Chapter 2: wandless arts
Harry was standing in Divination class in front of Professor Trelawney, who kept saying he was going to die, she said she could see his painful death full of misery, she than took out her wand and began taping her crystal ball tap, tap, tap, tap…
Harry woke up with a start but the taping continued, he looked around and saw Hedwig taping the window, Harry went to open the window and Hedwig flow in, a letter was tied to her leg, and she seemed extremely annoyed.
Harry did not blame her, at his birthday he got so annoyed by all the owls and letters, he decided to get rid of them all including Hedwig. he told her to go away but she did not move, so Harry thought of the most longest journey he can make her take, and than he remembered Luna Lovegood saying she was going to travel in Sweden this summer, that's far enough Harry thought.
He wrote Luna a short letter saying: "Hi Luna, how's Sweden, Harry" And sent Hedwig off.
From what harry could see Hedwig did not enjoy Sweden at all.
"I'm sorry" he said petting her , he took off the letter and was about to lay it on his night stand, when he caught Hedwig's stare and thought he better open it instead.
"dear Harry
Sweden is great, though I must admit we have not yet caught any Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but dad thinks we are getting close, did you like my present I found it here and thought you would like it, I have to go dad thinks he spotted one, see you on the train!
Luna"
As harry lay the letter on his bed smiling, Hedwig took off to the owlery.
Harry gave a tired look at the bag of presents, the last thing he felt like doing was opening them, but than he thought of how insulted everyone is going to be, so he took the bag and poured its content on the bed.
He took the first present it was from…Parvati and Padma Patil both of them haven't sent Harry a present before, he opened it, it was a silver belt, it was kind of nice only harry didn't wear belts.
Lavender bought him a wizard watch, which harry did not know how to read.
Dean sent him muggle candy, as he was a muggle born. Luna gave him something jelly Harry did not want to touch. Neville sent a book. Most of the presents were like that he got two pairs of gloves, three belts, four perfume for man, two wizards hats, a wand polishing set, Tonks sent a pretty golden picture frame in it there was a picture of Sirius and Lupin both pulling harry by his arms, they seemed so happy The card said, "I took it last Christmas and I thought you might like it", He did like it and hated it on the same time, he could not even remember anyone taking pictures that night... and this was probably the only picture Harry had of him and Sirius together, the only picture he was ever going to have he thought tears filling his eyes, he lay it at his night stand and continued his present opening.
The Weasleys sent him a sweater and birthday cake (which gone bad)
Ginny sent him a beautiful leather diary she has made herself.
Ron sent him a book about Quidditch game tactics.
Though if Harry had to chose what was the worst present Hermione's would have wan by far, since she has decided to give him as a birthday present a book titled "how to deal when your loved one is forever lost", she wrote on the his card, that the book had really helped her.
Harry wasn't surprised to hear a book has helped Hermione, however a book was not Harry's way of dealing with something like death, a book in Harry's opinion was a way to deal with your homework.
The best present Harry has received was a big package, from Fred and Gorge Weasley, filled with joke products from their store.
Their were two curios presents he had got on was from Katie Bell who played with him on the Quidditch team, it was a small model of the quid ditch pitch, her card said "thought it may come in handy",
Did she know something harry didn't?
The other was a book titled "The Lost Magic" it seemed very old, only when harry opened it there was nothing written inside, the note said "thought I give you a bit of a challenge before we meet again" it was from Dumbledore, harry was sure. By noon harry was surrounded by wrapping papers and well…lots of stuff!
Harry went downstairs to eat lunch as he has already missed breakfast, he went into the great hall only to find it completely empty, not a single chair or table stood there, he looked around, at the back off the hall where the teachers table usually stood, and there was an open door.
Harry went to it and found himself in a small room which contained a single round table and chairs, the table contained lots of food and on the other side of the table, eating a peace of cake sat Professor McGonagall
"you missed dinner and breakfast" she said sternly
"I know" Harry said sitting down, he was starving, he has barley eaten anything for the past month.
"Were they feeding you at all over there, you seem rather thinner then I last saw you" McGonagall said looking at Harry's skinny pale hands.
"A bit" Harry answered with a small smile, he was loading his plate with food and began eating feverishly.
"well, I was just about to send everyone their O.W.L's results together with their options, but as you are here you might as well save me a letter" McGonagall said
Harry looked at her nervously, the last thing he has been thinking of was his O.W.L exams, but he was still curios to know how well he has done.
