Pomona Sprout hurries through the corridors of the school to the Hospital wing, a hastily expanded bag clutched to her side containing four potions that could revolutionise medical care for one of the most common aliments in the magical world, magical exhaustion. Bustling into the main ward, she calls out "Poppy, are you here?"
Poppy's voice comes from the recently renovated iron spiral staircase that leads to the upper level ward, one that hasn't been used for decades and is now the domain of Severus Snape, "One moment, we're just discussing potions."
"This is probably more important, I've got some new potions made using an alchemical process with only an apple as a catalyst."
Severus' feet become visible on the stairs as he shouts, "Impossible, even with the philosophers stone Flamel still needed more than one non-magical ingredient to make any sort of potion."
Pomona waits until he's at the bottom of the stairs and Poppy is on the stairs before she continues so that she doesn't have to shout, "I watched the boy brew it with my own eyes. He used a cauldron large enough to bathe in, and produced these four bottles full of potion. Not only that, Neville described the first stages of magical exhaustion, and said that he felt like that on the train after using his new wand. Drinking the potion cured it. Not only that, but the brewer says that it's designed to fill all of your 6 basic needs. I know, I know, there shouldn't be 6. You don't get to be a master in herbology without picking up more than a few things about healing and potion brewing.
"Anyway, those 6 needs are, get this, hunger, bladder, hygiene, social, fun, and energy."
"Right, well that's easy to test then. I'll just pull an all-nighter, and in the morning when it doesn't work I can get a quick nap and be ready to resume my research in the afternoon."
"I was warned that the occasional potion will reduce your needs instead, but it can be reversed by taking another potion. He also said that more than two potions shouldn't be drunk in a row, or you run the risk of being cursed."
Poppy says, well I think there's an easy way to test one aspect of it now. One of you just needs to manure the potions ingredients in the medical greenhouse.
Pomona says, "If you can wait until after the scheduling meeting this afternoon, I can do that. Otherwise it's down to you Severus."
"Bah, why bother, I'll just grab some potion waste and slather it on. Saves time and effort."
Severus storms upstairs before coming back with a cauldron full of something that stinks, "When this doesn't work I will need to use your shower very quickly if I don't want to submit myself to your tender care. I was waiting for it to finish reacting before I vanished it, but this will be just as good a test."
With that said, he takes a generous handful and smears it on his robes, neck and an arm before reaching for one of the potions and downing it. He then seems to have a full body shiver starting from his feet and going up to his hair. Once it finishes his robes and skin are perfectly clean, as is his hair. He also has a faint smile on his face. Not enough to say he's happy, but more like someone that's just had a refreshing nights sleep after a good night out.
Poppy immediately hits him with a battery of diagnostic charms, "Well, your stress levels are now normal, you are perfectly clean, and your colon and bladder are showing as empty. How do you feel?"
"I'm still irritated at the potion that failed earlier, which is a good sign. Apart from that I feel rested and relaxed. I'll need to talk to the brewer about what they did."
Pomona shakes her head, "I don't think that would be a good idea, the brewer was Harry Potter. Though he learnt to brew the potion from a tome written in a foreign language. Simian I think it was."
"The language of the great apes?"
"Ah, I don't think so, but I will hopefully be finding out later this morning. On that note I need to be going back to the dorm to work out just who will be going by phoenix travel, and who will be going by dragon travel if Xingwei can teleport there."
"Phoenix travel, dragon travel?"
"Oh, yes, you weren't at the feast last night. Harry Potter has a Phoenix familiar, and Hermione Granger has a red dragon familiar by the name of Xingwei."
"Bah, as if the boy needed an even bigger head."
"He actually seems to be pretty grounded, and specifically joined Hufflepuff to learn to be social rather than sitting in his 'ivory tower' as he put it."
"If you say so."
"I do say so, and just remember. He didn't have to give us these potions. I'll be off now, I'll leave you with the last three potions."
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Pomona enters the dorm to a confrontation between her senior prefects and around half the first years. Her experienced eyes note that Harry and Hermione, while carefully keeping out of the discussion are clearly siding with their friends. The other first years are all absent. Probably showing their solidarity by not being there to disagree with their year mates.
"Jamie, what's going on?"
