This is going to be the only chapter that I describe every one of Draika's classes during the day…o.o….just so you know, and so you don't say 'What?! I have to read more chapters of…of THIS?!' I also think you'll find the Divination lesson very intriguing…I did a bit of research for it, but not much as I could have done. ^__^' So lazy, I am. This is a bit long, but I don't think I'll write any that are longer, so enjoy it! O.o This is loooong…..
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~Draika~
Chapter Five: Lessons
Draika woke suddenly to the loud clashing of thunder and angry howls of the wind. Even though the Slytherins were in the dungeons, everything was as loud as if she'd been sitting beside a window. She sat up, ignoring the pain in her back.
~Where am I?~ She thought, panicked. It was dark…it had never been this dark before…
The soft flicker of torches calmed her mind, and she looked around. Beds, trunks…
"Oh, yeah." She felt extremely silly. How could she have forgotten she was at Hogwarts? Checking her watch, Draika saw it was still early. She laid her head back down and tried to sleep, but the adrenaline that had recently run through her was not allowing that to be a possibility.
Draika stood and stretched, careful not to wake any of the other girls. The first thing she did after was to grab her necklace from the table beside her bed. Its glow had seemed to be getting gradually dimmer over the years, but she had no idea where she could get another. She dressed quickly, tucking the dim stone under her robes as she walked out of the common room with her books and wand. Maybe a nice breakfast would help to ease her nerves. A nice, quiet breakfast…
Quite suddenly, a black gryphon was in front of her, staring with orange eyes. Draika backed up, thinking she might be in the creature's way. This gryphon was not as large as the others, just an inch or two below Draika's head. Perhaps she was a nestling, or an adolescent. Draika bowed nervously, not sure how to greet such a being. The gryphon blinked and grinned as well as one can when one has a beak.
"Good morning." She said. Draika stumbled forward a bit. Why was she talking to her? But her voice was higher pitched, sounding like a child's. "I am Linwe." She looked up at Draika curiously, tilting her head to one side. "Have you any food?"
"Uh…" Draika cast her eyes about, searching for Linwe's parents. She didn't know whether or not they would be mad, but she didn't want to take any chances. "No…I was just going to get breakfast in the Great Hall…maybe your parents do?"
Linwe said nothing at first, but she soon spoke again.
"Oh. Who are you?" She stepped closer, and Draika stepped back again, still holding her bag. The girl knew Linwe was not going to harm her, but it was still very unnerving.
"My name is Draika. I'm sorry Linwe, but I really am very hungry…" Draika smiled in what she hoped was a polite way and stepped past her, starting to walk up the sloping dungeon corridors.
"Wait!" Linwe called. "Just one moment…please!" She sounded so sad that Draika couldn't help it. She turned around and was surprised to find the gryphon right behind her. "Will you be my friend?"
Draika nearly fell on her face. What? Her friend?
"Sure." She said calmly, although she was quite confused and suspicious. She smiled, hoping Linwe would let her pass.
"Thank you!" The gryphon smiled happily, rustling her wings excitedly. "There's no one else my age in my father's clan, so I get bored a lot. Take this, will you?" She reached back with one grayish talon and plucked a long feather from one of her wings. "You can use it for a quill." Linwe smiled proudly. "I'm sorry I kept you so long…bye!" She leapt up, dashing back down another passageway while laughing like a happy little kid.
Draika stood there for several seconds; her brain was still trying to process what had happened. Twirling the ebony feather between her fingers, she decided Linwe wasn't really that bad, after all. She pocketed the quill (it would have to be cut properly before it was a quill, but she had a knife in her bag) and began to walk once again to the Great Hall.
She didn't know, however, that she and Linwe had been watched. Not intentionally, I assure you, but just by a chance of another being in hearing range of that unlikely conversation. He moved on afterwards as if nothing had happened, but that conversation would come up later in his mind, and carry immense weight along with it.
Draika finally arrived in the Great Hall. Even though the conversation with Linwe had lasted little more than ten minutes, there were a few more students awake than she had hoped--a few from every other house, and one teacher, but no Slytherin students. She smiled and sat down, helping herself to bacon, sausages, and grape juice, then seconds after she inhaled her first serving. Now that her stomach was filled, her brain began to go to work. The first thing that immediately leapt to mind was her new…appendages.
~Could I really fly?~ Was the thought that kept surfacing, no matter how many times she tried to squelch it out of existence. What an absurd question! Of course not! She'd have to be mad to try. Draika shook her head at her own foolishness, leaving the hall as large groups of students began to arrive.
Before going to her first class she quickly returned to the Slytherin common room, cutting Linwe's feather so it would work as a quill. Furious at herself for taking such a risk, she dashed through the corridors and barely made it to Charms before Professor Flitwick came in. She sat down in a desk, taking out her book.
~So begins another year.~ She thought as Flitwick began to call roll. It didn't take long, as the Slytherins were too tired to make trouble and the Gryffindors would never trouble a teacher… She mocked them in her mind. Didn't anyone else know how to have a bit of fun?
She sighed inwardly, listening as the tiny professor began the lesson. Contrary to what she expected, Charms was quite an interesting class.
"Today," Flitwick began in his squeaky voice. "You will be learning to change the size of things. I will be passing around to you these little things." He held up a bag of what looked like sand, and began distributing one grain to each student. "When I say, tap the grain with your wand and say 'Spurtia!'. And please be careful not to tap your desk instead!" He laughed merrily, knowing at least one student would. "Proceed."
The room was filled with students reciting the incantation; some frustrated, some pleased. Looking around, Draika could see the bushy-haired Gryffindor prefect was the only one who had managed to do it correctly: she had a rock roughly the size of her fist resting on her desk. Draika took her wand and carefully placed the tip on the grain of sand.
"Spurtia!"
There was a muffled scream from the front of the room. Draika glanced up to see a desk rise to the ceiling. Flitwick dashed forward and waved his wand. The desk shrank back.
"Try again, Neville, and please be careful this time…"
Draika and the other Slytherins could hardly contain their laughter. After the fit of laughter had passed, Draika looked down to see her grain of sand had indeed grown to a rock. Pleased with herself, she gathered up her things as the bell rang, leaving the rock as instructed. While navigating through the crowded halls, she glanced for a moment at her schedule.
"Transfiguration…" She looked around. Transfiguration was supposed to be on the same floor as Charms, so she probably wouldn't be late. Spotting a group of Slytherins that she recognized from her year, Draika followed them inconspicuously to Professor McGonagall's classroom. Upon entering, she found every desk had a small jar on it. Sitting down in the back, she studied her jar. It contained several leaves and some grass, along with one stick. Soon all the desks were full with Slytherins and Gryffindors. Draika wished for a Gryffindor-free day in the depths of her mind.
