The Harmony bond, chapter twelve.
Disclaimer:-
To anyone who has been on another planet since 1997, this is to let you know that Harry Potter belongs to J. , her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.
In the previous chapter...
They have a bad night as Hermione dreams more of Harry's memories. Professor Flitwick has been called in to help Harry and Hermione. He is taking them to get their wands.
Quick author's note
Sorry for the delay, I injured my back slightly and sitting at a computer to write for long was very painful for a while. And pain isn't exactly a recipe to get the creative juices going.
Hermione went first, quickly followed by a very nervous Harry. The professor followed Harry so quickly that they fell in a heap on the floor in the Leaky Cauldron, which attracted some of the attention the professor had hoped to avoid.
Leaving there quickly, the professor took them straight to Olivanders. Hermione, of course, had seen Diagon Alley before and couldn't help be slightly amused at Harry's shocked face as the bricks moved aside to let them in.
His initial shock turned to utter amazement when he saw the scene in Diagon Alley. He stopped outside a shop full of animals and couldn't take his eyes off of a tiny white owl.
"We use owls in the wizarding world to send messages to our friends," explained Professor Flitwick.
"Like the post office," said Hermione.
"Owls can be very loyal friends, but don't annoy them or they'll give you a nasty bite."
Seeing the longing in Harry's eyes, the first time she'd actually seen him seem to want anything very much, usually he just accepted what he was given, made Hermione say, "I'll buy it for you."
"There's no point," replied Harry, sadly. "I don't have any friends to send messages to."
That made up Hermione's mind for her at once. "Thanks," she replied sharply. "You've got me."
"I didn't mean... But I live with you, so I don't need an owl, unless..." He left the thought unsaid.
"Listen here, Harry," Hermione said, leaving no room for argument, "we are not sending you away again. They can't ever split us up again, do you hear? I'm buying you the owl. Soon you'll have lots of friends." She didn't know how they could make wizarding friends without them knowing who Harry was, but it didn't matter right at that moment.
Professor Flitwick smiled at the irony of Hermione's determination to find Harry friends, when, from what he had gathered so far, she didn't really have any friends of her own. Having an owl or other pet was the norm in the wizarding world, so he didn't think to remind Hermione that she should really ask her parents for permission to buy a pet before she did so. In any case, she had already disappeared into the shop.
She was out of the shop almost as quickly, carrying a birdcage which seemed very large compared to the tiny white owl it contained. "Well, it'll grow, so this'll save buying a new cage later," she explained.
From there it was a short walk to Olivander's, where they would buy their wands. The old man looked at Harry strangely, and even more so when Professor Flitwick closed the door and locked it, ensuring that they wouldn't be disturbed.
"Aren't they a little young?" he asked the professor, ignoring the two children completely.
"Professor Dumbledore has asked me to give them some magical training," he replied. "I trust we can rely on your absolute discretion in the matter?"
Olivander looked insulted. "I have never divulged anything I have learned from a wand-choosing."
"I'm sorry. Of course not."
"We get to choose our own wand?" asked Hermione excitedly.
Olivander looked horrified at the thought. "Certainly not. Perish the thought. Your wand will choose you." He turned to the professor. "It would be quicker if you could remove the glamour."
Professor Flitwick nodded and in a second, Harry's appearance returned to normal.
"Glamour?" asked Hermione.
"That's what we call this disguise spell," explained the professor. "It's quite a simple spell really."
"Oh," replied Hermione, slightly surprised that she hadn't found that spell in the "Basic book of spells for witches and wizards".
Olivander raised an eyebrow slightly, but showed no other sign of surprise.
"I wasn't expecting you, Mr. Potter, for a few years yet." His tape measure seemed to leap out of his hand and began measuring all sorts of different measurements on Harry, and then on Hermione.
For the first time, Olivander showed some surprise. "They are bonded?" he asked the professor, who nodded. "Remarkable. Yes, remarkable." He turned to Harry and said, "Try this one." He handed him a wand. "No. This one then. No..."
This went on for some time and Harry was beginning to think that it had all been a mistake and perhaps he wasn't a wizard after all.
"Hmm. I wonder." He went to the back of the store and came back with a dusty box from which he took two wands. He handed one to Harry and immediately red sparks flew out of the end of it.
"Curious," he said. "Definitely curious."
"What is?" asked Harry.
"Phoenix feathers are quite common for wands, but this particular phoenix has only given three feathers. It gave just one feather many years ago, and suddenly gave two quite recently."
He handed the other wand to Hermione, and sure enough, a small fountain of red sparks came from it.
Olivander seemed satisfied. "That explains that," he said. "But the other curious thing is what happened to the first feather from that phoenix. You see, the first feather went into the wand which gave you that scar."
"Voldemort?" asked Hermione, seeming not to notice the man's wince at hearing the name.
"Yes. Now your wands both have a core from the same phoenix, but other than that, they are totally different. Your magic may have linked you, but that does not make you identical. Each of you is unique, just as each of my wands is unique," he said proudly. "One thing we can say though. I think we can expect great things from you both, just as the owner of the other wand did great things, terrible things, but great."
