Arch Mage, the Path of Magic Chapter 52 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with another chapter of Arch Mage, the Path of Magic! With Harry’s victory in the Duel against Maxim, he learns where the other High Sorcerer learned the odd darkness magic that’s similar to the strange effect that Voldemort and his undead leave behind when they cast spells. While he’ll definitely want to make a trip to look into that, there’s one thing currently taking up most of Harry’s focus: finishing the cure for Lycanthropy.

If you’d like to become a patron and get access to these chapters earlier, just head on over to Pat re on and add a /Kairomaru after the com.

Make sure to thank the patrons that make these stories possible by checking out the Patron Plaque on my profile!

So, without further delay, please enjoy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 52 – Location of Interest, Sunrise and Sunset

Within Hogwarts, a rather short meeting was taking place in the middle of the summer.

After using Dumbledore’s Portkey to escape the approaching journalists that had come to see the Duel between Harry and Maxim, the group had appeared in Hogwarts, specifically within the Headmaster’s office. Dumbledore had offered everyone a seat, even conjuring a few extra plush chairs with a wave of his wand.

“Tweee…” Fawkes trilled and glided over to Harry, landing lightly on the armrest of the young High Sorcerer’s chair.

“Hello, Fawkes.” Harry smiled at the phoenix, lightly petting its head. “Having a good summer?”

Fawkes bobbed his head once, gently nuzzling Harry’s hand right after.

Harry chuckled and petted the phoenix again. “Don’t suppose I could ask for a feather or two…and a couple of tears?”

“Twee.” Fawkes response was short and the magical bird even shook its head once.

“Stingy.” Harry fake pouted at the phoenix.

Fawkes just preened, almost smug, before leaping from the armrest and flying over to his perch near Dumbledore’s desk.

Yasashī was rather amused at the little back and forth between Harry and the phoenix. “Always so curious, Harry.”

“Phoenix tears are a bit difficult to come by, but they’re healing effects are legendary and I’d love a chance to study them in-depth.” Harry said with a shrug, though inwardly he wondered if phoenix tears wouldn’t make for a potent ingredient within his and Daphne’s potions to cure lycanthropy. ‘Then again, we’d have to completely rework our current recipes to incorporate such a potent ingredient.’ That was a lot of time to invest when they were already making such good progress. But Harry was certain that Daphne would love to have a chance at working with phoenix tears at some point.

“Aren’t we here so that Harry can ask about the darkness spell that was used in the Duel?” Tonks questioned, looking between Maxim and Harry.

Maxim seemed to snap out of his own inner thoughts, likely going over what Dumbledore had told him earlier, and looked over at Tonks, then at Harry. “Right. You wanted to know where I learned that spell.”

Harry leaned forward in his chair with his eyes fixed on Maxim. “Yes, please.”

“It is no real secret.” Maxim said, his accent rather light when speaking calmly. “In pursuit of knowledge, I traveled to many places for years. It was in Egypt that learned of that particular spell…an ancient magic based in the concept of a primordial darkness called Nun in their oldest beliefs. It was taught to me by…I suppose within Europe she would be considered a type of necromancer…but she claimed this particular spell came from understanding the ancient practices of the priests and priestesses of the deities Kek and Kauket.”

“How interesting…” Harry had a smile on his face and his green eyes were nearly gleaming with interest. “A primordial darkness, you say?” He lifted his right hand and with a small snap, a tiny ember of Primordial Fire ignited, the flame looked to be burning in slow motion, as it always did. “I wonder if there’s any connection between the two?” He, and everyone else in the room, looked at the tiny flame in his palm. ‘Primordial Fire creates ‘essence of fire’ just by burning. I have to commune with the land and find points of powerful emotion in its history that leave echoes of memories to access the ‘essence of earth’ and use it. But would a primordial darkness lead to an ‘essence of darkness’ too?’ Harry pondered on this new information and the potential implications. But such thoughts also brought up the consideration for what an ‘essence of water’ or ‘essence of air’ might require to gain understanding of them.

Sirius grinned at Harry, very familiar with the look on his godson’s face. “So, plan a quick trip to Egypt sometime, Harry?”

Andromeda sighed at Sirius’s ‘parenting’ and looked at Harry. “Please don’t go running off to Egypt, Harry.”

