Tiber's Compendium - Book II

by Lil Nezumi

Away at summer school in the US, Harry is not that unaware of what's happening in the wizarding UK. He still has to return for his fifth year to a whole new set of problems, including a Ministry plant inside his precious Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. See chapter 1 for more information.

2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer, Notes, etc: See chapter one, from here on this will not be repeated.

Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter

CH 2

Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter

Harry's muscles bulged with every clank of his 'Repair Hammer' against the metal shield that had been handed to him for the first exam of his summer classes in the Art of Re-Forging and Styling. He adjusted the heat, inserted the metal into it to turn it molten yellow-red without deforming it. Then he pulled it out again to work on it some more.

This was an exam on the strength of his forging skills and on the quality of his personally made repair hammers and other forging tools.

A hammer that broke too often was an indicator of the student's base forging skill or so the instructors thought and fully believed. It was certainly true that many students chose not to continue the program until they gained more skill ability in the Forging Arts. Some were just suited to making trinkets and other little things like latches, locks, amulets, rings, etc…. Most though, gave up on pursuing the intense field of study, sometimes by quitting the school altogether.

The Boy-Who-Lived would never opt for staying in England to reside with the Dursleys if he could help it, especially not when he'd been accepted into a summer school program that had suited him greatly.

He had received regular post owls from his two fathers about Sirius' trial because the date kept getting changed for some later time during the summer. The man was currently sitting in a holding cell since he'd turned himself into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (D.M.L.E.) on the thirteenth of July. He hadn't wanted to go to them any sooner since the word had yet to get out about Peter Pettigrew having been the true betrayer of Harry Potter's parents.

The newspapers, magazines and other gossips rags were all saying nearly the same thing and they weren't very nice in their commentaries about the Ministry of Magic. If Minister Fudge didn't do something soon, the various rumours that a vote of no confidence would be called against him would no longer just be rumours. So far the man wouldn't budge in his opinions.

Technically Harry could go live with Remus, but the man had no permanent address yet so the boy continued his alternative education far away from the mess that was happening in his home country. The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had been surprised to see Remus attend the Wizengamot sessions in the Potter and Black seats and using those votes, but there was nothing he could do about it. The paperwork had been cleared for custody and the man was within the rights as Regent to be acting on behalf of the boy regarding votes in legislation. But since Remus never changed the boy's home address everyone assumed that the boy was still currently living with the Dursleys which was also what Albus Dumbledore assumed, believed and had always wanted.

Harry struck the metal one last time. He'd only lost two hammers before completing his piece. He dunked it in water to cool it off before he could examine it for imperfections. He had originally been tested on his work at a level of ability lower than those of his dwarven classmates. They had an inherent strength that surpassed a human by being seven to ten degrees stronger.

Harry's own strength had risen since he was blood adopted by a werewolf. So now there was more of a three to five point difference between him and most of his stockier, more muscled fellow students rather than the ten to twenty point differences in strength that the school allotted as compensation for human students when marking their work. His school records had been updated to include the adopted parental information including potential biological blood quirks. His change in strength had been tested and recorded only in his US Canyon school files. They did not need to exist anywhere else.

"Time," the instructor called. Some of the students hadn't finished their hammering to the point of putting their shields in the water to cool them down. They did so now and the room with the five testing students filled with steam. The students put their completed or incomplete pieces to their respective workbenches. They stood beside them at a military parade rest with legs apart and hands behind their backs, waiting until each piece in the room had been evaluated.

The three instructors walked about the room with clipboards. They had marked down on the boards how many times a student had to use a new repair hammer. They also noted the number of hammers remaining on the student's workbench.

All students had to have seven repair hammers on their workbench prior to a test. If they'd gone through all seven their grade would be J for Junk on the hammers they created. (…i…) If they broke six hammers they scored P for Pitted, and so on until a student only needed one hammer for the task, that student earned a score or grade of E, meaning Exquisite, for their hammer making skills.

