Fox's Den

The Bandit Killer Strikes Back!

 

AN: I know, another quick update. Hopefully this chapter will be better than the last one.

 

Chapter Six: Shocking Truth! Exploring the Palace

 

After their revealing trip to Gringotts the previous day they planned to devote the rest of the week to exploring their new home. They had devised a plan using walkie-talkies that, for some odd reason, worked in Seillune Palace so that they could split up and explore more of the palace. Once they had split up Harry headed for a suspiciously dark section of the palace. Instead of casting Lumos he decided to practice some of the magic that Lina was teaching him.

 

“Light which burns beyond crimson flame, let thy power gather in my hand. LIGHTING!” he called as a ball of light appeared over his palm.

 

Raising the ball of light above his head he headed down the dusty corridor. Stopping at the first door he came to he slowly opened it and peeked in. It was empty save for sheet covered furniture. Closing the door he continued down the hall until he came to the next door. Upon opening the door he noticed that there seemed to be something of interest in the room. Walking in he let the Lighting spell hover high above his head and began to poke around in the now lighted room. Walking over to one of the trunks he opened it, coughing as a cloud of dust rose up around him.

 

“Ah…ah…ahchoo!” wriggling his nose as he tried to stave off another sneeze he looked into the chest.

Kneeling he pulled out the first piece of cloth, realizing that it was wrapped around something.

 

Unwrapping the cloth he gasped as a dagger was revealed. He re-wrapped the dagger and continued with the process of unwrapping and re-wrapping the objects he found. Several Swords, more daggers, a few staffs that were very interesting and a scepter later and he replaced all of the weapons as well as the scepter and closed the trunk. Standing he walked over to the next trunk hoping to find more weapons. As he opened the trunk he again noticed it was filled with cloth, only this time it seemed to be actual clothing. Closing that trunk he noticed a glint on the far wall and headed over to it. Gasping as he realized that it was actually display cases lined up he perused them. The first one was a set of armor and upon reading the plaque contained within the case he realized it was the armor that ‘Uncle’ Gourry had worn. Moving to the next one he found Auntie Lina’s outfit, then ‘Auntie’ Amelia’s, and the coup de gras was ‘Auntie’ Luna’s priestess outfit as well as her waitressing uniform. He found it rather amusing that his many time over great aunt’s clothing would be in the home of his ancestors. The only clothing that was suspiciously not there were the outfits belonging to his many times over great grandfather’s Zelgadis and Xellos. Though Auntie Lina did say they moved on, sort of but she had never elaborated. Shaking his head he continued exploring, finding many other small artifacts from when the Seillune royal family had lived here. He even found Amelia’s older sister, Naga’s, outfits that she had worn when she had first met Lina Inverse. He wondered if Lina had known that Naga was Amelia’s older sister before continuing on.

 

Leaving the room he headed down the hall to the next door and opened it. He entered the room and looked at the various paintings that were housed there. He smiled when he finally got to see what ‘Prince Phil’ looked like. The man certainly looked like he could pass as a thug or brute, even if he were alive now. He looked upon the picture of Amelia Wil Tesla Seillune and smiled. ‘She sure is pretty.’

 

Moving around the room he found portraits of Amelia’s mother, his many times over Grandfather Gourry Gabriev, Zelgadis and Xellos, Lina, the golden dragon Filia, the reborn ancient dragon Valgaav, and many other members of his family from generations back as well as those from the Royal Family of Seillune. Walking out of the room and closing the door he moved on down the hall, poking his head into some rooms and exploring others. Finally he entered another room that was filled with shelves upon shelves of books. Their subjects ranged from common novels to uncommon books and spells and magical theory to music and the geography of the times when the Palace was occupied to the history of the lands as well as hand written accounts of different wars and periods of time. There were books on just about every subject matter under the sun.

 

Harry perused the shelves before finding a rather large chest hidden amongst other stacks of books that weren’t shelved. Opening the chest he pulled out a cloth wrapped object and unwrapped it. Inside was the hilt of a sword, holding it he was shocked when a beam of light shot out from it.

