Sleeping History
The last week before they left was filled just with exams. The schedule had been changed giving students without electives an extra hour for breakfast or sleeping in. Then from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., they had a written exam on theory followed by a practical exam in the afternoon from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday they had Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and Herbology. Thursday evening they also had Astronomy after dinner when the stars came out. Friday was the Defense theory exam and the written exam for Astronomy in the afternoon.
There was no practical exam for Defense for the first-years, they hadn't done any practice for how to deal with any of the dark creatures Lockhart had fought against nor the household pests they had so extensively studied. From what Harry and Lyra had heard from the older students, they hadn't done much practical work in Defense either, so he wasn't sure what they would be doing for their exams.
The exams were all administered by proctors hired by the ministry's department of education. They didn't get to see any of their actual teachers during the exams. Lee Jordan told the other students in the house that the proctors for the exams were just old alumni of Hogwarts. They came to the castle to use it as a reunion of sorts with all their old school friends. They'd spend a couple of hours each day monitoring the exams and then visit their old common rooms and explore the school a bit, then go to Hogsmeade for a drink.
Each morning they went over their notes for the subject of the day and headed out. The written exam in the morning barely lasted an hour and a half of the three hours allocated for the exam. Only one student in their year took two hours to complete it. They had to remember the various incantations, including the pronunciation of the spells. They had to use the ten standard wand movements to describe each spell and there was a section for bonus points on why the movements were important.
For the practical section, Augustus Steven's advice on using their spells as often as possible showed to be accurate during their charms practical in the afternoon on Monday as the proctor gave them both extra points for the scouring, wand-lighting, and extinguishing spells being done with minimal wand movement. To their delight, the proctor for the charms practical has set up a field of candles to test their fire spell as that was how they had been practicing anyways.
Lyra didn't do perfectly, occasionally getting two or three candles when she was supposed to be lighting one but she was also able to have her flames reach the farthest candles away from where she stood with ease. Harry on the other hand was able to control his close-range flames better than his sister but couldn't reach the candles on the farthest side of the room. Lyra got extra points for demonstrating her control at bending a stream of fire around a target as well.
After the Charms exam, Harry went to work practicing how to use the seafood forks on the various types of shellfish that Brandt had created for him and Lyra started to try and pick out an outfit for the party. Harry paid particular attention to the crabs that had been created as there were crabs that could be found around their island back home. They had never tried them because they didn't look like they could be eaten. However, it seemed like with the right tools, they had meat inside their shells.
Lyra was having trouble picking out something as she wanted something with orange on it, though Brandt hadn't said that was a color she could use for a winter party. When dinner rolled around, she sought out Lavender and Pavarti at the Gryffindor table.
"We didn't get an invitation to the Abbots' party," Parvati told her. "I can't attend anyways because I have another commitment with my family."
Lyra frowned, she thought her friends would be with her for this event. Harry could probably get another invitation though, right?
"Would you be able to go if we get another invitation, Lav?" Lyra asked.
Lavender brightened up, "I'd have to ask my parents, I'd love to come. Where is it?"
Lyra scrunched up her face, thinking of where the tea shop was. "Harry said he's from somewhere near London, I can't remember where exactly. I'll have him ask Hannah for another invitation with the directions. Can both of you help me pick out an outfit tomorrow night? Whispers also hasn't seen you in a while."
Both girls smiled and agreed to come by.
Harry was sitting with Greg back at the Scamander table. They were going over all the notes Greg had for three Potions exams. He was going to attempt taking the final exam for both first-year terms that he had failed last year and the first-term exam for second years to get back into his year level. He had also been studying to do the same thing for Transfiguration as well. Harry was enjoying seeing the confidence growing in his friend and he was also getting a glimpse into the material for the next year as well. He couldn't understand too much of the spell work, but the theory for both classes seemed to come easily to him.
Lyra plopped down next to him, breaking him out of his concentration.
"Harry?" she asked with a big smile on her face and wide eyes, mimicking the face she saw other girls make when they would ask someone for something. When she had Harry's attention, "Can you ask Hannah for another invitation for Lavender to her party? She didn't get one, and I want her to come."
It seemed like a perfectly reasonable request, so Harry just shrugged and said, "Sure, I'll ask her after dinner."
Harry found Hannah on the way to the Hufflepuff common room, "Hey! Do you have a minute?" Hannah smiled, and they ducked into a side hall quickly. "Lyra asked me to talk to you, she wanted to know if you could give another invitation to her friend Lavender for the holiday party."
Hannah looked conflicted, "I, uh, I'm not friends with Lavender." She frowned, "She's always spreading gossip with Pavarti. The Gryffindor girls kind of get on my nerves, I'm happy that Megan and Lily got out to your house."
"OK, don't worry about it." Harry didn't want to push it, "I'll let Lyra know."
"Tell Lyra I'm sorry, I hope to still see both of you there!" Hannah said with a pleading voice.
"We'll still be there, Lyra just had Lavender and Pavarti do her hair and help her get ready for Dumbledore's birthday. I guess I'll work with Whispers to do her hair for this one, though I only know basic braids. Whispers might need to do all the work."
"It's still so weird to me that Whispers is almost a person. If you put him into a Hogwarts uniform, you could have him go to classes," Hannah giggled, and Harry laughed along with her.
"Well, maybe I'll do that sometime soon," Harry considered. Maybe he'd get a suit for Whispers to wear to the party. "I need to head back to talk to Lyra."
"I'm sorry about Lavender, I'm just not friends with her," Hannah apologized again.
Harry found Lyra in their tree reading over the parts she liked from The Fellowship of the Ring. They had finished the book a few days ago and were waiting until they returned to start the next one.
"Which part are you reading?" Harry asked.
"The Balrog and the bridge, there's no way for Gandalf to be dead, right? He's Gandalf!" Lyra said hopefully.
"We'll start the next book in a few weeks and find out then," Harry told her.
Lyra turned back to the book for a moment before looking back up at Harry, "Did you talk to Hannah?"
"I'm sorry, Hannah didn't want to invite Lavender, they just aren't friends," he looked apologetic.
"She has to come! Who will help me with the dress and my hair? I don't know how to do the colors for my eyes as she did before!" she complained.
"If it was your party, would you invite Draco if Parvati asked you to do so?" Harry tried to reason with her.
"No, I guess not," Lyra sounded resigned to the situation.
"I'm sorry, we can find another way. Let's send a letter to Brandt to see if he can figure something out."
Harry and Lyra trekked up to the Owlery to write her letter and bumped into Lavender on the way.
Her eyes lit up as she saw the two of them, "I just sent a letter to my parents! I can't wait for the party!"
Lyra looked down at her feet and shuffled a bit behind Harry. She muttered an apology, though it was so quiet even Harry could barely hear her.
"I'm sorry Lavender," Harry told her, "I couldn't get another invitation from Hannah."
