Disclaimer: I do not own the world of Harry Potter or MCU/Marvel, all rights reserved to J.K. Rowling's and The Walt Disney Company.
AN: Hello my dear readers, what you're seeing here is chapter 16 of my original fanfiction.
Chapter Eight: Creation, Payout, and Potions (Hogwarts Arc: Year One)
Synopsis: Making of the rings, a tome most dark, a too close professor, and flying through the skies.
Smoking some Captain Black in my Churchwarden pipe after my first History of Magic lesson, I take some time to examine the enchantments on both my space expanded trunk and the mokeskin pouch I have, both using expanded space, but in very different ways.
Though thinking back momentarily to that bore of a class, I'm at least slightly happy that I have what amounts to a study hall, considering that Professor Binns never takes roll call and just reads word for word from the book. Being that it should only take me a bit of time to memorize the assigned book in question, I should have free lesson time to work on my own projects as I deem fit. Much to Hermione's annoyance and my slight amusement undoubtedly.
Regardless and coming back to the matter at hand, these two very interesting space enchantments whose structure that I am currently feeling out, are almost polar opposites.
The space expanded trunk enchantment is rather straightforward when all is said and done, being that the space within the trunk is stretched. By the feel of the spell, the spell encompasses the originally given space, creating its structure around that, before the witch or wizard empowers the spell to expand the space as needed, magic making a mockery of any physics. Being that a given space is being stretched, air, energy, and life can handle that space just fine, so making a living space using that spell works wonders.
Meanwhile, the mokeskin pouch uses an enchantment that seems to create the equivalent of a space balloon, using the pouch as its anchor point, and the opening of the pouch as the, well, opening. Other than stretching any space, space is folded or bundled in a way to create this balloon effect, allowing it to expand as you put more and more objects within it, taking a bit of the user's magic to expand further each time as needed. If you try and put it much into the pouch too quickly, then it seems you pop this folded space, either destroying anything stored, or having it strewn about, depending on your luck.
Though interestingly enough, since this basically becomes its own little separate reality, albeit made from the folded space of the reality surrounding it, it can't support life. Air doesn't naturally flow from the opening and there seems to be something inherent within the folded space against anything living when fully submerged within. You can put your hand in it just fine but trying to put yourself or anything living within the space would be a quick way to die. At a guess, creating what is akin to a small miniature reality cuts that space off from the inherent life force held within this reality, creating a void or blank slate.
Being that Cosmic Entities such as Death, Eternity, and the Phoenix Force exist in the Marvel universe, and probably even in the Marvel universe I'm in, in some form or fashion, it wouldn't be shocking if there are some metaphysical and magical restrictions to creating your own reality.
Loopholes exist I'm sure if you're some sort of god or have a connection to a higher dimensional being, but that's beside the point.
Though that does bring up the question of whether or not you can fill that newly created space with life in some way, what could you do then? Hmm, thoughts for another time at least.
Once again, back to the matter at hand, I want to see if you can combine these two enchantments together and a few others, so I can create a more stable storage space that can be carried around. One, it should be useful so that you don't have to carry around a trunk all the time, two, you won't have to worry about overburdening something like a moleskin pouch, and three, it should be pretty profitable to sell if I can get it to work.
Thinking of all the galleons I can make if I can get this to work sends a warm and pleasant shiver up my spine, because as a probable immortal, at least regarding age, you can never have enough gold stored away. With that pleasant thought, I get to work with a smile.
ΩΩΩ
Finally, after an hour of work, I've managed to come up with a stable combination of spells, integrating them together and adding a third component as well. Though I admit it was much more of a pain than I imagined, more so than just feeling out both spells, I had to spend time concentrating on each spell, breaking it down into the components that make them up, and then putting various components together like a puzzle.
Even still, I'd probably have a much easier time creating my own original enchantment from available spells, than most others would in my situation, let alone any other first year. I can actually feel the individual components and how well they fit together, not having to use something like arithmancy to break it down into equations, and then creating a formula or an original spell.
Regardless of the complexity, or lack thereof I still feel proud of my first original enchantment that should bring in quite a bit of money.
By using the spell component of folding space that is inherent to the mokeskin pouch, I created the foundation of a small dimension to work with, and then I implemented the much more stable space expansion spell within the newly created pocket space, making set space exponentially more stable, though fixed to the set expansion.
I even managed to implement apparition into the spell matrix, tying it into the intent spells woven into the original mokeskin pouch spells, where you think of what you want when reaching into the pouch. This way, by sending your intent into the spell, the item or items you're looking for are apparated into your hand.
Now all I have to do is tie the spell matrix into another object making it a proper enchantment, and something that can be sold to the masses at various levels, depending upon how much space is created for each pocket dimension. Thinking back on the various stories I read in my previous life, I have just the thing in mind that many avid readers should be familiar with, a storage ring!
