Chapter 16 - Communication
It didn't take long after the Christmas holidays for the quidditch obsessed people to start making a ruckus again. The upcoming match of Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff had the Gryffindors fight more than ever. Just not with the always friendly Hufflepuffs, but with the Slytherins again, whose head of house was chosen to referee the match.
It was an open secret that Professor Snape despised anything Gryffindor and in turn would heavily favour the Hufflepuffs. And it was all made worse by the fact that their house was close to overtaking Slytherin in the house cup rankings. Something that hadn't happened in years apparently.
Holly would have ignored it all if Malfoy hadn't chosen her as his preferred target to hex in the back. It was annoying since she couldn't really defend herself, nor could she perform the counter curses. They just never worked right for her.
The worst one was when he'd gotten her with a leg locker that had her the laughingstock of everyone who came across her hobbling her way back to the common room. Malfoy must have planned it, because he ambushed her far from any teachers and had an audience of at least 5 more Slytherins as backup.
Holly wondered how he hadn't ended up in Gryffindor with how "brave" he was. He was even loud and brash like most of the boys in her house. He really hadn't liked when she'd pointed that out.
Thankfully he had run out of hexes to try on her so could only throw some stinging ones while she hopped off. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was stumbling into the common room and just getting laughed at by everyone present with no one helping. It was humiliating.
Percy had told her not to take it to heart afterwards when he was dispelling the hex. He said that the others were usually more prone to help, but with the tension running high they "forgot themselves". Holly was still a little disappointed, especially in times like these it was important to take care of your own.
Hermione had been there with Longbottom and Weasley, but she'd just ignored Holly and rushed off while talking nonsense about some book she had borrowed months ago. The others traded chocolate frog cards and laughed at her.
She took the next best chance to visit Fluffy and cry into his soft fur. He'd make for a great therapy dog if most people weren't afraid of his looks. He just let her hug him to death and then cuddled with her afterwards.
It seemed like another prank was in order. But Holly hadn't even heard anything about Longbottom receiving her "gift" yet. So that might take priority over Malfoy.
Of course she could annoy Snape about it, but he'd never punish Malfoy for their "childish squabbles". And she didn't want to ruin her one on one potions time by being annoying. She learned so much easier like this.
They didn't have any lessons over the holidays since Professor Snape was apparently busy stalking through the hallways all day. She'd almost run into him on her way to the mirror the second night. Whatever he was up to, Holly didn't want to know. Though, she could probably guess…
But that wasn't important right now. What was important right now was following his advice and starting to work on something to get her mind off of today's humiliation. Even if it didn't seem like the healthiest coping strategy.
Walking down the stairs to the boathouse, Holly was excited. School had been going again for a solid two weeks and she'd finally found the time to try out her new boots. They weren't finished yet, but she wanted to test some of the functionality before she continued working with her current concept. It wouldn't do to just keep doing the same and not knowing if it actually worked.
Seeing the stairs in the daylight made Holly a little anxious. They looked really weathered and were partly covered in moss. No wonder that some of the others almost slipped going up here on the night of their first arrival. But now they were even iced over a little. Having to grab onto the railing to not fall herself, she noticed that it was modelled after a snake. Similar to the decorations around the castle. Though, none of the other founder's were represented here. Weird. Probably hard to fit the other animals on the stairs.
Holly had chosen the boathouse as her testing place since the school grounds were full of people enjoying the snow now that it was a little warmer and not storming anymore. The weather had been terribly cold and wet the last week and today was the first day of clear skies. On the other hand the boathouse was usually abandoned, too far off the beaten path. She didn't want others knowing about her testing yet.
The rickety wood planks of the walkway around the boathouse creaked when Holly stepped onto them. They were also wet and semi frozen. Maybe it had been a bad idea to choose this place after all. But nowhere else could she be outside undisturbed, so it would have to do.
Holly dropped her bag by one of the house's walls so that it would at least be partially covered by the overhanging roof. There was a small area where it was partially dry which was also nice. Then she turned around, faced the lake and shoreside and stepped close to the edge of the walkway.
Being completely prepared for failure, Holly activated the fully charged runes with a small pulse of her own magic and took a step forward.
There was no inherent propulsion from the boots like with her last prototype. At a certain point, she met resistance with her foot and praying that it worked, put her entire weight into the step.
