Chapter 18- Combining the Essences and Wandless
"Let me return to my color analogy," Professor Winkly said without prelude. "When you combine shades of red and blue, you will be rewarded with any number of lovely shades of purple. When you combine other colors, such as yellow and brown, the color you are then left with is not so pretty."
"This same general rule applies to the combination of essences, though in the sense of chemistry. The essence of one person will have a wonderful reaction with one other, while the mixture of that same person with the next will be nothing any of you want to see. Some essences combine well, others do not. It helps if the essences belong to people who get on well."
"Because of the differences in a Dark wizard's essence and that of a White wizard, their essences combined often cancel each other out, leaving the spell cast useless. Of course, it is rare that the two would try to cast a spell together, under any circumstances. It takes the cooperation of both wizards to do this."
"Why would you want to combine essences? Usually for the sake of power. When two essences combine, the power of the spell is increased twofold according to the amount of power of each essence. That is to say, two wizards of equal power can cast a spell four times as powerful as one of those same wizards alone."
"There *are* other advantages, though few and not as pronounced," Professor Winkly continued. "One is a certain connection formed between the two wizards or witches, or witch and wizard. When they cast a spell together, a trace of one person's essence is left on the other's. That is why it is not to be used lightly. You would not want that kind of connection with certain people. I suggest, therefore, that you only combine essences in the most dire of emergencies."
"The one other property of essence combination is the physical essence left by the force of the spell. Depending on the nature of the essences of the wizards, it could be liquid, vapor, or something quasi-solid, though the last form is rare, and can have different functions. Some heal, others kill. I have even heard of one that made you sprout purple hair from your nose if you got any in your ear. But I digress. That is a reason to combine, but it is nearly impossible to predict what will come of it. It is a risk to do it at all."
"There are some spells that require two essences, and they are combined in such a way that the results I have just mention are not seen. One such spell is the manufacture of Promise Rings. These are in Chapter seven of 'Alternate Magic'. Each set of Promise Rings is identical, but different from any other set. The physical form of the Promise Rings depends upon the essences of the two, or something that affects the essences. There is a requirement to make them, and even many who meet this requirement do not attempt. Of course, that could be because many have never heard of them before."
"Combining essences is not something I feel we should practice here, but learning the theory is important. It may save your life one day. The application of combining your essence with that of another…"
Draco was still listening, but he was not paying close attention. He could always borrow Hermione's notes later. He peered toward the front of the room, where Hermione was sitting with Harry and Ron.
*Did I just call them by their first names? Bloody…* Well, it was not so bad. As long as he never said it out loud until they started acting that way to him. *Right. Now, back to staring.*
Their next Defense class was much more interesting to him, because he would actually be able to use it.
"All wizards and witches have the innate ability to perform spells without a wand. That is where accidental Magic comes from, this ability. Before you learn to control Magic in any sense, it manifests unintentionally. Even after you learn to control it, accidents *can* happen due to extreme emotions. When you learn wandless Magic, to your fullest potential, these accidents virtually disappear."
"The spells you can perform without a wand range from a simple Summoning Spell all the way to the Killing Curse. However, very few actually progress to the highest level. It takes a certain amount of power and intent in order to use spells like the Killing Curse with a wand to direct your Magic. Without this direction, some find it incredibly difficult to focus the spells. Unfocused wandless Magic can cause worse accidents than trying to use spells before you know how to control them."
"The best part about wandless Magic is that you gain the ability to perform two spells simultaneously. With my double-cored wand, this lets me sustain three spells. But for you, two is all."
"For most of you, a hand motion will be required when you begin, in order to make the wandless spell work. For instance-" Professor Winkly waved his hand, and a book floated off the table. He made a downward motion, and it settled back into position. "But when you have a good grasp of what is required, a simple thought will do. Well, it is not really *simple*, but it is all you will need." He lifted the same book from the table, this time without even looking at it. It levitated a foot above his head while he next spoke. "The first thing I want you to do is to set your wand down. Good. Levitation is one of the simplest spells most of you have learned, and is therefore one of the easiest you can manage without a wand. Try it now."