With that thought, I get ready to shadow travel back to Potter Manor to meet up with Sirius again and see if I can get him to find some old jewelry back at Grimmauld Place. I still have half an hour to kill before I meet up with Hermione for our next class, the ever-dreaded potions, at least with a certain Severus Snape teaching the class. At the very least, I'll withhold my opinions on the man until our first class together, I've been holding off on making potions myself despite the plethora of knowledge in the Potter library.
The main reason for this is that I am more than aware that it can be a dangerous subject, and as much as I dislike Severus Snape in the books, though I will admit I liked him much more in the movies as a character, the man is still a master at his craft. I would prefer to have some oversight as I begin my foray into potions so that I remain safe, at least until I have the groundwork to work with on my own.
looking over at Yumi sunbathing by the window I admit that she looks adorable even as I fill her in on my plans, "do you want to head over with me to see Sirius" I asked her at the end.
"No thank you Elizabeth, I'm comfortable just sitting here for now, though if you could, maybe ask Dobby if he could bring me a mouse later?" she both tells me and asks.
"Sit back and relax then you lazy snake and I'll be sure to make dobby aware of your appetite" I tell her, the corners of my mouth twitching up in amusement even as I hear a huff echo inside my mind. I make sure to call out for Dobby before I leave, asking him to give her a mouse later, and making sure to give him a quick hug before I head out.
Stepping into the shadows of my room, I appear in the reading room of Potter Manor, happy to see my ever-excitable Dogfather in one of the reading chairs, going over a book on defensive magic.
"I see that you're reading up on your literature so that you don't fall behind in our duels" I tell him with a slight smirk, happy to give him a friendly jab.
Rolling his eyes, he stands up and looks up at me with a smile, "If it weren't for those fancy moves of yours that make you so hard to hit, I wouldn't have to widen my skillset pup, though to be fair, you have more power than any first-year has any right to have" he tells me, giving me an even wider smile in return.
My smirk opens up into a much more sincere smile, but still happy to continue our playful banter, "You're just jealous" I point out, devolving into a small giggle as he falls back down onto the couch.
"You're damn right I'm jealous pup, you're going to be scary powerful when you get older, all that you really need now is experience, knowledge, and an incredibly talented and wonderful teacher like myself of course" he spouts out, wearing a devilish smile, making me giggle again, transforming his own features into a softer more caring look.
"So, what brings you here my ever so talented goddaughter, as much as I truly love your company, you're a bit of a busy bee yourself, and you usually only visit before bedtime, not that I don't appreciate the late-night good nights" he asks me, genuine in his curiosity.
With an excited pep in my step and a wide, bright smile, I hurry over to his side, "I actually managed to create my first enchantment, I was just wondering if we could head over to Grimmauld Place in order to find an old silver ring, or at the very least, something small and silver?" I ask.
"That isn't a problem, but I have to ask, why silver?" He inquires.
"Well, silver is a really great conductor and container for magic, similar to how silver is a great conductor for electricity" I let him know.
"I have to admit, that's not exactly my field of expertise, but I'll just trust your word on that" he says with a happy laugh and walked towards me to give me a quick hug, something I appreciate.
giving a slight jerk of his head, he seems to remember something suddenly, giving me a slight sense of amusement for his bit of absent-mindedness, "the issue regarding the books about you has finished up, due to the loose laws about things like this from the ministry of magic, we can't really have them taken off the shelves, but a public disclaimer will be mentioned, saying that they are works of fiction, and every new book that is released from now on will have that disclaimer as well" he informed me,
"Though you did get a very good payout considering the 11-year backlog of payments they would have owed you, and coming from various different authors, that's about 150,000 galleons, give or take a few sickles and knuts. And from now on you will get 25% on every book sold. Hope that works for you pup, because that's the best we could get" he told me with a sigh and a slight smile.
"That works great for me Padfoot, an extra stable source of income, and the backlog payment sounds fantastic to me" I told him with a wide and slightly greedy smile. Shadow-summing my account books I take a quick look over them before making a decision and looking back at Sirius.
"I'll transfer the lump sum over to my trust fund account and have the interest I make off the books added to the Potter account to help that grow. I will also merge the two when I come into control of the Potter account later, but for now, my trust fund really should be large enough for any expenditure that comes to mind, more so in fact. Still, very nice to see those numbers grow" I tell him with a small chuckle.
"Showing a bit avariciousness there aren't you pup?" he said with a barking laugh.
"My dear, dear, Dogfather, while I believe it is true that knowledge is power, it is money that makes the world go round, Malfoy senior is proof of that. No matter his political acumen, if he didn't have the wealth to back up the bribes he needs, he wouldn't have nearly the kind of influence he does now" I tell him.
"You have a point" he agrees, though sounding a bit pained in admitting Malfoy has any kind of power.
"Of course I do, I'm me" I tell him with a laugh.
"And so humble too" he tells me, bumping my shoulder with a smile.
"Only with you Sirius, your family after all" I say with a warm smile
"Thanks pup, that means a lot, and no matter what, I'll always stand by your side because like you said, we're family" he tells me, his eyes shining with the truth of his emotions.
