Chap 32: Ancient
"Good evening Professor," Harry said, entering Dumbledore's office for another private lesson with him. These lessons have been going by smoothly for Harry, successfully mastering quick cast and aiming together and becoming able to cast non-verbal magic. In addition to both of that, Dumbledore decided to teach Harry Legilimency due to its potential benefits on and off the battlefield. Thankfully, after mastering Occlumency, learning Legilimency was a breeze and Harry reached a decent level by the end of that very session. To Harry's amazement, he found learning magic to be easier than ever, he could physically feel his magic growing stronger and his capabilities growing with every passing week. He had no explanation for his sudden ability but he was excited by it nonetheless.
"Evening Harry," Dumbledore replied.
"Why did you ask to meet her Professor?" Harry asked curiously.
"Because we will be trying something different together," Dumbledore said, eye twinkling, "follow me Harry, wear your Invisibility Cloak as well."
Following Dumbledore down the stairs, Harry found himself standing close to the Whomping Willow, using a branch, Dumbledore levitated it to the specific knot that immobilised it. Harry followed Dumbledore as they made it to the Shrieking Shack, confused about why they were there.
"Professor, why are we at the Shrieking Shack?"
"Because Harry, we are exploring a new concept of magic together, what do you know of Ancient Magic," Dumbledore answered.
"Ancient Magic? Isn't that what protected me from Voldemort due to my mother's sacrifice?"
"Indeed Harry," Dumbledore responded, "that is a type of Ancient Magic, another one that you might be familiar with is the Bond of Blood Charm which I placed on you and activated when Petunia took you in after your parents' passing."
"Ancient Magic is a type of magic that is so old and powerful that it traces back to the early days of Wizarding Kind, back when Wizards first found their power, many studied and worked to wield it with a select few of these wizards soon finding themselves capable of wielding and utilising power even greater and terrifying than their peers, through continuous research and studying, many of these wizards soon began to expand their knowledge of it, learning how to wield the most powerful types of magic, this knowledge however, have largely vanished due to the invention of wands to help wizards channel magic easier and due to more and more wizards finding themselves incapable of wielding it due to what we call the lack of affinity," Dumbledore explained.
"Affinity?" Harry asked, listening intently.
"That's how we describe those who can wield Ancient Magic, there are very few individuals in our world who have some sort of affinity to it with almost none who have what we call a pure affinity," Dumbledore continued, "this ability is at times passed down through generations and other times, randomly appear in an individual."
"Wait, if you are telling me all of this," Harry said, "does that mean that I have an affinity for it?"
"Indeed Harry," Dumbledore replied, nodding his head happily, "I believe that you do have some kind of affinity to Ancient Magic, it is definitely not pure affinity, but I do believe that you are capable of wielding it."
"Wow," Harry said, amazed by the new information, "how do you know?"
"There are some reasons that I cannot explain yet," Dumbledore replied, "but one of the reasons I can is because of your family lineage, you are a descendant of the Peverell Brothers, immensely powerful brothers who are rumoured to have pure affinity to Ancient Magic, along with that fact, the Potters contains some of the only wizards in recent times who showed some affinity to Ancient Magic."
"How can we be sure?" Harry asked.
"By using a ritual that I've learnt from others," Dumbledore said, "it is a harmless one but if you are capable of wielding Ancient Magic, it will trigger what they call an awakening in you, allowing you to wield your unique ability that is inside of you."
"Let's do it then."
Sitting inside a circle of runes, Harry looked at Dumbledore nervously before closing his eyes. Dumbledore began chanting in Latin. Harry calmed his mind down, focusing on what Dumbledore had told him to do. He reached deep inside himself, feeling his own presence and his magic. This time however, Harry felt something different, an old and powerful feeling inside himself. He felt it rising taking control of his body, it felt great and powerful, but warm and reassuring, like something that was always there, guiding him and empowering him.
Suddenly, he felt his body shift, his physical form dissolving away, he felt himself travelling in the air, lighter and quicker than ever, before he returned to his physical form again. Opening his eyes, Harry found himself on the other side of the room, Dumbledore staring at him in amazement.