Draco was quite surprised when his wand hovered before his eyes. It remained in the air for the rest of the class, while he sat back and watched the other students try to get their wands to do more than wiggle a bit on the desk. He observed Hermione's wand rise up before her. She turned triumphantly, only to see that his wand too was floating. Her smile changed to one of appreciation, and he smiled briefly back.
By the end of the class, less than half of them had managed to perform the assigned task. "Don't be discouraged," the professor said, smiling. "Not everyone can manage on the first try. Some can only do the simplest spells in wandless form. It all depends on the wizard. For next class, I would like you to practice, and be able to levitate any object without use of a wand. That is all for this class."
As he predicted from his success in class, Draco was soon able to lift all manner of objects with his mind. He practiced with Hermione every day in the ror.
"This does not even approach funny, Draco," she said, crossing her arms.
"You know," he grinned, "it's hard to take you seriously when you're floating."
Her face grew more annoyed, and she took out her wand. With a slight flick, she let herself down. "When you can do that without a wand, then we'll be on a level," Draco said seriously.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to do that," she huffed.
After a moment, Draco pulled her toward him and hugged her. "It doesn't matter, Hermione. You can do *everything* else. What's one little thing?"
"But you can do it!"
"It depends on the person. You heard Professor Winkly. Come on, don't get depressed over this."
"I am *not* depressed. Just annoyed."
"We could do something to take your mind off it," he suggested. She looked up at him, smiling. Every time he had said something along those lines, she had willingly complied. Apparently, perfect little Hermione was fascinated with intimacy. It was not something he had expected from her, but once he got to know her it was somewhat less surprising.
"Draco, how long are we going to keep this to ourselves?" she whispered.
"As long as we have to," he murmured between kisses. "I promise I'll leave home this summer, now that I definitely have a place to stay. Then, we can tell the whole world if you want."
She succumbed to his lips, and they sank to the comfort of the sofa. "Wait, Draco. I need to check the time." He kept his eyes on her as she looked at the clock. "Oh, no, it's almost eight. I still haven't finished my Transfiguration essay."
"That's not due for two weeks."
"I know. I should have finished it last weekend."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving first this time," he said. "I don't want to be in here alone anymore." With a last stolen kiss, he opened the door to the ror. The hallway was empty, as usual.
"Well, what are we doing so far from our common room at this hour?" Filch asked from behind him.
Containing his sneer, Draco turned to face the caretaker. "As far as I'm aware, curfew is not until nine, and so I have at least an hour before that is any concern of yours," he said calmly. Filch gave him an evil look, but passed on without saying anything else.
"One of these days," Draco muttered, making sure no one could hear. "I would really like to dish out some of that man's stuff to him. I bet he wouldn't like the taste any more than I do. Gave me a detention for walking too close to his office without being summoned there. What a prat."
*Why am I thinking about Hogwarts staff right now? Good thing I don't have prefect duty tonight, I'd probably go crazy. Too much to do.*
"Well, *someone* woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," the bathroom mirror commented wryly. "Maybe a nice hot shower will cheer you up?"
A hot shower probably *would* cheer him up…he began to remove his clothes.
************************************************************************
"That is not fair," Hermione said. "You can both do it, too?"
Ron and Harry were practicing floating stacks of their schoolbooks. "It's not hard at all," Ron said, happy for once to be doing homework. "You'll be able to do it too. You just need more practice."
"The best I can do is one object at a time," Hermione said. "Any more, and it's hopeless. I don't know why I'm having so much trouble with this."
"Why does it matter so much?" Harry asked. "You don't have to be good at everything. After all, you're terrible at Quidditch, but you don't complain about *that*."
She gave him a withering look. "That is completely different. Quidditch is not important."
"Not important? Hermione, you've gone mental," Ron said, shocked.
"*Gone* mental?" Harry muttered.
"I heard that, Harry. And it was not funny."
"Yes it was, just ask Ron." Ron, at that moment, was shaking with silent laughter. "See? He says it was, in fact, hilarious."
