FicWad

A/N: This story is rated PG-13 for some violence and dramatic situations. Basically it goes along what might have happened should Harry had some outside help with the first task.

As Harry stepped from the tent and into the enclosure it was like the volume had been turned far up on a stereo. He could hear the roaring of the crowd and even some of the individual voices in it. He could distinguish the leering and booing of the Slytherins, the hateful remarks from a handful of Hufflepuffs and even the cheering from the Gryffindor section. Before the task had started he would have said that he expected nearly no one to be cheering for him from Hogwarts, at least not to succeed, but it seemed that now that the school knew what he would be facing, having already seen the other three champions battling their dragons, that some people were revising their opinions of the youngest champion. Either that or they really wanted to see Harry get roasted to a crisp by the Hungarian Horntail that was being led into the enclosure now.

Harry could feel the lead in his stomach, the uncomfortable numbness in his arms as he started to move towards the dragon. He knew that his plan was solid, had practiced the spells and the incantations for hours on end, but there was still a small nagging voice in the back of his head that seemed to be chanting that he was going to die. He had hoped that with all the training and the extra things that he had done over the last few weeks that he would feel more confident about heading into the first task, but now that he was here, he could feel all the old insecurities coming back towards him. Taking a deep breath he put one foot in front of the other and started to march headlong towards the dragon.

“Look at that, Potty’s not even going to try. Ten galleons says that he’s going to commit suicide.” Malfoy’s voice rang throughout the enclosure as if his ears were attuned specifically to him. A few Slytherins twittered at the remark and a few Gryffindors threw back some scathing replies, but still Harry trudged on.
When Harry was about fifteen feet from the dragon it seemed to finally notice him and rear its head. The jet of flame that the head produced lanced out and struck a bolder nearby, starting to melt it from the heat of the flame. Incidentally the flame had bypassed Harry, as if the dragon wasn’t actually aiming at him to begin with. The voice in Harry’s head told him that it was a warning shot, that the dragon could easily turn his body into mush if it so wanted. The dragon wasn’t going to risk getting away from the eggs unless it really had to and would therefore rely on the ranged attacks of the fire spout or the vicious looking tail should it come to that.

Harry ducked under one of the larger rocks and ran hunched over towards another one a little closer to the hulking behemoth. As he thought the dragon swiveled its head towards him and roared in indignation before blasting fire against the rock and nearly melting it into quartz. Briefly, Harry’s mind wandered to the idea of making diamonds using a dragon and a handful of coal before the heat from the other boulder started to get too much and he had to move again. He hunched over and hurried still closer, but the rocks were getting smaller the closer that he got towards the dragon’s nest; if he wasn’t careful he would be roasted quickly before he had time to pull off his spells and tricks.

Hunkered down behind the boulder as he was he started to wave his wand at a series of small pebbles near his feet. The transfiguration started to take hold as the pebbles seemed to melt into one another and then solidify to form a solid disc of glittering metal. Tentatively touching the disc to be sure that it was cooled enough to touch he smiled and picked it up, transfiguring another pebble into a kind of handle for the improvised shield that he was now holding. The metal shone brightly in the light of the sun and weighed nearly nothing as he hefted it up even though it was an inch thick and about three feet in diameter. Those in the stands that could see what he was doing were incredibly confused.

“Nothing can stand up to dragon’s fire, don’t know what he’s doing.” Hagrid mumbled as he hefted his binoculars to his eyes and scanned around the ground near Harry as if expecting him to do something else.

Ron huffed next to him and crossed his arms over his chest. “He’s just being stupid, acting the hero. I bet he doesn’t even have a plan.”

Hermione punched his arm so hard that the lanky red haired wizard actually fell sideways into Parvarti and Lavender. The two gossip queens didn’t take lightly to being roughed up by the boy and started to pelt him with punches to the stomach and chest, causing him to bruise rather quickly. Hermione looked on in first horror and then a small smirk played on her lips as she turned back to watch what Harry was going to do next, leaving her former friend to the mercies of her roommates. Harry had been very secretive about the entire affair after learning about what the task was going to be from Hagrid. She thought that maybe he was going to do something similar to Cedric with the dogs.

