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Dark Tidings (SI)

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    • "So you are saying your magic come from areas of land?" Dumbledore asked with a small frown.

    I nodded and leaned back against my chair, taking a sip from my tea. We were in one of his private rooms. One that has been emptied of portraits and mirrors at my request.

    While I don't mind Dumbledore learning a bit of how my magic work, I don't want it to become public knowledge.

    "Different kinds of mana, the specific energy that make up the magic, come from different kinds of lands as well. And they are used to different kinds of magic and they affect you as well. For example, Red mana comes from mountains and is used for Fire and Earth style magic. It is also the Color of Emotion, destruction and impulse. Users of Red mana tend to be impulsive and not think things through before they do it." I explained before I frowned slightly in thought "In your view set, they would be sorted in Gryffindor."

    The old wizard chuckled and made a note on his parchment "And what color is you using?"

    I smiled slightly "All. What kind of mana you have access to affect your mind and emotions. Only way to keep your balance is to have all in more or less equal amounts. Any less of one, and you become imbalanced. More emotional, colder, more selfish, to orderly, to instinctual. Any or any combination. A improper amount of mana is hazardous. Perhaps only not for you, but also for your environment."

    He nodded slowly "I see. Your kind of magic sounds dangerous."

    "It is." I answered before I put my tea down "Now it's my turn. I am curious how you are able to use magic without having magic."

    Dumbledore frowned slightly "I am not sure what you mean?"

    "You have no internal magic. I can see magic when I wish to and I see none in you... I can see it in houseelves, but not in Wizards." I explained with a small frown "It is only around the tip of your wand and the target of your wand when you use a spell. It is most puzzling."

    "Magic is in everything. It surround us, flow through us. It bind us all together." Dumbledore said "Even muggles and squibs have magic to some degree."

    I chuckled "Yes, thank you. I have seen Star Wars as well. But that does not answer my question... Why can I see magic in houseelves but not in you?"

    He frowned slightly "I am... Uncertain." and pulled his wand "What do you see?" he asked as he flicked it, lifting his quill from the table as I activated my magical vision.

    "Your wand tip is glowing slightly blue. So is the feather. Would you mind doing that again from the beginning? And slower this time?" I asked as I leaned forward a bit.

    He nodded and switched, flicking his wand slowly, even going as far as saying the incantation as he did.

    What was that? I squinted slightly. Did that light crawl quickly across the wand and to the tip?

    "Once more. In the dark." I said, channeling a bit of red mana to kill the candles around the room.

    Dumbledore nodded and did the spell again.

    In the dark it was more clear. The thing I missed in the light.


    When he did the spell, when it activated he flashed slightly blue, a blue light went through his form and into the wand, along it and up to glow at the tip.

    "Fascinating." I said softly "When you cast the spell, you briefly and were weakly flashing with magic as if you had it at just that moment. I have never seen anything like it before."

    "Really?" Dumbledore asked, flicking his wand to relight the candles as I did a couple of notes.

    I nodded "Yes." and then I looked over at him again "Would you mind casting the spell again, this time while I hold your hand?"

    He gave me a curious look at that "I suppose. May I ask why?" he then asked.

    "Yes, I would like to have a look at your soul as you cast the magic. That is significantly easier to do with direct contact." I explained while putting my pen down.

    Dumbledore looked at me like I had grown a second head that had started to talk in ancient Egyptian.

    "You want to do what!?" He asked, his eyes wide "Soul magic is of the Darkest of the Dark Arts."

    "Perhaps for you. For my kind moving and seeing souls are among the most basic applications of Black mana." I explained "Nothing Dark or Evil about it."

    "Moving souls." He said with a frown "And you see nothing Dark about this?" Dumbledore asked.

    I tilted my head in thought before I shook my head "Not really. Not like I destroy them. It is a painless death. Honestly, would it not be preferable to have your soul pulled out without pain than be killed by a fireball? I do not damage the soul, only remove it and then let it go to go wherever it go after."

    Dumbledore looked disturbed by this point "I.. Prefer not to kill at all." he finally said, sitting down as well once more. I noted that he didnt put his wand away though.

