Harry Potter and the Era of Hogwarts

Chapter 6 - Fortune Favors the Sly

August 23rd, 963

Light filtered through the uncovered window of the carriage, striking my eyelids almost precisely. Annoyed, I opened my eyes and found that the carriage was still in motion, jostling slightly as it moved down a dirt path. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stretched causing several pops as my back straightened once again.

I was of course sore from sleeping straight up against the velvet seat, and though comfortable, it did not make a favorable place to sleep. Andrew was still asleep, though he appeared much more comfortable than I had. For a while I simply sat and stared out the window thoughtfully, taking in the lush scenery subconsciously while my conscious mind was laboring over the problem that was my Lordship. I had little idea what the title entailed, aside from the fact that they receive a seat in the House of Lords in the future. Besides that fact, I vaguely remembered something about a proof of lineage, or lineage papers, but I doubted they would ask for them if I lived in a large manor complete with a town, and even if they did I could simply Obliviate the person in question and let their minds fill in the gaps with what they would expect to see, or perhaps I could gather the information from Andrew using my talent of Legilimency and magically counterfeit the necessary proof. I doubted that Andrew had Occlumency shields, and if he did I was of sufficient skill that I could merely bypass simple shields without detection, as Occlumency was an art that had developed over the millennium, which had advanced through an unknown need in the eleventh century and onwards.

I turned back from the window and sorted my thoughts for later perusal as a loud yawn broke the silence in the carriage. I looked over and saw a rather rested Andrew Zabini in the beginning stages of waking up. He opened a lazy eye, and looked around the interior briefly before his eyelids became heavy again as he struggled to stay awake. Unfortunately for Andrew, he lost his battle against Morpheus and soon fell into another deep sleep, snoring occasionally. I snorted softly before pulling out the silver book entitled Magus Proelium out of a down padded pocket and brought it to eye level.

The gold embossed letters glittered at me magnificently, expressing its importance and perfection. I ran my fingers over the letters reverently and felt slight warmth emanating from the metal, as if the book was accepting me as worthy to its contents. I set the book upon my lap and pulled on the silver metal cover, unsurprised when the book opened without hesitation. The title page of the book appeared to be written in some form of runes, and surprisingly one that Tom did not know. Tom had studied runes in depth, using them frequently using them in rituals, wards, spells, and reading ancient books written exclusively in runes, however this runic language Tom had never encountered before in his entire life.

As I was studying the book I noticed there was a digit sized circle in the bottom right corner of the page. I placed my index finger into the circle and appeared to do nothing until I attempted to remove it. I was unable to remove my finger from the circle, and after a few seconds I felt a prick, as if I was having blood removed. A red haze gathered around the circle before slowly turning blue and disappearing with the feeling of a prick once again. My finger was released and I watched in awed fascination as the runes faded in slowly began to translate themselves, gaining speed as the runes on the page changed from letters and numbers to words and punctuation, all scrolling up the page and disappearing while more appeared as a possessed computer would while haunting words echoed in my ears.

The entire page went blank before the title runes appeared again, this time I could understand them flawlessly.

Magical Battle

Welcome speaker, you were deemed worthy of the knowledge of a runic language devised as a secure language that those fighting for the side of good could be used to communicate amongst one another. This gift is passed down through hereditary lines, though any fighting for the evil will forever lose the knowledge and their offspring will as well, evil or not.

Contained within this series is the knowledge of war: dueling, magical foci, battle tactics, secure communication (including passing this gift to others), and warding. This language is complex, but it will serve you well, allowing you to read and absorb the knowledge contained within this volume far faster than any current non-magical language, but not only can you read this language, but it can be spoken, heard only by ears touched by the language. It is also recommended that speakers complete the remainder of the series, as this volume contains concepts and techniques taught in the other volumes.

My eyebrows climbed into my hair. I had just learned another magical language, and this language was secure. The runes could only be read by ones with knowledge of the language, and only heard by people who knew the language. What did it mean by volume? Did that mean it was a part of a series of books? It appeared so if the beginning sentences were anything to go by. I sighed heavily, but I now had a purpose in my quest for knowledge: find all of the volumes in the Magus series. I assumed the volumes would be named similarly, such as Magus Lingua, or Magical Language for the secure communications volume. I would however, jump off that bridge when I came to it.

