Summary…Just days after the DOM a mysterious letter arrives and Harry is faced with a decision. Reject the offer and continue on the path Dumbledore has set for him or forge a new one and challenge every opinion ever forced on him.
SLASH. Creature fic, new school, Grey/Powerful Harry, possibility of Mpreg but will maybe take a vote on it…
Oh if anything else warning worthy develops I will put the warning in the authors note. I'll also try to highlight it in the text. K?
A/N…Right as stated in the summary this is SLASH so i would hope that anyone whose got to this point has got that by now, so remember if you don't like it don't read it. HBP and eventual DH spoliers, but I think most people will have read that by now, so just in case. Will mention Mpreg but it isnt likely it will actually happen in the story. Could do but i doubt it.
Sorry I havent mentioned anybody here, i'm going to try and reply to everyones review directly instead of in the chapter. The only time i'll put a reply in the chapter is when it addresses something that I think needs explaining.
Pairing news... I recieved a few more votes for ocs but Remus is still in the lead. And I am considering a threesome but I'm not yet sure whether the characters figuring out the dynamics of their relationship would ruin the story. I'll keep you posted but I will not go with the threesome unless I am entirely comfortable with it.
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Flashbacks and memories whether from Harry's life outside of Mysteria or inside it will be in italics.
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Mysteria
Chapter Nine
Harry took another bite of toast as he read the headline of the schools twice weekly newsletter. Newspaper might be more appropriate based on its thickness but that's what it was called so that was what Harry used. It had been a month now since Harry had been at Mysteria and today was September the first, the day he would have been going to Hogwarts.
Although he had come to love Mysteria he did miss Hogwarts on some level. It would have been nice to see the school again, even if it were only through the eyes of his copied self and not his own. He did miss Hogwarts but he didn't miss it enough to wish he was there, with all the people pointing and staring, all the questions and rumours. He was quite happy to let his 'other self' deal with all that. Over the last month many changes had come on the Wizarding world, what with Voldemort's return and the revelation that several prominent members of the Wizarding community were his supporters, the world couldn't help but change.
One of those changes and something Harry himself was quite happy with was that Cornelius Fudge had been replaced as Minister. The new guy was the ex head of the Auror department so he surely knew more about war time governing than any other candidate that had been proposed. Unfortunately the man's main aim seemed to be to increase the wizarding world's moral and although that was a good idea he was going about it in the wrong way. Mainly making pointless arrests, like taking into custody people like Stan Shunpike the conductor of the Knight bus. There was no way Stan was a Deatheater and Minister Scrimgeour had to know that, he was just arresting people because he felt as powerless as the rest of them.
Even though the man was a marked improvement on Fudge he still had a long way to go in Harry's opinion. Take the 'Guidelines' the Ministry had published on safety. It was a joke, code words and other rubbish weren't going to help against Deatheaters. He sighed glancing at the piece of paper clutched in his hands. Each 'newsletter' was divided into two, one half, usually the smaller half of the two contained information on what was going on in the school. I.e. Who had duelled who, who (if anyone) had died, and there had been a couple of deaths even in such a short space of time.
The other side contained information on what had been going on in the Wizarding World. It was very informative, covering several different countries and didn't give biased opinions like the Daily Prophet which seemed to be running quite a few articles on Harry at the moment.
Although little information was known on the events at the Department of Mysteries last year, where- Sirius, where Sirius had died, well even though the details weren't fully known people had guessed that it had something to do with the Hall of Prophecies. So now there were all sorts of rumours flying around, people had correctly assumed that it was about him and Voldemort. Not hard when they were both reported to have been in the building but still it was worrying. The papers were now calling him the 'Chosen One'. Urgh, he couldn't imagine what it was going to be like at Hogwarts now. He almost felt sorry for his double but mostly he felt relief that it wasn't him who had to deal with it all. His 'dreams' were sure to get more interesting from now on.
He reviewed what Headmistress Calfora had told him in their meeting a month ago.
Silay had taken him to Calfora's office. It wasn't what he'd expected. In his experience Headmasters and mistresses usually had their offices on a higher floor or in Dumbledore's case a whole tower. But Calfora's office was underground, he'd been surprised when they began descending, the marble of the upper corridors gave way to rough hewn rock covered in tiny white crystals like those in the dining hall.
After a short trip down they came to an oak panelled door, after they'd knocked Silay left him. When he entered he found himself in a similar cavern to the dining hall, only smaller and with more crystals. Hundreds of candles on both the furnishings and the ledges of crystal provided the light. He'd assumed that there'd be a window in her office, most likely an illusion like the Ministry used but Calfora didn't seem to be bothered by the lack of daylight.
Before he'd entered she'd obviously been reading over some paper work but now she sat back in her chair regarding him with her large golden eyes. A small smirk played about her lips.
"Welcome Mr. Potter, or may I call you Harry?"
"Er Harry's fine."
"Good." She smiled. "Please take a seat." She said gesturing to the seat before her desk. Her desk like the majority of the room was made of stone, behind the desk was a wooden bookcase almost a semi-circle in shape. Created by magic of course. She had a large open space with very little furniture, only the desk, bookcase and a couch, above the couch was a portrait covered in muslin cloth and in the corner was a gigantic spider web, the rest was left bare, all the better to see the natural beauty of the cavern.
