Chapter six – a hectic day
Lilly woke early the next morning; she stretched in the morning light and hummed the Japanese theme to Evangelion. At the end of her bed there was a letter, she picked it up and opened it.
Lilly Here is your timetable for after school lessons:
Lilly rumbled to herself before stuffing it in her bag, she also put her wand, parchment, ink, quills, books and a water bottle in as well. She then got up and went to the little sink in one corner; she washed her face then changed into her uniform. The others woke up as she was putting her tie on; they stretched and yawned. "Good morning," said Hermione "Morning," grinned Lilly, pulling on her boots Hermione got dressed quickly and Lilly only had to wait for a few minutes. They walked down to breakfast together and Lilly was just tucking into a bacon, sausage and brown sauce sandwich. Suddenly, a torrent of owls poured through the hall landing in front of some people. Lilly almost yelped when one landed in front of her,
Dear Lilly, This letter will read differently to anyone else who reads it but you; this is basically a guide on how to approaching Mercury.
Lilly sighed at the measly few paragraphs of information and put it in her bag, then finished off her pumpkin juice, their first lesson was potions with Slytherin. Lilly fell instep beside Harry this time, "Hi," she said "Hello," he said, his usual cold self "How are you?" she asked "Fine," he said simply There was a big gap "You?" he finally asked out of courtesy "Okay I guess, it's hard to fit in when you're me." She said He finally actually looked at her, "How do you mean?" he'd softened the tiniest bit, which made it easier to talk to him. "Well, I'm shy, I've started really late, I'm a bit of a mutant and just general blah." She said "I wouldn't say you're a mutant, I always pictured mutants as ugly." He said "Thanks," she smiled, taking it as a compliment They reached Potions and lined up outside A white skinny blond approached them, sneering. "You know Lilly, it isn't a good idea for you to hang out with these losers, why don't you sit with me in potions?" "Because I'm already going to be sitting with someone else," "Shame, we could have been great friends..." he grinned, "Potter and his cronies are of a shoddy comparison," "That I doubt," she said, grinning, bearing her teeth for all their glory "Shit!" he said, almost jumping back "Oh, I'm so sorry, did I frighten poor little lambykins?" she said, putting her head on one side. He stalked off to the Slytherin side of the door. Professor Snape appeared just a few seconds later and they filed inside. Lilly sat with Keiley and got out her books and cauldron. The lesson was long and difficult for Lilly because she was two years behind in knowledge. "Oh dear Mortimer, you do have some catching up to do. Well at least you have some understanding of the subject." Snapped Snape when he passed She went a little pink and buried her nose in her book Otherwise the lesson was fine, apart from the difficult assignment set on sleeping potions for homework. She was glad to leave the dingy room and step out into the day light for herbology. She found it a simple lesson, apart from her wings getting somewhat in the way. She was glad to be free of the confines when it was time for lunch; she ate quickly and went outside, she wanted a little time to herself. She walked round the lake flexing her many wings, she saw a tentacle rise from the depths and she only just managed to stop her self from yelling. She decided to walk away from the lake after that, she kept flexing and flapping her wings and she giggled when the motion lifted her clean off the ground for a few seconds. This made her decide to find a secluded spot to see what they could really do, she had some trouble with her take off at first but she found that if she ran and jumped and flapped she could catch the wind and soar. She gasped as she soared upwards above the roof of the school, then swooped back down to land, she hit the ground a little too hard and she fell back into the grass, but she laughed anyhow. She happily returned to school just in time to catch Hermione as she headed up the stairs. "Heya," she grinned "Why so joyful?" asked Hermione "Cause I can fly!" said Lilly beaming "Wow, cool." Breathed Hermione They walked along corridors and up stairs until they finally got to the correct room, in the line outside there was much discussion over whom the new teacher would be. Apparently there was some sought of curse which caused each teacher to leave, lose all of their memory or even die. Silence fell when the door swung open; there stood a tall lady with long black hair. The class filed in and sat, "Good afternoon class, my name is Professor Kielty and I'm your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. I understand that you've covered many creatures and even the unforgivable curses. However, you have never studied drugs. I know this isn't really a defence against the dark arts topic but it is required for your NEWTS. Please take quick notes as I go. Some of you will probably have heard of some illegal Muggle drugs, such as Cannabis, Cocaine, LSD, Heroine, Rhohipnol etc. There are 'drugs' much like these in the magical world, which are also illegal. There are your Class D personal use drugs, which are partly legal, like