Chapter 1
Dailin pauses as she approaches the strange stone archway on her way back to the tents. She had barely glanced at it when she had passed it on her way to the Ter'angreal that would decide her worthiness of becoming a Wise One. The first of her visions began with this very archway. She hadn’t completely accepted the viewing as true but just as she was about to pass the middle of the arch, a soft whispering begins to fill the air. Stopping, the events she had seen during her test become all too real when the air within the archway darkens until no light can be seen from the other side. Frozen in place, she stares into the darkness as a sound she had not recognized at first becomes clearer, a voice screaming obscenities. Stepping away, she is not prepared to deal with what is about to transpire despite knowing that events are unfolding exactly as she had seen in the first of the three rings of the Ter’angreal.
A bundle of clothes and a head topped with black hair shoots out from the middle of the darkness before sprawling across the dusty and silent roadway until the body is forcefully stopped by a stone statue.
“Fucking bullocks!” A male’s voice shouts from the tangled pile of limbs and cloth.
When the man does not move for a few minutes, Dailin decides to walk slowly towards the voice, her body ready to deliver a beating if the male proves to be different from her ‘future’ vision. “Hello?”
The man yelps in a surprised voice while the tousled pile begins to squirm and flap as limbs begin to right themselves until the head of black hair snaps into view, which reveals a face of a young man her age, possibly a year or two older, and the brightest pair of green eyes she has ever seen.
“Ah, I know this…doesn’t…Your naked!” The man shouts as he covers his eyes with one hand while the other fumbles wildly to unbutton the cloak that hangs off his shoulders. “I am so, so, so, sorry miss! I didn’t…don’t…ah, shite! I can explain everything I swear!”
Dailin nearly laughs at the man for his behavior, but then the danger of the situation reels its ugly head. No Wetlander had ever been allowed to set foot in Rhuidean, nor the Aiel Waste after the hunt for King Laman Damodred.
“Wetlander.” She hadn’t learnt his name during her visions, but she knew the most likely outcome of his arrival. “Wetlander, how did come here?”
“Clothes first! I can’t talk to you while you naked and I sure as hell don’t want your husband or family to find us like this!” He replies.
“There is no one else here and I can’t accept your cloak; it’s against the rules.” She answers calmly.
“Bullocks.” He slowly drops his hand but he keeps his eyes focused on the ground in front of him. “Ah, where am I exactly? Why is there no one else here?”
“Perhaps we should introduce ourselves first. I am Dailin of the Nine Valleys sept of the Taardad Aiel.”
“Harry. Harry James Potter. I…I am the head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter and the head of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. I am from Great Britain.”
“I have not much knowledge of the wetlands, Harry James Potter…”
“Just Harry. You can call me Harry, and I have never heard of your people either. Can I ask if we are in Africa or…some of desert country, the air feels pretty damn hot and dry.”
Dailin smirks as she decides to walk up to the now named Harry.
Squatting in front of him causes him to groan as his forehead farrows. “Please put the cloak on. It’s not proper to look at you like that.”
“I am sorry, Harry, as I said before I am forbidden to wear clothes, drink water, or eat any food while I am on my quest. Have you not seen a woman naked before?”
A soft groan answers her. “No.”
‘No.’ She is surprised. “You are very good looking for a Wetlander, how is it that you have not been with a…oh, do you like men?”
“What!? No!” He sputters out violently.
For several moments, neither speak at first because of the surreal circumstances they both find themselves in until the man named Harry breaks it. “So, can you tell me where I am? I sort of rushed my plans when I left my home and didn’t really think things through when I took my impromptu holiday from life.”
“You are in Rhuidean, Harry Potter, this place is sacred to my people. Only those who wish to become a Chief or Wise One are allowed to enter. I am here because I am to become an apprentice to the Wise Ones and I can’t stay here for too much longer. I must return to the tents to prove I have passed my tests or they will leave me behind. And if you stay here, you will die if you are discovered. My people have no love for Wetlanders or Treekillers after their king cut down Avendoraldera.”
Harry moans. “Just great. Just like always, jumping in feet first without thinking of the consequences. I thought taking the Felix Felicis would have given me a better chance of surviving the trip through the Viel.”
“Viel? Is that what the archway is called?” Dailin asks as she glances at the now normal looking stone archway.
She turns to see Harry looking at the arch. “Where I am from, it is believed to be a doorway to the afterlife. But…but I started to have dreams that it was something more.”