Sensing the conversation was abruptly at an end, Hermione handed over money for both their wands and they left the shop, but not before Professor Flitwick reapplied Harry's glamour.
Hermione wanted to show Harry around Diagon Alley, but the professor insisted that they return immediately. When they arrived home, he explained to Hermione, "a glamour is not a perfect disguise. A few people can actually see through it, though that is rare. More common is the ability to detect that there IS a glamour, and that would make people curious about why you were with someone wearing a glamour, and who it might be. We don't need stranger rumours about you going around."
Hermione didn't say anything, but nodded.
Harry could sense her frustration. Suddenly she turned to him and said angrily. "Harry, it's NOT your fault."
The professor smiled quietly to himself.
After some shock from Mrs. Granger about the idea of having an owl in the house, the professor assured her that wizards' owls need very little care, just their cages kept clean if they had to be locked in them for any time. They could usually hunt for themselves from quite an early age and could be allowed to come and go.
"But he still needs a name," Hermione pointed out.
Mrs. Granger insisted that they have some lunch before the professor commenced their training. Even the professor seemed quite pleased at the thought of lunch.
While lunch was cooking, Harry was flicking through one of Hermione's history books. "I want to name him after a famous wizard," he said.
Professor Flitwick smiled. "As he is actually a she, it might be better to find a famous witch instead."
Harry decided he liked the name Hedwig.
"Hmm," said Hermione. "As a muggleborn witch she helped poor magical children, and she also helped poor muggle children and gave all her money to the poor. She never received any recognition in magical circles because she was muggleborn, but a Pope made her a saint. There's even an order of nuns named after her which looks after orphans."
"Hello, Hedwig," said Harry to the tiny owl. "Are you going to look after me? Do you like that name?"
Hedwig tilted her head and looked into Harry's eyes. "Hedwig it is then," said professor Flitwick.
After Harry had taken Hedwig to his room, lunch was served. After they had eaten, when he led them out into the garden, Hermione immediately asked, "Won't the neighbours see?"
"No, they won't see anything," the professor began to reply as Hermione had another thought.
"And what about the Ministry. The books say that they detect under-age magic. Won't we get into trouble?"
"The wards protecting this house do more than offer protection. They are charmed to ensure that muggles see nothing out of the ordinary. Many wizarding homes have wards for that. They also prevent the detection of any magic within them. That was mainly to protect your identity, but it also prevents problems with the Ministry."
He handed each of them a wand. "Hold it out." When they did so he waved his own wand over the two wands they were holding and muttered a spell under his breath. It sounded complicated.
"Now, we are ready. I am going to teach you what I fear will be one of the most useful spells you will ever learn. It isn't really my subject, but it's quite basic."
"Professor, what did you do to our wands?" asked Hermione. "Mine feels different."
"Professor McGonagall was right. You will be a delight to teach when you are older. Although the shield spell I am going to teach you is quite basic, it is far beyond the level you will be able to do at your age. Therefore I have charmed your wands to recognise the motion and the incantation 'Protego', and your wands will cast a very simple shield on their own. You won't actually be casting it yourself, but it will seem like you are."
"A shield spell?" asked Harry. "Like with swords?"
"Nothing so grand, I'm afraid. This will protect you against a few simply hexes, but nothing much more than that. Now watch my arm and wrist movement, do the same, and say clearly the word Protego."
Mrs. Granger had come out with them, but after ten minutes of watching them, she realised that she was making Hermione nervous and went back indoors.
It took both of them more than an hour to get it close enough that the wands reacted to their commands. To the professor's surprise, Harry actually got it first, just.
"Hermione," he said. "You are trying to follow me too precisely. The actions and the pronunciation are important, but the intent is more so. Relax a little and let it flow from you, by instinct."
A few rather frustrating minutes later, at least for Hermione, she managed to cast her first shield spell.
The professor didn't seem disappointed by how long they took. "Well done!" he cried happily.
His cry had brought Mrs. Granger out again. "I did it, Mum," cried Hermione, equally happily. "Harry managed it first, though," she added honestly.
The professor had them practice the shield spell for a little longer as Mrs. Granger watched, then he said, "Now, you need something to shield against. I am going to use a spell against you, and you have to put up your shield in time to stop me. You needn't worry, it's only a very mild version of the stinging hex, a little like a wasp sting, except that it goes away much more quickly. Who wants to go first?"
"I think I will," said Mrs. Granger firmly, much to everyone's surprise. "I want to know exactly what you are using on the children."
"Fair enough," Professor Flitwick replied.
"Ow! Does it have to be that strong."
"The pain goes very quickly," the professor assured her, "but yes, for what I am trying to do, I think that strength is about right."
"And what are you trying to do?"
"Whatever I have to do to ensure that the bond becomes well established as quickly and safely as possible. You know the alternative," the usually jovial professor replied seriously. "I have to ask you to trust me."
