Welcome back to Off Your Rocker. Since I forgot last time, I hope everyone had a very happy winter holiday, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, or any other. We see some more of Harry and Voldemort's connection in this chapter, as well as learn some more about wandcrafting. Just a warning, the content gets slightly more sexual from here on out, so I'm legally obligated to ask all minors to leave. I can't tell if you don't but I hope that you do.
Ble Fotia's Writing Playlist #7 - The Ballad of Blind Tom by Elton John
Several things ran through Harry's mind when he exited his hotel in the morning. First, He had no clue where the Reichstag was. Second, He didn't know how to get into the Soulmother's cell. Finally, He had no way to contact Anika."Well fuck." A POP resounded behind him, and he whirled to face the source. Anika was standing behind him, tapping her foot impatiently. She raised her eyebrow expectantly. "Good morning, Anika. How are you?" She turned her nose up at him. "I was doing great until I had to go collect an incompetent wizard who illegally took an experimental transportation device created by a dead wizard, and coincidentally forgot any legal papers."
"No need to be so rude."
"That's half the fun, British."
"I won't dignify that with a response."
"Well, we must be hurrying, Come."
"I'd love to."
"In your pants, British." She lead him down the streets until they came to the Reichstag. They went through the same procedure to get in as yesterday, minus the interrogation at wand point. They came to the control center, where Harry greeted all of the girls while Anika opened the doors. He was roughly shoved through, coming face to face with the Soulmother. "Morning Potter. Have you memorised the table yet? Of course you haven't," Answering her question before he could respond. "Now we'll move on to testing if individual cores fit to individual woods. I assume you understand how to channel your magic?" His affirmative nod was all the response he had time for. She banished him into the room with cores and woods. "The most important thing to remember when making wands is that the individual parts need to have a connection. I'm not saying that each core will only ever fit with one specific piece of wood, the exact opposite really. I'm saying each core will have multiple woods it can go with and it's up to you to decide on which ones you pair. Test these two items." She shoved some wood and a feather at him. "First, identify the objects." Harry focused on the feather, noting it's distinct electric yellow color and odd shape. "Thunderbird feather," He announced, turning to Eva for confirmation. He examined the wood after receiving a short nod. It was a light purple color, getting more white towards the outside. "Purpleheart tree?"
"Indeed," Eva reaffirmed. "Now, test their affinity to each other. Hold them close to each other and pulse your magic through them." Harry grasped the feather and the stick, bringing them together. He flared his magic and light green sparks danced between them. "Now tell me what that means." Eva demanded. Harry racked his brains, searching for the meaning of green sparks. "Green sparks represent an unusually strong bond between the core and wood?" Harry tried. Eva snorted at him. "No, it represents a mediocre connection at best. Unsurprising, as thunderbird feathers prefer adventurous and bold people, while purpleheart wood leans towards people who are more reserved in nature, Now try the final step of the process. Fuse the parts. Will them to become one. Feel them connect in a magical way as well as a physical one. GO!" Harry almost dropped the wood at her exclamation. He repositioned the ingredients so that the they were almost touching. His pushed his magic through his hands and into the ingredients, trying to get his magic to connect to itself through them. Sparks flew and the touching tips began to fuse. The feather seemed to pull itself into the wood, almost like a straw sucking up liquid. A handle molded itself out of the wood around Harry's hand, and lightning bolts etched themselves along the rest of the wand. "Well done," Eva commented as Harry took gasping breaths. "Cast a spell with it." Harry pointed the new wand at a tissue box on a nearby shelf. "Avifors." The box was replaced by a toucan sitting on the shelf. "Finite." The box was back. "Interesting. I assume you had no particular bird in mind? The wood seems to have guided your transfiguration. This wand is not for you," Eva rambled. She stopped herself, and summoned him to a shelf. "Pulse your magic. Notice what absorbs it and what reflects it." Harry pulsed his magic again, feeling his magic being drawn towards a core. He reached out to it. "There," He pointed to it. "Curious, very curious. Not many get reactions from a Kelpie Heartstring. I've only made two wands with that core. Now for the wood." Eva quickly ushered him to the multitude of sticks boxed up on the opposite side of the room. Harry pulsed his magic yet again, feeling for it to be drawn to source. A powerful blast of magic surged back at him when he tried a burnt looking stick. "Stop. You felt your magic pulse back at you, didn't you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because I felt a burst of magic expel from the last sticks. Take one out and set it aside. Continue." Harry tested all of the other woods, only getting a reaction from one other. Eva took the woods to the large center workplace. She summoned the Kelpie heartstrings from their spot on the core shelfs, placing it near the wood. "I think you should test the woods with the core and see which one resounds with it the most." So Harry did, and saw the first stick and the heartstring trying to fuse to each other almost naturally. "These two. They are the most compatible."
