Year 2021, Somewhere in the Himalayas
Daphne's POV:
Daphne Greengrass was currently walking in a large cave that was near one of the top peaks of the Himalaya mountains. Not necessarily because she wanted she wanted to either, in fact, if it were up to her she would never have to have set one toe in this cave in the first place. Most sane person would stay away from here, especially due to the fact that it also happened to be Winter. Even wizards, with as idiotic as they tended to be, knew to stay away from places like this if for no other reason than there wasn't a warming charm in the world powerful enough to stave off the cold she was feeling...Well technically speaking there was probably one person in the world who could make a warming charm that was powerful enough to stave off this cold and coincidentally, this was also the person she was here to find. Yes, Daphne Greengrass known to many as the Hidden Snake for her part in the war and the surprising side her and her family took, was now downgraded to the position of Harry Potter's unofficial P.A.
Daphne sighed to herself at her unfortunate lot in life. She had often wondered why she, a noble heiress turned war hero, had to be the one to deal with Harry Potter and it really all boiled down to the man himself. Harry had one day decided he wanted privacy and that any and all questions for him should go through her first. The prat hadn't even asked her permission before he decided what her new lot in life was going to be! She would have probably agreed if he had asked, after all she was his friend and was well known to have been his left hand during the war. Still, it was annoying to have to take time away from her husband and child to come up to one of the coldest places on the fricken planet just to wake Harry up from his 'hibernation' as he called it.
The cave she was in was not natural and had clearly seen ample use of expansion charms as the ceiling was almost 200 feet high if Daphne had to guess. There wasn't even any commodities in it that one normally needed to live. It was what Harry liked to call his, "Home away from home". Daphne just snorted at that. The prat just liked to be over dramatic and given his condition and...abilities it fit well. Daphne shook herself out of her thoughts as she approached a wall. She wished she could cast a lighting charm but that may cause Harry to wake up...violently. An unfortunate side effect of the war was weird lights near him while he was asleep caused his paranoia to act up. She pressed her hand against the wall and felt the unnatural smoothness as she expected. She walked back and felt around the floor for a sizeable rock. Eventually she found one and she reached down and picked it up. She weighed it and deemed it heavy enough. She reared back her arm and chucked the rock as hard as she could against the wall.
"Oi Potter, you git, wake up!" She yelled at the wall, briefly wondering if people would think she was crazy if they saw her doing this. She waited for a few minutes before the unnaturally smooth wall started to move. Not just move, but shift in a way no wall should be able to move. It became quite clear that the wall was not a wall at all but a huge creature's side that had gotten up and moved to look at her. Daphne soon found herself face to face with a giant black dragon with emerald eyes. Not just any dragon either, a Hungarian Horntail. It was bigger than any ever recorded before from what Daphne found out, though it was thought Dragons had gotten smaller in size over the years to better hide themselves. That being said, it was entirely possible and even thought that this one was the actual original size of the dragons of old. So, of course it only made sense that this was the animagus form of one Harry James Potter.
"Hurry up and change form so we can talk." Daphne said to the dragon. Dragon Harry just looked at her with a mixture of tired and annoyance. Before moving once more and shifting and shrinking back to his normal size. Daphne started to cast lights around the cave to give herself the ability to see now that he was awake.
"What do you want Daph. I was in the middle of something." Harry said with some annoyance as he walked over to her. Daphne glared at the 20 something looking man.
"You don't get to give me attitude after I made the hellish trip to come see you in this cave at the top of these God forsaken mountains." Daphne said with a little more snip in her voice than was most likely necessary. Harry sighed.
"Alright, fine. I'm sorry. It's good to see you even if you woke me up in the middle of my hibernation." Harry said as he waved his wand to conjure some comfy couch chairs for them to sit on. Daphne looked on with some annoyance at the ease in which he did the impressive magical feat but said nothing.
"So...Why have you decided to grace me with your presence?" Harry said as he eased into the comfortable chair.
"The ICW would like to meet with you as soon as your schedule allows."Daphne told him.
