Arch Mage, the Path of Magic Chapter 20 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with another chapter of Arch Mage, the Path of Magic! We’re headed for the end of Second Year and whatever that brings! With the Chamber incident ended months early, it should be smooth sailing. The Junior Dueling League will happen in the summer, but until then, Harry has other things to do, plus friends and family to spend some time with.

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 20 – Demonstration, Family, and Friends

At St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, on the fourth floor, known as the Janus Thickey Ward, that dealt with permanent spell damage and long-term residents, Harry Potter and Sirius Black were talking to many Senior Healers of the hospital. Well, Harry was doing most of the talking, and Sirius stood back with a proud smile for his godson.

“By finding the root of the Magic and how it is maintained within the body, you can isolate and remove it, thus restoring the patient’s health.” Harry finished up his long explanation/lecture for the gathered Healers. He’d mostly been describing (at length) how he’d managed to break the Blood Malediction on the Greengrass Family, and how it might help other people effected by seemingly permanent Magical injuries or mishaps.

“But how are we meant to see this ‘root’ of the Magic that is afflicting out patients?” Hippocrates Smethwyck, the Healer-in-Charge of the Dai Llewellyn ward, dealing with dangerous bites from Magical Creatures, questioned the boy.

“Yes, what you say sounds amazing, but if we can’t even see what you’re speaking of, then how can we hope to perform such treatment on our patients?” Miriam Strout, the Matron of the Janus Thickey ward, asked Harry with hope that he could answer. She was a motherly soul and wanted nothing more than to be able to better help the residents of her ward, especially.

“With Magic.” Harry grinned at the gathered Healers. “Magic reacts to Magic, I’m sure all of you have seen results from two different spells colliding with each other in some of your patients.” Getting nods from all of the Senior Healers, Harry continued. “So, if we use our Magic, we may not be able to ‘see’, but we can ‘feel’ for a difference.” He held up his hand and then made it glow faintly as he activated a spell. “It’s not too dissimilar from a Diagnosis Charm, but what we’re looking for with this spell isn’t the patient’s current state, but differences in Magic.”

“Bark!” The woman sitting in the hospital bed next to Harry and the group of Healers barked like a dog.

This was a Witch named Agnes, who had come in to the Janus Thickey ward after either consuming Polyjuice Potion mixed with dog hair, or attempting the Animagus Transformation and failing. She was covered in fur and partially transformed somewhere between human and dog. No one had been able to revert her to normal since she’d been admitted, and the woman could only speak in barks. Most of her actual communication was in writing or simple yes or no questions that she could answer with a nod or shake of the head.

“May I, ma’am?” Harry asked Agnes politely. He received a nod and Harry gently hovered his hand over the woman’s partially transformed head. “I can feel her Magic right now, and it feels slightly off, almost like a cloth that’s been twisted.” He moved his hand lower slowly, moving over Agnes’s body from head to foot while commenting on any differences he felt. “Here,” Harry briefly stopped over the Witch’s stomach. “The Magic is not flowing freely. It’s stuck, moves around and twists itself up, and then moves on again.”

“We can only take your word for that, High Sorcerer Potter.” Robyn Bonham, the Head of St. Mungos (and the great-great-great-granddaughter of the founder of the hospital, Mungo Bonham) looked at the boy seriously. “That’s not going to help us much, unless you plan to become a Healer here, I’m afraid.”

“I’m afraid that’s not in my plans, ma’am.” Harry shook his head. “However, I did make this spell learnable in the standard way that everyone is familiar with.” He nodded to the old woman with a smile. “If you’ll take out your wands, I can teach you all the Charm. It’s a very simple spell, I assure you.”

Not having any reason to refuse, the group of Senior Healers took out their wands and waited for the prodigious boy’s instruction.

“There is no wand motion, as I made this spell as simple as I could by reducing unnecessary parts.” Harry began the small lesson. “The incantation is Persentio.” He cast the Charm on his left hand and it too began to glow faintly, matching his right hand. It only took a few minutes of general instruction on the Charm from Harry for all of the Senior Healers to start trying to cast it.