Rolling her eyes, shaking her head, and glaring all at once, she stomped to her room, slamming the door shut behind her, only to find Ginny lying across her bed facedown. "Ginny? Are you okay?"
The redheaded girl looked up, and Hermione saw her tear-stained face. She rushed to her side hastily. "What happened?"
"I saw Seamus snogging Lavender Brown in the library," Ginny sniffed bluntly.
"What? Why would he do that? You two were in love two months ago."
"Well, I guess ditzy blondes are more his type than capable redheads. I should have seen this coming. He's been eyeing Lavender for weeks now." She sighed. "I shouldn't have let myself get so attached. I don't know what I was thinking."
"Ginny, don't say that. Opening yourself up to someone like that is one of the bravest things you can do. Seamus cares about you, you'll see."
"*You* can talk. You've got a devoted madman, not some cheating Gryffindor."
"Ginny! For one thing, Draco is not mad. For another, you sounded like a Slytherin, the way you just said 'Gryffindor'. You cannot let this one bad experience sour you on relationships. First, before you do anything else, talk to Seamus. I don't know if you will stay together or not, but you have to straighten this out."
"I think I will," Ginny lowered her eyebrows. "I need to give him a piece of my mind. He won't get off lightly."
"Ginny…maybe you should wait before you talk to him."
"No, I want him to know exactly how angry I am. It's only fair. If he wants to go breaking girls' hearts, he's going to have to pay the consequences."
Ginny left Hermione's bedroom quickly. A few minutes later, shouting could be heard downstairs. "She's found Seamus," she said to herself. "I just hope this doesn't end too badly."
The next day at breakfast, Seamus had one arm draped around Ginny's shoulders. She smiled mistily at him every once in a while, and they shared slow kisses. Ron gagged, Harry laughed at Ron's reaction, and Hermione smiled.
She was glad that Ginny was happy.
End Chapter 18
Thank you, profusely, for your reviews. Love and Hugs and confetti.
Sunday is the earliest date for my next posting, I'm going to W. Hartford for a con. Yay, cons!!!!!!! Anyway, so don't look for chapter 19 till then.
Now go review. You can have some cupcake confetti.
"Let me return to my color analogy," Professor Winkly said without prelude. "When you combine shades of red and blue, you will be rewarded with any number of lovely shades of purple. When you combine other colors, such as yellow and brown, the color you are then left with is not so pretty."
"This same general rule applies to the combination of essences, though in the sense of chemistry. The essence of one person will have a wonderful reaction with one other, while the mixture of that same person with the next will be nothing any of you want to see. Some essences combine well, others do not. It helps if the essences belong to people who get on well."
"Because of the differences in a Dark wizard's essence and that of a White wizard, their essences combined often cancel each other out, leaving the spell cast useless. Of course, it is rare that the two would try to cast a spell together, under any circumstances. It takes the cooperation of both wizards to do this."
"Why would you want to combine essences? Usually for the sake of power. When two essences combine, the power of the spell is increased twofold according to the amount of power of each essence. That is to say, two wizards of equal power can cast a spell four times as powerful as one of those same wizards alone."
"There *are* other advantages, though few and not as pronounced," Professor Winkly continued. "One is a certain connection formed between the two wizards or witches, or witch and wizard. When they cast a spell together, a trace of one person's essence is left on the other's. That is why it is not to be used lightly. You would not want that kind of connection with certain people. I suggest, therefore, that you only combine essences in the most dire of emergencies."
"The one other property of essence combination is the physical essence left by the force of the spell. Depending on the nature of the essences of the wizards, it could be liquid, vapor, or something quasi-solid, though the last form is rare, and can have different functions. Some heal, others kill. I have even heard of one that made you sprout purple hair from your nose if you got any in your ear. But I digress. That is a reason to combine, but it is nearly impossible to predict what will come of it. It is a risk to do it at all."
"There are some spells that require two essences, and they are combined in such a way that the results I have just mention are not seen. One such spell is the manufacture of Promise Rings. These are in Chapter seven of 'Alternate Magic'. Each set of Promise Rings is identical, but different from any other set. The physical form of the Promise Rings depends upon the essences of the two, or something that affects the essences. There is a requirement to make them, and even many who meet this requirement do not attempt. Of course, that could be because many have never heard of them before."
