CH 3
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
Harry, who was affectionately called TJ by his fellow Canyon School students, worked hard in his studies of Smithing and Enchanting. It was an interesting system of levels, similar to the Mastery system in the U.K. Wizarding World. However, it was also different in that his levels of education began with Novice and had the potential to go all the way up to Legendary Master. Something he didn't quite understand at this point in time.
He was also one of the youngest students that they currently had on file. He was one of only three human children to have successfully written an essay that permitted them to be educated in this primarily creature oriented school.
He reflected on his entrance to the place where he had to have had a very thorough medical exam from a Healer that they'd brought in just for him and the two other humans. If he had been the only human student, they'd have sent him to the Healer instead. The Healer had made recommendations, while vocally expressing his opinion on the boy's bad childhood environment. He'd informed Harry that it was a good thing that they caught it now, as there was a better chance for changes to take place in his physical health.
TJ had been grateful, but it still meant a regimen of nasty nutrition potions that he either had to buy or make on his own. He told that to Helga and she instructed him on the art of making them for himself using Alchemy instead of the newer Potions Standards. It was easier to control the strength and with judicious monitoring of his food intake and exercise that he'd been told to do.
He was slowly filling out like a normal boy his age. Although, due to the nature of his classes, his arms had developed quite the muscled look and being a boy, he thought it was kind of cool to flex in front of his bathroom mirror from time to time and see them pump.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TJ focussed his attention back to the dwarf instructor for the beginner class in creating items using a magical forge. They were discussing the fire strength for smelting.
"The smelting process can be augmented by magical fires produced by those that have reached the apprentice stage in the Destruction School of Magic. However for those of you in this class the Novice spells will be adequate to your needs," the Smithing instructor said. "Not many choose to learn from more than one of the schools of magic, but proficiency in all schools up to the Apprentice Level is encouraged, since spell creation and enchanting rely heavily on the levels you choose to attain. Some spells, no matter if you buy or learn them may not be accessible to you for the purpose of enchanting, since the size of your magical core and access to those magics will be limited. You must practice such spells in order to increase your core reserves and further discussion will take place in your Novice Enchanter classes."
A student stood up and asked, "What are the names of the Destruction spells that are available for us to use with the forge?"
"Well depending on the metal or gem you choose to alter, different ones exist," the instructor said. "Novice levels are primarily touch based spells, although Flare or Flames are pretty good ones to get under your belt for a start, and there's also Snowball or Chill. The touch spells are good if you plan to make jewelry that can be prepared for enchanting purposes, specifically for absorption of spells for a particular element like Shock or Burn. These basic ones will last longer than any you can create at your current level."
Another student stood and asked, "Can we practice the spells in order to change our magical reserves in order to be able to access those of higher levels?"
"You can," the dwarf instructor said. "There are several rooms in the school you can use to just repeatedly cast your spells in order to increase your control. Also your house-tent, house-cart or caravan, should contain a ritual room that will do the same as the rooms we have in the school. Conjure any creature, within your accessible level and kill it with destruction magic to increase your skill in the Destruction School. Your Conjuring Skill will also increase your skills in the Conjuration School of Magic."
The other human male in the class grimaced at the thought of killing another living creature, even if it was only conjured.
"Mr. Archer," the instructor called attention to the young human. "There is no need to conjure creatures for the purpose of learning, if you don't want to. There are other ways to gain experience, like exploring the surrounding caverns and mines. You just don't have the option to dispel the creatures by stepping outside of your casting circle. Should you choose to explore an uncharted area you put your own life on the line. You'll not be monitored for progress in there."
"Yes, sir," Archer said. He thought about the differences of class learning and treasure hunting learning. It was clear to the others in this class that this young man would probably take his chances in the tunnels of some unknown cavern or dungeon rather than kill a conjured creature.
The other students noticed the young man's expression and knew that they may lose a fellow student before this summer session was out.
"Yes, Mr. Snape," the instructor said and pointed to the youngest human in his class when the boy indicated that he had a question.
"What's the easiest way to gain levels in the Conjuration School of Magic," TJ asked. "As Novices, we don't have access to creature conjuration yet, do you have any advice on that?"
"Find or buy a small conjuration spell book for a weapon or low grade piece of armour," the instructor said. "The weapons can be sheathed to dispel it quickly and the armour will dissipate through a natural progression of time. If you find a place to buy those spell books, I'd recommend that you also purchase a Summon Skeleton spell book or some other low grade Summons for creatures like Rat, Wolf or Low Goblin (...i...). Any more questions?"