“Persentio.” Robyn cast and the tip of her wand lit up in a matching faint glow to Harry’s hands. “That was simple…but does it work?”

“Try it and see.” Harry stepped back from Agnes’s bedside while canceling his own spells.

“This will only take a moment, Agnes.” Robyn smiled gently at the half-transformed Witch, showing a perfect bedside manner. The Head of the hospital slowly moved the faintly glowing tip of her wand over Agnes and her eyes widened after only a moment. “I can feel it…twisted up like a cloth…just as you described.” She looked at Harry in surprise.

“As long as your Magic isn’t disturbed or affected by an outside influence, the Charm will compare your Magic to the patient’s and allow you to feel out any anomalies within that could be the root of the issue.” Harry simplified the explanation of the Charm and what it did.

“If her Magic being twisted is what’s keeping her in this half-transformed state…then would ‘untwisting’ it cure her?” Healer Strout questioned hopefully, making a hypothesis after a moment to think about it.

“All of you should use the Persentio Charm first, and then we can make our hypotheses about possible treatments.” Robyn spoke up, having the Senior Healers line up and use the Charm on Agnes one-by-one until all of them had experienced the Charm’s effect successfully.

“This is astounding.” Healer Smethwyck commented on the new Charm. “To be able to feel how our patients’ Magic is being affected opens up entirely new avenues of potential treatments!”

“As for Miss Agnes, Healer Strout is correct in her hypothesis.” Harry confirmed with a smile to the motherly woman. “Simply correcting her Magic flow will allow her to return to her normal state. The irregular twisting is caused by the failed transformation, and because each forms’ Magic is different, neither can undo the other as they’re entwined within her body.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a spell for that too, would you?” Healer Abasi (who specialized in creature-induced injuries of all kinds) joked with the young prodigy.

“I can do it, but it’s not really a spell.” Harry admitted to the gathered Healers. “It requires perception of Magic both internal and freely flowing in the world. I’ve not met anyone that understands that concept yet.” Seeing the confused looks of the Healers, it appeared that he wouldn’t be meeting anyone like that today either.

“Would a potion regiment be able to help?” Senior Healer Wiggins (from the Alchemy and Potions Lab on the Ground Floor of the hospital) asked Harry.

“Probably,” Harry nodded while looking thoughtful. “It’s something I’ve been trying to work out myself. Along with a few other ideas that I’ve had.” He quietly mumbled to himself for a few seconds. “A series of potions focused more on cleansing…perhaps? Not the body, but more the Magic itself… The only issue is how to brew something with such properties. Not to mention the speed and potency of the effect would need to be different depending on the patient and how severe the irregular flow of their Magic is…”

“Harry, you’re doing it again.” Sirius spoke up, snapping Harry out of his pondering before he got lost in it. Quite a common problem for the family when Harry got deep into his studying and research of Magic.

“No, no, let him brew.” Healer Wiggins had pulled out a clipboard and was writing down Harry’s mumblings, finding the boy’s thoughts intriguing and potentially the beginning of some new research for St. Mungos’ Alchemy and Potions Lab to pursue.

“You said that you might be able to cure Agnes?” Healer Strout spoke up after a moment.

“I’d need written consent from Miss Agnes and her current Healer, plus the same from Miss Bonham as the Head of the hospital.” Harry was instructed to ask for such by Andromeda as a means to protect himself from any liability if the Healers of St. Mungos requested him to treat a patient.

“Bark!” Agnes was already nodding her consent while gesturing for Healer Strout to bring her parchment and a quill.

Sirius and Harry stood off to the side of the ward as the Healers discussed amongst themselves whether to allow this treatment to proceed. Harry wasn’t a licensed Healer after all. And if anything went wrong, the hospital could be sued for allowing this to happen. Agnes had made her consent clear already, of course. But the Healers had to consider the legal ramifications of this situation, or else Magical Britain’s only hospital might have to be shut down. Even if it was only temporarily, that could see many, many people going without treatment or care.

