As the twins left the room, Cormac returned to the trio and asked for Hermione and Weasley to follow him.
They nodded to Potter before following behind him quickly.
"Granger, this information is necessary with what we are going to talk about. So can you give Weasley a very simple rundown about Rituals, Alchemy and the relationship between the two?" Cormac asked the bushy haired girl.
She nodded before she turned to Weasley and said, "Ritualistic magic is the use of ceremony and rites for magic. Most researchers and authors agree that it uses belief as a medium of casting spells. Alchemy on the other hand, is a field of magic that uses alchemical symbols and processes to cast magic. Alchemy is a type of ritual magic."
Weasley nodded in understanding and Cormac was thankful that the girl had kept it short and simple. Perhaps having spent years with Weasley had already made her understand how to explain something to the bloke.
"Yes, Alchemy, in essence, is just very precise ritual magic. Though this precision has its drawbacks which we are not going to bother discussing. Anyways, do you know how to draw alchemical circles and use them?"
Hermione bit her lip before shaking her head. "I know the theory but never had the chance to try."
"Then I will recommend that you start to practise as soon as you can. Because–" Cormac paused before he pulled out another book from his robes and handed it to Hermione, "–this book, Binding essences, is a book that deals with the creation and usage of alchemical circles that can help in extracting raw concepts from magical objects in the form of elixirs. I need you to treat this book as the Bible and master this one rite of alchemy. Specifically, I want you to learn to do this to parts from magical beings. I want you to be able distil the very concept of strength from the bones of giants into elixirs. Do you understand?"
The girl nodded firmly. Good, it was very complex magic that failed all too often due to the slightest errors in methodology. Thankfully failed rituals normally were not half as disastrous as most fiction portrayed it. The most that happened was that the ingredients were ruined or the result was of poor quality.
Potions were far more dangerous than alchemy, which had surprised Cormac as he had imagined alchemy as this very dangerous branch of magic where the slightest error would lead to death.
"Good. Now take this as well," Cormac handed her a small vial of crimson blood. It had a few liters worth of blood. His own blood to be specific.
She looked a little confused about the vial. They could get blood simply by going to the potions lab.
"It's human blood. My blood." Weasley looked surprised at that. He could understand the reason. Blood was a very dangerous thing to offer to people willingly. Very sinister spells could be cast on the donor using willingly given blood. Cormac reckoned that it had to do with the intimacy of the gesture and its symbolism. To give away the very thing that one's life depended on was an act of vulnerability and trust.
Cormac had a two-fold reason for offering it to the girl. "This is a token of my trust, Granger. This is a weapon that can be turned against me and I give this to you with that knowledge. A peace offering but a tool for use as well. I want you to use my blood to make elixirs with the concept of 'amalgamation', 'transformation' and 'change'. Any questions?"
"How much time do I have?" Cormac simply replied to the question with an 'as much as you need' before allowing her to put the things in her bag.
Once she was done, Cormac spoke again, "Now that the magical parts of your task is done. I will give you some pieces of information that you must not tell anybody. Not even Harry," he forestalled any protest by raising his hand and continuing, "I will explain my reasoning. And please remember, I will soon tell Harry things that he might not be allowed to tell you either.
You will of course be allowed to reserve judgement on telling him if you believe that it is an emergency where he needs to know all the facts before making a decision. A heads-up beforehand will be greatly appreciated, because I am pretty sure that hiding things from Harry will not be pleasant once he finds out." The two smiled awkwardly at the joke and Cormac himself chuckled at the mental image of himself scrambling to erect shields as the boy tried to hex him for deceiving him.
The laughter died soon and Cormac sobered up as he asked, "Have you ever wondered why Voldemort tried to kill Potter back in '81?"
The two gave each other a glance before shrugging.
"I know about the Order of Phoenix, and I can assure you that Harry's parents being members was not the main reason." Their wide eyed looks keyed him to the fact that his knowledge of the Order surprised them.
"If you don't want to tell me something than be upfront about it. Lying to me can create more problems than it will solve."