"I could tell that by the blue sparks, you imbecilic english dog. Let me do this." Eva took hold of the two pieces, bringing them together. When she pulsed her magic and Harry felt that same overwhelming presence as the day before, before the ingredients flew together and fused. The smokey wood extended slightly, becoming thinner. What seemed like a cross guard formed near the spot where Eva's hand ended and a wave seemed to flow over the wand, bringing out the grain of the wood. "Here you are, Potter. A Kelpie heartstring and lightning-struck ash wood wand. All yours." He grasped it, feeling power rush through it, congregating at the wand's tip. He waved it and a woman's voice singing flowed out. "Celtic." Eva observed. "I think this wand will serve you well, my apprentice. Now, let's practice some more wands. Practice makes perfect, after all."
Eva gifted him with a satchel before he left that day. "Here," She had said, roughly shoving it into his hands. "It has copies of all my wandcrafting journals, as well as copies of some others. While I doubt you will ever use the one on necromancy, it has some great undead banishing charms in it. And if you so happen to raise a few Inferni or skeletons, well that's not my problem now is it? Read the wandcrafting journals in reverse order. Don't ask why," She said, stalling his half formed question. "Take this too." She shoved another bag in his hand with a letter attached. "Only open this if something should happen to me before your apprenticeship. If we should both survive this apprenticeship mostly intact, then I will urge you to destroy the letter without reading it."
"Why give it to me now?" Harry asked, tucking the letter away.
"When you live as long as I have, through as much magical conflict as I have, you will learn to feel conflict brewing on the horizon. It was faint, up until yesterday. You walked through that door and my senses were overloaded by the feeling of war. It was the same feeling that I felt when Grindelwald last visited myself and Adolf, down in that wretched bunker. It's the feeling that resounded through me the night before the allied troops stormed Berlin. War follows you, Harry Potter. I fear it will soon catch up. Good Night." With that, she wordlessly banished him through the open door. He was caught by a pair of arms. He looked up and his vision was blocked by a pair of breasts, "Why, Hello again Anika. Your chest is looking great today." She dropped him on the floor. "Was that a thump, British? I knew it! Your head is hollow!"
"That hurt Anika."
"That was the point, British."
"I would appreciate directi-" 'KABOOOM' "-ons. I don't suppose there is any planned muggle construction around here?"
"No. Vera! Check the wards!"
"Never get a vacation, do I?"
"Shut up British, We're under attack."
"Hello Harry Potter." The words echoed through Harry's head.
"Voldemort," Harry snarled
"Long time. no talk. Unfortunately, I still cannot hear you. I'm just delivering a message. I've found your latest hiding spot, Harry. I've sent some of my men to 'play' with you and your new friends, like the lovely Miss Holtzmann. Oh, and I almost forgot. An old friend of yours is leading the men I've sent. Say 'Hello' to her when you see her, won't you?"
"Damn. Voldemort has sent forces to attack us here." Anika looked worried, but then turned to the witches assembled behind her. "WELL? READY THE DEFENSES!" Her yell jolted them into action. "Potter, buy us time."
"So it takes a life-threatening situation just for you to call me Potter? What wou-"
"GO DUMMKOPF!"
"Yeesh, calm down." Harry thought about it for a second, before he dived into Voldemort's mind. The inside of the Minister's office came into focus. "Back so soon Harry? I thought you'd be defending your new friends. Are you re-"
"Shut up."
"I thought we were friends, Harry" Harry ignored Voldemort's voice and dug through the Dark Lord's memories. "There it is," Harry thought. He pulled back out of the dark wizard's mind. He spared a glance at the witches scurrying around the control room and ran up the stairs.
