Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to these characters or world in which this story takes place. They belong to the author of the Harry Potter series J. K. Rowling.
More Training and Shapers
If there was one thing that Tiberius was glad about it was the painting located in the library. Without it his like as a portrait would be very dull having read all the old books numerous times already. Thus, due to it he always had something to do no matter what. He had actually made it and was damn proud of it too. You see it was connected to the actual library in the castle. He had made it in such a way that every book in the library was also in the painting. Also any book added even now was also added to the painting as well. This of course meant that he needed to get new books to keep it up to date. The wonderful thing with that was how he had done this. He actually employed a family of house elves for this very purpose. They were quite intelligent and watched the world for every single book that came out in all countries. No matter where the book came out the elves would go and get it. In the magical world they would just pop in and pick it up. And in the muggle world they would cast an illusion on themselves and walk in looking like a regular muggle. This also meant that they studied muggles and had an excellent vocabulary and way of speech. Which over the last few hundred years had rubbed off on the other elves as well. Tiberius was very happy at that as he hated a house elf speech patterns. It grated on his nerves.
Tiberius smiled as he found the book he was looking for over the past few months as he helped his two charges. That of course was the one thing he hated about the library. It was that he had never created an indexing system for it and one had to actually search the library for whatever book they were looking for. The good thing though was that he already knew where most of the books were so that was not really a problem. But of course this particular book had not been looked at since he was alive. Actually since just after he had gotten married.
You see this was an old druidic ritual book. Most of the rituals were of no help except of course for the one that he was looking for. The ritual he had been looking for all this time was the one that might just save Ginny's life. Reading it over, he smiled. It was complex but not so complex that they would not be able to perform it at all. The best thing about it was that their magic would actually finish the ritual how it deemed necessary. Also it would make her a small part Potter by blood so the virus would then leave her. She would also gain a piece of Harry's magic, this was the part of the ritual that would really cleanse the virus from her, as the virus was attached to a persons magic more then their actual body. Of course all this would also happen to Harry from Ginny making him part Weasley as well.
Pleased with himself Tiberius headed out to find the two teens and tell them the good news.
Harry and Ginny were relaxing in the sitting room. Ginny was sitting on the floor watching shapes change between her hands. She had gotten quite good at it and also was able to do it quickly and it was not draining any more either. When they had started learning this skill the magic they used for it was lost but shortly after they started Tiberius told them how to remedy this by telling them how to put the magic back in rather then just letting it go and for it to do what ever it wanted.
Looking up from what she was doing she looked over to Harry to see what he was up to. Smiling it looked like he was doing the same as her but was adding a step she could not do as she did not have the ability to tell if she was actually doing it.
Shortly after they had started Tiberius started to tell how this skill could be used to cast spells faster and better no less. You just had to pull the magic in to your hand and fire it off. This was made easier by the use of a wand but with enough practice it could be done wandless. Tiberius had told them both that this was just a starting exercise that could, with enough effort be used for wandless magic.
Ginny shook her head clearing her thoughts and smiled at Harry.
"Harry you have gotten good at taking the color out of your magic huh?"
Harry let his hands fall and looked over at Ginny, "Yeah, I just hope I will be able to copy it over to using a wand once I get a new one. I mean think about it, if the spell has no color your opponent can't get an idea of what spell you are casting from the color of it if they don't hear the incantation. I mean it also makes it harder to dodge the spell too."
Smiling Ginny just shakes her head, "Yes, yes I know all that. You tell me that every time I mention it." Ginny giggles.
"I just wish I could learn how to do it as well I mean it is a huge advantage in a fight."
"Well there is no reason you can't. I can help you if you like. You make one shape and then try changing it but not the shape but the color of it. You are removing the magic that is leaking out of it in to our dimension."
"Our what?" Ginny asked confused.
"Oh yeah Tiberius didn't go over this with you did he. Ok well let's see how I can explain this. I mean I am not fully sure about it. I guess I will use his explanation and then let you ask me about it and then see if I can answer you to help it make more sense."
