AN: "It's raining tacos!"
They entered the Magical Menagerie and were welcomed by an old witch, as well as a large number of bad smells and loud noises. At this time the shop had many people inside. The first thing that caught his eye was a glass box with a beautiful black, hooded snake he couldn't recognize. That slowed him down as he immediately began devising a plan to get Augusta to allow him to buy it. The next thing he noticed was an owl. This owl was mostly snow-white and looked amazing.
"Well, Harry," said Augusta. "Severus told me you can speak parseltongue," She held up a sheet of paper. "Which is very surprising indeed, and I know you might want a snake considering this and I'm not going to fight it. Just try not to buy one too big, okay? You still need to take it with you to Hogwarts. No Green Anacondas, understand?"
Harry was very surprised at this but didn't fight it, glad to be free to choose. Before buying the owl and snake, he went over to the snake to talk to it, grinning at how peculiar the situation was.
The snake seemed to be resting, but the flit of its tongue told Harry that it was still awake. As he approached, it opened its eyes and looked right at him.
"You taste different from other humans." It hissed at him, mostly to himself (as it was male).
"I would expect that, since I can talk to snakes." Harry replied. The snake blinked.
"You can talk to me?"
"Yes. Are you venomous?"
"Very." He said proudly, opening his mouth wide. Harry looked in awe, then said,
"If I get you out of here and let you out of the box, will you attack any humans?"
"Only if they attack me."
"Will you attack me?"
"Only if you attack me."
"What should I name you?"
"I already have a name. I am Thana."
"Very well. How would you like to leave this store, Thana?"
"I am cold inside this glass box. I don't want to be cold anymore."
"How about you wrap yourself around my chest to keep warm."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, just don't try to squeeze too hard. I'll get you a big glass case with a warming spell as well."
"Thank you."
The real reason why Harry didn't just put him in a big warm glass case is because he only got to feel a snake's scales once. That, and he didn't like the idea of such a powerful thing being boxed up. These things should be free. Anyway, Harry bought Thana, ("That snake is a Black King Cobra. Try to be careful with it," said the witch.) And the snowy owl, which he named Hedwig, kept the owl in the cage, but unlocked the door for it. For some reason, it didn't fly away. Thana went inside Harry's robes (The witch at the front almost fainted and several people stared) and wrapped himself around his chest, only slightly restricting his breathing. His head was just under his throat and inside his cloak, positioned low enough so that no one can see him tasting the air, but high enough so that he could breathe. Don't want someone freaking out about a snake being down his shirt. Harry ignored his pleasant; "You're warm," Simply relishing this new and unique experience he was having. Luckily, his robes were baggy enough that Thana didn't stand out under them.
They continued on to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to get dueling holsters. There were several types of dueling holsters to choose from. One type was spring-loaded with a string that went around your middle finger. Another was a simple grab and release mechanism that you triggered just by flicking your arm. Another was one you would want to wear on your opposite wrist because you had to manually pull out the wand. Harry and Neville both got the one with the grab and release mechanism, since it was much faster than the simple holster and there was much less chance to drop the wand when compared to the spring-loaded holster.
Harry and Neville, now done with their shopping, practiced readying their wands in the shop. They worked well. After every time they readied their wand, they had to push it back up into the mechanism so that they could draw them again. It was fast and unlikely to activate accidentally if you punch something, since this one also had a string that held onto your index finger functioning as a safety. All you have to do is point your hand straight with your arm and flick it, and the wand is in your hand. The holster itself was encased in metal to protect the wand when not in use. When they left the store, Harry noticed a boy walk in with almost white hair and a scowl. Later they got ice cream and then went home.