Harry's hammer grade was S for Superior, a grade known as high-average. He was one of two students that had only broken two hammers. Breaking three or four hammers earned the students an N grade for Normal which was still a low-average passing grade. More than four broken hammers and it was a failing grade that the student received.

The instructors took each piece from the workbench. They inspected them thoroughly, moving them this way and that in order to judge the imperfections or improvements.

Points were deducted when the student hadn't finished the process, meaning the final dunk to cool it off had happened after the time ran out on the exam. Points were deducted if the metal shield had too many dents too. Since these shields had been created for ceremonial purposes, all of the students had to be careful when tempering them to improve their conditions.

The students were graded on their patience too, but since the exam was a small one with very few students they didn't have to wait too long to hear their results. The Head Professor said each student's name plus the final exam grade they received and provided forging advice for all of them to use or ignore.

"Apprentice Jonah Hammerfell, overall grade S, well done." Professor Orefuliman, the grandson of the Headmaster of the school said calling out the grades for the students. "Apprentice Ignick Mithril-Helm, Grade N, too many hammers Mithril-Helm, that last one looked like it was about to break with one more strike and your grade would have been very different if it had. Apprentice Tiber Snape, grade S. Do try to work on keeping the form as original as possible. Apprentice Angel Donaldson, grade N, too many dents and take care when smoothing the metal. Apprentice Bulltooth, grade FW (flawed), too many hammers, too many dents, you need to work on it son or else we'll send you down a rank for failing too many times."

The only goblin student, Bulltooth, hadn't been happy to receive this grade. The lower levels were easier, but he still had trouble finding the time between his studies in this field because of the ongoing expectations from those in his Family Clan that wanted him to attend accounting business school too. He was trying too hard to please too many people and the other students knew it.

Angel was the only other human in the program, along with TJ (...ii...) and the only woman. Last year's prediction about losing the third human, one Elias Archer, had happened. That young man never returned from his 'adventure' in one of the field-testing treasure mines. Stoneguard Bank had informed the school that the map that the young man had chosen to use, had returned to their archives without him.

"What's wrong Bulltooth," TJ asked as soon as they were dismissed from class. "You were doing very well in this last year. You should be passed the point of getting Flawed grades."

The young goblin sighed and said, "Goblin Business School gave out too much homework this past year. I had to get it done just so I could come here and I couldn't practice forging as much as I wanted to."

"My tutors always tell me to do the stuff I hate first," TJ told him. "Then I'd never miss on finishing the stuff I enjoy learning. Although I will admit that I had a hard time too. Last year in the middle of my school year it was difficult to get any kind of solid or extended time to practice, privately."

"I'm just trying to find a place that will let me work in peace," Angel said. "I've so many little ones clamouring for Nana's attention that I'm still at a loss of creating a space of my own." She used finger quotes when she was talking about a 'space' of her own.

She was vastly older than the other two humans when she'd started with the school last year. She'd already finished attending the Salem Witches Academy about fifty-seven years ago. She knew that TJ was another of her kind.

This school was just a post-secondary education for her since she had wanted to find a magical job that interested her. She'd only stumbled onto this type of magical skill set when she'd rifled through her great grandparents old belongings, found their journals and had found that she had a hidden talent with the older magical forms that didn't required a wand.

"Children will accept that you need time for yourself," TJ told her. "Just tell them that they can't disturb you unless certain conditions apply, like your house is on fire or something." He then turned to Bulltooth and said, "You need to make that same kind of declaration to your Clan. That is, if you're really serious about this career path. I'll back your choices, if you need a backer." He paused and then grinned, spilling a secret of his, "However I find that warding a closet space somewhere and pitching your school tent in there can help to create a getaway place that no one can find especially if you use runes inside that closet 'space' to re-enforce notice-me-not charms and misdirection wards too."

