The Road to Success
Everything was cleared away. The desk and its chairs, the brooms, the charmed clothes and the cupboard they had been within. It was stripped to it barest. An empty room with enchanted walls, floor, door and windows. The second heavily enchanted room in the entire house.
A pentagram was drawn in a thick line in the middle of the room. Confining the pentagram was a hexagon, double bordered and runes scripted within the borders. A larger heptagram drawn over the pentagram so that the smaller star fit neatly within, everything closed off in a circle.
Harry rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He had on a full assortment of armour and a locket Bree had made for him for this very test. The pair were dealing with experimental magic, magic with the power to destroy the entire world if given the chance, Harry was sure.
But this was an advancement. Harry couldn't in his right mind be scared of that, even without his immortality. He could still work. He was still a wizard and a scholar of magic at that.
"Theoretically," said the wizard to Bree who walked outside the table, looking it over with discerning eye. "This should increase any spell performed within it. That will be the pentagram's doing, the heptagram should continually draw power from the earth, fuelling the spell and not needing it to be bound to something, and the circle will keep all that power in there."
Bree gave a nod. "How did you manage this with everything else that's been going on?" she asked sounding a little impressed.
A full week had passed, time in which Harry had performed a great many enchantments: he had armoured clothes for their small army, created Portkeys for each in their numbers that would call them in if the wards were attempted to be breached; the wizard had charmed a great number of bullets for Connor, Galen, Jeremy and Matt, making additional enchantments that would, if the shot was close at least, always hit the heart. That the wizard found any free time at all to study his circles and to have something to this magnitude was something not many would expect. But Harry had found sleep hard to come by these past days, plagued by the incessant thoughts of why Sirius was so bloody scared of him.
Harry pushed such thoughts aside and focused on the circle and more especially Bree.
"You've been practising the spell I hope?"
Bree nodded.
"Why don't we try it out?" the wizard asked his tone overflowing with excitement.
The witches of this world had created Purgatory. A feat Harry would have thought impossible otherwise. Parting it, if only a little, would be something that would assert to the wizard of his true power.
If it worked of course.
Bree disappeared and appeared almost immediately within the circle. She closed her eyes and began the incantation. It was quick and concise, something Harry liked in spells, and immediately he felt the power rise into the room, making its way slowly into the circle. The pentagram began glowing a bright red colour and the power doubled, coursing faster into the circle with almost palpable intensity. Higher and higher the intensity went and Harry felt almost uncomfortable being in the same room, but the wizard wouldn't leave anytime soon.
The power didn't stop. Only going further up and causing more discomfort to the wizard. Something happened; Harry was sure what back the magic fought back, fighting to get out of the Bree's hold. The circle activated, glowing gold as it fought to keep the power in. Harry smiled as he felt the power abate.
It kept coming in. More and more of Nature's power poured from the earth, passing through Bree, through the pentagram, which magnified it three fold, and kept within by the circle.
Harry swallowed. It was enough he could tell. With the amount of power confined in the circle, he was sure he could break through the veil to the Other Side.
A spark and a flare of magic. Harry felt the power rise coil and attack the edges of the circle. Harry felt a trickle of fear as more sparks came to life. Hisses breaking-out with each spark.
"Bree, I think it's time you got out of the circle," said Harry.
Nothing happened.
"Bree."
The woman shook her head. "I can't get out," she said. "I can't move," there was panic in her voice.
Harry flicked his hand and his wand jumped out from his holster and into the waiting hand. He pointed at Bree and when his mind caught up with his body, he found he was at a loss.
What would he do now?
What could he do?
If he broke the circle now then all the magic within it would be out into the world, and though the wizard didn't know what would happened, he knew it would be violent. But the panicked look in Bree's eyes prompted the wizard to act without thinking further.
"Desino Pestis!"
The spell shot out and hit the edges of the circles lines.
BANG