Harry observed his Ancient Runes professor closely. He had presented a summary of his second project for Professor Babbling's approval. But, instead of being mightily impressed and immediately approving the project, Professor Babbling looked rather disinterested in his project idea.
"Mr Potter. Your idea for this project is rejected. I suggest that you focus on improving your first project." Professor Babbling said, pushing the parchment in his direction making Harry frown.
"But, why? My idea is feasible and…"
Harry started but was swiftly cut off by Professor Babbling.
"It is a brilliant idea Potter." Professor Babbling admitted making Harry blink owlishly.
"But, then why?" he asked.
"Because the idea you have presented before me is too dangerous to experiment on and I'll tell you why. You want to use runes to mimic the effects of Polyjuice Potion. Exactly how are you going to apply the runes? Are you thinking of carving the runes on flesh? Because, that is human transmutation and it will land you in Azkaban, Mr Potter."
"No. No, you've misinterpreted the project, Professor. I don't want to carve runes into the flesh. Rather, I want the runes carved on a necklace and the necklace can make a physical change when a hair or a drop of blood is inducted." Harry explained, but it didn't seem to impress the Professor at all.
"You will not use runes to change the flesh Potter. That is against the law and it is quite dangerous to do so. What have I taught you from day one? Ancient runes is a mix of languages that absorb raw magic to impose a wizard's will upon the world. You absolutely will not and should not use runes to make changes to a living body. It is illegal and most importantly it might end up corrupting your magic."
"Corrupting my magic. How is that possible?" Harry asked, finding this bit of detail interesting.
"Tell me something, Mr Potter. Where do you think magic comes from?"
Harry was a bit taken aback by the question.
"The soul?" Harry answered tentatively.
"If that was the case then Muggles would have also been able to cast magic." Professor Babbling deadpanned, looking at him as if he was a slow chimp. "Let me enlighten you, Mr Potter. Magic comes from three sources for a wizard. There is Old Magic, the magic that is extracted from nature. Wizards used to power their spells using Old Magic with the help of a Staff. Second, as you said, there is the magic of the soul. The third and most importantly there is the magic that we are born with. It is inside our body. Do you know where?"
Harry shook his head 'no'.
Professor Babbling stood up from her seat and walked around her table. She came to a stop behind him and poked his spine with the tip of her wand. There was a sudden jolt travelling from the base of his spine all the way to his head.
"This is where our magic comes from Mr Potter. The eastern wizards call it 'coiled divine power'. Your magical power that has been inherited from your family is right there. This is the part of your body that determines your power and your destiny in magic."
Having said that, Professor Babbling turned Harry around so that he was looking into her onyx eyes.
"Now tell me, Potter. Is it a good idea to use experimental runes that can absorb large amounts of natural magic to change your physical body?"
Harry hesitated but muttered a half-hearted 'No' under the glaring eyes of his Ancient Runes Professor.
"After you have graduated from Hogwarts and studied various disciplines of magic for long years, then if you are interested in pursuing this project, you can go ahead. So long as you are studying at Hogwarts and I'm your runes professor you won't even think of doing something like this again. Am I understood?"
"Yes." Harry muttered dejectedly.
But, he was not going to give up so easily.
"I have another idea Professor."
The door of Professor Babbling's office closed on his face with a bang.
"She could have been a bit nicer." Harry muttered before taking his leave from Professor Babbling's office.
Even if his first project idea didn't pan out so well the second one was sort of accepted. His second idea was to formulate a runic cluster capable of converting magical energy into electrical energy and thereby make it possible for muggle electronics to function. However, he was surprised to learn from Professor Babbling that such a runic cluster already exists.
In hindsight, Harry realized he should have made proper inquiries before approaching Professor Babbling with the idea. The answer was right in front of him all the time. The wizarding wireless network worked using the runic cluster he was trying to reinvent. The only muggle technology that got fried in the presence of magic was those with chips and circuit boards. It was there he needed to work on, not on converting magical energy into electrical energy.
But, in the context of his Third Task Harry only needed the latter runic cluster for his plan to work seamlessly. The slip of paper in his hand contained the permission slip from Professor Babbling to take out a book from the Restricted Section. That book should give him the proper tool to plan out some finer aspects concerning the Third Task.
