She looked at him, trying to gage his reaction.
Harry looked at her in disbelief. 'Really?' the exact same thing had
happened to him.
'Yes,' Claire said anxiously. 'It said that I could do well in Slytherin because I have a desire to fulfill my ambitions. But it decided that because I have an equally strong desire to do the right thing and it could sense courage in me, it decided I would be better off in Gryffindor. Are you shocked? Is this bad?'
'I am shocked,' Harry admitted, 'but only because the same thing happened to me.' Claire stared at him. 'Seriously?' Harry nodded. 'It said I'd do well in Slytherin, but I asked it not to place me there. So it put me in Gryffindor. I did worry that I should have been in Slytherin, especially when everyone thought I was Slytherin's heir because I speak Parselmouth. But Dumbledore told me that it is our choices that make us who we are. So I suppose because I didn't want to be in Slytherin, I'm not a true Slytherin anyway.'
'I was kinda hoping I would be in Gryffindor,' Claire mused. 'Strange that it should happen to the both of us though.'
'Yeah,' Harry agreed.
'I knew you'd be the right person to tell,' Claire smiled. 'I was going to tell Uncle Severus, but I think he might have been even more disappointed if he knew I was nearly in Slytherin, but then got put in Gryffindor instead. He probably would have made me put the Sorting Hat on again, just to make sure.'
'Yeah,' Harry grinned. 'Listen, Claire, can I ask you something?'
'Sure,' Claire consented.
'How come you could see the winged horses that pull the carriages?' Claire looked down. 'Listen Harry, I'm not being horrible, but I'm really not ready to talk about that yet. Maybe one day.but not now.'
'Okay, I'm sorry,' Harry said understandingly. 'I know it's a personal question, it's just I don't know many people who can see them.'
'I will tell you,' Claire assured him. 'When I'm ready.' Harry nodded.
The next day, Harry, Hermione and Claire had Potions first thing, and Ron had Care of Magical Creatures. They checked the notice board, and it said that General Studies was Care of Magical Creatures so the other three arranged to meet Ron after their Potions lesson.
'Why oh why did I chose to do Potions?' Harry asked Ron glumly before they parted. 'I must be mad.' Ron shook his head. 'I hate to say it mate, but I think so too.' The three students made their way down to the Dungeons. Not surprisingly, there were more Slytherin's there than there had been in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry suspected most Slytherin's were more interested in performing the Dark Arts, rather than protecting themselves from them. Among the Slytherin's there of course, was Draco Malfoy, who sat a little way in front of Harry, Claire and Hermione, who sat with Claire in the middle. When Professor Snape walked in, a big smile lit up Claire's face at the exact same moment Harry's heart sunk.
'I only accept students who got the highest grades in Potions at O.W.L level,' he addressed the class, 'so the expected standard this year will be much higher.' He looked at Claire with pride. 'Of course for the naturally gifted among you, this will not be hard. But on the most part, you will all be expected to work very hard.' Malfoy turned around and looked at Claire. He looked disgusted that she was sitting with Harry and Hermione; he probably thought the cream of the Potions class should be sitting together.
That lesson they had to make a Calmness Potions, which could calm a person for an hour. Harry could see what Snape meant about having to work hard, it was a much more complicated potion than Harry was used to. But he put all his concentration into making it, determined to do well. Snape as usual was prowling round the class, and when he came over to Claire, he looked into her cauldron with pride.
'This is very good Claire,' he said. Claire grinned. 'Thank you Unc- Professor Snape.'
'Tell me honestly, did they teach you to make this potion in America?'
'No,' Claire shook her head.
'Well,' Snape smiled. 'It's very good.' He then passed Hermione, who had brewed a perfect potion without comment.
'Needs more Knarlskin Potter,' he said as he walked by. Harry looked down into his cauldron. His potion looked exactly the same as Claire's. Angrily, he opened the jar of Knarlskin, and threw some more in. At the end of the lesson they all had to give in a sample of their Potion. Snape looked at Harry's potion with a little contempt.
'When I told you to put in more Knarlskin Potter, I didn't mean a whole jar-full.' Next he took Claire's.
'Nicely done Claire,' he nodded and smiled. Trying to control his rising temper, Harry went back to his cauldron and cleaned up his things.
'Don't worry Harry,' Hermione whispered to him. 'I thought you did a pretty good job at that potion, it was a very hard one.' Harry smiled. 'Thanks.' At the end of the lesson, Snape held back to talk to her for a moment. Harry and Hermione waited in the corridor for her, and they could see her talking to her uncle and giggling.
'She does bring out the best in him,' Hermione said. 'It's a pity she's the only one he shows that nice side to.'
'Yeah,' Harry muttered, still annoyed about Snape's comments. 'Well no wonder, he probably hasn't got much of a nice side.'
'I think Claire would disagree with you,' Hermione said, looking at them. A moment later, Claire emerged from the dungeon, a smile on her face. 'Okay, so where's Care of Magical Creatures?'
They walked out of the main school and out onto the grounds. It was a cool morning and the air was still.
'Gosh,' Claire said, looking up at the cloudy sky. 'I'd forgotten how cold it is over here. Where I lived, it was still scorching even this late in the year.'
'It must have been so nice,' Hermione sighed. It wasn't long before they were down at Hagrid's hut. The Care of Magical Creatures class was already standing around. Harry, Hermione and Claire went over to Ron and Neville.
'Hi guys,' Ron said. 'How was Potions?'
'Terrible,' Harry said, at the same time as Claire said,
'Great!' Ron raised an eyebrow. 'Well Hagrid's been showing us Jaglings.'
