"You do not usually take this class, is that correct?"
I frowned in the direction of Umbridge. Or, should I say, High Inquisitor Umbridge now. She had injected herself into our Care of Magical Creatures course, having taken it upon herself to judge if the professors of Hogwarts were right to be in their positions. Of course someone with absolutely zero history of teaching is the perfect candidate to judge such things. I had hoped to avoid seeing it, but here she was, ruining one of the only classes I expected to actually learn something. Then again, that wasn't going to happen as long as Hagrid was still gone.
"What does she get asking meaningless questions to our substitute, Grumpy-Plant? Unbelievable," I muttered to myself, watching them cheerfully chat with one another.
"Professor Grubbly-Plank," Draco corrected, though smiling at my expression. After a moment, he turned his smirk from me to Crabbe and Goyle standing next to him. "I happen to quite like her. In fact, who's in agreement we should make her our permanent instructor?"
"Hmm, I wonder," Umbridge mumbled to herself very loudly. I turned back to the two and frowned. She lowered her voice slightly, but with how shrill it normally was, we still heard her perfectly well. "The headmaster seems strangely reluctant to give me any information on the matter—can you tell me what is causing Professor Hagrid's very extended leave of absence?"
"This looks like it's going to be easier than I expected," Draco muttered, having perked up when he heard what Umbridge had to say. But it seemed as though that Grumpy-Plant woman wasn't entirely an idiot. She brushed off the High Inquisitor pretty easily.
"Well… shall I get started then?"
"Isn't it bad enough we have to deal with her during Defense Against the Dark Arts? Now she's going to ruin our other lessons as well?" I grumbled my thoughts aloud. Draco gave me a smirk. Making our way to look through the creatures, Crabbe and Goyle followed a little after.
Umbridge wandered around, asking questions about different creatures. Apparently that was all she thought this course was about, memorizing information. She was obnoxious, and had been intolerable since the Daily Prophet announced her newest title. Proud of her new position, she was right quick to let anyone know, dear High Inquisitor Umbridge. From different students, then back over to the substitute professor, she went around asking her meaningless questions. From what I did overhear, the conversations being had seemed very leading. That was to be expected, however, from someone who assigned such biased textbooks for her class. Umbridge wanted something proven, and she would ask the questions required to confirm it.
"Miss Volkov," Umbridge greeted, heading in my direction. Hearing her voice, I suppressed the expression I was wanting to make, and settled for a smile instead.
"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," I greeted in return. Draco smirked next to me, and at my tone. I wanted to make a face but couldn't, and he knew that, which made me want to smack him even more. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Can you please tell me what a FireCrab is?"
"A crab that seems to have spontaneously combusted?" I asked slowly. She turned down to her notes and began to scribble a few things, actually thinking me that stupid. Draco smiled approvingly beside me. Realizing that little statement would also negatively impact Professor Hagrid, I gave her another smile, really wanting to just walk away from this whole thing. "That was only a joke, of course."
"A joke?" Umbridge repeated in an overly sweet tone. I mirrored her expression.
"It's a turtle-like, crab creature, yes, but no ordinary crab. It has six legs and a jeweled back. It does have the ability to shoot fire, as a defense mechanism, which is where the name comes from," I explained. She began to scribble, and still a little offended at how easily she accepted my feigned stupidity, I decided to add an unnecessary amount more of information. "It is currently an endangered species, as people have been known to poach them for the precious jewels they carry. But recently, reservations have been set in place for their protection. Overall, they are actually quite gentle creatures."
"And can you tell me what the Ministry of Magic Classification is for this creature?" she mumbled, still looking down. I assumed she really was hoping to find some weak link among us.
"Class three, competent wizards should cope."
"Thank you, Miss Volkov."
"Know-it-all," Draco coughed subtly next to me. I turned to give him a look as Umbridge passed us, on her way to her next victim, Goyle.
"Now, I hear there have been injuries in this class?" Umbridge pulled her notes up, ready to scribble some more. Gregory gave her a large grin at the opportunity. But, before he could speak, Draco quickly intervened.
"That was me," Draco spoke up, his fake innocence voice at play. "I was slashed by a hippogriff."
"A hippogriff?" Umbridge repeated, scribbling quicky. Now, she finally had something to work with, probably disappointed things had been going so boring and so well.
