Clay Pinions
By Lochar
Disclaimer: Not mine, not making a profit, etc etc.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I love you peoples!
Chapter 8
The next few weeks before I go to school are going to be really tense. Harry thought to himself the next day.
Indeed, whenever he was around Uncle Vernon, Harry felt like he was walking on eggshells. Dudley wasn't much better, as he seemed aggravated that Harry was getting to go to a special school.
"Don't worry about his freakish school Dudders; we're starting you at Smeltings next year!" Vernon said at the breakfast table that morning.
Dudley perked up a little. "Do I get a special martial arts teacher as well at school?"
Vernon shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, but I'll talk to your Sensei and see if he knows anyone else that we can hire to give you private lessons on top of your classes with him, if you want to."
"Ohh, that'd be fun." He looked to Harry. "And we'll both be getting good training too, so you won't be able to beat me but I'll be able to beat you!"
Vernon laughed at this, but Harry and Dudley just smiled at each other.
They finished breakfast, and Harry turned to Dudley. "Come on, let's go spar. I got something I want to try on you!"
Vernon turned red at that. "Boy, it had better not be anything freaky you got!" he shouted at them while they went out back.
Harry turned around and shook his head. "No, Uncle Vernon."
Vernon's eyes narrowed. "Better not be." He then turned back to his paper and continued reading it.
They got outside and Dudley started talking. "So, what didja want?"
Harry pulled the long hilt out of his shirt were he had hid it. "This! It's for you. And yes I did get it when I went shopping, so don't tell Uncle Vernon, ok?"
Dudley grabbed it. "What is it?"
"It was part of my wand, but I blew it up. The wand guy had to remake it, and I asked him to make a sword hilt for you. He gave it to me like that. I overcharged it with Chi I guess. I did promise that we wouldn't put any weapon blades in it though." He explained.
Dudley held the hilt in both hands. "So you could push your Chi into this? It feels warm."
Harry grinned. "Yeah, I don't know what you'd be able to do with it, but it doesn't have anything magical in it anymore, so it's not 'freaky'."
"Thanks. I'll figure out something to do with it. It looks neat anyways." Dudley dropped it near the tree. "Come on, let's spar. I still say I can kick your butt." He smirked at Harry.
"You're on. Chi yes or no?" Harry said, getting into his stance.
Dudley's eyes lit up. "Heck yeah! Just don't let me break any of your bones Harry." He quickly got into his stance, and charged at Harry.
Harry grinned. The quick attack was what he was expecting. Starting to block, he felt Dudley's Chi encompass his fist and move quicker than he'd expected right past his block.
The hit to his shoulder spun him around a bit, and Harry took a moment to get turned back around. Dudley was standing there, grinning. "What'd you do Dudley?"
"You use your Chi to make your hits stronger. I tried to make my fists move faster. Now we're even." Dudley laughed. "Come on."
So they began in earnest.
Harry channeled his Chi, and rushed back at Dudley. He threw a swing out at him, which Dudley blocked, going low past his side. He then had to block an open palm strike from Dudley, which was followed by a sweep kick that Harry jumped.
He kicked at Dudley's stomach forcing him back. He did manage to hit him slightly, and Dudley bent over, the breath knocked out of him.
Dudley stood back up quickly. Both boys grinned and started circling each other, looking for an opening.
I wonder… Harry channeled a good bit of his Chi into his hand. Now, I know I did this before, against Sensei. Harry stopped and took a couple steps back. Dudley frowned, sensing the Chi pooling in Harry's hand.
Harry got into a basic stance. Throwing his arm out into an open palm facing Dudley, he pushed the Chi at him. Most of the energy he had channeled into his hand flew off and in Dudley's general direction.
"Holy-!" Dudley yelped and dove to the ground. He looked up to see Harry sitting on the ground, smiling.
"Heh. Figured it out. Not very fun though. I don't get to put that Chi back; I'm gonna have to wait to do it again. Tiring too."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Department of Underage Magic
Madam Hopkirk was staring at the letter in her hand with amazement. She looked up to her colleagues. "I think we're going to have to forward this to the Auror division."