'Jaglings?' Harry queried. Ron pointed to a large cage that everyone was gathered around. He peered over Hannah Abbot's head to see what was inside. There was about a dozen of them, prowling around in the cage. They were the size of very small dogs but they had the skin of baby rats, pink and wrinkled and covered thinly with a layer of barely visible white hair. They had tiny little heads, but they opened out into a massive mouth. They bared their teeth at one another, which were extremely large for the size of their body, and snapped their powerful looking jaws. Hagrid was trying to spilt up two, which had gotten into a particularly nasty fight, but it looked like he was getting worse injuries than both of them in the process.
It wasn't long before all of the sixth years were there, and Hagrid looked up from his task.
'Ah, right, so you're all here then? Okay, well I've just been showing my class this group of Jaglings. Now these creatures, as you can see from the way thery're fightin', aren't really sociable animals. It's very rare to see two or more together. And can anyone who was in my class tell us why?' He looked around. Every student's face was blank. 'Anyone?' Ron sighed, and as he knew no one else was going to, he raised his hand. Hagrid smiled at him. 'Thank you Ron.'
'They usually live by themselves because they don't like competition for food. If there are two or more in an area, they will fight for their territory, to the death if neither of them back down.'
'Very good,' Hagrid nodded. 'And some wizards keep 'em as pets, does anyone know why?' This time, Neville raised his hand. 'Because they will eat anything and they can be used for waste disposal.'
'That's right Neville. Although less people do these days, after an unfortunate incident when a wizard fed his Jagling so much it grew to an very large size and ate his car.' Hagrid cleared his throat. 'Now, who would like to feed one?'
After General Studies, the sixth years all walked back up to the school for lunch.
'That was a real waste of time,' Harry heard Draco Malfoy saying loudly. 'I might ask if I can have free periods instead of General Studies if I have to put up with lessons like that.' Claire looked back at him in surprise. 'That's pretty mean,' she said to Harry and Ron (Hermione was talking to Neville). 'You could see Hagrid was really trying.'
'That's Malfoy for you,' Ron told her. They walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the table. The enchanted sky above them was getting increasingly cloudy. They ate their lunch and Ron told them about how a Jagling had nearly bitten off Neville's hand. After lunch they had a free period, and Hermione asked the others to help her do her Defense the Against the Dark Arts homework, writing a list of the topics they'd covered.
'Would you say we have covered werewolves?' she asked. 'I mean Snape did go over them with us that time.'
'Yeah, I'd say so,' Ron said, flicking through Magical Creatures and Their Aliments. As they hadn't known what subjects they had been doing when they bought their books, they had only been instructed to buy general magic books and they would have to use the library as their main source of material.
'What have we got after lunch?' Claire asked.
'Free period,' Harry told her, after looking briefly at his timetable.
'Well we might as well stay here then,' Hermione said, looking up from her parchment. Claire looked at her watch. 'I've got to go and meet Uncle Severus in 20 minutes, he said he's got me something to say well done for getting into all my subjects. But I think he's just pleased I'm doing Potions.'
'What do you think he's got you?' Ron asked. Claire shrugged. 'Knowing Uncle Severus, it'll be something good though!'
She was right. After 20 minutes in the library, Claire went down to the dungeons to meet her uncle. A while later she returned, a small ball of fluff in her arms.
'What have you got there, Claire,' Harry asked as she sat down.
'It's a cat,' Claire said happily. Sure enough, it raised a tiny black head and blinked it's beady black eyes. It was a small kitten, mainly black apart from it's white paws and underbelly which went up to around it's nose.
'It's so cute,' Hermione gushed, going over to stroke it. 'What are you going to call it?'
'He's a boy, so I thought Calvin' Claire told them.
'Aw, he's a little friend for Crookshanks,' Hermione smiled.
'I wouldn't let him get near Crookshanks,' Ron advised. Hermione glared at him.
Their next Potions lessons was after a General Studies lesson of Divination. Harry had thought he would never have to sit in that stuffy room every again, and seeing Trelawney struck a painful chord with him. She reminded him of the prophecy which Harry had found out about last year, that either he would kill, or be killed by Voldemort. This also reminded him of Sirius' death, something he was only managing to cope with by trying not to remember.
The previous day they had a General Studies lesson of Transfiguration, and then Defense Against the Dark Arts where they practiced more spells, some Harry had done before and some he hadn't. It felt good to be practicing defensive spells and Harry was sure that the more he did them, the better he got.
'That was weird,' Claire said, as they left Divination in the aromatic tower room. 'I haven't done Divination like this before, I didn't think it was going to be so.'
'I know, we had it for two years,' Ron sighed. 'Well I've got Care of Magical Creatures now, so I'll see you guys later.' Harry sighed as they walked down to the dungeons, wishing he could be going out with Ron into the fresh air. Snape was being even nicer to Claire than usual, which Harry found sickening.
'I hope you liked your present, Claire,' he said, as they walked into the dungeon at the beginning of the lesson.
'He's lovely Uncle Severus,' Claire smiled sincerely.
'Good,' Snape smiled. They all went and took their seats.
'Now class,' Snape said, getting to his feet. 'To start the lesson, I have checked that the claming potions that you all made in our last class are safe, and I have found that none of them are poisonous in any way, so you will all now test your own.' He handed each student the small container of liquid, which they had given him at the end of their last lesson. Harry looked at his, it was the same sky blue colour and just a little to watery. He uncorked it and looked at Hermione, who was now drinking her perfect concoction. Claire was just about to drink hers. For a brief moment, Harry almost felt like stopping her. Hadn't hers been the same sky blue as his as the ends of the last lesson, not the baby blue it now was? But he shook the thought from his head. Snape had said they were all drinkable and he must have just given her someone else's by mistake. Harry drank the potion he had created. It tasted sweet and warm, and he could feel it going down into him and spreading through his body. It filled him with peacefulness and suddenly he felt relaxed and mellow.
'Wow, this is good stuff,' Hermione said beside him. But not in her usual harsh tone, but slower.
