Chapter 5 before the storm
That was something she pondered when she headed on the way to Hogsmeade. She was escorted by Filch to the Hogssmed an arrangement that would terrify most kids but was a pleasant distraction for her.
She still thought of him as uncle Filch as he had been a friend of her mom and dad for as long as she could remember. To the point where he was her godfather. She suspected that all squibs knew each other in England. Dumbledore had created a support group where her mom and dad had met.
Her godfather seemed tired as last year's take-over and that the number of pranksters had sky-rocket this year took a toll on him. Then there was this group that seemed to be in another leag as they seemed determent to make Slytherins life hell. They succeeded too. With the demon twin as Filch called the Weasley twins, they had captured several cope cats, but their punishment had been light something that annoyed Filch to no end.
He was muttering about them tasting the Cruciatus curse which he had to endure several times last year. The pain from the Cruciatus curse was infamous us and could insanity. She wondered how far Rosie could sense that pain.
They arrived in Hogsmeade where they were going to met Slughorn that had a meeting with his club in the village before. The meet spot was outside of the three broomsticks where he was finishing the session with his Slughorn club. There were a decent amount of people gathered she saw the head boy of Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff as well as the head girl of Ravenclaw. There a lot more people there that River did not recognize
They arrived at the moment when they were saying goodbye. River getting degusted blicks from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw head boys and girls which most of them quickly masked behind a smile before Slughorn saw it.
Slugghor lit up when he saw her "hello ready to take that trip I will be with you in just a second I have to finish a thing first" River noded "there is no need to rush I do not have an appointment before ten, so there is no need to hurry."
Slughorn beamed, and she sat down to wait. She did not mind as she and filch talked about the time when her mother had a costumer that could not wrap himself around the concept of the internet. She had to come with him on a sidelong apparition to show him that yes muggles knew how to send messages instantly.
That made her mind try to remember memory, but the magic prevented her from access to it. It manifested as a weird feeling in her mind almost. Flitch noticing something was wrong and asked if she was okay "oh I am fine; it was just my mind trying to trigger a blocked memory. It sometimes happens when I'm close to my adjustment. It a small price to pay for not being broken," flinch nodded Grimley.
The conservation drifted to the new government, which was still in shambles but was on its way to recovery.
Flitch went on a rant about Harry Potter, and the gist of it was that he was a troublemaker that did not follow the rules. Flitch was the only person River knew that did not only have praise for Harry Potter. Most people river meet had some almost religious tone when they spoke about him.
After almost an hour, Slughorn entered apologizing for taking so long. River and Flitch said goodbye, and she took a deep breath. Then suddenly slughorns harm twisted, and her vision turned black as there was enormous pressure from all sides. She was unable to breathe, and the pressure was intense, then suddenly it stopped, and she could breathe again.
They arrived at a sparely furnished apartment Slughorn owned that was close to the hospital. It was something he had acquired the apartment recently, so if something happened, he could apparat there.
The hospital itself was an apparat restricted zone so that there would not be any incidents. It had zones that could be apparated to, but they were reserved for emergencies only.
They headed to the entrance of the hospital. It looked like it had always done with a puppet asking them for their reason for being there. Slughorn said goodbye to her as she informed the puppet about her apartment.
River headed in and went to the receptionist and repeated herself. She was told to wait in the waiting room until her appointment.
The waiting room was the most boring she could imagine. It had a grey ceiling, grey walls, a couple of grey couch and some magazines and a newspaper on a table.
She was skimming the newspapers and saw this morning's daily prophet had the tagline "Arrest of several death eaters." She took the paper and scanning the names to see if any of them tingled. She knew that she did not remember their names, but that did not stop her from being able to use the feeling she got from when memory was blocked to be able to determine if it were related to her capture. Nothing triggered not even a few pictures of some of the people they captured. Disappointed she put the newspaper down. She could read the rest of the paper but decided to instead read the quibbler for the comedic effect.
She read until she heard a familiar voice. The man In question was from Japan and had been here for about twenty years. He had long black hair with a hint of grey and had a slight accent.