Gnome's Gold, which is a depressant. This just means it enhances the mood you are already in, a lot like alcohol or Nicotine. It's legal to take it if you are 21 and it can only be bought in extremely small amounts at a time. Apothecaries usually have a personality recognition system so that people can't buy more than one dose every three days. A similar drug is King's rose, this is a very mild hallucinogenic as well as a depressant. This isn't as readily available and can only be bought once a week and has to be taken on the premises of the special Rose bar. You have to be 21 and a week since you took any to even enter one of these bars. I would give you some more examples but we have to get through four more classes, which are a little more complicated, are there any questions about Class D drugs?" she asked "Is cannabis used by magical people?" asked a curious boy at the back of the class "More often than most magical drugs as it is so easy to get hold of, it is the way with all muggle drugs." She said, "Any more...Okay, moving on to Class C, none of the drugs in this class are legal, one example of these is faerie dust, as in real faerie dust. This is a Hallucinogenic Narcotic, it isn't as potent as this description makes it sound, but it still has its affects. It's like Ecstasy to a muggle; it makes you very happy, makes you see things like bunnies and stuff and acts as an aphrodisiac. However it causes brain damage if it is taken too often, in some cases it takes one dose to cause brain damage. Another example of a class C drug is Mermaid's blood; it has little to do with mermaids and is actually extracted from a rare breed of sea kelp. It is a strong aphrodisiac and enhances and prolongs orgasms." There was scattered sniggering which Kielty ignored. "However it also causes irreparable paralysis and nerve damage. The third and final example of a class C drug is Dragon smoke; this causes the taker to believe they are something that they are not. It doesn't have any primary health threats, but it can make people believe they can fly with out a broom/walk through fire without a spell/Break their spine and not die etc. Any questions? Good...this brings us to Class B drugs; these are all extremely strong, extremely dangerous drugs. My first example is fire flower; these flowers grow in places like The Amazon and Malaysia. They are very distinctive flowers with bright fiery orange and red petals with green spiral fronds growing from the middle. These are used to look like nectar carrying fronds; so small animals go near them, only to be trapped inside and digested. When the fronds and petals are dried and ground to a powder they are snorted in through the nose and cause the subject to have huge feelings of extreme happiness and empathy. However it will eventually eat away at the subject's lungs until they die. My second example of a class B drug is Virgin's cherries. These are berry like fruit, which are distinctly turquoise in colour; they give the subject orgasms but can also cause them to fall asleep forever. They still live in the way that they breathe and their heart beats, but it is impossible to wake them up, ever, there isn't a case that has. Any questions?" "When they fall asleep do they age? Do they die from old age?" "No, they sleep, for ever and ever and ever. Un less you kill them deliberately, they cannot catch disease but they can die from Mortal injury." She said, "Finally we have reached Class A of the personal use magical drugs. I've been given special permission to educate you in this, as it is a drug that is kept incredibly quiet by the government. It is the only drug in its class. Lucifer's Breath is a highly potent Hallucinogenic, the effect lasts for a week and the only known subject to have survived long enough to tell anyone said they experienced complete paralysis and multiple prolonged orgasms over the entire week. However they died, from old age, because that is what it does, it causes the subject to age at a phenomenal rate until they turn to dust. The more horrible thing is that when someone breathed in the dust they went into a similar state of paralysis and orgasm for one day, they aged 20 years and experienced a number of health risked until they died after one month, they died because they took too much dust, they had become addicted and stored as much as possible in a box and took it every other day. Any questions?" "How available is it through the black market?" "The government has made it almost impossible to obtain, but there are still some cases where people have taken it. In all but one of these the dust has been cleared completely." "When a person dies from taking the dust do they turn in to dust which can be taken in turn?" "No, it's said that their bodies stay perfectly preserved, once a body of a person who'd died from taking the dust was stolen and a person had written in a diary after drinking their blood that they had had orgasms and experienced paralysis of the legs. Anymore? Okay...our last class is manipulative drugs. There are only two known ones, the first is bone dust, which puts the victim in a conscious state of helplessness, they can feel and know exactly what is going on, but they can't move, see or scream. This mainly used by rapists. The second is Devil's seed, which has the same characteristics as Bone