Rising of the Dark

HARRY POTTER AND THE RISING OF THE DARK

by Meta4. Chapter 02.

The Eleven (Elven?) Commandments

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1. Thou shalt bow to J.K. Rowling, creator of the Potterverse!

2. Thou shalt acknowledge all characters created by Her.

3. Thou shalt acknowledge the trademarks of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

4. Thou shalt not read the story herein if Slash offendeth you.

5. Thou shalt not read this story if thou art not old enough so to do.

6. Thou shalt not pass the work herein as thine own.

7. Thou shalt not gain profit from distributing the work herein.

8. Respect thy mother and thy father - only read this work when they are out.

9. Thou shalt acknowledge My copyright

10. Thou shalt contact Me if thou likest or thou detesteth this work.

11. Thou shalt never piss off an Elf...

HARRY POTTER AND THE RISING OF THE DARK

by Meta4 meta4@meta4.org

CHAPTER TWO:: Expanding horizons.

I've always been a summer person. I don't really hate winter, after all it provides a very nice contrast with summer itself, but I simply prefer summer's traits. Once such trait is the light mornings. Waking up to winter's seemingly perpetual murk can be disheartening at best and, in extreme cases, can totally prevent your average screwed-in-the-head teen from emerging from bed until at least early afternoon.

This having been said, the fact that I once again found myself awake without knowing what woke me was especially strange. Somehow I knew that something had awakened me, but that's as far as my brain's deduction went. Then there came another tap at the door. Oh yeah - Colin and Ron. I looked at my bedside clock through bleary eyes. 5:11AM. Suddenly the full improbability of the previous night came flooding back into my mind and I woke up fully with a start.

I flicked the lights on and wrenched the door open sharply, causing them to jump back in surprise.

"Uh, m... morning, Liam," stuttered Colin. "Ron was just saying that we really ought to be getting on our way, but we'd really like you to come with us and meet our headmaster. You'd like him I think: People say he's the best headmaster Hogwarts has ever had," he spouted.

Ron, on the other hand, looked like I felt. I noticed his sleep-reddened eyes carefully scan down my body, finally coming to rest at my crotch. After a moment, he swallowed hard and then looked back at my face, this time his gaze being met with my own. He looked rather embarrassed but I let a brief smile flash across my lips before replying to Colin.

"Ron and I really need to be going now," he gasped, "but we wondered if you want to come with us."

"Come with you?"

Colin nodded eagerly.

"Back to your school?"

"Uh huh! I bet Professor Du..."

"Why would I want to go to your school?"

"To become a wizard! I'm sure Dumbledore'd let you in easy, especially after he sees what you can do."

"And, er, why would I want to become a wizard?"

This stumped Colin totally.

"C'mon, Colin - he doesn't want to come," said Ron, pulling his wand out of his robes. "OBLIVIATE!"

After the smoke from Ron's spell cleared, he said "Right, we'll be off then,". They turned and began to walk down the hallway.

"Colin, what did he just try and do?" I asked, waving the rather acrid-smelling smoke out of my face.

They both stopped dead in their tracks and looked at each other, then back at me.

"I think we've got a bit of a problem," said Ron, looking exceptionally worried.

"Um, Liam, don't take this personally, but Ron just tried to erase your memory of us and, umm, it... Well, it didn't work,"

I strode down the corridor and grabbed Ron by his cloak. "Look mate, I don't appreciate having people trying to knacker my brain, OK?"

Ron opened his mouth and then closed it again.

I obviously wasn't getting through, so I bashed him against the wall a bit.

"OK?"

"OK, OK!"

"Did I say I wouldn't come?"

"Well, no, but..."

"Well, then - let me just get changed and off we go. How do we get there, by the way?"

"We'll fly,"

"I just hope your flying is better than your wand waving,"

Ron shot me a dirty look - apparently I'd touched a nerve. I grinned and went back into my room, leaving the door open. I pulled a sports bag off the top of my wardrobe and proceeded to hurl a couple of changes of clothes in as well as a few bits and pieces such as my Walkman, camera etc. Moments later, I was being hurried downstairs by the two lads and out of the back door.

"So how are we getting to... umm..."

"Hogwarts? Broom."

"What?"

"You know, thing you sit on and fly with?"

"These things fly?" I queried, eyebrows raised. I realised that this, if the brooms did as they were supposed, would be my first 'proper' demonstration of magic.