"Sorry but it is not our secret to tell." Hermione shrugged unapologetic, though Ron looked uncomfortable at being called out.
"Then say so the next time. Anyways, how much do you know about prophecies…."
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[Harry's POV]
It took half an hour before Hermione and Ron left the room of requirements, both looking equally grim and determined. Harry almost wondered what the two had talked to Cormac about.
He shook his head, they had agreed that compartmentalization would be key in the coming days. It still rankled a little that he was being kept in the dark but this time Harry was allowed to see the general way of how things were evolving. And it was not wrapped in the usual dung about it being for his own benefit or due to his age.
McLaggen had been upfront about his goals. The reformation of Magical Britain. After the past few months that Harry had to truly deal with the Ministry, he wanted to praise the guy for his initiative. And after reading the files that the guy had given him detailing how things were on the magical side of the British Isles, Harry genuinely respected McLaggen for what he was trying to do.
Cormac walked towards him. The smirk on his face was both reassuring and annoying. It looked like things were off to a good start.
"Hope, today wasn't too troublesome?"
Harry snorted. "Not really. The hardest part was the speech. Felt too bloody foppish, like something Umbridge would do. Though I was trying to channel my inner Dumbl–" The bitterness returned due to the name he had almost uttered.
Cormac sighed. "You gotta let it go man. He has very good reasons for not being able to talk to you."
Harry shook his head. "If he didn't want to tell me about the elder wand in the Death Chamber of the Department of Mysteries, fine. I get that Voldemort can overcome what happened in the graveyard using it but he could have told me about the Ministry and the Prophet. I was going mad all summer, not knowing what was happening now that Voldemort was back. And on top of that, he blocked my mail! Completely cut me off. I had no idea about the slander campaign the Ministry was running against me. Total darkness—that's what it was. I was stuck at the Dursleys, completely in the dark while everyone else knew what was going on."
Cormac shrugged his shoulders, "You are not a occlumens and any knowledge you know is at threat of exposure. Even I am compartmentalizing so much because of this. We are in a war of information, trying desperately to predict the moves of the other side while hiding our own.
And with the prophet? Knowing they were calling you a mad boy at best and a murderer at worst, do you think that would have helped you in any manner?"
Harry shook his head in bitterness before he said, "That's the problem. I don't care about the damn prophet. But I deserve to know from my friends when I am being slandered. I was kept in the dark for my benefit when clearly the past four years that has not worked. Things would be so much simpler if people that were supposed to helping me were not actively obstructing me for my safety. Not with the Basilisk, not with the Dementors and not with the turban wearing turnip."
"Well, the good thing with not communicating is that it works both ways. Since the others aren't telling you anything, then don't tell anything to them either."
"Yeah, I think I am going to do that." Cormac smiled internally at the determined tone of Harry Potter. It felt a little wrong to manipulate the boy but things needed to develop properly for Cormac to actually be able to play the game in the long run. It wouldn't take long before Voldemort got his shit wrecked at the Ministry. It would be a major blow to Voldemort strategically but that would not take away from the fact that Voldemort had a literal army that would be willing to back him up in the future.
Cormac needed to counter an army rather than just an individual. An army made up of trolls, giants, vampires, warewolves and other dark creatures of all manners. The movies and books had really undersold the kind of force Voldemort had wielded at the peak of his power. A single giant took at least a dozen wizards to put down and Voldemort was going to field tens of them alongside wizards that could and would gleefully use dark magic. Not to mention the vast obscure magic that could come into play thanks to the Ministry falling.
What did Cormac have? A few dozen teenagers and about a dozen adult wizards that he might be able to sway to his side. Trained teenagers and some of the strongest wizards in the wizarding world, but no Dumbledore. Quantity was a quality that his side would lack. And unlike Voldemort, he did not like the idea of having people die for him.
He needed fighters that could fight at the vanguard without dying. Cormac needed warriors and his plans were shaping up perfectly to help him find them.
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/Author Notes/
Yeah, Cormac has made sure that Voldemort knows about the Elder Wand. Can any of you guess why he would do something like this?
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