CH4: Ignition

A Week Later

For half an hour Dumbledore tested Harry's ability to compress his magic. Finally Dumbledore nodded his head and motioned him to sit down. "You have been progressing fairly quickly Harry. It takes most wizards weeks to compress their magic as consistently as you are. Now we will move away from novice spells and start exploring pyromancy. You see a large part of pyromancy is modifying the fire to burn off of a magical source. Doing so normally makes it much more...". Dumbledore paused trying to find the right word, "Explosive, but don't think fire is only for destructive things. Fire can cleanse impurities from objects and if the user is experienced enough even be used to heal. One of the greatest examples of this is a phoenix tears." Fawkes appeared into the nest he had made in Dumbledore's beard as if sensing him mention his species.

Petting the bird fondly Dumbledore said, "He always was a little vain."

"Sir I've been wondering about familiars."

Dumbledore sat down at his desk, "Harry for every branch of magic there are avatars connected to it. When you meet an animal with the same connection as you there is a chance you could form a bond with them, but you have to have just the same amount of connection to the branch as the animal or more. Most people find there first familiar by their fifth year or so because that is when they have a good grasp on their gift."

"But."

Dumbledore cut him off, "Harry it will be years before you feel an animal call out to you. If you really wish to learn more the library will provide you with more than enough resources." His eyes twinkled, "Now I've heard you had some trouble in transfiguration".

Harry grimaced, "Yeah I don't know it's like no matter how much power I put into the spells they just get worse, and when I finally get the sweet spot for the spells I can't hold it for long. I asked around and the only other people in my year that had the same problem was Neville. Me and him have been studying in a classroom before dinner but it's still really hard. "

Dumbledore eye's lost their twinkle, "I remember when I was your age, me and one of my old friends did the same." For a second Dumbledore looked his age not like the titan that Harry always thought him to be."But that was a very long time ago." Dumbledore seemed lost in his memory's staring off into space.

"Sir?"

In an instant he transformed back into his normal persona, "My apologies Harry. Well I guess you could say you and Neville's are like bulls in a china shop. Transfiguration requires a large amount of control and it is very hard to do so with your talents. I would tell you and Neville to still work together outside of class. I have a book that helped me a lot when I was younger."

Rummaging into in his desk for a minute Dumbledore handed a large purple book to Harry. Brushing the dust off of it he was able to read the title, 'Threading the Needle by Frederick Echo'. "Thank you sir I'll make sure to take care of it."

Waving him off Dumbledore said, "Don't worry about it Harry that is just a copy of my real one. Now would you mind showing me your schedule?"

"Of course not sir"

Harry J. Potter

Hogwarts Year one Schedule

There are three distinct levels of education in Hogwarts. one is a remedial level of a course, while two is an average progression in a subject. Three is for students that can advance in a subject quickly.

History of Magic:2

Potions:2

Transfiguration:1

Defense Against the Dark Arts:3

Herbology:2

Astronomy:2

Charms:3

If you wish to contest your placement in any course please contact the teacher that host's that particular class and your head of house.

~Professor Filius Flitwick

Dumbledore nodded approvingly, "You should work to elevate your Transfiguration level but everything else okay. Now it's getting late Harry, is there anything else you would like to ask me?"

"No sir"

All of the first year's that had signed up for the dueling tournament sat in the great hall with Flitwick and Moody. Flitwick made a loud bang with his wand to draw attention, "I would like to demonstrate a basic charm. It's incantation is 'somus' and if it hit will push the object back. It can be blocked with the shield charm that you have learnt in your defense classes."

Pointing his wand at Moody Flitwick loudly pronounced, "somus". A ball of yellow mist flew from his wand towards Moody to be stopped from Moody's moss colored shield. Moody turned towards the crowd, "Now form groups of two and practice the charm against each other."

Harry looked to his left towards Neville, "Wanna?"

"Sure, but lets see how it feels first so we know what we need to defend against".