"You gonna take him, Col?"

"O... OK," stammered Colin, a mixture of pride and nerves washing across his pale face. Ron took his broom, mounted it and to my utter amazement, kicked off from the ground and sailed off effortlessly into the air accompanied by a slight 'whoosh' as he did so.

At that moment, I was absolutely astounded. Everything that Colin and Ron had said about training to be wizards, about their Headmaster, about my power, until now had been almost disregarded by my brain as irrelevant to 'real' life. Now I was scrabbling to remember as the thought occurred that there was more truth than invention in what they had said. They were training to be wizards. Wizards! They had FLYING BROOMSTICKS! Now fast cars were cool, but being able to fly? I wanted a flying broomstick! Right - wizard it is, then!

Colin, by this stage, had straddled his broom and looked over his shoulder at me.

"You coming?"

I pulled the bag I was carrying onto my back like a rucksack and sat on the back of Colin's broomstick. I chuckled inwardly - if only my mates could see me now - sat pillion on a friggin' broomstick!

"I'd, er, hold tight Liam." I rather awkwardly put my arms round Colin. As much as I was not at all averse to the idea of hugging another lad, it wasn't something I had a vast amount of experience in. Not that I'd ever admit it, of course.

"Tighter than that..." said Colin as he prepared to take off.

"Any tighter Colin and I'd crush you,"

He laughed nervously, obviously not sure if I was joking or threatening him. Just to add a little reassurance, I wiggled my fingers in his rib cage causing him to giggle and squirm a little.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be,"

Colin pulled up gently on the neck of the broom and, to my utter astonishment, our feet left the ground. I mean, I was sat on a lump of wood with a bunch of twigs tied rather haphazardly to one end and the damn thing was lifting our combined weight with ease! This was just so cool!

Our rate of ascent gradually increased along with our forward speed until we were positively motoring over the Derbyshire countryside. Unbelievably, despite our great speed, there was very little wind noise and I found I could talk to Colin without too much effort.

"Man, this is fuckin' amazing!"

"Do you believe it now?"

"Nah, not at all!" I laughed, and hugged Colin tighter. He obviously approved of this as he felt as if he snuggled further back against me, the top of his bum now pressed very firmly into my crotch - a sensation I didn't find at all disagreeable!

As if spurred on by this, he pushed the broom's nose down and we glided lower, the speed we were travelling at becoming all the more apparent. We whistled over villages and farms, woods and rivers, all the time myself clinging onto Colin. The exhilaration of flying by broom for the first time was almost intoxicating, the sense of freedom given by the lack of enclosure felt extremely liberating whilst the feeling of Colin's warm bod encircled by my arms provided me with an immense sense of security.

Up until that point I can't recall a single time when I'd ever felt happier or more at peace with myself as I did right then.

"Where's this castle then?" I asked.

"Quite a while yet," replied Colin. "It's up in the Scottish Highlands."

He pulled on the nose of the broom again and took us back up through the clouds. The grey, damp mist chilled us both to the bone, but soon the cloud above us began to glow a golden colour. Suddenly, we burst through into clear blue skies with blazing sunshine.

I could only gasp as I looked around - the sky seemed clearer than I could ever remember it and beneath us in every direction was the huge carpet of cloud we'd just cleared.

After what I'd guess to be an hour and a half or so of flying, Colin dived back through the cloud that, this time, seemed to continue almost to the ground. It was highly disorienting, but we eventually found a level where the mist was less dense.

I looked over his shoulder to see a large lake spreading out in front of us.

Colin felt me shifting around behind him. "Nearly there," he smiled. "Castle's dead ahead,"

"All I can see is rocks, hills and mist!"

"Look closer!"

As we flew on, just over the layer of mist hovering on the lake's surface, Hogwarts Castle magically de-blended itself from the surrounding terrain, its huge towers and arches crookedly reaching skyward like some mad form of stalagmite. The place was huge and looked as if it had been built on an "as required" basis, towers and halls being added haphazardly over its many years.

Colin flew us on a lap round the castle. Below us were a handful of pupils, scurrying along walkways and traversing quads and paved areas. Eventually, my pilot took us in for a near-perfect landing on a green to the back of the school.

"CREEVY!" yelled a rather obnoxious voice from behind us. "Where the devil have you been? The Daily Prophet said you didn't turn up for work yesterday and before you open your mouth you'd better have dreamt up at least a vaguely tenable excuse."

