Title: Harry Potter: Four In One
Author: Joshua
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe.
Summary: A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.
Story:
The Burrow
The Next Day
The very next morning opened up to the typical Weasley breakfast, which is to say that Molly Weasley had been overstressed from the night before and tried to work it out through cooking way too much food. Even for Ron, Fred, George, and Bill who were all used to the large meals. Harry ate his fill and then some, and then went out into the garden to meditate on his magic control while everybody else finished up.
Because of the wards and other protections put up by the Order, he couldn't go very far from the house, and definitely not into the rolling hills, which is where he might've gotten the most privacy. So, for the time being, he settled for the orchard behind the garden, where the garden gnomes were usually tossed when the Weasley children were tasked with de-gnoming the garden.
Settling in against a tree, his back against it and facing away from the Burrow, Harry crossed his legs and began to breath and turned his focus inward, towards the core of his magic. Once he was sufficiently focused, he set about reestablishing the paths for his magic to flow within his body, and to both limit and expand it as he did so. Judging from his current status, he was still only at about sixty percent to completing the new paths since the fusion had more than doubled his power.
While he could use his magic at full potential, and cast high-level spells as well as any low-level spell without any difficulty, the lack of proper and stabilized paths throughout his body for the magic to flow through did affect him. In comparison, it's like when a trained fighter lets himself go and loses his edge, he still knows how to fight and can still perform the moves that were ingrained into his muscle memory, but he's just a hair slower than when he first learned it, and a lot slower than the other fighter that did not lose his edge. Much the same way, Harry's sudden increase in magic made the established paths he once had utterly useless as they couldn't handle the sheer amount he'd be pushing through his body, which could then cause the spell to either perform at less than full effectiveness, or even malfunction in some way, but mostly it affects how well he can access his Skills and in using them to full effect.
Battle Magic, as had been taught to him... well, half of him, was comprised of five categories, or Skill sets, all of which depend upon the same five necessary aspects. Furthermore, Battle Magic was designed and is meant to be used in the middle of war with you against everybody and no definitive way of determining friend from foe without better than average skill, or lots of experience. Battle Magic cannot be limited by the use of a wand. Enhanced by, most definitely yes, but with normal wizardry, if you lose your wand, you can no longer use magic until you get a new one somewhere.
If you're in the middle of a fight to the death, you can't have the luxury of bowing out because your weapon broke, or calling time-out while you get a new one. Therefore, over ninety percent of the spells that fall under the classification of Battle Magic are wandless and silent spells. Particularly the complicated ones.
The simple ones, a single hand movement and a single word and you're shooting down massive destruction, but they have limits and you need more power than most to get past those limits without resorting to a more complex spell.
There are hand-seals that are used, but the spells aren't dependent upon them being used. Battle Magic requires the spell patterns be arranged in ones mind in order to focus the direction and effect of the spell. Hand-seals, however, are more like mnemonic devices. Each seal representing in the Battle Mage's mind a specific pattern, and when used in conjunction with other seals the end result is an entirely unique pattern taking hold in the mind for the magic to focus through.
Those that are truly gifted in Battle Magic can create the patterns without the need of seals and can create the patterns in their mind from scratch, but such people are rare and even they use seals more often than not. The more complex the spell, the more you have to silently create the patterns in your mind before being able to cast anything. Mastering all the Skills of Battle Magic is no small feat after all, given how extensive it is.
Wizardry, by its very design, changes all that pattern-imagining into simplified wand-movements combined with exact words. The real reason 'Expecto Patronum' is so advanced isn't because of what it does, because despite all the work put in it, it's not just waving the wand and saying the words. You need as much a mental aspect as with any silent spell, perhaps even more so than with almost any other 'lesser' spell in wizardry.
Battle Magic on the other hand, is entirely in the mind and it depends greatly on being able to focus your magic yourself, without a wand to do it for you. And like wizardry, which has Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Dark Arts, and Defensive Arts, Battle Magic too has it's own branches, of which Harry classified as a Master in all of, before merging with his Wizard half. The ranks are important too, but since Harry is a Master in all branches of Battle Magic, it's kinda moot to go into that at this time.
The first and most basic of all categories, or Skills in Battle Magic is Direct Magic Manipulation. Where wizardry and many other branches of magical study consider this to be highly advanced, because of Battle Magic's need of developing an internal focus of controlling magic, it makes it the simplest to master.
Direct Magic Manipulation is when the user focuses his, or her, magic in such a way that the energy becomes visible and tactile, instead of creating effects in the reality around it, the spell is the effect. Some examples would be the Hadoken, Kamehameha, and Sonic Boom spells that Harry cast in his battle with the Death Eaters and Voldemort. Direct Magic Manipulation is Energy Blasts in other words.
The second Skill in Battle Magic is Elemental Magic. Instead of focusing the magic to create it's own effect on reality, the user focuses the effects of the spells through the different elements. And make all the noise you want about which elements, it all boils down to a mixture in the end, starting from Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Lightning, which is also a subdued form of Plasma, just as ever-present as the other four. All others are a mixture of these to one degree or another, and focusing on a single element limits you unnecessarily, so Harry made sure that he mastered them as such, both the Primaries, and their mixtures.
