Chapter 30 - Generosity
Seeing things that weren't there was usually a sign of madness.
At first, Iris had just raised an eyebrow at the macabre beings and accepted it as yet another weirdness of the magical world. But then, half-way through the ride, Tracey had dubbed their current mode of transportation a horse-less carriage.
This had thrown Iris for a loop, since she was pretty certain that it was, in fact, not horse-less. She didn't bring it up, however. They clearly seemed to be doing nothing but pulling the carriage anyway, and the last thing she needed was calling her mental state into question, when her friends were already worried about her because of Salem. So, in the end, she had just moved on, throwing a final worried glance at the skeletal horses, before making her way up to the great hall.
The welcoming ceremony commenced without fanfare, as the student's began to get sorted. She gave half-hearted claps for one student or another, but her mind was still trying to reassure herself that she was, in fact, not going insane. A familiar name snapped her out of her thoughts, and she watched Luna ascend the steps with a bright smile, and after a few seconds of pondering, proceed to be sorted into Ravenclaw. She guessed Slytherin would have been too much to hope for. Also, she wasn't really sure if that house was a good fit for... well... for the lack of a better term, Moo.
Or any house, really.
Oh well. It wasn't like she didn't manage just fine with Neville and Susan, right? That caused her to chuckle. She guessed she now had a full set. Well, with a bit of a slant towards Slytherin, but who was counting.
The hall fell quiet all of a sudden, and she quickly found the culprit in the form of an imposing beard attached to an old man, who had gotten to his feet.
"To all of our new students, welcome. To everyone else, welcome back. Before we begin the festivities, it is my great honor to remind you of the usual boring trivialities concerning the coming school year."
That drew some chuckles. Iris wondered what it would be this time. Certain Death 2?
"First and absolutely foremost, I'd like you all to welcome our newest Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Some of you might have already heard of him..."
This caused even more chuckles.
"I have no doubt he'll excel at his new role much as he does at everything else."
Dumbledore paused, then turned and gestured towards the staff table. "None other than our very own Gilderoy Lockhart."
This caused the hall to descend into madness as the cheerful man she had met rose from the table and gave a blinding smile.
He waved towards the cheering crowd, giving little humble bows, and straightened his plain robes, until his expression shifted to a more serious tone, and the hall slowly fell silent.
"Thank you, headmaster! And thank all of you! I'm so very excited to be teaching all of you this year, probably even more than you are!" he said, and chuckled. "In fact, to commemorate the occasion, I have a little announcement to make..."
He paused, and the entire hall paused with him, eagerly awaiting the reveal.
"I have decided to donate the entire revenue from my latest best-seller Laughing with Lethifolds to this humble institution of education."
That caused a row of gasps, as well as the hall breaking into cheers once again. Iris blinked. That was probably not a small amount, with how popular he seemed to be apparently. Maybe, they'd finally be getting new school brooms?
"I'll be available from 5 to 8 pm every weekday in my office. Please do not hesitate to drop by, whether it is about any questions related to our class, my books, or even just an autograph, my door is always open," he added with a wink.
Finally, he sat back down, accompanied by a final onslaught of cheers and claps from most of the hall. Iris still wasn't sure what to make of him.
"Thank you, Gilderoy. On behalf of the staff, and might I presume the students, I'd like to express our heartfelt gratitude for this latest act of incredible generosity. I'm sure we will find many ways of putting it to good use. It is through the support of individuals like him that we are able to uphold the timeless traditions and values that define Hogwarts."
With that, he started to clap, causing yet another standing ovation for their newest Professor, who seemed to almost glow with happiness, if the splendid smile on his face was any indication.
Nope, it still wasn't making any sense. Her first impression had been that he was just a typical self-absorbed celebrity like you'd see on tv, but his actions seemed to contradict that. He had said revenue, not profit. She wasn't sure if she wasn't confusing the two, but didn't that mean that he'd essentially be making a loss on the book?
And from what Dumbledore had said, it looked like this wasn't the first time he had done something like this either...
She guessed she'd reserve her judgement until she had a class with him. Who cared if he was kind of annoying, if he could properly teach at least?
"Now. Our dear caretaker Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that the list of prohibited items—which can be found posted to the info board in front of his office—has been once again updated this year to include Whoopie-Cushions, Instant-Polyjuice kits, Reality-Rifting Rubik's Cubes, Defibrillators, and Deceptive Dice." He gave a nod at the creepy caretaker standing by the entrance, and then continued.
