Disclaimer: I do not own HP, SINF,

Chapter 20

Nicholas Flamel sat at his office desk doing the only thing that he seemed able to do recently: grade. It was only a month into the year and he was already tired of this grading thing. At least he knew that he wouldn't be doing it much longer tonight. His office door was open, looking out on the empty classroom, haunted by the large skeleton hanging from the ceiling. He took another essay on the proper uses of defensive magic from his stack. He extended his measuring tape and saw that it was the necessary length. He gave it an "O" without even reading it. Another essay down.

The classroom door opened and his expected guest walked, no sulked, in. She hadn't taken her brother's bon fire too well, something Nicholas felt sorry about. And that was strange; Nicholas didn't feel sorry very often.

"Welcome, Olivia," he said as she entered the office. Nicholas flicked his wand and the chair in the corner flew across the room and slammed hard into the desk, knocking a few papers off the other end. He scrambled to pick them up as Olivia pulled the chair out. "Sorry, I meant to set it down where you could sit. I've been having troubles with this wand the past few weeks. Not sure why."

"Not a problem Professor. What am I doing tonight?" Olivia said.

"Excuse me?" Nichloas said.

"Detention," she said. "Professor Flitwick said that you specifically requested I do detention with you this week."

"Oh yes, sorry," Nicholas said. "Um, let me see. Ah." He pulled a stack of essays out of his bag and set them in front of her. "Grade these please."

"Isn't that your job?" Olivia asked.

"Well, yes, but they are first year papers. Surely you are knowledgeable," he said.

Olivia pulled a quill out of her bag. "Seems a strange thing to do for punishment," she said.

"Yes, well I guess I feel responsible," Nicholas said. "I didn't think Aiden could do it. How did you get out of being expelled, if you don't mind me asking."

"Professor Flitwick recognized Aiden's wand immediately," Olivia said. "He only gave me detention to appease Slughorn and because I wouldn't tell him what happened."

"Why didn't you tell him what happened?" Nicholas said.

"Because, Aiden lit himself of fire! Obviously he was using some really dark magic and I didn't want him getting in trouble," Olivia said.

"After he had just framed you for attempted murder?" Nicholas asked.

"Well...he..." Olivia started. "I can't believe he meant me that much harm."

Nicholas laughed. "Loyal. I like that. You sure you don't belong in Gryffindor?"

"The hat did try to place me there," Olivia said. "But I've always been the genius in the group. I wanted to be with my own kind. I wanted to fit in for once."

"Right," Nicholas said. They both returned to grading.

"Professor," Olivia said.

"Yes," Nicholas prodded.

"What did happen with my brother?" she asked.

Nicholas dropped his gaze to his paper. How much to say here? "Well, it wasn't dark magic if that makes you feel any better."

"But it wasn't something he should have been able to do right?" Olivia began, much faster now. "I mean, I'm like three months ahead of him and I have no clue where to start to do something like that! He shouldn't...he..." She ran out of steam.

Nicholas took a deep breath. "What he did was a different magic, one that will not be in your school books. But it is not dark magic."

"How can you be sure?" Olivia asked.

"Dark magic uses a wand," Nicholas said.

"And this magic doesn't?" Olivia asked.

"No," Nicholas said. "It uses energy, energy that is stored within the body in something called an aura."

"And my brother can tap this...aura," she asked.

"Surprisingly well," Nicholas said. "Yes. What he did should take years to learn how to do and hours to accomplish once one knows how."

"He said you did it quickly," she said.

"I had help," Nicholas said, leaving it at that.

"So did he," Olivia said. "He used the candle."

"That would help," Nicholas said. They returned to their grading again.

"Do you think I could do this magic?" Olivia asked suddenly, dropping her quill.

"The aura magic?" Nicholas asked. "I don't know. What do you think?"

"I don't know," she said. "How do you do it."

"Your brother acted on instinct," Nicholas said, setting the bait. "Do you even have instinct in there with those books?"

"Anything my brother can do I can do better," Olivia said, a stern look on her face.

Nicholas smiled. "I think you can," he said. "But you don't seem the pyromaniac to me. What interests you?"

Olivia seemed taken aback. "Interests me? Reading, writing, contemplating, stuff like that. Why?"