"Combining essences is not something I feel we should practice here, but learning the theory is important. It may save your life one day. The application of combining your essence with that of another…"
Draco was still listening, but he was not paying close attention. He could always borrow Hermione's notes later. He peered toward the front of the room, where Hermione was sitting with Harry and Ron.
*Did I just call them by their first names? Bloody…* Well, it was not so bad. As long as he never said it out loud until they started acting that way to him. *Right. Now, back to staring.*
Their next Defense class was much more interesting to him, because he would actually be able to use it.
"All wizards and witches have the innate ability to perform spells without a wand. That is where accidental Magic comes from, this ability. Before you learn to control Magic in any sense, it manifests unintentionally. Even after you learn to control it, accidents *can* happen due to extreme emotions. When you learn wandless Magic, to your fullest potential, these accidents virtually disappear."
"The spells you can perform without a wand range from a simple Summoning Spell all the way to the Killing Curse. However, very few actually progress to the highest level. It takes a certain amount of power and intent in order to use spells like the Killing Curse with a wand to direct your Magic. Without this direction, some find it incredibly difficult to focus the spells. Unfocused wandless Magic can cause worse accidents than trying to use spells before you know how to control them."
"The best part about wandless Magic is that you gain the ability to perform two spells simultaneously. With my double-cored wand, this lets me sustain three spells. But for you, two is all."
"For most of you, a hand motion will be required when you begin, in order to make the wandless spell work. For instance-" Professor Winkly waved his hand, and a book floated off the table. He made a downward motion, and it settled back into position. "But when you have a good grasp of what is required, a simple thought will do. Well, it is not really *simple*, but it is all you will need." He lifted the same book from the table, this time without even looking at it. It levitated a foot above his head while he next spoke. "The first thing I want you to do is to set your wand down. Good. Levitation is one of the simplest spells most of you have learned, and is therefore one of the easiest you can manage without a wand. Try it now."
Draco was quite surprised when his wand hovered before his eyes. It remained in the air for the rest of the class, while he sat back and watched the other students try to get their wands to do more than wiggle a bit on the desk. He observed Hermione's wand rise up before her. She turned triumphantly, only to see that his wand too was floating. Her smile changed to one of appreciation, and he smiled briefly back.
By the end of the class, less than half of them had managed to perform the assigned task. "Don't be discouraged," the professor said, smiling. "Not everyone can manage on the first try. Some can only do the simplest spells in wandless form. It all depends on the wizard. For next class, I would like you to practice, and be able to levitate any object without use of a wand. That is all for this class."
As he predicted from his success in class, Draco was soon able to lift all manner of objects with his mind. He practiced with Hermione every day in the ror.
"This does not even approach funny, Draco," she said, crossing her arms.
"You know," he grinned, "it's hard to take you seriously when you're floating."
Her face grew more annoyed, and she took out her wand. With a slight flick, she let herself down. "When you can do that without a wand, then we'll be on a level," Draco said seriously.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to do that," she huffed.
After a moment, Draco pulled her toward him and hugged her. "It doesn't matter, Hermione. You can do *everything* else. What's one little thing?"
"But you can do it!"
"It depends on the person. You heard Professor Winkly. Come on, don't get depressed over this."
"I am *not* depressed. Just annoyed."
"We could do something to take your mind off it," he suggested. She looked up at him, smiling. Every time he had said something along those lines, she had willingly complied. Apparently, perfect little Hermione was fascinated with intimacy. It was not something he had expected from her, but once he got to know her it was somewhat less surprising.
"Draco, how long are we going to keep this to ourselves?" she whispered.
"As long as we have to," he murmured between kisses. "I promise I'll leave home this summer, now that I definitely have a place to stay. Then, we can tell the whole world if you want."
She succumbed to his lips, and they sank to the comfort of the sofa. "Wait, Draco. I need to check the time." He kept his eyes on her as she looked at the clock. "Oh, no, it's almost eight. I still haven't finished my Transfiguration essay."