"Also, I'd like to remind you all, especially those joining for the first time, that magic does not play along with technology. We've been seeing more cases of new, as well as returning students, attempting to bring electronic devices to Hogwarts, and lately, exceedingly those of the lithium-battery-powered kind. Be warned that while most electronic devices cease to function in the presence of active spells, lithium-batteries have a nasty tendency to... combust. It is vital for both yours, and Madam Pomfrey's peace of mind that such devices remain outside the walls of this school."
He let that linger for a moment, then continued. "On a more cheerful topic, the forbidden forest remains forbidden for a reason, and Quidditch trials will be held starting coming Saturday, you'll find further information posted in your respective common rooms. And with that, I guess there's nothing left but to dig in..."
He paused, and somehow the whole hall remained silent.
"Oh, before I forget, we have one final change to the staff roster. Let's end this little speech with an applause for our dear Professor Lupin, who has finally recovered fro-"
Iris couldn't hear anything else of what the headmaster had said, as the entire hall—very much including her—descended into cheers at that announcement. Her eyes found the weary face of the man who had been their parents' friend. He was looking worse than ever, his eyes appeared almost sunken, marred by wrinkles, and so very pale... But... he was smiling. He was back.
~V~
"Harry! Iris! It's so good to see you both."
That, it was. The smile on Iris' face wasn't leaving for a while. "You too, sir."
"Remus."
She blushed. "Right... Remus."
Once the feast had ended, they had seemingly both decided that they had to talk to their favorite professor, and had followed him to his office.
"I'm so glad you're finally better!" Harry said with a smile.
"It's been quite the trial... And from what I've heard, you've had to face one of your own in my absence?"
"Uh... well... where to start..." Harry trailed off.
"How about from the point where I got regretfully incapacitated?"
"Uhm... right. So after you went and... hang on! What did happen when you got... uhm... Was it... Quirrell after all?"
Lupin gave him a sad smile. "I thought I could do it. Professor Dumbledore and I had hatched a plan, one that would only be used in a dire emergency, when he wasn't around to interfere personally. After what you told me, I was very sure of the identity of our Defense professor, and I had to confront him about it. If I was right, there was no way I'd win in a fair fight, or even an unfair one, and if I'd lose, everyone would be in danger. But the same was true if he realized that someone else knew. I suppose you found out who it actually was that was hiding beneath the curse of the name?"
"Yeah... But I still don't know his name though... Just that it was the Dark Lord that killed our parents, apparently..." Harry mumbled, looking down.
"Be glad that you don't. Knowing his name is a curse in of itself. I regretfully know from first-hand experience. Which I suspect is also the reason why you were able to make me realize what was wrong with his name, when you haven't even managed to with your sister."
Iris' eyes widened. She had completely forgotten about that. How on earth had she not realized what was wrong with his name at the time?
"You see, it is in the nature of the name. It is both a blessing and a curse rolled into one. You cannot live knowing it, but you also cannot live without knowing it. If you don't know it, your mind will come up with alternative explanations, detours, anything to avoid thinking about that fact, much like the Fidelius charm. But if you do know it... Anything that would actually make you think the name... It's like a Venus fly trap. It's right there, in the center of your mind, so alluring, so simple, the explanation to everything you don't understand, and yet-"
He trailed off, looked at the ground, face twisted in pain.
"If you do actually think it, you can't stop. It traps your mind in a circle, and won't let it go. It's a two-pronged dagger. You'll try your best to never think the name—actively inhibiting your thoughts with everything even coming close to it, in order to avoid it—yet if you slip up, it might be the last thought you ever have."
Iris swallowed. That sounded... kind of insane... She was suddenly glad that she hadn't learned the name from his memories after all.
"Anyway, I did manage to surprise him with an ingenious trick Dumbledore came up with, but sadly, it wasn't enough to penetrate his shield entirely. The backlash from my own curse was what caused my condition, the Light polarization clashed with the Dark nature of the wolf..."
Iris' eyes widened. She had been right! It had been polarized magic, and she'd tried the same thing! But apparently, when he had done it, it had somehow caused him to lose control over Quirrell?
Harry began to explain. "Well... after you were... well, injured... It seemed like the curse of the Name was somehow broken. He suddenly had a name, even on the map. Quirinius Quirrell. And he was acting completely differently..."
