AN: (02 September 09) So Hineko wasn't dead after all… I won't be giving any details about her absence because I don't want her parents going to jail for their cruelty but sufice to say that the problem is no more. I don't think that this chapter is very funny (even if I did try hard) but plots go on and the piece of my personal magical theory I selected is I think interesting. Most chapters will have some mag theory. That won't change. But I am posting a side fic that will have for sole job to hold the bases of the way thing work because I don't want to spend a whole chapter or two doing so here. If colour separations are disturbing you for example, I recommend that you go in my profile and read it. It's pretty short still.

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Why so much noise? Can't they all just shut the hell up? I am trying to be miserable here! And they are not helping in the least with the herd-of-gnus impersonation! Much like with your first time meeting house elves, you never really realize how utterly unpleasant the sides effects of magical depletion can be until you felt the cramps that took over half of your body after collecting the first hand data. It's like someone burnt me from the inside, cast a freezing charm on the remains and then bound my soul to it. Only, I'm pretty sure that in that case I wouldn't feel like throwing up this much. Maybe I'll find a necromancer sometime and ask.

I'm so glad that I was only supposed to have history of magic this morning. What time is it anyway?

Wow! That late? It's almost lunch time already! I need to get out of here. But how do I do that? Somehow, I can't seem to convince myself that the castle calmed down already and that the stairs will come for me if I ask nicely. In fact, I don't think that I would trust them if they did… Who knows what they might try and do to me? In fact it would be for the best if I didn't stay anywhere alone anymore. Making friends is a lot more appealing that it ever was right now. Poor B needs to talk more with smart people anyway and there is no way that D can manage alone.

Damn but I am hungry!

I enlarge my trunk and take some bread from it before shrinking it back. You really don't appreciate the little things, like the ability to produce sounds, until they are gone. The big things, like food, I'll never forget about though. So, going back to somewhere with less potential for sky-diving… I don't want to try levitating myself. None of the spells I know do that specifically and if I try by will magic alone it could be dangerous. I guess that I could get my magic to accept the effect as I'll be using my own but I don't want to know what would happen if my concentration wavered and it started to fight itself mid-air.

Oh! I know!

There is that neat little runic array that, when applied to a surface, will make it dissipate energy from physical force in the form of colored light. I'll apply it to my shoes. It shouldn't take too long to carve or draw. I start right away. "… and really what is he? Nothing, that's what! My inferior in every single way! But his fame won't save him from what is going to happen soon. Father was here just the other week to drop some supplies he was donating the school and he said that the unworthy won't be around much longer. I hope it happens quickly. Can you imagine the shame if the students from Durmstrang come and meet the kind of rabble that infests this place? I don't think I could handle the shame…"

Of all the… what is little D doing right here?

Don't those people know how to converse in secure places? No matter, I'll just keep drawing. "But back to Potter! Did you two see how he missed history of magic this morning? Such arrogance when he is only a lowly halfblood! But I'll show him! I'll call the upper years for help dealing with this stain to Slytherin's pride. They'll be glad to help I'm sure!" Here. Finished. I jump from my hideout, aiming carefully for a staircase that will bring me to the hall. Huh. I think that I'm blind now… who would have thought that the impact would be so great? The upside is that the three of them probably got it worse. With them being dumb enough to turn because of the noise and all.

Anyway. I should probably say something now…

"Little D! How can you say such mean things about me! Don't you care about my feelings? Don't you care about how you are hurting me by saying things like that? Tell me you didn't mean it! Please! After all our games with your mother in your bedroom! I thought you loved me! Was it all a lie? Were you manipulating me when you said we had something together? That I should experiment your ways before being set with normal conventions? How could you little D? How could you? I won't be so naïve next time! I am through with men! As she didn't say anything, I will still play with your mom but don't you dare ever speak to me again!"

Truly a piece of art. His brain didn't catch up yet, but the people around are not so dumb.

I don't think that any will believe it, but that won't stop them from spreading it for comic purposes. B is going to be dismayed. But hey, it's not like he should be expecting anything different after all! Like he said to me the other day, its not that I lack pink magic to use, as really magic is magic before you give it form, but my brain just refuses to use it for anything other than sarcasm and insulting. He tries to teach me how I am expected to treat a fellow pureblood heir and I naturally start to think about all the little insults that will set them off that I never would have even thought about earlier.

He teaches me how to act and I do this.

Well, he theorized that there is a chance, if a slim one, that I could make a normal use of his teachings if the person I was talking with was actually someone I at least respected. Even that will ask for heavy training though. I don't wait for them to recover (Because who knows how long that would take? And that's not even taking the damage that I'm not responsible for into account…) and start heading for the hall. I'm starting to have second thoughts about the array I picked to avoid going pancake earlier. Because when I walk there is technically still force to be dissipated.

