AN: *Insert huffy disclaimer here*
AN2:
-:-
Chapter Eight: Power
-:-
Time began to flow quicker after that, months slipped by and suddenly Harry was staring down the barrel of the Christmas Holidays. But things had not been calm.
Not since Harry's second year could he remember the castle being this tense. Auror's were now stationed around the grounds on six hour rotations, twenty four hours a day, the prefects were now patrolling through the night on hour long shifts and classes had become tense affairs that tested the patience of the teachers involved.
Personally Harry felt caged, he wanted to utilise his training, he wanted to get out there and take the fight to Voldemort and his Lieutenant, he wanted to avenge the dead both in his life and faceless. It had gotten to such a peak that when Harry had seen one of the Ravenclaw students bullying Luna Lovegood he had immobilised them and done a search for a dark mark, a detention was all he got for his trouble.
He was beginning to jump at shadows even within the castle walls and Hermione was just as bad, nearly obliterating Pavarti when she surprised the brunette in the library one afternoon. They needed to let off some steam.
-:-
Winter had struck hard and early and for the last few months the Quidditch pitch had been sub-zero when the Regiment began its trainings in the morning. There was a specific note of professionalism in the students Harry had been teaching, as if they all understood that this wasn't a game, they were a militia, an army, a layer of the defences around Hogwarts. They had expanded their repertoire to open duels; team based duelling and exercises like capture the flag, VIP defence and hostage extraction. Harry was immensely proud of how the group had progressed. He looked wistfully up at the sky but shook his thoughts away from that avenue of thought; Quidditch was a thing of the past for him.
Arrayed before himself and his bond-mate were the nineteen best fighters in the Regiment: Parvati, Fred, George and their friend Lee, Daphne, Tracy, Susan, Alicia, Angelina, Ernie, A pair of Hufflepuff seventh years named Richard Parks and Emily Fletcher, multiple sixth year Ravenclaws including Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecome, Rosaline Spencer and Thomas McDonald. Seamus and Neville and Luna rounded out the numbers nicely leaving enough for seven squads of three.
Harry felt Hermione's muttered Sonorous hit him in the throat and he spoke over the wind.
"You are the best nineteen people in the regiment, you're quick, you're powerful, you work well as a team and have shown great strength and promise in the team games we've started to work on in the last few months. From here on out the twenty one of us will be training together, there's a strong possibility if the auror's are tied up that we might need to go abroad on defensive missions as well. Eventually, and as the war progresses, I hope that we can turn ourselves into a quick response team to alleviate attacks on innocent families. If anyone here is uncomfortable or unwilling to participate in such an endeavour please say so now and we'll have you replaced."
Apart from the typical movements of those trying to keep warm in frigid temperatures no one so much as moved.
"Good. Hermione and I have been watching you progress and have tentatively organised you into six squads of three fighters, with Parvati joining Hermione and myself in the command squad."
The faintest of excited squeals could be heard coming from Parvati's direction who, while not as dramatic as her twin, was still very much a 'girly girl'.
"The squads are as follows: Squad one: Fred, George, Lee. Squad two: Emily, Alicia, Angelina. Squad three: Daphne, Tracy, Susan. Squad four: Luna, Ernie, Richard. Squad five: Seamus, Neville, Thomas. And Squad six: Cho, Marietta, Rosaline. If you don't already, get to know one another, from now on your squad will be like a second family, you'll need to trust each other implicitly if you're going to be an effective combat unit, house differences? Put them aside, previous disagreements? Erase them. This is bigger than petty squabbles between children. This is your lives. Am I understood?"
"Yes Sir!"
That was one thing that had come out of the Regiment that Harry hadn't expected, the other students treated him like their superior, a military superior. Hermione convinced him to reinforce the image by acting as such, if only so that it gave the Regiment a definite flag to rally around, a leader to look to who they could trust beyond anything. Harry wasn't sure he was happy with it but it did lend a certain air of professionalism to what they were doing.
"I've talked to Dumbledore, and your heads of house. Yes, including Snape."
There was a ripple of laughter through the somewhat ordered ranks.
"The quarters Hermione and I have been sharing for the last few months can be dramatically expanded. And have been so, we now have a commons, and a dorm for each squad. Mixed gender squads are being trusted to stick to the rules of proprietary but nevertheless charms have been placed on the rooms to alert heads of house if anything… inappropriate happens. It's not my idea so don't take it up with me regardless your feelings."
The group was silent. If the heads of house and the Headmaster had agreed to something so controversial this was serious.
"This isn't a game. People are dying, being slaughtered in their homes. We've lost family, all of us, and we've lost friends. We are the next generation of Magical Britain; we're the next generation of Aurors and healers and hit wizards, clerks and accountants and lawyers, politicians and shop keepers, teachers and researchers. We are charged with the responsibility of living through this war, thriving in spite of it, and coming out the other side victorious."
Harry took a sharp breath before continuing.
"I'm going to give you another responsibility. You are one and all, powers in your own right. Maybe not on my level, or Dumbledore's level, or Voldemort's level, but you're all trained, you're all strong, fast, and above all, you're all part of a team. I've read countless reports, and watched innumerable pensive memories and what have I learned? The death eaters are not a team; they're individuals, horrible, nasty, filthy individuals who fight for themselves, individually almost every one of you is stronger than them, as a team we will be unstoppable. The responsibility I'm asking you to shoulder is the safety of your peers, the safety of your families, and the families of those who cannot defend themselves, the safety of the future of Magical Britain.
We are the First Hogwarts Regiment. And by Merlin, we will not back down!"
They actually cheered.
-:-
That had been the start of what would rapidly become one of the most controversial pieces of legislature to come out of the Second Blood war as that time would come to be known, the legislature that removed the underage restriction of magic for those part of the Hogwarts Regiment, which would become the first organised military unit in Magical Britain, the best of whom would be taken straight into the Wizarding Anti Necromancy Division (otherwise known as WAND) which was dedicated to stamping out dark arts practitioners especially those practising Necromancy and Blood Rituals.
The Regiment lived together, ate together, trained together. In the months running up to and surrounding Christmas three more squads would be formed from those in the non-squad section of the Regiment as they became skilled enough to advance (Otherwise known as non-coms or non-combatants). Each squad quickly gained a certain sense of pride in their members and title, and each gave themselves a moniker or call sign. Harry was particularly amused by Daphne, Susan and Tracy's squad name "Harry's Angels". Soon even non regiment students began to refer to the Regiment members by their squad names.
The only hiccup had been Pavarti's living quarters, Harry and Hermione were obviously reluctant to move out of their private apartment after having grown accustomed to living there, and Parvati had outright refused to let them do so. In the end she was given a bedroom that adjoined to the small sitting room that Harry and Hermione shared. It was as close to a perfect solution as they were likely to find and the boisterous Gryffindor was happy to sleep alone for the first time in her life. Pleased of the solitude.