dust but when the victim is raped they give birth to a demon, they cannot have it aborted because it will only cause for several more demons to grow in it's place. Neither of these are detectable in any way, which is why you must always be careful not to leave drinks or food unattended and not to trust strangers. Any questions?" "What happens when Devil's seed is given to a guy?" "It causes them to go on a raping rampage and impregnates all of his victims with demons. Thankfully Devil's dust is incredibly rare and many experts believe it is extinct." And so the lesson continued, Professor Kielty taught the class haw to recognise each drug and even showed them how to make a potion that would neutralise a drink if you knew it had Bone Dust in it. The class exited at the end chattering excitedly about the lesson. Then they went on their way to Charms, it was a fairly simple and interesting subject for Lilly compared to others. They were soon leaving the class and returning to Griffindor tower. Lilly dumped her bag then trudged down to her defensive potions lesson, Snape quizzed her on ingredients then showed her how to make a temporary invisibility potion. The lesson wasn't as bad as the lesson during the day but Snape was still impatient with her lack of knowledge. Finally she was freed from the dungeon, Lilly had a quick shower in the prefect's bathroom before changing and going to dinner, she ate quickly so that she could have a quick walk in the grounds. She practised her flying in a secluded spot; she was having some difficulty practising gathering speed when Harry appeared round the corner. Lilly yelped and fell startled 10 feet down to the ground, "Oh! I'm sorry..." he said running to help her up "That's okay, I can't get the hang of this flying lark, I can hover and fly slowly and turn and go fairly high and stuff. But I can't gather speed very well." "Well you haven't had much chance to practise, you probably just need to get used to it." He said "I guess," "Have you tried running and jumping?" "Yeah, but I don't have much room to do much running in my secluded spot..." "Then do it in the open," "But I don't want to seem like I'm showing off..." "If anyone accuses you of showing off they can have a piece of me." "Really?" "Of course," "Cool, thanks Harry." She grinned making her way out into a more open area, she took a deep breath, stretched and got into running position. Then she took off, she pelted down the grass at high speed before jumping and spreading her wings and flapping as well as she could. She soared up, the adrenaline driving; she steadily gathered speed as she swooped over the lake, her hair streaming out behind her. She streaked upwards and Harry had become a teeny speck, she flew towards the large oak doors and swerved past before zooming up and over back to Harry. She landed carefully and grinned... "That was showing off," he teased She stuck her tongue out at him, "I couldn't help it, it felt so good." She grinned They walked back to school then Lilly realised she was going to be late for extra charms and took off. She finally finished Charms and Transfiguration and collapsed into a chair in the common room. "Hey Lilly...those extra lessons getting you down?" asked Fred "Uh-hu," she mumbled, "Only two more weeks of intensive learning then they ease it back a bit, until Christmas, then they completely tone it down. Can't wait..." she said, completely knackered, she felt tired, yet she didn't have the usual symptoms, she could think perfectly straight and all her senses were still very sharp. She went up stairs and had a quick wash, she changed and when she hit the sack she was almost immediately asleep. However, she had fitful dreams of Akira's spell. She remembered the green sheen and that growing ball of white light, and that boy, that black haired boy. She woke in a sweat at 4am, she stretched and lay back down, after trying for an hour she couldn't get back to sleep so she went for a long hot bath in the prefect's bathroom. She understood why there wasn't a separate bathroom for each sex, the bubbles were too damn dense to see a thing through and a potion in the water made alarms go off when ever a boy was being the slightest bit dodgy, in fact there was a plaque on the wall that read 'If there is any non accidental intimate touching of any kind, or if anyone tries to 'take a peak' then alarms will sound and the appropriate teachers will be informed immediately. Also, there is a disillusionment charm that falls on anyone is getting out of the bath' then in really teeny print 'disillusionment charm and potion not operational between 12.30am and 6am'. She was just relaxing in the hot water, perfumed bubbles of all shapes, sizes and colours floating around her, hoping no boy would come in when the door creaked open. She prayed that it wasn't a guy, but her luck was out. In fact it was very out. Actually it completely destroyed the guide for her mission. Who should walk in but none-other than Mercury? Her mouth fell open and she turned to face the opposite wall. "Oh, I didn't realise there was anyone else in here...you don't mind if I join you?" he asked, not that he waited for an answer before stripping off and lowering himself in. She could hear him wading around, when she turned round he was at the shallow end, soaping himself, the