A/N: Alright, I completely forgot about making one of these in the previous chapter, but I'll try to keep this one short. My aim is to post a chapter once a week, but don't it is not guaranteed. I'd be Happy to hear your thoughts about this chapter and the previous one. Please say it in an constructive way and tell me what could be improved though.
Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 2: Victory's Price
I was not sure what I expected when I arrived in the corridor where the door was, but I least expected the door to be there. However, the wall had returned to its previous state, with no sign of the door. A part of me questioned if it all really happened, what if it was just a way for my brain to cope with all the trauma I experienced. I didn't have to worry for long though, at four o'clock at the dot, the door appeared again. The shining silver stood out against the surrounding worn and greyish brick. Since the door lacked any handle I knocked hesitantly on the door, which worked just fine since the door swung open without a sound. I stepped inside and felt the air shift as the door closed behind me again.
Taking a deep breath I wandered through the short corridor and entered the room. It was identical to when I left earlier and the girl still stood and observed me emotionlessly as she did when I left. It was as if I had only left the room for a few seconds. The girl remained standing with her arms behind her back, seemingly waiting for me to approach. As I had taken a few steps across I was suddenly hit with something hard in the head from behind.
I jerked around and whipped my wand out of my sleeve. There was no one behind me though. I kept my wand high and turned back towards the girl. There she stood and smiled smugly, wand in her hand.
"First thing, you always need to be aware of when attacks could be coming your way. Had I intended to kill you, you would be dead."
I scoffed at that and scowled. "I'm sorry if I trusted you enough that I though I wouldn't be murdered in cold blood."
"And that is the problem, you shouldn't trust me. You should never trust anyone completely, no matter what you feel. Your lover could decide to kill you for all you know."
"That is just constant vigilance to a whole another level. How could you ever be friends with someone if you don't trust them? Aren't all relationships based on mutual trust? I asked rhetorically.
"I am simply telling you to always be ready, otherwise you will always begin a confrontation on the back foot."
"I'll try to be then, but I don't have eyes in my back."
"Then I recommend you get another pair." she answered simply. "The goal of this session isn't for you to grow new organs however, but I want to teach you the spell I just used on you. Do you know anything about it?" the nameless girl continued.
"That it hurts to get hit in the head by?" I joked.
"It does, but you missed another, more important detail," the girl responded seriously.
I looked at her in confusion as I waited for the girl to continue her lecture.
"Did you see me fire any spell at you?"
I shook my head and the girl without name continued.
"The reason why this spell is unique is because it is the only spell I know of that doesn't emit from the tip of your wand. You can decide yourself where the spell shall appear from and where it shall impact, thus making it an excellent spell to use for a distraction."
I nodded in agreement, the spell would be an incredibly good way to circumvent a simple shield charm. It didn't do enough damage to actually be useful in a duel, but as she said, a
distraction.
"The incantation is 'Feriollo', but I will warn you, it does take a lot of concentration to pull off. You need to focus on where the spell shall appear and then which direction it should travel in. I don't expect you to get it right today, or even this week. It is a useful thing to learn though, especially if you want to escape someone chasing you," she said and looked at me pointedly.
I got the subtext, learn this spell or it is my own fault if I get beat up again. I took a deep breath and raised my wand, pointing it at the girl who didn't want to disclose her name.
"You don't need to point your wand somewhere, but start off that way if it helps you focus," she said with a nod.
"Feriollo," I cried out and tried to envision a jet of light emerging from the chandelier and striking the girl in the head. Nothing happened and the girl remained unscathed.
"Envision the point of emergence and then the trajectory, it should be as if you are guiding the spell."
I braced myself and attempted it again. And again. And again, And again. To her credit, the girl seemed undeterred by my constant failure to even produce me meagerst of sparks. She only patiently reminded me of what to focus on and tried to explain it in another way. That just made me more frustrated with myself though, it sounded so easy, and when she showed me, it looked no harder than the levitation charm.
My frustration must have become fairly apparent because she called me to a stop after a few more attempts and gestured for me to sit down in one of the armchairs. I sat down and waited as she seated herself in the other armchair across from me.
