"Here," Draco said, thrusting the Daily Prophet at Rachel as she sat down to breakfast on Monday morning. "Not so bad this time."
Curious, yet wary, Rachel unfolded the Daily Prophet and began to read Rita Skeeter's article about the second task. In many ways it was better than what she had been printing, with one glaring exception. 'From Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's comments in the recent article about the Hogwarts champions, it's clear that he holds both Rachel Snow and Cedric Diggory in high regard. However their determination to rescue the hostages suggests this trust may only go one way. We must ask, what has the Headmaster done to earn the mistrust of his best students?'
"She wasn't happy about the article that Professor Dumbledore wrote," Theo said as he finished reading and met Rachel's gaze.
"Apparently not," Rachel said. She leaned back to peer up at the staff table. Professor Dumbledore was there, as was Severus, but neither of them seemed to be reading the paper. That didn't mean they hadn't read it already.
"Did you really think Professor Dumbledore was going to let the hostages die?" Draco asked.
"No!" Rachel said, aware that their conversation had attracted the attention of the people around them. "I didn't think that. I wasn't thinking at all, I just panicked. I didn't even realize there were going to be hostages, I thought they'd stolen my broomstick."
"Rachel did as well as she could under the circumstances, I'm sure none of us would have done better," Millie said.
"I would have won that task, I wouldn't have stuck around trying to save people," Draco said.
"You realize that's not exactly a good thing?" Pansy asked as she reached over to take some toast.
"It is in a tournament where no one is actually in danger," Draco said. "And even outside of a tournament, you have to help yourself first, otherwise you're useless in trying to help anyone else."
Rachel frowned down at the scrambled eggs she'd just served herself.
"You're not entirely wrong," Theo said. "I don't think we should judge Rachel for her actions. None of us were there. We don't know what we would have done."
"My mother says that," Blaise said from where he was sitting next to Daphne. "She says that you have to make the best of whatever situation that you're in, no matter what other people think of you for it."
"Besides, Rachel is still tied for second place, she could still win," Daphne said.
"I don't want to win," Rachel said quickly.
"Where is your Slytherin ambition?" Draco asked.
"My ambition is to survive," Rachel said.
"Which is a very Slytherin ambition in itself," Theo said. "Survival first."
Rachel glanced back up at the staff table. It seemed that Professor Dumbledore was done with his meal. "I'll be right back."
She got up and began to walk to the staff table, hoping that she could at least do this quietly and without attracting everyone's attention.
"Rachel, wait."
So much for that. Rachel turned and found Cedric approaching.
"You're going to talk with Professor Dumbledore, right?" Cedric asked.
"Yes, I feel like I have to say something," Rachel said.
"Me too. Can I come with you?" Cedric asked.
Rachel nodded. "Of course. And I didn't really get a chance to thank you for helping me. I know you didn't have to."
"What was I going to do? Leave you there?" Cedric asked, his eyebrows arching.
"You easily could have," Rachel said.
"No, I couldn't. Though honestly, I don't know that I would have worried about the other hostages if you hadn't pointed it out. I was just focused on the task. I think that makes you the better person here," Cedric said.
"Not at all. I should have realized. It's just a tournament," Rachel said, shaking her head.
"It's okay. It was kind of spooky down there. We should go now, I think he's getting ready to leave," Cedric said.
"Thanks," Rachel said, meaning it for more things than just his understanding.
The Headmaster had reached the end of the staff table by the time Cedric and Rachel arrived.
"Could we have a moment of your time, sir?" Cedric asked.
"Of course, what may I do for you both?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"We wanted to tell you that Rita Skeeter doesn't speak for us. We trust you, sir," Cedric said.
"It's my fault," Rachel added quickly. "I wasn't really thinking down there. I just wanted to save everyone."
Professor Dumbledore smiled at them. "Thank you both. In both of you, I think your kindness speaks volumes, and it is certainly not an impulse I would wish to curb. You've both exceeded my expectations by far during this tournament. I'm proud to have you representing Hogwarts, even though, Rachel, I know it wasn't of your own volition."
"Thank you, sir," Cedric said.
"Yes, thank you, sir," Rachel echoed.
"I can also assure you that I would not blindly trust anything written in the Daily Prophet, but I appreciate that you came to me regardless," Professor Dumbledore continued.
"Sir, do you know how she is getting her information?" Cedric asked.
"That I do not know. She is remarkably well informed, particularly considering I have banned her from coming on Hogwarts grounds," Professor Dumbledore said, his smile fading slightly. "Needless to say, if you do have suspicions, please let me know. I would like to solve this mystery as well."
"Yes, sir," Cedric said.
"I'll let you get to your morning classes. Good day," Professor Dumbledore said, nodding to them before walking away.
"I'm glad he understood. I don't know what prompted Rita Skeeter to write such a thing," Cedric said.
"She's upset about the article that Professor Dumbledore wrote about us. She couldn't keep saying bad things about us after that, so she said something bad about Professor Dumbledore instead," Rachel said.
"You might be right. In a way, I'll be glad when the tournament is over," Cedric said. "We're both still in the running though. Any of us could win."
"That's true," Rachel said, though if they continued using points it would be difficult for Fleur to make up what she'd lost in the second task. "I'll see you around, Cedric."
"You too," Cedric said.
Rachel went and rejoined her friends and decided to take a slice of toast instead of trying to eat her now cold eggs.
"Everything alright?" Millie asked.
"Yes, we just wanted to let Professor Dumbledore know that we didn't support what was printed," Rachel said.