Harry looked around him. Most of the class just looked relaxed and calm, but Crabbe seemed to have made his too strong, for he was falling asleep at his desk.
'For the next ten minutes,' Snape instructed them, 'I want you to observe and record the effects of this potion. I have something to do,' and with that, he left the room.
'Well, that's not too hard for ten minutes work,' Hermione said. 'Write down the effects of a calming potion.'
'What do you think, Claire,' Harry asked, turning to her. But she was not there. She was walking from her desk, over to where Draco Malfoy was sitting, his legs outstretched. Harry watched as she walked over to him, lent down on his desk, and whispered something in his ear. He laughed, and she giggled, running her hand through her hair.
'What's Claire doing?' Hermione frowned. Harry shrugged, too calm from the potion to really be affected. 'Talking to Draco.' Something inside him told him this was wrong, that he should get to his feet and go over there, but he felt so tranquil that he just wanted to let her be. She would come back. They had already established that Claire wanted nothing to do with Draco. But after several minutes, she still wasn't back. In fact, she had pulled up a spare stool and was sitting down beside Draco.
'Why is she sitting with him?' Harry asked Hermione, who was writing leisurely on a piece of parchment.
'I don't know,' she sighed. 'Maybe she wants to talk to him about something.'
'Maybe,' Harry agreed. But the warmness, which had spread to his every vein, was now cooling, and his calmness was fading. He was starting to feel anxious. He had been dreading so much before arriving at Hogwarts seeing Claire sitting there beside Draco, and now she was. Maybe was she just trying to be friendly, or maybe she was asking him why he had been so mean to Hagrid. But there was something in the way she was giggling so loud that Harry could hear, and the way she was stroking the back of her neck that told Harry that something was wrong. She seemed to be flirting with him! Harry's blood ran cold. Suddenly Snape came back into the room, and Harry realised he hadn't written any reactions he had had to the now fast wearing off potion. Just before he grabbed his quill to quickly scribble some words on his parchment, he was sure he saw Snape shoot a satisfied look at Claire who was smiling at Draco.
Claire stayed over at the front with Draco for the rest of the lesson, and the moment Snape had dismissed them, she walked over, grabbed her bag and walked away before either Harry or Hermione could say anything.
'Claire!' Harry called after her, but she didn't turn. Later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. Claire had been gone for a long time now.
'Where do you think she is now?' Ron asked for the fifth time. Harry and Hermione had told him what had happened during the Potions lesson, and Ron could scarcely believe it.
'I can't believe this,' Harry said sadly. 'Just seeing her there, sitting with Malfoy.it was terrible.' He shook his head. 'It was like Malfoy had won or something.' Suddenly, Claire walked in.
'Claire!' Ron exclaimed, half getting to his feet, then sitting back down again. 'Where have you been?'
'For a walk with Draco,' she said. Her voice was not as soft as it usually was. It had a sharp, almost icy tone to it.
'Why?' Ron couldn't hide the contempt in his voice.
'Because I thought maybe I should start spending some time with some different people.' She sighed and stared off into space suddenly. 'And I hadn't realised Draco was so.'
'Evil?' Ron suggested.
'Don't talk about Draco that way!' Claire snapped. 'You don't even know him!'
'I know him well enough to know he's a totally scum bag!' Ron retorted. 'Remember how horrible he was to Hagrid? Remember how horrible he was to us?'
'Well you aren't exactly nice to him!' Claire defended. 'And from what Draco tells me, Hagrid is a terrible teacher anyway. I don't know why you're friends with him!' Claire was getting angrier and angrier. 'In fact, I don't know why I'm a friends with you! I don't know why I'm in Gryffindor!' And with that, she stormed up to the girls dormitory.
'Bloody hell!' Ron exclaimed. 'Malfoy's brainwashed her! She wants to be in Slytherin! Did you hear what she said about Hagrid?!' Harry was barely listening. His worst fears had just been confirmed. Claire was agreeing with everything that Draco had told her. She no longer wanted to be friends with them, she had only been nice to them because she had no one else to hang around with. And yet Harry had felt so sure, after she had been made a Gryffindor and seemed to really like them, that she really did want to be their friends. What had caused this sudden mood change? Surely Draco couldn't have that much influence over someone? Harry felt numb. I don't know why I'm friends with you spun round and round in his head.
'I'm going to bed,' Harry said, getting to his feet. He walked up to his bed, barely conscious of what he was doing. He was realizing just how important Claire was to him. She was just one in a long list of people Harry had lost.
The next morning, Ron received an owl from Fred and George at breakfast. It had a large parcel with it. Ron took off the card that was with it.
'What is it, Ron?' Hermione asked.
' "Ron, here's a few new designs for you to try out. Hope you enjoy them!" ' Ron ripped open the package. It was bulging with items. He picked the first one up. It was an extendable ear, but it had a tiny pair of wings.
'Cool!' Ron exclaimed. Harry didn't see Claire until their first lesson of the day, Transfiguration. She chose not to sit with them, instead sitting with Lavender and Pavarti as Malfoy wasn't in their class. Harry sighed. He could barely concentrate on what McGonagall was saying, he couldn't take his eyes from the back of Claire's head. The light was rippling through her deep brown hair, and as she tossed it over her shoulder, he caught sight of the side of her face. What had happened to her? Harry couldn't understand it. The rest of the day went on in this vein. The next lesson was Potions which was almost unbearable for Harry. Snape was awarding Draco and Claire, who were sitting together, housepoints every other minute. Even when Draco raised his hand and incorrectly answered a question, Snape gave him five housepoints for a 'nice try'. And now Claire didn't seem to be friends with Harry anymore, Snape seemed to feel he could bully Harry worse than ever. The only thing that kept Harry from snapping was the numb, unhappy feeling inside him. The last lesson of the day, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was also the last lesson of the week, and Harry was very glad; it had been turning into a very bad week. Harry could barely concentrate during the lesson, and it seemed quite an important one. Professor Weasley was telling them about a project they were going to have to do for coursework called 'Defense Against the Dark Arts in a Foreign Country'. They were going to have to choose a country and look into the dangerous creatures native to that country, and the history of dark wizards in it. Harry sat making notes, not even paying attention to what he was writing. Before he knew it, the lesson was over. But as the classroom emptied, Professor Weasley called Harry over. When they were alone in the classroom, Professor Weasley asked,
'Do you know if Claire is okay, Harry?' Harry was surprised, he thought Professor Weasley was going to tell him off for not paying attention that lesson.
