Chapter 65

They slept at Hogwarts that night. Enough was happening the next day that required their presence so it was just easier. When Mag woke at Severus's side in the morning, she didn't ready herself to depart for Areecen's cave after breakfast as she usually did. Last night at dinner, Gellert Grindelwald and Wolfgang Adler had announced today to be their first defense/attack practice meet up. They would use the room of requirement. Mag was excited because this wasn't a typical defense class. This was a class, if one could even call it that, a practice session for skilled dark wizards with ability and talent to learn deadly and protective magic from one another. It was high level and to be included in this felt good. She was so excited at breakfast that she let Nightshade have most of her food until Severus encouraged her to eat more. "We will be using a great deal of energy so you will need some to burn," he said.

Knowing he was right, she nodded and ate some more eggs. After breakfast there was a nice turn out in the room of requirement. There were she and Severus, of course Blaise Zabini and Gellert Grindelwald, never far from one another's side, the Zabini parents, Kereston, Millicent and Wolfgang, and even professor Flitwick. It was nice to see he was interested in learning and sharing information with the rest of them.

He seemed to like Grindelwald well enough as well. Mag vaguely recalled Filius speaking to him about stones last night when the blonde German had thanked her for the wand she'd made him. She was glad he liked it, but in truth would've preferred to do a bit more...to show off her skills a bit more to someone like Grindelwald. Had she the time, she'd have gotten to know him a bit to match him to a more extravagant wand with more stones on it. More stones performed more tasks, a thing that felt like something Grindelwald would appreciate. Instead she'd just gotten him the best strongest quartz and enhanced it so that it would be at double strength for him.

He needed a wand now, and considering that, she did the best she could with the notice she had. He seemed appreciative last night, so perhaps that was enough and he didn't need the fancier more involved set up she'd created for herself and Severus. A few more stones could provide the wand with more attributes, though. Still Blaise seemed very happy with his plain smoky quartz wand for all that so perhaps sometimes it wasn't necessary. She'd also chosen that wand for Blaise without thinking about it. It just felt right. The moment she saw it, the impression of Blaise around it was nearly overwhelming. When it worked like that, matching someone to a wand was always easier. Unfortunately it rarely worked like that. Usually she had to know the person more and what they needed. If she did not know a person well, they had to be specific about what they needed. I.E just raw power or protection or cleansing or focus added. Even happiness could be added to a wand with green aventurine, which could definitely serve to make one's patronus stronger if that was necessary.

Today the room of requirement had made itself large for their lesson, with only a few chairs against the wall near the door. Mag guessed they were there in case someone needed to rest. Grindelwald began by explaining that he wished to teach them a shield that served as both weapon and protection. That definitely sounded useful. He warned them that it took a great deal of strength and focus, but if the caster had used Fiendfyre it should be more manageable. He asked if everyone present had used Fiendfyre before, and when all indicated that they had, a pleased expression crossed his too pretty face. He understood that he did not have to trouble himself with weak amateurs and he appreciated that. Of course they were all trained in some forms of advanced magic by their families before they began at Hogwarts. Everyone present excelled in at least one specialty if not more which meant they had quick creative minds.

"The spell is called Protego Diabolica," Grindelwald said.

"Several elements go into forming this shield. The first is an energy signature of the caster so that the spell recognizes who it is protecting. Normally casting a spell makes that obvious enough, but the fact it connects to the caster's friends and foes makes a bit of extra clarity necessary. To achieve this energy signature when casting the spell, merely think very hard about yourself and who you are as you speak the words of protection. The fire transfigures to something harmless when it touches your friends, while quickly killing your enemies so this extra touch of personalization when casting is very important," he stressed.

Mag could imagine that it was. Don't apply the proper amount of focus and a friend could die, or an enemy could live to kill you. Both were equally bad. She was suddenly glad she'd brought her citrine and quartz wand along instead of the chakra crystal wand she always wore. She had a feeling she may need more focus even than usual and citrine was one of the stones that worked best to promote one's focus. Garnet gave one motivation and the citrine crystals on the wand had little garnets along them that were set in silver to enhance both. They watched Gellert perform the spell first, then he and Blaise cast it together. That was of course an even larger ring of fire and the fire itself seemed more fierce. Mag could feel its heat from across the room. Kereston was the first to test it out, approaching, then walking through the flames to stand at Blaise's side. Mag held her breath until the small blonde was safe within the circle of black fire.

"Black is an appropriate color for the fire, because black gemstones are protective," she shared. There were loads of black stones, but the way this shield worked reminded Mag most of the properties of black tourmaline. It protected and transmuted negative energy into positive. Like the shield it let in the good while keeping out the bad.

"That's interesting," Grindelwald said, turning to her with an intent thoughtful expression.

As he seemed sincere, she gave him a small shy smile. Though he looked very young, fitting in perfectly with herself, Blaise, Millie and Kereston, and at times seemed nearly frightened or shy, now he was in his Grindelement. He was assured and focused, standing straight and tall, his energy confident and powerful. He broke them up into groups and had them practice the shield until lunch. It was hard, and practice only made it slightly less hard. Mag knew she was in her own way by being frightened that she'd get it wrong and accidentally kill someone, so in the end she had to push that fear out of her mind and just focus on the exact specifications of the bloody spell. As could be expected, that helped a great deal. Kereston excused herself for a time and returned with a stick she'd enchanted to play Muggle rock songs like one of their stereos or boxes or whatever it was that they called them.

