Chapter 33 Resonance

"Come in," A woman called from the other side with a hint of an accent that Halo couldn't identify. Halo opened the door and entered the room, not knowing what to expect. What he did not expect, or rather could not have expected, was the woman who was there waiting for him.

She was a woman of about forty, but she did not look it. She had an ageless elegance and grace that made her look younger, and when Halo first saw her he was pretty sure she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She smiled at him, and he just stood there dumbstruck. He wasn't entirely sure who this woman was, or why she had come to meet him, so he just stood there like an idiot and looked confused.

"Welcome, young Harry, come in," she said kindly gesturing to the chair opposite her. "My sister-in-law asked me to come see you. She mentioned that your wand was doing some, how do you say, unexpected things."

Finally, Halo remembered the conversation with Ginny, and realized that this woman must be Fleur Weasley. Victoire was one thing, but her mother was on a whole other level of beauty. Still, he was a little too young to truly be affected by such things, and he just shook his head to clear it and sat down in the chair that Mrs. Weasley indicated.

"You may call me Madame Fleur," she commanded, her voice tinged with a slight but noticeable French accent. She didn't say it rudely, but there was no mistaking that it was a command, and Halo was meant to obey. Halo found Madame Fleur slightly intimidating, or at the very least not someone he wanted to disappoint. "Now show me your wand, if you please," Madame Fleur said, and Halo immediately pulled out his wand as quickly as he could and placed it on the table between them.

Madame Fleur took it in her slender fingers and studied it for a few moments, before saying, "Tell me everything that this wand has been doing."

Halo did as he was told as best he could. He told her about the trip to Hogsmede and about exploring the abandoned laboratory below the town, but said nothing of the dream that Lily'd had. He didn't feel that it was right to reveal her involvement in all of this to her aunt without asking her permission first, which obviously he had no way of doing. It was hard to tell her about everything that had been happening without revealing why he had decided it was necessary to sneak out of Hogwarts in violation of a thousand or so school rules. Madame Fleur listened intently, examining his wand as he spoke. She made no comment on his rulebreaking, which he was grateful for. When he was done, she set his twisted wand down and said, "Sycomore wood and Sphinx teeth, an ancient and powerful combination. It is said that the very first wizards made wands out of Sphinx teeth, and used them to raise the Great Pyramids."

"Really?" Halo asked, amazed.

"I could not say," Madame Fleur said with a smile, "that is simply a story my grandpapa used to tell me. He knew as much about wands as any man alive. He was the one that fashioned this wand for me, from my grandmaman's hair." Madame Fleur drew out her own wand, showing it to him. It looked normal enough.

"Your wand has your grandmother's hair in it?" Halo asked surprised. He had never heard of such a thing.

"Yes, but my case is unusual. My grandmaman was a Veela, an ancient race of women that live throughout Eastern Europe. She therefore served as the magical core of my wand, something that is an important part of my connection to it."

"You have a connection to your wand?" Halo asked. Did that mean that she talked to it sometimes, like he did? He'd thought he was crazy for doing it, but if Madame Fleur did it too...

"We all have a connection with our wands. A wand is a living thing, to a degree. This is widely known, although the precise manner in which it is alive is very much up to debate between wandmakers. One must have a connection with their wand in order for it to work properly for them. There are a number of things that determine a wizard's connection to their wand, one of the strongest being ownership. For example, this wand is mine, and will continue to be mine unless someone, you for example, defeats me and claims it. If that were to happen, you would become the rightful owner of this wand. Do you understand so far?"

Halo nodded to show that he did. He had never seen a wizard fight, except in Mr. Potter's memory, but it wasn't a hard concept to understand.

"Ownership of the wand is universally accepted as being the strongest connection that one can have to a wand, but I am not so sure that it is. You see, from my earliest days of using magic, I noticed that there was something different about my wand. I was too young and inexperienced to realize it at first, and I became convinced that I was simply more skilled than anyone else. I admit, I was an extremely arrogant child, and it wasn't until I first came to this castle that I first began to realize that my abilities were not as amazing as I had always assumed."

