Lucy ducked as Carver swung at her. At the last second, she felt the tip of the wooden sword connect with her stomach. Instead of feeling a solid thud, there was more of a scratching feeling as it connected but continued across her stomach.
She hissed at the feeling.
"First blood," Carver announced and stepped backwards.
She lifted her shirt to check. The wooden sword hadn't cut her stomach, but there was a long red scratch where the tip had hurt the first layer of skin.
"This is miserable," she told him.
"It shouldn't hurt that badly," he said as he leaned forward to examine the scratch.
She rolled her eyes and pushed him away, "Not the little scratch, I mean this entire practice."
They were back at Hogwarts in their newly discovered Training Room.
Lucy had been prepared to use the Room of Requirements when Carver said they would continue to practice her training at Hogwarts; however, when she got in the room by requesting a place to do physical training exercises, the room had presented a map with a corridor titled "Training Room" circled on it.
Apparently the creator of the room had also equipped it with a bit of common sense.
They'd been using the room for a week since they'd gotten back. During the holidays, they'd used the woods for a little bit of training.
The entire first three days were spent just trying to teach Lucy the correct way to fall, so she wouldn't get hurt.
"I still don't get how this is useful. I thought we were going to learn Angel magic, not Angel fighting," she whined as she sat down on the foam floor.
Carver sat across from her, "We've already been over this. Angel magic is often worked through our physical movements, not separate from it."
Lucy mouthed the words as he said them.
He suddenly stood up, "Watch, smart aleck."
He swung his sword; as he did, it started to glow. Lucy squinted her eyes against the brightness.
"As I was swinging the sword, I infused it with pure light. If I was attacking a demon, the pure light would burn and damage the creatures of darkness. That is natural to me. It is not natural for me to just create a blast of light and shoot that at them such as a human spell. I could do that now, but it took me a long time to learn to do that. We do not have a long time; we need to teach you tricks now to save your life," he explained.
"Yeah, yeah, but I'm not good at this whole hand-to-hand combat stuff," Lucy mumbled.
The
He laughed, "No one is good at the beginning. That's why you will have to practice. Plus, what if you never learn to wield angel magic? At least you will be able to defend yourself against the demons."
"True, alright, let's go another round," she stood up and squared up against him. This time, neither held a sword.
He threw the first punch and within three moves had her pinned to the ground.
"Ugh!" She grunted as her back hit the foam.
"It is good these floors are padded instead of concrete or tile," he said.
"Still hurts, ya jerk," she complained.
He grinned at her, "Learn to block me then."
At the end of the practice, Lucy felt like she hadn't improved at all. They'd started by stretching (for her benefit apparently) before he had her do a series of drills. The theory was that walking through the steps would help ingrain them into her muscle memory. Today, she only did two moves, both blocks. Each block she must've gone through a hundred times.
Yet, when they ended with sparring, it wasn't her natural instinct to use the blocks. She would throw up her hands or reach for a wand. Each time, Carver would stop them and have her put her hands into the proper block before continuing.
Lucy felt discouraged as she left the training room. She hadn't imagined that everything would be so hard.
"Chin up, kid. It took me about a century before I could even hold my own against some of the angels. Up against one's from the beginning of time, I still lose every time," Carver told her.
Lucy looked up in interest, "Really? How old are you?"
Carver thought for a minute, "Age is not as important for angels. We can be defeated but not killed like humans nor do we die, so age is not as much of a consideration. I believe I may be about...4,000 years old."
"That's crazy!" Lucy said. "Is that old for an angel?"
Carver considered it, "No, it would be about the middle. There are many angels who are older. There are some such as Michael or Satan who have been around since before God created the earth and therefore time. But there are also ones being created today."
"More ang-" Lucy shut her mouth as she heard footsteps and Carver suddenly became fuzzy around the edges.
Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones came around the corner. When they looked around curiously, she realized they couldn't see Carver.
"Where you just talking to someone, Lucy?" Susan asked.
"Yeah Blaise. He just left," she said quickly.
They looked down the long corridor behind her. Lucy blushed as she realized that there was no way Blaise could have disappeared behind her so quickly, and they wouldn't have missed him going by them.
The girls shared a look with each other before looking back at Lucy, "Sure...uhm, we'll see you later Lucy, ok?"
Lucy mumbled her goodbyes as they walked away.
"They think I'm talking to myself," Lucy hissed at Carver.
"Would you rather I have revealed myself to them?" Carver asked.
Lucy blanched at the thought of trying to explain who Carver was and shook her head. She didn't talk much to Carver as they continued through the corridors but she was aware of his presence next to her.
Inside the library, she immediately noticed Harry and Ron sitting at a table that was spread with books and papers. Her eyebrows involuntarily arose at the sight of the two of them in a library. It must be the first time all year that they had been in there.
She grabbed a seat nearby and pulled out her textbooks. It wasn't hard to hear them whispering.
"-las Flamel. There's nothing in here about him," Ron complained.
