Chapitre 13: Chapter 12: Armed and Ready
THE BINDING OF FATES
CHAPTER 12
ARMED AND READY
Summary: Master Ollivander and his apprentices begin crafting their weapons. Tonks, Harry and Jon are invited to Alexandria's Cotillion Event at Carcasonne.
The following morning was spent at the workshop working on the wand bracers. Mr. Ollivander insisted that their gloves, mask and Apprentice robes were sufficient to protect themselves from the toxic remains of the Diablo corpse.
"Lads, no time to waste. You have all the rare items necessary. The potency is best when fresh, as it is usually with most crafting professions. Potions, are another story... " he instructed, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Jon you said you had the level two fine metal tools? Those would be enough to extract the claws. Trust me," Ollivander began rubbing his hands in anticipation as he took out a new leather journal from the top drawer at his office desk. "Ah, yes. These are the instructions I have complied from various notes and manuscript of renowned craftsmen."
He gave them detailed instructions on tanning the Threstral wings.
"There is a process of using animal brains in the tanning process. What we have here lads, are very rare combination of elements that... should create an exquisite solution."
He took out a large chalkboard and hung it on the wall. He began to write on it, explaining the quantities needed.
"Nogtail Urine. A must. Elfin bat wings, superior malleability with shape-shifting capability. Diablo brains, the only magical creature that can conjure spells at will with devastating effects. Notorious opponents simply because their abilities overpowers all other types of conventional magic."
He drew a diagram of the outline of the leather bracer. He then completed with surprising detail, a drawing of the lacing system and the wand support.
"You will design something that resembles this. I must commend you on your ability to collect the hardest parts in such a short time. Threstral components of the highest potency. And the claws, the sharpest magical material available, used worldwide for armoring."
The two boys nodded in acknowledgement.
"I believe we should also experiment with the bones to see if we could make a full threstral wand, which I have not attempted due to the rarity of it. Rare, and extremely dangerous. Our gloves must be worn at all times."
Ollivander instructed them to pour the nogtail urine in their individual five gallon cauldrons. They ignited the bunsen burner with a match lit by the lamp fire. He continued his lecture, writing down steps in point form.
"This must heat for an hour and allowed to cool. While it is heating up, we must add the brains. So go ahead and place the head within the bench vise grip."
Jon used large tongs to pick up the severed head and held it steady while Harry opened the vise's jaws with the handle then tightened it so that was secure.
"Good," Ollivander drew on the board a top down diagram of the Devil's head, dividing it down the centre with a straight north to south line. Ollivander gave Jon and Harry what appeared to be a small two man saw. "Mask on, hood up," Ollivander commanded, donning his own well used set. The two boys did as well. "Straight down the centre of the skull."
Both young men began to saw through the paper thin skin of the Diablo. The skin tore easily and black bone peeked through the gap. Within minutes a sizable gap was created through the skull, revealing a glowing, cream-coloured substance beneath.
"Use the mask's auxiliary straps to safely secure the air gaps by your chin. Keep it airtight. The extraction releases a gas that is poisonous." Ollivander demonstrated with his and also pointed out the box of bezoars nearby. "If anything happens, grab a bezoar and run outside to swallow it. Do not panic and remove your mask inside, as that it would only make it worse? Understood?"
"Yes, Master Ollivander," Jon and Harry said in unison. Ollivander nodded and checked his notes once more, then added more instructions on the board.
"Number four iron spike, hammer at these two points," Ollivander commanded. He used a quill and inked two large 'x's above the tiny pointed ears. The two boys grabbed the tools on the wall and poised the hammer and spike over the spot.
"One the count of three," he commanded. "One, two.. three!"
Both boys struck true at the point and a crack began to zizag almost comically around the base of the skull through the two damaged pressure points. The entire skull was now cracked like a hard-boiled egg.
"Perfect." Ollivander brought a cauldron with a clamping lid. "Put the skull fragments in here," he said. Harry and Jon picked up tweezers and peeled the thin bone carefully off the glowing brain matter and placed it in the cauldron.
Ollivander made addendums on the right side of the board; quick dashes going down in a list.
"The diablo brain, in such good condition, can be dried and powdered and is used to create powerful alchemy; potion based weapons when stored in the correct flasks. Instant Darkness, Dementia in a Bottle, Confringo, Blindness Gas, even sealed Patronus spells are possible." He wrote down these few examples. "However, for our purposes, we will need samples of its natural state." He began reading from his notes again, then wrote down more on the board. "Number three silver paring knife, scoop out approximately one tablespoon. This should now be entered into your cauldrons."
They did so and the light yellow liquid now turned to a sparkling pink substance.