August 3rd,
Multiple underage, wanded, unknown combat spells cast in vicinity of Little Whinging, Surrey. Be advised, last spell cast was extremely powerful, and unknown.
Wand was registered by Ollivander, but wand refuses to identify owner.
She folded the paper up and tapped it with her wand. "Auror Division, 3rd Floor." The paper airplane took off and went out the door.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
A few minutes later, there were several pops around the Dursley's house.
"Aurors! Everyone, drop your wands and raise your hands!" the first one yelled. He then looked around. "Aww crap, just a couple of kids play fighting."
Harry and Dudley backed away from them.
"I guess we're going to have to Obliviate them. Come here you two." He motioned to Harry and Dudley.
Harry and Dudley both got into fighting stances. "I don't know what 'Obliviate' means, but you start anything, and we're ending it." Harry said.
Both boys starting channeling their Chi, and another person appeared next to the group. "Sir, the spells are being cast again, from right here!"
The lead man turned to look at the boys again. "You're the right age… Do either of you two know what a wizard is?"
Harry nodded, but didn't take his eyes off them. "I'm supposed to be one, why?"
The guy laughed. "Alright men, calm down. You can go; I'll talk to him. No statutes were broken, I was watching them when you showed up."
The others nodded and disappeared again, and the man turned back to them. "Alright, calm down boys. I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Auror Shacklebolt. What's your name?"
"He's Dudley, and if I tell you my name, will you not shake my hand?" Harry asked.
"Why would I want to do that?" Shacklebolt asked.
"I'm Harry Potter." Harry deadpanned.
"Oh… Wow. It's great to meet you Harry. Can I… No, you asked me not too. Wow, um. Really nice to meet you." Shacklebolt stuttered.
Harry sighed and turned to Dudley. "I hope that's not going to happen to everyone I meet at school."
Dudley laughed. "Well, hopefully not. Why's he doing that anyways?"
"Because of what happened when my Mum and Dad died."
Shacklebolt seemed to snap out of it. "Oh. Sorry. Anyways, the reason I'm here Harry, is because the Ministry of Magic detected a bunch of unknown combat spells being cast here by an underage wizard. Can you go get your wand for me?"
Harry shrugged. "I haven't used my wand since I got it a couple of days ago. What do you need it for?"
"It's part of my job. I have to check your wand for any of the spells that we think were cast from it."
"Alright. Let me go get it." Harry walked into the house, leaving Shacklebolt and Dudley outside.
"Aunt Petunia, can you get my wand for me? There's a guy outside that needs to check it for something. His name is Auror Shacklebolt." Harry asked once he got her away from his uncle.
"An Auror? What did he want to see it for?"
"Said he had to check it for spells." Harry told her.
Petunia nodded, and went to the closet. She pulled down the box that Harry had gotten it in. Vernon had immediately taken it away from him when he got home.
"I'll come out there with you." She told him.
They walked back outside to find Dudley and Shacklebolt talking. Dudley seemed to be telling him about their martial arts training.
Petunia coughed. Shacklebolt jumped and spun around with his wand out. "Jumpy, aren't we? Please don't point that at me."
Shacklebolt darkened with embarrassment, and put his wand away again. "I'm sorry."
Petunia handed him the wand box. "His Uncle took it away from him when he brought it home; He doesn't like magic it all."
"Really?" Shacklebolt raised an eyebrow. He opened the box and pulled out Harry's wand. "Nice wand. Very nice."
He pointed the tip of his wand at the tip of Harry's wand, and said, "Prior Incantato." Nothing happened. "Prior Incantato!" He tried again, with the same results. Shacklebolt looked at Harry. "What is wrong with your wand?"
Harry shrugged. "Mr. Ollivander had to make it with Rune of Control instead of a Rune of Absorption. Maybe you need to actually push the spell into the wand? It won't absorb it." He suggested.
"Huh?"
"I guess not many people ever learn to use their energy by themselves." Harry said to himself. He then turned to his cousin. "Hey Dudley, maybe we should have them all sign up with Sensei?"
Dudley laughed. "I'd love to see them in there with us."
