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Harry Potter and the Celestial Zone
Chapter 8
7th July 2005


"Mr. Lucien will see you immediately, Mr. Potter." Harry moved away from the broom models on display in the waiting room and entered the office indicated. The lava was the most distinguished on display, apart from the firebolt. The company apparently had made other models, like the Flame 1 through 9, and the Volcanic v1 through z8.

What had attracted his attention though was the displays of Firebolt 3, a mark up of his own Firebolt, and the prototype of the Firestorm. Apparently, the Firestorm was going to drive the prices of the original Firebolt and its second version into the ground, placing itself as an equal to the Firebolt 3. Harry suspected they intended to sell the real Firestorm to armed forces units, but couldn't say so at the moment. He still didn't know who the other major stake holders in the company were, but he wasn't bothered yet.

"Mr. Potter! We didn't expect you till Christmas, but it is good to see you anyway. Our reports are that you're going very well on the Firebolt you currently use." Harry smiled at him. Raul Lucien was a lean man, wiry muscles and scared face: the very picture of a keeper who'd seen some real action. Harry turned thoughtful, "I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time today, perhaps a meal another time. For now, I'm more interested in brooms for my quidditch team."

Harry waited, but Raul didn't make any response other than to raise an eyebrow so he continued, "As I'm sure you know, I play for Gryffindor. While certain circumstances have dictated that I don't need a broom anymore, I am still active in the team. Because of our history of untimely injuries and such, I felt it would be good if we had an extra string of players just in case.

"To that end, you and Fire presently stand to make a large sale, if you play your cards right." Harry paused here, and Raul cast several soilencing and privacy spells around the room, "I have 14 new players coming in, of which perhaps 4 can afford brooms that perform at the level we need them to. On that note, I propose several things today." Harry opened up his legimency slightly, sensing what he could without prying or being discovered. Raul didn't move, and Harry took it as a sign he was in the clear.

"Firstly, I happen to know that the Firebolt 4 is on the same level as the actual Firestorm, and that both are ready for sale. I feel that if you had adequate advertising, you could stand to make quite a haul just from quidditch teams around the world. For example, I have stakes in teams from Africa, China, and the USA. I could easily have them come to Hogwarts to "watch for talents", as it's called.

"Second, if you bring the Firebolt prices down, and advertise your company as mine of choice, you stand to make a substantial gain from the quidditch players from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Of course there are conditions to this, which I will tell you about now. A, I want 14 new Firebolt 4s. B, I am willing to pay some, but not all of the cost. I can very well afford them, but I don't want to; on your side, your incentive for this is the influx of business and revenue.

"Now we come to the hardest part. Gryffindor begins practices within the fortnight and our first game, against Ravenclaw, is a month after that. I need those brooms in before that by a week at least. Do we have a deal?" Raul gazed at Harry for a while, studying him for insincereity, "Yes Mr. Potter, we have a deal; provided you pay 40% of the price." Harry shot back instantly, "25, unless you can deliver in a week, in which place it would be 35. For 40%, you would be giving me Firebolt 5s which aren't even off the drawing board."

Raul smiled, "you're a good one Harry, 30% and I'll have them delivered within a fortnight." He reached for parchment, and inked their contract before duplicating it several times. Harry added 'to be delivered to Gryffindor common room' before signing all copies of the contract. He smiled at Mr. Lucien and wrote out the letter allowing Fire to withdraw a certain amount of gold, duplicated it, and signed them, "Well Mr. Lucien, it's been nice meeting you, but I absolutely must get going. If you could provide me a portkey to Gringgots, that would be great."

Just before taking the portkey, he pulled out a small bag of Galleons, "I'd prefer you kept quiet about any of this, though if you must make an announcement, make sure it is not traceable to me." He dropped the bag of gold into the smiling Raul's hands and left.

---

The first round of the tournament began. I was interesting to say the least; the first years were eager to test themselves whereas the older 3rd and 4th years were more wary. It therefore became a game of sorts, where the little 1st and 2nd years tried to run circles round the older competitors. The gentler duelists like Dumbledore didn't bother too much and played along, letting the little ones get a feel for dueling. Conversely, the nastier ones like Snape did their opponents in as quickly as possible.

Harry himself met a first year Ravenclaw, who started out with a basic Flipendo hex. Harry blocked it and encouraged his opponent to try other spells. Like Dumbledore and Flitwick before him, Harry turned it into a learning experience for the boy: part way through, Harry told him to concentrate on knocking him out and use 'stupefy'. The first year figured it out soon that he'd just been taught a stunning hex and combined it with the leg-locking curse. Harry eventually showed him a disarming jinx and ended the match.

