AN: Ready for a lesson in spell theory?
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The recognizable sections belong to JKR.
Chapter 30
September 2nd, 1994
Harry sat down at the breakfast table in excitement. Soon the first Slytherins would head out of the Great Hall and back down to the dungeons. They would not get far into their Common Room. The new wards would still let people exit, however, no outside members could get back inside.
He chuckled as he received several nasty glares from Slytherin Table already, he had the cloak ready and would follow the professors down, as soon as the first students reported the unusual circumstances.
A group of the fifth-year Slytherins stood up and left the Great Hall, now it was only a matter of a few minutes…Terry sat down beside him and helped himself to some eggs:
"What's got you in such a cheery mood?"
"You will see soon enough, this will be a treat." Harry chuckled, by now he could barely hold in the laughter.
Terry grinned: "Well I better not be disappointed, but it must be hilarious if it has to almost roll on the floor."
"Just watch and see, mate" Harry gave a knowing grin and finished his bacon.
A group of students dressed in Silver and Green walked back into the Great Hall and made their way up to Professor Snape. By now Harry could not contain his laughter anymore and it just burst out of him.
Some of the teachers gave him an amused look, as the Slytherin explained what happened down at the entrance to their Common Room. Snape was furious and Harry could hear him:
"What do you mean, Ms. Parkinson, the password has changed? I set it up yesterday and only I myself can change it. I assure you, I have not done so yet." He hissed at the girl, who took a step back.
By now the entire hall was watching the spectacle. Malfoy had joined the group of students and started arguing. At his furious expression, Harry only laughed even louder. Dumbledore had caught on to the Slytherins' problem and gave Harry an amused look:
"Do you perhaps know anything about the unusual circumstances down at the Slytherin Common Room, Mr. Potter?"
"What?...Yes!... I mean, No, of course not, Professor." Harry gulped between laughter.
"Potter! With me, now!" Snape shouted. "Headmaster, if you could accompany us down to the dungeons, I am sure we can fix this small problem in no time and punish Potter accordingly. I suggest expelling him."
Harry got up from his chair and stepped over to Dumbledore, the rest of the Slytherins, and Snape. Surrounded by the mass of green robes, they all descended down into the dungeons. Harry knew that Slytherins would not try anything with Dumbledore right next to him.
Snape stopped the delegation in front of where the entrance should be: "Professor, only yesterday I have set a new password for the Slytherin common room, but apparently it is not working. Students from within can still get out, but the entrance won't let any outsider back in."
"What should the password be, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.
"House of the Cunning" Snape spoke to the wall and Harry watched as nothing happens before bending over with laughter. Snape growled at him and Harry could see a couple of the Slytherins twitching for their wands.
"How very curious…" Dumbledore watched the piece of wall as if it was the most interesting thing he had seen in a long time. He took out his wand and started murmuring some spells.
"Please send one of your students for Professor Babbling. I think we are dealing with a very complex runes pattern." Dumbledore explained, smiling at the challenge. He turned to Harry:
"Tell me, Harry, what do you feel."
"It hurts." Harry wheezed. "I have never laughed this long before"
"I meant what residual magic do you feel from this wall?" Dumbledore chuckled with a twinkle in his eye.
Harry pulled himself together and moved his hand over the wall: "There is an ancient enchantment on the wall, however, it is blocked by a powerful ward. I think a password is required to temporarily lower the ward."
Many of the older years and even Snape seemed very impressed.
"Brilliant, Harry, indeed. Let's have Professor Babbling confirm your theory. Bathsheda, if you wouldn't mind." Dumbledore gestured for Harry's Runes professor to examine the wall.
After a couple of minutes, the woman frowned: "The ward itself is not in a language I recognize…But Mr. Potter is correct, in his assessment. A new password is required to enter the room. Each individual has to name the password before being allowed to enter. Entering in groups won't work."
"Did you manage to figure out the password?" Dumbledore asked with a mad twinkle in his eye. He knows... Harry realized and instantly started laughing again.