The Regiment's training Exercises soon became something of a spectator event. Some of the Students and most of the teachers would brave the cold in the early morning to watch the Regiment's war-games and the spectacular magic that was on display. Harry just hoped that all the training would be enough.
-:-
Hogwarts wasn't the only theater to be experiencing turmoil, within a week of the announcement that Voldemort had returned a vote of No Confidence ousted Fudge from his office and there was a bitter debate and argument for who should succeed him, eventually, and by a mere four percent of the Wizengamot vote Amelia Bones was instated as Minister and, as if she had been planning for the outcome, immediately set several actions in motion.
The first was the aforementioned legislation that gave Harry Hermione and the rest of the Regiment full licence to perform magic as adults. Hot on its heels came an inhibition breaker on Auror Spell limits. In layman's terms they were now authorized all magic barring the Unforgivables on marked Death eaters and Sympathisers. Hermione had followed the debate in the Wizengamot through the Prophet (Which magically became almost totally factual after Fudge left office) and it had been almost as trying as the election debates that saw Madam Bones into office.
By the time the Christmas Holidays had rolled around the Death eaters were forced underground, many prominent members of pureblood society had been ousted as Death eaters or Sympathisers and over half of those had been executed, including both Malfoy parents and the Crabbe and Goyle Families, all of whom had been too slow to disappear, or too arrogant.
Voldemort's war machine ground to a sudden and unexpected halt, his funds had been removed, his followers neutered, and his attacks of terror had been nullified by emergency portkeys handed out to wizarding families. Muggles were their only viable targets remaining and even then, there was little they could do without being immediately swooped down upon by the Hit Wizards and Aurors.
Harry was simply happy that so far the Regiment was untested; he knew they were strong but, despite his earlier proclamations, they weren't ready for combat as a unified force. Aside from the political and militaristic events pervading Harry's life his studies were almost as interesting, if not downright exciting.
-:-
The charms lesson the whole of Fifth year had been waiting for rolled around in late October. Postponed twice due to terrible weather the fifth years were champing at the bit to have their promised race and a small betting pool had sprung up.
Finally, on the twenty eighth of October, twenty seven students from the four houses lined up their automatons (As they had been so dubbed by an enterprising Ravenclaw), on the start line of the intimidating cross country course, the finish line programmed into their AI runes and wards and, with little ado, Flitwick started the race.
Harry quickly realized that few of the students had cottoned on to Harry's solution to many of the issues that surrounded the Automaton's power drains when separated from their creators. Many of the contraptions stuttered to a halt about halfway through the race, typically to the groans of their owners.
Hermione had rebuilt the entire ward schema and had replaced many of the locomotion charms for a much more efficient machine. Harry's creation got to the finish line, but wasn't the winner. No, that honour went to, of all people, Ernie Macmillan, who had apparently spent several dozen hours tinkering and perfecting his little creation.
The race was exciting, tense, and above all fascinating to watch. The sight of the swarm of a bit more than twenty Automatons all speeding over the frozen ground and conjured obstacles was incredible. Afterwards though was the real test, Harry put his heavily modified Automaton at the start line and at the signal from Flitwick, let it loose.
It sped forwards in rapid leaping bounds; it's six legs automatically adjusting for terrain imperfections and dips in the ground. When it came to the first major obstacle its leaping sprint converted to a rapid front crawl as it ascended the vertical shelf, but not before leaping from the ground to over halfway up the surface and twisting in mid-air to cling to the wood. Harry couldn't have been more proud of his work when the Automaton butchered the fastest time set by Ernie's contraption by being nearly twice as fast. He was rather pleased to earn Gryffindor twenty points alongside Ernie's forty.
The aftermath of the race back in the Regiment's barracks was something to see.
-:-
Hermione opened the door to the Regiment's combined quarters, or as they were starting to be known; 'The Barracks', and a wall of noise hit her as the commons was filled with discussions going on, Harry was immediately yanked from her side and plopped down in a chair to share his secrets with the Weasley twins and Hermione was beckoned over by Daphne and Tracy and Susan who looked rather content.
Sighing slightly as she sank into the large comfortable armchair the three girls had directed her to Hermione raised one of her eyebrows at them.
"How long exactly has Harry been a charms master?"
Hermione choked on her breath for a second at that bald question from Daphne, who Hermione had learned was awkwardly forthright at times.
"He's not; he just has a passion for those automatons of his, most of it is actually transfiguration. For instance my ward schema was actually more complex than his."
The three girls shared an amused look; again it was Daphne that spoke.
"Well how long has he been a transfiguration master then?"
Hermione looked askance at her and the blonde Slytherin
"What on earth are you talking about Daphne? He hasn't learned anything you two haven't."
The snort that came from her was best described, Hermione thought, as unladylike
"Bollocks, Flitwick and McGonagall looked over his little contraption after the race and McGonagall of all people was muttering in wonder about how he did what he did. He knows something the rest of us don't Hermione. Fred and George have clearly cottoned onto the fact; they're trying to eek it out of him as we speak."
Hermione was, for want of a better word, alarmed.
"I'm telling you all now, as someone who has intimate knowledge of Harry's mind, he doesn't know any more magic than any of you when it comes to transfiguration, or charms for that matter."
Daphne waved her off
"It's not about what spells he knows, it's about how he uses them. I saw the miniature eyes he made for that thing; it looked like it was alive Hermione. Alive, I don't know how he did it but McGonagall and Flitwick are both scrabbling for answers."
Hermione couldn't help but beam in pride, trust her wizard to make such a ruckus accidentally, only the son of James Potter could achieve such a feat.
"He spent hours tinkering on that thing, I witnessed him carve springs from stone then transmute them into tungsten, tungsten of all things. Those eyes were made from quartz and carved stone before they too were transmuted, runes already applied. I don't know if he's a master of the craft, just very, very, dogged in his pursuit of excellence."
Susan shot her a sly look
"It's kind of hot isn't it?"
Hermione blushed crimson at being caught.
"Yes well, if he turns his laser like focus on you you'll understand. Regardless he's no more knowledgeable than any of you three, more practised perhaps, and I would suggest that McGonagall has simply never thought to use the spells she taught Harry in such a manner, hence the confusion."
Tracy finally spoke
"Regardless of the reasons behind it he's a power Hermione, you're a lucky girl to have him all to yourself."
She glanced over at Hermione's man and sighed wistfully.
"If only we could all be so lucky."
-:-
The discussion with Fred and George was going in a much different direction.
"So do explain to us exactly how these marvellous contraptions of yours work."
"Yes do, and while you're at it bring one out for us to observe."
Much of the school had come to watch the race despite it being an event locked to fifth year participation. Apparently any kind of spectacle is worth watching once. Rolling his eyes at the twins Harry fished his juiced automaton out of his robes (Now configured to 'idle') and simply left it on the table where it proceeded to scurry about and look around in what appeared to be a deceptively inquisitive fashion. The twins immediately began fussing over it, tugging the legs out straight to examine the joints, flipping it over to observe the undercarriage, etc. They did not however stop talking and asking questions.
