Chapter 9: The Cave in the Dark Forest

When Liane caught up with the professor, he was standing wand held high, the end of it lit up. Liane raised her own wand, watching the professor for any sign of what to expect.

"Professor, you still haven't told me what we're doing?" Liane asked.

"Investigations of the reports from yourself and Prefect Mi have presented some...varied theories of the origins of this mysterious figure. Among the many there is the ancient rumour of magic capable beings, shunned from society, living in the Forbidden Forest. We're here to attempt to put that rumour to rest," Professor Macmillan explained.

Liane frowned.

"You're not talking about...Really? Professor, we're vampire hunting?" she asked incredulously.

"Don't be absurd, Liane," the Professor said with a grin, "everyone knows there's no vampires in the forest. Wand up," he said, before turning around and walking deeper into the forest. Liane rushed to catch up, creating her Private Light as she did so, her eyes roving the trees for any sign of movement. The professor looked at her spell and grunted approvingly.

"Is that what you would do in this situation if you were leading the expedition, Liane?" he asked.

"No, sir," Liane replied.

"No?" the professor asked, "what would you do differently?"

"Well, sir, ideally neither of us would be using light spells, and I'd use the Simple Night Vision charm. It's what I used last night," Liane explained, "that's assuming I had to do it this year; ideally I'd prefer to have gotten the hang of Sensoria."

"Clever; and impressive knowledge of sixth-year charms. So, continuing the exercise; presume we were attacked by one of the denizens of the forest, how would you defend yourself?" Professor Macmillan asked.

"Well, I suppose that depends," Liane said.

"Yes?" the professor asked, turning his head.

"On whether I would be punished further for burning the forest to the ground."

The professor tripped forward, and stopped, laughing.

"Ha, yes, well, presuming that we did want to keep Scotland green, how else?" he asked, chuckling.

"Well," Liane shrugged, "Diffindo, Reducto, Incendio, Frigideiro followed by a Flipendo, and these are just the spells I know."

"You certainly didn't learn those from Flitwick, did you? Very... aggressive spells," the professor said.

"I thought you were asking me how I would fight back?" Liane asked, confused.

"I asked how you would defend yourself. You mention no attempt to shield yourself, although I know perfectly well that you can do so. Nothing to slow or stun your assailant, nothing to speed your escape; you only thought to kill or maim your opponent."

Liane frowned, looking at her wand.

"I hadn't thought of that," she said quietly.

"When I'd heard of what you had done, I knew the type of student you were; brash, self-assured and too talented for your own safety. So we're here to test your problem solving in a non-violent way. Now follow me," he said, before he picked up speed, leading Liane deeper into the forest.

The further into the forest they went, the darker it got, until Liane cast two more lights to hang around her head. When the sun set at last, Liane couldn't see further than the small circle of light produced by the light spells, and the Professor dispelled his own.

"So, how is this going to work?" Liane asked. Professor Macmillan waved his wand, and the trees bent away from one another to show pair of cave mouths in a hill up ahead.

"You're going to go through there, while I take the one beside it. We will meet up at the other end after having dealt with everything we find inside," he answered. Liane looked at the caves, barely visible in the glimmer of light, and frowned.

"You're joking, right? Or this is a pre-arranged test and there's nothing in there that poses a real threat?" she asked.

"Ha. You're first year, so it's understandable. No, Liane; truthfully, the fact is I've already done a quick flyby of this area, and I believe you're capable of handling it, but that's it. If we run into anything unexpected I'm trusting my own abilities to get us to safety," he explained, and Liane turned back to the caves.

"And if I refuse?" she asked.

"Then we will return to the castle, and you will have to make up your detention another day. Say, for example, on Wednesday evening," the professor replied.

Liane's head snapped to the professor.

"You wouldn't," she said in a low voice.

"I absolutely can and will. It's your choice Liane; the lessons to learn are available to you, but if you're not serious about them then there's no point," the professor replied.

Liane turned back to the cave and set her jaw. Straightening her back, she raised her head, tightened her hand on her wand, and dispelled her lights. With a flourish, Liane waved her wand across her face.

"Vudenuit," she cast, and once more the world was risen to a colourless greyscale line drawing, allowing her to see through the shadowy forest. With a nod, the professor strode on ahead, leading Liane to the cave entrance before moving on to the second. Once he was in place, Professor Macmillan turned back to Liane and nodded, and she nodded back to him in return, and he headed inside without any further hesitation.

