A Final Chance

Chapter 18: Magic

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from the books or movies.

"I think his girlfriend broke up with him," Ron said as we left Defense Against the Dark Arts on Monday.

Harry nodded in agreement. "So much for having a tolerable Snape. I can't believe how much homework he gave us. Is he making up for giving us only a fair amount before?"

"Do you think we can find his girlfriend and convince her to take him back?" Ron asked.

"How would we find her? Besides what would we say to get her back? 'We know he's a greasy unbearable git, but at least he can terrify everyone so you'll never be bothered again?'" Harry asked

Ron sighed. "I suppose you're right. Well, we can't really blame the girlfriend. I mean something must have been wrong with her in the first place to snog something that greasy and unpleasant. Maybe she just finally came to her senses."

"Or maybe he slipped her a potion and its effects finally wore off," Harry added in.

I couldn't stop my laughter. "He's not that bad. He doesn't need a potion to get a girlfriend."

Ron stared at me in shock. "Blimey! It was you! You were snogging him!"

Hermione hit him in the shoulder with the book she was carrying. "Don't be ridiculous Ron. She has a boyfriend, and it isn't Snape."

Ron still looked at me suspiciously. "I think you are behind it. You are way too chummy with him." Despite his hatred of Snape, I could still sense the playfulness in him. While he really did suspect me of being behind Snape's old attitude, he wasn't really angry with me for it.

"I am," I told him apologetically.

Harry shook his head. "What did you do?" he asked in a tone implying that he would rather not know. I caught a glimpse of his thoughts and got an image of me snogging Severus. I grimaced. That was definitely something I could have gone my entire life without seeing or even crossing my mind.

I sighed. "In one of our lessons there was an incident and he was a bit…upset I guess for lack of a better word. That's why he was so tolerable. He'd rather just ignore me than risk a repeat of the incident, especially in front of a group of people he enjoys to terrify on a regular basis. There is nothing worse than having either a subordinate or an enemy witness you in a moment of weakness. It lessens their opinion of you. I talked to him though and I guess I made him feel better since he's back to his miserable old self.

"What did you say to him?" Ron asked.

"I told him that I'll always despise him."

Ron gawked at me for a moment and then shook his head. "Mental that one."

I laughed, "Trust me Ron, you have no idea."

"How did you manage to say something like that without getting a month's worth of detentions? Anyone else would get detention just for looking at him the wrong way." Harry asked.

"Severus and I have a complicated relationship."

"How are you so caught up with the Slytherins anyways? You already told us about Malfoy, but you seem to have some kind of draw to them," Hermione said. She had been a lot more accepting of me since she learned the truth, but she still questioned me, not that I could really blame her. I mean I only talked to a few people and of those, one had the Dark Mark, and one seemed well on his way to getting one too. If I was anyone else looking at me, I'd take everything I said and did with a grain of salt.

"Draco and Severus are the only Slytherins I know. Severus was one of my mentors for a few years. We drove each other crazy and finally Uncle Albus let us stop working together so that we wouldn't kill each other in our little duels that so often happened," I told them with a smile, remembering some of the better arguments. "My parents didn't go to Hogwarts, so this whole house rivalry is kind of new to me. I didn't know that Severus and Draco were Slytherins when I met them, though that wouldn't have really mattered to me anyways."

"Did Professor Jamison come to Hogwarts when he was in school?" Hermione asked softly.

I suppressed my smile, recalling the little crush she had on him. "He never attended a formal school. He was home trained. He finished all his coursework and testing by the time he was 15 when he became a certified fully trained wizard. He's only a couple of years older than us, but he's already a Potions Master. That's why he was allowed to come teach here. He was teaching people on an individual basis for awhile. That's how I met him."

We entered the common room and Ron noticed a new posting on the notice board. "Hey this weekend is Hogsmeade."

They all seemed very excited by this news and started talking over each other planning. "What's Hogsmeade?" I asked.

"It's the Wizarding village across the lake. It's actually where we get off the train. Third year and up are allowed to go visit some weekends," Hermione answered.

"Are you coming with us? Or are you going with Malfoy?" Harry asked.

