August 31, 1988
England, Cokeworth — London
"Here, take this," Sensei said after lunch, handing me a small wooden box.
I opened the lid and stared with interest at the tiny books inside. Matchbox-sized, no bigger. What was this, a one-to-six scale model?
"Um, sir?.." I tore my eyes away from Sensei's gift.
"I enchanted the box. Spatial magic," he explained. "Its internal volume is about a bushel, meaning it can hold about as much as a medium-sized trunk. There is a spell that shrinks and enlarges objects, but since you don't have a wand yet, a storage container like this may prove very useful to you."
"Whoa! Sir, then why is the box so light?" I asked, weighing the gift in my palm. "With that many books, it should weigh as much as a trunk stuffed with them!"
"There are weight-reduction charms," Sensei said indulgently. "They're usually used together with space-expansion charms when enchanting bags, trunks, purses, pockets, and other objects."
"Hmm, so your wand sheath has similar charms too?" I nodded toward his forearm. "Your wand is almost twice as long as the sheath."
"You catch on quickly," Sensei snorted. "Yes, my sheath is shorter than the wand because of an Undetectable Extension Charm. Wand sheaths come in different forms. Some are worn at the hip. Women like those, as do people who prefer ordinary suits without robes. Some people somehow manage to carry their wand in a pocket, but I prefer this."
"It's easier to draw it that way," I said, mentally calculating the movements needed to pull out a wand during an attack.
If, theoretically, wizards had nothing to oppose an attacker with besides wand spells, then this was almost like batto—the art of drawing a sword. I wasn't particularly strong in kenjutsu. The real specialists were the Mist shinobi, the samurai of the Land of Iron, and... Sasuke. But even I knew that in a sword fight victory often went to whoever drew their weapon faster.
"Hmm. Yes... Now, back to the books. These are for you to study over the coming year. Several reference books on magical creatures. I advise reading them together with the ingredient-harvesting guide and the list of potions those ingredients are used in. That will give you more structured information that may be useful later. Otherwise you might encounter a Runespoor* and not know which of its heads to take venom from, or what the venom is used for."
"Which one?" I asked, immediately curious.
"You'll read and find out," Sensei's eyes flashed slyly. "But in fact, the far-right head."
"Got it. I'll learn," I promised. "And how do I use the box? And those space and weight charms—how long will they last?"
"At least for the next year. You know how to levitate objects, don't you? That's how you should take books out of the box. I hope you aren't going to stick your hands inside, try to climb into it yourself, or put someone else in there?" Sensei sternly listed everything I had already been planning to try.
"Oh..." I think my cheeks turned red. "No, sir."
"If you end up inside the box yourself, you'll be reduced in size and won't be able to get out without help. But in any case, I've installed safety charms as a precaution. Nothing living can enter it," he said. I suspected Snape-sensei had figured me out instantly and installed idiot-proofing in advance.
Well, explosive tags had safety mechanisms too, so eager young genin wouldn't blow off their arms and legs the first time they handled them.
"Can I try taking something out, just to make sure I'll be able to do it without you?" I asked.
The thought of becoming tiny inside a box and starving to death because nobody thought to look there for me sent a cold wave of goosebumps down my spine. No experiments with space, thank you very much!
"Go ahead," Sensei nodded, and I placed the box on the table. Spotting a little green volume, I mentally pulled it toward myself and caught a properly sized tome out of the air.
"Awesome!" I exclaimed.
I managed to put the book back as well. It began shrinking at the boundary, as soon as part of the book entered the box's expanded space.
"And this too." Two black-and-white photographs were placed on the table. "That's Lily and Potter... James Potter—your father."
"Whoa!" I reached for the slightly moving wizarding photographs.
The pictures had clearly been taken for personal files. They were too formal and too identical: head-and-shoulders, facing forward. The girl and boy looked around seventeen or eighteen.
"I asked our librarian to make copies from the graduate archive," Sensei confirmed my guess. "Miss Pince lives in Hogsmeade, so my request wasn't much trouble for her."
"Thank you, sir. And please thank Miss Pince too. Aunt Petunia will be happy as well," I said.
Harry's father looked very much like Harry himself, especially because of the glasses and the excessive messiness of his hair. It was like seeing an old friend. James Potter smiled openly and infectiously in the photograph and even winked. Harry, perhaps, was less open. Lily Evans had slightly wavy hair. Harry had said it was red... Pretty girl. Nice smile.
"Will they keep moving like that?" I asked. "Sir, what if somebody sees them?.."
"There are two options: either don't show them to anyone who isn't magical or a relative of yours, or I can place charms on the photographs so they stop moving," he offered.
"No, I like that they're... like this. I'll be careful," I promised.
"It's time," Snape-sensei reminded me.
