AN: Sorry this is a bit later than I'd meant it, but hopefully it satisfies you guys. Now, for those that are still unaware, yes, this story is influenced by the Soul Reaver games, so if you want to know what a sluagh looks like, look it up in conjunction with that game. Not much really happened this chapter, but things should heat up from now on. Expect more of the Astral Plane, and some more Wizengamot meetings too! Hopefully the meetings won't be as boring as the first one, even if politics isn't really all that riveting, I still apologise.
Beta'd by: The trolling SnarkLord
Chapter 15 - The First Foray
When Harry and Bast returned to their room after classes that day, they found Loki looking confused regarding something. Isis didn't seem to be paying him any attention, as she was healing up her injuries from the day long training session the two had had, so it was probably something else that had him like that.
"What's up, Loki?" Harry asked, deciding to get straight to it.
"Hmm, you know how I've got listening charms in the common rooms and other places?" Loki distractedly replied.
"Yes, I know." Harry replied. "Even though I think it unlikely for people to discuss 'secret' things so openly, it doesn't hurt to be careful." Besides, if people were trying to keep things a secret, they wouldn't talk about them where almost anyone could overhear them.
"There seems to be a problem with them." Loki told him. "Several times today, my spells have picked up two or three copies of Hermione, and they sometimes just disappear for no reason."
"That's... odd." Harry commented. "Is it just Hermione that's showing up like this?"
"Yes, it's just her." Loki grumbled. "If there were more errors, I'd think my spells are failing, or something was interfering with them, but no, that doesn't seem to be the case. I wonder if she's been experimenting with spells or something."
"Do my magic clones show up as two copies of me?" Harry asked, casting said spell so that there were now two of him stood in front of Loki.
Loki huffed, casting a detection spell at Harry. "No, your clone is showing up as an active spell, not you, so she's not doing the same thing you are. Somehow, there are two or more physical and real copies of her at the same time!"
Harry didn't know why Loki was getting these results, but perhaps they could narrow down what was going on. "Is there any pattern yet in where or when they appear and disappear?" He asked.
"When she's alone." Loki immediately replied. "She disappears an hour or two after she appears in the same spot, as backwards as that sounds."
"Well, next time she sets one of your charms off, simply go to wherever she appeared and use a recording spell. We'll pick it up later and see what she's doing when she vanishes." Harry offered. "I'm sure there's some visual spying spells in the tome, isn't there?"
"Yeah, there is." Loki confirmed. "I don't use them much as they don't last more than a day or so, and they use a lot more magic to cast, making them far easier to detect."
Harry shrugged. "Well we might as well use it now, I doubt Hermione will notice it." By that, Harry wasn't being insulting, it was just that such detection spells weren't on the school syllabus, and while Hermione liked to read a lot, she would probably have looked into other subjects instead of magical methods of eavesdropping and spying on others.
Loki made a noise of agreement, before focusing back on whatever it was he was doing. Harry decided to go over and lend Isis a hand, healing up her cuts and bruises that she'd gotten sparring with Loki. She gave him a bright smile as he did so, but she didn't hug him, not until they were finished healing her at least.
"Thanks for that, Harry." Isis said, pulling him tight against her chest once she was no longer injured.
"No problem, Isis." He replied, his cheeks somewhat pink at his current situation. Despite Isis doing this and other intimate things rather often, Harry was a thirteen year old boy, and that meant hormones messing with him. The fact that Harry was in a relationship, of some sort, with her and Reinforce merely made things more intense.
Reinforce decided to be a little mischievous, and materialised next to Harry before joining the hug.
"Perverts." Bast muttered, looking at the two females.
"And proud of it." Isis declared.
Bast gave the two adult women a look, before her eyes slid to the teenage Harry. Her eyes twinkled slightly, and her lips were tugged upwards into a smirk.
"Paedophiles then." She commented.
Loki, behind Bast, rolled his eyes at her remarks. When people didn't exactly have a definite lifespan, such things as relative age became rather meaningless. Of course, if Harry wasn't as mature as he was, it would be a different matter, but he was, so it wasn't an issue as far as he was concerned.
"Trying to stake your own claim?" Isis asked, looking Bast up and down.