~V~
When they had finished recapping their encounter with the Dark Lord and the Philosopher's Stone to Lupin—including the spell she had cast at him, much to Lupin's worry at her dabbling into such magics—the topic of Harry's own sickness had come up again. Going through all that again had reinforced Iris' commitment to her plan of action regarding her Light. She couldn't afford to put this off any longer.
After weeks of trying her best to keep the usage of her light to a minimum, she was at last in a place where it wouldn't matter. Where she could test it, could be sure. Even if she had no idea how yet.
Iris had quickly made her way to her room to retrieve her prism, pocketed it and immediately peeled open the shadows. She could never have done this at her house, nor at any other place she could think of there. She had no idea how bad it would be, and how far the radiation could reach. But she hoped, that being buried under meters and meters of stone, there wasn't any chance of anyone else getting hurt. That's why she made her way to the most isolated place she could think of. The bowels of the old detention wing.
Wandering the familiar moonlit corridors—which was still strange since they were definitely far underground—she made her way for the little room where they had ended up encountering Lupin. Looking up the long shaft filled with moonlight warily, she still couldn't make out the top. With a shrug, she set the prism down on the stone platform, and then retrieved a long white sheet of paper, and stuck it to the wall. With the familiar setup done, she stood in the center of the room, aimed her wand, and produced her iridescent light.
The tip lit up, and all the colors of the rainbow burst forth, mingling and devouring the moonlight, as they transformed the room into a kaleidoscopic dream turned nightmare.
Staring at the colors for a minute, lost in thought, she pondered how to continue. Iris had almost forgotten how pretty it was. Well, the first idea was to do it similarly to how she used to set up the colors for her spells. With a reluctant shrug, she narrowed the light into a beam, and pointed it dead center at the prism. The light refracted into countless beams of single colors, constantly shifting, changing, and breaking over and over again, until they were even more chaotic than they had started. The light spread all over the canvas, in directions that it should never have.
This wasn't helping much, she decided. She had no way to tell whether this contained anything other than just visible light. So instead, she turned the beam Blue.
The colors collapsed, and a thin beam of blue was now exiting her wand, refracting through the prism, and ending in a single point on the white canvas. Narrowing her eyes, she started to shift the color, and thereby move the beam. Over to Indigo, and then Violet. However, at some point, like usual, her light would just stop. Not stop moving, but stop glowing.
But did it? If it really did enter the ultraviolet spectrum, she wouldn't be able to see it, right? Iris wasn't quite sure whether it was still there, but it still felt like she was using her light, no matter how faint. Maybe she'd be able to tell more clearly if she used a lot more light?
Frowning, she produced a Blue beam once again, and slowly increased its intensity. Brighter and brighter, as bright as it would go, until it almost hurt to look at. Iris raised her other hand to cover the blinding coin-sized spot of light on the wall from her vision. She had never tried to make her light this bright before, it seemed counterproductive if anything, she couldn't really look at it like this. Also, it was feeling odd. She could definitely feel it more clearly now, not just tingly, but also warm, and slightly vibrating? Like when she had gone overboard to try and cast Depulso at the Cerberus, except a lot more focused.
Iris wrinkled her nose. Something was-
"Crap!"
She cut out her light, then swished her wand in a light orange glow and shouted "Ventus!"
A sharp gust of wind emerged, and luckily managed to extinguish the flame which had ignited on the canvas and started to burn a hole in it. Iris stared dumbly at it for a moment. That actually worked in real life? Of course, she'd seen the Star Wars movies, but she hadn't fully comprehended that a laser could actually do something like that for real. Even if it was just a sheet of paper. The most she'd ever seen was their use in laser pointers. And her own light, she guessed, when practicing with the colors. But well, it did kind of make sense.
Hang on! Maybe she could use that to see the beam, even when she couldn't? The light would be invisible, but the beam should still be burning the paper? And its position could tell her the frequency? She'd have to try that.
She moved to the side a bit, in order to get some fresh unburnt canvas space, aimed her wand, produced Blue, and turned it up to 11.
Just when she could see faint smoke rise from the canvas, she started to shift the color, slowly moving the burning and blackening spot, even if it was really hard to see. Maybe she should be wearing eye protection when doing this? Eh. It was too late now.