"Good. Carefully release the vise and overturn the brain into this cauldron," Ollivander brought a thick glass cauldron that Harry would have mistaken for a fishbowl. "This is a Fairy Wing cauldron. Materials placed inside of this cauldron will float and not be contaminated." Harry used the heavy tongs and lifted the head. Jon held the cauldron carefully as the brain was overturned in it. The brain slowed to a float, and remained still. Jon closed it with the cover.
"That lads, is approximately forty thousand galleons right there," Ollivander winked. He took it to his cabinet. "It is yours. But until you are ready to secure it, I shall keep it here. Put the remains of the skull back in the bucket."
"The Diablo brains will strengthen the amplitude of magical defense the bracer would absorb if you are quick enough to use it to block an incoming spell. However, its true ability comes forth when you channel a complex shield, or high level attack spell. It has been known to amplify original spells created by the owner of the bracer. The brain matter creates a bond with your own brain, your magic, and your personality. If you create a useful spell, the Core meld bracer would magnify its potency two fold." Ollivander held up a glass jar of Threstral blood, examining it in the light. "Here is where it gets interesting, and your own personal touch would be used, Jon. Your gear that camouflaged seamlessly into the background is a new invention, and could serve a very practical purpose."
"But that, the threstral blood..." he trailed off. "It only works when fused with blood unwillingly spilt..." Jon suggested. Ollivander poured the blood into two separate flasks and set them on the requisition counter splitting the storeroom from the workroom.
"Hm." Ollivander dismissed. "We need to let that brain and urine combination simmer. You can take off your masks now, let's have a little break while we wait. I'm famished." He turned, taking off his mask and gloves and grabbing his keys. "Let's take a walk to the cafe and grab something, lads."
Ten minutes later the two boys were outside the cafe sitting at their favourite table. They were awaiting Mr. Ollivander, who went inside to order at the counter as it wasn't quite lunchtime and Barbara was helping cook for the lunch rush.
"It's ready!" Ollivander called from inside. "Come and pick it up."
The two boys retrieved their plates of pancakes and eggs. Ollivander came out after them with only two tall clear glasses and a custard filled cone.
"I still have a sweet tooth, my appetite isn't as ravenous as you growing lads," he laughed. He placed the two glasses in front of the them as they ate. Halfway through the meal, both Jon and Harry looked uncomfortable, sizing up to sneeze. Harry began to feel the tickling nose sensation of a powerful sneeze coming on, mixed with a rising heart beat, as if he had just ran a short distance.
Master Ollivander flicked his wand and both glasses expanded and became large fishbowl style cauldrons.
Harry and Jon sneezed, and blood gushed out of their noses. It splattered into the fishbowls. They did this two more times, holding on to those fishbowls for dear life as the sneezes poured blood out like a violently spouting faucet. After the fourth and last bout of sneezing, Ollivander gave them both a bezoar and a small vial of Blood replenisher.
"Blood unwillingly given, solved," Ollivander smiled, watching the now pale and weak boys. "There are many spells that can do this, but they all are dark. We old timers know a few tricks to get around these ...limitations," he winked. "Swallow that bezoar and drink up. You would be fine by the time we reach the shop."
By the time they returned to the shop, Harry and Jon were indeed feeling better, until they saw their reflections in the shop window. Dried blood stained their upper lips almost comically. They went to the washroom and washed their faces.
"Told you this guy was nuts," Harry grinned as he dried his hands and face.
"The man is quite ingenious, I would never have thought of this method to get my own blood," Jon shook his head in amusement. "You think he would join our clan? His knowledge would be a huge advantage to us."
"We could only ask," Harry said vaguely. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Sages like him and Dumbledore usually want something in return. Their currency is loyalties and secrets... and he's good, very good at hiding his curiosity about us. These types know how to play the waiting game, and get critical information, freely given too. It would take a lot of convincing before he decides to pack up shop and go ranging with us. Master Ollivander is singularly focused on wand crafting."
"I genuinely like and respect Master Ollivander. Wish we had more allies like him," Jon said.
"In time, we will," Harry replied, leaving the washroom.
Ollivander was waiting for them in the workshop.
"Let's test out your theory Jon," Ollivander said. "Hold out your sleeve." Jon did so and Ollivander placed a tiny amount of threstral blood and an equal amount of Jon's unto a spot on the apprentice robes. The spot became invisible.
"Success," Ollivander commended. "The blood thinning enchantment used for the Blood Seal quills would be effective in stretching your samples to coat your new set, Jon. I will perform it for you when you are ready."
The old sage watched them sternly, pointing his wand at the two glass cauldrons of blood.
