Chapter Seven: Have Questions- Get Answers
Darrin woke up Saturday morning with his head already buzzing with questions. How did Clanker screw up and get the wand into his arm, why were muggles continuing to make nuisances out of themselves after Thorpe had redone the anti-muggle enchantments 3 times in the last month? Would he get in trouble for having an internal wand, would it poison him?
Needing some answers he decided to start at the to of his list.
"Hey Clanker" he thought "how did you get mixed up and put my wand into my arm anyway?"
"Well good morning to you too…" he yawned, in as much as ghost can yawn (moreover a memory of what to do in the morning) "Same thing as when I put myself into that infernal fence post. I was a great wizard and well versed in quite complex magic, my pride being switching spells."
"Those aren't that hard, we'll learn them next year…"
"True, but switching something for air is more difficult, and furthermore I was working without my wand" he paused remembering his wand, and Darin got a clear picture of a longer 11 inch ash wand with a unicorn tail hairs braided over the outside "Not to mention I was trying to pull off a double switching spell."
"Tried too hard?"
"No I used to be able to pull off a triple in my day- but…"
"Casting through someone else's aura to hard for the great wizard?" Darrin guessed.
"No, I've found out the hard way that I do not do my best work under pressure. A little fear in my veins and I tend to er, target badly…" Clanker explained mournfully. "So when I tried to put his camera in your hand and your wand in your pocket I well, missed…"
"At least my palm isn't spitting Polaroids. Is that the same mistake you made at Cretis too?"
"Give the man a chocolate frog he's got it." Clanker congratulated the correct deduction. Darrin held out his hand and Clanker conjured a chocolate frog in his palm.
"Thanks." He thought as he began to chew.
"The least I can do, you're a bone short thanks to me. I can't switch the wand out because I have NO idea where I ended up sending your bone. Besides people may start to question what's going on inside of you, showing up missing a bone all of a sudden…"
He paused here "If you try hard enough you might be able to direct your spell at one wand or the other, so you can hold the old one and only use it or the new one at a time that way things should seem normal to everyone else"
"Hey you put some thought into this didn't ya?"
"Yes I did, I was up last night feeling guilty, so I tried to think up an out for you"
"Don't worry about it I'm sure having a concealed wand will come in useful." Darrin grinned at this possibility I think Chadwick's gonna have a bad week…"
"I'm sure he will, oh one more thing, the dragons blood varnish on your wand…"
"Yeah what about it" Darrin's mischievous joy waning as he remembered the possibility of poisoning.
"I was probing the wand to see if it was damaged at all and I noticed Its not there anymore,…"
"Is that bad?!?!?"
"Not at all Dragon's blood does wonders for people lucky enough to drink it. Though I've never heard of anybody getting it mixed with their own blood"
"If I grow scales…"
"Relax, I'll switch them off for you, besides I've been watching your body, it's my home too you know, and nothings wrong."
"Good"
"Anyway another sleepless night so I'll be drifting off now."
"Later, Clank."
Having more information always seemed to bring more questions. Darrin wondered briefly why no explanation could ever be simple. Terth and Clarius were still asleep so he decided to go down to breakfast without them.
He left his dorm and walked across the field towards the main building. Entering the school he headed towards the cafeteria but stopped as he passed the staff room, apparently some one was having a rather heated discussion.
"Do it right this time Thorpe!" he pressed his ear to the door and recognized the voice as Drake.
"For the last time, I have done it right three times, there's something else going on here I tell you, muggles with enchanted artifacts, and I swear the one who attacked Darrin dissaparated before me in the forest!" Thorpe defended himself.
The next voice was hard to hear as it was rather calm. "…reason not to believe him… … The delegate said there have been similar happenings in other major wizarding communities… …enchanting muggle tools and interfering with muggle affairs……muggle spies… …Mordra…" The voice had been Saowynn's but at the mention of Clanker's old girlfriend he could no longer concentrate. What could she possible have had to do with this? She should have been dead for some years anyway… Clanker had been in his fence post for over 60 years, and she had seemed mid twenties in his memory.
Darrin did not have time to finish his latest round of speculation however as Terth came up and clapped him on the shoulder, starting him.
"And you guys say I'm the jumpy one" said Terth amused.
"Just lost in thought, where's Clarius? He never misses Saturday breakfast, its all you can eat…"
"I cast a sleeping charm on him; the bum stole one of my chocolate frogs during the night! I know because I was missing one this morning, say what were you listening to anyway"
Glad for the change in topic, Darrin filled Terth in on what he heard as they walked to breakfast. Carefully leaving out that he already knew about Mordra from Clanker. It was difficult but he managed to convey a bad feeling about the name without tipping off Terth of his source. He didn't like the feeling of withholding important information from his friend. However if ANY one found out about Clanker he feared for both his life as a wizard and Clanker's prospect of finding a new home. Because of the way he had died he had been a weak ghost, and needed a form to inhabit, unlike full blown ghosts his switching spell had warped the flow of his energy from his body and limited him in death.
As he explained the conversation it slowly turned to his remanufactured arm.
"Oh, by the way, don't tell Liz about my arm" warned Darrin
"Why you want to show off and act like Merlin again?" Terth was teasing but Darrin caught another meaning
"No, but that's not a bad idea…" said Darrin. He had the passing thought that if he played it up, he would look like a braggart and any odd incidences would be construed as that and not something more out of the ordinary.
"You bum, she's going to be around later today, you know…"
"Really?" He could talk to her about the dance, and showboat, without delay.
"Yep, Tantoor ward has an inter-squad with their Silus ward."
