- o -
This chapter is dedicated to the late Brian Randall (Durandall). He will live on in our memories and in his stories.
- o -
Impressions
"On the first day of September there were more people lurking in the square than ever before. Half a dozen men in long cloaks stood silent and watchful, gazing as ever at houses eleven and thirteen, but the thing for which they were waiting still appeared elusive."
- from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 12
- o -
1995, September 2nd, Saturday, in a Wizarding World…
Spreading cream cheese on a bagel, Hermione contemplated what Harry had told her and Ron the night previous after his eventual return to the Gryffindor dormitory. Casually biting into her breakfast, she discreetly inspected the individuals mentioned.
Saber. Elegantly yet very efficiently consuming a large breakfast.
Professor Tohsaka. Casually sipping tea with a polite smile.
Professor Dumbledore. Also drinking tea while reading a muggle newspaper.
Madame Pomfrey. Eating breakfast calmly while speaking to Professor Matou.
Cho Chang. Sitting quietly next to her friend Marietta Edgecombe. The Asian witch occasionally dabbed her red puffy eyes or wiped her nose.
And of course: Harry Potter. Whose eyes drooped as he ate his breakfast.
"Where's Ron?" she asked her friend.
"Sleeping in," he answered. "He's not taking the new classes, so he figured he'd just miss breakfast and the morning lecture."
"But it's an opportunity of a lifetime!" she exclaimed. "He's wasting a chance to see a new form of magic."
Harry looked at her with a tired expression. He raised his left hand, palm up. "Learn new magic." Then his right hand, palm up. "Ron."
"Honestly!" Hermione huffed to herself.
"Give the bloke a break. We were up really late last night, so it makes sense if he wants to sleep in."
The witch bit into her bagel as she considered that point. After Harry had finally returned last night, he then explained what had happened from meeting up with the dimensional travelers all the way to showing Cho his memory with the headmaster's Pensieve. Hermione suppressed a flash of envy; she had wanted to see the Pensieve and memory. Both to have an eyewitness account of the Dark Lord's resurrection and to satiate her curiosity regarding what must be a wonderful artifact. In any case, the conversation and follow up question and answer session resulted in a very late night for all three friends.
"Still, I think he's wasting an opportunity."
"Well, it's not like we can learn them. After all, neither of us took Ancient Runes or Arithmancy, and you said we needed to know those before we can take these new courses. So I'm guessing he doesn't care about it."
Hermione suppressed an exasperated sigh. "I wonder how Professor Babbling feels about Runic Magic."
Harry swallowed a mouthful of food. "Eh, probably like how I felt when I learned snakes could talk. Or, you know, when we all learned magic was real."
The witch frowned in confusion at her friend. "Weren't those incredibly important moments of your life?"
"Well, yeah…"
"Then why don't you sound excited about them?"
"Because I had a late night? I thought we've been through this already. Honestly, Hermione, do try and keep up," Harry teased, causing her eye to twitch. "So when are the lectures?"
She sniffed imperiously before replying. "Runic Magic an hour after breakfast ends. Formalcraft an hour after lunch ends. Both here in the Great Hall." After sipping her drink, she asked, "Harry, do you believe them? Do you think they are really from another world?"
The addressed young wizard paused in thought. Next, he turned towards the High Table. Following his gaze, Hermione identified his visual target to be Saber.
"Yeah, they're not from around here."
"How are you so sure?" she demanded. She herself was willing to believe the claim though some of this stemmed from the fact that she had experienced time travel herself. That was to say she had a very open mind on what was and was not possible.
"I don't think I should say…"
"Why not?"
"Because I don't think I'm allowed to on pain of dishonor, and I really don't want to bother someone who can drop Mad Eye. Without magic."
"Pain of dishonor? Wherever did you obtain that phrase?"
Harry simply nodded his head toward the swordswoman.
Hermione's eyes widened. "Did Saber threaten you?"
"No." He sighed as ran his hand through his hair. "Look, just trust me, okay. It's nothing really important, but I believe they're telling the truth. Besides, I think we'll see for ourselves when they do their demonstrations."
After a few moments of staring at each other, she finally allowed the matter to drop. "What are you going to do with the hour before the lecture."
"Dunno. Maybe play some Exploding Snap or something. That is, if anyone wants to play with an attention-seeking liar like myself."
Hermione glanced around at the other students, evaluating the amount of staring and pointing they were making towards her friend. "It doesn't seem as bad as I expected. What do you think?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I think I've gotten better at ignoring everyone."
"I think the fact that Professor Dumbledore announced dimensional travelers sort of grabbed everyone's attention."
"Well, can't say I'm sad about that."
"Students," a voice interjected. Looking up, Hermione noticed Nearly Headless Nick gazing longingly at the foods on the table. "First breakfast of the year. Eat up! Never take for granted these luxuries."
"Hello, Nick," the two students greeted one after another.
"Hello, hello. Great to see some students are not sleeping in. One must keep up a good spirit!" he said whereupon he chuckled at his own lame pun.
"How was your summer, Nick?" Hermione inquired.
"Well, I must admit it was different. The new professors had moved in about a month ago, and that was quite exciting! Very polite folks those four. And very intelligent."
"Have you seen their magic?" the witch asked enthusiastically.
"I have not seen them cast magic, but I have seen their effects." Nearly Headless Nick bent lower to the two Gryffindors and spoke conspiratorially. "So, I may have heard from a certain Hufflepuff ghost who heard from certain angsty bathroom ghost that Peeves tried to enter the rooms of our visitors. Of course I inquired about this as it is only courteous to apologize if Peeves had caused trouble. But they explained that they set up a… what was it called… ah, yes… a Bounded Field around their quarters. It seems to prevent us ghosts from entering which, much to our amusement, includes poltergeists as well. Of course, I tested it - with permission - and tried to push my hand through the wall from the outside. Some sort of barrier stopped me part way through!"
Hermione looked suitably impressed.
"Yes, quite amazing. They put another Bounded Field on their door, so that we ghosts can actually knock on it. Imagine that!"
Hermione asked, "I've never heard of such spiritual magic. Does Hogwarts teach anything like it?"
The Gryffindor ghost pondered a moment. "None that I've seen in the last few centuries. I know some similar spells exist, though. The Spirit Division under the Department of Magical Creatures handles entities such as myself. And the castle itself has a few Charms and Jinxes to help the headmaster keep us ghosts in line. Not that it helped when Peeves subjugated the castle last century." He took a moment to reminisce. "Ah, that was an amusing time."
Behind the young witch, a rich and elegant voice interrupted the conversation. "Sir Nicholas. May I have a moment of your time?"
All three individuals along with a few other students nearby turned to the newcomer.
"Of course, Saber. How may I be of assistance?"
"Would you be willing to volunteer your services during the Formalcraft demonstration this afternoon?"
Nearly Headless Nick raised an eyebrow in interest. "Why, certainly. What is it you require?"
"Simply allow Assistant Professor Matou to demonstrate magic on you. She has asked to keep the specifics a surprise."
"Ho ho, I am quite intrigued," the translucent ghost mused. "Very well. I was not named a Gryffindor for nothing."
"You have our thanks, Sir Nicholas." Saber nodded before walking away, leaving a curious audience behind.
- o -
In all honesty, Rin's school idol persona had slipped quite a bit yesterday. Someone glimpsing her naked form had that effect; nonetheless, she should have had a better grip on her temper. That said, she knew the headmaster to have enough experience in these matters that he had already seen past her persona. So, in a sense, Rin had not revealed any new information to him at the very least.
Instead, each side had learned something based on the actions and words of the other, and thus a new layer was established in their relationship.
"Professor Tohsaka?"
"Yes?" Rin turned to the deputy headmistress who sat two seats away from her left. Aurora Sinistra, who sat between them, leaned back slightly to allow the flow of conversation.
"Are there any preparations needed for your lectures?"
"Could we move the staff table? And for the Formalcraft lecture, we will need a bit of space and some prep time."
McGonagall glanced at the table in front of her. "We can separate it and put the High Table to the sides. As for the preparations for Formalcraft, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"We've already spoken to Professor Grubbly-Plank for materials. And so long as we have floor space right after lunch, we should have enough time to create our magic circles."
"Very well," the elder witch nodded.
"Pardon," Sinistra interjected. "How difficult would it be to learn Runic magic without knowing Ancient Runes?"
Rin turned to the astronomy professor. "I will refrain from repeating material from Professor Babbling's course, as that would be an inefficient use of everyone's time. So, students who have not taken Ancient Runes may have difficulty following the course material."
"I see." Though she tried to hide it, Sinistra looked a little disappointed.
"That being said, I will not deny a professor from attending the lecture." Given the foreign nature of the two magics, most of the staff members would be attending not just that day's lectures but also the actual classes themselves. In other words, the students would consist of both adolescents as well as adults.
"Oh. Well, thank you for the privilege."
"No need. I will suggest you learn Ancient Runes on the side since the material will soon require in-depth knowledge of the meanings behind each rune."
"In that case, I shall have to beg a favor from Bathsheda," Sinistra said.
"I think we all may have to," McGonagall stated. "After studying your owl familiar, Professor Tohsaka, I browsed through my old rune manuals. I can say for certain I have forgotten much of what I learned here in that subject."
"I am sure it will come back to you, Professor," Rin replied. "Oh, I just remembered. Does this school have any round tables?"
"Round tables? What for?"
"For my classroom."
"Is there an issue with the tables in there now?"
"Rows of tables are not as conducive to my method of teaching," the magus answered.
"Oh? Well, we can easily Transfigure them into round tables," McGonagall responded. "But now I am curious as to your method of teaching."
Oh.
Right.
Rin was continually surprised on how the natives of this dimension used magic to do everything. It felt so frivolous. While she had no issue with using prana for experiments or certain conveniences such as repairing a broken item, in general she conserved her prana in order to transfer excess into her Mystic Code gems.
On the other hand, the free usage of magic did have a certain appeal and charm of its own.
Setting the thought aside, Rin noticed that Pomona Sprout who sat on her right leaned in to listen. She smiled pleasantly to the older witch, including her into the conversation. "I plan to have the students organized into teams and have them work together within class to solve difficult problems."
