Hermione
She and Marik had been sitting in the busy hospital wing for a few hours now. The large wool bedside chair she had been reading in had long since grown uncomfortable and lost its cushioning after just the first few minutes of sitting in it.
You would think with magic they could make these things more comfy. Or maybe they make them uncomfortable to persuade you not to get hurt. She thought to herself, trying to find a way to get comfy. Either way sitting much longer in this chair and she would need a bed in the hospital soon to have her spine healed.
Hermione had been trying to read ahead in her potions book while they sat there waiting. Even after two weeks of wracking her brain she still had been unable to come by any inspiration for her end of year project for potions class. Each day she had gone through a different journal or book on the subject and today she was even making her way through a book Professor Snape had leant her. However, even in possession of a book she was extremely excited to read her bookmark still sat between the same pages that it had started in when they arrived at the hospital wing a few hours back. She was too distracted and distraught to read at the moment, which was saying something for her.
The first year's part of the dueling tournament had wrapped up a few hours earlier and from the chatter of the rest of the people in the hospital wing the fourth year's tournament was just now getting started. While she was sad that she and Marik were missing out on getting to see all the upper level magic that would be taking place she would have felt worse if they had not come.
The display of magic that she had seen during the first year tournament was truly inspiring. She was proud of Marik for winning their year; although she was sure from the way she had reacted to losing he could tell she was also certainly jealous. Even though she and Marik had not met each other in the finals like they had planned, they both had performed amazingly and were able to put into effect everything that they had been working on with Quirrell.
No one else was prepared for Marik's usage of the incarcerous spell, both of them being able to cast a stupefy spell, or the power they both could put behind their other spells. Not even Harry, who ended up beating her, was prepared for the power she could put into her incendio spell. His face had been priceless when she evaporated his aguamenti spell.
His face now though was replaced with one that seemed to be deep in a dream instead of the serious one that he had put on whilst he was dueling. He looked peaceful, friendly, and cute as he slept somberly in his hospital bed.
During Marik's duel with Harry, Marik had ended the duel with a stunning display of magic that had landed Harry in the hospital wing. Marik had lured Harry into casting the transfiguration spell that he had used during both Harry's duel with her and once with Marik. Although during her duel with Harry she had no idea what spell it was that he cast to do the transfigurations, it did become clear during Harry's duel with Marik that Harry was using certain spells as decoys for his transfiguration spell. Marik used that to his advantage in his duel with Harry. He had blinded him, along with the rest of the Hall's spectators with the lumos maxima, and then nailed Harry square in the chest with a powerful stupefy.
When the spell, which had been an extremely powerful one, hit Harry in the chest he was sent flying across the Hall unconscious. His body had landed right into the house point glasses behind the teachers. Hermione felt bad that not only did Harry lose in the finals, get stunned by a powerful spell that he no doubt would be sore from for a while, but he also had to get quite a few stitches from the glass Madame Pomfrey removed from all over his body.
Marik had obviously not been aiming for Harry to hit the glass, but he had felt just as bad as she did at the sight of him lying in the Great Hall injured. They both had decided it would be good for Harry to have someone by his side when he woke up.
Although he looked peaceful and innocent just lying there now, during the tournament he had proven himself to be anything but that. Not only had he cast transfiguration spells that she was dying to know what they were, but he has also proven to be quite the good duelist. Marik had told her when they first arrived and were discussing the tournament that if the girl named Cho had not cast the wind spell windumgusto in her first duel, he would not have come up with the idea to use a deprimo spell to clear out the smoke that Harry created with his transfiguration spell, and probably would have been hit by Harry's next spell.
"How much longer do you think he will be asleep?" Marik asked her, breaking her train of thought.
"The potions Madame Pomfrey gave him should be wearing off soon," she answered, closing the book on her lap again. It was really pointless for her to keep trying to read at the moment.
"You find any ideas for an end of year project in your book yet?" Marik asked her.
"Still no, I can't focus on reading right now. I'm still replaying the whole tournament over and over again in my head," she answered.
"Think he will try and hex me when he wakes up?" Marik asked, looking guilty.
"I'm sure he will understand it was an accident, plus he probably won't remember anything since you knocked him out before he hit the glass," Hermione answered.
"You sure you're okay? I know I keep asking but I'm just making sure," Marik asked for about the fifth time since they arrived.
