Back to the basics

Harry had never felt so dumb in his life. He had spent half of his night staring at a pebble, and nothing had happened. The task was simple: lift the pebble.

Lift. The. Damned. Pebble.

And it hadn't moved an inch. Harry had felt so ashamed.

He had gone back to Gryffindor Tower around one in the morning and had found Ron and Hermione still studying with some night-owls in the common room. They hadn't suspected anything thinking that Harry had spent his whole evening in detention. Hermione wanted to talk to Harry but he had dismissed it saying he was feeling very tired.

'But what about the Potion essay?' She had asked with her furrowed eyebrows.

She was right. They had an essay due next week and with their Transfiguration class planned for tomorrow, they would soon have two. He reluctantly sat with them. He could at least try to come up with the general plan.

'Hey Harry, you can copy mine if you wish,' tried to encourage Ron who understood how Harry was exhausted.

Harry eyed the scroll Ron was handing to him with envy, but he declined.

'That's ok Ron,' he said. 'I'll come up with something, no worries.'

Ron shrugged and took his scroll back while Hermione smiled with satisfaction. Harry pulled his quill and some parchment from his school bag, pushing the Invisibility Cloak out of his friends sight, and grabbed his Potion Book.

"Venom Antidotes" he wrote on top of one of his parchments. Ok now what? He wished Snape could be more like Salazar when it came to explanations. Harry was sure he would have become an Antidote master if Salazar had taught the class. He let his mind wander a bit remembering the way the old wizard had tried to explain to him the principles of wandless nonverbal magic. His mind cleared up a bit.

Salazar had started with the basic definition and had elaborated from here. Could he apply the same strategy here? Let's see. He could start with the definition of an antidote. Yes, that was a start!

He opened his book.

Antidote: Substance capable of preventing a body from exerting its toxic effects.

So, the next logical question would be: why venom can be qualified as a body able to exert a toxic effect? How could we rank them?

Machinally he started to write all the questions that were coming to his mind. When he was done, he saw that he had covered almost a third of his parchment. Harry smiled and slowly started to draft his plan.

The next day they only had Transfiguration in the morning and as expected they ended up with another essay. But Harry was feeling strangely good. Yesterday he had taken a huge decision. He wouldn't let Fate dictate his life anymore. He was going to pull all the resources he had to train himself against the dark arts. And he would stop at nothing. He would never feel like a prey again.

They spent their afternoon in the library and by the end of it, Harry put his quill on the table and contemplated his essay. On his table, around his parchment, four books were opened. The desk was covered with notes of interesting facts he had found concerning venom antidotes. And he was quite happy with his conclusion: he had made an opening using his experience in second year with phoenix tears. He had been in a frenzy state all afternoon.

He raised his eyes to meet Hermione's shocked look.

'Are you… done?' She asked a bit surprised.

Harry nodded.

Hermione said nothing else and came back to her own paper. Ron looked at Harry with a sleepy look and raised his thumb up.

'Come on Hermione,' teased Ron. 'He has finished his paper. This doesn't mean he will get an "A" – no offense mate.'

'None taken,' smiled Harry.

'It's not about the grade,' explained Hermione. 'It's just …' She noticed her friends grin and she rolled her eyes. 'Whatever!' But then after a few seconds, she smiled a bit timidly at Harry and said: "Well done Harry."

Harry laughed softly and stood up while gently pressing her shoulder.

'Don't worry,' he said. 'We are all tired.' He then gathered his belongings. 'I think I am going to lie down a bit. Let's meet at diner in two hours?'

His friends nodded and he left the library under the suspicious look of Mrs. Pince. When he arrived in his dorm, he threw his bag on the ground and let himself fall on the bed and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was Saturday. He would have plenty of time to do his Transfiguration essay. He could go tonight in the Chamber without worrying about this.

He thought about his task that he had failed the night before. How hard could it be to levitate a small pebble? Seriously? Harry had stared so hard at the pebble it was a miracle it hadn't melt. He had tried to shout several times "Wingardium Leviosa" in his head, but nothing had happened. He turned on his bed and he buried his head in his pillow.

When he arrived in the Chamber, Salazar greeted him briefly and pointed the pebble. Harry sighted and sat down. Some time, maybe an hour, passed and Harry felt the need to stretch. He stood up and walked a bit to ease the tension that had built in his lower back. When he focused again on his task, he decided to consider the problem differently. He adopted the same approach he had used for his essay. Instead of being upfront, he would go back to the basics. What did he know about the pebble?

It was a small rock. Ok so that meant it was light. However, it wasn't a bunch of feathers. It was thicker, which meant the weight was concentrated on a small area. Something lightened up in Harry's head. He felt he was on the right direction.

He raised his hand like he was about to grab the pebble but stopped midway. He tried to imagine how touching it would feel. The surface was smooth and polished. Since it had been laying on the Chamber's ground for a long time, it was likely it would be cold under his finger. He visualized them closing on the pebble and gasped. He had felt it! He had felt the cold, hard sensation on his fingers.

He breathed deeply and tried again. It was so weird to feel the rock without touching it. But now it could clearly sense the pebble in his hand. He slowly lifted his hand up and under his incredulous gaze, he watched the small stone lift itself a few inches above the ground.

He suddenly felt exhausted and let his hand fall back alongside his body and the pebble hurt the ground with a high-pitched noise that echoed off the walls. Harry raised his look and met the bright eyes of his mentor.

'If I have to be honest,' said Salazar. 'I didn't expect you to succeed so soon in this task.' The old master was looking quite intrigued. 'What did you do?'

'Last night I was focused on lifting the rock,' started Harry. 'I figured that if I first tried to understand what the stone was, if I tried to describe it in my head with precise terms, it could help.'

'You listened well,' replied Salazar satisfied with his student answer. 'Do you feel tired?'

Harry nodded.

'That is normal. You are using your magic in a completely new way, and you will need time to adjust to it.' He considered the boy a bit and continued. 'For the next lessons, I suggest you come back here with a few Potions to help you get through them.'

'What kind of Potions?' Asked Harry.

'Try Invigoration Draught,' answered Salazar.

The old wizard observed the boy leave the Chamber. The young Mr. Potter was desperate indeed. But it seemed he had found a strong motivation that might explain how fast his powers were developing. Salazar had never seen a student showing such good result so early in their apprenticeship. At first the offer he made had been purely out of interest. He wanted to save his Heir from the inevitable doom that awaited him should he pursue his ancestor's ideals. But now he was finding that, in fact, he enjoyed helping the boy expanding his knowledge. Seeing Harry develop his power under his guidance had awaken a new energy inside him. And to be honest he was curious to discover the boy's capabilities.

When he came out of his thoughts, he had been staring at the dark tunnel for quite a long time.