Chapter 18: Mission
"Sorry, I heard someone talking and wanted to see who." the girl says. "I'll go now."
She moves to leave but trips in the doorway and hits her head on the ground, hard, "Are you alright?" I ask, jumping up and rushing forward. I help the seventh year up and bring her over to a desk. I then check her head and find that her head is bleeding. I grab my communicator from where I dropped it. "I need to call you back in a few minutes. A seventh year just took a dive in the doorway and her head is bleeding. I need to take her to the Hospital Wing."
"Is she alright?" ma asks and I look at the seventh year, who looks ready to pass out.
"On second thought, I'm gonna need you to keep her talking while I lead her. She has a concussion." I say before holding the communicator out to the seventh year, "Here." I say to her and she takes it. "I need you to talk to my ma while I take you to the Hospital Wing. Stay awake and if you faint, do not land on me."
She looks at the communicator and says, in a slurred voice, "Oh, hi auntie. How ar' you?"
I stand her up and lead her out of the room, doing my best to keep her up because she keeps tripping over her own feet...or air...or a pebble. This girl has no sense of balance. As we're walking I manage to learn that this girl's name is Nymphadora Tonks, most people call her Tonks because she hates the name Nymphadora, she's my cousin, and ma calls her Nymph. When we get to the hospital wing and I explain the situation the mediwitch, Madam Poppy Pomphrey, just sighs and asks, "Again?"
"This happens often?" I ask.
"I get her in here at least once a month." she says before gesturing at a bed for me to set her on.
I set her there before saying, "Alright, can I have that back now?"
"Sure. Bye Auntie." she says before handing me the communicator.
I walk out and look at the communicator. "I have to go tell Professor McGonagall why I'm late."
"Alright, after your done we'll finish this conversation." she says and I go to the Transfiguration classroom. I enter and look at the teacher, who seems to be in the middle of a lecture.
"Professor?" she looks at me expectantly, "May I speak to you in the hall?" she nods before walking out into the hall with me. I look up at her and say, "I needed to inform you that I'm currently receiving an urgent solo mission for the X-Men. That's why I'm late. I'll come into the classroom in a couple of minutes." she nods and I head next door to another old classroom where I see Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout setting it up for something. I turn and head to the next door over finding that that one is actually empty. "Alright, where was I?"
"The second possible explanation for one person having another attached to them." she tells me.
I nod before taking a small breath and saying, "Alright, so the second option is that this man, the one that killed James and Lily Potter, created Soul Shards, also known as a Horcrux. If that's the case then we need to hunt down all other Soul Shards and get rid of them before killing him so he can be sent to receive Hella's worst tortures."
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" she asks.
"No, it's fitting." I say with a small scowl. "A soul is an incredibly sacred thing. Creating Soul Shards literally tears your soul in half every time one is created. To tear apart a soul like that...there is no greater evil. You can find good in every spell or ritual, except that one. The person lose a piece of themselves, and it makes it so Hella can't claim their soul. They become stuck here. The body and bones could turn to dust but so long as they still have at least one Soul Shard the soul will remain here."
"Well, how do you get rid of them?" she asks curiously.
"There are many ways to get rid of Soul Shards, most end in the destruction of the object containing the shard. I will need to find how many this psychopath made, if that's the case, before doing anything, but he really needs to die." I tell her.
"How will you find how many there are?" she asks.
"I have a spell that can detect Soul Shards. I made it in my last life when they were first invented. I will see if I can perform it with my magic at it's current state but I'm not sure because I'm at the level of a magically drained Asgardian child and invented the spell when I was already past my twenties." I tell her before letting out a frustrated sigh, "You have no idea how frustrating it is to be eleven again." I shake my head a bit, "I'll start the mission tonight, but I need to get to class. Love you, bye ma."
"Love you too, bye dear." she says and I hang up before going to class.
I take my seat and get told what we're doing by Wanda. Classes go smoothly for the rest of the day and now I'm sitting down for potions class. I look around before noticing that all of the first years are in this class. Artemis sits by me and smiles before saying, "Our class was interrupted by the Manipulative Bumblebee, so he ordered Professor Snape to take us for your class period. How's life going in the snake den so far?"
"Pretty nice." I tell her in a hushed tone, "What about your life in the raven's nest so far?"
"Good." The teacher storms in and begins taking roll call. When he reaches Aeolus' name he pauses and looks at him with a sneer.
"Aw yes...our newest celebrity. Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" he demands.
Aeolus frowns before saying, "With a few other ingredients that will make the Drought of Living Death, professor."
The teacher frowns before saying, "And how would you know that?"
"Shock'n'awe is a potions nut, sir." he says.
"Is that so? Well in that case perhaps you can tell me where I could find a bezoar?" Snape sneers.
"The stomach of a goat, sir." he says and I glare at the teacher.
"And what, Mr. Potter is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?" he asks.
"Strike one." I say and he turns to me. "His name is Aeolus. Call him Mr. Potter two more times and he will have the right to claim your life or an object he wishes for as penance, it will also form a blood feud between your families."
"From a potions standpoint the answer to your question is preparation and harvest time. But typically only a potions master would know that." Aeolus says.
"Then how is it that you know it?" Snape sneers at him again.
"Like I said. Shock'n'awe is a potions nut." he says with a shrug.
"How would she know then?" he demands.
"Ask her." Aeolus says. "It's not my place to say."
The teacher turns to glare at me and asks, "How do you know that?"
"I remember it from my last life." I tell him. "I was the second greatest potions master in history."
"You were Hector Dagworth Granger?" he asks and I blink.
"No, I've never met anyone by that name." I say, tilting my head before watching the ghosts of Ravenclaw and Slytherin houses float in, "Oh, hello Helena, Elliott. Are you having a pleasant day or is there someone I need to kill?"
They blink a few times before Elliot exclaims, "What are you doing back here? Are the others back too or did they not get reborn?"
Helena pails drastically and I frown a bit at Elliott and say, "What do you mean by 'what are you doing back here?' young man? Is that any way to greet me? Do I need to take house points?"
"No." he says instantly, "Sorry. I'm just surprised to see you. You never came back after the great bacon caper in the great hall!"
"Good. Now, to answer your question..." I look around and spot two Hufflepuff first years, Hannah Abbott, who I recognize as Rowena Ravenclaw, and Susan Bones, who I recognize as Helga Hufflepuff. "Huh, yeah, the girls are here. He's not though. He went home." I turn back to the teacher, who looks kinda constipated at this point, and say, "Are we going to start the lesson soon, professor?"
"We've wasted enough time for the day." he snaps before he gestures at the blackboard, "The instructions are on the board. You have one hour."
We begin brewing the cure for common boils potion, working pretty much silently until Artemis says in a hushed tone, "You know Shock...if you need any help with your secret solo mission from ma', you can always ask Son of Death's mother."
I frown a bit as I pause what I'm doing and turn to look at her. Son of Death has been her nickname for Aeolus since we were five and one of her visions revealed something that she refused to share with the group. She started calling him that then but...isn't his mother dead?
"What are you...?" I trail off as the realization of what she means comes to mind. I blink a couple times before exclaiming, "Lily Potter is Hel?"
The room goes silent as everyone turns to look at me.