Harry Potter and the Elemental Wands

Harry Potter and the Elemental Wands
Chapter 8 - Clues, Quidditch, and Correspondence

The wet squelching sound and the excited knock on his wooden door was more than enough for Dumbledore to stop examining his silvery Pensieve. He looked up, smiling slightly.

'Come in,' he called expectantly.

The heavy door swung open and a soaking Harry and Hermione appeared in its place, former wearing a distinct squint due to the lack of glasses on his face and the latter clutching what appeared to be a small, gnarled stick. Dumbledore's blue eyes traveled from each of their shining faces, then fell upon the stick.

'The Wand, I presume,' was all he said before sweeping over to them. 'May I?' he asked, his hand reaching out tentatively towards it.

'Of course, Professor,' Hermione said, breathlessly, holding it out.

His hand shook slightly as he took hold of it. He held it up and ran the tip of his forefinger down its length. 'Extraordinary,' he muttered, leaning forward and adjusting his half-moon glasses for a better look. 'Absolutely extraordinary. I imagine that Mr. Ollivander would give his right arm to get a good look at this.'

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance at this statement, then a grin. The Ollivanders were a family of very well known wand makers who, from Harry's past experiences with them, thoroughly disapproved of any wands that hadn't been made by them. Harry had no idea what substance was the core of the Wand of Water, but had a pretty good idea that - even if they did contain dragon heartstrings, unicorn hair or phoenix feather - Mr. Ollivander would be politely fascinated, but would never wholly approve.

'I'd like to study this,' the headmaster continued. 'If time allowed, of course ... You don't mind if I test this, do you Miss Granger?'

Harry opened his mouth to object by Hermione got there first. 'Of course I don't, Professor,' she said. 'But I think there is something you should know before you try and do any magic with it.'

'Indeed,' Dumbledore looked down at them, smiling. 'Please go on.'

And so, after a prompting look from Hermione, Harry began to tell Dumbledore how it had all happened - how they had wandered aimlessly around the lake for quite a while, how the beam of watery light had attracted them to the Wand, and how Hermione had driven off the giant squid with a single Reductor curse. Dumbledore listened carefully to them, nodding solemnly at short intervals.

'I'm glad you warned me,' he said, without the usual mirth in his eyes. 'It is a huge pity, though ...' he trailed off looking disappointed. 'But it is for the best. Now, Harry, I think we'd better do something about those glasses you're missing. You might damage your eyes further if you squint like that for too long.'

Drawing out his own wand, Dumbledore muttered a few words under his breath and tapped the outstretched palm of his other hand. A pair of shiny new glasses appeared in his hand and the headmaster carefully set them across Harry's nose and over his ears.

'Is that better, Harry?'

'Much, thanks,' Harry grinned, fiddling with them so that they sat more comfortably.

'Have Ron and Arandelle come back yet?' Hermione asked curiously as Dumbledore motioned for them to take a seat.

'Not yet,' he replied, returning to his Pensieve. 'But I daresay they will be back soon. Have a sandwich while you wait for them - you missed supper after all.'

Indeed, the sky was of the deepest black, marbled by only slightly paler clouds. The moon was almost full and surrounded by several different constellations. It was only by looking up at them that Harry realised that they had missed most of the afternoon and night.

'What time is it?' he muttered to Hermione as Dumbledore handed them a newly conjured plate of sandwiches and two goblets of pumpkin juice. She pulled up a sleeve of her saturated robes to check her watch.

'Nearly three in the morning,' she mused. 'It's a wonder that the Gillyweed didn't wear off.'

'Oh,' Dumbledore looked up, the silvery reflections of the Pensieve beaconed on his face. 'I asked Professor Snape for some extra durable Gillyweed - somehow I had a feeling that you were going to be spending quite a while down there. He doesn't usually keep it around but I think he ordered some in recently for one of the seventh year classes ...'

'Actually, it's more of a wonder that it wasn't poisoned,' Harry whispered, helping himself to a tuna sandwich.

---

The sun had almost completely risen when, for the second time that morning, someone knocked on Dumbledore's office door. Both Harry and Hermione had fallen asleep, the sandwiches slipping dangerously close to the edge of the lopsided plate. Dumbledore gently took the plate from their sleeping hands and placed it on his desk before opening the door.

