"Welcome back students," the history professor greeted warmly. "Ah, and we have a transfer in this class, don't we? Mister White, allow me to explain how our classes work. I believe that reading can be done in your own time, and thus will expect you to read up on a prescribed subject every week before class. During class time, we will debate or discuss the subject prescribed. Today's topic is on Grindelwald's war, in particular whether he was doomed to fail. I will allow you to merely watch for today, though in future you are expected to contribute to the class."
"Understood, professor," Harry nodded, taking a seat. The man smiled, before turning to the class.
"Who would like to begin?" Several hands shot up. "Mister Perkins?"
"The campaign was doomed to fail because of the superior amount of resources available to the coalition once the Americans joined. Grindelwald was unable to effectively strike American targets consistently, while with Britain as a launchpad, Europe was within striking distance for the coalition."
"An excellent opening, mister Perkins. Who would like to counter? Miss Estrange?"
"The Americans' strikes were only so effective because most of Grindelwald's elite magical forces were shifted over to the far East with the muggle invasion of Russia. Had that not happened, it is unlikely Grindelwald's war would have failed. At worst, they would have stalemated, controlling all of Europe."
"A worthy rebuff. Another counter? How about you, miss Potdam?"
"The invasion of Russia was inevitable given that was Grindelwald's main goal. Furthermore, the Soviets were magically inferior in strength. Their numbers were quickly bled dry by Grindelwald's forces, so it cannot truly be attributed as a factor."
"An...acceptable critique of the argument. Counter? Mister Romul?"
"The magicals had managed to empower the Ardennes counteroffensive in spite of problems on the muggle side, and were it not for Dumbledore's joining of the war at the time, along with the sacrifice of General Veers, they might well have succeeded. To suggest that luck is the reason that they lost seems foolish."
"Excellent." Several more minor points were brought up, though the debate quickly spiraled into a debate on the significance of the point rather than bringing up new ones. Near the end of the class, Harry raised his hand.
"Yes, Mister White?"
"In my opinion, Grindelwald was doomed because his strategy was fundamentally flawed. The conflict exhibited between wizards is fundamentally different from the warfare seen during the Great War. Due to magic, wizards and witches are force multipliers, and best used in high mobility warfare and employed in surgical strikes. Grindelwald didn't need to conquer Britain, he simply needed to hold on long enough until war fatigue hit. As an exporter of many magical products, Europe had a distinct advantage in self-sufficiency, on the magical side, at least. However, by limiting his operations largely to where the muggle Nazis had managed to invade, he held himself back from achieving true victory, and muggle weakness became his forces' own. Grindelwald could have shifted to a guerilla strategy once Normandy happened, yet too interwoven and dependent on muggles, their failures became his campaign's. Had he ensured self-sufficiency for resources from the muggles, it is very likely that he could have triumphed. His strategy of lightning strikes, mirroring that of the muggles, was based on the muggles' resource scarcity, rather than the Alliance's situation."
"Bravo, mister White, bravo! Take two points. Where, may I ask, did you find this point from?"
"It was a logical progression, sir. By studying both the magical and muggle side, I identified parallels in strategy that should not have existed based on the resource situation. The coincidence that Grindlewald's campaign was destroyed shortly before the muggle Nazis' was first inspired this, but there are many examples that could have encouraged a deeper examination, professor"
"Impressive," professor Warwick acknowledged, turning to the students. "While many of you continue to remain ignorant of the muggles, mister White brings an excellent point. Our affairs are inextricably interwoven with that of the muggles, whether we like it or not. Thus, it is important to study them. I would suggest you all read some muggle literature, they call it the 'Second World War'."
"Yes professor," the class chorused, some clearly more enthusiastic than others, though it was a testament to the respect and adoration of their professor that even notorious blood purists did not outright complain.
"Excellent, seeing as I am in an excellent mood, why don't you leave early for your next class?"
