Banished
Author's notes: For those of you who've skipped ahead, some key differences between L'il Drop of Magic's story and mine are that Harry's wand originally doesn't work due to his phoenix feather core in her fanfiction. Since there's no mention of phoenixes existing on the Planet Oss, it seemed logical that the feather may not have been able to serve as a decent conduit, while Hermione's works fine due to her dragon core. I've rewritten it so that his does work, because I didn't think that was very fair. And just because no one has seen a phoenix so far doesn't mean they don't exist. They could just be very illusive creatures, or maybe they live in the distant continent of Sothoros or possibly to the lands west of Westeros. Or maybe it's even more magical due to its exotic-otherworldly properties. Who knows? Either way, his wand is fine, and it'll become pretty important later in the story.
Another change I've made, is to his animagus form. In the original, Harry can transform into a thestral. I've changed that to a black stag, the same as Harry's father's animagus and his own patronus form. And the same as the Baratheon sigil. Make of that what you will.
Harry and Hermione have also developed some new amenities to share with the Stark household. Hermione has contributed to making some gentler soaps, toothpaste, and shampoo and conditioner. Harry has taken up woodworking and brought them various toys and games, specifically chess, go, and cribbage. And together they've fashioned some manual water pumps that caused a great deal of interest among the lords that visited Winterfell for Robb's nameday celebrations. With great difficulty, Harry once even tried to develop a flying broom, but like the Ford Anglia from book two, it has flown away into the distant horizon without a trace.
One more thing, Hermione didn't intimidate Joffrey in the last chapter. I need him to stay on the course for his impending fate and I kind of feel like, while Hermione definitely got a bad feeling from him, it would be too much out of character for her to break into his room and terrorize him that way.
And that's about everything that's been altered from her work. So, without further adue, the proceeding story is one I've continued myself.
Enjoy.
Chapter 14
Banished
Harry blinked slowly, gazing into the bright rays of day that filtered into his room from the window. His head pounded a lot like it had done one morning after he had made the mistake of drinking too much wine offered to him by Theon. What in the world had happened? The last thing he could recall was arguing with Hermione and then…
He jolted, the scene of her wand pointing threateningly towards him popped suddenly into his mind. There was a spell she had yelled and then, everything was black. What had she done to him?
“Careful, boy,” someone said beside him.
Curiously, Harry looked up to see Maester Luwin sitting beside him. The sight of the old healer made Harry immediately worried. What in the world had happened to cause the man to sit right at his bedside in wait this way?
“What—what happened?!”
“You’ve been unconscious for three days now. I’m relieved to see you waking up.”
Harry gawked at him. “Three days?” Then he jumped. “Where’s Hermione?”
Maester Luwin sighed and handed the boy a piece of folded parchment.
On the front he saw his name, written in Hermione’s own handwriting and knew before he had even read the letter that she had gone to the Citadel on her own. He didn’t take it from the man while he looked away, hurt evident by his posture.
“So, she’s gone? She—she left without me? And I bet she did some sort of enchantment to keep me from following after her, so it’ll be even too late to try to catch up and tell her to come to her senses, right?”
The maester paused but then nudged the letter more insistently towards him. “She left us all notes before she departed. I believe there may be an explanation for you.”
Just then Harry felt a burst of anger.
“I don’t know why she even bothered!” He snapped swinging his feet off of the bed and quickly standing up, ignoring the large headrush he got when he did so. “It seems pretty obvious that she’ll do what she wants, never mind who she stabs in the back or who she leaves behind to accomplish it. So, final words seem a little wasted.” He didn’t give the maester so much as a glance before he strode past him and out the door, slamming it harder than intended as he stormed out in a huff.
He couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t believe it. How could Hermione just go on without him like that? Sure, he had seen it as a waste of their time and he honestly hadn’t really wanted to go, but they were in this together. Harry would have stuck with her, no matter what. What else was he supposed to do, after all?
The boy stopped abruptly, overcome by the sudden thought. What would he do now?
