"Mr Inverse, the Headmaster would like to see you in his office tonight, after supper. Just ask a Prefect or teacher to show you the way. The password is Lemon Drop."
Harry nodded at the professor as she looked him over, and then turned to walk back to the staff table.
"What'd she want Harry?" Ron asked as he went to sit down.
"Just something about a meeting with Dumbledore." Harry shrugged as he started to pile food on his plate.
That entire day, Harry was curious as to what the Headmaster wanted. Probably something to do with the magic I learned back home. He thought to himself.
That evening, Harry sought out Percy to show him the way to Dumbledore's office. Percy nervously lead him through the castle's maze of corridors. They encountered a few of the castle ghosts, who all were rather warry about Harry and his new style of magic. Especially considering that Harry had shown he was easily able to deal with Peeves, even better than most of the Hogwarts staff seemed to.
As soon as they came to the gargoyle guarding the stairs to Dumbledore's office, Harry gave the password "Lemon Drops" and quickly went up and knocked on the door.
"Come in Mr Inverse."
Harry was surprised to find an extremely scarred man with a wooden leg, and a very strange blue eye speaking with the Headmaster.
"Please sit down Mr Inverse, or would you prefer I called you Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Harry's fine Professor."
Dumbledore gestured to the other man.
"Harry, allow me to introduce Alastar Moody, one of our most senior Aurors, now retired." Moody nodded at Harry.
"Auror?" Harry asked.
"Aurors are the police of the Wizarding World, Harry." Dumbledore explained with a chuckle. "Not something you would need to know much about as a First Year."
As they spoke, Harry noticed that Moody's large solid blue eye was looking all around, seemingly independent of the other eye. Wierd
"Mr Inverse," Moody growled out in a raspy voice, "Dumbledore said that you have a headband that's been enchanted to protect against mind-control spells, is that true?"
Harry nodded. Wonder what's so major about my headband?
"Harry, you see, in the Wizarding World, there are three spells called the Unforgiveable Curses. They are called these not only because of their sheer power, but their very dark nature. These three spells are the Cruciatus, which causes indescribable pain in the victim, the Killing Curse, which obviously kills the person, and the third is the Imperius, which grants the user absolute control over their victim's mind." Dumbledore slowly explained. It was obvious to Harry that Dumbledore, while not scared of them was deeply saddend by the three spells.
"Anyone who uses any of those three against a human gets a lifetime sentence at Azkaban, the wizard prison. I should know, as I've sent more people to that place than I can remember." Moody growled out. "One thing Dumbledore didn't mention, is that none of those three spells can be bloked by any magic, though someone with a strong will can overcome the Imperius."
"That is why we have asked you here, Harry." Dumbledore stared at Harry, as if measuring him. "While no spell known to our world can bloke any of the Unforgiveable Curses, your headband uses a magic entirely outside of our understanding, and may be able to bloke the Imperius. If so, there is a chance that we could find a way to replicate it with our own magics, or possibly even find a way to bloke the others."
Harry listened interestedly to the description of the three Unforgiveable Curses. While he could see why they had made a spell that tortures people illegal, he couldn't entirely understand why the other two were also on the list. His own sister knew spells that, frankly, sounded much more powerful than the three Unforgiveables. If a death spell is on that list, I'ld hate to think if someone discovered how to cast something like the Dragonslave!
"Let me guess, you want to test it and see if it works against the Imperius?" Harry asked.
"Only with your permission." Dumbledore assured Harry, with a sharp nod from Moody.
"If you don't want to, we could make do with borrowing it and have it tested down at the Ministry." Moody said.
Harry thought for a few moments.
"Are there any side effects to this that I should know about?" Harry asked.
"No, no other effects whatsoever." Dumbledore promised.
Harry sighed.
"Alright then." He nodded at the two gentlemen.
With that out of the way, Moody pulled his wand from the sleeve of his robe, and pointed it at Harry.
"Imperio!"
Harry blinked, expecting some show of the spell being cast, but nothing happened. The two others watched with baited breath for any sign that Harry had fallen victim to the spell.
"Inverse, I want you to stand on your head clucking like a chicken." Moody told him.
"Why would I do a thing like that?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore and Moody broke out into grins.
"It appears Harry, that your headband works against the mind control spells of our world, as well as those of yours." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.
"We'll have to take it down to the Ministry, see if they can figure out how it works." Moody said.
"Sorry, but I can't let you have it." Harry told them with regret. "My sisters told me to wear it all the time, except while bathing. Anyway, I'm not too sure you could copy it. However, I can see about my sister making another one while I'm home over break." Considering that Luna probably made mine as well as Lina's, I wouldn't be surprised.
The two grown wizards tried to persuade Harry about changing his mind about the headband, but reluctantly agreed to follow his wishes.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: To my knowledge, Lina doesn't know enough about White Magic to create something like the headband. However, it is probably within Luna's abilities as a Knight of Ceipheed (even if she isn't a sorceress in this story). If there is any canon evidence to contradict me, then I apologise.
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(Posted Sat, 04 Oct 2003 07:45)
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