"YES Marik I am fine! You should be proud that you won, not apologetic. Besides I think I made it far enough and used good enough spells to help me get better marks for the end of the year ability ratings. Plus there is always next year," she answered, already ready for next year's tournament.
"True. We really should thank Quirrell during our next study session with him. Without him we would have been screwed," Marik replied. He was right.
So far in their first two months of Hogwarts she had learned more from Quirrell in the few hours they had with him each week than she had in all of her classes combined. She even found herself wanting to go to Quirrell's office more than the library often times. Professor Quirrell's training along with Marik's friendship had been the only reason honestly she had been able to make it this far at Hogwarts.
Since the day she had discovered Marik training in a practice room both she and Marik had spent almost every minute they could together working, studying, and training. They did all of their homework together, ate every meal together, and did practically everything else with each other. In just a short period of time the two of them had become practically inseparable.
While the two of them worked together to help each other on almost everything, almost everything they worked together on became a competition. In classes it was who could earn the most points, in the library it was who could find the coolest new book, in their practice room it was who could cast the most powerful and the difficult spell. The drive and competition between them had made the school year a lot more fun so far and honestly it had pushed them both and their limits with their magic.
"Look, I think he is waking up!" Hermione said to Marik pulling herself out of her train of thought again.
"Ughhmmmpff…" Harry mumbled as his eyes slowly opened. "Where am I? What happened?" Harry said as he cleared out his eyes with his hands and noticed for the first time the two visitors at his bed. "What are you two doing here?" Harry asked them, looking confused.
"Hi Harry, I don't think we have formally met yet. I'm Hermione Granger," she said with a smile. She would have extended a hand out but she figured he was too sore to move.
"Oh yeah, and I'm Marik Ose." Marik followed her lead and introduced himself.
"I know who you both are, why are you here though?" Harry asked them, sounding grouchy.
"Well… see what had happened was," Marik started to explain.
"When Marik hit you with his last stupefy spell it sent your body right into the house point scoring glasses. It wasn't on purpose and if the teachers hadn't been blinded by the lumos maxima spell they would have been able to catch your body first. Anyways, we felt bad and wanted to make sure you were okay," she said apologetically, hoping he wouldn't hate them.
"I guess that explains these stitches," Harry said looking over the stitches on his arms.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Harry. It wasn't on purpose I swear. I mean I wanted to hit you hard, but not that hard," Marik said with his usual smirk on his face.
"It's okay, congratulations on winning by the way. Where did you two learn spells like that? I've cast a basic incendio before but never one like you did, and I know stupefy is supposed to be a really tough spell to learn," Harry said with a questioning look towards her.
"Well ummm. . ." Marik scrambled for something to say knowing that they had promised not to tell anyone else about their lessons with Quirrell.
"We have our secret sources," she answered and quickly went to change the subject. "We will make you a deal. We will teach you how to do those spells if you teach us the transfiguration spell that you did. Neither one of us could figure out which spell you used nor how you did it. Deal?" Hermione asked as she tried to put on her best puppy face. She couldn't help her curiosity and thirst to know everything. If it meant sharing a few things Quirrell had taught them to find out she was willing to make that trade.
"Uhhh… Yeah I guess. . . That sounds fair." Harry looked puzzled at her answer and offer.
"Here, Madam Pomfrey said you were supposed to drink this when you woke up, it's for pain relief." She handed him the dark blue potion from the bed's nightstand. "How are you feeling?" She asked him, assuming it would be bad.
"I feel okay, upset I lost but other than that okay," Harry answered. He did look about as flustered as she had when she had lost.
"Well you put on quite the show, and you motivated me to put in a lot more work into my practices," She replied truthfully. Harry was about to respond when Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office.
In through the doors to the hospital wing came Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, who was levitating an unconscious girl's body through the doors. The three of them stared on curiously as Snape brought the girl over to a hospital bed. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey quickly closed the curtains around them.
"Wonder what that was all about," Marik said.
"Do you think it happened in the tournament?" Hermione asked.
"Let's find out," Harry said grabbing his wand from the nightstand.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, staring at him curiously.
"Find out what happened, or do you not want to know?" Harry asked her.
"I do!" Marik interjected.
"Yeah fine, go ahead just don't get me in trouble." Marik rolled his eyes at her last comment. She never would admit it to him but she probably did worry a little too much. Harry picked up his wand from his bed's nightstand and pointed it at the curtains the professors and Madame Pomfrey were behind.
