FicWad

Chapter 14
Editor: The Resident
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Harry Potter walked through the corridors toward the hospital wing of Hogwarts. He had taken the girls back to their homes, and hurried to Hogwarts to see what had happened to Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall's letter was shocking. He had never received such letter from a professor before, and suspected that she hoped he could help the old headmaster with his elemental capabilities.

Harry opened the doors of the hospital wing and entered. Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall stood in front of the office and looked up when they heard him. Madam Pomfrey looked tense, and Professor McGonagall seemed to be happy that he'd arrived so quickly.

"Mr. Potter, we are so happy that you have arrived," Professor McGonagall said. "Professor Dumbledore is sick, and he left instructions behind to contact you in case something happened to him."

"Good night, Professor, Madam Pomfrey," Harry said with a small bow. "Where is Professor Dumbledore?"

Madam Pomfrey walked toward a closed-off corner of the hospital wing. It was impossible to see the corner itself at a first glance, because it was hidden by a Misting Spell. When you looked closely at the corner, you could see nothing else but greyish mist.

Harry and Madam Pomfrey walked through the mist and appeared into a private room. In the centre of the room was one bed where Professor Dumbledore lay on his back. He looked very pale, and Harry could see the age showing in his face. He never realized how old the headmaster really was, but now he could see that he was considerably aged. Harry concentrated himself on his elementals, and asked to 'feel' what was going on. Harry got the impression that something was wrong with his head.

"What happened, Madam Pomfrey?"

"Well, Mr. Potter... Harry. The headmaster had an accident this morning. I did everything in my power to heal him, but he is still in coma, and there is no way to know when he will come out of it," Madam Pomfrey said.

"What kind of accident, Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked patiently.

She hesitated for a moment. "He slipped when he was taking his bath. He fell and hit his head at the corner of the bathtub. He hurt his head and was unconscious from that moment. He was found by a house elf several hours later."

"He fell and hit his head on the bathtub?" Harry asked unbelievingly.

"Yes. He is only a human, Mr. Pot- Harry. Everyone has accidents," Madam Pomfrey said with a small smile.

It was unbelievable for the greatest wizard of all time that his end would be like this. Harry took a chair next to the headmaster's bed and sat down. He concentrated on his earth element and started the process of healing. The headmaster glowed briefly green. Madam Pomfrey's eyes widened slightly; she never witnessed a healing by an elemental. She'd never seen an elemental. She looked briefly at Harry, who seemed to be in a trance. She assumed he was concentrating on his elemental ability.

Harry felt that there was something very wrong with Dumbledore's head, something that felt like pressure on his forehead. He willed his elemental to heal, but he got the feeling of frustration. He inserted an extra earth elemental to the one that was already working. The feeling of frustration decreased, but it was still there. Now, Harry concentrated himself on four elementals, and the feeling of frustration disappeared. Dumbledore's head started to glow green, and a strange green halo appeared above his head.

Madam Pomfrey noticed a green halo appearing above Dumbledore's head. She also saw a direct improvement of the skin colour of her patient. There was a blush on his face! Dumbledore's eyes fluttered open and looked around in amazement.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry stood up from his chair, feeling strange. He looked at the light bulbs, floating above his head, and he noticed that four of his green earth elements were paler then the fifth one. He became aware of a faint feeling of weakness. Harry assumed that was because of the efforts it took to cure Dumbledore.

Dumbledore sat up in his bed and he looked thoughtfully at Harry.

"Are you alright, Harry?" he asked.

"Yes, Professor, I am alright," Harry answered the old wizard. "I think that I exhausted my elementals." Harry was amazed. Until now, he had never encountered anything like that before, but he had also no idea of his limits. Now, he could clearly see that his earth elementals were limited at least in something.

Dumbledore looked pensive for a moment, and turned back to Harry. "Please don't go, I need to discuss something very important with you," he said.

"Alright, Professor," Harry answered with a smile. "How do you feel?"

