A/N: Another Update folks! Sorry it is a little late. We are almost to the end of Year One! NOOOO! I hope you enjoy.
Draco smacks his head against his textbook with a groan of disgust. We have about a month of term left, and Draco isn't taking it very well. To say the least.
"Draco, mate, you aren't going to learn the material that way." Blaise tries to convince him to lift his head off of the textbook.
"I know!" He groans and hits his head against it again. "Why does the teacher have to be so bleedin' stupid!"
"I second that." I say, my head resting on my palm. We have been studying for three hours at this point.
"You know the material really isn't that hard." Sophie says, her hair pulled back out of her face with a quill. "It really is the teacher that makes the material much harder than it needs to be. It's like he doesn't know how to teach to begin with." Sophie says and we all turn to look at her.
"I agree." Neville chimes in a timidly, still nervous around all of us, at least a little bit. And we all turn our heads to stare at him.
I throw my hands up in the air in defeat and cast a Tempus. My second favorite spell. I start putting my books away.
"There is no way I am missing dinner tonight. I don't care what you guys want to do. But I need a break. My essays are all done. My spells are practiced. I'm calling it a night." I stand up followed by Draco and Blaise.
"Thank Merlin." Draco mutters and rubs his eyes. While Blaise rolls his eyes at us.
I turn to Sophie and Neville who are still seated and ask if they are coming with us. They both respond no, there are a couple of things they need to do to touch up their assignments so they plan to stay at our study table a bit longer. I shrug and leave the library, Draco and Blaise following in my wake.
"Speaker...I know you are there. Why won't you speak with me?" I hear echoing through the halls. Blaise and Draco stop their movement and pale.
"It isn't time to speak Serpentess.I will come looking for you next year, I promise. May your hatchlings grow strong, and your venom be deadly." I respond politely.
"Very well. And thank you for the old blessing speaker. May your life be long, and your skin impervious to wounds." She responds and then I hear no more from her.
"There, that should be enough to get her to stop being so mobile for the rest of the year. But it means we need to find out where she might be next year. Obviously she isn't going back into hibernation or whatever it was she was doing before this." I mutter to myself, and continue walking along towards our original destination. I hear Draco and Blaise's footsteps hurry to keep up with me. And I snicker softly.
Oh the interesting year we are going to have next year if this keeps up. We make it to the Great Hall just before dinner is served and drop down to our spots at Slytherin table. I put some food onto my plate. Nothing too delicious, just something to put in my stomach and I listen to the conversations around me. I look over at the Gryffindor table and see that the members of the "Golden Trio" are huddled together talking about something that looks important. I put magic into my ears and focus on their conversation.
"Remember Dumbledore is out of the school tonight. McGonagall said so." Granger whispers. Now that could be useful.
"So tonight we go. I think that Snivellus is going to make his move on the stone tonight." Potter sneers. "We have to keep him from getting his hands on it." Stone, wait the Philosopher's Stone is located here? Within the school? I resist the urge to face palm. And they really think Severus is going after it. They must be dense.
"Blimey mate. You think this is a good idea? What if we get caught?" Weasley says, sounding more nervous and intelligent than the other two.
"Don't be absurd Ron. We won't get caught. Everyone will be too busy to notice us leave. So finish up your dinner quickly so we can go back to the common room and prepare. We can't let Snape get a head start." Potter responds. I can practically hear Granger roll her eyes.
"You might not like him Harry. But he is a professor, you should give him the respect he deserves." Granger says, her tone grating on my nerves.
"I don't care if he is the Minister of Magic himself. It wouldn't matter to me. He is Snivellus, nothing more." Potter shuts her down, vemon dripping from his every word.
I pull the magic away from my ears and focus in on the conversations going on around me. I must have been zoned out for a good five minutes while I listened to the plans of the imbeciles. In that time Sophie has joined us at the Slytherin table and Neville has made his way over to the Gryffindor table. And with that my mind starts spinning with plans. There is a lot to set up for tonight if we are going to make our way to the Garden this evening. Why not let the teachers handle the imbeciles. I know they won't be able to get very far in their pursuit of the Stone. They are all about mediocre in most of their classes. Sophie and I hold the top two spots in the year followed by Granger girl and then Draco. So if anyone would make it a decent way it would the Granger girl. Unfortunately, or is it fortunately, the only reason she does so well in classes is because right now a lot of it is theory and book based. Neville actually is in the top thirty percent of the grade too.