"I think that we need to determine the extent of your abilities, I have no idea if a fourth year now is about as proficient as when I was active here," she started conversationally.
I nodded in agreement, perhaps that was better. The spell she had just tried to teach me had been way out of my league. I wondered if the average wizard then was more knowledgeable than the average wizard now.
"I propose that we duel once, and then I will assign you several tasks within transfiguration, charms and such. That should give me a broad view of where we need to focus on improvement the most," she continued.
"Alright, but shouldn't we focus on curses, shielding and such? They will be the most useful to know for the tasks," I questioned.
"Again, your approach shouldn't be to attack something unknown head on, but to find a way around the fight," she said with a stern look. "At least until you're proficient enough to actually do anything to your opponent."
"If we are supposed to defeat a troll though, then the fight is unavoidable, which means that I need to know offensive magic." I countered.
"Not necessarily," the girl answered vaguely. "Anyhow, let's begin with the duelling part, follow me," the girl continued and stood up to leave.
I followed the girl up to a door that was identical to the one I entered the room through and it swung open quietly to reveal a room that was clearly built for some form of combat. The room was similar to the previous one in that it was circular,but that was where the similarities ended. Whereas the previous room had been fairly cosy and warm in colours, this one was dimly lit by purple torches which lined the wall. At the other there was also a silver cabinet which had a sword hanging off it. The girl walked towards the other end of the room as I felt the door close behind me silently. She spun around suddenly and fired a spell straight at my heart and I was just out able to conjure a feeble shield charm which shattered when the spell impacted.
"Constant vigilance," the girl reminded sternly and I really started to wonder if she had trained Mad Eye Moody somewhere down the line.
"I want you to do your absolute best, hold nothing back," the girl said in an entirely neutral tone.
I took a deep breath and aimed my wand at the girl and began firing spells.
"Expelliarmus"
"Stupefy"
"Petrificus Totalus"
"Diffindo"
The girl dodged them all simply by stepping to the side and I continued trying to catch her. I tried to predict where she would dodge but then she just took another quick step back.
The girl suddenly flung a pink spell at me, forcing me to shield quickly. She then followed up with several quick spells who I just about dodged or shielded from. She kept the onslaught up for a minute or two until I felt myself making minor mistakes. I was hit with a deep, green spell which made my calves cramp. Unable to move properly, my shield was soon shattered and I found myself laying on the floor with several spears pinning me to the floor by my clothes.
"You're not bad, but your spell repertoire is very limited and you lack creativity," she explained seriously. I rolled my eyes. "Plus, your movement is atrocious and definitely needs a lot of work," the girl said pointedly.
"Thank you for your kind words," I responded sarcastically.
"You have never duelled anyone before, have you," the girl asked curiously"
"Not really in the way we did now."
"Am I to assume there is no formal duelling class still in place at Hogwarts?"
"As far as I know, there is no such class," I answered tiredly.
"I'll take that into account, let's move on to the rest," the girl said evenly and walked out of the room, finally releasing me from the spears pining me to the ground.
-()-
I was then put through several drills in all different kinds of subjects. She didn't appear to be dissatisfied with my transfiguration and charms work, but I could tell she was very frustrated that I could do very little in terms of enchanting and she actually had the audacity to laugh when I tried to brew a cure for a niffler bite. I felt a big urge to throw the contents of the cauldron in her face, to let her see if she still found the potion amusing when stuck to her visage.
After what felt like hours and when the room held a distinct smell of burnt steak, I was finally finished with everything she wanted me to do. I dropped down into one of the armchairs looking and looked around the room. I had now been through all of the closed doors except one. What I once thought to be a fairly small place had turned out to be nothing of the sort. There were two bedrooms, one for the girl, although the bed looked as if it had never been used. There was also a potions lab, a library and a few other rooms which fit for work within transfiguration, charms and enchanting. It was fairly obvious which subjects she took the most seriously since one small room was dedicated to magical creatures, astronomy, divination and wizarding law.
