The old wand worked, but I prefer doing magic with this new one. Said Harry. Ollivander had told him there was only one other wand out there that had the same magical core, and indeed it felt warm and like it suited him in his hand. The thing with Harry's life now was that he was still needing to travel the furthest depths of knowledge to outsmart the knowledgeable Lord Voldemort, but he was only being such a Ravenclaw, as the hat said, because it suited him at this point in time. It was relevant, important, and most efficient, to embody that house's value at this point in time. But that didn't mean Harry's natural inclinations had changed, and he'd always felt a little...calm and level headed, and like he would see what to do when he was in the thick of action, relying on instincts, just like how he'd successfully evaded Dudley when he went through his bigger bullying phrase between first year and third year of primary school, and the holly and phoenix-feather wand from Ollivander's seemed to recognise that.
It seemed to recognise Harry's inclinations towards instinct, action only in the thick of action, being calm and level headed, a little 'see where the flow takes me, before I decide what to do', and seemed to channel it even deeper and better than Harry could've imagined. It didn't seem to try to push him to do more knowledge-based magic or anything, even though Harry couldn't describe how he knew, but the wand seemed to recognise that the naturally brave Harry had set his sights on amassing more knowledge as of now, and did not have any objections against it's owner. As if also putting itself up to the challenge of that, but it seemed to understand Harry, in spite of the sudden push in the the direction of knowledge his life had taken ever since the hat spoke it's first words to him atop his head that day.
How did I even get the old wand? Harry asked.
We don't know. You have no proof that Ollivander was the only source of wands. The hat said. You have no proof it was even a store-bought or man-made wand. You have no proof that it wasn't made by a magical feature that had the ability to create objects. You have no proof it didn't put itself together in some freak accident. There are a lot of unknowns and assumptions about this wand. The hat said.
You're right. I won't assume I know where it came from. It's useful though. Even if it didn't seem to respond to me, it did magic well. Very efficiently. Harry thought.
Objects can be mysterious, unknown, unglamorous in their origins, but still useful. Use shouldn't be falsely connected to other qualities or traits it has no bearing with. The hat said.
True. Said Harry.
He however, preferred doing magic with his store-bought wand, the one that chose him. It felt like it was growing up alongside him.
The next day Harry ate breakfast up on the ground floor of the shack. It had two storeys which was good because it distracted people away from the cellar and in the early mornings he felt safer eating on a low coffee table and stool in the living room of it with the curtains drawn. It was nice to get out of the cellar sometimes and eat in the ambiance of other places around the house. The hat was atop his head.
It doesn't make sense. How does a wand feel more responsive to me exactly? I want to know how exactly this wand is more responsive to me than the other wand. Harry thought, turning them both over in his hands as he thought this.
The wand he came with was long and black, but quite lumpy and knotted in many places. It was made out of black wood, and Harry had no idea what was inside it. He turned it over and over in his palms a few times and there was no sense he got about what could've been inside it.
The wand he bought was brown, not as long but fairly long, polished and incredibly smooth, and looked a lot better kept than the other wand.
I need to cast the same spell with them to test it out. Said Harry.
You ought to come up with a theory, and then try to prove it wrong. As long as you can't prove it wrong, you have a number of situations that you know the theory holds true for. And it will remain true, until you can find evidence that proves it wrong. Then you will have to come up with new theories. Many theories in the world work like this. They are proven true for all the situations humans know of, we use them in those situations, and they remain thought of as the most supported version of our conception of the world, until they are proven false and we have to update them. Don't just came up with theories and test them to see if they're true, or come up with situations you think they are true. Look for theories and test them to see when they don't hold true, the exceptions, so that way you either have more cases where they told true, or you will already have been tipped of about where to start re-examining to find a better theory. The hat said.
That's very wise. Said Harry. But if I haven't found the evidence in a situation where it supports the theory is true, even if I think it will most likely be true. I should have to test it out at the same time as well.
Yes, better safe than sorry. Said the hat. You might have a lot of knowledge about all the cases theories hold true or not, more than what's relevant to you. But that's knowledge. Voldemort probably did all of this, and had more knowledge than he needed to find out. He'd probably been bursting to tell people.
Bursting to tell? Harry had never heard anyone describe Voldemort in that sense. It was always something very general, broad with him, hardly anything drastic sounding. He'd stolen copies of the Daily Prophet at night and scanned the articles to learn about the wizarding world and keep up with what was happening. Besides a Gringotts break-in which happened on the day Harry went there with Hagrid, there was nothing criminal sounding that was reported in the Daily Prophet.