Third Skill is Mind Magic and is arguably the most dangerous of all the Skills to focus on in Battle Magic. Legilimency and Occlumency are the wizardry answers to this Skill set; attacking and defending a mind from magical attack. In Battle Magic, there is no limit to where your battlefield is, nor to where it could be, and it is just as likely to have to fight a war within one's own head as with the body on some dueling platform. There are no spells in Mind Magic, only the understanding of what you can and are capable of doing when you are placed in the Astral Plane, where there are few, if any limits. In many ways it is far more complicated than the studies of Legilimency and Occlumency, but the end result is far more freeing as those fields have strict structured ways of performing their function, while Mind Magic seeks to undo all limitations.
The fourth Skill of Battle Magic is Dimensional Field Manipulation, or Real Magic. Real as in "Reality" and "Realization". Because in this Skill of Battle Magic, the ability to form the spell patterns in one's mind is key to doing anything at all. After all, there are many forms of spells and ways of manipulating magic that have nothing to do with the elements, or making magic appear as a physical force. Everything from teleporting, or Apparating to the average wizard, to conjuring objects out of thin air, to even basic telekinesis, all of it falls under this category. It's also why, unless they need a very specific "weapon", most users of Battle Magic will resort to wizardry or other forms of magical use rather than rely too heavily upon this Skill. Nevertheless, Harry is just as much a Master of this Skill as he is with the others, perhaps more so in some ways.
The last and most dangerous Skill in Battle Magic is the Art of Summoning Magic. Why it's so dangerous is because in order to even practice Summoning Magic, the user needs to establish a Magical Contract with a race or species of magical creature. And it can only be magical creatures... even if they're just talking toads, they have to be magical on some level.
To date, since the creation of the branch within Battle Magic, there has never been a magic-user that did, let alone could make a Magical Contract with more than a single race of magical creature. For a large part, when the other races find out that he or she already has a Contract with another race, they'll feel like second-choice and deny it, or simply find them unworthy. And Magical Contracts are not something to take lightly. In the mortal world, an apt comparison would be to that of a verbal agreement between an average person from the street to a criminal kingpin that will extract in blood, sweat, and tears, and even worse if you were to break your word, on either end of the agreement.
Another part of Summoning Magic is the art of establishing a Familiar, a creature (animal, magical, or even human in extreme cases) that is bound to your magic and able to further enhance it, or even allow you to channel your magic through it at a distance. But the large part of having a Familiar is so that it can act as an Avatar for your Summons and be able to transform itself to gain new powers and abilities, and while there is no limit to how many Familiars you can have, it would still be that many creatures you'd have to share magic with.
Hedwig, after his merger, was made into Harry's Familiar. Harry, however, is the first known person to have two Magical Contracts. One with the Dragons. One with the Phoenixes.
And while it's a fascinating story in how he even came to have a Contract with the Dragons, it was decided that using his Gate instead of his Familiar would allow him to Summon forth any Dragon aide he might need, whereas the Contract with the Phoenixes specifically states that he can only summon forth a single Phoenix at a time, once per day, and only through his Familiar, which must also be an avian, or bird.
During this contemplation, Harry had remained perfectly still in the orchard behind the Burrow, silently meditating, and focusing his magic more and more. Given how much more of it there was though, it was going slower than you might think, given the young wizard's uncanny skill with the arts of magic. Even in the past hour of solid meditating and focusing, he'd perhaps gotten maybe three, possibly five percent more if he was really pressed. It used to be that in an hour he would've gotten over ten percent of his maximum capacity mastered and focused properly with half the effort.
Seeing that this was going to take a while either way, and resolving to get himself, at least up to seventy-five percent before stopping for this session, he continued in his focus exercises and allowed his mind to wander to other subjects.
Ginny.
Half of him was very attracted to her. Half of him wished he'd known her longer so he could say he actually loved her. He felt a lot of passion for her, but he likewise knew that he couldn't do anything like that with her. At least not until she was of age and they were both sure of their feelings in the matter.
An interesting, if lopsided contradiction.
Fortunately, neither of Harry's halves were all that intellectual, going with their gut more often than not, and always following their heart. Warrior-Harry, while not exactly free and loose, was not nearly as inexperienced as Wizard-Harry when it came to social, and yes even sexual relations. Of course one having been raised in a Magical Alternate Dimension that had dragons, elves, dwarfs, and hundreds of other magical creatures, and then the other being raised on Earth in a private school setting, albeit one dealing with witches, wizards, trolls, werewolves and magic in general, there's a large difference in environments.
Aside from the miserable one date with Cho Chang, Ginny was Harry's first real girlfriend.
Likewise, Harry could also remember having on-again-off-again relationships with a group of nymphs; Dryads, Nereids, Naiads, and Alseids, a few elves, and once he'd even found himself going on a date with a female centaur!
For some reason though, Warrior-Harry had never felt satisfied in those relationships. Well, perhaps satisfied is the wrong word, because there were times when he was very... uh, satisfied. But they were just brief attractions, momentary distractions to keep him from overworking in his training. And then there had been his Spirit-Walk, a test he had undergone in his bid for a Magical Contract with the Phoenixes. It had been only a brief momentary glance, but he'd seen a flash of warm brown eyes and red hair. It had plagued him for months afterwards and now all of a sudden his mystery woman turns out to be his other half's girlfriend!
On the other side of that coin, Harry was part-confused, part-impassioned, and part-certain beyond all doubt, while part-suspicious too.
During his last year at Hogwarts, between lessons with Dumbledore, dodging the "Slug Club", and being the star of the school in more ways than just a few, quite a few love potions had been cast about. One in particular was a sore memory as it had nearly killed Ron. Well, not directly, but the circumstances behind it almost had.