"What? Oh…" she looked confused, "But you're Harry Potter? She said no to you?"
"I guess so, I'm sorry I couldn't convince her."
"I mean, I know I'm not friends with her," Lavender said with disappointment, "but I would have thought that she would have done it for you. I guess I'll go send my parents another letter." She turned and headed back to the owlery.
"I'll send the letter tomorrow morning," Harry told Lyra. "Let's head back to the dorm."
Lyra sniffled a bit and walked slowly, so when they got to the stairs, Harry picked her up and gave her a piggyback ride back to their dorm. He could feel a few cold tears on his neck as they walked. When they arrived back in the room, Harry helped Lyra climb up to their favorite tree and went to fetch her a blanket and Whispers. Once they were cuddled up, he took out one of his hoohoo feathers to light it up and take away some of her sadness.
"No, it's OK," Lyra said as he was drawing his wand. "I don't need it, can you do it for Lavender?" She pulled one of the yellow feathers from her hair and passed it to Harry, "Can you give her one of these too?"
It would mean going up to the top of the castle again but there was no way he wouldn't do it for his upset sister. He just didn't know where the common room was. Harry went into the older students' dorm looking for Neville but found Lee instead.
"Hey, Lee," Harry started, "can you show me where the Gryffindor dorm is?"
"Sure but why do you want to know?" he said with a curious tone.
"Lyra and I kinda upset a second-year girl named Lavender," Harry said dejectedly. "she asked me to pay her a visit and light a hoohoo feather for her."
"I think that's a perfect reason for us to use the lift," Lee's face brightened as he said it. To Harry's curious look, he just smiled and walked towards the exit.
They walked to the main staircase but Lee stopped them by a portrait of a man standing on a small hill in a regal pose, dressed in a blue uniform with a cross on the front. He had a long, thin sword hanging loosely from his belt and a hat with an enormous and fluffy feather in it.
"Sir Daucourt!" Lee called out. The man in the portrait dropped his gaze from looking off into the distance down to the boy in front of him. "We seek passage on a quest of great importance!"
"And what quest would be of such importance that you would need to travel so quickly through the castle?" His voice was serious as he looked between Lee and Harry.
"Why the greatest quest of them all! A woman has been saddened by my friend here and he seeks to raise her spirits with a personal visit," Lee spoke with the same serious tone as the portrait.
"A noble cause indeed," said Sir Daucort, he bowed and the portrait swung open.
"Come on," Lee told Harry who was just staring at another secret room he somehow missed on the first floor.
After they had both climbed into the passage behind the portrait, it swung shut behind them and Lee lit up his wand. In front of them were two ropes hanging in front of them with loops at the end. Looking upwards, there was no ceiling and Harry could not see where the rope was anchored at the top.
"What is this?" Harry asked.
"This is the lift," Lee grinned. "Sir Daucourt outside guards the entrance, it can take you all the way up to the seventh floor. However, he will only open the door if he thinks your reason is good enough. He can tell if you're lying, and even then, nearly any reason you give truthfully isn't good enough... though he has a soft spot for romance and chivalry. Grab the rope like I do and pull seven times."
Lee stuck his hand through the loop on one of the ropes and grabbed the rope above it. He pulled seven times and waited. Suddenly the rope yanked upwards and pulled Lee up fast. He let out a childish scream as he disappeared into the darkness above.
Harry was shocked but this beat having to walk up seven flights. He slipped his right hand through the loop and grabbed the top of the rope tightly like Lee had done, then pulled on it seven times. He felt the loop tighten around his wrist and it started to pull upwards. As soon as his feet left the ground, the rope yanked him faster and Harry flew upwards, also screaming like a child as he went.
After about ten seconds he seemed to slow down and stopped to see Lee standing on a platform. He was holding onto a railing with one hand reaching out with the other to Harry. Harry grasped his wrist and was pulled onto the platform, taking his hand out of the rope. Once on the platform Lee walked Harry over to a wall and knocked on it, causing it to open into the hallway.
Harry looked around, "Are we really on the seventh floor?" Harry had only been up on this floor on the day of the tour with Gemma and to the Headmaster's office. He hadn't had any reason to be on this floor to explore.
"Yeah, that was a rush. I've used the lift three times before, I wish I had more reason to use it. Maybe sometime after Valentine's day, I hope," Lee said with a smirk. "It's this way to the entrance."
They stopped in front of a portrait of a heavyset woman in a toga. The base of the frame was about two feet off the ground but the frame was about six feet tall. She looked down at the two boys and said, "Password?"
Adopting the same tone he used for Sir Daucourt, "Mademoiselle, you look lovely on this winter's evening. Have you perchance gotten a new toga?" He winked at the woman in the portrait, causing her to blush. "I am a former lion seeking entrance in hopes of cheering up a young lady. Would you aid us in this manner by alerting a student within?"
The woman looked sternly down at Lee but smiled after a moment, "Those who show proper manners will always receive assistance. One moment, please." She turned to the side and walked out of her portrait.
Lee turned back to Harry, "Courtesy is normally rewarded by the older portraits in the castle. Nearly all of them have something hidden to reveal or information you can pass on."
Harry nodded, he was going to have to retrace his steps over the entire first floor to speak to all of the portraits in hopes of finding out the secrets of the castle.
After a few moments, the portrait swung open and a girl with a medium complexion and two badly braided pigtails stood above them in the entranceway wearing sweatpants and a quidditch jersey. She smiled as she saw Lee standing there, and said, "Well, it's about time you visited!"
"Hey Alicia, I was just talking about you, sorta. I've been back up here since September a few times, unfortunately, you weren't here though. Next time you've got to tell me when you're going to be around and I'll make a special trip."
"I'm guessing that you're not here for me, what do you and the Boy-Who-Bludgeoned need in our tower?"
"Harry needs to see Lavender, think you can announce us and grab her for him? Then I'd like to talk to you too."
Harry just nodded along with the conversation. Alicia raised an eyebrow towards Harry at the mention of Lavender then turned around and headed back inside. Lee boosted himself into the entrance and Harry hopped up quickly alongside him.
As they walked down the short tunnel, they heard Alicia call out, "Look lively Lions! We've got visitors, prepare to defend yourselves!"
Harry's hair raised and they stepped out into a round room to find a dozen Gryffindor students, all with their wands raised and pointed toward them. Going into action, Harry drew his wand and cast a shield in front of himself and Lee. Lee seemed to be smiling but also drew his wand and incanted, "Protego!" adding a yellow shield to Harry's white one.
Everyone just stared at the two boys for a moment before someone yelled out "Lee! You're back!"
All the wands dropped and a few students charged them and a couple of people tackled Lee to the ground, embracing him. Harry still had his shield up and wasn't sure what to do until he saw Ginny come down a staircase into the room and then he dropped his shield.