“I won’t…” Harry said, only to catch the look he was getting from Tonks. “…really, I won’t, Nym.”

“Uh huh.” Tonks knew about Harry’s little visit to Beauxbatons before, so the chances of him wandering off to satiate his curiosity during the school year were rather high. “Don’t.”

Ted chuckled at the ‘put out’ look on Harry’s face. “We can make plans for a proper trip in time, Harry.” He wouldn’t deny his ever curious surrogate nephew a chance to explore his various interests…at least not forever.

“I already have a project I’m working on. I won’t go anywhere until it’s finished.” Harry assured his family, giving a slight nod to Remus.

Remus returned the little nod with a grateful look, not saying anything to avoid anyone not ‘in the know’ from asking questions.

Dumbledore, now sitting behind his desk, smiled at the family interaction before speaking up. “I would recommend a trip to Egypt, when you have the chance. A fascinating history of magic throughout its millennia of existence through its various dynasties. It was quite informative during my own studies in my youth.”

“Yasashī, do you know anything of Egyptian necromancy?” Harry asked his one-time teacher, moving the topic back to what Maxim had said about the woman that had taught him the strange darkness spell. “Is it anything like other spirit-based magics or shamanism?”

The Bakeneko hummed thoughtfully, going through his many, many years of memory. “I have heard a bit about it. Though I’ve never personally experienced it. Many know of mummies, both the remains of ancient non-magical people, as well as the animated dead left to guard tombs and the like. As for being related to shamanism, it is rather likely that some of their spells to keep their dead mobile may, indeed, involve using spirits. Just as the zombies of the southern United States are different from Inferi, the mummies of Egypt are also a different type of creature from the animated dead that are made within Europe.” Yasashī answered with what little information he had on Egypt’s old magics. “If you wish to try and employ shamanism, like shikigami, against them…I can’t say for sure whether or not they will react in a similar manner.”

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment. “Something to test, should the opportunity present itself.”

“We’re not looking for mummies if we go to Egypt.” Andromeda shook her head once. “I highly doubt you would need to go into an ancient tomb to try and learn this spell.” She looked at Maxim for confirmation.

“I learned the magic from the woman while she was part of a small school that was researching ancient magics.” Maxim informed with a small shrug. “It has been many years since then, so I cannot say whether or not that school still exists. Finding her, or one of her colleagues from that school, may require asking around.”

Tonks rolled her eyes, seeing Harry perk up slightly. “So, there’s a less than zero percent chance that one of them may have taken up study in an ancient tomb.” Harry nodded once, shooting her a smile. “That isn’t an invitation to go looking for mummies, Harry.”

“Spoilsport.” Harry said with a faked huff. “Oi!” He jumped slightly in his chair as Tonks had hit him with a ‘ball’ of magic the instant that his eyes were off of her.

The impromptu meeting didn’t last much longer. Dumbledore allowed everyone to use his Floo to leave Hogwarts, Maxim going first after a quick bow to everyone else. Yasashī stepped up next before looking back towards Harry, making the one-time student give the Bakeneko his full attention.

“I was very pleased to see how far you’d come with your Onmyōdō studies, Harry.” He gave the young man honest praise.

“You should see what my little sister, Luna, was able to do.” Harry grinned as he saw Yasashī’s ears perk up. “She’s managed to make her Kooni so large that she can ride on it, without changing its shape.”

Yasashī looked mildly interested at that. “Really? It takes a special mindset to maintain form while increasing power. Feel free to introduce us in the future. If your little sister is anything like you, I’m sure she’ll be just as interesting to chat with.”

Harry mentally pictured how Luna would react to meeting Yasashī and a laugh nearly escaped him. ‘Luna would definitely ask if she could pet him.’

“It was nice to see all of you again.” Yasashī bowed to Tonks, Sirius, Andromeda, and Ted. “I’ll be on my way, until we meet again.” He held out his paw and a straw gasa hat appeared, which he put on his head, his cat ears poking up through the conical hat. With a swipe of his tail, a traveling cloak appeared from thin air to wrap around his body before settling around his shoulders gently. Dumbledore offered Floo Powder from the small jar he was holding, but Yasashī waved it off. “That won’t be necessary, thank you.” He pulled out a small folded up piece of paper and tossed it into the fire. The paper, and its powder contents, were consumed in only a second as the fire flared up and turned an odd, almost spectral, blue-white color. “Neko no Yado.” Yasashī intoned and the flames wavered in the fireplace for a moment before swirling into a circle. With just two steps, the Onmyōji vanished into the fire, and the flames returned to normal a few seconds later.

