Hello
Thank you to those who reviewed my last chapter and please keep them coming, I love to know what you guys think. It's really nice weather in the UK at the moment so I am spending my time hidden inside writing this. So enjoy
~PureBloodSnake xx
Motivational Meetings
It was as if nothing had changed since they told their mother of the letter Estella had received. Everything went back to normal, Caelum and Draco were still incredibly close and they still spent majority of their time with Pansy, Estella and the boys they shared a dorm with. Daphne Greengrass had become quite close with Estella during the last few weeks of sharing a dorm and she hang around with them occasionally as well, but much preferred the company of Millicent Bulstrode than the chaos that was being friends with the Malfoy twins. Lessons were still a breeze for Caelum and he was still bored, trying multiple ways to make his lessons more interesting. Narcissa and Snape had him working on advanced material, like making all his spells non-verbal or wandless or making potions with substitute ingredients to get the same effect. He kept up his correspondence with Newt Scamander who was challenging him in Magizoology issues, that Draco did not even pretend to understand. Between the three of them, Caelum was finding school a lot more enjoyable than he was at the beginning of the year.
Draco was finding it a little harder than Caelum. He was constantly worryingly ing about Estella with her assassin's assignment and her constantly increasing anxiety and the fact they were no closer to figuring out why Dumbledore was certain that Caelum was the chosen one. His schoolwork was suffering and no matter how much Caelum tried to comfort and help Draco nothing seemed to be getting through to him. It was how Caelum once again found himself sitting in his mother's office waiting for her to arrive. It was early enough that Draco was still asleep and Caelum could feel the soft buzz that verified that fact. Narcissa was due to wake at any moment, it was a weekend and so she would be up hours before Draco even thought about waking up.
Caelum might have misjudged the timing as he seemed to be sitting in the office for quite a while, maybe his Mum had decided to go to the kitchens for breakfast before making her way across to her office. Finally getting annoyed with his idleness, Caelum decide to start his essay on the application of wandless magic and its advantages and disadvantages. It wasn't a hard essay to write, he had multiple points on the pros and cons, but the theoretical nature behind the application had given him a little bit of a challenge. There was a theory that to channel the magic without a wand, you had to connect to the natural magic of your surroundings. Wandless magic as the last hope for a dying magic to remain in the world. He liked that theory and wondered if there was any truth to the matter. If so, he wanted to learn of this dying magic so he had one up on Voldemort when it came to that final battle.
Caelum was so immersed in the writing of the theories that he didn't notice when Narcissa joined him in the office. Floating behind her was two mugs of hot chocolate and two bowls of porridge, one with blueberries the other with strawberries. Caelum didn't look up until the bowl and mug was placed in his eyesight.
"Breakfast." Narcissa spoke out slightly chidingly, she knew that Caelum could forget to eat if he was allowed to. Caelum smiled up tiredly.
"How did you know that I was here?" He asked as he finished his sentence and dotted it with great satisfaction.
"Fifteen minutes ago I walked into my office to see you hard at work on your essay before the sun has even risen on a weekend. I knew you wouldn't have thought of getting yourself anything to eat and as you hadn't registered that I had even walked in, I knew that it could be hours before you eat." Narcissa pushed the mug forwards forcing Caelum to pick it up and take a mouthful of the quickly cooling hot chocolate.
"This is so good, this is not the normal hot chocolate they serve in the Great Hall. Did you make it? Dray swears by your hot chocolate." Caelum had finished his hot chocolate in between speaking and was eager for some more. Narcissa smiled at the unbridled joy on Caelum's face and then the pout when he realised there was no more drink.
"Yes, I quite like the domesticity of doing something in the kitchen, it is something that has my parents rolling in their graves. Now eat, you're thin enough as it is." With a wave of her wand the porridge reheated and Caelum dug in.
The food was finished in companionable silence, only Caelum could feel the unease that was his worry settling into his bones, not alleviated by the presence of his mother.