Which means that I look like a disco star right now with my hip shoes.

Maybe I should sell some of these? I'm pretty sure that some kids would like having a pair in the muggle world. Let's file it in the Ways to Conquer the World by Economical Means Folder for now. I'll have Assistant sort it out later. Maybe I can even get her friends to help? One just won't be enough after I start to expand… Speaking of the devil! "Hey Harry! You didn't come to swim yesterday afternoon!" Oh. Forgot about that. Its not like I know how to swim anyway. I would have stayed at the shore throwing pebbles at their heads most likely.

"Assistant! Well met, indeed! About that, well, you know me. I was about to come when I heard that rumor saying that Snape was distributing sweets that weren't even poisoned…"

The funniest part is that there is actually such a rumor going around. The fact that the guy somehow feels somewhat ill when he is less than a meter away from anything containing sugar while in the hall may be a factor. It takes a lot out of me to animate something inside a living magical being but if I pour enough juice behind it I can sustain it for a few seconds as the stomach and intestine's contents aren't exactly alive anymore. It's like Pavlov experiment in reverse. Each time he goes near anything sweet I make him regret it. He is already avoiding even fruits like the plague. Now I just need to always walk around with candy and he won't bother me ever! At least until he tests every potion in existence to try to cure his mysterious illness.

I know. Genius! It's like I created a new sort of vampire!

Assistant and H roll their eyes. "Why don't I believe you? Don't answer that. You should really come today! The weather won't stay nice much longer you know? And Tonks said that she can even cast some charms on us to allow to breathe under the water! We could explore the lake! Someone from Ravenclaw even told Hannah that there were mermaids in it!" Well, I did say something about not being alone anymore… In fact, not being inside the castle period would be that much better. "Fine, fine! I'll be there! No need to nag!" "See Susie? I told you that mentioning mermaids would work with any teenager! Really Harry, we are much prettier than mermaids anyway! And if you are sweet enough we could try to practice warming charms and have another session at midnight…"

I miss the time when H didn't talk. It's always the quiet ones like they say…

"Well, I would gladly keep talking to the two of you but you know how it is right? Need to be with my house-mates a bit, less they forget all about how unsafe it would be to start going all purebloodish Slytherin on me. It's for their own good, really." I start walking away in all my disco-glory. I hear my assistant mutter to the other one that she scared me. As if! But there's no time to go back and correct them… I sit next to B at Slytherin table. "Hey B! What's up?" He doesn't look happy. "Potter. Oh, you know… having lunch… seeing Malfoy having bursts of accidental magic… the usual. Is that why you missed today's lesson by the way?"

Huh. Didn't think about that… Better give him an apology.

"Oh that! No, that was just on my way to lunch. Sorry about not coming by the way but something happened yesterday night and I had to fix it… You know how it is, tell a couple of house elves that the food is good and wake up in the middle of the night having one staring at you." He nods. Wonder if it happened to him. "Say, do you have a subscription to the Quibbler? No? Well, I know what to give you for Christmas now." There. Let's see if he picks the clues. It's a personal quest of mine. Make it so that a Slytherin pureblood at least knows how to research information on his own by the time he leaves Hogwarts.

I think he is still somewhat upset about me not showing up at the meeting.

Let's give him a peace offering. "What do you say we start the difference between circles and arrays right now? There's enough time to cover the very basics while we eat." His look turns from somewhat cold to merely calculating. What I just did is, in his own terms, give up some of the protection I get from being an unknown. And for no other reason than to make amends. It's a big thing, but at the same time it shows friendly interaction for all to see if he accepts my offer. But he obviously thinks that the ups surpass the downs because he just gave me a small smile. I needed to go from secret trade to open alliance if I wanted to hang out in public with him.

And with that awful business with Hogwarts hating my guts…

"That's fine. Not like there are much more interesting things to discuss until the other schools are here, are there? So, apart from the difference in drawing them, what is there to say about each type?" I take my best droning voice and start. "Quite a lot actually. You already know that arrays are runes connected to each others. When you are building one it's like you are taking the magical effects of a lone rune that come, most of the time, from its symbolism and try to make it vary by connecting it to one other. What the other rune is, how far you put it and things like that have a role in the equation. If there are more than two, and that's often, things like angles enter the parameters too. Do you follow so far?"

A nod. Of course he isn't the only one following anymore but that was expected. I guess that means no Form magic on Snape.