    Sighing I slowly nodded "So do I. So do I. But sometimes, you do not have a choice. For example, your Dark Lord. Would you not kill somebody who is more than willing to torture and murder his way to power? Do you think he should be locked up? Would it even be possible? Could you risk him escaping?"

    The old wizard sighed slowly "I refuse to kill. The taking of a life is a heavy burden to carry."

    I closed my eyes for a moment. Mary. Covered in dirt in her white dress. Begging me to join her. Helpless.

    Too dangerous to live. Thousands had already died because of her.

    And because of us.

    "I know, Albus. I know that more than you can believe. But sometimes.. It is a burden that need to be carried." I finally said with a small sigh.


    We were quiet for a long moment as I sipped at my tea. He had put his wand away once more.

    "Could you defeat him? Voldemort?" Dumbledore finally asked.

    I slowly nodded "Perhaps. I won't though. Not unless he attack me and mine. Which in this case include the students under my protection."

    "May I ask why?" Dumbledore asked "As you said, he torture and murder. Would you leave him be?"

    "My general policy is one of none interference in local matters." I finally said after a moment of thought "You do not want me to change it."

    Dumbledore frowned slightly but couldn't help but ask "Why would I not want you to change that?"

    I looked at him for a moment before I put my cup back down, having finished the tea "Because to my way of seeing things, your government is as dangerous and does as much damage as your Dark Lord. The blatant racism, the torturing of prisoners, the massive corruption... If I decided to go after him, they could be a close second." I said before I smiled slightly "If he go after me and mine, I will smack him down. But I will not go out and hunt your Dark Lord."

    He stared at me for a moment before he slowly nodded "I... See."

    Shaking my head I stood up "I think this is enough for today. I need to go through the data and come up with new hypothesis."

    Dumbledore nodded "Yes. You have given me much to think of as well." he said with a small frown.






    AN// Many thanks to Rufus Shinra for betaing this part.
     
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    • John At Dawn said:
    I refuse to believe that the Taboo was set up before the Fall of the Ministry. Hiver was just lying to Harry to get him to stop talking about Tom around Umbitch.
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    Then you need to come up with an in-story reason for people to be afraid to say his name, which is otherwise ridiculous - and remember that what you come up with will be fanon.

    I can think of reasons, like he cursed his nom de guerre, or he started a rumour of being able to hear it, perhaps combined with sensors placed in public (and a few private) locations - I think the latter was used in a fanfic somewhere, possibly before Book 7 came out - but the only canon support for them beyond probably being technically possible in-setting, is that people are afraid to say his fake name.
     
    Shouldn't Dumbles be sceptical? If someone comes along and says implies they are capable of incredible magical feats and can smack your Dark Lord down a peg without significant difficulty, I'd ask for something more than a vague claim, if only to know that they can at least hold their own if their students are threatened.
     
    This conversation seems ... alarming in its contents. Particularly for someone who's just met Winter, and someone rather peaceful in outlook.


    EDIT:
    Khaos said:
    Shouldn't Dumbles be sceptical? If someone comes along and says implies they are capable of incredible magical feats and can smack your Dark Lord down a peg without significant difficulty, I'd ask for something more than a vague claim, if only to know that they can at least hold their own if their students are threatened.
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    This too. They're buying your statements a bit too easily.
     
    Khaos said:
    Shouldn't Dumbles be sceptical? If someone comes along and says implies they are capable of incredible magical feats and can smack your Dark Lord down a peg without significant difficulty, I'd ask for something more than a vague claim, if only to know that they can at least hold their own if their students are threatened.
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    Winter did prove his claim. He performed acts of magic that were completely outside the scope of wizarding magic. As an example he created true life, not a conjured construct, among other things. His kind of magic is completely impossible for wizards. And Dumbledore, as the foremost expert of his day, can the potential in that without a full demonstration like sinking a continent.
     
    bookmonkey786 said:
    Winter did prove his claim. He performed acts of magic that were completely outside the scope of wizarding magic. As an example he created true life, not a conjured construct, among other things. His kind of magic is completely impossible for wizards. And Dumbledore, as the foremost expert of his day, can the potential in that without a full demonstration like sinking a continent.
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    On the contrary, because his magic is absolutely unknown, there's no means to speculate about what Winter can do from a handful of examples.
     