"So tell me," Narcissa began as she moved from the armchair to sit next to Caelum on the sofa, letting her boy initiate contact if need be. "What is wrong with Draco? Have the two of you had another argument?" There was a little bit of a patronising drawl to her tone, whilst she was ready to help her boys with anything that would make them happy, their frequent, petty arguments, however were starting to get on her nerves as her and Snape were still unsure of how to proceed with the knowledge of Estella's assignment.
"No, you know that I wouldn't bother you about a petty argument, things are so much bigger than our argument, have a little faith in me Mum." Caelum grinned and the tension eased slightly. "I'm worried about him, he's worrying so much about me and Estella and when everything is going to blow up in our faces that his schoolwork is going downhill, as you've probably noticed, and now he's worrying about that too. I've tried all that I know to keep him from worrying but it seems to be doing absolutely nothing, I feel that his mental state is probably more fragile than my own. I don't know what to do Mum, I don't know how to best help him without endangering my own mental state. I know that i I have a relapse, I won't be able to help him and I'll make him worse because he'll be freaking out about me not being in my right mind. What do I do Mum?" During his little rant, Caelum had grabbed onto his Mum's hand and was squeezing tightly, although he was conscious of squeezing too hard.
"What you need to do darling, is to remind him that he is not the only one worrying about all these things and that it is completely natural for him to be anxious. You need to help him as much as you can, maybe start study sessions with your friends and each of you can help boost his grades. I will allow you to use my office and my classroom as you see fit. If you do it right Draco will not realise that you are intended to help him specifically and it may be beneficial to all of you."
With a plan in place, Caelum returned to his essay feeling lighter and able to lose himself in the theoretical research of the old magic.
After a couple hours of essay writing and research Caelum felt the first tendrils of consciousness unfurl in the back of his mind. Draco was starting to wake up and soon he would be questioning where Caelum was, but Caelum couldn't be bothered to leave the solace of the office. His mother had left to do whatever it was she normally did at the weekend and he was enjoying the time alone after such a close call this morning. It was hard to get a moment alone at Hogwarts, even in such a large castle.
Caelum? There was a tiredness to Draco's voice that Caelum only ever heard in his mind whilst at Hogwarts. Are you okay? That was not the question Caelum was expecting to hear.
Yeah, I'm fine. Just need some time alone. I'm holed up in Mum's office, so don't worry about me. It was easy to answer all Draco's questions at once than have to have a full on conversation.
Okay. See you later. And that was it, for once, to get a bit of peace and quiet, Caelum hadn't needed to block their connection.
? ゚ミノ? ゚ミノ?
Something had been plaguing Ron for a little while. Harry had died four months ago and yet Hermione didn't seem to be all that unhappy. She didn't even seem to grieve at any point. Neither did the twins. Ron seemed to be alone in his grief. And Hermione has been spending an awful lot of time with the Malfoy twins, especially the younger one. There was that weird part where Draco Malfoy turned up at the Ministry of Magic, on their side, no less!
Some logical part of him guessed that it was possible that Hermione had thrown herself into her new friendship to avoid dealing with the grief, but a Malfoy of all people! There was definitely something more going on.
Begrudgingly, Ron did have to admit that Professor Malfoy was a good Defence teacher, but the fact that Lucius Malfoy was in Azkaban for being a Death Eater and yet she was still allowed to teach was too suspicious in his eyes. There was something not right with that family and those they associated with and Ron was determined to find out.
? ゚ミノ? ゚ミノ?
The sixth year Slytherins, were in Professor Snape's office with both Professor Snape and Professor Malfoy stood opposite them.
"To help you with your own studies and to raise the standing of the house, Professor Malfoy and I have discussed the idea of you leading study sessions for those in younger years that may need the help. How you do this is up to you." Snape began, it was clear that this was not entirely optional.
