Chapter 21 Christmas with Carrionites

She set aside the tea cup and said, "I'll prepare another place to have the book stored by the end of the week. For now, let it be known to others that the book was destroyed by the Mandarin's disintegration beam."

Harry nodded and was silently happy that she agreed to go along with his plan. Harry asked, "So, who is this Mandarin guy?"

The Ancient One took from her robes some items Harry recognized as the tech the Mandarin used to break the magic security. She said, "Place these in your inventory and pause so you can analyze them. Tell me what you have discovered first and I will tell you what I know of the Mandarin."

Harry had no problems complying and did as she asked. He didn't know the Mandarin dropped them when Harry snatched the book from under his nose.

Once paused, Harry quickly realized whatever this tech was, it wasn't earth based. Sure, it used electricity, but that wasn't all it used. Some of the materials seemed to use principals which Harry did even know those materials had. Harry would have to experiment with them later to learn more since they worked off logic Harry wasn't familiar with.

Harry unpaused and said, "It was built on earth but it's not earth tech."

The Ancient One nodded and said, "It is said that the Mandarin discovered an alien ship many decades ago and mastered the technology. He crafted the energy sources of the ship into ten rings which have granted him great power as you know. Many know of the Mandarin as he is not afraid of showing off and many fear his power. His disintegration beam most of all."

"Decades?" Harry asked.

She nodded weakly. "Yes. Though the source of his health at that age is not the rings. He is more than just a master martial artist. He has completely harnessed his Chi, his life force and has strengthened it to the point where he can maintain his youth as he pleases."

Harry read a few books about life force which mentioned the power of chi and the possibility of youth extension, but Harry didn't know anyone was actually capable of it. The quantity and quality of the Chi required were not things that could be obtained in a modern world or so he thought. Thousands of years ago someone with that much Chi would be called an Immortal. But in this day and age, even the Immortals had died.

The Ancient One said, "You're to avoid open exercise for three days to avoid suspicion on your recovery from fighting the Mandarin. That will be all and good work."

Harry thanked the Ancient One and turned to leave, but before he got to the door she said, "And Harry, do be careful. Some books are sentient and many such books will not have the best intentions of the reader. I do not know how your power will react to such a book, so in the future, be careful of what you place in your inventory."

Harry felt the blood drain from his face for a moment before his mind automatically steadied itself. Harry could already think of half a dozen books that fell under the criteria the Ancient One described. When he placed a book into his inventory, it practically became a part of him. What if the book was already someone else? He didn't want to think about it.

Secrets were not well kept in Kamar-Taj and eventually some details about what occurred came out. Harry bravely took the book that the Mandarin had come for and lasted long enough against him to use the book to block his disintegration beam. At least that was the story the Ancient One encouraged and she doubted the Mandarin would refute the details.

Once Harry 'recovered,' Mordo took him under his wing and began training him in earnest. There were several masters who often took time to personally teach disciples, but Mordo was considered the best when it came to combat. Kaecilius was also very skilled but the man had a sadistic side that came out when fighting someone weaker than him which included much of Kamar-Taj. Few if any of his sparring partners didn't require some medical attention for cuts, broken bones, or concussions. Harry avoided sparring with him for that reason and Mordo never allowed it in the first place.

After a year of crafting, Harry had successfully created bracers which increased the amount of momentum he needed to move. This did not increase his weight or make him fall faster as any sparring partner would notice such a thing, it simply increased the amount of energy and effort he needed to make any movement. In order words he would have to go all out to fight someone at a lower fitness level and he would strengthen himself better doing it.

Harry used these to spar with Mordo and train under him with everything he had, which from Mordo's perspective looked to be quite promising but still human. Harry finally used his long cutter sword while sparring which made Mordo very relieved he would not have to talk Harry out of using that ridiculous heavy sword. The sword style Harry used still worked with the longer than normal sword but Harry used more footwork variations to strike, dodge, and counter than before.

Mordo also began training Harry with his insights into the Heart Palace. He said, "You know Harry I must admit some jealousy in how easily you achieved it. I was not so lucky."

Harry could sense a story and asked, "What happened?"

He smiled wryly and said, "When the Ancient One knows you can succeed in a difficult training means, she won't let you use an easier means. Because of this, I didn't learn even basic control for some time. Many who came after me seemed to achieve results quickly, but not me. I didn't even know she had given me the training for the Heart Palace until later."

He shook his head in reminiscence and continued, "One day, I told her I just couldn't do it. She told me I wasn't surrendering to the energy and trying to control it instead. She opened a portal and told me to follow."

Harry wondered where someone could be taken for that. "Where'd you go?"

"Mt. Everest. She took me to the top of Mt. Everest and told me someone without proper attire would likely go into shock in two minutes. She then re-entered the portal and left me there."