"I'm sure he didn't believe it," Draco said.
"Sometimes it's nice to be told that though," Rachel said. She wouldn't mind it if there was a way for her to know that more people didn't believe what Rita Skeeter said about her.
"Alright, we've got to get out to the greenhouses if we're going to be on time," Theo said.
Rachel checked her watch and then grabbed her bag, holding her slice of toast in her mouth as they headed out to Herbology.
It was after lunch, all of them bundled up in their cloaks and standing near the Forbidden Forest, when Rachel felt a huge grin come over her face.
Hagrid had finally done it. He'd brought the unicorn herd to see their Care of Magical Creatures class.
"Girls, you can come over and see some of the adults, boys, you'll have to stay near the young ones, but don't block the line of sight between them and the mothers," Hagrid instructed.
"They're beautiful," Lavender said, equally enraptured by them.
They really were. The babies that the boys were gathering around were a deep golden color, while the adults were a mixture of white and silver. Some of the silver ones didn't have their horns yet.
Rachel was a little bit surprised at how big the adults were, somehow she'd expected them to be smaller from the pictures, but the adults' bodies were higher than her shoulders.
"Can we touch them?" Millie asked Hagrid.
"Sure can, but gentle now, touch the sides and don't pull on their manes, they won't take kindly to that," Hagrid said.
Rachel offered her hand to the unicorn, smiling as she felt its breath as it sniffed her. The unicorn had bright blue eyes and seemed to be considering her. "Is it alright if I touch you?" Rachel asked.
The unicorn lowered its head, pushing Rachel's hand up its nose.
"I'll take that as a yes," Rachel said, gently rubbing her hand on the unicorn's nose.
She listened while Hagrid told them about what unicorns ate and where they liked to live and what unicorn hair and powdered unicorn horns could be used for. She was glad to hear that people took shavings from the shed unicorns' horns rather than killing a unicorn to harvest it.
"This is nice," Hermione said quietly next to Rachel. "This is what I had been hoping this class would be like."
"Me too," Rachel agreed. It wasn't that she didn't like Hagrid's class, but most of the creatures he introduced them to you wouldn't want to keep around. "I wish I'd thought to bring my camera."
"Maybe Hagrid is keeping them around for another class and we can come down again before he brings the herd back into the forest," Millie said, looking very pleased with the silver unicorn that she was petting.
Rachel laughed as the unicorn she'd been petting lifted its head to smell her hair. "Don't eat my hair, that's not good for you," she told it as she felt its nose working against her ear.
The unicorn gave a snuffle but lowered its head again and Rachel resumed petting it.
She looked back at where Hagrid was standing with the boys and saw that both Theo and Neville were crouched down, and Neville seemed to be feeding something to one of the baby unicorns. Even if Care of Magical Creatures wasn't exactly what she'd hoped for, it was nice to have a class like this outside of the castle and away from books and wand movements.
Hagrid dismissed them at the end of the lesson, but Rachel stayed put and watched as one of the older unicorns walked over to the babies and bent her head to check on them.
"How was that then?" Hagrid as he came over to them.
"This was a great lesson, very informative and the unicorns are gorgeous," Hermione said.
"Thank you for bringing them to see us, Hagrid. Are you planning on keeping them around for another day or two?" Rachel asked.
"I'll bring them back out tomorrow for my fifth years. You want a chance to see them again?" Hagrid asked.
"I was hoping to take some pictures, if you think they wouldn't mind?" Rachel asked.
"Nah, shouldn't bother them a bit. Come down after your last class, we'll be here," Hagrid said.
"Thank you," Rachel said again, getting sniffed again by the same unicorn she'd been staying with all class.
"And how are you doing? I heard rumors that you got into a rough spot with the merpeople," Hagrid asked.
Rachel blushed. She couldn't believe how quickly gossip spread at Hogwarts, she had only told Daphne and Pansy that, apart from Severus and her study group, and she knew her study group hadn't told anyone. "A little bit. They didn't like that I tried to free all of the hostages."
"Of course you did," Hagrid said, smiling fondly. "I know you wouldn't leave anyone in trouble. Don't know what they were thinking, using students as hostages. Sure enough, Dumbledore would never let them come to harm, but it must have come as a shock."
Rachel decided that the fact that Professor Dumbledore had been outvoted by the other judges probably wasn't news she should spread around. "It was a surprise, but Viktor helped me get away from the merpeople and Cedric helped me bring the hostages up to the surface, so it was alright."
"Good on them. You're doing so well. Wouldn't it be something if you won? You'd show them just how much you can do, even though you're younger than the other champions," Hagrid said, still smiling at her.
"I'll do my best," Rachel settled on. She could hardly tell Hagrid that she wasn't trying to win.
"You'll do great. Now I know you lot want to stay with the unicorns but it's getting dark and you best be going on up to the castle," Hagrid said.
"Thanks, Hagrid," Millie said, giving her silver unicorn one last pat before stepping away.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Hagrid," Hermione said.
They waved goodbye and rejoined Neville and Theo.
"An entire lesson where no one was bit or stung or otherwise needed the hospital wing," Theo said. "It's a miracle."
"I don't know, that unicorn tried to eat my hair," Rachel said with a sly smile.
"Well we don't need to take Care of Magical Creatures anymore, what can top that?" Millie asked happily.
"Just don't say that to Hagrid, he'll come up with something," Neville said, though he too looked relaxed and in good spirits.
"Every day should be unicorn day," Rachel agreed. "I'm going to take pictures tomorrow, you can come see them again with me if you want to."