"Ok, there are different dimensions. The three primary ones that you reside in every day are height length and width. Thus 3-D objects like you me the castle and everything you can think of. There is another that some call the fourth dimension, it is time. So you could say we live in that one as well but it is hard to manipulate that one. It flows, you can speed it up or slow it down to the point it is almost stopped. Both of those can only be done over a set area. Now time turners break this concept because you go back in time. But that is not actually what happens. What really happens is that it creates a rift in space and sends you to an alternate timeline that is running parallel to the one we are in, every moment of every day there is another timeline created. This means that when you go back you are actually shifting over to one of those alternate time lines. This in turn creates some weird twist in time because you should not be there. But that is enough on that. Ask me about my experience with a time turner some time and I will explain this more. Or as well as I understand it that is."
Taking a deep breath Harry continues, "Ok from what Tiberius says is that there is a dimension that is separate but connected to ours that is well, magic. This dimension is different because we actually take things from it and use it here. You basically summon magic from the magic dimension and that is your spell. Also you have a kind of avatar in that world too. Every one in this world that can use magic has an avatar in that world. Your avatar is made of pure magical energy and is actually your reserve. If you use it all up your avatar dies and that is also what kills you. Now your physical body also absorbs backing that leaks from there to here and gives it to your avatar and also your avatar absorbs magic too. That is how you refill your pool. Of course most wizards now a day think that it is only from the magic in the air here."
Ginny sat there for a bit processing all of this and then looks at Harry for a bit, "Hey do you think that maybe there are creatures in that magic realm that are not here?"
"I don't see why not. Why do you ask?" Harry asked curious as to where this was going.
"Well what if Luna could see into that world. I mean what if all her creatures are actually real and only she can see them? That would make it seem like she is well loony when she is really not. She can just actually see something that most can't."
"I mean it would explain a lot. She also seems to get spells faster too. I bet that is part of it." Ginny smiled.
"Hmm if you are right Gin she might be able to see our avatars too. I mean supposedly the bigger your avatar the more powerful you are. But there is also how bright or dense it is too. But I don't know enough about that."
Ginny giggles. "You know you were sounding like Hermione for a bit there."
Harry's eyes go wide, "Please never tell her. Actually never tell her or Ron. If you tell her she will tell Ron and if Ron knows he will never let me live it down." Ginny just giggles more, falling back at this.
"Hmm good to see you two are enjoying yourselves" Tiberius says from a nearby painting.
"Of course we are. Why would we not be?" Harry smirked.
"Cheeky brat." Tiberius mutters.
"Anyways, I wanted to tell you I have a new ritual for you to study. It is a lot more complex and has some druidic you will have learn to speak Druidic in order to use it. So I think it would be a good time to start learning other languages."
"How are we going to do that? I mean I thought that languages took a long time to learn." Ginny asked.
"Yes well normally that is true, but there is a shortcut and it of course uses magic." Tiberius smirks.
"You Ginny are going to have to be the one that does this though. Seeing how you are the only one with a wand."
Ginny nods, "Ok but what are we going to be doing?"
"I am glad you asked. You see there is a spell that enhances the part of your brain that deals with language. With it cast on you; after reading the primers for the language, which by the way have been charmed to increase the speed of your learning as well, you can learn the basics of a language in about an hour."
"Wow that is fast. So what languages are we going to learn and how long does the spell last before it has to be reapplied?"
"Oh that is the best part about it. It is permanent, and if you hear a language you don't know the spell helps your brain start to work on it so you can learn it. No matter what language it is or who or what is speaking it."
"Oh does that include Parseltongue?" asked Ginny.
"I don't see why not. I mean it is just a language. If you were exposed to it long enough you could learn it. Why to you ask though?"
"I am a Parseltmouth" stated Harry.
"Oh ok. That is fine and so Ginny here was asking because she could learn it from you then?"
"Actually I was just wondering, but yeah I guess I could, couldn't I."
"Yes you could. Now Harry you go do whatever it was you were doing and I will teach Ginny here the spell"
Harry and Tiberius were in the study while Ginny was off reading more languages. She seemed to pick them up faster then even Tiberius thought they would and enjoyed learning them. This was good as it gave her something to do now that Harry was at the point where he could start to learn his Shaping skills.
