11

Preparing for the Holidays

Time: About half an hour later

Place: A quiet corner of the castle

"There you are, Ron!" said Harry, coming up behind Ron, who jumped.

"What are you- You're hurt!" said Hermione, pushing Harry out of the way and bending down to look at Ron's leg. He had been rather unsuccessfully trying to bandage it, and there was a lot of blood on the floor around him. "You're really badly hurt!"

"It's nothing," said Ron, trying to pull his pant leg down again.

"Nothing? You're bleeding! What happened?"

Susan looked Ron over with a First Aid check of 15. He was pale and shaky, obviously he had lost a lot of blood. Also, the wound was obviously done by an Edged type weapon rather then Blunt. Almost like giant claws...

"That can wait," she said smartly. "Let the person with actual healing magic through, please," she said, giving Hermione a gentle shove. "This won't help with the blood loss, but at least I can heal you up," she said.

She started casting.

It took two castings, but the wound closed up before their eyes, and Ron visibly relaxed.

"Now let's take care of the mess," said Sparkle, casting Hygiene.

"And the clothes," said Susan, casting Repair.

"Now you can interrogate him," Susan said, stepping away.

"Thank you," said Hermione. "Well?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Let me guess," said Hermione. "You saw the troll, panicked, and ran. You tripped over something and cut your leg up. The troll smashed the potions room up while you went and bravely ran away, away."

"Troll? I mean, yeah, what else could have happened?"

"Why did you hide?" asked Harry. "We had to have Susan bust out her Descry Creature spell again. You know how long that spell takes to cast from writings? Ten minutes!"

"Sorry! I didn't want to go to the nurse's office because I knew it would get out that… I… was scared of the troll."

"That's a weird reason," remarked Hermione.

"Maybe it's a boy thing?" said Susan.

"I get enough of it from Draco for who my family is, I don't need to give him any more things to tease me about."

"Boy thing," said Hermione. Susan nodded. "Next time, silly boy, just go find Susan. You must have known she knew healing magic."

"Just leave me alone."

"Okay, fine, just trying to be a friend and everything. Sorry. Come on, Susan." She pulled Susan down the hall again. "Oh," she shouted back, "If I had just been saved from dying by a friend of mine, I would have said thank you! But that's just me." She stalked off, and Susan trailed behind her.

"Honestly, that boy," said Hermione.

"Something odd about that wound," said Sparkle. "I'm not sure I buy his story, but what else can we do?"

"There's always the Detect lies spell," said Susan. "But using that against a friend? I don't know. Something's odd, but I can't imagine why he would…"

"Would what?" asked Hermione, concerned.

Susan shook her head. "No, it's impossible. Never mind."

"Okay."

A few weeks later the whole incident had blown over, and Professor Quirrell was healed up. He couldn't explain the difference in how the troll acted between when he saw it and when they saw it, and they let the matter drop. Susan and Hermione still thought it was odd, but odd stuff happened around the castle all the time. Soon it was time to see Harry play his first game of Quidditch as the team Seeker. Harry had wanted some "Susan Magic" to help, but Hermione said that wouldn't be fair.

"Fair?" said Harry, trying to imitate professor Quirrell. "Fair? No, not getting it."

"Then think of it as practice," Hermione said, throwing Quirrell back at him. "You're up against opponents who are better then you. What do you do? Evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, discard what doesn't work, and get stronger."

"I guess you're right."

"I usually am."

"So explain this game to me again?" Susan said to Ron.

"You didn't read about it?" said Hermione, shocked.

"Oh, I did. I still don't get it. A sport where the balls actually attack the players? When they are flying through the air on a stick of wood and any fall will be lethal? The ground doesn't even have some kind of spell on it to catch people who fall, and the whole thing ends when one player catches one ball. How does that make sense?"

"You aren't knocking Quidditch, are you?" asked Ron.