Neville, new wand and all after the Department of Mysteries incident, taught his own "charge" the body bind, and stinging hex. He won of course, but the Hufflepuff girl walked with a wealth of knowledge that possibly rivaled some 4th years'. Predictably, Draco Malfoy met a Gryffindor second year and knocked her out within a minute and gloated about it. Even the Slytherians scratched their heads and wondered what had happened, but Ron was more vocal, "What's up now Malfoy? Crowing about beating a second year? Thought the death eaters would have taught you better!"

Malfoy became red faced and pointed his wand at Ron, but stopped when he noticed Ron wasn't where he'd been just before. For his part, Ron had been waiting all summer for a chance to curse Malfoy and this was it! His wand pointed squarely between Malfoy's eyes, there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. Harry though, was still the exception, "C'mon Ron, you don't need to lower yourself to his level. The tournament is not an excuse for people to bully others; we are all here to learn what we can, and practice it under the best possible conditions. Enervate."

Harry revived the downed Gryffindor and helped him up, "don't worry about it, you'll improve with practice." And he turned and walked off, most of the student body following his lead now that the first round was over.

---

"Professor Flitwick! I completed it! I completed it!" Filius Flitwick turned and spotted Harry running down the corridor, a bounce to his leap, "Mr. Potter! How may I help you?" Harry stopped a while to catch his breath, "I completed the anti-lethifold variant! After we discussed it in class with Professor Lupin, I decided that all the others didn't know of it, so I'd produce one of my own.

"I pulled out several references I have on the Lethifold, and came up with one that could potentially destroy it, leaving nothing more than, say, a flying squirrel or bat. See the original Lethifold destroying curse was brute force mainly, though it now has some form of finesse. I've adapted it in a combination of Charms and Transfiguration, only that I need to test it." The Charms master blinked and stared; he himself hadn't known of this 'original' Lethifold destroyer, let alone the possibility of adapting it. Now one of his best students tells him he's come up with a variant of his own.

He frowned, "I applaude you for your effort, but are you even sure it has a chance? There are precious few references to Lethifolds that are actually accurate, and only one of them is in the library. In fact, Lethifolds were thought to be myths before Grindalwald tried to harness them." Harry paused, "I own those references Professor. In fact, one of those was Grindalwald's personal note book on the subject. He wanted to use dementors too, but he couldn't harness them properly.

"Any way, these are the calculations and notes. I was hoping you'd be able to help me and stuff on it. I already did my homework and its right at the bottom to ensure you read my notes. Some at least, so you know I actually did the thing properly. I'm off to consult Professor McGonagall before dinner, see you later!" Professor Flitwick laughed; he'd never seen a student so lively before. If he didn't know better, he'd have sworn Hermione Granger had done something with the boy.

Professor McGonagall was more of the same, "Firstly Mr. Potter, I also wish to applaude your efforts. 30 points to Gryffindor. However, as Professor Flitwick mentioned, it is very difficult to test. We don't even know the equations that lead to the Lethifold's power, much less produce a counter. I agree that the curse developed against it is mostly brute force, but surely you don't think you've come up with another solution?"

Harry sighed, the euphoria was dying off and he didn't want to go into depression about it, "Alright Professor, I'll come clean. I had a dream last night; a dream about Voldemort actually. He's got the latter part of Grindalwald's notes on the Lethifold and is gathering them for an attack. He completed the only enchantment that he has from Grindalwald's notes, which is to make the Lethifold undetectable to the school wards. Fortunately, I was far along enough in my studies that I had the power to stay semi-conscious to remember the vision, and at the same time block out the pain.

"I hold the rest of Grindalwald's notes, and he did extensive work on the Lethifold. I began this a long time ago now, but with the dream last night about breeding Lethifolds, it becomes imperative that we get this out now." Minerva McGonagall stared, Harry had definitely matured. He no longer depended on others for help, but instead looked for answers himself. She thought about it carefully, "I will review your calculations and corroborate with Professor Flitwick. Depending on what we find, either of us will contact Madam Bones about it." Harry grinned at her again and left the other stacks of calculations on her desk before sprinting out.

---

Runes and Arithmacy classes were going well. Very well in fact; the start of class consisted of a lecture and QNA of the week's work, and a rundown of the day's assignments. After that they were set work to do, and whatever couldn't be finished was taken as homework. Previously, Hermione had been the only one who finished before class ended, and constantly badgered the teachers about certain aspects of the subject.