The students shook their heads, after which the instructor assigned them their tasks for the next class. "Produce twenty iron bars from ore that you found in the lower mines in the canyon, make sure to follow the smelting process we've taught you. I don't expect many of you will make a Fine grade, but I do hope that you'll many Normal grades. Make sure to put your finished product on the assessment that you've been given. I don't want to see Junk from any of you, since you should be passed that phase already."
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TJ had taken to his courses with the Canyon School, a lot more readily than with the regular curriculum of Hogwarts. It was more structured and there were more hands on techniques to learn than all the theorizing that his old school loved to teach in the lower years.
His assessment book was a wonderful tool, since it automatically graded the pieces that he made within the normal guidelines of refining. The grade of refinement for the item was also his grade for his classes here at the school, telling him where he did well or if he failed. Again it was like learning a whole new system of scholastic grades, like at Hogwarts where he received Os, Es, As, etc... Here he received a rare S, many Fs, several Ns, etc... (...ii...)
Harry had gone to see his Head of House, Professor McGonagall, about changing his elective class of Divination to that of Ancient Runes for the following year. He said that he was prepared to test into the fourth year class upon his return to the school, if the Runes Professor would be agreeable to that situation, which Professor Vector was.
The tapestry portraits loved this rare chance to teach what they knew about the different schools of magic to TJ, which also included bringing him up to speed in the field of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. The boy was eager to learn everything. The runes were important for the Enchanting classes he was learning, which is why he dropped Divination at the end of his third year. Arithmancy was needed to calculate optimum quantities of objects based on pounds of ore refined and unrefined.
The young student spent most of his days at the forge and was one of the first students to change learning levels from Novice to Apprentice in the Smithing Skill set because he received twenty consecutive grades of Fine for his iron daggers and the moulded iron arrow heads.
He practiced his Ancient Runes at the same time, as his Smithing Skill since he chose to practice carving runes into the ore bricks he had to create from raw ore. The carving was important, since it was a separate class. He reformed or smelted some of the ore bricks to fit into the moulds he'd created for some plain looking rings and jewelry.
The technique of forging was based on several factors, but usually the Skill was reinforced by repetitive creation of one or two items. He'd chosen to forge daggers, arrowheads and amulets of iron and steel to ground his techniques for the weapons and jewelry.
His instructors were impressed with his diligence, but they had advised him to look through the Stoneguard Bank's records of low level mines, caverns and abandoned dungeons to gain experience in the use of his weapons.
They didn't believe in teaching the student to build something just to never learn the proper use of them. Treasure hunting was a part of their program, to fill out the weapons manipulation experience portion of their curriculum.
The students of Canyon School were expected to take three to five days away from school to explore some foreign location, within their level of experience, at least once during their summer program. Magically speaking those locations were testing sites and they magically altered to fit a student's current skill and application level. However they were not monitored by the school and it was entirely up to the student to visit such a place or not.
It was on a fine Wednesday morning somewhere in the middle of July that TJ had planned to visit Stoneguard Bank in order to review their archives of maps for something of interest. He was one of the last students to do so, but he was expected to be slower than others in that respect since he was the youngest and smallest human in the accelerated program.
"Well, I just made my first short sword of steel with a Fine grade," TJ said to his portrait tutors. "I have a Normal steel bow that I'm quite fond of using and have practiced with it quite a bit against the hay bales in the lower levels of the school. The tent is transportable." He continued to explain his reasons for packing up his tent and why he needed to travel.
"I've been encouraged to seek a dungeon to test my Skills. The dungeons are not monitored by the school or the bank, though. I've been told that I'm permitted to use my wand in there, since my International Visa had that condition imbedded in the permit for education purposes. The basilisk carcass is done to the best of my ability and the remainder is in stasis until I learn those additional spells for breaking it down to base potions and alchemical ingredients."
"Where are you going with this," Tiber asked.
"Well I was wondering, if any of you had a preferred location that you wanted me to check out or if I should just wing it," TJ said. "Considering how long ago you guys were around, you might know of some mine or something in the area that you'd like me to search."
"Just wing it this time around," Godric replied. "It's more fun that way."
"Harry," Rowena said, calling him by his proper name. The ladies had refused to call him TJ and since there'd be two Tibers in the room, they chose to use his regular name. "You said that you had a Dark Lord that was after you when we last spoke?" The boy nodded. "I've been thinking that maybe there might be some kind of prophesy about you. That could be something for you to look into."