The class filed out, several classmates shooting appreciative glances towards Harry. Katerina was waiting outside for him. "How did you know that?"
"Studying the enemy was an important part of my life in the Union," he explained, causing her to nod in understanding. "I believe you have armithacy next while I have Runes. I'll meet you outside the alchemy library before we go to the Quidditch pitch together?"
"Agreed," she nodded, waving goodbye as she descended down the set of stairs while he ascended it, passing the charms floor and going up another set of stairs to arrive at the runes classroom. He saw group of several older students gathered outside the classroom, and walked towards them.
"Oh, the transfer. Are you lost?" one of the older girls asked kindly. Harry shook his head amusedly.
"This is sixth year runes, isn't it?"
"Impossible, no one in the past ten years has managed to skip a level in runes," one of them chortled. He shrugged. Several pitying glances were sent his way before the door opened, revealing professor Aribage.
"Come in, come in," he waved, "no point in dallying. We're going to have so much fun today."
Harry took a seat near the back corner, perfect for observing the entire room and close to the second door of the room that also served as an entrance or exit. After a quick roll call of the roughly twenty students, remarkably small for a school this size, the professor drew a set of runes on the board.
"Snap revision time, mister Lewo, what is this rune?" he pointed to a lightning bolt.
"Sowilo, the sun," he answered, causing the professor to nod.
"Mister Leo, this one."
"Gebo, gift."
"Miss Raman."
"Jera, bountiful harvest."
"Excellent, it seems you've been keeping up with your reading. Today, we're going to look at the Armitage chain. Can anyone tell me its purpose? Ah, miss Croft?"
"It serves as a bridge between the latch and the initiator," the same girl who had asked if he was lost answered.
"Correct as always," the professor complemented, causing the girl to beam, "I see you have read ahead. For two points, tell me what a paradox reflux can be caused by."
"Incomplete ruins, improper bridging…I'm...not sure professor," she ground out grudgingly. The professor let out a sympathetic nod.
"Don't feel down, I was just testing you, the third one i-mister White?"
"When the refractive index of the runic sequence surpasses one," he answered, drawing blank stares from most of the class and a gobsmacked look from the professor.
"That's...correct," he sputtered out in disbelief. "May I ask how you know this?"
"Reading ahead, sir," he shrugged, causing the man to nod dumbly. He could feel a frown coming from Croft, but paid it little attention. "I'm admittedly fascinated by runes."
"Excellent to hear, perhaps you would like to move next to miss Croft?" he offered. Harry nodded in agreement, grabbing his bag and moving to the seat adjacent to her. As the professor began lecturing, he offered his hand.
"Harry White, pleasure to meet you."
"Alana Croft, likewise," she agreed, proffering her hand. He pulled it down for a kiss, drawing a slight blush from her.
"While I do love pairing off my students, perhaps you could save the romance for afterwards?"
"Apologies professor, I'm fully aware you were mentioning the chipping phenomenon, though I would like to point out that technically speaking chipping is not included in theoretical calculations not because it is impossible to calculate, but because it is unpredictable. In longer periods of years or decades, extrapolation can give a rough estimate of chipping, thus it would be inaccurate to say it is impossible," Harry supplied easily, half an ear having been paying attention to the lecture. Both the professor and Alana looked shocked.
"My...apologies, yes, you are, of course, correct, though I wouldn't expect such knowledge from any student…" he muttered out loud, before shaking himself out of his stupor. Why don't you two get started on drawing out a sequence? There's no point in you two dallying."
He tapped a rune on their table, causing a ward to flare up and contain their voices.
"How did you do that?" Alana demanded. He merely chuckled.
"Multitasking is a gift of mine, just as beauty is yours."
"Flattery won't get you far with me," she chided sternly. "What exactly is the refractive index?"