Knowledge is almost always a lonely path. Sometimes there is the strong sense to share it. Voldemort probably he didn't have a natural equal during his time when he wanted an equal. The hat explained this logical bit of human nature to him.
After Harry finished breakfast he got out a spare writing book he'd purchased at Diagon Alley which he was now going to use to record experiments in. He wrote as many different spells he could think of, including non-verbal ones as he'd practiced already, and planned to cast them with both wands to see if there was a difference. Some spells were ones he hadn't done before but would be challenging to do at first, as he wanted to see how easily a each wand could help him cast it. After he finished writing out the table however, he didn't dare stay up any longer in case someone saw him through the windows, if he was older and taller he might be able to come up with a more believable excuse, but he knew he looked too suspicious now, so he retreated back to the cellar where he began.
The first theory is that my wand casts positive emotional spells better than the other wand. Because it always feels warmer in my hand, or more responsive to my movements, and the emotional aspects of certain spells seem more efficiently cast, than the other wand. Which seems to cast knowledge based spells better. I'll test them out with these magic - I picked them because they were emotions and knowledge based. Harry thought.
He picked up the other wand, he found he enjoyed his wand more, so he wanted it in his hand last, so it was this wand he started of with. And cast a simple alohomora at the cellar trapdoor. There was a metal lock to it, but it could be undone with an alohomora from any witch or wizard as easily as Harry just undid it, so it was rather useless really, but he usually kept it locked so that it would add one more layer of protection if anyone truly intended to explore the cellar. He felt a little fearful of doing so, he was technically removing one of his protections, but it was this fear and emotion associated with the spell he wanted to tap into.
The lock opened super efficiently with the other wand, as if it sensed how much he wanted to recast it again and close the door, and gave him the most efficient and quickest application of the spell. When Harry locked it again ('colloportus') the lock clicked in place so smoothly it was like it'll practiced doing that all it's life. Slick, refined, perfection.
He tried it with his own wand. The lock opened a little more nosily, but a warm gust of wind whistled all over the place as if to hide it, and also potentially sweep whatever intruder that might be outside away, the wind seemed to brush warmly against Harry's cheeks and face as he did, which as he'd learnt from his prior theories about magic - reflected his emotions of wanting to be brave and comfortable in potentially action-filled times. When Harry cast colloportus, the lock clicked shut at the normal sound, and there was a little bit of warm wind before it dyed down. The wind sounded similar to the patterns Harry heard in his neighbourhood growing up, as if comforting him.
Holds true for spells I'm familiar with. Harry wrote down.
My second theory is that my wand is more powerful with emotions for spells I haven't learnt, and the other wand is better with knowledge. Thought Harry.
He decided to cast a smokescreen smell. He was a little afraid of suffocating to death in the cellar if it went too out of hand because although there were air vents it was still a cellar and he'd preferred not to smoke it all up.
He found out that the other wand casted a very light and odourless smoke, inoffensive, as if from the knowledge of the type of smoke that was most perfect for this situation. His wand however, bought about a normal smoke, what was familiar to him as smoke, but also a bit of a strong gust of wind as if to blow it away after. It felt like Harry wasn't alone with his fears in this situation, that his wand understood his fears and looked out for him a little.
When he was done he recorded that it was true for spells he'd never tried before as well. They responded to his emotions differently.
My third theory is that it holds true for non-verbal magic. Thought Harry. He attempted to make his quill dance atop the page as it wrote.
With the other wand the sentence he was focusing on (a sentence from one of his textbooks) was written better, as if it responded more to his thoughts about it, and the quill gave a rhythmic jiggle, but didn't seem to put it's heart in it. With his wand, the sentence was in more messy handwriting, but the dance was more lively, like a jive Harry had seen some contestants do on one of the dancing television shows.
I can't think of any situations at the moment where it might not hold true. I'm very new to magic so I'll come back to it later when I'm in situations that give me other ideas. Thought Harry.
Earlier on. I theorised that magic modelled reality based on the witch or wizard's imagination and belief in it, but it didn't actually create reality. And that certain things which were easlier to model in the imagination - such as realities you simply observed instead of did, like watching paper fall versus making a pen write, were easier to cast magic for. But that wasn't a complete theory. Nor did I truly have a good methodology for it.
Well, I knew it held true in the case of paper, and water splashing, and a pen writing. But I need to go deeper. Harry was determined to get to the bottom of that (along with many other things).
Theory one - magic models gravity, but can't recreate gravity exactly. I've gotten deeper into the paper example, it is gravity that I was ultimately modelling then, not just that situation.
