Arch Mage, the Path of Magic Chapter 42

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with another chapter of Arch Mage, the Path of Magic! Daphne and Hermione both have come to their own interpretations of magic! What will be the results of their practice be? Harry and Fleur have three months before the final task; how will they prepare?

If you’d like to become a patron and get access to these chapters earlier, just head on over to Pat re on and add a /Kairomaru after the com.

Make sure to thank the patrons that make these stories possible by checking out the Patron Plaque on my profile!

So, without further delay, please enjoy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 42 – Exploring Interpretations, Preparations

Harry chuckled as he read the letter he’d gotten from Sirius. Apparently, his family hadn’t been happy about Rita Skeeter’s Witch Weekly article and had gotten the family lawyer to file two lawsuits; one for Witch Weekly itself, and the other directly to Rita Skeeter. At the moment, Witch Weekly was running damage control, having already sent a formal apology as well as making it crystal clear that they didn’t want to have a long and drawn out litigation battle. Rita Skeeter’s layer had apparently sent a letter stating that Skeeter hadn’t broken any laws as she had only ‘speculated’ and not made any outright libelous statements in her article. The Black Family lawyer was apparently descending on Skeeter’s lawyer like a starving wolf on a fresh kill and burying the other in enough litigation to tie up the entire opposing council’s office.

“That should keep Skeeter quiet for a while.” Harry said with an amused grin as he tucked the letter away and looked down at the castle grounds from where he was floating above the Astronomy Tower. “We’ve got just under three months left before the third task. What should I do in that time?” He hummed to himself as he floated in the air. He had plenty of different things he could look into. Multiple projects could be worked on with that much time as well. “Let’s go see what Luna is doing!” Harry promptly put off anything serious and dropped from the air, only to gently land on the large balcony of the Astronomy Tower and head inside. “Luna Lovegood.” Harry set the target of his personal Locator Spell and the small ball of light that only he could see appeared before leading him towards Luna.

-Second Floor-

“Hi, Harry!” Luna greeted Harry with a smile as soon as she saw him.

“Hello, Luna.” Harry hugged Luna warmly before pulling back and smiling at her. He then greeted the girl that Luna was with. “Hello, Ginny. How’s things?”

Ginny gave Harry a small nod, her cheeks lightly pink. “Hello, Harry. Things are alright.” She briefly glanced at the wall that they were close to. “Well, except for being so close to this place.”

Harry looked at the wall and noticed that it was where Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom used to be. ‘Well, I guess it’s technically still there, but Dumbledore set up this wall to block it off ever since I tore open the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.’ The Chamber of Secrets had been a subject of study for the past two years now, especially in the summers when the students weren’t around. There hadn’t been too much discovered after the first search, but small things still occasionally made it into the Daily Prophet each summer. “Then let’s go somewhere else!” Harry said with a grin as he guided Luna and Ginny away. “Have you two ever been to the kitchens?”

Luna shook her head. “No. Are the House Elves nice?”

“I don’t know where the kitchens are either.” Ginny admitted, even though she was sure Fred and George would know.

“Then let’s pay the House Elves a visit!” Harry led the way with a chuckle. It wasn’t hard to understand why Ginny would have an aversion to this part of the castle. So, Harry would help his little sister’s friend and pull them away while giving them something new to focus on.

-Hermione’s Dorm-

“If I think of it as logical to illogical…” Hermione hummed to herself as she wrote on one of the many pieces of parchment on her desk. Each paper was neatly organized next to a small stack of other papers, each stack separated by the topic that Hermione was trying to apply her interpretation of magic to. “…but it would need to be written out. That would take time.” She shuffled through the stack of parchment next to the one she was writing on. She easily found the project she was working on for a while and compared the notes that she’d taken with her new ideas. “Perhaps if I see this as illogical becoming logical through script?” It had merit and she started jotting down the parts of the idea that could line up with her new ideas for utilizing her interpretation of magic.

With a sigh, Hermione set down her quill once she’d noted down all of her ideas and stood up to stretch. Raising her arms above her head, Hermione stood on her tiptoes as she felt her muscles tense and then relax as she let out a soft groan. She’d been sitting for longer than she thought, she realized as she looked at the time and then looked out the window, seeing the sun having crossed a good part of the sky.

