"You have a garden in your house," Harry could not help but raise an eyebrow.
"Well, it's not exactly in the house, but it is surrounded by it," Sirius said. "But it's not like I spend any time in it. It's also not like there has been anyone in the house to take care of the garden for the last twelve years."
"With me around, there is no need for anyone or anything else," Krinos chuckled.
"Just prepare yourself for a horrible graveyard of plants," Sirius said.
"I can not wait to see your powers in action, Krinos," Harry smiled at his new friend.
"I will try not to disappoint," Krinos smirked.
Sirius had led his godson and the Greek nature mage up to the second floor of Number Twelve. Turning the opposite way of the bedroom hallways. Unfortunately for Harry and Krinos, they were followed by Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. While Harry wanted to try and salvage his friendship with the three, but they still needed to learn that he was not going to just forgive and forget every time they wronged him.
While he may have forgiven both of his best friends, both Ron and Hermione still do not seem to get what they did was wrong and hurt him.
First was in his third year when Sirius had sent him his firebolt. When Harry gets his Firebolt, which Sirius sent but none of them knew for sure, she went right to McGonagall instead of asking Harry to do it himself. And she did it behind his back and he almost lost a gift from his godfather. You could argue that she was trying to look out for him, but she could have looked out for him by not going behind his back and talking to him. Harry had just wanted to forget about the broom for a bit and have fun with his friends, but Hermione did not even wait an hour before she betrayed his trust and went to McGonagall.
And did he even have to explain why he was wary of Ron? The dude betrayed him last year and spent over a month being nothing but a giant bully toward him and anyone that did not believe that he did not place his name in the goblet. He even wore one of those pathetic "Harry Potter Stinks" badges. Ron has always been so obsessed with fame and money that he forgets that Harry only got his because his parents were murdered and he survived a murder attempt. He barely even said that he was sorry and has been acting like he never did anything wrong at all.
And in terms of Ginny, he had done plenty of thinking while locked up at Durzkaban. He discovered that she was incredibly selfish. When he reflected on his second year, he remembered everything that both Voldemort's memory had told him and things that he had happened at certain times. Harry had the diary for about a month before Ginny had stolen it back and yet another month had passed before Hermione and Penelope had been petrified. All she had done was just go back to writing in a book that talked back to her. And according to Riddle, Ginny had known that something was wrong with her and that she was involved along with the diary. But even after being out of its influence, she still did nothing. She was so selfish about her own chance of getting expelled that she was willing to let lives be put in danger.
Sirius led them to a wooden double door. Opening them, there was a metal gate on the other side of them. But they could all easily see the dead vines twisted around the gate metal bars.
"It hurts my heart already and I can barely see anything," Krinos dramatically placed a hand over his heart.
Harry patted him on the back while chuckling.
Sirius then pushed the gates open and they all entered a courtyard-like area filled from wall to wall with dead plants. Trees, bushes, flower bunches, vines, and even a vegetable and fruit patch were all nothing but dark brown, gray, and even black plants. There were also a couple of benches, tables, chairs, and a fountain with a raven statue on it. All of them were covered by the dead plants that had obviously had grown out of control before they had died. The ceiling over their heads was a glass dome similar to what would be over a greenhouse.
"Your family doesn't go halfway, does it," Harry chuckled as he asked his godfather.
"I never said that they didn't," Sirius laughed.
"Now, this really hurts my heart," Krinos held his hand over his heart again. "But I can fix this to look brand new once again."
"I have been waiting for this," Harry was excited.
"I can not believe that you believe in something so fake," Hermione huffed. "He is our age so that only makes it more impossible for him to be able to use wandless magic."
Krinos simply rolled his eyes and let his magic do the talking for him.
"Nature's breath," he cast.
He put his right hand up to his mouth and blew over it as if he was blowing something off of his hand. Shiny green dust flew off of his hand, also seeming to come out of his mouth.
