FicWad

You are going to need a key for this chapter! Though you could probably figure it out on your own, I would rather nobody start of confused:

'Ssssiriussss sssshall never die'... Parseltongue

/Sirius shall never die/... Flashback

Sirius shall never die... Telepathic Link

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CHAPTER 4: OFF TO SEE THE WIZARDS

A tall, dark haired teenage boy strode gracefully down the elegant halls of the beautiful palace he had lived in for the past 4 years. His bright, emerald-colored eyes swept the isles, and he occasionally nodded his head at the guards he passed as they bowed to him.

As he approached his destination, the throne room, he attempted to tame his coal black hair, and straiten his clothing. He was dressed in a deep blue tunic, some black slacks, and a garland of pure silver leaves atop his head. He was meeting with his Grandmother, who was Queen of the Elvin clan, and was dressed formally for the encounter.

A flicker of happiness appeared on his tanned face as he thought of Ashleigh. He had always considered Ashleigh his mother, and Skyler as a very protective older sister. He would talk to Ashleigh about things that were troubling him, and she would give her advice when he was finished talking, but never interrupting him.

Do not get him wrong, Sky was great! But... she simply did not understand him, and what he had been threw. Sure, she had seen everything the Dureslys had done, but she never felt any of it.

Ashleigh could understand him because she had the gift of empathy, and used it to relate to him better. He remembered his first day at the Palace. The day that Ashleigh had officially adopted him into the clan...

Harry was walking down the many twisting and turning hallways of the Elvin Palace, feeling totally and completely lost.

Why had he not just stayed in his room, and waited for someone to guide him down? Harry didn't know the answer to this question, and didn't really care much right now, anyway. The point was, he was lost, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The white marble walls were starting to close in on him. Harry began to hyperventilate. He curled up in a ball on the floor, and began shaking, wishing all the while that someone, anyone, came by to help him.

Suddenly, he felt a nudge on his shoulder. Harry's head went up so fast he felt his neck crack painfully. Rubbing it, he looked around to find the source of the touch. When he found it, he was starting to wish he were alone again. This was because, crouched low on its four silver-clawed paws, was the powerful looking panther that he had seen last night.

Tears of fear poured down his face as he backed up slowly. The inky-black panther did not move. It just watched him from it's sapphire colored eyes as light refracted from the silver and gold of it's crown's leaves. After a moment, the creature flicked its tail, stood strait and slowly walked towards him.

To Harry's shock, he heard the beast say, in a quiet tone, "Shhhhh... No need to be afraid... I will not harm you..."

And slowly, Harry began to believe the animal. After a few moments of the panther's soothing voice calming him, Harry asked, "Who are you, and how come you can talk?"

The panther laughed softly, and responded, "My name is Aurora, young child. I may speak because I am Ashleigh's familiar. Now, come with me, and I will take you to the throne room."

Harry followed Aurora only a few steps before his stomach growled loudly and he collapsed onto the hard, cold floor. He struggled to his feet, and made to move on, but Aurora blocked his path.

"You are unwell, Emerald. I shall carry you to see Ashleigh." Harry tried to protest, claiming that he was too heavy for her to lift. The panther just chuckled, and answered, "I have lifted twigs heavier then you. Besides, I can carry up to 200 pounds, easily. Now, onto my back, Emerald." Harry complied, seeing that Aurora was not going to relent. Sliding onto the powerful creature's back, Harry felt amazing. The soft, sleek fur of the large cat cushioned him, and he was only tall enough to barely see over her ears.

After Aurora's words of warning him to hold on tight, the cat took off at a rapid pace. Harry instinctively adjusted his hold so that he wouldn't fall off, and then simply marveled at the rate at which they sped by guards, plants, and statues alike. An instant later, or so it seemed, they were just outside the entrance to the throne room.

Harry made to get off, but Aurora did not stop long. She instead flicked the tip of her tail over the entry pad, and the door whoosh-ed open.