"Eavsdrovo," Harry whispered out the spell. Immediately out of his wand voices could be heard. "Muffliato," Harry whispered the second spell that Hermione used every time she and Marik studied in the library. She leaned in to hear the voices coming from Harry's wand.
"Stupid, bloody, fourth year fool using a petrifying spell in a duel. Not only did he not even know the proper spell or wand movements he did not even know what the spell did. I told Albus we needed stricter rules on this silly tournament," she recognized the voice as McGonagall's say.
"Is the other boy okay?" Madam Pomfrey asked the two professors.
"I certainly hope not after a stunt like that," Professor McGonagall responded, sounding extra flustered.
"Headmaster Dumbledore sent him down to Hagrid's gardens to gather the mandrakes that have been growing there for the mandrake potion that Miss Romulus here will be needing," Snape responded.
"Why didn't he just get Hagrid to bring them up, if the student was foolish enough to cast a spell he didn't know surely he can't be trusted picking a mandrake?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"Hagrid is still off in the forest hunting whatever has been killing the unicorns out there, another one was found killed last week. And we were assured by Pomona picking Mandrakes is covered in year two." Snape sneered.
"Oh my… That makes how many unicorns now?" Madam Pomfrey asked seeming concerned.
"This would be the third. Apparently whatever is killing them is close to death though, so Hagrid shouldn't have much trouble killing it. Something that is willing to kill a unicorn no matter how powerful the blood is cannot hope for much of a live to life after that," Professor McGonagall answered.
"I am afraid we must be back, Poppy. The fifth year duels are getting started soon and we have already missed grading too many duels because of this," Snape said. "The boy should be here soon with the mandrakes."
Harry quickly put his wand back on the nightstand and laid back down like he was pretending to sleep as soon as the professors finished talking. She and Marik quickly followed his lead. Right when they both got their books opened and started to pretend to read the professors drew the curtain and stormed out of the hospital wing.
"Unicorns. . ." she mumbled to herself, the cogs already turning in her head.
"Unicorn Blood!" Marik said after the professors had left.
"Shhh! Not here, wait!" she interrupted him. "Madam Pomfrey!" Hermione yelled. The two boys beside her looked at her startled.
"Yes dear, do you mind waiting? I'm a bit busy here," Madam Pomfrey shouted from behind the curtains.
"Yes of course, it's just that Harry here is feeling all better and wants to go watch the rest of the tournament. I already went over with him the potions he needs to drink the next few days," Hermione responded, bending the truth a little.
"Yes, Yes, of course dear. I better not see you back here anytime soon, Mr. Potter!" Madam Pomfrey answered from the curtains. Harry was just staring so she took a quick jab at him to get him to answer. She probably should not have hit a guy who just had over twenty stitches that hard but oh well he would get over it.
"Ouch! Why did you hi…" Harry started and she jabbed him again.
"Answer her!" Hermione whispered at him.
"Yes. . . you won't," Harry shouted out still rubbing his arm where she had hit him twice.
"Come on follow me," Hermione ordered the two boys to follow her.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked her as he slowly sat up in his bed.
"Shh. . . No talking until we get there," Hermione answered. After helping Harry get up she led them through the castle past the Great Hall, towards the main staircases in the direction of the library. As they passed the Great Hall she felt another sting of regret at not being able to witness the remainder of the tournament but what they had heard could be even better than watching a few duels.
"I thought we were going to watch the rest of the duels?" Harry asked her again.
"Harry, please don't tell me that you are dense?" Hermione said in her most condescending voice. "Now for the last time no more talking and come on." They both again started following her. After making their way up a few flights of stairs they finally made it into the library.
"Marik, Hermione! While I must admit it's always a pleasure seeing you I thought you would surely be watching the duels? Congratulations by the way Marik I heard you were the first year winner," Madam Pince said to the trio as soon as they walked in.
"Hi madam Pince! Thank you, it means a lot! Actually the tournament is why we are here. We saw a few spells performed that we wanted to research. You know me and Hermione couldn't wait until tomorrow," Marik said with a bit of added charm that all the teachers seemed to eat like chocolate. Madam Pince who normally had a cold face that rivaled McGonagall's always seemed to break into smile when Marik talked to her. "Harry was going to show us some of the books he found his transfiguration spells in as well."
"Ahh well I am sure you all will be able to find what you are looking for. The two of you seem to know this library just as well as I do," Madam Pince told them. "If you need anything honey let me know."
