CHAPTER EIGHT
The rest of the day went off without a hitch. Harry had tried to dodge Slughorn's hyper-awareness and then his incessant praises when she made a perfect Wolfsbane Potion. Having a werewolf for an uncle was useful. Apparently too useful. After dinner, Harry escaped from Riddle and his friends, Druella and Orion, collected her Runes and Arithmancy books from her dorm and settled herself in front of the fireplace in the common room. Athenaïs, who had managed to blend in with the other stone dragons, decided to join her and watched her in fascination. Harry set her containment runes as she had done three times before with the assignments given to her previously, and unwrapped the cursed statue inside it.
The thing was in the shape of a stunning Siren leaping out of the waves. On the face of it, it looked quite beautiful. The craftsmanship could have been worthy of Michelangelo for all she knew. But then Harry remembered that this thing was responsible for three Aurors injured and some of Grindelwald's own men turning against each other. Harry knew it was a powerful enchantment or curse that could make them do such a thing.
As Harry rifled through her books on Dark curses and enchantments that could make someone unnaturally violent and cause delusions, she began replaying everything she had learned during the day.
During Charms, Harry joined Druella, Orion and the same dotty Ravenclaw from History in the back of the classroom, in order to be able to observe everyone. She had the propensity to do the same in Potions, though this had caused a problem with Professor Slughorn. Harry had sat with Orion, away from Riddle and his friends, in the back of the classroom, but the kind Potions professor made sure to ask her lots of questions to make sure she felt included. Harry simply felt bored and irritated by the end of it.
Harry learned quite a few things about her new friends too. She learned that Druella could use her artistic talents quite well with Charms. She also learned that Orion had a very dangerous guilty pleasure – Muggle romance novels. Harry had caught him several times with Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. Harry wondered if he also read Bram Stoker, Tolstoy, Dumas or Hardy and how in the name of Merlin Orion kept those books hidden from his family and the rest of Slytherin House.
What else she had learned that day, was rather more useful than Orion being treasonous in his favourite literature.
For some odd reason, Voldemort specifically wanted Arcturus Rosier on his side.
By lunch time, it was almost so obvious that Harry had to fight the urge to sneer at her old nemesis to take a leaf out of his future self's book. Had her version of Voldemort acted like this, no one would have taken him seriously! It was almost embarrassing really. One incident after the other kept occurring to the point they had built themselves into such a giant and conspicuous tower, and Harry could no longer tell herself she was simply seeing things. Had this been her time's version of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, she would have tried to book them into St. Mungo's or accuse them of being imposters.
There were offers to sit next to Riddle in class, study sessions to go over anything Rosier may be uncertain over, advise on how to handle Druella and her antics (when the girl was out of earshot because Riddle wasn't suicidal) and asking Rosier about the general health of his family. Harry knew that Snakeface was not one for being gooey, and that the younger version was also less than likely to be a thoughtful and attentive person. The dairy Horcrux was good enough proof for that! Riddle's behaviour was completely out of sync with what Harry knew he was like.
It was through observing Riddle's attitude to Rosier, that Harry also noted something else that was even more glaringly obvious. There was one little chink that was in the whole thing that made this whole thing glaringly obvious that the baby Dark Lord only wanted Rosier: the fact Voldemort could not stand the sight of Nott.
Whether it was because the boy was too brazen, reckless, nosy, Harry could put money on either one and she would probably be right. It could also be Nott's general disinterest in bending to anyone's will, or the fact he could not be so easily manipulated. Nott also was not the most academically inclined as she had spotted that he did not open a book when the other baby Death Eaters did. He instead would challenge anyone who was game to Exploding Snap or wizard chess.
Despite the fact she had faced Nott in the graveyard when she was fourteen, this version of the man – the boy – was clearly not Death Eater material. Voldemort did not see him as a future Death Eater at all, but Rosier was everything he looked for apparently.
Why, Harry had no idea but she was determined to find out.
