Disclaimer - The characters within the Harry Potter series do not belong to me, but to a wonderful woman known the world over as J.K. Rowling. The only thing I can remotely call mine within this story is Sable, her children, and any other unfamiliar characters/places that have yet to be shown in the canon universe.
Wolf's Bane II: Return to Hogwarts
Chapter 15
Memories Revisited
All Harry could see in the darkened corridor was a the small amount of light that was glinting from the torches that lined the walls. He didn't know where he was, but it felt oddly familiar, and more threatening that he wanted to admit to. Using the wall as a guide since he couldn't see anything more than a foot in front of him, he continued on his way around a bend in the tunnel…only to be knocked flat onto his back when he ran into something very hard. Harry picked himself up and carefully reached out to identify the obstruction in his way.
A wall.
It was a solid wall.
Harry reached out and touched the stone, noting the cool feel of the stone as he ran his fingers along the surface. He was about to pull back when his fingers grazed over a part that was carved out. He took a step back, raised his wand, and muttered a spell to illuminate his surroundings. But as the light flooded the dark, damp area, his eyes caught sight of two very large, very bright, very familiar looking sets of emerald eyes set atop the carved coiling bodies on the door.
A grating noise was heard, and the door slowly swung open to reveal one of the last places he ever wanted to return to.
The Chamber of Secrets.
Harry felt his blood run cold as he stepped through the opened doors and into the large, shadow filled room that was full of carved serpents.
'Who sssso daresssss to disssssturb my sssssacred groundsssssss….' a hissing voice demanded, ringing through the empty space around him. Harry felt the panic run ruthlessly through him, and was about to high tail it back out of the arena like area when a light chuckling caught his attention.
"Oh, we have a visitor." a low, childishly feminine voice said. "Hello there."
Harry looked a bit further into the darkened chamber, vaguely seeing the outline of a small girl dressed robes. She walked out of the shadows, and Harry got a good look at her finally. She couldn't have been older than eight or nine, and had large blue eyes and a mane of dark hair that was hanging over her shoulder in a thick plait.
"Who are you?" Harry demanded, not bothering to think about anything other than getting out of this nightmarish place. "What are you doing here? How did you get down here?" The little girl just smiled and skipped behind one of the tall pillars, acting for all the world like she didn't have a care in the world. Harry's grip on his wand tightened as he closed the distance quickly. "Would you just come here? We've got to get out of here. There's a basilisk…"
"I know." she answered, her voice ringing clear through the dimly lit chamber.
"We've got to get out of here. Let's go!" he said firmly, his ears picking up the swishing of water somewhere nearby. He made to grab the little girl, but she deftly slipped away from his grasp.
"It won't come until it is called." the little girl said calmly, looking at him with innocence wide eyes. Harry shivered as the familiar phrase sunk into his consciousness. "And put your wand away. You won't be needing it. The basilisk isn't going to hurt you. At least not while I'm here."
"Right." Harry said, rolling his eyes and making a grab for the little girl again. He caught her this time and she struggled vainly against him.
"Let me go! I don't want to go back up there! Let me go, you meanie!" she struggled.
"I'll let you go when we get out of…."
'Releasssssse her….' that hissing voice sounded again, causing the room to shake as if an they were in the middle of an earthquake. Harry didn't have time to comprehend anything, all he knew was he had to get him and this little girl out of the Chamber of Secrets quickly before the basilisk found them. He made a run for the opened door of the Chamber, but stopped short when he saw movement coming from a darkened corner closer to the entrance. A few seconds later, the girl's struggling had ceased, and she held still as the gigantic head of the fanged serpent appeared from the shadows, hissing violently. 'Releasssssse the child……'
"Just let me go!" the girl demanded. "He'll go away if you let me go!"
"Sure it will." Harry said, his mind trying to wrap around the fact that the same overgrown snake he had killed a few years before was back again. He didn't have time to think on it much though, because the little girl stomped on his foot and kicked him hard in the shins, causing him to let her go. She took off running as soon as his grip had lessened, headed straight for the coiling, curling snake that had made itself known only seconds before. "Get back over here! Don't you know what that thing is!" The little girl didn't respond, and Harry readied his wand to try and distract the snake long enough for him to get to the stupid girl and get her away from danger. But before he could even think of a spell, the great snake stopped its hissing and curled around the little girl, surrounding her within a protective circle of its deadly coils…even though it's bulging yellow eyes were trained right on him.
"I told you he wouldn't hurt me." she said proudly, smiling at him. Harry was about to make a move to get her away from the king of serpents once again, but the smallest move set the snake into motion again. It was like slow motion, watching as the creature raised up and struck at him.
