The Second Trial: The Lost Library

Chapter 2

AN: Fleur only opened up to Harry after he pulled Gabrielle out of the water. Since that didn't happen, I don't want to hear any complaints about her being 'too cold'. That will be resolved.

"Welcome Harry James Potter and Fleur Isabella Delacour to the Lost Library of Alexander the Great."

At these words spoken with an ancient inflection Harry rolled over onto his back, wondering why he isn't dead, and who is speaking. He looks up and saw a man standing there. This man was about 5'6", and he has a rugged, dangerous air about him. His face had scars, obviously from battle wounds, and he had yet more scars upon his arms. He was wearing an armored vest, arm bracers, an armored skirt, shin braces, and sandals with straps wrapping around his calves. Normally attire of this nature would be subject to a few laughs, or at least a couple quite chuckles. On this man, it made him look deadly. On his head he wore a crested helm, and his dark hair could be seen peeking out around the edges. He had piercing pale blue eyes, and most disturbing of all, he was smiling like a small child.

"I'm sure you have many questions, but let me finish the introductions first, please. I am the Avatar of the Library, composed of the memories of Alexander the Great and his teacher in law and magic, Aristotle. You may call me avatar, or if you prefer, Alex. As you can see, you are not in fact dead. The fifth challenge, like all the rest, was a very powerful illusion. It was designed to see what you are at your core. Anyone with an intelligent mind can figure out the first four tests and pass them without actually meeting the requirements. People have been tested before who already knew the secrets of Magical Sight. They have all failed the fifth test, because at their core they cared more for themselves than for others. You, Fleur and Harry, have proven to have the moral fiber needed to safely pass on the knowledge of this library to you. That is what the tests are for. Upon you completion of you training here, you shall become the new guardians of Alexander's Library."

By this time both Harry and Fleur were standing, and Fleur spoke up in her melodic voice, asking "What do you mean 'after we have completed out training?' I need to get back to the school. I'm in a tournament right now, and I don't have time to be abducted by some ancient relic."

As she spoke in her accented English, Alex began chuckling. When she finished, he said, "That is the fire I have been looking for. Fear not, for while you will spend years here, only days will pass outside."

Feeling a bit ruffled at being forgotten, Harry spoke up "Sir, how can we spend years here and not have years go by? And why would we spend years here?"

Alex turns back to Harry and answers, "How do you think this library is in such good condition after these millennia? This Library was cast out of Space and Time as the final act of Alexander when he was lying on his death bed. While you are here, you will only be loosely tied to your time-stream. I do not know the exact relationship, but from what little I've seen so far one hour will pass for every month spent here. And because your stilled tied into your time stream, your bodies will age as fast as they do in the real world. That is how you will spend years here, and only age a few days. Now, as to what you'll been doing here, I must first ask you what you know of Alexander the Great."

Fleur immediately spoke up in her dulcet French tones "he was the greatest wizard warrior in recorded history. He is recorded to have slain the vampiric covens in Macedonia, defeated the muggle warlords of Persia, and ended the tyranical magic Army of Ra in Egypt."

Alex smiled again and said "you know well your history, child of sky and fire. But do you know how it was that Alexander was able to defeat these previously overwhelming forces?" seeing Harry and Fleur look away, he continued "He was a master enchanter. When Alexander learned of magic, he was nor very adept at the expressive magics, what you now call charms, transfigurations, hexes and curses. But he was an adept student at the subtler fields of magic. He was a master Mind Mage, and he could brew magical potions well. But where he truly excelled, and found his passion, was in the art of enchanting. Some of the campaigns Alexander went on were simply so that he could raid the tombs and collections of other enchanters. This library was built to contain all the works on enchanting Alexander could find, steal, buy, take, and write. It was trough his enchanted armors and weapons that his soldiers were able to overcome these great armies. And it is now your turn, Harry and Fleur, to show the world what power lies in enchanting."

Fleur spoke out now, still on edge after the tests, "alright, so zis is an old library about enchanting. Why are we to be confined here?"

