Content Notes: Past child abuse and neglect (discussed), past sexual abuse (discussed), minor canon character death.
A special thanks to my beta reader EmeraldSnakes who has spent the past two months listening to me chatter about my fic and Harry Potter, and who graciously has edited this fic.
This fic updates on Saturdays and is cross-posted on AO3.
On Monday, after their last class for the day, they gathered around their table in the library and Rachel set out Nicolas Flamel's chocolate frog card for all of them to read.
"It was really good luck that you got this card," Neville said, flipping the card over to look at the picture.
"Luck," Hermione said, shaking her head. "I checked with Madam Pince and she said that the alchemy books are in a subsection of the Potions section. We should look for books both about the Philosopher's Stone and general books on alchemy that might have an overview that includes Nicolas Flamel's work. Let's meet back here in twenty minutes."
There was little point to setting a time to reconvene, as everyone except Hermione went to the potions section of the library. After a short time they arrived back at the table, each with one or two books. Rachel opened Alchemy A to Z, while Millie was reading Advances in Alchemy, and Neville had The Alchemy Reader. Hermione had gotten two thick tomes, both about famous medieval wizards.
They read mostly in silence, each taking notes about what they thought was important, and afterward they passed their notes around the table.
"So I think it's fairly obvious the package that was in Gringotts and is now being guarded by Fluffy is the Philosopher's Stone," Hermione said after they'd finished going over their notes.
"And it's pretty obvious who would want the Stone," Millie said.
"Well, anyone really. With it they'd be rich and immortal," Neville said. "You could do whatever you wanted, basically."
"True, but go on, Millie," Hermione said.
Millie looked around to see if anyone was nearby. "You-Know-Who. The book I read said the Elixir of Life is a powerful restorative potion. No one has seen You-Know-Who since the Killing Curse rebounded onto him. What if he's hiding because he can't do anything else? What if he needed something powerful to return him to how he was before he got hit with the Killing Curse?"
The thought that the Dark Lord might be coming to Hogwarts was deeply concerning to Rachel. From the way that Neville had turned pale, she wasn't the only one who was worried.
"If that's the case then You-Know-Who couldn't be acting alone. He wouldn't be able to get past Fluffy if he were that weak. Or maybe he couldn't even get through the wards around Hogwarts. So it would have to be someone with permission to be on Hogwarts grounds. A student, a teacher, or a staff member," Hermione said.
"A Death Eater," Neville said, his expression grim.
"What about someone on the Board of Governors?"
They all looked up and Theo Nott walked over to them.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked.
"The Board of Governors meets here four times a year. They all have permission to be on school grounds and several of them were suspected of being Death Eaters when the Dark Lord disappeared," Theo said. "Additionally, I'd like to join your study group."
"How long have you been listening to us?" Hermione asked, folding her arms.
"Long enough to know the Philosopher's Stone is in the school being guarded by something called Fluffy and that the Dark Lord is probably after it," Theo said. "You should probably use a privacy ward or something. But seriously, you're the best study group in our year, including the Ravenclaws who have two groups but won't accept anyone who isn't in their House. You already have an inter-House group and you don't mind admitting Slytherins. None of the other Slytherins are interested in studying outside of our House study groups."
"Give us a moment to talk about it, Theo," Millie said. "Without listening in on us."
Theo nodded and walked away so that they could still see him standing next to the Defense section, but he probably couldn't hear them.
"Well, what do you think?" Millie asked.
"I don't like that he was listening to us," Hermione said immediately.
"He seems okay. He never makes fun of me in Potions or Transfiguration," Neville said.
"I think he's lonely," Millie said, glancing over at where Theo was standing. "He sits with the other Slytherin boys, but he doesn't really talk to them."
"Rachel?" Hermione asked.
Rachel thought about it and then wrote down her response. 'Let's let him study with us for a while and see how it goes?'
Hermione read Rachel's response and nodded. "On one condition," she said, waving Theo back over to them.
"How do you feel about muggleborns and half-bloods?" Hermione asked, staring directly at Theo.
"I don't share my father's views, if that's what you mean," Theo said. "From what I've seen while I've been here at Hogwarts, blood purity doesn't match up with intelligence or magical ability. I wasn't kidding when I said your study group is the best in our year, and you have a muggleborn, two half-bloods, and a pure-blood. Do you have anything against pure-bloods?"
"Not if they don't have a problem with me," Hermione said. "We felt you could join us and we'll all see how it goes."
