Harry walked into the family dining room after a long day of being tested for his NEWTS. Seeing he was the last to arrive he sat down next to his soul mate.
Winky popped in as he was sitting down and announced dinner was served and with a snap of her fingers the table was covered with a large stuffed pork roast with all the fixings.
As Harry filled his plate from the food being passed around Remus asked. "Harry how did you do on your exams?"
"All perfect scores, though I had to argue a little with the ancient runes examining board, but after drawing and activating the doorway set that you showed us at Ollivander's they shut up about sloppy interpretations and gave me extra credit." Harry grinned.
"How about you Draco?" asked Ar'Ron.
"While I did not get perfect scores, I did manage to get O's in the four I tested for." Draco replied.
"Good for you Draco." Harry told him.
"Harry, speaking of NEWTS, since you passed all of the ones available to test out in; why are you even bothering to go back to Hogwarts?" Draco asked.
"Well several things need to be done. For one the four houses are going to be abolished, we just cannot afford to have a system anymore that creates dark lords. I cannot afford not to be there while Dumbledore is still there, so I will continue lessons under Ar'Ron's tutelage. And there will be a lot of new teachers and classes offered and I want to make sure that they get off without a hitch." Harry answered.
Draco just looked at Harry wide eyed. "No more houses? Merlin you don't do anything by halves do you?"
"The Wizarding world can not afford for us too any longer." Harry told them.
"Harry's right you know, this years first years are going to be the first entire class that will graduate fully empowered with magic, that they will have learned that have not been seen in thousands of years; though I expect that there will be many from other years that will catch up as well." Ar'Ron said.
Harry put his fork down and turned his chair so he was facing Ar'Ron. "I have been thinking about something for a while now. I think that everyone who is taught advanced magic should give an oath to not use it for evil."
"What kind of oath Mel'Anin" Ar'Ron asked also setting down his knife and fork to pay attention to what Harry was saying.
Draco surprised everyone by saying. "The oath should be for their magic. If they break it they should loose their magic."
"That seems very harsh, though doesn't it?" asked Remus.
"But to truly stop the cycle of dark lord after dark lord, there has to be a solid instant punishment for going evil." Draco said trying to get Remus to agree with his point.
"Remus, the two of us are the most likely wizards that will reach the level of the so called ancients. I am more than willing to give such an oath. It does not take away free will, it acts as a failsafe, and I feel better knowing that the rest of the world would be protected in case something happened to cause me to go evil." Draco practically begged the man to understand.
"I think Draco has a point Remus." Narcissa told him.
"But how do we decide what is evil and not?" Cried out Remus; "I don't want to play god like that."
"No one is asking anyone to play god Remus." Harry stated.
"We let magic it self decide. I can create a runic oath of magic to magic it self; to be inscribed on to every student before they start to learn advanced magic. The oath would state that they would loose their magic if they ever used it to harm another for their satisfaction, this would also cover revenge and personal gain." Ar'Ron told them.
"I see where Draco is coming from, and have no problem with taking an oath like that. But what do we do with people who refuse the oath?" Remus asked.
"You send them to another school that teaches them magic on the level that Hogwarts does now." Narcissa spoke up.
All eyes turned towards her. "What?" Narcissa said looking at everyone look at her.
"Mother that is brilliant" Draco told her.
"Harry is already going to start basic schools for magical children so they can learn and be intergraded into Wizarding culture from an early age, why not build another for students who refuse to be held to a higher morality." Draco said excited.
"But at what age would we require this oath?" Harry asked the group.
"At the end of third year and before the fourth year starts; that would give each person several months to think on it and come to the Ministry and get it inscribed." Ar'Ron thought out loud.
"Would the Runic sets be visible or not?" Narcissa asked.
"They would be very visible, especially seeing that they would be inscribed near the temple, why?" asked Ar'Ron.
"I was thinking that there needed to be a way for those being taught to not share the knowledge they are learning with anyone that is not taking the oath. Having a visible mark would help in that. Though do we want the same consequences as if they go evil?" Narcissa asked.
"This seems to be opening a whole different problem." Remus said.
"Not really, I can just add a part that would turn the runic inscription from blue to red if they break their promise not to share the knowledge, which then would be a visible sign they broke that part of their promise and we can take care of it in other ways." Ar'Ron told Remus.
Nodding his head at the safeguards in place Harry asked "Does this sound alright with everyone?"
Seeing everyone nodding in agreement Harry turned his chair back to the table and finished his pudding.
"Draco, seeing as tomorrow is Saturday, I would like you to bring your homework to lunch, as after we go over it I have two goblin candidates to manage your finances that I would like to have you join me when I interview them tomorrow after lunch, so you might want to make a list of questions you think should be asked." Ar'Ron told the young man.
"Harry if you do not mind me asking, what do you have set up with the goblins that manage your finances?" Draco asked as he pushed aside his finished dessert plate to make room for parchment to take notes on.
"I use the standard contract of paying five percent of earnings. But I did something different that has the goblins practically falling all over themselves. Since I have five account managers, one for each family I told them by working together to increase my profits they would earn a bonus.
All told those five family holdings earned me one hundred and seventy million galleons; I used that as the base figure and told my managers that if they could substantially increase my earnings over the one hundred and Seventy million from last year that I would take ten percent of what they earned over and split it between them. I must say that I do believe they will more than double my earnings this year." Harry explained.
"Let me see if I have this straight." Draco said looking over at Ar'Ron sipping his drink.
"The wizard accountants were paid a salary, so there really was not an incentive to make money, as they were paid if they made money or lost it." Draco said waiting to see the response from Ar'Ron.
Getting a nod of his head he continued. "Goblins are paid a percentage of the profits they generate, so they are paid only if they make money. So there is a built in incentive to make money." Draco said reading from his notes.
"That's correct, it is always better to pay your financial manager a percentage of the profits than a salary." Ar'Ron explained.
"So how do I use Harry's idea of a bonus when I only have one manager working my accounts?" Draco asked.
"Well the best way would be to set up a goal to be reached, and then anything over that goal is what the bonus should be based on." Ar'Ron answered.
"So between Harry's five managers they will share ten percent, which is two percent a piece." Draco said out loud as he was writing things down.
Looking up from his notes, "Harry, I know you told me you were going to turn over the Malfoy assets to me, but how much was left?" Draco asked.
Harry smiled. "More than you think, the goblins tracked down a good bit of hidden vaults that Franklin had stashed away, plus the manor sold the other day; so a nice sum of thirty two million galleons and some odd."
Draco was floored; before all this started he had seen the balance books and knew they had only a little over ten million galleons, "How?" He stammered out.
"Another reason to hire goblins to manage your accounts, they are ruthless business men, with a strict honor code. Thievery is not tolerated; actually there is only one punishment for that crime, Death of the entire bloodline. Harsh by our standards, but none the less they have very few who would willingly steal from one of their clients.
And to answer your question accounting firms that do business with Gringotts sign an agreement, that includes a clause most times overlooked that gives them the right to seize twice the amount plus ten percent of stolen funds.