Thankfully, Ron was just fine, but even reminded of that fact, did not resolve Harry's suspicions regarding a bit of foul play, and some slight of hand that might've resulted in Ginny Weasley slipping him a love potion. Hoping to either bury or revoke those suspicions, he thought back to everything he knew about his girlfriend, seeing if he might find a discrepancy in either his memories, or his feelings, as they could be indication of some unpleasant bewitching going on.
Harry remembered first meeting Ginny at Platform 9 ¾ his first year and only remembered a young girl with red hair and a cute blush. The second year, she was Ron's little sister and he was 12 while she was 11. Third year he'd had to deal with Dementors, Sirius escaping prison and a nationwide manhunt, and while they had talked, Harry just didn't have time for anybody else in his life. Although puberty had definitely started to kick in as he did start noticing girls around that time.
Fourth year, Harry had discovered that his 'type' tended more towards the slender, athletic and petite, given his attraction to Cho and that whole mess that went into his fifth year. Speaking of which, he barely even remembered anything from his fifth year that wasn't a bad memory and better off forgotten. In all honesty, aside from some times in the Gryffindor Common Room, other study sessions, and his summers spent with the Weasleys, he hadn't even a chance to get to know Ginny at all until his sixth year at Hogwarts.
By then, he was the Gryffindor Quidditch Team Captain, she had been playing Seeker in his place for most of the previous year and was now playing as Chaser. She was in her OWL year, while he was gearing up for NEWTs, so they'd both spent an inordinate amount of time studying together, practicing together, and then there was the way she treated him. Not to mention, somewhere between her Fourth and Fifth Years, she had hit a growth spurt of her own as certain body parts grew her from the little girl that was Ron's sister, into a fiery redhead that was very much so Harry's type.
Starting from his third year on, Ginny had stopped looking at him like some schoolgirl-crushing fangirl, like three-quarters of the rest of the school's female population (save Slytherin) were doing, and treated him a lot like she treated her brothers. Which is to say that she didn't act like he was the famous Harry Potter "The Boy Who Lived" and all that crap. She just treated him as Harry, and acted like he was no more special than Ron, Fred, George, or even Percy. True, she still cared about him, and she didn't hide that fact, but it wasn't an obsessive crush.
She was also familiar with the dark side of the wizarding world, having been possessed by the Diary Horcrux in her first year and nearly having the life drained out of her by it. She had stood by his side and supported him through all the rough spots; Sirius dying, Umbridge's oppression, the question of his sanity as he dealt with the visions from Voldemort, all of that and more and instead of questioning him about it, like all his friends, even Ron and especially Hermione did. She just accepted what he said as the truth and then did what she could to help him deal with it, no matter what.
Subconsciously, he had been attracted to her ever since things went south with Cho, and she definitely fit his 'type', with her athletic petite frame, pert b-cup breasts, and that red hair of hers just did something for him, but for the longest time he had trouble consciously getting past her being Ron's baby sister. And it took him getting jealous over Dean to see past it finally.
The last six weeks of school, starting from the Quidditch Final, were the happiest moments of Harry's life at Hogwarts since his first year almost. His suspicions about any use of love potions made him wonder, until he finally remembered the effects of all love potions, to turn those under them into starry-eyed puppies that can only and will only think about the subject of said potion. Unfortunately, Harry's thoughts were quite often on things far less pleasant than kissing and holding Ginny.
It had been an impulsive decision last night when he'd made the offer to bring Ginny with Ron, Hermione and himself on their Horcrux hunt. One that he was still debating within himself. The noble Gryffindor half was adamant about keeping her safe from harm, and that taking her into danger was the absolute last thing he wanted to do. The far more cunning and experienced warrior half was even more adamant that he was not about to let somebody he cared about go anywhere without his protection.
To his Warrior side, it was a simple question; take Ginny with them and take out Voldemort's only advantage in a fight, or go with Ginny to Hogwarts and protect her there while Voldemort knows exactly where to find him while all the Horcruxes remain active? Because either way, he refused to let anyone he cared about risk dying ever again, not while there was something he could do about it.
Wizard-Harry was at a complete loss for several minutes, before finally, he acknowledged that there was more truth and logic in keeping Ginny close. But he didn't want her in danger...
Harry's eyes snapped open as his magic control suddenly leaped to a much higher degree and further inwards he felt another piece of the merger completing. True, they'd been fused, but there were still some things, ideas, memories, portions of their cores that were still integrating and getting used to being one again. It was just a coincidence that it happened at the same time Ginny stepped into view.
Jumping as his eyes opened and locked onto her, Ginny grinned sheepishly and finally just shrugged as she made to sit down beside him. He quickly scooted over to give her room and smiled to say it was OK.
"Mom's looking for you," she said as she sat down against the tree.
"I'll be back in later. I... kind of have some things that need to be done first," explained Harry, even as he continued his silent exercises. It was magic, not some uncontrollable energy, so it doesn't exactly require every ounce of ones being to control it as some might think.
"What kind of things?" asked Ginny. "From that... from what you told us about last night?"
Harry just shrugged and smiled.
"I'm sorry," apologized the girl, blushing bright red, "That was a bit forward wasn't it? I didn't mean to pry or anything, and..."
"Ginny, it's OK," assured the dark-haired youth. "It actually has more to do with Battle Magic than with... what I told you about. Battle Magic, while it lets you use one, requires that you be able to use spells without a wand. Wands, as everybody knows, allows wizards and witches to focus their magic into spells through wand movements and words. So, without a wand, I have to do it a much harder way, through my body and my mind. Requiring me to meditate and focus on controlling my magic directly."
