I am consistently amazed at my readers. Even now, with updates scarce on the ground I still get messages saying that somebody new has favourited this, or put it on alert or reviewed it. This month alone I've had readers. You guys are wonderful, and you really deserve somebody who updates far more frequently, but I promise I'll try to be better.

This chapter contains what I hope will be one of the few significant timeskips. I hate employing them because it feels like cheating, but I am also quite bad at writing small children so I'm quickly progressing to older children.

Disclaimer: As ever, Narnia belongs to the estate of C.S Lewis. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling.

It wasn't until the next summer, when Harry was five and a half, that the Pevensies had to go off again to fight. This time Susan decided that she would stay behind, since the sighting had all been minotaurs which meant that archers would not be as useful – that and what had happened last time all four of them went off still weighed on her mind. During the week and a half that Peter, Edmund and Lucy were away she made sure to play with Harry more and to keep a constant eye on him. When they came back their entire force was still alive and they had added a number of minotaurs to it. Youngsters were grabbed by the nearest parent, or whoever was looking after them, and forced away from the group heading up the main street, many ducked into houses or down into alleys and the news that they were being attacked by Minotaurs who had the royal family hostage reached the castle within moments.

When the small force arrived back at Cair Paravel they found themselves met with archers waiting on the ramparts. Susan stood at the heart of the archers, her own bow drawn.

"You betrayed us," one of the Minotaurs bellowed, his hand going to the axe slung across his back.

"Susan!" Peter shouted up, "stand down, they're friends." Susan held up a hand and the bows went down, arrows loosening but no one was quite ready to put them away. She disappeared, obviously hurrying down to the ground floor and after a few moments the gates opened. Harry stood next to her, face glowing with happiness and the three other Pevensies dismounted so they could greet him with hugs.

"Susan, Harry," Edmund began, "we'd like you to meet Asterion and his friends," the Minotaur who'd shouted gave a little half-bow.

"Hallo," Harry walked over to stand in front of the minotaur and offered his hand unafraid, despite the fact that the minotaur was at least twice his height, "I'm Harry," Peter and Edmund couldn't help their hands straying towards their sword hilts when Asterion reached out and very carefully shook the little boy's hand. Harry's entire hand couldn't fully wrap around even one of the Minotaur's thick fingers but they managed.

"It is good to meet you Prince Harry," Asterion said in a deep rumble

"How did we come to ally with Minotaurs?" Susan said to Peter quietly

"We'll tell you all once we're inside, it's a rather good story," Peter said, just as quietly, but he raised his voice for all to hear, "shall we go in for lunch?"

Inside a light lunch had hurriedly been prepared and a table set out that they hoped could hold half a dozen Minotaurs. Harry had chattered to Asterion and, despite the worried looks thrown their way, the Minotaur seemed quite happy to answer any question the boy could think of. He all but dragged Asterion to sit next to him and Lucy took the seat on the other side; though the wooden benches groaned when the Minotaurs sat on them they held.

"So how did you come to be friends?" Susan asked

"Well, when we got to where the Minotaurs were reported we found them living peacefully as a community and no threat to anyone. When we went in under a flag of truce they told us that they had to live apart from everyone else in Narnia because many of them joined the Witch's army and so now everyone is afraid of them or hates them…" Edmund told her

"And that's not fair," Lucy interjected

"And that's not fair," Edmund continued, "so we asked if a delegation of them would like to come to Cair Paravel so we can try and re-integrate them into Narnian society,"

"So here we are," said Asterion.

None of the Minotaurs had much to do, many of those who had travelled out to fight them had become friendly with them and introduced them around but Harry, who had become very fond of Asterion, hauled the Minotaur around like a rather large, very dangerous teddy. Susan gently pulled the Minotaur aside while Harry was busy

"You know you can say no to him," she said quietly, there had been worries expressed about how safe it was to ally with Minotaurs which had been allayed somewhat when they'd seen Harry's relationship with the leader of the minotaurs. Despite that, there was a general opinion that it could not have been particularly interesting for the minotaur to be treated like a playmate to a child - and a worry that the minotaur might hurt their only heir by accident.

