The Dragonmaster

Chapter Seven

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

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

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Teneb flushed at Harry's sarcasm.

"Well... I...."

He was dumbfounded by the difference in the human's behavior. He didn't act shy or scared at all. Teneb's confusion must have appeared on his face as Harry's smirk deepened.

"Cat got your tongue?"

"I..."

Harry grew fed up with Teneb's hesitations. Better get this over with, and the sooner, the better. His lack of sleep for the past few nights was getting on his nerves. Sure, it was nothing like what he had experienced during the first days of his stay--apparently during those days, Voldemort must have dealt with some failures or traitors, as his scar had been throbbing. Then there had been a period of complete calm and two months ago, his scar had begun to twitch, preventing him from getting a whole-night's rest.

"What do you want?" he asked shortly.

The sudden question surprised Teneb, as well as the harshness audible in it. He reflected a few seconds on what to ask.

"Was it you?"

"Who?"

"You know what I mean! Was it you?"

"Sorry, but contrary to some of the people here, I don't have the ability to read minds...."

Teneb could see he was playing with him and enjoying every moment of it.. Torn between his pride and his curiosity, Teneb didn't know what to do--play his game or have it his own way.... Finally his curiosity won out.

"Was it you who has been practicing here every morning?" he asked slowly, as if he was talking to a baby.

"Does it matter?"

Teneb was beginning to become fed up with the human. His eyes flashed angrily.

"Just answer the damn question! It's not difficult: you just have to say yes or no!"

Harry just smirked, something which angered Teneb a great deal.

"What would be the point of answering a question whose answer you already know? And why do you want to know?"

Silence was his only answer.

See, what'll you do with this information? Nothing. So why should I answer you?"

"Well, I don't know, but..."

"So you don't know what you'll do with it, but still want to know... Isn't it a bit ironical?"

"ANSWER!"

"You already know the answer or you wouldn't be here this morning."

Teneb's anger was increasing. He couldn't believe the human had the guts to stand up to him! He would have expected him to answer straight away. He was used to having people following his lead. His father was the elf King counselor and Teneb had been brought up with the prince, spending all his time at the court with prince Celen. Later when his royal friend would be crowned, he would become his counselor. It was a well known fact and nobody ever dared to cross him. Most of the people liked him, though some were jealous, but nobody really hated him.

"What's with you! Couldn't you give a straight answer, or is it too much to ask?"

Harry's eyes flashed before going back to their amused state.

"And what's with you, meddling in things which don't concern you in the slightest!"

Teneb was taken aback by this.

"I..."

"Now, the only important thing we have to sort out before parting is, what are you going to do?" asked Harry out of the blue, his blank green eyes looking intensely at Teneb.

"Well, I don't know.... Anyway, why does it matter?"

Harry threw him a look that clearly stated, Are-you-dumb-or-are-you-doing-this-on-purpose?

"Think, Teneb the elf, think, do you think these so-called masters would be very happy to know I can fight and I've reached a good level of magic WITHOUT their help? Do you think they'll be delighted? Not mentioning I've been riding Shadow, something I wasn't allowed to do! So, once again, what are you going to do?"

Teneb remained silent, trying to register everything Harry had said. The young wizard sighed.

"Well, I'll really appreciate it if you could remain silent about this." His voice was quite harsh.

"And if I don't?" cut Teneb, not really appreciating being ordered around.

"Then I'll make you. A simple memory charm and you won't remember anything...."

Teneb laughed loudly. Memory charms? No danger there, elves were immune to them and he himself had built a strong resistance to nearly all the curses, hexes and charms involving manipulation of the memory....

"Are you really stupid human? Human memory charms don't work on elves! Practically none of the memory charms work on us anyway."

"Really? And what about the Oufora charm?" said Harry with a knowing grin.

Teneb paled.

"H- How could you know that charm?!" he stuttered.

"So, you know it too.... Quite useful charm, isn't it? It will wipe a selective part of your memory and work on everybody, whatever species he is from--meaning humans, elves, magis, elementals...."

"I know that! But How. Do. You. Know. It? This is one of the most guarded secret of the elves...."

"I have my sources."

Harry grinned mentally, he wouldn't be able to thank Arxeren enough for teaching him this charm.... And the look on the elf's face was priceless!

Teneb remained silent for a few seconds. Was the human bluffing? Or was he serious? On the one hand, he didn't want to submit to the human, but on the other hand, there was the risk of being on the receiving hand of an Oufora charm.

"Alright, I'll keep my mouth shut about it."

"Good." Harry nodded and turned on his heel, heading for his horse, who had been waiting for its rider.

"Hey! Wait!" shouted Teneb, suddenly grabbing Harry by his arm from behind.

Wrong move.

Before he realized it, he was on his back, seeing little stars dancing around his head... .

Harry looked at him a bit apologetically. From his training with Arxeren, he had developed strong defensive reflexes. "Constant Vigilance!" Moody's phrase was somewhat one of the spirit guardian's first rules. And, although he was restraining them during the day as it would look suspicious if he was to block every attack thrown his way, he had them running high in the morning, the evening and the night. Deciding to be civil he pulled out his hand to help the elf.

