Chapter 25 - Self Improvement
Finally a classroom that was up to Eton's standard and didn't do its best to copy those ghastly public schools she'd once been forced to endure. Instead of those horrid plastic and metal seats with little to no cushioning for the buttocks (and which retailed at a mere 10 pounds), there were pristine swivel lounge chairs with soft linen coverings (which Hermione estimated had a market value of around 800 pounds, as was to be expected of any school which harbored students of her caliber). There were modern whiteboards instead of out-dated chalkboards, cups full of pens and pencils (not that Hermione would ever be so careless as to need an eraser of course), a large scale with weights, and desks with such a polished polyurethane coating that one could use its surface to see their own was an open space in the middle of the room which had rubber nitrile foam padding. But most critically of all there was an expensive blackwood podium, which properly conveyed the importance of the person standing atop it. Hermione cleared her throat, and waited for her friends to take out their notes. Ron and… Ginny? Ron and Ginny spun around in circles in their swivel chairs like a couple of hyperactive toddlers. Harry waited for her to start respectfully. And The Evil Neville Longbottom had a piece of parchment on his desk (as was to be expected of her nemesis), ready to cruelly dissect every word Hermione said to analyze how best to take her down.
"Hem, hem," Hermione clucked, leaning back against a whiteboard. But it did no good, Ron and Ginny kept playing in their chairs. "We may begin the meeting as soon as I've your attention."
Ginny and Ron reluctantly stopped spinning.
"I'd like to start by thanking Ronald for sharing with us the location of this special abandoned room which meets our requirements. Now, onto the heart of the matter. I've called you all here because a war is coming, and I'd like to set into motion a plan that will help maximize our probability of survival." Hermione suppressed a cackle, and couldn't help but steal a glance at Evil Neville. He wore such a clueless expression. Such a stupid boy, he hadn't the slightest clue of the trap she'd sprung for him. Inviting him had been a touch of brilliance in her plot most dastardly! Soon she'd have him separated from her Dearest Ronnie once and for all! She'd also invited Draco of course, but he'd told her to go pleasure herself in a rather uncouth manner. And she'd only been trying to help, so it was he who could go pleasure himself, that's what she should have said. Hermione was far too polished to let any of her less acceptable emotions leak out, and delivered the rest of her speech as she'd rehearsed. "The Dark Lord will soon have his body back, and we're unprepared. We must not remain willfully ignorant. We must not hide from it. We must prepare for it. Or perish."
Hermione gave them a moment. She'd just made two significant unsubstantiated claims. One might ask her how exactly she could be so sure The Dark Lord would return? An excellent question, and one she very much hoped would go unasked. Harry and Ginny fidgeted uneasily while Neville scrawled some colour coded notes into his Study Wheez Sheet sold exclusively by the GW Company.
"Alright fine," said Ron, swiveling around. "If no one else'll say it, I will. What makes you so sure that The Dark Lord is comin-"
"Voldemort'll be back soon," said Harry. "I can feel him… Somehow. He's getting stronger, and… Hermione's right, we need to be… More than I am…"
"Why don't you stretch your bloody mind, and think for yourself for once, idiot. Remember what was written on the walls? 'Give the Heir his desire or suffer his wrath.' There's got to be something he's after in Hogwarts. Something that will help him restore his body I'd wager," Ginny said obnoxiously.
Hermione blushed. It wasn't… Those clues hadn't been so clear! How was she to know to talk with Harry? She'd only just recently realized he was a horcrux. And those words really could have meant anything.
"Does it even matter?" Neville asked, looking up from his notes. "Even if everything Hermione said is a load of leprechaun gold like always, even if Voldemort never returns, there are others just as bad as him. If darkness waited until you were ready, nobody'd ever get hurt."
Ron nodded solemnly, like that wanker Neville said something profound (even though Hermione had been the one to hatch the scheme in the first place- where was her nod of grave approval from her dearest Ronnie? This was an injustice against common decency!). "So what's the plan then? But trying to take on death eaters by the end of the year is bloody madness. You'll be killed. You understand that right?"
"Yes," Hermione said. "I've studied, I've looked for solutions. Cleverly trickery to even the odds, but none exist. Not in the magical world, nor in the muggle. So a diagnosis of the problem is needed. Why is taking on a death eater madness?"
"Because they'd bloody murder us," said Ron.
"A err… Good try Ronald," said Hermione delicately. "But no. You've given the resul, we've got to know where we're lacking."
"Because they've more experience than us," said Ginny.
"No," said Hermione. "Experience is a good hand of course, but more a two-pair than a straight-flush. The youth always surpass the elderly eventually."
"Because they're more ruthless," said Harry.
"No," said Hermione. "Ruthlessness is often as dangerous to the perpetrator as the victim. Ethics aside, it's still usually prudent to be merciful and conservative."
"Because they've more magic," said The Evil Neville Longbottom quietly. "You can try as hard as you like, but that's always what it's come down to."
Hermione twitched.
"Yes," Hermione admitted sourly. She gave little credit to Neville. It was only natural that he'd come to the solution, what with him being a hair away from being some impotent squib, and therefore proved his cleverness not at all. "If we were fourth years, we might stand a chance even if we could only perform a simple disarming charm. But no amount of practice is going to matter against the gap in magical power. That is the problem we must solve. If we're to survive we must strengthen our magical cores."
