Chapter 7

Three weeks went by and it was now the beginning of December. While not much time passed by since he began working on reducing the prison effect of the school, it was already showing some positive effect, less fight in corridors for one as the dueling room was booked for every conflict, it was so booked they had to make a second room for those duels. He was now cracking down hard on bullying, and with the fact that muggle borns were learning wizard culture already the effect was magnified massively.

Thomas was also writing down a report for the governor's board. Where he was sharing the muggle anthropological thesis that explained why with the members, bringing behavioral study by muggle was also one thing that gave a little hit to his reputation when he brought them the year prior but now he was actually more respected thanks to it as it helped massively the work of the Ministry and now it was showing good effect on Hogwarts barely three weeks in.

He was waiting for Steven Wardenfell, a pure-blooded wizard from a really minor family and third year Ravenclaw, who was learning Alchemy under him. The young boy was really talented and actually prudent in his studies, it is Thomas' belief that Steven will go far and most probably will make massive advancement in that branch. The Headmaster was also aware that Thomas was teaching alchemy to Steven and thus had his eye on the boy. Often the boy got some pointer from the old wizard.

In the last three weeks he also spent a lot of time in the enchantment and ward section of Hogwarts' library. Hoping to find if there was any that protected against natural curses, so far the results of his research was worrying to say the very least. Sure Hogwarts didn't have all books, nor did it have the most complete library but there was still a massive selection of books on the aforementioned subjects.

Three weeks was short so he wasn't really worried, but the lack of answer from his contact was as much of a red flag as the absence of response from the library as he had read more than half of the books in the section. Afterwards he would go to the jinx and malediction section and if he still did not find what he was searching for he would have to go to the restricted section. He was really hoping that he would find his happiness before then.

Adding the finishing touch to his report which he sent to the Ministry with his Laughing Owl, he finally stretched before going to the classroom, it would soon be time to teach his apprentice. The two previous lessons were about magical theory and this one too would be, as the reason why the Alchemy elective is a N.E.W.T. one is because it needs a lot of knowledge that a simple third year student can't know, not without help at least.

When Steven entered the room however, he wasn't alone. He was followed by another student, a fourth year one from Hufflepuff. The young girl from Hufflepuff came directly to Thomas while being clearly overexcited.

"Thomas ! I've heard from mum that you'll teach Ritual magic next year ! Is it true !?"

"Nymphadora."

She winced, while she now knew why this name was chosen for her, as it meant a gift from the nymphs, it still didn't mean she liked her name.

"I'd be grateful if you were to keep the minimum amount of decorum asked from a noble lady such as you. Hence, while at Hogwarts, please do call me Mr. Preacher."

"Yeah… erm… sorry Mr. Preacher. Still you didn't answer my question !"

Thomas sighed before answering the excited child.

"Yes, it is. I suppose your excitement is because you'll ask me to teach you the three previous years as well as the fourth, in advance ?"

"Wait ! It'll be a core subject !?"

"That it will, young lady."

The two students looked at Thomas expectantly, which led him to sigh once more. It's not like he didn't want to teach them, but he had the alchemy lesson prepared and he was quite unwilling to change his plans. But having two children, well more like teenagers really, looking at him like puppies that were badly beaten made him falter before he finally pointed them to the chairs.

"Allow me to be clear, I'll chain this lesson with the alchemy one and I want you two to be perfect next year, you'll have literally no excuses. Got it ?"

""Yes teacher !""

"So. For starters, how many types of magic are there ?"

The two students suddenly looked flabbergasted, this didn't seem like something important to know for a Ritual and yet the teacher was asking that.

"Erm… Imagination based and Hermetic ?"

Said Steven, unsure of his answer. It wasn't something learnt at Hogwarts so he could be certain that he didn't miss any. He was however reassured when he saw the smile on his teacher's face.

"Precisely. Imagination is the source of all the art typed branches of magic. It requires only the most imaginative of minds. There are no strict rules about it as it is mainly based on your intent. Scrys, jinxes and innate abilities fall under that type.

While Hermetic magic is magic that is codified and elevated to the level of a science. Hexes, Charms, enchantments, Ritual and so on, fall under that type. There are strict rules that need to be followed precisely or you risk a massive backlash.

Now, which one of you can explain what ritual magic is ?"

"The act of following a precise step at a precise instant of the year or during a precise natural event to cast a powerful and permanent spell… ?" Nymphadora answered cautiously

"Mostly correct. Ritual magic is the act of casting through material, somatic, verbal and focus components while being supported by climatic or celestial events, often the telluric lines are important to add the support of the Earth to say spell. The resulting spell is always powerful and can be with a duration long enough to last through the ages to a point that we assume it permanent.

Now to explain the terminology, material is self explanatory but to be the most exhaustive possible : it's simply objects used as a foundation to cast a spell, more often than not it is consumed, the perfect example here would be the mandragora leaf used during the animagus ritual.