"It's quite alright," the Minotaur answered, "he reminds me of my own son, always curious about everything."

"You have children?" Susan said, trying to imagine just what a young Minotaur must look like.

"Just the one, my son Sarpedon. He's six winters old and the reason I fought in the war," Asterion said candidly, Susan looked at him curiously – most of the minotaurs there were old enough to have fought for the witch but none of them had mentioned it, "once the Witch had enough of us on her side that she thought she ought to have the rest she began threatening those of us who were more reluctant, she wouldn't turn us to stone because we were the ones who were supposed to fight but she'd threaten our families. Sarpedon was only two years old, though we counted by moons when we had no seasons to mark the passing of a year, and she threatened to turn him to stone unless my wife and I fought."

"We never knew," Susan said weakly

"He wasn't the only one; once the Witch was dead we found that most of those who had been taken had been held in her camp, for ease of execution. Those of us who hadn't wanted to fight headed back to the camp, took them and headed for the hills before your side found where the camp was. We took all of them that were there, even the ones we didn't know, because we didn't know what you'd do to them." Harry interrupted the conversation rather tactlessly by demanding Asterion's attention and with a wry smile (or as much of one as his face could manage) the Minotaur happily followed the young prince away.

Eventually the Minotaurs were assimilated into the day to day life of the castle, when the invitation was extended to all those who had lived in the camp many accepted but a few chose to go back and live quietly in the hills. Soon enough Harry's playmates included Asterion's son and other little Minotaurs. The games became a little more rough and tumble and there were a few more injuries as the Minotaurs learnt how to deal with those who weren't as strong as they were but eventually seeing a Minotaur became simply another day-to-day occurrence.

Towards the beginning of autumn, though before any gold or red had begun to touch the leaves of the trees, Lucy found herself approached by Actaeon while on a walk.

"Forgive me my lady for intruding," the centaur bowed.

"Oh it's no problem my good centaur," Lucy replied, "I was just admiring Narnia's beauty."

"Of course my lady. I find myself with a certain issue regarding my young charge," Lucy noticed his tail swishing and a hoof pawing at the ground.

"Harry's not being naughty is he?" Lucy said, though why he would have approached her about that she didn't know. The few times Harry needed to be punished the four of them worked it out as a family, though those incidents had been few and far between fortunately.

"No my lady, he seems to be having problems with his vision. I put a large map up on the wall to help him with some problems to do with distance and supply and he was unable to read some of the names on it from where he sits. At first I thought he might be playing a trick of some kind, since he had to get up and walk to the map several times during our lesson but when nothing happened I thought I might speak to you," the centaur spoke gravely, "mayhap he has somehow hurt his eyes?"

"Not that I know of," said Lucy, twining her fingers together as she pondered it, "but my cordial might heal whatever is wrong with his eyes. Thank you Actaeon for bringing this to my attention," the centaur bowed again and walked off.

It took Lucy some time to get her cordial and track Harry down, he was in the library, curled up in a chair and slowly reading through a book.

"Harry," Lucy called, he looked up and smiled at her. She perched on the arm of the chain, "Actaeon told me about what happened today?"

"I couldn't see some of the words, I don't know why," Harry said, his voice wavered a little.

"I don't know why either," Lucy said, stroking his hair, "but my cordial might help if you'd like."

"Yes please," Harry said, setting his book aside and looking up at her.

"Alright, can you tip your head back and keep your eyes open," Harry did so and Lucy readied the cordial, "I'm sorry if this hurts."

"It's okay," Harry said. Lucy took a moment and then carefully dripped a drop into Harry's right eye. He flinched but didn't blink and Lucy repeated the action with Harry's left eye, wincing as he flinched again. After both had been done Harry waited a couple of breaths and then began to blink rapidly, rubbing at his eyes.

"Has it worked?" Lucy said, looking down at him.