The cat-girl was the only one who looked like a teenager in her 'standard' form. True, the others could use transformation magic to age themselves up and down, but they preferred their current appearances to that. None of them knew why those forms were their standard ones, or why they felt most comfortable like that, it was just how things were.
"Perhaps I should save him from your lust." Bast shot back at the unicorn.
"Sorry, little girl, but he obviously likes a real woman." Isis' eyes narrowed at the cat.
Harry, for his part, was quite confused. This wasn't like either Bast or Isis, the former was stoic and reserved, while the latter was easy-going and playful. If someone had made the paedophile comment to Isis before, Harry would have said she would have happily agreed to them, and acidic words were not what Harry expected from Bast at all.
Bast bristled at that "If that's the case, what's he doing with a hag like you?" She shot back.
"A hag?!" Isis snarled.
"Okay, okay! Enough!" Harry interrupted the two before things could degenerate further. "What the heck has gotten into you two?" Harry exclaimed. "We've got enough problems to deal with right now without you two adding to it."
"It's nothing, Harry." Isis said.
"I apologise, master." Bast added.
Harry frowned, looking between the two. He had thought that all of his familiars got along with each other, but it seemed he was wrong. Even now, with the both of them looking contrite, their stiff posture told him that the two still had some sort of problem with each other.
"Okay then, just please try and keep yourselves calm." He sighed. "Things are going to be difficult this year, especially with the Potters here, and I'd prefer it if we weren't fighting amongst ourselves."
"Understood." Both female familiars spoke in unison.
Loki frowned. "Strangely, the only Potter that seems to have a problem with us is James himself. The children actually seem... curious about us, if not fairly open and friendly. Lily Potter appears to be confused about everything and unsure of how to act. As far as I can tell, she's taking her cues from her husband."
"I noticed." Harry muttered. "Is it just me, or does she seem... really submissive? I mean, when people talk about her, they always mention how she constantly used to shoot James down, how she had a bit of a temper, and how she was one of those people that stood out."
"Maybe she realised just how tough muggleborns have it in magical Britain." Isis suggested with a shrug. "I mean, look at the ministry. They have a single half-blood Head of Department, and all of the others are purebloods, despite only about fifteen percent of the British magical population being purebloods."
"You memorised something like that?" Harry asked Isis in surprise. "Why?"
The unicorn shrugged again. "Just like you and Loki, I was looking into who was influential and might be able to be convinced to help us." She deflected. "It's hard not to find out stuff like that when the same names keep turning up again and again."
"She's right though." Loki added. "Most of Britain's magical population are half-bloods. The only reason muggleborns aren't the most numerous is because they're pretty much always the first ones targeted when another war happens."
"Okay, we've gotten off topic, it seems." Harry clapped his hands together. "Now, we've successfully endured the first attempt at discrediting us, but we all know there will be more. There'll also be more people looking closely at us, wondering if there's any truth to the accusations."
Isis' snort interrupted Harry. "They're right as well, there is some truth to them. You are a lich, Harry, and we are, technically, mana constructs that emulate living beings."
Harry sighed, rolling his eyes. "I know, and as Hogwarts only allows human, or at least half human, students, that's a problem for me, as I would be classed as inhuman, I'm an undead creature after all."
Loki let out a hum of curiosity at that, before giving Harry a quizzical look. "Are you really?" He said, though it sounded like it was addressed more to himself than the others. "The undead tend to be characterised by a lack of life, high speed regeneration, and nigh infinite stamina."
"Well, medical scans return... confused results for me." Harry slowly replied, thinking about it. "That's because it recognises me as both alive and not at the same time. I don't think I heal particularly fast, but I might be able to with an expenditure of tiet. I'd imagine such healing would use a lot of it up though, so even if I knew how to do it, I don't have large enough reserves to really take advantage of something like that. My stamina is above average, I know that at least, but that could easily be attributed to the fact I exercise and spar more than the average person."
Bast gave Harry a sharp look there. "James Potter, would he have access to your medical records?" She asked.
"No." Harry frowned. "The headmaster and the school healer, Madam Pomfrey, do though."
"I've already doctored your record at Hogwarts." Loki spoke up. "As you're medically qualified yourself now, you can do your own check ups for yourself, or you could have Shamal registered as your personal healer. It's something to consider, but not particularly important right now."
Reinforce prodded Harry in his sides, before pulling him down to the mattress with her.