-oOoOo-
Immediately upon entering the mansion, Harry took the giant glass box out of his bag, filled it with sand, put it on a downstairs bedroom table, and put Thana into it. He slid down Harry's left arm into the box like it was a ramp. He then took Hedwig's cage and set it next to Thana's box so that she could gain some warmth from it as well. Speaking to Thana, Harry said,
"I don't want you hurting this owl, Thana. And if other owls come to deliver mail, don't hurt them either. I don't care if you get out and roam free, but try not to kill Neville, Augusta, or Neville's toad. In fact, I would prefer that you didn't roam around the house, though you could roam around the room. Also, remember that there could be birds of prey outside, and black stands out among the bright green grass."
"Ok." Thana said.
"Hey, what does your name mean?"
"Death." Thana said, opening his dark green and slitted eyes. "What is your name?"
"Harry." He said simply. Thana closed his eyes
"Hello, Harry."
"Hello." He said, just before he left the room to take all of his other stuff into the bedroom. Then, he lay in bed and took out the letter Snape gave him in Gringotts. He read the note on the front again, made sure no one was around to spy on him, then lay on his bed, opened it and read it. As he was reading it, Thana came out of his box, got onto the bed and positioned himself next to Harry's head in such a way that allowed him to see the letter, too. This is what Snape wrote.
The Room of Requirement is on Hogwarts' seventh floor across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. To use it, walk past that spot three times thinking of what you need.
Absorbing this, Harry thought, 'Well, that gave me no mental picture. What's a Barmy, anyway? I guess I'll have to get to Hogwarts before I can know what they are talking about, which means if I burn this, I'll forget about it.'
That is why Harry ripped off any extra paper from the sheet before hiding it in his book on wandless magic as a bookmark. Thana curled up on the bed instead of going back to the box, likely preferring the soft blankets to sand, which didn't sound natural to Harry, but he went with it. Having the book in his hand and nothing else to do for the day, he began reading, 'A Complete Guide to Unaided Magic, book 1.' This is what it said.
Make no mistake. When we say 'unaided magic', we do not mean, 'any magic without a wand', we mean 'any and all magic that we can use without a tool to channel magic,' meaning that we are only dealing with magic that comes from us and is affected by no material before reaching its target or taking effect. All such magics are naturally non-verbal, as they do not require you to communicate to your channeling device, such as a wand, though those who have been chosen by a wand are capable of casting wand-based magic without a wand (given they have the necessary focus), as wands have been known to leave subtle magical imprints on those they bond with. We will be dealing first with unaided magic alone, focusing only on minor spells of each branch of unaided magic, and then move to using unaided magic in tandem with aided magic in the setting of a duel.
Before any of this, however, the reader needs to know that each spell inside this book not only can be modified to suit their needs, but take great amounts of concentration. One's thoughts must be bent on the spell and what effects you want the spell to have or it will either fail or change. There is no exception.
There are five branches of Unaided Magic: Light Magic, Nature Magic, Shadow Magic, and Soul Magic. Dark Magic is impossible with Unaided Magic and it seems that it can only come about when one uses a device to twist the magic coming from us into a different form. This suggests that Dark Magic is simply a twisted form of Light Magic or Shadow Magic. All Unaided magics can be mixed amongst each other for a broader range of effects for the caster's choosing.