"It's a bit complex but..."
"Can you teach me?" asked Ginny eagerly.
Looking surprised for half a moment, he was about to decline when he actually thought about it for a moment. Teaching her even the most basic of basics of Battle Magic would increase her own power and ability in magic by several magnitudes. Even if she was never able to successfully cast a true Battle Magic spell, the same exercises he was doing right now could allow her to increase the power, speed, and effectiveness of her own spells through wizardry. And it wasn't as if you had to start at age eleven. There were some that Harry knew about who didn't even begin until they were in their late thirties!
Another thing that both sides, of what remained of sides, could agree upon was Ginny being better able to defend herself with magic and fighting skills in general.
"Sure," agreeing quickly he sat himself across from her and asked that she copy him. Then he quickly prompted her through his very first lesson in Battle Magic; Learning how to breathe.
Another World
Another Time
5 ½ years ago
"What do you mean 'learn how to breathe'?" an 11 ½ year old Harry Potter exclaimed of his teacher as they walked through the forest to the glade clearing where they trained each afternoon. "I already know how to breathe! See, I'm doing it now even, otherwise how would I even be alive?"
"Have I told you lately how much your attitude is becoming somewhat cynical?" Joshua asked as he lead the younger boy through the untouched forest around them.
"Yes, I believe you complimented me on it last night after I told you to piss off when you told me to do the dishes for the fifth night in a row," Harry sarcastically retorted. "Now answer my question, what does breathing have to do with me learning magic?"
"Everything, Nothing, and Why," answered the boy's teacher.
"Why what? And that's not an answer!"
"Why not?" replied the older wizard. If he was to be believed, he was actually several centuries old, so that's saying something.
"Why you...!" Harry growled his frustration.
"Why me?"
"Stop that! I swear, if my other half has to put up with buggering crap like this from school, or anyone else, it's a wonder if either of us will still be sane by the time we're seventeen!"
"Doesn't matter, we're here," Joshua pushed past the foliage and stepped into the clearing, Harry right behind him. "Now, do your warm-up exercises, then meet me in the exact center of the clearing. I'll be waiting, and you have to use your senses to find me." With that, the Time Wizard disappeared into thin air, eliciting some annoyed grumblings from his pupil, but Harry quickly went about jogging around the clearing, stretching, doing push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups on branches, and stretched one final time before he started to wander towards the middle of the open grass.
It took him nearly five minutes to calm his mind just enough to open up his aura sight, but he managed to do it and hold it long enough for him to find his teacher, and the center of the clearing. The moment he stopped there, Joshua reappeared right in front of him, smiling his encouragement. Let it be said, the two got on each others nerves like cats and dogs, but they respected each other, and Harry agreed hands down that Joshua was the best friend, best teacher, hell even the best parent he'd ever known. Although he typically acted more like a big brother than a dad most of the time.
"Have a seat," Joshua gestured to the ground, "and we'll continue with your meditation practices. So far, we've been able to get you into a calm state, despite distractions, and you've learned how to focus your thoughts in your mind as well. Now we teach you the proper way to breathe, during meditation, during battle, during exercise, during training. It maximizes the oxygen flow through the body without overfilling the lungs or making the heart waste energy in extra pumps that could likewise be maximized through concentration of effort. You've probably heard this before, but just go with me on this. Breathe in through the nose, breathe out through the mouth. Breathe in through the nose, breathe out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Not big breaths, shallow, simple breaths, so that you have brought in air, but not enough to expand the lungs. Keep practicing until you think you've got it."
"Are you going to make me clasp my hands and pray too?" sarcastically asked Harry, even while his eyes were shut and he entered a meditative trance.
"Shut up and breathe," came the amused reply.
They spent the better part of the afternoon just teaching Harry how to breathe properly during meditation, and then once he finally had gotten it, they didn't let up a bit, having him practice it for another solid three hours. Of course sitting in the middle of a peaceful forest, breathing in the pure fresh air and meditating on breathing is a lot preferable to what he might usually be doing, which would be exercising until he collapsed.
Just an hour before dusk, they stopped and he found out that while the breathing exercises were a change of pace, it didn't stop him from having to work out until he collapsed anyway. Afterwards, they took a nice cool down jog through the forest back to the house, although it really was little more than a small cabin in the woods, and chatted about Harry's training along the way back.
Joshua never hid anything from him. His reasoning being that if Harry was smart enough and mature enough to ask a question, then he was likewise entitled to the answers. Unfortunately, this tended to frustrate Harry more than anything, as Joshua's answers only made sense if he asked the right question. It also allowed Harry to realize that he couldn't begin to learn any spells until he was capable of handling his magic, hence the need to condition his body, mind, and even his magic in some ways that he was only just beginning to learn.
Occasionally though, Joshua would display a technique, or a spell to further motivate Harry to continue to train and to do it right rather than rush along. Once it was decided that he had enough conditioning, Joshua would teach him a spell, and then they would practice it together until he had fully mastered it. So far, Harry had been taught only two spells; aura-sight and the basic shield spell. He hoped that by mastering the breathing exercises in a single day might be enough to earn him another spell.
Sadly, Joshua refused to teach him a new spell so soon. He did, however make it up, at least a little bit, by demonstrating several spells that the breathing exercises would one day allow him to perform.
"OK, here we go," Joshua explained as they stood in front of the cabin, facing the woods. "In addition to helping in meditation, keeping the body at the peak despite physical exertion, and even helping you stay underwater for longer, using those breathing exercises I taught you earlier can help you in employing a rather... unique way of utilizing Elemental Magic. For example, everybody's favorite; breathing fire."
