Chapter 75: 75 The Difficult Truth

Bokuboy

Harry worked hard as he copied over the spell and memorized the proper visualizations and the wand movements. It wasn't until he read a particular sentence for the hundredth time that it clicked with something that Amelia had mentioned about the rules for apparating. He needed to feel the entirety of the object with his magic before he could do it. Once he realized that it was just like apparating, the spell cemented in his mind.

“I... I got it.” Harry whispered.

Both Neville and Hermione stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

“Are you sure?” Hermione asked. “It requires a lot of preparation and...”

“Watch.” Harry said and took out his wand. He made sure that no one was looking, even though it was getting late in the evening and no one but he and his friends were there. He took one of the original small expensive books and set it aside to concentrate on the one about the Dragon Heart Diamond. He used his wand as a focus, just like the instructions told him to, and he did the wand movement to send his unformed partial spell onto the book.

He knew exactly what to do with that magic, since he had apparated as a side-along partner a whole bunch of times and had even done it on his own once. He copied that sensation and enclosed the book with his magic. Even though he had not read the contents, he somehow knew that he was going to copy everything that was contained within that half of the spell. He moved the wand and finished casting the Geminio spell and it created another area of the exact size with his magic.

Harry felt a similar sensation in his magic as he did when using spells in transfiguration class when he was changing simple things to other simple things. The book, expensive as it was, was not exempt from Gamp's Law of transfiguration, so Harry created something out of nothing and an exact copy of the book slowly formed next to the original. It had taken two full minutes for the spell to complete and he felt a little tired when it finished.

“Whew.” Harry whispered and sat down. “I need to eat something, I think.”

“I have just the thing.” Hermione said and took out a shrunken thin cardboard box. She enlarged it and it was the box of cauldron cakes that Harry had given her. He opened it and there were only a couple left.

“Thanks, Hermione.” Harry said.

“Careful! If Madam Pince sees food, even on your fingers...”

Harry let out a hushed chuckle and levitated one up and ate it without using his hands.

“Ha. Sneaky.” Hermione said and looked at the two identical books. “I can't believe you did it.”

“I want you to check it.” Harry said and handed her the original. “Neville, you check the copy.” He said and picked it up, then realized the problem. “Just a second.” He said and used his wand to emblazon 'COPY' under the title and handed it over.

“Page eighteen.” Hermione said and very carefully opened the original. “Third paragraph.”

“The legend of the diamond had been lost for a short time, until it was rediscovered inside the family vault.” Neville read.

Hermione nodded. “Okay, we'll check an illustration next.” She carefully looked through the book and found one on the sixtieth page. “Oh, wow. Look at that.”

Neville flipped to the right page and let out a low whistle.

“Let... me see.” Harry said as he finished his cauldron cake. He cleaned himself up and Neville handed over the copy of the book. “Wow is right. That thing really sparkles.”

“Wrapping it up in brown cloth makes sense if this is what the headmaster is looking for.” Hermione said and closed the original book. “You were right, Harry. It's worth a lot more than a hundred galleons.”

Harry nodded and closed the copy. “I think I can do the second one.”

“Maybe you should wait.” Hermione said. “There's only one cauldron cake left.”

Harry took a breath and let it out. He checked his timepiece and there wasn't much time left before curfew. “You're right.” He said and closed the box and shrunk it, handed it to her, then he shrunk the copy of the book and put it into his pocket.

“That's funny.” Neville said and closed Harry's book of curses. “Most specialty books can't be shrunk like that.”

“Hey, you're right.” Harry said. “I guess the only thing I copied was the physical book and not all of the magical protections the original has.”

“You're going to want to cast the same spells on it.” Hermione said. “Even a copy of important information is important, especially since there's only one original.”

Harry nodded and the three of them gathered their things up. They left the library and Hermione handed in the book with the Geminio spell in it. Harry had a copy of the spell now and he knew how to copy books, so their need to borrow books from the library to search for information became redundant. Hermione had a pensive look on her face as they walked back to Griffindor Tower.

“It's all right, Hermione. I'll show you how I did it.” Harry said in a normal voice, now that they were no longer in the library.

Hermione chuckled and gave him a happy look. “I was thinking that I need you to copy as many books as possible.”

Harry barked a laugh. “I just learned the spell!”

The three of them laughed and went back to their dorm rooms to sleep for the night. Harry made a copy of the second book and he was a little surprised that it felt a little easier to do and still took the same amount of time as before. He wrote 'COPY' on the copy and shrunk it to put in his pocket, then he very carefully bundled up the two expensive books.