"Only because he was too stupid to listen to what Hagrid told him to do," Potter screamed out, having overheard their conversation. I smiled a bit at the interruption, but Umbridge wasn't as happy with the outburst. She turned her head slowly, almost menacingly, in his direction.
"Another night's detention, I think," she called out to him, but seemed very self satisfied.
From just next to him, I could see Hermione let out a groan. At that my smile turned into a frown. Usually, she looked almost glad when others were given a rightful punishment for their outbursts. Since she was a prefect now, too, I would have assumed she would agree with his detention at the least. Not normally one for favoritism, it was strange to see her acting like that.
"It's true, you know, it was your own stupid fault you got attacked by the hippogriff," I whispered, as she took a step away from us. Draco darted his eyes to give me a look. "Besides, you certainly got your wear out of the pity party you threw for yourself. Got, what, two weeks off in the hospital wing?"
"Would you shut up."
"Well, thank you very much, Professor Grubbly-Plank, I think that's all I need here," Umbridge called out, summarizing her examination. "You will be receiving the results of your inspection within ten days."
"Jolly good," Grumpy-Plant called, seeming proud of how it all went together. Umbridge set off after that, back to the castle. Most everyone left seemed glad to see her gone.
The rest of the lesson, as expected, was plain and boring. It's like someone had planned a slow torture for me and realized, the easiest way to do that, would be to conspire a plan to make this year the most boring in my entire time at Hogwarts. Then I would end up failing my O.W.L. examinations, throwing my entire life plan out of balance. If that actually was someone's plan, it was an act of pure evil genius that seemed to be running annoyingly smoothly.
All the while, much unlike me, the others still seemed happy with how our class turned out, far more than I was, now that it was 'safe'. Finishing the rest of the lesson, the others began to leave, heading back towards the castle. I lingered a moment, not following right away. Draco stopped too, noticing I wasn't going anywhere, but I made a motion for him to go forward. Frowning as I shushed him away, Draco rolled his eyes but complied. I needed to do something first.
"Hermione," I called, watching her and her usual two scooting away. She paused and smiled at me, while the other two glance between each other. "Mind if we talk a second?"
"We have a class to get to," Ronald spoke up, sounding far more interested in school than I had ever heard him. Hermione seemed to have been thinking the same thing, and shot him a look.
"Not now, at dinner time," I continued, as obviously I also had a class to go to. "Can you meet me in the library?"
"Sure," she nodded, agreeing to the meeting. I smiled at her and turned back.
Further up, I noticed Draco lingering a little ways ahead, scowling in our direction. Although, I did see his point, this curiosity of mine was getting the better of me again. I jogged a bit to catch up to him a little faster. He didn't ask, just continued forward once I caught him. Just one more class to go before our talk.
The lesson passed pretty quickly, not being one of the terribly boring or infuriating classes. Having finished, we exited the class from the third floor. Luckily, already being in the floor required, I headed to the library. I had been going pretty consistently lately, so it shouldn't be too surprising for the others to see me heading there. But, as we began to pass the stairs, I felt something reach out to me. I frowned as Draco pulled on my arm, scowling when he saw me turning away.
"I'm going to the library," I frowned at him, pulling my arm away from his grip. Behind him a few of the others were already halfway down the flight of stairs. A couple of them seemed to linger, either waiting for us or wanting to see how this argument was going to unfold.
"I'm not kidding about this habit you're getting for skipping meals," Draco frowned over in my direction. "Now, come and eat."
"I'm fine; you're overreacting," I sighed, turning in the direction of the library. "I'll see you in the common room later."
"No, you're coming, now," he insisted, with a stricter tone now. I gave him a frown, hating it when he used that tone with me. I turned away and he pulled me back, more roughly this time. At that I added a glare.
"I said I'll be fine!"
"And I said now!"
"You two argue like an old married couple," Blaise rolled his eyes, pushing past us to reach the stairs. Draco let him go through easily but his posture stayed rigid on my side, to block my way. I continued to frown at him but, noting his resolve, let out a sigh.
"Fine, give me ten minutes," I compromised, though I always hated to. But, knowing him, that was my only option. "Ten minutes, and I'll come down and eat something, alright?"
