Harry opened his eyes to someone trying to wake him up. The morning light hit his face as it took a minute for his vision to adjust but by then he had realized he wasn't in his room back at the inn with Remus.
He sat up groaning as his entire body felt sore. He didn't know why as he looked around and found himself in a forest with a man beside him looking at him with worry. Harry remembered the events of last night and why he was here as he wondered what had happened.
"Are you okay?" the man asked sounding worried as he looked at Harry. Harry looked at him. The man looked young, probably in his mid-twenties or something. Harry found it weird seeing the man wear a cloak made out of grass but he didn't say anything.
"What happened?" Harry asked trying to stand up. His legs still felt weak but at least he could stand. The man supported him to a fallen tree where Harry sat and pondered on his condition, silently praying that Remus hadn't found out that he was missing from the room. He didn't want to lie to Remus or tell him the truth about the book…yet.
"I found you unconscious on the ground, that's what happened," the man said. "I am sorry. I take it that you are not from here. Is that right?"
"I came here with my uncle," Harry said, lying about the uncle part. He didn't want to tell a stranger everything about him. "I saw the forest and decided to discover without telling my uncle."
"Then I guess we better get you out of here before your uncle finds out about you," the man said, "if he hasn't already. The name's Sven, by the way," he said bringing his hand forward.
"Harry," Harry said shaking his hand. He didn't have to give someone his full name.
Sven helped him up on his foot when he noticed something fall from Harry's pocket. "Is that your broom?" he asked picking up the shrunken Cleansweep. Harry looked at him a bit surprised as Sven chuckled. "Yes, I know about wizards," he said. "I, myself am one," he said showing Harry his wand which looked more like a twig than a hand-made wand like Harry had seen in the shops and with others. "If you think you can fly then that's good. Don't take it as if I don't want to help you. I don't generally get along with people of this place as they think I am crazy," he said pointing to his cloak which he had sewn together from grass. "Hope you understand," he said. "I can get you as far as the edge of this forest, though."
"Thank you," Harry said as Sven handed him his brook as the two began to walk.
Ten minutes later Harry thought he might've missed something as they were already standing at the edge of the forest as he could see the highlands from there. He wondered if Sven had taken a shortcut and asked him the same to which he nodded.
"I've been living here my entire life so I know every inch of this place," Sven said proudly. "I suppose you can get by yourself from here then, Harry?" Harry nodded. "Alright, then. Be careful on that broom though."
"Thanks for getting me out of that forest quickly, Sven," Harry said as he got on his broom and flew towards the town center hoping Remus hadn't woken up yet. It was still early but like Harry Remus was also an early riser.
While on his broom Harry wondered what had happened and what was it that he seen last night in the forest. Not to mention, he didn't know why the book had sent him here. He looked at his pocket wondering if he should look at the book to see if there were any new instructions but decided against it. His priority for now was to head back as quickly as he could and hopefully avoid from letting Remus know of his last night's escapade.
Harry arrived and entered the inn as he shrunk his broom and put it in his pocket. He made sure to re-apply the silencing charm all over him as he quietly opened the door and saw Remus was still asleep. He sighed in relief as he went to bed pretending to sleep but last night's escapades and the soreness in his body quickly had him fall in deep slumber.
00000
Sven stood at the edge of the forest looking in the direction Harry had flown to when he heard someone walk up to him from behind.
"How did it happen?" the person behind him said as Sven turned around and looked at the hooded man.
"I know as much as you do," Sven said. "Could it be possible that it somehow escaped its containment?"
"It doesn't matter now," the man in the hood said. "What matters is it's inside him now and that is worrying. This has made things more difficult than I had imagined. It won't be easy getting it out of him."
"That will only happen if it wants to come out," Sven said. "If you force it the boy will die. I can still do it if you want." The man looked at him. "I'm just saying. This was your idea."
"Not to mention the spiritual load will be too much for him to handle if you do it," the man in the hood said. 'I will have to think of another way." He saw Sven looking towards the forest and sighed. "More kids?" the man asked.
Sven smiled slightly as he nodded. "Got to do my job," he said walking inside the forest.
The hooded man stood at the edge of the forest looking towards the port village. Perhaps a little nudge will let Harry figure things out. He was getting quite good at it after all.
