Chapter Text
Chapter Eighteen: A Lesson On Mystic Souls
Harry was not sure if he was nervous or excited or wanting to rip out his hair out of frustration. While he wanted to see Krinos's school, he did not think that it was a good idea for all of Hogwarts to go to Crystal Rose as well. From the short time that he had seen interactions between wand-users and mystic souls, he knew that there was no getting along between them.
Plus, Harry also worried about what would happen between them once those like Draco Malfoy or even Ron and Hermione opened their mouths and say something that they should not say. Hermione certainly did not know how to keep her opinion to herself when it came to how she does not believe that mystic souls exist. Krinos may be able to keep his temper in check, but that probably was not the same for every student at Crystal Rose.
And with the large number of students that probably attended there, there were certainly many things that could go wrong. And with the demons that Krinos had told Harry about, there were also some life-threatening things that could happen as well. Not that he thought that any demon would be able to get past Krinos and his plants.
But yet at the same time, there was also the opportunity to learn and see such amazing things. Harry wanted to see more of Krinos's nature magic, not to mention finally getting to meet his sister, Melody, with her musical magic. He bet that she could probably sing just as amazing as her brother. He loved music and wished that there were ways that he could listen to it at Hogwarts. Especially since the only music that was at Hogwarts was the Frog Choir and the school song at the beginning of the year. Neither of which was the type of music he thought was actually good. He preferred muggle music to it all. And given Krinos's choice of song, he figured that was his preferred choice as well.
Plus, he also wanted to actually see what the castle looked like. The pictures in the books that he had been reading were not the best. The most he could tell was that it was a very large building with a lake close by and forest surrounding it. But yet it also was obviously different from how Hogwarts looked even if the landscape was similar.
He wanted to learn so much about the magical school and its students. Just from meeting Krinos and Olivia, he already knew that the school produced some amazing students.
The school had their usual feast before everyone was sent off to their common rooms and dorms for the night. All anyone could talk about was the field trip to Crystal Rose. Since almost no one had ever heard of the Greek school, they were all curious about it. And those that did know about the mystic soul school did not seem to be sharing that detail. Probably out of fear of what that bit of information might cause.
The Gryffindor students were all gathered in their common room. None of them could even think about going to bed when there was so much to talk about. Hary was worryingly talking with Neville and the twins. He and the twins had seen the hostility toward mystic souls with their own eyes, from the twins' own mother and younger siblings no less, so they knew that something could and probably would go wrong.
"Okay, I know that Dumbledore is a few cards short of a deck, but has he actually lost his mind," Harry whisper yelled at his three friends. "Why would he ever think that Hogwarts going to Crystal Rose would be a good idea?"
"It certainly can not actually be about helping students learn," Fred says.
"Yeah, Dad and Bill have both said how he has been removing classes since he became headmaster," George said.
"There used to be classes for Magical Art, Alchemy, Law, Languages," Fred listed.
"Spell Crafting, Healing, Enchanting, and even a Magic Studies class like the opposite of Muggle Studies," George added to the list.
"But the classes slowly started vanishing once Dumbledore came into the headmaster position," Fred said.
"As if he does not want students to actually learn anything worthwhile," George says.
"Well, that might explain why he keeps Snape on staff," Harry scowled as he mentioned his most hated professor. "That horrible excuse for a teacher pretty much ruins potions for three-quarters of the school."
"Hopefully Crystal Rose has a good potion professor," Neville says. "One that does not end up becoming my boggart."
"Okay, the fact that a teacher was a student's boggart, a creature that only turns into a person's worst fear, that alone should have raised some red flags," Harry said. "If a teacher is a student's worst fear, then that teacher obviously needs to be fired. Snape should never have been a professor is this is how he acts."
"Why Dumbledore even keeps him around is anyone's guess," Fred crossed his arms.
"He's the only one that even trusts Snape," George pinched the bridge of his nose.
"No one else does, but they follow that old man like sheep that follow their shepherd," Fred says.
