FicWad

I don’t own Harry Potter because if I did I would certainly be making more than what I’m getting every two weeks

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“Well played my love. But don’t you think they’ll think it’s rather convenient to have met like that?” asked the woman lying on the fainting couch.

“Of course not. They were in the same place, both leaving; it was perfectly within reason, especially as clumsy as that boy can be. He is forever falling over himself over a lovely young girl, well now he’s actually tripped over one instead,” the man laughed.

“Whatever you say dear. But do guide them away from that pub. There is a spy there from the Order and poor Harry is going to have enough trouble as it is, they do not need to be overheard so early in the game.”

“Of course, the joke shop then? Those brothers of Ron’s would never betray Harry and can help discreetly. Though I think we are the only ones who have ever called them discreet.”

“Shame that no one takes the time to really give them the credit they deserve. After all, how does everyone think they came up with all those inventions? They’ve been working on the theory since long before that school of theirs and now look at them.”

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“I don’t think we should go to the pub.” Stephan said halfway down the street.

“What? Why not?” Julia asked.

“Members of the Order frequent that place; what if they overhear us? The last thing we need is to reverse everything before we’ve begun,” Stephan answered shrugging.

“Listen to him Julia. We didn’t name him tactical planner for nothing after all,” James said quietly.

“Fine. Where do you suggest we go then oh great guru of battle tactics?” Julia asked sarcastically.

“The joke shop,” Stephan answered softly.

“Have you gone mad?!” Julia nearly shouted. “The twins work there! They’ll turn us in and we’ll be done anyway!”

“No, he’s right. We’re going to the joke shop,” James said and began walking towards the shop.

“What’s going on?” Stormy asked.

“We’ll explain everything soon. I promise,” James said.

They walked into the joke shop and James went straight to the counter. “Do you know me?” he asked.

“Should we?” asked one of the red haired twins behind the counter.

“Ask me something only your benefactor would know.” James replied.

“What did our benefactor tell us after giving us gold to start our shop?” the other twin asked doubtfully.

“The world is going to need more laughs in the days coming, and I don’t want it anyway,” James answered. “Just not quite in those words.” He added.

“Har-“

“Shh! My name is James Grim; this is my twin and best friend Stephan; and our very smart cousin Julia. We need your help.” James said in a harsh whisper.

“Back room, quick,” one twin said as he began ushering them into the back.

James, Stephan, Julia, Stormy and Leena moved quickly into the back room as Fred and George ushered their only customer out and locked the door.

“Silencing spells are permanent back here, now talk.”

“We’re going to kill Voldemort our way. No one else’s plans are getting us anywhere; we’re going to do it ourselves. Dumbledore hid far too much from me and it cost me my god father. No one else is going to die for his inadequacy.” James said hotly.

“Dumbledore? Mom said he could help us find our father!” Leena said perking up.

“What’s with the yanks?” George asked.

“They’re looking for their father.” Julia said sadly. “That’s why they’re here, had they actually gone looking for him they could have ended up as bait for either side.”

“Who’s their dad?” Fred and George asked concurrently.

“Sirius,” James said sadly and watched as Fred and George’s jaws dropped.

“Impossible! Sirius would have told you,” George guffawed. “If no one else, he would have told you.”

“Where is he?” Leena asked as she stood. “We’ve come a long way to find him, now somebody had better start talking!”

“Sirius Black died a week ago,” James told them. “My real name is Harry Potter and he was my god father.”

“No seriously, where is he?” Stormy asked with a smirk. “The goblins do not go to the trouble of administering a DNA test and giving proper documentation to find a person if he’s dead. They would instead begin looking at the legal issues caused by a dead man having children show up whether it be before or after the will has been settled,” she added when she saw the looks on their faces.

“Logically speaking, she’s right,” Julia said perking up.

“I think you’d better tell us what happened and why you think he’s dead,” Leena ordered as she crossed her arms over her chest and sat back down.

“Well you see it started when…” Harry began and told them the entire story of their adventure with additions from Ron and Hermione.

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“Your children have found the one who can best help them find their father,” whispered a deep, male voice

“Thank you for the update. Now go away, people will think I’m talking to myself and I don’t need that kind of trouble.” Layla grumbled to the god’s voice whispering around her.

“Then perhaps you should quit talking out loud and start acknowledging us mentally,”

Seeing no one around, Layla responded by telling him in a rather graphic manner just what he could do with that suggestion.

“I’m not certain that’s anatomically possible even for a god,” he snickered well naturedly. “You had best get used to my voice Layla; I will be the one delivering all of your ‘status updates’ in the future. My king is not always so generous to send his messenger to a mortal simply because she requested information, do not abuse the privilege.”

Layla let out a sigh, knowing he was right. “Thank you Hermes,” she whispered.

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“So he fell through a veil… you say you heard whispering from the other side even though it was only an empty arch?” Stormy asked.

“That’s right,” Harry replied.

“That’s a legend Stormy, it can’t be the same arch,” Leena groaned.

“What? What’s just a legend?” Ron asked.

“Hades’ Gate. It’s said to be a simple stone arch through which you could hear all those who had ‘passed through the veil’,” Stormy answered.

“Wait, Hades? As in Greek mythology, god of the underworld, that Hades?” Hermione asked wide eyed.