“That was…different.” Sirius mentioned of the strange fire that Yasashī had used to travel.

Harry nodded as he was mentally examining what he’d seen. “Probably a specific creation of the Bakeneko. Given that they can live multiple centuries, it would be stranger if they didn’t have their own methods for magical travel.”

Tonks leaned close to Harry. “Do you know what that ‘Neko Yado’ thing means?”

“Neko no Yado translates as ‘The Cat Inn’…so, it’s likely an establishment for Bakeneko exclusively while they travel.” Harry guessed as he wondered just how many magical beings had their own forms of magical travel alongside their own unique magics. ‘Things to look into later, for sure.’

“Well, we should be on our way too.” Ted smiled at everyone, accepting a pinch of Floo Powder from Dumbledore and tossing it into the fire. “Tonks House.” He said clearly and vanished into the green flames.

Andromeda motioned for Harry to go next. “Come along, Harry. I’m sure you have things you’d rather be doing today.”

Tonks, still leaned in close to Harry, whispered into his ear. “Or someone you’d rather be doing, right Harrikins~”

“Is that a promise, Nym?” Harry asked with a grin.

He was playfully pushed towards the fireplace by a laughing Tonks.

Once everyone had left, Dumbledore set the jar of Floo Powder back on the mantle of the fireplace and moved over to his desk.

“I can’t pull Alastor back to the school with Voldemort having returned. But no one is applying for the position this year.” Dumbledore lamented the, once again vacant, position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Arguably, it was most likely for several reasons: Dumbledore’s very vocal stance that Voldemort had returned, the Ministry’s conflicting stance that Voldemort was NOT back and other unknown Dark Wizards and Witches were merely using the Dark Lord’s name to instill fear, as well as the position’s history of no Professor lasting more than a year for the last few decades. “If I can’t find a qualified Professor, Cornelius will force his own choice soon.”

With the Board of Governors able to be cowed by pressure from the Ministry, and some threats from Lucius Malfoy, no doubt, things weren’t looking good for keeping the tension between Dumbledore and Cornelius from spilling into the school in the coming school year.

-Next Day ~ Tonks Family Home-

Harry blinked as he looked at the stack of newspapers on the breakfast table. “Uh, what’s all this?”

“Harry!” Sirius cheered with a bright smile. “I had to get a copy of every paper that covered your Duel yesterday!” He held up the Daily Prophet and another newspaper that looked to be in Spanish, both had moving pictures dominating the front page showing off some of the spells that Harry and Maxim had exchanged in their Duel.

“You didn’t have to…you just did it.” Andromeda nearly sighed at what Sirius had spent the early morning doing. “Good morning, Harry.” She smiled at her surrogate nephew and motioned for him to sit at the table and eat.

Tonks was looking at the front page of a newspaper that might’ve been in Dutch, but Harry wasn’t certain. “Wotcher, Harrikins! You made quite the spectacle! Every single paper has your Duel on the front page!”

Ted was looking at the French newspaper with a little grin. “Most seem to be praising you for your magical skills, your bravery to face an older High Sorcerer, and your victory, of course.”

Harry had managed to eat about half his breakfast when Hedwig came flying in, landing lightly upon the table with a letter tied to her leg.

“Prek!” Hedwig held out her leg to Harry.

“Hey girl.” Harry lightly petted Hedwig as he removed the letter. “Thanks.” Hedwig let Harry pet her for a bit longer before stealing some of his ham and then flying off to her perch in his bedroom. “Let’s see…” Harry smiled as he saw Luna’s handwriting on the envelope. Opening it, he began to read with a grin, practically able to hear his little sister’s voice as she congratulated him on his victory, having seen it in the paper in Sweden where she and her father were traveling while searching for a Crumple-Horned Snorkack.

“Preek!” A barn owl swooped in through the open window and landed in front of Harry.

“Prek!” A spotted owl followed only a moment later.

Andromeda quickly closed the window with a point of her wand. “We can’t have that many owls in the house at once.”