"There's nothing we can do right now but brainstorm, so why don't you settle down and get a good night's sleep." She chided him.
"I'm not at all tired though." Harry told her, and he didn't look it either.
"Well, what can you really do this late at night?" Reinforce questioned him. "All of your homework is done, your latest golem is in production, and you have your magic clones going through all those theory books for Mahotokouro's courses."
"Hmm, that's the question, isn't it?" Harry cycled through his thoughts for a few moments. A few zombie insects flew out of his sleeves and began to dance in the air in front of him. They drew intricate and beautiful patterns, doing so in a way that was blatantly not natural in any way. "Ah, I've thought of something I can do!"
"Yes?" Loki nudged him curiously.
"I've been meaning to learn how to planes-walk from my shade, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Now is as good a time as any, no?" Harry grinned.
"That's a good idea, Harry." Isis chirped. "Maybe you'll find some super awesome necromancy stuff on the Astral Plane, yeah!?"
"I doubt it'll be that easy." Bast frowned, shifting uncomfortably. "And we can't be there to protect him. Magic does not exist on the Astral Plane, and familiars are mana constructs, even if we are based around a physical body."
"I can look after myself for a short while, Bast." Harry told his cat-girl with some exasperation. "Isis is right too, I might find something useful there. The only true necromancy I currently know is the shade summoning, Wraith-blade, and shadow bolt, I could do with expanding my repertoire."
Bast frowned, showing that she wasn't particularly happy about the situation. However, she also knew that Harry was going to go through with it regardless, the opportunity was simply too good not to, and the potential gains were fairly high as well. Still, that wouldn't stop her worrying about her master.
"Be safe." She told him.
Harry smiled, placed one hand on her head, and ruffled her hair.
"I'll do my best." He agreed, before calling for his shade in order to ask it how one travelled from one plane of existence to another.
xxxxx
Harry dropped to one knee once he'd successfully shifted to the Astral Plane. Surprisingly, it hadn't actually cost him any tiet to do so, he'd just had to cycle it through his body in a specific manner. His shade had described it like falling off a ledge, and returning to the Material Plane like climbing a ladder, which would cost him some tiet.
"It's so cold." Harry muttered, shivering slightly.
"Don't worry." His shade, which floated next to him, told Harry. "Right now, you are a spirit, lack of heat won't do you any harm."
"It's still rather uncomfortable." Harry grumbled, straightening up and looking around.
The Astral Plane... wasn't quite what Harry had imagined it would be. Everything he could see seemed to be in shades of pale blue and grey, or at least subdued and rather unimpressive. The 'air', even if there wasn't such a thing here, seemed slightly blurry, like mist without the fog, or something like that. There were also no real rounded corners, it seemed everything was quite sharp and angular.
Harry invoked his Wraith-blade, the massive, broad flamberge sword appearing in Harry's right hand. He noticed that it seemed easier to call it up here than in the Material World, where he'd practised both it and his shadow bolt. Perhaps it was easier here because this plane encouraged necromancy or something, or maybe it was because there was no mana to get in the way?
Harry went to ask Rein for her thoughts, before freezing.
"Are you well, master?" The shade asked.
"Reinforce, I can't hear her." Harry whispered, freezing as a cold feeling of dread slowly took hold of him. "I can't feel Isis, Loki, or Bast either. Shade, will coming to the Astral Plane have some sort of negative affect on them!?" He demanded.
The shade faded from view, and Harry spent several seconds panicking before it reappeared.
"They are fine, master." The shade assuaged his worries. "They say it feels 'weird' not being able to sense you, but Reinforce currently contains your mana, so their isn't any unpleasant side effects."
"My head feels so empty." Harry mumbled. "I hadn't realised just how used to Reinforce being there I'd gotten."
He felt vulnerable, naked, and more than a little frightened. He didn't have Reinforce to discuss things with, to give him another opinion, to back him up if things went wrong. It felt like someone had... not ripped him in two, but like there was something significant missing.
He didn't like feeling like this.
To get his mind off the feeling, Harry slowly approached the doorway. In the Material World, this doorway was what separated the male head boy's room from the Ravenclaw common room. Here, well, the room Harry was currently stood in seemed fairly empty, and he had no idea what was on the other side.
