A/N: A lot of you have commented on my mistake of protraying Bellatrix as Andromeda's cousin instead of her sister. I am so glad that you guys pay more attention than I apparently put when writing. I corrected my mistake and I thank you for that.
Declaration: I write for my own pleasure and not for profit. I do not own Harry Potter Universe.
With You by My Side
Chapter 28- Warding Away Your Troubles (or Prevention is Better than Cure)
Christmas day came and went with the Granger household enjoying a time of family togetherness in which Harry was included as Dan finally conceded defeat and included him in the official family. In contrast to their previous Christmas, this time Harry and Hermione did not have any free time, not that they did not have, rather they did not want to waste the opportunity to try out their ward scheme. Since they found out the apathy directed towards Muggleborns and muggle raised children, they were left to look elsewhere for their safety. Protecting their respective dwellings with near impenetrable wards therefore took top priority.
Wards were the first line of defense and were designed to stop almost anything from fire to individuals with ill-intent towards the occupants of the house. A well-constructed multi-layered ward scheme would provide ample time for the inhabitants to either mount a more proactive defense or escape an insurmountable attack. However, all wards have one weakness; they need an anchor usually a ward stone that is outside the protections afforded by the wards themselves. A determined curse breaker could take down the wards albeit with an effort and probably under heavy fire, but they could be taken down. Therefore, the 'Fidelius Charm' even with its difficulty to cast became a well sought after choice and in combination with a superior ward scheme would provide an almost impenetrable safe house. That did not stop the death of Harry's parents though and that was what Harry and Hermione wanted to overcome, remove the dependency on a third person for their safety. Besides, they could not hide their house with the 'Fidelius Charm', being mostly non-magical they depended on utilities for their everyday living and also magical rich areas were known to interfere with electronics. Shielding them was not a good option as that itself may play havoc on the instrument shielded; they needed an alternative.
Their answer came from a long forgotten way of life, the culture of Druids existed many centuries before the modern day Wizards and Witches began using the easy to use structure based magic. Wand movements and incantations removed most of the restrictions that communicating with nature to get things done using your own magic imposed on early magic users. Magic of the druids did not use wands or any incantations; instead they used naturally available materials that represented the effect that they wanted. For example if they needed to levitate a table, they sought the help of a feather to channel their inherent magic and directed it at the table, same way for Transfiguration, where they used materials representative of both the initial and final products to guide their magic and do its work.
There were a lot of things that druids could not do but whatever they could perform was robust and nearly everlasting with little danger. Most of their magic needed elaborate preparation, which was used as a basis for modern day rituals, and so was time consuming and could not be done in a pinch. Magic of the Druids was never intended to go against nature and so was rarely destructive, that also meant they could not use magic for personal defense. They relied on well protected areas as their retreats which were nigh impenetrable and added to that, they lived mostly in inhospitable and unapproachable places as they needed to commune with nature a lot.
Surprisingly, Harry and Hermione found that the druidical way of using magic did not cause interference with modern day technology. As most of the electronics were made with silicon dioxide, which forms a part of commonly found sand, electronics were unaffected by the use of non-conventional magic foci. Harry's overused 'walkman' became an involuntary participant and despite Dan's fretting over the laws regarding use of 'underage magic' Hermione spent an hour putting an exhilarating display of magic for her parents' entertainment using the specialized lotus stem that was bought in France after being deemed a perfect match for her temperament, as a channel.
Magic foci crafted with an aim to enable liberal magic use overcame the restriction imposed on earlier Druids. With these foci engraved with specialized 'ideograms' there was no need for a feather to levitate or a sample of the materials for Transfiguration. Unlike ancient Egyptian symbols, these diagrams etched onto the surface represent an idea or a concept, rather than being cryptic these were easy to understand. With the inclusion of these pictograms, the reworked natural materials became as versatile as modern day wands without compromising power output unlike a mismatched wand.
Hermione chose a relatively young tree, one that was planted by herself when she was a four year old, as the channel for their ward. Unlike boundary anchor stones, the tree would act as the source of the magic for powering the ward and the ward would extend to a distance from the farthest root or leaf of the tree. This eliminated the chance for compromising the keystone as it was within the ward, well natural forces could still topple the tree but it was a relatively young one and they hoped that it would stand for a good number of years to come. Once they get the scheme to work, they could always choose a second point of anchor, nothing they read suggested that they could not do that. It also had the advantage that the effect would permeate into the ground too, forming a complete sphere encompassing the area to be protected, which was lacking in a normal ward.
