Chapter 34:
The twins confided in Hermione the following day about their lesson, Harry also talked to Ron as Hermione still refused to remain in Ron's presence longer than it took to give him a contemptuous look. It seemed Ron believed the task to be minimal, declaring that Slughorn would give Harry, his little Potions Prince, anything.
"I highly doubt it." Alicia said when Harry told her.
Hermione had a deeper and more gloomier perspective.
"He must be determined to hide what really happened if Dumbledore couldn't get it out of him," she said in a low voice, as they stood in the deserted, snowy courtyard at break. "Horcruxes… Horcruxes… I've never even heard of them…"
"Me either." Alicia frowned.
"You haven't?" Harry was disappointed, looking at Alicia who shared his look.
"They must be really advanced Dark Magic, or why would Voldemort have wanted to know about them?"
"That's what I said." Alicia sighed
"I think it's going to be difficult to get the information, Harry, you'll have to be very careful about how you approach Slughorn, think out a strategy…"
"Ron reckons I should just hang back after Potions this afternoon…"
"Oh, well, if Won-Won thinks that, you'd better do it," she said, flaring up at once. "After all, when has Won-Won's judgment ever been faulty?"
"Hermione, can't you — ?"
"No!" she said angrily, and stormed away, leaving Harry and Alicia alone and ankle-deep in snow.
"I understand Ron's being a prick and I get she's upset and doesn't want to see the two of them together, but I don't think she's right in getting angry at you just because you want them to be friends again." Alicia sighed. "You know this is gonna make Potions even more annoying."
Potions lessons were uncomfortable enough these days, seeing as Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to share a desk. Today, Hermione moved her cauldron around the table so that she was close to Ernie, and ignored both Harry and Ron, leaving Alicia between the two pairs.
"What've you done?" Ron muttered to Harry, looking at Hermione's haughty profile.
But before Harry could answer, Slughorn was calling for silence from the front of the room.
"Settle down, settle down, please! Quickly, now, lots of work to get through this afternoon! Golpalott's Third Law… who can tell me — ? But Miss Granger can, of course!" Alicia just watched the girl, slumped on the table as she watched Slughorn, her mind not on her potions.
Hermione recited at top speed: "Golpalott's-Third-Law-states-that-the-antidote-for-a-blended-poison-will-be-equal-to-more-than-the-sum-of-the-antidotes-for-each-of-the-separate-components."
"Precisely!" beamed Slughorn. "Ten points for Gryffindor! Now, if we accept Golpalott's Third Law as true which means, of course, that assuming we have achieved correct identification of the potion's ingredients by Scarpin's Revelaspell, our primary aim is not the relatively simple one of selecting antidotes to those ingredients in and of themselves, but to find that added component that will, by an almost alchemical process, transform these disparate elements —"
Ron was sitting beside Harry with his mouth half open, doodling absently on his new copy of Advanced Potion-Making. Ron kept forgetting that he could no longer rely on Hermione to help him out of trouble when he failed to grasp what was going on.
"… and so," finished Slughorn, "I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves!"
Alicia blinked before she moved after Hermione to get a phial. The rest of the class only noticed Slughorn had finished by the two girl's movements.
Alicia tipped her phial into her cauldron and turned on the fire before she stared into it. This was pointless. Why earth would she waste time with an antidote to an unknown poison when Snape had said in their first year, first lesson of potions, that a Bezoar would do just fine.
I've got nothing! Alicia turned to Harry as he looked disappointed. She rolled her eyes and stalked straight for the cupboard. Not even five minutes had passed as she looked through the boxes within it.
"Alicia?" she turned to see Slughorn was by her cauldron.
"Yes Professor?"
"You haven't made a start?" he said and the Slytherins snickered as usual.
"I do not intend to." she responded before she continued to look at the contents.
"I beg your pardon?" he moved over to her as she found the box she was looking for and took out one of the shrivelled brown objects. They really looked more like dried up kidneys then stones from a goats stomach.
"Alicia." Slughorn had moved up beside her. "As you professor—"
"I am sorry professor but if someone was poisoned I would not waste time discovering every ingredient within a potion, finding their antidotes and then using a binding agent to transform it." she said and she held out her hand. Slughorn held his out confused and she dropped the stone into his palm. "I'd simply just shove a Bezoar down their throat." she smiled.
And Slughorn started laughing. Many looked towards them.
"Just like your mother! Witty!" he chuckled.
"With a little sass." she added grinning "You can thank Professor Snape for that, it was one of the first things he ever tormented Harry with in our very first ever potions class." she grinned.
"Well he will be pleased. Ten points for quick thinking!" she grinned as she moved back to her cauldron and began to prod at it as Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at her curiously. Despite giving Slughorn the bezoar she did play with her poison and removed it's contents, dividing them into phials as Hermione had done before working out their antidotes. She did not finish as time did not permit it as Harry ran off to the storage cupboard.
"Time's… UP!" called Slughorn genially. "Well, let's see how you've done! Blaise… what have you got for me?"
Slowly, Slughorn moved around the room, examining the various antidotes. Nobody had finished the task, although Hermione was trying to cram a few more ingredients into her bottle before Slughorn reached her. Ron had given up completely, and was merely trying to avoid breathing in the putrid fumes issuing from his cauldron. Harry stood there waiting after returning from the cupboard.
Slughorn reached their table last. He sniffed Ernie's potion and passed on to Ron's with a grimace. He did not linger over Ron's cauldron, but backed away swiftly, retching slightly.
"And you, Harry," he said. "What have you got to show me?" Harry held out his hand and Alicia started laughing as sitting in his palm was a bezoar. Slughorn looked down at it for a full ten seconds before he threw back his head and roared with laughter.
