Answers to Chapter 3 questions are now on my profile! Chapter 2 questions will stay listed until I start answering Chapter 4 questions.
Changes made to previous chapter:
Firstly, replaced "psychiatrist" with "psychologist." Confused some words there. Thank you to anothersignalman, I looked it up after I saw your review.
Secondly, I made a small mistake in introducing Parock Sysmal more than once. I changed it slightly-he wasn't being impersonated or anything, I promise that was just my bad. He drove with the Potters to King's Cross and then boarded the train to watch over it with his meerkat Patronus, and I accidentally forgot when I introduced him at King's Cross that I'd already introduced him. Sorry if it caused any confusion. Thank you to Jerry Side for that catch.
CHAPTER FOUR
GREENER GRASSES
O
"Okay, call me crazy," said Aidan, "but—"
"You're crazy," interrupted Alec.
Aidan's shoulders went limp. "You're supposed to decide whether I'm crazy or not after I say what I was about to say."
"You asked me to do something and I did it."
Aidan sighed. "Anyway, call me crazy, but… do the trees in the Forbidden Forest seem taller to you?"
Albus looked out the window of the carriage they were riding up to the castle. Above the thestral's head he could see the line of trees marking the outside of the Forbidden Forest—and they definitely did seem taller than usual.
"You're not crazy," agreed Exo. "I'm getting that, too."
"And the grass seems greener," said Albus. "Doesn't it?"
"Actually, yes," assented Aidan.
"Wonder what that's all about," said Alec.
"Maybe there was just the right amount of rain and sun this summer?" suggested Exo hopefully.
"It's never as simple as that, is it," sighed Albus.
The carriages plodded forward. The castle was more beautiful than ever, set against a backdrop of some of the greenest foliage they'd ever seen.
"Hey," said Aidan suddenly. "We're going to be mentors this year."
"Yeah, I was thinking about that," said Alec.
"I totally forgot about it immediately after signing the agreement," admitted Albus. "I wonder who I'm going to be tutoring. Does anyone in our year have siblings who turned eleven in time?"
"Holly Glissendale's youngest brother," said Alec.
"Oh, yeah," mumbled Albus. "Holly."
Holly had made a point not to speak to him unless slandering Janelle, which forced him to avoid her like the plague.
"Parker Pullman has a brother coming in this year," said Exo.
"Is his brother blind, too?" asked Alec.
"No, I don't think so."
"Oh, and hot-as-hell Abby Quinn has a sister coming," added Alec.
"You have a girlfriend," chided Aidan.
"Abby Quinn is the same level of hotness no matter how many girlfriends I have," stated Alec. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I hear she's also a bit of a banshee. I like Mia a lot more than her."
"Yeah, I never see you two apart," chuckled Albus. "I was surprised to see that you joined our carriage instead of hers."
"Well, I like you guys, too," said Alec. "And Mia is chatting with the Greengrass triplets, anyway."
"Don't they usually hang out with Scorpius?" asked Albus.
"Yeah, Malfoy is their cousin," replied Alec. "But they say he's sort of become a loner lately. He doesn't really fit in with the other Slytherins or something. He only ever hung out with his cousins and now he doesn't even want to be around them anymore."
Albus's heart jumped. This sounded very familiar.
"Does that remind you guys of anyone else we know?"
"Eftan?" said Aidan, nodding. "I was thinking the same thing."
"I bet Eftan and Scorpius could be good friends," said Albus. "Neither of them really ever connected to the Slytherin crowd and now they prefer to be alone. Maybe, since they're both going through the same sort of situation, they could really connect with each other."
"But if both of them prefer to be alone, they're not going to try to be friends with each other," said Exo.
Albus knew this, but his chat with Dr. Varnisse still made him think that something could be done. "Maybe we could get the Greengrass triplets to introduce Eftan and Scorpius to each other."
"Interesting thought," said Alec. "I don't know if it'll work, though."
"Well, we should try."
"Try to get a Malfoy to be friends with a Muggle-born?" said Aidan skeptically.
"Scorpius doesn't seem… hateful," said Albus. "He just seems evasive, and solitary. But I think we should do whatever we can to at least get a friend for Eftan. I don't like the thought of him going through his entire Hogwarts career without friends. And if we can do something to help him, then we should."
"I guess so," said Aidan. "I did always feel bad that we didn't try to include him more after he started drifting away."
"Did he ever give us a particular reason he stopped wanting to hang out with us?" asked Alec.
Albus glanced back out the window. He felt partially responsible, if not wholly responsible, for Eftan's alienation from their group, which was partially responsible, if not wholly responsible, for his desire to help his old friend.
O
The Sorting Hat was on its stool, and the second through seventh years were at their House tables. All that was missing from the picture was the nervous band of first years; as the door opened and Professor Longbottom led them into the room, the scene was made complete.
The Sorting Hat twitched momentarily, and then opened up its mouth to belt out its ever-changing yearly song.
The Founders, choosing students,
sought the features they affirm:
courage, cunning, work and wit.
Shall we define each term?
Courage, despite what's often heard,
Is not the lack of fear.
It means that when you're fighting,
you know why you must be here.
Cunning means you're well aware
Of all the goings-on.
It means that when the battle's lost,
You know you must be gone.
The hardest workers bridge the gaps
That stretch from dreams to lives.
It means that when you're set to go,
You know how one arrives.
And knowledge is another prize
Which men should seek to share.
It means that when you're finished,
You know where to go from there.
Now listen close, for listening
Is one more virtuous trait:
Courage, cunning, work and wit
Alone are not so great.
Ask any of the Founders—
One trait, they do not seek.
They look for balances of traits
Which make you all unique.
And while it's true our Founders
Had one trait that they preferred,
The presence of some other traits
Was never what deterred.
