The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 13 November 2009

Chapter 46: The True Pureblood Ways

As Severus now had the attention of everyone around him, he addressed the young five men. "Gentlemen, we are going to learn Occlumency. There is an immediate need for some of you to learn it and I want to teach it only once. Every one of you has some basic knowledge and or ability, so this will not take long. I know you three," he pointed to Harry, Reg and Remus, "know what I mean when I say we will be spending time in the training room on this level." He then turned his attention to Snape and Malfoy, "Before we begin, you should know, if this does not work or I find out you are here under false pretences, you will be obliviated and immediately portkeyed out of here. Do I make myself understood?"

Malfoy looked at Snape and both men, not showing an ounce of emotion or surprise, nodded and said, "We understand."

Severus continued with his lecture. "I trust I won't have to tell you how... displeased... I would be to find out you are here to get information for..." Severus paused as he looked for the words Harry used earlier, "What's-His-Face."

"Earlier you implied that you do not follow Dumbledore," Harry snorted, but Lucius ignored him, "and we know you don't follow the Dark Lord. Who do you follow?"

Severus looked pensive for a moment and then broke out into a grin. "We follow the old ways of Merlin." With that cryptic statement the room fell silent.

Fifth Born appeared in the floo with a small bag in his mouth and slithered over to Severus. After putting the article down, he hissed. **"Master, here is your time turner. Mistress Becca asked if you need anything else?"** Fifth Born informed him.

**"Yes. Ask her to have the portrait of Salazar Slytherin moved to the first level training room. Then you can tell the rest of The Seven that we are traveling back in time a few days and they should come with us. Except Seventh Born, she should stay with Becca. We will be using the time turner to travel so it won't be like before. You will be staying with us in the first level training facilities."** Severus told the snake.

**"Yes, Master."** The snake replied and slithered back to the floo to return to the Prince quarters and speak with Becca.

Harry, raised an eyebrow at Severus for an explanation. Severus, hissed to his mate. **"I didn't want the other two to know about the portrait till after we begin training and I can read them more thoroughly."** Harry nodded his head in understanding.

A few minutes later, a house elf came with overnight bags for Severus, Harry and Regulus. Severus declared them ready to begin. "We will be going back three days to make sure we have enough time. Once we enter the training facility, we will not be able to come out until we have completed our assigned training up to the three days. Does everyone understand?" All five men nodded in response. "Good."

First Born came through the floo, and then as he removed his body, the floo flared again to emit Second Born. As the remainder of The Seven came into the room (except Seventh Born), Snape and Malfoy looked decidedly ill.

"Don't worry, gentlemen," Severus said, "they won't hurt you. They are our familiars and stay with us at all times. You don't need to worry unless you attack us." But worry was just what Severus wanted them to do. He wanted to keep them in line until he was sure they were going to 'join their side'. He knew Snape was already tired of being Voldemort's whipping boy, but he wasn't sure about Lucius. He was always such a die hard when it came to blood purity, but that could have been a front so he, too, wasn't Voldemort's whipping boy. It also could have been to protect his family. Severus just hoped they would be receptive to all the training he had in store for them.

As he led them back to the receiving area and down the corridor to yet another set of rooms, the others followed in silence. They were a funny group with six men and six snakes. Only two of the snakes were being held. First Born was around Harry's neck and Fifth Born was around Severus'. The remainder of the snakes was following the men down the hall. Regulus, who was starting to get used to having them around, ignored them, but the other men (especially our favorite Death Eaters) kept looking back to see what the other snakes were doing. It was almost like being at a meeting where Nagini always slithered around and she was not a basilisk. They hoped they were not making a mistake.

As Severus reached the end of the corridor, he opened the door and announced. "Now is the time to back out if you want to. After this door shuts it will not open for three days." He took out the time turner and encompassed all six men with it's chain. Next thing they new it was three days ago. As they walked through the door then came into what looked to be the common room. There were several squashy chairs and the sofa with low tables scattered about.

"Through the door to our left is the living area where the dining area is and the bedroom suites, and to the right is the door that leads to the training room or classrooms. This part of the manor is not for dueling. The other training rooms are on the second level."

"What level are we in now?" Lucius asked. He realized this place was much larger than he first imagined; maybe as large as Malfoy Estates.

