Hermione
"Have you heard anything yet?" Alina asked as she made her way over to where she and Harry were waiting.
"No we haven't. We were hoping you heard something," she said, pouting at the fact that she would not get to know why the Headmaster had summoned what looked like the entire castle to the Great Hall on a Sunday for yet.
"Whatever it is it can't be good," Harry added.
"Why do you say that? Maybe Dumbledore just wants to make an announcement or something," she argued, knowing that Harry was probably right though. Almost every time they were summoned, or Dumbledore gave a random speech that it meant something bad was about to happen.
"Yeah, right, Dumbledore wanted to bring everyone in on a Sunday to make a small announcement," Alina said sarcastically. "Have you seen him?" she asked. Hermione knew exactly who him was, having been asked the same question by Alina almost routinely every time they saw each other for the past month.
"No, not today," she answered straight and to the point, noticing the usual frown that her answer placed on Alina's face.
"Figures," Alina said coldly.
"So what do you think all this is then if it isn't something bad? I didn't read anything outside of the normal in the Prophet this morning," Harry asked the two of them.
"I honestly couldn't tell you. Maybe there was another attack on a student's family and they are giving out an official warning or something," she answered truthfully, she really had no idea why they were there.
"Hmm. . . Yeah maybe. Did you hear about Kayden McCowell by the way?" Alina asked, her eyes darting around the room at the same time.
"No I didn't," said Hermione.
"Me either," Harry added.
"Her family was attacked two nights ago. The Prophet only mentioned it briefly on the last page. Her dad managed to take out one of the death eaters, some guy named Finx or something like that. Her mom and younger sister were killed though before he could take him out though." Alina said, her frown deepening at the mention of the family members being killed.
"She was a Hufflepuff right?" Hermione asked, saddened by the news of more death.
"Yeah," Alina answered.
"That's sad. At least one of the bastards is out of the way now though," Harry added, receiving a nod in agreement from Alina.
"Alina over there," she said, pointing to the entrance of the Great Hall. Just entering through the large doors was Marik, with Luna Lovegood walking in stride right next to him.
At the start of the year the sight of those two would have been a strange one to imagine, however, over the past month and some change the two of them had apparently become quite close. She was still unsure of how or why to be honest. All she knew was since Marik had gotten back from his parents' funeral in America that he had spent the little time he was outside of his classes and room with Luna, and practically no time with them at all, outside of working with Harry a few times here and there.
"Ugh why is he with that bitch again! What is his problem?" Alina asked them. She was visibly upset and fuming at the sight. Although, she was always upset whenever they saw Marik together with Luna.
"Alina really?" Harry asked her, giving her a cold look.
"Yeah I know I'm an asshole! But still he should be here with us, not with her," Alina argued the argument they had already had multiple times before. "MARIK!" Alina shouted across the Hall. Every eye turned to look at her shouting friend, including Marik's. Marik waved and then returned to the conversation he was having with Luna. "Ugh. . . MARIK!" Alina shouted again, this time waving her arm over for him to come to where they were, all the eyes in the Hall were once again on her.
From the look Marik gave Alina he seemed to be having an argument in his head about whether to come over or not. After a few awkward moments though he gave Luna a hug, which Hermione noticed resulted in Alina's hand forming a fist, and headed over to them.
"Make a big enough scene?" Marik asked facetiously to Alina as he made it to where they were waiting.
"Just figured you were looking for your friends and couldn't find us, thought I would help you out," Alina said sharply, crossing her arms as she spoke to him.
"Yeah, thanks," Marik replied, his eyes quickly looking around the Great Hall and away from Alina.
"Soooo Marik do you know what this is all about?" she asked, hating the awkward silence and wanting to change the subject.
"No clue," Marik answered bluntly. Alina was about to make a comment, most likely not a nice one, at Marik's short response but was stopped as he continued. "Its got something to do with Kingsley though, he cancelled my lessons all this week because of it," Marik added.