Harry didn't even have time to block himself before he saw the fangs, ready to sink into his flesh and tear it shred for…..
Harry jerked himself awake, reflexively reaching for his wand as his head shot up. It took a few seconds for him to realize that he was still sitting in his History of Magic class, and it was Professor Binns' monotonous voice droning all around him, not a vindictive hiss that had set his hair to raising.
He blinked a few times, trying to get his senses reoriented and the feeling of stark fear to go away as he put his wand away. Suddenly, something hit the back of his head, and he looked down to see a small wad of paper lying innocuously on the floor beside his desk.He picked up the crumbled ball of paper and smoothed it out, taking in the scrawled handwriting that was slanting off the paper.
You okay, mate?
He picked up his quill and penned a quick response to the query, still trying to get the all to familiar pictures that had been running through his mind to go away. What had caused him to even think about, much less dream, about the Chamber of Secrets?
Fine. Fell asleep. He crumbled the note up and tossed it haphazardly back to Ron, who had to bend over his desk seat to retrieve it from the floor . He saw Ron read the note and scribble something back, quickly launching the parchment wad back at him. Harry's reflexes kicked in before he even realized it, and after five years of Quidditch, he plucked the wad out of the air before it ever got close to the desktop.
I finally figured out how Binns died. He bored himself to death one night grading essays. Harry grinned, nodding slightly in agreement. Binns was well known as the most boring teacher that graced Hogwarts' walls. In fact, it seemed that at the present that Hermione was the only one even attempting to take notes from the ghostly instructor. Harry penned a quick response and wadded the parchment back up, tossing it at Ron, who managed to catch it this time. A few seconds later, Harry caught the crumbled paper as it flew towards him.
Wouldn't surprise me. You taking notes?
We can get them from Hermione later. She's the only one who's managed to stay awake till this point. Harry penned his reply quickly, taking note of the time before tossing the paper back one last time. It was almost time for History of Magic to end. The next class was Care of Magical Creatures, and Harry was more than ready to get out and stretch his legs a bit.
'Wonder what Professor Tartavu has today?' he wondered idly, quickly shoving his books into his bag as the bell rang to dismiss them class. He and Ron waited for Hermione while she shoved a thick wad of notes into her bag before she joined them outside the classroom door.
"Geez, Hermione, did you write down Binns' lecture word for word?" Ron asked eyeing the papers that were sticking out at odd angles from Hermione's bulging bag.
"Actually, I did." she said primly. "His lecture covered some information on the four Founders that wasn't in our texts, if you didn't realize. And it is very important for me to get any reliable information I can since they are the topics for my essay for Professor Lee."
"She hasn't even set the bloody thing yet!" Ron said, shaking his head. "You've still got a month before she assigns it, and then another month before it's due!"
"Time that I'll spend trying to correct yours and Harry's before you turn it in, no doubt." Hermione said, causing Ron to color slightly. Harry said nothing, knowing good and well that if he didn't get Hermione to look over the essay, she'd wind up taking it to proofread anyway the night before it was due. And he wasn't about to get into an argument with her when it was a well known fact she was the reason he and Ron had passed History of Magic since their first year. It seemed like she was the only one in their year who could take Binns' droning on and on without succumbing to sleep within two minutes of entering the classroom.
The three of them trudged out of the classroom and down the hallways until they were out of the castle and headed towards Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures, picking up a few members of each House along the way. Since it was their sixth year, Care of Magical Creatures had become an optional class for them, but all three had signed up for it none the less. Of course, they hadn't realized that Hagrid would be absent for the beginning of the term, but Professor Tartavu was making a suitable replacement. Today was their third class of the term, and already he had brought a mixture of magical creatures to class. Thankfully, no accidents had occurred as of yet. But their newest Professor didn't seem like the type to bring any Blast-Ended Skrewts to class either.
The medley of sixth years gathered in front of the man and waited, chatting amongst themselves until he finally turned around and welcomed them.
"Ah, you're all here. Good." Mr. Tartavu said, wiping his dirty hands on a rag. "Is everyone ready? I've got a treat for you all today. Something rare and unusual."
"Not another hippogriff." someone moaned, causing the entire class to chuckle and turn amused glances at Draco Malfoy. The blonde boy just glared and turned his nose up.
"No. No hippogriffs. Today we're going to work with something a little more manageable. So if you would follow me, please." the man said, motioning them to follow.
They followed the new teacher back behind Hagrid's hut, where the school garden was located. In the thick of the bushes, Harry spotted a girl with long black hair who was wearing a set of dark violet robes. But the most surprising thing was the fact that not only was there Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes perched on a tree branch above the girl's head, Dr. Lee's silvery-white phoenix Aria was there as well. The sight of the two birds caused a chattering of murmurs to break out amongst the rest of the students in his class, quickly alerting the unknown girl of their presence.
