Chapter 30

Dora wakes up with a groan and places a meaty hand on her face. Opening her eyes, she stares at her hand in horror.

"Good, you're awake. Come over here and help me with this paperwork."

"My hand, my face… All of that…"

"Yes, yes, you're seeing your milk drinker body for the first time. Get over here and help. The sooner it's done the sooner I can start getting you into shape. Oh, and you need to get used to doing this sort of stuff and acting like my secretary and teaching assistant, as it's the only way I'll have enough time to train you."

Dora sits up and looks over at the pile of booklets on the table, "What?"

"You can start with that pile, we're looking for suitable locations to hire out for a couple of weeks at a time. They need to have up to date computer labs, good science facilities, and open space that we can do science in. What I want you to do is jot down the specifics of what they offer for those three things along with the costs to hire them around Christmas, Easter, and Summer."

Dora prises herself off the sofa and shuffles over to the chair to look blankly at the different facilities, "Why are we doing this?"

"Because Harry's dorm mates want to get a mundane education with him. 11 children is too many to home school, so I had to establish a free school. As the whole point of Harry's education is to get mundane qualifications, it means we have to cover subjects like physics, chemistry, and biology. I'm also going to have them doing the computer based GCSE as it's clear they're becoming far more important in the mundane world."

Deciding not to question it any further, Dora starts reading through the books and trying to make notes.

"Erm, Morgana, is 486 important for the computers?"

Morgana looks up, "Yes, that's important. Anything that doesn't have 386 or 486 computers you can discard out of hand. They should also list the spreadsheet and word processing software installed on them. Ami Pro and Lotus 123 would be ideal. However, Microsoft Excel or Word Perfect are acceptable substitutes."

"So this one that has Ami Pro and Word Perfect is fine, even though they don't have Lotus 123 or Excel."

"Show me… No, see they say they have a mix of typewriters and computers with both Ami Pro and Word Perfect? That means that they're setup for teaching people how to type rather than general computer skills. I've registered as the domain name for this school, so that the children can learn about e-mail."

Dora mutters, "I thought I was clued up on the muggle world because of dad."

"Don't use that word, it's insulting and derogatory. Use mundane instead."

"But that's the word for mundane people in the magical world."

"Don't use that term either, it gives you a false sense of scale. There are at most 30,000 magicals in the UK at the moment, that's less than 0.001% of the entire population. Or less than a thousandth of the population of the UK, which at the last census in April was around 57 million people. You also shouldn't underestimate mundane magic either. As they can kill you before you're even aware that they're a threat, it is fast getting to the point where it will be impossible for evidence to be erased completely if it isn't caught immediately. And they're already making satellite maps of the world that can make out individual cars parked on the streets."

Dora shakes her head, "It's not magic, it's technology."

Morgana raises an eyebrow, "Really, so you know how it works and could reproduce it yourself?"

"Well, no."

"Trust me, it's magic. It may not use the same energy that you and I use to cast spells or use our abilities. That doesn't stop it from being magic though."

"Why call it magic though?"

"Why not? The main reason why is psychological impact. The people that live in the magical community know and understand magic. However technology is something that is loud, crude, and above all not comparable to magic. But what about the telephone, television, computers, mobile phones, the internet, microchips, and whatever is coming in the future. You can't take them apart and see how they work anymore, they have their own arcane script like 555 written on top of a microchip. You can look up it's meaning, but you have to do that with spells and runes. 08386 and 08486 are both scripts like that on those respective chips." She flips open one of the booklets to a page with a simple circuit diagram on it, and a heading proclaiming that they have circuit printing facilities, "This is the script they use to plan them out, much like you would the runes for an enchanted item. So tell me honestly, is this more like magic or technology?"

"But they used science to make these."

Morgana shakes her head, "So? You could use science to study magic too. Science isn't facts and figures, it's the process by which those facts and figures have been derived. It is a process that ensures that you are looking at observational data in the correct way rather than making up stuff to fit your preconceived notions. The most important aspect of science is trying to prove your theory wrong through experimentation. You don't try to prove your theory right, as that doesn't actually prove anything."

They continue looking through their respective piles until Dora curses as she once again fumbles the pen, "Stupid fingers. Can you release whatever it is you did to stop my metamorph ability from working so I can do this properly?"

Morgana looks up again, "No, you'll need to work that one out yourself. It's a simple spell that I stole from the Romans. Though countering it is rather more difficult."

"Why not just counter it and reapply it later?"

Morgana smiles, "Because the more often you're subject to it, the easier it will be to work out the counter. This way, by the time you work it out your body will be in shape and you should have a good grasp of glamours, good enough to no longer use them unconsciously."

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Amelia glumly plonks herself down in her office chair. Every detail of the prophecy still vivid in her minds eye when she thinks about it. After a few minutes Moody stomps in to the office and she doesn't even look up from the quill she's twirling in her fingers.

Finally Moody sits down and says, "What's on your mind."

Startled, Amelia looks up at Moody, then sighs, "I ballsed up big time, and it's cost Tonks her freedom."

"What happened?"

Amelia summarises the events, at the end she finishes with, "I can't even blame her, as it was my fault the meeting went bad in the first place."

"What makes you say that Bones?"

"I know her as a friend, and visited her as the head of the DMLE. I also didn't warn Tonks to be careful about what she says. You've read the report we got from questioning Kincaid and the Vicar, the way they answered questions was like they were on the maximum dose of Veritasium."

"Bones, you're trying to justify what happened. We knew she was powerful already."