Staying some distance away from the door, Harry raised his foot to it, and pushed it open. Stepping inside, once he saw there was nothing immediately in front of him, Harry took a good look at what was there, and also what was in there.
The room looked relatively the same as the common room he knew, but movable things didn't seem to be there. There was the bookcases, but no books, the wall seats by the windows, but no cushions, the fireplace, but no chairs in front of it, and no tables or chairs scattered throughout the room either.
What was in there, seemed to be some form of spirit, They were humanoid, with long arms, hunched over, and had sickly green skin. They had stringy hair that hung down to either their shoulders, waist, or knees, massive, pupil-less eyes, mouths filled with sharp fangs, and claws in place of hands and feet.
"Class two spirits." Harry's shade told him. "Weak, unintelligent, cowardly, and mostly scavengers. Often referred to as sluagh, they should prove no challenge to you. They attack in groups, and will attempt to flee if alone and/or weakened."
One of the sluagh saw Harry and gave off a strange shrieking noise, catching the attention of the others. As one, they all began to run towards Harry, reaching out to him with their unclean-looking claws.
Harry went to jump backwards, but found he didn't get as far as he normally could. Of course, he then remembered that mana didn't exist on the Astral Plane, and therefore he couldn't use it to augment his body like he usually did. That limited him to the power and agility of a thirteen year old human child.
That is, a physically active thirteen year old human child.
Deciding to see how effective it was, Harry raised his left hand and fired a shadow bolt at the nearest sluagh. It wailed as it was knocked off its feet and thrown backwards. However, it didn't look particularly injured, though how injuries would appear on a spiritual being, Harry didn't really know.
Shifting his Wraith-blade into a two-handed grip, Harry decided to go on the offensive.
He thrust his blade at the nearest sluagh, impaling it in its bloated stomach, before ripping his blade out sideways, and then attacking another of the ugly creatures. He glanced back at the first sluagh to see what damage he'd done, and froze in shock at seeing no physical damage there. In fact, the only difference was that the sluagh seemed... fainter, less solid and more ghost-like.
That moment of surprise almost cost Harry, as he only just managed to avoid the claws of another sluagh. He got away with it only grazing his shoulder, but oh, how it burned! He almost dropped his Wraith-blade as a fiery pain unlike any he'd ever felt before erupted from his shoulder.
Like with the sluagh, there was no visible wound on Harry's spiritual body, but he definitely felt it. Pushing the pain aside, however, Harry continued to fight the sluagh. His priority was to not get surrounded, as then one of them might manage to attack him from behind.
An ear-splitting shriek almost made Harry drop his sword in order to cover his ears when one of the sluagh went almost invisible, and then was... pulled into his Wraith-blade? What the heck!?
Harry had a feeling that there was more to the Wraith-blade than his shade had told him.
However, he could ask about that later, right now he had to fight these things that had attacked him.
His eyes hardened as he counted the remaining sluagh. There were eight left, and they were a disorganised mess, getting in each others' way rather than working together. They may have a generally human shape, but these spirits were less intelligent than a pack of wolves or similar animals.
This wouldn't be too difficult.
xxxxx
"That... was harder than I thought it would be." Harry grumbled once the last screaming spirit had been dragged into his Wraith-blade.
"Perhaps." His shade offered. "Your tiet reserves are rather small, so it shouldn't be too surprising that you can't keep going for too long. If you were using anything more tiet-intensive than the handful of shadow bolts you used to knock them back with, you might not have been able to finish the battle."
Harry turned his eyes on his shade, frowning. "I have a question for you, just what the hell happened there!? When I 'killed' each sluagh, it seemed to be absorbed into my sword, what's that all about?"
"They were devoured, of course." The shade replied, as if it should be obvious.
"Devoured?" Harry prodded for it to elaborate.
"Your Wraith-blade is made from your own tiet, and when you subdued the sluagh, they were absorbed into your system. Now, they will break down and strengthen you, increasing your own reserves and power. Granted, something as weak as a sluagh won't provide much of a boost, but it is something, especially with how weak you are right now." The shade explained.
"I devoured their souls!?" Harry demanded with wide eyes.
"It is no different than you killing and eating a rabbit or fish in the Material World." The shade told him. "Their 'soul', as you have called it, will come apart and become part of you. Their 'mind' is not part of that equation, you just 'ate' their spiritual flesh."