00000
Harry was woken up by Remus. He opened his eyes and felt the soreness hadn't left. He scrunched his face because of the pain as Remus wondered what was wrong with him.
"Are you alright?" Remus asked. "You were sleeping like a log so I decide not to wake you up in the morning but it's close to ten now."
"I'm fine, Remus," Harry said realizing Remus had no idea that he wasn't here last night. He got off the bed and went into the bathroom to freshen up. A warm shower did sooth his body pain as he thought about what had happened last night. Those big red eyes, he wondered what was in that forest that he had encountered. He came out a few minutes later feeling a little bit better but not exactly relieved per say as he saw Remus getting ready.
"I thought we could go see about those scrolls while we're still here," Remus said. "That is, if you want to join me." Harry nodded in response and got some fresh clothes out of his bag to change into. Remus left to get them a table down in the diner as the inn was rather crowded so Harry used this opportunity to take out the book and see if there were any new instructions for him. He still didn't understand why the book had sent him to that place last night when nothing particularly happen except where he almost died.
He opened the book and saw there were just three words. "Scrolls – divine beasts," Harry read and wondered what the book meant when he remembered Remus talking about the scrolls. He also remembered seeing the words 'divine beasts' in the book back at the manor which talked about the basilisk. He had wondered what that meant back then as Remus told him there was no book in the library about the divine beasts.
'Perhaps those scrolls will give me something,' Harry thought as he quickly got ready and headed downstairs. Remus had saved him a spot as Harry noticed that the place was definitely filled up. They had their breakfast before Remus led them down deeper into the marketplace. Harry wondered where they were going when they arrived at a rather old looking part of the market. There were some buildings which looked as if they had been built hundreds of thousands of years ago.
"What is this place?" Harry asked.
"This place is known as Bibliotheca Mundi," Remus said, "which is Latin for 'World's Library'. The only one in the entire world, this place holds the records of almost every event and incident that took place since the creation of this world, as unbelievable or incredulous as it sounds."
"Who recorded them if they are as old as life itself?" asked Harry.
"The goblins did," Remus said. "They were among the first intelligent beings on this planet. It is because of that that the wizards attacked the goblins and holds a sour relationship with them."
"Why?" asked Harry.
"Because many things that the human wizarding community claims to have happened in the past is contradicted and proven wrong in these records," Remus said. "The goblins are of what you'd call a just nature. They believe in facts and truth which is why the wizarding community banished them from the society after the war took place. They realized they couldn't have things their way if the goblins were given equal importance and positions in the society but they also couldn't ignore their just and honest nature so it was decided that the goblins would, instead, handle all the money of the wizarding community. And so in every magical nation the goblins are the ones who run the banks. The wizards are carefree of their money because they know the goblins would never steal from them unlike other wizards would as is the human nature."
"That is just unfair for the goblins," Harry said.
"It is," Remus said, "but you can't change it in a whim. All the great powers sitting at the top won't let you. There's enough discrimination that they will see to it that one never tries to give a magical creature an equal or recognizable place in the society."
Harry knew what Remus meant by that. Being a werewolf himself Remus had faced the discrimination and although he was now Harry's proxy and was now given all the care a werewolf needed other werewolves weren't so lucky.
Harry followed Remus into one of the old buildings and realized that even though from outside these buildings looked like they would collapse anytime but from the inside they were still maintained as if they had been built recently.
There were shelves and racks everywhere filled with scrolls and old books. Harry couldn't believe the size of this place as it had definitely been magically enlarged to house that many scrolls and books. If he were to compare this place's size he would say it was at least twice in size compared to the entire Hogwarts castle if not more and it made sense because it was meant to keep the records of an infinite number things that happened ever since the world's creation.
"It's something, isn't it?" said Remus looking around. He wasn't as surprised as Harry because he'd been here before once with Sirius and James in their fourth year summer break but even this time he couldn't help himself getting mesmerized from the grandness of this place.
"Isn't there anyone looking after them?" Harry asked realizing he had seen no one at the entrance. "What if someone decides to steal these scrolls or destroy the place?"
"The wards around this place are the strongest," said Remus. "It was built by the goblins keeping in mind the treacherous and jealous nature of us humans. Try picking up any scroll or book and walk out of here."
