Magic Knows No Boundaries chapter 6 (Patreon)

Chapter 6:

Deuling Styles and Wand Malfunctions

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Harry blinked in surprise. He was doing a lot of that today.

"Any relation to Arianna Dumbledore and Arabella Figg?" Harry asked Garrick.

"Never heard of the former, daughter of the latter." Garrick answered boredly.

For a second there he thought he might have found the major branching point in this timeline, or at least one of them. And to the people here the significance of her surviving to old age would seem as inconsequential as anybody else doing so. Now he was feeling somewhat eager to actually research the history of this world and its people. Or at least the people he knew.

"Our first matchup will be Professor Santiago against Madame Bones." The announcer declared.

"Oh wow, they just get right into it huh?" Harry asked. "No warmup drills? No pleasantries?"

"Meh. They'll shake hands before they start slinging curses." Garrick told him with a shrug.

And indeed, as soon as the other participants sat back down Elvira and Amelia walked up to each-other and shook hands.

While they did this what looked like four security guards began setting up pillars of bone around the arena and conjuring a screen of glass to connect them. The bone was probably either from dragons or other magically resistant creature. Their body parts made for good ward "stones", anchors for magic sapping wards that would redirect any magic directly into the ground like the grounding wire of a house. It was taking them an oddly long time to conjure the glass around it though. Why would they have trouble with something so simple?

"It's diamond." Garrick whispered to Harry when his confusion showed on his face.

Oh! Enchanted dragon bone sapper wards with diamond shielding connecting them? Yeah, that would block pretty much any legal charm, jinx or curse. Certainly any tournament legal ones, whatever those were. Now that he knew it was diamond, he was suddenly impressed by the speed at which the four conjurers were working. Each managed to create five whole meters of the wall by themselves in about a minute. And that was probably their entire job.

Harry couldn't do that. Well, with a lot of practice he could get that good at it, but that would be an entire career path in and of itself.

When these security workers gave the all-clear Elvira and Amelia walked to opposite sides of their little arena and gave a customary bow before pointing their wands at one-another. They remained like that for a few moments as they waited for the judge to instruct them to begin.

"Begin." The judge's voice came up from the ground.

Elvira's wand danced in her hand as she conjured a fast-moving length of rope, followed by a rubber ball and a small spear of ice.

Madame bones had started to cast a regular shielding charm but abandoned it in favor of dodging the physical projectiles. She must have planned to gauge her opponent's casting power by the feel of her jinxes and curses against her shield, but such standard shields weren't any good against physical objects. Now she was flatfooted and casting the usual array of Auror charms.

Harry recognized it as the StExIn formation. The stunner spell, followed by a disarming charm followed by a binding curse. The wand movements of each flowed smoothly into the next and allowed the spell chain to be cast faster than most random spell combinations. It was a favorite "light" spell chain when you're trying not to hurt a suspect.

"Didn't take her for a heap user." A woman behind them murmured to explained unhelpfully.

"Heap user?" Harry asked Garrick much more quietly than the woman behind them.

"The technique Elvira is using was actually originally developed to counter unforgivables or other curses that can't be blocked by shield charms." Ollivander informed him. "But in dueling pits it's called the heap method. The conjured objects, if not vanished quickly, form a heap around the arena."

"Hm." Harry said. "Most people don't know this but one of the best spells for blocking a killing curse is Avis, and if you're feeling cheeky, Orchideos. A would-be murderer is always surprised to have their spell foiled by a flock of hummingbirds or a large bouquet of roses." Harry added.

The two blue-collared gentleman in front of them both turned around with raised eyebrows at Harry's commentary and he was shocked to realize how old they were. Surely they were in their sixties or older. He was even more shocked to recognize one as Crabbe senior. No, not Vincent's father, Vincent's grandfather. The two men turned around in whispered conversation before Harry could try for a conversation.

He turned back to watch the duel to see Amelia had switched to alternating from the usual stunner or otherwise incapacitating charms to vanishing charms to erase the projectiles.

"Wait a minute... Elvira has already won!" Harry exclaimed.

"Indeed. And I think Amelia knows it." Garrick hummed.

A heap of conjured objects in a dueling arena made prime material for transfigurations. One of the first things transfiguration students learned at the NEWT level was that conjured objects are about ten times easier to transfigure than "real" objects. It takes one tenth the time and one tenth the effort compared to "real" objects. But for the person who conjured it in the first place? It was one hundred times easier. Which meant that with every rubber ball, length of rope, metal chain or other conjuration Elvira hurled became potential fuel for a massive non-living to living transfiguration later.