"Alright Harry if you've finished taking in my office we might as well get started. After all I do have over twenty students to meet with today." She smiled as he stammered his apology. "Do not take me too seriously Harry; I am afraid I like to play with my authority. It keeps people on their toes."
She gathered a few items together from her desk, a white crystal, a roll of parchment and a small dagger. An absent minded cleaning charm was cast over the knife with a slight wave of her hand and a muttered incantation. She then handed the dagger to him and bid him prick a finger of his wand hand with it. A drop of blood was then placed upon the crystal which began to glow with a soft light.
"Very good." She said taking it and placing it on the parchment. The crystal continued to glow as it moved of its own accord over the parchment. As it moved from side to side a line of text appeared in its wake. Instead of being written in blood like he'd expected the words appeared to be seared into the parchment. Which was a relief to him, he'd had enough of seeing writing written in his own blood to last him a life line.
"Well while that finishes we had better discuss some other things. The crystal is right now listing your skills and powers. From this we will determine if your course list is feasible. It will also detail the type of learning best suited to you. It may take some minutes for it to finish so while it does so I had better explain some more about the school. As you know Mysteria operates without the consent or knowledge of the Ministry. Our Founder believed this to be the best as he had had many experiences of the outside world sticking its nose in his business. He didn't want that to happen here so he created a series of protections to make this impossible. It was rumoured of course that not only did he create its protection but that he also created its destruction. Although we have no way of knowing for sure."
"His protections were numerous and extensive. Not only did he build this school without the world's knowledge, he removed the school and the land it was on from memory. The lake and its island are all protected under the first ever fidelus charm. The secret keeper is a portrait of the Founder himself."
"Wow." Harry couldn't stop himself, that was some feat to create the fidelus charm.
"A brilliant idea in itself, the portrait was placed under a permanent sticking charm and is protected from fire and other disasters. In an emergency the portrait can choose to give temporary control to the Head Teacher or anyone it deems worthy. But further protections were needed for the professors and their students. No one can talk about the school to people who haven't attended; only the motto can be used. Neither can anyone tell another student who else has been to the school. Then there's the doubles, in your case from the moment you left with Silay an exact duplicate of you took over your life with your relatives. He will act exactly as you do in all normal situations. The only difference is that we lower the amount of initiative the double has." Seeing his confusion she elaborated. "Ok, let's say that you are walking along and see someone suspicious going into a building. Your normal thought might be to investigate; well your double would leave it alone. He will go about your business, do everything that you usually do but he will avoid any situation that might result in physical harm or a revelation that he isn't all that he appears. His personality can be tweaked a little of course if there's something wrong."
"So what about letters and stuff, why can we send them?" Harry asked, wondering why they were allowed to send and receive letters if the school was so big on secrecy.
"That is another matter, any letters sent from this school to family members or anyone who has not already been here must not mention the school by name or any classes that are not taken at other institutions. In your case I believe you know several people who went to this school, so if you were to contact them you could say what you want. That is of course assuming that you place all the relevant secrecy charms on the letter so that it cannot be read by anyone other than the recipient."
"But what about Hedwig, won't people at Hogwarts wonder where she is?"
Calfora smiled. "Not only does the spell copy you, it also copies your possessions and your familiar. The real Hedwig will bring you letters here and the fake one will take any that are sent for your double."
"So there'll be a copy of Hedwig at Hogwarts too?"
"Yes Harry."
"That is so confusing."
Her smile widened. "It's best not to think about it. Just know that your presence here is protected and no one will know where you are. I will hook you up to the web now so that you might receive your doubles memory from the last twenty eight hours."
She motioned for him to follow her; she took him to the web and detached a strand from the very centre, the strand was then split into two. She attached one strand to each of his temples before waving her hand over the web's centre. The web began glowing and a moment later pictures entered Harry's mind. He saw himself doing chores at the Dursleys before going to bed quite late. Not particularly interesting but cool when you knew you hadn't done those things. It was a whole new type of identity theft. Hhhhmmm.
"Er Headmistress-"
"Calfora." she interrupted.
"Calfora, what's to stop my double from doing something I wouldn't?" It was so easy to forget she was a Professor; she didn't talk to him like he was her student at all.
"You mean like commit a crime or attack someone?" She clarified. He nodded. "They can't its part of the spell. Harry believe me, don't worry about it we've had centuries to work out the kinks in this spell, it's safe. Trust us." She then began disconnecting him from the web.
"Now no matter what happens you will get the memories of your double while you sleep. If you have any problems come and see me."
"Um sorry but could I just ask one more question- what would happen if I had a vision of Voldemort and needed to tell someone?"
Harry wasn't surprised when Calfora didn't flinch at Voldemort's name.
"Each individual's basic requirements are taken into account. In the case of a werewolf their double would still transform on full moons. In your case if anything strange happens or you have a vision your double will notify Dumbledore."
"How do you know all this about us?" Harry asked shocked.
"The web." She answered shortly.
Harry had gotten so much information from her in such a short space of time but that wasn't all he'd learnt.
Calfora motioned him back to the desk where the crystal had finally stopped glowing. Calfora picked up the parchment and whistled.
