Mist of Shadows
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Harry Potter and the Magic of Books Part 4
🕑 Added 2016-05-01 01:21:39 +0000 UTC“013 it's turn your head and cough, not run your fingers through my hair and chat me up, though I can tell that you’ll score very high on the seduction examines,” the nurse noted.
Harry glanced at the container filled with needles next to the nurse. “I’m just trying to be nice.”
“That’s not going to stop me from stabbing you in the bottom with a needle, you know that right?” she teased.
“Are all nurses this evil?” He shifted his behind on the cold metal table.
“No, just the ones that work for secret government programs.”
“Why do I have to get stabbed in the behind?” Harry asked nervously.
“Because it’s fun to watch you squirm. Now, roll up your sleeve so I can give you a shot of XX7.”
“What exactly is XX7?” he asked curiously.
“It’s a booster shot against most known diseases, it was developed because of a certain 00 agent, who shall remain nameless, had way too much exposure to certain diseases. I believe one villain actually tried to weaponize a strain of VD that was unique to that agent, which lead to the R&D branch developing this serum.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Dumbledore sighed as yet another bookstore proved to be yet another dead end. “We know he was here and yet there is no evidence to support that fact beyond a note and payment for purchases when the shopkeeper had his back turned.”
Snape was slightly more upbeat, “At least he’s spending time improving his mind. He’s also showing cunning by avoiding notice.”
“There is that,” Dumbledore agreed with the first part at least. “It would have helped if the shopkeeper had told us what he’d bought.”
“I’m more concerned about the fact that he’s not making any purchases outside of bookstores that we have any evidence for,” Snape said thoughtfully.
“He likely either has a friend or companion who takes care of those items or he has enough left over from his continual book purchases to handle it,” Dumbledore suggested.
“Continually raiding bookstores is something that I’d expect from Lily, not James’ son,” Snape replied.
“James was quite studious, he just used his skills to harass people with a particular fondness for the dark arts and certain redheads.”
Snape sighed. “And I fit both.”
“You weren’t exactly innocent even back then.” Dumbledore frowned slightly as one of his devices twisted to show that Harry was on the move. “He is moving remarkably fast, perhaps a broom or an airplane. I don’t think a car would be fast enough.” He smiled as Alastor Moody stepped out of the shadows. “Alastor, you have news I take it?”
Alastor walked up to Dumbledore. “Someone spotted Harry in a bookstore with some type of fey.”
“Fey?”
“A foot tall girl, possibly a leprechaun with an enlargement charm to change her size. They didn’t get a good look at Harry, I’d just heard someone at the office talking about the flying girl and suggesting that they get the magical creature department to look into it. I asked to see the memory of it and recognized him,” the old auror explained.
“Thank Merlin for small mercies,” Snape muttered.
Dumbledore frowned as he tried to figure out what type of magical creatures could fly and look like foot tall girls. “I’d like to take a look at it with my pensieve.”
Alastor said, “I have a couple of hours free, I’d love another look at it.”
“Thank you. We need to know what we’re dealing with.” Dumbledore was hoping that seeing the creature would help him identify it which would hopefully help him track Harry down before something horrible happened to him.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Ron snorted as he walked into the living room where his sister was reading another Harry Potter book. “Great, another book, is that one as stupid as the last one Loony let you borrow?”
Ginny looked up from reading about Harry’s adventures and glared at Ron. “It’s not stupid.”
“Look, no ten year old is going to be fighting monsters with a wooden sword he enchanted himself.”
“He’s Harry Potter,” Ginny said as if that explained everything.
“He’s ten, Ginny. You don’t see me casting spells all over the place.”
“You’re not Harry Potter and you’re lazy,” Ginny replied matter of factly.
Ron scowled. “Oh please, maybe he’s been given special training, but really, the last book you got from Loony had him kissing a bunch of girls.” Ron shuddered. “He’s a boy, he’s not going to want to do that.”
“Just because you think girls have dragon pox doesn’t mean Harry Potter is an idiot like you are.”
Ron shook his head as he left. “You’re nuts.”
Ginny giggled as she went back to reading about Harry Potter and the monster girls. “Idiot.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Harry looked up as one of his fellow trainees walked up to him. “Yes?”
069 otherwise known as James Bond Jr. asked, “This is a little embarrassing, but can I get some pointers on seduction? I can help you with marksmanship.”
Harry asked, “Why ask me?”
“The nurse might have mentioned that you made a better pass at her than I did. She wouldn’t say what you did and my father will kill me if I don’t pass seduction training. He considers it a point of pride and all that.”
