"I'm sure the girls got all that theory," Ron said. "But I still don't understand. What exactly can you do with animancy? Like is it just raising dead people and the creepy shadow shit?"
"Ah. There's a lot you can do! You can resurrect corpses, of course. To varying degrees. Inferi are just mindless corpses if you need a large army. But a skilled practitioner can bring people back with more sentience. If you're very powerful, I've seen it done so skillfully that it's fooled people into thinking it's still living. You have complete control over those corpses, but if you wanted something similar for the living you could possess them. That is the temporary transfer of your soul to another's body. There are a lot of fun esoteric rituals about soul magic. I believe Voldemort's Dark Mark, for example, binds his followers to him. I've only been able to study it a bit on a few captured Death Eaters, but I believe they should be able to share magic. It seems to be based on a perversion of ancient coven practices. Those have long fallen out of favor, it requires a lot of trust, or else you're trapped in what is essentially a slave bond like the Dark Mark is.
You can also exchange life energy, to heal or harm others. There is some control over certain creatures, like Dementors, Threstrals, Lethifold, etc. There is the manipulation of darkness, as you mentioned. General power, knowledge and physical strength increasing rituals as well. Rumor has it Morgan le Fay was capable of bringing inanimate objects to life and could read people's souls in a similar manner as occlumency. There is a lot you can do with it if you're creative."
"My favorite thing," Harry said. "Is getting tutored in History of Magic by people who actually lived during the events. Binns is so boring in comparison, I keep meaning to exorcize him. Over the summer I talked to a witch who was born in 1790 and she told me all about the Third Goblin War. She got tortured and beheaded, it was brilliant! And she taught me some French and Goblish."
Hermione looked extremely offended that Harry had not mentioned that previously.
"Oh! You speak other languages? I've always wanted to learn Mermish." Luna said.
"Yeah, sometimes the spirits don't speak English, so I've learned a bit of some other languages. Mermish is easy, I could teach you some," he offered.
"Then I am definitely still interested in learning more necromancy, Professor," Luna exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight. Ron and Hermione quickly added their agreement.
"Fine," she grumbled. "Fine. Not in school, not one bit. Make sure you disguise any books you borrow, and if you can devise something to do for Yule, then we can perform some at the house."
The children cheered.
...
On the first of October, the Gryffindors arrived at dinner to find a host of new adults sitting at the head table. Curious murmuring scattered across the students but they settled into dinner as it was obvious the teachers were not going to mention it yet. Harry was eyeballing the oddly dressed wizard at the end, who appeared to be wearing a jacket of snakeskin, when Luna came huffing over to join them, out of breath and sitting down quickly beside Harry.
"Alright, Luna?" Ron mumbled through his mouth full of food. He handed the basket of rolls over to her.
"Thank you, I'm very well. I came from Astronomy, it was a bit of a walk, is all." She took the basket, her hands shaking slightly. She looked too flustered to have simply been tired from the walk. Harry immediately noticed that her usually neat, tied-back hair was in disarray and her eyes looked red from crying. He sent a glance over to Hermione and Ron, who gave him a brief nod.
"Have you been enjoying your lessons?" Hermione asked her. "You're studying Jupiter, if I recall?"
"Yes," she said. Her voice was a bit gravelly. "Astronomy is peaceful. I like looking up at the stars."
"Oh!" Ron said. "That reminds me. Did you tell Hermione your theory about how the centaurs came from the stars? I liked that one. What was the word you called them? Astro-nuts?" Luna loved any excuse to talk about her theories, this was a surefire way to cheer her up.
"Astronauts. Is that why they're good at divination, Luna?" Hermione asked.
"I don't think you want to hear one of my loony stories," Luna whispered, not looking up from her plate.
"Who said that to you?" Harry thundered. He went to stand, but Ron dragged him by the arm back into his seat.
"Luna," Hermione said much more calmly. "We like hearing your stories. None of us think they're loony. Are some of your classmates bothering you?"
"But you don't think they're real!"
"Well, no. Not always. But you believe them, and we respect that. You're not hurting anyone." Hermione said, her tone impossibly gentle.
