Chương 31: Aperio Arcanis

"Yes, I rescued one and have been trying to take care of it."

"I can see that, Miss. But why bring it to The Come and Go Room?" I glanced around the 'Barn' version of the Room. The room wasn't anywhere near as massive as the video game version where there were entire outside habitats, but it was comparable to Hagrid's oversized coop. Unlike the other versions of the Room, I had very little space to walk around as the door was segregated from the wider area. The original cage I'd used had been discarded as the Rooster took over the floor.

It made me wonder how the Room dealt with him being here when I brought up my Study. Maybe these Rooms weren't being summoned, but instead existed permanently somewhere in the castle? Just walled off and warded? How many secret places did the castle have?

"I needed a place it would be safe from whatever is hunting them." Daily trips to the place to feed him were beginning to be a bit of a burden. Not a massive one since I could exit to anywhere else in the castle, but I could easily imagine a situation where I failed to come.

"If Miss knew there was something hunting them, why not go to a Professor?"

"Well, I didn't know for sure. It was basically a dream vision. I wasn't sure I could be convincing enough to get a professor to put enough in place to stop the attack. Maybe delay it, but that would in turn potentially discredit me, and make the inevitable attack work. You aren't going to tell on me, are you?" I gave her my best pleading expression.

"House-elves are neutral in all matters between the residents of Hogwarts, Miss. Unless Professors McGonagall or Dumbledore themselves ask directly, Washy will not breathe a word of any secret she learns throughout the castle.

"The current headmaster has never ordered one of us to speak on what we observed. Though Washy still thinks Miss should go to them herself if she knows of a threat to the castle."

"Thank you Washy." I sighed.

"So only those two are your actual masters?"

"We house-elves are bound to serve the castle, Miss. Only the current headmaster and the deputy headmistress may issue orders to Washy, but they are not our Masters." Interesting. Being bound to the house—instead of a family—put them closer to 'brownie' folklore, instead of how I'd been thinking of them. Except brownies had ways to respond if they were insulted by the owners of the house. Also, I was fairly sure most of the house-elves were bound to families and not the buildings they lived in.

Hogwarts might just be an outlier. Did the St Mungo's and the Ministry have something similar in place?

"Are you willing then? I still plan to take care of him, but if something happens and I miss a day, just keep him fed and healthy?" I really didn't want to interact with the bird any more than I needed to. On top of my reluctance towards pets, this one had a horrible personality.

"Washy has already been keeping his feathers and the enclosure clean since the rooster took up residence, Miss. A minor task, like delivering the food Miss is already regularly requesting from the kitchens directly here, is not beyond Washy." I looked around. The Barn was clean—cleaner than it was when I first placed Richard here—now that I thought about it. And Richard himself was looking good too. A chill ran down my back. I didn't realize the elves already knew about me taking care of the bird.

Just how many secrets did they know from all the previous students at Hogwarts. Did they already know about the basilisk? I wanted to push her, but it would be unwise. She had already declared her neutrality, and I was cognisant enough to know that 'well-behaved rule-abiders' rarely succeeded in making significant change. And I was planning on making a lot of changes eventually. The elves staying out of wizarding affairs until war itself breaks out was the best I could reasonably hope for on this front.

"Thanks again Washy, you are the greatest. If you, or any of the house-elves, need anything from me—anything at all that a witch could help with—please find me." I didn't really expect her to ask for help, but leaving her with the offer was important. Few people could fault others for being generous or helping others; the elves definitely associated offering aid with emotional connection.

"Also, if I somehow end up dead or hospitalized long-term, please bring Richard here to Professor Dumbledore and tell him, 'Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom, look for the snake on the sink.'""Miss should not speak that way! Nothing will harm Miss at Hogwarts." I fought back a visible reaction to that. Yep, perfectly safe here.

"I don't intend for anything to harm me, Washy. I just like to have backup plans on top of backup plans. When things go wrong—when I'm forced to rely on instinct in stressful situations—I tend to make the wrong decisions. The best way I found around that is to make the decisions beforehand; when I'm safe, comfortable, and under far less pressure." Screw all those protagonists—like Harry—that just 'know' the right thing to do at the right time. Every time I simply 'follow my heart' I end up regretting something.

Plan, then plan again for a backup way to achieve your goal, then plan for things to go wrong with both of those, then plan for a way to flee. Lastly, plan for mutually assured destruction. If anything brings you down, they shouldn't walk away unhindered. Then try to execute those plans. The stakes here only heightened my need for due preparation.

"So will you do it Washy? I think Dumbledore would appreciate it if you did."

"Washy will do it, Miss." Good. Death seemed unlikely, but it was the one universal certainty to life. The basilisk was just the most likely to get me currently, so might as well plan for revenge if the worst happens.

"Thank you, Washy. Truly, thank you. You didn't answer me earlier though. Is there anything I can do for you, or any of the house-elves? No matter how small?"

"It would be unbecoming of a house-elf to rely on their Masters or Mistresses for anything, Miss."