"I've got the first phrase, Headmaster. Perhaps you can help me with the second."
"Why don't we let young Harry assist you. He showed a talent for your subject, has he not?"
Babbling frowned: "Of course, he has, Headmaster, but this might be a bit too complicated even for him. The average curse breaker probably needs a full day to reassemble these wards."
"I am certain, Harry will manage." Dumbledore simply smiled and allowed Harry to approach the wall once again.
Harry acted like he was looking for the cues for a minute before turning around and grinning:
"I've got! Are you guys ready?"
Dumbledore chuckled: "Of course, Harry do us the honor."
Harry pulled himself together once more, stepped in front of the wall, and spoke loud and clearly:
"I'm a tiny, slimy Snake, and I made a grave Mistake!"
Dumbledore and Babbling chuckled when the passageway opened. The Slytherins and especially Snape were seething in anger:
"Potter! You will change the password right now! I will not have my Slytherins repeat this ridiculous phrase until with can figure this out!"
"I am sorry, Professor, but I can't. As Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Babbling might confirm, we are dealing with a temporary ward that will cease to exist after one full week."
"If I offer a suggestion." Harry continued. "Perhaps, once the 'grave Mistake' as it is called was found and rectified, the ward will break down as well?"
"A brilliant deduction, Harry." Dumbledore interfered before Snape could physically launch himself at Harry. "Bathsheda, Harry, why don't you two follow me, as we let Professor Snape and his students figure out whatever this grave mistake might have been."
Harry agreed and made his way back to the Great Hall. Within a few hours, the entire castle had heard about what happened and Slytherin became a laughingstock. The Weasley twins crowned Harry their one and true successor for pulling a prank no one had even thought of before.
That, however, was nothing compared to Sirius, who had tears in his eyes and mention that this might just be the proudest moment of his life.
September 15th, 1994
The first two weeks of his fourth year had now passed but the prank on the Slytherins had still not been forgotten. The snakes were still hostile, and Harry had not exchanged a single word with either Daphne or Tracey yet.
Just as he predicted, the wards at the Slytherin Common Room automatically broke down after the first week. Snape had been on the edge in all their potions lessons and could still be found seething at the injustice of Harry not being punished for his prank.
So far none of the students dressed in green had actually attacked him. But Harry was sure to never let them have an opportunity for it. He was always on the lookout, using the Map and his Cloak to change classes.
Of course, he was still using his time turner and had started working on his first project for the term. Down in the chamber of secrets, Salazar explained the core principles of Apparation to him.
"Imagine the grounds ahead of you like a map. Usually, the distance between two points is fixed, like the distance between the corner of the chamber you are standing in and the other side you want to apparate to.
However, by imagining the space between the two points as a flat, two-dimensional distance, you can fold the grounds you are standing on, like a map on the table, and bring the two points closer together...
Close enough, so that a simple step forward is enough to reach your destination. Apparation is, therefore, put simply, extreme spatial manipulation to decrease the distance between two points."
Harry nodded, so far it all makes sense.
"The most important aspect to successfully apparate is once again your intent. You need to clearly picture yourself standing on the other side of the room. That includes imagining, how the air might feel like over there, what the lighting might be like?
What smells would you encounter there and what sounds would you hear? Focus... with all your senses on what your outcome should exactly look like: You are standing over there, in the other corner of the Chamber… Simultaneously, let your magic flow to manipulate the distance between the two points.
You told me that you have apparated once before by accident, after being chased by your chubby cousin. Try to replicate that intention. Do you think you are ready?" Salazar asked.
Harry nodded and calmed his nerves. He had prepared some Dittany and told Dobby to remain on standby in case he splinched himself. Now it was time for a test run.
He focused his intent and concentrated on what each of his senses might feel like at the other end of the chamber. Then he took a step forward…
With a loud POP Harry disappeared... appeared at the other side, stumbled, and fell on his behind. He groaned and got up. It was then, that he noticed that the fingernails on both his thumps were missing. With the realization, the pain quickly followed.
