Diviner's Broth

Harry woke up to a few drops of water on his face. When he opened his eyes, there were a few clouds above him, releasing little bits of rain down. Looking to each side, Harry saw he was surrounded by furry bodies, with Charlie being the closest one to him. Slowly and gently, he untangled himself from the limbs and tails on top of him and got out of the big pile of his sleeping family. When he was clear, he could see Lyra a little further away, cuddled up with Teacher on one side and Whispers on the other.

Whispers had grown a lot over the last month and a half, more than he had during the year, and was now about a head shorter than Lyra. They would need to resize his Yeti gloves when they arrived in London. Whispers's growth was particularly significant as both Harry and Lyra had also grown at least two inches since coming home. Two possibilities explained this phenomenon; either wizards changed height and appearance only over the summer breaks so they would look different during each school year, or there was some kind of magic on the island that instilled quicker growth in them.

There were a few younger hoohoos pulling bugs out of the wet earth and vanishing in a puff of fire or smoke when droplets of water hit them, only to appear a little further away to continue their hunting. The space Harry left had already been filled by another Hidden, taking advantage of the warm and empty spot closer to the center of the pile. Looking around a little more, he spotted The Giver next to his earthen shelter, using his wand to change the color of the ground around him like he was painting with watercolors. Stepping over the faces of a few sleeping Dwarves, still buried in the earth, Harry approached his tutor.

§Good morning.§

The Giver flicked his wand, and all the colors on the ground vanished,

§The blessing of the dead last night was wondrous.§
§And it was sad.§
§It felt right to do as the Hidden and Hoohoos seemed to know how to perform it without ever doing it before.§

He nodded along with the explanation. Sad but wondrous.

§I hope not to see it again for a very long time.§
§Lyra and I will find those responsible.§
§There will be no one to pay respects to them.§

The Giver nodded.

§We only survived the last time because of the aid of the protectors.§
§If you want to find these wizards, you need to be stronger than them.§

Harry nodded, though the idea of being stronger than the Lampong or Usurper was mind-boggling. One could knock over a charging re'em, and the other could kill a basilisk with its voice. However, despite such insurmountable goals, he felt magic in his heart tighten to signal that this was the direction he needed to take. He would also tell Lyra that they needed to be stronger than the Hoohoos, the Lampong, and the Usurper in order to hold these poachers responsible.

After a little more conversation, The Giver told him that he would return with the others later. Harry looked around the grass-covered crater and at all the freshly filled graves and had an idea. He had many seeds in his pouch to plant berries, mangos, bananas, pomegranates, apples, and more. He began burying them in the wet earth, with a few early-rising Demiguises helping him out until he was entirely out of seeds. From there, Harry hopped on his broom and flew down to the beach.

As he arrived, Moody and Tonks were dueling on the beach as a few others watched. Brandt and the werewolves were missing, presumably getting them set up for their transformation. Newt was sitting with his wife and the others, drinking hot beverages and watching the fight. As Harry came for a landing, he heard Tonks call out to him.

"Harry! Catch!"

A blue ball of light narrowly missed Alastor's head as it shot toward Harry. Instinctively he raises a shield with his wand, causing the projectile to bounce back toward Alastor's head. Suddenly, fireworks exploded everywhere, producing strange light effects all over the beach as Tonks yelled out a few spells that Harry didn't recognize.

Moody seemed to take things up a notch, and his eye was spinning everywhere as he intercepted spells from every angle. He blasted away a lion made of sand, a badger made of water, and a giraffe made of wood. He didn't see when a giant spider made of clay burst out of the sand behind his back and closed all its legs around his body as three red spells hit him; one wrenched his wand from his grip, the other plucked his prosthetic leg off, and the last stunned him.

All the lights died down as Tonks caught the falling wand and stood there breathless.

Tristan stood up and started applauding. The rest of them joined in. Harry started to approach, but Tonks stopped him.

"Stay there!" she commanded.

She cast several other spells at her unconscious trainer. Bubbles of red and blue appeared and shattered before a large cache of weapons, and objects came off the stunned Senior Auror and piled in a heap far away from him. When no more items came from the body, she transfigured sand around him into three stone pillars and began inscribing runes on them. When she was done, it created a three-sided yellow barrier around him.

"Nobody touches him for twelve hours," she ordered everyone watching.

As she pulled out a broom, Harry called out, "What do we get out of it?"

