They were leaving the Great Hall on Saturday morning after breakfast as a study group when Rachel saw Cedric in the entrance hall.
"I'll be right back, there's something I have to do. I'll meet you in our study room," she said, hurrying away from her friends before they could stop her. "Cedric, can we speak for a moment?"
"Okay," Cedric said, coming to a stop along with two other upper year Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw.
"Alone. About the dates for the Quidditch games," Rachel said, not wanting to tell him why she needed to talk to him in front of other people. "For upcoming events."
"Upcoming events?" Cedric asked, his eyes growing slightly wide. "Sure. I'll see you guys in the library, I just need to talk with Rachel about Quidditch for a moment."
"Cedric?" the Ravenclaw asked.
"She's acting captain for the Slytherins, that's why we're setting up dates for the games," Cedric said. "I'll be there in a minute, you guys can find the books for McGonagall's essay."
Rachel took a step back and was surprised to bump into Millie.
"I'm escorting you. You and Cedric can use a privacy ward if you need to," Millie said. "Cedric, you can bring one of your friends if you need to."
"I'll be alright," Cedric said. "We can probably go in one of the open classrooms on this level."
"That will work," Rachel agreed.
When they reached the ground floor classroom corridor, though there weren't currently any classes being taught on this level, Cedric pulled his wand and silently unlocked the nearest classroom. They went inside. "I'm guessing we need a privacy ward?" he asked.
"Not a bad idea, just in case," Rachel said. She didn't want anyone eavesdropping on them, even though Millie already knew about the task.
Cedric cast a privacy ward around them. "Upcoming events?" he asked.
Rachel nodded. "The first task is facing a dragon. It's a mother with eggs and we have to steal a golden egg from its nest."
Cedric stared. "You're serious?" he asked after a moment.
"I am. That's the first task," Rachel said.
"How did you find out?" Cedric asked.
"I can't tell you that, but I trust the person who told me," Rachel said, even though she knew it would be obvious that Severus was the one who told her.
Cedric shook his head. "Why are you telling me this? This is a huge advantage."
"It's not against the rules for us to help each other. I'm going to tell Viktor and Fleur too, it's only fair," Rachel explained. "And I don't want anyone to die. Can you imagine going into the task and not knowing, and it's a dragon?"
"You're a good kid," Cedric said, reaching out and briefly putting his hand on Rachel's shoulder. "How did you wind up in Slytherin?"
"Slytherin doesn't mean bad. We're just like anyone else," Rachel said. "Cunning and ambition don't make you a bad person."
Cedric seemed to consider that for a moment. "I suppose not. There are just some Slytherins who have given your House a bad reputation."
Rachel nodded. "A few, but we're not all like that. Do you need help with the task? I don't know exactly how to help, but I'm sure we can come up with ideas," she asked. She didn't want to give away the strategy that Severus had given her, but she didn't want Cedric to completely be without help either.
"No, just knowing is enough, I'll figure something out. Do you need help? I mean, this is a lot for me, and you're only fourteen," Cedric said.
"No, my friends and I are putting together a plan," Rachel said. She knew she couldn't say that Severus was helping her.
"Alright, but if you do need help, ask me," Cedric said. "And thank you. For not letting me go out there not knowing."
"Of course. I wouldn't do that," Rachel said.
"Ready for me to drop the privacy ward?" Cedric asked.
"Yes, that's all I needed to tell you," Rachel said.
"I'll see you around," Cedric said. "You too, Millie."
"Bye Cedric," Millie said. She waited until Cedric was gone before she turned to Rachel. "What was that about?"
"I told Cedric what the first task was so he had time to prepare. I figure I'll tell Viktor at Quidditch practice tomorrow. I haven't figured out how to approach Fleur yet," Rachel explained.
"Are you sure you want to tell them? I mean, Cedric is one thing. Viktor and Fleur are probably getting help already," Millie said.
"Then they already know and me telling them won't change anything," Rachel said with a shrug. "But I'm not going to let anyone go out there not knowing they're facing a dragon."
"Good point," Millie said. "That's going to be hard enough even preparing for it. I can't believe they actually kept it a secret from the champions. It's like they're trying to get someone killed."
Rachel froze, her mind racing. "I bet Professor Dumbledore didn't choose the tasks. I bet it was people at the Ministry. And we know there's a Death Eater in the Ministry somewhere."
Millie's eyes grew wide. "And if they didn't care about killing other students to get to you, then they definitely could have made the tasks deadly. But why didn't Professor Dumbledore stop them or decide not to do the tournament?"