He seems to relax more in her presence as he leans back on his hands but keeping his eyes downcast. “Call me a moron because I needed an escape and then the dreams started. In the beginning, it was almost like I was back in my fifth year at Hogwarts when Voldemort tricked me into saving my godfather. But the dreams changed and soon they showed a new world where I could fit in, where no one ever heard the name Harry Potter. I guess I was tired of living the life I had. I decided to go for broke and take a chance that perhaps my life could change for the better. All my life, it had been a struggle and after I lost the last two members of my family to an outbreak of dragon pox, I really felt I had nothing to live for anymore. My friends and I had grown distant. The girl I loved only loved me for my fame and titles. So, I emptied out my family vaults, packed up everything I owned, and then snuck down to where the Viel is and then I walked through it into what I thought was either going to be my death or…or that my dreams were real and I had a chance at a new life away from nightmare that I was living…”
Dailin notices the shock forming on his face as he looks down at his hand. “No. Fucking. Way.”
She is startled as he scrambles to his feet and begins to jump about shouting, ‘he’s alive, he’s alive.’
“Who is alive?” She can’t help asking.
He stops and turns back to her. “My godfather! Sirius Black! He’s alive and…and I need to find him! Fuck! How the hell am I going to find him!? I have no idea where I am, I can’t risk sending him a patronus…”
Dailin tilts her head at his sudden change in demeanor.
He licks his lips as he stares at her. “I need to find him, my godfather, he’s all I have left of my family. Is there anyway your people can overlook this?
She looks into his eyes and decides her fate based upon what the Ter’angreal had shown her of her future. “You’ll have to come with me and surrender yourself to my people, Harry. I’ll do my best to explain how you came to be here. If we meet Amys first, we’ll have a better chance of you being left unharmed.”
“If we don’t meet this Amys person first?”
Dailin sighs. “I don’t know. If I keep myself between you and them, maybe, just maybe we can survive long enough for the Wise Ones to intervene.”
He nods his head. “Not like I know where I am or where to go, so guess I’ll have to put my life into your hands. But, please put some clothes on.”
She laughs as she stands. “Once I reach the tents I can dress Harry Potter, until then I must do I as I was instructed. It is our way.”
Again, she hears him curse under his breath, nearly laughing when she hears he hopes his death will be quick.
HP&WOT
Amys refuses to glance at the eastern edge of the valley where the sun is due to rise. It is now the last day of Dailin’s test and if she does not return before the sun fully crests the mountain tops, she will be declared lost and the Aiel would leave her behind. It had come as a surprise that when Dailin entered the camp with Rand al’Thor, she had sensed Saidar in Aviendha’s cousin; none had sensed the ability in her before she had gone over the Dragonwall. However, once she had been approached and told she would become an apprentice to the Wise Ones, she had not fought it as her cousin had. What had bothered her though is that she had dreamt that Dailin was not supposed to returned the Waste, that she had been fated to die in the lands of the Wetlanders.
Yet, when she saw her, she knew something had changed, that the Pattern had changed unexpectantly. What her future held, not even Amys could foresee, but for her to die here would be a crueler fate than if she had died in the lands across the Dragonwall. Looking down into the valley that held Rhuidean, she is about to turn away to wake both Egwene and Aviendha for their first tasks when she spots movement. Hope and happiness fill her until she sees a second body moving alongside the nude form of Dailin. Even at this distance, she knows that the other person is not Aiel.
“Wake Rhuarc! Tell him to bring his shield brothers now!” Amys orders the attending Gai’shain.
Turning back to watch the approaching Dailin and the unknown person; her lips quirk slightly to see the person next to the returning woman stumble more than a few times as he hopelessly tries to keep pace with the former Far Dareis Mai. As they begin to crest the last of the sand dunes, her husband and a fair number of Red Shields and Maidens of the Spears begin to appear on either side of her and Rhuarc as do several Wise Ones.
“Amys?” Her husband questions as he too sees the approaching pair. “How did this happen?”
“I do not know, but Dailin does not seem to be in any danger.” Amys then turns to one of the older Maidens that had returned from over the Dragonwall and using finger-talk, she orders the Maidens to intercept the pair.
As more than two dozen Far Dareis Mai flow down the dune, she and Rhuarc watch as they swiftly confront the pair. As the two groups stop in front of each other, she is surprised to see Dailin step in front of the stranger and there is some kind of disagreement until the one that Dailin seems to be protecting circles around her and lifts his hands up. She and her husband watch as one of the Maidens ties the person’s hands up and hand the rope to Dailin. As the strange procession makes their way up the last dune, she finally sees that the other person is a male Wetlander.