The world is not all black and white—
Nor is it shades of gray.
The world is shining rainbow-bright;
New colors form each day.
So Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs,
Slytherins and Gryffindors,
Understand each other well;
Awareness ends all wars.
The usual clapping at the end of the song began, but for some reason it seemed a lot louder than usual. It was also accompanied by a loud rumble from beneath the floor. Albus clutched his head.
"Dad looks worried," noted Exo. His voice sounded much louder than usual to Albus, whose head was pounding with a terrible headache. "What's that shaking?"
Wilcox definitely seemed unsettled. Something was bothering him, and a few of the other teachers didn't seem to like the sound of the rumbling, either.
"When I call your name," announced Professor Longbottom, "step forward and put on the hat, and you will be Sorted."
Albus's head was slowly exploding; this wasn't a normal headache.
"Albus?" asked Exo. "Are you okay? You look—"
O
When Albus next opened his eyes, he was in the hospital wing.
"Ah, Potter," said Madam Birchbaum, rushing to him and handing him an orange potion. "Have some Orienge. You appear to be undergoing mental whiplash. It can happen to people who have undergone extreme magical stress on the mind—such as your little adventure with the Marionette's Medicine. The whiplash happens at unpredictable times following the stress—your mind can feel some harsh aftereffects."
"Er… what about the Marionette's Medicine?" said Albus. She wasn't supposed to know about that.
"Don't worry, I'm keeping it confidential," said Madam Birchbaum. "Professor Wilcox needed to tell me about any severe mental stress you've had, so that I could ensure you got the proper care for what was affecting you."
"But… why would I only be feeling it now?"
"A return to a strongly magical area. The mental wounds you suffered were slightly reopened when you visited your psychologist; that happens when you open up to someone completely like that. You exposed the delicate parts of your thoughts again. Anyway, your mind was exposed, and a return to such a concentrated magical hub as Hogwarts was like salt on a cut. Drink up; you'll be fine."
Albus drank the Orienge potion; his headache was relieved almost instantly.
"I have wounds in my mind?" he asked worriedly.
"You've gone through a lot more trauma than most people your age," said Madam Birchbaum. "I think we can both agree on that. Your mind is also very sensitive and—no offense—very exposed."
"Why?"
"Because you're so naturally inclined towards Legilimency," she replied. "Your mind likes to pick up on other people's thoughts. But it leaves you a little more at risk for things like this, if you're not prepared. A little Occlumency training should set things straight… permanently, if you're good enough. Also, I might mention that your family history doesn't help your cause—if I remember correctly, your father had a habit of flitting in and out of the mind of a certain someone, and though that wasn't a genetic occurrence, he certainly had a predisposition for the control he had over it towards the end."
"Tell me about this mental thing that just happened to me," said Albus. "Are you just guessing at what happened, or does this sort of thing happen often?"
"It doesn't happen incredibly often, but enough that we do know what we're talking about," said Madam Birchbaum. "I know you might not really trust our opinion after we failed to see the problem with your stunted magic last year, but we're quite sure on this one."
"I saw something," said Albus. "Right before I blacked out, I had a vision of a green woman."
"You might have been picking up on something spiritual," said Madam Birchbaum. "I'd talk to Professor Allira if you think you've had a vision."
I'd rather not, thought Albus. Their Divination teacher was kind, but eccentric in an unstable sort of manner. He didn't go out of his way to spend more time with her.
"Will my mental wounds ever heal?"
"Oh, of course," said Madam Birchbaum. "They should heal very soon. Come see me every week or so and I'll help the wounds close up—should only take a month or two."
Albus suddenly felt an extremely strong urge to use the facilities.
"That'll be the Orienge," said Madam Birchbaum knowingly as Albus stood to attend to the restroom. "Side effects may include instantly full bladder."
Albus pondered his vision as he entered the lavatory. A green woman, dressed in a brown cloak. Her dark green hair cascaded down over her eyes. She was behind some sort of a wall. She seemed to be suffering. What did it mean?
When he was released and went back up to the Gryffindor fourth years' dormitories, he was greeted with tentative enthusiasm by Rose, James, Hugo, and Exo.
"Are you okay?" asked Rose. "You sort of dropped your face onto the table."
"I'm fine," said Albus. "Madam Birchbaum said there's nothing permanent. What did I miss in the Sorting? Any important announcements?"
"Exo's dad really doesn't want anyone in the forest this year," said James. "There's, like, a two hundred point deduction from anyone who goes in without permission, and they'll also get two months' detention and possible expulsion."
"That's…"
"That's what?" asked James.
"That's a lot of things," said Albus, "and none of them are good."
"Tell me about it. Oh, and Wilcox was talking about how Professor Dixon died."
"What did he die from again?"
"A severe case of being old as dirt," said James.
Rose glared at James. "It was Harbingitis, Albus."
"What's Harbingitis?" asked Albus.
Rose spoke, as always, as though there was someone only she could see who was whispering the dictionary definition in her ear. "Harbingitis is a magical disease that causes you to predict random symptoms and then experience them, up until you predict your own death—and you're always right. It's less frequent for younger people but you can catch it at any age, you just might end up predicting your own death a hundred years in the future if you catch it at thirteen. Not contagious, and it's not the most common of diseases so there's no known treatment yet. But, you know, some people like knowing exactly when they're going to die so they can get their affairs in order. Professor Dixon correctly predicted his death on July 28th and that's when he died peacefully in his sleep."
"Kind of convenient that he predicted his own death, I guess," said Albus. "They knew they had to start looking for a new teacher."
Rose gaped at him.
"That's a horrible thing to say!"
"What?" said Albus defensively. "Death happens!"
Rose turned away and shook her head, muttering something that sounded like "Boys." James and Hugo followed her away.