“Ouch, of course I’ll help. I’ll even toss in some trade secrets if you help me with my lockpicking.”
069 smiled. “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
McGonagall frowned slightly as they ‘exited’ the pensieve. “She might just be a lord of the fae, she’s certainly no leprechaun, not to mention she’s too tall to be one of the lesser fae. Got the wrong look all around.”
Snape raised an eyebrow. “Wrong look?”
“She wasn’t glowing or giving off sparkles,” Minerva explained, describing the many lesser fae that the wizarding world typically dealt with.
Dumbledore frowned slightly. “It’s been over a century since anyone has had a reliable report of seeing one of them.”
McGonagall smiled slightly. “Fifty years, I caught a glimpse of something like it in Scotland years ago. They might be little but the feeling of power, certainly isn’t.”
Snape opened his mouth to object then realized that McGonagall wasn’t given to flights of fancy. “Could they be cloaking Harry?”
“There is a reason they’re not found unless they want to be. They come and go as they please, for their own reasons and in their own time,” she said with a nod.
Dumbledore glanced around his office as he tried to gather his thoughts. “Do you have any idea why a fey lord would be involved with Harry?”
“It could be anything from him wandering into her area or her looking for adventure, we have no way of finding out short of asking her and that often confuses more than enlightens.”
Snape asked, “Will she interfere in him coming to Hogwarts?”
McGonagall sighed. “I don’t know, perhaps or perhaps not. We have no way of telling.”
“Let us hope that she doesn’t.”
“We should be able to track him down with his Hogwarts letter since they usually don’t block communications regarding family duties such as schooling, unless the fey lord is intentionally playing with the wards because she knows that we’re looking,” she said thoughtfully.
“As you’re the only one of us to have seen a fey lord, I’ll leave you to give him his introduction into the wizarding world if we can’t find him before the letters are sent,” Dumbledore said relieved.
McGonagall resisted the urge to hit Albus with her hat as he dumped the problem neatly in her lap. “Of course.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Two rather traumatizing days later, Hermione was wandering around in the library relaxing, trying to forget about her mother’s mostly failed attempt to give her the ‘talk’ on account of flying pillows. Which, while an easily repeatable proof that something paranormal was going on, her mother seemed completely unconcerned about and just used as an excuse to tease her even more.
Hermione blinked as she walked around an aisle and saw the very boy that had started her weekend of embarrassment, sitting in her favorite spot. She stalked up to the wild haired boy. “You!”
Harry blinked as he glanced around then looked back at the girl with wild curly hair that was staring at him. “You can see me?”
“Why wouldn’t I see you?” Hermione asked in confusion.
“Because of magic,” he replied.
Sarah floated up to the level of Hermione’s face as she floated back and forth. “She obviously has some.”
Hermione stared at the one foot fall girl in revealing clothing. “You’re real…”
“Yep!” she hooted cheerfully, posing on her broom.
Hermione winced and glanced around. “You shouldn’t shout in the library.”
“Don’t worry, no one else can see or hear me unless I let them,” Sarah replied as she floated back over to Harry’s shoulder which had become her customary resting place because shoulders were way more comfortable than brooms.
Harry asked, “How can she see us then?”
“Because she obviously has magic of her own,” Sarah said.
“Magic? I guess that would explain the fact that I can float pillows around,” Hermione said in wonder.
“Just pillows?” Sarah asked curiously.
“And other small objects,” Hermione replied with a slight blush, as she thought back to the failed ‘talk’ where she’d learned her new magic trick.
Harry said, “That’s handy. I can pull things out of books myself.”
Sarah giggled. “And jump in them.”
Hermione’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Sure, I’ll show you. What do you want me to pull out?”
“How about some growth cake from Alice and Wonderland?” Sarah asked mischievously.
Harry smiled as he pulled out his Alice in Wonderland book. “One growth cake coming up.”
Sarah giggled as she summoned her broom, jumped off Harry’s shoulder, and flew down to the table. She dismissed her broom.
Hermione asked, “Can you teach me how to do stuff like that?”
“I might be able to, we’ll have to see,” Sarah replied.
Hermione’s response died on her lips as she watched Harry slip his hand then half his arm into the book. “You weren’t joking…”
“Of course not.” Harry laughed as he pulled out a strange looking cupcake that was half white and half black and handed it to Sarah. “Here you are, my dear.”
Sarah accepted her cupcake. “I better start with a nibble.”
Hermione stared as she watched Sarah take a nibble of the white side and grow three inches almost immediately. “Woah!”
