Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Harry Potter and the Emerald Coven
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HARRY POTTER AND THE EMERALD COVEN
PART TWO: THE VOICE OF REASON
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Chapter 14: The Path of Failure
I once read a book that said the difference between logic and reason had not always been a discrete one. Douglas Hofstadter wrote that logic is done inside a system, while reason is done outside the system.
After several month of research it had become clear to me, that every single Witch and Wizard currently publishing and creating new magic used solely reason to deride their results.
In fact I had spent so much time researching existing magics in the five and a half years I've known about the Magical world that I never really put any time at all into the methods of discover and creation of said magic. After all, the tests usually only required you to know who invented the spell and why, occasionally with a mention of spells being modified from pre-existing ones. All in all, I usually spent my free time keeping up to date with natural history, science, and mathematics, otherwise I would never be able to enter university after Hogwarts.
Once I became interested however, I was quite disappointed to find that there weren't very many books on the creation of new magic. It turned out there was a very competitive Master/Apprentice system in place for the so called "deep" magics like wand lore and enchanting. Something with knowledges only being passed down through familiar lines. Yet another way being pure-blooded was favorable, damn bigots.
Transfiguration Today turned out to be pure rot. I had ordered a number of back copies from the latest issue. It was a quarterly (or nearly, sometimes there were three for a year or five, in 1847 there had been eleven under the Editorship of Lawson Mealbe who was famous for being fired at the end of his first year as Editor for obvious reasons) so there weren't that many, and all the most famous articles were reprinted in collected books. I read Dumbledore's two lauded and oft quoted pieces first, but they turned out to be mostly philosophical, and a bit cautionary, warning not to delve too deeply into so called "small" transfiguration; which I knew as chemistry, and I'm sure the only reason it was mysterious and dangerous was because Magicals didn't have microscopes and didn't understand chemical bonding.
Potions comes closer, but it's ever so simplified. Potions theory was fifty percent rote memorization of thousands of reaction-al ingredients (runespore shavings combined with pickled newt creates a sense of euphoria, pickled newt combined with grumlock droppings eases aggression, runespore shaving and pickled newt have no reaction allowing them to be used in the same potion with out affecting it, and pickled newt is affected by temperature while the other ingredients are not so you can affect the strength of potion by heat, increased heat adding to the potency of pickled newt, while three left stirs has an Arithmantic lessening of the poisonous element of grumlock droppings and viola! You have a calming drought. Though I am loath to include anything from Harry's thrice damned Potions textbook, the tip that runespore shavings are more effective if shaved from tip to base is actually quite effective.) The other half of Potions is mostly Herbology, knowing how to gain the most effective parts of Magical flora and fauna. Honestly, anyone who can memorize all forty-seven thousand two hundred eighty six combinations, fourteen thousand three hundred and six stirring responses, and twelve hundred heat variables could conceivably make a potion for anything ever. For my part I'm only about ten percent through the memorization, but I have time, I'm only seventeen and don't expect to even begin my attempt at a Potion's Master until I'm in my late twenties.
I'm getting off track.
The latest issue of Transfiguration Today had a ridiculous article. Melinda Views had written a "thesis" (and I use the term lightly) about wand movement alterations for the standard colour changing spell, allowing for people who were blind to correctly use the spell, no longer requiring the caster to focus on the colour they wanted.
In not one sentence of the article did Views mention research, experimentation, or even what gave her the leap to her conclusion. At first I thought VIews was just a terrible researcher, but it turned out her methods were actually par for the course, and if they weren't, then no one was telling anyone else, and that was just plain frustrating.
I mean, what is the point of knowledge if you're just going to hoard it?
I'm currently distracting myself however, this is something I've been working through for months, and I've used my allotted research time for today, and I've done all my homework, and unless I want to take my hour of free-time to have some fun now, I need to deal with the two letters I received today.
One from Harry, and the other from Gabrielle, the problem being that I don't thing Harry knows Gabrielle is writing to me, which very much goes against the impression I had of how their bond works.
Harry's letter was his usual brief missive, more or less a list of facts. I had tried to inspire him with my own letters in the past, filled with observations and personal thoughts, but he either didn't care, or wasn't aware of the differences between our letter writing abilities.
Still, there was a lot of good to be said for Harry Potter.
A lot of good indeed.
I was again temped to skip straight to free time, but really, work before pleasure and all that.
Gabrielle's letter was troubling, but not in an overt way, she clearly wasn't dangerous or anything like that, and I could tell she would rather die than ever hurt Harry, but still, something niggled at the back of my thoughts while reading it.
I'm still not sure why my alert was being hit, Gabrielle had after all made a real attempt to be friends with me, whether for her own sake or Harry's I'm not sure, but either way we had bonded with mutual tutoring. I helped her with Defense Agains the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Transfiguration, and she tutored me in French and even showed me a thing or two about Charms, and some VERY advanced Arithmancy.
I re-read the letter and resisted the urge to correct her English with my wand.
Dear Hermione
How are you doing how is your winter break progressing so far? I hope you are having fun and are not too lonly without Harry! I know how adictive he can be and how much fun you two have together. Really I just like knowing how much joy he brings you. It is a wonderful thing no? To know youre mate brings such joy to the world. ;)
That is why I am writing to you see? You are importent to Harry and Harry is importent to me so that means you are importent to me as well. The included book is one I thought you would like. I know you apreciate learning something knew and that book is one you will not find in any bookstore or library in England. It is from my Grandmothers private library and yes I asked permmission to lend it to a friend.
I remember Harry telling me you too had discussed older out of use magic and wanting to know more about Veela magic as well. Well this books is about both! The books is about Veela based ritual magic and I also know ritual magic was once practiced in England as well.
Part of sending you this is slightly selfish thought there is magic in there I want to use for Harrys Birthday present next July specifically the two person stuff (I think you will probably benefit as well) and I think it will take some time to figure out how the stuff in the book works. Because of that please dont tell Harry anything I want it to be a surprise.
Love, Gabrielle
P.S. You should reply in French to practice!
I smiled, and made a mental note to find my English to French dictionary which was still in the unordered though neatly stacked expanded book trunk, which fit inside my normal trunk. Of course this would mean I couldn't reply right away, at least not in the time I had allotted myself, so instead I would take care of the book. Gabrielle had in fact sent it shrunk so it would be light enough for an owl, and I couldn't un-shrink it here. If I had been at Grimmauld Place or the Burrow I could have probably gotten away with it, but no. Stupid trace, it always made summer homework so much more difficult.
It would mean a trip to Diagon Alley, where my magic would be lost in the crowd, and I could always pick up some potions ingredients I was running low on. Professor Snape's homework didn't require actual brewing to complete, but it made it easier, and the heat regulator on the stove worked just as well as a variable heat charm.
Mum and Dad worked all day at their practice so they weren't home, and it was a simple matter of flagging down the Knight Bus (a few low powered and unobtrusive charms were legal according to the Reasonable Use act for Underage Magicals including Lumos and Point Me with out being in direct danger).
The Knight Bus was its usual bumpy uncoordinated ride, and surprising myself by not vomiting I exited outside the Leaky Cauldron. If Fred and George's shop was open I'd ask them about using the other half of a Puking Pastil to settle my stomach, and I wondered briefly if they'd ever thought of the medicinal potential for some of their candies. Would a Nosebleed Nougat fix a regular old nosebleed?
Thinking ahead I had changed some of my gold for Pounds for use over Christmas but not all, so I was able to skip Gringott's and head straight to the Apothecary.
There still weren't very many people out, and most had that same air of worry present when Harry, the Weasley's and I had gone shopping for start of term, and I was glad I had brought my plain black Hogwarts cloak to wear over my so called Muggle-clothes. I resented it, but in times like these it was not wise to stand out needlessly, especially alone. WIth the hood up I was as anonymous as anyone else.
Once at Wheezes I found that, while busier than any other store in the Alley, was still empty enough to allow Fred and George to fixate on me immediately.
"Hermione dear! What beings you to our neck of the woods?" said one.
"Rather thought you'd be at the Burrow," said the other.
I hummed, "yes well, me and your brother aren't really getting on at the moment."
"Or getting off much to Ron's chagrin I'm sure," said Fred. I was sure it was Fred, he was always slightly more blunt that George with his jokes.
I blushed slightly much to my dismay, though I also found my new Harry inspired confidence allowed me to reply with, "oh, Ron's been getting off plenty, I mean you must have heard of Lavender and dear Won-Won?" I finished with what I thought was a wicked smile.
The twins grinned like Christmas might as well have been tonight, "She calls him Won-Won?" George asked with glee.
"Oh yes, and I'm sure Ginny can give you more dirt than I can. I usually leave the room when they're trying to suck one another's face off. Rather disgusting actually," then added in a speculative tone, "sort of like two hyenas tried to eat each other."
After laughing uproariously (and lets be honest it always feels good to make Fred and George laugh) Fred looked me inquisitively, "how come you're so calm about this?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Look," said George, "we all know you and Ron drive each other up a wall, and I for one always thought it was sexual tension."
I managed not to blush.
"Hell," Fred said taking up after George, "we even had money riding on it."
This time I did blush, "you bet on us!"
They laughed, of course they had, they'd bet on anything.
George spoke, "Of course we did, bet on everybody actually. We called Ginny breaking it off with Dean, we lost when Ron hooked up with Lavender of course, and there's still the bet riding on Harry and Ginny-"
"You bet on your own sister!?"?"
Fred answered, "oh yeah, mind you that was more based on how obstinate Ginny is. Rather takes after us," he wiped a fake tear from his eye, "sweet girl, we bet Lee twenty galleons she'd get her claws into him by the end of seventh. Long term bet that one, but we still say she has a shot."
"Yeah," said George, "no one holds a grudge longer than little GIn-Gin, so we can only assume the same for everything else."
I made a noncommittal hum, I wasn't about to betray Ginny's trust in me by giving anything away to the two most likely to blackmail her. "How much did you bet on me and Ron?"
"Ten Galleons, and don't change the subject," Fred shot in.
George finished, "you were in a right state for weeks after the yule-ball, and a little birdie told us you cursed our brother dearest few weeks ago."
"I suppose Lavender blabbed about that then?"
"Don't change the subject, you're way more cheery than we expected, hell we weren't expecting to see you at all?"
"Oh! That reminds me, does Puking Pastils and Nosebleed Nougat work on regular old nosebleeds and upset stomachs?"
George got a shrewd look, "never tried it to be honest, why?"
"I rode the Knight Bus here, and my constitution doesn't really agree with it. Same with Gringotts's carts, though I didn't have to stop there today thank god."
Fred looked excited, "well have to test that out then! Merlin George, we're already selling to the Ministry, why not Mungo's too or put together a first aid kit or something, shrinking, unsummonable, the works."
"Like a field medic kit, I bet the Auror's would love that!"
"Oh, and Hermione, don't think you distracted us at all, we were carefully and subtly leading to asking you who you're shacking up with?"
I spluttered and George talked over me, "Right, see, we figured you'd be all subdued and sad over Ron, but instead you're annoyed and slightly vindictive, a state of mind we're very, very familiar with I assure you-"
"And let's just say you walk like a woman now."
"I beg your pardon!?"
Fred put his arm around George, "We Weasley's... we're salt of the earth you see-"
"And no one like girls more than us-"
"and girls rarely like others more than us-"
"and few are better than us."