"The new Diwand Spells teacher seems nice," said Exo. "Her name is Professor Evranote. She introduced herself quickly and she seems fun."
Albus suddenly remembered something else he'd missed, and his heart sank; he'd really been looking forward to that part.
"Who's my mentee?"
"You got Parker Pullman's little brother, P.J.," said Exo. "I got this little kid Rudiger Reade whose family is used to being in Slytherin, like mine. I think the Sorting Hat gave him to me because we're a lot alike. But not as alike as me and Eftan's mentee."
"What?"
"Eftan got this scrawny, freaked-out-of-his-mind boy named Corey Brown," said Exo. "And I'm almost positive he's a werewolf."
Albus tilted his head. "Really?"
"Really," said Exo. "His growth has been stunted… he's got some hints of scars… and I just get this sense from him. It's like I can feel his wolf inside him."
"I feel like your dad would have told you if there was a werewolf coming to Hogwarts," said Albus. "So that you could help them, you know?"
"Maybe I'm not supposed to know," said Exo. "But maybe if I ask him, and show him that I already know, then he can tell me a little more about Corey."
"Go for it," agreed Albus.
"Alec's mentee is Holly's little brother—"
"Great," groaned Albus sarcastically. "Maybe I'll get to see more of Holly now."
"And Aidan's mentee is this kid with pure red hair named Christopher Fireborn. He's redder than a Weasley."
"That's saying something," said Albus. "Anyway, what do we do, exactly, in regards to being a mentor? I guess I wasn't awake when they went over that…"
"Our mentors are going to mentor us on how to be mentors," said Exo. "You should meet up with Gil really soon to talk."
"I will," said Albus.
Exo glanced around; no one was listening.
"Tomorrow, after breakfast and before Herbology, let's take a walk around the grounds," he said quietly. "I still need to tell you something important."
Albus nodded as Exo ducked away.
He seemed to have been in the hospital wing for some time; it was late at night. He didn't feel tired, but he brought himself up to bed and eventually was able to drift off to sleep.
O
When Albus woke up the morning, he had intended to send his father a letter about the people impersonating his friends, but Exo had told James about the imposters and James had already sent a letter to their parents. It was instead Exo's secret that was nagging at Albus all morning. It was something Exo had been meaning to tell Albus since Diagon Alley. What could it be?
Several thousand guesses later, none of them likely, he took a walk with Exo outside towards the grounds, to wander a bit before Herbology.
"Okay," said Exo. "First of all, I got an owl. Her name is Marce."
"All right," said Albus, nodding.
Exo sighed. "I… I wrote to John Solomon."
Albus jumped and stumbled; he kicked up a large amount of grass trying to catch his footing again. "You did what?"
Exo stopped walking; so did Albus. They were silent for a while by the edge of the Forbidden Forest, listening only to the rustle of the tree leaves in the wind.
"It's starting again," said Exo. "The werewolf murders. You remember the Werewolf Hunter, Ivan Siobor? He's picked up steam again and more werewolves are dying. I'm in danger every second I'm not cured, Albus. It probably means I'm in danger for the rest of my life, but if there was even a small chance…" He wiped his nose.
"You wanted to tell me this in Diagon Alley," said Albus. "So you've had time to get a response… Did he write you back?"
Exo bit his lower lip.
"Marce came back a few days ago."
"With the letter?" asked Albus. "She never found Solomon?"
"She didn't have the letter when she came back."
Albus gawked again.
"That means she found him," said Exo. "She seemed happy, like she'd completed her task, and she wouldn't come back happy without the letter if she hadn't done the job, right? I know owls can even find people who can't be tracked by magic. It's possible, right? I think John Solomon got my letter asking him to cure me, and I think he's already read it even now as we're talking."
Albus nodded. "And he didn't give Marce a letter back? Or did someone intercept her?"
"I told you, she seemed victorious when she came back, and she didn't show any signs of having been taken by force to remove a letter or anything," said Exo. "But why didn't Solomon write back to me yet?"
"Maybe he's trying to conceive a way for you to meet," said Albus a little breathlessly.
Exo nodded. "That's what I thought, too. I just thought you should know… since you and I both know Solomon is innocent, you know. And because…"
"Because I promised I'd come with you if you tried to meet Solomon," said Albus, placing a hand on Exo's shoulder, "and I won't back out of that promise now, or ever. If he writes back to you, tell me straight away, okay?"
Exo nodded, smiling through a few happy tears. He wiped his eyes and started walking towards Herbology.
Albus started to follow Exo, but his shoe snagged on something.
He tripped and fell forward as his sock left his shoe. He glanced back; a thousand tiny little blades of grass were creeping up the side of his shoe, holding it in place. As he watched, they started to drag it down, sucking it under the ground slowly.
"Hey!" he yelled, reaching for his shoe. The movement of his arm snapped several tendrils of grass that had attached themselves to his arm, and he realized that the grass was attempting to swallow him up, too. He leapt away, snapping a hundred or so strands as he charged away towards the greenhouse where they were having class. He grabbed Exo's arm as he passed, pulling his mesmerized friend away from the danger.
"Professor Longbottom!" shouted Albus as he burst into the greenhouse. "The grass outside is eating my shoe!"
Professor Longbottom had been talking to Mia; he looked over with a very curious look on his face.
"Hurry, before my shoe's gone," said Albus, gesturing outside.
Professor Longbottom sprinted outside, and skidded to a stop when he saw where Albus was pointing.
"Fascinating," he said, looking at the top of the shoe which was almost completely under the surface of the ground. He waved his wand. "Relashio!"
The grass retreated under the ground, leaving a bare patch ten feet in diameter.
"That's Snaggrass," he said, digging into the soil and pulling out Albus's muddy shoe. "But… this is far too low in elevation for Snaggrass to be growing. And that's a lot faster than Snaggrass usually works… I should take it in for testing."
