Chapter 34: The Magicograph

Harry felt like he was back to Andros in no time. It was a great relief to be friends again with Ron, and it helped his marks get back to his previous standards, although, as the teachers said, he wasn't bad anyway.

A week after lessons had restarted, Harry and his classmates were sitting in their Stealth and Tracking classroom, waiting for Professor Confessus to come. He arrived a few minutes late, sat down, and drew a square of parchment from the pocket of his robes.

"What's that, sir?" Ron enquired.

Professor Confessus looked down at him. "I was just about to tell you," he smiled.

"Sorry," Ron apologised.

"It's not a problem," said the Headmaster, holding up the parchment. As the light caught it, Harry noticed that it was not opaque, as he had thought, but actually a clear sheet, almost like transparent plastic. It was covered in bright yellow dots and splodges, which looked like some kind of paint. In the centre was a small cross, around it were circles of different sizes, extending out like ripples in water after something has been dropped in it. "Does anyone know what this is?" asked Professor Confessus. 

Rudolf raised his hand. "Er – is it – a magicograph? I tink we did about dem at Durmstrang."

Nodding, Professor Confessus replied, "Yes. You are correct. Can you tell me what the magicograph does?"

Rudolf paused for a second, then answered. "It is used for detecting occurrences of spells and … and tings like dat."

"Correct. Yes, the magicograph is used to detect the amount of magical energy around a certain point – the parchment of the graph itself. If I take a map of the college," Professor Confessus did so, "and place the magicograph over it," he did this also, "We can see where magic is being used in the building and grounds. Engorgio."

The two sheets of parchment were blown up to five times their original sizes, so that the whole class could see clearly what was going on. On top was the magicograph, the yellow paint-like substance flowing and vibrating all over it. Underneath was the map of Andros: the L-shaped main building with each room drawn in; the smaller, rectangular teachers' block; the fenced paddock; behind them the sports pitches, pavilion, stable and Arena.

"Can everyone see?" asked Professor Confessus. There was a general murmur of agreement and Professor Confessus nodded. "Good. As you can see, the map is centred on our classroom – itself in fact. Now this particular graph can only cover a small range, as you can see from the number in the corner."

Harry looked closely. A number was printed like a map scale, showing a small ratio.

"However," continued the headmaster, "some magicographs cover much larger areas, even as much as a whole country. I believe that one in the Russian Ministry of Magic in Moscow stretches right to Alaska."

Lizzy raised her hand. "Sir – what are the circles for?"

"Well, the further you are from the centre – marked by the cross," explained Professor Confessus. "The further you are from the centre, the less precise the graph is. The circles extending from the middle help give you an idea of the accuracy. Let's look closer. Stronger magical forces are shown with a brighter yellow – looks like the third years are in the Arena, and that'll be the second years making potions with Professor Potts. You can also see strong magical power with the horses, your equipment in your dormitories, and people's wands – those smaller circles. But don't presume Madam Masters' wand – in the stable, look – is less powerful than our own; it is only dimmer because the graph is not picking it up as well."

Now it was Harry's turn to ask a question. "Sir," he enquired, "what are magicographs used for?"

"They are very useful for the Ministry for detecting who is using magic where. I believe you have been caught by them more than once."

"Right," replied Harry. "Er – how do they know which spell I used, then?"

"Learned wizards can study what shows up on the graph and decide which spell is being cast. They can also trace the caster – you may not be aware of this, but wandsmiths must register every wand they sell with the authorities."

"Sir," put forward Ron. "Harry used to live quite a way from the Ministry – how did they find out it was him – it wouldn't have shown up on a graph which covered a large area."

"Good question," replied Professor Confessus. "Well, it is possible to detach the scanning spell from the centre of the magicograph, so that a graph in one place picks up magic in another. The Ministry have detailed maps of most districts, each covering about a hundred square miles. They are monitored magically – as you can imagine, it would take a lot of people to watch each one. I wouldn't like to –"

"It can't just be used for watching who's using magic," interrupted Hannah. "Why would we be studying it then?"

Professor Confessus looked slightly annoyed at being cut short, but answered all the same. "Why, I thought that would have been obvious! We can use it to track down Dark wizards, of course."

Hannah nodded embarrassedly.

Professor Confessus gave out a small magicograph to each student, and they spent the rest of the lesson studying them in more detail, taking notes, and even practising the spells to make their own. Rudolf was the only one who could do it, and he managed to grow white, downy all over his usually bald head in the process.

"Professor," asked Hannah as they were packing away. "There's a magical power source here – looks like there's some kind of tunnel near the stable, leading to a sort of cave near the gates."

Professor Confessus looked closer. "Oh, that. It's just a nest of Nifflers."

Harry wondered vaguely how some of the best Dark wizard catchers in the world could let an old man set up a settlement in their back garden and convince them he was a Niffler.