Alex looked at her with a serious look on his face, "Enchanting is one of the most dangerous field of magic there is. A careless enchanter will not accidentally harm a child. A careless enchanter will accidentally destroy half of a city. You have proven yourselves responsible enough to wield the magic of enchanting, but until you have proved yourselves masters, you will not be released. It would be the same with handing a sword to a child. The child may be of good heart, and would never willingly use the sword to harm his friends, but until he is trained he will be a danger to all near him. Now come. You must be tired after those tests. I'll show you to your rooms, and tomorrow I'll start teaching you the basics of enchanting."

With that Alex walked through an archway, Fleur following without looking back. Harry followed, knowing he didn't have much choice.

Fleur woke up in her bed, and spent a few minutes putting her thoughts together. Her mind was still spinning after what she had learned yesterday.

She stretched, and slowly got out of bed, smiling at the unique mixture of old and new culture. She slept in a large bed, with an honest-to-god spring mattress, and yet she only has the opportunity to take a bath, there aren't any showers. These baths are large, similar to the old communal baths of ancient Rome, but there are two sets, for each gender.

Fleur grabs a towel from her wardrobe remembering Alex explaining that each wardrobe could supply the controller (the one who slept in the room) with any item of cloth that was required, but to be cautious because the clothes would only last a week before disappearing. Fleur, not being accustomed to wearing anything but her school robes repeatedly, found that this wouldn't be a problem. Any clothes put in, aside from the actual clothes they came in, would disappear when the door was shut. Alex had warned them to take care of their clothes, because that and whatever they enchanted were the only things they could take from the library when they left. Fortunately, their clothes would age at the same rate as their bodies, so if they left in a few years, the clothes wouldn't be moldy and decaying.

Wearing only a towel (and smiling inwardly at the gob-smacked expression on Harry's face) Fleur walked to the baths.

While she was relaxing in the bath, Fleur was thinking over what was on today's agenda. "I can't believe that we have the opportunity to become enchanters! There are only a handful of master enchanters in the world, and they only do custom work because of the rarity of enchanters. If I become a master, then my career will be set."

Once Fleur had let out all the bubbly emotions and young girl fantasies of being an enchanter, she recomposed herself and walked back to her room to get dressed. Seeing as today would be a day for learning, Fleur decided to wear her school uniform, as it had become a habit after 6 years of schooling.

As she walked towards the Kitchen, remembering the oddities of the kitchen from last nights tour, she was surprised but pleased to find a breakfast for two set out. Until she realized that Harry was probably just trying to impress her, and then she looked at the breakfast more critically. After a few moments, she found her criticism that would allow her to eat alone, without directly letting him know that she knew he was trying to woo her. After all, that is what all males who spent any time with her did.

Adopting a haughty stride, she looked at the food, snubbed her nose at it, and said acidly, "so you think this a breakfast. Pah. I'll show you what a real breakfast is, and I'll expect it to be set out every day before I arrive." She didn't really expect him to make her breakfast every morning, but it made for a convenient reason to keep her distance from him.

With that Fleur walked over to the bread pantry, and similarly to the wardrobe, mentally requested a baguette and two croissants, and pulled out the breads. After gathering some strawberry jam from the fruits cupboard, she sauntered back over to the table and placed her bead and jam in front of Harry. She told him what each item was, and what it tasted like. She then poured herself a cup of the tea he had brewed, and deciding that she had been harsh enough today, genuinely complimented him on the tea but asked for a weaker blend the next day. Harry took the criticism with a stoic face and didn't respond in any way to her other than to pay attention. After breakfast Fleur led the way to the atrium, where Alex said he would meet them to begin the day's tour and lesson.

On the way, Harry asked her "Um, Fleur, what were the challenges like that you went through?"

She turned to him and stared at him. When he didn't wilt after a full minute, she gave him a single tally of respect but answered caustically "that is a very personal question. If I ever decide to tell you, it will be by my choice and not your pestering." With that she turned around gracefully, acting as though nothing had happened, leaving a confused and subdued Harry to catch up to her.

