Disclaimer: All characters are property of J.K. Rowling and are being used
without permission. No attempt has been made to copyright this work. This novel
is purely for the entertainment of the author and readers and is not being used
for profit of any sort.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE VEIL OF DARKNESS
"That goblin's not so bad after all." Ron said as he joined Harry and Hermione for lunch in the Great Hall. "Fred and George would've loved him."
"I was starting to think we'd never learn any Egyptian magic." Hermione added as she cut her sandwich in half. "I wonder what he meant about tomorrow's lesson though."
Harry thought about that for a second. "Whatever it is I'm going to read that next chapter twice. I can only imagine what kind of curse he'll try to put on us next."
"Still, it's good practice." Hermione said. "Voldemort may very well try using curses next."
At the mention of Voldemort, Harry and Ron looked at each other knowingly. Hermione knew those two faces well enough to figure out something was up.
"Have I missed something?" she asked.
"You should probably tell her, Harry." Ron said as he took a bite of his turkey sandwich.
Harry relunctantly recounted the dream he had and the meeting in Dumbledore's office that morning.
"Legilimency?!?" Hermione whispered as if she were telling a horrible secret. "Harry that's very dangerous. It borders on dark magic, and the Ministry has very strict rules about who's allowed to learn it legally. It's also very difficult, there aren't a lot of wizards that can do it well. Not to mention that it's just...creepy."
"I know Hermione, but it's my best shot at preventing whatever it is that Voldemort is planning. Besides, it'll be useful to be able to peek into Malfoy's thoughts every now and then."
Harry half-expected Hermione to be appalled by the joke, but to his surprise she broke out into a wide smile.
After lunch classes resumed with NEWT Transfiguration. Professor McGonnagal was just as stern looking as Harry remembered her, though she still occasionally used the cane she had taken up after being hit in the chest with multiple stunning spells.
"It as a pleasure to see so many of you taking this NEWT level course." she said as she looked over her students. "I'm afraid that some of you may not stay here for long, however. The techniques we will be covering this term are very advanced and require a high level of commitment to learning the material."
Harry thought that was an understatement as he spent the rest of the class period attempting to make a pan of water assume miniature human form and walk across the table. Even Hermione was having difficulty with the task as her water-person barely took 3 steps before it fell back into a puddle.
After the frustrating Transfiguration class, they headed for Potions. It was the first time Harry was actually not dreading a trip to the dungeon classroom. Professor Grubbly-Plank's elderly face greeted them as they took their seats.
"Hello, everyone. The potions you'll be learning in this class are highly complex and require days to prepare. You'll be mixing your potions in stages and leaving your cauldrons here for the next day's work. We will begin with a very complex but useful potion, the Hero's Elixir. This potion gives the user temporary enhanced strength, stamina, and agility. The key ingredients of the potion are powdered graphorn horn and dragon's blood. The graphorn is a very strong and dangerous creature, and I'm sure you're all familiar with the characteristics of dragons. Some of these properties are transferred to the drinker of this potion, when it is prepared correctly. Please take out your cauldrons and begin mixing the ingredients on page forty-seven of your textbooks."
Harry found Potions to be an enjoyable class without Snape around. Professor Grubbly-Plank spent a great deal of time giving warnings about the most common mistakes made while mixing the Hero's Elixir. When the class period was over everyone put their half-full cauldrons into a large locker that was far deeper than it looked on the outside.
The final class of the day for Harry, Ron, and Hermione was Creation of Magical Devices. The classroom was one that they hadn't been in before and it took a bit of time to find it. When the trio arrived the class was already nearly full. Draco Malfoy was sitting alone in the back row. Harry assumed that Crabbe and Goyle didn't get the necessary OWL scores to take the class. The other Slytherins in the class were obviously doing their best to sit no where near him. This was an opportunity that Harry couldn't pass up.
"Draco, is it true that you're on probation?" Harry said loudly as he approached his long-time rival. "That must really be a horrible mark on the Malfoy family honor. I'm surprised you haven't been disowned yet."
Draco simply sat in his seat and tried his best not to look at Harry.
"Did you see today's edition of the Prophet?" Harry said, continuing his torture. "I seem to recall some news about your father, the convicted felon."
"Laugh it up while you can, Potter." Draco finally replied with every bit of malice he could muster.
"Oh I will, Draco. You see, I've been waiting for you to get what's coming to you for a loooong time. You'd better be a good boy or I won't hesitate to find any reason to have that shiny badge taken from you." As Harry said this, Professor Wiseacre walked in and greeted everyone with a wide smile. Harry gave Draco a parting wave as he and Ron took their seats.
Their new teacher was in the process of personally greeting each student in the class. Some of the students were a bit unnerved that he already knew each of their names.