Slowing to a careful pace, she approached the throne, in which sat a very amused Ashleigh. She appeared to have been speaking to an elderly elf, with white hair, and more face wrinkles than should be allowed. These wrinkles creased together at the sight of the small boy riding the large panther that was Aurora threw the double doors.

"And who do we have here?" he asked kindly.

"Lord Hamioni, this is the child Princess Skyler has been watching over. His name is Harry Potter." Ashleigh stated calmly, as Aurora finally made it to her side. Harry slid off her back, and smiled uncertainly at the Queen, who smiled back.

"Harry Potter, eh? Hmm... Ah, yes. The child whom defeated Lord Voldemort. I expect that he did have some help from Skyler that night, though, but probably not too much. I sense he will be powerful one day, my Queen. May I make a suggestion?"

Ashleigh, who was looking Harry up and down to check for signs of injury (much to the boy's embarrassment), allowed Aurora to answer. The panther nodded, and Lord Hamioni continued. "You should give the boy a different name. Heaven knows that every wizard from her to Japan is on the lookout for him by now since the announcement that he was missing."

Ashleigh looked up from Harry, and smiled thoughtfully at Hamioni. "You know, that is a wonderful idea." She looked back at Harry carefully, and said, "If only he were a girl. I would then name him APHRODITE, for his beautiful eyes," Ashleigh murmured, gazing deeply into them. He blushed at the compliment, and looked away. "But as it is, I shall name him ARES. Like Ares, he will be a handsome and skilled young man. This I know."

(A/N: Heads up! From now on, I will refer to Harry as Ares! Just so you know!)

Ares smiled. He always would remember the day Ashleigh had given him his Elvin name. He was brought out of his reverie by an irritated hiss near his navel. Not pausing in his journey towards the throne room, he glanced down in amusement at the silvery-blue head of a snake, one of his familiars, where it was wrapped around his waist.

'Where are we going, Emeraldssss?' the snake asked.

'We are going to vissssit Asssshligh, Ivy,' Ares hissed in response. 'Issss that okay with you, or do you wissssh to hunt?'

'I sssshall sssstay with you,' she replied, readjusting her coils around him. Ares hummed his agreement, and reminisced on his familiar's appearance in his life...

Ares was now 12 years old, and having the time of his life. In the last year that he had lived with the Elvin clan, he had made many new friends his own age, and was now very used to the ways of his new family. For example, he now considered it second nature to bow whenever he met someone new, and always to bow when he was in his Grandmother Ashleigh's presence.

Right now, Ares was playing hide-and-seek in the forest surrounding the Elvin village with his friends Jake, Kcoalia, Sapphire and Shadayo.

Jake was known as Jay, or Jay-Jay. He had mischievous amber eyes flecked with tree-bark brown near the pupils, shoulder-length sandy-brown hair, and a hilarious personality. Whenever he was in the room, his antics caused everyone to smile. He pranked 'everything that moved, and sometimes things that simply didn't move at all', as Kcoalia once said. This was after a prank of Jake's went wrong, and instead of hitting his Astronomy teacher, like he had meant to, he had sent a large blob of orange-colored goop at the tree the teacher had been standing a few feet away from.

Which brings us to Kcoalia, but in the interest of self-preservation, it was wise to call her Coal. She had icy-purple eyes with flecks of silver, hair as dark as her nickname suggested that was always in a ponytail that reached just below her elbows, and a sarcastic personality. She always had a wisecrack ready, and she and Jake sometimes tag teamed to distract their teachers from handing out Quizzes or Homework. She once manipulated a substitute teacher to become so flustered he set her test that she had not studied for on fire, and she ended up getting a perfect score for the teacher's mistake.

Then there was Sapphire, or Fire. She had eyes as blue as her name described and with flecks of gold, honey-blonde hair that was elbow length and curly, and a personality that was as bubbly as anyone could stand. Her mission in life seemed to be to find out just how wide she could smile. Ares once swore that she would get her face stuck like that one of these days, which had caused her to smile wider. The first time you met her you would feel the urge to check and see if there was a sign on your back, or something on your face. She smiled 'more then should be allowed,' as Shadayo had once said.