"Maybe he was tricked? Or maybe he was forced into it somehow?" Rachel guessed.
"I find it hard to imagine anyone tricking Professor Dumbledore or forcing him to do anything. Even the Ministry," Millie said.
"Maybe, but there are things he can't do too. Like the Dark Lord was let in the castle in our first year. And they couldn't find the Chamber of Secrets in our second year," Rachel said.
"And Sirius kept getting into the castle in our third year. Did he ever tell you how he did that?" Millie asked.
"He broke into the Shrieking Shack and used the tunnel to get onto the grounds and then came into the castle in his animagus form," Rachel said. "That only works if you know about the Whomping Willow though, but now that I'm thinking about it, Pettigrew could do the same thing to get into Hogwarts if he wanted to."
"Yikes," Millie said. "I think you better tell Professor Snape about that in case they haven't done anything about that passageway."
"Probably, but Pettigrew also could just come in through the Forbidden Forest in his animagus form now that there aren't Dementors out there. Though I don't know that Dementors would have stopped him while he's a rat," Rachel said.
Millie started giggling.
"What?" Rachel asked.
"I'm just imagining the Dementors stopping every rat they see, just in case it's him," Millie said.
Rachel smiled, though she didn't think it was as funny as Millie apparently did. "I guess it's all the more reason for us to work on becoming animagi if it lets us get by Dementors."
"I hope we never have to. I hope it's just like exams and we're over preparing ourselves," Millie said.
"I hope so too," Rachel said. She didn't feel like they were over preparing themselves. She felt very underprepared to deal with Death Eaters and Dementors.
"Let's go, the others will be waiting for us," Millie said.
"Pass!" Draco called, flying up beside Rachel.
Rachel threw him the Quaffle and dropped down to dodge where Lucian was flying straight at her with a Beater's bat.
Draco nearly was hit by a Bludger that Scarlett knocked in his direction and he passed to Adrian, who went for the shot on the goal. Miles kicked the Quaffle away at the last second.
Rachel scooped the Quaffle out of the air and held it. "Nice work, Miles! Scarlett, that was a good hit!" she called.
"We need to do Chaser drills, that should have been a goal. Let's split up and work with me, you, and Adrian while Lucian works with Scarlett," Draco said as he flew up to Rachel.
"That's probably a good idea," Rachel said. "Lucian, work with Scarlett for a while. Adrian, you and Draco are with me while we make runs on the goal. Viktor, keep doing what you're doing unless you want to run Chaser drills."
It was a little bit weird bossing everyone around, but everyone listened to her and she made certain to listen to when her team members made suggestions. The even weirder thing was she felt like she knew what she was doing. After two years on the Quidditch team she knew the plays and she knew how the game worked. Even switching to playing as a Chaser wasn't too much of a hardship because Marcus had her running Chaser drills with the others last year. She preferred being a Seeker, but playing as a Chaser wasn't so bad.
They spent the rest of the practice running drills against the goal, scoring about roughly half the time. Draco was their best scorer, but Adrian and Rachel could manage to get some shots past Miles. Every now and then she paused and checked on the others. Lucian was having Scarlett practice hitting the Bludgers at different angles, while Viktor flew smoothly around the pitch occasionally catching and releasing the Snitch.
"Alright, cool off, we're done," Rachel said, checking her watch and finding that it was just past three. Time to go in and get some homework done before dinner.
Rachel flew up higher to join Viktor. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked, keeping pace with him.
Viktor slowed down. "What about?"
"The first task," Rachel said.
Viktor slowed to a stop. "What about it?"
Rachel stopped beside him and looked down at where Miles, Draco, and Adrian were making lazy laps while Lucian wrestled the Bludgers back into the case with Scarlett watching. "I know what the first task is. We have to steal an egg from a mother dragon," she said, looking back up at Viktor.
His expression remained impassive. "Why are you telling me?"
"Because you should know what you're getting into. I told Cedric and I'm going to tell Fleur too," Rachel said. "That way we're all on even footing."
"But we are not. You are much younger, perhaps if you'd kept this to yourself you would have been on evening footing with us," Viktor said.
Rachel couldn't tell if that meant he'd known about the dragons or not. She supposed it didn't matter. "I'm not trying to win, I'm just trying to not lose my magic. And I don't want anyone to die."
"Try not to worry so much. You fly very well. I think you will do fine. And the rest of us, we will do fine too," Viktor said.
"Thanks, but I don't fly anything like how you fly," Rachel said.
