Bonus 5 - The Creative Mind
"Wingardium Leviosa," said Hermione, lifting a bucket of about 70 stones up and down in the center of The Room of Requirement. Up and down. Up and down. It may have been boring, but once she revealed the new and improved Hermione Granger to her dearest Ronal… It would impress him not at all. Not that she cared of course.
Up and down. Up and down. Terribly dull…
No, no, she still needed to be able to use a sucker punch avada kedavra once she verified Lord Voldemort's identity. But then what about the horcruxes? He'd just return, intent on vengeance, what a positively atrocious plan.
But he was Wizard Hitler! She'd an obligation to take him out, and it wasn't like she could save her trump card forever. The only reason her plan might work would be because he wouldn't suspect a first year capable of such a thing.
So yes, lifting the stones, strengthening her magical core was entirely necessary. But it was horribly, horribly boring. If only her walkman worked in Hogwarts! She quite missed listening to Cyndi Lauper. She needed to bugger The Twins, until they made one for her. It would be for their own good of course, another product sold exclusively by The GW Company.
Hermione added another stone into the bucket. "Wingardium Leviosa."
Up and down. Up and down…
"Argh!" Hermione screamed, and started tearing out her hair. Had she entirely lost her mind? What was she doing?
Up and down. Up and down…
She didn't want to be doing this… She'd rather be doing literally anything else… A scented candle flickered on the nasa-approved table beside her… What was she thinking? Was she mad? Don't do it.
Up and down. Up and down. Again… And again… And again…
OUCH! Hermione yelped and withdrew her finger from the flame. They were terribly burnt.
"Reparo."
And the red blisters quickly withdrew back into the flesh, her red swollen skin turning back to the colour of the surrounding skin, her fingers as good as new. Ever so fascinating.
That had been painful. Truly a stupid idea. She could not fathom what had brought on such self-destructive impulses. But no, lifting the stones was entirely necessary. But why, she argued furiously. Why was she making herself do such unconscionable things? Weight lifting? Exercising? It was entirely beneath a student of her standing! One couldn't become a world-class athlete with proper exercise, just like her power would always pale in comparison to Voldemort's, so why even bother?
Why to be the very best Hermione Granger she could possibly be of course!
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Said Hermione proudly, lifting the stones once more. Only 16 more reps to go! 16? The candle flickered on the table beside her.
No! No more distractions. But her stomach hurt, and this was boring, and… and…
And what were her fingers doing above the flames? Who'd put those there?
XOXOXOXOXOX
There was an intruder in his classroom.
"That cannot be what it appears," said Severus sharply. "Even you could not be so foolish, Black."
"Don't limit me," said Black cheekily, holding up a red diamond. "The Philosopher's Stone. I nicked it. Don't pretend you haven't been dreaming of running some experiments on it yourself? It's in your nature. Or do you expect me to believe that levicorpus invented itself?"
Severus sneered. Perhaps in his youth he had been infatuated with discovering magic, but… Was that really Flamel's Stone? Reckless, foolish, even for Sirius. Such carelessness would bring the world to ruin. Perhaps the lout would transfigure a kilogram of up quarks and put an end to everything. But…
It was the philosopher's stone… The philosopher's stone!
"Perhaps," said Severus flatly. "What kind of experiments?"
Perhaps the thought of experimenting on the philosopher's stone had crossed his mind. Once… Or twice… A minute- not that he would ever be so careless as to remove the philosopher's stone from its defenses, but now that Sirius already had, he'd be a fool to waste an opportunity he'd been plotting for since he'd read about the philosopher's stone in A History of Magic as a thirteen-year-old.
"Well," said Sirius, grinning like one of the other children on Christmas morning. "Let's start with the obvious."
"Fortunately, I've prepared the elixir in advance," said Sev eagerly.
"No need," said Sirius, jiggling a flask of elixir, as clear as its primary ingredient: sulfuric acid (commonly used in muggle car batteries).
Severus stared at the careless traitor. "You're certainly prepared…"
Sirius coughed, and fiddled with his purple robes. Then he stopped and snapped his fingers. "Hey, you already had an elixir prepa-"
"It was here in Hogwarts," said Sev quickly, his heart racing, backing up, his arms automatically raising to protect his head. "I'm sorry! I never planned to steal it! Not to use it, not even for research! But I just thought- what if someone else took it- th-then it would already be free from its defenses, and what harm would some experiments do? B-but I never planned- I'm sorry, I won't do it aga…" Severus swallowed. He finally remembered that he was no longer a boy, nor was he in The Dark Lord's services.