A thoroughly tired Ron stood there panting, shadows under his brown eyes from lack of sleep. Arandelle lay unconscious in his arms, the obvious reason for his exhaustion. Dumbledore beamed.

'Come in, come in,' he said energetically, stepping aside so that Ron could enter. The boy staggered over to the curved seats, did something close to dropping Arandelle onto them and sat down beside her, his eyes half closed.

'You really should change your password, Professor,' he said, sounding as if he really wanted to be somewhere else.

Dumbledore smiled slightly. 'Try to stay awake just a little bit longer, Mr. Weasley, so we can discuss a few things.'

With a long, age withered finger, the headmaster prodded his sleeping audience gently. They both woke almost immediately, and both expressed a strong desire that they hadn't wanted to. He ignored them, though, and moved over to their invalid.
'Resuscito,' he murmured, pointing his wand at the Arandelle, who's dark hair had been thrown all over the place. She coughed once or twice and sat up, putting a hand to her head with a frown.

'Now that we are all conscious,' Dumbledore beamed. 'Your Wand, Mr. Weasley, if you please.'

Grumbling under his breath, Ron leaned forward to hand over the Wand. 'This came with it,' he added, holding out the message that had been attached to it.

'At the center of the earth,' Dumbledore read quietly. 'Did you get one of these?' he asked Harry, waving the parchment around.

'Hermione has it, I think.'

She gave him a distinct glare, but pulled out a similar fragment of parchment from her pocket. 'It says "The seeker will not find it, nor will the finder seek it".'

'It's a clue,' Arandelle spoke up, though she winced at every word. 'They must both be clues on how to find the other Wands.'
'But neither of them make a low of sense,' Ron muttered, even with his eyes closed. 'How's Harry supposed to get to the center of the earth to find his Wand? Don't you think the prophecy would have thought of that? And that "seek high" clue is going to a whole of help, I can tell already.'

'I suppose they must have a double meaning,' Hermione sighed. 'Everything else we've come across has. Well, almost everything else.'

'Look, sir,' Ron opened his eyes for a moment to speak to Dumbledore. 'How about you let us sleep on this and we'll get back to you?'

Dumbledore smiled broadly. 'Nicely put, Mr. Weasley. I suppose I don't really have a choice. You're all about to fall asleep right here anyway - except for you, Miss Winters. You'd better go and see Madam Pomfrey about that cut.'

'I guess,' she admitted reluctantly.

'Lucky tomorrow is a Saturday,' Harry commented as his eyelids began to droop again.

'Today, you mean,' Hermione pointed out.

But he was already fast asleep.

---

Harry, Ron and Hermione each woke up find themselves in their various dormitories, each neatly tucked into their four-poster. Harry and Hermione's robes were strangely dry and warm, contrary to what they had been before. None of them knew which dormitory Arandelle was in, since she was a sixth year, but that hardly mattered as they all assumed she was in the hospital wing. They visited her after their extremely late breakfast, over which, they exchanged stories.

'How's things?' Ron asked as they pulled up chairs next to her bed.

'Better, I suppose,' she replied. 'I thought Madam Pomfrey wouldn't believe me if I told I got pummeled into the a dragon's side, so she's still wondering what I did to myself. But she says I'll be able to go by this afternoon.'

'That's good,' Hermione said.

'I thought so myself,' she grinned. 'So, have you figured kept your promise to Dumbledore and thought about what those clues mean? Or have you just gotten up.'

Harry shrugged. 'We just had breakfast, actually. We've been telling each other about what happened last night.'

'I see.' Dandy blushed slightly, glancing quickly at Ron who pretended not to notice.

'How about you?' Hermione put in. 'Have you had an thoughts about those clues?'

'Not really,' she admitted. 'But then, I'm not really good at that sort of thing. You three should be used to it by now - you've been breaking into things for the past four years now.'

Ron grinned almost apologetically. 'No, I suppose not.'

'"At the center of the earth",' Hermione pondered quietly. '"The seeker will not find it, nor will the finder seek it" ... I wonde-'

But what she wondered, they never got to hear; at that precise moment, the door to the hospital wing swung open and Angelina Johnson strode in, flanked by Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet. Harry's first thought was of Malfoy and his cronies but decided to keep quiet.

'Harry, Arandelle!' Angelina said briskly. Harry was reminded strongly of Oliver Wood, their previous and rather enthusiastic Quidditch captain. 'I've been looking for you everywhere.'

