Year 2 Part 3

I was bone tired the next morning as Keeli shook me awake. She was smart enough not to ask questions while we were around the others, but she jumped me as soon as we were alone on the staircase down to breakfast.

"Where were you last night?"

"You heard on the train. I was helping Louk with his work."

"You were out after curfew?!" she gasped. "Do you want us to lose points before we even get them?"

"We were fine. We were just in the library." I waved her off, feeling sneakily proud I'd been out and not gotten caught.

I was spreading jam on my toast when a book thudded next to me. "Thanks for letting me borrow your notes."

I looked up and Louk was already walking towards his table. Keeli scowled at his back. "He can be a bit rude, can't he?"

"He's probably just hungry." I sighed, pushing my plate away.

Professor Flitwick was running up and down the aisle around student's legs passing out schedules. He handed Eunice the stack of second year girls' ones and she passed them out to us.

"Great. DADA first thing, and double History after lunch." I groaned.

"At least you have Herbology going for you today. It's going to be rough for me." she sighed.

We slung our bags over our shoulders and walked with Molly and Matt to Professor Potter's classroom. The skeleton still hung in the back corner and we sat in the desks farthest away from it. As the bell rang Professor Potter walked out of his office and smiled as us.

"Morning you all. First order of business; how was your summers?"

We all chatted over each other for a few minutes as he laughed, motioning for order. "Well, glad to hear you all made it through. Today we're going to start with a little wand work to get you all back in practice. The Tongue-Tying Curse! Who knows it?"

One of the Hufflepuffs raised their hand and was called on. "It prevents your opponent from being able to speak."

"Correct. Why would this be an advantage in a fight?"

I raised my hand and he nodded at me. "Nonverbal magic is harder to do, and can be less powerful. If your opponent can't talk, it'll be harder to curse you."

"Five points to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Good job. The Tongue-Tying Curse can prevent whomever it is cast on from speaking. Advanced wizards can tailor this effect to only apply to certain topics, such as if you found out where all your Christmas presents were hidden and your Mom wanted to prevent you from telling your siblings. But the basic spell has a timed effect that will limit all speech. Read chapter three in your books very carefully, pair up, and practice on each other. I'll be here if you have any questions."

We opened our books and read together, before nervously pointing our wands at each other.

"You go first." I nodded at her.

She nodded back, took a deep breath, and said "Indisertus."

I immediately felt my tongue give a little shiver before resting in my mouth. "Not bad!"

"Well, you can still talk." she said teasingly. "You try it on me now. Maybe if we get this down we can use it on Cad."

We worked on it the rest of class to little avail. I couldn't get more than a wiggle, but Keeli managed to silence me for a few seconds. She was a little low about it but as Professor Potter pointed out, sometimes a few seconds is all you needed.

The bell rang and we thanked him before heading out to Herbology. We walked up to greenhouse two where Professor Longbottom stood waiting. He waved at us and said hello as we all gathered around. Cad and Amber came to stand next to us as the class began.

"Welcome back everyone! I know this is a little unusual, but today we are going to be studying bowtruckles. Does anyone know what these are?"

Cad raised his hand. "They're tree-dwelling creatures that camouflage themselves to look like twigs and leaves and such. They have two sharp fingers on each hand they use to defend themselves with. They most notably make their home in trees that have wood sufficient in quality to make wands."

We all stared at him before Professor Longbottom cleared his throat. "Why, yes. Ten points to Gryffindor for that excellent explanation. I'm pleasantly surprised Mr. Mervin."

Cad turned red as he noticed we were all watching him. It was very unlike him to know something in a class. "What? My family owns a wand shop."

We all nodded as we remembered, turning back to the Professor. "Well, today we're going to be going to a said wand wood tree on the edge of the Forest. Don't worry, we aren't actually going in. I want you all to do your best to sketch these creatures as well as you can. Be careful not to get too close. They're peaceful creatures unless they're home is threatened."

We followed him across the grounds as we headed for the forest. A great big tree stood at the edge of the forest and I knew we were heading to it. Sure enough the Professor stopped us a few yards from the base.

"This is a dogwood tree. Dogwood is commonly used for wands. An interesting fact is Dogwood wands tend to be noisier than normal wands, and are incapable of performing Nonverbal magic. Here there are a number of Bowtruckles scurrying around. Remember to keep your distance while you sketch."

We pulled out parchment and took a few steps towards the tree. It was hard to spot them at first, as they blended in seamlessly with the bark and leaves, but the trick was to wait and watch for movement. As they scurried from hole to hole looking for insects hiding in the bark we tried to sketch a rough likeness. We mostly all finished by the time the lunch bell rang and backed away from them. Professor Longbottom waved us off as we headed back to the castle.