Instead of just walking off the side and falling down to the shore, her foot was firmly planted… in mid-air. She lifted her foot again and tested the stability by tapping it onto the "platform".
It wasn't really a platform per say, but the boots registered what height her other foot on solid ground was at and increased the air resistance the closer it got to reaching the same height. That was the increase in resistance she'd felt while taking the step.
It was a much more complicated rune design that accomplished this, made possible by the Sumeranian runes being able to "read" the environment around it and not just have a direct effect. Holly had to make a full heptagon that took care of this main function. And then every two corners were made into a triangle with another rune on the outside.
The rune sequence looked like a big star, and wouldn't have been possible at all without the connecting words of Sumeranian. Holly had also considered using a central rune in the middle, so the triangles faced inside rather than outside, but that hadn't been possible with all the things she wanted the small sequences to do. She needed too many different runes as the third corner of the triangles so finding a central one wasn't possible. Or at least Holly hadn't been able to.
It bled more magic this way, though the connecting words helped a ton already. It also required more space, but considering that she got more functionality this way, she was fine with that trade-off.
Focusing back onto her floating foot, Holly took another step forward, leaving the walkway behind entirely. It felt like she was standing in a bouncy castle. Testing her footing again she prepared for the actual tricky part. Walking on this level now that her boots didn't have a reference point anymore.
Activating the wind barrier, in case anything unplanned happened, she took another step. The expected resistance didn't come this time and Holly kept tilting further forwards. She scrambled with her arms to get back upright, but nothing seemed to help.
Her stomach lurched and in her blind panic, Holly closed her eyes and went ramrod straight. The blood was pounding in her ears and something was tickling her in the face. Carefully peeking through her lashes, she squeaked. She hadn't hit the walkway like she'd thought. No, Holly was hanging upside down in the air. That's why her hair was tickling her face as all the blood had rushed to her head.
Holly didn't dare make another move until she figured out how this happened or how she could get out of her precarious situation. Clearly, the boots had had a problem with recognising when she was at the same height as her previous step. And now she was standing upright according to what her boots thought.
"Bugger!"
At least the wind barrier kept her stable like gravity was actually coming from the point her feet touched the air. Well, except for her hair that was all over the place. Thankfully her glasses hadn't fallen off so Holly could still see. Even if it was rather disorienting from this angle. If she was a clock hand, then she would be hanging at around 7 o'clock. At 5 or 4 she'd have hit the walkway again, not like it would have hurt with the barrier, but still.
At first she tried waving her arms to maybe get back upright, but that did nothing except make her dizzy. Then she tried bending over a little to see if that did anything. Also without any results. What finally did do something, was when Holly flexed the foot that hadn't made the step. She continuously rotated a little bit more for as long as she was flexing it.
Flexing in the other direction, she slowly started spinning back upwards until she finally stood straight again. Holly tested her new discovery by flexing to the side, which in turn, made her rotate sideways, in the opposite direction of the flex.
It seemed like the boots recognised the angle of the foot that was the last to make a solid platform as the height of her last step. Which was not what she'd been going for, but she could work with this.
Holly confirmed her hypothesis by taking some more steps, this time successfully, still staying upright. And then, just for the fun of it, she walked a couple steps through the air upside down and also sideways. It was quite fun once you got used to the weird feeling and hair falling in her face. She would have to tie her hair back the next time she did this.
Getting back to the ground was quite easy, but the change from her own boot gravity to the normal one was so sudden that Holly stumbled onto the shore and landed in the dirt. Not face first thankfully, she'd been able to catch herself with her hands. Now only her gloves and robes and boots were covered in mud. Great.
Pulling herself out of the wet and muddy ground wasn't as easy as she'd thought. So she activated her boots again, which worked a treat. It was like walking on solid ground again, just with her feet buried in mud. She eventually managed to free herself and step back into the air.
Holly was careful with the landing this time. Knowing what to expect, she didn't stumble when getting back on the walkway. She walked over to her bag and pulled out a towel she'd thought she would need when she eventually fell in the lake during her tests.
Fortunately they had gone a lot better than what Holly had expected. Her wind barrier just worked as intended, which was honestly the biggest surprise. She could actually walk on air, even if it was a little different to how she'd intended. But knowing how her runes worked in practise would make it possible to now make something so she would not only be able to walk, but skate through the air as well.
