Halle Potter and the first year of madness
AN: Hey guys, Hope you're all well.
Welcome or welcome back to my story. I know it's been a good while but I have valid excuses. Back in October I took a break from this to write a Halloween themed story, but I got sick in the last week of October and throughout November. December came and my aunt got sick and we had to take care of her through to February which unfortunately she then passed. March was the grieving period and April was the funeral. May and June have been supporting the family. My cousins moved in. They're kids and aunty was a single mother. Things have settled down a little, so I'm gonna attempt to get back to my stories. Bear with me as I attempt to get back into the flow of things but I can't promise things will be fast. I need to remember what my plot even is but I had this chapter ready and waiting.
Thanks to everyone who's still following the story and everyone who's been reviewing. It means the world to me. I hope you enjoy.
Sorry if there are any mistakes in advance. Kind-of-a-filler-Chapter-but-please-continue-to-read-and-let-me-know-if-there-are-any-mistakes and enjoy.
/
"Hello, earth to Halle!" Said Ronnie waving a hand in front of her face.
Halle blinked twice before noticing that she was in the common room with her friends, looking at her with concern etched on their faces.
"Are you alright Halle?" Asked Hermione cautiously.
"Uh…."
"You sort of just zoned out for a minute there." Said Neville looking worried.
"Oh, sorry guys I was just thinking." Said Halle absentmindedly.
"About what?" Asked Ronnie who started jotting something down.
She realised that they were doing homework.
"Oh, I know, you're thinking about the match tomorrow, aren't you?" Asked Hermione with a sympathetic smile.
No, she was definitely not thinking about the match tomorrow, although a wave of nerves hit her as she suddenly thought about her first ever quidditch game that would be against the Slytherins tomorrow.
Supposedly the whole school had the option to watch the game and Gryffindor would be counting on her to win.
"Yeah, that's it. Just nervous about the game tomorrow." Said Halle with a weak hearted smile.
She was nervous about everything else too. Last week Friday had kept playing back in her head over and over again.
The potions lesson from hell. Dewei and Daphne's conversation that kept making her feel guilty and the mirror that was currently sitting in the inner pocket of her robes, that C.S had given to her and had used to threaten her and her friends.
The rest of the week almost seemed to blur in comparison.
Since the meeting with C.S, she hadn't told her friends. She hadn't showed them the mirror and she hadn't shown a teacher. She wanted too dearly, but she was afraid and that fear had predominantly taken her mind off of quidditch even with Wood's almost obsessive training sessions in the last week. Although she was thankful for the slight relief she felt when she was on her broom and in the air.
She could temporarily forget her problems and just be free to soar.
She felt a small rumble in her stomach. She didn't even remember when they had come up to the common room, more or less eaten dinner that night.
She wasn't surprised when all she could do was think about last week.
After the conversation between Daphne and Dewei, Halle had found herself in the passageway but she had decided to seat herself at the golden table that was on floor 7.
Her head was hurting and she was at a loss of what to do.
Why did she have to be so stupid? Why didn't she just go to professor Dumbledore when she originally had the choice? Granted she still could, but she had seen physical proof of C.S attacking Dewei and she had a complicated, not friends but acquaintances kind of relationship with him.
So, he could easily do the same to Hermione, Neville and Ronnie.
Halle suddenly stiffened and shut her eyes tight. She didn't want to think about that. She couldn't bare the idea of that. It was too much.
She would keep her mouth shut, if it meant that she even partially could protect her friends.
After half an hour of pondering some more, she decided to originally do what she had come there for.
Halle found herself down to floor 3.
She looked at the different books on the floor hoping one could help her but she didn't know what she was looking for.
What was she looking for?
Protection? A weapon? A defensive spell? An offensive spell? A way to tell someone what was going on?
All of the above?
C.S was watching her and wanted her help. He seemed to think there was something she could do for him. He had left her a mirror to contact her again. He was adamant that they would be meeting again but something in her gut told her this would be a face-to-face meeting.
He had apologised for an unorthodox method of meeting so she assumed he wanted to meet face to face.
So, what would she need?
Protective spells or potions!
As of current she knew a few spells from charms and defence against the dark arts but the spells that she had been practicing independently felt like safer bets, but then again these would be spells that would be taught later in the year.
Did she need to go for higher grade spells?
If she was honest with herself, she didn't think knowing more powerful spells would truly help her situation against C.S but she needed something if anything to even calm her nerves.
So, she pulled some books from the shelves and began reading through them. Her determination to find something useful had Halle rereading each chapter thrice before moving onto the next.
