Harry Potter and the Lighting Lord

Chapter 43

Harry and Daphne emerged from the Black Lake, wet and shivering. They fired warming and drying charms on themselves and immediately headed for the Room of Requirement. Once there, a Hogwarts house elf provided them with some hot coco, and they sat in front of a roaring fire.

"So, we're tried both Bubblehead charm and Gillyweed" said Daphne, cuddling up next to her fiancé. "Which do you prefer?"

Harry looked into the fire with a frown on his face. "Neither, actually. While the bubblehead charm works perfectly, it will be difficult for me to swim, while the gillyweed helps me swim very well, hinders my wand movement. If only there was something which would help me move like gillyweed, but I could retain my agility with my wand . . ."

After a few moments, Daphne asked, "Why don't we create a potion based on gillyweed?"

"Excuse me?" he asked bewildered. "There's no gillyweed potion, Daph, you know that."

"Of course I do" said Daphne. "That's why we're going to create one. We'll try to use the properties of gillyweed so that you can sprout gills and improves movement in water, but doesn't go overboard in that you can still use your wand and cast quick spells."

Harry's eyes lit up. The Ravenclaw in him couldn't help but try it out. "Alright" he said smiling. "If it works, I'll use it. But if it doesn't, we can always go with gillyweed. Agreed?" he asked.

"Agreed" said Daphne, asked the Room for books on Gillyweed and other potions.

They were only fourteen, but they had started on the path that would soon gain them recognition all over the world.

HP*LIGHTNING LORD*HP

Harry opened his eyes and removed the Diadem of Ravenclaw as he shuddered. Watching those memories as he learnt from the Dark Lord was not a pleasant experience. He reinforced his Occlumency shields. Daphne had noticed changes in his behaviour and only then had Harry realised that those memories were affecting him emotionally. He wished he could stop it, but he was leaning a lot from watching the demented Dark Lord fight. It was a necessary evil. Several feet away, Daphne was busy working on the potion; several cauldrons simmering away nearby as she took detailed notes. It was the last week of January, a whole month since they had come up with the idea of Gillyweed potion. So far, all their experiments had resulted in failure, but they were determined. Piles of books on Potions, Herbology, Astronomy and Arithmancy were littered around the room.

"Hey" said Daphne, noticing that Harry was out of his meditative trance. "Learn anything new today?" she asked.

"Yes" said Harry slowly. "I learnt that there is a big difference in the duelling styles of Tom Riddle and Voldemort."

"What do you mean?" asked Daphne curiously.

"Well" said Harry, dragging the word. "The younger Tom Riddle didn't only favour dark curses like how he did in later years. He actually tried to learn as many of the different branches of magic as possible. As you know, I favour Transfiguration, so I was able to learn quite a lot of it, along with battle charms, jinxes and a variety of curses. I thought this would probably be a waste of time, as Voldemort was known for using only dark magic, and I don't particularly care for those which require me to power them with negative emotions, but I have learnt a lot over the past month. I have been practicing them, along with studying more spells from the Potter library. Whatever happens, it will probably culminate on the day of the third task, and I want to be ready" he said, his eyes flashing bright green.

Daphne nodded, and Harry went over to her and they spent several hours on the potion. It was nearly midnight when Harry added another component to a caldron, and the potion turned pale green. Daphne removed it off the heat. Once it cooled down completely, they analysed it.