The other day that we took to work on controlling the flow of his magic has helped him to use his magic properly without the wand. And in classes, he doesn't get the full points on most of it because using his wand to its "fullest potential" could be potentially harmful to both him and the rest of the students in school. So the teachers think he is simply lucky sometimes. I know that when the teacher turns their back he places his wand in his other hand and uses his "wand hand" to cast the spell wandless. And because he sits in the back of the class normally, he can get away with it. I unfortunately cannot. But my wandless magic has gone back to its original levels of average since Father fixed the pendent so that it doesn't block my magic from my use. It only makes it seem like I have the magical levels of a first year. A good reason as to why I don't go to see Madame Pomfry. Severus and Father say that the amulet would cause for different readings if its magical presence wasn't accounted for when they do their scans. And since we are keeping its existence from Dumbledore and Pomfry, as best as we can, it is best not to tempt the hands of fate. Add on top of that my magical sensitivity and you get a very, very bad day. I shudder to think what that would mean if it were ever to happen.
I feel a magical presence very close to mine and look over my shoulder and see Sophie's hand hovering over my shoulder. Interesting way to get my attention without touching me. I really like it.
"I figure it should work with your sensitivity. Same effect as touching, without the touch." She smiles at me. "So what has your mind occupied Keket?" Sophie asks having noticed my absent mindedness.
"Oh just making plans for an excursion this evening." I say very softly so only Draco and Sophie can hear me. I see Draco catch Blaise's eye and then Blaise makes eye contact with me. It is our signal to meet near the Potion's Classroom this evening right after dinner. I then look up and catch Neville's eye, and get a quick nod from him.
"Is tonight the night?" I hear Sophie whisper in my ear.
"I will explain more later, but I think it might be." I respond looking down at my plate and cutting my food, so people can't read my lips as easily. At this Sophie doesn't ask anymore questions. Instead she changes the topic to what she thinks the finals will be like. I can almost see Draco's face take on the look of someone who just wants to bash their head into the stone wall behind them.
"Well, I mean I figure, there will be both a practical and a theory based segment for each of the classes. Thank goodness we only have eight exams to study for. I hear it only gets worse as you go up in the years." She says conversationally, and pauses to eat some of her dinner.
"I don't know about you, but I'm very excited to drop Care. Ugh, it is like the most useless course out there." Draco bemoans.
"Well, it doesn't have to be." Blaise points out. "If we had a teacher who knew more about what they were talking about it would be better. Work with the theory and then have personal experience with one. It could be done quite a bit better. I personally love Magical Creatures. They are so interesting to me." he continues obvious interest in his face.
"I agree with Blaise," I say as Draco looks to me for back-up. "There are a lot of interesting things that go into learning about the different creatures. Basilisks, Thestrals, Kappas, other Fae folk which have been lost to the ages. Werewolves, Vampires, Elves, Veela. There are so many things to learn about them, and not nearly enough time in which to do so. And then you get into the differences in a Care of Magical Creatures course depending on where you live." I continue and Blaise picks up on this.
"Oh yes! In Japan you have the youkai, and Kitsune amongst others. They even revered their ancient wizards as Gods. Their Emperor for the longest time was descended from one of the Ancient families of the Wizarding World. And it was the Statute of Secrecy in Japan that kept them from keeping the American Muggle soldiers out of the palace. I hear that there were even other Magical students and children who were housed there that had to go into hiding that day when they forced the Emperor to step down. Children who weren't quite old enough to attend school were taught personally by the emperor." Blaise lit right up and the difference in history and Magical creature information.
Sophie, Draco and I look at him like he has two heads. A little impressed and a little nervous as to how in the world he had all of this information stored in his head and yet he couldn't remember what a bezoar was used for.
"What?" He says looking at us sheepishly. "It keeps my attention better than most other things do. I really love history and creatures. That is why I'm so disappointed in the way the classes are being done. We don't really need to know about every single Goblin war in detail when there are so many other things that we can learn about." he continues trying to keep his face clear, and failing. Horribly.
"If only you put all of that attention to detail towards your potion making." Draco sighs and hangs his head in mock defeat. Blaise slugs him in the shoulder and Draco lifts his head a smile on his face.