Dailin and the tied-up man are allowed to approach Amys, Rhuarc, and the Wise Ones unhindered.
Amys stares at a defiant Dailin as she stops a few feet from her. “Amys, I have returned.”
“You have.” She then turns to stare at the man. “And you would be?”
“Ah, can I ask a question first?” The male nervously inquires.
Amys nods.
“Did she pass her test?” The man asks as he motions to Dailin with his bound hands.
She nods again.
“Oh, thank Merlin! Now put on some damn clothes, Dailin!” The man half shouts, half pleads.
Near the entirety of the Aiel stare wide-eyed at the frustrated sounding man. It does not help that her husband quietly chuckles next to her and his slip causes the younger Aiel to begin to laugh openly.
“Who are you?” Amys asks the young man again.
“Ah, I’m Harry Potter ma’am.” He pauses as he looks over at Dailin. “She told me to keep my mouth shut until she could talk to some people that she called Wise Ones…in private.”
Surprised by his honest answer, Amys looks at Dailin who speaks. “I cannot speak of it here.”
Amys stares at the pair and is slightly impressed that the young man shows no fear of being surrounded by Aiel. His face shows nothing except curiosity as he looks around the camp. She glances to see what her husband is thinking and he gives her a look she knows all to well.
Turning back to Dailin and the Wetlander, she decides to give the pair a chance to explain what they were doing together.
“Harry Potter, make no effort to cause violence or we deal with you regardless of Dailin’s defense of you, do you understand?” Amys asks.
He simply nods his head. “Yes.” After a brief pause, he speaks again. “Ah, could I get a glass of water? I didn’t want to eat or drink in front of Dailin because she told me of the conditions she had to obey for her test.”
Amys notices the looks among the Aiel surrounding the man; most seem surprised by how the man had acted for the sake of Dailin. She directs one of the Gai’shain to offer the man a cup of water, which he thanks the robed Aiel before he slowly drinks. When he finishes, he hands the cup back to the woman and again gives her his thanks.
“Ah, what now?”
Amys looks at him as replies. “We will speak to Dailin privately and you’ll be held by my husband.”
He nods in agreement before he turns to speak to his companion. “I guess I should say congratulation for passing you test it seems.”
“I promise I will get you freed Harry Potter, so you may begin your search for your godfather.”
He nods as he turns to look at her husband while raising his tied hands. “I guess I’m your prisoner now?”
“Yes.” Her husband replies. “Come. We’ll wait until the Wise Ones decide what we are to do with you.”
Amys is again surprised by the young man’s aloofness. “Sure. It will give me time to think anyways.”
Amys and the few Wise Ones that had witnessed the encounter escort Dailin to the Wise Ones tent and as they enter, Amys is not surprised to see the tent is beginning to fill. Making her way to Bair and Melaine, she takes her place next to younger woman as Dailin takes a seat in front of the gathering.
Dailin doesn’t speak or seem to be nervous as she waits for the rest of the Wise Ones to enter. It is not much longer when Bair motions for the younger woman to speak.
Dailin looks straight at Amys. “During my first test, I saw myself walking in front of the stone archway that lines the street leading to the Ter’angreal that you ordered me to enter. In my vision, I saw him arrive from the darkness that formed within the stone arc. I…I didn’t believe that my vision would come true, but when I saw him…I knew that…I knew that my future would unfold as I had seen in the vision.”
Bair speaks to the younger woman. “He is your fate?”
Dailin’s head nods once. “I…I and young Wetlander, Egwene, will share him. But there is more that I witnessed during my visions. I am not sure of what I saw, but I do know that he commands powerful abilities that are not linked to the One Power. I don’t know what he calls his power, but he…he was able to do things that are beyond belief. In one of my visions, he was able to call upon fire that destroyed thousands of Shadowspawn. He has the ability to heal wounds that would normally kill. His power is on a scale that I can’t accurately describe. All I know from my vision is that he is a good man but a man who’s past haunts him. When we were speaking, every time I looked into his eyes, I could only see defeat and sadness. However, something has given him a new hope. He mentioned that his godfather is alive. His godfather also came through the stone archway a number of years ago…”
“How long ago?” Melaine interrupts.
“I believe Harry said between eight or nine years.” Dailin replies.
“It fits.” Bair says.