"Good afternoon everyone." the young instructor beamed after greeting everyone. "I am very pleased to see you all here. Well, I suppose you'd like to get to know me better, eh? As you know, my name is Maximilian Wiseacre. Please call me Max, that Professor title makes me feel far too old. I was a student here at Hogwarts, just like you, not too long ago. I was a Ravenclaw prefect, chaser, and Head Boy. I've worked with my father for many years at Wiseacre's Wizarding Devices, and I also do advanced research for the Department of Mysteries from time to time."
"Now that introductions are done let's get on to business. Our goal is to learn the techniques of lore. This is a topic that is usually learned through apprenticeships after graduation from school, but headmaster Dumbledore feels that the topic should be taught earlier."
"Does anyone happen to know exactly what lore is?" the young instructor asked as he looked into a few puzzled faces.
No one was surprised when Hermione's hand shot in the air immediately.
"Yes, Hermione."
"Lore is knowledge gained by study to be used in the creation of items and weapons with special abilities. These items may or not be created with the assistance of spells or potions, but they almost always require the creator to possess some magical powers."
"Very good," Max said admirably. "I wasn't expecting such a thorough explanation, even from someone as academic as yourself. Five points to Gryffindor."
"Here's an example of what you can do with lore. I'm assuming you're all familiar with remembralls? This a new type my father and I are developing. I recall that Mr. Longbottom has a bad memory. Here Neville, hold this."
Max tossed a small glass sphere to Neville. As soon as he closed his hand around it, a foggy image began to appear inside. Neville squinted as he tried to make out the object.
"It looks like...a letter? Oh, I forgot to send the letter to my gran!"
"Excellent." Max said as Neville gave the remembrall back to him. "You see, this type of remembrall displays a visual clue to help you remember what you have forgotten. Very tricky bit of magic that was, required a type of legilimency charm. We're still trying to clear it with the regulations people. Anyway, that's just a sample of some of the very useful things you can create. We'll be starting with a very simple item today, a vox box. It's a device that duplicates the voice of whomever speaks into it, kind of like the Muggle tape recorder for those of you who are familiar with them. In your lore kits you should find a set of small boxes and some soundstring."
Harry opened his lore kit and inspected the contents. Next to a group of small panes of glass was a long loop of what looked like guitar string. Harry spent the next half hour weaving the soundstring through a small metal box that came with his lore kit.
When everyone was done assembling their vox boxes Max Wiseacre spoke again. "Very good so far, everyone. The last step is for a wizard to speak into the box. The soundstring is attuned to magical sounds and, being wizards, your voices fit into that category. Once you speak into the box the sound string will be activated and it will record your voice. This is your first try at making a vox box so you may need to speak a bit louder than usual for your voice to make the imprint. Everyone give it a shot."
The noise level in the class increased as everyone spoke loudly into their vox boxes. Harry and Hermione were successful the first time, but Ron had difficulty getting his box to record "The Chudley Cannons are the best!".
Ron wasn't the only one having trouble. Draco had apparently gotten frustrated and shouted "Work, damn it!!" into his box, which then exploded.
"Not that loudly, Draco." Max said with a grin as he helped Malfoy start another vox box.
A few minutes later the bell announced the end of the day and students hurriedly filed out of the room, eager to get the first day of classes behind them. "See you tomorrow everyone." Max shouted at them as he started pulling things down from shelves in the back of the room.
"Ron, there's a prefect meeting scheduled in five minutes, we have to hurry." Hermione said as she hurriedly packed her supplies. She and Ron ran off leaving Harry behind. Harry was in no hurry and took his time gathering his supplies. All the other students had gone when he looked over at Malfoy who had just finished finding all the pieces of his first vox box. As Harry was heading for the door, Draco rudely cut in front of him in his haste to make it to the prefect meeting. Harry couldn't resist the urge to stick his foot out ever so slightly...
Malfoy was caught totally off-guard as he tripped and fell face first onto the stone floor with a sickening "smack!". When he turned over, the lower half of his face was a bloody mess and there were several teeth in a pool of blood on the floor.
Harry had meant to trip Malfoy, but he didn't expect to do so much damage. He apologetically held out a hand. "You should get that looked at, Malfoy." Harry said.
"Potter!!" Draco yelled as he spat blood at Harry and shoved his hand away. "You did this!!"
"It was an accident." Harry lied, although he really hadn't meant to hurt Malfoy so badly.
Harry could tell that Draco was fighting an internal battle. Malfoy most certainly wanted to report him, but without absolute proof he would be risking his prefect's badge.
"Draco, go see Madam Pomfrey." Max Wiseacre said coldly behind them. Harry's heart skipped a beat as he realized that he must have seen the whole thing. "I'll take care of Harry."