"Alright now Harry the easiest way of learning this is by actually doing it. See that paper weight over there it is made completely from iron I want you to pick it up pull out your magic and stick it in the paperweight."
Harry walked over to said paper weight picking it up, "So how does this teach me?"
Tiberius chuckles, "Well I am going to start by teaching you how to deconstruct something. It is a very useful skill as once you have deconstructed something you gain its mass as magical energy that is stored in a separate core that is just for shaping. Once you deconstruct it also stores the make up of it and you can fully reconstruct it not matter what it is exactly how it was before you deconstructed it."
"Oh. What about magical items?" Harry asked thinking about the Marauders map as he asked.
"Yes even them. No matter what the copy-write protections spells are it can not stop a Shaper. They literally strip it down to pure energy and then remake it. Also once you have deconstructed something you can then also make it using the reconstruction process once again … but that is a lesson for later."
"Now if you have saturated you magic in to the paperweight I want you to slowly pull your magic out but also have it hold on to the paperweight. This should come naturally. It is a genetic skill. You would have actually figured it out on your own at some point in the future. But having some one walk you through it is much easier."
Harry just nodded and started his task. It took about ten minutes before anything started to happen but what happened was startling to Harry. The paperweight started to glow and then in a pop it was gone and Harry felt quite refreshed.
"Now I bet you feel refreshed. You see that is the thing about a Shaper. They are very dangerous in a fight. They can cast huge spells like they are nothing and drain their reserves and just grab a hand full of dirt or something deconstruct it and start flinging spells again. If you get really good you can actually catch a spell in the air and deconstruct it as it hits you taking the energy of the spell into yourself. This of course as you can tell is a very advanced technique and should not be attempted until you can deconstruct and reconstruct the same item one thousand times in one minute."
Harry was dumb struck by this statement. If he could learn to do that, along with his increased physical speed he could have a defense against most spells.
Tiberius cleared this throat to get Harry's attention and then continued, "But of course first you need to learn how to reconstruct something that you have deconstructed."
Smiling Tiberius chuckled at the look on Harry's face. He had looked so eager to learn to deconstruct a spell but forgot he did not know the second part of the task.
"Alright now that you are once again paying attention I will continue. To reconstruct you just need to pull some magic in to your hand or once you get better at this and are doing larger items maybe in front of you, you then just focus on the item and will it into being. Take the knowledge you got from the deconstruction process to remake it. If you need too, go into your mind first and find the information and use it to figure this out."
Harry nodded and then closed his eyes. A quick conversation with Core and he knew everything about the paperweight and also made a room for his deconstructed information. Core had suggested copies of parts of it as well as having the completed object. Like starting with the complete object, then another place for what it is made out of, and another for any spells it had on it as well. Core had said that this way he could take things from one thing and put it on another in time.
Shortly after Harry had come back from his chat with his Core there was a glow in his hand and then a pop and the paper weight was back. The suddenness of it though caused Harry to drop the paperweight.
"Well done Harry, not many get it on their first try. But you did organize your mind around this did you not."
"Yes Core told me that I should keep things about it not just the completed object."
"Yes very smart Core you got there. Some do not care to help the user though so you got lucky there. Well not really, most help but a few will not. Anyways now that you have reconstructed it I want you to do it again, but this time with out deconstructing it. This shows that you have learned how to do the task."
Harry just nods and concentrates on the task at hand. In about the same time (less the talk with Core) Harry has another paperweight. That he does not drop on the floor this time."
Clapping Tiberius congratulates Harry on his work.
"Ok now that you have that down I want you to start on trying to change its shape. Instead of the cube it is try a sphere. Just think about the paperweight, how it is constructed but do not recall how it looked. Instead I want you to picture it as a sphere. If you want you can deconstruct that one first so it is not so taxing on you."
Harry nods and the paperweight disappears with a pop. And then he begins to attempt this new task.
And hour later Harry has a sphere with the lines from the cube on it.