"Oh? What is it this time? Are they declaring me an up and coming dark lord or do they need my help crushing another poser?" Harry asked flippantly as he closed his eyes and rested his head on the headrest of his chair. Daphne deadpanned at the uncaring man but continued.
"Oh please. As if anyone has the balls to openly try and declare you a dark lord. Something about being the second coming of Merlin tends to keep people in line. No, they plan to give you a reward." Daphne said. Harry still didn't bother showing any thought to the conversation.
"Are they? And what have I done to deserve such an honor?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"The Dragon Pox vaccine?" Daphne said trying to jog his memory. Harry finally looked at her but he still did it with a bored expression on his face.
"Oh, that." Harry said
"Yes that." Daphne replied back at the man.
"When do they want me to go?" Harry asked.
"I got the feeling they wanted to hold the ceremony as soon as possible. They have been pressuring me for about two weeks now to come and find you to let you know." Daphne said with annoyance back in her voice.
"I'm surprised you didn't curse them and be done with it." Harry remarked with some amusement.
"Yes well we can't all get away with cursing anyone who gets on our nerves. Some of us must rely on tact." Daphne responded blandly.
"Psh lame people maybe." said Harry waving off that line of thought.
"Is that all you woke me up for because if it is then I'm going back to sleep." Harry said as he stood up.
"Well that's the important thing at least. Hermione wanted you to come to her and Ron's place sometime." Daphne said.
"Why's that?" Harry asked.
"Because you're their friend I would assume. I also hear that you haven't visited for quite a while." Daphne said
"That's preposterous, I visited them just…..hm. When was it again. A few months before I went to sleep I think." Harry said.
"Harry that's quite a bit of time. That means you haven't seen them since July. It's the end of December now." Daphne told him.
"Ah. Well I mean we both have busy schedules so it makes sense that we see each other less." Harry said.
"That's true when you're awake but you do know that you're not an actual dragon so you don't actually have to sleep all winter." Daphne told him. Harry shook his head.
"Nah, that's something I love too much to give up. Imagine the most restful sleep you ever had and double that feeling. That's what hibernation is like for me. Plus I work all year I think I more than deserve the rest." Harry said as he spread himself out on the chair in an effort to get more comfortable.
"Well at least try to actually wake up when Winter ends this time. No more mid Spring wake ups, got it? Daphne demanded. Harry grunted in response
"That was one time." He grumbled in annoyance.
"One time too many." Daphne said back. Harry didn't respond but his face soured.
"One other thing….I heard you have been poking around the Veil of Death. Can you tell me why?" Daphne asked. That caught Harry's attention and for the first time his eyes cleared completely as he looked at her. Daphne's job was officially an unspeakable for the Ministry of Magic. Unofficially she also helped quite a bit with Harry Potter and his magical projects. Most of her coworkers knew this so when they had seen Harry poking around multiple times near the Veil earlier in the year, they had immediately asked her what he was doing. Daphne hadn't known what to tell them as Harry hadn't mentioned it to her and had gone into hibernation before she could ask. Daphne herself was concerned about it. Harry never struck her as the suicidal type since the time she had gotten to know him after their Hogwarts years. One thing she would say about him is that he was very lonely. He hadn't been on a date with someone for more than 15 years after he had randomly ended his relationship with Gabrielle Delacour. When asked by the press, Gabrielle said she had no idea why her ex ended the relationship and said it had come out of the blue. Harry had never said why he ended the relationship, even with to those close to him. This had lead to Daphne feeling slightly worried for her friend who spent almost all his time alone doing research for one topic or another.
"Hmm. Coworkers told you I assume? Well I was just doing a bit of research is all." Harry said waving off the topic.
"What kind of research?" Daphne pressed.
"Just some thoughts I had recently" Harry said. Daphne tensed.
"What kind of thoughts?" she pressed even further. Harry looked at her suspiciously before his eyes seem to light up in recognition.
"Jesus Daphne, I'm not suicidal if that's what you are implying. I was just trying to figure out what the damn thing was is all. I mean come on! If I wanted to kill myself, I would just throw a killing curse at myself and be done with it. Throwing myself through the Veil seems a little over dramatic don't you think?" Harry asked as he settled back into his chair.