"I have a much better broom. And to me, flying is more natural than walking. I don't feel at home anywhere but in the air," Viktor said.
"I bet your animagus form would be a bird," Rachel said.
"I would hope so, but not many people are animagi. I hear it is a lot of work and you need a Master Transfigurationist to help. There are not many willing to teach," Viktor said.
Rachel nodded. She supposed most people didn't know anyone who was an animagus, other than Professor McGonagall.
"Did you have notes for me, on how I am flying?" Viktor asked.
"No, I saw you catching the Snitch. But if you ever want to do Chaser drills with us you're welcome to do so. It can make a nice change of pace from catching the Snitch over and over," Rachel offered.
"I am not good at that, I think. I am good at one thing, but I do it well," Viktor said. "I will work with you on Seeking, so you can return to your position when I am gone."
Rachel smiled. "Thank you. That would be great." Seeking lessons from the most talented Seeker in the world, it was more than she could have hoped for. She'd been happy just flying with Viktor.
"Is there anything else?" Viktor asked.
"No, we're done for the day," Rachel said.
"I will stay out and fly some more, but I will come in for dinner," Viktor said.
"Okay, have fun," Rachel said, flying away. That conversation had gone pretty well. She hoped the one with Fleur went as well.
"Okay, wish me luck," Rachel said as she finished dinner.
"Do you want one of us to come with you?" Millie asked.
"No, I think this will go better if it's just me. We don't know Fleur, so she might think we're trying to bother her. I'm not worried about her attacking me or anything," Rachel said.
"But at the same time, we don't know Fleur. She might see it as an opportunity to sabotage the competition," Theo said.
"That's what I'd do," Draco said from across the table.
"I really don't think Fleur is going to do anything to me. I just want to talk with her," Rachel said. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"What if I go with you as far as the room?" Millie suggested.
"Or, we can follow you from a distance," Theo offered.
"Do you even let Rachel go to the toilet on her own?" Draco asked.
"Don't talk about the toilet at the dinner table," Pansy said before anyone could answer.
"Or anywhere for that matter," Daphne added.
"I'm going to go talk with Fleur. If you want to follow me you can, but I don't want to scare her, so be stealthy about it," Rachel said.
"You won't even know we're there," Millie said.
"Which is another problem entirely, but let's worry about that later," Theo said.
Rachel sighed as she got up. She appreciated her friends, and she didn't want to be attacked, but this was starting to get a little aggravating. She walked over to the end of the Ravenclaw table where the Beauxbatons students had just finished eating with the upper year Ravenclaws. "Fleur, I was wondering if I could speak with you privately for a few minutes," Rachel said.
Fleur looked her up and down. "What about?" she asked.
"About events that are happening," Rachel said, somewhat lamely. She still hadn't figured out a good way to get the others to know she was talking about the tournament without everyone knowing she was talking about the tournament.
The young girl next to Fleur leaned in and began speaking in French, glancing at Rachel part of the way through and then looking back at Fleur.
Fleur said something in French back to the girl and then turned to the upper year girl next to her and spoke in French before standing up. "We may speak privately, but only briefly because I must be going back to the carriage with the others."
"That's fine, this won't take long," Rachel said. There was a classroom only a minute or two away. She led the way out of the Great Hall. "Why did your Headmistress bring such a young student with you?"
"That is Gabrielle, she is my sister," Fleur said.
That didn't really answer the question. "How old do students usually start at Beauxbatons?" Rachel asked. Fleur's sister looked younger than eleven, but Rachel knew from her own experience that sometimes people looked younger than they were.
"Some students start day schooling as young as seven years old, but we board from ten years old and up," Fleur said.
"Oh, I wish Hogwarts started that early," Rachel said. She could have been away from her relatives a few years earlier if that had been the case.
"They do not teach much magic to the young students, it is hard for them to control, but they learn much about it," Fleur said. "What is it that you wanted?"
"Alohomora," Rachel said, pointing her wand at the classroom door. It opened and they went inside. It was a little bit dark, as the windows framed the sun was setting over the forest. "Do you know how to cast a privacy ward?"
"Yes, of course," Fleur said, taking out her wand. The silvery bubble of a privacy ward shimmered briefly around them.
"The first task is that we have to steal an egg from a mother dragon," Rachel said.
Both of Fleur's eyebrows raised, but otherwise she didn't seem particularly surprised. "Why do you tell me this?"