"Is there anything else I should know about this process?" Harry growled, not at all happy about not knowing that about his Wraith-blade.
"Depending on what you absorb, your system may mutate, allowing you to gain various abilities and skills. However, such things are rather uncommon, and would require you to either devour a large number of one type of spirit, or a stronger one that possesses the trait you desire." The shade explained. "Sluagh have no such trait."
Harry didn't reply immediately, thinking over what the shade had told him.
When he'd 'killed' the sluagh with his Wraith-blade, he'd 'devoured' them as well. The shade claimed it was like eating their spiritual flesh, like one ate the meat of an animal in the Material World, and the mind wasn't consumed along with the body. Still, the way they were dragged into his Wraith-blade was visually disturbing.
He didn't think he was going to be telling anyone outside of his familiars and Reinforce about the exact process that occurred when he defeated a spirit. As much as he liked and trusted Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, and all of the others, this was something he was going to keep to himself.
Besides, the sluagh had attacked him without provocation, hadn't they? It wasn't like Harry went out of his way to attack an intelligent being, but a wild animal had attacked him, right?
"Shade, you called the sluagh a 'class two' spirit, what did you mean by that?" Harry asked.
"A class one is little more than a clump of energy, like wisps are, and a few spirits that are essential the Astral Plane's version of bacteria and insects. A class two is a defined being, though one with only rudimentary intelligence at best. This includes beings such as sluagh, grim, and are equivalent to mortal animals such as dogs, cats, fish, and perhaps tigers and lions." The shade told Harry.
"How many classes are there?" Harry questioned it.
"There are seven." The shade replied. "The third class spirits are those with almost human intelligence and are capable of rational thought. You could equate them to cavemen or early civilizations. Fourth class are above humans in terms of ability, being both faster and stronger than humans. When the Astral Plane goes to war, these are the group leaders that direct weaker spirits in combat."
"What about fifth through seventh class spirits?" Harry asked.
"They are the most dangerous of all." The shade responded. "Fifth class are the 'elites' of the common spirits, capable of great devastation. They tend to have an ability or trait that allows them to casually slaughter weaker spirits with ease. Sixth class are the 'lords' of the Astral Plane, and tend to have control over a territory of their own. Seventh class are the greatest of spirits, the 'kings and queens' of this world, and even the weakest amongst them could erase a continent on their own."
"How tough are they?" Harry asked, already mentally calculating the destructive potential of each 'level' of spirit.
"Master, it is difficult to say." The shade paused. "The stronger the spirit is, the stronger the attacker must be to damage them. Right now, while your Wraith-blade can cut through second class spirits, third class ones will take some effort on your part to take down, and a fourth class would find you less than insignificant."
"Wonderful." Harry griped, before sighing. "Can you scout out the area around me, see what sort of spirits are around here?"
"Of course, master, I will return momentarily." The shade bowed to Harry, before drifting off.
While it was gone, Harry once more went over what the shade had told him. He was... somewhat uncomfortable with the whole 'devouring' thing with the souls, but if it was just their power, and not their minds, their sense of self, he could accept it, or at least he would accept it once he'd properly thought through everything.
The fact that he'd been so weak against them, that was harder for Harry to accept. It was one thing to know magic wouldn't work, simply didn't exist, on the Astral Plane. It was another thing entirely to understand and experience it.
He couldn't enhance his strength or speed with magic here. He couldn't feel the magic near him, couldn't feel it react when something came near. He couldn't use any of his spells here, not offensive ones, defensive ones, or even support spells. He had none of his golems here. On the Astral Plane, he was little more than a child, and it was only his Wraith-blade and Shadow Bolt that separated him from being such a thing.
He hated feeling this weak, and like he had done before, he would make sure to address that problem.
As he tried to think of ways to become stronger, the shade had returned to report to Harry.
"The dormitories above us are mostly filled with class one and two spirits, primarily sluagh. The main section of the castle, however, has several third class spirits wandering around, mostly revenants." The shade seemed to be contemplating something, and it only took a little prompting from Harry to get it to elaborate.
"I was expecting something... more." The shade told him. "Sluagh are scavengers, and for them to be so numerous here... there is something wrong with this castle, though I do not know what exactly that may be. Nevertheless, this is good news for you, master, it gives you plenty of low class spirits to fight and devour, and right now, they are all you are capable of fighting."
