F&L: Chapter 54

Over the course of the next month and a half, I kept myself busy largely with various projects. Not only was I continuing to learn how to cook from Lucia, but I was also learning Spells from the Grimoire of Gwynedd and looking into various enchantments, not just the one requiring the Greater Toadstone for my duster, but also looking into reverse-engineering the Enchantments of the Crown of Gwynedd and the Cloak Pin of Fire Protection, as well as the figuring out spiritual process used to make the Troll Chief's Hammer. I also kept up my training in the Mind Arts as well. All in all, it was a very busy month and a half for me. It was necessary, however, as things would only get more dangerous going forward, and I wanted to be ready for it when things got bad.

First Priority was to get the Enchantment on my Orichalcum Reinforced Duster ready. To do this, I needed to chisel some of the Greater Toadstone off and grind it into powder. Then I had to carefully etch and emboss runes into the duster with specially designed and made tools, which had to be specially ordered from certain places overseas that specialized in Enchantment Supplies. Naturally, I purchased mine from a supplier in Magical Italy, using my Family Name to convince Fascino and Sons Enchantment Supplies of Naples not to ask too many questions. Once I had the tools, etching and embossing the Duster was a slow process that had to be done over the course of a week, as it was a pretty involved process.

The Runic Array I chose was one that could branch off and take more enchantments, based entirely around the Sanskrit Rune of Om, which would not only be unfamiliar to most British Wizards, and so be difficult to decipher, break, or reverse-engineer, but also allow for extra power to be put into the array. Once that was done, I had to sprinkle the Greater Toadstone Dust over the runic array before charging the whole thing with magic and enchanting it under the light of the full moon and the noonday sun in a two-part enchantment process. I just barely managed to get it done in a week, but I did get it done in the end.

On the matter of reverse-engineering the enchantments from the Crown of Gwynedd and the Cloak Pin of Fire Protection, The Craftsman's Tradition provided instructions on how to reverse-engineer enchantments. Unfortunately, doing so required multiple days and would unravel the enchantments in the process, leaving behind mundane items. That was fine by me, as the Mundane Items could simply be re-enchanted at a later date unless I failed to successfully reverse-engineer the enchantments. That was a thing that could happen, apparently, even despite any precautions you may have taken.

As it happened, I did actually fail to successfully reverse-engineer four of the enchantments on the Crown of Gwynedd. I was able to reverse-engineer two of the Three Blessings of Gwydion, which were three of the Enchantments that had been laid upon the crown, along with the Blessing of Gofannon, but not the Blessing of Bran or the Blessing of Llyr. As far as I could tell, the Blessings of Gwydion that I managed to reverse-engineer conferred the Bardic Power of Dindsenchas on the wearer, along with a boost to Magical Power when wearing it. Meanwhile, the Blessing of Gofannon that I managed to reverse-engineer made me a more adept crafter, including all mundane crafts as well as alchemy, runecraft, potioneering, and enchantment.

Of course, the Power I gained didn't also come with a boost to Magical Control, which would have been gained from the Blessing of Llyr that I failed to reverse-engineer. The Blessing of Bran would have given me the ability to heal all wounds sustained in battle once every day, and the last of the Blessings of Gwydion would have boosted my Sight to the level where I could likely have competed with some of the most famous Seers in Wizarding History. Honestly, all of these enchantments together on the Crown made me wonder exactly how it was that Toadstone Castle had even been destroyed by the Beast, but the journal I'd picked up made it clear that the Beast had attacked in the night, giving no time for a response.

"I suppose that no Prince or King wears their crown while they're in bed. That'd get real uncomfortable, real fast." I muttered on reading that.

Aside from that, using the Beast's Blood, hide, and bones, I crafted one potion of Water Breathing, one Ring of Sonic Pulse, and one pair of Boots of Leaping. I would store the rest of the components for later use while working on my next enchantment. This would be a Belt containing the Blessings of Gwydion and Gofanon that I had reverse-engineered, using the Beast's Hide. Ogham Runes took the Enchantments the best, and that was what I used here. Unfortunately, I had little time to craft anything else over the summer, as I would need to spend the rest of the time getting used to my new level of Magical Power.

Of course, before I did that, I also managed to learn a couple of the spells from the Grimoire of Gwynedd, as well as train my Occlumency, Leglimency, and Oneiromancy. The spells from the Grimoire I learned were called Euroswydd's Golden Bindings. It was a spell with a wand movement of a clockwise spiral, followed by a flick and the incantation Aur Rhwym, two syllables. They would produce bindings of golden light that were supposed to be unbreakable. Unlike the Incarcerous, they couldn't be cut out of, and unlike the Full Body Bind, they weren't easily countered, requiring a specific counterspell. The Silver Breaking Spell, which had the wand motion of a counter-clockwise spiral and flick, with the incantation Arian Torri, and which I also learned.

Aside from that, I also learned the Spell of The Wind's Claw, which had a wand motion of a vertical slash at the target and the incantation of Palug. It would, when properly cast, allow a vacuum blade to be cast at the opponent, increasing in size and capability depending on the power you put into it. The Grimoire claimed that a truly powerful Wizard would be able to cut the top off a mountain using the spell, but I wasn't certain if I believed that. I know that when I tried it out, I was only able to cut down a single, relatively small tree with it. I would just have to keep practicing, it seemed.