"Urm what just happened?" Harry asked.
"Your unique ability Harry," Dumbledore replied, eyes twinkling with wonder, "your body became a ball of light and you flew to where you are within milliseconds, I barely even caught you transform even with my abilities."
"What- What?" Harry stammered confusedly, "How did I do that?"
"Magic," Dumbledore chuckled, "try it again."
Harry did not know how to respond, instead feeling his magic once again, like before, that old and powerful force was there, stronger and more present than ever. Harry transformed into a ball of light once more, this time however, he was aware of every second of it, he controlled his movement and dashed around the room. Looking at Dumbledore mid-flight, Harry was surprised to see him seemingly frozen in time, with his eyeballs barely moving and keeping up with Harry's movement.
"This is bloody brilliant," Harry said excitedly, performing it a few more times around the room before Dumbledore could even respond.
"Indeed Harry, but this is not the only thing you can learn, there are many powerful spells and charms in Ancient Magic that I can guide you in learning even though I cannot teach you myself," Dumbledore responded.
"Wait, you do not have an affinity to Ancient Magic?"
"No, I do not."
"But you performed the Bond of Blood Charm didn't you?"
"Ancient Magic can be willed by the most powerful," Dumbledore responded, "I took years and years to learn it however, while I do not have an affinity, I can perform sparing amounts of Ancient Magic, you on the other hand, will be able to wield almost the all of it."
"I see," Harry replied, "Professor, that still does not explain why you brought me here though, this can be taught in the Room of Requirements."
"Indeed Harry, I however, want to teach you something else as well," Dumbledore replied, "Close your eyes Harry, try to feel the room, try to feel the magic of it."
Doing exactly what Dumbledore said, focusing as hard as possible, Harry started feeling what he could only describe whispers of magic, traces of magic calling for him, inviting him to feel and observe them.
"What do you feel Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Magic, I feel the traces of them," Harry replied, astonished.
"Can you identify them?" Dumbledore asked, pushing Harry to focus even harder. In the room, Harry could feel a large and powerful force of magic coming from Dumbledore himself."
"I can feel your presence," Harry replied.
"Fantastic, let me test my other theory," Dumbledore said before casting a spell, Harry however, could feel and 'see' what magic Dumbledore was going to cast before it even left his wand, Harry could feel the magic flowing out of Dumbledore's body, identifying it as the Stunning Spell.
"Bloody hell! I can feel your magic before you cast it!"
"Indeed Harry," Dumbledore smiled, "what you are feeling is the magic all around us, Ancient Magic is tied to every spell or charm that we do and those who have an affinity are able to see and feel the traces of Ancient Magic in the spell, providing you with a unique advantage if you train yourself hard enough to be able to see it every time, the reason I brought you hear is because Hogwarts itself contains too much Ancient Magic that for someone training, it would be tough to feel the smaller amounts of Ancient Magic in day to day spells, with that, let's begin training shall we?"
Harry could hear the jeers grow louder as the Slytherin team flew out onto the pitch one by one. This was Gryffindor's 4th game of the season and this time, it was a rematch with the Slytherin team. While the first game of the season saw them give Slytherin their record defeat, that game was never the most relaxing, mostly due to Ron's inexperience and Blaise's ability as a Chaser. This time, however, both of those worries were gone. Ron had grown into a brilliant keeper and while he needed more time to be on Wood's level, he was no doubt the best keeper in Hogwarts at the moment. Looking at the Slytherin Chasers, Harry could almost laugh as he saw Theodore Nott fly out, Malfoy had placed him in the team in place for Blaise who resigned in protest of Malfoy's unfair benching of him. Harry had observed Nott before, to say that he wasn't impressive would be an understatement, Harry was confident that he could start Colin Creevery and he would play better than Nott did.
"I want a clean game you 2," Madam Hooch said, glaring at Montague who himself was glaring at Harry. Harry knew that there was no way in hell the game would be clean, the question was more about how dirty it would get.
"Captains shake hands," Madam Hooch said. Both captains gripped each other hand, both sides trying to crush the other.