Harry turned and saw that his instructor's usually warm eyes had become hard and piercing. It was the first time Harry had seen him without a smile on his face. Max handed Draco a handkerchief to stop the blood and watched him as he headed for the infirmary. As soon as Draco was out of sight Max closed the door and turned on Harry.
"What the HELL was that?!?" he said with controlled fury. "I would think that someone with your reputation would be a little more civil. Did you see his face, Harry? He'll be in the infirmary for hours!!"
"I didn't mean it!" Harry defended.
"Yes, you did. You just got more than what you expected."
Harry couldn't argue. Wiseacre's cold gaze had seen through him.
"That was a dirty trick, Harry. Something I would have expected from a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor."
Harry flinched at the remark.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor." Max said as his anger increased. "Tell me Harry, what exactly did Draco do to deserve having his teeth rearranged?"
Harry couldn't find the words to describe all the torture he had suffered at Malfoy's hands. He couldn't count how many times the blond prat had attempted to ruin someone's life. Draco represented everything that Harry hated.
"It's the fact that he exists"
The words shocked Harry as they formed in his mind. That was what his father had said about Snape in the memory that Harry had seen in the Pensieve. Harry had judged the young James Potter harshly for those words, but now he understood them all too well.
"Detention. Tonight. Here." Max said with conviction before he pushed Harry out of the classroom.
***
Harry returned to the Gryffindor dorms and fell onto his bed. He had smashed Malfoy's face, cost Gryffindor twenty points, gotten himself detention, and lost the respect of a teacher he had just met. The past few minutes had ruined what had otherwise been a fairly pleasant first day of classes.
At least one good thing had come out of the encounter, his opinion of his father had improved. Harry wondered if Snape had been as horrible as Draco in his school days. Harry picked up his curse-breaking book. He hoped that a little reading may help take his mind off things. He was halfway through the chapter entitled "The Dynamics of Mutation Curses" when Ron returned from the prefects' meeting.
"Hey, Draco didn't show up to the meeting!!" He told Harry with a great smile. "They're going to have his badge for sure now."
"No, they won't." Harry spoke with his head in his hands as he told Ron what happened.
"Blimey, what got into you Harry?" Ron said, shocked. "That's something that I would do, not you."
"I don't want to talk about it anymore." Harry said as he got off of his bed. "Let's get some food, I want to grab something before detention."
After dinner Harry parted from his friends and headed off to serve his detention. He found Max in his classroom amidst several large piles of golden parts.
"Hello Harry." he said indifferently as he put two of the parts together. The pieces seemed to seal together when they touched and Harry could see that the finished product was a telescope. "You'll be assembling telescopes by hand this evening. It's very simple, although tedious. The parts will only connect at the correct joints so you should have no problem figuring out what goes where, but you'll have to make sure everything is properly aligned."
Harry got to work as Max read through a very large and very old-looking book. After nearly an hour of silence, Harry finally decided to say what was on his mind.
"Er, Max...I...I just wanted to tell you that I'm really not usually like that. Malfoy just brings out the worst in me. I didn't mean to hurt him that badly though, honest."
Harry looked up to find Max looking at him intently. Those sharp eyes had once again softened.
"I understand your circumstances Harry, and I apologize if I was a bit rough with you earlier. I've had some dealings with the Malfoys before, and I know how...difficult they can be. I also know that you and Draco have a long history and I assume that he deserved some form of retribution. That is why I intervened before he could report you to Professor Sinistra, which would have been a disaster. If you're going to be in the business of revenge, however, you must learn that there is a time and a place for everything. The place for revenge is not this classroom on my first day of the job. I had to explain to Professor McGonnagal why I took twenty points from Gryffindor. She gave me a very long lecture about maintaining order in my class."
"Sorry."
"I stand by what I said earlier," Max continued, "tripping him from behind was dirty. I have to say that I was very disappointed in you."
"Sorry." Harry repeated as he stared at the parts in his hands.
"Don't beat yourself up over it. Let's just say you owe me one."
Harry smiled a little at that but he was still a bit uncomfortable with the realization that Max knew about his rivalry with Draco, among other things. "Er, Max. How do you know all this stuff about everyone?"
The young Wiseacre seemed to be amused. "I'm a collector of knowledge, Harry. I don't like to go into any situation without having done my research first. I perused the school records of all the students that signed up for my class this summer. Interesting reading, especially your file."
"I bet it was." Harry said as he aligned two lenses.
"Well I already knew quite a bit about you, especially after that event in the Department of Mysteries. We had quite the time cleaning up that mess."
Harry's face had fallen a bit when Max mentioned the place where Sirius had died.
"I'm sorry about your godfather, by the way."
Harry was surprised. The only people that knew that Sirius was dead were either DA members, Death Eaters or--
"Yes, I'm a member of the Order of the Phoenix." Max said as if he had read Harry's thoughts. "Dumbledore signed me on just before I came to Hogwarts to teach. I suppose my knowledge of the objects within the Department of Mysteries will be an asset."