"Your blood is priceless. I advise that you secure any remaining samples in Gringotts as soon as you are finished with your camouflage project. Or if you want, destroy it with Reducto in a Blood magic potion cauldron. We shall only use a few ounces of this mixture to polish the bracer when we are finished. With the phoenix core infused, you would be able to magically cause it to disappear at will, hiding your wand. This would work to your advantage, obviously. If for some reason you are required to hand over your wand, you should give them your spare, while your real one is safely hidden away, ready for a surprise attack!"
Once again, Ollivander did a dramatic demonstration of pulling an imaginary wand from the inside of his other wrist.
"Many wizards have perished over countless duels, thinking that they have disarmed their opponent, only for this movement to be the last thing they see," he said gravely. "Ah. It has cooled sufficiently. Add the Threstral wing," he ordered. They complied. "Good. Tomorrow we would add the Elfen bat wings to make the wing magically supple and stretch as you grow older. We'll let this sit for now. Continue reading chapter seven and get back working on the Oak and Niffler tail wands you started last week." Ollivander turned to leave. "Oh, and do not let these two samples out of your sight!" he warned, pointing at the cauldrons filled with their blood on the counter.
"Yes, Master Ollivander," they replied in unison, nodding.
"Good. I am going to the apothecary to get ingredients to start the blood thinning enchantment potion. I expect that those would be prepped and ready for the core infusion by the time I return." Ollivander turned and left them to work.
After work that day was done the boys left the workshop. Harry popped in Jon's place to help him unpack some items delivered to him over the past couple days and clean up. Tonks dropped in an hour or so into their chores. After a bit of small talk, they all agreed that Tonks should be the representative for Clan correspondence between Charlie, the Dragon Reserve and affiliated businesses, and legal research on Michael MacMillan. They also decided that mission ranging would be put on hold until Harry and Jon had the magical bracers, at least, to counter their lack of effective wands.
Jon, seeing as he had some influence as being part of an Ancient House, would make initial contact with the various property owners that were shortlisted from the classifieds of magical newspapers available. Also, he would have to contact various craftsmen and vendors to get his home into a more secure and comfortable space.
After Tonks left, Harry took it upon himself to give Jon basic instruction on various Hogwarts-related stuff to better prepare him for school, and more importantly, in-depth knowledge of the major events that happened before. Harry also tried his best to explain how prejudice worked in the magical world, the Blacks' family tree, and what he knew of Sirius' and Regulus' story with the Potters and his involvement with the war against the Death Eaters.
He also decided that even if he couldn't do curses and jinxes himself, Jon's wand, which was singularly effective at those class of spells, was perfect for learning them. Jon had taken well to instruction of the Tripping jinx, Disarming jinx, the Blasting Curse, the Stunning Curse, the Paper Cut Jinx and the Impedimenta Jinx that evening. However, shields, charms, and counter jinxes fizzled out every time Jon tried them with his Dragon heartstring wand. Harry let Jon use his wand and the basic levitation and Lumos charms were practiced. His levitation was shaky and didn't raise all that high, but for a first timer it was sufficient. The Lumos gave off a pale, ice blue light instead of a nice bright white. They dismissed that as incompatibility with the wand itself, rather than any magical issue.
The following day they finished their first fusion of a Niffler tail core into the Oaken wood. They then sealed the corkscrew threading between the stem and the handle with their wands, a flashy magical welding process which needed their masks, gloves and apprentice robes for their safety.
"Congratulations. This is the beginner's wand all apprentices must learn first. Give it a while to set and then we would try it out. It is especially good at Summoning charms, Stealing hexes, earth based spells and physical space-altering enchantments. In the meantime," Ollivander pointed his wand at the bracer project chalkboard. "Let's continue." Ollivander brought out a blue rolled carpet which resembled a tarpaulin. He spread it over the largest work table. "Levitate the body up, Harry. We would extract the claws now. Jon, you brought your fine metal tools? Good."
With a wave, he shrunk the notes from yesterday and pulled it off the chalkboard and into two new leather tomes.
"As apprentices, you would be required to keep all your lesson notes and projects in this book. You are free to add side projects and self study in it. Now," he drew a diagram of the arms and legs of the Diablo.
"The claws are extremely long and retractable. They begin here," he drew an arrow close to the elbow, "And here," he drew another arrow middle of the shin area. "You can be mortally petrified if your are skewered with the claws still inside the body. When they are extracted they lose nearly all of the dark magic embedded in them," he advised.
"So. Number three scalpel, make crosswise cuts where the arrows are. Masks up and tightened," he ordered.
Harry cut on the left arm, Jon on the right.
"Lengthwise incision half inch deep along here," he drew a line running down the forearm. "Another crosswise cut here," he drew a line across the back of the knuckles. "Heavy pliers to crush the claw here," he drew an arrow near the elbow. Jon did so first, then Harry followed. "Peel back the skin from the cut using scalpel and tongs three inches from the wrist."
Both of them did so.