"Ok where to start. First of all it looks like all your choices were dead on the money." She said consulting a list of his chosen subjects beside her. "It says that you have a talent for the following subjects: Transfiguration, Charms, Healing, DADA, Blood Magic, Invention of Curses, Dark Arts, Spell Casting, Necromancy, Elemental Magic/Control and Divination."
"Divination?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes Harry divination. It says here that you have a pronounced talent for the subject, especially in visions of the present. Hhhhmmm I would recommend adding divination to your time table. Leaving this gift untrained would keep it sporadic instead of allowing you to fully utilise it."
"But I can't be a Seer, I can't. I never saw anything in class."
"Harry it is against my nature to speak ill of people but Sybil Trelawney is unfortunately an underdeveloped Seer. Her gift is sporadic at best and she doesn't remember what she predicts. If she had been properly trained this would have been different."
"So are you saying that I'll end up like her if I don't train my powers?"
She laughed. "Well I wouldn't say exactly like her no, I don't think you are going to develop a taste for gauzy shawls and perfume that makes you sleepy but your gift could very well end up that way."
Visions of himself as Professor Trelawney kept dancing through Harry's head. There was no way he was ending up like that.
"Oh hell I can't believe I'm saying this but sign me up for Divination." He really couldn't believe he was doing this. "Are there any subjects that I can't take?" he asked.
"No your divinatory skills must have helped with that." Harry vaguely remembered almost instinctively knowing which subjects to take when he was making up his list.
"According to this the subjects you are most likely to struggle with are Transfiguration, Potions, Runes and Rituals."
"Erm Prof- Calfora why am I going to struggle with Transfiguration if I have a talent for it?"
"The stone says that you struggle with the theory application, that the models and diagrams employed to explain the subject are too technical for you. It says you should have one on one instruction and that you don't need to know the theory behind the spell, i.e. why it works. All you need to know is how to perform it."
"Oh ok."
"According to this you are very advanced in DADA, more so than the rest of your year but putting you into a one on one instruction with the teacher in this case wouldn't be beneficial. That subject is best learned in a group. We will leave you in the class for now. If you find the material too easy or the lessons going too slow inform your instructor and we will make alternative arrangements. I would suggest a smaller class size for potions so that the teacher can give you better guidance. Other than that a bit of hard work is all you'll need to do. Remember that teachers here only have classes with three years worth of pupils, not seven like at Hogwarts. Apart from single lessons and split classes they have a lot of free time in which to discuss things with you. Ask for their free times and pop by, that's what they're there for."
"Ok Professor, erm Calfora."
"Now I have one last thing to discuss with you Harry. As you might have guessed we keep a close eye on possible students, we don't interfere with their lives as that would draw attention to ourselves but we do watch. I am aware of your home situation."
Harry stiffened. "I'm sorry Professor but I don't see how that's any of your business."
Instead of being angry at his tone she smiled at him. "It matters Harry because this parchment has pointed out a potential problem to me that is linked to your past. Did you know that the condition of your body can affect your magic? I take it by that look you didn't. The condition of your body can cause problems with your magic. Small things like broken bones and bad healings are often fixed by your magic on your sixteenth birthday. What your magic cannot heal is the long term effects of things like malnutrition and the systematic weakening of bones by continual breaking. I know that the latter is not a problem for you but your growth has been stunted by malnutrition and I believe living in a dark cupboard for most of your life. Even though your body may not be ill in the technical sense, it is still weak as it didn't achieve optimum growth, this affects the control of magic and how much of your magic you can use. Your magical core is rather large but you cannot access it fully because doing so could make you seriously ill. That may actually be another reason why you find transfiguration difficult, the higher disciplines such as transfiguration require higher levels of concentration and power. If you cannot access your full strength then it stands to reason you would find the subject difficult. The only times when you would be able to access your magic fully would be if you were angry or upset."
Thinking about it Harry realised there were several instances where this could have been the case. Like blowing up Aunt Marge in third year.
"So what do I do?" he asked.
"I suggest you talk to the healer, either today or after your lesson tomorrow. She will likely put you on a specific diet and potion regime but the sooner you get it sorted the better. Now I believe that is all." She said glancing at the parchment one final time. "You can go and explore with your friends now if you wish."
"Thank you Professor."
"Calfora."
"Calfora." He agreed.
"Oh and Harry, before you go, when you complete your Natural Magic course come and see me again, I will have something to discuss with you."
He had taken Calfora's advice but had decided to wait until his first lesson with the healer. Unfortunately that had been a bad idea as Master Kin had tested their magical duelling abilities in that mornings duelling lesson. Harry had never been so disappointed in himself; he'd received a blistering lecture on both his weak magic level and his endurance. The Professor had expressed his disbelief that Harry was indeed the one who had defeated the Dark Lord and was convinced that if he had he'd done it out of pure luck. Not a good day.
It didn't make you feel good, especially when you were surrounded by the rest of your class and even worse your rival. Draco Malfoy had looked like Christmas had come early, last lesson he'd received a telling off and now it was Harry's turn. Chrysan, Neville and Melaisa had of course told him that their teacher didn't know what he was talking about. And although he knew they were lying through their teeth they still made him feel better.