"We should bring Luna and Ginny, they'd like that," Hermione said.
Rachel nodded. Maybe that would help Luna. She'd seemed a little bit withdrawn for the past little while. Hopefully she'd find the unicorns as relaxing as the rest of their group had.
"Can I show you all something?" Hermione asked.
Rachel looked up from where she was reading class notes in her two-way book, caught off guard by the nervousness in Hermione's voice.
"Of course, what is it?" Millie asked.
Hermione got to her feet and held out her wand. "Expecto patronum!" Moments later there was a silvery otter sitting on the table.
"You got it!" Rachel said, grinning at her friend.
"Well done," Neville said, also smiling broadly.
"It's a bit embarrassing that it took so long," Hermione said, but she looked pleased.
"You were overthinking it, I told you that you were overthinking it," Theo said.
"I was," Hermione agreed.
"It's so cute," Ginny said, watching as the otter moved around the table. "I need to keep practicing. Melanie thinks it's impossible."
"It's not impossible. Don't worry about what your roommates say, Pansy and Daphne were saying the same thing to me," Millie said.
"It will happen when it's ready to happen," Luna said. "The Muahorns say-"
Rachel watched as Luna abruptly looked down at the essay she'd been writing. "You can tell us, Luna, if you want to," Rachel said. Luna had been talking less and less about her creatures over the last two months, ever since she'd gone to St. Mungo's with Severus.
"Does it matter what they say if they're not real?" Luna asked.
Hermione dismissed her Patronus and sat back down. "Maybe not, but we don't mind if you tell us anyway. You're still seeing and hearing them, so it's part of what you're experiencing, and you can tell us about it if you want to."
"What did the Muahorns say about casting the Patronus charm?" Ginny asked.
"They say that sometimes for magic, you have to be ready for the spell in order for it to work. If a spell isn't working for you, sometimes you need to change something else first," Luna said.
"Well, if that something else includes how you think about the spell, then I think that makes sense and is fairly sage advice," Hermione said.
"Are there any wrackspurts around today?" Neville asked.
Luna looked around. "Mostly around me at the moment. I have been feeling a little bit fuzzy lately."
"Time for some positive thoughts?" Rachel asked, knowing that was Luna's cure for wrackspurts.
"Yes, twenty positive thoughts before bed should do it," Luna said with a nod.
"Since it's the start of the month, do we want to talk about where we're at with the animagus process?" Theo asked.
"I think we have time to do that before we have to head back to our common rooms," Hermione said, checking her watch. "I feel like I'm ready to move onto the third meditation. The second meditation is fairly routine for me now."
Theo nodded. "Same here."
"I think I'm ready too. I've noticed there are some days where I can't manage meditating at all, but when I can, it feels fairly straightforward and familiar now," Rachel said.
"The weird thing is, it actually helped me," Neville said.
"How?" Theo asked.
"I can keep up with lectures a little bit easier now. I noticed that the same thing was happening when I'd try to meditate at night as what happens in class when I start to get lost, so I started refocusing on the single thought and following it. So, in class, instead of trying to keep all of the pieces, I'm focusing more on the main thing. It means I miss a little bit, but I follow the whole lecture better now," Neville explained.
"That's great," Hermione said. "I didn't realize that was where the problem was."
"I didn't either, and I don't know that it's the whole problem, but having our notes to follow after the lectures helps me catch anything I missed," Neville said.
"The notes help me too," Millie said. "I feel like I don't remember as much when I just listen to the lecture and take notes, but reading our notes after helps. And I think I'm ready for the next meditation too. I've been alternating between the first and the second meditation these past few weeks just to keep it more interesting."
"I like the notes too, it's like getting the lecture in someone else's voice," Ginny said. "I feel like this meditation hasn't changed much for me over time, but I still feel like I got it. I want to move onto the next one."
"How about you, Luna?" Theo asked.
Luna frowned. "I used to think that I knew my mind fairly well. Now I'm not so sure. I can do the meditation, but it still feels very unnatural."
"Sirius said one of the main points was to be able to recognize your thoughts as yours. Do you feel like you can do that?" Rachel asked.
After a long moment where Luna seemed to consider it she said "Yes, most of the time I can. And I'd rather do the next meditation regardless."
"Okay, good. So the thing is, the next meditation is even more nebulous than the second one. The book wrote that the first meditation is awareness of your body, the second meditation is awareness of your mind, and the third is awareness of your spirit or soul," Theo said.
"Which I have some questions about," Hermione said. "Does the magical world at large believe people have spirits or souls?"
"Yes, of course," Millie said immediately.
"What about God?" Rachel asked, getting where Hermione was going with her questions.
"God is something that some people believe in and some don't, but it doesn't really have anything to do with spirits," Ginny said.
"We see spirits all the time, the ghosts are imprints of a magical person's spirit or soul. They wouldn't exist if we didn't have one," Neville said.
"Spirits, or souls if you'd rather, are just things that exist within you as part of you. It's not really a matter of belief," Theo said.
Rachel exchanged glances with Hermione and saw that she was having similar problems. The idea of having a soul without God to go along with it was pretty strange.
"Is it different for muggles?" Luna asked.
"Usually muggles don't believe in souls or spirits without believing in God, and usually it's part of a defined belief system," Hermione said.
"Do wizards believe that muggles have souls?" Rachel asked. "Because ghosts are only the imprint of a witch or wizard's soul, right?"
Theo grimaced. "Certain pure-blood ideologies use that as proof that muggles don't have souls, actually. In polite society the belief is that muggles do have souls, and that magic makes the difference in a ghost being left behind."