Harry looked at him as if Remus was joking but saw he was serious. "It wouldn't curse me or anything, would it?" he asked. Remus shook his head so Harry went ahead and picked up a scroll and headed for the exit. As soon as he stepped out of the place the scroll in his hand burnt completely but Harry didn't feel the heat of the flames at all, although, he was surprised seeing the scroll catch on fire that and let it fall on the ground.
The scroll burnt completely without a trace before hitting the ground as Harry turned to look at Remus who was smiling. "Look there," Remus said pointing to where Harry had picked up the scroll from and he saw that the scroll was there, sitting unharmed as if no one had touched it. His eyes widened with surprise as Remus smiled. "You are standing in one of the most secure places in the entire world, Harry," Remus said. "The wards and security of even Hogwarts is incomparable to this place. Not even the unforgivable curses can penetrate the wards surrounding these buildings and believe it or not it can even withstand a muggle nuke if it exploded right on top of this place."
Harry couldn't believe this. "So how come there's no mention of this place in any of the books?" he asked.
"Like I said, the records on these scrolls contradict many of the laws and facts set up by us wizards," Remus said. "The magical governments around the world – to make sure no one ever came to know about this place – tried various different things like attempting to destroy the place, use the curse breakers to breach the wards and even hide it but the magic around this place protected it. So the only thing they could do was to erase any and all evidence they had about this place. All the books, pieces of news, everything which had a mention of this place and what it contained was confiscated and destroyed so that no one would ever be able to find this place."
Harry realized now why he hadn't seen anyone in this area. "So how did you come to know about this place?" he asked looking at Remus.
"Barefang told us, or rather your father about the existence of this place," Remus said. "Like I said, this place was built by the goblins so they all know about its existence. I suppose you know about your family's relationship with the goblins?" Harry nodded. "It was because of that trust that Barefang told your father about this place. James never told us why he went asking about this place but one day during the summer break of our fourth year he wrote letters to me and…and Peter," Harry didn't miss the tinge of anger when Remus said that name, "and invited us to visit this place with him and Sirius who was living with your father ever since our second year."
Harry knew about that as Sirius had told him how his family had somewhat 'disowned' him after learning that he had been sorted into Gryffindor and not Slytherin. Harry's father and grandparents took Sirius in after that and he lived with his father until they graduated from Hogwarts.
"That was the first and only time I ever came to this place until now when you mentioned wanting to visit Gairloch," he said.
Harry looked around the place and its vastness. "So everything is recorded here," he said.
"Everything, indeed," Remus said. "But you can only read them here as you have already realized. Is there something on your mind that you wish to figure out at this place?"
"If it's alright with you," Harry said looking at him, "I would like to keep that to myself for the time being."
Remus nodded. "You are the one who saved me, Harry and even though you are just eleven years old I have come to know ever since I met you that age shouldn't be a means to judge someone's character or understanding of things."
"Thank you for understanding, Remus," Harry said feeling relieved hearing that.
"I guess I'll leave you to it, then," Remus said as he walked towards another section looking around.
Harry looked around before taking out the book from his bag. A smile came upon his face when he saw instructions to which scroll shelf he needed to go in order to find what he was looking for. And so he headed even deeper into the building as he saw more and more shelves filled with scrolls and books. If one wasn't careful enough they could get lost in here, such huge was this place.
Harry looked for the particular shelf which the book had mentioned and found it at almost the very end of the place. He then started to look for the scroll and soon found it. He pulled it out and untied the thread, unrolling it. He saw the scroll contained what appeared to be a name of some book along with the shelf it was in. Harry looked around and spotted the shelf and walked over to it, looking for the book when he found it.
He pulled it out. It was a thick book and looked to contain about at least five thousand pages from what he could gather by looking at the index. He looked at the topics when he came across one about divine beasts and turned open that page. He noticed not much was given about what the divine beasts were. There was hardly ten pages worth of material on them so Harry found a place to sit and began reading about them.
The divine beasts, the book said, were the first intelligent beings to rule on this world even before goblins, elves or humans. The book didn't talk about how many there were but it said that each one of them was of a different kind, a kind of their own. They were all immortals and had come to this world from the realm of spirits – a world or reality of higher beings. They came to this world to shape it for sustaining life, and hence, the present day world came into existence.
