The Source of Magic

Rowena Ravenclaw's Wand

Chapter 12 ~ Rowena Ravenclaw's Wand

“Well done, Harry,” said Jason after listening to Ginny and Harry recount the details of the tribunal the previous afternoon. They were sitting in the Potion master's office along with Ron and Hermione. “You did well to disarm them all without giving yourself away. Your ability to connect to the Source has increased remarkably. It's time to begin teaching you some of the more advanced magic I have picked up in my travels.”

“Do you think I'm really ready for it?”

“For some of it, yes. And even if you are not yet able to perform all the spells properly, you will know how to use them when your magical power is sufficiently strong. You are making excellent progress, but you need to keep working with the meditation to forge a permanent link to the Source. Anyway, I think you're ready for the Metamorphmagus spell.”

“But Tonks said you have to be born a Metamorphmagus, like her — that you can't learn to be one,” said Hermione.

“That's true,” replied Jason. “I can't make Harry a Metamorphmagus. But I can teach him some magic I learned in Bhutan, which lets you change your body in much the same way, just as I did when I impersonated Ginny. I just called it the Metamorphmagus spell because the result is similar. Once you have mastered the basic spell, Harry, I'll ask Tonks to teach you the finer points of the art of shape-shifting.”

Harry nodded. “OK. So, did you learn anything about Slytherin's locket, yesterday?”

“Yes, I did. Just as you suspected, Mundungus Fletcher stole it along with other valuables from Grimmauld Place. With Professor McGonagall's help, I tracked Mundungus down and learned that he'd flogged it off to one of his criminal mates, a fence by the name of Fingers McFadden, for twelve Galleons. McFadden took it to Borgin and Burkes. Unlike Fletcher and McFadden, Mr Borgin knew exactly what it was … and from whom it was originally stolen many years ago. McFadden was happy to get twenty Galleons for it. Borgin could not display it for sale because it was stolen, but that was never his intention.

“It was quite an afternoon: the trail led me from Mundungus to McFadden and then on to Borgin and Burkes. My next stop after Knockturn Alley was Malfoy Manor, this time as an invisible guest. You see, Mr Borgin contacted Lucius Malfoy, who, as he guessed, was extremely eager to possess this ancient relic of Salazar Slytherin. Malfoy also knew it was stolen and that he would need to be discreet with it, but that didn't bother him. On the contrary, it knocked several thousand Galleons off the purchase price. Although he did not know it contained his Master's Horcrux, or indeed, that his Master had once possessed it, he could easily guess how eager Voldemort would be to have this relic of his revered ancestor. However, Malfoy was greedy to keep Slytherin's locket for himself. He, too, is a great admirer of Salazar Slytherin. Moreover, the locket represented a very good investment and a significant addition to the Malfoy collection of heirlooms and antiquities. But most importantly, it constituted an invaluable insurance policy. If things ever got really sticky with Voldemort, and his life was in danger, it could always be presented to his Master in the expectation of it earning him a pardon.”

“Aren't things sufficiently sticky for him right now after the fiasco with Ginny?” asked Hermione.

“Yes, I would have thought so,” replied Jason. “As the ones who brought him the Witch from Hell, who destroyed his Dementors, damaged his castle, and comprehensively humiliated him, Lucius and Draco must both be in great danger right now. They will be blamed, along with Bellatrix, for not properly disarming Ginny and for her escape. He must be deeply mortified — the great Lord Voldemort outwitted and out-gunned by a school girl — definitely not a good look for a Dark Lord. And then there are Lucius' and Draco's previous failures in his service. I think they both have very good reason to be fearful for their futures right now. Indeed, I found Lucius extremely eager to present Slytherin's locket to his Master at his earliest convenience. He was anxiously waiting for Voldemort to calm down enough to be safely approached. Unfortunately, Lucius is in for a terrible disappointment when he goes to retrieve the locket from the secret vault beneath the library floor,” said Jason with a wide grin, as he reached into his pocket and removed a heavy golden locket with a serpent in the shape of the letter ‘S' on it. He passed it around for them to examine.