"You see the black thin bone? That is it. You need to use a pincers and pull the claw out from the hand area with considerable, steady, force. Jam the scalpel between the claw and the flesh at an angle, this will serve to cut the tendons as the claw comes out, keeping it whole and intact. Begin."
It took the apprentices ten minutes to slowly pull out the seven inch long black spike with the 'fine tools' metallic pincers.
"Good!" He opened a metal box. "In here. Wrap up the body and put it away. Let's try out your first Niffler wands, shall we?" He placed two small red balls on the table.
Both Harry and Jon picked up their rough, unpolished wands from the work tables. Harry felt a surge of pride from completing this first step into weapon making.
"Give it a whirl, summoning charm first!"
Harry and Jon both called out, "Accio!" One of the balls flew straight into Harry's hand, the other flew into Jon's stomach. He clumsily caught it as it was falling.
"Good! Put it in your pocket. The basic pickpocket spell is 'Kleptopliss'," he demonstrated a delicate flick of his wand held within thumb and forefinger, the motion mimicking plucking a hair out of mid air. Jon's ball popped out of his pocket and floated across the room to Ollivander.
Both of them tried the spell, and after a few tries Harry got it to work. After some trial and error and further instruction, Jon finally got it to work as well. Ollivander took them outside behind the shop.
"And now, the earth spell. Tunneling is a Niffler's specialty. This spell was modified from that to help plant crops and trees. Non-verbal spell only. The basic is the Spade Charm," he gripped his wand like a knife; stabbing it in a downward motion. "The more useful and powerful version: the Plow charm," he kept the same grip and stabbed in a downwards 'come-here' motion. Mr. Ollivander brought a flower pot full of soil and rest it in front of them.
Harry got both charms on the first try. Jon did the stabbing motion and the flower pot exploded, and a half a foot gouge was left on the ground.
"Stronger than usual, might need some tempering there, son. No worries, once the wand works, that's important. Lastly, the space altering charm." He took out a ring box from his pocket. "Envisio Engorgio!"
The box remained the same size, but he pushed the red ball in it, then the other, then his hat. He closed it, opened it , and showed it to them. He gave them both two ring boxes to test along with a ball each.
Harry got it on the fourth try. Jon got in on the tenth.
"How long does this last?" Harry asked.
"This basic spell would last about ten minutes. No matter what you try to do to keep the box closed, once the enchantment wears off, the contents will pop out, unaltered. If the magic isn't countered before it wears off, this box will not be able to be enchanted again for almost a year. Larger spaces will not be able to be re-enchanted for proportionally longer times. Very, very, tricky concept this type of magic is. Envisio Finite!"
In a smooth motion he ducked down just in time to catch the sprung hat on his head. The two boys did the cancellation spells and on the first try the balls jumped out.
"Excellent. We'll cut to shape and hang out the bracer wings now using the claws. And then leave it to dry overnight. Tomorrow we would begin on construction and design. By Saturday, once all goes well; we would be able to infuse your old core and polish them up, ready for action!" Mr. Ollivander grinned as he led them back inside.
That afternoon Harry and Jon decided to visit the bookstores and look up Jon's Sleeping Curse, seeing as Jon could cast it with both wands without much effort. Harry and Jon found no reference to it whatsoever. For such a powerful and useful spell, it bewildered Harry that the closest he found in Obscurus' library was the Sleeping Charm, which basically was useless since the recipient could be awaken by any regular sort of disturbance. They made a mental note to ask Mr. Ollivander about it.
The rest of the week passed in the same vein. They completed two more wands, and cut and designed the holes used for the bracer lacing. They treated the threstral leather with some more of the brain matter taken from the Fairy Wing Cauldron and mixed it with Holly wood shavings.
The two other wands were second level wands, less specialized and closer up the scale towards the all purpose wands school children got when they enrolled into Hogwarts. The second wand they created was Birch and Hippogriff feather. This wand favored dicing spells and animation, but unfortunately Harry's creation was completely dormant to his magic. It worked fine for Mr. Ollivander and Jon, so all in all, the wand was okay. The third was Fwooper feather and Cedar Wood. This specialized in confusion charms and the silence spell. It was also quite good at the Winguardiam Class, Shrinking and enlargement charms, and Transfiguration.
"This combination is the only wand capable of what is called the Demencia Curse. This curse is especially dangerous since the only counter is a bezoar, or the counter charm from a wand that has either Fwooper feather or Cedar as a component. The Demencia Curse is a spell that drives a wizard insane over a long period of time, very hard to detect because it seems a natural progression that some wizards suffer from, due to parentage."
"Speaking of curses," Harry asked. "Why is it that Jon can cast the sleeping curse so easily? And we cannot find any reference to it."
"It is a curse that only Ollivanders can cast," Ollivander said simply.
