Nothing in this story so far has been mine; it goes to Rowling and other corporations. But now, alas, something is mine! Evil Laugh Anyway, let me know about the Amps. Oh, and sorry about the delay, many things happened, hoping to get back on a weekly schedule again. But maybe it'll stall out again; I'm not working with a buffer, oh well.
Chapter 3: A Birthday Not Forgotten
"Wha…wha…what about his will?" Harry finally was able to ask.
"When we go to Diagon Alley, we have to meet with a lawyer for the reading." Lupin replied.
Harry, dumbstruck, just asked, "Why?" His godfather's death was quickly become entirely too final.
"Because it's what Sirius wanted," was all Remus could answer with.
"Who's going to be there?"
"We'll be there with you Harry," Lupin didn't want to add more, but his tired eyes gave him away.
"Who else will be there?" asked Harry in an icy voice knowing he didn't want to know.
"We expect Narcissa Malfoy to show up to contest the will."
"What's she contesting?"
"Well, you were Sirius' godson," Lupin said, not really knowing how to steer this conversation back to somewhere where Harry wouldn't lose his head, "we expect the Black Family fortune to go to you, perhaps some others too. We expect you to be the main benefactor."
"And the Malfoy's want it being the closest blood relation?" Harry stated rather than questioned.
"Well, yes Harry, they do."
"I don't want it."
"If you choose to not accept it, it will go to them."
"No, what, this isn't fair Remus. I take the money I feel guilty for taking what I don't need at the expense of my godfather's death. I refuse it and it goes to help Voldemort in whatever he has planned. This sucks."
"I'm sure you'll think of something Harry," said Lupin, and he left Harry to his thoughts.
The next morning an owl fluttered to Harry while he was having breakfast. He took the note to find it was from Ron.
Harry,
Me, Ginny, and Hermione will be there Monday the twenty-ninth to stay until school starts. Can't wait to get there.
Ron
The twenty-ninth was only three days away, so Harry felt no need to reply. After finishing breakfast Remus asked Harry to meet him in the library.
The Black family library was fascinating. It was circular in design, the arched walls felt welcoming though. The walls were floor to ceiling shelves. Every shelf was filled with books. From ancient leather-bound editions that were most probably priceless, to little paperback books that would never appreciate in value. Subjects from dark arts, to defense, charms, transfiguration, Quidditch, to even muggle studies were covered. It contained more information than the library at Hogwarts, but felt intimate enough to actually hold a conversation in. The floor was covered by a rich red carpet, and the domed ceiling was covered by a painting of a phoenixes and ravens flying together in a grey sky. Many sofas like the ones in Harry's room were scattered around, along with a few rich and heavy wooden desks. Armchairs could also be found, each with a reading desk to the side of them.
Harry picked a chair across from Lupin for their conversation.
"Harry, Dumbledore and I have decided that you need to expand your curriculum, if of course you agree to it." Lupin said.
"I chose to continue Occlumency this year." Harry replied.
"Yes, but you may need some outside instruction on this particular subject."
Harry could sense Remus was picking his words very carefully, and he didn't like it at all.
"And what subject would that be?" Harry asked.
"Well, it would actually be a few different subjects." Lupin answered evasively.
"Well, can I get a list?" Harry inquired, his temper flaring a little.
"Of course, we think you could handle four more studies. Wandless and soundless magic, stealth and intrusion, strategy and tactics, and…" Remus sighed heavily, "the dark arts."
Harry's jaw dropped, he regained his composer and asked, "Who would teach me? And when would I learn?"
"If you choose to accept the extra work some of it can begin immediately. Other subjects," he spat out 'subjects' like it was something foul in his mouth, "would have to wait until school began again. Soundless and wandless magic would be taught to you be Professor McGonagall and myself. Stealth and intrusion by Tonks and Moody, strategy and tactics by Kingsley, and the dark arts would come from Professor Snape. Each lesson would come on different days of the week, allowing for schedules outside of the school."
Harry's face had fallen at Snape's name. Last year had been bad enough with him breaking into his mind, but the dark arts, Harry didn't know what would become of this, but it surely couldn't be good. Even with his hesitations he knew he needed this extra training, the prophecy filling his head once more. So with a little reluctance he said, "Fine, but I don't have a wand."