After a series of experiments with gravity, water, and some other things (using non-verbal magic and his own wand, which was his preferred wand), Harry was able to come to these conclusions.
Magic models gravity based of the witch or wizard's imagination and reaction to it, but can't recreate gravity.
Magic models the movement of liquids based on a witch or wizard's imagination and reaction to it, but can't recreate the exact way liquids moves through air or even other liquids.
Magic models can make permanent or temporary changes, but the transformation process is based on the witch or wizard's imagination, sense, and reaction of it, not of reality.
The last one came about when Harry realised that when he tried to model gravity (a pebble he'd picked up from Hogsmeade outside which he used for these experiments), it truly remained there. The movement of it was permanent. When he cast a levitation non-verbal spell on his shoelaces for an hour (making them dance), this effect of it moving was temporary, but the way they danced, even if he wanted to make them fall due to gravity, did not mirror gravity exactly.
This meant that the changes a witch or wizard made, whether they intended for it to be permanent or temporary, were indeed affected and real. Magic could make permanent or temporary changes. But the process or transformation, was based on the witch or wizard's imagination, sense, and reaction to it, and not actual reality.
The 'magic' part was how a witch or wizard was able to make those changes to the reality around them. It was like things were non-magical, then they became magical, then non-magical again (once the temporary changes wore of), or in the case of moving items, it became non-magical once it stopped moving, but the movement wasn't based on reality, but a witch or wizard's sense, imagination, or reaction to it, which indeed changed actual reality. That was the magical part.
That was also the part that related to being a witch or wizard. For it the effects of spells came from a witch or wizard's overriding thoughts, or emotions, or conscious decision to use magic, whichever was stronger. It was very related to being a witch or wizard, which meant more investigation into what magic was exactly.
I feel more magic now. Thought Harry. I really am, recreating imaginary things from magic almost. But in Defence Against the Dark Arts, there's some animals that have the ability to make permanent or temporary changes on reality as well, through magical processes. They have the ability to use magic as well. So it's not just being a witch or wizard, but rather a magical entity.
There is evidence supporting it. Said the hat.
Harry didn't write all of this down. He only wrote down the theories he was doing experiments for.
Do you think magical entities are like wands? We channel magic through us, through another source? And we can choose how to channel it? Harry asked.
In Defence Against the Dark Arts it mentioned that one of the things we could be protecting against were very dark wizards, including babies or toddlers that were dark. I don't think babies or toddlers could use their thoughts or emotions or conscious control of magic to truly control it. So perhaps there is a chance for them to be more susceptible to certain types of magic, and to channel magic through them, into destructive or harmful ways, without any conscious control. There is evidence magic is not fully within a witch or wizard's control. It does not come entirely from our control. And it is possible for magic to be channeled through a witch or wizard without their conscious control of it. The hat reminded Harry.
That sounds make us sound like instruments for magic. He said. So magic comes from other sources and is channeled through witches and wizards. That sounds more scary. That we could be used as magical instruments, potentially for magic we don't even want to channel. I like the brand of magic we learn at Hogwarts better. The type we consciously control and want to cast. Harry thought.
Indeed that is many people's preference, but some find beauty in the cruel or unforgiving nature of magic. To not be in control to a greater force, evil perhaps, or just power perhaps, and to cast magic one doesn't even want to cast. Some humans feel they live a sheltered life, protected from the true realities of the world. Some find it liberating to realise such possibilities with magic. The hat said.
I bet Voldemort did. I have no evidence of it yet, but my theory is that he's some sort of dark and twisted person, cruel, sad, bitter, in agony, the type to enjoy this. Harry said.
There are similarities between witches and wizards who like dark magic. The hat said.
I don't like it. I have to understand it though. Understand the true horrors of magic. Harry said.
That's what you need to outsmart him. The hat said.
Harry also found out that the transformation process was truly modelled of a witch or wizard's imagination, sense and reaction. To test this Harry wrote some numbers 1-10 on sheets of parchment, ripped it up. Then he walked away from the table in the cellar, shuffled the paper around with his wand, took of his glasses, and then levitated a bit of paper up. He shone his torch (he had bought one from the muggle store) at it and attempted to use magic to write the number on the sheet of paper on another book.
He concentrated very hard - he knew that the number had to be between 1 and 10. He knew that even though he did not know which one it was, he knew that it was definitely one of those numbers. And he willed the quill to write down the number that it was, even though he didn't know it. He tried very hard at it.
