Walking Dead Wizard

Chapter 42

Merle watched Luna crafting a shape with her wand, using a very thin microscopic laser, if he had been any further, and not a hunter he wouldn't have been able to discern the red glow that emanated from her wand tip to the crystal. It was just a couple of purple coloured crystals she had in pieces of jewellery she'd kept despite the end of the world. How she could see what she was doing was anyone's guess. Only once her wand tip stopped glowing an hour later did he speak. "Will it work if it's not real crystal?"

"It is amethyst, I tested it, and it's the best for this kind of work. Amethyst is a crystal energy structure that takes natural energy and magnifies it three times greater than other gem. It will make sure the runes work better at keeping the prison secure." Luna explained, "It will make things easier when Harry uses the spell to bind them together."

"Why ain't you doin' it?" Merle asked, finding taking to Luna better than even reading Hogwarts a history. When she'd said they learned in a castle, they really had learned in a castle. The picture moved, and it showed Hogwarts in its entirety and he had to admit it was a sight.

"He's more experienced casting wards, which means they have a better chance of holding longer and stronger if he casts the spell," Luna explained shrugging her shoulders. "This part I'm better at, my magic will go into the crystals itself, Harry will harness them all around the prison, we'll both be able to feel anything that happens." with that she picked up the last (fourth) gem and began to use the laser to carve in the rune. Before long the four of them were crystallised runes, ready to be buried under the prison earth and activated. "We can both replenish them this way, so neither of us are expending too much magic."

"It ain't somethin' can keep goin' itself?" Merle questioned, frowning deeply.

"No, think of it like a battery, a steady stream of magic output is fine as long as you don't overdo it, while you have a backup on charge, like my ipod. Doing too much magic can cause you to dip into that backup charge, we call it our magical core, and well it can leave you feeling as through you've drained yourself, empty even, like there's no more magic left in you. It's a horrible feeling and nobody willingly wants to experience it. It's why when you're putting wards up the more people that do it the better. The drain depends on how much power is required to push into your wand to cast the spell, the most common drain cause is focus, having to focus your magic to a great extent." four people doing it would have been preferable, like what the founders had done, and their magic was still going strong, now imbibed with hers since she'd had to fix the rune before leaving Hogwarts. She however, hadn't made the rune so she couldn't sense anything from Hogwarts, which admittedly would have been a comfort to her.

Merle grunted and gave a nod.

"I have many books that you could read on magic to help you understand it more if you like instead of just the school?" Luna suggested, delicately placing the four amethyst crystals into individual velvet bags. She didn't want to risk them being chipped, a single crack could make her hour long effort for nothing, and she'd have to start all over again with different crystals, she only had those ones, she'd need to wait and find pure amethyst from the shops. Harry didn't want to wait, he wanted the prison up and running and she wanted to help him achieve that.

"Alrigh'," Merle agreed, he wasn't apposed to learning more about magic. He would need to get through Hogwarts a History first though.

"I know that book isn't for everyone," Luna said grinning widely, sliding the velvet bags into her jacket. "More than half the school's population has never picked it up never mind read it. I just gave you it since it was the first book I read when I got my acceptance letter." she'd been wondering where the hat would place him, outwardly she'd have no problem going with Slytherin, his self preservation seemed to come first. She knew though that what people showed was only a facet of their true personality sometimes, he might have a bit of a Gryffindor hidden in there, or a Ravenclaw. Who was she kidding he was a survivalist, a complete Slytherin, Daryl was too. "It also helps explain the basics of magic and school for everyone, even people new to magic." she'd unconsciously stopped using the word Muggle, why? She'd observed that Harry never used it either.