"We are in the first level. There are three levels to this facility." Harry responded to his query.

Lucius wondered just how big one level was. He looked around the room. It was furnished with expensive, well made furniture. Most of it was more modern, but there were several old antique tables you would find in most pureblood homes. The room was comfortable though, nothing severely ornate. It was a relaxing room set up more for study than to entertain people. There were several book shelves packed with old tomes and he wondered if they would be studying from the books. Some of them were quite old.

Severus and Harry with Remus and Reg had gone to look into the bedroom suites so they could pick out their rooms, but the other two were in the common room looking around.

When the four men returned to the common room, they saw Malfoy and Snape perusing through the tomes on the shelves. Severus interrupted them my asking them to sit down.

"There is one thing I need to tell you about this area. One, you will not reveal anything about this room to anyone else, not even your wife Malfoy. The function of this room remains hidden." Severus said sternly.

"What are you talking about? It's a room like any other, isn't it?"

Harry snickered and Severus gave him a quelling look to stop him. "This room is a time displacement room. One hour outside this room equals one day inside this room. We actually can be in this room for seventy two days instead of seventy two hours in a three day period. I believe you gentlemen have already experienced that kind of time lapse."

"Is this the same rooms we were in before? We spent the night and over half a day here and then arrived at my residence only three hours after we left to meet with Lupin?

"That is correct."

"I didn't know that kind of thing was possible. Are you going to build these too?"

Severus smiled and said, "No, we don't have plans to have these kinds of rooms available to anyone else. They are too dangerous in the wrong hands and if everyone knew about them we would lose our advantage."

Lucius nodded that he understood but then asked, "How soon are you going to offer the mini floos? I would like Malfoy Manor outfitted as soon as production begins."

Of course he did, Severus thought, he has to have everything first. "We have a crew that will be outfitting another home soon so that they will be our spokespersons. There are several crews that will be working on this project after the holidays. Your house can be outfitted at the same time. I must warn you though, the construction crew is mostly made up of goblins and we will not tolerate any discrimination against them. Of all magical creatures, they are the best builders and warders to be found. Don't give them any problems if you want your house fitted with the mini floo system."

Lucius raised one elegant eyebrow at the man as if in disbelief. He had never had a goblin in his house before except when coming from the bank with some papers.

"You do know that this may cause a problem with some of the older families wanting this installed. They may not take too kindly to having those creatures in their homes." Lucius felt he should caution him.

"Then they will be on their knees to talk to others instead of standing or sitting in a chair in comfort to speak in the floo. We will not give this job to wizards. They lack the skill necessary for the rune work built into the floo. There are a few wizard apprentices, but they aren't trained yet and we have to be cautious in whom we place our trust." Severus informed him.

"You place your trust in goblins instead of wizards? That is a little unusual."

"We have a mutually beneficial arrangement. They will not break our trust if we don't break theirs."

Lucius nodded again in understanding. This was indeed the way that the goblin nation believed. He could see the man's point.

Severus could see that Lucius was thinking about what he said. He needed to move on to the training, they were going to need all the time they could get to teach them to occlude Voldemort.

"We can discuss this later. Right now we need to get settled and start on your training." Severus then remembered the two men didn't have clothes to put into their rooms. The others had claimed their rooms by putting their overnight bags in them. "Seamstress Sissy!" the man shouted and in popped a little elf with a tape measure around her neck and scissors in her hand.

"Good afternoon, Master Prince. What may I do for you today?" The little elf asked. She was dressed in overalls with the Prince Conglomerate crest on the front of her bib. Her hair was sticking out all over the place but she had a smile on her face.

"We need your help. I need several changes of clothes for these two gentlemen. They will be staying here for a while."

"Yes, Master Prince." Then Seamstress Sissy pointed her finger at one of the men and a parchment appeared with the measurements of the man. Another spell and the other man's measurements appeared on another parchment. "I will have them ready in a few hours. What kind of clothes did you need?"