"Who is that?" Hermione asked suspiciously. "I've never seen her before. She's not wearing Hogwarts robes."
"No clue." Ron answered. Harry had never seen her before either, but it was somewhat apparent that whoever she was, she recognized someone in the group, because a smile quickly graced her face when they all fanned out around the outside gate of Hagrid's garden.
"Gather round, please." Mr. Tartavu said briskly, then turned to the girl and motioned her over. Harry watched as she muttered something to the birds, causing Fawkes to lift off of his perch and fly over to the fence in front of them, landing lightly on the post…and causing a few of his classmates who had been standing closer to the front to take a step backwards. The young woman came walking towards them, the silvery-white phoenix standing proudly on her shoulder, and Harry finally got a good look at her.
She looked to be a little older than the rest of the students, and was a friendly enough looking young woman. She wasn't very tall, either, he noted as she stood next to Mr. Tartavu, only coming up to the elder man's shoulders. Behind him, Harry could hear some snickers coming from the Slytherin students, and he saw a smirk gracing Malfoy's face as he said something to Blaise Zabini that caused the darker boy to grin and fold his arms across his chest, a grin firmly in place the longer he looked at the newcomer.
"Today we're going to be working with phoenixes." Mr. Tartavu announced, gesturing to the two birds who were next to him. "And since one of our specimens is quite ornery about who handles her, I've asked for some assistance from my younger sister."
"Hello, everyone." the young woman said pleasantly. "Pleased to meet you. You just call me Corbin."
'Sister?' Harry thought, glancing at the two of them again, and noticing the mediocre amount of similarity. They had the same general facial shape. But her eyes were an odd color, he noticed, unlike the blue eyes of the older man before them. Harry had never seen anyone with purple colored eyes before, and wondered if perhaps it was a spell.
"And these two fine feathered fiends are Fawkes and Aria. Fawkes belongs to Headmaster Dumbledore and Aria is Dr. Lee's. Both were kind enough to let us borrow them for today's lesson, so be sure to give them some thanks the next time you see either of them. Now, who can tell me a little about these magnificent creatures?" Mr. Tartavu asked, turning to them expectantly. A few hands were raised around him, and Harry waited for someone to be called on."Yes, Mr. Finnigan?"
"They die in a burst of flames and come back from the ashes." Seamus said.
"Very good. These days are called Burning Days, and not only happen as the phoenix ages, but also if it receives a fatal injury from some outside source." he explained. "Can anyone else add to that? Yes, Ms. Granger?"
"As the Burning Day approaches, phoenixes molt and resemble a half plucked chicken. Its eyes dull, and it makes gagging noises. Of course once the flames are cleared, a newborn phoenix, still small and ugly, rises from the ashes. Within a few days though, the baby will mature and grow into an adult phoenix." Hermione said, sounding more like a textbook than a human student.
"Very good, Ms. Granger." Mr. Tartavu commended, nodding to her. "Anyone else have anything to add? Yes, Mr. Zabini?"
"They have the ability to disappear and reappear at will, but they do it in a burst of flames. Phoenixes are also herbivorous creatures. They don't eat meat, and live off of fruit or berries they can find in the wild."
"Exactly." Mr. Tartavu said. "Ms. Parkinson?"
"Phoenix tears have healing properties." Pansy answered.
"Yes. And the tears are even rarer than the bird itself." Mr. Tartavu said. "No one is for sure what other properties the tears may have, but there is some speculation that they could be used in healing potions to enhance the results when a patient drinks it. In fact, one of the first mentions of a bird that could heal was with the story of Cliodna, an Irish druidess who was not only a bird animagus, but owned three birds who could heal the sick. Some say one of them was actually a phoenix, but there has never been any proof of that yet."
"Where do they come from?" someone asked.
"They are most commonly found in Egypt, India, or China." the young woman known as Corbin said as she stroked the silvery-white plumage of Aria. "But they have been spotted in other places before, although it is rare. They like to nest on mountain peeks, mostly as a defensive measure to keep themselves safe during their burn times."
"Now, you must remember, that these birds are very rare. And they also have the highest danger rating available from the Ministry of Magic. But, keep in mind that it is not because they are dangerous creatures to be around. Phoenixes are very gentle creatures even though the are not very apt at being domesticated…hence the higher rating." Mr. Tartavu said, grabbing a container of dark colored berries and popping a few in each of the bird's beaks.
"And as many of you know, phoenix feathers are used as the core of many wands." Corbin continued on, picking up their professor's lecture without a hitch. "Does anyone know what happens when wands sharing a phoenix feather core from the same bird are forced to duel or battle each other?"