"I don't know," Harry said. Then, with no warning, Harry jumped from the chair and sent the book tumbling from the arm of the chair, he grabbed Lucy's hand and began to pull her out of the library. The two of them ran down corridors, dodging the palace staff who looked at them curiously. Harry skidded to a stop outside the room he usually had his lessons in, it took Lucy a few more steps to slow down without tripping over the hem of her dress and by that point Harry was already inside the room and sitting down at the small table that was there. "I can see everything, even the stuff that was too small to see before!" Harry said, grinning. He jumped up from the desk and hugged Lucy, knocking her back half a step.

Harry's third Christmas in Narnia passed with just as much gaiety as the first two had, Harry returned to the castle covered with snow again after a snowball fight and there was a failed attempt to make a snow centaur. The Minotaurs enjoyed their first proper Christmas where they didn't have to worry about freezing to death or food. Father Christmas left Harry a fine wooden practice sword and shield (as opposed to the ones in his toy box which were only for play) and a padded jerkin, though the sword and shield were taken off of him shortly thereafter by Edmund since he'd started waving them around and nearly hit someone.

"Isn't he a little young to learn?" Susan said, worried. Lucy had only been some two years older than Harry at the Battle of Beruna.

"We're not going to send him into battle just yet Su," Peter joked, "but he's been watching us practice and he wants to learn, better to teach him before he does anyone harm," in fact Harry had maybe secretly tried out some of the moves he'd seen on the practice courts in his bedroom with his toy sword. Mostly he hadn't knocked anything over and he'd felt very impressive while swinging the sword around.

Despite it being winter Peter and Edmund brought Harry into the indoor practice courts a few days after Christmas to begin working with him. Although they'd had a lot of instruction, which was on-going, in the beginning they'd had to adapt a lot of the moves used by centaurs and fauns who were used to having power, height or the ability to jump behind them. Not to mention the footwork was completely different. When they'd gone to Archenland for the first time they'd been able to pick up more moves and some better footwork (the master swordsman at Anvard had had a small breakdown when he saw how bad their footwork was), something they continued to do every time they visited. They'd started late for swordsmen and after they'd been trounced the first time by the master swordsman the bravado of Beruna had fallen away. Even if they weren't the best teachers they could at least give him some basics, he'd learn more if he went to Archenland.

Harry enjoyed the drills, even if the practice sword was heavier than his toy one and his arms hurt by the end of it. But Peter and Edmund were good teachers and they would go over something again and again until he got it and could keep the sword up. The footwork was odd and felt forced, but they said he'd have to practice that a bit more before it felt natural. It also went a lot slower than he expected, and their attacks were called out, slow enough for him to block properly and always moves that he knew so it didn't feel much like a decent sword-fight, or at least what he imagined would be a good sword fight. Even hitting the dummies that they had provided wasn't quite as fun as he had imagined, especially since he was just as likely to be told to do the move again since he'd done it wrong. When Peter and Edmund weren't able to be there he learnt from the fauns and centaurs. Between learning to fight and his lessons, which were getting easier now that his reading and writing were much better but more difficult in that his tutors expected him to know more the time he had to go and play around was getting less.

By the time spring came around and the outdoor practice arenas were usable again Harry was fairly good at the basics of the sword fighting drills and he was introduced to the others who were learning how to use a sword. Surprisingly both Turnus and Sarpedon were learning to use swords, though they were both advanced enough that they got to practice against others, albeit slowly and with the moves and blocks called out by the instructors. One of the Minotaurs had joined the team of instructors, mostly because some of the young Minotaurs had joined the ranks of Narnia's future soldiers and it was easier for a Minotaur to teach them. There was unarmed combat as well, though it was mostly just holds and some wrestling.

With Harry's seventh birthday approaching the Pevensies wrote to King Lune about the suggestion he'd made on his last visit to Narnia that one or other of them might foster the other's prince. Edmund had come with the idea that the boys might spend half the year in Narnia and half in Archenland since they didn't want to completely lose Harry but he did need to get more used to people . Lune's response was very positive, especially towards the idea of sharing the responsibility of fostering. After working out the times of the year when the boys would be in Archenland and the times they would be in Narnia the Pevensies decided to inform Harry.