"Mostly casual, a few days worth, but one set of dress robes and one set of silk everyday robes and night time clothes too. That should be enough for their time here." Severus heard Snape start to protest, but strangely enough Lucius shut him up. It was customary in wealthy pureblood families to provide clothing or other needs for their guests if an unexpected visit arose. It was not always new clothes, but he knew Snape could use them. Just because Severus was surrounded by wealth now, didn't mean he forgot how he lived at this age, trying to find work and study for his Potions Mastery at the same time. Even now, standing next to Lucius Malfoy, Snape looked like the pauper he was, and out of place. Severus was hoping to change all of that.

"I suggest you find a room you will be comfortable in and freshen up before we begin. I will have tea brought to the dining room." Severus directed everyone.

An hour later they were sitting down to tea and Severus handed everyone a book on Occlumency and Legilimency. It was a book he found amongst the others Becca brought that was written by him in the future. Of course he would be the only one that could write a competent book, he thought smugly.

"This book has not been available before. I suggest you read four chapters before retiring tonight and practice the exercises in here. We will begin the real practical part of learning tomorrow. I want to go over our time table today."

"Sev, where did this book come from? It would have helped when I was taking lessons last year."

"Becca had it; it came with her and was not available when we started your training in fifth year."

After speaking softly with Harry, Severus addressed the other young men in front of him. "Let me first explain how this room works. It is a time displacement room. It is warded and sectioned off to itself. It is made by layering runes and other symbols of long forgotten time magic. Every hour in here is 2 and one half minutes outside, and in here 24 day equals 24 hours. I am sure you gentlemen can do the math. We have the option of taking 72 days to learn this branch of Occlumency. I suggest we don't waste it."

Severus paused in his explanation to make sure everyone understood. The more they understood now the fewer questions later.

Lucius seemed to have caught on as he asked, "I thought Time Magic could only be done by Time Spirits and there has not been one of those in almost a millennia. How did you find it?"

"We didn't find it, it found us. I can say no more about this. It is what it is and that is how we can train you to protect yourselves and us in the process." Severus looked the remainder of the group in the eye then asked, "Are there any more questions?" As they all shook their heads no, the professor continued on to the next subject.

"Occlumency is the art of shielding ones mind from the penetration of Legilimency. It is a structured discipline to build shields around ones thoughts and memories. Double Occlumency, is similar, but it allows for images to be seen. The idea is to have two sets of shields and two sets of images. One set, the true set, is buried deep within the occluding walls, the other; the false set is buried behind weaker walls to give the Legilimens a false sense of security. One wall is to be broken down with some resistance; the other is not to be broken under any circumstances."

"Harry, help me demonstrate." The young man got up with his wand ready. "First Harry, close your eyes and concentrate on the magic flowing around you... Then pull back on the magic and rein in some of that power." Harry nodded, his eyes still closed. "Now hit me with an aguamenti." As Harry threw the spell at Severus, the older man threw up a protection charm.

"Now gentlemen that is the true image to be hidden." Severus asked.

"Wait a minute; it was you, in Diagon Alley! You and the others that threw up Merlin's shield!" Lucius' aristocratic facade actually cracked for a minute. Severus smiled at that.

"That was not the point I was trying to make, but yes we are the people that were attacked in Diagon Alley before Christmas."

"Now, the point I was trying to make was this is the memory to bury deep behind your walls, but to keep this memory from being known to others, trying to delve into your mind, on the surface you should make a similar memory. For example, Harry threw a curse and I was drenched from head to toe." Severus once again looked at the five men in front of him. "The idea is to bury the true memory behind both shields and it will be impossible to access, while keeping the semi false memory easier to access. It is always easier to hide a lie if it is partially the truth."

As Severus paused in his teaching, Seamstress Sissy popped in to hand him the two bags of clothing for the two men. Severus hadn't realized how long they had been at this and gave everyone a break for the remainder of the evening.

The five students and one professor, continued like that for twenty four days. After that they started to evaluate how they were doing. One third of their time was up and they were making remarkable improvements. Some more than others, but that was expected as some of them already knew the subject.

Harry by this point had the whole concept down. Of course he had trained with Severus before, but for some reason he really had mastered it before the week was out. He was now helping Severus train the others and no one, not even Lucius, complained that the youngest member of their group was teaching instead of learning.

