Not Quite Dark Magic

Barmy

Draco watched the odd pair in front of him lead him to a closed off section of the roof. He couldn't stop his eyes from flickering between the two. Their relationship was close, he could tell that almost immediately. Back in their Hogwarts days, he always assumed the Weaslette and Potter would stay together, suffering through the war in each other's skinny arms. He rolled his eyes.

Potter summoned three chairs for them to settle in before he began speaking.

"Now that you're an official member of the Order— thanks for that intel, by the way—" he waved his hand awkwardly, "we have a new kind of induction you'll need to partake in." He fumbled in his muggle jeans, pulling out his wand and aiming it at Draco's head.

He leaned backwards in the chair. "Granger did mention something of the sort, but if you bloody think I'll let you go near me without any explanations, you've gone even more mad than I thought."

Potter sighed, shaking his hair out of his eyes. "Members of the Order, including myself, Luna and Hermione, spent the past few years working on a spell."

Draco stayed still, biting his tongue lest he say anything inappropriate, like snapping at Potter to hurry up with the theatrical story.

"It was something that hadn't been done before, at least not that Hermione had seen." He reached for his wand, but this time pointed it at the blonde sitting next to him. Draco watched as he cast what seemed to be a diagnostic, but the readings consisted of combinations of words, letters and numbers he'd never seen before.

"Every witch or wizard has their own magical core, much like the wands we possess," he explained, eyes moving slowly over the gibberish. "We learned that a person's magical core will make them more inclined to certain types of magic. Though there are dozens of types of cores we were able to consolidate them into four main ones which we've decided to name: Battle, Brain, Defense and Strategy." He paused, waiting for Draco to react.

"This is the strategy you believe will win the war?" It looked like a load of nonsense to Draco. Any faith he had in the Order promptly disappeared. These people were barmy.

Potter sighed and shifted in his seat, leaning his elbows on his knees. "Right, let me break it down for you. Battle are those with cores that are quick thinking and run on adrenaline. Typically, those will be our first on the front lines.

"Brain are those behind the scenes, conjuring up new spells and potions, and that also includes our healers. Like I said, the categories are broad." He shrugged.

"Defense are those best suited to long distance battle. They are positioned further back because, overall they might need more time to think, but the spells they cast are more powerful and therefore carry a further distance and do more damage than the frontline people." He stopped again, looking to Lovegood. They didn't speak a word, but Draco knew they were talking. Though it wasn't like the normal types of silent communication. There was no lifting of the brows or shaking of the head. He felt sure they were speaking in each other's minds. Potter, seemingly satisfied with whatever conclusion had just been reached, turned back to a baffled Draco. His eyes lifted as Draco's expression, which he had purposely let through his mask, hoping it would earn him an explanation. Potter ignored it and continued on.

"Strategy encompasses those who are best at making formations and deciding war plans. They fight as well, but we'll get to that next. You understand all that?"

Draco glanced back over to the diagnostic and still didn't recognize any of the gibberish up there. Still, he nodded. Growing up as a Malfoy he was taught to save his questions till the end.

"We've labelled these in shorthand as A-D. A for Battle, B for Defense, C for Brain, and D for Strategy." Potter grimaced. "I know the labelling seems wonky, but truthfully there's a reason we did it this way. We labelled them in frontline importance if we were ever to be invaded. Our strategy would be the last line of the plan, ready to jump in and hopefully save everything with the ideas they'd created while the rest of us were biding time."