Chapter IV: Re-entry

One of the flaws of even the most competent bureaucracies when not all information is automatically logged is that, at some point, a lower level employee has to decide whether to pass information up the chain to their superiors. Normally, this is good; it keeps the higher-ups from becoming overwhelmed by unnecessary information. However, at times, it means crucial pieces of the puzzle fall through the cracks. On September 1st, 1993, Professor Remus J. Lupin performed the standard magical nullification spell to deal with an unfortunate buildup of magical energy in one of the compartments on the Hogwarts Express, caused by what, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be an outburst of accidental magic from one of the second years. A spell so standard, in fact, that he had almost forgotten about the entire incident a few months later.

Approximately 10 hours later, Professor Horace Slughorn used the same spell to nullify a Slytherin first year's accidental magic. 2 hours later, the event faded into the back of his mind. Within those 12 hours, Hogwarts' best chance to prevent the events of the next year had vanished.

This illustrates the importance of efficient information systems logs in a magical security system. Events such as that of 1993 would not have happened under proper supervision.

-Auror Handbook, Edition 49(Published 1999), Chapter IV: Effective Security Systems

XxX

September 1st, 1993, 12 pm

"Phoenix's egg."

The wall on the side of the Headmistress's office slid open, and Harry strode through the passageway, shaking his head to clear the reverberations of the magical passphrase. Once he reached the inside room, he turned to the right wall, stepped forward three steps, and pointed his wand at the passageway. Normally, he wouldn't activate Dumbledore's secondary protection magicks when he might need to call Hermione for help, but these experiments were far from a normal day's.

"Phoenix reborn."

An orange haze shot out of a sigil painted on the doorpost of the passageway, sealing the entire chambers in a magical stasis field and preventing anything, physical or magical, from entering or leaving the room unless it was specially keyed into the spell. A few seconds later, the field glowed a soft blue and began to magically ventilate the room by switching air inside the field with air outside it. Harry dearly wanted to know how much power that kind of spell took and if it was feasible for a third year to learn, but the unbreakable vow had stopped any sort of research into that area of magic. Quite sensibly, to be fair, as while he didn't know the potential consequences of messing up a time-space stasis spell, he imagined the results would be...catastrophic.

Harry pulled a small lump of steel from his pocket and set it down next to a notebook and dictation quill left there from the last experiment. He concentrated on visualizing a long glass tube, and touched his wand to the lump. A few seconds later, the steel was transfigured. Step one, complete.

Next, he visualized a loop of thread and transfigured the glass into the thread. A prior series of experiments involving magical items and enchanting transfigured objects had confirmed that, in some sense, magic recognized a transfigured item as two things: the item it currently was, and the item that it was connected to by use of some magic and visualization to connect Source and Form. It was time to test one of the corollaries of that hypothesis. With a conscious mental effort, Harry cut off the magical connection between Object:'Steel Lump' and Form: 'Glass cylinder', careful to sustain the transfiguration keeping the thread from morphing back into the cylinder. The thread seemed to shimmer once or twice as he broke the connection, and once took on a slightly glassy sheen, but eventually returned to normal.

Once the thread seemed to have stabilized, Harry broke the transfiguration on the thread. It abruptly flickered back into a glass tube, but something seemed...strange about it. He stepped over to the cylinder and gingerly picked it up, but it remained stable, weighing approximately the right amount. He turned back to the notebook and began speaking.

"Test 204a result: Transfiguration by connection breaking appears to be permanent, at least physically. Something appears off about the result. Further examination required."

He faced the cylinder again and raised his wand.

"Crystferrium!"

The spell extended outwards, and Harry could feel his magic take hold of the glass, beginning to reshape it into steel, when his magic abruptly failed. His eyes widened and he flicked his wand again.

"Locomotor Crystal!"

Again, the magic extended outwards and seemed to partially catch on the cylinder before failing. Harry's eyes widened. What the hell was going on? There was no reason that the glass shouldn't be responding, unless... He grinned, then laughed sharply. His wand went up again.

"Locomotor Ferrous!"

The cylinder twitched once or twice, then slowly rose into the air. Harry's jaw dropped and he started chuckling. It seemed that this method, while time consuming, certainly had...fun effects. He definitely needed to record this result.

"Test 204b result: Transfiguration by connection breaking preserves the magical identification of an object while modifying its physical properties. This physical modification appears to be permanent. Further research is required."

He turned back to the cylinder, but the stasis field flashed once, warning him of an approaching visitor. He turned back to the front door and saw Hermione waiting outside the field, tapping her foot impatiently, her arms folded over her chest. Harry shrugged apologetically then twisted his wand slightly.

"Phoenix's flight!"

