Disclaimer: Riddle me this, Riddle me that, Terry Topher is whom?
Chapter 20 has been beta'd and reposted. Thanks again to Alix the most awesome beta to ever beta :D
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The next day, in Arithmancy, Harry asked to speak with Professor Vector after class about the extra credit assignment he had volunteered for. "Professor, I was looking through the formulae that you gave me about those mind magic spells. From what I can see, it looks like this formula is common amongst them all." Harry said pointing at a circled set of equations.
Professor Vector examined the parchment and read through some of the supporting theory Harry had written out, before turning to the young lord and saying "Well, Mr. Potter, this looks very good. I'd say an O+ on this. I've actually not seen this theory before. I'd like a chance to look through some of this myself. If it matches what you've found, I'd love to submit this to Arithmancy Quarterly under your name."
Harry thought about that for a few moments then replied "Of course I don't object to you double-checking my work. As a matter of fact, please do. I'd prefer to wait on the submission though if you don't mind."
Professor Vector looked shocked. It was amazing that here was work that was nearly of Mastery caliber, and from a Third year at that; but to turn down the chance of being published? Why that was nearly unthinkable. "I can respect that I guess Mr. Potter, but if you don't mind me asking, why?" The professor asked.
Harry shrugged, then replied "Well I've got some ideas I want to work on, and if I'm right, then this would be supporting work, and I don't want too many people to get an idea of where I'm going. I'm not saying that we won't publish. I just want to hold off on it for a while."
Professor Vector understood now; Harry was working on something. Possibly involving a new spell he wanted to create, something that involved mind magics, and didn't want others to try to beat him to its creation. "Alright, Mr. Potter, I understand now, and that makes perfect sense. I imagine you've an idea for a new spell, am I right?"
Harry flashed his infamous half smile, before replying "Perfectly correct, Ma'am, and thank you for being so understanding. Speaking of that, do you by any chance have the formulae for spells regarding memory? I'd like to check through some of those if possible. Preferably spells involving integrating memory."
The Arithmancy professor had to think for a few moments, before replying. "I think that there are a few books with those formulae in the restricted section. Let me give you a pass for those books, you should be able to find what you're looking for in there."
"Thank you very much, professor. I really appreciate your help with this project." Harry said with a happy grin.
"It's truly my pleasure, Mr. Potter. I see great things coming from you. You have the potential to advance Arithmancy by leaps and bounds. You don't see this level of work until the Mastery level usually." the professor said with a smile of her own.
Harry thought for a few moments as Professor Vector moved to start working with some of the Ravenclaw students that made up the majority of the Arithmancy class. When the professor made her way back to Harry, he asked "Is it possible to embed a memory, or sensation into a spell? What I mean
is if I have a memory of a sensation, is it possible to make that sensation a part of a spell so that every
time that spell is cast, the specific sensation is included, even if the caster hasn't experienced it?"
The pretty Arithmancy professor thought for a few moments then replied "Well if we can derive the specific arithmantic formulae for the memory or sensation, and include them as part of the overall spell equation, then I would think it should be possible."
Harry thought for a few moments then asked "But how would we get the formulae? I know you've shown us spell analyzers, but I thought those only worked for cast spells."
Professor Vector chuckled a bit then replied, "Normally yes, but if you can extract a copy of a memory; as though you were going to use a Pensieve, you can run the strand through the analyzer, and it will give the formulae."
Harry's face brightened with a grin as he replied "That's cool!"
Vector chuckled then replied "Yes, it is pretty cool, Mr. Potter. Come see me during office hours and we
can run the memory through the analyzer for you."
Harry smiled back to the professor and agreed to do that when he had the opportunity.
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After lunch, Harry and Hermione turned back, and attended Care. Hagrid led the students to a grove just inside the Forbidden Forest. On the way into the forest, Hagrid explained that they would be viewing and studying Bowtruckles for this lesson. Hagrid also explained that Bowtruckles usually inhabited trees whose wood was of wand quality.
