Chapter 2: Stalorford's 2nd Law
"So... that was something, wasn't it?"
The pair hadn't left their seats, but the runes professor had long left - the classroom desolate and dim with only moonlight and a single candle on their desk lighting the room. Harry didn't respond to Hermione's question, instead, he stared at his new pendant. It felt oddly warm in his hand as he palmed and examined the pendant. The opal of the pendant was the size of a small pebble and was attached to a thin gold chain, yet it felt much heavier than it looked.
"Harry?" Hermione scooted her chair next to Harry and turned her head to him.
"Oh yeah... something is a word for it I guess." Harry finally replied. "A lot more to runes than we thought. It's a good thing Ron didn't sign-up, she might've not thought us lot were responsible if he was here."
Hermione smiled but didn't laugh. Harry absentmindedly thought Hermione looked really pretty when she smiled.
"Are we responsible enough to know this?" Hermione nervously asked.
"You can't be serious Hermione? You of all people... not responsible enough?" Harry chortled. "It seems like there's a lot of hidden magic in runes - don't you want to know more about them?"
"Of course, I want to learn about them," Hermione replied with a small hint of indignation, "but I just feel we should be... cautious with certain magic."
"Certain magic?" Harry's eyebrows scrunched and he turned to look at Hermione, "What do you mean by that?"
Hermione suddenly went quiet and her cheeks flushed, which told Harry what she was thinking about before she spoke a word.
"Erm... well Professor... Selby mentioned that sexual magic is exclusively through rune enchantments and that they're the entire reason we're not supposed to be learning all of this in the first place." Hermione said softly.
"Well she said it's because it only got messy because of horny students," Harry replied matter-of-factly.
"Well... Harry that's the problem." Hermione paused and looked Harry dead in the eye and began to giggle nervously. "We're both horny students."
"What?!"
"The only reason she even brought up runic enchantments was because you were staring at her tits Harry." Hermione laughed.
"Okay, okay that's fair enough. But you can't blame me! She leaned over and put them in my face..." Harry kept talking but Hermione kept giggling furiously. "Hermione! You did say that 'we're both horny students'. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Hermione's giggling died down and her cheeks flushed red once again.
"Oh come on Harry. I feel a bit... frisky now and again. I have to relax after a long day of studying somehow." Hermione smirked. Harry had never thought in his life that he would've heard Hermione say something like that.
"Yeah, that's relatable, very fair." Harry responded and grinned through his teeth, "I'm also a wanker!"
"Harry!" Hermione softly punched Harry in the arm and laughed. When her laughter faded, her expression turned a bit more serious. "I know Shelby sure as hell won't teach us about the sexual enchantments herself, but she's still enabling us and we have to be responsible about how this new knowledge. Because sex is involved we need to be... ethical."
"Hermione, are you worried I'm going to use some runic enchantment so I can snog and some more with a girl I fancy?" Harry replied.
"As you said, we're both wankers and lust clouds judgement. If we choose to learn about sexual enchantments we should do it together and think a good while before we do anything. I'm sure I can find a decent book on ethics and sexual conduct - I'm sure there are some differences between sex norms in the wizard and the muggle world..."
"Yeah, that makes sense Hermione," Harry replied solemnly. "Maybe another day, I'm bloody tired." Harry put his opal pendant in the interior pocket of his robe and stood up.
Hermione and Harry quietly made their way back to Gryffindor Tower and parted ways, making their way up to their respective dormitory.
The Room of Requirement
Sex-related activities in the Room of Requirement were something Harry had been dreaming of since he discovered the room. However, this was not how he imagined it. Unfortunately, the only thing on his lap was a book: Sex: A Guide for Young Wizards and Witches by Electra Eros. He was sat snuggly beside Hermione on a marshmallow-like couch, three feet away from the warm glow of a hearth.
"She looks like she's having fun." Harry pointed to a drawing of an attractive young couple who were demonstrating the doggy-style position.
"Mmmm," Hermione bit her lip and smiled, "Yeah, but maybe we can explore the positions chapter after we figure out some more about courtship conduct and ethics. I'm surprised they put sex positions before conduct, but I guess that's all most people would care for." Hermione thumbed quickly past enough sex positions to make the Kama Sutra seem like a children's book, and arrived at a chapter entitled, "Wizarding Consent". Hermione skimmed quickly.
"All of this seems the same as normal muggle consent. Same concept, same age, same everything - oh this bit is magic specific." Hermione pointed a section to Harry.
Proper Usage of Sexual Magic
The use of sexual magic is a scarcely taught topic and is highly dangerous. A wizard or witch is unable to consent when under the influence of a love potion, or via the lure of a sexual attraction enchantment unless both parties consent to the usage prior. Use of sexual enchantment for the purpose of temporary fertility/infertility, and pleasure enhancements are a valid and encouraged use of sexual enchantments..."
"I'm assuming the first two sentences are why rune magic was removed from the curriculum," Harry noted bleakly. "I'd imagine someone like Malfoy wouldn't care about following that rule."
Hermione shivered at the thought.
"Yes, we'll have to keep our lips locked. We shouldn't talk about rune magic anywhere outside of this room, for safety - especially sexual rune magic."
"Agreed," Harry said.
Hermione skimmed up to the next chapter: "Courtship Milestones"
"Hmm, so in the wizarding world the first act of sex after marriage creates a magical bond - very romantic." Hermione smiled. Harry, on the other hand, was more focused on the next section which caught his eye.
"It says that when a witch or wizard loses their virginity, they have reached an adulthood milestone and will greatly increase in magical aptitude," Harry said. Hermione's eyes darted to the section Harry was reading from.
"In accordance with Stalorford's 2nd Law of Magical Energy, the increase in magical aptitude is directly proportional to the magical aptitude of their partner. Every subsequent sexual encounter will cause an increase or decrease in magical aptitude depending on the relative magical aptitude of their partner. Partners with lower magical aptitude will decrease one's magical aptitude post-sexual encounter, and conversely, partners with higher magical aptitude will increase one's magical aptitude." Hermione read aloud. "That... is very useful information, we have NEWTS coming up soon..."
"Forget NEWTS Hermione, Voldemort is back!" Harry's eyes went wide. "And we have a way to increase our magical aptitude before the next time we see him."
From his pocket, Harry pulled out his opal pendant and looked at Hermione.