 

“Bloody Hell!” he exclaimed, dropping the sword and jumping back.

 

“Cub? Everything alright?” Remus’ voice came through the walkie talkie.

 

“Yeah…Yeah. Just found something I wasn’t expecting to. I think I’m gonna head back to the kitchen. I’m getting hungry.” He said as he picked up the Legendary Sword of Light. Auntie Lina would have some explaining to do since last he knew the sword had been lost in their battle with Darkstar.

 

“Ok, pup. Sounds like a plan. We’ll all meet up there.” Sirius’ voice came over the speaker and Harry nodded forgetting they couldn’t see him.

 

He headed back the way he had come, releasing the Lighting spell as he neared the brighter parts of the Palace. He decided he was going to tell them what he knew about his ancestry after lunch. ‘I’m STARVING! If I feel like this after only using a simple Lighting Spell I’d hate to find out how hungry I’ll be after casting more complex and draining spells. No wonder Auntie Lina always ate so much.’ He thought as he made his way down to the kitchen and began to cook a veritable feast.

 

When the rest of his ‘family’ arrived in the small set of kitchens they all stood there staring at the massive amount of food that he was preparing. He hadn’t realized that it had taken them well over two hours to all gather in the kitchen and in that time he had ended up making a large amount of food. As he turned and set the last dish down on the table he noticed their slack-jawed looks.

 

“What?”

 

“Think you made enough to feed an entire army, pup!” his godfather exclaimed with a laugh.

 

Shrugging Harry sat down and began loading his plate before digging in. He ate more than Vernon and Dudley combined and didn’t seem to notice the looks he was getting until he had finished and looked up, patting his full stomach.

 

“What? I used a lot of energy up today.” was his explanation.

 

“Uh-huh. Harry, what have you been doing to use up so much energy?” Remus asked.

 

“Magic of course!”

 

“Right. Who left you alone in the restricted section?” Sirius asked.

 

“No-one. Oh I found some really neat rooms and all kinds of interesting artifacts.”

 

“How about we adjourn to the sitting room for tea?” Petunia interjected before things could get too out of hand.

 

Nodding they all headed into the sitting room. It was at this point that Harry began to become extremely nervous about telling them what he had learned.

 

“So what did you find of interest, Harry? All Mum and me found were empty bedrooms.” Dudley asked, curious about his cousin’s change in demeanor.

 

“I found several rooms that contained trunks and display cases. There’s a ton of old swords and daggers and armor and clothes in most of the trunks. I even found the armor worn by Gourry Gabriev and the outfits worn by Lina Inverse, Amelia Wil Tesla Seillune and Naga the White Serpent. Then I found a library that’s HUGE! Hermione would be very jealous as there’s more books than even Hogwarts’ Library including the Restricted Section. I found Gorun Nova, which Gourry carried and disappeared as well as a really cool cape. I also found a Hall of Portraits in one of the rooms, though none of them moved.” He said excitedly before being interrupted by his Aunt.

 

“Harry, slow down and breathe. Now who are those people you mentioned?”

 

“Oh! Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev are our Ancestor’s Aunt Petunia. Lina was a sorceress that was very powerful and she traveled around a lot. Her companion and protector Gourry was a swordsman who wielded a Legendary Sword. They’re our many times over great grandparents. Amelia Wil Tesla Seillune was one of Lina’s companions and a Princess of the Seillune Family. She married Zelgadis Greywards and had some kids before dying in an accident or something. Zelgadis then got with Xellos, a Mazoku of pretty high rank and had some kids. One of Zelgadis and Xellos’ kids got married to one of Lina and Gourry’s kids which is how the lines intersect with Seillune.”

 

“And just how do you know all this pup?”

 

“Uhm, well…Lina’s been visiting my dreams. She’s training me in Wild Magic as it’s called nowadays. She looks a lot like mum. Apparently she gets special priveleges for having been the temporary vessel of L-sama.” He looked at them as they just stared and he began to feel his cheeks heating up before suddenly Remus and Sirius burst out in anger.

 

“WHAT?!?!? Harry James Potter!!! Are you bloody bonkers?! It could be You-Know-Who for all you know!”