'Library, here I come.'
XXXXXXXX
Classes in March passed away at a brisk pace. Maybe that was his personal experience because he didn't have to worry about the end-of-the-year exams. Being a Triwizard Champion sort of insulated him from this yearly event. Nonetheless, there was no shortage of assignments. In fact, Snape has been particularly enthusiastic in assigning extra assignments for Harry in the form of long essays supposedly to 'keep something useful in his brain'.
Snape's heartfelt attempts at dumping misery on his head aside, Harry was having a productive month so far. Thanks to Professor Babbling, Harry had to revise his plan for the Third Task. Taking the Cup was the easy part. The most dangerous part lies in what comes after.
There was no way that he could allow Voldemort access to his blood. Of course, there was a slim chance that he could potentially screw up the ritual by giving his blood willingly. However, the issue was he had no idea whether that'd necessarily have any adverse effect on Voldemort. It's also possible that he might also become a willing participant in a faulty dark ritual. The consequences of such a situation could be unfathomable. Everything becomes unpredictable when dark magic is involved.
What he really needs was an expert in the field of dark magic and rituals. There were quite a few experts in Hogwarts but he could not afford to ask for their opinion. All of them were aligned with Dumbledore in some way. The last thing he wanted was for Dumbledore to get wind of any of his plans.
This left him in a bind.
At least, Professor Babbling did end up directing him to solve one portion of his plan. There was of course more work to be done but he was confident he could achieve his target. The runic physical transformation was something he was banking on and now that he know it was not a viable plan, to begin with, he was in need of another method to secure his blood.
In so far, the answer to this dilemma eluded him.
"You look like you are trying to set the pot on fire with your eyes." Neville commented.
Harry glanced at his partner in Herbology class. Neville was not exactly his partner but rather he had teamed up with Neville to pour loads of dragon dung for preparing the pots.
"Just thinking about something." Harry murmured, getting back to the task at hand.
Fastening his dragonhide gloves, Harry gathered dragon dung in his hands before pouring it into the pot. After dusting off any remains into the pot he went for a small vial of viscous green liquid. It was the growth potion that accelerated the growth of magical plants. Uncorking the vial, he poured the potion into the pot after which he covered the whole thing under a pile of soil.
"Here." Neville pushed a bowl of water in his direction with some floating seeds of Dittany in it.
Harry poured the water into the pot and the shrubs began to sprout out of the pot at a rapid pace.
"Very good Mr Potter, Mr Longbottom. Now, harvest the leaves and store them away in the cabinet." Professor Sprout said, as she was passing by.
He let out a sigh and began harvesting the leaves.
"You know Harry. There are dark circles under your eyes. You need to sleep more often instead of sneaking out of our dorm and doing whatever it is you are doing." said Neville.
Harry's eyes widened in surprise as he rounded on Neville.
"You know about that. How?"
"Harry your bed is just three feet away from me. Did you really think someone wouldn't notice your bed is empty someday?" Neville asked.
"Damn. I'm slipping up." Harry muttered.
"Are you sneaking out to train for the Third Task?"
Harry looked at Neville and just nodded.
"You need to cut back on your training time Harry. At this rate, you will be too exhausted to do anything when the time comes." said Neville.
"I appreciate the concern, Neville." Harry said, clapping Neville on his shoulder.
Of course, he never gave the advice any serious consideration. He was back to training when the night came knocking. While Neville may have good intentions he could not afford to let time slip by.
On the next day early morning, Harry was about to walk to the Great Hall when he noticed Hermione sitting in a corner of the common room with a bunch of letters on her lap. Hermione's frizzled hair and her untidy dress indicated that she has been here for a long time.
"That's an awful lot of letters." Harry tentatively commented as he sat beside her on the couch.
Seeing that Hermione was not responding he took a sneak peek at the letter in her hand.
'Don't fall for the false promises of the purebloods. They are poisonous snakes filled with hatred for our kind.'
"Wow. That's one way to give life-changing advice in a letter." Harry commented.