When Ron passed it back to him, Jason placed it on his desk. “I have invented an incantation to go with the spell to destroy a Horcrux.”

“But why?” asked Hermione. “You didn't need one to destroy the Horcrux in Hufflepuff's cup.”

“No, Hermione, I don't need one — but you and Harry will.” Before Hermione or Harry could ask him what he meant, Jason continued. “The incantation is Animus Liberta. Point your wand at the object and visualise the part-soul trapped within, breaking free, and returning to the Source. Hermione, would you care to do the honours?”

Hermione's face became a mask of concentration as she pointed her wand at Slytherin's locket. “Animus Liberta,” she said. The chain jangled softly on the table, gently vibrating before a wispy cloud of white mist rose from the locket, continuing upwards for a few feet before dissolving.

“Well done, Hermione,” said Jason, gesturing towards the locket and transfiguring it into a very ordinary-looking wooden bookend. He placed it on top of his bookshelf at the end of a row of books. At the other end of the row was an identical bookend. “These two innocuous-looking bookends are Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup. They are the lawful property of the beneficiaries of Hepzibah Smith's estate, but for obvious reasons, they cannot be returned, just yet. When Voldemort is finally finished, they will be restored to their rightful owners.”

“So that makes four,” said Harry with a sense of satisfaction. “What about the last two Horcruxes?”

“Dumbledore was quite right in thinking Voldemort would go for items that were once the possessions of the Hogwarts Founders. Horcrux number five is concealed in a wand that once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw.”

“But that's not possible, the wand was destroyed!” said Hermione emphatically. “Anthony Goldstein told me; he's a descendent of Rowena Ravenclaw.”

“What? With a name like Goldstein?” asked Ron sceptically.

“Anthony's mother is directly descended from Rowena Ravenclaw along the female line,” explained Hermione. “Rowena Ravenclaw's wand has been passed down from mother to eldest daughter for a thousand years. It's a family secret; there are no references to the wand or the tradition of the wand-bearer in any of the history books, although somehow Voldemort found out about it. Anthony's grandmother was the wand-bearer during Voldemort's first reign of terror. Death Eaters, led by Rodolphus Lestrange, attacked her house because Voldemort wanted the wand. But before they could kill her and take the wand, she destroyed it rather than let it fall into Voldemort's hands. So —”

“So Voldemort can't have used it for a Horcrux!” finished Harry, impatiently, wondering what the hell Jason was on about.

“But he did,” replied Jason mysteriously, “but not in this reality.”

“What?” the four students demanded.

“I told you how Voldemort became increasingly paranoid about hiding the last Horcruxes. He was determined to make it as difficult as possible — no, that's a bit of an understatement. He was determined to make it impossible to get to them. He discovered a way of travelling to another reality, one in which Rowena Ravenclaw's wand had not been destroyed. He created the Horcrux in that reality and concealed it in the wand.”

“Err … what do you mean by another reality?” asked Harry.

“A good question,” replied Jason. “I was unaware of the existence of such things myself until I encountered Voldemort's memory of travelling to one. Yesterday, I visited the Great Library at the Ministry of Magic and spent several hours researching the subject. There are references to multiple realities, although very few, and most are of a speculative nature. I could find no documented cases of anyone actually experiencing one first hand … of travelling to it.”

“So what, exactly, are multiple realities?” asked Ginny.

“They are extremely rare. It seems they can sometimes come into existence when human history reaches a crucial crossroads, where two very different futures are possible, and some fundamental event will determine which of them comes about.”

“When did this parting of the two realities happen? What was the event?” asked Hermione suspiciously.

“I think you've already guessed,” said Jason. “You were there when it happened. I was there, too, and of course, so was Harry. The event was Lily Evans meeting her son, Harry Potter, in the Shrieking Shack twenty years ago. In that moment, she knew if she married James Potter, the Future of Hope — our reality — would prevail.”

“Do you mean her choice created the two realities?” asked Ginny.

