Chapter 23
The headmaster sat back down and started a conversation with Charlie and the other dragon trainers.
"We told you he got dragons to protect us" Fred said, rubbing his hands with pleasant anticipation.
"You shouldn't even think about going back to the dragons tonight" Hermione censured them "You two heard what he said. He will have to expel you"
"Damn Hermione! Don't be such a killjoy! Have we ever been expelled? No I don't think so" George said. "I bet Charlie will let us go to the dragons tonight. That's what an older brother is good for"
"You dare and get Charlie involved in your pranks" Ginny scolded, her eyes glittering of fury. "He has a family to take care of and he can't afford to lose his job. And I will curse you to kingdom come when you get him hurt"
Her voice became hoarse when she recognized the smirk on her twin brothers' faces. She jumped up, knocking over her chair when she ran out of the Great Hall, her dinner just half finished. Hermione and Kayla got up in unison, glaring disgustedly at the twins and followed Ginny out of the room.
Fred and George shrugged "Girls... we'll never understand them" Harry didn't know what to say and he could understand Ginny very well. It was a difference if the twins just got themselves in trouble or if their pranks would cost their brother his job or health.
However the only thing he could do was to keep a close look on the twins tonight and to put them in a full body-bind if necessary.
The rest of today's classes were quite uneventful and at the end of the day everybody was settled in the common room. Kayla had spent another hour with Kelsey in the hospital wing after classes and, not to her surprise, Zara had joined them. The shy Ravenclaw had been very excited about the fact that Snape had given her detailed informations about the moonbell root.
According to the potion master moonbell root was growing in the Forbidden Forrest, but it was almost impossible to reach it. Snape had told his student that he had tried it himself several times but after he almost got killed by a giant spider, he gave up. And now with the dragons guarding the grounds it was not even possible to enter the forest anymore.
Kayla had informed Hermione about the news and now they mused how they could tell Ron and Harry how hard it would be to get this special ingredient. Deep in her heart Hermione doubted that Harry would want to continue when he found out what an effort it would take.
On Saturday morning Kelsey was allowed to leave the hospital wing and with a huge smile on his face he went to breakfast accompanied by his sister and his friends.
When they entered the Great Hall, everybody was applauding except of the Slytherins of course. His fellow Gryffindors walked up to him and clapped him on the back; Hagrid pulled him into a bone-crushing embrace that lifted him from the ground and even little Professor Flitwick shook his hand excitedly. Professor Dumbledore smiled and welcomed him back, while Ron introduced him to his brother Charlie, who had come back from their camp on the grounds to attend breakfast with a few of his fellow dragon trainers.
Kelsey really enjoyed the first meal with company since weeks. He had to repeat over and over what exactly had happened and how he got cured. When he described the unimaginable pain, he recognized that a lot of his fellow Gryffindors were glaring daggers at Malfoy.
The Slytherin perfect looked quite uncomfortable; he must have also recognized all the malicious glares he was receiving from the Gryffindor table. After breakfast they went back to Gryffindor tower, already looking forward to going to Hogsmead next Saturday. They all had decided that after their homework was almost done, they wanted to celebrate Kelsey's return a little more. Kayla was so relieved that her brother obviously had no aftermath of the accident.
She watched him playing chess with Harry, while Hermione was reading Hogwarts A History again.
Kayla liked the Gryffindor prefect, but she wished the girl would learn how to relax a little. Too bad Hermione doesn't know how to party, she thought. She would still get top grades when she would take life a little less serious.
Then her thoughts digressed from her friend and their most urgent problem came to her mind again. How were they supposed to get a moonbell root and has Sirius received Harry's letter yet. With every day that passed the hope to wake Harry's mother up in time faded. The mere thought they wouldn't make it in time drove her almost insane.
She tried to imagine how she would feel if her mother would have never been there for her, if she would have never kissed all the little quidditch injuries, helped her dress up for her first school day and all those other things mothers do for their children, or if her father never taught her how to fly.
She missed the quiet afternoons she had spent together with his father in his study. He had told her everything he knew about potions as soon as she was big enough to look into the cauldron. She didn't even want to think how it had to be to live with relatives who didn't care about you. There had to be another way to get a moonbell root.
All of a sudden Kayla became very nervous and restless. She jumped up and walked towards the portrait hole. "Where are you going sis?" Kelsey called after her.
"Library!" Kayla replied while she climbed outside.
"I'm coming with you" Hermione shouted, slammed her book on the table and ran after her friend.
"GREAT", Kelsey sighed "My first day back and my sis runs off to the library"
"Yeah" Ron answered slightly confused "They are such killjoys. Exploding snap anyone?"
"What are you up to Kayla?" Hermione panted when she caught up with her friend half way down the hallway.
"I just can't sit there and waste precious time when Harry's mom is getting closer to death with every minute. It's just so unfair!"
"I know Harry for 5 years now and he's such a good friend. He cares so much about other people and wants them to be safe and happy. And his relatives do everything to make his life miserable." Hermione sighed.
"I wonder why Dumbledore never told Snape about the potion" Kayla asked her friend.