But when he put on his glasses again and came back to it. He just saw the large ink blots the quill made in exactly the same blurry mess he had been able to make out on the parchment. It looked in between three numbers, like it could be any if he zoomed closer, which was exactly how it looked to Harry with his glasses of, and he was able to deduce that he couldn't make permanent changes (like writing the number on the ripped up parchment on another page) if he did not have a sense of what it was. Magic only modelled itself of his imagination, sense, and reaction based on the true belief it would happen.
It could not model itself of something he had no sense of. It could not give him knowledge he didn't have.
All the magic he did, already existed inside his head.
It's all based on a witch or wizard's head. Harry thought as he prepared lunch that day.
I sense sadness from you about it. The hat told him.
I thought magic was more invincible somehow. This makes it seem like it's really reliant on a witch or wizard to cast it. The human mind. Harry thought.
What a fallible thing it is indeed. The hat agreed.
Imagine how horrific it can be in the hands of a dark human. Or a person with twisted thoughts and sense of the world. It's not really dark witches or wizards. Just dark humans who can channel magic. Harry said.
The best of the conclusions you've come up with so far. The hat said.
I'll figure out the depths of knowledge. Harry said. So dark humans who can channel magic can't take the joy or lives out of good humans who can. A tear rolled down his cheek. I don't want good people dead like my parents. Innocent people dead like my parents. I want to save the wizarding world. Especially if I was meant to from birth or I had a higher chance of success or whatever. I want to do my duty if I am able to do it easier and with less consequences on myself than others.
Turning a needle into a match. That's a permanent change unless specifically untransfigured as it was mentioned to be something magic can do, but that's too complicated so we're not taught of it now. But while the process is probably based on how a witch or wizard imagines, and reactions to it changing, it does seem to defy things we know. It changes from wood, into metal. That seems to be of a difference class than just, making a quill fly around. Harry thought to himself.
That's why transfiguration is it's own subject, and charms has a broader range of spells in it. The hat agreed.
So magic, when channeled through witches and wizards, can change matter. One thing into another thing. Said Harry. Or rather. There are a lot of things witches and wizards have observed magic to be able to change, and use magic on these known things to their own reasons. But you're right, I should look for exceptions to the idea. What can't be transfigured?
There was silence from the hat. It's not anything immediately obvious I can think of based on the knowledge I have. Said the hat finally when it sensed Harry was wanting an answer.
You can even do human transformation in older years - become an animagi. The textbook briefly mentioned in a summary of what transfiguration is, and also partial animal transfiguration, so it looks like human to animal transfigurations can be done. Same with one animal to another. So even that's possible.
Said Harry. I suppose time. You can't transfigure the present into the past. Or the past to the present.
There is far less evidence of that. Agreed the hat.
I suppose it's always possible it's happened, just that I've no evidence of it. But you can say that about anything. There is evidence transfiguration of matter and physical things is easier than transfiguration of time. That's a new conclusion. Harry said.
Time is a higher class of magic than what transfiguration deals with. Agreed the hat.
You can't transfigure thoughts, can you? Mused Harry. Suppose you could transfigure one thought to another, then you'd have knowledge you couldn't possess. Suppose you wanted to do a multiplication of large numbers you can't do in your head. You can hold the thought of question, then transfigure that thought into the answer. You wouldn't know how to do it, because that process would be a magical one, but you'd get a permanent result, which is the number you wanted. So you can get knowledge magically, without going through it the usual way.
That's an interesting thought. But you have no means to test this. I'd advise you not to tamper with your thoughts Harry, or try casting magic on thoughts inside your brain. It is good to find exceptions and understand magic deeply, but there is also personal safety. The hat said.
Well, there's evidence that certain types of magic are logically harder to test out than others, because of how intimate they are. Like thought magic. Magic with thoughts is also a class higher than transfiguration, but less than time. Harry said.
Your getting a better understanding of different types of magic and how they all fit in with each other beyond just what's taught at Hogwarts. The hat said.
What about dead magic? Bringing someone back from the dead? Talking to the dead? Time magic might be travelling back many years, decades, centuries, into the past. Bringing someone back from the dead could just be someone that died yesterday. Thought Harry.
It looks like the order from easiest to hardest outside of the Hogwarts curriculum is: Thought magic. Dead magic. Time magic. The hat agreed.
Harry added Parallel Universe Magic (if it existed) to the end of it. And of course - unknown.
Potions appeared ritualistic.
Most ingredients seem linked to whatever the potion is meant to be making by name or essence. It's not working through actually creating substances that should do the job, because we're not adding actual ingredients that have the chemicals to create another chemical that can carry out the effects of the potion. We're simply adding in ingredients that are related to the idea or what a potion is supposed to create, in name or their origin tale. It's more like a myth or fable, something that shouldn't be true the more you think of it, but yet potions work all the time. Thought Harry.
