Chapter Three

The next session of Defense Against the Dark Arts found the Seventh-Year students walking into the classroom with a bit more spirit then previously. In the interim between their first session and the current, many of them found an appreciation for the deviance from their normal curriculum. Other professors were holding steadfast to their lessons from yesterterm, not paying any heed to the change of circumstance outside Hogwarts' walls. The students, after finding the mentality of yet other professors had changed in light of the school's near-closing and necessary re-opening, that times did indeed call for more expedient knowledge.

Which caused a great deal of surprise when the students saw Loki sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, holding a pair of wands.

"Today, now that I've shaken your perspectives a bit, I'm going to really shatter your realities. Two volunteers, please!"

Ron and Hermione stayed silent, unsure of what was going to transpire. Lexis also stayed in the back. Two other students took a step forward. Loki tossed them each a wand. They each eyed the magic sticks as he rose from his chair and stepped away from it.

He gestured to the student on his right.

"If you would, please transfigure the chair."

The student aimed the wand and spoke the charm.

The chair transfigured into a small tree.

"Very good." Loki gestured to the other student. "Your turn. Same thing."

This student eyed the wand once again.

"Professor Loki, this isn't a proper wand. This is a stick with a handle! It's not even properly carved!"

"So? Transfigure the tree. With that wand."

Giving Loki a look of disbelief, the student aimed the wand at the tree and incanted.

Nothing happened.

Loki only nodded subtly.

"I expected that. Please return the wands to me."

With both wands back in his possession, Loki raised the uncarved stick to eye level, made sure everyone saw which wand he was using, then pointed it at the tree.

Not a word was spoken, but the tree transformed back into a chair.

"You're stunned." He said to the class, with his back still to them. "This is where the lesson begins." He pointed toward the curtains that were drawn on the far side of the room. They pulled back to reveal a multitude of chairs just like the one before them all.

"Everyone please take a chair. You won't want to be standing throughout all there is to say."

When everyone had arranged themselves, Loki held up the other wand.

He then sharply slammed it against his knee, breaking it in half. Several gasps came from the student body.

He plucked out a long brown hair from the shaft. He held it before everyone.

"This wand had a satyr hair in it, so it has a touch of magic."

He then snapped the other wand in half. All there was, was two halves of a stick.

"This was merely uncarved wood. So how was I able to use it?"

Silence abounded.

"I didn't really use it."

"You used the other wand?" A student asked.

"Uhhh…no. There was no slight-of-hand or misdirection involved. What I mean is I didn't rely on the wand as a crutch. I really did it all myself. Has everyone at this point heard of thought-magic?"

General assertions.

"Okay, good. Being seventh-years, it's high time you were entrenched in it. As demonstrated last class, your wand and fancy Latin can be a hindrance if you're too attached to them. It's time to break all of your minds."

The students leaned forward in their chairs, filled with suspense. Ron and Hermione exchanged glances, wary of what was coming next.

"Does anyone know what magic really IS?"

Everyone, including Ron and Hermione, now just stared at their professor.

"Do you think it's just some tool that some precious few got embedded into their genetic code?"

The class gaped at their professor. The seizing up of their mental gears was nearly audible.

"It's a new age, folks. It requires a new wisdom. Are you all prepared to be Neomagi?"

Loki's gaze grew hard.

"I'm asking a question, people. Can you handle what you're about to undergo?"

Ron and Hermione once again glanced at each other, certain they were about to take a nose-dive into the Dark Arts.

"I wasn't either." Loki said, breaking the tension. "No one ever really is. I'll cut straight to it. For those of you that never studied modern science, it has a lot to do with the quantum levels of reality. At the core level of existence, beneath matter, anti-matter, electromagnetic fields, and all that, is a pantheistic energy that comprises literally everything in existence. It has many names, but the wizarding elite refer to as Edunkira. I dare you to bring that up to some of the other teachers here. See how they respond. Since everything in existence as made of this singular, all-pervading Edunkira, nothing is actually separate. Even the vastness of space and even time doesn't separate anything. So, if everything is in fact one, if I can manipulate myself with mere thought, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to do the same with anything else."