"You came here?" Halo asked.

"Only for a year. When I was seventeen, I represented my school, Beauxbatons Academy, in the Triwizard Tournament on the eve of the Second Wizard War. I was sure that I was the strongest witch of my generation, since no one at Beauxbatons could match me, and I assumed that I would win the tournament with no difficulty. However, I did not account for a thin little boy of fourteen with glasses and a lightning scar on his forehead."

"Harry Potter!" Halo said excitedly, just like he always did whenever his idol was mentioned. He had only vaguely heard of this Triwizard Tournament thing she was talking about, but he wasn't surprised that Harry Potter had won it. Of course he had.

"The first task of the Tournament was the first time I really started to realize that my wand was special. Each of us had to get past a dragon and collect a golden egg that the beast was guarding. My Headmistress told me what to expect before the day of the task, but I refused her attempts to help me plan, arrogantly convinced that I knew what to do. I had never met anything or anyone that I couldn't enchant or distract with my mind-altering charms before, so I attempted to hypnotize the dragon. It worked, more or less, and I was able to retrieve my egg without too much difficulty. Afterwards, my Headmistress pulled me aside, looking very stern. She said that it was very lucky that I hadn't been killed, and that I had to be much more careful in the future. I didn't understand at first, until she told me that dragons were all but immune to mind-altering magic, and that it was a miracle my spell had worked at all. Madame Maxine said that there must have been something wrong with the dragon, and that is why my spell worked. I was not so sure though. It took me many years to figure out the truth, but I believe I know why I was able to charm the dragon that day, and why your wand has been trying to communicate with you. I call it Resonance."

"Resonance?" Halo asked. He wondered if it was a French word, or simply one that he had never heard before. Actually, it was both.

"Resonance is the amplification of certain forces by external factors. I know you are young, so I will explain it as simply as I can. It is when something is made stronger by the presence of something else. In this case, that something is magic, and it is being strengthened by a special connection to the wand's core."

"Special connection?" Halo asked looking at his wand.

"Yes, in my case it was my grandmaman's hair. Because I had a connection not just to the wand, but also to the being that had provided its core, it greatly increased my magical power whenever I used certain types of magic. Veela are known to be able to control and mislead men at will, and whenever I used my wand to mislead or control people's thoughts, those spells were extremely powerful. There was even a time, during the war, when my wand acted on its own. My husband and I were being chased by Death Eaters through the air. We tried to battle them off, but there were just too many. One of the Death Eaters aimed a curse at me, and neither of us had time to react to it. But in that instant, my wand moved on its own, and the Death Eater mistakenly fired the curse at one of his allies instead of me. My wand saved me that day, all on its own."

"Wow," was all Halo could think to say.

"I thought I imagined it at first, until my brother-in-law Harry told the story of what happened to him on the very same night. During the same battle, he was pursued by Voldemort and he found himself unable to escape. Just as Voldemort went in for the kill, Harry's wand moved on its own, releasing a powerful defensive spell that bought him enough time to escape. Harry was adamant that his wand had cast the spell on its own. At first even I didn't believe him, because I still didn't believe what my own wand had done, but as I thought about it more and more I realized that our wands must have been connected by a similar phenomenon. That phenomenon is what I call Resonance."

"But what does that have to do with my wand?" Halo asked, slightly confused. "It hasn't saved my life or cast any kind of magic like that. I mean, it did help guide me to that book and showed me how to cast the spell I needed when I destroyed the golem, but it didn't cast any magic on its own."

"You do not fully understand how it works," Madame Fleur said patiently. "When my wand acted on its own, it was to mislead and confuse the Death Eater who was attacking me. When Harry's wand acted on its own, it was to cast a powerful defensive spell to protect him. That is because the core of his wand is a phoenix feather, and phoenixes are known for their extremely powerful protective capabilities. But the core of Harry's wand wasn't just from any phoenix, it was from Headmaster Dumbledore's phoenix, a bird named Fawkes, who Harry had met several times and who had saved his life. He had a strong connection not just to his wand, but also to the being that had provided the core, just like I had. His wand acted on its own to protect him the way that Fawkes the phoenix would have, just like my wand protected me the way my grandmaman would have. And your wand has been guiding you to answers and teaching you, just as a sphinx would have. They are guardians of knowledge and secrets, so it is only natural that when your wand chose to act, it would be to reveal knowledge to you."