Down in the enclosure Harry was raising his shield in preparation for his next bit of magic. Taking a deep breath he stepped out from behind the safety of the boulder and raised the shield so that it covered his entire body from the view of the dragon. The dragon seemed to know that he was still there, moving around behind the sheet of metal and let out and awesome blast of heat from its mouth. The crowd gave a huge lurch and gasp as Harry simply stood where he was, trusting in the flimsy metal barrier between him and the dragon. Even the Slytherins had gone completely quiet from the revelation that Harry Potter could very well die from the dragon shooting flames at him just that moment.

The fire splashed across the shield and spread all around it starting to burn and smokes the ground at the base around the edges. Harry was still standing behind it, but he was grunting with the effort of holding it steady as well as the fact that he was moving forward with it still held before him. The metal got white hot in the center and started to spread outwards as the heat was incredible; there were many reasons why dragon fire was resistant to most spells and even the odd shield as it produced such heat and intensity that it melted even the stoutest rock. The shield however seemed to glow in the heat of the fire, but never wavered in the slightest; the metal still shone as bright as when Harry created it and it didn’t seem to be melting or bending under the intense heat.
The dragon seemed to know that the fire wasn’t doing any good as the small being before it was still moving forward even through the flames. The dragon hunched down its backend and dug the claws into the ground as it started to produce even hotter and higher flames than had been seen before from the breed. The flames were almost completely white now, loosing the red and orange hues towards the edges. The shield was still holding for the most part, but the flames started to lick around the edges and scorch the ground where Harry moved. He was so close now that in a moment his entire body seemed to be engulfed in the flames as they had wrapped around him completely obscuring him from view.
The crowd and the judges were now on their feet and there was near silence around the enclosure. It looked as if the dragon handlers were going to have to be called in to get the young champion out of harm’s way and possibly only come out with a smoking corpse of the former Boy-Who-Lived. It was a heart stopping few seconds before the dragon fire seemed to dissipate almost on its own and the Hungarian Horntail stared down at the gleaming thing that now stood before it. The dragon wasn’t the only one who was staring in astonishment at where Harry Potter had once stood. It took a few more seconds, but finally one of the muggleborns in the audience actually laughed hysterically for a moment and then seemed to jump up and down in his seat.
Where Harry Potter once stood was now a gleaming figure in red and gold metal armor from head to foot. He looked much like a knight of old, except this armor looked more functional and had the ability to really move around in. It was at least six feet tall with red arms bulging with muscles and golden legs. The feet looked flat and seemed to be pointed towards the dragon as it stood its ground. The head was rounded with small eye slits that seemed to glow from the inside; a triangle set into the chest glowed with a similar unearthly light. Both slits glowed with a golden blue light that shone out and illuminated some of the ground around the dragon and before it. The hulking figure took a step forward towards the dragon and the dragon roared. The figure paused and then dropped both hands to the ground as a white hot light erupted from the flat of the feet and the palms of the hands, pushing against the ground as it pushed the figure into the air.
The audience stared bewildered as the figure hovered in the air without the aid of a broom, just the propulsion and the loud thrumming noise that came from the feet. It hovered for a moment just out of reach of the dragon. The dragon shot flames at it, but the figure would push out his hands and move in one direction or the other, artfully evading the fire being spat at it. It only took a moment before the dragon was enraged by the fact that it couldn’t get to the small gleaming red man and started to unfurl the long leathery wings attached to its back. The wings beat feebly at the ground for a few moments before the hulk of the dragon took to the skies and bellowed louder than ever about getting up off the ground.