"Okay, give me a moment's break and I'll clear out the dormitories." Harry agreed. "No more than a couple of hours though, I need to be up for classes tomorrow after all."
"Very well, master. Rest up, and when you are ready, I will direct you to the first group of spirits." The shade bowed once more.
xxxxx
The next morning, after a spar with Bast, Harry sat down to eat his breakfast. Open next to his plate, was his Tome of Shadows. He was adding to it right now, creating a bestiary of all the spirit creatures he was aware of, separated into categories. The primary categories were the seven classes of spirits that his shade had told him about the previous night. These categories were further divided into 'low', 'mid', and 'high' for each class.
The only thing Harry had in low first class at the moment was wisps as, basically, there really wasn't anything lower than them. A wisp was little more than a small packet of energy that floated around looking like a firefly or something like it.
Harry had encountered three more types of class one spirit last night, two 'mid' and one 'high' class spirits. One of the mid-class spirits had been 'killed' pretty much by accident when Harry had prodded it with his Wraith-blade, as he had thought it was weird looking. It had looked like a mushroom with a flat top and looked completely non-threatening, but apparently it wasn't completely so, as the flat top of the 'mushroom' had snapped shut on his Wraith-blade like a bear trap would. That meant it pretty much committed suicide.
The other mid-first class spirit had looked like a small jellyfish randomly bobbing through the air. Once again, it wasn't very threatening, nor was it particularly fast, and was overall more of a nuisance than anything else. It had been easily taken care of though, and had been devoured by Harry's Wraith-blade all the same.
The high-first class, however, had been far more interesting. Granted, it had looked like a patch of mould, but had moved. It sort of slid across the walls, floor, and ceiling, and it had attacked with... well, tentacles. It had been one of the most absurd things Harry had ever seen, as its grey-green body had bubbled, before the tentacles erupted from it in a rather nauseating manner.
The second class spirits seemed far more 'regular' to Harry. There were many sluagh there, but there were also other creatures, some quadrupeds, like ill-formed dogs in some cases, and other bipedal creatures. One such creature seemed to be little more than a mass of fat on two short stubby legs. There were no eyes or anything, but it did have an absolutely massive mouth on top of its body, large enough to swallow a human whole, and he had seen it devour a sluagh like that, when one of its four arms grabbed one and shoved it in there.
Harry shook his head, hoping he didn't look as ill as he felt at that particular memory. He decided to distract himself by taking a break from writing up profiles – and in some cases coming up with appropriate names – for each of these spirits. Instead, he looked over what classes he had that day.
He had double defence first, with Hufflepuff. He then had a free period, followed by a single period of charms, and after lunch he had double history. That... didn't seem too bad actually. From what he'd heard, the fourth years had enjoyed their lessons with Lupin, and charms shouldn't be too bad.
History was a blessing in disguise if Harry was honest with himself. Binns apparently repeated the same lectures year after year, and when he'd discovered that, Harry had been quick to buy a copy of a seventh year's notes and had added them to his tome. Binns wouldn't notice if he did something else during lesson, as long as he wasn't too obvious about it, and he wanted to look at some of the Mahotokouro coursework he'd been sent to see how much of it made sense to him.
His mind now focused on something less disgusting than the spirits he'd 'encountered' the previous night, Harry happily munched on his breakfast, prepared for the day of lessons he had coming.
xxxxx
Harry, amongst others, lined up outside the Defence classroom after breakfast. However, Lupin didn't seem to be in at present, and a quick spell revealed he really wasn't there, which was a little strange. Harry hadn't seen Lupin at breakfast, and for a moment, he contemplated telepathically contacting Loki to see if his spells could pick the werewolf up.
However, this proved entirely unnecessary, as it was only moments later that the man himself turned a corner and came into view. He gave the children a small smile, before beckoning for them to follow him. His nose did twitch when he saw Bast though, was he perhaps allergic to cats or something? Perhaps he'd smelled a scent that surprised him.
Anyway, they followed their professor to wherever they were going, encountering Peeves on the way. The poltergeist seemed to be rather rude towards Remus, more so than Harry had expected, but a quick spell from the man – one Harry made sure to memorise to look up later – had that issue sorted, and they continued on again.