This had earned him a full sharp toothed grin from the young goblin and a cackle from the old witchy matron. "You think outside the box," she said. "I like that. I have to go to the 'girls' dorm now." Again with the finger quotes, but TJ chuckled along with her. They had a dorm set aside for the females of magical creature species that attended the Canyon School, but frankly with some magical creatures like the high goblins and dwarven race, you really couldn't tell the sexes apart most times, other than by the pitch of their voice and sometimes not even then. She said to their goblin friend, "See you next class."

"Likewise," Bulltooth replied as they both knew that TJ was scheduled to leave the school again for another treasure hunting, exploratory session. It would be the boy's third time this summer, but they applauded him for taking advantage of the system to get freshly mined ore without having to pay exorbitant prices for them by going through the banks. He usually shared his finds with his friends of which these two were grateful when he came back with unique looking items to play with.

"Later," TJ said and left to go pack his equipment. He was in his dorm room packing when he was interrupted by someone who cleared their throat from the doorway.

"A word before you trek off Mr. Snape," Headmaster Orefuliman said.

"Sir," TJ stopped what he was doing and came to a parade rest position to wait.

"You're not in class," the old dwarf smiled at the human youth, who grinned back at him and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Yes, sir," TJ said relaxing his posture. "How can I help you?" He offered the old being a seat. He sat too waiting to see what the elder wanted.

The old dwarf was always surprised by the boy's politeness. "You're continuing your studies at that Wizard school of yours yes," the Headmaster asked and received a nod in agreement. "I was wondering what your projected plans were now that the Dark One has returned."

TJ sighed and said, "I was hoping to return here for my summers, but I have a feeling that next year and the year after may be difficult to do so unless the situation is resolved somehow. I'm at a place now that I'm bordering on Master Journeyman and Junior Expert in a few of my studies here, but I still would like to create my own spell making alter before I leave this summer. It might be useful for what's happening across the pond."

"True," the Headmaster said with a nod. "You've taken the accelerated program and have passed most of the basic requirements. However I don't know if you'll be able to make such an Alter until your magical core matures."

"What do you mean until my core matures," TJ asked. "I've never heard of that."

The old dwarf looked surprised. "You should have been informed of this in your third year of wizard school. A magical human will usually go through several stages of magical maturity. Your first happens approximately one year after your birth and the next may happen anytime between the ninth and eleventh human years usually at a time when the children get invited to attend magical schools. Your third stage is usually between your fifteenth and twenty-first year, it is this stage that I'm talking about. I know that you have not reached it yet since I cannot sense a change in your magical levels."

"I'm not yet fifteen," TJ acknowledged. "What are the other magical years of leveling? Are they attached to magical gifts or it is more about how much magical energy you can manipulate?"

"Sometimes there are gifts," the old dwarf explained. "Sometimes it's just access to more magical energy. There are two other stages that may or may not occur in human magical beings. One between the ages of thirty-five to forty-five and the final is at about one hundred and twenty-five, if you're lucky enough to live that long."

"I see," TJ said. "So without being aware of the stages, what may happen?"

"Your energies could be siphoned by someone through intimate activities, unless you are magically protected," the old dwarf said. "Potions can protect you as well as any personal and magically linked charm or amulet. Feel free to create whatever is most comfortable for you here. Wear or use them until you've passed your third stage, this is very important for your own protection and safety. I would dislike it if you'd lost all that magical potential because you were unprotected or unaware of your mystical rights."

TJ frowned, but nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea," he said. "Would you please recommend a Professor that can help me out with that?"

"See Augustus Hammerfell, you know the fourth year Alteration and Conjuration Professor," the Headmaster told him as he stood up to stretch his short legs. "He's the best and let him know that old Heinrick sent you. Don't let him tell you that he can't help you, although you may have to reveal your true secret to him to prove your sincerity in learning how to make such intricate creations. He's quite trustworthy even if he is a bit snippy about everything. The reason I've told you is that your spell creating alter project will have to wait until you pass the third stage of your magical maturity."

"I understand sir," TJ said and looked thoughtful.

"Also your two fathers wanted me to tell you about the human magical stages," the old dwarf said. "They feared that you may not have been told and they wanted to be sure that when you returned to the old country that you were fully prepared and protected for any kind of potential, socially awkward situation."