Now though, Professor Vector and Professor Galaf, the new Runes professor, had more time to help the rest of the class because Harry always finished around the same time Hermione did, and discussed things with her instead of troubling the professors. This time, Harry was asked by Professor Vector to stay after class, "What can I do for you Professor?" Harry was calm, he'd done nothing wrong, and his face betrayed nothing.

Professor Vector smiled at him, "Nothing wrong Harry, it's just that Minerva and Filius contacted me to help them look over the eequations you put together. I felt some of it was somewhat shaky, but overall nothing drastically wrong. Since you have my class closest to when we sent it off, I was charged with the responsibility of telling you. Now, I would award you points if Filius and Minerva hadn't already, but we felt that the potential for your spell was great, and appended several notes.

"The first was about its applications. We hypothesized that with several minor changes which we listed, the spell could be used to an extent against Dementors without the draining effects of the Patronus Charm. We went on to describe how your preliminary calculations showed that it could also have applications against other dark creatures like the rare Vampire Lords and their underlings.

"The second note was about how you'd actually come to this on your own, mostly, and stuff like that. The immediate response was that they were intrigued and would look into it. We sent it to the Department of Mysteries, Charms Board, Transfiguration Board, and Runes Board, by the way, and we expect replies over the next month or so. In conjunction, Minerva felt we shouldn't award so many points, so she wishes to teach you Animagus transformations, while Filius requests to eventually take you on as a Charms Apprentice. Honestly, I've never seen him so excited about anything.

"So, I guess that leaves me. I really don't think I have anything more to teach you. A Runes master is one thing, but we aren't really respected anymore. We either teach or create spells, which is good, but not the same as before." She sighed here, and Harry just listened, "You may call me Vanessa when it's just us, by the way, but I really don't know how I could show that I am exceedingly proud of you."

Harry smiled, learning new things was all well and good, but he really didn't want any of it. He wanted someone to actually recognize him for something other than the "Boy-Who-Lived" title he'd been given, "It's alright Professor, you don't have to award me anything. Respect for who I am is all that I ask, not respect for fighting Voldemort, or respect for a scar on my head. And I have a job for you if you're ever interested: I happen to know of a certain set of caves that remains intact, but sealed against intruders. Inside that cave are a large set of Runes that nobody so far has understood or translated; I'd like you to try."

She smiled at him, "I'll think about it Harry, you better run off to Transfiguration. Minerva may be proud of you, but that won't stop her from punishing you for arriving late for class." Harry grinned at her and left.

---

"Harry! What are all those owls doing there? New fan mail or something?" Ron and Ginny had just entered the common room to find Harry's writing area cluttered with loads of owls and packages. Harry was throwing them owl treats, which they greedily flew for; laughing at Ron's comment, he threw the last treat to a large eagle owl and shooed them off, "Alright you lot, I've no more here and need to work. Fly on and all that, good night." They seemed to study him shortly but left.

Harry sighed; he was enjoying life right now, something he hadn't been able to do before, "Alright people! Gryffindors one and all, to the common room!" out of the dorms, several people came running down the stairs, wondering what the ruckus was about. Harry waited till everyone was there before explaining, "Right then you lot, do we want to win the cup?"

A loud affirmative greeted his ears, so he continued, "DO WE WANT TO KEEP THE CUP?" again, loud cheers, "Right then. To that end, we are going to keep the arrangement of having 2 teams ready to play, with a third team to train to follow. But because good brooms are expensive, and few can afford them, we have our own HOUSE QUIDDITCH BROOMS!!" The entire common room burst in cheers and applause; Ron and Ginny gaped at him with the 'are you serious?' look on their faces.

Harry waited for the noise to die down, "They are not for learning to fly, they are only for OFFICIAL QUIDDITCH MATCHES. They will be left here when you leave, ready for the following teams to use. NO ONE, NOT EVEN THE PORTRAITS, is to talk about them; they have been painted to resemble the Firebolt 2, which they are not. You have the best Quidditch equipment possible, ENSURE THAT YOU ARE WORTHY!" Harry stepped off the table amidst the cheers and applause. Gathering the packages, he opened a new cupboard just for his purpose and stored them there, spelling it shut tight.