Her audience seemed quite skeptical. Hermione tensed, and stared at the notes she'd prepared in her Study Wheez Sheet sold exclusively by the GW Company. Well, this was why she was The Visionary Sherlock, and they were mere Short-Sighted Watsons.
"Come off it Hermione," said Ron. "Are you trying to turn us into bloody obscurials?"
"I hate to agree with Ron," said Ginny rudely. "But the Hogwarts curriculum has been meticulously crafted over hundreds of iterations of young witches and wizards. That's the main reason it's considered the best magical school in the world. Its development of a witch or wizard's magical core. They aren't exactly known for being stable."
"That may be true," Hermione graciously allowed. "But progress is never without risk. Afterall, Uranium isn't exactly known for being stable either. When the Americans ignited the first atomic bomb, they didn't know whether or not it would light the sky on fire, burning away the earth's atmosphere in a runaway nuclear reaction. Why would they pursue such dan-"
"Wait, what?" Asked Ron, looking quite alarmed for some strange reason.
"Light the sky on fire?" Asked Ginny.
"What the bloody hell is an atomic bomb?" Asked Ron.
"It's a bomb that can wipe out an entire city," said Harry. "Well the whole world really if anyone were evil enough to ignite them all. But don't worry, only the Americans and Soviets are capable of that. We've only got enough to blow up a country here in Britain."
Hermione nodded. Harry had done well. That ought to reassure the magical folk that the muggle world was really very restrained.
"And they only built their nukes to fight nazis," Hermione said, reassuringly. "Oh, those were muggle death eaters by the way. And to fight against Imperial Japan I suppose, which was also quite horrible. And the Commies if we're being fair. And I suppose we should probably include that the Commies did it to protect themselves against the Americans in turn. And if we're to include the Commies we may as well include the Israelis as well, but only to protect themselves against the Islamic nations. Speaking of which, Pakistan has a nuclear program as well, but only to protect themselves against our old jewel. And disregarding the other countries which have nuclear weapons, or are trying to get nuclear weapons, that's the entire list, so as you can see the situation is entirely under control. It's certainly nothing to worry about when we compare it to biological weapons such as synthetic superbugs. But even that pales in comparison to the risk of leaving risks unaddressed. Afterall, according to a study done by Meadows the world will collapse in the 40's if the current trends of resource consumption and population growth continue, and yes that accounts for typical technological growth. The greatest threat to the world isn't that we innovate a way to destroy ourselves, it's that we simply continue on our current path in blissful ignorance… So yes there will be risks, perhaps we will warp our magical cores and turn into obscurials, but doing nothing is an even greater risk. Because we can't defend ourselves, and The Dark Lord is coming."
"Now as Ginevra and Ronald pointed out," Hermione continued briskly. "The strengthening of magical cores has been studied extensively by the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. From my understanding, students are trained to perform charms of ever increasing power. There appears a clear parallel between strengthening a magical core, and strengthening muscles… minds… skills… to strengthening anything really. The art of self-improvement has been studied extensively by muggles, and I will be plagiarizing their findings to magic." Her initial estimation, what she'd based her primary hypothesis on, was that the magical core was like a muscle and could be strengthened via the principle of overload. Her secondary hypothesis was that it functioned like a brain (the difference being that while both brains and muscles grew stronger with repetition, a brain mostly became powerful at specialized networks of skills, while muscles were either strong or weak. Meanwhile wizards were either powerful or weak across the board rather than their potency with magic being distributed randomly among particular spells, leading her to believe a magical core more closely resembled a collection of muscle fibers than a network of neurons). If magic was like a muscle, practicing more and more powerful versions of the same spell would likely lead to improvement. If magic functioned as a brain, practicing more and more complex versions of the same spell would likely lead to more power.
If magic was more similar to the lungs or the heart, that posed no problem as well, as repetition and ever increasing resistance would be the key to development regardless. A magical core paralleling something holistic like overall health might be a touch problematic, and if it took after a liver, kidney, or the like it would be positively dreadful and the entire study would be a failure.
Although what she really needed was a magical equivalent to anabolic steroids. Some spell or potion that significantly strengthened the magical core. None existed however, with the possible exception of felix felecis. Hermione sighed. She'd already done an audit of the pacing of every spell in the curriculum to get a feel for progression and rest time. She'd start by getting baseline measurements for all of them. Then she'd perform a series of experiments to answer the fundamental question of magical power: did magical strength increase via the principle of overload? (Hermione hoped it didn't. Nothing appealed to her less than weightlifting, whether it came in the form of memorization, exercise, or magic.)
From there, she needed to know whether magic came from a single source or several which all had to be trained together? From there, she could experiment with spell groupings and rest times. For now though, it seemed prudent to start conservatively and avoid anything as garish as attempting a one rep max. They'd start by gaining conservative estimates for a 25 rep maximum.
"This will be our first task," said Hermione. She pointed at a bucket containing a pile of uniform stones she'd collected. "Lift the bucket with the Levitation Charm as many times as you can. We will add more stones if you can lift the bucket more than 25 times. I will record my findings in the Study Wheez Sheet, sold exclusively by the GW Company. We will stop when you can lift the bucket no longer, or when you feel out of breath or light-headed. We must work our way into shape."
"Lift the stones?" Asked Neville. "There's got to be something more. Some catch, or else why would you need me as a guinea pig?"