"Now we have to do this carefully," said Susan as she helped set out the picnic lunch, "he can't think we're sending him away,"

"Well we are sort of," Lucy said, "but not in a bad way."

"We have to make sure he knows we're not sending him away in a bad way," Susan clarified, rolling her eyes at her young sister. Lucy, being the mature just fifteen year old that she was, stuck her tongue out at her older sister's condescension, "and that he knows we still care about him."

"Okay, but how are we going to tell the boys about this," said Lucy, looking up as Peter, Edmund and Harry approached from the practice courts. All three looked like they'd just dumped water over their heads to clean off the sweat and grime from training, mostly because Peter and Harry both had water still dripping from their noses and all three of them were grinning childishly. Harry bounced down onto the blanket next to Lucy and started chattering about what they''d done in training.

"Oh and thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me go and stay with Corin for months," Susan and Lucy glared at their brothers.

"We couldn't help it," said Peter, holding his hands up defensively.

"As I recall," Edmund said, "you were the one who couldn't help it and told him" Peter elbowed Edmund, who laughed and shoved him back. Harry giggled at their antics and stole a tart off of Peter's plate, stuffing it into his mouth.

About a week later Harry, Edmund and Lucy set out for Archenland on the Splendour Hyaline, it was high summer and the passage to Archenland would have been easy enough on land but it would have taken longer. Instead they'd decided to sail through Glasswater and around to near Anvard, although they would have to ride between the coast and the castle. On hearing that they would be sailing Harry had been ridiculously excited since, while he'd seen the ships in the harbour, there had never been a need in the three years he'd been in Narnia to take the more impressive ships out to sea and he'd never got permission to go out in one of the fishing boats. The sailors of the Splendour Hyaline had had to put up with the prince asking endless questions about ships, climbing up and down the rigging and running around the decks. Or at least for the few days up until the voyage began and they got out of the shallower waters. It was about then that Harry turned rather green about the gills and had to run to the railing to vomit up his breakfast.

"I'm sorry Harry," Lucy said, "I didn't bring my cordial, it's only for emergencies and this route is easy," it was, in fact the ship wasn't rocking particularly much. Unfortunately that didn't stop Harry's seasickness and the crew, many of whom had been getting ever so slightly irritated with the boy, began feeling rather sorry for him.

It was a five day voyage between Cair Paravel and Anvard without the benefit of a strong wind, that wasn't something that they had to worry about since they caught a lovely, strong south-easterly wind early and were able to follow it, which took a day and a half off of their journey meaning they arrived at the main port of Archenland after only three and a half days sailing. Edmund and Lucy honestly thought that Harry might kiss the planks of the dock, although his seasickness had eased off after the first day or so Harry had not had a comfortable voyage. Most of it had been spent below decks with the horses, since they didn't seem too happy about the voyage either only they couldn't vomit. They too came off of the ship with as much of a sense of relief as a non talking horse could convey.

While they weren't travelling incognito and those who recognised the ship from seven years before greeted Edmund, Lucy and Harry with deference, realising who they must be, they certainly weren't announcing who they were. Edmund had his sword, Lucy had her dagger and a bow and a couple of the sailors would do double duty as guards.

"Should we keep going?" Lucy said, once they were sitting at a table in one of the better inns.

"I think we could all use half a day's rest," Edmund replied, "especially you, Harry."

"What! Why?" the six year old said, pouting at Edmund. He'd refused the offer of a drink and was shifting around in his seat.

"You haven't kept much food down for the last three days," Edmund said, "and you haven't slept well. Half a day of rest will still leave us a day ahead of schedule." Harry grumbled something, but it wasn't loud enough for Edmund or Lucy to hear.

"Can I have a drink then?" he said. Within the space of a glass of beer (6) Harry was up for exploring the port. Lucy was just as ready to go exploring until Edmund reminded them that they would need a room and that Lucy, who was still wearing men's clothing out of practicality, might want to change. They agreed and, though Harry was drumming his heels in boredom, Edmund managed to secure them two rooms. It was only then that the fact that all their belongings other than the horses were still on the ship struck them.