Draco kept frowning down at me another moment. He kept his strict look, and I turned back up stubbornly. He watched me another moment, before looking back at the stairs behind me. With that last look, he let out a sigh.
"Ten minutes," he repeated, walking around me in the direction of the stairs.
"Ten… or fifteen…" I called under my breath. Having heard it, Draco grabbed my arm a third time and pulled me in his direction. I stuttered a bit to catch my footing, and frowned up at him.
"Ten," he pointed a stubborn finger at me before letting go. I gave him one last look as he turned away from me and down the stairs. Pansy, waiting impatiently for him, kept a glare in my direction, before grabbing his arm and trailing after him down the steps. Not sure if they could see me, but not really caring, I stuck out my tongue in their direction and hurried off to the library.
I wasn't sure if she had been released early, or Draco's whining had simply taken that much time away from me, but Hermione was already waiting near the entrance by the time I reached the library. I gave her a small greeting, and walked further into the library with her. We were still near the entrance when she started talking.
"What did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked, but I waited until we were a little ways in before I spoke.
"Potter, and Umbridge," I began, and her face immediately looked more guarded. I gave her a bit of a smile before continuing. "You're usually the kind of person who believes detention is warranted. But when Umbridge mentioned one to Potter, you seemed… unhappy? That's not the proper word for it but you seemed bothered to say the least."
"Why do you ask?" she answered with a careful question. I decided honesty, though normally not my first choice, would work best in this particular situation.
"Because I want her gone. If you know something I don't… Whatever she's doing in that detention room could help get her gone. I want to know what she's doing," I mentioned seriously. Noticing I really was telling the truth, Hermione let out a sigh.
"That vile woman… she's torturing him in detention," she mumbled out her response, rushing through it as though she had been holding in the remark for some time. I gave a surprised look back. Torture was not what I had been expecting. I waited for her to continue, but that was all that she said. After a second I took a look around us, wanting to see if there were any others nearby. No one was directly surrounding us, but I didn't want to take the risk. I grabbed her arm and lightly pulled her aside, just in case.
"Torturing him how?" I asked once I found a better place, but still careful to lower my voice.
"Well, she makes him write lines for hours," Hermione frowned down. Expecting that wasn't enough to warrant the phrase 'torture', I waited for her to continue. "But… it's this quill that she's using. Whatever the person using it writes, it leaves a mark. It's carved on the back of their hand."
"A quill," I mumbled, as she continued with her explanation.
"Harry comes back to the common room bleeding from his hand. It's beginning to scar! She can't be allowed to do this! But does he report her? No! That thick-headed, stubborn—"
"Why hasn't he reported her?" I asked, interrupting before she got too lost in her tirade. "If everything you said really is happening, he has more than enough cause to bring it up to someone."
"I don't know what he's thinking," she shook his head before dropping it. "He doesn't want to tell Dumbledore any of this. I don't know what he expects will happen by just staying quiet with this. I can't do it for him… I mean, I could, but… I just don't know what to do."
"Is he making sure it's healing properly?" I asked, trying to distract her a bit. It seemed to have worked. Her head snapped back up. "Repetitive damage like that, especially if it seems to be scarring, could lead to an infection."
Hermione frowned, as if just now thinking about it. As she thought about that, I focused on what Hermione had said. Unfortunately this wasn't what I had been hoping for. I doubted Fudge knew what she was doing, but I knew for a fact this wasn't the worst to expect from someone who works at the Ministry. There was a strange divide of people there, both incredibly selfish and incredibly selfless. Somehow they seemed to blend well within one another. Proof of said torture could injure her overall reputation, but I doubt it would ruin her like I had hoped for. She would just claim to be using more traditional punishment methods, and get a slap on the wrist.
"I might have something for that," I called, realizing I was getting lost in my own thoughts as well. Hermione looked up at me when I said that. "He has detention tonight, right? I could bring you something later."
"Really?" she asked, eagerly. "That would be amazing. I've been so in my own head that I haven't had time to research recipes."
"I had to memorize a few simple brews when I interned at St. Mungo's, and Potions is one of my better subjects. I may not be Outstanding, but I seem to Exceed Expectations at least," I grumbled the last part, mostly to myself.
"You got an E? On the Potions assignment?" she asked, switching topics along side me.
"I am working towards that O, but so far, yes," I nodded. "I need Potions as one of the required courses to my field."