“No. The two realities always existed. Lily didn't create them — although ultimately, it was her decision which determined which one became real.”

“Did it have anything to do with the fact that Lily was a Seer?” asked Hermione.

“No, I don't think so,” replied Jason. “Multiple realities can exist without a Seer having a premonition of them. But Seers are, it seems, very sensitive to multiple realities; particularly, when they, themselves, are involved. What was unique in this case is that Lily was the one whose decision would ultimately determine which reality became the authentic one.”

“But, this other reality still exists, so what difference did her choice make?” asked Ron, confused.

“All the difference in the world: Her choice ensured that this reality, the Future of Hope, would prevail. The other reality she saw in her visions, the Future of Darkness, is now nothing but a dream, a shadow, a blueprint of a possible future that never eventuated.”

“But how could Voldemort have travelled to it if it's not real? How can his Horcrux be concealed in a dream?” objected Hermione.

“A very good question. It seems that an unknown witch using some means of trans-reality Divination, almost certainly dark magic, became aware of the other reality — although only after the point of divergence — after Lily had made her choice. Voldemort learned about it from one of his Death Eaters, who was an acquaintance of the witch. He immediately realised this other reality would make the perfect hiding place for a Horcrux, and he had both the witch and the Death Eater who brought him the information killed so that he would be the only one who knew about it. He then began searching for a spell, which would allow him to visit the other reality.”

“But how is that possible?” asked Ginny. “How can you visit something that does not exist — that's just a dream?”

“The Future of Darkness is, as you say, a dream — but it is, in fact, a little more substantial than that. An ordinary dream vanishes when the dreamer comes to the end of it, or awakens. Even an extraordinary dream that you remember vividly, or that recurs frequently, exists in your mind alone. But these might-have-been realities exist independently of a Seer, like Lily or the kind of magic this other witch used to stumble upon it. You might think of them as ghost realities. Our reality is truly alive, whereas these other realities are like ghosts. A ghost is the shadow, or remnant, of someone who once lived. You have all seen Nearly Headless Nick and the other Hogwarts ghosts. While they are no longer alive, they still exist in some sense. Just as most people cannot see ghosts, only a very small number of magical folk are able to perceive these ghost realities.”

“But hang on,” said Ron. “There must be a He-Who-Must- … err, a Voldemort, in this other reality; so if the one from our reality found some magic that let him travel to this other reality, then there would have been two You-Know- … Voldemorts, there. How would that work?”

“It's not like using a Time-Turner, where your body physically leaves one time and appears in another. It wouldn't be possible to physically visit a dream reality, because … well, it's not physically real. From what I could gather from Voldemort's memory of it, the magic he discovered allowed him to enter this other reality as if he were dreaming. In a normal dream, you do not know you are asleep and dreaming. However, when a dreamer magically visits another reality, they soon become aware they are dreaming. They experience the knowledge and memories of themselves in both the dream reality and the reality of the dreamer. The dreamer effectively takes control of their dream self. Confused yet?”

“No, it makes sense,” said Hermione. “And no doubt you got the spell to travel to this dream reality from Voldemort's mind. But you can't use it, can you? Well, at least not the same way Voldemort did, to take control of his dream self, because you don't exist in the dream reality.”

“Exactly,” said Jason. “The dream reality is Lily's Future of Darkness. We both died before the time it was visited by Voldemort to conceal his Horcrux.”

“And Harry was never born in that reality,” reflected Hermione, “because Lily stayed with you. If Voldemort triumphed, then Ron and Ginny's parents almost certainly died as well, as they were both in the Order. And Ron and Ginny were probably never born.”

“What?” demanded Ron, sounding somewhat affronted.

“The two realities divided on February 10th, 1977, the day Lily saw her son, Harry, and finally made her decision,” explained Jason. “But the difference between the realities would have been quite marginal, and isolated to myself, Lily, and James Potter, and to a lesser extent our families, friends, and associates. The point at which they became significantly different was four and a half years later, on October 31st, 1981, the night Voldemort tried to kill Harry and disappeared for fourteen years, in this reality.”