For example, if you attempt to heal someone's cut, and go about it by thinking, 'I want to cause this man's skin to grow closed,' on top of recalling powerfully positive memories or feelings, then you would be using the healing aspect of Light Magic and the healing/growth aspect of Nature Magic in tandem. This would double the effectiveness of your spell. If the powerful feeling or memory you are recalling is loving by nature, then the spell can triple or quadruple in speed and be powerful enough to save someone from dying, even if they are only seconds from death. This doesn't include injuries that kill immediately, though you still can revive your target if you stimulate the heart with minor bursts of electricity, using the energy aspect of Nature Magic after healing their physical injuries. If you become skilled enough, the example above can be limited to just thinking the word 'grow with energy' and engulfing yourself with a near-euphoric sense of love for those being healed. This technique is highly difficult, but can be stimulated by a modified cheering charm, and when cast successfully has been confirmed to revive several victims at once whose bodies were in hundreds of pieces before the healing. The amount of concentration required, however, is so vast that it leaves no room for the caster to protect himself and the spell will be disrupted at the slightest distraction, ending all hope for those you wish to heal. Also, the spell must begin moments after death. Now, on to descriptions of the individual branches of magic
Light Magic is a branch of magic that is fueled entirely by positive emotion. The only limits to this branch are how powerful your emotions can get and your imagination. There is also the problem one faces when trying to destroy something with Light Magic, as it is nearly impossible to do this while keeping your mind untainted by negative emotions weakening your Light Magic spells in the background. Light Magic has two aspects besides typical Light Magic. The healing aspect and the pure aspect. The pure aspect itself has two of its own aspects besides typical pure magic. Self sacrificial magic and positive soul magic. Self sacrificial magic has a resurrection aspect, and positive soul magic has a soul-healing aspect and a resurrection aspect. We will not speak of resurrection magic in this book, as it allows for too many evil forces to return.
Nature Magic is a branch of unaided magic with five aspects. Energy Magic, Growth Magic, Water Magic, Fire Magic, and Wind Magic. It has been reported that Earth Magic is also included in this, but those reports did not allow for the consideration of an unaided form of levitation, which is a rare magic to develop and is so weak when unaided, it is almost not worth mentioning in this book. This magic is fueled by your imagination and sometimes even your life energy, though usually in small amounts. If you plan on using extreme amounts of Nature Magic, enchant yourself with this spell (Protectus Lifus). This spell causes you to faint before you use up enough life energy to kill yourself, causing the spell to fail and allowing you to recover. Nature Magic can be made more effective only by practice. Every magical human has the ability to use all kinds of Nature magic, but they must continue to use it in order to make their abilities more powerful.
Shadow Magic is a highly effective form of unaided magic, allowing many uses. Shadow magic has no aspects and is fueled almost entirely on your imagination, and can only be improved by practice. This branch of magic carries so much potential that its limits haven't been discovered by the time this book was written (1934). It is, however, the most difficult form of magic to develop unaided. Without aid, it could take months to be able to bend shadows. With aid, however, you could begin learning how to use Shadow Magic immediately. The two most common ways to aid yourself in this is to either witness the death of another without causing the death yourself or being imbued with shadows. It is important to note that you cannot murder another person before developing the ability to use Shadow Magic, as that would greatly inhibit your ability to develop it.
Soul Magic is a unique form of magic very closely related to Mind Magic. It is magic based off of empathic bonds between the magic-user and any conscious living thing. It cannot directly cause harm to another, but those who have bonded with others will experience negative effects when their bondmates die. This has been dubbed 'Separation'. The effects of Separation depend on the type of bond, and will be described in full when reading of those types. Though this particular branch of magic has already been naturally developed in every conscious life form, it is rarely used and is the most difficult, yet the most stable, form of magic to master. The most powerful naturally-occurring form of a Soul Bond is that of a veela. When bonded to a veela, all you need to strengthen the bond is for you and the veela to explore the bond together, and separation causes death between a few hours or a few minutes, depending on how powerful the bond is
Harry stopped reading there, excited. This book just laid it all out in front of him! He decided to explore Shadow Magic first. Rather than keep reading the book, Harry sat up in bed, stroked Thana, and looked at the shadows that were cast onto his bed by a tree outside. He figured that since he saw his mother die in front of him, he may have the ability to use it. He concentrated only on the shadow, imagining it lifting off the bed. It took a couple of minutes, but it worked. However, he didn't expect it to come off the way it did. Instead of coming off as a black leaf, it came off like small coils of black smoke. At first, he thought he had started to burn the bed, but this disrupted his concentration and the 'smoke' immediately stopped. When he had begun to pull the shadow up, the shadow on the bed became brighter, like he was depleting his supply of shadow. When his concentration was interrupted, the shadow almost immediately became dark as the rest again.
"That was a good first try," said Thana. "Try again."