The girl took her customary seat in front of me and looked at me for a few seconds. "We will start with some basics you should know tomorrow, after that we will learn spells which can help you with the task,"
I remained quiet and only nodded in affirmation. I hadn't been quite so sure about this girl teaching me, but the little she had shown me of her abilities during the evening told me she was far more proficient than someone her age would be. Perhaps the ridiculous sounding story she had told me about being some kind of ghost was true after all.
After casting a glance at the watch and seeing that curfew was soon to be enforced, I stood up and said goodbye. Like the evening prior, she left me with one last remark as I walked through the door.
"I expect that you can produce the 'Feriollo' spell at an adequate level when you return here tomorrow," the girl, or woman perhaps, declared sternly.
-()-
Arriving for breakfast the day after was a curious experience. Everyone glared at me a little, nowhere near the death glares I had been on the receiving end of the last few days. When I had sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table next to Neville who was reading some book on plants I realised what was different. I overheard a few Ravenclaws behind me talk about how Cedric had been landed in the hospital wing after having been attacked by a group of Beauxbatons students. Only minor injuries if they were to be believed, but now I was officially not the only champion who had landed in the hospital wing. I knew I shouldn't, Cedric was a nice person, but I felt some sense of satisfaction that I was not the only one who suffered here. Who would be the next victim though, I vowed that it would not be me again, although I couldn't quite picture how Krum and Delacour could ever be reached, they had bodyguards attached to their hips. My musings were interrupted as Neville tapped me on the shoulder.
"There are people on your side, you know. Not everyone here supports Cedric exclusively, I and many others would help you if you want," Neville stated hesitantly.
"Thank you Neville, it means a lot, but people who associate with me end up in bad places nowadays. I'm sure you've noticed Ron and Hermione not hanging around with me," I responded evenly.
"I know we've never been the closest of friends, Harry, but know that I will help with whatever I can. I know others will too. You have helped me before, it's time I returned the favour," Neville declared passionately.
"You'll get hurt"
"I don't care, at some point I have to earn the right to wear red and gold."
"You already deserve it, never let anyone tell you anything else. And I have got the task covered, I've got a plan I'm working on."
"Really? Do you know what the task is then?" Neville asked excitedly.
"Nope, but don't worry, I've got it covered," I answered, trying to sound confident.
I didn't feel any confidence at all. My confidence had dwindled significantly since last night when I'd been trashed in not just all my school subjects, but also the one thing I had imagined myself good at, duelling.
I had been naive, that much was obvious. For how could a fourteen year old boy be any good at something he had never done before? I excused myself quietly and left Neville to get to potions.
"Highlight of the day," I thought to myself sarcastically.
-()-
As it turned out, the potions class would turn out to be a highlight, but not in a good way. I arrived early to avoid my classmates and took a table at the back of the class and waited for the class to begin. I looked around and spotted Ron and Hermione together with the other Gryffindors across the classroom, as a consequence I was surrounded by snakes. Luckily, no Slytherin actually took the spot next to me because Neville arrived just before the lesson started and took that seat. He smiled at me supportively just as the door banged open and Snape strided in with his cloak billowing behind him dramatically. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at this, it was fairly impressive the first time. The 700th time? Not so much. The class had fallen silent by the time Snape stood in front of the blackboard and began addressing the class.
"Today you shall all brew an Invigoration Draught, the instructions are on the board," Snape said and sneered in my table's direction.
"It appears our two star students have decided to work together today, make sure you don't blind us with your brilliance;" Snape drawled and whipped his wand so the instructions actually showed up on the board.
The potion wasn't really difficult. The girl had given me some general advice which was surprisingly efficient, but Neville really was an awful brewer. Add to that a group of Slytherins who were determined to throw ingredients in our cauldron and you've got a recipe for disaster. And a disaster it would be. We were about 15 minutes from the end of the lesson when an additional piece of wolf tooth plopped into our cauldron, courtesy of Daphne Greengrass. The cauldron promptly exploded in our faces and the Slytherins howled with laughter.
"20 points from Gryffindor. Potter, Longbottom, what part of the "Three pieces of wolf tooth" did you not understand? You can count to three right?" Snape taunted.
