Heritage of the North: The Power of Ice and Betrayal

"That's a nice lot of friends you have." Bellatrix commented when Harry finished telling her the events of the past twenty-four hours that had led to his incarceration. Too say the least, she was horrified, but voicing that probably wouldn't do any good. "At least they didn't torture you and all that fun stuff."

Harry's lips quirked. "That's one way to look at it."

The two sat in companionable silence mulling over their own thoughts for a few hours. Harry was just barely considering asking Bellatrix about the normal prisoner routine when she abruptly drew a ragged breath. "What's wrong?"

"The Dementors are coming." she gasped as she slowly slumped sideways from her sitting position to the floor. She instinctively curled up into a ball.

"Oh." Harry instinctively thought of a happy thought, but then realized that without his wand, it would do no good. He also then realized that he couldn't feel anything that he normally associated with the presence of the evil creatures. "Are you sure?"

Before Bellatrix could respond the door opened and two plates of some sort of food were shoved into the cell. Apparently it was the evening meal. The door slammed and within a few seconds, Bellatrix had recovered from her fit. The Dementors must have left..

Harry wasn't thinking about why they hadn't affected him because Bellatrix was staring at him with a confused expression on her face. "Don't they affect you at all?"

"Yes." Harry said nervously. "I usually faint." He stood up, grabbed the two plates, and gave one to Bellatrix before returning to his sitting position next to her.

She dug in, but Harry decided to study the feed before eating. It didn't look like anything he had ever eaten before. It didn't smell particularly good either. "What is this slop?"

"It's best if you don't wonder."

"I don't think I want to eat it." Harry said, giving the stuff on the plate a revolted glance.

Bellatrix stopped eating for a moment and gave Harry a very stern glare. "It's the same every day. Whether or not you want to, you will eventually get used to it. You can get used to it now or later. I suggest now unless you want to suffer more than you have to." She returned to the pitiful meal.

"Cheers." Harry muttered.

After they had finished eating, the Dementors returned and took the plates away. Once again, Bellatrix was instantly affected by their powers and Harry did not feel a thing. Harry shrugged it off and thanked his lucky stars. However, Bellatrix who was ever curious, couldn't help but wonder, so she returned to her favorite corner and pondered silently.

Harry had just discovered that it was possible to scratch impressions on the dark walls and was about to take on an artistic project when Bellatrix finally broke her silence. "The Dementors don't affect you, and they are somewhat afraid of you."

Baffled, Harry looked at her. "Afraid of me?"

"Yes, afraid of you." Bellatrix confirmed. "They almost always loiter near this cell to torment me before or after mealtime. I guess I have more guilty memories than other prisoners. However, they must be afraid of you. But why?"

"Umm, I don't know."

She didn't answer for several moments. Finally she beckoned Harry to come over and sit next to her. Having nothing better to do, Harry complied. She stretched forth one of her hands and gently traced the scar on Harry's forehead.

Harry shivered slightly as her cool fingers remained on his forehead after she had traced the scar as if she was checking for a fever. He didn't ever remember someone touching him in that way and it made him nervous. Finally she gave a defeated sigh. "It's not that."

"Okay then." Harry said, not quite sure what she was talking about.

"It's a mark that serves as a link, but it isn't associated with power." she muttered absently, unsuccessfully attempting to explain her thoughts to Harry. Before he could ask what she meant, she spoke again. "Roll up your sleeves."

Harry rolled up his long sleeves until they were very close to the shoulder. Bellatrix took his right hand and slowly stroked his arm from the wrist to shoulder. Finding nothing, she took his left hand and did the same.

As her hand got a few inches above the elbow, Harry started. She had touched something and it was making him feel really strange. Bellatrix had also discovered something because she began to trace something on his arm with a finger. "Bingo." she whispered.

Harry craned his neck to see what it was she was talking about. All he could see was some white rune thing on his skin that was glowing brightly. "What is it?"

"A phoenix clutching a lightning bolt with shackled talons. A star. . the North Star is above the phoenix." Bellatrix said in awe.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry was confused, but he thought it looked fairly interesting anyway.

"It's a Warlock rune." Bellatrix explained. "Only the most powerful wizards have them. I don't think there's been a wizard that has had one of these for ages!"

"A shackled phoenix stands for someone with great power?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, no, no!" Bellatrix said quickly in a slightly annoyed voice. The details of the rune are very personal and apply to each person differently. It's the fact that you have a rune. I suspect that a shackled phoenix signifies that you're a Light wizard, but you've been imprisoned. The lightning bolt is for your scar of course."

"What about the star?"

Bellatrix frowned thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. It's the North Star, so that must be significant. It's technical name is Polaris…"

Harry looked at her inquiringly as she raked her brains for any hint of what the star could mean. "It's on the tip of my tongue!" she growled unhappily. I read it somewhere. "A star… Polaris." Finally she realized what the star denoted. The thought made her giggle gleefully.

"What is it? Tell me!" Harry pleaded.

She stopped her merriment long enough to answer him. "You're the Lord of Polairix."

While Harry was getting confused and Bellatrix was getting even more excited than ever before, the Order was having a meeting in Grimmauld Place. Their choice of topic was of course Harry's 'crime' and subsequent incarceration.

"I have a hard time believing that Harry would do something like that, Albus." Lupin announced in a menacing voice. Moody and Tonks guiltily nodded in agreement with him. Snape had on a very grim face which signified his concurrence. Dumbledore had deliberately kept Lupin and others uninformed about his suspicions of Harry's Dark activities and then of his arrest.