Her prediction came true not a minute later as dozens of owls landed outside the window, each carrying a letter for Harry. The first two letters after Luna’s had been from some of Harry’s friends at school, the spotted owl carrying a letter from Neville, while the barn owl was from Michael Corner.

“I guess we should’ve expected this.” Sirius laughed as he saw how many letters Harry was receiving after the spectacular Duel yesterday.

“We have to check all of these.” Tonks said, eyeing the owls, some still arriving, that were waiting outside.

The morning was quickly spoken for as checking all of the letters and who they were from took up hours of time.

In the afternoon, Hermione, Fleur, and Daphne had come over…only to blink as they saw Harry sitting in front of a large stack of letters.

“Afternoon, loves.” Harry smiled warmly at his girlfriends. “I’ve been a bit busy this morning, as you can see.”

“Obviously…” Daphne said as she sat on Harry’s left. “I kind of wish I’d gone to the Duel now, but I already knew the outcome.” She smiled at Harry, her eyes showing how certain she’d been in his victory.

Felur sat on Harry’s right with a beautiful laugh. “We would’ve gone, but the Enclave was hosting an event yesterday.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. “Anything about the Matriarch succession?” He knew how much the position meant to Fleur.

“A little.” Fleur smiled softly, always happy that Harry remembered her goals and wanted to hear about them and her progress. “The Matriarch announced that she’s narrowed the successors down to ten candidates.”

“And…?” Daphne, Hermione, and Harry all drew out the word while looking at Fleur expectantly.

Fleur held back for just a moment longer, smiling in amusement as her loved ones practically bored holes into her with their eyes. “I’m one of the ten.” She finally said with a musical giggle.

Hermione hugged Fleur tightly. “Congratulations, Fleur!”

“Merci, Hermione.” Fleur smiled as she hugged Hermione back, and pulled her girlfriend into her lap, making Hermione squeak cutely.

“I knew you’d be a candidate, Fleur.” Harry said as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

Fleur hummed happily and turned her head to capture Harry’s lips. “Thank you, Harry.” His belief in her made her feel warm inside, a feeling she quite enjoyed.

Daphne leaned over and smiled at Fleur. “You’re one step closer now. You’ll become Matriarch for sure.”

“I will do my best to be chosen.” Fleur returned Daphne’s smile with a warm one of her own.

“S-So, Harry…” Hermione was blushing cutely as she sat in Fleur’s lap, being held close by her girlfriend. “Who are all these letters from?”

Harry couldn’t help but grin at how cute Hermione looked when she was adorably flustered. “Well, these are from friends at Hogwarts.” He motioned to a small stack in front of him. “The rest are from various ‘fans’ that I’ve gathered now.” He pointed out the much larger stack of letters. “Mostly just well-wishers and people wanting to know ‘my secret’ for becoming a High Sorcerer so young.”

Daphne let a small ‘tch’ escape her. “I suppose they’ve never considered working hard as an option if they’re looking for nonexistent secrets to get ahead.” While Harry was a prodigy beyond most any prodigy ever seen before, he put in an immense amount of work to get to where he was now, and to see it written off as a ‘trick’ rubbed Daphne the wrong way.

“Some people see the accomplishments of others and assume they must have a ‘trick’ simply because they haven’t been able to reach the same level.” Fleur had experience with that throughout her time at Beauxbatons. There were always a few nasty girls that believed all of the Veela students (even the little first year Veela girls in the worst of the rumors) were using their beauty and innate magic to ‘get ahead’ with help from the male Professors.

“They should put that effort into their studies instead.” Hermione was a firm believer in applying oneself if you wanted to improve. “Being envious of others accomplishments doesn’t help if you don’t use it as a reason to do better.”

Harry, not wanting their time together to be wasted on this, smiled and wrapped his arm around Daphne’s shoulders, and his opposite arm around Fleur’s shoulders. “Instead of wasting time on the letters, why don’t we all talk about more pleasant things?”

Fleur leaned into Harry with a soft smile. “I’d like that, mon amour.”

“What should we talk about?” Daphne asked as she leaned against Harry’s side with a little smile of her own.

“Anything, nothing?” Hermione honestly didn’t care as she rested her head on Fleur’s shoulder. “H-Harry…” She mewled out when he lightly blew on the exposed skin of her legs, her shorts stopping just a bit past midthigh.