"You know about...the archway..thing, then?" Harry had not been able to get much information about the curtain that had killed Sirius. All anyone knew was that it was an ancient execution device.
"Yes, I'm afraid I know more about it than any other person living." Max said with a sorrowful look on his face. "It has been the subject of most of my research these past few years."
"Could you tell me about it?" Harry asked hesitantly. He was fully expecting Max to tell him that he was too young to hear it, but he had to try.
Max sat silently for a moment as he looked deeply into Harry's eyes. "I can tell you what I know." He replied, surprising Harry. "I think that you deserve that at least."
"My father insisted that I study it." Max continued. "He was one of the most outspoken citizens that demanded that its use in executions be abolished. 'We should be careful in committing anyone to a fate that we do not wholly understand.' he used to say. The Wizengamot eventually agreed and outlawed it about forty years ago. Most of the public has forgotten that it even exists. Those that do remember prefer not to speak of it. The Ministry started using the dementor's kiss to punish criminals instead, as if it were more humane. Research on the Veil and its properties continued though, with a small number of very old wizards spending day and night studying it. They were my teachers when I became an Unspeakable. They were glad to have me aboard, as no one else wanted to be near the object. The last of those ancient wizards passed away this year. I was sad to see him go, but he was nearly 200 years old. It was his time."
Harry was intrigued by this new information, but his main question still hadn't been answered. "What exactly is it?"
"Yes, that is the question, isn't it Harry? I don't really know the answer either. It has had many names, but it is most widely known as The Veil of Darkness. No one's sure about exactly how it was created, but the few records we have indicate it was made by Druids. The Druids never kept written logs of their magic, but a witness once wrote that it's original purpose was for speaking to the dead for divination purposes. After the Romans conquered the Celtic tribes they used it to execute wizards, and that is how it was used for centuries until it was banned. I often call it a one-way door to the afterlife, but I admit that description is probably very inadequate. The dead can speak through it when they wish, but there's no way that we know of that lets you choose who you end up talking to."
"How did it end up in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry asked.
"Are there any greater mysteries than death and what happens afterwards? When the Department of Mysteries was created, the Veil was the first item moved into it. The Veil has been studied for very long and we still don't know exactly how it works. It has, however, taught us much about the many-layered puzzle that is death. Most of our knowledge of Necromancy comes from research on the Veil. Recently though, the Veil has been kept for a different purpose. There are many that hope that it will be used for one more execution."
Harry knew whose execution that would be. "Voldemort."
"Yes, Harry. Voldemort has taken certain steps to ensure that it will be very difficult for him to die. He fears death more than anything, which means he fears the Veil. The Veil is death. That's why he appeared in the main hall of the Ministry instead of the Veil chamber where you were. He was afraid of going there. The Veil is the most thorough form of execution known to us. If Voldemort were to go through it, there's no magic trick in the world that could bring him back. The Veil could be the key to ensuring that he can never again return."
Harry sat in silence for a moment, not having anything else to ask. Max's information had confirmed what he knew to be true but still couldn't believe.
Sirius wasn't coming back.
Harry continued to assemble the remaining telescopes, trying to keep his mind off of his grief. He had to re-assemble a few that Max wasn't satisfied with upon inspection. When all the devices were finally complete, Max dismissed him.
As Harry was leaving Max called out to him. "Wait, I almost forgot. Professor Dumbledore told me about your desire for Legilimency lessons. Give me a few days to get things prepared."
"You're going to be teaching me?" Harry asked, finally realizing that Max must be a fairly talented Legilimens.
"No, not exactly. You'll see. You should go get some rest now, it's late. Goodnight Harry."
Harry left the room puzzled as he struggled to understand what Max had meant. As he was walking down one of the deserted hallways that led to the Gryffindor common room, he encountered Draco. The Slytherin's face looked almost completely healed and his teeth seemed to be back in place.
"I have just spent the past few hours having my teeth regrown and my face put back into one piece." Draco said coldly as he walked up to Harry. "Do you know what that Pomfrey woman said when I told her what happened? She said I probably deserved it. I can't even get the respect a Malfoy deserves because of you. You have made a mockery of me and my family, Potter. You want my badge? Here, have it." Draco ripped off the shiny badge and threw it at Harry's chest. "I don't care if they take it away from me, or if they take points from Slytherin, or even if they expel me. Nothing, NOTHING will stop me from making sure that you pay dearly for this."
Harry couldn't believe he was being blamed for what was clearly Malfoy's own fault. "You're delusional, Malfoy."
"You're dead, Potter."
Harry had received death threats before and he wasn't too concerned as he walked back to his dormitory. As he went to bed that night though, Harry made a mental note to keep an even closer eye on Draco Malfoy.