"Maybe instead of trying to just lift the shadow, I should pull the shadow into my hand like a vacuum?"
"That would be best, because then you might be able to use it."
"Ok." Harry said, trying again. It took only a couple of seconds this time. The shadow came off just like smoke and went quickly to his hand and formed into a ball of black smoke-like shadow. However, since he was focusing on the shadow of the whole tree, the tree's entire shadow was pulled and stuffed into this now extremely dense package of shadow. Harry felt it humming with energy. He had to let it go. Just then, Neville walked in, saying,
"Hey, Augusta wants to teach us about some…. What is that?"
"It's a ball of shadows."
"How do you do that?" Neville said, causing Harry's mind to race. Recalling what the book said, he decided to aid Neville in learning about shadow.
"Catch this." Harry commanded, tossing the ball to him. Instead of obeying gravity, the dense ball went straight forward and hit an unprepared Neville in the stomach. When it hit him, the ball released its shadows, making a WOOOSH! Sound, like a fireball, and spewed smoky shadows everywhere, slightly darkening the room for a moment. When this happened, Neville said "Whoa!" and ducked a little too late.
"What was that?" Neville asked seriously.
"It takes a very long time to develop the ability to control shadow unless you have watched someone die without killing them yourself or have been hit with a ball of shadow. I don't feel anything different. What do you feel?"
"My bones are tingly." Neville said, repeatedly opening, closing, and shaking his hands.
"Awesome. Let's begin learning how to use it."
-oOoOo-
Two days later, Harry and Neville were called to wake up by Augusta, got ready, and left for Hogwarts. For the past two days, Neville and Harry had been studying how to use shadows by reading the book and applying the concepts. They got pretty far, for two days of constant study, but barely made a dent in the material. About a fourth of this 1,500 page book is dedicated to Shadow Magic and even then the detail is vague. Harry told Neville about the Room of Requirement and they both agreed that they should use it to study this and other forms of magic with others, as soon as they could find it. With Growth and Water Magic, however, they decided to use the Hogwarts grounds.
Harry and Neville had both traveled by floo powder for the first time, and nothing serious went wrong. Harry went first. Thana was wrapped around Harry's chest and Hedwig was in her cage. They were late and the train left moments after they got there. As a result, every compartment had at least one person in it. They found a compartment with only one person in it, a girl. Harry thought that she looked extremely familiar. Neville asked,
"Do you mind if we sit with you?"
"No," was her quiet answer. She leaned against her arm, watching the scenery move by. They sat down and she looked at them.
Harry recognized her, "Oh! Hello Hermione."
She looked at them, eyes widened, "Hey, you! You're Harry Potter, and you're…."
"Neville Longbottom." He said quickly.
"Ah, yes, Neville. So, what happened after our meeting in Malkin's?"
"Harry got a snake, we got our -"
"Whoa! Harry! A snake?" She said in part wonder, part curiosity. Seeing the box, "But, did you lose it? Or are you not taking it to school?"
"No. Do you want to know where I have it?"
"Yes."
"Neville, can you shut the compartment door -"
A voice came up from the hallway, "Wait, wait!" A boy with red hair and many freckles showed up at the door, out of breath and gasping for air, "Wait...Can I….. Sit in your compartment?"
"Is that alright with you, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Of course."
Harry began again, "Cool, so close the door and pull the blinds, Neville" He did so.
"What is your name?" Harry asked.
"Ron."
"Ron. Do you know how to keep a secret?"
"I have loads of brothers and a sister. Keeping secrets is something I do every day."
"Very well, but I'll curse you if you tell anyone about this." Harry threatened, now very serious. Ron gulped.
"Uh, OK." He said. Hermione was beginning to wonder what the secret was. Harry spoke again
"Good. Now, what I want you to do is remain calm. He is poisonous, but he is also a living being, and I want you to treat him with the same respect you would treat a human. Understand?"
Hermione caught on. "Wait, do you mean the snake, Harry?"