"Is that how you were taught?" Sprout queried.
"No, it was not. However, in preparation for this job, I did some research on methods of teaching. Modern non-magical studies show that cooperative, problem-based learning is a very effective method of teaching."
"Non-magical studies?" Sinistra asked. "You actually looked into that?"
Rin's expression changed into one of mild concern. "Is that an issue? The number of non-magical schools is greater than magical ones by a factor of tens of thousands. The studies done in the non-magical world would be more complete with much larger data sets."
"I suppose it has never occurred to me. Do you often go into the muggle world?"
Carefully crafted confusion showed on Rin's face. She had observed the divide between magical and non-magical societies, but she wanted to hear some first-hand accounts. "I don't understand. It's the same world."
"Well, it's a bit inconvenient for us since we cannot use magic in front of muggles, what with the Statute of Secrecy and all."
"We have a similar restriction in our universe," the magus acknowledged. "Nonetheless, I don't see the difficulty in interacting with normal society."
"Normal?" Sprout interjected. "You refer to muggle society as normal?"
"Magic is abnormal." At the looks of confusion, Rin continued. "Magic is about imposing your will over the natural laws of the world. Each time we cast a spell, we are defying nature and perverting reality to our desires."
The statements caused the older witches to pause in thought. "That is an unusual stance on magic, Professor Tohsaka," McGonagall said.
"It is a fairly common one in my dimension; I understand if you disagree," Rin compromised politely. "But regarding the study on teaching methods, is the setup chosen incorrect? I hope I have not ruined my lesson plans before I even started,"
"No worries, we allow professors much leeway in how they teach."
"Ah, that is good to know. I would like to remind you all that I have very little experience in teaching in academia, so please feel free to correct any mistakes I may make."
"I'm sure you will do fine, Professor Tohsaka," Sprout said. "If you need any help, by all means ask."
"In that case, please take care of me," she said with a slight bow in her seat.
- o -
Harry ended up spending most of the hour after breakfast attempting to help Neville correctly cast the Scouring Charm at the pudgy boy's request. The key word being "attempt" because Harry could see no flaw in either Neville's form or incantation.
They were seated in the Gryffindor Common room. Also at their table, the Weasley twins were engaged in a brutal match of Exploding Snap. One had two smears of soot on his face, and the other had evidence of singe damage in his hair. Of course, Harry had no idea which twin was which.
"You going to watch the demonstrations?" Neville asked.
"Yeah."
"Do you know anything about Formalcraft?"
"Not really."
"How about Runic magic?"
Harry thought back to what he saw last night when Professor Tohsaka demonstrated to Cho as well as Hermione's comments during the train ride. "I think you can cast magic by making runes in the air with your finger. And then based on the meaning of the rune, and how you draw it, it makes magic."
Neville blinked in surprise. "Your finger? You mean it's wandless magic?"
"Professor Tohsaka was able to do it wandlessly. I'm not sure if that's just her or everyone from her dimension."
This got the twin's attentions.
"So you believe they are from another dimension?" said the one with soot on his face. Harry decided to think of him as Forge.
"I figured you'd be a little distrusting of new professors," Gred continued.
"Why do you believe them?"
"Know something we don't know?"
Harry sighed, feeling a sense of déjà vu. However, Neville's comment sparked a chain of logic that had not occurred to him earlier when he spoke to Hermione about this same topic.
"So last night, we had met up with Professor Tohsaka. Like I said, she demonstrated Runic magic to Cho. Wandlessly."
"That's out of this world!" Gred exclaimed theatrically.
"Wait, is it really?" Forge asked.
"Well, I suppose that is what we are trying to ask," Gred said, rubbing his chin in thought.
"Well," Harry interrupted, "she also said she didn't know what the Finite Charm was."
This gave pause to everyone.
"So she knows magic and is good at it if she can do it wandlessly. But she doesn't know our magic. I mean… unless wizards in other countries don't use wands or something?"
"No," Neville answered. "Every wizard in the world uses wands, basically."
"Right, so there you go," Harry concluded.
"Couldn't she just be lying about not knowing the Finite Charm?" Forge posed forth.
"Perhaps she could be lying, but I think you are missing the more important detail, oh dearest Brother," Gred replied with a grin.
"Oh, and what would that be?"
"The fact that our dear little Harrikins was out last night with the beautiful Cho Chang!"
Harry sighed. It did not take a seer to foresee the direction of this conversation.
"So, dear Harry, what were you up to?"
"Midnight stroll? Candlelit atmosphere?"
"Wait, it wasn't midnight. And the castle uses torches, not candles."
"Hush, Brother, and work with me here."
"Look," the wizard in question interrupted. "We were just going to the headmaster's office."
The twins gasped dramatically.
"Merlin, you skipped all the broom closets and went straight for the top!"
"Truly you are a wizard amongst wizards!"
Harry palmed his face.
- o -
After breakfast, Cho decided against spending the time with her friends as she predicted most of them would be discussing their summers. Given what she had experienced both over the summer and more importantly the day before, socializing did not agree with her current disposition.
The night previous after viewing the memories in the pensieve with Harry she had cried uncontrollably for some time in the headmaster's office. She was not ignorant of Harry's uncomfortableness in the situation, but that had much less priority compared to the impact of Cedric's death. She managed to calm herself enough to both make the trip of escorting her companion to the Gryffindor dorms and the trek to the Ravenclaw tower. However, when she reached her bed, she was barely able to cast the Quietus Charm on herself before she broke into tears again.
"Kill the spare."
Presently, Cho closed her eyes in an attempt to stifle the half sob that escaped her.
After a half minute, she had her breathing under control. Fortunately for her, no one had loitered within her vicinity in the Hogwarts library. In general, only the most studious of students used it on the first day. This year, a few more than normal visited the place, but most veered towards the books on Ancient Runes or Arithmancy. In contrast, Cho went to the Charms section.
After finally locating two books that may be of use, Cho checked her pocket watch and found that not much time remained before the first demonstration. On the way to the front desk, she passed an aisle which had an open book laying on the ground. Seeing no one nearby, she picked it up to give to Madame Pince for reshelving. When she closed the book, Cho noticed the title: A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions.
"You have been taught how to duel, Harry Potter?"
Breathe in. Breathe out. Stop any tears from falling.
When she finished calming herself, she continued onwards with the extra book in hand.
- o -
That was mildly annoying yet also mildly intriguing.
When she had sensed someone approaching, Rider had quickly placed her book down and reverted into her astral form. However, she had not expected the passerby to actually go out of the way to pick up the seemingly abandoned book. The Servant recognized the witch as the prefect who the off-worlders had encountered the night before.
Whatever annoyance Rider felt regarding losing her book was outshadowed by a wonderful discovery: the witch was possibly cuter than Ayako.
- o -
A shiver traveled up Cho's spine.
"Are you alright, Miss Chang?" Pince inquired as the paperwork was filled out.
"I think so," she responded in a somewhat unsure manner.
After checking out her two books, Cho headed to the Great Hall. Finding a good spot at the Ravenclaw table, she made sure to save some seats for her friends. Glancing around, she saw that the High Table had been split into four pieces, making two rows on either side of the presenters. Students trickled into the Great Hall; there were more than she had expected considering the prerequisite of Ancient Runes. Perhaps some came simply to see these supposed dimensional travelers?
At the front, the two professors were standing next to each other, watching the students. The other two companions stood at each side of the presentation area. The man in black and red easily drew her attention due to his unusual outfit. While he did have a somewhat intimidating appearance, it was nothing compared to Saber's sheer presence despite her youth. Maybe it was the sword. Or her calm, confident demeanor. Or what she had admitted the night previous.
"I cannot claim self-defense in that case."
Cho forcibly removed her thoughts from Saber and what the swordswoman's employment here implied.
"Hey," Marietta greeted as she slipped into a seat. "Where were you?"
"Library."
"Making a grab for the Rune and Arithmancy books?"
"No, Charms. Looking something up." Cho had wanted to correct her embarrassment from the previous evening during her encounter with Professor Tohsaka. The counter-spell Charm was normally taught in second year, described in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2. However, Cho had skimmed her own copy of the book and found the in-depth description to be lacking; thus, she went to the library for more information. She also wanted to know what spell the new professor used to "destroy the cohesion of prana" as that sounded a bit more absolute than a mere Finite Incantatem.
Cho continued her casual study of everyone in the Great Hall. However, when she glanced at the Slytherin table, something very important occurred to her.
Malfoy. Crabbe. Goyle. Nott.
Names of four students.
Names of four Death Eaters.
What should she do? Should she inform her family? The previous evening, Cho had received repeated warnings to be discreet with what she had learned. Did that mean for her to keep this even from her friends? After all, Draco Malfoy was a prefect: what if he abused his position?
"Kill the spare."
She closed her eyes and blew her nose in a handkerchief.
Marietta looked at her with concern but Cho waved it off. She needed advice. There was really only one person to ask. The Ravenclaw witch looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw Harry Potter sitting next to his friend, Hermione Granger.
That was when she noticed the snow falling. Looking up, she found no visible source of the snowflakes; they simply appeared below the floating candles and drifted downwards. As more and more students noticed this, whispers began flitting throughout the Great Hall. Cho turned her attention to the front, where she saw Professor Tohsaka standing next to a large Hagalaz (ᚺ) rune floating in the air next to her.
"Good morning, students," the new teacher greeted, interrupting the murmurings. "And of course, to the staff as well." She tapped the rune, causing it to disperse into motes of blue light. This ended the precipitatory effects.
Tohsaka continued. "This lecture will be an introduction to Runic Magic. We will be giving a very brief overview as it is a topic which can consume lifetimes of study. However, before we begin, it has come to our attention that we apparently use a differing vocabulary when describing thaumaturgical phenomena and related concepts. Thus, I shall begin with defining a few key terms, some of which will be immediately relevant to Runic magic and some that will be more relevant for the later Formalcraft lecture. If an analogous concept exists within this dimension, please indicate so, and we shall attempt to use your terminology."
She then began.
Mana. Odic Force. Prana. Magic Circuits.
Mysteries. Gaia.
Aria. Self-hypnosis.
Bounded Field. Mystic Code.
