Chapter 8: Secret meeting and learning

Albus emerged from the flames of his Phoenix into a dark room, with dramatic light falling on a round table adorned with a crest in the shape of a Phoenix. Around the table were ten chairs, and only four of them were occupied by figures in robes, indistinct from each other except for the colours of the Phoenix motifs on their chairs.

"Ah, Albus, you found time to join us. Come, sit," the man sitting on the chair with a blue Phoenix motif said.

"Yes, Nicolas, I managed to delegate some of my work to Minerva," Albus said with a chuckle.

"Poor woman probably does more of your work than you do," the person with the red motif commented.

"Don't be too harsh on Albus, dear. He does do a lot of work," the man in the blue chair defended.

Then, he turned towards Albus. "How is your little trick with 'my stone' working?" The last part sounded like it was said with quotation marks.

"Well, he seems to have taken the bait. Soon, I will have the mirror, and then I will be able to set up the trap."

"I see. Don't become blinded by him, Albus. He is just a tool. Our real enemy is waiting to strike," Albus nodded in understanding.

"How is the boy?" this came from the person in the red chair.

"Young Harry is fine. Oh, I should mention he seems to have formed a group of friends that includes the inheritor of one who taught me mana control."

"The inheritor of a Keeper is in the world!?" This came from the man in the green chair.

"Yes, he seems to be teaching Harry and his friends," Albus said.

"Well, that is obvious. That's what Keepers do. But still, a Keeper shows up at the same time we are waiting for a clash between the fated enemies," the person in the blue chair said.

"If he is so young, he is probably the Keeper candidate. Still, it is interesting," this came from the person in the purple chair.

"Does anyone else have something new to say?" Blue asked. There were a few reports on the group's political and business movements in response to Voldemort's return, but that was all.

Once everyone was done, Blue spoke again. "Then I declare the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix closed. See you soon, my friends."

(AN: Now this doesn't mean that a lot of people know about Keepers but this group is special. I won't spoil anymore.)

...

Klaus spent the rest of the week, when he wasn't doing his schoolwork, practising his buff spells as well as his fire enchantments.

Since he started training in it, he has managed to get speed enchantments down as well as a fire trap spell (he puts an enchantment on the place that he touches with his hand; this enchantment contains some of his fire, and after some time, the enchantment wears off and fire explodes out of it).

Currently, Klaus is in an abandoned classroom, trying to get the fire bird spell to work (shaping his fire in the shape of a bird and sending it to attack the enemy; this spell is capable of multiple attacks, and its duration depends on the amount of mana put into it). This is one of Klaus's original spells, while he got fire bolt and fireball from his assistant; he came up with the mix of enchantments for the fire trap and now this much more complex spell.

Just when he was about to try the spell again (his last attempt didn't work), the door of the classroom opened, and a familiar voice came, "Klaus, are you there?" He turned towards the door and was met with the blue eyes of his friend.

"Hey Daphne, come in."

"Hey Klaus, what are you up to?"

"Just practising. What brings you here? How did you manage to get away?"

"Everyone is too busy talking about the first Quidditch game coming soon."

"Ah, right. I honestly don't understand the fascination with that sport."

As they were talking, Daphne closed the door and came inside the classroom. "I managed to control my mana."

"Awesome! Did you start condensing it?"

"Yes, although it isn't easy. I can also do this now." After saying that, she turned towards the wall and fired three white mana bolts.

"Great, that is enough for you to be able to start learning enchantments."

"What about the fire magic you do?" she asked curiously.

"That requires a ritual," he paused. "I can prepare it for you to do, but not in Hogwarts. You would have to come to my place."

Daphne's cheeks turned a bit red. "I will think about it." Klaus nodded in understanding, and Daphne continued.

"Do you know a lot of rituals?"

Klaus looked thoughtful, like he was deciding on something, then he spoke, "I don't know many myself, but I have access to a lot of them."

"Do you have any healing rituals?" she looked hopeful.

"Oh yes, I even have access to some holy rituals." Daphne looked confused by the last part.

