Chapter Twenty-One: Fire and Shadow
It seemed like time went into slow motion as the fireball left Blade's hand and hurled at Harry at an alarming rate. The fireball moved so fast that Harry just managed to dodge the ball a slip millisecond before it would have hit him, which was thanks to his Quidditch reflexes.
"What the hell" Harry shouted as he stared at Blade from his position on the floor "why'd you do that?"
"Because I can" Blade said with a smirk "actually I was trying to prove something Mr. Potter."
"What in the bloody hell could you prove by frying me with a fireball?"
"It wouldn't have fried you" Blade said as he made another ball of fire form in his hand. "If it was going to fry you then I would be getting burnt by holding it in my hand" Blade said as he made the ball vanish and then showed his hand first to Harry and then to the class. "I have trained a long time working with fire as that is my element" Blade said as he paced in front of the class "I am to the point that I can do a great deal of things with fire."
"That doesn't tell me why you wanted to hit me with it" Harry huffed as he moved to sit down.
"Doesn't it" Blade asked as he made another fireball and hurled at it an unexpecting Harry.
"Harry watch out" Linda shouted, but it was too late.
The fireball nailed Harry right in the back and his robes lit on fire as some people in the room screamed out. Harry could feel the warmth as the fire burned his robes, but didn't feel any pain from it burning his skin.
"Draw the fire into you" Blade said as he watched Harry standing near the tables on fire.
Harry didn't know what to do as he stood with fire consuming his robes as he willed for the flames to die out. He focused on them and hoped that some miracle would happen to put out the flames before his robes were totally burnt off.
To Harry's amazement as he willed for them to vanish the flames seemed to decrease in size and then after a second vanished altogether. Harry stared at his burnt robes or at least what was left of them "you are crazy!"
"So I been told" Blade said as he pulled out his wand and repaired Harry's robes "but there is normally a method to my madness."
"Could've fooled me" Harry huffed as he went once again to sit down.
Blade laughed "in time everyone will see that I do know what I am talking about, but it is okay if you don't believe it right now. Well everyone could see that even though the fire did burn Mr. Potter's robes he was unaffected by them, which is the first key thing to understand. Everyone needs to know what their elemental power is before they can manage to understand it."
"How we do that" one of the students asked as Blade paced in front of the class.
"That will be your homework for tonight" Blade said as he looked at the few students he had in his class. "I want everyone to read over the first chapter of the book you were given earlier" Blade said as he went to the cabinet with the books "if for some reason you didn't get one please grab one now."
Blade waited for a moment but no one came forward for a book, which meant that they had all listened the first time they had been told to grab a book. "I take it everyone has a book so there will be no reason for you not to do this. When you come to class tomorrow night each of you should have a basic understanding of how to learn what element you are. We will then discuss the process and begin it tomorrow in class, but I want everyone to have a basic understanding of it before we begin."
The classes the next day seemed to drag on for Harry as he was eager to get to elemental studies. Even though he believed that the professor was a bit crazy he still wanted to learn all he could about his power. Finally the time came and Harry rushed off to the defense class room where Blade stood waiting for the class to arrive.
"I hope everyone did their homework last night" Blade said once the class actually started. "The meditation process depicted in the first chapter is essential for you to be able to see what element you have. Mr. Potter you are excluded from this since we already know your element is fire, but everyone else I would like you to find a spot away from others to practice your meditation. In order to understand and control your element you must know it, so it is vital that you learn this meditation process."
There were some that got aggravated and quit the class since they couldn't figure out how the meditation worked. Most of those left managed to find out their element within the first twenty minutes of the class. Hermione turned out to have the element of earth, Ron and Ginny both had fire just like Harry did, Linda as it turned out had the element of wind, and Neville found that his element was water.
"Fire seems to be quite abundant among you" Blade said with a grin as the students found out their element. "Which is great since that is one element that I know quite well" Blade joked as he waited for everyone to take their seats.
"Will we be able to absorb fire like you" one of the students with the fire element asked.
"In time yes" Blade said as he looked at the student "that doesn't mean I want you going about sticking your hands in the fireplaces though. Right now you just learned your element and it will take a while to gain control of them, so there is a great chance you would get burnt if you did reach into fire right now."
"Are there only four elements" a student asked "if so then how do you have shadow?"
"Good question, five points to Ravenclaw" Blade said as he walked up to a chalk board behind his desk. Unlike some professors in the school Blade chose to write on the board like a muggle would instead of using his wand "elements have different ranks that they fall into. Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water are all basic elements and are rank one elements, which is what everyone with a core will normally have a rank one element. The shadow ability that I have would be considered a rank three element if you were to look at a chart of the elements."
"What are the rank two elements" a student asked as Blade wrote on the board.