"Very good Harry this can be hard at first because your mind it not used to making something how it wants. As soon as you deconstruct your first item and then reconstruct it is hard to break the habit of only doing that. You see that is just the most basic thing you can do as a Shaper. You need to learn how to do things and then break out of the quickly made mould that you are set into. Once you do whole new avenues open up to you. It is once you are able to do this that you can make whatever you like. There are limits. Such as to make something out of a material you must first have deconstructed it or know the exact makeup of it before you try to construct it."
"Once you are done this task we will move on to you making a paperweight how ever you like but of course out of iron as that is the only material you know at this point."
"Now I want you to take a break and then try again. Come find me once you do. Or you can try to make the new paper weight once you get the sphere down."
Harry nods and then asks, "Umm Tiberius is there any way of stopping the popping noise ever time I construct or deconstruct something?"
"Oh yes but I will leave you to experiment to figure that out. I mean the noise does get annoying and we all tend to find different ways of making it go away during our training because if not it would drive us insane. More so if you are training to learn how to deconstruct spells. Just think it would sound like a continuous popping sound. Very annoying wouldn't you say?"
Harry just blanches at this, but nods and goes to find Ginny for now.
It had been a few weeks and Harry was getting better at his Shaping and both Ginny and Harry were working on the ritual whenever they could. Ginny was also learning languages at a phenomenal rate. She was even starting to talk to the different paintings in different languages to get how to do it down. Just because you know and understand a language does not mean you know how to use it.
Harry had even got the popping sound to leave. It had to so with how you let the magic move. He was directing the magic but not guiding it thus causing it to do the task as fast as it could. And the change in air pressure was what caused the popping sound. Harry figured this was the same reason for the sounds when things apparated. He was hoping to apply his theory once he learned how to apparate.
Yet, as of now Tiberius had sent Harry to a room with many different materials and what not. This was so that he would have a vast library of materials to Shape from.
Tiberius had been very impressed with Harry's paperweight a few weeks back. It had not taken him long to get it and what it was had been very detailed. It was actually Harry himself on his broom in a dive with a stand and a base. Also it was hanging from a chain.
This had greatly impressed him as he did not think that Harry would have that much of an imagination. The detail and the fact that he thought to shape different pieces was astounding. What made it more impressive was the fact that he had done it all at once in one go. Most would have done the stand and base as once piece then the figure and then the chain, either all at once or each link separately and then putting it all together by hand.
Harry was progressing very quickly and Tiberius was about to teach him a new skill.
"Harry, come here please."
Getting up from his control exercises Harry come over to the painting that Tiberius was currently in, "Yes what is it Tiberius?"
"I want to teach you the last big skill you need before you start to make things of your own and once you master this I will help you make a wand for yourself."
Harry's eyes widened at this and started to smile, "Great I mean I need to get practicing to get used to casting again."
Tiberius just chuckled at this, "Harry my boy why do you think I have been getting you to do these control exercises. It helps you get used to your magic as well as learning how to use it in new ways."
"Now what I want you to do is first create a sphere of magic over one hand. I know you can do this as I have seen you and Ginny practicing it. You can gain better control, by the way, if you create two different objects in each hand out of magic and then start to juggle them while maintaining them. But that is not what we are doing right now is it."
Harry nodded once again. He felt he did this a lot with Tiberius' lesson. He would tell Harry to do something and then Harry would nod and either do it or fail and try again.
"Good, now I want you to pick a material and make a sphere." Tiberius pauses and once Harry had done it he continued, "Good now support it in the magic you have there. Next while it is floating there I want you to create a cube over it and then a sphere over that but each layer is to be made from some thing else. Say the cube is made from wood with no seams and then gold over that. Lastly I want you to apply any and all spells you know to that layer and then put the whole thing in to a crystal cube. Still following me cause then there are two more steps."
With a nod from Harry Tiberius continued, "Ok I then want you to remove all the spells from it with out removing the crystal cube. And lastly I want you to deconstruct half of the cube and make sure that everything is lined up perfectly. If it is not then I want you to deconstruct the entire thing and do it again."
Looking at Harry Tiberius started to laugh. The look on his face was priceless.
