Allyna made it to her class with a few moments to spare. She resized her bottle of ink and looked around the room. She was at a table by herself, since everyone else had long been partnered up. She sincerely hoped there were no tasks that would require a partner, she usually preferred to work alone. Potions was an exacting business and if you weren't careful, a partner could easily ruin a potion that had taken hours with a careless "Dash of this" or "drop of that".
Her class was filled with both Slytherins and Ravenclaws in the sixth and seventh years. There was even one rather studious Ravenclaw who was a fifth year but couldn't fit potions into any other time slot. The lot of Ravenclaws looked rather afraid of their Slytherin classmates, but Allyna just smiled kindly at them when they looked her over curiously. She was sure she was quite an enigma around here, a Slytherin who wasn't hulking, glaring or growling.
She nearly fell over when Snape came bursting through the doorways, his robes flying behind him. "Great bloody bat," she heard one of the Ravenclaws whisper and smiled to herself. "What are you waiting for? The directions are on the board, MOVE!" Snape shouted and Allyna followed her classmates to the supply cabinet. She gathered the ingredients after looking at the board again, took them to her table. She looked around and saw the other students already glancing worriedly at their potions. She had to admit, the ingredients were highly combustible.
She sighed, it was better not to take chances. She took out her wad and whispered a spell quickly, "Securitae Detonus!" A clear orb formed and shifted around the cauldron. Suddenly Professor Snape was behind her, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her back from the cauldron and glaring down at her. "Are you cheating, Miss Wilson?" He growled at her.
Allyna went pale and then bright red. "Absolutely not!" she shouted at him, surprising everyone and making them stare at the blonde young woman and the dark-haired "bat of the Dungeons." "How dare you even suggest such a thing!" she growled at him, poking him in the chest and surprising him even more. "It's a protective spell to keep the others from being hurt if there's a chance of the potion exploding!"
He looked at her in shock. How had she, a student, thought of something that no professor had though of before? It would save a lot of students from being sent to Madame Pomfrey in the infirmary. Still startled, and a little unbelieving, he flicked her finger away from his chest with his hand and growled out, "Show me."
Blushing, still half in anger, Allyna began adding ingredients to the cauldron, and then watched Professor Snape as she deliberately added too much Valerian sprigs, which would have led to an enormous, destructive explosion. Snape and the rest of the class drew back as the cauldron began to boil and bubble before there was a loud, messy explosion…inside the bubble surrounding the cauldron. But none of the burning potion or pieces of cauldron escaped the bubble, it continued to froth and smoke and steam there, all the students safe from harm. Allyna just looked at the professor blandly, still upset that he thought she would even attempt to tarnish her name by cheating.
"How long can you hold that spell?" Snape questioned her. Then realized that the rest of the class was still staring. "Get back to your work!" he shouted at them and they all scrambled to remember where they'd been in the middle of their potions when they'd been interrupted by the oddity that Allyna had now become. He turned back to Allyna to hear her answer.
"Indefinitely. It draws very little power, but it's extremely durable. I've had them last for weeks when I would brew certain potions that needed to strengthen," she answered. She could practically hear the wheels clicking in his mind. What possible uses could this simple spell have?
"Can you hold that spell while you start another potion so I can grade you?"
Allyna nodded. "I've managed to hold up to ten of them at once." she replied and walked over to the supply cupboard to gather more ingredients and swiftly began to prepare another. Within a few moments, the re-done potion was perking away and Severus began to make his rounds around the room, checking the potions of different students. When he finally dismissed them-with every moment an agonizing eon to him- he walked back to Allyna, whose new potion was exactly the way it should be, a pale gold color that smelled of almonds.
He motioned for her to fill a small vial and place it on his desk with the others after she wrote her name on the label. When the other students began to file into the room, Severus directed them to write an essay about the uses of Valerian and placed one of the prefects in charge of the room while he escorted Allyna and her exploded cauldron bubble to Dumbledore's office. He knocked on the door and was greeted by a softly called out "enter."
