HP story part 6?
Jun. 1st, 2011 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drownedinlightIt still felt like he was dreaming though. How could all of this, or any single part of it for that matter, be real? It seemed like the most familiar parts of his world had crumbled into dust around him, and now he would have to act for himself. He rolled over on his bed. He had fallen onto it face down, with the two books and the letters squashed under him. John balanced the books on his chest and picked up the much shorter letter, breaking the seal.
“Dear Cloudy,” it read. “Once you have remembered the door, no doubt everything else will soon follow. The other letter of parchment I have given you is a story of my younger days, explaining much of how these circumstances came to be. I did not have time to write so much, but somehow I will give you further updates about all that’s happened to me so far, and all that will happen. Now, for some instructions: inside the ghost book (the black one) there is a round coin on a ribbon branded with a certain phrase. Ask Dad if you cannot pronounce it, and take him with you. The coin is a port key. It will take you to something I have begun to call the Potter compound.
“When you get there, you must summon Ignotus first by pricking your finger on his picture frame. It will be difficult, but DO NOT summon anyone else first. Don’t worry; you’ll see what I mean. Then, show him The Plan and ask him to summon Walter Potter, and perhaps Charlotte to consult with him. Even if you decide not to do the larger plan I have lain out, consider the smaller one, and leave that book in the compound. Dumbledore won’t be able to get to it there, and once I can get back to it, I can decide what to do with it. Share all of this with Dad and get him to help you. I’m sure that you can trust him, Cloudy, Remus and Sirius too. I’ve got to go now, but I love you brother, and I wish you the best, whatever you decide. And I will be watching over you.
“All my Love, Greeny.”
And that was it. That was all his sister had left him, aside from a story explaining her younger ordeals those were all the instructions he had. John frowned but took a deep breath. Harriet said it would make since when he got there. He would have to trust her.
“John?” John peeked up at the sound of his father’s voice, and moved off of the bed into the other room, his arms full of materials. James sat on the edge of Harriet’s bed with his head in one hand. “How long was I asleep?”
“About as long as I was,” John said, dropping the books and parchment on Harriet’s desk so that he could reach into his pocket and pull out his watch. “It’s nearly noon,” he reported. He grabbed Harriet’s letter and held it out to James. “You need to read this.” It took his father longer than it normally would to read something like that, but it gave John the time to examine The Plan, and the ghost book.
From what he could tell, the plan was a lot of arithmacy and runes. His worst subjects that he had not even taken. The ghost book, though, like Harriet promised, was completely blank, and the pages were curved over around something, John flipped to the center of the book, picking up the little gold coin Harriet had told him would be there. It was stamped with the Potter crest that hung all around the manor, but the motto was much larger.
“Is that the coin?” James asked.
“Yes,” John said, handing it to his father.
“Ah, it’s in Welsh,” James said, running his thumb over the polished metal. “That’s why she told you to get me if you couldn’t read it.” James heaved a sigh. “Do you have your wand with you?” John’s hand flew to the holster, on his wrist and found his wand undamaged and still present. “Good, grab the books, and hold on.”
“We’re going now?” John asked.
“Well, there’s no time like the present and there’s no telling when your mother or another member of the Order will try and show up. We should go now and see what your sister is talking about.” John collected up the books and gripped the small medallion with his father, as James read off the words, “bybyrwch a anrhydedda.”
John bent his knees as they landed in a large circular room where portraits lined the wall. “Dad,” James breathed, reaching out to touch a portrait of someone called Callum Potter.
“No wait!” John said grabbing his father’s wrist. “Harriet said we had to wake Ignotus first. We have to trust that she’s right.”
“John, that is my father, your grandfather,” James said. “I haven’t seen him since he died! I would really like the chance to talk to him.”
“You’ll get the chance!” John said. “We just have to wake up Ignotus first, like Harriet said. There must have been a reason why she did not want us to wake Grandfather Callum first.” James frowned, his eyes still on the portrait of his father, but turned back to his son and lowered his hand. “All right, then, where is Ignotus.” The looked around the room, trying to find the portrait labeled for Ignotus Potter, when John saw a ladder leaning against the wall.
“Maybe he’s up further,” John suggested, dropping the books and moving toward the ladder.
“John, I don’t think you should go up there, maybe you should let me,” James said.
“The ladder seems sturdy enough,” John said. “Just hold the end of it.” John was up the ladder before James could protest much more and looking at the portraits as he climbed. It was not until he reached the very top though, that he found the portrait belonging to Ignotus Peverell. “Dad, are we related to the Peverells?”