Harry just grinned playfully and Fleur gently ran her fingers through Hermione’s hair. Daphne, seeing an opening, lightly blew on Harry’s ear in return, making him suck in a little breath. She put her hand on his thigh with a smirk, while Fleur placed a light kiss on Harry’s neck.

Needless to say, Harry would go along with just about anything his girlfriends wanted at this moment. A whole afternoon to spend being close and flirty was just what they all needed.

-July 20th ~ Daphne’s Research Lab-

Harry applied a more specific Malediction to the group of rats currently being kept asleep by magic. Having had the chance to watch Remus’s magic throughout an entire full moon night gave him much more insight into how the cursed affliction of lycanthropy affected the body. With that new information, he’d refined the Malediction he was using on their test rats to more closely resemble lycanthropy in both effect and how it attached to the body and magic.

“Hmm…” Daphne’s thoughtful hum made Harry smile as he walked over to her and looked at her journal that she was writing in.

“What’s on your mind, love?” Harry asked softly, not wanting to startle Daphne out of her thoughts.

Daphne gave him a little smile before she spoke. “I was wondering if our potions needed some other kind of change that we’re not seeing? With your new Malediction being so much closer to actual lycanthropy now, we still haven’t managed to actually cure a cursed affliction.”

Harry sat next to Daphne and pulled his notebook to his hand from across the room with barely a thought. “I’m not sure what else we can try at this point, without changing up the ingredients and the brewing method at least.” He flipped through a few pages of his notes, looking at the additional notes written in the margins too. “While we could do that, it would take much longer to begin again. And we’ve had great success with our current recipes, especially after refining them over and over again.”

“Yeah, we have.” Daphne still smiled a little when she remembered the grateful smile that Remus had given her after trying their potions on the last full moon. “But there has to be something else we could do to make them better and actually make a cure.” She flipped through her notes again and even began to cutely mumble out the various steps of treatments for other magical afflictions.

“If only Fawkes wasn’t so stingy.” Harry said to himself, imagining what it would take to incorporate phoenix tears into their current recipes. ‘Admittedly, that would probably require us to start over from scratch. But it would also increase the cost of the potion, given how uncommon it is for phoenix tears to reach the market.’ The legendary magical birds weren’t exactly known for handing over their tears or their feathers. ‘I wonder where Ollivander gets the phoenix feathers for his wands?’ Phoenix Feather wands were the rarest of the three cores that Ollivander used, but there were still quite a few on his shelves, waiting to be matched to a wizard or witch.

Daphne’s mumbling stopped and she put her notebook aside and picked up a beginner book about Healing that was on the short shelf next to the long table. Harry watched as she flipped it open a few pages and began to read, then flip to a later point in the book and start reading again. After a full minute of silent reading, Daphne looked up from the book and set it aside. She stood up and moved over to the current batch of her potion that had finished brewing and was cooling off before being put into phials.

“Could that be it?” Daphne wondered aloud, just barely heard by Harry.

“Did you think of something?” Harry asked, now curious about what Daphne was pondering.

Daphne nodded slowly, as if she wasn’t truly sure yet. “Harry, what would happen if your potion was given to someone suffering under the effects of a more normal jinx or curse? It would dispel the effect and return the person to normal, right?”

Harry nodded once, looking at Daphne curiously. “That is what I made it to do. I believed that it would be the best path to eliminating lycanthropy within the body.” He had based the magical effect on the Homorphus Charm, after all, the only spell known to be able to force a transformed werewolf back into their human form…even if only temporarily.

“My potion stops the transformation entirely…” Daphne pulled a fresh piece of parchment over to her self and picked up a quill to begin writing. “You said that you saw the lycanthropy curse activating in Mr. Lupin, but my potion was preventing it from transforming him?”

“Yes. The curse was in a nebulous state since Lupin had taken both of our potions before the night of the full moon. It couldn’t carry out its normal function.” Harry stood up, wondering what spark or epiphany had come to Daphne.

Daphne shook her head once, sending her long dark hair swaying about. “I can’t believe I was so stupid!” She wrote a bit more before turning to look at the sleeping rats in the cage. “It’s one of the most basic of basic things in Healing!”