"Good morning." McGonagall said, looking no different than when she had directed them to the Sorting Hat. "Today's lesson will not be very taxing, but some of you will find it puzzling. You see your animal in the jar--"
"What animal?" Draco said loudly. "There's just a bunch of junk." Some Slytherins snickered, Draika not among them. What was so funny about that? She glared at the nearest Gryffindor, waiting for the teacher's reply.
"If you will look closer, Mister Malfoy, you will see there is indeed a creature in there. Five points from Slytherin for your disrespect. Can anyone tell me what exactly we have?"
Hermione's hand shot up. By this time, Draika had figured out that she was a real know-it-all.
"It's a stick bug." She said, as if everyone should know that.
"Thank you, Miss Granger. One point to Gryffindor. Your task for today is to turn your stick bug into a stick. I will check your work at the end of class." The professor drew some notes on the board to explain the procedure of transfiguring something that was already very similar to what you wanted it to be, which Draika copied down halfheartedly. She always hated notes, but Linwe's feather wrote extremely well and didn't seem to need re-inking as often as most quills.
Draika unscrewed her jar's lid and gently lifted the stick bug out, setting it on her desk. She watched it crawl around lethargically for a minute before tapping it with her wand. It froze for what seemed like ages, and then resumed feeling her desk with its antennae. Draika sighed. How would she know when it was transfigured? She continued tapping it with her wand, and was relieved when it finally stopped moving. Draika picked it up and flicked it with her nails. Wood. She smiled, setting it down.
McGonagall was apparently half satisfied with everyone's work, so no assignments were given. Draika once again hefted her bag up, heading to Divination with the Gryffindors. Again. Could there be anything worse? Most probably. She was able to follow the students to the very top of the North Tower; she was very glad that she wouldn't have to follow anyone to any class after today.
As she finally stopped at the top of the tower to catch her breath along with all the others, Draika noticed several students were inclined to stare in her direction. She glared back at the Gryffindors, and met the Slytherins' gazes with an expressionless glance. Just when she thought she couldn't stand it anymore, the trapdoor in the ceiling opened to let a silver ladder float down. As she climbed up, she was horribly conscious of her feet. Her robes covered them when she was walking, but it was a whole different thing when she was climbing a ladder.
Biting the inside of her cheek to keep her heart from racing, Draika emerged into the Divination classroom. It was set up like an absurd tea parlor, with red sheers over the lamps, complete with little poufs and armchairs around several round tables, on which was set a deck of cards and a taper candle. She sat down in an armchair, studying the deck of cards in front of her with an intensely empty mind. It was hard to breathe up here, not to mention that all the heat waves were making her dizzy.
"Greetings to another year." A misty voice said. A tall, spindly woman covered in bangles and sequins rose from her high-backed armchair behind her desk. "I am glad to see all of you have returned…but who is this?" She stopped besides Draika's chair. Draika continued to stare at the deck of cards. "Of course I already know, but would you care to tell me for the class?" She smiled and said in a quieter voice, so only Draika heard. "I try not to make them nervous by flaunting the fact that I know things before they happen."
Draika rolled her eyes at the deck of cards.
"S' Draika." She said, still looking at the cards. Maybe if she didn't look at Trelawney, the professor would move on. Of course this had to be Trelawney, from what Draco had told her yesterday.
"This term we will be studying the Tarot deck." Trelawney continued if she had not heard Draika. "Of course we're only scratching the surface, given the little space of time in which I have to teach you…" She paused for what she probably supposed was dramatic effect. "We all have an Inner Guide, but we are always ignoring it when we have to make a choice. By reaching for our Tarot decks we are signaling to our Inner Guide that we are open to its guidance and knowledge of the future." She swept down again on Draika's table. The Gryffindor sitting across from her on a pouf drew back.
"Poor Neville." Draika heard someone from the table behind her whisper. "Being stuck with that awful Slytherin girl."
"Did you see her feet?"
"No."
"I didn't really, either, but I looked up while she was climbing, and…"
"Yes?"
"Miss V'tana!" Trelawney's impatient voice snapped Draika back to the classroom. She must have gotten lost in listening to those two girls gossip. "As I have been trying to ask you, would you kindly cut your deck to the left?"
Draika nodded, sitting up to do as she was instructed.
"And again."
When she was finished, she had three piles of cards. Trelawney smiled wisely, kneeling by the table to get a better look at the cards.
"Now place your palms over the piles and focus on a question."
Draika scowled, but did as she was told.
~How am I doing?~
She removed her hands, extremely skeptical. She looked at the Gryffindor sitting across from her--he was short and a bit plump, a nervous look in his eyes like he was terrified. Trelawney slowly turned over the top card of each of the piles.
"The eight of cups….the three of swords….the five of pentacles." Trelawney looked troubled. "You can all find translations on page two hundred and fifty." She told the rest of the class, who promptly began to read their own fortunes. "My dear." She said in a sorrowful voice to Draika. "Is anything wrong? Your cards clearly tell you are not well."
From another table, Harry sighed in relief. Maybe Professor Trelawney had found someone else to tell her incessantly ominous predictions to.
Draika flipped to the page directed of them, finding each card on the chart.
"The eight of cups means--"
"You are weary." Trelawney cut in, taking pride in reciting the meanings. "The three of swords indicates you are feeling lost or coping with a painful truth. The five of pentacles….ill health, rejection…standing alone…" She left off, looking quite agitated. "If anything is bothering you…."
"Nothing is." Draika said, suddenly aggravated. Aggravated because she saw truth in those cards. They had confirmed what she already knew. "Neville, it's your turn." She said to the boy, who was plainly terrified that she knew his name.
Trelawney frowned and moved on, but Draika caught her hovering near the table a few times for the rest of the lesson. Lunch was next; she'd have time to think. She rushed out of the stuffy room as soon as the bell rang, She literally threw her bag against the wall beside her bed in the dormitory before running back up to lunch. She didn't want to give anyone the chance to talk to her. That would only cause delay. She sat down at the Slytherin table while ignoring the stares that were getting more and more commonplace from the other houses. The other Slytherins had learned quickly that she was not someone to anger.
Grabbing a ham sandwich and opening her Divination book (Trelawney had assigned a one-scroll report on the deeper meaning of their readings, due Friday), Draika didn't notice Malfoy sitting across from her until he closed her book.
"Oh! Hello Malfoy." She said, remembering she had heard he didn't like to be called Draco.
"So what do you think?" He said, taking a long swig of pumpkin juice.
"Think of what?"
"I don't know." He said impatiently. "Everything. Anything."
"I thought Trelawney was a fool, but at least her Tarot was something to distract us."
"Yeah. Stupid cards. They're just a deck of picture cards."
"Hm…my opinion has yet to decide itself."
Malfoy shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, you have Defense Against the Dark Arts after Herbology today, right?"
