Harry Potter: Another Chance

Chapter 138: A Little Demonstration

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 138: A Little Demonstration

"Let's see…" Harry looked at the coffee table next to the couch where he was sitting.

There was a small box made of oak that was used to store sweets. He carefully emptied the box and placed it back on the table.

"What are you going to do with that?" Lyra asked.

While his family looked on with interest, Harry tapped the box with his wand.

The box started to change shape until it became a small humanoid golem, around 30 centimeters tall (11.8 inches).

It had no facial features to be seen, just a pair of legs and two hands with four stubby fingers on each hand.

Its body was composed of the same light-colored wood as the box it was created from.

"Wow! What is that?!" Holly stared at the tiny golem with wide eyes.

"That's kinda cute…" Lily smiled.

"Very impressive. But what is it going to do?" asked James.

The golem looked up at Harry and extended its arms with its palms up.

"It looks like he wants something from Harry," said Lyra.

"Holly, he needs to borrow the pendant for a moment," Harry told his sister.

"Eh? He wants this?" Holly held up the pendant and glanced at the golem. "You want this?" she asked it.

Of course, the golem did not have the capability to answer, so it just waited.

Harry used his connection with the construct and made it move its little head to nod several times.

"Whoa, he said yes!" She placed the pendant on its palms and wrapped the chain around it. "Okay, you can borrow it... but don't lose it! My brother gave it to me."

Lily and James chuckled at seeing their daughter talk with the golem.

The construct turned around and walked to the end of the table before jumping down.

"Where is he going?" asked Lyra.

The little golem took off running with the pendant in its hands, startling the two young girls, but then stopped once it had reached an empty part of the living room.

"Okay, we can do the demonstration now. Stay where you are, don't go close to the golem," said Harry while pointing his wand at the little construct.

"Harry, you're not going to shoot that little guy, right?" Lyra asked with concern.

"Stupefy!" Harry shot a red spark of light before his parents could say anything.

They all saw the red spark fly at the golem, but before it could impact it, a white light emerged from the pendant and deflected Harry's spell.

"It shines!" exclaimed Holly.

A semisphere made of white light covered the golem completely, enveloping it in a protective cocoon of sorts.

"What is that?" Lily asked.

"Some sort of protective charm, but I've never seen one like this…" James added.

"Is a 'Sanctuarium'... it is indeed a protective charm, a very powerful one at that. It can stop any attack, magical or physical, including the Unforgivable Curses, for a limited amount of time." Harry claimed.

"That thing can stop the 'Unforgivable curses'? Harry, that's impossible," James said.

"Unlike the Protego charm, this forms a physical barrier." Harry conjured a knife and threw it at the white dome.

The knife bounced off and landed on the floor.

"Unforgivable curses can go through magical barriers, but not physical objects..." Lily realized.

"Is Goly okay in there?" Holly asked with worry.

"You gave it a name already?" Lyra glanced at her sister.

"The golem is perfectly okay. As I said, nothing except the most destructive spells can go through that barrier."

"For a protection this powerful, there have to be some downsides," said Lily.

"Of course there are. It has several, in fact... the most important is that the person being protected by the sanctuary becomes trapped inside until the spell wears off. There is also little to no visibility in there. It only lasts for a short duration, maybe five minutes. It depends on what is being hit by." Harry explained.

"So you cannot be harmed, but you cannot escape either, and once the effect is over, you become an easy target... I see now," James was planning on asking Harry to teach him this charm, but these downsides made it impossible to use during a fight.

"This is meant to protect those who cannot protect themselves..." Lily realized. This was the perfect thing to use on a vulnerable target, like a child or an injured ally who can't fight back.

"Yes, if anything were to happen, this will keep her safe while you deal with the threat. That's the idea at least. I hope you never have to use it…" Harry said in a lower voice.

"You put a lot of thought into this… thank you, Harry," Lily said with a warm smile.

They waited a bit longer, and after five minutes, the white barrier disappeared, revealing the little golem, completely intact inside, still holding onto the pendant.

"Goly!" Holly went running and grabbed the golem like a doll. It was very light since it was made from a wooden box.

"How can she get attached so quickly?!" Lyra exclaimed.

"The pendant arkstone will need 24 hours to recharge before it can be activated again," Harry explained.

"Does mine work the same?" asked Lyra.

"No, yours has a different charm." Harry took Lyra's ring and put it on one of his fingers.

He moved the hand in front of his face with the ring pointing outwards. "All you have to do is channel a bit of your magic into it to activate it." A translucent shield appeared in front of Harry.

"That's a Protego charm," James recognized immediately.

"It is. The charm is shaped like a shield and can be moved around." He demonstrated it by moving his hand. "It is a lot less powerful than the one from before. But you can move around and use it to block and deflect while attacking."

He then deactivated the shield and returned the ring to her. "It may take some practice to use, but you'll get the hang of it."

"Why is mine different?" asked Lyra.

Harry looked at his sister and lifted his wand up. "Because… unlike Holly, you have the tools to defend yourself. You just need to learn how to use them."

"But Professor Lockhart hasn't taught us anything yet!" Lyra exclaimed.

"Not even the Flipendo?" asked James.

"What's that?" Lyra asked.

"Yes… that man is useless. But don't worry, I'll teach you a few things next summer," Harry promised her.

"I want to have a talk with Dumbledore about his selection process for teachers…" Lily grumbled.