I carefully closed the book and placed it back into my down pocket, intending to read the book later when I was settled into a room at the Zabini Manor. I resumed my prior activity of staring out the window, my mind now analyzing the wealth of information I had come across and the possibilities of what would be in the other volumes of the series.

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Once again in a third repeat of Andrew's first 'waking up' he slowly opened his eyes, only this time winning the epic battle against Morpheus and was able to pull himself into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes and groaning.

“Oh hello Phineas, awake already?” Andrew said tiredly.

“Indeed Andrew, I have been for quite some time as I find these seats far too irksome to even consider a good night's sleep on,” I replied, arching an eyebrow.

Andrew laughed softly.

“Well said my friend. It took me many years to even get used to sleeping on these seats comfortably; however I still vividly remember the times when I would awaken unable to twist my own head without discomfort,” Andrew reminisced.

I smirked at Andrew slightly.

“I suppose I faired far better than you had previously as I can still move all my extremities with the barest of stiffness,” I said.

We both laughed quietly.

Andrew looked out at the lush green English country side and smiled tiredly, obviously anticipating something.

“We are quickly nearing Southampton, Phineas. The Zabini Manor is not far outside of the village, and we should be there in time for breakfast,” Andrew said.

I nodded in acceptance. To me, breakfast sounded like the highlight of the morning as we had neglected to eat anything more substantial than the hors d'oeuvres at the Gathering of Lords the previous night. Followed closely by breakfast was the book, Magus Proelium, and the possibility of dueling. Aside from those three, I still had a feeling I would find some resource or book invaluable to my quest with Andrew Zabini, and my instincts had never led me wrong.

“That is wonderful news Andrew, for I fear if I don't eat soon I might just float away!” I said dramatically.

We both started laughing at that, however soon stopped as we neared the village, after all, we had the red drapes over the windows open, and it wouldn't do for commoners to see two nobles in such a compromising manner. As we trundled into town many residents peeked out of their doors and gave a wave at us while children gleefully chased the slow moving carriage, laughing happily.

I smiled slightly at the children and the carriage turned down a side road, leaving the children at the end, waving. We turned down a few more roads until arriving at a pair of open metal gates with a large, golden Z affixed to the right gate. We rolled inside and immediately apparent was the lush greenery, stone paths, and the magnificent manor made of a grey marble. The marble shone brightly, reflecting the sunlight off its highly polished surface. Four large pillars held up a round protrusion from the length of the manor, reminding me of the pictures I had seen of America's Whitehouse, only much darker. Surrounding the manor was one of the most beautiful gardens I had ever seen, and outside that was a large forest, though stone walls blocked any access from the forest or surrounding area.

We pulled up in front of the manor and the driver jumped off the front of the carriage, opening the door for us. I was the first to stand up, grabbing the wooden door frame and gracefully stepping out of the carriage, using the wooden footstool appropriately to make my exit as dignified as possible, Andrew on my heels, apparently eager to be out of the somewhat suffocating environment of the carriage.

I stood before the immense gates that were the front doors and Andrew stood beside me, smiling. He clapped me on the back and began walking towards the doors which gracefully opened on their own power as he approached them. As I walked through the threshold, I perked up as I smelled something wonderful…something…heavenly.

Food. And from the smell of it, lots of different kinds. My mouth watered and I followed my nose, and amused Andrew leading the way through the opulent entrance hall into a well equipped dining hall, complete with a fifty-seat table with the customary candles, velvet-cushioned seats, a large, opulent chandelier, and most importantly, breakfast. A small feast with a variety of different dishes including eggs, pork, beef, duck, bread and more was placed on the farthest end of the table, near the head of the table.

Andrew and I sat down, and I gave a brief chuckle as he nearly dived at the cooked duck, I myself decided to sample the various foods, and found all to my liking, especially the wonderful, fresh, springy bread. We continued eating in silence for some time until nearly all the food was devoured, Andrew and I eating far more than normal, considering we both hadn't eaten for over a day. After we had both finished, I asked him the question I was burning to know.

“Andrew, would you possibly happen to have a library?” I asked.

Any answer Andrew might have had was cut off by a large blast which rocked the entire manor, the ornate chandelier in the dining hall swinging wildly. I drew both of my wands and began my mental exercises, bringing myself into battle mode, my magic nearly tingling at my fingertips. Andrew drew his wand as well and we rushed into the entrance hall, nearly losing our balance as another blast rocked the manor, this time destroying part of the entrance hall, a large chunk of marble skidding to a stop not more than ten feet from us.