"Anyway! Let's head over to Grimmauld Place to see about finding some silver, I don't really wanna pilfer any in the Potter manner, and you don't like your parents at all…" I point out.
"I certainly don't, blackhearted bunch the lot of them, especially my harpy of a mother" he says with a cheerful smile.
"Exactly, so let's go" I say while making my way over to him and grabbing his arm, shadow traveling with him to his old home, making sure to cover him with my magic to protect him from the deathly chill that shadow travel would have on him.
"I'll go look through my mother's old jewelry box and see if I can find an old silver ring or at least something silver, and preferably something not cursed in one way or the other" he says, sarcasm and ironically enough, seriousness, dripping from his words.
As he makes his way upstairs Kreacher makes his presence known, "Filthy master and dark half-blood traipsing all about mistress home, no good that is, no good at all" he grumbles.
"Kreacher dear, if you would be so kind as to grab a book from me within the Black library I may be able to help you with your last mission" I tell him with a kind smile.
"Dark half-blood…" he begins to say when I suddenly fill the room with darkness so all that can be seen is me and him, white clouds frosting within the air from his breath as I use my new connection to ice from Hedwig to further set the mood.
"Kreacher dear, while I may be kind, I would request a modicum of respect, am I clear?" I say with a sharp smile cut across my face, my eyes predatory and deadly.
"Yes Dark Mistress, Kreacher understands, what book can Kreacher get for Dark Mistress?" he says, seemingly very happy with my show of power, most likely due to the darker aspect of it. Not too shocking, considering he is a Black family house-elf, and I am nice enough as well. All about balance I suppose.
"That title works as good as any I guess, back to the point at hand, I would like you to get me the book Secrets of the Darkest Art, something I'm sure that the black family would have stashed away somewhere within their library" I tell him, seeing him nod and disappear with a snap.
A few moments later I see him pop back in front of me, a happy and slightly deranged smile spread across his incredibly aged face, a thick tomb held in his hands. "Here Dark Mistress, I found it deep within the black library where many of the ancient and unread texts are held, a Black exclusive version of the book" he tells me with excited energy.
"Black exclusive?" I inquire.
"Yes Dark Mistress, some of the darker texts were acquired first by the Black family, and then altered versions were released back into circulation for the ignorant masses" he happily informs me.
"Exactly how may have these texts that were released back into the world been altered?" I inquire once again, morbidly curious.
"Kreacher can barely ponder what great and terrible plans many from the House of Black may have an acted, but Kreacher knows that many texts were once again released without any warnings so that their enemies may destroy themselves in their quest for a power not rightfully theirs" he informs me, reverence infusing his tone.
"Truly nefarious indeed" I agree with him, keeping a more taciturn tone though because while I might not have reverence for the actions they undertook, I could at the very least respect manipulating information enough so that your enemies hurt themselves. At the very least, I would give a slight bow of respect to those dark manipulators of the past.
Flipping through the book, I open the section on Horcruxes, finding the meditation exercises I was looking for at the beginning of the section on how to connect with your soul. Delving deeper and deeper within your mind while focusing your magic all the while on the concept and intent of soul, eventually touching up on your own.
To me at least got me it makes sense that a section like this would exist in the text going over soul shards, because how are you able to split your soul, let alone notice you have done so, without having some form of connection or awareness of the soul you're trying to split. Making my way to the end of this particular section of the book is where I find the warning, something that Voldemort obviously didn't get himself:
Warning: to split one's soul is to damage one's sense of self, to harm what makes him or her human, so be warned, and take into account, possible damage to one's sanity and more humane emotions that make one human. While never attempted, it is also theorized that to further one heads down the path of splitting your soul more than once, would multiply these damaging effects exponentially for every split, beware, for this way lies insanity and to lose all that once made you human. This way lies becoming a monster.
"That certainly makes sense, but that does beg the question, what was Voldemort like before he delved into insanity and became a monster that he was," I said aloud in idle contemplation.
Looking over to Kreacher I adorned a more serious look "if you give me some time, at the very least by the end of the year for Hogwarts, I should be able to do something about the Locket your master gave you, and remove the corruption that your master so hated, does that work for you Kreacher?" I asked him, both firm and kind in my tone. After I transfer the horcrux to something else, I can also let Sirius know that his brother died heroically, not serving a madman.
"Kreacher understands Dark Mistress, Kreacher will wait until the Dark Mistress can help him with Master's last order, thank you Dark Mistress" he said adoringly, reverence intermixing the tone of his words.
"Very good Kreacher" I told him with a slight smile before turning my attention back to the incredibly dark tome and seeing what other mysteries lay within.
Though as I flipped through the large book, I found that many of the contents within border the line between dark and black magic, or even fully delve into black magic, such as whole horcruxes. Such things as sacrificing virgins and children to curse your enemies held absolutely no appeal to me, and I found it ridiculous to go to such lengths when it seems so much easier to kill your enemies yourself, and altogether more satisfying.
