A/N: Following logic, Harry Potter was born in 1980. My evidence: In Harry's second year he attended Nearly Headless Nick's 500th deathday party. Sir Nicholas said he died on October 31, 1492. This would make his 500th deathday party in 1992. Harry was 12 in his second year so all that's left is to subtract 12 years from 1992 and you get 1980 as the year Harry Potter was born. This of course would make September first, on which day Harry always gets on the Hogwarts Express, a Friday in his fifth year (1995). As for this story, he went onto the train on September third (a Sunday) so that the first day of classes were on a Monday.
A/N: I have a great understanding of weapons and I will refer to several very specific ones. If you (the reader) find you are not familiar with whatever it is that I am talking about, then I suggest you try the following web sites:
www.museumreplicas.com
www.atlantacutlery.com
they have wonderful descriptions as well as, but more importantly, pictures. This reference is by no means a plug for this company (museum replicas is owned my Atlanta cutlery).
Chapter 5
The Evening Visitor
Harry and Hermione eventually found their way back to Gryffindor tower after being stopped by several teachers to explain to them what happened, meeting up with Ron on the way. When they got back to the common room they immediately noticed a small glass vial suspended in mid air in the middle of the room and Andranos standing behind it. "Hermione's immediate reaction was, "How did You get in here?" and a "What is that?"
"Well," Andranos said, "to answer your questions in no particular order, that is a vial of everlasting water, and I got in here through a dimension door." "Okay, what is a dimension door?" Hermione replied.
"A dimension door? I'll show you," he said as he held up a small brass doorknob. He tapped it thrice upon the door as he said "suntumba shanktoa." Where he tapped the doorknob, a silver colored doorway rose up from the floor exactly like the one in Andranos' history of magic class. It had the same appearance as water when viewed from beneath the surface and emitted a faint humming. As Andranos stepped through it, it rippled around him before falling back to the floor and disappeared. Harry felt a tap on his shoulder and spun around to see Andranos grinning back at him.
"So it's like Apparating then?" Ron said.
"No. It's Not like what you call Apparating. You cannot Apparate, or teleport, as sorcerers call it, within Hogwarts grounds. When I came here, I had a few books translated into American. One of then was 'Hogwarts, A History', I strongly recommend that you burn it. No, a dimension door creates what the…Muggles, I think you call them, what they would call a wormhole. It will open up a doorway that will allow me to instantaneously travel from one place to another as long as I've seen the destination before. With someone of my experience, I can travel within one league of where a start at."
"Okay, but why are you here?" Harry ventured.
Andranos reached into his bag and pulled out a rather large dagger. It had rubies and emeralds, along with a number of other jewels encrusted in the sheath and hilt, with a large sapphire in the pommel. He withdrew it from its sheath and brandished it for them to see it's blade, which looked like the typical roman dagger, except for the fact that the blade was translucent and had a beep blue hue to it. He slipped it back into it's housing and held it out with both hands as he bowed his head slightly saying, "My penguin bids I bear this gift to you."
Harry reached forward to take it but as he did so, Andranos furled his lips and said "yon supe!", at which point Harry shot back against the wall. Ron slowly put his hand out and gently wrapped his hands around it. He lifted it up and looked at it with an intensely puzzled look on his face. "For ME?"
"It is yours, Ronald Weasley of Hogwarts. I also have this for you," Andranos replied pulling a fair sized chest out of his bag. He opened it to show that it was full to the top with cigarettes. Andranos took one out and put it in his mouth closing the box with his other hand. Then held out his fist and flicked up his thumb as if he was flipping a coin. As soon as he did this, a small flame danced on the tip of his thumb, which he used to light the cigarette, blowing it out afterwards.
Andranos held the chest and the lit one out for Ron to take but was confronted with a hurried "No thanks. I don't smoke."
"You dare refuse the penguin's gift?"
With a nudge in the back from a frightened looking Hermione, he accepted them. Ron put the cigarette up to his mouth and inhaled. He coughed and sputtered as the hot smoke ripped it's way down his throat. He held it up saying, "Thanks," screwing up his face in the process.
"The penguin personally insisted on giving each member of your family a year's supply of marijuana fungus. I have already given your brothers and your sister theirs."
"That doesn't smell like marijuana to me," Hermione blurted out.
"How do you know what marijuana smells like?" Harry let out without thinking.
"Ahem! I don't know how you would know what it smells like," Andranos said, pre-empting their argument before it even got started, "it doesn't grow in this realm except in very remote regions. In any case, I must be leaving now so please tell your brothers that I want them to explain to you about those cigarettes. Good bye." He walked over to the fireplace and opened a dimension door and left.
Just moments after their visitor left, Fred and George came bounding down the steps, laughing hysterically, each holding a half smoked cigarette. "Hey," they said in concert, "I see he gave you some too." They looked at each other for a second and began laughing again.
"Why are you smoking that," Hermione said as she walked across the room. "He said that it's marijuana, do you know what that stuff does to you?"
"Nothing compared to this stuff," they replied before breaking into another fit of laughter.
"Andranos told us he wants us to explain to you what they do," Fred said.
"Ya, he mentioned that he knew he wouldn't have time to explain it," added George.
"Well, it's quite simple really."
"Yes, quite simple."
"Unless you're a total git, of course."
"Well anyways, he said that they are made from a rare fungus called marijuana."
"Seeing about what they do, I don't think it's the same marijuana as we know it."
"Funny thing was that no matter how much we asked, he wouldn't tell us where it grows"
"Probably didn't want us bunging off and nicking some more."
"He also said that they were from his "penguin's" private stores."
"Probably some kind of American slang."
"Yes, but what DO they do?" Ron said looking very anxious.
"We're getting to that. Oh ya, he also said that these are only available to the upper class."
"Ya, said they were too expensive for any but the wealthy to afford."
"Anyway, he said that smoking one down to the butt will amplify the power of the spells you cast by great amounts."
"Here, watch this," Fred said as he pulled out his wand. "Relashio!" he shouted, pointing his wand at the fireplace. Instead of a few sparks coming out of the end, it looked like someone shot off a fireworks display in the common room. As soon as Ron saw this, he started smoking his cigarette with fervor he never knew he had.
"Oh," George added, "he said that the effects last for about 12 hours. Say, what's that other thing you got in your hand, Ron?"
"It's some dagger Andranos gave me."
"He gave George and me a scimitar each, with all kinds of jewels on them. And, get this, he gave Ginny a set of katars that he said were made of bone."
They went up and got their swords, as well as Ginny, and showed them to Harry, Hermione, and Ron. The six of them sat around for the rest of the weekend examining the weapons in detail and discussing why Andranos had given them to them in the first place.