"You will be glad to hear you have done rather well, and you will be able to take all the subjects you have chosen, this year" McGonagall said taking a sip from her tea
"I haven't chosen anything yet" Harry said annoyed
"Of course you have, you told me last year on career advice you wish to become an Auror, in order to become one you will need to take charms, transfusion, defense against the dark arts and potions.And you have past them all with an outstanding grade, meaning you are accepted" McGonagall said firmly.
"I don't want to take potions this year, I'm quitting it" Harry said, he has swore he is not going to take another class with Snape ever again.
'Don't be ridicules, you need potions to get into Aurors training center" McGonagall said with a final note
"Well, than I won't get in, big deal, I'm not even sure I want to become an auror anymore" Harry said Honestly he really was not sure, he felt confused.
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes giving harry a harsh stare, and than thinking she rather ignore it, said "well here is your schedule for this month" she gave harry a peace of paper.
Harry knew it was Monday and to his horror saw Snape's office, written at Monday morning "You missed class today, but from now on no skipping" McGonagall said
"I have lessons with Snape?" Harry asked his mouth going dry; it seemed that wherever he went Snape was there to make his life ten times more miserable.
"yes, and while we are on this subject, I'm asking you now that you'll behave yourself Professor Snape is a rather uh…sensitive man, so he tends um… to get offended rather easily, so you watch your tongue, Potter" McGonagall said rather uncomfortably.
Harry thought he might explode with laughter "sensitive" Snape, he saw Trolls being more sensitive than Snape.
Harry was starring at his schedule there was something called C.W. he had four times a week including Sunday and it took place in the great hall, and then there was Nature's Art that was taught by…
"what are you teaching me professor?" harry asked
"what?" McGonagall asked puzzled
"it's written here Nature's Art at the transfusion class tomorrow morning" harry said
"yes, well, you'll see, I really must go lots of letters to send" McGonagall said got up and left the room.
Harry got out of the castle to the grounds the sky were bright blue, the rain was long gone.
Harry looked around Hagrids cabin seemed deserted, so he went toward the lake.
Harry was feeling much better, he was thinking of all the presents he had received. who would of thought it has only past three years since he got his first ever birthday presents, and look at him now, even Dudley would have been jealous at the number of presents he has received…he really did have many friends he thought, but his smile faded, what would they think of him if they knew what is to become of him.
He could imagine Ron and Hermione's face filled with pity and fear "NO" Harry said aloud, he was not going to tell them, it will be his secret and no one will ever know the truth.
Harry woke up early the next day, and went down to breakfast.
As he entered the great hall back room, he saw Professor Flitwick the charms teacher and Snape both had a large stalk of papers surrounding them.
Harry sat down, took a peace of toast, and began buttering it.
"Mr. Potter how nice to see you, congratulation on you O.W.L's, excellent grades" Professor Flitwick squeaked happily
"I wander how that came by" Snape whispered silently
"thanks" harry said ignoring Snape
"I didn't know you stay here all summer" Harry said
"oh, but I don't, I stay at my sisters summer house in Franc, just came here for a day or two to sort up this mess" Professor Flitwick said pointing on his stalk of papers.
"what's it?" Harry asked curiously
"this is the sixth year student's wish list we just got them this morning. me and Professor Snape here were just going through the list, the problem is both our subjects are very popular among the students, and there is a limited number of students we may chose, all I can say is that many students are going to be disappointed" Flitwick said concern
"yes, indeed" Snape said cheerfully, grabbed his stalk of papers, and went toward the door. however as he past harry one of his papers dropped on Harry's feet, harry picked it up and his heart gave a jolt, the paper was Ron's request to take potion class this year and Snape has marked the paper with a big red ex and wrote in large letters "not accepted" all over it.
"I believe this is mine" Snape said taking Ron's request from Harry's hands, harry looked up and saw an evil grin spread on Snape's face, and he knew he had dropped it on purpose.
Harry went up to the transfusion class, Professor McGonagall was sitting in front of her desk, and she too was dividing a stalk of papers into two groups.
"hello potter" she said as harry sat on a chair in front of her desk
"here this for you" she handed harry a thick book which title was "A Guidebook to Nature" and at the bottom of the book marked in gold letters "ministry authorized only".
