To the guest reviewer asking about my update schedule, I post a new chapter every Saturday. Thank you (and everyone!) who leaves reviews, I love hearing what you have to say!
"Rachel?"
Rachel turned in the entrance hall. She had just finished lunch - where she had managed to consume almost half of a sandwich and some pumpkin juice, despite the uneasy feeling in her stomach - and was on her way to Defense. "Scarlett? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. Professor Dumbledore asked me to give you this," she said, pushing a small scroll of parchment into Rachel's hand. "He said I'd probably see you before he did."
Rachel nodded. That was probably true. She didn't see Professor Dumbledore all that often. "Thanks."
"Alright, see you around. You know, last year you didn't tell us that our OWL year was this bad. I feel like I'm swamped with homework," Scarlett said.
Rachel decided not to tell her it was even worse for their NEWT years. "Remember to take breaks when you can, there's no point in stressing yourself."
Scarlett nodded. "Well, I've got Herbology. Can't wait to drop that next year. See you."
"What do you think Professor Dumbledore wants?" Theo asked quietly once Scarlett was gone.
"Let's drop by our study room, we still have time before Defense," Hermione suggested.
Rachel nodded. She knew what she hoped was in the note. She wanted Professor Dumbledore to say he'd found a way to block the visions. But wouldn't he have just told Severus that? It was a little odd to be receiving a note from him. Severus hadn't said anything about it to her yesterday at dinner.
They went up the stairs and down the hall to their study room.
With her friends gathered around, Rachel broke the wax seal on the note and unrolled it.
'Dear Rachel,
Please join me tonight at seven in my office for us to begin your private lessons.
Yours sincerely, Albus Dumbledore
P.S. I enjoy Acid Pops'
Rachel hoped he didn't really enjoy acid pops. She'd never been able to bring herself to even try one. They sounded pointlessly painful.
"You didn't tell us Professor Dumbledore was going to give you private lessons," Millie said.
"I didn't know. Apparently that message got lost somewhere along the way," Rachel said. She didn't mind, but it would have been nice to have had a heads up.
"What do you think he's going to teach you?" Neville asked.
"Could be anything," Hermione said. "Professor Dumbledore is said to be a master of a number of subjects."
"Can you imagine dueling Professor Dumbledore, even in practice?" Theo looked both daunted and amused at the prospect.
"Definitely not," Rachel said. She was sure that if she was to have dueling lessons that Severus would be the one teaching them. She also wasn't sure if she was up for dueling right now regardless. She was still a little shaky on her feet.
"I suppose the real question is what is it that Professor Dumbledore would think that it's important for you to know," Millie said after a moment.
"Elemental magic, maybe?" Neville suggested. "That's supposed to be pretty powerful and I bet Rachel could do it."
Rachel suspected that what they were going to be doing was trying to discover her secret power, but she had no idea how they were going to go about that. She still needed to tell her friends about the prophecy. She knew she had to. She just wasn't ready yet.
"That would be good," Hermione agreed. "Well, Rachel can tell us all about it afterward, but we should get to class."
She tucked the scroll away in her pocket. At least he hadn't asked for her on an evening when they had the DA.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of studies and homework. They were still keeping apace with their classes, but only just barely. Even Hermione seemed a little flustered with the amount of work they were receiving.
After dinner, where she poked at a casserole with very little interest, Millie and Theo walked her up to the second floor corridor where Professor Dumbledore's office was.
"You'll be alright?" Millie asked.
"Should be fine. When I'm done here, if it's before eight thirty, I'll come to our study room. If it's after, I'll come down to the common room," she told them.
"Send us your Patronus if you need us," Theo said with a short nod.
"I'll be alright," she assured them, though she wished she felt more sure about that herself. "Acid pops," she told the gargoyle.
It moved out of the way for her. "See you in a bit."
"You know where to find us," Millie said.
Rachel stepped on the moving staircase and wondered if it moved because another Headmaster had once had trouble with the stairs. It was definitely too narrow of a space for someone to use a charmed chair like the one she'd been using this summer. The doors to Professor Dumbledore's office opened before she could knock.
"Come in, Rachel, please. Come have a seat," Professor Dumbledore said from behind his desk.
She entered and took a moment to look at Fawkes on his perch. Fawkes gave a low call to her and Rachel smiled at him. "Hello Fawkes."
"He is fond of you," Professor Dumbledore said.
"He's a beautiful phoenix," she said, letting her gaze linger on him. Fawkes crooned again, apparently understanding her words. "Professor Dumbledore, are there people with talents like Parseltongue, but for other animals?"
"No, I'm afraid speaking with snakes is a unique ability. It's said that it's actually a blood curse that has been handed down through countless generations, but that is of course unverified," he said.
Rachel frowned and moved to the seat in front of his desk. "I thought blood curses were supposed to be a bad thing?"
"In general they are, and Parseltongue was undoubtedly intended to be used for Dark Arts as the use of snakes used to be very common in the Dark Arts. To order a snake to do your bidding would have been considered the height of Dark Arts at the time. Herpo the Foul is one of the first Parselmouths on record and is also the first known wizard to create a Basilisk. It's said that he would order the snakes to hunt and kill for him and he had quite a reign of terror for three centuries," Professor Dumbledore explained.
She had known that being a Parselmouth was associated with the Dark Arts, but she had just always assumed that it was people being scared of the language. She hadn't realized that it had an element of truth to it. "That's really interesting. What do you think the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets is doing? I haven't heard her since my second year."
"Likely hibernating. Basilisks can be dormant for centuries at a time. I suspect without a Parselmouth giving it commands that it is simply old enough that it wishes to sleep."
"She," Rachel said absently. "I'm almost positive the basilisk is a girl."
"She, then. How do you know?" he asked.
Rachel shrugged. "I've talked with a few different snakes and their voices are different. The Basilisk sounded more like the female garden snakes I've spoken with than the male garden snakes."
"Fascinating. Have you considered having a snake as a companion? Exceptions can be made for the rules on pets with permission from the Headmaster," Professor Dumbledore asked, looking slightly amused.
"No. Most snakes eat live food. I don't think I could do that. And Severus really doesn't want a snake in the house," she said. "And I want a cat. When I'm older."
"Half breed kneazles are often fine companions. They're very loyal and intelligent. I know a breeder if you are interested," he offered.
"Thank you, but not right now. I want to have finished at Hogwarts first. I'm very busy and I would hate to leave a pet in my room alone all day," she explained.
"That's very responsible of you. And, as you said, we are both busy people, so let's begin," Professor Dumbledore said.
"Yes, sir," Rachel said, trying to ready herself for whatever testing he had in mind. Hopefully it wouldn't be too painful.
Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and moved away and then returned carrying his pensieve.
Rachel balked. "I'm not sharing my memory of what happened that night," she said as firmly as she dared.
He looked pained for a moment. "You mistake me, Rachel, perhaps understandably. Has Severus been asking you to do so?"
She looked away, a little embarrassed. "He asked once. I told him no. It's private."
He sat back down and looked at her for a long moment. "It is private. Many people cling to the painful experiences in their lives, holding them tight for fear of other people seeing them vulnerable. It's perhaps human nature to want to protect yourself in such a way. However, I find that when I share my pain and my grief with another, the load is lessened. One day, when you are ready, you may find the same."
"Yes, sir," she said quietly. People already knew far too much about her vulnerabilities. She didn't need to share this too. She didn't want to.
"Before we begin, I must tell you what we are doing. I have spent a great deal of time collecting memories regarding Voldemort. Before we fight Voldemort, we must understand him. You must understand him," Professor Dumbledore began.
"Does this have to do with whatever my power is?" she asked.
"I believe it is part of the key to bringing the downfall of Voldemort, yes."