“But,” reflected Hermione, “in the other reality, the Future of Darkness, there was no Harry Potter, and so Voldemort didn't disappear, and soon afterwards he triumphed. Which means … everyone who was born — no, not born, conceived — before February 10th, 1977, and who was not killed, should be alive in the dream reality.”

“Which includes me and Ginny, if the difference was only marginal until October 31st, 1981, and only affected a few people,” said Ron, grinning at Hermione snootily.

“But two of those people, Harry's parents, were members of the Order of the Phoenix — in our reality at least,” replied Hermione. “In the dream reality, Lily may not have been a member, or maybe Jason was. James Potter was almost certainly a member, but he wasn't married to Lily. That means that people's availability would have been different. They might have been assigned different tasks, and some meetings were probably held at different times and so on. That would have affected the lives of other members — like your parents, Ron — they would have been doing different things at the same moment in the two realities … like, err ... well, you know what ….”

“No,” replied Ron, blankly. “What?”

“We are talking about the kind of activities that result in babies. Do I need to draw you a picture?” asked Hermione in exasperation.

“Alright, alright, I get it,” said Ron, turning bright red.

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued. “In our reality, Lily and James would not have joined the Order until after they finished school, in late 1977, by which time Fred and George had been conceived. But they probably joined before either you or Ginny were conceived.”

“So what?” said Ron, feeling increasingly queasy and uncomfortable about the direction the conversation was taking.

“Well, if your conception in the dream reality happened the month before, or an hour later — or even a second later than it did in this reality, the you in the dream reality would not be the same person … as you!”

“Huh?” said Ron.

“Obviously you don't know anything about genetics or, umm … s****l reproduction,” said Hermione.

“Stop! Stop!” exclaimed Ron, going bright red and holding up both hands. “I do not want a s*x education lesson from you, Hermione — and definitely not now,” he said looking around at Ginny, Harry, and Jason who were all looking hugely amused.

“What I think Hermione is trying to say,” said Jason, “is that if you had been conceived even a moment earlier or later, then you would be quite a different person. In fact, you may be two people — twins — or a girl, or shorter, perhaps even studious, whatever — but you would be someone completely different. The only thing we can say with any degree of confidence is that you would probably have red hair,” he added with a grin. “It is most unlikely that the children conceived by those whose lives crossed Harry's parents' from about 1978 onwards, plus everyone conceived in the wizarding world after October 31st, 1981, would have been conceived at the same moment in both realities — hence the same person could not exist in both.”

“Which means that none of us can be alive in the ghost reality,” said Ginny.

“No,” said Jason. “One of us is almost certainly alive in that reality.”

“Oh! Of course!” exclaimed Hermione. “Me! But —”

“Why you?” demanded Ron, resentfully.

“Because events in the wizarding and the Muggle worlds are almost totally separate,” explained Jason.

“They are in this reality,” said Ron, “because the wizarding world goes to a lot of trouble to keep itself secret. But if Voldemort won in the other reality, he might have begun attacking the Muggles, big-time. He might have tried to kill them all, or enslave them, or something.”

“Yes, that's certainly a possibility,” said Jason. “But I think he would go about it methodically. He would first want to purify the wizarding world and then build up its numbers. It might take many years, generations even, before he would be ready to embark on a campaign against the Muggles. And until that time, he would want to keep the wizarding world hidden. I think we can safely assume that up to the time Hermione was conceived — and probably for many years afterwards — life in the Muggle world was pretty much identical in both realities.”

“Things would sure be different for my aunt and uncle, and my cousin Dudley, in the other reality,” reflected Harry. “The Dursleys would be a lot happier without me.”

“And my life, after the age of eleven, would be completely different,” reflected Hermione. “If Voldemort took over, Muggle-borns would not receive their Hogwarts letters when they turn eleven. I wonder if the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad would even bother to detect accidental magic performed by Muggle-borns and to memory-charm them.”