"Rank two are a bit complicated" Blade said as he turned to face the class "rank two elements require a combination of two rank one elements to form them. Magma is a rank two element since it requires both earth and fire to create likewise Ice is a rank two since it takes wind and water to create. That's advanced studies though so we won't be worrying about the ranks too much in the class. We want to focus on the basic elements that everyone has right now, so that everyone can start to understand the power they possess."
Blade separated the students into groups based on their element, which there was no surprise when the fire group took up a large percent of the class. "In time hopefully you will learn how the elements can combine and work together, but for now they will remain separate. As most probably guessed the elements do have strengths and weakness when compared to other elements. Take water and fire for instance water lords over fire since it can extinguish it."
"Does that mean someone with the water element will win in a battle with someone who has elemental fire" a student asked as Blade wrote the opposites on the board.
"Some would tell you yes since in theory water is fire's polar opposite, but that doesn't take into account the opponent's power, focus, and knowledge when it comes to the battle. Take for example if I was to have Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Weasley battle in an elemental duel then Mr. Longbottom would have the elemental advantage. Since they both probably have about the say amount of power that wouldn't be taken into account, but then you need to consider how well both combatants can focus in the battle since it is important to have focus in battle. Now if Mr. Longbottom were to take on me then he wouldn't have an advantage at all, and no that isn't because I am egotistical and think I'm better than anyone. It is because I'm sure I have more raw power than Mr. Longbottom since he is still learning, I have a keen focus while Mr. Longbottom again is still learning, and finally my knowledge of my element makes the advantage mine since Mr. Longbottom doesn't know his element yet."
Hermione raised her hand, which made Blade grin as he called on her, since most students had just been asking their questions without raising their hand. "Does that mean all elements will have a polar opposite when it just comes down to an elemental advantage?"
"Good question, five points to Gryffindor for raising your hand" Blade said with a grin as he looked at Hermione. "There is one element that doesn't have a known polar opposite and that is lightning, which is a rank four element."
"Wouldn't earth work against it" one of the students with an earth core asked.
"Yes earth in a sense could block lightning if done correctly, but that doesn't make earth a polar opposite for it. In order for that to happen lightning would have to be brought down to a rank one element, which won't happen. Getting back on topic each of you now know what your base element is, and that is where your real training begins. As I stated yesterday elemental magic relies on your body as a focal point instead of your wand, so the next step will be to condition your bodies to take the strain of the element."
Over the course of the week Blade worked with each of his students to help them understand what strain their element would have on them. Fire by far would have the most strain since that dealt with holding the fire in one's hands. Earth wasn't as bad as most of their abilities just required the energy to flow through the person into the ground. Wind also didn't require a large amount of conditioning since the energy just passed through the body as well. Water only took minor conditioning to help them understand how to deal with the temperature of the water and the fact that they had to get wet while using it. Harry was a tad shocked at how well his friends seemed to grasp their elements at least in the conditioning part of it.
Blade seemed distracted toward the end of the week and Harry had the suspicion that it had something to do with the mysterious Camille. He didn't want to intrude however so he didn't ask, but he could tell something wasn't exactly right about the situation. His suspicions were later confirmed when he was running late getting to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Albus you know as well as I do what the situation is" Blade said to Dumbledore as Harry quickly hide behind a set of armor.
"No I don't" Dumbledore said firmly "I know that Miss Tonks is still missing, but whenever I try to find anything out I keep am told that her whereabouts are classified."
"That they are" Blade said calmly "but I can tell you that she is in danger and whether or not you agree I am going to help her."
"So you know where she is then" Dumbledore asked as he looked at Blade "that's great I will assemble the Order and we will go after her at once."
"No you wont" Blade said sternly "I can't disclose her location and the truth is I wouldn't even if I could. Now I will be going after her and since tomorrow is Saturday you shouldn't have a problem with classes, but if I am not back by Monday."
"If you aren't back by Monday I should assume all didn't go well and that you won't be returning correct?"
"Exactly" Blade said coldly "this isn't a situation to be taken lightly Albus, but I have been in far worse, so I don't see me being late for classes on Monday."
"I hope you're right for all our sakes" Dumbledore said as he turned to walk into the great hall "good luck on your mission Mr. Wolf."
"Thank you sir" Blade said as he watched Dumbledore walk into the Great Hall and then Blade looked right at the armor that Harry was hiding behind for a moment before walking into the shadows of the corridor and disappearing from sight.
Harry stood stalk still not daring to even breath as Blade looked in his direction for fear that the professor somehow knew he was there. He breathed a sigh of relief when he watched Blade vanish into the shadows, but he was concerned all the same. He figured Blade was worried about his partner Camille, but now he found out that Tonks was in trouble too. 'What in the hell is going on around here' Harry thought as he peered into the shadows 'why would Tonks be with this Camille and what in the hell trouble were they in?'