Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Warner Brothers bought me out.
"Hello, class. My name is Professor Cox, and I'll be your potions instructor for the remainder of the term."
Harry looked at the professor, who looked rather bland; short brown hair, an expressionless face, and a plain brown robe. Ron looked positively elated at the new change, and whispered over his cauldron at Harry, "And he doesn't have greasy hair!"
Harry smiled, but he would have felt a lot better if he could put Snape's defection out of his mind.
"Today, class," Cox announced, "We'll be working on the Deafness Distillation, which can be found on page 63. Please open your books and begin working on the potion."
Harry mentally shrugged and opened his book. Cox didn't seem to be much of a teacher, but Harry realized that Dumbledore probably couldn't find a perfect candidate at such an odd time of the year. Too bad Lupin couldn't teach us, Harry thought glumly.
His book open, Harry mindlessly followed the directions and put the final ingredient in – a horned toad.
"Congratulations," Cox said with a monotone. "5 points for Gryffindor for Mr. Potter completing the potion first."
Harry blinked, not used to Gryffindor gaining points during potions, but also a little confused. They made the Deafness Distillation last year; this wasn't difficult work. Who cared if he completed first?
Draco shortly finished his potion and glared at Harry. Then, amazingly, Crabbe managed to finish next. Crabbe seemed as surprised as Harry and Draco about it. The class one by one finished rather quickly, which didn't surprise Harry since all of them knew the potion already.
"Ok, I see," stammered Cox, "Well, good job class. For next class you should read pages 153-158, and I'll see you on Thursday."
"Odd," Hermione complained. "That potion was 4th year material."
"I'm not complaining," Ron said, smiling.
"Well, the Speed Serum on page 153 is 6th year material," Hermione pointed out.
"Very odd," Harry agreed.
"But you didn't look up page 153 – but you knew what potion it was!" Ron pointed out. "Don't tell me you memorized the entire book?"
"Of course I didn't memorize the entire book, Ron," Hermione shot back. Harry smiled, because he caught a slight emphasis on 'entire', and he wondered just how much of the book she did have committed to memory.
"Well," Harry asked. "Did you find anything in the library the other night?"
"That's right," Hermione quickly said. "I almost forgot!"
Ron subtly hit Harry's arm. "Why did you have to bring the library up?" he hissed.
Before Harry could answer, Hermione thrust a book in front of them.
"The Descent of the Elves?" Harry asked skeptically, reading the title.
"I thought you were looking for information about the gems?" Ron asked.
Hermione sighed, flipped to the final two pages, and said, "Just read."
Ron quickly took his hands off the book, leaving Harry holding it by himself.
Harry shook his head. "I guess I'll read it then, eh Ron?"
Ron simply smiled, and Harry began to read out loud.
An account of the disbandment by Chief Elder Fellian Mendelssohn
11734 years of the second age, 3rd month, 5th day.
The last of the horde was beaten back, giving rise to the biggest of celebrations I've ever seen in my days. The bonfire seemed to reach the heavens, and even the earth's creatures rejoiced in the fall of the shadow. Birds sang through the trees, the call of the raven and owl echoed from the throats of the triumphing warriors returning from the final battle. There were myths, of course, from the hoary of the survivors. The fools must have set down beforehand to establish their lies, because each of them recounted a fable of an ethereal shadow with a set of stones – and the ominous promise of a return. Although it was a decidedly ludicrous tale, I must admit my bones chilled at the thought of a second coming of these nightmares.
In that regard, I would be remiss in not accounting for the awesome powers these 'shadows' have, as well as detailing the ways to combat them. In the simplest and crudest of terms, they feed off the auras of people, in particular the positive emotions such as love and kindness. Of course, this feeding has a negative impact upon a victim, at the best case leaving them cold, heartless, and cruel; at the worst case… I pray my efforts within this last fortnight have staved that possibility ever occurring again.
In addition to this, the 'shadow' creature itself cannot be seen. The only telltale of its presence, besides an attack, is the shadow it leaves on the ground. This is why all Elven encampments have been lined with torches throughout the night, as a desperate measure to prevent a deadly night assault.
The best measure for dealing with these 'shadow creatures' is the spell, which was recently discovered and single-handedly turned the tide of the war: Patronum. Only a handful of wizards can perform this seemingly simple, yet impossibly difficult spell, although there is currently investigation of decreasing its difficulty so that almost any trained wizard can invoke it. This spell, when performed properly, will summon a being that radiates positive emotions, overwhelming the shadow and even killing it in the right circumstances.