"Ten points to anyone who can answer that one correctly." Mr. Tartavu said with a grin. Harry cast his eyes around, but no one was offering an answer. But he knew what would happen, knew all to well what had happened in the graveyard the night he had been forced to duel Voldemort. That was one night that still haunted his dreams, and most likely one he would never forget.
"The spell called the Priori Incantatem is called." he said before he could stop himself. Beside him, he saw Hermione give him a funny look and watched as the tips of Ron's ears colored pink. "And…and the phoenix song is heard."
"Ten points to Gryffindor, Mr. Potter. Well answered." Mr. Tartavu said with a smile. "Can someone tell us what Priori Incantatem is? Mr. Malfoy?"
"The wands regurgitate the last spells their owners did in a backwards order." he said.
"That's a close enough explanation." he answered. "The phoenix song, on the other hand, is said to give strength and hope to those it sings for. And it is rumored to increase the courage of the pure hearted, while simultaneously striking fear into those who are impure."
"Like the bird, it is a very rare effect. Although I've been told by the few who have witnessed it that it is a sight to behold." Corbin said, smiling gently. "Any questions so far?"
"Why is that one white?" Lavender Brown asked, pointing at Aria. "I thought they were all the same color."
"Good question." Mr. Tartavu answered. "You're right. They are all usually red and gold, but Aria here is a bit of a nonconformist, if you will. As you can assume, due to their longevity, phoenixes do not reproduce on a set schedule. In fact, it's believed that they only breed every five to seven hundred years or so. And even when they do, only one egg is ever produced. Now, I'm not too sure about Headmaster Dumbledore's phoenix, but I do know where Aria came from. There is a law passed where I come from, similar to your breeding law here, that bans new breeds of creatures being produced by experimental breeding. But it only went into affect 5 years ago or so in the States, much later than you Ban on Experimental Breeds which was put into office in 1965. Aria parents were two red/gold phoenixes who produced two eggs during the mating. The first gave a male, red and gold bird that resembled both of the parents. Fawkes is a good example of what the first one looked like. But for the longest time, the other egg never showed any signs of life."
"It was a few weeks later when the egg finally did crack, and out popped a silvery-white thing that looked more like a slug with wings than a baby phoenix." Corbin continued easily. "That was some century and a half ago, when our godparent's family first started breeding magical creatures. Ever since then, Aria has followed the same pattern as any other phoenix. And other than a few small differences, she's essentially the same as any other phoenix."
"So she was a freak accident?" Dean Thomas asked, causing a few people to chuckle. The Tartavu siblings even grinned.
"Something like that." Mr. Tartavu said, nodding. "Now, if you'd like, you can come up here a few at a time and give these critters a friendly pat if you'd like. In fact, grab a handful of those berries that Corbin picked and you can feed'em a bit."
"Do you think it would be better if the class split up, Gabe. Aria is not very good with large crowds." the young woman asked quickly.
"Good idea. We wouldn't want any accidents because she's nervous." their professor said. "Everyone split up into two groups and I'll take one while my sister gets the other. You can switch halfway through class so everyone will get a look at both of them. I want everyone to take note of the differences between both of these birds. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask either Corbin or myself before you leave today since you'll be using the information you gather to write out an essay on phoenixes and the creature we'll be studying next class period."
The class quickly split up, Gryffindors in one group and Slytherins in the other, along with the few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws present thrown into either group for good measure.
"I'll take this group." Corbin said, nodding to the group Harry and the other Gryffindors were in. "If you'll follow me, please, ladies and gentlemen. And grab a handful of those berries as you walk by. It will help to distract Aria if you want to try and pet her."
Their small group broke away from the others and fanned out around the young woman who was being used as a perch for the silvery-white bird. Harry and the others done as requested, grabbing the berries as the bucket was passed around.
"Alright then, does anyone have any questions so far?" Corbin asked, looking at them.
"Can I touch her?" Seamus asked.
"Sure you can. Just don't move too fast or you'll scare her." the lady answered, moving Aria from her shoulder to her forearm. The bird stretched her wings and flapped them a bit to balance herself in the new position. Harry hadn't noticed it before, but she was wearing what looked like leather gloves that extended up her arm. That shouldn't have been much of a surprise though, considering the grip that Aria had on her handler's forearm. He knew all too well what those talons were capable of, remembering how Fawkes had clawed out the eyes of the basilisk when he'd went down into the Chamber of Secrets his second year.
"She's cold!" Seamus exclaimed, his left hand gently stroking the shimmering feathers of the phoenix, who was watching him with black eyes. "It's like touching ice!" Aria's wings suddenly extended in agitation, obviously scared by the Irish boy's voice, and Corbin took a cautionary step back away from the group, muttering slightly under her breath until the bird calmed back down.