"Most wizarding cultures favor arrays because they are simple when you have catalogued work to base yourself upon. But it's mostly guesswork. We managed to come up with a few general rules over the years but not a lot. The only other information about them that is basic is that they are powered by the natural flow of magic unless told otherwise by the array itself. Now, magic circles were used by almost everyone at a point or another. But Europeans are typically very fond of them. They are two types of circles. The ones who work from outside to inside that are called collapsing circles, and the ones who work in the very opposite way that are called perimeter circles."

Wow, they are all staring now. Maybe they'll stop laughing when I say I'm a genius now.

"Both kinds work based on the actual meaning of the runes. When you draw a circle, you are writing down sentences that will tell the magic what to do for you. Which is why circles don't rely as much on Form magic as what you meant when you wrote them gives it a Will magic component. Now, it's very unlikely that you'll ever use a single layered circle, like you don't find a lot of uses for two-runes arrays. What you generally have are concentric circles. They will activate one after the other. Either from the center outwards or from the outer layer inwards."

I sip some water. No way that I'll put the disgusting beverage they call juice anywhere near my mouth. At least if it was soup… Hey, maybe I should make an exception with Snape? Who am I to take this away from him?

"Collapsing circles are used in rituals mostly. I guess that you could use them to do the equivalent of array work but it isn't worth the workload. You can only use a collapsing circle, or circles really, in a location with abundant natural magic. You must write the circle on the center first and all the way out to avoid having it activate while you are drawing. The last layer's function is to draw the magic to the inner circles. It's the only part that won't collapse. The object of the ritual is inside the center-circle. After activation of the outer layer, the magic will activate one circle after the other. Each time it will destroy the circle and will be molded in the process until it reaches the object and modifies it."

I make another pause.

"Perimeter circles take energy from their center. The inner circle contains an object that holds a great deal of magical energy. Some call it a key-stone or a core, but it can be anything from a living being powering it to a common piece of wood that was infused with magic either by the use of arrays or with a collapsing circle. The energy flows to the outer circles one by one, but doesn't destroy them by doing so. The circles are not meant to collapse. There are flaws in their construction meant to maintain them stable. By doing so, they alter the magic flowing out and shape it in a certain way but do so at a steady rate. That's because those are usually used for wards. And while in a ritual you want all the magic to fill the object at once, wards are supposed to last. The last circle is meant to limit the area affected. If it wasn't there it would try to affect an area expanding as fast as magic can travel thus needing infinite power."

I finish my noodles and wait for dessert.

"We, of course, will only be working on arrays as they, even with all of their randomness, don't tend to backfire in spectacular fashions. They backfire a lot, but in small ways." B is thoughtful now. "So, if that's how you make wards, how do you go about breaking them?" I give a smile. "Who has got destructive tendencies now? But to answer your question, there are a lot of ways. It all depends on your skills, on the ward, and whether you care about what happens to you and the nearby area when you break it. If the warder did a poor job of protecting the circle itself you could just blow pieces of the limiting circle and make them spend all of their juices. Won't work if the guy was half as smart as little D though."

I take some dessert.

"You could also throw curses at it until it overloads but I wouldn't do that if I were you. People who try tend to die from the built up energy released at once without purpose defined by the circles. The safest and most reliable way is to draw your own circle around it. Either by draining its power dry to fuel some useless thing or another, or if the target doesn't need to be in one piece, you can use a collapsing circle. You'll get the same effect that you would get with curses but as you will be very far away from the place you won't care that much. Ward breaking by draining-circle takes forever though. And even if the area has got enough magic to sustain collapsing circles of that size, it won't be quick to draw either."

I think that that's enough for now.

There are tons of better methods I know about, most of them involving arrays or gold, but I won't discuss those with half of Slytherin listening. While it won't do them any good to ward themselves from me as I have the snitch, it could give them pointers to bypass my own wards. And I think that there are enough skilled people after my head as it is. I am careful not to eat all of my dessert. Best to have some munitions in the off chance that Snape tries something. B seems to understand that the topic is closed for now because he starts talking about idle things like Quidditch. Now, I have nothing against the sport itself. It looks mildly enjoyable to watch, even if I wish there was a way of doing so without leaving one's home.

It is far too dangerous to play for my tastes though.

That reminds me! "Hey B! Do you know of any sport I could play around here that would help me with being fit? If you could pick one that had low chances of me dying it would be great!" D snorts. Was she really here the whole time? Huh. Weird that I didn't notice. "You? Fit? If I sneezed strongly enough in your general direction the search parties would take weeks to find the remains!" Now that's just insulting! Who does she think I am? I sew mild grounding arrays on my clothes ages ago. Nothing like the one that I found in the library the other day mind you. Using that out of battle is just asking for trouble. If only you can move your clothes and you try to sit in a car for example…

Just… not good!

