I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
Passage
Alex watched the Patronuses move about the room. Nearly half of the group was able to perform a basic Patronus Charm, and a little less than that could do a Corporeal Patronus. Neville had managed to make a toad, Seamus had made a fox, Dean had gotten an unusually flabby bulldog, and someone, though Alex hadn't noticed who, had a falcon soaring around the room. Many of the students had managed to get the hang of non-verbal magic, though some still struggled. However, the best improvement, as with last year, was Neville. He'd all but mastered non-verbal magic, could make his Patronus on the first try almost every time, and had pulled off nearly every spell Alex had taught. Finally, the door opened and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick entered, along with Madam Pomfrey. McGonagall looked disapproving, while Flitwick looked interested. Madam Pomfrey merely looked harassed, and had several bottles of potions floating around her and her sleeves rolled up out of the way in preparation to save students who lit themselves on fire.
"Let's get this over with," McGonagall sighed.
Alex nodded and waved his wand, one of the Death Eater targets moving to the end of the room. The students all gathered together at the far end instantly, and Alex moved to the front of the group, along with the teachers.
"The spell's incantation is Ignis Telum," Alex said. "There's no movement, so you just aim at the target, and aim carefully. Creevey brothers, I'm talking to you." He shot them both a pointed look, as both of them had run into aiming problems when they'd dueled each other, ending up each stunning two other people by accident. "Now, when you say the incantation, picture what you want the flames to do. You can do a jet," his wand unleashed a torrent of brilliant, snow-white flames, which reduced the target to ashes in seconds, only for Alex to end the flames and wave his wand, restoring the target, "fireballs," he sent a ball of flames into the target, causing a small explosion and coating the target in brilliant, snow-white flames, which reduced the target to ashes in seconds, "or create the flames on the target."
He restored the target and aimed the spell once again, this time saying the incantation, as opposed to using non-verbal magic. Brilliant, snow-white flames burst to life on the target of their own accord, and once again reduced the target to ash in seconds. He waved his wand and restored it. As with the other two uses of the spell, the class shrank back from the heat of the flames.
He turned to the class. "Now, just to be very, very clear. You need to focus hard, picturing the flames doing what you want, and do not stop focusing on that until you end the spell. This spell's flames are hot enough to turn a person's flesh to ash in seconds, just like the target. It's extremely dangerous, and it will kill any person you use it on if you're not careful. If there wasn't a chance of Inferi attacks, I wouldn't be teaching you this at all."
The whole class was silent, their faces betraying their understanding of how serious the situation was. Hermione stepped forward first, directing her wand to the target. A moment later, flames burst to life over the target. Alex waited, allowing her to end the spell to make sure she could, as the spell could go out of control if not ended, before restoring the target. Luna went next, opting for a jet of flames, and also performed it perfectly. Ginny opted for the fireball, and also got it right. Ron managed to perform the same variation as Hermione, but his started as a small flame before spreading to cover the target. Neville managed a jet of flames, but when he went to lower his wand, the flames didn't stop. Alex caught his arm, keeping it aimed at the target, and instructed Neville to focus on the spell ending. After a few seconds of focusing, it did. By this time, half the room was engulfed, only for Alex, McGonagall, and Flitwick to each wave their wand, vanishing the flames together.
"This is why you can't stop focusing," Alex told everyone. "Not until the spell's done."
"I'm sorry," Neville said, pale.
"It's alright," Alex said, waving his wand to restore the damage to the room. "No harm done, and you did well."
Neville nodded and swapped out with Seamus. By the time the class was over, Neville was far from the only person to set something else on fire. Both Creevey brothers had missed the target entirely and set the whole opposite wall on fire, and nearly a quarter of the group had failed to end the spell properly, though only one person got burned, and it was only second degree, so Madam Pomfrey had fixed it up easily enough. Once they were done with that spell, they called it a night and all headed to bed. A couple days later, Alex left the castle with Hermione and Ron to attend their extra Apparition lessons. As was usual, his first attempt ended in a Splinching, his foot, this time, then on his second it was his eye. Once he'd recovered from that pain, he tried again and simply fell on his ass. Then he succeeded. The lesson continued similar to most of the others, however, he Splinched himself far fewer times this lesson than he normally did. By the end, his success rate was one to three Splinching to Apparating, no outright failures. Ron managed to move once, and Hermione did perfectly. Finally, they went to the Three Broomsticks for a drink before heading back. Halfway through lunch, Harry arrived, having been trying, as usual, to get into whatever variation of the Room of Requirement Malfoy was using to do whatever he was doing. However, he also told them about having met Tonks in the hallway, and that he thought she was in love with Sirius, since she was in tears when he mentioned him and her Patronus was now a big, four-legged animal. Alex remained silent about it, knowing who she was actually in love with.
"What about you, Alex?" Harry asked. "D'you think she's in love with Sirius?"
