"I can't believe you never told me about Sirius Black." Daphne said, poking him in the chest as they finally left Sirius' cave. They had spent most of the afternoon talking, especially when Daphne brought up the animagus process.
Both Sirius and Remus had given loads of useful tips, along with Sirius' own experience. For Harry, most of it was just repeats of what he'd already been told, but Daphne enjoyed it. She also asked questions Harry hadn't thought of, such as the emotional change.
"Everytime I change, I can feel my emotions change. It's like, while it is still me in charge, Padfoot simply can't process some of my emotions, and thus is unbothered by them. In Azkaban I was able to use this to lessen the dementors, as while Padfoot was equally sad, it was different enough for the dementors to be unable to feed upon.
"I was also much more fulfilled when I got to hang out with my friends while as a dog, like I would go nuts when we got to go out while changed… which led to a fair bit of teasing."
"Does it hurt to change?"
"No, it's completely numb. In fact, if you do feel pain, stop, since something's gone wrong. The change from human to animal should be completely natural, filling you with a feeling of rightness." Sirius had replied, completely earnest.
Sitting within the Room of Requirement again, Harry was starting to get annoyed. He'd asked the room to tell him how it had been made, only for the room to open a doorway straight to the Library. A short investigation proved it was the actual library, seamlessly teleporting him 6th floors down.
He had even ran all the way through the school just to confirm it, revealing that it was one constant loop. Illogical passageways were hardly uncommon in Hogwarts, but all the others would only ever be passageways, even when they were peculiar on when or how they worked. This was a door to a different part of the school, until it decided to be a pool or a living room.
Worst of all, to Harry, was the sheer amount of power the Room casually threw around, but only on the inside. Outside in the 7th floor corridor, he couldn't detect any magical output. But just inside the doorway, one foot slightly inside the library, he could feel it.
A constant tunnel of raw magic, connecting the space between the Room and the library, a theoretical infinite distance stretched to the size of a doorway. His magic could detect the frightening amount of the castle's magic, but it was kept just out of reach.
It was the same in anything the Room summoned, power kept just behind the walls. It was frightening, to feel nothing until he placed his hand against a seemingly harmless stonebrick, only to feel like his hand was inches from the sun itself. Because of this, he was scared how Fleur might react, given how she'd become addicted to using his workshop.
While his workshop was like a magical sink, it could only take in the magic Hogwarts let through. Compared to the full unrestrained power within the Room of requirement, his workshop was nothing. It was for that reason he didn't quite trust the Room, even as he meditated within its walls.
That was how she found him, floating within an orb of magic, a book of magic floating in front of him. The moment she opened the door to the Room, his magic leaped over, scanning the entire hallway before returning and telling him it was just Daphne.
His still unrestrained magic often acted without his direction now, controlled only through instinct and mithrilium. He had reigned it in since the 2nd task, but he hadn't returned to the full control he had prior.
Without Dumbledore to tell him to follow social norms, he felt no reason to try and fit in, not when he knew he didn't have to. Especially when it served him so well in the duelling tournament, giving him complete detection all around him.
Looking up at Daphne, he spotted the now familiar look she gave him, a mix of longing, contentment and a touch of fear. Having regularly stepped into her mind, he knew her fear was a complex multi-layered thing. She feared him leaving her behind, or refusing to help her, fears he did his best to relieve.
She gave a barely noticeable contented shiver as she passed through his magic, something he couldn't help grinning at.
"You do know we'll be late for Professor Snape's session, right?" Daphne asked, more amused than irritated. In reply, he let himself fall to the floor and led her out of the room. Taking one last look at his study, he shut the door and asked for a passageway into Snape's workroom.
As he had guessed, a door appeared which led them straight to the normal private work room, disappearing back into the corridor's wall when they closed it.
"What… was that?"
"You know how we used the room as a pool? Well, apparently it can go anywhere within Hogwarts." Harry supplied, sitting down at his desk while they waited for Snape.
Shaking her head, she sat down across from him, floating her bag over to its customary corner. "I can't believe how many things seem to happen around you, don't forget me when you find something from the Founder's objects."
Knowing she was joking, Harry decided to refrain from mentioning the Sword of Gryffindor.
"So, Susan Bones talked to me the other day. Asked if it would be possible for her to get tutoring from you. I think she'd like to join our group, which I personally don't see a problem with.