Over from Indigo, onto Violet, and finally-
Slowly, the beam faded into nothingness, but the blackening and smoking spot remained. Despite the fact that this almost certainly confirmed her dreaded theory, she couldn't help but feel a flash of excitement at her idea having worked. It looked like she could at least do some form of ultraviolet light. Although, according to the article, only the upper parts of the UV-spectrum would be the actual dangerous kind. Narrowing her eyes, she kept pushing, squinting just to be safe. The blackening spot kept moving, further and further to the right, until-
It slowly started to fade too, and completely disappeared. Huh? But where was it- No. It was definitely still going. She could still feel that tingling, warm sensation of light beneath her fingers. But it was no longer charring the canvas for some reason. Or... was it no longer ending up on the canvas? But why would it-
With a sudden brainwave, she shifted her wand slightly to the side, her aim drifting off the prism, and immediately, the black spot returned, this time, directly behind the prism. Huh. It seemed like for some reason, once she shifted it far enough, her prism would just stop working.
Iris aimed her light back at the prism and kept shifting it further, at least she hoped she was, she had no way to tell anymore. She thought it was still getting harder, the further she pushed. But she couldn't tell if it just felt different, or if it would result in a less intense beam due to needing more power or something. She kept pushing, but sadly, her prism didn't resume its duties. Every few seconds she'd move it off her prism, just to check. The tingling was now feeling odd, more like little sharp pinpricks on her skin, however nothing much else seemed to have changed, so she shrugged, and pushed it further. Strangely, at some point, it wouldn't even burn the paper anymore, even when she aimed it directly at the wall. Huh. She had no idea what that meant though. A lack of results wasn't much of a result in itself, at least in this case. Maybe her beam had just grown too weak to continue burning the canvas?
She spent a few more minutes trying to shift it around, having no idea which frequency it would actually be at, or even if it was still shifting at all, since currently, it was having no effect whatsoever. The sensation was feeling increasingly strange, and it felt more and more fleeting the further she pushed, the warmth leaving, despite it still being just as hard if not harder than it used to be. With a shrug, she cut it off. There wasn't much point to this anyway, now that her prism idea had turned out to be a bust. So far, the only thing she could say for certain was that her light wasn't solely limited to the visible spectrum, she could apparently do at least some form of UV light as well. Although how far that would extend, she had no idea. She'd have to get started on Harry's physics book, maybe that held some clue to how she could figure this out.
Iris took a breath and frowned. There was a strange smell in the air. Not that of burnt paper, that hadn't been there for minutes now. This was different. It was subtle, but somehow, familiar. Like crisp forest air after a thunderstorm. She didn't know how else to describe it.
Maybe it had started raining outside? Well, she should probably get back to her room anyway. Maybe she could still get some sleep before her first Defense class tomorrow.
~V~
Harry was of mixed feelings as he sat next to Iris. He had enjoyed most of Defense for the past year, but that had taken a bitter turn at the end. And this year wasn't starting off on a promising first impression either. Even if the Professor seemed kind of like a pompous git, he had to admit, he had really enjoyed reading his books. They read exactly like the kind of fantasy books that he liked, but on top of that, apparently they were real, if what Ron and Hermione had told him was accurate, and while the books did have a strong focus on storytelling, they did manage to explain a lot of the magic involved in a very interesting way. Pretty much like the lessons from last year, except in written form, and, well, with an actual story. And while he really disliked their recurring main character—mostly his personality—he could at least relate to his actions.
Apparently, the man was some sort of folk hero. He kept traveling the country, going on all sorts of mad adventures, ended up saving people from very dire situations that sometimes even the Aurors couldn't or wouldn't solve, and then returned home to write another book about it. Some of the adventures in the books did seem a bit too far-fetched or unbelievable for Harry's taste, but apparently, people had looked into it, and so far, every single word he had written had turned out to be accurate. Which had caused him to gain a reputation as a real-life miracle worker. Basically, the hero from his fantasy stories come to life. That coupled with the fact he was the most notorious philanthrope in the country, meant that the reception he had gotten in the great hall was actually rather tame compared to his usual public appearances.
But somehow, he really couldn't care less about the fact that he had won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile three times in a row.
"But I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her," he said, still very much smiling.
This drew some chuckles, but it seemed like mostly, the joke fell flat.
"Speaking of which, I think it's time for a little quiz," Lockhart declared cheerfully.
Harry internally groaned, and reluctantly started to pull out his writing utensils.