bubbles came up to his belly button and she almost made a weird 'meep...' sound when she saw his gorgeous torso. It was toned and gorgeous and slightly golden, well weirdly, it looked white yet it had a strange golden hue that made it almost shimmer. She decided to take her mind off it by washing her hair. She took out the chopsticks that held it up and placed them on the side, then she realised that she'd left her shampoo, conditioner and brush at the other end of the bath. She swam to the beginning of the shallow water then crouched and folded her wings around her body in order to keep her dignity. She finally came with in reach of what she wanted and grabbed them. She then went back to where it was deep enough to stand without flashing and massaged shampoo into her hair. She left it in and leant against the edge of the pool, her legs kicking out, her arms stretched along the side for a few minutes. It wasn't much later that she was combing the conditioner in and twisting her hair up and sticking the chopsticks back in, in order to let it deep moisturise. While she waited Mercury swam to her end of the pool, he watched her for a long while, making her feel very self-conscious. "What's your name?" he asked "Lilly..." she said quietly, "Yours?" "Mercury, you suffered from bottled magic...didn't you?" he said "Yeah, hence the wings," she didn't know why he had such an affect over her. "So did I, come here," he said "Umh..." "I'm not going to bite your head off," he said She swam a little closer; he turned his head and lifted the edge of his hair. There were two slits with grey scaly flaps over them. "Whoa...gills..." she said "They aren't very attractive...I like your results better, they're beautiful, just like you..." he went quiet at the end and went a bit pink, "I mean...I mean I don't mean...emh..." he trailed off So it was his turn to be shy "Thanks..." said Lilly quietly after a while "Can you really fly, my cousin Draco said he saw you flying this afternoon." "Yeah...I'm not too good yet, but I'll get the hang of it." She said "He also said that you wouldn't be friends with him," "Well..." "Good choice, he's a nasty little git." He said "Aaw, you speak so highly of your cousin," "He's a little shit," he said plainly, smiling "I don't know him, but I did get some dick-head vibes." She said "Most probable," Lilly rinsed the conditioner from her hair thoroughly and combed it through several times, she then put all her stuff in a group at the shallow end and standing just enough to wrap her towel round her she climbed out and went into a cubicle to dry off, moisturise and clothe herself. She had trouble drying her wings but she eventually got the hang of it. "See you round," she said It was 6am when she returned to the room, she changed into her track bottoms and a vest top, then went to the open window. She climbed up on to the ledge and looked down, she almost fell backwards; hundreds of feet blow laid the cold grass. She stood, clung to each side of the outer window frame. She leaned forwards, her heart was going a mile a minute, she spread her wings then jumped. She plummeted 50 feet before catching a draft and pumping her feathered appendages. She soared upwards, then swooped down, past hundreds of windows. The feeling was exhilarating, she almost screamed with delight as she soared away and over the treetops of the forest. She had one hour to get changed, have breakfast and get to her first lesson in time when she returned so she did so very quickly. The day passed slow and painful, after her last extra lesson Harry, Hermione and Ron decided to take her down to Hagrid's cabin for a visit. Hagrid, the games keeper, was half giant, they told. They trudged through the mud to the little log cabin and knocked on the door. The door swung open and a huge man stood there, he was twice as big as a normal man and at least three times as wide. His face was mostly concealed by a large amount of dark grizzly hair and beard, his beetle like eyes shined happily down on them, his beard shifting with his smile. "Come on in yeh lot!" he said "Hey Hagrid," said Hermione as the four of them filed inside the single room cabin, there was a fire and huge bed at one end and a table with some chairs around it at the other. "Ah, this mus' be Lilly, righ'? Si' down, d'yeh like a cuppa tea?" he asked They all nodded gratefully, the weather was getting decidedly nippy outside and they needed to warm them selves up. They talked to Hagrid for a long while, about what he'd been up to and the order of the phoenix. "Yeah, the bird is doin' well, 'specially 'cause o' our newest member!" he said winking at Lilly "Hagrid!" she said warningly, surprised. "Shouldn'a said tha'." "Lilly! Why didn't you say?!" asked Ron "I'm not allowed, don't ask me anything! I'm not giving any answers to your questions!" she said covering her ears. After an hour or so the four trudged back up to the castle and to bed. And so the next two weeks progressed, she began to get very tired and bored of the extra lessons. She tried her best to follow her mission guidelines, but failed so she changed it around completely, she spent the first two weeks observing and only making eye contact, with a quick hi in the corridor every now and again. Knowing that moving in to fast would make the intelligent boy suspicious.