“Very far back,” James said. “They’re who we got the invisibility cloak from. Albus thought they might have actually been the three brothers in the fairy tale. Why?”
“Because the only Ignotus I can find up here is a Peverell, not a Potter. I didn’t know we were related to a fairy tale.” John leaned out and pressed his finger into the center of the frame, where a sharp pin stuck out from it, releasing a hiss of air as he did.
“Your sister did not so much as gasp,” came a heavily accented voice from below. John jumped and from the way the ladder moved, he guessed that James did as well. Instead of falling quickly to the ground like he had expected the ladder almost floated down until John could step off of it. The man he stared at was tall, with dark hair, like his and his father’s and Harriet’s, but had grey eyes, just as grey as John’s were. He took both of them in, his eyes so very still; John thought for a moment that perhaps he was blind. “So, you are James and you are John, father and brother to Harriet. She has sent you here at last.”
“Albus Dumbledore was going to bind her powers and erase her memories, and probably lock her up somewhere,” James explained. “She ran away but told us how to get here, and said to ask for your help.” Ignotus snorted.
“The more I hear of that man, the less I like. Harriet told me that he once took a great interest in the items my brothers and I were once given from Death. How did that fair?”
“He still only suspects, I believe,” James said. “He doesn’t know for sure about the cloak.”
“That man sounds like he knows more than he would ever tell a living soul,” Ignotus said. “And what of you, John Potter? What do you hold so tightly to your chest?” John had not realized that he had picked them up again and gripped them so tightly, his knuckles were turning white. He loosened his grip on the books, and held out the green one for Ignotus to see. Ignotus reached out, but grabbed John’s wrist instead of the book, lifting his head with his other hand, so that their eyes met. Ignotus simply stared him down for a good number of minutes, like he was searching for something behind John’s eyes. “You are nearly fifteen, like your sister?”
“Yes,” John sputtered.
“Ah, and have you ever had strange visions of things that came to pass?” Ignotus asked.
“I once had a dream about a man being killed, but that was as it was happening,” John explained.
“Are you sure you can think of nothing?” Ignotus asked.
“Well, maybe,” John replied. “But nothing big, simple things and they’re things that always happen. That’s not really prediction, that’s more guessing.” Ignotus nodded.
“Within the year it will get stronger.” With that, he released John and took The Plan book from him. He opened it and thumbed through it, squinting and humming at the pages. “Much of this is new magic,” he remarked, “Though some of it is more familiar than other pieces. Harriet wrote this?”
“I think so,” John said. “A lot of it is in her writing, though some of it looked like it was copied. I don’t understand much Runes and Arithmacy. Oh! She did say to ask Walter to look at it, and Charlotte if Walter needed help.” Ignotus looked up at one of the paintings, and suddenly it seemed as if another man materialized out of colored dust. Ignotus held out the book to him, and Walter stalked forward to accept it, his eyes going wide at the first few pages.
“This is! This is!” Walter began exclaiming, flipping further through the pages. “Oh my! Oh my! I always knew she was a brilliant one! But this is!”
“Charlotte would you care to come and explain, since your father cannot seem to form his sentences properly?” Ignotus asked, causing a woman to appear on the floor this time, who took the book from her father’s hands, and examined it herself, her eyes going wide as well.
“Oh my,” Charlotte said.
“One of you explain this to me,” Ignotus ordered. “Now.”
“It would seem that Harriet completed Father’s finest experiment,” Charlotte said. “The one they killed him for and the one he never completed.” That made Ignotus go bug eyed as well. Charlotte turned to John. “You say she actually put this into practice?”
“Yes,” John said. “Or at least, that’s what she told me she was going to do. She said as soon as I could, I should activate it, and follow her. Or, if I didn’t want to, there was a lesser plan in the back that I could follow.” Walter had snatched the book back from his daughter and began searching for where the two plans diverged. “I don’t understand, what’s happened? What has Harriet done?”
“She completed my greatest experiment!” Walter exclaimed. “And she even made a new one, Charlotte, look at this!”
“I think what John meant was, what is your greatest experiment?” James asked.
“I was one of those who worked to create the very first time turner,” Walter explained. “It was not my idea, but I saw how it could be improved upon, and so I set out to do so. Some goddamn assassin got me before I could finish, which forced Charlotte to lock the family down. But Harriet finished all of the notes and the research and she’s already tested it out on herself!”
“You mean to say my daughter has traveled in time?” James asked.
“Very probably!” Walter said. “And she wants John to follow her, though it looks as if we’ll need a year’s time to prepare, so we’ll have to alter the calculations so that you both will still be twins when all is said and done! Don’t want to go changing the birth order this late in things, do we?”