I shrugged. "I just heard about it now. I'll probably tag along with you guys if you don't mind. He'll probably want to be with his friends, and since we are trying to keep our relationship low key, it might not be a good idea for us to go together."

"How are you managing to keep your relationship off the radar? It's impossible for this school to keep a secret," Ron said.

I grinned at them. "The only people who know besides me and Draco are you three and some of the Professors. I assume you guys haven't told anyone, and the professors have no need to spread the news to the student grapevine. Every time we meet, it's in private, and we don't even need to talk out loud to communicate. Besides, I'd be able to sense when someone was near. "

"Actually after that incident in Defense Against the Dark Arts with Snape and Malfoy running to your rescue there has been some talk about something going on between you two. There is a rumor going around about him breaking up with Parkison for another girl too," Hermione supplied.

I felt myself flush. I had forgotten all about that day in class when I made Severus so angry. It looked like I was starting to get a bit too confident. "Well I guess that's all the more reason for us to lay low."

"How'd you hear those rumors?" Ron asked.

Hermione shrugged. "Girls talk."

Ron eyed her suspiciously. "What do they say about me or Harry?"

Hermione flushed. "I'm not going to sit around spreading gossip. Honestly Ron, you would think that after dealing with Harry in the tabloids you wouldn't really care what other people are spouting on about since most of it isn't true," she told him angrily.

Ron grinned, "So the girls are talking about me?"

"Are you ever going to make it public?" Harry asked me, ignoring the other two's squabbling.

"I doubt it. He's too high profile. Anyone he's with would draw attention, which is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. Add to that his association with Death Eaters and Death Eater children, and that I'm in Gryffindor, and we'll just be asking for trouble," I said pulling out my homework hoping to end this conversation.

"I'd hate to have to hide my relationship from the world," Hermione responded thoughtfully.

I shrugged. "If it comes down to being with someone you care about and hiding it or not being with them at all, I'd rather just hide it. It might be a pain sometimes, but at least we're together." I told her.

Hermione followed my lead and started working on homework while Harry and Ron decided to chatter away about one nonsensical thing or another. I knew that we had quite a bit of work to get done for classes, so I decided to give Harry a bit of motivation to start. "Harry," I called looking up from my book. "I was thinking that if we got most of our homework done this morning, maybe we'd be able to start working on the element manipulation this afternoon."

His eyes lit up. "Really?" he asked, not bothering to mask his enthusiasm.

"Sure, it's the perfect segue into the next lesson," I told him trying to fight a grin at his excitement.

He grabbed his books and starting working immediately while Ron looked at him incredulously. A minute later he stopped and looked up at me. "You are evil. You are doing this just to get me to do my homework, aren't you?"

I smirked at him. "Well if I can get two things done with one task, why not? I mean if you don't want to learn the manipulation, that's fine with me, we can just practice transfiguring rocks into bunnies instead."

"I'm doing my work," he grumbled while Hermione shot me a pleased grin.

*****

"Why do we always train outside?" Harry asked as we made our way to our normal practice area near the lake under the tree.

"I love nature," I told him opening my arms wide as if to embrace nature. "It's so much more relaxing to be outside. You can feel the sun beating down on you, the breeze on your skin, the smell of the earth. It's all just an amazing and freeing feeling."

He grinned at me. "I guess nature can be pretty nice."

I smiled at him. "I guess I just don't like being cooped up. Buildings accumulate the magic that is used in them. It can be overwhelming, even suffocating sometimes. Outside though, everything just goes back to the earth and becomes pure again. It's so much calmer and freer than being inside. When you start to learn to harness the magic of the earth, it just gets better from there. I guess being outside is essential to my mental health. You don't want to be around me when I've been cooped up for too long. Especially not in a castle as magically concentrated as Hogwarts," I told him with a grin.

"Is it hard for you? Controlling your magic I mean." He asked.

I shrugged. "I'm used to it now. Besides it can be really dangerous and scary when I really lose control." I stretched a bit preparing myself for another session of explaining and concentrating. "Ready to get started?" I asked. He nodded and remained silent. I paused for a moment trying to figure out the best place for me to begin. "You went to a muggle school before coming here right?"

He looked taken back. "Erm, yeah."