"A prophesy," Harry questioned. He paused and thought of his Professor Trelawney and how she'd predicted that Wormtail would go back to his Master. It had come true, so there was nothing to say that the woman had not predicted some other tale of doom in his direction. She seemed to make a bad habit of it when he was around. "I suppose that's a possibility. Ah...man...I sure hope not."
"Why ever not," Tiber asked. "Prophets and Seers exist for a reason. It doesn't mean that everything they predict will come true, but surely a magical being would look into the situation much more quickly than some muggle person, especially if some prediction had been made about them."
Harry sighed, bowed his head and said, "I guess you're right. I'm just packing up right now to go to the Stoneguard Bank in the morning. I figure that I'd travel from the bank to the dungeon or cave and then return there when I'm done. It'd be easier to deal with any treasure I find and I'm quite sure that I don't want to carry around too much stuff."
"You're bringing mining equipment, aren't you," Godric asked, as his interest was mainly the smithing and forging, when he wasn't using his tools to dual with Salazar in the dueling field tapestry that Harry had recently found.
"Herb gathering tools too," Helga piped in. Her skills were in the growing of things, but also she was extremely skilled in Alchemy and Potions for the purpose of healing and nutrition.
"Of course," Harry said. "I have empty containers for them and all tools have been prepared, sharpened, and sheathed for all of that. Including a couple of scroll cases and book preservers, Rowena, I remember what you've taught me about them." He'd been doing basic Alchemy with Helga it wasn't quite the same as Potions.
Alchemy was about the study of plants and their properties, as well as finding a way into combining them into some form of useable potion. He kept an Alchemy Journal for that purpose, although if anyone were to look at it, they'd think that it was a potions journal.
The study of Potions at his school was just that, a study of potions. The formulas had already been discovered and they were just learning how to re-create them within accepted limitations. The boy was quite sure that to become a Master in Potions nowadays included the base study of Alchemy that he was currently enjoying with Helga. 'Why doesn't Snape begin with this first,' he'd thought. 'It'd be a lot more fun and more interesting in the beginning.'
"Good," Rowena replied with a stern, yet kind look and smile on her face. Her abilities centered more on research of enchanting and spell creation. She monitored his study habits in order to improve them to a degree that would make it easier for him to structure his essays and get them done on time without feeling rushed.
Harry's immature magical power had been too strong and wild when he cast a simple preservation spell on some blank scrolls. So the founders taught him to make plain wooden boxes and solid leather carryalls that he could enchant without an explosive consequence. These items would preserve any books or scrolls until he could manage the spells of preservation for actual paper and paper-like products, like a refrigerator preserving foods, only the effects lasted much longer.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
Young Mr. Snape, otherwise known as TJ, walked into Stoneguard Bank for the purpose of checking the maps to a few easy exploration caverns or dungeons, before making a decision on which one to explore. He also walked in there to double-check his account for his class needs and make sure that he had everything he needed to complete the second year of his compressed course schedule, provided that he passed the first part nearing the end of this summer.
He was guided into a room, where several maps were rolled up and some were stashed in books. His guide questioned him on his preferred type of training location and the size of the area he wanted to explore.
TJ just shrugged and said, "I'm not sure. I'm kind of partial to something that no one has done before or something that hasn't seen an explorer for a while, since it seems to be my lot to do new things where I'm from. Do you know anything about Prophesies or Seers, maybe an ancient place for oracles or something of that nature?"
The dwarf looked at him and said, "For something that specific, I recommend that you visit Morgana's Temple. Not the large tourist trap in New Orleans, but the real place which is rumoured to be located further south and close to the Mexican Border. No one has attempted that one for a while now."
"How long is a while," TJ asked.
"About ninety years, give or take a few years," the dwarf replied with honesty.
TJ thought about it and then he noticed the gleam in the dwarf's eye. He may have been placed in Gryffindor House at his school, but the ruddy Sorting Hat did say he didn't have a bad mind and that he'd do well in Slytherin House too.
"Why do you want me to take the map for that Temple," TJ asked. "What's in it for you and what's so special about a temple dedicated to Morgana anyway?"
The dwarf blinked and realized that the human youth had found him out. The dwarf shrugged and said, "We at the Bank aide the explorers by taking any items off their hands, that are unusable by said explorers. Morgana was rumoured to be Seeress, which fits in with your request. It's why many magical humans would seek out her temple, wherever they believe it to be."