“Traveled in time?” John sputtered. “And I’m next.”
“Don’t look so shocked,” Ignotus told him. “Your sister has done stranger things, as I am no doubt sure she will tell you when she gets the chance.”
“Dear Cloudy,” it read. “Once you have remembered the door, no doubt everything else will soon follow. The other letter of parchment I have given you is a story of my younger days, explaining much of how these circumstances came to be. I did not have time to write so much, but somehow I will give you further updates about all that’s happened to me so far, and all that will happen. Now, for some instructions: inside the ghost book (the black one) there is a round coin on a ribbon branded with a certain phrase. Ask Dad if you cannot pronounce it, and take him with you. The coin is a port key. It will take you to something I have begun to call the Potter compound.
“When you get there, you must summon Ignotus first by pricking your finger on his picture frame. It will be difficult, but DO NOT summon anyone else first. Don’t worry; you’ll see what I mean. Then, show him The Plan and ask him to summon Walter Potter, and perhaps Charlotte to consult with him. Even if you decide not to do the larger plan I have lain out, consider the smaller one, and leave that book in the compound. Dumbledore won’t be able to get to it there, and once I can get back to it, I can decide what to do with it. Share all of this with Dad and get him to help you. I’m sure that you can trust him, Cloudy, Remus and Sirius too. I’ve got to go now, but I love you brother, and I wish you the best, whatever you decide. And I will be watching over you.
“All my Love, Greeny.”
And that was it. That was all his sister had left him, aside from a story explaining her younger ordeals those were all the instructions he had. John frowned but took a deep breath. Harriet said it would make since when he got there. He would have to trust her.
“John?” John peeked up at the sound of his father’s voice, and moved off of the bed into the other room, his arms full of materials. James sat on the edge of Harriet’s bed with his head in one hand. “How long was I asleep?”
“About as long as I was,” John said, dropping the books and parchment on Harriet’s desk so that he could reach into his pocket and pull out his watch. “It’s nearly noon,” he reported. He grabbed Harriet’s letter and held it out to James. “You need to read this.” It took his father longer than it normally would to read something like that, but it gave John the time to examine The Plan, and the ghost book.
From what he could tell, the plan was a lot of arithmacy and runes. His worst subjects that he had not even taken. The ghost book, though, like Harriet promised, was completely blank, and the pages were curved over around something, John flipped to the center of the book, picking up the little gold coin Harriet had told him would be there. It was stamped with the Potter crest that hung all around the manor, but the motto was much larger.
“Is that the coin?” James asked.
“Yes,” John said, handing it to his father.
“Ah, it’s in Welsh,” James said, running his thumb over the polished metal. “That’s why she told you to get me if you couldn’t read it.” James heaved a sigh. “Do you have your wand with you?” John’s hand flew to the holster, on his wrist and found his wand undamaged and still present. “Good, grab the books, and hold on.”
“We’re going now?” John asked.
“Well, there’s no time like the present and there’s no telling when your mother or another member of the Order will try and show up. We should go now and see what your sister is talking about.” John collected up the books and gripped the small medallion with his father, as James read off the words, “bybyrwch a anrhydedda.”
John bent his knees as they landed in a large circular room where portraits lined the wall. “Dad,” James breathed, reaching out to touch a portrait of someone called Callum Potter.
“No wait!” John said grabbing his father’s wrist. “Harriet said we had to wake Ignotus first. We have to trust that she’s right.”
“John, that is my father, your grandfather,” James said. “I haven’t seen him since he died! I would really like the chance to talk to him.”
“You’ll get the chance!” John said. “We just have to wake up Ignotus first, like Harriet said. There must have been a reason why she did not want us to wake Grandfather Callum first.” James frowned, his eyes still on the portrait of his father, but turned back to his son and lowered his hand. “All right, then, where is Ignotus.” The looked around the room, trying to find the portrait labeled for Ignotus Potter, when John saw a ladder leaning against the wall.
“Maybe he’s up further,” John suggested, dropping the books and moving toward the ladder.
“John, I don’t think you should go up there, maybe you should let me,” James said.
“The ladder seems sturdy enough,” John said. “Just hold the end of it.” John was up the ladder before James could protest much more and looking at the portraits as he climbed. It was not until he reached the very top though, that he found the portrait belonging to Ignotus Peverell. “Dad, are we related to the Peverells?”
“Very far back,” James said. “They’re who we got the invisibility cloak from. Albus thought they might have actually been the three brothers in the fairy tale. Why?”
“Because the only Ignotus I can find up here is a Peverell, not a Potter. I didn’t know we were related to a fairy tale.” John leaned out and pressed his finger into the center of the frame, where a sharp pin stuck out from it, releasing a hiss of air as he did.