Rachel noticed that wasn't exactly an answer, but she nodded anyway. If Professor Dumbledore thought this was important, who was she to argue? "What do I need to do?"
"Have you used a pensieve before to watch memories?" he asked, taking a vial and pouring a wispy silver memory into the bowl.
"No, I've only seen people do it. It looks like you're just standing there."
Professor Dumbledore nodded and got to his feet. "You will feel a falling sensation after you touch the memory and then you will land inside the memory. I will be with you to guide you. This is the first memory I collected, the memory of Bob Ogden, who was a member of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad in 1925. Come join me, please."
Rachel stood and joined Professor Dumbledore around the pensieve.
"Simply lean in and touch it," he instructed.
Rachel did so and after a moment found herself in a black falling sensation that was somewhat like a portkey but with less spinning, thankfully. She landed on a country lane and looked around. There was a man walking ahead of her in a rather odd set of clothes, even for the time period.
"That will be Bob Ogden. We are in Little Hangleton, where you went on the night of the third task. You'll find the church and cemetery just over that ridge," Professor Dumbledore said, pointing. "Now we should follow Mr. Ogden."
Rachel followed silently, marveling again at all that magic could do. It felt real. She could hear the birds chirping in the trees. She could feel a light breeze on her face. "Do many people have pensieves?" she asked, thinking of all the things that could possibly be done with them.
"No, they are quite rare and expensive. This is Hogwarts' pensieve, which is passed from Headmaster to Headmaster. It was created some time in the ninth century and brought to Hogwarts by Salazar Slytherin, from his ancestral home," he explained as they walked.
"They're probably very difficult to make then?" she guessed.
"I only know of one person who manufactures them in the world and it usually takes six months to make a pensieve and requires a tremendous amount of magic and skill," he said. They turned between an overgrown hedgerow, into an overgrown yard that had what looked like the beginnings of a dark forest.
"Watch and listen closely," Professor Dumbledore instructed.
Rachel watched everything from the dead snake on the door to the people inhabiting the hovel. She was a little uncomfortable with the idea that they spoke Parseltongue as well. It was clear they were in abject poverty and that Marvolo Gaunt was horrifically abusive to his children.
She flinched when Marvolo attacked his daughter Merope for merely looking out the windows at the passersby. Her childhood had been pretty bad, but not like this.
Bob Ogden ran for his life, Merope still on the ground crying and panting, Morfin still brandishing a knife and cackling, and Marvolo picking himself off the floor.
"That's enough, I think," Professor Dumbledore finally said as they watched the muggles laughing at Bob Ogden. He put his hand on Rachel's shoulder and suddenly they were back in his office.
Rachel went back to her chair and sat. "Merope, she was the Dark Lord's mother?"
"Yes. You spotted his father as well," Professor Dumbledore said as he sat.
"The muggle in the carriage?" she guessed.
"Yes, Tom Riddle Senior," he said with a nod.
"Why didn't Merope and Morfin come to Hogwarts? Couldn't someone have helped them?" It was clear that Merope at least hadn't been trained well in magic.
"Their names were both on the Book of Admittance, I checked, but likely Marvolo declined to send them. I was not yet teaching at Hogwarts until 1927 and by the time I began to look into Voldemort's circumstances, anyone with a memory of what exactly happened had passed away," he said.
Rachel frowned. "People can just do that? My relatives didn't want me to come to Hogwarts, but Hagrid showed up anyway."
"You were in special circumstances. You needed to attend Hogwarts, though at the time none of us knew the difficulty it would take to get you here. Apparently the letter quill rather run amok when it didn't receive a response from you. We are used to receiving timely responses from magical families, and Professor McGonagall goes to the muggleborn families to explain the letter in person. But yes, parents have the choice of whether or not to send their children to Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore explained.
She looked away again, remembering exactly how upset her relatives had been to continue to get letters in increasingly magical ways. It had not been a good time.
"Would you like to know what happened next?" Professor Dumbledore asked when she didn't respond.
Rachel nodded. "I assume Merope was alright, if she went on to have a child?"
"She survived the incident, at least. Bob Ogden returned with more of the MLE. Marvolo and Morfin both received Azkaban sentences. Morfin received three years for multiple attacks on muggles. Marvolo received six months for attacking members of the MLE. Merope, for the first time in her life, was on her own."
"And then she married Tom Riddle Senior?" she asked doubtfully.
"I'm inclined to believe that Merope used a love potion on him. They eloped and left Little Hangleton early in 1926. Tom Riddle Senior returned in August of 1926, saying that he had been bewitched and hoodwinked. Merope was never seen in Little Hangleton again. Though Marvolo returned to the cottage after his sentence and then died there, sometime before Morfin returned from his sentence," he explained.
"She raped him," Rachel said flatly. Sometimes the magical world was as horrifying as it was incredible. How easy it would be to rape someone after they'd been given a love potion, and they wouldn't even realize it. She shivered.
"Yes, she did. I think after a time she stopped giving him the love potion, believing that he would either truly love her by then, or that he would stay for the sake of their child. Clearly, she was mistaken," Professor Dumbledore said.
"People say that love potions are banned at Hogwarts." It wasn't quite a question.
"They are. All love potions, even the ones with far less strong effects, are banned at Hogwarts," he confirmed. "I have kept you here long enough for this evening. Next time we will meet Tom Riddle Junior as I knew him."
Rachel nodded but didn't move quite yet. Her eyes fell on his blackened and withered hand. Severus had told her how he'd been hurt, that he'd been cursed, but she hadn't seen it up close herself until now. "Are you alright, sir?"
"I am well. If you don't mind me asking, as very few people ask me that question, what prompted you to ask?" he asked, looking a little startled.
Not wanting to mention his hand, it was probably a sensitive subject, Rachel looked deeper. "It's just that if it's a lot for me, everything that's going on, it's probably much worse for you."
Professor Dumbledore shook his head. "I would not begin to compare our burdens, Rachel. I know you have had a great many things set on you, more than anyone should be asked to bear. I regret adding more, but I believe it is necessary that you come to understand Voldemort. Are you well, Rachel?"
Remembering that Professor Dumbledore always knew when people were lying, Rachel hesitated. "I'm trying," she finally said. "I'm trying to be okay."
"If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know. Whatever you need help with, whether it is a question about your school work or a larger concern about the war. You are still wearing your phoenix pendant?"
"Yes, right here," she said, tapping the chain around her neck.
"Good. Please use it the moment you feel that you are in danger. Are you feeling threatened? Are there additional steps we can take to further secure your safety?" he asked.
Rachel thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. "I think the castle is secured from outside threats. It's just the inside ones that we have to worry about."
"Severus told me about the Dark Mark on your door, and that he found the students responsible. Has anyone else done or said anything threatening?"
"No. They just…"
"They just what?" he prompted when she didn't continue.
"They just look at me. I see them sometimes, in the halls, or the common room, or in the Great Hall. And they look at me, and I know that they're talking about me. It's not anything threatening, it's just uncomfortable." She bit her lip, uncomfortable with the idea that she was whining at Professor Dumbledore.
"Severus knows the name of the students who are watching you?"
"Yes. He knows. And my friends know. And I'm careful not to be alone." The tendril of fear that she was constantly suppressing made itself known and she pushed it away ruthlessly. She was fine. No one was going to get her inside the castle.
"Continue to be cautious. Continue to be aware of your surroundings. If something changes, even if it is a small change, tell Severus. Do you want an additional escort within the school?" he asked.
Rachel shook her head again. "No. I'm good with just my friends. We're pretty prepared."
"The option is there at any time you wish for it. Simply let Severus or myself know. We will meet again in a few weeks, but in the meantime, if you need me for something non-urgent, ask Severus and he will arrange a meeting with me," Professor Dumbledore said.