Dumbledore laughed. "Can you imagine? The greatest wizard alive could almost end so... normally, like a normal human being. I almost died because of a slip in the bathroom."

Madam Pomfrey was huffing from her position. "Albus, please lay down so I can examine you properly."

Harry walked out of the room, feeling hungry.

"Dobby," he said.

"Yes, Master Harry Potter, sir?" said a voice from behind him.

Harry turned around.

"Hi Dobby," he said. "How are you?"

"The Master asked how I am?" the little house elf asked in amazement. "I am so well, Master Harry Potter, sir. Thank you for asking. What can Dobby do for you?"

"I would like to eat," Harry replied.

"Of course, sir. One moment, please." He snapped his fingers, and a table with a tray with sandwiches appeared in front of Harry. Harry took a nearby chair, sat down and started to eat like he had been starving for days.

"I would like to keep you here for the night under observation, Albus," said Madam Pomfrey from the room behind the misty smoke screen.

"I am alright, Poppy. Not only that, Harry is with me, and if something went wrong, he would help me for sure," the headmaster answered.

"But you are still weak, Albus. I don't think it is wise to get out of bed so fast," replied Madam Pomfrey shrilly.

Dumbledore walked out of the hidden room and went straight to Harry. A smile was on his face, and when he saw that Harry was eating, his smile grew wider.

"Thank you so much, Harry. I understood that I was in a coma, and that you got me out of it," Dumbledore said.

"It was no problem, Professor," Harry answered, finishing his last sandwich. "Did you want to talk to me?"

"Yes, dear boy, I need to talk to you. I have a book that I need to give to you, and I want to talk about that book. It is in my office, and if you would be so kind to flash us to my office, then we can escape Poppy, before she can force me to stay," he said with a smile.

Harry nodded, grabbed Dumbledore's sleeve, concentrated shortly on an air elemental, and they appeared in Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore immediately went to his desk, and sat down with a great sigh. He opened his drawer and took out a large black book, and laid it on his desk in front of Harry.

"Take a seat, Harry," he said.

Harry sat down and looked at the book.

The book was bound in black leather, and on the foreside of the book he could see the title in red gothic lettering, 'The Elemental Magical Spells'.

"Is this book for me, Professor?" Harry asked.

"Yes, my dear boy. This book is especially for you and your gifts," Dumbledore said.

"You see, since we discovered that you are an elemental sorcerer, I started to do some research. I found out that only Merlin was the only one before you who was a serious elemental sorcerer, and a very powerful one at that. Merlin created special magic, useful only to an elemental sorcerer; that magic is documented here," he tapped on the book.

"This book is only for you, and nobody else. When I open the book, I see many pages, but they are all blank. I don't see any letters or text in the book, nor do I see the title. For me, it is a nice, black leather book with nothing in front and nothing in it. The book is charmed in a way that only elemental sorcerers can see what is written in and on this book.

"Can you see the title of the book, Harry?"

"Yes Sir, it says 'The Elemental Magical Spells'", Harry answered.

"Then this book yours," Dumbledore said. He pushed the book towards Harry. "You can take this book and keep it. I don't want to have it back, because you are the elemental sorcerer, and nobody else."

Harry looked at the book and opened it. The book was not large, neither heavy. Inside he could see the index of many spells, and the section was divided into twelve levels, with the last level titled, 'Dark Elemental Magic'.

Harry looked up at the professor.

Dumbledore nodded knowingly. "I want you to listen carefully to me, Harry," he said slowly. "What I am going to say to you is very important."

Dumbledore relaxed somewhat in his chair and collected his thoughts.

"There are many forms of magic," he continued. "What you learn here at Hogwarts is one form of magic, and what you have in your hands is a rarer form of magic. That magic can only be wielded by wizards or witches who possess the gift of elemental magic. An elemental sorcerer is such person.