Halo considered this, and found that it actually made a lot of sense. It really did seem like his wand had been trying to teach him and show him things. Still, there was one problem that he couldn't figure out. "But I don't have any special connection to any sphinxes. I've never even seen a sphinx."

"That I cannot explain," Madame Fleur said, frowning as she considered the possibilities. "I think that perhaps your case is unique. You see, sphinxes are famous for their ability to see into the future. Since you are still so young, I would guess that you do indeed have a unique connection to a particular sphinx, you just don't have it yet."

It was Halo's turn to frown. He wasn't sure if that made any sense or not. There was, of course, no way to prove that it wasn't true, since he had no idea what might happen in the future. Still, why would his wand responded to him in a special way because of a connection that he hadn't even formed yet? That sounded way too strange.

"Now that you know of your wand's capabilities, I would urge you to be careful, Harry," Madame Fleur said, picking up Halo's wand again and examining it closely. "Your wand is indeed powerful, but that power comes at a cost. No matter how strong you are, you are not invincible. For someone who has resonance with their wand, magic drain is a far more serious problem then it is for the average witch or wizard. For most children, the amount of magic that they can use is far lower than the amount of power that their body can handle, so magic drain is irrelevant. For those of us with Resonance, thought, our wands can channel far more magic than normal at a young age, and sometimes it can overwhelm us. I overdid it several times during my first two years at Beauxbatons, and people thought that I was weak." Madame Fleur's eyes flashed in anger, and Halo could tell that it still bothered her. He could relate, but it didn't make him feel any better. Was she trying to tell him that he would just have to get used to passing out like this?

"I bet Harry Potter never passed out from using too much magic," Halo said moodily, glaring down at his wand in annoyance. He didn't even know the stupid sphinx that was causing all of this to happen to him.

"Actually he did," Madame Fleur said with a smile, as if she understood how much it would mean for him to hear that. "At the end of his first year, he almost died when too much magic surged through him. He told me about it much later. He willingly activated the ancient protection that his mother had placed on him when she died to save him and used the power to defeat Voldemort, who was possessing the body of a Hogwarts Professor. He also learned to cast the Patronus charm, a manifestation of the soul that protects you from dementors and other evils, at the unbelievably young age of thirteen, but not without passing out several times while learning it. And that night that Harry battled Voldemort and his wand saved his life, the wand used up so much magic that Harry again lost consciousness. He didn't know what it was at the time in any of those cases because he was raised by muggles and didn't even learn about magic drain until after he had left school, but he recognized the symptoms later and mentioned them to me when we discussed my theory. Resonance is extremely taxing on your body, and you have nothing to be ashamed of."

Halo smiled at her and nodded. He didn't feel bad anymore, not now that he knew that his hero had gone through the same things he had. If Harry Potter could deal with it, then so could he. Halo reached out to take his wand back, but Madame Fleur kept her hand on it and frowned at him sternly.

"Harry, I have said nothing because my dear sister-in-law asked me to come and help you, but I feel I must warn you not to be so reckless in the future. I don't know why you are doing such foolish things, all I know is that Ginny trusts you, and that is enough for me. When I first met her, I thought she was simply a foolish little girl, but she is nothing of the sort, and I long ago learned to trust her judgement. Be that as it may, I urge you to stop this foolishness. Your parents would be worried sick if they knew what you were up to."

Halo felt a surge of guilt that he had been repressing for weeks. He had told his parents nothing about what was happening. In fact, he hadn't even sent them a letter in quite a long time. He had only written a few words at the end of Cassy's letters, assuring them that he was doing well. Part of that had to do with his dislike (but not fear, definitely not fear) of owls, but mostly he was just feeling guilty. He didn't want to lie to his parents, so it was easier just to say nothing at all. Still, he knew that made him a terrible son.