They ended up outside of what Harry knew to be one of the staff rooms scattered throughout the castle. In particular, this one was considered the 'main' staffroom, and the one the professors tended to gather together in when they had something they needed to discuss. The other staff rooms were less often used, and usually by a small group of teachers who had classrooms near each other and couldn't be bothered going any further away during break times.
Inside the room... was Severus Snape.
A quick humorous thought flickered through Harry's mind at the sight, a joke as to whether they were going to be learning to defend themselves against him. It had Reinforce giggling if nothing else.
Snape's cold, dark eyes swept over the group before he rose to his feet. He silently made his way out of the room, but paused in the doorway, looking back to the teacher.
"I should warn you, Lupin, this class contains Harry Ritter." It was quite obvious the stress the dark-haired man put on his surname. "It's all too likely that unexpected things will happen, watch yourself."
Lupin took a moment to reply, but he managed to get a handful of words out before Snape disappeared. "I know who my students are, thank you, Professor Snape, but I'm sure my lesson will go fine. Perhaps I will even gain some insight into certain... things."
Severus eyes' seemed to regard Remus with a strange mixture of disdain, loathing, hatred, distaste, and... approval? Harry had expected the other emotions to be there, but why would Snape think positively about Lupin?
Regardless, it was only for a moment, because immediately afterwards he stalked out of the room, the door closing behind him.
Remus smiled once more at the class, before levitating a wardrobe from the corner of the room into the middle of one wall, with the doors facing towards them. He smiled once more – he seemed to be doing a lot of that – and chuckled slightly when most of the class jumped a bit when the wardrobe rattled and shook.
"Don't worry, it's just a boggart in there." He told them, despite a number of students looking at him as if that was something to worry about. "Now, first things first, who can tell me what a boggart is?"
Several students raised their hands, including Harry. Remus seemed conflicted for a moment, before deciding to call on Harry for an answer.
"Boggarts are shape-shifters often mistaken for spirits." Harry told him. "They have a passive mind-reading ability that can penetrate any known Occlumency shields, allowing them to take a form that embodies someone's truest fear. They don't get it perfectly correct every time, however, because some fears aren't easily shown visually, such as a fear of being alone, or a fear of a secret being discovered."
While he spoke, Harry let a few zombie bugs leave his sleeves behind his back. He directed them towards the wardrobe where the boggart was being kept and had them enter through the tiniest space between the doors and the frame. Unfortunately, it was too dark for even Harry's bugs to see anything – or perhaps the boggart was invisible to their eyes? It could even be that the boggart simply didn't react to insects, even ones controlled by a human (or human-like) mind.
"A very thorough answer, and much more than I was expecting." Remus praised Harry. "Now, can anyone tell me what advantage we have over the boggart in that wardrobe? Miss Takamachi, would you care to answer?"
"There's more of us than there is of them." Nanoha answered. "We aren't all scared of exactly the same thing, so it doesn't know what to turn into for the greatest effect. If there was more boggarts, would they each transform into something different to scare different people?"
"Correct, and an interesting question." Lupin responded. "I don't know what multiple boggarts would do myself, as I am unaware of there ever being a case where two boggarts have worked together. They are very territorial and would sooner drive each other off than team up."
"Now, there actually is a spell used to fight boggarts, 'Ridikkulus'. The way to defeat one is laughter, and that spell, along with a strong mental image, will force it into a form you can more easily laugh at. There is no wand movement for this spell, and it is very easy as long as you have a good idea of what you want it to look like. All together now, 'Ridikkulus'."
The class echoed the professor's word as one, earning yet another smile from the man.
"Now, if you'd all care to line up, I'll open the wardrobe and you can practise the spell on an actual boggart." Lupin told them.
Harry, in no particular rush to face the boggart, ended up at the back of the line. While he waited, when he wasn't looking to see what forms the boggart was taking, he was thinking about what exactly frightened him, and therefore what form his boggart would take. However, he wasn't really sure what it was he feared, so perhaps facing the boggart would be quite... informative.
He doubted he had the same fears as his classmates, as the first student was faced with a zombie, the second with some kind of swamp monster, and the third with... Jason Voorhees? Weren't thirteen year olds a little young to be watching horror films? Not that Harry could talk, enjoying said films himself quite a bit, and often being inspired by them too.
After that, it was Hayate's turn, and Harry focused here, ready to comfort her if she needed it.