Lilly woke early the next morning; she stretched in the morning light and hummed the Japanese theme to Evangelion. At the end of her bed there was a letter, she picked it up and opened it.
Lilly Here is your timetable for after school lessons:
Lilly rumbled to herself before stuffing it in her bag, she also put her wand, parchment, ink, quills, books and a water bottle in as well. She then got up and went to the little sink in one corner; she washed her face then changed into her uniform. The others woke up as she was putting her tie on; they stretched and yawned. "Good morning," said Hermione "Morning," grinned Lilly, pulling on her boots Hermione got dressed quickly and Lilly only had to wait for a few minutes. They walked down to breakfast together and Lilly was just tucking into a bacon, sausage and brown sauce sandwich. Suddenly, a torrent of owls poured through the hall landing in front of some people. Lilly almost yelped when one landed in front of her,
Dear Lilly, This letter will read differently to anyone else who reads it but you; this is basically a guide on how to approaching Mercury.
Lilly sighed at the measly few paragraphs of information and put it in her bag, then finished off her pumpkin juice, their first lesson was potions with Slytherin. Lilly fell instep beside Harry this time, "Hi," she said "Hello," he said, his usual cold self "How are you?" she asked "Fine," he said simply There was a big gap "You?" he finally asked out of courtesy "Okay I guess, it's hard to fit in when you're me." She said He finally actually looked at her, "How do you mean?" he'd softened the tiniest bit, which made it easier to talk to him. "Well, I'm shy, I've started really late, I'm a bit of a mutant and just general blah." She said "I wouldn't say you're a mutant, I always pictured mutants as ugly." He said "Thanks," she smiled, taking it as a compliment They reached Potions and lined up outside A white skinny blond approached them, sneering. "You know Lilly, it isn't a good idea for you to hang out with these losers, why don't you sit with me in potions?" "Because I'm already going to be sitting with someone else," "Shame, we could have been great friends..." he grinned, "Potter and his cronies are of a shoddy comparison," "That I doubt," she said, grinning, bearing her teeth for all their glory "Shit!" he said, almost jumping back "Oh, I'm so sorry, did I frighten poor little lambykins?" she said, putting her head on one side. He stalked off to the Slytherin side of the door. Professor Snape appeared just a few seconds later and they filed inside. Lilly sat with Keiley and got out her books and cauldron. The lesson was long and difficult for Lilly because she was two years behind in knowledge. "Oh dear Mortimer, you do have some catching up to do. Well at least you have some understanding of the subject." Snapped Snape when he passed She went a little pink and buried her nose in her book Otherwise the lesson was fine, apart from the difficult assignment set on sleeping potions for homework. She was glad to leave the dingy room and step out into the day light for herbology. She found it a simple lesson, apart from her wings getting somewhat in the way. She was glad to be free of the confines when it was time for lunch; she ate quickly and went outside, she wanted a little time to herself. She walked round the lake flexing her many wings, she saw a tentacle rise from the depths and she only just managed to stop her self from yelling. She decided to walk away from the lake after that, she kept flexing and flapping her wings and she giggled when the motion lifted her clean off the ground for a few seconds. This made her decide to find a secluded spot to see what they could really do, she had some trouble with her take off at first but she found that if she ran and jumped and flapped she could catch the wind and soar. She gasped as she soared upwards above the roof of the school, then swooped back down to land, she hit the ground a little too hard and she fell back into the grass, but she laughed anyhow. She happily returned to school just in time to catch Hermione as she headed up the stairs. "Heya," she grinned "Why so joyful?" asked Hermione "Cause I can fly!" said Lilly beaming "Wow, cool." Breathed Hermione They walked along corridors and up stairs until they finally got to the correct room, in the line outside there was much discussion over whom the new teacher would be. Apparently there was some sought of curse which caused each teacher to leave, lose all of their memory or even die. Silence fell when the door swung open; there stood a tall lady with long black hair. The class filed in and sat, "Good afternoon class, my name is Professor Kielty and I'm your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. I understand that you've covered many creatures and even the unforgivable curses. However, you have never studied drugs. I know this isn't really a defence against the dark arts topic but it is required for your NEWTS. Please take quick notes as I go. Some of you will probably have heard of some illegal Muggle drugs, such as Cannabis, Cocaine, LSD, Heroine, Rhohipnol etc. There are 'drugs' much like these in the magical world, which are also illegal. There are your Class D personal use drugs, which are partly legal, like Gnome's Gold, which is