Frankie's Law of Mastery is the bane of any mage who wishes for a quick, no nonsense way to learn hoards of spells. Sure, a mage can learn as many spells as he or she wants (up to the fifteen hundred spell mark), provided they don't master any. The mastery of a single spell takes the mental equivalent of learning a hundred spells.
Occulumency is a requirement of anyone who wants to be a true master of spell craft. The trick is to decide what to master before Occluding one's mind.
"Sectumsempra is a spell that was developed by Severus, an old friend of mine," Lucius explained, "the spell uses your wand movement to direct the cut, like a sword."
Mastering this spell took no time for Nicci, who had been taking fencing lessons with Draco for weeks. It was a Malfoy family tradition to be skilled with a blade.
Ginny, on the other hand, was having trouble visualizing the spell properly. After every mediocre attempt, she got more and more distressed.
Nicci, after mastering the dark cutting curse to her father's satisfaction, went to comfort her betrothed.
"Don't be discouraged, love. It takes a great deal of apathy to master the dark arts, which is why I think of my birth parents, who abandoned me, whenever I attempt such a thing," Nicci explained. This made Ginny's eyes widen, and then narrow in thinly veiled contempt. With a snarl, she points her wand at one of the target rats. What she does next causes both Nicci and Lucius to raise an eyebrow.
"Crucio," the poor rat never stood a chance. All of Ginny's hatred of Nicci's birth parents was funneled into her abrupt mastery of the Cruciatus curse. "Sectumsempra," in finally mastering the dark cutting curse, she mercifully decapitated the rat, ending its suffering.
"That girl has one hell of a temper," Lucius commented. Too shocked to speak, Nicci merely nodded. Once over the shock, Nicci wrapped Ginny in her arms, holding the red head. The water works followed, being typical for a first time of coming down from the dark magic high.
"Ahem," interupted Lucius after he gathered himself. "I know what you are feeling now, but let everything except your deep-seeded hatred, and undying love, flow out like a river, forgotten. Love and hatred are the only emotions worth keeping. Anger makes you rash and sadness makes you depressed, while hatred makes you cold and calculating. Love keeps you from becoming too cold."
Nicci focused on her love for her new family and Ginny, as well as her hatred for her old family. Everything else, she pushed away.
Ginny focused on her love for Nicci and her in-laws to be, as well as her hatred for Nicci's old family. Everything else, she too pushed away.
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Lucius pulled his daughter aside. "Ginny is going to be a simple case. With her fiery temper, which is easily tempered into hatred, she will be a prodigy worthy of Severus when it comes to the dark arts. You, on the other hand, are like Albus. You would never think of using your hatred unless someone you cared for deeply was in danger. Am I right?"
Nicci nodded. "You are correct, father."
"I figured as much. Albus only mastered five "dark" spells before Occluding his mind. A variation of the dark cutting curse, that is inferior to Severus's in every way; Fiendfyre; the Killing Curse; Morganna's Blood Rite; and a spell to summon the Grimm Reaper to do the caster's bidding. This was a time when he was still with Gellert in the quest for the Deathly Hallows."
"How do you know this?" asked Nicci.
"I have this knowledge because once upon a time I was Albus's apprentice," explained Lucius. "Albus took to lacing his lemon drops with an alchohol so potent that it makes Firewhiskey look like Butterbeer – in fact, he had to have them made in Northern Ireland since it is illegal to make or sell such brew inside the British Commonwealth.
"Anyways, Albus cannot hold his liquor any better than his gamekeeper, Hagrid, can. Which means I got regaled with tales full of information that he would have never given sober.
"But back to the point. Besides those five dark spells, he learned five light spells and five neutral fire spells.
"The light spells all involved love just as much as the dark ones involved hatred. He mastered the Patronus Charm, which requires a memory filled with love to master fully; the general healing charm, which requires great compassion and love for the patient to master; the spirit raising charm, a modified cheering charm, which requires love for the target to master; the life giving charm, transfering life force from the caster to the target, which obviously requires immense love for the target to even work; and the soul healing charm, healing wounds in the target's soul, which requires undying love for the target to so much as do anything.
