Chapter 27: The Cure

"Er, Professor Flitwick?" Daisy whispered. She half hoped that her charms teacher wouldn't be able to hear her and she could just back out of what she had planned to say.

"Did you need something Miss Dursley?" Flitwick had evidently heard Daisy's whispered call. Class had already ended, and older students were hurrying out towards their next destination.

Daisy herself hadn't had Charms that day, but it hadn't taken her long to walk from her Wizard Culture and History classroom to this one, even though she had been forced to find an escort due to the stricter school rules. Harry had been waiting outside her classroom, just to say hello, apparently. Daisy guessed that he had wanted to make sure she was okay, especially so that he would be able to assure her parents of the fact if they got news about what was going on at Hogwarts.

"All students are to go out to the Quidditch pitch after this class. You'll want to take your things with you," the Flitwick reminded her.

"Yes sir," Daisy said. "But I was wondering if I could tell you - I mean ask you - something."

Flitwick raised an eyebrow. "Would this be something Charms related, or is it about something else?"

The way Professor Flitwick said something else helped Daisy catch up to his thoughts. He thought that she might know something about the whereabouts of Jonas, Eliza, and Albus. The three still hadn't been found, and it was now not an unusual sight to see an auror or two pass by on the way to your class.

"No, it's just Charms related. I, ah, have a sort of, not problem exactly, but..."

"I definitely don't think whatever it is would be a problem, Dursley. You have a natural talent for this subject. However, we must either continue this conversation as we walk, or leave it for another time."

Daisy had been so focused on herself she hadn't noticed that most of the other students had gone. It suddenly hit her that it was the first time she had been anywhere in the castle besides a bathroom or common room without one of her friends at her side. Of course, she wasn't alone, she was with a teacher, but the thought still somehow made her feel proud of herself for being more independent.

"Sorry, we can walk," she said.

"So if this thing isn't a problem, and it's related to Charms, what is it?"

"I started noticing some things about my magic a while ago, so I decide to test a few things on my own," Daisy started. Somehow talking felt a little bit easier now that it was as if they were taking a stroll through the castle. "And so, I tried to do some of the charms without a wand, and it worked."

Flitwick's voce came out as a higher squeak than usual, and he almost tipped over a slight rift in the flooring. "It worked? Reliably?"

"Pretty reliably. It isn't as good as what I can do with my wand, but -"

"But this is amazing! I've only had the privilege to meet someone gifted with a natural talent for wandless magic twice! One of them was my own Charms teacher, back in the day, and the other was of course Albus Dumbledore*."

"So I'm not too terribly odd then, am I?"

Professor Flitwick chuckled. "It is odd - but it's a good kind of strange, if you really can do as you say. Wizards in Europe were the first to begin using wands. Before that, not as many people were able to realize there gifts in magic, as not as many wizards have the capability and the patience to learn to focus their magic without something like a wand or a broomstick to work through. However, there are still cultures that don't use wands as much as we do."

"But there's no one else here that could teach me?" Daisy asked.

"I would be willing to help you, although my own skills without a wand are limited." The two were now walking across the Hogwarts grounds towards the growing crowd of students out at the pitch. "Unfortunately, you will have to wait until after those students have been found for me to start teaching you. I will be in touch, Daisy."

With that, Flitwick walked off towards the small group of teachers on the announcer's podium.

"How did your talk with Flitwick go?" said a voice from behind her. Arianne laughed when she saw Daisy's startled expression. "Is he going to teach you?"

"He says he will, as long as the school isn't closed and the missing students are found," answered Daisy.

"Yeah," Arianne shrugged nonchalantly. "It seems like a lot of things will depend on that." Her casual attitude didn't fool Daisy - she had seen how shaken the older girl had been at each of the announcements related to the missing students and the closing of the school.

"Anyway," Arianne continued, "The rest of the first years are this way. I'll help you find your friends before the Quodpot match."

"The what?" Daisy struggled to make her voice heard over the crowd of people Arianne was dragging her through. She had to repeat her question once they had reached a blockade of fourth year Slytherins and had to stop for a moment.

"Well, the teachers had to figure out a way for all the students to stay occupied and not cause any trouble, so they let Coach Johnson organize a game of Quodpot. It's another game played on brooms, but it's more popular in America. Johnson was on a Quodpot team when she went to Ilvermorny, apparently."

Daisy didn't get a chance to ask any other questions before they had reached the group of first years and Arianne had left her. Luckily, she had just learned about Ilvermorny earlier that day when they had talked about other wizarding schools in Wizarding Culture and History.

"Come on, slowpoke," Sophia was already pulling her off in another direction. "We have to get good seats for the game. And I heard Regina say that someone was selling sweets from Honeydukes!"