"Yes, there is a catch. You must lift the stones continuously. Most likely every few days, a little more each time, even when you're tired and you'd really rather not," Hermione lectured. "I know you've probably never experienced it yourself, but continuous practice is generally how one gets better at anything."
"But it doesn't seem dangerous," said Neville.
"It shan't be," assured Hermione kindly. What she left unsaid was that it would be tedious and boring. Neville would likely quit, as he quit everything else, or else why would he be such a pathetic loser? It had been marvelously clever of her to tell Ronald to bring along Gryffindor's little mascot. It made her seem ever so generous, Neville would surely be out of her hair in a few days of his own volition, and her Ronnie would finally see him for the dastardly villain he was.
Neville eyed her suspiciously. "If you really think it'll strengthen your magical core, then why are you sharing it with us? Why not keep the practice a secret, so you can maintain your advantage? It isn't very Slytherin of you."
Hermione huffed. She'd hardly take advice on how to act like a proper Slytherin from some flunkie like Neville.
"She's just trying to be nice," said Ron irritably. "Help us feel included. You've got her all wrong Nev."
"Thank you Ronald," said Hermione irritably. "But no. I can speak for mys-"
"In the end," said Harry. "We're all on the same side against Voldemort. She needs us strong if we're to win."
Hermione folded her arms. Well that was at least partially accurate, but completely missed the far more important matter.
"It's because I'd like to not make the same mistake as a hero of mine," said Hermione, her nose up high. Although not Hermione's top hero of course, who was quite obviously Norman Borlaug. "He was the greatest Brit who ever lived, his discoveries changed the world forever, but he kept his grandest findings to himself and was beaten to publication by a German philosopher. Can you imagine? Beaten by a philosopher." Hermione shuttered at the humiliating thought. "If you've a hypothesis, the only prudent thing to do is test it as soon as possible. I shan't have someone else beating me to publication, and a test with a sample size of one is hardly convincing."
Everyone looked at her like she was loony.
"If this works," said Harry in an exasperated voice. "You really ought to wait until after we take down Voldemort before announcing your findings."
It was an unfortunately sensible suggestion. Probably one she ought to follow sadly. Sharing R&D with an enemy was rather unwise, but ever so disappointing that she couldn't get credit for permanently changing how magic was taught as soon as possible, and surely win herself a proper, First Class Order of Merl-
Wait, why were Neville, Ron, and Ginny looking at Harry like he'd completely missed the point as well?
"You ought not share it at all," said Ginny, as if such a preposterous notion was obvious.
"We could be legends," said Ron.
"She's just saying that because she knows it isn't gonna work," said The Evil Neville Longbottom.
"How exactly would we be legends if nobody knows of my grand discovery?" Hermione asked, sardonically amused at the moronic notion.
"We'd be the most powerful witches and wizards of the age," said Ginny enthusiastically, taking Hermione's hand. "Like Dumbledore!"
Huh? What was Ginny on…
Oh… Hermione tittered. How could one possibly be so childish as to confuse magical potency with power? Although, given how much Ginny liked quidditch, Hermione probably ought to have expected such boyish delusions from her.
"And if you want credit for the discovery," said Ron enthusiastically. "Just spread really vague rumors, and say you performed really dark rituals and stuff! Like You-Know-Who, y'know? He can fly without a broom and create inferi, but because everyone knows he's an evil wanker, nobody's out trying to copy him! So just say you did it by eating troll bogeys or something!"
…That might actually work. Yes, yes, it seemed likely that that might be a good way of keeping certain branches of magic undiscovered. Now that Dear Ronald had pointed it out, she wondered how much of the so-called dark arts darkness was simply subterfuge.
"Ronald Weasley, you're not to do anything of the sort," Hermione said furiously. "What if you scare people off? Then how are they to reproduce my findings? My discovery would be limited to just the four of us! How terrible! I want to change the world! Make a difference! Achieve greatness! And I shan't allow you to spread baseless rumors about me!"
It was just common sense. She didn't even understand why she had to explain it. Unfortunately, only Harry seemed to get it.
All the same, they all agreed to participate in her experiment. Unfortunately, Neville was a dunce who couldn't even lift a bucket using a remedial levitation charm they all should have learned months ago. Seriously, they really ought not let his sort into Hogwarts. His incompetence was an anchor to the entire class, slowing things down things for the students who actually paid attenti-
"I could actually use some help on that one too," Ron admitted bravely.
Hermione huffed. She could not believe that Professor Flitwick had moved on from the lesson before everyone had mastered it! Had he no professional pride? Learning wasn't a race. It was more important to do things right than to do them quickly after all. This was a blessing, she decided. Afterall, she'd be able to prove to Ronald how helpful she could be. Unfortunately, even the best teachers could only do such much. At a certain point, the student had to actually try.
"It's so simple," Hermione spluttered. "Whish and flick, and make sure to make that 'gar' nice and long, and oh what are you doing Neville, does that look like a whish to you? That's clearly a zag- are you doing this on purpose?"
Neville's face grew an amusing shade of red. Good! He ought to be ashamed.
"What the bloody hell is a whish," said Ron angrily. "We're trying our best. Your looming isn't bloody helping. Get out of my face."
"I was offering Neville advice. What are you getting involv-"
Harry pushed Hermione aside gently. Hermione folded her arms. Harry could go ahead and try to teach them, but you couldn't fix stupid.