Knowing the magic that was in all music, Mag wasn't surprised that moving to the beat helped the shield grow stronger when a person had to hold it up while moving. It was Kereston's idea to practice holding the shield while in motion which was impressive as it didn't even seem Grindelwald had done that. When they broke for lunch, many of them were exhausted including Mag herself. She felt her shoulders slump as she walked toward the great hall at Severus's side.

"Same time tomorrow, right," Kereston asked eagerly and everyone agreed.

As they walked, Mag wondered if she and Severus would be able to combine their magic as smoothly as Blaise and Gellert did. Was it the type of magic being done, or how compatible the styles of magic being combined by the two wizards were? Could any two wizards combine at least some things, or was the act of combining a specific talent like Blaise and Gellert's matched skill with enchantments? After lunch, Severus went to check in on Albus. After he did that he'd be working with Blaise and Gellert on something Grindelwald wanted to do with Severus's pensieve memories involving Voldemort. Mag hoped he found something he could use. For her part, she planned to go pick up some items Blaise and Gellert had requested from her goblin jeweler for their various protective projects.

She was able to pick up everything on the list the Zabini elf had given her. The pendants and Mirrors in guilded frames were both in stock. She bought them and placed the custom orders that were also detailed on the list. After that, she stopped for some ice cream, as she'd noticed she was still feeling a little drained from all the Protego Diabolica practice. The sit down in the ice cream parlor seemed nearly as restorative as the ice cream itself. As Severus's day had likely been just as long, she decided to bring him back an ice cream too. She'd chosen black cherry for herself so got the same for him. They had similar tastes in food so he should like it. If not she was sure she could make room, Mag thought with a small grin. When she arrived back at the dungeon, it was to find Severus looking...well the only way she could describe it was upset and vaguely unwell. "What's wrong," she asked, feeling her own agitation rising.

"Grindelwald looked at my thoughts in the pensieve. He used a method called spectral analysis because he believed that Voldemort would attempt to tamper with the minds of all of his followers. I suppose it's some sort of personality profile thing that you are more likely to understand than I."

"You understand psychology just fine most of the time," Mag told him. Even as she spoke, her focus was still more on whatever problem Grindelwald had discovered, because judging from Severus's expression, it certainly was a problem. He held Nightshade against his chest, rocking him much in the way one would a baby. From the long suffering look on the owl's face, the act was one of self soothing for Severus rather than any need to comfort the owl.

"Grindelwald has determined that Voldemort has attempted to tamper with my thoughts in the past and due to my excessively strong shields he has failed. I can't be sure if he sees strong shields that he cannot penetrate as a reason not to trust me, but I am going to assume so." Mag made a small wordless sound of alarm. Her throat was constricted as she struggled not to cry...and instead to think rationally. The idea of Severus in danger was too much...The idea that they didn't know when Voldemort may choose to act upon this was bad. "I'd like to think he just assumes I always keep up strong mental shields, but it's him and he likely sees it as a pissing contest as Nightshade would say," Severus continued grimly.

Mag knew he was trying hard not to show how shaken he was, but she could see that he was worried and this made her own fear skyrocket. He'd served Voldemort for years, confident that his mental shields kept his cover safe. Instead they may have branded him as a traitor. Who would've seen that coming, though? "If a man makes Horcruxes, of course he'd not stop at tampering with the minds of his own," she said quietly. "It only stands to reason I suppose."

"Yes, but if he was as confident as we all assumed, and could see no lies in our minds, why would he? What was he trying to do?" Severus made a wordless sound of frustration. "Grindelwald said this was done a few years back, so perhaps if he's going to act on it, he plans to wait until the end. He will want me until I am no longer useful to him. That should be after Potter is dead...And hopefully he'll be dead first. In that case, this won't ever be an issue."

"Hopefully," Mag said. Her voice sounded hollow with dread to her own ears.

"Grindelwald believes my mind isn't the only one he's tried this on. If the others aren't as good with mental shields as I am, they were tampered with. Only to what end? He can simply order his Death Eaters and they bow to his every command. He says jump and they say how high. He says kill and they say gladly."

Mag sighed. "That is an interesting question, and one that brings up even more concerns. What could he want that he would force his Death Eaters to do rather than simply commanding them?" She wished such thoughts didn't make her concern for Severus grow even more but it did. He should be safe from whatever Voldemort would do to the others thanks to his shields, but would he remain safe from the man's wrath because he'd failed to mentally manipulate Severus's will?

/Told you something was wrong with that creepy fucker,/ Nightshade said tersely, speaking for the first time since Mag had come in.

"I brought you some ice cream," Mag told Severus a bit lamely. "It made me feel less drained, so I thought you may like some."

Severus gave a short laugh, reaching for the cup of black cherry ice cream that Mag had placed on his desk when she'd first entered. "It certainly can't hurt! Thank you."

Mag drew in a deep breath as she nodded. "We'll get this sorted. Grindelwald will surely have some sort of escape plan at least. He's rather good at that sort of thing."

"Yes, he was until he wasn't," Severus said dryly, speaking around a mouth of cold restorative yumminess.