"She is the best of her year within Hufflepuff, and seems quite strong. Plus, she's the niece of Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE and a prominent Lady of the Wizengamot. Getting a favour like this out of Susan would be a big boon for the future."
"I don't really care about the political side, but do you think she'll learn and get along with the others? Justin and Colin decided they didn't want to devote that time, so I don't want to invite someone completely unknown just for them to drop out." Harry replied, taking it into consideration.
"She was determined enough when she spoke to me, said she wanted to be as strong as I had become in the duelling tournament. Also, she's a Hufflepuff, hard work is their whole modus operandi."
"Tell you what, I don't have time this year to help train someone from scratch, but tell her I'll test her at the start of next year. She has from now till then to work on her skills by herself, then if I think she has potential I'll invite her to join."
"Amelia Bones was head girl when I was in 2nd year." Snape announced, appearing from his store cupboard, with a steel cauldron hovering behind him. Unusually, he seemed in a great mood, a smug smile threatening to slip out, "She was a fierce fighter during the war and quickly rose through the aurors, although that was partially a process of elimination.
"Ms. Bones doesn't quite take after her aunt, her potions aren't exceptional, and her transfiguration needs work. However, I am informed her charms and defence are outstanding, which makes sense given her guardian. I'm sure, if it were a subject here, her warding would also be top of the class."
Taking Snape's words at face value, Harry nodded politely and committed the professor's words to memory.
"Now, assuming you are finished gossiping, I'd like to show you the latest result of our experiments. After we disbanded, I had an opportunity to receive a Gubraithian log, which I submerged into the potion."
With a flourish, Snape removed the cauldron lid to reveal a cracked pure silver log, with a light blue flame crackling around it. A chill of air blew outwards with this, spreading a faint layer of frost, however despite that steam was rising out of the flames.
"It seems, we've discovered an entirely new magical material, currently named Cryofyre. From my own experiments, it has the unique ability to chill the air around it, while simultaneously bringing anything it touches to a cold boil.
"I tested it on some ice, which quickly melted then steamed, yet when I took the temperature the steam was under -30°C. This alone, will revolutionise potion making. My estimate is the wolfsbane potion alone can have weeks cut from its brewing time, along with several expensive stabilising elements that are now redundant.
"But, perhaps more importantly, I believe it will help unlock more uses of our dementor ash, given how heating it ruins their properties. With this, we can safely bring the potion to boil, allowing a much wider range of ingredients."
Almost 2 hours later, Harry left the dungeons alone, Daphne having stayed behind to talk to Snape. Entering his workshop, he wearily sat at his table where his eyes fell upon the Marauders Map. He had left it open from the last time he'd been investigating it, simply getting a feel for it.
Casually leafing through the map, he ended up looking at Moody's Office, which had just one name frantically moving around inside 'Bartemius Crouch'. Instantly he got to his feet in anger, eyes locked on the man's name.
He was the reason the mermen had attacked, the reason Luna had almost died. He was meant to be too sick to come into work, yet here he was breaking into the school.
Getting to his feet, Harry rushed out of his workshop, grabbing the map as he went. Running through the corridors as fast as he could, he quickly got to the defence room, just barely spotting Moody's coat tails turning the corner.
"Professor Moody!" Harry yelled, maintaining his speed to catch up to his professor. Despite his peg leg, the man was moving fast, although he did turn to glance at Harry.
"What is it, Potter? I've got urgent business."
"It's Mr. Crouch, he was in your office! I came straight here when I saw, he can't be that far away." Harry replied, keeping pace next to the man.
"So that's who it was. Somebody triggered my defences, but they ran off before I could get to them. But, how did you know he was there, you certainly weren't anywhere near and I know my office can't be seen from outside." Moody puffed, clearly struggling to maintain their pace.
"I have a map that shows everyone in the school." Harry explained, knowing he could trust the man with the knowledge.
"A map?" The man asked incredulously, even going so far as to come to a stop on the stairs. "Quick, Potter, give it to me. You run ahead to the school gates, see if you can cut off Crouch, you are certainly the quicker out of us. I'll look for him on your map."
Begrudgingly, Harry handed over the activated map and then jumped over the stair railing. Landing easily, he set off to the gates, only to come across them locked tight. A quick scan with his magic proved the gates' protections were as strong as ever, proving they hadn't been opened within the past few hours.
Frustrated, he went back to the grand staircase, only to find Moody nowhere to be seen.