a depressant. This just means it enhances the mood you are already in, a lot like alcohol or Nicotine. It's legal to take it if you are 21 and it can only be bought in extremely small amounts at a time. Apothecaries usually have a personality recognition system so that people can't buy more than one dose every three days. A similar drug is King's rose, this is a very mild hallucinogenic as well as a depressant. This isn't as readily available and can only be bought once a week and has to be taken on the premises of the special Rose bar. You have to be 21 and a week since you took any to even enter one of these bars. I would give you some more examples but we have to get through four more classes, which are a little more complicated, are there any questions about Class D drugs?" she asked "Is cannabis used by magical people?" asked a curious boy at the back of the class "More often than most magical drugs as it is so easy to get hold of, it is the way with all muggle drugs." She said, "Any more...Okay, moving on to Class C, none of the drugs in this class are legal, one example of these is faerie dust, as in real faerie dust. This is a Hallucinogenic Narcotic, it isn't as potent as this description makes it sound, but it still has its affects. It's like Ecstasy to a muggle; it makes you very happy, makes you see things like bunnies and stuff and acts as an aphrodisiac. However it causes brain damage if it is taken too often, in some cases it takes one dose to cause brain damage. Another example of a class C drug is Mermaid's blood; it has little to do with mermaids and is actually extracted from a rare breed of sea kelp. It is a strong aphrodisiac and enhances and prolongs orgasms." There was scattered sniggering which Kielty ignored. "However it also causes irreparable paralysis and nerve damage. The third and final example of a class C drug is Dragon smoke; this causes the taker to believe they are something that they are not. It doesn't have any primary health threats, but it can make people believe they can fly with out a broom/walk through fire without a spell/Break their spine and not die etc. Any questions? Good...this brings us to Class B drugs; these are all extremely strong, extremely dangerous drugs. My first example is fire flower; these flowers grow in places like The Amazon and Malaysia. They are very distinctive flowers with bright fiery orange and red petals with green spiral fronds growing from the middle. These are used to look like nectar carrying fronds; so small animals go near them, only to be trapped inside and digested. When the fronds and petals are dried and ground to a powder they are snorted in through the nose and cause the subject to have huge feelings of extreme happiness and empathy. However it will eventually eat away at the subject's lungs until they die. My second example of a class B drug is Virgin's cherries. These are berry like fruit, which are distinctly turquoise in colour; they give the subject orgasms but can also cause them to fall asleep forever. They still live in the way that they breathe and their heart beats, but it is impossible to wake them up, ever, there isn't a case that has. Any questions?" "When they fall asleep do they age? Do they die from old age?" "No, they sleep, for ever and ever and ever. Un less you kill them deliberately, they cannot catch disease but they can die from Mortal injury." She said, "Finally we have reached Class A of the personal use magical drugs. I've been given special permission to educate you in this, as it is a drug that is kept incredibly quiet by the government. It is the only drug in its class. Lucifer's Breath is a highly potent Hallucinogenic, the effect lasts for a week and the only known subject to have survived long enough to tell anyone said they experienced complete paralysis and multiple prolonged orgasms over the entire week. However they died, from old age, because that is what it does, it causes the subject to age at a phenomenal rate until they turn to dust. The more horrible thing is that when someone breathed in the dust they went into a similar state of paralysis and orgasm for one day, they aged 20 years and experienced a number of health risked until they died after one month, they died because they took too much dust, they had become addicted and stored as much as possible in a box and took it every other day. Any questions?" "How available is it through the black market?" "The government has made it almost impossible to obtain, but there are still some cases where people have taken it. In all but one of these the dust has been cleared completely." "When a person dies from taking the dust do they turn in to dust which can be taken in turn?" "No, it's said that their bodies stay perfectly preserved, once a body of a person who'd died from taking the dust was stolen and a person had written in a diary after drinking their blood that they had had orgasms and experienced paralysis of the legs. Anymore? Okay...our last class is manipulative drugs. There are only two known ones, the first is bone dust, which puts the victim in a conscious state of helplessness, they can feel and know exactly what is going on, but they can't move, see or scream. This mainly used by rapists. The second is Devil's seed, which has the same characteristics as Bone dust but when