She was glad her emotions were too high to focus on the fact that she was reading like Hermione right now.
She went over several books that were not for first years. She seriously wondered who had left these books just lying around in the passageway but that would be a question for another day.
She saw several spells but felt frustrated when she would look at them. She had been struggling with the full body bind curse and the levitation charm.
If she couldn't do those, why would she be able to practice any of the spells in these books?
She sat and contemplated for a moment. If she didn't try, who knows what C.S could pull. She knew she wouldn't be able to beat him in a duel but she at least needed to be on her guard.
She decided to use her focused energy and practice the spells. She first decided to work on the levitation spell they had done in class yesterday. Dewei had proven the spell most useful even against the biggest of foes.
She realised then that it wasn't about how powerful or even how defensive the spell was, it was all about how the spell was applied. Granted she might not be as so lucky as to get a club to drop on C.S's head but she realised that even the most basic of charms that the first years had been learning could be used defensively if applied in the right circumstances.
She put that thought in the back of her mind and placed some books on the desk in front of her. She would revaluate some of the more basic charms later. For now, she wanted to get the levitation spell out of the way.
She took out her wand and pointed it at a singular book and cast the spell.
On her first try nothing happened but she was determined. She recast the spell five more times but the book was not cooperating. She puffed for a moment in frustration. She had to be ready or at least feel confident if she was going to face C.S
She thought about wanting to protect her friends from C.S as motivation and recast the spell.
"Wingardium Leviosa." She said in a clear but strong voice and visualised the book rising in the air.
To her complete surprise the book did. It hovered in the air for a moment and when Halle let out a gleeful laugh, the book plummeted back onto the desk with a heavy thud.
She had broken her concentration but it was no matter, she had done it. If she could get hold of this spell then she would have the determination to do the higher-grade spells as well as find uses for basic charms.
Halle spent only an extra twenty minutes on the levitation spell using her friends as motivation each time. She recast the spell over and over until her magic could lift the book in the air for an extended amount of time. She knew she would have to keep practicing the spell to perfect it but she was pleased with the progress.
She wanted to try the full body bind curse next but she didn't have a living target to use, so she decided she would arrange something later.
For now, she went back to the books. Luckily the library had spare parchment lying around. She wrote down some of the extra spells she had found and detailed their properties, incantations and wand movements. She made notes for the others too. She would start practicing them now but she wanted to ensure that the others could learn them too.
She thought about looking at some potion books and making some, but she was no Ronnie and she wasn't nearly confident enough to do a potion by herself. However, she did decide to look at some of the potions on floor 2.
She wouldn't touch Ronnie's batch of potions that she hadn't removed from the passageway yet but there was a whole bunch of ready-made potions downstairs. If anything, she would pick some and read up on them so she knew what she was using before using it, if it came down to using them.
Halle had spent hours in the passageway that day. Practicing spells and reading up on potions.
It was only when she heard the noise of the lift that she realised she had been gone a while.
Ronnie had found her.
"Bloody hell mate, I thought you'd been kidnapped. We've been looking for you everywhere! Have you been here this whole time?" Shouted Ronnie.
She had clearly been worried but couldn't keep the anger out of her tone.
"Yeah why? What time is it?" Asked Halle nonchalantly.
"It's half past ten!" Said Ronnie, her hair as fiery as her tone right now.
"Seriously?" Asked Halle surprised.
She didn't even notice. Granted she had no watch, and the passageway gave no indication of a light source from outside to tell if it was day or night. Ironically though she had come across a spell in one of the books that specifically could tell the time. She would have to try it next time.
"Yeah seriously! I didn't think to come here because it's neither Tuesday or Saturday. The days you chose just last night to come here. We searched half the castle you know. I think we found two new passageways in the process. Neville thought at dinner you might be here but we were with Hermione so we didn't want to risk it but when it hit curfew and you still didn't show up, I decided to come here. Luckily for you Ashley and none of the prefects haven't really noticed seeming as half of the first years are still in the hospital wing." Said Ronnie, her tone still annoyed.
"I'm sorry. I was mad for you guys earlier and just needed to blow off some steam. I must've lost track of time. I didn't mean to scare you guys." Said Halle apologetically.
"It's alright. As long as you're safe. We'll know next time not to go searching half the castle." Said Ronnie in a low mumble.
A pang of guilt flared in Halle's chest.
She was trying to keep her friends safe. Yet she had them traipsing parts of the castle by themselves where C.S could strike at any moment.