But that wasn't the end of his lectures. His first ever proper lesson had been transfiguration and as Calfora had promised he was the only one in the class. Which wasn't necessarily a good thing as he couldn't deflect attention from himself onto someone else. He'd received almost the same lecture from Master Siva. The transfiguration teacher wasn't happy with how long it took him to learn each spell. She was very out spoken, he kind of felt sorry for Melaisa who had her as a mentor.
He'd always had trouble with transfiguration which was something he couldn't understand as his Father was supposed to be such a natural at it. It had always disappointed him a little; he wanted to have more in common with his father and his mother. But this thing about his health had thrown him a life line.
After this he'd gone to the healer, who had put him on a special diet and exercise regime. He'd complained of course, he was already doing duelling, surely that was enough exercising for anyone. But no it wasn't, so now he had to follow a diet and exercise plan, he also had to take about ten different potions per day. It was really tiresome but he had already noticed a difference so it was all worth it in the end.
His stamina had increased a lot since he'd been on the potions; he also found he was gaining a lot more muscle definition now with the exercise. He'd always been an active person but it had never seemed to make much difference to his size. Most of what he'd gained over the years had actually happened over night on his sixteenth birthday, he may have grown but still almost everyone in the school was taller than him, even the girls.
So every morning he got up and did his exercises, during this time he revised the memories he'd gained overnight. It was weird having a whole other life pop into your head overnight. Luckily at the moment it hadn't been too bad, the only interesting thing that had happened was when Dumbledore came to collect him a couple of days after his birthday and took him to the Burrow. Apparently Grimmauld place was now too much of a security risk with Sirius being dead.
It still hurt to think about his Godfather but Harry tried hard not to think about him at all. It was probably the wrong thing to do, almost like he was dismissing Sirius' memory but he just couldn't bring himself to think about him at all yet.
No, the interesting thing that had happened was his and Dumbledore's little chat in a broom closet. Harry supposed that being taken to meet a new teacher could also be classed as interesting but Harry didn't really care, it wasn't like he would be taught by the man anyway. No what was interesting was Dumbledores promise of private lessons. He wondered if he'd learn anything with the Headmaster that he wouldn't get at Mysteria, he didn't think so but you never knew anything was possible after all.
Harry took a glance at Neville to find the other boy was finally finished reading his letter from home. Harry wished he had a letter himself to read but it had only been a day since he'd sent Hedwig off with his reply to Remus' latest letter.
He'd been surprised when about a week into the term he'd received a letter. He hadn't expected to get any here at all. He hardly got any when he was at Hogwarts and since most of his friends were there and didn't know he wasn't amongst them, well he definitely wasn't expecting a letter. When he'd seen it was from Remus he'd been both shocked and pleased, Remus was Harry's last remaining link to his parents and Sirius, and his only real link to the real world. Even though the man had said he'd write Harry still hadn't expected him to. He knew himself that even after all these years he was still affected by the Dursleys treatment of him. He'd learnt to not expect anything from anyone, especially people older than him. With a few marked exceptions of course. And even though Remus was his parent's friend and his former teacher, he didn't know the man all that well really. So receiving a letter was quite wonderful, especially with all his classmates receiving several a week, some even got a letter a day. But he was used to not receiving many letters so it didn't really bother him.
He'd quickly settled into the routine here, maybe not all that quickly but quickly enough under the circumstances. So much so that after a month of waking up early for duelling he'd become used to it and now didn't feel ready to drop from exhaustion the moment he got out of bed. Which was a definite plus in his opinion. As the month had passed he'd received less disparaging comments from Master Kin about his magical duelling ability and he was getting increasing amounts of praise on his physical fitness. All in all he was improving, just slowly. Soon they would be moving on from just physical exercise to hand to hand combat and finally onto using weapons.
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The end of breakfast finally arrived and they all trouped off to their first lessons. Transfiguration went a little better than usual, at least the beetle he was trying to transfigure into a teapot didn't run off on him. It seemed quite willing to stay still, enabling him to get in a lot of practice. And by the end of the lesson he could change the beetle into a nice teapot with a totally un-beetle like pattern. Fair to well this was supposed to be an OWL subject and he should already be familiar with it, but he'd performed the spell under pressure for his examinations and although he'd gotten a good grade he believed most of that was on the theory paper. How that happened he did not know but that's what he believed.
Fortunately his second lesson, healing was much easier. He found it easy to learn the spells Healer Seele taught him. He took the lesson with only a couple of other first years. One of which was the girl werewolf. Unlike her brother she was pretty forgettable in looks. Apart from the silvery sheen to her gray eyes she had no distinguishing features. Long mousy brown hair and a thin face. Her brother on the other hand had a lean face with wild dark brown hair, his eyes were large and expressive. And he had that same silvery sheen to them that his sister had. His body was long and lean and he often moved with untamed grace, almost like he was ready to attack given the slightest provocation. His sister was a lot more submissive and gentle, healing seemed to be a subject she was very interested in.
After dinner came DADA. This ended up being the best lesson he'd had yet. Professor Marks was a werewolf, he seemed to specialise in making the subject fun. They hardly ever sat down to take notes from a long speech, they spent most of their time partnered up and practicing throwing different curses at each other and trying to block them. They hadn't had any creature related lessons yet.
