So here's chapter three, hope you enjoy it. I'll try to keep this chapter nice and long. Read and review please and thank you.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter.
The first day of lessons was of course, for Lucinda and very nerve-wracking. Since the moment she woke up butterflies had been fluttering around in her stomach causing her to not eat very much during breakfast. It wasn't noticed by her fellow first years who were chattering excitedly about the upcoming lessons. "What do you think our first class will be like? Transfiguration, I wonder what we will do it that class…" Hermione droned on and on to Lucinda on what she suspected their first lesson would be like. Lucinda, not being a morning person, became very annoyed with the amount of conversation being directed at her and decided to make a little joke at Hermione. "I don't know, probably learn about transfiguration but that's just a guess." Ron and Harry, who were sitting across the table from them, laughed causing Hermione to glare at the three of them. "Sorry." They said at the same time looking like children who had gotten a scolding from their mother. By the time breakfast had ended and the four of them were heading off to their first class of the day, transfiguration taught by Professor McGonagall, Lucinda and Hermione were excited and followed the rest of the first years to their classroom, Ron on the other hand had convinced Harry to take a 'shortcut' to class to avoid the crowded halls. Overhearing their plan, Lucinda shook her head, "I bet you a galleon they get lost." Hermione laughed and they made their way to class.
After Professor McGonagall assigned their work (copying the basic techniques and spells of transfiguration) and showed them an example of transfiguration by turning into a cat, Lucinda elbowed Hermione and mouthed 'I told you so' seeing as Harry and Ron had yet to show up for class. It was when Lucinda had finished copying the first paragraph of their assigned work when the two boys ran into the class and thought they weren't that late but then McGonagall turned back into a human and scolded them for tardiness then getting lost. Lucinda found it amusing, Hermione did too by the way she rolled her eyes; it would of course be those two who would get into trouble on their first day of lessons. Returning to her work Lucinda focused on finishing copying down all the assigned pages, her flawless cursive soon filling the open notebook page in front of her. Nearing the end of class she let her mind slip to other things-mostly the potions class coming up. To her it was a dream come true; being able to see her father everyday-and even be taught by him! Potions had always been a favourite pastime of hers, by age six she could properly prepare half the potions in the first year potions textbook. By the time she finished copying down all she had to there was still ten minutes left in class so she began to read over her notes trying to memorize every important thing on the page. She noticed Hermione doing the same thing beside her and smiled, they were going to be friends and competitors for that year and the rest of the years to come.
At the end of class while walking to potions Lucinda poked fun at Ron and Harry, "Now stay close boys, we wouldn't want you getting lost again." Ron rolled his eyes, "Very funny." Lucinda smiled and the entered dim potions classroom. "Real cheery place this is." Ron commented as he sat down beside Harry. "Some potions are sensitive to light, Ron. It's in the first chapter of our books." Hermione commented taking a seat beside Harry at the front of the class. "Rats." Muttered Lucinda, all of the seats at the front of the class had been taken. Looking around she saw Neville waving at her. "There's a seat here if you like." Smiling Lucinda took the seat to the left him, "Thanks." Putting her potions notebook out on her desk she waited for the beginning of class and began to chat a bit with Neville. "I don't think I'll be any good at potions, my Gran always said that I would be too clumsy for some of the stuff you have to do." Neville said frowning. "I'm certain you'll do just fine. As long as you can make simple potions and identify simple ingredients I don't think the class will be that hard." Before Neville could answer the door flew open and closed with a loud bang. Her father had arrived right on time to begin the class. He made his way from the back of the class to the front. "There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class," Lucinda resisted the urge to roll her eyes, if there was one thing her father hated was foolish wand-waving and silly incantations. He began speaking about how many would not be capable to make it in the art of potion making, but for the few who were able, his eyes rested on some of his house and then for a second on Lucinda, he would be able to teach them many things about potion making. How to brew glory and put a stopper on death and other things Lucinda had heard many times before but was none the less transfixed on her father and couldn't wait to begin brewing potions. But then he noticed Harry, who looked like he was not paying attention in the slightest bit. Hermione nudged him and snapped his head up to look at the professor. Oh dear, was all Lucinda could think. He began to ask him questions pertaining to potion making, ones that most first years would not be able to answer unless having read the first few chapters in their potion books, something Harry had not done. Hermione's hand shot up to answer but Lucinda just shook her head; it was a waste of energy to even try to interrupt him while he was using public humiliation to teach someone a lesson about paying attention.