Recognizing that she was being dismissed, she stood up. "Thank you, sir. I hope you have a good evening."
"You as well," he said.
Fawkes crooned at her again and she made her way over to his perch and carefully stroked the feathers on his neck. "Goodbye Fawkes, I'll see you in a little bit."
He gave a trilling noise in response.
Rachel let herself out of Professor Dumbledore's office and checked the time. Not quite an hour had passed, which meant her friends were still in the study room. It felt a little odd to walk the halls by herself and she wasn't sure if it was scary or freeing.
Everyone looked up when she came into the study room.
"How was it?" Ginny asked.
Rachel searched for the right words. "Informative, but unfortunately not something I'm allowed to share with anyone right now." She definitely couldn't explain to them why she was learning about the Dark Lord's childhood.
"Are you alright?" Millie asked.
"I'm fine. It's just been a long day. What are we studying?" she asked as she took her seat.
"Ancient Runes review," Luna said, looking up from where she'd been doodling runes on a piece of parchment.
"Okay," Rachel said, ready to push the Dark Lord out of her mind for a while, wanting to push him out. Maybe Professor Dumbledore wanted her to learn about the Dark Lord, but after that, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Rachel looked over the gathered DA in the Room of Requirement. There were a lot of familiar faces, but quite a number of new ones as well. She counted about thirty six people, which was probably toward the upper limit of what they could manage. Draco had shown up, leading the new members of the Quidditch team, which was nice. Pansy had brought the new Slytherin prefects, Amy and Fergus. There were a few members of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and most of the Gryffindor Quidditch team as well. They still didn't have a lot of Ravenclaw members, but Padma had agreed to join and Cho was standing with Anthony and Terry.
Professor Nash was standing to the side looking out on all of them. She had told them that for now she was just here to watch, but she would be happy to help if they asked her to do something.
"Alright," Hermione called, clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention. "To all of our returning members, welcome back. To all of our new members, welcome. We're glad to have all of you here. For people who have been here before, don't be surprised if there are a few repeat lessons, but we'll have some new stuff for you too. And, as always, we're here to hone our skills. You can never go wrong with more practice. Today we're going to be shielding, disarming, and dodging. These skills are Defense's bread and butter. We're going to start by having fifth year and up pair off with each other and practice. Trade around. Try to do the spells non-verbally if you can. Work on your speed and your agility. Again, you are only allowed to shield, disarm, or dodge. Fourth years and below, or anyone who needs a refresher on the Shield charm, come join us on the west side of the room and we'll go over the spells with you before we turn you loose."
The room broke into chatter as people quickly separated and tried to find pairings. Rachel went to the west side of the room, intending to instruct a small group on the spells.
Hermione moved among the lower years. "Let's see. Luna, can you take Maxine and Anthony?" she asked, pointing out two of the younger Hufflepuff Quidditch team members. "Rachel, can you take the younger Slytherins? And I'll take the younger Gryffindors."
Luna smiled and motioned for Maxine and Anthony to join her.
"Let's move over here," Rachel told Viola, Timothy, and Martin. She brought them over to the far side of the room and looked around again. Theo, Millie, Neville, and Ginny were moving among the upper years as the upper years paired off. She turned her back so she could focus on the people she was teaching. "Alright, let's start with the easy one first. Do any of you know the Disarming charm?"
"Expelliarmus," Martin said, making the wand motion.
"That's right. It works best if you aim at the wand hand, but in practical combat, just aim for the main body mass. Let's try it out, Martin and Timothy, can you go first so that Viola can see how it's done? Ten paces apart," she told them.
Martin and Timothy moved apart and held the wands ready.
"On three. One. Two. Three." she called.
"Expelliarmus!" they both shouted.
Rachel grabbed Viola and pulled her down as soon as she saw Timothy's spell fire astray in their direction before Martin's spell knocked his wand out of his hand. "Okay," she said, standing and patting Viola's shoulder. "You get the general idea. Aim is important. Let's try again, please, this time, pay attention to how you're standing. Actually, come here for a moment."
Martin and Timothy came back in. "Sorry," Timothy said, his face slightly flush.
"It's okay. We're learning. We're practicing. That's why we're doing this," she assured him, remembering Severus saying something like that to her when she was first learning this. "Alright, so when you're normally standing around, you're very easy to push off balance. Your feet are in a line, your body weight is directly over them, your hands are just kind of hanging out. That is not how you want to stand when you're casting combat spells," she explained, becoming aware that Professor Nash was watching from a short distance.
"Are you all right handed?" Rachel asked.
"Left here," Timothy said.
"Right," Viola said.
"Alright. So Timothy, when you're preparing to cast spells, you want your left foot to come forward a step. Viola and Martin, you're going to want your right foot to come forward a step," she said, demonstrating just like Severus had taught her during the summer between her fourth and her fifth year. "This is going to help your aim too. You want a continuous line, from your foot, up through your body, through your shoulder, and down your wand. You're drawing on your strength and on your magic. This is going to help when you're dodging too. You want to be able to pivot, or to drop to one knee. When you aim, turn your shoulder in slightly. You want to be looking directly down your wand. Draw your wand like you're aiming."
The three of them did so. Viola was practically bouncing in place.
Rachel adjusted Viola's wand arm. "Steady, for most spells, you want to be pointing this directly at the chest of your opponent, shoulder in." She moved onto Timothy and brought his arm down slightly. "Same thing, there are few spells you're going to want to aim at specific places, but for most of them, you want right here," she said, patting her chest. "Good, Martin. Alright, Timothy and Martin with the disarming charm one more time. If you were actually dueling, it's polite to sort of bow first, but we don't really do that in our club. Ten paces is pretty standard though."
The boys moved into place again.
"Adjust your stances. There you go. On three. One. Two, Three."
"Expelliarmus," they called. This time Martin lost his wand and Timothy took a step back as the spell clipped him.
"Better," she told them as Martin retrieved his wand. "Viola, are you ready to try?"
"Ready," she said eagerly. "Can I try against you?"
"Sure," Rachel said, though she doubted she was going to be disarmed by a second year. "Ten paces. Bend your knee slightly. On three. One. Two. Three."
"Expelliarmus!" Viola shouted, though her aim was a bit wide.
Rachel gently disarmed her and caught Viola's wand. "Your enthusiasm is good, but you've got to stop bouncing. You want your body to be like a tree branch. You're flexible, movable, but you're steady and still," she said, returning her wand. "Come back in for a moment. Now for the hard one, the Shield charm. There's no real wand movement, you're just going to hold your wand out where you want your shield to form. The incantation is Protego. This spell needs power behind it. Do you know how to feel your magic?"
The three of them shook their heads.
Rachel took them through the steps, using the Wand Lighting charm for her example, and then had them practice. Finally, after about twenty minutes of work, all three of them managed to get a shield to briefly shimmer. "Good work, all of you. I suggest spending five minutes a day and practicing the Shield charm. The more you get used to calling on your magic like that, the easier it will be. It looks like the other lower years are done with their lessons. Go pair up with one of them and try out what you've learned, we've still got about twenty minutes left."
Viola and Timothy hurried away, but Martin turned back. "Thanks, Rachel."
"No problem," she told him.
Professor Nash approached. "Before today, I would have said that the Shield charm couldn't be taught to a twelve year old who hasn't had the appropriate one-on-one tutoring leading up to the charm," she said.
Rachel peered out over the students before she found Dennis facing off with Felix. "That's Dennis Creevey," she said, pointing him out and watching him disarm Felix. "He was twelve last year when we taught him the Shield charm. He can also cast a non-corporeal Patronus. Everyone who was in our club last year can cast both those charms, and almost all of our sixth and seventh years in the club have a corporeal Patronus."
