.

"How? With the archers out there, they have basically pinned us down here. If we move, we risk the king," shouted Sir Percival back.

The group had consisted of five knights, the king and twenty-four soldiers. They had lost ten soldiers and Sir Alaric to the surprise attacks in the beginning. Sir Alaric's horse had triggered a pit fall and inside that pit fall were speers that killed those that fell down there on impact. It was a gruesome way to die. And the trap was large enough to take four riders when the ground covering it broke down. The others had fallen to different traps and arrows shot at the group from hidden spots.

"Help is on the way," announced Arthur.

"How, your majesty?" asked Lancelot surprised.

"Sirius made coins engraved with runes that all the group leaders were given. This allows one group to inform another if they find the bandits. Well, we certainly did find them. The groups of Tristan and Robert should be closest to our position. While we will have to hold out for about twenty minutes at least, if they go full speed, at least one of them should arrive here soon to help us. And until then we can last. We are all trained in combat and far better than these bandits could ever be," declared Arthur.

"Thank goodness. Then let's defend our position," agreed Percival.

The knights and remaining soldiers positioned their shields to offer them the greatest protection against arrows and still keep the bandits in view in case they pulled a new trick.

Morgaine felt a disturbance, but she couldn't quite determine what was wrong. It wasn't a danger to herself that much was certain. More as if somebody in her family was in danger. She prayed that Harry, Mordred and Arthur were safe. Her musings were cut short when she heard horses outside the hut she had set up together with her helpers to have a dry place to treat possible patients. She hurried out of the hut, as the horses were moving fast from the sound. She was shocked to see the group that had appeared. It was the one of her brother, but it was a lot smaller than when he had left Camelot, next to about half of the group under the command of Sir Tristan.

"What happened?" she asked, immediately being all business.

"An ambush. It was a terrible trap, Lady Morgaine," answered Sir Percival, "Considering that, our losses, while severe, weren't that large. We lost Sir Alaric and four soldiers to a pit fall with spears at the beginning. Six more in the fights. King Arthur was injured by a knife launcher and one of the knives hit his leg. Thankfully, we could prevent worse, thanks to the arrows that were fired in droves at our group not being able to pierce our shields. Otherwise we have some cuts, bruises, sprains and one arrow stuck in an arm of one soldier to treat."

"I see. Get the ones that are injured into the hut and sort them according to their injuries. My assistants will tell you who goes to which area," she instructed the men, "Did you at least deal with the attackers?"

"When my group arrived, we managed to turn the tides," nodded Sir Tristan, "They didn't expect us to arrive to assist the others, especially as we sneaked up on them from their backs. And we let the hounds take the first assaults, which they weren't prepared for. We have arrested four of the men that attacked the king's group for interrogation. We will find out the truth behind this problem this time. They were too well organised to not have somebody who knows about strategy and warfare pulling the strings."

"Good. I will set to work and talk to my brother once all the injured men have been treated," she replied and went into the hut to get to work.

I know, mean cliffhanger. Chocolate bunnies and easter eggs to those that guess what will be done next :) Until next time.

18. Protecting the Heirs

Hi everybody. A new chapter to solve the clifhanger of the last one :) Happy reading.

Protecting the Heirs

Harry and Mordred spent four hours cleaning horses while the castle and the immediate surroundings were searched by every available man. After two hours Mordred needed to take a break, as his arms hurt from the unfamiliar work for him. Harry let him rest for a while, continuing the work to keep himself distracted and think about the attack. He didn't like how narrow the miss had been. He was grateful that his sense of danger was as well trained as it was. Otherwise this wouldn't have ended well.

He also thought that this event, which probably would have taken place in the original past as well, might have influenced Mordred negatively. Had Harry not been sent into the past to train his magic to be prepared to become the guardian of magic in his time, Mordred would have been the only possible heir to the throne of Camelot. Because the curses on Aunt Guinevere weren't influenced by his presence at all. Which meant, Mordred, who was the King's nephew, would have been the primary target instead of Harry. Probably the one behind the assassin had felt that Harry posed a bigger threat than Mordred, due to the age gap.

He might be wrong though. Perhaps Mordred hadn't been at Camelot. It could be that he would have been left at Lady Morgause's castle when she went on her journey. Harry didn't have the impression that she cared that much for Mordred. She certainly didn't treat him like a loved family member, more like an obligation or a means to an end when she had been at Camelot. From what he remembered reading about the time of Camelot in his time, Mordred had attacked Arthur because he felt that he had a right to the throne, as Arthur didn't have any heirs. That had been when Mordred was about twenty-three according to history sources. Meaning, Arthur had been in his forties, which was quite old in this time, when they battled.

Arthur had killed Mordred but had been gravely injured in the battle and according to legend he was brought to Avalon but had to be placed into a healing sleep as the priestesses couldn't save his life any other way, as the injuries were too severe. Perhaps he had simply died and to disguise that part the more impressive sounding lie was coined. The lie that Arthur would return when his people needed him the most.

No matter what, Harry would try to set Mordred onto a path where he wouldn't see his uncle as his enemy and become a loyal knight of the Round Table. If Mordred got acknowledgement as a knight, he might choose a different path. It would also help if they could reverse the childlessness of Aunt Guinevere. Then Mordred wouldn't ever feel that he had a right to the throne. While Harry knew that Mordred was the rightful heir to the throne, as Arthur was his father, the black mark of being born out of wedlock, especially as his parents were siblings, would make his claim tainted to the ones being against bastard children having any rights to inheritances. It was something Christianity and the Old Religion were warring over. While both religions had their good sides, in others they were controversial.

Or it might be the interpretations of the religion by extremists. Harry knew enough about history to know that any religion that was peaceful in itself could be abused to lead good people into wars. One just had to think of things like the crusades, the inquisition or extermination of religious groups that were minorities. It could even happen that good intentions led to horrible actions.

Harry would have to make sure that Mordred didn't start believing that once he was back with Morgause, Harry didn't care for him anymore. But that was something easily done. Hedwig had never failed to deliver a letter he sent. And Mordred knew her. If he sent Mordred letters each month or so, he could keep the boy assured that he cared and was interested in what was happening in his life. If their mother hadn't been able to stay close to Mordred thanks to the vow Morgause had tricked her into, the isolation would have put Mordred onto the path where he felt that his family didn't acknowledge him. And Morgause would drip poison into his ears slowly, turning him against the ones standing in her way to control the country.

When Harry and Mordred had finished with the last horse that was located in this part of the stables, their guards were contacted by another guard. Harry and Mordred discreetly listened to what was reported.

"Sir Gawain sent me to tell you that the search has finished. He also said to bring the package you were told to hide until he gave orders to stop doing so to him," was the instruction that the man relayed.

"I understand," accepted Clarence.

He nodded to Eustace and they went into the stable to collect Harry and Mordred, who were ready to go.

"Be on guard while we walk to Sir Gawain's office. To be sure, we will be carrying this box to the office. Anybody outside those in the know will think that is what we were told to hide," explained Eustace.

"Makes sense," accepted Harry, "I heard the orders that were relayed."

"Good, then let's go and find out what the others found," stated Clarence.

The group used one of the lesser travelled paths towards the office of Sir Gawain. It took them twenty minutes to get there, and they met two groups of maids on the way there. Clarence knocked on the door and they were called inside.

"Thank you for bringing the package here, Eustace and Clarence," said Sir Gawain when they entered the room, "Please put the box onto the table over there and then you may return to your normal patrol routes. A debriefing for all guards will take place an hour after dinner in the armoury. Please be there on time."

"Of course, Sir," nodded Eustace and placed the box onto the table.

He and Clarence left the room and closed the door. Harry and Mordred stayed, as they were the ones that had to come here.

"Did you find anything, Sir Gawain?" asked Mordred as soon as the door was closed.

"We did but not enough to get the one in the shadows," answered Sir Gawain, "We managed to find two infiltrators that worked in the kitchen and the general workers at the castle. The one in the kitchen was actually pointed out to us by one of the teenagers that your patrol group brought here, Prince Harold. She noticed that he was behaving suspicious and rumours about the failed attack had already spread among the staff. She immediately went to your godfather when he was walking towards one of the entrances of the castle and informed him what she had observed. He was apprehended by Lord Sirius with his magic, which allows us to interrogate him properly.

"The second one was normally tasked with repair jobs all over the castle, meaning he knew the layout very well. The main problem was that when the guards approached him, he decided to rather jump from a window than get caught. He died on impact."

"Why would he do that?" asked Mordred horrified.

"Sounds like a fanatic to me," pondered Harry, "A bought assassin would have fought his way out normally. They aren't the type to take their own lives."

"Quite true. We will see what the one Lord Sirius caught can tell us. Hopefully, we can find the one that is behind the attack. Because without enough money no professional assassin would take this kind of risky job. The offered reward has to be high to risk his life by infiltrating Camelot, even while we have a reduced fighting force inside the castle," agreed Sir Gawain.

"Will there be more?" asked Mordred frightened.

Sir Gawain looked at the boy with sympathy. Harry was old enough to deal with the threat to his life and take precautions to avoid a repeat of what happened. Mordred was just six years old and had been raised sheltered of political plots for the power in the country so far.

"We can't exclude that there will be other attempts. But we will take all precautions that we can to find more possible threats to either of you. Normally, the one behind the attacks will become a lot more careful now that we are onto the plot. He might even postpone any further attempts until we lower the security measures again. Though, to be sure that nothing happens to you, Lord Sirius has thought up a plan that will help us greatly in guaranteeing your safety," assured Sir Gawain.

"What kind of plan?" asked Harry curiously.

"We have sent a letter to Sir Godric to ask if he and his fellow school founders would grant the two of you sanctuary at their school Hogwarts until we have returned the security around Camelot to where it normally is outside of the winter period. We can't exclude further attacks against either of you with the small force we have here. And until we have dealt with the whole bandit group, the one or ones that are the masterminds in the background and possible further spies, it would be too dangerous to keep the two of you here. Hogwarts castle is too far away to let the ones after your lives easily get there, not to mention that Sir Godric and his friends are among the foremost users of magic currently.

"They will be able to protect you at Hogwarts until we have done our jobs here at Camelot. As King Arthur and Queen Guinevere don't have children of their own yet, the two of you are of pivotal importance for Camelot and England. You mustn't die," declared Sir Gawain.

Harry was certainly shocked. He hadn't expected this at all. Seeing Hogwarts during the time when the founders were still alive. But it made sense and was logical that Sirius would get this idea. Harry would be able to continue his studies as both a knight and a wizard at Hogwarts under the tutelage of the four founders. And Mordred would be much better protected at that place, as Sir Gawain was correct in saying that with the greatly reduced fighting force at Camelot they couldn't guarantee that another assassin didn't have more luck with his plan.

"What about Aunt Guinevere? She could also become a target," asked Harry.

"We have already thought about that. She agreed to disguise herself and join your mother and the medical team. Queen Guinevere learned the basics of treating wounds in her youth and feels that this would help doubly. She would be out of the line of fire and do something useful instead of just sitting around here, worrying what was going on. Nobody would expect the Queen to be outside the protective walls of Camelot," answered Sir Gawain.

Harry nodded. That made sense. And with some simple hair dye, which he knew his mother knew how to make, nobody would recognise his aunt when she worked as a nurse. She didn't go out that often after all, mostly staying inside Camelot. The only exception were journeys to visit her family.

"What about Aunt Morgause?" asked Mordred, "She will return soon according to her plan."

"I will tell her that you were relocated for your safety, as we couldn't wait for her return. In fact, she sent a message three days ago that her business was taking longer than expected and that she asked her nephew to host you for three weeks more than originally expected. We of course sent a messenger to confirm that part. Thus, the decision how to act now falls to me and Lord Sirius," explained Sir Gawain.

"Alright. Should we start packing our most important things for the journey?" asked Harry.

"That would be a good idea. Especially as the journey takes about a week and a half on horseback. It would be detrimental to use a carriage. On horseback you are more flexible which paths you can take. And nobody would expect us to send Lord Mordred onto a journey while riding a horse. They don't know after all that he is a natural at horseback riding," grinned Sir Gawain and Mordred blushed at the praise.

He had been taking riding lessons for two and a half weeks by now and he got better each day. And it was a lot of fun.

"Good thing that we have the pony for him then. Alright, I will go back to my room and pack a few saddle bags for both of us. It won't be any different than getting ready for a patrol after all. Then we can leave once the answer from Sir Godric arrives," accepted Harry.

Sir Gawain nodded and the two boys left the room, and as they were still in their disguises, they didn't have to wait for guards to escort them.

The answer from Hogwarts arrived the next day. It seemed that Hedwig, who had taken the letter that Sirius had written, and which Sir Gawain had co-signed, had been very quick to fly the familiar route to the north and back. The founders of Hogwarts were willing to host Harry and Mordred to get them out of the danger that was hidden at Camelot currently. They also confirmed that Harry was welcome to join some classes to continue his magical studies and that Sir Godric would take over his training as a squire, as Sir Edmund couldn't take care of it while the current situation was still prevalent.

Harry was happy that he would get to see his school during the time of the founders. It would be an incredible experience. Mordred was also extremely excited. It would be a long journey and the first time he would be allowed to actively take part in it, as he would be riding on the back of his favourite pony Danny. Lady Helga had included information that they had started a small class of ten children that were too young for formal training at Hogwarts, but who didn't have families outside of Hogwarts that could take care of them. Mordred was welcome to join them to study things like writing, reading, calculating and basic magical knowledge, like plants and their uses, magical creatures and their habitats and basics of potion brewing.

Harry was glad that his little brother would have a chance to find some friends his age that were also born with magic. At Camelot, while there were a few children around his age, they couldn't understand a lot of things he was used to. Both because they were commoners and non-magical. Mordred could play some games when he was done with his studies with them, but they rarely talked about things he knew better. While the other children were in awe that he was the son of Lady Morgaine and the brother of Harry, their lives revolved around other things and nearly none of them got a structured education.

Teachers were expensive after all, and few parents could afford the fees that even the cheapest ones demanded. The only thing that existed was a two-years course for basic things like reading and writing that was paid for by King Arthur that was open for fifty boys living at Camelot each year that proved that they were worth the investment. These boys had to be at least ten years old though. Harry, after hearing about this, planned to see about finding a way to sponsor general schools all over the country. Both for boys and girls. Education was valuable and it was a sign of a wealthy country if the children at least received what he considered a primary school education. He would have to talk about it with his uncle once they both returned to Camelot.

Sir Gawain had taken the confirmation from Hogwarts well and immediately gave orders to arrange some provisions for the group to travel to the north. Next to Harry and Mordred, Sirius would go, as he wouldn't leave the protection of his godson and honorary godson to others when he knew that somebody was after their lives, as well as Sir Placidus and two guards. Six people could travel fairly fast, even if they would have phases where they let the horses go slower. Both to let them rest and give Mordred a chance to recover. He wasn't used to this kind of physical activity after all. But at the beginning they planned to make good speed to get some distance between them and Camelot.

Once the boys were safe at Hogwarts and Sirius back at Camelot, he would concentrate on making the castle impenetrable with his runic arrays. Once they were done, no assassin would manage to get through to his targets.

Once the group was gone, Sir Gawain would continue a thorough search of the castle. There was no way the experienced knight would allow that any member of the royal family, or any other person believing that the castle was safe to live at, would become a victim of attackers.

He cursed his bad luck. How could the plan to get rid of the boy fail this spectacularly? It should have worked out perfectly. He had waited for a day when Queen Guinevere would be busy with something for the whole day, which meant that calling on Harold to help with some problem concerning his brother wouldn't look suspicious. Lady Morgaine was gone from the castle to assist with medical support in the field for when the knights and soldiers were injured while hunting the bandits. It had been the perfect opportunity. But the boy wasn't hit by the assassin. Instead he, against any probability, managed to overwhelm and kill his attacker.

While the death of the assassin was in the end the result of the poison on the arrowheads, it didn't matter. A grown man, a professional assassin, was bested by a fourteen-years-old boy. A boy that had only just begun his training as a squire a bit over a month ago. He should have been overwhelmed easily. Been killed easily. But now he had to worry about being found out by Gawain. He didn't know if Gawain had been handed the note with the request to appear at Mordred's study chamber that he had sent to Harold. He had written that one, as the assassin he had tasked with killing the nuisance couldn't read and write. Not surprising. He wasn't a noble and they were the only ones that learned such advanced skills after all.

Others didn't have the money to afford a good education for their children. Now the two brats were kept under watch of guards all around the clock. He had even tried to find them himself the day of the failed assassination, but he couldn't find out where they had been hidden. All the normal spots he would have believed Gawain to stash them for their protection had been dead ends. Two of his spies had been found out. One had killed himself, knowing that he would do worse to him and his family if he said anything about the plan. The second one from the kitchen was still alive though, and no attempt to change that had worked out so far. Still, that one didn't know that he was behind the plot. He was only a third layer agent in his plans.

He had only had contact with two others that passed on orders from him. It was much safer to keep the number of people that knew who was the mastermind low. Only five men knew of his plans. They were his lieutenants and supported his goals fully. They knew that once he was king, they would be rewarded generously for their support. He could only hope that the ones ambushing the king didn't fail like the assassin did. If the king died, at least he would be able to use the instability of the situation that his loss would cause. Harold wasn't trained fully yet and that could be used if he needed to. But he needed to first erase all his trails of the plot.

Harry and Mordred looked at the impressive sight of Castle Hogwarts in front of them. They had travelled for ten days now. The first two days they had only rarely not gone gallop, as Sirius and Sir Placidus considered that the best strategy to leave any possible assassins behind them. They had left the castle in the early hours of the morning when it was still dark outside. They had even placed silencing charms on the legs of their horses to not have the sound betray them while they moved through the city of Camelot. Once they were outside of open sight, which was about an hour after they had left the castle, and the dawning morning sun began to light the area, they had gone faster.

Mordred had done well in keeping up with them, even if his pony hadn't got the same stressful training that the horses that the men and Harry rode had gone through. Danny had soldiered through the work, it even seemed that he enjoyed running that fast for a change. After four hours of riding, they took their first break to eat some bread for their breakfast. Before they started, they hadn't had the time. The horses were fed with some oat and got to graze for thirty minutes before they continued. This pattern continued the first two days and afterwards they also allowed themselves to have some slower gaits.

They were about an hour away from Hogwarts now, and the two guards and Sir Placidus were beginning to show signs of what Harry knew to be repelling spells targeting those without magic.

"Sir Placidus, I will take Harry and Mordred with me the rest of the way. The protections around Hogwarts are starting to influence you," informed Sirius the old knight.

"I believe that would be for the best, Lord Sirius," agreed Sir Placidus, "While I was warned that those without magic couldn't get close to Hogwarts, I wasn't prepared for the protection to be this tricky to deal with."

Sirius nodded.

"Thank you for accompanying us here, Sir Placidus," said Mordred, "It was great to get the chance to learn more about some things you told me in the classes while seeing them in reality."

"It was my pleasure, Mordred. I hope you will continue doing well in your studies. Don't worry about things, the assassins that are after you and your brother won't be able to get past the wards around Hogwarts. You can use the opportunity you are given now," replied Sir Placidus with a smile.

He had used the journey to point out geographic markers like rivers, mountains, woods and cities to Mordred and also Harry which he had taught Mordred about in geography lessons at Camelot. Next to that, he had taken the young boy with him when he was collecting wood for a campfire at night, to show him several plants that he had also mentioned in classes and added a few more that were either useful or dangerous. Mordred had loved the interactive lessons.