"Where on Earth did you get springs this small?"
"What metal is this? It's so rigid"
"What tools do you use to shape the stone before you transfigure it? This is some fine detail work, smooth too."
"Have you tried…"
"Lads, stop, give me a second to answer."
The twins looked at him with equal expressions of impatience and unrepentance.
"We'll hurry up then."
"Yes do."
What followed was one of the most in depth interrogations Harry had ever experienced, and he privately thought that he had a great deal of experience with interrogations having Hermione as a friend and lover coupled with his proclivity for unexpected, unfortunate and utterly unwanted adventures, misadventures and enterprises and the questioning they generated when they were over.
The twins wanted to know everything about the Automaton. Every detail was examined closely from the stone he had used for the original transfiguration to the metal it had become, the method by which he shaped the stone and so on. They were particularly impressed when he explained the assembly of the eyes and the springs on the legs, but were impressed overall with his creation.
"Why do you want to know all of this stuff anyway?"
"So we can make them ourselves."
"Obviously we need the full specifications."
Harry raised an eyebrow
"What possible use could you two have for one of these, or many of these for that matter?"
They fixed him with an amused look, and it was quite amusing in return to see them both looking at him so earnestly.
"Why subterfuge!"
"Observation!"
"Reconnoitre!"
"Distraction!"
"Sabotage!"
"Surprises!
"And last and likely least"
"Ink well carriers."
The last made Harry loose a bark of laughter before leaning forwards onto his elbows and fixing the twins with a speculative eye.
"This is for your shop isn't it?"
Fred and George nodded in synch
"You weren't going to try and take the concept from me without paying royalties were you?"
The twins looked genuinely offended, but then they could affect that whenever they chose from many hours of practise with their mother so Harry wasn't buying it.
"You wound us Harry."
"Deeply and with a big spikey something."
"We were intending to reimburse you for every unit sold."
"Never believe otherwise."
Harry simply snorted
"I believe you, truly I do. You have options here however. They are exceptionally time consuming to produce, especially this model, though a lot of that time was trial and error. On the other hand Hermione is starting to get annoyed at tripping over them in the mornings because I tend to tinker when I'm stressed, and that's often. As a trade-off, why don't you let me perfect the process and then just manufacture them for you and you buy them off me wholesale."
The twins looked at each other and then shifted into a two-person huddle whispering frantically. In the back of his mind he felt Hermione's relief at his proposition, for all his tidiness the Automatons had a talent for being in the way of her feet, tender from the cold, in the mornings and more than once she had had to heal a stubbed toe.
Eventually they turned back to him, one of them wearing a pleased expression, the other speculative. When they spoke however it was a mixture of both from each of them.
"That's all very well and good."
"But what if we want to develop new designs ourselves?"
"Would you let us tinker with the designs then send them back to you for manufacture?"
"And would you be able to produce enough units for retail sales? They'll probably sell like hot cakes."
Harry thought about that for a second before answering, a thought from Hermione entered his mind and it was just what he needed, apparently she was okay with the plan because she was actively thinking of ways to make it better.
"I don't mind you tinkering with them, or making them for your own amusement, just not selling them without some of the profit getting back to me. Typically I'd just say keep the money, it's not like I'm lacking, but I spent, and spend, a lot of hours creating these and, different from the Tri Wizard winnings, I feel like I've earned this coin.
As for production en-masse: Hermione thinks she can create something to make the process much quicker for me, so you'll have your numbers, can't tell you exactly how many, but they'll be there."
That seemed to be enough for the twins who rose and departed soon after, having already given him an owl post address for the creations. Harry was amused to see it was a location in Diagon alley that he assumed the twins were already renting.
A couple of seconds later Hermione sat down in his lap and snuggled into his chest, quite content to relax in front of the fireplace.
"They really appreciate what you did for them you know? It's just the Weasley pride that stops them from thanking you, makes it seem more like charity that way. I'd suggest they're actually happy you're demanding to be paid for your little contraptions, makes it easier for them to take them from you to sell in the first place."
Harry wrapped his arms around her shoulders and turned in the seat slightly so she'd have a more comfortable perch on his lap.
"I know, they're so stubborn I figured that must have been the case when they caved to my demands without debate. I'll not take much from them, a couple of percent maybe, it's not like I need the cash or anything."
He felt her lips press to the underside of his jaw and he smiled at the touch
"That's just another reason why I love you sweetheart, you're so generous."
He gave her a loving squeeze before settling back against the chair to watch the comings and goings in the room. After a few minutes Parvati came and sat down opposite them, looking like she wanted to talk. The two lovers disentangled from each other and Hermione shifted in Harry's lap so she could get a better set of eyes on the Indian heritage witch as the girl began to speak.
"What exactly are you expecting of me as a part of the 'command squad'? We haven't been any different from the others in training so far but I feel that's about to change."
-:-
Hermione couldn't help but smirk at Parvati's intuition, it had been spot on, she let Harry field this question as the Regiment was his project more than hers, and she did reflect that she really should find a hobby of her own, though she didn't know where she would find the time. Harry somehow managed to have time for school, homework, sleep, tinkering, time with her (Which he made a point of putting time aside for), and the Regiment. She didn't know how he was always so impeccably well timed; it had been a new development in their lives too, before this year Harry had always been horrendously lax about timings, and tardy to many events purely from lack of proper organisation or drive to get up in the mornings.
His voice cut through her musings.
"You're not wrong Parvati, so far we've mostly been involved in joint operations where we'll be on the ground with the other squads, and for the most part that will be our goal. After the Christmas break we're going to introduce what will more or less be pitched battle simulations. The three of us will be responsible for making sure that the squads are all where they need to be and are backing each other up sufficiently.
As for long term, this is likely to be the squad that engages Voldemort head on one day, and Hermione and I both understand if you don't want to be a part of that."
Hermione saw her visibly tense and thought that maybe Parvati had suspected that kind of an answer but never really definitely thought it would be that. Now with the confirmation before her Hermione wondered if the younger girl would be able to handle the idea.
She seemed to battle with herself on the topic before answering with a cautious tone.
"Can I have some time to think about this? It's rather a big thing to decide on the spot."
Harry nodded easily next to Hermione as he spoke
"Absolutely, talk to your twin about it if you need to, we don't mind but be careful with that. Let's face it, she's a gossip, and I don't know if you want it known that you're considering being a part of the team that might one day fight Him face to face."
She gained a questioning look and Hermione braced herself for the discussion to come.
"And that's another thing, why did you pick me to be your third of all people? There are a lot of strong fighters in the Regiment, and I'd argue that one of the seventh years would be a better choice."
A non-verbal request from Harry prompted Hermione to answer this one from her spot in his lap
"You're a power unto yourself Parvati, you have the drive to better yourself, magical strength, leadership qualities that we need in the command squad, and a certain talent with a wand. All that aside though you're the best person for the job because you're closest to our magical skill level, while also being closest to us in age. You're six months younger than me, which makes you about seven months older than Harry, maybe eight, we get on well with you, you know when to give orders to the other squads and when to take them from Harry. You're smart and intuitive, and most of all you're willing to learn."