"Where did it go?" Albus asked, looking at the topsoil.
"It receded into its roots. It'll grow back. I'll have to remember to mark off this area so no one else goes there, and strengthen the grass around this circle so the Snaggrass doesn't spread."
As he spoke, new grass was already sprouting from the soil. Within seconds, it had repopulated the bare ground area, but stopped growing before it overtook the height of the grass around it, or its barriers on the outside of the circle.
"Snaggrass will do that," said Professor Longbottom. "It'll make itself look like regular grass, to fool animals into sleeping there, and then it'll cover them and drag them under before they wake up. It's related to Devil's Snare. I think we could actually have a good class on Snaggrass… I might scrap our lesson plan and bring everyone out here."
"Scrap the lesson plan?" asked Mia.
Mia was a Herbology nut who always came to see anything involving cool plants. Her extraordinary eyes, one blue, and one purple, were always analyzing Hogwarts vegetation, or reading up on interesting flora facts. Professor Longbottom loved her.
"I'll save today's lesson for later," said Professor Longbottom. "We can't miss this opportunity to see Snaggrass, especially this close to home. You can't plant it, or it'll eat its own pot, spill itself, and die. But here it is in the wild, outside of its usual habitat." They walked back to the greenhouse to tell the others. "I'll do the Justicerts some other day… I need to calm all the plants down anyway. The greenhouse is acting up. The plants are more volatile than usual, and it's making me nervous that someone might get hurt."
Albus frowned and glanced back at the Forbidden Forest. The wind had stopped blowing, but the trees were still swaying.
O
"Who the hell," said Exo as he huffed and puffed in his attempts to stir the incredibly thick potion, "figured out that you have to stir Uprain in groups of three, seven, four, eight, and then five rotations alternating direction? It's just so random."
"I think you have to know a little bit of Arithmancy," replied Albus. "The best Potioneers know a lot of Arithmancy so that they know which magical numbers are most effective in the stirs."
"And?"
"And this makes a lot of sense, given what we learned last year."
"Which is?"
Albus had forgotten that Exo wouldn't know this—he dropped Arithmancy early last year to lighten his course load. His electives now were Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes and the A.R.M. program. His grades had suddenly become much higher after he let go of that one class—he seemed to be bright enough to have gone to Ravenclaw if the Sorting Hat had seen fit, but couldn't keep up with all the work. Albus, though, was excelling even with all thirteen of his courses.
"Towards the end of last year, we talked about numerical sequences," said Albus as he stirred his very thick potion, which became thinner with each pass. "The most magically significant sequence in the world, named the Supersequence, is seven, three, six, two, and five. You subtract four, add three, subtract four, and add three, from the starting point of seven, the most magical number. It looks like the Uprain is reordered so that three comes first… Our sequence, which is three, seven, four, eight, five—adding four, subtracting three, adding four, subtracting three—also happens to be what you get when you subtract each number in the Supersequence from the number ten. In addition, since it is an elemental-type potion, and there are three elements in Wizarding lore—land, sea, and sky—it starts with a three, and if you notice that three plus seven plus four plus eight plus five is twenty-seven, or three to the power of three, it doesn't seem random in the slightest."
Albus finally looked up; Exo was gawking at him so intensely that he wasn't even paying attention to his potion, which was starting to boil.
"Exo, your potion is spoiling," he said quickly.
Exo gave a start and returned to his stirring. "How do you even know all of that? Did you come up with that yourself?"
"Yes, actually," said Albus. "Professor Valon told us to read the instructions on how to make the Uprain before we started, and I've been thinking about it since the start of class."
"We're still on our first day," said Exo, shaking his head. "That's a lot of thinking for just your first Potions class."
Albus's stirs were getting quicker; his potion was very thin and almost ready. He'd done two of the stir sequences, so one more would do it. "Well, we have double Potions today, so it's like our second Potions class."
"You're a real prodigy, you know that? Anyone can get good grades, but… sheesh. Practically no one would think about it the way you just did."
Lucas was near them, and eyed Albus with slight envy. Potions was always the area where Albus could beat Lucas handily.
Albus kept stirring. "Thanks, Exo."
"I mean it."
"I have Arithmancy right before A.R.M. today," said Albus. "I'll ask Professor Ramanu about this potion and see if I'm right. I think she was a Potioneer before she became a teacher, so she might know."
Albus finished stirring his cauldron and looked over at Eftan.
Eftan was still working alone. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, which had come right before this class, he had been in the corner farthest from other people, looking sulky. Scorpius had been nearby, also avoiding human interactions. They both had continued this behavior into Potions. Sylvester Alamandrine, who was friends with Eftan for a little while, was also on his own, but he was talking to some of the Slytherin girls and making conversation, unlike his former friend. What had gotten into Eftan? Scorpius had always been like this, but it didn't make sense that Eftan would see how great it was to have good friends and then choose not to have them.
"We should talk to the Greengrass triplets next class," said Albus.
"I forgot… What class do we have next?"
"Transfiguration, so it is with Ravenclaw."
"Why do we want to talk to them, again? You want to see if they can somehow influence Scorpius and get him to befriend Eftan?"
"That's right."
"It's never going to work," said Exo, shaking his head.
"You never know," replied Albus confidently. "It's worth a shot."
"If you say so."
"I say so."
Lucas looked up from his potion, which he had just finished. He looked at Albus's, apparently comparing them by sight. He met Albus's gaze but didn't say anything. They weren't rivals, but they still weren't really friends.
Albus sighed. Was he being hypocritical? Was he shunning friendship for no reason? Could he and Lucas ever be friends?
After a few more minutes, more and more people started to finish their Uprain. Professor Valon walked around to investigate the progress, and when he was satisfied, he called for everyone to stop.