"Harry!" She sounded startled and then looked down at her red pajamas, covered with tiny lightning bolts, and then ran back up the stairs.
Lee managed to stand back up and turned to Harry, "Welcome to the Gryffindor common room!"
"It's… small…" Harry looked around. There was space for maybe thirty people to sit around the room if you included places on the floor in front of the fireplaces.
"Yeah, I never really noticed it until I transferred. I didn't spend much time in the tower except to sleep anyways," Lee responded. "Too much time with Fred and George getting into trouble."
Alicia came down the stairs from the dorms at that moment with Lavender, Parvati was following behind them. Lavender was in her pajamas already and it looked like her eyes were a bit red and swollen. Lee approached Alicia and motioned for her to go up the stairs with him and they vanished.
"Harry?" Lavender greeted him, "What are you doing up here?"
"I came up here to check on you," he said. He heard an 'aww' sound from next to him. He looked around to see a couple of other students very indiscreetly looking at the two of them. Harry walked a little closer and spoke quietly, "Lyra was really upset that I couldn't get an invitation for you. I tried to cheer her up but she asked me to come to cheer you up instead."
Lavender sniffled a bit and wiped her eyes, "That was sweet, thank you." Parvati was watching from above with wide sparkling eyes at their exchange. "Is there anything else?"
"Yes, the cheering up," Harry reached into his bag and pulled out an orange hoohoo feather and the yellow one that Lyra had given him. Drawing his wand, he whispered, "Incendio!" the orange feather lit up, bathing the room in its light. "The light from the feather will make you feel better and give you good dreams." He passed it to her and then passed the unlit yellow one as well. "This is one of the six yellow feathers she keeps in her hair, it would make her happy if you held onto it."
Lavender stared into the light of the orange feather and at the yellow feather in her other hand. She passed the two feathers back to Parvati then turned around and gave Harry a big hug. He hugged her back and waited for her to let go. She eventually did and walked back upstairs, taking the lit feather back from her friend as they ascended.
Harry turned around and saw students in the common room quickly turn around and go back to what they were doing.
Lee hadn't come back down yet, so Harry didn't know what to do now. He saw Seamus sitting with Ron Weasley and a boy he didn't recognize so he walked over to them.
"Hey Seamus," Harry greeted him.
"Hey, so what was that about with Lav?" he responded
"There was a situation between her and Lyra where they were both upset. I tried to cheer up Lyra and she asked me to cheer Lavender up instead."
"What did she do?" Ron jumped into the conversation.
"Oi, I think he was pretty clear that he was avoiding giving any details," the other boy said to Ron. Turning to Harry, "My name's Dean."
"Harry," they shook hands.
"So do you have a thing for Lav or something?" Dean asked.
"Way to be blunt," Seamus laughed.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "I had two feathers for her, I already gave them to her."
"He doesn't understand," Seamus said to Dean. To Harry, "He wants to know if you like Lavender."
"She's nice, I guess, she helps Lyra out a lot," Harry shrugged.
The three Gryffindors traded looks.
"Well, there's no way Harry Potter ends up with Lavender Brown," Ron stated.
"Ends up where?" Harry was confused by the questions.
The boys shared another set of looks with each other. Luckily for Harry, he was saved from further conversation by Lee coming back down into the common room. He was grinning as he nearly skipped into the room.
"I'm all done, what about you Harry?" he asked with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, I guess so," he stood up to leave with Lee. Once they were outside in the hallways, Harry asked Lee, "Dean wanted to know if I had 'a thing' for Lavender, what did he mean?"
Lee gave him a strange look before responding, "He wanted to know if you liked her, like romantically."
Harry thought about that for a moment. He remembered his aunt and uncle were married and knew other people were too but they were adults. He was just twelve.
"Like marriage? Aren't we a bit young? I can't even be an animagus until I'm thirteen."
"No… wait, what? No, like dating. The stuff that comes before marriage. Do you know about dating?" Lee asked. Harry shook his head. Lee looked a bit uncomfortable, "I don't know if I'm the right person to tell you about this, I'm only thirteen myself, and I don't know how to explain it to someone else. When you like someone, more than just as a friend... you… um... just know, and then you try spending more time with them and experiment with your friendship by adding more things to it, like… um... making a potion."
"But if you add the wrong thing to a potion it can explode! I don't want my friends to explode," Harry was a bit scared.
"They don't explode… sorry, I said I'm not the best person to explain this. Maybe you should ask your tutor about it," Lee said with a resigned tone.
Harry thought about it. Arcturus did say that Brandt was going to get married at some point, so maybe he would know. Harry nodded his head at Lee's suggestion. The two of them walked down a few flights of stairs in silence.
"Wait, you said you were going to become an animagus when you turn thirteen?" Lee asked.
"Probably closer to when I'm fourteen. I told Lyra I would do it at the same time as her. Our teacher from before Hogwarts told us that was when we would be old enough."
"But how do you know when you will complete the ritual? You need a storm with thunder and lightning, you can't predict when you will get one."
"Oh that's the easy part," Harry said casually, "we lived in an area where we had regular thunderstorms in the summer, and we can predict them a full lunar cycle away."
"Bloody hell, that makes the ritual a hundred times easier," Lee said with shock. "You could probably make a fortune for others to do the full ritual wherever you're from if you could streamline it like that."
"People keep saying I should make money with different things but other than school, I don't know what I'd need money for."
Lee gave Harry a strange look, "No one has said where you were before Hogwarts but you had to have needed money, right?" Harry shook his head. "Where were you?"
Harry didn't want to talk to people about it, everything would lead back to his childhood, and make problems for him and Lyra. So he just faked an oath by saying, "I'm sorry, I can't talk about it. I was home, that's all I can say."
Lee caught onto the implied magical oath and nodded. "Well, even if you don't need money, it's always possible to help others that do. My parents make more money than they need and they donate money to help others. Maybe you could do the same."
They were quiet the rest of the way back to the common room. Harry did like helping people, he couldn't bring everyone who needed help to the island, so maybe he could help them here. According to Lee, that would require money, so maybe he could start looking into the hair potion idea.
When they got back into the common room, Harry thanked Lee for taking him up to the Gryffindor dorms and went to check on Lyra. He found her up in the tree curled up with Whispers under a blanket. Harry went to one of the spare dorms to get another blanket and returned to the tree to add it on top of the one Lyra had already. He wished he could do a warming charm like Lyra but he hadn't been able to figure that one out on his own yet. So he returned to his own bed to go to sleep.
Lyra was back to her usual self the next day, especially after Harry recounted giving Lavender the feathers. Harry didn't tell Lyra about his talk with the Gryffindor boys and Lee though. At breakfast, Lavender came to their table to give Lyra a big hug and tell her that she would come by later that night with Parvati to help pick out her outfit for the party. When they were done eating, Harry and Lyra worked on writing a quick note to Brandt that Lavender and Parvati couldn't attend the party and Lyra would need help with getting ready.