Shadayo was also called Shadow, Storm or Sly. She had eyes the color of her nickname 'Shadow' with shocking bright yellow flecks, hair as dark as Ares' or Coal's, and no 'set' personality. Jake once suggested that Shadow suffered from split personalities. Unfortunately, for Jay, Shadow was both A.) In the room, and B.) In one of her 'evil moods' as Coal had deemed it. Jay never suggested it again. From then on, though, he referred to her as Shadow when she was acting normal, Sly when she was insanely happy, and Storm when she was angry enough to kill.

Finally, there was him. Ares went by Re, or Aurora's nickname of Emerald. He still had his beautiful (or so he had been told) emerald-colored eyes, but thanks to the blood ritual in which he had been officially excepted into the clan, he now had the super sight that all elves had so he no longer needed his glasses, and also flecks the color of his adoptive mother's eyes in his. His jet-black hair was now much more tame, and had grown slightly past his shoulders, giving him a stylish look, and his personality was much calmer then Jay's, much more friendly and open then Coal's, less hyper then Fire's, and far less dangerously unpredictable then Shadow's. He was 'a mix of all his friends, and that made him the leader' Shadow had once told him, which made him go red, and mutter that he was not trying to boss them around. His four friends laughed at that, and told him in no uncertain terms not to worry, and that they would kick the crap out of him if they ever though he was trying to order them around.

"You're just are a natural leader," Fire had said, in one of her rare moments of all-buissness-no-giggleing.

"Besides, if someone doesn't keep us four crazy elves in line, the villagers may just petition for our removal," Jay added in a would-be serious tone.

"And if we ever get caught pulling a group prank, guess who's going to get the blame!" Coal said, smirking.

The others grinned their agreement, and Ares made a noise of mock protest. "Hey!"

Shadow laughed and said, "Oh, come on, Re! Skyler is cool! She would let you get away with anything short of murder, and congratulate you if you were caught!"

Ares smiled slightly at that. It was true that Skyler had a rather unhealthy appreciation for pranks, but what he really did not want to do was make Ashleigh regret her decision of letting him stay here. Ares had enough sense to know that there were a few villagers, mainly pureblood elves, who weren't in agreement of their Queen's decision of having a half-blood human adopted as apart of their clan, but they kept quiet because they respected Ashleigh as being a pureblood Angel. Heaven only knew what would happen when Ashleigh passed on, and Skyler the half-blood Elvin angel took up leadership.

Ares shook his head as he peered out of the thick branches of the bush he was hiding in. Now was not the time to worry about politics. Right now was a time for fun with his friends!

"AHHHHHHHH!" A scream cut threw the air. "Help you guys!" It was Fire. Ares dashed out of the bush, and tried to sense which way the scream had come from. In his distraction, he crashed full on into Jay and Coal, who were also searching franticly for their friend.

"Where is she?" all three of them demanded of each other once they had picked themselves up. "I don't know!" they exclaimed at the same time.

"Okay, lets look for footprints," Ares suggested. They nodded in agreement, and transformed into one of (A.N: Keep this line in mind.) their animagus forms.

"She's to stressed out to respond threw the telepathic link! Anyone caught her sent?" asked Jake the navy-blue Blue Jay, as he returned from skimming threw the lower branches of the forest trees.

"Nadda," replied Coal the snow leopard as she stared around at the dirt floor of the forest.

"I'll take a look from the sky," said Ares the jet-black phoenix, as he disappeared in a flash of dark fire. A moment later, he exclaimed, "Found her! Shadow found her first, but she doesn't look like she is helping. It looks like she's doubled over in laughter."