Shacklebolt grimaced. "Whatever." He closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. "Prior Incantato." He said in a calm, monotone voice as he touched the tip of his wand to Harry's. Several very light, very blurry blobs came out of the wand, the first larger than the others. Then several ghostly sparks.
"Hmm, I take it this is when you got your wand?" He pointed at the sparks. "But these others aren't spells. It's like the ghost of an echo of something."
Harry shrugged. "I dunno. I haven't touched it since I got home a couple of days ago and Uncle Vernon put it in the closet."
"And there isn't enough of them here to account for all of the supposed combat spells being cast." The Auror said. "Alright, I'm going to suggest that we just watch the area for the next couple days." He shook his head. "This is going to be one weird report. Unidentifiable ghosts in an irregular wand, spells that weren't even cast, and Harry Potter." He smiled to them. "Have a good day boys, ma'am." With that, Shacklebolt disappeared.
Harry tried to give the wand back to his aunt, but she shook her head. "Keep it; and figure out exactly what made them come here like that. You're lucky Vernon was too busy watching the telly to notice anything was happening. You probably won't be as lucky next time."
Harry agreed, and held onto the wand when she went back inside.
He looked at Dudley. "You know what those things reminded me of Dudley?"
"They looked kinda familiar to me, but I couldn't tell you why. What'd they look like to you?"
"The Chi I was channeling. Especially that big one; it was probably when I tried to hit you with my Chi."
"Yeah, but what made it also go into there?" Dudley pointed to Harry's wand. "You weren't trying to channel through it, were you?"
Harry shook his head. "No. But maybe now that I know I can keep it from happening again.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Ministry of Magic
Shacklebolt walked into the Department of Underage Magic and found Madam Hopkirk. "That last warning? File it under Harry Potter, but no offense." A surprised gasp met this. "Yeah, that's the kid in Little Whinging. It was damned hard to work with the kid's wand too, but with some effort I managed to get Incantato working; it came up with the sparks from Ollivanders, and then some weird nonsense things that were nothing like spells."
"So, nothing's going to be said then? What about the combat spells?" Hopkirk asked him.
"There wasn't even enough of those weird things to be every combat spell cast. Since it was Harry Potter though, I've assigned one of the Aurors under my command to watch the area."
"Alright, I'll register that wand signature under Harry Potter then, so we at least have a name to the wand." She said.
Shacklebolt nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0
"You know Harry, you could really mess with them." Dudley said.
"Oh?"
"Yeah! If they didn't like the Chi just making… what was his word? Ghost images! Think what'd they do if you actually channeled your Chi through it?" Dudley smirked at the thought.
Harry was thoughtful. "Yeah, but exactly what would I do with the Chi once I channeled it into my wand?"
"You could always see if there's something in one of those books you had to buy."
"Uncle Vernon took those too, remember? And I doubt I could talk Aunt Petunia into getting me one of those."
"Oh well, it would have been fun. Wanna spar some more?"
Harry shook his head. "No, I want to see if I can figure out why my Chi was going into my wand." Harry sat down with his back against the tree.
Slipping into the Void was easy by now, and Harry mentally imagined his well of Chi.
Looks a little deeper than it did. Guess as I use it, it gets bigger. He turned it around in his mind, looking at it from all directions. I don't see anything wrong with it. He pulled a little bit out and got ready to channel it, when he noticed a very tiny gold wire seem to appear leading out of his Chi to nowhere. He released the energy he was holding, and the wire faded away.
What is that? He got ready to channel his Chi again, and the wire reappeared. He channeled the energy into his fist, and watched as a pulse went along the wire. For a moment, he thought he saw his wand. Okay… Is that my connection to my wand? So every time I use my Chi, it follows the connection and is that what made those guys come?
Harry brought a little energy up to make the wire reappear. Grabbing and pulling the connection out of his Chi, Harry mentally checked the rest of the Void. It's not called the Void for no reason. There's nowhere else to connect it to. Sighing to himself, he let it reconnect to his Chi.
He opened his eyes. "Oh well, if I can't do anything about it, I might as well enjoy it." He looked to Dudley. "So, you want to play with the punching bag, Dudley?"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Dept of Underage Magic
Another paper appeared on Madam Hopkirk's desk, where both she and Shacklebolt saw it.