"Yes Madam Pince!" Hermione and Marik said in unison.
"Okay, to the usual spot." Hermione said to Marik and Harry as she led them to the back of the library.
"Hold on, Harry, don't sit down yet, I have to add your name to the reserve sign that madam Pince made for me and Hermione. If you try and sit down it won't be pretty," Marik told Harry.
"We weren't here to see it, but Madam Pince told us that a second year tried to sit at our table one day and the entire history section in the library came and started giving him paper cuts," Hermione said, grimacing at the mental image.
"You have your own table?" Harry asked them. "I'm here every day and I never got my own table."
"Perks of knowing when and how to suck up, Potter," Marik said with another smirk. "Okay all good." Marik finished adding Harry onto their reserved sign and they all sat down.
"So what's with all the secrecy and needing to come here? What did I miss in the hospital wing?" Harry asked the two of them, looking confused. She made eye contact with Marik and they both nodded in agreement knowing what the other was thinking.
"Harry. . . We just met you so before we start talking we need to know that we can trust you," Marik said breaking the silence.
"What? Of course you can trust me!" Harry said looking genuine.
"Well you are in a different house then we are and we don't really know who you are friends with or what kind of person you are at all," Hermione answered, feeling bad for accusing him.
"The both of you two are in different houses and you trust each other. Plus he is a Slytherin which is a house known for being as cunning and sly as needed to meet their needs. Trust me, I wouldn't tell anyone even if I actually had someone to tell. Your secrets are safe with me," Harry finished.
Hermione felt sad at Harry saying that he had no one to tell. If it had not been for Marik who was her one friend here at Hogwarts she would be in the same boat. Harry looked and sounded honest enough so after making eye contact and getting another nod from Marik she figured it was okay to continue.
"Muffliato!" She cast the spell around them just to make sure that if Madam Pince made a walk around that she would not hear anything. "Okay so what do you remember hearing the professors say in the hospital wing, Harry?" Hermione asked Harry.
"Uhh that a fourth year had used a petrifying spell that apparently he did not know how to use?" Harry answered in a question.
"What else?" she asked him.
"They said that there was something in the forest attacking unicorns," Harry again answered.
"Exactly!" Hermione replied enthusiastically.
"Harry you may not have been paying any attention to me this year in classes but I have been paying a little attention to you. You are one of the better first years, surely you must have got some ideas like me and Hermione did," Marik said to Harry.
"I'm afraid I'm not as smart as you both think I am apparently," Harry said, still looking confused.
"What do you know about unicorns, Harry?" Hermione asked him trying to get him to think harder.
"Uhh. . .They are pretty rare. They are one of the most magical creatures in the world. I'm pretty sure that killing them is bad luck or something too. I'm afraid I haven't read a lot on magical beasts yet," Harry answered.
"You are exactly right, Harry. Unicorns are extremely rare creatures. In the Hogwarts, a History Book it also says, much like you did, that anything or anyone that kills a unicorn is punished to live a cursed life," Hermione said.
"Why would something kill it then if it is so rare and it would be cursed then?" Harry asked still looking confused at where they were going with this.
"Because they are so rare, and one of the most magical creatures in the world," Marik answered, adding emphasis to his words.
"Harry if something is killing a unicorn it is most likely killing it to drink its blood," Hermione added.
"Wh…" Harry started to ask but she continued.
"A unicorn's blood can keep you from dying. It is not known for how long since no one is willing to get cursed and test it. But it is known from a few cases to have saved people or creature's lives that should have died. Although they all died quickly after anyways from the curse," Hermione said.
"I still don't understand why this has you two so excited and everything? Are you excited that there is a monster killing unicorns in the forest? Or do you want to go get some Unicorn's blood to drink and be cursed?" Harry asked them sarcastically.
"No Harry, not to drink," was all that Marik said. The two of them just stared at Harry waiting for a response.
"You two want to go out into the forbidden forest where there is a monster that is killing unicorns and drinking its blood to collect some unicorn blood? Are you crazy!" Harry asked them shouting the last part.
"I thought Gryffindor's were supposed to be the brave and brawny ones?" Marik playfully asked her.
"Oh Shut it!" Harry shouted to Marik.
"Harry, we are certainly not crazy, well maybe a little." She smiled at the last part.
"I may not know that much but I am pretty sure killing them is illegal, not to mention cursed. Plus if you come walking back into school with unicorn blood I'm pretty sure the professors are smart enough to connect the dots," Harry continued.