"Because I don't want any of us walking in there not knowing what's happening. And Cedric and Viktor know too, so it's fair that we all know in advance. We won't get in trouble because there isn't a rule saying students aren't allowed to help each other. I'm not sure how much I can help you, but I can try to help if you want," Rachel offered.
"I do not need help, but thank you. I will consider the information you have given me," Fleur said.
Rachel nodded. "Good. I hope it helps. I don't really know anything else, but if I find out anything about the second task I'll tell you when I know."
"You do not have to do that," Fleur said.
"I want to. I want all of us to survive this tournament. Lots of people haven't," Rachel said, stopping herself there. She didn't need to scare Fleur with all the details about the previous Triwizard Tournaments.
"If there is nothing else, I must return to my classmates before Madame Maxime takes us to the carriage," Fleur said.
"That's fine, that's it," Rachel said.
Fleur nodded and dispelled the privacy ward before leaving the classroom.
Rachel sighed. That hadn't gone as well as it had with Cedric and Viktor, but not bad overall. And now everyone knew.
"Everything go alright?" Millie asked as she poked her head in the room followed by Theo.
"Yes, fine. No one attacked me. I didn't even hear you following me, even though I was listening for you," Rachel said, joining them at the doorway.
"That's a problem to solve after the first task. You're practicing with Professor Snape tonight?" Theo asked.
"Yes, that's where I'm going next. And then I'll do homework after that," Rachel said.
"We can join you in the common room and walk you through what we cover in the study group. And it's only for less than two weeks now," Millie said.
Rachel exhaled. She was trying not to think about how little time she had left to learn these spells. She'd already learned the Scent Removal spell and could do it consistently. Her Disillusionment charm needed work, and conjuring was going slowly.
"You can do it," Theo said. "We'll make sure of it."
"Okay," Rachel said, trying to push away the feeling that worry had flooded her entire body. "Let's do this."
Rachel sat on the grass with her study group during Care of Magical Creatures and was carefully feeding a Bowtruckle wood lice while Neville sketched it in their two-way book so that they'd have a reference image with their notes. Neville did all of the plant sketches too for Herbology - next to Luna he was the best in their group at drawing.
"Are there wand wood quality trees in the Forbidden Forest?" Hermione asked Hagrid, looking up as he approached them.
"That there are and there's an island out on the lake full of them. Most of the Bowtruckles at Hogwarts are out on that island, but you can come across a fair number of them in the Forbidden Forest too if you know where to look," Hagrid said.
"Are there baby Bowtruckles?" Rachel asked. All of the Bowtruckles that Hagrid had brought for them to see seemed around the same size.
"Not so much as you'd think of them as babies. The Bowtruckles come from the trees themselves, starting as a growth on the tree and then forming into a full separate Bowtruckle as they get bigger. Once you have one Bowtruckle though, you're likely to get more," Hagrid said. "Rachel, why don't you come with me for a moment and you can help me put away supplies."
Rachel passed the remaining wood lice to Millie and got up so she could follow Hagrid. She followed him over to his house where a variety of supplies were set out in front.
"Can you come down here tonight, around ten o'clock?" Hagrid asked quietly.
"That's after curfew," Rachel said.
"I know, but I have to show you something. It's important and it's a secret," Hagrid said.
Rachel frowned. She trusted Hagrid, but she really didn't like the idea of going somewhere in secret, especially out of bounds. "I don't know. I don't think Professor Snape would want me to."
"I think he'd understand, and you can tell him about it afterward. But I have to show you something and I can't do it here," Hagrid said. "It's important or I wouldn't ask. I'll keep you safe, I swear it."
"It's not illegal, is it?" Rachel asked.
"No, I wouldn't ask you to do something illegal, Rachel," Hagrid said. "I want to help you."
Rachel finally nodded, though she felt bad about it. "Okay. I'll try, but I'm not sure I can sneak out without getting caught."
"No one is watching the entrance hall, they're more focused on the corridors. Go on back with your friends, I have to wrap up class," Hagrid said.
Rachel went back to where her friends were sitting.
"What did Hagrid want?" Theo asked.
Rachel glanced around. They were far enough away from the other groups that she could whisper and not be overheard. "Hagrid wants me to come down at ten o'clock tonight. He says he has something important to show me, but it's not illegal," she said quietly.
Hermione twisted around to look at Hagrid. "I don't know about that, Rachel. It's after curfew."
"I know, but he said that it's important," Rachel said. "He said I could tell Professor Snape about it afterward too, so it can't be that bad."
"Well, if you're going, one of us has to go with you," Theo said. "And we'd have to figure out how to sneak past the prefects. It would probably be best to be outside the common room at curfew."