"The elemental magic from this book is only a wrapper around your elements. With the help of those spells in the book, the ability of an element is transformed into a magical effect, like a normal spell usually does. Merlin created those spells because of the danger of learning to control his elements. It was safer for him to create and use that magic, than try to control a blizzard which was created by one of his elements. Many people died that day when the blizzard was traveling over the lands.

"Many spells in that book are extremely powerful, much more powerful than conventional magic. The reason for that is of course, the elemental magic, and the other reason is that many of the spells influence very large areas, while conventional magic does that rarely.

"For example, there is one spell in that book of yours which is called 'Titanic Devastation'. That spell unleashes gigantic seismic waves that that put extreme frictional stress on localized tectonic plates. It causes a violent displacement of the crust, releasing strain via vibrations, tremors, and shifting of earth and rocks. In other words, this spell creates an earthquake. It is also a level eleven spell, which means advanced elemental magic. There is no such spell in conventional magic. "

Dumbledore paused and looked at Harry. Harry looked in amazement at the book. What a power that magic was. He could now find the power Voldemort did not know.

"Does that mean that this is the power that Voldemort does not know, and will so end the prophecy," Harry asked.

"Let us hope," Dumbledore said forcefully.

Harry opened the book to page 54, but he saw nothing, only blank pages.

"The book is empty," he cried.

Dumbledore smiled. "No, look at the level one spells," he said.

Harry opened the book at page one, and indeed he saw a table of spells. The table had three columns: the first column listed the name of the spell, the second column listed the incantation, and the last column listed the description of the spell.

The first spell he saw was the spell 'Circle of Light', and began to read the description.

"This spell enables the caster to create a magical ball of light of any colour from infrared through ultraviolet, five centimetres in diameter that will illuminate an area up to seven meters in radius from the ball itself. The brightness of the ball and the colour of the ball are at the discretion of the spell caster. This ball of light will either float in a fixed position, or can be thrown as a ball by the spell caster. Duration is ten minutes per elemental element of spell caster."

The incarnation is 'accipio suffragium lumos'.

Harry looked confused to Dumbledore. "Where are the wand movements?"

Dumbledore smiled. "There is no wand movement needed," he said. The special thing about that magic is that you need to focus on the incantation and speak it. The wand is normally needed to focus the magic, but your elementals are doing it already. Try the first spell," he said.

Harry tried to focus on the incarnation.

'Accipio suffragium lumos'

Nothing happened.

He tried again.

'Accipio suffragium lumos'

Still nothing happened.

"You need to focus on the effects you want to establish," the headmaster said.

Now Harry was focusing him self on a red ball, not bright, but giving warm light and floating in a fixed position above desk of Dumbledore.

'Accipio suffragium lumos'

A dimmed ball of fire appeared above the desk radiating warm light.

"I managed!" yelled Harry excitedly.

"Yes," smiled Dumbledore.

"You need to learn all the spells of the first level," he said. "When you have finished all the spells of the first level, the spells of the second level will become visible, and you can continue with studying.

"It is extremely important that you make haste to learn all those spells from this book," Dumbledore said. "Because it is a power Voldemort does not know, and I imagine that you will need the knowledge of this book. It is much safer to practice and use this magic than that you try to learn to use and control your own elemental magic, Harry. The last is a process which will take many years to accomplish, and that time you don't have."

Harry nodded, and looked to the second spell.

The name of the spell was 'Circle of Dark'.

"This spell enables the caster to create a magical ball of darkness, five centimetres in diameter that will illuminate an area up to seven meters in radius from the ball itself. Glowing objects within this circle will still glow, but their light will not illuminate anything but themselves. Duration is ten minutes per elemental element of spell caster."

He wondered why he should use this spell.

The 'Shroud of Smoke' was much more useful, he thought. "Fire Elementals striking this spell can conjure a cloud of thick, black, smoke they can manipulate to hide or cause foes to fly into fits of coughing."