Turning around the garden, he spread his magic dust all over the area. As the plants were hits by the dust, they almost instantly sprang back to life. The plants all turned their natural colors once again. Trees turned golden brown with bright green leaves. Bushes turned a brilliant green as well. The vines, fruits, and vegetables all gained their life back as well. The entire garden was returned to its former glory.
"Wow," Harry and Sirius gasped.
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny just looked annoyed. Hermione looked to want to explode as she saw the "Impossible" magic being done.
"Nature has always been what I love the most," Krinos smiled as he then made another tree grow with a wave of his hand.
"Thank you, Krinos," Sirius thanked the Greek mage. "The garden has never looked better."
"It was my pleasure," Krinos smiled back. "My plants also last for years, so that will make it easier for these to be taken care of."
"Your powers are incredible," Harry looked at all the revived plants. "You literally bend nature to your will."
"It took me years to master my powers and they still grow in power until I turn eighteen," Krinos says.
"Your magic definitely is different from ours," Harry sat down on one of the benches. "Your magic reaches its maturity at eighteen instead of seventeen. You also obviously will have different classes in your school compared to our own. They would have to be different since they can't have general classes because mystic souls do not share the same types of powers."
Krinos nodded. "True, mystic souls do not share the exact same powers. We do, however, share similar abilities that work with similar elements."
"So if you take your powers, for example, others can work with nature but work with it differently," Harry says. "Like you work with all plants, but others can work with just flowers while others work with just trees."
"Exactly," Krinos was impressed by the amount of knowledge that a wand-user figured out about his people. "I have a few friends that also have their own versions of nature magic. My friend Lily has Nature's Enchantment magic, which allows her to mix enchantments with plants. There is also my friend White, who has Nature's Beast magic. It allows him to shapeshift into animals that have been fused with plants."
"Definitely is so different from what can be done with a wand," Harry said.
"Honestly," Hermione huffed. "Harry, you can not believe such obvious lies."
Krinos snapped his head in her direction. His eyes momentarily glowed as he tried to suppress his desire to turn the annoying girl into poison ivy. But then he might get complaints from a certain someone over in Gotham about disrespecting plant life by turning such a horrible girl into a plant.
"Hermione, he just showed us two things that he could do with his powers," Harry said. "He is a mystic soul. They don't need wands."
"My god, Harry," Hermione complained, rolling her eyes. "It's obviously some kind of trick since wandless magic is rare. These mystic soul people don't exist."
"One is standing right there," Harry pointed at Krinos. "And his cousin, another mystic soul, helped rescue me from Durzkaban."
"They obviously are using things like power amplifying potions or amulets," Hermione argued, as stubborn as ever. "That is the only way they could do things like the things they did."
Harry could not help but notice that Krinos seemed to subconsciously reach up and touch the emerald flower pendant that was around his neck. He was not going to ask about it with the others around, but he made sure to remember to ask about it later.
"You are lucky that I am from Athens and not from Sparta, little miss delusional," Krinos glared at the bushy-haired know-it-all. "I know a lot of people cursed for things not as offensive as insulting the entirety of the mystic soul community like you just did."
"Don't talk to her like that," Ron glared back at the nature mage.
"I will talk to this idiotic girl any way that I wish," Krinos crossed his arms. "She should not pretend to know anything about my people when she clearly knows nothing at all."
"How dare you," Hermione screamed at him. "I am the brightest witch of my generation."
"In Britain, maybe," Krinos countered with a smirk. "Considering that I have female friends back home that can bend water to her will, turn into any animal that she wishes, conjure fairy tale elements from an enchanted book, and many others, you are nothing but a single grain of sand compared to them."
Harry was of two minds at that moment. His first one was all about wanting to meet Krinos's friends. They all sounded extremely powerful and their powers certainly sounded amazing. They would probably be as fun to be around as Krinos himself. His other mind was actually thinking that Hermione was getting what she deserved. She always acts so high and mighty because of how smart she is and now she has met someone that is finally not putting up with her horrible attitude.
"Don't speak to Hermione like that," Ginny yelled.