"I promise I've been safe this entire time and next time, I'll leave a note or something." Said Halle still apologetic.
"Good. What've you been doing anyway?" Said Ronnie looking at the open books and potions around on the table.
"Just taking some notes for us." Said Halle.
"So, I'm guessing we'll be doing a session tomorrow now that Hermione's on board?" Asked Ronnie.
"We should. C.S could be anywhere." Said Halle with a slight shiver.
"Alright. What about Zabini?" Asked Ronnie.
"I say we get back to the routine. We might be first years but hopefully we have numbers and different skill sets on our side." Said Halle, her voice sounding almost dry.
She wasn't sure if numbers or skills would help them but she didn't want Ronnie thinking like that.
"Are you alright Hals?" Asked Ronnie with concern.
Halle's green orbs latched onto Ronnie's blue ones. She wanted to breakdown and tell her how afraid she was, how stupid she was for opening the package on her bed.
Ronnie was strong. She would tell her it would be ok.
Her mouth opened but she couldn't do it.
She was trying to protect her, so the only thing that came out of her mouth was….
"Yeah, I'm fine Ron. Just a little hungry." Said Halle. That was true. She could feel her empty stomach groaning.
"Well lucky for you. Neville thought you would be, so he saved you some chicken and roast potatoes, in a spare container that Hermione put a warming charm on." Said Ronnie with a small smile.
Halle even in her predicament smiled at that.
She had fantastic friends.
"Brilliant." Said Halle.
"Come on. Let's go, Neville saved me some too." Said Ronnie.
Halle's face scrunched.
"Wait, did you miss dinner?" Asked Halle, worried Ronnie had skipped out on dinner because she had been looking for her.
"No!" Answered Ronnie as though she was confused as to why Halle would ask that.
"Then why'd he save you some?" Asked Halle more confused.
"Why wouldn't he save me some? It's food!" Said Ronnie as though that was the most obvious answer.
Halle arched her brow and smirked.
"Wow. You know one day you're gonna be forced to choose between food and life. Something tells me you're not ready for that day yet. I'm just imagining a day where Veronica Weasley doesn't have food." Joked Halle.
"Don't speak such blasphemy around me! A day without…. ugh. What world are you living in Halle? What cold, dark world are you living in where you can even think that? We're going to have to get that head of yours examined by Madam Pomfrey. No doubt those messy locks that you call hair are making your brain go fuzzy." Said Ronnie dramatically.
"Touché" Said Halle.
Ronnie did a small curtsy.
"No, but seriously, let's go. I want to eat." Said Ronnie.
"Of course, you do." Snorted Halle.
Halle organised the notes and books on the desk that she would collect tomorrow.
Both girls headed up to floor 7 and exited the passageway. They got to Gryffindor tower without being seen.
Hermione and Neville rushed towards Halle and surprisingly trapped her in a bone crushing hug.
Wow they must've seriously been worried.
"Guys I'm sorry I made you worry. I really didn't mean to." Said Halle once again apologetic.
"Halle, we're just glad you're ok. After everything you told me this morning…. I'm just glad you're here." Said Hermione letting her go. Neville nodded his head in agreement.
"I'll do my best to not scare you again. Now I heard you have food." Said Halle with a toothy grin.
Neville smirked, whilst Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Right this way madam." Said Neville as he led the girls to sit down and eat before lights out.
/
Halle continued to think about the rest of the week.
Saturday had come and as she suggested, they had gotten back to following Dewei. They had given him complete space the Friday but the time for his temper tantrum was over. They saw that this agitated him but he decided to just go back to his usual routine of ignoring them. This now included Hermione but she didn't seem to mind.
Hermione adapted to this routine rather quickly too. When Halle had to go for Quidditch practice that afternoon, Hermione had taken them to do homework which she had somehow, made Dewei do too.
That had given Halle time to go collect her notes and potions.
Halle now along with her Melt potion and sleeping draught had a befuddlement draught, exstimulo potion and a paralysis potion.
The befuddlement potion would confuse people, the exstimulo was for her. If she had to face C.S then she would take the potion beforehand and essentially it would increase the power of her spells. Finally, there was the paralysis potion. She was quite worried about having it on her person as it was quite a dangerous potion but she hadn't learnt the body bind curse yet and if there was a chance to temporarily paralyse C.S and expose him, it was worth a try.
She wasn't sure how she would tell the teachers without revealing her and her friend's involvement but she would hopefully come up with something.
She placed each potion strategically in her pockets so she would know where each one was if she needed the use of any of them.