Liane turned to her own cave, and even with her enhanced vision, she was not able to see very deep into the tunnel, due to a bend up ahead. Swallowing hard, she stepped into the cave, her wand raised high, walking down as far as the bend in the tunnel. Pausing briefly, Liane turned back to look at the cave mouth, and the forest beyond. Taking in another deep breath, Liane walked around the bend in the tunnel, and the ground gave way beneath her.

When Liane hit the bottom of the sudden drop, she threw her shoulder forward into a roll and landed heavily on her back. When she opened her eyes, she threw her wand up into the air and looked around wildly. The room was empty of movement, a slim crack in the ground filled with nothing more than dirt, stones and weather beaten bracken, blown in from the cave mouth up above. Making sure to keep her wand up, Liane clambered to her feet, looking around for any way up back to the entrance. The way she'd come was a nearly vertical incline, the only direction she could go was forward, following the length of the crevasse.

"Well, this looks fun," Liane muttered to herself, creeping forward. As she put her foot down, however, it slid forward slightly, and Liane had to catch herself on the wall to stop from crashing to the ground again. Looking down, all she saw was the cavern floor, a patch slightly darker under her foot than the spot where she had crashed. In fact, now that she looked carefully, the walls too seemed darker as well; pulling her hand away, Liane rubbed her fingers together and found that they were wet. Looking up, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, up until a fat droplet of water hit her in the face.

"Ah!" Liane cried, wiping the water from her face, before taking a step back and looking up again. After a couple of seconds, another droplet fell, and then another, until at last Liane spotted it; a tiny crack in the cave ceiling, through which water was pouring at an increasing rate, most of it clinging to the walls but the occasional run too heavy to fight gravity and dropping straight to the ground. Liane raised her wand.

"Frigideiro," she chanted, and an icy wind blasted from her wand, covering the ceiling in a thick layer of frost. When she lowered her wand once more, Liane looked up at the crack for a moment approvingly, before stepping forward once more.

She had only gone two or three steps when she heard the long, drawn out groan of tortured stone, before a loud crack. Liane turned just in time to see a large section of the ceiling give way, followed by a torrent of water that flooded into the crevasse, lifting Liane off her feet.

The water was freezing, its icy temperature not in any way assisted by the freezing spell Liane had cast. Liane wanted nothing more than to fire off a few warming charms, but she was too busy trying to protect her head and body as she was washed down the crevasse, smashing into the cave walls with each twist in the crack. Up ahead, Liane could hear the telltale roar of falling water, and she began to panic. As another bend in the tunnel approached, Liane resisted the urge to curl into a protective ball; instead she pointed her wand at the cave wall and shouted,

"Reducto." There was a shower of dust and ash as a sudden hole appeared in the cave wall, a semicircular divet just deep enough for Liane to catch hold of the lip and pull herself into, pulling herself out of the current. The water still rushed into the hole, each swirl threatening to carry Liane off again, but she managed to hold herself in place long enough to catch her breath. Once she had done so, she gripped her wand tight and pointed it at the inside of her little cave.

"Diffindo," she chanted, and a long, scored line appeared in the rock. She repeated the process, over and over, cold and exhaustion gnawing at her bones, before there was a ledge, up and out of the water for her to climb onto. Once she was out of the worst of the torrent, she pointed her wand at herself.

"Thermos." The warmth filled her body, and despite the cold of her still damp clothes, she felt the edge of panic ease out of her. Calmer now, Liane began to think about her options. She didn't know where the water had come from, and she didn't know how deep the crevasse was beyond the waterfall, as she'd only heard it, not seen it. She could wait it out, hoping the water would be less than enough to fill the cave, and then she'd only need to find a way to walk out, however if there was enough water to fill the tunnels and she waited she would surely drown. Alternatively she could try and work out some way of fighting the water and getting back up to the surface, but that ran the risk of sending her over the side. She might also try to dig her way out, but that ran the risk of collapsing the cave on top of her, or else bubbling her in an area with a limited oxygen supply. She wasn't yet capable of casting the bubblehead charm, so swimming out was not an appropriate option.

Liane looked back at the coursing river directly below her elbow, her eyes narrowed. Bracing herself on the ledge with her legs, Liane reached out with her free hand, and aimed her wand across her body, casting another cutting charm at the ceiling of her small divot and catching the chunk of rock that fell.