"Okay, so think of the set of runes like a series of mirrors that bounce light off them. As you add or remove runes from certain sections, you're essentially shifting the beam slightly. With a few modifications, the rune will still work, and in some situations the lowered efficacy is actually desirable. The best case of this would be bleed fuelling, used in the construction of ley line canals."
"So that's how they work," she exclaimed, impressed before blushing. "Sorry, go on."
"Nonsense, this is a conversation, not just me monologuing. I won't say no to hearing more of your lovely voice," he chuckled at her creeping blush. "Back to the analogy. When you move and change the lens sufficiently, the beam does not make it to the end. This is when the refractive index is over one."
"Over?"
"I admittedly generalised a bit. In most cases, the ideal refractive index would be zero, where the beam travels perfectly. However, this is only theoretical, because the use of materials, the presence of ambient magic and the degradation of runes, or chipping, all cause inefficiencies. By most standards, you want the refractive index to be under a fifth for the best results, these would be the Gringotts level of precision. Under half is considered acceptable in most circles. Amateurs generally will achieve under four fifths. Anything below that is usually unusable. However, there is a danger. When the index is perfectly one, there has been a phenomenon known as crackling, where magic is channeled backwards after being reflected. This build up of magic creates a crackling sound, and a build up can lead to a magical explosion."
"How...do you know all this?" she asked in awe. He shrugged.
"I was the best rune student in my old school, I got some special treatment from the professor there, admittedly. I'd be happy to do sessions with you and any friends you have, if you're interested."
"That would be great!" she exclaimed happily, before blushing, "Sorry, I'm just always excited to learn about runes, it's so rare to find anyone else interested."
"Enthusiasm is always appreciated," Harry waved off her concerns. "Seeing as we're wasting time doing this exercise, why don't you tell me about your project and we can work a bit on it?"
"Alright, I want to modify the existing rune sequence of Omnistar-Apex-Windor to channel energy into one centralised focus rather than three separate anchors," she explained, before quirking an eyebrow at his frown.
"Some friendly advice, first, never give out your project without assurances. I'm giving you my word that I'm not going to use your idea right now, but others in my position may have taken it," he warned, causing her to duck her head in embarrassment. "Be careful with what you say among those you cannot trust."
"And can I trust you?" she returned.
"You've already toss the dice, my dear," he chuckled. "Luckily for you, I'm far more interested in a long relationship...no, not romantic, at least not for now don't look at me like that!"
Harry gave a sigh as her face contorted through a bevy of emotions before settling on confusion. "Others are going to use you for your knowledge, be careful what you give away, okay? I've seen too many people manipulated into doing stupid things that hurt them."
He didn't mention that he was often the one manipulating while as Raven.
At her nod, he gave her a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder. "But now, let's look at your idea. Do you study armithacy?"
She nodded. "Seventh year."
"Good, this will make it easier then," he smiled, sending a shiver up her spine. What do you know about the armithic composition of Omnistar?"
"It's based on the number six."
"Why?"
"Because it's one of seven and in the pursuit of the natural state it naturally absorbs ambient magic."
"Good, now what is the armithic composition of Apex?"
"Three?"
"Try again."
"Um...twenty seven?"
"Good, three sets of three sets of three, remember that. Three by three by three, how many channels?"
"Twenty seven?"
"So what's the energy index for each channel?"
"One over twenty seven."
"And how much energy to upstep from one over twenty seven to one over nine?"
"Um…"
"In comparison to jumping from one over nine to one over three then?"
"Um…" she looked embarrassed when she couldn't figure out an answer. He tilted her head up and offered a reassuring smile.
"Don't be down, we all start somewhere," he assured. "That you came up with such a goal is a testament to your creativity. I wouldn't have even thought to do such a thing. The answer is exponential. Working in three dimensions, the power jump would be the power taken for the existing one cubed."
"That much energy!" she exclaimed in surprise. "He nodded. Three sets of three sets of three is more powerful than three sets of three exponentially more than three sets of three is more powerful than one set of three. This means the upstepping from the first to the second takes far less energy, because the base state composite requires less to compensate. Following?"
