"A mage's power comes from their relationship with the magic in the land. The stave helps to keep the nodes on our wrists connected with magic, but it'll be on the wizard to shape the magic to cast spells." Rowena said.
Harry maintained his posture while sitting cross-legged on the ground, trying his best to pull magic out of the land with the aid of a stave. In theory, it was a simple process. All he had to do was to pull magic out of the ground, coalesce the energy inside the stave, mix the energy with his bodily magic and then shape the magic into a spell. However, it was a challenge to pull magic out of the ground. Try as he might, Harry found he had mixed results in pulling magic out of the land. He could achieve this task using Parseltongue, but that was not good enough. While Parseltongue was a useful skill, it was not combat-friendly. While no one could identify the spell if her were to speak in Parseltongue, it still announced to his enemies that he was attempting one.
The advantages of silent casting would be nullified if he were to rely on Parseltongue. Not to mention, it was not a bright idea to air out his status as a parselmouth. The last thing he wanted was to air out his secrets to random strangers or even possible enemies. This was not exactly a safe time for wizards. Witch burnings were rampant among the muggles.
The problem he was facing was not from magic. At least, he hoped it was not. Harry was sure his ability to absorb magic into the stave from the land had more to do with the stave. He came to this conclusion simply by observing the lofty quality of wands used by the wizards. Therefore, he saw no reason to assume the stave he found was any better. The quality of magical foci available at the current time was lacking mostly because of a lack of professional wand crafters or staff crafters. This also led to a shortage of core materials. Unicorn tail hair was the most common core material used in wands or staff.
Unfortunately, Harry's bodily magic was diametrically opposed to the Unicorn hair core in his stave.
"My suggestion would be to practice with your wand for now. Perhaps you'll bond with a better stave in the future." Rowena suggested after seeing his repeated failures.
Harry scrunched up his nose in dissatisfaction. The entire reason he had gone out of his way to procure a stave was to master Old Magic in the traditional sense. If that was not possible, he had no choice but to depend on Parseltongue.
Harry abandoned the stave he procured from a local stave crafter for the next few weeks in favour of his trusted Holly wand. At the same time, Harry also started venturing into wand-crafting. He was mostly focused on collecting small parts from the dragon he had charmingly named the Red Queen. By the preening the dragon had been doing at the name, Harry was sure the dragon just got an ego boost.
He remembered dragon heartstrings being one of the core materials Ollivander used in his wands. But Harry couldn't get his hands on one of those because there were no dead dragons to harvest. Therefore, he went on occasional hunts for other magical creatures in the forests surrounding Hogwarts. Mostly, his prey were a stray Thestral heard, Kelpie, kneazles, etc.
One night, he returned from his hunt, securing a few strands of Thestral hairs from a herd not far from the castle. The Thestrals, being a peaceful bunch, were hardly bothered by his scavenging for their tail hair. But upon his return to the castle, he was immediately accosted by a grieving family from Hogsmeade.
"They took my husband, my lord." the witch wailed, crying her eyes out.
The witch refused to elaborate despite Harry's strenuous efforts and repeated the claim like a mantra in an endless loop. So, he abandoned the hope of getting any straight answer from the hysterical woman and instead inquired with other wizards and witches accompanying her.
"What happened to her husband?" Harry asked.
"The muggles, my lord. They took Cato, accusing him of being a wizard when selling pumpkins in the muggle village. They say the church is keeping him prisoner and intends to burn him tomorrow." one of the villagers said.
"It's starting again, my lord. They'll come after us all and burn us all at the stake." another villager fearfully said, spreading a wave of fear among the villagers.
"No one is coming to burn us, and Cato will not be burned at the stake either," Harry said firmly. "Does anyone know where this muggle village is located?"
"I know 'em, my lord."
"That'll do." Harry nodded at the man before shooing away the rest of the villagers, including the grieving wife of the hostage.
"What's your name?"
"Pelius, my lord." the man grinned, showing off his crooked teeth.
"Hmm. I need you to tell me everything you know about this village."