Rita's article had come out the morning after, sparking some controversy within the student population. Some thought he was entitled, while others said he was being modest. A rare few even thought he had cheated, although they stopped being vocal about it when Fleur and Krum had a go at them.
Not that Harry cared about any of them, knowing their opinions would change with the next news article. Instead, Harry had spent his time within the Room of Requirement, trying to learn its secrets.
Infuriatingly, the more he studied the room and read the books it provided, the more he realised how out of his depth he was. It was like trying to work out how the school's clock tower worked by looking at its shadow. Despite that, he was learning a lot about intent-based magic, magic he hoped would carry over into his mithril.
He did learn the Room had favourites. It followed a simple hierarchy, placing whomever first summoned that instance of the Room at the top. From there downwards, it favoured the greatest will, be it a combined group idea or one strong idea.
As such, when Daphne entered the Room, her own subconscious will folded around his own. Because of a lack of specification on his side, the air within the Room cooled, while snow started to form on the fake windows.
However, the actual room remained as Dumbledore's Godric's Hollow study. Harry found it quite peaceful, giving him a soft reminder of home, having spent a fair deal of his last summers within it. Other than Fawkes' empty perch, it was easy to believe he was actually there.
Moving silently, she settled down next to him on the sofa, deliberately causing her hair to fall in the way of his book. Huffing playfully, he brushed her hair out of the way, then shut and dropped the book.
The moment it left his hands it disappeared, the Room returning it to wherever it had come from. Lightly poking her with his magic, he turned to regard her fully.
"Want to practise legilimency?" She asked, maintaining solid eye contact. Within a second of her asking, he had slipped within her mind. Even with her defences raised, his attack was thinner than any standard attack.
With his mithrilium aiding him, he could withhold almost all of the needed power, slipping unnoticed through cracks in her defence. Once inside, he then blocked up the opening he'd used, slowly shoring up her defences to his level.
Where his mindscape was a void and a single river, Daphne's was laid like a dark snowy forest, surrounded by a wall of dark blue ice. But, underneath that, he was able to see something different.
Just like his magesight, there was a coloured layer hidden from view, revealing the true workings. With a push of will, the trees dissolved into tendrils of energy, while the ground fell away to reveal a much denser collection of tendrils.
He had no idea what most of it did, getting only vague flashes of intent at best, but he only needed to identify changes. Once he knew which parts of her mind the animagus ritual modified, he'd need to look further into those parts, but that was a year away.
With both the speed of his mithrilium and the time distortion of their mindscapes, he was finished within seconds. While he still had under half left to map, overuse was malignant to both their mental health, forcing him to leave.
Almost immediately, Daphne leaned on him heavily, eyes held shut from the headache. A gentle healing charm helped her recover, but not enough to continue.
"It gets easier every time we do this." Daphne chuckled, finally reopening her eyes. "By the time we get around to starting the animagus ritual, I might not be bothered by it anymore. Now, don't you have a secret meeting thing to do? I'll just be here, resting my eyes."
Sighing, he got up, causing her to fall fully onto the sofa, whereupon she yawned and stretched out. Leaving her to her own devices, he made his way down to Nicholas' classroom.
Despite silently cursing the fact he hadn't used the Room to get there before Daphne fell asleep and locked it into the study form, he got there with plenty of time to spare. Only a few minutes after he'd sat down, Nicholas strolled in.
"Ah, Harry, any luck on finding a suitable ritual location?"
"Well, I was thinking we could try the Chamber of Secrets. It's close to the leylines, made of stone and has been left alone for centuries." Harry suggested.
"Brilliant! I doubt there's a better spot in Britain, assuming it works. Very well, lead on."
For the first time since his second year, Harry made his way into the second floor girls bathroom, passing easily through Dumbledore's barrier. Whilst he had planned on avoiding the resident ghost, he had the misfortune of finding her floating over the sinks, one hand floating lazily within a faucet.
As they watched, her brow came together in concentration, until with a victorious "Ah ha!" she ripped her hand free, causing water to explode outwards.
"Myrtle, what are you doing? I thought we'd agreed you'd stop flooding bathrooms?"
"Oh, Harry, I didn't see you there. I'm sorry, Peeves has been causing problems again, so I wanted something to take my mind off it. I forgot my promise to you."
"Peeves? Okay, tell the other ghosts I'll talk to them soon, possibly some time next week." Harry instructed, before turning to the entrance to the chamber.