"Hmm something with dark arts or aurors maybe then?" she thought out loud. Marik just shrugged his shoulders in response. Kingsley had only come back to the school a few days ago to resume his spot as their dark arts professor.
"So Marik, Harry was going to help me add the first layer to my animagus ritual after all this, I would like it if you were there to help," Alina said to Marik, her tone noticeably changing from one of annoyance to one of hope.
"Sorry I can't," Marik answered, his eyes continued to look around the Hall, everywhere but at Alina.
"Why not? You haven't studied with us in forever," Alina asked, her tone changing back to an annoyed, frustrated one.
"I already made plans," Marik answered her.
"What plans? Oh lemme guess by plans you mean Luna!" Alina argued back, her voice raising as she spoke, drawing eyes again from some bystanders near them.
"Alina," she tried to interrupt her friend before things got worse.
"So just like that it's all about Luna, huh? It's just that easy for you to toss me aside for her! You get to have the shoulder you need to cry on still and someone to talk to, and I get nothing! You get whoever and whatever you want and I'm left alone, in a situation that I lose no matter what. And no matter how much I actually care, and no matter what I say, I always end up being the selfish asshole girl who yelled at the kid whose parents were killed," Alina shouted, every eye in the Hall was in fact now on her.
Uh-oh. . .
"EASY? What part of any of this do you think is EASY Alina? Please tell me," Marik shouted back, he was visibly upset at Alina's words. Hermione could see his eyes gather more water and his skin redden in anger.
"Oh so you're saying it wasn't easy to just start ignoring your best friend? And you're saying it wasn't easy to almost kiss me one day and then replace me with a girl you think is better and prettier the next! Well you sure made it look easy to me Marik!" Alina shouted back, her voice again raising. Marik looked angrier and more distraught than Hermione had ever seen him. Alina's words were definitely cutting him deep.
"If you think. . ." Marik started to argue back but was interrupted by the Headmaster, who was now standing on the teacher's stand with professor Kingsley and professor Flitwick. All of the professors were staring at their group, along with everyone else in the castle it felt like.
"Thank you all for coming here on such short notice," The Headmaster started to announce to the student's in the Hall, thankfully putting a temporary end to the argument between Marik and Alina. "I apologize for taking you away from your much deserved weekend but I am afraid it could not wait until monday.
In lieu of all of the recent attacks the Ministry of Magic and the minister has deemed it necessary to add further protections to our school. While I argued against this for quite sometime the ministry has overruled my concerns and decided that it will be stationing the extra, security, here at Hogwarts tomorrow," Hermione noticed the emphasis the Headmaster put on his words, he obviously wasn't happy with all this, whatever it was.
"Starting tomorrow Hogwarts will be playing host to a small selection of auror guards as well as the dementors of Azkaban," A loud flurry of whispers could be heard echoing around the Hall at the Headmaster's words. "They will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave the school after hours without explicit permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises- or even invisibility cloaks," The Headmaster paused briefly, and she thought for a second that he made eye contact with Harry.
Does he know? She wondered to herself.
"It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the Prefects, and our Head Boys and Girls, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors. I am told by the ministry that the aurors will make sure the dementors do not affect any of your day to day activities at Hogwarts. I also plead once more that you do not bother the aurors and dementors during their stay here. They are here only to further ensure your safety, Kingsley," The Headmaster finished announcing and professor Shacklebolt made his way forward to speak.
"With all this in mind the Headmaster and I agreed it would be best to provide you all with information on the patronus spell. The patronus spell is a very difficult spell, a spell that many younger students, and just as many older students will have difficulty learning. However, if even a few of you are able to master the spell, the school will be better for it," Professor Shacklebolt made his way down the steps to their level in the Hall.
"The patronus spell is a powerful defensive charm that evokes a tangible positive energy force from your soul. This energy force is the primary defence used against lethifolds and dementors. Dementors feed on happy memories and thoughts, and can render one's mind to drown in the sorrow and sadness of their own soul. A patronus spell is created with strong emotions of happiness, joy, and love, the very enemy to a dementor. Expecto patronum!" Professor Shacklebolt cast the spell into the center of the Great Hall.