Harry realized that by 'present' the book meant of the time when it was written by the goblins. The book about basilisks which Remus had found back at the manor's library said that the basilisk was also a divine beast but Harry didn't understand how because this book said that each divine beast was one of its kind and a basilisk, although a very rare magical creature, wasn't so. They were known to be common magical creatures hundreds of years ago until the wizards started hunting them down for their poison, scales and other invaluable organs. Even their bones were very costly and extremely rare today.
But if what this book said was true then Harry wondered if these divine beasts were capable of reproducing their own offspring but he didn't find anything related to it in the book. As he read further the book talked about how powerful these beasts were and that they were the ones which brought what people termed as 'magic' into this world only that 'magic' was their own power which they had shared with some of the beings when they shaped this world for life it had today. The goblins, humans, elves and other magical creatures learned about this power when they were born with it and manipulated it as per their will and thus the magic of the present day came into existence.
As Harry turned to the next page he saw it was missing along with a few more pages. Someone had taken them as there was evidence of those pages being torn from the book. He didn't understand how someone could just take pages from a book out of this place because as Remus had showed him it was impossible.
There were three pages missing and these pages were from the topic of divine beasts. Harry looked up at the shelf from where he had picked up the book from and wondered if the pages were there. He searched as much as he could but he found nothing. It was impossible to look for them in the entire place in here as there were countless books and scrolls and since no magic from the outside worked in here searching for those pages would have to be done by hand and that will take his entire lifespan.
Harry wanted to know more about these divine beasts as he looked for other books but he found none that talked or had any kind of records on them when he heard Remus call his name. He realized he had been reading the book for well over an hour as he looked at it. He scowled, unable to completely read about those divine beasts as he put it back from where he had gotten it before joining Remus as they left the place.
Harry returned back to the inn and the first thing he did was check his book but there was nothing in it. The book's instruction for him to find about the divine beasts had come to an abrupt halt because of those missing pages and he wondered where he could get them or who took them from a secure place like that.
00000
Dumbledore looked up from Ariana's coffin as he sensed his arrival. Years of experience told him he had acquired another one after their last meet.
Grindelwald entered the room where Dumbledore sat looking at his sister. "If you need to, you know you can ask for my help and I will help you anytime, Albus," he said as he looked at Ariana. He noticed the runes had been recharged as he smiled faintly. "You should let her go," he said. "You know she won't choose a male vessel. Due to the nature of her existence a man cannot forcefully absorb her. You are wasting the time of all three of you by keeping her imprisoned in your sister's body. Let your sister rest in peace."
"You know I can't," Dumbledore replied.
"You couldn't even absorb your phoenix which as it happened, came to you," Grindelwald said. "What makes you think you can absorb the others?"
"How was your hunt, Gellart?" Dumbledore asked.
"How do you think?" he replied with a sigh knowing his efforts to make Dumbledore understand was in vain. "I know you can sense it within me so you know how my hunt went."
"Are you sure you are not overdoing yourself?" Dumbledore said. "Absorbing one more will kill you."
"You are saying that because you are jealous," Grindelwald said. "You've always been of everyone who got what you wanted. Your desire to go after them but you couldn't because you had to look after her," he said looking at Ariana. "Because of that you came to hate your brother from within who continued his studies and gained popularity which you wished for yourself." Dumbledore could feel Grindelwald's power rise with his anger. "You knew Ariana wasn't stable because of what is inside her. It chose her when she was born but her body and magic was not enough to handle its presence and so it started to affect her! You let it happen which resulted in your parents being killed at her hands which broke her even more. You didn't intervene because your parents told you to take care of her when you wanted to go around the world looking for them…to make an image for yourself. In your ignorance and your brother studying in Hogwarts she grew up without a parent, unstable, locked and chained down because of her powers. You knew I could fix her, make her better but you didn't even let that happen because of your petty feelings."
"My feelings weren't petty!" Dumbledore said angrily as he stood up, letting out a powerful shockwave because of his magical outburst.
Grindelwald looked at him as his lips formed a sad smile. "You can't even threaten me with that puny magic of yours," he said. "You say you care about your feelings? What about mine? You know how much I loved Ariana so you went ahead and almost killed her in order to get her out of your way to get to me. If you are still expecting me to change my feelings towards her then you…are…dead…wrong."
