Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
I often wonder if I should have let her defend herself against every accusation I threw at her. But I just couldn't do it that night. And she never did admit to any of it even being remotely true, at least not to me, not that I had expected her too. By Christmas we had developed an easy peace between us, even if we blatantly ignored the obvious, so she did come to the house. But I'll likely write more about that later. I'll just say that it wasn't with Dean.
More of the sleeping draught and I had restful nights on Wednesday and Thursday. And then came Friday. I'll skip to the evening, because I know that you are all curious about what my team put together, and I do want to keep your interest in my story.
We chose to work with the theory that what is most familiar to you can be the most deadly. We'd all seen it and heard it time and again in our short lives. Images can be distorted, spirits corrupted, and evil can weave itself the most pleasant guise to worm its way into your heart and your mind. Having said all that, we also understood that magnificently evil things in our word seemed to work around prophecies. Having had a few divination classes; which were going well, thanks for asking, the undercurrents of the divine were becoming more apparent to me, in all our everyday lives. Not to say I was turning into some kind of mystic or anything. But this was magic after all, and magic breeds its own level of the fantastic quite naturally.
Minerva had created the same stage for me to stand on beside her; not that I had really wanted too, but Ron had set the precedent so I kind of had to. She made her speech, a little shorter this time, wished everyone luck and handed the platform over to me.
"Hi everyone." I began, trying to be as amicable as I could. "I hope you find this course challenging and a good test of your skills. The prize for tonight's winner was generously donated by Professor Sinistra." She nodded as I mentioned her name, her lips pursed together in a precise line of acknowledgment. Not haughty, or boastful, just an accepting smile. For some reason I envied that measured control she had.
"The Astrolabe is a magical tool which will orient its owner with a tap of their wand, no matter where they are in the world. And in the spirit of this Astronomical device I offer you your hint for beating the course. 'The Gods begat the heavens and hung in them their children. Look to the Dioscuri to find your path.'" The reference was from first year astronomy class, which everyone before me had taken, even if they didn't remember it right at that moment. For those of you out there who are also a few years removed from your first year Astronomy classes, the Dioscuri are Gemini, the twins Castor and Pollux. Twinning things was the key to solving our puzzle.
There were a number of blank stares as the doors opened, obviously a few people who had no idea what I was talking about. Hermione had gotten it, I could tell by the great grin on her face, I matched it, perhaps I shouldn't have, and people might have gotten the wrong idea about that. But I really wasn't at the point of worrying about those types of things right then. Truth be told, I just wanted the night over with. The real surprise as the doors opened was that the Great Hall looked exactly like the Great Hall always looked; it could have been set up waiting for its next meal service for all anyone could tell. We had planned it that way, knowing that obvious things would be overlooked because they were so familiar. And in our course, it was the obvious things that were going to be the most challenging.
I knew that if you got too close to some of the chairs without realizing they were enchanted that they would begin to stack around you, enclosing you in a wooden jail. I knew that if you took the wrong turn around the Ravenclaw table, heading towards the prize that your perception would begin to change and every forward step would seem ineffectual until you were hopeless lost thinking yourself having been going forward when the opposite was true. I also knew there were a few things that were going to go bang, and snap, and sparkle if you chose the wrong spell to counteract them, or missed them completely. And I knew that there were a few more noxious things, mostly courtesy of Pansy, who was determined to get even with someone for her blue tinge of Monday night. It had taken Madam Pomfrey quite a few hours to get that off her skin.
I didn't want to watch the progress, but I went with my team to the dais because it was expected. For the most part I kept my eyes down, or watched the other students and professors up there with me. We did not have the cover of darkness that Ron's team had had, so our facial expressions could have given away traps. We had discussed this, and practiced our poker faces; and we were still confident that the complexity of our designs would stump most of the players, even if our grins gave things away.
Draco continued to nudge me whenever my gaze wandered quite obviously away from the play.
"Come on Potter, don't you want to watch the fun?" He said it loud enough for a number of others to turn and see what was up. I tried to smile.
"I'm just waiting for the explosions Draco." It was a lie, but it placated most of the other Slytherin who returned their attention to the floor of the Great Hall. For just over one week I had been allowed into their confidence, but I felt it slipping away now; I was fast returning to my previous status as a Gryffindor rival, and that suited me just fine. It was in everyone's eyes but Draco's it seemed; but the night was still young.
So, as I have said, the keys to solving our puzzle were the twins. Traps had been laid in tandem, so it would take two spells to break them, likewise, the astronomical twins would guide the way to the prize. Some players had remembered that the ceiling of the Great Hall was often transformed into the starry night sky, and it was on this evening as well. I had noticed some people looking up, Hermione being one of course, and Ginny; who I was trying not to watch, following her lead. If they could find Castor and Pollux, the stars, the line between them was overhead of the prize. Getting to it was another matter.
I watched, maintaining my disinterested facial pose as I had to, turned away when I could. Studied Professor Sinistra, and then Professor McGonagall to see if they had discovered our plans. The occasional hoop of surprise or dismay forced us all to find certain players who had tripped up. But eventually they all began to understand the need for two spells, and finally began travelling in pairs; as had been our objective all along. You are always more powerful when you have back up.
Hermione began making her way over to the spot where we had hidden the Astrolabe, Ron following closely. I had known that if anyone was going to be able to figure it out it was going to be her.
"Surprise in store for them eh Potter?" Draco had nudged me again. He was referring to the spells around the hidden object. Hermione cast her revelation spell, and then Ron cast his, which did give them the vision of the golden object, floating, just above the Ravenclaw table, at the center point. The chairs sprang to life to defend it, which caught Ron off guard, quickly surrounding him. Hermione came to his rescue, or tried to, by levitating him beyond their reach, but as soon as she put him down they began to crowd for him again. He looked a little panicked, which did make a number of Slytherin snicker. Ron did get a funny kind of wide-eyed look when he was scared. His predicament, well, that and the revelation of the prize began to bring the other teams over, and soon it was difficult to sort out who was doing what in the jumble of bodies. Things were in danger of degenerating into a shooting fest as wands came out to start blowing the chairs into toothpicks, which, though effective, was not exactly what we had foreseen. I was ready to stand up to put an end to it, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Not just yet Mr. Potter." It was Professor Sinistra, "give them another minute or two, I can repair the chairs." I let my shoulders relax and looked at Minerva, she nodded in agreement. With a sigh I watched what transpired next.
Hermione, having decided that she could not free Ron from the chairs had begun goading them to herself by reaching for the Astrolabe. Their attentions turned, she again lifted Ron into the air to hover over the prize. He finally seemed to understand and took up the levitation spell himself. Hermione was quickly surrounded and encased by the wooden creatures charged with guarding the object. But, now free, and having involved all the chairs in Hermione's capture, Ron easily grabbed at the object, received a shock for his haste, then cast a spell to disarm the field around it and plucked it out of the air.
And it was over.