True he had suspected the journey to Old Town would be a lost cause, but he had at least enjoyed the thought of the journey there. They would pass through almost all of the seven kingdoms on their way down and would at least enjoy the excitement of seeing far and distant places. Almost like a road trip.
But now, it looked like that wasn’t an option anymore. Hermione had made her choice. She wanted to go home to their world and nothing would stand in her way to do that. Harry wanted to as well and he was sad, definitely, but he had secretly made his peace with this life, figuring they’d try for a few years before eventually just laying the idea to rest once and for all.
He just didn’t imagine Hermione wouldn’t be there with him.
Even when she had been injured after the wolf attack, he couldn’t have imagined life without her. Hermione just seemed to be a constant presence, giving him advice, teaching him the spells she had obsessively memorized from every magical text she could get her hands on, and maybe occasionally bossing him around when it was in his best interest. Now she was gone, and he didn’t know what the next step was.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered, threading his fingers through his mess of black hair, and gradually feeling as though he was about to panic. “Now what?”
“Get lost on your way to the stables, boy?”
Harry looked up abruptly and was met with the sight of the queen’s own brother, Ser Jamie Lannister.
“I didn’t get lost. I was just… lost in my own thoughts.” Right then, Harry realized just where he was, and went red to find he had somehow wandered right outside the guest chamber where the king was sleeping. The kingsguard was obviously here to stand watch and protect his liege. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude on this part of the castle.” Harry meant to turn and leave but the knight stopped him.
“You’re one of those wards from Lorath I’ve heard so much about; Harry something…”
“Potter,” the boy corrected for the man.
“Ah yes, Potter. That’s your name. The Stark children have been singing your praises for the better part of three days now.”
Harry’s eyes widened. That was certainly news to him. What would they have to talk him up to the royal family of all people?
“They've been entertaining the royal family with all the toys and games that you’ve made.”
“Oh, those. Yes, well, just a pastime,” Harry explained. “I lamented the lack of games I missed from home and took it upon myself to make new ones while I was here.”
Jaime nodded, recounting the ones that he had played himself. “Go was quite fun, though I personally enjoyed that chess game more.”
“Oh yeah. That one is very popular back home,” Harry could feel himself slipping into small talk with this man. “Thousands of ways to play. My friend Ron was a real expert at it. Some people study strategies their whole lives.”
“That’s interesting.” The kingsguard chuckled before his eyes narrowed slightly upon the young man. “My sister was curious of you when we rode in.”
Harry nodded to that statement. “I noticed.” Everyone had noticed.
“I think she was mostly curious about that thing on your face really.”
Harry reached for his glasses and adjusted them. “Oh, right. I forget they’re a little strange for other people.”
Jamie’s brow rose slightly, attention still drawn to them. “What is that? Glass?”
Harry nodded. “They’re called glasses, yes. I have poor vision you see, and they help correct it.”
“How very inventive. Where did you get them?”
“I’ve had them since I was pretty young. I went to a doctor… er… a healer, back in my country and he prescribed them to me.”
“Still, it can’t be safe to wear glass over your eyes.”
“They’re durable enough at times. I can fix them if they brake, at least.”
“That must be convenient.” Jamie held out his hand. “May I see them.”
But Harry shook his head, holding his hand up in refusal. “I’m sorry, Ser, but I’d really rather you didn’t. I’ve learned it’s best not to let others handle them.”
Jamie’s hand dropped and he leaned casually against the wall, none too insulted by Harry’s refusal. “I suppose that’s understandable. Whatever would you do if you couldn’t see properly?”
Harry disliked the way the man had phrased those words. It sounded like he had found a potential weakness in the boy, should the need ever come to expose it. Harry felt an unpleasant moment of vulnerability just then. He had heard stories about Jamie Lannister, after all. The youngest kingsguard to ever be recruited, meant that he was a formidable warrior. There was also the unflattering nickname he had earned, which was whispered behind his back in harsh heated tones.