Though I did come across one ritual that did hold some appeal, a darker ritual concerning the process to become an animagus, using a ritual sacrifice to help connect you with an animal that better mirrors your nature. Considering that it only referenced a sacrifice, rather than a particular sacrifice that would fall into the lines of an innocent, it should be more than easy to find some criminal to take that spot.
It seems that the major benefit of this ritual is the allowance of a magical animal to become an option, more so than the normal more mundane animals that most animagus become. I must admit that my interest is peaked even more so considering the fact that I am dual-natured myself, both mutant and which. At the very least this holds an interest that I can better delve into in the future, especially considering that magical animals are an option.
The warning placed at the bottom is of little concern, pointing out that if you let your animalistic instincts overtake you to break out of the ritual circle, you could lose your sense of self, lost to the animal mind. Since I deal with such predatory instincts every day, such things will be of little concern to me, or at the very least, within the realm of my own experience to control.
You can also choose to take on aspects of the animal in your human form as well, something that already puts the darker animagus ritual above the more mundane version, at least in my eyes. Yet that also depends on how well the witch or wizard adapts to those physical changes from their animal and how well they can actually use them. Though like many things in life, practice makes perfect.
The nature of my body is highly adaptive in and of itself, due to a number of factors that must primarily focus on how my magic focused on healing me when I was younger, and my own mutation regarding my healing factor as well. With both of them working together, and my magic lending a sort of intelligence to my healing, my body seems to naturally stay in top physical form, the limit being pushed further by my training.
More so, I don't have to worry about any kind of degradation in my muscle memory due to my healing factor causing no degradation, and my magic taking that into account to keep me healthy.
Honestly, I really have to love how well both worked together, I feel that it made mastering the martial arts I was learning early on much easier, and not having to work nearly as hard to keep those skills mastered as well. Though the fact that my healing mutation activated at such a young age, once more aided by my magic, probably helps my information retention as well.
The fact that you have so much gray matter in your brain when you're young, allowing you to learn at a much more accelerated pace, help things along, and since both my healing and magic keeps my body in top form, I wouldn't be too shocked if my brain kept those highly adaptive qualities as well. And from what I vaguely remember about Laura Kinney, due to her, and in this case, my rapid cell division, my body becomes even more incredibly adaptive and willing to evolve as well. Considering that as cells die and regenerate at such fast speeds, they are more likely to adapt to any negative circumstances in the environment or in my body.
That doesn't exactly mean that I'm going to get a zenkai boost anytime soon, but it does mean I will be incredibly resilient to poisons and toxic environments, eventually becoming immune if given enough time and exposure. even more so, when it comes to rituals that make adaptations to the body, I should be much more receptive to those than any other witch or wizard. Due to that, I am not particularly worried about any physical or instinctual changes that I may experience in the darker animagus ritual, I trust that both my mind and body are able to persevere.
Once again, undoubtedly this would be something to look into more so in the future, at the very least when this year is done.
Hearing that Sirius was making his way out of his mother's room up in the second story, I quickly toss the book into the shadows to appear within my reading room within my trunk. Those meditation techniques should be incredibly useful in the future, both for myself in all probability and especially when dealing with Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Turning to Sirius as he makes his way down the stairs, he looks at me with a happy and excited smile, holding a silver and diamond ring in his hand, "I actually managed to find a silver ring not cursed to high heaven pup, hopefully this old thing will be of some use to you" he said.
"Aww, you're not that old Sirius, and you'll always be useful to me" I told him with a smirk, happy that he left such an easy opportunity to poke at him.
"I meant the ring brat" he responded dryly, rolling his eyes in the process, "and I will have you know that I am once again young and handsome thanks to your help, in the prime of my life, truly, all the dames out there will be begging for my attention" he said, his nose up in the air with a roguish grin making its way onto his face.
"Whatever you need to tell yourself" I told him jokingly as I grabbed the ring out of his hand, causing him to sputter in faked offense and indignation, earning another giggle in return from me.
Using some wandless transfiguration on the ring, I removed the diamond, a nice quality one, and handed it to Sirius before starting my enchantment work. from what I have read and even some of the enchantments I have felt out myself, the enchantment seemed to layer on top of the object, allowing for whatever enchantment to quite literally work its magic on the object.
Though I figured I might as well take this chance and try something a little different, using my wandless transfiguration, I make the ring much more malleable as I cast my new enchantment. In its more malleable state, I sink the enchantment into the ring itself, creating a small hole at the top for the user's magic to access the folded space.
Taking a moment to think about the intended user, I transfigure the head of a Scottish Deerhound, very much in the likeness of a certain roguish dogfather of mine, creating hollowed-out eyes. using one of the eyes as the magical access point, I create the connected magical dimension, a 50-inch by 50-inch box that can be used as storage. At the very least for storage of anything non-perishable, considering that time does still pass at a normal rate within the folded dimension.
Even more so, the enchantment feels so intertwined with the ring that you would actually have to destroy the ring itself to destroy the enchantment, something I'm rather happy about.
Happily completing my project, and solidifying the transfiguration to make it permanent, I am more than pleased with the final product as I hand it to Sirius.
