AN: Updated due to review pointing to a potential problem.
January2007
Ch29: Research
A few days after returning from the holidays, Lilly was asked to come to the headmistress's office after dinner. While visiting that office was quite routine for Lilly, being officially invited wasn't. She approached the door with some mixed feelings, yet Minerva smiled warmly at her as she opened the door. "Miss Potter, there's somebody here who would like to talk to you, if you don't mind."
There was a man sitting in the room. He was quite old, with a grandfatherly face and eyes that looked at her warmly. Even before scanning his mind, Lilly felt that he was trustworthy.
"Miss Potter, I'm Albert Newton, from the department of Mysteries at the ministry. I'd like to talk with you about the ritual you've set in the Veil room a few days before Christmas, if you can spare the time."
Lilly smiled. She had already known that the initial interrogation would only whet the curiosity of the unspeakables. It was quite understandable, as there was very little information she could supply at the time. There wasn't much more now, but Lilly thought that she might have gained some more understanding in retrospect.
Minerva understood immediately. She nodded briefly and left the room.
The man also took her smile as agreement, so he pushed on. "Do you know how powerful you are?"
"I don't know the numbers associated with it, but I know that I'm more powerful than any of the adults I've ever met."
"How do you know that?"
"I can see magical auras. They give very good indication of the abilities of the person. Yours, for example, shows above average power, along with great thirst for knowledge and understanding. I'm sure your position is very high at the ministry, and you were quite probably sorted to Ravenclaw when you went to Hogwarts."
He didn't look surprised much. "Well, I'm the chief investigator in the department, second only to the head of the department, which is a mainly clerical job, and I was in Ravenclaw at my time."
Lilly smiled triumphantly. She didn't like bragging, but she liked being right.
The man sighed. "As you've already found out, you are more powerful than any wizard or witch we have ever measured. Not even Albus Dumbledore could overload our measurement device, yet you and the other three girls seemed to be well beyond the measurement capacity of that instrument. Do you mind if I use a different way to measure it? This is actually the way your healer checks every student. It is not as accurate for normal witches and wizards, yet it covers a larger range."
Lilly noticed that some of the portraits hung on the wall stopped pretending to be sleeping. Dumbledore's portrait was actually leaning forward, as if trying to get out of his frame for a better view. It actually amused her.
"I don't mind. Just don't tell anybody of this. Most of the students and the teachers don't know about it and I'd rather keep it this way. I don't want anybody starting speculating."
"I'm under a secrecy vow. Anything I find in the course of my work is not to be disclosed unless specifically permitted by the relevant person. However, I believe I should do something about the portraits."
He waved his wand at the portraits, covering each with a thick black curtain. Another wave of his wand created a privacy shield around them, preventing sounds from reaching the portraits as well. Lilly knew her privacy shield could do both tasks much better, but said nothing.
Once satisfied with the secrecy requirements, he turned back to Lilly. "Normally, this spell only shows the results to the caster, but I'll use a variant which will let you see the measurements yourself."
He then chanted a long spell with some very intricate wand movements, finishing by drawing a kind of oval frame around her. The air seemed to thicken in front of her, turning into a kind of flat surface on which she could see dots moving to and fro until they merged to form a number.
"Unbelievable!" the man said enthusiastically. "I would have never believed it if anybody would have told me. Eighty five – that's more than ten times as powerful as Dumbledore and even higher than what Merlin is believed to have been!"
It took him a moment to calm down and think of his next question.
"Are the other girls as powerful as you?"
Lilly wasn't sure about the way she should answer. She knew Helen was about the same, and Dianna was a bit less powerful – probably about eighty on the scale, yet Rose... Should she tell the man that Rose was already as powerful, or even more, despite being much younger, or should she just say nothing? It was a kind of dilemma which she wasn't prepared to handle yet.
"We are all about the same," she finally said, not really sure if it was the best answer.
Mr. Newton seemed to do some mental calculations, reaching some improbable numbers. When he talked again he sounded very reluctant. He seemed to think out loud more than talk to anybody.
"So, it seems that the four of you have more power than the rest of the magical population put together... I'm not sure anybody can reproduce the results that you have. I'm not even sure if it's safe to leave you be unsupervised..."
Lilly had no doubt where this train of thought may go. She could also sense his thoughts clearly. She knew he had good intentions, but the results of those intentions might have been unwelcome for her. Now her other abilities, not yet known to the man, came handy. She quickly made him forget a bit and only remember she was well above average, but not as hight as his results had shown.
"You mean I'm about the same level as Dad, just a bit higher?" she asked innocently. "Seventy six is really high!" she added.
He seemed to wake up from a daydream. "Well, yes dear. It is really an extraordinary event finding someone so powerful. I hope you'll always use your powers wisely and beneficially."
"Of course! I'm a Potter, am I not?" She said the last sentence as if it was the best explanation, and in a way – it was. The Potters had always supported the light, always cared for the unprivileged and always fought for justice and equal rights – she had already read all she could find about her ancestry and she knew Mr. Newton was also aware of that family history.
"Sure, Miss Potter. I don't doubt it. Now, I'm also aware of another act you've been part of, namely – the healing of the Longbottom couple. Can you tell me anything about that?"
Lilly was more careful now. While seemingly trying to recall the event, she contemplated what would be safe to tell and what she should keep to herself. "Well, I've seen Professor Longbottom very sad. He is a good friend with Dad and I also feel close to him, so I was worried seeing him that sad. I then asked and found out that he was worried about his parents. They had stopped eating and he was afraid he was going to lose them. I asked to visit them at the hospital with him."