"These first years all want to go with their friends to wherever we're going. And I was saying that they can't do that until we're sure that it's safe."
"Let me guess, you tried to put your foot down and they just grouped up together. Including Harry and Hermione if you look at their positioning. Before you say anything else, I want you to think back to your first year when you all wanted to go swimming in the lake and Suzanne said you couldn't."
Jamie hangs their head in shame, "I remember, we ended up being allowed to go swimming with supervision. It turned out that she was right and it was too cold."
"Just be thankful they're not Gryffindors, otherwise they'd have already been gone and you'd be left trying to work out where they've gone. This is why we're going this morning, as we can't stop them from going. As such we're going to make sure that they are as safe as possible. As for you, 1 point each for showing solidarity with your friends. Minus 2 points each for not listening to the prefect and also forgetting what I said before breakfast."
As the group hangs their heads in shame, she continues, "As I said this morning, my senior prefects and I will be going with Harry and Hermione to make sure it's safe. Xingwei is going to try and teleport back here alone. If she succeeds, then she may bring as many of you back with her as she feels she comfortably can. We are not doing this to prevent you from going there, we are doing it to make sure it is as safe as possible for you to be there. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Professor Sprout!" they chorus, including Harry and Hermione.
"And if any of you do gain the ability to go yourselves with one of those crystals, anyone found doing so without myself or the senior prefects knowing about it will have their crystal confiscated for a week and spend their evenings in detention with Professor Binns. One of the prefects will be with you to ensure that you don't fall asleep.
"Right now I'm going to write a note to Professor McGonagall to let her know what we're doing, and where we're going as well as what time I expect to be back. Once I'm done the six of us can go, assuming your familiar can take us."
"Her name is Sunbeam if that helps."
"Thanks that certainly does. If we don't come back on time is there anything she can do to help us?"
Hermione volunteers, "My parents are both connected to the realm of magic, so if she contacts them, they can travel there to see what's going on."
"Apart from Harry and Hermione, who are coming with us immediately, can any of you tell me what I am doing, and why it's something that tends to set us apart from the other houses?"
It's Sally-Annes soft voice that breaks the silence first, "You're planning for failure without any thought about what you're going to get out of it or what it would cost. Not doing that is why I lost my leg when I was 5, well it was my Dad that didn't do it."
"Exactly right, Daphne how does this benefit us in the long run, even if we have to rely on it?"
Daphne runs through all of her training and political acumen and keeps coming up with a net disadvantage, so finally she takes a stab in the dark, "Reputation?"
"Almost, you were on the right track. Trust, we gain trust. By making ourselves vulnerable, and our plans known, we let other people know that we trust them. In turn they will return that trust, and it is on that basis that a mutual relationship can be born. The more politically savvy in Slytherin will do something similar with those that owe them, if Gryffindors even think of it they'll do it with people they already trust. Ravenclaws will very rarely, if ever, allow themselves to be in a situation where they would need such a safety net. It is a sad facet of our school that our house system tends to polarise peoples traits and tend to cause them to dominate peoples personalities for years after they've left the school. As in the other schools they tend to be a mix of personalities all thrown together so that they come out more rounded individuals, even if they're not as academically skilled. While you all think about that I'm going to write that note and then we can find somewhere suitable to leave from. As I've heard stories from Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomphrey, so I'm not going to take any chances."
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It doesn't take long for them to all gather in Xingwei's sitting room, with a flash of light that's visible around the door seals they're suddenly standing in front of a glowing portal. Harry and Hermione gently guide the prefects and Professor Sprout away from the portal while they are taking in the sky and the fact that it's clear that the piece of land they're standing on is just floating in a pinkish purple void. Professor Sprout is the first one to gather her wits, and turns to Hermione while she draws her wand.
"Can you go with Jamie and Xingwei through the portal to do her test, if she's successful then bring the others back through. Harry, what are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm just giving Simeon and L a call to let them know we're by the portal, and see if they can come and meet us."
"That's, convenient."
"Muggles have something similar already, and it's gaining popularity. They'll be here in a couple of minutes."
"That's interesting, well Hermione, Jamie, Xingwei, what are you waiting for?"