The 'Fire-writing Spell' was cool, because he could draw letters in the air of flames. Then he read the 'Tornado Sphere' which was also cool. This spell could create a sphere of compressed air around a target, trapping it slightly off the ground. Harry could read nine spells for the level one.

"I think I can do that, Professor. There are only nine spells for this level. Does that mean that when I have learned that spells, that I can study level two spells?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore nodded.

Then Harry narrowed his eyes and looked at Dumbledore suspiciously.

"How do you know all that, sir?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I have read the notes of Merlin, which he wrote when he was creating the spells for the elemental magic. That is how I am able to advise you so far. Though, I am afraid that this is the maximum I can tell you about it, Harry. The rest is up to you. I advise you to go to the empty spot in Ireland and try out the magic. Please, do it as fast as you can," Dumbledore said.

Harry stood up and bowed to the old professor. "Are you sure you are alright, sir? You look rather tired," he said.

"No, Harry, I am alright. I'm indeed tired. I think I am going to sleep for a while, and when I am awake, I'm sure I will be fine as usual," he said.

Harry smiled. He concentrated himself on the location in Ireland and moved away.

He saw the empty grassland appearing again, and he opened the book. He was able to do the spell 'Circle of Light', but he wanted to be sure.

"Accipio suffragium lumos!"

A light bulb appeared twenty meters in front of him, exactly the way in which he liked to have it. He concentrated on the light bulb, and the colour changed from deep red to orange, then to yellow and then to white. He could also change the brightness of the light from dimmed and dulled light, to an intense light source.

Then Harry willed the ball to move, and the ball of light started to move in wide circles around him. That was a bit better then the old Lumos spell, where he had light only from his wand. With this light he could play, except that he could not let the ball of light disappear. According the book, the ball would float for ten minutes, before it disappeared.

Then, he tried the 'Circle of Dark' spell. As with the 'Circle of Light' spell, a ball appeared in front of him, except it was black, and the radius of the spell was black... there was nothing to see. Harry moved the black ball towards his ball from 'Circle of Light' spell, and he saw indeed the lit ball, but no other details. It looked very weird, like there was a black hole in the sky.

He tried the next spell. This spell was called the 'Shroud of Smoke', which would conjure a cloud of thick, black, smoke.

"Fumo subnubilus!" Harry yelled.

Indeed, a cloud of thick, black smoke appeared in front of him; it looked very unhealthy. The smoke was moving very slowly and unnaturally. There was currently a lot of wind on the grassland where he was, but the black smoke was moving on its own, very slowly, and not in any direction at all. The 'Shroud of Smoke' might be useful when he wanted to cause confusion.

Harry concentrated on the smoke, and it started to change shape. It became wider, and higher, and Harry could change the shape and the diameter of the area the smoke was occupying. Then he shrank the smoke until it was the size of a tennis ball. When he focused on the smoke and wanted it to disappear, the smoke disappeared in front of his eyes. At last, a spell that was fully under his control.

The next spell was the Fire-writing Spell. Harry concentrated himself again.

"Scribo Aduro!"

A fireball burst out of his hands into the sky where it exploded with many flames, and changed into writing 'Hello'.

Harry smiled. He willed the writing to disappear, and tried again. After several times trying and experimenting with the spell, he managed to display all kinds of texts in the sky, in all kinds of colours and variations.

The 'Blast of the Way' Spell was something strange. When he shot it to a conjured stone, the stone rolled away when it was hit by the spell. The stone lit up briefly, and a short glow could be seen around it.

The 'Pyrefly' was nothing else then a small bulb which could fly. The bulb behaved very much like a fly indeed. Harry had no idea why such a spell existed, but he learned it anyhow.

With the 'Tornado Sphere', he could lift anything and hover it in any position in the sky; it was fun to play with the stones, and a bit nicer and easier than its equivalent with normal magic.

Harry felt weird when he used the 'Shower of Cinders' spell. Small showers of flaming cinders flew out of his mouth. When they hit a stone, they quickly fizzled out. The radius was about fifty meters. He could imagine that it would look funny in the dark.