"We'll be alright, Mum," Hermione said.
Her mother nodded, but walked indoors. Hermione thought she saw tears in her mother's eyes and almost ran after her.
"So who's first?" the professor asked again.
This time there were no volunteers. "Okay, as Harry got the shield spell first, he can go first this time. Hermione, you stay well clear. Ready, Harry?"
Harry nodded nervously.
"I'm going to cast the spell silently, as I don't want to teach you offensive spells at your age. So just watch my wand movement. I'll show you the movement first, without the spell, so you know what to look for."
In spite of knowing what to look for, Harry didn't get his shield up in time for the first one, and yelled "OW!" loud enough to bring Mrs. Granger running out again.
He assured her that he was okay. Mrs. Granger looked at Professor Flitwick suspiciously, then went back inside.
Hermione managed three shields before the professor's fourth stinging hex got through. "That's some wasp," she gasped.
Harry assured her that the pain went away very quickly, and a minute or so later it had.
They went on practising until each of them could defend against at least five hexes in a row, cast quickly, one after another.
"I think that's enough for today," said the professor. To his surprise, both children were disappointed at having to stop.
"Hmm. Maybe I can teach you something you can practice with on your own. Hold your wands out to me again."
Once again he cast some spell over them. "Now, the incantation for this spell is aguamenti. There is no wand flicking movement for this spell for reasons that will become obvious. Try it."
As before, neither of them could get it at first. Finally Hermione got it and a stream of water poured from her wand, almost hitting the professor.
Harry was still having no luck ten minutes later when the professor went indoors to go to the toilet. As he came back out he heard Hermione saying, "You're saying it wrong. It's aguaMENti, not menTI"
Harry threw down his wand and stormed inside and ran to his room. They heard the door slam.
"I was only trying to help," Hermione said.
"Hermione. How do you think Harry feels, that he can't do something, even though you seem to be able to do it easily?"
Remembering being second with the shield spell, she said, "Stupid, annoyed with himself."
"And how do you think he feels when you tell him he's doing it all wrong, when he's trying his hardest?"
"But I didn't mean it like that!"
"I know you didn't. But remember, he already feels stupid about it."
Hermione looked shamefaced.
"I do that at school," she admitted, for the first time wondering if it might be at least partly her own fault that she had no real friends.
"I better go and say I'm sorry," she said.
"A good idea. But I'm going now, don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow, I have a seventh year taking my afternoon classes. I can't come in the morning as I have a seventh year class in the morning. But before I go, there something I wanted to ask you."
"Ask me?"
"Yes. I noticed a strange look on your face when Mr. Olivander said about each of you being unique. Were you worried that the bond would make you lose your own identity?"
Hermione nodded uncomfortably.
"You have heard a soul bond compared to a marriage bond. Would you say your parents are both the same?"
"No. Sometimes they seem to think the same thing, or say the same thing at the same time, but they are very different."
"So you and Harry will be. You will share some closeness that most of us can only dream of, but you will always be Hermione and Harry will always be Harry."
Hermione smiled.
"Okay now?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Now, go and try to make things up with your bondmate. I'll see you tomorrow."
Author's note...
Sadly, snowy owls are in greater danger than ever since JKR featured Hedgwig in the Harry Potter books, due to many people buying them as pets, which they are not really suitable for, finding that they can't care for them properly and abandoning them. Owl sanctuaries in England are having a hard time coping with the numbers and the trend has spread across the Atlantic too. Sorry for the plug for animal sanctuaries but as I run one (for dogs not owls), I am interested. (I can't put a link here, but you can find it by typing three Ws and a dot followed by rescueddoggies then a dot and com into your browser.)
Not a correction to a chapter, but to my author's note in the last chapter. Dudley is, as both CatWriter and Nurray pointed out, only around a month older than Harry as they were both preparing to go to secondary school in the same September in book one, and Dudley's eleventh birthday encounter with the snake was probably roughly a month before Harry's eleventh birthday, though the date of Dudley's birthday is not made clear in canon.
And thanks also to omega13a for spotting a typo in the last chapter.
To anony – I'd reply to you properly but you didn't let me do so. No, your interpretation of my notes in chapter 10 is not correct. I'm also amused that you think I must be young as I'm a 46 year old widower who in the space of one month lost his wife, his business, a lovely home, and had some of the dogs my wife had given her life to save also died, in some cases horrible deaths. You are correct in one thing though, death is a story should be for plot reasons, or it becomes a bad soap opera where they add tragic event after tragic event to keep the viewers hooked.
And to Oliver – You are correct about the name for Casualty is more correctly A&E (Accident & Emergency), but this story is set in the late 1980s, and although the official name was changed to Accident & Emergency quite some years before then (when I was training as a nurse), most ordinary people used the word Casualty, in fact most still did when I left England in 2001.
Thanks, as usual to my beta, Nachoman1, a.k.a. Ignacio Ramírez. He suggested a number of important changes – obviously writing while still in pain let some serious errors through!
Please review, the story, not the notes g
Brian