Harry had taken over the typical duties of a squire when the made camp and took care of their horses, the equipment and was in charge of cooking what the men caught that evening. Mainly because he was much better at that than Sirius or Sir Placidus. Mordred got to help and learned some things at the same time, like how to build the fire properly, what to look out for in the branches they collected for the fire and so on.

"Thank you for your company and protection," Harry addressed the group of men that stayed behind.

"It was our duty and pleasure, Prince Harold," nodded Matthias, one of the guards.

His partner Joseph nodded in agreement.

"I believe that I will be back in about four hours, Sir Placidus," informed Sirius the others.

"We will wait for your return then. A break will be a nice opportunity. We will hunt for some rabbits and cook them for lunch," decided Sir Placidus.

"Alright, then until later," replied Sirius and rode forward, followed by Harry and Mordred.

They had just passed the gates of Hogwarts. Harry noticed that the castle was a bit smaller than in his time, but had more buildings surrounding it. The main part of the castle was the same, but the east wing was missing, it apparently had been built later in the history of the school. He could see the towers where the common rooms of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were located, as well as the Astronomy tower. He would have to make sure to not appear too knowledgeable about the school to not give up his status as a time traveller.

They stopped their horses in front of the entrance doors, where two people were waiting for them. A man and a woman. The woman with long brown hair that she wore in a braid wore a dark blue dress that reached down to her shoes, with long sleeves and she wore a kind of crown on her head. The man had short blond hair, wore black trousers, brown leather boots over them and a dark green shirt under a black vest. He also had some kind of locket around his neck.

"Greetings, be welcome at Hogwarts," the woman addressed them, "My name is Rowena Ravenclaw, and this is my fellow founder of Hogwarts Salazar Slytherin."

"Thank you for the warm greeting, Lady Ravenclaw," replied Sirius, "My name is Sirius Black, and these are Harold of Ceredigion and Mordred of Cornwall."

Supposedly, Mordred's father wasn't known to his mother officially, mainly because Viviane, who was the only one in the know about the identity of Morgaine's partner during the Beltane ceremony the year before his birth, had died before she could inform Morgaine after she was confirmed to have given birth to Mordred. Mainly because she had been away from Avalon at that time. It was believable, as Morgaine had taken over the position of High Priestess after the death of her aunt. As Morgaine was the daughter of Gorlois of Cornwall, Mordred was added to the family register of that line.

Harry and Mordred greeted the two founders politely. Salazar hissed something under his breath, which wasn't complimentary in the least.

"That's a very rude thing to say," protested Mordred without knowing that he had just shown a magical ability that wasn't common.

"You understand parseltongue, my boy?" asked Salazar in normal English, now much more interested in Mordred.

"What is parseltongue?" asked Mordred confused.

"The language of the snakes, Mordred," answered Harry, "And he is right, that was very rude. Had I dared to say something like that in presence of mother, she would have washed my mouth with soap."

Harry shuddered and Mordred nodded in agreement. Their mother was very strict with proper manners. Her opinion was that there was no reason at all to not be a gentleman in all situations, no matter what. Harry had once used some curses when Morgaine had heard him and had suffered from her spelling soap water into his mouth. He learned his lesson. The soap tasted nasty.

"You both have the gift," understood Salazar, "Interesting. Rowena, Harold goes into my house. He is going to stay here for a few months after all."

"Salazar, we will discuss that when Godric and Helga are here as well. You know the rules," sighed Rowena.

"He is a parselmouth," insisted Salazar.

"He could also have the traits of one of us others," reminded Rowena him.

Salazar seemed to want to argue about that, but relented, not giving up though. He would fight to get Harry into Slytherin house, that much was clear.

Harry, deciding to not reveal too much, didn't say anything about that. He would wait for the official information he would be given. But he was confused why a supposedly pureblood bigot like Salazar Slytherin would be this intent on getting a known halfblood like him into his house. While his mother was a powerful and famous witch as High Priestess of Avalon, his father was non-magical.

After Rowena and Salazar had called two older students to take the horses of the group to the stables, where Harry's and Mordred's horses would stay while they were at Hogwarts, and Sirius' horse would get some food and water before he left to return to Camelot with the rest of the group that waited away from Hogwarts, the group was shown into the school itself. Harry and Sirius were silently comparing the fairly new castle with the old one they were used to. The walls were a little lighter, the floor was covered in some plant that looked like long dried grass in large rooms, which Harry didn't know why it was done, but he would probably find out soon, and the glass in the windows was missing. Instead there seemed to be some shimmering field inside them.

At Camelot, most of the windows had wooden shutters on the outside, which were closed during winter times. Next to that specially treated animal hides and pelts were used to keep the warmth inside the castle when they heated the rooms via the fireplaces, or in some cases like King Arthur's study, the heating array that Harry had carved last year as a runes project. While the creation of glass was known to some people at Camelot, nobody there could create stable glass panes that could be worked into the windows like they were in the future. Something that might be another project for the future Harry thought. He knew that his uncle had tried to find a way to further the glass production, but it was slow going. And nobody had voiced the idea of using the material to cover windows as far as Harry knew.

But the field seemed to have a similar effect to glass windows, even if Harry thought that it was colder inside the castle than it was in his time. The students also seemed to wear thicker clothes than they did in his time. The design of the robes also differed, but that was understandable. Fashion would have changed over centuries.

They found two other adults, one of which Harry thought had to be Godric Gryffindor, who had a scabbard with a sword at his hip, a familiar sword Harry noticed, as the ruby at the hilt marked it as the same sword he had pulled out of the sorting hat while fighting the basilisk. He had short reddish-brown hair and a moustache and was large and well-muscled. Like most knights Harry had seen at Camelot. He wore brown leather boots over black trousers, a red shirt and wore a hat that Harry recognised as the sorting hat to his surprise. Just much newer and less shabby. It also wasn't charmed yet. The second one was a small but beautiful woman with long red har, which she wore in two braided pigtails to the sides of her shoulders. She wore a dark yellow dress with a black apron over it.

"Godric, Helga, our guests have arrived," greeted Rowena the now confirmed two other founders of the school.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, my boys," greeted Godric with a smile, "I'm Sir Godric Gryffindor, and this lovely lady is Helga Hufflepuff."

"Good afternoon, Sir Godric," replied Harry and nodded his head the way he had been taught to greet a knight of Camelot during his training under Sir Edmund, "Lady Helga, a pleasure to meet you. I am Harold of Ceredigion and this is my younger brother Mordred of Cornwall."

"Such a charming young man," Helga giggled.

"Must have the ladies at Camelot swooning over him," grinned Godric.

"He does, but he's too busy with two tracks of training to really do something about it," commented Sirius, also grinning.

A look was exchanged between him and Godric and they seemed to be on the same wavelength. Harry shuddered, not liking where this might go. Sirius was a prankster after all.

"Well, perhaps he might have a chance to get to know some of the lovely young ladies that study here while he enjoys the hospitality of Hogwarts. One never knows after all," commented Godric.

"Godric, no matchmaking among the students," reprimanded Rowena sternly, "Do I need to remind you of what happened the last time you tried?"

Godric looked chastised. There was a story behind that it seemed.

"Matchmaking?" asked Mordred confused.

"It's something adults like to do when they think two adolescents would make a cute couple. They arrange for opportunities for the two to get to know each other better," explained Helga gently, "Don't worry about it, you are way too young to think about something like that yet, Mordred. It is one of Godric's hobbies, but he sadly doesn't know when to stop. There are limits that shouldn't be ignored."

Her stern look made Godric nod penitently.

"Well, with Godric now behaving, let's get to some organisational things. After your letter, we arranged for Harold to be added to our normal classes. Mordred will be joining the primary school classes," explained Rowena.

"Primary school?" asked Mordred curiously.

"It is what we decided to call the group of younger children that aren't old enough to actively use their magic yet. They are taught in different subjects. The children there come from different backgrounds. Most are the children from the people that live in Hogsmeade, the village down the road, which is a sanctuary for those fleeing from intolerant mundanes to live in peace and safety. The village is inaccessible to mundanes," answered Rowena patiently, "The people there are mostly in employ of our school. They work on the fields that supply the school or breed the animals we need. Some also grow magical plants for potions and the like. The land belongs to Sir Godric and they have rented it to work on it. They get to keep a set amount of the products to take care of their families as payment."

"And I developed a revolutionary method to motivate them to work their best. You see, most of these people can't afford their own land. If they work for me loyally for twenty years, they get to have a part of the land they work on to become their own. I own more than enough land to do things this way. The land they get is enough to have a large house for their family built on it, next to some to grow their own food. And twenty years of service to me are a fair price for that kind of reward," boasted Godric.

"It definitely is, Sir Godric," agreed Harry, who knew how things were normally done on the property of nobles. The people living there were normally bondsmen that had to follow all orders of their liege lord to not lose their homes and source of income.

Harry knew that his uncle was working on improving the living situations of the common people, but it was slow going. This idea was indeed revolutionary. He would have to tell his uncle when he saw him again. There was a lot of land that was unused. Offering it to commoners to earn over a span of twenty years if they loyally served the previous owner of the land wouldn't cost much and gain great benefits for both sides.

"How have you set up the classes for the younger children? I mean, the core of a child only stabilises enough for structured magical training when the child turns eleven," asked Sirius, as he only had superficial information from the letter.

"To fully succeed in the lessons we start when a child turns eleven, it is necessary that the children know how to read and write for one. Calculating is important for more advanced subjects like the higher tier potions for example," answered Helga, "When more families arrived at Hogsmeade, taking up our offer to live there safely from the intolerant mundanes, which rise in numbers, thanks to aggressive members of Christianity, which take offence to our powers, which they declare the work of their devil, they commented on having to organise some kind of care for their younger children while they worked.

"Most of them, even if they were born with the gift of magic, never learned much of the advanced material. Mostly because few families have the money to pay for proper teachers for their children. Therefore, a lot of the work they do is done the same way the mundanes do it. Ploughing the ground with animal drawn ploughs for example, mainly with strengthening charms or runes making the ploughs sturdier and less likely to break and need repairs than the counterparts mundanes can build."

"And the need to care for them caused the idea of teaching them?" asked Harry.

"Yes. The children attend classes from eight in the morning until lunchtime at twelve. They get the normal meal all of the older students get as well, just in child-sized portions of course. The classes always start with an hour of reading and writing, then basic calculation practice follows for another hour. The next class is a double period and practical. It changes each day of the week. We noticed that young children are easier to keep focused if they don't have to sit still for too long. We have Herbology on Mondays, Study of Magical Creatures on Tuesday, Potion Ingredient and Brewing Basics Studies on Wednesday, Physical Education on Thursday, Carving on Friday and Cooking on Saturday. Sunday is free of classes for all children," listed Helga.

"That would keep things interesting for the children," approved Sirius, seeing a lot of sense in this.

He would have to see if something similar could be re-established in the future. Even the lessons he had got from his family didn't include those parts like they were included here. And it would give an advantage to the children once they started Hogwarts properly.

"What about the afternoon?" asked Mordred, liking the idea of learning those things with other magical children.

"After lunch, the families have the option of letting the children return home, or they can stay here at the castle until it's time for dinner. Lunch is served between twelve and one o'clock. After that, the group that is on kitchen duty helps with the dishes. Classes for the normal students continue at two in the afternoon. Some of the older children that aren't Hogwarts age yet are allowed, after passing a test that they know how to handle lower-level magical creatures to help with the care for them. Though you have to be eight years old at least to take the test. From two until four, there is a general option to play some popular games under watch of the witch that cooks for the students. By that time, she is done with the work in the kitchen, and two of her children are part of the primary school. She lives here at Hogwarts," answered Rowena.

"On Wednesdays and Saturdays I also offer a training hour at three in the afternoon for the children," stated Godric, "I believe that it is never too early to train your body. No matter if the child is a boy or a girl. Being physically fit is good for everybody."

"You are correct in that, Godric. A healthy and fit body makes channelling magic a lot easier," nodded Helga, "Which is why we have mandatory physical training each day in the morning for the older students."

Harry perked up hearing that. He had got used to exercising in the morning for his training as a squire.

"How long does that training last each day?" he asked, "And when do we get started?"

"You start at six thirty in the morning, while being woken up at six, to get ready," answered Salazar, "The training takes two hours. After training you get to wash up before you are allowed to eat breakfast at nine. The exercise program is something Godric and I developed to prepare the bodies of our students to utilise the highest possible amount of their magic. It has revolutionised the way magic is taught!" He was clearly incredibly proud of that achievement.

"I see, I look forward to it," replied Harry, truly feeling that this would be great, as it wouldn't cause him to put time for training aside after classes. And with Godric being a knight, the training would be bound to work his body to improve continually.

"But before we can add you to the classes, we need to sort you," announced Godric grandly.

"He's going into my house, he is a parselmouth," declared Salazar directly.

"Truly? That is an argument for your house, my friend, but you know how we do this, and we won't change what we all agreed upon," commented Godric.

Harry was actually surprised about the amicable tone of the two men. Weren't the two hostile? Like Slytherin and Gryffindor were in the future.

"Then cast the spell," replied Salazar, nodding in agreement.

Godric pulled out his wand from a holster on his arm.

"Harold, I will perform a spell that shows the character traits that you possess in colours above you. Red is for traits like courage, honesty, chivalry and daring. Blue is for intelligence, love of learning, ability to work things out and memory capabilities. Yellow will show things like fairness, willingness to work hard to achieve your goals, being true to your friends and comradeship. Green will show your ambition, cunning, resourcefulness and urge to prove yourself," explained Godric.

"Each of us four founders of Hogwarts prefers to teach a certain group of students. We are all vastly learned but it helps to teach like-minded children, as our school is still in its infancy. We don't have any other teachers here so far. Thus, we have to set up things as efficiently as possible," explained Helga, "There are some lessons that all students have together, but others will be private lessons from the founder whose house they are sorted into."

"Alright, I understand," nodded Harry, realising that for a new school things wouldn't be as easy as for an established one. The whole concept of a school was new and revolutionary in this time.

Godric performed the spell and immediately a kind of aurora formed over Harry's head, which the four founders and Sirius inspected closely.

"Tricky," commented Rowena, "There are large parts of each of our preferred traits in this combination."

"Truly remarkable," agreed Helga, "He could fit into each of our houses easily."

"I believe that the yellow and blue parts, large as they may be, are a little smaller than the red and green ones," commented Godric after a while, "And the two parts of Salazar and my houses are identical I would guess. I have never seen anything like this before. Tricky."

Salazar looked smug and clearly expected the known trait of parseltongue that Harry had to be the deciding factor. But Godric wasn't ready to let Harry not go into his house, as he would be the one to continue his training as a knight.

"Well, I did promise to continue his training as a squire, so it would be profitable for him to be in Gryffindor," he said.

"But I am the only one that could teach him all the intricacies of parselmagic. And that trait is preciously rare among magicals," countered Salazar.

The two males argued back and forth until Mordred piped up, having followed the argument not understanding why it was so difficult.

"Couldn't he be in lessons with both of you? Spend time in both houses?" asked Mordred innocently.

"Both houses?" asked Helga intrigued.

"Yes. I mean, you said that there wasn't a difference between the green and red parts. And I can't see any either. Sir Placidus said in my lessons that it was important to be able to find com-pro-mises," Mordred slowly spoke the difficult word for him, "when there is a time when many groups want the same thing for themselves."

"The idea has some merit, young Mordred," nodded Salazar, "It would also be easily arranged. Godric and I can switch days when we teach him in the private lessons. A great idea."

"I don't mind it either. I mean, we both have days when we are highly busy, but normally they are different from the other one, as our specialties differ. My strengths lie in offence and combat, while Salazar is an expert in warding and arranging the battle situation to his advantage before he strikes. That's why we make such a great team," added Godric.

"Then it is decided," declared Rowena, clapping into her hands, "Harold will be part of both Gryffindor and Slytherin house and receive private lessons from both Godric and Salazar. I think it will work best if he spends Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with Salazar and the other three days of classes with Godric outside of the general classes."

Both men nodded and Harry also showed his agreement. The result of his assessment wasn't a surprise for him. The sorting hat had also been torn between Slytherin and Gryffindor, but he had chosen against Slytherin because of the many negative things he had heard about the house. Perhaps he could now make up a better idea of the founder that was so disliked in his time. Which he didn't understand seeing the real man. Sure, he wasn't the most personable person, but he didn't seem evil.

Mordred was pleased that his solution had been accepted. Sirius was surprised about Harry now also being in Slytherin but took it with grace. Having attributes of several houses this wasn't a bad thing. And this was just a temporary solution until they could secure Camelot enough to bring Harry and Mordred back. Until then, it was a good thing if Harry could take as many teachings from the founders as he could. Harry was given two markings on the shoulders of his clothes through a spell from Godric and Salazar each. The patches with their crests would appear on any clothes that he wore, symbolising his belonging to both of their houses until he graduated, or they lifted the spell. Soon after Sirius said goodbye to the two boys, who were then taken by Helga to the rooms they would share. While nobody outside the founders would be informed about their true identity, it wasn't sure that there wouldn't be some that could figure things out or knew about Harry's position as crown prince of Camelot. And that was too large a risk.

While it was improbable that there would be assassins at Hogwarts, it was better to take away an easy access point in form of letting him share the dorms with other boys his age. Not to mention that he and Mordred were only temporary guests at Hogwarts. They would return to Camelot, so some separation of their status was sensible.

And that's another chapter done. Until next time.

19. Discoveries

Hi everybody. Another Sunday update. Hope you like it.

Discoveries

Arthur looked at the letter he had been sent by Gawain. The one to deliver it was surprisingly his wife Guinevere, who had come to assist Morgaine in caring for the injured in the mobile hospital. To think that without Harry's reflexes and bad feeling his nephew would have been killed while he was out with most of his knights to deal with the problem of the bandits. It only showed that there was somebody close to the top trying to overthrow him and undo what he was working to build up. He needed to work out who was behind the plot. And if there was more to it than using the opportunity that a weakly defended Camelot had offered.

One good thing was that Tristan had managed to capture four of the bandits that had been involved in the ambush. They were interrogated and due to the crimes they had committed, those interrogations weren't gentle to them. Arthur normally didn't support torture to get information, but his reservations were surpassed by the need to continue the mission in a timely fashion before the tracks could go cold. While the hounds could still follow the track of the lavender oil and the box still sent signals, they weren't close to them anymore. And it was clear that the bandits were much better organised and possessed specialists in trap building than they had expected while they planned the mission. Not to mention that the bandits had the field advantage. They could lure his knights and foot soldiers into traps that they had prepared beforehand.

The fate of Sir Alaric and the others that had fallen into the pitfall with spears was a sad reminder of that truth. His own injury wasn't severe. It was healing well, especially as Morgaine had used some of her magical remedies to speed up the process. He would be ready to return to the search the next day. Even if Morgaine and Guinevere insisted that he would only do so after Morgaine had placed protective runes onto his clothes to not have a repeat of him being injured for being targeted.

He looked at Guinevere, who was talking softly with Morgaine, as far as he could hear, it concerned some test Harry had performed before he had been attacked. While he had hoped that his wife was safe behind the walls of Camelot, if that wasn't ensured, he was glad to have her close to his sister. Morgaine had more means to protect Guinevere than anybody else. And he knew that Guinevere disliked sitting at the sides and not help when she could do so. Well, with her hair being dyed in a colour that let her vanish in the group of nurses, he wouldn't complain. He knew she was trained in basic medical procedures. And they needed everybody that had that knowledge when others needed treatment, as the bandit problem would cause more injuries before they could end it. It was a sad truth he was only too aware of.