"Yes." Ron seemed to relax a little,
"Oh, well, by the way you said 'he' and 'poisonous', I figured you had a pet spider or something. Glad that's not the case."
Harry spoke to Thana, "Come out of my cloak, Thana." Hermione and Ron gasped, Neville knew that he was a parseltongue, but hearing it was still strange. The king cobra came out through the opening of the neck, sliding across Harry's shoulders until he could rest comfortably on them. Thana said,
"Gripping your chest all the time takes too much effort. My muscles hurt." It only registered to the other three as a pattern of hisses.
"Harry, you're a parselmouth!" yelled Ron.
"SHH!" Hermione complained, "You aren't to be telling people!"
"Uh….Oh. Sorry." Ron said, face turning about the same shade of red as his hair.
"Um….Does she have a name?" Hermione asked.
"Thana." Harry replied. Hermione's eyes widened.
"You named him Death?"
"No, that was already his name. You wanna hold him?" Ron was violently shaking his head, but Hermione seemed curious.
"I think so."
"Hermione, did you know that that is a king cobra?" Ron warned
Hermione's eyebrow arched at him, "Yes, I also know that Harry is a parselmouth and that snakes don't usually attack humans without being threatened. Speaking of which, can you calm down?"
Ron took a breath and Hermione held out her hand, palm down. Harry said to Thana, "She wants to hold you."
Thana replied, "Ok." He slithered onto Hermione's arm. She gasped and grew incredibly still.
To Hermione, Harry said, "Try not to excite him." and to Thana he said, "If you feel uncomfortable, just come back to me." Hermione started to giggle and her face turned red. In an awed whisper, she said,
"Oh, wow this is so cool."
That seemed to calm down Ron, who asked a question. "Hey Harry?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have a lightning-shaped scar on your forehead?"
"Yes."
"Cool." He said smiling a little. "I can't believe I'm sharing a compartment with Harry Potter."
"I can't believe I'm holding his snake." Hermione said silently.
"Hold your arm out to me," said Harry. She did.
To Thana, Harry said. "Come to me, Thana." And he did so, but instead of resting on Harry's shoulder, he used his shoulder to lift himself up to his glass box and settled inside of it, saying, "I'm tired."
"You can open the shade and compartment, Neville."
"Ok."
Harry spoke to the group. "Would you guys like to make a club that studies unique forms of magic together?"
Hermione and Ron, convinced that Harry was an extremely powerful wizard, were immediately intrigued.
Ron spoke up, "Sure, but how are we going to hide it from the other teachers?"
"They are not going to stop us from studying, but I don't plan on telling them anytime soon, except for maybe McGonagall. This is going to be a very exclusive study group, so I intend on getting her to give me a sheet of paper that is cursed, anyone who signs their name on it and then tells someone that doesn't have their name signed on it get the full effects of the curse."
"But, how are we going to tell new people about it?"
"I'm going to be the teacher, so I'm not signing the paper."
"Well, why be so secretive about it when we're likely to get caught? All someone has to do is walk into the wrong room at the wrong time." Ron said, thinking.
"I know where the Room of Requirement is." Harry stated plainly. Ron just gave a blank look, but Hermione gasped.
"I know what that is! Where is it?"
"I'm not telling you until you sign the paper I've mentioned."
Hermione looked slightly disappointed, but quickly recovered, "OK."
"Yeah, but what is the room of requirement?" Ron asked.
"It's a room that gives you everything you need -" Hermione began.
"Including space, targets, and books to practice and teach magic." Harry interrupted.
"Wow!" Ron said. "So, do you have a lesson plan?"
"Not really. I want to have focus on combat and defense against the dark arts, though, as well as exploring the neglected field of Unaided Magic."
"When are you going to make it happen?"
"As soon as possible. I want to hold it from 8-10 Saturday mornings."
The room became silent for a moment as its occupants were thinking about what they could study in the class. Hermione spoke,
"What is your first lesson going to be on?"