"Sorry about that." she said a few moments later. "Like I said, she's not used to a large group like this. It's usually just the family she's around. She'll behave herself now that she's got some food in her."
"Sounds like someone else I know." Hermione muttered, casting a knowing glance at Ron, who obviously didn't hear her.
"Are you a part of Professor Lee's family?" Ron asked, causing the young woman to look at him oddly, shaking her head.
"Oh no, I'm not part of her family." she said smiling amiably and waving Dean Thomas over, telling him to feed Aria some of the berries to distract her. "My godparents are good friends of Professor Lee's, so she's around our house quite often. That's how I got to know Aria. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you."
"No problem." Ron said. Harry just shrugged and watched as Dean continued to feed Aria until he was out of berries, only to have Mandy Brocklehurst of Ravenclaw to take his spot in giving the beautiful bird doting attention.
"Is Aria the only phoenix of her kind?" Hermione asked. "Or are their others like her?"
"Well, our family wasn't sure at first, but the archives were searched, both in the family and the Department of Magic, and records were found of sighting a phoenix of this color some hundred or so years ago over the Great Pyramids in Egypt." Corbin explained. "But it was never seen again. So we seem to believe that Aria's differences are due to a wild type recessive gene that has been suppressed for generations."
"But if that is the case, then there could possibly be more like her." Hermione pointed out. "It's like she's the exact opposite of the norm for a phoenix."
"Not exactly the opposite, but I understand what you are saying." Corbin said, nodding. "It is hard to get an accurate number of these creatures because they are usually so bashful when in the wild. The normal ways of assessing information on them do not work, therefore we can not use the same formulas to compute the statistics we usually use for other breeds of animals simply because we don't know how many there are to begin with. And we don't have anyway of finding out, so trying to study the population genetics ebb and flow from the original placement is practically impossible."
Harry blinked a few times, trying to figure out what the young woman had just said. She sounded more like a Muggle biologist than a witch. But apparently Hermione and a few others had no problem understanding her because the conversation continued to flow smoothly as each and every one of them took a turn petting Aria while Corbin answered their questions easily.
It was a few minutes after he had run out of berries that Professor Tartavu's voice called out for the groups to switch. The members of their group bid the young woman a fond farewell and they walked off towards their replacement teacher.
"Ms. Tartavu, it's a pleasure to see you again. Though I thought it would be a bit longer before we crossed paths again." Blaise Zabini said smoothly, giving her a small grin as he and the rest of the group gathered around her.
"Thank you, Mr. Zabini. It's good to see you too. You as well, Mr. Malfoy." Sabine said, nodding to the blonde boy standing next to Blaise. "I do so hope your mother is doing well, Draco? You must give her my regards the next time you speak with her. Nana Kareema said to send word that she would probably be dropping by within the next few months and that your mother simply must come to tea one day."
"Ms. Tartavu." he answered in acknowledgement. "I shall pass on the message."
"I would appreciate it greatly." she answered, nodding at him before turning to address the group as a whole. "So, does anyone have any questions for me to answer?"
"Yeah. Who are you?" Pansy Parkinson asked bluntly.
"Excuse me?" Sabine asked, caught a little off guard by the utter coldness in the other girl's voice. She didn't need this right now, that was for sure. But one quick look at the pug-faced girl told Sabine that she was currently in the middle of the viper pit, and that if she backed down from the Slytherin girl, her carefully wrought plan to get to Zabini would come crashing down.
"Who are you?" Pansy repeated coldly. "You said you and Mr. Tartavu are family members of Kareema and Niles Tartavu, but that's impossible. They never had any children."
"Well, Ms….?"
"Parkinson. Pansy Parkinson." the girl answered curtly.
"Well then, Ms. Parkinson, you might want to do a little more research…or pay a little more attention to what is being said." Sabine said simply. "I said earlier that we are the godchildren on the Tartavu's, not direct family. We were adopted."
"You're purebloods then?" Pansy asked.
"Yes, we are." she said. "And just to satisfy your apparent curiosity, since you seem to want my life story, I graduated from Salem academy a few years ago, and am currently an apprentice to a Herbology master in the Department of Magic."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"Visiting my brother on my day off." she said simply. "Now, have I passed inspection, or would like to know what my address, age and blood type are as well?" That seemed to take some of the wind out of the other girl's sails, and Sabine silently congratulated herself on putting the annoying little twit in her place.
"I just wanted to make sure that the person teaching us is properly qualified for the job." Pansy sneered. Sabine caught her immediate response before she voiced it, knowing that if she repeated what was going through her mind more than just her plan would be tossed into the air.