Harry and Hermione did not believe in an elaborate ward scheme, they were sure that the number of people with magic that would be visiting them was small. So they settled on a ward that would act like a 'notice-me-not' charm for anyone who was not given an exception to enter the property. They also added a fire suppression ward and hoped that this along with the newly developed non-magical security provided by a reputable firm would be enough to keep intruders away.
Drawing the pictograms for magical core, fire suppression and 'notice-me-not' was easy but to their chagrin, Harry and Hermione did not find any reference to a ward. So they used their enormous intellect and designed their own ideogram to represent a barrier and tied it to the magical core and the 'notice-me-not' charm, which was straight forward. Thankfully there was an inclusion and an exclusion circle, represented by a fiery circle either inside or outside a pentagram respectively.
"Well now that the 'DRunes' are done, all that we have to do is choose an auspicious day and time and then activate the wards" Harry exclaimed surveying their handiwork.
The base of the tree looked like a patch work quilt; etching on an uneven surface and with a stone knife was not easy and it took them multiple tries on a broken branch to at least get the images to mean something. Hours of practice later they could manage a respectable collage, but putting them onto a tree that could not be positioned per your convenience was not easy. Perseverance paid off and the Grangers were the proud owners of the only mosaic on a tree in the neighbourhood.
"DRunes? Harry" Hermione questioned in a wary tone, she knew that she would regret asking that, but she had to know.
Harry did not disappoint and had a triumphant grin while answering, "Yeah! They have the function of runes and are Druidical in origin, so Druidical Runes or DRunes."
He got a swat upside the head for his trouble and with a "You are such a prat" Hermione scampered into the house with an indignant Harry hot on her heels.
Minor Break
On New Year's Eve which was a prominent day for the Druids, and at day break the two enthusiastic students pricked their right middle finger. Chanting the phrase that would let the magic accept the blood sacrifice, they rubbed their bleeding fingers in the inclusion circle, meaning that they were the only two magicals allowed.
Taking a deep breath, they looked at each other in apprehension, this was it, "The moment of truth" Hermione gritted out.
With perfect synchrony honed during hours of being in each other's company, they started the long ritual of activating the magic that would transform the intent into action. A couple of minutes later, they looked around in confusion hoping for some sign that their accomplishment but nothing was apparent to them.
"I thought that there would be at least a pulse of magic or something" Harry sounded disappointed.
Hermione concurred with his assessment, "Well, there is only one way to find out. With the Tonks' coming tomorrow for our family's annual gathering, we would know if our ward had worked or not. Just to be on the safe side we could ask them not to apparate into the back yard as they normally do."
"We still have to learn the Patronus Charm. I hope that our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin could take some time to do it." Harry and Hermione decided to learn that charm after learning about the guards of Azkaban and their effects on humans. That was the only chink in their ward scheme as the dementors lacked a magical core; instead they lived using the power of the souls they consumed. Unfortunately, there was no reference for a dementor in the texts they perused; if they could find one, they would incorporate that into their defense but until then, the 'Patronus Charm' was their only protection and so were determined to master it.
A lot of personal pride was riding on the success of their ward scheme; the board of directors of 'Harmonia Magiks' decided to offer the ward to potential clients. A fool proof ward scheme was always on demand and on paper, using druidical magic for property protection looked attractive. If it was successful, a lot of people would sleep better but on the down side, nefarious individuals would also be able to hide easily. Amelia Bones however had a contingency plan prepared to bring all suspected death eaters for questioning using the lack of trial for her fiancé as a point of contention. Whether it would work out or not was altogether a different matter.
The company also decided to protect the secret as a proprietary use of an already existing concept rather than disclosing the methods they were using. That also meant that Harry and Hermione could not publish their idea, which was almost always their first inclination whenever they hit on a novel idea. After all what was the use of new findings if they were not made known to academia? As a compromise, they decided to compose a book brining to light the amazing culture and ideas that went into the Druidical way of life.