"Did you ever study energy in your science class?"

I watched him struggle to recall the word. "A little bit. I don't remember much about what we learned. I only remember that it can't be created or destroyed. They made it sound like some kind of cycle."

I nodded. "That's one of the basic principles. There are a bunch of different forms of energy, but it never goes away. It only changes from one form to another. Well magic is one of the forms of energy. Everyone has it in them, but only witches and wizards are adept at controlling and manipulating it. Did you ever do accidental magic when you were a child?"

A slight grin stretched his lips. "A couple of times."

"When you are little you don't really have a way to control or use that energy so it builds up in you and escapes when it can, usually during an emotional outburst for most people. What a wand actually does is focus the energy so you can use it to perform a task, such as a spell or a charm. What we're going to do is teach you how to channel that energy without a wand." I held my hands out, palms facing him and slowly moved around his body without actually touching him.

"What are you doing?" he asked nervously.

I couldn't help the grin that crossed my face. "I'm trying to determine where you store your magic. Most of us store most of our magic in one or two places. It explains why you are better at some forms of magic than others." I finished my scan and rolled my eyes at how obvious his results were. "You for example store your magic in your chest. It goes to show that you are more powerful when you use your emotions when you cast, and why in all the stories you've told me, you run straight into danger without thinking. You are open with your emotions, and that's what makes you such a powerful wizard. Those whose magic concentrates in their chests tend to be among the strongest like you and Uncle Albus. If it's in the mind, then they are usually the smartest. If it's in the eyes, they are great Seers, and ect."

He rolled his eyes. "I should have been a girl. It seems like emotions are the key to my life. It was my mother's love that saved me."

I shrugged. "Emotions are very powerful and people seem to over look them. There is a whole slew of spells that many people have so much trouble with and can't even perform because they don't have the capability to let their emotions fuel them in the way they need."

"Where do you store your magic?" he asked.

"Mine is more uniformly dispersed. There aren't really any concentration points. I don't really have any natural talents or personality quirks that power my magic. I just have a large concentration of raw energy. I had to train to excel in everything I do. The raw energy is what gave me all the extra gifts. With it being so uniformly dispersed, it's easier for me to control and manipulate, which is why I don't have to use spells or wands most of the time. It's just raw magic."

"I wonder where Voldemort stores his," Harry said thoughtfully.

I stared at him for a moment. "You know Harry, if we find that out, we just might have a better chance at defeating him." We both fell into a silence, thinking about Voldemort and how we could rid the world of him before I snapped us back into reality. "So like learning most things, the key is to concentrate."

*****

"Are you ok Marlene?" Xavier asked. I had been sitting at his desk looking over some papers from the younger years while he lectured my Potions class on their latest assignment. Well I was supposed to be looking over the papers, but I got caught up day dreaming and didn't even notice when Xavier stopped lecturing and perched on his desk right next to me. He was looking at me with such concern that I felt guilty.

"I'm fine. What do you want me to do?"

Xavier has always been a pretty tactile person so I didn't think anything of it when he brushed some stray strands of hair out of my face and put his hands on my shoulders until I felt a flare of jealousy from somewhere in the room. I glanced around the room and saw Draco glaring at Xavier as if he wished his eyes could drill holes into his head and strike him dead right there. "You seem really tired and distracted lately. Is all the work getting to be too much for you?"

I shook my head. "It's not the work that's getting to me, it's the drama. I'm not used to having to deal with friends and a boyfriend. All I had to worry about before was doing my work and staying off the radar, but now all of this emotional stuff is pretty draining. I'm just finally getting a taste of what it's like to be a regular teenager." At that moment Draco's jealousy and anger was giving me a headache. For a person who could be fairly adept at hiding his thoughts and emotions, he was equally adept at broadcasting them when he saw fit. Right now he seemed to have no desire to try to hide his feelings and ever since he let me into his mind, I seemed to be able to pick up on his thoughts and emotions even easier than before which seemed to amplify them tenfold. Draco, calm down. You are giving me a headache. Xavier is just a friend.

I don't like people touching what's mine.

I'm not a piece of meat, I just about growled at him.