Harry ran the letter up to the owlery before their exam. While he was up there, he also wrote out a short note of his own telling Brandt about his conversation about romance and dating and asking for some help. As he got done writing the extra note, Hermes swooped down to help him.
"Hey there Hermes, I don't need a rush delivery today," Harry told the proud bird.
Another owl tried to jump down to the perch to help out Harry but Hermes let out a loud screech, scaring the other bird off. Then he scooted closer on the perch to Harry and puffed out his chest with the mail pocket.
"If you don't mind, just take your time, no rush. Come by during dinner and I'll give you a treat," Harry showed Hermes the address. "It goes to Arcturus Black or Brandt again," and he stuffed the envelope in the pocket on the owl's tiny vest.
Hermes hopped over to the window and spread his wings to take off, letting the air currents up the side of the tower just push him into the air. He seemed to be making an effort to show Harry he was taking his time and not flying fast, though as soon as Harry turned to walk away, Hermes took off at his usual pace, shooting towards the gates of Hogwarts.
The exam for the day today was for Potions. Harry and Lyra felt like they were ready for this one since the beginning of the year. They breezed through the written portion in the morning, finishing in just under an hour. They had to give the proper safety guidelines for setting up their brewing stations as well as an explanation on how to properly clean up. Other questions had them list ingredients for the boil cure and herbicide potion or the stirring pattern for the forgetfulness potion. The only question that was a problem was the last one where they needed to remember what colors the Wiggenweld potion was supposed to turn to and in what order. Harry and Lyra compared notes on the last one as soon as they got out of the classroom and found they both got the same answer and then checked their books to make sure it was correct.
After finishing their exam so quickly, and having an extra two hours before lunch, Lyra went to work on breaking open some shellfish while Harry started trying to talk to some of the portraits near their common room. After the revelation of the portrait of Sir Daucourt the previous night, Harry needed to check with all the portraits to see if they held any secrets. He started with the silent portrait in front of their common room that he had spoken with near the beginning of the school year.
It took him nearly thirty minutes to communicate that he wanted to see if the man in the portrait held a secret room or hidden information. However, when it was understood, the man smiled and pointed to part of his gold frame where there was a leaf carved into it and mimed knocking three times. Harry ran his fingers over the gold leaf and knocked. On the third knock, he heard a click and the portrait swung open just an inch. Harry pulled it forwards to see a small room behind the portrait with a chair facing outwards.
He climbed in and the portrait swung back closed, trapping him in the dark. Startled by the sudden darkness, Harry tripped and bumped into the wall but he recovered quickly and cast a Lumos spell. He could see the chair facing the portrait in the small room, and right in front of the chair was a small pair of binoculars on a stand. When he sat in the chair, the binoculars moved to be at his eye level and when he looked through them, he could see through the portrait and out into the hallway. There wasn't anything to see at the moment, as no one else was around, so he stood back up and looked around until he found a leaf carved into the wall near the edge of the back of the portrait. Knocking on that one opened the wall again.
He wasn't sure what use there would be for a spying space across from the common room entrance but that wasn't an issue now. It may have been a secret chamber but it wasn't that special of a secret. Many of the things he had found around the castle seemed to just be strange, like the statue of the mouse drinking tea. Regardless of the castle's randomness, Harry entered the study room and went to the back to the Explorer's club area, and made two new entries in his journal for the Sir Daucourt portrait and the spying room across the hall.
Following lunch, they had their practical exam for potions. When Harry and Lyra got to their assigned test room, Greg was standing outside hesitantly. He was going to be taking three terms' worth of exams for Potions and Transfiguration to get out of his remedial classes.
"Do you need a punch in the shoulder?" Harry asked, snapping him out of the thoughts that had him frozen in place.
"I… um… no... I think I've got this," Greg stammered. "I've taken this test before, I'll be fine," he started walking into the room only to stop and turn back around. "Yeah, I'll take that punch," he said and braced himself for it.
Harry just smiled at Greg and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You've got this Greg," he said with support, looking him in the eyes.
Greg smiled back and took a deep breath in before giving Harry a nod and continuing into the classroom. Lyra smiled at her brother and they entered as well.
The test was to first brew the Wiggenweld Potion, then use the remaining time to brew as many potions as they could from what they had learned this term. When they had brewed the potion last week in class and at the Potions club, they had found out that since there was no specific number of times they needed to stir at each step, what mattered was how much magic they were infusing into the potion. Most first-year students wouldn't be aware that their magic was being infused by the stirring, so they would just need to focus on the stirring until the color changed.
For Harry and Lyra, they were able to feel how much magic they were using as they stirred their potions, so by pushing more in with each stir, the color was able to change faster. The first stages of the potion went through the color cycle of the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo, and then pink.
For the next stage, you need to heat the potion back to red, then proceed to yellow, purple, red, orange, yellow, and turquoise. Due to the different amounts the potion changes color through the rainbow cycle, these steps needed extra attention to be paid to not stir too much or too little with the appropriate magical infusion as you go. Again, the more magic that is infused by the brewer, the faster the potion can be made. In the potions club, they had been able to cut down the standard brewing time by half and were pretty sure they could do even more but didn't want to risk it for the exam.
As soon as the test began, they rushed off to gather their ingredients. There weren't many and the only prep work they needed to do was to extract flobberworm mucus which they were both experts at by now. At each of their stations, they proceeded at nearly an identical pace and were through the first cycle of stirrings by the time the last student in their class had finished with their ingredient preparation. By the time they had added the boomberry juice and set the potion to simmer, no one else had finished the first stage of the potion.
The proctor for the exam was reading a book in the corner when Harry approached him, "Excuse me, sir," he got the man's attention, "my potion is simmering now, can I move on to a batch of another potion?"
The man looked at Harry with disbelief, "You've already completed the Wiggenweld Potion?"
"It still needs to simmer and I wanted to request an oversized cauldron for a large batch of the boil curing potion for the next twenty minutes so as not to waste time."
The man looked like he was about to say something but then noticed the scar on Harry's forehead and just nodded to the larger cauldrons in the back of the room. Harry pulled out his wand and levitated the larger receptacle over to his spot and started to prepare the ingredients. Lyra had chosen to start on a Herbicide potion while her first potion was simmering and only needed a small pot.
By the time Harry completed the large batch of the boil curing potion, he had a few minutes left in the simmering, as shown by the half-hour glass he had set up to measure the thirty minutes of simmering. As soon as the last grain of sand fell, he canceled the low flame and waited for it to cool down, constantly comparing the turquoise of the potion to the turquoise stone he had taken from the ingredient cabinet. They weren't allowed to bring a textbook to the exam with the color charts but the stone he had retrieved from the ingredient cabinet at the beginning was the same color as the final result and worked great as a reference. When he thought about it, there were probably other colored ingredients that weren't part of the recipe he could have used for reference in the other steps.
