Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this chapter, I own only the plot!
A/N Any parts of the story in bold are not relevant to this particular story and optional to read, only read if you want to know what my bored mind came up with lol. You might find those bits tedious and boring though...
All nonsense words are just Latin, changed and twisted a bit and rather unpronounceable.
Reviews welcome, constructive criticism implored, um, thanks for reading my first Fan Fic.
Wearily, Harry James Potter peeled back the beautiful, crimson and gold curtains of his study, in number 12 Grimmauld place, and gave a cry of astonishment. At the exclamation, Ron Bilius Weasly and Hermione Jane Granger rushed into the room, closely followed by Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasly. "What's wrong, Harry, what's up?!" panted Ron, puffed from sprinting up two flights of stairs. "In reverse order, two things, and no, nothing's wrong," he turned energetically, a large grin splitting his face open. "There is no-one outside!" he stated. There were gasps of surprise, satisfaction and pleasure. "At last", "Finally", "Maybe now we can go out and get some necessities without reporters hounding our every step!" the last remark came from Hermione, obviously, and was met by tolerant groans and cries of "Fun too!" from the other three.
Barely nine days previously, Harry had defeated Voldermort in a duel to the , making their lives busier and more interrupted than ever before. After Harry had awoken from his short but coma –like sleep, due to physical, emotional and magical exhaustion, they had had to answer millions of questions by nosy reporters on where they had been during the previous year and how had he survived the forest again and again. In the end he called the attention of a huge bunch of reporters and showed them his chest. All around his heart, in about a three inch radius, were scores of miniature scars, identical in shape to the one on his forehead but pale and that made the reporters turn away embarrassed then shower him with more questions, namely: how did he survived the curse for the second time? He gave the answer of going to save the wizarding world as a whole and thus being rebenifited by his mother's protection again, with the added bonus of tricking Voldermort to fight on his terms and stopping Voldermort's spells from doing anything lasting. Though the reporters then looked awed at the 17 year old boy who had done so much they kept returning. Harry soon got very irritated by the persistent irritation. After a violent outburst which involved a violent burst of al magic which made all their quills alight and there hands turn into clawless, cat's paws of proportionate size they let him go to bed, as the affected ones needed to go to St. Mungo's and the unaffected still didn't have any quills.
At first, Ron had revelled at the spotlight achieved by the down fall of Voldermort, the other two allowing him to tell about the Horcruxes as long as he left Harry out of it. But after a short while, even he got tired of all the constant questioning and scrutiny. In the of night Harry had summoned Kreacher to take them home and had got a great shock at finding him appearing with Winky beside him, kissing passionately. They came apart, mortified and embarrassed and were about to beat themselves unconscious when Harry sternly commanded that the elves were not to punish themselves if Winky wished to work for him, Harry, and the others, and live with Harry at 12 Grimmauld place. Winky fell to her knees weeping and begged with shining eyes to be accepted into the service of the Potters. With a tolerant, half-smile Harry agreed to her wish. He then politely asked them to apparate them home and Winky broke down again at his politeness. Kreacher apologised profoundly for Winky's behaviour and said with a worried frown that she hadn't used to be like that. In the joy to be home they forgot completely about Winky's slightly over-emotional state. Their vanishment caused an uproar the next morning for there had been alarm spells on the door; and it was Hogwarts so no-one could apparate out so there was a panic that they'd been kidnapped until, 2 days later Hermione, who'd had nothing better to do at home and had researched them, sent a talking otter Patronus to the Ministry saying they were safe but had gone away for the sake of their sanity, making Kinsley Shacklebolt and Professor Minerva McGonagall, who received, it laugh in a very unprofessional manner maybe due to relieved hysteria as they'd been panicking until then.
Aggravatingly, some-one had shown journalists the general location of #12 Grimmauld place and, though it was protected by Fidelius and any number of other apparently impenetrable wards so the starers could not even see the doorway, let alone enter, they could stand there untiringly and look out diligently for them; to Hermione's unending wrath. They started to hide after a while and ambushed poor Hermione when she tried to go out with Kreacher to do some essential shopping. They were under disillusionment charms but soon regretted crossing her as she was a remarkably quick wand-drawer and good at martial art and other forms of self defence to boot. Kreacher instantly apparated them both safely back into the house but they were both shaken up. Hermione was understandably FURIOUS.