"Perhaps you'd like to make note of my O.G.R.E. and H.A.G. scores, then?" Sabine asked, narrowing her eyes at the teenager.
"O.G.R.E. scores? H.A.G. scores What's that?" Pansy asked suspiciously.
"Original Graduating Requirement Exam scores, and Handling and Guardian scores." Zabini answered easily. "O.G.R.E. scores are similar to N.E.W.T.S. Exit exams to graduate from Salem, if I'm correct."
"You are, Mr. Zabini." Sabine said, honestly surprised that he recognized the acronym for the standardized tests given in Salem. "Now if we're done discussing me, I'd like to get on with the assignment my brother has set for you to finish."
The next fifteen minutes were spent answering a few odd questions about Aria and phoenixes in general before the group of students began to slowly inch their way away from her. Sabine didn't stop them, though, figuring it would be easier to strike up a conversation with Blaise while everyone else was otherwise occupied. Thankfully, luck seemed to be on her side because Blaise had hung back from his classmates, being the last one to opt to try and pet Aria.
"She really is a beautiful creature." the teenage boy said, stroking Aria's tail lightly.
"And a very stuffed one as well." Sabine said with a grimace. Between holding Aria on her forearm and the added weight from all the berries the students had been feeding her, Sabine thought her arm was going to fall off. Aria might be smaller than a normal sized phoenix, but the bird still got heavy after a while. Blaise popped the last berry into Aria's opened mouth and watched as she readjusted the bird onto her shoulder, quickly stripping the protective leather gloves off her arms and heaving a sigh of relief. "Ahh…that feels much better. Oh, ruddy hell, Aria! Quit digging your bloody talons into my shoulder!" Sabine winced as the bird swayed precariously on her shoulder before regaining her balance, the claws piercing her robes and undoubtedly drawing blood. The phoenix seemed to sense her distress, and quickly left its perch and settled on the lowest branch of the tree overhead, letting off a soft crooning noise.
"Apologetic little thing, isn't she?" Blaise commented easily, looking up at Aria as she began to preen.
"She's in a good mood since everyone's been prying her with food." Sabine said, using her wand to mend the rips in the shoulder of her robes. "I've found that a content tummy breeds a content disposition, be it humans or animals."
"Makes sense."
"I should say so." Sabine said, finally turning her attention to the boy. "So, how have you been, Mr. Zabini, since we last crossed paths? Well I hope."
"Please, it's just Blaise. Can't have you being all formal with me when you're calling Draco by his first name."
"Forgive me, but I got the impression that I was asking for a tongue lashing if I was anything but politely formal." Sabine said, giving the back of Pansy's head a scathing look.
"Ignore Parkinson. She gets paranoid anytime another woman seems remotely polite to Draco." Blaise said with a shrug, easily dismissing his Housemate's behavior.
"Lovely relationship that is. What did she think I was going to do? Jump him in front of everything in Merlin's creation?"
"I wouldn't put it past her." Sabine grinned and began folding the protective gloves and putting them in her bag she'd stashed nearby. "So when's the next time you're coming to visit your brother?" Blaise asked casually, sidling up next to her. Sabine turned her head towards the dark headed boy and quickly schooled her features into one of innocence. After all, her mom wanted her to squeeze information out of the boy, not make him suspicious.
"I'm not sure, really. He said something about a weekend when your classes are allowed down into the village?" she said, turning her full attention to him once again.
"You mean Hogsmeade visits."
"Yes, that's it." she affirmed. "I was going to see if I could come back then, unless he's on duty in the village. When is that, anyway? He never gave me a date."
"I don't think they've been set yet, actually." Blaise answered, arms crossed lightly over his chest as he watched her. "We usually don't find out about them until a month or so into the term, and that's if we're lucky. Half the time we find out about them a few days before."
"At the last minute? That's not good." Sabine grumbled, feigning annoyance. "My boss won't let me take off without a few weeks notice."
"Why don't you just get him to owl the schedule to you when it is set?" Blaise suggested.
"I would. But if I know my brother, he's likely to forget if no one reminds him." she said with a frown. "He has a tendency to get sidetracked with his work the longer it goes on. Wouldn't surprise me if he forgets a couple of your classes before this year is over with."
"I can send it to you." he offered easily.
"Would you, please?" Sabine asked, giving him a smile. "I'd really appreciate it. If it's not too much of a problem. I don't want to inconvenience you or anything."
"No problem."
"So how are the grape crops coming along this year?" Sabine asked, striking up a conversation with him about his family's vineyards in Italy. "I read that your mother created another strand of disease resistant grapevines."