    Rastamon said:
    The answer does not need to be complex. If the Taboo was in effect in the last Wizarding War, when saying his name could cause Death Eaters to locate you and attack you, fear is an easy and logical reaction. So once Voldy's gone, the fear is still left behind.

    Which, if you think about it, means that the people had doubts about Voldy's reported death and wouldn't admit that to themselves or each other.

    The Taboo is Rowling's way of incorporating that old phrase "speak of the Devil and he shall appear."
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    If you read the conversation leading to the post you quoted, you'll see that I already agree with you. That was exactly the point I was making, though you made it better.
     
    Idle thought for possible future story. Not sure I want to be quite this cruel to my SI though:



    Captain Janeway walked into the Voyager sickbay, the doors wooshing open in front of her "How is he doing, Doctor?" she asked.

    The Doctor shook his head "I'm not entirely sure, Captain. He called sickbay a couple of hours ago and said he was not himself. I have done every test I can think of, but... I see no change. Mr Kim claim he is really a man from the 21th century, from a world where the eugenics wars never happened. He dont remember anything from the real world. No training, not his family."

    "Will he recover?" Janeway asked with a worried frown, looking over at the biobed behind the sound dampening forcefield.

    The Doctor sighed "I don't know, Captain. At some times he is almost normal, if without his old memories... and at others..." and that is as far as he got before Ensign Kim sit up in the biobed, letting out a shriek of horror, pointing his finger at Captain Janeway while dropping of the Biobed to hide behind it.

    "AAAAAGH!!! NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU BIPOLAR DEVIL WOMAN! THERE WILL BE NO TENDRILS IN MY NOSTRILS! I'M NOT WEARING A RED SHIRT! IT IS GOLD! GO..." Harry jelled in apparent horror before being cut of as The Doctor pressed a couple of buttons to make sound not go through the forcefield both ways.

    "And sometimes that happen." The Doctor then said with a sigh "I am not sure what trigger it yet, but he have been getting further between the episodes already and it only been a couple of hours."

    Janeway gave the silently ranting Ensign a worried look "Do everything you can for him, Doctor."





    Yeah, just a small fun idea. Not sure I will ever write something like it though. I'm not quite that cruel :p
    Just thought I would share it for your amusement.
     
    Random thought: (and off characterization, probably)

    Hiver looked up as this morning's class trooped in, amused faces testimony that Umbridge had been repelled from their classroom.

    "Last weeks' assignment was to pick a year during which an acknowledged Dark Lord was active, and identify the combat spells likely known
    to a student graduating Hogwarts that year. Extra credit to ####, who distinguished between those who stopped at OWL level, and those who
    took NEWTS. Extra credit to %%%%, who cited battles in which three graduates of 1946 fought. "

    The two mentioned students, both from Ravenclaw, brightened as other glanced at them. Time to bring them back to Earth,
    "All of you lost points for ignoring the Transfiguration, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology curricula of those periods. A spell to repel the limbs
    of mobile plants, Ms. Chang, was on the OWL test of your chosen year. A Mr. Prewitt earned an Order of Merlin, third class, for a battle in which
    he used it to remove the wands of three attackers who had surrounded him. Ms. Edgecombe, you chose the year Grindelwald was defeated, but did not
    list so much as a switching spell, despite Mr. Dumbledore having been the Transfiguration Professor and Mr. Malfoy being rendered utterly helpless by
    the Defense Professor's transfiguration just last year. "

    ...

    Just had the idea of Hiver forcing them to help with his research, while getting themselves a very good idea of what to expect coming at them.
     
    *nods at Norgarth* I was trying for an implication that they know transfiguration can be a one-hit KO.

    *nods at Brellin* The whole thing doubling as a study guide for the students was intentional. Though less on the 'learn these spells' and more on the 'use your other class-work to help your defense'. Though theoretically they could pick pre-20th century years, as a practical matter, I'd expect most of them to grab a Voldemort, or as outliers, Grindelwald year. Because they have professors and relatives who lived then (and can answer questions) and easier reference materials in the Library. It shortcuts fixing the gaps if they find syllabi from before the DADA Curse.