Today they had a mock battle in the classroom. After half an hour of continuous fighting (Professor Marks kept reviving everyone) Harry was exhausted. With the Professor reviving everyone no one had been a winner. But that wasn't the point of the exercise so it didn't matter.
The lesson that followed was Blood Magic with Kire Halford. The subject had initially reminded him a lot of rituals. But unlike rituals everything they did involved blood. They hadn't actually done a practical in this course yet. There was a lot of theory to cover. The first thing they'd done was discuss Muggle beliefs on blood and how the blood circulated the body and so on. This part was basically for the creatures and the purebloods who hadn't had a muggle education. They then discussed wizarding and creature beliefs on blood and the uses a person's blood had been put to in the past. Apparently next lesson they would be doing their first practical, a test to see if a person could be controlled by someone using their blood in a spell or ceremony. Harry had a sneaking suspicion it was true and resolved to clean up any spilt blood quickly. That of course led to an odd thought, he still had the rag he'd used to clean up the blood of the person who'd come into his room that first night, the one Mir had attacked. It might be something to look into at a later date. He really wanted to find out who it was.
Harry's final lesson of the day was Transportation. Learning to apparate wasn't easy; it was probably Harry's least favourite thing at the moment, next to rituals.
After transportation was Survival Skills. Harry went over and sat in his usual place with Chrysan, Neville and Melaisa. In front of them were several bowls of water, each one dirtier than the last.
"Today we will be purifying water but firstly you will have to find water." Master Kin stated. "The best place to get water from is a stream; they say that the higher up you get the purer the water is. Filtering upon collection can save a lot of time later in the process, if the water is muddy take a shirt or a sock and dip it in the water then ring it out into the container, the mud should stay on the shirt. Another method of collecting water is to find a tree stump while it is raining, place hot coals upon the stump, as the wood disappears the hole fills up. Now onto the purifying. First of all we will be using a simple incantation, after that the Muggle method in case you are caught without a wand."
The incantation was rather simple. Harry, Neville and Melaisa got it rather quickly, they then spent the rest of their time helping Chrysan, he still had difficulty with most spells.
The muggle methods for purifying water were much harder.
"We begin by filtering the water. As it is unlikely you will be carrying around any type of pre-bought filter so the best way to do this is to use a piece of cotton cloth, a handkerchief or even a clean white sock. Pour the water through the filter several times until it appears clean. There are other methods but they are not as simple which means you are more likely to forget them. Your mother always told you to keep a handkerchief with you well now you know why, get to it."
Once that was done they all waited for further instruction.
"The most obvious method of purifying water it to boil it. Water should be held at a rolling boil for a specific amount of time dependent on your altitude. If you are at sea level boil the water for 5 minutes. For every five hundred feet you are above sea level add a minute to the boiling time. I realise that without your wand there is no real way to know what altitude you are at, all I can say is make an educated guess then add on as many minutes as you think advisable before stopping. Just remember that boiling decreases the amount of drinkable water you will have at the end. If it is salt water that you have, put a container in the pan (or whatever you are using for boiling), cover the pan with a lid. As the water evaporates the condensation is caught in the container, leaving the salt outside of it."
Keeping water at a rolling boil was much harder than it sounded.
"Right then the next method..." Master Kin said. "First dig a hole in the ground as wide as it is deep. Yes I'm serious the shovels are over there. Place a container in the bottom then fill the surrounding area with water. Cover the hole in plastic, preferably black plastic if you have it. Place stones around the edges to keep it tight and then place another stone in the centre, directly over the container. This method takes a long time unfortunately but as the water evaporates it condenses on the plastic and due to the weight of the stone rolls to the centre where it then drips into the container. It takes time but if you are staying in one area for a long time then it is a good thing to do even as you use the other method."
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At the end of the day Harry went back to his room to relax. He had homework for Rituals and Spell Casting to finish and since he was the only one out of his friends to take those classes he'd decided to do his work in the quiet of his room, without any distractions. Both Rituals and Spell Casting required an awful lot of concentration. They hadn't performed any rituals yet in class but they'd been going through all the different components and how they interacted. Now each student had been given an outcome and they had to design a ritual to accomplish it. In Harry's case he had to design a ritual for hair growth. Sounded simple but there was a big difference between a spell and a ritual. Rituals could involve a lot of different things, from calling up lower level non-corporeal demons to blood sacrifices or chanting in new, old or dead languages.
In their first lesson the teacher had cast a spell on them to allow them to learn any language after only hearing a couple of words. He then began reciting words in different languages to give them an initial basis for his lessons.
Melaisa had then asked the Professor how we could all understand each other when some were from different countries and hadn't learnt English, something that Harry was quite interested in actually. The answer was that there was apparently a universal language spell placed on the school meaning that everyone spoke and understood English. They could of course still speak in their native tongue if they wished but this made everything easier for everybody, especially as the majority of students were from the UK. Most of the foreign students wanted to continue learning in their own countries, so only a few ever came to Mysteria.