"Sorry about that, but you shouldn't jump on people like that...."

Teneb was starring wide-eyed at him, speechless. He prided himself on being able to stand up to nearly every kind of situation, and this human and brought him to the ground in seconds! That wasn't right!

"H-How did you get THAT strong?" he asked incredulously, dismissing the hand that was offering to help him and getting up himself.

Harry's features hardened at being rejected. He whirled on his heels and walked to his horse.

"None of your concern!"

But the Elf didn't give up. He quickly caught up with Harry and stopped him, grabbing his arm.

"How?!"

Become fed up with this, Harry chose to answer, so he would leave him.

"I trained."

"With who?" asked immediately Teneb, curiosity getting the best of him.

"If I answer you, would you leave me alone?" sighed Harry, annoyed.

"Deal. Now, who?"

"My spirit guardian."

There was a silence during which Harry was slowly counting down in his head. Five, Four, Three, Two, One....

"YOUR SPIRIT GUARDIAN!!"

Right in time.

"Do you have some hearing problems?"

"How could you have managed to find your spirit guardian? You can't even manage to enter a right trance and Nerthor told us it would take nearly a year and a half before finding our guardian."

"Who said he had to be right?"

"He is a master!"

"Doesn't mean he knows everything."

"But...."

"There is no but. If you don't believe me, alright, I don't care, now, could you let go of my wrist."

Teneb realized he hadn't released the human's arm. He was about to do it, but something caught his attention. He tightened his grip and narrowed his eyes. Sure, there was no mistake. He could clearly see the crescent moon scars on both wrists. He looked up at the human who was now expressionless, his face not giving away his emotions.

"How did you get those?" Teneb knew this question was stupid even before he asked it.

The look on the human's face went from expressionless to icy.

"What does it look like to you?"

Teneb was stunned.

"How?... why would you do something that stupid!"

He knew immediately it hadn't been the smartest thing to say.

"Stupid!" repeated Harry, showing for the first time some emotions: disbelief, but also anger. Then he laughed, a harsh, bitter laugh.

"You, of all the people, ask me why I did it!" His disbelief was replaced by restrained anger. "Well, think and guess."

Harry walked away and jumped on Shadow. Before leaving, he turned to look down at Teneb.

"By the way, I have a name."

With this, he disappeared.

Teneb stood there, quite shocked, not knowing what to think. His mind was a mess. Slowly he went back to his horse and headed to the headquarters.

During the whole day, he couldn't concentrate. He kept wondering about the human's last sentences.

Throughout the day, Teneb watched, trying to decipher, with no real success, the mystery of the human. Not the human, he thought, he has a name. He remembered it being said the first day and a few times in the following week, but after that he had always been the human. What was it? Julian? No. Kev? No. Alan? No, no....

He looked several times his way, trying to find answers to the many questions which were circling in his mind. His teachers noticed he was a bit distracted but dismissed it. They all had a soft spot for the young elf and never got him into trouble.

Harry carefully avoided him for the whole day, but unfortunately, couldn't avoid the teachers and the other students. The day passed as slowly as usual and he acted like he always did, faking weakness, clumsiness, fear and everything which was expected from him by teachers or students. He would endure this, but once his training would be over, he'd have a few things to say to a few people here, before leaving. At the end of the day, he quickly left after having eaten a bit.

He could feel Teneb's gaze on him as he passed through the doors. He shrugged, went to his dorm, put the usual illusions on his bed, plus a few charms in case the students had the lovely idea to play a few tricks on him, thinking he was sleeping. He dressed, took his weapons and slipped outside.

He spent the evening and a part of the night training. He liked to train at dusk and in the dark. Arxeren was pleased with his improvements. He was becoming better and better with his sword, he could control fire and wandless magic was now coming naturally to him. The only weak point was archery. His aim wasn't bad, but it was average. He had started on healing methods and animagus transformation.

Teneb couldn't sleep; he was tossing back and forth in his bed. Around midnight, he heard small creaks signaling the hum... no, Harry's return. He raised his head to try to see him, but to no avail. He seemed to blend in with the shadows....

He had found the human's name on the shelves where the lists of the students were put. These lists were updated each time new students entered the headquarters.

Moments later, he heard his bed creak and a sigh. Teneb laid back. Why had he tried to kill himself? What could have pushed him to that point?

He kept thinking about that for a big part of the night, when, finally it clicked.

The joy of finding why was soon replaced by a mixed feeling. It wasn't really heavy guilt. Sure, he was guilty, a bit, but he was also shocked. He tried to persuade himself that it wasn't true, it was impossible! Elves wouldn't do that....

If there was one thing the elves were proud about, it was the fact that they had never purposely hurt a living creature for the pleasure to hurt. But, if this was true, then... No, it couldn't be! It wasn't possible.... he cast a look in the direction of the human's bed. But Teneb couldn't dismiss the evidence, he had tried to kill himself.... Why? Surely being a bit pushed around couldn't have led him to suicide.... It was way too drastic.... It was then that Teneb decided to do something he knew would regret.

