Chapter 3: Potion

Steam rose out of the cauldron as she stirred the potion. It turned a blue colour as she stirred in the chopped up mushrooms. Taking a small vial, Jamtland filled the vial with the blue potions. Then set it down on the table, she took the needle and pricked her finger over the open vial. The blood dripped down into the vial, turning it a transparent colour. "Hevn, come."

A soft meow was heard as a small black troll cat scurried up to Jamtland. "I know that this isn't your speciality, but can you please fetch the rat from the cage for me? I'll let you have some of the milk." The small cat scurried to the cage and took the rat with its mouth. It hopped on the table, and Jamtland took the rat out of its mouth. "Thank you. On your next milk raid, I'll set aside some for you."

Jamtland forced the rat to drink the potion as the black troll cat watched. A smile cracked on Jamtland's face. It worked! It worked! Without hesitation, she killed the rat. The rat meant nothing to her, but the potion meant everything. She looked to the blue liquid that was almost a completed potion. One ingredient left.

She travelled deeper into the basement, Hevn following her down the stairs. Down, and down they went until she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Hilsener, America. I hope you've had a pleasant stay here in my little basement." The young nation looked up.

"What the hell do you want with me?" he spat, eyes narrowing. Jamtland knew he couldn't do anything, alas, he was still chained to the wall.

"Nothing much —" she took out a glass cup and a silver dagger —"Stay still and this won't hurt at all." Immediately after she said those words, she had cut the American's arm, the blood had flowed into the cup. "Thank you very much, I'm glad you cooperated." She left her familiar following after her, in hand a glass of red blood.

Back to the potions section of her basement, Jamtland poured the blood of America into the cauldron. Within minutes, the potion had turned transparent. "Hm~ I guess I have no need for him anymore, though I guess it would be some fun to see how he reacts to… certain things."

Hevn glanced curiously at Jamtland with his emerald green eyes. She scratched his head with affection. "But first, I guess I must see what Ebony has to report…" She took a hold of the troll cat and left for their set meeting location.

She appeared at their meeting spot in the woods with a crack. "Hello, Ebony the snake," she said, the snake was a great spy against Britain.

"Why, hello, master…" the black snake said in reply. "It's such a pleasure to see you again." The small troll cat in Jamtland's arms looked at the snake.

"What did you want to report?" she asked. She had no time to waste.

"The personification of Britain is returning to Hogwarts as a teacher again…"

"Thank you, Ebony, however, I must go now."

Jamtland disappeared with another crack. "Hevn, you good little troll cat." She pets the black troll cat gently. "My revenge will be sweet with you by my side."

England

England went through all the things he had packed for another year teaching at Hogwarts. The nation looked through his checklist one last time before packing up. He was going by train again, as he had decided to watch over Harry a bit on the train. However, this year, he had a very bad feeling. The was already looking paler, due to the attacks of Voldemort that had happened over the summer. England was relieved that he wasn't hacking blood out of his throat yet, it was always an unpleasant feeling that was.

On September first, the British nation climbed aboard Hogwarts Express. He walked through the corridor of the train, looking for a fairly empty compartment. A shiver went down his spine. Something in the magical air was wrong, it felt as if a terrible magic had spread through the lands. England shook it off, but he knew he would have to investigate it more.

The compartment door opened and a young girl carrying a Quibbler magazine stepped in. She sat down across from England and started reading the magazine. England recognised this girl as Luna Lovegood, one of the more eccentric students in his classes.

—

"Hello class, this year, we will be focusing on the topic of magic during ancient times and how it impacted wizards when techniques spread from ancient China. Please open your books to page one and read the introduction. I will move more into detail after you have finished reading." England stated as the fifth years read the short introduction. Not long after, most of the class had finished reading, and England moved on.

"Our first lesson starts with ancient China. The wizards and witches of ancient China first started appearing after the Origin of Magic, which I'm sure you all remember from last year. The first witches and wizards were very much like magical children, they did not have control over their magical abilities. However, their magical power was strong, as magic had just begun…" The lesson continued, England, who usually didn't need to draw a map, had to draw one of China (he could imagine China boasting about this later).

"Over time, witches and wizards started to learn how to control their magic better, and unlike us (minus England), they could channel their magic through their palms with accuracy. It was very different from wandless magic, as wandless magic may not be accurate. They did not need wands or anything else to channel their magic through. Historians speculate that their magic was probably more capable than ours, as they could manipulate it to their will, and did not use words. In the present time, our magic is limited, because we use incarnations, which makes magic limited to the words that you say." England paused, he could see many students were dying to ask some questions. "Questions?" Hermione's hands shot up.

"Yes, Ms Granger?"

"Would it be possible to channel magic through our palms now in present time?"

"Yes, it is, though it would be harder for us, as you have already learned how to control is through wands." Another hand, Neville's went up. "Yes, Mr Longbottom?"

"Professor, do you know if you can show us? I-I mean if you could find someone to show us of course…" England smiled.

"I was waiting for that, thank you, Mr Longbottom. Answering Mr Longbottom's question, I could show you, as I have been practising this over the summer. It took a lot of effort, but I managed to get a small portion done." Of course, this was a lie. England has been practising magic without a wand for a long time. "Now look, I'll be using Mr Longbottom's book as an example." England raised his hand casually, and the book flew to his hand.

—

Once again, Hermione was suspicious. Kirkland had managed to make doing ancient forms of magic easy, effortless. She looked through the magical creatures section of the library. Kirkland must be some kind of magical creature, that lived for such a long time. Then, she stumbled across an old looking book. It was covered in a thick layer of dust. She pulled out the old book. Brushing away the dust layer, she could read the title properly. Unconfirmed magical creatures was the title of the book. Hermione, intrigued by the book, opened it and started flipping through.

Nations, though never confirmed, look like the ordinary human. However, these great men or women are not exactly as they appear to be. They are —

"Hermione! It's almost time for potions!" Ron called. She set the book back before Ron had come and dragged her off to the dungeons where Snape held his lessons.

~0~0~0~

So, I know you, dear reader, probably have some questions such as, "What is a troll cat?" Well, troll cats are similar to a witch's familiar in Scandinavian folklore. These troll cats were rumoured to be made from things such as a witch's hair, toenails or other things similar rolled into a ball form and turned into a ball of yarn, or a cat designed to steal milk. I decided to give Jamtland a troll cat, in the form of a cat, since a yarn ball is boring. Sorry if the Norwegian is incorrect, I don't speak Norwegian...

Hevn = vengence/revenge

Hilsener = greetings