Chapter 24

December 8th

The next day before they started exercising Harry showed Hannah and Susan the letter he had received last night. Hannah said "I'll be there as well since I'm an only child and I will have to marry under a line continuation contract if I want to carry on my family name. I think I have a betrothal agreement as well but I don't know whom to."

Harry nodded and said "well I certainly have no problem with you attending Hannah." The gathering broke up and they carried out their normal schedule for the rest of the day until the end of the DADA class.

When the DADA class was finishing up Harry noticed when all of the sixth year prefects came into the class and realized that they were there for him to test their defenses. Harry said to the departing class "excellent. Now I want you to go over the next two chapters before our next class as we will be studying the Kappa's along with Hagrid."

When everyone except for the prefects had left Harry asked the prefects "are all of you here for me to test your defenses now?" Seeing the nods given in answer Harry smiled and said "no need to be nervous. Now as a reminder to all of you I will be searching your mind for a memory or something of that nature. Remember that if I do find something I will not be telling anyone of what I find in your mind without your express permission" Harry paused and saw all of them nod in agreement. So Harry said "now before we begin I would like all of you to tell me if your need for sleep has decreased any."

Livia stepped forward and said "my need for sleep has decreased by about an hour."

Audrey said "mine has decreased by about 45 minutes to an hour."

Nicolas said "my need hasn't decreased any and I don't know why. I've done all the exercises in the book and have spent at least an hour or so every night before going to bed doing the exercises but I still need to sleep for about 8 hours every day."

Harry replied "don't worry about it. As I said earlier about 3 out of 10 people don't receive the benefit of decreased sleep and you might fall into that group. If you do then there may be a way I can help, but for right now I suggest that you keep sorting your memories. Have you received the complete recall yet?"

Nicolas nodded and said "my memory has always been pretty good but now I can recall everything rather easily."

"Good" Harry nodded. "That means you're doing the exercises correctly."

Lydia announced "my sleep has reduced by an hour and a half so far, it is now down to seven hours."

Gabriel said "my need has dropped down about 45 minutes."

Camilla reported "around a 65 minute decrease for me."

Robert related "my need for sleep has dropped down to about 6 hours now which is an hour and a half decrease."

Gemma finished off saying "mine has dropped by about 75 minutes or so."

Harry nodded and said "excellent. This means that all of you with the exception of Nicolas are able to gain the benefit of the reduced need for sleep. Now since all of you are here I feel that I am correct in assuming that all of you are willing to have me test your mental defenses?" Seeing everyone nod in agreement Harry said "very well. Now as you may have noticed whenever you are doing something within your mind you experience a time shift. What I meant by that is when you can go into your mind and do something that would normally take quite some time, like composing an essay for homework, and when you finish you find out that it only took a few minutes in real time." Harry paused and looked at all of them with his eyebrows raised to make sure that they were following him and was reassured when everyone nodded. "Well when you are attacked mentally the same time dilation takes place. So while it may seem like an hour or two of mental combat in your mind it will in fact only be a few seconds for anyone not involved. So don't worry about this taking more time than you have." Harry stopped and looked at all of them once more and asked "with that being said who would like to go first?"

Audrey raised his hand and said "Gryffindor's charge forward I guess. I volunteer to be first."

"Good, now I will be using the spell Legilimens with my wand as I am not proficient enough in Legilimency to be able to cast it without a wand." Harry paused then said "let that be a warning though for all of you that there are witches and wizards out there that have enough experience to be able to do this by looking directly at your eyes."

Robert asked "do you know if there is some way to tell if someone is doing so Harry?"

"Not really; since this is a mental discipline there are no physical clues that someone is doing so. It's the main reason I keep my outer three mental defenses up at all times. I have a detection sphere, a barrier made up of pain and a metal wall that I keep up at all times so that I will never be taken unaware of" Harry explained.

Robert nodded and gratefully said "thank you for explaining that."