"For neutral fire spells, he mastered the incendious curse; the flagration hex; Passion Fire, which is neutral due to its ability to be either light or dark on the whim of the caster; Merlin's flame, which is more of a projected aura than a spell; and fire bending, which is the wandless manipulation of fire.
"I will be telling Ginny what Severus mastered before Occluding her mind," Lucius concluded, "It is better to use a list that fits one's personality than to use the entirely balanced approach that the prevailing wisdom of the book recommends."
"Yes, Father," Nicci said sarcastically in mock submission. "I live to hear your words of wisdom." The barking laughter that escaped Lucius's mouth was foreign to anyone who knew the regal man.
"Okay, okay. No more," Lucius said, "my laughing muscles aren't ready for this kind of abuse. Anyway," his face grew serious, "You are dismissed. Your homework is to compile a list, of thirteen more spells to master, on your own time. I'll have Ginny master her final twelve by the time you are even done with your list. The reason is, Severus mastered his first fifteen in five days, while it took Albus that long to finalize his decision on which fifteen to master. You are so much like Albus that I, quite frankly, worry for your long term sanity. Ginevra is so much like Severus that I, quite frankly, am terrified by what the depth of her hatred could do if it went untempered by love."
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"Young Ginevra, before learning any more dark magic you must, as the muggle saying goes, check yourself before you wreck yourself— you must master the Patronus Charm." Lucius goes into full out instructor mode. "The true Patronus requires neither a wand nor an incantation. It requires naught but a memory filled with love and the proper intent. The incantation for the inferior version means 'I expect a protector', which is the intent behind the spell. That incantation is 'Expecto Patronum'. Once you master it, you'll be able to use an Anglicized incantation like 'Expecta Patronus' to further power the spell. An emotionally charged spell like the Patronus is hindered by a Latin incantation, but empowered by an Anglicized one.
"First step: dwell on the memory in which you've felt the most love. Allow it to fill you just beyond the point of overflow." This was an instruction.
With a faint blush, Ginny closed her eyes in deep concentration. By the time she opened her eyes, her form was covered with a translucent, white glow.
"Good," praised Lucius, "Now is the time; push your magic with intent. Say to yourself, 'I expect a protector'!"
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Meanwhile, Nicci was in research mode. She left no spell book in the Malfoy library shelved. She also fell into her habit of talking to herself while reading.
"So Merlin found a way to get around Frankie's Law, interesting. So you can use mastery of related low-powered spells to automatically master one of high-power. Adding mastery of Avis and Serpensortia to my mastery of Incendio will make me automatically master Fiendfyre as a combination of three masteries. Better write that down…
"Yes, of course, mastery of the killing curse and the cruciatus curse will automatically make me master transmogrifian torture. On the other side of the spectrum, mastery of the cheering charm, combined with mastery of the shield charm and mastery of the animation hex, will make me automatically master the Patronus Charm. I don't know…"
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It was for five days that Lucius taught Ginny while Nicci hashed out her mastery list.
At the end of the five days, Ginny had mastered, on top of the three she already had, the Patronus Charm, the Imperious Curse, the Killing Curse, Bombarda, the Bat Bogey Hex, the Disarming hex, Levicorpus, Reducto, the Shield charm, privacy wards, the levitation charm, and the summoning charm.
By that time, Nicci had her list ready to go. She decided against combining masteries since it was an inexact science with huge consequences of failure.
She went with the Patronus, Morganna's Blood Rite, Morganna's Thrall, Avada Kedavra, Fiendfyre, Passion Fire, Fire Bending, the Life Giving Charm, the Soul Healing Charm, the Cheering Charm, the General Healing Charm, Zeus's Lightning Bolt, and Morganna's Rage.
The system Ginny favoured is very efficient and utilitarian, while the system that Nicci favoured is very drawn out and property based.
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"So, now that young Ginevra has mastered her list, I shall guide her in constructing an occlusion mind-scape. This will instantly occlude her mind and allow you both to master Nicci's list," said Lucius.
So Lucius showed Ginny how to Occlude her mind. After Ginny's mind was occluded, she showed Nicci how to master the Patronus. Mastery took the rest of the summer, because after having her own mind Occluded, Nicci insisted on mastering the others that Ginny had done to begin with. That, and meditation to make sure their Occulemency progressed enough to allow them to start learning by the time September rolled around.