    I wanted to work in that the DADA last year who humiliated him was a (Ministry acknowledged and Kissed) death eater, but couldn't justify it to myself.
     
    I really hate you right now Hiver, when ever I'm about to go to sleep you post, so I wait and wait for the beta to finish so I can read the update.
     
    23
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    • I sighed and leaned back in my chair in the Leaky Cauldron, looking at the clock in the corner once more.

    Tonks was now forty minutes late. After the first twenty minutes, I started to get annoyed.

    At thirty, I was getting worried that something might have happened.

    She was the equivalent of a police officer after all, it was a high risk profession.


    Frowning slightly, I tapped my finger on the table. Ten more minutes, and I would try to figure out if something had happened or if I simply was stood up.

    Honestly, I would prefer the latter. I liked Tonks, she was fun to be with and smart. I liked smart women.

    Forty-five minutes after the agreed time, the door opened and Tonks rushed inside. I gave her a small wave as she looked around. She flashed me a smile and made her way over "I'm so sorry for being late. It was an emergency." She said as she dropped into the chair across from me, rested her head on her arms for a moment as her hair cycled from pink to grey and then back to pink.

    I gave her a smile "I was just worried something had happened."


    Sitting up she sighed and gave me a small tired smile "I was about to leave when I was roped into raiding a dragon smuggler's place. I'm Junior grade, so when the boss say jump..." she said before she shrugged "Thanks for waiting. I thought you'd have left by now."

    "If I were to leave, it would be to find out what happened." I said, "I think you are worth waiting a bit for.".

    I then eyed her curiously "A dragon smuggler? Aren't dragons... You know..."


    Tonks grinned "Large? Yeah. They don't smuggle the grown versions, just eggs. Much less likely to put you on fire."

    I nodded and then gave her a bit of a concerned look "If you want, we can reschedule this. I mean, if you're tired..."

    She shook her head "Bloody hell no. I may be a bit tired, but I was looking forward to this the whole week. Last time was fun." she said "I'm starving, let's get going?"

    I grinned, stood up and offered her my arm "Milady?"



    XXXXXXXXXXXX



    I enjoyed the cold air as we slowly made our way through the park. It was already dark outand the area was lit up by streetlights.

    It was the middle of fall, but not freezing cold yet.

    "That was fun." Tonks said "It's been a while since I was out dancing."

    I simply nodded as I answered "Same here." When was the last time I was to a club? It might have been when I was out trying to stop Jack from wrecking half of the Citadel.

    "Maybe we should do it more often then." Tonks said, leaning against me as we walked.

    Putting my arm around her, I shrugged "Maybe we should. It was fun, Dora."

    I may not be the best dancer in the world, but I'm better than Commander Shepard. Not that it meant much though…

    She froze for half a second and then turned to give me a look "Dora!?"

    Uh oh.

    "Well, Tonks just seems so formal and you don't like your first name..." I tried to explain before she shook her head.

    "Only my dad calls me Dora." She said before she gave me a look "And you're the one to talk, Mr 'I go by my last name only'."

    I shrugged "I have an excuse, I'm paranoid." I said before flashing her a grin "There are magics out there that target names. If nobody knows your full name, it's much harder to get hit."

    Tonks frowned slightly "I never heard of such magic before."

    "Just because you haven't heard about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist." I answered with a smile "Magic already enables us to do so much… Would targeting a name really be such a stretch?"

    Tonks snorted "You're right. You are paranoid."

    "It's not paranoia, my dear Nym, if people really are out to get you." I said and she grinned.

    "Nym?" she asked, giving me a look.

    I shrugged with a smile "I'll keep trying until you find an acceptable one" before I blinked and looked down at her "Didn't your eyes used to be green?" I then asked as I looked down into her now grey eyes.

    Tonks looked away "It must be the light here."

    "Maybe." I said "But I could have sworn your hair flashed grey for half a second at the Cauldron. You're a metamorph, aren't you?"