Dumbledore stepped back as his eyes widened with shock and mouth opened agape. Grindelwald transformed right in front of him revealing to him his latest hunt – the wendigo. "You know what this is, don't you, Albus?" he said as he stared down at him. Dumbledore could feel the deadly aura emitting from Grindelwald's changed form as he saw nothing but death in front of him.
"No!" he gasped before apparating away in a hurry.
Grindelwald changed back and turned to look at Ariana. "I am sorry if you sensed it," he said. "I let go of my emotions a little bit there. I will be going now. Take care, Ari," he said as he raised his hand and cast a protective shield around her, one which Dumbledore wouldn't be able to break before he vanished right in front of Dumbledore's eyes.
00000
Harry and Remus returned back to the manor after spending a week in Gairloch. Remus found and bought many books and records that were for sale which he carefully put in the manor's library.
For Harry things had been a little different. Ever since his weird experience in that forest on the first night in Gairloch Harry's magic had been acting strangely. He didn't tell Remus about it but knew he would figure it out once they resumed his training.
Every time he would try to cast even a simple spell it wouldn't work properly. His control on the casting was slippery than before. Even a simple spell such as lumos took him many tries before he could cast it perfectly. He didn't know what had happened to his magic but it definitely had to do what happened to him that night in the forest.
He looked at the date and realized Daphne and Astoria will be coming to train with him starting tomorrow. He had already told Remus and the man was more than happy to teach all three of them, although, for Astoria he figured he might not be able to focus on entirely considering she was still too young so Helena had offered to come along with her daughters to the manor to teach Astoria some basic spells as the youngest Greengrass wanted to practice with her sister. Harry didn't mind having the three Greengrass ladies in his manor as he only asked if Matthias would be joining them which he said he would but during the weekends.
It was the middle of the night when Harry woke up and headed down to the basement. He secured the place using the pre-activated runes to make sure the noise wouldn't leave the basement before he set up a target and began practicing basic spells at it.
He tried and tried for at least a hundred times out of which he could properly cast only a few times and even in that he hit the target just twice. He was losing control over his magic and that scared him, not because he couldn't cast many a times when he used spells but because a few times even the most basic spells which he used to hit the target turned out to be overpowered and while they didn't hit the target they did hit the wards around the basement and almost broke them down.
Harry stopped after two of his spells tuned out to be like that but he noticed something strange. He wasn't out of breath or feeling tired. Those spells clearly held enough power to wear him down even after just one cast but he had managed two along with almost a hundred other normally powered spells half of which didn't hit the target while the other half never happened. He didn't know what was happening. Perhaps one of the books in the library would have the answers to his problems. He didn't want to tell Remus, at least if this could be solved without his help as Harry was sure he would end up telling him about his late night visit into that forest and about the book following Remus' further questioning.
He didn't want to lie to him so he thought better to hide things from him for the time being.
00000
The next morning Daphne arrived along with her mother and sister at Harry's place. This was the first time Daphne and Astoria was seeing his place and both were surprised how huge the manor was. It made sense seeing how the Potters were an ancient and noble house but unlike Daphne who didn't express her surprise and awe of the place using her words Astoria did and that resulted in Harry, Remus and Helena chuckling at the young girl.
"How do you like it?" Harry asked Daphne.
"It's nice," Daphne replied with a straight face. "So, when do we start?" she asked.
Harry led her and Astoria down into the basement while Remus and Helena said they would join them in a while. Daphne realized that the basement was even bigger than the manor. She also didn't fail to notice the many ancient and historic things which filled the manor as she made her way from the living hall to the basement.
She also noticed that the basement was lined with several wards; all powered by rune stones which she knew took power from the manor's wards around the estate. She also noticed another set of rune stones whose rune carvings she didn't recognize. She figured those were for that time warping ward that Harry had mentioned when he had invited her to train with him.
"This is a very apt place for spell practice," she said walking around. Her voice echoed in the emptiness of the place. Astoria was simply running around, screaming and shouting words, playing with her own echo which Harry found funny. She was, after all, only nine years old.
"The open space allows us to cast almost any type of spell," Harry said. "And as you might've guessed the wards prevent from any damage. But there's an even better place than this where you can train to your heart's extent. It wouldn't matter what spell you cast in that place unlike down here where you are limited by a few dark curses and not to mention the unforgivables."