****
Harry observed the village in question from a distance under the cover of a disillusion charm. The village looked like a run-down hell hole crawling with rats. The worst thing was that he could feel the odorous shit of the village folk from miles away. Scrunching up his nose in disgust, he congratulated himself for having the presence of mind to build a sound sewage system for Hogsmeade. He had Rowena's help setting that up as she had experience doing the same for Hogwarts.
He supposed he shouldn't disparage the muggles too much on their planning skills as wizards had an advantage with magic. The average muggle during this era was ignorant of the importance of cleanliness. People shat and pissed on the open fields without a care in the world because they didn't know any better and they were poor. Most people didn't have a roof over their heads. So, having a functioning toilet and waste disposal systems was a luxury they couldn't afford.
Harry dispelled the invisibility charm around himself and Pelius.
"Where is Cato held?"
"That chapel, my lord. The church people keep our kind in the dungeons of their church like rats." Pelius said with wroth as he stared at the chapel.
"Hmm. Let's break them out then." said Harry before walking straight towards the village.
"Wait! My lord, what're you doing?" Pelius asked in a hurry as he followed Harry.
"What wizards should've done from the beginning – wage war." Harry said frostily before walking towards the village with long strides.
The village had little to no fortification anywhere. But it had a few armed soldiers patrolling the streets near the road leading to the village.
"You1 Who are…"
The soldier didn't get to finish before Harry promptly cast the disarming charm, silenced him and had him neutralised using the body binding charm. Seeing the bright flashes of spellfire, the remaining two guards charged at Harry with their swords drawn.
"Levicorpus."
The two soldiers let out frightened screams as they were suddenly dangling upside down in mid-air by their ankles. He let them dangle in the air but secured them using ropes that shot out of his wand on a mere thought. Though he had left two muggle guards to dangle in mid-air, he had left them conscious and free to scream their hearts out. Just like he wished, the villagers woke from the guards' frightened screaming, which made it easy for what Harry was about to do next.
"Witch!"
"Satan spawn!"
"Demon!"
The villagers began shouting once they saw the soldiers dangling in mid-air. To Harry's mild surprise, instead of getting frightened, the muggles started throwing stones and anything solid they could get their hands on against him.
But he was well prepared. Harry covered himself and Pelius using a shield charm that made the stones and other objects bounce away.
"You'll never again pick up a weapon against a wizard." Harry vowed before using a wide area blasting curse that blew the villagers off their feet.
The church bell began ringing in earnest, possibly to alert the entire village of the impending danger. Harry fired off a spell, pointing his wand at the church's doors.
"Bombarda maxima."
The church doors were blown wide open as a sizzling orange spell impacted the doors. The muggles standing behind the doors were blown to bits under the spell's power.
"Incendio."
Harry spun his wand in a wide arc that made it put out flames that lit up the whole street. The sudden emergence of flames made the disoriented muggles scream in terror and give him a wide berth. Using the situation to his advantage, Harry walked towards the church with long, purposeful strides while he cleared off the debris blocking his way by vanishing them into thin air.
Once he stepped into the church, he faced a priest holding a cross while muttering prayers. The priest was a middle-aged bald fellow dressed in dark robes. The man shook like a leaf while speaking softly into his closed hands as if some divine entity heard the man's mad ramblings. Harry's attention went to the aides of the priest instead.
"You. Lead me to the cellars beneath this church where you hold prisoners." Harry ordered, jabbing his wand threateningly at the pair of aides standing near the priest.
"I command thee, Sata… Ahhhaaaa!"
The aide screamed as Harry used a bone breaker on the man's hand. The sound of the bones snapping could be heard loud and clear inside the church, making the priest and the other aide flinch.
"Extorqueo."
A sickly-looking yellow spell crashed into the aide's shoulder.
The aide screamed again as his right arm hung loosely from his shoulder when Harry used the joint dislocating spell.
"I don't have all day. One of you will lead me to the cellar, or heads will roll." Harry threatened the remaining duo while their colleague screamed to the heavens, cradling his broken arm.
