The Dragonmaster

Chapter Six

Teneb and his friends went back to the headquarters, only talking about the mysterious rider, trying to guess who it was.

"It wasn't a Magis, I'm sure of it," said Kobalt.

"How do you know?" asked Marisa.

"We, Magis, can feel each other. I would have immediately known if he was one of us."

"And he isn't an Elemental." added Opheria.

"Why?" Teneb who was leading the way was looking at her.

"When he used fire, he didn't do it the way we Elementals do. We are in tune with our element. He was tapping in the power of the element through his own power."

"So he is an elf."

"Yes, all the other possibilities have been ruled out. But I really wonder who he is. From what I heard, nobody had been able to ride Shadow...."

"Maybe you were wrong; it might have been another horse...."

"Perhaps, but I'm pretty sure it was Shadow. I'll ask Lienhior if someone has managed to mount him," said Opheria.

"Good idea.... Anyway I don't know a lot of elf-riders with control over fire. There must be about six or seven of them...."

"Yeah.... I think there is Haram," Kobalt started.

"He's blond."

"Right then Jeesala."

"This rider was definitively a male," Inir cut in.

"Listen to the expert...." teased Arnelle.

"Then, there are Garan and Ferin"

"They have dark hair, but Garan couldn't hold a sword properly, even if his life depended on it.... It could be Ferin though...." Teneb said thoughtfully.

"And finally Kassim and Téal."

"Téal has brown hair, but it could be Kassim too."

They fell silent as they arrived at the headquarters. Quickly they dismounted and put their horses back to their paddocks after taking care of them. Then they hurried to Effilin's class, knowing the teacher wouldn't be pleased to have them late, even if he wouldn't punish them, being very fond of Teneb and Kobalt.

The day passed uneventfully for them and at the end of the riding-lesson, Opheria approached Lienhior who was petting his own stallion.

"Excuse me?"

The men looked up and his feature at the sight of Opheria, his favorite and by far his best student.

"Yes Opheria?"

"Well sir, I would have liked to know if someone has ever been able to ride Shadow?" she asked simply.

"No! Never!" the elf replied. "That horse is completely wild, nobody managed to make something of him. That's a shame, because he's the best stallion we have."

"Really?"

"Yes," answered Lienhior, enthusiastically, as he always was when talking about his horses. "He comes from a long line of champions, and his origins are ones of the best possible. He's the result of a carefully followed breed-program. Sadly he's untamable. So, we're going to use him for breeding. Maybe his descendants will be more tamable."

"That's amazing!" exclaimed Opheria, a bit forcefully, to please the rider.

"Isn't it?"

"Yes, thank you a lot."

"You're welcome."

"Well, Good evening."

"You too."

They parted Lienhior to the stables and Opheria to find her friends.

They were eating, quietly talking when the young Magis sat heavily in her chair, sighing.

"What's the matter Pheria?"

"Nothing, just that Lienhior told me no one could ride Shadow."

"You must have been wrong then, I mean, we were quite far away from him, you could have mistake his horse with another."

"Maybe, but I was sure....."

"Drop it, Opheria; you must have been wrong...." Inir cut in.

"Alright! But tomorrow I'm going back there to be sure."

"I'll come with you," said Teneb, followed by all the others.

They agreed to meet the next morning at five at the stables.

For the following week they went to the hill each morning, trying to see a glimpse of the fighter's face. With no success, since the first time they surprised him, he had been more cautious, keeping a close watch of his surroundings and they hadn't been able to even identify his horse. At the beginning of the second week, Teneb's friends grew fed up with having to wake up so early, only to see a glimpse of black before watching the stranger disappear.

"That was the last time I went there," Arnelle stated exasperatedly.

"You're right, I'm fed up with having to wake up so early!" exclaimed Inir.

The others, minus Teneb voiced their agreement.

"Teneb?"

The young elf was deep in thought.

"Yes?"

"What about you?"

"I think I'm going to keep trying to find who he is.... I'm too curious."

"Way too curious for your own good, if you want to know.... But have you thought about the possibility of him being someone from the outside, able to come here through an unknown way...?"

"I have.... I asked Oras about it. He said it was impossible unless this person had an incredible amount of power. There are wards on this island making it impossible from someone of the outside to enter the island by appearing or apparating. The island is also un-plotable."

"Alright, alright.... I understand, possibility ruled out. Well, good luck on your watch, but you'll do this without me. I'm not waking earlier than 7 a.m," said Inir.

His friends agreed with Inir.

Teneb shrugged.

"Alright...."

