'Wormwood, Bayberry, unicorn horn, unicorn tail, salamander's blood and a griffin claw,' Harry listed.
Fleur frowned, those things did not go together at all. 'Is it some kind of strengthening potion?' The griffin claw and salamander's blood would both fit into such a recipe, and unicorn products were magical potent, but neutral in most potions. The magical plants had nothing in common with any of the other ingredients, but both were added to potions used to undo damage to the macula and retina in aurors who'd been exposed to bright light. 'Not exactly,' Harry's lips twisted nervously. 'I need the effect to be permanent.'
'Just tell me,' Fleur demanded. 'I don't care how bad you think it sounds.'
'A ritual,' Harry admitted, 'using blood magic.'
It did sound worse than she had anticipated, and her stomach squirmed, but her fear was only for him. Fleur trusted his judgement. Harry wouldn't do something without good reason, and she didn't want him getting hurt just because she was afraid of what other people might think or say about his route to staying strong.
'That sounds dark,' Fleur responded trying to sound teasing, but her voice came out uncertain and wavering.
'There's no such thing as dark or light magic,' he explained seriously. 'The only thing that matters is the intent behind your casting. I could use a supposedly harmless spell to hurt someone, or a dangerous spell to save your life. Please don't label me like the others have.'
'I'm not judging you, Harry,' she told him fiercely. 'I don't want you dying because you lose your glasses. I just don't want you doing something that will get you in trouble, or change you into something you shouldn't be.'
'I only need those items,' he assured her. 'Once I have those I just use a bit of my blood as the medium, a sacrifice to ensure that the effect remains permanent.'
Fleur suppressed her slight sigh of relief. She had feared, after hearing the words blood magic, that it would involve some kind of twisted sacrificial magic and he'd come out completely different to what he was now. 'I think I can get you all of those,' she smiled. 'Does this mean you'll stop wearing your glasses?'
'I won't need them if it works,' he grinned. 'That will be the only noticeable change, though.'
'I like your eyes,' she told him, kissing him softly. 'I think it's a good idea if you're going to stop hiding them behind those spectacles.'
'Thank you,' he whispered, kissing her back a little harder. 'Thank you for not jumping to conclusions.'
'You have to tell me what you're doing though,' Fleur instructed him, letting him wrap his arms around her waist and keep her close. 'I don't like not knowing what you're up to. You might be doing something stupid or dangerous again.'
'As you command,' he grinned, pulling her closer still. 'It's a ritual that uses the magical properties of numbers to focus and enhance the useful properties I gain from those ingredients.'
'And the blood magic?'
'To make the effect permanent,' Harry answered. 'A sacrifice to allow me to keep the benefits. As the upsides aren't too beneficial in the great scheme of things, the relative sacrifice is affordable. Don't worry about it. The principles of blood magic are probably applicable to every field of magic, you know, including enchanting, but I doubt you'll want to make use of it.'
'Why not?' Fleur asked. If all it took was a sacrifice of blood to enhance her enchanting she would have no qualms about using it.
'The sacrifice has to be proportional.' He swallowed slightly. 'It's going to cost me a lot of magic, and a lot of blood to fix my eyes and give myself a small edge. I'll be weak for several days afterwards even with the benefits of the ritual. It's a relatively small sacrifice,' his smile turned wry.
'But you'll be fine afterwards, won't you?' Fleur's heart beat a little faster.
'I will, I know I need to be careful,' he reassured her. 'A powerful wizard who used blood magic to recreate something that had been lost regretted how much he had to sacrifice for it, even if he never regretted the action itself. He wanted to let himself and every blood descendant of his to be able to speak to animals like some wizards of old had been able to. He used blood magic to accomplish a tiny part of that, sacrificing his dying wife and every moment they might have spent together before they parted. The magic worked, but he missed his wife so dearly that he spent the remainder of his life searching for a way to undo his sacrifice and died without ever coming close. I think my parents might have used it to let me survive the Killing Curse, but the magic required everything they might have had if they'd lived for that protection to be granted. It's lasted fourteen years, but they sacrificed everything they had for it. The price is far too high even in success for it to be used lightly.'
'I won't meddle,' Fleur promised, a little upset that he was dabbling in such a dangerous branch of magic.