"Well, and the Dark Lord is noncorporeal. I suppose that means there has to be something," Rachel said.
"I suppose," Hermione said with a frown. "I assume you've read this more recently, Theo. How does the third meditation work?"
"There weren't very many instructions for it. We're supposed to fall away from thought and go as deeply inward as possible to feel the essence of our spirit. And no, they didn't describe how we're to know when we've done that," Theo explained.
"I'll ask Sirius if he has any suggestions or hints on how we're supposed to do this," Rachel offered.
"I think that's a good idea. In the meantime I guess we'll practice meditating without thinking. The good thing is that we're halfway through the meditations. The fourth one is a meditation on magic, but the book suggests that we do them in order, so we shouldn't skip ahead," Theo said.
"At this rate we'll probably be finished with the meditations sometime early in our fifth year. What's after that?" Millie asked.
"After that we need to decide if we're doing this on our own or if we're waiting for Professor McGonagall to decide if she's going to mentor us," Theo said.
"I feel like I have to wait for her to decide. Professor Snape would be upset with me if I didn't, and I don't think I can keep this from him," Rachel said.
"I'd rather wait as well. We can use Sirius' help if Professor McGonagall decides against it, but I'd really rather have someone with a Mastery in Transfiguration helping us," Hermione said.
"I'm willing to wait," Millie said.
"Me too, but I think Luna and I will have to wait a whole year after you, if she'll only take people who are in her NEWT class," Ginny said.
Theo nodded. "We'll wait then, but we should keep practicing the meditations while we wait, even after we've finished with them."
"We can do that," Rachel agreed. She didn't mind. She actually felt the meditations helped her get to sleep anyway.
Rachel watched from the side of the classroom as Parvati continued to aim her wand at the targets Professor Moody had conjured.
Professor Moody was fond of calling them up one by one to perform tasks and while Rachel could see that it would be chaos to have everyone in the Defense classroom shooting off spells at once, it still put extra pressure on them to perform well. Today they were practicing the Stunning spell on moving targets and Professor Moody was calling out their scores on how many targets they hit before the time was up, though he took points off if you missed a lot of targets so people couldn't simply cast recklessly.
So far Draco and Theo were at the top of the class, with Hermione close behind. Millie and Neville had also made a good showing, better than most of their classmates at least. Rachel was a little bit nervous, but Severus had her practice with a similar exercise in the garden over the summer.
A chime sounded and Parvati stopped casting.
"Twelve, Miss Patil. You need to work on your aim. Being able to cast spells does no good if you can't hit what you're pointing your wand at," Professor Moody said, making a note on a piece of parchment. "Snow, you're up."
Millie patted Rachel's shoulder and Rachel gave her a brief smile before she switched places with Parvati.
"Three minutes," Professor Moody announced and the first targets appeared.
"Stupefy!" Rachel called, aiming her wand at the first target. It was an easy hit and she immediately moved her wand to the next target.
She fell into a rhythm, ignoring for now the targets she missed and moving onto the next one. The rest of the class, and the classroom itself, faded into the background. It was just like playing Seeker - there was only her, her wand, and the targets.
The chime sounded and Rachel abruptly found herself without a target to point her wand and had the odd realization that she was sweating a little.
"Twenty eight, Miss Snow," Professor Moody announced. "Good, but you need to keep more situational awareness. You can't focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything around you. Thomas."
How had he known? Rachel pondered this as she went to the side of the classroom to join her friends as Dean took his place. Was it obvious she was focusing somehow?
"You beat Draco by two," Hermione whispered into Rachel's ear.
Rachel quickly glanced at Draco, who gave her a small nod when she met his gaze. She hadn't realized. It was a good thing Severus had told her not to bother with trying to get people to underestimate her anymore. She bet this was definitely going to be written about in Draco's next letter to his parents, and probably Pansy's too.
She watched absently as Dean and then Ron finished casting, getting a "not bad" from Professor Moody, and finally Blaise, who was asked if he needed his eyes examined by Madam Pomfrey.
"Your homework this week is to practice. Practice your aim. Practice your reaction time. Find someone to dodge your spells. Practice. Class dismissed. Snow, stay after," Professor Moody said.
Rachel frowned. What could he possibly have to complain about? She had done the task well.
"Over here. Your friends can stay until we're finished," Professor Moody said when the rest of the class had cleared out.
Reluctantly Rachel joined him at the front of the classroom and watched as he cast the privacy ward.
"Who taught you to cast spells like that? Was it Snape?" Professor Moody asked.
"I learned the Stunning spell with my friends last year, out of a book from the library. Professor Snape had me practice with the Stunning spell this summer though, along with the Shield charm," Rachel explained.
"What else is he teaching you?" Professor Moody asked.
Rachel shook her head. "We brewed some potions together over the summer, but mostly we were practicing with the Shield charm, and with stunning, and he taught me the target practice spell Creta."
"Curses? Has he been teaching you curses?" Professor Moody pressed.
"No, not at all," Rachel said.
"What about the potions? Do they use human blood?"
"Never," Rachel said quickly, getting what Professor Moody was going after. "Professor Snape is not teaching me Dark Arts. The only thing he's been teaching me is how to defend myself and how to prepare for going on to a Potions Mastery."
"He wants you to pursue Potions?" Professor Moody asked.
"He said it's my choice," Rachel said.
Professor Moody scowled. "He can say what he wants to say, that doesn't mean he's not exerting influence on you. Your first stop if someone tries to teach you Dark Arts is me, understand?"