"so, my first questions do you know what Nature Art is?" McGonagall asked
"er…something to do with nature'' harry said blankly
"Nature Art is a very ancient magic profession, in fact it used to be taught at this school that was until it became illegal" McGonagall said
"why is it a dark art magic?" harry asked
"no, no, no it's not dark magic at all, it was made illegal because it became hard for wizard especially children to master, and wizards that could master it didn't always bring it to good use. whoever wishes to learn it now must receive a special license from the ministry, which I might add you do not have, so you must promise not to tell anyone I'm teaching you" McGonagall said
"right" harry said firmly, anxious to hear more about this magic
"very well then, Nature Art was taught here with wands, however Professor Dumbledore has asked me to teach you the original type, a far more powerful form, and unfortunately for you it is practiced without a wand making it ten times more difficult to learn" McGonagall said in her usual strict tune.
"what does that mean, an I suppose to create magic with my bare hands" harry asked concerned
"yes and no, yes you will be using your hand but the key is your mind" McGonagall said
Well that is a whole lot better harry thought sarcastically
"now, when speaking of Nature Art what is truly meant by it is the Four Elements of nature which are: Fire, Air, Water and Earth. I myself am quite a master on them all, that is with using my wand, without it however, I can only really master Fire and Air" McGonagall said.
She than leaned her hand to her mouth closed her eyes as tough concentrating on something, she took some air in and puffed it right back out, only instead of air a stream of fire came rushing out, harry took a quick step backwards to prevent the fire hitting him, and just as suddenly as the fire appeared so did it disappear Harry was stunned.
"we will start with Fire as it is the easiest of the four, now I should warn you that most chances are it would take the most part of the year before you will be able to create and control Fire. it has and still is taken me many years to master the Elements, so do not have such high hopes" McGonagall said firmly
For the rest of the lesson McGonagall gave him a long lecture about the Fire Element and harry took notes, it felt just like any normal class only he was the only student in the room.
By the time class ended harry was starving, harry went down for lunch, he was eating alone; he ate quickly as he had ten minutes before his next class began.
He went back out to the great hall where his C.W. class took place, harry did not know what C.W. means. he looked around, no one was there, he lay down on the floor and stared at the hall's ceiling which was bewitched to look as the sky outside, harry was staring at the different shapes of clouds, he was thinking of Professor McGonagall spitting that fire like a dragon, harry could not imagine him doing that.
"having fun!" someone said from behind, harry stood up and saw both Tonks and Shacklebolt standing in front of him.
"what are you doing here?" harry asked cheerfully
"well, we both think we had enough of chasing Death Eaters, we thought teaching might be a better choice of career" Tonks said brightly
"what are you teaching?" harry asked
"we will be teaching you Wizard Combat" shackle bolt said
"what's that?" harry asked
"it's a form of advanced fighting they teach it at the Auror training center" Tonks said
"we will be giving you lessons, mainly on weekends, since we are doing this on are free time" Shacklebolt said
"sorry…" harry said feeling uncomfortable they were giving up weekends to teach him
"don't be, we are glad to do so, we can't stay for long today, but you're in luck since I'm hurt I can't go fighting death eaters for the next week or so, so I'll be able to teach you, it should be fun" Tonks said cheerfully
"I will not deny that Combat has its pleasures, however you must take this seriously if you wish to achieve a decent level" Shacklebolt said
"level?" harry asked puzzled
"Yes, there are five, I'm three point five" Tonks said
"The Combat has levels of mastering: one is basic, two is amateurs it's divided to five sub levels, than there is three which is professionals it is divided to ten sub levels, level four is the Master level it has seven sub levels and last of all is level five" Shacklebolt said
"what is five?" harry asked
"A dream" Tonks answered with a smile, "no one has reached it yet"
"not even Dumbledore" harry asked
"nope, not even You-Know-Who" Tonks said
"anyhow, we are getting quite a head of ourselves, it takes an Auror who trains every day, two years to reach level three, and you harry once school began, will have only one lesson a week, so the best you can hope for is level two" Shacklebolt said seriously
"right, but I still don't understand what is Wizard Combat, when do you use it?" harry asked confused with all the information
"Wizard Combat is a fighting techniques, harry" Shacklebolt said, "we use it at the battle field; the theory tells that a five level warrior can enter a battle with no worries as he is in no danger. there is an old Wizard legend of this two five level wizards who fought each other until they both died out of hunger, because been in level five meant they were both undefeatable"
"now lets begin are time is running short, Combat or C.W. for short is combined from five basic steps, why wont you show them to harry, Tonks" Shacklebolt said
"right" Tonks said, she laid the bag she was carrying on the floor, and stepped to the middle of the hall, she starched her one arm, which was not bandged and legs.