Loki pointed at a student whose eyebrow was starting to cock.

"Go ahead. Ask your question."

"If everything is one, why do we have individual thoughts and personalities?"

"Because of the surface reality of those brain functions and grey matter operating on a Classical Physics scale instead of Quantum. There are different rules for different levels of reality. Classical physics doesn't work like quantum does. At the shallower end of reality, there's space and time and the solid illusion of separation. Magic is the use of higher brain function to tap into the deeper levels of power found beneath visible reality. It's paradoxical, but the lower brain can only conceive of the shallow reality, while the higher brain digs down to the deeper reality. Without conscious awareness of Edunkira, your interactions with it will be subconscious and random. Magic is the conscious manipulation of Edunkira to use the universe as your tool. With that in mind, we return to the wands."

He held up a broken half of each wand.

"Edunkira doesn't exist in equal amounts. It flows, collects, stagnates, and changes form. Some things have more Edunkira than others. Your wands, for example, were originally only sticks, but their carving via magic ritual and adding some kind of accentuation imbued them with more Edunkira, which made them more magical. The stick here has Edunkira, too, just not as much. This illustrates the difference between Muggles and Wizards. Due to some genetic happenstance, Wizards are born with either more innate Edunkira or higher brain activity, while Muggles are born with less of either. That doesn't mean they can't do it. Just like this stick, it's merely more difficult. I was still able to use the Edunkira in the stick since it came from an old oak tree that had a higher than normal energy count, but less than that of a carved wand. Being aware of Edunkira's existence makes it available to you. I'd wager the gene that allows for easier use of magic must be recessive, since purebloods seem to be dying off, and they've have the highest chance of passing those traits on. The Nocnistu probably were to blame for that, too. Ah, well. I'm here now to bring that back to the surface. Everyone's got the power of a god. Most people never know it."

Several of the students were looking at their wands, as well asthemselves, with newfound wonder.

"Watch this."

He locked his gaze on the mess of chairs. They all skidded apart with violent screeches. The students grabbed hold of the moving furniture, dropping their wands to the floor with a clatter.

"All of you can do that without a wand. It'll just take time to develop your minds to that level of strength. To get there remember this. We are made of the same stuff as the gods. If we are made the same as the gods, then we are gods as well. Gods make reality what they wish. Which means you will get the reality you desire. Be that oneness…or total separateness. Even though all is one, we still are control of ourselves, which means we can extricate ourselves from the universal whole if we truly want to. I would never recommend it, though."

Loki's gaze drifted off for a moment with his thoughts. He blinked hard, returning to the present.

"It's bad. Anyway, with that in mind, we'll begin the activity. Please leave your wands on the floor. You won't need them."

The students rose with minds bubbling with mental overload. They had never been hit so hard with a lesson so alien, so surreal…

So empowering.

"Please take your chairs and find some space on the open floor. We'll be continuing to transfigure, only without wands and without incantations. If you're finding yourselves with a mental block, remind yourselves that the matter that comprises that chair is ninety-nine percent empty space. There isn't really much chair to remold. There isn't really a chair there at all. It's yourself. It's everything. That should make the process a lot easier."

With a rush of ego fueling them, the students dove into the activity.

Some strained until sweat poured from their brows, but could not so much as change the chair's color. Loki's hand would rest on their shoulder, drawing a gasp from them.

"The force of the universe flows through you without effort. Straining will only kink the hose. Relax."

Others found themselves instant adepts, remolding the substance of existence by pure intention, tying their chairs into pretzels by sheer mind-force. Hermione struggled with the idea of casting aside her entire education and freefalling into an entirely new approach to magic. Merely focusing all her attention on the chair wasn't proving enough to even make it tremble. So she showed a conspicuous twinge of shame when Loki laid his hands on her arms, and raised her right limb as if she were still using her wand.