"Oh, ok." Harry said lamely.
"The magical counter is non verbal," Ollivander showed both of them a complex wand movement. "The only two other counters must be completed within the first year, and those are the ringing of a cowbell, and the screech from any dragon. My family can actually will the one hundred year Sleep curse to be cancelled if they are the original one who cast it. Just a simple touch of their wand on the temple will awaken them, even past the first year."
Harry whistled. "That's interesting. Did anyone ever survive the entire sleep?"
"Yes. A few. A very long time ago. The wife of one of my forefathers. And their daughter. The mother turned to the dark, and was seeking the secret to immortality. She cast the unforgiveable on her husband, my ancestor, and made him cast the Sleeping Curse on herself and her daughter. It was rumored that she came across a prophecy which was to occur many years in the future, of a weapon, a wand, that would eventually resurface. One of the Eternal Six, the Wand of Eternal Youth. She was desperate to live long enough to be present for the prophecy, and willingly went into the sleep. The curse keeps the body in stasis, and it does not age, or decay. She did awake, but unfortunately she went crazy. The daughter survived and apparently lived a healthy, productive life."
The two lads shared a look. Could it be the wand created by Time?
"Anyway, enough stories. Back to the stitching lads!"
Their first breakthrough in their Clan business venture came through early Saturday morning. Harry was awaken by Hootie, Tonks' family owl. He was singing a song towards Hedwig, who was sitting in her favorite branch outside Harry's window, ignoring the loud courting. Harry stretched and opened the window, and Hootie eventually flew in under watchful gaze from Hedwig. The brown owl began a little side to side step dance on the bead head, then offered the rolled parchment on his right leg, then when Harry reached for it, offered his left instead, as if he made a mistake.
When Harry took it, Hootie circled and showed off a bit around Hedwig, then departed into the early morning air.
RH,
This message has been duplicated and Mr. B will be getting his copy as well.
CW has brokered a meeting with the founder and Chairman of 'Protectie Ultimate' (Ultimate Protection) Mr. Constantin Balaur for Monday morning. It will be held at their offices in Romania. He insists that any Clan business must be conducted with all Founding Members present, as in the past, deals have gone sour without all signatories available.
He is willing to accommodate all of us as his guests at the Romanian Dragon Reserve's Hotel for the length of our visit. CW has told me that as a strict rule, all wands and weapons must be kept with a named person of our choosing when entering the main head office for the meeting.
I am reluctant to be unarmed for even a moment in a foreign place, now more than ever before with our investigation of M.M. still inconclusive.
I advise we postpone this meeting to a later date.
I have also received a concrete offer from Macedonia's Armory Guild. They are willing to take our entire stock at premium price. Three thousand galleons a barrel, which is basically 125% 'street value' retail prices and 95% Bulk rate prices. Sounds good, right?
Maybe not.
According to the scarcity matrix published in the latest Apothecary's Guild Almanac, our stock would be the freshest and largest bulk supply readily available. Our actions in France have had a Legal cascading effect. There is an investigative report in the Scribe de Reveur (French Daily). The French Regulation of Magical Creatures Department, who usually would have allowed magical users to deal privately with small infestations and reap the by- product, have issued public notice of random inspections and steep fines associated to the "Deliberate and Voluntary neglect of swine herds to facilitate Wild Bog Boar Infestation".
This is to be put in effect within two weeks.
If, and this is a big IF; the French decide to spread knowledge of this policy to other nations due to suspicion of syndicated dark practices, this would mean that the trading price in Western Europe would steadily increase over the next few months. As I have luckily acquired this market intelligence quite early, a good idea might be to aggressively take any infestation missions as soon as possible to increase our stock and be the main suppliers in the region.
I believe that Mr. Balaur also knows this information and has accepted the meeting under such short notice to get our stock of raw material quickly, and avoid the rise in price. The faster we move, the better our chances to capitalize before this information becomes widespread across the guilds.
This would be a win-win situation. We will hinder the production of potentially Dark magic raw material, gain substantial profit, and allow Cloud to run around the place. He has been an uncontrollable source of energy these past few days!
We will also need a place to securely store the product.
Let's meet today after your work hours and discuss the way forward.
Yours,
RD.
Harry read the letter a couple times. He definitely would need to discuss these options. Their bracers could be finished today once the phoenix core infusion went smoothly. After that process was done, all that would be needed was to put in the laces and test. Hopefully they could hide their real wands and give their chosen representative spares just in case things got hot at the Dragon Reserve meeting.
If they entered a mutual deal with the renowned Dragon Reserve Armourers, they may get closer to finding out more about the Vampire Sanguine through mutual links. Having an entire Onyx Full Body set was paramount to defeating Voldemort's Horcuxes.