 

“It’s not! He’d never willingly train me to defeat him. Plus he doesn’t know the full family history and Lina’s the one who told me the family lineage, which by the way, I’m distantly related to the Weasley’s. Oh and the Malfoy’s are apparently not as pure as they claim considering one of their ancestor’s was an Ancient Dragon and another was Half Human Half Chimera.” Harry defended Lina’s actions and threw in a small tidbit about the Malfoy’s to hopefully detour the conversation. It didn’t work.

 

“Harry may be right, Sirius. From what Lily told me about the man he’s not the type to give any type of handicap to his enemies.” Petunia came to Harry’s rescue even though she didn’t know much about what Harry was talking about nor about the crazed man who killed her sister and brother-in-law.

 

Harry smiled at his aunt for her show of support. Sirius looked at Petunia and thought about what she had said while Remus considered her argument.

 

“You may be right Petunia. We may have over-reacted a bit.” He said, nudging Sirius as he did so.

 

“Yeah Tuney.” He mumbled before smiling at Harry, “Sorry pup.”

 

“It’s alright Sirius. I know you’re just looking out for me.” Harry yawned as he finished that sentence.

 

“Harry, what’s Lina teaching you about the Wild Magic?” Remus asked, slightly concerned and even more curious.

 

“Well, everything. From Theory to practice, Incantations and about where certain spell’s power are drawn from. She’s teaching me all the spells in her arsenal save for one and ones from some other branches. She even explained that what we call Dark Arts is really the Ministry being Jelly-brained idiots and that not all of the Dark Arts were originally Dark. She’s taught me several White or Holy spells, including Healing and a stronger Lighting spell, more powerful than Lumos. She’s going to teach me what she can of Shamanism and her Black Magic, which isn’t like Dark Magic before you go getting pissed again. Black Magic is Battle Magic unlike the Dark Arts which is more for Torture than anything else.” Harry yawned again.

 

“I see, it sounds very interesting. You mentioned a Library? Maybe there is more information there.” Remus said.

 

“Yup! There’s plenty of Information. Oh! And Lina said that Aunt Petunia and Dudley may even be able to learn Magic like hers. Wild Magic but only the White branch since it’s the easiest though she did mention that even a practitioner of Holy Magic could Learn Black Magic depending on the spell and power it takes. She also mentioned that anyone can learn a few tricks as she called them.” Harry said excitedly before yawning again.

 

Remus laughed, “Alright cub, you keep yawning. It’s been a long day and I’m sure everyone is feeling as tired as you are. How about we pick this up in the morning?”

 

“Okay Remus. G’night.” Harry said, standing up and yawning again before heading to his room followed by his family to their respective rooms.

 

%%Dream Sequence%%

 

Harry found himself in the courtyard once again, this time he was able to recognize Lina as she sat on the ground with a bunch of odd materials in front of her.

 

“Auntie Lina! You have some explaining to do.” He said as he came towards her.

 

“Hey kiddo. I do, huh? Bout what?”

 

“Gorun Nova. Zelgadis and Xellos. Oh, and why the paintings don’t move like they do at Hogwarts and other magical places.” He said, glaring as best he could.

 

“Oh, that. You really need to work on your glare.” She said chuckling lightly.

 

He glared at her again, only slightly better this time before pouting.

 

Laughing she looked at him and acquiesced to his request for more information.

 

“Well to answer your first question I have to answer your last question first. The paintings don’t move because they are just paintings meant to be viewed in the common areas of the palace and while magic was not hidden back then like it is now it still would have creeped some of the visitors out. I know it would have creeped me out. There are paintings that do move and talk somewhere in the palace but you’ll have to find them for yourself.” She winked at him before continuing.

 

“As for the Sword of Light it re-appeared after Gourry and my deaths here in the palace. Be forewarned that there is a crypt attached to this palace and that is where our bodies are and that is where the sword appeared. Xellos was the one to inform me of its re-appearance and he was also the one to hide it away. What was it that you wanted to know about Zel and Xellos, exactly?”