Draika nodded, removing a bit of bread from her ham. "Yes. And?"
"Oh, nothing." He smiled, standing up. "You'll see."
Then he left, which Draika was partly grateful for. She truly wanted to learn more about the Tarot cards, and he wasn't helping. After the last bits of ham had gone from her plate, she stood and walked outside to the greenhouses since it was Monday (she had Herbology Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. History of Magic occupied Tuesdays and Thursdays.). The wind was still blowing, rattling the windows in between flashes of lightning. The storm seemed to be gathering strength--the sky was dark grey, almost black. The raindrops that battered the glass ceiling of greenhouse four had to be at least the size of marbles. Glancing back to her classmates, Draika was relieved to see she had this class with the Ravenclaws.
"Hello!" A witch with frizzed hair stood smiling at the head of the row of pots. "You'll be pleased to know that only one project will be occupying you this year! You will each grow your own flaming ferns." At this, the students quickly selected a pot. "Only you will care for it, but I will if you are ill and unable to come. Each plant will have a distinct personality, which you will report changes on every month. I expect you to keep a growth chart as well, starting when your fern first sprouts. They can be found on page thirty."
Draika took a quick look. The flaming ferns grew to be at least four feet, and had bright red stems with vivid orange leaves. Other than that, they looked exactly like normal ferns.
"Says here it'll burn anyone that's not its caretaker." She heard a Ravenclaw mutter to one of her friends.
"That is indeed true." Professor Sprout said. "So I advise you not to try anything, or you'll be regretting it for days."
The rest of the class was fairly uneventful. Sprout gave each of them one seed to plant. The seeds were black and warm to the touch, about the size of a thumb. Draika easily dug a small hole with her claws and placed the seed inside. There was nothing really more to do after that than spreading ashes on the soil, because the book said flaming ferns would die if you water them.
~What an interesting plant.~ Draika found that this, so far, was her favorite class. She was sorry to leave when the bell rang, bending her head against the storm outside. By the time she arrived at Defense against the Dark Arts, most of the water had dripped off her scales. Draika shuddered. She hated water, even though she loved storms. The bell rang, and there was no teacher. A tentative whisper arose, until the teacher entered the room. Then it was deadly quiet. Draika could smell fear on some of the students.
"Well, well. Gryffindors talking in class? That'll cost you five points."
The speaker was Severus Snape. Draika smiled. So THIS was what Malfoy had been so smug about. Truth be told, so was she.
"At first I was not considering this job." Professor Snape continued, walking around the room; eyeing each student like a hawk. "But I did some figuring, and in the end it turned out it would be more efficient to everybody's schedule to have me teach the class. Some students who are in need of a free period now have one. Longbottom!" He snapped as a toad hopped across his path. "Will you please keep an eye on your toad in the future?"
Neville nodded, as pale as a ghost.
"Today I will be teaching you advanced counter curses. We will not learn more advanced curses until second term, but it is more important that you know how to block rather than to attack. Potter, you come up here and demonstrate."
Harry stood up shakily and walked to the front of the room.
"Now, boy, when I throw a curse at you, sweep your wand in a small arc and concentrate on reflecting the spell."
Harry nodded, suddenly as pale as Neville.
"Stupefy!" A red beam of light shot at Harry. He waved his wand and just managed to deflect it. Snape grinned maliciously, flicking the tip of his wand downwards. The rebounding spell vanished in a wisp of smoke that curled slowly towards the ceiling.
"And there you are." He said as Harry scurried back to his seat among many unfriendly grins from the Slytherins. "Pair up. Anyone stupefied will have to wait until the end of class to be awakened."
There was a rush from the Gryffindors to be with someone in their own house, but Malfoy headed Ron off to Harry.
"You and me, Potter." He smirked. "And I won't go easy on you."
Draika turned to see the Gryffindor Prefect, Hermione, standing in front of her.
"Would you?" She asked Draika politely.
"Sure." The girl stood from her chair, raising her wand. Before she could think of a suitable curse, however, Hermione spoke again.
"I saw you today in Charms."
"Yeah?"
"You were oddly quiet about Neville's mistake."
~What is this, an interrogation?~ Draika scowled. "So? I didn't see you laughing either."
"Nevermind." Hermione readied her wand.
"Joltrea!"
A little spark of electricity escaped Draika's wand. It was a small curse and wouldn't really hurt Hermione if it hit, just shock her a little like a large ball of static energy. Hermione deflected and Draika deflected back. None of them knew the trick that Snape had used in eliminating the rebounding curse, so they kept at it. It did get tiring after awhile, plus Draika saw Hermione was obviously getting tired. So she didn't wave her wand the next time, and was definitely surprised when what she thought was a little static charged into her with tremendous force. There was a loud crack, and then she was thrown several feet to crash against the opposite wall. For one horrible moment, she thought she was paralyzed.
"…" She sat up, every part of her body aching. She hadn't known the spell was that strong, or she never would have cast it. Hermione and a few others rushed over to help her up, but Draika refused to let them. As she was standing up while leaning on the wall, Snape strode over.
"What happened here?" He said in a voice that made the whole room fall silent. Draika smoothed down her frazzled hair and opened her mouth to reply, but Hermione was faster.
"It was my fault, Professor." She said, looking ashamedly at the ground. "I didn't know that curse was so powerful. I'm sorry." She said to Draika, who just stood there in astonishment.
Snape nodded, his eyes dancing. "You must learn to learn the strengths of spells, Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor. Draika, go to the infirmary."
Draika nodded, dazed. She gathered her books and wobbled out of the classroom, still thunderstruck by Hermione's lie. She had no reason to lie for someone she barely knew, especially when it would cost her house points. It took her some time to reach the infirmary, partly because her legs ached so much and because she didn't know where it was. But she had asked a passing Hufflepuff, who gladly pointed her in the right direction.
As soon as Draika arrived she sat down on a chair, examining the damage done. She had a severely throbbing head and scorched arms, along with the aching all over thing. But that was pretty much it. Madam Pomfrey came out and introduced herself. When Draika told her what had happened, the nurse shook her head.
"Teachers need to start putting more safety measures in their lessons. But with Severus teaching that class now, I'm not really surprised." She sat Draika down on a bed and drew a curtain around it. "Pull up your sleeves, please?" She didn't seem fazed by the scales, which got Draika thinking.
~How many teachers know?~ That was another to add to her growing list of worries.
"These burns are pretty bad for such a spell. You're bleeding here where your head hit…" And so on. Draika tried to sit completely still. When Madam Pomfrey was finished, Draika had bandages on her arms and a several stitches on her head. "Scales are often less resilient to things like that, so be careful for the next week or so. Come see me after dinner and I'll check your stitches." She drew back the curtain, letting Draika leave. She gathered up her books again, then spotted someone hurrying away. It looked like Hermione..