'Well, I don't know to be honest. She's decided to go off with Draco Malfoy.' Harry said miserably.
'That's what I mean, have you noticed a change in her personality?' Professor Weasley probed. Harry wasn't quite sure why she was asking, but he answered honestly. 'Yeah, I have. One minute she was best friends with me, Ron and Hermione and now she seems to hate us.'
'Hmmm,' Professor Weasley thought for a moment. 'Malfoy, he's that blonde Slytherin boy, isn't he?' Harry nodded.
'I see. It's just I noticed Claire has stopped sitting with you and her behavior in class seems to have changed a little. What you have told me has added to my suspicions. Now it's important you don't mention this to anyone Harry, and I want to make it very clear I'm not accusing anyone of anything. But next time I see Claire I might be able to perform a discreet spell, which will tell me if she is under the influence of magic. Do you understand?' Harry nodded, although he wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about. What would she be accusing someone of? And why would Claire be under the influence of magic?
'Well, anyway, how are you coping at the moment Harry?' Professor Weasley asked him.
'Fine,' Harry answered, although really he felt the exact opposite.
'I know it can't be easy, having lost Sirius, and not really being able to talk to anyone about it, the situation being what it is,' she said sympathetically. Harry suddenly felt compelled to ask about Sirius. 'How well did you know Sirius, Professor Weasley?' She sighed. 'Of course, the last time I saw him was when I was just a little bit older than you, when I left school. I liked Sirius a lot, he was nice to me. He and your father were always doing anything to impress girls and that included me. Although I knew that your father had a thing for your mother, even all the way back in school. They really hated Professor Snape, but you probably already know that. They were quite mean to him at times, but he usually gave as good as he got. Or tried to anyway. But those two were always very hard to live up to.' Professor Weasley shook her head as if coming out of a reminiscent trance. 'I'm sorry Harry this can't be easy to hear.'
'No,' Harry protested. 'I like to hear what they were like, what other people knew about them.' Professor Weasley shook her head. 'You know Harry, it's hard to get over how much like your father you are.'
'Yeah, some people like to take out their grudges with my father on me,' Harry said bitterly.
'Professor Snape?' Professor Weasley queried. Harry nodded. 'He really hates me. I think he's having a field day now Claire doesn't like me anymore.'
'I see,' Professor Weasley nodded. 'You know, I think he finds it hard, teaching you when you are so much like your father, I bet he sees James every time he looks at you. But still, that's no excuse to pick on you, it's your education that's going to suffer in the end. Well, anyway I'd better let you go. Try not to worry too much about Claire, I'm sure she'll be her old self in no time at all.'
'Thanks Professor Weasley,' Harry smiled. He realized that he felt a little better for having spoken to her. And there was something in the way she said that Claire would be 'her old self in no time at all' that made Harry think that she would be able to do something about it. He walked slowly to the Great Hall, dreading seeing Claire sitting with Draco at the Slytherin's table as he knew he would. Sure enough, as when he walked in he spotted Claire sitting beside Draco, laughing at something he had just said. They both looked over at Harry as he walked in and laughed again. Draco had his arm possessively around Claire. Harry glumly went over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting having their dinner and sat down.
'Where have you been Harry?' Ron asked. Harry outlined the conversation he had just had with Professor Weasley.
'Oh my God!' Hermione exclaimed when he was done. She looked at both Harry and Ron who looked confused. 'Don't you understand what she is suggesting?' Ron slowly shook his head.
'That someone's put a spell on Claire and that's why she's been acting so strangely. Oh, I can see why she told you not to mention it to anyone Harry. That's a serious accusation to be making and if she was wrong.'
'So she thinks Malfoy's put a spell on Claire to make her like him?' Harry asked. 'I swear if he has I'll curse him, the rotten little.'
'But that sort of spell would probably be very difficult, I don't know if Draco would be capable of it yet,' Hermione said.
'So who else would it be then?' Ron asked.
'Well from the sounds of it, it seems like Professor Weasley might be thinking Snape,' Hermione said.
'Snape?' Ron frowned. 'Why would he a put a spell on his own niece? He really cares about her.'
'Yeah, but think about it Ron,' Harry said, what Hermione had said dawning on him. 'What did Snape want Claire to do when she came to Hogwarts? Get sorted into Slytherin and be best friends with Draco Malfoy. Well he obviously can't change what house she's in but it's quite strange that she suddenly seems to be all over Draco and hate us.' Hermione nodded. 'Exactly. That's why Professor Weasley wants to cast a spell to see if Claire's under the influence of magic. I should think she'll use a spell-detector charm.'
'What's that?' Ron asked.
'It's a charm that can detect whether someone has a spell on someone else,' Hermione explained. 'You perform it in advance, and the next time you see the person, if they have got a spell on them, they'll say or do something specific, for example, their hair will turn purple. I should think Professor Weasley will do something only she will recognize as being a sign, like Claire saying a specific word or something.'
'Right,' Harry said. 'But then what will she do?'
'There are other spells she can perform to see what spell Claire is under and who cast it, but they're a little more complicated,' Hermione told them.
'Wow, I can't believe we are actually going to find out what's wrong with Claire.,' Ron said happily.