 

“Why aren’t there more paintings of them? Why aren’t their clothes on display like yours and Amelia’s and Gourry’s? What exactly happened to them? You said they moved on, sort of. What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“You noticed that did you? I had hoped it would’ve slipped by your notice. There are paintings of them they are with the portraits but as far as I know they don’t interact with their surroundings. The reason their belongings aren’t with ours is the same reason they only sort of moved on. Remember Xellos is a Mazoku and Zelgadis is a Chimera. Most Chimera didn’t live very long in most cases as they were usually created in labs or killed by stronger beings. Zelgadis was born a human. His grandfather and great grandfather were one in the same, Rezo the Red Priest. He turned Zelgadis into a Chimera, one that was 1/3 Rock Golem, 1/3 Demon, and 1/3 human, using magic which gave Zel a very long lifespan. One that was much longer than a human’s and more like that of a demon’s, not immortal but definitely lengthy.” She looked at Harry to make sure he was actually understanding everything she was telling him before continuing.

 

“Now Mazoku also have an extremely long lifespan. They can live infinitely to my knowledge unless they are killed. They’re not immortal because immortal implies being unkillable and obviously it is possible to kill a Mazoku, even one of such high power. Xellos is able to travel from the mortal plane to their plane and he has taken us all there once. I enjoyed it considering it’s not much different than the mortal plane. Because Zel has Demon blood he may have been able to live in that plane as, from my understanding, Mazoku and Youkai, or Demon to you, are similar even if there is more to Youkai than Mazoku. Anyway, they never died that I know of, they just up and vanished from this plane one day. L-sama wasn’t very forthcoming on their whereabouts. They may be in Xellos’ home plane or even in another plane, like the Makai. You’ll get an explanation on that later. They may have returned to the human plane at some point in time to check in on their descendants or they may have completely forgotten about them. I don’t know but I do know that for a Mazoku Xellos was strange.” She looked at her grandson of many generations as he digested the information.

 

“So, they could come back at any time?”

 

“Yes, or they may not come back at all. They could also have died and their portraits may have activated but again I don’t know. Also the reason the portraits are hidden is there is a block on that section of the home. An heir needs to awaken the portraits before they will interact with anyone.”

 

“Ok. What are you doing?” he’d gotten the answers to his questions and now his curiosity was overwhelming him.

 

“Creating magical amulets of protection. Would you like to learn how?”

 

“Yes!” he exclaimed, causing her to chuckle softly.

 

“Okay first, find north using this crystal ball. It’s specially designed for this.” She said, handing him the crystal ball she had used for many years.

 

Once he had found the northern point she continued guiding him.

 

“Okay, now make sure you’re facing north so that everything is aligned properly. Place this paper down and align it with the northern point.” She said watching as he did as she had instructed.

 

“Good. Now take this gem here and place it in the center. Yes just like that. Now place the square with the pentagram on it on top of the gem. Good, Now the chant. This will set up the magical square for the spell and seal it in the gem.” She said before whispering the chant in his ear.

Nodding he did as he was told before taking a deep breath.

 

“Source of all power, flames that glow red.” He said watching as the square with the pentagram inside sealed itself into the flawless ruby.

 

“Good, now your magic square is sealed and ready to be used. Now it’s time to give the amulet some major power. Take a handful of those flawed rubies and repeat this chant.” She whispered the chant in his ear again.

 

“Mighty source now entrust your life force in this jewel dust.”

 

“Good now repeat that and once you have enough of those flawed rubies turned into dust take this and pour some onto the pile of dust to let it solidify.” She told him watching as he followed her instructions.

 

“Good, now the next part of the chant.” She again whispered the final part of the chant into his ear.

 

“Infinite earth who supports all life, gently flowing water, come to my hand and give this form” he followed his grandmother’s instructions and once the surge of magic had died down he watched as the hardened lump slowly turned clear and formed a Magical Ruby Amulet of Protection.

 

“Great Job Harry! That is a perfect Magical Amulet. Even now you could charge a lot for something like that. If you don’t use them that is. You can make them smaller or larger depending on what you wish to use them for. Larger means more money but smaller means you can give them to loved ones to protect them.” She smiled in pride down at her grandson, it was amazing how well he’d picked up that particular spell.