A large silver stream came spewing out of Professor Shacklebolt's wand into the Hall. As the silvery stream hit the floor it changed its form to look like a large lynx. The silver lynx started to run around the Hall and then proceeded to even bounce of some of the walls around them. She could feel a slight wave of warmth come over her as the lynx ran past her leg. The power inside the spell was strong.
"As you can see the spell is quite advanced, and requires a large amount of magic to cast and hold. We do not expect you all to be able to this, and expect many of you to strugfgle greatly with it. However, we will be providing the information on the spell as well as a few lessons throughout the week for those who wish to learn, starting now. For those who wish to take part in the lesson please remain in the Hall, for everyone else you are free to leave," Professor Shacklebolt announced to the students in the Hall. Most everyone stayed, however, a large majority of the seventh years made their way out of the Hall, she assumed many of them probably already knew the spell.
"Alright then, here is a copy of the information you will need for the spell. I would like for you all to get in groups of two and begin practicing the incantation out loud," Professor Shacklebolt announced again, and at once the Hall started to shift as everyone looked for a partner.
"Harry," Marik said immediately, grabbing Harry's arm and dragging him a few feet down the Hall where they started to practice.
"Guess that leaves you and me," she said to Alina with a smile, hoping to change her friends mood.
Alina just huffed and grabbed the spell information parchment out of one of the student's near her hands. For the next thirty minutes everyone in the Hall practiced pronouncing the incantation. Professor Shacklebolt stressed that the incantation for the spell was a crucial part of its success. After her tongue started to hurt from saying the incantation so many times they all moved on to working on the proper wand movements.
The wand movement for the patronus spell the most part was a fairly simple one. It was just a counterclockwise circle that formed a smaller circle as you made your way around the rotation. After Professor Shacklebolt, Dumbledore, and Flitwick checked a large majority of student's work with the wand movements they allowed for them all to began trying the full spell out with their partner.
Alina and her, along with the rest of the pairs in the Hall, took turns trying out the spell. Kingsley was not lying when he said it was a difficult spell to master. For the first thirty minutes not a single person in the Hall got even a spark of silver to come out of their wands. It wasn't until after the first hour that a sixth year Slytherin girl got a wisp of silver, but even it disappeared after a second.
"Expecto patronum!" She cast the spell for the twenty-third time that night. Still nothing happened.
"Ah Miss Granger. May I?" Professor Flitwick asked as he made his way over to where she and Alina were practicing.
"Yes please, professor. I don't know what I am doing wrong," she said, not attempting to hide her frustration with not being able to perform the spell.
"Your wand movement and incantation are not the problem, they are flawless," she smiled at his obvious bit of flattery. "However, the patronus spell is fueled off of happiness itself. Your mind, body, soul, and magic must be in a state of happiness to perform the spell, and right now you are in a state of frustration," he looked at her over his spectacles.
"So, let's try this. I want you to close your eyes," she did hesitantly. "Good! Now think of something in your life that made you feel happy, or joy," The professor continued.
"Okay I think I am thinking of something," she tried to focus on the memory of the Headmaster sitting in her living room, telling her that she was a witch. A smile came over her face as the memory played through her head. She remembered the first time she went to Diagon Alley, her first time seeing Hogwarts and the size of its library, and the first time she met all of her friends.
"Okay now try casting the spell, do not let those thoughts leave your mind though," Flitwick told her,
"Expecto patronum!" She cast the spell again, doing her best to follow professor Flitwick's instructions. At last a large, silvery wisp emitted from her wand. Unlike Professor Shacklebolt's patronus spell her spell just wafted around in the air for a few seconds before it disappeared, but at least she had cast the spell!
"Well done Miss Granger! Well done! Just like that everytime now. You need to focus more on the memories now and allow their emotions to travel deeper into your magic. The more positive emotion you draw from the memory the more powerful the spell," Professor Flitwick explained, before bouncing over to help Harry and Marik.