For the next week he kept failing at finding even the smallest clues about the mysterious fighter, but he didn't give up. Teneb was known for his persevering and his curiosity, two major traits of his character. At the end of the second weeks his efforts finally paid....

He had decided to wake up a bit earlier and arrived at the hill while the rider was practicing his archery. He was about to shot an arrow when he seemed to sense Teneb. Startled he missed his target. He whistled, clapped his hands, making his stuff disappeared before jumping on his horse's back and disappearing too. Teneb sighed but decided to check the area like he always did, to see if the stranger hadn't left any clues behind him. He climbed of his stallion and walked where he had been standing, looking carefully at the ground. He was ready to give up when something shiny caught his eye. He bent down and picked it up, his breath caught in his throat. It was an arrow. He could see that some willow was used to make it, as well as some eagle's and phoenix's feathers, but the metal at the end was puzzling him. He had never seen it before. He turned the weapon in his hand, weighing it. It was perfectly balanced. All in all, it was perfectly made. Looking closer at it, he was a small mark, printed in the wood, a lightning bolt to be precise. He gave the arrow a last look before going back to his horse and tying it to the saddle. His mind was full of unanswered questions. What did this mark mean? Who had made it? Where did it come from? And so forth. He went back to the headquarters, lost in his thoughts, took care of his stallion Myst, put the arrow with his stuff and headed for his fighting class. He arrived nearly late and saw Effilin giving him a disapproving look before motioning for him to join the others. As he reached his friends they gave him interrogating looks.

"Why were you late?" whispered Marisa.

"I'll tell you all after the class."

His friends nodded before switching their attention to the teachers who started to speak.

"Alright, Daryns! Today, we're going to spar a bit before doing a small tournament. I'd like you to...."

As he spoke, explaining once again the rules of a spar, Teneb's mind drifted back to the stranger. He decided to study the arrow this evening. He scanned the room when he saw the door opening slowly and silently and the human entering. He went to the back of the room discreetly and waited for Effilin to finish. Teneb looked at him curiously. He had totally forgotten about ...... what was his name?...Hassan? Or maybe Hares? He eyed him, noticing the average height, the slender body and the messy black hair. Then he put his eyes back on the fighter.

Effilin had stopped speaking and was looking at the back of the room.

"Human!" he barked.

Harry looked up. Teneb was a bit puzzled by the blank look. Wasn't he at least a bit intimidated by the master?

"Yes, master?"

"Do you think you can arrive late for my class and get away with it?"

Harry didn't answer.

"Too stupid to answer? It was to be expected! You're doing nothing, except wasting our time. But you must think otherwise, since you thought you could afford coming late to my lesson."

A few students snickered at this, but as Teneb studied the human's face which was a blank one, nothing was showing he had been hurt by these words.

This lack of reaction seemed to surprise Effilin a bit. The master sighed angrily.

"Since you think so high of yourself, you won't mind facing Teneb? Sure it shouldn't be too difficult for you...." His voice was filled with sarcasm.

He clapped his hand.

"Face your opponent, standard rules."

The youths got into place and waited for his signal.

As soon as he signaled for them to start, Teneb attacked, deciding to finish the human quickly, preventing him from being more humiliated than he was already.

A bit surprisingly, the human parried all his blows. Teneb's brows furrowed. Sure he was taking things easy to spare him too much humiliation, but if he was as bad as the teacher had said he shouldn't have been able to stop one of his blows. He moved on more hard stuff, surprised to see his opponent continuing to parry everything, even if he seemed to be in difficulty. As he threw a punch to his face, he watched as the human ducked it, his hair throw aside, showing his whole face. Suddenly, Teneb noticed something that stunned him beyond all the things imaginable. On the human's forehead stood a lightning bolt, identical to the one on the arrow.....

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Harry swore to himself. He had been interrupted again during his training, but this time he had been so caught up in his practice that he hadn't sense the intruder coming. He had lost an arrow in his retreat and spent a long time searching it with no success and now he was late for Effilin's class! What a day!

He slipped in the class, praying against all hope that the teacher hadn't noticed his absence. But he didn't have this luck. He half-listened to Effilin's rant, knowing already what he was saying by heart, having heard it quite a lot of times. He was a bit worry with having to fight Teneb, but dismissed his worries, he would just fake a defeat, loosing badly enough to content Effilin. He faced the young elf and waited for the fight to start. As his opponent attacked, he was careful to duck or parry the blows. Faking difficulties and defeat he nearly missed a punch coming his way and ducked hurriedly. He went back to his defensive stance, expecting a new blow, but nothing came. He looked up and noticed Teneb starring at his forehead, more precisely to his scar. He frowned, what was so interesting with his scar, sure it had an odd shape, known thorough the Wizarding world, but there was nothing strange for an elf.... Then it hit him, its shape! The arrow!! How could he have been so stupid! Putting this mark on it!!!

