The Last Kefsen by Jardyn39
Chapter 11: Runes
Harry's additional defence classes that Dumbledore had promised were to be given by Professor Flitwick and, to his great annoyance, Snape.
Rather than teaching together, Harry would attend separate evening lessons with each. When he jokingly complained to Ron that he had all these extra evening lessons, Ron had quipped, "At least you still have an evening free for detention with Snape!"
Harry had been rather surprised with Flitwick. He remembered Hermione saying that he had been a champion dueller, and now he could well believe that.
At the beginning of each lesson, they would discuss duelling techniques and usually Flitwick would show Harry a new hex or defence. They would then practise with a duel, stopping if Harry had any queries. Harry found that not one of his attacks had been truly effective but he knew he was improving. Flitwick was as good a teacher at defensive magic as he was at charms. Harry could not help but enjoy Flitwick's enthusiasm.
As he lay, just after being unceremoniously blasted onto his back at the end of another good session, Harry found himself grinning stupidly as a smiling Flitwick came up and offered a hand to help him up. He really thought he had got Flitwick that time.
"Professor, just how much are you holding back?"
"Well, when we first started, quite a bit. You would have soon got discouraged if you thought you had no chance. Besides, a good duellist will always try to keep something back," said Flitwick in his high pitched voice. "Right now you have a reasonably good arsenal of hexes, you just need to learn application."
"Application?"
"Yes. Unfortunately some wizards won't always follow the rules of conduct for duelling. From next time, our lessons will be held in the Great Hall. We'll have more room to manoeuvre and see how you react to a less sportsman-like attack."
Harry would later regret not taking this warning seriously.
*
"Oh, go on. Tell me all about it," pleaded Jen. "You know you want to, really."
It was late into the evening and Harry was quite glad of an excuse not to finish his latest Potions essay. They were alone in the common room and Jen had assumed Lavender's form for much of the evening, having been experimenting with different hair styles.
"Well, there are about eighty people who want to join the DA. Obviously word got around somehow, and from what some of them were saying, quite a few more might be interested."
"What did you practice?"
"Um, tonight we did shields and disarming. I just wanted to see what people's abilities are. I'm thinking of grading people so they get the right level of training."
"You'll teach all of them?"
"Sure, although obviously some of the senior years will have to teach as well. I've got quite a few things to do at the moment."
"Will Hermione teach?"
Harry smiled. It had taken Jen far longer than usual to get around to her favourite subject of their late night discussions.
"Yes, Hermione has agreed to teach."
"Is she very good at defence?"
"Yes, she's better than everyone at most things, including the Seventh years."
"Most things?"
"Well, there are some things she could be better at. She's easily distracted and she still won't attack anyone who she thinks is defenceless."
"Sounds like she would benefit from some private lessons, if you ask me," Jen said with a sly grin.
Harry rolled his eyes and returned to his essay.
It was rather annoying sometimes having someone around who knew his innermost thoughts and feelings so intimately.
*
Snape's defence lessons could not be more different from those with Flitwick. Harry felt he was learning nothing.
In all his previous extra defence lessons with Snape, Harry had ended up in the Hospital Wing to be patched up before returning late to Gryffindor Tower. Snape's teaching technique consisted of hurling curses at him from the moment Harry entered the room. They had not conversed at all so far.
Snape clearly had no intention of showing Harry how to defend himself.
Harry would variously dive, block and counter with his own curses. Although he had improved each time thanks to Flitwick, he would eventually tire and so far had always been revived on one of the Hospital beds by a disapproving Madam Pomfrey.
As Harry's index finger played along the long lines of books in the Restricted Section he paused to examine a dusty black bound book. The skull embossed into the leather glared menacingly at him.
As Harry slid the volume towards him, he wondered yet again whether or not he was doing the right thing. He felt another short stabbing pain in his side.
He almost pushed the book back onto the shelf again. Then his mind's eye remembered Snape. He deserved something special for all his efforts.
*
Harry entered the room, fully on guard. He liked to at least know where Snape was before he got blasted. Using the door as a shield, he scanned the room.
Snape had his back to him, apparently examining a book. Harry slid into the room as quietly as possible and closed the door. Not once did he so much as blink.
The door clicked closed.
Harry felt somewhat disconcerted. This had never happened before.
He took a couple of steps into the room, his wand held out covering Snape.
Snape whirled around and shouted, "Legilimens!"
Nothing. Harry had blocked Snape's attempt to read his mind completely with no effort at all. Realising the futility of his attempt, Snape's face distorted into a mad rage. Clearly, he was supposed to be more of a push over.
Harry easily blocked the first two curses and dodged a third as he considered his options for a counter attack. Harry was now very good at this kind of fighting. He gave the smallest smile to himself which just enraged Snape further.
Harry had had enough.
It was time to show Snape something a little different. Something from his research in the library's restricted section.
Harry, concentrating intently, drew his wand slowly through the air. A long golden flame erupted from the tip and hung in the air. As Harry flicked the end of his wand it broken away and flew with a snake-like motion slowly and deliberately around the room in a wide arc.
Snape stared at the smokeless flaming serpent as it lazily headed off through the air. Snape had to know it was moving to attack him from behind. It seemed alive.
Snape raised his wand and pointed directly at the flame. Instantly it turned in the air, contemptuously avoiding the threat. Snape looked back at Harry who had just allowed his second serpent to leave, this time moving slowly towards Snape but in the opposite direction.
Harry just stared at Snape waiting for him to beg him to call them off. It may be his only chance.