She grumbled but replied loudly, "A minor favor for everyone. Something extra for Harry since he unwittingly helped."

Everyone nodded in agreement, but as she hopped on the broom, Madeline called out, "Mine will be a bit more than minor."

"Fine," she agreed with the Veela and shot off over the water.

As she disappeared over the water to the west, Cesario asked, "So he got stunned. What's the big deal?"

Tristan laughed, "He is Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Senior Auror. He has trained fifty recruits and arrested or retired almost as many dark wizards and criminals as the entire Auror force combined over his career. He doesn't get stunned. He doesn't lose fights. He might lose a limb, an eye, or a chunk of flesh, but he doesn't get defeated. I can occasionally get a few hits in, but he never goes down. Sorry, I got him once through a fluke. I had told Tonks what happened, and she didn't even bother to use it herself. So what are all of you going to ask for your favors?"

Harry shrugged, "I've only used one favor owed to me before. I still have a few, but they're just from friends, so it's not a big deal. It seems to make people feel better to offer them, even if I don't take them up on it."

Tristan smiled mischievously. "It's going to be funny."

Newt smiled and was just about to answer when a scratching noise was heard near the barrier around Moody. His prosthetic leg was scuttling around the barrier like a crab, scratching at the translucent yellow wall. It would test one section and then scuttle off to another and check that one, searching for a way in.

"Well, that's incredibly weird and slightly disturbing," Tina commented. "What were you about to say, dear?" she asked Newt.

"Oh, I'm going to ask her to have tea with a creature in our menagerie, the Witkəś." Everyone looked confused except his wife, so he explained, "It's an interesting creature that lives in central Russia and Northern Kazakhstan. It's a bit difficult to explain. It has four legs but can stand on two, webbed feet, a long neck, horns, and a prehensile tail shaped like a loop. The females have a small finger inside the tail."

"And you want that girl to have tea with it?" Madeline asked.

The mysterious wizard appeared in a chair next to all of them, as if he had been there the whole time, "Oh, they're quite hospitable creatures," he told everyone. "They tunnel through the earth near rivers and lakes and build large underground dens. They seem slightly less intelligent than the demiguises here and procure all sorts of herbs to make tea, even if they can't make it hot. They try to invite people to drink with them but lash out violently when they are declined. How big is the one you have, Mr. Scamander?"

"If she stood up straight, he would probably be ten feet tall, so still quite young. She was found being used to make specialty teas for a criminal syndicate in a raid by Estonian Aurors and passed to me when they couldn't figure out what to do with her. She's a bit lonely, and not many of my keepers would have tea with her. I figure Miss Tonks could shift into an approximation of another Witkəś and keep her company."

The forgettable wizard smiled, "You might not be interested, but if you're looking for more funding for your menagerie, I would know some people that would pay quite a bit for Witkəś tea."

Newt was about to reply in a negative, but Tina spoke for him, "We keep it mostly for the other keepers, but if you're able to provide us with a client list of who we are selling to, we may select a few more reputable people who aren't involved with trafficking or exploitation."

"That sounds fair, and probably the only ones willing to share their identities are the more reputable ones anyways."

"What else do you have in your menagerie?" Harry asked.

"Too many to count," Tina replied.

"I could name them all," Newt countered. "I'm going to arrange a field trip this year for those in the Care of Magical Creatures class to visit." Seeing Harry's crestfallen expression, he added, "Maybe towards the end of the year, we can bring some of the other students who are interested as well but not enrolled in the elective."

The group continued to chat about their favors from Tonks and watched Moody's leg scuttle around the barrier and return to its owner. Nearly half an hour later, there was a *crack* of apparation as Brandt appeared back on the beach. He stood in shock at the stunned Auror on the sand with his leg, trying desperately to get through the barrier around him. The look on his face was mixed with confusion before he turned back to the rest of them sitting nearby and watching.

"She really did it," he said with a bit of awe. "She turned up on the boat I had prepared for the werewolves, put on a large, feathered, red hat, and said she was commandeering it for the afternoon to escape the island. After a short argument, I let her have it on the condition she'd have it back at the anchor point two hours before sunset for the wolves to transform there."

"Are you sure she'll get it back in time?" Cesario asked nervously.

"It's a small boat," Brandt told them. "I rigged it with a portkey and special cuffs for the wolves. After sunset, if the ship leaves the small area it is supposed to be anchored in, it will move back. If the wolves leave the ship, they'll be moved back. They only work one time each, but it will give us enough time to respond if they do."