In a few minutes both Ron and Neville had mastered the Levitation Charm and were ready to start training.
"I'll start," Hermione said eagerly. "Ginevra, you will have the most important job of all. Note taker."
Ginny nodded, and pulled out several colored quills. Hermione clucked in approval, and allowed Ginny possession of her Study Wheez Sheet, sold exclusively by the GW Company. When Ginny gave her a nod of readiness, Hermione pulled up her sleeves, and pointed her wand at the bucket. She whished and she flicked. "Wingardium Leviosa." She lifted the bucket up and down 25 times, and touched it down gently on the rubber nitrile padding. "Five stones 25 times. Record that. As I feel little to no fatigue, I will add five more stones and repeat the charm. I will continue until I feel light-headed, winded, or cold. I'd like you all to do the same. This will give us a rudimentary measure of power. Of course, we will need to vary the charm, hex, transfiguration, potion or whatever other kind of magic as well. This will allow us to see if our training is resulting in gains to our magical strength."
Hermione kept adding stones until she reached her limit of 15. She emptied the bucket of all but one stone, and called for a volunteer to follow her example.
Harry stepped forward. He managed to lift the bucket 25 times.
"No need to compete with me," Hermione reminded him. "Just go until you feel tired. Our goal is merely to establish a baseline to measure against in the future."
In the end, Harry topped out at 32 rocks.
Hermione sniffed. But then, Harry had a fragment of The Dark Lord's soul imbued in him, so it only made sense that he would be quite magically powerful.
Ginny managed to elevate 20 rocks. Hermione carefully inspected the collection of stones and rocks. They did appear to be of similar composition and size, but perhaps they were of different density? She'd have to measure their weights on the scale afterwards. She really ought to have done that before, now her results were unfortunately compromised.
Ron levitated 21 rocks.
"Give me another shot at it," Ginny said. "I can do more."
Neville concluded the experiment by lifting 2 rocks.
"Thank you all for coming," Hermione said sweetly. "We'll wait two days, and try it again to see if we've grown." Unfortunately, she found the scales in the room to be broken, fully unfit for scientific research, as they all seemed to indicate the stones were approximately identical in weight, which was of course complete rubbish. Faulty equipment and practices aside, the experiments would have to continue.
A few days later they reconvened, and Hermione managed 17 stones, Harry 35, Ginny 23, Ron 23, and Neville 3. A success, unfortunately. But perhaps it was just that they'd mastered the charm. Idiots thought that a successful experiment confirmed your hypothesis. A successful experiment disproved your hypothesis, and allowed you to learn more about the phenomena. Identifying failures in your conjectures was just as important as identifying successes when conducting inductive reasoning.
Hemione continued to experiment, to disprove the hypothesis of magical overload.
Perhaps the improved results were limited to the levitation charm. Hermione taught the team how to make bluebell flames one week, and forbade them from practicing. After two weeks of training with the levitation charm she found that her test subjects could summon larger and hotter bluebell flames that lasted longer. Hermione tried a similar experiment with swelling solutions, and found that while her subjects' swelling solution did improve after levitation strength training, the results weren't as drastic as with bluebell flames. So Hermione had her subjects create stronger and stronger swelling solutions, and found that that led to better results in related potions than the previous exercise routine consisting solely of levitation charms. Hermione's experiments allowed her to discover similar exercises for transfigurations, hexes, and enchantments. For transfigurations, they performed switching spells on more and more cups of ice and water, for hexes they performed the reductor curse on lumps of ever increasing piles of clay, and ever increasing extension charms on parchment hats for enchantments. In general, training in any area improved results in every area. But Wingardium Leviosa more efficiently improved the potency of one's enchantments, hexes, and charms more than practicing a combination of remedial spell specific to the area, while potions and transfigurations appeared to come from a related but different source, and could best be made stronger with exercises specific to the discipline.
Too much practice could also be a bad thing. When Hermione had insisted that girls were delicate, and needed two days of rest between exercises, their improvements had outstripped the boys. When she'd reversed the experiment, the boys were the ones who had had greater improvements. When she'd told the boys that they needed to work harder, and had them lift everyday, they had grown weaker, and even had difficulty controlling their magic.
Through more experiments, she found the best way to space out the training. Hermione was forced to suffer eight more weeks of Barty's presence, but her magical core was steadily growing stronger.
By March, Hermione had managed to lift 40 stones, Harry 68, Ginny 43, Ron 42, and Neville 8.
XOXOXOXOX
"...Nine, ten!" said Professor Lockhart.
"Expelliarmus," Ron bellowed. It was mental that the Levitation Charm would have anything to do with the Disarming Charm, but he could feel his magic in a way he couldn't before. He'd slowly learned how to make it transform, go where he wanted, and explode. He built up a jet of red magic in his core, and sent it flying through his wand. His charm met Dean's red blast, coating The Great Hall in a blinding reddish flash.
Dean Thomas flew backwards, sliding along the flat stone masonry, and Ron reached up and snagged his wand with a grin. He hurried over to Dean and helped him up. "Good try mate. Almost had me!"
Dean glared up at him. "What's your secret? How've you gotten so much better? You and Longbottom juicing?"
Dean's whinging was the sweet, sweet pulped orange juice to his victory.