Harry took over
"Another thing to consider is that a lot of the other, perhaps more skilled, people in the group already have partners with whom they are much better suited to fighting with, or would be worried about in the heat of battle if they weren't side by side. We'd have taken George had that not been the case for many of the same reasons that we decided on you. At the end of the day though we're not planning on fighting Riddle now, not in even in a couple of years; really we'd prefer to leave it as long as possible, but we have to consider that he might not want to wait that long, and you're the best person for the position at this time, which makes you invaluable to us as we can trust you, and that more than anything else is important."
Hermione saw tears welling in the young witch's eyes and she moved from Harry's lap to wrap Parvati in a hug.
"I'm not just extra? You actually need me?"
A flash of inspiration struck home. That's what she was worried about, the idea that there was simply nowhere else to put her, that she was spare. She wanted to be needed instead of just accepted.
"Of course we need you. With a couple of exceptions you're the most talented person we've trained, we handpicked you to fight alongside us Parvati. When the time comes, there's no one we'd rather have by our side."
She felt an approving burst from Harry and she knew she'd done the right thing, she was forcibly reminded that this little militia they had cobbled together was made of children, talented children certainly but children nevertheless. They were insecure, and needed validation, they needed to be shown the way if only so they could walk upon it. but when push came to shove, all of these children, these young men and women, would fight for what was right.
A thought washed over her and Harry agreed, they needed combat experience, against enemies that didn't pull their punches. They needed to be able to face their fears and move on, so that they could stand firm in the face of Voldemort's forces when the time came.
In short, they needed a lot of boggarts.
-:-
Defence against the dark arts rapidly became something that the entire school either looked forward to or treated with trepidation, for those students who were less than stern of stomach the class became something of a trial. For those of strong constitution, it became a fascinating learning experience. This was because for all intents and purposes Defence against the dark arts had become a monster hunting guide: Specifically a guide on hunting and disposing of the undead.
They couldn't practise any banishing rituals or charms, those were of course seventh year material and rightly so as they involved soul magic that was dangerous to even living things. But they could learn and practise the methods to bind and cripple true undead, and destroy false undead such as Inferi and skeletons.
Harry had noticed that so far they had only discussed minor undead. And Harry privately suspected that Umbridge was waiting for after the Christmas break to begin on the more challenging topics, the lesson they had just before the end of term supported his theory, and gave Hermione and himself something to think about over the holidays.
-:-
As was by now typical the door of the classroom snapped shut of its own accord once the last student, Pavarti today, had sat down. And, as was typical Professor Umbridge began speaking immediately.
"By now each of you have killed a vampire. You've taken the existence of another creature, and sent its soul to the great beyond. But really, what do any of you understand about souls, about spirits? Certainly by now you understand that they are very much real, there is enough anecdotal and factual evidence to support this. You also know that they can be manipulated with magic, but not on a fundamental level like physical matter can. You should also have figured out that each of you has a soul. For most of you this information would be enough I suspect. However, to understand the material that I will be teaching you after the Christmas break you all need to have a much firmer understanding of soul theory."
She took a drink from the ever present clear tonic before continuing.
"Many people have attempted to define a soul, have attempted to visualize one, or bring it into the understanding of magical kind. The true nature of a soul however still eludes the researchers and philosophers of the magical world. With our understanding of the creation of Mummies and their role in ancient Egyptian religion, we can see that Humans have been experimenting and researching the soul for thousands of years. It is, and I suspect, will ever be the greatest mystery of our world.
However, some truths have become known. Last year the muggles cloned a sheep for the first time. That is they created an infantile copy of a sheep; this is significant because as some of you will be aware our composition, our genetic code, is unique from person to person, from animal to animal. The muggles have managed to exactly copy, or clone, a sheep, a perfect genetic match. The animal is healthy and whole, and lives to this day."
A murmur of unease ran through the room, the creation of alchemical homunculi, essentially magical clones, had been outlawed nearly five hundred years ago and the techniques lost to all bar Nicholas Flamel and Dumbledore himself. Umbridge's tone as she continued speaking indicated she knew exactly what her class was muttering about.
"Indeed, the muggles are already expanding their efforts into cloning other animals. But doubts have been raised, and a debate is raging through the muggle academic community about the theory of cloning humans. The debate essentially revolves around whether the clone would be the same person as the original, or completely different."
She took another sip, and Harry privately wondered if she did so to let the class mull over her words or if she actually needed the liquid.
"We'll not be diving into that however, but it does raise an interesting point, and it's the same question that was asked by our ancestors hundreds of years ago when they were creating magical homunculi, and, for the most part, their questions were answered. The homunculi clones were alive, but utterly lifeless, devoid of the spark of humanity that allowed them to learn and grow into functioning members of society. In short they were missing souls.
Of course this raises many more questions, where do souls come from? Are they 'given out' by a deity? Are they created upon conception in a mother's womb? We'll never know the answers I suspect but some things can be ruled out and others tentatively confirmed: For one souls are typically indefinite, they don't expire or disappear, though a Dementor can cage a soul permanently. They are also used by multiple bodies, there have been magical experiments performed that have tracked the same souls across multiple generations of humans. And yes, I say humans. Every one of your souls has inhabited many, many muggle bodies throughout history. Our souls are identical to theirs in every respect.
This raises yet more questions, but we are diverging from our topic slightly. I am trying to convey a simple truth about souls which you all need to get firmly rooted in your minds; souls are eternal, and the binds between souls will last for all time."
Harry felt a rush of warmth across his bond with Hermione and looked sideways to see her eyes brimming slightly. A thought not of his own making rushed through him.
'Eternity Harry, you have me for eternity.'
That thought alone made his day. Victoria Umbridge's unsettling voice interrupted their moment.
"As I'm sure that Mr Potter and Miss Granger have figured out this has some rather profound consequences. Not all of these consequences however, are good, or even fair. For instance, the souls of Merlin and Morgana are forever locked in rivalry; we see them throughout the ages popping up, a single dominant force on light and dark fighting for dominance. And furthermore for those souls bound as undead, their partner souls, those bonded to them either in strife or harmony, are also bound as undead along with them.
Relationships between souls brings up another point, and it's one that leads directly into our theory for greater undead and why they're so dangerous. We've ascertained so far that all souls have the potential for magic yes? Souls in muggles and wizards are identical thus the soul itself mustn't be what grants or restricts magic. However souls are a source of power, when we talk about our 'magical cores' we really should just say 'souls' but it has become something of a fashion not to talk of them as such.
Why then, if souls are such a good source of power do some wizards and witches have so much more power than others, and for that matter why can't muggles call upon the power as well? It's to do with our bodies, specifically our genes, what is often incorrectly referred to as 'magical blood' should be referred to as 'magical genes' that being the essential physiological part of us that allows us to control magic.