"Harry, do you know what type of wand I have?" Hermione asked him.
"No, how would I?" Harry's elevated tone continued.
"My wand is ten inches, brown Vinewood, unicorn hair. We do not want to kill a unicorn, Harry. We just want to go out there and collect some resources from it. Yes it is illegal to kill a unicorn, but it is not illegal to use resources from a unicorn.
They are just like any other living creatures out there in the world, they live and they die. Because they are so rare and so valuable the Ministry of Magic regulates almost all of the unicorn trade and breeding. Whenever one of the Ministry's unicorns dies they sell off all of the resources to the highest bidder. Any shops that are lucky enough to get their hands on unicorn resources do the same.
There are plenty of unicorn supplies out there in the magical world, like you said it is just extremely rare because of how magical it is. So it would not be illegal to go collect some resources from the forest if there are any left, dangerous and rule breaking yes, but not illegal. Plus I figured if we find any dead unicorns we could give them a proper burial." Hermione was sure Marik had not been thinking that last part but she liked to think she was a sensitive person, especially towards animals and creatures.
"So you want to go out into the dangerous forbidden forest just to get some valuable resources to sell to the highest bidder?" Harry asked.
"Honestly maybe he is dense," Hermione said to Marik, getting a smile from him in reward for her sarcastic comment.
"No Harry, screw the money. There are thousands of things we could do with the resources we collect. We would split them equally and with them we could do tons of stuff to benefit our magic and learning. Plus we could pretty much guarantee ourselves to be able to use them to come up with something for an end of the year project that would give us top marks," Marik replied. That last part of his statement seemed to finally break through to Harry and get his attention.
"First off I am not dense! Ten minutes ago I was unconscious from a powerful stupefy spell so I apologize if this is all a happening a little too fast for me to digest," Harry said pointing at Hermione. He was kind of cute when he was mad. Eww what was she thinking. . . Anyways! Harry continued. "Also I always planned on trying to get a Master 'M' level grade in all of my courses, so I don't know how I feel about helping you both get resources that might help you beat me."
"Don't worry about that, Harry, trust me when I say Hermione and I are both in the same boat when it comes to that. If you couldn't tell from the dueling tournament and classes with me we are just as competitive as anyone," Marik started.
"Especially when it comes to anything magic or school related. We are both in the same boat as you, and we are both going for 'M' marks too," Hermione added.
"Then why would you want to help each other get something that might allow the other person to get a better grade than you?" Harry asked them.
"Because Hermione would be hopeless without me!" Marik joked, earning a roll of the eyes from her.
"Haha not funny!" Hermione said sarcastically. "Because we are friends, Harry, and you need friends to survive here at Hogwarts," Hermione said sincerely. From the look that last comment provoked on Harry's face her earlier assumption that Harry did not have many friends here at Hogwarts was confirmed.
"Yeah, only one of us can get an 'M' in each class, but me and Hermione are both in agreement that were okay with coming in second as long as we still get to learn a lot of cool powerful magic, and if it helps us on the path to greatness that's okay too. Now if we come any lower than second or third that's a different story," Marik answered Harry, laughing at the last part. His comments seemed to lighten Harry up a little and the beginnings of a smile started to be visible. Marik really did have a way with people.
"Plus the students that get an 'O' in each class still get almost as much recognition, the same chance for a ministry grant, and the status of being one of the top ranked students in school or possibly even Europe. I even read that. . ." Hermione started to continue.
"Here we go," Marik interrupted her. "Brace yourself, Harry, anytime she starts a story with I read you are in for quite the lecture," Marik joked.
"Oh shut up Marik, I do not do it that much," She knew as soon as she said it that it was a lie. "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted!" She gave Marik a glare. "I once read after I found out about the grading system here at Hogwarts that some of the most powerful, most known, and most famous wizards only received a few 'M' level grades during their time in school and they most often received 'O' grades, even Dumbledore. Dumbledore averaged straight 'O' grades his first five years at Hogwarts. It wasn't until his third year when he started his research with dragon's blood that he got his first 'M'," she replied. Harry seemed to be thinking a lot at what they were saying.
"I don't know. I mean you both do have a lot of points, and I won't lie I do like the sound of having the opportunity to get a great end of the year project, but you both just met me. I don't get why you would include me in all this, or risk me having the chance to get a higher mark than you in a class," Harry said to the two of them.
