Chapter 74: Tea Party
Fleur shivered, looking at the door in front of her. She had followed the instructions Hailey had written down for her, to find her office- and the plaque on the door was enormous, compared to the ones she’d seen on the other Professor’s doors.
Hailey Potter
Head Student Instructor for Defense Against the Dark Arts
Layor Nairtseuqe Ecnegilletni Ycnega: Lareneg Rotcerid fo Tenalp Htrae
Student Instructor Program Management Team Lead
Nairtseuqe Layor Ssecnirp fo Gninrael
Triwizard Judge
She didn’t understand two of the lines at all- they were written in some strange script that she couldn’t make sense of. It looked almost like someone had scribbled in some fancy dividers, except that there was a little more structure to them than that- they had to have some sort of meaning.
Unless that was meant to mislead. They did look like they were in different scripts, if that was what they were.
She took a deep breath, and let it out. Hailey obviously commanded a lot of authority- despite being as cheerfully disarming as she had been at the conclusion of the Second Task. Did she have a tough side? Or was she just that good?
Then she raised her hand, and knocked. Hailey had offered to tell her more if she came to her office, and they had decided on a time to meet; Hailey had a lot of duties, and had apparently wanted to be able to talk to her about it alone.
“Come in,” Hailey called.
She took another deep breath, and gently opened the door to let herself in.
Hailey was sitting behind a magnificent wooden corner desk- it looked like cherry to her- with three large, muggle-tech-looking panels sitting on it, right across the bend, all facing her. The desk itself was set so that one of the flat sides faced the door, and Hailey could easily see the door, or turn her head a bit to the right to look straight at it, from where she was seated behind the panels. Fleur spotted a second desk, of the same wood, a bit to the left; this one was a straight desk, and had the same panels- but it looked like they were positioned to point at a spot that someone could sit while remaining comfortably hidden from anyone entering the room and walking up to Hailey’s desk… while still being in clear view of Hailey herself.
“Uh- Hi,” Fleur muttered. Despite her intimidating stack of titles, Hailey just wasn’t the intimidating sort of person, and so didn’t trigger her instincts. As a result, exactly as it had when she’d asked Madam Pomfrey about the Gillyweed so long ago, her nervousness came to the forefront- and the intimidating stack of titles only served to make her more nervous.
Especially when she stumbled over her greeting, despite spending nearly a full hour before following those instructions psyching herself up to have a casual conversation with a Triwizard Judge.
If she was honest with herself, had that been the only title Hailey had, she would have been fine.
Hailey chuckled good-naturedly. “Oh, don’t worry, I don’t bite.” She rose from her seat, stepped around her desk, and held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you in a more informal setting,” she smiled.
“Uh-!” Fleur muttered, completely flustered. There were a few seconds of silence, before she accepted the offered hand. “N-Nice to m-meet you,” she stuttered.
Hailey sighed. “You know, everyone does that the first time they see how many titles I have,” she muttered. “Seriously, though. I’m still a student here, and you can treat me like one. There are people in this castle that haven’t a clue I have even one of them.” She paused, rubbing her chin. “Though probably not very many, if they’ve been paying attention to the Tournament, but I can name at least three right now. Even though I’ve had the first of those titles for about three years now.” She gestured towards the door, then sighed. “In any case, back at the Lake, you asked about the Papa Tango?”
“Uh- Yeah,” she muttered, looking away as her mind snapped back on track. “Th-There was also something I w-wanted to ask you about.” She fumbled nervously with the flap of her robes; she had the aquamarine feather in an inside pocket once again.
Hailey studied her face for a second, then nodded, as if making a decision. “How about we discuss it over some tea, then?” She looked to the side, and held out her hand.
Fleur looked.
A part of the wall seemed to recede away from them, leaving a cozy little sitting area, equipped with a tea table set for two and a faint but steady stream of steam out the spout of the teapot.
She stared.