Using Legilimency I spread my awareness across the manor, immediately detecting many life forms, though six of them were in a group just inside the protective walls surrounding the manor. In some way they felt…primitive in comparison to Andrew or myself. I quickly cast a Silencing Ward and Disillusionment Charm around my body, my sounds muffled to the outside world and my image nothing more than a sparkle in the air.

Moving around the side of the manor amongst the lush gardens I saw six obviously humanoid beings, most likely humans, dressed in animal skins while firing bolts of grey magic at the manor from their hands. My jaw dropped, but seeing little variation in their beams I waved my wand in a horizontal slicing arc at them.

“Procella arcus Stupefy.” I spoke, forcing as much power as I could into the spell.

A crimson wave erupted out of my wand, just as Andrew ran up beside me. The fast-moving wave impacted the attackers and all of them were thrown back onto the ground, stunned and lifeless to the world. I removed my Silencing Ward and Disillusionment Charm and walked up to one of them, pushing two of my fingers into one of the attackers' necks, feeling a pulse.

“They're alive,” I murmured, pondering how the attackers might have been using wandless magic.

“Of course they are Phineas, they're magical creatures, not ducks,” Andrew said bitingly.

I gave a harsh laugh.

“Too true Andrew…I'm just curious how these...shall we say…beings were able to cast magic without a focus.”

“Do you not have them where you live? Perhaps not...they are what we call Rouge Mages, as they are humans who refuse to use any sort of external tool to focus their magic. They live as savages, eating meat raw, practicing a social structure that wouldn't be out of place in a wolf pack. The Alpha Male is chosen through battles which are usually to the death. We would control their numbers, but to be honest they are quite more powerful than ourselves in terms of pure magical brawn, not to mention outnumbering us nearly three to one,” Andrew spoke.

I nodded in acceptance. That would explain their attack…though being able to channel raw energy as it seemed they did would be a very large advantage in battle. Suddenly I had an idea.

“Andrew…instead of throwing them back out in the wild so to speak, how about we learn how to channel our energy as they do, erase their memory of ever attacking here, and then release them,” I proposed.

Andrew looked thoughtful, tapping his chin with his wand.

“Perhaps…it could be an advantage in the future,” Andrew said.

I smirked…another surprise for Tom was on the way. Already I could almost imagine his scream of rage as I blasted my way into his throne room. With this thought my eyes closed to slits, a blissful feeling overtaking me…lulling me to sleep. All of a sudden my eyes snapped open and I saw one of the prisoners awake, his eyes trying to stare through me. I raised my wand to him.

“Avada Kedavra.”

The green light and sound of speeding death rushed from the tip of my wand and he fell back on the green grass, eyes lifeless and unseeing. I shuddered as I realized I had taken another life…though it was not without a reason. The mage was attempting to control my mind through Legilimency, exploiting a small flaw I quickly repaired. Andrew stared at me, but saw my slightly glazed look and understood…apparently I hadn't been the only person to be put under their power.

I scowled at the rest of the bunch, stunning them again for good measure and binding them together. Flicking my wand again I levitated them as Andrew led me to a warded dungeon where I deposited all of the Rouge Mages in separate cells. The body of the other Rouge Mage I unceremoniously banished into the forest outside Zabini Manor, leaving him as food for other animals.

I walked back down to the dungeons, my footsteps echoing against the dirty stone walls and down to the cells, drawing runes in the air…Algiz for protection, Hagalaz to make the protection against destruction, Isa to control the protection, and Sowilo to power the ward. A flick of my wand and they were linked together, then with wave of my wand I made eight copies of the runes, charged each of them, and sent one to each cell where they quickly faded out of sight.

My task complete, I proceeded back to the entrance hall where Andrew was slowly repairing the pieces the Rouges had blasted out of it. I joined him, using over-charged Reparo charms to fix large blocks, then levitating them and sticking them to their previous locations, then using Reparo again to reintegrate the block to the wall seamlessly. Had the wall been a normal stone wall, I most likely could have repaired it in a few waves of my wand, but marble is infamous for using its deposits of other minerals and patterns to make repair or conjuring very difficult as it would channel magic away from its projected point, reducing the effectiveness of each spell.