Harry burst out of the stairs into chaos. It seemed like there were Death Eaters everywhere. Muggles ran in fear and confusion as spells were shot into the room. There were a few wizards wearing service uniforms fighting back, but not many. Harry looked around quickly and saw her. Pansy Parkinson had undergone a serious transformation since Sixth year. She wore black leather that emphasized her… assets. She was cackling with glee, dueling three wizards at once. Her errant spells hit muggles, dropping them instantly. She dropped into the splits to duck a trio of spells from the wizards. Harry's eyes bulged. She cast spells quickly and dropped all three wizards. She stood slowly, turning, and noticed him. "Well, well, well. Lookie here, it's Potter. She strolled over to him, leisurely. She smiled at him, quite seductively, he thought quickly. "Wanna duel Potter? It's been years since we last dueled."
"Fourth year DADA, if I remember correctly."
"I've improved since then Potter. Wanna see?"
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
"Deal Potter," She giggled. He pointed his wand at her. "Extractum Ossum." She summoned on of the dead bodies off the floor to protect her from the Skeleton-ripping curse. "Extractum Ossum!" Again, she summoned a body. This went on for several minutes, until she ran out of bodies to summon and had to roll out of the way. She shot a spell to his right, hitting the floor next him instead of him. She then shot a wide area explosive spell to his left, driving him to the right. She grinned as he started to slip on the ice spell she had cast on the floor. His smirk caught her by surprise as he twirled his wand on the way down, summoning a gust of air to push him onto the second story. He landed on his feet, just in time for him to jump to the side as Pansy's blasting curse turned the area he landed on into rubble. He pointed his wand at the falling rubble and flicked it at Pansy. She sent it back towards him with a blast of air. He rapidly fired spells at the incoming stone, levitating it over the gap between the two sides of the second-level walkway. He jumped onto them and, running towards the other side, he cast spells at Pansy, herding her into the center of the skeletons lying on the floor from the beginning of the battle. "Avis." The birds distracted her for just a few seconds,but long enough. As they began to attack, the birds also made loud noises, preventing Pansy from hearing the incantation. "Unio Corporis Ossa." Harry jabbed the Kelpie-heartstring wand at the multitude of skeletons on the floor. Harry canceled the spell keeping the birds around as he commanded the skeletons to trap Pansy. They swarmed her as she continued to fling spells in every direction. As some may understand, it's rather hard to hit your opponents when they are made of rather thin bones, with the ones that do break repairing almost instantly. She shrieked in horror when one grabbed her wand arm at the wrist. One of its compatriots grabbed her wand and Harry summoned it from the skeleton. Harry rearranged the levitating rubble to form a staircase down to Pansy and the skeletons restricting her. On his way down, he took the time to link as many Death Eaters together as possible. He linked them to one of the skeletons under his control, then transfigured the skeleton into a vase. The Death Eaters followed suit and the sound of breaking pottery echoed through the large room. "Well Pansy Parkinson, How do you like the Skeleton Symphony Charm? If you listen closely, you can hear why is it called the 'Skeleton Symphony'." Now that the sounds of battle settled down, Harry and Pansy could hear the quiet clanking of bones, creating a hauntingly beautiful melody that floated into their ears. Harry brandished his wand and all but the skeletons restricting Pansy deanimated and clattered to the floor. "Now Pansy," Harry started as he walked around her so that he could see her face. "This hurt much, For me." With that, and a quiet whisper of 'Legilimens' Harry dove into the mind of Pansy Parkinson.
It wasn't much later before Harry came out of the Death Eater's mind. "You'll pay for that Potter," Pansy rasped, her voice dry and rough from screaming. 'When Draco fi-"
"Please, Pansy - I can call you Pansy right? Oh wait I don't care. - I just spent the last few minutes digging through your most secret memories and thoughts. You and I both know that Draco cares nothing for you. To him, you are nothing but an annoyance. Draco won't care when he finds out. Of course, He'll only find out when I tell him, as everyone else who came with is dead. Your plan to kill me has failed." Pansy laughed.
"How naive you are Potter. You weren't our target. The Soulmother, on the other hand…." Harry's smiled died and was replaced by a furious snarl. Harry spun around and began for the door. He stopped and turned his head slightly towards his left shoulder. "Good Bye, Pansy Parkinson. Kill her." The last sounds Pansy Parkinson ever made were screams of pain and fear, until one of the skeletons tore her tounge and lungs out. By then. Harry was well out of hearing range.