Mr. Newton seemed delighted by her concern for others.
"I wasn't sure I could help them, but I felt that letting them feel loved and wanted would do a great deal in bringing them back to normal life. That is basically what we did. I needed my sister for feeling enough love and support, and I beamed it all towards them, flooding them with all the love I could. Eventually, it seemed to have the wanted effect, but I believe some more research needs to be done in ways to help trauma victims of all kinds." She was glad this didn't sound like some powerful magic but more like a sentimental experiment.
"Sure. Your success seems to highlight some flaws in the way such patients are treated. I'm not sure that the healers were glad to have their shortcomings exposed," he said with a smile, "but this really highlights a new direction for trauma patients treatment and I'll make sure it will be researched."
"Oh, that's wonderful! I like helping people!" She didn't need to fake it this time.
"Now, back to the veil, if you don't mind. Do you know if one could use runes or amulets to achieve the results that you did using just raw magic?"
Lilly had already thought about it before. "I believe it can be done. I don't know the details, but according to what I've read there are runes that can enhance and direct feelings as well as magical powers. Using such runes may enable you to rescue the other people behind the veil. You'll need somebody who knew the person you call, in order to be an anchor for the calling, and several powerful wizards and witches to support the magic, but I'm sure it can be done."
Mr. Newton seemed satisfied with her answer. They discussed it some more and Lilly was careful about mentioning her power again. She just emphasized the need for directing and magnifying runes, which would give even a regular wizard enough power to be used for this ritual, "and maybe the anchor should also use a wand. I believe it would have been less exhausting if Dad was holding his wand at the time, only we didn't think about it then."
Soon enough she was done. "Will you be so kind as to ask Miss DePoitiers to come here for a similar investigation?" Mr. Newton asked her.
She had no problem finding Dianna. She used their mental link and started telling her of the events even before reaching her, at the library, so that Dianna would know how to reply and act without causing undue alarms.
Dianna returned an hour later, smiling widely. "It was so easy to make him see only seventy three instead of eighty three! He's really a nice man, though. I promised we shall help his investigation during our vacation, if our parents allow. He really liked my 'good girl' pose."
They both giggled.
"I think we should instruct Rose and Helen as well, so that he won't see them as too powerful," Lillian said. She then turned very serious. "I'm afraid that our great powers may mean that there will come a time when they will be in great need. Some of the old books say that magic works this way, keeping the balance in the world. There may be some very dark forces lurking in our future, or maybe just immense catastrophes, when every bit of magic would be needed to help the victims. Whichever it is, I'm not happy to face it. I don't think I'm as brave as Dad, who faced Voldemort almost every year since he was eleven..." She thought a bit more. "...but I'm surely not going to chicken out when my help will be needed. Would you help me?"
Dianna held her hand up, as if swearing. "I'll always help you. We are friends and stepsisters and now we also found we are related by blood, if only slightly. I have all the reasons to support you, just as I'm sure you will always help me if I need."
"I sure will," Lilly answered, just as solemnly.
They apparated home soon after dinner, directly into Rose's room, where they told her about their meetings that afternoon and instructed her on how to act.
"Are you sure you can baffle him?" Dianna asked.
Rose smiled. Her childish face didn't seem so innocent for a moment. "I've already done it a few times when Dad saw me doing some stuff. I didn't want him to know I'm able to do some things."
"Like what?" asked Dianna.
Rose's smiled turned predatory. "I would have to make you forget if I tell you..."
Her sisters didn't like this answer. "You weren't doing anything dark, were you?"
The girl sighed. "No, not really. You see, Mom doesn't let me fly on a real broom. I've already mastered all that can be done on the training broom she reluctantly allows me to ride, but she wouldn't even let me beg for a real broom. Dad doesn't really mind, though. Whenever we have a chance, Dad lets me ride his broom and teaches me new tricks. He then asks me to remove the memory from his mind, so that he won't lie to Mom."
"Are you really good on the broom?"
"Dad says I'm better than he was at age twelve, I really hope to join the Quidditch team when I go to Hogwarts." The little girl thought a bit. "Why aren't you on the team?"
Lilly shrugged. "They have a very good seeker, and I really like flying more than playing. I may apply for the seeker position next year, though, as the current seeker is in his last year."
Helen was actually expecting them. "My parents got an owl asking them to let that wizard talk with me about the ritual. I was sure you'll be asked before and come and tell me all about it."
Helen was much more aware of the importance of keeping her abilities as secret as possible, especially since she was living in muggle society, yet she was also more experienced at using her magic. "I have to meddle with people's minds every once in a while, when I perform some accidental magic. This is usually some glowing when I get excited or angry, although I've noticed some undercover wizards assuring everybody present forgets the event when it was really big."
"How big?" Dianna asked.
"Well, we were celebrating the birthday of one girl who's fighting cancer. I was so excited for her that the whole class started to glow, as I tried to help her heal. A few minutes later, these wizards came. They told me to be more careful."
"And that girl?"
"She's still under observation, but there's no sign of her illness since." Helen seemed quite satisfied.
Lilly hugged her. "I'm really proud of you. I trust you'll be a great witch when you're older."
They returned to Hogwarts before curfew. Nobody even noticed they were gone.
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