Halle Potter and the first year of madness
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Halle found herself bursting into the common room. Her eyes came across Ronnie and Neville who were standing next to Percy. Their letters both in hand.
Halle bustled over to them.
"There you are. What'd you do? Get seconds without me?" Asked Ronnie, her tone slightly annoyed. Her arms were folded as she arched her brow. She clearly had spent a little more time with Percy than she deemed necessary.
"Sorry, a girl came over after you left and started talking to me." Said Halle vaguely.
She wasn't going to talk about her discovery or task in front of Percy.
"I leave you for one moment and they start flocking in. Typical." Said Ronnie rolling her eyes.
Neville chuckled.
"No matter, you're here now, although, in quite the state, I must say." Said Percy as he looked her up and down noticing she was covered in dust.
"You're bleeding! What happened to you?" Asked Neville concerned as he noticed the dried blood coated on her sleeve.
"Oh, I tripped over and lost my glasses for a minute. Just ended up scraping myself." Lied Halle as she lifted her hand to show the cut.
Her words were specifically aimed at Percy.
Ronnie and Neville gave each other a look. Halle was sure they didn't believe her.
Percy nodded his head.
"Well madam Pomfrey wouldn't oppose to seeing you even for minor injuries but if you like, I can heal that for you. I need to practice my healing charms anyway." Said Percy in his usual pompous tone.
Ronnie rolled her eyes.
Halle thought about Percy's offer. She wanted to show Ronnie and Neville the passageway but the cut on her arm was painful. She thought about if she could get him to heal the one on her arm solely but couldn't think of a good enough excuse for the one on her thumb to not be healed, so reluctantly she scrapped the thought and took Percy's offer.
Halle rolled up her sleeve revealing the large slash across her arm. She held out both arms to Percy who removed his wand from his Jean pocket.
"Looks painful. Alright stand still, it will only hurt for a second. Episkey." Said Percy with his wand pointed at her arms.
Halle felt two sharp pains for a second before she felt a wave of coolness on her skin. She looked in amazement as her skin was sealed and smooth along her arm and thumb as though she hadn't cut either. There wasn't even a scar, all that was left was the dried blood trail.
"Thanks Percy." Said Halle Gratefully.
"You're welcome, Halle." Said Percy obviously very pleased with the three looks of awe.
"You didn't tell me you knew that spell. I thought you didn't learn healing charms till sixth year?" Asked Ronnie gawking at her brother.
"You'd be correct Ronnie but when you apply yourself academically as I do, you can learn that spell from third year." Said Percy conceitedly.
Ronnie gave him a glare and Halle smirked.
"Any who, come on I'll show you the way to the owlery now. Fred and George have already given me their letters and are no doubt up to know good with the use of their weekend. I myself plan to get in some extracurricular activities. It's always nice and wise to sharpen your skills in fields you're not familiar with. Keeps you on your toes." Said Percy factually.
Halle glanced at Ronnie and wondered if her eyes were gonna fall out of her sockets with the amount, she was rolling them.
Percy, although a bit much, was in Halle's opinion a bright boy whose heart was in the right place. She did wish his social cues were better but she wouldn't let his smartness bother her, unlike his sister.
Percy led the three of them forward and just as they reached the portrait, Dewei Zabini walked through.
Halle was surprised to see him. She would've thought that he would've already come back to the common room as she had been stuck in the wall for at least a good twenty minutes or so but perhaps even with the disturbance of the suit of armour, his brother had not dropped their strange and heated argument.
Halle felt some worry at the fact that she was so interested in the Zabini's business in the last two days.
Perhaps she wanted to be friends with Dewei?
Although nothing was inviting about Dewei Zabini as per say, Halle hadn't forgot his sort of defence of her in Diagon Alley. There was also Lu who in the past week of stares, gawking and questions, made sure to always give her a warm smile, a little wave or a cheeky wink when she would see her in the corridors.
Halle had never had friends before and although she was more than satisfied with the company she was keeping, perhaps gaining the friendship of Ronnie and Neville and receiving the kindness of Lu was causing this longing inside her that was extending specifically to Dewei?
Something about that sentiment didn't seem right but not necessarily wrong either.
Halle caught a glimpse of his face as he walked past them, undoubtedly heading towards the boy's dormitory.
He looked angry but he also looked lost and deep in thought.
Halle was reminded that the letter from his stepfather was still in the waistband of her trousers. She wondered if she should take the opportunity to give him the letter there and then but decided against it. For one she had made Percy and the others wait for her. She didn't want to make them wait any further. Two, she didn't want to talk to him when he was clearly in a state.
Whatever it was that he and Blaise had been discussing was clearly a sore spot for him.
