Alexandra Potter
By Taure
Chapter Ten: A Woman's Weapons
Scene 3/4
Saturday evenings at Hogwarts were dominated by a supervised homework period. Lasting from six until eight-thirty, attendance was compulsory for fifth years and below. To this end, Hogwarts possessed seven identical study halls, all located around the grand stair.
Alex and Lily entered ten minutes late, their hair still damp, but the prefect in charge didn't seem to care - he was sitting at the far end of the long, thin room, and was absorbed in his own work. Two large tables, not unlike those in the Great Hall, stretched down the room's length, and at them sat the quietly murmuring first years. While most activities were divided by House, the homework halls were divided by year group.
Hoping the prefect - Simon Taggart - didn't look up, Alex found a gap and sat, pulling out her books. She had a half-written essay on Hellebore to finish for Professor Sprout, a factfile about Ptolemy for Professor Waffling, and she wanted to try out some new ideas with her Seesaw Charm, inspired by what she'd seen in the workshop. But that would have to come last, else she wouldn't get any of her essays written - it was so easy to lose track of time when practicing spells.
So she pulled out her Herbology notebook and picked up where she left off, writing mostly from memory.
… despite these problems with toxicity, Hellebore has many uses in Potions when properly prepared and handled. In line with Roth's Maxim of Targeted Effect, toxic substances are important ingredients in healing potions, as they act as a symbol of the malady...
"Hey, Alex," whispered Lily, "what happens when the Tasteless Charm's combined with a Supersensory Charm?"
"Still tastes of nothing," said Alex back, not looking up from her essay. "Because of the Hierarchy of Intrinsic Qualities."
"Thanks," said Lily, scribbling everything down.
"But if the Tasteless Charm isn't well cast, the Supersensory Charm might be able to overcome it," added Alex, letting her quill stroke her cheek. "It all depends on the Decay Quotient of the spell. The Tasteless Charm has a natural satisfaction point at thirty-five Rells, so if the spell is worse than that it'll decay at a rate of-"
"Thanks, Alex," said Lily again, and Alex took the hint. She turned back to Hellebore.
… Hellebore is a resilient plant and often a wild flower will be of high enough quality for shops. However, there are a number of steps that can be taken, if you want to increase the quality...
She finished the essay a few minutes later and moved on to Ptolemy, unrolling a poster-sized piece of blue parchment.CLAUDIUS PTOLEMYwas at the top in her nicest writing, and a portrait of Ptolemy was in the centre, transferred from a library book with the Rubbing Charm. It wasn't a perfect copy - his nose was a bit smudged, and it was all one colour - but it wasn't bad. Around him she'd drawn a number of thought bubbles, waiting to be occupied by facts of Ptolemy's life and work.
Astronomy
Ptolemy is perhaps best known for his work in astronomy. Much of his life was spent documenting the effects of the phase of the moon on Charms. His masterpiece, Tractatus Lunae Cantaminibus, was finished in the year 145. Though all original copies were lost in the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, many fragments and partial copies survive.
After completing entries on arithmancy, astrology, and alchemy, Alex was done. She looked at her watch: seven o'clock.Plenty of time for practice.
Though they were due to start it next week, Alex had already got the hang of the Seesaw Charm. She knew there was much more she could do with it, though, and the workshop had given her one idea: connecting more than two objects together.
She looked around for ideas. Similar objects would be best. And then it was obvious - the table was covered with them. Quills. She pulled a couple of spares from her bag and laid them on the table, thinking of what she could do with them.
"Topsy," she said, tapping one quill firmly, then inverted the usual pendulum motion to the others. "Turvy." She drew a circle around the three other quills and jabbed.
Grinning with anticipation, she picked up the first quill. The others mirrored her action, as if picked up by invisible hands.Brilliant. It was immediately obvious that she didn't have much control over the bound objects - she couldn't use the spell to move them individually, for example. She had to do that with her free hand. Wanting to test it out properly, she laid out several sheets of parchment, inked all the quills and set them down on the paper. Then she picked up the primary quill again and started to write.