Once we had finished repairing the damage to the Entrance Hall, the outside of the manor, and the wall blocking entrance to the grounds (which we strengthened with a series of highly charged runes), both Andrew and I retired to our quarters, he showing my the guest room before hobbling off to his bedroom. I walked across the lush, blue carpet and fell onto the silver four-poster bed falling asleep nearly immediately.

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August 24th, 963

The next morning found me back in the same position…sleepy and ravenous. I regretfully extricated myself from the exceedingly comfortable bed and ran a cleaning charm over my clothing and myself before making my way down to the dining hall, where Andrew was already loading various foods onto his plate, which fortunately was China and not rotten bread as many would eat off.

Once we had finished eating, I decided to ask the question I had asked the previous morning.

“Andrew, would you happen to have a-“ I was cut off as Andrew answered.

“Yes, I have a library,” Andrew said, smiling, “however lets not bring down another attack on ourselves.”

I laughed a bit, also not wanting to tempt fate.

“Well, lead on then!” I said, smiling.

We both pushed back from the table and he led me out of the dining hall into a torch-lit hallway, which after three bends opened into a large wooden archway. Through the threshold of the archway was a magnificent two-story library, light filtering through massive windows as well as from large torches situated around the library, however Andrew explained he had removed the original torches and replaced them with illusionary flames and lighting charms in order to reduce the possibility of the library catching fire.

I soon felt a niggling somewhere in my head, as if I was being drawn in a certain direction. Once Andrew gave me the permission, I quickly walked between the shelves and found one, thin silver book wedged between two larger books that itched at me to pick it up. I pried it out of there and smirked as I found it was one of the volumes I was looking for…Magus Foci. This book supposedly held many old, powerful techniques to improving your magical focus, making new ones, or even alternate methods of focusing your magic. Yesterday I had read the introduction to Magus Proelium, and it had suggested that the reader complete the other volumes in the series before reading it, as it used many concepts and techniques that were taught in the other volumes.

I brought the volume back to the comfortable chair I had quickly stolen for myself, much to the amusement of Andrew. When he saw it he raised an eyebrow a bit.

“Nobody in my family was ever able to read that book,” Andrew said.

“Yes, it's written in a magical language so I'd imagine it'd be somewhat difficult for anyone to read. This book is another volume in the series I'm collecting…might I be able to purchase it from you?” I asked.

Andrew waved his hand dismissively.

“You can take the book; I have no use for it, as I cannot read it.”

I smiled and nodded my head in thanks, thumbing to the first pages and beginning to read, immediately immersed in the writings of the little book.

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Three hours later, I had read through a great deal of the book…and found three rituals I wanted to perform immediately. One was to allow me to store my wands inside my forearms, where they could be called with barely a pulse from my magical channel. Inside the forearm the wand would completely safe, and would even strengthen the bone as to prevent the wand from breaking in the event that my forearm received a blow hard enough to break the bone.

The second ritual would grow magically-conductive metal inside my hand, starting at the wrist and moving out, creating a pliable plate in the palm of my hand and inside my fingers to the tips, ending at about where the center of the pad of my finger. This ritual served to enhance my magical channel and allow more power to be channeled to my focus, which in this case were my wands.

The last ritual enhanced the previous two. It would allow even more power to be channeled from my magic channel to my wand by linking the two magics. Besides reducing power loss, it also allowed me to cast spells with my wand while inside their fleshy holsters by funneling the power from my magical channel through the wand, then pushing the focused magic through the metal embedded in my hand, finally channeled out through the palm plate, fingers, or both, each controlled through mental will.

Unfortunately, casting though my hand would seriously degrade the power of my spells, however in surprise attacks, it would be invaluable to buy time to un-holster my wand and begin a counter-attack in earnest. While outside the holster, I predicted my spells would have at least a ten percent increase in power, perhaps even up to twenty-five percent. Inside the holster would degrade my spell power by as much as seventy-five percent, though I predicted a loss of about thirty percent.

Finally I shut the book, my mind whirling with ideas and possibilities; however I decided I wished to interrogate the prisoners now. Tilting my neck and popping it, I spoke.

“Andrew, I believe the prisoners should be shall we say…malleable by now. We should take the time to interrogate them.

Andrew put down his book and nodded, smirking slightly.

“Indeed Phineas, they should be much more open to persuasion after two days of little or nothing to eat.”

I smirked back, and stood with a flourish, letting Andrew lead me from the warm tones of the manor down to the dark, dank dungeon. Immediately upon entering I heard a primal scream of rage as one threw bolt after bolt of grey energy at the cell walls and doors, the magic fizzling out just before hitting the wall, it encased by a shimmering blue shield.

