Amulet of time 1: The Age of The Founders

Chapter 24: Hogsmeade Discoveries

The next morning, Harry had to get up especially early. Not that he minded, as he was always up early on Boxing Day. He needed to hurry though, as he had an extra lesson planned with Lolide, and he wanted to get it over and done with before he went to Hogsmeade. He rushed out of the door with only ten minutes to spare, only just making it to the infirmary in time. Lolide had scheduled the extra lesson for in the holidays, as it was a special topic. She knew it would be rather draining, so she wanted him to have a whole day of performing little or no magic to recover. Today, Harry would be learning the difficult art of Soul Magic.

Soul magic was a powerful art known only to the elves. In the height of his power, Voldemort had sought to discover its secrets, but had been unable to do so. Soul magic was very powerful, and few could control it. It was only due to Harry's incredible success at elven magic that Lolide had even considered teaching it to him. The basic idea of Soul Magic was to manipulate a person's soul. The soul could be extracted from one body and placed in another, changed altogether, destroyed or even retrieved from a Dementor and replaced in a body. Harry thought it would be a useful thing to know, especially if Sirius ever got caught. After all, there was no guarantee Wormtail would still be captured when he got back. If Sirius ever got caught, he would be given the Dementor's Kiss. At least this way, Harry would be able to help him if that did happen. Soul Magic, he decided, might also be the only way to destroy Voldemort. If, as he suspected, the Dark Lord achieved immortality, then a simple Killing Curse wouldn't do the job. Destroying his soul would be the only option left.

As soon as he arrived, Harry gave a quick glance around the infirmary to see if Gryffindor was still there. Much to his disappointment, the founder appeared to have left, and there was still no sign on Simbi or Nirah. Just as he was about to look more closely for the missing snakes, Lolide came out of her office and ushered him in to take a seat.

" Hello Harry. Today, I will be teaching you in Anglo-Saxon, for I know you have learned much of my tongue, but I am thinking this topic is needing a little more care. If you is not understanding me fully, and you is making a mistake, it will be very serious. Now, I need you to relax and meditate. We will be starting with soul manipulation…"

The pair spent the next two hours working on the Soul Magic. Harry picked up the basic idea fairly quickly, but was restricted in as much as he couldn't practically try out any of the magic. He couldn't try destroying a soul, as he had no-one to practice it on. He also knew he did not have the right to use anybody as a guinea pig. He had learned it all in theory, he would have to learn the practical side himself as and when the necessity to use it arose.

By nine o'clock Harry was sat in the Great Hall with Gallatea, planning their day in Hogsmeade. Gallatea was telling him about the shops they had there in her time, and Harry was reciprocating by telling her about his version of Hogsmeade. Much to his surprise, Honeydukes was around in Gallatea's time, only it sold different things to the one in the 1990s. At nine thirty, the pair got up from their table and headed into the Entrance Hall, where they met the rest of the group. Heading out as one, they got into the carriages that took them up to Hogsmeade. Harry hung back a little, looking at the large black horses that pulled what he had previously thought to be horseless carriages. They were identical to Ron's animagus form. Thinking of Cedric's death, he realised why he could now see the thestrals. With a sad smile, he followed the others into the carriage and waited for them to arrive in Hogsmeade. When they got there, by unanimous vote they all headed straight to Honeydukes. Harry, thinking about the shop in his time, sidled up to Ron.

" Hey Ron, do you reckon the passage under Honeydukes is there yet? If it is, we can sneak here in the middle of the night and get supplies of sweets!"

" Good point, mate! One thing we'll have to do, though, is before we go we'll have to stock up on sweets from this time. We won't be able to get them when we get home, and they'd be worth a fortune!"