Harry Potter and the Rising War

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Chapter 14: Magical Focus

Dinner that evening proved to be quite surprising for the old sorcerer and ex-headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Once Harry had arrived (In the middle of dessert for Dumbledore) he had recounted what had happened at the muggle superstore about how he seemed to be picking up random thoughts from large groups of people, but when it was just one or two people he was fine.

"My theory is that as I was increasing my ability in wandless magic or rather the channel for my magic it also increased it for my mind link and this is the outcome." Harry explained after he finished up his dessert.

"That sounds very plausible and even very probably, the question or rather questions are why did it increase the mind link as well as the wandless link and how do you learn to control or at the very least block it?" Dumbledore asked or more accurately thought out aloud.

"Perhaps we should finish this discussion in my room?" Harry asked, beginning to get nervous as more and more people arrived at the inn and his head began to ache once more.

"Yes perhaps your right, come then." Dumbledore said as he got up from his seat.

Once the student and teacher reached Harry's room and got comfortable they continued their discussion, each throwing theories around about it and disproving them and trying to come up with a way to block out the 'gift' as Dumbledore called it.

"Maybe the link was strengthened because I was using my will power to make the spell work and I was concentrating solely on it?" Harry asked as he came to the last possible explanation as to why it was strengthened. Dumbledore seemed to think about it for a few moments but eventually he came back to reality with a smile.

"I think that might be it Harry. I think because of the magical link with your scar and Voldemort it boosted your perception of other minds and because you have a particularly stubborn will it resulted in a strengthened magical channel and the ability to hear thoughts by building on the results from your scar and amplifying them. If this is the case then I think all you need to do is keep your Occulmency walls up at all times." Dumbledore explained in teacher mode once again.

"Ok that sounds like it might work, I'll try it next time I feel the effects." Harry promised.

"Excellent, now if that is all I think it is time we started with a lesson, don't you?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully.

"Yes sir, what are we going to be doing today?" Harry asked, eager to here anything the old man had to say.

"I think for the moment we will leave all previous lessons until your home is built and warded. Right now I see it prudent to sort out a new magical focus" Dumbledore said and he summoned the crystilite from the desk on the other side of the room.

"why is it so important sir? If I'm becoming proficient in wandless magic then why bother with a focus?" Harry asked confused at the logic in it.

"Tell me Harry, how did you feel after you had performed that advanced spell earlier?" Dumbledore asked

"Like I had just ran a marathon, why?" Harry asked

"Because Harry if you felt like that then what happens when you come to fight Voldemort and he starts right out using advanced spells and your only hope of defending is using them too, by the time you come to face him you will only have enough stamina to last not even 5 minutes using those types of spells." Dumbledore explained.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. So where do we start?" Harry asked

"First I will give you some facts on crystilite that will help you when the time comes to shape it to your desire." Dumbledore said and seeing a nod from Harry he continued. "Now as you know from Mr Ollivander crystilite is a highly conductive and sometimes magical amplifying magical focus. Due to it's rarity and resistance to most means to shape it this material is highly unused. The usual method an extremely powerful wizard or sorcerer would use would be to heat it up to amazingly high temperatures and when it starts melting and is at its weakest (Which isn't much weaker) the wizard heating it will have to use raw magic to shape and mould it which is another reason why it is so under used, most magic people don't have enough control over their magic to summon any of it without a wand unless they are having an emotionally traumatic time. I assume you can summon raw magic?" Dumbledore explained in teacher tone again but added the question at the end with a twinkle in his eyes in which Harry's only reply was to grin.

"Excellent, now we both know what to do there is only one thing left to do!" Dumbledore explaimed jumping to his feet in a surprisingly agile way for a man of his age.

"Get started!" Harry explaimed excitedly and reached out for the crystilite only to have his hand slapped away by Dumbledore.

"No no, do you know what you want it to look like? Do you know how big you want it?" Dumbledore asked.

"No" Harry said sheepishly. "Not really."

"I thought as much, the last one thing to do is to plan how it is going to look" Dumbledore said as he handed Harry some parchment and ink. Sighing Harry set to work on the design, every few minutes crewing up the parchment and starting again. It was several hours after Harry had began the initial planning before he proudly presented it to Dumbledore, showing all possible angles and with markings for the size clearly written.