The other aide to the priest volunteered, and Harry was promptly led towards the cellar while he left the priest in the custody of Pelius. The cellars were filled with prisoners, most of them women and children.
"Tell me of their crimes." Harry ordered, staring coldly at the muggle, making him gulp nervously.
"Witchcraft." the muggle whispered with fear shining in his eyes.
"Release them all." Harry ordered without showing any emotion.
One by one, the prisoners were released from their cells.
"Who's Cato?" Harry asked loudly at the group of prisoners.
"My lord! My lord! You came for me."
A brown-haired man came before Harry and prostrated himself at his feet.
"I promised you protection when we built the village. So, of course, I came for you. Now, up on your feet, man." said Harry.
"May the spirits bless you, Lord Targaryen." Cato bowed his head before walking out of the cellar with the other prisoners, who also muttered their thanks to Harry for freeing them.
Harry had the Church aide at wand point and had the man escorted out after the prisoners. He had the newly freed prisoners, and the church officials assembled outside the church.
"From this day forth, Christianity will never be practised in this village. I, Hadrian Targaryen, declare this religion foreign and alien to Scotland. This is the land of magic, and it'll remain so till the sun loses its light." Harry proclaimed with the aid of the Sonorous charm, amplifying his voice so that the entire village could hear him.
"This will not stop the Lord's work. You've merely ensured your doom, satan spawn. Your magic comes from the Devil, and in God's good time, your kind will be wiped out by his favoured knights." the priest loudly proclaimed once Harry made his
With remarkable sagacity, Harry thwarted the priest's attempt at controlling the crowd through religious fanatism and fear.
In such situations, Harry knew only one thing could swing public opinion – power.
"Flagerate Flagellum."
A long ten-foot whip of bright orange flames formed from the tip of his wand. The ground sizzled as the fiery whip coiled on the ground. Harry made the priest press face-first against the church wall with a flick of his left palm. Wandless magic was a difficult trick to pull off in the past, but Harry had noticed he was getting better with it every day under Rowena's tutelage of Old Magic.
"You claim your god will strike me down. Let's see if this god of yours has the power to defend you, his faithful servant, from my strike." Harry said coldly before he swung his wand arm.
The fiery whip seared a long gash on the back of the priest, making the balding priest scream at the top of his lungs. He swung again, and there was now an X-shaped burnt scar on the priest's skin while the priest screamed himself hoarse. The priest's clothes were aflame, and Harry doused them using conjured water. The priest continued to cry as the burnt skin on his back remained an angry red despite the water cooling off the searing heat.
"Now you see my brothers and sisters of Scotland. Where is this all-powerful god? Where is the might of the heavens? Where is the miracle?" Harry asked, looking at the villagers while pointing at the helpless crying priest.
Harry turned his attention back to the priest.
"You may leave this village. Spread the word to the rest of your friends that your shared delusion will no longer be tolerated in Scotland. I'm coming for you all."
A few minutes after his decree, Harry, as well as the villagers, watched the Priest and the aide with the dislocated shoulder was exiled from the village. Harry gave them a horse to ride away, knowing they'd inform some petty lords or knights of what happened in the village. That was precisely what he wanted anyway.
Harry also had the prisoners strip everything remotely useful from the church. While they were looting the church, Harry focused on applying the memory charm on the captured villagers. His intent was quite simple. He removed all memories of the church and preaching the villagers ever heard from their minds. He also had all religion-related icons and records summoned using magic and had them destroyed.
While destroying the icons and written records was easy, wiping out the memories of religious indoctrination was not an easy feat. It was time-consuming and challenging to pull off. Harry was not surprised that he had barely wiped the memories of half the people in the village before a scout alerted him about a company of knights riding towards the village.
"We should withdraw to Hogsmeade Lord Targaryen. They'll not hesitate to send an army of thousands against our kind." Pelius warned quietly.
"Good. That's exactly what I want." said Harry.
Harry expected the confused stare from Pelius, and therefore, he was not surprised to see the wizard looking lost.
