Harry Potter and the Prince of the Enchanted Forest

Chapter 7: In Which Things Look Grim for Hogwarts and Daystar Gets into Big Trouble

Within seconds, someone transported Harry to the Hospital Wing. Harry looked up at the ceiling, at the walls. How many times had he been here? It's embarrassing almost. He'd been injured so many times.

Madame Pomfrey looked frantic. Harry could see her blurred form kneeling over him. She could tell what was wrong, but she didn't know what to do. She pulled out all her medical texts on the shelf so that they fell around her feet and flipped through the pages looking for some kind of cure.

Then Harry saw Morwen burst in. "Trouble, you get Fred. Nimue, take George. Esther, get to Harry. You know what to do! Go!"

A white Persian pounced onto Harry's chest. Her deep blue eyes stared into Harry's. "What's going on?" Harry mumbled.

"Shh!" Morwen gasped. "Don't talk, Harry. This is Genie's mother. Just relax and let her do her spell. You're best bet to replenishing your magic is sleep."

Esther purred and continued to stare at Harry. The world went more and more out of focus. In the distance, Harry could hear voices of his professors.

"They'll be fine. They just need rest for a while."

"Which is more than we can say for the Quidditch equipment. Look, the Golden Snitch is dead, and the Bludgers aren't, well, bludging anymore."

"What can we do?"

"We have two options. Owl for new ones or retransfigure the ones we have. Either way, it will take until at least March until we're functional again."

"That won't be fair to the other houses. I'm afraid there's no hope for it. We'll need to cancel the rest of the Quidditch season."

"What? Albus, after all you said today about going on with life in spite of You-Know-Who--"

"This isn't Voldemort we're dealing with, Minerva. On the contrary, this could prove worse. This is the unknown."

Harry slipped into a deep slumber before he could hear the rest of the conversation. Later, he woke when all the hospital wing was dark. Moonlight glowed upon his bed sheets. Esther was gone, and Harry was free to move around. He looked to see Fred and George sleeping across the room. Harry felt better now, still a little weak, but well rested. He never remembered falling asleep or dreaming. It took him a while to convince himself that he had been asleep. The sleep Esther put him under was deeper than that he experienced under a sleeping potion last year, and it left him better rested.

"Harry!" a voice whispered.

Harry jumped. Daystar had appeared at his bedside from out of nowhere.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I startle you?" Daystar whispered. "Dumbledore said I could use my power to come to you the moment you woke so we could talk. Sorry it's so late."

"OK," Harry nodded.

"Here." Daystar twisted something in the air, and the screen closed by itself. "Now we can talk a little bit louder. How are you feeling?"

"My pride's hurt more than anything, I guess. I feel some better, though."

"Show me." Daystar handed Harry his wand. "Do a simple spell, a spell you feel comfortable doing."

"Lumos," Harry muttered. The wand blinked a little, but eventually the light came.

"Good. I was worried. Now, don't strain yourself. Put it out."

"Nox," Harry whispered, and the wand light went out, as a flame on a candle being blown out. "Er, Daystar, I saw how bad the Snitch was, and I heard the Bludgers were out of commission as well. Is my Firebolt--"

"Don't worry. Your broom had so many enchantments, not much harm was done. Morwen put a new coat of Flying Ointment on it just to make sure."

"Flying Ointment?"

"Yeah, it's a temporary substance to do a quick spell to make anything fly. Morwen has to apply it at least once every two days to keep it working, but it's very convenient. The cats have a flying laundry basket at home."

Daystar looked down remorsefully. "Harry, I--I am sorry. I let you down."

"No!" Harry said in disbelief. "I don't know what you did exactly out there with your sword, but you saved our lives. At least I had a safe landing."

"But I didn't find the culprit. If I did, I could've stopped him. I tried, Harry, you know I did, but I couldn't see anything. You must have been right on top of it, since you and Ron's brothers had the most magic deprivation. Did you see anything?"

