The Years of Adventure: Atlantis

Chapter Eight - Life in Atlantis Part II

Disclaimer: I'm too lazy to make this interesting. I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's note: I'm SO sorry that this has taken so long. Please enjoy it now that I've finally finished it.

Sorian sat off to the side of the classroom with his chin propped up on his fist, Harry was teaching English, again, and he was the assistant, again. Usually he loved helping, but the first half of this class was in lecture form, mean that he had absolutely nothing to do. As Harry explained the difference between there, their and they're, Sorianin thought back to many months ago when he found Harry's 'other' sketchbook, he often thought of it's contents as Harry's Life Sketches. Sorian often wondered how many more Harry had added since he saw it. He decided that he would ask Harry about his life this evening, it was their one scheduled weekly dinner – they often had at least two or three – he would ask not about life on the surface, but Harry's life on the surface. About his people and what he did other than learn. A few months ago, when Harry had been here just over seven months, Harry had mentioned the word 'war' when explaining 'culture change', as soon as it had left Harry's mouth, he had clapped both his hands over this mouth. Since then, he had been explaining a tiny bit more about human behaviour on the surface, good and bad. Sorian was sure that Harry was still censoring it (another word he had to explain) because every time he said the word 'death' or 'hurt', it didn't fit with anything Sorian had seen in those drawings. Nothing Harry had spoken about could even begin to describe them.

That evening , a perfect opportunity presented itself when Harry was talking. "Sometimes people would think that they're better than others and try to get rid of those they thought weren't worthy to be around. I think that some of the people who think like that should be pitied, they are so obviously mistaken that you wonder where they got their information from. Some were lied to when they were young and still forming their opinions of the world and truly believe that they are right. Others do it because they are just bad people. This is an example of why your ancestors hid Atlantis, to stop ideas like that from poisoning the city."

Sorian saw his chance, "I don't want to be rude or bring back bad memories but you speak of theses things as if you have been there when they happened." Sorian said quietly, "Have you faced these people?"

Harry sighed, he knew Sorian was smart and that he would figure it out sometime. "I was wondering when you would ask that. To answer your question, yes, I was once given the terrible task of making sure a person like that never harmed another."

"But why have you never told me? You never tell me about yourself. You always tell me about your world, about the surface, but you don't talk about your life." Sorian said. "I understand that you wouldn't want to tell me about those bad people, but there must have been good people in your life. You are a really good person, I would like to know who the people were who helped you become this way and what you've done. What was your life like? Who did you have around that taught you about life?"

With another sigh Harry explained, "I had many people around me, friends, a family of sorts, a godfather, there were many people there for me. I loved them, and they loved me, still do actually. They loved me enough to help me through. Problem with me telling about my friends is that then I'd have to tell you about how we really became the 'Golden Trio' which is rather violent, problem with telling about my family is that I'd have to explain why it was necessary to have a kind of surrogate family in the first place." By now, Harry was fading into his memories and started to forget who he was talking to. "My mum and dad, they died, were killed actually, in cold blood by a psychopath with too much power. In one hand he wielded magic and in the other, fear. In his wake he left death, suffering, despair and destruction. Good people like my family fought against him and his followers, and innocents who had no choice or say in the matter were slaughtered by the hundreds. Voldemort touched every single person in our society. I had no choice, I was thrust in without a clue of what was going on. That's why I haven't told, the people living here, in relative peace, they can't understand, I don't want them to understand. The surface, it's too much for them to grasp, it's just too much for them. The pure terror that grips your heart when walking out and facing death, the breaking of a spirit as it is tortured, that can't be talked about down here. If I didn't know that they were safe down here, I would have to so something to keep them safe. But they are safe, the earth itself is holding this city here, preserving the peace."

Sorian was beginning to think that he was just listening to a vocal train of thought, Harry had obviously forgotten he was here because he kept talking. "It's so pure down here, so peaceful, I almost feel dirty just being here, but it's also cleansing. I get to learn without the slightest trace of fear, this is new to me. I can just live, I don't have anyone to kill, no monsters to slay, children to rescue, mysteries to solve, prophesies to fulfill. That doesn't stop me from feeling dirty though. I often can't understand why Atlantis brought me here, I have so much baggage, so much of my life was filled with violence, pain, hatred, suffering and other things I can't even mention down here because they don't exist. They don't have mass murderers who live to torture and kill. They have carefree lives compared to even the nicest person on the surface. But there was still good up there, even for me. I had friends and family who helped me through, people who loved me to keep me company. Without them I would have died an extremely early death. Even through all that pain and suffering, the trials and tribulations, I had people. I can't complain about the hand that fate dealt me, not when I had friends like that around." A smile graced Harry's face as he moved on to remembering the better memories.