"Congrats Hermione!" Alina said as she made her way closer, smiling for the first time that night. Leave it to you to be one of the first in the school to learn it. Now spill what he told you!" she explained to Alina the same thing that professor Flitwick had explained to her and for the next hour they continued to practice the spell.
After another ten casts or so she had been able to produce a much larger amount of energy than her first cast, however Professor Shacklebolt told her that it would take many more days of practice before she would be able to start getting her patronus into a corporeal form. Alina also started to get the hang of the spell too after another twenty or so casts, and was able to also produce a decent amount of silver energy from her wand. After a while longer of practicing, her and Alina took a quick break to get back some energy. Hermione turned to watch Harry and Marik practice as she sat down.
Harry seemed to have picked up the spell about as quick as she had judging by the fact that he was producing just as much energy as she had produced with her casts. Marik on the other hand was a different story. Although he was doing the incantation and wand movements perfectly not a single spark of energy ever left his wand.
He was struggling so much that at one point a greenish black smoke came out of his wand instead of the silver colored energy that was supposed to. Professor Shacklebolt had by this point stopped walking around the Hall to help out the struggling Marik, who was practically his protegee. Even with the help from professor Shacklebolt, Marik's patronus attempts got no better. After another thirty minutes of trying Marik ended up storming out of the Great Hall in frustration. Hermione heard Alina start cursing under her breath when she saw that Luna had left the Hall shortly after Marik's departure.
"Ugh is it bedtime yet? I am so tired," Harry complained as he made his way over to where they were taking a break.
"Almost, it's already nine. Kingsley said we would be done shortly after nine-thirty though so we are almost done," Alina answered.
"IT'S ALREADY NINE?" she shouted in panic. She quickly grabbed her school bag and started to sprint towards the door of the Great Hall.
"Hermione where are you going in such a rush?" Harry shouted at her as she ran.
"SNAPE!" was all she shouted as she made her way out of the Great Hall. In a full sprint she ran through the Halls' of the castle towards the dungeons, almost tripping over a few stairs Peeves had enchanted to shrink along the way. As she arrived at Snape's office she allowed herself a brief moment to catch her breath before entering.
"Miss Granger," Snape sneered as she opened his door.
"I'm so sorry sir! The Headmaster. . . Dementors. . . Tough spell. . ." She tried to get out a full sentence but was too out of breath.
"I figured you would be missing our lesson tonight Miss Granger, I was aware of the lessons Albus and Kingsley would be giving you," Snape said, returning his gaze from her back to the potion he was brewing.
"Oh. . . Well good," she responded, surprised and a little caught off guard by his reaction. She had expected him to give her a full lecture about being late or cancel their private lessons for the rest of the year for wasting his time. "Well If you don't mind we still technically have thirty minutes, and I have some questions," she said to Snape.
"We technically have twenty-six minutes Miss Granger. Sit," Snape said, and pointed to the seat next to his. She quickly made her way over to the chair and started examining the potion Snape was brewing.
"Thick texture, deep orange color, smell of tears, wood, and glass. . . You are brewing the oculus potion?" she asked him, already knowing she was right.
"Correct Miss Granger. What can you tell me about it?" Snape asked her as he added a mandrake to the brew.
"The oculus potion is a strong healing potion that has the power to restore the drinker's sight. It also can counteract the effects of the conjunctivitis curse," she answered him, all the feelings of frustration from her failed attempts at the patronus spell leaving her. Unlike the patronus spell, this stuff she new.
"Correct. What do you notice is different about this particular batch compared to a normal brew?" Snape asked her.
"Hmm. . ." She leaned in closer to the cauldron. The smell of the potion seemed to be normal enough, maybe a little off from normal, but not by much. The thickness of the potion was exactly how it was supposed to be. That left. . . "The color! This batch has specks of silver in it. Although, I'm not sure I know why. . ." She started off happy to arrive at Snape's answer but ended up upset that she did not know the entirety of the answer.