"Yes, sir," Rachel said, not planning to go to Professor Moody for anything but willing to say it to get him to leave her alone.
"I assume you know how to recognize the Dark Arts by now?" Professor Moody asked.
"Yes, sir," Rachel said again. They'd spent two months going over it, she'd have to be stupid not to know when something was Dark Arts by now.
"Good. Watch yourself," Professor Moody said.
"Actually, I had a question," Rachel said.
"Yes?" Professor Moody's right eyebrow, cut in half by scar, raised up.
"Are there spells you can use to know if someone is following you?" Rachel asked.
"You think someone is following you?" Professor Moody asked.
"No, but I've had my friends follow me at a distance so I could speak to someone privately, but still have them nearby in case something went wrong, and even though I knew they were following me, I couldn't see them or hear them," Rachel explained.
"That's a tricky one. There are plenty of spells that will tell you if an area around you has been breached, but nothing that moves with you. There's a spell that reveals the presence of any humans nearby, that's Homenum revelio, so you can cast that at regular intervals, but the person following you will feel it and know you're onto them," Professor Moody said. "What you really want to do is take an abrupt turn and hide, disillusioning yourself is a good thing to do, and then watch. Whoever was following you should reveal themselves pretty soon."
"Wouldn't they be using the Disillusionment charm too?" Rachel asked.
"If they're smart, they will be, along with a Muffling charm to disguise their footsteps. In Hogwarts, however, most aren't going to know to do that. You might want to put some work into casting spells silently," Professor Moody said.
Rachel nodded. That did seem like a good idea. "Thank you, sir."
"Let me know if something feels wrong. I'll keep both my eyes out," Professor Moody said, dismissing the privacy ward.
"Thank you, sir," Rachel said again. She collected her bag and they left the classroom.
"What did he want this time?" Theo asked once they were well away from the classroom.
"To know if Professor Snape was teaching me Dark Arts," Rachel said.
"All because you did well at the Stunning spell?" Neville asked.
"Professor Snape was having me practice with it this summer," Rachel said.
"You know, I really don't like him," Millie said. "I mean, he's not as bad as Lockhart, but I really don't like the way he singles you out."
"I don't think anyone could be as bad as a professor as Lockhart, but I do agree that the way he acts around Rachel is unsettling," Hermione said.
Rachel agreed. She would prefer if Professor Moody left her alone, or at least just treated her like he treated everyone else. "At least we're learning things and getting practice. I wish Remus could have stayed though."
"Me too," Neville agreed.
"I've got to get to Quidditch practice. "I'll see you at dinner," Rachel said when they reached the staircase, knowing she'd meet Lucian coming out of Charms at the staircase below.
"See you then," Millie called.
"Hey, Rachel, partner with me today," Draco said as soon as Rachel entered the classroom with her friends.
Rachel turned to Hermione. "Do you mind working with Theo today?"
"I don't mind," Hermione said.
"Theo?" Rachel asked.
"It's fine, if you don't mind," Theo said.
"Thanks," Rachel said. She went to the sinks, filled her cauldron half full of water, and then plunked her cauldron down next to Draco's.
"How is Seeker training going with Viktor?" Draco asked once Rachel had sat down.
"Good, I think I'll be in a good position to resume the Seeker position next year," Rachel said.
"Unless we find another Seeker," Draco said.
"I'm a much better Seeker than I am Chaser, it's better for the team if I take the Seeker position again," Rachel said, opening her book to page 278 for the Wit-Sharpening potion they'd be brewing today. "Besides, we have Adrian for one more year, I'd rather train one new Chaser next year than two the year after. Why do you want me to stay as a Chaser anyway?"
"We fly well together. I'm better at getting the Quaffle through the hoops than you are, but you're able to set me up to take shots on the goal. It's a good system," Draco said.
"Then we'll train the new Chaser to do the same thing. There's no point in Viktor training me now if I don't go back to being a Seeker next year," Rachel said. That and she really just preferred playing Seeker to playing Chaser.
The class fell silent before Draco could respond and Severus took his place at the front of the classroom.
"Today you'll be brewing the Wit-Sharpening potion. I expect each of you to work with your own cauldrons, however you can work in partners for preparing ingredients. Instructions are on the board," Severus said, tapping his wand to the chalkboard and causing the pre-written instructions to appear. "Prepare all your ingredients before you start adding to the cauldron."
Rachel double checked the instructions against the instructions in her book and found them to be almost the same, except for Severus' instructions specified how much armadillo bile to add rather than simply 'a dash' that was written in their books, and listed how many strokes should be used in clockwise at the end of the potion.
"Do you want to chop ginger roots or powder scarab beetles?" Rachel asked.
"I'll powder the scarab beetles," Draco said, digging into his potions kit.
Rachel removed four ginger roots from hers - two for her and two for Draco - along with her silver knife and began to cut them into small, even segments.
"So, Professor Snape's the person you'd miss most?" Draco asked.
"What?" Rachel asked, looking up from her roots.
"My father said that's how they picked who was being held hostage in the second task. They used an Affinity spell to determine who is closest to you. They had to modify it, of course, to pick someone who was already at Hogwarts," Draco said.
"I didn't realize," Rachel said. Come to think of it, she didn't know why Severus had agreed to being held hostage in the first place. Surely he would have had a choice.
"I'm surprised it wasn't one of your friends. You spend more time with Millie than you do anyone else," Draco said.
