I awoke to pain, searing pain, shooting through my head. I groaned as I felt burning heat racing along my nerves. I used my magic to try to sense where I was, I saw two beings hovering over me.
One of them spoke to me and I could tell that the person who spoke to me was female as their voice was not as deep. I could not quite make out the words as it was partially garbled. After a few minutes, the words became clearer and I could pick out a few of them.
"...awake? ...you alright?"
I told them that I felt pain and wondered where I was, but my ears could not make out what I had just said. Exhausted and drained, my eyes shut off and I slumped back down onto the hard gravel.
I woke up in a more comfortable setting. The feeling of being wrapped up in stiff sheets and the lack of smell was all too familiar. After years of being stuck under Pomfrey's care, I quickly realized that I was in a hospital. I sent my magic into my eyes and all I could see was millions of green and blue runes. Outlining the walls around me, there was so much magic that it seeped into the bed.
I heard footsteps a few seconds later and a soft yellow glow entered
"How are you feeling?"
I laughed at the ridiculousness of the question; here I was in a hospital because I was hit with the cruciatus curse for I do not know how long and they thought that I could get better. Look at the Longbottoms; I did not know how much more they suffered under the cruciatus curse so I did not know how close I was to their condition. I knew who I was so I was not exactly in their shoes, but at the same time, I felt worse than I did the last time I was hit in the Department of Mysteries. To make matters worse in the time between the two I had organized my mind and stabilized it more. For my condition to be worse than before my mind was stabilized shows exactly how far I had fallen.
I was still laughing when the golden glow that was the nurse, left. I shivered at the cracked high-pitched sound that came out of my mouth. I lay there in silence before I was swarmed with yellow glows.
"He is physically fine, however when I asked him how he was feeling he laughed at me, so he is probably mentally unstable."
A blue light flashed over me and I groaned in pain. "Well he isn't that far gone as he is still responsive to stimulus and aware of his surroundings."
"We know that some part of him remains as he is not in a vegetable state, but there is no telling how much of him remains."
I would think that I remain, as I still am able to think and rationalize. It would take more than that to get rid of me.
I was bored just laying there and the nurses started getting annoying. So I thought that this would be a good time to see how much damage I had sustained. I delved into my mind to find it in tatters, bits and pieces hanging down, while others lay higgledy-piggledy.
Well at least I was bored and had time to spare I thought as I reached up and pulled down a memory fragment. It was a long and complicated process as I spent twice as long trying to find the other pieces of each memory in my hand than I spent organizing and repairing the damage.
Some of the fragments however were too damaged to fit together and so they remained fragments. There were even a few who I had no idea what they belonged and so I left them where they were.
Satisfied that I had salvaged my mind to the best of my ability I laid back into the bed closed my eyes and smiled in happiness as I drifted away.
I awoke later to clomp of heels on the hard stone floor. The same golden glow entered the room and paused next to me. "How are you feeling today?"
I realized that if I wanted to get out of here I had better answer to their satisfaction. "I'm feeling much better now. Where am I and how soon am I able to leave?"
"You are at St. Finbarr's General Hospital and until we are satisfied with your recovery you will remain here."
I groaned at the typical medical response and as soon as the footsteps retreated, I muttered to the empty room "Napoleonic power monger."
I decided to sleep, since I had nothing better to do. When I awoke, it was to the same boring room, except for a tray with mush on it sitting on the bedside table. I reached over to pull it onto my lap and groaned, as my muscles were still sore either from the effects of the cruciatus curse, or from not being used much since I was incarcerated here.
As I began to eat, all I could think of was, why. Why hospital food had to taste so bad? You would think that with all the funding hospitals got from philanthropists that they would be able to afford at least mild spices or at the very least real potatoes. Besides, if hospitals offered good food, people would not complain about remaining in the hospital.
Finished with the meager and plain food I set it back down on the side table with a groan, both from the protests of my muscles from my stomach being content. I heard footsteps and waited for them to enter.
A yellow glow entered and stopped next to me and I saw a blue light streak out from the yellow glow and wrap around the tray and the tray now glowing blue lifted up before moving sideways towards the yellow glow.
"How much longer will I remain here?"
Suddenly a red light shot out towards me and suddenly I was enveloped in a red hue. After a few minutes, the glow stopped and red scribbles appeared in the space between us, they looked like words but I could not make them out since they were being written from the right to the left. Suddenly the writing stopped and after a few minutes, I heard the nurse speak.