Professor Nash watched Dennis for a moment before looking back at Rachel. "You have a corporeal Patronus?"
Steadying herself, Rachel drew her wand and called on the happiest memories she had. "Expecto patronum." Thankfully her doe appeared. After she hadn't been able to cast it in the dorm hallway a few weeks ago she'd been worried that she'd lost it. "I've had a corporeal Patronus since I was in my third year. Neville Longbottom, Theo Nott, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley have all also had corporeal Patronuses since third year."
"Remarkable. This is routinely taught at Hogwarts?" she asked.
"The Patronus charm isn't taught until seventh year. But Professor Snape taught it to me, and I taught it to my friends, and last year we taught it in the club. We'll start teaching the new students in the club around Christmas and most of them will have it by the end of the term. It seems to take about six months of consistent work for most people." She resisted the urge to ask if Professor Nash had a corporeal Patronus.
"Did Professor Snape teach you what you were teaching the students as well? As far as I can tell from watching my classes, combat stances aren't known to most of them."
"Yes, Professor Snape taught me that, and we teach it in the club," Rachel said, glancing at the professor, trying to see if there was a problem.
Professor Nash was looking around the room. "This is definitely different from the clubs at WAM. Our clubs are a little less formal instruction and more activity based."
"We're not very formal. We'll do a variety of activities. We're not trying to take the place of your Defense class," she quickly assured her, even though their club had been meant to take the place of the Defense class last year. She felt a twinge as she remembered Professor Podmore. He should be here right now. He was supposed to be here right now.
"I look forward to seeing more of your club meetings then. I'm interested to see how you do things," Professor Nash said.
"Rachel! Rachel! I disarmed Anthony!" Viola said as she bounded up to them.
"Good job," Rachel told her.
"We should do dives tomorrow," she said, looking hopeful.
"We'll see. Go on, I'm sure there are more people who want to partner with you." She didn't have to shoo Viola away, she bounced back out on her own.
"It's also a bit of a surprise that you have such a wide age range in your club. I was anticipating that this would be older students," Professor Nash said.
"We're very careful with them. We do everything to make sure they won't get hurt. All of the older students know to be gentle," she said, glancing at Professor Nash again and this time she found her looking back.
Professor Nash shook her head. "I'm sure you do. I merely meant that I didn't expect the older students to wish to hang out with the younger students or instruct them."
"We take care of our own," Rachel said, feeling protective of both her Quidditch team and the DA.
"Okay, everyone! Gather in. What did we learn?" Hermione called.
Rachel watched as people called out the advice they had, some people getting laughs as they gave silly tips. Hermione dismissed them, reminding them that they'd meet again next Tuesday at the same time.
It felt weird to not have to send people out into small groups, to not be checking to make sure no one was watching them. It was better this way, but it was also slightly nerve wracking for their teaching to be judged as well. She looked at Professor Nash again. "Thank you for coming. We appreciate you sponsoring our club."
"So you've all said. I will see you in class on Thursday then, unless you need me for anything else?"
"No, we're all done," Rachel said.
"Good evening," Professor Nash nodded and walked away.
The rest of the study group made their way to Rachel.
"What did she say?" Hermione asked, looking nervous.
"She was surprised by a few things, but she generally seemed approving," Rachel said, making her best guess based on their conversation.
"That's good. She didn't say she wanted anything changed?" Theo asked.
"No. She mentioned that clubs at her school had a little less formal instruction, so I assured her we'd be doing activities as well as instruction," Rachel said. "She was surprised that we had younger students here, so I told her that we take good care of them."
"Well, I think it went pretty well then," Millie said.
"I think so too," Ginny said. "Everyone behaved themselves and that's not always a given when you mix four Quidditch teams together."
Neville nodded. "I didn't see anything that wasn't generally good natured."
"Good. I think we can continue with our curriculum as planned. Anything else for tonight?" Hermione asked.
Rachel shook her head. She was ready to go to bed.
"Let's be done," Luna said. "We can start again tomorrow."
"Yes, let's," Millie agreed.
"Okay, I think we should start marking in our books again when everyone is safe in their common rooms, just to be sure," Hermione said.
"Something you're worried about?" Theo asked, their full attention now on Hermione.
"Not specifically. I just think it would be a good idea," Hermione said, her gaze darting to Rachel.
"We can do that," Rachel said, figuring it would be easier to just do it, and that way they all knew that everyone made it back alright. She wasn't too worried about the Gryffindors, they went back to the common room together, but Luna was on her own.
"It doesn't hurt to have precautions. The sooner we know someone is missing, the better," Neville said.
Hermione nodded. "That's how I feel too. Luna, do you want us to walk you back to Ravenclaw?"
Luna looked around. "I think we're all remembering the DA from last year and how careful we had to be in the halls. I think we're okay now though. Professor Nash seems alright so far."
Rachel hadn't realized that the others were feeling it too.
"I suppose we are," Theo said. "We're used to having to hide, but we don't need to do that now. We'll be alright."
"We will. I keep thinking we're going to have to use the map to check if the way is clear, or have to hide." Millie was absently rubbing the back of her left hand. "I think it will just take time until we're used to this now."
"It still doesn't hurt to have our eyes out, but I think for the DA we're probably fine," Ginny said, looking around at all of them. "Luna, do you want someone to walk with you?"
"No, I'll go by myself, but thank you," Luna said.
"Alright. But still, everyone leave a note in the book, or we're going to be sending a Patronus to look for you," Hermione said.
"Goodnight," Millie said.
They all said goodnight and somewhat wearily, Rachel left the room with Theo and Millie. Somehow their days just kept getting longer and longer, or at least it felt that way. The DA was important though. It had been last year, and even if the need wasn't quite as dire now, it was still important to her.
Rachel sat in the common room with her two-way book open in her lap as she tried to review the Transfiguration notes that Hermione had written this evening. They'd moved on from the theory of animate conjurations and were now practicing. Currently they were working on conjuring worms.
She found she was a little uncomfortable with the idea. She knew that conjured animals were not like real animals. They would only last for a few hours and they didn't have souls. On one hand, it was probably a good thing that souls couldn't be created like that. On the other, it was still hard to vanish the animals when they were done with them. She felt like she was killing them, even though she knew she wasn't.
"Theo?" she asked, looking up from her book.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Can someone who is really good at Transfiguration conjure a human body? Aren't humans just advanced animals?"
Theo frowned as he considered it. "I've never heard of anyone doing it, I'm sure it would be considered Dark Arts. But even if they could, they wouldn't behave like a human. They wouldn't have memories, I doubt they'd be able to talk. And they'd die pretty quickly."
"Why would anyone want to?" Millie asked.
Rachel shrugged. She was sure there were plenty of depraved things that dark wizards would want to do with a human body. "I suppose organ transplants wouldn't be possible from a conjured human body," she said, instead of suggesting her first thought.
"No, just like we can't use potions ingredients from something that's conjured," Theo said.
"Besides, most of the time they just regrow an organ if someone needs it, and even that's pretty rare," Millie added.
"I suppose so," she said. Sometimes she forgot about all the things that magic could do compared to muggle medicine. She glanced around the common room. Hestia and Flora were in their usual spot, currently chatting with Simon and Maxwell. Every now and then one of them glanced in her direction.
That was unsurprising, but still unsettling. She wished there was some way to know what they were saying about her. Selina and Ella weren't in the common room yet, they were probably in detention with Severus. Selina had taken to glaring at Rachel whenever she saw her. Rachel didn't see Michael Pike anywhere, but it wasn't quite curfew yet.
The prefects were on the sofas in front of the fireplace with a few other upper years. For once, Draco had joined them. Rachel was glad to see that. She thought Draco needed more friends, now more than ever. He had been joining the study group for Potions homework and that was going alright so far. Everyone was a little bit uncomfortable, but Draco was behaving himself while he was there.