"Here," he said, waving his wand and distributing umbrellas to every student in the classroom. "Now add your Cloud Feather and see what happens."
Albus picked up his Cloud Feather, a wisp of misty material collected from clouds that formed when magically altered water was evaporated. He dropped it into the solution, and bubbles started to form instantly; the water boiled and shot up as steam into the air. Most peoples' potions did the same, and then a large cloud formed on the ceiling of the Potions dungeon and it began to rain.
"Open your umbrellas—why do you think I gave them to you, to admire the pretty colors on them?" said Professor Valon as the slower students in the class like Riley Andersen began to realize that they had been handed umbrellas for a reason. They waited out the rain while Professor Valon talked about the potion they had just created. The rain subsided within a couple of minutes.
"And finally, you may add as many Thunderroots as you'd like, right before adding the Cloud Feather, and you'll get a thunderstorm," finished Professor Valon as the students began to pack their soaked belongings. "The intensity of the thunderstorm varies with the amount of Thunderroot added. I didn't let you do that here, obviously, because one of you would probably have been struck and electrocuted… it wouldn't have hurt you severely, but it wouldn't have been pleasant. This potion is used worldwide to end droughts if Muggles are suffering too badly, but they have to brew a massive amount of it. The amount of rain increases exponentially with the volume of the potion, though, so you can obtain large storms without brewing a potion the size of a lake. But make too much and you'll have a hurricane or a monsoon coming at you."
"What's 'exponentially' mean?" asked Jonah, raising his hand.
"Don't worry about it."
"Is that Muggle math or something?" asked Toby.
"It won't be on the test. Don't worry about it."
Jonah and Toby lowered their hands happily.
They left Potions shortly after. Albus purposefully stayed behind a bit so that the Greengrass triplets, wherever they were coming from, would get to Transfiguration before him. Then he would follow them in, see where they sat, and sit near them. Exo followed suit; he followed Albus most places now.
They entered the Transfiguration classroom as soon as they saw the Greengrass triplets come in. The brothers sat in a row, with Sebastian in the middle; Albus sat on the left next to Archie and Exo sat on Albus's other side. Alec settled down next to Exo.
"Hello, Albus," said Archie. "How are you?"
The Greengrass triplets usually had excellent manners and rarely spoke in the vernacular. They were, after all, pureblood cousins of Scorpius, and they had probably been raised in a very proper household.
"So how have your first classes been?" asked Albus.
"Excellent," said Archie. "I've found it quite easy to reinsert myself into the Hogwarts routine. And you?"
"Same, but I almost got eaten by grass today…"
"Do tell," said Sebastian, looking over and grinning.
The door opened, and an unfamiliar girl entered the room. She was very pretty, with ruffled black hair, smooth dark skin, and big brown eyes. She was older than everyone else—perhaps in her seventh year, but Albus was sure he'd never seen her before. She sat in the back of the classroom and took out a notepad. She was scribbling with a pen rather than a quill, and she was writing furiously fast.
"Good morning, Eloa," said Professor Desulgon.
The girl named Eloa nodded and returned to her writings.
"Who is that?" asked Albus quietly.
"Oh, I had forgotten you were unconscious for the introductions after the Sorting," said Archie. "That's Eloa Loft. She's visiting from South Africa. Her parents are starting a school of magic down there and she's just here to observe."
Albus looked at her for a while longer. He'd grown up scrutinizing everyone to see if they might be potentially dangerous, but this girl seemed relatively normal.
"They want to have a sort of a sister-school relationship with us," said Sebastian. "We might get to visit South Africa in the coming years."
"Oh, that would be neat," said Albus. "I've only ever been to northern Africa, to see my Uncle Bill in Egypt. It would be cool to see South Africa."
"She'll be popping in and out of classrooms all the time for a few weeks," said Exo. "She won't be here very long."
"Anyway," said Albus, "I wanted to ask you guys something." He needed get to the point before Professor Desulgon started up class and stopped them from talking.
"We'd be happy to hear," piped up Ashton from the other end of the table, leaning further in.
"You know how Scorpius is being all moody and alone?" said Albus quietly.
The three boys all nodded.
"Well, I was wondering," said Albus. "He and Eftan are acting the same. Eftan is trying to avoid all human contact, too."
"Eftan Griffiths?" said Ashton. "I've only talked with him on a few occasions."
"That's because he doesn't really talk to anyone anymore," said Alec.
"Just like Scorpius," said Albus, trying to lead them to the same conclusion.
The sharp Ravenclaws seemed to all pick up on Albus's train of thought at the same time, and they all glanced at him curiously.
"You want to see if perhaps Eftan and Scorpius could foster a friendship?" asked Sebastian.
"I just want to do whatever I can to help my old friend," said Albus. "It doesn't seem healthy that they're both always alone. Don't you think?"
"I agree with you there," said Ashton.
"Yes, Scorpius got a little depressed and stopped talking to us," said Archie quietly, "and that only deepened his depression when he decided not to talk about it to anyone."
"How do you suppose we go about this?" asked Sebastian.
"Try to get Scorpius to start up a conversation with Eftan, I guess," said Albus, "and see where it goes from there. I just wanted to run it by you to see if you had any ideas on the matter."
"Not a one," said Sebastian.
Archie and Ashton nodded and shrugged
"But," continued Sebastian, "I can understand what you mean. It's unhealthy for both of them not to have a friend in the place they spend most of their time. And I think it could work if we don't make it obvious that we're… synthesizing the camaraderie."
"Speak English," grunted Alec.
"I'm speaking excellent English," said Sebastian, confused.
"Much better than he ever does," dismissed Albus. "So will you think about it?"
"We will," said Ashton.
"You're absolutely right that we should try to help them if at all possible," said Archie. "We'll give it some thought and get back to you."
"And you should let us know in the meantime if you have any inspiration," said Ashton.