Halo nodded and took his wand back, although he remained silent. He couldn't make the promise to stop acting recklessly, because he wasn't going to stop. Their task was far from over, and there was no way he was going to stop now. Too much depended on it. He thanked Madame Fleur profusely and left the room. He had a lot to think about.

Classes were over for the day by the time he left, and Halo wandered around the castle for a while, thinking about everything that was going on. He had been at Hogwarts for just under two months, and already his life was completely mad. He didn't have the Trace on him, which meant that he could use more magic than he ought to be able to use at his age. Then he had been sorted into Slytherin, despite the fact that it made no sense whatsoever to be in that house. It wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be, but it still made no sense to him. And now he apparently had a special connection with a sphinx that he hadn't met yet, which meant that his wand could act on its own. Oh, and then he had received an urgent message from a nine-year-old who could both see the future and talk to snakes, telling him that the world was going to end unless they could stop it. Then there was Cleo, the girl who had been tortured by her own mother and forced into developing powers that no one quite understood and that she couldn't quite control. He figured that no one could possibly have had a stranger first year at Hogwarts. Of course, if he'd known the details of Harry Potter's, Remus Lupin's or Ginny Weasley's first years he would have known that was not the case, but he didn't. Instead he continued to wander the castle, convinced that he was the oddest student that Hogwarts had ever seen with the certainty of an eleven-year-old boy who didn't know any better.

At last he returned to the Slytherin common room, feeling incredibly guilty and determined to write a letter to his parents. He wasn't mentally prepared to go up to the owlery to deliver it, but he figured that he could just convince someone else to do it. Cassy might be willing, or maybe he could make Courtney go. After all, she owed him.

After he gave the portrait of Professor Slughorn the password and the portrait reluctantly swung open, complaining about having to work so hard, Halo entered the common room. It was pretty empty, since it was still early in the afternoon. Atalanta was sitting by the fire, reading a book for class. When she saw him, she slammed the book shut and stormed out of the common room without a word. Halo had been wondering if she was still mad at him for nearly killing himself fighting the golem. That was clearly a yes. That was not going to end well for him. Halo sighed and climbed the staircase that led to the room he shared with Cleo.

Cleo wasn't there, which was hardly a surprise. She was probably in the library like usual. Halo sat down on his bed instead of sitting at the desk and started writing a letter to his parents. An hour later he had written a sentence, maybe two, and had five drafts crumpled up at the foot of his bed. He wasn't sure why it was so hard to talk to his parents, but it was. He just had no idea what to say to them. He couldn't tell them the truth, and he didn't want to lie.

An hour after Halo got back the door opened and Cleo tiptoed in. She had two sandwiches in her hand, which was a little odd. Halo stared at her in confusion as she walked over to him and sat at the foot of his bed, carefully avoiding sitting on his crumpled up letters, as if concerned that they might be important. Without looking at him, she held out both sandwiches to him and said, "Eat."

Halo opened his mouth to say that he wasn't hungry, but as soon as he thought about it he realized that wasn't the case. To his slight surprise, he was actually very hungry, he just hadn't been thinking about it. He hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch and had been about to skip dinner, which was definitely not a good thing. Sometimes he just forgot to eat.

He took the sandwiches obediently and ate them quickly, wondering how Cleo had known. Before he could ask, though, Cleo spoke up, which was something she had been doing more and more in recent weeks. It still didn't happen much, but she was positively chatty compared to what she'd been when Halo first met her.

"Atalanta told me to make sure you ate something," Cleo said, looking at him for a few seconds before dropping her eyes like she always did. "She also told me to say that she warned you that if you didn't stop acting like an idiot she was going to curse the stupid out of you. She said to be prepared to spend the rest of your life as a hamster. I think she might have been kidding."