"Well, the note said that he was connected to the break in at Gringotts and the forbidden corridor," Harry replied.
"What's the corridor even matter. It's locked so we can't get into it anyway," Ron replied.
Lucy rolled her eyes, but also realized she wouldn't have been able to get in the corridor her first time around without Hermione.
"Maybe we should ask the twins about the corridor. I'm sure they have plenty of experience at breaking into places they shouldn't be," Harry said.
"I guess we could," Ron said.
They gathered up some of their stuff and left, but most of the mess remained on the table.
Lucy acted like she was putting their stuff away, but she snooped through the books on the table. They were a lot of the same books that Ron and she had looked through when she was Harry. They were missing the bigger books that Hermione had pulled out the first time around, but they wouldn't have mentioned Nicholas Flamel anyway.
Peeking out from the corner of one of the books was a scrap piece of parchment. As she stacked up the other books, the piece was revealed to be a note. Lucy grabbed it and read over it quickly.
Dear Harry,
The forbidden corridor is the middle of the mystery. I believe you witnessed the start during your trip with Hagrid and your adopted family. Nicholas Flamel connects it all together.
Best wishes.
The note wasn't signed and the handwriting wasn't exactly Dumbledore's handwriting, but she guessed it was from him. The thought of the old headmaster luring Harry into a mystery that would end with a confrontation with Voldemort annoyed her. Not that the headmaster necessarily knew that Voldemort would be there.
With a flick of lucy's wrist, magic fire burnt up the paper without damaging anything around it.
Lucy waited in the dungeons with the other Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws for their potions class.
The door slammed open and the students started piling in. Lucy took a deep breath before following them in.
Neither of her friends were in this class, so Lucy tended to pair up with whoever was left. At the front of the class, Snape appeared to be in an extra bad mood, glaring at anyone who dared look up there.
"I will not deal with such a bunch of dunderheads for more than an hour, so that is all the time you have this week. You need to prepare a basic healing potion. Instructions are on the board. Begin."
Lucy stayed at the table and started setting up the cauldron while her partner went up and grabbed ingredients.
Chopping and stirring went pretty smoothly. Without what Lucy now knew was Snape's old textbook in front of her, she was pretty bad at potions again. Occasionally she would remember something from it that would help a potion, but she was certainly no potions protégé.
Still, with the assistance of her Ravenclaw partner, they had managed to create what looked like a proper healing potion by the end of the class.
Despite that, Snape angrily stalked through the classroom right at the end of the class.
When he got to Lucy's cauldron, he paused and glared into as though his eyes could set it on fire. With a flick of his wrist, the entire potion disappeared.
"Detention Ogden for sabotaging your partner's work," he snapped.
Lucy blinked rapidly. She looked from the cauldron to the ground in confusion. A glance at her partner revealed that she looked confused but also relieved that only Lucy had received detention.
On Friday evening, when she was supposed to be in Quidditch practice, she reported to the dungeons for detention. Exactly at 7 o'clock, the door swung open but no one was standing there.
When she stepped across the threshold of the door, invisible chains wrapped around her and dragged her into a chair.
She tried to thrashed against the restraints, but they held her so tightly that she could only move her neck. Her arms and legs were completely immobile.
Snaps swooped in front of her, "Who are you?"
She looked up at him in confusion, "Lucy Ogden. I'm just here for detention."
He frowned and looked like he was going to dissect her for potions ingredients, "No, who are you really? Are you working for someone?"
"What in the bloody earth are you even talking about?" Lucy asked.
"Five points from Hufflepuff for cursing at a teacher," Snape drawled.
She paused, "Are you drunk?"
Spittle flew from his mouth a little bit, "No I am not drunk, and that's sir to you! Why did you send me a lily for Christmas?"
Lucy's thoughts collided with each other as she suddenly realized what happened. She had tried to send the lily anonymously, but she'd forgotten about that the elves automatically put a label on gifts around Christmas time. They must as labeled it as from Lucy Ogden when they brought Snape the chocolate lily.
She tried to think of a quick excuse, but she felt her body slip into a Seer's trance. Her mind scrambled to stay in control, so Snape wouldn't learn her secret but she was powerless to stop the trance.
"You are so bitter over the loss of the lily that you've forgotten that there are other things in life that still smell sweet. Perhaps chocolate does not smell like a fragrant flower, but both still smell good. Severus Snape, you stand on the edge of a knife. Will you choose bitter smelling or sweet smelling."
Lucy felt her mouth slowly become her own again.
She looked up and saw that Snape was whiter than a ghost before her. One hand grasped his best while the other held onto the table behind him for support.
"Not another seer," he whispered to himself.
She opened her mouth to say something to her, but he snapped out of his shock. With a flick of his wrist, she was free.
"Out! Get out of the dungeons!" He roared at her. She felt her feet turn and start marching toward the door against her will. She turned to look back at him and saw him pulling a glass of brandy from a cupboard.
Once she was barely across the doorway, the door swung shut and locked itself.