"You appear to be almost fully recovered; however as you probably are aware your muscles are in a weakened state due to your bed ridden state as well as the after effects of the cruciatus curse so it would be best not to do anything that requires much stress on your muscles for a week." She spoke reluctantly. I was certain now; nurses were indeed napoleonic power mongers.
"I was wondering if I could possibly have my clothes back so I could dress and leave." I felt something land on my hands. "Thank you." Then the glow left me so I could dress in peace. I used my magic and my hands to feel out each item.
I pulled off the hospital garment and pulled on the clothes grumbling about the ridiculousness of having to undress and put on a hospital gown when there was nothing physically wrong with me. I mean all they had to do was wave their wand over me.
Now all I had to do was find my way out of this hospital when I had never been here before. I walked out of the room to find one person lying down in a chair next to the door. Her aura looked familiar but I could not quite place her. Then I realized who it was. What was she doing here?
She had no reason still to be here; it was nice that she had taken me in, that however was all she needed to do. She had already gone overboard with taking me shopping, but now she was sleeping on an uncomfortable chair outside my hospital bed for I do not know how long.
I nudged her with my hand and she stirred, "oh sorry, I must have dozed off, is he alright? When will he be released? Why can't I go in and see him?"
"Mrs. Callaghan, it's me, Harry, they released me just now."
"Oh Harry, sorry, thought you were a nurse."
"That's ok. How long have you been here?"
"Since we brought you here two weeks ago, we've been so worried; we've been taking shifts staying with you."
"We?"
"Oh Patrick O'Connell, Jack O'Neil and I are all worried about you, it appears that you have this gift that not only brings people to you, but also makes them care deeply for you. I pondered this thought with Patrick earlier and he thinks it's a gift given to all leaders."
"Oh"
"On another note, now that you have fully recovered we can pick up your foci. In fact, that was how Patrick helped us come to your rescue; it appears that your foci turned out to be unexpected, as he seemed giddy. In fact, if it were not for the white in his hair I would have thought that he was one of my 12-year-old students. It seems some people truly do not ever totally grow up."
"What about everything that I had bought?"
"It's all safe in my hotel room. Though Patrick insisted that you go and pick up your foci before you do anything else, so that is what we are going to do."
I perked up, glad that I had something to look forward to, something to take my mind off recent events. "Sounds good, let's go!"
I tried my best to ignore the pain in my legs, the slight twitching of sore nerves but it was hard to do especially when I had to walk down steps. As soon as I stepped outside, I was hit with a lovely cool breeze that seeped into my skin smelling of magic and blossoms.
She steered me down the street and into one of the shops. I recognized it as Patrick's because of the thick magic smell that seemed to permeate the air, reminding me of the time I had burnt my hair on the stovetop. I also knew because of the beautiful array of colours that dotted around the room.
"Harry, nice to see you back on your feet I hope there was no lasting damage."
"Not really other then slight tingling pain."
"That is to be expected, I see you've come to pick up your foci, give me one minute to get it for you. I must say that it is defiantly my finest work, and the most difficult. That foci is very powerful and temperamental, I would advise you try out the simple spells first, as you will notice a huge difference between this and your wand. Did you get a chance to read the book I recommended?"
"No I haven't had the time or the knowledge of how to read it until right before I was attacked and then I haven't had the book closely."
"Well I suggest you read it before you grab the foci as there are drastic differences both in how it functions and how to wield it. Fortunately I own a copy here"
I quickly cast the spell on me glad that it did not require the use of a focus and saw the book approaching me and reached out a grabbed it. "Thanks Patrick"
"You're welcome."
I flipped open the cover and began reading it. It talked about how I was to hold it and more importantly how I could use it to draw magic out. I did not read the entire book just merely skimmed through both the sections, the excitement of seeing my new foci was overpowering my rational side.
Confident that I had read enough I closed the book and told Patrick that I was ready to receive the foci.
He said all right and headed deeper into the shop though I was certain from the resigned tone that he gave me that he was well aware of how much I had read and that he thought that it was not enough.
As he moved further back I thought I heard him muttering "oh the exuberance of youth, then they come back to me wondering why it didn't work." But I was not focusing on what he was saying as it was not as important as the thought that finally I would have my foci and that I could now fight ole' Tommy boy and his minions.