The older wizard then cupped his hands by his mouth and then let out a long, steady breath, that instead came out as a giant flame that might as well have come from a dragon! Then, one by one, he went through each, or at least most of the elements, breathing out a gust of wind that almost had the trees lying flat with the ground, spewing out water like from a fire hose, even creating miniature sandstorms, ice storms, and thunderstorms. That alone reaffirmed Harry's desire to prove his mastery and he even started practicing the breathing exercises during supper, then before bedtime too.
Present Day
The Burrow
Back Orchard
"Very good Ginny," Harry quietly coached her through her first meditation. She'd caught on to the breathing exercises easier than he'd expected, and now he was guiding her through a meditative trance, which would help her to focus her thoughts, hopefully allowing her to cast her spells and focus her magic much better than before.
"Now, I want you to keep breathing just as you are and then I want you to focus your thoughts. Focus your thoughts on all of the spells that you know and have ever cast before. Now I want you to list them, silently, in your head, alphabetically, according to the spells name. Not the words to cast them, the spells name."
Ginny opened her eyes to glare at him, but he just kept staring at her, so she sighed, and then closed her eyes and resumed the proper breathing pattern while she attempted to focus her thoughts as he asked. "Good. Keep at it. Once you finish the list, go back over it as many times as you have to until you can remember all of your spells in alphabetical order without even having to think about it. Don't look at me like that Ginny. I had to do this when I was thirteen the first time, and while I had a lot more practice with meditating and breathing before then, it made the task no easier or faster. And this much I can promise you, after you've completed this, you'll find it a lot easier to recall all of your spells, for everything, whether you're in a fight, or even just helping your mum clean up around the house."
Once he felt Ginny was sufficiently focused, Harry, using skills that were part Dursley-inspired, part Battle Magic stealth training, and part sneaking out after curfew under the invisibility cloak, got up and silently went back to the Burrow to face the music as it were. Thankfully, he ran into Ron and Hermione before Mrs. Weasley found him.
"Hey guys," he greeted, "just finished with meditating. Something I kind of have to do every day or so. And why do the both of you look like Snape was declared the new Headmaster of Hogwarts and you don't want to tell me?"
Indeed the pair did look rather anxious about something, though more towards the dreading part of anxious than the excited part of anxious. Finally Ron came out with it, leaning in close to speak quietly.
"Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione and me. What we're off to do. She'll try you next, so brace yourself. Dad and Lupin've both asked as well, but when we said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it. Not Mum, though. She's determined."
"Oh joy," muttered Harry in reply.
"Mad-Eye tried cornering us as well," Hermione put her two knuts in, "we gave him the same story, and he argued for a bit. Then Ron reminded him of your speech last night. Thankfully he hasn't spoken to us since, but he's still here, and he might try talking to you as well."
"I can handle Moody," he quickly assured them. "Well, as far as getting him to stop asking me questions I can handle him. I'm not sure I'd really like to try handling him any other way."
Ron snorted out a laugh, while Hermione gave an insufferable sigh, but he saw the edges of her mouth quirk up just the same. They all quickly sobered however and resumed the trek back to the Weasley kitchen. Just outside the door though, Harry quickly pulled Ron and Hermione aside and urgently whispered to them.
"Guys, I want the two of you to start learning what I know. Battle Magic. It'll take a few years before your masters, but every little bit helps in whats coming. Ginny found me earlier while I was meditating and I've already shown her how to do so. She's out in the back orchard. Hermione, unless you're given any errands to do, I want you to go out back and find Ginny and get her to teach you what I just taught her. Ron and me will be doing the same elsewhere. And I'm sure I don't have to say this, but please don't tell anyone what we're up to."
"Are you serious?!" Ron hissed out, his excitement showing clearly on his face. Hermione had her own twinkle of anticipation in her eyes, so Harry just nodded his head with a smile.
"And you're right, you didn't have to tell us," commented Ron with a smirk as they continued.
In the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley was still cleaning up from breakfast, but the moment she saw the three together, she smiled brightly and boisterously requested that Ron go help the twins with some chores and Hermione to try and find Ginny for her. With a straight face, the bushy-haired brunette agreed to the task and searched the living room for only a moment before heading straight for the back orchard, once she was out of Mrs. Weasley's sight that is.
Which left Harry, all of a sudden alone with the Weasley Matriarch in the kitchen.
"Mind if I help you with the dishes Mrs. Weasley?" offered Harry, trying to both forestall and hasten the interrogation she seemed hell-bent on holding.
"Oh, why thank you dear, you don't really have to, after all you're a guest," she said even as she handed him the drying cloth and several soapy dishes. After a few minutes, it became quite clear that they were the only ones around and that seemed good enough for Molly as she turned to put Harry to task.
"Ron and Hermione seem to think that the three of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," she began in a light, casual tone.
"Oh," said Harry. "Well, yeah. We are. For this year at any rate."
The scrub she was applying to the frying pan almost ignited in the soapy water and it began to get out grease stains that were years old. Harry silently gulped. Neither one of his halves were exactly all that good at facing down an overprotective mother, especially not Molly Weasley.
"May I ask why you are abandoning your education?" said Mrs. Weasley.
"Well, for starters, Dumbledore left me... stuff to do," mumbled Harry. "Ron and Hermione know about it, and they want to come too."
"What sort of 'stuff'?"
Harry didn't answer.