Mentally slapping himself and quietly swearing, Harry took a step forward, as if he had stumbled on his feet, and grabbed Teneb's arm, knowing that if he openly attacked Teneb, Effilin would surely noticed something was wrong.

"Don't stand like a stupid gaping fish! You must win this fight, so attack! It shouldn't be too hard for you to crush the mere and lower human I am....," he whispered quickly in the young elf's ear.

This seemed to kick Teneb's pride as he snapped out of his stunned state.

He attacked violently the young wizard. Harry, who had been ready for this kind of reaction, blocked all the blows and quickly faked his own defeat, falling on his back.

Immediately Effilin started to yell at him.

"I give up human! You're hopeless! I really wonder why you were chosen and why you kept coming to my class since it looks like you can't even learn the simplest things!"

He went on for a few minutes and Harry tried his best to look embarrassed and humiliated, sensing the gaze of Teneb on him. Once the teacher was finished he turned back to the other students who had finished their fight and had been listening to his lecture, amused to see the human being yelled at.

"Is everyone finished? Shake hands."

Everyone shook the hand of his or her opponent, congratulating him on his fight. Teneb felt a small note passing in his hand as he shook the human's.

They parted and Effilin explained the works of the tournament. As the first two fighters started to spar, Teneb looked at the note. It read: Meet me tomorrow at five at the hill. Come alone and don't talk about it to anyone. He looked up towards Harry, seeing him shining the swords, as Effilin had forbidden him of participating to the small tournament, caught his eyes and nodded. He pocketed the note and readied for his first fight, against Garth.

The winner wasn't a surprise. Teneb won easily, much to Effilin's pleasure.

During the whole day, he observed the human, trying to see any of the skills he had showed at the hill. When his friends asked about his lateness in the morning, he said his horses had lost a shoe. He could barely restrain himself from grabbing the human and asking him all the questions whirling in his mind. How could have a....human become that powerful! It wasn't....right! This was probably the first day he didn't pay attention to his classes, something really unusual. During the whole evening he was quiet, too lost in his thought to think about something else. He went to bed early. He didn't fall asleep easily, his mind too full of interrogations. But, he was up at 4.30 a.m. the next morning, literally bouncing of his bed. As he passed before the human's bad, he did a double-take, as he saw him still sleeping. He approached and grabbed his arm. Well to be precise he only grabbed thin air. He withdrew his hand.

"An illusion," he muttered. He shook his head, adding this to his list of things to ask. He got ready, left and reached the hill a bit late. The human was there as usual, and now he clearly recognized him. He was in the middle of his sword's dance and Teneb decided not to interrupt him. He approached quietly, focused on him, barely acknowledging the horse eating a few meters away, not disturbed at all by his rider's movements.

Teneb watched attentively his moves and his face. The day before, he had been puzzled by one thing, while observing him: his look. The human had had an unreadable face thorough the whole day, not showing emotions once, always wearing a cold and indifferent look. Now he was deeply focused and concentrated, unaware of anything except his sword. Teneb watched him captivated. He was amazed at him. The movements were nearly flawless, except for a few minors details which was to be expected in a series like that. Of course an elf would be able to do so, but this human was more graceful than any of the fighters Teneb had seen. There was something in his movements, Teneb could tell the human was putting his whole being in this dance.

As Harry finished it, Teneb came closer. The young wizard didn't acknowledge him, his back facing the elf, as he was carefully checking his sword before sheathing it.

There a long silence, only broke by Harry.

"So you came...." he said in a cold voice. He wasn't in the best of moods. He had been discovered, something he had wanted to avoid at all cost and moreover he had spent a dreadful night: his scar had woken him in the middle of the night, twitching for an hour. It had been doing so for the past two month, sometimes, usually during the night, he would sense an unpleasant twitch on his forehead, which would generally disappear after a few hours. This way he knew Voldemort was doing something.... Not killing, or his scar would have burned, but he was doing something. It was very frustrating, because he hadn't had a single dream since he arrived there, so things must be going right for the Dark Lord, as it was generally when he was cross that Harry had those dreams.

"That was amazing!" said Teneb in a whisper.

"So the human is worth the attention of an elf?....."

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Life had gone on at Hogwarts, even if Harry's absence was still in all the minds. It had been three months since the start of the term and Christmas holidays were approaching slowly. The Wizarding world was still researching for Harry and the Daily Prophet was publishing a small daily article about the state of the researches but people had started to give up hopes on finding the Boy-Who-Lived, many were starting to believe him dead.