"Well you're the one being all evasive and weird with your answers. Answer like a goddamn normal person and I wouldn't have been concerned." Daphne shouted indignantly at him.
"Suicidal...honestly. What the hell makes you think I'm suicidal in any way?" Harry asked her.
"Well….you are always alone." Daphne said.
"I do that by choice." Harry said back.
"I don't think anyone sane ever chooses to constantly be alone Harry. Not exactly a natural inclination to have." Daphne shot back.
"Well it is what is okay." He said to her.
"...Does it have to do with Gabi?" Daphne asked.
"Uggghhhh. Not this again!" Harry yelled.
"Well, I mean it's weird Harry! One moment it seems everything's going great with you. You had a beautiful girl who was deeply in love with you and the next moment you break up with her with no explanation and haven't dated anyone since. It's weird!" Daphne explained.
"Okay look… it just wasn't working out. Nothing weird about it, Gabi was great and was everything any sane man would want in a woman but I just couldn't invest everything in that relationship. I honestly liked her alot but I couldn't bring myself to say I loved her. That's all there is too it." Harry finally said tightly. Daphne thought about that.
"Does this have to do with that Ciri girl that Fleur mentioned" Daphne asked tentatively. Harry immediately tensed at that.
"She told you about her?" Harry asked. Daphne just nodded. Harry sighed.
"I… guess yeah. Let me ask you something since we're getting all personal. What was your relationship with Blaise like. When did you know that he was the ONE if you know what I mean?" Harry asked. Daphne frowned in thought.
"Hmm. When I knew he was the one? That's a tough one. I think it was when he decided to cut ties with his family so he could stay with me. That was when I really knew that he was going to be the man I spent the rest of my life with. It also helped that we were pretty similar personality wise. I guess at a certain point, I just didn't want to think about my life without him. I guess it was then I knew that I loved him." Daphne finished. Harry sat with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Do you think you love this Ciri girl?" Daphne asked. Harry tilted his head.
"I don't know. I think that she was the closest thing too it at the very least. I can't tell you if she's the one, I can say that every time I was with a girl of even talk to one, I would compare them to her. How much effort I would put into a conversation compared to how effortless it was to talk and be with her...This almost sounds pathetic how stuck up I am on a girl I knew for 6 months literally 20 something years ago. Which is my fault entirely actually. Did you know I originally learned occlumency just to make sure I wouldn't forget her? How pathetic is that? So now I can't even have the luxury of forgetting her and trying to move on now. I thought about getting myself oblivated just so I could move on but then I thought to myself 'Maybe it's for the best, I mean even if I do meet someone new, There's no way they're going to live as long as me given my whole death issue.'"Harry said as he seemed to almost be talking to himself. Daphne kept quiet as she just listen to Harry rant on himself.
"So...what's the plan?" Daphne asked him.
"The plan? The plan is to keep myself busy enough to not register the misery of my situation until I'm eventually offed." Harry said as he stared right into Daphne's eyes and she could see how serious he was. That was actually his plan to spend the rest of his quasi-immortal life. It was a sad life and the worse part was that Daphne didn't know what to say to make it better. Harry was in an extremely unique position that there was probably no one on the planet who could relate to. Maybe the Flamels but even then, they had each other to spend eternity with and it WAS back to eternity for them as Harry had actually gifted them a new philosophers stone. Another thing that barely any people knew about and no one knew why he had created it and then gifted it to them. To make it worse, he had immediately destroyed the notes afterwards and obliviated the knowledge from his head. It was a ten year side project of his that he had immediately gotten rid of completely once it was finished. It was weird considering how many projects Harry had and most of them he released to the public after they were done. Things like potions and medicines for the most part.
"...I suppose we have gotten off topic." Daphne said awkwardly. Harry smiled at that.
"I suppose we have. You were asking me about the Veil of Death and why I was snooping around it." Harry commented. Daphne nodded and was happy to get away from the grim subject of her friends not so close death.
"Hmmm. I was trying to figure out why someone would make a doorway that just killed you. It didn't really make sense in my head when you can just kill yourself with much easier means. So I started checking out the runic arrays and puzzling together what they meant." Harry explained. Daphne frowned. No one had ever been able to figure out what the runes said as they weren't in any recorded language. It shared similarities with a few latin ones but nothing past that.