Lucinda felt a little mad when she saw Draco Malfoy laughing at Harry. He wouldn't be able to answer those questions either, she thought, so he should keep his mouth shut. As the lesson continued on the class was assigned a simple boil-cure potion to see what 'level' of potion making they were at. For Lucinda it was too easy, she had this potion down by heart but knew to still consult her textbook to make sure she was doing it perfectly. In half the time they were given she had finished adding all the ingredients and was letting in stew for the amount of time she knew would make it a little bit stronger having made the potion several times before. While stirring her own potion she didn't notice Neville adding something to his cauldron; if she was looking she would have noticed him add the wrong type leaf and too many at that which made the potion unstable. Having finished stirring she looked over into Neville's pot which had turned an odd shade of blue, trying to figure out what he could have done wrong to make it go like that. Busy looking at him she didn't have enough time to stop him from stirring which caused the potion to rapidly change colour and burn through the bottom of the cauldron spilling onto Lucinda's hand. Crying out in pain, Lucinda jumped back careful not to touch her hand knowing that it could make the effects worse or spread to other parts of her body. Whatever he had added turned the simple potion into something acid like, that once in contact with the skin on her hand it burned right through to her bones.
Attempting to stifle the inappropriate words from flowing from her mouth, Lucinda shook her hand a bit and tried to not scream bloody murder because of the pain. "Ah, my god Neville! What did you add to that?" Neville, who looked terrified, tried to calm her down and was frantically apologizing. "I'm sorry, it was an accident! What happened?" Holding out her shaking hand she showed him, the entire top part of her hand was almost gone leaving bit of bright red tissue and bone sticking through. "Oh my." Was all Neville before he turned an odd shade of white and green. Professor Snape had made his way to the back of the class to see what all of the commotion was. He looked at Lucinda, "What is the problem here?" He asked in a smooth but frustrated voice. Lucinda showed him her shaking hand; glancing at it He turned toward the class and picked the first name he could think of. "Potter, escort Lucinda down to the infirmary." Lucinda debated telling him that she could escort herself but knew better then to, especially in front of the class.
Harry quickly walked to the back the class to collect Lucinda and they made their way out the door to the infirmary. "How's your hand?" Lucinda was nearly doubled over in pain and was trying to keep the tears from leaking out; in the class the pain had been awful but bearable but now it felt like her hand was on fire and to Lucinda that didn't even fully describe the pain. "It's…" Lucinda had to take in a breath to keep from screaming, "Terrible, but at least…" She took in another deep breath to try to calm the pain, "It's my left hand." The attempt at humour fell flat. "You don't look very well." Her skin was pale and not the type of pale it usually was; a grey sort of unnatural pale. "I don't feel very well either." By the time they reached the infirmary Lucinda was near passing out. As soon as they entered the infirmary Madam Pomfrey rushed over to them, "All right," She went to Lucinda's side. "Let's get her to a bed." Harry helped Lucinda over to one of the nearest beds, by then she was sweating and shivering all at the same time. "What happened?" Being a bit shaken due to the recent events it took Harry a few extra seconds to properly answer the flustered nurse. "It was in potions class, something spilled on her hand." Madam Pomfrey sighed, first year potion accidents were always the worst. "Alright dear, let's see that hand." Madam Pomfrey mumbled to Lucinda picking up her hand. Where the potion hand landed was a mess of burnt flesh and was oozing something yellow, her veins had turned black and were standing out against the unnatural grey skin. To Harry she looked near death, all sweaty, shivering and pale.