Harry couldn’t help but think Daphne looked incredibly cute when she was working like this. “Did we miss something?” He asked while walking over to stand next to her, glancing at the new notes and hypotheses she’d written down.

“A potions regiment.” Daphne said as she finished writing. “Mixing them together still let parts of the lycanthropy curse take effect, just like with our Malediction rats.” She placed a finger on one part of her notes and then used her free hand to point at a line in her beginner book on Healing. “A potions regiment is administered one potion at a time. You give the patient the first potion, usually focusing on what needs to be healed first to stabilize them. After that potion has done its work, you give the patient the next potion to alleviate the next injury or magical effect. So on and so forth, adjusting which potion to give and in what order depending on what the patient is suffering from.”

“I’m following you so far.” Harry nodded along, considering what Daphne was saying and he was starting to realize what she was getting at.

Daphne turned and put her hands on Harry’s shoulders, her face mere centimeters from his as she looked into his eyes. “We need to try a potion regiment approach on the rats!”

Harry nodded, a smile spreading on his face. “Right!”

In only a moment, one of the sleeping rats had been taken from the cage and set within an area of the table that Harry had warded with some simple spells. It wouldn’t last too long without anchor points, but it would work for what they needed.

“Wake up, little one.” Harry spoke, casting a ‘Finite’ through just his words and breath. The rat awoke a second later and looked around curiously before trying to scurry away, only to hit an invisible wall. “Hold still now.” The rat froze in place as Daphne brought two droppers over, one filled with her potion, the other filled with Harry’s.

“Alright, my potion first.” Daphne handed Harry the dropper with his potion in it and gently took the still rat in her free hand. After the required number of drops had been fed to the rat, Harry let it go from his Bind spell and watched it scurry away until it hit another invisible wall. “Whenever you’re ready, Harry.” She already had her notebook in hand, waiting to record the results.

Harry held up his index finger and a ball of light appeared, much like a Lumos Charm. However, this light wasn’t the bright light of Lumos, but the soft silverly light of moonlight. The rat stopped and stared at the light as soon as it appeared, it was clearly effected, entranced like Lupin said werewolves got upon seeing the full moon…but there was no change, no transformation. “Subject hasn’t transformed.”

“Noted. What does it’s magic look like?” Daphne asked as she wrote the results down.

“Its magic is stable; the curse is trying to effect it…Sunrise potion is preventing transformation.” Harry watched the rat’s magic with his Mage Sight spell closely while using the codename for Daphne’s potion (which was based on its color).

Daphne nodded once as she looked at the seemingly entranced rat staring at the false moonlight. “Administer the Sunset potion.” She instructed, using the codename for Harry’s potion (also based on its color) and leaning closer so that she didn’t miss any minute changes in the rat.

Harry brought the dropper to the rat’s mouth and lightly squeezed the bulb on the end until the required drops had been fed to the rat. “Sunset has been introduced…” He glanced away from the rat for only a moment, making sure his quill was writing down his words into his own notebook. “The subject’s magic is still stable. The curse is in a nebulous state of being active, but incapable of carrying out its intended purpose.” He went quiet as he saw the ugly blackish-grey Malediction within the rat begin to shrink noticeably. “Something is happening…the Malediction is shrinking.”

“Shrinking?” Daphne asked even as she wrote it down. “Can you be more specific?”

“The Malediction is losing magic…like it’s coming apart.” Harry was describing exactly what he saw as he watched the curse he’d laid upon the rat start breaking down. “The nebulous state it was in prevents it from using the host’s magic to help defend itself. Without that physical and magical barrier between it and Sunset…it’s dispersing…”

In only a few minutes, the Malediction vanished completely from within the rat. A second after it was gone, the rat blinked and then looked away from the false moonlight, going straight for a small number of seeds that Daphne dropped into the warded space.

Daphne, having put the seeds into the space without even thinking about it, looked between the eating rat, then Harry, then the rat again, then her own notebook. “It…worked?”

Harry nodded slowly. “It worked…”

“Heh…hehe… Haha…hahahaha!” Daphne began to laugh before her notebook hit the table and she threw her arms around Harry and hugged him tightly. “IT WORKED!!! IT WORKED!!!”