"How? They aren't in any recognized language." Daphne asked.
"Well I copied every rune I could find on it. Then I started comparing them to all known types of runes in the way they manipulate magic. After that I compared how they reacted while they were in arrays. Took a few weeks but I think I have a well enough understanding of what the creator was trying to do and I think I know why he was trying to do it." Harry said. Daphne rolled her eyes as she recognized that the prat was trying to bait her into asking more questions.
"Harry just tell me what you found out already." Daphne said with anger creeping into her voice.
"Alright, alright. So basically it looks like the creator was trying to create a portal to another world. I also believe that they originally came from that world which would explain why they were trying to go there as well as why we couldn't normally understand the runes they used. I think they died before they completed it too as it's missing some things. It doesn't specify the world and there's no anchor for the time at which they would arrive on the world. So basically the portal sends you to a random planet during a random time period that is parallel to our planet." Harry said. Daphne's eyes widened.
"So you could go to a planet that hasn't even developed a livable atmosphere?" Daphne asked.
"Hmm. Possibly but most likely no. While it's not anchored to a specific planet or time, it is anchored to ours meaning that wherever you go is still sort of relative to ours. The world you would end up on would probably be similar to ours and the time range could only be about 1000 or 2 years either in the past or future from this position. Of course that means nothing as you don't know the level or rate of advancement of the creatures on that world. You could arrive at the same time on exactly the same type of world and still be in a whole different situation. Fascinating isn't it?" Harry asked after he finished his explanation. Daphne nodded at that. It was one of the most peculiar/useless things she had ever heard of.
"Well then I guess we should have it decommissioned and destroyed." Daphne said as she thought about the annoyance of later explaining this to her colleagues.
"Eventually, sure go ahead." Harry said. As he stood up and stretched. Daphne frowned at him.
"Eventually? Why not now?" Daphne asked. Harry looked at her sheepishly.
"Err. Well I was thinking of popping through it next summer and seeing what I get." Harry said as he shrunk in on himself since Daphne's glare got worse the more words that were coming out of his mouth.
"You whAT?" she hissed at him.
"Well you know, figure my work here is done and it's time for me to get onto some other great adventure. That's probably the best place to start. I know how to make the portal so I figure I'll just go to a new place until I get bored of it and then make a portal and go to another new world. Then it's just rinse and repeat. At least until I'm killed" Harry explained. What happened after that was kind of a blur for Daphne. She remembered she started throwing curses at him and hadn't stopped for a while now. Harry was currently hiding behind a stone wall he kept repairing over and over to protect him from her onslaught.
"I really think you're over reacting about this." Harry said to her from behind his wall. Daphne threw a bombardo straight at the center where she hoped his head would be and watched as the wall exploded and she heard a squawk of surprise from the other side.
"DAPHNE!" she heard from behind the now collapsing wall.
"WHAT?" she screamed back in anger.
"Please stop!" Harry yelled.
"Then you stop being an absolute, blithering, idiot!" She yelled back and sent a stinging curse at him for good measure. She heard a pop sound behind her and saw Harry there looking too good for someone who had just had a wall explode on top of them. She raised her wand to him again but quicker than she could blink, he was holding it in his hands.
"Look Daphne, I know you don't like this but...I can only go around performing miracles for so long before I just devolve into some emotionless husk. This isn't something I really want to do but something I should do before it's too late and I'm not ME anymore. I know this sucks but I'd rather have everyone remember me as I am now then when I eventually go crazy because I have nothing left. It's the best of a bad option. Who knows, maybe one day I'll come back and see what's been done about this place." Harry said as he smiled at her. Daphne felt tears pooling in her eyes. She hated when the prat was right! As much as she pretended he wasn't, Harry was one of her closest friends and she would be very sad to see him go. She had learnt to really appreciate him during the war when she got to know him and all the shit he constantly went though because of the media and their government. The way he had simply powered through all of it and successfully lead a ragtag army of kids against one of the darkest lords of all time. The way he had mastered the way to appear so otherworldly and inspiring while also seeming like a common man who struggled with normal problems like everyone else. He was a rock. That was all she could compare him to. Not just for her but for many. It would be hard for many to accept his leaving. Harry gave her a sad smile.