**************************************************************************
THE VEIL OF DARKNESS
"That goblin's not so bad after all." Ron said as he joined Harry and Hermione for lunch in the Great Hall. "Fred and George would've loved him."
"I was starting to think we'd never learn any Egyptian magic." Hermione added as she cut her sandwich in half. "I wonder what he meant about tomorrow's lesson though."
Harry thought about that for a second. "Whatever it is I'm going to read that next chapter twice. I can only imagine what kind of curse he'll try to put on us next."
"Still, it's good practice." Hermione said. "Voldemort may very well try using curses next."
At the mention of Voldemort, Harry and Ron looked at each other knowingly. Hermione knew those two faces well enough to figure out something was up.
"Have I missed something?" she asked.
"You should probably tell her, Harry." Ron said as he took a bite of his turkey sandwich.
Harry relunctantly recounted the dream he had and the meeting in Dumbledore's office that morning.
"Legilimency?!?" Hermione whispered as if she were telling a horrible secret. "Harry that's very dangerous. It borders on dark magic, and the Ministry has very strict rules about who's allowed to learn it legally. It's also very difficult, there aren't a lot of wizards that can do it well. Not to mention that it's just...creepy."
"I know Hermione, but it's my best shot at preventing whatever it is that Voldemort is planning. Besides, it'll be useful to be able to peek into Malfoy's thoughts every now and then."
Harry half-expected Hermione to be appalled by the joke, but to his surprise she broke out into a wide smile.
After lunch classes resumed with NEWT Transfiguration. Professor McGonnagal was just as stern looking as Harry remembered her, though she still occasionally used the cane she had taken up after being hit in the chest with multiple stunning spells.
"It as a pleasure to see so many of you taking this NEWT level course." she said as she looked over her students. "I'm afraid that some of you may not stay here for long, however. The techniques we will be covering this term are very advanced and require a high level of commitment to learning the material."
Harry thought that was an understatement as he spent the rest of the class period attempting to make a pan of water assume miniature human form and walk across the table. Even Hermione was having difficulty with the task as her water-person barely took 3 steps before it fell back into a puddle.
After the frustrating Transfiguration class, they headed for Potions. It was the first time Harry was actually not dreading a trip to the dungeon classroom. Professor Grubbly-Plank's elderly face greeted them as they took their seats.
"Hello, everyone. The potions you'll be learning in this class are highly complex and require days to prepare. You'll be mixing your potions in stages and leaving your cauldrons here for the next day's work. We will begin with a very complex but useful potion, the Hero's Elixir. This potion gives the user temporary enhanced strength, stamina, and agility. The key ingredients of the potion are powdered graphorn horn and dragon's blood. The graphorn is a very strong and dangerous creature, and I'm sure you're all familiar with the characteristics of dragons. Some of these properties are transferred to the drinker of this potion, when it is prepared correctly. Please take out your cauldrons and begin mixing the ingredients on page forty-seven of your textbooks."
Harry found Potions to be an enjoyable class without Snape around. Professor Grubbly-Plank spent a great deal of time giving warnings about the most common mistakes made while mixing the Hero's Elixir. When the class period was over everyone put their half-full cauldrons into a large locker that was far deeper than it looked on the outside.
The final class of the day for Harry, Ron, and Hermione was Creation of Magical Devices. The classroom was one that they hadn't been in before and it took a bit of time to find it. When the trio arrived the class was already nearly full. Draco Malfoy was sitting alone in the back row. Harry assumed that Crabbe and Goyle didn't get the necessary OWL scores to take the class. The other Slytherins in the class were obviously doing their best to sit no where near him. This was an opportunity that Harry couldn't pass up.
"Draco, is it true that you're on probation?" Harry said loudly as he approached his long-time rival. "That must really be a horrible mark on the Malfoy family honor. I'm surprised you haven't been disowned yet."
Draco simply sat in his seat and tried his best not to look at Harry.
"Did you see today's edition of the Prophet?" Harry said, continuing his torture. "I seem to recall some news about your father, the convicted felon."
"Laugh it up while you can, Potter." Draco finally replied with every bit of malice he could muster.
"Oh I will, Draco. You see, I've been waiting for you to get what's coming to you for a loooong time. You'd better be a good boy or I won't hesitate to find any reason to have that shiny badge taken from you." As Harry said this, Professor Wiseacre walked in and greeted everyone with a wide smile. Harry gave Draco a parting wave as he and Ron took their seats.
Their new teacher was in the process of personally greeting each student in the class. Some of the students were a bit unnerved that he already knew each of their names.
