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Hermione dragged Harry and Ron to the Library at the start of their 6th Year and started yanking out books from the shelves and almost-but-not-quite slamming them down on the table stacking them in front of both of them. Harry glanced around the rarely-used section before asking, "Err, Hermione, exactly what are we supposed to be researching here?".
"Harry,", said Hermione, "with Voldemort's return being common knowledge, the Wizarding World is going to go to war, more-or-less. You, Harry, are going to be at the heart of this war. Don't you think it behooves you to know at least a bit about how war in the Wizarding World works?".
"You brought us here to research War?", said Ron incredulously. "Bloody Hell, I could tell you how War works in the Wizarding World!". "Oh! And pray tell me exactly what is your source of information?" "Well, Mum always told us the stories of Wizarding Wars growing up - from Gryffindor v/s Slytherin to Dumbledore v/s Grindlewald - did you know, Harry, that the first of your line Glenadade Potter beat the Dark Queen Lucifina - Slytherin's lover? That's why Potters are always Gryffindor." Ron turned to Harry for this last bit.
Harry leaned forward, always eager to hear more about his family but Hermione cut across the conversation sharply, "So you know the legends about War. Great. Can you tell us about how the military works in the Wizarding World - or even if there is one at all? How do we go about raising forces against Voldemort - recruitment and training? Safehouses? Medical facilities? What if St. Mungo's gets attacked, or Hogsmeade, or Diagon Alley? What happens, how does the Ministry factor into it, what can we do to help?". Ron gaped at Hermione. Harry wasn't far behind. Neither of them had thought that far. What would happen when the fighting broke out on the streets? "Well?", Hermione prodded. "Don't know.", Ron murmured. He was a citizen of the Wizarding World, born to it, immersed in a way neither Harry nor Hermione were. A part of him felt that he should have thought of these questions, looked for the answers to them. This wasn't homework or something he could happily shirk - this was about the survival of his community and family. Hermione heard and nodded with satisfaction, "Then read and help us find out.", she said, shoving a stack in his direction.
A couple of hours later...
Numbers such as 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 have an odd significance in the Wizarding World.
One is the Sun and the Earth that give us life. It is the solitary being - the individual.
Three is the number of power - three Deathly Hallows - three Unforgivable Curses - the triumvirate of heart, intelligence and might.
Five is the number of maturity. Five years is a standard apprenticeship - though some may be as little as three and some as many as seven. This is the underlying reason for the five years of education required before the taking of one's OWLs.
Seven is the number of completeness. Seven is the total of Wizarding education, of the longest of apprenticeships. Ten-and-seven is the coming of age.
Nine is for the laying aside of the old to begin the new. Nine is typically the latest age for accidental magic to show itself, when the child lays aside his formerly magicless self to become a mage in truth. This is the reason why 18 year olds fresh from their education are typically encouraged to take a Grand Tour before returning to begin their careers at the age of ten-and-nine.
Harry sighed. This book seemed to have nothing to do with War. Harry glanced back to the faded, barely legible cover. "Praedia Bellica, The Spoils of War", he murmured absently, tracing a letter. "Any help on how to go about acquiring said 'Spoils'?"
"Hmm, you said something Harry?", Hermione asked, looking uo at his muttering. "Uh, nothing. Nothing at all.", Harry denied hastily, turning back to his reading.
The Praedia Bellica spell is typically used at the end of a duel or battle to gain the enemies assets as a way to prevent them from being able to resume the fight. Unless the duel is arranged with a predetermined award for the victor, the Praedia Bellica can be cast at the conclusion of any attack made with killing intent by the victor/survivor. It is an entirely wandless spell that uses the magic of the fight to power it - simply saying or even muttering the words is enough. (The spell was adapted to require less power since wizards typically cast it at the end of a duel, a battle or a war; in other words when they were typically nigh reeling from exhaustion, both physical and magical.) Even the duration since the fight does not matter - an interesting facet to the spell that was discovered when Daeron the Daring fainted from his injuries at the Sacking of the Emerald Castle (1406, War of the Jewels) and therefore only manged to cast the spell against Gaeron Gaunt, also known as 'the Greedy' some three months later. However, the spell may be disrupted if one has been in a deadly duel with any mages other than the one enemy and his/her followers in the interim between the fight and the casting of the spell. Magical creatures both sentient (Eg. Dementors, Veela, etc.) and non-sentient (Eg. Acromantula, Basilisks, Chimaeras, Dragons, etc.) alike do not count. This is because the magic of the spell immediately latches onto the last deadly attack made against the wizard or witch using this spell by any mage and traces it back the mage's Master should (s)he have one (The presence of a Master can be verified by checking whether the mage has a Mark. Such Marks are typically the result of slave or servant bindings as well as of vassalage or fealty oaths. In ancient days, such Marks were typically found as follows: slave Marks for serfs, servant Marks for the Lord's household, fealty oath Marks for the Lord's knights and guardsmen, vassalage oath Marks for lesser lords to whom the Lord is overlord. The vassalage oath Marked ones might in turn have others whom they have Marked.).
The strength and severity of the Praedia Bellica spell is determined by the number of attacks made by the aggressor against whom the spell is cast.
Five levels of Praedia Bellica have been recorded as follows:
1. One or two deadly assaults made by the aggressor. In this case, the aggressors personal vaults, possessions and valuables are turned over to the caster and (s)he is Marked as a slave of the caster. However, the aggressor's family retains its liberty and status and any title(s) held by the aggressor are passed down to the appropriate heirs.
