Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series or anything Harry Potter related!
"Just one more line... and done!" I exclaimed, throwing my quill down.
"Here!" said Harry, placing the plate of steaming food in front of me. Ron did the same for Hermione. I hadn't realized how hungry I was, and I immediately started stuffing food into my mouth.
"Hanks 'arry," I said through a mouth full of potatoes.
"No problem! What time do you have to leave for your meeting with Dumbledore?" he asked, deciding it was safe to sit beside me.
"Erm, any minute now. Adrien said he would come and get me before he left the tower, I said. I noticed that Hermione wasn't actually eating, and was still scratching at her parchment. I gave her a soft kick under the table, earning myself an angry glare.
"What was that for?" she demanded.
"Eat, Mione! You need to eat something! Put the Arithmancy down, and pick up a chicken leg," I said, sternly. Hermione rolled her eyes at me, but pushed aside her work.
"Fine," she sighed, taking a bite. I was fairly sure that the food would be pushed away as soon as I left for my meeting. Just then, Adrien walked up to our table.
"Hey, Ava. Ready to go?" he asked.
"Umm, give me like two minutes," I said. He nodded and went back to his friends, as I stuffed a giant bite of vegetables into my mouth. I took a few more large bites of food before we really needed to leave.
"Alright! Let's go," I called to him from across the common room. I grabbed a bread roll to eat on the way.
"Watch her. Make sure she eats everything," I said to Harry and Ron, indicating to Hermione's plate of food as I walked out of the common room.
"Acid pops," said Adrien to the gargoyle, who nodded and stepped aside. We travelled up the staircase and knocked on Dumbledore's office door.
"Come in," said Dumbledore from the office. I pushed open the door and walked inside.
"Good evening, both of you. Please be seated," he requested. We sat down in our regular seats.
"Now that we are resuming our training, we are going to have to make changes. Firstly, due to Ben and Athena absences, I am going to teach you two how to use your powers effectively without the others," he started.
"Adrien, for you, I am going to work on creating storms. It can be an extremely effective method blinding and confusing the opponent. I would also like to work on your control. When we were at the Malfoy Manor, you were spectacular. I would like to work with you so that you are able to perform that kind of magic on command. I think that you abilities at the Malfoy Manor were enhanced by the adrenaline and fear. I will be creating a small pond in my back garden with which you can practice.
"As for you, Avery, I would like to try a few completely new things with you. I think it is clear to all of us that you have an amazing handle on your abilities. One of the things that I would like to work on would be to ensure that you do not burn yourself out after performing extraordinary magic like you did at the end of the last term. I am sure that you would prefer not to be unconscious for nearly a week. Then there is another thing that I would like to work on as well. I have not mentioned this before, because I was waiting for you to become more comfortable with your powers. I am fairly sure that you are ready now. You are the controller of the Earth, which means you are also the controller of many of the creatures. As Earth, you are the governor of the Dryads and the Hamadryads," he said.
"What are those?" I asked curiously.
"Dryads and hamadryads are tree nymphs. They would be incredibly valuable to our side in a war due to their amazing healing powers and their extreme strength," he explained. "I am going to teach you to communicate and call upon them," he said.
"Wow. I can't wait for that. I have a question. I've talked to the trees a couple of times. Was I actually talking to the tree nymphs?" I asked.
"You are very observant. You are correct. It was very difficult to explain it to you back then, before you really understood your powers. Please forgive me for not telling you the whole truth," he said.
"It's alright. I understand," I said. "Are we going to start with this today?"
"No. That will have to wait for our next meeting, I am afraid. Neither of you have really used your powers in a little while, so I do not want to try anything too difficult today," he said to my disappointment.
We just practiced some of the basic stuff we had worked on last year, but I couldn't believe how rust I was. By the end of the training session I was rather sore and a little bit discouraged. It was as if all the progress I had made was gone.
"Do not be discouraged with your performance. You both did brilliantly today. It will take you another lesson or two to get used to your powers again. Truthfully, you both performed even better than expected. Now, I will send you a message regarding the time of our next training session," he said.
"Alright, thank you Professor," I said and started to leave when I thought of something.
