Hi everyone! I hope you enjoy the new chapter! This one was a lot of fun to write - and it's a big point in the story.
(Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.)
Chapter 13:
The Magic Feather
"As Neville walked away, Harry looked at the Famous Wizard card.
'Dumbledore again,' he said. 'He was the first one I ever -'
He gasped. He stared at the back of the card. Then he looked up at Ron and Hermione.
'I've found him!' he whispered."
"Hey, Hermione," Molly said as she passed the bookworm in the hallway. "I haven't seen you in a while."
Hermione nodded. "I've been busy," she said. "Oh - I got to see Beauty and the Beast over the holiday!"
"Really!" Molly said. "What did you think?"
"Oh, it was wonderful!" Hermione said. "Belle was so incredible - and that Enchantress was very skilled at Transfiguration."
Molly giggled. "I never thought about it that way before," she said. "Did you figure out who that Nicolas Flamel was?"
Hermione nodded. "We figured it out a few days ago," she said. "Nicolas Flamel is the creator of the Philosopher's Stone, which is hidden in the school and can create the Elixir of Life, which Voldemort is trying to get so that he can become immortal!"
"Wait…" Molly said. "The Philosopher's Stone?"
Hermione nodded eagerly.
"Don't you mean the Sorcerer's Stone?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Why on earth would you think it's called the Sorcerer's Stone?"
Molly shrugged. Suddenly, she heard a voice from down the hallway.
"What's this about the Philosopher's Stone?" Beatrix said, walking up to the two girls.
"Uh...Hermione was just telling me about it - it's hidden somewhere in the school," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "But I thought it was called the Sorcerer's Stone."
Beatrix rolled her eyes.
"What - you, too?" Molly said.
"It's a long story," Beatrix said. "Have a good day, Hermione."
"You, too, Beatrix," Hermione said as she walked off to her next class. Beatrix lowered her voice.
"The Sorcerer's Stone is the American title for the first book and movie - but the Philosopher's Stone is the original title, so it's bound to be more accurate," Beatrix explained.
Molly nodded. "Got it. Have a good day!"
"You, too!" Beatrix said. "See you at dinner!"
Molly waved and walked in the direction of Charms class, going over the incantation for the Severing Charm in her head.
Little did she know that her peaceful winter at Hogwarts was quickly coming to an end.
Stella frowned as she sat on her bed in the Hufflepuff common room.
She knew what was coming in a few days. Ron'd had to go to the hospital wing in the middle of class a few days before, which meant that Harry and Hermione's sneaking out was going to be occurring soon - and she did not want Neville to get detention.
So what was she to do?
She'd decided not to leave Hogwarts over spring break so that she could see what she needed to do. On May 2, she decided to take a break from her "Battle of Hogwarts" party with Beatrix and Ava and go down to the Gryffindor common room.
Carefully, she crept through the halls to find the Fat Lady's painting slightly ajar, being held open by Neville.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Holding the door open for Harry and Hermione -"
"You don't need to - they'll be fine -"
"But the Fat Lady's gone - they won't be able to -"
"Oh, I think that's the least of their problems at this point," Stella said. "Get in there -"
"What's all the racket down there?" a voice boomed. McGonagall, Stella thought.
"See what I mean?" Stella said, keeping her voice to a minimum. "Now go before she finds you!"
McGonagall's shadow was beginning to peek out from the wall. Without thinking, Stella shoved Neville into the dorm and slammed the Fat Lady's portrait against the wall.
Then she realized she was out in the open - and before she could do anything, McGonagall appeared in the hallway.
"Stella Martinez?" she asked. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"Er…" Stella couldn't find a way out of this one.
"Students are not allowed to be out at night," she said firmly. "That's twenty points you've lost for Hufflepuff."
"But -"
"And a detention, because it's so late in the year that you should know better."
"But Professor -"
"No ifs, ands, or buts about it, Miss Martinez," McGonagall said. "I've made my decision quite clear."
Stella sighed - she should've known this was coming. "Yes, Professor."
"Now come with me," McGonagall said. "This is the second student I've seen out of bed tonight - I've never felt so ashamed."
Stella followed her, not noticing the Fat Lady's portrait open up behind her.
After about a minute of walking, the two arrived at McGonagall's office - and Stella noticed Harry and Hermione sitting in two of the chairs.
"Harry!" she cried in relief. "I was trying to stop you guys from getting in trouble - or at least, stopping -"
Harry motioned at her to keep it down, but McGonagall had already noticed the duo.
"Harry Potter - Hermione Granger - I've never seen the likes of this at Hogwarts before! Four students out in one night! You'd better have a good story for this!" McGonagall cried.
They didn't.
"I think I have an idea what's going on - it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon in order to get him out of bed and in trouble - I already have given him a detention and the loss of twenty points from Slytherin. I bet you think it's funny that Stella probably overheard you talking about it at lunch and believed it," McGonagall said.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, I didn't come here because of the dragon -"
"Then why did you come?" McGonagall asked. Stella opened her mouth to answer, but realized she couldn't without revealing her secret.
"Precisely," McGonagall said. "I've already given Stella detention and the loss of twenty points from Hufflepuff, and you two will also be receiving detentions - oh, and the loss of fifty points from Gryffindor."
"Fifty?" Harry exclaimed.
"Each," McGonagall said. "It's about time you learned right and wrong. I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this -"
"Professor?" a voice said.
McGonagall turned around to see Molly standing in the doorway.
"Molly!" Stella said. "What are you doing here?"
"My thoughts exactly," McGonagall said. "You're the fifth student out-of-bed tonight - explain yourself!"