In fifteen minutes, Cho's understanding of magic was turned upside-down.
- o -
"My Lord."
"Ah, MacNair," Voldemort greeted silkily. "Rise. What brings you by? I believe you are supposed to be working overtime this weekend." With Potter's escape from the graveyard, each of the Death Eaters had been named to Dumbledore. Thus, the Dark Lord had commanded his servants to keep a low profile for the time being.
"As you have commanded, my Lord, I have maintained the image of a model employee. I have found news that you may find interesting and thus came immediately."
Voldemort gestured to continue.
"I have spoken to the Dementors at your request and found something unexpected. It appears that two of them were sent to kill Harry Potter a month ago."
The Dark Lord immediately yet gracefully stood up. "And who was it, then, that defied my orders to leave Potter alone?"
"None amongst us, my Lord. It took some coaxing, but I have discovered that the Undersecretary to the Minister, Dolores Umbridge, had sent the order."
Keeping eye contact with his servant, Voldemort paused in thought. The slippery Lucius would not be so bold as to defy his orders so blatantly, and thus he did not think there was a connection there. "The Dementors obviously failed. What happened?"
"They did not find him at his home. Instead, they had given the Kiss to his family."
"Interesting." He considered the ramifications of this. "Ah, I see." And indeed he did: with the blood protection negated due to the resurrection ritual, keeping the boy in an unprotected muggle home would be the height of folly. Because Voldemort's current plans involved staying out of public sight and building forces behind the scenes, he had not given thought to attacking Potter. Hence, he did not properly reason this line of logic out. The wizard suppressed an internal grimace; obviously Dumbledore had thought this through at least a month ago. This meant the old man was one step ahead in this particular aspect of the conflict.
But it also meant the old man did not protect Potter's family. Oversight or intentional? Voldemort pondered this. "You have done well to bring this to my attention, MacNair. Continue with your assigned task."
- o -
Rin could normally explain the basics of magecraft in her sleep but not to an audience that included pre-teens. As such, she had to simplify explanations here and there, but eventually she finished. "Now then, moving on to Runic Magic. The runes of Elder Futhark… yes, Professor Flitwick?"
Said individual had his hand up and waving. "You can't… you cannot just say all of that and then switch topics!"
The magus raised an eyebrow. "Was my explanation lacking in any way?"
"No, quite the opposite!" the diminutive professor exclaimed. "You alluded to so much more! Are you saying you understand at a fundamental level how magic interacts with the body?"
This brought on a sincere expression of confusion. "Are you saying you don't?"
"It appears our knowledge is lacking in certain aspects."
Rin paused a few moments to gather her thoughts. "It is our goal here as dimensional travelers is to compare our magics and, if possible, make a unified theory of thaumaturgy. Perhaps we could continue this conversation at another point, given that it would cut too much into this lecture?"
"I shall hold you to that, Professor Tohsaka," Flitwick returned with an eager smile.
Dumbledore raised his hand much like a student would. At Rin's gesture, he politely inquired, "If you could at least indulge in answering one question?"
"Certainly."
"You stated that the body's Magic Circuits processes mana or od into prana. Now… a Mystic Code, you said? A magical focus, such as our wands, helps amplify or focus the shaping of magic. Would you be able to use your Magic Circuits alone to cast a spell without a Mystic Code?"
"Really now, Professor, what a suggestion," Umbridge interrupted. "Everyone knows wandless magic is incredibly difficult."
Rin furrowed her brow in thought.
What was this?
The staff had already seen their usage of Runic magic as well as the Formalcraft protection around the motorcycles, both of which they performed without using a Mystic Code. So why did Dumbledore ask this question?
Did he want to know how it is done? No, he would not have phrased it in such a manner. Why ask about something that he already had the answer to?
Oh. Oh. That son of a bitch…
In order to save face given Umbridge's doubts, which Dumbledore correctly predicted would surface, Rin had to publicly demonstrate something magically impressive. In other words, the old man just manipulated her into a position of having to reveal a Mystery or risk losing some pride as a magus.
Layers within layers.
The Tohsaka heir grinned. It was a game: to see who can force the other into revealing their magical secrets. Not a high stakes one; her intuition told her it was more of a passing amusement.
She held her hand out, and a red orange flame sprung into existence above her palm. It expanded and billowed out before separating into four vertical, concentric circles of fire, the largest extending to a diameter of seven feet. A white outline of an eight-pointed star appeared, rotating a half second before stopping, overlaid upon the flames.
An aggressive shield spell stored within the Tohsaka crest. It was not her strongest defensive magic, but it had the ability to turn offensive.
- o -
Gasps and murmurs of awe filled the Great Hall at the demonstration of wandless magic. Dumbledore tried not to take too much pleasure in Umbridge's shock since he of course had no part in the actual casting.
Oh, who was he kidding? He savored the moment thoroughly.
"A defensive spell," Tohsaka explained simply.
Sitting over twenty feet away, the headmaster easily felt the intense heat from the shield. However, his gaze snapped back to the magus who was staring intently at him. Then, her eyes flicked towards the fires.
Ah, a challenge.
Dumbledore's automatic response was to decline. However, after a moment he realized it would be rude not to return the favor just given.
"May I, Professor Tohsaka?"
"Of course, Professor Dumbledore."
The aged wizard stood and dramatically drew his wand. A hush came over the entire audience, students and staff alike.
"Stupefy." A red light flew out at the shield, stopping with a sizzle.
"Bombarda." A smoky grey light flew at the shield. A small explosion occurred at the point of impact but otherwise no other effect happened.
Dumbledore paused in thought.
He then pointed his wand but made no incantation. A blue light jetted out towards the shield. It caused a sizable detonation accompanied by noise and blue light, surprising most of the observers by its intensity. The closer members of the audience actually felt the small shockwave. A silent Expulso.
The shield still held.
He next flicked his wand, and this time no light came out. However, an ominous wave of force passed through the air, causing a visual distortion.
Tohsaka's hand snapped up unbelievably quickly. Wisps of red light flowed from her hand to the flames.
The spell struck the fire shield, causing it to burst apart radially as a gong-like sound filled the Great Hall. Everyone felt the reverberation in their chests.
And after that moment, neither spell nor shield existed.
- o -
"Rank D, low C, high C, and B spells," Rider telepathized as murmurs filled the Great Hall. "Slow, though."
"Thanks, Rider," Sakura replied in a similar manner. "I did not hear an incantation on the last two. Did you?"
"No."
"We may have to go over our theory on their Latin being High-Speed Divine Words."
"Master, the third spell was somewhat Dark magic. However, the last spell was neither dark nor fatal despite being more powerful."
Dumbledore beamed with a grin, bowing his head slightly. "You have my thanks, Professor Tohsaka."
"Of course," Rin returned with a smile, also bowing appropriately. "Now then-"
"Wait!"
Sakura watched as her sister calmed herself at being interrupted again. Dumbledore, who had been in the process of sitting down, paused in his movement.
"What was that?!" Umbridge almost shrieked, now standing.
"What was what?" Rin calmly asked. Sakura watched carefully, as they had yet to decide upon a strategy for dealing with this potentially troublesome individual.
"What was that spell? It was not Protego! How did you block something so powerful? And where's your wand?"
"Protego? What would that be?"
"Reflective shield spell against physical and magical phenomenon," Saber answered crisply. "Rank: unknown. Type: barrier. Max targets: one person protected. Incantation: Protego. Wand movement: wand moved in a sword parry fashion."
Nearly everyone turned to the "squib" in surprise.
"Duration? Observable effect?" Rin queried calmly.
"Concentration. Semi-transparent blue or white barrier."
"I see that you have taken advantage of our library, Saber," Dumbledore commented as he resumed sitting down.
The Servant merely nodded in acknowledgement.
Rin turned back to the undersecretary. As she spoke, everyone's attention moved from Saber to her. "Indeed, you are most correct, Professor Umbridge. I did not cast this Protego spell."
"But… how did… Protego is the Shield Charm…" Umbridge managed to say.
"She smells of fear," Rider telepathized.
"Ah, I understand," Sakura replied to her Servant. "She cannot use Rank B spells like Dumbledore, never mind that Rin cast the spell 'wandlessly'. The fear of such power is causing her to lash out in panic."
In their home world, Rank A spells generally required a verse count of at least ten lines in addition to a magic circle; this was impractical during combat. Even Rank B magic was somewhat limited in usage unless special circumstances came into play such as Mystic Codes, a magical crest, or some preparation beforehand was involved. While a magus could accomplish Rank B magic in a controlled environment with ample time, he did not often have the luxury of chanting the required verses when operating at high combat speeds. Hence, the need for special circumstances.
Magi like Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, Lorelei Barthomeloi, and Aoko Aozaki were the exceptions, not the rule.
Sakura knew her sister could achieve Rank A magic during combat only by depending on her Mystic Codes. Otherwise, she basically had to limit herself to lower ranked spells though she had a larger repertoire than most other magi. To a lesser extent than the aforementioned legends, Rin Tohsaka was also an exception to the rule.
Apparently, Albus Dumbledore can toss around Rank B magic with his wand and no incantation.
However.
"Observe the reactions of the remaining staff," Sakura said. "Dumbledore must be exceptionally talented. I don't think all wizards can cast Rank B spells so easily."
"Agreed," Rider replied.
Sakura watched as a predatory smile blossomed on Rin's face; her sister must have come to the same conclusion.
"I cannot speak for this dimension, Professor Umbridge, but in ours there exists more than one type of defensive spell. This one in particular was invented by my great-grandfather."
"Great-grandfather…" Umbridge trailed off.
"If you believe the spell to be dangerous, have no fear. I will not be teaching it to anyone outside of my family."
"Family… oh. Oh! I see, then," the undersecretary said. Then, her tone turned unexpectedly pleasant. "In that case, please, carry on."
Sakura frowned. "Did I miss something? Did Rin hypnotize her?"
"No," Rider answered.
"Hmm… I am going to assume Rin and Saber will keep an eye on her. Can you observe the remaining staff members?"
"Yes, Master."