“It does.” Amys remarks. “Dailin, about eight years ago when several candidates were sent into Rhuidean they said they had seen a large black dog running around the city. The dog eventually allowed itself to be led out by a Miagoma apprentice. For a year, the dog lived with their Wise Ones but it was soon noticed that the dog seemed unusually intelligent. The truth was discovered on a moonless night when a Maiden saw the dog change into that of a man. A man with long dark hair that was the same color as its fur. So surprised by what she had seen, she stumbled and the man saw her. Instead of trying to harm her, the man just twisted and disappeared. The only thing the Maiden could remember was a sound of a breaking twig. A search was called for and no sign of the dog or man was found until those close to the Jangai Pass saw a black dog racing by them before disappearing towards the lands of the Treekillers.”
Dailin’s next words shock the filled tent. “In my vision, Harry transforms into a large crow.”
HP&WOT
Harry had discreetly cast a wandless cushioning charm on the large flat rock that the Aiel had placed him on. Whether it was to keep him uncomfortable or just convenient, he didn’t know nor care. The first thing he noticed is that nearly half the men and women, which he hadn’t expected honestly, were armed, and had the lower half of their faces covered by some sort of black cloth. He could only see their eyes and was somewhat comforted by the large number of green, grey, and blue orbs he sees watching him. As he glanced around, he finds himself firmly planted in the middle of several tents, which he supposes is a good way of keeping him from escaping if he tried. Not that it would matter to him as all he needed is one clear space away from everyone to change.
When a shadow falls over him, Harry looks up to the sight of a very tall and muscular man gazing down at him. The man’s stare causes him to ready his trap if the fool tries to enter his mind. However, the man turns to look at the Aiel named Rhuarc and a small women dressed in a blue dress he had not noticed earlier.
“I don’t sense anything Moiraine Sedai. He’s clean.” The man says.
Harry tilts his head. “Ah, what were you looking for?”
The woman in blue answers. “He was trying to see if you were a Darkfriend.”
Everyone near Harry instantly snaps into readiness as the he glares at the woman and then the man and in a low growl. “I’ll forgive you this time as we don’t know each other, but don’t you ever, ever say that to me again. I killed the last Dark Lord I faced and spent nearly four years chasing down his followers who escaped after his defeat.”
“Peace.” Lan says to Harry. “You appeared leaving a place that none but Aiel are allowed to enter. We had to be sure that you weren’t sent here to assassinate Rand al’Thor.”
“Don’t know him. As I told Dailin, I am a traveler with the worst sort of luck imaginable.” Harry remarks.
“And where did you travel from?” The woman asks him.
Harry looks up at the still visible moon reflecting the rising sun’s rays, a moon not of his world, before he shrugs and tells her the truth. “I arrived from another world after I jumped through a portal called the Viel of Death. Seeing as I am alive, I’m going to guess that it’s a portal to take someone to here or maybe I just got lucky and it’s the same world as the man I am looking for.”
“A man who can change into that of a dog.” An older woman’s voice asks from behind Harry.
Snapping his head backwards, he starts to rapidly ask questions. “You saw him? You saw my godfather!? Do you know what happened to him!? Can you take me to him!? Please, he…he is the last of my family!”
The woman eyes soften. “He no longer lives with us. We believe he made his escape to the Wetlands.”
She pauses and looks over at those guarding him. “Rhuarc, cut his binds and bring him to our tent. Moiraine Aes Sedai, Aan'allein you may join us. We believe we have much to speak of with this young man.”
Harry is stunned but he is not going to screw up this chance at freedom.
Following next to the woman who set him free, he asks her name.
“I am Bair of the Haido sept of the Shaarad Aiel. I am a Wise One.”
Harry smiles. “So is Dailin a Wise One now?”
The woman chuckles. “No, she has much to prove before she can be considered a Wise One. Her journey into womanhood has just begun. What of you Harry Potter? Are you a wise one among your people?”
He snorts. “Far from it. Brash. Reckless. Stubborn. Just a few choice descriptions I’ve been called. The last few years though I’ve been a recluse after the death of my godson and his grandmother.”
Harry’s eyes moisten as he remembers the funeral when he interred both Andromeda and Teddy with Nymphadora and Remus Lupin. He refused to lay them to rest with the rest of the Blacks as he felt the family didn’t deserve to have them. Instead, he had all four buried near his parents in Godric’s Hollow. Hermione was the only one to reach out to him after the funeral, but the years apart didn’t bring him any solace in speaking to her. She must have finally realized the break in their friendship and she left him, never to speak to him again. It was pretty much the same thing after his and Ginny’s breakup. None of the Weasleys ever reached out to him.
“Are you well Harry Potter?” Bair asks as they continue to walk.