Harry added a note explaining the spells he cast on them to keep water and dirt from gathering on them, then wrote out the address for the bookstore on the envelope. With the package prepared to be delivered in the morning, he set it inside his trunk on the shelf he had put all along the side to make things easily reachable, rather than using the top of the bookshelf.

He went to bed and snuggled down into the blankets. He was very happy with the day's progress. He had done a lot and had even performed a very difficult spell while using knowledge that he had gained by doing something else entirely. He smiled as he thought about it. He had combined Charms, Transfiguration, and Apparating with a single spell.

Harry knew the spell was very complicated and he had doubted that he would be able to do it so soon, right up until the moment he realized it was like apparating. Once he knew that, it was... easy. It still took a lot of his magic to perform; but, once the spell had formed in his mind properly, he could do it. In fact, he was tempted to do it to all of his books, just so he could shrink the copies to make them easily accessible.

You put that idea in my head, Hermione. Harry thought with a soft chuckle. He checked his timepiece again to make sure it was set to a good time to get up in the morning, then fell right to sleep. Performing two high level spells so close together had tired him out even more than he thought it did.

*

Sirius Black lay in his bed and was curled up into a ball on his side. He had started to have another Dementor panic attack and then his eyes landed squarely on Harry's face. Harry's happy face. Then he saw his own. He looked proud, and then he and Harry looked at each other. Portrait Sirius became happy and Portrait Harry became hopeful, then both turned to look at him and gave him nods.

“R-r-right. I need... I need to keep it together.” Sirius said and they nodded again. “He wants me... needs me to be there for him.”

Healer Ela stood just outside the slightly open door. She listened to Sirius convince himself that he needed to get better. She smiled and stayed there for several minutes, until she heard his deep breathing. She risked a peek and saw him still on his side. He wasn't as curled up on himself as he had just been and she smiled. She was very glad that her recommendation to have Harry visit had worked out so well.

She had been worried about the wardrobe at first; but, for some reason, the Spongify spell cast on it wasn't going away. She had taken to testing it occasionally at random times. Each time she did, Sirius would let out a laugh and tell her that Harry was amazing.

Healer Ela had to admit that it was true, especially if he really was the one to cast the spell. She expected that it would have worn off after a few hours, and here it was, nearing the middle of the night, and it was still as soft and spongy as when he had placed it there that morning.

Bertha was still sending her copies of Harry's letters, just to make sure that he was adjusting to school life well. She had no idea that Bertha kept certain ones to herself, namely the parselmouth one and anything that revealed too much about the goings on at the Ministry and with Amelia. Ignorance was bliss, after all.

Healer Ela left Sirius' room and went back to her own. She climbed into bed and was glad that Sirius was determined to get better. She only hoped that made him a little less irritable when she brought him his potion in the morning. She chuckled and tucked herself under the blanket.

There's not much chance of that. He's too ornery. Healer Ela thought and went back to sleep.

*

The next morning, Neville was up and dressed, practically ran through the Griffindor common room, then he was out and down the secret staircases to get to the Entrance Hall. He did his best to not show too much excitement as he waited for the large oak doors to open. His Gran would be there soon to pick him up to take him to Diagon Alley.

“Well, if it isn't Neville Bigbottom.” A drawling voice said as three students came up the stairs from the dungeons. Draco led his two big bodyguards into the Entrance Hall and over to him.

“Leave me alone.” Neville said and took a step back.

“Why? Are you going to do something about it?” Draco asked with a sneer. “A waste of a pure blood like you?”

Neville flicked his wrist and his dad's wand slid out of his sleeve and fell to the floor. In his nervousness, he had missed catching it, despite hours and hours of practising. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle laughed as he scrambled to grab it before it rolled too far away.

“You're always good for a laugh, Bigbottom.” Draco said.

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Just as Neville recovered it and stood up, the large oak doors opened and a woman wearing a large hat with a stuffed vulture on it stood there.

“What's going on here?” Neville's Grandmother Augusta Longbottom asked.

“N-n-nothing, Gran.” Neville said, a little sheepishly.

“Really?” Augusta looked at him with his wand out and pointed at the three students. “It looks to me like you were about to deal with three ruffians.”

“I...” Neville couldn't deny that was what he was thinking about.

“Well? Don't dilly dally. Hurry up and dispatch them.” Augusta said and crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

“You can't be serious.” Draco said to her in disbelief.

“I'm quite serious.” Augusta said. “Go ahead Neville. Show me that I'm not wasting my money by sending you here.”

“I think she's nuts.” Crabbe whispered to Draco.

“I may be old; but, I do have excellent hearing.” Augusta said. “Neville.”

“B-but... Gran...” Neville didn't want to point out that he wasn't defending himself now and didn't want to attack someone unprovoked.

“Your parents would be disappointed in you.” Augusta said with a sigh.