By the end of the half day in the port Edmund was cursing the curiosity of very-nearly-seven year olds since Harry had dragged the two of them around the entire port at least twice, including the visit back to the Splendour Hyaline to get their things. The advantage to the days exertions was that by the time it came to going to bed Harry was half asleep on his feet, even the food hadn't perked him up much. Edmund had to half carry him up the stairs to their room; Lucy followed them just in case and wished them a good night, heading off to her own room.

The four of them, including the two guards, set out early the next morning, so early that the innkeeper himself hadn't been awake and it was only the lowliest of the maids who served them a cold breakfast, Lucy had slid a coin under the rim of her plate before they left. Fortunately they hadn't taken anything much out of their luggage so packing hadn't taken very long and they managed to saddle the horses without waking the other patrons so their leaving wasn't noticed. Sunrise broke just as they hit the edges of the port, the five horses and pony wound their way through streets which got narrower and more shabby until they suddenly gave way to hilly scrubland. They made good time even with the rider less packhorse which one of the guards led and having to ride up and down hills, all the time making sure they were still in the valley between the two little mountain ranges, rather than accidentally trying to climb either of them and going off course.

It took two days to get from the port town to Anvard, including the minutes Harry had made them stop when he first saw Anvard castle. The red stone castle wasn't quite as impressive as Cair Paravel but it certainly had its own charm about it, especially when Harry knew who was waiting for him in there. After his first few minutes gawking at the castle Harry was the one in the lead, heading off down the hill and towards the castle. Once they reached the town skirting the castle Harry slowed, looking around at all the people. Sure there were a few fauns, a dryad or two and even the occasional satyr but the majority were human, many of who recognised Edmund and Lucy from previous visits. Getting up to the castle was easy enough, they'd happily been given directions through the town,

Obviously by the time they got there somebody had managed to inform King Lune as both the king and a rather grubby looking Prince Corin were waiting. Corin was already seven and still taller and broader than Harry but not by as much as he had been and the hug they shared ended up with the both of them on the floor, wrestling and laughing. Lune rolled his eyes and took a fortifying breath

"Welcome to Anvard Your Majesties," Lune bowed, Edmund returned the bow and Lucy struggled for a moment then laughed and bowed as well, it was difficult to do a proper curtsey when she wasn't dressed in a skirt. Harry and Corin were standing up again, looking dustier but grinning, "should you like to join me in the castle? Corin, thou hast a sparring session to return to."

"Yes father, can Harry come along?" Corin said, sharing a glance with Harry

"If he should wish to," Lune said and the two boys ran off, Corin leading the way. He turned to Edmund and Lucy, watching the departing boys fondly, "Harry has certainly grown."

"We're very proud of him," Lucy said, "Corin's grown as well."

"Aye, and his mischief grows with him," Lune smiled and turned to lead them into the castle.

Corin and Harry skidded into the training yard to find Lord Dar leaning on the fence post.

"Welcome Prince Harry," he said,

"Hallo," Harry said, looking wildly for some indication of just who the man was. He had a few vague memories of him from the visit nearly three years ago but no idea of his name.

"I'm Lord Dar, you may see my brother Lord Darrin around but we're easier to tell apart now he's growing a beard,"

"They're identical twins," Corin hissed

"I've been teaching Corin how to fight and I'll teach you too if you'd like," Dar finished.

"Okay," Harry said brightly, "Peter and Edmund said my footwork needs work and they can't teach me much because they don't know much,"

"They've been teaching you?" Dar looked at him curiously.

"Yes," Harry nodded.

"Well they're both very good swordsmen, especially given their ages, and you'll probably have the same problems they did with footwork. What works for a faun doesn't work for us, as you might have seen," Dar hadn't taught either Peter or Edmund but he had been able to watch them train the first few times they'd come to Archenland, "shall we see what you can do? There should be a padded tunic you can borrow somewhere around here."