"Very well," Rin said, smoothly transitioning from the unexpected interruption. "Now then, I believe it is time we begin the actual lecture. Please understand that some of the concepts that I shall be introducing also exist outside of Runic magic. For example, while it is possible to create Bounded Fields with this methodology, you can actually create such barriers with other forms of magic. In fact, you should be aware that your Professor has already placed a large Bounded Field over the entirety of Hogwarts grounds; he calls it an Anti-Intruder Jinx."
As her sister explained the basics of Runic magic, Sakura spent her time observing the students. Given the nature of a magi's education in general and her own in particular, she felt a stab of jealousy at the eager expressions on many of the adolescents. Due the requirement of Ancient Runes, she knew that most of the students here were of the more intellectual or curious bent.
During this examination of the younger audience, Sakura noticed something unusual. "Rider, walk slowly towards me." As her servant did so, Sakura studied one student carefully. Rider had sensed her master's focus and thus also observed this individual.
The gaze of one particular blonde Ravenclaw followed the invisible Servant's movements.
- o -
Runic meanings. Character combinatorics.
Stroke length. Thickness. Angle. Orientation.
Engravement medium. Prana investiture.
Harry had jotted down the notes from the lecture. Each rune had several layers of meanings, some more powerful, some more subtle. Accessing the proper layer required a precise combination of the aforementioned variables. Furthermore, certain layers of meanings were almost impossible to access without years of proper training.
In other words, it was not simply a matter of slapping a rune onto an object to get it to work.
From what Harry could tell, Runic magic was much more complicated than casting Charms or Transfiguration spells. It was easier to draw a pincer-like figure with his wand and say Incendio to produce fire than it was to properly inscribe whatever rune you need into the air.
On the other hand.
Nobody had ever heard of this type of magic before including Dumbledore. This meant quite possibly that even Voldemort knew nothing of this. And if this magic could be cast with neither wand nor incantation, then next time he was disarmed or maybe even when tied up, he would not be helpless… if he took the course.
Which he cannot. Because he never took Study of Ancient Runes.
Why did he bother taking notes?
Overall, the lecture was quite informative. The teacher did not try to impress them with what the magic can do, but instead simply explained the concepts and potential usage as if everything she said was matter of fact. She demonstrated each point with a small example of runic magic, often further giving an analogy to make the concept more understandable.
"A word of warning," Professor Tohsaka said in a tone somewhat more authoritative than normal. "Do not experiment with runes on your body or clothing. Any mistakes made or accidental alterations to the runic inscriptions can cause adverse effects to your body. For example, it is possible to use the Isaz rune on your clothing to make it cooler during warm weather. However, if a thread were to fray at the location of the inscription, this can cause the rune to actualize the wrong Mystery such as resulting in all the water in your body freezing instantaneously."
Oh wow, that did not sound pleasant. Note to self: no runes on clothing or body. Another note to self: check clothing for runes if they were ever handled by the Weasley twins.
"Now then, are there any questions?"
- o -
"Oh, this is so exciting!" Hermione gushed as they walked back to their common room.
Harry smiled at his friend's enthusiasm. "I wonder what the Formalcraft lecture will be like."
"Hopefully, it will be as impressive. I mean she did everything wandlessly and stopped Professor Dumbledore's spell wandlessly which I know is not Runic Magic but still very noteworthy. And even Professor Flitwick thought she knew so much because of her understanding of Magic Circuits and mana and odic force and prana all of which I have never heard of but clearly they exist and-"
"Redox equation," Harry interrupted, stating the password to the Fat Lady's portrait. As they entered the common room, he said, "I'm guessing you're going to take her course."
"Of course I am, Harry," Hermione stated authoritatively.
"Both of them?"
"Most likely." She glanced around a bit and determined they did not have complete privacy. "They scheduled the two courses to be after normal daytime school hours, so I won't need my necklace from third year."
"But can you handle it? Third year you nearly went crazy from too much work. I mean… that's why you dropped two courses. And both of those were easy courses. I think these new ones will be really hard."
"I'll think of something. And it's different this time. These two courses sound interesting. Well, at least Runic Magic sounds interesting, and I'm sure Formalcraft will be as well. More importantly, if they really aren't from this dimension, then this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."
"Oh, so you believe them now? That they are from another dimension?"
Hermione paused in thought. "I suppose it's too early to tell."
"What's this?" Harry asked in fake incredulity. "The prim and proper Hermione Granger not believing a professor?"
"Oh hush."
"Seriously, though," the young wizard said, "don't forget about our other lesson. You know, the one on clearing our minds."
Hermione silently nodded in acknowledgement as they approached one of the tables. Ron and Neville were sitting there working with quill, parchment, and some textbooks. The sight of this managed to distract Hermione from the conversation. "Ron, Neville. Are you two doing summer homework right now?"
Clearly surprised by the witch, Neville jerked back suddenly. Slight panic flitted across his face. "Wait, wait, I already did my summer homework! There were a couple of things I was unsure of and double-checked this morning."
Accepting this excuse, Hermione turned to look at Ron.
"What?" the redhead asked. "It's not like I'm waiting until the last minute."
"How is this not last minute? We're back at Hogwarts already!"
"So?" Ron dismissed. "We still have the rest of today and all of tomorrow too. I mean, I'm not the only one. Look around."
Harry did as instructed and found that Ron actually had a point. Never underestimate a teenager's willingness to procrastinate. He interjected to prevent an argument, "So, you two missed an interesting lecture."
- o -
Normally on weekends, the staff lounge held little traffic. Meetings were scheduled in a separate meeting room since the lounge had a more relaxed atmosphere. This day, however, a number of professors had gathered as it seemed to be the natural place to discuss the recent lecture.
Or maybe it was the availability of the off-worlder's blend of tea.
"What do you think, Bathsheda?" Flitwick asked, gently blowing cool air across his cup.
"I feel like a first year all over again," Babbling answered. "I would never have guessed that runes would have inherent magic. In all honesty, I feel a bit embarrassed about this, considering I am supposedly an expert on Elder Futhark."
"I can assure you that you are not alone," McGonagall said. "It's not just runes. I have never heard of Magic Circuits, prana, or the other concepts she mentioned. Yet, I have the distinct impression our visitors are not incorrect about these ideas. In fact, if I had to guess they even systematized wandless magic. You all saw her flaming shield."
"Yes, that was quite impressive," Flitwick agreed. "I wonder what they can do if they actually used Mystic Codes."
"Adopting their vocabulary?" Vector asked.
"I don't see why not. It's clear they have other forms of magical foci, so calling everything a 'wand' would be inaccurate. Besides, the phrase 'Mystic Code' just sounds so… mystical."
McGonagall favored him with a dry look. "That was horrible, Filius." The addressed professor merely smiled as he sipped his tea.
"Speaking of Mystic Codes," Babbling interjected, "is it true that they cannot use wands?"
Flitwick put down his cup. "Professor Matou mentioned something to the effect that they could not find any compatible wands. But she said they did bring Mystic Codes of their own."
"Oh? What are they?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure."
- o -
While not overly lavish, the lunch spread at Malfoy Manor certainly qualified as a bit indulgent. Everything from the silverware to the actual foods had a sense of posh. The gathered individuals only made the meal more aristocratic.
It was not often that the Dark Lord came calling for a meal.
The Malfoy couple had received Voldemort's trusted owl that morning announcing his visit for lunch. Narcissa had immediately commanded the house elves to prepare something of a feast while Lucius cancelled his appointment with one of his connections on the Wizengamot. Fortunately, the Malfoys had experience with such interruptions as Voldemort had visited twice since his resurrection. Lucius had of course fully offered the Malfoy Manor as a base of operations, but the Dark Lord merely took one of the smaller and lesser known Malfoy properties along with two house elves.
In any case, the three currently found themselves enjoying a lunch suitable for beings of their noble stature. Or at least two of them tried to as dining in the presence of such a powerful individual would make most anyone nervous.
"Lucius," Voldemort began, instantly changing the tone of the meal. "Tell me what you know of this Dolores Umbridge."
"The Undersecretary of the Minister?" Lucius asked, mildly surprised at the choice of topic. "An ambitious and toadying woman. We have exchanged a few favors over the years as she does demonstrate proper support for pure-bloods."
"Oh, does she now? Do you believe she would voluntarily support our cause?"
Lucius took a sip of his wine as he composed his thoughts. "In a general sense, yes. However, with the plans to recruit the Dark beings onto our side, she may make a nuisance of herself. She was heavily involved in the creation and passing of the anti-werewolf legislation a few years back. If I may make a suggestion, Master?" At the affirmative gesture, he continued, "I believe she would be more appropriate as a tool than as a fully incorporated agent. She would be more effective if she was allocated properly than if she had free reign over her own actions."
"An interesting choice of words, Lucius, given what I have just learned of her."
- o -
"Do you know what this is about?" Rufus Scrimgeour, Head Auror of Great Britain, asked the person walking alongside him.
"No, Sir, I do not," Kingsley Shacklebolt answered respectfully. The two aurors passed several doors in the hallway before reaching their destination. The higher ranked wizard knocked politely.
"Enter."
Rufus walked into his superior's office, leaving Kingsley to shut the door. It had a modified Imperturbable Charm on it that activated when closed. The charm allowed sound to flow only in one direction.
"Gentlemen," Amelia began.
Still standing, the two males glanced at each other somewhat warily.
"How goes the Black case?"
Rufus glanced at Kingsley. Taking his cue, the dark skinned man answered. "We are still looking for him, Ma'am."
Amelia narrowed her eyes at the auror, focusing on him as she stood slowly. "Auror Shacklebolt. I was under the impression you are a capable individual."
The addressed individual suddenly had a bad feeling about this meeting.
"You have had two years to track this man down, and yet your answer is simply 'We are still looking for him'?"
"Ma'am! Our latest lead has him seen in Tibet, Ma'am!" Kingsley answered quickly. Fortunately for him, Amelia's eyes relaxed a bit.
"And how old is this lead?"
"Um, about a week, Ma'am."
"I see. Has the Task Force been informed?"
"Task force?" Kingsley asked.
"The International Task Force stationed in Tibet," Amelia said. Seeing the confusion on the man's face, she provided the explanation. "For centuries, the ICW has had a task force there to deal with yeti sightings by muggles."
The man nodded in understanding.
"Auror, why do you not know this?"