 

“Thanks, Auntie Lina. Not sure there’s much of a market for these anymore but they will make great gifts for Aunt Petunia and ‘Mione. Maybe I can even make them into something that Remus and Sirius would wear. They’re kinda girly looking though.”

 

“Of course they are. It was mostly women who wore them. I’m sure that there are other gems you could use to create different effects but I never delved into it much as it was mostly a way for me to generate money.” she told him smiling.

 

“Oh.”

 

“Now do you want to create more or do you want a lesson on magical theory?”

 

“Uhm, can I practice creating these for a bit before we go on to magical theory?”

 

“Of course. Remember my instructions.” She said watching as he slowly repeated the process he had just completed.

 

After creating several more amulets of varying sizes he finally stopped. It wasn’t easy creating those amulets and definitely took power to do so. He was only learning after all and as of yet hadn’t practiced much on the outside world out of his dreams. He looked up at his teacher as she inspected his work. She had a smile so he must have been doing good. Remembering all of the steps wasn’t as easy as it looked which is why he had been so slow since he didn’t want to screw up just in case something bad happened. Lina had told him some hilarious stories about messing up a spell and some not so funny stories.

 

“Good job. Definitely good for having never created amulets before. You ready to learn some of the theories behind magic?”

 

“Yeah. As long as it’s not boring like Professor Binns my History Teacher.”

 

“Since when have you known me to be boring?”

 

“Good point.” He smiled as he got comfortable and she went into the theory of magic and some of her experiences. She always made things interesting.

 

What seemed like only a few short minutes later and he could feel himself waking up. He knew he’d see her soon but he was also curious about something.

 

“I found a cape that looks like yours as well as some amulets. What are they?” he asked quickly.

 

“The cape is mine. Go ahead and try it on. It doubles as a cloak. The amulets are power amplification amulets. There’s a chant to activate them. I want you to start wearing them. Create your own look and make it unique. I’ll see you later kiddo!” she waved at him as he began to fully awaken. He waved back at her as he went from the dreamscape to the waking world. He needed to remember to ask her why he was never tired despite being in a dream state most of the night.

 

%%End Dream Sequence%%

 

Harry sat upright and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and noticed that his vision wasn’t as blurry as it usually was without his glasses. Shrugging he reached for them and paused. He felt like someone was staring at him. He quickly placed his glasses on his face before scanning his room for anything out of the ordinary. Not seeing anything he shrugged again and moved to get out of the bed and head for the bathroom. Once finished he headed downstairs and smiled as he saw Sirius sitting groggily at the table while his Aunt sat sipping tea and Remus was at the counter. He grabbed some food and sat down to eat. Dudley was nowhere in sight for some reason.

 

“Where’s Dudley?” he asked of his Aunt.

 

She looked at him and shrugged her shoulders, something he’d never seen her do.

 

“He already ate and headed outside to look around the grounds.” Remus said, seeing as he had been the first one awake at that time.

 

Harry nodded before looking at his godfather.

 

“You alright Sirius?”

 

Sirius just looked at him blearily. Remus chuckled and placed a cup of something in front of his friend. Sirius picked up the steaming drink before swallowing a few gulps down. Once he had he began to look more alert.

 

“Coffee. He acquired a taste for it when he was in America.” Remus told Harry before he could ask.

 

Harry nodded, his lips forming into a small smile before he stood and placed his dishes in the sink.

 

“I’m gonna find Dudley and join him in his exploration of the grounds.” He said before heading for the exit that was off the kitchen.

 

Once outside he began walking around, hoping to catch site of his cousin. He found him fifteen minutes later trying to open a large mausoleum type structure not far from the main house, to no avail.

 

“Bloody door! Open up already!” his cousin’s cursing was distinct as he came upon him.

 

“Having trouble Dudley?”

 

“Hey Harry. Yeah, this bloody door is stuck. I was hoping to find something interesting in here.” He said with barely a glance at him.