The figure ducked and dodged this way and that as the dragon belted out more fire in random directions hoping to hit it. The large wings were beating heavily down against the ground kicking up a serious wind that threatened to press the audience backwards into their seats. Once the dragon was fully airborne the figure turned quickly in midair and blasted away from the enclosure and then stopped about a hundred yards away from it, well over the Forbidden Forest. The dragon, now blinded by the fact that it couldn’t get at the figure took off after it and started a low sweeping dive towards it, the burst of flame starting to roast the top several feet off of the trees. The figure dodged the flames and then shot off towards a small clearing where a group of acromantula had gathered to watch the battle in the air.
The dragon seemed to loose interest in the figure as they got closer to the large spiders and took the time to swoop down and take a snap at one of them. The spiders, while scared of the massive reptile still shot web and venom towards it; missing spectacularly, but still giving as good as they could. The figure hovered just out of reach for a moment while he seemed to be watching the battle between the spiders and the large dragon. The Hungarian Horntail gave a loud bellow as it turned gracefully in the air and then swooped down towards the clearing once more. More spiders had now started to come out of the trees, but several were roasted by the fire from the mouth of the dragon as she did a strafing run against them. The spiders screamed in agony as their fellows were burning and rushing around attempting to quell the flames that had now started to crop up around the clearing.
The armored figure was hovering about fifty feet away from the clearing and about fifteen feet above the ground, brushing the top of the trees with the powered boots. It moved left and right and then up and down, and back and forth. The arms were making most of the movement in the three dimensional space that it occupied for more than a minute. In that time the spiders and dragon seemed to have nominally came to a standstill only when the dragon had carted off one of the car sized spiders and started to rip the legs off before settling down near the enclosure for a good meal, the eggs in the nest nearly forgotten for the time being. The Horntail had turned and dove spectacularly, except for the fact that the spiked tail had come up when it nosed down. The figure got the brunt of the impact and went spinning wildly away, but seemed to be completely undamaged. When the Horntail was out of the enclosure now and snaking down on the carcass of the spider the figure swooped down out of the sky and grabbed the golden egg from the nest quite easily.
The figure hovered a few feet above the exit to the enclosure and then dropped down the last few feet into a crouch. The golden egg was cradled under an armored arm and seemed perfectly safe even with the hectic flying that had taken it from the nest and to the ground. The figure stood straight up for a moment and then seemed to shake its head slightly. Reaching out the left arm it seemed to split into four distinct sections, peeling upwards and then backwards to reveal a real human arm beneath it. At the same time the other arm was doing the same, peeling away with the boots splitting along a seam and leaning towards the front. A click and whirling noise accompanied the helmet sliding upwards and then back, seeming to disappear into itself as it did, revealing Harry Potter’s smiling face.
Throughout the entire escapade the crowd had remained relatively silent. There were the obligatory gasps and shrieks when the dragon had moved up into the air and the possibility that it might actually come after the audience, but then it was silenced a moment later from the acrobatics of the armored figure. Finally there was a loud shriek when the spiked tail had slammed the figure away in the air, but then it had come right back from the lethal hit of the spikes. Now the volume had been turned back up and the crowd was both cheering and booing at the same time. A few muggle raised, pestered by the Creevy brothers, had started a two word chant that did not contain the words Harry or Potter in them.
The armor had peeled back away from his body enough where he could actually retract his arms from the large folds of the armor. The chest plate slid to the side and then clamped upwards into itself towards the helmet until the glowing triangle was near the chin somewhere. He wiggled himself free of the armor and slowly extracted his feet before hopping down to the ground next to the egg. Turning he touched the glowing triangle and the entire suit started to close itself back up again so that the seams were no longer visible.