"Stop that, you're giving me a headache," I asked, they didn't.
"Let's just say we've gotten very good at scoping out girls."
"Who will and who wont-"
"and especially which Muggle girls will go mad for a few amazing magic tricks," they grinned wolfishly.
I wondered if they practiced their double speak, "and?"
"And, women who've had their brains shagged out walk a certain way."
My face flamed in embarrassment, and of course they would see that as admittance, so I turned in a huff and started walking to the entrance. They jogged in front of me.
"Sorry Hermione, it's just you've spent so much time at the Burrow we think of you as family, and we tease family."
"Forgive us?" Fred added with over-wide eyes and a trembling lip.
"We'd 'ave said the same thing to Ginny."
"Well, I'm an only child so I'm not so used to it, and thank you for the family comment," I replied in a bit of a huff, my face was still flaming and I wanted out.
"So now that Hermione is calmed down, we can think of who's in charge of getting rid of her stress"
"Hmmm yes brother-of-mine, and you know what? I can only think of one person?"
"Reeeeeeeally? I can only think of one person as well."
"Harry of course," they said together.
I managed not to react, a first, I was getting better at this, and decided to deflect their guess with perceived insult, "oh and what's that supposed to mean, only one person?"
They both lost their smiles, good.
"We didn't mean it like that, I'm sure there's plenty of guys out there wanting a crack at that ar-"
"What we really meant Fred, was that Harry would be the only one good enough for you."
Good answer, I thought, they probably were very good with girls. Pity they were two years older and out of school, they had the same well-built farm-boy charm as Ron. Of course, they were entirely to un-serious to really contemplate anything. "Well, I think I'll leave you two to your blind assumptions. Goodbye."
"Later Hermione and here," George tossed me a wrapped sweet, "Puking Pastil, purple end is the one you want. Let us know if it helps."
I smiled in thanks and left the shop. They were a lot of fun in short durations, but I had quite enough of their surprising insightfulness, and reminded myself not to judge them based on my experiences with Ron. Ginny after all was rarely as thick-headed as Ron, and only when she was really, really angry.
It was then I remembered the book was still shrunk, and realized that one of the twins could easily dispel it so I wouldn't have to break the law.
When I asked George he tapped it while it rested in my palm and quickly grew to size. I took one glance at the title: Sensual Magicks before slapping it to my chest to hide it from George.
He looked askance and asked me what book it was.
"Never mind that, I'll see you later," I said hurriedly, already stuffing the book into my bag and leaving the store at a brisk pace. Gabrielle surely hadn't sent me that kind of book? Oh, well, I suppose she probably would have, she was hardly inhibited. Either way I would wait until I was quite alone for another look at it. Maybe there would be diagrams, and I allowed myself a sly smile at the thought.
The Pastil helped too much. It rather felt like my stomach had disappeared, and the faint hunger pangs I had been having disappeared. After a few minutes I became very nauseous and vowed never to be a test subject for the Twins ever again.
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After a quiet dinner with Mum and Dad (Mum had removed two impacted molars today) they retired to bed and I stayed awake intending to go over the book Gabrielle had sent me in the privacy of my room.
Sensual Magicks, there was no author, and a quick look at the index showed it was simply a list of spells, all requiring two or more people up to twelve. There were only twenty two total spells for two people, and most of them were sexual.
And there were pictures... goody.
It actually had a bit in common with the Kama Sutra which was available at my public library. I had never checked it out, too embarrassed, but I had looked at it way back in the stacks where I'd be secluded and hear a librarian coming to hide it.
I looked back at the index, there was a bell curve it seems, something to do with the Arithmantic properties of the spells I'm sure, but the number of spells that could be achieved with more people worked on a bell curve. With three people there were thirty spells, with four there were thirty two. Six and seven people were the largest with forty two apiece, and twelve people, down at the bottom again with twelve total spells. Interesting that, I'd have to work out the Arithmancy of these spells at some point if they weren't too complicated.
Gabrielle had mentioned the two person spells for Harry so I looked at the first one. It was a spell to briefly merge two people's magic during coitus. It forged an emotional bond between the two subjects, and allowed for various things, like wand compatibility and a merging of skills. It also resulted in an hour long shared orgasm, a side effect of what was basically a spell forcing your the magic inside of you to have an orgasm. There was a lovingly detailed moving ink and pastels portrait of a Witch and Wizard entwined around each other writhing in ecstasy. It managed to be both tasteful and also rather hot.
Bloody hell magic was fantastic.
The pleasure aside, I wondered briefly if I could learn Parsel from Harry if we did this, and like that it was going on my list, after Gabrielle of course if it was one of the spells she wanted to use for Harry's birthday. I couldn't actually add it now, because the list was wiped blank when I wasn't using it, and I'd left it blank for over holiday. It wouldn't be good to have my Mum stumble over it. They trusted me and mostly left me to my own devices, but would definitely have something to say about a list with things like oral giving and oral receiving marked off, and a slew of other things far outside my parents comfortable sheltered view of the world.
I turned to spell number two. It was called the Purification ritual. Oh, sixty-nine-ing, lovely. Harry and I had only taken turns so far, but that did look like fun, and with the ritual it would cycle our magic or something, through each other (i'd have to investigate that, I'd never heard of anything approaching direct manipulation of a person's magic before). The benefits were a little vague, something about purifying one's magic, though no mention of what impurities may exist, this also warrants further investigation.
I flipped towards the back, the Purification Ritual referenced a twelve person version, and I just wanted to look at the diagram. I gasped, like all magical illustrations it moved. Lying in a circle were eleven men and women with their mouths glued to the adjacent persons sex, twitching around on the floor, and in the middle a woman lay on her back, clearly writhing in pleasure. The description said:
While eleven casters cycle their magic through one another in a great chain, the cleansing pleasure of all bonded flow into the subject acting as the focus of the spell, purifying their magic and cleansing most ailments.
So what, the person in the middle feels eleven acts of oral sex all at once? And gets healed? This was almost too good to be true. I immediately wondered if it would work on Lyncanthropy, and then realized the reality of actually performing this spell with Professor Lupin.
A little green I closed the book. Remus wasn't bad looking, for being old, but still, bit too much kindly uncle to think that way, and it's not like I can even name ten other people I'd be willing to have sex with. That list was only one person long at the moment.
Still, worthy of investigation. If I could establish a rule or spell property independent of the ritual itself, it could lead to alternative ways to activate the same effect.
I paged back to the two person spells. The third spell for two people had the Witch and Wizard in the lotus position, with the WItch sitting astride the Wizards legs and wrapped around his waist. They were both upright with their arms wrapped around each other gazing into the other's eyes and breathing, deep and slow, in unison, while chanting. I took a moment to watch the way the Witch's breasts swelled exaggeratedly pressed as they were against the Wizard's chest before reading the effects of the spell.
This one would allow the subjects to enter a kind of trance or limbo where they would exist inside their own shared mind-space, where minutes could seem like days, in a kind of shared dream. I sighed at the implications and closed my eyes to briefly imagine myself and Harry in a place like that.
I really was smitten with the boy, but, I always was really. It was interesting how having sex fell into the same ball of warmth I held for Harry in my heart. He was in every way my best friend, and it just seemed so natural to be with out barriers. There was no stress involved, just fun, fun with my best friend.
And boy could he kiss...
I closed the book suddenly, thoroughly worked up I decided to start free time early. I padded silently to the door and opened it as quietly as I could and stuck my head out into the dark hall. The faint rumbling of my Dad snoring greeted me, and knew that my parents must both be asleep, as my Mum would always prod my Dad when he snored if she was still up.
Closing the door just as silently and walking back over to my desk I grabbed two pillows and stuffed one under the door and the other on top of the modem connected to my computer.
I worried a bit at the sound of the fan starting but I'd done this before and my own nervousness made everything seem louder, especially the harsh tones of the modem dialing beneath the pillow I used to muffle it.
My parents had been using a computer down at their practice for a number of years now, there had been no reason to have one in the house until last year. Last summer I had been introduced for the first time to the World Wide Web. It was absolutely fascinating, there were hundreds of thousands of web sites from all around the world from major corporations and banks to simple flashy fan pages created by one person.
There were also lots of pictures of cats which had distracted me for over an hour before I realized that I had been staring at pictures of other people's cats for over an hour.
Though I still made my way to the public library at least once a week (I happen to like libraries) I no longer had to make the trip daily to do as much research as I wanted while at home. It was dreadfully easy to keep up to date on all things Muggle with a computer and my parents had been ever so kind to buy me one last summer as part of my reward for getting so many O.W.L.s.
However I think I'm underselling just how educational the internet was.
It was in fact very educational about many other things. Like all things I like to research and being a fourteen year old girl lends itself to some very different kinds of research than my school studies.
I had seen a copy of Playwizard once, and it was actually rather tame, more glamour shots than anything. There was occasional nudity, but not much and there wasn't even an equivalent for women in the Wizarding world. Honestly, how sexist is that? In many ways magic was a great equalizer among the sexes, there had been after all women Headmaster's of Hogwarts and women as Minister for Magic, but there was still a surprising amount of sexism present. True, it was mostly among pure-blood idealists, but still.
Muggles on the other hand...
There were few inhibitions on the internet I found. People seemed to take the anonymity seriously and took it to extremes. There was a lot of ugly behavior in chat rooms and forums, but there was also a lot of honesty, though not a comforting honesty.
There was also a disconcertingly large volume of pornography, mostly for men, or at least most of which did nothing for me. I did manage to find a lot of naked pictures of men, not doing anything, just standing there nude. I found it fascinating comparing body shape, and trying to find what I did and did not find attractive.
There was of course the penises. They all seemed rather... large and it had in fact been quite a relief to find Harry wasn't so similarly endowed. He was by no means small, and it certainly felt large when it was inside of me, but he was not even close to the apparently selected for the size of their penis models that existed on the internet.
I had also found a rather surprising fascination with rope bondage, which was where I headed to now, to a favorite site of mine. It was nothing more than a directory of pictures in a column of text. Each link would show a picture of someone tied up somehow. Men and Women were trussed up in all manner of rope and cuffs and chains, and they all looked so beautiful to me.
Particularly the men, the way their muscles swelled against rope, or stretched if pulled taut. It was gloriously easy to transpose Harry's in their place. I definitely had to get him to let me tie him up after break. I wanted to experiment on him, at my leisure, and find all the places on his body that made him crazy. Our last time together had been overwhelming, and truth be told he did overwhelm me in the moment, many moments in fact. Every time I told myself before hand that I would keep a cool head, that I was going to focus on him this time, and then he'd be kissing me, and his hands would be everywhere and and it's like my mind would vanish, replaced with a body that just wanted more, a cunt wanting to be filled, a mouth wanting to be kissed, and a body wanting to be held and fondled, joyous in my partner's obvious exuberance at my simple aesthetic charms.
I wanted to tie him up and have my way with him, at my own pace, and see how loud I could get him to scream, he had given me sly looks ever since our first time in the boy's locker room after practice and I wanted to balance the scales so to speak. I also wanted to keep my head through an entire encounter. I didn't like losing control like that as much as I may have enjoyed it in the moment. Truth be told I wanted to be above all else a confident lover. A seductress. Not a slag mind you, I'm not loose, but I wanted to feel sexy and powerful. All my heroes were strong confident women, who achieved great things and allowed no one to look down on them. I always liked to imagine them then taking their lovers in hand with a look that said I know all the things you'll enjoy most and I'm going to spend the night doing them, enjoy the ride of your life, and the look I'd get in return.