the victim is raped they give birth to a demon, they cannot have it aborted because it will only cause for several more demons to grow in it's place. Neither of these are detectable in any way, which is why you must always be careful not to leave drinks or food unattended and not to trust strangers. Any questions?" "What happens when Devil's seed is given to a guy?" "It causes them to go on a raping rampage and impregnates all of his victims with demons. Thankfully Devil's dust is incredibly rare and many experts believe it is extinct." And so the lesson continued, Professor Kielty taught the class haw to recognise each drug and even showed them how to make a potion that would neutralise a drink if you knew it had Bone Dust in it. The class exited at the end chattering excitedly about the lesson. Then they went on their way to Charms, it was a fairly simple and interesting subject for Lilly compared to others. They were soon leaving the class and returning to Griffindor tower. Lilly dumped her bag then trudged down to her defensive potions lesson, Snape quizzed her on ingredients then showed her how to make a temporary invisibility potion. The lesson wasn't as bad as the lesson during the day but Snape was still impatient with her lack of knowledge. Finally she was freed from the dungeon, Lilly had a quick shower in the prefect's bathroom before changing and going to dinner, she ate quickly so that she could have a quick walk in the grounds. She practised her flying in a secluded spot; she was having some difficulty practising gathering speed when Harry appeared round the corner. Lilly yelped and fell startled 10 feet down to the ground, "Oh! I'm sorry..." he said running to help her up "That's okay, I can't get the hang of this flying lark, I can hover and fly slowly and turn and go fairly high and stuff. But I can't gather speed very well." "Well you haven't had much chance to practise, you probably just need to get used to it." He said "I guess," "Have you tried running and jumping?" "Yeah, but I don't have much room to do much running in my secluded spot..." "Then do it in the open," "But I don't want to seem like I'm showing off..." "If anyone accuses you of showing off they can have a piece of me." "Really?" "Of course," "Cool, thanks Harry." She grinned making her way out into a more open area, she took a deep breath, stretched and got into running position. Then she took off, she pelted down the grass at high speed before jumping and spreading her wings and flapping as well as she could. She soared up, the adrenaline driving; she steadily gathered speed as she swooped over the lake, her hair streaming out behind her. She streaked upwards and Harry had become a teeny speck, she flew towards the large oak doors and swerved past before zooming up and over back to Harry. She landed carefully and grinned... "That was showing off," he teased She stuck her tongue out at him, "I couldn't help it, it felt so good." She grinned They walked back to school then Lilly realised she was going to be late for extra charms and took off. She finally finished Charms and Transfiguration and collapsed into a chair in the common room. "Hey Lilly...those extra lessons getting you down?" asked Fred "Uh-hu," she mumbled, "Only two more weeks of intensive learning then they ease it back a bit, until Christmas, then they completely tone it down. Can't wait..." she said, completely knackered, she felt tired, yet she didn't have the usual symptoms, she could think perfectly straight and all her senses were still very sharp. She went up stairs and had a quick wash, she changed and when she hit the sack she was almost immediately asleep. However, she had fitful dreams of Akira's spell. She remembered the green sheen and that growing ball of white light, and that boy, that black haired boy. She woke in a sweat at 4am, she stretched and lay back down, after trying for an hour she couldn't get back to sleep so she went for a long hot bath in the prefect's bathroom. She understood why there wasn't a separate bathroom for each sex, the bubbles were too damn dense to see a thing through and a potion in the water made alarms go off when ever a boy was being the slightest bit dodgy, in fact there was a plaque on the wall that read 'If there is any non accidental intimate touching of any kind, or if anyone tries to 'take a peak' then alarms will sound and the appropriate teachers will be informed immediately. Also, there is a disillusionment charm that falls on anyone is getting out of the bath' then in really teeny print 'disillusionment charm and potion not operational between 12.30am and 6am'. She was just relaxing in the hot water, perfumed bubbles of all shapes, sizes and colours floating around her, hoping no boy would come in when the door creaked open. She prayed that it wasn't a guy, but her luck was out. In fact it was very out. Actually it completely destroyed the guide for her mission. Who should walk in but none-other than Mercury? Her mouth fell open and she turned to face the opposite wall. "Oh, I didn't realise there was anyone else in here...you don't mind if I join you?" he asked, not that he waited for an answer before stripping off and lowering himself in. She could hear him wading around, when she turned round he was at the shallow end, soaping himself, the bubbles