Sensing his distress Madam Pomfrey glanced at Harry, "If you aren't hurt you can go back to class." He hesitated for a few seconds looking at his friend then turned and left, he would definitely be visiting her later. The corridor was crowded, telling Harry that class was over; making his way back to the potions class to collect his forgotten books he ran into Ron talking to Hermione. "Hi Ron, Hermione. What did I miss in potions?" Hermione was about to answer when Professor Snape blew by them, making his way around the students anyone in their potions class knowing obviously where he was going. "He was really hard on Neville; I think he almost made him cry." Ron said looking down the corridor at the silhouette of their professor. "Here, I picked up your things for you." Hermione said handing him his books and cauldron. "How is she?" Hermione didn't have to specify who 'she' was; the three of them were concerned with what happened to their friend. "When I left the infirmary she looked terrible, her hand was burnt and turning black. And I think she might've had a fever too." Harry told his two friends as they went to their next class.
For the rest of the day much of the school was talking about what happened to the first year, Lucinda, but more so about the potions master and how he was taking his daughter's injury. He didn't teach the second year potions class but had returned for the rest of the day, though majorly distracted and seemed more cruel than usual. In the infirmary, Lucinda laid flat and unmoving on her bed. Pain ran through her veins, Madam Pomfrey said she was in for a rough night; poison was running through her veins from that damn potion and although she had been given things to combat the poison and numb the pain, it still hurt. Not moving helped, thinking about things helped. Neville had been by before and apologized profusely. She forgave him of course, it wasn't exactly his fault, and she hadn't been paying attention. Right when Madam Pomfrey had been wrapping up her hand was when her father showed up, shooting questions left and right to Madam Pomfrey. Finally he went over to her bed and leaned down to look at her. "I-I'm s-sor-ry." Lucinda tried to say, she felt like this was her fault; all this commotion because of her. A ghost of a smile twitched at his lips, "Don't be." They spent the next few minutes talking but then the pain started to come back and suddenly Lucinda couldn't talk anymore and her father had to go back to class.
It seemed like hours before she heard anything around her, she had fallen into a light sleep and that seemed to make the pain less, but now she heard some people talking. Voices she recognized, Harry, Ron and Hermione she thought, they must have come to visit me. It seemed like Madam Pomfrey was giving them a hard time about visiting, "She needs to sleep for a while and I won't be having you two get her all excited, it'll make the fever worse." Madam Pomfrey was trying to get them to leave. "Please Madam Pomfrey; we'll only be a few minutes. We just want to see how she's doing." There was a silence and a huff from Madam Pomfrey, "All right but you only have ten minutes." Lucinda heard footsteps and Harry said, "Thank you" to the nurse. Cracking an eye open Lucinda turned her head to the side. "How are you feeling?" Hermione asked her. Attempting to raise her hand to show Hermione her bandaged hand Lucinda felt pain shoot up her arm and instead settled for telling her to look at her hand. "It hurts right now but Madam Pomfrey by tomorrow I'll be able to leave but I have to keep my arm in a sling." Ron looked at her hand, "Looks bloody awful." Lucinda laughed. "It hurts something terrible too." By the time the ten minutes had passed they had barely scratched the surface on what had happened to Lucinda and what else she had missed during the rest of their classes. Madam Pomfrey quickly cleared Harry, Ron and Hermione out of the infirmary, once she was finished with them she went over to Lucinda's bed. "Alright, you'll be able to leave tomorrow night but first we have to make sure all that poison is done. Hold out your hand, there we are." Madam Pomfrey undid the wrapping on Lucinda's hand and grabbed the small bottle beside her bed. Unstoppering it she put a few drops onto Lucinda hand. Flinching she tried to pull back, "Oh will you stop fussing? It's going to hurt if it's going to heal." Madam Pomfrey scolded her. The signs of healing were obvious; the grey in her hand had already begun to dissipate and the veins of her wrist were becoming less and less obvious.