He stayed silent for a moment before continuing, "I understood then that what I had been trying to fight until that moment, had never been an enemy. I had in fact wasted so much time fighting myself. I gave up the fight, you cannot win a fight against yourself. In the barren cold of Everest I felt the cold numb my flesh and bones, but in doing so, my other senses became more attuned. I felt the energy of space at the peak of the world and accepted it within me, changing it and changing myself. Once I had done this, the first stage of the Heart Palace had been completed and I could control the energy as if it were a part of me. I escaped Everest that day. The Ancient One guided me not where I wanted to go, but where I needed to go. And I have risen far since then."

Harry wondered how the Ancient One would feel if she knew Mordo turned a lesson plan into a religious experience.

Harry was somewhat thankful he was able to spend another full year of training under the Ancient One and Mordo before Mordo decided to take him along on a small mission. After two and a half years of Kamar-Taj, Harry's stats had gone through several breakthroughs.

[Harry Potter

Level 170 Age 14

STR 235 AGI 267

INT 355 WIS 350

LUK 20

Warrior Path rank 26

Scholar Path rank 38

Magic Path rank 36

Tech Path rank 23

Business Path rank 11

Crafting Path rank 15]

First was Harry's martial technique. Though still leagues below someone like the Mandarin, Harry was at least as skilled as Mordo. Though since he still fought with the training bracers, from Mordo's perspective Harry was simply, 'competent enough not to die pointlessly.' The reason he reached Mordo's level was that although the man held back his strength in the spars, he did not hold back his skill to ensure Harry's technique was not lacking in any way he couldn't fix.

Harry had fully memorized the content of every book in the library including the Ancient One's private collection. He asked permission once he comprehended the content of the Master's Library and after she made Harry promise not to use any spells or rituals contained within for any reason without first consulting her, she agreed. The fact that Harry didn't summon any demons was good evidence he didn't see temptation in the same way most do. Harry did in fact come to her with three or so spells he learned and wanted to try out and she was willing to walk him through the dangers and supervise the practice.

Harry's heart palace had accumulated large amounts of nature energy, strength energy, antimagic energy, and illusion energy. He spent several months on each over the last two years and eventually synchronized the energies with his life force and soul, allowing him to control those energies as easily as he did Dimensional energy. Each energy was from a specific dimension the Ancient One led him to in the astral plane. Strength Energy for example can be easily found within the Crimson cosmos, a plane of existence currently ruled by Cyttorak. Usually to control strength energy one must invoke Cyttorak's name, but Harry could bypass that requirement meaning he didn't even need to chant the spell. This was one of the great advantages of the Heart palace method and Harry had surpassed Mordo in its usage since Mordo was still trying to absorb energy he couldn't even feel.

Harry's scholar path increased when he learned something or comprehended something new so it increased suitably of course. The whole of wizard knowledge is only about controlling exotic energy. Sure, exotic energy is formidable, but it is still only one type of energy. Harry had been learning about dozens of types of energies, their uses and their various permutations. He expanded his knowledge of those studies with what he knew of nuclear physics, theoretical physics, and astrophysics and merged them together. Harry now knew more of the science of magic than even the Ancient One, though she could mentally calculate it faster as she had better instincts from centuries of practice.

Harry's Tech Path jumped when he finally cracked the secret behind the Mandarin's toys. Since they basically interfaced around magic Harry had a base to work from in figuring them out. What Harry found interesting was that they basically overloaded the security spells and were likely powered by the Mandarin's rings. No one else could use them which was likely why he didn't care if he left them. He probably didn't think a sorcerer in a temple would have any use of it.

The Business Path increased slowly on its own with or without Harry's input, though it did increase faster when Harry participated in his business interests.

The red headed twins had opened their store filled with fun prank and gag merchandise and Harry would often head over to see what they had that was new. Sirius still ran much of it and was having a great time. He and Amelia got married a few months ago and Harry enjoyed the wedding as it was the first reunion he had with many of his friends. He still wrote Hermione a short letter every month or so and she would write back. They were still friends but she was getting on with her life. Harry realized at the wedding that Neville and Hermione sat very close to each other and he was happy for them.

The other, larger part of his business interest was the Muggle Bank that Gringotts had opened using computers. They named it P & G Bank and Trust, and hired squibs and muggleborns to be the face of the bank as they continued to research muggle companies and use them to gain more money. They would often give loans of Harry's gold converted into British Pounds to up and coming businesses at a decent interest and were making long term money goals from such. What was interesting was that if a business failed, the business would be forfeited to the Goblins who would delegate muggleborns to it to fix up the place using magic and make the business worth something, then sell it to someone else. This method required quite a bit of trial and error and more than a little help from Harry himself but eventually they figured out what to look out for when giving loans. If the company was any good, the Goblins would also retain the rights to buy partial ownership of the company and in doing so, P & G Bank and Trust slowly but surely grew.

