Much of the beginning of term for me and Pucey was spent looking over the books I'd found over the summer. We hadn't really tried any of the spells because we weren't sure what they did and we didn't want to risk accidentally blowing something up. It wasn't until late September that I made a breakthrough on the translations. And we still hadn't tried any because translating them was one of the hardest tasks, especially when we had very little time to work on them. Even Montague joined in, once he'd fessed up to noticing exactly what Pucey had. I had a sneaking suspicion that all the Slytherins knew and just hadn't said a word. For that, I was grateful.
But then came the time where we felt we had a decent translation of one of the spells. It was a simple levitation charm from our understanding, much like Wingardium Leviosa, and as a result we let Montague try it first. They were really quite terrified of how wrong it could go when I tried it, so we agreed I would go last. I didn't argue, as my first attempts at the levitation spell in first year resulted in my feather lighting on fire and whizzing about the room – it almost poked a few classmates in the eye.
Montague waved his wand forward and up at a pillow I transfigured from a chair in the abandoned classroom we'd decided to use, shouting "Skjóta uppi!" We almost expected it to go flying, given the force he'd put behind his wand movement, but nothing happened. Not even a twitch. He simply frowned "Well, that's not quite what I expected." I couldn't help the shrug as he looked over at me "Are you sure we translated it right?"
Pucey shook his head "Be fair, those books are falling apart. There was no guarantee they'd work. And even if we got it right we still don't know exactly how the wand movement is supposed to look, or how much force needs to be put behind it. Without a teacher we're shooting in the dark."
I rolled my eyes at the both of them "The translations are Nordic, there's hardly anything about how to translate it in the library. We've done our best, now all we can do is try it."
They both gave me a weary look as Pucey spoke "I'm still a bit scared to see you try it. Charms aren't your forte."
I rolled my eyes "Yes, yes, I'm awful at Charms, I know. But if these spells were made for people like me I have to try." The sympathetic glance from Montague made me cross my arms "I'm not having any pity from you either. We're doing this for me as it is."
Pucey sighed before taking Montague's place, reciting the spell and waving his wand the way the book instructed. Once again, nothing happened. We all groaned in frustration and Pucey turned to me "I think that means it's your turn, Snape."
I wasn't exactly eager, having seen the two fail before I could try, but I was hoping this would work. If I had a charm go right for once then there was hope for me. My eyes still rolled, however, when both boys immediately backed into a corner to protect themselves. I took a deep breath, steadying myself before making my attempt. It felt far more fluid than any charm I'd tried before, and the words escaped me in a single step "Skjóta uppi!" A flash of light blue shot from my wand, and the pillow flew up and back at the wall. My face broke out in a grin, and an almost breathless feeling engulfed me "I did it!"
Montague snorted, moving over to the pillow "Are you sure? I thought it was a levitation spell, not a knockback spell."
Pucey nodded briefly in agreement "That's what we thought, but the wand movement is a bit violent for a simple levitation charm." He paused, taking a moment to collect his thoughts "We also couldn't translate it directly as a levitation spell."
I had to agree "It does directly translate as 'throw up'. It might have meant that quite literally. Like a – "
My sentence was cut off by a string of pain up my arm, and down my body. It left my vision flashing white and my legs crumbling underneath me. The yelp that escaped me when both boys attempted to grab me was uncontrollable, and I could barely hear Pucey yell my name. I curled up with the tears threatening to fall as he continued "Vanessa, have you taken your potion today? Do you need more? What do we do?"
I whimpered, shaking my head "I t-took an extra dose today. This shouldn't be hap-pening." The possibility of the extra dose of my pain potion being the cause of this crossed my mind, but my father checked the formula and I'd never had this problem with it before. Even with the henbane, it shouldn't cause this. It couldn't cause this. Another wave of agony rushed through me as I spoke "Just gi-give me a moment."
Montague frowned at me "Shouldn't we take you to the hospital wing? Madame Pomfrey might know what to do."
My eyes shot open and my hand whipped out to grab his arm before he could even turn to leave "Don't!" He reared back, taking Pucey with him "I can't go to the hospital wing! They'll send me to St. Mungo's again and I'll be damned if I miss three months of school just so they can run a bunch of useless tests!"
Pucey and Montague shared a look, nodding shakily as they turned to me "Vanessa, your eyes. They've changed again."
"And maybe you haven't noticed in your desperate pleading," I glared at Montague for that comment "But you've also got very sharp teeth that are oozing right now."
I frowned, running my tongue along my teeth and wincing at the taste of some sort of toxin. It was very easy to get used to the smell and taste of toxins when making potions on a frequent basis, but an unfamiliar one was dangerous in the best of cases. It was disastrous and fatal in the worst of them. I made to stand up, grimacing at the pain still rushing through me in waves "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I still haven't figured out how this all works."