"Constant vigilance?" Tristan asked with a smirk.

There was a small explosion at his remark near Moody's body everyone turned to look as one of the pillars crumbled, causing the yellow barrier to fall, and the old Auror began to groan. The prosthetic leg was totally ruined at the base of the crumbled pillar.

As Alastor sat up, he looked around and spied the group watching him, "So, which of you said it?"

"Constant vigilance?" Tristan asked. "I did… what was that?"

"Last resort. I know some asshole will try to taunt me with my favorite catchphrase. If I'm stunned and my leg is not connected, it explodes. If I'm dead, it will explode even larger along with my eye to keep them out of enemy hands." He seemed to examine himself for a moment before nodding and smiling, "She managed to deal with two other contingencies I didn't know she knew I had. So how long ago was I stunned, and where is she?"

The Veela replied, "We are not to help you. She made a deal before leaving."

"Fine," he gruffly replied as he stood up and hopped over to where all his belongings were stacked on the beach.

He sorted through them until he picked up a crystal ball. Throwing it down on the sand hard, it cracked open, revealing a short wand inside. He fixed up the mangled metal leg on the beach and stuck it back on his stump.

"Barely works, but it will do." Looking through the rest of his things, he picked up a compass and said, "Trigger."

The portkey activated, and he vanished with a snap.

A few hours after Moody left, Lyra arrived back with the demiguises and got a retelling of the story of Tonks's duel from the others. The rest of the day, everyone relaxed on the beach with Harry and Lyra practicing magic and occlumency exercises. They split off at one point, with Tristan doing some mock dueling with Harry and Lyra shooting small fireballs back and forth with Madeline. Newt and Tina left them, along with Nestor's team, to explore a bit on the island's east side. However, everyone returned and ate dinner together. While they were eating dessert on the beach and listening to a bit of jazz on the record player, Tonks and Moody popped back in, dropping a portkey of a beer bottle and falling on the sand, very obviously drunk.

"Did you catch her?" Tristan asked.

At the same time, Brandt asked, "The boat with the wolves is anchored?"

Moody's real eye looked to Tristan while the magic one towards Brandt. He raised one hand and pointed to Tristan, "Nope." Then he told Brandt, "It never moved."

"What?" Brandt asked.

"I never took the boat," Tonks giggled. "I thought you might tell Moody my plans, so I led a false trail. While he was waiting for the boat to arrive, I swam to a beach nearby." She waved her arm, which turned into a giant flipper, before switching back to her regular arm.

"And then you just went to a pub and got drunk?" Tina asked.

"Pretty much," Moody smirked.

"She's going to get a golden wand, isn't she?" Tristan asked with a smile.

Tonks perked up at the mention of the prestigious award, but Moody shook his head, causing her to look a bit confused.

"I've got something planned that will be better." He didn't elaborate, just saying, "Set us up with some of that dessert. I'll trust you, Tristan, to keep watch while we sleep off the booze tonight."

Tristan looked shocked at both statements but stood up straighter and poured himself a large cup of coffee.

The following day, the two werewolves returned to the island. They both looked horrible. They had dark rings under their eyes and continued to stretch their limbs like they had been doing hard work all night without rest. Pretty much every move they made was met with groans. The mysterious wizard served them a large breakfast, and then they just flopped down on the beach to rest.

An hour later, Tonks and Moody got up. They both looked horrible. They had dark rings under their eyes and continued to stretch their limbs like they had been doing hard work all night without rest. Pretty much every move they made was met with groans. The mysterious wizard served them a large breakfast, and then they just flopped down on the beach next to the two werewolves to rest.

Harry and Lyra were watching the display while eating with Nenita. She had been diligently taking notes on the Bloodhounds' activities. When she was finished eating, she approached Lennix, still lying in the sand.

"So, what are you all going to be doing today?"

Lennix opened one eye and stared at her, then replied, "We need to go through all the stuff we pulled from the ship. We would have done it before if not for the funeral. Ivan and I still have enough heightened senses to memorize the scents and magics in the recovered goods. We just need to wait for Madi to be done with Tristan, and we'll get moving."

Nenita raised an eyebrow as both Lennix and Ivan tapped on their noses. Harry and Lyra looked confused as Tonks giggled at what had just been said.