She then collected her notes. For good measure she practiced some of the extra spells she had been practicing yesterday. The levitation charm was looking much better with each practice and she felt proud.
She had returned to the common later that afternoon to join the others and tried to focus on some homework before her mind returned back to C.S but it wasn't to be the case. Most of Gryffindor were in a dour mood after the loss 80 house points, though fortunately they didn't bestow blame on the first years due to the fact that most of them were still hospitalised. The mood was still dampened amongst the Gryffindors, so the common was less than its usual rowdy vibe.
Matt and Freja who had only been affected a little by the potion had returned that evening but none of the others had.
Neville had gotten really red in the face when he had seen both of them and immediately had apologised but Freja had given him a big hug and Matt gave him a strong shoulder pat and they both told him that it wasn't his fault. Neville had slightly felt better at this and the seven Gryffindors had gone to dinner.
After dinner Halle, Neville, Ronnie and Hermione had found themselves down by the lake. Hermione had asked Dewei if he had wanted to join them but he had point blank refused and continued eating his dinner.
Halle had felt weird about leaving Dewei alone again especially since her talk with C.S but she was reminded of the fact that he was only a pawn in C.S's scheme or at least that's how C.S had described it to Halle but Halle wasn't naïve. Dewei was still a target and somehow involved in this mystery even if he was a pawn or not, so she still didn't want to leave him alone but she didn't want to alert her friends to her discomfort or dilemma, so they had gone without him.
Halle only felt a slight comfort in the fact that Dewei always went back to Gryffindor to wallow away in his dorm alone and even though C.S had managed to send the mirror to her, he hadn't physically gotten into Gryffindor tower.
Their session with Hermione was very productive. She was able to show Ronnie and Neville the levitation charm and have both of them practice it successfully and she had taught them and herself included the full body bind curse. She did a visual demonstration on Neville first and then proceeded to do the same on Halle and Ronnie so that they knew what it felt like.
It was quite a scary sensation being unable to move and just stuck on the ground but it was clearly a powerful and no doubt useful charm.
Hermione used it on them so all three would know the sensation and could visualise using spell on someone else better.
The three them had definitely been pronouncing the spell wrong. She also taught them a general counter charm which she used to unbind them.
With Hermione's help the three of them had learnt the spells quite quickly. Even Neville had gotten them quickly which gave him a confidence boost, one that Halle was happy to see.
Hermione was in her element now that she was showing them what to do.
Halle had shown her and the others some of the other spells that she had been practicing and Hermione had happily sorted out a schedule for their next sessions.
They had returned to the common room that night and Neville had to physically check for the girls that Dewei was still alive in there. He was.
From that night the routine had practically been the same.
The rest of the Gryffindors had returned from the Hospital Wing, the Sunday. Ronnie had made her excuses to write to her parents when in actuality she had gone to the passageway to make some potions and check on her new batches.
Halle hoped she wouldn't notice the ones she had taken from passageways ready-made collection. She had an excuse if Ronnie did but she just didn't want to lie to her about it.
Halle had, had double quidditch practice and was knackered that night. The rest of the week was uneventful. Halle had been expecting C.S to pop up in the mirror each day but he never did which only made her more anxious as time passed. What was he waiting for? She had to berate herself a little for being so eager. For all she knew C.S was lying about the whole thing and he was planning to kill her.
She shivered.
The trio now quartet, continued to follow Dewei.
Halle wasn't sure how to interact with him. She felt guilty for treating him like a criminal of sorts but she knew he was hiding something. This boy had saved her life and vice versa but he treated them like rubbish. The relationship the five Gryffindors had was a very strange one indeed.
Still, they had kept him in sight. Each night had them outside practicing their spells. Hermione began to taking a few jars out with blue flames to keep them warm but they eventually took some branches and set them on fire which did a better trick but the blue flame jars did create a nice ambience for each session, though Halle knew they would eventually have to move their sessions inside. She knew she would have to trust Hermione with the secret of the Passageway but she felt they should ease her into it.
They had no idea what her reaction would be to it.
/
"Why don't we play a game or something?" Said Neville's voice boring back into Halle's head.
She had drifted off again but they were still sitting down doing homework at least. Halle hated that she could do things and not remember doing them when she was thinking very deeply about stuff. It meant she was off her guard and growing up around the Dursley's, she knew it was never a good idea to be off her guard.
That definitely counted for attending a magic school.
"Yeah, good idea. All this homework is killing me." Said Ronnie putting down her quill.
"Guys we haven't even gotten to our History of Magic Essays yet." Protested Hermione.