Once they've gone through the portal Harry points at the entrance to the Library, "That's them, can you see the glowing symbol above their heads? That's their connection to the Realm of Magic, and signifies their status as a sage."
As the two sages are walking towards them, Pomona casts a couple of spells to measure the background levels of magic, specifically the ones that she uses to check for suitability for some of her more dangerous plants that can be hard to raise. The levels are much higher than she's ever seen recorded, which really is to be expected given what this place is called.
Once they're close enough to talk, Pomona introduces herself, "Good morning, I'm Pomona Sprout, Professor of Herbology and head of Hufflepuff house at Hogwarts. I understand you already know Harry. This is Oleander Yetis, one of the 7th year prefects. Jamie Primrose, the other 7th year prefect is currently on the other side of the portal with Hermione while her Red Dragon familiar checks to see if she can teleport to Earth from there."
"Good morning, I'm L, and it's a pleasure to meet you. As for the teleportation, given that one of my duplicates can do it, I have no doubt that she'll succeed too. Assuming that she's using an actual teleportation spell like Transportalate, if it's just a short range translocation, then I'm sure it will fail. So, what's someone that obviously loves the outdoors doing working in a castle?"
Pomona laughs, "I actually work in the green houses and grounds, I only have my office in the castle."
"Fair enough."
"And I'm Simeon Silversweater, sage of practical magic. It's a pleasure to meet you. Though I was led to understand that Harry and Hermione wouldn't be coming here for the next 9 months or so."
"Simeon! They have a phoenix, and I've been teaching them. Do you really think that they'd stay away for that long?"
"When you put it that way, no, I should have expected them back. That being said, given L's influence, I'm surprised to see a teacher with them."
"Oh that's easy Mr Silversweater,"
"Simeon please."
"Simeon then, I could either forbid them from coming and they'd do it behind my back. I'd then have no idea that they'd gone, or where to look for them. Or I could do my duty as their head of house and not make a rule that I know won't be followed. Instead, find a way that they can do it safely. So here I am evaluating the place. I would also like to gain my own access to the grounds too, so that if they do go missing, I can at least check here to see if you've seen them."
"Practical, I can get behind that."
L pouts, "Oh you're no fun."
"Fun I can get behind, I just like to leave sensible precautions so that if the fun gets too exciting, I've got a safety net."
Harry interrupts while he's throwing glances at the portal, "L, my friends are going to be coming through with Xingwei, Hermione's familiar. I have no doubt that at least some of them are going to ask you to teach them Simian the same way you taught Hermione. I just think you should be aware that most of them will be girls, but there will also be a boy, and one of the prefects is also a boy. None of whom have the interface. So Embarrassing but harmless might not be so harmless."
L thinks for a moment then snaps her fingers, "I'll be upstairs by the rooftop garden when they want me, I'm just going shopping. Duplicato! Transportalate!"
Simeon moans, "Oh dear, I dread to think what she's come up with now. Ah well at least it will be interesting. Well, as I'm sure Harry has informed you, all three of us are obliged to grant magic to anyone that asks. However, it's not as straight forward a process as it could be, as granting magic without a buffer is quite exhausting. Instead, we will cast a spell on the supplicant that allows them to see the motes of magic that are lying around the grounds. They form naturally, so there's no really chance of them running out long term. You'd then need to find 7 motes before the spell runs out, one for each limb and two for your torso. We then use the magic from those to offset the magic we'd be using, taking an exhausting spell down to a trivial spell. We also then recommend that each person gains a familiar and learns to ride one of the brooms we sell here. If they wish to learn spells, then we'd also prefer that they learnt their first spell directly from one of us. As we then have the opportunity to teach the notation that is used."
Pomona considers that, "That sounds reasonable. I did have a question about a couple of spells in the school of practical magic, as the others seem self-explanatory just from their names. What do Floralorial and Herbio do?"
"Ah, Floralorial is an Acolyte level spell, our ranking goes Apprentice, Neophyte, Acolyte, Adept, Master, and finally Virtuoso. They are all based on your basic understanding of magic. Anyway, Floralorial is a spell that will provide all of a plants needs, so if it needs watering or weeding that will be done for it to the perfect amount. It doesn't improve the environment though, so you'd still need to fertilise them if the soil isn't particularly good. Herbio on the other hand is a Master level spell that creates a fully grown plant in whatever soil you cast it on. With deeper understanding of each spell you can adjust how they work. I personally can now choose which plant I want to grow as an example."