"Not a book more like a compendium" Hermione groused in contemplation at the sheer amount of information they gathered. Harry's idea was to publish translations of the original French texts, giving due credit to the original authors, thus eliminating the need for reworking already existing material. Then they could compile their own ideas of how to use the ancient ways in a modern day setting, but that would not be a priority now as they would have to wait for at least ten years for the proprietary clause on their ward scheme to expire. They had to agree that with all the projects that were on going or planned, it may take them more than ten years to get it ready in a comprehensive format.
Harry and Hermione's effort were for naught as the Tonks were able to enter the house without a problem. Andromeda and Ted had a few last minute things to discuss with Harry and so they arrived a good few hours before any non-magical guests arrived thus eliminating the need for secrecy. If they had any reservations regarding the restriction on apparating, they did not voice it.
All in all, a productive yet fun filled holiday ended on a disappointing note for the two, but that was just a speed bump. They were determined to achieve their goals and Hermione was already lining up the books Harry and her could refer to on the train ride back to Hogwarts.
Scene Break
The compartment was bursting at the seams as it held all eight friends exchanging tales about the happy season and doling out gifts that could not be sent out. Colin was happily snapping away pictures reveling in the attention showered on him by not only Harry and Hermione but also the others as they admired his photography skills. Even though Harry and Hermione were used to seeing moving pictures on a television, the concept of hand held moving images was entirely new to them.
Taking the picture was pretty straight forward but they learnt that it was the developing part that was tricky. The potions were difficult to brew and so expensive and the process of developing was exacting as it contained more steps than the normal still photography. Some of them needed precise handling and exact timing but Colin was getting used to the process to get trouble free pictures. That however did not help his falling grades, not that he was not up to the task but the demand to take pictures by almost everyone in the castle meant that he had very few precious hours for his homework, let alone extra reading. The study group organized by Harry and Hermione was a god send and so he was willing to donate a spare camera to them and let them experiment on his developing setup. Anything that would make his hobby easy on him was a welcome change to him.
The talk gradually waned as Lunch time came and went. The 'vibrant couple' pulled out their listed reading as others began amusing themselves or dozing to the gentle motions of the speeding train.
It was almost at the end of their journey that Hermione hit upon the answer, "Harry, we have been going at it the wrong way" she exclaimed. Harry put away his own reading and gave her all the attention.
"As we already knew there is no concept of hindrance or blocking, we can only exclude someone from entering. In the same way, there is no barrier or a ward in the general sense. If done right, the magic would make the entire designated area saturated with the effect we want."
Harry was not sure what she was saying but then it hit him, "Oh! You mean like an area wide effect?" The others, who were awake enough, were trying to pay attention to the conversation but were soon lost and so went back to their own pastimes.
Hermione beamed at him, "The concept is totally different, there is no barrier or a wall that obstructs entry, rather the entire protected area is made inhospitable to those that are not invited in. The ward signature permeates the entire area starting from the central anchor, in this case the tree that we used to etch the pictograms on."
"That means we need to use a tree that has its roots or branches spread over a wide area, so that the effect would cover the maximum possible distance" Harry mused.
Hermione conceded, "The strength of the field dampens progressively starting from the farthest tip of the root or leaf but the effect would still be strong enough about half a kilometer away from the house provided the canopy of the tree is big."
"Then wouldn't the effect of such saturated magic be worse on the electronics rather than being safe" that was the conundrum they were battling for the longest time as both the houses they wanted to safeguard were full of modern electronics.
Hermione referred to the book she was reading again, "I don't think so; here it says that the magic is already native to the area and it is only saturated with the intent. Nowhere does it say that there is an increased amount of magic over the ambient or an effective concentration of magic. I should think that it would be safe for the electronics."
They debated on the use of the specific printed words for a few moments more but arrived at a consensus that Hermione's interpretation was probably the correct one. There was no way to confirm that rather than testing it out. The difficulty was in that there was no technology at the time when Druids were more common or at least to such an extent or complexity of modern day appliances for them to be even referred to in the texts.
"Do you think that your aunt would volunteer her precious microwave for a trial?" Hermione said flippantly. Harry was seriously considering it when she rejoined, "I was just joking Harry. I am sure that what we gleaned points it to being safe for the appliances, so we can test it out on my parent's house."
"Even if it fries all the electronic equipment, I will foot the bill for replacements" Harry assured her.
Hermione tightened her hold on his hand, which never left its usual place, "You need not do that Harry. True, it would not be peanuts but my parents could replace them without too much trouble."