Severus shook with shame. Then anger. Then fury. At Father, at The Dark Lord, at Sirius, at himself, for revea-
"No need to explain yourself," said Sirius, putting the philosopher's stone on a potion's table, and uncorking his flask. "I'm gonna pour some of this into The Stone. You really think it'll work?"
"Hmm," Severus managed.
Sirius gave him a wild smile. "Let's try it." He waved his wand and the philosopher's stone and the elixir levitated. He funneled the elixir into floating streams, rushing around the stone in every direction, and slashed his wand across the stone. The stone and elixir glowed, a brilliant ruby-red light spreading from the stone into the elixir, as if the liquid were being imbued with something more precious than even magic. It was beautiful. Sirius directed the elixir back into the vial, and held out his left hand. "Well that was certainly something. Let's see if it worked."
Severus blinked.
"Do it," said Sirius, his right hand grasping the potion's table, his left still spread out atop it. "I'm ready."
"Diffindo," said Severus, slashing off half of Sirius's left index finger.
"Merlin's Beard that hurts," Sirius said. He took a few ragged breaths, then downed the glowing red vial of transmuted sulfuric acid. In an instant, his finger had grown back, good as new.
"Do me, do me," said Sev, holding his hand out on the table. And then he realized what he'd just said. "If you would be so kind," said Severus, holding out his hand.
"Diffindo," said Sirius, cutting off his left thumb.
Severus poured the elixir of life onto the wound, and the pain subsided immediately, his finger completely regenerated in but a moment. So the elixir could be poured directly onto the wound or ingested, fascinating!
"You got some basilisk venom?" Asked Sirius. "I've brought a rat."
"Of course I do," said Sev, offended by the question. As if he wouldn't properly prepare himself! The philosopher's stone, and here in Hogwarts! How could he deny himself the most pressing question, even if it had cost him a small fortune to acquire the venom? If one thought of immortality, one thought of phoenixes! It was obvious! So how could one test if a phoenix's essence had been imbued in the stone? If a philosopher's stone were merely petrified phoenix tears? If only there was some venom, which could only be cured by the tears of a phoenix.
Obviously the elixir of life would cure the venom, it cured everything, but what about the stone itself? That would only be possible if the stone itself was made from phoenix tears.
"Careful, careful," said Sev, peeking over Sirius's shoulder. "Don't take too big a chunk, or they'll know we nicked it."
"I know, I know. It's not like I'm gonna break it on purpose," Sirius grumbled. He secured the stone to a clamp, and transfigured a small steel wedge and a hammer. He held the edge of the wedge about a millimeter from the end of the stone.
"Be careful!" Said Sev. "If that thing cracks Dumbledore is gonna kill us!"
"I know that," Sirius snapped. He took a steadying breath and brought the hammer down. A tiny portion of the stone, no larger than a grain of sand, glittered on the cobblestone ground. Sirius scooped it up.
Now it was Sev's turn. He secured the rat in the clamps, opened his vial of basilisk venom, and swabbed it on a surgical razor.
"Is that enough venom?" Asked Sirius, peeking over Sev's shoulder. "Will it even work if you just coat the knife with it?"
"Of course," said Severus curtly. "Basilisk venom is highly reactive, highly venomous, a few drops to an open wound is enough to subdue a fully grown Norwegian Ridgeback."
Severus was an expert when it came to basilisk venom. After all, he'd read all about it. He applied a small cut to the squirming rat. "Stone," said Sev. Sirius handed him the ruby grain of life. Sev applied it to the open wound. The rat stilled, and started to mewl. Death throes. But that was to be expected. Severus leaned in. Would the stone heal the rat?
Sirius yelped, screamed like a little girl, and fell over.
Sev sneered as he felt Sirius's hand on his shoulder. Honestly, the man ought to be ashamed, acting like such a novi-
"Sever-"
Severus screamed and fell to his knees.
"Severus," said The Dark Lord, wearing Professor Quirrell. "What a curious reaction. What are you doing?"