I clicked through the next few pictures with one hand while the other played with my nipples. They were aching hard now and I stopped to stare a bit at a picture of a woman on her knees, eyes closed and a cock in her mouth. Her hands were bound behind her back and she wore a collar around her neck and I immediately thought of Gabrielle. When I had kissed her I really had just been doing it to kick Harry a bit of a kick in the trousers, but I had gotten lost in it. There was something so deeply sexual about her. She knew exactly what she wanted and encouraged Harry extensively, and I envied her surety. I opened my mouth biting back a squeak when I pinched my nipple and a jolt went straight through my stomach to clit. It seemed to swell in response to my pinch and a shifted, pressing my thighs together relishing the slickness I know felt as I used my legs to shift the lips of my pussy against each other.
I like to prolong this as much as possible, no sense rushing through, the build was often as much fun as the climax itself if done right.
I used both hands to squeeze my breasts after clicking to the next picture; a man lay face up on a bed arms and legs together and bound, very tightly, to the head and foot of the bed. He was stretched taught and the muscles of his chest and stomach were frankly glorious.
A woman lay between his legs with her head mere inches from his cock, all hard and red. Her tongue was extended and the tip just touched the tip of his cock. The photographer had managed to capture an image of the man mid climax, so there was a shock white strand of semen shooting up in an arc from him, the man's face was a rictus of pleasure or pain, it was hard to tell. I wondered if she had done nothing but tickle that tiny spot Harry had told me was the most sensitive. I wondered how long it would take for Harry to come if I did that, and how torturously slow it would be, and what kind of noises he would make, trapped between pleasure and need. The woman's face enraptured me, and I saw in it that perfect blend of confidence and sensuality, this was her man and she knew exactly what to do to him.
I squeezed my breasts again and relished the sensation. It really was quite delightful, like an ache I didn't know I had was being soothed. The attention Harry paid my breasts frankly amused me. There were times he became completely fixated and I had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. Yes I had been topless at the time, but still.
That being said when he used his mouth and hands on them it was electric, and I was more than happy to let him play as long as wanted, the things he did with his lips and tongue often left me weak in the knees, even if I was lying down.
The fourth picture was of the same couple, this time the woman had her breasts wrapped around the man's cock. His head was stretched up to watch and he looked mesmerized. I smiled as I realized my breasts were a bit bigger than the woman in the picture. I imagined doing this to Harry, sure he would appreciate it, but not thinking I'd get much out of it. Maybe I'd do it as a treat every once in a while.
Deciding to stay on this image for a while I reached down beneath my pajama pants and finally touched myself. With a content sigh I let the fingers of my right hand trail lightly around the very edge of my fanny, just teasing the opening and spreading the wetness I was producing around a little. My clit was throbbing now, begging for attention but I skipped it, this picture was hot but not exactly what I was looking for.
The next picture however, was. Or rather, I should say pictures. It was the same couple (I was quickly becoming a fan of them) but this was animated. Just six pictures in a loop (and it took forever to load), but she was riding the man now, her hands splayed on his chest, her head back in a silent scream while the man shook and struggled against his bonds.
My breath caught when it first loaded and I transported myself, imagining it was me riding Harry while he was bound to a bed, unable to reach up and fondle those breasts he was so fond of. I imagined him staring in want at them as they bounced wildly with my shagging, my head thrown back so he couldn't even look at my face, just my breasts taunting him with his confinement. I slipped my first two fingers inside and stroked them in and out, exploring the sensitive walls of my pussy, finding the spots that sent shivers down my spine and made my whole backside clench up and focusing on them. I like to explore every inch thoroughly and make mental notes about the different sensations I was eliciting. My other hand left the almost frantic fondling my chest to focus on my clit, now on fire, an almost painful throbbing, it felt enormous and seemed to draw focus from everything else. First contact with it sent a spasm through me, forcing my back to arch and I was unable to completely silence my whimper, trembling at the waves of pleasure roiling up through my body from my center, up to my nipples and across my throat, flushed and sweaty with effort.
My eyes closed involuntarily and I imagined taunting Harry, I'd moan and shriek and cry out, not stifle myself as I had to now, and I'd beg and whine about how hard my nipples were and how much I wanted them squeezed and licked and sucked, and it would drive Harry mad with longing. I stroked in and out of myself at a furious pace, as fast as I could go with out the soft wet sucking noises I was making getting too loud, while my left hand circled my clit over and over, and delicious friction that I stopped when I got to close to coming and started when I plateaued back to where my right hand left me, a soaking throbbing mess with a bubble in my pelvis that ached to be popped, but I held back knowing the longer I let it build the stronger it would be at the end.
Harry always stopped moving when he came, saying it was too sensitive to move, and while there was always some involuntary jerking and thrusting that made him groan and gasp he would usually pull me to him tight limiting my movement. I imagined him finally coming as I rode him, unable to stop my movements as I fucked him straight through his orgasm. How hard would he buck I wondered? How loud would he scream out. I remembered our first time, and the way he simply wouldn't stop when I came over and over. It was overwhelming and all I could do was clench and scream and I wanted to see if I could do that to him.
With this little fantasy I knew this would be the end, I didn't stop this time and rode to the edge fast, arching in my seat and sucking on the two fingers which had been buried in my pussy to silence my moans and whimpers while I stroked my clit hurriedly through my come.
When the waves of sensation ebbed and I settled back in my chair with a very satisfied sigh I opened my eyes back to the eternally screwing couple. After wiping myself off with a couple of tissues I went back to the main directory and noted the name of the pictures I had been viewing.
johnandjessica10001545592288882.jpg
johnandjessica10002233455683732.jpg
johnandjessica23304562387743.gif
I mulled over that, and decided to see if I could find them. I used a search engine and after looking up the combination of John, Jessica, and BDSM I found them. It was their own personal site, and they sold videos of themselves having sex, but had a number of pictures up for free. The real treat were the stories. The man, John, was a writer, and he liked to write out descriptions of him and his wife's sessions. I glanced at one and liked what I saw and knew I would return to this site later, I'm a big fan of some well written smut. Most of it is utter rubbish, but some really light my wand up.
For now I was done and satisfied, and saw that I had only spent forty minutes of my free time. I thought about returning to my homework, but a wave of lethargy overwhelmed me, and confident that I was well ahead for the winter break work, decided to wander aimlessly about the internet for a bit.
Nothing sexy for now, but I liked to wander forums and chat rooms, and read random articles about science and technology. I felt it kept me connected to my roots by reading up on the Muggle world and interacting with other muggles, even if it wasn't face to face. There were a number of science and philosophy forums I like to post and debate on, and there was even a chess forum with some very nice and helpful members who advised me on my game; I still held out hope of beating Ron one day.
Now however, I didn't want anything so cerebral. I had a rather guilty pleasure among the things I researched (all this related to sex not withstanding) I liked to investigate what Muggle's thought about magic. There was actually a great fascination with it, Muggle literature and myth was rife with it, and they had just as many stories about Merlin and fairies and elves as the Magical World did. Rather more actually, it is my theory that the reality of the Magical World is already to bizarre and fantastical there just isn't that great a call for fiction. There is some of course, but much of it is children's stories that hold no interest to me, or plays (Hogwarts actually used to have student perform plays, but they stopped due to a father sordid and accident prone performance during the earlier years of Dumbledore's Headmastership, full details of this can of course be found in Hogwarts a History).
There is also the occasional radio drama, but for the most part there's little fiction. I honestly think that's a little sad, some of my favorite books are novels. In any case, there were plenty of Muggle's who not only believed in magic, but pretended to practice it. Self professed Witches making potions out of pine brambles and peat moss and casting spells with candles and chalk on the floor. It was all in all quite funny, and I loved reading all the ridiculous things Muggle's came up with and called magic.
I amused myself reading about a spell to make someone fall in love with you. It involved burning crow's feathers and incense, with candles arrayed around a pentagram at precise points, and a poorly written chant in latin. All quite un-magical and absurd. I laughed quietly to myself at the thought of people actually trying this, knowing someone must have, and how disappointed they'd be the next day when their crush failed to act any differently.
It was easy to imagine lonely shy girls trying this, I mean really, when actually presented with real magic many I knew personally had thought about using a love potion at one time or another like such a thing were casual, terrifying if you ask me. I know Harry was scared.
I remember one time back before fifth year at the World Cup, Ginny had made some off-hand comment about a love potion and I had shot her down immediately. She claimed her mother told her a story of using a love potion on her father, but I had pressed and mentioned venomously, "what if Malfoy used one on you," she had turned white and vowed never to even think about it again, and while I had left the matter settled, it still made me squirm a bit at how casual Magicals were about what was little more than rape.
Yes, there was a lot of things wrong with the Magical World.
Things that, of course would have to change, and change they would, after Voldemort was done away with and Harry's burden was over. House Elf rights would have to wait until after my best friend was safe.
Trying to lift my sudden melancholy, I discovered something rather startling. Hogwarts had a website. It was a plain white page with black text, and simply listed Hogwarts as a boarding school for exceptional children, no address, but there was a phone number with a Scotland area code. Hogwarts was also listed in the national directory and even came up in a couple of hits on forums.
Intrigued I clicked the first link, but it turned out to be nothing more than someone complaining about their best friend being away for school and mentioning the name in passing, and later posts didn't even mention it except to make a joke about the name.
I wondered who the friend could be and went back to the search page to click the next link.
This one was more of the same, except that reply post had a link outside of the forum with the message 'you mean this Hogwarts?'. Knowing there was no way I could not click that link I did so hurriedly, and felt my jaw go slack when the page finally loaded. Right at the top and center there was a photograph of Hogwarts, but it looked dilapidated and crumbling, and there was even a sign on the gates declaring the castle condemned and a danger for falling rocks.
I realized this must be what Muggles saw when they looked at Hogwarts, and wondered that there was enough information to connect the actual site of Hogwarts to the name, so much so that some random Muggle had photographed it and made a website about it. Below the picture there was a block of text I read excitedly.
---
For most the name Hogwarts means nothing, though a very small amount of people know it as a very exclusive boarding school for exceptional children. There is a website and a telephone number which I have called, though there is no live operator, only a recording and an answering machine inviting people to leave an address to receive a brochure. I utilized this service with a public address (you will understand my caution later) and received said brochure. It was as plain as their website, and held no detail, only a slightly longer description of the school with vague and unspecific facts about positive learning environments, and an accelerated specialized curriculum. It stated in no uncertain terms that admission to Hogwarts was never by request, that you were either offered a place at their school or not, applications would not be accepted.
While this may seem extreme, it is by no means unique, though most schools have an open admission process, some elite schools operate this way, however other schools can be visited...
As it turns out, while a number is listed there is not one address listed for Hogwarts in any district in Scotland. Not one. Believe me I tried finding one for months and could not. The above picture is based on many clues I have come across over the years, and is I believe the supposed site of the school begging the question, where is the real school located?
I know for a fact that this place exists. Nearly twenty years ago, I was a young father, with a beautiful ten year old boy who was very excited to start secondary school with his best friend and neighbor, the child of the couple living two doors down. Imagine the dismay when he finds out his best friend will not be attending school with him, but will instead be attending a boarding school in northern Scotland for nearly ten months out of the year and only be home for summers.