Kingslayer.
Harry didn’t know how to feel about that. From what he heard about the Mad King Arys, he honestly felt like Jamie had done the right thing to kill that deranged man, oath to protect him or not. He would have imagined Lord Stark would feel the same way, especially when describing the way his father had been cooked alive and brother strangled to death trying to help him. For the most part, Eddard was honorable and valiant; the model leader and the ideal guardian when it came to taking both Hermione and him into his own home the way he had. There were only a few things that Harry disagreed with Lord Stark about, and this was one of those few things Harry couldn’t be swayed on. Eddard believed that Jaime had no honor, considering he had abandoned his vows to kill the one he had vowed to protect, but Harry had only been relieved to hear that someone had slain that wicked king in the end, and to him, it didn’t matter who it was.
In Harry’s mind, he pictured someone similar to Voldemort when he imagined Areys, and if someone like Snape or Lucius Malfoy had made the decision to end his reign of terror then and there, well, maybe it would have saved many more lives that way, maybe it would have even saved the Potters. It could have possibly been their single redeeming quality, even.
Harry didn’t think he had any right to judge Jamie Lannister, though plenty of other people did, Lord Eddard being one of them. In Eddard’s mind, an oath was an oath, and even if Jamie swore his allegiance to a complete psychopath, his honor should not have permitted him to stab his liege in the back so easily. But Harry had to disagree. A king should have been held accountable for his actions just as much as any other man. If they don’t do what’s best for the people they look after, then they had no right to a throne.
Jamie brought the boy out of his thoughts just then. “You were supposed to go to Old Town, accompanied by that other Lorathi. Her name escapes me at the moment.”
Harry shuffled uncomfortably, immediately hating that he’d been reminded of Hermione and her betrayal, but Jamie just went on.
“Heard she ran off on her own for it.”
Harry crossed his arms, failing to hide his anger. “Yeah. That’s sort of something she would do.”
“Why didn’t you go? I heard you were supposed to travel together. You were to become a maester?”
Harry wasn’t totally sure if imparting that information to this man was entirely wise, but he couldn’t quite see how he was supposed to politely refuse to do so. “We… we sort of had a fight about that. In all honesty, I really didn’t want to become a maester. Hermione’s more qualified for it anyways.”
“But you were the one accepted. How does she expect to infiltrate a heavily guarded temple like that?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Hermione figured it out. She just always seems to know exactly what to do, after all.” The announcement was said more as a bitter declaration than a compliment and Harry was irritated in himself for not being able to conceal it better. His face went red and he hastened to apologize. “Forgive me. I guess I’m just a little angry that she ran off without even discussing it with me.”
Jamie smiled slyly. “She your girl or something?”
“She’s more like my sister, really,” Harry explained. “We’ve known each other almost forever. We know everything about each other by now.”
There was a face Jamie pulled by those words, one that Harry couldn’t quite interpret.
“That’s probably just as well. Is it true the Stark heir heard of her escape and ran after her?”
Harry jolted with those words. “Robb left?! Robb left to go after her?”
Jamie looked towards the boy with his brows raised in surprise. For sure he figured the ward of Ned Stark would know this.
“Haven’t you heard? Where have you been for the past three days?”
Harry’s face went bright red. Of course, he couldn’t tell this man he’d been under a sleeping spell for that whole time, so he needed to think of something and he had to do it fast. “I… hit my head a few days ago real bad. I’ve been out of it in the Maester’s torrent healing up.”
“Oh, yes. I forgot about your injury," his eyes narrowed at the boy's head, which seemed to lack any noticeable injury supporting the rumor. "You seem to be healed up fairly well.”
“Yes, I have a tendency to heal quickly,” Harry explained, done with their conversation as more pressing matters called to him. “I need to go find Jon or Theon and be caught up on what’s been happening. It was nice talking to you, ser.”
Harry was already rushing down the stairs having barely heard the knight’s farewell if he gave one at all. It wasn’t what he cared about right then.