"Good afternoon everyone." the young instructor beamed after greeting everyone. "I am very pleased to see you all here. Well, I suppose you'd like to get to know me better, eh? As you know, my name is Maximilian Wiseacre. Please call me Max, that Professor title makes me feel far too old. I was a student here at Hogwarts, just like you, not too long ago. I was a Ravenclaw prefect, chaser, and Head Boy. I've worked with my father for many years at Wiseacre's Wizarding Devices, and I also do advanced research for the Department of Mysteries from time to time."
"Now that introductions are done let's get on to business. Our goal is to learn the techniques of lore. This is a topic that is usually learned through apprenticeships after graduation from school, but headmaster Dumbledore feels that the topic should be taught earlier."
"Does anyone happen to know exactly what lore is?" the young instructor asked as he looked into a few puzzled faces.
No one was surprised when Hermione's hand shot in the air immediately.
"Yes, Hermione."
"Lore is knowledge gained by study to be used in the creation of items and weapons with special abilities. These items may or not be created with the assistance of spells or potions, but they almost always require the creator to possess some magical powers."
"Very good," Max said admirably. "I wasn't expecting such a thorough explanation, even from someone as academic as yourself. Five points to Gryffindor."
"Here's an example of what you can do with lore. I'm assuming you're all familiar with remembralls? This a new type my father and I are developing. I recall that Mr. Longbottom has a bad memory. Here Neville, hold this."
Max tossed a small glass sphere to Neville. As soon as he closed his hand around it, a foggy image began to appear inside. Neville squinted as he tried to make out the object.
"It looks like...a letter? Oh, I forgot to send the letter to my gran!"
"Excellent." Max said as Neville gave the remembrall back to him. "You see, this type of remembrall displays a visual clue to help you remember what you have forgotten. Very tricky bit of magic that was, required a type of legilimency charm. We're still trying to clear it with the regulations people. Anyway, that's just a sample of some of the very useful things you can create. We'll be starting with a very simple item today, a vox box. It's a device that duplicates the voice of whomever speaks into it, kind of like the Muggle tape recorder for those of you who are familiar with them. In your lore kits you should find a set of small boxes and some soundstring."
Harry opened his lore kit and inspected the contents. Next to a group of small panes of glass was a long loop of what looked like guitar string. Harry spent the next half hour weaving the soundstring through a small metal box that came with his lore kit.
When everyone was done assembling their vox boxes Max Wiseacre spoke again. "Very good so far, everyone. The last step is for a wizard to speak into the box. The soundstring is attuned to magical sounds and, being wizards, your voices fit into that category. Once you speak into the box the sound string will be activated and it will record your voice. This is your first try at making a vox box so you may need to speak a bit louder than usual for your voice to make the imprint. Everyone give it a shot."
The noise level in the class increased as everyone spoke loudly into their vox boxes. Harry and Hermione were successful the first time, but Ron had difficulty getting his box to record "The Chudley Cannons are the best!".
Ron wasn't the only one having trouble. Draco had apparently gotten frustrated and shouted "Work, damn it!!" into his box, which then exploded.
"Not that loudly, Draco." Max said with a grin as he helped Malfoy start another vox box.
A few minutes later the bell announced the end of the day and students hurriedly filed out of the room, eager to get the first day of classes behind them. "See you tomorrow everyone." Max shouted at them as he started pulling things down from shelves in the back of the room.
"Ron, there's a prefect meeting scheduled in five minutes, we have to hurry." Hermione said as she hurriedly packed her supplies. She and Ron ran off leaving Harry behind. Harry was in no hurry and took his time gathering his supplies. All the other students had gone when he looked over at Malfoy who had just finished finding all the pieces of his first vox box. As Harry was heading for the door, Draco rudely cut in front of him in his haste to make it to the prefect meeting. Harry couldn't resist the urge to stick his foot out ever so slightly...
Malfoy was caught totally off-guard as he tripped and fell face first onto the stone floor with a sickening "smack!". When he turned over, the lower half of his face was a bloody mess and there were several teeth in a pool of blood on the floor.
Harry had meant to trip Malfoy, but he didn't expect to do so much damage. He apologetically held out a hand. "You should get that looked at, Malfoy." Harry said.
"Potter!!" Draco yelled as he spat blood at Harry and shoved his hand away. "You did this!!"
"It was an accident." Harry lied, although he really hadn't meant to hurt Malfoy so badly.
Harry could tell that Draco was fighting an internal battle. Malfoy most certainly wanted to report him, but without absolute proof he would be risking his prefect's badge.
"Draco, go see Madam Pomfrey." Max Wiseacre said coldly behind them. Harry's heart skipped a beat as he realized that he must have seen the whole thing. "I'll take care of Harry."
Harry turned and saw that his instructor's usually warm eyes had become hard and piercing. It was the first time Harry had seen him without a smile on his face. Max handed Draco a handkerchief to stop the blood and watched him as he headed for the infirmary. As soon as Draco was out of sight Max closed the door and turned on Harry.