"So what's this pup? though I can really appreciate the dashing dog on the ring, I doubt that's all you had in mind" he told me, curiously looking over the ring.
"Grab a random object, maybe a cup, and think about putting it inside the ring while pushing your magic into the ring" I tell him, my grin becoming infectious in my excitement.
Looking at me sideways, he just shrugs and grabs a glass cup from the table nearby, though his reaction goes under a transformation when he watches it disappear in front of his eyes in a subdued pop.
"So, mind telling me what just happened pup?" He asks, looking much closer now at the ring, with it now gaining his undivided and focused attention.
"I created the first storage ring, all you have to think about is putting something inside the ring or pulling something out of it, though nothing will happen if an object won't fit inside. If you send your magic into the ring, you should have a vague idea of what you have stored inside" I let him know, a wide smile spread across my face, and my excitement palpable in the air.
I watch him experiment with the ring, taking the glass outside of it and putting it back in a few times, and I feel his magic probing it and delving inside of it as well. As he further gets a feel for the ring, astonishment paints itself across his face, and he soon wears an impressed grin as well.
"I have to say pup, this is an incredibly impressive piece of magic, and something I'm sure many a witch and wizard alike will want to get their hands on" he says, "are you thinking about registering the enchantment under your name and patenting it with the ministry? You should make a pretty penny selling these rings" he lets me know, reminding me that I do in fact need to patent the enchantment under my name.
"Before I start selling them, I need to figure out some sort of security feature so that they're even more secure than your regular magical pouch. When I figure that out, I will start selling 3 tiers of rings, a basic ring with a small amount of space that's the equivalent of a wallet for 3 sickles, a more personalized ring with the amount of space you have currently for a galleon, and special order rings that can be similar to yours or more ostentatious but have about 100 square feet of storage that they can fill with whatever they desire for 5 galleons" I tell him, outlining a basic business plan after I figure out the final security feature.
"Though speaking of getting it patented, do you think you could head to the ministry to have that done? I need to meet up with Hermione and head to potions in about 10 minutes myself" I let him know, giving him a pleading expression, my eyes wide with emotion.
Letting out a childish sigh, he smirks at me before giving me a wider smile "that won't be a problem pup, though you need a verbal spell to go with the patent" he lets me know.
"I honestly hadn't thought of that much" I complain slightly, "I basically created the spell feeling out a few magical components I'm putting it together. Though honestly, the verbal components of spells are just to help your framework when casting the magic, at least that's what I found out so far" I tell him.
He laughs at that, "maybe that's true pup but unlike you, most kids and people in general aren't able to feel out magic as easily as you do. Sure, you shoot a spell directly at them, most would feel something coming their way, at least slightly, even if they don't know enough common sense to get out of the way if the spell is slow or far enough. The more trained you are the better your connection with magic and general, with true masters like Dumbledore becoming very in tune with their own magic and the magic around them" he says, falling into a slightly lecturing, professor-like tone.
"But even then, magic is like a physical extension of your body to you, at least in the way you've described it, you're able to feel the actual components that make up a spell and while Dumbledore might be able to match you, for now, that's after a lifetime of experience. Honestly pup, you're a monster in the making, and I'm going to really enjoy the havoc you cause out in the world" he says, his rather maniacal laughter echoing throughout the house.
"Love you too Padfoot" I tell him as I chuckle, "and as for the name of the spell, how about something like Stabulum Spatium, since the spell is basically creating a stable space. Not the most creative to be sure, but at the very least it can be called descriptive" I say.
"Better than nothing" he says nonchalantly, shrugging.
"Anyway! I have to head out to meet Hermione, so thanks a bunch for making sure it gets registered, and you can use the ring if they want an example of the spell" I tell him.
"Sure, sure, and next time you visit, I should have a little gift for you to help us communicate when you're not visiting, something me and your dad made back in the day with help from Moony" he tells me, his eyes taking a faraway look as he loses himself in the past for a moment.
"No problem Padfoot" I say with a fond smile, "you go and deal with the paperwork at the ministry while I deal with however my potions class will turn out to be" I let him know.
"Damn, I forgot about the paperwork!" he mutters childishly.
Giggling at his reaction I remember to point something else out since he'll be at the Ministry, "while you're there, make sure to officially add Andromeda and her family back to the Black family".
"Even more paperwork, truly, you're evil incarnate" he responds with a short barking laugh, "but you're right, I'll add them to the family register after making everything legal at the Ministry. I should have done it earlier, but I've been busy with going through everything as the new Lord Black as well" he responds with a tired sigh.
"I know the family registry ties them magically into the family but is that all" I ask.
"Well, only the head of the family can make any changes to it, that's why my harpy of a mother couldn't actually disinherit me even if she tossed me from the house. Besides that, the head of the family will know if a member of the family is in danger unless their behind some heavy-duty wards, and will always know when a member of the family dies" he says
"Interesting" I tell him, taking a moment to think about all that before looking at the time again, "but tell me when you get that done so I can Tonks the news as well, now off to Hogwarts and Potions for me" I tell him with a smile.