Somatic means a movement that must be done to assist the completion of the Ritual, here the example is the purification dance used during the blood amplifying Ritual. The aforementioned Ritual is the one supposed to be done by every pure-blood family during Yule. Yes it is also the reason why the students are allowed to go home during the winter holidays and not the others.

Verbal is also self explanatory but for the sake of exhaustivity, it's words, more often complete incantations, used to structure the ritual as to allow it to be the most stable possible, the example here is once again the animagus ritual, the famous sentence you have to say every day at dawn and dusk.

Focus is the object through which you'll channel your magic when doing the ritual, because yes a ritual can be safely interrupted at key points as a Ritual is often a very long process, the perfect example once more is the animagus Ritual which takes a month and then you have to wait for a climatic event. The focus used for Rituals will always be a Staff, you can use something else but it'll actually make your job harder and trust me : you do not want that.

Climatic events are simple to understand, it's literally if it's sunny, if it rains, if there is a storm and such things. They have a massive influence on magic and are heavily influenced by magic, as such many rituals require a precise climate or it'll fail… or worse.

Celestial events are a little more complex and this is also why you need astronomy in your curriculum, it's the alignment of precise celestial bodies or to be more precise : the exact position of celestial bodies. Every ritual that is dependent on the planets and stars' alignment will do worse than fail if you do not take it into account correctly.

Now, there is a study case for the failure of a Ritual… to be quite honest if there was only one such case, then Ritual wouldn't be considered the most dangerous magic. The uninitiated caster is as much at risk as the prospective victim of an hex cast through a ritual. So the study case of today, as the staves I was getting ready for the next school year are not yet ready… you'll get them as a gift after Yule. will be the Strige incident. What do you know about it ?"

The two captivated students were stunned by the sudden question and looked at each other to see if one or the other had any answer. Neither had any idea of what their extra-curricular teacher was talking about.

"While this is quite concerning as the entirety of the Ritual incidents are cataloged in the library, I'll explain to you this precise case. An ancient Greek family had a ritual that allowed them to increase their physical ability, extend their lives and increase the chance of having an avian animagus form.

Their ritual required blood from a newborn, no specification on the species but preferably of magical parentage. The ritual had to be done by every member at the height of their youth, so around twenty five years old. Finally the ritual had to be done at night, but we lack data on which one exactly as this knowledge was put under an hex, which made it impossible to fathom the alignment, by a family that was tasked to kill the Strige family.

The consequence was most horrible. One half of the family, the one that had already completed the Ritual found that their avian form was their true and only one, which birthed the Owls, while the other, the young that tried the ritual despite all the risks… let's just say that those that found the perfect alignment by sheer luck became like their elders while the other either died or became one of the many races of vampires. The Strige line who feeds mainly on, you guessed it, newborns. They are also one of the rare successes of Necromantic rituals."

Dora and Steven were stunned by the consequences that would come from a single error in a Ritual. Granted many spells had consequences as drastic as this without a ritual, the perfect example would be the reducto which would destroy completely and utterly the target of the spell if cast incorrectly. There are many more examples that may or may not be as drastic as that, but it still was terrifying that messing up would inevitably lead to death one way or another.

They then fully understood the necessity of being vigilant and rigorous in their methods when doing magic. Every teacher said the same thing, but it always was more violent to have the most painful of gut punches to remind you that making mistakes in magic is always more costly than the adults wish to admit to it.

Thomas smiled, at least those two would not cross the wrong line and recklessly cast magic from now on.

"There is no need to fear the consequences of a mistake. The only necessity is to make sure that you don't make one in the first place. Like potions, in these lessons I'll teach you the perfect methodology to not risk having your entire lineage doomed. Well to be quite honest the Strige family still exists, just not under that name for quite the obvious reason, but still, you get my point.

For starters, the reason why I mentioned the type of magic at first was because having more knowledge on what Ritual you'll cast is most important, is your Ritual an Art or a Science ? A scry or a charm ? A jinx or a hex ? Knowing that will allow you to prepare the best structural sentences, as for example an Art would require a song whereas a Science will need a recipe.

Mistakes are only made out of a lack of information, incomplete knowledge or completely erroneous data. As such it is crucial that we take the slowest step to understand what we are casting, how we should cast it, when we need to be to do so, under what weather we have to be and finally where we need to be. The more accurate the information the better."

At that moment, Jester perched himself on the shoulder of Thomas and pecked him on the cheek to make him pay attention to the other Owl in the room. Which also made him realize that there were more people in the classroom : a gryffindor ginger boy who was enraptured by the lesson as much as the two others. Thomas went to the Ashy-faced Owl that had a letter for him.

He opened and swiftly read the letter, only to find out that there was no ward to protect from natural curses. Thus more time was needed to make one, it could range from ten years to twenty, but by the end of his work there would be one ward preventing natural curses.

Then Thomas went back to his lesson. This time he was explaining the different branches of magic and how their rituals were composed.