"If you must keep a foot in the lower realms to start, then do so." He practically whispered in her ear. "Act as if the wand were still in your hand. Imagine it's there, and it will be the same as if it truly were. But don't say any magic words you've read in some musty book. You've spent too much time merely repeating what other people have done. Every spell was invented by someone …someone just like you. Why couldn't you do the same? Right now?"

Loki released his grip on Hermione and stepped away to give her space. Steeling her mind, she closed her eyes, and envisioned that her wand was firmly in her grasp. Not giving herself a moment to doubt her self-induced illusion, she thrust her arm toward the chair, opening her eyes only at the last moment and calling out the first thing that came to mind.

"STURNUT!"

The chair sneezed.

Several students ducked and clutched at themselves, since when chairs sneeze, they sneeze wood splinters.

Ron gawked at the display, then turned back to his chair, which until now had been similarly stubborn to comply with any mystic prodding.

He tensed when Loki's hand come to rest on his arm. Loki leaned in closer. Ron pulled back.

"A strange paradox you have to face, Ron. Like me, you were raised with magic from the start. Which means whatever you were taught at that young age is going to have roots that hold you back stronger than almost anyone else. It'll be a hard blow that cracks the cage that's been built around your mind. Until then, the higher realms will stand beyond your reach. Still, please give another try."

Ron narrowed his eyes at the chair, redirecting his growing indignance toward Loki at the chair. He wanted the chair to explode, or catch fire, but it remained unmarked, mocking him. Ron grumbled to himself as Loki gave him a reassuring pat on the back and dealt with another student.

When the practice had ended, whether each student personally succeeded or not, the class as a whole was amazed that they could ascend in knowledge and skill so quickly.

"Professor Loki, did it really have to take seven years to get this far?" Hermione asked, feeling odd about having her mystic academic path yanked out from under her.

Loki smiled warmly. Several girls in the class grew doe-eyed.

"Not at all. I'd wager your development was actually slowed down by the structure of Hogwarts. But before I totally condemn the institution…I am a very avid lover of books and certain academic subjects, after all…I will say that it was a necessary measure to accommodate the vastness of the student body. The fewer students there are, the faster they always progress. Unless someone like yourself, Hermione, takes it upon herself to be the driving force behind her own development. Very admirable."

Hermione blushed. Ron's face also turned red, but for a very different reason.

In a fit of rage that shocked and overwhelmed the tiny part of his brain that was still being rational, Ron instinctively threw his hand out toward his discarded wand. Without so much as an "Accio", the wand soared through the air to Ron's grasp, and he threw the wand's tip in Loki's direction, giving forth no words, only a primal yell.

"While some…" Loki said with his back still to Ron. He spun to his right, and the bolt of Ron's rage incarnate blasted past him, striking the wall and scorching a hole in it. "…require only the proper incentive."

Still spinning, Loki swung his left fist in Ron's direction. Even though they were half a room apart, Ron's head snapped back as if he had eaten Loki's hand full in the face.

"Passion brings you power, too." Loki's voice grew grim. "A different kind. Be it love OR hate. A strong power, but far more dangerous. Egoism and emotion give you strength, but they will also eat you alive."

In the speed of an eyeblink, Loki had blasted across the room in a blur of motion, and had Ron pressed against the wall. His forearm dug into Ron's windpipe.

"Is your life really yours? Will the dark take you as well?" Loki smiled manically. His eyes had turned fully black, and his skin was darkening. "The dark has great power. Power no man can ever hope to truly possess. Those who seek to, deserve their fates. One I would wish on no one."

With a show of immense difficulty, Loki hurled himself away from the wall, leaving Ron a terrified wreck.

Loki looked up at the ceiling, and his entire body tensed, ready to explode from strain.

"Class dismissed." He forced out through gritted teeth.

He vanished from the room like he wasn't even there.