As far as the world knew, P & G stood for Potter and Gold which were both old families of Britain which decided to open a bank. The Government knew the truth of course, but when the Royal Family learned the magicals were finally leaving the Victorian era, they had no problem approving it and the bank did in fact make a minor boost to the economy and paid their taxes properly as good citizens of the crown.

Harry's Crafting Path improved from two sources. The first was the obvious, Harry would take materials and mold them with magic and intent and try to create artifacts. He was already considered a master of metallurgy, tanning, carving, and material physics and chemistry in general. The second source was unexpected but fruitful. Turned out cooking was considered crafting so Harry started cooking all the time. The higher the Crafting Path, the easier it was to craft something so even if Harry rose the Path through cooking it still made it easier to craft working artifacts.

Harry would put every cook book he found in his inventory, practice at least one sophisticated meal a day, and every once in a while he would find some cooking contest in Britain to participate in. So far the best he had done was come in third, but that was not too surprising. Cooking really was an art and there were many geniuses who surpassed him.

Although Mordo had no clue as to the depth of Harry's actual strength, he still requested Harry's accompaniment on a routine retrieval mission to show Harry the ropes. The Ancient One couldn't see Harry's future so had no idea what would happen. She still agreed to the request and basically said, 'Have fun.'

Another reason Mordo requested Harry was that the mission took place in London and he didn't want to ask Kaecelius to join him since most missions needed two regardless of the difficulty or lack thereof. Mordo knew Harry often returned to London for various things so Harry likely knew the layout as well as the sadistic jerk did.

The mission itself was to find a specific item which had been stolen from Kamar-Taj long ago. It was a relic called the Visconti-Sforza deck. It was apparently the very first tarot deck ever created and also the most powerful. It was gifted to Kamar-Taj in the 15th century but lost in the 17th century and rumors of its reappearance had reached Kamar-Taj.

Mordo had a few places he wanted to check out and explained most of them to Harry. Though it was late December they both wore robes that kept them warm so neither were bothered.

Harry himself was wondering why he didn't receive a game generated quest. He actually had no idea why a quest would generate for something or why it wouldn't for something else. He got a quest for making Hermione prank a teacher but didn't get one for protecting the Grand Grimoire from the Mandarin. It was slightly irksome since if he got the quest he'd get a nice map pointer showing him exactly where the thing was. But then again, he didn't want to get spoiled.

The search took three days and it was actually Christmas by the time they found it in a gift shop. Harry bought it since the man selling it had no idea it was real and if Mordo tried to convince him it was, the seller was more likely to increase the price than give it to them.

The relic itself seemed dormant to Harry. Mordo explained that relics would appear so until they chose the one they wished to wield them. The deck was actually a fairly powerful relic that in addition to its ability to predict coming events, its cards could also could sharpen themselves and fly at the user's command like a swarm of blades.

Rather than return, Harry said he would spend the day admiring the Christmas decorations around London which Mordo was fine with.

Not long after admiring the giant tree, Harry sensed something that was more than a little odd. Time energy, and a lot of it. Harry followed the source around a corner and three people ran straight into him.

One of them, a man wearing a bow tie, said, "Oh Hello, sorry about that," as he got up.

Harry said, "What's with the rush?"

The bow tie wearer Harry confirmed was the source of the time energy said, "Yes, well, we're being chased so got to run."

A redheaded woman and a skinny man in a striped sweater followed him.

*Ping*

[New Quest: Rescue the Time Lord]

Help the Doctor stop the Carrionites and find his way home.]

Three shadow-like specters flew over Harry but almost immediately turned around.

"Fallen before our eyes, a feast!" One of them practically screeched.

The other said, "Lead us to what we crave our spell has done."

Harry wasn't sure if that strange croaking sound was a giggle. The three looked like a cross between a Dementor and a crow and Harry realized they seemed to have decided to eat him.

The redhead shouted, "Doctor!" When she realized their pursuers were more intent on eating Harry than following them.

The spectral trio descended on Harry and the three from before seemed to be yelling at Harry to run.

One of the bird creatures moved to snatch something from Harry's head, a hair perhaps, but Harry ducked and kicked it back before sending a flying roundhouse at the other two, sending them into a wall.

Harry calmly approached the three he ran into earlier and said, "Those aren't friends of yours I suppose."

The one he initially kicked recovered and shouted, "I shall drink from the blood of your heart!"

The group gave a look at Harry and grabbed him while shouting, "Run!"

Harry decided to follow along.

While gaining distance the redhead said, "Wait, kicking them works? Why can't we go back to that?"

The man with the bow tie said, "They don't exist on our physical realm, kicking them only pisses them off."

Harry wondered how much experience these people had at running while talking.