“Mister Stark?” Harry touched his finger to his ear where a small piece of plastic was now protruding down towards his collar. Most of the crowd was too busy cheering to really notice what he was up to now that the task was over. “Yes, sir, it worked like a dream. Took a hit there at the end, but the suit absorbed it rather well. Yes, sir, I understand. Sending her back to you now.” He reached up and touched the glowing triangle and then stepped backwards a few feet, snatching up the golden egg as he moved.
The crowd from the stands had started to surge around him, some looked rather angry and others were incredibly awed by the suit of armor that was still standing as if a silent sentry. Hermione had claw marks down her eyes and along her cheeks that looks like they might burst open and bleed at any moment. Ron was coming up behind her being supported by Dean and Seamus; the two boys had smug looks on their faces while Ron’s face was covered in bruises and had at least one developing black eye. The students however were nothing compared to the dragon handlers that had immediately vacated the enclosure and headed off to where the Horntail was now trying to rip and lick as many bits of spider it could off the front claws of its feet.
Harry cradled the egg in his hands as the suit of armor started to hover again. The blasting humming sound of the feet engaging brought up the crowd short as they all stared in amazement. The suit seemed to be lifting off on its own accord and then started to drift a little towards the left before the arm shot out and gave a blast from the glove to stabilize itself. In a few moments the armor had lifted clear of the enclosure and was headed almost straight up until it was little more than a small pinprick in the far distance. Harry chuckled as he turned towards the waiting crowd and tossed the golden egg in the air letting it spin before he caught it.

“So, what do you think my score will be?” He chuckled more when Hermione had rushed forward to simultaneously hug him to death and berate him for an obviously very dangerous stunt that he had done.

“Mister Potter?” McGonagall had started towards him, holding the shield of metal against her chest almost as if she were going to go against a dragon herself. When she was close enough to the still hugging pair, Hermione jumped back a little with a slight flush to her cheeks. McGonagall held out the metal disc towards the boy with a small smirk playing on her lips. “I see that your transfiguration has greatly improved since you asked me about the creation of certain elements.”

Harry smirked openly as he accepted the disc back from the deputy Head and gave a small inclination of his head. “Your insight was incredibly valuable to me in both the first and second part of my plan.”

“Yes, Mister Potter, we are all interested to know what exactly that was.” Dumbledore and the other judges had come up behind McGonagall while she had been speaking and most of them looked rather put out by his display. “Am I given to understand that you made that….thing?”

“Of course he didn’t make it, Dumbledore.” Karkaroff was snarling as he twisted his goatee around his fingers a little more furiously than he would have normally done. “He cheated, plain and simple. I suspect that it’s the same way in which he was able to get around the rules of the Goblet of Fire.”

Harry shook his head as a few others were giving him dark looks now with the revelation that he could have easily cheated to get the suit of armor. He tossed the disc of metal towards the irritated Durmstrang Headmaster and let the man feel it over. “You saw me transfigure that from the pebbles everywhere around your feet. Can you honestly say that I somehow cheated in doing that?”

Dumbledore had taken the disc from the numb fingers of the man next to him and was running his hand over the cool and smooth metal. There didn’t seem to be any damage from the heat of the dragon fire or indeed any indication that it had been heated to several thousand degrees only a few minutes before. “I believe it was not this part of your plan that has many of us concerned, but your usage of…” He waved vaguely in the air towards where the suit of armor had disappeared.

Instead of answering the men before him, Harry had turned towards McGonagall and was smiling more openly now. “Professor, if you would be as inclined to explain to me if you can conjure up food or anything of serious substance that is to be eaten?”

Hermione looked like she was going to berate Harry for ignoring the Headmaster, but her innate urge for knowledge prevented her from doing so. The Professor looked slightly putout at being put on the spot, but straightened herself up to the challenge. “You cannot actually conjure anything of substance if you are serious about consuming the material for more than the purpose of looking like you’re eating it. If you were to do so, the magic inherit in the conjuration would simply fall apart in your body and not actually give you any real nutrition.”

Harry nodded and held up a hand because a few people were starting to voice their anger at him having cheated once more. He wanted to say something about the fact that their opinions seemed to be coming from outside and not within themselves, but he kept his mouth closed on that fact. “Professor, I have seen people make food out of thin air and seemingly eat it without serious repercussions, indeed the food that we all here at Hogwarts are fed with seem to come from nothing when Professor Dumbledore waves his wand.”