'Why?' Harry stood up. 'What's happened?'

'The Quidditch season started at the beginning of this month, Harry!' Alicia told him matter-of-factly. 'And the Gryffindor team hasn't had a chance to practice once since then.'

'We're way behind schedule!' Katie added.

'D'you know what Wood wouldn't done to us if we forgot that the Quidditch season had started?' Harry muttered to Hermione and Ron. 'Not that he would've let us forget or anything ...'

'The first match is next Saturday,' Angelina said. 'Against Ravenclaw.'

'We have one week to start practicing-'

'One week!' Katie put in, as if Harry didn't understand the urgency of the situation.

'But-' Hermione opened her mouth to object. 'Harry and Arandelle have something to, erm, do right now and it's sort of more ...'

She faltered as Harry gave her a surreptitious nudge. Angelina, however, looked interested if not the least bit annoyed.

'Go on,' she said.

Hermione looked to Harry for help, but he shrugged. After all, she had gotten herself into this mess, not him. Anxiously, she turned to Ron who stared straight back. Finally she looked at Arandelle who grinned rather slyly, in Harry's opinion, but said nothing.

Hermione sighed. 'Nothing, Angelina. They'll play, I suppose. And you'd better win the Quidditch Cup too!' she added scathingly to her friends. 'After all, it is Angelina, Katie, Alicia and the twins' last year at Hogwarts. They deserve nothing less. Geez, Harry, Arandelle, you're going to have a lot of trials to do next year with all of them gone ...' she added as an afterthought.

'Oh, shut up,' Harry snapped while she laughed at him. 'You know we love working when you're not too.'

'Well it's not my fault I'm not good at Quidditch,' she said.

'Or wizard chess,' Ron put in quietly.

'Don't forget recruiting members for associations,' Arandelle added. Harry shot her a look, before remembering that she probably knew a lot more about them than they thought she did, or wanted her to.

'Very funny,' she said, but her brown eyes twinkled with good-natured mirth. 'Arandelle, I would have thought better of you to team up with Harry and Ron. And as for you, Mr. Weasley-' here she glared at him fiercely '- you were the one who taught me how to play wizard chess. If I'm not good at it, it's technically your fault.'

Ron blinked. 'That's good enough for me,' he said, turning away looking pained.

'And me,' added Arandelle, looking frustrated.

Hermione bowed mockingly. Angelina looked amused but her face was set in such a way that they knew she would not be sidetracked.

'We'll see you on the pitch then,' she told them firmly. 'Five o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Do NOT forget.'

She left the room, Alicia and Katie trailing behind her. No sooner had the door closed than it opened again; Madam Pomfrey strode into the room looking scandalized.

'You three should really be more quiet!' she admonished them, shaking a punishing finger at them. 'Especially you, Potter. You've been in here enough times to know that rest is hard to get when you're ill! And what were those three girls doing in here? The maximum number of visitors allowed in here at a time is four, the sign clearly says so!' She waved her arm in the general direction of a neatly printed sign that said (in flashing scarlet ink), 'Four visitors only at a time. Any offenders are liable for detention.' This was followed by two signatures, Madam Pomfrey's and what looked like Angus Filch's scrawl.

'But there are three of us in here now,' Hermione said quickly.

'I suppose so,' Madam Pomfrey relented.

'And you didn't actually see the three girls coming out of the hospital wing, did you?' Ron added hopefully.

Madam Pomfrey raised an eyebrow. 'Actually, I did.'

'Oh.' Ron looked crestfallen.

He stopped at the sound of heavy footsteps outside the room. For the third time, the door burst open, this time revealing Professor McGonagall. He beady eyes swept over the hospital wing.

'Excuse me, Poppy,' she said, hurrying over to Arandelle's bed. 'Do you mind if I have a word with Potter and his friends?'

Madam Pomfrey shook her head soundlessly. 'No,' she said, though she looked rather surprised. 'Not at all, Minerva.'

She quickly busied herself with some white bed sheets on the other side of the room. McGonagall cast her a furtive look to make sure she wasn't listening before turning to the group.

'Professor Dumbledore has told me about the two Wands you found,' she said briskly. 'And I would congratulate you all but something very important has come up.'