While the wolves were recovering from their night, the mysterious wizard started pulling all the salvaged equipment from the cabins and bringing it out on the beach. While he conjured long tables, he enlisted Harry and Lyra's help in levitating all of it on top but warned them not to touch anything. It took an hour to arrange everything with two full tables of various tools and weapons. They immediately identified over a dozen knives that looked identical in style to the two that Harry and Lyra now used. Other blades, strange tools, cages, leashes, and horrible objects were likely used on demiguises or other animals. There were boxes of personal effects, bits of clothing, and the still-sealed containers they found by the bridge.

There were also the bones that belonged to the crew of the boat. They even brought along the crab using one of the skulls in place of a shell. It was moving around a terrarium that had been transfigured for it, no doubt confused at the change or venue for where it dwelled.

After they had everything laid out, Madeline exited one of the cabins. Her skin was brighter, and her silver hair was glowing. She ignored the stares of anyone that looked at her as she joined the other Bloodhounds by the tables.

"You missed all the heavy lifting," the mysterious wizard told her.

"You know I'll be more helpful like this now. Psychometry is nearly impossible for anyone else and requires a lot of juice," she said haughtily and flipped her hair, so silver sparkles rained down onto the sand.

"What's psychometry?" Harry asked.

The mysterious wizard replied, "It's an obscure branch of divination that allows someone to tell the history of an object. It's rarely precise, but it helps to find multiple objects with the same history or some kind of connection between them. It almost always requires a natural aptitude to do anything more than the basics, and a Veela's empathic powers to read emotions gives them a bit of a boost."

Lyra was also curious about something else, asking Madeline, "How do you make your hair shine like that? I'd love to be able to do more than red and orange sparks."

For emphasis, her hair began to give off hot sparks as she shook her head back and forth.

"It's all natural for me," she told Lyra. "I wish I could do more colors of sparks or even change my hair color. Nothing will make it anything but silver. It makes it difficult for me to blend in around muggles without a wig."

Any further discussion was halted as Lennix and Ivan finally got up and joined the others at the tables. They began to go through the loose items with the werewolves using their heightened smell and touch to examine them, the mysterious wizard casting ranges of diagnostic spells on them, and the Veela holding her hands over them as they glowed with a yellow light.

The examinations got deeper when they got to the knives, the same as the ones that Harry and Lyra used. They started to sort them into piles, splitting them up and almost arguing over where they should go. It took almost as long to examine them as it did to create a sorting method. More tables were conjured, and a knife was placed on each one.

From there, the skeletons and personal effects began being matched to each knife. Lennix occasionally shuffled the tables around into different orders at the direction of Madeline. Finally, they had gotten through everything except the locked boxes. The whole process was incredible to watch. Even Alastor seemed impressed at their methods and teamwork.

When they finally stepped back, they seemed satisfied with their work.

"So, here's what we can tell you so far," Lennix began. "The knives are the key to this whole thing. Not magical at all, but certainly a way to identify members of this group in the future. When someone is inducted into their organization, they are given one of these knives, which they use to cut their palms and swear loyalty to the 'Family.'

Madeline gestured to the arrangement of the tables, "Everyone seems to have a rank in the group. No one has a position that is equal to another. It's bizarre, and I can't think of any other organization with a similar structure. Some might have pecking orders established inside of each rank, but in this one, everyone has exactly one person above and below them. The highest ranks aren't here and are probably dead, but the highest man present is the father of two lower-ranked men. There are at least three sets of cousins, but after the first branch, it's hard for me or the wolves to detect. We would need fresh blood or living bodies to determine more."

"Nepotism is normally a thing among criminal organizations," Moody commented.

"I hear it's a big thing in the British Ministry, too," the mysterious wizard added with some snark.

"You might have just proved my point," Moody replied.

"What's next?" Nenita prompted while transcribing everything they had said.

"The locked boxes," Lennix replied. "The caterwauling charms are easily disabled, but we need to ensure they aren't forced open in case other effects are waiting inside to be activated. We have determined that they are locked with a voice key, not a counterspell, so that will make things easier."

"How are you going to figure out the password?" Nestor asked very curiously.

Madeline replied, "Well, we're short a curse-breaker at the moment, so we'll have to try a diviner's broth. Though, without any apples here, I'm at a loss as to how to make it."

Brandt looked towards Harry and Lyra, "I suggest you consult the children. They know every element of this island like the back of their hands, and Harry is quite adept at improvising potion ingredients while Lyra would be of great use with the arithmancy of it."