Hailey didn’t just have an intimidating list of titles. No, her magical prowess was also frightening- but still, even as the terrifying girl led the way over to the tea table, she just couldn’t feel afraid- only nervous, now bordering on panicked.
“So,” Hailey said, sitting down and pouring tea into both cups, before picking up her own. “I don’t know how much you heard when I told Parvati how our magic works at the Ball?” She took a sip, then smiled. “Oh, that’s some good stuff.”
Fleur sat down woodenly. “Um… No.”
“Ahh,” she nodded. “Well…”
“... And now Padma has theorized the existence of the Elemental Planes for the various Elementals to draw their power from, but we haven’t finished exploring that, so we just don’t know.”
Fleur gazed into her nearly-empty cup of tea. Hailey had just explained how not just Accidental Magic worked, but also wands and Equestrian magic, then also explained what the Papa Tango did, and what effects it had. She’d even mentioned a strange Equestrian magical event, called Ascension, and explained its effects!
Throughout the explanation, while part of her had been fully occupied with listening to and comprehending her words, the rest of her had been calming down to the point where she realized that, no matter how much authority the girl wielded, she viewed her, Fleur Delacour, as an equal… Which was immensely relieving, though it still didn’t take away all of her nervousness.
It was at least a little amusing, though- usually, people either looked down on her, or looked up to her, never- ever- viewing her as an equal, because of the effects of her Veela heritage.
The silence drew on just long enough to get awkward, before Hailey spoke again.
“Would you like some more tea?”
She jumped. “Oh, uh, sure,” she muttered, sliding it forwards so Hailey could pour it for her.
The silence stretched on even longer, but it didn’t get awkward nearly as quickly.
Finally, Fleur spoke.
“Does… Does any of that involve feathers?”
Hailey’s face was instantly impassive. “Feathers?” she asked, her tone similarly impassive.
She silently drew the feather out of her inside pocket, and placed it on the table.
Hailey picked it up gently, then inspected it carefully, before letting out a sigh and lowering it to look back up at Fleur. “How many have you told?”
“Huh-?” She blinked a couple times. “N-Nobody. Nobody knows I have… had it.”
“Ahh,” Hailey nodded- and Fleur got the distinct idea that that had been the right answer. “How did you get it?” Her tone was a lot softer, but it still had that stern undertone to it that told her it was a serious topic.
She fiddled with her thumbs. “I-It was at the end of the Second Task,” she muttered. “Silversong said Ginny was using very large and efficient ‘flippers’... then I saw this in the water as I swam back to the shore.” She made actual air quotes around the same word she’d heard Silver put them around, gestured towards the feather, and studied her hands when she finished talking.
“Huh,” Hailey muttered. “First of all, I’m not going to take it from you. This feather will make an excellent quill; it’s so powerfully magical that it will never wear out, and we’re actually evaluating them for use as wand cores.” Her tone firmed again. “But I need you to know that the origin of this feather is an Equestrian National Secret right now. I expect they’ll be unveiling it to the public in a few years, but until then, I need to ask that you don’t tell anyone where you got it.”
“O-Okay,” she muttered, gazing at her hands.
“But anyways,” Hailey continued, her tone returning to normal as she leaned back in her chair, swirling her tea gently.
“Wh-!” Fleur began, before pausing to take a deep breath as she considered what she was going to ask for. “What does the Papa Tango entail?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
Hailey gazed at her. “A long period of pain and suffering,” she said, soberly. “A strong likelihood of rewriting the appearance of your hair. Possibly getting blindsided by various Equestrian magical effects, even after the fact.”
“But…” She trailed off, then glanced up. “Gaining Equestrian magical capabilities,” she suggested.
“Yes,” Hailey told her. “However, you only get one of the three types, and two of them require training to use much at all.”
“And those three types…?” She lifted the feather. “Does this…?”