As soon as this verbal onslaught had started I felt Colin flinch. We turned our heads and saw a tall, greasy-haired man striding purposefully towards us.

"Uh, Professor Snape, sir, I..."

"And who, pray, is your passenger," he enquired, voice lowering to an altogether more repulsive slime as he reached us.

"Liam Blackdon," I offered, extending my hand.

"Mr Creevy," continued Snape, totally ignoring me, "I don't believe that Mr. Blackdon here is enrolled in this establishment, is he?"

"Uh, n... no, sir," stuttered Colin.

"That being the case, may I enquire as to why you've brought him here? Should he not be at his own institution,"

"He's a muggle, sir,"

I still didn't quite know what to make of that term, my reflex reaction being to take it as a rather fundamental insult. Snape's face seemed to travel through almost every reaction it was capable of before settling on total fury.

"Follow me." he snapped. "Both of you."

Colin sniffed hard and wiped his nose on his robe sleeve.

"C'mon," I grinned. "It'll be OK."

"I dunno," he coughed. "Snape's got it in for me. Actually, I think he's got it in for all Gryffindors..."

"I don't remember giving you permission to speak," snapped Snape from in front of us.

"And I don't remember giving you permission to talk down to me."

Talking back to adults had been one of my finer skills since primary school.

Snape stopped dead in his tracks, his robes taking a further couple of seconds to calm down from his overly-animated stride.

"Mr Blackdon," said Snape in a dangerously quiet voice as he slowly turned to face me. "I'd strongly suggest that you watch your mouth: You are out of your depth and a guest here."

He was about to turn and continue his stride, but the man was rubbing me up in totally the wrong way. "So is this how you treat all your guests?"

"For your own protection, Mr. Blackdon, you should bite your tongue."

"You know, you make a lousy host."

In one fluid move, he reached into his robes with his right hand and drew his wand. "Stupefy!"

"Sorry?"

Snape looked at his wand incredulously. "STUPEFY!" he yelled again.

I leaned over towards Colin and said in a very loud whisper "Does he try to act like such a shit or does it come naturally?"

Colin barely stifled the snigger.

"Creevy! Twenty points from Gryffindor!" yelled Snape, quickly loosing his cool. While the smile vanished instantly from Colin's face, I quickly spotted a victim.

At every school I'd ever attended (and there had been a few), there was at least one - although usually two or three - members of staff that considered themselves absolute: They would never be questioned or queried by a pupil and usually ended up purple-faced with rage as I drove them wild with insults, quips and general, miscellaneous disobedience and dissent.

Snape was just such a person...

"Is there a problem, Professor Snape?" asked a fairly tall man with a long, flowing beard and a deep blue cloak.

"Ah, headmaster... Creevy, after being missing all night, has just returned with a muggle! It's a serious breach of school rules for any pupil to..."

"Thank you, Severus," smiled the man. "I'm sure Mr. Creevy has a perfectly reasonable explanation for his actions."

Colin nodded profusely.

Snape nodded respectfully at the headmaster, shot me a glance that would kill at a hundred paces and stormed off back towards the castle.

"I must apologise for Professor Snape," mulled the headmaster. "I'm afraid that his loyalty to the school is so absolute that he gets a little over-zealous sometimes. I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts," he smiled, extending his hand.

I'm usually quite good at making snap-judgements as to someone's character and intentions, and I decided immediately that I liked this Dumbledore bloke. On the other hand, I wouldn't be at all concerned if I never met Snape again.

"Liam Blackdon," I replied, shaking his hand.

"Blackdon," repeated Dumbledore as if he was thinking out loud. "Mr. Creevy, perhaps you and Liam here would care for a cup of tea? The kitchens have made some absolutely delightful scones..."

The headmaster led us over the lawn on which we'd landed and up to the School's main entrance. His walk wasn't the quickest in the world, but it was purposeful.

We walked into the main entrance hall and it was at this stage that the enormity of the place hit me. Somehow, even with the castle's huge size, it seemed even bigger on the inside. Dumbledore led us over to a huge stone staircase on the wall of which were assorted paintings and tapestries. My mouth hung open in amazement as I saw some of the paintings move. I could barely splutter out a response when one of them asked me how I was.