"Well, Wanda, let's see if your theory about me holds true," Liane muttered, drawing the chunk of rock in to her body and pressing her wand to it. Closing her eyes, she focussed, feeling the weight of the rock in her hand and picturing the image of what she wanted. Worse than simply changing the structure of the stone, Liane was focussing on how each part of the stone was being transmuted into a particular shape.

To her shock, Liane felt the feel of the stone under her frostbitten fingers begin to change, and she opened her eyes. In her hand, no longer a chunk of stone, Liane held a folded canvas block.

"Son of a...It worked," she breathed, her shock and relief almost causing her to drop her new creation. Without wasting any more time, she pressed her wand to the canvas at a corner where she had left a deliberate gap.

"Ventus," she chanted, and her wand began to produce a jet of wind, filling the canvas creation with air. Slowly, far slower than Liane had anticipated, it began to take shape, until eventually it opened up into a slim, makeshift canvas inflatable raft. Liane had to struggle to hold on, as the level of the water had risen and was still moving fast, but as the raft took shape she pushed a foot out off the ledge and wedged the raft in place against the wall of her cave. With her hand free, Liane closed the flap of canvas against the opening she'd used to fill it with air.

"Colloportus," she chanted, and with a flash of pink light the flap adhered to the canvas, sealing up the raft.

Now that the raft was completed, Liane hesitated. She'd been unsure if the raft would even work, now that it was time to transition herself from the ledge to the raft she was balking at the prospect. Taking in a deep breath, Liane closed her eyes and rolled, flipping over the leg that was holding the raft in place and spreading herself on her stomach facing back up the crevasse.

The raft immediately dropped out into the current, pulled towards the next bend. Liane pointed her wand downstream, scrunched up her face, and pushed everything she had left into the next spell.

"Ventus," she yelled, and another jet of wind blasted from her wand. The raft stopped, current fighting against wind, Liane balancing in the middle.

Liane felt her wand grow warm in her hand, and felt the familiar subtle vibration. Everything went black as her night vision charm abruptly deactivated, and the last thing Liane felt before she passed out was the sharp sting of the spray of water against her face suddenly doubling in speed.

Liane wasn't sure, when her eyes opened, whether she was really awake at first. There was no difference in what she could see with her eyes open or not, everything was completely black. Trying to raise her head, Liane finally heard the sound of rushing water off in the distance, and she realised she was lying on dry dirt. Sudden panic gripped her as she realised she was no longer holding onto her wand, and Liane brushed her hands across the ground beside her trying to find it. When she couldn't, Liane tried to sit up, but found her body wouldn't respond. Her panic rose as she tried to roll over onto her stomach, and could barely lift herself a few centimetres before collapsing back onto the ground. Clenching her teeth, Liane threw herself to the side, and managed to roll over, her face resting on the stony ground.

Liane's hand fell upon a smooth, flat expanse of stone, and as she traced the edged with her fingers she realised it was her raft, the transfiguration having collapsed without returning the shape to the chunk of stone. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Liane dragged herself over to the stone plate and felt around, trying to locate her wand. Still unable to find it, Liane felt the exhaustion and emotion threaten to overwhelm her, and tears stung her eyes as she collapsed on the remains of her raft.

After a while, a glimmer of light caught Liane's attention. Pushing her head up, she turned towards the light, trying to spot where it was coming from. In the gleam of the light, Liane could see the collapsed hole in the ground she had fallen through when she'd entered the cave.

"Liane?" came the voice of Professor Macmillan.

"Here," Liane croaked, before starting to cough.

"Liane?" the professors called again.

Liane took in a deep breath. "Here!" she yelled, before collapsing into another coughing fit.

"Liane!" The light suddenly blossomed into a painful nova in Liane's vision as the professor rounded the corner.

"Look out," she moaned, her arm flung across her face. Professor Macmillan waved his wand and the hole filled up with loose rubble, allowing him to step over the hole and stride across to Liane's side.

"Oh, Merlin what happened? Liane? Liane can you hear me?" the professor asked.

"My wand…" Liane croaked. Professor Macmillan looked around, and with a wave of his wand Liane's wand lept to his hand from the corner of the tunnel.

"It's alright, Liane, I've got it. Can you move?" he asked. Liane shook her head.

"I can't move my legs," she replied.

"Alright, stay still; I'm going to get you to the hospital wing," he replied, before grabbing a stone from the ground and pressing it into Liane's hand. Pointing his own wand at the stone, the professor gripped the stone and Liane's hand.