Irritated sighs followed this announcement, and Ares sent an image of Fire and Shadow's location to Jay and Coal. A second later, they were all in the clearing with the seemingly laughing Shadow, and the now-quiet Fire

"What the Hell are you laughing at, Shadow! And Fire, if this is some sort of bug drama, then so help me!" exclaimed Coal as she, Jay, and Ares transformed back to normal. Coal glaring around at them, but then noticed something to make the angry expression slide off her face almost comically. Shadow was not laughing at all. In fact, she was doubled over in intense pain, and clutching her ankle. It was obvious that only her Elvin pride was stopping her from screaming aloud. Fire, on the other hand, was staring at something a few feet from her with unrestrained horror.

Looking around, Ares saw what had caused all the commotion. It was a five-foot, obviously magical, silver-blue snake. Ares recognized it immediately from his Magical Beings class; it matched the description perfectly. It was a breed of extremely rare magical rattlesnake called the Illiona Rattler. It's venom's after affects were written all over Shadow's face, which was contorted with pain. Moving forward carefully, he caught Fire's and the snake's attention for the first time since he had entered the clearing.

To his surprise, he could hear the snake speaking angrily at Fire, who clearly could now understand its words. 'Sssstupid Elf! How dare you sssstep on me! I sssshall bite you, yessss... And I sssshall bit you like I bit your friend, and you will die assss well...' that last sentence the serpent uttered made Ares want to panic. The snake was venomous, but Shadow wouldn't die! Right?

Deciding to try to talk to the snake, Ares hissed, 'Hello.'

The Illiona Rattler and the others in the clearing, except for Shadow who was still in to much pain to do anything more then bite her tongue to keep in her screams, gave him looks of surprise. 'You sssspeek, child?'

'Yessss. Please do not bite Ssssapphire. Sssshe issss kind, and you would not be able to eat her anywayssss,' Ares reasoned.

The snake let out a hiss that sounded like a laugh. 'This is true. I know I cannot eat the girlssss, but they were attacking me, and I had to defend mysssself,' the snake hissed.

'I am sure they are ssssorry, but is my friend really going to die?' Ares asked the snake anxiously.

The serpent considered for a moment, and in that brief silence, to Ares and everyone else's horror, Shadow began to shake and hyperventilate, and nearly fell to the ground. Fortunately, Jay caught her in time, and Coal assisted him in getting Shadow to sit down.

The snake then replied, 'Sssshe may only be cured by one thing.'

'Name it,' Ares said immediately.

'The poisssson can be cancled by a ssssecond bite from the ssssame Illiona Rattler.'

'Will you cure her?' asked Ares pleadingly, as he heard, Coal exclaim that Shadow had stopped breathing, and Jay began C.P.R.

'No.'

'WHY!' Ares demanded.

'Becausssse I do not feel like it,' the Viper hissed in annoyance.

Unconsciously, Ares let out a furious surge of raw magical energy. 'You will cure her!'

The serpent regarded him with much more interest. 'Maybe you are not weak like other humanssss. Your friendssss are powerful, and it would be a shame to have the pretty Elvin girl die. She remindssss me of my old masssster. (A/N: An important line for the future!)I shall cure her and become your familiar,' the snake dictated imperiously.

Not really caring what the snake had said after 'I shall cure her,' Ares nodded impatiently, and picked the snake up and carefully moved it next to Shadow, who was looking alarmingly pale.

Leaning down, Ares took his friend's hand in his and whispered in her ear, taking care to make sure that the others could hear what he was saying, too. "Shadow? Hey, you nut. I spoke to the snake, and it told me the only way to cure you, but you're going to have to trust me, got that? You have to trust me. Squeeze my hand if you trust me." Without hesitation, Ares felt the dark-haired girl squeeze his fingers as hard as she could, which was not very.

He turned to the snake, and offered it Shadow's tanned wrist. The Rattler bit into the unblemished skin, and the elves gasped. Shadow merely shivered slightly, but did not pull away from Ares. The serpent let go, and slithered off a few feet to avoid being trampled.

"Shadow? Are you okay?" Fire asked as she moved to join the group, tears sliding down her face.

