Nimue was in an utterly foul mood, and she blamed the Toad for it.
"Cheer up...it's not that bad is it?" said Hermione.
"Hermione...I spent the last two and a half months working on that project to send to a potential teacher. And that utter bitch ruined everything! Do you have any idea how expensive some of those ingredients are?!" snarled Nimue.
Umbridge had followed her to the Room of Requirement, and after breaking in had banished the entire cauldron's worth of liquid luck at a critical stage. It had caused an explosion that had sent the bitch to the infirmary since Nimue had shielded in time, but she was incensed that all of her hard work had been wasted.
Snape, when he had examined the cauldron had confirmed it wasn't anything illegal and neither were the ingredients.
He had scoffed at the idea of her brewing liquid luck considering her grades, but other than that she was in the clear. That being said Nimue was still pissed as hell and wanted to murder Umbridge brutally.
Nimue was still fuming when she had the strangest vision in her life. Last she checked, Luna was the Seer of the two.
She did not appreciate being stuck in the Black London townhouse while they awaited news on whether Mr. Weasley would be fine or not.
Nimue's foul mood only worsened when she saw how Mrs. Weasley behaved when she was a guest in Sirius' old home.
She put her foot down on that behavior very quickly.
"Mrs. Weasley, I know you're worried about your husband, but this is not your home," said Nimue sternly, staring the woman down.
"Now see here..." started Mrs. Weasley, puffing up.
"While Fred and George are your children, I am not. You have zero rights to order me about in a home owned by my family, and I could care less about what that inept little club Dumbledore formed during the last war does. I have enough on my plate with my OWL's and brewing a potion worthy enough to impress a potential master," said Nimue flatly.
"Master?" repeated Molly.
"I'm looking for a proper alchemy master to apprentice to," explained Nimue. Which was true. "After all, I have a knack for it and becoming an alchemist would royally piss off Snape to no end."
"Professor Dumbledore..." started Molly.
"Has entirely too much on his plate as it is, and while he might have assisted Flamel years ago has likely not transmuted anything in recent years," said Nimue sharply. "I want someone more current and with a better understanding of modern methods, something Dumbledore cannot give me."
That shut Molly up. It was hard to argue against the truth after all, and Dumbledore was overworked.
Much to the relief of everyone, Arthur was fine. He would have a long recovery since they had trouble finding the anti-venom, but since he had a desk job that had minimal paperwork on a good day, that was nothing.
Did not make the inevitable trip to St. Mungo's any less uncomfortable.
In St. Mungo's...
"Let me get this straight...my soon-to-be ex-cousin went after your family with her husband and Barty Crouch Jr, and they've been trapped like this ever since?" said Nimue.
Madam Longbottom nodded curtly. It wasn't something she liked to discuss in polite company.
"Out of curiosity, have they only been treated in St. Mungo's or have you sought out outside opinions?" asked Nimue.
"St. Mungo's is the best magical hospital," said Madam Longbottom.
"In England, yes. But last I checked, the English Ministry has been curtailing magical research left and right since the dark tosser was taken out, and potions has only gone downhill since Snape started teaching at Hogwarts," replied Nimue without hesitation. "Perhaps the question I should have asked was what are you willing to do if there's a chance to bring your son and his wife back?"
The silence was deafening. It was almost a relief when the twins came for her and they parted.
However Neville kept the conversation in mind, which was why once school restarted he went to have a serious talk with the oddball Ravenclaw.
"I heard from Hermione you're attempting to brew liquid luck. Is that true?"
"I am, if only to have a strong showing for the alchemy master I've had contact with."
"How much would you charge for a vial of the potion, if it proves viable?" asked Neville seriously. Nimue looked at him. "I thought hard about what you said when you ran into us, and I'd like to get a second opinion. Even if I have to wait until I turn seventeen and obtain the title as Lord Longbottom, I want my parents back."
"You want the potion to give you an idea of where to start looking for a way to bring them back," she realized. Neville nodded.
Nimue thought about what she knew of Neville. She was aware of him peripherally, but she had no real contact with him as a person. That he was openly asking her for what was a rare and extremely valuable potion said volumes of what he was willing to risk for what he wanted.
She also remembered that he had a ridiculously high Herbology grade and a knack for growing rare plants.
Considering the twins were well on their way to starting a proper shop, and were slowly getting suppliers for their products, it wasn't hard to come up with an idea.
"How about an arrangement where you supply myself and the twins with rare plants that are hard or slightly less than legal to cultivate, in exchange for a vial of the potion and helping you bring your parents back?" she asked.
"That's it?" said Neville in surprise.
"You're not a complete ass like Draco, you're actually a nice guy and Hermione has nothing but good things to say about you," said Nimue simply. "That and I sense a lot of untapped potential in you."
Nimue thought a bit more of Neville when he actually read the contract she made before signing it at all. Both of them felt the magic take effect, and the deal was struck.
Nimue had enough of Umbridge trying to derail her life. The woman was a menace and something told her that many, many people would be glad to see her gone permanently.
It wasn't hard to arrange the bitch's demise either. As much as she hated Snape, he hated Umbridge more at the moment. The woman was a nuisance and since none of it would be traced back to him if something went wrong, he didn't mind a bit of misdirection. It wasn't like the ingredients for liquid luck were in the books available to the students anyway.
He had no issues setting Umbridge up...all he had to do was make a comment to Filch who was complaining about the watery mess Nimue kept leaving in the halls while she swam about her gathering ingredients from the merfolk. Umbridge, who didn't want to see Nimue succeed in brewing the potion and gaining an apprenticeship, bought the lie that Filch repeated back to her about Nimue getting certain ingredients from the merfolk.