“What? Those vegetables?” Draco asked with a laugh. “They can't even feed themselves! I doubt they can feel anything, let alone disappoint... AHH!” He yelled as a bright light blinded him and he covered his face, then all three of them were wrapped up tightly in ropes and fell to the floor.

“Don't you EVER talk about my parents again!” Neville said angrily.

“What is going on out here?” Minerva McGonagall asked as she strode out of the Great Hall. “I heard someone yell and... Goodness Gracious!” She exclaimed and went over to the incarcerated students. “Mister Longbottom! Did you do this?” She asked and cast Relashio on them to make the ropes let them go immediately. She then swiped her wand at the ropes to vanish them.

Neville's anger had subsided and he realized that he was going to be in trouble.

“Yes, he did.” Augusta said as she walked over to her grandson. She put an arm over his shoulders and beamed a smile at the Professor. “Wasn't it a great feat?”

“Feat?” Minerva asked as she cast minor healing spells on the rope marks. “He assaulted three students in the Entrance Hall in clear violation of the school rules!”

“Actually, there's no rules against that.” Harry Potter said as he came down the main staircase with Hermione right beside him.

“Excuse me, Mister Potter. The rules specifically state to not use magic against other students.”

“You're leaving off the parts about in the hallways and between classes.” Hermione said. “I know. I've studied all the rules and regulations the school has.”

Minerva opened her mouth to respond that it was supposed to be understood that it applied all the time, when a slightly excited voice spoke first.

“Neville! Are these your friends?” Augusta asked and turned Neville towards them.

“G-Gran, that's Harry Potter and that's Hermione Granger.” Neville said.

Augusta let Neville go and reached a hand out to Harry. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Potter.”

Harry wasn't sure what to say, so he just nodded and shook her hand.

Augusta smiled and held a hand out to Hermione. “You were right, Neville. She is quite pretty.”

“Gran!” Neville exclaimed and his face and ears turned bright red.

Augusta laughed. “Don't mind him. He only paid you both compliments. He's not in love with you or anything.”

“L-l-love?!?” Hermione asked as she shook the woman's hand and her face turned red, too.

Augusta smiled warmly and let her hand go. “I said not to mind it.” She said and looked at Harry. “It's so nice to meet his friends. Actual friends and not made up ones.”

“Gran!” Neville exclaimed again and his embarrassment increased.

“It's all right. They know I'm an old woman that's just spouting nonsense.” Augusta said and went back to Neville. “Let's go and do a bit of shopping.”

“Madam Longbottom.” Minerva said. “Your grandson harmed his fellow students.”

“They've been picking on him for the last two months and you've done nothing to stop it, you old bag.” Augusta spat at her, making Minerva bristle and put on an angry face. “I want my grandson to defend himself, and now I know he will, despite you telling him that he can't.”

“That's not how things are done in this school.” Minerva said.

Augusta pointed a finger at Harry. “Tell that to the boy right there that is ridiculed and talked about behind his back every day.” She said. “No one does anything to stop it, except him.”

“Him?” Minerva looked at Harry in surprise.

“You don't think a rash of seemingly random Langlocks and Silencio spells happen naturally, do you?” Augusta asked with a huge smile.

Minerva opened her mouth to comment on that, then changed her mind. “I cannot let Neville off from punishment, even if you believe that his retaliation was justified.”

“Then go ahead and give him detention.” Augusta said. “My grandson will hold his head high as he does it.”

Minerva looked at the three Slytherin students that she could clearly see were hamming up their injuries. “A week's detention and a foot of parchment on why it's wrong to encourage bullies to come back after you.”

Augusta laughed. “Oh, they won't be coming after my Neville anymore.” She said, satisfaction in her voice. “They know what will happen to them if they do.”

They all watched as Augusta led her grandson out through the large oak doors that closed behind them.

“All right you three.” Minerva said and helped the Slytherin students stand up. “Take yourselves off to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey take a look at you.”

Draco and his two bodyguards pretended to hobble as they left the Entrance Hall.

“As for you two.” Minerva said. “I will be making an announcement at breakfast tomorrow morning and clarifying the rules that you clearly misunderstood.”

“As long as you tell everyone that it only counts for offensive spells.” Harry said. “Whatever rules you put in place, I am always going to use defensive spells and charms.”

“Harry...” Hermione started to warn him and Harry took her hand.

“It's all right. Professor McGonagall won't tell us to intentionally endanger ourselves by not protecting ourselves, right professor?” Harry asked with a big smile.

Minerva stood there and didn't say anything, because there wasn't really anything she could say.

Harry nodded and walked by her as he led Hermione by the hand towards the library. They had a few spells that they needed to dig up and research.

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