"Shit, I lost some fingernails." Harry groaned and quickly grabbed some Dittany to treat the small, but painful wounds.
"You were not quite fully focused then. However, I would still call it a success. Try to work on your intent and not to fall on your ass next time." Salazar grinned.
Harry bandaged his missing nails and took a small break until the pain was almost gone. Luckily Dittany worked incredibly fast. He tried a couple more times after that and managed to successfully keep his balance after the fifth try.
However, now he had a headache and decided to let it rest for today. He could always work on the smoothness, as Salazar called it, later.
The next morning, he had his first lesson with Mad Eye Moody.
"You can put those away," Moody growled as he was entered the classroom, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, "those books. You won't need them."
After taking their names Moody started his lecture on curses, especially curses that were heavily punished by the Ministry. They started with the Imperius Curse and Moody showcased in on a spider that he forced to do some cartwheels.
The entire class aside from Harry was laughing. He knew what else could be done with the spell and so did Moody, as the class quickly realized soon after. Next up, Longbottom named the Cruciatus curse.
Sirius had told Harry about Frank and Alice, Longbottom's parents, the Marauders had been friends with at Hogwarts. The Longbottoms had been tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, her Husband Rodolphus, his brother Rabastan and to Harry's surprise, Bartemius Crouch jr.
"Potter!" Moody barked. "What is it like seeing the curse in action?"
Harry remembered watching Fleur being held under it, by the German brute. Anger built up inside of him, just at the memory of the event. In addition, only recently, he had witnessed it again…the foreign witch, that had been held under it by one of the Death Eaters, Harry killed.
"Unpleasant." Harry simply replied.
Moody, grinned. "I bet it was." He pointed his wand at the second spider, enlarged it and cast the Cruciatus curse.
At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but Harry was sure that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently, until Granger lost her nerves and begged Moody to stop it.
He turned his eyes back to Harry:
"Potter." He barked once again. "You have witnessed the last one as well…remember the Incantation?" Moody asked him.
"Avada Kedavra." Harry replied without any emotion on his face.
Moody nodded: "Indeed"
He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.
Moody raised his wand, and Harry felt a sudden thrill of foreboding.
"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.
Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. "Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."
"You are wrong, Professor. There are several ways to block it." Harry spoke up.
"Indeed, Potter. I should have been more specific. There are no magical shields that can block it. The spell deals no physical damage, it literally tears the soul out of the victim's body and instantly kills it. The only way to block it, is with a physical shield. That's it for today! Class dismissed!"
Harry packed his bag and turned to leave the classroom. On his way down to the next class, he suddenly had an idea. The spell tore the soul out of the victim's body. However, the spider died as well. In conclusion, the spider, even after being magically manipulated by an enlargement charm, had a soul that could be ripped from its body.
Did all animals, even conjured animals have a soul? He needed to test it... He needed to test the spell. But he could not use his own wand… if for some reason, his wand got confiscated and someone decided to run a Priori Incantatem on it, Harry might just be on his way to Azkaban for life.
No… he needed to use a different wand, but where could he find one? The idea came to him almost in an instance. Of course…the ROR and Room of Hidden Things might have wands, that were lost by students.
Harry could not focus on anything during Herbology, as soon as his last class of the day was finally over, he sprinted to the ROR.
"I need a place with lots of hidden and forgotten wands… I need a place with lots of hidden and forgotten wands… I need a place with lots of hidden and forgotten wands."
He walked past the wall three times and the familiar door appeared. The inside looked just like Harry had imagined it. In a large room, that showed a remarkable resemblance to Ollivander's wand shop, stood a long table with probably about a hundred different wands on it.
Harry stepped closer and took a look at some of them. A few of them had strange designs, some were damaged or almost broken, but the majority seemed in decent condition. With a flick of his wand, he arranged the non-damaged wands in a long line. Putting away his own wand, he excitedly grabbed the first one.