"Now, now Blaise. No need to get physical with him. Poor Draco bruises easily." I chide jokingly and Sophie just starts laughing her ass off. We look at her and she just keeps laughing at our looks.
"She wasn't really joking I do bruise easier than some." Draco says and Sophie just keeps laughing. Pulling enough attention our direction that the Golden Trio takes this opportunity to slip away mostly unnoticed.
"Oh..." she gasps for air, tears in her eyes, "that was the most perfect thing I have heard." She wipes the tears from her face and her breathing becomes more regular. Severus is just looking at us with confusion on his face. I smile in his direction and he shakes his head and turns back to his conversation with Professor McGonagall.
We finish our dinner and gather our things together to make our way to the dungeons. We make it to the Potions Classroom and not minutes later does Neville join us.
"So," Neville says, "what is going on? Before dinner there was no inclination that we would need to meet again tonight. What changed?" He finishes, a look of intrigue on his face.
"Well, I just so happened to spy on Dumbledoof's Golden Trio. And found out that they are planning to go and try to retrieve the Sorcerer's Stone this evening." At this everyone's eyes go wide.
"What the fuck are they planning?! That thing has to be heavily guarded. Not to mention they would need some serious back-up. How are they planning to get off campus to get even the rare chance to try and get to its location?" Draco gesticulates wildly trying to prove his point.
"Well, that would be the case if it hadn't been on campus for the entire year." I say.
"What do you mean it has been on campus for the year?! Why would Dumbledore put something that dangerous and that rare amongst children? Do you know how many people have been after that bloody rock?!" Sophie exclaims. Anger evident in her voice. Something none of us have heard up until this moment. We look at her in varying levels of shock.
"Sophie..." I trail off. Looking at similarly shellshocked Draco, Blaise and Neville. Sophie's face colors a bit. Now in embarrassment rather than anger.
"Sorry. I just can't stand stupid. And that borders on willfully harmful. It is like he is asking random attackers to come to the school and put the lives of children in danger." She clarifies. "I read about Nicholas Flamel after the Gringotts episode just so I knew what to expect if we came across the stone at all. Did you know that some of the greatest wizards of all time have been after that stone? There is rumor that Grindelwald was after it at one point, up until he died. Then there were the alchemists in the modern era. It didn't give names, but I think the number of attempts of Flamel's life were up into the hundreds. It is very valuable and a very sought after relic." Sophie continues, her eyes moving as though she were reading a page from a book. Like she was searching for something in that memory of hers. She throws her hands up, and then looks at me.
"Enough of that. The longer I think on it the more upset I get. So what is the plan Keket?" She huffs and leans against the classroom door.
"Well, we barely know where the Garden is, besides it is lost in the Forbidden Forest. However I am hoping that it has enough of a Magical Signature to lead me to it. And if that fails we will try something else. What exactly, I'm not sure yet. But I should be able to feel around for it." I lead in.
"Not very confidant are we?" Blaise rolls his eyes.
"There is no need for you to come along if you are too scared Blaise." I bite out. "Feel free to stay here in your safe and cozy bed if you feel the need. But there is no way for me to predict everything. I'm freaking eleven! Just like you." I point this out to him and he looks down.
"Sorry Keket. Sometimes I forget because of how much life experience you have in comparison to some of us." Blaise looks up a wry smile on his face. I roll my own eyes this time and turn to the other three.
"So… the first part of the plan goes like this…" the others lean in intrigued.
~~~RAWR~~~~~
"Why are we doing this again?" Neville whispers and I clamp my hand to my eyes and turn to glare at him. I have expanded my senses to be on high alert for any possible movement in our direction. I have most of the hallway covered, because I don't want to drain my reserves by pulling too much and getting too much information from other parts of the castle that I don't need.
Neville sheepishly pulls a little farther away from me. And I return to my task at hand, I place my hand over the amulet and keep searching. My other hand is currently claimed by Neville's because he is the only one other the four that I can bare to have contact with for an extended period of time. We make our way down to the Great Hall. And once we are out of the front doors I let out a sigh of relief and pull my ears in just a little bit. There is enough light on the grounds that we don't need our wands out here either. We head over to the Greenhouses and Draco casts a simple Alohamora, which doesn't work. I pull the magic away from my ears and put it into my eyes.