He sat on his bed, pondering their long term plan. Protecting themselves from possession was good, but where would the extracted Soul Magic go when they destroyed the vessel?
His head began to hurt. Even though the trio had done all they can to combat Voldemort's plans, they have never come across any sort of spell or ritual that counters this type of dark magic. They took it for granted that the clues Dumbledore left for them would work, and destroying all the physical vessels would be sufficient. Thinking of Dumbeldore's maimed hand, he deduced that Dumbledore probably knew that he was in the early stages of possession, and did not fight the journey to the great beyond, willingly taking death as a better alternative to empowering the Dark Lord.
They would need to find a direct counter to Voldemort's Dark Soul Magic.
Harry eventually got ready for work and made his way to Jon's place on Diagon Alley.
"Caw! Caw!"
"Coming!" came the response from the upstairs window.
A few minutes later Jon and Harry were discussing Tonks' letter as they whipped up a hastily made breakfast consisting of reheated homemade bread, cheese and baked chicken. Both agreed that all three of them needed to brainstorm the possibilities.
"This," Jon declared as he looked at his stay-fresh charmed cooler box. "Is the best thing about this time. Easily storable food. Especially cheese. Do you know how awful our cheese tastes if it is left for too long ? I am contemplating learning the magic spell for electricity to own one of your aunt's refrigerators."
"No such spell. And a fridge won't work here in Diagon, or around your house for long. The magic here is quite strong, and it causes electrical devices to malfunction. Didn't we go through this already?"
"Electrical devices... that is for non magical people, right?"
"Yes," Harry reinforced. "Even if you do find a normal house, over time, the electrical stuff begin to go haywire. It balances off when there are non magical living in the same house, like a counter weight. Hermione has T.V.s, fridges, and other electrical stuff. My aunt did too. It's when the place is fully lived in by wizards, things begin to fail."
"Hermione, she is the one with the bushy hair," Jon recalled. "The one who acquired a lot of theory and could back it up with her spells?"
"Yeah, her parents are non magical. She got teased a lot around this age, but later on when things got more serious, it was scary for her to be walking alone at school."
"But you said she was adept at spell casting," Jon said, confused.
"Yes, but her nature isn't in fighting. She is more of a scholar, an intellectual type."
"I see," Jon said. "And Ron?"
"He is familiar with wizard know-how that both of us didn't know, things that we think are strange he has lived with his whole life. Culture, and what magic can, and cannot do; he knows a lot about. Unfortunately, some of the prejudices and weakness wizards fall prey to also sort of sticks with Ron."
"Understood," Jon said. As they got ready to leave to go to work, Jon hesitated. "I have received the invitations late last evening for Alexandria Potage's birthday celebrations."
"Good. When is it?" Harry said, heading down the stairs.
"Tonight."
Harry froze. "What? That's short notice!"
"Yes. It seems that it is equivalent to a Cotillion event. Here is yours," he handed Harry his invitation. "And here is her letter. She explained why it was sent so late."
Harry read the flowing cursive handwriting on the high quality parchment. It explained that to avoid too much publicity and unwanted guests attending, her parents decided to send the invitations at the last minute. Even though the Potages were well known, they wanted a safe and enjoyable evening without unnecessary complications. They managed to keep the invitation list down to two hundred and fifty-
"Two hundred and fifty?" Harry whistled. "Didn't she say this was a little gathering?"
"If I remember correctly, yes, that is what she said."
Harry opened his invitation. On the card was a flowery invite written over the backdrop of a beautiful chateau surrounded by green fields.
'Mr. and Mrs. Pavel Potage invite you, Harry J. Potter to our daughter Alexandria's birthday celebration on Saturday evening and Brunch festival the following day. The Honor of your presence is requested for Dinner and Dancing at seven thirty in the evening at our Ancestral Family Home at Cite de Carcassonne.
Celebrations would be held through the night and luxurious accommodations would be available for overnight stay in our guest chateau. Brunch would commence at ten thirty the following morning.
We eagerly await your timely positive response through magical touch on the below charm.
Sincerely,
The Potages.
For your convenience, please see attached writ of permission to be presented to your ICOP representative at your nearest available Magical Port. This would provide you swift, safe and comfortable portkey travel.'
"Whoa," Harry said. "This is some event."
"Yes, I gathered such when I searched the texts for information on the place. It is a magnificent fortress near the south of France. Not even eleven leagues north of Estagal." Jon sighed. "Circumstances are a bit dodgy, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"The person we were proposing to hire for security for the party, which we presumed was to be held here, in England, is based not even a stone's throw away from the event. Now, he may be a person of dubious character that we may need protection against. "
"Maybe he won't even know," Harry shrugged.
"We told him, remember? Do not underestimate people. It is not difficult to figure out. Tonks must come," Jon declared. "Our skills are suited for covert operations and attack, not dancing and... socializing."