Nodding, he smiles weakly. “Just remembering those I lost.”
The rest of their short journey is made in silence until they reached a tent. Two simple clothed men say nothing as they parted the tent flaps. Looking at Bair, she motions for him to enter first which he does. Once inside, he blinks his eyes to adjust to softer level of light before Dailin speaks to him.
“Come sit next to me Harry.”
As he sits next to her, she leans over and whispers into his ear. “Tell them the truth about everything, Harry. It’s the only way I’ll be able to help you search for your godfather. Honesty will take your further than lying at this point.”
Harry nods in reply as he is given some food, and to his surprise, a hot cup of some kind of tea. “Thank you.”
The only other dark-haired girl he had seen so far gives him a tight smile before she retreats to where another young red-haired woman is sitting with a pout.
After eating and drinking, Harry settles down and looks over the group of women who have also finished their meals. He then notices a red-haired man who is dressed in same type of clothes like the large man named Lan. He also sees the blue-dressed woman is sitting among the women. Only a few Aiel men were invited to this meeting. Looking over at Dailin, she gives him an encouraging smile before she turns back to look the filled tent.
Harry decides he should begin first. “I wish to say I am sorry for…trespassing in your city. I meant no offense as I had no idea of where I would end up when I carried out my reckless plan to escape my world. I also ask that you don’t punish Dailin for my mistakes. She explained to me that the city is off-limits to anyone not Aiel for reasons she wouldn’t explain, but I understand that I did something wrong without realizing it. So, I humbly ask for forgiveness and I offer any aid I can to erase my debt if possible.”
Bair leans forward. “Harry Potter, if you were Aiel, you would have toh for what we consider a crime. However, after speaking to Dailin as to the circumstances of your arrival, we have decided that you will be set free.”
She stops and looks at the women on either side of her before she turns to look at him. “We do have a request for you.”
“Just ask.” Harry replies.
“What we speak of here is never to spoken of once you leave this tent. Is this agreeable Harry Potter?” Bair asks.
“Agreed.” Harry replies.
Amys speaks next. “Did Dailin tell you what her test was?”
Harry can’t hide his blush as he answers. “Ah, no. I was too busy trying to get some clothes on her. She did however tell me the conditions of her test: no clothes, no food, and no water. That’s all she told me.”
He is relived to hear the chuckles from the women across from him; even Dailin is laughing softly next to him.
The youngest of the three women sitting in center of the group leans forward. “I am Melaine of the Jhirad sept of the Goshien Aiel, Harry. We have decided that you need to know what Dailin’s test entails as it will explain the reasons for our request. You may tell him now.”
Harry glances nervously at Dailin and leans towards her. “Should I really be hearing this if it’s private or a secret?”
Dailin shakes her head as she replies. “For each of us, the visions during our test are different, but they hold much truth as they show us glimpses of our future, Harry.”
The sudden darkening of her cheeks worries him during her pause, but he is not prepared for her next words.
“In my visions; all my visions, Harry, you and I are together.”
Harry stares at her in shock. “Together? Like…like as…friends? Or more?”
“More.” There is no hesitation in her answer.
Again, he is shocked. “I don’t know what to say. I…I have been screwed over by fate too many times to count, so to find out about this…seems cruel to you and me.”
“Cruel?”
Harry’s head snaps towards Moiraine not realizing they could hear him. “Yes cruel. Why the hell should she have her life dictated to her by fate or prophesy…”
“Prophesies hold power…” Moiraine’s tone of voice suddenly reminds him too much of Dumbledore and he snaps.
“Fuck prophesy!” Harry screams out, ignoring the sudden readiness of the women and men. “Prophesy fucked my life! Prophesy saw a fucking Dark Lord kill my parents when I wasn’t even a year and half old! Betrayed by one of their closest friends! Prophesy had that same bastard try to kill me that same night! Prophesy caused me to suffer all my life because of the manipulations of a secretive old man who knew I would suffer, knew I would face a short life, set me up to die because he never told me that I carried a part of that psycho bastard’s soul in my head for nearly eighteen years of my life! I had to let him kill me to free me of the curse of having a part of him attached to my soul! That motherfucker killed nearly my entire family before I put him down like the rabid dog that he was!”
Harry’s fist smashes the ground next to him and continues to seethe at Moiraine. “Fuck prophesy lady. I was the boy-who-lived because I survived the Killing Curse. One hundred percent fatal until me. I was only one to live being struck by it not once, but twice. I was seen as a hero. A savior to them. Yet, those same people vilified me whenever the mood struck them. They even tortured me to keep me quiet when I told them that the Dark Lord had returned after I had to watch a friend get murdered in front of me.” Harry raises his hand to let the sleeve slide down to reveal the scarred words.