"Well, for my lessons you don't need one." Remus grinned.
"When do we start?" Harry asked feeling a little excited.
"Now if you want, but maybe somewhere a little better suited is called for."
Remus rose and walked out of the second floor library. We went up the stairs towards Harry's room.
"We're practicing in my room?" Harry asked.
"Not at all," replied Lupin.
They stopped in front of the door to Harry's room, but Remus turned right to face the blank wall. He stood in thought then he raised his hand in a fist. He knocked once on a pane of wood, and then he knocked five times on the pane next to it, then once again on the third pane. On the final knock a door manifested itself in front of their eyes. Remus opened the door, and they entered.
Harry had a feeling he was developing a bad habit of letting his jaw drop, but it dropped once again. The room was enormous, cathedral size, all stone with graceful arches ever so often to accentuate its grace. The stone floor glowed a blue as if in moonlight, but it had Celtic tribal designs running through it in gold. The arches glowed the same blue, but midway through they looked to be encased in a wood stained so many times they appeared black. To Harry's immediate right was a small sitting area where two blue chairs with a grey thread running patterns through them awaited the once and current professor as well as student. To his left was a desk with many objects of different sizes awaited for something. An arch separated the room from the rest of the gigantic hallway. Remus led the way to the chairs, gesturing for Harry to sit.
Harry took the seat and asked, "So is this room always here?"
"Yes, but it takes the form of whatever you concentrate on, this is a training area as I imagine it." Lupin answered.
"Like the room of requirement."
"Yes, the knock is like a password to any room you imagine, but you have to think of the combination for each room you think of as well."
"Wicked…"
"Quite," smiled a genuine Remus.
Harry smiled too, but Remus started his first lesson, "Wandless and soundless magic are closely related. You should know what it feels like, it feels like accidental magic, but whereas accidental magic is just that, an accident, wandless and soundless magic can be very controlled." Lupin paused, looked over to the table across the room, and made a book levitate. It floated for a second then flew towards Harry; it slowed down before hitting him full on in the face though, and then dropped into his lap.
Harry looked at the brown leather book, he tried to read the golden script title but it kept merging to form new words, then he realized it was morphing into different languages. He opened to book to see the same thing happening on every page, he closed the book again.
"What's with the book?" he asked Remus.
"Tell it the language you want."
Harry looked down and said 'English' and the title finally formed: Internal Magic and How to Achieve It. He flipped through again to make sure he could in fact read everything, he could.
"I want you to read at least a chapter a week, more if time allows," said Remus easily slipping back into his professor mode. "We'll have a discussion on each chapter, as well as practices. But first we must teach you how to reach into your magic on command rather than letting it lash out when you lose control over emotions."
"This sounds a bit like Occlumency," Harry interjected in a moan.
"Yes, they do have a bit in common. And the first steps of wandless soundless magic will help in your lessons in closing your mind. Step one is clearing your mind of thoughts."
Harry groaned again, this was one of his downfalls in Occlumency. He tried really, but miscellaneous thoughts would pop in his mind like 'this is stupid'.
"As I was saying, you need to clear your mind. The easiest way of achieving this is to picture a calming scene. As funny as it is, mine is a full moon over an open landscape. The next step is to drop the landscape so the sky and moon are left. Then I drop the sky and the moon's features. This leaves me with a white circle. Then I expand the circle so all there is left is white. Concentrating on the white, you can just kind of feel your magic. Try it, but with your own calming scene." Remus said giving Harry the feeling this was a lot more effective than Snape yelling 'Clear your mind' and leaving it at that.
Harry closed his eyes and he found a calming scene. He was high above the Hogwarts' grounds, broom level most likely. He could see the castle, and the rolling green lawns, as well as the forest and sky. He dropped the sky, then the castle, the forest was next, then the detail of the lawn, his mind was left with just green. Harry concentrated on the green, and he searched for a feeling, and there it was. At first he felt a twinge right above his stomach, then he felt it flowing outwards, it surged and he felt it flowing through his veins. He opened his eyes to ask Lupin what came next, but he saw Lupin jump and look a little frightened.