Yes! It's working!The other quills were each writing on their parchments, mirroring her exactly.I can't believe it's so easy!
But when she went to read the other parchments her heart fell. Oh, the quills had written fine - but with mirror writing. It was nonsense.
I guess the Seesaw Charm has limits to how much you can remove the reflective quality, she thought. You'd need a different associative Charm for an exact copy.
Someone laughed derisively from over her shoulder.
"Really, Alex," said Hermione, looking at her mirror writing, "you should have known the Seesaw reverses everything. It's right there in the name!"
Alex just glared at her until she went back to her seat. Hermione never extended her spells, Alex had noticed. She kept them exactly as described in their books.Does she even realise it's possible?Hermione was wrong - her spell might have produced mirror writing, but she had managed to change it partially - when she lifted one quill, the others had gone up when they should have gone down.
Ah, of course. It made sense when she thought about it. At the deepest level, the Seesaw Charm wasn't designed to act as a physical seesaw - though that was its default behaviour. Rather, the Seesaw Charm attached to the primary quality of two objects, relating them as opposites.
The primary property of quills was their ability to write. So while she could stop the Seesaw affecting the physical motion of the quills, she couldn't make the spell go against its fundamental nature.Thus mirror writing.
A round of suppressed giggles drifted over from where Hermione was sitting. Alex turned to look at the group of Ravenclaw girls - the closest thing Hermione had to friends - to find them looking straight at her.Right. That's it.
The Seesaw Charm was really bad over anything more than a few inches, but Alex thought she could make it work. Her spellcasting was pretty precise.
"Watch this," she whispered to the girls around her. She tapped her book with her wand - "topsy" - then pointed it towards Hermione - "turvy." Then, with a grin, she dropped her book onto the floor.
Hermione's book rocketed upwards, smacking right into the reading girl's face.
"Ow!" she said. As quiet as the room was, it carried, and more than a few people looked up.
"How's my Seesaw now?" Alex said.
Hermione's face twisted and she pointed her wand at Alex.
"Petrificus," she began, and Alex's eyes widened "tota-"
"Salvo!" someone called, and the spell was blocked. It was Taggart, walking down the aisle towards them. "No jinxes," he said sternly, looking between them. He sighed when he saw Alex. "Why is it always you?"
"I didn't do anything!" Alex said, "she was the one jinxing me!"
"I'm sure," said Taggart.
"She hit me with a book!" said Hermione.Tell-tale. Taggart rubbed his forehead.
"Okay, Alexandra, you're going to come and work next to me-"
"What?" said Alex, "that's not fair!"
"- and Hermione, you're going to the other end of the hall."
"I want her to say sorry!" said Hermione.
"Okay, Hermione," said Alex, "I'm sorry you're insufferable. I'm sorry I'm better at magic than you."
"Ladies..." said Taggart, but he was ignored.
"You are not!" said Hermione, "I could beat you any day."
"Silencio!" said Taggart, just as Alex went to tell Hermione just how useless she was. No sound came out. "Much better," said Taggart. "Now, clearly this silly argument isn't going to stop any time soon. So we're going to sort it out once and for all tonight." He glanced at his watch. "There's an hour of homework period left. When it's over you'll have an Enchanter's Duel. Three rounds; I'm the judge. Whoever loses must defer further satisfaction for a period of one year."
Excited whispers spread across the hall - everyone was listening, of course. An Enchanter's Duel!Finally, Alex thought,a chance to beat Hermione with everyone watching.
"Needless to say," said Taggart, looking around the hall, "if anyone tells a teacher they won't like the consequences."
More whispers. No doubt everyone was remembering Cuthbert Quigley, the 3rd year who'd managed to get on the Head Boy's bad side. Duels of all kinds were forbidden, of course, but an Enchanter's Duel was the safest kind. They didn't send spells at each other, like a Warlock's Duel. An Enchanter's Duel was a contest of feats.
"You have an hour to prepare," said Taggart, and he turned away.
Alex sat down with a grin, whispering excitedly with Lily.
"First round is always Charms," said Lily, "you could do to the Seesaw?"
