"You should go with Hermione. I am OK here.." said Harry heatedly to Ron
He had been trying to get rid of his best friends by asking them to go to Hogsmeade without him. But they were reluctant to leave him alone.
"Harry… you will be alone here..and we have gone many times to Hogsmeade..With the OWLS approaching, maybe we should study" said Hermione
Harry glared at the pair of them. If they stayed with him, he wouldn't be able to sneak out of the castle. Harry suspected that they were afraid to spent time with each other in Hogsmeade. He was practically setting them up on a date but his friends were either oblivious to it or scared about it.
"No..I won't let Umbridge ruin your weekends as well. Bring me some butterbeer also. I will be fine" said Harry firmly. He let out a sigh of relief as his friends agreed.
On the Hogsmeade trip day, Harry noticed Ron was nervous. He kept on changing his clothes. Harry felt more relaxed as compared to his date with Cho. Harry accompanied Ron and Hermione till the great Hall. He noticed Hermione had put in an effort to tame her hair as well. She looked beautiful. Ron just looked terrified seeing Hermione. Harry could understand why. They both had dressed up and Ron was hit by the realization that it was a date. After bidding them goodbye, Harry rushed to the third floor to meet Estella.
He found Estella waiting for him with a frown on her face. She looked gorgeous in her burgundy top and jeans.
"late as always" Said Estella
"Good to see you too dear" said Harry as they led their way to Hogsmeade.
Estella had finally relented to make him ginger with brown eyes after he argued that blonde hair will make him look like her brother. She herself turned into a raven haired girl with blue eyes. He had suggested not putting a charm on her lips which made her smug. Harry felt his date was going well without much argument. They entered the 'Broomstick for everyone' shop with harry inspecting the Cleansweep 6.0
"They should bring back magical carpets. Broomsticks are getting out of fashion" said Estella
"Brooms are better. More speed and grip. Carpets are for losers" said harry stubbornly.
"Hmm then maybe a hippogriff,.." teased Estella . Harry snorted.
"I don't think hippogriffs like you.."
" But you do.." retorted Estella
They decided to have lunch in the Taste of Wizards restaurant. Harry was tempted to take her to Weedspuff club but he felt Estella would smack him for it. As they ate lunch, conversation invariably fell back to his family. Harry told her about his godfather Sirius without revealing how he helped him escape . He figured that Lucius Malfoy already knew that Sirius was innocent. So telling that to Estella didn't make a difference. She didn't press for more details. They had reached an unspoken agreement on not prying too much.
"So you mean to say Black never wanted to kill you... And this Pettigrew..he did it.."
Harry nodded. "I should have let them kill Pettigrew"
"You are not a killer Harry" Said Estella holding his hand.
"So that's why Professor Snape hates you..I remember he was obsessed for catching Black …" said Estella thoughtfully
"He loathes me…. He and my father were not the best of friends" harry replied
"He doesn't loathe you... I think you are pathetic in potions so he gets angry on you" said Estella frowning.
"He hated me since he set his eyes on me. Sorry to break your heart but he is no angel. He is an old ugly bat" said Harry angrily.
"Oh c'mon Potter. If I were your Potions professor you'd be in detention every night" snapped Estella
"I'd like that" said harry grinning causing Estella to blush
"I mean…Oh ..stop laughing..you think there are potions called strength potions…how dumb can you be?"
Harry stopped laughing. "you lied? Why?"
Suddenly Estella looked uncomfortable under his gaze. He could see her changing to her cold expression whenever she got defensive. He still looked at her questioningly and saw her defense crumble.
"Yeah…There is no such potion" she said weakly.
"Then what potion do you take?"
"Squibsical Potion" whispered Estella.
"You are a squib?" spluttered out Harry without thinking. Then he looked at Estella and he was taken aback. She looked vulnerable. Harry had never seen her like that. She was always cold and arrogant when she felt threatened.
"Not that I care" he added hastily squeezing her hand. He hadn't lied.
Estella looked down unable to meet his eyes.
"You'd still be my furball" said Harry gently. Estella looked at him for a long moment. He looked back at her trying to convince her.
"I am not a squib ,Harry" whispered Estella ."I am…I am.."she gulped… "I am a freak"
"You are not" said harry indignantly.
Estella sat there silently. Harry let her regain her composure but didn't let go of her hand. Taking a deep breath, she spoke in barely a whisper "Squibsical potion is not for squibs to get magical… Its for turning obscurials like me into squibs.."
"Why would you want to be a squib?" asked Harry bewildered
"I don't have a choice. I cannot control the intensity and direction of my magic. Why do you think I blast off classrooms but still not able to do simple spells? If I don't take the potion, I will be a danger to everyone around me. The squibsical potion suppresses my magic so that I don't hurt others" said Estella . Her face had changed into the cold demeanor now. She looked unbreakable but somehow Harry felt she was broken
"If the potion works then how come you do glamour charms and vanish people?"asked harry puzzled
"the potion can only suppress magic. Not destroy it. I can still manage to do spells which don't require high level of magic which is why I can do glamour charms. Sometimes, when I try too hard to do a spell, the magic burst out from me. I cant control the intensity. I ended up vanishing Macmillan instead of the snail in Charms class. Dumbledore was angry with me" Estella said with a wry smile
"Dumbledore knows?" asked harry
"Of course he knows. He is the headmaster. He had talked to my father for letting me come to Hogwarts. I don't know why he bothers since he is trying to turn me into a squib. Maybe he felt I would hate magic after failing at it continuously" harry could feel the hurt and anger in her voice now
"I don't think so…You told me Dumbledore made you pass last year. Why would he do that?" asked Harry carefully
"I don't know what goes on in his mind. But mark my words Potter, he is not straight as he seems to be. There is always an inner motive for everyone …"
"I don't have any inner motive" said harry briskily.
Estella gave him a tiny smile "I know..thats why I told you"
"So ..umm.. the potion you were making..what is it?" asked Harry tentatively.
"I was trying to improve the squibsical potion. I don't want to be a squib Harry" Estella tensed up
"I tried to change some ingredients..you know so that my magic level is not reduced so much..so that I can do spells without hurting anyone"
"Is it working?" asked harry
"Well, I am able to control the direction of the magic now if I concentrate hard. I managed to blast off Umbridge. But I am not able to control its intensity. I had planned to disarm her but ended up sending her to hospital. The high intensity magic makes me weak . I went to St Mungo's to get a recovery draught. But it's a start…"
Harry fell silent. His mind was reeling. He didn't know how to console her. But Estella hadn't shed any tears. She just looked determinedly ahead. There were a lot of questions in his mind. But he decided today was not the day to ask.
"Sirius got a flying bike… I could take you up with me since you hate brooms…But no magical carpets" said harry hoping to divert her attention
Estella looked confused for a moment before smiling at him
"No way Potter..you are a reckless driver. I have seen your quidditch matches. You always end up in hospital"
"I am the youngest seeker of the century. You will be lucky to ride with me" retorted Harry. They continued chatting for the rest of the day.
Harry walked with his arm around Estella they made their way back to Hogwarts. As they neared the destination, Estella pulled him back and reversed the glamour charms
"Potter… I can understand if you don't want to see me anymore" said Estella nervously
"Huh?" Harry was stunned. He thought they had a wonderful time together. After lunch, they had gone zonko's joke shop and to Terry's Popcorns. She had even laughed at his jokes. Why would she want to break up with him?
Estella watched the clueless expression on Harry's face and sighed.
"You really should learn about wizarding traditions. Squibs and freaks are a disgrace to the family. People don't associate themselves with them. "
"You are not a freak. Stop calling yourself that" Harry spat angrily
Estella looked at him bewildered. Here she was trying to tell him that she was a disgrace to him and he seemed to be more interested the word 'freak'.
"Obscurial then..You don't get the point, Harry. I am dangerous to you. My magic might even kill you if my emotions go haywire."
"It wont"
"How do you know?"
"Honestly… I am still alive after five years of knowing you. And I think there were more chances of you killing me in the first few years considering we hated each other." Argued Harry
"But.."Estella started but was cut off by Harry kissing her. She tried to resist as she knew he wanted her to shut up. But in the end she gave up resisting, and she felt Harry smirk against her in victory . After several moments, they broke up gasping for breath.
"You are not getting rid of me that easily, Stella." Harry said stubbornly.
Estella broke into a smile and pulled him back for another kiss
Harry came back into the common room whistling to find Hermione and Ron waiting for him. Ron handed him a butterbeer as they sat down near the fireplace.
"you look like a cat who got the canary" Said Ron looking at him.
Harry grinned and asked "How was your day?"
"It was good. We met up with Dean and Ginny. But we came back early since someone had to complete all the assignments for next year as well" Said Ron giving Hermione a dark look.
"we have OWLS this year Ron" scoffed Hermione and turned her attention to Harry
"Where have you been? I didn't see you in the library as well.."
"Umm….I took a walk around the castle.." lied harry nervously. He had been giving them excuses for the past few months whenever he went with Estella. Harry wondered till what time he'd be able to do it. Harry knew his friends would find out one day but he just didn't have the courage to tell them.
"I was reading too…..Hermione..What is an obscurial?" Harry asked in what he hoped was a casual voice.
Hermione looked up from her book with a puzzled expression 'Why? What happened?"
"I just went through the restricted section.. I got bored..I saw something like that in a book. I thought you will know it..You are the brightest witch of your age" said Harry hoping that his praise will make Hermione happy and ask fewer questions
Hermione glowed with pride but before she could answer Ron cut her off. "Obscurials are freaks of magic. They have no control over their magic and often end up killing people. The ministry usually kills them or sent them St Mungo. They are very rare….I think we had one in family ..third cousin or something..he was killed after his magic burst out..heard that he killed five people including himself… Should have sent him to St mungo's earlier… " Said Ron darkly
"I don't think so..There are a lot of prejudice on obscurials just like giants ,muggleborns and vampires. I have researched on it. But its difficult to get information since most of the books are biased. Even though there have been some nasty accidents, usually obscurials don't kill anyone. But they are a threat to the Wizarding Statue of secrecy. So I think they have circulated these stories of obscurials being freaks and murderers. As a matter of fact, their magic gets highly dangerous only when they undergo severe emotional trauma" said Hermione as though she was reading from a textbook.
"But that's the problem Hermione...everyone undergoes trauma at some point..If they start killing for that.." began Ron
"Well if the wizarding world continues to shun them, then obviously they will have trauma..Moreover ever since the Squibsical potion was invented, their magic level is controlled…" replied Hermione sarcastically
"We don't really know how effective is that potion..they are still testing it. I have heard Dad telling that some obscurials turn to squibs, while for others it doesn't have much effect. Some get so weakened that they can barely walk" argued back Ron
"So they are giving a potion to Obscurials that is not even properly tested?" asked harry grimly
"well its either that or killing them..I am sure Dumbledore knew what he was doing.." replied Hermione
"Whats Dumbledore got to do with this?" asked harry surprised
Hermione sighed and looked at him . he knew that look. It was directed at him when he asked stupid questions
"Dumbledore invented the squibsical Potion"