"Portus," he chanted, and Liane felt a pulling sensation behind her navel, and there was a lurching as the light from the professor's wand twisted in Liane's vision.

The next thing Liane knew, she was being lifted onto a bed at the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, and the defence professor was calling out to Madam Pomfrey. As Pomfrey carried over a potion to Liane, holding the bottle to her lips so that she could drink, Liane looked over to the defence professor and saw as he cast the priori incantatem spell Oliver Wood had used on it before. As the defence professor turned back to look at Liane the potion took hold, and her body was flooded with warmth. Liane felt her eyelids get heavy, and within seconds she was once more asleep.

Liane opened her eyes to see early morning sunlight gleaming through the windows of the Hospital Wing. Turning her head, she saw the rest of the Hospital Wing was empty, quiet and still; even Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be see. Pushing herself upright, Liane checked herself over to find that she was once again in perfect condition; for all the incredible things magic could do, it's ability to heal would still be one of the most incredible in Liane's mind. She was dressed in simple white cotton pajamas, and her robes and clothes had been cleaned and were sitting in a neatly folded pile beside her bed, her wand sitting atop it.

After a short while as she lay awake in bed, Madam Pomfrey returned from wherever she had gone, and seeing Liane awake, she walked over to give Liane a final inspection.

"Well, you seem to be in order. I spoke at length with the defence professor last night, he explained what happened. That being said, I really must stress that you ought to be more careful, young lady," Madam Pomfrey said sternly. Liane let out a short laugh.

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey, although I'm willing to bet this will not be the last time I'm here, not with Duellers starting this week and the Olympiad coming up," she replied, and Madam Pomfrey merely scowled.

"I will definitely be having words with the Headmistress about all these highly inappropriate situations to be putting first years in. You may go; leave the pajamas on the bed when you leave, the elves will take care of them," she said, before bustling off to another bed. Liane drew the privacy curtain closed, dressed, and left without another word, heading straight down to the Great Hall. Breakfast had already been laid out, but it was still too early for most of the student body; Liane saw Booker and Jeremy and gave the two of them a brief wave, before sitting down by herself.

To Liane, the immediate lesson that she had learnt from the previous night's detention was that she was capable of the kind of problem solving that the defence professor had intimated that she lacked after all; she'd even managed to perform a complex free transfiguration, something she had up until now been completely hopeless at. It also told her that Wanda's theory of Liane's fear-motivated talent for learning advanced magic was pretty spot on, although Liane wasn't totally sure she liked the implications of that particular lesson.

Suddenly, as Liane thought carefully about the events of that weekend, a memory stirred, something that had been said to her that she had pushed to the back of her mind.

Wolfing down a piece of toast and grabbing an orange from the fruit bowl, Liane leapt to her feet and raced out of the Great Hall, rushing up the stairs to the library.

When Liane arrived ten minutes late for Transfiguration she was surprised to see she was not the last one to arrive; Albus was also not there. Taking a seat between Cassandra and Remy, Liane sat down as quietly as she could, Professor Weasley thankfully choosing to ignore her.

"Where have you been?" Remy asked as she sat down, "when you didn't show up last night Hannah started freaking out. She stayed up all night in Olivia's room waiting to see either you or Professor Slughorn saying you'd been attacked again and were in the Hospital Wing."

"Er, well, I was in the Hospital Wing," Liane replied.

"What?" Remy and Cassandra said in unison, eliciting a chorus of shushing sounds from those around them.

"I wasn't attacked; detention just took a wrong turn. I went with the defence professor out into the forest, and we went into this system of caves. The floor gave way and I had to get myself out of a flooding tunnel on my own; the professor found me again and took me to the Hospital Wing where I stayed the night," Liane explained in a whisper.

"Merlin, Liane, we were worried sick. The professor took you into the forest? Who would be so careless?" Remy asked, so livid their hair was shooting straight backwards from their face and going shock white.

"We're glad you're alright," Cassandra said.

"I am too; I nearly didn't make it, I had to transfigure a hunk of stone into a raft to get out," she said. Remy raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, what? You transfigured stone into a raft?" they asked, incredulously.

"Yes, me," Liane said with a scowl, "I don't quite know why, but I get better at magic when I fear for my life. Wanda figured it out first," Liane explained.

"I'm not sure if that sounds useful or horrible," Cassandra said.

"Well, I'd like it more if it didn't mean it was the only way I could get the hang of these sorts of basics, but it's helped me out a couple of times," Liane explained with a shrug.

