As soon as Malfoy got up, Persephone, Bella, and Edith ambushed Albus as I had predicted.
"Hello, Albus!"
"How are you and how was your summer?"
"It's so lovely to see you!"
"We keep running into Lily but she never tells us where you are!"
Albus looked incredulous for a second. Then he neatly folded his newspaper, took a bite of his boiled egg, and turned to walk back to the Slytherin table, the three girls trailing after him. Good for him. Now maybe they'll stop bothering me about his whereabouts.
Chapter 5: The Library Book
I gathered my books off of the table. My first class was Potions, with the Slytherins no less.
Carla and Maddie had already set off towards the dungeons and I jogged to catch up with them.
Maddie shook her head. "I can't believe you guys actually take classes in the dungeons."
"Well, the Slytherins live in the dungeons. Including my brother. It's really not so bad as it sounds, it's not like we actually keep people chained up down there."
We entered the Potions classroom, which was chilly as usual. Carla and I sat down together, with Hugo and Maddie sitting behind us.
The room had separated neatly down the middle, Gryffindors on the left and Slytherins on the right. I looked over to the Slytherin side of the room and accidentally locked eyes with Imogen Zabini, the prettiest girl in our year, who glared back at me under her lush, dark eyelashes.
Professor Magellan regarded the class critically. He was a hawkish man, and his thinning hair was pulled into a tight ponytail that made his eyes bulge slightly.
I dropped my gaze to the floor to avoid his stare.
Although I was decent at Potions, I failed to impress Magellan, earning at most a hmph of mild approval while he complemented Carla and Imogen Zabini's always perfect results.
"Today, you will be preparing a Calming Draught. This is a fairly elementary potion, so," Magellan gave Hugo a hard look, "there should be no disasters or explosions."
I turned my head and saw Imogen Zabini sniggering behind her hands.
"Shut up, Zabini," I hissed, a little too loudly.
"Miss Potter! Five points from Gryffindor!"
I felt the rest of my house glaring at me. I wished that I could just keep my mouth shut for once.
Luckily, the Calming Draught had been one of the potions that I'd studied last night in the common room.
Hugo was managing not to explode his potion, and mine seemed to be going decently. I flipped my textbook open and measured the lavender out.
What am I doing? I thought. Since when did I succeed in anything by just blindly following rules?
I sat back, staring at the bubbling cauldron. Its contents had turned a soft purple from the lavender.
"Have you added the crocodile heart yet?" asked Carla.
I shook my head. What induces calmness?
I tapped my wand against my chin, deep in thought.
"Stop daydreaming and finish your potion, Miss Potter," said Magellan sharply.
"Sorry, sir," I mumbled and sat up. I had forgotten what I was thinking about.
Forgotten...
Maybe that was it!
I remembered using Lethe River Water in Forgetfulness Potion. Maybe a few drops would help. I looked over my shoulder to check that Magellan wasn't looking.
"What are you doing, Lily?" asked Carla in a horrified whisper. "You're not supposed to add that!"
I shrugged. "At least Magellan will notice my potion, whether it's good or bad, it certainly won't be unremarkable. Pass me one of the crocodile hearts, will you?"
She shook her head in disbelief and pushed the desiccated heart across the table.
My potion was a bright aqua blue, compared to Carla's soft, powdery blue. I looked over at Imogen Zabini's potion, which was the same color as Carla's.
I peeked over my shoulder.
Maddie was frowning at her green potion, and Hugo's was fire-engine red and smoking.
Oh, well. At least I was in the right color family. Maybe if I'd just followed instructions, it would have looked right.
Magellan inspected the contents of my cauldron, his expression inscrutable.
"What," he asked, "is this?"
"A Calming Draught, sir," I responded. I hoped that I wasn't in trouble. I felt Carla's worried gaze on me and heard Imogen Zabini sniggering again.
"Did you follow the instructions on the board?"
"No, sir. Not exactly."
Magellan narrowed his eyes at me. "What did you change?"
"I added two drops of Lethe River Water, sir."
"Why would you do that?"
"I thought that it could enhance the effects of the potion; maybe the forgetfulness induced by the Lethe River Water could boost the calming effects."