"Are you sure this is a good idea? He couldn't just tell you what he needed to tell you?" Neville asked.
"Apparently it's show me, not tell me. I'm a little worried he has a creature of some kind," Rachel said. "Or maybe he kept one of the Skrewts and now it's a problem."
"I'll go with you, though I think this is crazy," Millie said.
"Well, I guess, the sooner we know about the problem, the sooner we can fix it, right?" Rachel asked.
"I guess," Hermione said. "I just think maybe Hagrid needs to speak with Professor Dumbledore if he has a problem he can't fix."
Rachel shrugged. "Maybe it's not that big of a problem."
Hagrid showed up to collect the Bowtruckle they'd been studying.
"Hagrid, can't you show Rachel what you need to show her before curfew?" Hermione asked quietly when Hagrid bent down.
"Can't do," Hagrid said, giving Rachel a look. "I suppose there are no secrets among you lot, are there?"
"Not really," Theo said. "We just want to keep Rachel safe."
"I appreciate that. And I'm trying to do that too. It's for a good cause, I promise," Hagrid said.
"And you can't just tell Rachel?" Neville asked.
"No, this is something you gotta see," Hagrid said.
"Alright, we'll try to come down tonight," Rachel said.
"No more than two of you, you can't be seen," Hagrid said, leaving with the Bowtruckle.
"I guess we're doing this," Millie said.
"I guess so," Rachel said. Hopefully they wouldn't get caught, but she had an idea she thought might help with that.
"So how are we getting from here to Hagrid's house without being seen?" Millie asked once the rest of the study group had reluctantly left.
They were in their study room and it was now past curfew. Rachel was still working on the Transfiguration essay that the others had written while she was working on the spells for the first task with Severus.
"I'll show you, but this one really is a secret, even from the rest of the group, okay?" Rachel asked.
"Okay, as long as it's nothing dangerous," Millie said.
Rachel shook her head and reached into her bag and pulled out her dad's invisibility cloak. She'd gotten it out of her trunk when they'd gone to their dorm to pick up the books they needed to study from tonight.
"Wow. Did Professor Snape give you this?" Millie asked, gently touching the silky, silvery fabric.
"No, this belonged to my dad. It was given to me as a Christmas gift in my first year, though Professor Snape said I should put it away and keep it a secret," Rachel explained.
"He's probably right. I mean, it's good for emergencies, but an invisibility cloak's real power comes from no one knowing you have one," Millie said. "Do you think it will cover both of us?"
"Let's find out," Rachel said, getting up.
They carefully arranged the invisibility cloak over themselves.
"We'll have to walk really close together, but I think it covers down to our feet," Millie said.
Rachel ducked out from under it. "It should work, but I hope we don't run into anyone."
"Me too. I can't believe we're sneaking out of the castle," Millie said. "Whatever Hagrid has to show us better be good."
"I hope so. I'm going to try and finish this essay before we go, we still have twenty minutes," Rachel said.
She began writing again, occasionally referring to the notes in her two-way book. They were studying Cross-Species Switches which was part of their follow up on Switching Spells. Their next task in class was to transfigure guinea fowl into guinea pigs.
"Alright, done," Rachel said, collecting her things and putting them back into her bag. "Let's wear the cloak until we get out of the castle, and then go down normally to Hagrid's. I don't think anyone will be on the grounds."
"Sounds good," Millie said.
They left their study room, locking it behind themselves, and began the somewhat slower trek than usual down the corridor and then down the main staircase. On the landing of the second floor a Ravenclaw prefect turned the corner and started up the stairs. Rachel and Millie froze for a long moment before continuing their way down.
The front door was unlocked and they let themselves out and Rachel put the invisibility cloak back in her bag. "Okay, I definitely don't want to do this again. My dad may have been one for adventure and sneaking around and causing mischief, but I'm not. My heart is racing," Rachel said.
"Well, maybe a little adventure isn't too bad," Millie said. "Let's go see what Hagrid wants."
They went across the grounds and down to Hagrid's house and knocked on his door.
Hagrid opened it. "Good, you made it. Now you've got to keep quiet and follow me. If you hear someone, I want you to get down in the scrub and trees and hide, alright? I won't leave without you."
"In the scrub and trees?" Millie asked.
"We're going along the edges of the Forbidden Forest, not inside, just along the edge. Stay close to me now," Hagrid said.
Rachel exchanged glances with Millie and nodded. She supposed this was what they were signing up for when they agreed to this.