"Miss Langford; since you seem so eager to casually disregard the topic of today's class, perhaps you would like to show your classmates how this is done?" Professor Weasley asked aloud. Liane looked up to see the professor standing beside a table which had a crow standing beside two crystal water glasses. On the blackboard in the corner of the room, Liane saw that the class was on 'animal to inanimate transformation'.

"Yes, sir," Liane said, standing up. Grabbing her wand from her robes, she walked down to the front of the class, passing Albus as he entered. As Albus took the only seat remaining, beside Scorpius, Liane stepped up onto the dais and walked over to the other side of the table from Professor Weasley.

"Well, then Miss Langford; show the class how you would transform this bird into a goblet?" the professor asked. Liane looked at the crow, raised her wand and chanted,

"Ereverto." Instantly, the crow turned into a crystal wineglass, albeit still appearing black in colour. There were a scattered few students applauding, and Professor Weasley was nodding his head.

"Well done, Miss Langford, although I will not be awarding points for this effort; you seem to have forgotten that this syllabus is focussing on free transfiguration, not charms," he said, before pointing his own wand at Liane's glass.

"Finite Incantatem," he cast, and Liane's glass turned once more into a bird, who ruffled its feathers.

"Now, Miss Langford, care to try again?" the professor asked.

Liane turned to the bird and raised her wand once more. Picturing in her mind the perfect, clear crystal goblets on the table, she imagined the bird turning into one in a smooth, slow movement, each frame of change mapped out perfectly in her head. When she was sure she had done it, Liane opened her eyes.

The bird squawked at her, completely unchanged.

"Thank you, Miss Langford; you may return to your seat," Professor Weasley said, and there was another scattering of bored applause as he stepped away. Liane paused for a moment, before straightening her back.

"No; let me try again," she said. Professor Weasley shook his head.

"You've given it a try, Miss Langford, next time you will remember to listen in class," he replied.

"No, I know I can do it, I just…I need one more try. Please?" she pleaded. The professor paused for a moment, looking at Liane, before he nodded.

Liane pointed her wand once more at the bird, and closed her eyes. Only this time, she didn't picture the bird. Instead, she pictured the night of the party, of kneeling, in the hallway, bleeding from her shoulder, facing down a vastly superior opponent wreathed in face concealing shadows. She pictured that moment, where she had genuinely thought she was about to die, that at any moment the spell would tear through her throat and strike her down in an instant. Only then, when her hair began to rise on the back of her neck and her breathing became sharp and shallow, did Liane picture the bird turning into a water glass.

There was a stunned silence in the room, and when she opened her eyes once more Liane saw before her a similar glass to the one she had created with the charm. It was glass, and goblet shaped, although still black in colour and now appeared to have a talon for a stem, but either way it was no longer a bird. There were cheers from the students as Liane relaxed, and she could swear she saw, just for a moment, Scorpius and Albus bumping fists, before she looked to the professor.

"Well done, Liane; ten points to Slytherin. Now, you may return to your seat," he said, and Liane nodded, thankful, and moved back up to her seat. As she sat down again, Liane sat back in her chair and smiled to herself. Without turning her head, she simply said;

"See, I told you I could do it." Remy elbowed Liane in the side without looking at her.

After lunch, by which point Liane had filled in the others on her adventures the previous evening, the first years made their way to Defence class. As they stood outside the massive lecture theatre waiting to be let in, Alastor Donovan arrived on his own, without the professor.

"Liane, are you alright?" he asked. Liane looked up in surprise.

"Uh, good, yeah; fine. I suppose you heard?" she asked.

"Heard; I've been taking the professor's classes all day. Apparently he's been with the Headmistress since five this morning," Donovan replied. Liane's eyes widened.

"He's not-" she began, but Donovan waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it, Liane, he's not going to be in any permanent trouble, I don't think," he said with a smile.

As they filed in, Donovan took to the stage.

"Put your books down, everyone, grab your wands and come down to the front. I've been asked to take the professor's classes today, and I have a little exercise for you all. Line up along that wall," he said, pointing to one side of the stage area. Liane dropped her books and followed the rest of the class down to the stage, taking a spot between Yvette and Bertie. Meanwhile, Donovan had conjured a little, dimly glowing blue sphere which hung in the air at the back of the stage, with a dangling circular plate attached to the bottom painted with a red and yellow target.