"My two best friends, Hermione and Ron, two of the best people in the whole world. They were made for each other, fought all the time and loved the other to death. I had Sirius, didn't even know he existed till I was 13. Greatest godfather in the world, most mischievous sense of humor, married with a kid now, I'm the absentee godfather. His best friend, well, the one that's alive, Remus. Sweetest guy I know, bit of a monthly problem though. He's married too I think. They were the two best – or worst, depending on who you are – pranksters Hogwarts has ever seen. Well, the twins might tie for that spot. They're Ron's brothers, Ron's got a great family. They became my family after a while, best family a kid could ask for, and they've got the kids to prove it. Seven, to be precise; six boys and a girl to balance it out, and balance it out she does, wonderful girl. She might be married by now, possibly engaged...I don't know. Percy, now he's a strange one, a bit pompous, sticks to the rules, but he's an okay guy. Then there's the twins, I helped them out a bit, not that anyone else knows it. The shop was still going strong last time I heard. And Charlie, he's nuts. He works with dragons for a living, I nearly got roasted by one of those things. Then there's the oldest...Bill. I can't even begin to describe him. He's wonderful, he works with the goblins, breaks curses he does, sexiest job around in my opinion. Got the greatest earring too, put a tooth through his ear, drives his mum up the wall, that and his hair. He's got great hair. I hope he's doing well, I really do. A few years ago we could've...well, it doesn't matter now..." Harry's voice trailed away and his eyes remained unfocused, looking out the small window in his study but not seeing a thing. He was lost in the past.

Sorian sat and listened to Harry tell him about his friends, 'family' and now he knew who the mystery man in the sketches was; Bill. Sorian had spent enough time with Harry to have noticed that he didn't even look twice at the many girls around him, Sorian thought it was because Harry had a girl of his own that he just didn't talk about. Now though, the way Harry talked about Bill, Sorian began to think that he loved him. The care with which he had drawn those pictures and the way he said Bill's name. It told Sorian everything he needed to know. He wondered when Harry would realise that he had said all this aloud, would he be mad? Upset? Ashamed? It seemed that he would have to wait to find out though, Harry wasn't exactly here at the moment.

It took almost ten minutes for Harry to rejoin the world and when he did, the colour of his face when very pale, which was a feat because his tan from sailing and other travels still made him glow. Harry looked at Sorian, "Did I say all that out loud?"

Sorian grimaced, "Most of it. You kinda trailed off after Bill. That was about ten minutes ago."

Harry dropped his head into his hands, "This is really not good, this is quite bad."

"Why?" Sorian asked. "It seemed like you needed to talk about it."

"Um...How much of the Bill stuff did you get?" Harry asked. He had thought a lot about Bill, some of it would probably Sorian for life. Especially since they didn't have any gay people down here. Harry had noticed right off the bat that there weren't openly gay people and then the closer he looked he realised that there were hardly any unmarried people. It a person wasn't engaged by the time they were 16, they usually became a Devoted, someone who dedicated their entire life to their job. They made the choice to be permanently single. This system confused Harry because he didn't know anyone who was anywhere near getting married or even thinking about marriage when they were 16. But it wasn't his place to question the way other people lived, especially if it was a system that obviously worked well for them. As Harry looked at Sorian, his face looked thoughtful, as if he'd only heard a little but was trying to put the pieces together.

"I heard up till "...it doesn't matter now..." But I have a feeling that I know who he was. He was yours, wasn't he?"

"Not really. He wasn't really mine." Harry said with a sad smile.

Sorianin frowned, this was one of the strangest and most foreign conversations he had ever had, and when you talk with Harry on a regular basis, that was saying something. "But...you really liked him, didn't you?"

Harry sighed, "Are you sure you want to know? Like I've said many times before, once you've said something, you can't take it back." This was of course, a lie, but explaining obliviations would lead to having to explain why had to hide things and what you might be hiding. "If I tell you this and try to explain it, I can't un-tell it."

"Yes." Sorian said, determined to know as much about his older friend as possible. Harry was a living question mark, and Sorian was always looking for answers.