Halle went over the argument she had overheard between the two brothers. It had definitely been suspicious but she tried her hardest not to make any assumptions. She was not aware of the context, that was for sure.
From what she gathered; Blaise was mad at Dewei for not doing something. Dewei did not want to do it. Blaise had made an attempt to do it and failed and Dewei had no proof of something to do whatever Blaise wanted him to do.
She summarised this in her head as Percy led them out of the common room and into the castle.
Whatever it was, it was clearly a secret that they didn't want anyone to know. Blaise had made a point to corner Dewei and drag him off to a more private location and Dewei berated him for approaching him in the open. Their secret was even prominent enough for Blaise to attempt to initiate a meeting prior, that Dewei purposely missed.
Halle honestly didn't want to snoop around especially as most of the wizarding world knew her business before she had even known it herself but her curiosity was apparently insatiable.
She wondered thoughtfully about the conversation as Percy led the group to the owlery where they found a bunch of different coloured and sized owls resting, or hooting and such. Hedwig was amongst the owls and flew down to greet Halle, gently nibbling at her ear. Halle gave Hedwig a few strokes before the snowy owl re-joined her colleagues.
Halle snorted at the phrasing. She still found it amazing and hilarious that owls delivered mail for wizards as oppose to a wizard post man.
After Percy gave the letters to his own owl and a barn yard owl for Neville, he told them in general how to instruct an owl before he led them back to the castle where he parted ways with them not before earning one last eye roll from Ronnie for his last parting wisdom of the day.
"Are your eyes sore by any chance?" Asked Halle, smirking at the glare that Ronnie sent her way.
"Laugh all you want but you don't live with him." Said Ronnie irked.
"You poor soul." Said Halle mockingly.
Neville gave a loud snort that earned him a glare from Ronnie too. Instantly he stopped laughing and changed the subject.
"So um, are we still exploring the castle?" Said Neville taking a step closer to Halle.
Halle practically jumped at the reminder.
"Yes, follow me." Said Halle excitedly as she took off towards the stairs.
Ronnie and Neville shared a look of confusion but trailed after her.
Halle led them to the first-floor corridor and looked around to make sure they were alone before stopping before the suits of armour.
"Halle why are we on the first floor? We've been on this floor like four times alone this week. I don't think it needs any more exploring." Chuckled Ronnie.
Halle only smirked at her.
She squeezed through the side gap of the armour and beckoned them to follow. Both did, all three fitting in the gap.
"What are we doing Halle?" Asked Neville looking positively confused.
Halle ignored the question. She had just had her arm and hand healed. She didn't want to cut them again. She wondered if the dried blood that was coated on her hand and sleeve might do the trick.
She touched the wall like before and it opened. Halle smiled. This time she didn't need blood at tall. Ronnie and Neville's jaws dropped.
"Is this a secret passageway?" Whispered Ronnie looking around.
"How did you discover it?" Asked Neville nervously as he looked into the dark passageway. The torches hadn't lit up yet.
"I'll explain inside. Come on it's safe." Said Halle as she walked through the passageway. Ronnie and Neville went to walk in but found themselves blocked.
"Halle we can't get in." Blurted Neville surprised.
"What?" Asked Halle shocked.
Why couldn't they get in? She could.
"He's right. I can't walk through. It's like an invisible barrier is blocking me." Said Ronnie as she stuck up her hand as though miming being stuck in a box.
Halle looked puzzled. She stepped out the passageway and the wall behind her closed, she then touched the wall again and it opened. Once again, she walked through and both Neville and Ronnie tried to walk in but they couldn't.
What was going on?
Why couldn't they get in? Halle quickly thought. Although the suits of armour covered the wall, if someone specifically looked through the gaps, the three of them would be caught sneaking into a secret passageway.
What was the problem? It then occurred to Halle. Blood had allowed her to get in and out before but not this time. The wall recognised her now but it didn't recognise them. Was the passageway protecting who walked into it? Did it need blood to trust who could walk into it?
She decided to see if she was right.
"Ronnie, Neville, cut yourself." Instructed Halle.
"What?" Said Ronnie looking startled as did Neville.
"Just do it. A small cut should do." Said Halle impatiently.
Ronnie turned around and looked for a moment before squeezing through the gap on the other side of the suits and pulled Neville through. Halle through the obscured gap saw them look around before she saw Ronnie look down. Halle a moment later heard a hiss of pain come from her and she saw Ronnie pull Neville closer and soon after Neville let out an audible gasp of pain too. Both came back through the gap.
Halle stepped outside the passageway once again and the wall closed.
"Ok touch the wall." Said Halle hoping she was right.