"Quite annoying when all your life all you hear is about the 'great and powerful Albus Dumbledore," George complained.
"And then you meet him and all you actually get is a manipulative old man that thinks he's a god," Fred scoffed.
"A manipulative old man that people blindly trust," George grumbled.
"Something tells me that the Crystal Rose students are not going to be as easily manipulated as he would want them to be," Harry smirked. "I mean, have you met Krinos?"
The twins chuckled at that. Krinos definitely had a good head on his shoulders. Plus, he was also very independent and would most definitely never treat anyone with respect until they earn it. You can like him all you want, but getting him to like you back is when things get difficult. Krinos probably only took a liking to Harry so easily because of hearing things about him from Sirius so much until they actually met and he saw that those good things were true.
But if there was also one thing that they knew about Krinos, it was that he took no nonsense from no one. He was one of the sassiest and most sarcastic people that they have ever met, second only to Olivia, who was probably the sassiest person ever born. They had a feeling that Melody was probably just like her brother and cousin, a master of sassy and sarcastic speaking. Magical Britain would probably never survive three people as sassy and sarcastic as the Gardna family.
"Who's Krinos," was suddenly heard by the four boys.
They all jumped a little by the sudden appearance of the three Gryffindor chasers, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell. The three girls were all like big sisters to Harry and they treated him like their little brother. They were probably some of the few people in Gryffindor that Harry was completely comfortable with along with Neville and the twins.
Everyone else was on thin ice because of how they treated him since he got to Hogwarts. Turning against him in his first year because of the 150 points being taken away by McGonagall. Thinking he was a rising dark lord in his second year because of how he was a parseltongue. Not to mention how very few of them actually believed him when he said that he did not put his name in the goblet of fire the previous year. He was so done with most of them since their loyalty was fickle at best and nonexistent at worst.
Katie had been the one to ask the question.
"Hey, girls," Harry smiled at the three chasers.
"Hello, Harry," Angelina smiled back.
"Hey, Harry," Alicia grinned.
"Hi, Harry," Katie gave her usual soft smile.
"How much did you three hear," Neville could not help but ask, having always been one that hates it when people eavesdrop on his conversations, even if it was mostly Hermione that does that.
"We did not mean to hear anything, but he caught the name as we were coming over to say hi," Alicia admitted.
"As long as you did not mean to eavesdrop," Harry says, knowing how much Neville does not like those that eavesdrop.
"So, who is this Krinos you were talking about," Katie asked again.
Harry saw no reason to keep Krinos secret. Especially since they were going to his school the next week, so they would probably meet him anyway. Plus, what harm would there be in trying to make sure that a full-out war between the mystic souls and the wand-users did not break out the second they get to Crystal Rose. And Harry doubted that the wand-users would win given that Krinos alone could probably turn most of them into trees with a wave of his hand.
"Krinos was someone I met the twins and I met over the summer," Harry says. "He was visiting from Greece and is actually a student at Crystal Rose."
"Wow, talk about coincidence," Angelina says as the three girls sit next to the four boys.
"Yeah, coincidence," Harry shares a look with Neville and the twins.
The four of them all knew that a coincidence this was not. Dumbledore was definitely planning something and the students at both Crystal Rose and Hogwarts were simply just getting caught in the crossfire of this very deadly feud between Voldemort and their headmaster. It was definitely not fair for so many kids to be caught in the middle of what was basically a war between Dumbledore and Voldemort, not light and dark.
"So, do you guys know anything about Crystal Rose since you met a student from there," Alicia asked them.
"Well, Krinos told us about how special his school is," Harry says, not knowing how to bring up the whole 'mystic soul' thing.
"Special how," Angelina asked.
The boys all shared a look. Neville was okay with mystic souls, but they all knew that not everyone would be like him and Luna. There were probably more students that would be like Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Mrs.Weasley. Hating on mystic souls for any reason that they can think of. But they had to start somewhere and if everyone just goes in blind, that is when things could go wrong the most.