"Now hold on, no need for those looks," he added hastily. "This will be a different kind of quiz. One where you'll be asking the questions, and I'll try my best to answer you."
This caused Harry to perk back up. There were so many interesting questions coming to mind.
"What's your favorite color?"
Harry's head suddenly lost all support and hit the table with a thud.
"Well, Miss Patil, it's not really a well-kept secret that my favorite color is Indigo," Lockhart said with a chuckle.
"Any other questions?"
Harry raised his hand. Before this class would completely derail into useless trivia, he'd derail it in another way first. "In your latest book, you said that Lethifolds are created in places of Dark Magic... But our last year's Defense book said nothing about Lethifolds being created in any way, and our teacher said that it was unknown where they came from."
The class sat in stunned silence at the very advanced query. Yeah, it was something he'd been curious about, but he had mostly asked to hopefully judge the professor's competency from his answer. It hadn't really been a question, but whatever.
"Excellent question, Mister Potter. While it is true that the general consensus about the origin of Lethifolds is that, well, there is no consensus, there have been strong incidences that seem to suggest they emerge in places where significant amounts of Dark Magic has been used. And during that very adventure I made a discovery which adds major credence to this theory."
Harry was sitting up straight. The response had started off promising, and he really wanted to know the rest now.
"You will remember that one of the practitioners that we defeated in the second arc was never found after the attack. But it also seems very unlikely that he had escaped. I personally saw to that."
He paused, the whole class now hanging onto his lips.
"Some of you may already know that this is not an unheard-of phenomenon, when Dark Magic is involved. People have gone missing before, and sadly, people will continue to go missing, when they inevitably trifle with things beyond our understanding."
Lockhart turned, and his gaze swept across the students. "But does anyone remember what was special about the practitioner who went missing?"
Hermione's hand was already up in the air. "He was missing a leg, sir."
"Indeed. Two points to Gryffindor. Now for extra points, do you also remember why we were able to capture and destroy the Lethifold in the final chapter?"
Her eyes widened, and she hesitantly replied, "Well... you wrote that it appeared to be somewhat sluggish, and seemingly unable to move like Lethifolds usually do. You managed to entrap it surrounded by Pure Light, and then performed some sort of purification?"
"Another two points," he said with a smile. "Can you guess at the conclusion that I drew from this, and why I'm now talking about it?"
Hermione was sitting frozen solid; her face had become ashen. However, Lockhart didn't seem to notice. "Well?"
"Y-you think that the p-practitioner who disappeared had actually b-become the Lethifold?" It sounded like she was on the edge of losing it here, but Harry wasn't sure why.
"Merlin, no! That's preposterous. Becoming a Lethifold..." he chuckled at his own joke.
"But it does appear likely there is a link between the people who disappear, and the Lethifolds that are born. They at least seem to reflect the person they have come to replace in some respects."
Hermione visibly slumped, but she was still pale as the moon. What was going on there?
Harry's attention was diverted as he realized that Iris had raised her hand.
"What is Pure Light? And how exactly did you perform the purification? It was never mentioned."
The cheerful man turned towards his sister and chuckled. "Well, you see, this is where I took some artistic liberties to get the book more suited towards a general audience. The term Pure Light actually describes what is known as Light polarized magic in this case, a type of magic that is in equal parts beautiful and dangerous. We used several manifestations of the Patronus charm, which is a very intense Light polarized magic spell, in order to trap it in the room from all sides. But while the Patronus worked to limit its movement and drive it in certain directions, it is a spell that creates a large amount of Pure Light in a single spot, and thus the Lethifold would always be able to escape it."
He walked across to the blackboard and wrote: Expecto Patronum - used to drive away creatures of Darkness.
"But the actual genius bit I might add was how I finally managed to get rid of it for good, which was a feat rarely achieved and never before documented."
The whole class was once again hanging onto his every word.
"Since the Patronus charm doesn't work as it creates a single spot of Pure Light, I instead used a spell that created a large even area, even if it was never meant for this sort of use in the first place."
He turned back to the blackboard, and wrote: Interdictio Mendacium - Blesses an area to prevent anyone from speaking falsehood within.
"It is true that this spell was never meant to be used like that, and it wasn't very effective at first, but since it created a uniform field of Pure Light, the Lethifold didn't know where to go, and therefore, with time, it was slowly dissolved away by the diametrically opposed Magic."
Harry wasn't really following anymore, but he understood one thing. This class might prove awesome after all.