"That's not due for two weeks."
"I know. I should have finished it last weekend."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving first this time," he said. "I don't want to be in here alone anymore." With a last stolen kiss, he opened the door to the ror. The hallway was empty, as usual.
"Well, what are we doing so far from our common room at this hour?" Filch asked from behind him.
Containing his sneer, Draco turned to face the caretaker. "As far as I'm aware, curfew is not until nine, and so I have at least an hour before that is any concern of yours," he said calmly. Filch gave him an evil look, but passed on without saying anything else.
"One of these days," Draco muttered, making sure no one could hear. "I would really like to dish out some of that man's stuff to him. I bet he wouldn't like the taste any more than I do. Gave me a detention for walking too close to his office without being summoned there. What a prat."
*Why am I thinking about Hogwarts staff right now? Good thing I don't have prefect duty tonight, I'd probably go crazy. Too much to do.*
"Well, *someone* woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," the bathroom mirror commented wryly. "Maybe a nice hot shower will cheer you up?"
A hot shower probably *would* cheer him up…he began to remove his clothes.
************************************************************************
"That is not fair," Hermione said. "You can both do it, too?"
Ron and Harry were practicing floating stacks of their schoolbooks. "It's not hard at all," Ron said, happy for once to be doing homework. "You'll be able to do it too. You just need more practice."
"The best I can do is one object at a time," Hermione said. "Any more, and it's hopeless. I don't know why I'm having so much trouble with this."
"Why does it matter so much?" Harry asked. "You don't have to be good at everything. After all, you're terrible at Quidditch, but you don't complain about *that*."
She gave him a withering look. "That is completely different. Quidditch is not important."
"Not important? Hermione, you've gone mental," Ron said, shocked.
"*Gone* mental?" Harry muttered.
"I heard that, Harry. And it was not funny."
"Yes it was, just ask Ron." Ron, at that moment, was shaking with silent laughter. "See? He says it was, in fact, hilarious."
Rolling her eyes, shaking her head, and glaring all at once, she stomped to her room, slamming the door shut behind her, only to find Ginny lying across her bed facedown. "Ginny? Are you okay?"
The redheaded girl looked up, and Hermione saw her tear-stained face. She rushed to her side hastily. "What happened?"
"I saw Seamus snogging Lavender Brown in the library," Ginny sniffed bluntly.
"What? Why would he do that? You two were in love two months ago."
"Well, I guess ditzy blondes are more his type than capable redheads. I should have seen this coming. He's been eyeing Lavender for weeks now." She sighed. "I shouldn't have let myself get so attached. I don't know what I was thinking."
"Ginny, don't say that. Opening yourself up to someone like that is one of the bravest things you can do. Seamus cares about you, you'll see."
"*You* can talk. You've got a devoted madman, not some cheating Gryffindor."
"Ginny! For one thing, Draco is not mad. For another, you sounded like a Slytherin, the way you just said 'Gryffindor'. You cannot let this one bad experience sour you on relationships. First, before you do anything else, talk to Seamus. I don't know if you will stay together or not, but you have to straighten this out."
"I think I will," Ginny lowered her eyebrows. "I need to give him a piece of my mind. He won't get off lightly."
"Ginny…maybe you should wait before you talk to him."
"No, I want him to know exactly how angry I am. It's only fair. If he wants to go breaking girls' hearts, he's going to have to pay the consequences."
Ginny left Hermione's bedroom quickly. A few minutes later, shouting could be heard downstairs. "She's found Seamus," she said to herself. "I just hope this doesn't end too badly."
The next day at breakfast, Seamus had one arm draped around Ginny's shoulders. She smiled mistily at him every once in a while, and they shared slow kisses. Ron gagged, Harry laughed at Ron's reaction, and Hermione smiled.
She was glad that Ginny was happy.
End Chapter 18
Thank you, profusely, for your reviews. Love and Hugs and confetti.
Sunday is the earliest date for my next posting, I'm going to W. Hartford for a con. Yay, cons!!!!!!! Anyway, so don't look for chapter 19 till then.
Now go review. You can have some cupcake confetti.