Here's where we have to diverge from the topic slightly and introduce all of you to basic genetics, that being the study of how genetic information is passed on from generation to generation and how the magical gene stays within communities and doesn't spread like wildfire."
Harry could feel Hermione beside him like a tense ball of energy, this was of course immensely fascinating to her not least of which because might go towards explaining why she was magical and her parents weren't.
"When a child is conceived it is made from the half of the genetic information from its father, and half from its mother. This information is called genes, and they come in pairs and inside those pairs are two different types of genes. That being recessive and dominant genes, when these genes pair up they dictate different aspects of the child's appearance, and possibly even character; hair colour, skin colour, eye colour, height, finger length and so on. To give you a better idea and to get to the heart of the matter let's use an example: Two parents, one muggle, the other magical have a child. The magical gene is dominant, so even if the muggle has no magical genes at all, there can still be magical children, especially if the magical parent is female, but that's a different topic altogether. Let's propose that for the sake of the discussion the magical parent has a single magic carrying gene and a single non-magic carrying gene in their pair and the Muggle has two non-magic carrying genes. This might occur if the magical parent is a half blood, or a pureblood that is particularly inbred.
In the given example children from this coupling are likely to be about half and half, that being that about half of the children will be magical, and the other half will be non-magical. This is the basic theory, however in the last decade or so muggleborn scientists examining the phenomena have discovered a third possible gene, the 'Squib' gene. That is a magical gene that instead of allowing the control of magic, merely carries the ability to pass it on to any offspring the carrier of this gene has. Let's go back to our example couple; any non-magical children resulting from the couple will have two squib genes instead of the 'non-magic' gene, everyone following so far?"
The nods around the class were mostly tentative, with only Harry and Hermione (Who both already had a grounding in the theory) giving a strong answer. Umbridge seemed satisfied, and Harry suspected she wasn't particularly well versed with the subject matter either.
"When two of these squib genes meet in a new child, a guaranteed magic carrying gene is the result resulting in fully magical offspring. Because of the nature of the squib gene it breeds true through generations, meaning that even if a non-magical child bearing the squib gene couples with a muggle, the result will be a child with another two squib genes in one hundred percent of cases. This means that the squib gene can be passed through dozens of generations of totally non-magic folk until it finally comes into contact with either another squib gene or a magic-carrying gene. This is how muggle-born students come about; two muggles, both carrying the squib gene, couple and produce a magical child, because of the nature of this genetic nuance all children from two non-magical parents bearing the squib gene will be magical, and will carry two magic-carrying genes."
Next to Harry Hermione was nearly humming with excitement, Harry had to admit that he wasn't too far from that point himself.
"Curiously then a non-magical parent with both squib genes coupling with a magical parent that has a single non-magic carrying gene, actually has a lower chance of producing magical children then two non-magical parents with both squib genes each. As a squib gene interacting with the non-magic carrying gene will produce another offspring with both squib genes, but no controllable magic."
Harry frowned as a thought came to him and he raised his hand with a thoughtful expression.
"Yes Mr Potter?"
"Ma'am, if this is true then why is my aunt non-magical, if my mother was muggleborn and magical then surely my aunt should be too."
She fixed him with a thoughtful look.
"There is every chance that she is in fact magical Mr Potter, from what little I know of your home life there is also every chance that she intentionally denies that side of herself, thereby weakening it, or alternately is simply too weak magically for her to be magical in any meaningful sense. The only situation where she would not be magical would be if Lily Evans was adopted."
Harry sat back in his seat a little more heavily than he intended and slumped slightly, thoughts running through his mind like wildfire, consuming all in their path with the doubts of his mother's parentage.
"It is worth noting that just because a child is magical does not mean that it is powerfully magical, that tends to come from a variety of other factors, not least of which the soul of the individual in question. This may indicate that your aunt is in fact a squib, but I could not say for certain."
Another sip of the tonic, for the umpteenth time Harry wondered what it was, Hermione's admonishment that it was probably just a cordial to wet her throat calmed his curiosity
"Back to the original topic of the day, and what I have been looking forward to introducing to you all for some time, the theory of soul density."
Harry shot a confused look at Hermione, it was returned equally
"Soul density is a concept that seeks to explain the relative power levels of different magical beings. We've discussed how humans possess souls, but also consider that all magical beings with even the smallest hint of self-awareness also possess a soul. Some of these magical creatures are more magical than others, krups for example have very little magical power at all, and of course on the other end of the scale we have magical creatures like dragons, phoenixes and humans.
Humans have the greatest capacity for magical growth of any living creature, typically dragons and phoenixes are more powerful outright, but there are a few human magicals who have surpassed them, which indicates that the human race as a whole is capable of untold magical power. This comes from our souls, which are incredibly dense. Now this density is not related to physical mass, as far as anyone can tell souls have no physical presence. However, the material that they are made from, otherwise known as ectoplasm, can either be tightly woven or loosely woven, depending on the kind of being it is meant for.
This is of course highly theoretical but there are some experiments the French have been performing with Ectoplasmic looms and artificial soul weaving that suggests it is a very real phenomenon. The specifics of the theory are rooted in advanced Arithmancy and are too complex for even the smartest of school children, suffice it to say however that the denser the ectoplasm is woven, the more magic can cling to its fibres and produce a more magical being. "
She stepped towards her desk slowly and grasped a long staff that had been lying across it. It was of ornate and ancient make, few wizards or witches used staffs today because of their inherent lack of subtlety in a world where walking staves were rarely used anymore. The designs on the staff were distinctly eastern but Harry could not pick the location.
"This is the staff belonging to an Egyptian priest by the name of Tutehumut who lived nearly five thousand years ago at the beginning of the first Egyptian dynasty. Note the lack of animal carvings that signify one of the dynastic kingdoms. This staff is, to this day, still fully capable of casting magic."
As if to illustrate she levitated her chair with the ancient magical instrument.
"Why do I have this artefact here you ask? A story for another time, what I brought it here to show you was the soul gem in the top of the device."
With a twist of her wrist the defence teacher unscrewed the head of the staff and extracted a thin crystal that was glowing slightly.
"In days long past wizards, for there were few recognised witches in ancient Egypt, used soul gems to power their magical instruments instead of material from a magical creature. As a result these instruments are dramatically more powerful than anything we can create today. Even a squib can cast NEWT level spells through one of these devices with little trouble. Their use outside of ministry approved practitioners is banned however, because of the nature of soul gems.
This gem draws power directly from my soul, bypassing my body completely, it then amplifies it multiple times through the carvings along the haft before releasing through the head of the staff. I have used this staff a scant hundred or so times over the course of my ministry career as a researcher, each time a decent space of duration apart from the last. This is because it is utterly unpredictable, if I had not spend over a decade training to use this device the staff might have sent my chair rocketing through the roof, or nothing might have happened at all.