"That's right, you want to be a healer," Hermione nodded with me. "That means you also need Herbology, Charms, Transfigurations, and—"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," I completed with distaste. Hermione gave me a small smile at that. "Honestly, how are we expected to learn anything with her? I'm assuming you already finished the text as well."
"The first week here," Hermione sighed. That sounded about right. "What are we to do, she doesn't even bother reading us the text. She just stands there."
"I did manage to charm my History of Magic text to look like Umbridge's book, so I usually study that during her class."
Hermione didn't say anything as a moment passed. I frowned a little, and waited. For a second, I forgot who I was speaking to. She was a very 'by-the-book' sort of person, while I was more of a 'find a better book' type . That, and she was a prefect now. But, surprisingly, that was not what she had focused on. When Hermione spoke, she didn't say what I had been expecting from her.
"You need Defense Against the Dark Arts to be a Healer… How is it that you're studying for that, then?"
"On my own time," I answered, glad to move on from the point. "I've been studying from different texts I had brought from home. I figured it would somehow turn out this way when I read what the assigned text was. It's nothing fancy, and I would rather have a proper instructor, but it's certainly better than trusting Umbridge to do it."
"You're right… a proper teacher would be better," she mumbled, albeit seemingly to herself. "This isn't the kind of subject where reading is enough. We would need to be hands on. Have someone with experience…"
That was true. I had studied certain things under my father. He wanted me to know a certain set of skills, in preparation of what, and more importantly Who, is going to make moves soon. It would be smart to get a partner, possibly. The only person I could think of would be Theo, we could work to fill each other's weaknesses. Possibly Draco, it could help me solidify some of my own skills, as explaining things usually does. George was also an option, he had a couple of years more experience than I did, even if he didn't always act like it. The downside to the latter two would be they would most likely take the suggestion the wrong way, and get an inflated ego. So, I would save for one of my later choices.
I was pulled away from my thoughts when I noticed a few more students. With that, I pouted. That meant they were done with dinner, if they were heading into the library. Even if they ate fast, or very little, more than a few minutes must have passed. Perhaps the ten minutes I was allotted had already been spent, meaning I was already late. Draco would certainly throw a fit again.
"I should go. If I'm not at dinner, I won't hear the end of it," I sighed, watching the door. Hermione looked up as if just remembering I was there. I gave her a smile and pulled my bag further up on my shoulder. "I'll see you tonight."
"Tonight," she repeated with a nod. I waved a goodbye and shuffled off towards the ground floor.
I jogged quickly down the stairs. More than ten minutes had definitely passed, and even more time would go as I made it to the ground floor. If it took too long, Draco would have my head. It's not like I never ate, I wasn't sure why he was being so sensitive over it, I just didn't always feel like eating when he wanted me to eat. He always fought me when I lectured him, so why was he being any different with this?
Finally, I reached the Great Hall. At the entrance, I took a glance at a particular section of the Slytherin table. I could see them animatedly talking to each other, but none looked to be focused on the door. So instead of turning directly towards them, thankful for the opening, I headed down the path of the Gryffindor table. Walking about halfway down the line of red robes, I finally ran into two familiar heads of red hair. Fred was the first to notice me, giving me a smile as I hastened my walk. George turned around with a wider smile once I finally met them.
"I need something from you," I called, with no time for small talk. I was already far too late. I sat down in the small space between the twins, turning to the one I thought would be more likely to answer. "What's the password to get into your common room right now?"
"Are you planning to visit?" George smirked down at me.
"No," I answered simply.
"You gonna tell the snakes?" Fred asked behind me, looking in the direction of the table. Looking over to where he was, I found Draco glaring our way. Great. I had been hoping to get an answer from them before they found me. Unfortunate, but I would deal with it later. I turned my head back to Fred.
"No," I answered honestly. Both of them shrugged at each other, as if that was enough to qualify me with an answer.
"Mimbulus mimbletonia," George announced, to the distaste of someone else at the table.
"Don't just tell the Slytherin our common room password so casually," Lee frowned across from us.
"Too late now," George shrugged at him.
"Should've said something earlier, mate," Fred nodded. Lee rolled his eyes at the two.
"Why are you asking, anyway?" George asked curiously, like he should have done to begin with. But I had my information, and I didn't need them anymore.