The first time they meet, she knew she had looked horrible, and he had not been sure that his new methods would work. So their first meeting had been very awkward. "Godmoring doctor Mitsuzuka, " River said " call me Isa, and I apologize for the wait. I had some problems with the patient before you that needed to be corrected, or the entire charm might have collapsed. "River felt a shiver down her spine "oh, something I need to be worried about?" Mitsuzuka looked guilty "no-no, the problem is that it is such a narrow timespan that the magick have a heard time placing itself in the patient memory, but I am confident that I solved that, so let's take the rest of this conservation to my office."
They went up to his office.
She remembered his office as cold, but even if she only been there a few times. When she arrived, she was surprised to see that it felt more friendly. It was not a big room with light blue walls, a desk full of papers, several bookshelves, and two armchairs.
They sat down in the armchairs, and after a moment, the doctor said. "Are you ready?" She noded. He placed his wand on her head, and she felt dizzy as the charm took effect. Then suddenly a memory resurfaced. It felt like she was reliving it in a second.
She saw an older, slightly overwait man with short grey hair and big rim glasses. His name was still escaping her. She remembered the excuse he used over and over again. "I am sorry, but this is a necessity. Their technology evolves at a staggering rate war with them is, so if we want to win we must make the first move, or we will die ".
She felt an incredible rage and hatred building inside of her, and it tried to connect to other memories, but they were blocked. There was more to this but that what she remembered at the moment. So how are you feeling? He looked taken aback by her sudden rage but quickly composed himself. She was going to respond with good but caught herself "angry, the memory in question is about the cause one of the researchers used for everything he did" the doctor nodded she continued "he reasoned that as muggle technology improvs at the rate it is right now it will come the point were we be unable to hide anymore and then a war will commence. There is more connected to this, but it is blocked. One of the worst parts is he is there is some merit, and it felt horrible not to have a good counter-argument." The doctor leaned back and with a calm voice, said, "what makes you think that it has merit?" "well, my mom's job was to learn about muggle technology and teach. It was a lot of work to be able to keep up for her continuously. She "Rivers's voice broke as she remembered her mother. When it was clear that she was not going to continue, he spoke in a soft voice.
"it is a hard question to answer, and I will not pretend that I have the answer, but I would not underestimate our ability to evolve" something about that tried to trigger a memory but was blocked. They continue talking for some time about her time at school which Isa thought that she handled great.
She walked out of there, feeling refreshed but tired. She was picked up with Slughorn, and she headed straight to bed after she came back to the castle.
The next day she and Rosie haded down to Potions when she almost ran into the Huggelpuff boy that they suspected might be a member that was in a hurry. He passed them headed somewhere. "I wonder where he is going?"River mused for herself, "probably to a classroom on the third floor." Rosie answered River looked at her in surprise. Rosie shrugged, "I can identify people's minds in my vicinity, and I have felt him go there a couple of times. I have not spied on him. Just keep tabs on him since this whole thing began." She looked defensive and did not look River in the eye as she spelled out the last sentence. River shrugged back "its probably a good ide" Rosie relaxed. They continue walked together to the Potion lesson where Rosie was praise to be one of the best students Slughorn ever had. She beamed, and the entire class mirrored her expression of joy. Which quickly turned to fear as Rosie regened control over her emotions.
The rest of that week, everyone in the class felt very of Rosie. Rosie had improved her control over her power slightly from the start of term, but there were still a lot of leaks. Every time she had the outbursts, the people effected started to view her worse and worse, which in turn made it harder for Rosie to control herself.
It was strange the more time went on River and Rosies public perfection shifted so that people were more very of Rosie then of her, which made Rosie feel miserable, which spread if she did not have her guard up, which made River feel miserable as well. It lessened as Halloween fest grew closer. Rosie looked forward to it, and River felt the loss of her sense of taste very hard.
The day before the fest, they had a rare moment with her sister. She looked great. River greeted her with "well at least both of us are keeping our promise" " her sister smiled and replied " well it loke like they are taking a break for their attacks we have to hope it is because the teachers are closing in on them and that it is making them nervous" River noded they talked about For almost an hour about Rosie and what could be done to help her. They departed the next time she would see her sister were ar the hollowing feast.