Sarah frowned slightly as she realized that her dress didn’t fit exactly right anymore. She set the cupcake down on the table then slipped out of her dress/robe and let it fall to the table. “Okay, let’s see if I can get back to a normal size.” She winked at Hermione then took another nibble out of the white side of her cupcake.
Hermione watched as Sarah grew bit by bit until she had eaten the entire white side of the cupcake and she was a fair bit taller than both her and Harry. “Magic…” She’d almost been expecting some type of mental power or something, but wild growth was more likely magic than psionic powers of some type, which had been her working hypothesis until now. “Clothes…”
Sarah smirked at Hermione. “Entirely not required considering no one else can see me. Though I could use some shoes if I’m going to be walking around in the city.”
“That should be easy enough. There are a lot of books that have magic shoes that I haven’t charred yet,” Harry replied.
Hermione asked, “Charred?”
“What I call it when my power burns out a book and I can’t pull things out of it any more.”
“You’re burning books!” Hermione winced as she realized that she’d said that entirely too loudly.
Harry shook his head bemused at the intense look the girl was giving him. “No, the book just isn’t useable and looks charred to me. Sarah says the books still look normal to her.”
“Oh… for a second I thought you were burning books.” Hermione relaxed.
Harry shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“So… what have you pulled out of books so far?”
Harry chuckled. “All sorts of things, cakes, gems, magical items and clothes.”
Hermione asked, “How long have you been able to jump into books and can you teach me?”
Sarah shook her head. “I haven’t been able to figure out how he does it, so I’m assuming it’s a unique talent.”
Harry pulled his gaze away from Sarah’s rather lovely breasts and looked at Hermione. “I’ve been at it for a bit now. I’ve been exploring. Was there a book you wanted to visit?”
Hermione paused as she considered the boy’s question and realized that she didn’t know his name. “I’m Hermione Granger.”
Harry held out his hand. “Harry, Harry Potter and my friend Sarah.”
Sarah smiled at Hermione. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Any book?” Hermione asked curiously.
“So far.”
“I’ve got some books at home, and I’d really like someone to be able to explain all this to my mother, we’ve been trying to figure out why weird things happen around me for nearly forever!”
Harry frowned slightly as he played with some ideas. “Okay, how long until your mother picks you up?”
Hermione looked down at her watch. “Maybe ten or fifteen minutes. We were going to go out to lunch.”
“Okay, here’s what we do, we head over to the clothes catalogue and get Sarah an outfit she can wear in public and she can be my older sister.”
Hermione glanced back and forth between Harry and Sarah. “I think you’d do better claiming to be cousins.”
Harry frowned as he thought of his whale of a cousin. “On my dad’s side.”
Sarah nodded. “That works for me.”
Harry said, “That should keep your mother from worrying about why I’m running around without any adult supervision.”
“Why are you?” Hermione asked with concern.
“I’ve got an evil aunt and uncle. I swear, it’s like they hopped out of a book themselves, they’re like the evil in-laws from Cinderella.” Harry got up and headed toward the section of the library that contained the magazines. “Let’s go.”
Sarah grinned as she jumped off the table and followed him.
A blushing Hermione pulled her gaze off the nude girl and followed Harry. She wanted explanations and he was the only other magic user she’d ever ran into, or at least the first one that she knew of.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Mrs. Granger smiled as she walked around a shelf and saw her daughter talking to a boy that looked about her daughter’s age and an older teenage girl with dark purple hair. It was rare to see her daughter talking to people her own age. “Hermione?”
Hermione turned and looked at her mother. “Mum.”
“Who’s your friend?” She walked over to the table they’d taken over.
“This is Harry and Sarah.”
Harry smiled at Hermione’s mother. “Pleased to meet you.”
“They have magic like me,” Hermione whispered.
Mrs. Granger raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
Sarah smiled as she conjured a ball of light in her hand. “We have magic, I’m not sure if we have the same type of magic, but your daughter is certainly magical.”
Mrs. Granger stared at the ball of light. “I’d wondered. My husband was thinking psychic powers, but I remember a couple of times, when she was young, that some of her least favorite vegetables vanished off her plate when I wasn’t looking, and I couldn’t see what psychic powers had to do with vanishing veggies.”
Hermione frowned as she looked at her mother. “I don’t remember that.”
“You were pretty young and I blew it off at the time. For the longest time I thought that you’d hid them or had eaten them to make me happy, but with all of the other strange things over the years...”
Harry thought about some of the strange things he’d had to eat over the years. Liver was his least favorite, but lima beans were a close second. Still, food was food and wasting food still seemed strange to him, even if he had a way to summon as much as he needed using the magic tablecloth now. “I grew my hair out overnight once, after my aunt gave me a bad haircut.”