"Nothing that concerns you, but thanks," I added and stood. Before I could leave, George reached over, grabbing my arm to pull me back to him. He leaned in to kiss my cheek. I swatted him away before pulling away, but he seemed to have a satisfied smile.
I made my way down the table full of red, and back to my designated green. By the time I reached them, they looked about half done. It had definitely been more than the allotted time, but I had yet to look at the clock. I sat down across from Blaise, but tried to ignore the stupid look he was giving me. Once I was properly seated, Blaise turned his smirk to Draco, who had a very annoyed look fixed on me.
"Ten minutes," he grumbled simply, making it clear it had been past that with two simple words.
"I also said fifteen," I argued, pulling my plate of roasted beef and potatoes. That didn't help his mood.
"Why did you go see the beggar?"
"What's it to you, Malfoy? She's not your girlfriend," Blaise smirked next to him.
"Shut it," Draco snapped at him. I rolled my eyes, but was glad to have the attention off of me. With that, I grabbed my dish and began to eat.
. . .
In the common room, I rubbed my eyes tiredly. I had been sitting a while, staring at the second copy of my History of Magic text, the uncharmed one. I had managed to perfect that charm, but it had been difficult, and I didn't want to risk having to repeat the process. It was a bit late in the evening, not too late, but I had been trying to pass time as much as possible. With a bit of a stretch, I looked over towards the clock. I would need to leave soon.
I had told Hermione I would give her a healing brew. Potions were always more effective, more potent, when fresh, after all. I was waiting for it to be later before I started, but the time seemed right now. I didn't know how long Potter's detention would last, but even so, I would have much rather not deliver the potion into a room full of Gryffindors. With Slytherins, most dispersed the common room around ten or eleven at night, at least on a school night. I decided to work under the assumption that Gryffindors worked the same way.
As I got up from my seat, Blaise, Theo, and Draco entered the common room, making their way down the stairs from their room. They were making their way to the center sofas, just as I began to pack up my things. Noticing I was heading out, Draco grabbed my arm and spun me around. With a frown, he pulled me away from the direction of the entrance.
"Where are you going? It's almost curfew."
"Why do you care?" I frowned at him. He kept acting more and more like he was my father, or something just as annoying. It was getting really obnoxious having to justify my actions to him every five seconds.
"He is a Prefect now," Theo mumbled, not pausing from his walk towards the sofa. Blaise smirked next to him.
"He might not act like it, like at all, not in the slightest—"
"Alright," Draco frowned, swatting in his direction. "Really, where are you going?"
"To study," I lied. It didn't seem like either of them believed me. Draco narrowed his eyes at me, but Blaise was the one who spoke up.
"Weren't you just at the library?" Blaise frowned a bit.
"You think I can do a decent amount of studying in just 10 minutes, if that?" I asked. Blaise gave me a simple shrug, seeming as though he had already lost interest over the topic. Proving that point, he turned away from both of us. He, too, continued in the direction of the sofa.
"Where are you really going?" Draco asked in a lower voice, once Blaise reached his seat.
"I'll be in the Room," I mentioned, with a particular tone.
"I thought you got the History book to work."
"I did," I nodded. "But, right now, I need to make a potion. Now stop asking questions, especially ones you don't want answers to. I ate dinner, you got your freebie for today. Stop. I'll be back before it gets too late."
Draco narrowed his eyes at me. He let out a frown as I smiled back, but he let go of my arm. Reaching over, he grabbed the hood of my cloak, pulled it up and down over my head. I heard him step away as I attempted to fix my robes. Throwing the fabric away from my face, I gave out a frown. But he was already too far away. Draco was sat with the other two, talking once more about whatever stupid topic had sprouted between them. When he noticed me glaring he let out a smile, and I stuck out my tongue at him. I saw his smirk grow a bit as I walked out of the common room.
I waited a moment until sure no one was around. Speaking the incantation I had set so long ago, the doorway to the Room appeared, in its hidden corner under the stairs. Inside the room I heard a very faint scuttle. Looking down, I noticed Lev rushing to meet my feet as the door sealed itself behind me. He barked happily, causing me to bring a finger up to my lips, signaling him to quiet himself as I stepped closer to meet him. Lev liked to enter the room himself every so often. Because of this, I always made sure to keep fresh food and water for him, allowing him his privacy as well. He was a smart, independent, pup so as long as he didn't cause me any trouble I was fine with letting him do as he pleased. Crouching down, I gave him a smile before picking him up.