"Just been practicing is all," Ron said, trying not to smirk and failing. "But you probably do too. Guess I'm just a genius."
He'd waited all his life to be a smug wanker, and truly it was as fantastic as he'd always imagined. Not worth doing homework mind you, he hadn't gone completely mad, but he'd be lying if he claimed he hadn't been infected by a little of Hermione's work ethic. Who knew he could actually do well if he tried? Wasn't that just a thing in stories?
"Expelliarmus!" Neville sent Seamus flying.
Somehow, Neville's victory was even sweeter. Ron basked in the warmth of satisfaction, floating candles, and the whinging of sore losers.
Seamus glared at Neville. "This isn't bloody fair. You're doing something Longbottom, cheating somehow. You can't be better than me. A couple months ago you could barely even cast a spell!"
Ron snorted. Jealous berk. Had he ever tried practicing instead of whinging? Some people could be so lazy.
Neville glanced at his hand. "Sorry," he murmured.
Ron shook his head. Neville ought not let their whinging get to him.
XOXOXOX
"Protego," Harry bellowed, slashing his wand upwards, redirecting a jet of green light down into the grass. "Expelliarmus!"
Sirius deflected the jet of red light with a flick of his wand, sending it crashing into a willow. "Can't keep tossing the same old spells at me Harry! Too predictable! Bombarda!"
The ground in front of Harry exploded. Dirt, moss, and clay disintegrated against his shield charm.
"Bombarda," Sirius bellowed again, hammering his shield. "Bombarda! Wingardium Leviosa!"
Branches of the willow tree were pulled to him by Sirius's spell, and shattered his shield charm. Harry dove away, but jagged wood tore through his uniform, scratching his legs.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry bellowed.
Sirius waved his wand in a circular motion, and met Harry's spell with a flash of purple light. They flew past one another, and Sirius dismissed Harry's charm with a flick of his wand. Harry took Sirius's spell to the chest. He tried to reposition himself, but couldn't lift his feet.
"My Mum's old sticking spell," said Sirius. "You can't run any longer. This the best you can do? Shields and disarming? You're nothing compared to your Father! He wasn't afraid of being hated! He wasn't a coward!"
Harry's heart quickened.
"Diffindo," Sirius said.
"Protego!" Harry cried. But Sirius's cutting charm sliced through his defenses, gashing Harry.
"Always afraid to hurt others," Sirius said. "That's why you lost Gryffindor The Cup to the evil little brat. Because you're soft! James would've never let himself be bullied out of the game! Diffindo!"
Another gash to Harry's torso. It ought to have hurt, but he felt distant somehow, like he was merely an onlooker behind his eyes.
"You'll never bloody fight," Sirius bellowed. "That's why you'll lose the mudblood to Weasley! Diffindo!"
Another gash. Harry couldn't feel it. He felt cold. Cold and angry.
"That's why The Dark Lord will kill them all!"
"Diffindo!" Harry hissed, wagging his wand lazily.
Sirius's eyes widened. "Protego!"
But the pink charm slashed right through Sirius's shield charm, right through Sirius, and right through the trunk of the oak behind him. Its trunk crashed to the ground in a heavy thud.
Sirius whistled, looking back. "That's it Harry! That's how you win a bloody fight! If I hadn't dodged that you'd have cut me in two! I knew you had it in you!"
Harry trembled. He stared at his hands. What had he done? It had been so fast.
"That kind of power is impossible from a First Year. Impossible. And yet here you are," said Sirius, lightly punching his arm. "I think I know why You-Know-Who went after James and Lily. He wanted to take you down before you grew. He must've somehow known that you were the only one strong enough to kill him."
Harry swallowed and wiped his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Asked Sirius. "You know I was only messing with you right? I wanted you to do what you did! I'm not angry! You're far stronger than James was at your age. Merlin's Beard, if your power keeps growing you'll be able to beat me by the end of the year!"
Harry got up, and walked towards the light at the end of the forestry meadow. The Gryffindor Common Room became larger and larger.
"Harry! Harry wait," said Sirius, chasing after him. "Is this about the cuts? Let me heal you! Merlin's Beard this isn't about the Cutting Curse is it? We're not in Beedle Bard Harry, we're in a war. You can't fight evil if you're afraid of hurting people."
Harry pulled himself out of Sirius's suitcase.
XOXOXOX
Ginny's magic had improved to the point where the only comparisons to her talents were legendary first years like James Potter, Tom Riddle, and even Albus Dumbledore. It was all she'd hoped for at the start of the year.
Of course, Hermione was even better.
XOXOXOX
Ron slid four valerian sprigs into his cauldron, and stirred clockwise seven times. The potion remained a murky red, and its magic just felt off. He gave it another stir, and a bluish cloud quickly spread from the center of the cauldron until the entire potion was pale indigo. Nev finished the drought with a wave of his wand, and it glowed a brilliant purple.
"The colour is… acceptable." Snape sniffed the potion, and glared at the empty desks of the classroom. Ron smirked. Snape had provided the ingredients and watched them brew the potion from start to finish. There was no way he could accuse them of cheating this time.
Snape took a sip, and twitched. "Passable," he managed, and scuttled away.
He and Nev left his classroom in silence, and managed to make it to The Grand Staircase before celebrating.
"We did it!" Ron bellowed, slapping Nev's hand as hard as he could. "We bloody did it! We showed that bloody git!"
