Chapter 3: Fourth Year Begins!
Disclaimer: JK Rowling and those she has sold rights to own Harry Potter. I am doing this for fun and neitherexpectnor will accept profit.
On the train to Hogwarts, Hermione quizzed him on arithmancy and runes. Ron watched them out of the corner of his eye, seeming suspicious that someone had abducted Harry and replaced him with an imposter. Harry just shook his head and tried to focus. He'd made great headway, but learning a year's worth of material over a month was enormously difficult. He hoped he could just pass the test and Hermione assured him she would help him extensively during the year until he caught up.
The sorting was over, the tournament was announced, Professor Moody arrived, ending the welcoming feast. Harry and Hermione walked with everyone to the common room, as usual, but once inside, seemed reluctant to part. Harry wasn't sure what the protocol was, but he knew what he wanted. He walked with her to the girl's dorm stairs and gave her a quick kiss goodnight. He heard giggling from the other girls and was embarrassed, but it was worth it for the look of affection he got from Hermione. He hurried over to the boy's stairs and went up to bed.
The second night in the castle, there was a note at Harry's place at dinner to summon him to Dumbledore's office after dinner. He shared it with Hermione.
"Want to come with?"
"He didn't invite me." She replied, not sounding upset, but not wanting to break the rules.
"Maybe he just didn't think about it. I think you should come with me."
Together, they went to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle opened at their approach, having been alerted to let them in.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, welcome!"
"Professor Dumbledore, I know I wasn't invited, but Harry wanted me to come along."
"Right he was. I didn't even think about it. Did he mention our independent lessons last year?"
"Yes, he told me about what you said. He said he hadn't been summoned back since then."
"No, that first lesson needed time. I think from here on they'll be more frequent and I'm glad you came. In case I forget in the future, I want you to know a summons for one is a summons for both. We'll start by talking about the soul bond, since that becomes pertinent to the rest. Miss Granger, what did you learn?"
Hermione summarized her research. She briefly mentioned their experiment in the tent, although not the embarrassing feelings which resulted.
"Ah, excellent! Let me show you something."
He already had a mirror positioned and cast auramens. They could see their current auras. He then recited a length incantation and they could see their current auras with a ghostly superimposed snapshot of the previous state. With the two superimposed, they could easily see both of their auras were brighters, Harry's was significantly narrower to his body, there was more evidence of the others' color, and the cord was much wider.
"You see the progression? I have done research and I have some theories. First, I agree there are a lot of romantic misconceptions about soul bonds, but I want you to understand all the romantic notions are not without basis. No, there is no law that you're automatically married. How shocking would it be for a family to suddenly marry two children on the basis of a magical event? However, there are laws that pertain. In summary, they state that to interfere with a soul bond is a serious crime, similar to any other mental assault. Further, you're each allowed to be wherever the other is allowed. Nobody is allowed to forcibly separate you, because over time that could be unhealthy to your mental well-being."
"Magically there are implications. Some of them are excellent examples of what I was going to teach Harry anyway, so I welcome the opportunity. Did either of you take much muggle science before you left school?"
They both nodded, as it was part of the core curriculum. Dumbledore removed a drape over a glass mechanism. There were two chambers separated by a glass plate. One chamber was almost full of water. The other was half full. There was a tube connecting the two at the bottom and a small gate, currently closed.
"So, what happens when I open the gate?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"The two will equalize, the side with more water draining into the side with less water until they're even." Hermione answered, continuing in her eager scholarly way, "Due to gravity and the force of air pressure, I believe."
The professor opened the gate and that's exactly what happened. He then waved his wand and transfigured the machine into another, with two round flasks connected with a glowing filament. One flask was brightly full of golden energy, the other almost empty with a barely visible glow.
"This is a very similar mechanism, except instead of water, it's filled with magic. Do you know what will happen when I unblock this magical conduit of wand core grade unicorn hair?"
Both shook their head.