After that disquieting episode, Hermione racked her brains to find a way of spotting irritating hang-arounders, after exploding at an ill-fated Ginny, who always seemed to bear the brunt of Hermione's uncommon but violent flares because the boys either accepted it, defused it or were so confused that she ended up having to explain it; making her frustrated instead of enraged. The main problem was that she needed to do a permanent, visible, Human revile spell and she just couldn't. After getting the jist of what Hermione wanted to do she approached Harry and Ron and conferred with them about it until an irate, but moderately calm, Hermione interrupted them. Suddenly there was a loud pop and Winky popped in to ask what they wanted for dinner, but Ron didn't answer: he was staring hard at Winky, disconcerting her greatly. She gulped and stammered in a high pitched squeak "Please, Master Ron, sir, but, what is Winky doing wrong sir?" That roused a confused Gryffindor out of his thoughtful stupor and he smiled at her, "You are doing nothing wrong, Winky, and it's just Ron alright? Not master or sir." Winky replied with a frantic nodding of her head and Ron smiled tolerantly, they had had this conversation many a time but it never worked. As soon as Winky apparated out again the three remaining quizzed Ron on why he had been staring at Winky. "Well," he said, hesitantly, "House-elves can do magic wizards can't, like apparating into a warded building" (bemused nodding) "so couldn't they adapt the spell to do what you wished?" Hermione gasped and flung her arms around a tomato-red Ron's neck and kissed him, making his blush reach new heights. "What? Surely I'm allowed a good idea sometimes!" but he had a soppy grin on his face and looked ridiculously proud. And so the foursome and the two elves started planning how to make a new spell to show them what they wanted.
It went very quickly after they had sorted out who would do what; Hermione would decide what she wanted to happen and look up the best suited spells and charms for achieving her aims, Ron would strategically place all the spells in the correct 'places' which one first, which one strongest which one on top of this one or to the left of that one, so they'd work co-operatively and not block, outshine or cancel-out each other. Then Harry would look over his design to chick for faults, they found very early on that he had a gut instinct for spell-crafting and he could readily detect if the spells next to each other would react badly, they were like young children when you wanted to combine them; very picky with who they'd work with but working very well with some others. He also checked each segment as a whole wouldn't be affected aversely by the others, then he would craft. He would look through his Latin dictionary; finding words which best suited what he wanted each segment to do, compactly, efficiently and effectively. Then he would look at the words and slowly say them, taste them almost before, hesitantly, changing one syllable or running two words together and fusing them, often rejecting the sounds instantly, sometimes not even finishing the word. Oftentimes the others would look over and just stare entranced at the way Harry almost seemed to glow as he worked. It obviously suited him well.
Ginny and the elves worked together to find-out how to stick it on so it melded into the wards themselves and drew power from them, so as to not exhaust the castor, and how to make it read body signatures, emotions, and intentions: whether the person was magical, muggle or squib, and whether the person had any malicious, harmful or prying feelings towards the inhabitants of the house at the time as well as generally how they feel, happy, sad, ous, curious, for these are all things a house elf can tell instinctively if they try, another way to help their masters or es so of course, they found a way to harness the magic required and locked it into their DNA aeons before. House elves had always loved helping but they had once been a different race of magical being, their magical skills had been unsurpassable, being able to easily sense and avoid blocks if they wanted to, but their magic was too enviable and a goblin cursed them out of envy while a human Lord helped out of greed, tying them to their 'owners' not that they minded, but planting a deep rooted urge in them to punish themselves for every mistake. The only way for the curse to be broken, and the elves returned to their former splendour, was for the magical population to go agenst their wills and try to get House-elves better rights and freedoms, not just one person but many, not one elf but scores, all going agenst magical urges to make the world a better place and then the next generation of the Elf magical species would be like the ancestors, beautiful, powerful and free. All elves knew the prophecy at birth, but if it was not acted on within a week the elf would forget and the magic would take hold. Dobby got around it himself, protesting from infancy so was only slightly influenced and he broke Winky semi-out of her state of magical suppression barely a week before his , but it took hold of her again quickly and she was only just starting to re-remember the tale due to the kindness of the four. Kreacher listened with a faraway look on his face and Ginny stored the tale for future examination and to tell Hermione at a later date.