When everyone had calmed down and most returned to their dorms, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sat down in front of where he was working on a transfiguration spell. Ron started, "Harry! What have you done? The Firebolt 3 is so expensive that only the Tornadoes are buying them!" Harry smiled at them mysteriously and pulled out a small bag of owl treats, "true, the Firebolt 3 is very expensive now." he paused to cast a privacy bubble, "but not for long. When I visited Gringgotts, I also visited the firm that makes the brooms. 40% is considerable sway, and the business deal I offered them was lucrative.

"I didn't get us Firebolt 3s. I got us the Firebolt 4, custom to me. In that cupboard, we have 2 keeper specific brooms, 6 Chaser specific brooms, 4 Beater specific brooms, and 2 Seeker specific brooms. Of course, with the 40% I own, I can get them to upgrade any broom of any brand, like your cleansweep, Ron. Hermione's Firebolt is the original and now not being made anymore, so I would suggest she keep it away. I also know that Ginny's broom gave out last summer, which is why both need new brooms. By the way Ron, would you like one too?"

Ron blinked, blinked again, and stopped moving altogether. Ginny knocked his head once, "Yep, he's not functioning up there. But I'm sure he does; why?" Harry smiled, that's what the owl treats are for. I have another 3 brooms coming, also from Fire. I spoke to the production managers, and I got them to modify it ever so slightly, so they look like the Firebolt 2s. They go at least as fast as the Firebolt 4s, and have built in shield spells."

Ginny goggled at him, obviously closely onto what he was describing, but was stopped by 2 things. First, Ron's brain suddenly kicked into overdrive, and he practically yelled, "HELL YEAH!" before stopping again. Second, and more importantly, 3 eagle owls flew in and deposited 3 large packages before Harry started entertaining them with owl treats. Ginny leaned over to Hermione and whispered, "He'd make a great Dad don't you think?" not thinking clearly, Hermione wistfully replied, "Yea, he would."

Harry finally finished feeding the owls and they left. He waited till Ron came back to normal operation levels before speaking again, "Right then. Not a single word about these. If I have to imperious you and force you not to, then I will. These are slightly under military-only standard, and resemble the Firebolt 2. They are in fact much faster than anything else on the market. Again, the keeper broom is weighted differently so you can get to any goal quickly, yet staying stable. Likewise, the Chaser/Seeker brooms are weighted for speed."

He grinned at their anticipatory looks and opened the packages. It was like new life had suddenly been breathed into them. Hermione and Ginny merely thought they were the best in the world, which they were very close to, but Ron spotted it, "Harry! You got the Firestorm???" Harry grinned at him, "Close, the Firestorm is already in production actually, and this is the Firestorm 2, fresh off the production lines." He grinned at their goggling eyes and laughed himself to sleep.

---

"Ok Harry, I must caution you firstly that not many have the talent for Animagus transformations. And those that do, sometimes find themselves something that just isn't them, like a toad. So whatever happens, there's no going back now." They were in the transfiguration class room, discussing the Animagus transformations. Harry listened attentively; he already knew which animal he was going to be, just that he didn't know anything other than that.

"Hmmm, I already know my forms Professor, I just don't know exactly how to bring them out." Minerva McGonagall blinked, "Forms? How do you know your form, and more importantly, how can you even be sure that you have more than one?" Harry grinned at her and summoned his spirit sword, "the Animagus transformation is something like the Sacred Creature Morph that the Golden Nymph uses, and is derived from his skill pattern. The difference is that the Golden Nymph morph is slightly demonic in nature, so it appears demonic.

"Similarly, I learnt the way of the dragon, therefore I will be a dragon. The difference here is that I am naturally ambidextrous, where the others before me have been purely left handed. This means that I can use my spirit sword in either hand, either leg, or even either side of my brain, if that makes sense. With so much flexibility, it makes sense that my aura shows me with multiple animagus forms. The magical means you've used is roughly the same, only that because of a lack of personalized energy, the transformations is fairly random and draining. That explains why you've never accessed your Hippogryph form; I can see it in your aura."

Professor McGonagall was stunned, shocked, and shaken. If Harry was right, then it was no wonder it took so long and so much out of the person trying to find their animagus form. And what was that about her Hippogryph form? The magic simply didn't allow it, there was no way she could have another form. She straighed herself and resigned to thinking about it again later, "Very well. I shall then explain the risks and procedure to use the Animagus form."

===

A/N: I personally don't have anything against McGonagall, and I don't think she'll have much of a role here anyway. I just felt it was more appropriate that Harry demonstrated a bit more of his abilities and she's probably the best example.