"Ma'am?"
"If you have this lead to Tibet, why have you not learned of this in your preparations to search the country?" The director's eyes narrowed again. "In fact, why haven't you left yet? It should not take you a week to prepare for such a trip."
Kingsley started to fidget slightly.
Amelia turned to the other male in her office. "Rufus."
Said person snapped to attention. "Ma'am!"
"Have you restricted your auror from traveling to Tibet?"
"No, Ma'am."
"Have you assigned him other cases or tasks which are keeping him here in Britain?"
"No, Ma'am."
"What, exactly, has your auror been doing this past week?"
The wizard turned to his fellow. "I must admit I am somewhat curious myself." Blame deflection. Typical of Rufus.
"Ma'am!" Kingsley exclaimed. "Our preparations are almost finished! We did not plan to inform the Tibetan government or ICW on the off-chance Black has spies in there."
Amelia raised an eyebrow. "We?"
"My partner, Ma'am. Nymphadora Tonks."
The woman tilted her head slightly. "Rufus, why does that name sound familiar?"
The Head Auror thought for a moment. "She is a relatively new auror. Perhaps you have heard that she is a Metamorphmagus?"
"Ah, yes, that's right. I imagine that would help." Amelia sat back into her seat and next quickly jotted down something on a purple memo. "Auror Shacklebolt, you will go to Tibet, and you will comb every inch of that country. I expect results next time we meet, or I will feed you to a yeti myself."
"Ma'am! Yes, Ma'am!"
The witch waved her wand, causing the memo to fold up into a purple paper airplane. "Dismissed." The two men swiftly left the office while the paper airplane flew out. She returned to her paperwork.
Two minutes of near silence passed; only the sound of a quill scratching was heard in the office.
"I think you enjoyed that way too much," Alastor Moody stated as he undid his Disillusionment Charm and removed his Invisibility Cloak.
Amelia ignored the jibe as she wrote on another parchment. "Tell Albus he owes me a big one for lending him two of my aurors."
"I'm surprised the old man even asked."
"He didn't."
Alastor frowned for a moment. "Then how did you know those two are in the Order?"
The witch stopped writing on the parchment and slowly looked up at the retired auror. After a full minute of silence, the grizzled veteran snorted in amusement, breaking the staring contest. "Can you at least tell me what they did wrong to reveal themselves?"
Amelia returned her attention to her paperwork. "Twelve Grimmauld Place, Islington, London."
A moment of silence passed as Mad Eye frowned.
"The Black ancestral home. Easy enough to find the address." Amelia did not bother explaining why she had personally looked into Sirius Black; the ex-auror was capable of reading between the lines. "When I visited the neighborhood, I noticed the building was missing. Fortunately, my confusion was minimal since I had recently read up on the Fidelius Charm."
Alastor gave a noncommittal grunt. Despite popular belief, the Fidelius Charm only hid the location; it did not hide the actual knowledge of the location. In the near future of a parallel universe, Death Eaters unaware of the secret guarded by the Fidelius had watched the location between Eleven and Thirteen Grimmauld Place because they knew Harry Potter had inherited Twelve Grimmauld Place after his godfather's death.
The director calmly dipped her quill in an ink jar. "Did you know that in order to use a Floo fireplace one must clearly and audibly enunciate the destination?"
Mad Eye closed both his eyes and internally groaned.
"I don't think we need go into detail on what spells I used on each and every Floo fireplace in the Ministry Atrium." Amelia set the parchment aside and reached for her wand. "Arthur Weasley, Head of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. Elphias Doge, Special Advisor to the Wizengamot."
She waved her wand over her current parchment, also causing it to fold into a paper airplane. She then reached for another.
"As Arthur is one of my direct reports, it was trivial to 'misfile' a memo containing 'classified' information. The actual contents are not important. What was of significance was the decision that Arthur Weasley had made upon receiving this information. One would expect a dedicated and loyal employee of mine to immediately return the paperwork to me. Instead, he swiftly walked to the auror office and showed the memo directly to Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks."
Amelia merely set aside the parchment and began working on another one.
"As a side note, I believe that is grounds for incarceration. Oh, and you may be interested in the fact that some of your Order travel to Twelve Grimmauld Place using public, high traffic Floo access points around the country."
Alastor simply gave up holding in his feelings and reacquainted his face with its longtime friend, his left hand.
- o -
"I had not realized she possessed such a vicious nature underneath," Lucius admitted after hearing of the dementor attack on Potter's family.
"And a bit resourceful as well as she is currently at the castle as we speak," Voldemort added. "Perhaps she can be of use there."
"I shall see to it, Master," Malfoy responded dutifully.
The two men drank from their wine. Narcissa, however, wiped her mouth in a delicate fashion indicating she had finished her meal.
"Milord, I must beg forgiveness for leave to attend the potions I am currently brewing," she half stated, half asked.
"Ah, certainly," Voldemort allowed. "I presume these potions will be of use to us?"
"As you have instructed, milord. Though some are part of a batch to be sent to St. Mungo's."
"Of course. Appearances must be kept up, after all."
A small period of silence descended on the two men after Narcissa left the room. The finished plates of food had already magically disappeared from the table. Swirling the wine in his cup, Lucius spoke up. "My Lord, Umbridge's actions bring us a unique opportunity."
"Oh?" the Dark Lord replied neutrally.
"Harry Potter no longer has any guardians. It would only be natural that he be sent to the custody of a proper wizarding household."
"Amusing. You wish to adopt Potter?"
"Only to bring him before you, Master. I foresee no difficulties. The muggle-loving families would be making separate bids as many would seek to acquire the boy for themselves if only for prestige. On the other hand, those of us allied to you would make a united front to support one family."
Lucius said nothing more as he waited patiently for a response.
"Clever, but not clever enough. You underestimate the old man."
The blonde man blinked in surprise. "Dumbledore's influence is at an all time low, given Fudge's smear campaign…"
Voldemort sighed in a mixture of exasperation, amusement, and patronization. "You truly believe the old man places values on laws and votes? He only cares for two things: his precious castle and defeating me. The boy is a symbol, Lucius, and an important one to them." Potter was much more than that, but the Dark Lord of course chose not to share knowledge of the prophecy. "Push Dumbledore into a corner, and he will lash out. You believe you can face him in a direct confrontation?"
Malfoy was taken aback at this assessment of the situation. "I believe I could survive such a confrontation as it is well known he will not kill. Even this would be a victory for us, if we force Dumbledore to act out against the law. I would be willing to risk myself for such an outcome."
"Your willingness to serve our cause is noted, Lucius. However, you have forgotten one asset available to the old man. An asset capable of getting away with murder."
The younger man frowned in confusion. Short of contriving a nearly impossible situation where he would be killed due to self-defense, nothing came to mind. Dumbledore did not recruit murderers. According to Wormtail, the only one who came close to being considered a serious criminal was Mundungus Fletcher.
Wait… serious criminal…
"Sirius Black."
"Ah, good, you see," Voldemort commended.
And indeed, Lucius did see. With Sirius Black's status as a wanted fugitive who betrayed Harry Potter's parents, no one would suspect otherwise if he went and killed the boy's new guardians. Dumbledore would suffer no blow to his reputation or standing. Narcissa and Draco would also be at risk.
However, one implication behind the Dark Lord's words bothered him. "With all due respect, my Lord, I can handle Black."
This time Voldemort did sigh in exasperation. "Perhaps I spoke too soon." He placed down his cup of wine. "Tell me, Lucius. Are you a wizard or not?"
Sensing displeasure in the voice of his Master, Malfoy answered the question and no more. "Of course, Master."
"And you believe yourself capable of handling seven Sirius Blacks? How about thirteen?"
Lucius blinked in confusion momentarily before realization dawned upon him. "Polyjuice."
"Indeed." The Dark Lord stood, and thus Malfoy followed suit. "It took me less than ten seconds to counter your idea. No, any game changing plan we consider must be executed either stealthily or swiftly."
- o -
When he heard the knock on the door, Mad Eye Moody Disillusioned himself again and put on his invisibility cloak. After receiving permission to enter, Arthur Weasley stood in front of her desk. In his hand was the purple memo she had sent out earlier. "You wanted to see me, Madame Bones?"
The director did not look up from her paperwork. Scribbling away with her quill, she replied, "Yes, Arthur. Did you perchance receive a memo regarding the Sirius Black case?"
The redhead blinked as he thought for a moment. Then, his eyes widened in realization. "Ah, yes! I recall now. Was it three days ago?"
"Yes."
"I think I remember. I can go get it for you now," he offered, partially turning towards the door.
"Arthur." The tone stopped him in place. The man turned back to his supervisor in an unsure manner. "Do you know why I asked you to come here personally?" Amelia inquired.
"Um, no, I don't," Arthur hesitantly replied.
"Is there a reason why you have not returned the memo yet?"
It was at this point he realized he stood upon unsafe ground.
"In fact, given that you have evidently read some of the contents, you should have returned the memo to me immediately. Why have you refrained from doing so?"
"Ah, I apologize, Madame Bones. I had forgotten as something urgent had sprung up at the time."
Amelia's quill paused in movement, and she slowly looked up at her underling. "If I recall correctly, you helped draft portions of the Muggle Protection Act. Can I assume that you view muggles as fellow human beings?"
"Yes, of course," the wizard answered immediately.
"Then what was so urgent that you would set aside paperwork involving a man who murdered twelve muggles?"
Arthur tugged at his collar. "Well…" he started, but then hesitated. This pause was obviously noted by the Director of the DMLE. "Howlers from my wife are very loud. And distracting."
Amelia silently stared at the wizard for a full minute, causing the latter to fidget slightly. "Dismissed, Weasley."
Arthur managed to refrain from sighing until he left the room. Nonetheless, both occupants of the office heard it through the door.
As before, Moody waited two minutes before revealing himself. "Careless. But that actually wasn't a bad lie," he grudgingly admitted.
"Actually, it was not a lie because he did not directly answer my question. He just brought up Howlers and hoped I would jump to the obvious but erroneous conclusion."
"Right, you know what I mean," Mad Eye replied. "What was that for? You're not the type to watch others squirm for the hell of it."