Krinos's eyes glowed again. The plants around him moved. Vines grew to a giant size and thorn-covered vines snaked close to them. Both sets of vines grew and moved to be around Krinos, almost looking like they had grown right from his back.
"And what makes you think you can stop me," Krinos asked, his arms crossed. "I am a mage of nature inside of a garden. This is my domain and I doubt you pathetic wand-users can do anything against me in here."
As much as Harry wanted to see what would happen, he would rather not have his new friend become a murderer on the day that they met. He would rather be alone with him anyway since he obviously could not trust the other three to keep their opinions to themselves.
"Just leave, guys," Harry told the three annoyances.
"What," the three yelled.
"How can you even possibly think that we would leave you alone with him," Hermione screamed. "Look at him! He's dangerous!"
"He is only reacting to you insulting him and his people when you called them fake," Harry glared at his supposed friend.
"We are still not leaving you along with him," Ron yelled.
"Leave or I will finally get to see how mystic souls use their magic in offensive ways," Harry did not mind the idea of forcing them out of the garden.
"It would be my pleasure," Krinos had on a sinister smirk, the vines creeping toward the trio.
The look on the nature mage's face and the approaching vines were enough to get the three to leave.
"Olivia said that she was coming by for a bit, so I will be with her and Remus in the kitchen if you need anything," Sirius told the two.
"Alright, Sirius," Harry said.
Sirius closed the gate behind him as he left, knowing that the paranoid people that were his family had charmed the gate with a silencing charm to activate when it was closed. So his godson and Krinos were perfectly able to freely chat now.
He went back to the kitchen, which was thankfully empty except for himself and Remus. Mrs.Weasley was probably somewhere else trying to clean this disgusting house. He swore to himself that when he cleared his name and got custody of Harry, he was going to get them a much better house to live him. And currently, a house in Greece sounded like a great idea.
But as Olivia stepped out of her portal and into the kitchen, they had a plan that they needed to get started.
"Headmistress Jiwe and all the teachers have agreed to a field trip being hosted by Crystal Rose," she told the two men as she sat down.
"Do they know the real purpose," Remus asked.
"They do," Olivia nodded. "Headmistress Jiwe has had a few run-ins with Dumbledore while at gatherings for worldwide school headmasters/mistresses. She hates him and is definitely willing to help us pull the rug out from under him."
"I now really want to meet her," Sirius stated. "Thank her for us."
Olivia giggled. "I will pass on the message. How is it going on your end?"
"Dumbledore hasn't been by, so we have not had a chance to try and trick him," Remus admitted.
"But we have gotten other Order members into agreeing that having mystic soul allies would be great for the Order," Sirius says. "We have been adding a few lies about Voldemort killing mystic souls in the last war, so your kind would be more open to our side than his."
"Very clever," Olivia nodded in approval. "They will never know that none of us would ever fall against a wand-user, even if he is a so-called dark lord."
"I am beginning to really enjoy your smack talk against all wand-users," Sirius chuckled. "No offense, of course, Moony."
"From the point of view of a mystic soul, I get why she smack talks us," Remus chuckled. "I mean, have you met Fudge and those that he personally employs?"
"The man ordered a 'kiss on sight' for me even when I still have not received a single trial," Sirius said. "You don't need to meet him to know that he's an idiot."
"It's people like your minister that make my cousins question why I chose to go into politics," Olivia stated.
"What can you do," Sirius shrugged. "There is always be idiots in the world, no matter what you try to do."
"Considering the people in this Order, I believe that," Olivia said. "They should call themselves the Order of the Sheep since all they seem to do is follow their precious Dumbledore. They are the sheep and he is their shepherd."
"There is no way that Britain would survive the amount of sass and sarcasm that comes from your family if you guys lived here," Sirius laughed.
The floo suddenly came to life and out walked Dumbledore himself.
"Speaking of said shepherd," Remus mumbled under his breath.
"Ah, Miss.Gardna, welcome back," Dumbledore greeted the time mage.