"Like brother like sister!" Harry looked at Alicia as she was chuckling as well. "You've got nerve, you two do!" he boomed, taking the bezoar. "Oh, you're like your mother… Well, I can't fault you… A bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these potions! As Alicia said if you've got one on hand, shove it down their throats and it'll cure them!" Harry looked at Alicia who grinned and poked her tongue out.
Beat you to it. he rolled his eyes.
Hermione, who was sweaty-faced and had soot on her nose, looked livid. Her half-finished antidote, comprising fifty-two ingredients, including a chunk of her own hair, bubbled sluggishly behind Slughorn, who had eyes for nobody but Harry.
"And you thought of a bezoar all by yourself, did you, Harry?" she asked through gritted teeth. She glared at Alicia who held her hands up innocently.
"That's the individual spirit a real potion-maker needs!" said Slughorn happily, before Harry could reply. "Just like his mother, she had the same intuitive grasp of potion-making, it's undoubtedly from Lily where you two get it… Yes, Harry, yes, if you've got a bezoar to hand, of course that would do the trick… although as they don't work on everything, and are pretty rare, it's still worth knowing how to mix antidotes…"
The bell rang before anyone could do much more.
"Time to pack up!" said Slughorn. "And an extra ten points to Gryffindor for sheer cheek!"
Still chuckling, he waddled back to his desk at the front of the dungeon.
Let's ask him now. Alicia looked up at Harry.
How?
Harry had no answer but they were still the last two left.
I'm just gonna ask him.
That wont be at all obvious. Alicia rolled her eyes. Well, I'm not going to be that tactless. Harry looked at her with betrayal. This is your choice, I think it's gonna erupt and if you loose your chance, I still need mine. She said and as she'd finished cleaning, she sent him a grin, wished him luck and moved out of the classroom after everyone else.
It turned out she was right. Harry returned and told her, Hermione and Ron about what had happened. The second he'd mentioned Horcruxes Slughorn had closed up like a clam and knew immediately that Dumbledore was behind the boy's actions. Turned out Harry had admitted it and Slughorn had yelled at him and ran off looking rather shocked and terrified.
"I told you it wouldn't work." Alicia said "We really need to be smart… if only we could find out what they were, then we could approach the subject without instantly tipping him off like that." she said thinking.
Hermione and Alicia had both resorted to the Library to discover if maybe they'd missed something and to see if they could find Horcruxes. They managed to get permission even to the restricted section as they searched through all the books. As they did this, Harry backed off of Slughorn and the man was back to his cheerfulness around Harry as if he'd never said anything. It seemed Harry wasn't giving up however for he even seemed to be waiting for an invitation to a party by the man, asking Alicia, Hermione and Ginny if they'd received an invitation when none arrived. They hadn't and neither it seemed had anyone.
Hermione and Alicia went through all the books they could find in the library but no information of Horcruxes were found anywhere. Hermione was so shocked that her one resource, in which had never once failed her, could not help her now. She even forgot about her annoyance at Harry with the bezoar as she complained.
"I haven't found one single explanation of what Horcruxes do!" she told him. "Not a single one! I've been right through the restricted section and even in the most horrible books, where they tell you how to brew the most gruesome potions — nothing! All I could find was this, in the introduction to Magick Moste Evile — listen — 'Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction…' I mean, why mention it then?" she said impatiently, slamming the old book shut; it let out a ghostly wail. "Oh, shut up," she snapped, stuffing it back into her bag.
Alicia hummed. "You know, this isn't just disappointing it's increasingly strange." she said
"How?" Hermione asked in her frustration
"Well Horcruxes must be somewhere in this library, or how would Voldemort have come to know about it?" she asked looking from her to Harry. "That itself is not enough information to interest really anyone. And unless you were looking for it I doubt you'd find it. So if there's no books, how did Voldemort find out about it while he was here in school?" Hermione and Harry shared a look as Alicia watched them. She sighed when they turned back to her and said nothing.
"Guys, someone's removed all the books on Horcruxes from the library." she said and they looked surprised
"But why?"
"Maybe because of Voldemort. I bet you anything it was Dumbledore, after all, he's already watched these memories and I guarantee he knows exactly what they are, he's so brilliant after all."
"But why would he do that?" Harry asked
"Perhaps he really doesn't want anyone else to learn of them incase something like this happened again? I don't know it all depends on what they are. Maybe they're just that bad that all information was removed just because of how dark?" she shrugged "But who else around here would know to do so."
"But we've read every book there is! How are we meant to learn anything if there is no mention of them?" Hermione asked almost as if in desperation.
"Every book?" Harry asked surprised.
"Sounds a bit farfetched Hermione." Alicia said "I know for sure there's one book in which—" Alicia paused as she'd pointed over her shoulder.
"What?" Harry asked
"I just remembered I haven't even touched my Christmas present from Fred and George." she said. She began to pack up her things much to the surprise of Hermione and Harry.
"I'll see you guys later." she said
"Is that really important right now?" Harry asked.
She ignored him and moved off for the dormitory, where the book was stowed carefully along with her Two-way mirror. She moved through her trunk to find it before the book cover came into view, it's title sprawled along the front; The Power and Beauty of the Soul. True enough this was about souls and not dark magic, Alicia believed very much that Voldemort's soul was most definitely defiled, but it was a resource she had to check. She couldn't leave a single stone unturned. The girl climbed onto her bed, having closed her trunk and pulled the book to her lap, leaning it on her knees as she leaned against her pillows and began on the first page.