"Harry?" warned Mrs. Weasley, her tone shifting to 'Mother Grizzly Bear' growling.
"I'm sorry," apologized Harry, resigned to his decision, "I can't—"
"Well, frankly, I think Arthur and I have a right to know, and I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Granger would agree!" interrupted Mrs. Weasley. Harry had been afraid of this, and while part of him agreed with the "concerned parent" tactic, the other part of him was just as adamant that babying someone and doing things "for their own good" was no way to treat anyone, adult or child. He forced himself to look directly into her eyes, noticing as he did so that they were precisely the same shade of brown as Ginny's. This did not help.
"Dumbledore didn't want anyone else to know, Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry. Ron and Hermione don't have to come, it's their choice..."
"I don't see that you have to go either!" she snapped, dropping all pretense now. "You're barely of age, any of you! It's utter nonsense, if Dumbledore needed work doing, he had the whole Order at his command! Harry, you must have misunderstood him. Probably he was telling you something he wanted done, and you took it to mean that he wanted you—"
"I didn't misunderstand," said Harry flatly. "It's got to be me."
He stared at her for another few seconds, then sighed and offered her an olive branch as it were. "I can't explain what it is that needs done, but the fewer people who know about it, the better. I trust Ron and Hermione with my life, and sometimes more than that. That they choose to come with me means more to me than anyone can ever know." He finished drying the still wet dishes in front of him. "As for why Dumbledore chose me and not the entire Order... Well for starters, as much as the Order watches the Death Eaters, the Death Eaters watch the Order. Three lone teenagers are practically invisible against the backdrop of the Wizarding world compared to the Order, the Ministry, and the Death Eaters. Not to mention, Hermione and I were practically raised in the Muggle world, and it's not so hard to hide when you need to."
Seeing that that hadn't helped, he tried again. "Look, what I'm trying to say Mrs. Weasley is that one way or another, we're leaving and Hogwarts just isn't safe without Dumbledore. We know how to take care of ourselves, Hermione could pass all her NEWTs right now in fact, and Ron's always been the practical sort. We're going to look out for one another and we will be okay, I can promise you. I don't know what else to say Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry."
He could see tears slowly falling down her reddened cheeks, dripping into the dishwater. Sniffling, she gave him a soulful look that almost tore his heart out. "Say you won't go," begged Mrs. Weasley.
"I'll say that we'll be safe. All of us," said Harry. Then he gave her a warm hug.
"You can't promise that dear, not even Dumbledore could promise that."
"Well I'm making it," Harry said into her neck as he held her, "and I'll do everything in my power to keep it. For all of us."
They stayed that way for several minutes before finally disengaging and Mrs. Weasley sniffled a bit more, but rapidly worked to put herself back into sorts. She seemed to be struggling with something, but finally asked, "Well, Harry, while we've still got you here, you won't mind helping with the preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding, will you? There's still so much to do."
Smiling broadly, Harry nodded his agreement. "Sweet of you," she said even as he answered her aloud.
"Of course, I'd love to help out. Just draw me up a list and I'll get right on it. Oh, that reminds me, I need to get everyone together for something real quick. If you wouldn't mind finishing this up yourself, Mrs Weasley, I'll go ahead and get them all?" said Harry even as he left and quickly made the rounds to get everyone at the Burrow out to the front yard, even Hermione and Ginny from the orchard.
"So what is it you needed Harry?" asked Bill on behalf of the whole family. Mr. Weasley was at work for the day and would be going back and forth until the days preceding, of, and after the wedding.
"Well, Mrs. Weasley, your mother, offered me the opportunity to help out around the house in getting the preparations completed for the wedding, and since I was willing to offer my services anyway, I graciously accepted." Harry chose to ignore the by-play between eldest son and mother at the concept of having a 'guest' do house chores for their wedding, but Harry's comments kept it mild.
"So, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, the gracious and beautiful Fleur, what all needs to happen to turn the Burrow, wonderful home that it is, into the perfect site for your dream wedding? I'm serious, and don't hold back on me. C'mon, hit me! Don't be shy."
"I'm sorry Harry," apologized the confused Bill, "but I don't understand what you mean. The Burrow is nearly as pristine as it's ever been, and we can hold off on putting up the wedding decorations until the day before. Anything else is just upkeep."
"How about a fresh coat of paint?" said Harry. "New shingles on the roof? Mend the fences? Clear out the attic? Sweep out the kitchen? Trim the grass, weed the garden, plant some roses, things like that? Sound good so far?"
"Dear," said Mrs. Weasley, "what are you trying to say?"
"Well, I'm trying to get you to give me the whole list of everything that needs doing, otherwise I'll be playing catch-up for the rest of the week. As for why I gathered all of you together, it was so I could demonstrate this for you," said Harry as he brought his hands together in a seal, two fingers making a cross before him, and then shouted the spell, "Shadow Copy Kaleidoscope!"
From Harry's feet, his very own shadow seemed to come to life and became a pitch black pool of liquid darkness. A pool that suddenly spread out in five different directions, like the spiral in a kaleidoscope, and from each of those spiral arcs, they began to flow upwards from the ground until they were all as tall as Harry himself, and then reshaped and colored into ten exact copies of him!
Everyone stared in open-mouthed amazement. If they were stunned before, it was nothing compared to how they felt after Harry commanded, "All right boys, go ahead and get started! I'll join up with reinforcements after I know what else we'll be doing!"
"Right Boss!" the ten extra Harry Potters shouted enthusiastically before rushing forward to do everything that Harry had just spoken about, from painting the house, to weeding the garden.