Daisy hadn't the slightest idea what was so special about Honeydukes sweets, and was much more interested in hiding away to practice more charms than watching a game, but she let herself be lead away.

High up in the stands, Coach Johnson's voice blared.

"There will only be two teams of eleven players. Quidditch captains, I want you to pick six people from your main or reserve teams to send out - two will serve as extras for the first round. You have five minutes."

"This is stupid, anyone should be allowed to play. It's not an official match," the newcomer said. Although Daisy usually found Lily's comments on anything sport related to be irritated, she did think she had a point on this one.

"They probably just didn't want to waste time picking teams," said Gracie,** who had, as usual, trailed behind Lily.

"Still. Now O'Neill is probably going to get a spot on this team instead of me."

Gracie leaned over to Daisy and Sophia. "I thought it was over - she hasn't talked about Nimue O'Neill for ages. She's the 6th year that beat her for reserve Seeker."

"And we have our teams!" Coach Johnson flew into the air for this announcement. She introduced the team members with a flourish. Daisy was surprised to see that each team had an equal number of people from each house. She was equally surprise to hear Lily laugh when Nimue O'Neill was indeed chosen for the game.

"James picked her thinking they'd be on the same team, and they'd get to work together. But they're not. She's going to beat him ten to one," Lily laughed. "And he was probably going to try to impress her! I almost feel sorry for him."

Over the course of the game, Daisy was able to see that Lily had been right. Quodpot was a lot different from quidditch - the game ran until everyone was out, for one. James was sent off the pitch when the Quod exploded in his face only three minutes into the game. The goal of the game was for one of the teams to get the Quod (a ball similar to a quaffle) to the pot at one end of the pitch before it exploded. The other team would try to block them, and prevent them from scoring. Whomever was holding the Quod when it exploded, assuming they didn't throw it into the pot in time, was out.

Half an hour into the game, about half of each of the teams had been eliminated. That was when the game was abruptly put to a stop when someone ran out of Hogwarts and stopped right next to the field. At first none of the players noticed, but when the crowd got louder and started pointing away from them, they all turned too.

Jonas Kreifels didn't look any different than any of the other students in terms of dress and general well being, but his eyes darted around with confusion.

"Jonas!" Coach Johnson cried, hurtling towards the ground on her broom. She cast it to the side without much care, and started to direct the student back into the castle. "Let's get you to the hospital wing, and we can talk about where you've been."

"Wait, no, I needed to warn you about something. But I can't remember what it was, I just can't… something about one of the Founders, it all started with that. Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw -"

Daisy had barely been able to hear a word Jonas had said, but when the quodpot exploded in the arms of a frazzled Hufflepuff player, all hope of hearing anymore was lost. The students were no longer quiet, and Jonas was being taken back up to the castle.

"We have to find out what he knows," Lily said. "He might lead us to Albus."

Lily wasn't the only ones thinking along those lines. Margo and James had both been out on the pitch when it happened. Uninhibited by crowds of people, they had been able to get into the castle right after Jonas and Coach Johnson.

"You mean he might lead the teachers and aurors to Albus and Eliza," Gracie said. "You're not going to be involved in this, remember."

Lily snorted. "So I'm just supposed to take a kip then, while my brother's out there?"

"No, you're supposed to do your schoolwork and be patient like everyone else. If Jonas was in the same place, it doesn't seem like Albus would be harmed," said Daisy.

"But we don't know that! I'm not just going to do nothing. I'm going to help, and you all," Lily gestured towards the group of them - Daisy, Sophia, and Gracie - "you're going to help too."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"You let him go," Arianne said.

"I did."

"So why not let the other's go? Don't lie to me and say you're actually getting anything out of this experiment anymore, besides a deluded sense of power."

The corner of Malia's lips twitched. "I am getting somewhere," she said, doing her best to keep her voice level. "I just need more time and the right information." She swirled the vial of silvery liquid in her hand.

"You don't have more time, Mal. It's over. I won't help you anymore."

"What are you going to do?" Malia smirked."Tell?" She knew her sister didn't have the guts, didn't have the courage. There was a reason she hadn't been put in Gryffindor. And not only was she not brave enough, she was loyal. Maybe Malia had lost Arianne's loyalty months ago - but their mother had not. And their mother was what they were fighting for.

"Mum wouldn't want you to do this for her," Arianne whispered. Sometimes it was almost eerie how the younger girl seemed to know her thoughts so well. When the two of them had been a little bit younger, they had been the same height, and it hadn't been unusual for them to be misidentified as identical twins. Malia was grateful when a growth spurt had differentiated them. They weren't twins. No matter how they looked, or how perceptive they were of each other's thoughts.

"We don't know what Mum would want us to do, because she's dying. This could cure her, or have you forgotten?"