"In conditions where you are fighting another armed opponent, you will not always be able to maintain ideal spellcasting stance. Combat is dynamic, and so to protect yourself so must you be; this is true of dark wizards, to dragons, to nixies. So, todays lesson; hitting a moving target whilst simultaneously avoiding being hit.

"This," Donovan said, pointing to the blue sphere, "is a simple training target, a less dangerous version of the ones we use in the Duellers club. It will move in erratic patterns of speed and direction across the rear of the stage, and will target anyone standing within its field of vision, which I will mark. If you stand still and block, its spells will increase in rate of fire. If you dodge, you will have to readjust your aim as you move. For this exercise you will use the simple pinching hex only, and the sphere will use a charm that acts like splodges of glowing paint."

"Now," he said, waving his wand and producing a shimmering line of yellow light in front of the students, "who would like to go first?"

No-one moved at first, and as Liane was about to raise her hand Mitchell raised his.

"I'll go," he said, and Donovan nodded, stepping back across the line as Mitchell moved to the front of the stage. When he was in place, Mitchell nodded to Donovan, who returned the nod and raised his wand.

"Ready; begin!" he shouted, and the blue sphere brightened, before rushing across the back of the stage, positioning itself in the corner as Mitchell raised his wand.

"Pin-Cha," Mitchell cast, and the hex flew at the sphere, which darted out of the way at the last moment. There was a brief swelling of the light from the sphere before two purple darts launched from its centre, the first missing Mitchell as he dove to the side, the second grazing his leg, leaving a bright, glowing purple streak across his robes. As he landed, Mitchell turned and fired off another hex, which again missed by a wide margin as the sphere bounced away. This time, however, as the sphere slowed to a stop, Mitchell was already back up and running for the other side of the stage, and the return fire missed him with both shots.

Sensing the change in Mitchell's strategy, the blue sphere pulsed bright once more, and fired another three darts, only this time they were placed to intersect with Mitchell's path as he ran. Reacting without thinking, Mitchell hurled himself to the ground, sliding under the shots, but he was helpless to do anything more as the sphere darted to the side once again and fired two shots into Mitchell's back.

"Excellent try, Mister Munroe, bad luck there though. Come on back," Donovan said, and the blue sphere powered down once more.

"Now," Donovan said turning back to the class, "who would like to go next."

This time, without any hesitation, Liane raised her hand. Bertie looked at Liane with a raised eyebrow.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," she replied, "Mister Donovan if it's alright I'd like a go."

"By all means; let's see if your practise has paid off," Donovan said, gesturing for Liane to take to the front of the stage. Drawing her wand, Liane walked to the same spot Mitchell had started, and nodded at Donovan.

"Begin!" he cried, and the blue sphere once more came to life. Liane dropped into the same fighting stance she'd used when practising with Wanda, and kept a close eye on the sphere. As it started to move she thrust outwards with her wand to a point along the sphere's path.

"Pin-Cha," she shouted, and the hex flew across the room to hit the far wall centimeters ahead of the sphere, which stopped suddenly and began to drift back the other way. As Liane adjusted her aim, the sphere began to shoot at her, and so rather than ducking Liane crouched down, lining up her shot so that she was able to block the first spell that looked like it might actually hit her without breaking her aim. Firing another hex, Liane struck the sphere, just missing the target below it.

The sphere turned from blue to red, and Liane ducked low as a scything arc of spells came flying at her. After the arc had passed overhead, Liane launched herself back onto her feet and began to sprint back towards the line of students. As the sphere bounced away, looking to start firing ahead of her, Liane feinted forward and threw herself backwards, landing on the ground on her back, her wand already pointing at the sphere. Before it could stop and move on again, Liane fired off as many pinching hexes as she could, the third one striking the target with a loud gong sound. The sphere turned back from red to blue and powered down again, and Liane stood up from where she was lying to a scattering of applause.

"Well done, Liane; you're improving well. I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday with a proper one of these. Okay, you can sit back down now," he said, and Liane nodded, just now registering that she was sweating and breathing hard. Moving back to her seat, Liane sat and watched as the rest of the first years had their go against the training sphere. Bertie was next, taking to the stage as Donovan reactivated the sphere, leaping into action as the first few shots came without warning. It was heartening to think that she was capable of taking on lessons she learned in the heat of personal danger, but the heavy thumping of Liane's heart told her she was nowhere near as fit as she would need to be to keep up with the competition.