"So, have you guys decided if you're trying out for Quidditch or not this year?" I tried to make conversation.

"Absolutely!" Amber beamed. "I've already got my broom all ready. Our team Captain, he's a seventh year name Gregory Tray, he said the tryouts are next weekend after breakfast. I'm going to see if the others want to practice sometime so we can all get warmed up."

"Well, good luck. I'm sure you two will make it." Keeli smiled. "I couldn't even tell you who our team Captain is."

"Veronica Davies. She's a seventh year too. She's the Seeker on your team." Cad said automatically.

"You're just full of facts today aren't you?" I laughed. "I didn't know you knew all that about Bowtruckles."

His blush returned. "Yeah, well, I go out with my Dad a lot to get wood for the wands. You have to know about them or otherwise they gouge your eyes out."

"Hey, I'll take ten points. Maybe you should know something more often." Amber smacked him on the arm playfully.

After lunch was History of Magic with the Slytherins, where I once again passed notes with Keeli and Louk until it was over. It was simply more time-efficient for me to take notes on my own in the common room than fight the drowsiness that came from listening to Professor Binns' voice. After dinner we all met in our usual spot in the courtyard, stretching out on the grass. I leaned on Louk's legs and tried to grab some sleep. As soon as everyone got there Cad stood like we were in a meeting.

"So, we have a problem."

"And what is that?" I felt Louk ask.

"The Ides of March are coming here over Christmas."

"I know." Amber's pout was clear in her voice.

"We need to be there."

"We can't. It's upperclassmen only." I heard Keeli say.

"There are ways around that, and I have a plan. But I need some help with it."

"And what is this master plan?"

"Well the Headmistress said outsiders will be invited, right? I can get someone who will get us some tickets."

"Yeah, and they'll just let second years they see everyday waltz on in." Molly snorted.

"Not if we age ourselves." Cad said with a flourish. "Amelia could brew an Ageing Potion no problem. A little Transfiguration by Keeli and we're in."

"Excuse me?" I cracked my eye open.

"You make us an Ageing Potion."

I sat up on my elbow. "Do you have any idea how hard that is? It's a seventh year potion!"

"And you're the one out of all of us that could do it."

"Not to mention how hard human Transfigurations are. I could disfigure you all!"

"Well, it's either that or Polyjuice Potion. But we'd need disguises and knowledge of our target. This is much easier."

"For who?" Keeli and I said at the same time.

"Well, you have all semester to get it right. And we have faith in you, don't we guys?"

"Oh, please Amelia. I promise I won't call you Aims anymore!" Molly begged. "I have to see them!"

"Yeah, and we'll stop Louk from calling you that too." Amber smiled.

Louk snorted so hard his body shook. "You can try."

"Amelia, please? You're our only hope."

They all gave me their best puppy dog eyes and I sighed, looking up at Louk. He leaned down and whispered in my ear. "It would be great leverage for later."

"Fine. But I make no promises."

"Awesome!" Cad high-fived Amber. "And Amber, you're on wardrobe. We'll need clothes our older selves can fit in to as well as blend in at a ball."

"Oh, I get to do the make up!" Molly jumped.

"And what are you doing in all this volunteering?" Damian asked.

"Getting the tickets, of course. The hardest part."

"You tell that to tall the ingredients I'm going to go through." I set back against Louk's lap and tried to relax. The bell rang not ten seconds later and I yawned as I stood to my feet.

"Why are you so tired?" Louk asked with a secretive smile.

I waited until the others were a little ahead to punch him. "All the first years think their dorm is haunted now because I walked into the wrong one this morning out of habit."

He laughed loudly. "No way. I thought you all were the smart house."

"Yeah, who live in the castle where there are ghosts everywhere you look." I pointed down the hall where Nearly-Headless Nick was talking to a portrait. "Or Peeves."

"Fine. Next time you should just be more careful. Honestly." he rolled his eyes. "Speaking of first years, I tried talking to your sister. Just offering her a friendly face, you know? But she snapped at me!"

"Did you tell her you were my friend?"

"Well yeah."

"You don't have any siblings, do you?" I laughed. "The last thing she wants is my friend treating her like my little sister."

"Well how was I supposed to know? It's what I get for trying to be nice."

"Don't worry about it. She can fend for herself." I waved as I walked over to the Ravenclaw table.

Keeli and I went to the common room after dinner and read in our books for a little while before bed. I was chomping at the bit for Potions Club Wednesday. I hoped Elizabeth might be able to help me out with the Ageing Potion, and she would be convinced this was for research purposes only. As long as I sold it as me being ambitious, the now Ravenclaw Head Girl shouldn't ask too many questions.