"Ready for the brewing trials tomorrow?" Millie asked.
"I'm not really sure what we should have done to get ready. Rachel, do you know what we're going to be doing?" Theo asked.
Rachel shook her head. "He hasn't said. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to pick our team."
"Why?" Theo asked, his brow furrowing briefly before he smoothed his expression.
"Well, for one, I think he wants seventh years who have already had a year of NEWT classes so they have the best chance to compete with the other schools. And I suspect he really doesn't want me to compete," she admitted.
"Why wouldn't he?" Millie asked. "I thought he was supportive of you going on to do a Potions Mastery. Isn't that what he wants?"
She hesitated. She strongly suspected any plans that she had to do a Potions Mastery after Hogwarts weren't going to happen. Severus and Professor Dumbledore would want her focus to be on the war. And then she would die. Hopefully sooner rather than later, if nothing else, then to stop other people from dying needlessly.
"Rachel?" Theo prompted.
"He is supportive. I think he's just worried about me adding something else to my schedule. He already isn't happy that I'm taking seven classes," she explained, going for the simpler, yet still truthful explanation.
"Seven classes is a lot," Millie agreed.
"It is, but it's manageable. Has Professor Snape told you he won't pick our team?" Theo asked. "I'm not sure what the point is in us doing the brewing trial if he has."
"No, he hasn't said anything like that. I'm sure he'll give us a fair chance. I just don't think it's likely we'll be picked, that's all," she said, catching someone moving toward them out of the corner of her eye. She turned and found Pansy walking up to them.
"Can I borrow you for a few minutes, Rachel?" Pansy asked.
"Sure," Rachel said, knowing that Pansy wanted her to look over the letter she'd undoubtedly written with Severus today. She gathered her things and walked with Pansy toward their dorm.
"I'm so glad it's Friday," Pansy said. "I feel like I could sleep forever."
"Me too," Rachel said, a little relieved that Pansy had said that. If other people felt that way, that meant it wasn't something wrong with her, it was just school stress.
"Draco said that you have the preliminary brewing competition thing tomorrow," Pansy said as they went into their dorm room.
"Yes, Professor Snape will be picking the team to represent Hogwarts," Rachel said, scooping up Midnight as she made a run for the door.
"Well, good luck. I know Draco really wants to do it," she said, digging in her bag and then handing Rachel a folded piece of parchment.
Dropping Midnight on her bed, Rachel sat down to read the letter.
'Dear Mother and Father,
I hope you are both well. I'm very busy here at Hogwarts. I didn't realize how difficult the classes would be this year. We have so much homework. I really feel like I'm in over my head in Arithmancy.
In Transfiguration we're still working on animate conjurations. Rachel conjured a worm well before I did. In Charms we're working on non-verbal casting, which Rachel can do most of the time as well. She also performed the Bubble-Head charm on the first try. In Defense we're also working on non-verbal casting. Rachel is among the best in the class.
Rachel seems to be sleeping better this year, I haven't heard her having any nightmares. She's also fairly isolated, she doesn't talk to me and Daphne much and I don't see her without her friends by her side. She doesn't spend much time with Draco outside of the Quidditch team. He seems to be avoiding her, and she him.
My prefect responsibilities are as they ever are. I'm still teaching Charms to the first and second years, and that's going alright. I rather like teaching, but I don't think I'd want to do it as a career.
The first Hogsmeade weekend is Saturday, 2 November. I'm not sure if Rachel is planning to go or not.
With lots of love, your faithful daughter, Pansy'
Rachel licked her lips nervously. She knew Hogsmeade weekends weren't a secret, but it still unnerved her to think about the Death Eaters knowing. Maybe she'd skip Hogsmeade this time. "It looks fine," she told Pansy, getting up to hand the letter back.
"We're trying to be non-specific," Pansy said, accepting the letter and looking down at it.
"I know. Do you want some help with Arithmancy?" she asked.
Pansy looked up. "Do you understand this whole graph thing and the equations becoming movements?"
"Yeah, it took a while, but I've got it. Does Daphne need help too?"
"Yes, we both need help. I would really appreciate it. We both would. I've got to go back out there in the common room, but maybe tomorrow evening after you're done with the brewing thing?" Pansy asked.
"Sure, I'd be glad to help. You okay in your other classes?" she asked, figuring she might as well offer.
"I am. I'm still getting the hang of conjuring living worms, mine keep coming out dead already." Pansy shook her head. "It's kind of gross."
"It is. You should have seen some of the stuff that came out of our wands when we were learning to conjure seagulls in our fourth year," she said, grimacing a little at the reminder.
"No wonder you're so far ahead in classes. It's like you learn everything before it's taught in class," Pansy said, tucking her letter away.
"Not everything. I already knew the Bubble-Head charm, because I learned that for the second task. And most of the Defense stuff we covered in fourth year too, and then taught in the DA last year. And I read the assigned books over the summer, so I usually have a pretty good idea of what we're doing." She shrugged. When she put it that way, it sounded like a lot. She collected her book again and stood, ready to go back to her friends for a little while.
"You're a bit obsessive," Pansy said as they made their way back out of the dorm.
"A little bit," Rachel agreed. She didn't think that was entirely a bad thing. "See you later."
"See you," Pansy said, breaking away to go back to where the other prefects were sitting.
Rachel sat down next to Millie again. "Are we alright to tutor Pansy and Daphne in Arithmancy tomorrow evening?"
"That's fine. Honestly, the review wouldn't hurt me either," Millie said.
"That's definitely our most difficult class," Theo agreed. "It's interesting though. I'm really looking forward to getting to the spell creation part."
"Me too," Millie said.
Rachel nodded absently and left her book closed. She was tired, but she couldn't go to bed at eight o'clock without attracting attention. Maybe she could excuse herself in thirty minutes. That wouldn't be so bad.
She wondered how much use the Dark Lord was getting out of Pansy's letters. She couldn't imagine that the Dark Lord cared that she could conjure worms or that she knew the Bubble-Head charm. They could find out the date of the Hogsmeade weekend from any student at Hogwarts. And everyone knew that Rachel stayed close to her friends.
The whole thing seemed a little pointless, but if it helped keep Pansy safe, then Rachel was willing to do it for as long as it was necessary.
"You okay?" Millie asked quietly.
"Yeah, just thinking," Rachel said. She could stand to think a little less.
Severus finished setting out the necessary ingredients and materials for the brewing trial just before one o'clock and looked over his classroom. There was part of him that was relieved that Slughorn would take over mentoring the team. He simply did not have the time to do it right now. And he couldn't do it even if he wished to. Judges weren't allowed to mentor a team beyond what they would ordinarily teach them in the course of their classwork.
The potions championship when he was at Hogwarts had unfortunately taken place when he was a fifth year, which was just one year too young to have the chance to compete. That had irritated both him and Lily, as they felt they would have done well to represent Hogwarts. Hogwarts had taken third place that year. In the intervening years, they had taken second place, losing both times to Mahoutokoro. The mentor for the Hogwarts teams those years had been Potions Master Philip Jessot, who had unfortunately passed on in the summer six years ago. He had been 129 years old and a renowned inventor who had used the potions championship to handpick apprentices.
He knew that Slughorn didn't take apprentices, which was probably for the best, but being on the Hogwarts potions team would give whoever was on it a leg up in applying for an apprenticeship when they left Hogwarts. Declan was planning to pursue potions and he knew that Helen wanted into the Healer's Training Program. Tracey had spoken of entering the Ministry, but she was wavering on doing a Mastery first. Tristram wanted to go into the MLE, which was unfortunate. He hated seeing promising students wasting themselves like that.
"Can we come in?"