"Come here. Let me have a hug." He said as he held his arms out for her. She slowly walked over and buried her face into his chest. She let slip a few of the tears she had been trying to hold back.
"Hermione is going to kill you." she said through her tears. Harry laughed at that.
Year 2022, Summer
Harry's POV:
'Is it wrong to wish that people who came to see you off for probably the last time didn't actually show up.' Harry wondered as he looked around the completely full room. He bet that this many people had never even been in this room before today, much less at the same time. It looked like everyone and their mother that was part of the magical community had shown up to see him off. Even people from different countries had shown up. There were even video cameras live streaming him all over the world. He was told that thousands were watching. All of them to see him off. Harry sighed in annoyance. He knew that this was Daphne's way of getting revenge on springing his leaving on her the way he did, which in retrospect was probably terrible. He saw Daphne with her husband Blaise and her 9 year old Evelyn who always referred to him as 'Uncle Harry'. He then looked over at Ron and Hermione who were standing with their little girl Rose and boy Hugo who also referred to him in the same way as little Evelyn. He walked down to them.
"Well this is it." Harry said. As he got to Ron and Hermione. They had already said their goodbyes earlier since they found out other people would be coming to see him off. That didn't stop Hermione from giving him one last tight tearful hug and Ron giving him a side hug.
"You know you don't have to go mate. I mean you could always just stay even if it's just for a little while longer." Ron told him as he himself was letting out a few tears. Harry smiled and did his best not to join his friend and cry.
"I can't do that Ron. You know that. Know that I will always remember you as the brother I never had. I mean that. I left a few gifts for you in your vault. I didn't tell you earlier because I didn't want you to argue but I can't use them anymore so I figure you should have them." Harry said. Ron cuffed the side of his head.
"Prat. You shouldn't have done that. You have already given everyone more than they have any right to ask." Ron said with a smile.
"Got that right." Harry mumbled as he looked at the growing crowd. He had never gotten over his anger and hatred he felt for the masses but tried his best to at least stomach them and put on a friendly face.
"I don't want you to go. Hermione whined as she cried into his shoulder. Harry patted her back.
"C'mon 'Mione. It's for the best, you of all people should be able to see that." Harry told her quietly.
"I...I know. It's selfish of me. I'm sorry. I'm probably just making this decision harder for you. I just… I just want you to know how much I'll miss you. You've been one of my best friend for so many years now. I'll always treasure those years." she said. Harry smiled.
"It's the same for me. Just like Ron, you were a sister to me in every way that I wanted. I wish you and your children the best." Harry said as he gave them one last hug and moved to Daphne's family. There was much less tears being shed here which Harry was glad for.
"So this is it." Daphne said with a sense of finality.
"That it is. I guess you can't really call yourself my left hand guy anymore. I want you to know how much I'll miss you and all the help you have given me over the years." he said as he gave her one last hug. He pulled away and turned to Blaise Greengrass. The man who had given up his family for one of his best friends. More than anything else, that had gotten Blaise his eternal respect.
"Blaise, I know I don't need to say it but I will anyways, take care of her till your very last breath." Harry told the man. Blaise smiled back at him and shook his hand.
"With pleasure Potter. With pleasure." he said as they released each other. Harry gave a final wave to them to before heading up the podium that had been prepared. He looked out over the crowd that was staring intently waiting for him to reaffirm them one last time before he left. Harry thought about what he was going to say and smiled.
"I've never been one for many words as I have always preferred actions to them, so I won't say too much. I will tell you something that an old, wise, long bearded man once said to me. 'Do not mourn for me because this is not really the end but rather me going onto my next great adventure. Many have looked at me, for quite a long time now, to define greatness and I look back at them hoping they at least realized in the end that it was not I that was great but rather the times we all created that were great.' I hope that I at least was able to have created some great times with all of you before I departed. I hope that many will remember me not for the faults that I had, which I assure you I did have, but rather the accomplishments I made. With that, I leave you all for my next great adventure." Harry finished as he turned and approached the Veil to loud cheering from behind him. Seems his speech wasn't too bad for being thought of on the spot. He hoped it sounded heroic enough for a history book or two. He turned and gave one last wave to everyone before hopping directly into the darkness never noticing how the silver medallion he always wore around his neck hummed, and glowed as he did so.
