//------------------------------//
// 40 - Exploration 
// Story: A Phoenix Beyond the Veil - The Philospher's Stone 
// by gerandakis 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Forty

Exploration






For the five newest members of the group, the morning brought mostly one thing: hunger. Sleeping through the whole night after getting to bed exceptionally early and while a spell started rearranging one's brain structure worked up an appetite. Who'd have guessed?

That aside, the spell was noticeably working. Their memory, they could feel, was better. Marginally so, but still. That being said, that improvement to their memory came at the cost of focus. All week, they had been wondering why most of their new friends seemed to occasionally lose focus and forget what they had been doing or talking about.

Now they understood. The spell was constantly working and they could feel its effects in the back of their minds. Whenever there was a lull in the conversation or a break in the action of whatever they were doing, that feeling could get very distracting very fast. It would take some getting used to.

When they came down, Sunset was already waiting for them, intercepting them as soon as they entered the common room. She had mentioned that she'd want to check up on them. Ensure the spell was working properly. After she checked everyone of them over, she visibly relaxed. Everything was working as intended, it seemed.

As such, the group made their way to the great hall quickly, able to find their way in record time despite the castle's shenanigans. None of them quite understood the point of constantly changing architecture.

At breakfast, Sunset was approached by Professor Flitwick, informing her that he was still preoccupied by the book she had given to them yesterday and that they would start their work the week after. Instead, he told her that Madame Pomfrey wanted to see her this afternoon.

Still, before that, there was an entire morning for them to explore the castle and the grounds. First on the list was the mysterious corridor on the third floor. They were well aware that they shouldn't enter it. Fortunately they didn't need to go through the door to see what was beyond it.





"Yup, that's gotta be it. Locked."

The others looked over from where they had been trying other doors to the one Ron had just found.

"Good. Good. Now let's see here." Sunset sat down before the door, her legs crossed and cast a simple scrying spell. "There we are, that's the corridor, that's the door and – Woah! That's a big dog! – Okay, that is a tad worrying."

The others looked at her in confusion. "Uhh, Sis, what did you find?"

Stopping her spell, Sunset looked over to Hermione. "Right, of course, well I found this." With a wave of her hand she created an illusory version of the corridor they were in, followed by one of the corridor behind the door. It was a large hall, much taller than the one they were in, and occupied solely by a large, three headed dog. "A cerberus. Traditionally a guard dog of the most ... extreme variety, at least in Equestria."

With a wave of her hand, the sleeping beast in her illusion became mostly transparent, revealing the floor beneath. "Add to that the fact that it's sleeping on a trap door and it's obvious that it's guarding something. Question is: What?"

"Can't you just find out?"

Turning to Ron, Sunset shook her head. "No, there are some pretty powerful wards in place to prevent that. I could probably get around them safely with a bit of time, but I'd need to be closer for that. The room underneath that trap door is narrow and really tall, probably goes down deeper than the dungeons."

"So how else can we find out what it is?" Lavender began, "What do we have to go on?"

"Besides the massive, three headed dog you mean?"

Looking over to Ginny, Luna giggled slightly. "Sure. Who do we know who would have something like that?"

Looking amongst each other, they all sighed. "Hagrid."

Deciding that they could ask Hagrid about that later, they made to move on to the rest of the castle, but not before Sunset had placed her own alarm charms over the door. If someone made their way in through there, she would know.

Before long, Sunset and Hermione, their eyes lit to analyze the castle's magic, guided the group around the school.





"Oh look." Harry pointed out a tapestry on the wall a few yards ahead. "Another secret passage. Shall we see where this one leads?"

Chuckling, Sunset led the way, pushing aside the tapestry and looking into the staircase beyond. "Okay, the third and seventeenth steps are traps. Skip those."

Following her up and skipping the indicated steps, the group made their way up the stairs to see where they led. Ending up in a short corridor that lead to another tapestry form behind which they emerged in a corridor not far from their potions classroom.

Ron was scratching his head. "Did we just walk up a staircase to get from the fourth floor to the dungeons? How does that work?"

Sunset simply snorted. "More twisted space shenanigans. Remember the main stairwell?"

"You know, I'm trying to make a mental map of this place," Hermione pointed out, "but all these secret passages are giving me a headache. This was, what? The fourteenth one?"

"That should be pretty close," Sunset agreed, "But we should probably get to the Great Hall. Lunch should be in a few minutes."

Following her, the group made their way to a passage leading to the main stairwell from where they stepped out onto the marble staircase and into the great hall.

Lunch was as delicious as usual, but just when Sunset finished, Madam Pomfrey approached their table. Seeing her, Sunset quickly ate her last bite, put down her cutlery and waved to her friends. "I'll see you guys later."

Seeing this, Madam Pomfrey waved for her to follow. Once they left the hall to head for the medical wing, the nurse started up small talk. "I hope you've had a pleasant morning?"