"Hermione?" She called, but the girl didn't turn around.
~How much did she hear?~
Sighing, she lugged her bag out onto the grounds. The thunder and lightning had stopped, but the rain was coming on harder than ever. When she reached the paddock where her daily Care of Magical Creatures lesson would take place, she saw someone very familiar.
"Linwe!" She smiled as she approached the gryphon. Everyone else was feet away under Hagrid's order, but she didn't notice.
Linwe smiled, holding something out for her. It was a small box.
"I met a man today in the forest. He said to give you this." She seemed very proud.
"Thank you!" Draika bowed to her friend, not thinking how odd it was that a man had been just casually walking through the forest. As she took the package, she showed Linwe how she had cut her feather to make it work as a quill. "Your quill works very well. But what are you doing here?"
"Me? I told Hagrid I'd help him with his lessons. You're supposed to be learning about gryphons."
"Oh!" Draika sat down beside her friend, taking out her notes. She was oblivious to the stares and Hagrid's shock. "What shall I write?" She said to her younger friend. (As a fact, Linwe is fifty years old, but gryphons are immortal. They mature at about one hundred years. So in human years, Linwe is around nine or ten.)
"Well first of all, we can be all colors, but the normal ones are black, silver, grey, white, and ash."
"What is ash?" Draika scribbled down her notes. It was fun playing with Linwe….because that's what they were really doing. Linwe was pretending to be a teacher. Even though it was rainy, Draika wasn't minding getting wet.
"Ash is grey, but with undertones of blue and green. My mother is an ash." Linwe smiled. "Our eyes are normally golden, but some of us have orange eyes."
"Like you. They're very pretty."
"Yeah! Like me!"
For the rest of the hour they played as if they had all the time in the world. Most of the students were ignoring their conversation and listening to Hagrid tell them about gryphons, but Hermione was leaning on the fence, enraptured by every word.
At the bell, Draika stood to go to her last class, Potions. If it had been a Thursday, Potions would have been her second-to-last class, because on Thursdays she had Astronomy at midnight with the Ravenclaws.
"Where are you going?" Linwe asked.
"I have to go to potions now." Draika said. "I'm sorry. I had lots of fun talking to you!" She smiled, hoping Linwe would understand.
"Oh. Okay." Linwe flapped her wings once as a farewell, watching her friend go up the stone steps and into the castle sadly.
Draika sighed, this time from happiness. She was soaked to the bone, but she didn't care. Her hair was matted with blood and rain, but she didn't care. She walked on air to the dungeons, sitting in the front row. Snape was undoubtedly her favorite teacher. Her good mood subsided again when she saw she had this class with the Gryffindors…again.
"Once again, greetings." Snape smiled. "The potion we will be brewing today is more complex than anything you have ever concocted before. It is the potion of mock-death. Does anyone know what that is?"
Draika smiled, sharing the thrill of something immensely dangerous yet harmless. She had been a great lover of some muggle literature, especially Romeo and Juliet. So while some puzzled, she knew exactly what Snape was talking about. Hermione and Draika were the only two to raise their hands.
Snape looked mildly surprised. "Draika?"
"The potion of mock-death will make anyone that drinks it fall into a deep, cold sleep. You will not breathe. You will have no pulse. Your skin will be like ice." She smiled, enjoying making up a dramatic description. "You will, in all exterior properties, be dead. You will wake in a few days, quite tired, but unharmed."
"Very nice." Snape's oily voice cut through the stunned silence. "Twenty points to Slytherin for that excellent description."
Draika sat back, feeling very proud. Snape went on to describe exactly how to make such a potion. She jotted every single note down, and set up her cauldron to heat ten ounces of cobra blood. Everything was quiet, save for the hissing of the bubbling cauldrons. Draika had indeed found her niche in the school. It all came so easily…writing, memorizing, brewing…she smiled contentedly as she added one drop of basilisk venom to dissapate most of the anti-toxins.
"You should be done by now." Snape's voice once again disrupted the magical silence. "Put your things away, then pour your potion into a labeled flask and leave it on my desk when you leave."
Draika poured the sinister-looking black potion into her flask, noting with amusement and a snicker that Neville's was somehow a bright, acid green. As the bell rang she put the flask carefully on Snape's desk and left the room in a delightful mood.
In almost no time at all her books were back in her dormitory and she was sitting with a nice big steak on her plate for dinner. As she took the first bite, she remembered the box Linwe had given her. Trying not to attract attention, Draika drew it out of her robes and lifted the lid to see a dazzling glow. It was another necklace! She had to use all her self-control to keep from gasping. These were EXTREMELY rare, especially one so new and bright. She clasped a hand around it to stifle the glow, slipping it quickly over her neck and into her robes. She removed the old one with less care. With a start, she realized her old one had stopped glowing altogether, and crusted with a black, flaky substance.
Under the necklace had been a note:
'It is most important to your future and safety that we meet. Go to the edge of the forest at midnight. I will send a friend of mine to guide you to me. Do not bring anyone, and I beg you to stay out of the forest until your guide comes.'
Draika suddenly wasn't hungry. She stood up and left the Great Hall, heading to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey put new bandages on her arms, frowning.
"They're not healing properly." She explained to Draika. "I'd like you to spend the night here, just for observation." She shook her head in confusion. "I've never seen anything like this…you say you were the one that cast the spell?"
"Yes." Draika was impatient and reluctant to spend the night in the hospital. How would she get to the forest?
"I just don't understand…it's odd, that's all." She said when she saw the worried look on Draika's face. "I'll get you a nightgown and set up some curtains." She left before Draika could protest.
Sighing, the girl decided to just go with the flow…maybe it would turn out to an advantage. She sat down on the bed closest to the window. The raindrops were smaller but just as numerous; the wind had only let up a little. She flinched at an unexpected roar of thunder. Maybe it would be too stormy to go out…but then what would happen? She might never get another chance to talk to this person.
Madam Pomfrey came back in with a plain white nightgown and conjured some curtains for around Draika's bed.
"There you go…lights out is a bit early here, but you'll need it." She smiled and patted Draika's back gently, then went back to her office. Draika did not put the nightgown on, but she did crawl into the sheets immediately. If Madam Pomfrey thought she was asleep, the lights might go out earlier. Whether or not that happened, however, is unknown to her because she really did fall asleep.
When she woke up it was eleven thirty, according to her watch. The wind sounded fierce and the rain was falling amidst crashes of thunder. She carefully got up and arranged the blankets to make it look like she was still there, sleeping. Satisfied, Draika tiptoed to the door. It was locked, but it was easy enough for her to unlock.
"Alohomora!" She left it slightly ajar, for some reason unbeknownst to her. It just seemed like a good idea. She pressed against the walls as she made her way to the large wooden doors that opened onto the school grounds.