"What is it?" asked Harry, but he noticed something wrong too. It was like two voices talking at once, his normal voice in English, and his voice in Parseltongue (the snake language which was mainly hisses).
Remus jumped a little more at this, and then he looked over to the table and with his wand out said "Accio Mirror" and the mirror flew from the table to Lupin's waiting hand. He held it up so Harry could see his face.
Everything looked ok, except for his eyes, they were glowing a very bright, almost toxic emerald green.
"Whoa," Harry said in the mix of English and Parseltongue.
"Well, I see you reached your magic easy enough," Remus said trying to regain composure, "now let's see if you can control it to some degree. Try to get your magic to reach out to the table, and pick something up."
Harry willed his magic over to the table, he tried to pick up a candlestick, but his magic surged a little and the entire table was lifted. Harry panicked and tried to set it down, but the emotion had surged through him and to his magic, the table smashed down, and then was shattered to the stone ground. He panicked a little more and the green calming scene was gone, and he felt his magic return to the small twinge above his stomach.
"Sorry about that," Harry said out of breath. He was glad to hear his voice was back to normal.
"Well, that was very impressive for a first try, a little control and we'll move to the next step." Remus said. "But for now, I think we can call it a day."
The next few days passed with his wandless, soundless magic progressing at alarming speed. He went from smashing the table to smashing the objects, to levitating all the objects, then to actually levitating the desired object. Nights he would read his book until late into the night. The vulnerable feeling he had without his wand was something he didn't desire, so having control without the wand would help a great deal. Harry only hoped Mr. Ollivander could repair his wand. Then a glorious Monday arrived, bringing him his friends that he felt like he hadn't seen in years.
He walked down for his breakfast, forgetting his friends would be here, and knowing Molly wouldn't come today, Harry didn't bother with a shirt. He reached the landing of the stairs and heard his name screeched and he was engulfed in a hug, for a moment all he saw was brown.
"Hey Hermione," he greeted with a hug back.
Next Ron and Harry grasped hands, and pulled each other into a half hug, their hands separating them. They patted each other three times on the back.
"Hey mate," Ron said in greeting.
"About time I got to see you," replied Harry with a grin.
After their release Ginny hugged Harry with such force he could have sworn Mrs. Weasley had taken her place.
"It's great to see you Harry," she said.
"It's good to see you Gin," Harry said releasing her.
After the final hug he noticed Ginny was blushing a slight pink, he followed her line of sight and looked down. After noticing his bare chest he too blushed slightly.
"Gimme a minute," he said rushing back upstairs.
After returning in a plain white shirt to go with his red and gold pajama bottoms they all went to the kitchen for breakfast. After discussing how each other's summers had been, Harry asked them to meet him in the library after he showered. Today he wore an emerald green shirt and some baggy jeans with a pair of white and green Nikes to complete the look. When he entered the library he noticed a smile from Hermione, a dropped jaw from Ron, and a deep blush from Ginny.
"Sirius hooked me up," replied Harry to their looks.
"Well it's better than your usual rags," smirked Ron.
Hermione glared at him before asking Harry, "So you wanted to discuss something?" She looked around the room with a look of longing at the books.
"Yeah, I think the DA needs an upgrade."
"What do you mean?" asked Ginny.
"Well, maybe we'll have a better defense teacher this year, but maybe not. Either way we are all way too advanced than the average sixth and fifth years. Probably seventh too."
"Ok, so we continue the DA," added Hermione, "but what about an upgrade?"
"We need to focus more on combat," answered Harry.
"Combat…?" Ron wanted confirmation.
"Yes, combat and defense," answered Harry.
"What brought this about?" asked Ginny.
"Voldemort is after me, as we all know, and after our little…incident at the ministry, he's going to be after six of us. And with all of us at Hogwarts, he'll know exactly where we all are," Harry said matter of factly.
"I see what you mean," said Ron like he had already thought of it.
"So are we talking the entire DA?" asked Hermione.
"No, only the ones we can trust entirely. Also we need to continue the normal DA for younger students and those who need the continued easier training."
"Who do you have in mind?" asked Ginny.