    She sighed and her hair rippled in rainbow colors before going back to pink "Yes. I'm actually impressed you managed to figure it out." Tonks then said as she looked up at me "I got top grades in disguise at the academy."

    I grinned slightly "Well, I did pay close attention to you." That and I knew beforehand. Still, even if I didn't, I would have picked up on the changes.

    Tonks actually blushed slightly before she tilted her head "Want to start heading back? You can walk me home."


    We started to slowly walk out of the park, heading west before I looked down at her again "Tonks, I am cur..." I started before she interrupted me with a deep sigh.

    "And so it starts. Whenever my date finds out, it's either 'Would you mind changing this or that' or 'Tonks, I am curious about how your really look.' Every. Bloody. Time! I'm fucking sick of it!" she exclaimed, giving me a small glare "So don't you fucking start!"

    I blinked down at her in surprise at the outburst. Still, I probably shouldn't have been. "Actually, I was wondering how it works. Is it some kind of physical process, wandless magic or something else?" I explained before she could jump to more conclusions.

    Tonks looked at me for a moment before she blushed and looked down "Sorry. I kind of overreacted there."

    "Does it happen a lot? Those kinds of questions, I mean?" I asked as we continued along the street.

    She grinned slightly "Your question? No. The kind I mentioned..." she started before she sighed "Every time I go out with somebody new and they find out. Without fail. If it's not 'change something I don't like' it's the supposedly more 'sensitive' 'You don't need to look like anyone else, i want to see you' spiel. I'm equally tired of both of them. I love my abilities but as soon as somebody finds out..."

    I gave her an amused look "If you want to, I could ask both?" and then I continued at her curious look "I wouldn't want to break tradition."

    Tonks snorted and gave me a slap on the arm "Don't you dare. As for your question, it's a type of magic, it runs in bloodlines but only some will have the gift. It's basically a kind of controlled accidental magic."

    I nodded "Interesting." Once I managed to figure out how their magic worked, then replicating what she could do would be really, really useful.


    We walked and talked for almost forty minutes before she stopped and turned to me with a smile "This is my stop." she said as we stopped outside an apartment building.

    Nodding I looked around "Nice. An apartment in the center of London? That can't be cheap."

    She grinned slightly "Actually, the entire building was built by wizards. Significantly cheaper." she said before she glanced at the door. After hesitating for a second, she continued "Want to come up?"

    I smiled before I frowned slightly "You sure? I'm going away in less than a year and I don't know if I'll ever come back to Britain again. I don't know if long term would be a good idea."

    Tonks smiled and stepped closer, looking at me "I know. You said you wouldn't be staying for long on our first date. Not everything needs to last forever, Snowflake."

    I blinked at that, looking at her in surprise "Snowflake!?"

    She laughed and gave me a grin "Well, you keep coming up with silly names for me." before she stood up on her toes and kissed me.

    As I slipped my arms around her I couldn't help but wonder why everyone kept calling me that.




    AN// Many thanks to Khaos for betaing this section.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • YuffieK said:
    And the Ministry seems properly paranoid as well, keeping even an Auror (albeit a junior one) totally out of the loop of Name Magic.
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    Have you considered the possibility that it just doesn't exist in universe?

    I find Hiver's paranoia about that kind of funny actually. It'll probably save him sometime down the line, since he's got centuries to find new and interesting worlds of magic, but so far he hasn't encountered a place where it would be an issue yet.
     
    YuffieK said:
    Except the Taboo curse exists, and it is a form of Name magic.
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    No, it's a form of word magic, and it doesn't do anything to the user that is associated with things like name magic. It tells people the location of where a word was said; they could do that with Winter too if they needed to. Him offering his real name or not does nothing to affect how the Taboo works. It is magic that happens to be used on a name in the book, is it not name magic.

    Name Magic is things like being able to cast spells through the name to either bypass protections or strike from beyond reach. That is what Hiver is worried about.
     
    While Harry Potter may not have name magic, Magic the Gathering certainly does.

    Also, it certainly seems like HP magic is fundamentally different to the point where it may be more efficient to simply work more on refining what he's got rather than trying to diversify. Then again, one of those is boring and the other involves new and novel magics, so we all know which he's going to work on anyway.
     
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