Finally their spell was ready; all the parts had been connected and smoothed, melded and fitted, all that remained was to cast it. They had decided to allow Kreacher to cast it while holding his and Winky's hands, to channel their will and power through hands that could morph the outcome and by-pass all safety systems, the wards had been designed so that nothing could join or penetrate them, a good safety feature, but the Elfish magic could slip around the mechanisms. "On the count of three, then" said Harry, openly nervous but also wildly exhilarated. "1….2…3!!" Kreacher opened his mouth and sang out the practical paragraph of spell they had devised: "ostendihi populusona, venfivadopetlanos, humanillo vadrutilunus, nullentiva dupunni, occultelospiperuus, ira forirootuss, niverusor eos, nigmenr inhumanillos, amicitargenymus PER VIRES!!" the spray of power that had been flowing from Kreacher's fingertips now became a torrent of bright magic. Suddenly Ginny fell to the floor, closely followed by Ron. Hermione fell to her knees at the exact same moment Winky succumbed to the inevitable reaction of so much magic being pulled from her so quickly. Within seven seconds only Harry and Kreacher were left standing, the two with the most stamina for magic, the most powerful. Suddenly the draw stopped and the two collapsed, and, barely a minute hence, the magic started flowing back into the six-some. Harry looked thoughtful. The still conscious four felt their strength returning and the Weasleys revived quickly, instantaneously the house gave a decisive shudder and was still, but they could all feel a slight difference in the magic surrounding the house, they could feel themselves in it slightly, a rather disconcerting feeling, really. As soon as they all felt well again, Ginny asked the all important question: "What the HECK was that?!!" and Ron chipped in with "Yeah, and why did you sing Kreacher? You sing well by the way." Kreacher went darker brown and explained that it was a new spell so it must be welcomed and made permanent and solid in the world of reality, an old, forgotten custom. The spell was so complex and the castors were filled with warring feelings about the colouring, namely Hermione liked and wanted yellow included, that it drew huge amounts of sentient magic from them to figure out what it had to do, an aspect of House-Elf magic, attached it's self firmly then flowed back. Simple. Then Harry asked the killer "Did it work?" Cautiously, preparing for disappointment, they approached the window and saw a crowd of humanoid shapes outside, red ones walking and a huge crowd of blue ones on brooms and on foot, milling. One purple, a squib. "Check Ron." He ran downstairs and called, "There is no-one there!" and pelted up again, "It worked" they were all very pleased but then Ginny's knees buckled and she fell in fatigue prompting an exhausted Winky to apparate her up to bed. Then Harry muttered something like "ostendosensus quodvene ficusper visoom". "Huh?" came the sleepy reply. "ostendo sensus quod veneficus per visum, Show feelings and magic with vision; twisted a little. That meets all the necessary requirements, I just need to compress it a little more then the spell will be complete." They all looked at him, astonished, but then decided they were too tired to do that; and crawled up to bed.