"Hmm" Dumbledore said as he looked over them. "Everything looks to be in order here, a very original concept, I assume you know where to get the extra materials?" Dumbledore asked looking at Harry over the top of his half moon spectacles.

"I think the store just up the road sells that sort of stuff there, I black smiths I think." Harry told him.

"Excellent, then you may proceed with the moulding, however be sure to accommodate and alter it to the needs of the extra materials otherwise you will have a hard time bringing it all together." Dumbledore warned.

"I will sir, shall I place any charms around the room or anything before I begin?" Harry asked unsure of the reaction the substance will have to such intense elemental heat as Harry had.

"No I think everything should be fine, now all you need to remember is to keep control of the fire and don't let it burn anything else aside from the crystilite and when it looked to you that it is softening begin your moulding. Ok?" Dumbledore explained and upon seeing Harry's nervous face asked him.

"What if I go wrong?" Harry asked

"There is nothing to be worried about, crystilite is virtually indestructible, the only known thing that could weaken it is intense heat and to generate enough of that to destroy it would be to expose it to temperatures only reached by stars" Dumbledore reassured. It seemed to be doing the trick because Harry now looked more comfortable with what he was about to do.

"Here goes nothing then" said Harry as he placed the crystilite on the desk and summoned a flame into his hand. Once he was sure that he had it the right size Harry levitated the crystilite into the air and directed the elemental flame to the crystilite and commanded it to wrap itself around it and increase the temperature. After a few minutes of the temperature of the crystilite increasing Harry began to develop beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Not long left Harry, another few seconds, get your magic read and when I say now direct it with your mind link and mould the crystilite" Dumbledore said softly so he didn't brake Harry's ocnentration. A slight nod from Harry showed that he understood what Dumbledore had said and was preparing himself. Another few moments later and a soft emerald green and silver much like his aura's glow had enveloped Harry's right hand.

"Get ready, 3…2…1…now!" Dumbledore commanded and at once the flame was banished and now there was a soft green glow surrounding the crystilite with one of Harry's hands hovering over it. Harry's face was screwed up in concentration and he appeared to be having difficulty with it but after a few seconds (And an eternity to Harry) the crystilite separated into two and began moulding and changing shape and size. Sweat was now dripping from Harry and his shirt was clinking to his body looking like Harry had just gone for a swim fully clothed. Shortly after the initial separation of the crystilite there was once more smaller separation and then that piece separated again and again until all that remained were 5 small pieces and 2 large ones.

"That's it Harry, nearly done. A little more." Dumbledore said softy, encouraging Harry.

A few moments later there was a flash of green/silver magical glow and a hiss of something cooling rapidly and then a thump. It looked like Harry had successfully accomplished his task, lying on the floor were two separate pieces of large crystilite and ten smaller ones. The largest piece was round and flat but not a perfect circle or ellipse but an irregular shape. The next largest pieces was shaped almost the same but half the size and a 'corner' missing. the 5 small pieces were hollow cylinders almost, not very long, about 15 centimetres each and having a hole in the ends of it and at the end of them what could only be explained as claws were there and at the other end their appeared to be a top cover that extended back and got smaller the farthest it went.

"Are you okay Harry?" Dumbledore asked rushing over to Harry's side.

"Yeah… just a little… out of breath… and tired" Harry panted out between heavy breaths.

"You have done I fine job, I suggest you get some rest now, it will be another long day tomorrow and I expect you will need all of the energy you can get" Dumbledore said as he guided Harry to his bed and gathered up the individual pieces to Harry's soon to be magical focus.

"Goodnight Harry" Dumbledore said heading out of the room.

"G'night sir" Harry mumbled out all ready half asleep, to tired to even attempt to get to his magical core.

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The next morning Harry was woken again by Dumbledore but this time it was later and Dumbledore was a little more considerate to his need to be woken softly.

"Good morning Harry, I trust you slept well?" Dumbledore asked when he noticed that Harry was getting up.

"Fine thanks" Harry replied sleepily walking across the room to gather some clean cloths having slept in yesterdays.