"Not good enough with it yet," said Alex, thinking. "I need mybestCharm. Animation - it has to be."
"Ohh," said Lily, looking over at Hermione - who was consulting the Ravenclaws frantically. "She's not gonna know what hit her. What about round two?"
"Transfiguration is my best subject," said Alex. "I'll just do my most advanced stuff. What's round three?"
"Freestyle," said Lily, "sometimes Potions, but we don't have the time for that. It'll have to be a spell."
"Another Transfiguration makes sense," said Alex, thinking, "but what? I can't just repeat-" An idea popped into her head. "Oh wow. I've got something."
"What is it?" said Lily, leaning in so Alex could whisper in her ear.
"You'll just have to wait and see!" said Alex, "hang on, I need to look something up first." She headed to Taggart's end of the hall. Next to the prefect's desk was another one, empty but for a black slate and chalk, which she picked up.
Advanced Transfiguration by Emeric Switch. A moment passed, then a large tome popped into existence on the table. Taggart looked over and raised his eyebrow. "Careful now, Alex. Don't bite off more than you can chew."
"You'll see," said Alex, confident. Hermione didn't stand a chance.
She returned to her seat and started to flick through the NEWT-level book, looking forone thing in particular.
"Alex, I'm not sure about this..." said Lily, glancing at the book nervously. "That's really advanced."
"Trust me," said Alex, without looking up. She was running out of time.
"Okay, boys and girls!" called Taggart at eight-thirty. "Homework period is officially over! You may now return to your dorms... or, if you want, you can stay and watch."
No one left. As if there was any question.
"I thought as much," said Taggart. "Everyone clear the tables."
A lot of shuffling followed as everyone stood, putting their books away. As soon as the tables were clear, Taggart waved his wand, pushing them to the sides of the room.
"Alexandra, Hermione, where are you?"
"Here," said Alex, walking forward. Hermione joined her.
"Good," said Taggart, "everyone, form a circle. Give them lots of room, now."
A ring of people formed around the three of them: Alex, Hermione and Taggart. For the first time Alex began to feel nervous. She was surrounded by the whole of first year, watching on eagerly. Never before had she been at the centre of so much direct attention.
"Well then," said Taggart, moving to the edge of the circle. Alex and Hermione stood in the centre, facing each other like boxers. "First round is Charms. Alex, you go first."
Alex raised her wand and glanced around. Everyone was suddenly very quiet, as if they were all holding their breath. Alex licked her lips nervously, before steeling herself.She's going down.
She moved her wand into sixth position: down by her side, pointing at the floor with an open wrist. "Propellum!" she cried, whipping the wand up above her head in a large lasso. A dozen objects around her flashed purple, and then they began to move.
A satchel shook itself awake, twisting itself to form two leg-like stumps. Books began to hobble across the floor, using their covers as feet; the crowd parted to let them through. And quills floated out of twenty bags to gather in the air, where they formed the shape of a prowling cat.
Alex conducted them with her wand, sending them dancing and twirling around Hermione in a ring.
"Finite incantatum," she said after thirty seconds, bringing an end to the spell. The objects fell to the floor, lifeless. Alex gave Hermione a satisfied smirk.
Alex looked for Susan while Taggart led the polite applause, but couldn't see her.I wonder who she's rooting for?
"A very well executed Animation Charm," said Taggart, "multiple objects, complex guided behaviour, high stability. Nice. Hermione - your turn."
Alex stepped back to watch. She was actually pretty interested to see what the bushy haired girl would produce. She certainly looked confident - she wasn't smiling, but Alex could she was trying not to.She has something, Alex realised.
She picked up one of the books at her feet and held it open with her left hand, holding her wand over it. "Disrumpio!" she said, bringing her wand down hard on the spine. The book snapped in two like a bar of chocolate. It was the first spell they learnt in Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"Is that it?" said Alex.
"No," said Hermione, and she smirked. "Watch."
She knelt on the floor next to the broken book and lined up the two halves.
"Reparo!" she said, drawing a line down the split spine. She stood back up and brandished the now-repaired book like a trophy. Everyone clapped - much more than they had for Alex.The Charm wasn't even done properly! Look - it's wobbling along it's spine.