Then the two walked over to his bed.

"Arthur, Guinevere told me what Harry found out when he tested for some of the things he researched which might be the reason for her trouble to conceive a child," started Morgaine.

"Did he figure something out?" asked Arthur hopefully.

"Yes. It isn't just one thing that was done. He said it were at least three that were interwoven in some way," answered Guinevere, "It is a relief to know that it isn't my fault. While I hate to think that somebody would curse me this horribly, at least I know now for sure that once we find a way to break the barriers, I can have children."

Arthur took her hand and squeezed it softly. He knew how much Guinevere suffered from not being able to conceive a child and give him an heir. She was mocked by several other noble daughters and married women for her lack of children. She showed a brave face, but it ate at her, he knew that all too well. Women could be much more hurtful than men when they used words to tear down another woman. And as Queen, Guinevere couldn't simply lash out against those that were just jealous that they hadn't been chosen by him as Queen.

"So, he has found at least one of them if I read your expression correctly," stated Arthur.

"Yes. He said that there was some block around the ovars, I think that was the term he used, they are the places where eggs that are fertilised with a man's seed as he explained it, grow each month. This block prevents that there will ever be a right time for the egg and the seed to meet to make a baby," answered Guinevere, trying to explain what Harry had told her.

"I see, I read about that method in the notes Harry brought with him, but I didn't have the time to go through all of them," admitted Morgaine, "I was too busy with the injured from the bandit attacks and the measures taken to protect the people."

"I don't blame you. But it seems that whatever research Harry could perform during his absence from Camelot brought us closer to figuring out a solution," replied Arthur, hopeful that Harry's research would finally help him and his beloved wife to have children of their own.

"I will talk to Harry about the results of the test he has performed once I see him again," promised Morgaine.

"Well, that will be a while, as Harry and Mordred were relocated for their safety," sighed Arthur.

"What? Why wasn't I informed about that?" asked Morgaine.

Arthur held up the letter he had got from Gawain, which Guinevere had delivered. Morgaine quickly read the letter and her face darkened.

"If I get the one daring to attack my son into my hands, he will wish he had committed suicide," she growled, in full protective mama bear mode.

Harry had given her the opportunity to be a mother, which had been prevented by Morgause, who had exploited her weakness after Mordred's birth. He had also tricked Morgause into leaving Mordred at Camelot, which for the first time since the boy had been born, allowed her to spend time with her only child. While she considered Harry hers as well by now, she knew that he was her many times grandson. Mordred was special in her having carried him inside her womb for nine months. And anybody that threatened either of her boys would be in for a world of pain. Both mentally and physically.

"While I normally would point out that suicide is a sin, I can understand where you come from, sister," commented Guinevere, "He is my nephew and alone the thought of him being murdered feels as if somebody held my heart in an icy grip."

The two women looked at each other in perfect understanding. Both loved Harry, even if in different capacities. He was a wonderful boy and watching him grow into an incredible man was a pleasure and joy for both of them.

And while Guinevere had started to think that she had done something to displease god, not surprising as she had been raised in a nunnery before she married Arthur, knowing for sure that this was just the work of somebody with magical power that wanted to destroy her marriage to get Arthur for herself, or the power he held as king, well, that put things into a new perspective for her. She hadn't displeased god. And the ones being closest to helping her were the ones practicing the magic of Avalon. Her sister-in-law and her nephew. Neither of them had ever done evil deeds with their powers.

This seemed to disprove several more radical ideas that certain priests tried to spread. While she was Christian, she could now see that the other religion wasn't a bad one. It was different, but it wasn't related to the devil. Arthur's approach of letting both faiths live peacefully side by side seemed to be a smart thing. And honestly, she had never allowed herself to find out more about the faith in the Moon Goddess.

It might even be that the two religions had more in common than she had believed. She certainly would do her research from now on. Knowledge was certainly power, and she was the Queen of England. Her example would guide the people in England and if she showed that she saw both religions as equally acceptable, some conflicts might be lessened. And she had to admit, she was often bored in Camelot. She would enjoy having something worthwhile to do. And Arthur wouldn't mind at all.

Harry sat in a class with thirteen other students. There were ten boys and four girls. The class was mixed from students in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff house. Currently he was taught about ways of using magic defensively and offensively by Godric. It was extremely interesting, as Godric made sure to give lots of practical examples how a certain spell could aid the user in all kinds of situations. Both against magical creatures and magic users.

"When you come across a situation where you can't avoid using your magic openly to defend yourself or others, be wise with the spells you choose," lectured Godric, "You have already learned many spells to assist in all kinds of situations. But another thing to always keep in mind is how these spells will look to the ones around you. Especially those that were born without our gift of magic might misunderstand what you do. The Christian Church, while it is based on the peaceful teachings of Jesus Christ, has some extreme members among their priests that claim that magic is connected to the devil. If you used a spell that harms your target, it might be that you are attacked, even if you used your magic to defend yourselves against an attacker.

"An example of this: You and a group of three non-magical companions travel from Scotland to England. You want to buy special ores from a respectable merchant that lives in Lancester. On the way, a group of fifteen bandits ambushes your group to steal your money. You could of course use something like a cutting curse to disable them. But for non-magicals that could be seen as a huge threat to them. Being cut by a sword or knife, everybody can easily understand. But that requires close combat or good aim, in case of knives being thrown. But anybody that trains enough could learn to do it as well. A cutting curse can't be seen by those that don't have magic. It appears as if the cuts simply appear out of nowhere.

"A better choice of spell in this case would be a stunning spell. It can't be understood either, but after tying the stunned bandits up, they can be revived and won't be worse for it. It will not be considered as harmful by non-magicals. You can take the captured bandits to the next sheriff to let him deal with them according to the law. There might be rewards for the bandits or not. But if you use spells that while effective and efficient don't let you appear a bigger threat than for example a trained knight, the people around you will accept your gifts much easier than otherwise."

"Is that why we also learn how to use swords and knives here at Hogwarts, Sir Godric?" asked a boy with red hair and freckles. He reminded Harry a bit of the Weasley brothers in his looks, but the facial form was different.

"Yes, Robert," confirmed Godric, "Our goal here at Hogwarts is to teach all of you how to use your gifts responsibly and with control. But we also know that out in the world, there are many dangers, and we need to give you the means to defend yourselves in all kinds of ways. While the training you will receive here won't be enough to equal the Knights of the Round Table, you will easily be ahead of those that only received basic training in their villages. I know of two former students that were made sheriffs for the noble lords of their home regions."

"So, our best chance to be accepted by all people, no matter if they have magic or not, is by using our powers for good?" asked a girl with blonde hair.

"Yes, Tiffany. Power like we were born with needs to be used responsibly. And if we prove that we are just like all other people, just with a special gift, which we use to work with others and to help them, it will be much harder to start animosity against our kind," confirmed Sir Godric.

"But I heard there were movements in some places to arrest witches and wizards," asked a brunette boy frowning.

"I can tell you from what I experienced that most places won't care if help is given in form of magical means or non-magical ones," said Harry, "My mother and I travelled through some villages and she used her knowledge that she had learned at Avalon to help the people."

The cover story for him was that while his mother was a priestess of Avalon, she wanted him to broaden his horizon and therefore had sent him and his brother to Hogwarts for a few months, also as a trial run if it would be a good idea to send the sons of the priestesses, which weren't taught in their knowledge and powers, to Hogwarts instead of leaving them with their fathers.

"We were in a village where the people had contracted some illness and mother took the time to identify herbs to brew teas and used a few healing spells to help the people. They were extremely grateful, as knowledge of healing isn't far spread among the common people. The faith of the Moon Goddess is also still spread far among the people. While Christianity is gaining more followers everywhere, as long as the people have no reason to fear us, they won't turn against us. And King Arthur treats both religions equally," pointed Harry out.

"One thing that helps is being able to properly argue a case if somebody accuses a magical to be evil. Nobody will get away with punishing a witch or wizard if you can believably show that no evil deeds were done. That is also why we teach you about all kinds of non-magical plants and animals. Helga has experienced how narrow-minded and stubborn some non-magicals can be and how superstitious. A non-magical kind of worm was harming the crops of a farmer and he accused a neighbour to have used magic to harm his harvest out of spite. Helga was passing through the village and could determine that the magical neighbour was completely innocent. She found the worms and could explain to the people that if they wanted to protect their plants from this type of worm, they had to add another plant to the fields to repel the worm.

"She could prove that magic wasn't the cause of the harm. Knowledge is our best protection. That is why we teach you all for seven years, to prepare you for what you could face outside of school. Sure, there are extremists among the non-magicals, but they also exist among us magicals. We can only be careful and don't treat the non-magicals as if they were beneath us. That will only cause trouble. If we treat them like we want to be treated in return, most of the time they won't even think of turning against us. Now, the main spells that can be used around non-magicals are the kind that don't cause much damage. Meaning nothing that needs days to heal. Tripping jinxes, disarming spells, stunners, leg-locker curses, full-body-bind hexes, confusion spells, shield charms and hiding spells are good examples of that," continued Godric, "If possible, avoiding a confrontation is always the best solution."

The students nodded, understanding that.

"Alright, now we will practice stunning spells. The wand movement is simple, you only slash your wand down in the direction of the target you want to hit. As you don't have any experience with the spell, I have arranged for some targets that will only move from their position if you use the spell correctly," explained Godric.

He walked over to a crate he had put onto the ground before. He now opened it and fifteen black balls that reminded Harry of bludgers shot into the air.

"These balls are made of wood and have been covered with liquid pitch from a magical conifer that was mixed with flax. As you know from Herbology classes, flax can be enchanted easily and conifer liquid pitch hold magic better than most other substances. Meaning, the spells on the balls won't be disturbed by being hit by magic. Your goal is to make the ball leave its position. That will happen once you hit it in the centre, with the right amount of power and a functioning stunning spell."

He went back to the students while the balls kept hovering in front of the wall.

"Now, the incantation of the stunning spell is stupefy," he spoke clearly, "Please repeat after me and take care of the pronunciation. Stupefy."

The students chorused: "Stupefy."

Godric let each of them say the incantation alone and corrected if somebody was making a mistake. Then he let them perform the wand movement. Once he was happy with that, he let them line up opposite the wall with the balls. He let three students fire their spells at once and five in follow. Then the next group of students was up. Harry managed to get three of his five balls to move before he went back to the end of the line. He felt that this approach was great. It allowed Godric to keep a close eye on all their attempts and give comments on what to improve and what to keep in mind. At the end of the class, each student managed to at least get three balls to move back, most managed four or five.

"Good work everybody. The next class on the schedule is Herbology with Helga, so you better change into your gardening clothes and meet her at the greenhouse," instructed Godric and let the students continue to their next class.

Mordred watched how Mr Finnim demonstrated how to properly handle a normal knife.

"Now, children, a knife is both a tool and a weapon. It is similar to a wand, which you won't be able to get before you are eleven. Before that point in time, your magical cores won't be ready to handle the stress that regular and directed use of magic brings. A knife like I am holding can be used for many different things. You could cut a string when you are tying up reeds for easier transport. You could cut vegetables for dinner, or potion ingredients when you are brewing. You could also use it to defend yourselves in case you are attacked. A knife has a sharp blade, which means you have to be careful how you handle it. You could hurt yourselves if you weren't careful.

"For somebody that is used how to handle a knife, it isn't dangerous at all. Professional potioneers and housewives for example will show you tricks with knives you currently won't believe to be possible. For potions, which is a subject that is taught here at Hogwarts for those that start full studies of their magic, a knife is one of the most important tools. Therefore, each student needs to know how to take care of his knives. This includes keeping them sharp, clean and free of rust. For today, we will work on sharpening knives. I have brought several kitchen knives that have become dull from long use. I will show you how to use a grindstone to work on the blades to become sharp again.

"Some of you might have heard that there are spells to achieve the same effect. Yes, those spells exist, but the work is more often than not shoddy. Nothing beats good old hard work and precision with a grindstone. The reason is also simple. The spell doesn't influence the blade itself. What a sharpening spell does is placing a sharp layer over your blade, letting it work as if it was sharp again. That works for those that can easily replace the spell over and over again, but it takes up magical power in the long run. It is much better to know that you have a sharp and reliable knife when you need it for your work ready," explained Mr Finnim.

The children nodded dutifully.

"Now, come up to me and I will give you both a grinding stone and a dull knife. When everybody has one of each, I will demonstrate the technique that is needed to achieve the results we want. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't work immediately. It takes practice to become good at this," he assured the children.

They stood from the ground where they sat and walked forward to receive both stone and knife and then returned to their spots to wait for more instructions.

Mr Finnim then showed them how to hold the knife, how to place the grindstone and how to move it along the blade to resharpen the blade. Soon the sounds of the children trying to make the blades sharp by grinding the stone against them could be heard, occasionally interrupted by hints from Mr Finnim how to better hold either the stone or the knife and how to move their arms to have results.

Sirius forced the mouth of the captured suspect open and dripped three drops of a clear potion into his mouth. It had taken a while, but he had finished veritaserum to get the full truth out of this one connection they had to Harry's near assassin. He wouldn't let that stand. While he wasn't on Snape's level in potions, veritaserum was a NEWT level potion and he had passed his NEWTs with a high E. More than enough for this. And among Harry's books was one that held the recipe. Thanks to having to stew the potion for long periods at times, it took overall three weeks to get it done. He had started directly before he took Harry and Mordred to Hogwarts. He finished the steps until an ingredient needed to stew for two weeks at low heat.

He had informed Sir Gawain to not let anybody mess with that potion while he was gone, and the man had done just that. Thanks to magic, it was possible to keep a flame burning while not being present. Once he was back, he continued the process and now he had about one litre of the potion to use for their needs. He waited for the standard dazed look on the face of the one being dosed with it. The great part was, it didn't matter if the one being dosed had magic or not. The potion worked just the same.

"We can begin," Sirius told Sir Gawain, who was there to lead the interrogation. They had started to question the man before, but he had refused to say anything, no matter who worked him over. And they had hit hard to get information who wanted to see the crown prince dead.

"What is your name?" asked Gawain.

"Stanford Grey," he answered.

"Why are you working at the castle?"

"To provide my Lord with useful information for his plans," answered Stanford.

"Who is your lord?" asked Gawain.

"I don't know."

"Who do you deliver your information to?" asked Sirius, knowing that there had to be a contact.

"Milton Pepperglove."

"What kind of information did you pass on?" continued Gawain.

"Number of guards, size of supplies, the kind of preparations taken to fight the bandits, habits of knights and their students that I observed, loyalties among the staff, salaries of the people working at Camelot, overheard conversations among nobles, preferred places to spend time for people that were determined to be of interest," listed Stanford.

Then Sirius asked to go into more detail and Stanford did, telling the interrogators a lot of things they didn't think would have got outside of Camelot. It was extremely concerning how many things this man knew that nobody would think a kitchen worker to know.

"What do you know about the attack on Prince Harold?" Sir Gawain had noticed that asking open questions got him more information from the prisoner.

"I was informed that my lord had planned something to get in a better position to become King of England. I was promised a much higher and more powerful position once he succeeded. I wasn't told about details, but I was tasked to deliver the schedules of the important people at the castle right now to decide on the perfect time and place."

"Why would you support the murder of the crown prince?"

"He is a bastard son born of heretic rituals of that wretched religion. On top of that he is a wizard, which goes against the teachings of the Church. He has to die. People like him are unnatural. Only a lawful child of a proper king should ever inherit the throne."

Sirius and Gawain looked at each other. A religiously motivated fanatic. Great. And one that was smart enough to not show his opinions openly. That was more dangerous than one that could be determined and watched.

"What is your opinion of King Arthur?" Gawain wanted to know.

"He is too weak to be king. Admittedly, he has certain abilities, but he is too soft on the heathens that are still allowed to practice their heretic religion in England instead of following the one true god. He also doesn't exert enough control over the nobles that rule parts of the country. A true king would force them to follow his rule and not pander to their silly concerns."

Gawain had heard that part before. Several people underestimated the threat potential that revolting lords posed. They thought that if King Arthur simply forced them to comply, they would do better jobs in their duties. But they forgot that Camelot wasn't close enough to enforce somethings like that. Only by convincing them that their way was the best way, they would do what King Arthur wanted to be done on their own, without needing somebody to remind them of their duties all the time. And they weren't willing to simply fall in line after ruling their land for over a decade when there hadn't been a king after Uther Pendragon had died, supposedly without an heir.

"Which nobles would profit the most from the fall of King Arthur and his family?" asked Sirius, knowing that speculations from a man that was a good observer could give them targets to investigate for their mastermind in the shadows.

Stanford listed men that he knew didn't agree with Arthur's policies and who wanted power for themselves. All of his statements were written down by a scribe, to be able to go over them again once the interrogation was finished. Once they had exhausted the questions they right now could think of, the man was taken back to his cell. If they had more questions after going over the answers carefully, they could continue the questioning.

Harry stood next to Salazar. The older wizard had set up a room with dozens of different snakes from his private collection there.

"Parseltongue isn't just a language to communicate with snakes, Harold," started Salazar, "it has its own magic. But few parselmouths in history have ever invested the work that is necessary to access this magic. The reason is also fairly simply. Like the animagus transformation, using parselmagic is largely an instinctive art. Every talented witch or wizard can be taught common spells, like one to clean windows, do the dishes, or turn a rag into a proper towel. Those take studying and practice of the spell. With enough effort everybody will master that kind of magic to different levels. Again, depending on how well they studied, understood the theory and practiced their spells."

Harry nodded, understanding what his teacher was telling him.

"Instinctive magic is much harder to train. It is often the difference between a good witch or wizard and a great one. Several disciplines of magic can be learned by rote to a certain level, but mastery always requires gaining instinctive understanding of how to work this magic. Rowena for example can tell you what a rune means and does by simply being close to it. She can feel the magic in each rune. Helga can influence the very flow of magic to heal even terrible injuries, as she can instinctively tell what is wrong with a sick person. She also doesn't require a wand to use healing magic, as she understands it down to its core.

"The same is true for Godric with battle magic. He can read the flow of a fight and use that to his advantage. Each person has different specialties with this ability. It is one thing we teach our students during the seven years we teach them in magic. How to find their strengths in the magical arts and get those to an instinctive level. It doesn't always work, but many of our students master at least the basics of one magical art to instinctive level. For you, who was gifted with the ability of parseltongue, just like your younger brother Mordred, it is important to be aware of the advantages and dangers of parselmagic."

"What do you mean with dangers, Professor?" asked Harry.

"Every type of magic needs to be used responsibly. Parselmagic is one of the green magics out in this world. Those types of magic are influenced by and influence nature more than other magic arts. A master of parselmagic could use his gift to rejuvenate a barren countryside as easily as he could drain the energy of a thriving one. The key to using every kind of green magic properly is balance and feeling how much you can safely give or take. Because giving too much can also be bad. Imagine you want to conjure rain to save a harvest, as there is a draught in a region. If you conjure a flood, the harvest that you wanted to save will be lost and probably further damage has been caused," Salazar gave an example.

"And parselmagic could do something on that scale?" asked Harry impressed.

"Yes. I have used parselmagic once to create barriers in front of a village at the foot of a mountain when the melting ice in spring caused the rivers to overflow and a flood to threaten that village. I didn't have the power to vanish that much water. Nobody is that powerful, except, under the right circumstances, the high priestess of Avalon. But I could manipulate the magic that lies in nature to have trees grow rapidly, to have boulders moved into the path of the flood and to prevent that the barricade I was quickly creating was broken by the onslaught," confirmed Salazar.