"I shall wait for you in the dinning area" Dumbledore said.

"M'kay" Harry mumbled out.

Fifteen minutes later Harry arrived in the dinning area and joined Dumbledore with breakfast.

"I think I'll skip doing any exercises today" Harry told him, nibbling on some toast.

"Are you still tired from yesterday?" Dumbledore asked

"No but as you said I'll need all the energy I can get." Harry said with a grin.

As Harry and Dumbledore walked down the streets of the small village of Godrics hollow they chatted to each other as if they were long time friends not displaying the air of respect that is natural with a teacher and student. They had to stop their conversations several times for Harry to say good morning to several local villagers that they passed on their way to their site.

"I think at the rate we are progressing we should have everything up and ready by the end of the week." Dumbledore commented as he surveyed yesterdays work.

"But wont it go faster if I used my new magical focus?" Harry asked as he too surveyed the area.

"Yes I imagine it would vastly improve the time in which it takes to build, but it will also slow your improvement in wandless magic by once again giving you a crutch to lean on so to speak" Dumbledore explained.

"I see, so I just got to keep going with wandless magic then until the house is finished? Well we better get started then, what's first?" Harry asked Dumbledore as they both spread the plans out once more.

Once they had decided to where to start Harry set off with his work using a combination of wandless and elemental magic to set the stone and melt it to form a solid wall. By the time lunch time arrived Harry had completed the dinning room and kitchen walls and was currently building the front wall of the living room.

"I think it might be wise to take a break" Dumbledore spoke up.

"What time is it sir?" Harry asked the old man.

"Twelve thirty by my watch, perhaps you should collect the remaining materials for your focus while I contact Andrew and ask for an earlier delivery date." Dumbledore answered.

"Okay sir, I suppose now would be a good time to see if the Occulmency theory will work?" Harry asked.

"Yes that would be a good idea, make sure your walls are built strong and let your subconscious do the rest. I think given time this will be a system that will come naturally to you, much like breathing." Dumbledore explained.

"I hope so otherwise I would have to become a hermit in order to retain at least a semblance of my sanity" Harry replied with a grin earning a chuckle from the ex-headmaster.

"Off you go then" Dumbledore said.

Arriving back in town Harry could already feel a headache coming on, it seemed that the days wandless magic was already strengthening this 'talent'. Taking several deep breaths to calm himself Harry began to clear his mind, he organised all of his thoughts and memories into different 'sections' of his brain and then left a small section for the thoughts of the people around him, making sure that he could control when and when not to access it.

"Here goes nothing" Harry breathed out as he strolled up the main street of the village towards the black smiths. Half way to his destination Harry passed a small group of wives exchanging gossip and to his immense relief he didn't hear a word or thought, he didn't even get a headache at all.

"Thank you who ever is listening!" Harry whispered as he came to the door for the blacksmiths. Entering the establishment was like stepping back in time to the medieval times where such a sight was common place, there were furnaces, barrels, anvils and other common items one would have expected to find. Squinting through the darkness towards the back of the room Harry spotted a short stocky man who looked to preparing himself for a job.

Harry approached the man at the end of the store and asked "Do you sell just raw materials here?"

The man looked up from the tools he was gathering together and smiled. "Certainly do young man, what can I gettcha?" he asked.

"Well I don't know how much of it I need but I would like some leather and some metal." Harry replied to him

"Hmm, the leather is easy but for the metal I'll need something a little more specific, we have many selections here." The man said, motioning all around him, and for the first time Harry noticed all of the different types of metals hanging about the store, in much the same fashion as Andrews store had been with all of the stone and wood samples.

"Well I need something that will conduct Magic easily to retain charms, but also needs to be durable." Harry explained to the man who appeared to be thinking hard to himself. After a few moments of silence the man seemed to come back to reality and said "I think I have just the thing, follow me please sir" and walked off to the middle of the store to a small display cabinet.

"This is some of the finest metal you can find, its hard to come by now though." He explained to Harry as he slide the glass back and extracted the sample piece.

"Why is that?" Harry asked wondering what was so special about this metal, it appeared to be just a regular lump to him that had been highly polished to almost mirror perfect.