"Holy? Like rituals connected to gods?"

Klaus shook his head. "No, those would be divine. Holy and Unholy, its opposite magic, are magics that are heavily reliant on emotions, positive and negative respectively."

"Isn't that like dark and light magic?"

"No, dark and light isn't really a thing from what I have read. It is a classification created by the Ministry to make the magic they prohibit sound scarier."

Daphne nodded at that. "That makes sense, at least from what I heard my father say about the Ministry."

"Well, don't get me wrong, there are some really evil magics, but they don't belong to just one field."

"Yes, my grandmother gave me and Astoria warnings about those."

Then Klaus decided to switch topics. "Anyway, as I mentioned, you are ready to start learning enchantments." Daphne nodded, and Klaus started explaining, "Enchantments are the building blocks for most of the spells you can think of." Then he gave her a similar explanation he gave to his Gryffindor friends.

"Now let's try an easy enchantment just so you get a feel for it, and then I will give you a beginner book." After saying the last part, he pointed at the book that was on a table.

"Now, here, read this." He pointed at a page that had levitation written on it. After Daphne read it, he asked, "Did you understand it?" After she confirmed, he continued, "Ok, I will demonstrate fire, and then you try."

He took a feather and pointed a finger at it. "Now, first, I gathered the amount of mana I want to use, then I imbue it with my intent (this is a combination of my understanding of what I want to happen and my willpower), and then I fire it." After saying the last part, he flicked his finger towards the feather, and it started levitating.

"Now, this isn't like the levitation charm you know. This feather will continue to levitate until it has mana, after that, it will fall. I don't have any influence on it. To create a spell like the levitation charm, I would have to put multiple enchantments into it."

Daphne nodded in understanding, and then it was her turn to try. It took her a while, but she did manage to do it.

After she was done, Klaus gave her the book on beginner enchantments, and they left the classroom, each going their own way.

...

On Saturday, the Gryffindor group finally met again in the same abandoned classroom.

"Hey, guys, did you all read the book?" To Klaus's surprise, they all did, including Ron, who Klaus had expected to give up based on the boy's lack of interest in magic until now.

"Great! Did anyone try meditation?"

Hermione and Neville nodded, and then Hermione spoke, "I did, but I didn't manage to feel anything." Neville confirmed that he had a similar experience.

"Don't worry about that, it is normal. Normally, it would take months or even years for some people," everyone looked a little disheartened, "but I know a cheat that will allow you to feel it faster. After that, you will only have to learn to move it and follow the instructions on how to condense the mana." Everyone looked a lot happier after that.

"Now, everyone, sit in your meditation position and start meditating. I will go behind you and apply a spell to you."

"What spell?" Harry asked, not seeming to like being cast upon.

"Just a body enchantment that will make you faster." Everyone looked confused, and Ron was the one to ask, "How will that help us feel our mana?"

"Well, the spell isn't important. What's important is that it will inject my mana into you. You remember the professors mentioned that when you apply a spell to another wizard, it lasts for a shorter time than when you cast it on yourself?"

"Yes, they said that our mana fights intrusion, that's why healing magic is so hard," Hermione said.

"Exactly, and if you try to feel your mana, it will be much easier to do if it is fighting against mine." They agreed. So Klaus started the same process he did with Daphne. It also took them a few sessions to fill their mana, especially since Harry didn't have much time with the amount of training the Quidditch team captain was having him do.

But in the end, they all managed to feel it, and Klaus discovered something else. Thanks to prolonged contact with someone else's mana, he started to be able to feel it. He wasn't that good at it yet, but he was able to compare the amount of mana each of his friends had.

This led to him discovering that Harry had almost the same amount of mana as he did, and he had been condensing mana since he was little. Klaus couldn't imagine how much mana Harry would have once he keeps condensing it for some time.

The rest were average, by Klaus's estimates. They all had around the same amounts, although Hermione was a little more powerful than the rest.

...

AN: The next chapter should be the first Quidditch match and some other things...