"May I buy a spell making alter, if I cannot create one," TJ asked. "Are there stores that will sell them?"

"Not stores," the Headmaster said. "The school can rent one to you, but you must bring it back so that it can be recharged. If you don't come back, you can send it to us through the banks like you did with your project studies. We can send you another that's fully charged or you can come and pick one up. If you have any that's been stored somewhere in your Family vaults you can use those if you're biologically linked to the family. Those may not require any recharge, but if they've been out of use they may no longer work or may require some fine-tuning. You can bring them with you and we'll teach you how to upgrade, repair and maintain them, instead of creating one of your own."

"May I still come back next summer," TJ asked. "Or continue my studies through correspondence?"

"Of course you may, but your current course of study in spell creation, will have to be halted on your day of birth this year if you do not go through your third stage of magical maturity. Also because of that you'll unfortunately be sent home early. That is how our current course schedules have been set up. Now that you're aware the conditions, we can sort through a correspondence program that will suit you for your fifth year in the human school and maybe help you to improve the studies that you're lacking at your other magical school?"

The Headmaster suggested with a pointed look since US Canyon had a copy of his current Hogwarts grades. "You're about to finish your second year of accelerated learning which completes the current part of the program, minus the final spell alter project. You may return for short course studies that only take about a month or so to do, but you may also choose to enter into another program. During those times you'd still be permitted to do some treasure hunting as well. You can bring your fathers along for that part if you think they'd enjoy following an old map and killing monsters with you."

"I'd really like that a lot sir," TJ said and perked up at the thought of traveling ancient tunnels with his two fathers. Exploring some forgotten dig and finding old treasure that the Bank would pay them to hunt for.

"We would too," the Headmaster said. "I will give you a list of classes that you're qualified to take without being in a particular program before you finish your final exams in your other two classes here."

"Thank you sir," TJ said and then asked. "Did you want me to use a particular map this time around sir?"

"You are a kind one," the Headmaster said with a soft, sad smile. "If you get the chance before the end of your summer program you might consider visiting the one that takes you through Bandit's Grotto to get you used to battling human opponents or perhaps Redthorn Cairn." The old dwarf left him there with that statement. He hadn't wanted to do it, but the boy had to realize that his opponents in his home country were mostly human and would likely die by his hand whenever they fought against one another or else the boy would likely come away injured or dead from such a confrontation if he was ever hesitant about taking decisive action or in taking a human life.

TJ gulped and then he continued to gather his items for the adventure he planned to take with the help of an old Stoneguard map. 'Humans,' he thought. 'Did he just suggest that I hunt humans?' He shook his head and then walked into his tent to consult with his portrait tutors on the matter. 'Hunting humans, what the hell?'

Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter

Days later TJ killed his Nth human being, if you could call murderers, bandits, rapists and other foul things human to begin with. He'd followed his Canyon School Headmaster's advice plus that of his fathers' who'd agreed that he needed to know how to handle himself against human opponents. He'd sent them a quick owl and received a reply confirming that they'd asked the Headmaster to recommend human targets or locations for practice to prevent battle hesitation.

He had finally chosen to visit the Bandit's Grotto. The map looked to be complete, but he was suspicious because final area looked to have a large body of water and his Headmaster knew that he had made an underwater breathing ring the year before. It was a location that could not have been explored extensively without muggle diving equipment and there had been no magical equivalent until he had completed project for his Senior Novice levels in Alteration and Illusion studies.

He started out slowly in the beginning, much like his other times and he was glad that he did. The whole place looked like it had been infested with true bandits and really nasty marauders. Some were of part-human, part-magical creature descent; others were, unfortunately, all too human and just plain nasty to begin with.

Upon first entering the old fortress ruin, in a crouched and sneaking position, he heard someone up ahead of him. The person had spotted him fairly quickly since he moved a little too fast at one point, but they had attacked him immediately. He hadn't really thought that another human would attack him without provocation, but there it was. He was in the position of being attacked first before being questioned.