"I'll have this place looking like a palace in no time," said Harry with a touch of pride. Turning to the Weasleys, he shrugged and added, "It's the least I can do for everything you've all done for me. Besides, Bill and Fleur deserve the perfect wedding, what with all they've already had to put up with."
"But Harry!" protested Hermione. "You're not allowed to do magic outside of school until you're seventeen years old!"
"That's for Wizard magic Hermione," said Harry with a shrug. "The Shadow Copy spell is a Battle magic spell, allowing one to even up the odds if they're ever outnumbered. The spell has other uses, as you can see, taking care of chores very quickly being only one of them. Besides, the Burrow is under so many wards that even if the Trace was capable of detecting the use of Battle magic, it wouldn't be able to sense anything. Not to a definite degree. And be honest with me. I've already escaped Voldemort, humiliated him in fact, so do you really think that first of all anybody in the Ministry is going to try and enforce the Underage Limit on me four days before I turn seventeen?"
"People used to say the same about Dementors in Surrey!" exclaimed Hermione.
At that Harry couldn't keep the grin off his face even if he wanted to. "Yeah," he agreed, "and given the fact that I humiliated Voldemort, the Dark Lord no one else wants to even speak the name of, do you really think there is a prison in the entire Wizarding world that can hold me if I don't allow it to?"
Everyone's jaws were scraping the ground by this point. They had never known Harry to be this cavalier about such serious matters. But then again, he hadn't claimed to know and demonstrate a branch of magic that was as much myth as magic itself is to muggles. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny just blamed it on Harry's merger with his other self that had been raised so differently than the one they knew.
Although, to be quite honest, each of them felt it was a refreshing change. At least Harry wasn't moping around depressed and obsessed with his mission from Dumbledore anymore, and the disregard for what everyone else feared was a warm reminder of a much younger Harry Potter, in his first years at Hogwarts.
Meanwhile, Fleur was finally catching on to what Harry was offering and was chattering away about what exactly she'd like the Burrow to be transformed into. Harry was nodding along, meanwhile his shadow copies were racing all over the outside and were in fact halfway through with the chores they'd already been assigned. Then Mrs. Weasley caught on and started speaking up while Bill tried to reign in the two women in his life so they didn't abuse poor Harry.
As it was, fifteen minutes later, the copies were mostly done, in fact had even done a few extra things such as cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom, and Fleur and Mrs. Weasley were finished with their chore list. For now. Harry confirmed everything one last time, then nodded and stepped out into the middle of the clearing off the side of the Burrow. Once there, he formed the same seal once more and cast the spell.
"Shadow Copy Kaleidoscope!" Instantly the entire field was covered in one gigantic black disc of solid shadow, which slowly formed up into almost one hundred copies of Harry Potter. Just as fast, every single one of them swarmed over the Burrow like ants on a carcass.
Everyone in the front yard could only stare in unrestrained awe at the power and mastery of their friend, and at the ease with which he performed. At least a cool dozen extra Harrys were hanging around with them, some bringing snacks (for Ron), others answering questions (for Hermione), and at least three were fawning all over Ginny, bringing her drinks, fanning her from the summer heat, and getting her a chair and massaging her feet as well. Of course, at the exact same time he was coaching her through completing her mental spell list and in organizing her mind and her breathing exercises. The latter of which was greatly helped by the foot massage.
For the next hour, everyone watched at the Burrow was completely transformed from a lopsided shack that was homey, but rundown, into a three-story home with a high-roof, a fresh coat of paint and a garden modeled after Eden itself. They could hardly recognize it after Harry was finished with it.
Afterwards, Harry stood before it and then turned to ask Fleur, Mrs. Weasley, and Bill if there was anything else they wanted. Anything that didn't have to wait for the day of the wedding that is.
Seeing they couldn't think of anything, Harry nodded one final time and then with a wave of his hand dispelled all of his copies in a mild explosion of white smoke. Unfortunately, it also seemed to signal for the older members to start asking uncomfortable questions.
"All right Harry," said Bill, "I see that Hermione isn't going to crack first this time, so I'll go ahead and ask. How is it you are able to do magic, and with a spell that I've never even heard of?! It's been more than an hour and even with the Order's protections up, the Ministry should've sent notification of underage magic use already! Now I heard your explanation about this... this Battle magic you told Mad-Eye last night, but that doesn't explain how you can use magic without consequence like this!"
Harry just smiled and shrugged at the eldest Weasley offspring. "Well Bill, believe it or not, Battle magic is the answer to your question. In addition to the Shadow Copy spell that I just used, there is an entire branch of masking, cloaking, and hiding spells dedicated solely to allowing the user to use all other forms of magic without being detected by anyone. I made sure that several of those were in place on top of whole new protections I put up alongside all of those put in place by the Order."
"But how did you even learn this... battle magic in the first place, Harry?" asked Bill.
"And as I said last night, I can't answer that question, Bill," answered Harry.
"Well that's not good enough!"
At this point, Ron decided to step in, seeing as he and Bill were now roughly the same height, and Harry was still acting calm about the whole matter, he stepped in front of his brother to stop any further arguments.
"Now hold on Bill," said Ron. "Harry's being as honest as he's allowed to be. Besides, you remember how Dumbledore was? In a way it's kinda like having him back, don't you think?" Ron continued to speak quietly with his brother while a few others stepped in behind the boy's back.
"So Harry," said Fred.
"Silent business partner," continued George.
"Good friend."
