Wow this has been pending for so long and I am so sorry, but 2020 was crazy, y'all, and finding motivation to write was pretty hard for me. If you have any critiques, comments, or even vague threats please comment. It helps so much!
Year 4 Part 1
With everyone's busy schedules there was actually very little letters being passed between us. Keeli and her family were on holiday and while she was due to spend the last week before school with me, we didn't get the chance to write each other very often. The twins' parents had taken them to Rome again and Damian's family took him and Louk on holiday to Germany. With me seeing Cad a few times a week as it was and writing Louk every night, there just wasn't much to subject an owl to carry between just Amber and I.
Tempy had been accepted to a Muggle boarding school, and she spent most of the summer holidays studying because she felt she would be behind. She was more than happy to study alongside me over break and it was a nice change of pace for me to be asking to read her textbooks instead of the other way around. Muggles had fascinating theories about everything from the human body to volcanoes and I spent a large portion of my holiday reading through her curriculum.
August brought half a flock of owls to my house, each with heavy parchment addressed to me and each of my sisters. We were officially all of school age and for the first time our house would be empty the majority of the year, but it wasn't the fact we'd all be attending school that set my stomach in knots as I caught sight of the owls. I slowly opened my letter and flipped through the pages of equipment, feeling as if my heart would burst as I read through my exam results.
They weren't fantastic, but I'd done better than expected. My worst score was in Transfiguration, (an Acceptable) but I'd managed to scrape an Exceeds Expectations in Charms and DADA, with the rest being Outstandings. Overall I was pleased and my parents were accepting enough. My sisters more or less had the same rate of success so we all traveled all the way to Diagon Alley for dinner one night to celebrate. We hadn't all gone out in years and it was strange but none the less fun.
The Friday after we got our lists I met up with everyone in Diagon Alley, hanging out with Cad in the wand shop as we waited for the others. Despite being there nearly every day I'd abstained from getting my supplies so we could all do it together. Everyone talked over each other about their summers as we walked to the bakery on the corner for pastries and tea before getting started.
The list was actually relatively short, we only needed one more book with the exception of Cad and I who had to get another new Ancient Runes book on Egyptian and Japanese logograms, and the only new equipment we needed was anything we needed to replace because it'd been damaged somehow. Dragonhide gloves were something we all got, as between Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures they managed to get holes or burns on them from various claws and corrosive materials. Our list of wants was for more extensive, and unfortunately Diagon Alley had everything. We got mountains of candy, a whole pile of books, three huge bags worth of Quidditch equipment, almost one hundred empty phials, a case of potion ingredients to restock our stores as well as an entire set of things just for me, rolls of parchment, no less than two new brooms, bags of owl treats, and a crate of Weasley products; and that was all just before lunch. Afterwards we split up a little and I went back to the apothecary to get a new mortar and pestle. I had a traditional marble one but I needed a wood one that was better for crushing herbs. Keeli also tagged along as I went to look for a new trunk, as with my three cauldrons and two ingredients case I just needed more room. We saw Amber and Damian in Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment likewise looking around, but they were in the sports section looking for new broom bags. Louk was with them, but seeing us he quickly split away and perused trunks with us.
"Tired of being the third wheel?" Keeli teased.
"You have no idea." he groaned. "If I have to hear them arguing about one more thing I'm Silencing them both."
"That'll only work as long as you two don't share a dorm." she smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, once we get back to school everything will settle down."
"Sure." he said sarcastically, looking over at the trunk I was considering. "Another one? How many clothes are you carting around?"
"Actually only about four pairs of robes. I had to mail a whole bunch home last year because they wouldn't fit in my trunk for the ride home."
"Maybe you could just leave one of your cauldrons at home?" he suggested, but I shot him a glare.
"Don't be silly. If I get another trunk, then I can have one for potions stuff, and one for everything else."
He just shook his head like he'd never understand me, pointing to a case that looked more like a briefcase than a trunk. "What about something like that, with an Undetectable Extension Charm? You could carry it around easier."
"I was thinking about one of their book bags in that line." I admitted, crossing the aisle to look at the selection.
I finally selected one of their messenger style bags that had a special Extended pouch in the front that could hold almost fifty books. In their potions section I picked out a little square pouch about the size of my hand named an Extendable Storage Rack. Opening the bag revealed a metal handle that you pulled out up to two meters high that revealed phial racks for over two hundred potions, even having four shelves on the bottom that were taller for storing flasks. It wasn't exactly a trunk, but without most of my books and two bulky potion cases, there would be much more room for my cauldrons and clothes. Plus I needed a new book bag anyway so it certainly worked out. They'd been incredibly expensive but my garden at home was flourishing beautifully and it's really helped me save on potion ingredients. Keeli even picked out a book bag in the same line mine'd come from for all the literature she had collected, so we added the bags to our already staggering collection of purchases.