"I only know six so far, we all know who we are," answered Harry.
"So what about a name, and the meetings and things, what are we? The Real Dumbledore's Army?" asked Ron.
"No, we need a different name, this time without implications to any given person," replied Harry.
"What about the Sect of Unified Light?" asked Ginny.
"Was that off the top of your head?" asked Harry.
"No, I always thought that was a good name, you know SOUL," replied Ginny timidly.
"I love it!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Me too," added Harry giving Ginny a smile.
"Then it's settled, we'll be the soul of Hogwarts," Ron giving the final nonofficial vote.
"So how will this work?" asked Hermione.
"I thought we could break it up between us. Thinking of possible attacks, we need divisions. I've been reading some of the defense books lately, and every good army has divisions. Voldemort isn't stupid, so he must have them too, like his inner circle and such. We need to think ahead to avoid…certain…mishaps." Harry finished, his mention of his godfather hadn't gone unnoticed.
"So what divisions did you have in mind?" asked Hermione smally.
Thankful for not dwelling on his previous mistake Harry answered, "I thought I would take air, you know, fighting and defending on brooms. That's my strongpoint, flying. Adding in magic should be a great advantage. I think everyone should pick their own division, the four of us, plus Neville and Luna will head up a division each."
"So we pick our own?" asked Ron.
Harry nodded.
"Then I'll take strategy. You know, ground placement, like my strength in chess."
Harry smiled in agreement.
"I'll take hex training if it's alright with everyone. It's the only thing I can think of," chimed in Ginny.
"That'll be brilliant," said Harry.
"What about me?" asked Hermione. "All I know is books, what use is that?"
"You could chunk 'em at death eaters," said Ron.
Hermione gave him a glare, but before she could retort Harry cut her off.
"How about intelligence? You could handle all internal problems, our planning and stuff. You are the most advanced at those kinds of things."
"Yeah, ok, I guess that makes sense," replied Hermione.
"You'd be our backbone," said Ginny hearing the small disappointment in Hermione's voice.
"You're right, I'll start immediately on communications, I think that'll be our first problem anyway," said Hermione.
"What about Neville and Luna?" asked Ron.
"It's up to them," replied Harry. "I don't know when we'll see them next, and I don't want this put down in writing in any shape or form." He finished more to Hermione.
The next few days passed in a blur, Harry kept at his training, and his three friends joined in. Ginny was the only one progressing at all at the wandless and soundless magic much to Hermione's disappointment. On the first lesson Harry showed them the remnants of his wand. None of them had anything encouraging to say, but realizing that they couldn't entirely depend on their wands, they all redoubled their efforts at the new lessons with Remus.
On Wednesday Harry woke up and showered first. He dressed in his new muggle clothes again, this time a black shirt with tribal flames on his chest. Blue jean cargo pants and a pair of white shoes called Globe, with urban camouflage inserted on the sides were also chosen. He went down for breakfast, but at the bottom landing he received his first shock of the day. Neville and Luna were awaiting him.
"Hey Harry," greeted Neville.
"How's it going?" greeted Luna.
"Hi, what are you two doing here?" asked Harry confused.
"Dumbledore said you could use the company," replied Neville, "he said since you trusted us, so could he, so he gave us the address."
"Oh," was all Harry could manage.
"Not happy to see us?" asked Luna as if it didn't matter one way or another.
"No, not at all, I'm really glad to see you. Just wasn't expecting it."
"Surprise," said Luna in her far off voice. Harry jumped a little; it was disturbing sometimes the way Luna did things like that.
"So how about breakfast?" suggested Neville, "I'm a bit hungry, I haven't eaten yet."
"Alright," said Harry, leading the way to the kitchen.
When he opened the door Harry received his second…
"SURPRISE!" echoed off the walls from many people. Harry jumped very badly as his heart tried to leap out of his chest. Looking around he saw many faces he recognized. Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, were all there. Also he saw Remus, Professor McGonagall, and for his third surprise, Professor Dumbledore. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were there, along with Fred and George, Bill, and Charlie Weasley. Harry scanned the room again and found a couple of more people he did not expect, mainly Victor Krum and Fleur Delacour.
"What the hell?" Harry said the first thing in his head.