Sporting a scowl at the mention of Potions he says "just let me know if Snivelus gives you any problems" with a serious tone.
"Don't worry, I'm sure I can handle things myself if he becomes too much of a problem, I just have to see how things go" I say, "And if he happens to disappear, just know that I had nothing to do with it" I continue on with a slightly malicious smirk.
"And that is exactly why you are one terrifying goddaughter pup, even still, I love you" he says, giving an exaggerated shudder and a warm smile.
"I love you too" I tell him, adorning a warm smile of my own before stepping into the shadows to meet up with Hermione.
ΩΩΩ
After arriving back at Hogwarts, I fall back into a bit more of a formal mask upon my face, the carefree attitude falling away now that I'm back among strangers. Though as I make my way downstairs and see Hermione, I let it slip slightly to show a small genuine smile to her.
"How are you, Hermione?" I ask her, receiving a quick hug from her once we got closer.
"I'm doing rather well, yourself? And whatever kept you so preoccupied Elizabeth?" she responded and asked in the same breath.
"Just delving into the mysteries and complexities that magic has to offer, playing around with my own experiments as well," I tell her, humor coloring my tone and my lips twitching up in amusement. Sometimes the best diversion from a topic is exaggeration other than subtlety, but there is a time and place for both of course.
Hermione just looked at me and rolled her eyes in exasperation as we both made our way through the halls, soon arriving in the dreary potions classroom. It does make me wonder though, if the bodies of witches and Wizards weren't so sturdy, how many kids would be having lung problems later in life due to the lack of circulation.
I suppose when you can start manipulating reality to your whims, to various degrees, of course, a certain amount of common sense tends to fall to the wayside. though in the same breath, the issue undoubtedly never came up in the first place due to that same sturdiness of our bodies. I wouldn't be surprised if there are in fact safety measures set in place when working with more volatile and dangerous potions.
I have to stop myself from going down that rabbit hole in regards to safety and what is and isn't applicable, no need to let the mind wander toward questions whose answers are not readily available.
As Hermione and I find a seat together, Snape billows into the room with all the aplomb of the Shakespearean actor, though Alan Rickman he is not. Pale and sallow-faced, with hair that practically shines in its greasiness, he undoubtedly makes an unappealing visage that could very well be reminiscent of a healthy ghoul.
Which is honestly a shame, Alan Rickman truly had a charm all his own, managing to make a particularly abhorrent character likable in his own unique way.
After Snape made his way to the head of the classroom, he started in on his speech that he must give to every first-year class, with disdain practically dripping from his words as he speaks to the students. But I wonder, a bit sarcastically, that when he mentions how he can teach us how to "bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death", why he never seemed to make any of those potions for himself.
Focusing once more my attention back to Snape, He's finally arrived at the point in which he starts snapping out questions, though surprisingly enough, I'm not his first target it seems.
"Ms. Bone's, what would I get if I added a powder root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" he asks, his words holding a seemingly unconscious biting chill to them as he shows no compunction in asking a first-year student about an advanced 6th year potion.
"Um, I- I don't know Professor" She replies nervously, a slight redness infusing her cheeks as Snape's sneer intensifies, his disdain for her response clear.
"What a shame" he replies as he begins to look for another student to single out and for some reason passes over me once again.
Seeing that Hermione was going to raise her hand, I lightly placed my own over hers to stop her as I would rather he not place his contemptuous attention on her. Yet as I see her give me an annoyed look, I lean over to appease her just a bit, "I'll explain after class" I tell her. Although still pouting just a bit, she nods her ascent as she settles down to simply listen, though her fidgeting shows how much she really wants to answer, receiving that bit of validation from the Professor.
Soon after his eyes zero in on Padma Patil, "Ms. Patil, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" he asks her, a black shadow looming at the front of the class.
"They, um, they are the same plant Professor" she answers him, a slight Indian accent coloring her tone, her hesitancy seemingly spawned by his childish intimidation and not any lack of knowledge.
"Correct," he says, lending emphasis to the final letter while seeming almost bored and uninterested, "at least one student opened the book before coming to class" he told the class, causing the blush suffusing the cheeks of Susan Bones to deepen.
"Ms. Potter" dead while turning his attention to me, his tone softer but altogether slimier, "can you tell me where you may find a bezoar?" he asked, showing an apparent modicum of patience, and even a small smile that only seemed to worsen his visage.
"In the stomach of a goat professor, it's a cure for most poisons" I told him promptly, not in the least intimidated by him, and purposely ignoring his apparent favorability towards me. Harry Potter may have looked astoundingly close to a younger version of his father, but outside of my dark hair, my own appearance lends itself to my mother, my green eyes accentuating that undoubtedly.
What this would mean in his show of current favorability, I'm not quite sure, but currently, the lack of hostility should make the class all the more bearable, even if the written potion instructions are on the board show a sincere lack of interest in actually teaching.