Rituals had been the subject he had been most reluctant to take, but if he wanted to take Necromancy he had to pass the subject. He definitely didn't have a knack for it, he struggled just as Calfora said he would, it was very difficult. What he was currently trying to learn was only a level one ritual. In other words it was one of the easiest to create. Videon Miarna, the Ritual Master, an elf had had a lot of time to become a Master, he was very knowledgeable about many subjects but seemed to have a passion for this one subject. Harry couldn't understand why. Master Videon had told them when he gave them this project that each of the rituals had already been created; they just had to rediscover the process. And so that they couldn't cheat all of the books in the library listing each ritual ever created were closed to first years. They were entirely on their own. Harry was half way through his own ritual and he was struggling. He had another week to complete it but he knew that leaving it until the last minute would be really stupid so he plodded along. He'd learned not to wait the hard way over the last month.
They'd all learned that the best way to finish their work was to do it as soon as they got it. Even the simplest assignment was harder than it looked.
Spell Casting was different though, it was difficult but in a completely different way than rituals. He only had until tomorrow to revise thirty spells. This first month they'd been going over what they should have learnt in their first five years at their other schools. The purpose of this their instructor told them was to both make sure they retained their knowledge from previous years and to refine their casting ability. As Harry'd known they would, they'd focused on wand work first. According to Master Rowan you could waste a lot of magical energy by performing jerky and incorrect wand movements. She'd started the course by having them practice level one spells like Wingardium Leviosa and the like. Imprecise timing of the wand movements and the words also caused more magical energy to be drained than necessary.
This had been illustrated to Harry when he'd gone to duelling class on his second day, incidentally that was when he'd received his first lecture from the man. Master Kin had told them to pair off and begin duelling each other, after ten minutes they changed opponents. Harry and most of the other students were tiring before they were even half way through their duels. They'd then received a blistering lecture on how unfit they were physically and on wasting magic with overly-flamboyant gestures.
Luckily Harry wasn't one of the ones given the lecture on over-gesturing, just on being weak, he definitely didn't over-gesture. But apparently, well according to Master Rowan Harry's wand movements were jerky at best. They didn't flow, which meant neither did the magic. They were working on correcting their weaknesses by going over old spells that they knew well. They were supposed to practice the movements in slow motion, then at normal speed, then at an accelerated speed. As their Master said, in a duel you'll definitely be performing the spell as quickly as you can, it wouldn't do to perfect the technique for the slower speeds and ignore the faster ones. If it left you open to magic weakness in a duel, it would be even worse in an extended battle.
This was one thing Harry definitely wanted to improve on. He couldn't afford a weakness like that when he would be fighting Voldemort and his Deatheaters. One thing he remembered about his duel with Voldemort was that the Wizard's wand movements were always very controlled and graceful.
Harry's other lessons were just as difficult. They all started in the same way though; the teacher always gave them some sort of lecture, whether it was on not messing about in the class or just telling them to pay attention there was always a lecture. Then they assessed them by having them perform a variety of spells, charms and hexes. This was mainly in the compulsory subjects as the majority of students had had some sort of instruction in them. There were others like Chrysan, mainly other creatures who had had no formal instruction and had had to rely on their parents and other family members to teach them even basic spells.
There were a few students that weren't creatures who also had some difficulty with spell work. Melaisa was a half-blood witch who had been home schooled by her Mother after her muggle Father was killed in the last war. Of course this meant that she struggled with any subject her Mother had been unable to teach her, most notably transfiguration.
Harry hadn't known that some parents chose to home school their kids instead of sending them to Hogwarts. But he supposed it made sense, Neville later told him that it was mainly purebloods that did it because a lot of them weren't happy with Dumbledore for one reason or another. Neville himself was going to be home-schooled until he received his Hogwarts letter, at first it had been believed that even though he wasn't technically a squib, he just didn't have enough magic to be trained at a school. Luckily that was not the case.
Those students often had classes on their own or with only one or two other individuals. Chrysan for example wasn't in any of his mandatory classes apart from Natural Magic which all first years learnt together.
Harry hadn't known what to expect in his first lesson of Natural Magic when he'd found himself out in the woods with the other confused first years. Their Master, one of the few human faculty members, Sarah Tears had begun her lesson with meditation. It took most of them a couple of lessons to actually achieve the meditative state she wanted. Surprisingly Neville was the first to get it, well maybe not that surprising since the purpose of the meditation was to connect with the natural world. Chrysan was the last one to achieve it, but as he said demons didn't often have to look inward like that. They didn't bother with relaxing techniques as they didn't need them.
Harry could definitely see where he was coming from, Chrysan was the least emotional person he knew, Harry doubted the demon could get worked up enough to need to relax. After all Demons as a species only slept for four hours a day. Harry was definitely jealous of that, the demon had more time to do everything, whereas he, Neville and Melaisa struggled for time.
Several students hadn't achieved the meditation exercise and had been removed from the class. Once you reached your limit you left, several others had gone after each stage, now there were only ten of them left in the class. Those that remained began learning to connect to living things and siphon off their magic. Of course they'd begun with rocks, as these weren't living but still had magic.
Harry had wondered whether Voldemort or Dumbledore knew this. After all they both knew elemental magic if their duel in the DOM was anything to go by. So they could know Natural Magic too. The more he thought about it the more he became convinced that Voldemort couldn't know how to do it. They were learning how to siphon off safe amounts of magic, learning to read the signs so that they knew when they had to stop. If Voldemort knew Natural Magic he wouldn't care about stopping, he'd suck everything dry. And Harry was sure he would have heard if Voldemort walked around leaving dead plants and animals in his wake, let alone Muggles and Wizards.