I heard someone beginning to protest, but whoever it was quieted quickly. I cleaned the potion off myself and Neville with a swipe of my wand and began to pack up my things. Getting bad marks wasn't anything new to me in the subject of potion, but I had hoped it would take longer before I actually failed to hand in a potion. Sighing heavily, I walked out of the classroom, deftly avoiding an attempt to trip me from Malfoy.
-()-
I went along with all my classes, not really speaking to anyone and carefully avoiding Ron and Hermione. Not that it was that difficult, they both avoided me as well. When all the classes were done and I found myself with some free time I decided to attempt the 'Feriollo' spell again. I hid inside one of the secret passages and attempted to perform the spell again. I envisioned a bolt emerging further down the corridor and how it would sizzle towards me and whispered the incantation. To my great joy, a few sparks actually showed further down the corridor and I couldn't help but give myself a mental high five. At least it was something, I had at least made some progress from the night before. The only crux was that I would have to learn the spell 'adequately' before I would be allowed to return, something which I couldn't quite picture happening today.
When the better part of two hours had gone and I didn't get anywhere, I picked up my bag and went back to the fourth floor and the corridor which housed the great silver door. The corridor was entirely empty however. No person was there, which was good. There was no door there either though, not so good. I tried to knock over the wall and tried to pry a brick free to get in, but in the end I realised that I would probably have to master that spell if I wanted to get in again. The girl expected me to be learning it for today, but that was incredibly unrealistic. She had seen my progress yesterday and knew it was impossible. Sighing in defeat I began the trek back to Gryffindor tower.
As I turned around the corner I walked into someone though. I looked up and noticed the blue robes of the Beauxbatons students. It was not only one person either, but a group of four students.
"Well, well, well. The little Hogwarts champion out all by himself," the boy I walked into drawled in heavily accented English.
"Perhaps we should make sure that those eyes of his stay open so he doesn't make the same mistake again?" a girl to the right said while smiling maliciously.
They all drew their wands quickly and I found myself cornered by them, one against four. I cursed inwardly, for all the talk about avoiding a fight the girl had done, I was here again. 'The best way to win a fight is to never start it' didn't provide much help here. This fight seemed pretty unavoidable, but a thought struck me, if I could distract them I could make a run for it and there was one spell perfect for that purpose.
I tried to ignore the four wands pointed at my chest as I focused and muttered 'Feriollo' silently. To my great delight, a jet of brilliant red light appeared behind them and struck one of them. They all spun around and I made a run for it praying that they were distracted long enough. When I had turned around the corner I realised I wasn't being followed and listened after them chasing me. What I heard was voices though.
"...impressive to shoot me in the head!" someone roared.
"You'll regret that you did that. Diffindo" the girl who spoke earlier said.
I crept back towards the corridor and saw them all standing around a second year Slytherin who was crying silently while being knocked back by the spells coming in at her. One spell even transfigured her robes and hair pink.
I realised what must have happened with horror. As I cast the spell, the girl must have rounded the corner and my tormentors must have thought that she had cast it. Then they obviously attacked her in retribution. The girl was now lying on the ground and sobbing openly as one of the boys muttered a spell which made her teeth grow disproportionately large. I looked at the girl and felt a huge pang of guilt, this was all my fault. I shouldn't have been such a coward. So I did the only thing acceptable, I took a step around the corner and fired a 'Petrificus Totalus' at the boy who fell to the floor, petrified. The other three turned on me and I was now faced with an onslaught of spells.
I saw the girl stand back up and run back to where she came from. That was my sign to leave so I quickly darted around the corner out of their line of sight. I ran across the corridor and soon found myself looking straight at the shining silver door with purple adjournments. I quickly stepped inside and released a sigh of relief as the door closed behind me again.
As I stood in the small space with the single purple torch, panting heavily, all the events finally registered in my mind. It felt like I weighed a thousand pounds, my cowardice had resulted in an innocent being tormented for no reason. I had framed a little girl and ran away, who knows what consequences that girl will face. I didn't imagine that anyone would be well received in the Slytherin common room wearing all pink and with abnormally large teeth.
I quickly got my act together and walked down the short tunnel and into the room where the girl was waiting patiently in her designated armchair. For the first time ever, she actually smiled at me. Not mocking or laughing or anything. She seemed genuinely pleased by my achievement.