He waved the proctor over to his desk who took a quick look at the Wiggenweld potion before casting a spell that covered the top of his cauldron with a silvery film, then he did the same thing to the large pot of the boil-curing potion. Harry thanked him and pointed him over to Lyra's station to do the same for her work. Harry and Lyra ended up working on a batch of forgetfulness and sleeping potions before the first student finished their Wiggenweld, and it turned out to be Greg who had done it. They each completed another three potions before the proctor told them to just head out, they wouldn't receive any extra points anymore.
With nothing left to do, Lyra went to find Whispers and play in Neville's climbing room. Harry tried to talk to more portraits to see if there were any more secret chambers he could discover. By the time dinner came around, he hadn't found anything new but one of the portraits seemed to be hiding something or was just teasing him, he couldn't be sure.
At dinner time, Harry and Lyra were bombarded by questions from the first-year students that were at their exam on how they got the potion completed so quickly. Colin was particularly insistent as, after learning the photo developer potion, he was incredibly meticulous when it came to brewing potions.
"No, really, how did you do it?" he pushed.
Lyra couldn't figure out how to answer, most of her magic was instinctual so it was hard to put into words.
Harry tried to explain it, "From what Professor Snape once told me, the stirring adds little bits of your magic into the potion, just like if you add five lionfish spines, stirring five times clockwise adds five measurements of your magic into the potion."
"But the Wiggenweld potion doesn't have a count for the number of times you need to stir, nearly all of it is just 'stir until it changes colors,'" Colin objected.
"That's how we were able to speed it up, by putting more magic in each stirring rotation, it cuts down on the number you need to do. The Wiggenweld potion doesn't rely on arithmancy for the stirring, so it might be possible to only stir once for each step if you're able to put enough magic in. Though Lyra and I didn't want to take the chance to do less than four stirs for the exam."
By now they had a small gathering of other students listening in on the conversation, a few Ravenclaws were even taking notes.
Robert Hillard asked, "Why did you stop at four stirs specifically? We are studying this method for our O.W.L.s this year."
"Lyra thought that was a good idea, she has better instincts than I do while I experiment more," he nudged his little sister to explain it.
Lyra had grown by leaps and bounds to get over her shyness around individual people but when she had an entire group of people looking to her to do something, she felt frozen.
Feeling Harry press a small candy into her hand she tried explaining it, "Four felt like a good number, even if there is no arithmantic number for how many times you need to stir, arithmancy is still important. Four is this region's number for stability, so I didn't want to go any lower."
A Hufflepuff student spoke up, "This region? What do you mean?"
Luckily, Lyra was saved from explaining by Hermione, who had been listening to the conversation. "Different regions of the world have different meanings in arithmancy. As they all developed their methods independently, certain methods work better depending on where in the world you are. Four represents stability in most of Europe because the square base structure of buildings contains the number four. If you were in the Middle East and North Africa, you would use three as your arithmantic number for stability. There are other specific places like the Bourtange Fort in the Netherlands where, on the grounds there, the number five would represent stability due to the design of the fortress but would not be the same outside the fort."
Everyone just stared at Hermione, who blushed a bit at the attention. The silence was broken by Professor Vector in her red robes, "A perfect explanation Miss Granger, five points to Ravenclaw and three to Scamander for Miss Black. You would both do well in Arithmancy, Miss Granger for her deductive reasoning, and Miss Black for your instincts."
She turned and walked back to the staff table. Leaving the students to discuss more of the exam with each other.
As Harry and Lyra got up to leave the hall, they were stopped by Lavender and Parvati. Lavender immediately went to hug Lyra and apologize and when she had recovered from the shock of the unexpected hug, Lyra apologized too.
"I'm sorry, I just thought that you'd be able to come with me, or that Harry would be able to get another invitation," Lyra told her friend.
Lavender stroked the yellow feather displayed prominently in her hair and looked at Harry briefly as she said, "It's alright, I was just upset because I had already told my parents, and I needed to send another owl to them."
"I'm sorry," Lyra apologized again.
"Well, everything is settled now," Parvati jumped in. "Let's go find you something amazing to wear for your party."
All the girls were smiling as they walked with Harry back to the common room. When they arrived, Cedric was standing out front with Patricia and Millicent. All of them had serious looks on their faces.
"Lyra," Cedric started, "Your friends are welcome to enter the common room but they cannot know how to enter. The secret entrance hasn't been disabled like it was for parents' day, so we have another idea."
Millicent pulled two black hoods out of her bag, and smiled, "They will need to wear these as we enter."
The lions of Gryffindor looked nervous but nodded. They bravely stepped forward for Millicent and Patricia to place the covers over their heads.
"Wanderlust!" Cedric called out to reveal the door and Millicent and Patricia led the two Gryffindors in. As they entered the first room, Cedric turned to Harry and Lyra, and winked, "Grab the shovels."
Harry understood immediately, they were doing a fish tale for Lavender and Parvati. Then Cedric began to sing the school song as Millicent and Patricia began to spin the Gryffindor girls around before taking them down the first path.
Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now, they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.
At each junction, Cedric continued to sing as Millicent and Patricia danced or spun around the other two girls. Harry and Lyra joined in by banging the shovels together or digging in the ground near where Lavender and Parvati were standing.
Eventually, they finished getting through the maze as Cedric finished singing and pulled the hoods off of the heads of the girls. They both staggered a bit, dizzy from the spinning and dancing.
"Was all that necessary?" Parvati asked.
"Well, the alternative was to perform a ritual sacrifice of a bunny," Millicent told them.
Parvati's eyes bulged, "No, no, no, that's ok. This was fine… did you sacrifice a bunny?"
Patricia replied, "No, the bunny would just be for Gryffindors. We just did one cow for all of us on the first night."
Harry and Lyra were trying not to laugh. When the older students headed off, Harry and Lyra led them to the room with the practice table and the wardrobe. When they got in, there were some snacks on the plates for the two place settings. Harry saw Astray disappearing around a corner out of the corner of his eye, and he whispered his thanks, knowing the Urisk could hear him. The three girls started to dig through the wardrobe and pull out dozens of dresses and other clothes.
Lyra wanted another orange dress but Harry reminded her to pick something from the colors that Brandt had told them about. That led Lavender and Parvati to have an argument about appropriate colors for the season with Parvati eventually relenting because she was basing the argument on colors for an Indian holiday and not a British one.
While the girls started going through the clothes that they had pulled out and holding them up to Lyra, Harry opened the wardrobe to the men's section and started looking through it. To get a good idea of what he would be wearing, he would need to wait to see what Brandt would do with the shed from the Usurper. He assumed that Brandt would take more of the green parts and do something with that as that was the color he suggested for the holiday party, so Harry took out a white shirt and deep green slacks to complement and contrast what he assumed would be Brandt's decision.