"Yep, and by the Alder principle energy wants to be in smaller denominations based on this," she concluded. He gave an impressed and approving hum.
"Precisely. What's the potential power left in the OA chain?"
"Roughly...twenty six percent?"
"Roughly, definitely orders of magnitude away from what is needed to even think of the power jump. What can we conclude?"
"That my project won't work," she sighed glumly, looking up in confusion when he shook his head.
"No, you have found one method that will not achieve the outcome of the project you desire," he pointed out. "There are many other sets of runes that could be put in place."
"But that would make four…"
"If you combine two of the OAW chains with one convergence…"
"Then that would make seven! How did I not think of that!" she slapped herself.
"Because you're still stuck in the mindset of simply taking what exists and modifying it rather than trying something new," he answered truthfully. "How many new runes have been created in the past century?"
"I don't know…"
"A hundred? Do you think a hundred? Fifty? No? For sure twenty, right? No, the answer is three." Not to mention the three he spoke of were all his own creation, derived from armithic principles and much trial and error. "The field has become stagnant, content on its laurels. Do you want to prove yourself? Create a new rune, or a rune chain. So much focus is on rearranging existing chains and branches into slightly improved subworks that it's no wonder that innovation has dried up."
He was truly passionate about this. While he held no love for runes, the idea that any field of magic could remain so stagnant reminded him too much of the failings of the Union. It had taken one desperate Harry to develop fifteen completely new runes, hundreds of new chains, and even complete the supposedly impossible task of creating a language bridge in a matter of weeks! He needed smart and talented people by his side, and he swore to Merlin's grave that he would turn Alana, a supposedly once in a generation prodigy into a true era defining witch. The seed had been sown in his mind, and he had no doubt by the look of agreement she tried and failed to hide from his speech, now he just needed to transplant her away from her social group and into his own.
"Do you want a real challenge? Do a joint challenge between runes and armithacy. Create a runic bridge between languages."
"But...that's…"
"Impossible?" he challenged, the tone of his voice causing her to shrink in her seat. "You want to tell me with absolute certainty that no method exists for it?"
"Well...many smart people have devoted their lives to it and found no solution," she pointed out weakly.
"And you are content to believe in their mediocrity?" he challenged. "Just like how you allow your 'friends' to use you, no?"
She had no response, her eyes merely downcast. He was unsympathetic, but forced a commiserating look onto his face. "If you ever decide it's time for a change, you'll find me in the common room at the end of the transfiguration floor. 'The Lost'."
With that, he tapped the rune on the desk, privacy shield on their desk, just in time to see that their other classmates were leaving.
"They didn't even remember you, because they don't need you right now, think on it," he whispered into her ear, before leaving himself. He thought he heard a sob behind him, but paid it little attention, descending down four sets of staircases to see that Katerina was waiting for him.
"Ah, there you are, slow poke. Come, we should go inside before points are docked," she encouraged, and they went inside the quidditch cavern. It was fifty meters high, with a large circular stand wrapping the entire pitch of artificial grass. They found some seats at the backmost portion of the bleachers.
"Who are those?" he asked, pointing towards several adults clearly not professors or students.
"Oh, they're quidditch scouts, they come here regularly," Katerina explained dismissively. At his strange look, she shrugged. "There's a surprising amount of quidditch talent, believe it or not. The guilds get really competitive because of it."
"I assume the guilds field teams?"
"You'd assume correctly. Only a minority do. There are many guilds who know that they have no shot at doing any good. Sixteen teams will eventually make it to the eliminations, there is technically room for 62 teams, though I don't think there's ever been that many, so the top teams from last year get a direct pass to the eliminations. Games are considered high stakes, each loss costs each team member twenty points, while each win brings thirty. Winning the cup could shoot you up from the bottom quartile to the top if you're a bad student but good player."