“That took longer than I thought.” Hermione said to herself as she ran her fingers through her bushy hair and moved over to her mirror, only to realize that she’d forgotten to take off the black-framed glasses that she was wearing. “Almost forgot about these.” She smiled at the glasses, remembering when she found them in Diagon Alley last summer. They were enchanted to make faded writing stand out, and they helped prevent eye strain when reading for long periods of time. Hermione had found them very useful when she was studying some of the older books that she’d borrowed from the library. “Should I put my hair in a ponytail?” She gathered her bushy hair together in a low ponytail and looked at herself in the mirror. “It’s not bad… I guess.” Hermione had never been much for ‘getting dolled up’, even if she’d done so for the Yule Ball. But with encouragement from her friends, she’d at least try a few different things with her hair.

-Great Hall ~ Dinner-

Harry, Luna, Fleur, Daphne, Astoria, and Tracy were all sitting at the Ravenclaw table as had become normal for them. Daphne was asking Harry a few things about her current ideas for exploring her interpretation of magic, while the others listened in.

“I believe that making the ingredients as pure as possible will help improve the potion pills’ effects.” Daphne explained as she picked up her goblet. “With the ingredients purified and refined, I think the current recipe could even be modified too. There’s a lot to test out, of course, but using my interpretation of magic…I think it could be done.”

“It’s an interesting idea.” Harry agreed as he went over what Daphen had managed to start working on so soon after realizing her own interpretation. “Purifying and refining the base materials should further focus their effects in whatever potion they’re used in. That’s a sound hypothesis… Using your understanding of healing spells to go further into purification of living things just to improve the cultivars is interesting.” He pondered if Neville would have any insights into such things given his friend’s talent for Herbology. ‘Even I don’t understand Herbology as well as Neville does when it comes to the actual plants and not just their magic.’

Fleur hummed thoughtfully after hearing Daphne’s ideas. “Are you trying to make various different types of potion pills? The ones that Harry created are good for injuries of all types, are they not?”

Tracy looked at Daphne. “Yeah, that’s true. What else do they need to do?”

“Daphne wants to make versions that treat poisons, dispel curses, and help a person’s magic.” Astoria chimed in with a smile.

“You’ve been reading my notes again, haven’t you?” Daphne gave her little sister a look. “None of my notes are going to help you with your Herbology or Potions classes. Stay out of them.”

Astoria giggled at Daphne’s look, not affected by it at all. “But they’re fun…except for the parts that I don’t understand. And I get ideas for questions to ask in class that a lot of the Professors give me House Points for asking about.”

“You little sneak.” Daphne sighed at Astoria using her notes to get more House Points in her classes. “You’re a better Slytherin than most in our House.” She playfully patted Astoria’s head, even as her sister tried to move away.

“Sorry for being late.” Hermione said as she arrived, looking like she’d hurried the entire way.

Fleur raised a delicate eyebrow at seeing Hermione’s hair in a simple low ponytail. “Simple, but nice.” She smiled at Hermione, making the other girl blush a little.

Hermione briefly touched her ponytail before shaking her head once. “No, it’s just a lazy thing.”

“Lazy can be good sometimes.” Tracy said with a short laugh. “It looks nice, Hermione.”

“She’s right, Hermione. Your hair looks nice.” Harry agreed with a smile.

“Thank you, Harry.” Hermione returned his smile with her own, her expression growing brighter.

Luna looked at Hermione’s simple ponytail. “Can I try braiding your hair sometime, Hermione?”

Astoria perked up at that. “Oh, me too! I want to braid your hair too!”

Given that Hermione had the longest hair—after Fleur—out of all the girls, it wasn’t a surprise that Luna and Astoria would want to braid her hair if Hermione was going to be trying different styles.

“Alright.” Hermione agreed, getting two beaming smiles from Astoria and Luna. “I don’t mind.”

“So, what kept you cooped up in your room all day?” Tracy asked Hermione between bites of her dinner.

Hermione wanted to argue that she hadn’t been in her room all day, but she knew that it wouldn’t be an argument that she could win. “I was getting my ideas together and making notes on my interpretation of magic and how it could be applied to them.” Seeing everyone looking at her, Hermione fidgeted slightly. “There were a lot of ideas…”

“There must have been many, indeed.” Fleur looked at Hermione with an amused grin. “But you shouldn’t keep yourself cooped up all day, Hermione. We’d all love to talk and do things together with you.”

Harry nodded sagely in agreement. “She’s right, Hermione. Getting too caught up in your work or projects isn’t good.”

Daphne, Tracy, Astoria, Fleur, Hermione, and even Luna all looked at Harry with flat expressions.

“What?” Harry asked, seeing the looks on their faces.

He was soon bombarded by the incredulous words of all of the girls about how he had no room to talk about ‘getting too caught up in work’.