She was clearly setting up a trap for the Auror who, experienced in fighting though she may be, it was clear that the dueling pit was as new to her as it was to Harry. He had the benefit of looking in from the outside and being able to see her mistakes, and he hadn't even noticed it before she had based on the change of tactics.

"Whoa." Harry said quietly when the pile of rubbish around Amelia's feet rose and formed a hulking, furry mass.

That was a polar bear. Polar bears are funking terrifying. So was Amelia now that she had revealed her propensity for using organ exploding curses on conjured animals. He was certain the organ expelling curse was tournament illegal, but maybe using it on conjured beasts was allowed? Regardless, that was whole lot of intestines snaking out of the very dead polar bear. Literally.

Had Amelia managed to cast an organ expelling curse on the bear and then transfigure said organs into a swarm of snaked in one swift motion? How did she even do that?!

His question was answered when a moment later the army of cobras, pythons, anacondas and black mambas wrapped around Amelia and turned her into a little sushi roll, unable to move. She hadn't done the transfiguration. Elvira had.

"Madame Bones is unable to continue the duel. Professor De Santiago is the victor!" The announcer's voice declared from beneath their blanket.

Harry clapped along with the rest of the viewers in section A as the duel came to a close. The smattering of cheers continued as Elvira canceled her transfigurations and conjurations, releasing Amelia. The warders took down the diamond barrier as the pair shook hands before returning to their seats stoically. Neither boasted, neither complained. It was all great sportsmanship.

When the next two participants walked up to take their places Harry sat up a bit straighter.

"The second duel of the day will be Bellatrix Black versus Arianne Figg." The announcer said.

The two ladies shook hands before walking to their opposite sides of the arena. As they did so the warders checked the dragon bone pillars and conjured a new barrier of diamond. When they gave the all-clear Bellatrix and Arianna bowed in the customary duelist manner and took up a battle-ready position.

"You may begin." The judge's voice came up from the ground.

The two were casting as soon as the final syllable left his lips.

Arianna, like Amelia, favored charms but instead of the usual Auror ensemble she went for a more elemental approach. The stream of white, liquid flames coming out of her wand was slow moving, but it filled the entire thin arena between her and Bellatrix, cutting off the latter's line of sight. Harry didn't even recognize the spell, but he did recognize Bellatrix's. A whip of equally white light erupted from her wand and cracked as she slashed it at the ground.

She twirled her wand and it danced like ribbon. Where it collided with the liquid white flames, said flames subsided, absorbed into the rope of light.

"A capacitance whip? That's really advanced." Garrick commented boredly.

Really advanced didn't come close to describing the level of difficulty that the capacitance whip was. It was what's known as a flesh abstraction spell, which sounds a lot nastier than it was. Master level spells came in many varieties, one of the hardest was abstract component-based spells. A wand movement and incantation just didn't cut it for these, you also had to have one or both of two other things. Knowledge of a skill and the muscle memory of practicing said skill.

The watercolor photograph spell was the most quintessential of these. It allowed the caster to create a watercolor painting of whatever they were currently looking at, like taking a photo. In order to cast said spell you had to actually be a watercolor painter. You had to spend years learning color theory and all the rest that goes into being a painter, and also physically painting, training up the muscle memory and motor skills of putting brush to paper. Ironically, most people capable of casting said spell rarely did, because they'd rather just sit down for a couple hours and paint the lovely sunset they were appreciating. There were such spells for every art and craft, and each required lifelong dedication to said art or craft.

The single most powerful binding charm known to wizardkind was one such spell and required the user master the lasso. No, really. You had to practice wrangling bulls with a real-life lasso in order to cast it. It was one of the reasons farm-raised American Aurors were so good at their jobs. Half of the Macusa could cast it by the age of twelve. Really made his "patronus at thirteen" feat seem unimpressive in comparison.

The capacitance whip was significantly easier than any of these. It just required the muscle memory of training with a whip. In fact, Filius had taught Harry the spell by having him workout with battle ropes, which was one hell of a workout. He could cast it, but there was a difference between knowing how to cast a spell and knowing how to use a spell, and Bellatrix could actually use it.

She weaved her wand like the handle of a whip and coaxed the length of the spell to danced in a defensive manner. It caught and consumed nearly half of Arianna's barrage of chained elemental spells. He'd never seen somebody try to use the capacitance whip defensively by capturing charms, but he'd also never seen a lightning vine, ice shuriken and infernal raven spell-chain before. All three of those were transfigured charms, elemental charms transfigured into the likeness and behavior of objects or animals. Very advanced. And yet that little spell chain was sliced into pieces, literally, with a single flick of Bellatrix's wrist.