Lev nuzzled closer to me as I took a few steps deeper into the Room, only setting him back down as we reached the side table. Already mounted on it lay my extra cauldron, the one I didn't use for Potions class. I gave myself a nod noting it was clean, sometimes I forgot to do that. Having that confirmed I gave a wave to my wand, filling the container with water and igniting a fire below. Letting the base heat up for a second I made my way to the packaged ingredients, having previously decided I would be using Murlap Essence. The brew was simple enough to make, so I wouldn't have to ascertain Hermione's ability to make it, and the ingredients weren't… questionable, so it should pass the Gryffindor standard of ethics. The only real issue with the brew was it needed to simmer for an arguably long time to actually be if any use. If rushed the whole brew went sour, making hours of work pointless. With that in mind I reached into my cabinet, grabbing what I needed, frowning slightly as I noticed some other ingredients were running low. I would have to take note of what later, in order to replenish it by the next Hogsmeade visit.
Absentmindedly I walked back towards the cauldron, Lev darting back and forth between my feet. He was surprisingly excitable, considering the late hour. With a smile I reached down to give him a pet before turning my attention back on the low boiling water. It was hard to completely mess up the brew, but for the best results I needed to wait for the right consistency of air bubbles before adding the ingredients. But it only took a minute more for the bubbles to rise to the right pattern. At that I submerged the Murlap tentacles.
Adding a few more flames, to raise the temperature a bit, I turned away from the brew realizing there was something else I should do. Lev barked softly, following as I stepped to the main table. Quill in hand, and with a scrap of spare parchment, I scribbled down clear notes and the recipe. Knowing the way Potter loves to voice his opinion I had no doubt he would get detention again soon, meaning Hermione might need to try her hand at this recipe more than a few times.
The mixture took some time to finish. I knew better than to leave a potion brewing, unattended, so I stayed in the Room while it finished. Every so often I moved things around the room, but mostly just played a bit with Lev. There was nothing else for me to do, really. It was an incredibly simple concoction that I imagined Professor Snape didn't bother to teach even first years because there was nothing to teach but patience. It was a very common home remedy, for that exact simplicity. But, being muggleborn, I doubted Hermione had dealt with it before, hence the notes.
Still bouncing Lev on my lap I turned to glance at the clock. It was almost eleven. Hugging him against my chest, I pushed myself standing and walked back towards the cauldron. The potion had finished brewing some time ago, I had simply been letting it rest to cool. It wasn't perfect, not all of the ingredients had completely liquified, but that was to be expected when I had spent the majority of the time distracting myself with Lev. But it would suffice. Careful not to spill it on my pup, not that it would hurt him any, I transferred the contents of the cauldron onto a large but more portable container. Making sure he remembered the rules we had agreed on, I called Lev to me and we headed out the door.
It was certainly past curfew by now, they wanted most of us in our common rooms by nine. But that's why I had brought my guard pup, walking just a few paces ahead of me. At this point Lev was well known for wandering the halls, so it wouldn't be out of the norm to find him here now. Having him check any corners before I made my way through, we managed to climb all the way up to the Gryffindor tower. Already somewhat fed up with the constant stopping, and detours from Filch, I grumbled as I watched the portrait of the Fat Lady snoring away.
"Excuse me," I called with a frown. It's not as if I could scream at her to get up, that would wake the whole tower. Honestly, that lazy— "Can't you do your sleeping when your students are in class?"
She didn't answer, just continued to snore. Lovely. Lev etched himself curiously closer, scratching at her frame as I looked forward with distaste. With a small bark he leaned up against it, giving the painting a couple of more scrapes. Deciding to follow his lead, I leaned in and gave the bottom of her frame a good kick.
"Ah—oh? Oh! Stop that," the Fat Lady hissed down at Lev, watching as he cleaned his nails off against her base. Her eyes followed from him up to me, just now realizing someone was trying to enter. Either not noticing my robes, her eyes were half-closed, or possibly too tired to care, she went back to business as usual. Clearing her throat and some of the grog out of her voice she called out the usual question. "Password?"