Ronnie and Neville who were both now sporting matching wounds pressed their bleeding fingers against the wall. The wall opened and this time both were able to walk through.
"Woah." Said Ronnie as the passageway lit up and she took in the sight of the large stone corridor.
"I know. It seems like the passageway requires you to tune in your blood, I guess. I couldn't get out before cutting myself a second time. I suggest you touch the wall again to be safe." Said Halle.
Ronnie and Neville did as Halle suggested and touched the stone wall again which opened and closed when they took their fingers off.
"So how did you find this place?" Asked Ronnie looking around in awe.
"Ok so the whole tripping up thing was a lie but I didn't want to tell you guys in front of Percy." Said Halle.
"Tell us what?" Asked Neville curiously.
Halle then delved into the conversation she had, had with Lena Kadam, the letter she had given her and the argument between Blaise and Dewei before falling through the passageway.
"So, Dewei Zabini's step sister just happens to give you a letter in regards to his stepfather, the guy we were only just talking about yesterday?" Asked Ronnie suspiciously.
Halle nodded; she had of course had the same train of thought that Ronnie did but hearing the mistrust in Ronnie's voice definitely made her re-evaluate the conversation with Lena in her head.
It was strange but surely it had to be a coincidence? Lena was in Slytherin, she couldn't have possibly known of the conversation in the Gryffindor common room as it was just between the first years and she had spoken to Dewei before she even approached Halle. Halle voiced this but was aware of the uncertainty in her own voice.
"Are you gonna give him the letter?" Asked Neville curiously.
"Well, I'm certainly not gonna keep it. It's his letter, if he doesn't want to speak to his stepfather then that's not my problem. I'm just the messenger." Said Halle. Although Lena had been kind, she wasn't going to try and force Dewei into writing to his stepfather, that decision was up to him.
"You think this letter has anything to do with the argument?" Asked Ronnie with interest.
It was an idea that had popped into Halle's mind but she had already ease dropped onto the argument between the Zabini twins, she wouldn't go as far as to read his letter.
Lena had trusted her, granted she was a stranger to her but she trusted her over his own god family to deliver his letter. She wouldn't give the girl reason to liken her to that of the Malfoy's.
"I don't know, maybe, but I won't go prying any further. That argument was heated and weird. I'd rather stay out of it." Said Halle. Although she knew that wasn't entirely true.
She wanted to know what the argument was about and why Dewei didn't want to write to his stepfather but her conscience wouldn't even consider letting herself read his letter. That was a step too far.
"But anyways come on there's more floors in this place. I only checked out one." Said Halle returning to the topic of the secret passageway.
Halle was extremely curious as to who built this passageway? Being in there earlier had not given her time to appreciate the passageway fully. Although the passageway was still dusty, she now took in the sight of the walls. There were beautiful symbolled patterns across the wall. The walls were much flatter and smoother than she had realised. The floor was perfect grey stone tiles.
She saw Ronnie and Neville take in their surroundings too.
"Who do you think built this place?" Asked Neville.
"No Idea but there is a portrait on the 7th floor, maybe he did." Said Halle.
"A portrait? Did you ask him?" Asked Ronnie curiously.
"No, he was asleep. He probably still is but we can always check." Said Halle.
"Yeah, let's do it." Said Ronnie excitedly.
The trio walked to the end of the corridor toward the wooden door on the right. Ronnie glanced at the large door in the middle and asked Halle about it.
"I don't know what's in there. It wouldn't open." Said Halle.
The feeling of wanting to open the door again consumed her the closer they were too it. It seemed that Ronnie and Neville had the same feeling too cause both tried to open the door and much to their annoyance the door would not open for them either.
Once both of them gave up, the three of them filed into the right-side door which seemed to be bigger now that three people were in it.
"Do you want to go in order or check 7 out first?" Asked Halle excitedly.
"Let's go in order." Said Ronnie just as excited.
Halle instead of stating the word up, tested the word two, which worked and the platform raised before halting at floor 2.
Neville being closest to the door pushed it open although nervously. Halle wasn't surprised. The build-up of the unknown was always scary but Halle couldn't help the rush of excitement that she felt as the door swung back and revealed the room.
As they clambered out of the cupboard, they stepped into another chamber corridor which once again the torches lit up the floor.
Halle felt Ronnie shift beside her as they took in their surroundings. This floor was quite reminiscent to the apothecary in Diagon Alley although the floor was prettier and smelt better but as Halle took in the entire sight, she decided it was more like a potion's lab instead.
The stone tiles on this floor had colour. They were a mix of Purple and yellow that gave the chamber a natural light.