'What, you mean more important than what we're doing now?' Ron demanded before shrinking back under her steely gaze.
'Precisely, Weasley. Dumbledore has informed me that Voldemort has been spotted. However, he has managed to lose our spies once again.'

The Transfiguration teacher paused a moment to let this sink in, before revealing the real problem.

'Voldemort was spotted no more than a month away from Hogwarts. We have exactly that much time to find your Wand, Potter, until he reaches us here. And then -' McGonagall lowered her voice to an uncharacteristically dramatic whisper '- who knows what will happen?'

---

'Dear Sirius,'

Harry's hand shook slightly has he wrote on the parchment. He didn't know whether he should be asking Sirius for help, but in that urgent a situation, who else could he ask? Sirius could be counted on to reach Hogwarts in time to protect him.

'I don't really want to ask you for this, but I need you to come back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore's probably asking you the same thing. I'm sure he's told you, but in case he hasn't written yet, I guess I will too.'

'Voldemort is coming to Hogwarts. My friends Ron and Hermione have both found their Wands but Arandelle and I haven't. There were clues attached to the other Wands but they don't make sense. And in the meantime, while we're trying to figure out where the Wands of Earth and Air are, Voldemort is getting closer. He was recently spotted only a fortnight away from here. He's coming for my Wand, Sirius. After all, I guess it was his Wand in the first place.'

'Just in case you need a bit of extra incentive, this should do it for you: Hermione used her Wand to blast the giant squid with a single Reductor spell. That may give you some idea on how powerful these things are - and why we need to stop Voldemort from getting hold of it.'

'My clue is "At the center of the earth". None of us (even though Ron, Hermione and I managed to break our way into the chamber holding the Philosopher's Stone) have any idea what that could mean. Arandelle's clue is "The seeker will not find it, nor will the finder seek it". Hope you can help us. If anybody can, it'll be you.'

Harry racked his brains for a suitable farewell.

'Hope you and Buckbeak are well - whatever you do DON'T get seen by anyone who doesn't know you're innocent, if not for yourself, for me. You can't do any good if you're trapped in Azkaban again.'

'Harry'

He sighed. The words on the parchment seemed so ... futile. It was the best he could to, he reasoned, but it still didn't seem enough. He beckoned to Hedwig. She came fluttering down to him and he tied the message to one of her legs. In return for this burden, the snowy owl gave him an affectionate nibble on the top of his ear, and flew out of the window. Harry watched her as she disappeared into the afternoon glow before turning his back and exiting the Owlery. A thought suddenly struck him.

'Oh no!' he exclaimed, sprinting down the hallway, looking desperately for set of stairs that would lead him to the Gryffindor Tower. 'Quidditch practice!'

Several minutes later, Harry arrived panting at the Quidditch pitch, hastily dressed in his scarlet Quidditch robes and clutching his Firebolt.

'Sorry I'm late,' he muttered to a disapproving Angelina before taking his place beside Arandelle, who was clutching her Nimbus Two Thousand and One in her right hand.

'Now that Harry's decided to join us,' Angelina snarled in the most uncharacteristic way. 'We have to play Ravenclaw in less than a week. They haven't made any changes to their lineup since last year - that means that Cho Chang is still playing Seeker.' She scowled, looking very reminiscent of Wood. Harry, on the other hand, was secretly pleased.

'Harry, I want you to make sure Arandelle's Keeper skills are up to date,' she ordered. 'Then, when you think she's going smoothly, I want you to change over; Arandelle, throw tennis balls at Harry. Do NOT aim for his head - I want him to keep his eyes open. Fred, George, get on your broomsticks and see how many times you can tag each other on knees with your clubs. GENTLY. Alicia, Katie, you and I will practice our passes.'

The team exchanged a fair few glances. Angelina stood their glowering. 'Well get on with it, will you?'

'Did she have a bad day?' Harry heard Fred Weasley ask Katie Bell, who shrugged.

'Who knows? Maybe the Wood syndrome is hereditary,' she smirked.

Harry seized a Quaffle from the practice kit which Angelina had opened and gestured to Arandelle. They made their way to one side of the pitch where the goal posts loomed large. Arandelle mounted her broom, kicked off and began to hover in front of the goals. Harry hovered several yards away, holding the Quaffle as if he was about to throw it.

'Ready?' he asked.

'When you are.' She nodded.

