Chapter 45: Elements

19th March 1995, Hogwarts

(Jasmine POV)

Well, I have to say it’s been an eventful couple of days. I didn’t expect Dumbledore to go this far when he lost the allegiance of the elder wand. I guess losing most of his magic would freak anyone’s mind. I didn’t realize he used the elder wand this much; he had barely more magic than a regular seventh year student at Hogwarts. I expected him to do something rash like attacking me in public or something but damn, I didn’t expect him to actually break a natural law.

Natural laws are different because they either involve cosmic entities or cause imbalance in the delicate balance of powers. Something that could easily break an entire section of the multiverse. My job, being death’s hunter, is to hunt those who break the natural laws. What Albus Dumbledore did was absorb the essence of a phoenix. Phoenixes are not just some immortal magical creatures. They are part of the Phoenix force themselves and serve as anchors to the avatar of the phoenix. Believe it or not, a mortal no matter how powerful, cannot host even a shard of a cosmic entity.

The phoenixes filter the cosmic energy, purifying it to make it compatible with the host. Each phoenix is an aspect of the phoenix. My phoenix, Erebus represents the destruction aspect of the cosmic entity, the darkness. Fawkes represented its fire aspect. There are many other, each one with a different element, Erebus is currently with his mate, the light phoenix Sol, that represents creation.

What Dumbledore accidentally did was disperse the energy inside Fawkes. The exposure to the energy turned him into his prime condition, magic included. He didn’t really absorb Fawkes, he killed him. It will take decades for a new fire phoenix to be born and now any phoenix avatar would be very unstable. Shit, I guess I’ll have to monitor Jean Grey, in case she goes crazy and turns into the dark phoenix. Jean is still a toddler, so I’ll have time to set something up.

What Dumbledore did, caused an imbalance, so I was given the go ahead to kill him. Now, I don’t want to just kill him, I want him to suffer. So, I marked him and told Nicholas to warn him. Let him live with a countdown. Give him hope with the bogus story with the hallows, it will make him desperate, and I will take advantage of that.

Now, let’s ignore the old goat and go along with my day. I have a special lesson planned with Rose. I go to our meeting place and find her waiting for me as usual.

“Hey, Rose.” I greet her.

“Good morning, Jasmine.”, she responds, “So what are we doing today, I have been trying to use this illusion, but it becomes unstable when I try to make my illusions move.”

“It’s alright, you only need to learn to control your magic a little better. It’s something that comes with practice. Today, I’m teaching you something new. I’m going to teach you light magic.”

“Light magic, is it like the opposite of dark magic?” Rose questioned.

“Yes and No. It depends on your definition of Dark magic. What do you think is Dark Magic?”

“It’s the magic that hurts people, isn’t it? You get corrupted when you use it and turn into monsters”

“No, my dear. Dark magic doesn’t corrupt. Darkness is an element.”

“I don’t understand, you mean like fire or my ice.”

“Exactly!” At her confusion, I explain it more clearly. “Tell me, how does casting a spell work. Like how would you go about casting a spell?”

My sister frowned for a moment then answered, “I learn the incantation, then the wand movement and then the spell happens.”

“If that was all there is to it then why does your magic do the spell. It’s not like magic likes Latin for some reason. I can tell you that there are spells in other languages. Then why are incantations and wand movements important?”

Rose shrugged, “I don’t know, they just are.”

I shake my head, “That’s not how magic works. Everything happens for a reason. Do you want the answer to my question?” She nods, “Alright then, Magic nowadays is based on Arithmancy, meaning a precise artificial control over magic. You see, what truly sets wands apart from other kinds of focus, and yes there are other types of artifacts used to channel magic and cast spells, is the fact that their creator discovered that moving the wand a certain way allows them to shape their magic in a precise manner. What was revolutionary was the fact that a wand user’s magic would be shaped exactly the same way every time they do the same movement. There was no need to learn to control magic, like the old sorcerers do. If one person creates a spell, anyone can cast it if he learns the wand movements and has enough magic to power the spell. After shaping their magic using wand movements, the wizard or witch only has to channel their magic through a wand. The wand will then channel a burst or a pulse of magic which is what we call spells. Now, Rose can you tell me the advantages and disadvantages of casting this way?”

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My sister stayed quiet for a few moments and then answered, “Anyone can use spells this way and there’s less of a risk for the people who use them.”

I beam at her “Very good, Rose. Yes, this was one of the main advantages to using a wand. It was seen in Rome actually; the wand is a Roman invention and they used it to teach their legions combat magic very quickly. They were a fearsome empire back in the day and the invention of the wand allowed them to conquer most of Europe and a great part of Northern Africa. The wand existed before hand of course but it was seen as a poor replacement to other focuses, like staves and rings. It was only after a wand maker called Tiberius Ollivanneder who showcased his findings in Rome in an effort to attract attention to his wand shop. A name that slowly evolved into Ollivander’s that you know now. The sign wasn’t kidding when it said that they were wandmakers since 300 BC. Now what you can tell me about the negatives?”