Amelia glanced over to the wizard. "Only four persons know of my involvement, and I wanted to verify the weakest link. Arthur's son is Harry's best friend. If Harry leaked out information, then there is a good chance Arthur would know. So I decided to verify."
Moody grunted in approval.
- o -
For the most part, lunch had passed uneventfully for Harry. The gossip of the hour was the morning Runic magic lesson as many that had attended spent the meal narrating what happened to those who had not attended. Many had "demonstrated" by using the Flagrate Charm to draw runic characters, but of course no one knew how to invoke the actual magic.
The only unusual occurrence during the meal had been when Emiya carried a cage full of chickens through the Great Hall.
"Is there another basilisk in the school?" Harry asked as he watched.
His friends looked at him strangely. "Mate, you've been spending way too much time with Mad Eye," Ron commented.
Hermione immediately elbowed the redhead in the ribs. "Quiet on who we've been meeting," she hissed.
After some speculation on the purpose of the fowl, they came to the obvious conclusion that the new professors intended to use the chickens for the afternoon demonstration. In addition, the witch pointed out that there must exist a reason for the birds to be brought into the Great Hall right this moment instead of an hour later. Therefore, they must be doing some sort of preparation soon.
Of course, Hermione elected to stay after lunch to observe this possibility. Harry also followed suit on the premise that he found these off-worlders very interesting. Ron, feeling a little left out from missing the first lecture about which everyone was blathering, was easily persuaded to join them.
When the meal ended, many of the professors and about three dozen students lingered as the off-worlders began preparing for the lecture. The ensuing events were quite eye-opening, to say the least.
- o -
"Hem, hem," a high-pitched voice sounded.
Rin schooled her features carefully. Given the reactions of the professors during yesterday's staff meeting as well as their own impressions from this morning, the off-worlders had formulated an evaluation on this one Dolores Umbridge. Barring an autonomous Mystic Code or knowledge of extreme dark magic such as demon summoning, she clearly lacked combat potential. On the other hand, unlike many of the other professors she had political pull. This actually brought a bit of Clock Tower nostalgia to Rin. That said, the witch's grating and condescending voice would have had her targeted for assassination within a few minutes if only to rid the world of the annoyance.
Umbridge plastered a fake smile onto her face. "What... exactly... are you planning on doing with those, dearie?" She gestured at Rin's hands.
Which were holding a live chicken and an Azoth dagger.
One should note that such a tool was about twenty inches in length, the blade itself over a foot long and fairly wide. Compared to wands being about a foot total in length, Umbridge was not alone in staring at the rather salient object.
"This is an Azoth dagger. It is a Mystic Code, somewhat like your wand," Rin explained incompletely. While she had already revealed her usage of gems last night when she healed Moody, she wanted the magi to at least have a public appearance of uniformity. Thus, the three of them had planned to use Azoth daggers as their general-purpose Mystic Codes for the time being.
The chicken squawked as it struggled in Rin's grip. She looked up at the witch who was sitting at the High Table alongside several other professors. A soft smile graced the magus's lips. "As for what I am doing, I will drain the chicken of its blood. Is something wrong?"
"You use… blood... for your magic?"
Sakura answered the question. "Since this will be just a demonstration, it would be a waste to use more precious components for constructing the Formalcraft circles."
Umbridge turned to the purple-haired woman. "And you do not find it, perhaps, a bit questionable to be teaching blood magic to students?"
Without looking down, Rin made the appropriate cut into the bird, causing it to squawk loudly and gurgle as blood flowed out into a bucket containing various other reagents. While this action attracted the attention of most everyone, the magus took the opportunity to give a questioning glance at Dumbledore. At her glance, his eyes widened momentarily before he shook his head slightly.
Rin acknowledged the message with a minute nod: leave Umbridge alone for now.
"I had looked over the textbook instructions for several potions," Rin interjected. "Bicorn horn. Rat spleens. Salamander blood. Leech juice. Sliced caterpillars. May I assume you had experience with such ingredients when you learned to brew potions, Professor Umbridge?"
"Ah, yes… of course," the witch answered hesitatingly, the intention behind her line of questioning deftly countered at the mention of salamander blood.
"Of course, of course. I apologize if my question was simple-minded in nature. Being new to this dimension, I try not to make too many assumptions. Unfortunately, that results in many seemingly unnecessary questions." A throwaway apology to give the undersecretary a sense of superiority.
"You are forgiven," Umbridge allowed graciously, her smile and high pitched voice back.
Rin decided against reflecting the implied accusation of blood magic back since doing so would needlessly antagonize the woman. Instead, she offered a sweet smile as she said, "If you find the notion of consuming chicken blood more offensive compared to, say, ingesting rat spleens or sliced caterpillars… sliced hairy caterpillars… rest assured this blood will not be taken into the body."
The Tohsaka heir suppressed any outward evidence of satisfaction as the squat woman paled. Though to be fair the other professors had expressions of queasiness as well. Did they really not know what they consumed when they drank a potion?
"Well," Umbridge said, "I shall look forward to your demonstration later."
Taking the statement as a dismissal, the two sisters resumed their work. Setting aside the drained chicken, she combined the materials of her bucket with that of Shirou's container. Simultaneously, Sakura cleaned up after the dead birds. After stirring everything together, they divided the whole mixture into three, one for each of them.
Then came the magic circles.
Rin and Sakura used the same method to draw their respective circles despite having different resulting shapes. They each channeled a small amount of prana into their fingers to release a drop of their own blood into their respective containers of reagents. Incanting an aria (German for Rin, English for Sakura), they poured the blood mixture onto the ground. Instead of spilling messily, the liquid flowed out according to the desired designs.
First, two concentric circles of almost equal size formed, creating the base outer annulus.
Second, star polygons with varying number of vertices, more smaller circles, or other sweeping patterns appeared within the ring.
Third, various sigils and large symbols shaped themselves where necessary.
Fourth, accent changes occurred on the drawn components such as shading in certain areas or thickening certain lines.
Lastly, the two magi manually filled in any necessary characters from Elder Futhark or other alphabets.
Unlike the two sisters, Shirou had a different construction method.
"Trace. On." Five small knives materialized embedded onto a table.
"Wandless conjuration?" someone whispered.
"No, he's holding onto the magical dagger," someone else answered.
Shirou took two and stabbed them into the floor, designating a center and a radius. When he poured the blood mixture, a circle outlined itself using those criteria. Repeating the procedure for a slightly smaller circle, he finished the annulus. Next, he stabbed all five blades into the ground on the inner circle. The liquid then flowed and formed a five-pointed star. However, unlike Rin and Sakura, Shirou had to finish the rest of his magic circle by hand since his skills in Formalcraft were not at the same level as the other two.
- o -
Interesting.
Dumbledore watched and listened to the reactions of everyone else in the room. It seemed only he and a few others noticed that Emiya had stabbed daggers into solid rock.
Conjuring moderate-to-complex magical items was impossible; otherwise, everyone would be conjuring flying brooms or other heavily Charmed items. Even if Emiya had the muscle strength to drive weapons into solid stone (non-human ancestry?), the blades themselves must still be physically strong enough to survive the process.
Possibility one: the enchanted blades were Summoned onto the table from a pre-existing location. Perhaps they were already charmed to be retrieved in such a manner alongside whatever magic makes them capable of penetrating rock.
Possibility two: muggle metallurgy had reached the point that they have developed a strong enough alloy to allow such a sturdy blade to exist.
Possibility three: Emiya can conjure blades that are magically strong enough to pierce a stone floor.
As a side thought, Dumbledore could not help but wonder why this group of off-worlders seemed obsessed with swords and daggers.
- o -
Everyone watched curiously as the magi drew the blood-red circles. Whispers flittered here and there, trying to ponder the meaning of such shapes and symbols as well as commenting on the usage of English and German for the incantations. Overall, this process took some time with Shirou of course being the slowest as a larger percentage of his magic circle was created manually.
After Rin finished her circle but before Shirou completed his, she turned to the staff. "Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall. Would there happen to be any spells that allow a wizard or witch to shape constituents into a desired design as we have done?"
"Why yes, there is," the Charms professor answered. "I was even comparing and contrasting how we would create such a circle. I believe the Formam Liquoris Charm would be most appropriate."
"I must confess lacking in familiarity with the Latin language," Rin admitted. "However, from the name of the spell I gather it applies only to fluids?"
"Indeed. Would that be a problem?"
"There is a large range of materials. Chalk, mercury, powdered metals such as silver or platinum, wood shavings, natural earth. This results in the necessity of manipulating a range of mixtures: solids, liquids, solutions, suspensions, colloids."
"Ah, there is a charm for solids as well," the elder wizard replied. "The Formam Liquoris Charm would also work with solutions and suspensions… However, I am unfamiliar with the term colloid."
Rin raised an eyebrow. She examined the other staff members and saw mainly blank expressions at the term though Dumbledore and Snape were unreadable.
It was Sakura, however, that decided to test the waters. "Would any of the students happen know what a colloid is?"
One hand shot up.
"Your name and year?" Sakura asked with a knowing smile, gesturing to a familiar witch.
Said student beamed. "Hermione Granger, fifth year. A colloid is a mixture that is almost but not quite homogenous even in the settled state. This contrasts with a suspension which is not uniform in the settled state and thus heterogeneous. Compared to a solution, the solute is broken down to molecules or ions whereas the particles of a colloid are not nearly as small."
Quickly assessing the expressions of everyone, Rin found most to still be clueless despite the explanation.
"Correct, Miss Granger," Sakura confirmed. "Umm, is this where I reward points for answering a question correctly?" After several professors nodded, she said, "Very well. Three points to Gryffindor. Did that answer your question, Professor Flitwick?"
"I am most definitely sure Miss Granger answered my question," he said with a cheerful grin. "Alas, I unfortunately do not quite understand it as I am unaware of what these molecules or ions are."
"Ah, Filius," McGonagall interjected. "Muggles refer to the building blocks of objects as molecules. A step above atoms."
"Oh? Then could you enlighten me on the topic of ions, Minerva?" Flitwick asked.
"Well… ions…" the Transfiguration professor began. She coughed softly into her hand. "Ahem. I think it would be best if Charity described this concept as she can undoubtedly do so more thoroughly than I could."