When they arrived at the Atrium, Alex beamed at them, which stilled looked vaguely out of place on his warlike mug, and immediately turned around and began walking through the halls of the library. He began speaking as he walked. "This library was originally built to be Alexander's private enchanting Lab, but he decided that it should grow into a Library, and he spent years designing and enchanting the library until it is what you see today." He stopped and unlocked a door, before handing the key to Fleur, then walked through the door saying "this is where the common grade materials are stored." It was a long hallway with many doors down each side, each door engraved with a name. "behind every door you will find the usual materials used for low to mid level enchanting. Each material though, was harvested from the finest quality stock around. There" and he pointed to a book next to the entrance, "is the index off all the materials in this wing. There are many more rarer and volatile materials that are stored in other rooms, all of which are locked. If you want to get some of them, you will have to ask me first. I warn you, that attempting to open the doors with magic will not only alert me to the attempt but will teleport your back to your room, where you will remain locked in until I see fit to let you leave. Fleur will hold the Key to this room, but you are both allowed to make use of any materials you find in here."

He walked out of the material storage and continued down the hall. After a ways he unlocked another door, this time handing the key to Harry. He smiled at them and said as you can see, you will have to work together to get any work done while you are here at the library." He pushed open the door and walked through, Harry and Fleur following. "This is the primary carving and shaping lab. There are also labs for smelting, growing, and constructing. You will be granted access to those labs when you have shown sufficient proficiency with this one." He pointed towards a bench at a large table, and then at a large rack containing chisels, hammers, saws, and a number of implements neither Harry nor Fleur immediately recognized. There was also another table that held a number of vices and serviced for holding objects in place. "This will be where you turn the raw material into the object that you will eventually use. You will find that when crafting objects, if you allow your magic to suffuse your mind and body, your final result will be of much higher quality than your experience would otherwise indicate." (1)

He walked onwards, opening a final door and showing them the library proper. "This is where 80% of the books on enchanting are stored. You will find through our lessons and your reading that enchanting is as much instinctive as it is knowledge based. Now let us sit over there" he pointed at a table with chairs "and we will begin the days lesson."

Once they were situated, but before he could begin his lecture, Fleur asked "Sir, what is the final goal of this? You said that we would be allowed to leave once we had shown mastery over the lessons."

Alex smiled and said "I wondered how long it would be until I was asked. The final project is for you and Harry to make each other a suit of armor and a paired weapon. There are two secrets to this undertaking that you will have to discover through your learning. But we won't even begin planning those projects for years. Knowing how intelligent you both are, I would be surprised if we were here for more than ten years. I'm expecting about seven or eight years, but you could easily prove me wrong."

Harry and Fleur's eyes bugged out at this, not having realized that the time scale was so vast.

After they had calmed down somewhat Alex began the lesson. "Enchanting is currently the only known form of magic that is permanent. Warding, as it is called, is merely the enchanting of groups of objects to act as a boundary in some way, keeping specific things from passing in, out, or both. Runes, though they are ancient, are nothing so much as a poor attempt at replicating true enchanting. Runes were developed by people over the ages that had developed magical sight but didn't understand enchanting. They observed how magic was shaped when certain spells were cast and certain enchantments were activated. They then, through trial and error, found that by carving similar paths into objects and pushing magic through those paths they could replicate existing spells and enchantments. This is not enchanting. True enchanting is actually the reverse." Here he paused, and seeing that both of his students were attentively watching, he asked a question.

"Harry, what would be the reverse of runic magic as I have described it?"

Harry thought for a minute, and finally answered, questioningly, "is is making the magic flow how you want it and then binding it in place?"

Alex smiled and said "close, Fleur?"

Fleur though for a while, having had the same though as Harry, and finally shook her head.