"I have to say, with some of the plants in my more secure greenhouses, I'd be very tempted to learn your style of magic just for Floralorial. As it stands, once Hermione and Jamie come back through, would you be able to cast the spell that will enable me to see the motes, as I have a meeting this afternoon, so I can't stay long."
"Certainly. Harry, will you be popping in on your aunt while you're here?"
Harry shakes his head, "I shouldn't do, as nobody else would have that opportunity."
"Two points to Hufflepuff Mr Potter."
"Professor, would you like me to show everyone around the grounds here while you're doing your mote hunt? Oh, you might like to see the gardens, even though they're more than a little ruined."
"Why are the gardens ruined?"
"There was a cataclysm nearly 2,000 years ago that shattered the university that used to stand here and killed most of the sages that kept the place together. Including the sage that looked after the greenhouses. The Library behind me was the only building that escaped completely unscathed, and it was pure luck that there were three sages doing research in there at the time. The portal that you came through isn't the original portal, that was lost into the realm of magic along with the rest of the university. To make matters worse, this was the historical library not the magical library. According to the archives, that was located in the main building. Magical research has been more than a little stunted since then, as we no longer have the facilities to test new spells without needing to worry about collateral damage. There were originally 4 sages, but the sage of alchemy died before he could train a successor, so while we've managed to keep the school alive, we no longer have the signature potion of the school. The one that ties everything together and, with enough study, allows someone to take on the mantle of sage."
"Would you mind if I poked around your greenhouse, and maybe put some effort into restoring it in my spare time?"
"Not at all, though you'll need to find your own way in."
"Great, this would be the ideal environment for some of my plants."
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It didn't take long before Hermione, Xingwei, Jamie, and the friends they'd made on the train plus Sally-Anne and her roommate Megan. Once they arrived, Pomona broke of her conversation with Simeon and turned to address the assembled first years.
"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Simeon Silversweater, Sage of practical magic. He is one of three sages here, and I'd like you to treat him and his colleagues the same way you'd treat me. Each of them is highly knowledgeable in their own fields of magic and should be respected for that ability alone if nothing else. Before those of you who want to learn the magic available here, Harry and Hermione are going to take you on a tour of the grounds alone with Jamie and Oleander. I have some things I need to discuss with Simeon here, and then I need to head back to Hogwarts for a meeting.
"Jamie, can you try to ensure that they're all back in time for Dinner, as hopefully I'll be able to hand out timetables then."
Jamie nods, "I will professor."
"Then everyone head out."
Harry led the group down the long path to the portal for casters alley.
"Due to the fact that this whole place is fractured, there are two other portals like this one to get access to the parts of the university that they've managed to keep hold of. This one leads to the old residential area which now houses three shops. If you head past this point, you can see the remains of the road that led there floating in the void. As none of you have brooms with you, we're not going to do that just in case one of you falls off. It is highly recommended that everyone has a broom if they're going to spend much time here. If you'll all head through the portal I'll show you around the shops."
Jamie goes through the portal first, and Olender holds back until all of the children are through.
Harry continues once they're all through, "If you look up, you can see the tug of war between the Sages anchoring the area in place an the Realm of Magic. The shop keepers here are all astral projections as the buildings are all dangerous to be in long term. Dangerous as in earthquake rather than collapse as this island moves around occasionally. Jamie, Olender, will you be mote hunting later?"
Jamie looks at Olender, "One of us should."
Olender laughs, "Go ahead, my NEWT workload is already massive."
Harry looks at Jamie, "Do you have a broom that you can't fall off of?"
"I have a broom, but falling off is certainly possible."
"Ok, so that's 8 familiars and brooms then. Hermione, can you show them the other shops, I need to check out the familiars and then buy a load of brooms. Don't worry about the cost of familiar orbs, if there are any Dragon, Phoenix, or Veild orbs, I'm going to buy them, as it's cruel to leave people like Xingwei or Sunbeam imprisoned like that."