"Hold on a second, let me see what this one is." She unrolled the parchment and gasped. "Shacklebolt, you might want to see this. It's Harry again."
August 3rd,
Multiple offenses and oddities in regards to Harry Potter's wand. Listed in order:
1. Spell similar to Enervate cast.
2. Connection with wand broken, wand assumed broken.
3. Wand connection re-forged, exactly as before.
4. Unknown combat enhancement spell cast.
5. Attack magic used. Multiple times, as of this note, counter is still rising.
Shacklebolt sighed. "I'll go check it out. It's going to be a circus, I can tell."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Shacklebolt appeared in the backyard of a neighbor, and whispered. "Dawlish, report."
A head appeared in midair. "I'm here sir." He replied.
"What's Potter been up to?"
"After you left, he tried to give his wand back to his aunt. I wasn't close enough to hear what she said, but she wouldn't take it back. Then Harry went and sat down against that tree and seemed to fall asleep or something. His Muggle cousin stayed pretty close to him and seemed to have some damned good hearing or something, as he kept looking around. I think he looked right at me once or twice. But after about ten minutes, Harry seemed to wake back up. Said something about not being able to do anything about it, so he was going to enjoy it. Then they went and starting punching a big bag they've got hanging up near the house."
Shacklebolt nodded. "Anything odd happen with Harry? Hopkirk got some more strange messages about his wand."
Dawlish shook his head. "No sir, not with the wand. Once he woke up, he just put it down and they went to that bag."
He hesitated. "Although, I did do a scanning spell on that bag. I'm not quite sure how they're hitting it as hard as they are."
"What do you mean?"
"That bag weighs about 100 pounds, and they were hitting it back and forth like a Muggle beach ball!" The bodiless Auror harshly whispered.
"A combat enhancement spell wouldn't keep them from breaking a wrist doing something like that. I saw that bag." Shacklebolt muttered to himself. "But maybe the attack magic… but that would mean the other boy isn't a Muggle. And he has no magical potential. We checked them both."
"Sir?" Dawlish asked.
"Never mind. Come on, we're not going to get any real answers here. Harry doesn't know anything about his wand, and the Muggle boy wouldn't either."
They both disappeared.
A few minutes later, Harry and Dudley stopped punching on the bag.
"Oh man, that's hard work." Dudley said. "Punching it with Chi back and forth was fun, but I don't think I could use mine for anything right now."
Harry laughed. "Neither could I. But if they were seeing the Chi on my wand, think of what it did now!"
Both boys had a very good laugh over that.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Both Aurors appeared at the designated point in the Ministry. After dismissing Dawlish, Shacklebolt wandered towards Hopkirk's office.
Two boys. How could two boys cause that much trouble in the Underage Magic Department? And one was a Muggle, for Merlin's sake!
He stepped into the office, and looked around. Everyone was crowded around Hopkirk's desk, watching a piece of paper. "Potter's wand, I take it?"
The crowd jumped. Hopkirk turned around. "Yes. The count finished just a moment ago. 26 counts of combat enhancement, and 826 counts of attack magic. What in Merlin's name was going on?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Preposterous! There can't be that many mishaps on the reader." She stated.
Shacklebolt shook his head. "Dawlish was watching them. Harry probably meditated with his wand for a moment, then they went to punching a punching bag. Granted, that was odd, but there was not one single spell cast. I checked myself while they were punching on that bag. Maybe the reader can't read Potter's wand correctly?"
"Maybe. I'm just going to set anything from his wand to automatically be filed under his name, no offense. Maybe after the school year his wand will calm down. I'll make a note to check after the end of his first year."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
September 1st, King's Cross Station
Harry pulled his trunk out of the back of his uncle's car.
"Alright boy, good luck finding your train. 'Nine and three-quarters'. Hah!" Vernon said. With that, he put the car in drive and pulled off.
"Great. Left alone in a huge train station. And I know I'm gonna get strange looks if I ask about a magic platform." He laughed to himself. "Might as well start looking."
Harry wandered around, directed to Platforms nine, and then ten. Confused because he could find nothing about a nine and three-quarters, and too afraid of looking crazy about asking for it, Harry sat down on a bench.