What our modern wands do that this staff fails to, is take our minds into consideration. When I speak the words for a spell and this staff hears them and reacts, it draws whatever magic it feels it needs to for the spell; whereas a wand also has the intent of our own minds in its process. For ancient Egyptian priests this was little trouble as their magic was more for dramatic effect than anything organised, but for modern day witches and wizards it is wildly impractical.
Why does this matter? Because it cements in your mind that the soul itself contains the magic, one way of thinking about souls is like a container of sorts, our bodies convert some of their energy into magic, which is then trapped and contained by our souls to be drawn out later to cast spells. Something to understand immediately is that souls have a limit to how much magic they can contain. It is not a fixed value and often increases steadily with a being's age and physical fitness, but it is a limit nonetheless."
Harry had an inkling of where this was going and he shared another look with Hermione, this one excited and was mirrored in her eyes.
"Going back to our discussion about the relationships between souls we can now move on to why all of this is important to our study of the undead. So far the true undead we have discussed have been examples of single souls, drawn back from the great beyond, or stopped from leaving this plane, to exist in a sort of half-life. Greater undead are universally a collection of souls, an amalgamation of many different entities bound together in a powerful union. The method through which they are bound differs per entity, Nosferatu for example trap the souls of their victims within themselves, remaining dominant and using the other souls as storage devices for power. Such creatures get exponentially more dangerous as they age. Liches on the other hand are the result of a trio of souls being bound together forcefully at the time of their death. Actually that is slightly misleading, as arithmantic theory suggests that Liches could be made from any prime number of souls, though three is most common. The most dangerous of these beings is the revenant, which constantly draws more souls from the great beyond into itself, becoming almost unstoppably strong. Finally Wights are the least powerful, though that is like saying Albus Dumbledore is less Powerful than Merlin, they are both strong individuals only differing by one or two percent of their potential. A Wight will claim the soul of a living creature by sucking it out through its mouth, then bonding with it internally. They will only do this once in their existence though that is still enough to make them terrifyingly powerful."
Harry had a thought but it was answered immediately by the teacher.
"For those of you who noticed the similarity with Dementors you are partially correct, Dementors are, for one, not undead but rather living creatures that feed on ectoplasm, the only similarity is the method by which they feed, though even that is misleading as Dementors will literally suck the souls from their victims, whereas Wights will often trick their prey into kissing them or lure them into giving up their souls of their own free will.
If we understand that a creature's soul is its container for magic, then having multiple souls bound together obviously greatly increases this potential. However the increase is not linear, it is exponential."
Umbridge turned and began drawing something on her blackboard with a piece of chalk, typically she would use her wand for such a task but she was either too passionate about her topic or too distracted to notice.
"Each soul involved lends its own power to the bond, so for two souls this would be, typically, about double the normal value. However, the bond is equal to more than the sum of its parts, adding the combined values of the souls within it to the total added value of all the souls. Let's assume for a second that the value of a soul is 'one' in a normal soul bound, with two souls, we would then add the value of the souls together, that being two, then add to that the total value of the souls again, essentially doubling it for a final value of four. But this becomes more complex when we add more souls into the equation."
She stepped back from the board to reveal a strange looking tree with values bunched up in pairs.
"Souls naturally pair off, even in bonds of more than two souls, and this has a strange effect on the way power increases in large soul bonds occur. One simple, somewhat over simple if truth be told, way of describing the situation is by viewing any soul bond as a collection of smaller soul bonds where each pair of soul bonds individually adds it's worth to the whole. When we had our original pair of souls we determined, again assuming that the souls had an arbitrary value of 'one' that the total value would be four, each of the souls, doubled. But what happens when we have a soul bond involving four souls? Each of the souls would contribute its value to the bond, in this case four, then both of the pairs would contribute their total value to the bond, in this case eight, that being two bonds of four total, then the bond as a whole would double that value again, four, plus eight, doubled is twenty four. As you can see this quickly gets out of hand, even when we're assigning such a paltry and arbitrary value to each soul for the sake of explanation.
Suffice it to say that every pair of souls within a soul bond dramatically increases its power. This is why Litches are significantly less powerful than either Nosferatu or Revenants, because with only a prime number of souls they cannot ever have a perfect set of pairs. Regardless even with two souls a soul bonded couple, such as Mr Potter and Miss Granger, can expect to be roughly four times as powerful as anyone else in this school, and with Mr Potter's personal power levels I would estimate that value at being something like twelve or sixteen times higher than anyone else here."
Needless to say that Harry and Hermione had a lot to think about that night as they lay in each other's arms.
-:-
Christmas had arrived and as such, both Harry and Hermione were excited to be going home as they boarded the Hogwarts express for the trip back to Kings Cross. It was still somewhat new for Harry who had spent many years dreading being at home. Most of those memories were thankfully gone, though to this day he still lived with the scars. Dan and Emma had kept regular contact with their children, as they verbally included Harry in that category, and had intimated that they had exciting and surprising news for the two when they got home. Apparently it was not news one shared via owl, got home. Emma was apparently at home cooking a welcome home dinner as, typically, it was rather late when the train docked in the station and only Dan would be there to greet them.
The two teens were of mixed feelings, they would miss their personal quarters at Hogwarts dearly as the space had very much become a second home for them, and the rambunctious camaraderie of the regiment would be sorely missed by both Harry and Hermione over the winter break. Moreover Harry realized that he still did not know his adopted family as much as he would like, he had barely spent seven months in Emma and Dan's company since he had met them. It was a strange feeling for Harry; he had never really known any kind of family. But now he found himself craving that knowledge like a man in the desert craves water.
Hermione in particular was feeling acute trepidation as there were a great many members of the Regiment who had un-warded homes, and were unable to afford wards to protect themselves and their families. There were few Muggleborns left and those who were had stoically gone home with grim casts to their eyes. Hermione had discussed financing the warding of the homes of those who could not otherwise do so but after checking the costs via Gringotts they found that even Harry's trust vault was too meager for even a single ward scheme, the Grangers were truly lucky to be living under the aegis of the Fidelius charm.
Harry had dispensed personal portkeys as much as he possibly could, Dumbledore had given him around a hundred that were linked to the entrance hall at Hogwarts with the intent of him giving them to the members of the Regiment who were unable to ward their homes so that they and their families could have a modicum of safety.
Hermione watched her man as he reattached a mechanical leg to one of his automatons, in some freak accident of magical programming the tiny thing had leapt gleefully from their window on the seventh floor of the castle, and without Harry's magic nearby to sustain it, it had disintegrated in mid-air. When Harry had eventually taken the time to retrieve it, it had been little more than parts to be reassembled.
The weather had been getting steadily colder, that morning had been the first time in some time that Harry's back had outright refused to work, and he had been immobilised on the bed until Hermione had been awakened by his distress. The weeks to come would be a trial that would be new to their parents. Dan and Emma knew academically about Harry's infirmity but had yet to see it first-hand, and Hermione knew that seeing what Harry's wounds could do to him was a humbling experience.