Add those three things together and that is where the extra monies came from." Harry explained.
"There is one other thing you should be aware of Draco. As a Black, at the Lords Pleasure, any member of the Black family can receive a monthly allowance from the family trust fund; and I so please." Harry giggled with the last.
"Seriously, you will receive a monthly allowance of twenty five hundred galleons a month that is exactly half what your mother gets due to the fact you are underage. Use it how ever you want, even if you wish to invest it the way you want, like a learning experience if you will." Harry finished.
"Harry, not to be disrespectful or anything, but you were more bloody clueless than I am." Draco said.
Grabbing Ar'Ron's hand in his Harry chuckled. "I was, wasn't I .I had to grow up fast Draco." A hard look came over his face. "Very fast, but I have had the support I needed, and I was never afraid to say I had no clue and ask Ar'Ron for help. The goblins that manage my finances are a great help also, mainly because I give them such free reign they take to giving me long explanations for their reasoning's, which in turn teaches me about how to run my estates."
Draco closed his mouth and then thought of another question. "How do you know so much about goblins? Most wizards look down at them and prefer not to give them the time of day. Yet here you come and not only do they respect you, they call you my prince goblins never ever claim royalty not of the goblin nation."
"Part of that is the fact I have always treated goblins as equals, some of it is because Ar'Ron is my soul mate and the rest according to family journals is that I am a Potter. Those of the Potter line have always been held in a higher regard than others." Harry shrugged his response.
As Draco was thinking that over Ar'Ron added in "I as the king of magic a title that comes from the fact that I am a true elf and that the true elves gave magic to the other races. As such they can not claim me as theirs, no race can. On the other hand Harry here they claim as their prince, the one who understands them, their system of honor codes and as their protector. They see in him their future, and a very good future."
"That explains some things I have noticed." Harry told him.
"Like what?" Draco asked intrigued.
"Last week while I was down in the goblin shopping district, I noticed that I was getting stares from all the goblins we passed. I am used to getting stared at so did not think any thing of it. But then Dargoth called me my prince to gain my attention and it was like a switch had been turned. All the goblins started bowing respectively to me and the stares stopped but seemed to be replaced by smiles.
On our way back to Commerce Street we passed by a goblin walking slowly with a child. When I looked I saw a sickly yellow aura around the child, and when I looked close I could see that the child was not healthy. I still do not know why I did what I did, but I stopped and knelt down in front of the child and placed my hands on its shoulders.
It was like someone else was directing my body. A blue glow surrounded the child driving away the sickly yellow aura. Somehow I knew that the child would grow up strong and healthy now, and would be a powerful mage. I told the crying mother the same thing as I stood up." Harry finished the story.
"The child would have died in a couple more days, and his mother wanted to take him to see the city one last time. It is unheard of for a wizard to notice a goblin child let alone notice one is sick. And never in our long history has a wizard healed one of our children let alone foresee his future; like you did my Prince." Dargoth said entering the room and bowing towards Harry.
Kingsley followed in moments later looking quite grim.
Seeing the look on Kingsley's face Harry had a bad feeling he was not going to like what he heard. "What happened." he asked
"There has been an attack on the other four families of the Twelve. The Romanov line was wiped out except for their ten year old son. Gustov managed to create a port key to take him to the Romanian branch of Gringotts where the head teller was still working and recognized him." Kingsley reported.
"Where are they now?" Harry commanded as he stood up.
"When the governors heard what was happening goblins responded to drive off the attacks and evacuated all the families. They then contacted the guard and we brought them all here to the castle." Dargoth told them.
"Some of them are in bad shape, most are injured. We moved them to the family part of the castle, the large sitting room on the third floor." Kingsley finished.
Ar'Ron stood and raised his hand above his head. His hand started to glow and then he snapped his fingers.
As soon as he had lowered his arm all the Impare' had popped in the room.
Ar'Ron immediately started giving out orders. "Sage take Holly with you, we have many injured in the third floor castle sitting room, get what supplies you need and go." As he gave orders to the Impare' they popped out without question.
"Minky get with Itsy and Winky drinks and soups will be needed and plenty of hot chocolate." Nodding she popped out to the kitchens.
"Thorny take charge of any pets and house elf's, make sure any injuries are healed" He nodded his head and popped out.
"The rest of you circulate and fix and clean clothing. The children will calm down once clean and holding something warm and comforting. Then get the guest rooms on the fourth floor ready" Out the last of them popped as Ar'Ron finished his instructions.
"Dobby, you and the protectors will guard the fourth floor tonight." Lowering his voice so only Dobby could hear "I want to make sure no spies have come along with the families. So if they need anything call for one of the guards, but don't let them leave the fourth floor, be nice about it." Harry told him.
After Dobby nodded his understanding Harry and the others took off towards the castle portal.
Harry looked towards Draco and Narcissa as they walked quickly down the palace steps. "Draco, Narcissa if the two of you would take charge of the women and children please; Draco if you would find the Romanov boy and try to comfort him."
"Yes my Lord." Narcissa said happy to be needed.
"Not a problem Harry." Draco said as he watched Harry in command mode. The more he was around and saw for himself Harry in action the more in awe of him he was.
They heard the crying before they got close to the corridor. As they entered the sitting room the noise of crying and angry shouting was deafening.
Harry shouted above the noise. "Please, I need for you to calm down and control yourselves. You are safe now."
After the noise died down to a manageable level, "You are in Potter Castle, it is quite safe here." Harry said in a quieter voice. "First things first, we need to see to the wounded, there will be time for anger later once we know your families are alright."
Ar'Ron turned to Kingsley. "We need a couple of healers, ones that you know and can trust Kingsley. Bring them by way of the floo to Commerce Street and then by transport stone to the castle."
Dargoth and Kingsley nodded once and ran out the room.
"Dinky" Narcissa called.
A few seconds later in popped the little house elf. "Mistress called Dinky."
"Yes, Dinky I need you to go to Severus's house and tell him we need him here as soon as possible that there is an emergency and we need a potions master until the healers arrive." Narcissa told the little elf.
"Take this Dinky." Ar'Ron handed the house elf a small rod. "It is a port key that will bring him right to this room."
Remus went over to gather up the Lords of the Twelve and start to find out what had been behind the attacks.
Harry walked around transfiguring furniture into hospital beds, while Inky, Itsy and Tinkly placed the injured on the beds.
Sage and Holly followed along stopping bleeding and cleaned wounds for when the healers showed up they would be ready for healing.
Winky, Minky and Itsy spread out passing out warm cups of hot chocolate and soup, and little sandwiches.
Into this controlled chaos Severus appeared. He took one look around and quickly strode over to the beds where the injured lay. Quickly casting scanning charms he started pouring potions down throats and moving on to the next patient in an attempt to keep them alive until healers arrived.
Ten minutes later Kingsley ran back into the room with two healers at his heals.