With promises of always being friends my son's best friend left and returned changed. He was more energetic and fun than I ever remember and I wondered about the school and wondered if I could perhaps get my son invited. I could of course not do so, though why will become clear later.
Over the years my son's friend grew more and more distant, and lost all interest in television and films, didn't care about any of the sports he and my son used to be fans off. They hung out less and less over the summers and near the end I swear he had an almost permanent grimace, and seemed quite paranoid most of the time. He also took to carrying around a short stick everywhere he went, and I once caught him pointing it at the neighborhood cat for a good minute late at night from my bedroom window.
His posture was tense, and he didn't relax until the cat stalked away. At the time I paid it no mind, then my son died.
---
I gasped, nearly twenty years ago would have put this story firmly during the worst point of Voldemort's first rise to power, just before Harry defeated him for the first time. I kept reading, sweeping across the page as fast as I could.
---
I remember waking up hearing shouting, looking out my window and having my attention brought to something bright green in the sky, and then nothing. I don't remember going back to bed but I woke up in it in the morning and stepped out to get the morning paper to see police surrounding my son's friend's house, where he had been staying the night. I ran in my slippers dropping my paper in my haste and leapt the tape barrier only to be grabbed by two constables, I don't remember screaming, but I was told I kept shouting "my son was in that house" over and over until I was led away by an elderly officer, clearly in charge and he took me by the shoulders and asked me what my son looked like.
I watched his face fall as I described him, and i barely heard his sorrowful declaration that everyone in the house was dead. My son, his friend, his friend's parents, his sister even. It wasn't until a week later the official report was released. There wasn't a mark on any of them, they all seemed to have up and died, time of death was within twenty minutes of one another. The only explanations anyone could come up with was simultaneous brain aneurisms by an unknown cause.
A year passed and interest died down for everyone not directly affected. It wasn't until the one year anniversary to be exact, I was standing outside the house where it happened, no one had bought it and it was currently in escrow (guess no one wants to buy a house where five people mysteriously died). I was just standing there staring at the house where my son had died when a young man wearing a bright red cloak stepped up to me.
I have written the conversation down as best I can remember:
"Did you know the NAME REDACTED?"
"Their Son was friends with my Son, he was staying over that night."
"I'm so sorry. I was good friends with NAME REDACTED at school."
"Hogwarts?"
He looked a little surprised, "that's right"
"It was so close to the end you know? Days even, two days later and it was over."
"What was over?"
"Oh, but you wouldn't know would you? Don't worry about it, it's nonsense."
The conversation died after that, neither of us had much to say, and it was clear he was there for the same reason I was, to honor someone's memory and I didn't really know how to respond to the last thing he said. Before he left he pulled out a pocket watch with too many hands on it and then walked away with a sad smile and a short wave. I waved back, but now I was curious.
He had made no mention of the odd clothes he was wearing, in fact he didn't seem to be aware of how much he stood out, and when I glanced over to see where he had gone after a moment he was simply gone. Yes, there was something up with this school, and from what the young man had said he knew some detail about the circumstances of the family and my sons death. I recognized something else in his sadness, there was no despair there, no unbearable sense of why, no mystery. That was a man grieving in a different way, a way I recognized, the same way my father grieved for his friends after World War Two.
I will not bore you with the details of my journey, but I eventually found myself to the supposed location of Hogwarts. I was, compelled not to stay. I do not know why or how, but I was only there long enough to snap a single picture, before I had to use the bathroom rather desperately. The second time I approached I suddenly remember I had not phoned my Mother in quite some time. The third time I had to call my accountant. I did not try a fourth time. I am hesitant to list any of my theories as to why this happens, I do not want you to think I am crazy. I do not believe in mind control rays or hypnotism or anything of the like, but I am at a loss to explain why I could not approach this castle, with other mundane things seemingly sprouting from nothing and demanding my attention. If I had not been so scared of my uncontrollable reaction to approaching the castle, I would have started marking the path up to it to see if it was at a specific distance I suddenly had to go do something else.
As it was I decided to play the safe route and investigate from afar. My first break was getting my hands on the Ministry of Education's student registry. I'm afraid I may have done this illegally, hence the anonymity of this website. In any case, I found that every student's file for the last forty years lists schools and basic marks for every stage of education. After several months of tedious work I managed to make a database of Hogwarts attendees.
I discovered a lot from this, but the most important discovery was that Hogwarts lasted seven years making it easy to cross reference census data. As it turns out, every single Hogwarts graduate drops of the face of the earth. I have yet to find a single Hogwarts graduate paying rent somewhere, with an active motorist license, with a wedding registry, or any official documentation beyond a birth certificate and in some cases a death certificate. None of them had even paid any taxes and didn't appear on any lists for municipal databases.
I did manage to find one person who had attended Hogwarts for five years before dropping out. I told them I was a reporter doing a story comparing boarding schools and had my questions happily answered. The student's answers were distressingly vague, and he even expressed some distress at not being able to remember fine details, just vague recollections. He did remember the people, he had many friends that he had not spoken to in many years, but details, and coursework- nothing.
I started to have nightmares about memory erasers, undistinguished men in black suits with lights that made you forget things.
This is where I hit a wall, I tried talking to relatives of current and former students but got nothing, and a few even seemed hostile. I am done, I am not over my son's death, and never will be, but I no longer have the energy to investigate this, it is beyond me, and something far larger and more significant. Too many things are smoothed over, and there are too many inconstancies being ignored to assume anything less than some sort of conspiracy or hidden group. Whatever it is I leave my thoughts and information at your disposal, and I'll even answer any questions you have at the email listed below.
Since I have posted this I have been contacted by others who have investigated Hogwarts or other schools in other countries with the same oddities, and have included links to those other pages, hopefully someone smarter and more capable than I can figure all this out.
---
The bottom of the page was a series of links to the other sites the writer mentioned. I was hooked, and looked at them all while my heart ached at the what the writer had gone through. I and any other magical would know of course, that they were probably killed with the Avada Kedavra curse, and the green light in the sky was probably a Dark Mark. I grumbled internally, his son was a muggle and was likely killed as an afterthought, with no significance, the boy who had attended Hogwarts the real target.
One site stood out in particular, it was a group dedicated to investigating what they believed was a vast conspiracy, a secret society trying to run the world in the background recruiting through various fake schools like Hogwarts and to my amazement Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, Salem, New Haven of Buenos Ares, and even Isis School of Magic and Sorcery in Egypt were mentioned as other so called "shadow schools".
I sat back stunned, parts of the theories on this site were far off, but some were surprisingly accurate. Just the fact that a semi-accurate list of the premier magical schools was impressive and a bit scary. I wondered if the various magical governments were even aware of the internet, let alone aware of some Muggles interest in the magical world, though they seemed to believe it was some sort of global conspiracy; though I suppose in some ways it was, albeit far from malicious as the people on this forum seemed to believe.
For the most part the Magical world separated itself from the rest of society out of fear. Muggles outnumbered Magicals hundreds of thousands to one plus or minus several thousand depending on the region. While the world used to be far less populated the ratio of Magical to Muggle has remained somewhat constant over the years barring Muggle or Magical exclusive wars or baby booms.
When Magicals and Muggles were aware of one another, not only were there less Magicals about, but they were often very reclusive individuals and often required trials or tasks of valor or honor or whatever quality the Magical in question valued to allow petitions to help from Muggles. This was mostly in an attempt to stave of the droves of Muggles wanting quick fixes to their problems, as Magicals were hounded thorough their entire lives, and as Muggles grew better and better at killing each other Magicals got scared and they left, never to reveal themselves to the Muggle populous again.
I've often thought about a future where Magical and Muggle society works together, but it seems far off and truthfully many of the reasons Magicals decided to hide are good ones. I'm honestly not sure if it could ever successfully happen, but I'm hopeful.
Deciding I needed to investigate this further I saved the addresses of the collection of sites discussing the "shadow school" conspiracy for later and turned off my computer. I had spent quite enough time and wanted to get an early start tomorrow so I could have breakfast with my parents before they left for work.
I settled down to bed on my side clutching a pillow to my chest. I quite enjoyed cuddling with someone to sleep. Having Harry hold me while we had slept had been brilliant and I vowed to do it more. Perhaps next near I'd be Head Girl and have a big old room all to myself, and nice big bed I'd enlarge and invite Harry and Gabrielle to join me in every once in a while. If I was really lucky Harry would make Head Boy, despite never being a prefect (this had happened two hundred and seven times in the history of Hogwarts, Harry's own father an example) and we'd both have private rooms so his absence wouldn't be noted, though he did have that link to Gabrielle's room, it would be quite aggravating to transport down to the third floor and then all the way back up to Gryffindor tower just to sneak up the girls staircase and get to to my room.
Of course, no one would notice if I wasn't sleeping in my dorm...
I clutched my pillow tighter and buried my face where my imagined cuddle partner's neck was. I remember sleeping quite innocently with Ginny at the world cup. It had been cold that night so we bundled up under both our blankets. Ginny had been shorter than me then, so she had pressed up against my back and I held her like giant teddy bear. Sweet really. I'm sure Harry would have made more a deal out of it, or any other boy for that matter, but boys are weird like that. No matter how cold they were there's no way I'd ever catch Harry and Ron cuddling, I mean I don't think I've ever even seen them hug, not like normal people, just one handed back slapping stupidity, like they have to make a hug halfway into a fight so they don't seem un-manly.
Honestly...
As I lay in bed begging my mind to turn off so I could fall asleep I mulled lazily about what I'd work on tomorrow. My potions work could honestly be finished tomorrow if I worked hard and long enough at it.
It was at this moment I had an epiphany.
The style of discovery used for Potions was as close as the Magical world got to scientific method. It was still woefully simplified, but the similarities were there. The reason for this I realized was that Potions was an extension of Alchemy as was Chemistry. Alchemy was one of the original magics along with elemental and ritual, and for Muggles Alchemy eventually turned into modern Chemistry.
So that meant they were parallel.
So if Chemistry and Potions were related perhaps the other physical sciences ran in parallel as well, and I could potentially use that similarity to achieve something new.
What were the parallels then? Charms was probably Physics, though most charms broke the rules of Physics quite soundly. Never the less, Charms were used to change physical properties like weight and mass and size, color and shape. Charms made things fly or stay put.
What was Transfiguration then. Perhaps genetics, something Muggles were only now starting to advance in, but no, inanimate objects could be transfigured, so perhaps Molecular Science, something I had never studied before.
Herbology was Horticulture and Arithmancy was Mathematics. So far I had failed to pair anything in Arithmancy with anything in Muggle math, but something told me I needed to read up on imaginary numbers before trying again.
The obvious choice on where to start was Charms. Of all the sciences my best subjects was Chemistry and Physics, so Charms was first as Potions was almost as far along as I thought I could merge the two at the moment. Charm though, I needed to run experiments, but how could I while I was at home.
Of course! The legal exception spells, I'd start performing experiments on them tomorrow, and I busied myself with reciting what those spells were. Reciting usually set me to sleep unless there was a test the next day.
Lumos
Nox
Point Me
Sparks
Ember
Lumos
Nox
Point Me
Sparks
Ember
Lumos...
Nox...yawn
Point...