The next morning Liane woke early enough to catch Booker in the Common Room, and the two of them nodded to each other as Liane made her way outside. Instead of her heavy robes and school uniform, Liane had instead donned a plain grey cotton tracksuit, and her wand was strapped to her waist under her jumper. Pulling the hood up against the cold late September air, Liane found the footpath leading around the lake and began to jog.

The grounds were grey, the sun only just peaking over the horizon and barely illuminating the path, but Liane was paying too much attention to her jogging to notice much of the scenery anyway. Liane had run around Chester a lot before coming to Hogwarts, although she tended to prefer running in the afternoons. It was a routine she'd all but abandoned since discovering magic, her thoughts of absolute mastery over spellwork having caused her to neglect her own physical fitness. It was clear to her now, though, that the kind of environment she excelled in was an uncompromising one, and so getting back into running was the first step.

After the first half hour, Liane saw a shadow on the ground in front of her that wasn't hers, and she nearly tripped. Taking a quick look around, she saw Booker and Jeremy were running together, a short distance behind her.

"I thought you said you weren't a morning person?" Booker asked.

"Thinking that might have to change," Liane replied, and the two older boys smiled. They ran together as the sun rose, the light glinting off first the tall north tower and then the southern tower over the grand doors to the Entrance Hall, before finally falling across the forest and then the lake, lighting up the whole area. When they finally came back around to the castle, having covered the entire distance around the lake, it was nearing eight. Liane dropped onto the lawns by a tall elm tree on the path leading back up towards the main stairs, breathing heavily. The two boys stopped just outside the shade of the tree, and began stretching.

"Good run, Langford," Jeremy said with a smile.

"Thanks; you're not too bad yourself. How's Jessica?" she asked.

"She was released from St. Mungo's yesterday with a clean bill of health, and will be back in classes by the end of the week," he replied.

"Good. We didn't get along, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone," Liane said, unzipping her jumper and wiping her face with the inner lining.

"She'll be alright, Liane, you don't have to worry. If you and Wanda hadn't come along when you did she might not have gone as well as she did," Jeremy said, straightening up.

"So you don't think Wanda was responsible?" Liane asked, leaning on her knees.

"Of course not; Wanda's a Dueller. The Warrior's Code, a bond as strong as family; beyond training that trust is as important a part of defence as anything else. And I believe your story about the night of the Room of Requirement party," Jeremy said, and Liane nodded.

"Good to hear."

She sat like that for a moment longer, before pushing herself upright.

"I better go have breakfast and take a shower; I really don't want to be late for Charms. I'll see you tomorrow night?" Liane asked. Jeremy's smile broadened.

"Absolutely," he replied.

Liane waved goodbye to the two of them and made her way up to the castle. So close to the first classes, the Great Hall was packed, and Liane stopped only long enough to grab a bacon roll and an apple before heading back to the Slytherin Common Room.

Remy, still in their pajamas, was sitting in the study nook below the stairs, lounging on a beanbag.

"Hey," Liane said, coming down the stairs, "you're not going to breakfast?"

"It's only Charms first, and I'm too tired. When did you get up?" they asked.

"I don't know exactly; five thirty maybe?" Liane said, stretching.

"Merlin, that sounds exhausting," Remy replied, "what on earth were you doing all that time?"

"Running, with Booker and Jeremy Price," Liane said, "after yesterday's Defence class I figure I'm going to need to step up with the physical side of things."

"Ergh, you're probably right; my legs and back are still killing me."

"Well, make sure you grab something to eat," Liane said before heading back to Olivia's suite to grab her clothes and take a shower.

When she was done, Liane made her way to the second-floor classroom for Charms, and was surprised to see Mietta Scalieri standing by the open door.

"Oh, hello," Liane said when she saw her.

"Hi there; you'd be Liane Langford, right?" Mietta asked, smiling.

"Yeah; you taking our class today?" Liane asked.

"Sort of; I'm running the accelerated tutoring for some of the students in this class while Flitwick goes through the standard curriculum with the rest. I'm taking you, Magi Scofield, Mister Malfoy, Miss Delacroix, Miss Weasley and Mister Lysander," she explained, and Liane's eyes widened.

"Really? Why us? I mean; why run these classes at all?" Liane asked.

"Honestly? I think this is Flitwick's way of privileging his best students in each year to get through the qualifiers for the Olympiad. Hogwarts is expected to do well when both students in the last Triwizard-even if only Diggory was meant to be there-won the final challenge. So he asked me to run one of these every so often in the lead up to the qualifiers," Mietta explained.