"With the entirety of the magical spectrum to draw from, this is the game wizards chose to throw their passions behind?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"You mean besides all the stuff I just mentioned? This game could go on for days or be over in ten seconds depending on the fickle nature of a flying ball. The work the other players do is totally worthless because the ending points are so high. There is no actual magic involved!"

"You mean like spellcasting? Because flying about seems like magic to me."

"Yes, exactly like spellcasting. You are wizards, and this was the best you could come up with? I just hope it's better then baseball, that game puts me to sleep."

"Oh, you'll see."

Rubeus came to join them, making Ron and Hermione squish together to fit him. They both looked away from each other. Every time either side scored, Susan just shook her head, because it didn't matter. It was like all the other players were just there as a distraction, while people waited for the two Seekers to head after the tiny ball. It was like a race, only with some uninteresting stuff going on in the beginning and middle. Then the end came in two seconds flat, at random.

"What is Harry doing with his broom?" asked Rubeus. "Looks like he's about to be shaken off!"

"What?" said Susan, looking where he was. Harry did seem to be having trouble, his broomstick jerking back and forth like it was out of control.

"Where is he?" said Hermione, grabbing the binoculars from Rubeus and scanning the crowd. "All the way over there?" she moaned. "Can your magic reach that far?" She handed them over to Susan.

"Who am I looking- Snape."

"Yes, look what he's doing!"

"Muttering, perhaps casting a spell? Crap!" What spells do I know that can help? Barrier Against Spells is touch, so is Flight, darn it!

"Do something!" said Hermione. "It's too far to go over and stop him, he'll fall any second."

"I'm thinking!" Wait a minute… too far? That's it!"

Susan focused on Professor Snape, and started thinking about symbols. Before her a circle appeared, and she put a bit of energy into the spell of "Retrieval!"

She was rewarded with Professor Snape's robes fluttering down in front of her, making him stand up in surprise and shock as he found himself nearly naked in a stand full of people. Naturally, everyone turned to look, and Susan watched him mouth her name, then stalk off towards the exit. Susan swung the binoculars over to Harry again and was relieved to see Harry climbing back on his broom. It seemed to be under his control again, and she handed the binoculars back to Rubeus.

"Is that what I think it is?" Ron said, trying to edge away from the robes.

"What do you think it is, Ron?" Susan asked sweetly, trying not to laugh hysterically. Oh, Snape was going to kill her, that was certain, but it was so worth it.

"I think it's what saved Harry's life just now," said Hermione. "Well done."

"A use that spell was never intended for, I'm sure. Still, it did prove effective."

"He's going to murder you!" said Ron, looking at her with horror.

"Oh, I don't think so. Because I'm going straight to Dumbledore after this to tell him what happened. And I'll send the good professor back his robe right now."

She got her book out from her Pocket Dimension and started reviewing Send Object, which returned the robe several minutes later, just as Harry was coughing up the golden ball.

"Well," Susan said, snapping her book closed. "I have to admit, Ron, the game does have a certain appeal."

"You're crazy."

"Maybe. Come on, let's go."

Susan made her way through the crowd, but not before casting Barrier Against Magic on herself. If never pays to be too careful, she thought.

"And you say he was trying to kill Harry?" asked Albus seriously.

"Hermione?" said Susan, turning to her.

"Yes Headmaster. He was using some kind of spell. I saw him looking straight at Harry the whole time, and he was muttering to himself as the broomstick went out of control. Exactly as I've read about."

"I see. So you, Susan, stopped him?"

"Yes, it was the first thing that popped into my mind that wasn't a touch spell and could reach across the distance between us. Even setting him on fire with Combust at maximum energy wouldn't have worked. He was just too far away."

"This is a very serious accusation-" Albus started, when his door burst open and Severus stormed in.

"Albus I insist that girl be expelled imm- YOU!"

"Me," said Susan. "I'm surprised you're still here after what you pulled."