Holly couldn't wait.
"As you can see, the switching spell does not actually switch two objects. But rather it is a simultaneous transfiguration of either object into the other." Professor McGonagall lectured.
After yesterday's excitement of proving that Holly's Soaring Boots worked, normal classes were a great way to ground herself again. Both figuratively and literally. She didn't learn many new things, but they still helped solidify her theory work. And maybe even helped with her practicals. She wasn't entirely sure. As long as she found the correct way for her magic to go, the spells usually worked, regardless of intent or visualising a transfiguration. Maybe she just did these things subconsciously and didn't notice it with how much concentration her cast attempts required.
Holly was broken out of her thoughts by a commotion outside the window. They could hear some loud hooting and what sounded like falcons or eagles screeching. There was a bright flash and with a loud shattering sound, the window exploded inwards. The class was in an uproar. People screamed, tried to hide or ran into each other, all the while McGonagall shouted at them to calm down. It didn't really work.
Then, before Holly could react, she was knocked over by something hitting her right in the face. All she could see were white feathers and a sharp beak. She instantly recognised Hedwig and still hearing the commotion of screeches, just much closer now, Holly tried shielding Hedwig from whatever was attacking her.
"Out! Out! What's the meaning of this!?" Looking up, Holly could see Professor McGonagall throwing various spells at the attackers. She couldn't quite make out what they were. They were inky black, looked like a weird mix of different predator birds and were trailing black smoke wherever they went. The proportions seemed off as well, their razor sharp looking talons and beaks were almost as big as their bodies.
Holly had never seen anything like it, nor read about them in her beasts book. Seeing her chance, Holly ducked under her table with Hedwig in her arms, like most of the other students had done by now. And just in time as well. One of the three black birds dove at her, but instead of crashing into where Holly was peeking out from under the table, a golden shield sprung up in front of her. Courtesy of the professor.
The bird let out a pained cry when it hit the shield hard enough to leave cracks in the semi transparent surface. It didn't seem to be satisfied though and began hacking into the shield with its oversized beak. Holly wanted to run and get Hedwig to safety, but the shield only covered her in a small bubble that didn't move with her. She was stuck.
Professor McGonagall was busy fighting the other birds, but none of her spells seemed to hit. The birds just collapsed into the black smoke they were trailing around and the spells would go right through. That left the Professor just able to shield and try different spells to hopefully find something that worked.
Eventually the birds noticed that the one hacking at the shield wasn't making progress and the Professor wasn't a threat to them. So they too dove at the shield with full force, breaking it and crashing into the table. The crashing sound was accompanied by Holly's and her classmates' screaming.
Trying to get Hedwig to safety, Holly hugged her to her chest, turned her back to the birds and ran. She didn't get far, there was a sharp pain in her ankle and she slammed into the ground. Looking back with tears in her eyes, Holly saw her ankle pinned to the floor by a beak.
"Get away from my students, you abominations!" But Professor McGonagall couldn't reach Holly, busy herself with one bird. The other one was just about to descend on her when the room burst into flames.
Holly didn't feel hot, nor did she feel the pain in her ankle anymore. Rather, she was filled with a new hope. There was a beautiful trilling of a bird and when the fire disappeared, Holly could see a beautiful and majestic red and orange bird.
A phoenix!
The black abominations screeched their challenge, but upon hearing the phoenix's birdsong they simply collapsed into smoke that slowly dissipated.
"Miss Potter, are you and your owl all right?" McGonagall had hurried over to her and was now inspecting her ankle. "Thank you for your assistance Fawkes."
Holly looked over at the phoenix that was now sitting besides the Professor, also looking over her leg. It, or from the name he seemed sad.
"I, I'm fine. It doesn't even hurt anymore. I don't know about Hedwig though." Said bird pried her way out of Holly's grasp at the mention. Scanning her over, she looked mostly fine except for some feathers out of place and a weird chainlet attached to one of her legs. Holly most definitely hadn't given her that, so where had Hedwig gotten it from? She didn't mention it being new when telling the professor that her owl was fine as well.
"Alright, then we'll get you to the hospital wing, can you walk on your own or do you need assistance?"
