Mrthou.net - Harry Potter Fanfiction

"Well, well!  It has been a long time since I've had a visitor.  A half-century, at least."  The voice was a high and clear tenor with an almost musical quality.  It was a peaceful voice, calm and confident and friendly.

Harry Potter turned around, and found himself looking at an old man.  His face was deeply lined, and his beard and hair were even longer than Professor Dumbledore's.  He was fairly short, standing perhaps five and a half feet tall, but he stood fully upright despite his obvious age.  His skin was an unhealthy shade of gray, almost as if he were made of…

"Stone?" the voice said again, but the old man's lips didn't move.  "Yes, I am stone.  A very impressive curse, wouldn't you say?  I came up with it on the spur of the moment, and cast it on myself.  I thought it would be better than starving to death in here."

Harry spun around again, to examine his surroundings.  He was in an underground cavern of some sort; there was a soft glow coming from the moss on the walls and somewhere in the distance the echoing sound of dripping water could be heard.

"Quite impressive, isn't it?  Just back that way, behind me, this place opens up into a natural cavern as large as a castle.  Several hundred yards across, with a small stream running through it.  It has the most beautiful rock formation on the roof, like a great green and white chandelier.  Of course, there's no light, so you'll have to make your own if you want to see it."

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" Harry asked.

"Of course you are, my boy.  Everyone who visits me is dreaming.  This place is sealed beyond the reach of normal men.  Tell me, young man, what is your name?"

"Harry Potter, sir," he answered.  And then, for reasons he wasn't quite sure of, he added, "I'm a wizard."

"Are you indeed?" the voice said in a surprised tone.  "I haven't encountered any wizards since the days when I was free, and not very many even then.  There were no more than a dozen of us in all of Britain."

"And what's your name, then?"

"Ah, an excellent question, and a difficult one to answer," the wizard's voice replied.  "I've had many names over the years, and not all of them were complimentary.  You might know me as… no, I'll leave that for another time.  Call me Taliesin.  It was the only name I ever chose for myself."

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, how can you talk to me if your, well, you know…"

"A good many things are possible if one has the time to devote to them."  Harry got the feeling that if he could, the old man would be smiling.  "I've had nothing but time since I cursed myself into this state."

"Oh.  Well, why am I here, then?" Harry asked.  "I remember dreaming about… well, it was a nightmare, and then I was here."

"I know not, young Master Potter.  I do not know why some people have visited me, I only know that they were here, and then they were not.  Most of them found there way back to me again at some point.  If you are like they, you'll be seeing me in your dreams again."  There was a pause, and then the voice continued thoughtfully, "Do you, perhaps, have your staff with you?"

"My staff?"  Harry looked down at himself, and found his wand in his pocket.  "I don't have a staff, but I do have my wand."

"Wonderful!" the old wizard said cheerfully.  "Then we can try a little experiment.  I've been working on a few spells, to pass the centuries, you understand, and I'm interested to see if they work.  Of course, in my condition, I can't test them myself, but since you're here... I'll teach one to you now, before you leave, and perhaps when I see you next you can let me know how it worked?"

Harry thought about this.  It was summer, and he wasn't supposed to do magic, but learning new spells in his dreams couldn't hurt, could it?  This dream didn´t feel like one of Voldemorte's creations.  And the Ministry could hardly charge him with doing magic in his nocturnal imaginings.

"Alright, I'll give it a go."

"Splendid!" Taliesin cried.  "Now, we'll start with something simple, just to make sure you can get it.  Take out your wand.  I want you to think about the air in front of you.  Think of how air can move to become wind, and how that movement can affect the world.  It can blow people about, uproot trees; cause great swells upon the ocean.  Air is a powerful thing."

"Alright.  I'm thinking about the air," Harry said, doing as he was instructed.

"Now, picture the air in front of you as a stream, winding up and down and up and down, over and over again from one side to the other."

As Harry obeyed, he could see the space before him start to shimmer.  He reached out, and could feel the slightest of air currents circling six inches ahead.

"I can feel the air moving,’ Harry breathed in wonder.

"Good, very good.  Now I want you to concentrate on the magic you are using to move the air.  See how it pushes the air around?"

"I think so."

"Good.  Now that you can see the magic, I want you to form it into a wall."

Harry did so, and he felt the magic flow through his wand and into the air.  He couldn't see it, but he could feel, with some sixth sense, the magical barrier.  "It's like a shield of air.  It seems almost solid."

"It's an amazing thing, is it not?  It would work even better with water, I imagine." Taliesin answered.

"Wicked!  But does it work against magic?"

"It should.  Magic is a force, after all.  You might want to test it, though."  The disembodied voice fell silent for a moment, and then continued: "The wall of magic, the 'shield', as you say, can absorb or reflect forces.  But what do you do when a very powerful force is directed at you, one beyond the capability of your shield?"

"Get out of the way, I suppose," Harry answered.  "If I can't block it, I'd best not be there when the spell hits."

"What if you cannot dodge?"

Harry mulled it over for a moment.  Would it be possible just redirect the incoming spell slightly, so that it barely missed?  Would a glancing blow hurt the shield as much?  "I don't know.  Perhaps… no, that's a stupid idea."

"No, it's not.  Your thoughts are correct.  Deflection is the key.  Angle the magical barrier so that the blow does not strike head on, but instead pushes the magic aside ever so slightly.  If you step to one side as you do it, the effectiveness can be increased."  Taliesin laughed.  "It's very simple, don't you think?"

Harry tried to angle the wall, picturing it in his mind.  He could feel it shift.  "Yes.  It is, actually."

"I'd wager you could push a good-sized tree out of the way if you made a wide enough wall, and pushed at just the right moment.  I don't suggest you start out with that, though.  You should probably, start with small things.  Maybe have your friends toss stones at you softly."

"And it works on spells as well as real things?" Harry asked again.  "That's better than a shielding charm.’

"It does," Taliesin said.  "Magic is only one type of force, and not always the most powerful.  Nature, I've found, is much stronger.  I was known as a bit of a prophet when I walked the lands, and though I accurately predicted many a human event, I could never be certain of the weather.  And these walls of stone proved to be beyond my magic to break down."  The old man's voice deepened.  "We will continue this another time.  It is time for you to wake, Mister Potter."

"It is?  How can you tell?"

"Can't you hear it?  Your aunt is calling."

"Wake up!"

And he did.

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