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CONTINUED IMMEDIATELY, SECOND HALF OF CHAPTER ALREADY UP
HARRY POTTER AND THE EMERALD COVEN
PART TWO: THE VOICE OF REASON
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Chapter 14: The Path of Failure
I once read a book that said the difference between logic and reason had not always been a discrete one. Douglas Hofstadter wrote that logic is done inside a system, while reason is done outside the system.
After several month of research it had become clear to me, that every single Witch and Wizard currently publishing and creating new magic used solely reason to deride their results.
In fact I had spent so much time researching existing magics in the five and a half years I've known about the Magical world that I never really put any time at all into the methods of discover and creation of said magic. After all, the tests usually only required you to know who invented the spell and why, occasionally with a mention of spells being modified from pre-existing ones. All in all, I usually spent my free time keeping up to date with natural history, science, and mathematics, otherwise I would never be able to enter university after Hogwarts.
Once I became interested however, I was quite disappointed to find that there weren't very many books on the creation of new magic. It turned out there was a very competitive Master/Apprentice system in place for the so called "deep" magics like wand lore and enchanting. Something with knowledges only being passed down through familiar lines. Yet another way being pure-blooded was favorable, damn bigots.
Transfiguration Today turned out to be pure rot. I had ordered a number of back copies from the latest issue. It was a quarterly (or nearly, sometimes there were three for a year or five, in 1847 there had been eleven under the Editorship of Lawson Mealbe who was famous for being fired at the end of his first year as Editor for obvious reasons) so there weren't that many, and all the most famous articles were reprinted in collected books. I read Dumbledore's two lauded and oft quoted pieces first, but they turned out to be mostly philosophical, and a bit cautionary, warning not to delve too deeply into so called "small" transfiguration; which I knew as chemistry, and I'm sure the only reason it was mysterious and dangerous was because Magicals didn't have microscopes and didn't understand chemical bonding.
Potions comes closer, but it's ever so simplified. Potions theory was fifty percent rote memorization of thousands of reaction-al ingredients (runespore shavings combined with pickled newt creates a sense of euphoria, pickled newt combined with grumlock droppings eases aggression, runespore shaving and pickled newt have no reaction allowing them to be used in the same potion with out affecting it, and pickled newt is affected by temperature while the other ingredients are not so you can affect the strength of potion by heat, increased heat adding to the potency of pickled newt, while three left stirs has an Arithmantic lessening of the poisonous element of grumlock droppings and viola! You have a calming drought. Though I am loath to include anything from Harry's thrice damned Potions textbook, the tip that runespore shavings are more effective if shaved from tip to base is actually quite effective.) The other half of Potions is mostly Herbology, knowing how to gain the most effective parts of Magical flora and fauna. Honestly, anyone who can memorize all forty-seven thousand two hundred eighty six combinations, fourteen thousand three hundred and six stirring responses, and twelve hundred heat variables could conceivably make a potion for anything ever. For my part I'm only about ten percent through the memorization, but I have time, I'm only seventeen and don't expect to even begin my attempt at a Potion's Master until I'm in my late twenties.
I'm getting off track.
The latest issue of Transfiguration Today had a ridiculous article. Melinda Views had written a "thesis" (and I use the term lightly) about wand movement alterations for the standard colour changing spell, allowing for people who were blind to correctly use the spell, no longer requiring the caster to focus on the colour they wanted.
In not one sentence of the article did Views mention research, experimentation, or even what gave her the leap to her conclusion. At first I thought VIews was just a terrible researcher, but it turned out her methods were actually par for the course, and if they weren't, then no one was telling anyone else, and that was just plain frustrating.
I mean, what is the point of knowledge if you're just going to hoard it?
I'm currently distracting myself however, this is something I've been working through for months, and I've used my allotted research time for today, and I've done all my homework, and unless I want to take my hour of free-time to have some fun now, I need to deal with the two letters I received today.
One from Harry, and the other from Gabrielle, the problem being that I don't thing Harry knows Gabrielle is writing to me, which very much goes against the impression I had of how their bond works.
Harry's letter was his usual brief missive, more or less a list of facts. I had tried to inspire him with my own letters in the past, filled with observations and personal thoughts, but he either didn't care, or wasn't aware of the differences between our letter writing abilities.
Still, there was a lot of good to be said for Harry Potter.
A lot of good indeed.
I was again temped to skip straight to free time, but really, work before pleasure and all that.
Gabrielle's letter was troubling, but not in an overt way, she clearly wasn't dangerous or anything like that, and I could tell she would rather die than ever hurt Harry, but still, something niggled at the back of my thoughts while reading it.
I'm still not sure why my alert was being hit, Gabrielle had after all made a real attempt to be friends with me, whether for her own sake or Harry's I'm not sure, but either way we had bonded with mutual tutoring. I helped her with Defense Agains the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Transfiguration, and she tutored me in French and even showed me a thing or two about Charms, and some VERY advanced Arithmancy.
I re-read the letter and resisted the urge to correct her English with my wand.
Dear Hermione
How are you doing how is your winter break progressing so far? I hope you are having fun and are not too lonly without Harry! I know how adictive he can be and how much fun you two have together. Really I just like knowing how much joy he brings you. It is a wonderful thing no? To know youre mate brings such joy to the world. ;)
That is why I am writing to you see? You are importent to Harry and Harry is importent to me so that means you are importent to me as well. The included book is one I thought you would like. I know you apreciate learning something knew and that book is one you will not find in any bookstore or library in England. It is from my Grandmothers private library and yes I asked permmission to lend it to a friend.
I remember Harry telling me you too had discussed older out of use magic and wanting to know more about Veela magic as well. Well this books is about both! The books is about Veela based ritual magic and I also know ritual magic was once practiced in England as well.
Part of sending you this is slightly selfish thought there is magic in there I want to use for Harrys Birthday present next July specifically the two person stuff (I think you will probably benefit as well) and I think it will take some time to figure out how the stuff in the book works. Because of that please dont tell Harry anything I want it to be a surprise.
Love, Gabrielle
P.S. You should reply in French to practice!
I smiled, and made a mental note to find my English to French dictionary which was still in the unordered though neatly stacked expanded book trunk, which fit inside my normal trunk. Of course this would mean I couldn't reply right away, at least not in the time I had allotted myself, so instead I would take care of the book. Gabrielle had in fact sent it shrunk so it would be light enough for an owl, and I couldn't un-shrink it here. If I had been at Grimmauld Place or the Burrow I could have probably gotten away with it, but no. Stupid trace, it always made summer homework so much more difficult.
It would mean a trip to Diagon Alley, where my magic would be lost in the crowd, and I could always pick up some potions ingredients I was running low on. Professor Snape's homework didn't require actual brewing to complete, but it made it easier, and the heat regulator on the stove worked just as well as a variable heat charm.
Mum and Dad worked all day at their practice so they weren't home, and it was a simple matter of flagging down the Knight Bus (a few low powered and unobtrusive charms were legal according to the Reasonable Use act for Underage Magicals including Lumos and Point Me with out being in direct danger).
The Knight Bus was its usual bumpy uncoordinated ride, and surprising myself by not vomiting I exited outside the Leaky Cauldron. If Fred and George's shop was open I'd ask them about using the other half of a Puking Pastil to settle my stomach, and I wondered briefly if they'd ever thought of the medicinal potential for some of their candies. Would a Nosebleed Nougat fix a regular old nosebleed?
Thinking ahead I had changed some of my gold for Pounds for use over Christmas but not all, so I was able to skip Gringott's and head straight to the Apothecary.
There still weren't very many people out, and most had that same air of worry present when Harry, the Weasley's and I had gone shopping for start of term, and I was glad I had brought my plain black Hogwarts cloak to wear over my so called Muggle-clothes. I resented it, but in times like these it was not wise to stand out needlessly, especially alone. WIth the hood up I was as anonymous as anyone else.
Once at Wheezes I found that, while busier than any other store in the Alley, was still empty enough to allow Fred and George to fixate on me immediately.
"Hermione dear! What beings you to our neck of the woods?" said one.
"Rather thought you'd be at the Burrow," said the other.
I hummed, "yes well, me and your brother aren't really getting on at the moment."
"Or getting off much to Ron's chagrin I'm sure," said Fred. I was sure it was Fred, he was always slightly more blunt that George with his jokes.
I blushed slightly much to my dismay, though I also found my new Harry inspired confidence allowed me to reply with, "oh, Ron's been getting off plenty, I mean you must have heard of Lavender and dear Won-Won?" I finished with what I thought was a wicked smile.
The twins grinned like Christmas might as well have been tonight, "She calls him Won-Won?" George asked with glee.
"Oh yes, and I'm sure Ginny can give you more dirt than I can. I usually leave the room when they're trying to suck one another's face off. Rather disgusting actually," then added in a speculative tone, "sort of like two hyenas tried to eat each other."
After laughing uproariously (and lets be honest it always feels good to make Fred and George laugh) Fred looked me inquisitively, "how come you're so calm about this?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Look," said George, "we all know you and Ron drive each other up a wall, and I for one always thought it was sexual tension."
I managed not to blush.
"Hell," Fred said taking up after George, "we even had money riding on it."
This time I did blush, "you bet on us!"
They laughed, of course they had, they'd bet on anything.
George spoke, "Of course we did, bet on everybody actually. We called Ginny breaking it off with Dean, we lost when Ron hooked up with Lavender of course, and there's still the bet riding on Harry and Ginny-"
"You bet on your own sister!?"?"
Fred answered, "oh yeah, mind you that was more based on how obstinate Ginny is. Rather takes after us," he wiped a fake tear from his eye, "sweet girl, we bet Lee twenty galleons she'd get her claws into him by the end of seventh. Long term bet that one, but we still say she has a shot."
"Yeah," said George, "no one holds a grudge longer than little GIn-Gin, so we can only assume the same for everything else."
I made a noncommittal hum, I wasn't about to betray Ginny's trust in me by giving anything away to the two most likely to blackmail her. "How much did you bet on me and Ron?"
"Ten Galleons, and don't change the subject," Fred shot in.
George finished, "you were in a right state for weeks after the yule-ball, and a little birdie told us you cursed our brother dearest few weeks ago."
"I suppose Lavender blabbed about that then?"
"Don't change the subject, you're way more cheery than we expected, hell we weren't expecting to see you at all?"
"Oh! That reminds me, does Puking Pastils and Nosebleed Nougat work on regular old nosebleeds and upset stomachs?"
George got a shrewd look, "never tried it to be honest, why?"
"I rode the Knight Bus here, and my constitution doesn't really agree with it. Same with Gringotts's carts, though I didn't have to stop there today thank god."
Fred looked excited, "well have to test that out then! Merlin George, we're already selling to the Ministry, why not Mungo's too or put together a first aid kit or something, shrinking, unsummonable, the works."
"Like a field medic kit, I bet the Auror's would love that!"
"Oh, and Hermione, don't think you distracted us at all, we were carefully and subtly leading to asking you who you're shacking up with?"
I spluttered and George talked over me, "Right, see, we figured you'd be all subdued and sad over Ron, but instead you're annoyed and slightly vindictive, a state of mind we're very, very familiar with I assure you-"
"And let's just say you walk like a woman now."
"I beg your pardon!?"
Fred put his arm around George, "We Weasley's... we're salt of the earth you see-"
"And no one like girls more than us-"
"and girls rarely like others more than us-"
"and few are better than us."