What? Her ankle was just impaled by a beak the size of her wand, of course she would need assistance. And why wasn't anyone worried about her bleeding out? Looking down at her foot, Holly was left gaping at her woundless ankle. There was not even a scratch left, but her socks were still bloody and had holes.
"Up you get Miss Potter," said McGonagall while helping the still gaping Holly up, "We'll need to have a word with Professor Dumbledore later. These abominations weren't natural. Class dismissed!"
With the wave of a wand, the window and table began repairing themselves. Her classmates started surrounding her, asking what happened, if she was okay and what those things were. But with a trilling sound of Fawkes, everyone fell silent.
"Now, give Miss Potter some space. She is just as shocked as you and needs medical attention. Off you go to lunch before I have to start deducting points." At Professor McGonagall's pointed look and harsh words, the others started collecting their things, grumbling about the unfairness of it all.
Once everyone was gone, they quietly made their way to the hospital wing. The only sounds to be heard were their footsteps, Hedwig hooting and Fawkes trilling in answer. He was riding McGonagall's hat like a regal ruler looking down onto his people. It was quite cute.
When Madame Pomfrey laid her eyes on Holly, she just sighed and ushered her to the same bed she'd been on the last time as well. If Holly continued getting hurt, maybe she'd get her own nameplate attached to it.
"I can't find anything wrong with you physically, but I'll give you a small dose of a calming draught so you can settle down a little." That was all Madame Pomfrey said before she went back to take care of the various other injuries and sick children currently in the wing. There weren't a lot, but still more than her last time.
After a short while a small vial came hovering over to her that she fished out of the air and then downed in one go. It tasted disgusting. Professor McGonagall, who'd been quiet until now, cleared her throat and gestured for Holly to lay down in the bed.
Once Holly had taken off her shoes and laid down, the Professor sat down in the chair by her bed. "You may rest while we wait here for Professor Dumbledore."
Coaxed to relax by the potion, Holly sank deeper into the pillow, thinking about what had happened. But before she could make any headway, McGonagall shook her by the shoulder.
Holly's eyes shot open, she hadn't even realised that they were closed, and sat up. There was a privacy screen surrounding her bed now and another chair occupied by Dumbledore. Fawkes and Hedwig were nowhere to be seen.
"Good evening Miss Potter," when did it become evening? "I hear you went through quite the ordeal today. I trust that you have been taken care of appropriately?" Professor Dumbledore's voice was as serene as always.
"Yes Sir, thank you for your concern."
"I want to ask you some questions regarding the incident if you don't mind?" At Holly's nod, he continued. "Did you recognise the creature attacking your owl?"
Holly just shook her head, no. She felt quite dizzy and disoriented from just having woken up and didn't want to talk too much.
"Then do you know where your owl might have encountered them?"
"No Sir, I had just let Hedwig out to hunt in the morning as always." She lied expertly.
"Is that so?" Professor Dumbledore's eyes were burning into her own. "Is there anything you want to add? Anything at all?"
"No Sir, nothing."
"Then you may go back to sleep. And tell your Hedwig to stay away from the forbidden forest, it seems like there's a new species running rampant."
Obediently lying back down, Holly quickly drifted back off to sleep thanks to the potion still working. She did hear one last thing before her lights went out completely. A sharp hiss from Professor McGonagall.
"What are you saying, Headmaster? This was clearly an attack using dark magic. I won't stand for…." And then Holly was gone.
Holly woke early the next day still in the hospital wing. Someone must have changed her clothes since she was now dressed in pyjamas. Hedwig was also back, using her bed's headboard as a perch, slumbering. It wasn't really a headboard, but made of metal pipes like most hospital beds.
No one else was there, so Holly quietly woke Hedwig by poking her chest plumage. Her owl just gave her an annoyed look, fluttered onto Holly's arm and stretched out her leg as if there was a letter attached.
There was no letter, just the small chainlet on Hedwig's leg. Holly inspected it a little closer, and when she touched it, quickly let go again. Something had pricked her. Looking at her finger, she noticed that there was a drop of blood on it now. And the chainlet that was just around Hedwig's leg before now became longer and longer, until finally it ended in a letter that was attached to it.
Taking another look around, to make sure that she wasn't being watched, Holly ripped the letter open and started reading. A grin spread on her face after the first paragraph. And the more she read, the wider her grin became as well.
She had done it, she'd written to Flamel and actually gotten an answer!