"Yeah we did." Nev said quietly, wearing a small understated smile.
A pair of older pretty Ravenclaw witches giggled as they walked by, and Ron didn't even bloody care. Let 'em giggle. They'd bloody done it! Ever since he'd joined Hermione's little experiment, things have been looking up for them. His essays were still lousy, but he was near the top of every practical subject and Nev had gotten better across the board. Nev hadn't melted a cauldron in two weeks, and they'd managed to complete a passable Sleeping Draught not once but twice. Ginny had made one earlier in the year and now they'd managed to make one just as good. That was average level wizardry it was!
Maybe it had taken a few extra months, maybe it had taken some practice sessions after class, but they'd managed it all the same.
He'd been working hard, and he'd been getting better. Sure Harry and Ginny and Hermione were working hard too, sure they were still better, but who bloody cared? Ron felt like a… like a Weasley for the first time in his life! In the past month he'd gone from lifting 22 stones to over 40. He was almost twice the wizard he had been! Hermione had told him not to expect improvements forever, that eventually he'd level off, and that he'd likely never surpass truly powerful wizards, which was fine.
Even at his best, Harry was still stronger, Ginny was still better at magic, and Hermione was still the best student since Merlin, and Ron and Nev were barely above average. But if that was the best they could be, that was the best they could be, and he didn't bloody care if others were better.
"C'mon Nev, we've got magic practice with Hermione! I reckon I can break 50 stones today!" Ron said enthusiastically. "Nothing is impossible!"
"About that," says Nev uneasily. "I'm not going."
"You got a date with Abbot or something?" Ron teased.
Nev found sudden interest in a pipe running above the steps. "I'm quitting. I'm done."
Eh? Quitting? Quitting what? His err… date with Hannah Abbot, c'mon Nev that had been a bloody joke… He couldn't mean the experiment. He couldn't right? That'd been what'd started turning things around! But Nev's sudden fascination with the pipes continued.
"But… C'mon Nev…" Ron said. "Why? We're getting better. Things are finally looking up and if we quit, things are gonna go right back to the way they were… After all this time we're… we're not losers anymore!"
"Well maybe we should be," said Nev, finally losing his interest in the pipes. "Better than being Granger's lackey! I didn't understand at first, but she was right. She even told me what she was gonna do. All my success is really just her's. Hermione Granger is so great that she can make even stupid, useless Neville Longbottom competent! We're in her pocket, don't you get it?"
Ron scratched his head. He thought on it a little and decided it really was as dumb as it sounded. "I reckon you're right Nev. But if Hermione's gonna get power over us by helping us, isn't that… What's wrong with that? Sure it's pretty Slytherin, but the good kind..."
Nev's scowl was so quick he almost missed it. "I reckon you're right Ron. People like Hermione are supposed to be winners. You probably think I hate her. That's not why I'm quitting. Seamus said I was cheating. He was right. The world is made up of winners and losers and some people… People like me and…" Nev grimaced, and glanced at a pair of Hufflepuffs passing by. "You… We're meant to be losers. We shouldn't be with people like Hermione, even if she is perfect. Especially if she's perfect actually. Winners and losers shouldn't mix. When they try, when losers become winners, it just makes things weird. It's unnatural, and everyone knows it."
"What?" Ron asked. "What the hell are you on about Nev?"
Nev looked at his feet. "Remember what you told me when we first met, back in The Hospital Wing? I was the worst student in Hogwarts, and it made you feel better. Maybe that's my purpose. Maybe that's who I'm supposed to be."
"But I was wrong," Ron said. "I was a bloody idiot! I didn't know you, and I was talking out of my arse, and-"
"You were wrong about me. You hadn't the slightest clue," Nev whispered. He finally looked back up, stared Ron straight in the eyes. "You know, after you left, Hermione told me she has a crush on you. That's why she's been helping me. She knows we're friends and she wants to impress you."
"What?" Ron asked. He chuckled. But Nev didn't laugh, didn't break eye contact. "But that's impossible. A girl like her would never fancy a bloke like me. She must've… she must've been messing with you."
"Maybe, but it didn't seem like it to me," said Nev, smiling. "But what do I know? I'm just a loser. Go be a winner Ron, if that's what you want. But I don't belong there. I can't be a part of their world." He turned. "And if we don't see each other again. If we never talk… I'll always think of you as a friend. To me, you were always something special. You were the only thing that made Hogwarts… bearable."
Nev made his way up the staircase.
Nev thought Ron was… But… but…
Why'd he have to do that? Why? Why did Nev hate Hermione? He was being bloody unfair! Ron had no idea what his problem was. All Hermione had ever done was help him, help both of them, because she was just that kind of person… As if she had a crush on Ron. As if she'd ever do anything to impress Ron. Nev just didn't want to admit that one of his so-called winners could actually be a good person… Stupid… Bloody stupid! As if Ron would forget Nev, just because he'd started trying. Well the world wasn't made up of winners or losers! Or well… Even if it was, there was more to it than that. Friendship for one! Merlin's Beard that was cheesy, but Ron didn't bloody care because it was true… Nev would see what a toerag he was being… He'd come around. Nev would change his mind.
"How'd it go?" Harry asked, as Ron arrived at the Room of Requirement.
"We did it," said Ron. Strange to say 'we' when Nev was nowhere to be found.