"What the HELL was that?!?" he said with controlled fury. "I would think that someone with your reputation would be a little more civil. Did you see his face, Harry? He'll be in the infirmary for hours!!"
"I didn't mean it!" Harry defended.
"Yes, you did. You just got more than what you expected."
Harry couldn't argue. Wiseacre's cold gaze had seen through him.
"That was a dirty trick, Harry. Something I would have expected from a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor."
Harry flinched at the remark.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor." Max said as his anger increased. "Tell me Harry, what exactly did Draco do to deserve having his teeth rearranged?"
Harry couldn't find the words to describe all the torture he had suffered at Malfoy's hands. He couldn't count how many times the blond prat had attempted to ruin someone's life. Draco represented everything that Harry hated.
"It's the fact that he exists"
The words shocked Harry as they formed in his mind. That was what his father had said about Snape in the memory that Harry had seen in the Pensieve. Harry had judged the young James Potter harshly for those words, but now he understood them all too well.
"Detention. Tonight. Here." Max said with conviction before he pushed Harry out of the classroom.
Harry returned to the Gryffindor dorms and fell onto his bed. He had smashed Malfoy's face, cost Gryffindor twenty points, gotten himself detention, and lost the respect of a teacher he had just met. The past few minutes had ruined what had otherwise been a fairly pleasant first day of classes.
At least one good thing had come out of the encounter, his opinion of his father had improved. Harry wondered if Snape had been as horrible as Draco in his school days. Harry picked up his curse-breaking book. He hoped that a little reading may help take his mind off things. He was halfway through the chapter entitled "The Dynamics of Mutation Curses" when Ron returned from the prefects' meeting.
"Hey, Draco didn't show up to the meeting!!" He told Harry with a great smile. "They're going to have his badge for sure now."
"No, they won't." Harry spoke with his head in his hands as he told Ron what happened.
"Blimey, what got into you Harry?" Ron said, shocked. "That's something that I would do, not you."
"I don't want to talk about it anymore." Harry said as he got off of his bed. "Let's get some food, I want to grab something before detention."
After dinner Harry parted from his friends and headed off to serve his detention. He found Max in his classroom amidst several large piles of golden parts.
"Hello Harry." he said indifferently as he put two of the parts together. The pieces seemed to seal together when they touched and Harry could see that the finished product was a telescope. "You'll be assembling telescopes by hand this evening. It's very simple, although tedious. The parts will only connect at the correct joints so you should have no problem figuring out what goes where, but you'll have to make sure everything is properly aligned."
Harry got to work as Max read through a very large and very old-looking book. After nearly an hour of silence, Harry finally decided to say what was on his mind.
"Er, Max...I...I just wanted to tell you that I'm really not usually like that. Malfoy just brings out the worst in me. I didn't mean to hurt him that badly though, honest."
Harry looked up to find Max looking at him intently. Those sharp eyes had once again softened.
"I understand your circumstances Harry, and I apologize if I was a bit rough with you earlier. I've had some dealings with the Malfoys before, and I know how...difficult they can be. I also know that you and Draco have a long history and I assume that he deserved some form of retribution. That is why I intervened before he could report you to Professor Sinistra, which would have been a disaster. If you're going to be in the business of revenge, however, you must learn that there is a time and a place for everything. The place for revenge is not this classroom on my first day of the job. I had to explain to Professor McGonnagal why I took twenty points from Gryffindor. She gave me a very long lecture about maintaining order in my class."
"Sorry."
"I stand by what I said earlier," Max continued, "tripping him from behind was dirty. I have to say that I was very disappointed in you."
"Sorry." Harry repeated as he stared at the parts in his hands.
"Don't beat yourself up over it. Let's just say you owe me one."
Harry smiled a little at that but he was still a bit uncomfortable with the realization that Max knew about his rivalry with Draco, among other things. "Er, Max. How do you know all this stuff about everyone?"
The young Wiseacre seemed to be amused. "I'm a collector of knowledge, Harry. I don't like to go into any situation without having done my research first. I perused the school records of all the students that signed up for my class this summer. Interesting reading, especially your file."
"I bet it was." Harry said as he aligned two lenses.
"Well I already knew quite a bit about you, especially after that event in the Department of Mysteries. We had quite the time cleaning up that mess."
Harry's face had fallen a bit when Max mentioned the place where Sirius had died.
"I'm sorry about your godfather, by the way."
Harry was surprised. The only people that knew that Sirius was dead were either DA members, Death Eaters or--
"Yes, I'm a member of the Order of the Phoenix." Max said as if he had read Harry's thoughts. "Dumbledore signed me on just before I came to Hogwarts to teach. I suppose my knowledge of the objects within the Department of Mysteries will be an asset."