After getting past the meditation Harry found it surprisingly easy to connect to other sources of magic, living things were easier for him. As his creature had an affinity with most animals, he couldn't communicate with them yet but he was afforded a higher level of trust than anyone else in the class, even the Professor. Next lesson they would be moving on to other humans, both wizards and muggles. Muggles apparently had the most magic as they were just like wizards; they had magical cores and everything, they just couldn't use what they were given. Magic apparently replenished itself quite quickly; in some people it only took a couple of hours but this was no good when in the middle of a duel or a battle. When this course was over, those that completed it would not only be able to take magic from their surroundings they'd also be able take it from their enemies, thereby weakening them and strengthening themselves.
Unfortunately the amount of magic a person could take was limited to how much they contained naturally. Some people had larger power reserves than others; this made their spells more powerful and enabled them to last longer in duels. But there were other factors also, a person could have all the magic potential in the world but that didn't mean he had enough skill to wield it all. You could only do as much as your limit after all. So although Harry had a larger power reserve now that he was sixteen and could put more power behind his spells if he chose to, he still couldn't transfigure a person into a hammock or anything really because he simply didn't have the skill yet. It was like giving a paintbrush to a baby and telling them to paint the Mona Lisa.
Things like transfiguration were notably difficult you had to do the little things before you moved on to the big things. It wasn't like when he learnt the Patronus Charm in third year, he'd done that before he learnt any seventh year charms. There was no hierarchy to charms, all it took was practice and power with a little bit of skill. With transfiguration you couldn't skip a step; everything had to be done in order. Although learning was supposed to become a little easier now that you were closer to your actual power level that didn't mean he was suddenly better at transfiguration and could perform any spell set before him. He certainly couldn't.
That was definitely apparent when he showed up for his first transfiguration lesson and found himself the only student in the room. It definitely wasn't his best subject. It seemed that he had trouble learning from the complex models and diagrams most people used to illustrate the intricacies of transfiguration which made it easier for people to visualise. Apparently he learnt better with a much more visual and simple instruction or so Calfora said. He and the Transfiguration Master worked on breaking the spell down into smaller pieces. She was a Werewolf named Siva Ferent and just happened to be Melaisa's mentor. She was a nice woman but she often put her foot in her mouth, either by saying something inappropriate to the situation or making unwarranted observations.
She seemed the perfect match for Melaisa who he'd noticed often had trouble speaking her mind and bottled up her feelings. Master Siva did not have that problem, at all. The first thing she'd said to him when he walked in was. "Well you're a scrawny little thing aren't you, how in hell you defeated the Dark Lord as a baby I'll never know. You don't look like you have two magic sparks to rub together!"
No one had ever spoken quite so bluntly to him. Snape was probably the closest but that man had so many preconceived ideas about him that Harry hardly knew when he should take him seriously.
It had been a month now since he'd come to Mysteria. He could see the difference in himself, even after so little time. The potions, the diet and the exercise had definitely done wonders for his body. He'd often wondered in those first few weeks why Madam Pomfrey had never prescribed any of the potions he was taking. But then he realised she'd never really done as thorough an examination of him as the healer here had done. Probably because he'd never asked for one and as the abuse he'd suffered had been long term the signs were harder to notice with a cursory examination. He was small and definitely thin but it was only recently when the difference had become noticeable, until then he'd only been a little shorter than his year mates. But now everyone bar him seemed to have had a massive growth spurt. Well that was a lie he had had one with his inheritance and probably if he hadn't had his growth stunted by his relatives it would have put him at a more acceptable height for his age. But as it stood everyone, even a lot of the girls were looking down on him.
Luckily the potions appeared to be working; he was filling out a little more. He'd already muscled up a little more on his birthday but he'd still looked skinny with it. Now he didn't look quite so much like a bean pole with a bit of muscle, he actually had some shape to his body. His shoulders and chest were broadening a little, so were his thighs and calves. It probably wasn't apparent to everyone but he certainly noticed the difference and that was all that mattered.
Harry was currently sat upon his bed petting a needy Mir and twirling one of the longer sections of his hair around his finger. He took in his room with contentment. Coming here had allowed him to have his own space and make his own decisions regarding it. He loved the fact that it was a tower room; it reminded him of the Gryffindor dormitories. It certainly didn't look like it though; there wasn't a hint of red or gold in sight. The walls were coloured black with a marbling effect in green. The pointed roof was painted midnight blue and had little white dots to represent stars, that he'd charmed to shimmer like real stars. From the over-hanging beams trailed pieces of gauzy green fabric. The beams and the floor had been polished with a simple polishing charm and gleamed darkly. He'd asked Silay to transfigure him a rug out of an old sock he'd found and also some green curtains for his bed and windows.
He had a jagged piece of mirror from Sirius' gift last year on one wall that he'd enlarged. Next to it was Hedwig's perch and a cushion that Silvera and Mir shared. Silay had also gotten a load of candles for him and these were dotted here and there about the room, usually in large clumps, wax keeping them firmly routed to whatever they rested on.