Slowly, he sat on his bed, falling into a meditating stance. He slowed his breath and tried to project his mind towards the sleeping figure. Teneb was proud of his mind-reading capacities--from what Nerthor had told him, he was one of the most powerful telepaths here. And he prided himself with being able to go through any spirits. But this time, he felt like he had hit a wall.

He withdrew himself a bit and opened his spirit senses. He could sense a powerful shield around the mind of the human, hiding his thoughts. He tried to find a weak part but had no success. He then decided to try another approach. He gathered all his power and threw it all on the shield, trying to break it. For a few moments, nothing happened. He continued to apply the pressure and suddenly felt a crack.

He stopped immediately. Slowly he slipped through the mental crack and accessed the mind of the human. He was overwhelmed with pictures, sounds at first. Blocking everything, he started to look for the right memories. Looking around he saw that most of Harry's memories were now hidden, surely a defensive reflex.... Finally, he found what he wanted: memories of his stay here. Surprisingly, they weren't hidden like the others. He started to read them.....

Minutes later, he came back to his own mind, completely confused. He couldn't believe what he had seen! It was impossible! Elves wouldn't behave like that! Lost, he finally went to sleep. But it wasn't an easy sleep, as he was still trying to register and accept what he had seen. He decided to go to the hill in a few hours, as it was nearly 2 a.m....

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A few hours later he was awake, mostly thanks to a small energy charm and getting ready. He quickly equipped his horse and galloped to the hill. There he saw the human, sitting on the ground, his legs and arms crossed, a look of deep concentration upon his face. He was sweating a bit and his eyebrows were furrowed.

He was a few meters away, when Harry's eyes snapped wide opened and looked sharply at him.

"You came back? I thought I made myself clear...." His voice was harsh and Teneb could see he was annoyed. He ignored it.

"Would it do some good if I apologized?"

Harry narrowed his eyes.

"Not really, because you're not really meaning it. You're not sorry for what you and your friends, as well the teachers and the riders did to me, but for the fact they broke one of your principles."

"You're perceptive."

"I have to be."

There was a silence.

"What do you want?" asked Harry sharply.

Tened bit his lower lip. Was he that predictable?

"Why are you asking that?" he asked, hesitating a bit.

"If I've learned one thing here it's that Elves wouldn't associate with humans if their lives depended on it, unless they had something to gain. Now would you answer me or leave me alone?"

"Would you help me with my training?" asked Teneb. For once, he was happy to see the human looking quite startled. Harry blinked a few times.

"You're joking!" He spluttered.

"I am not."

"You must have hit your head pretty bad yesterday if you're asking me this," retorted Harry. "Teneb, the teachers' pet, the future king's counselor, the one always given as an example, is asking the mere human I am, the clumsy, weak, foolish human to help him with his training? Excuse me, but don't you think there is a slight mistake in this sentence?"

"Not really. You can help me, so why not ask?"

"Sorry, but there's a catch. Look, on the one hand you have a respected and privileged student, praised by the whole faculty, and on the other, you have someone who had been either ignored completely or persecuted by his fellow classmates, humiliated by the teachers and riders.... Do I have to spell it out to you?"

Teneb gave him an annoyed look which Harry was only too happy to return.

"What, would it bother you?"

This was too much for Harry. The young elf was definitively way too full of himself! Here he comes ordering him to help him....

"One word: No. Now leave me alone."

Teneb was stunned, but quickly grinned.

"I don't think you have much of a choice."

"I seem to recall having told you to leave."

"Not until you agree to help me."

"Then I hope you're patient, because I won't."

"Think about this: either you help me, or I'll make sure you never end your training and leave this place. Moreover, I'm sure the riders would be delighted to know that you've been riding Shadow without permission and will forbid you the access to the paddock...."

All annoyance or amusement was gone from Harry's eyes. He clutched to the necklace the Dragon had given him. He had disguised it to be a simple golden necklace. Whenever he touched it, it always calmed him and cleared his spirit. He had also discovered that, in time of need, he could contact Arxeren through the necklace.

Slowly he calmed down, and, eyed Teneb icily.

"You know that I could simply wipe out any memories you have of this."

"You could, but then your secret would be out of the woods... I'm recording this with a useful little charm on a crystal in one of my friends drawers... sure you know about it: The Tranmesnil ?"

There was a silence, and Teneb was hoping that Harry would buy it. Truth be told, he hadn't done that charm, he was just bluffing. Harry clenched his fists.

"So blackmail is it?" growled Harry.

"Blackmail is such a vile word. I prefer... exchange of services. You help me and I keep your secret quiet."

Harry grit his teeth. Damn him! He should have been more careful!

"Alright," he said tensely, "I'll help you."

"I want a magical binding contract."

Grudgingly, Harry submit to the formalities of the binding contract: it consisted of putting a charm on both the people agreeing to this type of contract. If one of them was to break it, he would be stripped of his or her powers for ten years.

Once it was done, They stood face to face. Finally, Harry broke the silence and coldly looked at Teneb. The elf could see a boiling and restrained anger in the deep green eyes, nearly given them a strange glow.

"Well, I'll show you how to meet your spirit guardian, he will take care of you as mine is doing. Or trying to, at least...."

~ Hey! I heard that! ~