"No," Alex said, then continued eating.
"Are you alright?" Ron asked.
"Fine," Alex said, looking at his hand as his skin darkened slowly until it matched Shacklebolt's skin tone, only for it to begin lightening again instantly. "Just annoyed how hard this is."
"You've gotten better," Luna smiled.
"Still can't hold it, or stop focusing on it," Alex sighed. "Anyway, no, Tonks isn't in love with Sirius."
"You sure?" Harry asked.
"Positive," Alex said.
Harry was silent for a moment before nodding.
Alex sighed as he successfully Apparated with all of his bits intact for the third time in a row. Finally, he was ready for his test. He tried again, and promptly fell as he left his feet behind. He groaned in pain, waiting for the medics to fix his mistake. Once they had, he sighed. He let his focus slip.
Alex took a steadying breath, focused, then turned sharply. Instantly, he felt himself jerk into movement, feeling as though he were being sucked through a straw before reappearing inside of his hoop, finishing his turn. He glanced down, then let out his breath. The examiner nodded, marking on his clip board, and Alex walked back to the others. Hermione also passed, and Ron failed, but only because he'd lost half an eyebrow. Everyone else cycled through, and finally, they all headed back to Hogwarts. They headed to the common room, Hermione and Ron telling Harry how they'd done as Alex went to the windowsill as he put his hearing aid in.
"I passed," Alex said.
Luna cheered instantly, and Alex smiled as his pets all raced down out of the dormitory where he'd left them, circling him excitedly, Mouse using his miniature broom. Alex smiled as Luna began to sing for him and leaned his head back against the side of the windowsill. After a little while, they headed down to dinner, conversation went back and forth between making fun of the Apparition examiner and Harry's lack of luck at getting Slughorn's memory. Finally, everyone but Alex and Luna went to the Gryffindor Common Room together, Alex and Luna heading to their cave for a couple hours before curfew. By the time they headed back inside, Hermione and Ron told Alex Harry had already left under the effects of Felix Felicis, going to Hagrid's instead of Slughorn's.
"I'm...sure he...yeah, I don't know," Alex sighed. "Hopefully the Felix Felicis will work things out."
Hermione and Ron both sighed, Alex heading to a seat by the fire, putting his hearing aid in and hearing Luna's singing fill his ear. He smiled, starting to work on the last couple of inches of the essay Snape had written. After hours with Harry still not showing up, they all turned in for the night. The next day, Harry told them all over breakfast that he'd gotten Slughorn drunk then played on his guilt about Harry's mother giving her life for Harry but Slughorn wouldn't give him "one single memory." He then told them about the memory, which revealed that Horcruxes were objects that someone could seal a part of their soul after splitting it by way of murder. He also said that Dumbledore believed, highly likely, that Voldemort had made six of them. As they got back to the common room, they found Katie Bell was back, meaning that Alex was off the team again. But that was fine with him. He didn't mind watching instead of playing.
The next couple weeks passed quickly, with the Gryffindor team having amazing practices just for the joy of having Katie back and being rid of McLaggen. The DA lessons continued as well, managing to fit in a couple extra lessons. Most of the group had begun to get the hang of non-verbal magic, and Luna, Ginny, and Hermione had all progressed to trying to learn wandless magic, though none of the three had managed to succeed yet. Alex's skill with his Metamorphmagus skills had made no noticeable progress, but he didn't mind that. He didn't have any real reason to need them. The only thing he'd been able to get good at was hiding his gills entirely. That bit he had managed to get good at enough to keep active for up to twelve hours. However, trouble reared its head again a few days before the last Quidditch match. Harry hadn't turned up for dinner, and by the time they got back to the Common Room after, they already knew why. Harry and Malfoy had been in a duel in the bathroom, and Harry had used a curse that caused deep gashes. Malfoy was in the Hospital Wing, and when Harry explained what happened, he explained the spell had come from his potions book and that Snape had inspected all of his books, though he'd borrowed Ron's potions book for the inspection and hidden his own in the Room of Requirement. He'd also been given detentions ever Saturday until the end of the school year by Snape.
"But...the game!" Ron gaped.
"It's fine," Alex said. "Ginny will take Seeker and I'll replace her as Chaser," Alex said. "That's not important now. We need to focus on the important things. Namely, the book."
"I knew there was something wrong with it," Hermione said.
"Putting aside whether or not the spells in it are safe, the potions instructions are incredible," Alex said. "But I think it's pretty clear that we need to ditch the books."
"What!?" Harry gaped.
"You're barking!" Ron yelped.
"No, I'm not," Alex said. "The books need to go."
"You're mad!" Harry said. "It's not the books fault! The Prince hadn't written 'Try this out, it's really good!' He was just making notes for himself, wasn't he? Not for anyone else."