Flying back to his team, he gave them a nod which simply meant one thing. Destroy them.
The second that the Quaffle was released, Nott and Angelina dashed towards it, with Angelina getting a hold of it and inviting Nott to crash into her. When they finally contacted, Nott was sent flying in circles, trying to control his broom. Angelina had completely bodied him with 0 regard for his safety. Continuing her game, Angelina flew towards the right of the pitch with Katie in the middle and Alicia on the left. Montague flew towards Angelina, attempting to push her towards the wall and trap her but Harry intercepted his flight path, resulting in him erratically swerving away and placing him too far to affect Angelina. Reaching closer to the other end of the pitch, Angelina threw the Quaffle hard and fast to Katie who dived in to catch it, dragging Pucey towards her. Katie however, punched the Quaffle up, sending it straight into Alicia who was there waiting, catching the Quaffle and sending a hard and accurate shot straight towards the right post, out of the reach of their keeper, scoring immediately.
"SPINNET SCORES!" Lee announced, "EXCELLENT SETPLAY FROM THE GRYFFINDORS!"
Harry watched as the Slytherin got hold of the Quaffle again, waiting for Nott to get his hand on the Quaffle. The moment the Quaffle flew towards Nott, Harry sprung into action, diving straight at him which led to him panicking and missing the Quaffle. Harry watched as Katie swooped down to catch the Quaffle, throwing it long to Angelina who was already dashing down the line to receive. With Alicia too far to receive and Pucey closing in on her, Angelina decided to just shoot, firing a powerful shot to the right hoop, catching the keeper off guard and scoring once again. Harry watched as Montague lashed out at Nott for panicking with Nott shouting back at him, seemingly putting the blame on the pass. Harry watched with silent glee, Gryffindor was definitely winning that game.
The Slytherins got the Quaffle again, Pucey and Montague passing between each other, just as Montague beat Angelina and flew past her, a Bludger came streaking at his chest, hitting him square and leading to him dropping the Quaffle. Angelina immediately got the Quaffle back, dashing down the line once again. Pucey however, had other plans, elbowing Angelina in the face to stop her.
"DISGUSTING FOUL BY PUCEY!" Lee shouted, "ELBOWING JOHNSON IN THE FACE, A PENALTY IS AWARDED TO GRYFFINDOR, Johnson shoots, SCORES!, 30 TO NOTHING!"
Deciding to go back looking for the snitch, Harry noticed that Malfoy wasn't exactly looking for the snitch himself, instead looking intently at Harry, deciding that Harry was probably more capable of finding the snitch than him. Deciding to have some fun, Harry flew to Malfoy.
"Not looking for the snitch are you?" Harry asked.
"Fuck off Potter," Malfoy snarled back.
"Oh come on Malfoy, if you don't have the confidence to find the snitch yourself, perhaps it's time to hang up your boots and call it a day," Harry said as Katie scored another.
Without warning, Malfoy threw a punch at his face, something that Harry dodged rather easily.
"You have to try harder than that," Harry laughed before flying away, happy with his handiwork. Returning to his search for the snitch, Harry largely tuned out the game until Slytherins called a timeout. The score was an astounding 60 to nothing, the Slytherin Chasers themselves were fighting with Crabbe and Goyle essentially missing from action due to how useless they were.
"Good job everyone, keep targeting Nott, Fred and George, can you target Malfoy more, he is getting more and more pissed, and I want to capitalise on that," Harry said to his team, who despite the score, looked focused and ready for more.
"Got it captain," the twins answered, giving him a salute.
"Fantastic, nothing else other than that, let's hope I find the snitch fast," Harry said.
Returning back to the skies, Harry continued his search, flying around the pitch and testing different angles. Suddenly, he saw a glint of gold in the sky. Pushing his broom to max speed, Harry chased after the snitch, Harry was vaguely aware of Malfoy's position who was way too far back to pose a threat, to help Harry even more, Fred sent a Bludger at Malfoy, slowing him down even more. As Harry got closer and closer to the snitch, he saw a fury of green dashing towards him, from the right, being too close to the wall on his left, Harry watched the Slytherin fly closer and closer to him while keeping one eye on the snitch, timing it perfectly, he rolled midair, completely dodging the Slytherin who went straight towards the wall, crashing face first into it, speeding up even more, Harry snatched the snitch out of the air, raising it triumphantly.
"POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH! THE GAME ENDS 240 TO NOTHING, A DOMINANT DISPLAY FROM GRYFFINDOR!" Lee roared as the crowd cheered.
Glancing down at the player who tried to take him out, Harry identified him as Nott, his robes however, were more red than green now as he lay on the ground, being tended to by Madam Hooch, judging by her expressions, it did not look too serious.
Rising to the sky, Harry celebrated his catch like he always did, embracing the cheers of the crowd. Flying back down to join his team, they all jumped onto him like they always did, cheering their 2nd flattening of Slytherin in the year.
"Come on Lupa," Harry said to his wolf as they climbed up the stairs and to the Prefect's room. As it turned out, following Hagrid to meet Grawp that day was a blessing for Harry, the fateful meeting with Lupa that day had really improved this life that much more. Thanks to its intelligence, it was allowed to follow Harry to lessons and around the school, never disrupting the class once, instead, sitting on his table and listening intently as well. To Harry's surprise, Lupa seemingly enjoyed History of Magic the most, somehow being able to sit through Professor Binns's ridiculously boring lectures and absorb all of his information. Entering the Prefect's room, Harry was greeted by the Prefects who just wrapped up their shift, both being relieved by Harry. Taking a seat on a chair, Harry played catch with Lupa for a while before Daphne finally arrived.
"Not first for once," Harry commented as Daphne hastily entered the room, panting.
"My bad, forgot the time," Daphne replied, catching her breath.
"No problem, let's go shall we? Lupa," Harry said, calling his pet wolf to his side.
"Did you enjoy the game yesterday?" Harry teased as they patrolled the corridors.
"Oh yes," Daphne replied with a smirk, "watching Nott fly straight into the wall was comical."
"He was a madman for that."
"Definitely so, can't believe he tried to take you out like that though, if he succeeded you would been injured rather badly," Daphne said to which Lupa howled in agreement.
"Thank god that I'm better than," Harry said before tossing a piece of meat to Lupa happily caught and ate it. One thing about having a pet wolf cub, it was always hungry meaning that Harry had to have milk and meat to feed it at all times.
"Lupa was howling in anger when she saw Nott try that," Daphne commented, squatting down to give Lupa a rustle and scoping him up and carrying him.
"Did he? I'm surprised that he understood Quidditch."
"He understood a decent amount I guess, but he could see that Nott could have hurt you if he succeeded."
"Nott should thank god that he didn't then, otherwise Lupa would literally make his life a living hell," Harry said which Lupa howled in agreement to.
As they continued their patrol, they continued to catch up about their studies, namely Defence under Mrs Weasley. While Mrs Weasley definitely wasn't Lupin good, she was decent at her job, able to display her immense knowledge about the subject which Harry was pleasantly surprised by. In her lessons, Harry did his best to help her whenever it was possible with the spell casting, usually capable of casting the spell well already thus allowing him to go around teaching others.
"Her classes with Slytherins are rather rough though," Daphne commented, "half the class do not listen to her."
"Honestly, expected, they will suffer for it though, those who have O. and N.E. "
"Agreed, I do my best to help her in her classes but I would never communicate with Malfoy and his gang willingly."
"You shouldn't," Harry warned, "as powerful as you are, you should just avoid them as much as possible."
"Agreed."
At that moment, Harry felt a surge in the magic behind them, sensing 2 incoming Body-Binding Curses, Harry immediately casted a Shield Charm, protecting both Daphne and himself. Lupa must have sensed it too as it was immediately on the ground as well, hissing at the direction the spell came from.
"What the fuck!" Daphne shrieked in surprise, pulling out her wand as well.
"There are 7 people around us," Harry whispered, "Stay behind me, wands up."