"Bloody Greenhouse is warded." I mutter focusing solely on the keyhole of the door.
"We could just use the key." Neville provides and pulls the key out of his robes. I drop the magic from my eyes and look over at him my jaw dropping.
"How..." I just trail off, at a loss for words.
"Professor Sprout wanted me to have access to the Greenhouses whenever I needed it. She said I had a talent for Herbology and it would be a sin to keep me from doing research or self-imposed projects." Neville supplies his face growing red.
"So that is how you got the Rose that early in the morning." I breathe softly, amazed at the respect this teacher has for him. He nods in admittance.
"I had been working on those for a month before I got a result fitting enough for you." he continues to admit and Sophie just grins from ear to ear as Draco and Blaise look at each other and make kissy faces behind his back. I can't help but blush at his attentions, and their antics, and the door unlocks cleanly allowing us inside.
"So you never went into detail as to why we were coming here first." Draco points out.
"I figured if we took the Lotus flowers that we have growing with us it would give us a form of protection while we are in the woods that wouldn't need any extra effort to maintain." I say and Sophie and Neville look pensive.
"That could almost work." they say simultaneously and then high five each other.
"You may be missing one little detail Keket." Blaise points out. "Our flowers aren't in bloom. Most of them are barely sprouting." And I smile in response and Neville and I lock eyes.
"Oh no. I'm not forgetting. We have a Master Hedge Wizard on our hands my friends. One specialized in garden magic." I play up Neville's abilities just a tad. And the others look between themselves. "If you would please." I look to Neville.
"Are you sure?" He looks nervously, never having done this except in front of me. Not conciously anyways.
"Of course!" I chirp.
At this Neville's shoulders drop a little bit and he walks over to the plants and starts muttering softly to himself, to the plants. Nothing is happening. The other three look at me like really? I scowl at them and walk over to Neville.
"Remember, it comes from your interaction with the plants too." I place my hand on his and guide it to tough the side of the bowl. And almost instantly the flower starts to grow faster. I pull my hand away quickly as I feel a pull on my own magic. But the one Lotus at that point is fully grown. It is a beautiful purpleish blueish color. And definitely not the color it was supposed to be. Neville turns to look at me his eyes wide.
"You okay Keket?" he asks worriedly. "I don't know how that happened. I've never pulled your magic before. Not ever."
"I'm fine." I hold my hand to myself a little dizzy from the sudden pull and then release. "I've also never helped you start using your magic, I've always stopped you from using too much." I reason with him and sit down on one of the chairs.
Draco and Blaise are looking at the flower with surprise and wonder. Neville gains confidence from this and grows four more flowers magically quite quickly. I think overall it takes a good half hour for all of them to grow. None of the others are the same color as the one that pulled some of my magic too. But they are all beautiful. Neville places the blue one in my hair, I try to protest and tell him to keep that one for him. He shuts me up with one well placed glare. Something I never expected to see from him.
Must be spending too much time around Sophie. Bloody meddlesome roommate. Sophie snickers until he puts one in her hair too. Not as nicely as he put mine, but he still puts one in her hair a smile on his face as she sticks her tongue out at him. The other boys just take them from him and I use a sticking charm to keep them in place on their shirts. Much easier than pinning them there. I also use a mild sticking charm on mine and Sophie's so they don't fall out if we end up in a rush.
From there we lock up the Greenhouse and make our way across the grounds. Draco and Blaise have robes on, while Sophie and I don't. I know and appreciate the tactical advantage to being without one. And I am not taking any chances. We are going into uncharted territory, in the dark, as eleven year old children. Good thing there is strength in numbers. Right as we are about to enter the forest I feel Sophie seize up next to me.
I turn and see her closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. And I look at her concerned.
"Hey Sophie," I ask, "you okay?" I watch as she opens her eyes and see tears in them. I look at her hands and see that they are shaking. Actually her entire body is shaking.
"Sophie," I say, "Sophie." I repeat, her pupils are like pin pricks but her eyes are wide. I want to project comfort to her, I move a little bit closer to her and the symptoms lessen, but don't go away completely.
"Sophie we need to know if you are going to be able to do this." I tell her seriously. I can't have her getting like this if we need to run. She looks at me, her eyes going back to normal, some tears still leaking out of them and she nods.