-Saturday, March Eleventh-

Harry was very much surprised at what Hermine had asked of him over breakfast this morning. “Are you sure you want to do this, Hermione?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, Harry.” Hermione replied as she held her wand at the ready. “I want to test something.”

“In a duel?” Harry couldn’t help but ask again. It was very unlike Hermione to want to exchange spells like this.

Hermine nodded resolutely. “Yes.” She looked off to the side for a second before returning her gaze to Harry. “But I’d appreciate it if you’d hold back a little, if possible.”

“Be nice to Hermione, Harry.” Fleur called out from the side, where she was acting as the impromptu duel.

“When am I not nice?” Harry questioned Fleur with a fake petulant whine.

“Begin!” Fleur started the duel instead of answering.

Hermione struck out with her wand. “Flipendo!” The Knockback Jinx rushed at Harry as a spark of light…only to veer off course and start orbiting his position.

Harry grinned at Hermione as her jinx was trapped by his magic manipulation string. “I’m sure this isn’t what you wanted to show me, right?” He aimed the magic manipulation string back at Hermione and her own spell shot straight towards her.

“I just need a second.” Hermione said as she sidestepped her own spell and something fell into her hand from the long sleeve of her robe.

“Time isn’t given in a duel, Hermione.” Harry said as he conjured two crackling ‘Shot’ spells that both zipped through the air in opposite directions before diving towards Hermione as she rapidly backpedaled.

Hermione lifted her left hand and revealed what was in her hand.

A simple looking rolled up piece of parchment.

When Hermione flicked the rolled up parchment open, Harry could just barely make out a bunch of characters, or perhaps runes, before an absolutely MASSIVE deluge of water poured forth from the parchment, drowning his two ‘Shot’ spells in the tidal wave created so suddenly. Without a single movement from Hermione’s wand, nor any incantation from her lips, an Aguamenti of grandiose scale was rushing towards Harry.

“Interesting!” Harry was surrounded by his Barrier spell as the rushing torrent crashed down on his location. “Did she store this much water in mere parchment? It seemed more like this water was conjured, rather than released though.”

“Glacius!” Hermione cast as the parchment had burnt up and fallen to the ground as ashes. The huge amount of water quickly froze over under Hermione’s spell, leaving a massive, misshapen block of ice covering part of the grounds between the castle and Hagrid’s hut.

Crack

The ice shattered into large fragments and lifted high in the air before crashing together and spinning so rapidly that they were ground into snow. The snow that still covered the Hogwarts grounds within a hundred meters all rose up to join the newly made snow above Harry as he smiled widely at Hermione.

“That’s an interesting piece of parchment you have there, Hermione!” Harry said brightly before shaping the mass of snow into a childish and simple version of a dragon, wings and all…and completely life-sized. “Catch!” The snow dragon was animated and flew straight at Hermione with a soundless roar.

Hermione let another rolled up parchment fall into her hand and she unrolled it with a snap, showing off more characters on the inside before there was a visible pulse in the air and the snow dragon lost its animation and exploded into powder snow. “Procella!” Hermione swiped her wide in a wide arc and the powder snow all rushed at Harry in a powerful wave of force like a tempest.

“More than one?” Harry’s grin became a full-blown smile now as he raised his hand and the rush of powder snow all spun together into a large snowball before turning to water which then glowed slightly as a blue Kooni formed around it.

“Kooo…” The large Kooni made a sound before it changed, growing larger and taking a more humanoid shape as the shikigami seemed to become more solid as well.

Harry glanced at his water shikigami before looking back at Hermione. “Go.”

The shikigami shot forward in a blur, reaching with its large hand to grab Hermione.

“Protego!” Hermione cast as fast as she could, the water shikigami’s hand splashing against her Shield Charm. A third rolled up parchment was revealed and a massive conflagration evaporated the shikigami in only a second or so.

Fleur was quite impressed by the parchments that Hermione was revealing one after another. “Are they prepared spells stored in parchment? Or does each parchment cast a spell once it’s open?” It was hard to tell as the parchments all burned up to nothing after being used.

“Do you have any more of those, Hermione?” Harry asked with excitement and interest. He had no idea that this was what Hermione had been working on for the last few months before discovering her own interpretation of magic.

“Perhaps.” Hermione said as she kept her wand trained on Harry.