This had caused a few people to fall quiet and turn towards McGonagall for an answer, which she was glad to provide. “As for the Hogwarts food, the kitchens make it and then are sent up at a specific signal from the Headmaster. It is more a translocation than a simple conjuration. As for the others it would be much the same, drawing the food or drink from somewhere else to the place where it is needed.” Her eyes clouded for a moment before a small smirk played at the edges of her lips. “You used a dual transfiguration then, didn’t you?”

Harry did a small sweeping bow with the golden egg before spinning it again and throwing it in the air to catch it easily. “Very good, Professor. The shield was only so that I could get close enough to the dragon and to keep it occupied so that the armor would be ready to go. Once I was sure that it was ready, I had it translocated, or summoned from a specific place that had been prepared beforehand. By the by the armor was also constructed of a similar type of metal so I didn’t have to worry about getting roasted.” He pointed at the metal disc that the Headmaster was still clutching and inspecting.

Percy was huffing next to the judges, but held his tongue until now. “You’re telling me that you had someone else construct that….that….thing. What magic made it fly like that?”

One of the Creevy brothers was bouncing up and down slightly near the edge of the crowd and couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut when this was brought up. “Harry didn’t make it; Tony Stark did for the fighting of evil doers around the world. I’m surprised it’s even real, let alone that he let you borrow it, Harry.”

Harry smirked at the angry looks from Percy and Karkaroff as he replied. “Mister Stark was nice enough to let me borrow his prototype when I told him that I could put it through a serious test of the systems.”

Hermione’s hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. “Harry, you exposed us all to Stark Industries, that’s a muggle company.”

Harry waved his hands to settle those that had started to twitter about the fact that Harry had told someone about the magical world from the muggle one. “He already knew all about it. There are quite a few magic users that are associated with the muggle world and there wasn’t anything to really tell. Because of magic users like Doctor Strange, Doctor Fate, and even the various villains there was no reason to expose us to him. I was rather surprised thought that he knew who I was when I contacted him and about the circumstances of the tournament.”

Percy still wasn’t buying the whole story though and had his arms crossed over his chest. “You’re telling us, that some muggle learned how to fly without magic, preposterous.”

Harry shook his head as he started to make his way towards the exit. He called over his shoulder when he was a little ways away. “Percy, muggles have been in the air for almost a century, even space and you’re worried about a single flying suit of armor.” He shook his head at the bewildered and rather frightened looks from some of the purebloods in the crowd before he pushed his way through them towards the medical tent. He wasn’t injured from his journey, but he did want to check in on the others.
Hermione had tagged along with him and was looking both apprehensive and rather put out that he had used muggles to help in the task. She wasn’t berating him about it though as she was thinking about the implications of using the technology that he had demonstrated, and the fact that it could be used so near Hogwarts. Her brilliant mind was already at work developing other such things that could be used in the magical world, and she didn’t really notice that they had entered the medical tent and moved towards where Madam Pomfrey was applying an orange paste to the side of Cedric’s face.

“Didn’t hear much of the commentary on your attempt, Harry, how’d it go?” Cedric was trying to twist away from the matron, but she was having none of that.

“If you don’t hold still, Mister Diggory, I’ll have to restrain you, maybe even have you stunned while I work on you.” She finished her work and looked up. “Potter, what are you doing here, are you already done?”

Harry chuckled and tossed the egg in the air again as he let it drop and caught it when it was level with his stomach. “Didn’t even get a scratch.”

Cedric chuckled a little as Fleur gave a rather impatient huff and crossed her arms over her chest. “’ow did a whittle ‘oy not even get scratched?”

Harry struck a dynamic hero pose that got a giggle from Hermione and another chuckle from Cedic. “Because I’m…..Harry Potter!” He said it with such conviction and held the pose for several seconds before dissolving into laughter. “Seriously though, I made myself a suit of impenetrable armor and was able to get my hands on the egg rather quickly.”

