faderift | (no subject)

WHO: Harry Potter and OPEN
WHAT: Realising that a cracked wand is no good for fighting demons, Harry seeks out some mages who might be wiling to teach him how to fight with a staff.
WHEN: Throughout the day
WHERE: Warden Camp and Skyhold Proper
NOTES: This post is specifically for him to begin to learn Thedas style magic BUT it also functions as a general OPEN post which means even if your character isn't a mage feel free to reply to ask him why he's looming around or to just say hi!

Skyhold

He's learned by now that his wand is not reliable anymore and it pains him to even try to cast spells and risk it breaking completely again. He doesn't have the Elder Wand to fix it this time and he can't risk losing it completely again. It feels as if a part of him has cracked and he feels real remorse over not being able to easily use magic. It's almost as if his senses had been dulled.

Eventually, though, he realizes that he might be able to use the staff based magic that the mages here use. He won't be floating teacups across the room any time soon but it's better than being defenseless. He knows enough by now to know that he can't just make a declaration that he wants to learn magic here without some people misunderstanding his motives so he doesn't make a loud announcement using the crystals.

Instead, he spends the day around where he's learned some mages meet to teach and learn. Maybe if one of them doesn't seem as busy he can ask for help.

Warden Camp

He also treks his way to the Warden Camp because he knows that they have mages there and tend not to be as distrustful of them. At least, that's what he's heard about them. He's still having trouble remembering all the different factions of Thedas and keeping which ones hate which other groups straight.

It's the first time he's ever been to the camp so he also can't help but feel a level of curiosity. He volunteered to help bring them supplies so his visit isn't too awkward and once he's done unloading it (again wishing for the use of his wand so that he could just float the crates where they need to be) he wanders a little deeper into the camp to see if he can find any Warden mages.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hermione occasionally attends certain magical classes, and by "occasionally" it's of course meant that she attends every single one she can manage without a Time-Turner, especially since she's also involved in a few non-magical classes at the behest of her friends. It's when she's leaning against a wall and still trying to catch her breath from a fairly grueling self-defense class that she notices Harry nearby looking at her, and she chuckles dryly to herself as she absently wipes at her brow.

"Not a word out of you," she pants out. "Aside from the dwarves and some of the elves, just about everyone here is bigger than me. And since I can't exactly Apparate out of fights anymore...."

Granted, she hasn't yet tried, though she's certainly been tempted on more than one occasion. She just doesn't fancy getting Splinched, and so possibly taking a few hits in physical combat seems comparatively safer.

Harry is grinning, of course, because watching her fight is brilliant but he nods and pretends to zip his lips because she's said not to say a word. He's still smiling though and there's pride brimming in his green eyes.

Then she mentions Apparation and the groans a bit. "I didn't realise that," he admits. "I also can't Disarm. Those are the only two spells I'm any good at too." He's teasing, of course, but he does have a sense of worry that settles over him. He needs to learn how to use a staff soon.

She's not entirely sure why he's looking at her like that, but Hermione assumes it has something to do with the fact that Harry is, at his core, a boy, and boys do seem to love watching a good fight. She'd seen a similar look in his and Ron's eyes after she'd punched Malfoy all those years ago. Odd, what makes them happy.

Of course, despite his teasing tone, she still understands that Harry certainly isn't happy about his magic being limited. Part of her wants to mother him a bit and tell him that it's all right, that with a bit of practice, they should both be back to the sort of proficiency they'd had when they'd started Dumbledore's Army, and a little hard work would see to it that they'd get even better. Instead, she tries to meet his joking tone with a dry one of her own; they both have enough reasons to be broody these days, after all.

"They're not the only two. I'm sure you're good at at least three spells, if not as many as four." Straightening up away from the wall, she rolls up her sleeves a bit and adds, "We could practice some. Magic, I mean. Not the fighting bit, since I'm hardly in any position to teach you anything on that front, unless you'd like to learn how to fall without hurting yourself too badly."

Because watching her beat up people was always brilliant, just accept your badassry Hermione.

He laughs softly when she continues the joke he made. Four spells was more than enough to get by, wasn't it? He almost says as much too before she distracts him by offering to help him practice magic.

"I would love to practice with you," he admitted. She was always a fast learner and if she had picked up anything he'd want to be able to learn too.

Boys just enjoy watching a good fight. She should just take Harry over to where the Iron Bull routinely spars if he likes watching people hit one another so much.

She isn't surprised by his enthusiasm to practice; he is, after all, the founding leader of Dumbledore's Army, even if she'd had to coax him to accept that responsibility. The only trouble here is that Harry is an excellent teacher, and Hermione is an excellent student. With the roles reversed... they're not always quite so excellent.

"All right," she tells him with a nod, trying to get back to basics and figure out where to start. "What have you tried so far, and what sort of results have you been getting? Have you managed to Stun anything? Or use basic first-year spells like Aguamenti? That one comes in quite handy if you're ever on a desert mission and want to make fast friends." And yes, she does know that from experience, thank you.

"I..." He started, then he frowned a bit. "I've been limiting using my wand. I don't want it to break. We don't have the Elder Wand to fix it again." Maybe he was bit paranoid now, but being without the holly wand during the last part of the war had been like losing a part of him.

"I have been thinking about trying to use one of those staffs. If mages here can do it, maybe we can too."

Hermione hesitated at that, trying not to frown. She'd tried using a staff and had found it personally uncomfortable, though not completely unusable. Perhaps Harry could find his stride with one of them, though she wouldn't be able to help him much at first.

"I've tried using one before. I'd been practicing with a local mage, so he'd been attempting to show me how to use their magic. I don't know how well it would be able to handle our magic, but if we really do pull it from the Fade just like any other mage here, I don't see why we wouldn't be able to manage at least something."

Absently rubbing at her arm, she hesitantly brought up, "Do you suppose we could fashion our own wands here if they're in dire need of repair? They've dragons and phoenixes here to make up cores, though their phoenixes look nothing like our own. It would be like asking someone to craft us very small staves. I've thought about it before, but... well, that would require hunting down a dragon, and I'm not exactly the dragon slayer type." Nor a demon slayer, but that hadn't stopped Hermione from doing what had been necessary.