"I think you've forgotten that the best teams at St. Mungos looked into it."

"For how long? They've practically given up, and she doesn't have long now. This is her last chance."

Malia walked across the room to check one of her books again. She looked up from it's pages to the cage in front of her. The gorgeous fiery bird stood preening in a far off corner. It had taken her ages to get it into the castle, and she had been relieved to find that the room that she had found seemed to have some sort of anti-magical creature qualities to it, because the phoenix had not been able to escape.

Just a couple tears, she thought. That's all I need. Yet you won't give them to me. Why?

"Mal -"

"I don't need you right now, Arianne," Malia used her whole name for emphasis. Arianne was always Ari to her, a reminder of a time when it was always them working together. Mal and Ari are off doing their detective work again, their mother would say. Mal and Ari helped me gather supplies today, would you like to see? Mal and Ari... yes, using Arianne's whole given name would have an effect. "Go give food to our guests or something," Malia finished.

At first Arianne didn't move, and Malia thought that perhaps, she'd misjudged her sister. But then Arianne picked up the platters of extra food Malia had brought earlier, and walked to the far side of the room.

Malia watched her as she placed a plate of food next to both Eliza and Albus; the former was still asleep. The two had adequate space. Arianne had made sure of that. They each had a mattress to sleep on, they had a bathroom, they had food from the kitchens (the House Elves never asked what you did with the food they gave you) and Arianne had even provided them with a set of wizard's chess. At any time, they could ask for one of the many books that lined the walls of the room and, with Malia's permission, they could read whichever they chose.

The only downside was what they had to go through. Malia had only given them potions she knew she could cure - and she suspected that's why the phoenix hadn't looked too troubled about any of it. Phoenixes only cried for noble, humble people, who were in dire situations - or so it seemed,*** and Malia had done her best to replicate those situations. She had chosen Eliza - well known for her bravery and kindness. A friend to all who ever needed her. When that had failed, Malia had scoured information for anything else she could go on. That's when she had realized that Harry Potter was the last known person to be healed by phoenix tears back in the chamber of secrets. Maybe it ran in the family. And then Albus had almost willingly walked into her arms! Known as the kindest of the brilliant Potter kids - what could be more perfect?

And then there were the vials of unicorn blood. Those weren't there for anyone to ingest yet, but as part of the experiment. It was unicorn blood that had made everything worse, when her mother had used some as a last resort to keep her alive when she knew the cancer was going to kill her. Malia had a theory that unicorn blood, used with phoenix tears, would be her mother's cure instead of her doom.

Of course it had occurred to her to give some of it to Albus or Eliza, but as she didn't have a way to cure them of its effects, she had rejected the idea.

And now Jonas was free. Jonas had never been a part of any of this. Malia hadn't even tried to get the phoenix to cry for him. He had just been captured because he had known the location of her hidden room, and hadn't been willing to keep it a secret. It had taken Malia only a tad more practice before she was sure that she would be able to erase Jonas' more recent memories well enough that they couldn't be uncovered without a lot of time. It wasn't likely he would remember anything before the end of the year, and hopefully his release would buy Malia some much needed time.

To tell the truth, she was stuck. She didn't know what else to do without putting Albus and Eliza in real danger of death. Was that a risk she was willing to take? It definitely wasn't even a thought for her sister, with her pure conscience.

Don't lie to me and say you're actually getting anything out of this experiment anymore, besides a deluded sense of power, Arianne had said. Was it true? Yes, she found it amusing that none of the adults had found her hideout. And no, she didn't believe they ever would. But that wasn't why she was still keeping hostages, was it? No, it was all for a better cause. If - no, when she succeeded, her panacea, her cure-all medicine would go towards the greater good of all magical people.

*Can't recall specific instances of Dumbledore actually using wandless magic in the books (he did in the movies), but I know he mentioned it, used it in Legilimency and Occlumency and he is listed on the wiki when you search for people who could do magic without a wand. I just assume that even though he would have been very good at it, he was even better with a wand, just as Daisy is.

**I love Gracie so much - she was one of the first characters I thought of for this story and yet I never really included her because I didn't end up doing any school chapters in Lily's point of view (and still don't plan to). She's Lily's best friend though, If you hadn't gathered that. But in terms of how she looks, I'd pick Chandler Kinney or Amandla Stenberg(Hunger games Rue actress), if you know who either of those are.

*** Fawkes healed Harry in Dumbledore's office after Voldemort came back, but that wouldn't be in any of the records Malia looked at. The only public accounts would have been of people who were going to die doing something heroic.

Thanks to CandyGinnyGirl for comments on the story, and :) :) :) :) Smiley faces back :)

Hope to see some more of you respond! :)

Owl Out -