Characters, settings, and story relating to the Harry Potter series of novels are copyright J. K. Rowling, along with Bloomsbury Publishing, et al. "Spirit of Fear" is not an officially published work, nor is it in any cooperation with J. K. Rowling or Bloomsbury Publishing. "Spirit of Fear" is entirely (with the exclusion of the aforementioned characters, settings, and story) a work by Thomas Holman.

Chapter Sixteen

Civil Conversation

Chey awoke the next morning and, realizing it was the weekend, refused to get up.

He didn't have much choice in the matter, though, because Fleur had entered the room and cast a summoning charm on the covers. He let out a cry of surprise, and, after seeing who it was, cast another summoning charm on the covers using his hand (without bothering to illusion a wand), and the blankets obediently flew to his hand.

"What about my illusionry lessons, Chey?" she asked as she pulled the blankets away again.

"Lesson number one," he replied, "A learning mind needs ample amounts of rest," and he pulled the blankets back.

"I'm rested," she said, pulling the covers away and sticking them to the ceiling.

Looking at her handiwork, all Chey could manage to say was "Aw, hell." After applying a little more effort to wake up, he realize that she was in the boy's dorm. "How'd you get in? Can students visit either dorm?"

"No, you're not supposed to visit us. The girls can go anywhere."

"Of course you can," he muttered. "Why should school be any different from real life."

"What are all these?" she asked, indicating the many posters Chey had put up to cover the powder blue that annoyed him so.

Without missing a beat, Chey answered in rapid succession. "1969 Dodge Charger, the 1987 Washington Redskins, a North American Roccaverden, A Peruvian Vipertooth, and the theory behind the Patronus charm. I'm starving. Are we going to get some breakfast or what?"

"Why do you guys never have any bacon?" he asked in the dining hall. By entering the hall together, they had singlehandedly silenced every one of the hall's occupants. Everyone stopped their conversation to wonder silently why these two would have less than ten yards between them. All eyes followed them as they walked to a place at the table, and the whispers started with a fury when they sat down next to each other.

"Why would we have bacon?" she asked in response.

"You guys have pork, don't you?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then what's wrong with bacon?"

"It's not appetizing at all!"

"I'll tell you what's disgusting: snails. This whole country is backwards. You eat snails but not bacon."

"I don't eat them either, but for the same reason I don't eat bacon."

"Well bacon is just pork, only fried in a skillet."

"Shut up and eat breakfast, Chey."

"Just not the same without bacon."

"If you're going to keep talking, then at least tell me what the first lesson will be like."

"This is it: lecture. You're going to learn a little history."

"That's it?" she said, sounding disappointed.

"Don't worry, it's very interesting. Illusionists used to be the bridge between the magical and non magical worlds. In fact, the stories about magic that the non magical population has invented stem from stories about illusionists."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you ever look at the history of the human race, and wonder why wars were so few and far between way back when?" he asked, and she nodded only in understanding of what he was talking about. "Well, back then a lot of wars were decided by illusionists. You see, two sides would agree to meet with an impartial illusionist, and he would simulate the battle. The winner of the simulated battle became the winner of the war, eliminating the need for blood loss."

"Were these muggle armies?"

"Oh yeah! Of course, modern magical governments have done a great job covering up that fascinating bit of history from both worlds."

"Why both?" she asked. Chey had to admit it did seem odd.

"First, they hid it from the non magical world, in order to keep the secret. Second, if the modern magical world knew that the existence of witches, warlocks, and wizards was common knowledge to the ancient world, they'd start to question the need for secrecy today. Does that make sense?"

"More than you'd think. So even a losing army just accepted it?"

"Well, every now and then, human nature would get the better of them. They'd accuse the illusionist of working for the enemy and start the battle anyway. Only once did the outcome of the real battle differ from the simulated battle."

"What happened?"

"Sneak attack. After the simulated battle, they pretended to be fine with it, then ambushed the enemy while they slept. They were the smart ones. Anyhow, about a fifteen hundred years ago, the newly formed magical governments established their statutes of secrecy, and the illusionists couldn't settle any wars anymore."

"So what did they do?"

"Nothing. Deciding battles was all they did. In a way, the great art of illusionry was reduced to a parlor trick. For a while, illusionists maintained their fame by throwing the best parties, but when people began to see through them, they started partying with people who had money, like royalty and such. Eventually, illusionry became the lost art it is today. On the plus side, so few people can recognize an illusion, so it's good for scaring the living daylights out of people. Ninety percent of UFO sightings are the work of bored illusionists."

"Are you serious?"

"Absolutely! Sure, you can blame it on airplanes flying in formation, but chances are it's an illusionist, just like alien abduction stories. You start to feel bad for the victims until you realize how funny it is."

"How did they simulate the battle?"

"Back then, illusionists were the most powerful witches and wizards around. They created an illusion of each soldier, and each weapon they held. These illusions were so intricate, they could interact with the physical environment. Maintaining all these illusions required a crazy amount of focus, so no one could even touch the illusionists in the process. If he or she was interrupted, the whole thing would dispel, and they'd have to start again."

