Harry Potter: Keeper of the Lost Cities (crossover)

Atlantis

Harry was almost too distracted by Lord Garrick's comments to notice that the entrance to Atlantis was a giant whirlpool. He did, however, notice that the underwater city's main form of transportation seemed to be carriages pulled by giant sea scorpions.

Alden Hermione climbed into the passengers' section without a second thought, but Harry hesitated.

"They're only euryptids, Harry," Hermione told him. "They wouldn't eat you." The petite girl hopped out of the carriage and approached the euryptid. "See it's friendly."

Harry watched skeptically as she stroked the giant arachnid. It emitted a sound somewhere between a cat's purr and nails screeching on a chalkboard. Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him closer.

Harry reached out tentatively. Then, thinking of the snake back at the zoo, he tried thinking at the creature.

I just want to pet you. I'm a friend. Please don't eat me.

Harry expected the euryptid to respond in words. Instead, his mind was filled with an image of the creature purring happily while Harry scratched its back.

The boy finally laid his hand on the euryptid's back, and it's purr grew louder. Hermione grinned in smug way that said, "I told you so."

The next couple hours passed in a blur of shops. Harry needed a full wardrobe, plus some other elvish things, like an Imparter. He was also given a new nexus, and a choker style necklace that had something to to with his 'registry'.

"Male elves have to wear the necklaces too?" He triple-checked when they left the store.

"Yes, Harry." Hermione's answer was practically a snap.

"If it helps, I can show you mine," Alden said, folding back the collar of his sea green jerkin. Sure enough, the older elf wore an identical choker.

"Okay," Harry agreed.

Next, both kids needed school supplies.

"I can't believe I'm finally about to start Foxfire!" Hermione squealed as she flipped through the pages of her new school books.

Foxfire. The word sounded familiar, but Harry couldn't quite place where. It was only when Hermione showed him a picture of the shcool- a glass pyramid with a glowing 'F' emblazoned on the sides, surrounded by jeweled halls- that Harry realized 'foxfire' was a fungus.

"It's meant to symbolize our brightness in a dark world," Hermione told him.

Harry didn't think that was enough of an excuse to name your most important school after mold.

Their carriage stopped in front of a towering apartment building, and Alden led them inside.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"The Council ordered a probe. They want to know if you have any secrets."

"But I don't! I mean, besides where I hid my cousin's I Pod once..."

"I know, but you have to understand that you are a unique case. The Council isn't sure what to do with you. But there's no reason to worry. The probe should be painless."

Harry bit back his complaints as Alden went up to the front desk. He and Hermione lingered in the waiting area.

"What really is a probe?" he wondered.

"It just means that a Telepath is going to search your memories. As long as you don't fight it, nothing can possibly happen."

"Fine," Harry agreed.

The Telepath's office was stark, to say the least. A metal table sat in the center of a sapphire room. Clustered around it were five metal chairs. Some sort of lamp hung from the ceiling, and torches burning with blue fire adorned the walls. Why the office had both a lamp and a collection of torches was unknown to Harry.

A man with dark skin and cropped, black hair sat in one of the chairs. He dark blue eyes had a sad look to them, somehow.

"Alden," he said, dipping his head.

"Quinlin," Alden said.

"This is the boy, then?" Quinlin asked, nodding to Harry.

"Yes," Alden said. "Harry, meet Quinlin Sonden, one of our world's strongest Telepaths. Quinlin, meet Harry Foster, our world's most unique elf and youngest Telepath."

Quinlin's eyes widened. "He's manifested already?"

"He even managed to break past Kenric's blocking," Alden announced.

Harry couldn't help but feel a little proud as Quinlin raised both of his eyebrows.

"But enough bicker between old friends, we were here for a reason."

"We were," Quinlin agreed. "Do I have permission to read your memories?"

"Y- yes," Harry said.

The older elf reached up to Harry's forehead, placing two fingers on each temple. Harry braced for some sort of impact, but relaxed when he felt nothing after a few minutes.

"Can you break past his blocking, Alden?" Quinlin sighed.

This time it was Alden who looked startled. "I haven't tried. Neither did Kenric, for that matter."

"Well, it would seem that we are no longer the world's strongest Telepaths."

"Is that a good thing?" Harry asked.

"It is and it isn't," Alden told him. "You are an exceptional boy, although I'm not sure how the Council will react to the fact that no one can do a probe."

"Could you try to imagine walls around your brain? Then tear them down? I want to try one more time."

Harry tried to follow Quinlin's instructions, imaging great stone walls rising around his brain. But even after he melted them to nothing, Quinlin was unable to enter his mind.

Alden tried with the same results.

"Since this isn't working, we had best be off. Thank you for spending your time with us."

"Of course," Quinlin answered. "However, I was wondering; how did you find Harry? We've been searching for so long and with no success."

"Years?" Harry blurted, at the same time Alden said, "I thought you were the one who sent me the clue."

"I... was not." Quinlin answered.

"Then... it seems that there are other forces at work here. But... I'm sure there's no reason to worry."

Harry was beginning to realize that that phrase was only used when there was a reason to worry.

"I want to know what's going on," he demanded.

The two adults looked at each other.

"Fair enough," Alden said. "About ten years ago we arrested an elf who had been found to work with a secret group of rebels. His name was Sirius Black. Quinlin and I searched his memories. Little information was gained, but we did discover two things. One, the rebels call themselves the Black Swan.

"And two, they were hiding the existence of a very special elf- someone who they hoped would help their cause. This boy was supposedly growing up among humans.

"Quinlin and I knew it would be important to find you. However, after only a year of searching, the Council called the task off. So we continued looking in secret. Quinlin monitored the human world, and when he found a lead, I would research it. Later, this became Hermione's job. We made almost no progress, until now.

"I thought Quinlin had found something, but it appears that we were not the only ones searching for you."

"Now, we need to find out who really tipped you off," Quinlin finished.

"I suppose we do," Alden agreed.

"Wow. Okay," Harry said. "So, I'm a part of some secret rebel group's plan for... what exactly?"

"We can only guess," Quinlin told him. Which wasn't exactly helpful.

"It doesn't matter anymore. We found you, and now you can live a normal, elvish life. Trust me, Harry.

"There's no reason to worry."