To the untrained eye, Dumbledore was his usual kind grandfather self. But Olivia was a politician and easily saw through the mask that he was wearing. He was irritated with her being there since she had done nothing but question and argue with him since the moment that she first got there. But since he was here now, probably to try and manipulate Sirius or Remus, they were able to get the rest of their plan in motion.
"Geia, Mr.Dumbledore," Olivia greeted back, purposely not calling him 'headmaster' or 'professor' since he was never her teacher or headmaster.
"Did you need something, headmaster," Remus asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
"Molly sent me a letter," Dumbledore said, all three of the others resisting the urge to roll their eyes. "She was concerned about how much time Harry was spending alone. You know that after everything he has been through, he needs his friends."
"Strange that you say that now, yet you were the one that forbid all of us from contacting Harry for almost a month," Sirius crossed his arms as well. "So all of a sudden he needs his friends. Make up your mind, Dumbledore."
"You know that owls could have been intercepted, Sirius," Dumbledore tried not to look annoyed with the fugitive. "Now that Harry is here, he needs his friends."
"Harry can make his own choices, headmaster," Remus said. "If he wants to spend time alone, or in the library, or with his friends, then he is allowed to."
"That reminds me, I will need to talk with him later," Olivia says. "I can help him with his hearing at the ministry since I know the most about the law."
"That is not nec..." Dumbledore tried to say.
"That sounds great, Olivia," Sirius said, interrupting Dumbledore, which he was happy to do. "Thank you."
"Of course," Olivia smiled, then smirked as she decided to move toward manipulating the manipulator. "Given mystic soul history with this country, it would be my pleasure to stick it to your pathetic ministry."
Olivia's mention of a bad history between mystic souls and magical Britain intrigued Dumbledore so much that he forgot about how offended he was at Sirius interrupting him the way that he did.
"Bad history," Dumbledore asked, curious just like they wanted him to be. "What do you mean, Miss.Gardna?"
"I did a little more research since the last time that I was here," Olivia rather enjoyed that he was falling for their trick. "Your little dark lord might have done it in a cowardly way, but he still managed to kill a few of my people. Mystic souls that were simply being magical tourists as they had been visiting magical Britain during your war. Voldemort somehow found them and would have his Death Eaters fire killing curses at their backs. He never let them even fight back. Guess he would rather be a coward than face down a mystic soul in a fight."
Olivia almost smirked as she saw that the headmaster was actually believing her tall tale. He fell for the lie, hook, line, and sinker. Guess this is what happens when you get an ego as big as his, you lose brain cells.
"I see," Dumbledore got that annoying twinkle back in his eyes. "Your people must be very angry that they lost some of their own to Voldemort."
Inside, he was celebrating. Maybe this was the opening that he had to make it known even to mystic souls that he was a lot more powerful than them. He was the strongest wizard ever. Stronger than Merlin, stronger than the Hogwarts founders, stronger than everyone. And he was going to prove it to even mystic souls.
"Some of them were even former students of my school, Crystal Rose," Olivia continues tricking the headmaster. "Headmistress Jiwe is most upset about losing students that she helped to nurture and come into their powers."
They could see the hamster wheels in Dumbledore's mind turning. The three shared looks that silently celebrated how they were fooling the old man.
"Would your headmistress and her fellow mystic souls be willing to help us," Dumbledore asked, thinking that he could use them to further his own agenda.
"The ministry watches you like a hawk, headmaster," Remus said. "You leaving the country would look like you trying to gain allies from other countries. They would never allow that."
"Makes me wish for the days where students were able to go on field trips for certain classes," Sirius sighed. "I still remember that one trip we took to a magical creature reserve when I was taking Care of Magical Creatures in my fifth year."
Unlike Dumbledore, whose manipulations were about as subtle as a bull in a china shop, they were very good at tricking him. They were actually subtle. The old man looked at Olivia as he asked the question that they had been waiting for.
"Does your old school accept foreign schools for field trips," he asked.
The three had to suppress their smirks at a job well done.