"Now I bet the question in your head is 'Why do I have to do this.' There are two reasons for this. One is that yes you likely can do it all at once but doing it in stages is better. Well maybe not better but it takes more skill. If you did it all at once you could just perfectly see it and do it. But this makes you work harder at it to make it perfect. Also there are things that should be made in stages. Sometimes making an item all at once is too taxing and it is better to make it in stages."
"For an example take a house. Shaping an entire house in one go could kill you. But if you were to Shape the materials and then start to stick them together that would be much easier. And you could break it in to days so you could recover as you worked on it. This also hopefully teaches you to think in stages as well. As you could make something that has more then one function or something and you can then do each bit at a different time. Also you can start something and then sit it down to continue later."
Harry just nodded and then sat down to work on this.
Ginny was enjoying her self she had always wanted to learn another language but now she knew a lot more then just the one she knew before coming here. She knew how to read, write and speak: English, Latin, Elfish, Druidic, Spanish, French, German, Gaelic, and a lot of others. Every time she would come across one she didn't know she sat down and started to work on it until she got it. It also helped that she knew so many other languages because most languages were related to others and thus known ones helped to learn others. This had helped to fill her time whilst Harry worked with Tiberius on his Shaping.
Ginny was also working on her spell work and also worked on the ritual. She was concerned that it didn't have an ending for it. Of course Tiberius just told her that their magic would take control and finish it.
In all this time she was also practicing her control and exploring the library. She had found that this ritual was almost always used by a Potter once they were married and so she was now concerned about the fact that she and Harry would not be married when they did it and hoped that would not change it in any way.
She was surprised by the ritual. It was rather complex but for them it should be fairly easy to do as there was no actual spell work involved as with most rituals. It was a druidic chant and some letting of blood and positioning of their bodies in a certain way. But what had surprised her most was that they would be connected in so many ways. It was called The Soul Bond Binding. But it was so much more then that.
It connected their minds, bodies, souls and magic. It was said that the closer the couple were the stronger these binds would be. It also said for the ones performing the ritual that the more powerful they became or were at the time of the ritual the stronger the binds would be or become in time.
Now this came with quite a few benefits and only a few cons. The benefits allowed for any training that you did, a portion of it was shared across the body connection. Any learning that one did was fully shared across the mind connection. When ones magic increased the others would rise to match it. When one died the best of all the rituals benefits was that the other kept them tied to this life, and from their power the one who died was healed and revived. To kill them you actually had to kill both before the one came back or kill them both at the same time.
Now the cons were not that bad. If the mind connection was strong enough then thoughts could travel across it. This was affected by range, but if it was strong enough that no longer mattered. This was a con as it could not be turned off so you thoughts were never you own after that. The other could ignore your thoughts but they could just as easily listen in to them as well. This could be considered a benefit as well in the long run though so it is a bit of a mixed blessing.
Another was that through the body connection your life span was increased by adding the two of them together. So if one was to live on hundred years and the other was to live one hundred twenty years then they would both live to be two hundred and twenty years old. Curious about this Ginny wanted to know what else might affect a person's lifespan. What she found was shocking. She found that the more powerful a person became the longer they would live. This also meant that since Harry was to have a drastic jump in power shortly after thy got back that they were going to live for a very long time. Not that she minded but it did mean that they would likely out live everyone they knew and possibly even their children and grand children in the future.
She couldn't really find anything else wrong with it but she figured that there might be other things and she just didn't know what they were. It was the only way for her to survive past a few days in to the new school year. So she knew that she would have to live with any cons that came up. Of course there was the fact that she didn't mind being tied to Harry in this way and knew that it would actually make both of them stronger and safer as well.
And for that reason alone she could live with it.
Author's Note: Hey every one. Bet a lot of you have been waiting for this. Sorry it took so long. But there have been computer rebuilds, reinstallations, troubles getting a good word processing software, work, and just a bit of a lack of a muse to work on this. I figured I would stop here for now and tell you I will be working on a new chapter next weekend and hopefully if like this it will end out being out soon there after. But that is just in theory. But I will try.
Next chapter will be the ritual, the wand making and maybe, maybe going back to normal time.
See you then
imgonnadie
PS – don't kill me. Oh and also congratulations to writer-of-deathandlife for being my 200th reviewer.