"You know about...the archway..thing, then?" Harry had not been able to get much information about the curtain that had killed Sirius. All anyone knew was that it was an ancient execution device.
"Yes, I'm afraid I know more about it than any other person living." Max said with a sorrowful look on his face. "It has been the subject of most of my research these past few years."
"Could you tell me about it?" Harry asked hesitantly. He was fully expecting Max to tell him that he was too young to hear it, but he had to try.
Max sat silently for a moment as he looked deeply into Harry's eyes. "I can tell you what I know." He replied, surprising Harry. "I think that you deserve that at least."
"My father insisted that I study it." Max continued. "He was one of the most outspoken citizens that demanded that its use in executions be abolished. 'We should be careful in committing anyone to a fate that we do not wholly understand.' he used to say. The Wizengamot eventually agreed and outlawed it about forty years ago. Most of the public has forgotten that it even exists. Those that do remember prefer not to speak of it. The Ministry started using the dementor's kiss to punish criminals instead, as if it were more humane. Research on the Veil and its properties continued though, with a small number of very old wizards spending day and night studying it. They were my teachers when I became an Unspeakable. They were glad to have me aboard, as no one else wanted to be near the object. The last of those ancient wizards passed away this year. I was sad to see him go, but he was nearly 200 years old. It was his time."
Harry was intrigued by this new information, but his main question still hadn't been answered. "What exactly is it?"
"Yes, that is the question, isn't it Harry? I don't really know the answer either. It has had many names, but it is most widely known as The Veil of Darkness. No one's sure about exactly how it was created, but the few records we have indicate it was made by Druids. The Druids never kept written logs of their magic, but a witness once wrote that it's original purpose was for speaking to the dead for divination purposes. After the Romans conquered the Celtic tribes they used it to execute wizards, and that is how it was used for centuries until it was banned. I often call it a one-way door to the afterlife, but I admit that description is probably very inadequate. The dead can speak through it when they wish, but there's no way that we know of that lets you choose who you end up talking to."
"How did it end up in the Department of Mysteries?" Harry asked.
"Are there any greater mysteries than death and what happens afterwards? When the Department of Mysteries was created, the Veil was the first item moved into it. The Veil has been studied for very long and we still don't know exactly how it works. It has, however, taught us much about the many-layered puzzle that is death. Most of our knowledge of Necromancy comes from research on the Veil. Recently though, the Veil has been kept for a different purpose. There are many that hope that it will be used for one more execution."
Harry knew whose execution that would be. "Voldemort."
"Yes, Harry. Voldemort has taken certain steps to ensure that it will be very difficult for him to die. He fears death more than anything, which means he fears the Veil. The Veil is death. That's why he appeared in the main hall of the Ministry instead of the Veil chamber where you were. He was afraid of going there. The Veil is the most thorough form of execution known to us. If Voldemort were to go through it, there's no magic trick in the world that could bring him back. The Veil could be the key to ensuring that he can never again return."
Harry sat in silence for a moment, not having anything else to ask. Max's information had confirmed what he knew to be true but still couldn't believe.
Sirius wasn't coming back.
Harry continued to assemble the remaining telescopes, trying to keep his mind off of his grief. He had to re-assemble a few that Max wasn't satisfied with upon inspection. When all the devices were finally complete, Max dismissed him.
As Harry was leaving Max called out to him. "Wait, I almost forgot. Professor Dumbledore told me about your desire for Legilimency lessons. Give me a few days to get things prepared."
"You're going to be teaching me?" Harry asked, finally realizing that Max must be a fairly talented Legilimens.
"No, not exactly. You'll see. You should go get some rest now, it's late. Goodnight Harry."
Harry left the room puzzled as he struggled to understand what Max had meant. As he was walking down one of the deserted hallways that led to the Gryffindor common room, he encountered Draco. The Slytherin's face looked almost completely healed and his teeth seemed to be back in place.
"I have just spent the past few hours having my teeth regrown and my face put back into one piece." Draco said coldly as he walked up to Harry. "Do you know what that Pomfrey woman said when I told her what happened? She said I probably deserved it. I can't even get the respect a Malfoy deserves because of you. You have made a mockery of me and my family, Potter. You want my badge? Here, have it." Draco ripped off the shiny badge and threw it at Harry's chest. "I don't care if they take it away from me, or if they take points from Slytherin, or even if they expel me. Nothing, NOTHING will stop me from making sure that you pay dearly for this."
Harry couldn't believe he was being blamed for what was clearly Malfoy's own fault. "You're delusional, Malfoy."
"You're dead, Potter."
Harry had received death threats before and he wasn't too concerned as he walked back to his dormitory. As he went to bed that night though, Harry made a mental note to keep an even closer eye on Draco Malfoy.
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