They followed Hagrid down and around the edge of the forest, going past the paddock where the Abraxans were contained. After a while Rachel checked her watch - they'd been walking for nearly twenty minutes now and the castle was almost out of sight behind the Forbidden Forest as they followed its edge around the grounds.
"We're not going off school grounds, are we?" Rachel asked. Severus definitely wouldn't approve of that.
"No, this is all Hogwarts land. Be quiet now, we're getting close," Hagrid said.
Finally they rounded another copse of trees and Hagrid came to a stop. Rachel blinked a few times and tried to understand what she was seeing.
It was a deep red dragon with a frill of gold spikes around its face, breathing fire, with about seven witches and wizards down on the ground working to contain it. The dragon stretched up probably fifty feet in the air.
"Oh shit," Millie said softly.
Rachel realized that Hagrid didn't know that she already knew about the task.
"That's the first of them, they'll be bringing three more in over the week. One for each of you," Hagrid said.
Rachel just stared. She was supposed to sneak past this immense thing?
"Quick, get back, someone's coming over," Hagrid whispered.
Rachel and Millie hurried back into the copse of trees and crouched down.
"Stay back, Hagrid! They can shoot flames over twenty feet," one of the wizards called.
"Alright," Hagrid called back.
"Oh my god," Rachel whispered, sitting down on the ground, not particularly caring if she got her robes dirty. How was she supposed to do this? How were any of them supposed to do this?
They heard the dragon keepers shout "stupefy" in unison, and then moments later a loud crash that seemed to shake the trees.
"How's it going, Hagrid?" a man asked as his voice came closer.
"Good, good. Can't complain. What breed is that one?" Hagrid asked.
"That's a Chinese Fireball, she's a spit-fire alright. I'm taking a portkey back tonight and we'll bring over the Swedish Short-Snout next," the man said.
"Incredible," Hagrid said. "It's good to see you again, Charlie."
Rachel looked at Millie and then realized that Millie hadn't met Ginny's second oldest brother at the Quidditch World Cup.
"It's good to see you too. We're going to be on hand for the task, extinguishing spells ready to go, but hopefully we won't need them," Charlie said.
"They've just got to get past the dragons?" Hagrid asked, probably for Rachel's benefit.
"Yeah, I think so," Charlie said. "They wanted nesting mothers. They won't take too kindly to having people coming up to them. Alright, I've got to get back, we've got work to do. I'm sure we'll see more of each other, if you want to come down and see them as we bring them in."
"I will," Hagrid said earnestly.
Rachel waited until Charlie was gone before she stood up and made her way out of the trees, Millie right behind her.
"Let's get you both back to the castle," Hagrid said.
"Thanks, for showing us," Rachel said, deciding not to tell him that she had already known about the task. In a way seeing the dragon had been helpful. Maybe now she wouldn't completely panic when she saw it again.
They bid goodnight to Hagrid once they reached his house and then made their way up to the castle. Under the invisibility cloak once more, they snuck inside and made their way down to the common room.
"Serpense intrabit," Rachel said, putting her invisibility cloak back into her bag.
The door appeared and they slipped inside, careful to avoid getting the attention of the prefects who were gathered by the fireplace - only four of them were there, so the other two must have been out on patrol.
Theo was sitting in their usual spot, a book in his lap, and Rachel and Millie went to join him.
"What did he want?" Theo asked.
"To show me the first task," Rachel said quietly.
"We didn't tell him," Theo said, shaking his head.
"At least he was trying to help," Millie said. "And we weren't caught, so no one has to know."
Rachel nodded. "I think it's better if I don't tell Professor Snape about this."
"Probably. I'm glad no one saw you," Theo said.
"That was Charlie Weasley we heard, Ginny's second oldest brother. I met him briefly at the Quidditch World Cup," Rachel said.
"Must be dragons from his reserve then," Millie said.
"Must be. I'm going to go to bed. I'm done for the night. Thanks for waiting up," Rachel said.
"No problem, I figured I could distract the prefects if you needed me to," Theo said. "See you tomorrow morning."
"See you," Millie said.
Rachel yawned, but suspected she was going to have a hard time sleeping. She had less than a week now and then she had to face that dragon or one just like it.
"Eodem aspectu," Rachel said, pointing her wand at the vase they were using for the project.
Severus nodded as the vase became essentially invisible. "Good. Remember that you should be touching the egg when you use the Disillusionment charm so that you don't lose it. Now try it on yourself," he instructed.