"I err…" Severus staggered to his feet. "I'm running experiments on basilisk venom, my lord."
"My lord?" Asked The Dark Lord, an eyebrow raised.
As close to a message to Black as he dared in The Dark Lord's presence. An unavoidable concession.
Severus chuckled humorlessly. "Apologies. I had not realized you were behind me. I misspoke." He did not look at what Sirius was doing. Even a glance would betray his concern. "But yes. The Headmaster has grown obsessed with recent events. He fears… That an antidote may be necessary. It seems silly to me. Yes, a basilisk is loose in the school, but if a basilisk were to strike- even if the student somehow managed to avoid its gaze- surely the venom would kill the student instantly."
"Surely," said The Dark Lord, smiling thinly. "What've you got Professor Black?"
"Show him," said Severus coldly. "It is a failure anyways, Black. The rat is dead."
Indeed it was. The venom had burnt through its flesh, a brown goo dripped down the potion's table.
"This?" Asked Professor Black, holding out Flamel's Stone, looking at the stone resolutely, his eyes unsubtly running from The Dark Lord's. "Petrified phoenix tears, from Falkes."
The Dark Lord held the stone delicately. He glanced at Severus. "It is most curious. This matches the description of Flamel's legendary Philosopher's Stone exactly."
"Unsurprising," said Severus. "Phoenix tears must be one of the key ingredients in the formation of The Philosopher's Stone."
The Dark Lord looked at the stone wistfully, shook his head, and placed it back on the table. "My Prince would never be such a fool." The Dark Lord sighed. "I suppose I'll leave you to your experiments. I'll be very curious as to the results."
The Dark Lord left the classroom. Severus waited. And waited. And waited.
"That wasn't really him right?" Asked Sirius.
"It was," said Severus.
"No it wasn't," said Sirius.
"It was," said Severus. "Don't get any ideas. Even in his weakened state, you're no match."
"Oh Merlin," said Sirius, slipping down to his knees, his tremors lightly tapping the table- no wait, those were from Severus. He wiped off a brow of sweat. They'd have to return the stone to its defenses as soon as it was prudent. Perhaps a day or so. Dumbledore would have to do it of course. The Dark Lord would be waiting by The Room of Requirement just in case.
And suddenly Sirius burst into laughter. "That was The Dark Lord. And you played him for a fool!"
"Hardly," said Severus. "I sacrificed valuable intel to distract him. Perhaps too much. He now knows Dumbledore kn… If you have not realized that I have quite possibly cost us everything, then you cannot be trusted with Dumbledore's true nature."
"You're brilliant." Sirius was staring at him, as if looking upon Severus for the first time. "You should have been the fourth Marauder, not that wanker Petti-"
"Enough," sighed Severus. "Enough. You're guilty. You bullied me. Potter stole the love of my life. Is that why you think I turned to the dark arts? Why I became a death eater?
"It was nothing of the sort. Nor was it a curiosity of forbidden magic. Nor was I under any illusion that The Dark Lord was anything less than the most evil wizard that I had ever met. But I joined him for the same reason I begged the sorting hat to put me in Slytherin, despite being muggleborn. Because they understood the true enemy. They understood the true evil of this world. And only Lord Voldemort had the knowledge, the position to destroy it."
"And then he murdered Lily," said Sirius. "And you had no choice but to turn on him. Has anything changed, really?"
"Yes," said Severus sharply. "Lily is dead… It gave me… Perspective."
"Is that why you didn't take his place?" Asked Sirius.
"No," said Severus. "The movement fell apart because Lord Voldemort was a one-of-a-kind anomaly. Yes there were other powerful warlocks, other brilliant minds, even if not as great or as terrible as The Dark Lord. But… But in all our forces… Tom Riddle was the only General."
XOXOXOX
Albus Dumbledore considered The Veil. Hmm… He really, really couldn't afford to be so whimsical about The Philosopher's Stone's defenses could he? With some regret, he added another requirement.
In addition to the original defense, only one who genuinely knew that retrieving The Stone would save more lives than it would cost could take it. Such inelegance bothered him deeply, but it really was for The Greater Good.
Before, he had half wanted to see Hermione Granger make a play for it. He hadn't known whether she'd have the strength of character needed to circumvent The Stone's initial defenses or not. Could he trust her? If she managed to defeat The Stone's initial protections he'd have finally had someone who...