“Ah it looks like one of our subjects is awake and angry, perhaps we should wait until he cools down,” Andrew said.

I nodded and moved down to the next cell which held one of the mages, only this time standing and waiting, not throwing bolts. I opened the cell with a wave of my wand and affixed him to the wall chains with another. The mage hissed with anger, apparently disliking the chains. I smirked.

“Well, well, well, now what do we have here,” I spoke, almost tauntingly.

The mage growled again.

“Will you tell us how you channel your magic?” Andrew asked.

I conjured a large meal of wonderful smelling meats and a table, setting it a few feet out of reach.

“If you do, this is all yours,” I said, gesturing with my hand to the food laden table.

I could see his mouth watering at the sight of meat, but he shook himself.

“No,” he rasped out.

I vanished the table and food, let him down, and conjured some stale bread and water, turning around and striding out, my cloak billowing out behind me, Andrew on my heels.

One by one, each of the mages refused, including the angry one. Standing just outside the cell room, I looked at Andrew.

“It appears they are very tough. Tonight I need to return home and prepare for a lesson tomorrow, however afterwards I could Apparate back and we could give it another try,” I said.

Andrew nodded and extended his hand.

“Indeed my friend…tomorrow it is. I was glad for your company.”

I shook his hand and smiled.

“I too was grateful, thank you for hosting me for the weekend.”

“My friend, nothing can repay my debt to you for saving my life, then my home.”

I smiled and drew my Apparition field around me, vanishing with a quiet pop and speeding through my Apparition tunnel, headed home once again.

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I arrived just inside my front door with a whisper of a pop, and without delay proceeded to the potions lab to begin the potions essential for the rituals' completion. With the aid of a self-stirring spoon I was able to brew perfect or at least near-perfect potions to begin the first ritual. As the rituals could be performed in series, I brewed all three potions at once, bottled them up, and took them to the ritual room to await my return.

Finally I headed back to the library, retrieved Magus Foci, and returned to the ritual room, opening the book to the correct page and memorizing it. I retrieved a small silver basin, a needle, some string, and my ritual knife from the ritual table and conjured an altar, placing the basin on it. I then slipped off my robe, replacing it with a short-sleeved, open robe. I then placed my wrists over the basin; the knife clutched in my right hand and began chanting.

 

“Procella mei cognatus et contrado manus,” I repeated over and over, a warmth growing around my hands, especially around the wrist area.

After five minutes, a stain of blood began to form over the knife, still unused and blood began to trickle from my wrists, filling the basin half way then the cut sealed its self, healing immediately without even a scar. As directed to perform all of the rituals at once (and also enhancing them slightly, allowing them to mix better) I poured all three potions into the blood, filling it up the rest of the way. I took my wand and levitated the basin up, creating a small fire under it.

Next I set my wands out and secured the wands to the altar with the string, using my needle to scratch runes into the sides of both, the scratches fading away as I wrote becoming blue, glowing runes. Next I conjured an oblong, shallow basin and placed the wands inside, then after taking the basin off the fire I poured some of the solution inside, which immediately became agitated, turning silver and beginning to boil. The rest of the solution I drank down, which having no taste I was able to drink rather quickly. I cut two runes into each of my arms, then stood back, placed my hand on my heart, and began chanting once more.

“Subnecto et arceo hac potestas et tendo intro mei!” I chanted, feeling something changing, rising up.

I felt something warm and powerful move down my arms, settling in my hands and forearms, sealing the runes and turning them a glowing blue. My wands rose out of the basin, apparently having absorbed all of the solution. Twin beams of silver light shot out of the tips, hitting exactly where the runes were, the beam turning blue. A loud humming sound began and bit my lip, drawing blood as Cruciatus level pain made its way through my hands and forearms.

Thirty minutes later, my wands were absorbed into my arms and I dropped to floor in sheer exhaustion, passing out from the amount of magic used and pain endured over the previous half-hour.

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August 25th, 963

The next morning I woke up, still sprawled over the ritual room floor. Extricating myself from the cold stone floor, I brushed my ritual robes off and proceeded to clean up the ritual room with Muggle methods, as I did not yet wish to experiment with my new holsters and magical channel usage until all volatile items were stored safely.