"Finite incantatem," Rachel said, returning the vase to normal before standing up. She touched the tip of her wand to her chest. "Eodem aspectu."
Severus watched as Rachel became nearly invisible, though he could see a vague outline of her. The Disillusionment charm was more difficult to use on a person or an animal than it was on an object - it required a very focused power. It was no wonder Rachel was struggling with it.
"That still doesn't work," Rachel said, turning and moving her arms. "It might be okay if I hold still, but as soon as I move it's obvious that I'm there."
"We still have a few more days to practice," Severus said. It was Wednesday evening. They'd been working together every evening since he'd learned what the first task was. "Remove the charm and try again. Before you cast it, I want you to mentally visualize putting as much power into your wand as you can. Think of it as flowing from you into your wand."
"Finite incantatem," she said. "Is that how you visualize magic?"
"Magic exists both inside of us, as magical beings, and around us in all of the elements. When you're conjuring something, you're drawing both from air and from the magic within you. When you're transfiguring something, you're usually drawing on the element of earth or on the element of life for living transfigurations. Charms work primarily from the magic within you, you are calling on the magic essence inside yourself. Think of the Patronus charm, coming from your emotions and your memories. Sometimes, if you're focusing, you can feel the connection between yourself and your wand while you're casting, as the wand amplifies your magic," Severus explained, trying not to go too deep into magical theory.
Rachel nodded. "When I was having trouble talking, I could feel it going into my wand, but it couldn't come out."
"Good. That's the feeling you want to focus on when you're drawing more deeply from your magic. Try holding the magic there before you say the incantation," Severus instructed.
"Okay," Rachel said. She closed her eyes and touched the tip of her wand against her chest again. She stayed still for a long moment. "Eodem aspectu."
"Better," Severus said. Rachel's outline was now barely visible. "We'll keep practicing it. A human observing closely would be likely to see you, but I think that should get you past a dragon. Let's continue to work on conjuring."
Rachel sighed audibly and ended the Disillusionment charm. "I don't know that I'm likely to be able to conjure birds within the next three days," she said, taking a seat again.
"If not, that's alright. I think it's worth trying," Severus said. "You're doing very well considering this is NEWT level work."
"Sometimes I can make some feathers appear. I'm not sure I'd call that doing well," Rachel said. "Hermione can do it. But that's Hermione. Theo's getting pretty close too. He got a naked bird earlier today."
"I assume you vanished it," Severus said. He wasn't thrilled that fourth years were experimenting with conjuration unsupervised, but he wasn't going to stop them from trying to help Rachel.
"We did. Poor thing. It couldn't even fly," Rachel said, biting her lip.
"It likely was not in pain. Try to remember that conjured animals do not last very long and they don't exist in the same way that you or I or other animals do," Severus said. Her being anxious about causing an animal pain would not help her focus on conjuration. "Let's spend a moment and practice visualizing the bird. Can you hold a moving image of it in your mind?"
Rachel nodded. "Hermione conjuring some actually helped. Now that I've seen them up close they're easier to visualize."
"Good," Severus said, realizing that he should have done that much earlier. He had simply assumed that Rachel would have a good idea what a seagull looked like. "Close your eyes and visualize the bird. See the way that it moves, how it folds its wings, how it flies in the air. When you're ready, say the incantation."
She sat quietly, her hand wrapped tight around her wand, and her lips moving slightly as she spoke silently to herself. "Facio larum," she said, opening her eyes.
A large number of white feathers came shooting out of her wand, only stopping when she dropped her wand on the table.
"Sorry," she said, looking out at the mess of feathers that were scattered across the table and the floor.
"No need to apologize, this is why you have lessons in school," Severus said, hoping to smooth this over without upsetting her. "Evanesco."
"That got most of them, I'll pick up the rest when we're done, in case it happens again," Rachel said.
"No need," Severus said. "But I think that was progress. Before there were only a handful of feathers. Next time, when you're visualizing the bird, I want you to think about what's under the feathers. Think about your own body. Beneath your skin you have muscles and bones and that's what allows you to move. The bird is solid under the feathers. Imagine one of the roast birds that we have at the feasts."
Rachel wrinkled her nose. "I think I better just think of it as like a person or like a cat. We don't want a half cooked seagull showing up."
Severus inclined his head, though a half cooked seagull wouldn't be the worst thing he'd seen come from someone learning conjuration. "Clear your mind and then focus."
She closed her eyes again.