As the others follow Hermione, Jamie follows Harry to the shop.
"Good morning, can I see your wares? Oh, and Jamie doesn't have the interface, so would you mind pulling out your stock. My friends will probably be over in a bit too."
The shop keeper laughs, "Only you Harry, only you."
"I see you've got both Dragon and Phoenix familiars, how many of each do you have?"
"3, I only ever bring three with me as they can't be duplicated, so if I don't have enough then I'll leave them in storage. Restocking these is always chancy too, as I have to fly out into the void. Occasionally out of sight of the library to find them. Occasionally a collector will find them on planet, and I'll buy it from them."
"Fair enough, I'm going to buy all of those. And two of your owls, if you could line them all up on the side I'd appreciate it. Jamie, as you're already here take your pick, I'm not going to charge for giving a sentient freedom. Oh, and Jamie, this book of Repairo is for the Hufflepuff library."
As the shop keeper puts out three Phoenix, two dragon, and two owl orbs, Jamie looks longingly at one of the phoenix orbs even as they reach for an owl. The shop keeper huffs and shoves the Phoenix orb that they're looking at in Jamie's hands.
"Look, if you're drawn to it that much take it. You're doing yourself a disservice by denying the pull. Now, if you're supposed to be keeping an eye on Harry, he's just wandering off to the broom shop over there."
Clutching the orb to their chest, Jamie rushes to catch up with Harry. They want to admonish Harry for leaving without them, but the orb they're holding reminds them that they're as much at fault for not paying attention.
Much to Jamies amusement and chagrin Harry buys 8 supermops and lines them up against the exterior of the shop after handing one to them. They'd heard the laughter from the muggleborns on the quidditch team who had been to the broom locker to store their own brooms before the season starts and seen the new school brooms. Taking the plunge they decide to speak to the shop keeper about how the supermops even fly, while keeping half an eye on Harry as he joins the rest of the first years.
It turns out that they use a rather complicated spell to shape runes on the inside of the broom handle, and under the sponge housing. Which means that the broom is pretty much maintenance free as long as you give it a lick of paint before rust sets in if the covering flakes off. It can also still be used for it's intended purpose.
Their eyes then turn avariciously to the rocket broom, "Look all you want kiddo, but I doubt that you could afford it. That thing goes for a thousand simolians, I think Harry said that it works out at 5 sims to 1 Galleon, so that would be 200 Galleons."
Jamie whistles, "That's more than the new Nimbus 2000."
"Damn sight faster too I'd bet. I think one sorcerer clocked Mach 3 in Leo while wearing a spacesuit just to see how fast they could go, and they still couldn't supply as much magic as the broom could take. The only broom faster is our crystal line. You can see a display mock-up in the window there. Two of the sages actually put it to the test years ago when we first released the rocket broom. Of course, the rocket broom is far, far easier to make than the crystal ones as working with crystalised magic is finicky at the best of times. I reckon that some of those with ancient bloodlines like Harry over there could probably top out one of these. For anyone else, you'd probably be better off just buying a classic broom like the Hermione lass has, if you're likely to be travelling long distances a lot. Otherwise, the mops or gnarled will do pretty much everyone perfectly well."
"What's the acceleration like on them?"
"You want the 0-60 or the ¼ mile?"
"Erm, ¼ mile?"
"Well the mop will do around 16 seconds, Gnarled will shave 3 or 4 seconds off of that depending on how fast you can dump your magic into it. A classic will take you down to 9 or 10 seconds. The rocket broom, best guess is that it would top out at around 4-5 seconds, could be faster. Finally, the crystal broom, well, how fast can you dump magic, that's how fast it will go. We haven't yet found anyone that can max out one of those brooms, and we've tried. Oh, and to get those times on any of the brooms you'd need to be discharging magic almost the entire time otherwise you'd pretty much explode due to overcharge."
"Overcharge?"
"Aye, when you channel magic from the realm of magic, some of it sticks to you. It dissipates naturally over time, but if you're doing a lot of casting, brewing, or pushing a broom, it builds up faster than it naturally discharges. If it gets too high, it discharges itself like a magical lightning bolt back to the realm of magic. Only problem is that it's discharging back through you, which leaves you a crispy fried sorcerer. Some of the sorcerers that have been resurrected after that have claimed that they've not suffered from overcharge since then. However, the rest of us aren't stupid enough to want to die just to put it to the test."