Harry said, "I'm Harry by the way."

The redhead said, "I'm Amy, this is my husband Rory."

The man in the sweater gave a small wave as they continued to run down the street. Harry figured the man must be used to being introduced by her.

The bow tie wearing leader said, "I'm the Doctor."

Harry asked, "Of what?"

"What?" he asked back.

"What are you the Doctor of?"

Rory chuckled which made Harry look to him. The man finally spoke up and said, "Most people say Doctor who."

Harry said, "'What' is far more interesting."

Amy said, "Come to think of it, what are you a doctor of?"

"Is now really the best time for this?!" he almost shouted.

The three bird things were flying fast at them and Harry said, "So do you have a plan?"

The Doctor said, "Not really, making things up as I go."

"Do you want me to kick them again?"

"What good will that do us?" the Doctor asked.

"Buy us some time to make a better plan?"

"We need something to distract them and throw them off our scent! Something I'll think of any second now."

Harry felt them getting closer and casually took out a Patronus grenade.

Rory noticed it in Harry's hand and said, "What's that?"

Harry threw it behind him a after a moment of blinding light, the space suddenly contained a massive shining dragon that barely fit in the space between the buildings on the street. The glowing white construct took a look at the specters and roared. The ghastly creatures turned and flew away immediately but the massive Patronus did not give chase.

The trio stopped dead and turned to see the massive glowing white dragon that looked both real and illusionary. Harry noticed that all three of them could see it even though muggles couldn't see exotic energy based magic. Harry attributed it to the fact that even the two normal seeming ones did have an excess amount of time energy which allowed them to see things others could not. The bird creatures also seemed to have a field around them which made them harder to notice which explained the lack of shrieking on the streets from the ghostly specters flying down London.

All the lights in the surroundings started going off and coming back on as the Patronus faded away. This was a newer version of the spell grenade which had less Exotic energy emission but it still had some effect. The fact that the lights came back on at all was a good sign to Harry. The Exotic energy hadn't done permanent damage to the lines in the area.

Rory was the first to speak up, barely. "W-What. What was that?"

Harry shrugged. "Dragon in a can. Useless in a fight but scary enough. Those bird thingys will probably figure out it's not dangerous soon so let's go."

The Doctor led them down a few more streets and they stopped running when he felt they lost them. Rory and Amy looked decently out of breath but seemed to recover quickly enough.

Harry took the moment to say, "So, what were they, why did they talk about eating me, and what exactly are you a Doctor of?"

The Doctor recovered after just a few breaths and said, "Carrionites. They feed off life energy and you look delicious to them. And everything."

Harry frowned and said, "Wait a second."

The Doctor looked like he was about to try to convince Harry he wasn't lying about the Carrionites, but Harry said, "You're a Doctor of everything?"

The possible 'not an actual Doctor' looked taken aback, "Yes, yes I am." He straightened his bow tie as if that proved his point.

Harry asked, "So you've written a dissertation on every single subject that exists and after a review by your peers it was accepted and published?"

When Amy saw the dumbstruck look on the Not a Doctor's face, she started laughing hysterically and Rory also seemed to have trouble keeping himself from joining her.

"Well, I um.. Yes, well. Shut up."

This caused her to laugh even harder.

"I'm an honorary Doctor ok!"

Rory said, "So you never actually got a degree on earth or Gallifrey or anything?"

He shook his head and said, "It wasn't called a Doctorate when I graduated on Gallifrey but I was given the title ok? I am the Doctor."

Harry said, "That's nice. Got a plan to deal with the Carrionites before they eat anyone? I doubt I'm the only tasty morsel in London."

Amy looked oddly at Harry and said, "You're what, sixteen? How are you so calm about this and why did you have a canned dragon?"

"I'm fourteen and a half actually. And weird things happen to me all the time. I'm used to it by now. And I have a canned dragon because I put it there. I like to make things like that."

Harry had the Doctor's attention at that point, "You made that? How?"

"I doubt you'd understand if I told you."

"Oh yeah? Try me."

Harry smiled and said, "Magic."

Amy said, "Wait, real magic? Are you a wizard or something?"

Rory picked up on this and said, "I don't think wizards have canned dragons. I mean why put it in a can?"

Harry said with mock accusation, "Well, where else am I'm going to put it?"

Amy stifled a laugh and said teasingly, "Yeah Rory, where else is he going to put it?"

The Doctor shook his head and said, "Ok, Harry the Wizard, we need to find someplace safe. Carrionites are as picky as they are vindictive so they won't target anyone else until they get to you."

Harry shrugged, at least that was convenient. "I've got a place up the street."

He rarely used it since Kamar-Taj was quieter and had more dimensional energy but he needed a place for his mail to go when the PO Box complained about the smell of the mail he usually got.