Chương 37: ITW,H - Chapter 37 - Timeskip

(Word Count: 1, 441) Time flew by and several weeks had passed, and it was now on the eve of winter break. By now, the temperature had dropped significantly and it became freezing. Inside the classrooms, common rooms, and the great hall were fine, since there were loads of roaring fireplaces, but out in the halls and the central hall were freezing. Stone castles weren't exactly the best at holding heat. So everyone went around bundled up in thick sweaters, cloaks, and scarves.

On the plus side, the castle grounds were covered in a layer of pristine white snow. It made for a breathtaking sight. Aside from the weather, over the course of these past few weeks, Harry managed to level up again. [Name: Harry James Potter-Black Level: 22 => 23 48. 2% Stats: [+5] Power: 70, [8], [22] Control: 89 => 90 Focus: 90 => 92 Classes: Mind Arts 12, Magizoology 11, Dueling 4 [+1] Skills: Occlumency 4, Legilimency 1, Serpensortia 5, [+1] Perks: Potter Family Magic, A Mother's Love, Horcrux, Parselmouth, Black Family Magic, Animagus, Natural Occlumens, Magical Growth, Emotional Empowerment, Harvester, Empathetic Sensing, Insight, Seer, Wide Wormhole, Teamwork Makes the Dream Work] He placed the 5 stat points into Power, making it 75.

He also placed the point into Dueling in order to get the fifth level perk that came with it. [Spellchainer: Spells in a spell chain get 10% more effective per spell before it in the chain.] Meaning that his spells got more and more powerful as he progressed through his spell chain, and he didn't have to use any additional power on his part. Professor Flitwick definitely noticed that during their weekly dueling practice. He just assumed that it was Harry intentionally putting more magic into his spells.

That led them into practicing how to break someone out of their practiced spell chains. The key weak points of a spell chain were just before the big heavy hitting spells that required a lot of Power like shield-breakers or Depulso. During these weeks, the books Harry had ordered from Uagadou finally came. The one's outlining dream walking and sharing Uagadou's insights into the mind arts. That's when he encountered a problem. They were in a beautiful script, with a lot of loops and dots.

It was one of the semitic languages, but he wasn't very familiar with any of them, so he needed an expert. He dropped by Professor Babbling's office. Harry had been here plenty of times before to talk about Parseltongue with her, so he was comfortable enough to just walk in. Professor Babbling's office was filled with bookshelves with old tomes in various languages. Any wallspace not taken up with the bookshelves were covered in various papers covered in runes.

It was before classes began, so Professor Babbling was there. She was grading some homework. At the head of her desk, next to a name plaque, was a stone that had a flat face angled up at him, which had a strange loopy design on it. When he had asked her before what it was, she had told him it was her own personal sigil, and that if he wanted to learn more, he needed to make it into her NEWTS class. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Good morning, Professor," Harry greeted. She looked up from her student's essay, adjusting her glasses.

"Ah! Good morning, Harry, what brings you here so early?"

"I just got some books from Uagadou, but they're all in a language I don't really know. Do you know this language?" Harry said, and handed the books over. She opened them up and flipped a couple pages.

"Well, the books from Uagadou are usually written in either English, Swahili, or Arabic. These ones appear to be Arabic. However, just as we use Latin for our spells, wixens from Uagadou use Egyptian Hieratic for their rituals and spells. So you have some Hieratic here as well." Professor Babbling found a good page that showed both languages, and pointed out the differences to Harry.

"Arabic is a consonant-based language, the consonants and vowels are indicated with this diacritics here." She pointed out the slashes and dots above and below the scripts.

"It's also read left to right."

"Hieratic," She pointed to a section of text that was next to a diagram, "is read right to left. It's known for its use of ligatures, when two 'letters' are joined together."

"Do you have any books that I can read to learn these languages?" Harry asked. She smiled proudly at him.

"I knew you wouldn't be content with just English!" She eagerly went to a nearby shelf and pulled two books off to hand to him.

"Just remember, learning a new language isn't easy. It's a journey that never fully ends." That night, putting his level 4 Occlumency skill perk to the test, he used his objective memory and flipped through the pages. He got through both books on the same night. This was in no way an instant mastery of the language. It was more like he had the book open in his mind for his perusal. It still took some time to "read" through everything and wrap his mind around the contents.

And he would certainly need to practice actually speaking the language. Since then, that's what Harry did when he would meet with Professor Babbling. She would speak slowly for him to mentally work through what she said, and he would clumsily put together sentences in reply. She would correct his pronunciation, and so on. It took him a month to get to a passable level in speaking both languages, but after looking through a dictionary for both languages and committing it to memory, he could read them very well.

That project alone took up most of his free time, so he didn't make much progress on the other fronts, aside from also committing the English and Latin dictionaries to memory. Christmas break was fast approaching. A week before it started, Harry received a letter from Arcturus. Harry, Come back home for winter break. Sirius misses you, and won't stop running around the house like a child. He's tried to redecorate the manor in horribly colorful tinsel and garlands three times already.

For my sanity, come home quickly and help me set him straight. There is also an annual Yule Ball that the Ministry hosts. It's time for you to make your appearance amongst the elite. You'll be representing both House Potter and House Black, so you'll be expected to dance at least once with each of the young ladies present. I didn't have you taught how to dance for nothing. Arcturus. Harry groaned at the thought of having to attend a snobby ball, especially one with most of the death eaters there.

Hermione, who was sitting next to him, noticed and asked "What's wrong?"

"Remember when I said I'm also the heir of House Black?" She nodded.

"Yes?"

"Well, my Grandfather Arcturus is expecting me to go to the Ministry's Yule Ball and socialize with stuffy politicians." Hermione grimaced, and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks. What are your plans for Christmas?"

"I'm going back to spend time with my parents. I think they wanted to go skiing."' Wait a second!' Harry groaned again. He would have to go back for Christmas, and that meant facing whatever prank Sirius had planned for him. And Dora. Now that he thought about it, she would want revenge as well.' Why did I have to go and shoot myself in the foot? It's been months though. They wouldn't have happened to have forgotten about his pranks, right?' Later in the day, Harry spoke with Ron.

"Hey, mate, change in plans. I'll have to be heading home for Christmas. Apparently, my Grandfather Arcturus wants me to attend a ball with him." Ron was bummed out. His parents were taking Ginny to go visit their brother Charley in Romania over Christmas, so all of the Weasley's here at Hogwarts were staying. Now the only friend that he thought would stay behind would leave as well.

"That's okay, Harry," Ron muttered. Neville, who was there as well, spoke up.

"Do you mean the Ministry ball? My Grandmother's making me go as well."

"Oh?" That made sense. He was the heir of House Longbottom afterall.

"It's good to know a friendly face will be there as well. Is Madam Longbottom making you dance as well?" Neville blushed, but nodded.

"Yeah." Ron began to feel a bit left out.

"Either of you want to play a bit of wizard's chess?"

"Sure." Time passed, and the next week they all boarded the Hogwarts express back to London.