Harry grinned at her as he pulled out a wooden ball and a metal ball, both about the size of softballs, and tossed them forward before they glowed slightly and Kooni formed around the mediums. In only a second, both little shikigami grew larger and more humanoid, towering over Hermione and Harry at nearly three meters tall. “Wood Shikigami and Metal Shikigami. How will you handle this, Hermione?” Harry genuinely wanted to know as the metal shikigami took up defense in front of the wood shikigami. The wood shikigami spread wooden branches beneath the cold ground towards Hermione unseen.

“Confringo!” Hermione cast and the metal shikigami was rocked by an explosion. The wooden branches erupted from the ground, throwing up dirt as they rapidly grew and twisted around Hermione’s legs. “Diffindo!” A swipe of her wand cut the branches as she staggered backwards to get away from the reaching wooden limbs. “Immobulus!” She cast at the wooden branches, making them stop moving. With a second to breathe, Hermione looked at the metal shikigami, seeing that her curse hadn’t even dented it. With a sigh, she let another rolled up parchment fall into her hand and snapped it open with a sharp flick of her wrist.

From the parchment a bright, spiraling spell made up of orange sparks tore through the air in a blur. It blasted straight through the limbs of the wood shikigami, punched a hole through the metal shikigami, and then exploded against Harry’s Barrier spell.

“Was that a Shield Breaker?” Harry asked, the spell having been powerful, and also effective against physical objects, unlike the common version of the Shield Breaking Charm.

“That should’ve worked.” Hermione said, pointing at Harry with her left hand, while keeping her wand trained on him in her right hand. “How can your barrier hold up to that?”

Harry grinned, always liking Hermione’s ever-curious mind. “Priority of effects, Hermione!”

Hermione looked at Harry blankly. “You just made that up!”

“Nuh uh…” Harry shot back with a playful smile. “By the way… Bind is in effect now.”

“What?” Hermione asked, only to find that she couldn’t move any part of her body, no matter how she struggled. It was like invisible chains had completely wrapped her up in the exact position that she’d been in.

Fleur, seeing Hermione unable to continue, raised her hand. “Harry wins!”

The Bind spell instantly came undone and Hermione let out a little sigh before smiling at Harry.

“Thank you for helping me test my creation, Harry.” Hermione said as she walked over to her boyfriend and kissed his lips softly.

Harry returned the soft kiss and wrapped his arms around Hermione’s waist. “You’re welcome, love.” He said after pulling back from her lips. “Now…” He gently tightened his hold on Hermione. “Tell me what you made. Explain it to me. I have so many questions!”

Fleur pressed herself up against Hermione’s back with a playful giggle. “I’m very curious as well, Hermione~” She said as she wrapped her arms around Hermione, just under the other girl’s breasts, pushing them up slightly to make them look bigger than normal. “Won’t you tell us all about your creation?”

“Y-Yes… Alright.” Hermione stumbled over the first word, not having expected to be the filling of a Harry and Fleur sandwich so suddenly. “I’ve been working on these parchments for the last few months, but I was hitting a wall because I was trying to force magic to be completely logical. After understanding that I could interpret magic as both logical and illogical…I had a breakthrough.”

“Are they runes? Runic sequences?” Harry asked, already figuring that it had to be something similar.

Fleur laughed beautifully at Harry’s excitement. “She can’t answer if you keep asking questions, mon chéri.”

Hermione couldn’t help but enjoy her current position as she giggled while practically being cuddled by both Fleur and Harry. “I wrote out the spells I wanted to cast through runic sequences. It takes a long time to make them as strong as the ones that I used today, because the stronger the spell, the more runes you need to amplify the effect while keeping it stable.”

“And how does that fit into your ‘logical and illogical’ interpretation?” Fleur asked curiously, since this just sounded like a logical application of runic sequences.

Harry would’ve leaned in if he wasn’t already chest-to-chest with Hermione.

“The logical use of runic sequences is to write out the spell I want and set rules to keep it from backfiring. The logical becomes illogical once the spell takes effect, as it goes off without anyone actually casting it. The magic happens because it’s written that way, so a perfectly normal—or logical—space is twisted or changed into being illogical as the spell is performed.”

Harry hummed thoughtfully at that as he mulled it over in his head. “Logical instructions and rules…applied to create an illogical phenomenon.” It was simple and easy to understand with only a bit of explanation. Already Harry’s intuitive understanding of magic was parsing through how Hermione’s creation worked and taking useful bits for further experimentation later. “You did something amazing, Hermione.” He praised her and squeezed her gently into another hug, one which Hermione eagerly returned.

“Thank you, Harry.” Hermione smiled brightly at him.