In the middle was a stone table that surrounded a large apparatus that held a large black cauldron in the middle.
In the rest of the chamber held large wooden cabinets on either side of the room. Each of the shelves filled with all different sized potion bottles and jars that contained all sorts of ingredients. Only the cabinets closest to them seemed to have books instead of ingredients.
Halle glanced at Ronnie who looked like Christmas had come early. She was looking around the room as though there was a selection of sweets and chocolates to choose from and she couldn't decide which to choose first.
Neville looked just as surprised as he took in the sight of the room.
For several moments no one spoke. Halle turned around to see if there was a door on this floor which there was. Halle wondered if it would open. She was pulled out of her thought temporarily when Ronnie finally spoke.
"Bloody hell! Look at this place. It's a potions masters dream. It's absolutely beautiful." Said Ronnie in complete awe.
Halle had to agree. The chamber did look lovely.
Neville who now looked behind them seemed to walk towards the door. Halle followed his movement and in an instant the door opened revealing another room.
Halle's eyes went wide as she saw what she could only assume was a greenhouse. Like the ones outside for their Herbology lessons.
This room was filled with plants that were all separately spaced and sectioned, either in pots or glass cabinets. The room appeared to be producing light, although where the source was coming from Halle wasn't sure.
Neville walked into the room further and although Halle felt safe in the passageway she walked after him to make sure he didn't get hurt.
There was a large stone step pathway in the middle of the room which allowed them to walk past the plants without being too close to them. The pathway seemed to connect around the whole room and in the middle, it diverted into a cross so there were four sections in the room.
Halle was a tad worried as she saw all the foreign plants but Neville looked elated.
Halle heard Ronnie shuffle into the room and heard the loud gasp escape her.
"Bloody hell! This room is massive! Where did all these plants come from?" blurted out Ronnie.
"I don't know. I just opened the door and they were all just here." Said Neville looking mesmerised at the sight.
"What are these?" Asked Halle as she looked at some of the strange plants.
"Over there in the left corner is Venomous tentacula. It's a poisonous plant that bites but it's poison and juice are very useful in potions. You know venomous tentacula leaves are also very valuable too. Over there are bouncing bulbs, they help turn you into…"
"A Pumpkin." Said Ronnie out loud with a large smile.
"Yeah." Said Neville gleefully.
Halle didn't understand how that was a good thing but she humoured her two friends and let them have their moment.
"Neville isn't some of these plants like really dangerous?" Asked Ronnie uneasy.
"Yes, but it's the ones on the left. Whoever's Greenhouse this is has separated them. The more dangerous on the left. The safer on the right by the looks of it. See all the ones in the glass cabinets those, are poisonous, sentient or both." Said Neville steadily.
He turned to see the look of worry on Halle's face.
"Don't worry there are plenty of spells and potions that subdue these plants besides most of the dangerous ones are very calm after they've been fed, their sentience makes them intelligent like that." Said Neville with a smile to Halle.
Halle looked at the plants again letting some of her worry slip away. After a week of Hogwarts, it was clear that Neville was excellent in Herbology and if he felt they were safe then she would take his word for it.
The plants on the left were in glass cabinets and were unmoving currently so she felt comfort in that thought but the feeling was short lived as she thought about what Neville had just said. The plants were calm after being fed. All the plants on the left looked calm but would that mean they were all recently fed?
Ronnie seemed to catch onto Halle's thought of train and voiced this concern.
All these plants looked healthy as well. Someone had to be looking after them but Halle was sure they were alone but that didn't mean that somebody else didn't know about the passageway. It had to roughly be anywhere after ten. Had someone come in-between the time she had left the passageway and come back with Ronnie and Neville? It certainly had taken a little while to get to the owlery.
Neville was now looking around nervously as though expecting someone to jump out and catch them.
"How long do you think this place has been here?" Asked Ronnie curiously.
Halle wasn't sure but the place did seem old but she wasn't sure if that was because of the castle itself or not.
"I don't know." She said honestly.
She thought about the portrait upstairs, maybe he could tell them but again she didn't want to wake the portrait up.
"Well, it has to be a few years at least. No way someone could do all of this within a week but these plants can't be older than a few years. I can tell a lot of them are babies but I won't say weeks old. Some of them are too big to be weeks old but plants have different age spans to humans so it's hard to tell just off of visual inspection." Said Neville clearly in his prime when it came to plants.
"Do you guys think we should go then?" Asked Halle looking around.
She didn't want to go but she didn't want to risk someone finding them trespassing in their passageway.
"If someone knew we were here, I think they would've already confronted us. I mean they have a specific security check in measure. We've been here over ten minutes now and no one's showed up. I think we're fine." Said Ronnie confidently.