Hermione seemed to be broken out of her internal debate about all the implications that the suit of armor could mean. “Honestly, Harry, you didn’t make it, you just brought it here to use it.” She smiled lightly at Cedric and Fleur. “You both did incredible; I was really impressed with the spell work.”

Cedric gave her a small smile while Fleur simply huffed and crossed her arms over her chest again. “Thanks, Hermione. Coming from probably the smartest girl in your year, that means a lot.” The smile that he favored Hermione with caused her to flush a little in embarrassment.

Hermione seemed to come out of her embarrassment a moment later. “Harry, I have a few questions about that armor that you used.” He nodded to indicate that she should continue. He had moved over to one of the unoccupied beds and was perched on the edge of it; Madam Pomfrey would undoubtedly want to inspect him no matter what he said on the matter. “Everyone knows that muggle electronics don’t work in highly magical areas like Hogwarts. It’s obvious to me at least that it was electronic with all the work that you seemed to be able to do with it.”

Cedric and Fleur were looking even more interested, although the veela was pretending that she wasn’t as interested as she was. “Ah, that’s the rub, Hermione. Who tells us that muggle electronics don’t work around Hogwarts?” He waited a span of a heartbeat before he continued. “As I just proved with Percy, most of the magical world has no clue how far the muggle one has come, so saying that things don’t work in highly magical areas that they have no idea how things work in the first place. Plus, we’ve seen Mister Weasley working with a few things in that work shed of his.”

Hermione was nodding, but Cedric spoke up making it known that he was indeed listening in. “I have had some muggle born friends in Hufflepuff complain about just that fact though, Harry. They would bring something from home that they used all the time, but it won’t work around Hogwarts.”

“There are a few explanations that I can come up with for that phenomenon. The first is if the device is powered by a conventional battery. The magical field around Hogwarts, more specifically the wards, seems to drain the energy out of batteries rather quickly. Probably something to do with the free energy ions floating around, or something, but I’m not the one to ask about that.” He waved off Hermione’s questioning looks or Fleur’s look of complete confusion. “The suit has an isolated power source generated from a degraded isotope much like a nuclear power plant, not a conventional dry battery.”

While the others didn’t seem to understand the implications of this, Hermione’s eyes grew the size of dinner plates. “Are you telling me that thing could have meltdown? A blast that size could have leveled Hogwarts and Hogsmeade as well as irradiating this area for thousands of years to come.”

Harry waved off the concerns while the others were white as a sheet. “It’s not that type of isotope, Hermione. The containment systems within the suit make sure that something like that is never going to happen. Sure, it might blow up, but it wouldn’t go nuclear. No, getting back to the point though, the suit is insolated against electromagnetic pulses as well as the power source being slightly different. The metal that makes up most of the outer skin can utilize much of the radiation put out by the Hogwarts wards.”

By now Madam Pomfrey had hustled over and was running her wand over Harry’s body slowly as if he were made of glass. The others didn’t seem to pay her any mind, however as Cedric spoke up from his bed. “If that’s true, Harry then other things could work just as well within Hogwarts wards. You could create an entire line of muggle electronics that would work not only within the wards, but seemingly because of them.”

Harry winced a little as Madam Pomfrey was poking into his side with her wand. “Possibly, but the amount of metal that the suit was made out of would cost a fortune….it did actually. To make a CD player or something similar out of the material would interfere with the normal function…” Pomfrey gave a rather enthusiastic poke to a sore muscle and he yelped lightly in pain. “Eh gads woman, are you trying to hurt me more just so that I’ll stay?”

Pomfrey narrowed her eyes at him. “If it’ll make you stay until you’re completely healed, perhaps I should take a page out of Professor Lockhart’s book.”

Harry blanched and then batted his eyes at her while tilting his head to the side a little. “Aww…you’re just sweet on me is all. If you wanted me to be your test subject you could have just asked.”

