Squib

Chapter 19: Rituals

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Rituals

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As soon as Harry entered his office, Snape sent a spell at the door and Harry could see the Rune etched on the door glow for a few seconds indicating that the wards had been activated.

"I see you have brought the ingredients I ordered, Harry." Snape commented as he examined the ingredients. "I hope there was no trouble...?" Snape continued.

"No." Harry simply stated. Finally after a thorough examination, Snape seemed pleased as he straightened.

"What I am about to teach you Harry, is strictly considered Illegal, dark magic if you may. This is one of things that was responsible for the Dark Lord's rise to power. Tonight Harry...", Snape paused, "...you will learn about rituals."

"Rituals are a combination of Potions and Runes, using blood as the main source to power them. This is also sometimes referred to as Blood Magic. Rituals can be used to alter your body or your magic. Senses of a werewolf, strength of a giant, speed of a cheetah, they are all within the realm of possibility." Snape started lecturing Harry.

"Yes but why don't more people try it and why is it banned?" Asked Harry.

"I guess it is too good to be true. Firstly, The Potions required for rituals are very hard to brew and the Runes are no 'walk in the park' either. And secondly, whenever you perform a ritual, your magic becomes very volatile since it has to mix with the magic of the ritual. There is a very high chance in every ritual that the magics do not mix, in that case, the results are capricious. You could die, be permanently disabled, magically explode or implode, or you could simply vanish from existence without a trace. At least those are some of the most common results. The Dark Lord found, through Slytherin's diaries, some way to stabilize his magic during the rituals that allowed him to perform rituals without worrying about all the possible after effects."

Snape paused as Harry processed what Snape had said. "So, do you know the method that the dark lord used?" Harry asked. Snape actually shuddered at that, "no I do not, but I do know that it involved innocent human sacrifices, children more specifically. No Potter, you will definitely not be using the Dark Lord's method, even if you did know the process." Snape replied in a morose tone.

"Sorry Professor but unless I know for sure the after-effects are not there, I will not go through with any ritual." Harry replied tersely.

"I have a theory about you Harry, you see, you do not have any magic that will go haywire, unlike any wizard, which will protect you from the effects. But unlike squibs and muggles, you have a fully functioning magical core, which is the only thing that will allow you to perform the rituals. If my theory is false, the ritual will have no effect on you, but if it is true, it will truly be advantageous."

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A month had passed since his arrival at Hogwarts. Snape's theory actually turned out to be true and Harry found himself with heightened senses. Snape had explained that this was a sort of basic ritual with a low margin for error or disaster, even for normal wizards that simply heightened your senses and conditioned the body to become more accepting towards other rituals.

Harry looked upwards to see the Potter family owl heading towards him. His mother had been writing to him practically every day. He let out a sigh of annoyance but, even though he didn't realize it, he found himself looking forward to his mother's letters more and more. He would reply every once in a while but it was now more often than not.

To his surprise, as Harry opened the letter, there was a shrunken box of homemade cake inside the letter as well.

Dear Harry,