came up to his belly button and she almost made a weird 'meep...' sound when she saw his gorgeous torso. It was toned and gorgeous and slightly golden, well weirdly, it looked white yet it had a strange golden hue that made it almost shimmer. She decided to take her mind off it by washing her hair. She took out the chopsticks that held it up and placed them on the side, then she realised that she'd left her shampoo, conditioner and brush at the other end of the bath. She swam to the beginning of the shallow water then crouched and folded her wings around her body in order to keep her dignity. She finally came with in reach of what she wanted and grabbed them. She then went back to where it was deep enough to stand without flashing and massaged shampoo into her hair. She left it in and leant against the edge of the pool, her legs kicking out, her arms stretched along the side for a few minutes. It wasn't much later that she was combing the conditioner in and twisting her hair up and sticking the chopsticks back in, in order to let it deep moisturise. While she waited Mercury swam to her end of the pool, he watched her for a long while, making her feel very self-conscious. "What's your name?" he asked "Lilly..." she said quietly, "Yours?" "Mercury, you suffered from bottled magic...didn't you?" he said "Yeah, hence the wings," she didn't know why he had such an affect over her. "So did I, come here," he said "Umh..." "I'm not going to bite your head off," he said She swam a little closer; he turned his head and lifted the edge of his hair. There were two slits with grey scaly flaps over them. "Whoa...gills..." she said "They aren't very attractive...I like your results better, they're beautiful, just like you..." he went quiet at the end and went a bit pink, "I mean...I mean I don't mean...emh..." he trailed off So it was his turn to be shy "Thanks..." said Lilly quietly after a while "Can you really fly, my cousin Draco said he saw you flying this afternoon." "Yeah...I'm not too good yet, but I'll get the hang of it." She said "He also said that you wouldn't be friends with him," "Well..." "Good choice, he's a nasty little git." He said "Aaw, you speak so highly of your cousin," "He's a little shit," he said plainly, smiling "I don't know him, but I did get some dick-head vibes." She said "Most probable," Lilly rinsed the conditioner from her hair thoroughly and combed it through several times, she then put all her stuff in a group at the shallow end and standing just enough to wrap her towel round her she climbed out and went into a cubicle to dry off, moisturise and clothe herself. She had trouble drying her wings but she eventually got the hang of it. "See you round," she said It was 6am when she returned to the room, she changed into her track bottoms and a vest top, then went to the open window. She climbed up on to the ledge and looked down, she almost fell backwards; hundreds of feet blow laid the cold grass. She stood, clung to each side of the outer window frame. She leaned forwards, her heart was going a mile a minute, she spread her wings then jumped. She plummeted 50 feet before catching a draft and pumping her feathered appendages. She soared upwards, then swooped down, past hundreds of windows. The feeling was exhilarating, she almost screamed with delight as she soared away and over the treetops of the forest. She had one hour to get changed, have breakfast and get to her first lesson in time when she returned so she did so very quickly. The day passed slow and painful, after her last extra lesson Harry, Hermione and Ron decided to take her down to Hagrid's cabin for a visit. Hagrid, the games keeper, was half giant, they told. They trudged through the mud to the little log cabin and knocked on the door. The door swung open and a huge man stood there, he was twice as big as a normal man and at least three times as wide. His face was mostly concealed by a large amount of dark grizzly hair and beard, his beetle like eyes shined happily down on them, his beard shifting with his smile. "Come on in yeh lot!" he said "Hey Hagrid," said Hermione as the four of them filed inside the single room cabin, there was a fire and huge bed at one end and a table with some chairs around it at the other. "Ah, this mus' be Lilly, righ'? Si' down, d'yeh like a cuppa tea?" he asked They all nodded gratefully, the weather was getting decidedly nippy outside and they needed to warm them selves up. They talked to Hagrid for a long while, about what he'd been up to and the order of the phoenix. "Yeah, the bird is doin' well, 'specially 'cause o' our newest member!" he said winking at Lilly "Hagrid!" she said warningly, surprised. "Shouldn'a said tha'." "Lilly! Why didn't you say?!" asked Ron "I'm not allowed, don't ask me anything! I'm not giving any answers to your questions!" she said covering her ears. After an hour or so the four trudged back up to the castle and to bed. And so the next two weeks progressed, she began to get very tired and bored of the extra lessons. She tried her best to follow her mission guidelines, but failed so she changed it around completely, she spent the first two weeks observing and only making eye contact, with a quick hi in the corridor every now and again. Knowing that moving in to fast would make the intelligent boy suspicious.