Hermione and Ron weren't part of this group. They believed firmly in the fact that Harry was still alive and were extremely worried about him. Fudge was still in denial, something which was infuriating them.

"Could this man be more stupid?" Ron sighed angrily, reading the Daily Prophet an owl had just brought.

"What has he done again?" asked Hermione.

"Listen: "I was asked several times about the possible return of You-Know-Who. And I want to say that this is a gigantic nonsense, started by the Boy-who-lived. But need me to remind you that after the death of a student during the Tri-wizard tournament, the boy had been slightly delusional, maybe a consequence of the Avada Kedavra. There is absolutely no reason to panic over a boy's words, who was at the moment he said them, quite shaken. He must have been victim of illusions, or hallucinations. I want to add that Harry Potter will be heard as witness about Diggory's death, to see if he played a role in it, which is a possibility if the boy is loosing control over himself or is delusional. So again, I ask everyone to rest assure: there is no danger." These were the words of the Minister when asked about the rumors concerning the Dark Lord's return. When asked about the abnormal magical activity in Siberia, Transylvania, in the Amazonian forest, the more and more frequent apparition of dark creatures, the Minister answered that he must be some people taking advantages of these rumors and impersonating Death Eaters. What must we believe? Albus Dumbledore, eminently respected Headmaster of Hogwarts had been supporting the news of You-know-who's return, saying that the magical world must prepare itself for his rise. The Headmaster has enforced greatly the security's measures around the school, to reassure the parents, worried about their children's safety. Is the Dark Lord really back? Is this some kind of a sick joke? The question remained unanswered." And so forth, I'll spare you the rest of the article," Ron spat angrily.

"I don't know if he is stupid, but you have to admit that being that blind and stubborn is quite incredible.....," the young witch replied.

"Yeah, I'm sure that if he was to become an Animagi, it'll be a mule...."

"Probably, what have we first?"

"Defense against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw."

"At least we haven't Potions first."

"You're right; come on, or we'll be late."

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

They were the first to arrive in the classroom. They took their seats in the front, courtesy of Hermione. Their teacher Professor Figg was at her desk, reading through a thick volume.

The two Gryffindor put their homework on their table and chatted quietly until the other students arrived. Professor Figg was a great teacher, nearly as great as Lupin. Today they'd start on a new subject.

Once everyone was gathered in the room, she put her book down and stood up, collecting their papers. She went back to her desk and faced the students.

"Alright class, today we're going to talk about dragons and how you can defend yourself from them."

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, mouthing Norbert.

"Now, can someone tell me what is the weak point of a dragon?"

Not surprisingly Hermione raised her hand, as well as a few Ravenclaw students.

"Miss Granger?"

"The dragon's weak point is its eyes."

"Exactly, five points to Gryffindor. The eyes of a dragon are one of their only weak points. Can someone tell me why?"

This time it was a Ravenclaw that answered.

"The scales of a dragon can shield him from magic."

"True, five points. Now, to blind the dragon you can use the Conjunctivitus charm, which will blind it for some time, but the problem linked to this curse, is that it is quite painful. Therefore it will anger the beast and make it more dangerous. You can also use a simple blinding charm which, even if doesn't last long, will allowed you to escape. Now what are the dangers of a dragon?"

Various answers fused all over the class. "Fire", "horns", "claws", "blades" and a few others.

"Very well. So now we're going to learn a few spells which could come in handy if you were to cross the path of a full grown dragon. First....." For the following hour, they practiced invisibility spells, charms which would hide your smell, silence your every moves. These spells could also be used to spy. A few minutes before the end of the lesson, she asked the student to put their wands down.

"Now as you all know, they are about ten different types of dragons in the world, each of them carefully watched. But there were legend about a group of people who could ride dragons slightly different from them. These legends are hundreds year-old and thought by most of the historian to be pure invention. But thorough the centuries there have been some witnesses of strange dragons. An explication of this is the possibility of two different types mating and giving birth to hybrids. To defeat a hybrid, you have to use the same technique than with a real dragon, just being careful that the hybrid will have the characteristics of both his parents." Just as she finished, the bell rang and the students gathered their books, heading for their next class.

"That was interesting," said Hermione.

"Yeah, I wish I've known in my first year.... And Harry would have liked to know this last year for the first task...."

The mention of their friend shattered their good mood, and for the walk to the Transfiguration classroom, they were silent, each reflecting on their own thought and memories.