Harry gave her a conspiratory smile, "… but imagine you could get the new fad in wide screen televisions or even the newly minted disc player."
Hermione rolled her eyes at that, "Harry our main aim is to protect the house not to do it by destroying everything that is inside it. But your idea does have its merits, new everything in the kitchen would also be a dream come true for my mother, not to mention a new TV and disc player for my father." She became serious though, "That means that the figures we etched…" she floundered a bit here and muttered not quietly enough to prevent Harry from hearing it as she was literally in his lap, not that she intended to hide it from him too, "I don't believe that I am saying this…" and then in a louder voice continued, "… That means the 'DRunes' we etched would have to be changed. I am sure there would be references to the drawings somewhere now that we know what to actually look for."
Harry tempered his gloating to just a smug smile, "I also came across a reference that supports our idea of using two different central anchors to ensure that the effect stays even if one of the anchor is destroyed. If the area is very large, they actually recommend using more than one and preferably those that can give us some overlap. The area that falls in the overlap apparently has better effect than the other areas."
"Since both our houses, or rather the houses that we live in now are not that big it may be better to use two nearby trees or a tree and a boulder or some such to reinforce the effect. We could use the old tree in the back yard when, or if we go home for the Easter break, otherwise we have to do it during the summer" Hermione agreed.
Harry gave her a tender smile, "The house that we would eventually be living in, will be much bigger than both of them and we will make sure to reinforce as much as we can, even if we have to use every tree or boulder that lies on the grounds."
Hermione kissed him in return, they never talked about their future in such concrete terms and it warmed her heart that Harry was putting as much thought into it as she was.
"I am quite sure that I would like to live in a house that has wide grounds around it. I know for sure that Potter Manor has and maybe the cottage that was destroyed has too, but both of them are heavily magical and I am not so sure if I want to give up the current non-magical lifestyle entirely. We may have to buy a house in a non-magical area, how about some place near your parents?" Harry had no idea what he was doing to Hermione's emotions with his words; she was fit to burst into tears.
She contented herself with kissing him a little deeper than she usually would in the presence of company and nestled herself deeper into his chest. They stayed that way till the time to de-board the Hogwarts Express came.
Scene Break
"That was excellent work everyone" professor Lupin praised them distributing pieces of chocolate liberally among the panting students. It was late February and the gang of eight students was clustered in the 'Den' and the professor accompanied by both professor McGonagall and Flitwick, was coaching them on the nuances of casting the 'Patronus Charm'.
Even though every one of them was trying their hardest, all they could manage was a spray of what looked like mist out of their wands. The first years could not manage even that and were devastated at their lack of progress.
Professor Lupin hastened to assure them, "Don't worry you lot. You are doing just fine; you have to remember that this is an extremely complex spell that even most adults cannot accomplish."
"Well, you have to admit that it takes a lot of power and you guys are a year lower than us" Susan interjected helpfully.
Lupin gave her an appreciative smile, "While she was correct about you being a year younger and having less power and control over your magic, I have to correct her on one aspect though. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to be extremely powerful to cast the charm. Yes, power helps, but what you do need is mental discipline especially in the presence of a dementor. You need to be unfazed and focused on the task."
"Really?" this was from the Charms professor, "I was of the opinion that it was a power requirement rather than focus. Hmm… Interesting!"
More than the chocolate they were eating, the words of both the professors did a lot to calm them down and give them the determination to master the charm. The knowledge that they were now studying Occlumency which would eventually give them the mental discipline needed, also helped a lot.
Taking a break from the exercise of maintaining the taxing charm as long as they could, they all relaxed on the chairs spread around in the room.
Harry saw that Luna was being particularly hard on herself; probably due to the fact that even Ginny was better than her at getting a sniff of the mist during her last attempt. In a bid to get her to loosen up he joked, "So… Luna, any 'seerie' insights that you could give us?"
Ignoring the tired admonishment from Hermione, Luna welcomed the interruption, "You know that it does not work like that Harry. Still, I can see that an event would occur near the end of this school year that would make all of this superfluous."
Whatever Harry expected Luna would say this was not it. The silver lining though was that they would not be facing the dreadful creatures in the near future and that was all good in his books, but still… "Bummer!" Harry and Hermione exclaimed in unison. Even after that proclamation from Luna, no one was ready to leave the practice and were determined to do better to master the skill, you never know with all the bumbling fools at the Ministry when you will need to defend yourself.