'Yeah,' Harry agreed. He was just worried that Professor Weasley would find out that Claire wasn't under any spells.
'Yes,' Claire said anxiously. 'It said that I could do well in Slytherin because I have a desire to fulfill my ambitions. But it decided that because I have an equally strong desire to do the right thing and it could sense courage in me, it decided I would be better off in Gryffindor. Are you shocked? Is this bad?'
'I am shocked,' Harry admitted, 'but only because the same thing happened to me.' Claire stared at him. 'Seriously?' Harry nodded. 'It said I'd do well in Slytherin, but I asked it not to place me there. So it put me in Gryffindor. I did worry that I should have been in Slytherin, especially when everyone thought I was Slytherin's heir because I speak Parselmouth. But Dumbledore told me that it is our choices that make us who we are. So I suppose because I didn't want to be in Slytherin, I'm not a true Slytherin anyway.'
'I was kinda hoping I would be in Gryffindor,' Claire mused. 'Strange that it should happen to the both of us though.'
'Yeah,' Harry agreed.
'I knew you'd be the right person to tell,' Claire smiled. 'I was going to tell Uncle Severus, but I think he might have been even more disappointed if he knew I was nearly in Slytherin, but then got put in Gryffindor instead. He probably would have made me put the Sorting Hat on again, just to make sure.'
'Yeah,' Harry grinned. 'Listen, Claire, can I ask you something?'
'Sure,' Claire consented.
'How come you could see the winged horses that pull the carriages?' Claire looked down. 'Listen Harry, I'm not being horrible, but I'm really not ready to talk about that yet. Maybe one day.but not now.'
'Okay, I'm sorry,' Harry said understandingly. 'I know it's a personal question, it's just I don't know many people who can see them.'
'I will tell you,' Claire assured him. 'When I'm ready.' Harry nodded.
The next day, Harry, Hermione and Claire had Potions first thing, and Ron had Care of Magical Creatures. They checked the notice board, and it said that General Studies was Care of Magical Creatures so the other three arranged to meet Ron after their Potions lesson.
'Why oh why did I chose to do Potions?' Harry asked Ron glumly before they parted. 'I must be mad.' Ron shook his head. 'I hate to say it mate, but I think so too.' The three students made their way down to the Dungeons. Not surprisingly, there were more Slytherin's there than there had been in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry suspected most Slytherin's were more interested in performing the Dark Arts, rather than protecting themselves from them. Among the Slytherin's there of course, was Draco Malfoy, who sat a little way in front of Harry, Claire and Hermione, who sat with Claire in the middle. When Professor Snape walked in, a big smile lit up Claire's face at the exact same moment Harry's heart sunk.
'I only accept students who got the highest grades in Potions at O.W.L level,' he addressed the class, 'so the expected standard this year will be much higher.' He looked at Claire with pride. 'Of course for the naturally gifted among you, this will not be hard. But on the most part, you will all be expected to work very hard.' Malfoy turned around and looked at Claire. He looked disgusted that she was sitting with Harry and Hermione; he probably thought the cream of the Potions class should be sitting together.
That lesson they had to make a Calmness Potions, which could calm a person for an hour. Harry could see what Snape meant about having to work hard, it was a much more complicated potion than Harry was used to. But he put all his concentration into making it, determined to do well. Snape as usual was prowling round the class, and when he came over to Claire, he looked into her cauldron with pride.
'This is very good Claire,' he said. Claire grinned. 'Thank you Unc- Professor Snape.'
'Tell me honestly, did they teach you to make this potion in America?'
'No,' Claire shook her head.
'Well,' Snape smiled. 'It's very good.' He then passed Hermione, who had brewed a perfect potion without comment.
'Needs more Knarlskin Potter,' he said as he walked by. Harry looked down into his cauldron. His potion looked exactly the same as Claire's. Angrily, he opened the jar of Knarlskin, and threw some more in. At the end of the lesson they all had to give in a sample of their Potion. Snape looked at Harry's potion with a little contempt.
'When I told you to put in more Knarlskin Potter, I didn't mean a whole jar-full.' Next he took Claire's.
'Nicely done Claire,' he nodded and smiled. Trying to control his rising temper, Harry went back to his cauldron and cleaned up his things.
'Don't worry Harry,' Hermione whispered to him. 'I thought you did a pretty good job at that potion, it was a very hard one.' Harry smiled. 'Thanks.' At the end of the lesson, Snape held back to talk to her for a moment. Harry and Hermione waited in the corridor for her, and they could see her talking to her uncle and giggling.
'She does bring out the best in him,' Hermione said. 'It's a pity she's the only one he shows that nice side to.'
'Yeah,' Harry muttered, still annoyed about Snape's comments. 'Well no wonder, he probably hasn't got much of a nice side.'
'I think Claire would disagree with you,' Hermione said, looking at them. A moment later, Claire emerged from the dungeon, a smile on her face. 'Okay, so where's Care of Magical Creatures?'
They walked out of the main school and out onto the grounds. It was a cool morning and the air was still.
'Gosh,' Claire said, looking up at the cloudy sky. 'I'd forgotten how cold it is over here. Where I lived, it was still scorching even this late in the year.'
'It must have been so nice,' Hermione sighed. It wasn't long before they were down at Hagrid's hut. The Care of Magical Creatures class was already standing around. Harry, Hermione and Claire went over to Ron and Neville.
'Hi guys,' Ron said. 'How was Potions?'
'Terrible,' Harry said, at the same time as Claire said,
'Great!' Ron raised an eyebrow. 'Well Hagrid's been showing us Jaglings.'
'Jaglings?' Harry queried. Ron pointed to a large cage that everyone was gathered around. He peered over Hannah Abbot's head to see what was inside. There was about a dozen of them, prowling around in the cage. They were the size of very small dogs but they had the skin of baby rats, pink and wrinkled and covered thinly with a layer of barely visible white hair. They had tiny little heads, but they opened out into a massive mouth. They bared their teeth at one another, which were extremely large for the size of their body, and snapped their powerful looking jaws. Hagrid was trying to spilt up two, which had gotten into a particularly nasty fight, but it looked like he was getting worse injuries than both of them in the process.