From there, he started digging through the cloaks and outer robes. There were a lot of outer robes he thought would look nice and would keep him warm but he was reminded of the bracelets Lyra was given last time to keep her warm, so he thought there must be something like that for him too. Digging around in the cloaks, he found an interesting garment. It was a leather shoulder harness with a black cape hanging off the side. The inside of the cape was also black but had a bit of a shimmer to it almost like it was hiding some kind of secret.
Harry took off his school robe quickly leaving himself shirtless with trousers on and pulled a random white shirt out of the wardrobe to put on. Then he fastened the shoulder harness over his left shoulder and let the cape drape over his arm down past his waist. Turning to the mirror to take a look at the cape, he saw Lavender and Parvati staring at him.
Turning around, he asked, "How do I look?"
"Looks wicked," Parvati said in a loud whisper.
"Yeah, totally brill," added Lavender. "You could hold your staff in your right hand and hide your wand under the cape."
"Yeah, I guess I could," Harry remarked. That would be a good idea and he heard Alastor's voice in his head whispering, 'Constant Vigilance!'
"But now you need to go," Parvati snapped him out of his thoughts.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Lyra needs to change," Lavender told him. "No boys allowed."
Harry realized that this was one of the situations that Brandt had mentioned about privacy and then also realized that he had taken his shirt off again in front of the girls. Nodding to Lyra, he placed the shoulder harness and cape back in the wardrobe close to one side and headed back into the common room. Not knowing what to do, he went to his project room to check on the latest batch of flobberworm jerky.
He now had racks for drying all around the room near the fertilizer bin. Lyra would visit the room once a day and cast a warming charm near the racks to help try out the skins quicker. Harry really needed to learn that charm so he could do the same. They were going to take some of the fertilizer back to the island and Newt was preparing a large trunk with hundreds of flobberworms to introduce them to the Hidden Village there.
Harry went to the bins where he had the dried skins soaking in fruit juices and placed them on the racks to dry again and then placed the freshly dried skins into the juices. He couldn't wait to see how his family would enjoy this new snack. Next came the fun part, when the flobberworm population in the bucket grew too large, they would just rest on the top of the dirt, not even diving below to circulate the organic waste. It was like they were waiting for him to take them, so he pulled them off and dumped them into a plastic bin next to the tank.
As if sensing the harvest, Whispers entered the room and sat next to Harry as he started pressing the mucus out of the worms he had taken. He threw one of the big juicy ones to Whispers who laid down on the floor to munch on it. After he had brought the first jar of mucus to Professor Snape, the man had given him a special pressing board that drained directly into a jar, so now it was much easier to collect. When he was done with pressing all of them, he tossed another skin to Whispers who had finished the juicy one, and sealed up the jar to deliver to the potions classroom.
Back in the common room, he saw the door to where Lyra was still closed, so he just started to head down to the potions classroom with Whispers tagging along. When they got down to the third sub-level of the castle, Harry had to take Whispers down from his shoulders.
"Sorry, little guy, you're getting too big for this now."
Whispers growled a bit and said, "Whiiisspersss… sssmall… Charleee… biig." Then he grumbled a bit more as he loped along with Harry on the floor. "Grrround… cold…" he grumbled some more.
Harry realized that probably the reason why Whispers wanted to be carried everywhere in the castle was because of the stone floor. Around the common room, where the floor was dirt or grass, he seldom asked to be carried, and he couldn't cast a warming charm on the floor like Lyra when the floor was too cold for her bare feet. He made a mental note to find some way to fix that.
They arrived at Snape's office and knocked. After a few moments, Snape opened the door and let them. Whispers started to move to jump up on Snape but he put his hands out to stop him.
"Sorry Whispers, no jumping," he told the Hidden. Whispers growled a bit.
"I just realized he likes to be carried so much because of the cold stone floor in the castle. I don't think they make shoes in his size either," Harry informed his professor.
Snape nodded and cast a warming charm over the floor of the classroom. Harry could see Whispers relax a bit as it was cast.
Snape looked at the jar Harry was carrying, "More flobberworm mucus?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, five more points to Scamander for the ingredients. How's the jerky coming along? Any plans to sell it?"
"I'm not sure what I'll need money for when I'm done with school but a friend told me I might be able to make money to help others. I'm not sure how yet but that sounds like a good idea. I'll try to talk to Brandt over the break about it."
"What do you mean you won't need money after school?" Snape asked him with a narrowed gaze.
"Lyra and I lived on the island for so long with no money, so I don't know why we'd need it as adults. After learning magic, I think we'd need it even less than before."
Snape gave Harry an indecipherable look before responding, "Talk to Brandt and Arcturus about finding a way to make money to help others. You still have a long time until you need to worry about what to do when you finish school."
At that moment there was another knock on the door to the classroom and Snape went to answer it. He opened it to reveal Draco and Vincent standing there. Harry immediately went to draw out his staff causing Draco and Vincent to dive to the sides of the door.
"Put that away!" Snape told Harry, though he kept a firm hold on it as Draco and Vincent peeked back into the door frame. "Put it away now," he said with a more determined look on his face.
Harry slowly put the staff back into the pouch on his belt but stayed ready to take his wand from his pocket. Whispers hadn't vanished and just stood on the desk next to Harry and growled at the two boys.
"What are you doing here Potter?" Vincent demanded.
"He is here to deliver Potions ingredients, and was just leaving," Snape informed them, then raised his arm to guide the two boys into the room on the other side that Harry was standing on.
Harry circled them towards the door, with Whispers pacing alongside him. None of them took their eyes off the others the whole time. When Harry and Whispers got to the door, Snape gestured for them to leave and the other two boys relaxed, though both reached to the shoulders Harry had injured and scratched as they crossed the doorway. Once the door was shut Harry sighed with relief.
Turning around he found himself face-to-face with Daphne and Tracey.
"What were you doing in Professor Snape's office?" Tracey asked, then looked down to Whispers who was reaching up to be held.
"Delivering flobberworm mucus, I have to extract it regularly before turning the skins into jerky. Does either of you want to try the latest batch? I have grapefruit and cranberry flavors with me."
Both girls had heard of his endeavor but the idea of eating flobberworms, no matter the flavor, had not appealed to them. Though today, Tracey decided to be a little curious, "Can I try the grapefruit?"
Harry dug one of the grapefruit pieces from his pouch and passed it to her. Seeing that she was not going to pick him up, Whispers turned to Daphne, who with great effort picked him up and held him in her arms. Tracey made a face at the shriveled, worm with a slight pink color. Forcing herself to do it, she closed her eyes and took a bite. Then opened her eyes and chewed a bit before swallowing.
"I was not expecting that," she took another bite. "I thought it would be more worm-like but it has a texture close to cow tongue if it were overcooked and a bit dry."
She broke off a piece and handed it to Daphne who tried to put Whispers down but he hung on to her neck.
"You need to get down now," she told him as she pulled his hands off. Whispers relinquished his grip and looked grumpy.
"Can either of you cast a warming charm on his feet? He doesn't like the cold floor," Harry informed them.
Apparently, heat was not in the Ice Queen's repertoire, so Tracey cast the spell on Whispers's hands and feet. He looked happy and hugged Tracey around her legs.
Daphne ended up taking the bit of jerky but still looked disgusted at it, though she also forced herself to take an experimental bite. She was also surprised and took a second bite of the snack.
"I don't like the grapefruit flavor but it's not horrible," she informed Harry.
"Would you like to try the cherry?" he asked, holding it out to her.
"Not tonight, do you want to join us in exploring the floor above us? We're almost done with mapping it out." Whispers saw her rejection and grabbed the jerky from Harry's hand and started to chew on it.
That would be great if he could add another floor layout to the collection in the explorer's club, so he agreed quickly. The second subfloor had no classrooms on it, so he hadn't spent any time there. Though it must have taken forever to map this floor since there were no main corridors and seemed to branch out in random places like a maze.
"Have you found anything interesting yet?" Harry asked.
"Well, there are a few rooms that are pretty obvious to get into or discolored bricks that open closets," Daphne said, looking through their logbook. "We found one corridor that you can only walk one way down and disappears behind you when you reach the next one. We haven't found what we are looking for yet though."
"What's that?"
"We want to find whatever is above the Slytherin common room," said Daphne.
"Every time we get close to that end of the floor, a wall blocks us from going further. No matter what path we take, we eventually hit a wall before the floor should end, and the length of the corridors change every day, take a look;" Tracey held out their logbook that showed a map of the entire second subfloor, and in different color ink, there were notes of where Snape's office was and a confirmation of where he thought the Slytherin dorms were on the floor below.
Harry smiled, "You know, you just told me where the Slytherin common room is."
Daphne's eyes widened dramatically and she snatched the open logbook from Tracy and held it behind her back.
"You already told us you knew about it!" Tracey yelled at him.
Still smiling, "No, I told you about the snakes in the common room, and while I did know they were there, guessing that there were snakes in the Slytherin common room takes as much brainpower as guessing that there are gingers in the Gryffindor common room."
Both girls started laughing before stopping each other to return to glaring at Harry.
"If it makes you feel any better, I already knew where it was approximately. You just confirmed it and I still don't know how to get in." The girls continued to glare at Harry, "Ok, ok, I'll make you a promise, a regular one: I promise to keep quiet so that you won't be in violation of rule number ten."
Both girls' mouths opened and shut like gasping fish, trying to figure out now how he knew about their rules.
Tracey relented first and stopped glaring at him, and Daphne gave up at that point too, "Fine, let's just look for a way past all our dead ends." She led the group up to the second level and then pulled out her wand to cast a Lumos spell as all the lights on this level were incredibly dim.
"Since the two of you know this floor better," Harry started, "how about I provide the light and the two of you do the searching." He pulled out his staff and tapped it on the floor, bathing everything around them in white light.
Daphne and Tracey stared in awe at the light before walking in the direction they needed to go. As they got to the edge of the map, but before they were at their previously recorded edge, they hit a dead end.
"See," Tracey said, "sometimes when we're trying to find the area above the room, the passage just ends before we can get there. Now we need to go around and try another."
They turned and followed another path but this time they got to where the dead-end was on the map. Now they started to explore and look for hidden doors. The great thing about the glow from Harry's staff is it didn't cast any shadows. Because the light didn't seem to emanate from anywhere specific, it produced no shadows at all. Finally, when playing with one of the wall sconces, Daphne extinguished the dim glow and heard a click.
"OK, that was something! Try extinguishing the others around here!" she called out.
Whispers jumped up and down next to another one and Harry extinguished that one before he ran to another that Tracey extinguished, hearing a click each time. After another five, they were all out but Harry's staff still bathed the room in light, and they heard the grinding of stone from down the hall and followed the noise to find an open passage.
With a small cheer, the two girls followed the passage with Harry and Whispers bringing up the rear to another dead end. However, this one had a portrait at the end and they all recognized who the man sleeping in it was.
"It's the Bloody Baron!" Tracey exclaimed.
"So he's a ghost and a portrait?" Harry asked. "How does that happen?"
The ghost of the Bloody Baron never spoke and his only interaction with others was to give a Slytherin student a nod of approval or to glare menacingly at Peeves until he was scared off. The Baron must have died while at a formal occasion because he wore a very fancy outfit with a ruffled shirt and long coat. He also wore a glowing, heavy chain around his shoulders that rattled as he roamed the castle and had two swords on his belt; a long rapier and a short dagger; if one were to look closely, the blade of the dagger could be stained with blood along with the obvious blood on most of his torso. The consensus among the students was that he had died fighting in an honor duel.
The portrait was just the man's upper body and was dressed for battle in layered scale mail. He held a helmet to his side that he was leaning on as he slept. There was also a weapon rack behind him in the picture holding various daggers, swords, and spears.
"Should we wake him up?" Tracey wondered aloud.
Daphne slowly reached out and tapped the frame with her wand. Whispers's eyes glowed and he vanished. The Baron stirred a bit and as he started to move his arms, his helmet fell to the floor behind the frame making a clatter and he sat up straight looking around.
"What's going on? Why did you wake me?" The three children just stared at him, not knowing what to say. "Well? Out with it! Do you have an appointment to see the Head of Slytherin?"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry. "I spoke with Professor Snape earlier this evening downstairs."
The Baron looked strangely at Harry, "What colors do you wear? The fair ladies are of the Noble House of Slytherin but you are not."
Harry stood up straight and responded, "A new house was created this year, just four months ago. It is the house of Scamander."
"So it actually happened," The Baron nodded. "The Founders argued for nearly a month to put that clause into the charter. Salazar and Rowena were in favor of it while Helga and Godric were against it. I don't know how they made the final decision but I was told there was some kind of compromise given to Godric and Helga," he smiled. "So, how long did it take, what year is it now?"
"It is December of 1992, nearly one week before the solstice," Daphne informed him.
He gasped, "900 years! I have been asleep for nearly 900 years! The castle still stands? It hasn't fallen to dark wizards or muggle zealots? Incredible! Astonishing! How is Hogwarts doing?"
"It still stands, nearly four hundred students are studying in the school, fourteen professors, six resident ghosts, and one poltergeist," Daphne told him, deliberately leaving out that he was one of the ghosts.
"One poltergeist? It's not Peeves is it?" Seeing the look on their faces, "Shite. I was hoping he would die off eventually. And the ghosts, anyone I would know?" he said with a mocking smile.
The three of them exchanged nervous glances before Tracey responded, "One of them is you."