"Insolent girl, you have the gall to sit there, after humiliating me in the stands-"

"Severus," said Albus, steel in his voice. "These children have just come to me with a very serious allegation concerning you. I would like to hear your side of it."

"You know full well I mean the boy no harm. I was trying to protect him!"

"Strange, how that spell that was messing up Harry's broomstick ended the minute you got up and walked off. Coincidence, you would argue?"

"Yes."

"I see," she said, turning back to the Headmaster. "And so it's his word against ours. We know someone tried to kill Harry or myself the night we arrived. Both Severus-"

"Professor Snape," corrected Albus.

"Excuse me, Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell were late to the feast that night. Professor Snape has been nothing but rude and unjust to both Harry and myself. Professor Qiirrell on the other hand treats us both well. Which is the more likely murder suspect, I might ask?"

Severus was gritting his teeth.

"I trust Severus over all others," said Albus. "Though I cannot explain to you why. If he says he was not out to harm Harry then I believe him. We will have to look elsewhere for answers to this puzzle, I'm afraid."

"And the girl?"

"I'm sitting right here, and my name IS SUSAN."

"I must agree, if you are still holding a grudge because of the wand incident…"

"She is reckless with her magic. She knows and can learn spells that we can't counter or even understand. She is dangerous! You must see that!"

Albus looked over at her, studying her for a time. She didn't lower her gaze. "She does not strike me as reckless," he said at last. "She knows her magic, and she knows her limits. Possibly better then any of us do, given this strange 'character sheet' she can pull from nowhere. I admit her magic is astonishing, but thus far it has only done good. The Longbottom family would drop to its knees in thanks if I were to tell them this young child solved all of their problems. But she wishes no credit, no glory. She studies Herbology and History of Magic with a similar diligence to other students though she has no use for them. She has taken it upon herself to study the differences in our magic, that perhaps one day others like her might be found, or that our spells might be adapted. Reckless? No, I think not.

"She saw her friend was in trouble, and she reacted. One might almost think her a Gryffindor. That action, it must be argued, did save her friend's life. No matter how it happened, I think she can be excused for her… exuberance and unconventional thinking. You yourself did say something was wrong with Harry's broom, after all."

"Fine. I can see you are entranced with this girl. Nothing I say will make any difference. She is not to set foot in my potions class again, is that clear?"

Albus sighed. "If that is your wish, Severus."

"It is. And mark this well, girl. You do not have a wand to break, but if it were up to me, I would not rest until I found a way to strip you of your magic, permanently."

Susan stared into his eyes, then began to laugh.

"You find that amusing?"

"I find you amusing. My magic could do it quite easily, actually. I admit, Destroy Magic is a grade ten spell, the most difficult I can cast, but possible. You want me to stay away from you? Fine. Stay away from Harry, or you might wake up one day to find your magic gone- forever."

"You see what I mean?" he said to Albus.

"You threatened her with the same, I see no difference."

"She's a child!"

"And you are an adult!" Albus said, rising from his chair with a look of fury on his face. "You should know better. Now get out of my office!"

Severus paled, then turned and stalked out.

"As for you-"

"Yes?" said Susan, matching his stare. He took a deep breath, lowing himself to his chair again. Hermione was pressed back against hers, and Ron had somehow gotten behind his, and was peaking out from behind it.

"There was only one person that could stare me down," he said quietly, rubbing his forehead. "And in the end I couldn't beat him, either. I just hope your magic takes you down a different path then his did."

"So is that it? What about the attempt on Harry's life? And the one from before? Is he not safe here?"

"He is as safe as I can make him," sighed Albus. "I wonder if that will prove to be inadequate?"

"I hope not. Harry is my friend, and woe to any who would hurt him."

Albus looked at her a moment. "I believe you. I will look into the matter further, but I suggest you do not attend potions class any more."

"Unacceptable," said Susan. "He will then turn his full attention on Harry. At least with me there, there's two of us he hates, so he goes back and forth between us. Without me to act as a buffer, I'm afraid Harry will suffer for it."