"What is this class called, Miss Potter?"
"Potions, sir," I responded dryly. The class tittered.
"Indeed. Not Invention, or not Not Following Instructions. Thankfully for you, it is a passable potion notwithstanding the unfortunate addition of an unnecessary element."
Then he moved on to praise Carla and Zabini's perfect potions, pointing out that they were the right shade of blue and that they'd both clearly followed the instructions.
I morosely flipped the page of the textbook over. One of the figures showed different potencies of Calming Draughts, and noted the color variations that tracked with the strength of the calming effect.
The weakest was nearly white, the mid-strength one the same powdery blue color as Carla and Zabini's Potions, and the strongest was the same aqua blue as... the potion in my cauldron.
I raised my hand. "Professor Magellan?"
"Miss Potter," he responded in a condescending tone.
"I think that you should take another look at my potion."
Magellan swept back over, pinching the bridge of his nose as I explained that I was attempting to match the color of the textbook potion. To my great surprise, he actually caved and grudgingly gave me nearly full marks.
My spirits lifted as Carla and I stood to collect our things.
Imogen Zabini muttered 'utterly pathetic' as she walked past me. I started to follow her, but Carla grabbed my hand.
"You've already lost Gryffindor five points, you know all she wants is a fight."
I sighed. Carla was right, unfortunately. And so was Imogen. I was pathetic.
"What's that?" I asked Carla as I climbed out of the portrait into the Gryffindor common room. She had her nose buried in an enormous book with an ornate, rust-red cover. A strange, dark energy seemed to pulse within it.
I felt drawn to it; compelled by an unfamiliar, painful pressure in my head.
"Oh, it's from the Restricted Section. Something about ancient witches; it's super interesting."
I frowned; that didn't seem promising. "I thought only prefects could take books out from the Restricted Section."
"Oh, Albus gave it to me."
I understood the advantage of that. Albus could be very... persuasive. Still, I didn't understand why she didn't just ask Rose if she had wanted the book for something. Unless she thought that Rose wouldn't approve of its contents.
"What about ancient witches?" I asked, sitting down beside her and attempting to emulate Albus's look of innocence when he was questioning people.
"Oh, nothing much." Carla was always happy to chat about what she was reading. "Just some legend about the original witch who all wizardkind are descended from. The Ancient Egyptians called her Heqet, the Ancient Greeks called her Hecate or later, Circe, and the Britons knew her as Morgan."
"Why would that be the Restricted Section?" I asked, though I'd already guessed from the energy radiating off of the book.
"You know, the usual. Dark magic spells, et cetera."
"I don't like it."
"Don't be frightened, Lil, it's only a book!"
"It's not only a book! This isn't some Muggle library book from the sixteenth century, Carla, it could have all sorts of dangerous spells! And it's - it's almost sentient! Did no one ever tell you not to trust something if you can't see where it keeps its brain!"
Carla sniffed, "Do you really think Headmistress McGonagall would have this in the Hogwarts library if it was dangerous?"
"Yes! Yes, I do! I know what I feel Carla, and something about that book is not right!"
She shut the book, fastened the brass clasp, and pulled her legs up under her.
"Fine, if it bothers you so much, I won't read it with you around."
"Good," I said. The pressure in my head subsided, and I sat back in the armchair. I closed my eyes and tried to listen to the fire crackling softly.
Why did that book affect me and not Carla? What's inside of it?
Ignoring Rose's pleas not to start trouble, I marched over to the Slytherin table at dinner.
"Albus!"
He grimaced and put a hand to his head. "Oh, joy. It's my lovely sister."
Lucas and Imogen Zabini looked up at me critically. Malfoy smirked.
The rest of the table glared at me.
"Hello, She-Potter." Malfoy looked me up and down, laughing to himself.
"What do you want, Lil?" Albus said finally. "Make it quick, please."
I crossed my arms. "I want to know about that book that you gave Carla."
"Merlin, Lil. Not that. Can't I eat in peace?"
"You can eat in peace once you've told me what's going on." I gestured at Malfoy. "Budge over, I'm sitting."