"We all have a power that comes naturally. Without knowing it we are drawn to that power. There's no library magic though. Still, you said you enjoy contemplating?" Nicholas asked. "Where do you do that?"

"The lake shore," Olivia said. "The water soothes me."

"The lake shore it is then," Nicholas said. He wrote her a note to get her past Slughorn or Flitwick and handed it to her. "Meet me there at dusk."

Olivia Ayers closed the front door of the castle as quietly as she could and proceeded down to the lake shore. She had been thinking how crazy this idea was for the last two hours, but she had to know. Something was driving her, something she hadn't felt in in years: jealousy. She knew the feeling, she knew it was driving her now, but she didn't care. Her brother would not be better than her.

She noticed a lantern floating near the lake as she walked toward it. Soon, two people came into view. The man holding the lantern was Professor Cummings who had sent her out here tonight. The second was a woman. For a panic-filled second, Olivia thought that the woman was Professor McGonagall, but she soon realized that she didn't recognize the woman. This was getting stranger by the minute.

"You came," Professor Cummings said.

"Who's this?" Olivia asked.

"This is my wife. I am not any good at the magic of water. She is not a master either, but she knows some," Cummings said.

"Are you ready for this?" Mrs. Cummings asked sternly.

Olivia answered by stare. "I can do this," she said.

"Very well. Take off your shoes," Mrs. Cummings said.

"Ok," Olivia said uncertainly.

"My husband has indicated that your brother lit himself on fire a few days ago," Mrs. Cummings said. "He needed a preexistent fire to d this. Were you awakened, you could create water from your aura. Since you are not awakened, we will need to start in contact with the water."

"What are we doing?" Olivia asked.

"You'll see," Mrs. Cummings said, winking to her husband. Olivia got more unsettled. Olivia took off her shoes and was directed into the water up to her ankles. "Now," Mrs. Cummings said. "One ability a person can do in water is remain dry, robbing water of its power. With a stronger aura, one could breathe underwater."

"How can I do that?" Olivia asked.

Mrs. Cummings smiled. "Not tonight. For now, I need you to close your eyes."

"Why?" Olivia asked immediately.

"Because, you have to act on instinct and feeling. If you see things, you'll think too much," she replied. Olivia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Stretch out your feelings. Feel the water." Olivia could feel the water around her feet but she began to feel the waves further out and then she could almost see the water by molecule. She no longer felt the waves. The feeling was intoxicating. "Now, we'll need more water," Mrs. Cummings said, her voice sounding like it was coming from the water itself. "Follow me," she said. Olivia followed the voice. "Keep coming, I know the perfect place," Mrs. Cummings continued. "Farther," she kept saying. Olivia followed, losing which part of the shore they were on. Finally she felt rock beneath her feet again, and the feeling subsided. Olivia was sad to let it go. "My husband was right about you," Mrs. Cummings said.

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked, opening her eyes. Mrs. Cummings rushed to catch her as she almost fell down. She was in a small cave with a large standing area and a grand staircase leading up off to the side. There was a pile of small wooden boats in the far edge of the water but the room was otherwise empty. "Where am I?" Olivia asked.

"The docks," Mrs. Cummings said. "Where the boats enter with the first years."

"But," Olivia started. "But that's halfway around the school from the shore. How..."

"How did we get here?" Mrs. Cummings offered.

"Yea."

"The water," she said, pointing to the lake. "You walked on the water. It's easy if you're awakened. In your current state, I'm sure it took a lot out of you."

Olivia hadn't noticed, but she was much more exhausted than she had been. She stumbled as exhaustion came over her.

"Come," Mrs. Cummings said. "My husband should be waiting at the top of the stairs to escort you to Ravenclaw Tower."

A/N: I have decided to offer some notes on how closely I am following the books or not and offer some trivia I find interesting. I will place these at the end of the chapters, so if you don't want to read them, feel free to skip any notes at the end.

In this chapter and Chapter 18 I have had the twins use their aura magic before they are awakened. This does not technically happen in the SINF series, but I believe the insinuation is that it can. Characters like Shakespeare and even Dee gradually learn their powers rather than are awakened, so they would have to be able to use their powers without awakening. Also, the Aiers were powerful, but uncontrolled. Aiden nearly sets the castle on fire. Olivia was controlled, but it took everything out of her, even to control a relatively small magic. I think that would be true to the books as well.