He was dismayed to see Dumbledore had placed even more wards around the central sinks, completely blocking any path into the Chamber. A quick scan confirmed it was far beyond his ability to defeat, even without it being tied into Hogwarts itself.
Glancing at Nicholas sheepishly, Harry had no idea what to do next. To his surprise, Nicholas solved the problem by tapping the ward with his wand and stepping through.
"Albus is undeniably good at what he does, but you'd be surprised how often he repeats the same mistakes. This ward is one I designed myself long ago, which I made sure contained a bypass.
"In order for it to function, I must be able to pass through it. As for you, so long as you take my hand, you'll be able to pass through without issue."
Once Harry had passed through, Nicholas instantly crawled through the cutout hole, before eagerly jumping into the hole below. His cheer of joy easily echoed up, all the way to the clear sound of his landing with a heavy thump.
Following in his mentor's wake, Harry dived down the hole. As he slid down, he winced whenever he got caught on irregular holes, which he was sure hadn't been there the first time.
Lifting himself up as he neared the bottom, he used his magic to bring him to a steady stop, easily stepping off the lip of the pipe. In contrast, Nicholas leaned heavily on the stone wall, running his wand up and down his back.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, instantly concerned.
"Oh, I'm perfectly fine. When you are as old as I, even a simple slide can cause aches and pains, something to look forward to in your future. Fortunately, a spell was made for this exact issue, so let us not delay any longer." Nicholas replied cheerfully, rolling his shoulders and setting off.
Frowning at the quantity of bones and slime in front of him, Harry threw a powerful cleaning charm ahead, revealing smooth green tiles below. To his surprise, he easily caught up with Nicholas, despite the man's head start. Unlike his normal assured strike, the man seemed content with a slower leisurely pace.
Inside the Chamber proper, they were greeted with the sight of the dead basilisk and a giant pillar of mithril, stretching from floor to ceiling. Even now, the ceiling bowed dangerously low, held up entirely by the mithril's magic.
To Harry's immense surprise, the mithril had changed over the years, digging deeper into the floor towards the leylines. Using his mage sight, he was able to see pillar extend for over 100 feet before branching out.
The independent growth had allowed the pillar to extend outwards, several tendrils wrapping around the main body then reaching up to further support the ceiling. It almost looked like a large silver tree, with a canopy of stone.
"I must say, I find myself disappointed. For the fabled chamber of a grand sorcerer, this is quite an embarrassment." Nicholas commented, looking around in disdain.
"What do you mean, it was big enough to hold the basilisk wasn't it?"
"Well, certainly, but this chamber wasn't built solely to contain a big snake, especially when said snake would hardly be taller than a lion when he died. No, this was where he conducted his sorcery.
"You have to understand, while the Chamber of Secrets within the school was thought to be a myth, Slytherin's chamber was a well known fact. A few well respected accounts of visiting his chamber were even published, with the writers having been taken by portkey."
"Well, isn't sorcery just wandless magic, I'd have thought this would've been plenty of room."
"Wandless magic? Harry, sorcery is the art of controlling and banishing spirits from the otherworld, such as ghosts, demons and fae. As a grand sorcerer, it was Slytherin who bound Peeves to this school, it was his influence that still allows ghosts to manifest to this day.
"Historically, upon ascension to a grand sorcerer, one would build a special chamber as a receiving room. The banishment of spirits releases a significant amount of backlash, power that their chamber could catch and store. Then when summoning a spirit, the sorcerer could call upon their chamber to provide the power.
"Despite how heavily the other three founders disapproved of demonology, it was of course assumed he was using Hogwarts' power to boost his chamber. But as you know, the connection was never found. Slytherin's chamber was legendary for its ability to channel power several levels above other grand sorcerers.
"That is why I say this cannot be his actual chamber, or else the tales were lies. For a start, the roof is not tall enough to accommodate most high level demons, especially the demon king Slytherin was renowned for banishing. Then you have the Seal of Solomon, which is clearly not here. Such a thing is impossible to remove."
"What would it feel like? I assume demonology would leave a mark, like dark magic." Harry asked, stretching his magesight out to scan the chamber.
"It will certainly leave a mark, although I can't admit to knowing what it would look like to you. It will feel unnatural, and will clearly stand out against any earthly magic."
Nodding, Harry Looked, but could find nothing other than Hogwarts white, except for his mithril. Taking a second glance at his mithril, Harry pressed his hand against the unusually warm metal and passed his magesight through it.