"Good glad they haven't cancelled it with all the muggles sightings."
"So am I, if they cancel Quidditch we'll have to route for the Quodpot team" Terth winced.
At this Darrin stifled a laugh remembering Terth's brush with Quodpot when he was still debating which team he should try out for. The experience had left Terth without his eyebrows for three months, and made him a diehard Quidditch fan.
Upon entering the cafeteria however neither student had the stomach for the menu.
"Why do the serve Pumpkin grits? I mean can anyone really claim to like that swill?" Terth said.
"Ugh" agreed Darrin "Not to mention the Shrivel-wurst- I'm not hungry anymore, besides isn't it rather warm in here today?"
"Not really, we should practice for next week's practical exam in Hexes anyway" (A/N yes they have a hexes course- it could be considered a dangerous thing to teach them but its actually a pre-requisite of the DADA curriculum, you can't defend against that which you don't know…)
"Yeah, I guess we should. The room with the old sorting seal should be empty now." Said Darrin thoughtfully.
They wound their way through the school halls until they were at the entrance of the old stone sorting hall. Terth hesitated before going in.
"I remember what happened here too," said Darrin "if you want we can find someplace else to practice.
"No I'm fine, that was early last year, besides the seal isn't active except at the beginning of the year right?"
"Yeah, let's get started then." (A/N I'm not done writing the pre-quel yet so use your imagination for now, or bug me to post it, whichever)
They each drew from their pocket a billiard ball sized object which proceeded to zip around them. The practice targets now gliding through the cold air of the room, they set about their hexes.
"Stupefy!" they both yelled pointing their wands at the floating billiards.
Terth's target turned an odd shade of blue and sunk slowly out of the air, before it shook of the hex and continued to glide about.
Darrin hit his target and it started to go down slowly when a second stupefy hex hit it and it fell to the floor with a thud. The ball lolled from side to side for a moment before, slowly, rising back of the ground and regaining it s normal color.
"I'm gonna have to do something about that," said Darrin lowering his wand. Terth nodded matter-of-factly.
Darrin looked at his arm for a minute, raised his wand and then said quietly "stupefy."
A small jet of light zipped from his external wand, towards his target, which turned bluish and sagged momentarily in the air. They both watched and waited, and nothing more happened.
"Cool, how'd you manage to turn one wand off?" Asked Terth.
"I just sorta called for the other one before I cast the spell…"
"huh?"
"I remembered who I felt when I first picked up my wand" he said pointing with his free hand to the wand he was holding. "I kinda thought of that while I said the spell."
Terth looked confused but simply turned around to face his target and said the hex again. A puff of smoke came from the end of his wand and his target whizzed by unaffected. He turned to Darrin and explained " I though of when I had to borrow my brothers wand."
"Neat, hmm, mind if I borrow your target for a second?" Darrin asked.
Terth shrugged and stepped backward out of the way so Darrin had a clear shot at both targets. Darrin put his wand in his other hand and held it pointed at his target. He held his palm towards to other.
"Stupefy, Immobilus!"
The first target tinted blue and bobbed drunkenly towards the floor, the second turned bright red and froze in mid-air. Darrin staggered and leaned against a nearby wall for support.
"Are you all right?" asked Terth "What did you do wrong?"
"I could feel some of the hexes doubling back on me, must not have concentrated hard enough to tell them where to go"
"That is absolutely correct Darrin!" Came a came voice from the shadow in the far corner of the room. Terth and Darrin pointed their wands at the sudden voice out of reflex. "Now, Now, boys: threatening a teacher is grounds for expulsion…" The blood left their heads as they focused on none other than headmistress Saowynn walking into the light.
Thanks for reading, and thank you all for waiting so darn long for an update! I was sort of on inadvertent hiatus…
Crydwyn: I know what you mean about the "instructor " bit it does sound a bit formulated. However it's all I could come up with. As far as Clanker and Darrin's wand, I'll get to that, not a bad guess though. I'm trying to fill in back story as I go, actually, I started writing this a bit premature so a prequel has already sprung forth. I will release it after I finish this story. Mr. Ollivander's brother, whom I made up, Is going to be one of the few direct references to Rowling's works-However a certain back character while be deported to JDA shortly… As far as the character descriptions, I was intentionally vague so far. Go ahead and imagine them as whatever seems appropriate to you. The daily routines and habits of the characters will creep slowly into the story. (Clarius never misses breakfast for instance)
Jess16: Thanks for the review, come back often!
MoonClaw: Eschew obfuscation.
Shreve: Thanks for reading, you won't be disappointed, it may take a while but Darrin will be VERY powerful… Wizards in America are different, just wait till story 2- look for a chapter titled "Jersey Plates" Oh BTW you may have incensed Fullsailnate, as its "he"….
Max77: Thank you, I will try to update soon, but my ideas are limited to my supply of Sobe Adrenaline…. Darrin will meet one "export" from Hogwarts soon, heh heh heh…
Fullsailnate: The magical physicist…. The timing on the spellcasts is delayed because one wand knows it's the primary wand and the other is just an echo/add-on as it were. Which arm bone? I dunno whichever would work better at the length of his wand. I actually measured my arm when deciding how big to make Darrin's novel wand. Thanks for the recommend, just call me when you get stuck next and I'll pay ya back.
Raven Dragonclaw: Actually Clanker made the exact same mistake as when he was getting killed. He went for a double switching spell and botched it badly due to nerves. He was going to hide the wand in Darrin's robe (switching for the air in the pocket) and put the muggles camera in his hands- but he lost focus on the robe, and thought of Darrins arm by mistake. Thanks for recommending my story! I owe you one!