"Did she get an invite?" Harry asked.
"Yes. And ...it is addressed to her 'and guest'," Jon indicated the invitation envelope sitting on his study desk.
Harry and Jon just stared at each other. "We didn't get 'guest' invitation privileges, did we," Harry said, one eyebrow raised.
"No. Do you know anything about the Potages?"
"Nah, all of this is new to me too."
"So we have no foreknowledge whatsoever," Jon said. "Let's hope that we can somehow finish those bracers... we need some sort of magical defense."
"Today...could be possible," Harry ventured, frowning. "Once everything goes smooth. We wouldn't have much time to practice though, but it would be great to have some sort of semblance of all my spells for use." Harry brightened, feeling excited about trying out the bracer as it was so close to completion.
"Let's owl this to her immediately." He wrote her address on the scroll and sent his midnight coloured owl, named Raven, off with the invite.
The moment of truth came after lunch. After almost an hour of extracting and then fusing the phoenix core from his old wand, Jon and Harry were on the final touches of completing the bracer. Fusing the split phoenix core into the threstral leather was time consuming and physically draining.
A soft phoenix song was emanating from the cores, and heat. This heat felt wondrous and invigorating at first, but over time, it became like a furnace in the workshop. Ollivander said under no circumstances were they to stop. The Core meld process must be completed in one sitting.
Ollivander was giving pointers and closely inspecting the process on both lads, sometimes leaning in as close as they were, hot, sparking magic bouncing off their masks.
When it was done, Ollivander and his apprentices took off the masks from their sweaty faces.
"Now, to polish," he commanded.
The two boys proceeded to dip the cloth in their thinned blood and rub it in the bracer. Then they took another cloth and dipped it in the threstral's blood and repeated. The bracer darkened, then became a smooth colour of deep brown.
They both strapped it on, and when tightened, the bracer began to fade from view.
Harry put up his fist, and Jon connected, as usual. The bracers momentarily began to glow.
"Whoa!" Harry remarked.
"It is the radiance of the Phoenix feather, and both of your magic," Ollivander nodded, a tear of joy in his eye. Without warning he drew his wand. "Stupefy! Stupefy!"
Jon and Harry threw up their left hand in reflex. The red bolt of magic hit the bracer, and the magic dissipated with a crackling sound. The bracers felt uncomfortably warm on their arms.
"It works. It WORKS!" Ollivander exclaimed, his boyish enthusiasm once again to the forefront.
Harry watched his bracer in amazement, then inspiration came to him. He immediately drew his Holly and Troll hair wand and pointed at the ground. "Stupefy!"
A healthy red bolt shot out of his wand, scorching the ground and leaving a nice trail of magical smoke to curl up from the spot.
"Yes!" Harry said with relief.
Finally, an attack spell!
Ollivander watched Harry's display, stunned. "How did you do that? That wand should not be able to..."
"It can learn through coercion, or force." Harry grinned. "It is a copying wand."
"Miss Tonks did tell me of your disregard for conventional magic," Ollivander nodded sagely. "Yes..yes, you are indeed unique... in all our years we have never unlocked the secret of that combination. It simply served as a means to an end, but now... absolutely brilliant. The paper cut spell, that was how you did it, correct?"
Harry nodded. "Yup. Also acquired a nifty wide range detection spell. It is limited though, the magic must be cast to be used on me, and not for drills. If the caster knows it can be copied, it won't work. We tried."
"Very, very good, Harry. I have underestimated you, once again," he said softly. "Now, we can experiment with the bracer's spell casting ability. The most common use, as Jon said a couple of weeks ago... was for a shield charm. Let's see it!"
"Jon, the spell is Protego!" Harry demonstrated the wand movement with his right hand to no effect, then tried it with his left. The invisible shield charm popped into existence in front of his bracer. "Nice! Think of a barrier between..."
Harry cut himself off as he noticed a shimmering haze of light blue magic began to solidify into a semi-transparent crystalline wall in front of Jon. Jon had his left fist clenched in front of his heart, his stance mimicking the form of when holding a real shield.
Harry's and Ollivander's jaws dropped a couple centimeters.
"An Aegis," Ollivander whispered. He tapped his wand on the crystalline structure, resulting in a spark of magic. "The interlocking plates are perfect..." Ollivander walked behind Jon, peering through the crystal shield from the other side. "Head to toe, full frontal protection. This bracer was meant for you, Jon."
"I am the shield that guards the realms of men," Jon whispered, awestruck at this display of magic.
"What?" Ollivander asked.
"Just a training chant we used growing up," Jon covered up smoothy.