Severus looked up to find Rachel in the doorway. "Yes, come pick a station but don't touch anything yet. The trial will be timed."
She entered with Theo, Hermione, and Draco behind her and they took the stations at the far left of the classroom near the sinks.
He was not planning on choosing Rachel's team. All four of them had more than enough to get on with and they had only just started their NEWT classes. Rachel and Draco were both talented brewers, and Hermione and Theo had both shown their commitment to learning, but they still had plenty to learn. A year of education made a lot of difference at their age.
Tristram, Tracey, Helen, and Declan arrived next and took the stations in the middle.
His last team, consisting most of the rest of his seventh year potions students, Bridget, Eddie, Carl, and Derek, took the stations on the far right.
"Today we will be attempting a common challenge in the potions championships. You will be given a list of potions to brew and you will complete as many of them as possible during the time limit. Credit is not given for incomplete potions. The potions must be in their vials when time is called in order to count. You are also graded on how well the potions are brewed. Having more complete potions that are poorly brewed will give you a lower score than having fewer potions that are well brewed. Are there any questions before I reveal the list?" he asked, looking over his students.
A number of students shook their heads.
"You have three hours, you may begin now," he said, tapping his wand to the blackboard to reveal the list of potions that he had chosen.
This was almost always the first challenge in the potions championship, though the potions on the list varied so that a mentor couldn't simply teach his team the potions that would be tested. He had chosen the Antidote to Common Poisons, Befuddlement Draught, Blood Replenishing potion, Calming Draught, Invigoration Draught, Pepper-Up Potion, and Shrinking Solution. While it was theoretically possible for a team of four to brew all of those in three hours, it would take multiple cauldrons brewing per person, which was not something he taught in his classes.
Tristram and Tracey's team began assigning potions to each team member and trading around ingredients.
Bridget's team began arranging cauldrons in a row and discussing which potions should be brewed together.
Rachel's team was quiet and didn't seem to be moving.
Severus wandered over and found them bent over a piece of parchment, Hermione writing rapidly while the others watched. He moved closer, curious as to what they were planning.
Hermione had made four columns and below that was writing the times and ingredients for each of the potions, apparently from memory.
"We need to start the Invigoration Draught right away, but whoever is taking that can take the Shrinking solution and brew it during the stewing time," Hermione said quietly.
"I've got both of them," Theo said, breaking away and grabbing two cauldrons.
"The Pepper-Up and the Calming Draught can be brewed together. Rachel, do you want those?" Hermione asked. "Prepare your ingredients first, then start the Pepper-Up and then the Calming Draught an hour in."
"Sure," Rachel said, moving away.
"I'll take the Antidote to Common Poisons and the front half of the Blood Replenishing potion if you can take the Befuddlement Draught and the back half of the Blood Replenishing potion," Draco said, already going towards the ingredients.
"That's fine, let's begin," Hermione said.
Severus watched for another moment while they prepared cauldrons and then left them to it. That was about how he would have divided the brewing tasks as well - not many people would think to split the brewing of a potion to allow the more difficult steps for someone who had already brewed another potion, while the partner began a potion that had been boiling for twenty minutes after preparation.
He walked back and forth at the front of the classroom, pausing to observe and take mental notes. He saw sloppy brewing techniques from Eddie, who should really be past such things by the time he was a seventh year. Being rushed was no excuse. Tristram and Tracey's group was doing better, but he still saw things like dropped and scattered ingredients as people reached for them in haste. Rachel's group had set up cauldrons along the back row of workstations and left the ingredients on the front row so that they could all access them without ducking around cauldrons. With seven cauldrons bubbling, they were busy, but he didn't see anything amiss.
The time passed quickly and he checked potions as they were placed in the vial racks at the front of the workstations. Bridget's Shrinking Solution was too thin. Helen's Calming Draught was turquoise rather than blue. He kept notes on a parchment, not using a numerical point system, just a note as to whether a potion was brewed correctly. He was getting the uncomfortable feeling that Rachel's team were the better brewers.
He did not want Rachel in this competition. She was already overworked and overstressed. She was still recovering from being tortured. He feared that adding one more thing was going to result in a complete breakdown. He should have insisted that she drop another class, though even if she had, he still wouldn't want her in this competition.
He had already been planning for her to have an auror escort while the other schools and judges were in Hogwarts, but he had also planned for her to be kept well away from the visitors as well, just in case. If she was in the competition, she was going to be exposed to them regularly for those two weeks. There was part of him that was reasonably certain that their visitors would not be a threat, but there was a much larger part of him that considered anyone unknown a threat to him and Rachel. He had to keep her safe.
Glancing at the classroom clock, he found that they still had ten minutes left and Rachel's team had just placed their last potion in their rack and were sitting wearily on their stools.
Severus walked over and began taking notes on their potions. Everything was brewed either to his standards, or to the standards found in their textbooks for the potions he had not yet taught them.
Rachel looked at him, her eyebrows raised, clearly wanting his judgment.
He nodded to her and moved back to the other teams and waited. "That's time," he said, when the clock reached four o'clock.
"Damn it," Eddie said, plunking down his stirring rod with a splash.
"That was your fault," Carl said, giving Eddie a little push.
"I didn't see you volunteering to brew the Invigoration Draught," Eddie said back.
"Shut up, both of you," Bridget snapped as she sat down while looking frustrated.
Severus tuned them out as he checked their potions. Bridget's team had completed six potions, but two of them were not up to his standards.
He moved over to Tristram and Tracey's group. They had filled seven vials, but the Invigoration Draught was clearly incomplete and the Calming Draught was also incorrect, too much lavender had been added.
Returning to the front of the classroom, facing away from the students, he quickly thought about his options. He could protect Rachel, he decided. And he could convince her to drop a class. She wanted to do a Potions Mastery and competing would mean that she would likely have her pick of a master or a mistress, especially if the team took first or second place.
He turned. "Well done, all of you. One team completed all seven potions to my standards. Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Theo Nott, and Rachel Snow will be the competing team for Hogwarts. Please clean up your stations before you leave."
The seventh years were obviously disappointed and he caught Carl throwing a bat spleen at Eddie. "Detention, Mr. Hopkins," he said before Eddie could retaliate.
"Well, we tried," Tracey said.
"We did," Tristram agreed.
Rachel's team was smiling as they cleaned up, clearly excited about the upcoming competition.
Severus prepared himself for his conversation with her. It would have to be at dinner tomorrow, but after he'd gotten her to eat something. He knew by now that she wouldn't eat if there had been an upset before the meal.
"Do you want dessert?" Severus asked.
Rachel looked up from where she'd been poking at the last of her meal with her fork. She'd had a bread roll, a small bowl of applesauce, a small bowl of buttered noodles, and some cauliflower. It wasn't exactly a traditional meal, but Severus had wanted her to eat and this was what she felt like she could eat at the moment. Her stomach was now uncomfortably full. "No, nothing else."
"I'm sure the House Elves have chocolate of some kind in the kitchen. Or a custard tart perhaps?" he suggested.
"No, really. I'm done. I should go, I've got things to do," she said.
"Wait, we need to speak before you go."
Well that sounded ominous. "We've been sitting here for thirty minutes. We haven't talked about all that much."
Severus frowned as he looked her. "Sometimes when we have a discussion before or while you are eating, you get too upset to eat."
"I don't," she said quickly. It wasn't that she got upset. She thought she did a relatively decent job at not getting upset. It was just hard to eat if her stomach was wound up in a ball of anxiety.
He raised an eyebrow at her but didn't comment. "I wanted to talk to you about the potions championship and what it will entail."
"Okay. Don't you want the rest of the team for that though?" That didn't sound too bad, but Severus was acting as though this was something that she wouldn't want to hear.