As the doors opened, a sharp gust of wind nearly blew Draika off her feet. Keeping a firm grip on the doors, she managed to get outside and then shut them again. Bending her head against the strong winds and stinging raindrops, she began the long walk to the edge of the forest, and the first revelation.
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~Draika~
Chapter Five: Lessons
Draika woke suddenly to the loud clashing of thunder and angry howls of the wind. Even though the Slytherins were in the dungeons, everything was as loud as if she'd been sitting beside a window. She sat up, ignoring the pain in her back.
~Where am I?~ She thought, panicked. It was dark…it had never been this dark before…
The soft flicker of torches calmed her mind, and she looked around. Beds, trunks…
"Oh, yeah." She felt extremely silly. How could she have forgotten she was at Hogwarts? Checking her watch, Draika saw it was still early. She laid her head back down and tried to sleep, but the adrenaline that had recently run through her was not allowing that to be a possibility.
Draika stood and stretched, careful not to wake any of the other girls. The first thing she did after was to grab her necklace from the table beside her bed. Its glow had seemed to be getting gradually dimmer over the years, but she had no idea where she could get another. She dressed quickly, tucking the dim stone under her robes as she walked out of the common room with her books and wand. Maybe a nice breakfast would help to ease her nerves. A nice, quiet breakfast…
Quite suddenly, a black gryphon was in front of her, staring with orange eyes. Draika backed up, thinking she might be in the creature's way. This gryphon was not as large as the others, just an inch or two below Draika's head. Perhaps she was a nestling, or an adolescent. Draika bowed nervously, not sure how to greet such a being. The gryphon blinked and grinned as well as one can when one has a beak.
"Good morning." She said. Draika stumbled forward a bit. Why was she talking to her? But her voice was higher pitched, sounding like a child's. "I am Linwe." She looked up at Draika curiously, tilting her head to one side. "Have you any food?"
"Uh…" Draika cast her eyes about, searching for Linwe's parents. She didn't know whether or not they would be mad, but she didn't want to take any chances. "No…I was just going to get breakfast in the Great Hall…maybe your parents do?"
Linwe said nothing at first, but she soon spoke again.
"Oh. Who are you?" She stepped closer, and Draika stepped back again, still holding her bag. The girl knew Linwe was not going to harm her, but it was still very unnerving.
"My name is Draika. I'm sorry Linwe, but I really am very hungry…" Draika smiled in what she hoped was a polite way and stepped past her, starting to walk up the sloping dungeon corridors.
"Wait!" Linwe called. "Just one moment…please!" She sounded so sad that Draika couldn't help it. She turned around and was surprised to find the gryphon right behind her. "Will you be my friend?"
Draika nearly fell on her face. What? Her friend?
"Sure." She said calmly, although she was quite confused and suspicious. She smiled, hoping Linwe would let her pass.
"Thank you!" The gryphon smiled happily, rustling her wings excitedly. "There's no one else my age in my father's clan, so I get bored a lot. Take this, will you?" She reached back with one grayish talon and plucked a long feather from one of her wings. "You can use it for a quill." Linwe smiled proudly. "I'm sorry I kept you so long…bye!" She leapt up, dashing back down another passageway while laughing like a happy little kid.
Draika stood there for several seconds; her brain was still trying to process what had happened. Twirling the ebony feather between her fingers, she decided Linwe wasn't really that bad, after all. She pocketed the quill (it would have to be cut properly before it was a quill, but she had a knife in her bag) and began to walk once again to the Great Hall.
She didn't know, however, that she and Linwe had been watched. Not intentionally, I assure you, but just by a chance of another being in hearing range of that unlikely conversation. He moved on afterwards as if nothing had happened, but that conversation would come up later in his mind, and carry immense weight along with it.
Draika finally arrived in the Great Hall. Even though the conversation with Linwe had lasted little more than ten minutes, there were a few more students awake than she had hoped--a few from every other house, and one teacher, but no Slytherin students. She smiled and sat down, helping herself to bacon, sausages, and grape juice, then seconds after she inhaled her first serving. Now that her stomach was filled, her brain began to go to work. The first thing that immediately leapt to mind was her new…appendages.
~Could I really fly?~ Was the thought that kept surfacing, no matter how many times she tried to squelch it out of existence. What an absurd question! Of course not! She'd have to be mad to try. Draika shook her head at her own foolishness, leaving the hall as large groups of students began to arrive.
Before going to her first class she quickly returned to the Slytherin common room, cutting Linwe's feather so it would work as a quill. Furious at herself for taking such a risk, she dashed through the corridors and barely made it to Charms before Professor Flitwick came in. She sat down in a desk, taking out her book.
~So begins another year.~ She thought as Flitwick began to call roll. It didn't take long, as the Slytherins were too tired to make trouble and the Gryffindors would never trouble a teacher… She mocked them in her mind. Didn't anyone else know how to have a bit of fun?
She sighed inwardly, listening as the tiny professor began the lesson. Contrary to what she expected, Charms was quite an interesting class.
"Today," Flitwick began in his squeaky voice. "You will be learning to change the size of things. I will be passing around to you these little things." He held up a bag of what looked like sand, and began distributing one grain to each student. "When I say, tap the grain with your wand and say 'Spurtia!'. And please be careful not to tap your desk instead!" He laughed merrily, knowing at least one student would. "Proceed."
The room was filled with students reciting the incantation; some frustrated, some pleased. Looking around, Draika could see the bushy-haired Gryffindor prefect was the only one who had managed to do it correctly: she had a rock roughly the size of her fist resting on her desk. Draika took her wand and carefully placed the tip on the grain of sand.
"Spurtia!"
There was a muffled scream from the front of the room. Draika glanced up to see a desk rise to the ceiling. Flitwick dashed forward and waved his wand. The desk shrank back.
"Try again, Neville, and please be careful this time…"
Draika and the other Slytherins could hardly contain their laughter. After the fit of laughter had passed, Draika looked down to see her grain of sand had indeed grown to a rock. Pleased with herself, she gathered up her things as the bell rang, leaving the rock as instructed. While navigating through the crowded halls, she glanced for a moment at her schedule.
"Transfiguration…" She looked around. Transfiguration was supposed to be on the same floor as Charms, so she probably wouldn't be late. Spotting a group of Slytherins that she recognized from her year, Draika followed them inconspicuously to Professor McGonagall's classroom. Upon entering, she found every desk had a small jar on it. Sitting down in the back, she studied her jar. It contained several leaves and some grass, along with one stick. Soon all the desks were full with Slytherins and Gryffindors. Draika wished for a Gryffindor-free day in the depths of her mind.
"Good morning." McGonagall said, looking no different than when she had directed them to the Sorting Hat. "Today's lesson will not be very taxing, but some of you will find it puzzling. You see your animal in the jar--"
"What animal?" Draco said loudly. "There's just a bunch of junk." Some Slytherins snickered, Draika not among them. What was so funny about that? She glared at the nearest Gryffindor, waiting for the teacher's reply.