"Mimbulus mimbletonia."
At the phrase, the portrait gave way, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. I made a complacent expression. Honestly I hadn't expected it to be this easy. George should really be more careful about giving away information like this. Gesturing for Lev to wait outside the common room, I turned forward and into the foreign space.
My steps were slow and silent, not wanting to take any chances of someone I didn't want finding me. I didn't have a very good excuse to give as to why I would climb roughly eight flights of stairs, from the dungeon to the towers, in the middle of the night, to enter a common room I wasn't meant to have access to. As a last resort I could say I was visiting George but would much rather not. If word got around to Slytherin, which it would, and Draco heard, which he would, he would give me more than an earful. Not to mention he would most likely also try to defer me from leaving the common room past curfew. I wouldn't put him above trying to give me detention for the sole purpose of keeping me inside.
"How'd you get in here?" Ron looked at me pointedly, quickly sitting up on the chair he had previously been slouched against. Hermione ignored his comment, standing herself. They had been the only two up, thankfully. It seemed Gryffindors followed rules as mundane as set curfews.
"Is this it?" Hermione asked, her hands already outstretched to the large vial I was holding. Shifting it further up my arms, I gave her a nod.
"I wrote down the recipe too," I added, pointing at the scrap of parchment on the side of the container, "just in case. It's pretty simple, I doubt you'll have much trouble, but you never know. I also recommend placing it into a deeper mold, or a wide-mouthed container. This potion usually works better when it covers the wound entirely."
"How did she get in here?" Rob piped up, turning his question onto Hermione, who once again chose to ignore him.
"Thank you," she gave me a nod, shifting the weight of the large potion against her arm. "Really, I appreciate you taking the time. Harry is still with that awful woman, these detentions seem to be getting longer and longer too."
"Have him use the brew as soon as he's back. It should help with the pain and bleeding, at least a bit," I gave her a sympathetic nod, looking at the mix. It wasn't the best but it would do. "He'll have to soak his hand for a while for the effect to take place. There were some other potions I could have brought but this seemed like the better option. The others would have been difficult to find supplies for, if you wanted to make some more later, they took too long to brew, or required a few too many steps. There is one I was considering that works almost instantaneously but it can be remarkably painful if applied incorrectly, and I don't need anyone accusing me of trying to kill him."
"Kill him?" Rob piped up again, making me give him a sigh. "How did you get in here?"
"I was told your password, alright?" I threw my hands up at him. "And before you start no, Hermione didn't tell me, your brother did. Honestly, you should really tell him to be more careful with sensitive information. I know he's capable of it, so I was half expecting him to have given me the incorrect password with how easily he gave it up. I didn't even have to ask twice."
"How do we even know it's not poisonous?"
"Drink it and find out," I gave Ronald a smile.
"She's joking," Hermione interrupted before he piped up again.
"Read the recipe," I shrugged at him. "It's made with variants of Murlap tentacles, mostly strained or pickled."
"That doesn't answer my question," Ron frowned down at the parchment Hermione was pointing in his direction.
"It literally does," I gave him a sigh. Honestly, with something so simple. And it was people like this that always wondered why Professor Snape didn't have the patience to teach them. "We have literally gone over this in Potions. Murlap has no negative side effects, it couldn't possibly be used as the base for a poison. Worst he'll get is an upset stomach."
"That's enough Ron," Hermione frowned at him before turning back. "It's so late and you two aren't even that close—Thank you again for bringing this up here."
"It's really alright. I wasn't feeling all that tired today, and it's not like I'm likely to get detention. Two Gryffindor prefects are right here, and the Slytherin ones are all complete pushovers," I gave her a shrug. Hermione gave me a small smile and, returning it, I gave a glance behind my shoulder. "But regardless, I should get going. I would rather not get caught in here, whatever the case."
I gave a wave at the two before turning back down their entrance. Outside the portrait was already sleeping again. Lev softly scuttled to me, stopping at my feet. I crouched down and picked him up for a quick kiss before letting him back down. We had a ways back, and he was the guide pup after all. I gave a stretched, letting him get a few paces ahead before following. With a yawn I frowned at how tired I suddenly felt. It was exhausting doing things for others, and with no reward, I would never understand how people could be selfless like this.