Both children blushed at the praise and were very interested in whatever was being suggested.

A diviner's broth turned out to be a very complicated but almost surefire way to discover a linguistic password. After making the broth, the locked object needed to be submerged in it. This meant that the container for the potion needed to be large enough to hold what needed to be opened, and the ingredients needed to be plentiful enough for such a large batch. This was simple for lockets or diaries but more difficult for chests and cabinets. The potion was developed by a group of British explorers who brought ingredients from their travels back home and brewed it there for the first time. Fortunately, as the ingredients weren't native to the land it was first brewed in; they didn't need to change the recipe too much, with only a few substitutions on ingredients and stirrings.

They were able to procure many of the original ingredients with ease; sunflower seeds, alihotsy, and powdered measures from a diviner's crystal which The Giver had dangling from his staff that he received in his trade with Nestor's grandmother. They did not have any fresh bundinum secretion to make the base for the potion but were able to substitute it for the liquid in a species of pitcher plant that was found on the northwest side of the central volcano near where all the spiders lived on the island. Thao identified it as an Attenborough's Pitcher Plant. The last ingredient was the leaves on a red flower that Harry was told was a Monarch Rosemallow. He picked that one because The Giver taught that the leaves could be used in snake venom antidotes, and he wanted to use their purifying nature to help divine the password to the chests.

The last element of the potion was supposed to be a peeling taken from a fresh apple carved off the apple using a silver knife in one continuous cut, with no breaks. While Lyra worked with the others on the stirring methods, ingredient counts, and how to dilute the liquid base taken from the pitcher plant, Harry was left to do this. Since a freshly picked apple wasn't available, and the custard apples didn't have peels, he chose to use a mango. During his first attempt, he cut deeply into the fruit to ensure no breaks but ended up with a lot of fruit on the peel. Brandt stopped him from using that and told him to start over and get only peel in his carvings.

The silver knife he was using was relatively small and resulted in many attempts to get just the peel of an entire mango in one continuous cut. In the end, it took fifteen mangos for him to be successful. After the first three, a queue of demiguises had formed in front of him, waiting for him to fail so they could have the discarded fruit. As soon as they got their prize, the next one would step up with a replacement for him to start on, waiting for the inevitable failure. When Harry finally got a complete peel, he passed the naked mango to the waiting demiguise, who turned out to be Hannah, and she went on her way to eat it.

Recreating a local version of the potion, sourcing the ingredients, determining the ingredient quantities, stirring methods, and peeling the mango took three days. Now the cabinet needed to soak in the broth with the peeling for five more. When it was done, they just needed to remove the peeling and throw it over their left shoulder, which should turn into the passphrase. They were hoping that all the boxes and cabinets had the same codeword to open, or they would need to repeat this for each one. Just in case they were different, they picked the cabinet to open first as it was closest to the ship's steering wheel and looked to be the most important.

While the broth was working its magic, along with the occasional stirring, life became more relaxed. Cesario, Than, and Thao returned to the mainland while Kailee returned to them. Newt and Tina also departed from the island as they needed to prepare for the upcoming year. They made veiled hints at significant changes that would be coming to Hogwarts but didn't reveal what they were. Brandt also received a letter from Kadin asking when he could borrow Harry to kill two Sigbins for some associates of his. Brandt replied that they would squeeze that in just before they left for the Vulkatross island.

Tonks and Moody spent quite a bit of time with the Bloodhounds, with Moody imparting some investigatory techniques he had learned over his lifetime, and Tonks decided to take up Ivan on his offer to spar. When that was agreed on, the two of them set themselves up on the beach for a fight. Harry and Lyra sat to the side and loaded up on cones filled with berries as Whispers joined them with his mysterious cache of popcorn.

"So, what are the rules?" Ivan asked.

"No biting," Tonks replied as she started to stretch.

"Obviously," Ivan rolled his eyes. "Fights end with tap outs, callouts, or getting knocked unconscious."

The two of them sized each other up for a few seconds before Ivan lunged at Tonks in an attempt to grab her in a bear hug. Almost lightning fast, Tonks shrunk by two feet, dodging his grab, then shot back up, regaining her height and delivering a powerful uppercut straight to the werewolf's chin, lifting him a few inches off the ground before falling flat on his back. With no one calling out, Tonks jumped on top, applying an armbar while cutting off his air with her legs. He struggled for a bit, then went limp.