Alex smiled and said "well Harry was nearly right, but what enchanting truly is, is finding the natural flow that acts in the way you desire and attaching it to your object. Runic magic is forcing and unnatural flow upon an object. With true enchanting, every enchantment will be unique because each base material will be slightly different, and that will change the flow. You will also find that the inherent intentions of the object will influence the enchanting. It will be far easier to enchant a sword to strike true and cut through all than it would be to enchant a boot to start a fire. A sword is made with the intention of cutting, slashing, and stabbing things, while a boot is made to protect the feet, not start a fire. You will spend about half of your time learning to imbue your intentions into the object you are crafting, and about half your time learning to find and attach the natural flows to your object."

And with that Harry and Fleur became absorbed in the lesson where Alex showed them a few simple enchanted rocks and taught them the beginnings of enchanting.

It was a week later and Harry was reflecting back on the week he and Fleur had lived so far in the library. He was cooking some eggs on the stove, still exasperated that the kitchen could conjure complicated food like eggs and cheese, but could only conjure them at room temperature, and so he was stuck cooking whenever he wanted to eat a hot item. After the second day, when he had obviously surprised Fleur by preparing her breakfast and even joining her in having a French breakfast, they had agreed that they would trade off days for cooking, and today was his day, so he was trying a mixed English and French breakfast, with eggs, fresh fruit, toast, and tea. He sighed as he thought about her cool exterior. A few times during the past week Harry had managed to surprise Fleur and she had reacted normally those times. But the rest of the week she was still cold towards him and barely acknowledged his presence.

After another frosty breakfast, which Harry though was a little less frosty as she accepted the mixed breakfast instead of the traditional English breakfast he could have made, they headed off to the library again. They had spent most of the week practicing Magical Sight while the other cast spells, of describing the enchantments on various objects around the library. The rest of the week had been learning the basics of carving and shaping stone, wood, and soft metals. Harry was surprisingly better at crafting, while Fleur was better at seeing with her Magical Sight. When they entered the library today, they found Alex standing instead of sitting at the table.

"Follow me. It is time to show you to outdoor room." He said with some excitement. As they followed him, he explained "I know how tiring it can be to learn every day even when you enjoy the subject. To that end, I am giving you both the seventh day of every week off, where you can work on personal projects, sleep in, write a book, or my personal favorite," and as he said this he stopped in front of a pair of twenty foot doors, the kind often seen inside a castle for the throne room, "the outdoor room. It took Alexander two years to design this room, and another year to enchant it. If you're wondering where he found the time, there wasn't much to do on a march, and this kept him occupied."

With that he swing the doors open showing Harry and Fleur one of the most beautiful sights they had ever seen.

It was a meadow, with a clear blue lake to the left, a forest surrounding it, and a mountain beyond the forest.

Alex said "the limits of the room are approximately thirty miles in each direction, though if you climb to the top of the mountain you will see farther than thirty miles. As you get within one mile of the edge you will feel a pushing sensation, encouraging you to go back. If you go the final mile you will walk into the wall of the room. The ceiling is approximately three miles up, and everything within the room is real. Everything beyond the walls is an illusion. The animals are constructs enchanted to act like he actual animals, but they are not real. They will however bleed out and die if you slay any of them. The room will reset every time you leave it, so if you kill a horse, say, you can leave, and when you walk back it will run around like it was alive again."

Harry and Fleur were speechless; this was so far beyond anything they had ever dreamed was possible. Alex saw the stunned looks on their faces, and said "Alexander was a true prodigy. He was a natural enchanter and had a strong connection to nature. I seriously doubt that anyone will ever be able to recreate a room similar to this. I do not expect you to enchant anything this magnificent, for this was the culmination of Alexander's life's work. He saw this as his penance for the death and destruction he inflicted upon the world, although it was necessary at the time."

Harry and Fleur just looked at each other, and slowly walked into the outdoor room. It wasn't until that night that they realized they had spent the entire day together enjoying the replica of nature together. This surprised both of them, Harry hat Fleur was nice for the whole day, and Fleur that Harry had never tried to take advantage of her, as she expected him to as a male.

It was now the first day of the third week, and Fleur was excited. Today they would begin their first enchantment. It would be simple. They merely had to enchant a door to lock whenever it closed. Harry and Fleur had both made small doors, about one foot by two-and-a-half feet, and once they had mastered this enchantment they would be ready to move on to further enchanting.