Transfiguration went as usual, they were studying Animagi, well, the theory only. This lesson didn't help their mood as Animagi was something Harry would have loved to learn about.

As the holidays came nearer, the professors started to load them with homework, much to Ron's dismay.

Potions' class had nearly became unbearable: between Malfoy's comment and Snape unfairness towards Gryffindor, something which had increased since last year, it was taking all of the Gryffindor will and concentration not to lose too much points in this class, the average being thirty.

Dueling had been reinstated, but this time not as a club but as an optional class. Needless to say that most of the students sign up. It had been quite different from the last time with Lockhart. The Hogwarts' students were learning effective curses, defense methods, but also awareness, reflexes, agility. It had been a surprise when they discovered who was teaching them: Moody, and Lupin. The return of Professor Lupin had been appreciated by the majority of the student body, especially by all who had had him during his year at Hogwarts.

Christmas holidays finally came and the students sighed in relief, now allowed to relax a bit.

On Christmas day, Hermione and Ron, who had decided to stay at Hogwarts this year, woke up early and went down in the common room. There they opened their present in silence, the absence of their friend present in their mind. They had tried to contact him times and times, using Hedwig, but even his owl couldn't find him... Their only hope was that he was well.

Then they walked to the Great Hall, decorated as greatly as ever: icicles shinning, Christmas trees artfully ornate, little snowflakes here and there..... Not a lot of students had stayed in the castle, barely ten for each House. As they ate slowly, not talking, the owls arrived, most of them carrying packages from their family. An owl dropped the Daily Prophet in front of Ron, startling him a bit as he was looking through the present Mrs. Weasley had sent him.

"Can I have look?" asked Hermione, pointing to the newspaper.

Ron looked up. Hermione had finished unwrapping her presents, mostly books, a bit of jewelry and some other things.

"Of course!"

As she started to read the headlines, he finished his inspection of the package, there was the traditional jumper, quite a lot of sweets, a poster of the Chudley Canons and some pranks material from George and Fred. The twins had also added another presents. Quickly Ron tore up the wrapping paper and his jaw fell on the floor. The twins had bought him new dress robes. They were a deep midnight blue with a shimmering hem.

"How did they find the money to buy me these," he whispered in awe. "They must have cost a fortune!"

Hermione broke his thoughts.

"Ron! Ron! Listen!" she whispered excitedly. "A curious event took place this night. A bit after midnight, the dragon tamers reported a strange behavior of these creatures. They sprang in the air and started howling, flying wildly everywhere. Oblivators had a hard job erasing everything from the hundreds of Muggles who noticed this. This behavior was observed all other the world, all the dragons seemed affected and the scientists remained puzzled by this. "We don't have any explanation of these happenings. It remains a complete mystery." Asked about it, several tamers reported that "the dragons seemed in deep pain". The different ministries are trying to find some reasons, explaining this. Some thought it was in relation with a mysterious magical surge of power which was observed in the north in the middle the ocean, dismissed as an experience of the Sea people. Asked about it, they denied having something to do with it. The mystery remains whole."

"That's strange..."

"Yeah, I wonder what the cause of all of this was; do you think it has anything to do with You-know-who?"

"Maybe....." answered Ron, going back to his breakfast, not really concerned by this, after all, it was Charlie's department, not his.

They finished their breakfast before going to see Hagrid. They spent their morning at his hut, just talking. The half-giant was quite interested by the article on the dragons. All in all the holidays passed quickly and soon the work started again, this time the teachers being way more stressed as the O.L.W.S were approaching. Hermione had started to study early, earning a "crazy girl" from Ron.

At the end of January, strange events started to take place. It started with a break-in a Muggle museum. The odd thing being that the alarms hadn't been trigged, the doors, bars and all the system of security hadn't been forced. The cameras had spotted nothing. The Muggle newspaper was qualifying these stole of magical. The burglars had only taken one thing: an old bracelet which had been found in an Aztec temple. The bracelet was covered with signs and drawing the archaeologists hadn't been able to decipher. A few gems had been decorating the jewel but their place on it had been a subject of controversy as they seemed to have been put on it without any thinking.

This was the first of a long series of break-ins: several Muggle museums saw one their piece disappeared: an Egyptian amulet, a Phoenician cup, a Roman dagger..... But universities were also targets: several old parchments disappeared as well as a few manuscripts.

Even the Ministries had seen some of their documents disappearing, though this fact had been carefully hidden.

Hermione and Ron, like most of the believer of Voldemort's return, were believing that this was the parts of a gigantic plan and therefore, deep researches were made on the objects and manuscripts, with no success.....