"Snape is spying for Dumbledore on You-know-who" Hermione replied.
Kayla stopped short and called "You mean he is spying on Voldemort?"
Hermione winced and continued "Yes and I assume that Dumbledore didn't want to risk that Snape lets anything slip under torture. I'm a little worried about the dragons on the grounds"
"I don't think you need to worry about them Hermione. Ron's brother seems to know his job"
"I'm not worried about the dragons themselves but the reason why they are here. Dumbledore said that they wanted to increase the security measures, but he didn't exactly say why. I have a very bad feeling about it." Hermione explained with a very concerned voice.
"You worry too much Hermione. If he would really expect an attack of some sort he wouldn't let us go to Hogsmead, right?"
"I still have a bad feeling ", she insisted.
They reached the almost empty library and walked over to a table at the window. "So what do you think we should check out first?" Kayla asked.
Hermione concentrated for a moment and then suggested "We really should get a permission to look in the restricted section"
"I don't know one teacher who would give us permission when we don't come up with a good excuse"
"We can totally forget Snape, even after his strange behaviour lately. Trelawney and McGonagall wouldn't give us one either. ..." Hermione mumbled under her breath.
"DUMBLEDORE" Kayla shouted then instantly covered her mouth with her hands when she received a disapproving shhhhh from Madam Pince.
"Dumbledore?" Hermione whispered.
"Of course! He already knows about the potion and I bet he would be happy to know we want to help. We will explain him that we're just looking for some more information and we are both excellent and trustworthy students after all." Kayla continued.
"It's worth a try, I guess" Hermione said, sounding not very convinced. They left the library and started walking to Dumbledore's office. When they arrived Kayla said the password and they went up the moving staircase and knocked at the door.
"Come in"
The two girls opened the door and stepped in. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk smiling at them. "I was wondering when the two of you would finally come"
The two Gryffindors were baffled. How could he know? "Please sit down and have a lemon drop" Dumbledore offered them a box full of muggle sweets.
"You seem surprised to see that I already know why you are here."
"To be honest...we are, headmaster" Hermione stammered.
"I'm a little disappointed Miss Granger. Do you really believe Kelsey is the only one James is talking to?"
"No I don't... but that still doesn't explain how you know why we are here" Hermione answered.
"James told me that you all, except of Harry, are informed about the situation. I was waiting the whole time for one of you to come and talk to me. I assumed that you Hermione, above all, would be truly upset that I haven't told Harry that his parents are still alive" Dumbledore said calmly.
"I was...at first" Hermione admitted "but then I realized that Mrs Potter is in a very poor state of health and that it's getting worse with every day. You couldn't risk letting Harry lose his mother twice. Another reason might be that You-know-who has a way to enter Harry's mind and if he would find out that the Potters are not dead he would surely finish what he started 14 years ago."
"Very well observed Miss Granger" Dumbledore replied. "So what kind of information do you have for me?"
Kayla cleared her throat before she told the headmaster what they had found out. "We know from James, that there are 4 ingredients still missing. We already made contact to my father, who wants to provide us with bark of holy oak."
Dumbledore's face lit up "Oh really? I have been looking for that myself since years and couldn't find any"
"Mr Rawle is in contact with Aquarius' and Zara is sure he can send her a scale" she continued. "But unfortunately we couldn't get enough information about dried vampire blood or moonbell root"
"I'm very impressed, very impressed indeed" the headmaster beamed at the two girls. "You got more accomplished than I have ever expected. Harry couldn't have any better friends"
"Professor Dumbledore? The reason why we are here is...."Kayla sighed and took a deep breath. "The reason is that we wanted to ask for permission to look for more information in the .."
"Restricted section!" the headmaster ended Kayla's sentence. The girls were totally amazed now.
"Yes Professor Dumbledore. This is why we came here." Hermione confirmed.
"Hmmmmmmmm I see" Dumbledore mused. "You are both extraordinary students and I will give you a permission when you give me your word, that you only use it for this purpose and nothing else." "You have our word Professor. Or do we look like the Weasley twins?" Kayla smiled at the headmaster, stretched out her hand and Dumbledore chuckled.
Then he placed a piece of parchment in front of him and wrote down a note for Madam Pince. He sealed it and handed it over to Kayla. "This permission is valid until Christmas break. I expect that you use it wisely and I would really appreciate to hear about any news you might have", Dumbledore added when he showed the girls out.
"I can't believe that it was so easy" Kayla sang while she clutched the parchment to her chest. "Then let's go and see what we can find."
They followed the hallway back to the library and entered once more. Kayla walked up to the strict librarian and handed her the parchment. She broke the seal, studied it very carefully and then waved her wand over it to prove its authenticity. To her displeasure, she couldn't find a reason to deny the access and waved them through.
They found a few books about rare, old potions and walked back to their desk; one book, Powerful Potions and their use for Black Magic, seemed to be very promising. Kayla had just started with Vampire blood and it's use in potions, when Hermione suddenly jumped up and pressed her hands against the window.
It seemed that she had spotted something or someone outside. "What the... What is he doing here? "