Alex told Harry and Fleur to watch with their magical sight as he enchanted his own door to lock whenever it closed.

They sat there, having only master two days ago the art of adding Magical sight to their other senses, instead of only using magical sight or the common five senses. They both watched as Alex slowly pushed magic through the door, through the frame, and through the lock. They watched how he let the door guide the magic, how he didn't force it. They watched how the magic changed when the door closed, and how he bound that change into a trigger for the enchantment. They watched as he locked and unlocked the door, and watched as he carefully bound the process of locking to the trigger of closing the door, causing the trigger to make the door initiate the lock once it was closed. He continued pushing the magic through the door while he opened it and closed it, and when the door locked, he smiled and tied the ends together in what he called an infinity knot, a magical loop that allowed enchantments to last indefinitely. They watched as he pulled his magic out and tried the door again. When it locked they closed off their magical sight and applauded Alex.

He told them to got eat some lunch and rest, and they realized that they had been watching him for four hours. After a subdued lunch, they both began attempting to enchant their doors, one at a time, with the other watching so they could both learn from the mistakes one made.

It took three more days before Fleur successfully enchanted her door, and it was the next day when Harry finished his.

It was now one month into their stay at the library, and Harry was watching Fleur with his magical sight as she attempted to enchant a plate to warm anything on it at a key word. It was the seventh day of the week and Fleur was working on a side project that she had gotten approval for from Alex. She apparently wanted to be able to take some food into her room and have it stay warm if she didn't immediately eat it.

While Harry watched Fleur's attempts at enchanting the plate, he thought back over the last month. He had been having a great deal of fun learning the art of enchanting with Fleur. He still didn't know what to make of Fleur. At times she seemed treat him cordially and be ready to be his friend, and other times she seemed to wish he has failed one of the tests so she could be out of his presence. He sighed and wished he could break through her shell. He thought had figured out last week why she would have a shell that she presented to the world. He thought it was somewhat similar to his fame from being the boy-who-lived. He guessed that as a veela, she would be looked up to and adored by most of the males of her school, and would be hated or ignored by the females. He guessed that she had built her cold shell to keep the sheep from affecting her. but Harry wished she would left it down enough to see that there were people who were willing o get to know her. It had only taken three days of close contact for Harry to overcome her passive veela aura. Surprisingly he found that watching her aura interact with his magic core taught him how to ignore it, even when she turned it up some. She had yet to give him a full blast, and Harry was thankful, because he wasn't sure he could resist her full allure, but he knew he could resist her passive attraction.

'What is she doing? Oh, she must be getting frustrated. The magic flow is writhing. I think she's going to lose this attempt. Wait! Is she trying to force it?! Oh shit!'

Fleur was getting frustrated at this plate. It just wouldn't cooperate and nicely heat her food. It kept jumping strait from cooling her food to burning it. As the flow writhed once more she tried to grab it and force it to follow the path she knew would work. Then she felt if leap out of her magical hands and rush towards her. 'Oh no! this was the magical backlash Alex had warned us about.' She only had time to close her eyes as it hit her.

Thump

"Auughh!"

'Huh? That didn't hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would. But why did it hit my right shoulder?'

As she thought this, she realized that the noise hadn't come from her, and as she opened her eyes she felt dread rush down her spine like ice water.

There, lying on the ground before her table, was the unmoving form of Harry Potter. And he was lying in a growing pool of blood.

AN: (1) this idea, and the general idea of what intention really means, will be expanded upon in future chapters. But this will be where I allow magic to make the difference between two teenagers trying to craft, say, a sword, and a master swordsmith crafting a sword. Because the masters sword would beat their swords every time, and there is no point in Harry and Fleur having shoddy equipment just because they haven't devoted their life to metalworking.

As I have told on reviewer, I am open to constructive criticism, and I will happily discuss any aspect of my story with anyone brave enough to dispute something I have written. I will not abide flamers, because there is no reason for anyone to bash a story. Grow up people.