Rachel supposed that was true. She and Millie were rarely outside of each other's company while they were at school. "Professor Snape has done a lot for me," she said, not really sure how to put it into words. She cared about him, in a way that was different than caring about her friends, but similar in some ways too.
"I didn't realize you had that kind of relationship with him," Draco said.
Rachel glanced at Severus, who was across the room looking at Lavender's ginger roots. "He's my guardian. He protects me," she settled on.
"That's what parents are supposed to do," Draco said, now measuring the powdered scarab beetles into two small bowls.
"Who would it have picked for you?" Rachel asked, going back to cutting the ginger roots.
"Pansy," Draco said without hesitating.
Rachel knew they had been dating but was still a bit surprised. "I didn't know your relationship was so serious already."
Draco looked across the room at where Pansy was working with Parvati and then back at Rachel. "We've known since we were children we'd likely wind up married. It's a good thing that we get along as well as we do."
"Your parents are planning an arranged marriage?" Rachel asked. Just how common was this arranged marriage stuff anyway?
"It's possible they'll put something into place as we get older, but there's not really any need," Draco said, accepting the ginger roots from Rachel.
"What if you decide you want to date someone else? Or not date at all?" Rachel asked.
"If I truly had a problem with Pansy, my parents wouldn't insist on us getting married. There are other possibilities. But it's a good arrangement between our families, we both have a lot to benefit from it," Draco said. "You sound like you think this is a bad thing."
"I don't think you and Pansy dating is bad," Rachel said quickly as she prepared her cauldron. It needed to be boiling before she added the roots. "I just think that it's too soon for any of us to know what the rest of our lives are going to look like. People should get married because they love each other, not because their parents tell them to."
"How are you even supposed to know if what you feel for someone is love? I could love Pansy," Draco said. "I mean, I suppose you could brew a love potion and then see if the feelings felt the same."
"Do people really use love potions?" she asked, skipping the question of what love felt like. She wasn't sure she could answer that one.
"Sure. Most people use them just to get someone to notice them. Five drops of Philtaria in someone's goblet and they'll find themselves paying attention to you and their thoughts straying to you. Ask them out the next day and they'll probably think it's a good idea," Draco said. "In general people stay away from the more powerful love potions because once it wears off the person usually hates you."
"Can't imagine why," Rachel said, shaking her head. "And that's not illegal?"
"Dosing someone with Amortentia is if, well, certain things happen because of it," Draco said, his cheeks flushing slightly pink.
Rachel shuddered. There were some things about the magical world that were just hard to accept. The idea that anyone could brew a love potion or use the Imperius curse to get what they wanted was just disturbing.
"Don't worry too much about it. Love potions are banned at Hogwarts," Draco said. "Time for our roots."
Rachel sprinkled in her roots using a clockwise motion and waited a full minute before she stirred fifteen times in a counterclockwise motion. After that, ten drops of armadillo bile and stirring five more times, this time clockwise. After her potion turned blue she added the powdered scarab beetles and watched it simmer for ten minutes. Then she stirred eight more times and her potion turned a nice purple.
"Wouldn't mind bottling this for doing homework with," Draco said.
"I'm pretty sure that's against the rules," Rachel said.
"Shouldn't be. It's not like it makes you know more information than you already do, it just makes things clearer," Draco said.
Rachel bottled a sample for Severus and wrote her name on the phial.
Severus examined the phial when she handed it to him and gave her an approving nod.
Glad that potions class had gone well, despite her somewhat meandering conversation with Draco, Rachel vanished the contents of her cauldron.
"So what are you going to do for the third task?" Draco asked when he returned to their table.
"I don't know yet, we won't know what it is until a month before the task," Rachel said.
Draco glanced meaningfully at Severus and then back to Rachel. "I'm sure they're not going to let you wait that long to prepare. Hopefully it's better than the second task, that was boring."
"Hopefully," Rachel agreed, though she really hadn't minded people not watching her during the second task. She'd have to tell Severus that Draco suspected that he was helping her. She finished packing up her potions kit. "I'll see you later."
"See you," Draco said.
On Saturday they trundled out toward the Quidditch pitch in their cloaks and scarves. Rachel peered up at the sky. It was still rather chilly for March and there were some dark clouds looming. Hopefully the match would be finished before there was a storm. Either way, Rachel was glad to not be playing for once.
"Who are you favoring, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?" Ginny asked.
"Cedric and Cho are pretty evenly matched, but Ravenclaw has better Chasers. They need a new Keeper though," Rachel said.
"So do we," Ginny said with a frown.
"McLaggen not working out?" Rachel asked.
"He's an ass," Ginny said.
"What did he do?" Theo asked.
Ginny sighed. "It's not anything he does in particular, but he fights with Angelina any time she tries to give him direction and he thinks he's Merlin's gift to Quidditch when he has some very obvious weak spots. I'm going to see if I can get the twins to get Angelina to have full team try-outs next year so we can replace him."
"Is Angelina having a hard time as acting captain?" Rachel asked. She wouldn't have expected it from when she'd seen the Gryffindor team fly together.
"Just from McLaggan. And, well, the twins are the twins, but she's used to them by now," Ginny said. "As much as anyone can get used to them."
"We're sitting in the Gryffindor stands, yes?" Hermione asked as they approached the stands.
"Probably for the best. I think the Gryffindors are a little more open to us than the Slytherins are to you," Millie said.
"Should you be with Draco and Pansy?" Rachel asked, looking at Theo.
"I'll go down to the common room after the match and spend some time with them. Draco will want to rehash all of it anyway," Theo said.
"Let's get seats up top," Ginny said, heading into the stairway that led up to the Gryffindor section.