Malfoy shook his head, still laughing, and moved down to give me room. I was itching to smack the self-satisfied smirk off of his annoyingly handsome face.
I noticed Professor Magellan watching us intently from the professor's table. I was already in enough trouble, so I restrained myself.
"Overjoyed that you've come to hold court with the snakes, She-Potter."
"Shut up, Malfoy." I turned my back on him. "Al, tell me about the book."
He glared at me, stabbing a potato. "It's nothing. Carla told me she wanted the book and I got it for her."
I narrowed my eyes at him. He shrugged off my gaze and took a nonchalant sip of his pumpkin juice.
It was always difficult to tell whether Al was lying or not. Dad was the best at it.
"It's nothing, Lil. Don't worry about it," he said airily, the way James might.
It was pointless. I gave up and got up to walk back to the Gryffindor table.
Malfoy quipped, "Leaving so soon, She-Potter?"
The Slytherin table tittered.
I had to settle for flipping him off.
Albus, Rose, Carla, Aurelie, and I had snuck out to the grounds that night. I'd asked Lysander and Lorcan to come along too, but they had something to do at Ravenclaw Tower that sounded quite secretive.
Albus and I were doing target practice. Rose was reading, Carla was doing Astronomy homework, and Aurelie followed me everywhere.
Al snorted as the spell I shot at the target glanced off of the side harmlessly. "Do you want people to think you're powerless? Damn, Lil."
"I'm not powerless!" I felt my cheeks get hot and I gripped my wand so tightly that I was afraid that I would snap it in half.
"Then prove it, unless you want everyone to be right." Albus responded flatly.
I turned to face the target.
Fury rushed through me, burning my skin. I feel something building up behind my eyes, something strange yet familiar. Felt it spread to the tips of my fingers and toes and warmth filled my chest. I didn't think, I just spoke, releasing the strange sensation along with the pressure that had built to a nearly painful sensation.
"EXPULSO!"
I felt the magic shoot down my neck and through my arms, to explode out of my wand and not hit - but obliterate the target with a deafening BOOM!
"See. You're not powerless." He sounded extremely self-satisfied; I feel suddenly tired.
"Maybe it's not me; maybe my wand did something funny or something is boosting me or something. I felt something strange-"
Albus held his hand up to stop me. "Where does our magic come from, Lily?"
I'd never thought about it before. Sure, when we attended Muggle school, I knew that I belonged to a different world, but I'd always taken magic for granted.
"I- I don't know, Al."
Carla cleared her throat, "Our magic comes from inside of us, Lil. We're born with it."
I huffed, "Well, I know that. It's obvious."
Aurelie nodded towards Carla, "That's not her point, Lily. Magic is passed down from parent to child. It's an integral part of us. It makes us who we are." Hmph. Sounded like something straight out of the pureblood-fanatic mother playbook.
Rose piped up from where she was lounging on a blanket, reading by wandlight, "Whether we're pureblood, half-blood, or Muggle-born, it's in our blood."
Albus tapped my wand hand, "Your problem isn't here", he tapped my forehead, "It's here. I'm willing to bet that you have just as much magical potential as me. I mean, obviously not as much as me, that's a gross overstatement, but..."
I frowned, "What do you mean?"
Rose sighed, "You don't expect much of yourself, and you hold back. Whenever you cast a spell and it works, you look surprised."
"I disagree," said Albus, "I think she's fully aware of her capabilities and she suppresses her power. It's the stupid, Gryffindor-kind-of-thing to do."
I playfully shoved him and he shoved me back. Carla sat up, pulling her knees into her chest.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter. I can't just get angry every time I need to cast a spell, and besides, Expulso is a fairly easy spell-"
Rose snorted, propping herself up on her elbows. "Considering that you have a hair-trigger, getting angry every time you need to cast a spell isn't completely implausible."
I was just about to retort when the five of us jumped as the sound of heavy boots crunching wet grass invaded the otherwise quiet grounds.
Malfoy held a lantern aloft, frowning. I had to shield my eyes from the bright light that it cast on the ground.
"You're not supposed to be out here so late at night," he said, frowning at Rose, then Aurelie, "Especially not you, Aurelie."
"How did you find-" Albus began.