“Your sister did not so much as gasp,” came a heavily accented voice from below. John jumped and from the way the ladder moved, he guessed that James did as well. Instead of falling quickly to the ground like he had expected the ladder almost floated down until John could step off of it. The man he stared at was tall, with dark hair, like his and his father’s and Harriet’s, but had grey eyes, just as grey as John’s were. He took both of them in, his eyes so very still; John thought for a moment that perhaps he was blind. “So, you are James and you are John, father and brother to Harriet. She has sent you here at last.”
“Albus Dumbledore was going to bind her powers and erase her memories, and probably lock her up somewhere,” James explained. “She ran away but told us how to get here, and said to ask for your help.” Ignotus snorted.
“The more I hear of that man, the less I like. Harriet told me that he once took a great interest in the items my brothers and I were once given from Death. How did that fair?”
“He still only suspects, I believe,” James said. “He doesn’t know for sure about the cloak.”
“That man sounds like he knows more than he would ever tell a living soul,” Ignotus said. “And what of you, John Potter? What do you hold so tightly to your chest?” John had not realized that he had picked them up again and gripped them so tightly, his knuckles were turning white. He loosened his grip on the books, and held out the green one for Ignotus to see. Ignotus reached out, but grabbed John’s wrist instead of the book, lifting his head with his other hand, so that their eyes met. Ignotus simply stared him down for a good number of minutes, like he was searching for something behind John’s eyes. “You are nearly fifteen, like your sister?”
“Yes,” John sputtered.
“Ah, and have you ever had strange visions of things that came to pass?” Ignotus asked.
“I once had a dream about a man being killed, but that was as it was happening,” John explained.
“Are you sure you can think of nothing?” Ignotus asked.
“Well, maybe,” John replied. “But nothing big, simple things and they’re things that always happen. That’s not really prediction, that’s more guessing.” Ignotus nodded.
“Within the year it will get stronger.” With that, he released John and took The Plan book from him. He opened it and thumbed through it, squinting and humming at the pages. “Much of this is new magic,” he remarked, “Though some of it is more familiar than other pieces. Harriet wrote this?”
“I think so,” John said. “A lot of it is in her writing, though some of it looked like it was copied. I don’t understand much Runes and Arithmacy. Oh! She did say to ask Walter to look at it, and Charlotte if Walter needed help.” Ignotus looked up at one of the paintings, and suddenly it seemed as if another man materialized out of colored dust. Ignotus held out the book to him, and Walter stalked forward to accept it, his eyes going wide at the first few pages.
“This is! This is!” Walter began exclaiming, flipping further through the pages. “Oh my! Oh my! I always knew she was a brilliant one! But this is!”
“Charlotte would you care to come and explain, since your father cannot seem to form his sentences properly?” Ignotus asked, causing a woman to appear on the floor this time, who took the book from her father’s hands, and examined it herself, her eyes going wide as well.
“Oh my,” Charlotte said.
“One of you explain this to me,” Ignotus ordered. “Now.”
“It would seem that Harriet completed Father’s finest experiment,” Charlotte said. “The one they killed him for and the one he never completed.” That made Ignotus go bug eyed as well. Charlotte turned to John. “You say she actually put this into practice?”
“Yes,” John said. “Or at least, that’s what she told me she was going to do. She said as soon as I could, I should activate it, and follow her. Or, if I didn’t want to, there was a lesser plan in the back that I could follow.” Walter had snatched the book back from his daughter and began searching for where the two plans diverged. “I don’t understand, what’s happened? What has Harriet done?”
“She completed my greatest experiment!” Walter exclaimed. “And she even made a new one, Charlotte, look at this!”
“I think what John meant was, what is your greatest experiment?” James asked.
“I was one of those who worked to create the very first time turner,” Walter explained. “It was not my idea, but I saw how it could be improved upon, and so I set out to do so. Some goddamn assassin got me before I could finish, which forced Charlotte to lock the family down. But Harriet finished all of the notes and the research and she’s already tested it out on herself!”
“You mean to say my daughter has traveled in time?” James asked.
“Very probably!” Walter said. “And she wants John to follow her, though it looks as if we’ll need a year’s time to prepare, so we’ll have to alter the calculations so that you both will still be twins when all is said and done! Don’t want to go changing the birth order this late in things, do we?”
“Traveled in time?” John sputtered. “And I’m next.”
“Don’t look so shocked,” Ignotus told him. “Your sister has done stranger things, as I am no doubt sure she will tell you when she gets the chance.”