'I'll only use it when I have no other option,' Harry told her, tightening his arms about her comfortingly. He was very warm, and the gentle throb of his heart against her chest pushed her anxiety away.
'You better not make a mistake,' she warned him.
'I won't,' he grinned. 'I promise.'
'I'll apparate to Carcassonne before you leave and get the ingredients for you,' Fleur decided. 'You'll have to pay, though.'
'They have to be whole,' Harry revealed. 'How much will I owe you?'
'About three hundred galleons, but that excludes the griffin's claw.' Fleur considered briefly how much a whole claw might cost. 'Maybe about six hundred galleons all in,' she informed him.
'I can finally use some of my Triwizard winnings,' he smiled. Fleur scowled playfully until he kissed her like she wanted him to.
'Was there anything else you wanted me to help with? She asked magnanimously. 'Hex -deflecting, rare ingredients for your dark rituals, I'm not sure what else I can offer.'
'Do you know a way to conceal something so it only reveals with a certain phrase?' 'What are you trying to conceal?' Fleur inquired. It was quite a simple thing in principle, but it did depend on what exactly he was trying to hide.
'A map, hand drawn.' Something slightly cruel gleamed in his eyes, and Fleur decided not to ask. He'd told her two of his secrets already, she shouldn't press for a third. Harry would tell her when he wanted to, and Fleur knew he would want to, nobody else would listen to him like she would.
'Easy,' Fleur smiled proudly. 'Enchant it with concealing charms, then just add an activation phrase like I have with our lockets and the portkey. Let's go upstairs and I'll show you.'
They drifted back up the stairs, and Fleur was pleased that Harry didn't even seem to consider removing the arm he'd left around her waist. He'd come a long way from the young wizard who'd flinched every time she came too close.
'So how do I do it?' Harry asked, watching her carefully as she stole part of Gabrielle's drafted essay, earning a pout from her sister.
'You enchant the ink with the concealing charms, but you make sure that they're all tied together. If you imagine all the enchantments as small pieces of thread, you want them intertwined to form a stronger thread. That will stop anyone from being able to reveal it by just using the Revealing Charm or other normal methods.' Fleur demonstrated, borrowing Gabby's quill and ink.
'It's disappeared,' Harry remarked dryly when Fleur cast the Revealing Charm and nothing happened. Gabrielle sniggered slightly.
'Do you want me to show you?' Fleur asked, not really offended. 'Sorry,' Harry apologised, not looking the least bit guilty. He never genuinely apologised for poking fun at her.
'You then want to enchant the parchment to reveal anything upon it when a certain phrase is said. That's a simple, single piece of magic and as long as you make it strong enough it will bypass the concealment charms on the ink.'
'That's it?' Harry asked. He looked a little disappointed.
'If you wanted me to show you something more spectacular you should have been more ambitious in what you wanted to learn,' Fleur retorted, smirking. 'I'd suggest a few extra enchantments to stop anyone tampering with, or re-enchanting the parchment, but it's the most elegant solution I know. Enchanting the ink to conceal itself permanently rather than making a complex set of triggers is a lot safer and easier.' 'If the ink is permanently hidden, then how is the enchantment on the parchment going to reveal it?' Harry asked, slightly puzzled.
'The two enchantments are not connected,' Fleur pointed out. 'The ink will remain concealed, so that area of the parchment will not change, but the rest of the map is able to darken or change to show where the concealed ink is once the activation phrase is spoken.'
'That's very clever,' Harry grinned.
'I can make it for you, if you want?' Fleur offered. She was fond of making things for Harry, even more than she was of making them for Gabby, and rarely got an excuse.
'I don't have the piece of parchment I need to enchant with me,' Harry admitted. 'I shall have to do it myself and hope I manage to do it half as well you would have done.'
Fleur smiled, then kissed him for his flattery.
'Not while I'm here,' Gabby complained, retrieving her quill while Fleur was distracted.
'I thought it was romantic?' Harry laughed.
'It's romantic if you kiss her in the rain,' Gabrielle explained. 'It's just awkward if you do it while I'm sitting right here.'
Harry grinned, leant forward, and kissed her again, more ardently than before, flicking the tip of his tongue against Fleur's bottom lip. A shiver of pleasure tingled its way down her spine.
Gabby screwed her eyes shut and pouted in protest.
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