Mist of Shadows
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Harry Potter and the Magic of Books Part 22
🕑 Added 2016-07-28 00:46:07 +0000 UTC Arcturus wasn’t overly impressed by his first view of the island as it was snow covered and rather inhospitable. He was just glad that they’d packed a magical tent for everyone. Sure, the tents wouldn’t last forever but they didn’t need to as they’d have the town built in a couple of weeks. He put his broom back in his bag and glanced around the beach. “Now what?”James glanced around the beach then over at the rocky area next to it. “Now we use Tony’s plans and start building a basic town while Lily and Harry use the translation rings to recruit some local talent.”
Harry looked over at Anna, “I don’t suppose you know anything else useful about this island? The guide book didn’t say much useful, just that it was as big as Australia.”
Anna said, “Just that a bunch of male channelers came here and then went insane and tore the place up after breeding enough that it was a continual issue.”
Beth shrugged. “They shouldn’t be completely insane yet which gives us a small window to recruit some help in order to build a guardian style magic item that covers the island in a field so that male channelers can’t use their magic.”
Arcturus asked, “How sure are you that the device won’t mess with our own magical abilities?”
“We can test that by finding a stedding, if our magic works in it, then we shouldn’t have any problems. We’re also magic sources so we shouldn’t have any trouble regardless.”
Moody said, “We’ll put up some muggle repelling wards over the area.”
Lily glanced over at the telepathic teenagers then over at Tony. “Just remember that we have non-magical people around.”
“That’s not a problem, we’ll just make a temporary line further out.”
Arcturus looked over at the twenty witches and wizards he’d brought. “Let’s get the tents set up and out of the cold.” He glanced at Remus. “If you wouldn’t mind scouting the area?”
Remus nodded. “Of course.”
Lily looked at Harry. “Let’s go see if we can find someone to help.”
0o0o0o0
Harry wasn’t sure if he was impressed or not by the large stone structure the men had carved into the side of a large hill. It wasn’t great but at least it provided some type of shelter from the weather. He’d been rather shocked that someone had welcomed them in rather politely when they’d seen them flying past on their broomsticks. Everyone seemed rather haunted though still mostly sane which wasn’t overly surprising as the source hadn’t been tainted all that long. He addressed the man in his early twenties that had invited them in, “How many people do you have here?”
The dark brown haired man said, “There were four hundred of us when we came here, there are probably closer to three hundred and fifty now. Some of them went crazy and some wandered off. We’re trying to limit how much of the power we use.”
Lily asked, “Have you made any progress curing the taint?”
The man sighed, “No, the more power we use the faster the madness takes us or at least that’s the current theory. We’re hoping it’s a temporary thing...” the man noticed the look on Harry’s face. “We’re wrong aren’t we?”
Harry sighed. “Sadly, a friend of mine had a foretelling, the source will be tainted for thousands of years but we might have a possible solution or at least a way to keep the knowledge you’ve worked so hard for alive.”
The man half asked half demanded, “How?”
Lily said, “We have a ter’angreal that can record memories and thus how people create their weaves.”
“So that even if we fall our knowledge doesn’t fall with us...” After several moments of thought the man smiled. “That is welcome news.”
Lily pulled a ring of protection from evil out of her bag. “This might help with the taint. If it does then we can get more, if it doesn’t then it’s back to the drawing board.”
The man nodded, “We’ll have to test it but if it helps at all then it’s worth it.” he gestured for them to follow him then led them toward where the leaders were meeting for a council.
Harry absently followed the man as he wondered how many of the men would be insane by the time they left and if there was a way to save them other than severing their connection to magic then compelling them to live or just shielding them extremely well. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if forced to deal with that choice, lose his life or lose his magic, it wasn’t fair but the world wasn’t fair.
The man knocked on the door of the council chamber.
Another young man opened the door. “Yes?”
“A woman claims that she might have a possible solution for the taint or at least a partial work around as well as a device for copying memories and thus weaves.”
The man that had opened the door stepped back and gestured for them to come inside. “If you’re wasting our time…’
“I’m not,” Lily replied.
Harry followed his mother into the council chambers. It wasn’t much of a council room, just a room that had been carved into the rock with magic or at least that’s what he was assuming. The chairs such as they were, were just blocks of smooth stone. The men sitting around the place were older looking men which meant that they were likely several centuries old or more as one of them looked quite old.
Lily held out the ring. “This might help block the taint or at least help against the madness.”
One of the council members asked, “What does it do?”
“It protects against mental influence and against evil magic for lack of a better world. It might help, it might not.”
The man nodded. “We’ve tried a number of options for blocking the taint, I’m more interested in your ter’angreal that lets us store memories.”
“I’ll show you if you want,” Lily replied.
“Please.” The man gestured for the younger man to step forward. “Record a memory and then display it and we’ll talk.”