"Well done Miss Granger. The specks of silver you noticed are a combination of dew grass picked under a full moon soaked in centaur blood. The combination and timing of the collection of the ingredients can completely change the purpose of the potion as you can see," Snape started to explain.
"How is that?" she asked curiously. She had never used either ingredient in a potion before.
"Dew grass picked during a full moon retains energy from the moonlight during the brewing process, but only for a few hours. And centaur blood is commonly known to be useful for many things in the field of astronomy and divination. The combination of the two in the potion helps to provide a different form of sight. Instead of providing the drinker physical sight, it helps to promote the mind's sight," Snape explained.
"Interesting. So it uses the base of the potion to create the desired sight effect the brewer desires, while at the same time altering the magic in it to provide the different effect form from the norm. What does it do to promote the mind's sight?" she asked again.
"I myself have never tested the potion, but from what Sybil tells me the potion helps remove many of the clouds in one's mind when looking into the future. This batch is for her," Snape put a lid on the cauldron as he finished explaining. "Now, Miss Granger I will save our lesson on the jagino potion for our next meeting when we have more time, you said you had questions. Ask," Snape ordered.
"Yes I do," Hermione collected her thoughts. "Have you ever heard about the demomagus potion?" she asked him about the potion she had first heard of over a year ago.
She had been researching the demomagus potion ever so often ever since she had found the suspicious documents in the minister's desk. All of her and her friends research had led to zero results though. Their was not a single book in the library at Hogwarts or the one in Paris near her family's vacation home that even mentioned the potion. After getting nowhere for so long, and getting sick of hitting dead ends she had finally decided to risk it and ask Snape if maybe he knew anything about the damn potion.
"Yes I have. . . Why do you ask Miss Granger?" Snape asked her, eyeing her suspiciously.
"I only have heard about it in brief mentions. I haven't been able to find anything on it more than just the name though. It has been driving me mad not knowing or being able to find a single book on it," she said, technically telling the truth for the most part.
"I would be surprised if such a book still existed, or at least was out, available for the public," Snape responded.
"Why is that sir?" she asked him, intrigued by what information Snape might have. Even if it was something small, something was always better than nothing.
"Because the demomagus potion is banned in Britain and most of Europe. Most books that mentioned the potion were confiscated by the ministry during the Great War and burned," Snape answered. Well that would explain why she couldn't find anything on the potion.
"Why was it banned sir?" she asked Snape, again wanting to know more.
"The demomagus potion is a potion thats origin can be traced back to Roman times. Its name is Roman itself. The words in Roman mean remove magic. It was a potion used by the upper magical elites on the lower classes and slaves, and has been used by many people throughout history in the same way. When someone drinks the potion their magic is condensed entirely into their bloodstream. From there as new blood is made the condensed magical blood would eventually be replaced and the drinker would lose all of their magic.
"This is the most common use of the potion that can be observed throughout history. However, in certain periods of time, like during the last war, the potion was used differently. Somewhere along the timeline of the demomagus potion's lifespan someone discovered that if you drew out the blood of someone who had drank the potion, that you could essentially draw their magic out from them. This gave certain, individuals, the idea to draw the magical power from a great number of people and infuse it into their own. After the ministry learned of this they banned all practices of brewing the potion and collected any books that mentioned it," Snape finished explaining.
Her mind was absolutely and completely blown. Never would she have guessed the potion could be used for something like that. Not only was the concept of the drinker losing their magic frightening enough, but the fact that people had essentially stolen the magical power from other people through the potion to make it their own was terrifying. As well, the fact that the ministry document said they would begin testing the potion on muggleborns only made everything Snape said worse.
Why were they testing it on muggleborns? To just remove their magic? To see if the effects were actually true? To steal it? A thousand thoughts were running through her head. Something was definitely not right.
"Miss Granger?" Snape said to her, looking at her with his eyebrow raised.