"Your schoolwork is the priority," Narcissa broke in gently, "do not use this as an excuse for poor homework. Does anybody have any preferences on how these study sessions shall go ahead?"
"What about a core subject on each night? So one night be a potions night, another transfig, charms, herbology." Pansy suggested. A matter of agreement was made by a couple of other students.
"We can do them as drop-in sessions Monday to Thursday in the common room and then on Friday nights we have an options night where those third year and up can ask about subjects such as Divination, arithmancy and the lot." Daphne added. "We just have to let them know who does which subject."
"Brilliant idea." Narcissa broke in with a large smile. Waving her wand a poster-sized piece of parchment floated into the air and a first draft of a timetable appeared in elegant writing.
"Bear with me," Caelum started and the others frowned already expecting to hear something they didn't like, but Caelum always had method to his madness. "We need to have a sixth year study session as well." There were nods of agreement. "But we're not the only ones who need it, I think we should do a study session in the Great Hall with all sixth year students that want to attend." Mutters from Theo and Blaise punctuated the silence that followed. Caelum felt a mental nudge from Draco encouraging him to stand tall and defend his point. "With Voldemort back we are all under suspicion of being junior Death Eaters and we need to show the others that we are as against his PureBlood supremacy madness as much as the other houses. We need them to see us as children caught in a war that our parents are fighting." Caelum was standing tall and he could see that his words were getting to them, they too were fed up of Gryffindors harassing the younger Slytherins in the corridors and the fear from some of the younger Hufflepuffs when they walked past. "If we show that we are willing to help the other houses and listen to them when they offer help we may make this place more bearable for the younger Slytherins and start to eradicate this awful prejudice." The others seem to be on board with this idea now. Titters of agreement floated forwards and Caelum smiled. "I don't think we'll have any problem getting others to turn up, I know for sure that Hermione Granger and a few of the Ravenclaws will welcome this opportunity to pick everyone else's brain. We just need to make an announcement and choose what day to do it on and the most neutral place to hold it."
"There are no quidditch practices on Saturday night and that will leave you with the entirety of Sunday free to do whatever you wish. If a large group of sixth years decides to attend the Great Hall would be the best place." Snape spoke up, his lips curled in a way that could be described as a small smile. Narcissa flicked her wand and the sixth year study session was added to the timetable.
"I'll get this written up and pinned in the common room along with an invitation for the other sixth years to join the Saturday session, that will go up in the other common rooms. All you need to decide is who you want to announce it at dinner." Narcissa grasped the parchment and disappeared out of the office. The students looked at each other, it had to be one of them as it was a student run session and they had to be the first to extend the olive branch.
? ゚ミノ? ゚ミノ?
Dinner was always a loud affair, but now they had to speak to their fellow sixth year students, the cacophony of voices sounded deafening. As it was his idea, Caelum had been chosen to inform the other students of the plan.
The food disappeared off the tables and Caelum knew that he only had a few moments before students started leaving. Taking a deep breath and mentally reaching for Draco's stable presence at the back of his mind, Caelum stood up and stepped up onto the table.
"Can I have your attention please?" He called as loudly as he could. Silence fell over the hall like a wave as students noticed the others had fallen quiet. "I just wanted to let all those in sixth year know that we in Slytherin are planning a sixth year study session on Saturday nights in here on all subjects. If you want any help with any subject, think you would benefit from being able to teach other students or just would like to talk the homework through with others please come along. Thank you." He finished sitting back down as the mutterings began again before escalating to full blown chatter. He caught Hermione's eye and she smiled widely.
? ゚ミノ? ゚ミノ?
A study session once a week with the Slytherins? Did they really think any Gryffindor would turn up to that? Ron glanced at Hermione and saw her smile at the smaller of the two Malfoys. Truthfully, he was struggling with potions and maybe it would be a good opportunity to figure out the Malfoy twins. If only Harry could see him now, obsessing over the Malfoys as much as he himself did. Ron smiled thinly, it was going to be interesting that was for sure.