“I must not tell lies.”
Dropping his hand, he continues to glare. “No one believed me, and the summer after my friend’s murder, my government, my people, sent a pair of Dementors to try and suck out my soul and my cousin, who wasn’t even Magical, almost died with me, all so they could try and shut me up. They then sent a vindictive woman to silence me after that failed. The woman forced me to carve these words into my skin with a cursed blood quill. And the adults who were supposed to keep me safe, they told me to keep my head down and not to cause any problems. Didn’t work out too good as you can see. So, again, excuse me if I say fuck prophesy. Only those not the subject of a prophesy can live the life they want. Those of who are fate’s bitch, live a cursed life. Neither can die while the other lives. That was my fate, Moiraine. I had to die so good old Voldemort could be killed.”
Harry pauses and squeezes his eyes shut. “I walked to my death. Alone. I left everyone behind because I was the only who needed to die to finish the war. I called for my parents, Moony, and my godfather. My godfather was the only not to show, but I was on my way to die, so I didn’t ask where he was. A part of me figured that he didn’t want to speak to his foolish godson who got him killed because I fell for a trap that I could have easily have avoided if I had just remembered to used the mirror that he gave me so we could talk anytime.”
Harry opens his eyes and looks at Moiraine. “I don’t want Dailin’s or my choices taken from us because of fate or a goddamn prophesy. If she can live a normal life, I want her to live it, free of me, free of anyone except who she choices for herself.”
Harry looks down at the hand that squeezes his. He hadn’t even noticed when Dailin had taken his, so when he looks at her and sees tears trailing down her cheeks, he swallows as he wipes them away. “I’m sorry for yelling. I…I don’t want you to live the life I did. It…it was horrible and I don’t want you to suffer for it. No one needs to suffer what I did, not even you, someone I just meet only this morning, Dailin. I…”
“Shhh, Harry. What if I want what I saw in those visions? What if I want to spend my life with you, what if I do want to fall in love with you, would you push me away?”
He chuckles hoarsely. “You want to spend your life with someone who has never known love? Love someone as damaged as me?”
“Yes.” She whispers into his ear. “Tonight, we will talk and I will tell you everything and you will tell me everything. And afterwards, we will decide what to do, together.”
“Then please get me out of here. I need some time to get my emotions under control.”
“Dailin, Harry. We will speak tomorrow.” Amys says when she approaches the pair. “We can talk tomorrow when and if you feel you are up to it, Harry.”
Harry nods his thanks as he struggles to stand as Dailin helps him.
Turning to face Amys and the Aiel Wise Ones, he gives a short bow. “I’m sorry for my outburst, it wasn’t right to yell as I did.”
Bair smiles sadly. “You have suffered, Harry, more than most. Rest tonight and…”
Her words stop when a bright silver dog bounces into the tent and looks around until it spots Harry.
“If you solemnly swear you are up to no good and know who I am, send the correct reply to me. If you know what to say, stay right where you are and I’ll come and get you. Don’t leave the city.”
When the light of the patronus fades, he turns towards Dailin, blackness rushing in as he feels faint. “Well shite.”
HP&WOT
Sirius Black twists the lord’s ring on his finger. How it came to be there, he has no idea as he had been disowned by his grandfather, yet the ring appeared during a card game and caused him to jump out of his chair. After hurriedly excusing himself, he practically ran to his rented room to get away from the curious looks he was getting from his companions. It took him an hour to go through every possibility of who could have followed him through the Viel. He could only think it was probably one of two people who it could be. If it was Draco, he’d leave him to die, but if it was Harry, he would go and save him.
So, he devised a way to find out who it was and after sending his message, he apparated to a clearing he was quite familiar with to wait.
HP&WOT
She finds him sitting alone atop of a dune overlooking Rhuidean, his constant guard of Far Darias Mei allow her to pass without comment. Tucking her skirt under her legs, she sits next to him.
“Egwene, I’d like to be alone please.” Rand says.
She ignores him and takes the hand closest to her. “Do you feel the same way as Harry?”
He sighs. “Yes, I do now. To hear the anger in his voice, to see that kind of pain in his eyes. To listen to how he sacrificed his life for people who treated him so horribly. I’m doomed to follow in his footsteps if the Karaethon Cycle are set in stone. And…and I don’t want that now. I thought I had no choice, but now, now I don’t want that choice forced upon me.”