Aside from all that, my practice of the Mind Arts continued apace, with a focus on Occlumency thanks to the warnings I'd gotten about Lockhart being a real danger this time around, but also keeping my Leglimency and Oneiromancy in mind as secondary focuses. By the time that my trip to Diagon Alley came around, I was positive that I would be able to resist a Confundus or Obliviate from Lockhart. We would see how well that actually stood up in practice when the school year came, I was sure.

Of course, most of the twenty or so days remaining in the summer after I had crafted my Belt of Power were taken up by trying to get used to the extra measure of magical power that I had obtained from the Belt. It was difficult, and I found myself overpowering a lot of my spells, even after training my control for twenty days straight. Some of my spells just failed to go off at first, the extra power being put into them causing a miscast. Even now, as I prepared to head to Diagon Alley to get my School Supplies for the Second Year, it was difficult to avoid putting too much power into my spells. My grasp on my new level of power was still tenuous, however, I was out of time in the Summer to train control.

After all, the time had come for my yearly trip to Diagon Alley. I made my way to the floo after a lesson in cooking a brunch torte using eggs, cheese, mushrooms, spinach, and salami. As I grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder, I double-checked I had everything, Duster, Mokeskin Pouch, the Works. Satisfied that I was ready for anything that might have come up, I tossed the Floo Powder into the fire, which turned green.

"Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley." I intoned.

The fire flared up, and I stepped through, on my way to get ready for my Second Year at Hogwarts. As I stepped out of the Floo at the Leaky Cauldron, I cast a quick Scourgify on my clothes, waved at Tom, who nodded back at me as he cleaned a mug with a dishcloth, then headed for the back wall. I tapped my wand on the bricks of the wall in the proper pattern, and the bricks rearranged themselves. When they had finished, Diagon Alley opened up in front of me, bustling with shoppers getting school supplies for the year.

Then, with a self-assured nod to myself, I stepped through into Diagon Alley, ready to get my supplies for Second Year. I almost immediately spotted Daphne and Tracey making their way around Diagon Alley, and I waved over at them. As they spotted me, they waved me over, and I made my way toward them with a grin on my face.

"Daphne, Tracey, it's good to see you two!" I beamed.

"Likewise. How have you been?" Questioned Daphne.

"Busy. Very Busy." I answered.

"Of course. It's you, after all." Smirked Tracey.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I queried.

"Nothing. I did hear something about a trip to Anglesey, though. What was that about?" Asked Tracey.

"You heard about that, huh?" I questioned.

"One of Father's old School Friends owns the Druid's Staff in Stonecircle. He mentioned a curious boy who decided to brave the Malltraeth Marsh." Nodded Daphne.

"Who does that sound like, I wonder?" Queried Tracey.

"Harry Potter?" I asked, trying to offer a reasonable counter.

"Nice try, but everyone knows Harry lives with his Muggle Relatives now." Pointed out, Daphne.

"Drat. Well, there goes that excuse." I grumbled.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Questioned Daphne.

"Why do you ask?" I queried.

"Daphne was worried about you when she heard the news, not that she'll come out and say it plainly like that." Intoned Tracey.

"Just answer the question. You weren't hurt in the Marsh, were you?" Asked Daphne, reiterating herself.

"No, not that I couldn't handle at any rate." I refuted.

"Blaise, you need to take care of yourself better." Insisted Tracey.

"Yes, if you get hurt doing something foolish, I'm going to be extremely put out." Sniffed Daphne.

"She won't be the only one either." Added Tracey.

Faced with the fury of two, possibly more than that, of my female friends being scorned by my actions, I couldn't help it. I blanched at the implication. Holding my hands up and out in a placating gesture, I nodded at Daphne and Tracey.

"All right, I get it. I'll take it easy for a bit." I offered.

"Good. You'd better." Nodded Daphne.

"Come on, we're meeting Millie at Flourish and Blotts." Demanded Tracey.

"Books first sounds good." I agreed.

"Of course it does, it was my idea." Huffed Daphne.

Then Daphne turned about and headed deeper into Diagon Alley, Tracey following after her. I had no real say in the matter, simply shrugging to myself and giving a soft chuckle as I let myself get sucked into the wake of Hurricaine Daphne and followed my two friends into the crowds. Unfortunately, it would turn out that Flourish and Blotts would be the most annoying stop of this year's Diagon Alley Trip. Gilderoy Lockhart would be there, promoting his new books, as would several of my classmates.

And many of them would be taken in by the antics of the Glory Hound, who was to be our next Defense Professor and one of my adversaries for the year. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. The first part of it is a bit timeskippy, going over the rest of Blaise's Summer Training, but there was a bit of character interaction at the end with Daphne and Tracey as we finally got to the Diagon Alley Trip. We're now officially in Chamber of Secrets Territory with the fic.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the next part of the Diagon Alley trip for Second Year, featuring an appearance by Gilderoy Lockhart.

Stay tuned. . .