Rachel followed Neville into the stairway and immediately noticed how closed in she felt. She glanced behind her and saw Luna following behind her, and a pair of boys behind Luna. Grimacing, she continued climbing the stairs, trying to breathe even though her chest and throat were beginning to feel tight. She could hear the sound of feet on the stairs above them and the sound of voices all blurred together in a wave of noise.
Pressing her hand to her chest, Rachel started up the next set of stairs. It was like the walls were crushing in against her. She made it almost to the top of the stairs before she realized how dizzy she felt. She needed to get out of here. Now.
"I can't," she managed to say before turning around and going back down the stairs as fast as she could without crashing into people. There were a few exclamations as she brushed by people but she barely noticed. Her chest throbbed in time with her heart as she finally burst free back out into the fresh air.
She pulled off her cloak and her scarf, dropping them on the ground before she knelt down next to them, one hand wrapped around her throat and the other pressed against her chest. At least all the snow was gone now. She could feel a few tears running down her face and she brushed the sleeve of her jumper against them furiously. How many times had she been up those stairs? Plenty. And she'd been fine. Uncomfortable, but fine.
"Were you hexed?" Neville asked as he knelt down next to her.
Rachel shook her head and looked up and found Luna waiting by Neville's side.
"Do you want me to go get Hermione or Millie?" Neville asked.
Rachel shook her head again. She didn't need people here watching her try to breathe, though it was a good thing that Neville and Luna had followed her. She definitely couldn't cast spells like this or defend herself.
"Can Madam Pomfrey help?" Luna asked.
"No," Rachel managed to say, even though the word felt strangled in her throat. She freed her hand from her throat and used it to pull at the neck of her jumper and her shirt, trying to make more space where she could breathe, even though she knew it wasn't stopping her from breathing.
Neville paused, watching her with a worried expression. "Is there anything that will help?"
"Just time," Rachel whispered, nesting her fingers in the hollow made by her collarbone. It would pass, Torey had promised her that it would always pass. She began counting her breaths in her head, six in and eight out.
"Everything alright?" someone asked from behind Rachel.
"It's fine, we're just watching the nargles. There are some here on the grass," Luna said.
The footsteps retreated and Rachel heard someone say "crazy" in a voice that wasn't quite a whisper.
"Do you see some nargles here?" Neville asked.
"No, but I didn't think they'd want to come look at them if there were. Most people don't," Luna said.
"Thanks," Rachel whispered.
"Do you want Professor Snape?" Neville asked.
Rachel shook her head. She didn't think Severus knew this happened. He knew that she didn't like enclosed spaces, but he hadn't seen her like this. He didn't need another thing to worry about right now. Besides, she had it under control.
They heard the distant sound of the whistle from inside the Quidditch pitch and cheers from the crowd as the game began.
Rachel looked over at the stairway. There were still a few stragglers coming to the game, but they were mostly empty now. Maybe she could try again. Somehow the thought of going back in there made the pain in her chest worse. Maybe not. "Why is this happening?" she asked herself.
"It's hard for you to be in small spaces, isn't it?" Luna asked.
Rachel nodded reluctantly. It wasn't like they hadn't figured it out by now.
"The stairways are pretty small places. So it's hard for you to be in there. It makes sense," Luna said.
"But why today? I've gone in there before," Rachel said, glad that she had more of her voice now. That was an improvement.
"Some days are harder than others," Neville said with a knowing nod. "It doesn't make sense a lot of the time. Some days you just try to exist as best you can."
Rachel peered at Neville. She hadn't realized he felt like that. "Does it feel like that all the time?"
"No. Not all the time," Neville said. "Mostly in the summers. It's better when I'm here at Hogwarts. But there are still occasionally days when it's just hard."
Luna nodded, looking distant as she stared out toward the Forbidden Forest.
Rachel frowned as she considered Neville. Maybe in some ways he was in just as much danger from his family as Theo was. And the situation was just as impossible. Why were families so hard? She'd learned that most families weren't like the Dursleys, but it seemed like there were endless other ways that they could have problems too.
"There's no one in the stairways now. Do you want to try again?" Luna asked.
"No," Rachel answered before she really thought about it. "I'll try again at our next Quidditch practice when no one is around."
"Okay, want to go back to the castle?" Neville asked. "It's still kind of cold out here."
Rachel nodded. She didn't feel like she could put on her cloak and scarf just yet, but the pain in her chest and throat had become more manageable.
"I'll go tell the others that we're not attending. Theo may wish to join us. He doesn't like Quidditch all that much," Luna said.
"We'll wait for you here," Neville said
They watched as Luna went up into the stairway.
"Is there anything you want to do while the Quidditch match is being played?" Neville asked.
Rachel thought about it. "I want to light a fire in the fireplace in our study room and read a book in one of the armchairs."
"That sounds nice. I'm still reading the Horath Bogtrotter books. I'm on the third one now," Neville said.
"Do you like them?" Rachel asked.
"I do. Did you know that my parents were aurors?" Neville asked.
"I don't think so, though Professor Snape might have mentioned it. I have a photo of the Order that has your parents there, along with mine," Rachel said.
Neville nodded. "I know that the books aren't really what being an auror is like, but I like to think that my parents were kind of like that. That they did a lot of good things while they were aurors."
"I'm sure they did," Rachel said.
"I'm never going to be an auror. I don't know that I'd want to be, even if I had the skills that it took," Neville said, his forehead creasing.
"I think your parents are probably like Professor Snape," Rachel said.
"How so?" Neville asked.