"Having a quidditch team is quite the risk, then," he mused. She hummed in agreement.
"That, and frankly, if you wanted to go pro, you'd have gone to a sports institute rather than Durmstrang. I know other tier one schools offer sports scholarships, the Americans in particular, but Durmstrang is not one of them," she mused. A roar from the crowd temporarily drowned out their conversation.
"So it begins," he mused dryly. She merely nodded in bemusement.
"And in the first game of the year, we have last year's champions, Orobus, against a fresh team, the Vultures. Welcome, Durmstrang! I'm your co-host Sonya Libra and with me is my co-host Antonio Dalvici! And here they come, give it up for Orobus!" Sonya yelled into the microphone. A loud cheer erupted from the stands, even as Harry was reading a book on alchemy while scribbling down notes, and Katerina was leaning on his shoulder, observing his work curiously and trying to understand it.
"And here come the Vultures!" Antonio called out, who received a polite but at best lukewarm round of applause. "The players shake hands...and the game begins! Deggs immediately grabs the quaffle, making a mad dash towards the goal...and he scores! That's ten to nil in Orobus' favour, things are not looking good for the Vultures!"
Harry looked up, concentrating for several moments before smirking. "Look, there's the snitch."
He pointed to one of the goalposts. Katerina squinted, before shaking her head. "I can't see...oh wait, there's the glint. Maybe you should form your own team, just find the snitch."
"Can't fly properly on a broom," he admitted. This was true, he could fly wandlessly, he refused to degrade himself to riding a broom. Even a bloody magic carpet would be better!
"Shame," she shrugged nonchalantly.
"And...holy smokes, it looks like Krum has spotted the snitch, he's diving...Weals closing in...and Krum pulls up at the last moment! Ooh...that looks like a horrible impact for Wells...he's...never mind, ladies and gentlemen, he's getting up and signalling he's able to play on! That was an amazing Wornski feint by Krum, though the Vultures are still behind sixty to ten."
Harry closed his book, having finished the work he expected to do for alchemy in preparation for this week. Pulling out his runes, he handed it to her, watching amusedly as she frowned cutely, clearly annoyed at having no clue what was happening.
"Chinese runes," he explained as she let out a huff. "I'm not surprised you haven't seen them before."
"Is there anything you can't do, mister wonderful?" she snarked with no real bite. He shrugged amusedly.
"I'm behind you in the dark arts, and my transfigurations aren't the best. Besides, while I know muggle chemistry, I'm undoubtedly an amateur in alchemy. I also probably couldn't tame a creature to save my life, I'm much better at killing them. Similar thing with handling plants," he chuckled. "My poor ditanny wilted despite me watering it every day. I think it just hated me too much."
"So if I ever go against you, plants and creatures, got it," Katerina chuckled. Harry nudged her on the side.
"And Krum has caught the snitch! Making the score one ninety to one ninety...and...the referee has called it favour of the Vultures. In a spectacular turn of events, last year's champions don't even make it past the first round!" There was wild applause, though Harry and Katerina quickly took the opportunity to leave the room.
"Krum...he's in our year, right?" Harry mused.
"What? Thinking of recruiting him?"
"Don't underestimate the power of celebrities. Having connections in the future will be vital," Harry lectured. Katerina rolled her eyes.
"You're starting to sound like my father, for merlin's sake. I honestly hope the two of you never meet, I think he might just try and adopt you."
"Heh, then we can roleplay incest," he chuckled, feeling her elbow him in the ribs. The two returned to their dorms, bidding each other an early goodnight. Entering his room, Harry settled for an early sleep, he'd wake up earlier tomorrow and get some more work done.
-Break-
Harry was reading a book when he felt his wards flare. With an annoyed hiss, he stood up, withdrew his wand and reached out with his senses. So it seemed a group of older students had decided the need to come harass.