At best you would fry the motor. At worst, all the force that should normally be diffused by the whole body would instead be transferred to whatever skin you have in direct contact with the vehicle. In a car it would be bad. In a plane you would likely lose a hand or a head.

Back to me being insulted! "Oh, I didn't realize that you were in such a good shape D! But I can see it clearly now! Everything is where it should be… Say, if you are such an expert in the field, why don't you come to sweat with me? I'm sure we would both have great fun!" She is gob smacked for a second tops before a reply comes. "A valiant effort Potter, but I already heard of the rumors about you and Malfoy. I won't be anybody's alibi."

Ouch! Didn't think of that when I was pulling the stunt.

It's really unfair though. I did say that I was through with men and I implied that I bagged his mum too! Ah, well… it won't last too much I think. I am going to give people others things to think about later in the week. Can't back out of the deal with the twins now, can we? Because let's face it, that wouldn't be good for my stress levels at all. Maybe not even too good for my life if they go overboard. And, as we determined earlier, they are the mad pureblood type, not the stupid one. I came up with a few ideas to make something big without passing out or being found.

But I really should retaliate. D's smile is way too smug for my peace of mind.

I try to animate the juice she is drinking to make her choke. It doesn't work so well, but then again there aren't a lot of references about animating raw elements with Gray magic without some support of Form magic. Green magic has the so-called elementals but that's pretty much it. There are some, like Fiendfyre, but even then you need the Form magic of the incantation. Something to keep working on. Now that D half-choked on her disgusting cold soup and that I took that smile back from her clutches, I can leave the hall with B to see if we can expand our conversation some.

We start walking together in the dungeons direction.

"It was a good lecture you gave back there." I nod. Even with the dreadful tone of voice it attracted quite a few amazed stares. "Most will assume that runes are your strong point now. They'll think that they know you." The way he built that sentence, it's clear that he knows that runes aren't what I can do best. But is he talking about occlumency or something else? "Don't fret. It would have been necessary to show of some sooner or later. And I do need friends." With a minimum of three separate beings after my hide, one of them bigger than a moderate dinosaur's herd, the last statement is a deliberate understatement.

But hey, no need to sound needy either.

He gives an almost solemn nod. "Flamel sent word by prefect that he is taking care of a personal business this evening. Potions classes are going to be rescheduled on Saturday. We have got enough time to have the session." My face light up. The old flame isn't a bad teacher at all, but free time is free time. I studied potions by myself a good deal, as basic and moderate ones never depend on wands, and I am ahead of the class by a fair margin. Yes, even the purebloods. No, I don't know why. Your guess is as good as mine really; all I have is laziness and stupidity as culprits right now.

Well, at least the ancient one (He looks the part you know? It seems that making the stone took him some time…or maybe he uses a glamour, who knows?) answers my questions.

"So what are we going to do today?" I am a little eager, but if I am making mortal enemies out of castles I really need everything I can get my hands on. "We'll be teaching you a sword style." A sw-… what the hell? "Why!?" So, maybe I should have tried not to spit on his face while asking. But he surprised me! "Didn't you say that you wanted to sweat? Or is Daphne the only one you approve of?" Got me there. "Why fencing though?" His expression is somewhat humorous now. I feel like I am going to be the victim of a lame joke right about now. "Because we will be flooded by foreigners by the end of the month and I don't trust you not to insult them."

Somehow, I can't find a link between my question and his answer.

It must have shown on my face because he keeps going. "Wizarding law is very different from one country to the next. We don't have a lot of treaties. So if, or more like when, really, you have a conflict with a French for example, the most likely outcome that doesn't involve a compromise is a duel. And after you kill the first two or three, they'll stop asking for magical duels and start demanding sword duels. You would be free to refuse of course, but as long as the age difference isn't too great it would present you in a bad light. All the more if you started the disagreement."

Huh. Every time I think wizardkind can't surprise me anymore they pull some new crap out of their asses like that. Every time.

"Won't it take years though? To be any good that is?" B is at the very least journeyman at the eyebrow thingy. And he would make a much safer teacher than Lockhart for my assistant… a thought to ponder later. "Your point being?" I sigh. "Fine, let's find a suitable classroom then." Hey! Isn't that the Joanson nurse lady? Maybe I should check to see if I can determine her threat-level. She isn't nearly as far as the other day. Maybe I'll get more details? Suboculus. Huh. She's clean. Why is she clean? Do dark pseudo-auras of doom that reek of death disappear from day to night? I don't know that much about them but I feel like they shouldn't…

So what the hell is going on? B is looking at me worried. I'll think about it later.