"Professor Snape wants me to choose what I want to do as an adult, he doesn't want me to do a Potions Mastery just because that's what he did. I think your parents would feel the same way, that they'd want you to do something that you enjoyed. And Herbology is important. Most of the potions we brew have ingredients that are grown and collected by Herbologists. Where would Healers be without them? And the aurors need potions too," Rachel said.
"I suppose that's true enough. I just wish more people thought of it that way," Neville said.
"It would be nice if they did, but in the meantime you know who you are and what you enjoy doing. They don't get a say in it," Rachel said, knowing that both of them were talking about Neville's family.
Neville's lips twitched. "I'll try to think of it that way."
"Are you okay?" Theo asked as he hurried over to them, Luna trailing behind.
"I'm okay now," Rachel said, standing up and collecting her scarf and her cloak. "I just couldn't manage the stairway today."
Theo frowned. "Was it something in particular? The people following you maybe?"
"Not that I know of, it just got to be too much," Rachel said. "We're going to go back to the castle. Maybe read for a while. Do you want to come?"
"Yes. I left Hermione and Millie with Ginny, but they all told me to come get them if you needed them," Theo said.
Rachel shook her head. "I'm okay now. I just can't go back in there right now."
"Okay. I need to get my bag from my dorm," Theo said.
"Me too," Rachel said.
"My things are up in the Gryffindor Tower, Luna, I'll walk you to Ravenclaw Tower so you can get what you need too," Neville said.
"I'm going to paint today," Luna said with a nod.
Rachel felt something ease within her as they walked further away from the Quidditch stadium. She would try again tomorrow.
Severus looked up from the fourth year essays he'd just finished grading as he heard his office door open and then shut. Rachel came through the permeable wall a moment later, her cheeks flushed red and her hair disheveled.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yes, I was just out practicing with Viktor. He's been teaching me how to dive," Rachel said, setting her bag down next to the couch and sitting down. "I don't think I'll ever use the Wronski Feint, I don't want to cause anyone to crash and I'm kind of friends with Cedric, and I'm friends with Ginny, and Cho is nice. But it's good to know how to do it."
Merlin help him. "As long as you're being safe and using all possible precautions," he said, grateful that Poppy was on site if needed.
"We are. Viktor even let me use his Firebolt for the last dive. It was amazing. It moves like it knows your thoughts and I was flying so fast," Rachel said, looking enthralled.
"I think a Firebolt is probably unnecessary for school Quidditch matches," Severus said.
"That's true and my broom is fine. And it really wouldn't be fair to the other Seekers if I had one and they didn't. Besides, I like my broom," Rachel said.
Severus nodded, relieved that Rachel was content with her broom. "We should talk before we have dinner."
"Is something wrong?" Rachel asked, her smile dropping away.
"I have some news about the third task, though it's important that you keep it to yourself. For now I don't want you to share this even with your friends," Severus said.
Rachel frowned. "Why?"
"Because the judges aren't unaware that information about the tasks is leaking and I don't want it to come back to you and me, or to Albus," Severus said. Albus had told him the bare bones of the task with the warning that they needed to be circumspect.
"Oh. I should tell you, I'm pretty sure Draco knows that you've been helping me with the tasks," she said.
"His father likely told him," Severus said.
"How did Mr. Malfoy know?" Rachel asked.
"Because when I met with him to discuss Draco's academic progress, he told me that you were doing surprisingly well in the tasks, and I intimated that I was assisting you under Albus' direction," he explained.
She seemed to think about this for a long moment. "The Death Eaters think you would have let me fail if Professor Dumbledore hadn't told you to help me?"
"They believe that you're a burden placed on me by Albus," Severus reminded her. "In their mind this is a good thing, because it gives them access to you. I'm a little surprised that Lucius hasn't suggested that I start to teach you the Dark Arts."
"Professor Moody thought that you were teaching me Dark Arts, I told him you weren't," Rachel said. "He keeps saying that he'll bring me to Professor Dumbledore if I come to him."
Severus nodded. "Moody is very loyal to Albus. If you are in danger and he's the closest professor, go to him. He'll protect you."
"What's the third task?" Rachel asked.
"It's a folded space hedge maze. They'll grow it in the Quidditch pitch. It will be larger on the inside than on the outside and there will be puzzles and traps and dangerous creatures within. You have to reach the center of the maze. The first champion there wins the tournament," Severus explained.
Rachel went quiet, biting her lip as she thought. "That's why we have to finish our Quidditch games before the start of May."
"Yes. I will prepare you. I will instruct you on a variety of offensive and defensive spells every Sunday after dinner. You can then teach them to your study group so that if anyone asks you can demonstrate that you learned the spells with your study group. I will also teach you a few detection charms so that you can avoid traps. I don't think I can teach you to dismantle the traps in the time that we have, particularly since we don't know which traps you will encounter. You'll have to go around them," he said.
"And I can't tell the other champions?" Rachel asked.
"Not this time, but most of the things I'll be teaching you would have been covered in your later years at Hogwarts, so they will already know the vast majority of these spells. This allows you to level the playing field a little bit," Severus said, watching her closely. "They will still have a month to prepare before the task, but you cannot tell them now."
"Okay," Rachel said, though she didn't look particularly pleased about the development.
"Let's have dinner and then I can instruct you in the Impediment jinx," Severus said, getting to his feet. "Unless there's anything else you want to talk about first?"
"No, I'm fine," Rachel said, also standing up.
Severus flooed the kitchens, wondering why he worried whenever Rachel said that she was fine.