"She's using it wrong though." Harry pointed out. "It's normally meant to be hurled at or wrapped around a shield or ward to sap it and then explode when it inevitably overloads the whip with the resulting feedback and amplification. Using it to catch spells is a surefire way to have it blow up in your own face."

The two men in front of them turn around again with looks that were both inquisitive and impressed.

"That is some rather esoteric charms knowledge you have there, young man." Said the man on the left. "I don't think we've been introduced, Garrick who is your friend?"

"Ah! Mister Goyle. This is my apprentice, Harry. Well, Hadrian." Ollivander introduced.

Gregory's grandfather. He had died in Voldemort's first war in his timeline. He and Crabbe super senior, the man next to him, were the reasons both families were wealthy enough to hang out with the likes of Lucius Malfoy's. These men had built their family wealth with their own hands. Literally. Grandpa Goyle had lived beside Muggles with his first wife, a Muggle herself, as a mason. He lived without magic for years, and when he became a widower, he returned to pureblood society to inherit his late father's estate. As the sole heir he used it was to build the best magical construction company in the isles. He also still operated on the Muggle side of things.

Grandpappy Crabbe had worked on developing the first methods for safely harvesting dragon blood after Dumbledore's work with Nicholas on their twelve uses. He had left the British Isles during Voldemort's first rise to get away from all of the nonsense. Charlie had actually apprenticed directly under him, and the old man had quit dragon handling to take over care of magical creatures after Hagrid transferred to Bauexbatons to teach Care of Magical Creatures there... And to pump Olympe full of babies. Good god! And they'd all thought Molly was a baby-making machine!

"Does Hadrian have a last name?" Crabbe asked, offering a hand.

"Morrigan." Harry said, taking the hand and shaking it firmly.

"Morrigan? Any relation to..." Goyle began but broke off.

"Last heir." Harry said cheekily. "Found out recently with a Gringotts blood test. I'm still not fully read up on all the inheritance entails."

Crabbe looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean by that?" The dragon handler asked.

"Well, I mean I still haven't learned all of the basic pureblood etiquette, let alone what my duties and powers as a head of a noble house are. A lot of my apprenticeship with Garrick will inevitably be learning to be part of this culture that feels somewhat thrusted upon me. It's all a bit overwhelming." Harry lied through his teeth.

Hook. Line. Sinker. He had them now. He could practically hear the astonished questions in their mind. A non-pureblood actually learning the etiquette, responsibilities and culture of the society he was entering? An immigrant actually trying to integrate and give back to the society that was welcoming him to be a part of it instead of trying to abuse this newfound power and wealth to try and change it towards his foreign sensibilities? What alien creature was this?!

"You are not a pureblood I take it?" Goyle asked, reaching into his basket and pulling out two beers.

Harry and Garrick both accepted them.

"Half. Mother was Muggleborn. Ironically it was from her I apparently inherited the estate, what miniscule amount of it remains. Probably descended from a squib on the Morrigan line, but we can't trace directly to the individual, only that I am of the Morrigan line." Harry explained.

Now they knew he wasn't a Muggleborn intent on trying to make magical Britain look like the post-modernist hellscape that was Muggle Britain. Which honestly? If most Muggleborns even pretended to think this way, there would be no followers of Voldemort. Or a Voldemort, for that matter.

"Hm. Well, I hope Garrick is doing a good of teaching you by frontloading the responsibilities instead of the privileges." Crabbe said, eyeing Ollivander.

"Hmph." Garrick said, probably amused at the charade Harry had forced him into. "I've barely had time to teach him anything, but I do hope to scare him off."

"I've learned most of the important stuff." Harry said. "I'm most worried about participating in the board of Governors for Hogwarts and voting on Wizengomat issues, but I don't know the first thing about either. I'll probably have to find trustworthy proxies for both and shadow them for the next... how many hundred years will it take me?"

Grandpas Crabbe and Goyle both laughed piteously at the joke and humility. Harry did his best to smile bashfully as he finally took a drink of the beer.

He felt a bit manipulative in playing to the Pureblood hopes and concerns for Muggleborns and their participation in society. The fact he meant what he siad in spirit, if not reality, helped ease that guilt though. He absolutely did want to do a good job of performing his roles as the head of a noble house. He had as Lord Potter and as Lord Black and will do so now as Lord Morrigan. And he did love wizarding culture, faults and all, and didn't want to poison it with Muggle culture. What changes he did plan to make would be by example and good will.

"You seem pretty secretive of your maiden name." Goyle said with a snicker at his own joke. "So, I won't pry into who you were before you took of the mantle of Morrigan. But I do want to know where in the world you got that knowledge of higher charms."