"Okay." Harry said, he knew he needed to talk about this, he had put it off way too long. People weren't made to hold these things inside themselves. "Bill Weasley is the oldest brother of one of my best friends, Ron. Bill, there's always been something about him. He drew me in, I can't explain exactly what it is about him that fascinated me, the depth of his eyes and how they crinkled up when he laughed, how he saw the genius as well as hilarity of the twins, his doting on his sister, the peace that flooded across his face when he slept, or pretended at least, his earring, the smile that was almost always playing on his lips, the way he refused to cut his hair, and so much more. It was just him. I've never seen another the way I saw Bill."

"So he was special to you?" Sorian was really trying to understand the relationship between Harry and this 'Bill Weasley', he had guessed (to himself), that they had a romantic relationship but because he still didn't really know if that was possible he didn't want to just come out and say it.

Harry smiled, "Yes, he was very special to me."

"So you loved him?" The 13 year old prompted.

"Yes, I loved him. I know you don't have that down here, or that people don't know or talk about it but I did love him. But don't worry if you don't understand, there are many people on the surface who don't either."

Sorian thought that he understood now, "And he loved you?"

Harry snorted, "Yeah, but I didn't know until after I left. It's too bad really."

"Okay, I'm confused again. If you loved him, and he loved you, how could you not know?" Sorian asked, he had finally understood that it was possible for two men to love each other and now Harry was telling him that neither of the two people knew it, that was too much.

"It's hard to explain." Harry said, rubbing his face. "Back home, there are some traditions and unspoken rules or suggestions. Me loving Bill 'broke' three of them, the first two aren't really rules and they are usually okay, but when you put them together, people start to have a problem with them. First, we're both men, that's not necessarily a bad thing but a lot of people don't understand it and some even think it's wrong or immoral. The second is that we are almost ten years apart in age, that isn't as much of a problem when you're older but when we first met, I was 14 and he was 24, that's a large gap. When I left I was only 17 and he was 27, that's too many years for many people to accept, especially if they're also trying to accept that we are both men. The third is a much more traditional matter, he is the oldest boy in his family, making him the heir and then his children after him. For him, that's okay because he has younger brothers, but I am the last living member of the Potter line. The closest relative is a third cousin twice removed, or something. I am expected to marry and have at least one son, if not more. As men, Bill and I can't have kids of our own for fairly obvious reasons. I was planning on adopting or picking a friend's child to be my heir but society really won't like it, especially the older families. It was these three things, gender, age and inheritances that stopped us from telling the other how we felt. We both assumed that there was no way the other could love us back with those sorts of things standing in the way. It just didn't seem possible. That's how we could not know. I only found out a bit over a year ago, after I had already left. Does that make sense?"

Sorian sat in silence, thinking over everything that Harry said. It did make sense, once you understood the components. The first two were fine, now that he got the man love out of the way. But Atlantis didn't have the concept of an heir, when an Atlantian died, their possessions were split evenly between all the children and no one died suddenly. Age was really the only one that Sorian understood completely and that was because Atlantians got engaged young and were only ever five or six years apart.

"I guess so." Sorian said. He could tell that this subject was making Harry sad and possibly homesick (another new idea Harry had explained a few months ago) so he changed it. "What's Voldemort?"

"Oh crap. I mentioned him, did I?"

"Um. Yeah."

"Well this isn't good." Harry said, thinking that maybe it was time to tape his mouth shut, too bad they didn't have duct tape in Atlantis.

"Why not? It sounded like he had a big effect on the surface as well as your life, and something you've never mentioned to me." Sorian tried to say this without sounding accusatory and was quite proud when he was successful.

"Yeah, there's a lot I haven't said. Not because I don't want to, just because I shouldn't." Harry replied, knowing what Sorian was trying to do, and not entirely sure if he wanted to stop him.

"What do you mean by that?"

Harry thought for a moment, "You know that Atlantis was hidden from the world because of all the bad stuff that was threatening it, what you don't know is that it is still pretty bad up there. Not nearly as bad as it has been at various times in the past, but there is still a lot of bad stuff and bad people running around."

"Oh. Will you tell me about it?" Sorian asked, "I promise not to tell anyone, ever. I won't let it pass beyond these walls."

So Harry did, he finally told his young friend everything about the surface. He brought out books Sorian had never seen before and showed him his other sketchbook and he even drew more of what he'd seen. He added cities, battles (carefully distinguishing between first and second hand accounts) and parties to his sketchbook. He also wrote down what he could remember of world history, magical and muggle. With Sorian's help, he started copying, permanently and in Atlantian, every single one of Harry's books. Sorian had convinced Harry to leave all of his knowledge, good and bad, in Atlantis. He argued that at least one person should know what the surface was like, or at least have a general idea, and with the books and pictures, that knowledge wouldn't get twisted over time. As unlikely as Harry thought is was, there was still the chance that Atlantis would rise sometime and Sorian said they should know as much as possible when that happened. (Harry insisted on saying IF, that was something they constantly disagreed on.)