So, Robb left, too? Robb did the job Harry was supposed to do himself. He was going to escort Hermione all the way to Oldtown himself. He didn’t know why it bothered him, but it did somehow and the boy couldn’t dispel the silent guilt that seemed to weigh on him as he found his way into the courtyard just as the gates were being thrown open to admit Lord Stark and a large party of his finest men.
There was frustrated disappointment in his gaze as he locked eyes on the young man and Harry instantly knew they had failed to bring the heir back with them. The contact was only for a brief moment before his eyes looked past him at another target. Dropping from his horse he crossed the yard to meet his wife.
“I’m sorry. We couldn’t catch them in time. We lost the trail somewhere by the river. Their horses were nowhere in sight, and we couldn’t find any tracks in any sort of direction. Did Manderly at least write back to you?”
Lady Catelyn held up a long strip of parchment, sorrowfully. “I received this from Robb who gave it to one of Manderly’s guards to send it to us. He says he’s going to Old Town with Hermione and won’t have his mind changed.”
Catelyn looked on the verge of tears. Then her eyes caught on Harry. In a single moment she turned towards him in a fury.
“This is your fault!” She hissed at him, jabbing a finger at the young man accusingly. “You and that girl should have been gone together! Now my boy has gone off himself after that ridiculous minx, and her fool-hearted ways are going to end in pure disaster for him! I don’t know much about Lorath or wherever godforsaken place you two actually come from, but if there are more girls like her in the world, it’s bound to lead your country to total anarchy if someone doesn’t set it right already!”
Harry was struck dumb by those words, taking a step back in stunned surprise at the woman’s outburst. By the end, though, Harry had grown rapidly furious. Instinctively his mouth opened, taking in air to fire back at the woman. But before he could even begin to defend his friend and his home country, Jon had put a hand on his shoulder and was pushing him back hastily.
“Don’t, Harry,” the other young man urged. “Just don’t.”
Thankfully, Lord Stark seemed to intervene on Harry’s behalf before he could find a proper argument.
“Catelyn, it was no fault of either Hermione’s nor Harry’s for what Robb chose to do himself. You’ve got to get control over yourself. Robb is a man grown and he makes his own decisions. He can handle himself.”
“At what cost?” She roared. “He goes to escort her to wherever she plans to go and then what? You expect him to travel all the way back alone? Don’t be a fool, Ned! Men fall victim to bandits and killers on the road just as easily as women, and Robb is no exception!”
“He is skilled and has been taught well. I will trust he will return safely because I trust my own methods to teach him what he needed to know. We will wright to the houses of the realms to see that he is received by them on their journey. If he and Hermione are wise, as I know they are, then they will take the safest roads.”
But Catelyn kept going, urged on with her franticness. “I want him gone, Ned! To the Wall or King’s Landing with you—I don’t care! But I will not have him in this home when you leave! He has no place here—I want no more of their accursed foreign ways! With luck, I hope that girl will have some sense beaten into her on her feeble journey for this outrage! Being raped by a band of thieves ought to show her!”
This time, Jon was the one ready to teach her a lesson and it was Harry who now had to hold him back. Catelyn's eyes darted over to Jon and his furious expression, taking it as a threat to her life.
“And take that bastard, too!” She screeched, flinching back from him. “I’m done with all these strays you take in! With Robb and then you gone, it would be the perfect time for him to rear his treacherous nature.”
That was the final nail in the coffin for her. With those words, Harry let him go while just about launching himself at her with Jon, only to have Theon appear in time to hold both of his friends back. “No, no, you two! Can’t go around doing anything you’ll regret to your house’s lady. It’s the lord’s job to get his wife in order, not yours.”
Even with Theon’s intervention, Jon and Harry’s faces were both still red with anger as Lord Eddard turned to take his wife away for a more private discussion. In addition, Harry and Jon were both hauled away by Theon till they were all out of sight behind several closed doors. They barely even knew where they were, until the steam had cleared from their minds to find they were in Theon’s room.