Amelia shakes her head, "No we didn't. We thought she was powerful like Dumbledore and Merlin are powerful. Have you ever been in a room when Dumbledore flexes his magic to get attention?"

"Aye, and it's not something I'd care to repeat too often."

"When she let down her glamours, it was like that only 10 times worse, and she wasn't even trying."

"Shit, are you sure?"

Amelia nods, "That's not including the fact that she stopped Tonk's metamorph abilities."

"That's when Tonks offered anything?"

"Just about."

"Makes sense. She's prided herself on the fact that she achieved the grades she got by hard work. I've also used that sore spot to get her to push herself harder more than a few times. It wasn't hard to ferret out that there were lots of accusations of using her abilities to cheat her way into good grades. Morgana then proved that she did actually do what she was accused of, at least to a certain extent. Look, take an early day and go home. Think about things, and maybe have a drink or two."

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In the evening a week later, a very drunk and sleep deprived Amelia staggers up the steps to Gringotts. When she reaches the top, she staggers over to one the guards that has a sword strapped to his hip and slides down the wall to sit heavily on the floor.

"Helloo goblin, I'm sorrry if that's the wrong way to sssay halloo, but I don't know the r…r… correct way to greet you. I seee you have a sssword, and I want to le-urn how to use it. Rather die with a sword in hand than alone with a wand. I was told my fate last weeeek, 's a war coming and I don't want to die at home alone."

One of the other guards shakes her head, "Take her inside and get her sobered up. Send a runner to the Augur clan, if it's a true fate then the nation will want to know."

Amelia wakes up sober in a bare goblin cell lying on a stone bed, to one side are two goblins. One wearing armour, and the other wearing loose clothing somewhat like robes or a dress.

The one in armour says, "Witch, you spoke of being given a fate. If you tell us the circumstances oh how you received this fate and allow an Augur to verify the fate's veracity, we will give you what help we can."

Internally Amelia curses herself for drinking so much, she then quickly wracks her brain for how to give enough information but not too much.

"As you are probably aware, I am the head of the DMLE. I approached someone about teaching one of our recruits their brand of magic. During this process the recruit became one of their students, and they gave me the fate just after being accepted."

The armoured goblin nods, "Allow the Augur clan member to place their hand on your forehead. Then speak your fate word for word."

Amelia swallows hard and eyes the sword at the goblins back before she nods. Once the hand has been placed on her head, Amelia says, "Amelia Jane Bones, I see your doom. War is coming and you will die. Two paths lay before you, in one you die in your home, besieged and alone. In the other, you die with sword and wand in hand. Which is the better death is not yet known."

The Augur's eyes turn white while she's speaking, at the end they turn to the armoured goblin, "Ah, the fate is a true fate. The great queen has a new Badb Catha."

The armoured goblin nods, "The fate is a true fate, and for giving it to us I will give you as much help as I can to a stranger. The Great Queen, who you know as Morgana Danann, has written books about her culture. Buy them and read them. When you understand return with the proper greetings and we may be able to help more. Remember, that there are many parallels between her culture and our own out of necessity."

Amelia searches for how this helps her, but ends up shaking her head in frustration, "I would like to change some money for British pounds."

"We will take 10g from your vault for £50. Turn right out of the Leaky Cauldron and follow the road for about 5 minutes. Foyles will be on the other side of the road."

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Harry, Susan, and Daphne meet up for the lesson in Celtic magic.

Harry looks at Susan critically, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"Susan, I can see it, Daphne can see it, and I'm sure that Malfoy can see it too. If it goes on too much longer I'm sure that Malfoy will try to capitalise on it. So what's going on."

"My Aunt's been drinking again. She's only ever done it after a particularly bad case, but there's something else going on now."

"You're worried about her?" Susan nods, "I had to talk to Mari earlier in the week because she was upset at something Mum did. After a lot of talking I found out that your Aunt abused my mum's hospitality, when she brought one of her recruits to be trained in our magic. After all, it is one thing to seek out training yourself, and quite another thing to seek training for someone else. That requires far more formality than asking yourself, so mum felt ambushed by the question.

"Anyway, one thing led to another, and we get to the bit that Marianne had trouble with. The recruit ended up begging my mum to train her, and then said that she'd do anything. Mum ended up taking her as a battle crow."

"Wait, why did you focus on the 'said she'd do anything'?"

Harry sighs, "That's something I'd rather not discuss in the school. Though, if you want to talk about it in the meadow later. If that's what you'd like to do, why don't you try directing yourself there using your pendant. If you can, push a tiny amount of magic into the pendant and you should feel it tug in a direction. If you follow that, you'll get there. While you're doing that, I'll walk Daphne through getting into the Other on her own."

With Susan on her way, Harry turns to Daphne, "I'm sure you have been able to feel the Other now. Stepping into the other is simple in concept, but as complicated as learning to navigate was in implementation. All you do, is take that feeling and pull it around you. This is as much a magical task as a mental task. At the same time, you need to start feeling your own magic reserves. Before this, I've been stopping you from practicing before you can exhaust yourself. From this point on you will be able to go at your own pace. We'll still do practice at 7 every day, but I can't do anything to stop you using this skill whenever you want."

Daphne smiles and lifts a finger to his lips, "Harry, you're babbling. I was going to say something like 'Is that it? That's the secret?' but you started babbling. Honestly, I think I was close to working out this step myself."

Harry nods, "A lot of the beginning stuff is like that. I know you've been watching me make the gates, you won't be able to understand what I'm doing there until you've learnt to feel the magic around you. Once Susan's able to move into the Other as well we can start playing hide and seek. Erm, I'll just watch you leave now."