"Stop that, you're giving me a headache," I asked, they didn't.
"Let's just say we've gotten very good at scoping out girls."
"Who will and who wont-"
"and especially which Muggle girls will go mad for a few amazing magic tricks," they grinned wolfishly.
I wondered if they practiced their double speak, "and?"
"And, women who've had their brains shagged out walk a certain way."
My face flamed in embarrassment, and of course they would see that as admittance, so I turned in a huff and started walking to the entrance. They jogged in front of me.
"Sorry Hermione, it's just you've spent so much time at the Burrow we think of you as family, and we tease family."
"Forgive us?" Fred added with over-wide eyes and a trembling lip.
"We'd 'ave said the same thing to Ginny."
"Well, I'm an only child so I'm not so used to it, and thank you for the family comment," I replied in a bit of a huff, my face was still flaming and I wanted out.
"So now that Hermione is calmed down, we can think of who's in charge of getting rid of her stress"
"Hmmm yes brother-of-mine, and you know what? I can only think of one person?"
"Reeeeeeeally? I can only think of one person as well."
"Harry of course," they said together.
I managed not to react, a first, I was getting better at this, and decided to deflect their guess with perceived insult, "oh and what's that supposed to mean, only one person?"
They both lost their smiles, good.
"We didn't mean it like that, I'm sure there's plenty of guys out there wanting a crack at that ar-"
"What we really meant Fred, was that Harry would be the only one good enough for you."
Good answer, I thought, they probably were very good with girls. Pity they were two years older and out of school, they had the same well-built farm-boy charm as Ron. Of course, they were entirely to un-serious to really contemplate anything. "Well, I think I'll leave you two to your blind assumptions. Goodbye."
"Later Hermione and here," George tossed me a wrapped sweet, "Puking Pastil, purple end is the one you want. Let us know if it helps."
I smiled in thanks and left the shop. They were a lot of fun in short durations, but I had quite enough of their surprising insightfulness, and reminded myself not to judge them based on my experiences with Ron. Ginny after all was rarely as thick-headed as Ron, and only when she was really, really angry.
It was then I remembered the book was still shrunk, and realized that one of the twins could easily dispel it so I wouldn't have to break the law.
When I asked George he tapped it while it rested in my palm and quickly grew to size. I took one glance at the title: Sensual Magicks before slapping it to my chest to hide it from George.
He looked askance and asked me what book it was.
"Never mind that, I'll see you later," I said hurriedly, already stuffing the book into my bag and leaving the store at a brisk pace. Gabrielle surely hadn't sent me that kind of book? Oh, well, I suppose she probably would have, she was hardly inhibited. Either way I would wait until I was quite alone for another look at it. Maybe there would be diagrams, and I allowed myself a sly smile at the thought.
The Pastil helped too much. It rather felt like my stomach had disappeared, and the faint hunger pangs I had been having disappeared. After a few minutes I became very nauseous and vowed never to be a test subject for the Twins ever again.
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After a quiet dinner with Mum and Dad (Mum had removed two impacted molars today) they retired to bed and I stayed awake intending to go over the book Gabrielle had sent me in the privacy of my room.
Sensual Magicks, there was no author, and a quick look at the index showed it was simply a list of spells, all requiring two or more people up to twelve. There were only twenty two total spells for two people, and most of them were sexual.
And there were pictures... goody.
It actually had a bit in common with the Kama Sutra which was available at my public library. I had never checked it out, too embarrassed, but I had looked at it way back in the stacks where I'd be secluded and hear a librarian coming to hide it.
I looked back at the index, there was a bell curve it seems, something to do with the Arithmantic properties of the spells I'm sure, but the number of spells that could be achieved with more people worked on a bell curve. With three people there were thirty spells, with four there were thirty two. Six and seven people were the largest with forty two apiece, and twelve people, down at the bottom again with twelve total spells. Interesting that, I'd have to work out the Arithmancy of these spells at some point if they weren't too complicated.
Gabrielle had mentioned the two person spells for Harry so I looked at the first one. It was a spell to briefly merge two people's magic during coitus. It forged an emotional bond between the two subjects, and allowed for various things, like wand compatibility and a merging of skills. It also resulted in an hour long shared orgasm, a side effect of what was basically a spell forcing your the magic inside of you to have an orgasm. There was a lovingly detailed moving ink and pastels portrait of a Witch and Wizard entwined around each other writhing in ecstasy. It managed to be both tasteful and also rather hot.
Bloody hell magic was fantastic.
The pleasure aside, I wondered briefly if I could learn Parsel from Harry if we did this, and like that it was going on my list, after Gabrielle of course if it was one of the spells she wanted to use for Harry's birthday. I couldn't actually add it now, because the list was wiped blank when I wasn't using it, and I'd left it blank for over holiday. It wouldn't be good to have my Mum stumble over it. They trusted me and mostly left me to my own devices, but would definitely have something to say about a list with things like oral giving and oral receiving marked off, and a slew of other things far outside my parents comfortable sheltered view of the world.
I turned to spell number two. It was called the Purification ritual. Oh, sixty-nine-ing, lovely. Harry and I had only taken turns so far, but that did look like fun, and with the ritual it would cycle our magic or something, through each other (i'd have to investigate that, I'd never heard of anything approaching direct manipulation of a person's magic before). The benefits were a little vague, something about purifying one's magic, though no mention of what impurities may exist, this also warrants further investigation.
I flipped towards the back, the Purification Ritual referenced a twelve person version, and I just wanted to look at the diagram. I gasped, like all magical illustrations it moved. Lying in a circle were eleven men and women with their mouths glued to the adjacent persons sex, twitching around on the floor, and in the middle a woman lay on her back, clearly writhing in pleasure. The description said:
While eleven casters cycle their magic through one another in a great chain, the cleansing pleasure of all bonded flow into the subject acting as the focus of the spell, purifying their magic and cleansing most ailments.
So what, the person in the middle feels eleven acts of oral sex all at once? And gets healed? This was almost too good to be true. I immediately wondered if it would work on Lyncanthropy, and then realized the reality of actually performing this spell with Professor Lupin.
A little green I closed the book. Remus wasn't bad looking, for being old, but still, bit too much kindly uncle to think that way, and it's not like I can even name ten other people I'd be willing to have sex with. That list was only one person long at the moment.
Still, worthy of investigation. If I could establish a rule or spell property independent of the ritual itself, it could lead to alternative ways to activate the same effect.
I paged back to the two person spells. The third spell for two people had the Witch and Wizard in the lotus position, with the WItch sitting astride the Wizards legs and wrapped around his waist. They were both upright with their arms wrapped around each other gazing into the other's eyes and breathing, deep and slow, in unison, while chanting. I took a moment to watch the way the Witch's breasts swelled exaggeratedly pressed as they were against the Wizard's chest before reading the effects of the spell.
This one would allow the subjects to enter a kind of trance or limbo where they would exist inside their own shared mind-space, where minutes could seem like days, in a kind of shared dream. I sighed at the implications and closed my eyes to briefly imagine myself and Harry in a place like that.
I really was smitten with the boy, but, I always was really. It was interesting how having sex fell into the same ball of warmth I held for Harry in my heart. He was in every way my best friend, and it just seemed so natural to be with out barriers. There was no stress involved, just fun, fun with my best friend.
And boy could he kiss...
I closed the book suddenly, thoroughly worked up I decided to start free time early. I padded silently to the door and opened it as quietly as I could and stuck my head out into the dark hall. The faint rumbling of my Dad snoring greeted me, and knew that my parents must both be asleep, as my Mum would always prod my Dad when he snored if she was still up.
Closing the door just as silently and walking back over to my desk I grabbed two pillows and stuffed one under the door and the other on top of the modem connected to my computer.
I worried a bit at the sound of the fan starting but I'd done this before and my own nervousness made everything seem louder, especially the harsh tones of the modem dialing beneath the pillow I used to muffle it.
My parents had been using a computer down at their practice for a number of years now, there had been no reason to have one in the house until last year. Last summer I had been introduced for the first time to the World Wide Web. It was absolutely fascinating, there were hundreds of thousands of web sites from all around the world from major corporations and banks to simple flashy fan pages created by one person.
There were also lots of pictures of cats which had distracted me for over an hour before I realized that I had been staring at pictures of other people's cats for over an hour.
Though I still made my way to the public library at least once a week (I happen to like libraries) I no longer had to make the trip daily to do as much research as I wanted while at home. It was dreadfully easy to keep up to date on all things Muggle with a computer and my parents had been ever so kind to buy me one last summer as part of my reward for getting so many O.W.L.s.
However I think I'm underselling just how educational the internet was.
It was in fact very educational about many other things. Like all things I like to research and being a fourteen year old girl lends itself to some very different kinds of research than my school studies.
I had seen a copy of Playwizard once, and it was actually rather tame, more glamour shots than anything. There was occasional nudity, but not much and there wasn't even an equivalent for women in the Wizarding world. Honestly, how sexist is that? In many ways magic was a great equalizer among the sexes, there had been after all women Headmaster's of Hogwarts and women as Minister for Magic, but there was still a surprising amount of sexism present. True, it was mostly among pure-blood idealists, but still.
Muggles on the other hand...
There were few inhibitions on the internet I found. People seemed to take the anonymity seriously and took it to extremes. There was a lot of ugly behavior in chat rooms and forums, but there was also a lot of honesty, though not a comforting honesty.
There was also a disconcertingly large volume of pornography, mostly for men, or at least most of which did nothing for me. I did manage to find a lot of naked pictures of men, not doing anything, just standing there nude. I found it fascinating comparing body shape, and trying to find what I did and did not find attractive.
There was of course the penises. They all seemed rather... large and it had in fact been quite a relief to find Harry wasn't so similarly endowed. He was by no means small, and it certainly felt large when it was inside of me, but he was not even close to the apparently selected for the size of their penis models that existed on the internet.
I had also found a rather surprising fascination with rope bondage, which was where I headed to now, to a favorite site of mine. It was nothing more than a directory of pictures in a column of text. Each link would show a picture of someone tied up somehow. Men and Women were trussed up in all manner of rope and cuffs and chains, and they all looked so beautiful to me.
Particularly the men, the way their muscles swelled against rope, or stretched if pulled taut. It was gloriously easy to transpose Harry's in their place. I definitely had to get him to let me tie him up after break. I wanted to experiment on him, at my leisure, and find all the places on his body that made him crazy. Our last time together had been overwhelming, and truth be told he did overwhelm me in the moment, many moments in fact. Every time I told myself before hand that I would keep a cool head, that I was going to focus on him this time, and then he'd be kissing me, and his hands would be everywhere and and it's like my mind would vanish, replaced with a body that just wanted more, a cunt wanting to be filled, a mouth wanting to be kissed, and a body wanting to be held and fondled, joyous in my partner's obvious exuberance at my simple aesthetic charms.
I wanted to tie him up and have my way with him, at my own pace, and see how loud I could get him to scream, he had given me sly looks ever since our first time in the boy's locker room after practice and I wanted to balance the scales so to speak. I also wanted to keep my head through an entire encounter. I didn't like losing control like that as much as I may have enjoyed it in the moment. Truth be told I wanted to be above all else a confident lover. A seductress. Not a slag mind you, I'm not loose, but I wanted to feel sexy and powerful. All my heroes were strong confident women, who achieved great things and allowed no one to look down on them. I always liked to imagine them then taking their lovers in hand with a look that said I know all the things you'll enjoy most and I'm going to spend the night doing them, enjoy the ride of your life, and the look I'd get in return.