"That's amazing," said Harry, smiling lightly, sinking into his fancy cushioned muggle chair… Something about him seemed off. He must've noticed Nev was missing. How was Ron gonna explain it? He didn't have a clue what was going on in Neville's bloody head, but he'd be over it soon enough. Ron would lie for Nev until he came back to his bloody senses.
"This is all thanks to you, Hermione," said Ron, acting perfectly natural. "You… You've helped me so much. And I really appreciate it."
"Oh well…" Said Hermione, her face all red, a cute little finger curling a brown lock of hair. "Thank you Ronald. I do try, but really the credit ought to go to Arthur Jones and the good people of Venice Beach."
Ginny watched the exchange with an almost melancholic smile.
None of them had asked after Nev. Even though… even though they all spent so much time together. Hermione, he could understand, those two had always been at each other's throats, but Ginny? Harry? They were friends with Nev, so why weren't they bloody asking about him? Thought they were too good for ole Nev and Ronnie, eh? Afterall, he and Nev weren't star quidditch players, nor won an Order of Merlin, they were the odd ones out and wasn't it so much better that they learned their place? Nev was right. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, they'd invited him and Nev to be polite. All this time, they must've been waiting for them to leave. Afterall, winners and losers didn't mix.
No, no, they weren't like that. They were friends. Harry and Ginny probably just had other things on their mind, even if Ron didn't actually believe it for a sec-
Actually Harry was pale and his robes were torn, and he'd known Ginny long enough to recognize that troubled look. It was almost like they actually did have other things on their mind. Huh? There was an uneasy tension in the room.
"So what've we got tonight?" Asked Ron, pushing down his uneasiness. Nev would change his mind anyways, no need to make a big deal out of it. "More Levitations Charms? I think I could break 50 stones today! Nothing is impos-"
"I'm quitting," said Harry. "I just… I've been… But Ron, you've really improved- you shouldn't quit. It's doing you good."
Ginny trembled. "Well I'm not quitting! I don't care what any of you say! I… I just wanna be a good witch, and there's nothing wrong with that!"
She jumped out of her muggle chair and ran out the door.
What the bloody hell was wrong with everyone? Had they all lost their damn minds? They weren't getting their bloody power by killing unicorns, they were just working hard! And like, they even had a reason, Hermione had even gone over it before they'd started! They had to be strong to stop You-Know-Who! It didn't make any bloody sense, and… and, everyone was against him! Trying to sabotage him! Keep him down! Keep him Ronnie, so they could all look down on him!
Yeah, it sounded like bloody madness to him too, but it was the only explanation he could think of. Why else would they ruin the only good thing that had ever happened to him?
"This is nonsense," Hermione said, fuming. "Things were going swimmingly! I expected Neville to quit, but not you Harry. You're better than that. You're not a loser…"
Wait… Ron stopped listening.
She'd been expecting Neville to quit? Why? Why? Neville's words echoed around in his head. 'Winners and losers shouldn't mix.' But Hermione wasn't like that! She didn't think that way!
"…And most importantly, you quitting will ruin my experiment," said Hermione haughtily. "Honestly Harry, it's like you don't even care if I get published!"
"No- it's just…" Harry took a step to Hermione. "I… I'm on your si-" Harry swallowed the word. "I wish I could be right there fighting Voldemort beside you. But I can't. So… Good luck Hermione. But we shouldn't see each other anymore. Ever."
And suddenly it was just the two of them in the room. Alone in the candlelight.
And despite everything else, Ron couldn't help but remember that Nev had said that she had a crush on him… Probably balderdash… Stupid…
"Hermione," said Ron. "If you knew Nev would quit. Why'd you invite him?"
Hermione sighed. "Because Neville Longbottom is the most irritating wart I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. He'd rather wallow in misery, settle for incompetence, than put in the work to get better. And he's the nerve to criticize those who actually try, for not being perfect! I could tell as soon as you walked in alone that he'd finally made his move. That he'd revealed his evil nature to you at last. He tried to get you to quit didn't he? But I knew you wouldn't, and you'd be free of his venomous influence. Because deep down you're a winner, and he's nothing more than an evil, pathetic loser who's trying to drag you down to his level so he doesn't have to feel so horrid about himself."
His mouth was dry.
"Hermione," said Ron, gazing into her beautiful brown eyes. "Everyone says you're the best Hogwarts student since Merlin. Well I think that's rubbish. You're better than Merlin. To me, you're someone special. You're everything a winner should be. The school is better with you on top. And I agree with everything you said about Neville."
Hermione smirked superiorly. "Oh Ronald, I just knew you'd see reason if given the evidence. As you've finally realized, you've immense potential when you actually appl-"
"But not about me," said Ron firmly. "Nev and I are the same. Losers. The wrong sort. Oh and you should know… Nev didn't drag me down to his level. I dragged him down to mine."
And then he left the room.
XOXOXOX
Well good! Go! Who in the world would choose Neville Longbottom over her?
She cared not at all about Ronald Weasley and his… His…
That couldn't really have been her talking just now could it? It was like some evil popular girl from a cheap 80's flick had taken control of her body and made her look like a complete wanker. She… She wasn't like that! She… She'd really cocked things up… Had she gone completely mad? There were obviously things for thinking and things for saying. She had known that The Evil Neville Longbottom was Ron's best friend and yet she'd gone and gloated at the critical moment. The Evil Neville Longbottom was far too cunning to have made such a clumsy mistake. She'd blown it, and now her beloved had chosen the truly darkest path of an unrepentant slacker. There was nothing worse than untapped potential. Evil she could forgive, but to have greatness in you and not share it because… for reasons she couldn't fathom, that was the one thing she couldn't forgive.
