Chapter 6: Harry Potter's Knowledge
The next few weeks were torturous for Draco. He'd received the owl from his father the morning after Harry apologized and, from that moment on, rage ruled his emotions. To Veela, there were few sins greater than preventing a Mate Bonding and, if it was this Anima Prohibe that was preventing him from finding his mate, whoever had cast it would pay dearly for it.
After a length explanation to all of his teachers, Draco had been excused from schoolwork for three weeks in order to search for any information on the curse. He spent almost every waking minute in the library, falling asleep at the tables on top of an open book until Filch woke him up in the middle of the night to escort him back to his private rooms. With each passing day, the pain in Draco's heart grew stronger and his enthusiasm started to wane, but he continued forward, desperate to find an answer.
It was on the last day of the second week of searching that Draco had a breakthrough. He'd received a pass to look around the Restricted Section and was perusing another shelf of dusty old books when he spotted a very unusual tome. It was an unusual yellow color and, upon closer inspection, he found that the cover was made of some sort of plant material. Frowning, he pulled the book from the shelf and weighed it in his hands. It was light despite being probably five hundred to six hundred pages. Oldrich's Guide to Horrible Hexes, Cruel Curses, and Causes of Malignant Maladies of the Soul and Mind was written on the front.
'Quite a mouthful,' Draco sneered inwardly.
Carrying it to the small table he'd procured just outside the entrance to the Restricted Section, he carefully set the book down and took a seat. He opened it slowly, being cautious of the delicate state of the cover and paper. The heavy preservation spells that had been cast on it by the librarians sparkled faintly as Draco flipped to the table of contents. His finger skimmed down the page as he read.
Chapter 32: Suppression Spells
If not for the cold mask that every Malfoy wore, Draco's blond eyebrows would have shot upwards. He quickly turned to the right page and started to read.
We have already established that spells of the malicious kind that are plentiful and commonly used whether by those of good or bad intentions. However, in the cases of suppression spells, they are used for very specific purposes. This is due to the vast differences between animals, beasts, and even humans. For example, the Fero Curse (see Figure 102) is applicable to only winged creatures such as harpies or owls because the curse affects only hollow bones. If used on a human, it will have no effect. Another example is the Gregor Jinx, which causes infertility in Pureblood witches and wizards, but increases the fertility of Muggleborns and Half-bloods.
Frowning, Draco skimmed through the chapter, searching for anything that highlighted the curse his father had mentioned. He finally found it in the last section.
The Anima Prohibe curse is very dangerous and just as powerful. It is categorized as a Complete Suppression Spell, allowing the victim no room to fight back unless an outside force, such as another magical creature, weakens it. Because of its power, the Anima Prohibe curse is not a simple incantation. It involves a supremely complex process of layering certain aspects of the curse one on top of the other like a giant cake. Every layer works in sync with the others to suppress the victim's magical powers.
There is only one species affected by this curse: elves. All three of the larger races, Light, Dark, and Strider, are susceptible to it, although the only recorded cases have been victims who were cursed as young children. It is believed that adult elves may be too knowledgeable or too powerful to call to the curses effects, but children don't have the magical control yet to fight it. In all of these cases that I've found, the curse was broken in segments, peeling back the layers of suppression magic one at a time. See page 535 for detailed descriptions.
'My mate is an elf, then?' Draco thought.
The young Malfoy knew very little about the magical creatures. Following the fiasco with Buckbeak in his second year, Draco had steered clear of the class that would have told him all that he now needed to know. Like anyone, he knew that elves were some of the most beautiful creatures in existence, rivaling the Veela, but beyond that he knew very little. He'd never even heard of Striker elves before, whatever they were.
Standing up, he walked over to the librarian's desk and asked, "Where are the books on elves?"
"You want to know about elves now?" the librarian wondered aloud. "This must be quite a project you're working on, Mr. Malfoy."
"You have no idea," Draco sighed.
"They're over along the back wall," the librarian said, pointing him in the right direction.
Draco easily made his way through the crowded room, his stride graceful and full of Malfoy pride. A few of the younger students stared after him as he walked past, eyes wide. He chuckled a little under his breath, but continued on towards his destination.
Finding the correct shelf, Draco started to pull every book that seemed to fit his purpose, creating a stack at his feet. Making his way back to his table, he set them down and started to read. Most of the book detailed the beauty and raw power of the Light and Dark elven races, featuring detailed stories about their wandless, wordless magic. He was rather impressed, finding their magical skills to be thrilling.
However, he did find something strange within a few of the books he'd picked. Every now and then, usually in the midst of a great battle tale, another race of elves was mentioned: the Strider elves. Draco searched through the rest of his pile, but found nothing about them other than the names of a few of their kind.
He strode back to the shelf of elf books in annoyance, the tomes he'd already finished floating behind them. As they rearranged themselves into their correct order on the shelf, Draco started to sort through the remaining one, setting them down in a pile next to his feet.
When he was done, he knelt down to examine the spines. Some has strange named such as Healer Michael's Collection of Historical Elven Battles, while others were very straightforward. Unsatisfied, he stood up again to find a smaller, black-haired student standing next to him.
"I didn't know you were interested in elves, Potter," Draco smirked.
Harry blushed a little and shook his head. "I was looking for a book on Thestrals, Malfoy. If you look close enough you'll see that the shelf above the one you just cleared out is dedicated to them."
"Someone is snippy today," Draco said, his voice cool and observant.
"Not every day is great for everyone," Harry replied as he grabbed the book he was looking for.