Almost thirty minutes later and Harry was allowed to treat Agnes; after he received his written consent from Agnes, Healer Strout, and Miss Bonham. The three parchments were given to Sirius, who put them in the inner pocket of his robes, before Harry moved over to Agnes’s bedside again.

“This won’t hurt, Miss Agnes, but you may feel a bit odd until I’m done, alright?” Harry smiled at the half-transformed woman.

“Bark.” Agnes barked and nodded to Harry, allowing him to continue.

Harry had Agnes lie down, then gently put his left hand on her forehead, while his right hand rested on her stomach over her hospital robe. His eyes glowed slightly as he used his still-in-progress Mage Sight spell to see the Magic and how it was twisted up within the woman. Seeing how it was twisted up in the center of her body, beneath his right hand, Harry used Magic Manipulation as gently as he could to start untwisting it.

‘Slowly… Carefully… No need to rush.’ Harry calmed his mind as he worked, untwisting the entwined Magic of the Witch in her normal state and in her transformed dog state from each other. As the two different states of Magic were separated, Harry’s left hand on Agnes’s head led the ‘dog form’ Magic through the process of returning to the normal state by reinforcing the human mind within the Witch. As the Magic within Agnes continued to move, it was quickly becoming all ‘normal’ in its flow and state.

“My word…” Healer Strout put her hand over her mouth in shock.

She wasn’t the only one either. Most of the Senior Healers watched as Agnes began to slowly return to her human form as Harry treated her. The fur receded, leaving behind normal skin. The half-transformed body gently shifted back to normal human limbs, torso, and head.

“There we are.” Harry smiled as the last of the separate Magics exited from beneath his right hand, flowed up towards Agnes’s head, and then the ‘dog state’ Magic was gently shifted back to ‘normal state’ when it came in contact with the human mind that Harry was reinforcing.

The Animagus Transformation was a willful transformation after all, and if the Wizard or Witch wanted to be human, then they asserted their human mind over the animal form to return to their normal state. Or that was how Sirius explained it at any rate. So, by reinforcing Agnes’s human mind with some of the separated ‘normal state’ Magic, it became easier and easier for her Magic to correct itself from the botched transformation.

“Thank you…” Agnes spoke for the first time since she’d been admitted to the Janus Thickey ward. She didn’t seem to believe it herself, her eyes wide at hearing her own voice again. Then the tears came as the Witch sat up quickly and pulled Harry into a hug, thanking him over and over again as she practically bawled.

“You’re welcome.” Harry gently patted the woman’s back as he was nearly squeezed to death. He’d allow it right now. Agnes clearly needed to get her overwhelming emotions out after finally being healed from her half-transformed state.

Eventually Agnes let Harry go so that Healer Strout could check her over, using multiple Diagnostic Charms as well as the new Persentio Charm that Harry had created and taught the Healers. When all of the Charms came back clear, it was obvious that Agnes now had a clean bill of health. There was much celebrating between Healer Strout and Agnes, but all of the Healers were astounded by what they’d just witnessed.

“My son! We need to Floo my son!” Agnes looked at Healer Strout happily.

Strout nodded to Agnes, a bright smile on her face. “Yes, I know he’ll be overjoyed! I’ll get the Floo Powder!”

Harry and Sirius were approached by Miss Bonham, the Head of St. Mungos having nothing but praise for Harry. “The Persentio Charm, I’d like to give it my full backing and have it registered as a Healing Charm. You’d be given full credit as its creator, of course. With St. Mungos supporting it too, the registration process should be much easier for you, High Sorcerer Potter.”

“Just collecting achievements, aren’t you, Harry?” Sirius joked with his godson, the two chuckling together.

“I’m glad that it can help.” Harry smiled at Miss Bonham. “Thank you for your support and backing of its registration, Miss Bonham.”