"Introduction into Unaided Magic. I will also be allowing you guys to cast shadow magic."
"What is Unaided Magic?"
"It's magic that you use without help from a device or enchantment."
"Like without a wand?"
"Yes."
"Wow. Now I really want to attend. What are you going to name the club?"
"Probably the Defense Academy or something."
The conversation broke into specifics on it. Hermione noticed Harry's broken glasses and cast 'oculus repairo!' on them. A woman with a bunch of candy on a trolley asked, 'Anything off the trolley, dears?' Harry bought all of them sweets, but only bought a single, over-sized lollipop for himself, preferring the long-lasting flavor to the quick pleasures. However, at Ron's pushing, he also bought a single chocolate frog. He opened it and the chocolate frog hopped onto the glass. Thana was too quick for it, striking it with venom. The frog stumbled a little, but as it wasn't a living thing, it didn't die, and quickly hopped out the window. Thana made a wretched hissing sound that sounded like a strange form of growling.
"That's not a frog!" He said, shaking his head as if he was trying to shake the chocolate out of her mouth. Bits of chocolate flew everywhere. "That was disgusting! How can you eat such poison?"
A voice in the distance sounded. "Whoa! A chocolate frog just jumped into our window!" Harry paled and was hit with an adrenaline rush. The wind going around the train must have pushed the poisoned frog into another compartment. Harry got up, ran out of the compartment down the train, hysterically yelling,
"DON'T EAT THAT FROG! IT'S POISONED!" Well, that got the response he was looking for. Someone in the next compartment over asked loudly,
"What?! How can it be poisoned?"
Harry entered the compartment, beholding an extremely blonde, pale boy holding up and looking at a chocolate frog that was in the palm of his hand
"Do you see the two small bite marks? Those are fang marks. The juice coming out of it is a king cobra's snake venom."
The boy tossed it out the window hard; making sure it wouldn't get sucked in by the train's slip-stream. "Thank you for that. I wouldn't want to just get to Hogwarts to be poisoned. Anyway," and then he motioned to the two people accompanying him, "This is Crabbe and Goyle. I'm Draco Malfoy. Who are you?"
"Harry Potter." Malfoy's head turned sideways a little.
"Are you, really?"
"Yes."
"Do you still have the scar?"
"Yes," said Harry, now regretting telling them his name, as well as noticing a pattern in the conversations he starts.
Crabbe spoke up, "Wait, how did you know the frog was poisoned?" Malfoy seemed surprised at the intelligence shown in this question. Harry answered plainly.
"My snake bit it, thinking it was a real frog."
Malfoy grabbed on to this detail,
"Do you like snakes, Harry?"
"I wouldn't have one if I didn't."
"What house do you think you are going to be in?"
"House?"
"You don't know about the houses?"
"No."
"Well, there's Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. Slytherin is the best house, having those who are cunning and able to gain power. Hufflepuff are basically the pack mules and sidekicks of Hogwarts. Ravenclaw is where all the study geeks and nerds are. Gryffindor is renowned for their courage, but everyone knows that they're just cannon fodder."
Harry's opinion of this boy plummeted. The pride and ignorance required to make this highly general and offensive assessment rivals that of the Dursleys. He decided to slowly separate himself from him. "I don't know, but I guess we'll find out soon enough. Maybe if I get into Slytherin we can be friends?"
"How did you know I was going to Slytherin?"
"The way you described the houses." Harry said, walking away.
Harry didn't hear from him for the rest of the train ride. When he got back to his compartment, all three of the others were looking at him with bated breath.
"No one got poisoned." Harry said. Immediately everyone let their breath go, probably not realizing that they were holding it.
"Who got the frog?"
"A boy named Malfoy." Ron grinned at this.
"That's a funny name."
"Yeah." He went back to his chocolate frog box. There was a card inside. "Hey, who is Albus Dumbledore?"