Xavier must have been talking to me but I got so caught up in my little argument with Draco that I didn't have any idea of what he was saying. He noticed me glaring at the room, and turned to see what was making me so angry. His gaze fell on Draco who was still glaring at him. He turned back to me dropping his hands from me and flushing. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"It's fine. It's not like you are even doing anything. He just needs to get over it," I told him.

"Even still, I am your professor now, and it is inappropriate."

"You are my friend too," I argued.

"Not in the classroom. We must act with the appropriate decorum."

I sighed. "You are right." I shook my head, pushing thoughts and tantrums from Draco to the back of my mind trying to concentrate on my current duty. The deal was that I would get private advance lessons if I helped Xavier with his classes, and dealing with Draco's insecurities was definitely not helping Xavier in any way. "I'm sorry, what were you saying before? I got a bit distracted."

"I said maybe you should thinking about Joining the regular class and cancelling extra lessons if you are getting so stressed out."

"No, my lessons are more important than this drama. I'll be okay, I just have to focus more."

He looked skeptical. "You know you do deserve to have a life outside of learning and training don't you? You aren't just some fighting machine, you are a girl."

"I have to do what I have to do to help everyone survive this war," I told him trying to fight the nagging feeling that maybe my uncle succeed in instilling some of his ideals in me.

"This isn't your war. At the end of it you might find that you survived, buy you aren't really living. Enjoy what you have while you can."

Something about his words started nagging at me. I knew they would help me discover something important, but I didn't feel like dwelling over it at the moment so I pushed my thoughts to the back of my mind for the moment. "I appreciate your concern, but I really am fine. I assure you that I'm having fun with my friends, I just need to weather this out and things will calm down. I just need to find a better balance for everything, but I can do it. So what do you want me to do now?"

He sighed, "Just walk around and help me keep an eye on everyone. We don't want to have an explosion."

I spent the rest of the class trying to avoid Xavier's watchful gaze while preventing some from making disastrous mistakes with their potions and giving others helpful hints.

*****

"I hate that Jamison," Draco mumbled. We were sitting at the top of one of the towers laying in each other's arms after curfew. "Why is he always touching you? Is it really necessary?"

I elbowed him in the stomach. "Possessive much? Seriously Draco, you are the only guy I'm interested in," I told him twisting around in his arms to kiss him. "So stop with the jealousy act, it's getting out of control."

"Are you trying to say that if you saw a girl touching me, you wouldn't get angry?" he asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. I trust you. Well, unless you want to give me another reason to suspect you of cheating," I said sitting up and glaring at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous," he told me pulling me back against his chest and wrapping his arms around me. "I will never give you a reason to have to search my mind again. That was decidedly uncomfortable. I don't really do that whole open and vulnerable thing."

"Good," I mumbled turning so that I could press my lips to his throat. "It wasn't very fun for me either. It's unnerving to see yourself from someone else's eyes. I didn't think it was possible to get turned on just be seeing yourself," I told him with a grin.

"You obviously haven't been me," he said in his most snobbish tone.

I turned around so that I could straddle his lab. "Maybe I should just leave you alone with a mirror then."

"Don't be silly, I can't kiss myself," he said with a grin before pressing his lips against mine. When breathing became a bit of an issue he pulled away. "There's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend," he told me, his voice a bit rough.

"I know."

"Come with me?" he asked.

The moon made his pale skin and hair shine ethereally and reflected off of his gray eyes which were wide and unguarded but filled with lust. He looked so beautiful that I almost agreed, but the rational side of my mind caught up to my hormonal side. "I can't Draco. There have been rumors about us being together. We can't risk being seen together especially not out at a place like Hogsmeade."

He sighed. "I know. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to hide us, that the whole world knew you were mine."

"I'm sorry," I told him kissing him on the nose and seeing a ghost of a smile flicker across his lips.

"At least we have nights together. Less chance of us being interrupted that ways," he said with an evil grin.

"I like the way you think," I told him pushing him backwards as I teleported us to his bed.

His eyes widened when his back hit the softness of his bed instead of the hard cold stone of the floor of the tower and I laid myself flush against him. "You know, I'm starting to like that," he said with a smirk.

"Shut up and kiss me," I told him. And he did.