"I don't understand my lord. The muggles – they are…"
"They are a valuable resource for those who can see their worth. Maybe they lack magic, but they can provide us with a sizeable army." Harry cut in.
"An army for us? But who'll they fight?" Pelius asked.
"Who else? Their own brethren and, if need be, the Goblins." said Harry with a disinterested shrug.
"But…but…that's impossible." Pelius stuttered while looking at Harry in disbelief.
"Is it?" Harry asked rhetorically.
Looking ahead, Harry waited patiently for these knights to arrive. He had given some thought in length about the muggles on both timelines. While many Dark Lords saw the muggles as an enemy that had to be wiped out, he saw the value in muggles because he was one in the past. The muggles were capable of radical advancements at a pace that frankly outstripped the growth of the wizarding world by leaps and bounds.
Harry only saw advantages in combining the scientific exploration embedded in the muggle consciousness and the magical power of wizards.
The hurdles before such a union were the inherent deep, entrenched misconceptions among muggles and magicals alike. The enmity cultivated for over a thousand years was hard-pressed to be wiped away from both people overnight. He doubted even centuries of peaceful coexistence would heal such deep wounds of the past. At least, it was nearly impossible for muggles and magic to coexist in the future timeline despite the rainbow utopian bullshit Dumbledore was selling.
But that was not the case in the current times, where Harry found himself in by a trick of fate.
He understood the unique advantage he was presented with. If he could pull the wizards and witches of the current time to a level of competence in magic, many great things could be achieved. Instead of brutishly taking the fight to the muggles all the time, a more subtle approach could yield better results.
Therefore, Harry was intent on testing out his theory, and if it yielded better results, he could replicate it on a larger scale.
"My lord, look!" Pelius urgently whispered.
Harry found the company of knights emerge from the treeline, riding as fast as possible on their horses.
"Swords and arrows are not something to be feared when you have magic, Pelius. The problem with our people is that most of our kind don't know anything about magic or don't bother to learn. If they had…"
Harry flicked his wand, and a bright wave of blueish energy washed over the knights and their horses.
"Levicorpus."
"…they'd have never feared muggles." Harry finished, staring unimpressed as the knights and their horses were hung upside down by their ankles in mid-air.
"Mobilicorpus."
With another flick of his wand, he had the floating knights move with his wand movement. Harry counted twelve knights among the group and had them disarmed before having them bound in ropes. He promptly used a combination of memory charms and legilimency to convert the knights into his loyal soldiers with no memory of their religious convictions.
Without the element of religion in their heads, the knights were quite cooperative. He continued his work on the villagers one by one until finally, he finished his work on most of the people by sunset. The remaining were stuffed and kept isolated under spells as his prisoners until he could rewire their minds.
When the night fell, Harry had the villagers gathered before a bonfire as he addressed them. His casual displays of magic had long since become familiar to the villagers, and therefore, they didn't bat an eye when he conjured an enormous amount of fire behind him with a flick of his wand.
"Our enemy is cunning and subtle. It hides within constructs like these, indoctrinating good Scottish men and women of their lies so that they can sap our strength. They want to keep us weak and force us to forget the delightful blessings of magic. They want us to turn our eyes away from nature's beauty, diversity, and divinity. They want to destroy our oneness with nature to worship a fictional story with fictional megalomaniac characters."
"they want us and our children to become slaves to a fictional construct of theirs so that we lose our strength and sight of magic from our blood and souls. Do you want to become slaves to such an uncaring, cruel and imaginary being?"
"No!" the villagers shouted with the twelve knights, the most prominent with zealotry in their eyes.
"My friends, I do not wish to wage war on our brethren. I wish to save them from the danger of these Romans and their lies."
"Join me, sons and daughters of Scotland, to free our land from the church of Rome and its perfidious hold on our people's minds."
"For freedom!"
"For magic!"
"For Scotland!"
The chanting of the villagers grew more potent, and Harry let the spell lose on the church behind him. The flames consumed the building whole and left nothing in its wake. The fire burned brightly, lighting up the whole village with its light chasing away the darkness of the night.
'One village down. Several more to go.' Harry thought.