“Then we change it, Rand. We find a way to defy the prophesy and damn the consequences.” She says as she lays her head on his shoulder.
They sit in silence for an unknown amount time until Egwene voices her query. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You’ll only ask anyways.”
“Do you regret leaving home?”
“I don’t know.”
HP&WOT
The first thing he notices when he begins to stir awake is how soft and firm his pillow feels. Twisting slightly, he freezes when he realizes that the pillow he had been sleeping on is in fact a person. Gulping, he keeps turning his head until he finds her amused grey eyes staring back at him.
“Hi.” He says with an internal groan.
“Hello.” She responds with a smirk. “Did you sleep well?”
“Ah, yes.” He pauses when his eyes completely adjust to darkness. “Dammit, Dailin! Clothes!”
Instead of complying, she grabs him and returns his head to her naked torso. “Harry, I always sleep nude when I have a tent. Now, lie still and rest.”
Allowing her to return him to his previous spot, he grunts in reluctant acceptance. “So, what exactly happened after I…fainted?”
“Amys ordered a tent to be found for us. Once it was erected, she had the Gai’shain carry you inside to recover. It was while you were taken away that she, Bair, and Melaine instructed me to begin teaching you our ways…”
“Why?” He interrupts.
She begins to run her fingers through his hair at this point. “They want you to stay with us.”
“Because of what you saw during your test.”
She continues to thread his hair. “Yes. Before you object, I want you to listen to me first. Can you do this for me?”
“Yes.”
She settles back so she is lying flat with his head on her stomach. “You should know my first vision was that of your arrival. It was the briefest of the three visions. However, it is the second and third visions that I experienced that caused me to want to succeed, to return and become a Wise One. Harry, please listen, even if it is fate deciding my future, it is a future that I never thought I would have wanted until I saw it with my own eyes. Both of the remaining visions showed me a life with you. A life that before I returned from the lands of the Treekillers were that I would have refused without hesitation. I am…was Far Daries Mei. I had no husband but my spears. I had no family other than my sisters. I had no life other than that of the dance. I thought I would die in battle…then I saw during my test that what I had wanted paled in comparison to what I could have…if only I was brave enough to fight for it. I want what I saw during those visions. I want what you can give me, Harry. I want a life with a husband, a family with children. I want you. I have seen the lengths you will go to see to my happiness and I have seen the power you wield.”
He should feel surprised, but the simple fact that Sirius had changed in front of them years before perhaps explained the reasons of why the Aiel seem so willing to give him a chance to prove himself. Taking a deep breath, he begins to speak.
“If you really want this, Dailin, despite my hatred for prophesy and fate, then you’ll need to know and understand who I am. What kind of life I lived. And why I feel that I am cursed. I also want you to know that I can’t and won’t tolerate not being told the truth of things. I lived a life where secrets about my family were kept from me and it cost me all that I knew. If you accept my conditions, I will give this a try, but I’ll leave if I feel that it won’t work out to save you and me the heartache. Do you agree to these conditions?”
“I do.” She answers.
It is long into the next sunrise that Harry Potter’s life for the first time is told in its entirety from his perspective.
HP&WOT
Egwene is startled when Aviendha nudges her. “More water.” She whispers.
Reacting without thinking, she carefully pours water over the hot rocks to create more steam for the sweat-tent that they had stayed in all night as they discretely listened in on the conversation between Harry and Dailin. As the steam rises to add warmth to the sealed tent, she uses the distraction to wipe away the last of the tears that had fallen as she had been deeply moved by the life that the man, the Wizard, as what males of his race were called, had suffered through. Only the vilest of words fill her thoughts of the adults, who through either indifference or complacence, nearly ruined the life of a man who had given everything he had for a world that, in her heart, hated him.
The fact that Harry Potter had not ended his own life is a miracle by the standards of her own brief experience with the world at large; she is not sure she would have wanted to live if she had been made to endure even a quarter of what he had suffered. He had been tortured, poisoned, beaten, cursed, and nearly died at least a dozen times by her own count. He did die when he explained to Dailin in detail what he had meant when he shouted at Moiraine Sedai what his own prophesied life had entailed. She had seen the shock in the older woman’s eyes when she finally learnt the truth behind the words he had spoken during their initial meeting with the man. To know that Magicals, had the ability to rip apart their soul to try and live an immortal life. It horrified every woman in the tent to know that not only had the Dark Lord that Harry had fought against not only did it once, but had done it seven times. And one of those pieces had accidentally attached itself to Harry the night his parents were murdered. The shard, that once he learned of its existence, forced him to walk alone to his death.