"And what place is that, Potter?" she asked, curious to know if this manor housed such a kind of place. Honestly she was a bit jealous but didn't let Harry see it.
"It's back at Hogwarts," Harry said, "on the seventh floor across the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy."
"I've been on that floor but I saw no such room across that tapestry," she said. "It's just an empty wall with carvings."
"It's a hidden room," he said. "You wouldn't normally see it unless you really need to use it. The house elves of Hogwarts call it the 'come and go' room but it's actually called the 'room of requirement'."
"Room of requirement?" she asked sounding amused.
"I know it sounds absurd but that room can provide you with almost any scenario you can wish for but within reasons," he said, "like if you're missing your home, you can ask it for your own room and it will change into the room of your desire but you need to have a clear picture of what kind of thing or place you want that room to provide or change into. I will show it to you once we go back to Hogwarts."
Daphne saw as Remus and her mother arrived in the basement. "Are you guys ready?" Remus said.
"Will we be using the time ward, Remus?" Harry asked.
"We can but I can't see the need for it right now," he replied. "I mean, I don't know how much Daphne already knows in terms of what kind of spells we've already practiced so I was thinking once you both are on the same level we can amp things up a bit and then use the time ward to utilize time more efficiently."
"I think that's a good idea," Harry said.
"So, Daphne," Remus said looking at her, "why don't you show me what spells you know and we can start from there?"
Daphne nodded before she walked to a more empty space while Remus set up a smaller ward around her so that she wouldn't accidently hurt someone. While she demonstrated all the spells she knew Helena took Astoria to another corner of the basement where she taught her youngest daughter about the very basics of magic.
An hour later Daphne was done showing all she knew in terms of spells and charms casting. Harry noticed that most of it was what they'd learnt at Hogwarts in their first year but her was only more refined. She was definitely more of an efficient spell caster and he couldn't ignore the control she had on her incantations.
"That was a great demonstration," Remus said. "I see you've grasped your first year's spells quite nicely. I couldn't seem to miss your incantations and I have to say I am impressed with the level of control and efficiency you showed in those incantations." She gave a small smile. "Now, do you know any dark spells or curses?" he asked.
"If you are referring to the unforgivables then I can give them a try," she said.
"Let's…not jump to the bad once on our first day," Remus said. She smirked while Harry smiled at her sense of humor. "How about something a little less dangerous than the unforgivables?" he asked.
"I know the slicing and exploding curses," she said. Remus appeared surprised but he conjured a target. Daphne knew what he needed from her as she cast a slicing hex, separating the target in the middle with a clean cut. She then proceeded with a swift body movement which neither Harry nor Remus failed to miss as she cast the exploding curse taking out both parts of the target at the same time. She then stood straight and looked at her result while breathing a bit harder.
Remus couldn't believe his eyes but that was sort of expected as being from a noble family she was supposed to know such spells. What impressed him was her movement while casting those spells and he commended and asked her about them. She told him that her father taught her some of the dueling styles which she had then combined with some of the dance movements her mother had taught her because a good noble lady should know how to dance.
Harry was also impressed but what caught his attention was her control over her use of magic. He wondered if he could ask her to teach him how to do it considering he had been experiencing some difficulties in that regard. He also noticed, just like Remus had, how Daphne seemed a little out of breath. Remus was explaining to her the reason behind that as Harry listened from a few feet back.
"…it seems it's not about your control," Remus continued. "I haven't seen someone of your age so proficient and skilled in casting such spells before. Your father taught you well and not to mention you combining the dance moves with your dueling style was genius."
"Thanks," she said.
"But there seems to be a problem and I think you know what that is?" he said looking at her.
Daphne nodded. "It's my stamina," she said.
"Well, your incantations and spell casting were almost perfectly controlled," Remus said, "so the reason for your low stamina can't come from you putting too much power behind your spells. So the only other thing that makes sense is your core."
"My core?" she asked.
Remus nodded. "It seems your core needs a little bit of a nudge as it's not that powerful from what I can tell seeing your demonstration just now. I am surprised as that is the case seeing your caliber. Do you not practice often?" she shook her head. "That makes sense. You are well versed in casting a good amount of low-powered spells but heavy spells like some dark curses take a toll on your core. It seems we'll have to work on your core's development so I guess I will have to give you some homework," he said smiling.
"Homework?" Daphne asked.