Albus sighed. He had known that this would not go over very well at all with certain Order members. He once again laid out all of the evidence that pointed to Harry. "Even young Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley have agreed with my suspicions and conclusions." He motioned to them. "Tell them what you told me earlier."

"When term started, Dumbledore asked us to watch Harry for anything suspicious. He has been secretly practicing all sorts of Dark magic this year. When we asked him about it, he got very confrontational." Ron explained to his fellow Order members. (He and Hermione had been allowed to secretly join the previous summer.) "His nightmares have also completely ceased. I think that this is evidence of his joining You-Know-Who."

"The same curse that was used on Privet Drive is in one of his books as well." Hermione piped in to support Ron. "I even recall him studying that book on the Hogwarts Express last week."

There were mixed reactions around the table. Mrs. Weasley was horrified, the twins shook their heads in wonder, Shacklebolt was confused, and Dumbledore looked resigned. Lupin decided to express the opinion that he shared with Tonks, Moody, and surprisingly, Snape. He hissed, "You bloody traitors!"

Hermione had the decency to look embarrassed, Ron only rolled his eyes. "This is a war! Sometimes you just have to cut your losses."

Although Snape disliked Harry, he tried to throw out a wild card in his favor. "And what of the prophecy, Headmaster?" Several people murmured in agreement. "Potter may be guilty as sin, but the prophecy still said that he could destroy Voldemort."

"A new prophecy has been given that I believe invalidates former prophecies." Dumbledore announced. "It states that the heir of the North will be restored to his power and that 'he who holds the Black Rod' will decide Voldemort's fate."

"How does that invalidate anything?" Lupin burst out angrily, getting frustrated at the idiocy that was being displayed at the gathering.

Dumbledore held up his hand to silence Remus. "I have done a great deal of research to shed some light on the things the prophecy references." He glanced around the table at the intrigued Order members. "Until the thirteenth century, many things were different. The Wizarding world had more dominance, especially where the nobility was concerned. The Lord of Britain was a wizard who, for example, held a great deal of power over the British Isles."

"What happened to that system?" Hermione asked.

"It eventually dissolved." Albus stated. "Muggle populations grew and persecuted magical beings. However, one of these dominions had almost no Muggles in it and was comprised of mostly magical creatures and powerful witches and wizards. This province and its associated power remain intact to this very day."

Ron, who normally shunned history, was intrigued. "Which dominion is that?"

"The Earldom of the North. Although the estate is intact, the line supposedly failed long ago. I believe that the prophecy is referring to that title and that it will soon be inherited. More research has revealed that the Earldom has always belonged to the House of Polairix in the past and that Polairix possesses the Black Rod." Dumbledore said.

Moody's hand shot up. "Two questions. What is the Black Rod and what makes you think that young Potter isn't the Earl of the North?" Remus nodded fiercely in agreement with the aged Auror.

"I examined that possibility already." Dumbledore countered quietly. "Both James Potter and his father went through a blood-tracing ritual when the Order was doing some experiments several years ago. The Potter family is extremely wealthy and prominent, but they are not descendants of the House of Polairix. Lily, of course, was a Muggle-born."

"And the Black Rod?" Snape reminded the old man.

Professor Dumbledore shrugged. "Polairix was never very forthcoming about that magical object. I would assume that it is a very fancy wand or something to that effect."

"So what do we do now?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"I suggest that we ask Severus here to brew some blood tracing potions." Tonks said. "We can then give them to the heads of some of the most prominent families around and hope that the Earl of the North isn't a Slytherin." She then muttered a short sentence to herself. "And maybe one to Harry."

Bellatrix had just finished explaining all she knew about the dominion of Polairix to Harry, which wasn't very much at all. She seemed to have the vague idea that Harry was the lord of some islands in the general vicinity of Azkaban, that he had inherited a lot of power, and that Voldemort would be shaking in his boots if he knew about Harry's new status.

"So why are you so excited about this?" Harry asked her once she had calmed down a bit. "Noble or not, I'm still stuck in this dank fortress for the rest of my life."

"You're the heir to a great amount of power!" Bellatrix told Harry. Her violet eyes were sparkling wildly. "Wandless magic doesn't go very far at all, but you're powerful enough to do a few tricks that could get us out of here."

Harry was distinctly nervous about the whole idea. "Wouldn't the Ministry be a bit unhappy about all that?"

A snort answered Harry. "Of course they would. But once you escape, there is nothing they can do. You can hide easily from them and if they do catch you, you can just inform them of your status. They can't touch you."

"I'm not so sure." Harry said hesitantly.

Harry was startled when she clutched his robe and began to stare at him with pleading eyes. "Please, Harry. Escape and take me with you. I'll be in your debt forever and thus will never leave you, and will do anything you want me to do."

Possible scenarios raced through Harry's mind. The Ministry would certainly be hot on his trial, but he thought that he might be able to dodge them if he lived among the Muggles. If worse came to worse, he could always do something against Malfoy to prove his innocence. Most of all, what did he have to lose? "All right, we'll do it." he said.

Bellatrix wrapped her arms around Harry hugged him fiercely. Not being an experienced hugger, Harry stiffened for a moment before awkwardly returning the hug. She broke it off with a large smile. "I'll start teaching you everything I know in the morning. Even if I'm not powerful enough to do much without a wand, I can at least tutor you."