Theo nodded and sat down next to Millie. "I think we're going to have a quiz tomorrow in Transfiguration covering the Flintifors spell before we start on Avifors spell next week. Do we want to revise for that or are we still talking about the Philosopher's Stone?"
"Let's revise for the quiz, because I think you're right, Theo," Hermione said. "In the meantime, we should all be thinking of who is likely to be helping You-Know-Who get the Stone. I'd like to know more about the Board of Governors."
"I'd be happy to tell you what I know about them," Theo said, digging into his bag and pulling out his Transfiguration book. "Let's start with the etymology and work our way through theory and then effects."
Two weeks after the Christmas holiday Quidditch season resumed. The weather was still freezing and Severus wore both robes and a cloak with warming charms sewn in. The match was Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw, which was usually one of the least contentious games played all year. Severus was grateful it wasn't a Slytherin match because then his attention would be even more divided than it already was.
Part of his focus was on the Slytherin stands. Students seemed to think that just because all of the teachers were sequestered in the staff box that they were free to do whatever they wanted in the stands. Every few minutes he used his binoculars to look over the Slytherin stands to check on his usual troublemakers as well as the general mood of the students. Often in the wake of games where Slytherin won there was a backlash against his students from students in other Houses.
Each time Severus checked on the Slytherin stands he made sure to check on Rachel as well. She was bundled up, including wearing the green wool hat he had given her last week, and was sitting with Millicent Bulstrode and Theodore Nott. Theodore Nott was a new companion of theirs and Severus had noted that Theodore could now frequently be seen in their company.
Severus wasn't entirely sure what to think of that. Ignatius Nott, Theodore's father, was an extremely loyal Death Eater. It was possible that Ignatius had ordered Theodore to get close to Rachel as part of some plan to hurt or kill her. On the other hand, Theodore was only eleven years old and it was possible that they had simply become friends. Severus could hardly forbid Rachel to become friends with any students who had connections to Death Eaters in their families. It was something for him to keep a watchful eye on at least.
The other part of Severus' attention was focused on Quirrell. Quirrell had left over the holidays and Severus had no doubt that he had gone to get more instructions from the Dark Lord. Even with Albus watching the floo and Severus' eavesdropping charms on Quirrell's office they had yet to find out how Quirrell was in communication with the Dark Lord.
Quirrell continued to stutter and tremble his way through meals at the staff table and Severus hadn't seen any sign that he was making progress on obtaining the Philosopher's Stone. However, just because there was no discernable progress didn't mean there wasn't a plan being hatched. Quirrell obviously knew about the Cerberus guarding the passageway to the Stone and perhaps the Dark Lord had given Quirrell instructions on how to get past it while they were on holiday.
"And Diggory catches the Snitch in a remarkable dive. Hufflepuff wins, one hundred and ninety points to seventy!" Lee Jordan announced.
Severus stood, grateful for the short game, and walked over to Quirrell. "Quirinus, join me if you would."
Quirrell looked up, his expression one of stark terror. "Severus?"
"A short walk. I'll be brief," Severus said.
Quirrell looked around for someone to save him but the teachers and staff had already started to leave. "A w-walk, in this weather?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"I find the cold quite invigorating. It will do you good," Severus said, his tone brooking no argument.
"O-of course," Quirrell said, rising to his feet.
Once they were out of the stands Severus cast a Featherfoot charm on his boots so that he could walk on top of the frozen snow without sinking. Quirrell simply struggled through the snow, seeming oblivious to the wand he carried.
They made it to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and Severus came to a stop. "I know what you're after," he said.
"I d-don't know what you m-mean," Quirrell stuttered.
"The Philosopher's Stone. I know who wants it and what you've been asked to do," Severus said directly. "Come with me to Albus. Tell him what you know. We can help you."
Quirrell shook his head. "This is a-absurd, Severus. I was asked to help g-guard the Stone. Just like you."
Severus tightened his grip on his wand. "I know what the Dark Lord asks of you. You must resist."
"The Dark Lord is dead," Quirrell said, looking away into the trees. "You of a-all people should know t-that."
Severus followed his gaze. Could the Dark Lord be in the Forbidden Forest? Surely not. Nevertheless, he must raise the possibility to Albus, just in case the wards couldn't pick up whatever form the Dark Lord was currently in. "Do you know how to get past the Cerberus?"
"Of course not, the Cerberus belongs to Hagrid," Quirrell asked unconvincingly.
Severus caught his gaze and forced himself in Quirrell's mind only to be immediately rebuffed. He hadn't known that Quirrell was an occlumens. "Speak to me or Albus if you want our protection," he said before stalking away and leaving Quirrell next to the forest.