Alec, Exo, and Albus all nodded as Professor Desulgon finally started class.
O
After an exhausting Transfiguration session in which they reviewed everything they'd ever learned in only an hour's time, Albus trudged off to Arithmancy. On the way, he passed James, and a thought appeared in his head so rapidly he hadn't even caught up to his own line of reasoning when he tugged on James's sleeve.
James looked down. "Greetings, little brother."
"Hi, James. Can I borrow the Cloak?"
James raised an eyebrow. "Already thinking of getting into trouble, are we?"
"No," said Albus.
"You should have said yes," said James. "I'd have handed it over right away if I thought you were getting into mischief. So what are you doing, if not mischief?"
"I never said it wasn't mischief," replied Albus. "I just said I wouldn't be getting into trouble."
James nodded. "Sounds reasonable to me. Sure, I'll get it to you tonight."
"Thanks," said Albus, turning the corner and heading to the Arithmancy classroom.
The Invisibility Cloak, he assumed, might come in handy if he wanted to get Scorpius and Eftan alone so they could have a conversation. If anyone else was around, they might not say anything, but if they were the only ones in the room, perhaps he could kick-start a conversation somehow. He hadn't thought that far ahead, but if nothing else, the Invisibility Cloak would help him to monitor whether the friendship was a possibility.
He walked into Arithmancy to find Professor Longbottom in deep conversation with Professor Ramanu.
"…will update you with the growth rate as I get more information," Professor Longbottom was saying, "and you can check for significance in the data."
"I'd be more than happy to do that for you," said Professor Ramanu.
"Thank you, Janet. Take care."
"You too, Neville."
Albus watched Professor Longbottom leave, and then walked up to the front of the classroom, remembering a question he'd had in Potions.
"Albus," said Professor Ramanu, smiling at his appearance.
"Hello, Professor," said Albus. "I was just in Potions today, and I was wondering whether the Supersequence had anything to do with the Uprain potion?"
She smiled even wider. "The Supersequence has everything to do with the Uprain potion!" she replied.
Professor Ramanu had taken a liking to Albus from the beginning of the previous year—he'd learned Muggle mathematics with ease, unlike the rest of the class, and had excelled in calculations where other students lagged far behind. At a time when Albus had been lacking in his magic-based classes, he'd taken great pride in his ability to do Arithmancy just fine, and he had formed an excellent relationship with Professor Ramanu because of that. Because of his connection, he decided to try his luck in probing around what Professor Longbottom was doing when Professor Ramanu finished confirming his suspicions on Uprain.
"What did Professor Longbottom ask you about when he came in just now?" asked Albus with the air of innocent curiosity to which he knew Professor Ramanu responded well.
Professor Ramanu tilted her palms up and shrugged. "He thinks that the plants in the greenhouse, as well as plants outside around the grounds and the Forbidden Forest, are growing at a peculiar rate."
"A peculiar rate?"
"Faster, to be precise," said Professor Ramanu. "A lot faster than normal. He's decided to start measuring the growth rates, and he'll deliver the numbers to me so I can check to see if there is any significance in the rates. Arithmancy can be useful to divine whether there is some outside presence influencing peculiar activity, if that activity can be quantified into data sets. I might even be able to tell what's causing the plants to grow faster if there's enough available information about the source."
"I'd like to see how that works, if I'd be allowed," said Albus.
Professor Ramanu placed a fist under her chin and looked at him. "I don't see why not," she said. "I don't imagine this information is classified or anything. It would be nice to have someone around to keep books. I'm very pleased that you're so interested!"
"Of course," said Albus happily. "How often will I get to see some Arithmancy done by a professional right before my eyes?"
Professor Ramanu blushed a little and shooed him back to his seat, promising she'd let him know when she would be working on Professor Longbottom's data.
Albus grinned to himself about his little bit of manipulation—now he could keep an eye on what Professor Longbottom thought might be going on. The greener grasses and taller trees had unsettled him for some reason; something about it all seemed fishy, and this was his chance to figure out what it was, if it was anything.
That exploitation of his relationship with Professor Ramanu—that had been a rather Slytherin-like action, hadn't it? But he thought back to the Sorting Hat's song—everyone had a little bit of every quality, some more than others. Not every action he performed would be one hundred percent like Godric Gryffindor; he had simply been Sorted where he most belonged.
The class consisted of mainly review of Muggle mathematics and the introduction of basic algebra, which instantly gave most of the class glazed eyes and sore brains. Albus was one of the few who were still raising their hands to answer questions, and he saw Professor Ramanu smile every time he did so.
When the class ended, he headed over to dinner; after dinner had finished, he walked to Diwand Spells to meet Professor Evranote in person.
She had hair that was dyed violet and silver, and Albus already decided he liked her. Other than her hair, she didn't really have any distinguishing features. She used little beautification but she was still comely, and her figure, though she was probably in her forties, was that of an acrobat or an accomplished dancer. She greeted the class warmly.
"Good afternoon, class, I am Professor Evranote," she said. "I know I have over a hundred years less experience than your previous teacher, but I hope I can live up to his standards."
"If she doesn't talk at the speed of a brain-dead tortoise, she's already far past his standards," whispered Alec.
"Hogwarts was where I always knew I wanted to teach," said Professor Evranote, "but I never suspected I would be able to teach my favorite subject. You kids are very lucky to have this program—I had to attend three extra years of school to become versed in Diwand Spell casting. It was a subject I always knew I'd want to pursue once I left Hogwarts, but even I couldn't foresee how difficult it would become." She straightened her robe absentmindedly as she looked about the classroom. "How far have you advanced in this class, up to the present time?"
The class didn't respond.
