The Colour of Magic
Severus frowned. The vertical line between his eyebrows deepened, and his hand went up to massage the bridge of his nose.
Then, without a word, he produced his wands: yew with dragon heartstring for his right, birch with sphinx feather for his left hand. A silent gesture with his right hand and the yew wand. The pillow floated perfectly positioned. Another flick, birch this time. Again, the pillow hovered peacefully, three feet above the floor.
Birch in his left, a silent gesture, as graceful with the left hand as with the right—a jerk, a lurch, a soundless explosion.
Hermione sneezed violently, several times in a row. When she blinked away her tears, the storm of feathers around them had subsided, and Severus was staring at her in shock.
‘Shite,’ she cursed and sniffed noisily. ‘What was that?’
‘Unfortunately I have an idea concerning that,’ Severus said softly. ‘Would you roll up your left sleeve, please?’
Hermione frowned, but followed his request. She slipped out of her apprentice robe and her dark green sweater, unbuttoned the left cuff of the white blouse she wore underneath, and drew back the fabric.
‘A bit higher,’ Severus demanded. ‘Yes. Like that.’
For a moment he stared at the black ink of the Elhaz rune with revulsion. Then he placed the tip of his yew wand against it.
‘Vim Magicam Revelio,’ he whispered.
Immediately shimmering light flared up. Severus withdrew his wand. The wavering shine of magical power poured from the tattoo. Close to her skin the colour pulsed with a rich, deep amber hue. In the air above her arm, the colour faded into a sickly greenish tinge.
‘What is that?’ Hermione asked, twisting her head around so she could get a closer look.
‘The spell is a variation of the basic revealing spell, “revelioâ€, cast to reveal magical power,’ Severus replied, shrugging out of his robe. His fingers were already halfway down the buttons of his frock coat, before Hermione was able to react.
‘You want me to cast the spell on you?’
Severus tossed his coat over a chair and proceeded to roll up his sleeve. ‘Yes. Just press the tip of your wand to my skin and speak the words clearly.’
‘Okay.’ Hermione swallowed hard. Trying to ignore the flickering light that was still attached to her left arm, she used her right wand in her right hand to touch the small black mark on Severus’ arm.
‘Vim Magicam Revelio,’ she said slowly, taking care to pronounce each syllable correctly.
A rush of fire seared up towards her. Hermione jumped back, almost dropping her wand in the process. Blue and sapphire hues coalesced around his arm, fading into a blue haze tinged with sickly green about a foot away from the mark.
When nothing else happened, she exhaled in sigh. ‘That’s beautiful,’ she whispered. She looked up at him in awe. ‘Is that—the colour near the skin—is that the colour of our magic?’
He nodded. ‘Show me your arm again.’
Severus narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the golden and blue colours dancing over their skin, and the unhealthy green hue that permeated them.
‘Why is it visible only at that spot?’ Hermione asked. ‘And what are those greenish stains?’
‘You’re a trained witch. You’re in control of your magic. Unless you use it, it resides within you, contained safely inside your body.
‘If you cast that spell on a first-year in September, he’ll light up like a glowworm. By Christmas there are usually just a few undisciplined Gryffindors left who are still leaking magic like that.’ He smirked. But the snide joke did not affect the haunted expression in his eyes. ‘You know that green is the colour of dark magic—the flash of the Killing Curse, the glow of Morsmordre.’
Severus’ eyes bored into her, dark and fearsome. ‘This colourful display means that something or someone is draining our magic through those damn tattoos.’
He snatched up his wand. ‘Finite Incantatem,’ he muttered and waved his wand over their arms. The fiery colours vanished.
oooOooo
‘Severus, Hermione—do come in. Madame Dubois just finished her first battery of tests.’
Today the French witch wore a blue painter’s smock over her black outfit. Her short blonde hair was kept out of her face with a blue Alice band. Her wand, made of slim, pale wood, was haphazardly tucked into the ribbon above her right ear. She looked smaller than yesterday, worn-out, and worried.