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The Malfoys plus Ginny met briefly with the Weasley clan at Platform 9 3/4.
"Arthur."
"Lucius."
"I take it your family is enjoying the television that Mother so graciously installed?" asked Nicci, trying to break the tension.
"They are," Arthur confirmed.
"Hello Father," said Ginny cooly, "has work been going well?" There is a stunned silence, as the Weasleys take in Ginny's high class dress and demeanor.
Her attire was probably the simplest in her new wardrobe, but a huge improvement over the rags she used to wear. She wore an emerald green summer dress under black outerobes that could pass for a long-tailed coat. On her face, she wore a pair of fashionable sunglasses. Her ears were now pierced and from them now hung cross earings made of white gold. Around her neck sat a golden chain necklace that matched Nicci's in its pendant proudly displaying the Malfoy family crest. On her feet, she wore expensive dragon-hide boots that looked like normal high-end fashion boots.
"Wow…"
"looking good…"
"Sis."
The twins, Fred and George, grinned at Ginny, who rolled her eyes at their antics.
"Come on, Nicci. If my family isn't gonna do much more than gawk, we might as well go find a carriage." Ginny reasoned.
"True, our parents can do whatever," Nicci said, grabbing Ginny's hand. The girls run to the train, hand in hand.
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"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Lucius demanded as soon as the girls were out of earshot.
The Weasleys shook their heads.
"Arthur you ignored your daughter's polite small talk in favour of gawking at her with the rest of your clan," Lucius explained, "because of this, the girls decided that we weren't worth any more of their time and left after my daughter said, and I quote, 'our parents can do whatever'! Both girls have been tutored extensively by my wife on noble educate, including noblesse oblige. They know very well that ignoring a question, no matter how insignificant it is in the grand scheme of things, is a huge breach in educate."
"We aren't noble!" Molly Weasley said.
"Actually, we are," Arthur corrected, "our house is disgraced yet elder. Elder houses are noble, disgraced or not. We simply haven't taught the educate to anyone but our heirs since the time we were disgraced. I should have; however, foreseen that Lady Malfoy would teach them to a future member of her house."
"She is as good as a member of our house already, what with the Chief Warlock ordering the contract to be active," said Lucius.
"That just means they have to be together," said Arthur, "They could be together at the burrow just as well as they are at Malfoy Manor."
"You forget, Arthur, the contract puts the decision on where to live entirely up to them," said Narcissa, "I wonder how anyone could ever get homesick while living in the lap of luxury."
"Home is where the heart is, and I'm sure Ginny still loves her family. Love is selfless, love is kind, love is patient, love is blind," Lucius reminded her, not believing that Ginny would want to go back to the burrow, but also not wanting to start an argument to ruin the mending relationship between the Malfoys and the Weasleys.
"Dad, why was Ginny wearing Slytherin colours?" asked Ronald, Arthur's youngest boy.
"Why wouldn't she?" Arthur asked.
"Mum says Slytherins are evil!" replied Ron.
"That generalization is a bit far-fetched. Evil is not defined by what house it's in, it is defined by what it does," explained Arthur, "a person is not evil just because they are from the house of the ambitious and cunning. Slytherins are only evil if their ambitions are evil. Just like Gryffindors can bravely do evil things, Hufflepuffs can be loyal to evil, and Ravenclaws can learn to be evil. Similarly, Slytherins can have good ambitions, Gryffindors can bravely do good things, Hufflepuffs can be loyal to good, and Ravenclaws can learn to be good."
"Too… much…information, brain…hurts," moaned Ronald.
"Slytherins can be good, Gryffindors can be bad, Hufflepuffs are followers, and Ravenclaws are evil swots until they learn to be good," Lucius summarized.
"Thank you, Mr Malfoy," Ron said appreciatively.
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Meanwhile, our heroines sat in a carriage across from two "evil swots", and one "follower", with whom they were chatting with amicably.
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On the other side of town, an apparently Muslim man seemed to have a psychotic episode. "It is at Hogwarts, my precious. I must retrieve it. My own, my love, my… precious!"
AN: Disclaimer – if you recognise anything, I don't own it.