Harry awoke to a face full of grass and a mouth full of bland tasting dirt. He groggily lifted his face upwards and spat the dirt out before reaching for his wand and cleaning his mouth. He checked his body to make sure that his shrunken trunk was still attached to his necklace. If it came down to it, he would need to use it for sleeping and other commodities. Hopefully he would be able to find a nice cave soon where he could stay for a home and lab. He finally stood up and wiped off his clothes as he observed his surroundings. He looked to be in some sort of forest that reminded him a little of the Forbidden Forest except with a lot less magical energy running about. He debated if he should just fly out of here or try to leg it, when an arrow flew by his head and slammed into the tree trunk next to him and embedded into it quite deeply. Harry stared at the arrow while he subtly cast a shielding charm to make sure another one wouldn't hit him. He then stared at the direction where the arrow came with a raised eyebrow.
"If you could not do that ever again, I would appreciate it. A lot." Harry said with mild annoyance as he finally spotted a figure hidden quite well in a tree that had another arrow notched and was pointing it him." The figure spoke in a language he did not recognize. He sighed. He guessed it was to much to expect them to know english in this new world.
"Well it seems that you don't know my language meaning communicating with you is going to suck." Harry said out loud mostly to himself since apparently this person couldn't understand his language. He watched the figure skillfully hop down from the tree and approach him. As the moonlight hit the figure, he could clearly see the figure of a woman. A brunette woman with a lithe physical structure who also happened to be green and wearing virtually no clothes. He had to stop himself from immediately exclaiming and running up to her for an examination. It wasn't easy to squash the researcher tendencies he had developed but he managed to so in this instance as he had a feeling it would get him in trouble. The woman said something else which he just shook his head confused to show that he didn't understand.
"Who are you dh'oine?" she spat the last part like it was a curse so Harry got the impression that it wasn't exactly a nice name.
"Oh you speak English. Or do you call it something else here? Bah doesn't matter. Name's Harry pleasure to meet you." Harry said with the most friendly smile he could muster as he held out his for her to shake. The elf just stared at the hand and then back at him with blank look. Harry withdrew his hand.
"Er right. Anyways, I'm a bit lost, so if you could just point me to the nearest exit of this wonderful forest that would be great. If you also, for whatever reason, had a map on you of the surrounding lands, I would greatly appreciate a look at it." Harry said in the same friendly tone. The elf looking creature went back to glaring at him.
"You need to come with me now." She said. Harry tilted his head and shrugged. I mean she was probably taking him to her leader and if the worst thing that these elf looking people had was some medieval weapons then he shouldn't have to worry about any real problems. I mean he was a dragon for godsakes!
"Okay sure. Lead the way and I'll follow I guess. Oh I never got your name." Harry said inquiringly the girl raised her bow and arrow menacingly.
"Walk." was all she said.
"Okkaaayyy then." Harry said as he walked in the general direction that she gestured towards. She led him like through the forest for what he guessed was an hour or two before finally coming to a structure in the middle of the woods. Harry could immediately feel the subtle enchantments on it that if he wasn't studying the structure so intently, he might have missed. It felt like a mild compulsion that forced people to stay away from this place. It wasn't really directed at certain things though so not quite as good as the ones he could produce. It did however tell him there were magic users similar to him on this new world. He would need to be careful of them.
They entered the structure were he found a small looking community that immediately sent warning bells in his head. For one there was quite a bit woman and female children but absolutely no males whatsoever. This meant either woman of this village and perhaps the entire world did not need to reproduce with men or they simply got rid of them after the reproduction process. He immediately dismissed the first idea as the woman who had brought him here hadn't been surprised by him implying she had seen men before. That didn't exactly fill him with hope though.
