The Legend of Harry Potter
# The Art of Smithing #
by: Tommy Andrè Lillehauge
a.k.a.
Shadow101
NB! This is the updated version of this chapter, meaning that if you've read it before, you should read it again.
Three days! Three days and he was completely exhausted. The first day had been spent learning how to smith, which was not easy. The old man Takanima seemed to think he did well though, so who was Harry to complain? The first thing he was taught was how to warm up the metal, which was a small rectangular brick in the beginning. Using a metal tool to hold it with, he had it in the warm oven for about five minutes, before he continued with hammering on it with a hammer for about ten minutes, doing the same thing over and over again. The art was to know when, and where you should hit with the hammer, to make the piece of metal take the form you wanted it to.
Of course, Harry got a nice, long piece of garbage when he was finished the day after.
On the third day, Harry spent a long time just hammering on the little piece of metal, trying to make it about 1/3 of the size he planned to have it in width, and the full length.
Takanima's eyes, however, never left the boy. The only time he didn't watch him, was when he was at the toilet, or out buying Harry and himself lunch.
After finishing the third day, Harry put aside his work, and collected his money. He didn't notice the old bright eyes watching him from the shadows, filled with pride.
Takanima was a proud man with a whicked good sense of humour, and a huge talent in scaring people. What was special about him though, was the fact that he was hard to please. Really hard to please. And one black haired, green eyed, nice young man with the name Harry Potter had managed to do the impossible in three days… He had gained Takanima's respect. No one gained Takanima's respect… except his favourite granddaughter. The young green-eyed boy had worked for three days without a single pause, with the exception of lunch, where Takanima had to insist to him taking a break. Not only did he work without pause… he didn't even complain! The heat in the room he worked in was above 35C! What amazed him the most though, was the way he worked. He had used the first and second day to get the feeling of how to smith, and third to start the real work. Hmm… maybe he should introduce him to his granddaughter?
Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, was worried. No, he was far more than worried… he was frantic! Since the run-away of Harry Potter, he had gotten hundreds of letters from people begging him to bring Harry back. They needed him to win the war, now that Minister Fudge had admitted that Voldemort was back.
That didn't mean that he himself was going to slack off, though. There were enough of Death Eaters to catch. What confused him the most, however, was the fact that Fawkes, his Phoenix, absolutely refused to find Harry and bring him back. As if his phoenix was more loyal to Harry than him!
Currently though, he was in an Order meeting, along with the rest of the order members.
"I say you find that little arrogant fool, and bring him back to Hogwarts, where you lock him in a room with Filch and his whips." Snape's voice carried through the room.
"Now Severus, no need to be rude. We have no idea where Harry has gone, and until we do, cannot bring him back. He has, most likely, taken some kind of muggle transport out of the country… probably America if I know him right. Both America and Europe have a highly developed wizarding tracking system though, which they probably will allow us to use in the search of young Mister Potter.
No one noticed the disapproving glances of Fred and George Weasley.
Harry
You're probably surprised at receiving a letter from us, as owls don't deliver overseas or long distance deliveries.
(For all we know though, you could hide in the Dursley's garden shed.)
Still, we are taking the chance that the headmasters Phoenix will find you- even if he refused to bring
you back to Hogwarts on Professor Dumbledore's insistence. The old coot, however, does not know of us sending
you this letter, and we would appreciate you keeping it that way.
The reason for us contacting you, is to warn you that Dumbledore is going to use America's and Europe's tracking system
(Whatever that is), and if you're in one of those areas, you'll most likely be found. While we don't know the reason for you
running away, we still don't want you to question our loyalties. They will stand were they always were, with our
brother and partner in crime (Think WWW!). That, and we enjoy watching Snape's face every time he faces a dead end.
We hope that you are well, and that you still won't mind receiving a big package with 'surprises' on your birthday.
Yours truly, (Not really smirk)
Fred and George Weasley
PS: Ron is angry with you… Because of your runaway, Hermione is spending more time looking for tracking charms than snogging.
He's not really mentioned you at all this summer, now that we think about it…
If you come back, don't expect a warm welcome from him though.
Harry snorted at the 'Ps.' Ron was being a git again… He wasn't really surprised, and it was that which hurt him the most. Ron's tendencies to get angry and jealous were a sore part in their friendship- it had broken them up before, under the Triwizard-tournament, and right now it seemed like it would happen again… and most likely permanently this time.
