Worthy Of Magic

Part 45 - The Experiement

The forest was creepier than Harry remembered. In fact, he had never found anything except for Vernon creepy. Nasty old fat man who deserved what Harry gave him; Death.

His first few steps into the forest, he felt like he was being watched.

Harry stretched out with the Void but felt nothing out of the ordinary. The trees were bigger, sure. Acromantula stronger, but nothing he couldn't handle. The Centaurs were in their secret stronghold and the Vampires were far up North, holed up in their caves.

He could feel his first desert experiment burning through the centre of the forest and on the other side, he felt the stirrings of a threat.

Even with his senses so sharp, he couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.

It was the same feeling he got as a child for the few minutes after Vernon would leave for work. Like he was still being watched by his fat uncle.

Harry felt alive. His senses were honed and the Void was alert, looking out for danger. Even the slightest movement that he detected, the Void was around it, probing, assimilating.

He didn't make a sound as he walked through the space between the tree trucks and poisonous thorns. Not even the forest made a sound in its silent observation of a predator in its midst.

Harry's destination was fixed. The unexplored lands beyond the reach of the experiment.

The anticipation of seeing his first big experiment again after his long journey through the desert made leaving Hogwarts easier. After dinner with Luna and the elves, he felt calm.

The rage and chaos that always swirled deep down in him was changed. It was now a vision of an end. He could see it so clearly and could almost see an answer worth uncovering.

Luna was wrong in his mind. To Harry, the destination was more important than the journey.

When he finally reached, he was taken aback by it's scream.

The experiment was now a mass of turbulent sand churning and roaring as it dusted from one horizon to the other. Magic was beyond anything like he had ever seen before. The desert was strangely encased inside a reddish pink hue of swirling colour shaped like a drill bit with runes rushing downstream at a speed he could not translate.

What had the experiment turned into?

There was no wind and a step back into the forest brought silence.

The power of this - Harry thought for a word to describe it and machine came to mind - was greater than what Harry had felt when he connected to the runes in the sky.

What would happen if he stepped in?

A smile lit up his face. Now this was going to be an interesting journey. Maybe Luna was right after all. He wrapped the void around him willed to protect and stepped into the unknown.

Time Unknown, The Settlement by the Sea.

"Good evening Mrs Barb, we have another one for a re-fitting."

"Fresh out of hell eh? That too wearing black robes? You're lucky you survived."

"We used cooling charms," Hermione said, feeling a bit offended that they were chiding her choice of colours when she was a witch.

"A waste of magic," Mrs Barb said with a tut. "Every edge you can keep counts in this world Miss. If a change in colour helps, use it." Barb's voice was weary but sharp.

"We're stuck in a sadistic game Hermione," Daphne said grimly. "Harry's game. And they only way we're getting out of it is to find him and kill him."

The flight from Hogwarts was still fresh in Hermione's memory. "You're right," she said. "We thought that too and he crushed us. He's beyond the likes of anything Daphne. Professor Dumbledore... Voldemort..., I doubt they'd stand a chance against him now."