“It’s the least that St. Mungos could do for you, Mister Potter.” Miss Bonham smiled at the boy that had made a breakthrough in the field of Healing in his first visit to St. Mungos. The discussion on when Harry would submit the Persentio Charm for registration was discussed, so that Miss Bonham could have her own support for the Charm written up and sent along with it. The word, witness, and experience of the Head of St. Mungos would assure that Harry’s Charm would be accepted as a Healing Charm without issue.

-Two Days Later-

“You sure you want to do this, Nym?” Harry teased his surrogate older sister as they prepared for another bout of Magical roughhousing.

“Don’t think you can weasel your way out of this, Harrikins!” Tonks shot back with an amused grin. “I told you that I’d get you back!”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “You say that… But I still don’t recall you ever winning before.”

“You’re a cheeky little brat, aren’t you?” Tonks had her wand in hand.

“Just for you, Nym.” Harry assured her with a mischievous grin.

The fact that the two were basically in the middle of nowhere spoke volumes about how rough this little bout of theirs would be. Usually they just tussled in the back garden at home. But when Harry had mentioned that he wanted to try out some new spells, Andromeda had forbidden the use of the garden, not wanting it torn up by their roughhousing. Sirius was a safe distance away, on a conjured chair, with snacks, and a pair of Omnioculars to watch the show.

Clearly, he was taking his chaperoning very seriously.

“Palus!” Tonks pointed her wand at the ground just in front of Harry to start the roughhousing.

The ground all around Harry quickly became a thick, swampy mess. Harry used his Float spell to simply hover above it. In response, he moved the muck and mud with his Magic and through a miniature mudslide back at Tonks. The Junior Auror was on the move already though, and swiped her wand a few times, sending bolts of blue light at Harry.

“Like this… And this… I think?” Harry moved his hands in front of him and then off to the sides. Nothing appeared to happen… Until Tonks’s spells reached the air in front of Harry and all of blue bolts swerved off course to pepper the ground behind the Spellcrafter.

“What kind of shield was that, Harrikins?!” Tonks questioned, still on the move.

“It’s not a shield.” Harry denied with a bright grin at succeeding in his casting.

“Liar!” Tonks yelled back at him. “Conteram Obice!” She launched the Shield Breaker at harry, the orange and gold sparks spiraling towards Harry at speed.

Harry floated upwards quickly when he saw his new spell wasn’t up to stopping Tonks’s spell. The Shield Breaker went spiraling off into the distance for a dozen or more meters before dissipating. “Hmm, need to work on the amount that it can handle.” He noted on his previous spell. “For now, let’s try this one next.” He raised his right index finger and crackling spark of yellow magic appeared just above the tip of his finger. Without a word from Harry, the spell shot at Tonks unerringly.

“Protego!” Tonks cast a shield and the shot of Magic slammed into it. Instead of dispersing, like most spells would, the crackling spell shot straight up into the air and then came down on Tonks at an angle. “Bloody hell!” Tonks through herself to the side as the spell hit the ground with force where she’d just been standing. The spell wasn’t done yet though, as it shot form the dirt at Tonks again, still at the high-speed it had been moving at when Harry had cast it. “Piss off!” Tonks pointed her wand at the crackling Magic and cast again. “Finite Maxima!” The yellow spell vanished as Tonks’s empowered counter-spell canceled it out.

“Very good, Nym!” Harry called out from his position in the air. Tonks looked up to snark back at him, only for her eyes to widen as she saw multiple of the crackling yellow spells in the air around Harry. “Now do ten!” Like that, every one of the fast-moving spells shot at the Junior Auror all at once.

“Protego Totalum!” Tonks caused the area-of-effect version of the Protego Charm to deal with the swarm. Over and over again the crackling yellow Magic bashed into her dome-shaped shield from every conceivable angle, trying to get at her. ‘Think Tonks, think! How does this spell work?’

Being Harry’s surrogate big sister, she’d grown up with him always asking ‘how’ and ‘why’ whenever he read about or saw Magic or spells that he wasn’t familiar with. Over time, that had made Tonks gain a good deal of practice at figuring out spells herself. Experience that she was now putting to use to try and get out of being pinned down.