Everyone turned to the Muggle Studies professor. Charity Burbage said, "Hm, ions? Ions are atoms or molecules that have extra or missing electrons and thus have an electrical charge due to the uneven number of protons and electrons."
"That…" Flitwick began. "Perhaps a less technical explanation?"
"In layman's terms a colloid is uniform throughout, but technically a solution is even more uniform," Rin stated, taking control of the discussion. "Examples would be mayonnaise, creams, or smoke. This differs from true solutions such as salt water."
"In that case, the Formam Liquoris Charm would also work on a colloid, as you have described it," he replied. "At least the liquid-like ones."
"Would these charms be difficult for the students to learn?"
Flitwick examined the detailed figures on the ground. "The charm itself is not too difficult though it may require many castings to create such a figure. Depending on the experience of the wizard or witch, each shape might be separate casting."
"It would still be worth learning. Drawing a perfectly round circle by hand is much more difficult than it sounds, and the ability to undo mistakes with magic would be invaluable. May I beg a favor of you?"
"May I assume you wish for me to teach these Charms to the students?" Flitwick asked with a grin.
"I would not presume to take away your valuable time," Rin replied with a sincere smile. The cheerfulness of the Charms professor was infectious. "If you could simply point me to a book that has instructions on the spells, I could make copies of those particular contents and distribute them to the students. It would be amongst the initial homework assignments."
"Hem, hem," Umbridge interjected. "Is it really so wise for children to be learning a new spell without adult supervision?"
Hmm… asking about the dagger was reasonable. But this inquiry?
Dominance play? General interference? Or part of a larger plot?
Or all of the above?
Rin decided on a probing tactic. "Ara, so magical students are not allowed to practice magic?"
Umbridge smiled. "Magic is a birthright of wizards and witches. The Ministry of Magic believes such a gift, so rare and wondrous, to be near sacred. As such, the cultivation of said gift must be carefully executed… for the alternative would lead to tragic results..."
Rin tuned out the rest of the speech, nodding and smiling at appropriate times. Since the words were clearly rehearsed, this implied the woman already had plans to gain control within here. It was one thing to reactively keep in check Dumbledore and his claims of the so called Dark Lord. It was another to actively alter how things were run.
While Rin was cognizant that Umbridge was not specifically their problem, she was realistic and experienced enough to know that she and her companions would inevitably be drawn into the political battle. After all, as unknown entities their very existence had to be considered in whatever plans anyone had made.
"... must be done with respect to proper tradition."
"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating," Rin parroted from the previous evening. "In that case, I look forward to observing your teaching methodology."
"Observing?" Umbridge asked with a puzzled expression.
"Ah, you may not have been informed due to arriving only last night. We four will be attending the classes as students in order to learn about magic of this world. We are quite looking forward to all the lessons."
The witch whirled towards Dumbledore. "Professor, you plan to have these witches and wizard disrupt our classes?"
The old wizard stroked his beard while his eyes twinkled. "On, heavens no. Firstly, they are called magi, not witches or wizards. Well, actually, Saber is a squib. Secondly, while it is understandably difficult to believe, they actually are from another dimension and are here to learn about our magic. Though I should mention they did an admirable job convincing me this morning. Given that, what better and safe way to do it than to learn alongside our students?"
Umbridge's eyes narrowed at the headmaster as everyone else observed the confrontation. Two possibilities came to Rin's mind. Either the undersecretary intended to use her classes to sneak something by the headmaster, or she was simply a control freak. The former would only work if she planned something subtle since there would be nothing stopping the students from informing the rest of the staff. The latter would simply be annoying but not troublesome.
Somehow, Rin doubted Umbridge was merely annoying.
The sound of Mozart's String Serenade No.13 interrupted the confrontation.
- o -
Hallowed blood.
A contradiction that fuses a visceral presence with that of something almost holy.
And dangerous. Incredibly and utterly dangerous.
It was the best description Luna Lovegood could bring forth to describe what she was seeing.
While Professor Tohsaka had a conversation about magic with the other teachers, the invisible yet perceivable entity that normally hovered near Professor Matou approached the Ravenclaw table. Luna was quite aware that no one else could sense this entity.
Correction.
As Luna looked around, she saw that Matou and Saber both were observing her as the entity stopped right next to her. After a few seconds, the entity moved on towards the exit of the Great Hall. When the Ravenclaw student glanced again at Professor Matou, the purple haired woman smiled gently, nodded her head, and then tilted her head towards the entity.
The blonde immediately packed her quill and parchment and followed the entity to an empty bathroom.
The entity materialized itself from purple wisps of light. Out came a gorgeous and scandalous woman wearing a blindfold. She had the most amazing hair Luna had ever seen on a person or creature. Then the aforementioned impressions assaulted the blonde's magical and mundane senses, triggering fight-or-flight instincts ingrained in all living things.
And so Luna did the only thing she could do in such a presence.
"Pardon me, but are you an umgubular slashkilter?"
She was not certain due to the blindfold, but Luna had the impression the woman raised an eyebrow.
"Slashkilters have four legs," the woman replied.
- o -
Time moved on exorably, and soon enough the second lecture began.
Magic Circles. Rituals. Sacrifice.
Equivalent Exchange. Elements.
Hermione was incredibly glad that she had parchment and quill out at the beginning of the lecture. It was not so much that Professor Tohsaka's lecture moved quickly, but more that she clearly approached magic in an utterly different manner than Hogwarts did. Despite this, apparently the differing styles of magic somewhat overlapped since the teacher mentioned some of the concepts found in the Arithmancy syllabus applied to Formalcraft. The Gryffindor witch could barely contain her excitement. Not only was this new knowledge, but Professor Tohsaka clearly understood muggle concepts as well despite being a pure-blood or half-blood.
Hermione glanced down at one of the magic circles, the one that Emiya had made. Resting on the ground was a muggle portable music player which had been playing Eine Kleine Nachtmusik earlier. Muggle electronics did not work at Hogwarts, but somehow these spellcasters managed the feat.
She felt like a first year all over again.
A tap on her arm brought the witch's attention to Harry who sat behind her. Hermione leaned back slightly, her body language telling him that she was listening. At of the corner of her vision, she saw Harry push a piece of parchment over. When she turned to it, he slowly lifted his hand to reveal his script.
Aria - father, servant, enemy, etc.
Sacrifice
Ritual = Formalcraft ?
- o -
She was missing something.
Cho could not quite explain it, but something nagged the back of her mind with regards to the Formalcraft lecture. Specifically, when the off-worlders demonstrated the first two of the three circles, the magical effects - the Mysteries - were interesting but seemingly had no value.
At a superficial level, she saw several parallels between Formalcraft and Potions based on what she understood so far. Both magics involved carefully following a series of preparatory steps to produce a magical effect. Both required a large amount of knowledge and understanding of magical lore. Both utilized mundane and magical materials. And both required the user to apply their magic to the product.
Mr. Emiya had activated a circle that created a small Bounded Field which kept foreign prana from interfering with whatever was within the circumference, be it magical or not. He had in fact demonstrated its effectiveness by turning on a muggle music player within it, filling the Great Hall with classical music.
An electronic device working properly in the castle. A first in Hogwarts history. Groundbreaking, really.
But her years of education in Muggle Studies told her that unless electric sockets existed at Hogwarts, such devices would eventually run out of energy. Batteries could solve the issue temporarily, but Hogsmeade had no shops that sold such muggle goods.
So while novel, did Mr. Emiya's circle have any practical use?
The second magic circle, created by Assistant Professor Matou, was a bit more impressive but just as vague in utility. She had enlisted the help of the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. He floated just above the circle as the teacher began the incantation. The rushing wind and ominous glow of the blood mixture had the audience enraptured.
And when she finished, Nick was no longer Nearly Headless.
Minor pandemonium had ensued, as both the staff and the other ghosts congratulated the newly healed spirit along with exclamations at the amazing piece of magic. At this point, Marietta had turned to Cho with a remark.
"Well, that's useless."
Marietta had a point. While very dramatic, the effects demonstrated were almost pointless. Or Cho was missing something.
She was definitely missing something.
- o -
So far, so good.
Rin patiently waited as various living and spiritual individuals crowded around No-Longer-Nearly-Headless Nick and gushed at his recovery from a wound centuries old. Healing a wound of a spirit that was received prior to death was not trivial, and in fact she would have some difficulty accomplishing this Mystery. However, due to Sakura's Imaginary Numbers the younger sister had a much easier time manipulating spiritual phenomena.
The lecture earlier that morning seemed well received. The current one was a bit more abstract in nature since she could not spontaneously present examples of Formalcraft magic. Most of the staff had already seen something similar to Shirou's circle as the off-worlders had used something more refined to protect their motorcycles. Sakura's demonstration was a good choice since it established how esoteric this field of magic could be.
But Rin's exhibit was chosen not so much to impress but also as a precautionary form of misdirection.
When everyone had settled down and returned to their seats, the magus called out, "Mr. Filch, if you would be so kind as to help me with this demonstration?"
The caretaker blinked in surprise, and he was not alone in this behavior. Hesitantly, he walked over. "You know I'm a squib right? I won't let it pass if you use me as target practice."
"Do not worry. It is beneath me to behave in such an unprofessional fashion. In fact, I dare say you may even enjoy this. Please, stand in the center of the circle and place your dominant hand out and palm down."
After her instructions were followed, Rin stood outside the circle and held her right arm forward, open palm facing the man. Her left hand held her Azoth dagger in a reverse grip, her left wrist underneath her right one. "Have no worries; this will not harm you at all. Please remain calm until I have finished casting."
At the first line of the German aria, the circle began to glow, and a whitish light cast upwards from the blood red etchings. Having seen this before with Sakura's demonstration, the audience was prepared for this.
At the third line of the aria, a copy of the circle slowly rose from the ground, spinning clockwise.
At the fourth line, winds emanated from the circle, causing robes to flap and loose debris to fly.
At the fifth line, the circle rose to the height of Filch's outstretched arm. It then began to shrink.
At the seventh and final line, the circle shrunk down to a hand-held size and etched itself onto the caretaker's right palm.