"What do you three know about mystic souls," Harry asked the three girls.
That was certainly a question that none of the chasers had been expecting. Sure, Harry was not exactly the most normal of seekers that they had ever known, especially given that he nearly swallowed the snitch in his first Quidditch game, but that was still something they never expected him to ask.
"Well, my parents work in the Department Of Magical Transportation at the ministry," Angelina says. "So, I have heard about mystic souls a little bit from them whenever they have to reject portkeys or floo network connections to countries with thriving mystic souls communities."
"I once had a friend that could talk to animals," Alicia admitted. "But my parents took me away from her when they caught me playing with her. They grounded me for a week and ordered me to never go near her or 'their kind' ever again."
"Oh, Merlin," Neville swore.
They all then looked at Katie, who had not yet answered the question. She just shrugged in response.
"I'm a half-blood," she tells them. "My dad is a police detective in the muggle world while my mum is a witch that writes quite a popular series of transfiguration and charm books. I don't know what mystic souls are."
That made sense to the boys. Katie would not know given that she probably had to grow up in a muggle town because of her father's work. And with a mum that wrote books for a living, especially on subjects that did not involve knowledge of mystic souls, she would not have taught Katie about them either. Or even have known that they existed.
"Mystic souls are witches and wizards like us, Katie, but they have different magical cores that their kind get their name from," Angelina tells her friend. "They are born the same as we are, but their magic is a lot more different than the type we use."
"Do they use more powerful spells or something," Katie asked. "I thought that the only way to use magic would be with a wand. Or maybe a staff since Merlin was said to use a staff instead of a wand."
"Not exactly," Harry says. "Krinos, along with other mystic souls, are all born with extraordinary abilities. Mystic souls have powers that range from a very wide range of capabilities. From summoning monsters, to shapeshifting into animals, to controlling time, to almost anything you can think of."
"If you take Krinos for example," Fred started.
"His magic is that he controls nature," George finished.
"Wow," Katie gasped. "That's incredible."
"Not everyone thinks so," Alicia sighed. "As I told you, my parents did not like that I made friends with a mystic soul even when I had only been five at the time. That type of opinion is shared by most of magical Britain. I know it is not the same in other countries, but it is very widespread here."
"Alicia is right," Neville spoke up. "Mystic souls are hated and viewed as monsters by most of magical Britain. But that is really only because they are scared and paranoid because of how powerful they are. There have been a few mystic souls in the Longbottom family, so I would never think that about them."
"The ministry has always been paranoid about those that even appear more powerful than them," Alicia shook her head.
"That would certainly explain about all the laws that are against werewolves, vampires, and other magical creatures that can think for themselves and also do magic," Angelina says. "Even without magic, they are powerful. With magic, they could be serious threats if they wanted to be. So, the ministry does everything they can to take away as much power from them as they could."
"It's pathetic, really," Harry growled. "They are all so corrupt that they think anyone with power wants to take over. They never even consider the possibility that they just want to live normal magical lives and that they do not want to rule over anyone."
"And who wants to bet that Umbridge woman is here to do something about Harry," Fred crossed his arms.
"It is pretty obvious that the ministry sent her since she is also Fudge's senior undersecretary," George added.
"Great," Harry rolled his eyes. "Just what I need right now. The ministry still going after me even after being served a lawsuit for slander as well as a magical restraining order from Olivia."
That certainly made the three chasers shoot their heads in Harry's direction. They had no idea that any of that had happened. But it was not like Harry had given them the full run-down of everything that had happened that summer.
"What," they all gasp at once.
"Okay, this is gonna be a long night," Harry sighed before he got to explaining to the three girls what had happened.
To say that they were furious would be an understatement. The boys were all a little worried if they would actually storm out of the castle to raid the ministry.
Would any of them stop the three if they did? No. Would they grab some popcorn and watch the show? Hell to the yes.