‘It either tracks me specifically, or it’s following Harry’s control as he targets me. If I can block Harry’s line of sight, then it could reduce their accuracy, but with the way that they’re bouncing around all over my shield, they’re probably locked on to me specifically.’ Tonks’s thoughts were going through her head faster than a top-of-the-line racing broom. “Fumos!” Thick black smoke poured from the tip of her wand and quickly filled up the space within her shield. With as quiet of a pop as she could manage, she Apparated away, dropping her shield in the process.

“Hm?” Harry cocked an eyebrow at the tactic as the shots of crackling yellow Magic rapidly shot into the large, black smoke cloud. He heard the telltale ‘pop’ behind him, right as all ten of the yellow spells shot out of the smoke straight towards his location.

“Petrificus Totalus!” Tonks cast at Harry’s back as he looked over his shoulder behind her. When his body didn’t snap into a rigid, fixed position; Tonks knew that something was wrong. The ten crackling yellow spells passing straight through Harry’s body like he wasn’t even there and slamming into Tonks all at once proved her observation correct. “Gah!” She fell out of the air, having only been hanging there for an instant as she came out of her Apparation anyway, and careened towards the ground. “Molliare!” Tonks aimed her wand at the ground and then impacted it with a ‘poof’ sound, rather than the expected ‘thud’.

‘Where were you aiming, Nym?” Harry questioned from a distance away, his hands at his sides and a grin on his face. “How did you like the new spell?”

“Those things hurt!” Tonks growled while jabbing her wand at Harry and sending a large, overpowered stunner at him. She was pretty sure she felt bruises forming already from the ten spells that had hit her.

“They’re supposed to hurt.” Harry’s voice came from behind her and Tonks whipped around, lashing out with an Incarcerous, only to see the writhing ropes pass through this Harry too.

“What the bloody hell?” Tonks blinked as Harry’s form briefly looked like a myriad of colors, sort of like a kaleidoscope, before vanishing.

“Fun, huh?” Harry’s voice came from her left, but Tonks fired off another stunner, this time to her right. “Oh? Already trying to figure this out, huh?”

“What are you doing?” Tonks whipped her wand over her head and a burst of flames encircled her.

“What is it called when you see something that isn’t there?” Harry’s voice came from a different direction.

“A mirage? A hallucination?” Tonks guessed; her wand pointed at the ground as she silently worked a spell into the soil.

“Or an illusion.” Harry’s voice was right in her ear and Tonks activated her Charm.

With a rumbled the ground lurched upwards, sending dirt and rock launching meters into the air all around Tonks, and directly beneath her feet. A larger piece of the ground beneath her feet allowing the Junior Auror to ride upwards on the wave of erupting soil.

“Found you!” Tonks cried out in triumph as she saw a dirt-covered Harry shaking his head, dust flying from his naturally messy hair. “Stupefy Tria!” Three red bolts flew from her wand at Harry, even as she fell from the air.

“Taking risks today, aren’t we, Nym?” Harry laughed and flew into the air to dodge the stunners. “Wind.” He whispered and the air around the falling Tonks swirled into a powerful whirlwind that broke her fall…and then tossed her onto the dirt-covered ground. “Catch, Nym!” He conjured five large pillars of stone and let them fall towards Tonks.

“Arresto Momentum! Oppungo!” Tonks chained two spells together, stopping the falling pillars and then launching them back at Harry at speed. They vanished as Harry undid his conjuration, but Tonks was on a roll now, and launched a string of spells at Harry. “Incendio Tria! Ventus Tria! Incarcerous Maxima Tria! Petrificus Totalus Maxima!”