"Because dwarfs don't tend to sell it off much any more, don't trust us wizards you see." He explained.

"And it meets all of the requirements?" Harry asked.

"It does indeed, though as well as conducting magic it is also an extremely powerful electrical conductor, the resistance to it is minimal and the loss of charge is hardly noticeable."

"How do you know about electricity?" Harry asked. "Most wizards I've met don't even have a clue about how to pronounce it let alone know about conductors and such." Harry said

"Ah well you don't know as much as I do about metal and not know about electricity. Now about the metal, will it do you?" he explained with a reminiscent smile on his face but snapped back to reality quickly.

"Yes sir, and the leather please." Harry replied.

"The metal will be twenty Galleons for this lump here" he said holding up an fist sized lump. "and a Galleon per foot square of leather"

Harry dug around for his bag of money but realised that he didn't have any on him. As Harry pulled his hand out of his last pocket he also pulled out his wallet which fell open onto the floor showing the contents. As Harry bent down to pick it up his eyes caught sight of a shiny bit of plastic and Harry all of a sudden remembered his Grinngotts credit card he had received at the beginning of the year on his first visit to Diagon alley disguised as the bald thirty year old man.

"Will you accept this sir?" Harry asked as he stood up once more and extended the card towards the man who surveyed it critically for a few moments before nodding his head.

"Aye it'll do, you must have a lot of money to carry one of those things around with you" he commented as he was running the card through a strange object that Harry supposed made the purchase from his vault.

"Yeah I got quite a lot of money when my parents were killed and again when my godfather was killed" Harry said sullenly.

"Oh, hey does that mean your Harry Potter?!" the man asked excitedly.

"Yeah, unfortunately" Harry said with a sigh

"I didn't think all of the rumours were true, so you really have come back to Godrics Hollow? Excellent, it's about time we had a founder around. Oh my name is Pete by the way." Pete exclaimed excitedly, while he collected together Harry's purchases.

"Here y'are mister Potter, if you ever need anything else don't hesitate to drop in" Pete said as he shock Harry's hand and walked him to the door.

"I swear if one more person comes up to me and starts swooning I'll…" Harry growled out to Dumbledore leaving the threat hanging.

"I take it that you were swarmed?" Dumbledore asked innocently and with no trace of humour on his aged face except for in his twinkling blue eyes.

"You could call it that, all though I would call it mobbed!" replied Harry.

"I see. Well if it helps to know then we probably won't be needing to go into town again for anything else except to get to and from the inn" Dumbledore said.

"Not really." Harry replied shortly. "What did Andrew say?" Harry asked as he sat at the table that Dumbledore had conjured.

"He said he shall bring them the day after tomorrow, so you had better set off back to work if you hope to clear all of this for the new arrivals" Dumbledore said as he once again made himself comfortable at the table and picked up a book leaving Harry to do all of the hard work.

Once the work was finished for the day Harry and Dumbledore returned to the inn after clearing away all of their things and covering the supplies with waterproof charms. As they sat at dinner they discussed what they would be doing tonight.

"Did you get the required items?" Dumbledore asked for the first time.

"Yes sir, the metal I got was apparently mined by dwarves and will hold charms comfortably" Harry explained

"Excellent, then you will be able to finish it tonight and we shall see how it handles" Dumbledore said excitedly. Apparently in all of his years he had not seen crystilite used before.

Once they had both finished their dessert they again made leave from the dinning area to Harry's room.

"So where do you think I should begin sir?" Harry asked Dumbledore once he had collected together all of the separate bits and pieces.

"I think you should begin by positioning the crystilite and then taking the appropriate measurements. Once you have that out of the way you should cut your materials." Dumbledore suggested and Harry being the smart boy that he was decided that if Dumbledore thought something was a good idea then nine times out of ten it was and he should run with it.