Hermione shivered. Good. She ought to have planned it this way anyways! It was better… To be alone. Fewer chances for one of those dolts to give away her plans. It was only a matter of time until she could perform The Killing Curse. Then she'd be free of the horrid Barty Crouch Jr and…
And then maybe… Maybe…
Hermione shivered. It was cold in the darkness, and there was nobody around to warm her up.
Would The Dark Lord really just give up? He was probably the strongest wizard in the bloody world. Certainly the most dangerous. Did she really expect him to have no contingency plans? And once he used her- once she'd gotten him his philosopher's stone what then? He'd make her pledge loyalty using an Unbreakable Vow, or he'd kill her before she grew strong enough to oppose him. She… Should've never killed Rita Skeeter, but no, she'd already been under the eye of a death eater so it would hardly have mattered. If only she'd refused those lessons with Barty, if she hadn't done that… But no, refusal hadn't truly been a possibility… Perhaps if she hadn't captured Peter Pettigrew… No, no, even before that Professor Quirrell had… He'd been the one to tell her about Azkaban hadn't he? And Sirius Black. And occlumency… Oh… Bloody hell. Bloody, bloody hell. She'd been trapped long before she'd realized… There really had been no other path… No… There was one… If she hadn't been so showy with her talents… If she'd kept them properly hidden, as Mum and Dad had insisted, if she'd never used that stupid Colour Change Charm, then she could have avoided this! If she hadn't been so bloody keen on impressing Her Ronnie, she'd have never gotten into such a mess. And now… Now… What could she possibly do? Run to Headmaster Dumbledore? Hah! She was the center of The Dark Lord's attention. Disobedience meant death… But what other option was there?
Bloody hell… Bloody hell, she was going to d-
"Hermione, are you in there?"
"Don't come in," Hermione croaked, wiping her nose, trying to make herself presentable. She had to be perfect if she wanted people to like her.
"When the Sorting Hat called Slytherin, I thought my life was over." Ginny said through the door. "But it gets better."
Not for her. It never got better.
Ginny opened the door. "You were the one who made it better. You're the reason, when I look back, I'm glad I was sorted into Slytherin."
Sweet words. But Hermione knew the truth. Ginny didn't actually care about her, she was just trying to gain Hermione's favor in a moment of weakness. "Not your diary?"
"The diary…" Ginny said, taking a step back. "The diary… You know about the diary?"
Ginny's jaw clenched. She reached into her robes.
Hermione knuckles whitened against her vinewood wand hidden in her pocket.
Ginny pulled out the diary. "You're more important to me than this stupid thing… I'll even get rid of it. I-if you want me to. I should have done it ages ago anyway…"
"No!" Hermione gasped. Why had she said that? The bloody thing was a horcrux! It was feeding on Ginny's soul, making her do such horrid things. It was… It was putting Ginny in the exact position as Hermione wasn't it? Allowing Ginny to really truly understand. And suddenly Hermione found herself sobbing in Ginny's arms. "You're the Heir of Slytherin aren't you?"
Ginny hesitated, her face a myriad of emotions. And then finally, she nodded.
"I won't turn you in," said Hermione. "Because I'm no better. I'm The Dark Lord's puppet too."
And everything came spilling out. Rita Skeeter. Barty Crouch Jr. And The Killing Curse.
Ginny's expression hardened. "I won't tell. Anyone can be fooled, even you." And perhaps it was a trick of the flickering candlelight, but Ginny's eyes flashed scarlet. "You're not evil."
"Thank you." Hermione gasped, taking a breath. "Thank you so much Ginny! You're the best friend I could ever ask for!"
It was strange. This ought to have been a terrible moment, this realization of inevitable doom. But instead she felt happy. At her lowest, even after she'd admitted to murder, someone understood, someone was willing to tell her kind words.
Even if deep down, long before coming to Hogwarts, she'd known with utter certainty that they were a lie.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Don't worry about magical power levels ruining the story. Harry, Ron, and Hermione will be at about the level of their fifth year at the climax of the story. So in a fight with Bellatrix or Barty Crouch Jr, they'd be able to hold their own even if they're at a disadvantage. Against Voldemort though, they'll still be hopelessly outmatched. I think giving them access to more advanced magic will lead to more exciting set pieces in the final act, and I had this mechanic in mind as early as chapter 2, when I introduced the topic of magical exhaustion. The next chapter concludes the second act of the story! I'd like to grow the audience of this story, so I might try to change the little blurb at the front of it. If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you'd share what's kept you reading all this time so I can write a more accurate pitch to potential readers. What's the main draw of this story to you?
And now onto reviews.
ViviTheFolle - Really good to hear that you liked the last chapter! What was Hermione's plan with the whole marketing campaign? That's a question that will be answered later, and I think you'll enjoy it! Hope you liked what the rocks were for. This chapter really marks a turning point for Ron, as he gets his first taste of feeling competent. Thanks for the review!
Merendinoemiliano - Thanks! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!
Gja03 - There are 12 chapters left. Thanks for the review!