"Hufflepuff as well?" he chuckled quietly. "And you stood up to Severus, so there we find Slytherin. The hat must have had a hard time placing you." He gestured to the hat, sitting upon a shelf by the wall.

"I did," it relied. "That I did."

"In any case, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

There was a long pause.

"Can you really do it? Strip the magic out of someone so they can no longer cast spells?"

"Oh, yes. I could stop all magic from working in this entire castle, given a few days. One small man would be no problem at all."

"I see. I am glad, then, that you turn your talents to healing and protecting, and not to these more, shall we say, darker arts."

"Is there anything else, Headmaster?"

"No. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It seems events swirl around Harry Potter even now. He is lucky to have such an ally at his side."

"I'm there to stay, Headmaster. Have a pleasant evening."

They filed out.

"I'm really glad you're on our side," said Ron, looking at her with new respect. "Making Snape back off? Staring down Dumbledore? You are crazy!"

"It's my Overconfident weakness and my 10 RESolve, I'm afraid. I just can't seem to back down from a challenge."

"There you guys are," said Harry, walking up to them. "I had to slip away from my own party to try and find you. Are you coming back from the Headmaster's office?"

"Oh yeah, we won!" said Ron. "It totally slipped my mind with one of my friends going insane."

"Something I should know about?"

"I won't be coming to potions anymore, Harry. I want you to tell me if Snape is more mean to you then normal, okay?"

"Uh, okay? Why?"

"That's a long story. Let's go back to this party of yours and I'll tell you all about it."

Things went back to some sense of normalcy after that, Susan now spending the time she would have spent in potions class making Imbued objects for her friends. She got her ingredients from Albus, but in exchange she had to tell him what she was making- he didn't want dangerous magical items loose in his castle, after all. She stretched the Imbuing rules to the breaking point, as the person she was making the item for had to be "present throughout the Imbuing," which they were, technically. They were in the castle, weren't they? Of course by that logic they were on the planet, and she wondered if she could make something for her mother that way too, but didn't want to push it.

Susan was going to go home for Christmas, and have Harry over too (as she figured the Dursley's didn't want to see him) but then it turned out Ron wasn't going home either. So she just decided to teleport herself back home on Christmas day, but spend the rest of the time at the castle. This also allowed her to leave her gifts for Harry and Ron, just in case they hadn't gotten her anything. After all, Harry was penniless now, and Ron, well, his family might actually be in debt. Best to avoid any awkwardness, she thought.

Hermione's gift she sent via Send Object on Christmas morning, smiling. She hadn't actually included any instructions, so she doubted Hermione would figure it out, but that was okay. It was like two gifts that way.

"Morning fellows," she said good-naturedly, coming up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas," they both replied, surrounded by wrapping paper.

"Nice sweaters. They look like +3 resistance to cold, if you ask me."

"Very funny," said Ron. "Thanks for the… what is it?" he asked, holding up his present. It looked like a keychain with a cornucopia at the end of it. Harry held up his, which was similar, but a shield.

"That," she answered, a twinkle in her eye, "is a very special object. As is Harry's. Come on, I'll show you how it works."

She cleared off the table with a sweep of her arm. "Put it there on the table, but keep touching it."

"Okay," said Ron, confused.

"Now say 'food'."

"Food." said Ron.

A magical circle shot out and glowed, and when it was gone, there was a pile of food on the table. It was simple fare, just bread, cheese, dried meat, but she had learned wanded magic couldn't create food for some reason. Her magic had no problem with doing so, and she thought Ron would appreciate it.

"Wow!" said Ron, reaching out to touch it.

"Nice huh? It's totally real, try some."

He picked up a hunk of cheese and bit into it. "It's okay."

"Yeah, it's kind of bland, I admit. But you'll never have to worry about going hungry, anyway."

"Thanks, this is great!"

"There's some limitations."

His face fell. "Oh?"