Lily pulled her memory device out of her bag which looked a lot like a short stout crystal goblet with a hole in the center. “You merely wrap your hand around it and concentrate on the memory you want to record. If you want, I’ll show you.”
“Please do.”
Lily concentrated on the boat ride to Hogwarts. A silvery substance bubbled up from the hole and formed into a small crystal marble. “That should do it. The viewer please Harry.”
Harry reached into his bag and pulled out the viewer which was basically little more than a rune carved metal pyramid with a circular indentation cut in the point. He accepted the crystal marble from his mother then put the crystal on top of the pyramid then tilted it toward the wall so that the scene on the lake was shown on the wall.
The old man asked, “That is a strange structure.”
“It was a strange school. The device will also let you touch the crystal and travel into the memory so that you’re present at the site of the memory but this is sufficient to show that it works.”
The old man nodded. “How is it used?”
“You merely grasp the handle and think about what you want stored, anything from a single memory to everything you have.”
Another council member asked, “Everything?”
Lily shrugged. “Everything. I suggest you limit it to knowledge of every weave you know and all of your memories of channeling but the extra memories won’t hurt anything. You can be very selective if you want to be.”
The younger man asked, “May I try?”
“Be my guest.” Lily handed him the crystal goblet like device. “Just concentrate on the memory you want to transfer then squeeze the cup and will it to happen.” Technically squeezing it wasn’t required but it was a decent focus which helped.
The man concentrated on the first time he actually used the healing weave on a living creature then squeezed the goblet and smiled when the silvery liquid poured up from the hole in the cup and crystallized in a marble. “There.”
Harry held out his hand. “It’s safe to touch.”
The man picked up the memory and handed it to Harry.
Harry placed the crystal of his mother’s boat ride in his pocket then put the new marble on the top of the pyramid and projected a new scene with glowing threads of light and a wounded dog on the wall. “I’m guessing the glowing light is your magic?”
The younger man nodded. “That’s the memory I was trying to show and yes, the glowing strands are threads of the power.”
The old man asked, “You can see the threads?”
“It’s not exactly useful for the rest of us but yes we can see the threads if only because they’re part of his memory.” Lily wondered if there was a way to weave this world’s spells using her type of magic but she’d leave that for a long term project.
Several other men around the table smiled as they realized that they could record all of their knowledge in a form that would last through the ages. One of them asked, “Remarkable. What are you looking for in exchange?”
“A copy of all of the memories so that I can make a second repository. I’d also like a channeler’s help in figuring out a solution to the taint problem.”
“A great deal of people have tried and the more someone channels the sooner the madness takes them.”
“How long do you think you can keep from channeling? A month, a year? Maybe five? Every time you do, you’re one step closer to madness. On the other hand, if you don’t try then nothing will get better.”
The younger man that showed them in spoke up. “I volunteer to help. I don’t have any extremely valuable talents and my strength isn’t the best.”
The older man that had first spoke sighed. “Very well.”
Lily held out the ring. “Put that on and try channeling a small flame.”
The man slipped the ring on then grabbed the tainted source and was surprised when the taint seemed to recoil from him. “That’s new. The taint seems to be recoiling, it’s still nasty but it doesn’t seem as bad.” He channeled fire and created a ball of flame over his hand. “It’s not perfect but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Harry said, “If nothing else it might let people use the power enough to not go insane.”
Lily asked, “Does that mean we have a deal? The memory devices for a copy of all of the memories?”
The man nodded. “Yes, how many more rings can you create?”
“I’ll ask her as soon as we get back to camp.”
The younger man asked, “I’ve been meaning to ask, how did you fly on a broomstick?”
Harry said, “The broomsticks are magic.”
Another council member that hadn’t spoken before asked, “How did you get them to fly?”
Lily shrugged. “I’d ask the person that creates them but I’d just get a long boring lecture that doesn’t help me.” The truth was she knew how to enchant a broom she just didn’t want to tell the council that. They were rather desperate men and desperate people did a lot of stupid things. She wanted the alliance to work but she didn’t want to be stuck there crafting things for the Aes Sedai council.
Harry said, “We should probably get started so we can make it back before it gets dark.”
“That’s a good point.”
The leader looked at the two younger men. “Make sure nothing happens to our guests as they collect memories.”
0o0o0o0
Hermione looked up from her spell book as Harry walked into their tent with a slight smile on his face. “How did the meeting go?”
Harry walked over to his chair and sat down. “I think we made a favorable impression and the protection ring seems to help. They seem like nice enough people though I get the feeling that they’re rather scared. What did you work on?”
“I’ve been researching how to create glasses that can see magic potential. Being able to tell at a glance if someone has any magical potential or mystical abilities sounds useful.”
“Any luck?”
“With some help from James, I should have a prototype tomorrow.”
“That should help know who to recruit. What about the twins?” Harry was curious what the adorable troublemakers were up to.