Of course, nothing happened, no surge of energy rushed through his veins. The wand felt cold, like a dead piece of wood. Harry decided to simply cast a Lumos charm with all of them and grab the wand that performed the best. He would never find a connection like the one he had with his current Elder and Redwood wand, but that was not the point, to begin with.
After almost fifteen minutes, he was finally done. Two of the wands had performed better than all others. A short dark one made out of African blackwood and a lighter, holly wand. He pocketed both wands and made his way down to the Chamber…Time to test his theory.
"Salazar, we have an experiment to prepare!" Harry greeted the Portrait as he walked into the Quarters. "Let me take you over to the main Chamber, so you can see for yourself."
He levitated the large Portrait and moved it outside to the main Chamber. "I came up with an idea to block the killing curse. Let's see if I am correct."
"Serpensortia!" Harry hissed, conjuring the black snake and ordering it to stand still. Then he grabbed the holly wand. This would be his first attempt at casting an Unforgivable. He had read on the theory behind it... The killing curse required utmost intent and quite a bit of magic.
Harry looked at the snake to his feet and pointed his wand straight at the snake's head. He focused on ending the snake's life with every fiber of his mind. His magic was building up at the tip of his wand…he knew the spell…he had always known this one spell.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The bright green killing curse erupted from his wand and hit the snake straight at the head. The reptile was dead…instantly. Euphoria surged through Harry. This had been the first confirmation that his idea might work.
"What did you do that for?" Salazar groaned from above him. "It was such a lovely snake!"
"I needed to confirm my theory." Harry rolled his eyes. "And before you ask why I did not test it on some rats… I had to test it on a magically conjured animal, not a real physical one."
Salazar murmured something about "waste of perfect snake" but Harry ignored the Founder. What other spells were there, that conjured animals?
He pulled out his own wand one more, directed it right ahead of him, and shouted:
"Avis!"
The small golden birds erupted from the tip of his wand, flying around the chamber, Harry took carefully aim:
"Impedimenta!"
His charm hit one of the birds straight at its feathered chest and it dropped to the floor. Harry placed it right at his feet, pulled out the holly wand and once again cast the killing curse at it…
The result was the same. This was perfect!
"Are you done killing cute animals down here, Harry?" Salazar interrupted his thoughts.
"Shut up and pay attention, old man… You just saw me kill two conjured animals... what happened to the curse after it struck each animal?" Harry asked the founder.
"What do you mean what happened? The curse hit its target and stopped, what else did y…..ahhhh!" A gleam appeared in Salazar's eyes. "You try to use a conjured animal as a shield against the curse?"
"Exactly!" Harry explained excitedly. "Now we only need to think about the right animal…I need to cover an area in front of me and the animal or animals must all consistently absorb the incoming curse, every time I cast it…"
"Why take an animal and not something physical?" Salazar asked his heir.
"Because something physical, like stone or wood, will explode upon impact and the debris might affect me negatively, like take my vision or even cause direct injury...
A conjured animal will simply drop dead and not impact me while fighting." Harry explained.
"So, I have two options…either conjure something large that will certainly block the curse each time or conjure a large quantity of very small animals that each have a chance of intercepting the curse."
"Option one sounds like the save route, but it requires stronger intent, and it could take longer…what animals were you thinking about for option two?"
"I need a small animal with lots of surface area, to intercept the incoming curse. The killing curse only needs to hit any part of the body to be successful Therefore even the last hair on a cat's tail would succeed in blocking it."
"But you are not thinking about actually using a cat, are you?" Salazar raised his eyebrow.
"No, of course not… think about a tiny animal with a huge surface area compared to its body weight. Think about a butterfly or even better… a dragonfly."
"Why a dragonfly?"
"A butterfly might have the best surface area to weight ratio, but its wings are colored and I can't see through them. A dragonfly's wings are transparent but still count as a surface area...