"If you will look closer, Mister Malfoy, you will see there is indeed a creature in there. Five points from Slytherin for your disrespect. Can anyone tell me what exactly we have?"
Hermione's hand shot up. By this time, Draika had figured out that she was a real know-it-all.
"It's a stick bug." She said, as if everyone should know that.
"Thank you, Miss Granger. One point to Gryffindor. Your task for today is to turn your stick bug into a stick. I will check your work at the end of class." The professor drew some notes on the board to explain the procedure of transfiguring something that was already very similar to what you wanted it to be, which Draika copied down halfheartedly. She always hated notes, but Linwe's feather wrote extremely well and didn't seem to need re-inking as often as most quills.
Draika unscrewed her jar's lid and gently lifted the stick bug out, setting it on her desk. She watched it crawl around lethargically for a minute before tapping it with her wand. It froze for what seemed like ages, and then resumed feeling her desk with its antennae. Draika sighed. How would she know when it was transfigured? She continued tapping it with her wand, and was relieved when it finally stopped moving. Draika picked it up and flicked it with her nails. Wood. She smiled, setting it down.
McGonagall was apparently half satisfied with everyone's work, so no assignments were given. Draika once again hefted her bag up, heading to Divination with the Gryffindors. Again. Could there be anything worse? Most probably. She was able to follow the students to the very top of the North Tower; she was very glad that she wouldn't have to follow anyone to any class after today.
As she finally stopped at the top of the tower to catch her breath along with all the others, Draika noticed several students were inclined to stare in her direction. She glared back at the Gryffindors, and met the Slytherins' gazes with an expressionless glance. Just when she thought she couldn't stand it anymore, the trapdoor in the ceiling opened to let a silver ladder float down. As she climbed up, she was horribly conscious of her feet. Her robes covered them when she was walking, but it was a whole different thing when she was climbing a ladder.
Biting the inside of her cheek to keep her heart from racing, Draika emerged into the Divination classroom. It was set up like an absurd tea parlor, with red sheers over the lamps, complete with little poufs and armchairs around several round tables, on which was set a deck of cards and a taper candle. She sat down in an armchair, studying the deck of cards in front of her with an intensely empty mind. It was hard to breathe up here, not to mention that all the heat waves were making her dizzy.
"Greetings to another year." A misty voice said. A tall, spindly woman covered in bangles and sequins rose from her high-backed armchair behind her desk. "I am glad to see all of you have returned…but who is this?" She stopped besides Draika's chair. Draika continued to stare at the deck of cards. "Of course I already know, but would you care to tell me for the class?" She smiled and said in a quieter voice, so only Draika heard. "I try not to make them nervous by flaunting the fact that I know things before they happen."
Draika rolled her eyes at the deck of cards.
"S' Draika." She said, still looking at the cards. Maybe if she didn't look at Trelawney, the professor would move on. Of course this had to be Trelawney, from what Draco had told her yesterday.
"This term we will be studying the Tarot deck." Trelawney continued if she had not heard Draika. "Of course we're only scratching the surface, given the little space of time in which I have to teach you…" She paused for what she probably supposed was dramatic effect. "We all have an Inner Guide, but we are always ignoring it when we have to make a choice. By reaching for our Tarot decks we are signaling to our Inner Guide that we are open to its guidance and knowledge of the future." She swept down again on Draika's table. The Gryffindor sitting across from her on a pouf drew back.
"Poor Neville." Draika heard someone from the table behind her whisper. "Being stuck with that awful Slytherin girl."
"Did you see her feet?"
"No."
"I didn't really, either, but I looked up while she was climbing, and…"
"Yes?"
"Miss V'tana!" Trelawney's impatient voice snapped Draika back to the classroom. She must have gotten lost in listening to those two girls gossip. "As I have been trying to ask you, would you kindly cut your deck to the left?"
Draika nodded, sitting up to do as she was instructed.
"And again."
When she was finished, she had three piles of cards. Trelawney smiled wisely, kneeling by the table to get a better look at the cards.
"Now place your palms over the piles and focus on a question."
Draika scowled, but did as she was told.
~How am I doing?~
She removed her hands, extremely skeptical. She looked at the Gryffindor sitting across from her--he was short and a bit plump, a nervous look in his eyes like he was terrified. Trelawney slowly turned over the top card of each of the piles.
"The eight of cups….the three of swords….the five of pentacles." Trelawney looked troubled. "You can all find translations on page two hundred and fifty." She told the rest of the class, who promptly began to read their own fortunes. "My dear." She said in a sorrowful voice to Draika. "Is anything wrong? Your cards clearly tell you are not well."
From another table, Harry sighed in relief. Maybe Professor Trelawney had found someone else to tell her incessantly ominous predictions to.
Draika flipped to the page directed of them, finding each card on the chart.
"The eight of cups means--"
"You are weary." Trelawney cut in, taking pride in reciting the meanings. "The three of swords indicates you are feeling lost or coping with a painful truth. The five of pentacles….ill health, rejection…standing alone…" She left off, looking quite agitated. "If anything is bothering you…."
"Nothing is." Draika said, suddenly aggravated. Aggravated because she saw truth in those cards. They had confirmed what she already knew. "Neville, it's your turn." She said to the boy, who was plainly terrified that she knew his name.
Trelawney frowned and moved on, but Draika caught her hovering near the table a few times for the rest of the lesson. Lunch was next; she'd have time to think. She rushed out of the stuffy room as soon as the bell rang, She literally threw her bag against the wall beside her bed in the dormitory before running back up to lunch. She didn't want to give anyone the chance to talk to her. That would only cause delay. She sat down at the Slytherin table while ignoring the stares that were getting more and more commonplace from the other houses. The other Slytherins had learned quickly that she was not someone to anger.
Grabbing a ham sandwich and opening her Divination book (Trelawney had assigned a one-scroll report on the deeper meaning of their readings, due Friday), Draika didn't notice Malfoy sitting across from her until he closed her book.
"Oh! Hello Malfoy." She said, remembering she had heard he didn't like to be called Draco.
"So what do you think?" He said, taking a long swig of pumpkin juice.
"Think of what?"
"I don't know." He said impatiently. "Everything. Anything."
"I thought Trelawney was a fool, but at least her Tarot was something to distract us."
"Yeah. Stupid cards. They're just a deck of picture cards."
"Hm…my opinion has yet to decide itself."
Malfoy shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, you have Defense Against the Dark Arts after Herbology today, right?"
Draika nodded, removing a bit of bread from her ham. "Yes. And?"
"Oh, nothing." He smiled, standing up. "You'll see."