"Off their hands you say...I'm sure you do," TJ replied with a mildly snotty tone he'd learnt from Tiber. "I'm also sure that you pay for them at a price well below the retail rate too." He frowned at the thought of a Seer, as he'd never heard of Morgana being one, but the history taught by his ghostly Professor Binns, didn't have that much information about Merlin, Morgana or other magical humans of that ancient time period, so the possibility was there. "I'm not sure about the Seeress aspect of this, I've already heard a couple prophecies before and they didn't quite turn out well for me."
"Sometimes they never do," the dwarf commented about prophecies. The creature sighed and then sat down at a table not too far from the area of the maps. TJ was invited to sit across from the magical being. "This is a personal request. Every other student has always chosen other places to explore and this particular site is more suited to humans than the others of creature descent that attend the USGC School."
"I take it that pure humans have failed to gain entrance to the school for a while now," TJ asked. He remembered his surprise to have seen only two other humans in his classes. One was a boy, an older teenager about nineteen, with the last name Archer and a girl, with the last name of Donald. Although, he'd been hearing whispers from his fellow students that didn't believe that Archer would be around for much longer.
"Yes," the dwarf said. "We were surprised when three had passed the application process this year, but that usually has to do with the fact that they'd been introduced to the Schools of Magic somehow, as opposed to having attended an actual Human Magic School. You are the only one on record for doing both. It's been over one hundred and forty-seven years since the last human with dual education appeared and that human has passed on."
"I understand," TJ said. "So what is it about this temple? What's so special that you'd break protocol by suggesting it to me?"
"I had several Clan Family members travel to that temple and attempt to get to the centre of it," the dwarf explained. "I want to know what happened. Either by diary or by armour and the only way to find out is to have someone actually visit the place. We'd also gain a more complete map from someone going in there."
TJ looked confused at that statement.
"The maps in this room are not complete," the dwarf explained. "They are mapped up to a certain point. All students seem to gain the minimal experience or skills they want and then return to the school to further their education, usually without finishing or doing a complete exploration of a particular place. Or else they give up on the whole of it. Sometimes they do die in the process, in which case the map automatically returns to the bank with the parts partially filled up to the point of the students' demise."
"Ah," TJ noised. "So if I take on this, obviously, dangerous map, what do I get out of it, should I survive?"
The dwarf shifted in its (...iii...) seat and then it said, "Fair price to any find you make, if you cannot make use of it."
TJ whistled at that and asked, "Under contract?"
The dwarf's expression soured a bit and then it replied, "If you wish?"
"Of course there must be a contract," TJ said with a huff. His Canyon Professor in the study of general business management, which is needed for when the students produced something of value that could be sold, a were-creature, not wolf, named Wilcowitz, always told them when dealing with banks to get things in a contract. The Founders of his Wizard School had taught him much of the same. "I'll not be duped out of my fair price for anything. Plus my personal instructors would be very displeased with me, if I was naïve about going into this whole situation without such a contract."
"Of course they would," the dwarf said with a grin, acknowledging that the boy was smart enough to guard his finds and obtain a fair bargain price for them before finding anything. "What do you suggest?"
"Hmm," TJ paused to think about it. "You pay me eighty percent of the item's potential retail market value. I'll make whatever repairs I can, but there will be a chance that I cannot, if the armour is magical in nature."
"I was considering forty percent," the dwarf said. He really low-balled the price to see if the youth knew what he was doing when bargaining with someone not of his race.
"Too low," TJ countered. "Not for the ordeal I'll be going through." He paused and then said, "Seventy-seven percent."
"Fifty percent," the dwarf said getting into the groove of the bargain. 'This young one is smart.'
"Seventy-seven percent," TJ repeated to indicate that the creature hadn't upped its offer enough for him to take his own down. "I'm the one that needs to come back in one piece to deliver them, after all."
The dwarf was familiar with this tactic and the youth had a point. "Sixty percent," it said. "Not one percent more."
"I don't have to deliver the goods here," TJ said with a bland look. "I could return to my home country and do the exchange there with the High Goblins of Gringotts you know...seventy-two percent!"
The dwarf grumped, its face souring at the thought of losing even a single sliver of the ore and treasure that potentially existed in that particular series of caves. It then said, "Sixty-eight percent, you need to consider that I have to find the buyers for the full price of whatever it is you find."