Moments later, he could hear softly behind him, "This place is always full of Muggles, so hard to get to the train station without being seen."
Turning around, Harry saw a group of redheads, all moving towards Platform Ten. "You all remember how to get onto the Platform right?" The rest of them nodded at the woman's question.
Harry walked up to them, wheeling his trunk. "Umm, excuse me?" Causing the redheaded woman turned around.
She looked him up and down for a moment. "First time getting onto the Express dear?"
Harry nodded.
"It's not that hard, all you have to do is," she turned to face the brick wall. "Oh dear." A long line had formed, going past the wall. "Well, if there weren't any Muggles, all you'd have to do is walk right through that wall. I guess we'll have to wait a few minutes for the line to go down."
She sat down on the bench, pulling her daughter down to sit next to her. The rest of the boys stood around, waiting. Harry sat down next to them.
"I'm Molly Weasley, and this group is mine." She pointed to a boy who seemed quite preoccupied, and was staring at the group of people blocking the wall. "That's Percy, my oldest still going to school." She pointed to the twins, who were talking quietly, and looking at the younger boy. "Those are my twins, Fred and George." At their name, they turned and bowed deeply, falling over themselves and picking each other back up. "Couple of troublemakers. Don't you two bring attention to yourselves while we're here, understand?"
"Yes Mother." They both intoned at exactly the same time, in the same voice.
"Anyways, that's Ronald." She pointed to the youngest boy. "It's his first year too."
Said boy turned. "I'm Ron, nice to meet you."
Harry nodded. Too many names.
"And this is my youngest; she starts Hogwarts next year. First born female Weasley in generations."
She blushed at this, and Harry smiled. "Lemme guess, you're-" a pendant seemed to flash through his mind. Harry shook his head and continued. "-Elly, right?"
She shook her head. "Nope, I'm Ginny. Don't believe her when she says my name's Ginevra."
Mrs. Weasley smiled, but looked strangely at Harry. "Ginevra is her name, but we were actually considering Eloise after my great Aunt. She went by Elly."
Harry laughed slightly, but before he could introduce himself, the crowd had cleared.
"Oh! Come on boys, before the crowds come again. Percy, you first."
Percy nodded, and pushed his trolley with a no-nonsense attitude at the wall. Which looked awfully funny when he disappeared into it.
"Fred, you're next."
"Honestly woman, you call yourself our Mother? I'm George." He said.
"Sorry George, just hurry." Mrs. Weasley waved him towards the wall.
"Just kidding Mum!" Fred said as he pushed his trolley at the wall. George right behind him, winking at her.
Ron followed quickly.
"That's how you do it. Now hurry up; you don't want to miss the train."
Harry nodded, and then had an idea. He smiled at Ginny. "Since you told me your name, I'll tell you mine. Harry Potter. Too bad I won't be seeing you this year. Next year though!"
He grinned at the shocked look on her face as she nodded dumbly, then ran towards the wall and went through.
Right before he went through, he heard her. "Mum! That was Harry Potter!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The train was on its way to Hogwarts, and Harry was sitting alone for the moment. The youngest redhead boy of the group, Ron he thought, came in.
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked.
"Go ahead. I was getting a little lonely here." Harry replied.
Ron sat down, and then looked slightly uncomfortable. "Um, my sister Ginny caught me before I got on the train. She told me something really strange."
Harry grinned widely. "Hmm? What'd she tell you?"
Ron fidgeted in his seat. "Oh, nothing. It was something really dumb."
Hmm. Oh well, might as well do this a different way. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself. I'm Harry."
Ron's eyes widened. "Harry Potter?"
Harry nodded, and then lifted his bangs to show his scar. "Yep, that's me."
"Oh wow! Um… wow!" Ron seemed to be tongue-tied, and couldn't stop staring.
"Oh please don't do that. I want to be normal. I've already gotten it enough from some of the shopkeepers in Diagon Alley."
Ron nodded and shook himself. "Okay, umm… Hey, what's your favorite Quidditch team?"
"Quidditch? What's that?" Harry asked.
"You mean you don't know what Quidditch is?" Ron was dumbstruck. "What'd you do, grow up Muggle or something?"