"Wonderful! Do you see how odd it is that you both immediately know what will happen to water, but have no idea what will happen to magic? Muggle science is progressing rapidly, where wizards are getting lazy. Let me know you what will happen."
He touched his wand to the filament and the dimmer side brightened until it was as bright as the other.
"See? The lesson is that, 'magic calls to magic, magic fuels magic'. I assure you, the side with more magic was lessened not at all. It may have brightened very slightly, in fact, as the other side contributed a little power. This is the reason children are educated at boarding schools such as Hogwarts. By putting all these wizarding children together, their magic is exposed to one another. The more powerful somehow stimulate the less powerful to grow stronger, while the more powerful are still stimulated themselves. Researchers at the ministry have told me they estimate students at Hogwarts have a core magical strength 20% more than they would if they didn't attend. That's the only reason pure-blooded families will tolerate their children being exposed to ideas they don't approve of - because if they don't, their children will lose potential power. They ensure they do extensive indoctrination on the holidays, hoping to offset the values we teach during the year.
Why does this happen? I am widely read. Have you heard of Charles Darwin?"
Hermione nodded. Harry thought it was familiar, but wasn't sure of the context.
"He was a muggle scientist who is known for a theory of evolution. I suspect that wizarding children exposed to other wizarding children develop more magic in competition. However, that's merely my theory, but it is essentially the same as was believed by the founders. They created houses to put the students they valued most together, hoping to stimulate them together, to make their students the strongest. Meanwhile, the houses have somewhat of a rivalry, further stimulating the magic, as it recognizes a weak threat it needs to respond to.
Another fact about magic, is that 'an empty vessel grows larger'. This will seemingly contradict the former fact, which is part of what I love about magic, it doesn't always follow rules of reason and logic. While the presence of magic stimulates magic, in a wizard or witch, the use of magic increases the potential for more. This is analogous to building muscle through exercise, except that there is no danger of overtraining unless you completely burn out the ability to use magic. So a wizard who uses all the magic they can hold will regenerate their magic and will find they hold slightly more than they had."
Harry and Hermione sat listening, realizing they were learning theories of magic that they wouldn't have begun to address in class.
"How does this apply to you two? Well, I hope you've realized how much you're like the two flasks of magic, connected by the filament. Harry was born with an unusually high potential for magic power. It may have been one small part of what allowed him to survive the killing curse. This doesn't make him a better wizard, but if he has trained as much as another wizard with less power, he'll have more power to feed into a spell. It's why he could drive away nearly a hundred Dementors. Now that you're connected by the soul bond, I expect you'll come up to his level of power and both of you will stabilize slightly higher than he would have without the bond. His magic will stimulate yours to match and yours will stimulate his in the process. Both of you will gain more than the 20% theoretical, because that benefit is only for being in as close physical proximity as the castle puts the average student. Your proximity for the purpose of magic is effectively infinite, so you'll stimulate each other much more. The more magic you push through the bond, the more that stimulation."
The couple exchanged a look, slightly overwhelmed.
"Meanwhile, using as much magic daily as possible will help stimulate your potential even more. In order to facilitate this, I'm going to teach you a spell to push magic power into the Hogwart's wards. You'll help build the wards stronger while also draining your power nightly. Interestingly, we barely touch on wand lore here, but as an aside, the more power that goes through your wand, the stronger your wand grows. If you somehow were to travel back in time and try to use your first year wand with your adult magic, you might burn out the wand core. So adding power to the wards through your wand will ensure your wand core is strengthened to withstand any power you may put through it in the future."