"I can do it. I have to do it. I refuse to let you make this discovery without me." She puts on a brave face and wipes her eyes. Draco and Blaise come behind her. We plan to keep her in the middle of our formation after this revelation.
"We will be right behind you Sophie." Draco turns into his gallant Malfoy self and Blaise puffs out his chest comically, scared also but doing his best for her. I turn away from them, Neville and I taking point and look right into the Forest.
"Let's do this." I state calmly, remembering how many times I have gone hunting in the forest and been successful in my hunt.
~~~~RAWR~~~~
With that we walk into the forest and disappear into the night. We walk through the Forest, guided by only the light hitting the forest floor. Neville and I look for tracks in front of us. Draco and Blaise cover our sides and rear and Sophie works out where this place may be.
A twig snaps to the right of us and I point my wand in the direction of it.
"Show yourself to me." I state loudly enough to be heard.
"My, my, my, what do we have here?" a shape moves in the shadows, making its way towards us.
"If I have to tell you then there is a problem with your sight." I state tersely to it. It comes in sight of us and I see it to be a centaur.
I keep my wand leveled at it, my mind whirling with possible curses that I could use against it if it came down to a fight of magic. Centaurs used to be very peaceful creatures, but now because of the atrocities that the Ministry has committed against its people, they don't take very kindly to Wizards. Children or not. At least they are the least of our worries in this Forest. Blaise steps out of formation just a hair and makes himself visible to the centaur.
"Our apologies Chief Bane. We were unaware we were trespassing on your claimed territory." Blaise bows at about a forty five degree angle, his hands in a low V. Showing openness and apology at the same time.
"A smart one you got there. You even know my name. I can forgive you for your ignorance this time. If you only tell me why you are out here wizard foals." Bane continues obviously biding his time. I lower my wand but keep it in my hand. He is no immediate threat.
"We are looking for the Ancient Garden." Sophie speaks up. At this Bane tilts his head and waits for her to continue. She makes eye contact with him and continues to speak.
"I have knowledge of it from a tome left by one of her students. As such I am aware that she used to grant you some of her magcial herbs so that your people wouldn't have to scavenge or grow the non-magical variety to aid in healing your sick and diving the stars." Bane says nothing. Thinking on this.
"I had heard rumor of such a place existing. But why should I let you wander my territory in search of it?" he asks snidely.
"What if we were to continue that tradition. What if we offered you access to the herbs that will be grown there in exchange for your assistance finding it and keeping it safe. We wizarding folk are not known for our intelligence and as such it would only be wise for us to place the protection and enchantment of such an ancient place to those who are more knowledgeable." I state, thinking on my feet.
"And what makes you think you will find it on my territory? What makes you so certain it is here in the Forest?" he continues to push for information.
"We aren't certain. But does it hurt to allow us to look? Unless we are attacked we will not attack. As shown by how we handled coming in contact with you." Sophie pulls his attention again.
"You speak politely enough. I shall let you pass. However know that if you don't find this place that the next time I stumble upon you the meeting won't be so pleasant." he says a sick smile on his face.
"Oh I look forward to it then." I respond a delicate dreamy smile on my own. Finally someone to curse. Bane looks back at me and laughs.
"A true mystery you are Dark One. Spoken like a predator, yet aged as a foal. You amuse me. And that amusement may keep you alive this night." Bane disappears into the shadows and we all take one deep breath and exhale. We look between each other and smile.
"I call that a close call." Draco says.
"Would you believe he is the tamest thing we have to worry about being in this forest?" Neville says softly, and all the previous joy is gone as we realize we have real predators surrounding us in the night. Unseen by us, yet we may be in their sights as we speak.
"Let's keep moving." Sophie says a hint of fear in her voice.
A/N: Okay Friends I believe after this we only have one or two more chapters and that will be the end of Year One! Once I am finished with that I will put the story on hold for a little while to gather my thoughts for Year Two and give you a product worthy of your time and patience. :) Thank you so much for taking this journey with me so far and I hope you are enjoying it.
P.S. I would love to hear more from people. Maybe ideas as to things you would like to see. From here on out I have no real direction except for a couple of BIG storyline/plot events. Or even just reviews as to how things are progressing. :) Thank you again!