"the first step is called "UP"" she said out loud letting her voice echo across the empty hall, she closed her eyes and took a long breath and than jumped only instead of lifting a few inches above the ground she kept going higher, as tough it was a trampoline she has jumped from rather then a solid floor.
"the second one is called "DOWN"" she bent her back backwards, but nothing unusual seemed to happen, "this is not working, I need someone to attack me, harry come here when I say now punch me straight in the face"
"all right" harry said anxious to see what will happen
"right, one, two…NOW!" Harry aimed straight to her nose, only this time it was Tonks knees, which bent taking the rest of her body downwards almost touching the floor, and straight up back again as tough she was made out of rubber.
"That was so cool" Harry said excitedly
"Thanks" Tonks said happily
"The third one is called "SLIDE"" Shacklebolt said from far behind He took a few quick steps as tough he's going to break on a run, only instead he gave a small jump onward carrying him some ten feet ahead to where harry was standing as if he was light as a feather.
"You show him the fourth my hand is quite up to it" Tonks said
"The fourth is called "FLIP" and he took a big leap doing what seemed like a somersault only much more impressing
"The fifth is called "DIVARTION" and in order to use it you must know how to Apparate" Shacklebolt said, and quite suddenly he broke on a run to the other side of the hall, when all of a sudden he disappeared. "So those are the five: UP, DOWN, SLIDE, FLIP and DIVARTION" Shacklebolt said from behind him startling Harry to death.
"How did you do that, you can't Apparate in here?" Harry said shocked
"This is not really Apparating, it's more of disappearing for a second, it's a simple trick really, once you get the hang of it" Tonks answered
"I think we should start with UP don't you?" she asked Shacklebolt
"Yes, but not today, we really must go. Harry, I want you to work on your jumping, try to jump as high as you can for at least an hour every day. now, the real secret of C.W. is not in you body but in your mind, make yourself a goal of where you would like to reach then close your eyes and reach it, start small" Shacklebolt said
"Right" Harry said, disappointed the class had to end so soon
"Sorry we can't stay Harry, but you know how it is" Tonks said Harry walked them both to the entrance hall, and said goodbye as they went out into the grounds.
As he turned back in, he looked around, no one was there, he had no classes, only some homework McGonagall has given him, he decided to go up to the library.
He reached the library, no one was there either, the curtains were closed, harry went in and opened the drapes allowing the light to spill in.
He found a book a few books about the different forms of Fire and begin writing his essay, he was surprised at how fascinating it was, he particularly liked the form called Fireball, it is a ball of fire you create using your hands, harry imagined himself creating fireballs with his own hands and throwing them at Bellatrix.
He than raised his hand and said "Lumus" but nothing happened, he sighed he could never imagine himself doing magic without a wand, It seemed simply impossible from where harry was standing.
He than stood up, closed his eyes and jumped as high as possible but he only went a few inches above the ground and went right back down.
He tried it for about half an hour until he got tired, he than looked at a book he has found titled "1000 Tips for a Combat Beginner", in there was many tips for the UP step, Harry's eyes rested on one of them "in order to achieve the highest UP one must be in perfect shape", good shape harry thought, he looked at his skinny fingers and knobby knees, he was not in shape, it was no use he will never be able to do any of this.
However as harry reached the Griffondor common room a thought entered his mind. Voldemort knows C.W. and so must the death eaters, he remembered Bellatrix escape last year, how she bounced from step to step avoiding the spells, she must have been using Combat he thought, if would ever want to fight her and win, he will have to learn this Combat, and he was not going to settle on level two either.
No his minimum was going to be level three, and as the thought came to his head, he closed his eyes and jumped in his mind he was thinking "up" and when harry opened his eyes he was three feet above the ground, falling back face down, harry felt his nose smash to the floor.
However, he did not care at all, he has done it he thought happily, and nothing was going to stop him now.