Halo thought she probably was, but he still felt a nervous shiver run through his body. When it came to Atalanta, it was best not to take threats too lightly.

"You'll still be friends with me if I'm a hamster, won't you?" Halo asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Of course," Cleo said quietly, "I'll feed you and get a little wheel for you to run on and everything." She gave Halo a faint smile that he was almost too surprised to return. Cleo had just made another joke—her second one ever. And she actually had a pretty good sense of humour. Who would have guessed?

Cleo dropped her eyes again and her smile faded as she unconsciously rubbed her shoulder, which Halo knew was covered with scars and burns that her mother had given her. He felt hatred surge through him for the woman who had taken this normal, innocent girl and done her best to break her apart. The only thing that Halo could think was how glad he was that she hadn't quite succeeded.

"What are you doing?" Cleo asked, nudging the crumpled up papers with her foot.

"I'm trying to write a letter to my parents," Halo said, sighing loudly, "but it's not working. I don't know what to say to them. I can't tell them about anything that's been happening, or they would go out of their minds with worry."

Cleo didn't say anything for a while, and Halo was pretty sure she'd decided she was done talking for the day. That happened all the time, often quite abruptly. She wasn't quite done, though, and about five minutes later she suddenly said, "If it were me, I would just tell them about the boring, silly stuff I did every day. It wouldn't even matter what I said, it would just be nice to feel like I was talking to them."

Halo put his quill down and stared at her. He cursed himself and felt like such an idiot, talking about how hard it was to talk to his parents in front of her. At least he had parents. She had never even met her father, who had died serving Voldemort and her mother… it would have been better if she'd never met her mother either. Cleo'd never had any real parents, and she probably would have wanted very badly to be able to send a letter to someone who loved her. Cleo hid her sadness well, but Halo knew her well enough to see the way she was clenching her fist more tightly than normal. How could he have been so stupid?

"I know, I'll write about you," Halo said, picking his quill back up. His parents had never met Cleo, and he had barely mentioned her at all. That didn't seem right.

Cleo frowned at him, looking very sceptical. "I don't think they'll want to hear about me," she said quietly, retreating into her shell like she always did.

"Don't be silly," Halo said firmly. "Here, help me write it."

So the two of them worked into the evening, writing to his parents all about Cleo and being in Slytherin and how their classes were going. By the end of it Cleo was smiling—like a real smile that didn't fade after a few seconds—and Halo was smiling too. Cleo went off to deliver it to the owlery while Halo stayed behind. It wasn't because he was afraid to go with her, of course, he was, er, just too tired. That was it.

Cleo came back before too long, but her smile was long gone. She had that dead look in her eyes, and Halo could tell that someone had said something terrible to her in the hallway. Halo cursed himself again, wishing he'd gone with her. He wanted to say something to cheer her up, but when he opened his mouth Cleo just shook her head, which probably meant that she didn't want to talk, and sat down on the edge of his bed, looking miserable.

"Cleo, don't let them-" Halo tried to say, but she cut him off. Clearly, she did not want to talk about it.

"I'm tired," she announced, lying down on his bed and curling up next to him. "I'm going to sleep." She didn't say it, but Halo knew that she wanted him to stay by her. He could feel her shaking next to him, and he knew that if he left her alone she would have nightmares, and she might even lose control again. He couldn't let that happen, not because of something that some stupid student said to her, and so he just lay down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"It'll be all right, Cleo," Halo said, having no idea what else to say.

"Don't lie, Halo," she said quietly., "You know that's not true. Not for me."

Neither of them said any more, and after about half an hour Halo heard Cleo's breathing become steady. She had clearly fallen asleep, but Halo stayed up for a long, long time, trying to figure out what to do to help Cleo. He couldn't think of anything, but as he lay there in the darkness feeling Cleo shake in her sleep Halo promised he'd find a way to do something to help her. No matter what, he'd be on her side. It was the least he could do to pay her back for all the times she'd helped him. Halo eventually fell asleep, but it took a very long time.

The night wore on, but Cleo didn't stop shaking—not even for five minutes.