"Most of the letters I received were like that. Makes me wonder what sort of life Muggleborns have in the wizarding world." Hermione muttered, her eyes flashing darkly as she took another letter.
"Do you really want to read all those letters first thing in the morning? It's no wonder you've been a bit withdrawn for the last couple of days."
"Don't mind me, Harry. You go ahead." said Hermione before going back to reading her mail.
Harry looked at his watch and saw there was an hour before breakfast. Usually, his free time in the morning was spent in secrecy with Fleur but lately, she has been rather busy with her schoolwork. It was her last year of schooling and she was supposed to take the equivalent of NEWTS in France this summer. This left her otherwise engaged and that left Harry with nothing to do.
But, Harry was not willing to waste time by lazing around. So, he made his way straight to the Room of Requirement and began to practice some of the more shady spells he found from the books Sirius loaned. Since his magical training was rather focused on elemental magic, his repository of spells was rather limited. Sure, he got a good handle on some curses but the elements of water, air and fire were his go-to offensive spells.
But, that won't do in the coming years. Voldemort and his Death Eaters won't be using parlour tricks in their war. Dumbledore's idea of using love against Dark magic would only increase more graves in Britain. He had no intention to depend on sheer luck to survive the coming war. If a war was coming he'd rather face it with the best weapons in his arsenal.
Looking at the training dummy at the other end of the room, Harry gathered the necessary emotion behind the spell he was about to use.
'I need to cut off the head.' he repeated this thought like a mantra in his mind over and over until he could feel the killing intent building within him.
Harry slashed his wand sharply through the air looking at the dummy on the other side.
"Sectumsempra."
The severed head of the dummy fell on the floor with a thud. Not only did the dummy's head fall off clean he could also make out an outline of the cut on the wall behind the dummy.
"Nice. On the first try! Voldemort is going to be so sorry." said Harry, grinning wickedly at the thought of cutting up Voldemort's head.
"You tread on a dangerous path Harry Potter."
Harry turned around quickly in surprise with his wand raised to see the ghostly apparition of Helena Ravenclaw.
"Hi." he waved hesitantly.
"Do you know why dark magic is so addictive Harry Potter?" asked Helena, out of the blue.
Snapping out of the shock of seeing the ghost of Ravenclaw tower, Harry tentatively answered keeping in mind that he was treading on dangerous ground. He could not afford to offend Helena Ravenclaw. The chance of her tattling on him to a Hogwarts staff would have catastrophic effects.
"Because it is powerful."
"No, Harry Potter. It is because of the emotions used to fuel dark spells. Anger, hate, despair, anguish, pain, the intent to kill. They all come easy to a wizard because it is easy to hate someone. It is easy to wish pain upon someone. It is easy to wish death upon someone." said Helena, floating towards him staring perhaps a tad earnestly in his opinion.
He might have been mistaken because when he blinked Helena was staring coldly down at him.
"Nobody can win a war without spilling blood." Harry said, looking curiously to see any reaction from Helena but the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw remained unmoved.
"Dark magic, if left unchecked, will infect you whole and leave you a hollow shell, Harry Potter. Do not think you are somehow exempt from the laws of magic. If you wish harm upon another creature then you have opened yourself to a world of harm to befell upon you. Those who raise the sword shall also die by the sword. Keep this in mind."
After saying her piece, Helena turned away from Harry as if to take her leave.
"Wait! Don't you want to ask me what I'm going to do with the Diadem?" Harry suddenly asked even though he found it odd for Helena Ravenclaw of all people to give him advice.
"What are you going to do with my mother's diadem?" Helena asked, without turning around.
"I'm going to destroy it."
"Good." Helena whispered as she disappeared through the walls of the Room of Requirement leaving Harry totally bewildered.
"That was strange." Harry muttered.
He stared at the wall through which Helena Ravenclaw disappeared for a minute before returning to the task at hand. However, he kept the warning Helena gave about dark magic in his mind. He could even see the inherent weakness in overusing negative emotions like anger and hate.
'Maybe what I need is to balance out the emotions. Some training with the Patronus charm should be enough.' Harry thought, before he went back to the training.