Ahh, but it didn't matter now. The protections on The Stone were absolute. If she, or anyone else, tried to steal The Stone they'd be quite dead.
XOXOXOX
Hermione bit into her bubble, popping it. She chewed on its remains, working it back into the central mass of gum. She knew, she knew, why not just drill the cavities into her teeth and save herself the time? She'd heard that chewing gum stimulated the brain.
Bucket of stones goes up. Bucket of stones goes down.
She chewed her gum harder.
Up. Down. Up… And down… And up again… Truly riveting.
Hermione spat out the bubblegum onto the rubber nitrile foam padding. Dreadful stuff. She felt quite unstimulated.
She glanced at the scented candle, flickering on the nasa-approved table. Next to the candle was the most potent swelling solution she'd made yet. Hmm… Even though her experiment had gone quite poorly last time, perhaps…
She dumped the entirety of a week's worth of swelling solution onto the discarded chewed gum. It grew. And grew. And grew.
Hermione tossed some buttons on the growing gum glob, and watched with satisfaction as they spread, growing apart from each other at accelerating speeds, illustrating the never-ending expansion of space. Neat!
The dreadful bucket of stones got stuck on the growing gum glob. Got swallowed, and she heard the bucket crack, heard the stones snap inside the pink blob of bubblegum. Hah!
A small bit of gum stuck on her left pinky. She pulled it away from the growing mass of gum, but a strand stuck to the prime piece.
"Diffindo," Hermione said crisply, cleaving the gum in two. Both remnants of gum kept growing. Hermione's left hand was entirely covered in gum. No, no, no!
Hermione waved her hand, which of course did nothing. The glob had expanded, and now covered the entirety of her arm. Bits of gum were getting into her hair, on her robes, and she was feeling pressure on her left arm now. More pressure. It hurt!
"Reducio!" Hermione screamed, a purple light absorbing into the pink bubblegum covering her arm. Its growth stopped and then shrunk. The pressure on her arm lightened. And then increased. The gum quickly began to grow.
"Reducio! Reducio!" Hermione bellowed, growing more and more tired. Just how much bloody swelling solution had she poured on the gum? "Reducio! Reducio!"
It was no use. Hermione was exhausted, and she'd failed to deal with the central mass of bubblegum. It had expanded, swallowed up the desks in the Room of Requirement, swallowed up the pens and pencils, and everything the gum ate up grew as well. The mass had consumed most of the classroom. Hermione's back pressed against the wall, the increasing mass leaving her just an inch of breathing space.
"Reducio," Hermione bellowed. "Reducio!"
But she was throwing pebbles into the ocean. Her legs felt like jello. Her muscles had no tension left in them. She could hardly stand. She felt cold. Darkness fled her peripherals. "Reducio!"
Was this how everything ended for Hermione? Literally swallowed up by her own carelessne-
No! No, not like this!
"Finite Incantatem!" Hermione bellowed, with all her strength. And everything returned to normal. Every desk to its original state, not even a scratch on the smallest pen. Hermione dropped to the mats and shivered. She felt like all the heat, all the strength, had been squeezed from her body as if she were a sponge.
That had been close. Way too close. From now on, she had to be more carefu-
Bloody hell! The stupid bloody bucket of stones lay beside her. Blasted thing may as well have been twinkling!
And Hermione realized she wasn't even tired enough to call off the workout! How unfair! How unjust! Truly she suffered the worst of all possible fates!
The chewing gum laid on the floor. The swelling solution on the nasa-approved table. Apparently finite incantatem had reversed everything. But what if she hadn't used the counter?
The chewing gum… The swelling solution…
Hmm….
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Want to thank those who've left reviews real quick!
ViviTheFolle - One interesting thing I learned in college about learning disabilities is something called the rule of two. Apparently, most people who get diagnosed with learning disabilities (in cases where the school intervenes) have at least two. I would speculate that this is because one learning disability can usually be overcome, and intervention can only occur after staff has evidence of continuous failure. The reason Voldemort can see these kinds of things but the other Hogwarts staff cannot is actually intentional, and not about showing how bad the rest of the staff are... I'll just leave it at that. Thanks for the reviews!
merendinoemiliano - Thanks for the review! Happy new years!