It wasn't long before all of the sixth years were there, and Hagrid looked up from his task.
'Ah, right, so you're all here then? Okay, well I've just been showing my class this group of Jaglings. Now these creatures, as you can see from the way thery're fightin', aren't really sociable animals. It's very rare to see two or more together. And can anyone who was in my class tell us why?' He looked around. Every student's face was blank. 'Anyone?' Ron sighed, and as he knew no one else was going to, he raised his hand. Hagrid smiled at him. 'Thank you Ron.'
'They usually live by themselves because they don't like competition for food. If there are two or more in an area, they will fight for their territory, to the death if neither of them back down.'
'Very good,' Hagrid nodded. 'And some wizards keep 'em as pets, does anyone know why?' This time, Neville raised his hand. 'Because they will eat anything and they can be used for waste disposal.'
'That's right Neville. Although less people do these days, after an unfortunate incident when a wizard fed his Jagling so much it grew to an very large size and ate his car.' Hagrid cleared his throat. 'Now, who would like to feed one?'
After General Studies, the sixth years all walked back up to the school for lunch.
'That was a real waste of time,' Harry heard Draco Malfoy saying loudly. 'I might ask if I can have free periods instead of General Studies if I have to put up with lessons like that.' Claire looked back at him in surprise. 'That's pretty mean,' she said to Harry and Ron (Hermione was talking to Neville). 'You could see Hagrid was really trying.'
'That's Malfoy for you,' Ron told her. They walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the table. The enchanted sky above them was getting increasingly cloudy. They ate their lunch and Ron told them about how a Jagling had nearly bitten off Neville's hand. After lunch they had a free period, and Hermione asked the others to help her do her Defense the Against the Dark Arts homework, writing a list of the topics they'd covered.
'Would you say we have covered werewolves?' she asked. 'I mean Snape did go over them with us that time.'
'Yeah, I'd say so,' Ron said, flicking through Magical Creatures and Their Aliments. As they hadn't known what subjects they had been doing when they bought their books, they had only been instructed to buy general magic books and they would have to use the library as their main source of material.
'What have we got after lunch?' Claire asked.
'Free period,' Harry told her, after looking briefly at his timetable.
'Well we might as well stay here then,' Hermione said, looking up from her parchment. Claire looked at her watch. 'I've got to go and meet Uncle Severus in 20 minutes, he said he's got me something to say well done for getting into all my subjects. But I think he's just pleased I'm doing Potions.'
'What do you think he's got you?' Ron asked. Claire shrugged. 'Knowing Uncle Severus, it'll be something good though!'
She was right. After 20 minutes in the library, Claire went down to the dungeons to meet her uncle. A while later she returned, a small ball of fluff in her arms.
'What have you got there, Claire,' Harry asked as she sat down.
'It's a cat,' Claire said happily. Sure enough, it raised a tiny black head and blinked it's beady black eyes. It was a small kitten, mainly black apart from it's white paws and underbelly which went up to around it's nose.
'It's so cute,' Hermione gushed, going over to stroke it. 'What are you going to call it?'
'He's a boy, so I thought Calvin' Claire told them.
'Aw, he's a little friend for Crookshanks,' Hermione smiled.
'I wouldn't let him get near Crookshanks,' Ron advised. Hermione glared at him.
Their next Potions lessons was after a General Studies lesson of Divination. Harry had thought he would never have to sit in that stuffy room every again, and seeing Trelawney struck a painful chord with him. She reminded him of the prophecy which Harry had found out about last year, that either he would kill, or be killed by Voldemort. This also reminded him of Sirius' death, something he was only managing to cope with by trying not to remember.
The previous day they had a General Studies lesson of Transfiguration, and then Defense Against the Dark Arts where they practiced more spells, some Harry had done before and some he hadn't. It felt good to be practicing defensive spells and Harry was sure that the more he did them, the better he got.
'That was weird,' Claire said, as they left Divination in the aromatic tower room. 'I haven't done Divination like this before, I didn't think it was going to be so.'
'I know, we had it for two years,' Ron sighed. 'Well I've got Care of Magical Creatures now, so I'll see you guys later.' Harry sighed as they walked down to the dungeons, wishing he could be going out with Ron into the fresh air. Snape was being even nicer to Claire than usual, which Harry found sickening.
'I hope you liked your present, Claire,' he said, as they walked into the dungeon at the beginning of the lesson.
'He's lovely Uncle Severus,' Claire smiled sincerely.
'Good,' Snape smiled. They all went and took their seats.
'Now class,' Snape said, getting to his feet. 'To start the lesson, I have checked that the claming potions that you all made in our last class are safe, and I have found that none of them are poisonous in any way, so you will all now test your own.' He handed each student the small container of liquid, which they had given him at the end of their last lesson. Harry looked at his, it was the same sky blue colour and just a little to watery. He uncorked it and looked at Hermione, who was now drinking her perfect concoction. Claire was just about to drink hers. For a brief moment, Harry almost felt like stopping her. Hadn't hers been the same sky blue as his as the ends of the last lesson, not the baby blue it now was? But he shook the thought from his head. Snape had said they were all drinkable and he must have just given her someone else's by mistake. Harry drank the potion he had created. It tasted sweet and warm, and he could feel it going down into him and spreading through his body. It filled him with peacefulness and suddenly he felt relaxed and mellow.
'Wow, this is good stuff,' Hermione said beside him. But not in her usual harsh tone, but slower.
Harry looked around him. Most of the class just looked relaxed and calm, but Crabbe seemed to have made his too strong, for he was falling asleep at his desk.