"Will you lot quit fussing over me?" Shadow muttered as she rubbed her wrist, trying to get to her feet.

After Ares was positive that Shadow was okay, he turned back to the patch of forest floor that the Viper had chosen to wait out the chaos, and spoke. 'Thankssss for helping my friend. You are welcome to live with me if you wissssh. What is your name?'

'Name? Hmm... thissss I do not have. I want one of thesssse namessss' the snake declared.

"How about Ivy?"

Ares, the snake, and everyone else in the clearing spun around to stare at Shadow in surprise.

"You can understand it?" asked Jay, amazed that the girl could follow a conversation of hisses that were starting to give him headaches.

Shadow blinked, looking surprised. "I can?"

'Yessss, another ssssnake-child,' the Rattler hissed gleefully. Then it paused then swore very loudly a word that Ares wasn't familiar with. 'My appologiessss for biteing you, ssssnake-child! I sssshould have recognized the blood of the ssssnakessss russsshing threw your vainssss."

"Erm... Thats- okay?" Shadow responded awkwardly.

"Where did you get that name, Shadow?" asked Fire, curiously.

"Oh! She was hidden in a vine of Ivy when I rushed into the clearing when Fire screamed." explained Shadow." I suppose I might have accidentally stepped on her rattle... sorry!"

'We are even, then, ssssnake-child. And I like thissss word. Ivy. Yessss, I like it very much,' the newly dubbed 'Ivy' crooned. From then on, Ivy followed him wherever he went.

Now, three years later, she was still as annoying and irritating as ever.

Ares shook his head to clear it of memories as he approached the familiar door to the throne room. Straitening his clothes once again, he places his palm on the scanner, and the door slid open.

After he walked threw it, he was surprised to see that four very familiar people were seated near Ashleigh in the room already and waiting for him.

"Hello, Ares," Ashleigh's calm voice said. "Please be seated."

Ares bowed respectfully before answering, "Greetings, Queen Ashleigh." He then obeyed Ashleigh request, and sank onto the empty chair next to Fire, who winked at him before giving her attention back to Ashleigh.

"As you all know," Ashleigh began, standing from the throne, and pacing. "There is a war brewing in the wizarding world. Normally, we of the Wood-Elf clans would not be concerned. Humans have stirred up trouble before now, and we have successfully stayed out of it. But this war, I feel, we cannot skirt around. I think it would be in our best interest to have a group of our most skilled brothers and sisters to go as a delegation to the wizarding world, and to gain some information about this war. This is why I have called you four here. Sapphire, Jake, Kcoalia, Shadayo, and Ares: I would like to ask you to do this for us all. What say you?"

The five friends sat in a startled silence for a second. Coal, always the first to recover, got to her feet and said, "I would be honored to fulfill this task for my clan, Queen Ashleigh." She placed her hand over her heart, and Ashleigh nodded gratefully at her.

Ares joined her after she was done, only second due to the shock of the question. He too stood, and repeated the pledge with his hand over his heart as well.

Sapphire joined her friends standing with enthusiasm, and said the pledge strongly with her hand in the same fashion.

Jake's expression was totally serious as he stood with the other three, and chanted the code back solemnly, also with his palm firmly over his heart.

Shadow, ever the first to think things threw and the last to make commitments, stood a second or so after Jake, copied the hand movement, and said, "I, too, would be honored to fulfill this task for my clan, Queen Ashleigh."

Ashleigh smiled proudly at them all, and stated "you have all shone great bravery and loyalty to your family, and we all wish you the best of luck. Please pack you belongings and say your farewells. You depart for the wizarding world together at the Sun's first sixth tomorrow morning. I shall meet you here to give you your instructions. Dismissed."

The five friends trooped off to go pack, chatting quietly and wondering what was in store for them.

Meanwhile, the wizarding world went about their day, unknowing that in a few short hours, their world would be shaken to its core.



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Another chapter! Yeay! Hope you all liked it! Please read and review!

Master of Random Disaster