A padded tunic and a practice sword were quickly found and Harry joined Corin's lesson. Dar asked him to demonstrate all of the moves that he knew on a dummy (a bag of sand strapped to a couple of poles) and was pleasantly surprised with Harry's breadth of knowledge as well as his technical accuracy. There were more than a few mistakes, which were to be expected, and Harry seemed to take some time to get used to an unfamiliar practice sword but Dar gave a short burst of applause once he was sure Harry was finished.

"That was very good Harry," Dar said, "some of your strokes were off and your footwork is limited but that was impressive," Corin whistled in approval from the edge of the arena.

"You can go back to practising the drill you were doing before," Dar called to Corin, who left the edge of the arena and moved to an open space where he began to practice.

There was some confusion once the practice was over since Harry didn't know where his rooms were to wash up after the exertion and the dust of training. Eventually Corin suggested that they just jump in one of the ponds in the castle gardens, which seemed to be a good enough idea until they were soaking wet and called in for lunch. Edmund and Lucy laughed at the sodden boys, dripping on the stone floor as they ate.

Edmund and Lucy departed two days after their arrival, riding back to the port. Both of them would have liked to have stayed longer and let Harry get settled in a bit more but the ambassador for Terebinthia was supposed to arrive shortly after them and they really couldn't put it off any longer. Not to mention that Harry and Corin seemed to have once again hit it off, friends as though the past three years had been only days apart, and far more concerned with their own comings and goings than those of the adults. There was no fuss as they rode away, though Harry watched them from the highest point of Anvard until he could see them no more.

They wiled away the last days of summer with training and lessons, picnics and banquets and once, to Harry's horror, much of the court rode out on a hunt. Hunting happened in Narnia, Harry knew, but Animals hunted for meat and the castle's meat came from a small herd of cows and sheep, ably kept by a Bull and a Ram (with some assistance from a couple of fauns) that roamed the coastline. He'd heard tales of the White Stag, who would supposedly grant a wish to whoever caught him, but nobody had ever mentioned killing it. He hoped all the Animals knew to stay out of the way. He and Corin weren't old enough to go hunting, because they weren't big enough to ride horses that could keep up.

Autumn blew through Archenland in a gale of wind and rain. They had to move to the indoor practice arenas but the change of environment didn't bother Harry or Corin much - both were making what Dar considered to be adequate progress, though Harry was the better with a sword Corin could take him down easily if neither of them had one. While the two of them had the occasional spat, as might be expected of two seven year old boys, they were normally as close as brothers. King Lune watched them and the presence of Harry made his heart ache - there should be two blond boys playing there, Corin should have known his brother longer than a few days. It had been over seven years but Lune still did wonder where his eldest son was and if he was even still alive. Idle fantasy certainly, he had only one son and he should focus on training Corin to be the best possible King for Archenland. The friendship between Corin and Harry was a boon, for all that he and the Pevensies shared an amiable accord and Archenland and Narnia were bound together by a shared people the ascension of Harry and Corin to their respective thrones could only mark a closeness between the two countries not seen since his ancestor Prince Col was gifted the land and made his own kingdom out of it.

Harry had found that perhaps the biggest difference between the two castles was that Anvard had many suits of armour that stood upright and were somehow held together - this had not held much interest for either him or Corin during the summer, when they only came inside when they absolutely had to. With autumn in full swing, winter approaching and their inability to go outside both of them began to find these hollow suits of armour very interesting, to the consternation of the staff who found themselves chasing the boys away from the armour with irritating regularity. Corin had never expressed any particular interest in the suits of armour until Harry had arrived, but Cair Paravel didn't have any suits of armour - mainly due to the fact that up until seven years ago there had been no humans in Narnia. The only ones they had were from the battle at Beruna, since Peter and Edmund had long outgrown them.

Which was how the two princes hatched a plan.

Part of the reason I stopped writing this for ages was that I actually lost a whole chunk of it and that was kind of devastating. But now I'm getting myself back on track more and I seem to be back to writing so hopefully more updates kind of possibly soon-ish.

I should also mention, I'm looking into getting an AO3 account and uploading this there. Hopefully by the time the next chapter is ready I'll be able to give you details.

Until our next meeting