Slowly, the mithril started glowing as his magic was rapidly thrown around the chamber, haphazardly illuminating parts of the room to him briefly with each return.
When the entire chamber was mapped, Harry was going to let go when he noticed the snake effigies in the pool alongside the chamber were also being illuminated, the water hiding the transition from snake head to circular pillar.
To his surprise, the mithril continued to map out far below even that, revealing the ground they were standing on to be a seemingly floating platform. He had assumed the mithril pillar had extended into the earth below the chamber, but apparently it was simply within a deep pool of water.
His only unit of measurement was the giant statue of Salazar Slytherin, whose entire body was submerged. By the time his vision got well over 100 feet deep, he was getting very bored, seeing just chamber walls and stone pillars.
Then his vision reached the floor, which showed him so much he was incapable of processing it all. What he did understand, was the large raised circle, clearly highlighted in a new type of magic.
For the first time, his magesight was blurry, making it impossible to try and make out what was written with the magic, but the look of the magic left no confusion. It was an off-black, but with what looked like frozen screaming faces floating within it, each face the colour of dried blood.
To his eyes, it looked like each face was slowly turning towards him, despite his lack of corporeal body within the pillar. As he kept looking, the blur started to clear, making him believe that if he stared just a bit longer, he'd be able to decipher them.
That was when Nicholas wrenched him away from the pillar, which started releasing faint wisps of steam where his hand had been. The moment the world stopped spinning and he regained control over his body, Harry rushed over to the nearest pool and threw up into the water.
To his dismay, his eyes unintentionally settled upon the faint red faces, something he knew he shouldn't be able to see from such a distance.
"Demonology, never a pleasant experience." Nicholas stated, helping Harry to his feet. "I should've expected your magesight to react poorly, I certainly wouldn't have let you search for it unaware if I had. For that, you have my deepest apology. But, where did you look to find it?"
"Below… It's below us." Harry mumbled, still shaking from his experience. "It seems the chamber flooded at some point, we're just standing in the ceiling. That statue of Slytherin extends all the way to the ground, probably a good 120 feet."
"Hm, perhaps it might be worthwhile trying to drain this chamber then, but that shall be a challenge for another day. For now, we must get on with the Metalomancy. Thankfully, demonology will not affect our ritual, due to their divine magick and our arcane."
Withdrawing a multicoloured pouch, which floated in the air next to him. From that, he withdrew a similar pouch but in yellow. Pressing his hand into it, he pulled out a handful of yellow powdered chalk.
Without a second thought, Nicholas threw the chalk upon the floor, where it instantly rearranged itself into a quad-arrow, made up of tiny Petroglyphs.
In short order, several purple arrows were similarly formed in a ring around the original symbol. From there, Nicholas drew a two foot long green line out from each of the purple arrows.
Finally, he withdrew a soft black chalk, which had clearly been mixed with charcoal. To Harry, each black symbol formed looked like a quad-arrow, within a ring, with two crescent moons either side. Placed at the end of each green line, crescent moon tangential to the line.
"Now, Harry, this is a delineation anvil. Each black set of symbols is called a plate, while the yellow quad-arrow is called a hammer. You can sometimes have multiple hammers, and any number of plates.
"We shall be placing a block of brass within the hammer, since it is our sacrificial metal. The materials we wish to extract properties from are called the hecatomb materials, which shall go on each plate. It is important that each plate can only contain one unique material.
"The tricky part comes as thus; the weight of the sacrificial metal cannot change, so the combined weight of all the hecatomb materials have to be equal to it. We must be as accurate as possible, down to the milligram.
"Now, I hope you did your homework. I shall be providing two hecatombs, namely my obsidian blade and a feather, I hope both are obvious in their use?"
This week's story suggestion is "When the Roses Bloom Again" by TheBlack'sResurgence. Very good story, with Harry taking a central part in a (proper) wizarding war against the Dark Lord.
Bonus: If you have any ideas on what could go into Harry's sword, please say. I'll happily read any idea put forth. All you'd need to do is name a physical material, then the particular property wanted. IE: "Feather, for its literal and symbolised lightness."
Things I think need explaining:
- The Chamber of Secrets: Something I discovered while writing this chapter is that the chamber described in the book is almost completely different to the movie one. The movie also has an explanation for why, which I was delighted to copy to this story; that being the chamber was flooded up to Slytherin's chin.