"Very well then; Audrey are you ready" Harry asked? Seeing him nod Harry raised his wand and cast "legilimens." Harry felt the now familiar sensation of being disconnected from his body and came up a sphere that he recognized as a detection type. He pushed past it and came across a sphere that looked like it was made up out of steel. He bored through and passed it rather easily. Once past it Harry was on a large grassy plain with a house sitting in the distance. Testing the rules imposed on this place Harry discovered that he could become a formless being comprised solely of his thoughts. Changing into that form Harry stretched out until he found where the memories were stored and made his way over to them. Harry rifled through all of them and gained a gestalt of Audrey. He learned Audrey was a muggleborn and interested in warding. He also learned that he was not well received at home as apparently his mother had slept with someone not her husband and conceived him. This was especially apparent in his physical traits since Audrey had bright golden hair, blue-green eyes and pale skin; while his mother was slightly darker skinned and had light brown hair while her husband was dark haired and swarthy skinned. This had led to Audrey being practically cast out of his family especially as neither of his two siblings, who Audrey didn't really like all that much since his 'father' and mother spoiled them whilst ignoring him, had the same coloration as Audrey and were not magical either. Once he had assimilated all the information he wanted Harry withdrew his probe. Opening his eyes Harry said "your detection sphere was pretty good; however your metal sphere was not all it could be. In addition I noticed that you don't have a sphere of pain set up. Why?"

Audrey nodded and replied "I haven't been hurt all that much just the standard bumps and bruises a normal child encounters."

"I see, well another student I taught this too had the same problem, I solved it by allowing them to encounter my pain sphere thus they could construct one that way" Harry offered as a suggestion to help him. "In addition to this you have to set some limits on intruders into your mind so that they can't do what I did. I suggest that you set some rules such as: forcing the intruder to have a physical body, no magic available, no special abilities, gravity and the intruder being unable to materialize a weapon or something of that nature. If you do those things then I think your defenses should improve drastically."

Audrey nodded and mused "I see, thank you."

"Welcome" Harry replied. Looking at the others Harry asked "who is next?" Harry went through all of the other prefects one by one. In each case he was able to access their memories and gain a gestalt of their mental processes. In the end Harry decided that he would only approach five of the eight prefects concerning the Old Way's as Gabriel Trumant, Livia Wilkes and Lydia Harper were all unwilling to accept the invitation for various reasons. Gabriel was deeply religious and intended to join the Catholic Church as a priest as soon as he graduated, Livia Wilkes was the daughter of a person firmly in the bigoted 'Light' camp as well as a Dumbledore follower and Lydia Harper was enamored by the Ministry and felt that the Government could do no wrong. On the other hand Robert Mohan, Gemma Farley and Camilla Senorix were children whose parents brought them up to have a devotion to magic and the Old Gods; and if Harry recalled correctly their parents had recently joined the group as well. If so then Harry suspected that they would be joining the group in short order. Audrey Boardman had no place in the muggle world and no ties to it either due to his mother sleeping with someone other than his father, in addition Audrey had come across a religion called Wicca and was apparently deeply interested in it. Nicolas Grimmett was a pureblood who loved magic and was apparently a closet believer in the Old Ways of their ancestors, in addition to this he was being raised by his mother as his father had been killed in a terrorist act perpetrated by Death Eater's.

Harry shook off his recollections and looked at all of them and said "now each of you needs to cast Legilimens on me to experience the pain barrier that I've set up as none of your pain barriers are up to snuff. This barrier is the most effective deterrent against casual probes as no one will willingly get past it just for a casual scan." Harry paused then stated "I feel I must warn you though, that if you are ever interrogated by a person using Legilimency that it will not defeat a determined attacker; so each of you must, in addition to setting up the pain barrier, impose your mental rules upon your mindscape for when an attacker penetrates that far." Each of them nodded so Harry asked "now who amongst the group will be the first one of you to go first?"

Robert raised his hand saying "I will."

"Go ahead then."

When every prefect had finished experiencing the pain barrier they looked at him in silence for several seconds then finally Camilla asked "where in the name of Hades did you ever experience that Harry?"

Harry blushed and said "I ran across an evil person awhile ago and was put under a spell called the Cruciatus before I escaped. That's where I felt it."

Robert gasped and said "you were cruciuo'ed? Who in the name of Gwydion did that?"

"I assume a remnant Death Eater that escaped" Harry shrugged. "I don't really know. I never got a good look at his face so I can't tell you. I escaped so no harm done and since I don't know who it was nor will I be able to recognize him I've put it behind me for now."