Harry nodded. "Actually, yes."
"Well, we're going to have to fix that! The Chudley Cannons are the best Quidditch team, they're just in a slump right now, but anyways…"
Ron and Harry spent the remainder of the train ride discussing Quidditch, Hogwarts, and other things, including Harry's Muggle home. They were only interrupted a few times.
0o0o0o0o0
The first time was when the snack trolley came by.
"Anything off the trolley dearies?" The kind, older lady pushing it asked.
Ron shook his head. "No, my Mum packed me some food." He pulled out a sandwich.
Harry looked at the trolley. "Any Butterfingers on there?"
The snack lady shook her head. "No Muggle sweets here, only Wizarding ones."
Harry turned to Ron. "Which ones should I get?"
Ron looked at the cart. "Umm, well I like everything there…"
Harry laughed. "We'll take two of everything then."
The snack lady smiled. "Alright, that will be sixteen Sickles and twenty-three Knuts."
Harry pulled a Galleon out of his bag. "Is one of these enough? I have more if you need them."
Ron's eyes boggled.
"Yes it is dearie. Let me just give you your change." She counted out his change, and then gave them their snacks and moved on.
Harry turned to Ron. "Well, let's eat. I'm hungry, I didn't get breakfast this morning."
Ron nodded, and both dug into the treats.
0o0o0o0o0o0
The second time, a bushy haired girl stuck her head into their compartment.
"Has either of you seen a toad? There's a boy in another compartment looking for his, he lost it."
"Nope, we haven't seen hide nor scale of a toad." Ron said. Harry laughed.
"Oh, okay. Well, this is the last compartment in the train car. Mind if I sit down?" she asked them.
"Go ahead." Harry waved to the seat across from them.
She sat down. "I'm Hermione Granger."
"Ron Weasley."
"Harry Potter." Harry said, smiling and waiting for her to realize.
It didn't take but a moment. "The Harry Potter? I've read about you in Modern Magical History, and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century!"
"Great, I'm even in books." Harry moaned.
Ron laughed. "Don't worry, it'll only be worse once we get to school."
Hermione glared at him. "That's no way to cheer him up." She turned to Harry. "I'm sorry."
Harry nodded.
0o0o0o0o0
The third interruption wasn't as nice as the first two.
"So, I hear Harry Potter is on the train." A boy with platinum blond hair stepped into their compartment.
"Yes." Harry said.
"I'm here to make sure you know who's who in Hogwarts. You don't want to be caught associating with the wrong type of people." He looked at Ron and Hermione. "Weasels and Mudbloods for instance." Ron's face went extremely red, and Hermione looked slightly upset, but also questioning.
"I'm Draco Malfoy." He stuck his hand out.
Harry looked at his hand. "Obviously, you're the wrong type of people, if you act like that." He smiled slightly. "You were very rude in Diagon Alley. Insulting people left and right."
Draco pulled his hand back, as if it had been struck. "Fine then Potter. Be that way." He turned around and stormed out of the compartment.
Hermione turned to them. "He wasn't very nice at all. But what's a Mudblood?"
Ron grimaced. "He was talking about you. You're Muggle-born, right?"
Hermione nodded.
"It's a bad word for being Muggle-born. It means you have dirty blood."
Hermione gasped. Ron nodded. "Yeah, not a good word to be called."
The rest of the ride was filled with one-sided conversation, with Hermione talking about everything she had read in a book called, Hogwarts, A History.
HA! DONE! And not as long as my previous chapter. But you guys wouldn't have minded that, would you? 4500 words isn't bad though.
wackey: The hilt draws it's inspiration from a television show. 5 house points for whoever guesses it correctly.
Samantha: No wheel of Time here, although I am a fan. The dirty feeling was just the wand not being right for that particular wizard.
TalonStrike: Evil man. Are you trying to slow down my writing? It's going on my birthday list so I can still write.
Tiny Tiny Hermit: Eh, Dudley was never going to get a letter. Vernon was just paranoid.
Akusai: same deal for you I gave to wackey. Can you figure out where my inspiration came from for the hilt? It'll eventually play a part.
To the other people that read and reviewed both here and other places, thank you!