Harry hugged Daphne back with a bright smile spreading across his face. “It worked! Together!” He looked into Daphne’s eyes, the two staring deeply into each other’s excited gaze. “When they’re used properly together, they work.”

“Together…just like us.” Daphne agreed, a beautiful smile on her face.

The two were kissing a second later, neither knowing who had leaned in first, nor did they care. Harry’s hands trailed down Daphne’s sides and then behind her to take hold of her ass over her robes. Daphne hummed in pleasure, pressing herself flush against Harry as she deepened their kiss, her hands running through his naturally messy hair. A moment later and Harry lifted Daphne upwards, prompting her to wrap her legs around his hips as their tongues played. Without breaking from their lip lock, Harry managed to walk over to the other side of the long table, away from anything important, and place Daphne on the edge.

“Off.” Daphne breathed out, pulling at the apron Harry wore while they were making potions, a standard safety measure.

The apron vanished and reappeared on the floor a second later. “You too.” Harry kissed Daphne again, getting a heated moan from her and a nod of agreement. Her apron vanished and fell to the floor near Harry’s.

Daphne was on the high of success after working so long and failing multiple times. She wanted to celebrate, and she wanted to reward Harry for his success, their success, too. “More~” She breathed hotly against his lips and let out a breathy moan when her robe and her shirt both vanished from her body, leaving her in her bra and skirt. “Yes…Harry…” Daphne moaned as Harry’s hands roamed her bare skin, leaving heat and pleasure in their wake.

“Beautiful…” Harry kissed Daphne’s lips again after seeing her in nothing but her bra and skirt. Her skin was soft and warm, a healthy tone that proved Daphne took care of herself. Hearing her soft gasps and moans as he touched her made Harry try to commit everything to memory. He wanted to memorize what touches produced which sounds, just so he could hear them again.

As young man and young woman indulged, Daphne got impatient and tugged at Harry’s robe. “Off.” She demanded heatedly, giving a low moan of approval a second later when Harry’s bare chest was exposed to her and she got to run her hands all over her boyfriend’s torso. “Yes, touch me~” She moaned out when Harry’s hands cupped her bra-clad tits, gently massaging them and lightly rolling his thumbs over the hard nipples poking against the fabric.

“Hey, were you two yelling a second ago…” Astoria’s voice stopped dead, the door to Daphne’s potions lab half-open. Her eyes widened at catching her big sister and Harry in such a compromising position. “Sorry!” She slammed the door behind her and rushed off, covering her burning red cheeks with her hands, feeling so embarrassed at what she’d walked in on.

Back in the lab, Daphne wasn’t much better, her cheeks bright red as she buried her face in Harry’s chest. “I can’t believe Astoria saw us like that!” Her cry of embarrassment was muffled against Harry’s skin.

Harry gently rubbed Daphne’s back to soother her as best as he could. “It’s alright, Daphne.” Inwardly he was a bit annoyed, but that was definitely because of how riled up he was. “Bit of cold water on the moment though, huh?” He joked lightly, making Daphne playfully swat his chest with her hand.

“I just know this is going to be awkward for a while.” Daphne said with a long sigh. “Are you going to let go of my ass?” She looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow.

“Do I have to?” Harry asked with a playful grin. “It’s a very nice bum.”

Daphne rolled her eyes with a grin on her lips. “You’re lucky I love you.” She leaned in to kiss Harry again, the embarrassment of being walked in on fading a bit.

Harry nodded in agreement. “A very lucky bloke, I am!” He kissed Daphne again and the two let their hands wanders over each other’s bare skin.

“We should still test the potion regiment on all of the other Malediction rats.” Daphne breathed out once they pulled back from their kiss. “Make sure that this first result wasn’t a fluke.”

“Later.” Harry said heatedly, nuzzling her neck and leaving soft kisses on it.

Daphne wrapped her legs around Harry’s hips again and her arms over his shoulders. “Alright.” She ground herself against the hardness she could feel in his pants with a breathy gasp. “Just until we’re both satisfied~”

Magic made cleaning up such ‘messes’ very easy after all.

-Ministry of Magic ~ Fudge’s Office-

Cornelius Oswald Fudge was annoyed, perhaps more than he’d ever been before. Dumbledore wouldn’t stop telling anyone that asked about the ‘return’ of the Dark Lord! ‘Poppycock! There’s no magic that can bring the dead back to life! He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gone! I don’t know what Dumbledore is trying to play at, but I won’t let him try and cause a panic!’ Inwardly, he was worried solely about his image and reputation to the people of Magical Britain…and, of course, his future re-election too.