All of the prefects muttered uneasily at this but eventually subsided as they realized there was nothing they could do nor was there anything anyone could do since there was no trace and no identification possible.

Harry looked at them then said "look I don't really want to talk about it right now and there are more important things we need to be doing so if we could focus on that, please?" Seeing everyone nod Harry said "now each of you knows what they need to work on so I will leave you to it. Are there any questions?"

Lydia raised her hand then asked "how often do you want to test our defenses?"

Harry thought then said "we have another 12 days or so before we leave on the 20th for Yule holidays right? So how about you come next week at the same time and I can test them then."

All of them nodded with Robert saying "I believe that I can speak for all of us in saying your proposal is workable Harry."

"Great" Harry exclaimed! Looking at all of them he asked "is there anything else any of you want to ask me?" Seeing all of them shake their heads in reply Harry nodded and said "ok then. I need to talk to Robert, Gemma, Camilla, Audrey and Nicolas please." When the others had left Harry looked at each of them and asked "would all of you please follow me? I have some things to talk to you about and I don't want to do it in here as the walls might have ears."

Harry walked outside to the standard meeting place and cast several detection spells and then set up several privacy wards. Once he was done Harry looked at each of them and said "now you are probably wondering why I asked each of you out here." Seeing them nod Harry continued on with "now there are a couple of reasons I asked all of you out here. Before I can begin I'm afraid that I require each of you give a wizards oath that what I tell you here and what you learn here stays within the people here not to be disclosed with anyone outside of this group without the permission of all of us. I know it's a lot to ask of you but I do have my reasons and I can assure you that once you hear what I have to say that each of you will understand why I asked for the oath."

Robert looked penetratingly at him and asked "why us and not the others Harry?"

Harry looked at them then said "well as all of you know, when I tested your defenses, I saw your memories. Now I won't tell what I saw but I was able to gain a gestalt of each of you and what I learned has led me to hope that when I tell you this information that each of you will be receptive and open to it. Each of the others have various reasons why I won't disclose this to them. Not to say they aren't trustworthy but this information is vital for my safety as well as the safety of the others that it remains secret."

Nicolas sighed and said "very well Harry. I'll give you my Oath but I hope it's worth it." Nicolas did so and one by one the others did so as well.

When Audrey finished giving his Oath Harry smiled and said "I thank each of you from the depths of my heart for the trust you just showed me." Taking a deep breath Harry said "now I feel I must impart a history lesson that will give each of you the necessary background information." Harry then launched into the tale of how the term of Dark magic was first coined and why. Once he was done Harry sighed and said "now that all of you know of this I can go on. When I was first introduced to the Wizarding world I was able to gain access to my family manor that had been lost for a couple of centuries due to an ancestor of mine being executed by the Ministry. It had long been the dream of my Grandfather and Father to rediscover it and gain access to it. My father was able to discover its location and construct a portkey that would deposit a person outside of the boundaries of the property. Unfortunately he was forced to go into hiding not long after he was able to do so. He left the portkey in my vault along with a letter describing where it was set to go to. I of course used it and was able to gain entrance to my manor."

"Once inside I was introduced to a wizarding portrait of one of my ancestors. After asking it for any and all information of my ancestors it informed me of the customs of my ancestors as well as why my ancestor was executed. You see it seems that back then there was a group of practitioners that followed the Old Ways and worshipped the Goddess and God. They were betrayed by an ambitious younger son named Manny Malfoy. That thing" Harry said in a voice dripping with hatred and disdain, "betrayed his parents, older brother, his fiancée and everyone else who was attending. One of those that were there was one of my ancestors. Once the ministry caught them they were all sentenced to the Veil of Death, what few of them who weren't were put into the custody of the D.O.M." Harry paused and looking one by one at the grim faces of the prefects said "I hope the seriousness of the situation has been adequately explained by this recounting of the fate of that group."

"Now after learning this I knew that I too would follow my ancestor's ways and decided to dedicate myself to magic as well as the Goddess and God. Using the information I found in my families Library I found a ritual to do so, as I was preparing for the ritual a person in my employ found out about my preparations and begged to join in as well. After talking to her about why she immediately wanted to join I discovered that there were several witches and wizards out there that followed the Old Ways and revered magic; they only lacked the initiation ritual that was stored in my library. Well I was enthusiastic to say the least at finding this out as not only finding a person to join me in this journey but learning that she was not alone in this as her family was the same. It kind of snowballed from there and there are now about a hundred people that gather together now."