Hailey sighed. “Yes, it does. Equestrian magic is physical in nature, and requires a biological component to function. The main power of the Etrahs is their immense strength- which manifests as big, strong muscles.” She held up one arm to indicate her toned musculature with her other finger. “The Aethr’s main power is that of flight- which manifests in some up-muscling, since they’re easily the most athletic Tribe, and wings.” Two huge, navy blue wings spread slightly from her back. “I have a thirty-foot wingspan,” she told her calmly. “It can be a pain sometimes.” She folded them again. “But moving on.
The Raeth’s main power is direct manipulation of the thaumic field- exactly what wizards call ‘accidental magic’, but of a slightly different style. That manifests as an entire new section of their brains, specifically designed to perform the complex ambient interaction and projection calculations that your wand performs, and that are the true limiter of wand magic power. They get stuff like this.” She flicked her teacup upwards- and the tea shot into the air, curved in a massive arc, and landed neatly back inside the cup, without spilling a drop.
“Wow,” Fleur muttered.
Hailey sighed. “That was a pretty advanced technique, though. Solid objects are a lot easier to levitate- and to learn that, you’d basically be starting over. All three are just as capable of wand magic as you are now.”
“And you have all three…?”
“Because I Ascended,” she answered. “It’s a very rare and very powerful Equestrian-magic process that requires a very powerful and unique trigger. For me, it was casting a Patronus powerful enough to shroud the entire continent in silver light last year- and in so doing, saving every last one of the Dementors.”
She blinked. “I-Is that what that-?”
She nodded. “That is what that was. I’m still not entirely sure how I managed to do that- I’m fairly sure I’m not powerful enough, even after Ascension boosted me by a couple orders of magnitude, to make even a simple Light spell that bright.” She sighed. “But honestly? I’ve been gaining more and more authority- and magical power- every year since I came to this castle, so who knows what’s going to happen next?”
“Who knows,” Fleur agreed vaguely, in exactly the way that most boys tended to agree with her because of her Veela heritage.
Then, the silence drew on. Hailey watched Fleur expectantly, periodically sipping her tea and refilling both cups whenever they got empty enough.
Fleur, meanwhile, studied her tea while she thought about what she had learned.
The silence seemed to stretch on forever.
Then someone knocked.
Hailey glanced at her wrist, and sighed. “One moment,” she muttered, then put down her tea to walk back towards the door. “Come in,” she called.
The door opened. It was an unfamiliar boy with brilliantly-colored hair- must be an Equestrian student.
They talked for a couple minutes, and Hailey showed him something with her wand, before he left.
Hailey sighed as she flopped back down in her chair, and retrieved her tea. “I swear, he doesn’t know how to do his job without receiving written instructions in triplicate. I’d get rid of him, but there isn’t anyone better to replace him with.”
Fleur winced, then took a deep breath. She had just under three months to the Third Task, but nearly two months before she would find out what it was. Given how close she’d come to death on both of the first two, with the near miss with her dragon and the temperature and Grindylow attacks in the Lake, nevermind the few Mer that had lost control, according to Padma, but had been held away from where she could see them by other Mer…
She knew Madame Maxime wanted her to not just survive, but win the Tournament; that was why she was helping her so much. Finding out and telling her about the dragons, researching ways to pacify them with her. Helping her parse the Egg’s wailing, then teaching her to swim, fight Grindylows, and resist the cold when she’d figured it out herself after that disaster on the Lake.
Yet, she was not at all confident in her ability to survive the Third Task, even with Madame Maxime’s assistance. It felt like she was missing something crucial- and she was beginning to wonder why the Goblet of Fire had picked her if she was missing something.
“H-How much pain and…?” She trailed off, her nervousness getting the better of her. She knew she was weak to pain without adrenaline to go with it. She hardly ever felt much pain in a fight… but once the adrenaline rush wore off, even a small bruise hurt. There were several times, back at Beauxbatons, when she had ended up in the infirmary with injuries that the nurse told her outright would hardly have bothered most people. Then Madame Maxime had brought her along because she was easily the most powerful student in the entire school- and, apparently, one of the fastest learners.