"I see. Very good, none the less. From what I have researched, the magic is not as rigid as what is executed from a wand. The Core Meld bracer medium is much more natural. It is an extension of your skills, your personality, your beliefs, not fancy movements and incantations."
"Doing wand motions with one hand and trying to use the left to do the same thing might be confusing," Harry agreed. "Makes sense."
"The bracer grows in ability, just like the wand does, but not through texts and learning. All magic that you can accomplish must be brought forth from the inside, and not learned from the outside. I believe that should be it for the day. You have done well lads, and made me a happy, old man."
"Master Ollivander," Jon bowed slightly, "You are an excellent teacher, this success should be accredited to you."
Ollivander laughed, clapping his hands once in glee.
"Let's call it a team effort. You two got the supplies. I gave you the knowledge. You must register that you created the magical bracer at the Curse breaker's guild. Any legal entity that wishes to give you trouble must confirm if it is illegal, and gentlemen, no one has done this in a long time, they won't even bother suspecting how useful it is. Release your magic on it. "
They did so. After a few seconds, the bracer turned invisible.
"Ah. Perfect. Enjoy your weekend gentlemen, Monday is a new day and I must attend to my journal. Today has been a great day."
Later that evening Harry and Jon were awaiting Tonks and her guest at Jon's place. Harry was wearing new dress robes bought from Madame Milkins, a black three piece ensemble finished with a fashionable cloak clasped on his left shoulder. It reminded him of a cape.
Jon wore a crisp long sleeved white shirt with black pants tucked into recently polished WWG boots. The Dagger's belt was cleaned with the metal finishers immaculately polished, fitting skewed across his hip. A new fur lined black cloak draped his shoulders.
Harry thought he looked like a suave pirate. Somehow, it suited him. Both of them double checked that they had their gifts, the invitations, and their overnight trunks packed.
"Jon!" came a woman's voice, followed by three knocks on the door a few minutes before seven.
Harry was somehow dreading this moment. Tonks was supposed to bring a guest. Harry didn't know how he felt about Tonks on the arm of some unknown and probably good looking man. He also knew he didn't have a choice or say in the matter, so bravely sucked it up and went down with Jon to greet her at the door.
Jon opened the door and allowed her in. "Milady," he bowed, a smile on his face. Tonks slapped his arm playfully as she stepped in. She looked lovely in a black body-hugging dress which had a slit along the side of the left leg. The material had a bit of sparkle here and there, giving the impression of twinkling stars.
"Hey! You guys look great. This is my friend, "she turned, realizing that the person didn't follow her in. "One sec," she stepped back out the doorway and pulled in a witch her age."Ahem. This is Sarah, my best friend. Sarah, this is Jon, and that's Harry. Guys, Sarah Clearwater."
"Pleased to meet you," Jon said in welcome. "Pardon the mess. Recently moved in."
Harry came forward and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. You ladies look smashing," he smiled, his entire attitude uplifting by this pleasant surprise. Sarah returned the smile.
"Nice to meet you. Gosh," she laughed. "I am so sorry Nym," she aplogized as she shook Jon's hand.
"See? Told ya it was them. Why would I lie?" Tonks laughed. Sarah sized up both young men. Harry returned the favour. She was pretty, slightly shorter than Tonks, blond hair and light brown eyes. She was dressed in a white dinner gown with a matching wrap around her bare shoulders. She had on high heeled white boots, but still only barely reached Jon's height. Tonks towered over Harry by a few inches with her high heels.
Jon and Harry helped them with bringing in their overnight bags and offered them something to drink. Tonks accepted a glass of wine, and after some persuasion, Sarah accepted one as well. Harry and Jon drank a non-alcoholic version which tasted quite good, all things considering. "Well, shall we?" Tonks said after they had small talk and finished the drinks.
"Yeah! Let's get going," Harry agreed, feeling an excitement building up in him replacing his previous sour vibe.
"This is going to be a blast!" Sarah said. "Thanks for inviting me," she said to Tonks.
"After you," Jon said, gesturing down the stairs. The two girls went down, and Harry turned to follow.
"Wait. You forgot these," Jon said, handing him the three wands he made this week. "Just in case."
Harry looked at Jon's unreadable expression. He nodded. "Okay." He tucked one in each of his WWG boots, which actually had a groove for such purpose and one in his vest rib picket. His normal Troll hair wand was in the bracer tucked away under his long sleeves. "You not taking your spares?"
"No. I believe I am more suited to the bracer's magic than these wands. It should be sufficient as my backup," he replied, following Harry down the stairs.
"All ready?" Tonks said, grinning as they came down. They nodded and took out their invites.
The four of them tapped the charm on their invites and disappeared.
AN: Thank you for reading. I know this chapter was a lot of lecture and world building, but it couldn't really be helped. Read and Review!
Until we meet again
-TDLN
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone