Chapter 12 – No net loss
The relative calm of February began to fall apart in early March. "Professor" Trelawney was fired by Umbridge. It was the first thing the toady woman did in her time at Hogwarts that Hermione approved of, but even the critical young witch could not condone the cruelty with which the dismissal was carried out. The public spectacle of Trelawney begging for her job and her home was heart-wrenching, and all of the students were relieved when Dumbledore stepped in to allow the poor woman to stay in the school.
Hermione was likewise grateful for this show of compassion, but she knew it put Dumbledore even more at odds with the ministry lackey, and when he then went and hired Firenze the centaur to teach divination… She knew that the man was walking a very fine line with Umbridge, and she was worried what "Educational Decree" might come next. The D.A. would have to be VERY careful in the coming weeks and months.
The young witch redoubled her efforts, as did all the other D.A'ers. They were really getting somewhere with their spells, and Hermione no longer dreaded dueling. She was getting very fast at her shield charms and was almost able to do a wordless disarming spell. However, she was particularly proud of her patronus, and could not hide her delight the first time the playful otter made his appearance. It was not hard to conjure up a happy memory to focus on these days, even with everything going on at school. All it seemed to take was envisioning the words written in a neat script in her plant book, and the otter was there.
Speaking of which, no new words had appeared in a few weeks, and checking the book obsessively wasn't helping. In fact, Hermione was beginning to think that she might need to hide the book – she'd never carried around a volume for so long, as she read everything so quickly. Except for "Hogwarts: A History" and their textbooks, the boys had never seen their friend with the same book for longer than a week. They were bound to get suspicious that this slim volume had taken her so long to absorb. The young witch resolved to be a little bit more subtle, and hid her book between her scrolls. Hermione even took to checking it only in the privacy of her bedroom or the bathroom, and it was in one of the non-Moaning Myrtle stalls one day that she finally saw new writing. She had to keep from yelping in delight, as that would have definitely drawn attention to her in the loo, but she read and re-read the words multiple times.
Ides of March, same time and place. Do your reading first. –LB
Do your reading first? Hermione couldn't begin to think what that meant. She didn't think it referred to the plant book, and anyway she'd read that cover to cover several times. What book would Bellatrix want her to read first? Or was there a topic she was supposed to research, like she did for aguamenti?
Hermione was on her way to the library, mulling over what she could possibly research, when an answer came to her. "Someone has been reading up on the Muggles' science, hasn't she?" Almost every session had mentioned some part of physics or chemistry, and it was one topic where Bellatrix seemed to approve of her interest, even sharing it. Hermione decided to start there.
However, getting her hands on muggle science books wasn't that easy. She had a few starter volumes in her trunk, of course, but she'd left her main books at home with her parents. It took a few owls back and forth to get her mum to agree to send the books, and then it took some more problem-solving to figure out how, as all of her volumes were too heavy for most owls to carry, and neither she nor her mother wanted the poor lumbering bird to be seen struggling through the skies of muggle London.
It's like a swallow carrying a coconut; it's a matter of weight ratios. Hermione was getting punchy if her problem-solving was turning to Monty Python, but she couldn't help it. This was getting complicated, AND she was a muggle trying to get her own muggle books. How would she explain how the non-muggle Roxanna got her hands on them?
In the end, Ginny solved both problems. Hermione simply asked her how to get heavier books to school from home AND how to get muggle books, should she want them. Ginny was convinced that Hermione only cared about one possession – her books. She wasn't far off, really. It turned out that both Flourish and Blotts and the Hogsmeade bookstore could special order muggle books, and the muggle postal service worked for deliveries to the Ministry, where a special department could ship heavier things. Apparently, owls couldn't carry everything after all. It only took Hermione 5 years to realize that, but she bet that Harry still didn't know.
This convoluted planning took Hermione the better part of 2 weeks, leaving her with barely a week to do the actual reading. She stayed up late many nights and got up early as well, not wanting to be seen reading muggle science books in the common rooms. She was exhausted, and her schoolwork and DA work were starting to show it. Most people didn't notice, but McGonagall and Snape both made pointed comments to her. However, they also assumed that she was helping Harry with his lessons, as he was distracted by his time trying to learn occlumency. That was true, but it was atoms and Newton's Laws and E=mc2 that were keeping her up at night. Hermione only wished she knew what Bellatrix wanted her to focus on, and she prayed that at least she had understood the message correctly.
March 15th dawned cold and clear. The Ides of March – Hermione couldn't help shuddering at the Julius Caesar reference. "Ides" was an ancient calendar term, and many of those old terms were still in use in the wizarding world.
I hope I'm not going to get stabbed in the back. The muggle books in her bag were not helping her frame of mind. "Cowards die many times before their deaths." Buck up, Hermione.
Midnight was still cold and clear, and Hermione chose to stand outside and look at the stars. They didn't often twinkle this much, and she was entranced watching them.
"Contemplating the universe?"
Hermione willed herself not to jump, and tried to turn around confidently. She knew the woman was there, after all – had felt a small shift in the air around her even if she hadn't consciously acknowledged it. Unfortunately, she couldn't keep the proud smirk off her face that she had finally succeeded in not being startled. The raven-haired witch noticed and smirked back. She wasn't as impressed, apparently.
"I am indeed contemplating the universe, and what you said a few times ago about energy travelling to us in a straight line and then leaving us to go back out to the universe again. It's fascinating, and amazing that I could be powered by something that started off as light in the sun."
This DID impress the older witch, just a bit.
"You've been doing your reading. Good. Tell me what more you have learned about energy, and atomic energy in particular."
Hermione began a mini-dissertation, willing herself to look in Bellatrix's eyes and not to roam over her body. The style of dress and hair always gave away whether it was Lyra or Bellatrix there, as Lyra was always… tamer. In every way. More discreet clothes, straighter hair… But just looking in her eyes was enough to tell Hermione who was teaching her that night. They were calm, composed, and encouraging.
"…so even though atoms appear to be steady, they are always moving. Even in solid objects."
"Excellent. And as we discussed before, magic is energy. Now, perform aguamenti – powerfully, though you don't need to make a tidal wave."
Hermione was surprised, both at the shift in subject and at being asked to do an "old" spell. But she complied, aiming her wand out over the water and creating a forceful jet of water from it. She had no trouble creating the flow, and sensed that she was choosing to draw her water from the lake itself. However, suddenly the power behind her flow was greatly diminished, and the water trickled out as if from a muggle water fountain.
"Wha…?" Hermione turned to look at her teacher in shock, then saw the mischievous grin on her face. The brunette narrowed her eyes at the dark-haired witch, turned back to the lake, and redoubled her efforts. The flow came back, and then just as abruptly became weak again. She put more into it, now sweating from the effort. Just as she had finally gotten the flow back up to its original power, Hermione's jet of water became a gushing torrent. The force of it knocked her back off of her feet, and the spell was lost.
The young witch stared up in shock, not knowing what just happened. Until she heard the snickering beside her, and then she rolled slightly to face the culprit.
The dark-haired witch could not help her own laughter, and though Hermione acted affronted, she was secretly delighted. She shook her head at her teacher as she took the offered hand and stood up.
"Ok. What was that?" Hermione couldn't believe how bold she was becoming – no longer a fearful student; now a learner demanding to be kept in the loop.
"That, my dear, was me taking and giving energy to your spell. Or rather, taking energy from it, and then ceasing my draw of power so that all of the energy you were putting into the spell was suddenly there again. It's not really possible to give energy to a spell directly without casting the spell yourself."
"But you were taking energy from me?" The older woman nodded. "What were you doing with it?"
"Putting it into my own spells – in this case a warmth charm and a charm to turn my socks from cotton to cashmere. Important things."
"Yes, very." Hermione couldn't hide the sarcasm from her voice, but she knew she wouldn't get in trouble for it. "Teach me."
Her dark professor raised her eyebrows at the command, not used to the young witch trying to run the show.
"Demanding little whelp tonight, aren't we?"