"You succeeded," she noted.
"No! I did nothing of the sort. All I succeeded with was making an innocent girl suffer," I responded angrily.
The girl arched an eyebrow. "Really? Because you must have mastered the spell to return here."
I quickly explained the situation to her and she listened patiently as I vented my frustration. When I was finished we sat in silence for several long minutes before the girl finally spoke up.
"To be frank, you did nothing wrong," the girl began. I started to argue but she held up her hand firmly to silence me. "It is not ideal that someone else got hurt, but you succeeded with your own goal of escaping them. One might even say it was cunning to make it appear that someone else did it," she continued.
"I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me. That girl was completely innocent, she didn't deserve what she got," I argued angrily.
"She didn't, but her brief moment of embarrassment meant that you could retaliate and save both of you in the end, even if she ended up a little worse for wear," the girl responded calmly.
"A LITTLE WORSE FOR WEAR!" I roared furiously.
"She was not injured permanently in any way," the girl pointed out.
"I. Don't. Care," I shouted, enunciating each word. "Slytherins are cruel, she'll be ostracised for showing up like that anywhere. That hexing will be more significant than just a small embarrassment," I continued. My fists were clenched tightly and I glared at the girl who appeared entirely unphased by my outburst.
"Your intentions are very noble, but at some point you will learn that victory always has a price."
I shook my head in disgust and walked out again. As I walked through the door frame out into the tunnel, a transparent, green wall appeared which prevented me from going out.
"Let me out," I ground out angrily, not even bothering to turn around.
"Our session is far from finished, sit down," the girl responded evenly and pointed towards the armchair next to hers.
I reluctantly sat down and glared at her demonstratively. She totally ignored the death glare sent her way and just waited for me to cool off. After what must have been about a quarter of an hour and when my own rage had faded a bit she finally spoke.
"I want to ask your permission for something," she declared calmly.
She paused as if she was contemplating the choice of her words and met my gaze squarely.
"I find myself having no knowledge of either you or the world as it is today. I need to learn a ridiculous amount of information," she continued.
She paused again and looked at me a little hesitantly. I was almost surprised, she had never seemed unsure about anything before so I wondered what she actually wanted to propose. Intrigued, I folded my hands in my lap and waited for her to continue.
"I could of course obtain this information by you telling me your life story and reading a large amount of books. Both of these methods are inefficient, details which are critical will be left out and that is something I can not accept," she continued again.
"So exactly what do you want?" I asked hesitantly.
"To put it simply, I want to read your mind and….acquire all the knowledge you possess."
My eyebrows shot right up and I stared at her incredulously. "Exactly how is this supposed to happen?"
"By a mind art called legilimency. I will enter your mind, look at your memories quickly and then exit with all the information I need."
"What if there is something I don't want to show you?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.
"It is either everything or nothing," she stated conclusively.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't feel like revealing myself in that way to someone I've known for a few days." I frowned at her.
"I accept that, although it makes matters more complicated. I shall still help you with the first task, since I have promised you this," the girl concluded.
The girl stood up and strided gracefully into the room we had duelled the evening prior. Taking the que I stood up and walked inside the circular room for my first official lesson.
I had one more question to ask the girl before we began though.
"Ma'am, I have a question about the 'Feriollo' spell."
"Yes?"
"Wouldn't it be possible to make the point of emergence be inside someone, or half a millimetre from someone? Then they can't shield themselves no matter how good they are."
"Of course you could make the spell appear that close, but the spell wouldn't do anything then. The longer between the point of emergence and the point of impact, the stronger the spell gets," the girl explained clearly. "The spell can't be felt if it is less than about four decimetres between. To make it harmful or distracting in any way, you would need it to appear around four metres away from the target," she continued in a lecturing tone.
I nodded in understanding before asking the other question I had plagued my mind throughout the day, "You are sure that you can't make a spell with another effect appear from somewhere other than the tip of your wand?"
"I am completely certain that this one is the only spell of that nature. Trust me when I say that I've tried to find one," the girl responded finally. "Ready to begin with the lesson?"
"Yes Ma'am."