He'd thought that it might have been because he'd entered in a crouched and sneaking position. His next encounter had occurred when he was walking about quite normally, if a little more silently in case there were other creatures in the building that would attack him like diseased rats or some such. He may have walked slower and with more caution, but he didn't look to be sneaking around. The humans in the mixed stonework and underground cavern still attacked him without questioning his presence there at that time either. So he'd made the difficult decision to sneak and remain hidden as much as possible, killing before they spotted him in the passageways.

The rest of his time had been 'kill or be killed' situations. So he killed them first, looted their corpses for spoils and then made the second most difficult decision in his life…to continue on through these older tunnels and get to that underground lake. He'd known then that anyone he encountered in this place that he'd have to strike first. He didn't kill anyone that he found in the prison cages though, but he did open them to allow them to go free since they didn't act with any hostility towards him.

Most chose to wait until the opportune time arose for them to leave. Others took off in the wrong direction and died because they'd activated some deadly traps in the distance. TJ did offer most of them the advice to follow the path that he had used to get to this location in the first place since he knew that the path behind him had already been cleared of the bandits and marauders.

After the second day his jitters had died down and his tutors had ordered him to take a Mild Calming Draught, find a safe place to fully sleep before making a decision to continue or turn back. "Why," TJ had asked through chattering teeth sipping hot tea. "Why did he suggest this place?"

"He knows that you're going to be fighting humans when you return to England," Rowena said.

"I killed my first human when I was thirteen," Godric told him. "I was doing it in defense of my home. You can walk through here and defend or strike first as a pre-emptive defence, but no one would fault you for striking first in a place like this or against these particular men and women with such low morals."

"Isn't it wrong to kill them the way I do it," TJ asked. "I'm taking them down from behind and most times they barely know I'm there."

"It might seem cowardly if what you're looking for is a fair fight or a formal duel," Tiber told him. "However think about it for a bit. What if you charged through here, letting them all know where you were?"

"Yeah," TJ said with a nod and sigh. "They'd gang up and it'd be that much more difficult to complete the task," he recalled the days when Dudley's little posse would gang up on him to hunt him down and beat him, until he became the faster runner. "I would likely die doing it that way. It'd be just like the graveyard situation all over again, only with swords and arrows rather than with multiple spells. I'm just lucky they don't have guns because of how magic affects muggle processed items."

He sighed after he'd put the situation in perspective in his mind. He wouldn't be charging through a place infested with Death Eaters where magic would be his disadvantage because of his age and everything that he had not yet learned. He'd have to take these bandits down one a time and hope that they wouldn't raise some kind of alarm. He now had practical experience in what could be deemed necessary force when fighting against another human with his bows and swords.

"That's right young man," Helga said with a nod. "It's not cowardly to take out the enemy from behind. But you're getting the knack of figuring out who's your enemy in this place without being too up close and personal. Best take them out from a distance if possible, less chance of getting severely injured and leave no enemy alive behind you or else if they survive, they may more than likely retaliate."

"Yeah, I guess," he replied. "I still feel bad about it."

"Of course you do," Tiber said. "You're human so of course you should feel bad about it. Tell me, would you feel just as bad if it was bunch of house-elves or dwarves that were fighting you?"

"Of course I would," TJ declared. "There's no difference between sentient species to me. Although I think that I'll make an exception for the feral low goblins that infest these old caves, they're just awful and they smell bad too. There are more of them and they're nastier than the ones that run Gringotts or attend US Canyon with me."

"Good," Godric said with a sharp nod. "Always keep that in mind and you'll do fine. Now show us some of the goodies you've managed to take from these foul excuses for humans." He turned away and muttered, "There's always one what falls far from the family tree anyway. Did you find any more Galleons with low serial numbers?"