"Are you telling me," Hermione said, "that you're going to go back-"
"And get the book?" Harry finished. "Yeah, I am. Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have-"
"Got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," Hermione cut in nastily.
"Give it a rest, Hermione!" Ginny snapped. "By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"
"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed!" Hermione said, clearly stung. "But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match-"
"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," Ginny snapped. "You'll only embarrass yourself."
Alex winced as they both glared in opposite directions. "Hermione, almost all spells aren't good or bad. It's in how they're used."
"Would you say that about the Killing Curse?" Hermione snapped.
"Probably not, but the argument could be made," Alex said.
"Oh really!?" Hermione scoffed. "How?"
Alex thought for a moment. "There's a Sea Wraith moving to eat your family as they're going for a swim, and you only have one spell to fend it off or they die. Which do you use?"
"The Shield Charm," Hermione said.
"It circles around and eats them," Alex said.
"The Stunning Spell," Hermione tried again.
"Immune," Alex said.
"Full Body-Bind Curse," Hermione said.
"Immune again," Alex said.
Hermione hesitated. "Blasting Curse."
"It survives because it takes incredible amounts of damage to kill a Sea Wraith and the pressure of the underwater explosion kills your family instead," Alex said. "The correct answer is the Killing Curse. It's the only way to stop it. You either kill it in one try, or your family dies instead. So, in this case, a horrible, unforgiveable abomination of a spell is used in a way that makes it acceptable. As I said, almost all spells aren't good or bad, dependent on the circumstances and its use. This spell is bad when its used like it was, but he didn't know what it was. He used the first spell to pop into his head to stop the Torture Curse. Should he have used another spell, yes. But that doesn't make the spell itself, or the Prince, inherently bad. However, I still say we need to be rid of the books. The books may be useful, Harry's may have allowed for a lot of good, but we don't know what else is in there."
Harry was silent for a long while before sighing. "Hang onto yours. I'll leave mine in the Room of Requirement."
Alex considered for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Fine. Ron, give me your book and I'll copy it for Harry."
Ron nodded and handed it over, and Alex made a copy. The next couple days were awful for Harry, Alex could see that at a glance, but finally, he headed for the dungeons and Alex and the others all headed for the Quidditch Pitch. As they were getting ready in the Locker Room, Alex glanced at Ginny, who had Harry's Firebolt, and she met his eye.
"You take Captain," Ginny said. "I'll be waiting for your word to catch the Snitch."
"Keep Cho away from it," Alex said. "I'll let you know when."
Ginny nodded and Alex and the others headed onto the field. Luna was commentating again and smiled at Alex as they entered the field, Alex returning it before turning back to the Ravenclaw team. He and Cho shook hands, and when the whistle blew, the game began. It was brutal. No one wanted to lose, and they all got rough. Not Slytherin rough. No one cheated, or tried to knock each other off their brooms, but they weren't gentle. One rough block by Ravenclaw's Chasers resulted in Demelza being elbowed in the mouth. A particularly aggressive attempt by Alex to break through Ravenclaw's Chasers resulted in two being knocked from their brooms, so he passed backward to Katie, then dove, catching one of them as Demelza caught another and Katie scored. A penalty was given for that one, but Ron blocked it. As desperation on Ravenclaw's part began to mount, one hasty pass connected with Katie's nose and broke it, but she caught the Quaffle and kept playing before Alex fixed her nose after she scored. A sloppy swipe by one of the Beaters, Alex wasn't sure which, knocked the Quaffle out of Alex's hand, but he kicked it as it fell and managed to score by bouncing it off the Ravenclaw Seeker's side. The score climbed quickly, and finally, it was time. Alex caught the Quaffle and raced for the far end as he shouted for Ginny to catch the Snitch. Two Chasers moved to meet Alex, but he rolled past them. The next Chaser hurtled toward him, so he passed to Katie. She shot toward the Keeper but passed backward to Demelza. A bludger shot toward her, but she managed to avoid it, taking a shot. The Keeper missed it, but the Quaffle bounced off of a ring. As the Keeper sighed in relief, Alex caught the Quaffle and flicked it back up into the ring. A moment later, Luna announced that Ginny had the Snitch. The stands erupted, and the Gryffindors roared with cheers. They all flew to the ground, ignoring Cho freaking out as they all celebrated. Gryffindor swarmed toward them, and the team moved to meet them, only for Hermione to meet Ron with a kiss. The cheers went deafening instantly, and Ginny and Alex exchanged knowing grins before Luna reached Alex. He kissed her happily before they all headed back inside.
After about thirty minutes of celebrating, Harry finally arrived. Ginny met him at the Portrait hole with the good news about the game and a kiss, then directed his attention to where Ron and Hermione were in a chair in the corner, alternating between enjoying the celebration from outside of its chaotic center and fused at the lips. Harry grinned widely and joined the celebration, leaving them to their small semblance of privacy.
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