"You are right, Harry, we did technically just meet you, but since day one in every class you have been making my life hell trying to keep up or get ahead of you. I would much rather have you on my side as a friend who gets a few grades higher than me than have you as an enemy. Plus like I said earlier Hermione and I are looking to become great, and learn all the magic we can. We could benefit a lot from having you as our friend. If that means we both get one less 'M' and have to settle for an 'O' were both okay with that," Marik said, hitting the nail on the head with exactly how she felt.
"Marik is right, Harry. You proved today in the tournament that you are skilled and powerful enough to be a top student here at Hogwarts, and from what Marik has talked about in his classes you perform just as well in there. What is all that worth though if you go it alone?" she said pausing for a second to collect her thoughts. "Plus you can't expect to know everything on your own, or be able to practice everything on your own. You need people in your life. You need friends," Hermione said.
"Hell if we gave you a quiz on unicorns today you would have failed without us." Marik joked, interrupting her.
"You are the absolute worst, Marik!" she said to him, rolling her eyes in the process. "Basically what Marik and I are failing horribly in trying to say, Harry, is that we want you to be our friend. We could learn a lot from each other and make our time at Hogwarts a lot more fun in the process," Hermione tried to say it in the best way that she could.
She and Marik really were in agreement on Harry. He was a really smart and gifted wizard, he had proven that much. She was excited at the prospect of not only having another wizard as good as he was to learn from and with, but also just simply just making another friend. She hoped that he would say yes. Who would have ever imagined Hermione Granger with two friends, certainly she never would have for sure.
"And we brought you here and told you all of this because we want you to join us in the forest, Harry," Marik added with a serious tone.
"Okay. . ." Harry said pausing with a concerned but hopeful look. "I'm in," Harry added, extending his hand out to Hermione. "Friends?"
"Friends!" She took his hand and shook it. He then did the same with Marik.
"So what's the plan then?" Harry asked them both.
"Well we haven't actually got that far yet…" Hermione answered with a cringe.
"Well… Do you have any ideas? What were you even considering using the resources you collect from the unicorn for?" Harry asked them.
"Well that's actually why we are here, I figured after we got everything talked out that we could start our research now," Hermione answered.
"Okay, well why don't we split it up. Hermione you go look for books that might find us uses for all things unicorn, and Marik and I can start thinking of a plan for how we can actually get to the forest and back without getting caught… or killed…" Harry said, emphasizing the last part.
"Sounds like a plan!" She immediately went off to the magical beasts section of the library. She grabbed basically every book she could find on mystical beasts in the library. She also grabbed a few other books thinking that it might be a good idea to look at some magical theory and potions books to see if there were any theories or potions that used resources from a unicorn.
For the next few hours she frustratingly went through page after page of books looking for anything while Harry and Marik threw out idea after idea in hopes of coming up with a plan.
"I found something!" she yelled out, probably a little too loudly.
"What is it?" Harry and Marik both asked her at in unison.
"I was right to think there would be something in a potions book!" She had started with the all of the magical creature books she had got off of the shelves, but they all had little more information than what they already knew about Unicorns.
"It says here…" She searched for the lines she had just read. "Unicorn blood along with a mixture of unicorn tail hair can be used as substitute for rose oil and a hippogriff's feather in the animarevealo potion. The potion is a very advanced potion that is not encouraged by Ministry Potion Officials to be brewed by nonprofessionals. This is due to the vast number of risks during the brewing process, along with the lengthy time the potion requires to be brewed.
"The animarevealo potion is used to first reveal to a witch or wizard if they have the ability to perform an animagi transformation.
"Secondly, if the potion is brewed with unicorn blood along with unicorn hair instead of rose oil and a hippogriff's feather the potion will show the drinker not only if they are an animagus but also which form their animagus will take.
"Although brewing the potion with the unicorn substitutes extends the brewing period along with the overall risk of the brewing process itself, it has been deemed worth using the more rare and expensive resources to save time with the overall extremely difficult animagus timeline.
"The animagus experience has been known to be extremely difficult and advanced, which is one of the many reasons why there are so few registered animagi. The only known brewers of the potion currently are Ministry Potion Officials who are selling single use doses at 356 galleons each. The Board of European Potion Brewers has rated this potion's difficulty level at a 7/10." Hermione finished reading. As she read through the page for the second time she realized how unrealistic being able to brew a potion like that actually was.