"Yes, she's been toying around with her pets again. Merlin knows what the place is going to look like by the time Christmas holidays come around and I go home. Last time I thought the jungle had taken over my entire house."
"What was she doing? More crossbreeding tests?" Sabine asked.
"Trying out a new fertilizer made from the weeping rose bushes I told you about before. The house at the Camilinha vineyard was completely overrun with some kind of snapping fern she managed to come up with. Took us nearly two days to get rid of them all." Blaise said with a frown. It was obvious that particular memory was anything but pleasant if the look on his face was any indication. Sabine was about to move the conversation down another topic when the sound of the school bell was heard ringing through the air.
"Oh dear, time for you all to go." Sabine said. "It was good to see you again, Blaise. It really was."
"You too." the dark boy said, shouldering his pack. "I'll send you the Hogsmeade dates when they tell us what they are."
"Thanks again." Sabine answered, giving him a little wave as he joined up with the rest of his housemates. The rest of the class walked passed her, and she bid them all goodbye, watching as they made their way up to the castle. A few moments later, she felt the presence of her potion enhanced younger brother standing beside her. "Well, I would say that went rather smoothly, wouldn't you?"
"I can't believe you actually showed your face to the students. Mom gave us the aging potion for a reason you know." he said sourly.
"She said get the information from Zabini, and that is exactly what I'm doing. She didn't say how. And besides, I did take some of it before I came out here. I wasn't about to blow my cover coming down here looking like a sixteen year old." Sabine said calmly.
"Yes, but I doubt she meant setting up a date with the twit just to find out about some damned books."
"I didn't set up a date with him."
"You're stringing the boy along, Sabine."
"Since when are you concerned about ethics, Gabe?" she asked dully. "You're worse than any of us about doing something and having an ulterior motive the entire time."
"It's not your ethics I'm concerned with." he answered shortly. "It's you being alone in that pit of vipers that I'm worried about."
"They won't do anything to me, not knowing that Nana Kareema and Papa Niles are our godparents." Sabine said, shrugging. "None of the families from Slytherin can afford a blood feud right now, not when they're preoccupied keeping their precious Dark Lord pacified."
"I still don't like it. And I don't like Zabini. He's sneaky."
"He's a Slytherin, of course he's sneaky. It's a prerequisite trait to get into that House." she said with a shrug. "In fact, I'm probably sure Parkinson is going to check up on us. She was asking me a lot of questions earlier, and they had absolutely nothing to do with phoenixes."
"You stuck to the story I hope?"
"Of course. The little snakes can check all they want to, all the falsified paperwork is on file at the Department of Magic. Mom took care of that before we left."
Gabe didn't say anything else about it, apparently satisfied knowing that all the bases had been covered as thoroughly as possible at this point. Sabine knew that her brother was the paranoid type who always expected the worse in any situation. And the simple fact that he was now stalking away from her without another word on the subject was proof enough that he was not the least bit happy about what she was doing.
'He's going to go talk to mom about this.' she thought glumly, gathering her robes and heading back towards the greenhouses to resume her aged appearance. Her position as an assistant to Pomfrey was not yielding any viable information, so if she was forced to jump between appearances to help find out what she could, she didn't mind. According to her mother, her body wasn't all that receptive to the aging potion anyway, so any break from it would be welcome.
She managed to make it to the greenhouse without being spotted, and quickly downed the small container of aging potion she had concealed in her robes. A few seconds later, and her reflection in the glass walls of the greenhouses showed the same auburn haired, middle aged witch she'd woken up as this morning. She used her wand to change the color of the robes to a standard black set and then headed back into the school…her mind trying to think up a valid argument for Ailric when he found out exactly what she had just done…if he found out.
Sable walked into her classroom that evening to find not only Harry, Ron and Hermione waiting there, but what looked like the majority of the upper classes of Hogwarts. Just scanning the room showed that there were at least twenty or so students already waiting for her. Someone, most likely Hermione, had pushed all the desks up against the wall to give them some more room.
"Good evening, students." she said amicably, nodding to them as she walked to the front of the room. "Quite the turn out, I see."
"This isn't everyone." Hermione said. "A few didn't show up."
"Professor, we were just talking and well…" Harry began, only to look sheepishly back at the collected group of students behind him.
"Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"We decided that the D.A. had served its purpose, and well, there was really no point in keeping it going." he said. "I thought about it after I talked to you yesterday. And since you let us practice the spells as we learn them, there's really no reason to hide what we're doing."
"Unless you suddenly turn into Umbridge or something." Ron said. Sable grinned and shook her head at them. She had been thinking about suggesting that Harry disband the secret society anyway, simply on the grounds that it was no longer needed, not to mention the fact that many of the elder students were also involved in various other school related activities like Quidditch.