"So how would I cast the illusion? Is it like conjuring?"

"Completely the opposite. Conjuring involves creating actual, solid objects. Illusions are images of light that can be altered and, if made properly, can interact with the physical world. They are completely under the control of the caster. Conjurings, on the other hand, either act on their own or just sit there. Now, after hearing that, can you see the advantage of an illusion?"

"When will you start teaching me?"

"Tomorrow. We've talked long enough. It's almost lunch."

Indeed, students who were in the hall for breakfast had already left, and some others were coming in for an early lunch.

Despite how much she protested, Chey refused to begin teaching her for the rest of the day. Instead, they spent the day getting acquainted as though they would have had they not been sniping at each other from day one. Something about her opened Chey up. Despite knowing her only two months, he talked like the two of them had been together for years.

The other students took quite a while to accept that the two of them were no longer on shouting terms. Eyes followed them wherever they went, and whispers ensued as they walked.

The next day saw Fleur's first illusionry lesson. Though she failed to create a simple ball of light, the simplest form of illusion, Chey thought she'd made progress. According to him, step one was getting in the mind set, and he thought she was halfway there.

After a few days of lunchtime sessions, she was finally able to summon up the simple light that is indication of getting the right frame of mind, and by Friday that week, Halloween night, she was able to create and maintain multiple lights at once. They had decided that they would celebrate by taking Saturday off from lessons.

Although they had been getting along so well the past week, there was one issue they hadn't resolved.

"Dammit, Black!" Chey yelled at the newspaper Saturday morning. "You're going the wrong way!"

"What's the matter, Chey?" Fleur asked between bites in a croissant.

"Sirius Black was reported to have infiltrated Hogwarts castle."

"He's in England?"

"Scotland, yeah."

"Well at least now they know where he is. That's good, isn't it?"

"No!" Chey cried.

"Okay, I'll humor you. Why is it bad?"

"Because if he'd just skip across the Atlantic and enter the United States, he'd be granted political asylum."

"And why would they give him that?"

"Because no self-respecting American citizen thinks he's guilty!"

Fleur was quiet for a moment while she comprehended the idea of someone thinking a man such as Sirius Black might be innocent, then asked Chey for a deeper explanation. "Tell me, Chey. How is it that the single-most politically divided country in the world could possibly be unanimous in it's opinion of Sirius Black's innocence?"

"Oh, I should have known you'd be unaware. Okay, here's the deal. Back when the darker years of the Death Eaters' reign were winding down, there were a lot of arrests being made by the British Ministry of Magic. In fact, there was so much going on that there weren't enough government agents to cover it all, so the United States Department of Sorcery lent the British a task force. It just so happened that members of this task force were assigned to investigate the Pettigrew murder when it was called in. Black was apprehended on site, just because he was there."

"And he had ties to the Dark Lord."

"Allegedly. Those claims were never proven. Regardless, those rumors did make him a person of interest. After an on site interrogation, they started to investigate the crime scene. You know what they found?"

"Pettigrew's finger?"

"Yes, but also that there was no way Black could have committed it."

"Then who killed Pettigrew?" she asked, still humoring him, but keenly interested.

"There's a theory that Pettigrew never died, just went into hiding, and cut off his own finger as incriminating evidence against Black. But it's just a rumor. Anyhow, the man in charge of upholding criminal law in England at the time was Barty Crouch, who was not happy with the results of the investigation. He was on a roll convicting people, and he didn't want outside investigators throwing a wrench in his prosecution machine."

"Then what did he do?"

"The only thing he could do: bypass Black's trial. It was the only way to ensure that the evidence never got heard."

"Couldn't he get in trouble for that?"

"He did. Kind of. You see, the American investigators told their superiors back home, and they mentioned these facts to Crouch's superiors. Of course, they couldn't fire a man with such an impressive record, and if word got out, the entire Ministry's image would be tainted. So, instead of going a step up to become minister, he went a step down to International Affairs."

"He was demoted?"

"For violating Black's right to due process, yes. Now, when this happened, the American government disclosed just about all of this to the public, and there was outcry for Black to be released and Crouch be fired. As you can see, neither happened, so ever since, the U. S. Department of Sorcery has offered Black a safe haven should he ever get out."

"Why not release him themselves?" she wondered, now thoroughly convinced in Black's innocence.

"Well, that would require military action, not to mention potential retaliation by the British government. No, all they could do was wait for Black to escape. Of course, now he has and he's going the wrong way!"

"There's nothing you can do, Chey."

"So you're with me on his innocence?"

"Yes, and I want to help him too, but there's nothing we can do."

Chey thought this over for a moment, then said "I need to send a letter to my aunt."

"What good will that do?"

"She's right there at Hogwarts. Maybe she can convince them. Only problem is that first I need to convince her, and that hasn't worked in four years."

Author's note.

Who knew the two of them could be civil towards each other? I did, of course!

Chapter Four (Travels) has a Red vs Blue reference. Find it. Win an imaginary cookie. Offer expires upon the next chapter's posting.