As the class gathered around Hagrid's large form, he pointed out a number of trees with large colonies of Bowtruckles. Explaining that the larger the colony, the better quality the wood, Hagrid also explained that wandsmiths would usually bring a gift of woodlice for the Bowtruckles so they could harvest the wood in safety.
Hagrid had each group of students bribe a Bowtruckle down from their tree, and sketch them, labeling each of the parts. During this part of the lesson, Hagrid casually mentioned that a lot of wandsmiths liked collecting the shed claws of Bowtruckles as they were very useful in the carving of wand blanks, since the use of steel or iron could and would drain the magic from the wood, rendering it useless.
After the lesson, Hagrid asked Harry and Hermione to stay behind to help groom and care for Buckbeak. As this would perfectly take care of their second lunch period, Harry and Hermione agreed. After grooming the proud Hippogriff, Harry again tried to talk Hermione into taking Bucky for a ride. It was during this discussion, that Harry learnt why Hermione tended to baulk at riding a broom, or any other magical method of flight. It seemed that Hermione had a mild fear of heights, coupled with the magical world's lack of safety restraints; well it was obvious that unless she had to, Hermione wouldn't be flying anywhere using magic.
As they still had half of their second lunch period remaining after grooming Buckbeak, Harry and Hermione decided to swing by the library to see if he could check out the books Professor Vector had recommended.
When Harry approached the severe looking Librarian, Madam Pince, and asked about checking out some of the books on his list, the Librarian informed him calmly that while he was certainly permitted to look at and take notes from the books, he was not allowed to remove books from the restricted section. Harry was somewhat disappointed by this, but did understand, as anyone could potentially see the books if he had borrowed them. Realizing that he wouldn't have time to copy down the equations before DADA started, Harry asked Madam Pince if he could gather the books, and just have her hold them for him so he'd be able to look for and copy the formulae he was looking for. Madam Pince gave a slight frown at leaving books unshelved, but finally agreed to Harry's request.
Quickly grabbing the books Professor Vector had recommended, and finding that three of them were not restricted, he handed the Restricted books to the Librarian to hold, and borrowed the three that were not Restricted, before dashing off to DADA.
With the help of the Map, they were able to reach the class just before the bell rang. As they were red-faced, slightly out of breath, with their robes slightly rumpled from running, the rest of the class simply assumed that they had been caught up in a heated snog, explaining their near tardiness.
When they got to class, they noticed that Professor Lupin appeared to be somewhat under the weather, but he still collected their essays on the effects of boggarts and the method for banishing them. The part of the essays that had had most of the third years filling the Gryffindor dorms with laughter was the form the boggart took, as well as the image used in the Riddikulus spell.
The fact that Harry's boggart was a Dementor had surprised most of the dorm, his banishing image; that of the Dementor with a fist full of 20 quid notes and a Playwizard magazine had the boys laughing, and most of the younger girls scowling. Harry's "What? Dementors are creepy, this is a funnier kind of creepy is all." got the 6th and 7th year girls laughing as well. Neville's 'Snape in drag' anti-boggart image was still the current winner in causing the dorm to laugh though.
This class's lecture covered Kappas and the safest methods to avoid and neutralize them. After class, Remus held Harry and Hermione back. Harry signaled for Neville and Lavender to go ahead to History of Magic. Once the rest of the class had left, Remus said "Harry, Hermione, I'm actually glad that this weekend is going to be a Hogsmeade weekend. You see, I've got a bit of a viral disorder, and it's flaring up. I'll not be able to attend our usual Saturday chat this weekend."
Harry nodded in understanding. "I hope you're back to feeling yourself soon, professor."
Lupin laid a hand on Harry's shoulder "Thank you Harry. That means a lot. Now I know you have a History class. You two might want to head to it before you're late."
Harry nodded, and taking Hermione's hand, headed off to the last class of the day.
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Sorry that this one was so short as well, but it is coming right on the heels of last chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into my usual writing and update schedule.