“Fire, then wind to fan the flames and make them bigger and hotter, then you try to capture me with thick ropes, and then lock me in position.” Harry quickly took apart the chain of spells. It would certainly deal with most run of the mill Wizards and Witches; leaving them with some burns, tied up, and locked in place for the Aurors to pick up as they pleased. “Fire.” Harry conjured his own flames, then swung them forward like a whip. The instant his flames met Tonks’s, he used Magic Manipulation to quickly take over the empowered and tripled spell. Moving the fire aside, he cast a Barrier between himself and the last two spells. The roped of the empowered and tripled Incarcerous slammed into the translucent barrier and tried to wrap around it. The Petrificus Totalus Maxima dispersed wen it hit the Barrier, unable to fulfill its function.

“Did you just steal my fire?!” Tonks yelled up at him.

“Yep!” Harry shouted back with a wide grin. “Salamandra!” The mass of flames swirled around and a serpent-like dragon was formed before descending towards Tonks. The roar of the flames was a good substitute for the roar of a dragon.

“Nope.” Tonks disappeared with a pop, Apparated out of the line of fire.

The dragon of fire slammed into the ground, spreading a large wave of flames in all directions for dozens and dozens of meters. The ground didn’t have much to burn though, so the flames quickly guttered out on the wet dirt that had been previously thrown everywhere by Tonks’s spell.

“Wingardium Leviosa Tria Maxima!” Tonks cast from her place behind a nearby tree, still within site of the area they were roughhousing in. Multiple chunks of dirt flew into the air all at once. “Oppungo Maxima!” The large dirt clods all launched themselves at Harry like a swarm.

“De-Spell!” Harry whipped up a gale around himself, filled with the Aspect of Dispersion. All of the animated dirt clods flew away in the wind as the Magic moving them was blown away. “Hi, Nym!” Harry looked right at where Tonks was hiding, a stream of the crackling yellow spells from earlier launching towards her a second later.

“Damn, Locator Spell!” Tonks cursed before Apparating away at the last second. A pop announced her arrival at her destination, and she wrapped her arms around Harry from behind, the tip of her wand resting beneath his chin. “Yield!”

“Interesting.” Harry grinned at his surrogate big sister. “But what’re you going to do about those?” He asked as the crackling yellow bolts rocketed towards them.

“Stupefy!” Tonks cast, the red light engulfing Harry’s head for an instant.

Harry shifted positions, turning them around completely, despite getting hit in the face with a stunner.

“Gah!” Tonks cried out as all ten of the yellow spells slammed into her back. The wind was knocked out of her and she wheezed, while trying to keep her grip on Harry. Another bolt of red light engulfed Harry’s head from the tip of Tonks’s wand.

Without warning, the pair dropped out of the air, making Tonks reel at the sudden fall. Just as fast as they fell, they stopped just above the ground, Tonks’s grip failed and she hit the dirt.

“Oof!” The grunt was undignified, but Tonks was still trying to get air back into her lungs and the impact didn’t help.

“Can you see them now?” Harry asked as he stood over Tonks’s downed form.

Through her clearing sight, Tonks could faintly see something around Harry’s head. She blinked twice and everything came into focus. What she was seeing were thin threads that just barely distorted the air…or was it the light, around Harry’s head. “Wh-What the hell?”

“You know how I’ve been working on what I call Magic Manipulation?” Harry questioned her with a smile. Tonks just nodded, a playful roll of her eyes at what was sure to be an upcoming explanation of Harry’s newest spell. “This is a derivative of that!” The boy looked proud of himself. “Think of these little threads as pathways for Magic to follow. Any spell that hits one of them will follow along with it until it reaches the end. Thanks for helping me test it out, Nym!” He now knew that powerful spells could overcome the threads, and that his new spell worked even at pointblank range. ‘I wonder if I could attach one end of a ‘thread’ to the other end of itself and make a loop to trap a spell until it ran out of power?’ Already the Spellcrafter was thinking up new ideas for his creation after getting to test it out in a live situation.

“How did you make the illusions talk?” Tonks asked, still recovering her breath. She didn’t know of any spell that let a visual illusion speak so convincingly.

“I didn’t.” Harry chuckled at her. “Illusion and a Voice Charm paired together. It was pretty convincing though, huh? Even startled you when my voice was suddenly in your ear, right?” He looked a little smug at his trick.