"Ahh, but you just said Hogwarts itself is who you owe allegiance to, and beyond that, only the Heads of Staff. I may be a student, but I'm not from Hogwarts. I'm external. I can help you. I can help Hogwarts." Also, don't they rely on the staff to bring in resources like food? Elf logic was weird. It was easy to argue against, but it made pressuring them too much feel like tricking a child.

"Washy will keep it in mind, Miss, but Washy doesn't think you are capable yet of the magic we would need of a witch, Miss."

"Oh?" They actually had something?

"Tell me Washy, I want to help."

"Minor injuries, Miss. House-elf magic is not good at healing, and those of us who accumulate bruises or cuts are unwilling to see someone over the issue.

"Injury shows a failure on the part of the house-elf, and trying to remove the blemish can be seen as avoiding the responsibility for the mistake. Washy does not abide by the behavior. Injuries build up, and lessen a house-elf's ability to work." Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I grimaced. I still hadn't progressed with healing magic. I read the book Penelope had given me, but I hadn't approached Madam Pomfrey yet, let alone received permission to practice.

In some ways, It was the same reasoning I had for delaying researching Fate, only to a larger degree. I knew healing magic was going to be a massive project with no easy ground to be made. Even Episkey, the most minor of healing spells, was O. W. L. level. It was partially why I was willing to make that promise to Penelope.

"Yeah, that's beyond me currently. I could try with mundane methods or direct other students capable of the magic to you. Fred and George might be able to help." They had to have caused some injuries during their pranks and experiments. Wasn't a guarantee they picked up the spell, but it sounded reasonable.

"But I'm guessing the real issue is that they refuse to ask for help in the first place or they would just go to Madam Pomfrey?"

"That is correct, Miss. They will not seek out aid, but would not refuse if a healer approached them about it. For the rare, serious injury, Washy is forced to go to whoever is the healer on staff. Washy will keep Miss apprised of other issues we encounter, if any, but we are very good at our jobs, Miss." I nodded.

"You are indeed. Hogwarts deserves the best, and they have it." Always be complimentary with service workers. It costs nothing except a bit of time and people will love you for it in return. …Or it wouldn't work out, for one reason or another. People were still people, and at least one in every ten of them were unrepentant trash. I doubted Filch would ever respond kindly to a student's compliment regardless of how much they meant it. Moving on."'Whoever the healer is on staff'?"

"Washy has been serving Hogwarts for nearly two hundred years, Miss. There have been nine different staff healers in my time here."

"Huh." That was an interesting tidbit. I mulled that information over for a bit, contemplating the ramifications of a longer life-expectancy across their species. Nothing stood out as immediately worth questioning, so I changed subjects to something else I'd been wondering.

"Are there things you lot are eager to provide, compared with things you'd rather someone never request? Just in general?" I gestured at Richard.

"Like, do you find this kind of task troublesome? You all seem so eager to help when someone requests additional food? Would you want me to point you at messes if I find one somewhere in the castle, or if students plan to use an abandoned room?"

"Indeed yes, Miss. To your first question—tasks where we are required to be seen are always mildly troublesome. The mark of good house-elves is to not even know we've been there." Good to know, but I wouldn't be the one ordering them to do that sort of task in the first place.

"On the other hand, food is always a joy to provide if we know it is going to be eaten, Miss. A house-elf's greatest joy is in being useful. If Miss identifies a need or want for the residents of the castle, we would gladly prioritize it." They want their work appreciated above all else, and they value secrecy. This conversation was good. It was the deepest I had pushed with one of them so far and I was learning a lot. Slavery was not conducive to appreciation.

An opening for later, a way for them to accept freedom. Just one more piece of the puzzle. They still wanted to be useful and took pride in service. Even invisible, unknown service. Another piece. Food. I thought. That was easy enough. An easy way to keep building my relationship with them.

"My roommate Cordelia has a birthday coming up this Thursday. I'm not sure if it's different in the wizarding world, but she was raised as a muggle. They have a tradition of giving others cake on their birthdays. I think she would be very grateful if she got a chocolate one during dinner to celebrate and share." Birthday cake and sweets timed to important events. Who wouldn't appreciate that? Washy visibly brightened at the request.

"That sounds wonderful, Miss! Thank you."

"No, thank you." I rolled my eyes.

"You're the one making the cake. I'll try to keep you apprised of other events and dietary preferences of the people around me." Maybe there was additional profit to be made by becoming known for being able to adjust the meals we get slightly. Why not benefit from the extra effort? Washy excused herself after that, eager to get back to work. I could appreciate not being a fan of small talk. I exited the Room and re-entered my Study variant. The room was largely split into two sections.

The first being a wide open space for moving around and spell practice. There were padded mats, movable dummies, and a few static archery-like targets of different sizes. The back area was closer to a workshop. Several tables were lined up in rows. A good deal of open space was between them, for easy movement, even with the multiple comfy armchairs arrayed around the space. Sadly none of those chairs had wheels, but the thick carpet would have given wheels difficulties anyway.

