Warning: AU for all the books, whilst it will follow them in key events. May later contain slash, albeit much, much later.
AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE
By
SilverSkies
CHAPTER FOUR: Wherefore and Why
In the aftermath of that Christmas season, Bella had soundly scolded him, with good reason - he'd repeatedly told her that - no, he didn't want to become a Squib; and no, he didn't enjoy exhausting himself into unconsciousness. Harry had eventually told her that he'd considered the risk worth taking and he'd rather risk his magic in healing her than let her die, which had left her speechless and the topic no longer came up. Except she remained edgy and anxious until he'd pointed out that he still couldn't lie and that was undoubtedly something that tied in with his magic.
Why he couldn't lie was another matter entirely, and the only conclusion Bella had come up with was completely implausible in her view. She told him of a potion, Veritaserum – from the Latin 'veritas' meaning truth, a potion that would compel the drinker to speak only the truth, but then she'd added that it was not only a restricted potion, but also forbidden to use on those underage. Answering his questions on Veritaserum soon led to further questions on the magical world, and with Bella's increasingly stable mental state – she opted for devising more structured lessons.
Becoming a wizard, Harry mused, was hard. Bella insisted he learn Latin, for it's usefulness in spells, since the majority of European spells were Latin based. In addition to that however, she insisted on French – saying all Purebloods spoke at least one other language, such as the Blacks, which was her family and also the Malfoys which both had French roots, and also etiquette. Etiquette, meaning he had to know the correct behaviour for addressing persons of differing rank, for various social occasions, for duels – which had excited him, until he learnt the practice had largely fallen into disuse and was forbidden at Hogwarts – unless directed in class.
"Again Harry." She was a hard taskmaster. She'd had him practice posture and bowing. His back and shoulders ached and as he contorted himself once more she nodded in satisfaction and he slumped with a sigh of relief.
"I still don't see why I have to know all this. Most of the other children won't know it."
She sighed. He hated it when she seemed disappointed in him.
"No one will be able to fault you for proper manners or knowing the correct mode of address. Most of the other children may not have any knowledge of the older traditions, but you are not other children – the better off you can present yourself, the more allies you'll be able to gather and you'll need as many as possible. This world is dangerous; there will be many witches and wizards out to harm you. Right, mais maintenant nous allons parler en français, oui?"
"Oui," Harry replied tiredly. Another language was interesting, but Bella all but beat it into him. Insisting on verb conjugations, memorisation of lists of vocabulary and that most of their conversations were held in French. It wasn't as hard as Latin thankfully, but he didn't have to learn to converse in Latin. Even so, he couldn't help but wish the Black family motto was in English unlike the French 'Toujours pur' – always pure.
--
Magical theory was boring and interesting by turns, History on the other hand was fraught with hidden pitfalls – if only because they discussed the most recent war in the magical world – that of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Bellatrix had been a Death Eater; or rather she still was, despite the disappearance of the Dark Lord. Harry's parents however, were on the opposing side. Harry wasn't sure what to think about either side, they both had their flaws, but he was grateful nonetheless for Bella's attempts to describe the war objectively. He was also grateful, though he didn't say it, for her forcing him to memorise the names of all the Death Eater families or those with ties to the Dark Lord – he'd asked her why he needed to know them and her response had been frightening.
"A great many people were not pleased when the Dark Lord fell and they blame you, I may be hard on you now to learn these names, but you must take caution when among these people! They have killed, and tortured and done it with smiles on their faces!"
Which had led to a discussion on why people could do such a thing. Bella's explanation was fairly straightforward; she said three words: 'Power', and 'Dark Magic.'
She continued to explain, "There are three accepted definitions of Dark Magic, one is the one that will get people in trouble – Dark Magic is any and all Magic forbidden by the Ministry of Magic, the second is any Magic used to harm – which is a school of thought that is only followed in some of the covens; and the last is the most accurate – Dark Magic is any and all magic which is powered in some way by the use of emotion."
Here she held up a hand to silence Harry's questions. "Dark Magic accumulates over time, it leads to a sort of madness. A Dark Magic user becomes irrational and angry, and since Dark Magic is addictive, a user will continue to practice Dark Magic and will ignore what is needed in order to recover." She gave Harry a sharp look, "I ended up in Azkaban and while the presence of Dementors wasn't great, I had the addition of suffering Dark Magic withdrawal, but by now I'm not overdosed anymore. So believe me when I speak of this."
Harry still had questions though, "How do you know when you've used too much?"
Bella looked at him, the same look she always gave whenever he did something to surprise her. "Well, you don't need to worry about that just yet, seeing as it will be a while yet before you can go about casting spells. But it's a good question. I don't know. At the time I never felt like I was using too much, but then it ended up using me and some of the things I did, went beyond the necessities of war."
Harry looked pensive then, "But what if I overdose by accident?"
She laughed. He glared at her, but that only seemed to make her laugh the harder. "Harry, you can't go Dark by accident! You would have to be using something that uses a lot of emotion in casting like… the Unforgivables, and you're hardly to not notice something like that!"
"So there aren't any other spells I have to be careful with?"
That sobered her up quickly, "You should be careful with all spells. Magic may be our birthright and heritage, but it isn't for foolish ends. I can't think of any other Dark spells, but… well, there's the Patronus Charm, but most adult wizards can't cast it so I doubt you're in trouble there." She frowned, "It's a good charm to learn though – repels Dementors."
"Oh." Harry felt a bit guilty for her losing her lighter mood. A thought struck him and he paled.
"What's wrong?"
"I was just thinking that I can't wait to go to Hogwarts, but then I wondered what would happen to you… What will happen Bella? I can't take you with me! And what if someone asks me about you! I can't lie! What mmph!"
Bella clapped a hand to his mouth, silencing the swiftly panicking boy. "Calm down, brat. We have a couple of years to plan yet. In the meantime perhaps you could put that brain of yours to better use in learning enough to keep you alive through your first week in the Wizarding world."
He glared at her, but calmed anyway – enough that she released her hold on him. "Maybe you should teach me a way to get out of holds like that!" He wasn't serious, she was the only person who touched him in any way approaching affection, and it was growing on him. He recognised the look in her eyes though she was considering his words.
"Good idea, but I'm not really familiar with any fighting forms. You'll have to look for someone who gives lessons."
Harry gaped at her, before swiftly shutting his mouth and remarking "And where exactly would I get the money to pay for these lessons? Even if I did get money somehow it would be far better to use it to pay for some more decent meals for us than anything else! I already scrounge what I can from the Dursleys!"
She looked apologetic. "I'm hoping to get a job or something soon. And the Christmas meal at the shelter was nice."
"I don't mean… oh, you know what I mean. The people there were quite funny though, they didn't know what to make of you – still don't."
Bella couldn't keep the smirk from her face, "Yes, I don't think they quite know what to think now that they've seen us speaking French."
AN: What Bella says, for those who don't speak French is 'but now we will speak in French, yes?' (Or at least it should be… I haven't studied French in a long while…Latin either…). And forgive the long-windedness of the bits on Dark Magic… Thanks to all those who reviewed – Zaivon, e, Aria DeLoncray, TheSmallestGhost, Seku238, tishtosh, Anders1 and ThePhantomHokage