Yet, it wasn’t enough. Or perhaps it was the wrong kind of power? Silver had had such an easy time with both the first two tasks that it was almost ridiculous, and she was the only one that had the Equestrian magic advantage. Not that she seemed to be using it, especially after her memorable declaration of that advantage and firm decision to ‘keep the competition fair’ by not using it. From what she remembered of seeing Silver’s arms underwater, she wasn’t muscular at all.
That extra little bit of her brain must have a much larger impact than it seemed.
“How much?” Hailey asked, looking up at her. “Excruciating. We can speed it up or slow it down, which does affect the pain factor.”
She winced. That would hurt. “H-How would overnight-?”
Hailey shook her head. “In its base form, it takes three days. We can only accelerate it to about a minute, not to anywhere intermediate- but you’d be looking at megahuertz, the kind of thing that would kill about fifty percent of the population with sheer pain overload.”
She winced. “Th-Three days?” she muttered.
“Yes,” she answered calmly. “It still hurts a lot. Silver said that, during the third stage, she thought she was going to die.”
“Stage?” she asked.
Hailey nodded. “Yes. In its base form, it has a few different stages it goes through- but if we accelerate it, or slow it down, they either mash together into a spear from Hell or blur away into a painful haze for the entire time.”
She shuddered. “Wh-What would make it… Not hurt?”
“Nothing,” Hailey answered. “The slowest we can make it is ninety days, but there’s still a stinging throughout even at that pace, aside from the whole feeling unwell thing. Why do you ask?”
Fleur got the idea that Hailey already knew the answer to her question, but answered it anyway. “B-Because,” she began, and stopped. “C-Can I get…?”
“The Papa Tango?” Hailey finished for her. “Yes, you may. None of the three magics will have much impact on the Third Task without some pretty significant training, so that won’t be an issue- and you’ve already cleared the other main qualifier.”
She blinked. “I have?”
She nodded. “To know what you’re asking for,” she told her. “Once we start it off, there is no going back.”
“Oh, um,” she muttered, putting her hands in her lap and staring at them. “I- I’m pretty sure I’m extra sensitive to pain.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
“And you want to keep Madame Maxime and your classmates from worrying, don’t you?” Hailey muttered, before rubbing her chin. “I think… Yes. If we set it for eighty-five days, it’ll finish a couple days before the Third Task. That would still hurt, though- but there are some pain relief spells that are effective against it, and we could use a fever reduction spell to keep that from showing… Then there’d just be the periodic cough and the sudden appetite for soups and stews, but the first won’t be suspicious on its own and I can have the kitchens provide some of the latter with each meal, so you don’t have to draw attention by asking for it.” She sighed. “The challenge would be that the pain relief and fever reduction spells will not last very long- you’d have to cast them on yourself every morning.”
“I…” She trailed off. “I can’t do that,” she muttered. “I never studied medical magic.”
“Good thing these particular spells are very simple,” Hailey told her. “Not very effective, but they don’t need to be, either. I can teach them to you, only take a couple hours if you’ve got a good grounding in Charms- and if you want to dig up Magical Miracles in Medicine in the library, you’re more than welcome to study the core of medical magic as well.”
“The core?” she asked, tilting her head.
She nodded. “Yeah. The principles it works on, how the body works, and a number of different simple medical charms, all from that book. The second book in the series, Modern Magical Miracles in Medicine, will tell you all about the kinds of diagnosis and healing spells that are most commonly used. The deceptively-named third book, Future Magical Miracles in Medicine, covers all the special cases- including part-human medicine, so you might want to give that one a quick look anyways. If you want to become a certified Healer, like Madam Pomfrey, you’d also need to go get an appropriate degree at a muggle educational institution.”
“And these simple spells…?”
“They work on humans, Veela, horses, fish, you name it. They’re that basic.” She paused. “Well okay, fish are cold-blooded, so the fever reducer won’t work on them, but that’s beside the point.”