Harry was surprised to hear what this wizard could do with a magical ability that was decried as dark in his own time. Clearly many things were lost in history. Or the people only remembered those that abused their gift or lost control over their spells.

"So, how do I start gaining that instinctive understanding, sir?" asked Harry.

"You will meditate among my snakes. Each snake has its special magical signature. Try to differentiate them. Try to determine what each of them can do. I will let you meditate for an hour, then we will talk about your impressions. This will take time, but nothing worth achieving can be done in a hurry," stated Salazar.

That was similar to what his mother had taught him. Harry nodded and stepped into the room, careful to not step on any of the snakes that were freely slithering around. He reached the middle of the room and sat down in a lotus position, like he had been taught before. He closed his eyes and connected his conscious mind with his magic. Then he tried sensing what was going on around him. He needed to blend the snippets the snakes said out, as that wasn't helping him. After thirty minutes, he started getting some different signals, but it wasn't clear enough to say anything more about it. Perhaps one snake was fiercer than another, that much he felt he could tell so far. He was actually surprised how fast the time was over and Salazar called him out of the room again.

"Not bad for a first attempt, Harold," complimented Salazar, "You have a long way ahead of you, but you at least already know how to properly meditate. What do you think you felt during your meditation?"

"Not too much, Professor. I managed to differentiate between single snakes when they were close enough to me. I couldn't tell anything about their traits, except that a few felt fiercer than the others," answered Harry.

"I see. Yes, some of my snakes like a good fight now and again," nodded Salazar, "As I said, this will take a while, but a decent beginning."

Harry accepted that assessment. He knew he was far away from mastering this skill. But if he could, he would have a great advantage back in his time. He thanked Salazar and went to his next class, which was one on household charms held by Rowena.

He had found them. After the failed trap against King Arthur, the ones that were still capable of fighting had continued the search, as they couldn't afford to lose the trail. They were too close to finally finding and ending the bastards that had killed and robbed their people. They had sent the hounds to follow the scent of the lavender oil that had been used to innocently keep a trail to the main base of the group. And now he stood hidden behind some trees close to the border of the camp. It was no wonder that they had had such trouble finding the camp. For one, it was located deep inside the inner part of the forest. For two, the bandits had been smart. The entrance was hidden behind a waterfall. He only knew because he had seen one of the bandits use a narrow path to vanish behind the waterfall after looking around if anybody was watching. As the man hadn't appeared again, this was what they had been looking for.

He didn't move, as he knew too well that there could be lookouts that would attack him should they spot him. It was safer to leave after night had fallen. He was trained as a scout in forests. And now that they finally had a chance, he wouldn't mess things up by being hasty. He also didn't know what was behind the path. The main camp would have additional protection besides a fortunate location after all. He needed to report and then a proper strategy had to be worked out. As long as the bandits didn't suspect that they were found, they wouldn't leave the camp, which offered them the chance to get them all.

It was two hours until dusk. He would keep himself and his dog silent before they would return and report. Once the plan was finished, the bandits would finally be punished for all the pain and grieve they had caused.

And that's it for this chapter. Until next time.

20. The Bandit Camp

The Bandit Camp

The knights were ready to make their move. It had been four days since the scout that had found the entrance to the bandit camp had returned. They needed to do this carefully, as they couldn't afford for any of the bandits to escape. They needed to end the attacks here and now. To be sure that they didn't overlook escape routes, they had used the knowledge of local hunters and scouts to surround the area in all directions. Each group knew their job and they were ready to do it.

"Alright, this is it, men," started Arthur, "We will end the threat that these bandits pose for the people of England. We will bring back safety for the common people that placed their trust in us to protect them. Be careful, be on guard and be ready for underhanded tricks. These people don't care of the lives of others. If possible to do safely, capture some alive for interrogation. If not, then they won't be a great loss. Their fate is determined already. It isn't our duty to grant them mercy, that can only be done by whatever god they believe in. We have surrounded the area, but we can't rest on that part. We go in there without an idea what to expect. As long as we don't think we will win simply due to numbers, we will be ready for what they can try. And in the end, we will be victorious!" Declared Arthur.

Normally that would have been answered by cheers, but everybody knew that they couldn't give their position away by that.

"You all have your marching orders. Follow your group's leaders. Tonight, we will have ended this threat. Then we can return home to our families. Then we can begin healing the wounds that these people have caused. That is what we fight for. We will do our jobs," continued Sir Lancelot.

The men nodded and then they started moving. The first ones were archers that climbed the rock next to the waterfall. They would cover their backs and snipe those trying to run away. The attack would start at dawn. It would last as long as it would take to get all the bandits.

The bandit camp was protected to all sides by the twenty metres high rocks. It was a natural space within the rocks. It was about fifty metres in diameter and the bandits had created simple huts to live in. The only entrances or exits were the hidden path behind the waterfall and a tunnel between two large rocks, which ended in a small meadow, covered by a blackberry thicket. The tunnel only allowed one person to walk it at a time. It was only about a metre wide.

The location and the easiness to defend the two entrances had allowed the bandits to stay undetected for months now. While the place wasn't large enough to set anything up like a farm for emergency rations, like a few chickens for example, they didn't mind. They lived well from the things they stole from the villages. And while they all knew that the King had mobilised his army to bring them down, they arrogantly believed that nobody would ever find them here. Not even the hounds that were used to follow their trails. The waterfall was a natural barrier against their noses. Any kind of scent they might have found would be lost with that barrier.

Thus, only a few men were put on guard duty during the night, while most men enjoyed the evenings with whatever kind of alcohol they had managed to find. And last night had been great in that, as they had robbed a cart with decent wine that was transported to a minor noble that had a liking for it. The men had drunk the whole supply, some also indulging with captured women for pleasurable nights. Thus, when the alarm blared from one of the few sober guards, they were thoroughly unprepared. Some managed to get out of bed but most were hindered by hangovers.

Some managed to grab their swords, but their heads hurt and their movements were sluggish and uncoordinated. Many were stumbling towards the entrance instead of moving like they would do if they hadn't drunk senselessly the night before.

It cost them when a stream of soldiers and knights broke through the entrance behind the waterfall. And these men were efficient and ruthless. They attacked with deadly precision, aiming to maim and cripple from the start. Whenever a bandit attempted to fight, if he showed more threat potential, he was killed on the spot. Be it by being speared by a lance or a sword or hit by an arrow. Some tried to reach the other exit to the camp, but the archers on top of the rocks sniped them easily, as they didn't think to keep cover from them. Not that it was easily done. With archers all around in the high positions, it was hopeless for the bandits from the start. They might have dealt the attackers severe damage had they been sober, but they weren't.

Overall, the fight only lasted an hour, then all surviving bandits were tied up and were dragged outside the camp. Once they were done, the soldiers and knights searched the camp for possible hidden bandits. They didn't leave anything to chance. All these criminals would have to face charges at a trial. They would be interrogated to find out who was behind this whole tragedy for the people. Because it was clear to all knights that morons that would drink themselves into this kind of state, especially when they knew that the King had mobilised his forces against them, weren't smart enough to plan an operation that kept the knights of Camelot on their toes for this long.

She knew she had to keep her head down and play a poor woman that had been captured by the terrible bandits. She had warned Rory that it was stupid to indulge in that much wine, it wasn't even a good wine, when they knew that King Arthur's knights were searching for them. But like always her brother hadn't listened to her. He believed that he always knew best and his arrogance that their hideout was far too well hidden to be found was their downfall. Now the other members of their group were captured. She didn't have any illusions that they would get away with their lives. She didn't doubt that their fate would be the gallows. Being hanged was the set punishment for the kind of crimes they had committed. Only nobles had the right to be beheaded.

While it would be a shame for Rory, after all, he was her brother and she had some attachment to him, and for Wilbur, who was one of the few decent lovers she had had in her life, she wasn't going to lose her life like they would. She also knew that the noble that had paid them for their work wouldn't have any pity on her. She was a loose end that could bring him down. She was only in this mess because her family needed the money they could earn. Living on a farm that was too small to feed ten mouths hardened her to the reality of life. The King might talk big, but poor peasants like her family fought every day to simply survive.

If they were allowed to at least hunt small prey in the forests, they might be better off, but the nobles would take offence to that. As if rabbits didn't breed fast anyway. It wouldn't hurt the nobles to let the peasants have some of them to simply survive. Even if they only allowed each village to have a small farm to breed a few couples, the offspring would feed all the people for a long time.

Now she had to play the distraught victim. Thankfully, none of the other women had seen her be part of the bandits. They might have seen her have fun with Wilbur but nothing more. And Wilbur was at least gentleman enough to not take her in plain view of the others. Unlike that animal Tylor. He would rape his newest victim in full sight of the other men, often then passing around the poor girl with his friends. While she was sickened by that, she knew that she couldn't do anything about it. Every woman for herself was the only thing that worked in this world. Probably she could even use this situation to her benefit. The knights were honour bound to at least set the women up with a place to live safely.

Maybe even in Camelot. And there she might find opportunities that would give her a nice life. A life without having to fear to starve to death, which would have happened, had she stayed at her parents' house. She would play up her 'bad situation' as much as she had to if it finally got her out of the place she hated that much. The only good thing her brother had done for her was letting her join his bandit group and thus escape their dreary life. She might get the chance to seduce somebody that held a good position at Camelot and get him to marry her. That way she would be safe and the risk of dying would be much lower.

Arthur looked at the group of forty-three men that were captured. About fifteen more had been killed in the attack on the camp. He honestly couldn't understand how anybody could be stupid enough to get totally drunk when they knew that the King's army was marching towards them with the clear goal to take them down. But it had helped his forces to secure an easy win with no losses on their side. They had let the dogs lead the first charge, attacking the guards at the entrance. As they intentionally attacked early in the morning, they had counted on most bandits not being awake enough to fight at full power. The drunken or hung-over state of the majority was a distinct bonus. Now they had several men that they could interrogate to find out who was behind the mess.

And they needed to know before they could recall Harry and Mordred from Hogwarts. He was grateful that Sir Godric and his friends had easily agreed to host the two boys to keep them protected from further assassination attempts. And Harry could only profit from getting time to advance in his magical studies at the same time as continuing his training as a future knight. Sir Godric had a unique point of view, as he was the only knight that also had magic. And his friend Salazar Slytherin had the same ability to speak with snakes that Harry had and would certainly be able to give Harry some hints of how to use that ability better. Even if Harry's help with snakes that somehow got into the castle or other spots close to it were already really valuable.

Looking at their prisoners, he knew that it would be best to have that potion that Sirius could brew available to get the information these men had. He needed the truth about their motives, their boss in the background and if there were others that hadn't been at the camp during the attack. They needed to end this once and for all. Well, he could send a messenger to Camelot and ask Sirius for a bottle of the potion. As they had captured most bandits alive, there was a good chance that one of them knew at least a close contact to the mastermind in the shadows. Only if they determined that person and took him out, they would be safe again. Especially Harry and Mordred.

He planned to keep the two boys safe at Hogwarts until this situation was dealt with. Especially Harry was too important for the future of their world as the Guardian of Magic to be lost to an ambitious bastard that wanted to see the end of his rule as King of England and end his line for good.

"Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival, all of the men are to be interrogated. They will only be given the most basic of food and water. I will send a message to Lord Black for his assistance with this matter. We will get the full truth. These men don't deserve any mercy, as they slaughtered my people without mercy as well. Sir Tristan, please take the women to my sister at the field hospital she set up. They will need her help," instructed Arthur.

"Of course, your majesty," accepted all three and set to work.

Harry read the letter that Sirius had sent to him with Hedwig. Two weeks ago the knights and soldiers had found the camp of the bandits and captured the majority of the bandits. Some had been killed during the fight, but thanks to stupidity on the side of the bandits, their defeat had been easy for the group around his uncle. But none of them knew for sure who had sent them against the settlements that they had attacked. The leader, a man called Rory, had told Uncle Arthur that the steward of Lord Preston Garms had been his contact, but the man had died in a riding accident three weeks before the bandits had been found. That was a dead end. And Rory had only known the identity of the man because he had secretly followed him one day, as he didn't like not knowing the identity of his employer. That could have gone badly if something went wrong.

But without any concrete proof, the king couldn't move against Lord Preston. Sirius had written that this lord was on the list of possible suspects that could be behind the attempt to overthrow King Arthur, but he was sly. There was also the possibility that somebody used Lord Preston as a patsy to have a convenient sacrifice in case the King got too close to the truth. Somebody that felt sure enough to attempt a coup d'état against the King of England wouldn't leave such obvious trails normally. It could also be a conspiracy of more than one person in the background.

As it was already November, Sirius told Harry that he and Mordred would probably have to stay at Hogwarts during the winter months. As soon as the normal snow in the area of Scotland where Hogwarts was located set in, it would be near impossible to relocate the boys anyway. Sirius expected the investigations to take about a month more, which meant, by that time it would be too late to get Harry and Mordred back. Well, Harry could live with this. While he missed Camelot and the people there, it was great to learn from the founders of Hogwarts. And this way, he could counter some subtle emotional poisoning that Morgause had done with Mordred.

He had noticed that Mordred was told half truths about his mother and uncle many times, which for a child weren't easy to understand. Coupled with the impression he got from Morgause that she only raised him out of a sense of familiar duty, he yearned for a place for himself where he was welcome. Thanks to his mother being tricked to give up her baby to Morgause when he had been born, which Morgaine also was sworn to not reveal to Mordred, the situation was complicated and potentially dangerous for the future.

Harry knew that Mordred had tried to take the throne from the man he thought was his uncle, as there weren't any other heirs. He felt it was his right to be declared heir to the throne of England. Harry knew that Mordred was the rightful heir as Arthur Pendragon's son. But his uncle couldn't acknowledge that part. The church had narrow-minded opinions on bastard children and children conceived between blood siblings were even worse. Nobody would allow a child like Mordred to inherit the throne, should that be known to the ones leading the powerful factions in the country. He would be much better off being seen as the King's nephew without the negative label being pushed onto his shoulders.

Harry knew how history had gone. He wanted to change that part. He knew that if he and his mother could find a way to let Aunt Guinevere give birth to at least one child, it would change things completely. And they now had an idea what was behind the problems she had to have a child. Even if the child would be female, it would be a continuation of the line that the people would accept. A son would be safer by far to secure the country, as the Lords would only acknowledge a male successor for the king, but a daughter would buy time. And if it wouldn't be possible for Uncle Arthur and Aunt Guinevere to have a son, at least a daughter could marry a nobleman and their son inherit the throne. There were many options.

It was the dirty game of politics, but Harry had learned a lot about that from his uncle by now. It was about balancing the powers in the country and letting each group feel as if their wishes were represented sufficiently in the King's decisions. One thing Harry wanted to initiate when he was back at Camelot in Spring was an initiative to better the living conditions of the common people. While in the cities and towns most people had a somewhat decent life, in the rural areas, most people fought for pure survival against the odds. Harry hated that. He had seen a lot when they travelled to Hogwarts and also when the students were allowed to accompany the teachers on short trips to collect potion ingredients or observe them at work in the surrounding villages.

Harry didn't understand why there were rules that limited the animals that lived in the forests to the nobles that owned the land. Just to let them have their fun while hunting was no good reason at all to leave the people living on the land as bondsmen, most of them in poverty at that, to starve to death whenever some natural catastrophe appeared, like a draught that reduced their harvest. He knew enough about the breeding of animals to know that some reproduced quickly enough to not matter in the large picture. He was aware that many things he was used to from the future weren't available in this time. Potatoes for example, a common food in his time, hadn't been exported to Europe from America yet.

But there were ways to help the poor and make their lives a bit easier. It would take effort for sure, but in the end, it would also be profitable for the nobles owning the land. It was an age-old truth that people that were healthy could work better and harder. They were also more motivated to work well for the one that created their better situation in life. Harry knew he couldn't change the world with his actions, but he could give some pushes into certain directions.

Additionally, if he inspired Mordred to follow his example when he was older, this might be a position that Mordred would like to have and give him the recognition he yearned to have. He would wield influence, simply due to his position as the younger nephew of the king. Having that connected to a great reputation among the people and nobles alike, would make life much easier for Mordred. Who knew what this could change in the future? Harry didn't think it would be a bad change.

Arthur and the knights were back at Camelot. While they had started with the questioning of the captured bandits, the weather simply forced them to move back to better locations. While October and November in England weren't as difficult to handle as they were in Scotland, if it wasn't necessary, Arthur wanted to have the facilities of Camelot available to him. Especially the dungeons that could be secured much better than the spots they used on the road. There were much fewer chances for escape attempts inside the castle than outside. After exchanging information with Gawain and Sirius, who had got a lot of information from the captive they had already, the interrogation of the bandits continued. Morgaine had returned to the hospital wing of the castle, taking care of the remaining injuries of the ones that had participated in the operation. Overall, it was a success. The one thing that was left to do was finding the mastermind that had caused all the problems by organising the bandits and pointing out targets for them. They hoped that once they had finished all the interrogations under veritaserum, they would have enough proof to confront the one behind the attacks.

Due to the limited time that the potion worked, they needed to interrogate each captive several times. They had to make sure that they got all the information they could gain from them. It could mean the difference between life and death.

One positive development was that Sirius had managed to engrave most of the places he had chosen with the runic arrays by now. After the attack on Harry, he had worked overtime to get the castle ready for his godson's return. Even if that would now be further in the future than originally planned. But they needed two weeks to reach the castle when they travelled normally, not the hurried pace the group that took Harry and Mordred to the school for magic had set at the beginning to get both boys to safety quickly. And by then, the chance that Hogwarts would already be surrounded by deep snow was too large to risk.

Thus, Arthur had sent Harry's owl to Hogwarts with a package of supplies and some gold coins to pay for their stay over the winter months. While it wasn't optimal, and Sir Edmund wasn't happy that his squire wouldn't be present for further training, Harry's teacher understood why it was done. He would have to see how far Harry had progressed under Sir Godric and he would then continue the training when Harry returned in spring. And Sir Edmund had never been somebody to rush through the training of boys on their path to becoming knights. If this lengthened the training period of Harry, it would happen. It didn't matter if Harry was knighted in record time after all, it mattered that he survived to that point and had acquired all the skills and the knowledge that was needed for the position.

To Arthur's happiness, Guinevere had thrown herself into studying medicine under the tutelage of his sister. Guinevere had felt great while helping at the makeshift hospital that Morgaine had set up during the mission and she wanted to know more about this. It was something that she felt she could feel fulfilment doing. And Arthur knew that while she couldn't have a child to dote on, she needed something to give her that feeling. He also didn't mind that his wife studied a complicated subject. He was Morgaine's brother and used to women being strong and capable. If Guinevere wanted to help people with medical knowledge she got from working with his sister, he would give his blessing for it.

He had worried about her mood growing consistently darker from being incapable of conceiving a child. Having confirmation that it wasn't anything that was wrong with her, had given her both hope and determination to find out what was going on and then breaking the curse, potioning or whatever had happened to cause the condition for her. And then they would finally have the baby they wanted to have so much.

The winter break at Hogwarts was similar and different to how things were done at Camelot last year at the same time. Due to the weather and the fact that the modern times transportation ways hadn't been invented yet, most of the students had to stay at the school instead of travelling home for Christmas. Only those living close to the school could travel to see their parents. The risk of a snowstorm blowing a broom off course was far too large to let the teachers allow the students to use that way to get home. And the brooms that were available in this time period were far less developed as the brooms in Harry's time. They could fly but not very fast. It was in many situations faster than taking horses though, simply due to the brooms avoiding tricky terrain.

