Hello, Hello. Why yes this is the chapter that the founders start teaching them some things and a little black book will make an appearance. No, Tom will not be in this chapter though, next chapter. But never fear, this chapter will still keep your attention and give a little insight on how powerful the group is.
I do not own any part of Harry Potter.
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"Talk"
'Think'
"Parseltongue"
Chapter 18 – Shadows Awaken
Things progressed as November passed. Ginny had been given a black diary from an admirer, something Fred and George wouldn't stop teasing her about. She never touched it after throwing it into her trunk. Harry's plan was almost set, as they found a number of students willing to give a vow of loyalty to Harry and help in any way they could. Many of them were sixth and seventh year Ravens and Snakes. Classes were easy for all of them because even though they were gathering students for their cause, they also kept to the schedule the year before set. The studied together, kept up their spell work by dueling, the potion lab was always in use by someone, and Harry even started making the whole Pack do physical training with him. While the Pack did the Physical training and learned some hand to hand combat, Luna and Ginny were the only ones who wanted to learn a weapon too. Harry had started their training with their own weapons of their choice, senbons (throwing needles) and daggers. They spent an hour after the other would leave just practicing, Luna with her needles, Ginny with her daggers, and Harry with the knives his aunt gifted him when he was 11.
A week before Yule break started was when the founders decided to test the capacity of the Pack. They waited till the whole Pack was together in the common room talking and relaxing before they spoke up about teaching them all. "Harrison we have a test we would like you all to take. Will you?" Rowena's voice silenced the Pack.
Harry looked at the founders in question. "What type of test?"
Helga smiled at the Pack. "It's a test many of our own students had to take. It helped them pick classes that matched with their magical affinity. We wish to have each of you take this test so we know what we can teach you as a group and what to teach you individually."
Hermione blinked in shock once before Harry swore he could see stars appear in her eyes. "Teach? You want to teach us?" Her voice went up an octave in her excitement.
Godric chuckled, "She reminds me of you, Rowena. You got just as excited when you got your hands on new knowledge."
"Hush Godric. If I remember you got that way when you saw a sword you liked." Rowena glared at him.
Salazar rolled his eyes at the bantering pair. He turned his attention to the amused Pack. "It's a simple test. Just take a potion and go into a meditation. When you are in a peaceful state, images will appear before you. Remember them because when you come out you need to tell us them. Each image you see will be something you will find your magic more inclined to work with."
"What's the potion and where can we get it?" Neville asked.
"You will need to make it in your lab. My personal potion book is in the library. The potion is called Conperio Peritia. It will take three days to make but the ingredients are common. After the potions are done you will all do the test four at a time. That way the four waiting can cast the spell needed. Then you can switch. Understand?" Salazar gave each of them a look over. They all nodded.
"Now that that is out of the way. When we know what you all can learn we will make up a schedule." Godric took their attention. "Go find the potion book, and get started."
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The potion was finished without difficulty. The Pack was waiting till after dinner to take it. Sitting at the Hufflepuff table Harry was the one who noticed Luna always looking over at Cho, who sat all alone at the end of the table.
"A knut for your thoughts Luna." Harry smiled at her. She pulled her eyes away from the pitiful sight to lock them with his.
"Is that all they are worth? The Mugglars would give me nectar from the amber rose." Luna was distracted, he could hear it in her voice.
"Luna, talk to me. I'm your Alpha; it's my job to take care of you." Harry pushed his empty plate away. His jasmine tea took its place.
"I think Cho has learned her lesson. She doesn't have any friends, her grades are falling, and when she talks it has no bite anymore. I sit with her everyday but this past week she's been talking to me. With what she says, I think the punishment should end." Luna watched to girl get up and leave. Many just ignored her as she passed; others turned their noses up at her.
Harry watched Cho and then turned to look at Luna next to him. "Luna if you think her punishment is done that's fine. All you have to do is tell her, in person, that you forgive her. She'll go back to her natural state."
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"Alright, who wants to go first?" Draco set a tray down on the table in the middle of the common room. He took the open seat by Ginny on the couch.
No one stepped up until Harry sighed. He stood, drawing all eyes to him as he grabbed the first glass vial of the jelly like yellow potion. He turned to look at Hermione. "You will cast the spell for me when I am ready." She nodded.
Harry sat down cross legged on the floor. He lifted the potion to his lips and drank it in one go. It was horrendous tasting and it slid down his throat like thick slime. When he felt that he wasn't going to be sick he closed his eyes and calmed his breathing, concentrating on his heart beat and the magic flowing with his blood. He was soon in the room he had created deep in his mind, the dark world he made as a child to block the pain of the outside world. He felt magic cradle him as he just sat in oblivion.
Something pulled his attention for the peace. It looked like an animal for the glimpse he got. He turned all the way around. It was a wolf. A wolf made of what looked like smoke and with piercing emerald eyes. A small flash of red drew his eyes to a mark on the wolf's shoulder. There was a red ring around it. When Harry finished observing the wolf it faded, leaving him to his dark peacefulness once again. It didn't last long. He was soon pulled back into the real world.
Harry slowing came back to the world. He concentrated on his heart and then his breath. When he felt that he was all the way out of his mind he opened his eyes. Hermione sat in front of him waiting. He noticed Neville and Fred on either side of him, eyes closed and breathing deep. A glance passed Neville showed Luna in the same state. Ginny sat in front of her brother, Draco was in front of Luna, and Fred in front of Neville.