During the rest of Lucinda's time in the infirmary she spent sleeping and barely moving. After a full morning of classes after she was released from the hospital Lucinda's arm had begun to hurt. Sitting in the great hall with the other first years she began to rub her arm a nit hoping it would dull the pain. "Is your arm hurting you again?" Hermione inquired looking up from the notebook she had been writing in. "A little, but Madam Pomfrey said it would be sore for a while. I can't wait until I can take it out of the sling." Their conversation was interrupted by another first year named Seamus who had blown up his glass of water by accident. "That happened yesterday too." Hermione told Lucinda and they both laughed a bit. "Ah, mail's here." The girls heard Ron say. Lucinda saw her tyto owl Taran swoop down over to her table; he dropped an envelope into her hands as well as a small tin. "Oh, that's nice; my old nanny gave me some sweets." Lucinda said opening the tin; she closed it and quickly skimmed the letter, Mrs. Barnaby empathized at Lucinda's disappointment about not being in Slytherin house and wished her the best of luck during the school year. Lucinda opened the tin; it contained sugar cookies and a bit of candy. "Would you like some? My nanny makes the best sugar cookies I've ever had." Lucinda asked Hermione who smiled, said thank you and took a cookie. "Hey look, Neville's got a remembrall." Dean another first year said and head turned to look at Neville who held the clear ball in his hand. "I've read about those, the smoke turns red when you've forgotten something." Hermione said looking at the ball in Neville's hand as it began to turn red signalling that he had forgotten something. "The only problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten." Muffled laughter went around the table, but it quickly dispersed in favour of excitement of the day's final lesson-flying. "I can't wait for our flying lesson; it's going to be so amazing to be able to fly." Hermione admitted to Lucinda. "I wish I was able to go for the lesson with you…" Her eyes landed on her arm in its white sling preventing her from taking the flying lesson. "Awful luck that is." Ron added overhearing a part of their conversation. "What are you going to be doing while we're flying?" Harry asked, sorry for his friend. "I don't know I'll probably end up in the common room or maybe I'll spend the time getting my bandage changed in the infirmary."
It turned out Lucinda ended up doing the latter so when Neville Longbottom was escorted into the infirmary with a broken wrist she was there. At dinner the first questions Lucinda asked her friends was what happened to Neville and furthermore what had happened to make McGonagall make Harry the house team's new seeker. "Well, first we were just practising the basics and Neville lost control of his broom so he ended up falling off and breaking his wrist-as you know." Ron told her and Hermione then continued the story from there. "He dropped his remembrall and that boy Malfoy picked it up and challenged Harry 'to go and get it' and threw the remembrall into the air. Of course Harry just had to go and get it. I thought for certain that Professor McGonagall was going to expel him." Ron jumped back into the story. "It was brilliant, it was. You'll do great during that first game." Harry shrugged off the compliment; he'd never even heard the rules of Quidditch before.
After a week of school things turned into a routine, at least for Lucinda, weekdays were spent in class, studying or doing work and her weekends were spent in her father's office helping him sort potion ingredients and getting some few small lessons on spells, charms, hexes and arranges of other things that were more suitable for her level of skill than the simple first year lessons. Lucinda hoped that by third year she'd be able to cast a proper Patronus charm. Given that she had been learning things most spell casters her age wouldn't even think to know let alone preform properly, Lucinda always found things like charms class increasingly boring. They had barely even done charms, just practiced wrist movements and proper pronunciation of different charms. Today they were going to finally preform a hover charm. At the point in time where Lucinda actually paid a bit of attention Professor Flitwick was reminding them of a proper wrist movement and pronunciation of the charm-Wingardium Leviosa. Lucinda whispered "This is simple." To Hermione who had just shushed her. Finally when they been granted permission to practice Lucinda was distracted by Ron, who was waving is wand about and saying the charm incorrectly. Right when she was about to say something to him Hermione stepped in and reprimanded him for not doing the charm's required wrist movement or saying the charm itself correctly. Looking back to her feather Lucinda remembered everything she needed to do, "Wingardium Leviosa." She said plainly and the feather began to float. Hermione quickly followed suit and made her feather fly about. "Well done Ms. Snape and Ms. Granger!" Exclaimed Professor Flitwick, "Everyone look here at these two ladies. Splendid!" When the professor had finished praising the two girls, Seamus began again to try to make his feather float. Instead, perhaps because he was saying the charm wrong, blew up right in his face. After the initial surprise muffled laughter filled the class. "What is that, the third time it's happened to him?" Lucinda asked Hermione. "I think so." Hermione answered laughing a bit.