Both of them leaned against a different wall and fumed with absolute rage as Catelyn’s words continued to assault their memories. Harry couldn’t believe her. He didn’t care much that she had insulted him and essentially banished him from Winterfell, but he was absolutely seething by how cruelly she had spoken to Jon and that she honestly wished for harm to befall Hermione on her journey.
He wanted to curse Catelyn for that, and by the look on Jon’s face, he also wanted to do something similar.
Theon sat on his bed between them, glancing from one to the other and sitting in the tension that steadily filled the room with every passing second.
“So…” he began, testing the waters carefully. “Are we all calming down now?”
“Shut up,” Harry muttered.
“Yes, Greyjoy, shut up,” Jon agreed.
“Hey, don’t forget who saved your hides from murdering the Lady of Winterfell out there and getting executed as a result for it.”
As furious as the two young men were, there was no denying that he probably saved their lives by saving them from their own tempers.
Even with that knowledge, Harry couldn’t help but scoff. “What do you want—a kiss on the cheek?”
“Only so long as you dress up as a maid to give it to me,” Theon quipped back. “Though, you’ll have to do it soon. It looks like you won’t have long to give it to me.”
Harry felt his heart stop at the reminder. He locked eyes with Jon with those words. Was… was he really banished? Jon was too it seemed. In a way, they were both in the same proverbial boat and neither of them knew what to think or do for a moment. All they knew was that they didn’t have a home anymore.
“I…”
“Lost for words?” Theon asked, his eyebrow quirked in amusement. “Looks like a pretty bleak future is in store for you both. What do you suppose you’ll do now?”
“Least the Wall has never turned anyone away,” Jon commented as a suggestion.
Harry frowned and instantly shot that idea down. “I’m not going to the Wall, Jon.” He wasn’t about to waste his life trapped and shivering on top of a giant block of ice. “The only thing I can imagine that would be less enjoyable is a dementor’s kiss.”
Both young men looked blankly at him, not understanding the reference. Harry waved his hand and explained. “A black spirit-like creature that drains all of your hopes and joys and then sucks your soul right out of your body.”
Theon laughed. “There’s a comparison for you.”
Jon didn’t find it amusing though. “The Wall is not that bad.”
“Is that what you plan on doing?” Harry asked.
“I guess. Uncle Benjen is a ranger. At least I’ll have some family when I go there.”
“If you say so.”
“What are your plans?”
Harry deflated at the mention. It felt like his options were very limited. “I don’t know.”
“Well, you can’t go after Hermione,” Theon declared holding up a slip of parchment with Hermione’s handwriting on it. “She requested us all to stop you if you tried.”
“What?!”
“It’s true,” Jon confirmed. “We’re not to let you even if you want to.”
“You really think you could stop me?”
“Yes,” Theon proclaimed. “If you try, I’ll get Hodor to sit on you until you vow to all the gods that you won’t.”
“Where’s this sudden loyalty coming from, Greyjoy?”
Theon only shrugged. “Well, I like Hermione and I like the idea of a challenge. And I think of it as the last time she’ll be able to boss any of us around again.”
“Doesn’t mean you have to do what she tells you,” Harry countered, though he was no one to talk. He probably did what Hermione told him to do more than anyone else.
Theon only smirked suggestively at them both. “I kind of like doing what she tells me, and apparently Robb likes doing what she tells him, too.”
“Gross,” Harry and Jon both decreed together, each of them disliking the lewd implications of that statement.
Theon only laughed again. “You both are such prudes. As if that’s not what they’re going to end up doing on their way down through the kingdoms. You know it and I know it.”
“We don’t know it,” Jon testified. “Robb is perfectly honorable and Hermione is too smart to give in to her baser instincts like that.”
Theon rolled his eyes. “That’s what everyone believes. But back to the matter at hand; options? You better pick something soon.”