The field flashed once and Hermione appeared on the other side, orange light cascading off of her as the field accepted her in. She brushed off a few lingering sparks, body moving gracefully. Harry's eyes widened slightly, mind momentarily taken from research by the realization that Hermione had indeed gone a ways through puberty.

She noticed his slightly widened eyes and grinned.

"While I can't say this isn't nice for my self esteem, I did want to see what you were researching. It's not like you to vanish so suddenly this close to the new year." A bit of concern tinged her voice.

He nodded and turned slightly to face the cylinder.

"Accio cylinder!"

He caught the cylinder deftly. A moment later, he turned back to Hermione.

"Try summoning this glass cylinder from me by identifying it by its element, if you would. "

She nodded confusedly.

"Ok, though I don't see why that matters...Accio glass!"

It seemed to twitch slightly, almost invisibly, but failed to move otherwise. Her eyes widened.

"You developed an anti-summoning charm?"

Harry grinned.

"Oh, this goes a good deal deeper than that. Try to use a glass-targeting spell, if you would."

Her eyes widened and she flicked her wrist.

"Locomotor Crystal!"

The cylinder failed to move. Hermione froze, processing the new information. There were currently two possibilities. Either, Harry had managed to derive multiple unknown countercharms, or...she gasped.

"You figured out how to change an object's magical identification, didn't you."

Harry smiled.

"Not exactly. I figured out how to permanently change its physical identification while preserving its magical identification. Behold...Transfiguration 2.0."

XxX

September 1st, 1993, 5 pm.

The train gradually glided to a stop and Colin quickly stepped off. If he wanted to make it back from Madam Pomfrey's in time for the Evening Feast, he'd need to hurry. Especially given whatever it was that had happened on the train. He wasn't even sure how to describe it, it just felt like the entire world outside his car had skipped forward a few seconds, while everyone inside the car had remained in the same position. Was that possession? Was Ginny right? As he reached the carriages, he hopped into the first one available. The moment he got inside, the carriage took off at a brisk pace, its mysterious driver seeming to sense Colin's agitation. He was glad about that, at least. He didn't want to have to talk to anybody else until he was certain he wasn't going to somehow be the vehicle for some Dark Lord's plans.

A few minutes later, the carriage pulled up to the castle and Colin stepped out. As he approached the entrance, the Headmistress seemed to appear from thin air near him.

"Mr. Creevey, we have some new security procedures this year because of what has happened in prior years. I was going to wait til more students arrived, but seeing as you're a few minutes ahead of them I will tell you now."

Her wand flicked once, and a sheet of moving water blurred into visibility from atop the entrance.

"Due to the generosity of certain concerned parents and the ingenuity of certain of our own students, we have been able to procure a permanent segment of the Thief's Downfall. Any student entering Hogwarts from outside the grounds will be required to pass through the water to be granted entrance."

Colin's eyes widened.

"What does the waterfall do, headmistress?"

Her tone changed, becoming more like that of the teacher she once was.

"The Thief's Downfall is an ancient magical device, created by wizards centuries ago. It's water removes all magical concealment, ends all compulsion, and breaks all illusions. Until this year, it was in the deepest vaults of Gringotts, protecting the possessions of the Noble Houses of Britain."

Colin relaxed. Even if he was possessed, this would break that possession. He would be himself again.

"So, how do I do this, headmistress? Do I just walk through the water?"

She nodded and her eyes glittered with suppressed mirth.

"Yes. Though, I must say, it's not often I see a student incredibly eager about removing deceptions."

Coling laughed sheepishly and stepped through the water. It parted over his shoulders, somehow still refreshing despite the already brisk day. Once he left the sheet fully, his body dried instantly. That was a nice feature. He calmly stepped forward into the halls, feeling calmer than he had in almost a week. He hadn't been possessed. Whatever these dreams and missing memories were, they weren't something too bad.

XxX

September 1st, 1993, 5:30 pm

Voldemort looked out at the station, mentally marking down every student who would be important for the coming year. The third years had Hogsmeade visits now, which would be an ideal time to implant low level compulsions were it not for the Thief's Downfall. Instead, he'd need to be quite a bit more subtle to get around that problem. Thus came his newest set of projects. The research relating to the graveyard event he'd been able to recover from the Unspeakables he'd captured had certainly been useful. Without it, he couldn't have been certain about any of his initial moves. However, with it, his opening was all but trivial. His hands twitched three times, and a group of 6 green lights appeared in the air before flying off into the distance towards the castle. He felt his energy drain slightly as each settled into place. A moment later, he turned back towards his house, satisfied. It was time to truly begin.

A/N: Have some more magic system research, I insist! The magical aliasing trick isn't quite as powerful as it might seem, there are some downsides to using it which will become apparent shortly.

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