Harry Potter's sister ~~~ Fanfiction

ginny's ill part 45

With the recommencement of classes, Harry also recommenced the Defence Group. While he was teaching the others jinxes and hexes, he himself was starting to learn about curses. One in particular he was considering: The Flagrance Curse. It was classed as considerably more advanced than anything else he had ever attempted. It was also beyond O.W.L level and potentially dangerous.

At the heart of the curse was fire. It had two functions, one was to curse objects so that they burn the skin and flesh of any who touch them. But it was the second function that caught Harry's eye. When wielding the curse in combat, a witch or wizard could use the curse to spray fire like, according to a diagram in Curses: their Uses and The Consequences of Those Uses, like a controlled flame thrower. The book lived up to its title, it gave a good description and warned of the dangers of the curse to both people and objects around them.

Harry carefully read through the instructions and the warnings, he was confident he could master this curse but he would need to practice it somewhere. There in lay a problem. He couldn't use the practice room because it was doubtful he'd have much control over the flamethrower and there was a high probability that he would burn something. He couldn't practice anywhere else in the castle for much the same reason. He didn't want to ask Professor McGonagall because there was a good chance she would discourage him from attempting such a thing, probably using a very loud voice. With that thought in mind he decided he would attempt it outside in the grounds.

On the Tuesday afternoon when classes ended early, Harry went down to the grounds and walked around the lake. It had been snowing less in the last week but the previous night and for most of the morning flakes had fallen non-stop and a new white bed was coating the grounds. Harry took comfort in the fact that the ground was wet, ice-cold and covered with snow, thus reducing the risk he start a bush fire (if that was how they started).

After nearly half an hour of walking Harry found himself at the far end of the lake. It was a relatively peaceful and isolated part of the school grounds. No one tended to walk this area at this time of year, mainly because the snow and ice made the trail around the lake difficult as well as the outside temperature below zero. This meant two things: One despite wearing both this year and last year's Weasley jumpers in addition to other warm clothing Harry was freezing and two Harry was isolated. Perfect for experimenting with a difficult to control fire curse.

The difference between the two methods was the wand movements, the incantation was the same. Harry began by performing the flagrance charm of a rock on the ground.

"Comburet!"

Then to test it, he took out a piece of parchment and tore of a strip. Upon contact with the stone, nothing happened. A confirmation touch indicated that he had failed to perform the curse.

He tried again two more times without results. But the third time the results became obvious.

"Comburet!"

The snow around the rock melted away rapidly and when Harry had the parchment make contact it caught fire.

"Finite Incantatum!"

The curse cancelled out and Harry confirmed it by placing another slip of parchment. The book Harry had; recommended that he practice placing the curse on an object several times before he tried casting a flamethrower variant. Harry kept on trying until he could cast the charm easily enough four times in a row on a rock. Then until he could cast it four times in a row, each time on a different rock.