Liane nodded. "Makes sense. I have a question, actually; how does someone become an STA?" she asked.

"We have to have completed the N.E.W.T for the class in sixth year, firstly. Then we sit an entrance examination, marking us to the standard of first year teacher training, and then, if there is still more than one applicant, we're interviewed by the head of the unit," Mietta explained.

Liane whistled. "Sounds tough," she said. Mietta smiled.

"It is, but it's worth it. You learn a lot, and even if you don't go into teaching your resume looks fantastic. Plus, unfettered access to the restricted section! Anyway, grab your seat, we'll get to the good stuff in a bit," she replied, and Liane nodded and ran inside, taking her seat between Rose and Scorpius. When Flitwick came in a few minutes later, he took to his podium and cleared his throat.

"In order to best serve my classes, I have brought in Miss Scalieri to assist those students who have already achieved the spells on the syllabus. So, for today we will be focussing on the simple cleaning spell, useful for clearing away small spills and messes, and the following students will follow Miss Scalieri into the next room; Yvette Delacroix, Liane Langford, Peter Lysander, Scorpius Malfoy, Remy Scofield and Rose Weasley," he announced, and the students mentioned, Liane included, got up and made their way to the door, Mietta meeting them there and leading the six of them around to an empty, much smaller classroom further down the hall.

When they were all inside, Mietta sat on a table and gestured to the others to get comfortable.

"Alright; so, for those who I haven't met yet, hi, I'm Mietta. I figure, so we know where we are, everyone shows off the best spell they know. Okay? So who's first?" she asked, looking at the group. Yvette raised her hand and Mietta gestured for her to continue. Drawing her wand, Yvette pointed it at her own head.

"Apperator Dormia," she chanted, and a blast of dim silver wind ejected from the tip and wreathed her head. As the cloud rose over head head, an image appeared; a woman, in her early twenties, which it took Liane a moment to realise was Yvette. The older-Yvette in the cloud was beautiful, slim-waisted and curvy, her maroon hair tied back in a thick braid that fell over her shoulder, and she was dressed immaculately in robes of the finest lavender silk. As she waved her wand, more glamorous women appeared, the shooting lights from older-Yvette's wand wreathing them and changing their clothing to intricate, delicate couture gowns. After a moment the cloud dissipated.

"Dream Vision, very impressive. And gutsy; I'm not sure all of us would be happy with the rest of the class seeing their dreams. Who's next?" Mietta asked, turning to Liane, "what about you, Liane?"

Liane shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea; the most powerful spell I can cast is the Enchantment Dead Zone spell. If I don't have a specific target, I could break something important," she replied. Mietta's eyes widened.

"I'd still like to see it if that's true; we'll work something out. What about you?" she asked, turning to Rose. Rose grabbed a piece of parchment and scrunched it into a ball, before drawing her wand and pointed at it.

"Dracoria Chromostatis," she chanted, and there was a quick burst of orange sparks. The ball began to burn, letting off red and yellow sparks, before it was little more than a small, stationary firework. As Liane watched, the ball unfurled, and revealed a small dragon formed of burning sparks, which opened its wings and took to the air, flying around the room. Trailing behind the wings of the dragon as it looped over everyone's head were crackling embers of blue, green and purple. Once it had completed two circuits of the room, the dragon burst into a puff of yellow smoke. It wasn't until the spell had completely finished that Liane finally placed where she had seen it before.

"That was the spell that met the first years on the boats!" she blurted, and Rose nodded.

"It's one Flitwick invented a long time ago; my uncle...uncles...used it as the basis for one of their more popular fireworks when they were at Hogwarts," she explained.

"Very impressive; I'm certain Flitwick would be very flattered. Okay, so who else?"

As they went around the room, the others all showed off spells they had learned on their own; Remy made a table dance a complicated tap routine, Peter conjured a small hawk in the Ravenclaw colours that spoke in rhyme, and Scorpius disillusioned himself, becoming invisible, causing Liane to immediately vow to learn the spell herself as soon as possible. When the others were done, Mietta found a Quick-Quotes Quill in a storage cupboard for Liane to disenchant, and when she was satisfied that the spell had been cast correctly she whistled.

"Well, it's a pity STAs aren't qualified to give out house points like the Head Boy and Girl, but I am impressed with all of you, that is some very advanced Charms work. I think, in that case, that perhaps our first project should be something challenging. We're going to learn to cast the Patronus charm."