I nodded and ran to the room for my things, put the box into my backpack, and slipped the wizarding photographs into my notebook. Before leaving, I gave the space of 'my' room one last look. I would probably miss it.
When I came downstairs, Sensei was waiting for me dressed quite like a Muggle rather than in the robes and cloaks worn by the wizards I'd seen on that magical street. He stood beside the fireplace in the sitting room.
"Apart from the ordinary method humans use—walking on their own two feet—wizards travel in several other ways," he explained when I joined him with my backpack on my shoulders. "Portkeys, magical transport, Apparition, or the Floo Network. The last two are used most often. Apparition is quite unpleasant and isn't recommended for people under fifteen. So we'll use the Floo Network and Floo powder now. Stand in front of me, press close, and give me your hand. Preferably stand straight and don't wave your limbs around. Is that clear? Don't be afraid of the green fire; that's how it's supposed to look."
"Yes, sir." I hurried into the indicated position, quickly swinging my backpack around to my chest so I wouldn't press the bag against Sensei.
"We'll travel to a fireplace in the Ministry of Magic. There are many of them, and a great many wizards use them, including simply to exit into London. Try not to attract attention to yourself."
"Yes, sir." I nodded and took his hand.
"Ministry of Magic, Atrium," Snape-sensei said.
He threw in a pinch of powder, and bright green fire poured out of the fireplace around us—mostly around me. Good thing he'd warned me, or I probably would have jerked away anyway. Unlike Sensei's fireplace at home, the Ministry fireplace was tall enough for a person to walk through, and that was exactly what we stepped out of.
"Tergeo." With a wave of his wand, Sensei cleaned the soot off us.
We walked into the Atrium. I'd been here once before with Harry. The same marble, statues, frescoes, and gilding. People moved back and forth, and no one paid us much attention. Without wasting time looking at the sights, we went out into an alley through the very same red telephone booth Harry and I had used to enter the Ministry in the past. Yes, I remembered. The Department of Mysteries. The Death Chamber. And the Veil through which Harry's godfather Sirius had fallen.
* * *
"A word, Severus," Aunt Petunia asked Sensei.
We met at the agreed place. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had Dudley with them, as well as his friend Piers, whose surname was almost impossible to pronounce—Polkiss.
"Piers, come over here for a minute," Aunt Petunia called him. From a distance, I saw Sensei look Dudley's friend in the eyes.
"It must be cool being a wizard," Dudley sighed quietly, glancing toward his father, then whispered to me, "Mum warned Piers and me that you were supposedly at camp with us, but you know what a blabbermouth Polkiss is. She told me your wizard was going to put a little spell on Piers so he'd remember you being at camp and wouldn't gossip to everyone in Little Whinging about weird stuff. So don't tell him anything either. I'll tell you about camp, and you tell me about the wizard, okay?"
"Deal." I shook his hand, and Dudley beamed.
Piers came back to us.
"Mrs. Dursley said we could get fizzy drinks from the machines." He showed us several coins. "Coming?"
"Yeah, let's go," Dudley waved. I looked back at Sensei. He nodded to me, said goodbye to Aunt Petunia, turned around, and walked down the street.
"It was brilliant when we were fishing at camp and Mr. Hatting caught us. You almost fell out of the boat too, Harry," Piers suddenly remembered.
"Yeah, we got caught," I snorted.
"I warned you and Big D!.." Piers began talking excitedly, waving his arms.
"Big D?" I quietly repeated and glanced sideways at Dudley. He heard my question and looked a little embarrassed.
"That's what they called me at camp. Because... I'm big."
I watched Piers, occasionally agreeing with him, and thought. Most likely, what Sensei had done to him resembled one of the shinobi's mental-psychological techniques. The kind where you were made to confuse someone with somebody else. The image of a best friend or good acquaintance was replaced by yours.
Someone—perhaps more than one person—had probably been hanging around Piers and 'Big D' at camp, and now I had become that someone in Piers's memory.
For now, all I could do was nod and smile. Later I'd need to study the cover story much more carefully. Aunt Petunia had done well. It was great that she'd thought of this. If Headmaster Beard-Bells really did have plans for the Chosen One—that is, me—then there would be his spies in our town. And possibly various charms and spells monitoring visitors and magic in the house. Harry had mentioned something like that. So I had a lot to investigate and figure out, including who was watching me.
Author's Note to Part 1, Chapter 15. Enchanted Things and People
* Runespoor — a venomous three-headed snake six to seven feet (about 1.8-2.0 m) long, vivid orange with black stripes. Runespoors are not especially aggressive, but because of their frightening appearance they were favored by Dark wizards. Unlike all other known magical beasts, the Runespoor lays eggs through its mouth. Runespoor eggs are highly valued in potions that stimulate mental activity. (Harry Potter Wiki material: http://qps.ru/5oqIT)