"I saw a long, polished, walking stick, a staff! But I couldn't see who was holding it. It was a blur. Daystar, do you know what that thing was?"

"Yes." Daystar looked off into the star-filled sky out the window, his face filled with anger. "I know exactly what it was. The only questions that remain are how and why."

"What is it then? It's not Voldemort. Dumbledore said so." It felt to Harry almost like a dementor, but more painful. Thinking of dementors reminded Harry of the chocolate frog card incident. "Daystar, did Morwen ever tell you about what happened on the train?"

"What, the card? She told me a few hours ago. She should've told me earlier, but that was partly my fault. I haven't talked to her much outside of class. Don't want conflict of interest, you see. But she said she explained it rather hurriedly. Did you understand it?"

"She said something about stealing magic. I don't remember much beyond that."

"Then I suppose I should tell you more details. I neglected to tell you this when I was explaining to you how I got here and all, but there were certain words Professor Dumbledore tried to refrain from using because they were different things in our world. One of those words was 'wizard.' When the kid on the Knight Bus mentioned off-hand that Professor Dumbledore was one of the greatest wizards in all London, Father went ballistic to say the least."

"Good night! What did he do?"

"He first was infuriated that we trusted a wizard. Then he yelled 'Argelfraster!' about as many times as you did yesterday afternoon. When that didn't work, he went to the other extreme."

"He tried to kill Dumbledore?"

"No, no. There's more than one way to melt a wizard. The other's really messy. I tell you about it later. You see, Harry, wizards in my world aren't good news. They're, well to be quite frank, they're thieves!"

"They use their powers to steal?"

"Not exactly. They steal their powers. They don't have wands. Their magic comes only from their staffs, and the staffs absorb any magic that happens to be nearby. You can imagine, where I'm from there's plenty of it. Their staffs kill our forest."

"How?"

"It's made entirely of magic. As soon as a staff touches that bright green, springy moss, it turns brown and ashy. And that's not the half of it. The Society of Wizards absorbed huge chunks of the Enchanted Forest, to make huge spells. But then they got too greedy. They wanted all the magic of the forest, so they stole this sword. Mother went off to get it, and while she was gone, the wizards trapped my father."

Daystar's face was filled with a fiery expression. "They were the reason for a war in my home, five years ago. They wanted revenge against my family, against the dragons, against the forest. A few were on our side, a very rare few. When Father returned, he passed several laws to keep the wizards far away from us, and he made loads of enchantments to keep anything like this from happening again. But now they're back. And they're after the magic here at Hogwarts. They seem to be most interested in yours. And how can it be? The Headwizard and his son are gone, and I haven't heard of another election."

"So, what do we do?"

"Professor Dumbledore is already working on that. Good news and bad news comes of it."

"Good news first, please. I need some good news."

"Well, the good news is we don't have to take the O.W.L.s. The bad news is school is going to get a whole lot more boring for the next few months."

"Yeah, I heard him say that about canceling Quidditch. I hate that."

"That's just the beginning, I'm afraid. Professor Dumbledore ordered all the classes to be solely lectured. No magic for either demonstration or practice. Of course, that will cause some classes to close, like Divination, Transfiguration, Charms--"

"Potions?"

"Unfortunately no. We can still take notes on potions and ingredients of potions without actually making a potion. Hermione lost some of her favorite courses because almost all of the classes in the Honors Program closed. Professor Dumbledore sent away the house elves and hired Muggle chefs who are familiar with the wizard world. It's going to stay that way until the thief is caught, and Professor Dumbledore gave that responsibility mainly to me."

"You?"

"Yes. Morwen, Telemain, and I are best familiar with these kinds of wizards, and I have the sword. The sword almost works like a wizard staff. It can absorb a spell in use. The difference is it returns the magic to where it belongs. That's kinda what I did yesterday. I stopped the absorbing spell, and I tried to replenish as much magic as I could. You were so close to the source, though--"

"It's alright. You tried."