"Sir, I have a question," I said. He nodded.
"Well, I was in potions class yesterday and Professor Slughorn said something. He asked me if I was related to my parents. When I told him I was he told me that he knew all about my mother's abilities. He asked me if I had inherited them," I explained.
"And what did you tell him?" asked Dumbledore, mildly.
"Well, I assumed that him asking me if I had inherited her powers was just a formality. If he knows anything about the Elements, he would know that it was passed on through families," I said.
"You are right. It was wise of you to tell him. Professor Slughorn will undoubtedly try to recruit you for the slug club," said Dumbledore.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Professor Slughorn likes to associate himself with famous and successful students, like Harry. Now that he knows who you are, he will definitely want to get to know you," said Dumbledore with a small chuckle.
"That's a little bit weird. But I guess it isn't that bad to have a professor that likes me," I said with a laugh.
"Good night, Avery, Adrien," said Dumbledore with the twinkle in his eye. I left the office with Adrien and we walked down the hallway to the Gryffindor tower.
"So, tree nymphs, huh?" said Adrien.
"I know. How cool is that!" I exclaimed, causing him to laugh.
"Ava!" I heard from behind me. I turned to see Neville Longbottom jogging towards me.
"Hey, Nev. What's up?" I asked.
"Hey. Sorry to bother you, but I need your help! I'm really confused by the runes that we were supposed to translate. Would you mind helping me for a few minutes?" he asked.
"Sure, Nev. I'll see you back in the common room, Adrien," I said. The little boy waved and continued on his way to the Gryffindor tower.
"Thanks for doing this. I was going to ask Hermione but she looked like she was going to hex the crap out of me if I tried talking to her," he said, making me laugh.
"Yeah... she's a little bit intense. Come on, let's sit," I said, leading him to the wall and sitting down against it. Neville took a seat beside and pulled out a few pieces of parchment.
"It's just this paragraph that is giving me trouble. This translation just doesn't make any sense," he said, frustratedly. I took the parchment and looked at the writing. It took me a few minutes to figure out the mistake.
"Oh, alright. Here it is. You translated this word wrong. It's build, like construction, not billed, like being charged money," I explained.
"Oh! That makes much more sense! Thanks mate!" he said cheerfully.
"I thought you hated runes, Neville. Why are you taking it?" I asked
"My grandmother really wants me to take it. I'm not bad at it, but it is a little bit tedious," he sighed.
"Well, I have a feeling you're going to go into herbology once you're done school, so you're probably not going to need runes anyway," I said.
"Yeah, that's the plan for now! I talked to Professor Sprout and she said that I could apply to be her assistant once I was done school!" he said, happily.
"Wow! Congratulations! That's really great!" I said.
"Yeah! Thanks, Ava," he smiled.
"Anyway, I'm going to go back to the common room! Good luck with the rest of the translation!" I said. I left Neville sitting on the floor and continued to the Gryffindor tower. I was halfway back when I suddenly felt something freezing cold and wet collide with my head. I shrieked out in surprise. I was drenched in icy water. I looked up to see Peeves, the Poltergeist, floating above me and carrying several water balloons.
"PEEVES! What are you doing?" I cried,, angrily.
"Should've watched where you were going," he said in his sing-song voice, before floating away.
Great, now what? I thought. I glanced around the hall and realized I was just steps away from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. I decided to stop in there and get cleaned up before going back to the tower.
I pushed open the door, but was shocked at the sight that was in front of me. Sitting on the floor was Draco Malfoy. His eyes were closed, but I could see tears pouring down his cheeks. He was sobbing loudly enough that he didn't even hear me open the door. My first instinct was to run up to him and give him a hug, but I held myself together. This was Draco Malfoy, after all... he was the person I hated the most at Hogwarts. He just looked so sad and pathetic that I couldn't help but feel bad for him.
I turned and shut the door quietly behind me. As I walked back to the common room I considered what I had just seen – Malfoy crying on the floor of a girls' bathroom. I decided that I wouldn't tell me friends about this, but that didn't stop me from being curious. There was something going on, and I was determined to find out what it was.
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