"Yeah, I mean I don't love how much time you lot spend in the library, but I go with you anyway. We're friends, we don't all have to like or believe in the same stuff." Ron added. "Anyone who's bullying you is just being a dumb git."
"You never eat any meals at the Ravenclaw table anymore. Do you have any friends over there?" Harry questioned, fuming.
"Not really," she whispered. "But it's not a big deal -"
"Oi! Ginny!" Ron called, waving his arm to get the attention of his sister, who was sitting at the other end of the table next to Percy. "Come over here!"
Ginny shuffled over, not looking very happy either. She'd been very quiet since school had started, keeping to herself and avoiding their group like the plague. "Ginny, Luna. Luna, Ginny."
"Hello," Ginny said. "What is this about?"
"Well you're in the same year, and you both like Quidditch and horses. So you're friends now."
"Ronald!" Hermione stage-whispered. "You can't just -"
"Look, you both need proper friends your age, I know you have things in common. You're both girls. You're friends now." There was a very awkward silence. Both Luna and Ginny were unsure of what exactly was happening. They knew each other, vaguely. And Ginny had spent the events of last year's adventure crying into Luna's shoulder about how she'd almost gotten her family killed, but they hadn't spoken much.
"We're in Transfiguration together?" Luna asked hesitantly.
"Right. I'll sit next to you tomorrow, I guess. We could study sometime maybe? Are you any good at Potions?"
Ron beamed, sending a smug look to Hermione. They had to admit, it was a good idea, even if Ron's execution had not been very subtle.
"May I have your attention, students!" Dumbledore called, tapping his goblet with his wand. Ginny scrambled to sit down as the Great Hall quickly quieted. Harry had not been finished trying to weasel the names of Luna's tormentors out of her, but it could wait until later, perhaps he'd better let her calm down first anyhow.
"Thank you." Their headmaster continued. "As your curious eyes have no doubt told you, we have a few guests I'd like to introduce. The Ministry, Board of Governors, and I have come to the conclusion that after the events of last year, Hogwarts is overdue for a security inspection. Now, I assure you, the most serious of these matters have already been resolved over the summer. The Chamber of Secrets was permanently sealed off. But, a thorough inspection still needs to be performed. Alongside this, it was decided that an evaluation of other school matters would happen as well, such as the finances, staffing, curriculum, and other such things that I doubt most of you are interested in. Thus, let us kindly welcome our guests from the Ministry here to make sure the school is running as smoothly and safely as possible." There was some halfhearted applause. "You'll see them around the school these next few months. Please feel free to bring any relevant concerns to them, and if they ask you about your experiences here, do not feel afraid to share. Now let me introduce Jasper Pickerington, Hermapheous Spoonmen, Jasmine Yaxley, and Dolores Umbridge." There was some more halfhearted applause. "Now, do not let me keep you from your meal any longer -"
"Hem-hem." One of the new inspectors, a rather short, older woman in a very ugly pink-toned business suit stood from her seat.
"Would you like to say a few words, Madame Umbridge?" Dumbledore asked politely, although from the look in his eyes, one got the impression he was ready, willing, and able to punt the woman across the room.
"Why thank you, Headmaster, yes I would. Hello students! I am so excited to see your smiling faces!" A sea of unenthused teenagers stared back at her. They eyed up the stylistically challenged bureaucrat and swiftly ignored her, tucking back into their meals without giving the odd woman who had dared to interrupt their professor another thought. "I am so honored to be here on behalf of the Ministry. Your education is of vital importance, and the Ministry will do whatever it takes to ensure your education here at Hogwarts is of the highest quality. Every headmaster, every teacher has brought something new to the table in how this historic school is run -"
Harry tuned her out. That was enough, thanks. Hermione would tell him later if she had said anything significant. Ron had also clocked out, and Ginny looked rather upset that she had been separated from her plate. As he returned to his roast beef, he looked over at the professors. Mama was resting her chin on her hand and was sneaking bites of potato, blatantly uninterested. Most of the other teachers were listening but carried the same look of disturbed boredom. Well, the inspectors were hardly likely to cause any trouble. If they could just get through this speech, they all should be free from any further annoyances from one Dolores Umbridge.
....
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