“Probably not,” guessed Jason. “Voldemort and his Death Eaters, with their pure-blood prejudices, would not even consider them as being magical — just Muggle freaks. You do know what this means, Hermione, don't you?” he asked with a smile.

“I hope not,” she said warily.

“You are the only one of us who can travel to the dream reality to destroy Voldemort's Horcrux.”

“But, I won't even know I'm a witch in the dream reality. In fact, I must be pretty confused if I sometimes perform accidental magic and don't get memory-charmed to forget about it. And I won't be at Hogwarts. I won't know any spells or magic or anything. So how will I be able to destroy Voldemort's Horcrux? Or am I supposed to bring it back with me?”

“Well, firstly, when you travel to the dream reality you, the dreamer, will have all the knowledge and magical ability you have developed here. Once you take control of your dream self, you — the Hermione in the dream world — will be a very powerful witch. Secondly, you cannot physically take anything with you or bring anything back; you must destroy the Horcrux in the dream reality. The big problem is going to be finding it.”

“But surely you know where it is? You must have got that from Voldemort's memory,” said Harry.

“Unfortunately not,” said Jason, sighing. “Like I said, Voldemort became totally paranoid about concealing his Horcruxes. He was particularly devious with this one. He created the Horcrux and concealed it in Rowena Ravenclaw's wand, while visiting the dream reality, which makes it an authentic Horcrux. But he left the dream reality before the wand had been hidden. He left that for his dream self to do. The Voldemort in our reality has no idea where it is was hidden.”

“Brilliant,” said Hermione reluctantly. “But will the Voldemort in the dream reality remember anything of the one from our reality having visited him? Will he be aware that there is another reality — a true reality?”

“Voldemort thinks not. However, the Voldemort in the dream reality will remember everything that happened while our Voldemort was visiting; only he will not realise that he was being visited at the time. He will remember creating the Horcrux and that it needed to be hidden. We must presume he hid it — although hopefully, not with the same rigour and paranoia as our Voldemort might have done. It will all seem to him like something he just decided to do.”

“But I — no, not me — the Hermione Granger in the dream reality has no association with the wizarding world. How on earth will I — will she — find the wand?”

“Do not despair, Hermione, I have some ideas. I have been experimenting with the spell I got from Voldemort to visit the dream reality. In my case, it really was like a dream, because there is no Jason Trolove there. So I was unable to act in it, or influence events, only to gather bits of information. The spell takes you to the corresponding time in the dream reality, and though you may stay in it for days or even weeks, when you use the counter-spell to leave and return to this reality, only an hour or so will have passed — just like in a real dream. You will need to use a Time-Turner to go back a few days prior to the start of the school year, before using the spell to take you to the other reality.”

“Why?” asked Hermione.

“I think you need to be at Hogwarts, at least to start with, in order to find the wand. You might want to try befriending Anthony Goldstein to find out what he knows about it.”

Ron grumbled jealously.

“But, how will I get into Hogwarts? I'm Muggle-born, remember? They don't allow Muggle-borns into Hogwarts, there.”

“I have invented a story for you: You will claim to be the daughter of a magical family of English descent, living in Kenya. You will forge a letter of reference from a magical school in Malawi. The Headmaster, who is an old friend of mine, remains the headmaster in the dream reality. I will provide you with the text of the letter to memorise and teach you a forging spell so you can imitate his handwriting. You will also forge an accompanying letter from your father, requesting the Hogwarts Headmistress to accept you as a seventh-year student.”

“But what if I'm not accepted? What if I'm discovered? Can I be killed in the dream reality?”

“Relax, Hermione. No matter what happens in the dream reality you will remain safely in this one — it's just a dream remember — although it will seem real enough. You can give the incantation to leave at any time, and if the letter doesn't work, or if you can't find the wand, then we'll just have to try something else, OK?”

“Well, OK, then. So, err, when do you want to do it?” asked Hermione nervously.

“Right now,” said Jason, reaching into his desk drawer for the Time-Turner.