"I can assure you all that should I suddenly turn into Dolores Umbridge, you have my permission to hex me into next week." Sable said, causing the students to chuckle. "Well, I came here hoping to find out what you lot were capable of. But since you have decided it is more prudent to let the D.A. go, I guess there is really no reason to keep you all here. Although I would like to see exactly how much you managed to learn last year, if there are a few who would be willing to stay behind and give a short demonstration." She saw a few of the students grin and nudge each other before quieting down once again when Hermione sent a stern look their way. Harry nodded at her, silently agreeing to her simple request.
For almost the next two hours, the remaining members of the D.A. tossed curses, hexes, and jinxes back and forth at each other. Sable got a good look at the abilities of each and everyone of them, taking note that even Neville seemed to be a bit stronger than she had anticipated. Ron had mentioned over the summer that Neville's best subject was Herbology, but watching Neville do a decent job of fending off Hermione's offensive spells caused a new amount of respect to bloom for the usually quiet boy.
It was almost curfew time, and Sable had to stop the friendly dueling to dismiss the meeting since she didn't want any of them to get caught wandering the halls after hours on her behalf.
"You done a wonderful job, Harry." Sable said, watching as the last of the old D.A. members walked out of her classroom five minutes later. "All of you have."
"So you don't think we were stupid to done it in the first place?" Ron asked, surprise evident on his face. Sable was about to question who had said they were stupid when she remembered what Remus had told her about Molly Weasley pitching a fit about Ron purposely going against Umbridge the year before.
"Necessity is the mother of all invention. You created the D.A. because you needed to practice your defensive spells when Umbridge refused to let you. Now that you no longer need answer to that old hag, the D.A. is not needed." she said simply.
"How many of those ridiculous decrees did we break last year anyway?" Ginny asked, slinging her bag on her shoulder.
"I quit counting after the eighth one." Harry admitted.
"Those things were utterly ridiculous." Hermione said, a frown on her face.
"Well, sometimes rules need to be broken before the truth can come out." Sable said, causing the four students to look up at her with varying degrees of surprise on their faces. "Well, it is the truth. You all realize that by now. The safest way is not always the correct way. And anything worth fighting for, is worth fighting dirty for." Sable said, looking Harry right in the eyes. "People's ethics are called into question all the time, no matter what the situation. But the fact is, the ones pointing the fingers at those of us who are willing to do what must be done for the greater good would probably do the same thing as us, should they ever be in a situation similar to our own."
"Boy, is that ever the truth." Ginny said, nodding her head. "Well, I'll see you lot later. Homework to do."
"Later, Ginny." Ron said, giving his little sister no more of a farewell. Harry nodded and Hermione waved the girl out of the classroom before heading to her own bag and putting away her books and parchment.
"Oh, Ms. Granger, I do believe you were waiting on these to arrive." Sable said, retrieving some texts that she had received via owl from Tonks earlier that day. "Ithink they may help point you in the right direction during your research of the Founders." Hermione walked over and took the half dozen thick tomes, almost staggering under their weight before Sable put a feather weight charm on them for her. "I read through a few passages, and found some information. But there are a few things that are only mentioned in passing you might want to look into a bit further. They are referenced in the footnotes of the chapters, so I'm sure you will find them easily enough."
"Thank you, Professor." Hermione said, smiling happily and looking all the world like Christmas had just come early. Sable watched as Ron rolled his eyes and motioned for Harry to head out the door with him.
"We'll see you later, Professor." Harry said, shouldering his own bag.
"Goodnight, children. And thank you."
"No problem." Ron called out as they walked out the classroom, shutting the door behind them. Sable waited until they were gone before putting the room back in order and grabbing a stack possible lesson plans to look over. She headed out of the classroom, walking down the hallway towards the suit of armor that guarded the entrance to her rooms.
Seeing how far along so many of the sixth and seventh years were made her feel much better, as she had expected Umbridge's interference to have severely hindered the student's performances. Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case for the majority of them. As she walked into her lab, she saw Gabe ladling out measured amounts of a finished brew of Wolfsbane potion and pouring them in the phials lined along the countertop. He looked up as she walked in, and Sable once again thanked Merlin that her children knew her so well. Having them to help out over the years had proved to be helpful on more than one occasion, and now was no different.
She kicked her shoes off and sat down at her desk while Gabe worked quietly. It was already after ten, but she still had enough work to do to keep her up for another few hours.
'Best get to work. It's not going to do itself.' she thought, grabbing the stack of lesson plans and looking over them halfheartedly.
A/N - I hope you are enjoying the story. And please remember to review, as I'd like to know what you are thinking.
Until next time,
A.A.