We reached the first floor and Dumbledore led us along a corridor with a high-vaulted ceiling, adorned each side with tapestries, stone sculptures and the odd suit of Armour.

Just when I thought this place was mad enough, one of the suits of armour leaped from its stand in front of Colin and myself.

"HALT! None shall pass!" cackled the armour.

"Fuck me!" I exclaimed, heart racing. The suit of armour fell quiet and then leaned towards me. "Is that a request or an order?" it enquired, the reedy voice oozing sliminess.

By this time, Dumbledore had turned round to see what was going on and sighed.

"Peeves!" he boomed.

This time, it was the suit of armour's time to jump. With a clatter, it turned round to face Dumbledore.

"Oh Professor Dumbledore sir," it oozed.

"Peeves, I would appreciate it if you would give potential students just a little time to acclimatise."

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore sir, of course Professor Dumbledore sir..."

"Now if you would be so kind as to return that suit of armour to its stand..."

The shoulders of the armour slumped and it trudged off back to where it came from. A moment later, a blue-grey cloud of - well, ghost - floated out of the visor in the helmet, made kissy-kissy noises at me and sped off down the corridor, followed by a distant clatter and a scream.

Dumbledore shook his head and continued in the direction we were originally heading.

"What was that?" I asked Colin as we walked.

"Peeves the poltergeist," he replied nonchalantly. "He never really hurts anyone, just gets in their way and makes lots of noise."

"You mean that was a ghost?"

"Uh huh."

"A real live ghost?"

"Well, a real dead ghost, but yes."

"Cool!"

"You've never seen a ghost before?"

I shook my head.

"You may be in for a few surprises then," smiled Colin.

We turned the corner at the end of the corridor and were faced with a large gargoyle. "Mint imperial," said the headmaster. Once again, disbelief had to be suspended as a solid stone carving that must've weighed the best part of three tons jumped aside as nimbly as any cat, revealing a spiral staircase. We followed Dumbledore up the stairs, with the statue landing with a heavy 'ker-thud' as it leaped back into place.

"Tea," he smiled as we entered his oval-shaped office. He grabbed a neatly folded table cloth from his desk and shook it out as if laying it on a table and, sure enough, the cloth settled around a table that simply hadn't been there before. What's more, a teapot, three cups and a plate of scones adorned it.

I looked at Colin, speechless. Even he was smiling at the effortless conjuring that Dumbledore had just performed.

He noticed me smiling and pulled his cloak up to his elbows. "Nothing up my sleeves," he chuckled. I just shook my head and smiled back. "Now, how do you take your tea boys?"

"White, one sugar please," said Colin. Dumbledore picked up the teapot and poured a steaming hot cup of tea into the first cup, and then handed it to Colin.

"Same for me please," I replied to his glance. Dumbledore performed the same routine and handed me my cup. Although the tea was dark when it had been poured, it now contained the perfect amount of milk.

He poured a final cup for himself and placed it on his desk.

"Now, Liam, time to see if my memory serves me correctly."

He turned and walked up the small flight of stairs to the huge rows of bookcases behind his desk.

"Ah, yes, here we are," said Dumbledore after a few moments, pulling a huge tome from one of the many shelves. He carried it back to his desk, carefully set his tea to one side and rubbed the dust from the cover, revealing an embossed Hogwarts crest. He heaved the book open and traced his finger down the extremely ornate index. "Blackdon, William," he smiled. He turned over a series of pages and then looked me straight in the eye, and then back at the book. "Quite a family resemblance, I think."

He spun the book round and I peered over the desk. To my absolute amazement, someone who I could only really call a doppelganger was scowling back at me from the photo. "Oh crap! That's me!"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Not exactly, Liam. I believe him to be your great, great, great, great grandfather, and by the looks of things," he spun the book round to face him once again, "he was quite a handful. However, he also possessed some of the more obscure talents known to our world but inherent in your people."

"How d'you mean, 'my' people?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Elves."

"You're saying I'm an Elf? Like a fairy-type-thingy?"

"Well, not a pure Elf, no, but certainly descended from them. All the traits are there if you look: A light, agile build; thin face; blond hair... One might go so far as to say you have marginally pointy ears," the old man chuckled.

I was suddenly very aware of Colin staring at the side of my head.

"S... sorry," he spluttered when I turned and caught his eye, nearly spilling his tea in the process.