Finally it was time to go home and try to organize the mess, first having to argue with my sisters as we all tried to hold our bags and get a firm grip on my Dad's arm at the same time so we could Apparate home. My sister spread her purchases out all over our room first so I just set mine to the side, spending the rest of the evening in the garden harvesting my plants for my ingredient's case. I didn't finish packing my trunk until well after midnight, flipping open Louk's book to see if he was still awake to talk for a while.
The train ride was exactly the same as Diagon Alley, with us spending the entire time talking over each other about our breaks. While I hadn't traveled anywhere I'd done plenty of experiments to gush about, so my break at least didn't sound as boring as it had actually been. As usual after dinner Louk and I split off from the rest of our houses to go to the library, making the first day even harder than most people had it. I was yawning in the breakfast hall the next morning as Professor Flitwick passed out schedules.
"Transfiguration first thing?" I groaned. "Professor Sallow is going to have my final grade."
"You know she won't." Keeli chided with a wide smile. "At least you get it over with early, and we have double potions and Herbology today."
"Yeah we do!" Cad bounced next to us, hugging my shoulder. "We have all morning together!"
"I'm not helping you with your potion." I shoved his arm off me. "I'm going to be too busy recovering from Transfiguration."
"Aw, don't be like that." he hugged me again. "You'll have me there, so you won't be the worst in the class."
"That's...actually comforting." I realized. "Alright, yeah fine, let's go."
We took seats but got very little chance to talk as the second the bell rang Professor Sallow dived into the lesson. Now that we were fourth years we officially got no first day leniency, being thrown straight into every lesson the second we could. Even though Transfiguration wasn't a double lesson we were immediately set on learning the broad concepts of Switching Spells. Both Potions and Herbology took full advantage of their double lessons, taking extensive notes on the Wit-Sharpening potion and taking a trip to greenhouse four which was solely focused on hydrofarms for aquatic plants. The swirling masses of gillyweed swayed as we took notes on their root structures and learned how to keep the water comfortable for them.
I was thoroughly exhausted and my fingertips were pruney as we plopped down on the grass in the courtyard in front of the clocktower.
"Who smells like seaweed?" Amber scrunched her nose as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs joined us.
"All of us." Damian groaned. "Just you wait for Herbology, you'll smell too."
"Usually do, but it's typically like dragon dung, not the lake." Amber threw her bag down and leaned against Cad. "DADA was brutal. Professor Potter put us right on trying the Freezing Spell. It was so cold."
"At least after this unit I can cool down my Butterbeer without having to get up." Cad shrugged.
"One of the best Muggle inventions: the automatic ice machine." Keeli poked me in the side. "I don't know where I'd be without ice."
"You'd be just fine." I rolled my eyes as I stretched out my legs on the grass.
"Of course you'll have no problems, Louk. You've always been a hat in DADA." Cad gave a wide smile to the Slytherin, who narrowed his eyes.
"What do you want?"
"I was just wanting to know something. Can you do a Patronus Charm?"
"Of course I can."
"Prove it." Cad gave him a challenging stare.
I saw the conflict on his face, the look that displayed he knew he was being played but he desperately wanted to show off. He looked over at me and after a few seconds of our eyes meeting he raised his wand.
"Expecto Patronum." he said softly, and a bright white light erupted out of his wand.
Even with the sun overhead the light blinded me, and once I was done blinking a large bluish white wolf stood in the center of us all. I couldn't help but smile as I saw it, holding out my hand to try and pet it but my hand went right through. He circled around our group, with every eye in the courtyard following it. Like me, others seemed to be involuntarily smiling as it walked by. The sight of the wolf made a warmth spread through my body that had nothing to do with the sun's rays. It reminded me of crying on Diagon Alley's sidewalk and Cad wrapping me in a warm hug, or debating with Louk about something stupid. It was the sound of Keeli's laugh, and the squeals of my sisters as we ran to hug my brother every Christmas. It was every good thing in the world and more and I felt like I could take on an army. After maybe a minute the white mist grew fainter and evaporated into the sunny afternoon.
"That was amazing." I gave him a smile and he tried his hardest not to look smug.
"It's just a charm. Damian can do it too."
"You can?" Amelia looked over to him.
He blushed, looking down at the ground before waving his wand. A shark swam through the air like it was an open ocean, it's sharp teeth peeking out from between it's jaws. While not as intense, the warm feeling still washed over me and I felt myself smiling again. Amber outright clapped as the shark disappeared and Damian looked rather pleased with himself.
"I wish I could do that." Keeli sighed.
"You know, I wouldn't mind if we put in some extra work to learn it." Cad far too casually leaned back on his arms. "It'd be a great conversation starter."