When they were seated, Hermione had to force herself to keep her right hand from moving to her left arm. But Severus’ scowl, along with his posture, the way he kept his body almost preternaturally still, prevented her from fidgeting.
‘By now I’ve run an exhaustive array of tests, both mundane and magical,’ Dubois said, pointing at a table set up in front of Dumbledore’s portrait that was laden with bottles, brushes and scrapers, and a number of tools that Hermione had never seen before. ‘While I still don’t know the origin of the paralysis, I can tell you what does not cause it at any rate.’
The portrait mistress inhaled deeply. ‘This portrait—its canvas, paint, or frame—has not been tampered with by Muggle or magical means.
‘On this side of the Veil.’
Hermione gasped. Minerva McGonagall put down her cup of tea with clank. She was suddenly very pale. Severus didn’t move or make any sound at all, but the lines in his face appeared to grow harsher.
‘If we leave the discussion of just how preposterous that notion is aside for the moment,” he said softly, ‘what kind of spell would cause such a paralysis? And for what purpose would such a spell be used? Of course I may be wrong, but even to me it seems just a little disproportionate to pass beyond the Veil just to remove the damn twinkle from that portrait.’
Dubois smiled faintly. ‘That would be a bit extreme, even for a former Death Eater.’
oooOooo
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“Binder. Someone who can banish and bind demons, zombies, and spectres easier than others.”
Why am i not surprised that he is some kind of exorcist of the magical underworld?
“My personal theory is that it is shaped by centuries of mythology and shared beliefs.”
How do you do it? Really, how do things in your “worlds” make perfect sense?
*hypnotized*
“For a moment she felt a stinging stab of jealousy deep in her chest because she was not the first. Followed quickly by a pang of pain at the knowledge that—while she had not been the first he had ever loved—she was the first to truly love him.”
That’s beautiful.
“obviously Charmed Manolo Blahnik stilettos.” and that made me laugh, ehe
Mona?? Don’t tell me! Did i miss something ? Da Vinci? *huh*
And something Severus didn’t know! Did he at least know that “the art of painting wizarding portraits was actually a kind of Necromantic magic?”
Intriguing,indeed!
I wonder where Alina will fit in all this!
So sad, a portrait to fade away, because there is no one left to remember them!
And what is happening with Hermione’s magic? hmmm
What could mess with her magic like that? *hmm*
Now that really surprised me!
Someone…we-know-who…is draining peoples magic through the tattoo?
Muggle-borns and half-bloods will lose their magic?
EVIL!
That’s even worse than what the Dark Lord did.
But how did we-know-who manage to move around the Other World ?
No, not alone, she is not alone, there is someone else doing all this with her.
And the Veil…
I must make another list…
I knew these tattoos were bad news. So, someone is siphoning magic off the muggle-witches/wizards through the tattoos. Presumably so that person has more magic at his/her disposal. An evil trick and even worse plan. So, what to do against it? First they have to find out who is doing that. And Alina better find the rest of the bells soon. I think they will need every one of them.
Yes, of course the tattoos were a really, really bad idea. *grins*
Finally! I’ve been antsy since Madam Pomfrey mentioned the unusually high need for pepper-up, etc, confirming my theory. I really needed somebody to put two and two together. Whew!
On another note, poor Alina when she discovers her head of house is proficient in Latin – the man creates his own spells among other things.
And about those Jarveys — it was the resurrection stone Ron and Lois saw them playing with wasn’t it? and that’s why nine Jarveys were killed that one night? and there’s a connection between their propensity for chattering insults and the Colin inferius isn’t there?
Hah! I knew those tattoos were siphoning energy back when Harry was feeling tired more than ten chapters ago! Finally someone else knows!!!
Also, I love your name for the library in the Middle East. I’ve always been devastated by the idea of all that knowledge being lost, and I love the idea that someone can still benefit from the books and scrolls at Alexandria!