Her boggart transformed into... a wheelchair? He supposed it was rather fitting really, he seriously doubted Hayate had enjoyed being crippled, and now that she had regained the freedom of walking, running, and jumping, it would be all that much worse if she had to return to such a state.
She transformed it into a tricycle, before going to the back of the room. Her eyes seemed slightly wet, but she managed to smile widely when Harry made eye contact with her.
There were some more rather generic fears after that – and a couple of odd ones too, like an old tyre, that one had made no sense to Harry – before Fate was up, with Nanoha right behind her.
The red-eyed girl braced herself before approaching the boggart, and seemed totally unsurprised when it took the form of her biological mother, Presea Testarossa. However, she seemed to be somewhat surprised by the blonde girl in the older woman's arms whom she was smiling warmly at, to the exclusion of all else.
At first glance, the girl appeared to be a perfect duplicate of Fate. However, for those that knew her, there were ever so slight differences. Her posture was slightly different, her eyes seemed to dance with joy, and she almost seemed to radiate a sort of care free aura.
Obviously, this was supposed to be Alicia, the girl that Fate had been cloned from.
Fate's fringe fell in front of her face, as she raised her wand. She shook a little at the happy, innocent scene before here, before speaking the spell. Her voice was flat, not like her usual soft tone, but like she was keeping it from slipping. She hurried to the back of the room, not looking at what she'd turned her boggart into, where Hayate comforted her.
Nanoha, seeing how her friend had been affected, decided to hurry her way through her boggart in order to go and comfort Fate. Steeling herself and looking determined, she stepped up to the boggart, wanting to hurry up and get this over and done with so she could help Fate.
Once again, the meaning behind this boggart's form wasn't immediately apparent. In front of Nanoha stood a copy of herself, but obviously different. This Nanoha's face was blank and listless, lacking expression. She was dressed in plain, drab grey clothes, a top and a skirt, and had her hands cupped in front of her. In her hands, she held the only colour she possessed, fragments of a jewel, the shattered remains of what was obviously supposed to be Raising Heart.
Ah, of course, Nanoha's fear was being helpless. Not just that, she feared not having any direction. She was a very driven girl, always doing something, always trying to help as much as she could. She couldn't stand doing nothing, having no purpose other than simply existing.
Nanoha seemed to understand exactly what she was seeing, and a quick spell had her boggart wearing her Barrier Jacket, with a cheery grin on her face, and Raising Heart in its staff form in her hands. Once this was done, Nanoha rushed to Fate in order to comfort the upset girl.
From where he was, Harry offered his own sympathies as much as he could, and even went so far as to initiate a telepathic link with his blonde friend. He and Reinforce tried to sing a happy song together over the mental link. Judging from Fate's strangled laughter, they managed to succeed somewhat at least.
It was only a few moments later that Harry realised he was now in front of the boggart himself. He prepared imself for it taking some form as to indicate his secret getting out, he prepared himself to see his familiars, friends, and Reinforce dead, he prepared himself to see something gruesome and horrific.
He did not prepare himself for what he actually got though.
It hovered in the air in front of him, roughly the size and shape of a playing card. It was a pale blue colour, edged with an even paler, almost white, blue. There was a symmetrical design on it, almost like wings and crescent moons, either side of a blue gem embedded in the card.
Durandal
Staff of Freeze – Durandal
An extremely powerful Storage Device optimised for freezing opponents, optimised to such a level in fact that it had been sealed away by order of the higher ups of the TSAB after the Book of Darkness incident. It was so good at freezing spells that it had been designed to forever seal away the Book of Darkness, along with its wielder.
It was a device created for one purpose, a purpose that would see Reinforce suffer for all eternity.
Harry blanked out for a moment, and only a gasp brought himself back to reality. He focused on what was in front of him, and found the boggart, still in the form of Durandal's standby mode, impaled on a wavy sword, a familiar sword at that.
He blinked once more and looked to his own two hands that held the hilt of his Wraith-blade that was now pinning the boggart to the wall as the almost-spirit screamed in complete and utter agony.
It dissipated, and before he could see it absorbed into the blade, Harry turned tail and fled from the classroom.
His mind was numb.
He did not want to think about what had just happened.
He did not want to contemplate what it meant.
He didn't want to think at all.