The conversation had been unhelpful, but at the very least he could have Hagrid investigate the Forbidden Forest for any signs that something unusual was lurking within.
By mid-February the snow had cleared up enough that they were able to go see Hagrid without getting completely wet and frozen. On Sunday, after Rachel, Millie, and Theo had a Defense study group in the Sytherin common room with Tilly, they met up with Hermione and Neville and trekked out to see Hagrid. The wind was still cold, but the path to and from Hagrid's was worn enough that the bottoms of their robes and cloaks didn't get wet.
"Who's there?" Hagrid called when Neville knocked at the door, followed by the sound of Fang barking.
"It's us," Hermione called back.
Hagrid cracked the door open and peered down at them. "Come on, you lot, before you let the heat out."
They went inside and Rachel was shocked by how hot Hagrid was keeping his house. Even as Fang leapt up on her she could see that there was a strong fire going in the fireplace.
"How's school going? Keeping up in your classes?" Hagrid asked as he settled into one of his chairs.
They all squeezed in to sit around Hagrid's table and began taking off their cloaks.
"It's going very well, actually. We're working on turning mice into snuff boxes in Transfiguration, learning the Softening charm in Charms, and we're about to brew the Wiggenweld potion in Potions," Hermione said.
"And, with our study group, I wouldn't be surprised if all of us didn't place toward the top of our year," Theo added.
"Good for you," Hagrid said. "It's good that you're making the most of your time at Hogwarts."
"Hagrid," Millie said quietly. "What's that?"
"What's what?" Hagrid asked, shifting in his chair.
"In the fire," Millie said.
Rachel leaned around where she was petting Fang and looked more closely at the fireplace. Deep in the fire, beneath the kettle, was what looked like a huge black egg.
"Is that a dragon egg?" Neville asked, looking slightly panicked.
"Well, now that you mention it, it is," Hagrid said.
Hermione and Theo got up to go get a better look.
"Isn't it illegal to own a dragon?" Millie asked, looking like she already knew the answer.
Hagrid didn't respond except to reach and pick up a book off the mantle. "This tells me how to take care of it just fine. It shows you how to recognize different egg types. I've got a Norwegian Ridgeback. I've always wanted a dragon."
Hermione returned to the table. "Hagrid, where did you get a Norwegian Ridgeback egg? They're not native to Britain."
Rachel blinked. That meant there were dragons that were native to Britain? She thought she might like to see one, one day. From a safe distance.
"At the Hog's Head. Had a few drinks and played a few rounds of cards with a stranger," Hagrid said. "Seemed glad to be rid of it."
"Why would someone just be carrying around a dragon's egg?" Theo asked, sitting down next to Hermione.
"What did this stranger look like?" Millie asked.
Hagrid looked between the two of them. "It's nothing for you to worry about. We chatted, had a few drinks, and played cards. He said he was in the business of trading."
"What are you going to do with the dragon after it's hatched?" Neville asked.
"I'll raise it, of course," Hagrid said.
"How soon is it going to hatch?" Millie asked.
"A few days, or maybe a week, I reckon. Gotta keep it in the heat until then, it simulates the mother breathing fire on it," Hagrid explained.
Hermione and Theo exchanged glances that made it obvious what they thought of that plan.
Twenty minutes later they walked back to the castle for lunch.
"Okay, is everyone thinking what I'm thinking?" Theo asked.
"That Hagrid's dragon is going to burn his house down, and probably the Forbidden Forest too," Neville said grimly.
"That too," Theo said.
Hermione came to a stop and looked around them. "How about the person who Hagrid had drinks with? If Hagrid could slip up and tell us about Nicolas Flamel when he wasn't drinking, he could have said how to get past Fluffy to someone while he was drinking," she whispered.
"And that person could have been working with the Dark Lord," Theo said equally quietly.
"What do we do?" Millie asked.
"Nothing, yet," Theo said.
"Nothing?" Hermione asked.
"Well, nothing about the Dark Lord and the Stone. We need a suspect before we try to tell a professor. About the dragon? We should probably do something about that before he gets caught," Theo said.
"Or before it burns down Hagrid's house and kills him," Neville said firmly.
Rachel waved her hand and then nodded. She didn't have any parchment with her, but she had an idea of what to do.
"Let's go to the library after lunch and see what we can find out about smuggling dragons," Millie said, nodding to Rachel.
Rachel sighed and decided her plan would have to wait until they were actually in the library.
