I own nothing. Except a shiny new laptop. Harry Potter belongs to JKR, WB, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, Raincoast etc.
Guide: Narrative
"Dialogue"
'written'
Harry's thoughts
'Ginny's thoughts'
S Parceltongue s
W wolf's thoughts W
This chapter is dedicated to xRosePetalx, the 200th reviewer of this story
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Chapter 21 Right or wrong
Harry convened with his five closest friends on late Saturday night to continue their discussions of the previous Monday. They once again sat in the "meeting room" of the Room of Requirement.
The first thing to do was to consult Padfoot's last message regarding the others animagus forms.
Ron demanded, "Do mine first!" It told them that Ron's lion was due to his easygoing or lazy attitude regarding everyday life but amazing power and determination when it was time to fight.
Ginny's German Shepard was because of her 'fierce bark with the force to back it up.' The parchment also wrote of the commendable loyalty displayed by having a dog form. They all laughed at that statement. The imprint had Sirius's lack of modesty to a tee.
Hermione's animal alter ego was because of her independence and intelligence backed up by the cunning that was often evident.
Lastly, Neville's bear was because of his tendency to back down and retreat until something was really worth it, in which case he made a fierce opponent.
"What about our other skills?" questioned Hermione.
"Well, that kind of has to be done individually. I can help Ginny with her telepathy and occlumency since I have mental arts skills. The element thing is really personal and Neville and I are complete opposites so I can help much. I will offer myself up as a guinea pig for Luna to read my aura, if the rest of us do the same she should be able to figure most of us out." Harry hesitated before continuing on to the next thing he wanted to bring up.
"One of the texts I read this summer was on wandlore. It was pretty vague and stressed that it isn't a simple science, that our wands are more like semi-sentient beings. I was wondering if everyone else has a wand that chose them now that Neville had to replace his."
Obviously, Hermione nodded, as she didn't have anyone to inherit a wand from. Luna dreamily made a sound of affirmation.
"I got a new wand when Ron had to replace his, with the prize draw money after my first year," said Ginny.
Harry continued, "Okay, that is a good thing one the whole. The research I read said that it is important to bond your wand. If you get a new wand after you leave school it will never work as well for you as your original. That's because the wand and wizard or witch have this relationship where you teach each other. It is much harder to cast a spell the first time that it is later on because your wand knows what you intend so that you don't have to be so precise."
Hermione interrupted, "So what would happen if you were to use Luna's wand to cast a Patronus and then give is back. Would she be able to do the spell easier?"
"No. Actually me taking her wand would interfere in her bond with the wand and it might change loyalty and become my wand, especially depending on the core material."
"Oh, that would have been really useful to be able to teach each others wand the spells we know so that it will be easier for us to learn," sighed Ron.
"Actually the book had a potion we can use to cross bond our wands so that we can all use them. I originally brought this up because I thought it would be good if we could use each others wands comfortably, since Nev ended up using Hermione's wand for quite a while in the Department of Mysteries. It also means that no one but us will be able to use our wands, so an enemy can't claim them."
Neville hesitantly asked, "So where's the catch, this sounds too good to be true."
"For one, we need our wands to be balanced. There can only be one of each type of wood and an equal number of each kind of cores. So what do we all have?" Harry asked.
"Harry!" exclaimed Ginny with shock.
"What?"
"Mate, its times like this that it's obvious that you were muggle-raised. You just don't ask people that. It's like asking what kind of underwear you prefer."
"Why?"
This time Hermione answered the question. "Because your wand is like the key to your soul. The wood has to do with your personality and your core shows your power and skill. I was told not to tell anyone about my wand unless I really trust them. But I also understand why we are doing this so it dragonheartstring and vinewood.
Neville said, "Unicorn hair and cherry."
"Dragonheartstring and birch" was Luna's response.
"Holly and phoenix feather."
Finally only the Weasley siblings had not answered. Ginny took a deep breath and said "Phoenix feather and beech"
"Unicorn hair and willow.
"Good, so we can actually do the ritual. I have the potion made, the only thing other thing we need is to heat it to body temperature and to add five drops of our blood each."
This time it was Hermione who was horrified. "Harry any potion or ritual involving blood is dark and illegal. I can't believe you would suggest something so wrong!"
Harry was surprised by this, as he had already done several rituals that required a blood price, but only of his own blood. "Who classified it them as dark?"
"Well, the ministry did."
Meanwhile, Neville looked uncomfortable and Luna looked interested. The Weasley siblings seemed disconcerted but not horrified.
Harry tried to apply some logic. "So the ritual to unbind my magic was dark."
"You used blood sacrifice to do it?"
"I needed a stand in for my parents. It should have been a magical energy cost to them, but since I am an orphan I needed a way to pay the price."
"What are you talking about magical price?" Hermione was confused but the others seemed to have understood his statement.
"When you read about the deeper nature of magic it talks about magical price. When we normally cast a spell it has a magical cost of our own energy, that's why casting a Patronus will make you tired because it has one of the highest magical energy costs of any spell. Anything requiring more will ask for a blood cost. Any spell or ritual that does anything really big requires a greater cost. It is the price of our abilities."
"So you are saying that the blood doesn't make it dark, it just makes it powerful. How can you justify taking someone's blood for your own benefit. It's just wrong." Hermione was getting frustrated by the conversation.