"Seventy percent," TJ said casually.
"Sixty-nine," the dwarf returned quickly.
TJ thought about it and then said, "Seventy percent and I throw in two twenty foot lengths of basilisk skin from a creature that I found in a secreted room of Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
The dwarf's eyes widened at that. It gulped, thought about it some more and then countered, "Three twenty foot lengths of the skin you just mentioned, plus two rear fangs of the beast and seventy percent of the retail rate of any haul you cannot use from the dungeon. This should be enough to cover you for your troubles."
TJ thought about that request. It was clear that he blew it and notified them that he had access to a basilisk carcass. He sighed, thought about it. Then he nodded and held out his hand for the dwarf to shake. "Bargain agreed!"
"Bargain agreed," the dwarf said, as it shook his hand to seal the deal. He motioned at a corner of the room and a scribe came forward. TJ had a surprised expression on his young face, but the dwarf explained, "We sometimes make bargains before handing out the maps. It's quite common to have a scribe seated in the room."
"Yes, but you didn't specify the map I was to take other than to suggest the one for Morgana's original temple near the Mexican border," TJ told it with a grin.
The dwarf looked to the scribe, who produced the paper contract for review. "Damn," the dwarf said. "It would have been a good bargain too."
"It still is," TJ said with a grin. "I choose to use the map to Morgana's original temple. It might be interesting to see if there's anything of value, if I happen to go further into it than others have before me."
"Add the map location and the condition of seeking any remains in the form of journals or armour belonging to the Mithril-Helm Clan," the dwarf said to the scribe. He reread the contract and then handed it over for TJ to review. "We wouldn't expect you to return with the bones, since it would disturb their spirits."
The young Gryffindor student nodded his understanding and reviewed the contract. Luckily the language was in plain English and the boy was able to sign without worrying about any additional conditions to it. He scanned it with his wand, used Parseltongue to detect the validity of the contract and sealed it with a magical bank contract quill, a famous device known as a Blood Quill.
TJ received the map and found that the last known location of the Mithril-Helm Clan members, were marked by blue marker locations on his map, and he assumed that that's where the poor creatures had died. He noticed that there were several dead-end passages, but it also seemed like he'd have to go to each one in order to make sure that he checked all possible locations for the deceased dwarves.
"Do you happen to have a sample of the armour or banner markings that I should be looking for?" TJ asked. "I could bring back everything I see, but if I get overloaded, I'll probably have to drop some things to make room for what you'd like me to retrieve, should I find them of course."
"Of course, we understand," the dwarf said and supplied him with a scroll that contained the banner styles found on various shields, weapons and armour of the Dwarven Clan called Mithril-Helm.
TJ tucked the scroll away, securely. His main goal or quest had been marked by a green marker on his map. The map, being a magical device, allowed him to 'Fast-Travel' (...iv...) to the dungeon entrance from the bank, since it had already been found once before.
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TBC…
(...i...) Summon Wolf or Summon Rat - do not exist in the Elder Scrolls Oblivion or Skyrim as the summoned or conjured creatures from those games come from a hellish dimension. I wanted more accessibly conjured creatures for this story, not that they're likely to make any appearance, but mention must be made should they occur later in the tale. Besides they seem to exist for JKRs stories.
(...ii...) -
(passing grades)
Hogwarts - O=Outstanding, E=Exceeds Expectations, A=Acceptable;
Canyon School - S=Superior, F=Fine, N=Normal
(failing grades)
Hogwarts - P=Poor, D=Dreadful, T=Troll;
Canyon School - Fw=Flawed, P=Pitted, J=Junk
(...iii...) In reference to the dwarves in my tale, I refuse to make them gender specific since I'm from the old school of D&D Games. Dwarves couldn't be told apart by gender unless you knew their names and most time that was marginal at best.
(...iv...) Concept similar to "Apparition", however I believe that the 'Fast-Travel' spell will remain one belonging to one of the Magical Schools from the Oblivion and Skyrim universe. I plan to make this one easier to use than the one that the Witches and Wizards need a license to use. However not just anyone can use that particular method of travel unless they were taught to do so from one of the alternative magical schools. So in this story, only Harry will be able to use this ability along with anyone attending the Canyon School. He theoretically could make a charm or used an enchanted parchment kind of like a portkey, which means that there may be the chance that he could send others away, even if they didn't have an ability to activate it (hint...hint...).