Professor Lupin sighed, "I can't imagine what horrors Sirius is facing at that godforsaken place. I just wish there was something we could do to get the rat." No one had anything to say and so he continued a little wistfully, "When we were students here, we designed a map that would show the location of everyone inside this castle and that would have been a wonderful tool. At least we could rule out that Peter was hiding in the castle. Pity, it was confiscated by Filch during our final year."
"You are a professor now Remus, you should go and get it" Professor McGonagall suggested.
Remus Lupin gave her a smile, "Way ahead of you professor, I already did that during my first week here but it was missing. I dared not ask him, lest I get an upcoming prankster in trouble."
"We could design a new one though, maybe with improvements, it would be a nice project for every one of us here" Harry suggested and immediately got murmurs of assent from the assembled students.
The three professors exchanged thoughtful looks and Professor Flitwick spoke up, "Right then, you are to research the spells you will need, design and execute it. Any modifications you plan to make have to be cleared by one of us. If you manage to do it, all eight of you would earn extra credits and may be even a commendation added to your file."
That got everyone buzzing and it was some time before professor Lupin managed to get their attention to describe the features of the map in detail. "I have to caution you though, James somehow managed to tap into the castle wards and that was needed for us to get the map working. Don't be disappointed if you cannot get it to work in spite of getting everything correct. We would award you the credits if you can manage a credible plan and a detailed report backed with the demonstration that you could cast the spells."
While the professors agreed that was enough to get them the credits, Harry however had other ideas, "Don't you know how he was able to tap into the wards?" he asked with a mischievous smile.
Only Hermione had a grin on her face as the others looked perplexed. Harry put them out of their misery, "He was the descendent of Godric Gryffindor and so the castle allowed him to access the wards. He could not have done that if he had a malicious intent, but since this was harmless or rather it could have been extremely beneficial if put to good use, the castle allowed it."
Everyone sported looks of astonishment; while professors McGonagall and Flitwick knew that Harry was Gryffinodr's heir, still the knowledge that an heir could work with the castle wards in addition to or in absence of the headmaster, sent them reeling. Now they could understand why the castle was prepared to chuck the headmaster out, there was an equally powerful wizard who could readily take his place in controlling the wards.
"Do you think that it was wise to let everyone know about this, Harry?" professor Lupin asked trying his best not to eye the other students present in the room.
Harry's reply was instantaneous and confident, "It's not a secret; any one could flesh out the links if they had the time to visit the Ministry archives. I trust everyone in this room, besides it's not like I am royalty or something and I do not get any superpowers or enormous wealth out of it. Wealth those days was not money but knowledge, of which there's plenty in the combined potter vault."
"Potter Vault, there are no separate vaults for the founders?" asked an intrigued McGonagall.
"No, as I said there is not much money, through the years the founder's vaults except for the Slytherin vault all transferred to the last surviving descendants, the Potters. Apparently, the others did not trust Salazar and so everything went to Gryffindor's line. When Tom Riddle aka Voldemort died, the Slytherin vault was also added to the Potter vault which netted about 100,000 Galleons but more importantly a treasure trove of manuscripts." Those that knew the secret of the Wraith form of Lord Voldemort kept quiet; what Harry said about him was the truth though. The goblins do not consider Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort to be the same man; when his body died, the Ministry recorded the death of Tom Riddle. As a wraith he would not have any appreciable amount of magic and if he was to ever return to a body, he would have to construct a new magical core for himself.
Professor Flitwick had a different question, "The Potters do not have any link to Rowena Ravenclaw?"
"You do know that there are a lot of rumors ranging from her being Gryffindor's mistress to them being married when their respective spouses died but they did not have any issue, since they were so old" Michael the fellow Ravenclaw piped in.
Harry and Hermione chuckled at the insinuation; there was nothing written about that in Hogwarts: A History. Harry still had concrete proof though, their journals in his Vault, "No I do not have any link to her, there's no indication that they were ever married. They could have just been best friends or could very well have had a sibling like relationship" he mused.
Neville chimed in, "…. Or maybe they just had a professional relationship" and promptly blushed a bright red when everyone focused on him. He beamed though when Padma gave his hand a quick and discreet squeeze.