Tonks threw her fist forward and Harry staggered backwards, holding his stomach, while hacking out at the force that had just hit him. With a grin Tonks hopped up to her feet and brought her wand to bear. Only to find out she suddenly couldn’t move.

“I guess we didn’t call an end to the fun.” Harry coughed once and stood up straight, rubbing his stomach. “You’re just being sneaky today, Nym.”

“Aguamenti!” Tonks may not be able to move because of Harry’s Bind spell. But her wand was already aimed at him. The torrent of water was like a hose set on full blast.

“None of that.” Harry ended their little roughhousing as Tonks’s wand was forcibly wrenched from her hand and sent sailing through the air behind her. “Your wandless got a bit better.”

“Thanks, I try.” Tonks grinned at getting to sock Harry one. It wasn’t much more than a modified Flipendo that she could launch with a punch, but it was something wandless that she’d worked out with very little input from Harry.

“I win.” Harry stated to end their little bout.

“Sure, sure.” Tonks agreed as she felt the Bind spell release her and stretched her arms above her head. “You want a kiss for winning?” She fluttered her eyes at him overdramatically.

“No thanks.” Harry was the one rolling his eyes now. Trust his surrogate big sister to tease him.

“Boo~ You’re no fun. That use to get a reaction!” Tonks laughed as she walked over to her wand and managed to successfully summon it to her hand with just her intent and Magic. Sure, it was only a meter or so in total distance, but it was something else she could do wandlessly.

“Yeah, I’m not a little kid anymore.” Harry walked at Tonks’s side. “But I’m also not an awkward teenager yet. So, I’m safe for the most part.” He grinned at her.

“You can’t put off your hormones forever, Harrikins.” Tonks ruffled his hair playfully. Her own hair had turned a bright pink as she laughed.

“I’ll be sure to let you know when I just can’t resist you anymore, Nym.” Harry waved off with a smug little smirk.

“I’m going to tease you even more mercilessly now, Harrikins!” Tonks threatened him as she threw her arm over his shoulder and pulled him into her side. “I’ll even get Fleur to help!” She put him in a headlock and gave him a noogie for good measure.

“Hey! Stop it!” Harry flailed a little before using his Magic.

“Hahahaha!” Tonks laughed and leapt away from Harry as the Tickling Charm got her. “St-Stop it! Ha-Harry…I’m gonna…get you!” She got out between bouts of laughter. Her hair, eyes, and even her skin, were all cycling through a dozen or more colors as her Metamorphmagus ability reacted to her spasms of laughter.

“Catch me if you can, Nym!” Harry flew off and released the Tickling Charm once he was in the air.

“Now your in for it, Harrikins!” Tonks declared, pointing at the shrinking form of the flying Harry. “Damn it… I need to learn how to fly.” She huffed at Harry not sharing the best Magic. “Stupid ‘right question’…” Tonks grumbled and kicked at the dirt. With a twist she Apparated next to where Sirius was sitting. Harry said catch him, no restrictions on how!

-The Rookery ~ Lovegood Family Home ~ The Next Day-

“Woohoo!” Luna and Astoria both cheered as they jumped into the heated pool in their swimsuits. The two splashes were soon followed up by joyful giggles as the two girls broke the surface of the water.

“I can’t believe you transfigured a pool and wanted to go swimming in April.” Hermione, also in a swimsuit, shook her head at Harry.

“Really?” Harry cocked his head to the side a little. “This totally seems like something that I’d do.” He grinned at his best friend.

Indeed, Luna had invited her friends over to the Rookery to play and have fun. Harry, being a doting big brother and always wanting to make Luna happy, had asked her if she wanted to go swimming. When Luna had enthusiastically said yes, Harry had gotten to work.

Transfiguring the ground into a rectangular hole, turning the dirt into stone, conjuring water, and then heating it, was all done in about a minute and could be undone in about the same amount of time. Swimsuits had been brought from home and now Harry, Luna, Hermione, Daphne, Astoria, Tracy, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Lisa Turpin, Padma Patil, Ginny, Ron, Fred, and George were all over at the Rookery for what had become an impromptu pool party in April.