"Have you covered iterations and channeling?" she asked; the class nodded. "In your Mastering the Wands textbook, written by your previous professor, different levels of spellwork are specified. Have you finished Levels 1 and 2 of Simple Iterations and Simple Channeling? And how many levels of Simple Diwand Spells have you covered?"
"We almost got halfway through Level 2 of Simple Iterations and Simple Channeling," said Holly.
"And we only barely finished Level 3 of Simple Diwand Spells," added Albus, the memory resurfacing.
Holly shot Albus a dirty look which he didn't feel he deserved; he gave her back an innocent questioning glance, but she turned away.
"Oh, goodness, you're behind where you should be," said Professor Evranote with a grimace. "No matter—we'll catch you all up to speed. By the end of this year, we want you to be well-versed in Iterations and Channeling—both Simple and Complex—and you'll finish Simple Diwand Spells all the way up to Level 7. It's doable. We should also have finished Complex Diwand Spells Level 1 by the end of the year, but that might not be possible… We'll see whether we have to group that into your fifth year or not. Hopefully we can catch up far enough to cover that, too—you don't need any more stress when you're learning Metronoming, Telescoping, and Concurrence. Those subjects are nasty even in the Simple stage, and it'll be hard to catch up from the fifth year on. You are the first class to undergo this program—let's show Professor Wilcox it can work."
She set right to work explaining some of the Level 4 Simple Diwand Spells, and Albus could already tell she was going to be an infinitely more effective tutor than Professor Dixon. He wondered where Professor Evranote was when they were first looking for the position.
When the class ended, he walked up to her. It was always to his advantage, he'd learned, to form a good relationship with the professors as quickly as possible.
"Hello, Professor," said Albus.
Professor Evranote waved hello to him while still shuffling papers. "Hello. Albus Potter, is it? You were one of the more active students today."
"Yes, I thought the lesson was excellent," he said eagerly.
Professor Evranote smiled cordially. "I'm glad to hear you think that! I was very nervous; this was my first time teaching a class of young people."
"You did wonderful," said Albus.
"It means so very much to me to hear that," she replied.
"Did you apply for this position last year?" he probed.
Professor Evranote shook her head. "No," she said. "I was working with an adult Diwand Spells education class in Canada. Have you heard of the Molstraem Magical Academy in Nova Scotia?"
"It rings a bell," said Albus.
"Well, there's also a private team centered at the school which is working on a new method of mass transportation," said Professor Evranote. "It's like a Diwand Portkey, but instead of objects that transport people across distances, they open a sort of portal."
"Really?" asked Albus. "I'd like to learn more about that." It sounded fascinating.
"Yes, well, the only problem is that the only known method of opening a portal requires copious amounts of Dark Magic," she said with a bit of a cringe. "They're trying to work out how to open portals without using Dark Magic. I was working with them when I got word that a position was open here."
"Have you had any progress on that front? Portals without Dark Magic, I mean?"
"We're deciphering the ancient scrolls of Herpo the Foul," said Professor Evranote. "Herpo's private sanctuary was discovered shortly after Voldemort's fall. Voldemort studied in Herpo's sanctuary extensively, and learned a great deal of Dark secrets from the place. He never discovered the portal scrolls, though—thank goodness. Herpo was the first to create portals, but they could only take an individual seven times before closing forever. And the process was so lengthy. It also required many rare and valuable materials, and a lot of Dark Magic. We're working on getting rid of that part."
"Herpo the Foul? I feel like studying anything he wrote is a bad idea."
"We're trying to avoid the darker materials," said Professor Evranote. "But the portal scrolls may hold a key to an incredible development in the magical community."
"That I can understand."
"I do feel somewhat unclean," admitted Professor Evranote, "pillaging the knowledge of the same place where Voldemort learned some of his greatest tricks. But I've also always dreamed of doing something spectacular in the world."
"Haven't we all?" said Albus.
"Probably," said Professor Evranote. "Anyway, I'm still working on that front, since I'm only here on Mondays for the fourth years, Thursdays for the third years, and two Fridays a month. Wouldn't it be nice if we finally got the portal working so that I could jump there and back here in an instant?"
"That would be nice," said Albus. "I'd like to stay updated on the progress of those portals!"
"The project is moving painfully slow," said Professor Evranote, "but I'll let you know how it's coming along, if you'd like."
"Yes, definitely," said Albus eagerly.
"It was excellent talking to you, Albus."
"You, too."
Professor Evranote stood, now that she'd packed her bag. "I must be getting back to Nova Scotia. I don't want to stay overnight on this side of the Atlantic—the difference in the time zones will screw with my head. Have an excellent week, and I will see you on Friday for our first double period."
"See you then," said Albus.
She patted him on the shoulder and left.
Albus was friendly with almost all of the staff at Hogwarts. If any new teachers came in next year, he'd try to make friends with them, too. It was always good to be on good terms with the teachers.
He was on good terms with most of the school, in fact. As he walked back to Gryffindor Tower, though, he caught sight of someone he wasn't on good terms with in the slightest—Red Pierce, hanging with a couple of his Slytherin friends. They gave him rude glares; Albus dismissed it, laughing to himself at how even Holly could glare in a more intimidating fashion.
He stepped into Gryffindor Tower and was greeted by a pink-haired Gil.
"Albus!" said Gil, brushing his vibrant bangs away from his eyes. "How's my favorite mentee?"
"Good, how's my favorite mentor?" asked Albus.
"I'm excellent. Are you sure you're okay, after you fainted during the feast?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Albus. "I got it all sorted out." He grinned. "I like your pink hair, by the way."
"I do, too," said Gil, combing his fingers through it lovingly. "I'm going to go green when I get tired of this. If I get tired of this. But I probably will."
"Green hair," laughed Albus. "I like it. How's the beginning of your final year?"
"I can't really believe it's my last year," said Gil. "But hey, we should talk about mentoring while we're both here. I'm supposed to mentor you on how to mentor so you can mentor your mentee."