"No, this concerns you. Three things, actually, and we'll start with the simpler two. The first is that while the other schools and judges are here, you will have an auror escort within the school. I don't anticipate that anyone will be a threat to you, but I am not willing to take any chances when we don't know these people," he said.
"It's just for two weeks, right? In January?" She thought she could live with that.
"A little over two weeks, at the end of January and the first part of February, yes." He nodded, though he was watching her closely.
"And not inside my dorm?"
"No, they will remain outside the common room, unless people from the other schools are inside the common room at the same time as you. There will also be additional aurors stationed at the school at this time," he explained.
"Could it be Tonks?" she asked, thinking that would probably be the best case scenario.
"Staffing assignments are up to the auror office, but if you feel more comfortable with Tonks, I can have Albus make that request. Can I take it as a given that you won't try to sneak away from your guard?"
"Yes. I'm surprised that you think that I would do that." Maybe he trusted her a little less now that he knew about the DA? She hoped not.
"I didn't expect that you would, but I also wanted to reiterate the point because it's important. They are there to protect you and the best way that they can do that is if you're in their line of sight. If we are agreed, on to the second thing we need to discuss. Professor Horace Slughorn will be mentoring the potions team, presumably starting next weekend once Albus has him safely in the castle. Watch your back around him. I don't anticipate he will be a direct threat, but Slughorn has a habit of…" Severus trailed off.
"A habit of what?" she asked, slightly alarmed. A number of things came to mind and none of them were good.
"He likes to collect people," Severus finally said. "He was my Potions professor at Hogwarts and he used his position to try to make advantageous connections for himself. When a student came from a powerful family, or showed a particular talent, he would collect them in his club. A number of people in a variety of positions, both in the Ministry and in the guilds, got to where they were because of his introductions. I have no doubt that he will wish to collect you and quite possibly your friends as well."
"Why can't you mentor the team?" She was more than a little put off by the idea of being 'collected' by anyone.
"Because I will be one of the judges. It is traditional. The Potions Master or Mistress from each school is a judge, along with three prominent Potions Masters from the country the hosting school is in. Each team has a mentor, usually someone from their own potions community, and that is used as an opportunity for students to acquire apprenticeships. It would not surprise me at all if one of the judges in the competition offered to apprentice you when you finish at Hogwarts, particularly if your team places well."
Rachel looked away. She needed to talk to Severus about this and now seemed like the time. "I'm not sure it's going to be safe for me to go on to do a Potions Mastery."
"We will make it safe. If you don't want to do a Potions Mastery, that is one thing. If you don't want to do it, it's fine. You have plenty of other options. But if you do want to do it, then we will find a way to make it work," he said.
She sighed. "But I'm going to be spending my time preparing for dealing with the Dark Lord, aren't I? With the Order?"
"The Order is no one's full time job. You will have time to do both, if you want to. Quidditch, on the other hand, may have to wait until after the war."
"I know. I kinda figured that too. But why would a Potions Master or Mistress want to apprentice me if it puts them in danger? Wouldn't they just want to take someone else as an apprentice?" She wasn't even sure if she could ask them to in good conscience.
"Every Potions Master or Mistress who is accepting apprentices looks for candidates who are talented and dedicated. You are both. Generally only one or two students a year who receive a NEWT in Potions wish to consider going on to a Mastery, so while they are picky who they accept as apprentices, there is almost always someone who is interested in taking on a student. We will find someone who is willing to take the safety measures necessary to work with you. I am well connected in the community and I have several people in mind who would likely accept you as an apprentice," he said, nodding when she finally looked at him.
"Isn't that nepotism?" She definitely didn't want someone taking her as an apprentice just because they knew Severus.
"No. They will not accept you if you don't do well on your NEWT. You are not being given a position that you haven't earned. And this competition will give you the chance to become known in the brewing community as well. Which brings me to my last point of discussion. I'd like you to drop a class," he said firmly.
Rachel shook her head. "I don't need to drop a class. You told me to see how it was after a month. It's nearly been a month and I'm fine. I'm actually studying less this year than I was last year."
"Which only goes to show that you put too much time into studying last year. It is not reasonable for you to take seven classes, captain the Quidditch team, and be on the potions team."
She paused as she clawed for a response. "Give me another month. If I can't do it all, I will drop a class. But I think if you asked the other professors, they'd say that my work is good. My work is good in your class, isn't it?"
"It is. I'm not concerned about the quality of your work. Rachel, I do not want you to spend all day studying. It is not healthy."
"I go flying twice a week. I visit Hagrid for tea every week. I've been talking with Sirius every other week. I eat all my meals in the Great Hall." She hesitated. For some definitions of eat, at least. "I am getting at least ten hours of sleep every night. I see Torey every Saturday. I spend time in the common room in the evenings. I see you every Sunday. I have the DA once a week. I do lots of things that aren't studying."
"And how do you plan on fitting preparation with the potions team into that? I suspect Slughorn will want you for three or four hours on the weekend." Both of his eyebrows had climbed now.
Rachel thought about it. She supposed it depended on when Professor Slughorn wanted to meet. "The only things from that list I do on the weekends are flying, seeing Torey, and seeing Hagrid. I'm assuming Professor Slughorn won't want to conflict with our Quidditch practice, and I see Torey early enough that shouldn't be a problem. I can see Hagrid after Quidditch practice, and then see you at dinner time."
"And that won't conflict with finishing homework?" he asked, sounding doubtful.
"No, mostly we use Sundays for review. We try to stay up with our homework during the week. Like I said, we're studying less now than we were last year. Please, give me a month. If I can't do it, I will tell you." She knew that she could do it. If she could make it through last year with ten classes, Quidditch, OWL reviews, the DA, and running from Umbridge, this shouldn't be a problem.
"Alright. We will revisit this conversation at the end of October. I want you to look at your schedule honestly and ask if you are asking too much of yourself. You are still recovering," he finally said.
"Thank you. And I'm already doing better than I was at the start of term." In some regards she was. She still couldn't make it up seven flights of stairs without a break. She still tended to want to go to bed at eight thirty. Her body still shook, especially after climbing stairs or standing for a long time. Her hands still shook, and she was pretty sure that wasn't going away at all because it hadn't improved in four weeks. But at least she could get around. And at least she could fly again, even if she had to take frequent breaks. And at least she wasn't dreaming.
Severus nodded slightly. "I have your potions for the week in my lab, I'll go get them."
She went to get her bag from where she'd left it by the sofa while he left to get the potions. She quickly covered a yawn. If Severus saw her doing that he probably would demand that she drop a class.
He returned with a rack of vials. "You're still able to fall asleep while you're taking these?"
"Yes, I have no problems with falling asleep at all," she said, carefully transferring the vials into her bag. It was waking up in the morning that was hard. Most mornings she simply did not want to get out of bed.
"Is there anything I should know? Defense is going alright?" he asked.
"Defense is alright. So far Professor Nash seems okay. Much better than most of our other Defense professors, at least. And everything else is pretty much the same as it usually is." Everything still felt weird, but Severus didn't need to know that. She didn't even know how to explain it. Sometimes she just felt weird.
"I'll walk you back to the common room. I presume you're meeting Millie and Theo there?"
"Yes, they'll be there. I don't hang out in the common room unless at least one of them is there," she assured him. She clenched her teeth to prevent herself from yawning again and led the way out of his quarters. It was easier just to accept the escort than it was arguing that she didn't need it. She had to save arguing for when it was important, like not having one of her classes dropped.
Overall, the day hadn't been terrible, but she was ready to be done.
The last week of September seemed to pass quickly. Life had become routine once again, even though Rachel couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Sometimes she wondered if the feeling came from the Dark Lord. Maybe she was feeling the inherent 'wrongness' of his existence. She kind of hoped that was it, because if it wasn't, that meant the 'wrongness' was coming from inside her. For the most part, she thought she was doing alright. In some ways, she was doing better this year than she'd been doing last year.