"That is not what I am saying. It's just, what is the wrong in using my own blood as a sacrifice, even a large amount if I collect it over a long time?"
Hermione paused and thought about it for a while before saying, "Well, nothing other than sanitation, I suppose. But many rituals require blood from someone else."
"Okay, let's go through this in stages. What if I say, 'Ron mate, can I have a dram of your blood?' Most of the time it won't work if it isn't willingly given if that is what is specified. If I guilt him into it, or try to force him at all the sacrifice has no magical value. So where is the harm in it?"
"Okay, I don't think that's a problem. What if the spell wants blood not willingly given? How can taking blood be okay?"
"Well does the blood have to be human? What if I transfigure a cup into a rat and bleed it. It's not really an animal and afterwards I can transfigure it back to a cup. The next things are rituals that require the lifeblood of a being. Transfigured animals don't work because they are not truly alive. In that case, I could go to a muggle butcher shop and buy cows blood. The cow is dead, so it is lifeblood but it was not killed for my purpose."
Hermione gave Harry a searching look, "So you truly don't believe blood sacrifices are wrong."
"No, I believe that some are wrong. Unwilling human, human lifeblood, hunted animal and whole body sacrifice are wrong in my mind. But everyone has to be able to decide for themselves. My biggest problem is that the Ministry has arbitrarily decided all blood sacrifice is wrong so they are preventing us from using some of the most powerful wards and rituals. The wards that protected me at the Dursleys were based on a willing human lifeblood sacrifice. They are unbreakable. There was no ill intent anywhere in their setting and maintenance. Was Dumbledore wrong in setting them up?"
"Well, no, I suppose not but it just seems so taboo to use blood sacrifice indiscriminately."
Neville chimed in, "Some of the potions I used to fertilize specific plants require the grower's blood. The plants are some of the most difficult ones to grow but are necessary for medical potions like the blood restorative draught."
"Bill set wards around the Burrow this summer that needed blood. Between the eight of us we had to give four and half litres, the same amount that is in the average person. Charlie even owled some to us from Romania so that we wouldn't have to be bled so many times. The wards mean that no one who intends to harm us can enter the area, but they aren't really strong enough to protect us because they weren't lifeblood so we still can't live at home. But it should protect the Burrow as long as no one is interested enough to make a serious attack, which is why we can't stay there.
"B-but why would everyone be using blood if it's illegal?" asked Hermione.
"Bill can't be punished for using blood because he is a curse breaker. It is a part of the license," said Ron.
"Well, I am not supposed to be the one donating to the potion, Sprout has a mastery so she is allowed, but the plants will be more potent with a younger person's blood, so we bent the rules."
"Well, I still don't know, but for this one time I guess it is okay, since we are using so little."
Harry reassured Hermione, "It's alright to not really be sure and to judge every situation on its own. That is really what I want, to think everything through. But I really want to do this ritual so that you all will have the protection of being able to use the brother wand to Voldemort."
"What?" exclaimed Ginny.
"Oh, er, didn't I tell you that Voldemort's wand and mine both have feathers from Fawkes."
"No, you didn't. Why is that protection for us?"
"They don't work against each other. If you cast at the same time, one of the wands will give off echoes of its past spells." Harry looked at the shocked faces that were processing that information. "Will you use this potion with me?"
There were nods all around. Ron asked, "What do we have to do?"
Harry set a large cauldron, added a potion from a bottle and started it to heating. "When this gets to 35 degrees, we each add five drops of blood and then we soak our wands in it for an hour. The blood will infuse the core and make it so that only a person with one of those bloods will be able to use the wands."
Ginny asked, "Will our brothers be able to use them?"
"No, they won't. It has to be an exact match. An identical twin would be able to but not a sibling or child, so our wands also won't be able to be passed down."
When the potion was at the right temperature, they each added a few drops of blood to the cauldron. What no one else noticed was Harry adding five drops of James's blood from a vial he had in his pocket. One of the requirements on the procedure was to have more people than there were wands. Harry had very carefully collected the blood that afternoon. Once the thirty-fifth drop of blood had been added the potion went from a green colour to a bright blue and they all dropped their wands into the concoction.
Ron and Hermione played chess, while Luna watched Neville, Ginny and Harry play Exploding Snap until timer went off to let them know that an hour was up. Harry used his wandless abilities to levitate the wands out of the potion and used Air to quick dry them. He grabbed his wand and motioned for the others to do the same.
Harry cast evanesco on the cauldron and the potion disappeared as it was supposed to. He watched the others cast small charms, which all worked perfectly.
Harry looked at Ginny and said, "Switch," as he handed over his wand.
He gripped the unfamiliar beech wand and cast, "Expecto Patronum." In a flash of bright light, Prongs appeared from the wand.
At the same time Ginny used Harry's wand to cast the bat bogey hex on a training dummy that the room had provided seconds earlier.
They grinned at each other. It was more comfortable to cast with their own wands but they had no problems with each others. The other four in the room experienced the same thing.
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A/N Happy Canada Day everyone!! That why I am posting today.
I love legal vs. moral debates. It entertains me to no end.
Thanks for all the wonderful reviews; they are why I keep writing.