During his second year, Harry branched out in both his teaching and learning as well as writing down some of what he knew in journal form – he was too impatient and lazy to actually write a book. He wrote in English, Atlantian and Latin, he knew there were some things that were easier to explain and teach in English and the spells he could teach wandlessly were much easier to teach in Latin. In his teaching he branched out into advanced language classes as well as transcribing some of his other language books so those interested could teach themselves. He used his limited knowledge of warding and curse-breaking to develop and teach new ways to expand and explore the sea floor. Harry also started teaching a few of the more motivated younger students some of Hermione's old study methods, apparently they worked for people of a similar mindset, who knew?

He also branched out in his studies, he learned the Song of the Sea, which was very similar to the Song of the Ice that he had learned from the Kraken at the North Pole. He had loved hearing the ice sing in his mind and now he had the sea too, the sea was even better because when he used gilliweed, he became one with the sea. He could feel The Song in his very bones, when he combined his learned elemental water magic with the Song of the Sea he could weave the currents and almost 'play' them like an instrument. This took lots of time and practice but he was finally able to completely immerse himself in the music of the ocean, it was one of the most uplifting experiences he had ever had. One of his lessons was where he learned about the 'Stars from Below', it was similar to astronomy in that it was a study of the stars and the night sky but very different in that they studied it from underwater. It took place once a month and all the students went to a glass dome at the top of the tallest building to look up at the stars. Harry was astonished to find that he could see the stars just as well as, or even better than, when he was on the surface. It was during these classes that he earned the name Pyxis Argo, the Atlantians learned the constellations by their Greek names and one of the professors decided that as someone who traveled over the surface in a boat he should be named after the constellations of the silver ship (Argos) and the compass (Pyxis). Harry had asked why they couldn't just give him a 'normal' Atlantian name and they told him that a Visitor shouldn't have a normal name, even the Lady Aella agreed on this, meaning that Harry really didn't have much choice.

His favourite class, by far, was the sea animal class. It took him until his second year to even learn about the class because there were very few people who were able to participate. It was a class where you learned to be a sea Animagus, it was difficult because you had to meditate while in the water using gilliweed. This meant that you could only be in deep meditation for less an hour before you had to 'wake up' enough to eat another ball of the slimy miracle. However, it only took Harry three months to become a fish, Harry was not happy to be a fish. Harry reappeared in the small pool that led to the ocean and grabbed a towel, Sorian joined him a few minutes later.

"So, did you transform?" Sorian asked.

Harry scowled, he wasn't very happy that he was a fish. It was just...weird. "Yeah." He grumbled.

Sorian hid a smile, "You don't sound very happy about it."

"I'm not."

"Well, what are you?" Sorian asked excitedly.

"A fish." Harry said with an even deeper scowl.

"Okay. I don't see how that's bad."

"I just wanted something cool. Like, a shark or something." Harry growled as he trudged into the changing room.

"Wow. Someone sounds like a five year old." Sorian called across the door.

"Shut up."

"Well, what kind of fish are you?" Sorian asked.

"A Regal Tang." Harry said shortly.

"But that is cool." Sorian protested, "You're bright blue, and you get a cool name!"

"No, it is most certainly not cool. I'm Dory." (A/N: Just pretend Finding Nemo came out a few years early.)

Sorian frowned, "Who's Dory."

Harry sighed. "Dory was an air head fish in an animated film. Not to mention the fact that I'm tiny! I mean, yeah, I'm bigger than all the regular Regal Tang fish out there, but I'm me! I'm not supposed to be a little blue fish!" Harry tossed the now wet towel in the laundry hamper and stormed out of the dressing room. "I'M A FISH!" He growled. His first Animagus form and it had to be a fish. He knew that he had at least three other forms, each person had a form for each element, they just had to be able connect with that element. Most people only found one form, their natural form, which wasn't always associated with an element but powerful people (like Harry is becoming) can find four, if they know where to look. Harry knew where to look but he would have to find a very 'earthy' place to find his earth Animagus form, and the same for air and fire. He was secretly hoping that his fire form would be a dragon, that would make up for the embarrassing FISH he was now. There was no way anyone outside of Atlantis was finding out about Harry, the Little-blue-fish-who-lived. Unfortunately, there was no way to keep news of the Regal Tang fish Visitor from spreading around the city, when Harry reached his room that night, someone had left him a fishbowl with a very very small Regal Tang fish in it outside his door. Harry was too tired to take it to the nearest exit point so he had to take it into his room. The days passed and he grew used to the fish, everyone thought it was hilarious. Harry just grumbled and changed the subject whenever his pet fish came up in conversation.

