Chapter 46: Light and Darkness
19th March 1995, Hogwarts
(Jasmine POV)
“Now onto a lighter topic, what I’m teaching you today is something very few people actually think it exists. It was the way healer fought in ancient times. It was the reason no one ever wanted to anger a healer, a master of the 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.”
“Hard Light?”
“Hard light is one of the most dangerous magical techniques ever created. With it, you create a solid illusion made of light that is entirely under your control. It is not a spell as much as it is a control exercise that has been perfected into what it is now. Let me show you.”
I wave my wand creating a sphere made of a light blue material that has turned into a circular shield then into a badger that kept walking into the air around us.
“I can turn this ball into anything, animate it anyway I want and use it to do anything I want, I can use it to defend myself,” I wave my wand and the badger turns into a dome of hard light around us, “Attack,” The dome turned into tentacles with bladed ends that skewered the dueling dummies around us, “It’s like an extension of myself, I control them like an extra limb.”
Rose looked unimpressed. “But I’m already learning this with my ice. Why learn how to do it with light?”
I answer, “Remember what I told you when I taught you control over ice, if you were in a place full of snow, even if you’re in a place with just water, you only have to shape your element and not conjure it. Even if it’s just chilly, you will use less magic to conjure your ice. But if you were in a desert, it will be a lot harder to do the same. Now, you will not always be in a cold place, but what you will pretty much always have is light. So far, I haven’t created any light, only shaped existing light into hard light. Now if you were in a dark place, with no light whatsoever, which is very unlikely, you’re just one light charm away from becoming fully armed. Something that’s very handy.”
She seemed a little interested but not convinced, “But it’s really fragile though.”
“It’s only as hard as your focus. If you’re distracted it will be weaker, if you’re paying attention, it will be as strong as steel. But even at its weakest, it can protect you like a normal Protego shield charm. Unlike your ice, it’s doesn’t impede your vision when protecting yourself. Look try to attack me, I’ll only use hard light, let’s see what you can do.”
My sister nods and without any warning attacks me with a stunner. With a flick of my wand, I create a tentacle of light that intercepts the spell. With a quick wave of my wand, I am covered with a circle of hard light that is covered with flames made out of hard light. I’ll be honest, I took inspiration from the Protego Horriblis spell for this. I will one of the flames to turn into a chain that attacks Rose to restrict her, but when it touches her, it goes through her, dispelling what was an illusion. I smirk; good, she’s learning. I feel a spell coming from behind me and create a triple layered shield of hard light that stops the incoming spear made of ice that attacks me. I make out a second circle out of light outside my first one and with a jab of my wand it explodes outwards creating a wave of light that threw Rose into the wall, destroying the light bending invisibility spell that I taught her. I wait for her to get up, but it seems that she isn’t done with our little spar, and she summons hundreds of needles of ice around me, which are intercepted by another hard light shield. Wanting to show her how good hard light manipulation is one of the tentacles separates itself from the other shields and morphs into a Norse rune for wind, I touch the rune with my palm and suddenly a powerful gust of wind comes out of the rune unbalancing Rose, which got me to create a rope out of light and bind my sister. The duel is over.
“You said you’d only use hard light, not runes.” She complained.
“And I did. Another reason why I want to teach you hard light is the fact that it is very easily shaped, like your illusions for example. But unlike any other elemental manipulation, you can be very precise with it and can channel spells using it. It had to be for healers to use it during operations. I heard that ancient healers could control a small piece of hard light so thin that it would enter the patient and they could channel healing magic directly in the wound, making it very effective. But to channel magic through it you have to physically touch the hard light. If you don’t then you’re not connected enough to the construct for it to work. Since I underestimated how difficult my rune casting was, it would take you decades for you to learn how to do it. This presents an alternative, although far weaker, makes it possible for you to cast with runes, if you refine your control enough for it to work.”
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She seemed spell bound by the possibilities.
I continue, “Even if you don’t achieve the necessary control, you can use hard light construct in conjunction with your magic to make it possible to give them substance. They won’t just be distractions anymore; you use them for attacks as well.”
I can practically imagine her drooling with the possibilities that this can provide. I can tell her excitement without even using telepathy.
“Can you please teach me.” She pretty much yells at me. I laugh and motion her to sit down.