"That's perfect!" Marik responded with excitement right after she finished reading.
"What? No Marik after reading it again there is no way we would be able to do a potion like this even if we did find a unicorn in the forest!" Hermione tried to explain.
"Why couldn't we? If you presented a potion like that as an end of the year project you would be guaranteed an 'M' mark. Plus we would have three of us working on it and doing all the research needed. It's like you said Hermione, with one it would be impossible, but with all three of us I think we could do it," Harry replied confidently.
"Plus we could brew a little extra and find out if any of us are animagi or not. I know it's rare for muggle-borns but hell I'm adopted so maybe I am one! If one of us found out they were an animagi too if you could just transfigure even a fingernail into your animagus form that would for sure probably give you an 'M' in transfiguration. The subject is not even covered until fifth year, and they never actually teach it in class because it is so hard," Marik added enthusiastically.
The two of them had a point. While from what she had read about animagi told her pretty much what Marik had said that the odds of her being one was slim to none, brewing the potion was advanced enough to most-likely guarantee an 'M' score. Harry was right too. With three of them working around the clock they would have a much better chance at brewing it successfully.
"Marik I know for a fact that you are better at potions than me. If we do this you should take credit for brewing the potion," Harry offered Marik politely.
"No way, I may be better than you but Hermione is the best here at potions by far. Plus she found the idea for the potion. If we do this she gets the credit. Deal?" Marik answered Harry.
"Deal!" Harry agreed with a nod.
"Wait guys we don't even know that we can do this! And you are crazy if you think I am going to let the both of you do all of this just for me to get all the credit!" Hermione argued.
"Now who is being dense?" Harry said with a smile, Marik laughed. "If we manage to brew this successfully we would not be just doing it for you. Yeah the potion part would be a great end of year project for potions but finding out if you are an animagus is just as big. Plus I agree with Marik. Although the odds are slim off any of us actually being one, if one of us was we could pretty much guarantee an 'M' in transfiguration class for like the next seven years," Harry added excitedly.
"So your parents are muggleborn too, Harry?" Hermione asked after hearing his statement.
"No I am a half-blood, whatever that really means." Harry seemed to not like the term. "My father's family was a pure-blood family and my mother was a muggleborn but that doesn't really matter," Harry continued. "Animagi are only slightly more common in non muggleborn witches and wizards, and that's most likely because pureblood and half-blood witches and wizards have more access to discovering if they are animagi than muggleborn ones do. My father I know for a fact is an animagi though, as well as one of his close friends," Harry answered.
"Wow that's amazing!" Hermione took note of all Harry said about the different blood types of wizards. It wasn't often that a pureblood or half-blood would admit to something like that from what she had read. She had learnt that much in just her short time at Hogwarts, especially with the help from people like Draco Malfoy who made it a point to talk about people's blood status constantly. "If your father was one, although I must admit I haven't read too much on the subject only a few books, doesn't that increase your odds of being one?" Hermione asked.
"I'm honestly not really sure. I don't remember if his father was one or not," Harry said.
"Do you think he would be willing to give us some information on it? I mean anything would help," Marik asked Harry.
"I'm not sure if my dad would. He was a pretty big rebel in his day, but my mom has made him a lot more protective over me, especially with all that happened. I could ask my uncle Sirius Black though, he is a lot more willing to part with information than my parents are, especially if I add some promises to prank a few Slytherins and Hufflepuffs in when I ask him," Harry said.
"What do you mean all that happened?" Hermione tried to ask.
"YOU ARE COUSINS WITH THE ICE-QUEEN DAPHNE BLACK!" Marik shouted. Apparently that had been all he had heard in the conversation. Hermione knew just how much Marik disliked Daphne Black.
"Oh. . ." Hermione sensed that Harry seemed to immediately regret what he had just said based off of Marik's reaction. "Kind of, but not really. My dad and Sirius have been practically brothers their entire lives. So Sirius has been pretty much a permanent member of my household growing up. He would always bring his family over when he came so my family always just called Daphne my cousin. We aren't really that close though, we probably said fewer than a hundred words to each other growing up," Harry answered.
"Ughh I can't stand her! Did you know that she told Professor Snape that I had been cheating during our second potions test! If I hadn't been able to convince him that it was a lie and squirm my way out of any trouble I would have probably had detention for the whole year because of her," Marik said angrily.