That night Rachel went to Professor Snape's quarters for dinner, as she had been doing every Sunday night for quite some time now. The only thing that really changed from dinner to dinner was the food. Tonight they were having lamb chops and brussel sprouts.
"Do you feel adequately prepared to brew the Wiggenweld potion this week?" Professor Snape asked as he speared one of his sprouts.
Rachel nodded. They had spent their afternoon studying it and she knew the Slytherin study group would go over it again before class on Friday.
"Good, I assume your study group is ready as well?" he asked.
Rachel nodded again. As long as Neville partnered with Hermione he did alright. Rachel had continued to partner with Millie, and Theo often partnered with Draco or Blaise.
"Are your other classes going alright?" he pressed after a moment.
Rachel nodded. She was sure that if she wasn't doing alright Professor Snape would have learned about it from the other professors by now.
"What about Defense?" he asked, watching her carefully, his silverware paused over his plate.
Rachel blinked and looked up at him. What about Defense? She was doing fine in that class since it was just essays and tests. Their study group practiced some of the spells from the Defense textbook together, Rachel excluded, but Professor Quirrell never asked them to do the spells in class.
"Has Professor Quirrell seemed any different to you? Has he said or done anything odd?" Professor Snape asked.
Rachel shook her head. Her scar still occasionally hurt in Professor Quirrell's class, but that was nothing new. They had just started their unit about vampires, and rumors in the Slytherin common room said that he'd had a vicious encounter with a vampire in Romania, and that was why he stuttered and smelled like garlic. But both of those things had been true since the start of the school year.
"Very well. If you do notice something odd, please let me know," he said, turning back to his lamb chop.
Rachel wondered how you would know when something was odd at Hogwarts. She was slowly growing more accustomed to being around magic, but it was hard to tell if something was out of the ordinary when one of your classes was taught by a ghost and your friend was trying to hatch a dragon. Speaking of which - Rachel dug her note out of her pocket and handed it to Professor Snape.
He read it swiftly and set it back down on the table. "I assume you're not joking."
Rachel shook her head, her expression serious.
Professor Snape got up and went over to the fireplace. He threw in a handful of floo powder and said "Headmaster's office". After the flames turned green, he leaned down and called "Albus, are you there?"
There was a long moment of silence and then Professor Dumbledore called back. "Yes, Severus. What do you need?"
"Could you join me in my quarters for a moment?" Professor Snape asked.
"On my way," Professor Dumbledore called.
Professor Snape backed away from the fireplace and a moment later Professor Dumbledore stepped out of it, ducking his head to avoid the mantle.
"Ah, Rachel," Professor Dumbledore said. "How are you, my dear?"
Rachel nodded.
"I see," he said, gazing at her for a long moment before turning to Professor Snape. "I see that I've interrupted your dinner."
"I apologize for the interruption of your own dinner, Albus, but I felt this needed your attention. It appears that Hagrid has acquired a dragon egg that is close to hatching. If I'm understanding the situation correctly, Rachel's study group are the only students who are aware of the dragon egg, so if we act swiftly we can prevent the Ministry from taking any legal action against the school," Professor Snape explained.
Professor Dumbledore smiled. "Ah, Hagrid. His fascination with magical creatures knows no bounds. I'd like to think in another life Hagrid would have been a magizoologist. However, he is far more valuable on my staff. Thank you for letting me know. I'm glad we found out before the dragon hatched, rather than after. I'll get into contact with Charlie Weasley and see if we can't arrange transportation for the dragon to his reserve," he said, not sounding troubled at all.
"Charlie Weasley is a wise choice, as he isn't likely to alert the Ministry," Professor Snape agreed.
"Well, I'll leave you to your dinner. I need to write an owl and then go visit Hagrid. I suggest having the chocolate eclairs for dessert tonight. Good evening to you both," Professor Dumbledore said before leaving through the floo.
Professor Snape came back over to the table and sat down. "Thank you for telling me about the dragon egg. The situation would have been much worse had the dragon been allowed to grow and get out onto the grounds. Students could have been injured," he explained.
Rachel nodded and worked on finishing her dinner. It had taken a little bit of effort to convince everyone that this was the best way to go about it, especially since they didn't know anyone who could take a dragon off their hands. But in the end - and after looking at some books on dragons - they'd agreed that telling a professor was the safest thing to do, even if Hagrid would be sad not to be able to keep his dragon.
"I appreciate that you trust me enough to come to me with things like this," he said, watching her briefly before turning back to his own dinner.
Rachel nodded again. It was nice having an adult who she could tell things like this to. He hadn't even been all that upset about the dragon.