“Minister.” Dolores Umbridge, his Chief Undersecretary, poked her head into his office. “I’ve brought the papers from the other nations that sent people to cover the Duel between Harry Potter and that Russian.”

“Come in, Dolores.” Fudge waved her in, seeing her bright pink robes that the woman preferred to wear. “Let me see them.”

Umbridge placed the papers on Fudge’s desk and spread them out so that he could see all of the front pages. “The Potter boy seems rather dangerous, doesn’t he?” She asked with an almost simpering tone, making her own opinion known while acting as if she wasn’t trying to influence the Minister’s opinion.

Fudge waved her words off. “Nonsense, Dolores. Harry Potter is the pride and joy of Magical Britain! He hasn’t taken Dumbledore’s side in this hogwash of You-Know-Who returning either!” He wanted to keep a cordial relationship with the youngest High Sorcerer in history. The good PR alone would go a long way to helping secure his re-election.

“Oh, but Minister, the Potter boy has told his fellow students at Hogwarts that he fought You-Know-Who in some graveyard that night he went missing.” Umbridge said, having found out about that from some eavesdropping she’d done around the Ministry on parents that had Hogwarts age children, especially Ravenclaw students.

“Little Hangleton cemetery…” Fudge reminded her with a heavy sigh. “I had to have a meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister about that.” That had been such an embarrassing moment, having to explain why a Muggle graveyard had been torn apart by witches and wizards…and to a Muggle, no less! That was the one part of this job that Fudge disliked…but he put up with it to keep his position. “We need to make sure the people understand that it was NOT You-Know-Who that abducted Mr. Potter, but some Dark Wizard using the Dark Lord’s name to instill fear and make their own nefarious moves.”

Umbridge nodded, her sycophancy on full display as she agreed. “Absolutely right, Minister! We can’t have an old man stirring up trouble and panic, or a student spreading lies within Hogwarts that go against the truth that the Ministry has provided to the people!”

Fudge nodded as well, the echo chamber of his own thoughts bolstering him and building up his own bluster. “Right, right you are! I’ve already sent multiple missives to Dumbledore about his lack of a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor for this coming school year. If he can’t produce one, I’ll be sending in one of our Ministry personnel to handle the class!”

“As you should, Minister!” Umbridge praised Fudge with a wide smile that made her look more toadish than usual. “In fact, I’d be happy to take up that role for you, sir! I’ll make sure that the children know that no Dark Lord has risen from the grave to torment them or their families! Hogwarts just needs proper order and these silly claims will disappear!”

“Would you really handle it, Dolores?” Fudge asked, looking as though a weight had lifted off his shoulders. “I know I can trust you.”

Umbridge smiled, her simpering tone returning. “Of course, Minister! Anything to assist you and ensure that people know the truth of the matter, as you’ve explained it to them!”

Fudge nodded and pulled over a piece of parchment with a few names already written on it. “I’ll just go ahead and put you at the top of the list, Dolores!” He wrote her name above the other near the top of the parchment. “If Dumbledore fails to provide a Professor, then you’ll be heading to Hogwarts come September first!”

“I won’t let you down, Minister!” Umbridge simpered, as if her instatement as a Professor was already guaranteed.

Across the British Isles, more than a few Hogwarts students suddenly felt either a chill go down their backs, or a sharp annoyance pop up out of nowhere.

-End Chapter-

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Well now, an unpleasant pink toad seems to be setting her sights on Hogwarts. That’s probably not good. Wonder if Dumbledore can find someone to teach DADA before the end of summer?

Too bad Harry is still a student, or he could just teach the class himself!

As Harry’s victory spreads and more people have now seen what he can do directly, forces in various places will definitely move and try to plan around, or against, the powerful Spellcrafter!

Have Harry and Daphne found a cure?! Will a potions regiment application of their potions actually cure Lycanthropy?!

They’ll have to ask Lupin to test it on the August full moon to be sure!

If they succeed in curing the incurable…just how big of a merit will that be for the two of them?

And, perhaps, whose attention will that draw to them both?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!