After a few minutes, I heard the shuffling of feet and looked towards the back of the shop. Adrenaline racing through my body as I saw it a long pole swirling mass of green, red, blue and purple and sometimes a mix of all four of them.
Suddenly white light shot out of it before arching back into it. The white light shot out the other side before arching again and then finally splashing back into the rod.
"I have never thought it was possible to combine two polar opposite cores together within two opposite magical woods, one that magnifies and the other that blocks magic use."
"Why would you have a wood that hinders the use of magic in a shop that creates foci for the sole purpose of directing and drawing out magic?"
"Well Harry that is a good question however it can be useful if the core is too powerful and it is used to temper the core, to prevent it from drawing too much magic."
"It makes sense in this situation with two very powerful cores to temper the cores. However, since you have two woods that are polar opposites, one that accelerates the magic output and one that hinders it, they should cancel each other out and make the entire staff no more effective than an ordinary stick of wood.
See it alone with a powerful core or in this case two powerful cores is not strong enough to cancel the power pulling force of the core, but enough to slow it down acting like a filter to regulating the output. This is good for wands that need to do delicate surgery such as healing, curse breaking and warding.
However, the other wood acts like a mini core drawing slightly more magic, which is useful in cases where power is necessary such as battle and necromancy. The Arithmancyis too complicated to go into, but the point is that the equations end with an error message. This focus should not work.
"I thought Arithmancy was about predicting things based on calendar dates?"
"Oh no my dear Harry, that is only the basics, in the upper levels students learn the equations behind magic. With such knowledge one can create their own spells or delve into foci making as I have. However it's not for everyone as the Arithmancy gets very complex and most people struggle to stay in that class."
"I thought that that was runes?"
"No, but they are often used in conjunction with each other. One usually does not take one and not take the other. In fact, most schools after your first year of either require that you take the other one as well. Anyways, Runes is the manipulation of Arithmantic equations to form shapes such as wards.
We use arithmantic equations to categorize and simplify magic so that we can manipulate it, Runes allows such equations to function on solid matter and to give stability. Wards are simply strands of arithmantic equation tied together by runes and then tied to an object by runes. This allows the spell created to stay in one place and be self-sustaining; otherwise, without it attached to an object it would collapse, as the centre sustains all those runes connecting the equations together.
It is of course much more complex than that, but because of your gifted sight, it is something that you should look into. If you were to look closely at spells being cast you would see that the beam of light is actually composed of one either complex or simple equation depending on the nature of the spell."
"Those subjects indeed sound fascinating and I intend to learn more about them, however as fascinating as this conversation is, I need my foci as I must finish this war and as I discovered I can't function well without it."
"Before I give it to you have you thought up a name for it?"
"A name for it? You never told me that. Why, does it need to have a name?"
"Yes, you have to name it. What do they teach you over there?" then I heard him muttering 'Pompous bastards the lot of them'. "You go to that school Hogwarts don't you?"
"Yes"
"You've seen the moving stairs right?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do you think they move?"
"Don't know"
Because the castle is sentient, Magic is sentient; wizards all share a symbiotic bond with magic. I thought that with your ability to see magic all around you that you would understand, but it appears that I gave you too much credit.
Ignorant people, and pompous people, such as what fills the majority of the wizarding world, do not name their wands mainly because they seem them only as a tool, an unanimated object. Although in part, they are correct, as most people get premade wands that were made ahead of time and the wand stores are only looking for the closest fit.
Custom-made foci are more sentient as they are intended with one person in mind and are tuned into their magic and shares traits with them. Each ingredient has certain traits that make them unique from each other. They often share traits from the source.
Take phoenix feathers for example, they are often found in wands of users who tend to have a hard times dying such as you and Voldemort. Unicorn hair for a powerful light sided magic user, powdered unicorn horn for someone who is pure of spirit and this means that such users cannot ever use any spell with intentions to harm anyone. This of course excludes accidental death caused by the spell. Dementors essence is associated with a deep affixation with death and power over necromancy.
In your case, your cores are basilisk venom, which is often associated with death and magic power and phoenix tears associated with healing and resilience."
"But I thought phoenix tears counteract basilisk poison?"
"So did I until today? How do you know that?"