Opposite his bed were his weapon stands, he'd warded them separately to the rest of the room so only he could take them from the racks. His broom was propped up beside it. Next to that was his desk and a built in book case. Both of those had already been in the room so all Harry'd done with them was clean them up a little. On his desk was a jumble of books, parchments, quills and ink. And on the shelves with his school books and the wizarding fiction he'd bought were his birthday presents from his friends and the envelope containing his OWL results. He'd received books from both Hermione and Remus although Remus' had been a little more personal. He'd sent a DADA book but it was what he'd put with it that made Harry want to hug him. Remus had sent him the book his father had used to become an animagus and two journals, both journals had been confiscated by McGonagall some years ago and Remus had only just remembered about them. One listed all the pranks and ideas the Marauders had ever invented or performed. The other was his Mother's own personal journal, she'd apparently been writing a note in it in class and McGonagall had confiscated it. But that was the one book he hadn't read yet, he wasn't sure it would be right to take a peek at his Mother's personal thoughts but he was very happy that Remus had sent it.
Mrs Weasley had sent him some of her homemade Brownies and other baked goods, Ron had sent him a giant box of chocolate frogs. Hagrid had sent him a book on magical creatures and a batch of rock cakes. And Fred and George had sent him some of their merchandise, all of it brilliant.
He'd also made a couple of wind chimes from string and the remaining shards of glass from the mirror. He'd learned somewhere that they were a good early warning system. The tower room was quite cool so he didn't need to keep windows open and he'd plugged up all the draughts. He'd placed each charm over his doors and windows, since there wasn't a draught anything that disturbed them had to either be caused by him, Hedwig, Mir or Silvera. If it wasn't caused by them opening a door or whatever then the logical solution was that someone had gained entry to his room.
He wasn't taking any chances; he'd placed as many wards as he could around the room. And was only waiting until he learnt how to do it before performing the fidelus charm, after all it was the ultimate protection. But it was a very difficult ward to learn on your own.
Mir stretched, breaking him out of his contemplations. The little cat had also changed in the month he'd had him. No longer a kitten but a sleek powerful predator, nothing but firm muscle, shiny white fur with sharp claws and teeth. But he was still affectionate to Harry and his friends even though he often brought home decapitated mice, which had ensured Harry mastered the cleaning charm pretty quickly.
Hedwig and Silvera were currently off hunting leaving Harry to his thoughts. Glancing back at the paper beside him on his bed he contemplated his first month at school. Everything had changed really when he'd found out Silay was Snape's younger brother. He could still remember their conversation.
"You're a Snape!"
Silay had chuckled as he led the way into his office. After a minute Harry had come out of his shock enough to follow him. Silay's office had wall to wall mahogany book shelves, a large desk and not a single potions ingredient could be seen. Most of the books seemed to consist of books on curses and spell creations. There had been a couple of potions books that looked like they had never been opened. The rest seemed to be a mixture of other subjects. While Harry had been staring Silay had took his seat behind the desk and now that Harry's attention was back on him he had gestured for Harry to take the one in front.
"I believe you have had the pleasure of meeting my older brother. He has told me much about you Harry, most of it false I'm pleased to say." He smiled gently when he saw the still dazed look on Harry's face. "It's a little much to take in isn't it?"
"You're telling me." Harry replied. "I never knew Snape had a brother." He said more to himself than to Silay.
"Ah yes, Severus isn't really one to talk about his family. Very few people in the real world even know I exist. He is rather protective; he visits me here instead of allowing me to visit him. Says it is too dangerous for me to be known by his enemies. If he were ever to be revealed as a traitor to the Dark Side then they would target me to draw him out."
Harry nodded, he could understand that. He was still a little shocked that his mentor was related to his most hated Professor. Then again you never know there might be someone worse than Snape at Mysteria.
"Your Godfather, Remus came to this school didn't he?" Silay asked after the silence had stretched a little too long.
"Yes, but shouldn't you know that already?"
Silay chuckled. "Not if I didn't check the records and see his name no. My brother had spoken of him of course but because of the protections he couldn't tell me that the man came here. Calfora told me last night, she seems to think he will be important in the future."
"Well she would know wouldn't she."
Silay just nodded silently.
"So how much younger are you?"
Harry had realised the moment he said it that it wasn't really any of his business but Silay hadn't seemed to think it was an impertinent question.
"Six years." He answered.
"Did you go to Hogwarts?"
"No, Severus never forgave me for going to Durmstrang instead of him. Our Father was rather strict and often cruel, for some reason he didn't want us going to school together. Severus was sent to Hogwarts, I to Durmstrang."
"What's it like there?" Harry asked, he'd always wondered about the other schools.
"Depressing." The other man answered shortly.
Harry chuckled to himself, he'd learned more about Durmstrang over the last month than he'd ever need. Silay and he had talked about their respective backgrounds. He now had more than a mentor in Silay, he had another friend.
He'd settled into life here quite easily, his chat with Calfora putting his fears to rest that anyone could find him. Even though at the time he'd only had a day in which to be almost anonymous he'd still found himself dreading being forced to go back to Hogwarts and deal with all the attention, he couldn't imagine what the year would have been like for him otherwise.
But for now he had a break from his fame, hopefully he would be ready for it when he finally had to face it.
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A/N... The water info came from Wikipedia if anyones interested. Well that was my longest chapter so far and I've finally put in some of the classes, so let me know what you think.
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