Halle thought this over. Ronnie was right. Whoever built this place surely must've thought a blood requirement was enough of a security measure. The passageway was hidden and most people wouldn't think to cut themselves on a wall. In films and books most passageways had secret codes, passwords or specific spots to open, so if anyone in the school did know about the passageway the chances were, they probably didn't expect anyone else too, to put some sort of presence or detection spell in there.
At least she hoped anyway.
Still the idea that anyone might find this place unsettled her. She suggested that they look for another twenty minutes and leave just to be sure. Ronnie and Neville agreed.
It took a few moments to pry Neville and Ronnie from the second floor but eventually they were in the cupboard lift and onto the next floors.
Floor 3 was a library which Halle thought was fitting considering the school library was also on the third floor. Like floor 2, it had many shelves with at least three hundred books or more. There was no brown door on this floor.
Floor 4 was most surprising. It was an armoury or a battle room perhaps. There was an assortment of different weapons across the walls from swords to daggers and what Halle was sure was known as a mace. She shuddered at some of them. There was definitely an area that looked like you could practice to use these weapons. Again, there was no door.
Floor 5 was an interesting floor. This floor had desks and many chests that were organised in alphabetical order. There was books and potions in this room but not nearly as much as 2 and 3. There was some neatly folded parchments with writing and drawings on the desks. Neither of the trio could figure out exactly what this room was but Halle had to guess it was a work room of some sort. Whoever used this room looked like they made things, though they didn't dare touch the chests to confirm anything. There was also no door.
Floor 6 was much different to all the floors. Instead of it being one room, this one looked more like floor 1 as a large corridor but unlike floor 1, this floor had thirteen doors. Six along each side and one in the middle. All the doors were the same but strangely enough the stone tiles around each door were different colours.
Halle although curious decided against going into these rooms. She wasn't sure why but she felt like now was not the time.
She took the others to floor 7 which was exactly the same as before. The portrait was still asleep and didn't wake to the sound of their voices. Neville and Ronnie took their time to evaluate the 7th floor before Halle suggested they leave.
The three had come up with a plan to attempt to see if anyone would come and feed the plants tomorrow by staking out the floor for a little while. If nobody came then they would attempt to look at the floors in more detail, if someone did, they would stay away from the secret passageway.
With much hesitation the three left the secret passageway from the seventh floor. They returned to the common room for a little while for Halle to change out of her dust and blood covered clothes whilst Ronnie and Neville left to take care of their bleeding fingers.
Halle whilst waiting decided to see if Dewei was in the common room. She still had his letter and didn't want to hold onto the letter any longer than necessary.
When she entered the common room, she was surprised to see that he was there sitting in the far corner, reading a book. Ronnie and Neville weren't back yet so she took a deep sigh and sauntered over to the desk he was at.
Dewei made no sign to suggest he was even aware she was there but Halle could see the slight frown that grossed his features as he dug deeper into his book.
Halle frowned but sat down regardless of his blatant disrespect.
He still said nothing.
"Hello Zabini." Said Halle with a little more force than intended.
Halle heard the small sigh that escaped his lips before he uttered "Potter." However, he made no attempt to look at her.
"I have something for you." She said getting to the point. She didn't want this conversation to be longer than it needed to be.
"Is it peace and quiet?" He said nonchalantly as he kept reading his book.
Halle's lip curled ever so slightly but she bit it to stop the retort that she knew would get a rise out of him.
Instead, she said. "If you wanted that, you should've stayed in your dormitory." She said jokingly trying to diffuse the building tension.
"Yes, well you can't get that when your roommates insist on singing complete nonsense till there heart's content." Said Dewei clearly annoyed.
"The library." Suggested Halle.
"I like to be alone." Said Dewei in a deadpanned tone and Halle couldn't help but think he didn't just mean being in the presence of others. He clearly wanted her to leave.
"Right. Well anyway I have a letter of yours. Your stepsister asked me to tell you to write to your stepfather and seeming as you're an absolute a pleasure to be around and a great conversationalist I understand him wanting to have correspondence with you. I cut myself by accident so my blood ended up on the envelope. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll leave you to your alone time, I hope it doesn't get too loud for you." Said Halle practically throwing the letter in his face and walking off.
She didn't mean to be rude but he didn't need to be either.
The moment she saw Ronnie and Neville come back into the common room, she walked towards them and hastily dragged them back out. Halle wasn't about to let Dewei Zabini ruin her first weekend at Hogwarts.
She was going to enjoy the rest of it exploring with her friends.
Unbeknownst to Halle that she had just ruined his.
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