An hour later, I had setup wooden targets and the like in the warded ritual chamber. I held my hand up and with a little mental nudge sent a pulse of magic down my right arm's magical channel and was pleasantly surprised when my wand passed right through the end of my wrist and into my hand. With another thought it was summoned back in. I pointed my hand at one of the targets and focused on the spell using the plate in my palm as an outlet.

“Reducto!”

A pale beam emerged from my palm and struck the target, reducing it to mere splinters. I willed my wand into my hand and moved on to the next target.

“Reducto!”

This time, the beam was a concentrated, pencil thin beam that when striking the target, reduced the target to extremely fine sawdust which flew about the room, causing me to sneeze a few times. I banished the dust into a conjured jar then vanished it and the remains of the other target and walked to the library to await Rowena's arrival.

Once in the library, I took the time to examine both of my wands. Each now had runes written along the handle and the shaft, obviously placed by the ritual to allow them to tap into my magical channel without physical contact. In fact, I doubted that the wands were even in my arm physically, even though they did occupy the space. They were most likely in a magically created space inside my arm.

Broken from my musings I heard a knock at the door, and I walked up the stairs and to the door, sensing Rowena's magical signature. I opened the door and greeted her.

“Hello Rowena, please, come in and make yourself at home,” I greeted, and gestured her inside with a wave of my hand.

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A/N: Finally I've gotten up and *gasps* finished the chapter! I could make some excuses, but I won't. For one, I was tired of writing for some time, but before that I was busy with real life things (yes I do have a life believe it or not…) and recently I've been doing freelance programming and other miscellaneous things. Two days ago I rewrote what I had and have been writing nearly constantly (with breaks and such) to get this out. I won't promise a date on the next chapter, but with a clear picture for the next chapters I should be able to finish it relatively quickly. I've also been posting about darklordpotter dot net (where I'm an admin), mostly flaming HBP and such. Also feel free to join my yahoo group which can be accessed by clicking homepage in my profile, however if you wish to talk to me, email me or contact me on the darklordpotter dot net forums, and I also tend to drop spoilers there at times. We need more posting users! Also if you're wondering, I hated HBP, though I will be taking a few elements from it such as “if”, “and”, “or”, “the” etc., but enough of that and on with the review responses!

DJ Rodriguez: Even though he does have a dark side, and doesn't mind using the Dark Arts as I somewhat showed this chapter, he is indeed for the side of the good.

Nonjon: In the first chapters, I had a rather rolling point of view from first to third in abrupt changes, and even though I went through them and converted them, there's still a few I missed. And in that context, yes he is a Super!Harry, however I prefer to base it as Powerful rather than Super which I take as “Merlin-like” in abilities. As for 20 chapters and 120k words, I will easily hit this mark with my planned plot, though June is definitely out the window.

Thefirstphoenix: Every family started out non-magical in the beginning, therefore I thought I might illustrate this fact with Andrew. If we do see a Malfoy family, I'll definitely have some surprises. The Gathering of Lords is much as I saw it…people in power quarreling over trivial matters while the ones that matter suffer. As for sundials, it's a representation of things yes, of how reluctant the Wizarding World is to change while the Muggles continue to advance. As I said in this chapter, the Lordship isn't bought, he's just dressed well, and with a large manor it would doubtless serve to prove his status without any questions. And there isn't a Dementor killing spell, the Patronus Charm merely overloaded the Dementor and its mind collapsed in upon itself.

Uten: Harry will come to a conclusion later on that explains which of his theories is correct.

Wytil: Unfortunately, I'm not too well versed in history. My social studies was rather lacking on the middle ages, rather centering on the American Revolution and Civil war. I try to research about the middle ages as much as possible, but the internet is rather broad and it takes some time.

Lucullus: Questions I sometimes deem to answer on darklordpotter dot net forum ;)

Kyle Broflovski: I'll be focusing on this story until it's completed, then the Heir of Silvertounge.

Thesteffis: Yes, I love fics where his thoughts are put out on paper…it helps me get into the character more, and visualize it, believe I'm there. Sarcasm comes later when he bitters up a bit.

Idhren: I was unable to get formal Latin lessons, so I'm stuck blindly conjoining words in a vain hope they're correct. As I was unable to email you for advice, I left the names as they were. Instead, just email me and I'll return contact. Also the third person isn't intentional, just errors.

Manatheron: No, he will not be Phineas Nigellus Black ;)

Thank you all for the reviews!

-Lord Ravenclaw