"Then maybe we should start working on that." At my raised eyebrow, Pucey continued "We've got years to translate and experiment with old Dragonian charms. But until you can get the transforming part down, you're in more danger from yourself and to others around you."
I sighed, reluctantly agreeing. If I couldn't get myself under control, there was no point in learning the spells. But something made me fall to my knees in agony, and I needed to know what it was "Fine, I can agree to that at least. But the first thing we're doing is looking into why it hurt so much after I cast that spell. I'm not having that happen again."
"I think we can agree to that. Now, let's get back to the common room. I'm sure Potter and Nott are wondering where we are by now."
My eyes rolled, even as a fond smile made its way to my face "Honestly, it's adorable how those two get along. And they've even got a little Ravenclaw friend."
Another snort escaped Montague as we left the classroom "Adorable, sure. That's not the word I would use, but it's good they've found another friend. Even if she is a Ravenclaw."
Pucey shrugged at that, shoving his hands in his pockets "They just better keep her blood status quiet. There's enough heirs to the sacred twenty-eight in their year for her to be harassed every day if they find out."
My wince was genuine. Slytherin was my house, but it did have a lot of people with a purity complex. And blood purity did have something to do with the sorting. Muggleborns rarely made it into our house, and those who did were painfully scorned if they were around the wrong people. There were enough of us, however, who didn't care as much. One of my dorm mates, Alexandra, was possibly muggleborn, and many in our year left it at that. She'd been adopted by two muggle parents, and so no one really knows. But quite a few first years were heirs, and they would never accept Harry and Nott spending time with a muggleborn girl.
We tried to keep out of the drama of the first years. While we look after our own, that doesn't mean coddling them either. I had a bit more of a view into what happened between them all due to my helping my father in their potions classes. He gave me the authority to take away house points during those classes, and the Gryffindors grew livid over it. The worst of them was the youngest Weasley boy. I normally would be offended by someone attempting to hex me, but the way he missed me completely on a few occasions only made me laugh.
Montague and Pucey worked diligently to try and help me control my transforming. It was slow going in the first few weeks, and I really could only barely shift the color of my eyes by the time Halloween rolled around. Figuring out what made it work was taking a longer time than I was okay with. We'd made it to the Halloween Feast after working on it for an hour or so, and the exhaustion hit me when we sat down.
The girls in our year giggled as I laid my head on Pucey's shoulder, and Harry raised an eyebrow at me as he spoke "You look tired."
I groaned in annoyance "I'm working on something that's been eating away at me for a month." I couldn't help eyeing the food on the table like it was the worst thing in the world "I feel like I'm never going to get there."
Montague started putting food on my plate while Pucey rubbed my back "You'll get there eventually, Snape. You just need to keep trying."
My eyes rolled "Please, just let me wallow in self-pity for an hour."
They stayed silent on the matter after that, but they didn't stop trying to get me to eat more than what I felt I could stomach. It wasn't until Nott sat down next to Harry that I'd noticed he hadn't been there. He and Harry exchanged looks and Nott's head shook "Nothing, she won't come out of the bathroom to talk. Whatever he said, he's going to pay for it."
I raised an eyebrow "What's going on boys?"
The frown on Harry's face grew even more worried "Hermione's locked herself in the bathroom crying. Weasley said something after Charms, though we're not sure what. We only know because we overheard a couple of girls talking about it. She's been there all day apparently."
Pucey sighed "It would have been a Weasley. They can never keep their mouths shut. I think I really only liked Bill, but that because he was too busy thinking about the Cursed Vaults."
I choked on the bit of pumpkin juice I'd been drinking "I forgot that even happened." Everyone was polite enough to let me finish coughing before I continued "Tell you what though, Harry, when the feast is over I'll go talk to her."
"You sure that's a good idea, Vanessa?"
I nodded "She's officially on the bad side of a Weasley. That makes her good in my books."
Whatever anyone was going to say after that was interrupted by a very loud bang from the doors of the Great Hall. Quirrel came charging in shouting about a troll in the dungeons, and panic immediately set in. I tried not to let Dumbledore's voice get to me when my body was already flooding with adrenaline, but no one could deny that us Slytherins were completely screwed. We'd been ordered back to our houses, with no acknowledgement made towards the fact that the Slytherins lived in the dungeons. None of us were willing to move.
We were forced to, however, when my father went to our prefects and told them to round us up. He stopped by me to give me a very rushed and worried confirmation of where we were going. I didn't mention the clear anger in his eyes – I wasn't sure I wanted to know why it was there. But we quickly made our way to follow our prefects, Pucey and Montague sticking close to me. I expected the same of Harry and Theodore, but I only managed to catch a glance of them disappearing from the cluster of our house mates.