She was thankful that she had not eaten prior to hearing that revelation or she would have lost the contents of her stomach.
Then Harry spoke of what his life had become after he defeated the Dark Lord. A failed courtship with the girl he thought he loved, who began to berate him daily when he refused to embrace his fickle fame. His friendships that faded into acquaintances, then into indifferences, and finally into non-existence once he isolated himself completely after the death of his godson and the young boy’s grandmother. The woman, who was cousin of the man that Harry had asked about when he learnt of Sirius’s arrival, had been the very person who had sent the message that caused him to lose consciousness. She finally smiled when he spoke so fondly of the man, she even thought a Wise One had laugh when Harry explained the few stories he had learnt of his godfather’s escapades and the results were hilarious of his godfather’s amorous adventures went sideways. But the sadness returned at how broken him sounded when he blamed himself for getting Sirius Black killed when the Dark Lord’s return had finally been witnessed by the same people who had been disparaging him. It was partly why Harry had decided to listen to the dreams he was having of a possible new world that did not know or cared about his past, which is why he had walked through the Viel to what he had admitted could have been his death. He wasn’t completely sure that the dreams where just his subconscious thoughts tricking him into ending his life, as by that point, he had given up on wanting to live.
This is where Harry had ended his tale and asked Dailin if he could sleep for a few hours before he knew he would have to face the Wise Ones again. When Dailin asked if she could relay his tale to the Wise Ones, he again shocked everyone in tent that she needn’t bother as he was certain that they knew already. When she asked how he could possibly know that, he told her.
“Ever since I woke up, I have felt something touching the outside of the tent. In my world, the use of listening charms is commonplace; I half expected someone to listen in and it makes it easier that I don’t have to keep repeating my tale if they already know it.”
“Are they still listening now?”
“Yes.”
“Good, then I won’t have to leave the tent to tell them that I’ll be laying with you until you wake. Now move over so I can lie down.”
“You’re still naked!”
“I have slept many times without clothes. As we’ll be sharing a tent from now so I will need to be close to you so I may teach you the ways of my people, Harry.”
“I hope you don’t have cold hands or feet…Oomph. Merlin, woman! Are you always going to be this violent!?”
Moiraine stopped feeding Saidar into her gem at that point and lowered her hands into her lap.
Since then, the tent has remained silent until Bair voice ends it. “To willingly walk to his death…I would name his entire people da'tsang for their actions.”
“Is there anyway to know if he speaks truthfully?” Egwene asks as she pours more water on the freshest hot rocks that Aviendha had added.
Moiraine turns to look at her and her head tilts to one side. “I believe there is one or two ways he mentioned during his tale. Either a magic oath or if he had brought a memory bowl…”
“Pensive. Harry Potter called it a pensive, Moiraine Sedai.” Melanie remarks as she continues to stare into her cup of water. “But would he be willing to swear such an oath to us? He does not know us well enough and we have little to offer in trade for such an oath.”
“Do we?” Bair firmly states. “He is most anxious to reunite with his godfather, Sirius Black. We can offer that man safe conduct if he travels to the Jangai Pass.”
“Even if he stays, he will need to be educated in both our ways.” Moiraine remarks. “It is something that may help all of us towards our goals with Rand al’Thor and Harry Potter. Aviendha and Dailin will instruct them in the Aiel ways and I will instruct the young men, Egwene, and the two apprentices in the ways beyond the Dragon Wall. Before we argue needlessly, the Aiel will have to cross the Spine of the World if they are to follow Rand to unite the lands before the Last Battle. Egwene, are you willing to help me with this? I know you will be training hard with the Dreamwalkers at night and with Wise Ones and myself during the day.”
“I will help anyway I can Moiraine Sedai.” She responds quickly.
“We will need current maps, then I and Lan will do our best to instruct your group to the best of our abilities as to what you can expect from the different nations.” The Blue Ajah sister remarks.
“Then it is settled; once Harry Potter wakes, we will sit him down and find a way to convince him to aid us for Tarmon Gai’don.”
HP&WOT
This story will most center on Harry and Sirius. I will do my best to show the changes from the books if I can or find the need to do so. Also, this will pace faster than the books as well. Even I, after reading the entire series four times, find the middle books very slow. Again, if you see a mistake or need something clarified, please point it out in your comments/reviews. Again, trolls can kindly walk off the side of a cliff.