Hermione asked, “Can they come to lunch with us?”
Mrs. Granger looked at Sarah. “I’d love the chance to pick your brain. There’s a cafe that’s within walking distance that serves a decent soup.”
“I could eat,” Sarah replied.
Harry figured they could always sneak away if something went wrong.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Hermione giggled as she sat in her favorite chair in the library. “Where are we going first?” She wasn’t all that sad about Mum having to rush off just as they were finishing lunch after getting a page from a fussy client as it meant that she really could spend the rest of the day with her new friends. “We’ve got at least six hours until Mom picks me up, probably more like eight.”
“That should be plenty of time to go on an adventure or two.” Harry glanced down at Hermione’s shoes. “We should probably do something about Hermione’s lack of magical footwear first.”
Sarah said, “I don’t have magical boots either, though I have my broom spell.”
Hermione thought about the various books she knew of that had magical shoes. “We could grab the Ruby slippers from Oz.”
Harry grinned. “Not a bad idea, but they’re extremely noticeable. I had something else in mind if you’ll follow me to the children’s section.”
Hermione stood up. “You’re the one with the magic.”
Harry grinned as he lead the group to the children’s section. After a few minutes of searching he found the book he was looking for. “What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew.”
“I don’t remember reading that book.”
“It’s about some children that find some magical items in their aunt’s dresser and go on adventures with them. It’s got an invisibility robe, magical gloves that help you sew and play the piano, a magical mirror and more importantly... red seven league boots.” Harry didn’t see a reason to mention that the gloves helped with homework or at least they did in the book.
“I can already play the piano, but the boots sound nice.”
Harry glanced around to make sure no one could see him then opened the book, reached into it and pulled a out pair of red lace up boots. “Happy Birthday! Actually, when is your birthday?” He handed the boots to Hermione.
Hermione giggled as she took the leather boots. “The 19th of September, but I’ll take them early. You?”
“Good to know. The 31st of July.” Harry grinned as he reached back into the book and pulled out a pair of white silk gloves. He frowned as he looked at the condition of the book. “Okay, the book is looking more than a bit worn, should I go for the magic hand mirror or the bathrobe of invisibility?”
“What did the mirror do?” Hermione asked curiously.
“It let the kids see distant people or places,” Harry replied as he put the magical gloves on.
“The mirror, the bathrobe sounds a bit bulky.”
Sarah piped up, “There are plenty of invisibility items scattered around in books that are easier to use than a bathrobe.”
Harry glanced around to make sure that no one had snuck up on them then reached into the book and pulled out the scrying mirror. He wasn’t all that surprised that the book charred after he pulled it out. “We’ll have to test the mirror later.” He put it in his backpack.
Hermione said, “I’d love a magic bookbag if you can find another one.”
“It’s on my list.” Harry frowned slightly when a small group of children came around a shelf. “Let’s head back to your spot.”
Hermione led the way back over to her favorite out of the way spot. “Now what?”
Sarah said, “Now we figure out what book we want to jump into.”
“Any suggestions?” Hermione asked as she worked on putting her new shoes on.
“The spy book takes at least a couple of days, so that’s out. The beast girl training book would get you some skills at training monster girls, which is fun, but not all that useful right now as we can’t pull monster girls out of the book.”
“Monster girls?” Hermione asked curiously.
“They’re basically female monsters that are mostly human shaped.”
“Why only female?”
Harry shrugged. “I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the history portion of the training.”
Hermione asked, “What do trainers do with them?”
“They fight in tournaments and against wild monster girls to keep towns safe.” Harry figured he’d let the trainers explain the other aspects of monster girl training when she took the class.
“Maybe when we have more time,” Hermione said.
Sarah spoke up, “The Zelda world would let you learn some spells and possibly get several hearts, which would increase your durability which can’t hurt.”
“I don’t remember Link casting any spells.”
“In this book, Link learns a couple of useful spells, like blue flames, a ladder conjuring spell and a spell to create wooden swords or at least we were able to. I want to explore the rest of the dungeons.”
Hermione said, “A ladder spell? I guess that could be useful. I remember the second half of the game being rather dangerous.”
Harry smirked. “I’ve got an invisibility ring and a magic shield, which means that one of us can take the magical shield and distract the monsters, while the other sneaks up behind them and stabs them.”
“I’m willing to give it a try,” Hermione said.
Comments
Mist of Shadows
Thanks.
Alex Wierzbicki
nice work