“I do believe this is a completely new creation, Hermione. Are you going to reveal it and get credit for it?” Fleur asked as she left a soft kiss on Hermione’s cheek, making the other girl blush cutely.

Hermione considered it, especially after testing her creations against Harry and finding them effective…mostly. Harry was an outlier among outliers though, so the test could still be considered a rousing success. “I think I will.” She decided after a moment to think on it. “Hmm, I didn’t think of a name for it yet.”

Fleur smiled as she made her suggestion for a name. “Why not call them ‘Spell Scrolls’, since they’re rolled up parchment before they’re used.”

“Spell Scrolls. Simple, to the point, and easily marketable if you want to sell them.” Harry said at the same time as Fleur.

Harry blinked and looked at Fleur.

Fleur could only grin at Harry having the same idea as her. “Great minds think alike, mon chéri~” She leaned over Hermione’s shoulder to place a soft kiss on Harry’s lips.

“Mhmm~” Harry agreed as he returned the soft kiss.

Hermione burst into warm laughter for a moment before reining in her giggles. “Well, ‘Spell Scrolls’ it is, I think!” Both Harry and Fleur had good points about her creation, and it wasn’t like she had a name that she specifically wanted to give them.

“We should talk to Professor Flitwick…and probably Professor Babbling too. They’ll be able to help you get in contact with the Ministry to register your creation.” Harry said as he and Fleur each took one of Hermione’s arms, looping their own through them, as they walked back towards the castle.

“You may qualify for a Runes Mastery for this, Hermione.” Fleur said thoughtfully as she considered what Hermione had made with just a deeper understanding of runic sequences than most reached.

Hermione looked at Fleur incredulously. “M-Mastery?! But all I did was apply runic sequences!” She certainly didn’t HATE the idea of gaining a Mastery while still in school. It would be an amazing achievement for her and could possibly help her in the future with the blatant prejudice against muggleborns. ‘But surely this creation isn’t so groundbreaking…right?’

Harry caught Hermione’s eyes and gave her a slightly amused look. “Hermione, you do recall that most witches and wizards believe that wandless magic is nearly impossible, only for the strongest of magic users, or limited to the simplest of spells, right?” When Hermione nodded, Harry continued. “But if you actually look around the world, most of the oldest civilizations or tribes have practiced magic without wands for thousands of years. Uagadou in Africa taught ONLY wandless magic up until roughly one-hundred or so years ago when European witches and wizards introduced the wand to the continent…well, peacefully introduced the wand to the continent.” There had been A LOT of magical warfare in Africa, especially northern Africa along the Mediterranean, for a very long time. “Your creation, as far as I’m aware, has never been done before. Or if it has, no one that has created it has ever gone public with it.”

“Right…” Hermione still sometimes forgot just how…uncreative, the wizards and witches of the magical world could be. They grew up with magic and many came to see it as ‘just there’ because of it. “Well then, I guess I should talk to Professor Flitwick and Professor Babbling.” She was starting to get excited now!

“And with a Mastery, come a Title.” Harry said with a grin, sharing a look with Fleur.

“Oui, a Mastery would grant the Title of ‘Sorceress’ to our Hermione.” Fleur smiled back at Harry while hearing Hermione squeak cutely at the ‘our Hermione’ part.

-Dinner-

“You might get a Mastery?!” Tracy asked in surprise.

Hermione nodded, a bright smile on her face. “Professor Babbling says my understanding of Runes and runic sequences is already above N.E.W.T. level after she watched me make a ‘Spell Scroll’ from start to finish!” She felt warm in her tummy as her excitement had grown after getting praise from two Professors that she greatly respected.

“Hm, my own research is going to take longer…” Daphne said with a little pout, even though it was obviously fake. “But I did still come to my own interpretation of magic before you, so I guess that’s something.”

“It was less than a day…” Hermione played along, looking at Daphne with a faux roll of her eyes.

Daphne played the haughty high-born girl easily. “Still first.”

Everyone cracked up into bright laughter after that. Calming down after a few moments. Luna perked up as she looked at Hermione’s bushy hair, currently in a simple low ponytail again.

“We should braid your hair before you have your meeting for your Mastery!” Luna suggested with a bright smile. “Braids look good on you, Hermione!”

“Let me do it!” Astoria leaned over the table with a big smile. “We can do a pretty braid so that you’ll look really cute in your pictures!”

Luna looked at Astoria with a small pout. “Astoria, I suggested it. I should get to braid Hermione’s hair.”

Astoria crossed her arms, pouting cutely to try and get her way.