The Baron stared at them in shock, "Me? Why would I stay behind? What has he said his reason was?"
"He doesn't speak," Tracey said, "he occasionally gives looks of approval to Slytherin students or chases Peeves out of a room. No one knows his story or why he's covered in blood."
"I'm guessing that's how I died," the Baron said with a frown. "I just can't fathom why I would choose to stay instead of moving on."
"Sir?" Harry asked. Getting a nod from the portrait, "What's your name?" Seeing the man's confused look, "Your ghost never speaks, no one knows it, we all just call you The Bloody Baron."
"The Bloody Baron? Why a Baron? I have no Lordship, I was exiled by my family when I was found to be a wizard."
Daphne gasped, "You're a muggleborn?"
"A what?"
"A muggleborn, your parents weren't wizards?"
"No, they were not wizards. When I started displaying signs of magic as a child, my parents thought I was possessed by a demon and tried everything to keep me from becoming a wizard. They held exorcisms, beat me, branded me, and eventually tried to drown me."
The two girls looked horrified but Harry just looked at him with an icy glare in his eyes.
"You, lad, you seem to understand what I'm speaking of," Harry gave a small nod. "I escaped and I found Hogwarts where I was taken in and protected by Salazar Slytherin."
"But Salazar hated muggleborns!" Daphne argued.
"No, he didn't," the not-a-Baron looked confused.
"So why does everyone say he did?" Tracey asked.
"Did none of Salazar's knowledge pass down to your time? He hated those without magic, mostly due to my situation. They are primitive, and violent, and seek to destroy everything they don't understand. How has Hogwarts survived without this knowledge?"
"I don't know what to tell you," Daphne tried to look to Harry and Tracey for answers but they had none.
"Summon your Head of House, I must speak with him at once."
All of them nodded and started to turn around. Harry quickly turned back, "We didn't get your name. I am Harry Potter, this is Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis." He gestured to each of the girls.
"My name is Malcolm Constantine. Now please, fetch the Head of Slytherin."
The three of them ran off.
Severus never liked when Draco visited him. Being the boy's Godfather was frustrating, to say the least. This visit was to ask for advice on cultivating another bodyguard from the upper-year students. The oath he took to watch out for the boy always led to situations like this one, where he would be compelled to teach Draco something he would end up misusing. He just hoped the boy would cultivate assets properly instead of just blackmailing them and pushing them around. Though he also knew his hopes were most likely in vain.
The rest of the evening he spent grading papers from the projects that his N.E.W.T. students were undertaking this year and sipping a glass of whiskey from this term's attempt at bribery. The one he was drinking now was of muggle manufacture that had a heavy smoky taste with a hint of caramel and a light fruity aftertaste. If the boy's test scores weren't dreadful, he might have been inclined to raise his scores by a single point.
As it got close to curfew, his observation of the whiskey was interrupted by pounding on his classroom door. Vowing to have the culprit slaving over dirty cauldrons for the rest of the year, he threw open the door to find Harry, Daphne, and Tracey panting outside as they had just sprinted a mile. Whispers jumped past them into the room onto the still-warm floor from earlier.
"What is the matter?" he asked.
"We found the Bloody Baron!" Tracey exclaimed.
Just as he was about to ask what she was talking about Daphne said, "We found his portrait!"
Then Harry jumped in, "His name is Malcolm!"
"What are you blabbering about? Come in right now and explain what is going on, slowly and one at a time." The three children came in and sat down at the first set of desks.
Daphne started the story, "We were trying to explore and map the entire second sub-level. Harry helped us find a secret hallway where we found a portrait of the Bloody Baron!"
"His name is Malcolm," Harry repeated.
"He told us all sorts of stuff about Slytherin," Daphne continued but was interrupted by Tracey.
"He didn't hate muggleborns, just muggles!"
"One at a time!" Snape reminded them sternly.
Daphne continued, "So the Bloody Baron…"
"Malcolm," Harry interrupted again.
Daphne gritted her teeth, "So, Malcolm Constantine, also known to us as The Bloody Baron, wanted to know what happened for people not to know about Slytherin and asked us to bring you to him."
Snape stared the three of them down before saying, "Lead the way."
The three of them led Snape through the maze of the second subfloor until they got to the dead-end hallway. Daphne pointed to all the sconces, "We need to extinguish all of them!"
With a wave of his wand, Snape plunged the room into darkness. Nothing happened. After ten seconds, he lit them back up.
"Explain to me exactly what happened," he instructed Daphne.
She told him about hearing the click after turning off the first one and then putting out all the others. Snape extinguished the one Daphne had said she had done first and they heard the click again. Then he put out another but didn't hear a click.
Snape looked around at the lights around the hallway and groaned, "I think the three of you somehow managed to unlock an eight-position combination lock, completely by accident. Go ahead and sit down, this will take a minute."
The three of them sat down and Whispers crawled onto Harry's lap and poked at his pouch. Harry pulled out a piece of jerky and passed it to the Hidden who then climbed onto Tracey's lap to eat it.
Snape relit the two lights that were out and started putting out each light in a different order, occasionally getting a series of clicks but more often not, and then having to relight everything and start over. Luckily, since the lights had to be put out as he got more parts to the combination, the number of remaining options decreased and went faster the more he successfully figured it out. Finally, he got the last one and the grinding noise of the wall opening could be heard. They followed the path down to the portrait at the end where Snape gasped at the sight of the man in the frame.
"This is the Head of Slytherin House?" he asked and the children nodded. "I would speak with him alone."
Snape turned to them, "Go back to your dormitories. Do not tell anyone of this."
"I'm telling Lyra," Harry said firmly.
Snape stared him down before just giving him a small nod.
"I'm telling Blaise," Daphne insisted and her gaze was met by an even grumpier Snape than the one who stared down Harry.
Just as he was about to respond, Malcolm said from behind him, "You can't agree to one and deny the other. She's a proper serpent, 50 points to her house." Everyone gasped at the award. "If you spread this like gossip, young lady, I'll take away every single one of your points. Make sure those you tell can be discreet. Evidently, I haven't given points for nearly 900 years, I'm overdue for a few awards."
"Fine," Snape snapped, "Go now before I change my mind."
All three ran off. They paused at the staircase before exchanging a glance and splitting off.
Harry got back to the dorm just as the curfew was about to begin. When he got inside, Whispers scampered off to the trees and Harry went to the dorm with the wardrobe but Lyra wasn't there. He checked her favorite tree but also found it empty. He couldn't check her dorm room, so he just returned to his and went to bed. He would tell her everything in the morning and needed to get some sleep before the Transfiguration exams tomorrow.
Author's Note: You know what's annoying? Sometimes... rarely... I forget about Whispers. When I realize it, I feel horrible about it because he's my favorite character. Then I have to go back and re-read through the chapter to find where I lost him and re-write everything from that point to include him.