"Well, I'm glad you think that way. At least, I think that's what the sword does. There's a lot about it we don't understand. So, anyhow, if I can use your help, I can count on you, right?"

"All right."

"Good. Now, get your rest. I'll see you in the morning." Daystar nearly twisted something in the air, but then stood up and walked out the door.

Daystar was right. School did get a lot more boring. Not every enchantment was removed, but most of the magical things Harry was starting to take for granted were gone. Lecture for every class was almost unbearable. History of Magic was, of course, unchanged. Potions class was at its worst. Snape's lectures were tedious, but if anybody started nodding off Snape would make a huge example of the napper.

The only class that really remained interesting was DADA. Morwen was clearly upset that her "practical" lessons were being disrupted, but she started discussing her version of the Enchanted Forest and taught about dragons and firewitches.

"I think Mum's a firewitch," Ron hypothesized. "She has the red hair and the unpredictable temper."

"I don't know," Hermione shook her head. "They sound very difficult to control. Your mum can be nice."

"They're not all that bad," Daystar added. "My girlfriend's a firewitch."

Everyone stopped. "Girlfriend?"

"Her name's Shiara. She'd probably slap me across the face for calling her such. See, when I met her, she was really rude and inconsiderate. I wished so hard that she would be more polite. What she wanted was magic, because unlike most firewitches she didn't have any. Well, we both got what we wished for. Now she can only do magic when she's polite. I've been trying to help her turn it around, but she only gets more polite every time I see her now. I don't think she really wants the spell reversed somehow. Oh great, what's this?"

They were heading for the Great Hall for lunch when they saw Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle crowding around Neville, hexing him to the Stone Age. Several Slytherins were standing around Malfoy and his friends cheering for a fight.

"Put the wand down, young man!" Daystar said authoritatively.

The hall went eerily quiet. Draco put the wand down and glared into Daystar's eyes. "What do you want with me, Lucifer?" Crabbe and Goyle giggled. The other Slytherins burst out laughing.

"Are you trying to attract unwanted attention? Do you want what happened at the Quidditch match to happen again?"

"If you ask me, that event was a crucible. A way to filter out us purebloods from the riff-raff. Wonder how Granger and your other Mudblood friend who teaches DADA did under such circumstances?"

Hermione gasped, Ron looked like he was ready to take Draco on, but Daystar knelt down to Draco's level, glaring furiously. "You, young man, are an insult to the Draconian name."

Draco snorted. "What do you mean?"

"We're you paying attention in Morwen's class? Mother would have a huge problem with your crudeness and lack of diplomacy."

"Well, my father would have a problem with your mother."

"And my father would be furious with your father."

"Ooooooh," the Slytherins gasped. Draco's lip twitched. Daystar paused for a couple of seconds and spoke very quietly again.

"Professor Dumbledore has allowed me to do certain things. I wouldn't want to do them to a fellow student, but if you push me or my friends any farther--"

"What will you do? Give me that dud spell you taught Potter? We heard him shouting it." Draco mimicked Harry, "'Argelfraster! Argelfraster!'" Crabbe and Goyle howled with laughter, as did all the onlookers. "No such spell exists! You're not the flashy wizard everybody makes you out to be."

"Oh, you want the other way? OK." Daystar quickly twisted something, and soapy water doused Draco from out of nowhere. The air strongly smelled of lemons. Draco wiped the soap out of his eyes then glared at Daystar again.

"I've heard of this. Muggles believe this is how witches are destroyed. Stupid Muggles."

"Uh, Draco," Crabbe said uncomfortably.

"You think I've never take a shower? I do, quite regularly, and I never melted yet."

"Draco."

"How the mighty have fallen, Lucifer. I got news for you. I am not going to melt because of some soap and water."

"And lemon juice," Daystar added grinning.

"And lemon juice!"

"Draco!" Crabbe cried more urgently.

"What?"