"Excellent, I think that should do it." Dumbledore spoke up as Harry finished the last measurement. "Now you will need to shape and cut everything before putting it together, while you do that I will prepare a few tests for you to perform." Dumbledore said and so Harry set off using his elemental and wandless magic to shape, cut and mould the metal and the leather until an hour or so later he was finished. Before him sat on a velvet cushion was the magical focus that Harry had made. Its finished appearance was that of a glove. The two largest parts of the crystilite formed the cover for the front and back of the hand, the biggest covering from where the hand bent at the wrist to the knuckles and the smaller one with the section missing covered the lower half of his palm, starting where the hand bent at the wrist to where it folded just below the fingers and the section that was missing made room for the thumb to move. One the top of the 'glove' several bits of metal were extended from the crystilite covering the bottom of each finger and joining each clawed finger cover of crystilite. Each metal piece was split at the end into two 'prongs', one on each side of the crystilite finger cover and pinned into place at the top of it and with several charms for durability. The two largest sections of crystilite were joined at the sides by leather and a slight leather sleeve extended up the arm to about midpoint between wrist and elbow. Much of the palm had been left exposed so the magic flowed easier.

"Finished" Harry breathed partly from exhaustion and partly from awe at what he had created. Dumbledore picked that point in time to enter the room with a few pieces of equipment.

"My what a fine magical artefact" he said as he surveyed Harry's creation.

"Thank you sir" Harry said

"Now to test it out. I want you to transfigure that bit of leather into a stag and then animate it" Dumbledore said as he handed Harry a spare piece of leather that had been left over from the construction. Har4ry nodded his head to show that he understood what he had to do and he carefully and slowly reached over to his glove and picked it up, savouring the anticipation that was thick in the room. As he slipped his hand into the magical glove he immediately felt magic being drawn from his core to be stored for quick access in the near future and when Harry looked at the glove his breath caught, he had never expected anything as spectacular as what he was seeing now. The magic that was being summoned was not only being stored in his pool he created for wandless magic but in the crystilite also but it wasn't a calm pool of magic, rather a storm of it for every now and then a fork of lightning type raw emerald green magic would run around the surface of his glove and sometime break away for a second, it was as though Harry held a lightning storm of magic in his hand.

"This feels great!" Harry exclaimed enjoying the feel of easily drawn magic in his control at a greater degree than any wand could provide.

"It certainly looks powerful" Dumbledore commented bringing Harry back to reality.

"Oh yeah the transfiguration" Harry said sheepishly. He held up his hand and aimed it at the leather and began to command his magic and will it to change the leather. To Harry's great surprise and happiness it took little more than an image in his head and half the energy it usually took to do the spell.

"Excellent work Harry, how was it doing the spell?" Dumbledore asked going into research mode now.

"It was easier, I needed less will power and only about half the energy to work it, it felt easy" Harry explained

"Okay, now try animating it." Dumbledore suggested. Again Harry pointed his hand and willed the spell to work, however this time it took more will power and energy but that was to be expected with a spell of such complexity as that. As soon as the stag started walking around the room Dumbledore broke into a proud smile. "Very well done Harry. You never cease to amaze me, not many people at all would have been able to successfully create their own magical focus, but you did with perfect result." Said Dumbledore.

"Thank you sir, I'm not surprised that not many people can do it, it takes a lot out of you." Harry said with a smile.

"Now tell me is there anything else unique about the glove?" inquired the old sorcerer.

"Yes there is actually, I overlooked it with the first spell I used but after the second I felt it, as soon as I use magic the glove summons more from my core straight away." Harry said still with the smile on his face.

"That is very advantageous for you Harry. Now if you would get rid of the stag we could do the final test." Dumbledore said as he picked up the strange equipment he had entered the room with.

Once the stag was gone and Dumbledore had set up the equipment he asked Harry to sit in the chair before it.

"All you need to do is place your hand on this here" Dumbledore said as he motioned to the flat bit of the equipment that looked like a bit of cardboard. "And say the spell 'Magicaus Revalio' and it will display your magic level here" Dumbledore said as he pointed to the parchment that was clipped to a small stand.

Doing as he was instructed Harry placed the hand with the glove on the sensor thing and spoke the spell and almost straight away it revealed his magic level which was nothing he had expected or hoped to achieve in his life.

A/N There you are, another chapter for you to (hopefully) enjoy. I thank everyone for their reviews and hope that you are all enjoying the fic, more will be on its way soon!

Until next time.

                             GG