The other stupid spell was 'Wind'. He played with the spell for a while with several conjured stones. The spell looked like the 'Tornado Sphere' Spell.

When he finished learning all the spells of the first level, he looked curiously at his new book. Dumbledore was correct, slowly the letters started to appear in the pages where the spells were supposed to be listed for the second level.

With a whistle of amazement, Harry saw that there were forty-seven spells in this level. While Harry studied the spells, he noticed that all the spells covered all four elements.

The first spell he noticed was the spell to detect magic. He assumed that this spell could show whether an object was magical, and which were not. He also could create a bank with fog, yellow snowballs, play with sparks, and learnt how to drench somebody in water below freezing temperatures.

Harry's eyebrows went up because the spells looked so unpractical. He continued to read. The 'Chilblains' spell was a bit better. The ice spell could summon up a gust of cold, moist air that could cause blood vessels below the skin to be damaged, causing numbing, skin inflammation, blisters, and open sores if left untreated. Nothing to seriously defend yourself with, he thought, but it might come handy sometime.

The spell 'Scarlet Eyes' appeared to be more interesting. Casting his scarlet eyes at a person caused flames to dance in their eyes in a specific sequence, which created a hypnotic trance in anyone who made eye contact with him.

Harry was not sure how he could use the 'Ears of the Dolphin' spell, except that his hearing was enhanced.

The 'Azure Waltz' was much more useful. This caused a small rainstorm.

The 'Vines of Binding' Spell was also interesting to see. It made thorn-covered vines tangle around stones or other people. The vines looked very serious, and potentially very harmful.

The 'Stalactite' spell was much more interesting. An Earth Spell conjured spear-like stalactites to fall from the sky. The 'Rock Candy' spell was extremely interesting. He could transform any rock, stone, or dirt into an edible substance. He tried to do it with a small stone, and willed it to change the taste into strawberry ice cream. It worked! According the book, it was also really ice cream for the stomach, not just an illusion. In principle, he could eat whatever he wanted.

The 'Lay of the Land' spell was useful. Casting the spell gave an elemental inherent knowledge of the sort of plants that lived in the vicinity, what species they were, and what effect they would have if consumed.

The 'Fists of Flame' was dangerous, but in a short fight potentially useful. A spell that could be used for a variety of different things, but could also be self-destructive in careless hands. Casting this spell temporarily transformed the user's hands into solid flame. It allowed the Fire Elemental to add intense heat to their punches, and handle hot objects without injury. In a more offensive manner, it could also be targeted at foes.

The 'Heatseeker' spell was also interesting. Harry shot blasts of flame that sought out the nearest heat source, which was a poor rabbit he conjured shortly before the spell.

The 'Forge Flame' spell was very interesting. The spell enabled other skills. It allowed Harry to work flames as if they were metal in a forge, creating amulets, weapons, and other objects, according the book. Harry managed to make a rough hammer from the material, and the nice thing about it was that it truly felt like a hammer, only extremely hot. Harry himself was untouched by the temperature, but when he laid the hammer on the ground, the grass immediately burst into flames.

The 'Imprisoning Bubble' spell was useful to imprison a person, except that the person could cut the bubble, unless the bubble was floating hundred meters above the earth. Harry smirked.

The 'Misty Shadows' was also a useful spell. With this spell, Harry could create a cloud of mist around him that made him transparent, granting him a certain degree of invisibility, but leaving a trail of mist wherever he walked.

The 'Healing Elixir' spell could turn any bottle of water into a useful healing potion that could treat deep cuts, concussions, broken bones, and internal bleeding.

The last spell Harry covered was the 'Walk on Water'. He looked intently at the book and yes, there were the spells for the third level. He counted only thirteen new spells.

Harry had had enough. There was still the issue of visiting the hospital with the Hermione's father in the morning, and he needed to sleep. Harry concentrated himself shortly, and moved to his room, straight on to his bed.