He lobbed the ball in the general direction of the goal. Arandelle caught it easily and chucked it back to him.

'That was pathetic,' she said, smiling. 'No wonder you're not a Chaser. Harder, Harry. Faster'

He tried that, but found that as speed came to his arms, his aim disappeared. She sighed. 'Let's just go get those tennis balls.'

She swooped down to the open box, dropped the Quaffle and swiped up a plastic bucket of tennis balls. Without warning, she threw one over her shoulder. Harry, surprised, caught it just before it hit his face.

'Nice one,' she complimented him, rising gently on her broom.

'Don't aim for my head, Arandelle,' he grinned, mimicking Angelina.

'If I do, it's your fault not mine. I mean, it's your head.'

'And it's yours you're risking if Angelina sees you disobeying her.'

They practiced throwing and catching the tennis balls until it became too dark and Harry kept on missing them. Fortunately, Angelina didn't seem to notice.

'Alright,' she said. 'You're a bit rusty, but your skills are all still there. That's good. If we keep on practicing like this, we should be ready for the match next Saturday.'

On that note, the team began to drift apart and in the general direction of the change rooms, most of them muttering under their breath.

---

The next week rushed by in a positive blizzard of classes. Professor McGonagall seemed to have forgotten their weekend deeds and spent many a lesson reminding them about the O.W.L.s that they had to take sometime around Easter instead of their end of year exams. Snape snarled a warning that he would be testing them on their stimulant solutions before the month was out. Professor Trelawney's already extra large eyes widened tragically every time they fell on Harry, and even good-natured Professor Dale set them working extra hard. It was nearing Christmas too, and many students complained - they hadn't even had a trip to Hogsmeade yet that year. Only Hagrid's classes seemed normal. Harry, Ron and Hermione spent their last period on Friday with him; they were learning about fairies - bright-eyed, neon coloured balls of light with wings that had the power to heal.

'What's the password again?' said Ron. The Fat Lady stared back at him.

'Cumulus Stratus,' Hermione recited with a frown. She was the only one who could remember the password, which had been changed the previous day.

'Oh yeah,' Ron admitted as the portrait swung open. They climbed through and collapsed on various chairs in the common room.

'Have you gotten a reply from Siri- I mean, Snuffles?' Hermione asked, changing her words after a sharp look from Harry.

'It's been a week,' said Harry flatly. 'He hardly ever replies that fast.'

'But You-Know-Who was only a fortnight away!' she hissed.

'Maybe that's why McGonagall was so irritated today,' Ron drawled, staring idly up at the ceiling. 'I don't think she's ever given us so much homework ...'

'Don't you think we should be looking for those Wands, Ron?' she asked. Judging from her tone of voice she, too, was getting irritated.

'We can't spend every single moment looking for them.'

She gave him a level look. 'We've wasted one week. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is going to be here in less than one month. Whatever happened to that head start we had?'

'It's too dark, now,' Ron protested, twirling his own Wand around his fingers. His old unicorn hair wand lay in the depths of his trunk.

'And tomorrow I have the Quidditch match,' Harry added.

'You of all people, Harry, should have your priorities straight,' Hermione snapped. 'Together, we've saved most of the people in this school - and stopped You-Know-Who from getting his power back.'

'A fat lot of good that was,' Harry told her bluntly. 'He's certainly back now.' His hand went unconsciously to the scar on his left arm, where Wormtail had cut him the year before.

'We can still stop him from getting the Wand!' Several people were staring at them now but Hermione didn't seem to care. 'And with all four on our side, maybe we can try t-'

'And maybe we can become Aurors too,' Ron said quietly. 'Calm down, Hermione, we don't want the world to end any more than you do. We're hardly old enough to defend ourselves properly, let alone take on You-Know-Who.'

'No one said we had to kill him,' Hermione said heatedly, though her voice was considerably hushed.

'Then what are we going to do; tickle him until him until he begs for mercy?'

Harry, who had been watching rather amusedly for a few moments, suddenly recognised the look of anger in Hermione's eyes. 'Stop fighting, you two,' he said. 'What's the problem? We can look for it after the match - and maybe I'll get a letter from Sirius some time soon.'

Hermione looked doubtful but the flare in her eyes softened considerably. Her gaze flickered from Ron to Harry.

'You'd better train hard then, Harry,' she said.