"Nothing much but a little exercise to build up your core," he said.
"And where do I stand compared to him?" she asked looking at Harry who was looking at Helena and Astoria at that moment.
Remus saw and smiled. "He doesn't have the level of proficiency and control on his spell casing and incantations like you but his core is a lot stronger," he said. "I would say in a duel between you and him you would easily win but in terms of how much power you give behind each of your spells Harry takes the reward there." She nodded understanding. "So there are a few things that you will have to do a bit different than Harry but I know where to start you two together."
Their training came to an end about two hours later and Harry was lucky he didn't have to cast any spells in front of Remus today. It was Daphne who did all the spell castings and incantations while Remus told them about some of the basic principles of spell casting just to revise things up as Harry's training was also interrupted because of their little week-long trip.
When the class came to an end Harry walked over to Daphne once Remus had left to check on Astoria and Helena to see how they were doing. She looked at him with raised brows wondering what he wanted.
"Hey, Daphne," he said, "I was wondering if you could teach me how you control your incantations and spells."
She smirked. "What, you don't know how to control your spells, Potter?" she asked.
"Well, I do but…" he stopped as he cast a lumos which flickered. They both had to close their eyes due to it flickering right in front of their eyes. Harry cancelled the charm which also took a bit of time than it normally would have. "See, what I mean?" he said.
"Your control on magic is worse than a two year old," she said. "What happened? I thought I heard good things about you from Remus."
"Something happened to me and I don't know what," he said. "Don't tell Remus about this but I can't seem to control my magic ever since we both returned from our little trip. I was thinking maybe I would figure out what happened to me and hopefully fix it before Remus could know but it's not easy. I don't know what happened and now my magic is all weird and out of control. Seeing you control your magic today made me think perhaps you would be able to help me."
Daphne thought about what he said. She knew he wasn't lying or pranking her because messing up a limos charm like Harry had a minute ago was impossible. You either cast a lumos or you don't. It's straightforward. No one's magic can make a lumos charm flicker. "Why won't you tell Remus, though?" she asked. "I am sure he can be a lot more help to you than I can."
"I…I just can't," Harry said. She stared at him with a questioning look. He sighed. "Look, if I go to ask his help he will want to know about what happened and while I might have a little bit of an idea about that I can't tell him, at least not yet."
"And what is it that happened which caused your magic to go all weird and strange?" she asked.
"I can't tell you either," he said looking defeated. "Look, you have to help me. At least tell me how you learnt to control your magical flow like that and I will make it work."
"Make it work," she scoffed. Harry frowned. "How I do that is not some trick, Potter," she said. "In noble families there are a lot of family secrets which the members of the family can't risk letting others know otherwise it may cause their enemies to know of their weaknesses. So in order to prevent that from happening the noble family heads teach their children how to defend their memories from others because it's quite common to steal information from someone using mind spells. It's called legilimency and a proficient and powerful magic user can use it just by looking into a person's eyes and that person wouldn't even know what the man in front of him is reading his thoughts and memories.
"To stop that from happening the noble family's kids are taught the art or the ability of occlumency. It is the opposite of legilimency where one forms protection around their memories or arrange them in ways that a legilimence user will find it difficult to steal information from them."
"So occlumency helps you control your magical outflow?" Harry asked.
"Call it a side-effect of occlumency," Daphne said. "To learn it you have to calm your thoughts and rearrange your memories. If you master that then controlling your magic will come naturally to you. Ask Remus to teach it to you. He will leave everything and teach you that first because he knows its importance. I am surprised he didn't start with that. All the noble families' kids are taught occlumency first. Even Astoria knows how to do that."
"If you are forgetting I didn't exactly have a noble upbringing," Harry said.
"Sorry," she said.
"Thank you, for telling me though," Harry said. "I really mean it."
"Don't mention it," she said and smiled. Harry realized how pretty she looked with a smile on her face.
"You should smile more often. It looks good on you," he went ahead and said it before realizing what he'd done and quickly headed over to where Remus, Helena and Astoria were.
Daphne stood there processing what Harry had just said to her. She was shocked that he had told her that but she was surprised she didn't feel angry or mad about it. She felt good about of it and she didn't know why. She shrugged it aside as she, too, joined the others as they all headed upstairs.
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Thanks for reading…