"I...uh...I heard all the ruckus outside, and it woke me up - and I went out to see if I could figure out what it was. I didn't know if it was someone bad - maybe the person who forced Jonah to kill Madison."
"Jonah killed Madison of his own accord," McGonagall said. "That much we know. We can't trust him - he's a Slytherin, those folks will use any means to do what they think is right."
"But he told me -"
"If you were talking to him, you must take anything he says with a grain of salt. There is no one bad in the school, and now you're becoming part of the problem. I don't care what your alibi is. I don't care if you were trying to help or hurt justice. You will also be receiving a detention, and fifty more points will be taken from Gryffindor!"
Molly gasped - she had never seen McGonagall so angry.
"But - but -" she stammered.
"My decision is final, Evans, and I am sticking to it. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been so disgusted at my own House - and any other houses, as a matter of fact."
She gave a pointed glance at Stella.
The first person to leave the room was Molly, with the other Gryffindors right behind her. Stella left last, sullenly going back to her room. When she arrived, she saw Beatrix and Ava sobbing over pictures of Lupin and Tonks.
"Guys?"
The two of them looked up to see Stella.
"Can you sleep in here tonight?" she asked.
Ava and Beatrix smiled.
"We'd love to," Beatrix said.
Molly ran into the nearest bathroom and locked herself in one of the stalls - and just in time, too; if she had made it there a second later, Harry and Hermione would've seen her begin to sob.
Even now, she couldn't stop the waterfall of tears pouring down her face, blurring her vision in the incredibly cold bathroom. She cried and cried and cried until she had no more tears to cry - and she couldn't help but think it was weird that she had cried more over this than over the death of a friend. Well, this did have something to do with Madison, she thought.
Finally, her vision cleared, although Molly kept her eyes shut, trying to block out the reality of what had just happened. She sighed as she opened them and stood up to leave - but before she could, she noticed something.
It was a feather. A beautiful, shiny blue feather, the color of ice.
Molly went to pick it up, but her hands passed directly through it.
"That's weird," she said to herself.
She went to pick it up again, but she only felt a cool breeze when her hand passed through the feather.
Suddenly, another feather wafted down. Molly held her hand up to catch it, but once again, the feather passed directly through her hand.
Slowly, Molly looked up - to see an owl, the same color as the feathers, perched on the stall, looking down at Molly.
For some reason, the owl looked familiar, and Molly squinted to see why - I really need to get my glasses prescription updated when I get home, Molly thought - and then she realized.
Even the blue of being a ghost couldn't get rid of Opa's amber eyes.
"Opa?" Molly said, and the owl hooted. "Is that you?"
The owl winked, which Molly took to mean, Yeah, duh.
"Which means…"
She opened the stall - and saw someone she had never expected to see again.
It was Madison.
Molly couldn't get out her words - she was trying to say "Oh my goodness" or "What the enfer are you doing" but couldn't say a thing.
"Yeah, I know, no need to thank me…" Madison said jokingly.
"Wait - hold on -" Molly said, finally able to speak properly.
She drew her wand.
"So...Dr. Fern was talking about a material passing the liquid phase when turning solid…" (Dr. Fern was Molly's 5th grade science teacher.) "...what was that called? Deposition? Alright, and she's a ghost, or a spirit, so...I don't know if this works or not, but I might as well give it a try…"
She pointed her wand at Madison.
"Deposio Spiritus!" she cried.
Suddenly, a transformation occurred. Madison's body suddenly seemed more opaque, and it seemed to have a bit more color. Her clothes seemed to lay on her like normal clothes, and her feet touched the ground.
"Wow…" Molly said to herself. "That actually worked…"
And she knew what she had to do.
"What was that all about?" Madison said.
"This," Molly said, and ran up and gave her the biggest of hugs.
Madison seemed surprised at first, and then she hugged Molly back.
"I'm glad I got detention," Molly whispered.
"I'm glad, too - wait, what?" Madison said. "You got detention?"
Molly shrugged. "Curiosity kills the 11-year-old wizard, I guess."
Madison smiled. "In both of our cases."
Molly couldn't help but giggle. "Come on, I need to show you to someone."
"Okay, then - but what will they think if I'm solid?"
"I can change you back," Molly said, holding up her wand once more.
"Sublimate Spiritus!" she called, and a large, white mist filled the room. When it cleared, Molly could see Madison, once again, floating in midair.
"Oh - before we go - I have something to ask you," Molly said.
"Fire away," Madison replied.
"Did Jonah kill you of his own accord?"
"Heavens, no," Madison said. "Quirrell was controlling him through the Imperius Curse. He tried twice - hit Opa first."
"Perfect," Molly said. "Now come on!"
She ran out of the bathroom, no longer caring how much ruckus she made, Madison right behind her.
Thanks so much for reading! Here are this chapter's behind-the-scenes fun facts.
1) I already know what you're thinking - why did I have Molly invent a spell? Well, we know that spells can be invented due to Severus Snape's spells in Book 6, and I was not letting this chapter go by without me giving Madison a hug.
2) Deposition is an actual scientific concept - it's when a gas turns directly into a solid, without becoming a liquid first. And the opposite is sublimation - like when dry ice "melts."
3) I thought that the Philosopher's and Sorcerer's confusion would be a funny thing to address, so I put it into Molly and Hermione's conversation at the beginning.
4) Stella stopping Neville from getting detention and getting the detention herself was Stella's inspiration's idea.
5) I always get really upset whenever I get into trouble, so I thought that it would be neat to insert that into the story.
6) The line "I don't care if you were trying to help or hurt justice" is going to be echoed later on in the story.
7) Yes, the chapter title is based on Dumbo.
Feel free to review, but please no negative reviews or cursing.