After they finished eating their plates disappeared. A moment later dessert plates appeared before them with chocolate eclairs.
Rachel smiled as she dug in. Chocolate was one of her favorite things about coming to Hogwarts.
The next day after classes their study group met once again at their table in the library. Rachel put down a piece of parchment she had prepared in advance and everyone leaned in to read it.
'There's a room near the library that no one uses. I found it over Christmas break. It's dusty and the chairs and tables are stacked in the corner. What if we studied there instead of in the library? That way we could talk about things without worrying that someone will overhear us, and we can practice magic for homework without Madam Pince getting upset.'
"What if we get in trouble?" Hermione asked after she finished reading. "We can't just go claim a room as ours if we feel like it."
"Well, if a teacher or a staff member tells us we can't, then we'll leave," Theo said. "I like the idea of being able to practice magic and talk about sensitive things without looking over our shoulders."
Neville nodded. "I'd like to be able to practice spells more. It takes me longer to get them."
Millie shrugged. "Why don't we go check out the room and decide if we think it will work? I'm with Theo, it's better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission."
Hermione hesitated. "Well, I suppose it can't do any harm to go look at the room and see if it's practical."
They gathered their bags and Rachel led the way out of the library and down the Defense corridor. She had gone exploring over Christmas break as she was curious about what was behind the dozens of closed doors that they passed every day. She had only been able to explore a small fraction of the castle, mostly around the library and the dungeons, and many of the doors had been locked.
Rachel opened the third door on the left after rounding the corner and found that it still hadn't been locked. The room appeared to be a small meeting room and had two wooden tables pushed against the wall and a stack of chairs in the corner. There was a small fireplace and one of the walls had windows that looked out over the grounds. There was a chalkboard and two half-full bookcases one the wall with the door. Everything was covered in a layer of dust and there were some cobwebs in the corners.
"This is perfect," Millie said, going to the chalkboard. "We could really study here and talk and practice spells."
Hermione had gone directly to the bookshelves and was skimming the titles. "Well. The door wasn't locked. And I don't know of any rules saying we can't study in the classrooms that aren't being used."
"And it's pretty obvious no one had been in here for a long time, not even the House Elves. We could clean this place up pretty easily," Theo said, looking out the windows. "And we could use Colloportus to keep the room locked up while we're not here, that way we'd have it all to ourselves."
"I like it," Neville said. He was looking at the stacks of chairs. "This will be a lot more comfortable than the library.
Rachel smiled. She was glad they had liked her suggestion.
"Alright, I'm going to go get a book on cleaning charms from the library, I'll be right back," Hermione said, hurrying out the door.
"Let's move the table and chairs where we want them," Millie said.
It took all four of them to move the tables into the middle of the room. They put them together to make one long table. Then they carried chairs over around the table. They had enough room to seat ten people. By the time they'd finished moving furniture Hermione had returned.
"So I think the scouring charm will work for most of this, though there is a specific spell for dusting, but we'd need a feather duster for that," Hermione said, placing the book on the table. "The wand movement is a long S and the spell is scourgify."
Theo got the charm almost immediately, and Millie got it after a few tries. Hermione worked with Neville for a little longer until he could do it as well and they began to move around the room cleaning up the dust and the cobwebs.
While they worked, Rachel moved the two armchairs that had been tucked into the back corner so that they were around the fireplace and facing the window. It would make a nice reading spot.
"Good idea," Hermione said. She pointed her wand at the fireplace. "Incendio."
Rachel smiled as the fire appeared - she was feeling slightly chilled.
Hermione used the scouring charm on the armchairs and moved on to the windows.
Within thirty minutes the room was clean and they sat down around the table.
"We're all official," Millie said, spreading out her books.
"And now that we have someplace private to meet, what did Professor Snape say about the dragon egg?" Theo asked.
Rachel got a piece of parchment out of her bag and started to write about the conversation Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore had last night.
"I'm glad they're not going to get Hagrid into trouble," Neville said after he'd read Rachel's note.
"And that they're taking the dragon to a reserve," Hermione said with a nod. "Hopefully Hagrid will see that it's best both for the dragon and for him."
"Hopefully," Millie agreed. "What's first today - Herbology or Transfiguration?"
"My vote is Herbology," Neville said quickly.
Rachel nodded, she knew that Neville felt more confident in Herbology than he did in any other subject.
"Herbology is fine," Theo agreed.
"Alright, the care of Wormwood and its uses, sixteen inches," Hermione read from her planner. "Let's get started."