When class had finished and everyone was leaving the room Hermione and Lucinda were talking as they made their way to the next class of the day. "Oh, shoot. I forgot my notebook in class." Lucinda said as she sifted through her collection of books in her bag. "I'm going to go run back and get it." Going as fast as she could Lucinda ran back to class to grab her book. Entering the class she grabbed the notebook and rushed out to re-join her classmates. By the time she had reached their next class she was almost late, but she was more concerned with the fact that Hermione wasn't there. When their classes had finished, there was still no sign of Hermione. Worried about her friend she asked Pavarti Patil, another Gryffindor first year, if she had seen her. "Yes, she's been in the bathroom all afternoon crying." Lucinda thanked her and ran to put her books back her dormitory. After returning her books she went to the girl's bathroom where Hermione was supposedly hiding in. "Hermione? Are you in here?" Lucinda heard muffled sniffles. "Okay, I know you're in here. What happened?" She waited for Hermione to answer but only heard a muffled "Go away." Lucinda went to the stall she heard all the noise coming from and knocked on the green door. "Are you okay?" Lucinda asked deeply concerned for her friend. "Why do you care? Everyone else thinks I'm a nightmare." Hermione said through her tears. "Who said that?" Lucinda asked, feeling very upset. "Ron did and all of his friends agreed." A larger feeling of upset came over Lucinda; she had thought that Rona and Harry were at least friends with them. "Ron and his friends are stupid boys and stupid boys say stupid things that smart girls like us shouldn't pay any mind to." Lucinda told Hermione, quoting something very similar her father had told her when she was young about dealing with bullies. "Besides, I'm your friend and I like you just fine, why should you care what they think?" Hermione stopped sniffling and unlocked the cubicle door, "Thank you for being a friend Lucinda." When she stepped out of the stall she realized why her friend hadn't answered. Lucinda's eyes were fixed on the giant troll that had somehow made its way into the girl's lavatory.
Hermione backed into the stall while Lucinda stood paralyzed by fear. The troll swung its club at them; Lucinda ducked at the last moment and tried to pull her wand out. When the troll swung its club a second time Lucinda narrowly escaped being hit again but her wand got knocked away and rolled across the floor out of her reach. The troll kept swinging his club almost hitting both Lucinda and Hermione several times; every time Lucinda tried to make a move for her wand the troll would swing its club toward her destroying the chances she had to save. Less than thirty seconds after the troll entered the bathroom Ron and Harry came running in. "Distract it!" Lucinda shouted at them and they began to throw the shattered pieces of the wooden cubicle at the troll. While the boys distracted the troll Lucinda tried to find her wand amidst the rubble of the bathroom while Hermione, wandless and defenseless against the fully grown mountain troll, tried to get to the other side of the bathroom where Ron and Harry were, but her attempt was thwarted when she had to hide under the sinks when the troll turned to her. He swung his club and hit the sinks Hermione had been hiding under only seconds ago. Lucinda, having found her wand, turned toward the scene, the troll had Harry by his ankle and was trying to hit him with his club while Ron was trying to perform a spell. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron yelled finally getting the spell right. He used the spell to drop the troll's own club on its head. It dropped Harry and stumbled toward them growling, the club dropping not having the knock-out effect they probably wished it had. "Petrificus Totalus!" Lucinda shouted pointing her wand at the troll. The troll went rigid and fell to the ground, "Is it…dead?" Hermione asked walking towards the unconscious troll. "No, it'll be able to move again soon I think." Lucinda answered, not sure of how long it would take for the spell to wear off. Harry leaned over the troll and grabbed his wan d from the troll's nose, "Oh, gross." Ron said making a face. "Troll bogies." Was all Harry said as he wiped the disgusting slime off on his robes.