She had never met anyone more driven in her entire life. He had learned the Patronus charm at the age of thirteen, had personally battled Voldemort to a standstill, and had almost singlehandedly transformed a motley bunch of school kids into a passable, if yet untested, fighting unit. Yet he could be felled to such a fragile state that he had to rely on her for even basic locomotion. She was still searching for a permanent cure for Harry's issue. She had been experimenting on him using back braces charmed with temperature control enchantments that were designed to alleviate the problem but he always managed to throw them in his sleep, slipping out of them or outright tearing them. She understood now why he had always slept shirtless.
She had suspicions that a surgical thread stitched into his back with the required enchantments would fix the problem but the process would need to be repeated daily as the charms would wear off on such material with a great deal of rapidity. In the end there were no easy solutions to the problem and for the time being she would continue to support him wherever possible.
She wouldn't ever even think twice about this, she was happy to help him, for he deserved every ounce of her esteem and respect, and every bit of help she could possibly give.
-:-
Once the automaton was repaired Harry turned his gaze to his beloved who was rushing through thoughts so quickly he couldn't get a good idea of what she was thinking about, he would need to delve into her mind completely to get any idea of her mien at this point, doing so however would likely derail her thoughts and make the exercise pointless. It was a curious side effect of the bond that they had noticed, that when they were fully merged their natures averaged out somewhat, taking away their natural specialties and weaknesses and bringing them closer to an even keel. While this was sometimes beneficial, more often than not it was actually something of a hindrance. One example of this was Hermione's blindingly fast thoughts, she could do this all day long on her own, but if they merged together as one, then her thoughts would slow dramatically as Harry's own slower, more methodical thought pattern merged with her own.
Because of this quirk of the bond they often chose to remain separate, as much as being together was something of a transcendent experience they chose to take advantage of their strengths, while compensating for each other's weaknesses, without having to sacrifice both.
So it was that Harry waited patiently for Hermione to finish whatever it was she was thinking about as he simply gazed at her and took in what he saw. He had always been aware that Hermione was an attractive young woman, even in their first year he remembered commenting at one point that she was 'cute, in a pointed sort of way', that memory had garnered much teasing from her after she had spotted it last January.
Now however his soul mate had blossomed into a beautiful young woman with a sort of rough elegance that Harry truly appreciated. She was not the refined beauty of Daphne Greengrass, bred into her by aristocratic tradition, or the ethereal, magical beauty of Fleur Delacour. She was the natural, diamond in the rough, beauty of the girl next door. She had a modest bust that suited her slender frame, her hair now fell in gentle waves with the daily application of the charmed hairbrush Fleur had given her so long ago. Her eyes sparkled with emotion no matter her mood and her teeth, now straight and, to Harry, perfect, gave her a most attractive smile.
Her cheeks had a natural blush to them that was without the artifice of makeup and her skin which bronzed so easily often fell back into beautiful fair porcelain in the winter that made Harry's heart race when it was pressed against him in the moonlight. Many times he had pressed worshipful kisses to her shapely calves and thighs and feathered such gentle caresses over the backs of her hands and wrists which were delicate, though often ink stained.
In short she was an example of modest beauty, the upper end of normality, the fairest of the average, and Harry loved her for it. She was not an example of unattainable beauty, or blessed with an hourglass figure that would grace the magazines of young men's shame. She was just Hermione, and to him she was perfect.
Idly he wondered as to her thoughts; what concept was her brilliant mind mulling over? About the only academic pursuit Harry bested her in was Arithmancy in the magical world, and Mathematics in the muggle, though he was approaching her skill in runes. In all other things of the mind however she far outstripped him. If he were a jealous man he might be offended by her intelligence, or even threatened by it. But to him it was just another unique part of the young woman he had fallen in love with and he would not begrudge her, her intelligence for all the gold in Gringotts.
Truly he would rather live as a pauper with this beautiful, smart and wondrous woman by his side than as a rich man without her. It was almost unfair that he got to be both wealthy and blessed with companionship. As he watched her eyes became focussed once more and she leaned forwards to claim his lips with a chaste but emotional kiss. His arms slipped around her and she shuffled forwards into his lap for a heartfelt and soul searching embrace of arms and lips. When finally they parted he fixed her with a warm gaze and quietly thanked her for her unfailing support and love.
-:-
The rest of the train journey passed in silence as the two teens held one another in the compartment and waited for the station to come into sight. When at last it did they made their way calmly from the platform and wended their way through the holiday throngs on the muggle side of the station to find their father. The car ride back to Oxford was a quiet one of small bursts of comfortable conversation between those who are both at ease with one another and of easy companionship themselves.
When at last they reached the small Oxford townhouse and they made their way inside they were greeted by the warm embrace of Emma Granger who held them close and actually cried with happiness at seeing them again. The words that came from her mouth however were something of a shock.
"Oh I'm sorry you two, what must you think of me blubbering like this the moment I see you again, it's these pregnancy hormones I swear."
Harry's mouth dropped open and Hermione let out a rather uncharacteristic squeal as she launched herself back into her mother's embrace. Hermione's shocked question filled the room
"How?"
It was only a single word, but it was expressive, Harry and Hermione were both by now aware of why Hermione had been an only child, till now, and it was a mystery as to why it would suddenly change. Emma shot Dan a happy look and he replied somewhat sheepishly.
"Well it turns out that when we went to that school of yours and the nurse there gave us the once over when your mother had a fainting spell when you disappeared into the maze, she must have set my swimmers straight again with some of her magic because when we got home and erm… Well let's just say we were both rather surprised when your mother's monthlies didn't turn up this month."
Hermione moved passed Harry to launch herself instead into her father's arms and Harry moved back a step to let Emma passed as she joined her daughter and husband. For the first time Harry felt left out of the group, he felt like the outsider in this family, unneeded. Would this be the son they had always been wanting? Would he be pushed to the side, forgotten again? Shunned even? He tried to feel happy for them but all he felt was the crippling doubt that had been beaten into him by the only family he had known before the Grangers.
Unaware of his own actions he fled upstairs and locked himself in the bathroom before casting a silencing charm and collapsing against the wall, desperately trying to steady his now frantic breathing.
He had no idea how long he sat there in the darkness, his knees clutched to his chest and his breathing rapidly approaching hyper ventilation, before a pair of soft arms wrapped around him and held him firmly. It was not Hermione, her embrace was somewhat more familiar, but this one was just as earnest.
"We will always love you Harry. Never, ever doubt that."
He raised his head to look into the concerned gaze of his adoptive mother, her eyes shining with supressed tears. Suddenly Harry felt awful, he hadn't so much as congratulated them on having a new child, especially when they had both been resigned to that never being a possibility. This was as much a Christmas Miracle as he was ever likely to witness and he had spat all over it with his jealousy.