In the second twenty four day period they practiced layering the same memories one on top of another one and how the mind could remember the same thing in different degrees. Again Harry got this immediately and helped Severus with the others. When they broke up into groups of two, Severus working with Snape and Malfoy and Harry working with Reg and Remus then switching to give them a different approach it really put the men through their paces. By the end of every evening, all six of the men were tired and had no problems falling asleep.

By the end of the second twenty four day period Severus declared them competent in the art of Occlumency, but they still needed to practice their discipline. He was excited that it hadn't taken longer for them to finish, so now he was ready to introduce them to the next phase of their training.

What exactly is the pure blood way?

All six men were in the common room talking or reading. Severus had called them to be there but they were waiting for something. They were dressed in their best dress robes but they didn’t know who or what they were waiting for.

Severus tapped the portrait frame on the wall with his wand. A few minutes later, a man entered and stood watching the others. They apparently hadn’t noticed him yet and he took the opportunity to observe the men he was about to address. They all appeared to be pureblood wizards. This was the first phase of introducing the true pureblood ways to the rest of the world. He didn’t know why he was asked, except that most of these people were from Slytherin House and he wanted to see what his house was producing.

Lucius was the first one to notice the portrait frame was now filled with someone. Upon further inspection, he nudged Snape to get his attention so the two of them could identify the newcomer. Snape gasped and rose from his seat. The others focused their attention and then realized Salazar Slytherin had arrived. They all rose to greet him formally. Lucius was the only one who had a hard time recognizing him.

"Greetings, Lord Slytherin. It is quite a pleasant surprise to make your acquaintance." The future potions master bowed in front of the frame then stepped back to let the others greet the great man. As each of the other men greeted the portrait formally, Harry at the end of the line just said, "Hey Sal, nice to see you again so soon." He then realized it was not until tomorrow that they would actually meet the portraits in the second level training room. "Oh, sorry, I guess our other meeting hasn't happened yet." Then he used the greeting the others used and stepped back.

Salazar had an amused sparkle in his eyes as he looked at Harry. "Don't worry Harry, I know you used a time turner but I have the information from our last visit. It has something to do with the time displacement runes used in the room. I remember you command The Seven, are they here now?"

"Seventh Born is going to be so mad at me, I told her the next time we met with you she could visit, but the remainder of The Seven are here." Harry started looking around for the snakes in question. "First Born, where are you guys?" Harry hissed around. They started coming closer, a few entering the room from the living quarters and the others from around the room. Second Born was under the sofa, while First Born was under a table right next to were Malfoy had been sitting.

"Hello, Seven, or maybe I should say six since your sister is not with you. I am the master of your mother. It is a pleasure to meet you. How are these humans taking care of you?"

"We are most fortunate to have these humans. They are not like the evil student that killed Father and made Mother do bad things. These humans help people to save our magical world." First Born informed the great wizard.

"Well, you keep and eye out and let me know if anything strange starts to happen. I will be most interested to see how things turn out." Salazar spoke to the snakes.

"Now gentlemen, pull up some chairs facing me and sit down. We are going to have a history lesson and learn about the old pureblood ways. This world has shifted so far away from where it is supposed to be, it will take all of you and more to get it back to the way it should be." Salazar then took a seat in his own portrait and prepared to tell the story.

As the older wizard settled comfortably into his frame, he turned to his students and asked, "Now, does anyone have any questions before we start?"

Lucius raised his had slightly, feeling like a schoolboy instead of a Lord in his own right. "I though the Dark Lord was a direct heir of yours. Is that not true? He proclaims to be the heir of Slytherin."

"Although he may be descended from me, he is not my heir. Because of a prophecy and the insight of a seer, I had declared long ago that Harry is my magical heir; he and another child that is yet to be born. The downfall of our world is coming and without some intervention we are all doomed, so we are here to help those that have been chosen. We arranged for our portraits to be available to the right people in this time."

"What do you mean by ‘we’?" Snape asked.

"Why the founders of course. You didn't think I was the only one here, did you?" The only response from Lucius and Snape was the raised eyebrow expression and the closely controlled facial features. Snape turned to Regulus, who just nodded his head that this was true. Everyone then again focused on the portrait.

"No more questions?" Salazar waited a minute. "Good, let's move on. Please let me tell the history and then save your questions for the end of the session. We will be going over this for the next week or so and I am sure the others will come and fill in from time to time." Salazar assured him.