For an instant Harry thought he saw fear in Snape's eyes.
That distraction was almost very costly. Harry understood at that moment for the first time how easy it could be to be seduced by dark magic. The easy thing would be just to let the flaming serpents go. Instead he had to control them. These fiery creatures were conjured to attack Snape and he could feel them straining to do just that.
Harry concentrated and was almost taken by surprise when both serpents struck at the same time. Snape shouted in agony and dropped to his knees. One serpent had raked his back and the other his side. As both serpents turned for a final blow Harry raised his wand and said quietly, "Finite". Instantly the serpents exploded into wisps of black smoke.
Harry pocketed his wand and went over to help Snape who was literally smouldering.
"Get your hands off me!" he shouted, pointing his wand directly at Harry. He looked for a moment like he was considering a hex but eventually with one wave of his wand he drenched himself in water. He groaned quietly in satisfaction as steam rose from him. With another wave he was dry again but clearly still in some physical discomfort.
At that moment the door opened and Dumbledore entered.
He surveyed the scene before him saying, "My apologies, Severus. You should see Madam Pomfrey immediately. We will talk later."
"Yes, Headmaster," growled Snape as he swept from the room.
Dumbledore turned to Harry with a very serious expression. "Please sit, Harry. I'd like to talk to you about what just happened."
Harry sat, not wanting to look Dumbledore directly in the eye.
"I asked Professor Snape to provoke you. In truth, I was expecting something altogether different and certainly not this early. Where did you learn to perform that particular form of magic? I happen to know there is nothing in the library's Restricted Section."
"It started because I've been trying to learn to perform magic without incantations. I got bits from a couple of books and Jen described a couple of things she had seen. Mostly I just practised on my own. I thought something like it should be possible after seeing you duel Voldemort. I thought it might come in handy."
Harry looked directly into Dumbledore's blue eyes and continued earnestly, "I've never tried it in the presence of anybody else before and I will keep my promise not to teach anyone else here how to do it."
"I should think so," commented Dumbledore. "Actually, I doubt many other students could perform such dark magic. I am, however, impressed that you didn't allow Professor Snape to be seriously hurt."
"It was never my intention to really hurt him." Tempting as it was, he thought.
"How many can you control at the same time?"
"Three, usually, unless I get distracted. Two is safest, better than one I mean. With only one I tend to lose concentration. I did five once but things got a bit intense."
"Five is over-stretching things. And are your avatars always serpents?"
Harry considered Dumbledore before answering. "No, but snakes are easier and I can make them fly."
"That's because you can conjure a simple mind for them and give each a single clear objective," explained Dumbledore.
"I've managed a flaming lion a couple of times except it was quite small and could not fly. So far it just roars once and then evaporates. I've also tried conjuring solid animals, non flaming. I can do snakes okay and I did a dog once but they can't fly and don't follow instructions."
"That will take many years to get right. I suspect the solid animals you have conjured are not actually avatars at all. Have you tried animating objects? A suit of armour for instance?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"Er, yeah, I tried," said Harry with a small laugh. "I tried to apologise to Mr Filch but he just insisted it was Peeves again."
Dumbledore smiled momentarily but then his expression grew serious.
"I think you felt tonight how easy it would be to give in to the darker side of magic. I did not want to teach you these skills but you have acquired a beginning to this knowledge by yourself, as indeed did I. You will find it very difficult from now on not to resort to deadly responses when you are challenged. You must show restraint. The responsible thing now would be to practice and prefect these skills."
Harry nodded seriously. "The thing is, Professor, I'm pretty much at a dead end. I've not even let Hermione or Ron know about this and …"
"I understand," interrupted Dumbledore. "I will assist you so long as I believe you are being responsible. There will be serious consequences otherwise. I am going to ask Professor Snape to continue giving you additional defence lessons. You will not use an avatar against him no matter what the provocation."
"Yes Professor," promised Harry, and he knew he'd finish his next lesson in the Hospital Wing again.
"You should know, Harry, that I too once looked to the dark arts to fight what I thought was a righteous cause. I paid a terrible price to learn that in the end violence and cruelty just generates more violence and cruelty."
Harry nodded. He knew this was true.
"The trick with avatars, either animated objects or conjured spirits, is to maintain control when they go out of sight or any distance away. I found creating a maze of objects for them to navigate around helped quite a bit. It took many years before I felt I retained real control."
Dumbledore sighed heavily.
"You know? I didn't see any of this when I tried to read your mind. It was clearly a mistake not to have you watched," Dumbledore said smiling. "Do I dare ask what else have you been up to?"
"Well, nothing with much success," confessed Harry. "I have been trying to do some wand-less magic though. I've done it before a couple of times, without trying to, but I can't do it anymore."
Dumbledore stood and looked down at him. "There are wards within the castle that will be preventing any real progress. Try practising in the grounds and keep it simple. Start with short range summoning and repelling. Try without actually saying the incantations aloud and don't expect precise results. Later I'll show you how to perform simple transfiguration. Don't bother with wand-less conjuring, that takes years to learn.
"Very few witches or wizards ever achieve reliable results with wand-less magic but I believe you should consider asking Miss Granger to practise with you. I suspect she will be rather good at wand-less magic. I'll have to warn Hagrid though - I recall we lost quite a few trees when I started to learn!
"Well, I must go and see how Severus is doing. Good evening, Harry." And with that he left the room leaving Harry to consider how he was going to create a maze to practise in.