Chapter 7: Studying Problems

"Hello, Harry," the Headmaster greeted him.

"Professor." Harry stated, looking around the room curiously at all the objects the Headmaster had collected. Then he asked a question that had been on his mind for some time. "Professor, what am I doing here? Not your office. Hogwarts. Why am I coming to this school? Or why is anyone studying here for that matter?"

Dumbledore smiled, the twinkle in his eye lightening his often grave expression. "An excellent question. And to answer that is exactly why I called you here today."

"Okay, so explain it, please. I mean, if what we're learning in these books is really just a load of rubbish, then why have everyone learn it?"

"Tell me, Harry, what would be the consequence of every witch or wizard knowing that the power of their belief is the single greatest factor in determining the effects of their magic?"

"Well, I guess everyone would be a lot more powerful and could do anything they wanted with magic," Harry answered with a frown. There didn't seem anything wrong with that to him.

"Not exactly. You see, there are rules and limitations to magic, Harry, and wizards do have different degrees of natural talent in using magic. Professor Trelawney, for example, is comparatively weak for a witch. But she is able to use her magical prowess to nearly its full potential. Other wizards, such as young Neville Longbottom, for example, only use a small fraction of their potential power because of self-doubt or because they are unsure of the many rules of magic."

"So, why not just let Neville know that magic is based on belief? Wouldn't that help him get better?"

"Perhaps. But perhaps not. Belief in belief can be paradoxically damaging to self-confidence. In the case of Mr. Longbottom, he would most likely doubt whether or not his belief was strong enough, and in so doing, he would make it so that it would not be. But there are others who would have no doubt at all about their power to wield magic. What, Harry, do you think would be the consequence of Lucius Malfoy gaining the knowledge you have? Or any of the Death Eaters?"

Harry paled at the thought.

Dumbledore nodded. "So, then, Harry, tell me. Why do we teach all these complex rules and instructions for casting spells? Why do we create these artificial limitations in the minds of witches and wizards?"

"To keep control," Harry answered immediately. "It's a way of limiting everyone. We still learn useful stuff to do with magic, but with extra rules and requirement to make sure nobody can get too strong." Harry paused for a moment, frowning. "But what if someone who shouldn't know something like this does find out? What then?"

"Oh, there have been dark wizards who have discovered this truth. More than one. Fortunately, they always keep their knowledge to themselves, unwilling to share their discovery and the power that can come with it. But while they are not likely to spread the secret to others, they are terrible dangers to the Wizarding world." Dumbledore's words were sad, even haunted. "They learn to harness people's fears, manufacture strength, and masterfully instill doubt in their opponents. It is the unfortunate responsibility of all those with the knowledge we share to destroy any such threat to the stability of the world." Albus looked a bit uncomfortable with the subject.

Harry nodded in understanding. Grindelwald. Harry was only passingly familiar with the rise and defeat of that particular dark wizard, the dark lord who had been defeated before the rise of Voldemort, but Harry knew that it had been Albus Dumbledore who had put an end to it. Harry knew few of the details, but he knew that the experience had changed the headmaster. Harry did not press the matter further.

"So, now that you understand the purpose of the sort of education that takes place in Hogwarts, can you guess why I need to speak with you about this?"

Harry thought for a moment. "I won't be taking classes with everyone else? You're going to teach me about the real principles of magic yourself?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "As much as it would please me to do so, Harry, I'm afraid that is not really possible. Discovering the true laws of magic is something that every witch or wizard who learns the truth of the nature of magic must do for themselves. You see, if I were to just tell you something was really a rule of magic, how could you distinguish it from any of the other rules and laws you have been taught? If you were to believe me, wouldn't that belief influence the effects of the magic? And if you doubted my word, wouldn't your doubt itself work against you? In the end, the only way will be to try it for yourself and to observe.

"Don't worry, I will give you some guidance, but that is not why it was important that I speak with you at the start of term. It is important that you realize how crucial it is that you appear to be following the same rules as everyone else in your use of magic. Were others to see that you did magic in ways that was not supposed to be possible, they would get it in their heads that magic is not what they thought it was."

Harry frowned. "You mean, I still have to take all the classes and do all the homework, just like everyone else?" Dumbledore nodded. "Even though I know most of it isn't really important?" Dumbledore nodded again. "So, you called me up here just to tell me that I have to follow the class schedule?"

The elderly wizard chuckled again. "It is much worse than that, I'm afraid. You cannot just ignore the rules of magic simply because you know they are not actually rules of magic, Harry. Now that you know the nature of the rules, you must understand the rules better than everyone else, you must know them and follow them, and then, if there is a time when you need to break the rules, everyone must believe you know the rules deeper and better than they do and that the reason they think it cannot be done is because they simply do not understand things as well as you."