"Very good Ms. Potter," he tells me, his smile growing moderately wider though nonetheless slimier, "truly, it seems that you take after your dear mother" he says.
Turning to the rest of the class his expression once again becomes colder, his beak-like nose slightly aloft, as if looking down on all those before him. "You will be working on the boil cure today, the directions are on the board" he informs the class, making his way to his own desk, overlooking his students while working on his own projects.
Turning to Hermione I tell her "You set up the cauldron and open the potions book to the right page while I go and get the ingredients" and as she nods her acceptance, I head over to the ingredients storeroom. A slight advantage on my part, or maybe a large one depending upon your view, is that the fresher ingredients radiate slightly more powerful magic, so I make sure to choose the best out of the lot.
After making my way back to Hermione, we start working together, I cut up the ingredients while she organizes everything in the order that they're going to be used. As we actually start making the potion, I come to the happy discovery that I can feel the magic within the potion as it brews, feeling as the ingredients meld together, and when they are ready for the next set of ingredients.
Due to this I lower the temperature at times, add a half stir more in a certain direction at other times, and add a bit more of certain ingredients as well. All of which seemed to be driving Hermione up a wall much to my amusement, though because the potion seemed to be suffering no ill effects and going along splendidly, she didn't have much ground to stand on in correcting me.
halfway through the potion-making process, Snape started making the rounds inspecting the potions of various students, staying silent on those whose potions were adequate or well done, and liberally tossing insults about at those who were making mistakes. When he finally made his way towards Hermione and me, he placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, complimenting me on the quality of the potion, ignoring Hermione, much to her frustration.
Though his overly friendly actions, tied together with his slimy smiles and his comparisons of me to my mother, finally gave me a firm realization of my plans for him: he's not going to be making it to a second year.
With that realization and plan in the works, I ignore the overly touchy and creepy professor to once again to focus on the potion, adjusting here and there as the feeling of the magic within the potion dictates. 10 minutes sooner than the rest of the class, Hermione and I ladled the high-quality potion into a vial and corked it.
I also made sure to do the same with the leftover potion as well, keeping it for my own storage since you never know when it might come in handy. Handing the potion to the professor, I ignore his seemingly friendly smile with a simple nod before I make my way out of the classroom with a pouting Hermione.
"He didn't even acknowledge me and the work I did! And why didn't you want me to raise my hand to answer the professor, that was rude Elizabeth!" Hermione said, slightly ranting as we made our way through the halls of Hogwarts.
"Snape" I began to say before Hermione interrupted me.
"Professor Snape Elizabeth" she snapped back irritably.
"No Hermione, just Snape, you have to understand that just because someone is in a position of authority, that does not designate immediate respect or mean competence in whatever position they occupy," I told her patiently, smiling slightly at her blush when she realized how irritable she was being with me.
"But he's a teacher Elizabeth" she whined it back, giving credence to her young age, despite her wide and versatile vocabulary.
"And did he actually teach anything to earn that appellation?" I asked her with an arch of my eyebrow.
"Well… no" she said, finally admitting to the fact that you can't be much of a teacher if you don't actually teach anything.
"To reply to your previous questions, Snape highly favors his own house, so he rarely ever acknowledges the work of other students, and more often than not freely takes away points for even perceived slights or just because he feels like it. A rather obvious abuse of the house system, but it is what it is" I tell her.
"How do you know that?" She asked inquisitively
"Firstly, my godfather knows him, though I will be the first to admit that they have an atrocious relationship, with wrongs done on both their parts. I also know an older student of his who was more than happy to rant about his behavior" I informed her.
"And as you may guess due to his previous comments, he knew my mother, and they were even friends for a time until that broke down, So, that should explain his fixation on me" I tell her.
"And more so, you don't need his approval or the approval of any other authority figure, you do amazing work succeeding and learning either way. Remember Hermione, you succeed on your own hard work, so you don't need their validation, at most, get it from the people that matter, your friends and family" I tell her, a wide and warm smile on my face, and give her a brief hug at the end.
"I guess" she grumbles, though she is wearing a smile of her own as well.
"Now let's head off to lunch, I'm looking forward to what Dobby has prepared" I say with a smile, making our way to the main Great Hall.
I purposely ignored the various looks from the Slytherin table, some of fear, some of anger, and many of respect, with a nervous-looking Draco at the end of the table. Though I wouldn't be shocked if he regained that arrogance in time, but he should know better than to bring that my way. Whether he has enough intelligence to remember my warning or if his hubris will get the better of him, only time will tell.
Even so, I know that whatever will happen will stay among the Slytherins, because that's just how they are, what happens in Slytherin stays in Slytherin, how else could they try and use it to their advantage at a later date?
ΩΩΩ
Outside of potions, the rest of the week went along very well, outside of the staged stuttering of our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Quirinus Quirrell aka the man possessed by Voldemort, but that was hardly a surprise.