Everyone cheered as she popped back up to declare herself the winner of the round. Lennix woke up his muscle and smirked at him as he exclaimed, "What was that? You can shrink?" Watching her smirk, he declared, "We're going again."

They squared off again, but this time he took some time to look for an opening and swung a few practice swings, which were blocked or dodged by the more nimble Nymphadora before he swung hard at her block, knocking her down through the guard. While she was on the ground, he pounced on her legs, picking her up and throwing her like a rag doll. However, in the air, she managed to perform a transformation that looked something like the skin flaps of the Balbal, catching the air and letting her float to the ground. However, since she didn't fly as far as she would have without it, Ivan caught up to her and delivered a devastating kick to her chest knocking all the air out of her as she flew further and landed on her back, unconscious.

After fixing a few fractured ribs from the kick, they got ready to go again, with Ivan taunting her, "Are you ready to fight for real now?"

"Let's do it," Tonks replied as her form shifted. She grew taller, more muscular, and hairier until she was a perfect clone of Ivan. Moody finished the illusion by casting a spell at his trainee, transfiguring her clothes to copy her opponent's.

"This is just too weird," Lennix commented. "I might be able to smell the difference, but it's super confusing to my eyes."

"It's the exact opposite to me," Lyra commented, drawing a few strange looks.

Ivan tilted his head to the side, with Tonks mimicking his movement. She copied his stance as he moved to attack, then they both charged each other. Both of their attacks in this round were more feral, each taking swipes at the other with sharpened nails, drawing bits of blood as they hit. After two minutes, they grappled so much that most spectators probably couldn't tell them apart. One of the competitors had a punch blocked by an elbow, causing them to howl in pain as their knuckles broke, followed by that elbow hitting them in the side of the head as they crashed to the ground. The one left standing gave a triumphant howl as most looked confused as to who just won.

The confusion was settled when Lyra began to cheer, followed by Harry and the others. Tonks howled again as she shifted back into her standard form. When she woke Ivan back up again, he congratulated her.

"We'll need to do that again sometime," he smiled. "I normally don't get in a good fight unless it's with another wolf."

"For sure," Tonks smiled. "Most of my fights are experimentation with my forms, and I never just go for real. I was pretty sure you wouldn't let me play around."

Harry was astounded by the level at which Tonks and Ivan were fighting. Compared to this, the fist-fighting he had been doing with Greg felt like dancing with a flobberworm. If he wanted to get as strong as possible, they would need to step up, learn faster, and do more. However, he had no idea who could help him at Hogwarts.

When he discussed his concerns with Lyra, she told him they should focus on what they could do for now. Practice with magic, with their knives, and with occlumency. The Simon conversations with Whispers were getting stronger, but they could barely get to twenty-five rounds in the patterns before their mindscapes collapsed. Nowhere near the forty that their tutor was expecting.

The level of their dominance contests with Whispers were getting much better, though. They still had no chance against their little brother, as he was getting stronger at the same rate as them. However, the day before the Diviner's Broth was finished, Lyra had a breakthrough.

After breakfast, she found Harry while pulling along one of the younger Hidden, a massive smile on her face. Harry had named this one earlier in the summer 'Chitters,' after a noise he made when he got excited. He was maybe two years old and was one of the youngest of the Hidden who challenged them to the contest.

"I beat Chitters!" Lyra exclaimed. They hadn't beaten any of the Hidden yet, so Harry was shocked.

Harry looked at the small, silver monkey and raised his hands in a challenging posture. The little guy jumped onto Lyra's back so he could be at eye-level with Harry and placed his hands on Harry's shoulders to return the challenge. As his eyes lit up, Harry fell back into his mindscape and put up his shields and spikes. He could feel probing attacks immediately, so he moved his turtle shell to avoid them instead of staying in one spot.

They kept up the battle for a few minutes, with Harry occasionally pushing back to where he thought Chitters's presence seemed to get weaker with each exchange. Finally, he responded with a strong push of air at it, mimicking how he felt when people tried to read his mind, and Chitters vanished entirely from his senses.

When he opened his eyes, Chitters looked exhausted, so Harry dug out a mashed-up custard apple to give him as he celebrated his first victory over one of the Hidden with his sister.

Author's Note: The Diviner's Broth was taken (with some modifications) from one of my top 3 fics, Harry Potter and the Other Path. I've used ideas from it before and probably will again in the future. It is very good.