'For the next ten minutes,' Snape instructed them, 'I want you to observe and record the effects of this potion. I have something to do,' and with that, he left the room.
'Well, that's not too hard for ten minutes work,' Hermione said. 'Write down the effects of a calming potion.'
'What do you think, Claire,' Harry asked, turning to her. But she was not there. She was walking from her desk, over to where Draco Malfoy was sitting, his legs outstretched. Harry watched as she walked over to him, lent down on his desk, and whispered something in his ear. He laughed, and she giggled, running her hand through her hair.
'What's Claire doing?' Hermione frowned. Harry shrugged, too calm from the potion to really be affected. 'Talking to Draco.' Something inside him told him this was wrong, that he should get to his feet and go over there, but he felt so tranquil that he just wanted to let her be. She would come back. They had already established that Claire wanted nothing to do with Draco. But after several minutes, she still wasn't back. In fact, she had pulled up a spare stool and was sitting down beside Draco.
'Why is she sitting with him?' Harry asked Hermione, who was writing leisurely on a piece of parchment.
'I don't know,' she sighed. 'Maybe she wants to talk to him about something.'
'Maybe,' Harry agreed. But the warmness, which had spread to his every vein, was now cooling, and his calmness was fading. He was starting to feel anxious. He had been dreading so much before arriving at Hogwarts seeing Claire sitting there beside Draco, and now she was. Maybe was she just trying to be friendly, or maybe she was asking him why he had been so mean to Hagrid. But there was something in the way she was giggling so loud that Harry could hear, and the way she was stroking the back of her neck that told Harry that something was wrong. She seemed to be flirting with him! Harry's blood ran cold. Suddenly Snape came back into the room, and Harry realised he hadn't written any reactions he had had to the now fast wearing off potion. Just before he grabbed his quill to quickly scribble some words on his parchment, he was sure he saw Snape shoot a satisfied look at Claire who was smiling at Draco.
Claire stayed over at the front with Draco for the rest of the lesson, and the moment Snape had dismissed them, she walked over, grabbed her bag and walked away before either Harry or Hermione could say anything.
'Claire!' Harry called after her, but she didn't turn. Later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. Claire had been gone for a long time now.
'Where do you think she is now?' Ron asked for the fifth time. Harry and Hermione had told him what had happened during the Potions lesson, and Ron could scarcely believe it.
'I can't believe this,' Harry said sadly. 'Just seeing her there, sitting with Malfoy.it was terrible.' He shook his head. 'It was like Malfoy had won or something.' Suddenly, Claire walked in.
'Claire!' Ron exclaimed, half getting to his feet, then sitting back down again. 'Where have you been?'
'For a walk with Draco,' she said. Her voice was not as soft as it usually was. It had a sharp, almost icy tone to it.
'Why?' Ron couldn't hide the contempt in his voice.
'Because I thought maybe I should start spending some time with some different people.' She sighed and stared off into space suddenly. 'And I hadn't realised Draco was so.'
'Evil?' Ron suggested.
'Don't talk about Draco that way!' Claire snapped. 'You don't even know him!'
'I know him well enough to know he's a totally scum bag!' Ron retorted. 'Remember how horrible he was to Hagrid? Remember how horrible he was to us?'
'Well you aren't exactly nice to him!' Claire defended. 'And from what Draco tells me, Hagrid is a terrible teacher anyway. I don't know why you're friends with him!' Claire was getting angrier and angrier. 'In fact, I don't know why I'm a friends with you! I don't know why I'm in Gryffindor!' And with that, she stormed up to the girls dormitory.
'Bloody hell!' Ron exclaimed. 'Malfoy's brainwashed her! She wants to be in Slytherin! Did you hear what she said about Hagrid?!' Harry was barely listening. His worst fears had just been confirmed. Claire was agreeing with everything that Draco had told her. She no longer wanted to be friends with them, she had only been nice to them because she had no one else to hang around with. And yet Harry had felt so sure, after she had been made a Gryffindor and seemed to really like them, that she really did want to be their friends. What had caused this sudden mood change? Surely Draco couldn't have that much influence over someone? Harry felt numb. I don't know why I'm friends with you spun round and round in his head.
'I'm going to bed,' Harry said, getting to his feet. He walked up to his bed, barely conscious of what he was doing. He was realizing just how important Claire was to him. She was just one in a long list of people Harry had lost.
The next morning, Ron received an owl from Fred and George at breakfast. It had a large parcel with it. Ron took off the card that was with it.
'What is it, Ron?' Hermione asked.
' "Ron, here's a few new designs for you to try out. Hope you enjoy them!" ' Ron ripped open the package. It was bulging with items. He picked the first one up. It was an extendable ear, but it had a tiny pair of wings.
'Cool!' Ron exclaimed. Harry didn't see Claire until their first lesson of the day, Transfiguration. She chose not to sit with them, instead sitting with Lavender and Pavarti as Malfoy wasn't in their class. Harry sighed. He could barely concentrate on what McGonagall was saying, he couldn't take his eyes from the back of Claire's head. The light was rippling through her deep brown hair, and as she tossed it over her shoulder, he caught sight of the side of her face. What had happened to her? Harry couldn't understand it. The rest of the day went on in this vein. The next lesson was Potions which was almost unbearable for Harry. Snape was awarding Draco and Claire, who were sitting together, housepoints every other minute. Even when Draco raised his hand and incorrectly answered a question, Snape gave him five housepoints for a 'nice try'. And now Claire didn't seem to be friends with Harry anymore, Snape seemed to feel he could bully Harry worse than ever. The only thing that kept Harry from snapping was the numb, unhappy feeling inside him. The last lesson of the day, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was also the last lesson of the week, and Harry was very glad; it had been turning into a very bad week. Harry could barely concentrate during the lesson, and it seemed quite an important one. Professor Weasley was telling them about a project they were going to have to do for coursework called 'Defense Against the Dark Arts in a Foreign Country'. They were going to have to choose a country and look into the dangerous creatures native to that country, and the history of dark wizards in it. Harry sat making notes, not even paying attention to what he was writing. Before he knew it, the lesson was over. But as the classroom emptied, Professor Weasley called Harry over. When they were alone in the classroom, Professor Weasley asked,
'Do you know if Claire is okay, Harry?' Harry was surprised, he thought Professor Weasley was going to tell him off for not paying attention that lesson.