 

Harry looked at the door before moving towards it and trying to help his cousin force the door open. When that failed he began to get very angry very quickly. He hadn’t been carrying his wand with him, not that he could use it to open the door in the first place since there was a tracker on it. He wished he knew some sort of unlocking spell. Well, since he didn’t know any unlocking spells he could always follow in Auntie Lina’s footsteps. He smirked before turning to his cousin.

 

“You might want to step back Dudley. Really far back.” He said before watching as his cousin moved toward a very tall tree and hid behind it, peeking around the corner to watch what Harry would do.

 

Taking a deep breath Harry prepared to cast the one spell he could think of to open the door.

 

“Oh source of all power

Light which burns beyond crimson

Let thy power gather in my hand

FIREBALL!”

 

He smiled as he watched the ball of fire connect with the door and cause it to splinter into tiny pieces. The resounding boom was unfortunate. He just hoped that Aunt Petunia, Sirius and Remus hadn’t heard it. He looked back at his cousin who was staring between him and the missing door in shock.

 

“AWESOME!” Dudley exclaimed before heading towards the now opened mausoleum.

 

“Well? Are you coming or not?” Dudley paused to look behind him at his cousin.

 

Harry shook his head and followed his cousin into the dark building. He could just barely make out Dudley as he searched along the wall for a light switch or something. Shaking his head he again prepared to cast another spell.

 

“Light which burns beyond crimson flame,

let thy power gather in my hand!

LIGHTING!”

 

He cast the lighting spell and smirked as his cousin jumped in surprise before once again exclaiming his awe.

 

“That’s so cool. Wish I could do that.” He mumbled the last part not expecting Harry to hear him.

 

“You might be able to learn a few things. It’ll have to wait though. Let’s explore.” He told him before heading down the hall, Dudley on his heels.

 

They walked side by side down the long corridor before coming to another door. This time it wasn’t stuck and opened rather easily for them. Walking into the large room they stopped and stared. The mausoleum like structure really was a mausoleum. All around them there were nameplates. Walking over to one wall Harry began to read the name to himself before suddenly stopping. He stood in front of Lina’s resting place. His many times over great grandmother’s body lay behind this plaque. Looking to the next one he found Gourry and continuing on he found Amelia’s tomb, as well as Naga’s and Luna’s and many others whose names he recognized. He looked at his cousin who stood next to him and they both bowed their heads at the same time in respect of their ancestor’s. As one they turned and left the room, heading back down the long corridor towards the entrance once again. He wished he knew a spell that would restore the damage he had done to the door so as to protect their bodies, what remained of them, from any outside elements.

 

As they arrived at the entrance to the mausoleum Harry once again felt like he was being watched. He looked around but didn’t find anyone so he left, running right into Remus, Sirius and Aunt Petunia.

 

“What have you boys been up to? And what was that loud explosion?” his aunt asked, giving him a rather disapproving glare.

 

“We were exploring the mausoleum mum. We found a lot of tombs of our ancestors.” Dudley told her excitedly.

 

Harry looked at them and quickly ended his Lighting spell, drawing their eyes to him once more.

 

“Did you cause that explosion pup?” Sirius asked.

 

“Yes. The door wouldn’t open and it was the only thing I could think of. I used a low power Fireball to open the door.” He said sheepishly.

 

Remus and Sirius shared a look before shaking their heads and repairing the door. The three adults headed back to the palace and Remus called over his shoulder as they left.

 

“No more explosions. Be back for lunch.”

 

“We will!” Harry called before him and Dudley continued exploring the grounds of the Palace.

 

TBC…

 

AN: Longer chapter than normal but eh… that’s just how it came out. More surprises in store for Harry and his family. Oh and in case anyone asks; yes Naga is actually Amelia’s older sister. There is a lot of supposition going on about her outfit but let’s not get into that shall we? From what I have been able to find Amelia and Naga have been in the same places at the same time on a few occasions and if they did meet Amelia did not know that Naga is her sister. It’s all very confusing and I’m still getting over the shock of my suspicions being confirmed on that front lol! Hope ya’ll enjoyed this chapter and that ya’ll tune in for the next one!