Well of course, the entire process of a potion is like the process of a spell or other magic. It works because of a witch or wizard's imagination, sense and reaction to it. And there can either be a permanent or temporary affect. The process is magical not based on actual chemistry. Harry continued.
Yes. Potions are just a symbol or manifestation of magic. It's deeply related to magic, not chemistry. Though it's a discipline no less. The hat agreed.
Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Astronomy were hard to do in the cellar. Harry tried studying them the best he could from books, but he knew it wasn't equal to the real thing.
How about going to the forbidden forest? The hat suggested. It's close enough to you. Bound to have some magical plants, magical creatures, and you can probably bring your telescope and see the study the stars there as well. You can also visit Hagrid maybe. I know you feel something towards him.
That's a good idea. I'll do that as soon as I know a bit more defensive or invisibility spells and such. Harry thought.
Halloween came and left. Not much happened. Harry remained in the cellar for all the Hogsmeade weekends. He also found a new purpose for Hedwig - he sent her off with a letter to the post office at Diagon Alley, describing that he was the owner of the owl but had less of a use for her than he originally imagined, and could she do some work here so that she would have some exercise and fulfill her purpose as an owl, and for him to receive some payment for her services.
A deal was arranged, it turned out the post office did accept other people's owls for work and could fit them in quite readily, but did not usually do so because most witches and wizards, no matter how desperate, did not like to part with their money.
Harry had eaten about three quarters of his muggle food however, and he had no way of replenishing them. Instead he now bought food from Hogsmeade with the money Hedwig was earning him. It was transferred to his Gringotts account, and he paid to have money taken out of his Gringotts account and delivered to him. There were protective enchantments around the envelopes he was paying for. He bought food using them.
He also figured out how to exchange the money for food. He quickly found out that most stores around Hogsmeade had magical wards in place to prevent basic theft. If someone had used magic of a darker or more advanced level than the kind used in the wards they could get around it, but it prevented against the common magical ways to thieve. And so as long as those wards recognised payment had occurred, it wouldn't register thefts occurring, and Harry was able to levitate away items he'd wanted when it wasn't busy without anyone finding him. It was actually easier to pay without bumping into the seller in wizarding stores.
Harry tended to vanish his rubbish, and luckily vanishing charms had no limits. He also ordered some books from Diagon Alley about Voldemort and The Boy Who Lived and was reading his way through them. The hat cautioned that there wasn't a lot of knowledge around this and so many of the books were speculative, something Harry could see more easily in some books than others, but he was still able to build onto his knowledge of his own personal history.
Nothing. He muttered to the hat sometime later. Most of the books contained nothing useful about the situation whatsoever.
No one knew. Perhaps you should go to the people who were immediately at the scene or more closely or personally related to it all. The hat suggested.
The only person I know of that is Hagrid. Said Harry. I don't want him to risk his life for me or involve him. But at the same time, I might see him in the Forbidden Forest that I'm planning to visit. He is my teacher on some forms. I was also more likely to risk the family members of a school friend at Hogwarts because we would've been closer. If I did go to Hogwarts it was probably some poor boy my age whose family members died for me, or himself. It's really them I'm protecting, and it might've not been Hagrid at all.
Hagrid is not a bad choice to see in this. He is also less likely to get himself in trouble than someone closer to your age. It is safer. Agreed the hat.
When I work on invisibility spells some more. Added Harry. I want to order the entire Hogwarts' curriculum so I can read through it. I don't have to learn it in order. So long as I understand the magical concepts before this particular spell. I can work on just the ones I need. But I think it'll be suspicious if I ordered a lot of books all at once. I'm afraid to order to a fake name as I'm worried the order won't go through or witches and wizards would have some way of detecting it.
You don't have any evidence that they don't have a way of detecting it. Or that nothing will happen if you used a fake name. The hat said logically.
So it's not a safe decision. Said Harry.
What about Hagrid? Maybe he could order them for you? He might not mind. It doesn't affect him. You will need the 7 years worth of books eventually anyway. The hat said.
And so Harry decided he really had to visit Hagrid. He still saw Hedwig once every fortnight or so, it was part of the deal he'd arranged with the post office, and she'd been happy with her new job and happy to see him, so he knew she understood why she was sent to work at a post office rather than hide in the cellar or shrieking shack with him, but he didn't want to wait for those times to send a letter. He had higher chances of talking to Hagrid if he went to Hogwarts.
It would have to be at night however.
Author's Note: I'll be going on a hiatus for a bit, loved writing it and look forward to writing more when I'm freer :)