TJ showed them some of the armour that he obtained. Most were Fur Armour, but a few had some that were composed of heavier pieces of armour and several were made of a higher grade of steel. "I'm going to disenchant some of them since I haven't been able to find an equivalent spell for these particular enchantments that they seem to be carrying. These others, well I'll see if they can be re-forged to fit a smaller body. If so then I might just donate these to the school as test or work pieces."

He took a pouch from his waist and dumped the contents on a long table. He sifted through the different coins found and separated out the magical ones versus the truly muggle ones. "I think I have a few here that I'll need to double check," he looked up from his triage of coins. "There are a couple that I know muggle collectors would go mad for, but they'd need to have confirmed history on the coins or some paper indicating where I'd gotten them from. Maybe I'll make up a distant relative who collected them over time. Children don't usually care about origins and would normally never have patent papers for them."

"Sound reasoning," Rowena said. "What of the map? How much further do you think you have to go to get to the centre or heart of this place?"

"I've traveled down three levels," TJ said and pulled out the map. "It looks like there's one last level below. The map shows one final set of stairs down which's got a notation next to it that says final level, so I believe there's only one left."

"Well that's good," she said. "I don't like the fact that they sent you after humans this soon, but I can understand their reasons."

"I can too," TJ replied with honesty. "The Death Eaters in my country are humans and I will have to fight them at some time in the future. I know that others are trying to protect me from 'growing up too soon', but frankly it's a little late for that."

"I'm sure that you'll make them understand that," Tiber said. "Someday…"

"When you finish this adventure," Godric said. "I've got an idea on how to help your father, Sirius, renovate his old family home. How's he doing anyway?"

"Still upset that the trial hasn't taken place," TJ said. "The Ministry's dithering again, but at least he's permitted to reside in his old family home under some kind of magically modified house arrest spell until the trial does take place. I'm hoping to get back in time for it. What's your idea?"

"Oh no," Godric said. "You hold onto the thought of some future fun and we'll discuss it before you begin your travel back to England. You'll need to have someone take you to a magical shopping alley in this country and that's all that I'm going to say on that subject."

TJ grinned and nodded. He made a note of it in his idea book since it was the one book that he knew he didn't want to lose. "All right," he said and then he put the book away. "Now that I have a knack for the feel of Occlumency and both my father and dad say that I'm doing quite all right in that area. Do you think that I should practice doing the Legilimency spell on the bandits I come across?"

"That's a sticky point," Helga said. "It might help to figure out their intentions, but I don't see any reason for you to taint yourself by doing such a thing in this place. Although practice would make it perfect unfortunately I wouldn't recommend it, not at this time and definitely not here."

"I agree," Tiber said. "Wait until you're with someone you trust to help you, just in case you get stuck in the mind of another. It's been known to happen and the results of disentanglement are not envious to anyone."

TJ swallowed at the thought of being stuck in someone else's mind without being able to leave. That's how it felt the few times he failed to block the Dark Idiot when he felt overworked or he had been running on very little sleep without occluding properly. He wouldn't have wanted that to happen while he was exploring some bank map and it was a good point.

This place was not the right location to experiment with such a thing at least not without some kind of aid. Suddenly he had an idea for something of that nature and made several notes before putting away most of his finds.

"All right, I agree with you guys," TJ confessed. "Especially when you put it that way," he sighed and then looked to the door of his hidden tent. "Let's get the final leg of this hunt done. I'm going to have a good break down and fall into shock about it much later. Probably as soon as I can do so safely away from this place, meaning preferably back in the safety of US Canyon."

Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter

TBC…

(...i...) Grading System Re-Cap:

Hogwarts

Pass (Double OO exist for above outstanding)

O=Outstanding

E=Exceeds Expectation

A=Acceptable

Fail

P=Poor

D=Dreadful

T=Troll

US Canyon School

Pass (Flawless (FL) exist for grade above Exquisite)

E=Exquisite

S=Superior

N=Normal

Fail

FW=Flawed

P=Pitted

J=Junk

(…ii…) Harry Potter = Tiber James Snape. By an alias spell done in story Tiber's Compendium