Glancing down at the pile on Draco's other side, Harry raised his eyebrow and gave the blond a curious look.
"I'd say that you're the one interested in elves," he said. "Do you really need all of those?"
"Maybe, maybe not. I won't know until I start going through them," Draco snorted.
"Would you like help? That looks like a lot of reading," Harry murmured.
Draco frowned and looked down at the dark-haired Gryffindor. They had barely spoken outside of class since Harry had apologized.
"I never thought that you were one for books, Potter," Draco said.
"Then you don't know me very well. My grades are higher than yours," Harry laughed.
"He's second only to me," Hermione whispered as she came up behind Harry, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Really, Hermione? Who scored better on that practicum in Transfiguration last week?" Harry teased.
The curly-haired girl rolled her eyes and tugged on Harry's neck, choking him momentarily.
"Play nice, Harry, or I'll just have to sick Crookshanks on you," she giggled.
Harry shuddered a little and motioned to Draco.
"I was just offering Malfoy some help with his research. Do you want to join us?"
Glancing up at Draco, Hermione smiled a little, her eyes glowing brightly with the opportunity to read and learn.
"If the snake is willing to accept," she said.
Draco shrugged, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to get out of it.
"Are you looking for anything in particular?" Hermione asked as she bent down and picked up at least five of the heavy tomes.
"Pretty much anything," Draco replied, leading the two Gryffindors back to his table. "I need to know as much about elves as I can."
"Why?" Harry asked.
He took a seat next to Draco, setting his own pile on top of the table.
"Personal reasons, if you must know," the blond said. He turned his gaze to Hermione. "I'm surprised that you'd offer to help me, Granger. I've always been so unpleasant towards you."
Hermione shot him a small smile.
"You and Harry called a truce and it was you who asked for it, right? I might as well make an effort to keep it going, even if you were a pretentious brat for years," she answered.
"And I apologize for that. I didn't realize how deplorable the language and attitude I had towards you all was," Draco sighed.
"What made you change, then?" Harry asked.
"I grew up, I guess. My mother is the one in the family that really hates Muggleborns and, unfortunately, until this past year, she's had a little bit too much influence on me," Draco explained.
"I find that hard to believe," Hermione mused.
"I can understand why. Everyone thinks that it is my father who is the evil one of the couple, but he really is a kind, gentle man. There were some bad circumstances that had surrounded him for the past few decades or so that have forced him to act like that," Draco calmly declared.
"But he's out of those circumstances now?" Harry asked.
Draco nodded and the two Gryffindors exchanged wary looks. Hermione cocked her head to one side in a silent question, to which Harry replied with a slight nod.
"We believe you," Harry said, smiling.
"And with this research, if you can't find an answer to any of your questions, you can just ask Harry or I. Harry know practically everything about elves," Hermione laughed, ignoring the glare that her friend shot her from across the table.
"I don't know everything Hermione. If you asked me a question about Light or Dark elves, I would have absolutely no idea. Strider elves, that's another story."
"There are enough books about Light and Dark elves," Draco sighed, "But I haven't found a lot on the Strider race. I'd never even heard of them until I'd started researching and, even then, they've only been mentioned in passing."
Harry crossed his legs on the chair. He felt more comfortable divulging what he knew in a somewhat more relaxed position.
"As you probably know, there are four categories of elves: Light, Dark, Strider, and House. We, of course, all know what House elves are. They are called the 'lower elves' mostly because of their submissive natures, small stature, and the fact that they've never mated with humans," Harry explained.
"The other three are 'upper elves'. They're much stronger both physically and magically. However, because they've mated with humans for so long that there are few purebreds left. In fact, the only Strider elves left are all humans that have gained the powers through an inheritance. All of the purebreds died out a long time ago. This makes Striders the rarest since the blood has been so diluted that it can become dominant in only a few set conditions," he continued.
"Why are they called Strider elves?" Draco asked.
"It is because their powers are so immense that they have to claim another magical creature as a partner. This partner is called Illyiria and serves as an outlet for their excess magic. Their Illyiria usually serves as a way of transportation and a battle companion."
"So then their Illyiria is their mate?" Draco said, a slight hint of sadness entering his voice.
"Oh no!" Harry laughed. "An Illyiria is like a best friend, a confidant. When a Strider elf enters adulthood, which is around age 15, they pick a magical beast to be their friend for life. This is the same for anyone who has a Strider elf inheritance and they still have a soul mate, just like Veela do."
"What else do you know?" Hermione asked.
"That's all I could find," Harry said. "The library doesn't have a lot of books about them so I had to order some special ones from Flourish and Blots. Maybe the school has some in the restricted section, but I've never tried to get a pass to look."
"How do you even know this stuff?" Draco wondered.
"Hagrid asked me to do a research project on them last year when we were learning about Kelpie or water horses. He said that a lot of the purebred Strider elves used them as their Illyiria because they could be used in both the sea and on land."
Sitting back in his chair, Draco examined the black-haired Gryffindor carefully. He'd noticed over the past year that Potter's grades and intelligence had somehow grown exponentially. The tiny teenager was no longer the brain-less idiot Draco had once thought he was. He had even known things that Granger, the biggest know-it-all in the entire school, didn't. Potter had even unknowingly helped him find out more about his mate, something that Draco had never thought possible. Draco's fingers unconsciously started to drum on the tabletop, a sign of his growing interest.
'Very interesting,' he thought as his gaze flicked back and forth between the two Gryffindors that were quietly chattering on the other side of the table. 'I must write to Father about this.'
A/N: We're getting closer!