"Elvish traits are carried by recessive genes within either parent," continued Dumbledore, apparently ignoring Colin's nerves. "The only time they surface is when both mother and father carry the genes. Usually this has little more effect than creating well-coordinated, blond offspring. You might have noticed you're appreciably quicker reaction-wise than your peers, and you can judge things better."

I considered what he was saying. The British traffic police were seriously well-trained, yet they'd never managed to catch me. I could always out-drive, out-climb or out-manoeuvre anyone I so chose. In a strange kind of way this was starting to make sense.

"However sometimes..." he peered over his spectacles "...it can have a more profound effect."

"Profound in what sense?"

"Perhaps Mr. Creevy can enlighten us both."

Colin, who was just taking a sip of his tea, managed to snort a large quantity out. This kid needed just a little more self-confidence.

"Well, sir, the night I met Liam, he was hit by the Death curse. After that..."

"The Death curse? Are you sure, Colin?"

Colin nodded. There was no change in Dumbledore's voice, but through the mass of wispy white hair his eyebrows raised very slightly.

"And it had no effect on you Liam?"

"Well, it knocked me off my feet and I felt as if someone had punched me in the guts, but other than that, no. To be honest, I thought the guy was pointing a gun at me."

"My word, it appears that our Mr. Potter is not quite as unique as we first thought."

Colin looked shocked by this statement, but I was more concerned with the sudden realisation that the fucker in the Halloween get-up actually tried to do me in.

Nice.

"Anything else, Colin?"

"Ron tried to curse him a few times, but nothing happened... Oh, and we also tried to erase his memory and that didn't work either."

"I would most certainly call that profound. Liam, I must tell you that the magic you had performed against you should have at least caused you short-term loss of memory and at worst... Well, suffice it to say neither you nor Mr. Creevy here would be able to enjoy these delicious scones." Dumbledore picked up the plate that was still sat next to the teapot on the non-table. "Would you care for one?"

I took one of the scones (which were, as Dumbledore said, rather good) and chewed on it thoughtfully. Colin politely refused and decided to concentrate on holding his tea cup steady instead.

"Now then Mr. Blackdon, normally I would offer anyone in your situation a choice - that of remaining at Hogwarts to learn to control their gift, or of returning home with a slight loss of memory. Unfortunately, given your apparent immunity to anything a wizard can throw at you, the latter option isn't particularly tenable."

"So you're gonna keep me here?" I bristled. I didn't like the sound of that one bit. Sure this place seemed like a bit of a laugh, but it'd still be a prison. Nope - not good.

"Not at all," smiled Dumbledore, eyes twinkling. "I was simply going to ask you not to reveal the location of the school or anything you have seen here to anyone."

Stand down DefCon five. "And you'd trust me to do that? Or rather not to do that?"

"Blood runs thicker than water, Mr. Blackdon: Your ancestor was certainly a handful with a huge disregard for the rules and authority, but according to my predecessor he was trustworthy. I feel the same is true of yourself."

Somehow, that coming from Dumbledore meant a whole lot more to me than any other praise I'd ever received. I immediately resolved that I would do exactly as he asked.

"May I have a while to think about this?"

"But of course, dear boy. Colin, would you be so good as to act as guardian to Mr Blackdon and show him around?"

"Ye... Yessir," Colin blustered, looking immensely proud.

"Very well, then," said Dumbledore, standing up. Colin and I rose, too. "Colin will escort you to me when you feel comfortable with any decision you have made. Now, if you hurry, there may still be a little breakfast available in the Great Hall. As good as these scones are, I'm afraid I would not be doing my duty if I wasn't seen to at least try and instill a proper diet in my students."

I couldn't help but laugh at Dumbledore. Somehow the man managed to make light of even the most serious situation without trivialising it. He smiled back at me as Colin led me from his study.

"One last thing, Liam," called Dumbledore.

"Yes sir?" DAMN! Must be losing my touch - I never show respect to my elders...

"Usually we'd know about anyone with even the slightest twinge of magical ability. You wouldn't happen to have any idea at all how you managed to slip through the net, perchance?"

I considered this for a moment. "Would an overwhelming desire to be invisible to anyone with even the slightest authority do the trick?"

"In your case Liam, yes, I believe it would."

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Well, that's all for the moment. Let us know what you think (good or bad) at meta4@meta4.org, or visit our web site at http://www.meta4.org.