"Well" Hermione said, snapping Harry back to the present, "What shall we do now?""veneficus sensus visumuta, that is the spell!" Harry said with conviction and he lit up with a ling flame, the colour of the red sea, deceptive in name for it is the purest blue. The light was a conviction or a completion spell anchoring the spell, strengthening it's 'soul', the part that connects to harnessed magic, so it could be cast easily and safely by those who weren't natural SpellWeavers or very precise and strong willed. Harry looked outside again and some writing in the corner of the pane caught his eye. He willed it bigger and it obeyed, to his bewilderment, for he'd acted on impulse, and read it. The writing explained what each of the colours and out lines stand for, useful as the caster can will different colours for different things, it was a very flexible spell. He read: blue for wizards, red for muggles, purple for any magical beast, wizard with bound powers or squibs, wizards with such a weak hereditary connection to magical soul that, except in times of true need, they can't access it. Purple also lit up wizarding pets with magic , post owls and part magical beast pets like Crookshanks, half kneazle or half crup dogs with magical owners, muggle half-crup dogs, called Jack Russell terriers, now a breed of it's own, didn't register on average. A purple blur was flying around hectically outside, chirping in obvious confusion. The small, brown, tennis ball sized owl was affected by the confusion spell set on the house, owls can bypass a Fidelius so the wards were set up aeons before to keep unwanted main out, only an accepted owl could see the house. Ron gave a gasp and fell to the floor in a faint, Ginny and the elves, who had just popped in, looked at his prone form in bewilderment, then Harry opened the window, the colours vanished and the owl, no longer sporting a purple haze, flew in, it's manner showing huffy weariness. Ginny tilted her head a little to get a good view and her eyes widened in startled confusion, an expression imitated by Hermione. "Pigwidgen?!" they queried, warily. Harry nodded gleefully and Ron, who'd just regained consciousness, inquired to whether he was hallucinating or if Pig was truly alive. Pig had vanished during the final battle and it was assumed he had been either eaten by something or killed like Hedwig, they'd all attended a mini memorial service for the two birds and Crookshanks, who'd died helping the house elves, clawing and biting in vial and painful places, he'd killed three Eaters from severed arteries and about nine other bodies had scratches on. He had been crushed by one of Voldermort's giants and Hermione had wept for days. But now Pigwidgen had appeared, out of the blue, safe, fed and unharmed. He was also carrying four letter tied to his legs. Four! They were only expecting Ginny's Hogwarts Book list, and not till August anyway! What were letters with the Hogwarts seal doing arriving in June?
Ginny and the others looked equally surprised but took their letters. Ginny looked at the trio in front of her and; muttering about memories like a goldfish, she grabbed a still weakly fluttering Pig and proceeded to traipse around the house, looking for one of the owl cages and some owl treats for the bird. Left alone, the trio stared at each other in confusion until Harry, very deliberately, sliced the envelope open with his lovely, newly repaired and shining wand, and took out the parchment enclosed;
Dear Mr Potter,
On account of the circumstances of last year, which prevented the whole school from performing any acceptable education and prevented you from attending at all for your seventh and final year, we of the Ministry decree that, as we are redoing all the year groups, you may return for your final year if you so wish, on one condition. Hogwarts is very short on staff so I regretted to inform you that you may only re-attend if you consent to be a Defence Agenst the Dark Arts professor for one of the older years. If you accept; please sign below, if not then just tear this letter in half. Thank you,
Signed: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic
Please sign here………………………………………………… ………..th Year
Harry stared at the scroll, dumbfounded, then raised his head to meet the gaze of an equally astounded Hermione. They broke into disbelieving grins just as Ron, a slower reader, looked up from his letter. "Well" commented Ron, to heartfelt agreement. "They asked me if I would teach older-years DADA to gain my place, you have a similar request?" "I'm working for Madam Pince; we're sorting through the books to check for suitability, and I have to help in a few other projects" Hermione intoned mysteriously. Ron grimaced at her good humouredly "I have to teach third year currant affairs for History of Magic and make a wizard's Power Point Presentation for the other classes" his tone implied his immense confusion about his task. Before Hermione could explain about PowerPoints, Ron added "I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing freedom from stress and…" but he quailed in mock under Hermione's glare and raised hand and assured her he was joking, to which Harry had to bite his cheek to keep from grinning or exploding into laughter. The trio all instantly signed their names, Harry choosing to teach sixth year as Ginny and quite a few other DAers would be in that class. As soon as they finished, the papers rolled themselves up and vanished with a quiet pop, causing Hermione's eyes to light with speculation.
A/N This is barely half-way through my original 1st chapter but it's getting rather long for my tastes. Please rewiew. The home-made spell is: 'ostendo mihi populus, veneficus vado puteulanus, humanus vado rutilus, nullus vado puniceus, occultus vel perspicuus, ira : rutilus foris, vereor : niveus, inhumanus mens : niger, Amicitia : argentums' meaning: 'show me people, magic in blue, human in red, none in purple, hidden or transparent, anger: red outside, fear: white, cruel mind: black, Friendship: silver, With strength' I thought it conveyed what i wanted it to do OK. Of course I mangled the words a bit as the real spells are all a jumbled form of Latin, but hey!