"Keep walking." The woman said behind him angry that he had stopped. Harry nodded.
"Right. Sorry about that. Just surprised by your little village here. You don't seem to have any men around. You don't happen to be man killers here right?" Harry asked as a joke but was semi serious in his inquiries.
"We kill trespassers unless mother says differently. She will decide your fate." The woman said blankly.
"Right, doesn't inspire me with much confidence but I wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing I suppose. Where am I going?" Harry asked. The woman seemed confused by his little pep talk before pointing towards the largest hut in the village. Harry nodded and walk towards it while also noting that his arrival had gained a lot of attention. It seemed the whole green female village had stopped what they were doing and paid attention to him as soon as he arrived. Harry was used to people staring so he brushed off the stares and moved to the hut. There was no door so he looked back at his escort.
"Do I just walk right in or should I wait out here until she tells me to enter?" Harry asked her.
"Go in. She already knows you're here." The woman said. Harry looked back and took a deep breathe before entering the hut.
The darkness caused him a temporary blindness before his eyes adjusted and saw a relatively spartan looking room with only one other inhabitant. A woman was looking at him from across the room. She honestly looked like he expected the leader of a group of all woman to look like. Tall with same green skin as the rest of her companions yet silver eyes and hair that clearly set her apart from the rest of them. Of course, she was beautiful as well yet Harry would have been more surprised if she wasn't. He hadn't seen a woman here that could be considered ugly on his walk in. He stared at her eyes and saw her looking at him curiously with an almost serene look. He felt a sense of peacefulness wash over him. He stopped himself from twitching at the subtle compulsion before dispelling it. The woman either didn't notice or didn't comment on him dispelling it.
"I am Eithné. Leader of the dryads in this forest. Who are you dh'oine?" she asked calmly. Harry tilted his head. With his suspicions confirmed, he decided to try the respectful route.
"My name is Harry my lady. I thank you for taking the time to see me as I'm sure you're usually busy with village matters. I was trying to explain to the person who escorted me here that I am a little lost and was hoping someone could point me to the nearest point of civilization so I may buy some supplies and get out of your hair." Harry said as he gave the regal looking woman a slight blow. He made sure to stay tense while he did so though. Despite her regal appearance, she also gave off the sense of a warrior and it would be terrible if he offended her and she started to try and use him as target practice. He could deal with it but he'd rather not. Plus there was something nagging him about her. Actually about this whole little village nestled in the forest. It sounded familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.
"I see. Do you know where you are?" she asked softly. Harry shook his head at that.
"I'm afraid not. I woke up only an hour or two earlier in the middle of this forest on the floor with no idea how I got there." Harry said. It was technically a lie but he was a pretty good liar so he wasn't concerned about being caught.
"You are in the forest of Brokilon where I am the ruler." she said in what appeared in an attempt to probably jog his memory. Unfortunately it did. Harry's mind went blank at the name for it was one he knew well enough. How many times had he gone over the memories of his time of with her? How many times had he reviewed everything she had told him of her past? One particular part of her past in this case, where she lived in a forest called Brokilon and was raised by Dryads. He squashed his hope and forced himself to not get excited about this new bit of information. Yet.
"By chance...is this a forest just North of the kingdom of Cintra?" Harry asked with as much monotone as possible.
"It is." the woman confirmed.
"And would you happen to be a dryad?" Harry asked with his excitement hitting new levels barely being contained inside him that he barely remembered that she had already told him that.
"I am." she said calmly but he felt he detected what might have been a hint of amusement in her answer.
"One last question if you would humor me my lady?" Harry asked trying so hard to contain himself.
"Go on." she said giving him permission.
"Thank you my lady. Would you perchance know the current year?" Harry asked. The woman seemed to frown in thought.
"Time is something that is much harder to judge here in Brokilon as we have no need to measure it. I believe your people say it's the year 1157." The woman said. Harry's face went blank at that.
'1157...That means she won't be born for another hundred years nearly, which means I didn't go too far forward and haven't missed her. I'll….I'll be able to see her again!' Harry thought. He could no longer contain it. He shot into the air and roared with triumph.
"YES!"