But that didn't seem to matter to the others.
"The Repair Charm is fifth year magic," said Taggart, looking at Hermione appraisingly. "It was crudely done, but successful. The round goes to Hermione."
The Gryffindors whooped and cheered as the rest of the crowd clapped politely. Alex spun to look at Lily, stunned.I should've won, she thought.My spell was better!Lily shrugged.
"Round two!" called Taggart, quieting the crowd. "Transfiguration! Alex, once again, you start."
Alright. There's no way she's beating me on this one.She pulled a pencil out of her bag.
"Wingardium Leviosa," she said, levitating it into the centre of the circle so everyone could see. Hermione got to cast multiple spells, so she could too. "Mutato Lingnum."
The pencil warped and transformed, growing larger and larger until it was an amorphous blob of liquid wood almost as large as Alex. She completed the spell with a final twist of her wrist, shaping it into an approximation of Dumbledore's lectern in the Great Hall, a griffin's head rearing from the top.
"Good one," said Taggart, and he went to clap, but Alex stopped him.
"I'm not done yet," she said, and she raised her wand again. "Ferro verto!" she cried, jabbing her wand at the wooden statue. The wood rippled and turned to iron. Hermione gaped.
Taggart walked forward and inspected the object. "It's iron," he said, surprise clearly in his voice. Everyone clapped - much more enthusiastically this time. Personally, Alex thought she could have done better - she's sacrificed a lot of detail for size, and it would have been better to merge the spells into one casting - but she was sure it was enough to win.
If Hermione's glum expression was anything to go by she knew it too. She pointed her wand at a pencil of her own and then, with little fanfare, said "Mutato Lignum."
The pencil turned into a small model of a rabbit, little larger than a football. In class it would have made McGonagall very happy. Against Alex, however, it was far from enough.
"Alex wins the round," said Taggart, "which means third round takes all. Alex?"
That's it, Alex thought,I've won. There's no way she can beat this.
"Not bad, Granger," Alex said, "you're better than I thought. But you've already lost - you just don't know it yet."
"You're all talk," said Hermione. "Let's see it."
Alex smirked. "Your wish," she said, "is my command."
She brought her wand up in front of her face, before tapping herself on the forehead.
"Wait!" said Taggart, realising what she was doing, but there was no stopping her.
"Homo Fio!" Alex announced, loud enough for everyone to hear - but she didn't cast the spell. She didn't even try to - she wasn't stupid.
Instead, she pushed with her metamorphmagus powers.
Everyone gasped.
"I don't believe it," said Taggart, staring at her like she was an alien. "It's not possible."
"My name's Hermione," said Alex in a sing song voice, tossing her now-bushy hair, "and I just lost."
It was like flipping a switch: the hall erupted into cheers and shouts. A couple of Hufflepuffs started chanting her name. She had done the impossible - a first year, able to perform a complete human Transfiguration.
Hermione strode forward and grabbed hold Alex's bag.
"What're you doing?" cried Alex, pulling away.
"Let me see!" Hermione said, and she came away with the copy of Advanced Transfiguration. She set it down on the ground and started scanning the contents.
"Don't bother, Hermione," said Alex. "You can't do it. You've lost."
"Anything you can do I can do too!" said Hermione, tears in her eyes, and she landed on the last chapter in the book - the chapter where Alex had found the incantation.
"What are you doing?" said Taggart, walking over. "Hermione, stop, there's no way you can-"
Hermione stood up and brandished her wand.
"No!" said Taggart, reaching for his own wand, but he wasn't quick enough.
"Homo Fio!" shouted Hermione. The spell made a squelching sound, like a boot being pulled from mud, and then a loud crack. It was immediately obvious the spell had gone terribly wrong. Half of Hermione's face was missing. It had collapsed in on itself, a mess of exposed red flesh, protruding bone, and teeth. Her eyeball was hanging loose, and her lower jaw had all but vanished. You could see all the way to the back of her throat, where her tongue flapped around uselessly like a fish out of water.
She made a choking sound, and collapsed.
Alex screamed.