Harry paused then continued on with "this long rambling discourse now leads me back to all of you in that I wish to ask all of you to join me as well as the group in practicing the Old Ways. All of you have reasons for me to do so and after looking at the gestalt of your personalities and beliefs I feel fairly certain that each and every one of you will do so. If you don't I'm also reassured that none of you will betray us by telling someone."

Nicolas asked "why do you feel that neither I nor my fellows won't do so Harry?"

Harry paused then said "you know that without your permission I can't reveal that information. If you want me to do so then I will need your permission."

Nicolas nodded and said "I give you that permission." He was followed rather quickly by the others in doing so.

Harry nodded and said "alright. Nicolas you love magic and are devoted in your honoring it as well as being a closet practitioner of the Old Ways alongside your mother. In addition you severely dislike the pureblood dogma and the Death Eaters for killing your father. Audrey you have no place in the Muggle world as apparently your mother was either raped or had a lover who was not her husband and conceived you. By the way I suggest that you ask the goblin's to have a lineage test done to find out if you are indeed your father's son or not. In addition to this you have found out about a religion called Wicca and have followed it to the best of your abilities. From what I've learned Wicca is a non magical religion that the muggles follow and passed down which is extremely close if not identical to the Old Ways."

Audrey nodded and said "I got that impression as well." Pausing for a second he asked "what do you mean by asking for a lineage test from the goblins?"

"Gringott's offers a service that will trace your lineage back to about 60 B.C.E. or so. In addition to this it is able to tell you if you are able to access any open vaults as well."

"I see, thank you for mentioning that as I don't know what I would have done after I graduate as I won't be able to find a job in the muggle world and my options for this world are rather limited."

Harry nodded and said "I know. It's one of my hopes that this group will open up some options for all the muggleborn's who join us as our members come from all walks of life. Not only do we have Lords of Ancient and Noble Houses like me, we also have clerks, wardcrafters, enchanters, ministry officials, Wizengamot members and shopkeepers as well. In addition none of them have any prejudice against muggleborn's as they all welcome new blood into their families at regular intervals."

"Excellent, I was afraid I would have to become a magical equivalent of a ditch digger or something" Audrey said relieved.

Harry nodded and sighing turned to the others and stated "Robert, Gemma and Camilla, each of you are all similar in how you were raised. Your families have long been followers of the Old Ways as well as the Goddess and Gods and devoted to magic itself. They have raised all of you in the same way so that every one of you has followed their path. I addition to this each of you have, I think, parents whom recently joined the group."

Camilla asked "do you know their names Harry? I'll be able to tell you if they are or not."

Nodding Harry replied "their names are Gavin Farley and his wife Charlotte, Amicus Senorix and his wife Maia; finally we have Mark Mohan and his wife Esmeralda."

Gemma nodded and mused "those are our parents indeed."

Robert with a thoughtful look on his face wondered "I wonder why they haven't told us they were joining the group."

Harry shrugged and offered "they may be waiting for the extended break coming up to tell all of you as it would offer a secure place to offer an invitation as well as offer you an extended amount of time to think it over to see if you want to join or not. In addition there may be an additional reason that was decided on quite recently that might be preventing them from doing so right now."

Camilla nodded and replied "that makes sense and I know Daddy was looking for a group that we could join as we can no longer gather where we had done so in the past since the Ministry has claimed some vacant land that we were using."

Harry shrugged and said "I didn't really talk to them all that much as there were several people that joined that night; and there was a long discussion afterwards that discussed setting up some sort of organization as well as how the leadership would be chosen."

Robert asked "could you tell us what happened?"

"Sure thing" Harry replied. Harry spent the next ten minutes going over what was discussed and how it all turned out. In addition to that he also told them about the ritual for increased fertility that was discussed. Finishing up Harry concluded "in the end there will be a council of eight or more people that will handle the day to day details with the leaders handling the overall direction. The council will be made up of people drawn from all walks of life and rather well known in some way since they will also be handling the invitations to people to join the group."