Many people laughed but Dumbledore answered with his eyes twinkling.
"Happy birthday Harry."
His jaw dropped, he had never had a proper birthday party.
After a morning breakfast Harry just sat at the end of the table, happy and content for the first time in a long time. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were discussing the S.O.U.L. to Neville and Luna in very low conspiratorial voices. Luna excitedly offered to take up spell creation for their cause. Neville though didn't have a clue what he could contribute. Harry assured him that he would figure it out by the time of their first meeting.
He looked down the table; the remainder of the Weasley family was discussing something in their own low voices. Harry couldn't hear much, but he did hear certain words slip through the rest of the noise, like "missions", "danger", and "access". Thinking it was probably something trivial he ignored it.
The Aurors and teachers were in an animated talk about defense of key locations and people. Harry perked up when they started to talk about the security risk of the upcoming elections and the candidates. But as he listened Dumbledore caught his eye from across the table. The old man gave Harry a small smile and nodded at the second table conjured for his party, it was stacked with presents. Harry smiled back in thanks for the day.
Dumbledore stood, "Perhaps the presents then?" he suggested.
Everyone nodded in agreement and he cleared their table. Next with a wave of his wand the presents were in front of Harry. He dug in with great enthusiasm. He received a lot from the people, from simple candies, to clothes, to a mini foeglass from Moody, a golden pendant from Hermione in the shape of a lion and a red pendant in the shape of a phoenix from Ginny, and many books on defense. After they were all opened Albus approached Harry with a wrapped package.
Harry opened it hesitantly, inside was an extended type of…glove. He examined it; it was like two pieces that would extend around his wrist to where his fingers were based. It had two straps to tighten it so it would rest secured. There was a flexible mesh that also would get the glove on; a hole was in it for the thumb. The palm side was a hard material Harry had never seen before, and three stones rested in the material. A small pearly black one glinted in the rooms light, also a read and amber one were below the black. It all was confusing really, he had never seen anything like this, why was Dumbledore giving it to him?
The headmaster noticing Harry's confusion decided to explain.
"This is an Amp. It works just like a wand, but the stones actually amplify the magic more than a wand. I hear it's quite popular in America."
Hermione had a dark look on her face; Harry could tell she was thinking about something she had read.
"What are those stones?" asked Remus.
"Those act like the magical core of a wand. The red is bloodstone; it's supposed to do well with transfiguration. The amber is just that, amber. It's supposed to work wonders for charms, jinxes, and hexes. The black, is a solidified phoenix's tear. It is a very rare thing. The tear is supposed to be great for defense and healing."
Harry gaped at the extraordinary gift. "Th..Thanks," he finally said with a smile.
"Perhaps you should try it on," Dumbledore said with a wink.
Harry slipped the Amp onto his right hand. His fingers extended past the top freely. He tightened one strap around his wrist, then another smaller strap around his knuckles. Through his training he felt a surge in his magic; it was drawn to the stones.
"The motions are just like those for a wand Harry, give it a try," Dumbledore said.
Harry waved a familiar motion of a flick and swish with his hand, wrist, and fingers and said, "Wingardium Leviosa" and the empty conjured table flew to the ceiling with great speed.
Sherry – Sorry about the wait, I didn't expect a thousand extra words. Then GTA SA came out, then the elections hit. Four more years, suddenly assign… seems viable, but wrong. Maybe these four can go better, but probably not.
Lacy – Thanks so much for the review! Everyone who hasn't read her story go read it! Like now, really, go on. Well, I hope I answered the wand controversy with this chapter. I know Remus and Harry have a lot of unresolved emotion, but right now I think they are burying those emotions right now, so everything should be forced, but resolution is coming ;). I don't have a clue how British elections work either, so I'm just gonna say a popular vote is held. Bland I know, I'm hoping story covers up some of these mistakes. Sorry about the errors, I try to read them over before posting, but some things have always plagued me. Only a few years ago I figured out the quit, quite, and quiet differences. Ever so often I revert to the wrong words though. ) Don't know where to get a beta, I'm getting my cousin to try and help though. Thanks again for the review, and anyone who still hasn't gone to read her story, GO!