"Hermione we can do that tomorrow. Right now, let's play a game so that we can all relax." Said Ronnie with a pointed look at Halle.
She was clearly trying to suggest that she needed a distraction. No doubt those three thought it was about Quidditch. Halle did feel like she could do with a distraction.
Usually, her Fridays were fun considering she had to spend the beginning of them in double potions with Snape and the Slytherins but she could remember now that today had been horrible. Not like last week but still bad.
Snape once again made it his mission to ruin the Gryffindors day which he succeeded. He was particularly harsh to every single Gryffindor except for Dewei and Hermione to an extent. Ronnie decided to partner with Neville today and no accidents had happened but Snape was still harsh on the two of them and criticised them and their work heavily. Dewei was partnered with Hermione and Snape kept his words civil for Dewei and less considerably harsh for Hermione. When she had been with Neville last week, she had gained no such luxury.
Clearly Dewei was the only Gryffindor Snape could tolerate.
Halle had been partnered with Daphne Greengrass who for some reason was always the Slytherin who ended up working with a Gryffindor.
Halle was a little curious to work with the girl after hearing such a vulnerable conversation between her and Dewei last week. She wasn't rude. She wasn't overly nice either. She just got on with the work. The attitude was vastly different to last week but Halle decided she wouldn't hold it against her.
Slytherins had a truly baffling mindset. She didn't expect to be best friends with the girl but she helped her with the work and she knew her opinion of her wasn't too tainted if she wanted Dewei to confide in her. She had also seen part of the real her with Dewei and made it clear that she was nothing like Serphina Malfoy. So, Halle got on with the work, just comfortable enough to not feel wary or threatened by the blonde Slytherin.
Her theory last week about being partnered with Daphne turned out to be true because Snape was his usual self and harsh as ever when it came to her. Everyone else who had been partnered with her over the last two months had no remarks given to them but Halle had still received Snape's wrath fully while Daphne received no comments.
The anger inside her bubbled furiously but she had to repeat her mantra a good few times, to not blow up and get in trouble.
Snape had still found a few extra points to takeaway which had dampened every Gryffindors mood.
He snapped at them all and the mood to usually cheer themselves using their free afternoon this week had been diminished. No one suggested to play a large game of football or hang out together after class.
Snape had even managed to ruin their personal Gryffindor time.
Hagrid had been busy that afternoon so the four of them had done an early practice session until dinner.
Halle felt the blur ease now. She wasn't losing her memories; she had just been thinking about C.S and when he would call.
Halle hoped it was never.
"Uh, yeah, sure let's play a game." Said Hermione hesitantly.
"How about exploding Snap?" Suggested Ronnie.
"Sure." Answered Halle with a shrug of her shoulders.
Ronnie nodded her head and went to retrieve her own set of cards.
They cleared up their homework and when Ronnie returned, they played three solid games of exploding snap which managed to give her a temporary needed distraction. The distraction faded when she later went to bed with a heavy mind of thoughts of C.S and the looming quidditch match that she would be playing tomorrow.
/
Halle arose early the next morning feeling extremely nauseous. In a few hours she would be playing her first quidditch match in front of the entire school. Suddenly C.S didn't seem that important on her mind. The weeks' worth of nerves caused by nonstop thinking about him was now nothing compared to thinking about the match.
The entire morning seemed to be an absolute blur for Halle, even with the excitement buzzing around the great hall as students eagerly anticipated the upcoming match.
Halle got encouraging words from many of the Gryffindors as she sat down at breakfast with the first years telling her to eat. Halle managed a flimsy piece of toast before eleven o'clock arrived and she found herself at the quidditch pitch with the rest of the Gryffindor team. Fred and George had managed to get a small laugh out of her by imitating Oliver Wood's speech before the two teams were up in the air and playing.
Regardless that the whole school was there Halle felt herself become more immersed in the game to worry about her nerves.
Gryffindor were much more skilled than Slytherin but the snake team played extremely dirty. Halle learnt that the hard way as Marcus Flint, captain of the Slytherin team had almost knocked her off her broom by slamming into her to stop her from catching the snitch. It was hardly the worst of the game as her broom became possessed and began violently jerking and trying to throw her off it. That had lasted almost five minutes before she had gained control and managed to get back on it.
From there she found herself soaring in the air after the snitch which she somehow caught in her mouth. Gryffindor had won and she was elated.
Most of the school was except Slytherin of course but before Halle could even celebrate the victory she was being carted off by Ronnie and being taken too Hagrid's.
/