"I'd be happy to," said Albus, settling down on the couch.
Gil sat down beside him.
"You were a bright kid, Albus," he said, "and I didn't even really know what do with you when the Sorting Hat assigned you to me. You seemed to be able to do everything on your own without much problem. So I'm just going to tell you the formalities that they told me, and some things that I've heard other people picked up on during the course of their mentoring. You didn't really need much guidance, so I didn't really get much practice!"
"Sorry," said Albus sheepishly.
"That's all right. I bet the Sorting Hat gave you a smart cookie. Who did you get as a mentor, again? Were you conscious during that part?"
"No, but Exo told me. I have Parker Pullman's little brother."
"Ah, yeah, Scottie! I only remember him because he asked Louis for directions earlier today. I'll bet Scottie will turn out a little prodigy like you…"
"Wait, who?"
"Scottie Pullman," said Gil. "Isn't that Parker's younger brother? Parker's in your year, right?"
"Yeah," said Albus, "but Exo told me his name was P.J."
"I think he goes by P.J., too," said Gil.
Albus furrowed his brow. "Where does the P come from?"
Gil gave this question due consideration. "Huh. Good point. I don't really know."
"That doesn't make any sense that you can get 'P.J.' from 'Scottie,'" said Albus.
"Well, I think he goes by both."
Albus shook his head.
"You'll have to ask," said Gil. "So, what do you want to know about mentoring?"
"Anything you can think of!"
O
Albus lifted himself from the chair when Gil was done explaining to him how to be an effective mentor. He shook Gil's hand and departed for the dormitories. Gil's role as a mentor was now to make sure Albus was being an effective mentor in his own right—an excellent little nuance brought by the spacing of three years between mentors and mentees. Wilcox had planned this out very well, ensuring that at this stage, the new mentors would have mentors to show them the ropes of mentoring. The first three years of mentors had to learn it on their own, but from here on, the knowledge and experience would trickle down with each passing year.
He couldn't wait to meet up with Parker's little brother and start trying to be a mentor. He had been looking forward to his return to Hogwarts for a long time now, and it was just as wonderful a place to be as he had remembered. He'd waited out his days in his home with mild irritation that the summer was taking so long to end. His father had warned him that the grass was always greener on the other side—and that once he was at Hogwarts, he might miss home again—but Hogwarts indisputably had the greener grasses in this situation. He didn't have to deal with Aubrey and Chinch or other guards watching his every move, he didn't have to worry about imposters impersonating his friends, and he didn't have to sleep underground in a room devoid of all of his belongings, which were in a fake room above his head. No, there wasn't even a comparison—the grass wasn't just less green at home, it was nonexistent… both metaphorically and in reality.
He walked up to the fourth year dormitories and settled back into his four-poster bed happily. A warm dormitory beat out a cold cellar any day.
"I don't suppose this great weather can last," said Exo, glancing out the window.
"I don't see why it wouldn't," said Albus cheerily, allowing his body to sink into his bed.
Exo turned to him with a smile. "You're in a great mood today."
"Am I?" asked Albus.
"Dad told me you're visiting my psychologist now. Isn't she just the best?"
"She's really great," agreed Albus.
"I always feel so much better after I go to see her, and she doesn't even use spells on me. Did she use any on you?"
"Nope," said Albus. "She only talked."
"She got a Muggle degree in psychology after she left Hogwarts," said Exo. "She really thinks the nonintrusive methods are the best."
"They're working so far."
Exo flopped down on his bed. "Have you met your mentee yet?"
"Nope. Is his name P.J. or Scottie?"
"I think he goes by both, but I'm not really sure where those initials come from."
"I was hoping you'd know."
Parker walked into the dormitories at that moment. He raised his hand.
"Evening, Exo, Albus," he said before shuffling his way towards his bed.
"Mr. Earle is really helping you with that aura-reading stuff, huh," said Albus.
"Yes, but I also heard you talking in here before I walked in," said Parker.
Albus's part-Kneazle cat Gimmick—certainly not a little kitten anymore, but an adult cat—had slipped through the door when Parker entered and leapt into Albus's bed. Gimmick had never done this before; he usually liked to explore the castle at night. The behavioral shift was interesting, but maybe Gimmick was just grown up now.
"Hey," said Exo, "is your little brother called P.J. or Scottie?"
"He goes by both," replied Parker.
"Where do the P and the J come from if his first name is Scottie?" asked Albus.
"His middle name is Joseph."
Albus and Exo glanced at each other.
"Okay, so that's the J, but where does the 'P' come from?" asked Albus.
"From his first name."
"His first name is Scottie," said Exo.
"Yes, 'P' for Scottie," said Parker.
Albus and Exo stared at him.
"I'll just let you confuse yourselves for a while over that, then," said Parker with a laugh before he jumped in his own bed.
Albus spent a while before bed puzzling over his mentee's name until he decided he'd never understand it, and he slipped off to sleep.
Before his eyes shut for good, he wondered if he'd see the green woman in his dreams again. But his sleep was dreamless, sound, and one of the best sleeps he'd had in a long time.
I can't wait for next week... This next chapter is my favorite that I've written in any of the books so far. So much happens in it. It's one of the most important chapters yet!
CHALLENGE FOR MY READERS!
I happened to notice that the number of favorites and follows for Sandblood Rising was just shy of 150 each. If we get to 150 follows and favorites for THIS book, then I will give you in that week the name and the chapter titles of the fifth book! I only ask this of you because these kinds of stats are what gives a story a reputation and makes other people want to read it-so if you like my story, let other people who are looking for a good read know that people like this one! Thank you so much and see you next week!
And don't forget that the 250 review mark will get you guys a bonus extra chapter in the week that we reach that number!