"Future brother-in-law," they finished together with a subtle glance towards Ginny.
"Care to explain," said Fred. "How it is," said George. "Those cloaking spells of yours," Fred. "Work? Just curious mind you as if we could market it..." George. "Then we'd make a killing in the shop!" Fred. "Not that we aren't already," George. "Our Defense Line is still our top sellers," Fred finished up.
"Don't you two ever get tired of doing that?" asked Harry after the ping-pong match of listening to them.
The red-haired twins looked each other in the eye for a full three seconds and then casually, and in odd tandem, shook their heads no and replied, "No."
"Yeah, didn't think so," he commented.
"So?" the two asked in stereo.
"No," he replied with a matching grin.
At their looks of disappointment, he added, "For better reasons than anything you two could imagine as well. The first of which, is that you would have to swear on your magic to not use those spells for your shop, but only for battle, war, and fighting. Part of the whole initiation into Battle magic, and I can't teach you just the cloaking spells as those are advanced spells dependent on basic principles. The other part is that any products you make can be reverse-engineered and if not the current Death Eaters and Dark Lord, then the next set will be able to use them. I'd rather not run the risk if it's all the same. But... ask me after the war's over with and I might... come up with something. If you ask nicely." He laughed at their shocked, yet still calculating looks as he turned and walked away.
Thankfully only to run into Ginny, who quickly pulled him out of the line of fire, so to speak, as she dragged him off to a hiding spot behind the brand new Burrow. Just to be on the safe side, while they had a few moments peace, Harry quickly created a couple extra copies, and then had three of them transfigure themselves into exact copies of Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. And without Polyjuice potion too.
"Wow," said Ginny in open-jawed amazement at her sudden twin. "Will I be able to do stuff like this after you finish teaching me Battle magic?"
"Eventually," answered Harry with a shrug. "But it's not an overnight thing. I'm considered a prodigy for the simple fact I reached Mastery within six years. But then I was on an accelerated program and was given the answers to some problems that I might've been able to figure out on my own. For many, not everybody, but for many mastery comes on average after about ten years of dedicated study."
"Ten years?!" she exclaimed.
Harry just shrugged, then lead them back out to the orchard while his and her copies went back out around the front to take their place without anyone getting suspicious, and to allow opportunity for Ron and Hermione to likewise switch out and to join them later.
As they walked, Harry continued to explain and expand on Ginny's lessons and understanding of this forgotten branch of magical study.
"So how far did you and Hermione get before I came to get you earlier?" he asked.
"Not very. I explained to her what you'd told me, and she figured a lot of it out on her own before I could even finish! We meditated for about five or ten minutes before you showed up, and I got a little closer to feeling my core. I mean, it's easy to feel my magic, I feel that all the time, but my core? How is it that we're not taught this at Hogwarts? It seems like it would be pretty vital."
"Well, for Battle magic, which uses wandless magic almost all of the time, it is. But in case you haven't noticed, wizards and witches, that don't live out in the country, don't really like to do any more work than they absolutely have to. And despite what you might think of it, it's actually a lot easier and not as hard to go and hunt down a Phoenix tail feather, a Dragon's heart string, or a Unicorn's hair and craft about 500 wands a century and learn motions and words than it is to learn how to recognize, contain, and form the magic directly with your own mind. First thing I noticed about the Wizarding world when I was eleven and Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley for my first time; wizards are lazy. There are exceptions, but on the whole... wizards are lazy."
"I trust I'm the exception?" she asked with a coy smile.
"You're wanting to learn the hard way of doing magic, aren't you?" he side-ways complimented her.
"Well that's just it," said Ginny suddenly, "It's not that hard! I almost had it the first time I tried it this morning, but it just keeps slipping through my fingers! I know I'll be able to do it before too long here, I just know it! Besides, it was harder learning to do the Bat-Bogie Hex the first time around."
"Well keep in mind this is just the first step, and even me, a Master at Battle magic, I have to do the same exercises you're doing now, almost daily, even before the Fusion. And that's why I said it was the hard way, because with wand-waving, you have to match the movements and words and let the magic flow, and then you have to do it often enough that your magic then associates the spell with the movements and words automatically. This way is just the opposite; making you associate the spell with the flow of magic."
"And I certainly don't expect any of you to get this down by the first day. Although it's great if you do, because there are more advanced exercises I can have you do that will help even more, but you have to be patient and just keep working at this one until you can feel your magic core and not just once, but every time. Just hang in there, keep trying, and don't give up. You will get it eventually. I promise you."
"How's the spell list coming, by the way?" he asked her suddenly.
"Easier than I initially thought it would be," she grudgingly admitted. "Once I got started, it just began to flow together. Then, when you were helping me to relax earlier, I finished the full list. And you told me to start categorizing them by basic spells, hexes, curses, defensive spells, offensive spells, healing spells, constructive spells, destructive spells... I'm still working on organizing them all, but it's made recalling them all a lot easier."
"Well, keep in mind that many of the same spells can fit under different categories all at once. You don't have to limit each to one category alone. This is another way of teaching you that a single spell can in fact have many different uses," explained Harry.
"See," Ginny giggled, "that's the other reason I don't think of this as the hard way, because you make it so easy. If being the Hero of the Wizarding world doesn't work out for you Harry, you'll make a great teacher some day."
"So everyone keeps telling me," he grumbled, recalling his Fifth Year and 'Dumbledore's Army'.
Ginny just laughed out loud and raced ahead to the orchard. Harry grinned and chased after, enjoying the chance, however brief, to enjoy his youth.