Daphne did as he told, moving behind him and looking ready to fight, Lupa stood its ground, ready to strike and maim at Harry's command. Suddenly, Harry sensed 7 more spells flying towards them.
"Protego Tholus!" Harry shouted, casting a dome around them, successfully absorbing all 7 spells.
"Atra Caligo," Harry said, summoning black mist to cover Harry and Daphne.
"Daphne, take this," Harry said, handing her his cloak, "put it on and hide."
"But-"
"Daphne, I've got this, you can try to go around them and stun them but stay hidden," Harry insisted, to which Daphne nodded, putting on his cloak just as another round of spells hit the shield
"Lupa, don't maim them too badly but don't get hit, when I call for your name, come in and strike ok? Try to disarm them" Harry said to his wolf which nodded as well.
"Solis Exactorem!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand into the sky and lighting up the place brightly. He watched as the 7 figures in the dark became visible, it was the 7 members of the Slytherin Quidditch team, all apparently trying to take their revenge.
"It's good to see you Nott," Harry taunted, "I thought that your face would never look the same after that crash, alas, you still look pathetic," another spell hit his shield where he previously was, Harry, however, had completely shifted under his black mist, ensuring that he did not get surrounded.
"Crabbe and Goyle, here I was thinking that your aim on the pitch was bad, turns out your spell work is as dodgy," Harry continued, leading to more spells flying at his apparent location. How they were not trying to shoot at his voice bewildered him.
"Pucey, Bletchley and Montague, fellow 7th-years, your magic capabilities are somehow worse than a 4th-year though, that stunner from you 2 looked weaker than Nott at Quidditch," Harry laughed as many more spells were flying, this time, some came towards him. Reacting instantly, he casted a Reflective Shield Charm, leading to the spells bouncing back, Harry heard someone yell in pain and Harry quickly deduced that Bletchley was the one who got hit by his own blasting spell and was now unconscious.
"And last but not least Malfoy, you could not even hit me when I wasn't looking at you, trying to Body-Bind me and Daphne, you are fucking pathetic," Harry spat with pure contempt. While Harry did not like any of the Slytherins, Harry had a particular hatred towards Malfoy, not because he was a rival or because he tried to annoy him. No, because of how disgusting he truly is, a proper pervert who thought that his status meant that he could do whatever he liked.
"Fight us you pussy!" Malfoy shouted.
"If you say so," Harry replied, removing his black mist, he was behind all of them now.
"Silenco!" Harry shouted, casting a powerful Silencing Charm at the group. They tried to shout a curse back at him, but they all realised that Harry had removed their ability to cast a spell verbally. Harry however, had to be careful of Montague and Pucey, they were 7th-years meaning that they would have the ability to do non-verbal spells. Taking that into account, Harry quickly disarmed Montague while sending an Stunner at Pucey who was thrown back.
"Circulus Ignis Graecus!" Harry shouted, creating a circle of bright red fire around the Slytherins.
"Do you know what this is?" Harry asked the group, who looked worriedly at the fire, "It is Greek Fire, one of the most powerful substances in the world, able to burn for eternity and burn a human to death if they got caught in it, I would recommend you to keep away from it unless you want a fiery death, in the meantime, let me get Professor Dumbledore to handle this situation."
"No need to," Dumbledore said softly, walking towards Harry with Daphne, McGonagall, Mrs Weasley and Snape by his side, "Ms Greengrass had set a Patronus to me to get help, brilliant magic at display."
"Harry taught me that," Daphne smiled, blushing a little at the comment.
"Impressive magic regardless," Dumbledore replied, "this however, is even more impressive, the Circle of Greek Fire Charm Harry? Casted at a lower power scale meaning that it would not kill a human in minutes rather taking more like an hour, dangerous but effective magic to hold a group of attackers in place, it's a wonder that you can learn a spell like that."
Harry smirked at that comment. As agreed with Dumbledore, no one can know about their lessons other than his closest friends, hence the lie.
"Yes Professor, I also silence them to ensure that they cannot cast back at me as most haven't effectively learnt non-verbal spells, I disarmed one, stunned the other.