"She-Weasel's wandlight was fairly obvious in an otherwise dark landscape, not to mention the deafening explosion," Malfoy responded somewhat curtly.
Oh. Oopsie.
"Well, that's why you're the prefect." Albus folded his arms.
"That's why I'm the prefect," Malfoy agreed. He brushed some silver-blond strands out of his right eye.
"Speaking of prefects, She-Weasel, I expected better from you." Malfoy turned to face Rose, who had continued to read calmly, "Five points from Gryffindor."
Rose flipped the page over, pointedly looked at Albus and smirked, "Five points from Slytherin are in order also Malfoy, by that logic."
Malfoy groaned and sat down next to Albus, who turned to him instantly.
"So what are you really doing here?"
He sighed. "I was making my rounds when a few helpful ghosts let me know that a certain someone-" Malfoy nodded at his sister, who covered her face in embarrassment, "had snuck out of the Gryffindor common room with a couple of upperclassmen. I know that Aurelie isn't getting along with the other Gryffindor first-years -"
"No shit, Sherlock," Albus muttered.
Malfoy glared at him, "Which is similar to Albus's issues with Slytherin when we were in the first year, and that Aurelie's been Lily's little shadow for the past few days, so I naturally deduced the outcome and came here."
A semi-awkward silence fell over us. Malfoy and Rose were academic rivals (Albus would have been involved too, but you can't compete again someone who barely tries). They were both prefects and had the exact same O.W.L.'s with the exact same grades, except Malfoy got an Exceeds Expectations in Arithmancy to Rose's Outstanding, but he liked to counter that by saying that he played Quidditch and she didn't, so that made up for at least fifty hours of lost studying time. Which Rose would then counter by saying that all of the exercise should have improved his cognitive abilities, and thus it wasn't really fifty hours of lost time at all.
"Where's your brother, She-Weasel?" Malfoy asked, stretching his long legs out.
"Sleeping," Rose responded flatly.
"Oh, so he's not part of the Stay-Up-Till-One-In-The-Morning Club?"
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"Wasn't talking to you, She-Potter," he responded instantly. How dare he.
I huffed and stood up. "Right, I'm going to bed. Night everyone."
As expected, Aurelie trailed me back to Gryffindor Tower, as expected. I wished her goodnight and continued up the stairs to the fourth-year girls dormitory.
The alarm clock on my nightstand read '1:04 am.'
I really had to start getting to bed earlier.
As I was about to crawl into bed, I noticed a small origami crane made out of baby blue paper on the nightstand that I hadn't put there. It seemed to sparkle.
It looked like Lysander's handiwork. I cupped the paper bird in my hands and the wings beat softly.
"Do you like it? I thought we could use these for sending messages. Just say your message and then the name of the person you want it delivered to. Goodnight, Lily!"
The blue crane rose out of my hands and fluttered around the bed.
Perhaps that's what he and Lorcan had been doing at Ravenclaw Tower.
I laid down on the bed, took off my glasses and watched the crane make a few more lazy circles before settling down on the nightstand.
If I hadn't been placed in Gryffindor with most of my family, I would have liked to be in Ravenclaw with the Scamander twins and my oldest cousin, Victoire. The Ravenclaws that I knew were peaceful and creative; unlike Gryffindors and Slytherins, who were full of pride and constantly at odds with each other and the world.
On second thought, perhaps I was in the right place. My temper probably would cause even more problems elsewhere.
I whispered goodnight to the little crane and closed my eyes.
Now that all was still and quiet, and my mind was empty, I found that a certain smirking blond boy was invading my thoughts.
I pushed those thoughts away, blushing madly in the dark, and fell asleep.
I thought the character than I was going to have the hardest time pairing was Albus and spent a lot of time going back and forth (there were like four characters who were possible), but as I've written ahead I've become pretty sure I'd prefer to be endgame for him.
Lily was presenting some issues too, by I've been working on some adjacent oneshots and I've decided on endgame pairings for James, Albus, and Lily. I might release the James oneshot soon, as most of it takes place before the events of Unremarkable and thus won't contain serious spoilers.
Anyway, thank you for reading! Chapter 6 will be out on Tuesday!