"Headmaster of Hogwarts. Very powerful wizard. He's the only one You-Know-Who ever feared."
"Tell me about the Hogwarts houses."
"Well-" They all began at once. Hermione said, "You first." to Neville, who began.
"Um, yeah. So, there's Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Gryffindor is where the courageous and active go. Ravenclaw is where the geniuses go. Hufflepuff are of the loyal and just. Slytherin are the cunning and clever."
Ron piped up, "Yes, I couldn't have said it better. In the opinion of my parents, there isn't a witch or wizard who has gone bad who wasn't in Slytherin. The Malfoys are Slytherins and so was You-Know-Who."
Harry's emotions grew cold at this. Harry didn't want to be in Slytherin. He didn't want to be like Voldemort. He also didn't want to be like Draco. No, if he was put in Slytherin, he would rather leave the school than watch himself become corrupted by the other Slytherins. He could study magic on his own. He was brought back to the conversation by an exchange between Hermione and Ron, starting with Ron.
"I heard that we would have to wrestle a troll to be sorted into our houses."
"No, actually they put a hat on your head and it looks into your mind then tells you which house you're going to."
"How can you possibly know that?"
Hermione got her book bag down from above her and pulled out several books. "I read books."
Harry commented, "That's a lot of books you don't need."
"And I suppose you only have books you do need?"
Harry was embarrassed at this, "Actually, I bought a book on Light Magic and a book on Unaided Magic that has a focus in combat."
Hermione immediately forgot about Harry's offense, "May I see them?" Harry obliged. She looked over the small one on Light Magic only briefly, saying, "Too complicated." then opened the one on Unaided Magic and began reading. Eventually, she said, "Hmm. Interesting concepts."
Harry, hoping to focus the first lesson of the Defense Academy, asked, "Is there any particular branch you wish to learn about?" This made Hermione glow.
"All of them! I want to learn this whole book! Harry, promise me you'll get through this whole book in your lessons!"
"I'll try to get through the part focused purely on unaided magic by the end of the year, but no promises. This is a lot of material to cover."
"Will you cover all of it?"
"I'll try."
"What branch of magic are you going to be focusing on first?"
"Shadow Magic."
Hermione looked peeved at this, "But it takes months to develop the ability to use it!"
"No, it will only take a few moments."
Hermione was confused, "But….who here has seen death? Or have you met someone that's hit you with shadows?"
"When Voldemort-" Everyone except Hermione flinched
"Oi!" Ron said, instantly angry, "Don't say his name!"
"But what's wrong with -" Hermione began, and was interrupted by Harry who was addressing Ron.
"I'm sorry, Ron, but I am not going to respect the murderer of my parents by fearing him, let alone his name." That made Ron be quiet. He sat there for a few seconds, thinking about what Harry said, then nodded. "Sorry, mate. I didn't know that's what we were doing."
"'S all right, Ron. Now, when Voldemort killed my parents, I saw death without causing it. That gave me the ability to manipulate shadows, though I hadn't activated it until two days ago, and since then I had been training to use it with Neville."
"Wait, how'd Neville get the ability to use shadows?" Ron asked.
Hermione answered, "You can develop the ability quickly if you witness a death you hadn't caused or are blasted with harmless shadows that have no effect on you."
"So, you threw shadows at Neville?" Ron asked. Harry nodded
"Can you do that to us?" Hermione asked.
Harry turned to Neville, "You've been quiet all this time, what do you think?"
Neville seemed thankful for Harry's consideration, "I don't see a problem with it. Just don't blast anyone else. We don't want any untrained shadow mages killing people on accident." Harry agreed and gathered the shadows, blasting them both.
"Now, do not hurt anyone with your ability. If I find you ever do, I will speak to Dumbledore and he will determine the proper punishment for your actions." They gulped, "Now, here's how you use shadow."
All right, what do you think of that chapter? Is the book going well? Do you have any suggestions for the future of this series? Does it suck? Tell me!