She took a deep breath. “Alright. I’ll do it.” She paused, glancing at her tea. “If I have to, I can probably use a hair potion and color charm to make that look like it does now.”
Hailey winced. “I can’t promise that’ll work,” she told her. “Especially for Aethrs, there’s a lot of magic in our hair and wings, so they naturally repel most things- water, hair potion, even simple color charms, for the most part.”
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Welcome to the team, Fleur, good luck on your journey to ponyhood. Also, I like Hailey's titles, very fitting for her
I understand the drive to win the competition. But... was it wise to ask for the help from Hailey without consulting it with Madame Maxime first?
It took me a bit to read that.
My favourite basic secret script is where you use left, center or right formatted text, then the script you actually want is the whitespace at the ends and between the lines.
Elemental planes? Oh, this is gonna be good. Just imagine th fun you can have banashing your enemies to the Elemental Planes Of Stupidity, which is run by Pointy Haired Boss.
Intresting bit with the pain, but the difference in time between the setting of the story and current is a pity, as its in the last couple years its been discovered that there are multiple channels of nerve types in the body, as in calcium channels for triggering them. The brain, heart, pain, muscles, gut and a couple others use differen protiens/compounds to trigger the nerves. If you use a general calcium channel blocker to stop pain, you can accidentally stop the heart, but if you can get the exact compound, then you can stop pain nerves dead without affecting the involuntary nerves or thinking etc? It was discovered after looking at multiple people who went from having no feeling of pain at all, to unfortunates with extreme pain sensitiviy and even feeling of burning constantly?
Theres also the implanted nerve blocker electrodes, and something being looked at is signal blocking, but thats still being decoded, so at the moment cant inject minimum signals to affect pain, only zap the area and block the nerve signal completely. And everything else in the area.
Really hope Fleur dont end up on the equivalent of Fentanyl, and that direct magic intervention after can affect retuning.?
So does the Papa Tango only turn the users into one of the pony tribes? Or can different individuals become different species?
With Fleur being part Veela, will that mean she can become something different? I can picture her either as a Hippogriff or an Ornithian (The bipedal birds) as Veela take on a bird/harpy appearance when angry and this almost seems like a natural blend of her heritage
11272368
It seems to me she's more concerned about her survival than winning at this stage.
I can't believe it took me a mirror to get the last word in the second title.
Ugh.
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Yeah... My Sdrawkcab Rotalsnart makes it easy- it's exactly what its sounds like: A quick little program that swaps the order of the letters in any given word, while preserving the order of the capitalization. That second part is really trippy sometimes- there are times when I find it easier to dig the thing up and mail 'em through than actually read the words in question!
Then there are probably some people that can read it "normally" without really noticing any difference, of course. I once held a conversation with someone in that 'sdrawkcab' (via Google Hangouts, back when that was a thing)... Never realized she was doing it by hand until I told her about the Sdrawkcab Rotalsnart that I was using, yet she was easily as fast as me even though that was the first time she'd seen it. She was left-handed though, and an artist, maybe that has something to do with it?
11272915
Everything else I read fine, just that last word was messing with my head.
11272920
Yeah, it really messes with my head. Keeps making me want to say "Ginrael"... which sounds like a name somehow. So for that one, I have to either already know what the word is, or consciously step through it for a second or two- I can't just demote it to subconscious half-second parses like the rest of them (I'm not all that fast at reading it myself).
Probably the caps messing with me. Gninrael and gninrael look like completely different words, somehow. Might also be the "ning" ending having a lot of vertical lines to mess me up.
Excuse me. I seem to have misplaced the Next button.
11272925
Perhaps......
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Sorry about that... I released this chapter yesterday, so the next one goes up next week, on Tuesday. Glad to hear you're enjoying it, though!
11276924
... Okay then. I guess I learned something new today!
... But of course, ideas.