Honestly, it was rather odd that the idiot didn't cotton on to the fact that she was letting Umbitch tail her to the docks where the boats were kept for the first years to travel the lake to Hogwarts for the first time. She had spent months avoiding the toad with great success, so the fact Umbitch was able to do so now should have tipped her off something was up.
Nimue approached the docks and waited. Umbridge looked entirely too smug as she held her at wandpoint in a secluded area with no witnesses.
Nimue dove for one of the boats, and Umbridge set a cutting curse at her. The boat began to sink alarmingly fast. Umbridge was downright smug at killing the filthy half-breed.
So you could imagine her shock when the boards beneath her began to crack and groan, before caving in. She scrambled for the ones that hadn't broken, but felt something wrap around her ankles. Her hands clawed at the boards, leaving deep marks in the ancient wood. Cold water swiftly crept up her body, and something was shoved down her throat. It was obviously a potion of some kind, and it took her several long minutes to realize she was breathing underwater.
Umbridge glared at Potter who just looked smug.
Horror filled her features as she realized Potter was dragging her to the lowest part of the lake...where an odd cage lay waiting.
"How do you like my work, professor?" she smiled. Her eyes were almost glowing in the darkness. Umbridge tried to yell, but Potter had already cast a silencing ward around the cage. Even if she could talk, no one would hear her.
"You see I've thought long and hard about how to dispose of you. The library is full of so many creative ways to dismember and torture people...but I realized that it was too good for someone like you who gets off on hurting children," said Nimue pleasantly, as if commenting on the weather. "That's why I've decided a simple accident would suffice."
Umbridge screamed at her again, likely more vitriol and threats.
"That potion I shoved down your throat will allow you to breath underwater for a time...however it's not permanent," said Nimue cheerfully. "And even if you did somehow escape, there's no way you'll be able to swim up fast enough before your air runs out. And if you somehow managed to pull that off, you're likely to die anyway since it's unlikely that wizards would even know what decompression sickness is...never mind the odds of you somehow avoiding the giant squid in the lake."
Umbridge glared at her, still snarling and screaming ineffectively.
Nimue swam upwards, feeling much lighter than she had in months. It took all of a week before anyone bothered to investigate Umbridge's disappearance, and it took the Aurors three hours to finally discover the woman's wand floating against the docks of the lake and the broken boards.
Around that time, Dumbledore spoke to the merchief about the woman's disappearance...and an hour after Umbridge's bloated corpse was brought up by some very disgusted mermaids who were glad to be rid of the carcass.
They had noticed the woman's corpse the morning after the potion ran out and she was long since dead, but hadn't done anything to avoid the ire of the wizards.
Needless to say the students (and a few of the teachers) were partying in the castle over her confirmed corpse.
Nimue felt it said a lot about how much Snape despised the woman that he discreetly toasted her with his preferred glass of liquor where she would see it.
All too soon the exams began to draw closer. With Umbridge gone, students began scouring books and practicing frantically to make up for lost time due to her obvious attempts at sabotaging them. Even those who normally avoided the library like the plague (Ron, Crabbe and Goyle, to name a few) were trying their best to cram as much information as possible into their brains to avoid a piss-poor grade.
By this point the fact Nimue was attempting to brew liquid luck had become well known, so Flitwick had arranged an alternative Potions exam. The proctors would examine copies of her research notes into the process and if possible, the potion itself to determine if it was viable.
Considering the difficultly level was well above the NEWT standards, she could very easily skip having to take the exam altogether.
She still studied her ass off.
It was nerve wracking. Nimue did her best not to squirm as the examiners studied her notes (Hermione helped her tighten them up, since her original ones had a messy scrawl that was fueled by many, many late nights), and the potions master they brought examined the potion which was in the last stage of brewing.
The adults conferred with each other for several minutes. Nimue did her best to maintain her poise and stoic mask.
"You are the Potter girl, yes? The one who defeated the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" said one examiner.
"Yes, Madam," she said.
"Explain why you picked such a high level and expensive potion to brew," she said sharply.
"I wish to become apprenticed to a Master Alchemist. I found Professor Snape's class to be less than stimulating as I had hoped. One of the requirements he set was to brew an extremely rare potion for him to examine my capabilities in the art," replied Nimue.
"And the name of this Master Alchemist?"
"Lord Divus Crewel, Madam," replied Nimue promptly.
"Lord Crewel. I have heard of him. He teaches the finer art of alchemy, potions and herbology at Night Raven College, does he not?" said the examiner.
"Yes, Madam," replied Nimue. "One of the reasons I picked Lord Crewel as a possible master is because becoming his apprentice means I would also be able to attend Night Raven, despite my gender. There are clauses that allow for it."
It was one of the rare ways a girl could attend Night Raven. Of course they would become immediately expelled if she became pregnant, but that was a given. Nimue had no interest in attending to look for a husband...she wanted to learn alchemy.
Besides, she had Luna for that.
The examiners looked at each other, and after a moment the woman who acted as the spokesperson among them came to a decision.
"I believe we have come to an agreement, yes?"
"Yes, Madam Marshbanks. Her notes are thorough and well detailed, and the potion is within the required parameters for being near completion," said the potion master.
"Very well. You will receive your results in a week for your Potions exam," said Madam Marshbanks. They left the room with a favorable impression of the Potter heiress, who looked them in the eye when speaking and had kept her personal grudge against Snape out of her replies.
Needless to say, Nimue scored straight Outstandings save for Herbology, and that was mostly because she was better at brewing than she was cultivating her own.
With the contract she had made with Neville, such things were unnecessary anyway.