"Resurrected?"
"Oh, aye, just have a gormet chef cook up a batch of ambrosia, or a sorcerer cast dedeathify, or a couple of other methods, and you're back in the land of the living. Of course, it's not that good if you died of old age, might give you a few days to sort out a will. But you could just do that as a ghost. Course aging is pretty much optional for sorcerers that bother to explore the branch of alchemy to it's fullest. It's my something great grandson that's running the wand and familiar shop. Course, you can't completely prevent death by misadventure. Though, there's a potion that will keep you alive through one such event for 24 hours after it's drunk. They go for a pretty penny in the mountaineering crowd."
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Harry walks over to the rest of the first years as Jamie becomes engrossed in a conversation about brooms. Tapping Sally-Anne on the shoulder, he pulls her to one side.
"Sally-Anne, I'm buying out the stock of dragon and phoenix familiar orbs here. As I don't think it's right that Sentient beings should be trapped away. At least as a familiar they have the ability to communicate their needs and wants, and a large amount of independent ability. Anyway, I thought that you should have one of the dragon orbs, as if they're anything like Xingwei, they'd be able to help you with things that you can't do easily yourself."
With that said he pulls out a purple orb and hands it to Sally-Anne.
"Harry, I can't." Harry puts a finger on her lips, and she starts to cry before pulling him into a hug, "Thank you, thank you. This, I can't put into words how much this means."
"Just treat them like a friend, that's all I ask. And if they turn out to be evil, then I'll find another orb for you and we can label that one and put it away somewhere."
They both return to the group where they conversation seems to have turned to how a bobble head toy is a suitable potion catalyst.
Finally, Olander check the time with a quick spell and cuts the conversation short.
The flock of first years swarm over to the wand shop as they follow Harry. Once they're all looking at the wares Harry turns to them all.
"Everyone, as you've probably noticed the Phoenix and Dragon familiars are both sentient creatures. As such, and I hope that you agree, it doesn't feel right to leave them confined to their orbs when I have the power to free them. Because of this I have bought out the current stock of Dragon and Phoenix orbs. I gave a dragon orb to Sally-Anne as I feel that she should have someone that could help her with things given her missing leg. As such it looks like there's two dragon, two phoenix, and two owl familiars left. I don't want any of you feeling hard done by, so if there's any disagreement with who gets what, I'd like you to approach Olander about splitting it out."
Neville demurs from the selection, citing that he's happy with his Raven. Hannah also bows out, happy with her own fairy at the moment. While the other four are discussing who gets which orb, Hermione moves over to the counter.
"Good afternoon, how did those CD's do?"
"Pretty well, the studio wouldn't give us royalties as it's not our music, however we did get a 400 sims finders fee for each of them. I understand they're just working on translating the lyrics somehow and finding a few singers to record them. That means that you've got 900 sims credit at this store and the broom store."
"Oh, good, I'll take the Repaireo tome then."
"You do realise that Harry has already bought one of each?"
Hermione smiles, "It doesn't matter, if I own a copy then I don't have to ask when I want to study it."
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Professor Sprout turns up at the shops looking both exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. She's somewhat surprised when she's presented with an orb for an owl familiar, but understands when the situation is explained to her. Harry manages to persuade Hermione to trade in her common broom for a rocket broom so that she can keep up with him on his own broom. Which with a couple of cuttings that she carries round with her has her the proud owner of a pink classic. Which Harry pulls out of his inventory and hands her.
After summoning her owl and learning to ride one of these brooms, she has an appreciation for why Simeon insisted that she do both. Before she leaves for Hogwarts, she arranges for Simeon to come by for two hours a night over the next two weeks, except Friday - as he has a date with Petunia Dursley - and the weekends, to teach the Scruberoo spell. She swallows hard as she considers what she's in for this evening as she's volunteered to be minionised into learning to read Simian.
With a final deep breath she steps through the portal into Glimmerstone. Slightly embarrassed, she steps back and tries to concentrate on Hogwarts more fully before stepping through again and finding herself standing outside her quarters in the school.