With the light and wind show over, the older man examined his palm. The red symbols were seamlessly melded into his skin akin to a tattoo.
"If you would step outside the circle, Mr. Filch," Rin gestured. "Now, hold your hand upwards like so. Then carefully repeat after me." When she saw that he was ready, she said, "Eu ignis."
"Eu ignis," Filch repeated. A burst of fire erupted from his palm before it settled into a ball of flame about the size of a cantaloupe. The caretaker had flinched at its appearance, but he soon realized that the fire hovered two inches over his hand. Its heat did not hurt him at all.
Based on the gasps of surprise and various murmurings around the Great Hall, Rin had correctly postulated that she had done something somewhat unprecedented in this dimension. Ignoring the audience for the moment, she instead focused on finishing her demonstration. "Shape it, Mr. Filch."
The man's eyes turned to her, clearly startled, having forgotten everything and everyone around him until he had been addressed. "What do you mean, shape it?"
The magus held her hand forward, palm up. "Aktivieren Flamme." A similarly sized flame burst into existence, though blue in color. She then closed her hand into a fist, somehow causing the flame to elongate into the shape of a two-foot long stick. "You have limited control over the shape of the fire."
Eyes widening in surprise, Filch turned back to his hand. He held his hand outwards and visibly concentrated. A second later, the ball expanded into a large vertical circle of fire, obviously inspired by the fire shield spell Rin had cast earlier that morning. It was clearly a different magical effect, though.
"Professor Tohsaka! Did you just give a squib magic?" Umbridge demanded, effectively silencing everyone else.
Rin smiled calmly as the fire in her own hand turned blue for reasons unknown to the audience. "Of course not. I actualized the Mystery, not Mr. Filch." The undersecretary had a puzzled expression on her face, so Rin continued. "Hm, allow me to use your world's vocabulary. Can a squib brew a potion, Professor Umbridge?"
"Of course not. At certain steps, you need to wave your wand over the potion while it is brewing."
"Can a squib consume a potion and experience the same effects as a wizard?"
Umbridge opened her mouth but then hesitated for a moment. It was Filch that answered. "Yes. I've taken Pepperup Potions and Calming Draughts before. Sometimes they're the only things that can keep me going at this school."
Rin gestured vaguely at the caretaker with her empty hand. "What I did was analogous. I cast the spell and allowed Mr. Filch to experience the effects. He is not channeling prana to enable a Mystery. So, no, I did not give him magic."
Flitwick raised his arm and asked a question when called upon. "What spell did you cast, Professor Tohsaka?"
"I cast a spell that enacted the Concept of 'mankind has tamed fire' and applied it onto Mr. Filch."
The Charms professor considered the answer. "That explanation sounds very profound."
"Conceptual magic can be very profound, yes. That will be in the more advanced sections of the class." The blue fire in Rin's hand split into three separate flames. They began spinning around each other as she turned back to the caretaker. "The effect is temporary, until either a few hours have passed or you have exhausted the prana transferred to you. Feel free to experiment with it at your leisure. However, I suggest you do so in an open environment away from flammable objects. Also, I claim no responsibility if you burn down the school."
As she said that, the three flames launched from her hand and landed on each of the three circles, burning away the material.
- o -
Harry watched the antics of the Weasley twins; they were whispering back and forth urgently. Clearly the idea of their nemesis attaining the ability to summon fire did not bode well for future troublemaking activities. However, his own thoughts drifted elsewhere.
"Now then," Professor Tohsaka continued. "We have finished the lecture portion of this demonstration. There is time to field a few quick questions."
McGonagall immediately raised her hand. "What is that spell doing?" she asked, gesturing to the three blue fires. Each was the size of a campfire.
"Oh, that is a spell that consumes thaumaturgical trappings. I am merely cleaning up after ourselves."
"Why didn't you simply Vanish it?"
The new teacher replied, "We have only witnessed the Vanishing Spell once."
McGonagall took a moment before responding. "I can go into detail during class."
"I look forward to it," Tohsaka answered sincerely.
The other teachers made several inquiries of their own, some of which the new professor deferred to answer later in her classes. Soon enough, the students joined in. Harry debated whether or not he should ask his question.
"Will we be allowed to use our wands?" some student asked.
"Yes. Much like Runic Magic, we recommend that everyone use Mystic Codes until you are much more comfortable with the magic."
"Will the class be difficult?" another queried.
"Formalcraft is a difficult form of magic because it requires comprehensive knowledge of magical theories and relationships. At the same time, we understand that many students who are taking a full workload are interested in this course. Thus, while there will be homework and exams, the class will be set up to take into account the time constraints of students."
Despite not being a true intellectual like Hermione, the offered classes very much interested Harry. If pressed, he would admit that much of this interest stemmed from the fact these newcomers were from another dimension as opposed to the actual contents themselves. However, he would need to wait a year before taking Runic Magic and Formalcraft due to the prerequisites. This brought up the sticking point; it would necessitate him taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy this year, and those two courses were quite difficult.
"One more question, then."
Well, Gryffindors charge forward...
- o -
One hand raised from the Lion's table.
Sakura recognized him from the night previous. When she called upon him, the student asked his question clearly. "Harry Potter, fifth year. If you can use Formalcraft to heal a spirit, then can you also use Formalcraft to resurrect one?"
Silence.
"Hem, hem." Umbridge's high-pitched voice echoed in the silent Great Hall. She then smiled brightly, looking at Harry in the most patronizing of manners. She opened her mouth-
"A good question," Dumbledore added suddenly. "I must admit to being curious as well." The undersecretary jerked her gaze toward the old wizard that preempted her. However, after a few seconds, she simply resumed watching the lecture. Her expression shifted into something neutral.
"Picking her battles," Rider telepathized, referring to Umbridge.
"I agree, she is willing to probe us, but not Dumbledore," Sakura replied in kind. During this minor interruption, Sakura had exchanged a silent but significant look with Rin. Unnoticed by all the natives of this dimension, the latter nodded slightly. Dismissing thoughts on the pink witch, the younger sister began to slowly pace in their lecture area while her head faced the audience.
"Formalcraft is a means to an end. I believe there exists spells and potions in this world that have essentially identical effects?" At the various nods, she continued, "The same can be said for Formalcraft versus other forms of magic. Thus whether or not a specific Mystery can be accomplished by a certain branch of magic is unimportant; the more significant question is whether or not said Mystery can be accomplished at all."
Sakura raised one hand.
First finger. "True resurrection."
Second finger. "With no negative consequences."
Third finger. "Of an arbitrary individual."
"A Mystery that satisfies all three criteria has been lost to the annals of time such that there is the possibility it never existed in the first place in our dimension."
Before anyone had a chance to really assimilate the words, Rin also began walking in a similarly slow fashion across from Sakura. She too raised a hand as she lectured.
First finger. "Restoration."
Second finger. "With no negative consequences."
Third finger. "Of a Materialized Soul."
"A Mystery that satisfies all three criteria has been witnessed within human recorded history and has only been lost for about a thousand years in our dimension. This lost Magic is referred to as Heaven's Feel."
Sakura took over, as she and her sister walked past each other. "While fragments of Heaven's feel are still practiced by one particular family of magi, no one has achieved true Materialization of the Soul in a millennium."
Without pause, Rin continued. Everyone's gaze kept bouncing between the two. "Normally, the soul is anchored to the body by the brain. When the brain dies, a human soul will leave this plane and return to Akasha."
Sakura. "Materialization of the Soul is a form of transcendence where the soul requires neither the brain nor body to stay within this plane of existence. Thus, an individual who has enacted this Mystery will not die even if both physical parts are destroyed."
Rin. "Such an individual can have a new body prepared or restored. Furthermore, if the soul is reattached properly, it will shape the new body according to the memories of the soul. All of this can be accomplished with no negative consequences."
"Negative consequences," Sakura stated clearly, pausing slightly to emphasize her next words. "Negative consequences usually involve the desecration, mutilation, corruption, or decay of the soul. Any magic with such results would not be considered Heaven's Feel. Instead, they are just imitations and often dark magic at that."
Rin added a clarification. "Technically, Heaven's Feel is not true resurrection as the soul never returned to Akasha. Thus, we use the term 'restoration' as it is a more accurate description of the process."
"As stated earlier, Heaven's Feel is a lost Magic, and so we do not know the details in enacting this Mystery," Sakura said.
Then, both sisters halted in place.
- o -
Omake: Room of Taiga Dojo!
Taiga: Today's Tiger Dojo begins now! I'm your instructor, Fujimura-sensei!
Ilya: I'm the assistant, Legal Jailbait No. 1, Ilya von Einzbern!
Taiga: But since this is a crossover, we shall introduce our counterparts for the Room of Taiga Dojo!
Ilya: Wait, Room of Taiga Dojo? Isn't that somewhat redundant?
Taiga: No, no. This Dojo was generated by the Room of Requirement of Hogwarts, so it draws from both sources.
Ilya: Ohhh, that's very clever. And who are the other hosts?
Taiga: First we have everyone's other favorite pale, blonde, and waifish girl - Luna Lovegood!
Luna: *waves and smiles* Hello, everyone!
Taiga: And the most popular immature female adult of the series - Nymphadora Tonks!
Nymphadora: Don't call me that! Just call me Tonks.
Taiga: But it's such a beautiful name, Nympha-
Nymphadora: *gets in Taiga's face* Not one peep… Taiga…
Taiga: Don't call me that! As your elder, it is my right to address you as appropriate.
Nymphadora: I suppose I cannot argue against a middle-aged woman…
Taiga: I am not middle-aged!
Nymphadora: Yes, you are! This story takes place ten years after Fate/Stay Night, so you are totally in your thirties!
*silence*
*Taiga draws Tora-shinai*
*Nymphadora draws her wand*
Ilya: Wait, wait! Luna, help me calm them down!
Luna: So, Ilya, I heard you have an invisible pet?
Ilya: Not the time!
- o -
Disclaimer: Fate/stay night and other elements of the Nasuverse are owned by TYPE-MOON. Harry Potter and related elements are owned by J. K. Rowling.
Special thanx to Dignity and WhatWindDoes for idea bouncing, and ThirdFang and Datenshi Aoi for beta read.