2. Three or four deadly assaults made by the aggressor. The aggressor's entire household is taken over by the caster. The aggressor is slave Marked, his/her immediate family (defined as those living in his household and under his/her control Eg. if the aggressor is the Head or Heir of his Family then the entire Family is counted; however if the aggressor is a second / third son or of a distaff branch of the Family then only his/her spouse and descendants are counted) servant Marked and any Marked by him/ her have their Marks changed to reflect the Mark of the caster. Any title(s) held by the aggressor are inherited by the caster. Any vaults (including Family vaults in the case of the Head or the Heir) held by the newly slave/servant Marked are turned over to the caster.
3. Five or six deadly assaults made by the aggressor. The aggressor and his entire family are slave Marked. The aggressor's free will is modified as if they had drunk a Will Alignment Potion from the caster's hand. All titles and vaults held by the Family are turned over to the caster and any and all Marked by the Family have their Marks modified.
4. Seven or eight deadly assaults made by the aggressor. The aggressor and his entire family are slave Marked and their free wills are modified as if they had drunk a Will Alignment Potion from the caster's hand. All titles and vaults held by the Family are turned over to the caster and any and all Marked by the Family have their Marks modified. In addition, any who claim common descent with the Family are also servant Marked.
5. Nine or more deadly assaults made by the aggressor. The aggressor and his entire family are slave Marked and their free wills are modified as if they had drunk a Will Alignment Potion from the caster's hand. All titles and vaults held by the Family are turned over to the caster and any and all Marked by the Family have their Marks modified. Any allies or those who claim common descent with the Family are also servant and slave Marked respectively.
"Hey Hermione.", Harry said after struggling through the gradations of Praedia Bellica. "This thing talks about Marks - d'you think its talking about like... the Dark Mark?" "I don't know, Harry, here, let me look.", Hermione moves over from her seat to peer at Harry's page. The movement in his peripheral vision draws Ron's attention from where he had been gazing vacantly at his page for the last twenty minutes. "Huh, you guys found something?", he asked from his place across from Harry as he rubbed his eyes. "Maybe.", Harry replies, as Hermione is too busy reading the different types of Marks and their names before going off among the stacks to look for more information, "We think that the Marks mentioned here in,", he checks the cover again, "Praedia Bellica, The- " "Harry - no!", Ron's exclamation cuts Harry off but its too late. "What?", Harry snaps, annoyed at being cut off and that too, so loudly. "Harry, that spell, that spell is.... its serious magic. You can't just cast it willy-nilly like that!" "But I didn't cast the spell!", Harry protests. "Harry, you already cast the spell.", Ron explains, his face serious, "That spell typically gets cast at the end of a battle - when everyone's exhausted and no one has much magic to spare - so the wizards of the time refined and refined the spell until just saying the incantation was enough - you don't even have to hold your wand, the spell takes it energy from the residual energies of your last battle for the tracing and the energy of the original owner for the changes in ownership of any possessions and the energy of the Marked to change any Marks. "How do you know all this?", Harry questioned, incredulously. Knowing things was Hermione's forte, not Ron's. Ron shrugged embarressedly and spoke dismissively, "Bill asked once when Mum was telling a story to me and Ginny when we were young and he was home from Hogwarts. Mum didn't know but Gran explained it - she was a Black you know - Cedrella Black. 'Course she got blasted off the tapestry at Grimmauld for marrying a Weasley but she knew stuff like this from before."
Just then Hermione came around the corner and tailing her, unnoticed by the bushy-haired witch, came Draco Malfoy. Both Harry and Ron sprung up and drew their wands, startling Hermione in the process. Draco only lifted his hands to demonstrate that they were empty before requesting quietly, "Potter, can we talk for a moment?". "Talk.", Harry replied truculently, crossing his arms defensively. He was more than tired of Malfoy and his machinations and just wanted to get this latest whatever-it-was done with so he could return to this new lead on the Dark Mark as well as this apparently rather significant spell that he might've accidentally cast courtesy the famous or rather in-famous Potter Luck. "Alone.", stressed Malfoy, looking rather pale and keeping his eyes locked on Harry's even as Ron started to rant. When Ron finally paused. presumably to breathe since his face was bright red, Draco spoke quietly, "I, Draco Malfoy, a legitimate descendant of the Black Family, request to speak privately with the Head of the Black Family.". Ron drew a breath, stopped, grumbled incoherently to himself and took Hermione's elbow and began to withdraw, "Put up a silencing bubble if you need to but you better stay within our sight at all times, Ferret! And keep that wand in our sight and out of your hand once you're done!". Malfoy finally looked away from Harry to focus on Ron, "Will the table do?", he bit out. Ron nodded with ill-mannered grace, before moving away with a confused Hermione as he kept an eye on the two while explaining to her in a hushed voice about how Malfoy had invoked Family Business and how that meant the Harry had to 'hear the git out'. Draco steered the Boy-Who-Lived into a seat and sat next to him, carefully angling them so that his left arm would be visible only to the two them when he lifted his sleeve. He conjured the privacy bubble and laid his wand on the table before looking expectantly at a stone-faced Harry. After a moment when it appeared that Harry had decided to stay silent no matter what Draco sighed and pushed up his sleeve. There, in the place where a Dark Mark should have been lay another mark - a lily encircled by an ouroboros with lightening bolts radiating in all directions on the outside of it.
Harry gaped then dragged over the Praedia Bellica book to look it over thoroughly. His last deadly encounter had been with Voldemort in the Ministry making it four, no, five - had to count when he was a baby after all, five deadly encounters with the snake-faced man. He traced the third entry in the list of Paedia Bellica's effects:
Five or six deadly assaults made by the aggressor. The aggressor and his entire family are slave Marked. The aggressor's free will is modified as if they had drunk a Will Alignment Potion from the caster's hand. All titles and vaults held by the Family are turned over to the caster and any and all Marked by the Family have their Marks modified.
Harry stared at Draco in shock.