She felt gloomy on the way back to the Hufflepuff common room. Snape wouldn't certainly run and tell Dumbledore and then her secret would be out. Dumbledore would be watching her and quickly notice her shields. He would find a way to search her mind and everything would be discovered.
Despite her fears, she was not summoned before Dumbledore. In fact, she started to feel that Snape had not told anyone. He was glaring as usual in the morning at breakfast, but she felt him trying to pry into her mind when they made eye contact. He hit the shields Carver had placed and quickly retreated.
Before she looked away, she thought she saw him tilt his head forward just the tiniest fraction of an inch as though to say, "You win for now with the shields, your move."
She felt like she had just started a complex chess game with the double agent.
It was all quite unfortunate since Ron had always been the good one at chess.
Time passed quickly. Lucy felt like she had no free time. Her weekdays, and one long night of Astronomy, were spent in class. Quidditch practice filled three evenings a week, and Saturdays were typically spent practicing either her magic or with Carver.
She spent her other evenings and Sundays with her handful of friends. It was easy for the three friends to meet in the library because it was neutral for all different houses.
Which was perhaps why Lucy was receiving some weird looks.
"What is she doing in the common room?" Percy demanded.
Hermione and Lucy looked up from their homework.
"Doing some homework," Lucy told him.
"What are you doing in the Gryffindor common room?" He reiterated his question.
"Well the library was too full since it's raining out and everyone's come inside for the day. And I wanted to play a game of Wizards chess when we were done which definitely isn't allowed in the library. Plus Hermione needed to change anyway because she got caught in the rain, and I don't want her to get a cold. So we just stayed," Lucy finished up.
"She can't be here," a fourth year muttered and there were stirrings of agreement.
"There are no rules that we can't be in each other's common rooms if she was invited," Hermione said. Her hair seemed to be growing bigger too as though to make Hermione look larger.
"She already sits with us at meals-
"What's the harm of the common room-"
"Afraid she's gonna steal some-"
"Gryffindor secrets?" The twins took turns saying.
Percy huffed but turned around muttering about decorum and traditions.
Hermione and Lucy shot the twins a thankful smile in thanks. The twins came and stood on either side of Hermione.
"So Granger, you like loopholes?" Fred asked.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Well, you had double checked that Lucy was in fact allowed in because you knew it wouldn't be popular," George replied.
"If it's not against the rules and she isn't harming someone, why shouldn't she be allowed? I thought you guys were on our side," Hermione drew her shoulders back which did little to make her closer to the twin's lean height.
"Oh we definitely are," Fred said.
"Ickle Lucy doesn't bother us," George said.
"She's too small to do anything,"
Lucy stuck out her tongue at the tall redheads. George put an arm on her head and grinned down at her.
"And we've already played Hufflepuff in Quidditch so she won't hear any sports secrets,"
"Then what does it matter if I looked for a loophole?" Hermione demanded.
"Say Granger, if we wanted to do a prank that wasn't against the rules and wouldn't hurt anyone, we should be allowed to do it, right?" Fred asked.
"You're twisting my words!" Hermione cried.
"Not at all, we are merely using the same logic as you. Really, think about it," George said.
Hermione thought for a minute. Lucy knew she had been loosening up a little bit with her sticklerness for rules. Especially since the incident with the troll when she lied to the teachers to protect Lucy.
"If I were to be fair, then it wouldn't technically be wrong to do the prank. But how can you be sure you wouldn't hurt someone!"
Identical grins spread across their faces, "Well Granger, if you proofed our idea, you could double check for any issues that might hurt someone. Or be against the rules and get us in trouble."
"And you're kind of be an accomplice so you couldn't turn us in," George finished.
"What's in it for me?" Hermione asked suspiciously.
"Besides getting to spread joy?"
Hermione waved her hand.
The twins leaned in, "We'll share our knowledge of the school. Ways to get around like how to prevent being late to class. All our textbooks including third year spells. Our store of potions and potions supplies. Fun extra spells we've created or learned from others that aren't strictly on the Hogwarts curriculum."
"Like that blue fire charm you're fond of to keep warm outside even if it's not technically allowed."
A contemplative look settled onto Hermione's face, "I'll think about it and get back to you."
The twins shot Lucy thumbs up behind Hermione's back. She laughed at the thought of them actually managing to corrupt Hermione.
Blaise and Lucy were walking up to the castle one afternoon when she spotted all the blinds drawn in Hagrid's hut with smoke coming out of the chimney.
Lucy cursed.
"What?" Blaise asked.
"I can't believe I forgot about Norbert," she muttered to herself, already changing paths.
Blaise trailed behind her, "What are you saying? I can't hear you."
Author's note:
Well there's chapter 12! Crazy to think we're this far into things. Probably only another couple of chapters in book one before we'll start into the summer and then year two. What kinds of demons would you guys like to see her encounter? And if it's not Quirrel, who do you think the bad guy is? Or could it still be Quirrel? Let me know in a review!