The students were tasked with clearing the courtyard of the castle and the paths towards certain spots outside the school, like the stables for the horses and magical creatures that Hogwarts held for example, but thanks to having magic available, this was done faster than the pages and squires at Camelot had managed to do. Sadly, there was much more snow up here in Scotland, thus the easier time they had was made up by having to free a lot more space. Including some roofs to prevent large amounts of snow burying an unsuspecting pedestrian underneath it when it fell from a tower's roof for example.

One advantage to Harry's time was a large indoor riding hall. Thanks to horses being the main way of transportation in this time, Hogwarts not only had the stables for them but also the riding hall to let the students train their abilities. Harry could continue his training with Thunder much easier than last year. He wanted to participate in the Beltane race again. By the end of April, he would be back in Camelot after all. And the Hogwarts' indoor riding hall was even larger than the one in Camelot. He guessed it had been replaced by something else over time, when faster ways of travelling were discovered for witches and wizards. After all, a floo trip from England to Scotland took mere seconds compared to over a week that it took right now.

The children in Mordred's class were often seen outside, playing in the snow. Their teacher had even taught them a way to channel their magic into their hands to sculpt snow figures. Harry certainly wondered why nobody did that in his time. It seemed like a great exercise for the children to playfully train their control in magic. Harry knew that Mordred was extremely happy here at Hogwarts. He had found some great friends among the children his age and they could often be found playing or doing their homework together. Harry wondered how Mordred would take going back to Camelot and then to Lady Morgause's castle once spring came.

In his classes with the different founders, Harry mainly learned spells that were useful for all kinds of situations. The founders practiced the approach that while it would be nice to know a spell, it didn't do much good if it couldn't be used in normal life. For example, Rowena Ravenclaw didn't see any sense to teach their students things like transforming rabbits into bunny slippers. According to her, while something was possible to do with magic, they always needed to think if it was right to do it as well. Transforming an animal into an inanimate object was wrong in most cases. After all, they effectively took the animal's life, freedom and free will away with that act.

And all to prove that they could do it. She lectured her classes about ethics as much as magical theory. And she knew incredible amounts of magical theory. Transfiguration should be used on inanimate things like wood, rocks and so on to turn them into more useful things. Rowena showed them an example by taking a small piece of wood and turning it into a metal cooking pot. It was an extremely advanced type of transfiguration, much more power-intensive and challenging than turning a hedgehog into a pin cushion for example, which Harry had learned in his first year at Hogwarts from Professor McGonagall, but while both items had a use, nobody would care about the piece of wood not being there anymore. The hedgehog was a living being and if not done properly, it suffered pain from the transformation as well.

Harry took a lot from lectures like those. His training with Salazar Slytherin in parselmagic was going well. He could now identify single snakes by their magic and he had progressed to a first use of parselmagic. It was a basic ward to prevent insects getting into a place. Insects were prey to snakes and thus setting wards with parselmagic repelled them even better than normal wards for that purpose. His swordsmanship had improved thanks to the training with Godric Gryffindor steadily, even if Harry knew that it would still take time to become somewhat proficient. Even magic couldn't replace experience and training of his muscles. Godric had commiserated with him. He had wished for a shortcut in that area as well when he was Harry's age. But becoming a knight had to be earned the hard way.

And another chapter done. Hope you liked it. Until next time.

21. Collision

Hi everybody. A new chapter for you. Hope you like it.

Collision

Harry was busy checking his equipment and the contents of the saddle bags that were placed on Thunder's back. Thanks to extreme snowfall during the past four days, many villages around Hogwarts were totally cut-off from the outer world. But in one village, there were three pregnant women that were due to give birth shortly and the village didn't have a midwife living there. The previous one had died in fall in an accident. And her apprentice was currently in another village to help a young family that had had a baby two days prior. It wasn't rare that people like midwives covered several villages that were located somewhat closely together.

One of the villagers was an alumnus from Hogwarts and had managed to send a message to the school to ask for help. As Harry had experience with helping during childbirth, he was one of two students that would accompany Helga Hufflepuff there. She was a trained healer and midwife and would help the soon-to-be mothers give birth safely. The other student was a fifteen-years-old girl that was studying healing under Helga. Next to them, two men would accompany them to provide some additional protection and assistance. It was necessary, as they needed to clear many paths to get to the village. Sharing the work would let them travel faster.

"Take care and save travels," wished Rowena the group.

"Thank you, Rowena. I expect that we will be gone for two weeks," replied Helga, "Normally we would manage to reach the village within two days, but with the snow I expect it will take double that time."

"Most probably. We will send a message with one of the newly trained owls if something important comes up," promised Godric.

After seeing Harry's owl Hedwig and how she could deliver messages easily, Godric had liked the idea so much that he started training a few owls he caught for the same purpose. The owls didn't mind at all, as he treated them well and kept them fed with mice and rats. Harry found it funny that Hedwig had been the inspiration that started the practice of wizards sending messages with owls.

Christmas had been different this year. While in his time, it was celebrated at Hogwarts, in this time, Christianity was growing to become the main threat for witches and wizards. Most didn't have any fond feelings for the religion and its holidays. The old religion celebrated Yule, which was what the teachers at Hogwarts did with their students. Harry's mental library supplied him with knowledge how the house of Avalon celebrated this important holiday. It was the winter solstice, the time when people prepared for the following cold months. There were ceremonial rites that were performed, and Harry had made sure to perform them with Mordred. Both of them were from the line of the High Priestesses of Avalon. It only strengthened the bond he had with his little brother.

Mordred had never before been included in any rites. Lady Morgause, despite being the daughter of the High Priestess before Morgaine, Ana, didn't hold with the religion. She used certain favourable parts, like the widow of the lord being allowed to rule until a new lord was chosen by her as her husband, which she never did, but she never celebrated any holidays. She was smart enough to allow her subjects to celebrate in whatever way their religion asked for, but she herself only pretended. There had been a feast on the evening of the twenty-first of December at Hogwarts, where seven roasted boars that Godric had hunted down were served as the meal.

Considering that meat wasn't a prevalent part of the diet of the students normally, mainly because there wasn't as much supply of it in this time, the students certainly appreciated the treat.

Harry concentrated on his current task. He got into Thunder's saddle and followed behind Helga, who led the way towards the village where the women needed their help.

Mordred sat inside the common room that had been set up for the primary school class. Right now, the weather was too bad to play outside in the snow. He knew that Harry was currently out there, riding towards a village where the people needed his help. Specifically, they needed people skilled with helping a woman give birth to a child. He somewhat knew that Harry knew how to help thanks to their heritage as members of House Avalon. Harry had explained it as much as Mordred could understand at his age. But he was worried about his brother. The weather wasn't good for travelling, not even for magicals.

"I wouldn't want to be out there right now," said Miranda, a girl with twin ponytails.

"If Lady Helga will be safe?" wondered her best friend Alice.

"Lady Helga is a powerful witch. She and the group will be okay. Mum said that Lady Helga often goes out to help in the villages a few days' travel away from Hogwarts as a healer," pointed Jeremy out, who's father was the head of the stables of the school.

"You are sure about that?" Mordred couldn't help ask.

"I am. All of the founders are great witches and wizards. They know what to do in difficult situations. And there aren't any bandits stupid enough to be out in this weather either. The bears are hibernating, thus they won't be out of their caves," confirmed Jeremy.

"I'm just worried about my brother. They have been gone for two days already and with this snow, they can't have reached the village yet," admitted Mordred.

He looked outside and saw thick snowflakes falling from the sky, covering all surfaces with a thick layer of fresh snow.

"I'm sure they will be fine," repeated Jeremy.

Mordred only hoped that Jeremy was right. He loved Harry and didn't want that anything bad happened to him.

Harry and the others in his group had created shelter inside a cave that was on the way towards the village. With the snowfall, they didn't want to risk anything by continuing. And Harry's instincts told him that the snow would stop in about three hours. Once that happened, they would continue for a while longer. They used the time to let their horses rest and to eat a bit. Thanks to magic, they easily got a fire going and cooked a simple soup for the five of them. The ingredients had been stored inside their saddle bags. It was just some vegetables and eggs as inlay, but it was enough for them to warm up again.

Some bread on top and they had a filling meal. While they waited for the snowfall to stop, Helga explained more about the plans how they would go about things once they reached the village. She would talk to the village leader, as she knew the man. He was open to magic and didn't have any problems with witches and wizards living inside the village, as long as they followed the normal laws all other villagers also had to follow. It was basic curtesy. And following the laws was common sense.

They would have to see how far the women were by the time they managed to get there. Harry and Clarice would help with easy births; in case something went wrong or got complicated Helga would deal with it. They would assemble the women in one place of possible. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about not being fast enough to have Helga act in case a birth went south.

After eating and setting up a general plan for their work, they left one of the men that accompanied the group as a look-out, while the others lay down on the ground, after Helga had placed cushioning and warming charms there. One thing wizards knew was how to get as much rest from short periods of sleep as possible. Helga handed each of them a potion that would support that effect. Soon the four that weren't on guard duty were asleep and they would be woken up once the snowfall had stopped to then continue their journey.

They reached the village four and a half days after starting from Hogwarts. When they arrived there, they immediately noticed that something was wrong. The people seemed to be angry about something. And they were congregating in the middle of the village, where some kind of trial seemed to happen.

"What is going on here?" asked Clarice.

"It has to be major for the people to leave their homes in this cold," pointed Helga out.

"Who are you?" asked a man suspiciously.

"Midwives that were called here to assist with three impeding births," answered Helga.

"How would anybody get through that cursed snowfall?" asked the man.

"We found shelter in a cave during the worst of it. And the horses are trained for heavy duty," answered one of the guards.

"Well, you are just in time. I heard that Fiona has gone into labour two hours ago," informed the man the group.

"Then we should hurry to assist her," decided Helga, "But what is going on here? Why are the people this upset?"

"That evil wizard caused the weather we are suffering from. The food is running out and all the firewood got too wet to use easily," ranted the man, "The new priest that arrived shortly before the start of winter said that too."

Harry narrowed his eyes.

"Helga, you and Clarice should go and assemble the pregnant women in one house to help all of them if the other two also go into labour. I will take care of this," he declared.

"Are you sure that you can do this?" asked Helga concerned.

"Yes. If nothing else, my uncle taught me diplomacy and how to talk to large groups of people. And my mother gave me ways to deal with any kind of unpleasantness the priest might come up with," confirmed Harry.

"I see. Reginald, you go with Harold as a guard. Phillip, you come with Clarice and me. We can use your assistance and you have two children already and know what we will need," stated Helga.

The men nodded, even if Reginald was confused why Helga would trust Harry with this. Still, the group separated, and Harry went towards the trial. What he saw enraged him. The accused was tied up and gagged, unable to say anything in his defence while a nasty-looking priest made his accusations. He was riling the people up more and more.

"I am disappointed that the Holy Church that claims to follow the path of Jesus Christ would commit open crimes without anybody calling them out on it," he loudly declared.

All eyes turned towards him.

"Who do you think you are," started the priest, but silenced when Harry held up his right hand, on which a signet ring sat, showing the crest of Camelot.

"I am a knight in training at Camelot. Currently, due to an attack on my person, I was sent here to this part of Scotland, to give the Knights of the Round Table the chance to find the culprits and bring them to justice. Sir Godric Gryffindor, one of those Knights of the Round Table, who is the Lord of these lands, has graciously agreed to grant me and my younger brother shelter in his castle. My name is Harold of Ceredigion. And what you are doing here, has nothing to do with justice or finding a criminal. This is a sham of a trial. If you were truly speaking justice, which I might add, only Sir Godric as Lord of this region is permitted to do, you wouldn't have tied up your suspect and gagged him. A fair trial includes that the accused can speak in his defence. It requires witnesses to speak. The only thing I see here is a bitter man, who claims to serve God, who uses a convenient scapegoat," declared Harry.

"How dare you accuse me of not doing God's will?" yelled the priest.

"Jesus Christ, God's earthborn son, showed the people the path they should follow. He taught forgiveness. He taught righteousness. He taught mercy. He taught justice. He taught charity. He taught to turn away from hatred. He taught that even sinners can repent," listed Harry sharply, silencing the priest, seemingly reaching several people in the crowd, "The law is clear in this part. The Church governs over the souls of the people. The Lords of the Land, sworn to fealty to their king, govern the physical being of the people. And all current kings have granted their people the freedom of choice which religion they want to follow."

Harry pierced the priest with his fierce green eyes, letting him step back involuntarily.

"One of the ten commandments says: You shall not murder. Another says: You shall not bear false witness to your neighbour. You as a priest should uphold those commandments and not break them when you feel like it. From what I heard listening to your statements, this whole trial is ridiculous. There is no human being that is powerful enough to call up such a snowstorm. To believe that a wizard like your accused could cause something of this extent with his powers is laughable. Not even a coven of seven, which is the normal condition for powerful magic being used, which some of you might remember was done five years ago to save the area from a draught, could create such an effect," pointed Harry out, "The rain the coven created only lasted for four hours, creating a light and steady downpour to save the fields and the harvest. This storm has been raging for nearly a week."

Some of the older villagers nodded. They remembered how the teachers of Castle Hogwarts had come and helped them when they feared starvation due to the draught. They also remembered how the priestesses of Avalon regularly sent envoys through the country to help where needed at the time. And they all were magical.

"But this weather isn't normal!" yelled the priest, trying to regain some power.

"You are honestly claiming something that idiotic here in Highland Scotland?" asked Harry with a raised eyebrow, he turned to an older man, "My good man, have you experienced hard winters up here in your life?"

"Sure did, lad," nodded the man, who seemed to work as a lumberman from his muscled arms, "And while this one is harsher than most, it isn't the harshest I have experienced. Now that I think about it, I don't know why I listened to the priest. Should have known that a Sassenach like him wouldn't know Scottish weather."

Some other villagers mumbled in agreement, now realising that they had experienced harsh winters many times.

Harry watched the priest, who fumed at the turn of events.

"Free the prisoner. Let him speak and tell his side of the story!" ordered Harry and two men walked over to the man who was forced to kneel on the ground, cutting the ropes and taking out the gag against the protests of the priest who warned them that he would cast his evil magic if he was allowed to speak.

"Thank you," said the man gratefully.

"What is your name?" asked Harry.

"William Longbottom, Lord Harold," he answered.

Harry suspected it could be an ancestor of Neville.

"What is your side of the events, William?" asked Harry kindly.

"I was out collecting some firewood from the shed behind my home. I have lived in this village all my life, only leaving for months on end to study at Hogwarts during my teens. I came back here once I graduated and was tasked by Sir Godric to assist the people here with the abilities I had learned at the school. Be they magical or not. I have built the shack with the normal harsh winters in mind to not suffer the problems of the wet firewood that many other villagers complain about and which they used to accuse me of doing evil magic against them to let them suffer. The only reason why my firewood isn't wet like the firewood of the priest or some of the main supporters of his accusations is that I built a pedestal to keep it from the ground. Next to that I added tar pitch to the walls to make them imperturbable for water. And the roof has a wooden gutter that prevents that the molten snow could fall onto the front parts. Not to mention that I have left about a metre space from the front part of the roof and the stack of wood. There is nothing magical or evil about it. Just simple common sense," William quickly explained.

"Tar pitch?" asked a woman surprised.

"Yes, you know how that stuff always swims on the surface of water if some gets into it. Anybody that simply observes nature could tell you that. Any craftsman that builds carts knows about this. They always treat the surfaces of the wood with tar pitch to make it long-living. I asked the man who sold my cart to me when I saw him doing so with one he was building. And that man doesn't have any magic at all," confirmed William.

"And the snow?" accused the priest, which had many people shake their heads at his stupidity now.

"This snow, while a lot fell at once, is normal for Highland Scotland," repeated William previous statements from Harry and the other people, "I wouldn't even know how to create snow. I don't have anywhere near the magical power to influence the weather. And I am horrible at any magic that involves water."

"I can actually confirm that," commented Reginald, "I watched him practice a charm to conjure water when he was still a student at Castle Hogwarts and the most he got were droplets. Lady Rowena decided that water simply wasn't his element. And snow is just a different form of water."

The adults nodded. Everybody knew that when snow melted, it turned into water.

"Then I will sum it up. This is a horrible miscarriage of justice and abuse of power by the priest who let himself by overwhelmed by prejudices against magical people. He couldn't understand the weather, as he wasn't born and raised in this region, thus he isn't used to winters that get this harsh. He needed a scapegoat for what he considered either punishment by God or the work of the Devil. William, you didn't do anything wrong. You were a victim of unfortunate circumstances. I will bring this case before Sir Godric to let him give the final verdict.

"To everybody here, I recommend that you don't let yourself be influenced by people that speak of hatred and taking the law into your own hands. You know better than this. Imagine if one of you had got in the way of the priest, who clearly needs to examine the Holy Bible more closely before he jumps to conclusions. After all, thinking back to the time Jesus Christ lived, what if anybody had accused him of being an evil wizard for doing his wonders?" asked Harry pointedly, making the priest blanch.

The people around nodded in agreement. Everybody that followed the Christian faith knew about the wonders done by Christ and having that comparison made, they could easily see how it could have been taken the wrong way. They dispersed and several apologised to William for thinking that badly of him just on the words of the priest.

The priest clearly fumed about this turn of events. He stomped towards Harry.

"You! You ruined everything!" he accused Harry.

"You can be grateful that it was me coming here and not Sir Godric. He doesn't tolerate this kind of hatred on his land," replied Harry calmly but firmly, "And you can be sure that I will report this type of behaviour back at Camelot when I return in spring. King Arthur has a dim view about people not accepting that just believing in different things isn't bad or evil. Especially if that behaviour creates violence."

The priest realised that Harry knew the king personally, and even he had heard about the quick expansion of influence of Arthur Pendragon as King of England. More and more lords swore fealty to him and his vision of a peaceful kingdom for everybody. And Godric Gryffindor was one of his knights. He would be better off trying his luck elsewhere. It wouldn't be smart to stay here after not managing to fortify his power base. But who could have known that a young noble would arrive in this village just on the day when he had thought he had finally found some proof of evildoing by that wretched wizard?

Once the crowd had dispersed, Harry and Reginald were led to the house where the young women that were about to give birth to their children had been taken by William. He told them that one of them was his wife and the reason why he went outside to get more firewood for the fireplace was wanting to have her comfortable with her late state of the pregnancy. When they arrived, they found Helga and Clarice busy with two women in labour and a third one pacing up and down, holding her swollen belly.

"Will!" exclaimed the pacing woman and hurried over to him, well as fast as her condition allowed her to do so.

"Maddy!" he called back and quickly pulled his wife into his arms.

"You are safe! I was so scared!" she admitted, holding onto him firmly.

"It was thanks to Harold that the priest didn't get away with his plans. Thank you Harold. I don't know how I can make this up to you," said William.

"It's alright, you don't owe me anything, William. It was the right thing to do. Just take good care of your wife and soon-to-be-born child. That is enough," replied Harry with a smile.

"So you diffused the mob?" asked Helga.

"He was incredible. He took the priest's arguments apart one after another with cool logic and a calmness that I have never seen in someone his age," confirmed William, "First he pointed out that the priest didn't have the authority to hold a trial like that, and second he made it clear that the whole trial was a sham from the beginning, as everybody that is accused of a crime has a right to defend himself."

"That's very true," agreed Helga, "Where was Gunter, the village leader? Normally he wouldn't have allowed something like that to happen here."

"He broke his leg a week ago and is stuck inside his house," answered William.

"Probably one reason why that priest thought he could grab power in the village. And honestly, using the Scottish winter weather as a sign of evil magic is ridiculous," commented Harry.

"He honestly did something that stupid? How did he manage to convince people of that being a valid accusation?" exclaimed Clarice.

Every student at Hogwarts knew that the weather in this part of Scotland was extreme during the winter. Some years were worse than others.

"He is a good orator," answered Maddy, "I noticed that before. I'm extremely grateful that you saved my husband from the priest, Harold. Now I can be calm while having my baby."

"It was my pleasure," nodded Harry.

Then Maddy twitched and her hand went to her stomach.

"Our baby has impeccable timing, Will. I think I felt the first labour pains," admitted Maddy.

"Come over here, dear," stated Helga and performed a quick scan with her wand, "Yes, you are entering labour. Just lie down and try to breathe regularly. Harry, you help her. I need to stay with Grace, she is going to have a big baby, which is always harder on the mother than a smaller baby."

"Of course," nodded Harry and took off his cloak.

"You are trained in healing?" asked William surprised.

"Yes, by both my mother and Lady Helga," confirmed Harry.

"Just who are you? No normal nobleman would learn healing. I get the training to be a knight, but healing is time consuming to study," asked William, "And from the way you argued my case, you aren't from a normal noble family."

All eyes were now directed towards Harry. Knowing that the bandits were caught and the suspects for his assassination would probably be dealt with by the time he returned to Camelot in spring, he would be safe to reveal his identity.

"My name, as I said, is Harold of Ceredigion. My father was the late Lord Benwick of Ceredigion. But as he already had several heirs before I was born as the product of the Beltane rites which he performed with my mother, Morgaine of Avalon, I was raised by her on Avalon. He also died before I was born and having another son of the previous Lord to raise when the new Lord was just establishing himself wouldn't have been smart," explained Harry.

"The magical royal house of Avalon," breathed Maddy out in awe, "You are the son of the current High Priestess."

"I am," nodded Harry.

"That also makes you King Arthur's nephew," added Reginald, "No wonder that you could threaten the priest with the prospect of telling the king of his despicable behaviour."

Harry nodded and concentrated on examining Maddy with his magic.

"The baby lies correctly, that's good," he commented.

"Lies?" asked William curiously.

"During the last stage of the pregnancy, the baby turns inside the womb to get into the right position to go through the birth channel. Meaning face down and the head going first. A birth gets a lot more complicated if the baby hasn't turned correctly when labour starts," answered Harry.

Helga nodded confirming, this was basic knowledge for all midwives and healers.

"Do you need anything right now?" asked William.

"We already have hot water, and the room is warm enough. Right now, we need to wait until we get into the last phase. A birth normally takes several hours," answered Helga, "Maddy will have time until she is ready. Grace has already been in labour for some hours when we arrived. From what I can say, it will take a few more. Abigail has gone into labour about half an hour before we arrived."

The men nodded and stood to the side, except for William, who sat next to his wife, holding her hand. It would be a long night.

The next morning, three exhausted but happy women lay on the beds that Helga had either conjured or levitated to the largest room of the house. Grace had given birth to a healthy baby boy, the largest among the three children. It was thanks to Helga's skills that nothing bad happened during the birth. The baby was too large for her to press out normally, thus the magic Helga used to gently widen the birth channel was the deciding factor to save mother and child. Abigail now held a little girl in her arms. It was her second child already and she had been a lot calmer than Grace and Maddy, who were both first-time mothers. Maddy looked at her son lovingly.

The husbands of Grace and Abigail had also come in now. Abigail's husband had taken care of keeping Grace's husband calm, telling him to leave the healers to their work, as they knew best how to take care of assisting the women with the task. Reginald and Hugh, the guards that accompanied the group of healers, two of them in training admittedly, but skilled enough to assist with births while Helga was in charge overall, had kept the men company, sometimes assuring them that Helga wouldn't let anything bad happen to their wives.

"Thank you so much for your help," stated Grace's husband.

"It was our pleasure," replied Helga smiling.

"How can we reward you?" asked Abigail's husband, who knew that healers were normally expensive to have present.

"You can deliver some fruits to Hogwarts next fall after the normal harvest," answered Helga, knowing that the men would feel better if they could repay her help in some way that didn't feel like charity to them, "We always appreciate fresh food."

"We will do that," promised Grace's husband.

It was a fair deal, and the castle was close enough to take a waggon with fresh fruits there when the harvest was done. And there were several apple and pear trees around, which normally bore good amounts of fruits. It was always enough to make good on this deal.

"Make sure that the new mothers get plenty to drink and keep them and the babies warm," instructed Helga, "that will be the most important for the beginning. If you have, you can also use some herbal teas. Just avoid peppermint and sage when you aren't ready to stop breastfeeding your babies. They can have the effect of reducing the milk flow and you don't want that to happen too early."

"We will remember that Lady Helga," promised Maddy, cuddling her little boy close to her.

After a last examination, the group left the house and was shown to a house where they could get some sleep. They had worked through the night and were really tired now.

And done. Until next time.

22. Family Bonds

HI everybody. A new chapter is ready for you. Hope you like it.

Family Bonds

Mordred looked out of the window. The last three days there hadn't been any new snow. It was a welcome break for the ones tasked with clearing the courtyard of the snow. Harry and the others had been gone for over a week now. According to older students, they would return once all the babies were born and Lady Helga was sure enough that nothing like after birth complications would come up. And nobody could say for sure when a baby was born. It could happen at any day. And it was highly improbable that all three pregnant women would go into labour at the same time. He just missed Harry.

While he liked spending time with his friends, he wanted to talk to his brother. And to be honest, he wasn't happy about the prospect of returning to Aunt Morgause. Now that he had experienced how being welcomed by his family felt, how it was to have friends his age, he didn't want to go back to his old life. He knew that they would leave Hogwarts once it was safe to travel again. Then Harry would go back to being trained by Sir Edmund and someday Aunt Morgause would send somebody to collect him. If only he could stay with his mother. She was extremely busy normally, yes, but he didn't mind that. Even if they could only spend an hour in the evening together, that was much more than he got from Aunt Morgause.

And Sir Placidus was much more patient with him in his lessons than the tutor Aunt Morgause had chosen for him. That man was extremely strict and didn't explain as well as Sir Placidus did. And Camelot was much more exciting to live at. He would ask Harry if he saw a chance that he could stay there. He wouldn't mind helping with some easier jobs if that was what was needed to be allowed to stay. He would work as a stable boy if necessary. But after experiencing the difference between living in Camelot and Aunt Morgause's castle, he certainly preferred Camelot.

Harry got out of Thunder's saddle after a three days' ride back from the village. Thanks to the weather playing along, they made better time than on the way to the village. He was happy that nothing bad had happened during the births. They had stayed for three days after the births and then left again. While they were there, Helga healed the broken leg of Gunter, the village leader. He was aghast about the actions of the priest and promised he would take care that there wouldn't be a repeat of something like that.

Harry hoped that things would calm down around Hogwarts. It would be bad if the inhabitants in the surrounding villages were radicalised against their magical neighbours. He knew that the Statute of Secrecy had been enacted all over the world because the muggles had become unbearably intolerant of what they perceived as witchcraft. Most was superstition, as the magicals by that point in time already preferred living distanced from the muggles, but without proper education, the people mostly listened to those they grew up seeing as infallible authorities. And that came down to the clerics and the nobles in most cases.

He didn't know when the harsher hunts on magicals had taken place in Great Britain. He had concentrated on other parts of history. But this was clearly an early example for it. The question was why there were so many extreme members of the church that hated magic. From what he knew about Christianity, the faith itself was peaceful and there wasn't a single word about demonising witches and wizards in there. Like he had told that priest, who he still hadn't learned the name of, as he had kept out of sight from the villagers after he was defeated so soundly in his plans by Harry being much better at arguing points logically, if anybody had acted like he did with William towards Jesus Christ, he would have been accused of wizardry and witchcraft early in his life.

Multiplication of food or turning water into wine wasn't normal. Nor was walking over water. But nobody hated him for openly showing supernatural powers. And Jesus himself had preached kindness, acceptance and forgiveness. He had lived by that credo. The current day priests should follow that example instead of making up their own version of their faith. That way, many conflicts could be solved peacefully.

Looking up at the sky, Harry saw that they would get more snow very soon. Having spent three winters in Scotland in his own time by now, he was used to the weather and predicting how long it would take for something to start. He took Thunder's reigns and led his stallion towards the stables. He would take care of his horse before going into the castle to warm up. And he would see if he could find Mordred. Probably his little brother had missed him and was a bit bored without having the chance to talk to him in the evenings.

Morgause sat in front of a lit fireplace, thinking hard about how her plans had got out of control. She hadn't liked that Arthur basically tricked her into leaving Mordred at Camelot for three weeks. But she had made the best of that situation. She had even sent him a message to inform him that her business would take a bit longer than expected and asked him to host Mordred for a little while longer. The additional weeks shouldn't have meant a big difference to what had already happened to influence the child slightly. But then somebody she hadn't expected had made a bold move.

Had it worked and had Harold been assassinated, she wouldn't have shed a single tear. She would have been ecstatic. The boy was a major thorn in her great plans. But the boy had against all odds managed to overwhelm the professional assassin and even kill the man. He had survived and it caused Sir Gawain to decide that they couldn't ensure the safety of both Harold and Mordred at Camelot while most of the knights were on the mission to destroy the bandits.

She supported that Arthur had acted decisively. The motivation behind the show of power was ridiculous in her mind, but a king needed to strongly bring down such disruptive elements in his kingdom. And the knights had been successful in their mission. That was good and made travelling for the nobles that could afford it much safer again. She had heard that after interrogations of all bandits that survived the strike against their group, they had been hanged. That was how low lives like them needed to be handled. No mercy. Otherwise others would think that they could get away with acting out against the nobles. Their rightful rulers.

The major problem was that right now Harold was together with Mordred at the castle of one of the Knights of the Round Table that hadn't participated in the mission. She hadn't been told which one for security reasons, as Sir Gawain feared spies that might eavesdrop on their conversation, but she was informed that it was over a week's travel on horseback away from Camelot. As the King's forces were still away from Camelot when she had returned to collect Mordred, she also didn't get a proper escort to return to her castle. She had her own guards of course, but as the King's aunt, it would have been expected for her to get additional protection for at least the next five days of travelling. But without manpower, Sir Gawain couldn't offer anything like that.

She had been sent a message by Arthur after he was back at Camelot that Mordred wouldn't be brought back yet, due to needing to weed out any possible spies at Camelot and fortifying the castle to make it more or less impossible for assassins to get inside the castle itself, for which Lord Black, who she had heard a lot of interesting things about during her stay at Camelot, was going to set up powerful wards based on runes. She knew that runes could be extremely powerful, but as she wasn't that interested in studying magic, and her sister Viviane hadn't been keen on raising her and Igraine as priestesses on Avalon, she didn't have the knowledge to assess any kind of array he might use.

Now, with winter having started and making long journeys far too dangerous, she got a second message that Arthur had decided to leave Mordred and Harold under the care of Sir Godric. After the bandits were dealt with, he felt safe enough to tell her where the boys had been taken to. Sir Godric's school for magic in Scotland that he had founded with his three friends. That was a huge problem. Not that Mordred was exposed to magic. It was a problem that he would be educated in ways she didn't approve, letting him experience that others might be interested in him as well. So far, she had made it appear that only she among his closer family members cared enough to raise him. But with Mordred spending time with his brother who humoured the boy's childish activities this would change.

Morgaine she had taken out of the picture by tricking her into that oath. She couldn't demand to raise her son. Not to mention that she would soon have to spend more time on Avalon again. She as High Priestess was needed to teach the younger priestesses in their powers and to perform important rites. She could get away with doing other things for some time, but not forever. She had responsibilities towards Avalon. It was what had made her plan so easy to realise.

Until Harold appeared in the picture unexpected. Harold, who now had months to influence Mordred negatively for her plans. Harold, who exuded strong magic that even she could sense. He was going to be as powerful as Morgaine when he was grown up, that much she knew for sure. People would see him as the perfect candidate to succeed Arthur on the throne. As Guinevere wouldn't give Arthur an heir, as she couldn't get pregnant, Harold would be the next King of England. And if she didn't do something soon, Mordred would think that perfectly alright, probably wanting to become a Knight of the Round Table for his brother, to have his back when needed.

She didn't invest all the time for Mordred to become a servant to his brother. A servant in a powerful position, should her fears come true, but still not the ruler of England. Mordred becoming a knight wouldn't let her be the shadow ruler of the country, which she considered her right. She needed to regain control and find an unsuspicious way to kill Harold. The sooner he died, the sooner she could bring her plans back on track.

Lord Preston knew that King Arthur had succeeded in taking down the group of bandits that he had set up to start a coup against the weak fool. But despite careful planning, it hadn't worked like he had thought it would. The one good part was that there was absolutely no proof that marked him as the mastermind in the background. He had never even seen the leader of the bandits. He had always used middlemen when he contacted any of his pawns. Because they were nothing but puppets he could move when it benefited him and his plans. While it had been a shame to lose his steward, the man had become careless over time and hadn't erased his trails properly a few times.

Arranging a riding accident was easy. One of the assassins on his paylist had caused a small scare for the horse, which made it step into the hole that had been dug into the ground in that spot for exactly that reason. The stumbling of the horse let Barney fall from its back and in that area was a nest of poisonous snakes. Barney fell into the nest and was bitten, which led to his death, as nobody could treat him for the poisoning. It was written off as a tragic accident, nothing else. Just like planned. Barney's replacement wasn't as efficient as he had been, but the man would improve over time. Barney had needed a year or so on the job to reach the level of his predecessor as well.

The problem now was that he didn't have the means to dispose of both possible heirs of the throne anymore. Sir Gawain had been much more successful in sniffing out all of his plants at Camelot than he had thought possible. And with the king and his knights now back, the castle was much safer again. The one thing he could ensure was that he wasn't implicated in the coup. But he knew that as somebody that was known to not be happy with several political decisions of King Arthur, he would be put under observation. That hindered his options severely. He would have to lie low for a while until the dust had settled again.

It posed a problem though. Harold was growing rapidly in all of his abilities and many wanted him to succeed his uncle. Young Mordred was just a cute little boy right now, nothing to be worried about. He wouldn't be considered a serious successor for his uncle if something happened to his older brother until he was at least ten years older. Nobody would let a boy not even sixteen become king. And if he could take out Arthur and Harold, those ten years could be used profitably. The failed plan had cost him a lot of money as well. He had needed to pay the bandits to follow his plans and use the strategies he dictated. The men had been too headstrong to follow orders without payment. And now they had all been hanged. He wouldn't regain any of that money.

Well, he had all winter to think of a new strategy. He wouldn't give up his ambition to rule over England, but it seemed that he needed to build up a new strategy from the ground.

Morgaine sat in a chair inside Arthur's study with her brother and sister-in-law. She had continued the tests Harry had started and she had successfully figured out the three layers of the problems why Guinevere couldn't become pregnant.

"Whoever cast the curse on you, Guinevere, was thorough. It will take a complicated ritual to give you your ability to conceive a child back, but it can be done," she told the two.

"Really? Whatever it takes, sister. This is great news," declared Arthur happily.

"What exactly does the ritual entail?" asked Guinevere eagerly, "I am willing to do everything to have a child of my own."

"Both of you need to accompany me to Avalon. I need the additional magical power that Avalon can grant a ritual. The ritual itself will have to be performed on Beltane, simply because of its magic that strengthens fertility. I will brew a potion that will cleanse both of your bodies of possible potions and poisons that influence them, and you need to take it twice a day the week before Beltane to get your bodies into the best possible condition for the ritual. The ritual will basically reset your systems to the time before you first had sexual intercourse with any partner. Following that, you need to unite your bodies in the normal Beltane rites that the priestesses and druids on Avalon have performed for centuries," explained Morgaine.

Arthur nodded, having participated in the rites before already, even if Guinevere was a bit more hesitant. But she still nodded. This was her chance to finally overcome her inability to give birth to a child. To have a child of her own, which had so far been denied to her. Something many noble women had looked down on her for. If it meant agreeing to a ceremony that was connected to the faith of her sister-in-law, then so be it. She still believed in God and Jesus Christ, but Morgaine certainly wasn't evil or harmed the people on which she used her magic. But no priest had managed to help her, therefore, it was high time to do something outside of her comfort zone to not feel like a failure as a woman anymore.

"I better prepare some of my knights then to take care of things here at Camelot," pondered Arthur, "And we need to figure out a way to travel unsuspiciously. It wouldn't do to alert the one behind this plot to us having found a possible cure."

"I believe that we can disguise this by letting Guinevere travel with me while you travel there with Harry and Sir Edmund as one of the knights that accompany you. The closest county to Avalon is Somerset. You could let it appear that you want to talk to Lord Constantin and take Harry as your heir with you to let him experience that part of being crown prince. Having Sir Edmund accompany you will ensure that Harry continues his normal training as a squire. Nobody would think anything strange about it. After all, Harry missed some training time due to being sent to Hogwarts for his safety," explained Morgaine.

"That would work," agreed Arthur, "I haven't visited Lord Constantin for years and he was a friend of my father. I could let it appear that I didn't want to force him to make the journey from Somerset at his age. If we took a detour to Avalon after we visited him, nobody would need to find out. And Harry could open the path through the mist for us."

Morgaine nodded. She would teach Harry how to do that. As Guinevere knew that her nephew was from the future, it wasn't necessary to hide the fact that he hadn't been raised on Avalon. They only needed to have Arthur and Guinevere on Avalon for the ritual and the group that escorted Arthur there could be put on patrol duty in the area while they waited for the king and queen to return. Harry would return as soon as Arthur had reached Avalon, which would keep Sir Edmund out of the know. Nobody needed to know that Harry wasn't her son but many times great grandson outside of those already informed.

While it would be a small disappointment for Harry to not participate in the Beltane race this year, he would deal with it. He knew how important it was to give Arthur and Guinevere a child. And he wanted to get a cousin to spoil as well. Morgaine was quite sure that Harry would spoil Mordred rotten while they were at Hogwarts. Not that she was against it. Anything to give Aunt Morgause trouble in manipulating Mordred against her was good in her books.

After the snow had finally melted enough to make travelling safe again, Harry and Mordred had packed their things. They had said goodbye to their new friends at Hogwarts. Godric and Salazar both had promised Mordred that they would send him an invitation to the school once he turned eleven. Salazar had also already told him that he wanted him in his house, as parselmouths were far too rare to not train Mordred in his abilities. Mordred was happy to have that prospect for his future. Godric was also considering taking Mordred as a page and squire if he showed enough promise in his development. Most wizards didn't want to study both fields, which Godric considered a shame. He needed to be thirteen at least and at that time he would already be a student at Hogwarts, which would make Godric the perfect choice to be his teacher.

It was something Mordred held onto. He really didn't want to return to Aunt Morgause and her cold and lonely castle. He had talked about it with Harry and had sent a letter to his uncle if he had any way to not send Mordred back to his aunt. If anybody knew a way to make it happen it would be the King of England. Uncle Arthur had promised in his last letter to work on a way to let Mordred stay at Camelot. It wouldn't be that easy, as Aunt Morgause had custody over him, but there might be a way to find a compromise.

The day they were set to leave, Sirius and Morgaine appeared at Hogwarts to collect them. Harry and Mordred were happy to see both of them and greeted them happily. The goodbye from the founders was a bit sad, but Godric and Salazar repeated their offer for Mordred to attend Hogwarts as a full student when he was eleven. Morgaine was happy about that offer and accepted for her son. This was something she could do, as she had never sworn to leave Mordred's education in magic to the choice of Morgause. And here she could argue that Morgause, as she had never got a full education in her magic on Avalon simply lacked the necessary qualifications.

She was also in favour of letting Mordred be taught to become a knight under Godric Gryffindor. He was one of the rare magical knights and thus perfect to teach her younger son how to combine both sides of his heritage. It would do much to stir Mordred away from the slippery path Morgause planned to place him on. Having good role models in the founders of Hogwarts would do much to prevent that Mordred became the traitor he had become originally. She desperately wanted to prevent that development for her son. She loved him deeply and had many times cursed her own weakness when he was born. Next to the behaviour of her aunt, who had exploited said weakness instead of actually wanting to help her. Though Viviane also was target of many curses.

If only she hadn't wanted to manipulate things to her liking so much. Then Morgaine wouldn't have to deal with the results of that mess. She didn't regret becoming pregnant with Mordred, but it would have been a lot less problematic if his father hadn't been Arthur. Contrary to Viviane, Morgaine understood the political repercussions should the identity of Mordred's father be known. Not even Arthur knew about his son, as he would feel obliged to acknowledge Mordred as such and then the church, the nobles and too many other busybodies would try to use the child against him. Which had been the reason for the fall of Arthur's reign in the end. She wanted to prevent that. Hopefully, with Harry's interference in the matter, she would manage to eliminate a deciding factor in her visions of the future. If the ritual on Beltane worked like planned, then Guinevere would have a child next year and no matter if it was a boy or a girl, alone the fact that the king had a child would give many new hope for the future.

Harry listened to his mother's explanations what needed to be done to help Arthur and Guinevere to have a child of their own.

"I see. Well, while it is a shame to miss the Beltane race, I can still participate next year. This is more important, mother," nodded Harry in acceptance.

"Thank you, Harry. We really need to keep things secret until it is done," replied Morgaine.

"Mother, did Uncle Arthur say anything if I could stay at Camelot?" asked Mordred, who was really nervous about going back to Morgause.

"We found a way to work around Lady Morgause," nodded Sirius.

"Really?" asked Mordred excitedly.

"Yes. The main reason why Lady Morgause has custody over you is that your father was unknown to your mother when you were born. Only Lady Viviane knew for sure, but she has died a few years ago and we can't ask her anymore. As you know, the sons of the Priestesses of Avalon are normally raised by the fathers of the boys to follow in their path. Your brother Harry is one of the rare exceptions to that rule," answered Sirius, who had suggested the solution. It was a bit of subterfuge, but nobody could prove it in the end, as nobody had the means to brew inheritance potions in this time.

"After we managed to deal with the bandits, we had more time available to work on other issues again. Thanks to your mother going back to Avalon over the winter after she wasn't needed to heal the injured soldiers and knights at Camelot anymore, she had the opportunity to look through the lists of partners that were sent to the priestesses the year you were conceived," continued Sirius.

"So, she now knows who my father is?" asked Mordred, both hopeful and scared at the same time.

"It could be narrowed down to a few men. One we could exclude, as Aunt Viviane wouldn't have been stupid enough to pair me off with my own brother," stated Morgaine, making it appear that she was simply reasoning things by common sense. After all, she hadn't really known it was Arthur until she heard where he had participated in the Beltane rites that year and connected the dots.

"Uncle Arthur was a participant there too?" asked Mordred surprised.

"Yes. Taliesin organised it, as he saw the importance of having the future king versed in both leading religions of the country. That is a major reason why Arthur can balance the interests of the people belonging to both faiths as easily as he can. He understands both sides and can moderate between arguments," confirmed Morgaine.

"So, who was my father?" Mordred wanted to know.

"Most probably it was Jayden of Blackmoor," answered Morgaine.

"He was the fourth son of Lord Kyron, wasn't he mother?" asked Harry, trying to remember the current lords in England.

"Yes. Sadly, he died during a tournament two years ago. But we can still use this to allow you to live with somebody besides Aunt Morgause, Mordred," confirmed Morgaine.

"How?" asked Mordred hopefully.

"It's quite simple. By declaring that Morgaine figured out that you were Lord Jayden's son, any of his male relatives could claim custody over you. It is doubtful that Lord Kyron would want to do something like that, he already has too many sons and grandsons to care about one more, even if the nephew of the current king would give him more influence if it was known that he was part of his family, but my family is also descended from the Lords of Blackmoor. In no way close enough to have any claim to the lordship, but it suffices to allow me to claim custody over you, Mordred," explained Sirius.

This surprised both Harry and Mordred. Especially Harry, as he knew what would be entailed in letting Sirius basically adopt Mordred. Even if he also saw the benefits of that move. Sirius knew what was at stake. He knew that Harry was chosen as the guardian of magic for the future. And he knew that Harry loved Mordred as a little brother. Trying to give Mordred a better childhood to prevent that he would revolt against Arthur, considering the throne his birth right as Arthur's only nephew, as originally Harry hadn't been in the picture, would change history. But letting Arthur have a longer reign might mitigate some problems that had come up later. If Arthur could give England stability and peace for a longer time, it would be beneficial for the country. There had been wars over his succession, even if his legend lived on.

"You would really adopt me?" asked Mordred.

"Yes. While I am also busy like your mother, I have more time available to be there for you. And from what you told Harry and which he passed on to King Arthur and me, you don't benefit from living with Lady Morgause. We have just seen how the people target both you and your brother for your relation to the king. And several people have seen you at Camelot. Lady Morgause's castle doesn't offer the same level of protection as Camelot does now. I have finished the runic arrays to prevent that those with evil intentions towards the royal family in particular and any inhabitant of Camelot in general can enter the castle. I can't keep them out of the city, that simply is too large an area, but I have managed to make the castle itself a fortress like no other," declared Sirius.

"Thank you, Sirius, I promise I will be a good son," declared Mordred happily and relieved that he wouldn't have to leave his true family again.

"I'm happy to have you as my son," replied Sirius with a smile.

Harry also smiled happily. This was great for Mordred.

And, how do you like this turn? Until next time.

23. Journey to Avalon

Hi everybody, a new chapter is ready, hope you enjoy it.

Journey to Avalon

The return of the crown prince was not announced in any grand way. Harry was welcomed back by his aunt and uncle and simply returned to his training under Sir Edmund. The knight didn't waste any time to see what Harry had managed to learn under Sir Godric and was satisfied that his colleague had continued the training of his squire properly. Sir Edmund wasn't going to grouch about another knight influencing his squire's training. It had been a wise decision of Sir Gawain and Lord Black to send the two boys to safety when there were too few knights that remained in Camelot during the crisis. Things had stabilised since then though and it was time for normality to return.

A few of the squires and several of the pages that hadn't been taken on the mission to find the bandits and deal with them permanently had got a harsh awakening from slacking in their exercises. The knights that trained them had kicked their collective butts if they found out that they had felt that without their teachers present they could be lazy. It certainly didn't help their prospects in becoming knights. Others like Harry's friends Frederick and Cameron had got their promotion to squire over having been smart and continuing their training even if their teachers were gone.

From what they told Harry when they sat together for breakfast in the kitchen after the usual morning exercises, they had felt the difference in levels between being a page and a squire. Harry commiserated. He remembered far too well how it had taken a while until his muscles could take the higher level of stress under which they were put. Their promotion meant that Harry could now sit together with them again, as they had joined the group of squires. He liked that, as he had missed their regular conversations, even if he got along with the other squires as well.

A bigger impact had the adoption of Mordred of Cornwall by Lord Sirius Black. It was announced that thanks to Lady Morgaine having the opportunity to check the registers of Avalon during the winter months, she could narrow down the identity of her partner in the Beltane rites that year to Jayden of Blackmoor, which allowed Lord Black, who was a Blackmoor descendant, even if too distant to have any claim to the title, which belonged to the family of Lord Kyron, to step up as a family member to adopt young Mordred and give him a proper male role model to follow.

According to rumours that came from Lady Morgause's castle, she hadn't been happy at all about the development. A maid that worked at her castle had told the baker in the village close to the castle how she had thrown a temper tantrum over being side-lined like that and how some plans had been foiled. The baker had told his cousin, who worked as a miller at the mill where he got the flour for his bread, the cousin had told another baker that was one of his customers and lived in the city of Camelot, from where some servants inside the castle heard.

Morgaine, when she heard from one of the women that she taught in basic healing at the hospital wing, after the problem with the bandits she had set up lessons for those interested in learning basic medical skills and which remedies helped with certain illnesses, had to hide her smile. Finally, she had got one over her scheming aunt who had basically stolen her son from her. Now, she could deal with the feeling of being powerless. She would rant even more when they managed to get Guinevere pregnant. Morgaine knew that Morgause had fancied being the power behind Mordred on the throne. While Morgause was sly and cunning, she couldn't prevent that servants talked, and Morgaine knew how to ask to get information that others didn't consider sensitive. It was clear to her after getting descriptions how her son was raised by Morgause, especially after Harry wrote what Mordred had told him while they were at Hogwarts, that Mordred was just a means to an end for Morgause.

Life in Camelot was back to normal, until two weeks before the Beltane festivities.

Morgaine checked everything to be sure that the travel preparations for her and Guinevere were finished, and nothing was out of place. They would go ahead to Avalon to prepare for the ritual that would reset the bodies of Arthur and Guinevere to a state that would finally give them the chance to become parents. They hadn't announced the trip to anybody. Well, many people knew that Morgaine was going back to Avalon to oversee the Beltane rites as the High Priestess of Avalon, but nobody knew that Guinevere would accompany her. It would be far too tempting a target to kidnap the Queen of England when she wasn't protected by the walls of Camelot.

Guinevere had already dyed her hair again to not be recognised as easily as herself. She also wore a simple dress for the journey. They would travel accompanied by the normal patrol with Sir Percival and his recently promoted Squire Cameron of Egremont. The soldiers, Sir Percival and Cameron would leave them at the pier from which they could take a boat to Avalon. It wasn't uncommon for a patrol to take that route. It was one of the longer routes, but it was checked regularly, due to the importance of the area. And now that the bandits were gone, it was simply part of the training for squires to learn how to do their duties on such a long trip. They would be away for about three weeks. It took five days to reach the pier that led to Avalon at normal travelling speed for such a large group. Then the group would continue a bit further and then make the way back to Camelot.

Arthur would follow a few days later, as he wanted to make it appear that he simply visited Lord Constantin in Somerset. The choice of which knights would accompany him was made with the fact in mind that Harry as the prince needed to see how the lords worked on their estates, as he hadn't been with Sir Edmund when he returned to his estate over the winter. After the mission against the bandits was finished successfully, many knights had returned to their homes. Like the previous winter, Camelot had been rather empty, and the remaining pages and squires had to do more chores.

Nobody would suspect that there could be more to it than letting Harry gain experience he needed while working normally as a squire and his uncle wanting to spend a bit of time with him again, as he hadn't got the chance during the winter months, as Harry had been away in Scotland for his protection. People had been outraged that the crown prince had become target of a professional assassin. Harry was popular among the common people because they knew that he didn't act like he was better than them. He was genuinely nice and helped when he could. He was also nice and polite to everybody, from a lowly peasant over a master craftsman to important nobles. For Prince Harry they were people, subjects of England, and thus they were worthy of respect.

It was something most people weren't used to, but they appreciated it greatly. When he was seen again after his return many had greeted him when he was seen. Many stated how happy they were that he hadn't been harmed and how they had prayed for his safety while he was hidden away to not give any assassin another chance. Harry had been touched about the honest concern for him. And that while he hadn't done anything special. His uncle knew why that was. Harry had reached the hearts of the people of England. He carried their hopes for a good future. Many had resigned that the king wouldn't have a child of his own and thus decided that they would simply get used to his nephew taking the throne after him. Hopefully, that would be changed soon.

The patrol was ready, and Morgaine and Guinevere joined them as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Guinevere had made sure to be capable of riding her horse for long periods of time. She was trained in the skill. In this era nearly everybody that travelled to other places needed to know how to ride a horse, as the paths weren't all suited to allow for a carriage to pass through. And for their purposes it wouldn't have been practical for Guinevere to need a carriage. This way, she would be thought to belong to Morgaine's priestesses of Avalon. Those women were known to be taught different skills than most would assume a woman to know.

Arthur bid his sister goodbye, not letting it appear as if he would see her again soon. The people in Camelot were used to this. Lady Morgaine was often in Avalon to take care of things. The fact that she had stayed in Camelot as often as she did to teach her older son in the proper use of his powers was already unusual. He also didn't show that he knew her female companion. Nobody would suspect that he was also seeing off his wife.

Harry stood as steady as he could in the boat that he and his uncle had rowed over to the border of the mist that protected Avalon. Everything so far had worked out perfectly. Lord Constantin had been happy to host them for two days, talking with Uncle Arthur about different issues he had noticed and possible solutions. He also liked telling stories about things he had seen in his life, experiences he made in different situations and funny events. Like watching how King Uther had been bested by a duck on a hunt. The duck had been scared during the hunt, flown up from its hiding spot and directly into Uther's face, surprising him enough to lose control over his horse and fall from its back. As everybody was too busy helping the king and seeing if he had been injured by the fall, the duck escaped for the day. As nothing bad happened, it was a funny story he liked to tell. After mending his hurt pride, even Uther had laughed about the mishap. It was interesting to listen to the old lord who had seen many things in his life.

Now Harry had to fulfil the task given to him by his mother and uncle. He would split the veil of mists that protected Avalon for the first time in his life. He knew how to do it. He had practiced with some mist his mother had summoned when she taught him the technique, but this was also a trial for him as the future Lord Avalon. He concentrated and lifted his arms over his head. He concentrated his magic to harmonise it with his surroundings. He felt the flow of magic, felt the twists and twirls the magic of Avalon caused to only let people find the nunnery on the other side of the island. He relaxed. He felt how the magic welcomed him, recognising him as one of its own. He brought his arms in front of him and then opened them wide, intending to make the mist open a passage for them.

The mists followed his command, and his will created a breach in the mist.

"Well done, Harry," complimented Arthur.

"Thank you. It feels like being welcomed back home," admitted Harry with a smile on his face.

Arthur nodded and Harry sat down again to not fall into the water while his uncle started rowing towards the close pier of Avalon. It didn't take long until the boat was tied to a post at the pier, where Morgaine, two older priestesses and Taliesin, the man commonly referred to as Merlin, were waiting for them.

"Welcome brother and Harry," greeted Morgaine, "I am pleased to see you here on Avalon."

"It's great to see you again, sister," nodded Arthur, "Taliesin, it has been too long."

"That it has, my young student," agreed Taliesin, "And I have heard a lot about you, young Harold. Many good things about your actions and behaviour."

"Thank you, it is an honour to meet you, Master Taliesin," greeted Harry with a slight bow, as was polite.

Taliesin was an old man, but Harry noticed he wasn't as old as Dumbledore. He also didn't resemble some of the pictures that depicted Merlin. Taliesin seemed like a mixture of warrior and scholar. His beard wasn't that long either. It was a full beard, but it was cropped close to his skin, not falling over his stomach like the pictures showed. He had a strong presence which could be felt by just standing in front of him. It was very much unlike Dumbledore. Taliesin didn't try to appear intimidating but his simple way of holding himself spoke of somebody that knew what he could do and who wasn't afraid to act when it was necessary.

"While it would be wonderful to talk a bit longer, Harry needs to return to the group that escorted Arthur here. For others it needs to appear that he is still with them, visiting the lords in the area until he will return to them after Beltane," reminded Morgaine everybody.

Harry nodded, having been informed about the plan in advance. The group would continue the patrol route in the area for the next week and return to the pier that led to Avalon two days after Beltane. His mother wanted to be sure that the ritual had worked as it should before his aunt and uncle would be escorted back to Camelot. From there on they would have to see if Aunt Guinevere would finally become pregnant. Harry got back into the boat and rowed it back to the border of the mist, which was opened by his mother this time, to let him pass more easily, as concentrating on parting the mist veil and rowing at the same time wasn't easy, especially as Harry didn't have much training in rowing a boat.

Sir Edmund had been briefed on the King's plans and genuinely hoped that this ritual that would be performed on Beltane finally gave the monarchs the long-desired heir for the throne. Or at least a child that would give the people hope that the Queen's barrenness had finally been remedied. Then they could hope for a son in a later pregnancy. For the king and queen personally, it wouldn't matter if it was a boy or a girl. They only wished for a child of their own to love and raise. While they loved their nephews, it was always different with one's own child.

When he noticed Harry rowing the boat back to the pier through the mist, he nodded to himself. Thus far, the plan was coming along like expected. Now they had to do their part to distract any possible opponents that wanted to profit from the King's current childlessness. He ordered the men to be ready to continue the patrol and to not talk about leaving the king to visit Avalon, which was confirmed. These men had been chosen for their reliability and loyalty to their King. They would keep their mouths shut about things they were told to keep secret until it was safe to talk about them.

When Harry reached them after tying the boat to the pier, everybody was ready to continue their route to check for possible trouble brewing in the area.

Guinevere was nervous. She had never participated in the rites of Beltane. Sure, she wasn't a virgin anymore. She had been married to Arthur for years and of course they had consummated their marriage. But it was different to sleep with him in a ceremony that some of the Christian priests condemned as indecent. She didn't see the reasoning, as long as the ones sleeping with each other were married. But not being in the privacy of their bedroom while doing it was incredibly strange. But she had already noticed that the priestesses living here on Avalon were much more open with their activities that they considered perfectly normal.

The past week both she and Arthur had drunk the potion that Morgaine had brewed for them to prepare their bodies to be in the perfect condition for the ritual to work and break the magic done to her to prevent her having children. As they couldn't be sure that Arthur hadn't been spelled as well, it was for example possible to block his seed taking hold in her when it would in any other fertile woman, it was decided to cleanse both of them at the same time. She had had long conversations about the faith her sister-in-law followed with both Morgaine and other priestesses. The faith wasn't evil like some people had tried to teach her when she grew up in the nunnery on the other side of the island.

It was just different. But different didn't meant bad, which she had come to realise more and more while being open to new experiences and teachings. She felt Arthur take her hand.

"Don't worry, love. The Beltane ceremony isn't anything to be worried about. Outside of the leading priestess and the chosen horned warrior to represent the goddess and the god that unite to bless the earth, all others will be in their normal forms. Morgaine also arranged that we would perform the ritual and the following unison separate from the other inhabitants of Avalon. It is a time where magic is powerful, you might get a strange feeling about it rising in the air around us while the goddess and the god representatives perform their ceremonial act. Morgaine and Taliesin will perform the ritual to free both of us of any foreign magic in our bodies and then participate in the other rites with the priestesses," assured Arthur her, "We will be on our own, even if we will unite under the open sky."

"I know, but it is quite different to what I am used to, Arthur. I don't fear the ritual or the ceremony itself, it is just the factor of not having any experience to fall back on," she admitted.

"I understand. I was incredibly nervous when I was given the task to play the horned warrior when I was younger. Before I met you. I never found out who the girl that played the part of the goddess was. It is different to other unions, but it can't compare to what we have between us. Simply because you are my wife, not an unknown woman, for whom I wasn't more than a partner chosen to perform a holy ceremony for her faith," explained Arthur.

Guinevere smiled at him at his honest words. She had always known that she wasn't Arthur's first, even if he had been hers. He had been honest with her about his life and education. As long as he didn't have any attachment to a previous woman, she didn't care. He was hers as much as she was his. They were in love, something no anonymous priestess would ever have from him.

Then Morgaine entered the room in which they were waiting.

"It is time. Taliesin is waiting for us at the stone circle where the ritual will take place," she informed the two.

Arthur and Guinevere nodded and stood from their chairs. Both were clothed in simple white robes held closed by a braided leather belt each. Neither wore anything underneath those robes. Morgaine showed them the way to the stone circle that was used for powerful rituals on the island. When they got closer, they could see that inside the circle there were two stone plates on the ground, which seemed to be prepared with lots of runes. Neither of them could identify more than a handful of them.

"Please lie down on the slates, Guinevere on the one to the left of you and Arthur on the on to the right," instructed Taliesin.

Arthur and Guinevere followed his instructions. Then, when they had laid down, Morgaine stepped forward with a small bowl and a brush in her hand. They knew why. Morgaine would add the last runes onto their bodies to connect them to the ones on the slates. Arthur and Guinevere tried to lie still to not make the drawing harder on Morgaine. The substance was warm and felt a little sticky on their skin, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Each got a rune painted on their foreheads and each back of their hands. When Morgaine was done with drawing, she placed a stone with another rune over each of their hearts and then stepped back and took her position next to Taliesin.

"The moon is in position, we can begin," commented Taliesin after a look at the sky.

"Goddess of the Moon, mother of life, as your high priestess, I Morgaine of Avalon call upon you to bless this couple that searches for help to correct an injustice done to them by some with evil intentions," began Morgaine the incantation.

"God of the Earth, father of light, as your high priest, I Taliesin, Merlin of the Order of Druids of Avalon, call upon your power to protect this couple that was bereft of the right to share their bloodlines to continue them for the future," continued Taliesin.

"The couple comes before you cleansed of any taint that humans can free themselves of. We call upon you, our protectors to cleanse them of the taint that humans can't easily free themselves of," stated Morgaine the plea.

"I call upon the power of the moon, the power of the stars, the power of this holy holiday for our faith to let them reclaim what they lost. Send your blessing and your power," called Taliesin.

He slammed his staff down onto the first rune next to him, which lit up a series of runes connected to it. Morgaine touched a rune on one of the upright stones in the circle with her hand, which made it light up too and the connected series of runes followed swiftly. The two switched in activating the runes that triggered their own series, until all of them glowed, including the ones on Guinevere and Arthur.

The couple felt a rush of energy go through them when the last runes activated. For Arthur this felt as if all of his muscles were strained and forced to work highly intense. The pressure building up inside his body was like nothing he had experienced before. It didn't hurt but it was difficult to deal with.

Guinevere felt as if her body was torn in all kinds of places, but predominantly a strong pressure built up in her womb, which she somewhat expected, as that was the area which was targeted the most by the magic that prevented that she could conceive a child. The pressure got heavier the more time passed and then as if somebody had given a signal, it burst out of her, leaving her with a strong feeling of relief, as if a heavy burden was taken from her. Then a heat spread through her body. A heat that she soon identified as lust. She yearned for her husband's touch. She wanted him to take her.

She turned her head to the left, where Arthur laid on his slate. He was looking at her as well. And his look mirrored her own. She didn't consciously notice that Morgaine and Taliesin left them. The only person she noticed right now was Arthur. Her beloved husband, who she wanted to be with right now. She rolled onto her side and held out her hand in clear invitation to him, which he quickly accepted. But he didn't simply lie with her, no, he drew her to him and claimed her mouth with his, intent on driving her to the heights of passion. She certainly didn't complain about that plan.

Okay, that's it for this chapter. Until next time.

24. Results

Hi, sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I got sidetracked with work. This is the end of the second Camelot Arc and the next part will be in the present again. As I still need to write most of that, this story is going into a break until I have that part written down. As soon as I have fourth year written, I will update again.

I'm still debating which of the other stories I'm working on will be next to be posted, but I do plan a Christmas story again. But no telling which one yet ;)

Results

The patrol around Sir Edmund and King Arthur returned to Camelot in company of Lady Morgaine and her companion. Nobody thought anything strange about it. It was known that the king was visiting Lord Constantin in Somerset with his nephew and if he arranged to meet with his sister to travel back to Camelot together, it wasn't surprising. After the experience with the bandits, the king had taken to expanding the numbers of the men going on patrol and expanded the range to be informed about rumours of unrest and potential other groups stepping up to fill the void left by the previous group.

The festivities of Beltane had still taken place at Camelot, even if the king was absent and Sir Lancelot had taken over the job of rewarding the winners of the competition in absence of the king. Sir Ronan's squire Timothy, a large brown-haired fifteen years old boy, had won the race and won the price, which this year had been a new sword to be smithed by the master smith of Camelot. For a squire that was an incredibly valuable price to win. The young man had of course also got the kiss from a pretty lady that most of the teenagers looked forward to as much as to the actual price they got to keep. Joycelyn, the daughter of Sir Gawain's older brother, had been the one to reward the winner.

When Harry asked how his friends had done, he heard that Frederick had come in third and Cameron had been unlucky to have his horse shy to the side when the arse Wilbur was hitting his own horse to make it run faster. The idiot really didn't know how to properly train a horse. The poor horse would do much better with any halfway competent rider that appreciated it. Predictably, Wilbur had come in on one of the unimportant places. He had been a snit over that part. Perhaps he also realised that his time was ticking away. He would have been a page for two years in July. Then he only had six more months to convince Sir Norick that he had the level needed to be promoted to squire. And thanks to his attitude that wasn't that probable to happen.

Mordred meanwhile was thriving under the firm but loving care of Sirius. Everybody at Camelot had accepted the decision to relocate the child to his distant uncle, as they had claimed the relation to be. It was normal that a young noble boy needed the guidance of an older male to learn what he would need to know for his future. Considering that Mordred like his older brother had inherited his magic from his mother, it was best to have a wizard like Sirius Black take care of the boy instead of somebody closer related to his father, who was now officially declared to be Jayden of Blackmoor.

Lord Kyron, when he heard about the situation, had sent a messenger to Camelot that he didn't have the means to support another brat, he really had written it in those words, even if the boy was the son of the King's sister. If Sirius was a distant relative, he was welcome to raise the boy. He wouldn't interfere with the situation at all. Probably Lord Kyron, who had five surviving sons and three daughters to his name, next to at least three grandchildren from each of his children, was simply glad to not one day have to pay for a wedding or something like that.

Lady Morgause had tried to protest, an attempt to not have her work in vain, but the claim of a male relative outweighed that of a female one, even if the female was closer related to the child. Arthur had made sure to repay any kind of costs that Morgause may have had while raising Mordred for the six years he had lived at her castle. But he firmly wrote to her in a letter that it was time that Mordred was raised to fill his future position as a magical knight of England. And that could only be done by a nobleman that was also a wizard. He didn't hide that Mordred had even already managed to make such a great impression with Sir Godric that the man had offered to take him as a page when he was old enough, should he continue his training and studies like he did before. It was hard to argue against that type of arguments. It was incredibly rare after all that any knight took an interest in such a young boy for his future development.

While the old religion allowed women to rule their land, even there it was seen as normal that the upbringing of any child would be done best by an adult of the same gender as the child, simply to teach them the different expectations that society had for them. Meaning, while she was a wonderful replacement for a mother in Mordred's youngest years, he now needed a father figure to be prepared for his future, and she certainly wanted him to become an influential and capable man. She couldn't argue against that part. Even if everybody knew she wouldn't give up lusting for more power. But thanks to Harry's and Sirius' knowledge from the future, it was worth the intervention with history.

The timeline had the habit to balance changes done to it in some way. The people in their time would still be born in some way, as long as they didn't go around killing others that they knew had been ancestors of people they would rather not see born. Otherwise Sirius would have gone and looked for Voldemort's ancestors. But Morgaine had explained why that type of interference was a horrible idea. Harry would check how the change in Mordred's custody would influence his future when he was back at Hogwarts.

Harry, Morgaine and Sirius had discussed how they would go about the need to return to the future for Harry to attend his fourth year at Hogwarts. Contrary to last year, it wouldn't work out for Harry to 'accompany his mother to Avalon' after he was promoted from page to squire. Sir Edmund wanted to continue his training without long interruptions of the time. There also was the fact that Mordred needed to be taken into consideration now. Sirius could get away with leaving his adopted son at Camelot for a week or two on end when he went on a trip for his business. Because right now it would be far too early to take the boy with them into the future.

Dumbledore at the front of the busybodies would try to find out where the child had come from and before they hadn't set up something to explain things, it would be far too risky to take Mordred with them. Thus, the next return trip would only be done by Harry and Sirius. And they needed to time it in a way that they would only be gone for about two weeks' time in the past. That part wasn't a problem, as Fawkes could take them to any point in time with his powers. It was important to keep the knowledge that Harry and Sirius were from the future a secret from those outside the core of trusted people that knew what was at stake. They would become priority targets for those that wanted more power should that be known.

Once they were back in their time, Sirius could set up a scheme to explain away how and why he had adopted a young child. There were ways to disguise what was really going on. Mordred first also needed to be used to being Sirius' son before he could be taken into their trust. He was too young to not let something slip without being fully comfortable around his new family. There were ways to secure the knowledge with spells, but those were also stronger if the one keeping the secret wanted to do it. It was all based on intent. Mordred needed to be convinced that nobody wanted to trick him. That they didn't lie to him to hurt him but to protect him from their enemies.

And it would be a shock for the boy to experience the modern world. Even if the wizarding world was a good deal behind the mundane world in their habits and the things they used. It was a lot more advanced than what was known in this era. They had considered simply using the excuse of business trips all the time to keep Mordred ignorant but in the end that would cost them his trust once he figured it out. And Mordred was smart enough to do that over time. It was better to explain things to him and swear him to secrecy.

Thus, the plan for their return to the future was to let Fawkes collect them in the middle of August and be gone for two weeks. That was easily arranged, and Sir Edmund's youngest sister was due having a baby around that time and he had already asked for permission to go and visit her to see his first niece of nephew. Due to him being Harry's teacher, Morgaine had offered to assist with the birth, and having the experienced healer with him was something Sir Edmund wouldn't refuse. Harry would accompany Sirius on his trip to spend a bit of time with his godfather and nobody needed to worry about anything else.

Guinevere and Arthur would look after Mordred while the others were gone. And things were looking good in regard to her possibly being pregnant. Her normal period was overdue; she prayed each day that the ritual had worked, and she was carrying her first child. They would know for sure when it hadn't come by July. The ritual could have the effect to skip one period, as Morgaine had told Arthur and Guinevere. But if it was a pregnancy the period for July would also not come and she would have side symptoms that many pregnant women experienced, like morning sickness and mood swings. Guinevere would happily take the morning sickness if only to finally be pregnant.

Morgause thought she had found a great solution for her problems. The only reason why Mordred had been taken in by Lord Sirius was that he was a male relative of the boy. From her investigations, any other male relatives didn't have the intention to take care of the boy in any way. Arthur was too busy to care for Mordred and he couldn't afford to give the impression of favouring his younger nephew over his older one. Harry was designated crown prince until Arthur managed to have a son of his own. While it had come as a disappointment that Mordred's father was revealed to be the fourth son of a lesser lord like Lord Kyron, she had hoped it to be the lord of a region, like it had been the case with Mordred's older brother's father, the important part was Mordred's maternal heritage anyway.

Through Morgaine, Mordred was related to Arthur. And outside of Morgaine there were no other close relatives that remained for Arthur. It was one reason why the situation in England had been so volatile after Uther died. There were no known male relatives that could follow him onto the throne. That was why drawing the sword from the stone was used as a means to determine the rightful future king. Nothing but that relationship mattered in the long run. But she needed to regain control over the child. Probably it had been a mistake to take the child with her to Camelot, but at the time she didn't have anybody she trusted to leave the boy with while she went on her trip. And she had thought that she could plant a small seed into the minds of the nobles at Camelot that there was a spare heir, in case something happened to Harold. And for that the boy needed to be known. Sadly, it had all spiralled out of her control.

But she hadn't planned for years and plotted how to eliminate any chance of Arthur to have a son of his own to now give up. She hadn't spent all the gold for the witch that had cursed Guinevere to be barren to let others have control over the child. She wanted Camelot and the power of being shadow ruler and she would get it. No matter what price others would have to pay. But she knew that she had to be smart about it. Aunt of the king or not, she wouldn't get any mercy if she was found out. But there were many others that could be used as scapegoats in her stead. And planting a few innocent suggestions into the minds of some overambitious fools that wouldn't know how to plan long-term was far too easy. She would let them deal with Harold and in best case Sirius as well.

Then Mordred's protection would be gone, and he would have to come back to her castle to be raised. Because neither Arthur nor Morgaine could do it. She would win in the end, even if she had to take this unexpected hit. She would make Morgaine pay for trying to foil her plans. She deserved to rule England.

It was official. Morgaine gave Guinevere and Arthur, who both had come for this examination of Guinevere a happy smile and a nod.

"It worked. Guinevere is pregnant," she informed her brother and sister-in-law.

Guinevere broke into happy sobs.

"Thank you, thank you so much, Morgaine. I, I am so happy," babbled Guinevere.

"Thank you, sister. I can never repay you for this gift," added Arthur, holding Guinevere in his arms, letting her use him as a pillar of strength while the tension of fear that it hadn't worked left his wife.

"It was honestly my pleasure, brother. And without Harry, we wouldn't have managed to figure out what was wrong and how to counter it. But we need to be careful. I suggest you keep the pregnancy a secret until it becomes too obvious to hide anymore," she advised, "Many will try to hurt Guinevere to get rid of the unborn child to still see their ambitions realised."

"We will. I will set up two of my most loyal knights as her protectors when we can't keep her pregnancy a secret anymore," nodded Arthur, "Normally we should manage to hide it until she reaches the fifth month of pregnancy."

"Possibly we can stretch that until the sixth month if Guinevere wears wide dresses. Thankfully, she won't show too much during the summer months, where wearing such dresses would be seen as strange due to the warm weather," commented Morgaine, "And during the winter months, there are far less people around the castle. Those that live here, won't travel around to spread the news until the baby is born, which will happen about a month after the new year begins."

Guinevere nodded. She would do what was necessary to hide this baby that she finally had conceived. She would protect her child from whoever wanted to harm it. And she would find a wonderful present for Harry to show her gratitude for his help. Thanks to his tireless research into ways how she could have been cursed into infertility she now finally, after years of pain and humiliation by the other noble ladies had the chance to become a mother.

Morgaine listed several things that the two of them needed to take into consideration to ensure that the pregnancy would go well. While she would be around many times, she still had to travel back to Avalon regularly to take care of her duties. It had been a good thing that she went there for Beltane, this freed her to be away from the island for a few months afterward. Taliesin was after all in the know and supported the education of Harry to be ready to take up his position as the guardian of magic in the future.

It was time. Sir Edmund had left Camelot, knowing that Harry would accompany his godfather on a trip for two weeks. He had left a list of exercises that he expected Harry to do each day with the now fifteen-year-old teenager. At east in this time, he was fifteen, even if in his normal timeline, he would be considered fourteen. But that was a side effect of the time-travel. It had been different to celebrate his birthday in the past in Camelot. His family and friends had been present and this made all the difference for Harry. There had been a small party for the squires that Harry was friends with the evening before, where they met and had a good time with some snacks and drinks that Harry had ordered from the castle kitchen. The knights had agreed to excuse them from morning training for that one day. Mainly because they all knew that the boys would have to work normally the following day and it wouldn't mess up their training in any way.

Many people had congratulated Harry to his birthday, he was immensely popular. Especially daughters of nobles around his age had given him small self-made presents. It ranged from sweets to useful items. Harry was honestly a bit overwhelmed by the attention, but he thanked each girl politely and with an honest smile. He knew that many of them enjoyed the idea of being the one to win his heart. Sirius and Uncle Arthur had explained certain things to him, next to his mother and Aunt Guinevere adding to it from a female perspective. Mordred didn't understand all of it but liked teasing his brother over so many girls fancying him.

Concerning another area, Harry was used as a good example for the new page candidates that had arrived in Camelot at the beginning of July. Having been a squire for nearly a year and being taught by one of the strictest Knight of the Round Table, Harry had a great sense of duty and attitude concerning his work. Many of the pages that started the year before that were normally the ones to take the new pages under their wing for the first month for general things all pages needed to know told them some stories about his achievements so far. Mostly during the morning runs. That was a time when they could talk with each other and the speed set for the first week before the weights were to be put on again was considered a vacation of sorts by the experienced squires and pages.

And by watching how Harry dutifully went through his training exercises systematically, the younger boys realised that they had a long way before them to reach their goals. Harry didn't mind, as he had used older squires as role models as well when he started out.

Now he was clothed in his normal travelling gear and sat on Thunder's back. He waved towards his family that stayed back, wishing him and Sirius a safe journey and good luck for Sirius' business deals. It was an incredible feeling to know that he had this now. A family that loved him and supported him. And he would protect and defend them against whatever enemy wanted to hurt them. While this wasn't his time period and he would one day have to return to the future permanently, he would enjoy it while it lasted. And possibly he could convince Fawkes to help him with the occasional visit in Camelot even after his education was finished.

Sirius went first towards the gates of Camelot with Harry following on Thunder. They would travel to the same spot that they had used the previous summer to arrive. It was far enough away from any kind of settlement to prevent that accidental observers could find out about their vanishing act. Once they had left the city, they spurned their horses into a faster gait and soon had left the immediate surrounding of the city. They knew that Hedwig would meet them at their travelling spot. The snowy owl had taken off an hour before the two of them. It was better to not let people see her leave with them. It could lead to unwanted rumours. And like every person of importance, Harry had to watch out how he was seen by the public.

Sirius and Harry found Fawkes sitting on a branch next to Hedwig.

"I guess this is it," commented Sirius.

"Yes. I can't believe what happened during this year here in the past," agreed Harry, "It will certainly be different to be back at Hogwarts in the future."

"Having got the chance to study under the founders, you are one lucky bastard," nodded Sirius.

"Even if the reasons for it were bad, I enjoyed it. Their approach to magic is totally different to what the teachers in our time pass on," agreed Harry.

"Well, we better get going. We will have to see on which day Fawkes brings us back," commented Sirius.

"Probably sometime at the end of the break," stated Harry, "I wonder how 'disappointed' Dumbledore will be."

The grinning face told Sirius just how little Harry cared for the old man's opinion in the matter. Honestly, Dumbledore had no right to interfere in Harry's life. He wasn't his guardian and in no way related to him.

"If I didn't know for sure that Dumbledore hates giving up information, he would send both of us a howler as soon as he gets a hint of where we are," stated Sirius, "but that would include having others possibly listen into his 'admonishment' and that is not to his liking."

Harry chuckled. He didn't care about the opinion of a man that only wanted to control him like a puppet. He and Sirius secured their things, telling Thunder and Starlight, Sirius horse, to go grazing in the area but to not be seen by others until they were back, which would take a bit under two weeks, as they would then be brought back by Fawkes. Thanks to shrinking charms, the saddles and bridles of the two horses were stored in their travelling bags easily and once everything was ready, Fawkes flamed them back to the future.

And cut for now. Until I have written the entirety of fourth year, then you will get new updates. I have a few parts written so far, but to have everything consistent, I won't post it until I switch back to Camelot time again. And I have a lot of cool things planned for the school year.