Before either of my closest friends could stop me I darted after them, only just grabbing the end of Theodore's robes "And where do you think you two are going?"
I only spared a glance behind me at my friends "Vanessa! Your father's going to kill us if he finds out we're not going to the common room."
"Hermione's still locked in the bathroom and there's a troll on the loose. We're going after her."
My eyes narrowed "You're first-years, there's no chance you can handle a troll." Before either of them could argue I held up a hand and directed my words at Pucey and Montague "We're going with them. Three third years against a troll is better than two first-years. And like hell I'm letting these two get themselves killed."
They both let out a collective groan "Alright, lead the way."
We all moved as fast as we could, ducking behind a pillar when we caught sight of the troll. The troll that definitely wasn't in the dungeons anymore. We all had to try not to yell out when we realized it had just gone into the girl's bathroom. The one I could assume Granger had hidden in, based off the scream. For the first time I was able to actually feel my eyes change, but I didn't think about it as we charged into the bathroom. The hesitation only hit once we could see the troll. We just charged in here like a bunch of lions. What the hell is wrong with us?
My wand was out, but I couldn't even think of a spell to use against it. We were going over magical creatures in Defense, sure, but Quirrel couldn't teach to save his life. And we certainly hadn't gotten to trolls yet. I also really didn't have faith in my own ability to perform any spells we had that we could use against it. Pucey and Montague understood my hesitation, at least. They immediately started throwing spells at it, ones to at least keep it away from the first years. I watched Granger run out from behind it to join Harry and Nott, and in my moment of distraction I almost didn't notice it swinging its club at Pucey.
I really wasn't a fan of watching my friend die, so in my desperation I used the only spell I could think of that was powerful enough to keep it away from him "Skjóta uppi!" Luckily, it worked even better than the last time. The troll almost went through the wall, its club getting left behind. The sight of it collapsing wasn't enough to convince us, so we stood still for a moment before breathing in relief. Pucey and Montague looked weary, but all I could do was make sure Pucey hadn't been hit. When their stares continued I shrugged at them "I wasn't going to let you die. You're one of my best friends."
Harry and Nott were still wide eyed, and Granger looked like she was going to start crying again any second "Thank you."
The celebration stopped fairly quickly, when McGonagall, Quirrel, and my father all came in at the same time. I grimaced, gripping Montague's arm as the pain from the spell started to set in. My father didn't seem to notice, for which I was grateful "What is the meaning of this?"
I didn't realize I'd started speaking until it was being said "Weasley said something that upset Granger earlier today, from what I understand. She's been in here all day, was even missing the feast. Potter and Nott decided to go after her, Pucey, Montague, and I all noticed. We followed, figured if they were going anyway they'd have a better chance with a few third-years."
McGonagall looked to Granger "Is this true?"
She looked down, almost like she was ashamed "Yes Professor, it's true."
"What, exactly, did Mr. Weasley say to upset you?"
Harry and Nott both placed a hand on one of her shoulders, and she raised her head "I tried to correct him in Charms today. He was flailing his wand and pronouncing the spell wrong so I just thought I'd help him. After class he was talking about me to Seamus Finnigan. He said I was an insufferable know-it-all and that it was no wonder why I only had friends in Slytherin."
I grit my teeth, my father apparently doing the same. That wasn't just an insult to Granger, it was an insult to Harry and Nott, and a more general insult to Slytherins. And if Harry and Nott were willing to risk themselves against a troll for her, they considered her a very important friend. Which meant we would be taking extra care with the youngest weasel for a while. McGonagall seemed just as offended "Well, I'll just have to take care of that with him. As for the rest of you," She turned to address us "While your actions were noble, you should have gotten a teacher instead of trying to do this yourselves."
None of us bothered to argue. I was going to get enough of a lecture from my father, and my friends would probably get one too for letting me put myself at risk. Harry and Nott would pass by under the radar, my father's anger would be directed at Weasley for a while. He might even take it easy on Granger, but I wasn't going to hold out hope for that. She was in a different class than the rest of them, so she had no one he was more angry with to shield her.
I'd been right about the lectures, of course. My father dragged me, Montague, and Pucey to his office instead of the common room to yell at us. I hadn't been in this much trouble since I was sent to St. Mungo's when I was nine years old and he discovered I'd been hiding it for months. I know it was because he cared, but it was very easy for me to feel defensive over the fact that I was just trying to help my younger house mates. He didn't care. So I sat and listened to him as he scolded me, and then again as he scolded my friends. When we finally made it to the common room very few people bothered to ask what happened. We just found a corner to discuss what had happened after I hurried to my dorm for a dose of my pain potion. I almost wished I hadn't used the spell, but the reminder that it saved Pucey was enough to make the pain bearable. I just hoped I could figure out why it hurt to use that spell.