Severus opened the door and ushered Allyna in, she was using her wand and a spell to hold the cauldron in place in it's protective bubble. Albus looked surprised. "Is there a problem, Severus?" he asked, standing swiftly and coming over to view whatever it was in Miss Wilson's spell.
"No, Headmaster, simply something that for the very life of me I can't understand that none of us have thought of before. I caught Miss Wilson casting a spell in potions and I assumed, incorrectly may I add, that she was cheating. Instead, she had placed a protective spell encasing the cauldron in the case of explosion. Quite ingenious, very useful. It would save the school quite a bit of money in replacement cauldrons and injured students, I believe. You would have to have the Ministry of Defense patent the spell to Miss Wilson, of course."
Albus sat down at his desk, looking over Allyna's handiwork. "Hmmm….yes, very interesting indeed. Do you often come up with your own spells, Miss Wilson?" he asked kindly.
Allyna blushed. "Only when I can't find a spell to do what I need done. I keep them in a book of spells my grandmother gave me." she replied. "Honestly, Headmaster Dumbledore, I don't need the spell to be patented to me. It could be patented to Hogwarts. I really would like to keep my name out of it if possible?" she said quietly.
Severus stood there with a frown on his face. Why wouldn't she want recognition for a whole series of new spells? It would bring great acclaim to Hogwarts and to Slytherin House. He noticed that she had hunched in on herself a little. Not so much that most others would catch it, but Severus Snape had lived most of his years as a double-spy and was attuned to body language that was out of place. Hermione Granger would be practically dancing if Albus had offered her patent-ship on a set of spells of her own working.
He chalked it up to the odd enigma that was Allyna Wilson and scourgified the cauldron-bubble leaving it inert and simply a broken piece of twisted metal bits. He nearly smiled when Allyna quickly whispered "Reparo!" and the cauldron seemed to melt and reform itself into a new cauldron. Dumbledore did grin at her, and congratulated her on a job well done. "It is hard to believe that one as young as you is as well-versed in spell-making and spell-usage. How did you come to be so skilled?" he asked. Knowing this was going to be a long conversation, Severus huffed impolitely and sat down in a chair, staring out the window.
Allyna blushed and sat down in a chair that Albus offered her. "My mother taught me, mostly, before she died. Even though youngsters aren't supposed to use magic here until a certain age, where I lived, more freedoms are given as far as allowing parents to tutor their children in magic. My mother started me off very young, seven or eight, i believe. I showed a strong gift for magic even as a very young child, accidentally turned a stuffed rabbit into a real one as a toddler." At the memory, she smiled and continued, "By the time I was fifteen, I was regularly using spells most of your students have only just begun to learn by the time they're seventh years. And the last few years since her death, I've simply sought to learn on my own, to teach myself. When I can't find a spell for something specific to my learning, I would simply sit and visualize the intent and emotion behind it."
Albus had been nodding as she spoke. It was similar to the research he'd done over his many years into the way most spells had been created, even the Unforgivables. "Yes, well, I will contact the Ministry and let them know that we have several new spells for the curriculum this year. You will let me know if you have anything else that you feel the need to share, won't you Miss Wilson?" Dumbledore asked, smiling.
Allyna returned the smile and even Dumbledore was struck by the brightness in her. She held her hand out to shake and Dumbledore took it and was nearly shaken by the sheer elation he felt all of a sudden as he shook hands with Allyna. When she removed her hand, he slowly began to return to his usual pleasant self. He looked hard at Allyna for a moment before dismissing her and Severus.
When Severus put his hand on her shoulder, he too began to feel strange emotions, happiness, but tinged with a sense of fear and worry. He wondered if the Headmaster had felt the emotions coming from the girl, but didn't say anything and he wouldn't until it became necessary. Everyone needed their secrets, he decided. They were suddenly swarmed by students being dismissed from classes. He grumbled, he hated the interim time between classes when he had to walk through the masses of students to return to his classroom, the Slytherin common room or his quarters. As he was thinking, it was then that he heard a small, shrill scream.