"We did, exploring the castle, the usual."

"I see. I've had quite the fun morning myself, watching my colleagues. That book you gave the headmaster has them all in a tizzy." She giggled, covering her mouth daintily. "Of course, I won't deny that the medical magic you can bring to the table has me quite excited as well. This therapy of yours alone is sure to cause waves around the medical community, not to mention wizards as a whole."

"In a world where Null Star Syndrome is so common, I can see that happening."

"Is that what you call the condition?"

Sunset nodded. "It is, after the one in whom it was first diagnosed as a medical condition. Before then, we thought about it much like witches and wizards do here. Of course, it's much rarer where I come from."

"Of course."

They walked in silence for a few moments longer before they reached the medical wing. Madam Pomfrey spoke up again when they did. "Argus should be here in a few minutes. If you could teach me the scanning spell you used until then ..."

"Sure thing. How good are you at visualization charms?"

"Pretty good actually, I use them a lot in medical exams."

"Then cast one and take a good look." Drawing her wand, Sunset first cast her own visualization charm, then began emitting pulses of magic that would resonate in the thaumic pathways of any creature.

Watching carefully, Madam Pomfrey took only a moment before she mimicked her and quickly got a scan of Sunset's own thaumic pathways. "Ah, I see. Clever. Hard to believe no one ever thought of this."

Sunset chuckled slightly. "Well, as far as I know, people don't usually develop spells to be able to see things they don't know exist."

"Fair enough."

Only moments later, Filch came through the door, looking at them both suspiciously. "Are you sure this will work?"

Sunset nodded. "Absolutely."

Madam Pomfrey quickly donned her professional mask. "Please, take a seat."

Once the caretaker had sat down in a comfortable chair, Sunset turned to the nurse. "Alright. Let's get started. First things first, visualize."

Following her instructions, Madam Pomfrey cast the spell they had practiced before. Carefully looking at Filch. "You were right. I can see his thaumic pathways. And the obstructions."

Sunset nodded. "Good, now watch carefully." Drawing her wand, she carefully aimed it at one of the obstructions, after a few seconds, she loosed a pulse of power, and her target lit up teal. Waving her wand in a circle, she conjured a small floating sphere in the air. "Here, try it on that."

The nurse took careful aim and loosed her own pulse of power. Sunset frowned slightly. "Not quite. Here watch again. She targeted a second obstruction, firing another pulse of magic a few seconds later. "There, now try it again." Once Madam Pomfrey had hit the conjured orb again, Sunset smiled. "Almost. Here watch again." A third obstruction, a third pulse of power. "Now try it again."

This time, when the nurse's pulse impacted the orb, Sunset broke into a wide smile. "There we go. Let's make sure you can do it reliably. Try it a few more times." Once Madam Pomfrey had done as she asked, Sunset smiled widely, dismissing the orb with a wave of her hand. "Good, now go ahead. Just make sure you don't miss any. I'll watch, just in case."

With another nod, Madam Pomfrey took careful aim the first obstruction she found and loosed another pulse of power. The obstruction lit up a soft purple, indicating that the method was working.

Over the next ten minutes, the nurse worked her way through the several hundred obstructions in Mr. Filch's thaumic pathways. When she was done, both her and Sunset walked around him a few times, carefully checking that all of the obstructions were lit up. Finally, they dismissed their spells and put their wands away.

"Good. Give that a few days to do its work then do it again. With the constant, strong ambient magic here, it may only take two or three months for the treatment to complete."

"So what would you recommend? Weekly sessions? Twice a week?"

"I'd go with twice a week, personally. If you can spare the time for that, it'll make the treatment that much faster, but anything more won't really help."

"Very well. Then I'll see you on Wednesday if that's okay, Argus."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll make the time. You'll keep this quiet, right?" They both nodded. "Good." Without another word, he left the medical wing.

"Say, Miss Shimmer. When you had me practice the spell, what was I doing wrong the first two times?"

"You know that the magic needs to be slightly acidic to get rid of the blockages, right?" Seeing the nurse nod, Sunset continued, "well, the first time that effect was a bit too strong, it could have damaged surrounding tissue. The second time it was a bit too weak, so it would have barely done anything."

"I see. Thank you, Miss Shimmer."

"My pleasure. Have a nice afternoon."

As Sunset left the medical wing, Madam Pomfrey simply shook her head. "And she hasn't even been here a week. I wonder what she'll do next."





"Caput Draconis."

"Indeed, my dear."

As the talking portrait swung aside, Sunset stepped into the common room, seeing most of the group gathered there. Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Pavati were clearly using the first beginnings of their new photographic memory to memorize their school books just like the others had. Having the entire reference material just a thought away was simply too convenient.

As she looked over the group, however, she saw that three faces were missing. "Where are the others?"

Ron looked up. "Hermione went to find the library. Ginny and Luna are up on the roof, not sure what they're doing there though."