Therefore, if the killing curse struck it, the animal would die, but before that I could still see right through it…of course I would test it beforehand…" Harry laughed.
"The idea has merit, but you should further manipulate the spell, so the conjured dragonflies evaporate after a couple... maybe three... seconds. You don't want them turning on you or distracting you in a fight after one of them has already served its purpose."
"That is a brilliant idea, Salazar! We can either manipulate the spell and set a fixed lifespan for the dragonflies, or we incorporate a version of the protean spell, so that every single dragonfly dies, as soon as one of them is hit with a spell...
That way my vision would be instantly clear again." Harry could hardly contain his excitement at this point.
"That's a very ambitious spell you intent on creating there. Only thinking about the Arithmancy and intertwined charms gives me a headache, already." Salazar groaned.
Harry chuckled. "The Marauders created their Map during their time at Hogwarts. I will create this spell. We can easily break it down into smaller steps.
First, let's try to manipulate the 'Avis' spell to conjure dragonflies instead of golden birds…that would be the first step.
October 1st, 1994
Beauxbaton Academy
One of the better dreams she had enjoyed in recent times was rudely interrupted by a very annoying voice coming from the real world. Fleur opened her eyes and groaned.
"Wake up Sister! It's your birthday! Maman and Papa have already sent your present. You are finally an adult."
"Gabby…stooop!"
When a small body jumped up on her bed, Fleur finally decided that she would not be getting any sleep anymore:
"What time is it, Gabby?"
The little Veela crawled up next to her, tugged herself in under the warm blankets, and hugged her sister from behind: "It's seven am Fleur, Happy Birthday!"
"Did you have to wake me up so early?"
"Of course, you have to open my present for you!"
"Fine, where is it?"
Gabby crawled back out of the bed and picked something up from the floor. Fleur sat upright and built herself a comfortable backrest with a couple of pillows. Gabby crawled back up to her with a small package in her hands and sat down on Fleur's lap.
"I hope you like it" She smiled with a gleam in her grey-blue eyes.
Curious, Fleur opened up the package and pulled out a small framed photo of herself and Gabby in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Both platinum blonde Veela were enjoying a large cone of vanilla ice cream while smiling in the camera.
"It's perfect, Gabby. Thank you so much." She gave her younger sister a long tight hug. "Let's see what Maman and Papa sent me, shall we?"
Gabby jumped off the bed excitingly and gave her sister the first of three gifts that had been placed by a house-elf next to Fleur's night table. With her sister happily brabbling in the background, Fleur started opening her gift.
15 minutes later the two Veela sisters descended down to breakfast. Gabrielle had already made a couple of friends in her year, but she still liked spending time with her older sister. They sat down at one of the small tables and helped themselves to some pastries.
Fleur looked at the small bundle of energy opposite to her. Gabrielle had never been happier…how long did she have until her allure would be strong enough for the boys to start noticing her? How long until she would be surrounded by jealous and envious looks from the girls in her year?
Her brooding was interrupted by the arrival of the morning post. Harry Potter had not written to her for almost a year now. Still, Fleur sometimes caught herself surveying the incoming owls for the snow-white owl of the raven-haired boy.
A faint glimmer of white feathers caught her attention and she held her breath. Could it be? The owl flew one long round through the hall until it spotted Fleur and her sister and dived down towards their table.
The beautiful animal landed gracefully at the edge of the table and looked from one of the silver-haired girls to the other. Both girls stared at the owl with wide eyes... It finally decided that Fleur must be the correct receiver and expectantly held out her leg.
"Who's owl is it Fleur? Waaaait…is it Harry Potter's? Can I read the letter, too, please?"
Fleur ignored her younger sister and took the letter and attached package with shaking hands. She decided to read the letter first, but placed the package in the insides of her robes, so her sister would not even be tempted.
She looked at the envelope and saw her name in the familiar handwriting.
Fleur Delacour
Beauxbaton Academy
She quickly opened it up and unfolded the letter inside:
Dear Fleur,
I wish you a Happy Birthday and hope you enjoy the day in the company of your sister. How does it feel, to finally be an adult in the wizarding world?