"Why not"

At his confirmation Neville drew his wand and walked a few meters away then turned around. Pointing his wand at Harry he said, "Somus."

Getting hit with the charm made him feel like somebody had just pushed him backwards, quickly adjusting his feet so he wouldn't fall over Harry righted himself. "You ready Neville?"

"Yeah"

Making sure to not put to much power into it Harry sent the spell towards Neville, "Somus". From Neville and Harry's experiments they discovered that charms didn't have the window that transfiguration did. So whenever the charm was to be used on a person they were careful at first to test if it was harmful. After trading hits back and forth a few times they started using shields to block. Compared to Moody's attack it was easy and required a lot less power.

BANG!

Turning around Harry saw Flitwick with his wand in the air, "Please form a line of all that students that wish to try a practice duel." While all the students were rushing to form a somewhat straight line Moody was chanting a few words that Harry couldn't hear and suddenly a stone dueling ring appeared. turning towards the crowd he said, " Now Once you are pushed beyond the yellow line you lose. Use any spell you know so far in your duel. This is just a practice duel, next week we will start having battles that will actually affect your standings within your year."

In all the matches all that happened was two people would use somus against the line. The only inconsistency was when the beaver faced girl from his defence class just shield until her opponent was to tired to continue. When there was only a few groups of students left Moody's stone eye locked onto Harry, "Harry potter and Neville Longbottom". Walking up the steps Harry and Neville grinned at each other with their wands in hand. Flitwick rose his wand and a bang echoed signaling the start of the match.

At the same time Harry and Neville shouted, "Somus!" The signature yellow mist of the charms crashed into each other in between the two. Harry tried bullying his way through but no matter how much power he pumped through Neville matched it.

Grinning at his friend Harry decided on a new strategy. He jumped to the right and shouted, " Incendio". A stream of yellow flame jumped out from Harry's wand towards Neville. Before the flames were within arms reach of Neville he shouted, "lapidem pergra". A pillar of stone rose from the ground to intercept the flames. Twisting his wand counter-clockwise Neville shouted, "Jacktus". Pieces of the pillar shot towards through his flames.

Not wanting to be hit with hot rocks Harry put up a shield to block. Finally Neville ran out of material and they both looked at each other waiting for the other to make the first move.

In the background he heard the Hufflepuffs cheering and the Ravenclaws doing the same for Neville.

Harry concentrated and started doing the exercise he had been doing with Dumbledore the last two weeks, "Somus". A more condensed yellow mist sped out of Harry's wand racing towards Neville. Not able to get his shield up in time he was pushed back a few feet. Looking at Harry surprised he shouted, "Jacktus".

A geyser of dim green sludge shot from Nevilles wand towards Harry. Shooting a somus at the ooze barely pushed it back and forced Harry to dodge to the left. When Neville adjusted his aim Harry tried using a somus again but pumped more power into it. Even with the improved power it barely moved the sludge from his direction and it started glowing a bright green.

Getting sick of just blocking Neville's attacks he shouted, "Incendio". A thick stream of orange fire met the green spray in mid-air. Harry's wand started buckling and he had to grip it with both hands to keep it from flying away. Wanting to end the duel Harry started running through his exercises, the flame grew to a bright blue and started pushing Neville back who was also holding his wand with both hands.

But then Neville did something unexpected.

With an expression of concentration on his face Nevilles spell slowly started spearing through the flames and got closer to Harry. Pushing even more power to try to push the green back Harry started feeling the signs of him running out of power. The flames burned to a bright white but in exchange Nevilles spell became brighter.

Slowly both of them started getting pushed back from the clashing of their spells until Harry heard the bang signalling one of them had lost. Neville and Harry cut there spells breathing heavily from how much magic they had just used.

Moody walked into the circle looking like a kid in a candy shop, "Thats what I'm talking about haha. It was really close but you crossed the line first Potter."

Neville grinned at Harry, "told you earth was better than sparks".