They continued to get war news at breakfast from the newspaper. Reports of aurors and the MLE patrol being summoned for attacks were now common. Sometimes there was a mention of a murder or multiple murders. On Thursday it was suggested that Death Eaters were responsible for a flood in Cornwall that had killed seven muggles. Once again, Rachel didn't quite see the point. Killing muggles wasn't gaining the Dark Lord or the Death Eaters anything. And like the bridge collapsing, these weren't personal or up close murders.
Most of the upper years were now reading the newspaper every morning, usually accompanied by worried frowns and whispers. Rachel generally set the newspaper on her plate and read as much of it as she had time for. At this point she wasn't even up to drinking pumpkin juice first thing in the morning. She was vaguely aware that she needed to eat more, but her stomach was rather insistent that she didn't. She figured it would be better when she stopped taking the modified Nerve Tonic in a month and she could wait until then and see what happened.
"Anything?" Theo asked on Sunday morning as he served himself some eggs and sausage.
Rachel wrinkled her nose at the smell of the sausage. "Another dementor sighting, this time in Somerset. It was gone before the MLE patrol arrived," she said, feeling a little bit relieved. If there had been a murder, it would have been on the front page.
"If the Dark Lord has lost control of them, someone has to go round them up," Millie said, buttering a piece of toast.
"How exactly do you round up a dementor?" Rachel asked. She knew she could cause one to retreat by aiming her Patronus at it, but that wasn't the same as getting it to go back to Azkaban.
"Well, the dementors have to understand basic instructions, or we wouldn't be able to use them as guards at Azkaban. How you get a dementor to do something it doesn't want to do, that I don't know," Theo said.
Rachel pondered it for a moment before shaking her head and returning her attention to the newspaper. There really wasn't anything she could do about the loose dementors. She just hoped that they weren't taking anyone's soul, though surely that would have been published in the paper if that was the case. Then again, considering what she knew about how the Daily Prophet reported things, maybe not.
"It's really all morning? And then you have Quidditch practice after lunch?" Pansy was saying as she arrived at the table with Draco and Daphne.
"Nine to noon is what our instructions said," Draco said as he sat down across from Rachel.
"I'm so glad I didn't take NEWT Potions," Daphne said. "I think you're all nuts to sign up for this."
"Could be worse, could be the Triwizard Tournament," Theo said.
Rachel grimaced at the reminder. This was nothing like the Triwizard Tournament. Severus would never have let her sign up if it was.
"Some of us actually like brewing potions," Draco said, frowning down at the front page of the newspaper that he'd placed on his plate.
"Are you considering a Potions Mastery?" she asked. "Professor Snape said this is a good way to get the attention of a Potions Master or Mistress for an apprenticeship."
"I don't know what I'm considering yet. There are a lot of options open to me now that weren't before," he said, his brow creasing momentarily.
"I know what you mean," Theo said.
Draco looked up for a moment and stared at Theo before nodding slightly and returning to the paper.
"I think I might want my own greenhouse," Pansy said as she arranged food on her plate. "It's a little silly, but I think I'd like it."
"I don't think it's silly," Millie said.
"It's not silly," Daphne agreed. "Herbologists are always in demand."
Rachel glanced down the Quidditch section in the paper, though her mind was elsewhere. Here they were all making plans for the future, but how many of them would actually be able to see those plans through? The war felt like it was pressing in on her. It was her responsibility to end it. All of these plans her friends were making, it was up to her to make sure they had the opportunity for that future.
She felt like she was standing still while the war was happening around her. How long would Severus and Professor Dumbledore want her to wait before she faced the Dark Lord? At least until she finished at Hogwarts. That was two years of murders and god knew what else. What was she supposed to do? She felt like she needed to be doing something, but she had no idea what other than the training she was supposed to have done over the summer.
"We should get going if we're going to be in the dungeons by nine o'clock," Hermione said as she arrived behind Rachel.
Rachel jolted slightly, but folded the newspaper and got to her feet.
"See you later, have fun. Don't let Slughorn do anything weird," Millie said.
"We'll be alright, and we've got ways of getting a message out if we need to," Theo said as he joined Rachel.
Draco stood as well, dusting toast crumbs off of his hands.
The four of them made their way out of the Great Hall together, Rachel now pondering Professor Slughorn rather than the war. She had given all of her friends Severus' warning about Professor Slughorn wanting to 'collect' them, but none of them had any practical ideas of what that would look like.
They made their way into the dungeons, beyond the Potions classroom, Severus' office door, the common room, down another set of stairs, and to a room Rachel hadn't been in before. They'd been instructed not to bother to bring their cauldrons and their potions kits, and once they were inside the room, Rachel understood why. It was more of a brewing laboratory than a classroom, and cauldrons and ingredients had already been set out for them.
"Welcome, come closer," a rather large man said from the front of the room. "Let's see, let's see what we've got here."
They lined up in front of him, Rachel clasping her hands and aiming for looking as normal as possible.
"I'm Professor Horace Slughorn, of course, and I'll be mentoring the team. You're in luck, no one else will have a mentor like me, if I do say so myself. Now, this must be Mr. Draco Malfoy. I've been told you have a prodigious talent for brewing."
"Yes, sir," Draco said, looking pleased.
"Very good, very good. And this must be Mr. Theodore Nott. Second in your year, if I'm not mistaken, and nine Outstandings on your OWLs," Professor Slughorn said, looking Theo up and down.
"Yes, sir," Theo said, his expression wavering between neutral and wary.
Professor Slughorn nodded and moved on. "Miss Hermione Granger, I presume. First in your year, ten Outstanding OWLs, and quite a powerhouse from what I hear."
"Thank you, sir," Hermione said, her face slightly flushed.
"And, of course, Miss Rachel Snow. The Girl-Who-Lived. The Triwizard Champion. Eight Outstanding OWLs, third in her year, a corporeal Patronus at thirteen years old, and reportedly a talented brewer and rather a good hand at Defense and Quidditch as well," Professor Slughorn finished, looking at Rachel the way a hungry person looked at a buffet table.
Rachel could feel herself blushing. "Thank you, sir."
"I knew your parents, you know, James and Lily both. What a shame, what a loss. Lily was very talented. James too, when he put his mind to it," he said, his eyes still fixed on her.
There was quiet for a moment before Professor Slughorn stepped back. "Well then, I'm excited to see what you can do in person. While you're with me, I expect you to be brewing. When you're not with me, I expect you to be memorizing. I have two books for each of you and you'll want to put as much of this into your minds as possible in the next four months. You should be able to look at an ingredient and know its properties and uses. You should be able to look at a potion, tell what's wrong with it, and how to fix it. You should know the steps you need to take before you even place your cauldron over the fire. Let's begin. I've set up the brewing stations in what I find to be the most economical fashion for when you're sharing ingredients and cauldrons. You're each going to wind up with a spot, and you will always know what the person to the left and the right of you are doing. Over the next few weeks we will figure out what your optimum arrangement is. For now, pick a cauldron and we'll begin."
They hurried to the cauldrons, Rachel taking a spot between Draco and Theo, figuring she was the best intermediary for working with Draco. Hermione took the spot on Theo's other side.
Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together. "Take the book titled Advanced Brews and Concoctions and turn to page 88. The Bloodroot Poison is a fiendishly difficult brew and is generally featured in the Potions Championship about a third of the time. We will be brewing it twice today. Read the instructions carefully. Brew once. Then we'll discuss and you'll brew again. You have everything you need. Begin."
Rachel quickly flipped open her book. She'd never brewed a poison before and was curious as to what it would be like. She felt something settle in her as she focused. She could do this. This was right. It was almost like flying a broom.