"Harry, what did you mean when you said with all that has happened?" Hermione asked not wanting the conversation to go too far off track from what Harry had said earlier. Again Harry looked like he was biting a bullet. "Harry, we are your friends, you can trust us, whatever is said at this table stays between the three of us. We promise," She did her best to sound as sincere as possible. She meant what she said. She glanced at Marik who nodded in agreement to Harry.
"Uhhh well… I'm not sure where to start, usually people already know this story, and most the time they even know more than I do," Harry said looking again puzzled.
"What story?" Hermione asked Harry, interested in what he was talking about.
"Well. . . My story. . . I'm kind of, well. . . Famous," Harry said, his face blushing.
"Yeah and I am Thorin son of Thráin II, grandson of Thrór. Real Funny Harry," Marik said accusingly.
"You read Lord of The Rings?" Harry asked Marik ignoring the sarcasm.
"Of course I did! I was a muggle nerd, that's beside the point though! What do you mean you are famous!" Marik shouted.
"Well. . ." Harry started to answer but then stopped.
"Oh my god, Harry, just spill it already!" she shouted, tired of not knowing.
"Fine! I survived the killing curse when I was just a baby. Voldemort, who was known as the darkest wizard of all time, attacked me and my family. When he attacked me though the spell for some reason ricocheted off of me and hit him, killing him in the process. I didn't actually do anything special but since I was the first recorded survivor of the curse and the person people pinned as responsible for the death of Voldemort a lot of people consider me famous." Harry told them the story, looking to be in discomfort as he spoke.
"Does anyone know how you survived?" Hermione asked, curious to know.
"No not really, my parent's won't ever really talk about that night, and Sirius just says it was because I was wearing the expensive Hogwarts pajamas he had bought me for Christmas, which I highly doubt is an actual theory. Other than that the information that makes the most sense is either that I was just lucky, or that Voldemort made some error when casting the spell," Harry answered her question. It was obvious he did not like talking about this subject from his body language.
"Anyways back to the main point of all this. I will try and ask my uncle Sirius for any information that he can give, but regardless of that we still only have one real use for the unicorn resources at the moment, and no plan of how to actually get the resources. Even if we get them it's not fair if only one of us gets an 'M' out of this. We need to find more uses," Harry said to her and Marik.
"Harry is right, we need to keep doing research and find as much as we can about everything we can," Hermione said to both the boys. She was still curious about Harry's story and wanted to know more about him, but she figured that he had been through enough that day so far. She looked up at the clock above their table. It was already well past dinner time and closing in on curfew. She had no idea that they had spent that much time in the library already. The tournament was surely over by now, and curfew was coming soon.
"Guys it's almost curfew time. We should split up the research and meet back here tomorrow after classes. Does that sound good? Harry, me and Marik both finish at two every day, what time are you done so we can meet here?" Hermione asked Harry.
"Yeah that sounds like a plan. I'm not done until three everyday so I can get here a little after then. What should I be researching?" Harry asked her.
"Why don't we switch it up from what we were doing here for a day or two? Marik, you research possible uses for any resources we might get. Like you said, if I'm getting credit for brewing this potion you need to make sure that we have another option," she said to Marik, he nodded in agreement. "Harry and I will try and think of a way for us to get to the forest, find a unicorn, and get back without getting caught."
"Or killed," Marik added.
"Or killed," Hermione continued. "Harry you look into any ways that we might be able to sneak into and out of the forest without being caught by the professors. I will start looking into ways we can make sure we are safe in the forest and will be able to collect whatever we find. Let's just make sure we really think this through. We wouldn't want to end up dead, or worse expelled." Both the boys seemed to nod in agreement with her priorities, I mean who wouldn't. You would have to be a mingy little ginger to disagree with that logic, anyways… " Does that sound like a plan?" Hermione asked them.
"Yup," Marik answered.
"Yeah, I'll get started tonight," Harry added.
It was a plan then. It looked like her already busy schedule was about to get even busier. She was okay with that though.
Hermione had come into this semester a completely different person than she felt like she had become already this early into the year. Here she was talking about sneaking into a monster infested forest, breaking rules, and ignoring her authorities. She was a badass.
She giggled to herself at that thought. Maybe not a badass yet, but she would be. All of this had been an easy choice for her though. Marik had said it right, she wanted to be the best, learn everything, and make history with her magic in the process. If she had to break a few school rules to do that along the way she was ok with that. For tonight though, it was time to head back to her dorm and get some more planning done.
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