Again, she spent a couple of minutes thinking and told me, “I don’t know. It seems better, isn’t it?”

I sighed, “On paper, maybe. But not in reality. And it centers on the invention of spells. Wands focus on arithmancy to create spells but arithmancy is difficult. To create a spell from scratch takes years or even decades of research which is why a lot of wizards are known for just a handful of spells not unlike the Ancient Greek that had a vast repertoire. It’s easier to build upon an already created spell. Modifying it and turning it into your own. This killed magical innovation. The spells we use today are modified versions of the spells used when Hogwarts was founded which are in turn modified spells of the ones used by the Romans. Furthermore, another great disadvantage is the fact that a spell cannot be modified once cast, except of course if it’s designed this way, like in an animation charm but even then, it can only be a slight change not an impressive one.”

“I don’t understand, what do you mean by modifying a spell?”

I open my hand and summon fire that I throw at the ceiling. The fire ball rises and suddenly turns into a badger that starts running in the air around us.

“The original fire was a simple fire ball and I animated it. You can’t do that with a wand. Well, you can, but you have to learn how to control your magic first and not let the wand control it for you.” I answer.

“What about people that cast without wand movements?”

“An excellent question. It’s people who has cast the spell so many times are so familiar to it that it becomes like muscle memory to shape their magic this way. So, they do not need wand movements. As for incantations, they have two purpose one is to remember the spell, another is to help with the wand movements. If you noticed there is a symmetry between wand movements and the incantation. A longer wand movement means a longer incantation. For example, in the Lumos spell, there are two quick wand movements, to jabs to be exact. You do the first during the “Lu” syllable and the “Mos” in the second one. The incantations help synchronize the wand movements properly, timing matters when casting with a wand. What I’m teaching you with your ice is different, what I’m teaching you is proper elemental magic not elementally charged spells.”

“What’s the difference between elemental magic and elementally charged spells?”

“Elemental magic is the conscient control over an element. Taking your ice as an example, a true master of the ice element can conjure snowstorms, turn ice into snow with nary a thought, shape any ice to his liking and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Each element has its own characteristics. Water is flexible, fire is passionate, air is quick and sharp. Your ice, for example, is characterized by control. There is an entire classification of elements, so it’s not just the base elements like water and fire. I once met a Steam elemental. It was terrifying; he could inflict the same damage as a fire elemental but had the control of a water elemental. You can have up to two elemental affinities. You have ice and light, hence your illusions. It takes a lot less magic to shape anything using your elements but being an elemental can make it harder to control certain other elements. A fire elemental will have trouble shaping water, for example.

Elementally charged spells are different. It’s like a simple spell used by a wand that has an element attached to it. Remember the ice cutter spell you cast at me when we trained your dueling. This is a normal cutting spell that added the element ice. It’s a shade of true elemental magic. Spells like incendio, aguamenti and ventus are just very weakened versions of elemental magic.”

“That’s very interesting and everything but what does that have to do with dark magic.”

I chuckled, “Well everything dear. Darkness and Light are elements. Like water, air, and earth. The Light is characterized by creation and Darkness by destruction. There is nothing evil about any of them. Everything is born and everything dies. Most of what you call dark spell are just Light spells that have their element changed from light to darkness. The blood boiling curse is a dark modified of a Finnish spell that healers used to save patients from hypothermia. There is nothing truly horrific about Dark magic. Yes, there is some people that use negative emotions to amplify the darkness element in a spell and get used to feeling these emotions whenever they cast any magic, but this is not the magic corrupting them it’s them corrupting themselves.”

“What about the killing curse?”

“The killing curse isn’t Dark magic, Rose. It’s a bastardized version of soul magic. Never use this spell, for its users never understand the price they pay for each time they cast that spell. It chips away their souls. Changing the essence of their being. Every time they cast that spell; they lose a portion of their being, of their very self. They feel less and love less. They might not notice it, but they slowly lose what makes them human. In the end, they become a pale shadow of what they could be, with no compassion or empathy, living their lives with no meaning.”

Neither one of us talk for a good minute.

“Now onto a lighter topic, what I’m teaching you today is something very few people actually think it exists. It was the way healers fought in ancient times. It was the reason no one ever wanted to anger a healer, a master of a light element. I have taught you how to control your ice element, the only thing left is for you to practice. Now, it’s time for you to learn how to control your light element. Time for you to learn how to use Hard light.”