"Sorry sir, I was just taking it all in. I had no idea it would be something like that. Thank you for answering my question," she thanked Snape. His information, while it did evoke a hundred new questions, did really help out with solving the puzzle.
"Of course. Now Miss Granger I'm afraid our time is up. I will see you tomorrow in class," Snape stood up and led her to the door of the potion's lab. She exited the potion's lab and started to make her way towards the Ravenclaw common room, her mind racing with thoughts about everything she had learned.
Why on earth would the ministry be testing a potion like that? And especially why after they had made such a big deal about removing all the books about the potion. She wondered to herself. Hundreds of questions flew through her mind as she walked through the Halls of the castle.
She was almost back to her common room when the sounds of people shouting interrupted her train of thought. She turned another corner past her common room's entrance to check out the source of the yelling. It came as a surprise to see the yelling was between Alina and Marik. Apparently their argument had extended from the Great Hall out into the castle.
"Guy's what is going on?" she shouted at her friends as she made her way closer. Both of them were too heated and caught up in their argument to notice her.
"So kissing Luna was the freaking plan you made instead of being with your best friend!" Alina shouted down the Hall at Marik.
"For the tenth time you know we were not kissing! You aren't blind Alina! A hug and a kiss are two different things! And Luna is my friend too! It isn't all about you all the fucking time Alina!" Marik screamed back.
"How would I know they are different things Marik? All I know about kissing is that you pretend to like someone, tease them, then you go almost get killed by a crazy bitch! And then to make the kissing even better you ignore the person you almost kissed for a whole freaking month! And this isn't just about me it is about us!" Alina shouted back. Hermione could hear the tears behind her words.
"If you remember correctly you ignored me for a whole fucking month too Alina! And you are seriously bringing up that again? Seriously? I'm done apologizing to you about that! And what about us Alina? There is no us!" Marik argued.
"There is too an us! I'm your best fucking friend you asshole! And the way you are treating me now is not fair!"Alina shouted, tears flowing in full force down her face.
"Fair? You want to bring up fair? My parents were fucking murdered. Only a month ago my parents were killed Alina! Life isn't fair! You are too selfish worrying about getting what you want to realise that though!" Marik argued.
"You know that isn't what I meant Marik. You know that! And even still that's still no reason to treat your friends like shit and throw me away! You lost your parents, but you still have me. I am just trying to be your friend Marik. I am just trying to be here for you, but you won't let me!" Alina cried out again.
"Maybe. . . maybe, I just don't want you here Alina!" Marik shouted, Hermione could see him shaking.
"You. . . I hate you! Stupefy!" Alina shouted the stunner as she raised her wand and pointed it at Marik. Hermione quickly pulled out her wand and went to go throw up a shield in front of Marik. However, she found herself unable to. Her arm was being held down by a shadowy arm.
This is Marik's magic. She thought to herself. She looked up to see him make eye contact with her for a split second, he was shaking his head at her.
Marik didn't even try to deflect Alina's spell, but instead took the full brunt of the stunner right in the chest. His body went flying back through the Hall and landed with a thud.
"Alina!" she shouted at her friend. Alina ignored her though and ran off in the opposite direction, her cries echoing through the Hall. Hermione ran quickly over to Marik's unconscious body. She cast a the rejuvenation spell on his body.
"You okay?" she asked him as he she helped him sit up. "And I know it's a stupid question."
"It doesn't hurt too bad," Marik answered as he stood up.
"Good," she punched him hard in the arm. "That's not what I meant."
"I know," Marik answered, brushing off some dust from his robes, and rubbing his arm where she had hit him.
"You know you just crushed her world," she said with some venom in her voice.
"Yeah. . . I know," Marik sighed.
"You know I have to leave you now to go check on her," she told him, releasing him.
"I know. Thanks Hermione," Marik thanked her as he stood up.
"Don't thank me," she replied, helping him up.
"I know, but still. Thank you," Marik said, his voice shaky and hollow.
"Stop being such an ass now please," was all she answered with as she headed down the Hall after her Alina.
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