“Cute.” Fleur was reminded of Gabrielle at the sight of Astoria’s cross-armed pout.

“You can both braid my hair.” Hermione ended the argument before it could really begin as she pull her bushy hair out of the ponytail and then gathered it into two equal halves with each hand and put them over her shoulders. “That’s fair, right?” She smiled at Luna and Astoria as they both nodded quickly. “Just make sure the braids are the same style, please.” She didn’t want to look silly if she got her picture taken, after all.

“Okay!” Luna and Astoria agreed and then turned to each other with smiles. Both girls were clearly already deciding on just how they’d braid Hermione’s hair.

Later that evening, just before curfew, Harry was floating in the common room when Luna and Astoria came down from the girls dorms with warm laughter. Seeing the two girls that he considered his little sisters standing on each side of the stairs leading up to the girls’ dorms, Harry floated down to the floor to ask them what they were up to.

But he stopped dead as Hermione came down the stairs.

Her hair was parted into two large braids that went over her shoulders. Taming the normally bushy locks and framing Hermione’s cute face. But what made the sight of her different than ever before was the black-framed glasses on her face that brought the look together in a way that made Harry’s heart beat strongly and a certain other place further south react just as strongly.

“Whoa…” Harry said absently.

Hermione smiled at Harry. “Does it look good?”

Harry nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

Both Luna and Astoria giggled behind Hermione.

“Merlin’s beard! Hermione’s a hot librarian!” Michael Corner exclaimed, having caught sight of Hermione.

“Whoa!”

“Hermione wears glasses?”

“Looking good, Hermione!”

Harry flicked his hand and Michael and the other boy that made comments found themselves bound and unable to move or speak. No one catcalled his girlfriends!

“Going for the Lady Bayonetta’s third style?” Mandy Brocklehurst asked Hermione from a nearby couch.

“Who?” Hermione asked curiously.

Mandy laughed a little at Hermione not knowing where her current hairstyle came from. “Lady Bayonetta was a famous model known for her hairstyles and her incredible height a couple generations ago. A lot of people still try to emulate her beauty and style to this day.” She explained before giving Hermione a smile. “You pull off her third famous hairstyle well, Hermione, especially with the glasses!”

Hermione smiled at Mandy for the compliment. “Thank you, Mandy.”

“You do look amazing, Hermione.” Harry agreed as he took her hands in his.

“Maybe I should make this my ‘style’ from now on?” Hermione leaned in to whisper teasingly, enjoying the way Harry was reacting.

Harry grinned back at her. “I’m not going to complain if that’s what you want to do.”

The boyfriend and girlfriend pulled each other into a warm hug for a long moment before Harry took Astoria’s hand and led her out of the Ravenclaw common room. “Now, before Daphne comes looking for you and breaks curfew, let’s get you back to the Slytherin common room.”

“Such a gentleman to walk a lady home.” Astoria giggled as she let Harry lead her down the corridor towards the nearest shortcut that would take them down multiple floors.

Harry chuckled as he gently squeezed Astoria’s hand once. “I have to look out for my little sister, right?”

Astoria nodded. “Yes, you do!” She laughed as Harry tapped a blank wall and it swung inward to reveal a long, straight staircase going down. Her ‘big brother’ knew all the coolest secret shortcuts through the castle.

-End Chapter-

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Well, Rita has quickly experienced some comeuppance! Hah! Serves her right!

Daphne explains some of her ideas about taking healing spells and furthering them into purification spells, and then using those spells to purify and refine the ingredients used for the Potter Potion Pills to make new versions!

It might take a while, but if she succeeds, Daphne will be making a huge leap for the Healing Arts!

Hermione shows off the results of applying her interpretation of magic to her months-long project! She makes ‘Spell Scrolls’! You don’t’ even have to KNOW the spell, you just need to know how to activate the appropriate scroll! AMAZING!!! And such a creation—especially in a world of VERY unimaginative wizards and witches—has never been done before! Or if it has, it certainly wasn’t made public.

Will Hermione earn her own Mastery in her Fourth Year?! Gaining the Title of ‘Sorceress’ at only fifteen years old! We’ll soon see!

Luna and Astoria braid Hermione’s hair and Harry sees her wearing the glasses that she uses for reading old and faded books. And DAMN does she make it work! Harry very much approves!

Google Image search Bayonetta 3 to get an idea of Hermione’s current ‘style’ if you’d like.

With over two months still left before the Third Task, what else will happen at Hogwarts or beyond?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!