Seeing the healers arrive Snape shouted out. "Those two with the red mark above the beds are the worst off, see to them first."
After an hour of hard work the fourteen patients, mostly children were sleeping peacefully under dreamless sleep.
Draco had found young Gregory in the corner sitting on the floor holding his knees rocking back and forth. He sat down next to him and pulled him into a hug. Gregory grabbed hold of Draco and buried his head in his chest and sobbed.
An hour later Ar'Ron and Severus found him in the same spot as tears were silently falling down his face.
Looking up Draco saw Ar'Ron approach, being quiet so as not to wake the young boy, "How could people do that to children? For Merlin's sake they were only children." Draco looked haunted after he said this.
"Draco, evil knows no boundaries." Ar'Ron said sadly.
Looking up into his godfathers eyes Draco asked. "Is that what death eaters are like, torturing and raping children just for the fun of it?"
"Even though I took no part in the raids, I heard too many stories. Yes Draco that is exactly what death eaters are like." Severus said in shame.
Ar'Ron knelt and took a silver circlet with a silver acorn out of his pocket. Holding it up so Draco could see it, he then placed it around the boy's ankle.
"Draco are you ok with staying with him tonight?" Ar'Ron asked.
Draco nodded his head. "I will take him to my room for tonight he can sleep next to me."
Severus opened his potion case and took out a small vial. Holding it up to double check the label he handed it to Draco. "Dreamless sleep in case he wakes up."
Helping Draco stand up with the young man in his arms they watched as he walked out of the room.
Turning they saw Remus, Narcissa and Harry in the center of the room talking. Walking over to join them they heard the tail end of Remus's report.
"So it seems in most cases the attacks were orchestrated by the local ministries afraid of loosing power. And in case of the Wilder's the American government was behind their abduction attempt." Remus finished.
"It was the same with the Romanov boy; the Romanian minister ordered their deaths. I used Legilimency on the boy while he was asleep, so he did not have to relive it telling us." Severus said.
"Suites have been prepared and if we can move the injured into the suites with the rest of the families I think it will go a long way on calming them down. It makes more work for the healers but would be better for the families." Narcissa told them.
"I agree. They need the safety of being all together to help recover." Severus agreed.
"Then that is what we will do. Narcissa if you will inform the families and get them moving towards their rooms I will get the Impare' to help." Harry called over Minky and told her what they needed to have done and get the others to help out.
As Harry was giving Minky instructions to get the refugees settled in, the three other Lords of the Twelve walked up to Harry.
Frank Wilder was elected spokesman for the group by the others, he was first to speak. "Lord Potter we want to give our thanks for what you have done to help our families and for giving us shelter. But we fear that the return of the Twelve might have been short lived now that Gustov has been killed."
"The rule of the Twelve is assured as long as I live." Harry told the group of lords as he held up both hands so they could see the five rings on his fingers.
"By Merlin" Frank muttered out loud. "You could convene the council all by yourself."
"And he is protected like no other." Ar'Ron told them. "This castle and city are protected by Elven battle wards; no one of evil intent can survive passing them."
"Rooms have been set aside for you and your families on the next floor. Why don't you go on and join them. Remus will meet with you after breakfast and show you around, I have the feeling I will be spending most of my morning outside getting rid of some pent up anger." Harry told them
"Remus you don't mind do you?" Harry asked.
"Not at all Harry, I will go and inform Chan-san of our guests and make arrangements for them to eat breakfast in their rooms." Remus said as he started to walk away towards the kitchen wing.
"Once again thank you Lord Potter." Frank told him "My Lords if you will follow me I will show you to your rooms." Narcissa said to the three lords.
Harry stepped over and placed Ar'Ron's arms himself. "I have so much anger in me, it scares me."
"You will have better control after we bond." Ar'Ron picked up Harry's chin so he could kiss him gently. "Next week is your birthday and you will come into your magical inheritance, afterwards we will make love in the sacred glen and complete the bonding of soul mates."
"Come Mel'Anin; let's relax in the whirlpool before bed." Ar'Ron suggested.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next morning found Harry and Ar'Ron eating breakfast once again before any one else.
Stinback had been by that morning and dropped of a small wooden box that held the Romanov family ring in it. Harry had set it on the table while they ate.
"He is an orphan like me now." Harry whispered out.
"Yes he is Mel'Anin, but unlike you we can make sure he grows up in a family that loves him and supports him in what he does." Ar'Ron told him.
Draco walked into the room with young Gregory close to his side. Seeing Harry and Ar'Ron already at the table eating, Draco lead Gregory to the end of the table they were sitting at.
"Gregory, I would like you to meet Harry Potter, he is Lord Potter among other titles." Draco started.
Harry held out his hand so Gregory could reach it and shook the young boy's hand.
"And this is Harry's soul mate, Ar'Ron king of the elves." Draco said pointing towards Ar'Ron.
Pulling Gregory into a hug Harry said to him. "I lost my parents to an evil man who wanted power and to rule the world. I lost my godfather to one of this mans evil followers about two months ago." Harry continued after Gregory looked up at him. "It is ok to cry, you are not weak if you cry it's only human."
Reaching for the box near his plate Harry opened the box. "Gregory I want you to promise me something." Seeing the young boy look up, "I have something that belonged to your father, it belongs to you now and I want you to promise me never to take it off; can you do that?"
Tears in his eyes and sniffling Gregory timidly replied. "I promise."
"It goes on the first finger of your right hand." Harry told him handing him the box with the ring in it.
Gregory was sobbing by this point as he picked up his fathers ring and placed it on his finger where it resized to fit him.
Draco reached into his pocket and removed a small red vial and handed it over to the young boy.
Gregory took the vial and flipped the cap off and downed it in one gulp. The potion soon took effect and he calmed down. "I am sorry." He said softly.
"Whatever for?" Ar'Ron asked.
"For being such a cry baby" Gregory sniffed.
"What did I tell you before, it is ok to cry. When Sirius died I cried for days, I could not stop myself." Harry said gently.
Gregory looked down at the table with a slight smile on his face.
"Now why don't you grab something to eat, there's plenty so eat up." Harry smiled at the young boy.
"Sir" Draco said looking at his guardian.
"What's on your mind Draco" Ar'Ron responded putting his glass down.
"I would like permission to skip classes today." Seeing the questioning look Ar'Ron was giving him he continued. "I was thinking of taking Gregory down to Ollivander's to get him a wand and then to get some clothes and maybe books and all seeing he does not have much with him. "
"Thank you for taking this on Draco. You may skip all lessons today, but I will replace it with two short essays that you will have more than enough time to complete today.
One, I still want you to come up with that list of questions we talked about last night and to produce a budget for the rest of the year using your allowance as the basis. Now you do not have to follow it once you have done it, but I do want you to know how to create one.
And Second I want you to tell me why wards, even though they are classified as charms by wizards are not charms." Ar'Ron told Draco.
"That one should be easy after your shopping spree this morning. The other you can do later on after showing Gregory the library." Ar'Ron said passing over a money bag from his belt. "Use this to buy everything. Oh and if you buy him a broom make sure it is one that is not a racing broom."
"Thank you sir " Draco said with a nod of his head.
"Gregory." Ar'Ron said getting the attention of the young boy. "Your room is right next to Draco's and if you want I can make a door between the two rooms for a little bit if you want?"
Draco seeing the frown appear on the boys face Draco understood he was trying to be brave, yet wanted the security offered. "I don't lock my door at night. Tell you what why don't we go upstairs and have a look at the room and you can make your decision then."
Gregory just nodded his head shyly.
"You might as well pick up a full set of first year texts for Gregory while you are out." Harry told Draco.
Harry called out for Dobby. After a few seconds Dobby popped in.
"Harry Potter Sir calls his Dobby." The Impare' said.
"Gregory did your family have a house elf?" Harry asked.
The young boy picked up his head and said. "Tink, Tink"
A few seconds after Gregory said the name a house elf popped in. "Master Gregory ok?" The house elf said as he threw himself at his young master in happiness.
Draco looked up at the other two and mouthed Tink Tink questioningly.
Harry shrugged his shoulders before turning his attention to Dobby. "Dobby I would like you to go shopping with Draco and Gregory today, take Winky with you for fetch and carry duty. Gregory's room is the one between Draco and Remus."
Dobby held himself straighter and said. "Dobby takes care as Mister Harry Potter Sirs says."
"Thank you Dobby." Harry smiled at his friend with the thoughts of Draco enduring an overprotective Impare'.
Standing up to leave Ar'Ron warned Draco. " Harry has a lot of pent up anger to deal with, we will be dueling on the lawn where we had lessons last week. Make sure you stay on the street we will be dueling up to class one battle magic this morning."
Harry said his goodbye's before following Ar'Ron out of the dining room.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
Remus was showing the Three Lords of the Twelve and some of their boys around the castle and explaining about the city a he went. They had covered the family side of castle and the public side and had just walked down the steps into the great entry when sounds of explosions and battle reached them through the open doors.
This caused the group to flinch in fright expecting another attack any moment through the open doors. Drawing their wands the Lords set about getting ready to defend their families once more.
Remus seeing Kingsley walking towards the door with a smile on his face called out. "Kingsley what is all that racket?"
Kingsley yelled back over his shoulder not wanting to miss any more of the duel than he had. "That would be Lord Potter blowing off some steam in a duel." Remus knowing what type of dueling Ar'Ron and Harry were currently doing had to agree that it was a sight to see.
The guests slowly put their wands down as they realized they were not being attacked. Hearing the sounds of battle intensify Frank asked. "Remus can we go out and watch the duel."
Remus thinking that this might be a good way to calm the fears of the Lords for their families decided, "Why not, I must warn you though to stay on the street, under no circumstances are you to step on the lawn, if you do you will pass the safety wards and would be subject to attack by the spells their using."
Remus escorted them out the castle and down the street to where a group of off duty guards and staff were gathered watching the duel.
Frank was shocked when he finally got close enough to see what actually was happening. There were broken pieces of weapons strewn across the lawn. The two were dueling with magic he had never seen before, instead of the narrow beams he was used to seeing leave a wand the spells were leaving in waves four or five feet wide.
Looking at his colleagues, they to were staring at the display with shock on their faces. He watched as waves of magic were thrown back and forth between the two from the long staves. Then they switched to throwing orbs of colored light that exploded into flames or ice depending on the color of the orb.
Frank overheard talk from among the guards that the duel had been going on for an hour already, they had evidently started with weapons and then moved on to magic.
They watched on for another half hour before Harry barley dodged another curse and was thrown sideways to the ground. He got to his knees leaning heavily on his stave, and then placed it on the ground in front of him ending the duel.
A faint static sizzle was heard as a shimmer appeared then disappeared in front of them.
Remus felt the shield go down, meaning it was safe to walk over to where Harry was sitting. "The shield is down so it is safe to go over."
As Remus walked across the lawn towards where Harry and Ar'Ron sat in a couple of chairs drinking something cold. He stopped and picked up the hilt of a sword that had a part of the blade still attached. The blade was blackened and he sat it down on the table between the two.
"Quite a workout there Harry, though I don't remember you breaking your sword before." Remus said as he conjured a chair for him to sit on.
Ar'Ron conjured three more chairs for the other three Lords of the Twelve to sit on before picking up the broken sword. Turning it around to scan the surface he then asked. "Just what were you trying to channel through this sword to cause the matrix to explode?"
Refilling his glass and taking another long drink Harry then replied. "Well I decided to duel from the start from in my core; actually I am so used to being in my core I forgot to step out while we started to duel. I was so angry I just channeled all my anger into the sword on the down stroke, and you saw what happened when the two swords hit."
Ar'Ron looked at he sword and then back to Harry "Mel'Anin drop the glamour and step into your core."
Harry sat his cup down on the table and did what Ar'Ron asked him to do. Waves of magic was swirling and rolling around Harry as his aura flared into the intense white range.
"You can put the glamour back now Mel'Anin." Ar'Ron told his soul mate.
"I wonder how skilled the dwarf weapons master is that opened up that shop halfway down Commerce Street." Ar'Ron thought out loud.
"Going to try and get this sword fixed?" asked Frank.
"No this one is pretty much destroyed. No Harry is going to need an Eldwar sword bonded to his magic." Ar'Ron answered.
Seeing that comprehension was not happening Ar'Ron tried a different way of explaining. "Eldwar is a mix of Elven silver steel with Mythril and Crystal. A sword made out of Eldwar can be bonded to a persons magical core." Holding up the broken sword "And this can not happen when magic is channeled through it during combat."
"Well I need to head back to the castle to get cleaned up; Ron and Ginny are coming for lunch." Harry said as he got up and banished his chair.
Ar'Ron stood up also and after banishing his chair turned to Remus. "Remus why don't you take our guests to Commerce Street, they can stop by Gringotts and then maybe a change of clothes or two. You can also get the goblins to seal up your manors and gather some of your belongings, until later."
"Its up to you really but we are not that far from Commerce Street or if you want to get the women folk we could do that to." Remus suggested.
They talked amongst themselves for a few minutes and decided that a trip to Gringotts and a walk around town sounded fine.
Ar'Ron placed his arm over Harry's shoulder as they walked back towards the castle to clean up for lunch.
"Mel'Anin, how are Ron and Ginny now that the spells are off of them?" Ar'Ron asked.
Sighing Harry answered. "Ginny is a lot better, she is finally getting over her crush on me. Ron is doing better; he is still quick to anger but very quickly catches himself before acting on it. The one I have the most problem with right now is Hermione betraying me to Dumbledore."
"Are you afraid that she is not under any compulsion spells like Ron and the rest of the Weasely's?" Ar'Ron asked.
"I am not sure I am ready to find out that one of my best friends has been betraying me of her own free will." came Harry's reply.
"It will work out in the end, maybe I should make her go through a reality check, the words will hurt but it might be worth it to break her out of this fantasy world she has built the Wizarding world into." Ar'Ron said.
Harry was hesitant, the offer was a good one and more than likely would do Hermione a lot of good. Thinking back he knew that even in Gryffindor house most disliked her and outside her house most loathed her. Sighing he said. "That might be a good idea, but I am not going to get my hopes up that she will change."
As they entered the castle they gave Percy a quick wave as they climbed the stairs heading to the second floor and the hidden portal to the family wing.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ron, do you think Ar'Ron will be at lunch?" Asked Ginny
"Not sure, why do you want to know anyway?" Ron absentmindedly replied; he was still reeling from all the new information that Bill dropped on them this morning.
"I wanted to apologize for last week." Ginny told her clueless brother.
Ginny seeing her brother was about to walk right into the tree in front of him grabbed his arm puling him to a stop. "Ron what's wrong with you." She huffed out.
"Bloody Hell Ginny what do you think you are doing." Ron angrily spat out being pulled out of his thoughts.
"You bloody git, next time I will let you walk into the bloody tree." Anger rising fast Ginny started in.
Sheepishly Ron looked up and saw the tree in front of him. "Sorry Ginny I was not paying attention to where I was going."
"Good one Mr. Obvious." Ginny replied.
Pulling her brother over to a park bench and pushing him down on it, she told him to talk.
"Its all messed up. Dumbledore is supposed to be the good guy, and he is the one who messed with my mind, put all those spells on me, and kept our family penniless. And then there is Snape, the greasy evil git of a potion master and he is the good guy." Ron rambled.
Looking up at Ginny Ron Continued "Our family is rich, we did not have to grow up poor, but no, Dumbledore's need for control ruined our lives." Tears welling up in his eyes Ron continued. "So much of my life wasted, out of my control. I have to grow up Gin; I can't afford to just float through life any more. Do you think Harry will let me join him in classes this summer?"
Ginny sat there for a moment taking in the jumbled mess that her brother was pouring out. All of a sudden she was scared, her brother seemed to be on the edge of the abyss one wrong step she could loose him, and that scared her.
Ron needed help, but yet she could not leave him to go get it. She looked around frantically hoping that she would see someone that could get help. Seeing no one around she took out her wand and held her arm up behind her brothers back and started to shoot up red sparks into the air.
Severus closed his front door and started to walk towards the castle. He had given a lot of thought to the questions Harry posed to him last week and he had come to a decision. He truly enjoyed teaching newt level classes and the changes he envisioned would give him great satisfaction, plus free time to do research which was his true love.
He was broken out of his musing as he stepped onto Commerce Street to see Red sparks being shot in the air on the other side. Quickly crossing the intersection he ran towards the sparks in the air.
Kingsley and Dargoth were walking down the street enjoying the fine day. They had talked early on and both had agreed that they much preferred being the hands on type of supervisors; Kingsley found that he actually liked his partner's sense of humor.
Their conversation was cut short as the noticed Severus Snape go barreling across Commerce Street like the hounds of hell were after him. Giving each other a questioning look they walked over to the intersection and looked towards the running man. That's when they saw the red sparks being shot into the air.
As Severus drew nearer he noticed that the two people on the bench where the youngest two of the Weasely clan.
Ginny seeing several people running towards her and Ron stopped shooting sparks n the air and kept on telling her brother that help was on its way.
Severus arrived first followed closely by Kingsley and Dargoth. "Miss Weasely." he started.
Ginny seeing Professor Snape immediately launched into a rushed explanation. "Ron seemed pretty out of it on our walk. We were on our way to meet Harry for lunch, when I had to sit Ron down after he almost walked into a tree. Then he started some disjointed explanation of what was wrong, only it seemed like only parts of the story was being told out loud. Then he asked if I thought Harry would let him join in his summer schooling and then he just stopped and has been like this for the past twenty minutes, and nothing I could do will bring him around."
She had picked up the pace of her explanation until it was rushed out almost to the point of her being hysterical.
"Miss Weasely calm down, take a deep breath." Severus told her.
Turning towards her brother Severus examined him and preformed several scanning charms. To his surprise he found remnants of dreamless sleep in his bloodstream.
Making a quick decision Severus whispered out "Legilimens" to confirm his suspicions. Upon entering Ron's mind he found it was a jumbled mess, half formed memories striving for dominance while others were playing out "Foolish boy."
Looking to Ginny for answers "I take it your brother has been having problems sleeping?" Severus asked.
"He was having nightmares last week, but seemed fine after a couple of days, why?" Ginny asked.
"Do you know where your foolish brother got his hands on dreamless sleep potion." snapped out Snape.
"Mum found a fully stocked potions cabinet in the new house. All the potions were in stasis charms according to Bill." Ginny answered worry etched on her face.
Severus started ranting about incompetent fools medicating themselves with potions they had no understanding off. Standing back up he turned to Kingsley. "We need to get him up to the infirmary, Miss Weasely please go home and inform your mother on what has transpired and have her meet us at the Castle Infirmary."
Ginny not about to disobey the potions master took of running towards home.
Dargoth went over to the catatonic young man and placed his hand on his watch and activated the port key function.
"Severus if you would place your finger on my watch I will activate the port key." Kingsley waited until Snape did so before saying. "Infirmary activate."
Sage was on duty in the castle infirmary when Ron and Dargoth arrived via port key. She quickly sprang into action placing Ron on one of the beds and banishing most of his clothes down to his shorts. After a careful examination she did not see any visible wounds so placed her hand on his forehead.
Severus and Kingsley arrived to see Sage with her hand on Ron's forehead with a slight glow emanating from her hand.
Stepping back they could hear her say "Sillies boy" before popping to the other side of the room and taking a vial out of the cabinet. Popping back to Ron's side she snapped her fingers causing him to sit up and she poured the potion down his throat.
Snapping her fingers once more Ron once more was flat on his back. Setting the empty vial on the nightstand she looked over towards the others and said. "He no move" and popped out once more.
Intrigued Severus walked over and picked up the empty vial to read its label. Potion nullifier in neat script, looking down at the youngest Weasely boy he noticed gray steam coming off his body. Lifting the empty vial to his nose he gave it a sniff before holding it up to the light to look at the remains.
Mentally cataloging a list of ingredients Severus did not notice the arrival of Harry and Ar'Ron. He did however notice when Sage popped back in holding several more vials.
Sage set the vials down and waited for the steam to stop pouring out of Ron's body so she could start the next set.
Seeing Ar'Ron walk over to the bed and look at each of the potion vials, in turn nodding his head at the choices. "I have never heard of potion nullifier before." Severus said holding up the empty vial.
"Yes, well it is an Elven potion, class one to be exact. It is designed to burn out any potion residing in the body, really useful to healers for treatment of overdoses or in case of allergic reactions." Ar'Ron told the potions master, and then with a smirk he said. "I can have Draco save some for you to experiment with. They will be ready to start brewing potions Wednesday next, seeing that the basics have pretty much been covered in class."
Severus narrowed his eyes and stared at Ar'Ron as if he could read the answers to his questions out of his mind. "And who would they be?" Asked Severus in a controlled voice
"Well THEY would include Harry, Draco and Remus is sitting in some of the classes, not Elven potions and alchemy though, said he never did like potions." Ar'Ron answered.
Seeing Severus staring in disbelief, doing his best goldfish imitation Ar'Ron explained.
"When I found Harry at his relative's house for all intents and purposes he was walking through deaths door. During the healing I noticed that someone had put four blocks on his magic, building one on top of the other. Those blocks were placed there by Dumbledore to keep Harry's magic from manifesting when he was so young. He never once cared that the only reason Harry's magic was responding like it was, was that it was saving his life.
I noticed also that Harry was Elven. Seems his mother was one of the high Elves and sacrificed herself by her magic to ensure Harry survived. That changed him so that he is now in fact a True Elf.
So knowing he was Elven I was able to do a knowledge transfer that gave him all the knowledge I posses of Wizarding magic, including magic that has been suppressed or forgotten. I did this so he could better defend himself knowing that he would be fighting on two fronts.
Plus I wanted a firm beginning so that I could start teaching Elven magic's. Draco also had a firm grounding in potions and defense and ancient runes. So I decided that he would join in some of Harry's classes so he could also be better prepared to defend himself, especially with that soul stealer after him." He finished, seeing steam still rising from the prone form.
Severus loved his godson, and was extremely relieved that he was now safe, but he was not a potions master for nothing and if Draco could learn Elven potions so would he. "Exactly how long would one need, taking in account of studying ten hours a day, before they could catch up to where the class is currently?" He asked.
Looking over at the calm exterior of the potions master, Ar'Ron saw in his eyes the yearning for knowledge. "You will need two things to catch up. I will give you the books after we finish here that will bring you up on the basics. Then you will have to get the notes from Draco as the books are written in Elvish and we are translating as we go."
"And you will need to work with Harry on finding and what we call standing in your magical core. This is a technique that lets you tap into your core magic; it will also strengthen your magic and make you more powerful and able to perform some of the more ancient magic that is going to be taught. Harry will explain more of the vision of the future of Wizarding kind we have planned out. "Ar'Ron finished just as the steam stopped coming off Ron.
Sage seeing that the first potion had done its job snapped her fingers once again lifting him into a sitting position.
Ar'Ron told Snape the order the potions would be administered and what the potions they were using were for.
Sage first poured the nutrition potion down Ron's throat. After he had swallowed it she waited five minutes before making him swallow the energy restoration potion. She then allowed him to once again lay flat.
Ar'Ron heard a commotion coming from the hall outside. Listening carefully he heard Bill Weasely's voice along with his mother and the youngest Weasely, Ginny.
Harry got up from where he was sitting to intercept them before they burst into the room interfering with Ron's treatment.
After reassuring them Ron would be all right, he led the now calmer and frantic Weasely mother into the infirmary.
Molly seeing he son lying lifeless on the bed rushed over to scoop him up, only to find herself bouncing off a shield put up by a stern looking Sage.
"You no be moving him." Sage said sternly pointing her finger like she was scolding a naughty child.
Molly stepped back and started to wind up to really give a apiece of her mind when Harry interrupted her.
"Mrs. Weasely, it might look like nothing is being done but in fact Ron still has twenty minutes left before the next potion, and he must stay absolutely flat." Harry told her sternly hoping to break through to her.
Severus turned to Bill. "Bill someone needs to lock up the potion cabinet."
"Already warded the sick room before coming here with mum, no one is going to be getting in there without my permission, though I would appreciate if you could stop by sometime in the next couple of days and take a look at it, seems the last Weasely's to live there, the wife was a healer." Bill stated.
"Saturday after lunch?" asked Severus.
"How about Saturday for lunch?" bill replied.
Nodding his head Severus turned to ask how dreaming sleep differed from dreamless sleep.
"Dreamless sleep as you know puts the person into a state of sleep and does not allow them to slip into the dreaming state. Normally a person would dream for one to two hours per night, more if they had a very stressful day.
Dreams are the bodies' way of dealing with stress and acclimating to new and sometimes painful knowledge.
Dreaming sleep on the other hand puts the person to sleep for eight hours and into the dreaming state for the full eight hours. Normally if a person is suffering from a single trauma this potion would help them by letting them spend to what amounts to several months dealing with the trauma.
Ron However overdosed on dreamless sleep to the point that he was almost permanently catatonic. If it was not for the potion nullifier, he would never have been able to regain his senses.
So after the potion takes effect I will go into his mind and single out one memory for him to go over and his brain will then take over and work one at a time on his memories." Ar'Ron finished his explanation.
Then he added in. "He will have to be here for the next six days as the potion can be only given once every three days, and he will need at least two more treatments." Ar'Ron said nodding over to Sage to raise Ron up.
Sage snapped her fingers for the last time, and after Ron sat up she administered the last potion before laying him flat.
Ar'Ron walked to the end of the bed and placed both hands on either side of Ron's temples. Seeing Ron's eyes start to move rapidly behind the closed lids he pushed his mind into the young mans. Finding one strong memory and setting the dream in motion he watched for a few moments to make sure all was going as it was supposed to before backing out if his mind.
"It has started." Ar'Ron said removing his hands from Ron's head and moving away from the bed.
Harry pulled the sheet and thin blanket over Ron and charmed it to stay in place and not entangle him.
Harry gave Ginny a hug before walking over to Mrs. Weasely and giving her one too. "He is going to be fine now; you'll see he will wake up tomorrow ready to hop out of bed just in time for me to hit him upside his head for being a prat."
The three of them could not help but chuckle at Harry's comment.
"I have to get to classes, but I will send up some lunch and see you later this afternoon." Harry told them as he walked out the door.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Harry walked into the infirmary just as Ron was being served lunch, "Hey Ron how are you feeling?" He asked pulling up a chair.
"Harry." The red head greeted his friend, "More than ready to get to get out of this bloody bed."
Leaning over so not to be overheard Ron told Harry, "Bloody hell mate, that sage could give lessons to Madam Pomfrey, scary that one is."
Harry could not help but laugh at Ron's expression.
"Not funny mate, every time I went anywhere but the loo she would pop in and tell me off for being out of bed and snap her fingers sending me flying back to his bloody bed." Ron complained.
"Look at it this way Ron, after lunch you get to leave." Harry told him.
Ron got a real serious expression on his face. "Harry, I want to apologize for being such a jealous prat all these years."
Harry clasped his hand on his friends shoulder. "Ron none of it was your fault, I know it does not seem that way, but Dumbledore had those damn spells on you."
While Harry was talking to Ron the Elven healer walked out of the back office and walked over to Ron's bedside. Pulling a small oval crystal off a small slate she placed it on Ron's forehead.
Looking at he slate where a rotating picture of Ron's brain was being displayed, and a long column of information she nodded her head before removing the crystal from Ron's forehead.
"Mr. Weasely after you have finished your lunch you are free to go as long as you give me your word you will return if you start having nightmares bad enough to keep you from sleeping." Ellisia Said.
"I promise." Ron said between mouthfuls of food.
"Afternoon Ellisia, I hope you are settling in all right and the wing we refurbished for Elven use is to your liking." Harry asked.
Getting a slightly dreamy look, Ellisia smiled. "Yes my Lord, we were very surprised to find a place inside such a forbidding castle. And doubly so to find it was planted with Elven plants."
"Oh and if you can, thank the Impare' for the basket full of red fruit this morning." Ellisia told him as she started to walk back towards her office to catch up on paperwork.
"Will do Ellisia, and please tell us if you need anything to make your stay more comfortable." Harry told her receding back.
"Harry would you like to go flying or maybe get Ginny and a few others and play a quick game of Quidditch as soon as I finish." Asked Ron
"Maybe later, I have classes this afternoon until 4:00 p.m., so we could go flying for an hour or so afterwards." Harry said thoughtfully.
Ron let his fork drop and with a look of horror on his face. "I thought Remus was joking when he said you were taking classes this summer."
"I really cannot afford to slack off, with Voldemort after me and now Dumbledore, not to mention having to run this city and all." Harry told him.
"Bloody Hell, when do you have time to be a normal teenager?" Ron asked in horror.
"I've never been normal; I figured it was about time to stop trying to be normal. I was never allowed to be a normal child growing up. With what the Dursley's did to me when I was younger, is it no wonder that I had to grow up so fast." Harry said to Ron.
"Actually I have more freedom now that I am an adult and have adult responsibilities, and I really enjoy not having to hide my abilities or always make sure that I never perform more than average." Harry finished up to Ron's incredulous look.
Harry smiled at the look on his friends face. "Ron I never was as clueless as I pretended to be."
"There you are Lord Potter." Draco said walking into the infirmary.
"Hey Draco, is it time for battle class already?" Harry asked.
"Remus suggested we switch to potions, seeing how Ellisia gave Ar'Ron an extensive list of healing potions that she needs to be made. Severus said he would be by at 1:00 p.m. to help." Draco said pulling up a chair.
"How are you feeling Ron?" Draco asked kindly.
Ron did a double take, Draco was acting nice. No snide remarks, no crude comments and no name calling. He was not quite sure how to take this new Draco, not to mention him calling Harry Lord Potter.
"I am doing fine Malfoy" Ron replied.
"Black, the Malfoy line can go to hell for all I care." Draco told him.
"Huh?" Ron mumbled.
"Draco is a Black now; he was pretty much under mental control of Lucius since first year. And I gave him a choice when I dissolved his mother's marriage." Harry Explained.
"And I chose to be anything other than a Malfoy after what that bastard did to me, and Lord Black allowed me to do the rite to join the family line." Draco further explained.
As Draco and Harry took turns filling Ron in on the tail of Franklin Malfoy and Draco's life so far this summer, they heard Loud voices outside the infirmary.
"Hermione, I already told you I am not interested in Harry for anything more than a friend. Even if he was interested in girls I still only want him as a friend." Ginny yelled.
"Ginny, Harry is confused right now, I mean really Harry is not that way, I know he likes you as he has told me that on numerous occasions." Hermione stated in desperation to get Ginny to understand.
"Harry I want to ask you a question before we get interrupted by the know it all." Ron spit out. "I want to know if I can join you in classes this summer."
Harry was not expecting for Ron to voluntarily ask for school work. "I see no problem with it, but I will have to ask Remus and Ar'Ron as they are the ones doing the teaching." Harry replied
"Harry" Screeched the bushy haired Hermione as she walked into the infirmary and caught sight of Harry sitting at Ron's bedside.
"Harry James Potter, what do you think you were doing scaring us like that?" Hermione started to yell out.
Looking back and forth between Ron and Draco' annoyed looks, Harry sighed. "Hermione keep you voice down. You are in the hospital wing, you know better than that."
Hermione stopped as if she had been slapped, gritting her teeth. "How dare you, just who do you think you are telling me what to do."
Draco spoke up. "Who does he think he is? Let me tell you Granger just who he is. He is Lord Potter, Lord of this castle and the city of Toria. The same castle you happen to be standing in."
Hermione spat out angrily. "Malfoy, I should have known you would be wrapped up in this."
"Black, His name is Draco Black." Ron volunteered.
Drawing herself up, She replied in a superior tone. "That is not possible; Dumbledore told me Sirius died without any heirs."
"Dumbledore lied." Harry told her. "I am the heir primus to the Black Family and the heir to the Potters ever since my parents."
Ar'Ron and Severus walked into the infirmary in time to hear the end of the conversation. "Mel'Anin, Severus is here, we have a lot of potions to make this afternoon."
Seeing a way to continue to try to convince Harry he needed to listen to the headmaster "Harry, I better come help you, you know how clueless you are in potions."
"Miss Granger, must I remind you to be civil. Lord Potter is more than qualified to do this work without any of your help; He did get an O in his potions OWL." Sneered Snape
Harry decided for his peace of mind he should just ignore her as much as possible. "Ron if you want to come back over tonight after supper I should have an answer to your question."
Not really wanting to go anywhere with Hermione when she was in a snit Ron thought if he volunteered to help out he might be able to get away from her. "Professor, I know I am not the best at potions, but if you could use a hand bottling and fetching vials and ingredients I would like to help."
Severus raised an eyebrow at the request. A Weasely voluntarily wanting to be in his presence, and helping with potions to boot what was the world coming to. Looking towards Ar'Ron he saw him give the slightest of nods, seeing Draco and Harry also give the slightest of nods. "Mr. Weasely you will do exactly as I tell you, you will pay careful attention to what you're doing. This is not class where the only person to get hurt by your mistakes is your miserable self. Lives are on the line with these potions, you would do well to remember that."
"Yes sir, I will be careful." Replied an excited Ron
"Potion robes will be provided to you in the potions lab" Ar'Ron told the red head.
"Don't worry I will make sure Ron does not make any mistakes." Hermione told them
Giving the bushy haired girl a stern look Ar'Ron stated. "That will be unnecessary, as I do not allow people with your attitude in my Potions Lab. You were not invited, and since you decided to bully your way through, that is not an attitude I allow. Miss Weasely if you would escort Miss Granger out of the castle I would appreciate it."
Hermione was furious she crossed her arms across her chest and with a "Humph" she planted her feet. "And if I decide not to leave."
Ar'Ron started to loose his temper. "You are under the mistaken impression that you are in a public place. This is a private residence. So I would advise you to leave and not come back. If you continue in this childish tantrum I will have you arrested and you will be charged with trespassing."
"You wouldn't dare." Hermione said narrowing her eyes and gritting her teeth.
Angered at Hermione's lack of respect Harry had enough. "Enough, this is my Castle, the Potters have ruled from this place for over five thousand years. This is also my home. And I am telling you Hermione to get out of my house and never come back."
Standing up Harry yelled out in anger. "DOBBY"
Two seconds later Dobby popped in with the other three Impare' protectors.
"Harry Potter sir calls his Dobby?" The Impare' stated.
Angered beyond control Hermione was practically frothing at the mouth in anger. "Who did he say he belonged too?" She said in a dangerous voice.
Ignoring her outburst Harry gave orders to the Impare' "Miss Granger is to be removed from the castle and not allowed back in, if she gives you any trouble take her to a holding cell to await trial."
"Is this how you treat your friends now Harry?" Spat out Hermione.
Harry rounded. "Friends? Friends don't betray each other Granger. Did you really think that if you came and said you were sorry without really meaning it I would take you back after you betrayed me? I thought you were smarter than that."
With a sigh "you are keeping me from class, an important class brewing potions that are needed. Dobby, get her out of here." Harry said.
Turning his back on the scene of Hermione being levitated in a bubble by dobby and the other Impare' kicking and screaming like a spoiled three year old. "If you all will follow me there is a short cut to the fourth floor potions lab through the healer's offices." Harry told them.
As the group was walking through the office area where the Ellisia sat behind her desk doing paperwork, Ar'Ron and Harry briefly stopped at one of the desks closest to a stairwell going up.
Picking up a list of potions needing to be brewed Harry looked back to make sure everyone was still with them. "Up this flight of stairs is the back way into the potions lab, a direct way in case of disaster."
As Harry and Ar'Ron started up the stairs Ron took a moment to ask Draco a question. "Draco, Can you tell me what that blue tattoo on your head is all about? I Noticed Professor Snape has one too?"
Touching the blue tattoo on his forehead Draco replied. "This is the ancient mark of a mage. This is the visible part of my oath to do good with the ancient magic I am learning, if I use my magic for evil I will lose it forever, and it will turn red if I break my vow not to pass on my knowledge to any that also do not wear this symbol. And since it is visible I would quickly be arrested"
As they continued up the stairs Draco continued explaining how the rune cluster came about and how it was a fail safe to keep people who learned advanced magic from going evil and Harry's plans that those who learn at Hogwarts will have to give their oath during the summer between their third and fourth year or transfer out of Hogwarts.
Reaching the top of the stairs the site that greeted them made Ron and Ginny stopped in awe. It had to be the brightest potions lab they had ever seen. It even had windows that opened to the outside.
Rows of potion cauldrons broken up in straight lines of four cauldrons to a station with 2 such stations too a row, large ornate hoods over the rows, small worktables before each of the cauldrons finished out the row.
Ron watched as Draco and professor Snape walked over to the far wall and each stopped in front of a glass doored bookcase and each opened their own bookcase and removed a ledger and muggle pens before settling themselves into the first two stations.
Ar'Ron went to the station in the front that had one short four cauldron station in the middle of the row.
"Draco you will work on Skel-e-Grow bone mending potion and burn healing salve, enough for thirty units each. If you remember the lecture two weeks back on purifying to remove taste, you can use that technique for the Skel-e-Grow potion, though due to the ingredients no flavorings can be added. Use the recipes and instructions from volume thirty from your potions bookcase." After watching Draco come back from his bookcase with the appropriate volume Ar'Ron asked. "Any questions before you start?"
"No sir, it looks pretty straightforward." Draco said filling out his potions logbook.
"Severus, I need you to do sixty doses of blood replenishing potion, wound closing potion and one hundred doses of revitalizing draft." Ar'Ron told him. "You will need volumes seventeen and twenty three."
"If I remember my reading correctly I can purify the blood replenisher and revitalizing draft, but only the draft can have flavoring added." Severus said as he was writing in his logbook.
"That's correct Severus. I suggest citrus flavoring for the revitalizing draft, as it is an invigorating flavor." Ar'Ron suggested.
"Mel'Anin I need you to make Drawny's tears, you will need to use vyrol eil eilaestia class one book five. Let me know if you have any questions after reading through the directions." Ar'Ron told his love.
"And I will start the caelol saes, this potion acts exactly like Phoenix tears. Ron you and Ginny can float between all three stations and fetch whatever anyone needs or bottle up potions. Remember if you chop and dice ingredients, doing so that the pieces are all the same size is important." Ar'Ron told the two.
At that point everyone started writing down ingredients and modifying recipes for quantity before starting to brew potions for the next three and a half hours.
After four hours of brewing and bottling potions Draco and Severus were exhausted as they used a lot of their magic to purify and strengthen potions.
Ron and Ginny had just finished bottling the last of the potions and sat down to watch Ar'Ron incant spell after spell into the large cauldron he was working on.
Finishing the last spell Ar'Ron turned the heat down on the cauldron to a gentle warming setting. Then casting a shield to protect the potion that was brewing he stepped back and started to clean his workspace.
"Well now it has to simmer for sixteen hours before purifying and the final spells and this one will be done." Ar'Ron told the group.
Looking around he saw the sheer amount of vials on the side workbenches all filled and labeled Ar'Ron smiled. "Well done all of you."
Picking up one of Harry's vials he cast a diagnostic spell on it and it glowed a bright green meaning the potion had been done perfectly.
Harry watched as his potion glowed the bright green it should if he had brewed it correctly. He was exhausted and did not think he had the strength to move from this spot even though he was ravenous.
Smiling over at his love Ar'Ron took a small ampule sized vial out of his belt and handed it to Harry. "Here you go Mel'Anin this will give you enough strength to make it to the dining room for dinner, as soon as you get some food in you, your strength will return."
Looking over at the potions master, "Severus, join us in the family wing for dinner tonight."
Severus bowed his head slightly. "Thank you Majesty."
Looking over at the two Weasely children Ar'Ron told them. "Ask your parents about taking the oath. If they agree you can start lessons in two days, that's August first. Remus will get you up to speed, be prepared to work very hard if you want this though."
"Ask your parents about what?" Arthur asked as he walked into the room. "Severus I see you have taken the Mage's Oath, good for you."
"Dad, is it Five already?" Ginny asked her dad with a smile and ran over and gave him a hug.
Ron walked over to where his dad was standing with Ginny in a loose hold. "Ginny and I have talked about taking the Mage's Oath, we spent the afternoon asking questions and really listening to the answers. This is something both of us want to do and I feel I need to do."
Arthur pulled his two youngest in a tight embrace and with a hitch in his voice. "You both have made me so proud of you. You both realize that there is a lot of hard work involved in this." Seeing both of them nod their heads. "All Right, let me handle your mother on this, but be prepared to start on the first."
Ron and Ginny hugged their father once more thanking him.
"Come on lets get going, your mother will have supper waiting for us, we want her to be in a good mood." Arthur told his children as he steered them out the door.
"Talk to you later Harry" Ron yelled excited at the prospect of getting permission.
Ar'Ron went over to where Harry was sitting and helped him up. "Well dinner should be almost ready, shall we?"