I clicked through the next few pictures with one hand while the other played with my nipples. They were aching hard now and I stopped to stare a bit at a picture of a woman on her knees, eyes closed and a cock in her mouth. Her hands were bound behind her back and she wore a collar around her neck and I immediately thought of Gabrielle. When I had kissed her I really had just been doing it to kick Harry a bit of a kick in the trousers, but I had gotten lost in it. There was something so deeply sexual about her. She knew exactly what she wanted and encouraged Harry extensively, and I envied her surety. I opened my mouth biting back a squeak when I pinched my nipple and a jolt went straight through my stomach to clit. It seemed to swell in response to my pinch and a shifted, pressing my thighs together relishing the slickness I know felt as I used my legs to shift the lips of my pussy against each other.
I like to prolong this as much as possible, no sense rushing through, the build was often as much fun as the climax itself if done right.
I used both hands to squeeze my breasts after clicking to the next picture; a man lay face up on a bed arms and legs together and bound, very tightly, to the head and foot of the bed. He was stretched taught and the muscles of his chest and stomach were frankly glorious.
A woman lay between his legs with her head mere inches from his cock, all hard and red. Her tongue was extended and the tip just touched the tip of his cock. The photographer had managed to capture an image of the man mid climax, so there was a shock white strand of semen shooting up in an arc from him, the man's face was a rictus of pleasure or pain, it was hard to tell. I wondered if she had done nothing but tickle that tiny spot Harry had told me was the most sensitive. I wondered how long it would take for Harry to come if I did that, and how torturously slow it would be, and what kind of noises he would make, trapped between pleasure and need. The woman's face enraptured me, and I saw in it that perfect blend of confidence and sensuality, this was her man and she knew exactly what to do to him.
I squeezed my breasts again and relished the sensation. It really was quite delightful, like an ache I didn't know I had was being soothed. The attention Harry paid my breasts frankly amused me. There were times he became completely fixated and I had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. Yes I had been topless at the time, but still.
That being said when he used his mouth and hands on them it was electric, and I was more than happy to let him play as long as wanted, the things he did with his lips and tongue often left me weak in the knees, even if I was lying down.
The fourth picture was of the same couple, this time the woman had her breasts wrapped around the man's cock. His head was stretched up to watch and he looked mesmerized. I smiled as I realized my breasts were a bit bigger than the woman in the picture. I imagined doing this to Harry, sure he would appreciate it, but not thinking I'd get much out of it. Maybe I'd do it as a treat every once in a while.
Deciding to stay on this image for a while I reached down beneath my pajama pants and finally touched myself. With a content sigh I let the fingers of my right hand trail lightly around the very edge of my fanny, just teasing the opening and spreading the wetness I was producing around a little. My clit was throbbing now, begging for attention but I skipped it, this picture was hot but not exactly what I was looking for.
The next picture however, was. Or rather, I should say pictures. It was the same couple (I was quickly becoming a fan of them) but this was animated. Just six pictures in a loop (and it took forever to load), but she was riding the man now, her hands splayed on his chest, her head back in a silent scream while the man shook and struggled against his bonds.
My breath caught when it first loaded and I transported myself, imagining it was me riding Harry while he was bound to a bed, unable to reach up and fondle those breasts he was so fond of. I imagined him staring in want at them as they bounced wildly with my shagging, my head thrown back so he couldn't even look at my face, just my breasts taunting him with his confinement. I slipped my first two fingers inside and stroked them in and out, exploring the sensitive walls of my pussy, finding the spots that sent shivers down my spine and made my whole backside clench up and focusing on them. I like to explore every inch thoroughly and make mental notes about the different sensations I was eliciting. My other hand left the almost frantic fondling my chest to focus on my clit, now on fire, an almost painful throbbing, it felt enormous and seemed to draw focus from everything else. First contact with it sent a spasm through me, forcing my back to arch and I was unable to completely silence my whimper, trembling at the waves of pleasure roiling up through my body from my center, up to my nipples and across my throat, flushed and sweaty with effort.
My eyes closed involuntarily and I imagined taunting Harry, I'd moan and shriek and cry out, not stifle myself as I had to now, and I'd beg and whine about how hard my nipples were and how much I wanted them squeezed and licked and sucked, and it would drive Harry mad with longing. I stroked in and out of myself at a furious pace, as fast as I could go with out the soft wet sucking noises I was making getting too loud, while my left hand circled my clit over and over, and delicious friction that I stopped when I got to close to coming and started when I plateaued back to where my right hand left me, a soaking throbbing mess with a bubble in my pelvis that ached to be popped, but I held back knowing the longer I let it build the stronger it would be at the end.
Harry always stopped moving when he came, saying it was too sensitive to move, and while there was always some involuntary jerking and thrusting that made him groan and gasp he would usually pull me to him tight limiting my movement. I imagined him finally coming as I rode him, unable to stop my movements as I fucked him straight through his orgasm. How hard would he buck I wondered? How loud would he scream out. I remembered our first time, and the way he simply wouldn't stop when I came over and over. It was overwhelming and all I could do was clench and scream and I wanted to see if I could do that to him.
With this little fantasy I knew this would be the end, I didn't stop this time and rode to the edge fast, arching in my seat and sucking on the two fingers which had been buried in my pussy to silence my moans and whimpers while I stroked my clit hurriedly through my come.
When the waves of sensation ebbed and I settled back in my chair with a very satisfied sigh I opened my eyes back to the eternally screwing couple. After wiping myself off with a couple of tissues I went back to the main directory and noted the name of the pictures I had been viewing.
johnandjessica10001545592288882.jpg
johnandjessica10002233455683732.jpg
johnandjessica23304562387743.gif
I mulled over that, and decided to see if I could find them. I used a search engine and after looking up the combination of John, Jessica, and BDSM I found them. It was their own personal site, and they sold videos of themselves having sex, but had a number of pictures up for free. The real treat were the stories. The man, John, was a writer, and he liked to write out descriptions of him and his wife's sessions. I glanced at one and liked what I saw and knew I would return to this site later, I'm a big fan of some well written smut. Most of it is utter rubbish, but some really light my wand up.
For now I was done and satisfied, and saw that I had only spent forty minutes of my free time. I thought about returning to my homework, but a wave of lethargy overwhelmed me, and confident that I was well ahead for the winter break work, decided to wander aimlessly about the internet for a bit.
Nothing sexy for now, but I liked to wander forums and chat rooms, and read random articles about science and technology. I felt it kept me connected to my roots by reading up on the Muggle world and interacting with other muggles, even if it wasn't face to face. There were a number of science and philosophy forums I like to post and debate on, and there was even a chess forum with some very nice and helpful members who advised me on my game; I still held out hope of beating Ron one day.
Now however, I didn't want anything so cerebral. I had a rather guilty pleasure among the things I researched (all this related to sex not withstanding) I liked to investigate what Muggle's thought about magic. There was actually a great fascination with it, Muggle literature and myth was rife with it, and they had just as many stories about Merlin and fairies and elves as the Magical World did. Rather more actually, it is my theory that the reality of the Magical World is already to bizarre and fantastical there just isn't that great a call for fiction. There is some of course, but much of it is children's stories that hold no interest to me, or plays (Hogwarts actually used to have student perform plays, but they stopped due to a father sordid and accident prone performance during the earlier years of Dumbledore's Headmastership, full details of this can of course be found in Hogwarts a History).
There is also the occasional radio drama, but for the most part there's little fiction. I honestly think that's a little sad, some of my favorite books are novels. In any case, there were plenty of Muggle's who not only believed in magic, but pretended to practice it. Self professed Witches making potions out of pine brambles and peat moss and casting spells with candles and chalk on the floor. It was all in all quite funny, and I loved reading all the ridiculous things Muggle's came up with and called magic.
I amused myself reading about a spell to make someone fall in love with you. It involved burning crow's feathers and incense, with candles arrayed around a pentagram at precise points, and a poorly written chant in latin. All quite un-magical and absurd. I laughed quietly to myself at the thought of people actually trying this, knowing someone must have, and how disappointed they'd be the next day when their crush failed to act any differently.
It was easy to imagine lonely shy girls trying this, I mean really, when actually presented with real magic many I knew personally had thought about using a love potion at one time or another like such a thing were casual, terrifying if you ask me. I know Harry was scared.
I remember one time back before fifth year at the World Cup, Ginny had made some off-hand comment about a love potion and I had shot her down immediately. She claimed her mother told her a story of using a love potion on her father, but I had pressed and mentioned venomously, "what if Malfoy used one on you," she had turned white and vowed never to even think about it again, and while I had left the matter settled, it still made me squirm a bit at how casual Magicals were about what was little more than rape.
Yes, there was a lot of things wrong with the Magical World.
Things that, of course would have to change, and change they would, after Voldemort was done away with and Harry's burden was over. House Elf rights would have to wait until after my best friend was safe.
Trying to lift my sudden melancholy, I discovered something rather startling. Hogwarts had a website. It was a plain white page with black text, and simply listed Hogwarts as a boarding school for exceptional children, no address, but there was a phone number with a Scotland area code. Hogwarts was also listed in the national directory and even came up in a couple of hits on forums.
Intrigued I clicked the first link, but it turned out to be nothing more than someone complaining about their best friend being away for school and mentioning the name in passing, and later posts didn't even mention it except to make a joke about the name.
I wondered who the friend could be and went back to the search page to click the next link.
This one was more of the same, except that reply post had a link outside of the forum with the message 'you mean this Hogwarts?'. Knowing there was no way I could not click that link I did so hurriedly, and felt my jaw go slack when the page finally loaded. Right at the top and center there was a photograph of Hogwarts, but it looked dilapidated and crumbling, and there was even a sign on the gates declaring the castle condemned and a danger for falling rocks.
I realized this must be what Muggles saw when they looked at Hogwarts, and wondered that there was enough information to connect the actual site of Hogwarts to the name, so much so that some random Muggle had photographed it and made a website about it. Below the picture there was a block of text I read excitedly.
---
For most the name Hogwarts means nothing, though a very small amount of people know it as a very exclusive boarding school for exceptional children. There is a website and a telephone number which I have called, though there is no live operator, only a recording and an answering machine inviting people to leave an address to receive a brochure. I utilized this service with a public address (you will understand my caution later) and received said brochure. It was as plain as their website, and held no detail, only a slightly longer description of the school with vague and unspecific facts about positive learning environments, and an accelerated specialized curriculum. It stated in no uncertain terms that admission to Hogwarts was never by request, that you were either offered a place at their school or not, applications would not be accepted.
While this may seem extreme, it is by no means unique, though most schools have an open admission process, some elite schools operate this way, however other schools can be visited...
As it turns out, while a number is listed there is not one address listed for Hogwarts in any district in Scotland. Not one. Believe me I tried finding one for months and could not. The above picture is based on many clues I have come across over the years, and is I believe the supposed site of the school begging the question, where is the real school located?
I know for a fact that this place exists. Nearly twenty years ago, I was a young father, with a beautiful ten year old boy who was very excited to start secondary school with his best friend and neighbor, the child of the couple living two doors down. Imagine the dismay when he finds out his best friend will not be attending school with him, but will instead be attending a boarding school in northern Scotland for nearly ten months out of the year and only be home for summers.