Astronomy was interesting enough but not so much that I wanted to go out of my way to excel over my peers, and I found herbology a little relaxing. Even though we weren't directly working with any magical plants quite yet, the information was fun to learn, and easily memorized due to my occlumency. Later in the class, we will be covering the incendio spell, though I most likely will go over that with Sirius first. It shouldn't be altogether a difficult spell, and being able to wield fire is always useful, even at this low of a level of magic. Plus, learning the structure of the spell should help with my own elemental manipulations.
The utility of elemental magic as a field of study is something I greatly look forward to, something that Professor Flitwick should be very knowledgeable of since he is a master duelist, and their usefulness in a duel can't be understated.
In regard to both charms and transfiguration, I continue to progress at an accelerated speed, devouring and mastering all the knowledge they can offer me. I have even started working on small level conjuration with Professor McGonagall, much to her amazement and happiness, due to working with such a talented student and being the daughter of one of her favorite students as well.
I even showed my new enchantment to Professor Flitwick, and he was understandably stunned that I was already working on enchantment in and of itself, as well as creating my own. After showing him what I was working on, he moved up the date on when we would start working on dueling since he was waiting until I had a higher proficiency in magic in general.
As of now, we will be working on our dueling the weekend after this upcoming weekend, of which I am very excited, and happy to expand my repertoire of opponents.
After finally arriving at the end of the week I'm attending one of the classes that I probably looked forward to the most, broom flying lessons!
Like the original Harry Potter, the broom quite literally flew into my hand at the up command, pun intended, and I felt an immediate connection between my magic and the broom. Even though the enchantments covering the broom felt rather old and almost frayed at the edges, it was still perfectly serviceable for now.
At her whistle, I and the rest of the class kicked off and started floating in the air, much to my immense enjoyment, though I was itching to do much more than that. Though for the first half-hour she had us going through basic drills and instructions, such as leaning forward slightly for forward momentum, leaning back to slow down and eventually reverse, and the same for going left or right.
Yet as intricately connected to my magic as I am, I managed to infuse my intent into the magic going into the broom, making the motions unnecessary. Though in all honesty I rather preferred going through the movements for a more visceral experience, but the knowledge that they are not necessary is useful all the same.
After the half-hour mark ended, she asked if there were any students that wanted to try more advanced maneuvers, and she would work with us to see what level we were at. Unsurprisingly, as fun as flying might be for most, the majority of the students were still more comfortable closer to the ground for now.
But also unsurprisingly, there were about 10 of us in total that were more than happy to try pushing the limits of what we could do. Whether that was simply foolhardy recklessness or simply being more experienced due to their home life allowing for that, was shown quickly as each student worked with the professor.
Six of the students turned out to be severely overestimating their abilities but we're lucky that the professor was close enough to help keep them calm and take control of their broom when necessary. The other three students show themselves to be very competent at handling their own brooms, two boys and one girl, and though they didn't do anything extraordinary, they certainly showed their comfort in the air.
When my time finally came to show what I could do, there just might have been a wide and devilish smile spread across my face, and an excited tremor throughout my body.
"Alright Ms. Potter, show me what you can do" said the yellow-eyed Professor, Madam Rolanda Hooch.
"Happily" I replied, a bit of a manic grin stretched wide across my face, the adrenaline already coursing throughout my body.
With a push off the ground, I launched speedily into the open sky, the roar of the wind rushing past my ears, and as I reached a few 100 feet off the ground, I did a single-arm handstand on top of my broom before hugging it close and launching back down.
Ignoring the yells from the professor I got closer and closer to the ground before propping my foot on top of the broom near the bristles and kicking it down, pushing more of my magic through it, feeling it shoot through the bristles. Getting close enough to the ground I used the broom for its original purpose, brushing along the grassy field before launching forward and flying close to the earth.
Once more flying into the air, I excitedly performed a series of spins, loops, and other tricks such as letting go of the broom as I was high into the air, giving myself a spin, and grabbing back on. It was perhaps one of the most fun times I've had in my life, and I really have to look into making my own broom so that I can really kick up the speed.
Yet, once more, unsurprisingly, I arrived back on the ground to an irate professor, who was nonetheless incredibly impressed with my performance, but still rightly angry that I ignored her. The convenient excuse that the rushing wind and adrenaline rather tune her out was accepted, but with a healthy amount of skepticism, so I was sadly grounded for the rest of the class.
As the day came to a close, I was happy to be informed by Sirius that everything went well in adding Andromeda and her family back into the House of Black, both at the Ministry and on the family registry. She should be getting a formal letter tomorrow about her new status and should be able to feel her renewed connection to the family. Though I'm not sure if her husband or Tonks would notice said connection, though Tonks may, due to being a metamorphmagus and being in tune with her own magic. Regardless I'll let her know when I see her tomorrow.
Even as I readied myself for bed, I still wore a wide smile at the excitement of the day, very much looking forward to once more flying in the air. And it was with a very comfortable sigh of contentment that I settled into sleep, thinking of my introduction to healing magic tomorrow, and the hunt I have planned for a particularly abhorrent pink toad that I had planned for tomorrow night.