“Why don’t you go to King’s Landing with, Father?” Jon suggested.
Harry paused. The idea did seem… more welcoming than both the Wall and the unknown he was facing.
“Why not become a knight?” Theon suggested. “Your sword fighting has gotten way better. You can even hold your own with either hand now. And you’re honorable enough for it.”
“There’s an idea,” Jon added feeling excited for his friend. “I bet you’d be a good one, too. That disarming trick you do has gotten impressive enough to get you a knighthood fast.”
Harry pondered the idea. “You… you think so?”
“When was the last time you fought someone who could keep hold of their blade against you?”
Harry tried to remember. It had been a while.
The more he thought about becoming a knight, the more he found the idea appealing. “Do you think Lord Stark would even have me?”
“Why wouldn’t he? He took you into his home after all,” Theon pointed out.
“I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“From what I hear of King’s Landing, he might even ask you to come himself,” Theon predicted. “He’ll have Jory, sure, but I think knowing you’ll be there too will put his mind more at ease, especially with his daughters around.”
“I think I would feel a little better with a brother around to watch out for them, as well, since Bran will have to stay in Winterfell now, being the last Stark left here and all,” Jon agreed, but it was his wording that caught Harry’s attention more than anything.
“You think of me like a brother?”
Jon stared at him. “Of course, I do.”
Harry felt a warmth spread through his chest with those words. He knew that he and Hermione were like family to each other, but he didn’t know that feeling extended to the Stark household until Jon had said so. Most of the time he felt like a charity case, that feeling being greatly shaped thanks to his childhood with the Dursleys. “I’ve never had a brother before.”
“Well, we’ve shared a lot, so it would make sense that I would see both you and Theon as family by now.”
“Wow, me too?” Theon pretended to wipe and imaginary tear away, “I’m so touched.”
“Yeah, har-har,” Jon said, rolling his eyes. “But regardless, I do think that.”
“I see you as a brother, too,” Harry replied. “But I’m still not going to the Wall.”
They all laughed.
“I guess you’ll have to find your fortune south then.”
“I wish I was going anywhere,” Theon said, almost pouting. “Still the Greyjoy hostage for me, it looks like. You two and Robb are going off to have adventures while I have to stay here with Lady Catelyn…”
“I didn’t think of it like that,” Jon realized, thinking perhaps Theon had actually gotten the worst deal out of all of them. “Suddenly things don’t look as bleak for me as I thought they did.”
“I wish one of you would stay,” Theon lamented, getting up from his bed and meeting them in the center of his room. For once his arrogance dropped entirely and he seemed sincerely forlorn by their impending departures. “At the least, I wish Robb would have said goodbye before running off. It’s going to be boring here without all of you.”
“I wish there was a way for us to write each other,” Harry commented. “Back home, households keep family owls to send messages and carry parcels. They’re specially trained, not like the ravens here, so you can send them anywhere, rather than having a specific bird going only from two keeps back and forth and can only be handled by maesters.”
“Well then, train some owls so that we can send secret messages to one another,” Theon declared. “I’ll be in desperate need of some men my own age to correspond with.”
“I’ll try and get on that,” Harry promised, though he knew it probably wouldn’t be feasible. Their owls had been magically trained and he wouldn’t know the first thing about getting the owls here to do what he wanted. But the idea was so nice that he didn’t feel like discouraging it. “Maybe I could send a few souvenirs your way, too.”
Theon smiled. “I’ve heard tale that there’s a shop in King’s Landing that sells candied plums that taste like little drops of heaven.”
“I guess I’ve got no choice then. I’ll see about sending some your way as soon as I’ve got that owl trained.”
“Send me some, too,” Jon insisted. “Anything to look forward to on top of the Wall.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” The lighthearted mood suddenly sobered as they all realized their time had now come to an end. “I guess I better go pack now and see if Lord Stark wouldn’t mind me joining him down south.”
He excused himself and began to make his way back to his room, feeling a looming uncertainty for his future as he walked.