Then he left, which Draika was partly grateful for. She truly wanted to learn more about the Tarot cards, and he wasn't helping. After the last bits of ham had gone from her plate, she stood and walked outside to the greenhouses since it was Monday (she had Herbology Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. History of Magic occupied Tuesdays and Thursdays.). The wind was still blowing, rattling the windows in between flashes of lightning. The storm seemed to be gathering strength--the sky was dark grey, almost black. The raindrops that battered the glass ceiling of greenhouse four had to be at least the size of marbles. Glancing back to her classmates, Draika was relieved to see she had this class with the Ravenclaws.
"Hello!" A witch with frizzed hair stood smiling at the head of the row of pots. "You'll be pleased to know that only one project will be occupying you this year! You will each grow your own flaming ferns." At this, the students quickly selected a pot. "Only you will care for it, but I will if you are ill and unable to come. Each plant will have a distinct personality, which you will report changes on every month. I expect you to keep a growth chart as well, starting when your fern first sprouts. They can be found on page thirty."
Draika took a quick look. The flaming ferns grew to be at least four feet, and had bright red stems with vivid orange leaves. Other than that, they looked exactly like normal ferns.
"Says here it'll burn anyone that's not its caretaker." She heard a Ravenclaw mutter to one of her friends.
"That is indeed true." Professor Sprout said. "So I advise you not to try anything, or you'll be regretting it for days."
The rest of the class was fairly uneventful. Sprout gave each of them one seed to plant. The seeds were black and warm to the touch, about the size of a thumb. Draika easily dug a small hole with her claws and placed the seed inside. There was nothing really more to do after that than spreading ashes on the soil, because the book said flaming ferns would die if you water them.
~What an interesting plant.~ Draika found that this, so far, was her favorite class. She was sorry to leave when the bell rang, bending her head against the storm outside. By the time she arrived at Defense against the Dark Arts, most of the water had dripped off her scales. Draika shuddered. She hated water, even though she loved storms. The bell rang, and there was no teacher. A tentative whisper arose, until the teacher entered the room. Then it was deadly quiet. Draika could smell fear on some of the students.
"Well, well. Gryffindors talking in class? That'll cost you five points."
The speaker was Severus Snape. Draika smiled. So THIS was what Malfoy had been so smug about. Truth be told, so was she.
"At first I was not considering this job." Professor Snape continued, walking around the room; eyeing each student like a hawk. "But I did some figuring, and in the end it turned out it would be more efficient to everybody's schedule to have me teach the class. Some students who are in need of a free period now have one. Longbottom!" He snapped as a toad hopped across his path. "Will you please keep an eye on your toad in the future?"
Neville nodded, as pale as a ghost.
"Today I will be teaching you advanced counter curses. We will not learn more advanced curses until second term, but it is more important that you know how to block rather than to attack. Potter, you come up here and demonstrate."
Harry stood up shakily and walked to the front of the room.
"Now, boy, when I throw a curse at you, sweep your wand in a small arc and concentrate on reflecting the spell."
Harry nodded, suddenly as pale as Neville.
"Stupefy!" A red beam of light shot at Harry. He waved his wand and just managed to deflect it. Snape grinned maliciously, flicking the tip of his wand downwards. The rebounding spell vanished in a wisp of smoke that curled slowly towards the ceiling.
"And there you are." He said as Harry scurried back to his seat among many unfriendly grins from the Slytherins. "Pair up. Anyone stupefied will have to wait until the end of class to be awakened."
There was a rush from the Gryffindors to be with someone in their own house, but Malfoy headed Ron off to Harry.
"You and me, Potter." He smirked. "And I won't go easy on you."
Draika turned to see the Gryffindor Prefect, Hermione, standing in front of her.
"Would you?" She asked Draika politely.
"Sure." The girl stood from her chair, raising her wand. Before she could think of a suitable curse, however, Hermione spoke again.
"I saw you today in Charms."
"Yeah?"
"You were oddly quiet about Neville's mistake."
~What is this, an interrogation?~ Draika scowled. "So? I didn't see you laughing either."
"Nevermind." Hermione readied her wand.
"Joltrea!"
A little spark of electricity escaped Draika's wand. It was a small curse and wouldn't really hurt Hermione if it hit, just shock her a little like a large ball of static energy. Hermione deflected and Draika deflected back. None of them knew the trick that Snape had used in eliminating the rebounding curse, so they kept at it. It did get tiring after awhile, plus Draika saw Hermione was obviously getting tired. So she didn't wave her wand the next time, and was definitely surprised when what she thought was a little static charged into her with tremendous force. There was a loud crack, and then she was thrown several feet to crash against the opposite wall. For one horrible moment, she thought she was paralyzed.
"…" She sat up, every part of her body aching. She hadn't known the spell was that strong, or she never would have cast it. Hermione and a few others rushed over to help her up, but Draika refused to let them. As she was standing up while leaning on the wall, Snape strode over.
"What happened here?" He said in a voice that made the whole room fall silent. Draika smoothed down her frazzled hair and opened her mouth to reply, but Hermione was faster.
"It was my fault, Professor." She said, looking ashamedly at the ground. "I didn't know that curse was so powerful. I'm sorry." She said to Draika, who just stood there in astonishment.
Snape nodded, his eyes dancing. "You must learn to learn the strengths of spells, Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor. Draika, go to the infirmary."
Draika nodded, dazed. She gathered her books and wobbled out of the classroom, still thunderstruck by Hermione's lie. She had no reason to lie for someone she barely knew, especially when it would cost her house points. It took her some time to reach the infirmary, partly because her legs ached so much and because she didn't know where it was. But she had asked a passing Hufflepuff, who gladly pointed her in the right direction.
As soon as Draika arrived she sat down on a chair, examining the damage done. She had a severely throbbing head and scorched arms, along with the aching all over thing. But that was pretty much it. Madam Pomfrey came out and introduced herself. When Draika told her what had happened, the nurse shook her head.
"Teachers need to start putting more safety measures in their lessons. But with Severus teaching that class now, I'm not really surprised." She sat Draika down on a bed and drew a curtain around it. "Pull up your sleeves, please?" She didn't seem fazed by the scales, which got Draika thinking.
~How many teachers know?~ That was another to add to her growing list of worries.
"These burns are pretty bad for such a spell. You're bleeding here where your head hit…" And so on. Draika tried to sit completely still. When Madam Pomfrey was finished, Draika had bandages on her arms and a several stitches on her head. "Scales are often less resilient to things like that, so be careful for the next week or so. Come see me after dinner and I'll check your stitches." She drew back the curtain, letting Draika leave. She gathered up her books again, then spotted someone hurrying away. It looked like Hermione..
"Hermione?" She called, but the girl didn't turn around.
~How much did she hear?~
Sighing, she lugged her bag out onto the grounds. The thunder and lightning had stopped, but the rain was coming on harder than ever. When she reached the paddock where her daily Care of Magical Creatures lesson would take place, she saw someone very familiar.