Bookcases lined this area, their shelves filled with many of the volumes I referenced most often and the various items I kept stored here. There wasn't a clear-cut line between the two sections. Generally speaking, moving from the open area near the front of the room towards the back of the room, led to more clutter. The door disappeared as I closed it behind me, in line my preference for being completely cut off from others. I quickly recognized an addition to the room I hadn't expected.

The vanishing cabinet I'd spent most of the morning slowly bringing up multiple floors was now resting beside the ornate fireplace. Before talking with Washy, I'd placed it right inside the door to the Hidden Things room. I guess this confirmed that the items really are being transferred between the Room variants. I already sort of believed it worked that way, but I hadn't thought to confirm it with a unique item. I moved to the center area.

Near a white ceramic 'mirror' on one of the desks and one for the practice dummies. I pulled out my wand.

"Aperio Arcanis." A blue-green light washed over the dummy, having no visible effect. I checked the white ceramic mirror and found the center had changed color to a matte blue. I sighed in relief. That made ten successful casts in a row. No issues even after coming back from a break. The 'white mirror' device had a proper, ridiculously-long name, but I had taken to mentally referring to it as the 'Parity Mirror'. Whenever a functional spell was cast properly near it, it would change to blue for a minute.

When practicing a potentially dangerous spell—with no teacher, and no visible effect unless I used it on myself—the tool was invaluable. At the same time, probably useless in a classroom with multiple people around. I had been able to find the purposes of a very few enchanted items by 'wanting' to know what they did and 'finding' a book related to the kind of magic in them on a nearby desk. The Parity Mirror was one of the only ones where I got an old faded advertisement telling me exactly what it did.

Aperio Arcanis was the 'detect magic' spell I decided to learn. Unlike the Revelio variants, which typically affected an area and allowed everyone to see the result, Aperio spell variants were cast on a person to enhance that individual's senses for a short time. Revelio was more widely used, and thus better understood, but I hoped that by using Aperio, I'd better accustomise myself to permanent magic sensing once I acquired the ability. Psyching myself up, I went through the casting again.

Only this time I finished by tapping my wand to my chest. Colors washed over my vision. Only they weren't colors. The walls shone, but weren't any brighter. My wand looked fuzzy, but I was also seeing it as I always had, clear and stable. It was everywhere. All at once. Something new and nothing different. How do you describe sight to someone who has always been blind? Sound to someone deaf? It was working mostly through my eyes but it wasn't purely visual. Magical synesthesia.

My head began to pound with the beginnings of a migraine. It was a lot of additional stimulation. I could see why the book said most people preferred Revelio. This wasn't even the complete version. True magic sense would be far more intense. I wondered if the fact that this spell was affecting my vision over my other senses implied I should focus on arcane sight for the potion I wanted, regardless of the risks. I fell into a chair and closed my eyes. Everything was spinning just slightly.

Over the next hour I adjusted to my new temporary sense. It wasn't perfect. When I looked at something I still had no idea what magic it possessed, only that it definitely had magic. For something like a wand with obvious magical use, it didn't really help much. In fact, it would be useless for most things in Hogwarts since magic permeated everything here. I wasn't sure if this would've even helped me avoid the dagger considering the sheer amount of magic in the Room. Magic was metaphor.

What was the symbolism in what I saw? What were the patterns? It all blended together for now. Until I started to differentiate between enchantments, I wouldn't have much use for Aperio. All the more so because I'd read there were ways to hide magic traces. It was rare—warding against detection was both difficult and prone to failing—but it was possible. The spell wore off. Once my headache subsided slightly, I cast the spell again.

Then I forced myself to watch as I went through the majority of my repertoire to date. Wingardium Leviosa, Alohomora, Lumos, Reparo, Scourgify, basic sparks, a few simple transfigurations, and Nebulus—the spell from The Tools for a Thief book which summons magical fog. I picked up the last one in the hope it would be enough of an obstruction to weaken the basilisk's stare. They were all cast properly; just sadly lacking in power. My Reparo could fix the robe Richard had clawed, but not all at once.

My Alohomora could open a shut door, but not unlock one. My fog wasn't enough to cover me, let alone an area. I would fix that eventually, just not today. I then took out all my enchanted items and natural magical materials—like the bezoar I picked up a few days ago—and examined them too. For now, I was looking for patterns within the different magics. Similarities between them, or at least the difference between the schools of magic.

Knowing if an item had transfiguration magic on it when it shouldn't, for instance, was going to be the next step on improving in this direction. I was ultimately hoping that by figuring things out while under this spell, I'd have an easier time decoding magic with the true version of arcane sight. Until then, I would get good enough at understanding enchantments to start profiting safely from the trash of former generations.

Shame I couldn't use this spell to work on Occlumency, but that needed the innate internal sense. This temporary magic didn't run deep enough for me to know what I'd be doing with magic weaving. I tried to stand, but the colors that weren't colors shifted as I did, causing me to fall to the ground. I shut my eyes again and rolled over into a pile of soft pillows that had just appeared. The fresh magic from the Room made my head spin even more. This was going to take some time.