Anna walked out of the bedroom without a stitch on which was rather normal for her. “We cleared snow and worked on knocking up the psychic girls using the gender belt and a luck potion.”
Beth walked out. “We also talked two of the psychics into using the belt and trying to knock up the female wolf girls.”
Harry asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Beth walked over and sat down in Harry’s lap. “We have a month or so to make sure everyone is pregnant. As much as I’ll be sad about not getting to see my sons or daughters, they’ll have a good life. Besides, this way we have a chance to seduce our great something grandchildren and that makes me horny.”
Anna snickered as she licked her lips. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Harry hugged Beth to him. “If you’re okay with it.”
“I’m okay. Besides, in eight or nine years, we’ll have the chance to have children with Hermione who we’ll get to raise, spoil and love.”
Hermione said, “That could be interesting.”
“Is there anything else we need to collect from this point in time?” Harry asked.
Anna considered what she knew about the world. “I wouldn’t mind sneaking around and stunning some female Aes Sedai so that we can copy their memories. The channelers here will eventually have girls that someone will have to train.”
“We have a copy of the two female Aes Sedai that came with the men but that’s not really enough to get all of the talents.”
Beth said, “I’d like to copy the memories of some of the ter’angreal experts. Maybe even stun some of them and use the gender reversal belt so that we can get sperm samples.”
Hermione said, “That seems a bit sketchy.”
Anna said, “Just think of it as helping the future.”
Beth floated off Harry’s lap then sat down on the edge of the table. “I’d rather not have the ability to make angreal lost for three thousand years if I can help it.”
“That’s a good point.” Harry yawned. “We should catch some sleep. We can see if Hermione’s enchanted glasses work tomorrow then we can look for libraries and such to save. We just have to be careful.”
0o0o0o0
Thanks to the desire to build a permanent shelter and James helping Hermione finish the magic potential detection glasses the next week was rather busy. Several groups were sent off to scour the land for books that needed copying while several groups scoured the land for particularly strong channelers so they could get copies of their memories.
James looked around the table where Hermione, Harry, Anna, Beth, Lily, Moody, Sirius, Arcturus and Nymphadora had gathered to discuss their options. “We’ve been here a week, the town is going well and we’re even finding some females on the island that are likely to produce channelers that we can talk into having a child for security in a crazy world and a place in the town. That said, there is only so much we can do without causing butterflies.”
Anna spoke up, “Here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the portal stones can take groups to parallel worlds where we could recruit to our heart’s content.”
Beth said, “Both people and items.”
Arcturus asked, “How dangerous are the portal stones?”
Anna said, “They’re not the safest way to travel but some of the Aes Sedai have studied them so it’s possible that at least one of them knows of a world that isn’t too dangerous or at least no worse than this one. We can offer them safety if we can get the dampening field up.”
Lily said, “We can generate the field, it’s just a matter of spreading the wardstones out in a way that makes sure there aren’t gaps.”
Arcturus frowned. “I don’t think they’ll take that lying down.”
“Actually, they’re in favor of it at least for now.”
“Why?”
“Because their magic is tainted and we found out something interesting. A witch or wizard can charge one of their magic wells with clean energy without much difficulty and without danger or harm which means they can channel without going insane as long as there is someone around to charge their wells. It’s not a perfect solution but it’s enough of one that the council is willing to endorse the plan to cut off the male half of the source here.”
“That’s fantastic.” Anna giggled. “That means that we afford to send people to alternate worlds and recruit people and steal ter’angreal and such things.”
“Not to mention people.” Beth smiled as she thought about the group that would turn into the tower and their treasure trove of ter’angreal. “There is also the treasure trove the Aiel have and the alternate female group that will be forming the tower. Eventually raiding the stone of Tear makes sense but as the crystal sword is useless right now, there isn’t much point as it’s not filled up with ter'angreal yet.”
Arcturus asked, “How many people are you thinking about grabbing?”
“As many as we can talk into coming with us. I know of one world symbol where the monsters eventually win and thus humanity dies. At this point, that shouldn’t have happened yet which means we can grab anyone that wants to come without worrying about butterflies.”
Sirius said, “I like it but you’re not going at least until we can make sure it’s safe.”
Arcturus said, “Agreed, we have at least five wizards that are too stupid to breed considering some of the crap they wanted to put in the town and their complaints about not having some of the more dangerous and nearly pointless creatures.”
Nymphadora shook her head. “That’s mean.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t care. I’m trying for a society of intelligent magic users, not the same old shit from back home. If they manage to live we’ll see.”
Harry said, “In that case we should probably make a list of worlds we can jump to and make some copies of the maps for the various groups.”
Remus said, “I know some of the wolf crew would be willing to help.”
Moody said, “I’m willing to help lead a group as long as someone can upgrade my sunglasses with the magic potential detection ability.”
Comments
Alex Wierzbicki
great work