And even then his thoughts were shunted aside, filled instead by Hermione's concern as she finally fought passed the blocks he had accidentally erected between them. She reassured him in her own way that what he was feeling was not his own fault. It was an appropriate psychological reaction from someone with his upbringing and none of the Grangers blamed him for it.
He hugged Emma back then, taking from her the comfort she was offering and, quietly, expressing his happiness that she was pregnant. It was genuine too, now that his panic had passed and the built in reaction had faded, he truly was happy for them.
That night one of the scars of his past healed, it was not a physical scar, but it was present nonetheless. Never again would Harry fear abandonment. And when John Morris Granger joined the world and the Granger family had a son of their own blood, he would be a younger brother to Harry, and for all intents and purposes, Harry would remain their oldest son.
-:-
AN3: This chapter was awkward to write, not necessarily hard, but it required multiple rewrites to make sure the information was correct, and even then I had to resort to an author's note below. That and debating whether to have the regiment form now or after the Christmas break took up a lot of my deliberation and writing time. For once the lateness of this chapter can be entirely attributed to its own merits and not my laziness. It's still bloody annoying that it's late though. As a final note I did mention in the last chapter that this one would expand more on Umbridge's past, although there was nothing overt we did touch briefly on something important though it's hidden. (If not very well)
AN4: WARNING: MATHS AHEAD. Skip this if you hate mathematics
The explanation of soul power was slightly awkward to translate into words, so for the sake of clarity here's the tree diagram
24 - Total bond value
4 | 4 - Each pair of souls in the bond
1 1 | 1 1 - Individual souls in the bond
Each tier of the tree is equal to double the sum of all the tiers below it, for example here's a three tier tree:
144 - Total bond value
24 | 24 - Total value of all the pairs
4 | 4 | 4 | 4 - Value of all the pairs individually
1 1 | 1 1 | 1 1 | 1 1 - Value of each soul
Here we can see that not only do the souls themselves pair up but the pairs of souls pair up as well bonds with an odd number of souls or pairs look like this:
30
4 | 4 | 2
1 1 | 1 1 | 1
Dramatically less powerful than it would be with another three souls. For the direct example of Harry and Hermione we're going to have to use a bit of algebra. The average person's power will be represented by 'S', Harry is about four times as powerful individually as the average witch or wizard, and Hermione about double, making their individual values 4S and 2S respectively, in which case their power levels in the bond would be about 12S (2(4S+2S)) or twelve times as powerful as the average witch or wizard, for those wondering on his own Dumbledore is about 8S in this story, and Tom Riddle (I.e. before the crazy shenanigans that made him what he is) was about 6S, and for those who are super curious when Fleur bonded to Harry briefly the total power Harry had at his command in the graveyard was the total value of Harry's bond with Hermione, plus his own bond with Fleur, where Fleur is about average, that total would be about 66S (I.e. Harry's bond with Hermione (12S) plus Harry's bond with Fleur ((2(4S+S))=10S) for a total of 22S, plus the total value of each of their souls (11S) for a total of 33S which is then doubled to 66S, or sixty six times as powerful as the average witch or wizard, and Harry was only just drawing even with Voldemort. Even though there are only three souls involved, this is still different from a normal bond of three people together, because it is actually two different bonds being formed, and Harry had access to both of them. Curiously actually would have ended up more efficient than if they had bonded together as a whole. Weird how maths works.
For those interested in a straight up formula it would be (2(a+b) for a 2 soul bond where 'a' and 'b' are the values of the individual souls, for a four soul bond it would be (2((2(a+b))+(2(c+d)) + (a+b+c+d))) God almighty that is a lot of brackets. Enterprising individuals would not have to try too hard to come up with formulae for larger bonds or bonds with odd numbers, I whipped these up on the spot.
AN5: Review Responses
Jkarr: Thanks for your review!
Shadow Dragon: Harry's personal power levels are a mixture between his personal fitness and awkwardly enough, good genes. The collective power between him and Hermione should now be obvious, especially if you read the Author's note above. As for Dark/Light Magic I'm not sure. I grew up with a roleplaying background and, as such, the idea that 'dark' magic is inherently evil is ingrained into me, that said Harry hasn't really learned anything particularly 'light' yet either. I need to deliberate with myself on this further. As for animagus after the war? Absolutely, there's no reason for them not to when they have nothing but time on their hands. One could argue that instead of tinkering Harry could be working on the transformation, but Harry uses that time as stress relief, and I highly doubt that learning how to force your body into another shape would be anything but stressful. Anyhoo thanks for your review, and as always feel free to PM me if you have other questions or ideas.
Vegasman: Thanks, appreciated!
IcySneasel: While I don't absolutely loath the stories where Harry is practically God Mode embodied they aren't my cup of tea to write, and more than that they're typically smut stories, which I'm pretty sure people have figured out this isn't. As for Umbridge she's sort of like Moody for me, a side character who never really got developed enough. In canon Moody has something like twenty lines of text, (I don't count fake Moody), and when he dies I felt less sad than I should have. And Umbridge as I have previously stated is something of a disappointment in canon. I fully intend to reinvent both of them.
Dragonmistressofredemption: Epine is in fact going to be a pain in the ass, 100% confirmed 2014. As for Umbridge's motives? I think I can probably confirm that she has ulterior motives, most people should be able to figure that out anyway, but I'll also say that they could have serious consequences if her motives aren't fulfilled.
Beyondthesea: Poor Fleur indeed, I often loath myself for what I'm doing in regards to her with this story. But I can confirm that she has, if not a happy ending, then at least a less painful one.
Deathday Party: Firstly, awesome name. 10/10 would read again. Secondly, I always reply to my reviews if at all possible, I'd like to take a moment to thank you for your review on 'World of Deceit' as well, it legitimately made my day. The idea of someone recommending my story to someone else makes me more than a little giddy. Finally, thanks for your words of encouragement and praise, there's very little for me to respond to in the reviews themselves except to thank you for the time you took in reviewing, they really are wonderful to read.
Firewolfe: Of course Fleur hasn't had a lot of choice, that's why her storyline is so damn tragic. I've deliberately made her storyline a heart plucker, mostly just to see if I could, but also for the same reasons I killed Ron off in like, the fourth chapter, it's just one more think Harry has to motivate him to slaughter Voldemort and Valmortis like the rotten swine they are.
Alright Folks that's it for another chapter, I hope I didn't break too many brains with this one. As always, thanks for reading and other Shenanigans, seeing that views counter tick up each morning really is the best feeling in the world. As a side note recently 'World of Deceit' ticked over 250,000 views which is frankly a staggering achievement for me and I'd like to thank everyone who's contributed to that number. It's a bit over ten thousand views a chapter, which when you think about it is on average ten thousand people who've read fully through the story, which is really, really, really cool.
Tune in next time for Chapter Nine: Cold, where some of Harry's mistakes come home to roost and Valmortis lashes out at the wizarding world in the hopes of freeing up some of Voldemort's resources. See you next time!
LGreymark
Footnote: Ugh, this time it was the word "Soul" that was used a hundred times, gahhhh