Hermione was attempting to keep in her giggles as she coughed a few times into her hand. “Harry, you said that there were a few explanations about electronics not working in Hogwarts, but you only gave one.”

Harry broke off his staring contest with the matron and let her get back to poking him in the shin with her wand now. “The free ion theory is the best out there that at least I’ve heard. The others involve some sophisticated magic that wouldn’t make much sense.” Hermione glared at him so he sighed and nodded. “All right. The wards around Hogwarts are supposed to protect us from just about all forms of energy and magic that is supposed to be possible. Magic is just a form of energy that is utilized in our bodies.”

Fleur was the first to protest as she was shaking her head. “Non, non. I ‘annot believe ‘hat you have degraded our ‘onderful gift to simple energy.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

Harry shrugged. “It is what it is though. When you’re magically exhausted you’re physically tired. I know that from experience.” He waved to the matron as she was now poking him in the left shoulder with her wand. At the looks from the other three she nodded and rolled her eyes. “So that means that the body produces the energy required to make magic and that there has to be some sort of connection between our metabolized energy and that energy we’re using for our magical core.”

Hermione had a thoughtful look as she stared up at the ceiling. “If that were true, though, Harry then Ronald would be the most powerful wizard alive.”

Harry chuckled. “You’ve seen how he eats then, haven’t you?” Both Fleur and Cedric gave disgusted looks before nodding. “The problem with that idea is that it’s also dependent on the amount of energy being burned. The way I see it, Magic is just like a muscle within our bodies as well. When you work your body to near exhaustion then you’re building yourself up to work harder the next time.”

Pomfrey had decided to get in on the discussion at this point as she had failed to find anything wrong with Harry at the moment. “Mister Potter, I have seen many cases of magical exhaustion and I can tell you that most of the time the students do not somehow become more powerful afterwards.”

Hermione shook her head at this one and Harry gave her a nod to continue the explanation. “They wouldn’t. If what Harry is saying is true then they would really need to work on improving themselves before they saw any real change in their magic.” She was rubbing her forehead a little. “It’s like walking around with weights on your ankles, you wouldn’t notice any change at first, but once you removed the weights you would find that you’ve gained more power in those muscles.”

Cedric held up his hands to stop the discourse going on around him. “All right, I’ll be the first to say that working your muscles helps to improve your body overall. I’m sure that we’ve all had some experience since we do play Quidditch.” He gave a look to Fleur who nodded slowly along with Harry. “We’re getting off topic though, how does energy in our body relate to the usage of muggle electronics in Hogwarts?”

Harry smiled as he closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest. The others thought he might had fallen asleep had he not still been sitting up. Finally he spoke. “The wards protect the school from all types of magical usage within and outside the ward lines. If that’s the case then….”

Hermione gave a gasp and her hand flew to her mouth. “If magic can be considered a form of energy then the wards would reflect and destroy any foreign energy within the wards. That means that because a battery is a form of energy…and a foreign source of energy…”

“Then the wards would prevent it from working.” Cedric finished the explanation as he was nodding. “But that doesn’t really make sense though as the modern muggle electronics weren’t around when the founders first set the wards.”

“If what you’re assuming is true…” The matron was tapping her chin in thought as she sat on the end of Harry’s bed facing the other three. “….then the wards are designed to negate or reflect foreign or negative energies. It’s possible that there was an issue with magic attracting lightning and a ward was built for such a possibility.”

“And because electricity was discovered more or less on accident with an experiment in lightning than it would hold that a lightning deflector would work on modern batteries.” Harry waved his hand a little in the air. “It’s equally possible that the founders simply blocked all unknown forms of energy like we were talking about earlier. If that’s the case than to make muggle electronics work at Hogwarts would be a simple manner of altering the wards around the castle.”

“Or find a way to insulate the item that you’re looking to use within the ward.” Hermione’s eyes were already shining with the possibilities. “I have heard that military grade equipment is supposed to be shielded from all sorts of forms of radiation and outside influence so that they’re reliable in all sorts of terrain and environments.”