"Finally," Dumbledore added, "It's not just magic that will cross your bond. Emotions, thoughts, and even talents will cross the bond. Some people think these are other forms of magic, after all, like your intellect Miss Granger, your flying ability, Mr. Potter, or Mr. Weasley's strategic talents. In this case, since you complement each other so thoroughly, like magic I expect you'll come up to the other's level. Miss Granger, I suspect you'll find yourself casting faster and more confidently. You may notice your reflexes improving. You may find you enjoy flying more than you once did. Mr. Potter, I saw the results of your grades on the pre-test for arithmancy and runes. Much of that, perhaps most of that is due to Miss Granger's influence and tutoring, but I rather suspect some of it is due to the influence of the bond.
I've given you much to think about. I hope you will think on it thoroughly before our next meeting."
Professor Dumbledore taught them the spell to feed magic energy directly into the castle wards and dismissed them.
Back in the common room, they found themselves alone, discussing what they'd learned.
"This is so much to take in. I'm going to have as much magical power as Harry Potter?" Hermione whispered.
"You? What about me? I'm going to somehow gain access to the intellect of the smartest witch of her age? How will the world deal with two of us?"
"Harry!" Hermione elbowed him, but seemed pleased at the compliment, "What about the magic flowing through the bond, stimulating our potential?"
"I heard that, too. You know what it feels like, though." Harry said, trailing off, embarrassed.
Hermione was the daughter of two dentists. She put on a mask of clinical detachment to say, "Yes, Harry, I know what it felt like. It feels…sexual. I think that much energy going through our nervous systems, maybe combined with the fact of how we feel about each other. Normally, I would say we're too young to cause that kind of feeling in each other, at least in this stage of our relationship, but if it builds our magical potential, how can we not? You're going to need all your strength to face Voldemort!"
"Ok, do you want to try that for as long as we can stand it, then feed whatever energy we have to the wards so we wake up recharged?"
They faced each other on the couch. Now, with the common room empty, they had more privacy than they'd had in the tent, so Hermione sat on his lap, facing him. They held hands and kissed to get maximum contact. Then they started pushing magic power through the bond. Having done it previously and being closer, they were able to pick up the bond instantly and increase the power quickly. The fizzing, sparking feeling quickly spread to the dull heat in the pit of his stomach and he knew she felt the same. Each of them was breathing heavily and their hearts beating like they were running. Harry reacted physically and knew Hermione could feel it, sitting on his lap. He felt through the bond that he didn't need to be embarrassed; otherwise he probably would have jumped up. They kept it going as long as they could, before Harry finally broke it off. Hermione rested her head on his shoulder, her bushy brown hair surrounding his face, as their breath finally came down to normal.
"Why did you stop?" she asked, suspecting the answer, but wanting to be sure.
"Ummm…I was about to make a mess and I didn't think we wanted to take it that far."
"Oh. You mean you almost finished?" she whispered flushing.
"Yes."
"I almost stopped when I felt something similar, but didn't. Three times." She whispered with a little grin. "Goodnight." She gave him a fairly innocent goodnight kiss, except with what she'd said it was anything but innocent, and went to bed.
That night they both drained almost their entire magical reserve into the Hogwarts' wards. Harry didn't think he could power a lumos spell when he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. He awoke in the morning feeling refreshed, recharged, and his power felt normal.
Each day was similar. They studied intensely, quickly catching Harry up in arithmancy and runes. Harry, Hermione, and Ron dueled in an empty defense classroom they'd gotten permission to use. Then in the evening, Harry and Hermione would find someplace private to practice with their bond. They found it became easier and easier to push more and more magic through the bond, although the physical reaction never seemed to dull.
A few weeks after classes started, they quietly celebrated Hermione's birthday. Ron didn't notice, but he never seemed to. Harry remembered and that's all that mattered.
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A/N: I'm going to slow down on posting chapters, now, to give myself more time to edit what I've written, but I wanted to get a little bit posted to show where I'm going. Right now I have written through the second event.
Please read and review. Since this is my first story, I'm very likely to take reviews into account on improving readability.
My main worry is that I tend to summarize. Especially with Hermione's character, I'm afraid I'm not going into enough depth. Since I probably like her even more than I like Harry, I don't want to do that.