"I'll go take a look then, thanks." Without further ado, Sunset made her way over to the passage and up the stairs, past the girls' dorms and onto the roof. To her surprise, however, the roof was abandoned. Looking out between the crenelations at the edge of the roof, she surveyed the expansive castle beneath.

It didn't take her long to spot her quarry.

Ginny was racing across the roof in her training outfit, dodging chimneys and windows, and vaulting over the railings of balconies. Luna was trickier to spot. It took Sunset a few moments to realize that she had taken her pony form and was gliding over the rooftops, carefully watching Ginny and using shadow magic to conceal her presence.

With a smirk, Sunset teleported back down to the dorm and switched into her own exercise clothing, now colored black, gray, red and gold to match the colors of both Hogwarts' uniforms and of house Gryffindor. Once she had stowed her wand in the pocket designed for it and stored her bag safely in her trunk, she snapped her fingers again and returned to the top of the tower.

It only took her a moment to spot Ginny and Luna again. A quick snap of her fingers applied some magic designed to mimic that of earth ponies, amplifying her speed and agility far beyond normal human capabilities. She would need it to catch up. Keeping an eye on her two friends, she jumped off the tower and onto the adjacent roof, heedless of the fact that it was a distance of twenty yards lower.

Between the natural endurance all ponies seemed to share, the added protection of the replicated earth pony magic, the enchantments on her clothing and her expertly executed roll, she barely felt the impact and immediately moved to run along the roof, using a quick spell to tilt gravity for herself, so she wouldn't need to adjust for the slope of the roof, a spell she had taught all of those who practiced Parkour with her.

Dashing along the rooftops at superhuman speeds, it didn't take her long to reach her two friends, dodging chimneys and windows along the way, just as Ginny did. Once she caught up with them, she gave them both a smirk and, making a quick adjustment to her gravity spell, ran up the wall of a nearby tower and jumped off the top of it, dismissing her spell mid-fall to return gravity to normal and land safely atop the tower.

With a smirk Ginny followed her example, landing almost as easily. "You're gonna have to teach us those amplification spells at some point, those are just way to useful."

Sunset chuckled as Luna silently landed on the roof beside them, the shadow magic falling off of her as she returned to human form. "All in due time. Those are trickier to learn." She looked over the two. "I see you went to look for a place to practice. Good thinking."

While Ginny was wearing her exercise clothing, Luna was in her school robes. Sunset furrowed her brow a little upon seeing that. "We're gonna have to get you some exercise clothes too, aren't we?"

Ginny nodded. "Probably. Anyway? What did the nurse want from you?"

"To teach her the spell I used on Emma and Dan. They want to go for curing squibs first. Maybe then the purebloods won't have a complete meltdown."

"Maybe. The old pureblood families all have a few squibs among them. They'd pay good money for a way to correct that. And what are the others up to?"

Sunset smirked. "Reading. Most of them are in the common room and Hermione is looking for the library."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Of course she is."

Luna smiled serenely. "You know, I'm surprised it took her this long."

All three of them shared a round of giggles. Finally Ginny looked over to Sunset with a thoughtful expression. "You know, I've been wondering how it feels to have those enhancement spells running."

Sunset met her gaze and smirked. "I can show you." She drew her wand touched its tip against Ginny's arm.

Ginny could feel her strength increase. For a moment she didn't entirely understand why it felt like it did when she was flying, why she had that same feeling of weightlessness, then she realized that this added strength simply made it easier to resist the force of gravity. With a manic smile, she raced off for another round across the rooftops, marveling at how much easier it suddenly was. Her new strength and speed took some getting used to, but it was definitely worth it.

Sunset and Luna stood at the edge of the tower and watched as Ginny raced over the rooftops. "You know," Luna quietly spoke up, "with your experience you two might actually be evenly matched." As she watched, a grin spread across Sunset's face. "Should I be worried?"

"Don't worry Luna, all will be well." Sunset drew her wand.

In a flash of teal, Ginny appeared back beside them, held aloft in Sunset's levitation. "Whoa! Sunset! What was that for?"

"Well I had to catch you somehow."

"Why?"

"Luna had an interesting idea. How about we have a race? First back to Gryffindor Tower wins?"

"Oh you are on!" With a wild giggle, Ginny shot off the top of the tower, landing on the roof below a good distance away. She didn't seem to notice that she was running in the wrong direction.

Sunset smirked and raced off in the other direction, flipping gravity to run down the tower. A whistle from her drew Ginny's attention and prompted her to turn around once she realized her mistake. Soon, both of them were racing across the rooftops, back to their house tower.

Luna quitely sighed. "I guess I should be worried then. Oh well." She shifted back into her equine form and once more shrouded herself in shadow. Then she leapt off the tower herself and soared into the sky, trailing her friends from above and regarding their race with a watchful eye.