“Now remember how I taught you to sense illusions. In the very beginning, I taught you how to sense light so that you could tell the inconsistencies which means that it is manipulated somehow.” I open my palm creating a ball of hard light. “Tell me, how does this feel?”
“This feels like it’s light and it isn’t. Like it’s moving but it isn’t. It’s hard to describe.”
“Excellent, now open your palm and try to turn the light in your palm like the one in my hands. Shape it, you’re the one who controls it. They’re the same thing in the base. Turn the light solid.”
It only took a couple of hours for her to perfect the exercise and create a ball of light. It could barely be called a sphere in the beginning, but she slowly created two spheres for her to control at will. This was very impressive; I might have created the field to improve my healing magic and to practice my light magic, but she took to it like duck to water. Now, she’s probably mentally exhausted now, so it’s time to have some fun to relax her a bit.
“Now let’s play a game. Make a beater’s bat using hard light. Like this.” I create a beaters bat to act as a template and she copies me effortlessly. I create a ball of hard light and use the beater’s bat to send it towards my sister. “Now send it back to me.” She tries to hit it but her bat shatters in the impact and she’s hit by the ball. “Again, focus on the shape of the bat, make it as strong as you can.” I send another ball at her, and she hits it back at me. I grin ate her. We spent over half an hour just sending the ball back and forth, it seems like she’s got the hang of it. She only needs to perfect her control over it.
“Now that’s enough for today, Rose. You did very well, you definitely got it quicker than I did. It’s seriously remarkable, even if your elemental affinity is very suited for it.”
She blushes and then asks, “You never mentioned your elemental affinities. After all this time, I feel like I barely know you. All I know is that you have an obsession with treacle tarts, you sometime like to swear in dead languages, and you know more about runes then our rune professor and she’s one of the best rune experts in the world.”
I just smile at her and let her continue her rant.
“I told you pretty much everything about me, but I know so little about your life. I wish I could know you better. Something that doesn’t have to do with magic.”
I look at her pleading eyes and I can’t bare to refuse her. She’s right, I have been reserved even to her. I wonder how long has she been bottling this up? I sigh, she deserves me to be open with her. Even if I’m probably never going to tell her about my time travel.
“Alright, I’m not used to be open with other people so bear with me a little. After the Dursleys left me, I was found by the police half starving and sent into an orphanage. I lived there until a squib called Morgan Evanshade found me and adopted me. I like to write books and I even wrote a few that were published under my mother’s name in the muggle world. I went to Ilvermorny when I was eleven and was sorted into house Horned Serpent and graduated with my NEWTs when I was thirteen. I discovered that I was a parselmouth during my schooling and was formally blood adopted into the Sayre family since they too have the gift. I went to India for a year to learn how to use Parselmagic, which is mainly healing and warding. Then I was summoned by the Goblet of Fire to participate in the Tri-wizard tournament. In my free time, I joined the archery club, but I haven’t touched a bow ever since I left Ilvermorny. I like to keep to myself in general, so I have few friends in general.”
Rose smiled at me, it was like she was lighter and freer than she ever was in my presence. I like seeing her like this.
“And your affinities?”
Oh right, I hoped she forgot about this. “I’m one of the best mind mages in the world and I have mastered all elements, but my main ones are Shadows and Darkness.”
She gaped at me, “All of them? You told me it took decades to properly master an element. How in Merlin’s name did you do it?”
I just smiled mysteriously at her and refused to answer her.
“Fine, keep your secrets,” Rose pouted, “But I never heard anything about shadow spells, and you never told me anything about proper Dark elemental control.”
I smile at her suddenly the room’s light started to dim, and shadows start to encircle us, suddenly they turned into spikes and impales every dueling dummy in the room. Instead of just getting skewered, they turned into dust.
“Shadow magic is very similar to the hard light I’m teaching you, but it makes it easier to channel dark magic instead of light magic. There’s a lot more to it but you’re a bit too inexperienced to understand anything more about it.”
(POV Nathan)
Nathan stood horrified under his invisibility cloak watching the devastation his twin caused with her spell. She had admitted to being a dark witch, and she was teaching his younger sister. He had enough problems with Voldemort around, he did want to fight his sister as well. Dumbledore was right, as usual. She needed to be stopped before she corrupted his younger sister as well. As fast he could, he ran to Dumbledore’s office to tell him everything he just learnt.