Classes Tuesday kicked off with Charms where we were working on the Scouring Charm which was used in cleaning spilled liquids. I was easy enough, provided your concentration was there, and the class went by quickly. Potions was mostly reading about our next brew, the Hair-Raising Potion, and how we could make all of our hair fall out if we did it wrong. Then Herbology again to put the finishing touches on our Bowtruckle drawings before handing them in. After lunch was Transfiguration where Keeli single-handedly answered every question about getting precise details through concentration. Then Professor Sallow handed out beetles and told us the prettiest Transfigured button in class on Friday would win fifteen points for their house. I went to the library after dinner to look for a Potions book with the Ageing Potion we would need and read through about fifteen old textbooks before I found one.

I marched down to dinner and slammed the book next to Cad's plate. "Just look at this. It's a nightmare!"

Cad smiled at his mates before dragging me to the side. "Easy, Aims, do you want everyone to know?"

"We agreed I wouldn't be called that anymore." I scowled and flipped it to the page. "Do you see this? Phoenix ashes, owl talons, Moondew; some of these are expensive, not to mention a little hard to find. And this potion takes almost two weeks to make. And I have to babysit it almost the whole time."

"Amelia," he put emphasis on my name. "If it was easy we could throw it to anyone else to do. This is why I gave it to you."

"It's impossible, Cad! I can't do this. Seventh years have problems with this."

He put his hands on my shoulders. "They haven't thought up a potion you couldn't brew. And I know it's hard, but that's when Ravenclaws shine brightest, right? In the face of a difficult adversary. Just think how great it'll be when you get it right."

"I might not even get it right by Christmas. It could take me awhile."

"Well, that's what we your friends are here for. To help you with anything you need." he gave me his trademark smile. "Come on, it'll be fun. You'll be the first ever second year to brew that potion."

"I don't know…"

"I believe in you." he said softly.

I looked up at him and couldn't say no. "Fine. But you guys owe me big time."

"I knew you'd come through for us." he hugged me.

"I actually have an idea to make Keeli's job a little easier, if it works."

"I'm sure it will. We can meet up after dinner to talk about it if you want."

"That sounds good. Thanks for the pep talk. I have Potions Club tomorrow and I'll start it then."

"Just let me know if you need anything."

I went to my table and Keeli raised her eyebrow at me. "What was that about?"

"Our little extra credit project." I pursed my lips as my eyes shot around us to the other Ravenclaws. "It's even harder than I thought."

"You're telling me. I read up on my end, and it's dangerous."

"How dangerous?"

"Let's just say I'm talking with everyone before I do this."

"Same here. If I do this wrong we could all end up a little funny."

"Should we meet with everyone after dinner?"

"Yeah. They should at least know."

We motioned to everyone from across the room and they nodded. We met on the second floor landing we had frequented so many bad weather days last year.

"So, before I start this, you guys need to know what you're getting into." I pulled the textbook out and read from the warning. "Adolescents may experience issues with maturity if taken such as delayed or premature puberty, irregular menstrual cycles, acne, joint pain, agitated digestion, and occasionally the desire to drink prune juice."

"Gross, prune juice." Amber wrinkled her nose. "But that isn't so bad. Hair potions have those kinds of labels."

"I just don't want someone to get a face full of acne and then come banging down my door because you think I made a mistake." I snapped the book shut.

"And for the Transfiguration bit, it's just as dangerous. If I do this wrong it could be permanent. And probably not very cute. You could be stuck with a unibrow or a hooked nose."

"Don't worry so much, guys." Cad draped his arms over our shoulders. "We have the utmost faith in you."

Molly shrugged. "I'll live with a hook nose the rest of my life if I get to see Ides of March. Totally worth it."

I threw my hands up. "I see we're beat. But you've been warned."

We split our separate ways to our common rooms. Keeli and I sat in the corner of the room reading over our new tasks. I was making notes on the potion and she was practicing wand movements.

"What do you think I should be focusing on?"

"I'd focus on nose shape and eye color. Those are the easiest things to change because they're soft tissues, and they'll go a long way in making us fairly different."

"Do you think you could brew a hair color changing potion?" she flipped to a page in the book she was working on. "There's a spell here for it, but it needs to be redone every three hours. And the brighter the hair color, like Damian and I's blonde hair, it's even more frequent."

"I'm not sure. I only have one cauldron. Professor Slughorn lets me use a spare one in class if I need it, but I doubt he'd let me use it for this."

"Make Cad get you one for Christmas." she smirked. "He's the mastermind after all. Have you ever heard of this band?"

I shook my hand. "My sisters always hog the radio. But Molly always talks about them."

"Amber does too, and I know a lot of other kids like them. I just hope they're good enough to warrant all this."

"They'd have to be gods." I mumbled, getting up to search the shelves for some beauty potion books.