"Linwe!" She smiled as she approached the gryphon. Everyone else was feet away under Hagrid's order, but she didn't notice.
Linwe smiled, holding something out for her. It was a small box.
"I met a man today in the forest. He said to give you this." She seemed very proud.
"Thank you!" Draika bowed to her friend, not thinking how odd it was that a man had been just casually walking through the forest. As she took the package, she showed Linwe how she had cut her feather to make it work as a quill. "Your quill works very well. But what are you doing here?"
"Me? I told Hagrid I'd help him with his lessons. You're supposed to be learning about gryphons."
"Oh!" Draika sat down beside her friend, taking out her notes. She was oblivious to the stares and Hagrid's shock. "What shall I write?" She said to her younger friend. (As a fact, Linwe is fifty years old, but gryphons are immortal. They mature at about one hundred years. So in human years, Linwe is around nine or ten.)
"Well first of all, we can be all colors, but the normal ones are black, silver, grey, white, and ash."
"What is ash?" Draika scribbled down her notes. It was fun playing with Linwe….because that's what they were really doing. Linwe was pretending to be a teacher. Even though it was rainy, Draika wasn't minding getting wet.
"Ash is grey, but with undertones of blue and green. My mother is an ash." Linwe smiled. "Our eyes are normally golden, but some of us have orange eyes."
"Like you. They're very pretty."
"Yeah! Like me!"
For the rest of the hour they played as if they had all the time in the world. Most of the students were ignoring their conversation and listening to Hagrid tell them about gryphons, but Hermione was leaning on the fence, enraptured by every word.
At the bell, Draika stood to go to her last class, Potions. If it had been a Thursday, Potions would have been her second-to-last class, because on Thursdays she had Astronomy at midnight with the Ravenclaws.
"Where are you going?" Linwe asked.
"I have to go to potions now." Draika said. "I'm sorry. I had lots of fun talking to you!" She smiled, hoping Linwe would understand.
"Oh. Okay." Linwe flapped her wings once as a farewell, watching her friend go up the stone steps and into the castle sadly.
Draika sighed, this time from happiness. She was soaked to the bone, but she didn't care. Her hair was matted with blood and rain, but she didn't care. She walked on air to the dungeons, sitting in the front row. Snape was undoubtedly her favorite teacher. Her good mood subsided again when she saw she had this class with the Gryffindors…again.
"Once again, greetings." Snape smiled. "The potion we will be brewing today is more complex than anything you have ever concocted before. It is the potion of mock-death. Does anyone know what that is?"
Draika smiled, sharing the thrill of something immensely dangerous yet harmless. She had been a great lover of some muggle literature, especially Romeo and Juliet. So while some puzzled, she knew exactly what Snape was talking about. Hermione and Draika were the only two to raise their hands.
Snape looked mildly surprised. "Draika?"
"The potion of mock-death will make anyone that drinks it fall into a deep, cold sleep. You will not breathe. You will have no pulse. Your skin will be like ice." She smiled, enjoying making up a dramatic description. "You will, in all exterior properties, be dead. You will wake in a few days, quite tired, but unharmed."
"Very nice." Snape's oily voice cut through the stunned silence. "Twenty points to Slytherin for that excellent description."
Draika sat back, feeling very proud. Snape went on to describe exactly how to make such a potion. She jotted every single note down, and set up her cauldron to heat ten ounces of cobra blood. Everything was quiet, save for the hissing of the bubbling cauldrons. Draika had indeed found her niche in the school. It all came so easily…writing, memorizing, brewing…she smiled contentedly as she added one drop of basilisk venom to dissapate most of the anti-toxins.
"You should be done by now." Snape's voice once again disrupted the magical silence. "Put your things away, then pour your potion into a labeled flask and leave it on my desk when you leave."
Draika poured the sinister-looking black potion into her flask, noting with amusement and a snicker that Neville's was somehow a bright, acid green. As the bell rang she put the flask carefully on Snape's desk and left the room in a delightful mood.
In almost no time at all her books were back in her dormitory and she was sitting with a nice big steak on her plate for dinner. As she took the first bite, she remembered the box Linwe had given her. Trying not to attract attention, Draika drew it out of her robes and lifted the lid to see a dazzling glow. It was another necklace! She had to use all her self-control to keep from gasping. These were EXTREMELY rare, especially one so new and bright. She clasped a hand around it to stifle the glow, slipping it quickly over her neck and into her robes. She removed the old one with less care. With a start, she realized her old one had stopped glowing altogether, and crusted with a black, flaky substance.
Under the necklace had been a note:
'It is most important to your future and safety that we meet. Go to the edge of the forest at midnight. I will send a friend of mine to guide you to me. Do not bring anyone, and I beg you to stay out of the forest until your guide comes.'
Draika suddenly wasn't hungry. She stood up and left the Great Hall, heading to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey put new bandages on her arms, frowning.
"They're not healing properly." She explained to Draika. "I'd like you to spend the night here, just for observation." She shook her head in confusion. "I've never seen anything like this…you say you were the one that cast the spell?"
"Yes." Draika was impatient and reluctant to spend the night in the hospital. How would she get to the forest?
"I just don't understand…it's odd, that's all." She said when she saw the worried look on Draika's face. "I'll get you a nightgown and set up some curtains." She left before Draika could protest.
Sighing, the girl decided to just go with the flow…maybe it would turn out to an advantage. She sat down on the bed closest to the window. The raindrops were smaller but just as numerous; the wind had only let up a little. She flinched at an unexpected roar of thunder. Maybe it would be too stormy to go out…but then what would happen? She might never get another chance to talk to this person.
Madam Pomfrey came back in with a plain white nightgown and conjured some curtains for around Draika's bed.
"There you go…lights out is a bit early here, but you'll need it." She smiled and patted Draika's back gently, then went back to her office. Draika did not put the nightgown on, but she did crawl into the sheets immediately. If Madam Pomfrey thought she was asleep, the lights might go out earlier. Whether or not that happened, however, is unknown to her because she really did fall asleep.
When she woke up it was eleven thirty, according to her watch. The wind sounded fierce and the rain was falling amidst crashes of thunder. She carefully got up and arranged the blankets to make it look like she was still there, sleeping. Satisfied, Draika tiptoed to the door. It was locked, but it was easy enough for her to unlock.
"Alohomora!" She left it slightly ajar, for some reason unbeknownst to her. It just seemed like a good idea. She pressed against the walls as she made her way to the large wooden doors that opened onto the school grounds.
As the doors opened, a sharp gust of wind nearly blew Draika off her feet. Keeping a firm grip on the doors, she managed to get outside and then shut them again. Bending her head against the strong winds and stinging raindrops, she began the long walk to the edge of the forest, and the first revelation.