"Oh! Charms was always my best subject, after defense which I always treated as applied charms class. What, with every spell I ever learned being a charm." Harry explained. "My other subjects suffered for it, but I would always spend time I was supposed to be using on Potions and history essays reading up on Charm theory. Still trying to remedy my dearth of history knowledge, especially now that I'm entering a world where such knowledge actually matters."

They both nodded at his words.

"So far as an adult I've sort of just wandered, trying every profession imaginable, searching every place imaginable for where I belonged. Only for the place I belong to fall into my lap and now I need to set roots. My twenties have kind of been a bust so far. But I have picked up a lot, especially about magic. I've really just focused on what I am good at, charms, but I've never bothered pursuing a masters."

"Few true masters do." Goyle hummed. "Mastery often comes from passion, not dull academics. There are masters hidden in plain sight all over the world who just never pursued their craft academically. I've met grocers who could out-transfigure McGonagall and fisherman who could outcharm Flitwick."

Oooh! Harry needed to write that down.

"That does seem to be how it goes." Garrick hummed.

"What are your best and worst charms? I want to get a feel for you." Crabbe asked.

"Best? Patronus, by a mile. Worst? Cheering charm. I can still barely pull it off after all these years." Harry explained. "I think I just have a block, revulsion towards trying to influence other people's feelings. Same reason I'm so pants and the mind arts."

He probably shouldn't have shared that last bit. If word gets out that he is terrible at the mind arts people might opt to try and use them against him. But it was a good red herring because he didn't say which mind arts he was awful at. Legilimancy? Terrible. Occlumency? Excellent. Let them come.

"We all have that one spell or area that we can never get the hang of from first and second year." Crabbe consoled. "For me it was the flame freezing charm. I still can't pull it off."

Harry stared at grandpa Crabbe. One of the most experienced dragon handlers on the planet can't use the flame freezing charm? Harry refused to believe that. Surely he was joking. Right?

Kaboom!

"Aaaand that would be Bellatrix's broken wand backfiring while channeling an overcharged capacitance whip." Harry said cheekily.

They all turned back to the nearest dueling square to see the damage done, and it was honestly underwhelming. Just a gash in the earth in the middle of the square and two duelists flat on their asses. Both were slowly picking themselves back up, but Harry could tell Bellatrix had been knocked out of the ring and lost as a result. Arabella's daughter was still inside of it.

"Well, at least neither of them died from that bit of stupidity." Garrick sighed in relief. Then Harry's words registered. "Wait, did you say broken wand?!"

"Yessir." Harry said. "She has a blockage in it. She brought it in yesterday and I got her a spare. I warned her against using it and yet here she is using it in a duel. Now all I need to do is find a way to get down there and kick her ass without anybody seeing." Harry said only half-jokingly. "Using an advanced charm you don't understand with a wand I specifically warned her not to use warrants an ass-whooping."

"I didn't take you for the type of man to hit a lady." Grandpa Crabbe said with a raised eyebrow.

He was half-joking, but Harry knew full well how Purebloods viewed a man who would raise his hand to a woman.

"I'm not. But she at least needs to be yelled at for a solid five minutes. Even if I'm not willing to actually put my hands on her." Harry said.

"Don't worry. Cygnus has no issues giving her the thrashing even with her no longer being a child." Crabbe said. "And when I tell him what his daughter got up to today, he will be putting his belt to good use. Of that you can be sure."

Cygnus Black the third was still alive?! For a world ravaged by an extra decade and a half of war with Voldemort, is sure was lacking in dead people.

"Ah, children. They seem to believe that once they leave the house, they are exempt from corporal punishment. I only had to remind my eldest son of the taste of my belt once. It is a rather humbling experience for a thirty-five-year-old." Goyle reminisced before finishing his beer.

Corporal punishment was one of those things Harry would be trying to change. But he did have more important things to worry about now. He'd already exposed himself to the pureblood world as an open-minded and respectful interloper. And that was a good start to opening avenues of peaceful resolutions to the conflicts that ailed wizarding Britain. And that, above all else, was what he wanted.

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Notes:

I really want to focus on the themes of how interconnected wizarding society is, along with how deep and unifying magic in the harry Potter universe is. Everybody knows everybody. Friendships, rivalries and romances spanning generations are remembered and carved into all of their beings. There is a lot of love and respect between the people of the wizarding world, even between the sides of the war and bitter enemies.

But I've also put into polite words the real conflict of Voldemort's wars. It is an age-old conflict. A foreign population being welcomed into a nation and refusing to integrate, trying to change the host society to suit them as if they were invaders instead of guests. Believe me, I'm Jewish. I know this story very well and how badly it can end. It won't end like that in this story. This story will have a happy ending and beautiful journey towards it.