With promises of always being friends my son's best friend left and returned changed. He was more energetic and fun than I ever remember and I wondered about the school and wondered if I could perhaps get my son invited. I could of course not do so, though why will become clear later.
Over the years my son's friend grew more and more distant, and lost all interest in television and films, didn't care about any of the sports he and my son used to be fans off. They hung out less and less over the summers and near the end I swear he had an almost permanent grimace, and seemed quite paranoid most of the time. He also took to carrying around a short stick everywhere he went, and I once caught him pointing it at the neighborhood cat for a good minute late at night from my bedroom window.
His posture was tense, and he didn't relax until the cat stalked away. At the time I paid it no mind, then my son died.
---
I gasped, nearly twenty years ago would have put this story firmly during the worst point of Voldemort's first rise to power, just before Harry defeated him for the first time. I kept reading, sweeping across the page as fast as I could.
---
I remember waking up hearing shouting, looking out my window and having my attention brought to something bright green in the sky, and then nothing. I don't remember going back to bed but I woke up in it in the morning and stepped out to get the morning paper to see police surrounding my son's friend's house, where he had been staying the night. I ran in my slippers dropping my paper in my haste and leapt the tape barrier only to be grabbed by two constables, I don't remember screaming, but I was told I kept shouting "my son was in that house" over and over until I was led away by an elderly officer, clearly in charge and he took me by the shoulders and asked me what my son looked like.
I watched his face fall as I described him, and i barely heard his sorrowful declaration that everyone in the house was dead. My son, his friend, his friend's parents, his sister even. It wasn't until a week later the official report was released. There wasn't a mark on any of them, they all seemed to have up and died, time of death was within twenty minutes of one another. The only explanations anyone could come up with was simultaneous brain aneurisms by an unknown cause.
A year passed and interest died down for everyone not directly affected. It wasn't until the one year anniversary to be exact, I was standing outside the house where it happened, no one had bought it and it was currently in escrow (guess no one wants to buy a house where five people mysteriously died). I was just standing there staring at the house where my son had died when a young man wearing a bright red cloak stepped up to me.
I have written the conversation down as best I can remember:
"Did you know the NAME REDACTED?"
"Their Son was friends with my Son, he was staying over that night."
"I'm so sorry. I was good friends with NAME REDACTED at school."
"Hogwarts?"
He looked a little surprised, "that's right"
"It was so close to the end you know? Days even, two days later and it was over."
"What was over?"
"Oh, but you wouldn't know would you? Don't worry about it, it's nonsense."
The conversation died after that, neither of us had much to say, and it was clear he was there for the same reason I was, to honor someone's memory and I didn't really know how to respond to the last thing he said. Before he left he pulled out a pocket watch with too many hands on it and then walked away with a sad smile and a short wave. I waved back, but now I was curious.
He had made no mention of the odd clothes he was wearing, in fact he didn't seem to be aware of how much he stood out, and when I glanced over to see where he had gone after a moment he was simply gone. Yes, there was something up with this school, and from what the young man had said he knew some detail about the circumstances of the family and my sons death. I recognized something else in his sadness, there was no despair there, no unbearable sense of why, no mystery. That was a man grieving in a different way, a way I recognized, the same way my father grieved for his friends after World War Two.
I will not bore you with the details of my journey, but I eventually found myself to the supposed location of Hogwarts. I was, compelled not to stay. I do not know why or how, but I was only there long enough to snap a single picture, before I had to use the bathroom rather desperately. The second time I approached I suddenly remember I had not phoned my Mother in quite some time. The third time I had to call my accountant. I did not try a fourth time. I am hesitant to list any of my theories as to why this happens, I do not want you to think I am crazy. I do not believe in mind control rays or hypnotism or anything of the like, but I am at a loss to explain why I could not approach this castle, with other mundane things seemingly sprouting from nothing and demanding my attention. If I had not been so scared of my uncontrollable reaction to approaching the castle, I would have started marking the path up to it to see if it was at a specific distance I suddenly had to go do something else.
As it was I decided to play the safe route and investigate from afar. My first break was getting my hands on the Ministry of Education's student registry. I'm afraid I may have done this illegally, hence the anonymity of this website. In any case, I found that every student's file for the last forty years lists schools and basic marks for every stage of education. After several months of tedious work I managed to make a database of Hogwarts attendees.
I discovered a lot from this, but the most important discovery was that Hogwarts lasted seven years making it easy to cross reference census data. As it turns out, every single Hogwarts graduate drops of the face of the earth. I have yet to find a single Hogwarts graduate paying rent somewhere, with an active motorist license, with a wedding registry, or any official documentation beyond a birth certificate and in some cases a death certificate. None of them had even paid any taxes and didn't appear on any lists for municipal databases.
I did manage to find one person who had attended Hogwarts for five years before dropping out. I told them I was a reporter doing a story comparing boarding schools and had my questions happily answered. The student's answers were distressingly vague, and he even expressed some distress at not being able to remember fine details, just vague recollections. He did remember the people, he had many friends that he had not spoken to in many years, but details, and coursework- nothing.
I started to have nightmares about memory erasers, undistinguished men in black suits with lights that made you forget things.
This is where I hit a wall, I tried talking to relatives of current and former students but got nothing, and a few even seemed hostile. I am done, I am not over my son's death, and never will be, but I no longer have the energy to investigate this, it is beyond me, and something far larger and more significant. Too many things are smoothed over, and there are too many inconstancies being ignored to assume anything less than some sort of conspiracy or hidden group. Whatever it is I leave my thoughts and information at your disposal, and I'll even answer any questions you have at the email listed below.
Since I have posted this I have been contacted by others who have investigated Hogwarts or other schools in other countries with the same oddities, and have included links to those other pages, hopefully someone smarter and more capable than I can figure all this out.
---
The bottom of the page was a series of links to the other sites the writer mentioned. I was hooked, and looked at them all while my heart ached at the what the writer had gone through. I and any other magical would know of course, that they were probably killed with the Avada Kedavra curse, and the green light in the sky was probably a Dark Mark. I grumbled internally, his son was a muggle and was likely killed as an afterthought, with no significance, the boy who had attended Hogwarts the real target.
One site stood out in particular, it was a group dedicated to investigating what they believed was a vast conspiracy, a secret society trying to run the world in the background recruiting through various fake schools like Hogwarts and to my amazement Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, Salem, New Haven of Buenos Ares, and even Isis School of Magic and Sorcery in Egypt were mentioned as other so called "shadow schools".
I sat back stunned, parts of the theories on this site were far off, but some were surprisingly accurate. Just the fact that a semi-accurate list of the premier magical schools was impressive and a bit scary. I wondered if the various magical governments were even aware of the internet, let alone aware of some Muggles interest in the magical world, though they seemed to believe it was some sort of global conspiracy; though I suppose in some ways it was, albeit far from malicious as the people on this forum seemed to believe.
For the most part the Magical world separated itself from the rest of society out of fear. Muggles outnumbered Magicals hundreds of thousands to one plus or minus several thousand depending on the region. While the world used to be far less populated the ratio of Magical to Muggle has remained somewhat constant over the years barring Muggle or Magical exclusive wars or baby booms.
When Magicals and Muggles were aware of one another, not only were there less Magicals about, but they were often very reclusive individuals and often required trials or tasks of valor or honor or whatever quality the Magical in question valued to allow petitions to help from Muggles. This was mostly in an attempt to stave of the droves of Muggles wanting quick fixes to their problems, as Magicals were hounded thorough their entire lives, and as Muggles grew better and better at killing each other Magicals got scared and they left, never to reveal themselves to the Muggle populous again.
I've often thought about a future where Magical and Muggle society works together, but it seems far off and truthfully many of the reasons Magicals decided to hide are good ones. I'm honestly not sure if it could ever successfully happen, but I'm hopeful.
Deciding I needed to investigate this further I saved the addresses of the collection of sites discussing the "shadow school" conspiracy for later and turned off my computer. I had spent quite enough time and wanted to get an early start tomorrow so I could have breakfast with my parents before they left for work.
I settled down to bed on my side clutching a pillow to my chest. I quite enjoyed cuddling with someone to sleep. Having Harry hold me while we had slept had been brilliant and I vowed to do it more. Perhaps next near I'd be Head Girl and have a big old room all to myself, and nice big bed I'd enlarge and invite Harry and Gabrielle to join me in every once in a while. If I was really lucky Harry would make Head Boy, despite never being a prefect (this had happened two hundred and seven times in the history of Hogwarts, Harry's own father an example) and we'd both have private rooms so his absence wouldn't be noted, though he did have that link to Gabrielle's room, it would be quite aggravating to transport down to the third floor and then all the way back up to Gryffindor tower just to sneak up the girls staircase and get to to my room.
Of course, no one would notice if I wasn't sleeping in my dorm...
I clutched my pillow tighter and buried my face where my imagined cuddle partner's neck was. I remember sleeping quite innocently with Ginny at the world cup. It had been cold that night so we bundled up under both our blankets. Ginny had been shorter than me then, so she had pressed up against my back and I held her like giant teddy bear. Sweet really. I'm sure Harry would have made more a deal out of it, or any other boy for that matter, but boys are weird like that. No matter how cold they were there's no way I'd ever catch Harry and Ron cuddling, I mean I don't think I've ever even seen them hug, not like normal people, just one handed back slapping stupidity, like they have to make a hug halfway into a fight so they don't seem un-manly.
Honestly...
As I lay in bed begging my mind to turn off so I could fall asleep I mulled lazily about what I'd work on tomorrow. My potions work could honestly be finished tomorrow if I worked hard and long enough at it.
It was at this moment I had an epiphany.
The style of discovery used for Potions was as close as the Magical world got to scientific method. It was still woefully simplified, but the similarities were there. The reason for this I realized was that Potions was an extension of Alchemy as was Chemistry. Alchemy was one of the original magics along with elemental and ritual, and for Muggles Alchemy eventually turned into modern Chemistry.
So that meant they were parallel.
So if Chemistry and Potions were related perhaps the other physical sciences ran in parallel as well, and I could potentially use that similarity to achieve something new.
What were the parallels then? Charms was probably Physics, though most charms broke the rules of Physics quite soundly. Never the less, Charms were used to change physical properties like weight and mass and size, color and shape. Charms made things fly or stay put.
What was Transfiguration then. Perhaps genetics, something Muggles were only now starting to advance in, but no, inanimate objects could be transfigured, so perhaps Molecular Science, something I had never studied before.
Herbology was Horticulture and Arithmancy was Mathematics. So far I had failed to pair anything in Arithmancy with anything in Muggle math, but something told me I needed to read up on imaginary numbers before trying again.
The obvious choice on where to start was Charms. Of all the sciences my best subjects was Chemistry and Physics, so Charms was first as Potions was almost as far along as I thought I could merge the two at the moment. Charm though, I needed to run experiments, but how could I while I was at home.
Of course! The legal exception spells, I'd start performing experiments on them tomorrow, and I busied myself with reciting what those spells were. Reciting usually set me to sleep unless there was a test the next day.
Lumos
Nox
Point Me
Sparks
Ember
Lumos
Nox
Point Me
Sparks
Ember
Lumos...
Nox...yawn
Point...
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CONTINUED IMMEDIATELY, SECOND HALF OF CHAPTER ALREADY UP
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