“Yes, but it’s just a legend among magical beings. At least, I think it’s just a legend,” Leena answered.

“What do you mean magical beings? Aren’t you witches?” Harry asked.

“No, we’re mages. We’re much more powerful than mere wizards and witches.” Stormy answered haughtily.

“The difference between magical beings, wizards, and muggles is simply our access to our magical cores. You see, the way that we access our cores is through what have come to be known as magical pathways. These are pathways in the body that generally run along about the same lines as our veins and are what our magical energy run through when we pull it out of our cores,” Leena explained.

"Muggles have absolutely no magical pathways; no connection to their magical cores. It just sits there inside of them for their whole lives, never really doing anything. Wizards, on the other hand do have magical pathways, though they are very thin, thus causing them to have only a thin connection to their magical cores." Leena paused and then began to pace in front of them, really getting into her explanation. "It's so thin in fact that they very rarely can directly access their core. The magical energy simply can't be forced through such small pathways. It's when they experience extreme emotion that the magic is instinctively forced through the pathways, and even then this usually only happens when the witch or wizard is young. You wizards have come to call this 'accidental magic'.

"In order to substitute for this, wizards came up with the idea of wands. Wands--which contain parts of magical creatures--act like a bridge to their cores, allowing them to wield their magic. However, in order to be able to properly wield this magic, wizards have to use incantations and wand movements to mold their magic to do what they want it to do. This limits their abilities down to certain spells, instead of them just being able to do whatever they want with their raw magic.

"However, we, as magical beings, have no such limitations. We have very wide magical pathways, allowing for a direct connection to our magical cores. In having this, we're able to directly call on our raw magical energy and wield more of it with much more accuracy and precision." Leena paused her pacing then and turned to smile brightly at them. "So," she continued. "To sum it up, we all have cores, but muggles have no connection to that core. Wizards have only a thin connection and have to use wands to bridge the cap. And finally my sister and I, as magical beings, have direct access to our magical cores and thus are able to wield our magic with nearly no limitations."

“Excuse my sister; she began reading mom’s theory books as soon as she was able to read. It’s her favorite subject and she loves to lecture on it,” Stormy commented.

"What about squibs and muggleborns wizards? How do they fit into everything?" Hermione asked curiously.

Leena smiled. "Good question," she commented. "It actually all has to do with genetics. Wizards produce other wizards who are capable of similar magic due to the genetics that they pass on. Muggleborns result from two muggles whose genetics combine to allow the person to have wide enough magical pathways for them to access their magic. Squibs, on the other hand, result from two parents whose genetics combined to create magic pathways that just aren't wide enough to support any type of magic. Unlike muggles these squibs do indeed have magical pathways; they're just not good for anything.”

“Way to go, you got Hermione started on something else to study to death,” Ron grumbled.

“I say you prove it. Show us you are what you say you are,” Fred said eyeing Stormy and Leena disbelievingly.

Stormy and Leena shared a cock sure look before each pointed to a wall in the room and they turned a god awful tie dye color that spun sickeningly.

“Bloody hell! That’s fantastic!” Fred shouted enthusiastically.

“Now, down to business. How are we going to pull Sirius from Hades?” Stormy asked.

“Hey, do you think you could make that permanent?” George interrupted.

“No, it’ll make everyone dizzy,” Leena said, but upon seeing their faces added, “I can make a tie dye pattern that is stationary and less blinding if you like.”

“Great, the room’s tie dye now. Back to the discussion please,” Stormy growled.

“There’s only one mortal in legend who ever talked Hades into letting someone go,” Hermione said. “But he was unsuccessful in returning to earth with her.”

“Orpheus was a fool. He did not trust the gods of his faith enough to just wait a bit longer to see Eurydice. Just a few more steps into the sunlight and she would have been out and they would have lived a long full life together,” Stormy scoffed.

“Still, it’s the best we’ve got to go on. Does anyone remember how he got in?” Leena asked.

“Yes, the traditional way. He went to Taenarum, which is in Greece,” Stormy said.

“Where my passion is theory, my sister’s life revolves around myths and legends. I believe if our father is really in Hades, my sister will be able to die happily after meeting the god himself,” Leena said rolling her eyes at her sister.

The conversation went on for the rest of the day with everyone giving ideas on how to get to Hades’ kingdom, and others shooting them back down until finally Stormy suggested they just sneak back into the Ministry and go through the gate itself.

“I think first we should find more information on the gate and make sure we’ll come back out reasonably easily.” Hermione suggested.

“Impossible. The legend specifically states that the gate is a one way portal, you cannot come back through it,” Leena relied.

“Looks like the best bet would be to enter through the portal, and exit on the river Styx or one of its counterparts,” Stormy said giddily.

“Provided of course it really is the Gate. We could be just hoping unnecessarily and there’s really no way to retrieve him,” Hermione said earning herself sharp looks from the rest of the group. “I’m just trying to be practical.”

“Well, I suppose there’s only one way to find out. Who’s up for an adventure?” Stormy asked.

“Sounds good, but the Ministry has bumped up its security. How are we going to get in?” Harry asked.

“Well, you three are already incognito, and we’re not even part of the same magical government. How hard could it be to get in and get to the arch?” Stormy asked.

“Very,” Ron said simply. “But I can do it.”