Harry looked at Dumbledore aghast. "Even Hermione?"

Dumbledore fixed Harry with a keen gaze. "Especially Hermione."

.

The first few days of term were frustrating for Harry. Getting into the new routines for fourth year was compounded by the difficulty of appearing to struggle along with everyone else. Of course, when it came to magical theory, he didn't have to pretend to struggle. While he had been an average student before when it came to the theoretical side of magic, now that he knew most of the theories he was studying were made up or based on false assumptions, he had an even greater time paying attention to it or concentrating on his work.

Which meant he had to fake failure on the practical side of things. If his wand movements weren't precise or if his pronunciation was not spot on, he needed to make the spell not work, which was hard when in his mind he knew that it should work. It was only when he caught on to the idea of only pretending to cast a spell, sort of like pretending to make a prediction like Ron had, that Harry found a way to fake failure. He would first go through the motions of the spell without intending for the spell to be cast, and then follow it up with a second, silent spell, the choice of silent spell to use depending on whether or not he had used the correct motion.

Fortunately for him, most of the class was less concerned about him being a "magical prodigy," as he was now being hailed by the Daily Prophet, and more about the upcoming Tri-Wizard Tournament and the visiting students which had been announced during the opening feast. The other students from the French school and the Scandanavian one would be arriving and there was a furor over the identity of one of the students, Viktor Krum, a professional Quidditch star coming with the students from Durmstrang Institute of Magic. So, Harry's rekindled celebrity status had taken a backseat to the gossip about what the new students would be like. He couldn't have been more pleased about that.

Today they were practicing a charm that animated blocks of ice into miniature figurines. It wasn't a very practical spell, but it was simple in terms of pronunciation and used the double infinite loop motion with a wand, which would be the form they would be practicing over the coming few weeks for various spells. Harry hadn't quite gotten the motion right, yet, so rather than cast the spell for real he would make the motion, say the incantation, and then shoot a magical spark at the ice. It looked very much what was happening with Ron.

"At least I'm not the only one having trouble, mate," Ron said a little too loudly to be conspiratorial.

Harry shook his head ruefully. "You'll get it, Ron. We just have to get the motion right. I think you're not rounding yours enough. I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Harry said. And it was the truth. Hermione had tried to correct his wand movement earlier, but he couldn't tell the difference between what she did and what he was doing.

He practiced the flourish again without speaking the words. Still didn't seem right. So, he turned back to his ice prepared to fake another spark. Just as he said the words and began to make the motion, Professor Flitwick's voice startled him.

"Mr. Potter—"

Harry's wand made a small twirl and he stabbed his wand towards the ice cubes. Unfortunately, he was too surprised to remember to only pretend to cast the spell. He felt his magic leap out towards the ice and he knew he had cast the spell successfully. After all, he had done it on his first try, not even knowing what the proper wand motion was supposed to be.

"That is not the proper wand motion we are practicing, you-" Flitwick began, only to stop mid-sentence when he saw three perfect ice figurines that looked like Harry, Ron, and Hermione playing together. "Oh, Merlin, that's perfect. But…" The small Charms professor paused and looked carefully from Harry to the animated ice sculptures which were dancing around.

Harry gulped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Professor. I sort of used Fortuna's Whirl instead of the double infinity there. I was just tired of not getting it right," he lied.

"Fortuna's Whirl?" Flitwick considered for a moment. Then he looked at the dancing figurines, rather impressed. "I would not have thought of using that wand motion, but I see that it can be used as a substitute for this charm. Let me see the wand motion, again, Mr. Potter."

Harry slowly made a whirling gesture with his wand, then snapped it forward for the Charms professor to see. Fortunately, Harry had no problems making that particular motion properly.

"I say, very good Mr. Potter. Excellent use of a substitution in spell casting! It takes a lot of talent to be able to pull off something like that, a great deal of talent. Whatever made you think of using such a lesser known movement?"

"Actually, Hermione put me on to it," Harry said truthfully. "She was helping me with my wand work when I asked if there were a simpler motion to use and she mentioned it to me as working for some charms. I dunno why, but I found it easier than the Double Infinity."

"Ten points to Gryffindor for exceptional skill, Mr. Potter! But now, if you would, please continue practicing the motion we are studying today. There are many spells where a whirl simply will not do."

Harry grinned to himself after Flitwick was gone, but his smile faded when he saw a dark look on Ron's face.

"Look, Harry, you don't have to pretend you're not a genius just to make me look good. Guess I am the only one who can't get it right," he said with annoyance.

"Hey, Ron, it's not like that. I really am having trouble getting the motion right."

Ron grimaced and turned away from Harry to grab up his ice cubes. "Yeah, whatever. You can keep showing off, but I'm going to practice somewhere else." Then he stalked off to an open table.