Here at Hogwarts, everything is pretty much the same. The Slytherins, one of the four Hogwarts houses, resent me for how I handled things at the World Cup with some former family members of them. Don't worry, I managed to pull a fabulous prank on them. I will tell you all about it, once you're here.
Talking about your arrival…I hope you enjoy my small gift and find it useful when you come here. Are you still planning on entering your name in the Tournament? It's pretty much everything most students talk about here, nowadays.
How will you balance the tournament and owls in the same year? And will Gabrielle be accompanying you or remain in France?
Wishing you all the best,
Harry Potter
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Fleur couldn't believe it…Harry Potter had written to her and wished her a Happy Birthday. He had remembered it... They had only briefly touched upon it after their fight with the masked men, but Harry Potter had still remembered.
"What did he write about? Can I read it, too?" Her sister pouted while feeding the beautiful owl some pieces of her croissant.
Fleur pulled out the small package and took it out of the colorful wrapping. She took off the lid and stared inside.
"What is it? Can I see? Fleur?"
Inside the small package lay hand-knitted mittens in a light blue color. She carefully took them out of the box and a small piece of parchment fell out.
I tried to find something matching your school uniform... Hopefully, you like them.
HP
Gabrielle let out an adorable sigh, as Fleur took out the mittens and tried them on. They fit perfectly and would be very useful for the horrible weather in Britain. She carefully took them off again and placed the gift back inside the box.
The Snow White owl looked at her with curiosity in her dark eyes.
"Tell him I said thank you. I will write to him soon." Fleur whispered, as the owl affectionately nibbled on her finger before taking off and returning back home to England.
"Was it at least a nice letter?" Her sister asked making big puppy eyes: "You guys would make such a cute couple. From enemies to lovers...just like those muggle romance novels Maman sometimes reads..."
"It was a very nice gift, Gabrielle and you are way too young to read those books! If you will excuse me, I will return to my room and finish some studying." Fleur excused herself, pushed her chair back, and turned to leave the hall.
Gabrielle knew her sister would be returning back to bed and rereading the letter. Grinning, she changed tables to sit with some of her friends.
Fleur quickly made her way back to her room. Her head was swirling with thoughts and memories about Harry Potter and the letter she had just received. Fleur frowned…she had received many gifts from boys for her birthdays before. But never before have they felt so personal.
How come, she preferred simple mittens from Harry Potter over all the extravagant and luxurious gifts that so many of her admirers had presented her with, over the years at Beauxbaton?
She could not believe how much she was looking forward to seeing him again at the end of October. Deciding to send her reply immediately, she pulled out some parchment and started writing, as soon as she reached her room.
Dear Harry,
Thank you very much for your letter. I am certain that your gift will come in handy, considering the horrible weather you Englishmen endure daily.
Life at Beauxbaton has not changed much, even though I feel like Gabby is shaking up the entire palace. But I'm glad my sister is enjoying her classes and made some friends already.
I am still set on competing and beating whatever sorry excuse for a champion Hogwarts and Dumstrang will come up with. Do you have a guess which student it might be already?
Unfortunately, Gabby will not join me at Hogwarts. Only the best 20 students of my year and the year above me have been invited to accompany Headmistress Maxime to Britain. I will miss my sister very much.
I can't wait to learn more about those Slytherins and the prank you pulled on them. Do you think they will give me a hard time, too, for assisting you?
Make sure Hogwarts is properly prepared for the arrival of Fleur Isabelle Delacour and once again, thank you very much for your gift.
Love,
Fleur
That should do. Fleur had spent some time thinking about what final greeting to use. She had decided that 'Love' was still acceptable for the friendship that had developed between her and the raven-haired boy.
Unlike all the other boys he would not read too much into it, would he? She made her way towards the owlery. If she caught a fast one, Harry Potter might receive her letter tomorrow already.