Professor Lupin gave him a wry grin, "Sometimes the simplest explanations are the most plausible. Ten points to Gryffindor I believe"
A long silence followed that impromptu discussion and was broken by Hermione who was desperate to start the research for the map project, "…. Any way as my boyfriend was saying, we have a lot of research to do if we want to make an improved version of the map, so let's plan for that."
Professor Lupin though had other ideas, "Boyfriend? When did that happen? If you had not told me I would have never guessed it, you do hold hands as always but other than that I do not see you showing any outward signs of affection."
Harry was a little offended at that, "Well professor sorry to say this but what we do in private is strictly that, private."
Professor Lupin gave him an apologetic smile, "It's just that your father used to gloat whenever he had a date and so I assumed and expected the same of you."
"As much as I would love to be compared to my father, I am not my father. The way you were portraying him, he seems to be a braggart. I have always shied away from the spotlight and now that I found my perfect partner, I would like to think that I have nothing to prove to anyone." Harry could not believe that his father was a show off, he was a pureblood and was raised in that environment he would have thought that James Potter would be a little dignified. Heaven forbid he acted like a Malfoy; he did not need that image in his head.
Professor McGonagall came to the defense of her erstwhile favourite student, "He just did that to just get your mother's attention, Harry. Once he realized that Lily Evans was a different cup of tea, he gave up all his shenanigans and underwent an instant transformation. From that moment onwards Lily was a lost cause and she was hooked."
"I think that you have a judicious combination of both their best qualities, your father's looks and determination to do what was right and your mother's eyes, brains and attitude" Professor Lupin had a faraway look in his eyes when he said that, probably reminiscing about the times gone by. Harry took the compliment with graciousness. Finally, he felt as if a missing piece slotted right in to give a complete picture of his parents.
Ginny was feeling a little ashamed but she had to admit a dark secret, "Well my mother advised me to do the same thing to net you Harry. Get a few boyfriends, flaunt them before you and when you begin to show an interest in girls, dump them and get you to hook up with me."
"That is not cool" Hermione exclaimed while Harry turned an interesting shade of green around the gills.
Minor Break
That night in the common room, Harry saw that his girlfriend was deep in thought. "What are you thinking about, my dear?" he prodded.
Hermione gave him a small smile, "Do you remember the Wonder Woman show?"
Uncertain where this was going and hoping that it was not something like a bid for Woman's liberation in the magical world, "Yeah!" he answered warily.
"She looked amazing, deflecting the bullets with her gauntlets" Hermione had a dreamy smile on her face which was rare for her, but he had to agree, as a child he was fascinated by the show and Lynda Carter made a fine figure. Now that he was relieved that it was nothing sinister, he could happily agree with Hermione. "So you were thinking about something that can be used to deflect curses and look stylish at the same time too?" Hermione brightened immediately; she did not consider the style statement rather the utility to aurors or even the Ministry workers in important positions.
"Well, we do have truth serum, so there's no need for the unbreakable magic lasso I guess" he joked while Hermione shot him an incredulous look. They then began discussing the things they needed to develop such an item, tentatively named as 'Auror Gauntlet' a very unimaginative name.
Materials that would form the actual base of the gauntlet were considered and promptly discarded before finally settling on Aluminum. The metal was hard enough while being extremely light; they never considered using conjuration for the base as their experience showed that layering magic over conjured items was not only difficult but also drastically reduced life of the conjuration, thus diminishing the utility of the item. While the Goblins were the best metal smiths in the magical world, they were not cheap and they rarely gave Wizards the time of the day. Materials made in the non-magical world formed the best source, and by now Harry and Hermione had a couple of reliable suppliers who were already contracted for supplying materials that went in the construction of their 'Aura Probe'.
Hermione took up a partitioned notebook kept aside for their projects and a fountain pen made by Sheaffer, her latest Christmas gift from Harry. Turning to a fresh section, she began scribbling furiously but still in her crisp hand, "We obviously need to layer it with hardening and impervious charms. It will have to be magically active though, as it has to auto size to the wearer."
Harry agreed to that and in a thoughtful voice added, "How about we add a reverse channeling rune or something similar so that part of the energy of the curse is dispersed into the environment. That would not only reduce the damage to the gauntlet but also minimize the chances of hitting your partner with the deflected curse."
Hermione paused in her writing and gave him a quick hug, "That's brilliant Harry! What about…" and so the discussion continued for a few minutes more, after which they retired for the night.