Throughout the second year, Harry also managed to learn Greek, Mermish and Nereid (language of the Water Nymphs). He was also taught how to avoid and counter the Siren's Song, one of the young girls also gave him secret lessons in how to sing the Siren's Song. Technically speaking, a guys wasn't supposed to be able to learn it but they said the same thing about the Song of the Sea. It soon became a given that rules just didn't apply to Harry the Visitor. Much to Harry's disappointment this didn't extend to games, he still had to follow the rules for those. Before Harry knew it, he had been in Atlantis for almost two years and something inside him started saying that it was time to continue on his journey.

Harry packed the last of his robes and pants into his storage closet. It was funny, he had spent that last two years wearing nothing but open-faced robes and pants. It would be odd to wear a shirt again, he knew it would be while before he was comfortable with one.

Sorian walked into Harry's tent and heard laughing coming from his room area. The now 14 year old boy had become such good friends with Harry that he didn't even bother knocking.

"What are you laughing about?" Sorian asked.

"Oh, it's just the clothing; I've only worn robes, pants and a few hair ties for the last two years, that's all." Harry said with a laugh.

"Okay..." Sorian shook his head at Harry, he still didn't understand him. "Anyway, the Council is wondering how you plan on leaving. In fact, everyone is wondering that."

"I think I just have to ask Atlantis to let me go, but I'm going to go to the park and say bye to the kids before I go. I also have some gifts to hand out." Harry gestured for Sorian to follow him out of the tent, "Starting with you."

"Me?" Sorian asked. "But you already gave me all that" He said, pointing to the study.

"Yeah, but that's not really for you, that's an indirect gift to all Atlantis." Harry picked up a bundle of fabric from his bed, "This is for you."

Sorian held the fabric and it unfolded to reveal one of Harry's beautifully embroidered robes, a solid one. "Harry!" He said with wide eyes. "I can't take this! It's a solid robe, I'm not even allowed to own one yet."

Harry winked at his young friend, "I'll leave it on the bed, when you become a Keeper you can come back and get it. Something tells me that it will happen in the next year or so. Who knows, maybe you'll be a Professor and a Keeper, maybe even a Scholar too!" Harry actually knew that he would. He had been talking with various people and making suggestions here and there, suggestions that were very well received.

"Thank you." Sorian said genuinely.

"You're welcome. Now, I made it a bit big and added two decorated hems for you to let down as you grow." Harry said with a smile before grabbing the last of his belongings and putting them in the tent. Then he packed it all away in his bag and grabbed a small pile of gifts from the bed before heading out of what had been his home for the last two years.

Once he got to the park, Harry was met by everyone he had worked or played with, taught, learned from or spent a considerable amount of time with. He handed out the many gifts he had made; carefully woven hair ties, decorated hair ribbons, a few partially started robes - he did the border, hem or front - a handful of belts, chess sets, sets of specially decorated playing cards, and drawings. Lots of drawings. Someone from every family got at least one thing, and many had more personal gifts.

Finally, standing in the middle of the central park, Harry Potter (also known as Dani Dani and Pxyis Argo) said goodbye to the people of Atlantis. When he gave a wave, he felt himself pulled from the city and soon he was hovering just above the water on the surface. As soon as he enlarged his boat, he was floated over and dropped at the helm. He 'sang' his thanks to the sea and heard a faint response. With a smile, Harry opened his tent in the boat to create the cabin. He then pulled out his ocean charts and maps. Where to next?

Author's note (important): I went back and read the main story, 'Harry Potter and the Years of Adventure' again, to make sure I wasn't making any continuity errors and I realised that I have deviated from the story quite a bit, especially concerning Bill and Harry's relationship and knowledge of each other. I apologise for this and I will be going back and rewriting/editing the story sometime soon. Also, I noticed that all my dash marks ( - ) somehow managed to disappear when I uploaded my story, I will be going back and correcting these errors as well, hopefully in all my stories.

I hope you enjoyed 'The Years of Adventure: Atlantis', watch for 'The Years of Adventure: More Letters Home', it should be up in a few days. Thank you so much for reading!