'Well, I don't know to be honest. She's decided to go off with Draco Malfoy.' Harry said miserably.
'That's what I mean, have you noticed a change in her personality?' Professor Weasley probed. Harry wasn't quite sure why she was asking, but he answered honestly. 'Yeah, I have. One minute she was best friends with me, Ron and Hermione and now she seems to hate us.'
'Hmmm,' Professor Weasley thought for a moment. 'Malfoy, he's that blonde Slytherin boy, isn't he?' Harry nodded.
'I see. It's just I noticed Claire has stopped sitting with you and her behavior in class seems to have changed a little. What you have told me has added to my suspicions. Now it's important you don't mention this to anyone Harry, and I want to make it very clear I'm not accusing anyone of anything. But next time I see Claire I might be able to perform a discreet spell, which will tell me if she is under the influence of magic. Do you understand?' Harry nodded, although he wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about. What would she be accusing someone of? And why would Claire be under the influence of magic?
'Well, anyway, how are you coping at the moment Harry?' Professor Weasley asked him.
'Fine,' Harry answered, although really he felt the exact opposite.
'I know it can't be easy, having lost Sirius, and not really being able to talk to anyone about it, the situation being what it is,' she said sympathetically. Harry suddenly felt compelled to ask about Sirius. 'How well did you know Sirius, Professor Weasley?' She sighed. 'Of course, the last time I saw him was when I was just a little bit older than you, when I left school. I liked Sirius a lot, he was nice to me. He and your father were always doing anything to impress girls and that included me. Although I knew that your father had a thing for your mother, even all the way back in school. They really hated Professor Snape, but you probably already know that. They were quite mean to him at times, but he usually gave as good as he got. Or tried to anyway. But those two were always very hard to live up to.' Professor Weasley shook her head as if coming out of a reminiscent trance. 'I'm sorry Harry this can't be easy to hear.'
'No,' Harry protested. 'I like to hear what they were like, what other people knew about them.' Professor Weasley shook her head. 'You know Harry, it's hard to get over how much like your father you are.'
'Yeah, some people like to take out their grudges with my father on me,' Harry said bitterly.
'Professor Snape?' Professor Weasley queried. Harry nodded. 'He really hates me. I think he's having a field day now Claire doesn't like me anymore.'
'I see,' Professor Weasley nodded. 'You know, I think he finds it hard, teaching you when you are so much like your father, I bet he sees James every time he looks at you. But still, that's no excuse to pick on you, it's your education that's going to suffer in the end. Well, anyway I'd better let you go. Try not to worry too much about Claire, I'm sure she'll be her old self in no time at all.'
'Thanks Professor Weasley,' Harry smiled. He realized that he felt a little better for having spoken to her. And there was something in the way she said that Claire would be 'her old self in no time at all' that made Harry think that she would be able to do something about it. He walked slowly to the Great Hall, dreading seeing Claire sitting with Draco at the Slytherin's table as he knew he would. Sure enough, as when he walked in he spotted Claire sitting beside Draco, laughing at something he had just said. They both looked over at Harry as he walked in and laughed again. Draco had his arm possessively around Claire. Harry glumly went over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting having their dinner and sat down.
'Where have you been Harry?' Ron asked. Harry outlined the conversation he had just had with Professor Weasley.
'Oh my God!' Hermione exclaimed when he was done. She looked at both Harry and Ron who looked confused. 'Don't you understand what she is suggesting?' Ron slowly shook his head.
'That someone's put a spell on Claire and that's why she's been acting so strangely. Oh, I can see why she told you not to mention it to anyone Harry. That's a serious accusation to be making and if she was wrong.'
'So she thinks Malfoy's put a spell on Claire to make her like him?' Harry asked. 'I swear if he has I'll curse him, the rotten little.'
'But that sort of spell would probably be very difficult, I don't know if Draco would be capable of it yet,' Hermione said.
'So who else would it be then?' Ron asked.
'Well from the sounds of it, it seems like Professor Weasley might be thinking Snape,' Hermione said.
'Snape?' Ron frowned. 'Why would he a put a spell on his own niece? He really cares about her.'
'Yeah, but think about it Ron,' Harry said, what Hermione had said dawning on him. 'What did Snape want Claire to do when she came to Hogwarts? Get sorted into Slytherin and be best friends with Draco Malfoy. Well he obviously can't change what house she's in but it's quite strange that she suddenly seems to be all over Draco and hate us.' Hermione nodded. 'Exactly. That's why Professor Weasley wants to cast a spell to see if Claire's under the influence of magic. I should think she'll use a spell-detector charm.'
'What's that?' Ron asked.
'It's a charm that can detect whether someone has a spell on someone else,' Hermione explained. 'You perform it in advance, and the next time you see the person, if they have got a spell on them, they'll say or do something specific, for example, their hair will turn purple. I should think Professor Weasley will do something only she will recognize as being a sign, like Claire saying a specific word or something.'
'Right,' Harry said. 'But then what will she do?'
'There are other spells she can perform to see what spell Claire is under and who cast it, but they're a little more complicated,' Hermione told them.
'Wow, I can't believe we are actually going to find out what's wrong with Claire.,' Ron said happily.
'Yeah,' Harry agreed. He was just worried that Professor Weasley would find out that Claire wasn't under any spells.