"In my second year at Hogwarts I killed a basilisk but not before one of its fangs sank into my arm. Luckily, the headmaster's phoenix was there and healed me. Interestingly enough this phoenix gave two of its feathers one went into my wand and the other into Voldemort's so that every time we fought..."
"Bráthair Draíocht" he mumbled.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"What I said was 'brother's magic'. If you are into this type of business or in some other businesses you will eventually hear about some obscure magic that either works better or worse when it comes in contact with its 'brother'. In this case, I am guessing that both your core and Voldemort's come from the same phoenix. Well now you shouldn't have that problem with your new foci."
I don't know what to name it, I know that I want it to be in Irish, to remember my time here and because it was created here, but I don't know the language and after learning about it I don't think I'm qualified enough to name it. I mean this is going to go down in legend like Merlin's staff or St. Patrick's and I don't want to botch it up.
"I highly doubt that you could botch it up as you so colourfully put it. I am honoured that you thought so very highly of us. In addition, that out of all the places that you could have gotten your foci at you came here, whether or not you had a choice or not is irrelevant, you were sent here and that is all that matters. The purpose of naming it is that you have to be able to call it to you, since you can't speak Irish you will have a hard time calling it. I would suggest you choose something that you can pronounce well."
"Can you teach me Irish?"
"You really have your heart set don't you kid?" I nodded "alright I will do it since you did give me the opportunity to make the greatest foci ever and besides it will be good for business. Now I am not going to teach you the way you learn anything else, instead I am going to cast a spell that will copy all the language knowledge the caster has on that particular language from his temporal lobe into the target's temporal lobe. Afterwards you will feel a major headache but it should fade. Are you ready?"
"Yes"
"Alright here we go. transfero gaelic lingua"
Pressure exploded outwards from my brain and i needed to vent to release it so I opened my mouth and groaned.
"feis, mallaithe bitseach mása bod"
"Very colourful language you have there. Well you have indeed proven the reason why they do not teach languages to teenagers. It is too stressful on our oversensitive ears to listen to teenagers using their newly learned language to swear. Oh yes the times have indeed been changing."
"Sorry for swearing I just underestimated how painful it was."
"I will overlook the first few words you spoke, however the last statement proves that the spell indeed worked as it should. Now all you need to do is to speak in English, concentrated on something that makes you thing of the English language. Like how you can only speak to snakes when either they are alive or you make it come alive."
"Is this in English?"
"Yes. Now are you ready to name your foci?"
"Yes"
"Very well as I hand it to you close your eyes and enter the foci and speak the name you have chosen."
I felt the foci in my hand, my fingers running all over the mostly smooth hard surface. Occasionally my fingers would move over grooves and bumps that seemed to twist around the foci and feeling other ridges on either side of my fingers, it made me wish I could see the designs in my foci instead of just feeling them.
I sank into my foci feeling tendrils reach out to me and curl up around me I let it and it finally felt like a part of me and then I knew what its name was and so I whispered it "Nimhe Deora" and I felt the magic swirling around me become excited. I began chanting the name repeatedly and with each chant, the magic became more eccentric until finally I was shouting it and then I felt it explode around me in violent hues.
I felt at peace with myself as if a part of me had returned. I felt so light I probably could float amongst the clouds. This must be that 'high' those drug addicts on the telly were talking about.
Finally, I decided that I needed to come back down. I remember hearing that one of the problems with drug addicts was that you lost track of time and if this was similar to the 'high' feeling then I could lose track of time here as well. I pulled myself out of Nimhe Deora and back into my body and then slowly opened my eyes. Nimhe Deora was glowing twice as bright and twice as colourful than it did when I had seen it being carried out. I turned to Patrick who was sitting in a chair that was imbued with magic perpendicular to me. Then I groaned as I realized I must have fallen down as I felt pain race down my left side.
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
"How long was I out?"
"Three or four hours give or take. Not that I was surprised, because that was to be expected when a extremely potent foci bonds with its powerful master. It's a good thing that I put very strong wards up to keep this establishment intact as your bonding nearly broke them and I would have hated to see what would have happened if there hadn't been any wards. More than likely this whole place would have been levelled and a few of the surrounding shops as well."
Then once more, I let go and fell into the darkness below me, satisfied that I was whole and exhausted from all the excitement of the day.
6