"May I know why Mr Bletchley is on the floor?"
"He casted a Blasting Curse which rebounded on my Shield Charm sending it back at him."
"Understood Mr Potter, would you please remove this Greek Fire and unsilence them, I would take it from here," Dumbledore said, which Harry did as accordingly.
"With the evidence stacking against all of you, I would personally hand out the punishments myself, all 7 of you will be removed from your Quidditch team and stripped of any titles you previously had, Mr Pucey, Bletchley and Montague, you will serve 2 weeks of detention with Professor Snape, Mr Goyle, Crabbe and Nott, you will have a permanent trace placed on you and you will serve detentions till the end of the year, Mr Malfoy, you will be suspended from school till the end of the year, please pack your bags tonight as you would be leaving next thing tomorrow."
Harry mouth was wide open as he heard Dumbledore hash out the final punishment.
"You will not suspend me," Malfoy snarled back.
"I believe I will."
"My father will hear about this!"
"Oh he definitely would, I would have a chat with him as well, but as you might remember, he is no longer on the Board of Governors and will thus not have any power over the school," Dumbledore replied calmly.
"THE MINISTER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!"
"Oh they will as well, I will be presenting every evidence of sexual misconduct and harassment to them as well as every instance of violence and threats you made to your fellow students, I do believe that Amelia herself would want to build a case against all your actions," Dumbledore replied.
"YOU!" Malfoy shouted, raising his wand, which Harry quickly disarmed without even sparing a thought.
"Thank you Harry," Dumbledore replied, Harry looked around the room as every professor had their wands up as well.
"Mr Malfoy, you will in fact be suspended immediately and handed to Amelia Bones, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement for interrogation for your many crimes and misconduct, I had put this off when I heard your actions earlier this year, hoping that you would change but that clearly isn't the case, you will thus be handed to the Ministry," Dumbledore said, Malfoy tried to say something back but he turned pale as he saw the fire in Dumbledore's eyes.
"Severus, take him back to his common room to pack his bags, meet me at my office in 30 minutes," Dumbledore said, to which Snape reacted instantly, pulling Malfoy along with him, shouting at his students to follow.
"Ms Greengrass, in light of recent events and threats, I will be shifting you, Ms Davis and your sister to a different room which is protected from other students," Dumbledore said to Daphne, "while Mr Malfoy is gone, I am unsure of how his friends would react, I suggest that you stick around a group as much as possible, I would also be changing all your patrols to be with Mr Potter as he has displayed the ability to protect you from threats."
"Harry, good job today with your handling of the situation, showing restraint is the trait of the strongest of wizards, take 50 points for your actions today, Ms Greengrass, for your quick thinking to get help, I award Slytherin 10 points," Dumbledore said, patting Harry on his back.
"I think I will dismiss you 2 from Prefect Duties today, have a good rest you 2," Dumbledore said before leaving.
"Your cloak Harry," Daphne said, returning Harry his cloak.
"Great thinking Daphne, the Patronus to get help."
"Not that you ever needed it," Daphne rolled her eyes, "that ring of fire, the black mist, the shield and the anticipation of the attack, you are bloody powerful Harry."
"Thanks Daphne, but getting help is smart regardless, I can't believe Malfoy would try another attack, how fucking brainless is he?" Harry said.
"Don't ask me, he is not right mentally, good thing that he is gone," Daphne replied.
Authors note
I've finally introduced the most interesting element to Harry in my story. I was toying around the with idea of making Harry super powerful when I started writing this story and finally decided on it when I decided to take an alternative route to the ending. Ancient Magic is of course, discussed in Harry Potter lore but not extensively so I've decided to make my own version of it. In case its unclear, Ancient Magic is just powerful old magic which some have the ability to wield while others don't. It gives the user a unique power specifically to them and for Harry, its the ball of light travelling and in terms of the magic Ancient Magic can provide, I will explore it much more in the future, most of them would be super powerful spells which focuses a lot on elemental magic.
So yeah, that's my change to Harry in the story. He will become super powerful as a wizard and hopefully, you guys like this change because I really do :)