Opening the door, he fired a blasting curse, knocking them off the feet and causing several screams to echo in the hallways. He idly saw several chunks of flesh being vaporised, but he paid little attention, swinging his wand in an arc in a wide area stunner. So shocked by his appearance, only two managed to raise their shields, a lanky seventh year girl and a burly sixth year boy.
Dodging a cutting curse from the latter, he threw a knife, impaling the boy in the neck, just two millimeters from the jugular.
"I surrender!" the seventh year girl squeaked. Harry chuckled darkly. Flicking his wand at her and knocking her unconscious. Turning to the boy, who froze, his hands were gripping the blade lodged in his throat, he smiled.
"I wouldn't do that, make a slip, and you'll bleed out in less than three minutes," he informed. "Of course, I can't be held accountable if you decide to commit suicide."
"P-p-please," the boy whimpered, causing Harry to sigh, yanking the blade out before slamming the hilt on his head and knocking him unconscious. Levitating all the bodies, he descended down several sets of stairs and walked along the corridor until he reached the main entrance. Opening the door, he continued to walk until the edge of the platform. Pulling out zip ties, as any decent agent should have, he tied their hands to the railing on the edge, so that their bodies were dangling.
Casting the enneverate on all of them, he couldn't help a laugh when he heard several screams.
"Where in merlin's name are we?" one of the girls screached.
"I wouldn't struggle too much if I were you," Harry chuckled. "If you squirm too much, the ties might loosen enough to drop you."
"What! You! Please! Let us go! We don't deserve this!"
"You tried to attack me. There are consequences. I'm sure someone will find you eventually...otherwise, may magic have mercy on you in the afterlife," he laughed, ignoring their pleas and walking back inside. Sometimes, it was good to be Raven.
Author Note:
Another chapter done. We get to see Raven in one of his elements, that being runes. I'll clarify something: he's an expert on runes but he doesn't particularly like them. He learnt a lot about them and pushed the limits of the field because his life depended on it, but even if he tried very hard, he would make major contributions to the field, but not completely redefine it. What I'm hoping to lead into is over time he'll form his own circle with their own specialities, such as Alana being good at runes. She's the kind of person who could redefine the field of runes if properly taught and motivated. While Raven's talent was fighting, I want Harry's to be finding people and empowering them. He has a unique perspepctive and effective if questionable methods to do so. This isn't him being alturistic in the purest sense, don't think that for a minute. He's carefully engineering situations that will encourage them to come to him and join. This is going to happen over the course of the rest of the book. This might seem a bit boring, but I'm definitely hoping to keep each character distinct from each other and have them form their own arcs. For instance, Katerina is living the shadows of her family's legacy and wants to escape it. Her greatest weakness is her desire for companionship, which Harry knows to manipulate to his advantage. For Alana, her (current known) motivation is learing, and she's desperate for an intellectual equal or superior to challenge her. Harry, through his speech, is sowing in her distrust for the professor, who Harry conditions her to blame for her own mediocrity. We're definitely going to see her arc flesh out more over time, don't worry. As to why Harry is doing this, Harry knows that war is brewing, and he wants to able to be on his own terms. Neutrality means having no friends, and suspecting everyone else of being a potential enemy. Similar to how many real life countries such as Switzerland or Findland, generally neutral countries, have well trained, well funded mliitaries to protec themselves, Harry too is preparing to protect himself by acquiring supporters. Over time, we're going to see more of Raven be chipped away, and perhaps eventually Harry making sacrifices for his friend, but right now the past of being Raven is too engrained in him to truly consider anyone a 'friend'. Also thoughts on Quidditch? I'm open to fleshing out Quidditch in the future more if that's what my dear readers want to see, but frankly I'm at a loss of where to start and it would take time and energy to develop such that unless there's a significant demand from you wonderful people, I'm not going to do it.
As always, thank you for reading up to this point, be sure to favourite, follow, share and leave a comment, even if just to say hi. Until next time, toodles!