As Lucinda was about to ask where the teachers were Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrel and Professor Snape ran into the bathroom. "Oh! Oh my goodness," Seeing Harry and Ron first she ordered them to explain themselves. "It's my fault Professor McGonagall ." Hermione interrupted, "I went looking for the troll; I'd read about them and thought I could handle it but I was wrong. If Harry, Ron and Lucinda hadn't come and found me I'd probably be dead." Lucinda looked at Hermione incredulously for telling a lie to a teacher. "Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do. I would have expected more rational thinking on your part and I am very disappointed in you Ms. Granger. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgment." The professor turned to the three others, "As for you three, I hope you realize just how fortunate you are, not many first years could take on a fully-grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Five points will be awarded to each of you, for sheer dumb luck." Smiles crept unto their faces. They had just earned their house fifteen points! The smile on Lucinda's face fell when she looked at her father. He was very disappointed, it was written on his face and that only meant to Lucinda the rest of her weekends at Hogwarts would be spent sorting potion ingredients and writing lines. As Professor Quirrel ushered them out of the room Lucinda felt the heavy stare of her father. "Please come with me to my office." He told her in a flat voice. Her three friends turned to her, "I…Am probably going to get in trouble. I'll see you in the common room." And she turned on heel and went to go to her father's office where she would probably get chewed out for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
When they reached his office and sat down at his desk the questions began. "I do not understand how someone as smart as you could do something as stupid and irresponsible as this Lucinda. I am seriously disappointed in you and before you even start I don't believe the story Ms. Granger came up with, so please tell me why there was reason to lie." Lucinda's shoulders slumped forward a bit, she hated when her father put her on the spot even if it was just the two of them. "Well, Hermione had been in the bathroom…crying." She didn't know whether or not she should have mentioned that. "So I went to go try to get her to come out and after a while of convincing she finally came out of the stall and that's when the troll entered the bathroom. Then Ron and Harry came rushing in and they tried to distract the troll so Hermione could get away from it and I could get my wand because it was buried in rubble." Severus nodded sensing truth in the story, "Which one of you incapacitated the troll?" He asked Lucinda, hoping it was her because it would prove his belief her abilities were much more advanced than any other first year. "I did, I used the body-bind curse; it was the first spell I could think of that would bring down a troll." Severus rose from his desk and made his way to the shelves in his office which were full of communal ingredients for students who had forgotten to purchase or lost different types of potion ingredients. "It was good thinking for you to use a body-binding curse against the troll, but what is more exceptional is that you were able to perform such a curse with no instruction on how to do so as of yet. Therefore every Saturday you will be here at 3 o'clock sharp for advanced lessons," Lucinda felt thankful; she had thought for sure she was going to be in trouble. "But that does not excuse the seriousness of your actions; while I will not be informing Professor McGonagall of the lie the four of you told her, after each of your advanced lessons you will be sorting potion ingredients." Such punishment was expected by Lucinda having had to sort, label and find countless vials, bottles and boxes of ingredients as child in punishment for doing something naughty.
Returning to the common room she was met by her three friends who had been anxiously waiting for her return. "How did it go?" Hermione asked worriedly. "I have to spend the rest of my Saturdays sorting potion ingredients and various other things." A silence fell upon the group. "Well… that's not so bad I suppose. I mean, he could have had you sent home." Commented Ron, Lucinda nearly laughed; sorting things was something she hated with a passion. "I reckon I'll be cross eyed by the end of the year though. He used to make me sort out leaves, dried up things, all manner of potions ingredients when I was younger, I swear sometimes it felt like my head was going to explode from sorting out small little things." After talking a bit for a little more than half an hour, Hermione decided it would be best if they went to bed seeing how late it was getting. Hours later, when most people at the castle were sleeping or trying to do so, Lucinda stared up at the canopy above her. She missed her room and her bed; the bed she was on was too soft and made her back hurt. "Lucinda?" A whisper made its way over to her. "Yes?" She answered the voice, it took a few seconds but she realized the voice was Hermione's. "Are you awake?" Lucinda rolled her eyes, "Obviously." She then heard the sound of Hermione rolling over to face her, "Oh, right. I couldn't sleep and I was wondering why you don't let anyone call you Lucy?" Rolling over so she was facing Hermione's general direction she let out a sigh; she knew this question was going to come up after she snapped at Draco Malfoy for calling her that. "When I was four, it was around the time that I started to…remember things about my mom. She had died just before I turned one and she was the first person to call me Lucy; it really upset me that she wasn't with me anymore and the name Lucy just made me upset so I started telling people to call me Lucinda. I was told that I was bossiest four-year-old anyone knew." Hermione laughed a bit and Lucinda yawned. "I'm so tired. Goodnight." As they fell asleep, Lucinda couldn't help but feel happy that she finally had friends she could rely on. And for the first time in years Lucinda did not dream of her mother dying.
Holy cr*p! That took so much longer than expected to write. Please r&r! It really helps me to correct my writing when I get constructive criticism.