Luna had been the one that got to invite people, since it was her home, and she’d picked out her friends from Ravenclaw, and the Weasleys that were her neighbors, Ginny being her best friend. The laughter and splashing in the pool filled the air with cheer.

The area had been enclosed by Harry too, a quick transfiguration of some dirt into glass and metal had made for an almost greenhouse-like enclosure. One which was put together in a show for the group by Harry. The pool sat in the center and there were about five meters of space in every direction before you’d reach the wall of glass and metal. The air was heated up with a Warming Charm and the kids had been swimming and playing ever since.

Xenophilius Lovegood smiled happily as he watched his daughter with her friends. For all that he’d become more spacey since his wife Pandora had passed away in her accident, he still greatly cared for his daughter and wanted only the best for her. Harry Potter declaring Luna his ‘little sister’ had been a blessing that Xenophilius couldn’t help but be thankful for. He was currently waiting for these ‘pizza bagels’ that Harry had brought over to finish baking in the oven. Apparently, they were a Muggle food that Harry’s uncle, Ted, had introduced him to.

“I’m sure the kids will enjoy them.” Xenophilius chuckled to himself. They certainly smelled good. “I wonder if we could lure a Crumple-horned Snorkack with these?” He and Luna could try on their next trip to Sweden over the summer.

“Cannonball!” Fred and George ran towards the pool and jumped, tucking into balls and hitting the water with two large splashes.

“Hey!” Daphne shouted at the Twins as she pushed her soaked hair out of her face. “Watch it!” She splashed the two as soon as they surfaced.

“Of course you know…” Fred wiped the water from his face.

“This means war.” George finished, and shook his head to rid himself of some water.

“Bring it on!” Tracy jumped into the pool, splashing the Twins again.

“Boys versus girls!” Ron declared loudly, jumping into the pool to splash Padma and Lisa.

“Hey!” The two Ravenclaw girls sputtered at suddenly being soaked.

“Ron! Stop being a prat!” Ginny jumped in after her brother resurfaced, splashing him right in the face.

“Come on, lads!” Terry Boot cheered as the splash fight started in earnest.

“Boys…” Hermione rolled her eyes jokingly, a smile on her face.

“Have some fun, Hermione.” Harry chuckled beside her. Then surprised Hermione as he picked her up in a bridal carry.

“Harry?!” Hermione’s face was bright red at being held in Harry’s arms. When she saw that he was carrying her towards the pool she started to struggle. “Don’t you dare!”

“I’mma do it!” Harry laughed, speeding up a little.

“Don’t do it!” Hermione struggled more, but it was entirely playful as she laughed.

“I’m doing it!” Harry jumped into the pool with Hermione in his arms.

When the two resurfaced, Hermione now had Harry’s arms lightly holding her waist. Both of them were laughing as they looked at each other. With a grin, Hermione brought both of her hands around and trapped Harry between two splashes. She escaped his light hold on her waist and swam away towards the rest of the girls.

“You’ve got a splash coming now, Hermione!” Harry declared, not using Magic only because it would ruin the fun, and instead swimming after her.

It was good to have friends and just be kids having fun. Magic let them get away with things like this easily, so why not, right?

-End Chapter-

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Harry helps at St. Mungos! Even inventing a Charm and teaching it to the Healers! That nets him another accomplishment as he continues to try and climb the ladder of Titles!

Tonks and Harry roughhouse some more! They’re so adorable when they’re just being family! Tonks did try to get Harry back, and at least landed a ‘punch’ this time. Kek!

Then it was time to spoil Luna and their friends with an April pool party!

What’s that? It’s usually 12C in the UK in April?

Big deal! We have Magic to fix things up nice! LOL!

It’s nice that they can just be kids, right? Not always fighting for their lives or being tormented by one adult or another.

What happens next for Harry and friends?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!