"Welcome back to the world Harrison." Helga greeted him. Harry smiled.
"Tell us, what did you see?" Godric asked. He looked excited, like a child in a candy store.
Harry stood, stretching out his legs. "A wolf made of smoke with a red band around its shoulder appeared to me."
"Very good. The wolf shows your animagus form. The red band shows that you can use blood magic. But the smoke wasn't smoke. It was shadows. It shows that you can use shadow magic too." Rowena smiled widely.
Harry wanted to ask questions but decided to keep them to himself until all the others were done. Neville 'woke' next. He looked afraid and disoriented. "Neville, you alright?" Fred moved to steady the poor boy.
Neville nodded, "Yeah. Just a different feeling."
"It is known to make people dizzy. Do you remember what you saw?" Helga asked in a soothing voice.
"It was weird. I saw a smoky Cat type form. It had vines wrapped around it." Neville told them. "What does it mean?"
"It means that you have a cat type form animagus. The vines show that you can use earth elemental magic. The smoke is shadow magic." Rowena got an excited gleam in her eyes.
Neville went to ask more but Harry shook his head. Five minutes passed before Luna 'woke up' too. She was happy, humming a slow haunting tune. "I saw a shadowed Blackbird. It had a pretty silver chain around her neck. Is the blackbird my animagus?"
Helga giggled at Luna's enthusiasm. "Yes, Luna. The blackbird is your animagus form. The chain is your seer ability and the shadow you saw shows you can use shadow magic."
George woke, stopping any question Luna was going to ask. "Man, make my head stop spinning."
"Breath boy. It will pass." Godric coached him. George followed his instructions.
"How was it? What did you see?" Hermione asked. She couldn't wait for her turn.
George groaned, not yet right but answered anyway. "I saw a fox made of smoke. The fire was burning around the fox's paws."
"Another elemental." Rowena nodded her head in approval. "The fox is you animagus form and the flames is the element you can use. The smoke was shadows. It's a magic you can learn."
"Four out of eight of you are able to learn Shadow magic and are animagus. This is good. Switch and let's get the rest of you done." Helga told them.
Fred, Hermione, Draco, and Ginny all took the potion and drunk it. All of them gagged. Harry and the others waited till they were breathing to cast the spell needed. Salazar walked them through the motions. "Point you want at their heads. Say 'Patuit Scientiam' and flick your wrist up. It will shoot a blue light." It turned into a waiting game as they all watched. It was only ten minutes before Draco woke first.
"I saw a shadowed panther." Draco just came out and said. "I got an animagus and can use shadow magic." Rowen just nodded smiling.
Ginny 'woke' next. She opened her eyes looking confused. Helga was the one to question it. "Hun, what is wrong? What did you see?"
"I saw the shadows like the others but I didn't have an animal. It was a shape that kept shifting. Does that mean I don't have an animagus?" Ginny looked like she wanted to cry at the idea.
"No sweet heart. It just means that you are a metamorphmagus, a shape shifter." Helga calmed her down with that. Ginny smiled relieved.
They waited in silence for a minute more. Hermione and Fred 'woke' together. Hermione was smiling showing off her straight white teeth. "I got a Raven! I'm a Raven. I can use Shadow magic and am a Raven!" She squealed in happiness.
Fred wrapped an arm around her in a drunken manner. "A fox and a raven, oh what trouble we can do, between me and you."
George laughed at his twin. "A fox too hu? Shadows too?"
Fred scoffed, "Of course, but the fox looked like it had swirls of fog around it too. What does that mean?"
"The fog shows your ability to use the air elemental magic." Helga gave them all a look over. "Three elementals, one metamorphmagus, seven animagus and all of you can be taught the shadow magic. We have a lot to do." She looked happy at the prospect of teaching once again.
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Ginny fell on her bed tired. The rest of the Pack was in the common room joking around till they were ready for bed but Ginny just wanted silence. Harry had told her to go on to bed when she started showing signs of a headache. She wanted to sleep but at the same time, she was restless. She sighed. Her trunk caught her attention. She moved off her bed to open it. Kneeling on the floor she grabbed the first book she could.
It was the black diary she was given. Not wanting to dig through her trunk for one of the sketch pads Hermione gave her, she just grabbed a pen Hermione gave her. She curled up in the mountain of pillows on her bed, opening the diary. She wasn't going to write in it, she could use it as a drawing book. She spent the next twenty minutes drawing each of her pack mates. The last person she drew was her Alpha. With that done she added names and closed the book.
She pushed the book under her pillow as the others came in to go to bed. She smiled over at Hermione and Luna. The torches turned from a bright flame to a dim blue flicker. She closed her eyes to drift off to sleep never knowing her drawings of her pack mates and Alpha were no longer on the pages she drew them on. They had faded into the pages.
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If any of you wish to know what the potion and spell mean, here it is. Hope you all like the chapter. Tom comes in next chapter!
Conperio - learn, ascertain, obtain sure information of, discover, disclose, lay open
Peritia - skill, expertise, experience, knowledge, mastery, ability
Potion - Conperio Peritia – lay open knowledge (that is what I used from above)
Spell - Patuit Scientiam – lay open knowledge (this was the direct translation I found)