"In the beginning there was a great power. From his own essence he took and created a feminine counterpart with all his powers and abilities. These were the first of the Gods and Goddesses. The great power and his counterpart were very happy together and wanted to create more happiness. They separated light and dark so now there was day and night. They worked in the day and rested at night but saw that night was unprotected. Out of the earth, they created creatures of all kinds, some were for the light of day and some were for the dark of night, looking over what had been created and keeping it safe. The great power and his counterpart were happy. Then the great power gave one last gift to his creations. The power of free will. The power to choose right from wrong and how they wanted to live their life."

During the night the dark creatures roamed the earth and kept watch, sleeping or resting during the time of light. During the day, the light creatures kept watch, sleeping or resting during the time of dark. During the dusk and dawn when light took over dark or dark took over light, all creatures were able to get together for great feasts and companionship with one another, neither one serving the other any more than the other served him. All taking care of the hidden magical world in which they lived.

After a fashion, the creatures wanted to spread their happiness and started to come together to create life and give birth. Many were soul mated and lived long and prosperous lives. Creature with like creature and human with like human. All was well and the great power and his companion were loved by all beings.

The humans and creatures gave themselves names for their particular species. The men and women were witches and wizards, and then there were vampires, goblins, werewolves, elves, mer-people who kept the oceans safe. Within each of these species, there were other sub sets such as high elves, light elves, dark elves, alphas, packs. There were also other creatures, ones with out power such as cattle, fish, sheep and others that were for food.

As their family grew and the great powers grew older, they needed help. The smallest of the elves were less powerful than the others and actually liked helping their fellow creatures most. Their bodies were not as strong and their power was weakening with each generation. It was feared that they would die out and be no more. The great power, saddened by this news, told them "If you bond with us and pledge yourself to us, we will be able to protect you and share our power. You will work within our homes and in our businesses. The elves agreed and went to the great power for his help. The great power created a ritual and bonded with the elves that had come to him. As soon as the bond was finished the grey pallor of the elves left and they were immediately stronger. So, thus, house elves were created.

Over many generations, they looked after the great powers and their children and helped keep them happy and healthy. They served them by cooking and cleaning and helping where they were wanted. They stayed healthy under the protection of their masters and served them well. Other wizards started to go to the great power for their own elves and the whole community started to thrive once more.

There came a time, much later, that the human bodies of the great power and his companion grew old and weak. The great power wanted to move on to the next great adventure and the companion with him. They gathered all their creations together and told them it was time for them to leave but the gifts that they were given, were for all time. Their work, rituals and research on the beginnings would be left with the two oldest children Merlin and Morgan as they were also bonded as soul-mates and could follow all the old ways.

"Our human bodies are weakening and it takes more power every day to sustain them. We will be leaving you very soon. Remember your gift of free will and that free will was given to all in the beginning of time. You must care for your fellow creatures and not bring harm to them. Live in peace and harmony. We love you all and if there should be a bad time, rest assured we will still be with the earth and sky to help you through it. Goodbye all." With that said both the great powers were taken by the wind and earth and their power was imbued into the ground and sky as the powers could cover the earth and help protect it forever.

After the great powers disappeared, there was chaos all around; everyone was distraught and saddened about them leaving. Some even felt abandoned because they left.

The wood nymphs, spoke first saying "Wait, we can feel a new power in the earth. The ground is charged with power. Just stop wailing and feel!!!

The dragons and griffins and birds roared from the sky "We can feel the new power in the air. They are still here!"

The phoenix trilled from the heavens, “There is a new birth and greater power in the universe!”

As the years past and the older generation died off, the children of the children of the creatures formed by the great ones drifted from the old ways and forgot the old lessons. A new evil was born from the depths of greed and jealously and started to take hold of the world. Some humans thought they were better than the creatures that protected the earth and so the other creatures went into hiding, keeping their powers to themselves and stopped teaching and learning with the other species. Each hiding into their own kingdom with their own royalty and servants.

The wizards became of the mind that they did not need the other creatures and would not live with them. The only ones left to help the wizards were the house elves still bound to the humans and dependent on their magic to stay healthy and strong.