"It costs you some energy to activate, and I have no idea how much you have, because apparently you don't have a character sheet. But from what I've observed, you have an average RESolve and ENDurance, so you should probably be able to activate it eight times a day. Of course you can always pass it to someone else if you're feeding an army, the magic doesn't care who does it. Also, the food will only last twenty four hours. Then it just sort of evaporates. That's about it!"

"Oh, that's not so bad. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now for Harry's."

He held up his shield. "I wanted something flashy for you too, but I looked and looked at my spellbook and kept coming back to that. It's the same thing as Ron's, a spell in solid form, basically. The one that Sparkle used to save my life the first night here. Your trigger word is shield."

"Does it have the same limitations?"

"Yes. It costs energy, but a third of what Ron's costs. You have to see the attack coming and activate it, it's not automatic. And it won't do any good against anything you couldn't knock away with a shield. But it'll keep most spells from hitting you that I can see, so I figured it had to be that."

"Thank you. You made these the same way as that dragon, didn't you? That stone sculpting spell?"

She nodded.

"I don't deserve a friend as good as you."

"Bah, none of that."

"Show her what you got," said Ron.

"Oh yeah, look at this!"

Harry pulled a cloak from under a sweater. "Watch this!" He swirled it around his shoulders and disappeared.

"Huh." said Susan. "Looks like my gift was outclassed after all."

His head reappeared. "Don't say that. Look how bulky this is compared to what you made."

"True, I could make anything make you invisible, it wouldn't need to be a cloak. Can I see it?"

"Sure," he said, handing it over. The cloth became visible again, and she felt the fabric between her fingers. "What is this actually made of?"

Both boys shrugged.

"I don't dare do a Magic Sense on it, with all the magic that floats around this castle. But it seems well made. Who gave it to you?"

"We don't know," said Harry. "There was a strange note, but that's it. It's not signed."

"And really, why should it be?"

At that moment the rest of the Weasley family came in, wearing similar sweaters to what the boys had received.

"Morning Fred, morning George."

"Where'd the food come from?" said Fred (or George), grabbing a loaf and tearing a hunk off with his teeth. "Did you guys learn how to get into the kitchens already?"

"Would you believe… magic? Anyway, I'm off to see my Mother, have fun today you guys!"

"Merry Christmas," said everyone.

Harry didn't bother too much with the cloak, that Susan could see. She said she was happy to make him invisible whenever he wanted. But if he did want to go exploring, to count her in. She also wanted to get it away from the castle sometime, so she could magic sense it properly. Items like this were rare in the wanded world, and she wanted to figure out why.

Soon Hermione came back, with a book on a keychain and a puzzled look.

"Knowing you, it's more then what it seems," she said good naturally.

"What if I told you it was just a small keychain with a book on the end?"

Her face fell a little.

"And then told you I was lying?"

"Come on, out with it!" They both laughed. "Okay," said Susan. "Think about some topic you would like to research, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, say the word, 'research' and hold out your other hand."

"Research." She was shocked to see a book in her other hand appear, and started leafing through it.

"This is amazing!" she breathed. "And I can research anything with this?"

"I haven't found anything it can't provide information on. It won't answer questions, mind you, but it's like having a portable library at your disposal."

"This is wonderful," she said, hugging Susan.

"Glad you like it. I knew it would be perfect for you."

"Oh, it is, this is amazing. How do I turn it off though?"

"Just consider your research complete for the moment."

The book vanished.

"Amazing."

"Just like the ones I made for the boys, this one takes energy, the most, actually. You'll be able to do it a couple of times a day, at least, but keep that in mind. You could use it to death. If you feel tired after using it a couple of times, wait a few hours or the next day."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Your magic is just so… fantastic."

"Yeah, I learned a few things about it over the break when I went back home. I finally know where my magic comes from."

"You do? Where?"

"Let's go get Harry and I'll tell you, I'd rather not repeat myself, it's a pretty long story."