Crabbe pointed down at Draco's robes. Draco was already shrinking, and his legs were no more than a black and brown mess on the floor. Draco gave a small scream and tried to pull himself out of the muck, but it was too late. So instead he shook a fist up at Daystar and screamed, "When my father hears about this, you'll be sorry!" Then his head disappeared in the mess. Daystar looked at Crabbe and Goyle mischievously, and all the Slytherins immediately ran away. Daystar then tended to Neville, breaking the curses Draco had put on the unfortunate Gryffindor.

"Are you sure you won't get in trouble with that?" Hermione asked.

"Professor Snape won't like it, but Professor Dumbledore did give me full permission to use it if I saw fit. Don't worry, it's not permanent. He'll probably be back by tomorrow."

Still word of what Daystar did spread around campus. Several students didn't understand wizard melting, so the most popular rumor was that Draco was dead. By that evening, students were avoiding making eye contact with Daystar or any of his friends. They whispered that they knew all along about his awesome power. Now they saw the darker side of it. They even spoke of Daystar's true identity which Draco and Snape suggested. Harry heard it everywhere.

"'How thou art fallen from Heaven, O Daystar Son of the Morning!' It's from Isaiah 12. Don't you know what that's really about?"

Daystar told them over and over again that his spell was not permanent and the accusations were far from true, but the students' fear and avoidance only increased.

"I know how you feel," Harry told him.

"No you don't," Daystar muttered.

"Yes, I do. Believe me. I've gone through the same mess as this more than once. Everybody giving me the cold shoulder, hating and even fearing me because of things they assume."

"You know Parvati offered me a bowl of ice cream, for no reason? I thought she was being nice, but as soon as I took it she ran off. And I offered to do something nice to her, and she said refused. I think she was just kissing up to me."

"Well, isn't it what you're used to, your majesty?" Ron whispered.

"Nobody serves me or my father out of fear. And nobody's accused me of being . . . this. I don't know why Mother named me Daystar."

About a day or two later, Draco did show up again.

It was the middle of potions. Snape demanded Daystar to tell him the ingredients for a certain potion, and the prince was listing them off for him. "Eye of newt, wart of frog, wool of bat, tongue of dog--"

"We don't need the poetics, Daystar, just tell us what's in the concoction."

"I thought you like Shakespeare, professor."

Before Snape could answer, the door slammed open. Lucius Malfoy came in, his hands on the shoulders of his son. Malfoy looked as horrid as ever, but his robes, his hair, and even the end of his nose still looked somewhat goopy. Still, many students rose into a commotion that conveyed confusion and relief. Lucius silenced it with a wave of his hand.

"Severus, I understand you have one Daystar in your class."

"Absolutely! Take him off my hands!"

Daystar came forward and bowed his head to Lucius. "At your service."

"Don't you dare!" Lucius said sharply. "Now come with me."

"Will your son be joining us, Lucius?" Snape asked.

"I'm sorry Severus, no. Draco is still feeling terribly under the weather. He is only here to describe to Dumbledore the--" Lucius looked as though a certain word was on the tip of his tongue, but for some reason he checked himself. "--nightmare the student in question put him through."

Lucius jerked his head toward the door, and he, Daystar, and Draco left the room. Draco gave Harry a sneer as they walked out as a response to Harry's stare.

"Well, back to the task at hand," Snape said coldly. He stared down Neville. "Longbottom, can you please pick up where Daystar left off--IN PLAIN ENGLISH?"

Harry didn't see Daystar again until supper. He silently sat beside Hermione, silently prayed, then took a bite out of his mutton. "Mmm. These Muggle chefs really can cook. I mean this food is . . . what's that British word you use for something good? Oh yeah, brilliant."

"What happened back there, with Lucius?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, tell us please," Harry encouraged.

"We want to hear about it," Ron said.

"What is there to tell? I had a nice chat with Professor Dumbledore and Mr. Malfoy. He's a brilliant man, really. That word sounds cooler every time I say it."

"But what did he do?" they asked.

"Guys, don't get alarmed. Nothing really happened. He's just talking about expelling me is all. Pass the salt please."