Severus took the time to ponder whether this was really the right way to go about things. He'd spent some time trying to come up with other distractions Rachel could use, but most of the spells he could think of would likely either agitate or distress the dragon. Ideally he'd have wanted Rachel to conjure something bigger so the dragon would be interested in eating it, but he'd been hoping that she could manage birds. She was trying, but it was a lot to ask of a fourteen year old.
"Facio larum," Rachel incanted, her wand held out in front of her.
This time the feathers maintained a bird shape before they dispersed into the air.
Rachel's shoulders sagged.
"Evanesco," Severus said, vanishing most of the feathers. "It's okay. Let's try a few more times tonight and we'll come back to it tomorrow."
"Okay," Rachel said, closing her eyes once more.
"Luna, why are you wearing your trainers instead of your school shoes?" Hermione asked, shortly after Luna and Ginny entered the study room.
"You don't like them?" Luna asked.
Rachel thought Luna's trainers were pretty cute, they were light grey and done up with pink laces.
"They're very nice, but I don't want you to get in trouble with the prefects or the professors," Hermione said.
"Well, nargles took my school shoes, and I thought it was better to wear my trainers than to go about with no shoes," Luna said.
"How do you know nargles were the ones who took your shoes? Could it have been one of your roommates?" Theo asked.
"I've seen some nargles around lately, so they're the most likely ones, but it might have been Yvonne," Luna said, pulling out her two-way book and some sheets of parchment from her bag.
Rachel hesitated, trying to figure out what the best approach was. She thought it more likely was Yvonne that had taken Luna's shoes than nargles, but that was a different problem entirely. "What do nargles look like, Luna?" she finally asked.
"Oh, they're a few centimeters tall, they're green, and they like to hide in plants, especially in mistletoe. I have a necklace that usually keeps them away, but sometimes they still make off with things," Luna said, seemingly unbothered.
"How often do you see the nargles?" Millie asked.
"Not all that often, they're mischievous, so they like to stay out of sight for the most part," Luna said.
"What about some of the other creatures, the wrackspurts and the muahorns. How often do you see them?" Hermione asked.
"The wrackspurts are around quite frequently, but the muahorns stay in the shadows. You have to listen for the muahorns if you want to know where they are," Luna explained.
Rachel looked around the table, but no one seemed quite sure what to do.
"Did your father tell you about wrackspurts this summer? You only started telling us about them in our books this summer," Theo asked finally.
"Yes, he pointed them out to me," Luna said. "But you don't believe that I see them, do you?"
"We believe that you see them, Luna, but we don't see them," Rachel said. "Do you think you could show us the wrackspurts when you see them?"
"They're all over the room right now," Luna said. "Don't you feel your brain going fuzzy?"
"I don't think my brain feels fuzzy," Neville said.
"Me neither," Ginny said. "It's not that we don't believe you, Luna. We just don't see what you see and we don't understand why."
"I don't know why either. My father says you have to pay attention in order to see them, but I know you pay attention," Luna said.
"Does it worry you, Luna? Does seeing them bother you?" Hermione asked.
"No, but it would be nice if other people could see them too," Luna said, sounding a little sad.
Rachel bit on her lip as she thought. She'd asked Torey about what they should do, and Torey had suggested that Luna go see Madam Pomfrey if she was seeing things. But she'd also said that some people had benign hallucinations and in those instances it was more important to monitor for changes than it was to directly treat the hallucinations. Some people just lived with seeing and hearing things other people couldn't, though she'd said that muggles had some medications that helped people stop hallucinating, and that there were potions that could help as well.
"Would it bother you to see Madam Pomfrey and see if she could tell you why you see things that others don't?" Rachel asked when no one spoke.
"I wouldn't mind that. Maybe she could tell us why," Luna said.
"Okay, I think that's a good start," Hermione said. "Do you want any of us to come with you?"
"Yes, but not today. We have an essay on Cheering charms to write for Professor Flitwick," Luna said.
"Fortunately we have our two-way books from last year so we can read the notes that you put down before you wrote your essays," Ginny said.
"Very Slytherin, I approve," Theo said.
"Using a study aid isn't Slytherin," Hermione said.
"I think it shows cunning and that's one of our House traits," Theo said, though the corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile.
Millie started to giggle and a moment later Hermione did as well, though she was rolling her eyes.
"Alright, we have an essay on the 1424 Goblin Revolution, and then back to practicing conjuring," Hermione said.
Rachel sighed but pulled out her books. She had two more days and the best she'd conjured was a flightless bird with its feathers coming off. She wasn't sure what was more hopeless - conjuring or keeping track of the dozens of Goblin Revolutions.