Amazingly, these incorporeal 'shadows' have managed to mate with several physical beings somehow, forming unusual hybrids. Fortunately, none of these hybrids pose a significant danger, at least in comparison with the originator, and can furthermore be defeated with the same Patronum spell. The most common, a cross between the creature and a human, forms a physical representation of the shadow, which typically wears a hood covering its tall, emaciated form. This figure cannot disengage its attack, making its detection very simple. We as a council have ruled that this species is not a threat to any magic bearing race, and have unanimously decided against genocide of the creatures (although I would encourage anyone encountering one to dispose of the creature with prejudice.)
Although it brings a sense of enormous shame upon me, I must relay the worst possibility of the shadow attack, which I mentioned earlier. Pride, as noble as it can be, is not a positive emotion. While I, and the other members of the council, carefully guarded ourselves against any hate, envy, or malice from the creatures, it seems that Pride nearly became our undoing. 5 years ago, a lone creature managed to infiltrate our meeting, and established within us the seed of pride, with devastating consequences.
5000 died in the battle on halfway plateau due to overconfidence in our regiments' abilities. Over 10,000 died when we foolishly believed the townsfolk of Sotho could defend themselves from a small detachment of the creatures. Nearly 32,000 died and 20,000 more were injured when we let down the guard of our capital during the final stages of the war.
Unfortunately, dealing with this seed has been troublesome to say the least. During the war, we could not step down, as the people required our leadership during the conflict. Now, however, is a different story. Fortunately, most of the elders see the reason we must disband, as we can no longer provide the people with the sage advice they seek. However, my next decision will not be so obvious. We must eliminate pride.
You can imagine how Darri will like that. I can already see the first words out of his mouth. "Pride is not always bad. Pride will never again overcome our people as it did during this conflict." He doesn't realize that assuming that we will never be overcome again shows just how far pride has degraded our wisdom. Tomorrow I will lead my people for the last time, and I will attempt to right was has slowly contaminated our society. We can never truly achieve wisdom if we hold ourselves as masters of others; only by a sense of meekness can we acquire understanding. Tomorrow, I will give my last proclamation, hopefully ushering our society back into splendor.
"See?" Hermione said excitedly.
"See what?" Ron asked, confused. "And what does this have to do with the gems?"
"It doesn't have anything to do with the gems, Ron. This explains the house-elves!" Hermione exclaimed. "The house elves used to be regal, but this Shadow War caused their highest council to be overcome with pride. This Mendelssohn person decided that elves need to dispatch with any sort of pride and notions of being masters over another. Well? Doesn't that explain why we have house elves now? They're the ultimate example of a complete lack of pride!"
"I don't know Hermione," Ron argued. "Isn't that an awful big change – from a noble people into house elves? Do you really think that Mendels could really make that big of a change?"
"Mendelssohn," Hermione corrected. "And, yes, it makes sense. From what I've read, the elven councils were made up of the wisest and most respected in the community. And Fellian Mendelssohn was the chief elder of the highest council."
Harry had up to this point been silent. "I know what the hybrids are," he whispered, a small shiver going over his spine. "Dementors. It perfectly described them."
"I never thought of that," Hermione admitted.
"And the council said that they weren't dangerous. That they weren't a threat compared to the shadow creatures themselves."
"Harry…" Ron started.
"How do you know when a dementor is near?" Harry blurted. "You can feel it near you! You can see it! But imagine how dangerous dementors would be if you couldn't feel them near you until they attacked you, and if you couldn't see them at all?"
"Harry!" Ron said sharply, and then continued softly, "These things died out over a… well, a really long time ago."
"He's right, Harry," Hermione quickly agreed. "There hasn't been one of these creatures since. They're dead."
---
A/N: Longest made-up excerpt ever (at least for me)… so you all got an extra long chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.
Oh, and I promised a plug. I'm involved with a Harry Potter RPG, and they're looking for members. It's a lot like writing in ff.net, except plots can be a lot more enjoyable, since you don't know for sure where it will end up (since you're only writing part of it). Anyway, if you feel up to it, check out [OK, ff.net's being a jerk, and not letting me display a URL for some reason. If you want some information, mention it in a review, or send me an email at kevinericweber@yahoo.com]
Anyway, enough of my plug.
Kal: Thanks! Body bind and a feather tickling… nasty…
Mt. Dew: Thanks!
Hrei: Thanks!
Erinamation: hm? Again? :)
Kaelli: Well, you should have a good idea of what Voldemort is up to now… :) Happy Birthday (a bit belated)
Chaser: Will do!
Katani: Wow! Either people love Malfoy or they hate him…
Castus: Thanks!
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