"I just want to learn. You have so much to teach me, and nobody ever has made magic make sense the way you have." Both the young and the older woman knew that flattery was always a good strategy, and they both also knew that everything said was true.
"First you must practice taking energy from something non-living, so you can learn how it feels and begin to control it. I'm not going to have you draining the life force from everything around you and get blamed for you killing a fly."
"Hmph," Hermione snorted. "Ok, how do I know if I am doing it?"
"You tell me."
They waited in silence for a few moments while Hermione thought the problem out. While the quiet would have been uncomfortable for most people, both teacher and pupil knew that it was a necessary part of their process. It didn't bother Hermione to take her time to work things out, though she was aware of the raven-haired witch's eyes on her the entire time.
"I suppose… if I take energy from something, it should cool down. So if I can make something cold, or freeze, I'll know I succeeded."
The dark witch nodded her approval.
Hermione exclaimed, "But we learned the glacius spell in third-year. It's not that complicated!"
"Again, dear one, it's not a matter of knowing the spell. It's a matter of understanding what else is involved, and controlling THOSE parts."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully as her teacher continued, "Did you ever pay attention to how you felt or how the spell felt while you were casting it?"
Nods turned to shakes of the head.
"Well, try it now. Control the freezing – do it slowly, and control the speed."
Hermione bent down to retrieve a large stone, which she transfigured into a bowl so easily and quickly that she missed her professor's impressed reaction to her efficiency. She filled it with water (aguamenti was like breathing now) and began to try to freeze it.
At first she froze it way too fast, as they'd been taught in the classroom. Bellatrix made her thaw it again. Again too fast, and again a thaw. This continued over and over again, and Hermione was surprised and a little disappointed that Bellatrix hadn't offered to help her as she had in the past. Just disappointed for the lack of help, not for the absence of her hand on Hermione's arm, she told herself. However, the reasoning for this became apparent after the fifth cycle or so.
"This is getting tedious, I know. But have you noticed any difference between the freezing charm and the warming charm? Besides the obvious, please."
"I… feel slightly warmer when I am freezing the water, and slightly colder when I am thawing it. Which is the opposite than I would have expected." Hermione was grateful to receive a nod of encouragement.
"What is the cause?" Her teacher folded her arms, prepared to wait the required time while Hermione thought. However, the young witch immediately lit up in a grin, and began bouncing, curls bobbing everywhere.
"Because I'm either taking the energy from the water, which is making me warm, or giving my own to it, which is making me cold! If I focus on that feeling, I can control the energy!"
"Good. Now do it again."
Hermione was flushed with pleasure from her instructor's praise. She immediately got back to work, and within a few more cycles had managed to slow her freezing spell down so that she was able to form ice crystals on the surface of the water while the bottom remained liquid. She turned to her teacher, beaming with pride, and was happy to see a similar expression on the older woman's face.
"That's a solid job you've done there. And you have something to practice with until the next session. I think we are done here for the night!"
Hermione thawed the water slowly, and tossed it back out into the lake. She transfigured the bowl back into a stone, and placed it on the shore, thinking all the while. Her teacher was beginning to look impatient, but she could see a question forming. She was not wrong.
"Professor Black, I don't feel as tired as I thought I would. Not nearly as tired as just doing the aguamenti practice made me feel. Did the energy I took from the water help keep me going? And when I put the energy back, was there no net loss?"
Bellatrix was impressed, and nodded slowly. "Yes. Magic is tiring, but if you can take the energy from another source, it can make your spells stronger and keep you from wearing out."
Hermione nodded, to say that she understood. And she did understand – she was beginning to realize just how Bellatrix was as powerful as she was, and the truth behind her claim that understanding magic made one so much better at it. Bellatrix watched the comprehension grow in the young witch's eyes, and with it her devotion to keep learning more.
As hasty goodnights were said, the night air swirled around teacher and pupil, each more devoted to the learning that was taking place there than they ever had been before.
A/N: The science is getting heavy-ish, but it's all leading somewhere! And the bond between our ladies appears to be strengthening, though the lusty-times was in hiding this time. Fear not! Feedback always is appreciated!