"And it's a complete coincidence it's the exact spell you promised Aims you'd learn before going into the Forest?" Louk raised an eyebrow.
"Is it? I completely forgot. I just thought it looked cool." he shrugged. "When would I have a chance to go anyways? It's one day in, we have two essays, and my hands smell like the giant squid's arse."
Louk just scowled but the topic dropped, lulling us into a semi-relaxing quiet. I was laying on his legs and he leaned down, whispering softly so Cad wouldn't hear.
"He's going to convince me to teach it to him."
"Aren't Slytherins supposed to be stubborn? I'm sure you can hold out."
"I'll take bets now." Damian leaned in with a chuckle.
Louk shoved his shoulder away. "Don't underestimate him."
"You're you, Louk, I'm not too worried." I closed my eyes again, soaking in the sunshine as I thought about the first Potions Club meeting in a few days.
Tuesday was, if anything, even worse than Monday had been. History of Magic was pretty dull and held no surprises, but both Charms and DADA set us immediately to work. To wrap the whole thing up we had Astronomy at midnight so despite how tired we were, we stayed up in the common room doing homework before we trudged up to the tower. Wednesday was an absolute nightmare of wand work and essays, and I sighed in relief as I walked into the Potions Club room Wednesday evening. The usual crowd was there, talking animatedly as we were all waiting to set up our cauldrons.
I was sad to hear Romeo, the only other person I knew in the Slug Club besides Damian, had left because he'd been made Slytherin Quidditch Captain. That bumped us down to only six members, but before we had a chance to call the meeting to order we saw three new people walk in. Sylvia was a timid little first year Hufflepuff, Gregory a second year Slytherin who didn't say a single word the entire time, and Wesley a third year Gryffindor who seemed entirely too interested in poisons. They rounded us out to a nice nine again and it was quickly decided Helen, a seventh year Ravenclaw and the only seventh year in the Club, would be President for the year. After a few minutes we all dispersed to our separate benches and set up our work stations, settling into the rhythm of what we loved. I decided to set to work on another batch of love potion as I hadn't gotten to replace the one that had been confiscated last year, settling on Amortentia as I was pretty sure I could brew it successfully. Now that all my potions stayed on me at all times I was less worried about it getting nicked in a dorm raid, but I still made sure the lid on my locking cauldron was tight. The others might be too wrapped up in their work to notice what I was doing, but I knew Slughorn would see it in a minute.
The last half of the week was at least a little bit better since it was just turning in the essays we'd been assigned earlier in the week and working on what we'd already reviewed. The first Saturday after we'd arrived I felt a little more confident about this first week than the ones in previous years. It was hard, and I knew it meant nothing good for my grades, but I at least felt like I wasn't drowning. We were sitting out by the lake eating candy and joking around, specifically avoiding homework or any mention of practicing our spells. Louk and I had just finished off a box of Glacial Snowflakes and the peppermint mist was still seeping out of our mouths as we laughed at a joke Cad made. Cad gave Louk a look and a nod, and the Slytherin boy got a sort of grim look.
"What is it?" I asked, trying not to breathe a cloud of frost in his face.
"Well I uh, had an offer for you."
"Alright."
"How would you like some extra help in DADA?"
"I mean yeah, I can always use help, but I'm doing alright with the Freezing charm so far. I even made frost on Keeli's robes yesterday in class."
"That's good, but I meant a spell we learn a little later. If we get started now I figure you might actually stand a chance at not being behind in class for once when Professor Potter brings it up."
I observed him with a critical eye, squinting my eyes as I read his posture and tone. "No."
"I mean, we do cover it next year, and it is a difficult spell. A whole year of practice means you'll have it down by then. Probably."
"How?!" I glared over at Cad who held his arms in surrender.
"Hey, don't look at me. He agreed to it."
"Goddamn it." Molly scowled, handing a stack of Galleons over to Damian.
"Pleasure doing business with you." he smirked, sliding them into the pockets of his robes.
"That better have come from your allowance." Matt glanced over to his sister from where he was bent over a copy of Transfiguration Weekly with Keeli.
"Think of it this way, it'd be a handy thing to know, and you can use all the help you can get in DADA." Louk tried to soothe me.
"I can't believe you. Both of you." I scowled, sitting up so I wasn't leaning on Louk any longer. "So what, you teach him and then complain when he goes strolling into the woods and we all follow him?"
"I reserve the right to complain, and it's absolutely not my intention to go into those cursed trees, but I can't control what he does with the spell I teach him."
"Then don't teach him!"
"You made him promise to wait until he learned the spell. You can't keep him from learning it just so you can make him wait." Amber scowled at me. "He made a promise and he's trying to keep it."
"Fine. Learn it, but I won't." I grabbed my bag and stood up, stomping off to the dungeons to work on my potion.