Pushing the hurt away, Harry fell back at the bed. He had expected Dumbledore to search for him, he was far too stubborn not to. He was wondering, however, why Fawkes didn't want to obey Dumbledore's orders about bringing him back… not that one could order a phoenix around of course, as they were fiercely independent creatures. Still, the old bird's support by not obeying one of Dumbledore's wishes made Harry feel warm inside.
Right now though, he was waiting for Mr. Takanima to pick him up. He had worked for two weeks now, and even though he had worked constantly, Harry's so called weapons seemed to end up in a garbage bin. The first, he had tried to make into a broadsword… tried being the word. And the second, which he finished a couple of hours ago, was a small, light dagger. The dagger was, to put it mildly, quite ugly, though it was sharp (The only reason why Harry decided to keep it). The smithing, however, had left Harry with a nice piece of muscles. Spending hours in a warm room (Which easily loosened up his muscles) hammering away on a piece of metal would do that to you.
The pickup coming into the driveway of the hotel shook Harry out of his thoughts. He could see (and hear) Mr. Takanima honk the horn, and quickly put on his shoes, running down the steps and to the car. He and the old man were going to pick up some kind of creature, and transport it to a 'creature camp,' a couple of hours out of town. Takanima however, would not tell him what kind of creature it was… the impression he got from the old man though, was that it was something dangerous.
"You're telling me to transport a Magical Inland Taipan to the camp without a cage! Are you crazy!" Mr. Takanima's voice carried out from the backroom of the old shop. 'Whatever an Inland Taipan is, it is probably dangerous.' "But sir, we can't have it staying here! This is a normal pet shop! We're lucky enough that the muggle that found it didn't report it to the authorities. If he had even known about the muggle version of it, it would have created headline news all over the country." Another voice said, obviously the owner of the old pet shop. Not able to hold his curiosity in check any longer, Harry walked towards the backroom.
Opening the door, he saw both men turning, looking at him. "Sorry Harry, but we won't be picking up the animal after all." Mr. Takanima said, though his voice didn't sound 'sorry' at all. "Why not?" At Harry's confused expression, Mr. Takanima pointed to the left corner, where a small make-shift bed was, surrounded by small wooden boxes, that was probably supposed to keep whatever creature that was in there, out of the way. "We don't have a cage to transport it in, and the Inland Taipan is far too dangerous, especially seeing as it is a magical one."
Looking over the boxes, Harry could see something small, tucked into a piece cloth. "What is so special about this creature? What creature is an Inland Taipan anyway?"
"An Inland Taipan, Harry, is the worlds most poisonous snake, usually only found in Australia. How it got to Japan, no one knows. This type, however, is a magical breed of it, and is known to destroy the magical core one would find in wizards… those that survive its poison, of course. Meaning, it makes wizards into squibs. It's an old method of punishment in Australia not used anymore, probably because of the rarity of the species. For two wizards to transport it anywhere without a cage, is suicide!" The last words directed at the shopkeeper.
Ignoring the two men arguing, Harry went closer to the cage. "Anyone in there?" Harry hissed. Sometimes parselmouth came in real handy. He could see a small snake crawling out from beneath the piece of cloth. "You ssspeak, human?" The snake asked, its voice much darker and softer than Harry's. "Yesss."
The snake seemed to raise its head higher, before giving Harry a short nod. "What do you want sssspeaker? I wasss sssleping." Knowing that irritating this snake could be dangerous, Harry continued; "My massster isss sssupposed to bring you to a camp for animalssss, but ssseeing as you are too dangerousss for ussss humansss to come near, we were worried you'd bite ussss. Would you mind coming with ussss? I can promissse you, we mean you no harm."
The snake seemed to consider his words, before slowly nodding his head. "You ssspeak truth, ssspeaker. I will allow you to do what you came here for."
Harry slowly lowered his hand into what could only be called a 'snake-pen,' he waited for the snake to crawl up his right arm, which he didn't have to wait long for.
"Thanksss" Harry said, his voice carrying his gratitude to the snake.
Turning around, Harry was met with the sight of two faces frozen in shock, though Mr. Takanima's eyes seemed to carry a knowing glint in it.
"What?" Harry's confused voice travelled across the room, bringing the two men out of their shock.
"Nothing Harry… nothing at all!" Mr. Takanima said, the knowing glint in his eyes never leaving.
# I'm not among the fastest updaters, I know, but I'm only writing this story for fun. Of course, a lot of homework, tests and similar occurrences doesn't help with the matter either… I hope you are satisfied with what I've written… and I wouldn't mind a small, tiny, nice (or not) review either! Still looking for a beta-reader though. If you know of anyone that might help, or maybe even yourself, than you are more than welcome to contact me at; shadow10start.no - See yah!