It also explained the behaviour of Dolohov. He must be the agent in charge of bringing Rosier into the fold. It explained why the boy was always so hostile and demeaning to Nott. Through Dolohov antagonising Nott, Riddle wanted Rosier to see just how idiotic and childish Nott is. It was the best way to get what he wanted without getting his own hands dirty. Dolohov treated Nott a little worse than he did Druella and Orion, and Harry did not like it. Dolohov treated Harry better than Nott! Even though Dolohov patronised her or disregarded her, he didn't show vitriol to her and didn't cut her down verbally at every turn. In fact, Dolohov had given her a pat on the back for taking on Binns!
The whole Dolohov-versus-Nott debacle was not something she could ignore. Harry feared that the plan, which she was sure had been years in the making, was working. Despite the bickering and inside jokes between Druella's brother and Nott, there was a distance between them, but not one that was big enough to be any concern just yet.
The Slytherins were more low-key than the Gryffindors had been, but Harry knew that slowly Nott's friends, if they had even been that in the first place, were set on leaving him in the dust. Well, Harry was not going to stand by and let Nott be abandoned. She had been in that position too many times to count and did not wish it upon anyone, especially on someone who considered their friend to be an almost sibling.
"How is the assignment coming along?"
Harry snapped back to Earth and looked up to see Riddle sitting cross-legged on the other side of her containment cage, looking at the statue curiously and absent-mindedly patting Athenaïs' back. Athenaïs was purring in contentment at the attention, even if it was from the human who smelled funny.
Since when did he get here? Harry blinked a few times and then turned her attention back to her books. "Well, in order to know which Runes, formula of spells and which counter curses are the correct ones, I have to know exactly what I am dealing with," Harry answered coolly. "So, very slowly."
"So, what have you found out?" Riddle asked curiously.
"That it is some form of Dark enchantment that induces illusions and a frenzy in people who come close to it," Harry sighed. "Basic useless information."
"Perhaps not," Riddle contradicted with a sly smirk. "A lot of the time, people are not very imaginative. The statue is in the shape of a Siren. Were the Aurors it effected all male?"
Harry paused for a moment, put her book aside, looked at the report of names of the Aurors that came with the statue and then cursed to herself. Damn Riddle! "Yes, they were," she admitted, almost through gritted teeth.
"Start with that then," Riddle advised with a smug look in his eyes. "Whoever cursed this didn't have too much imagination. Don't always think too complicatedly or you will lose the logic."
Harry blinked twice. "Thanks …"
Riddle beamed at her, which made her spine crawl. "You're more than welcome. I enjoy helping all my friends."
Harry snorted. "You think we are friends?"
"We could be," Riddle offered her a smile. "If you want."
Harry suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as she began sorting through all the curses and enchantments based on singing, Fae magic and illusion manipulation. "I … will think about it."
Riddle's smile widened.
"Hey, Harry! So this is where you disappeared to."
Harry looked up to see Malum Avery come over. Mulciber made a beeline for the dormitory, ignoring her entirely but Heron Lestrange offered Harry a wave and a smile before following Mulciber up to the boys' dorms. Harry gave him a bright smile in return before turning her attention back onto Avery.
"I am sure you survived pudding without me," Harry commented as she ruled out the Orpheus Enchantment. That thing was able to make people cry and fall asleep, not conjure phantoms and incur violence. Useful, but not relevant at that moment.
"You only took one treacle tart," Avery answered with a tone that sounded almost as though he cared. Athenaïs had trotted over to him and had started sniffing him curiously, much to his amusement. "I was worried you may be ill."
"I just wasn't hungry," Harry replied with a simple half-truth. "Plus when I know I have an assignment, I can't help myself and focus on doing that."
"Just don't drive yourself insane," Riddle told her. "And don't forget your homework either."
"Of course not," Harry replied a little haughtily. "I do not have neurosis."
"If you are sure," Avery responded with a small inaudible sigh. "We just don't want you to overdo it."
Harry raised an eyebrow. Why the hell would these people care if anything happened to her? They're the very people who sought her destruction and now they are monitoring her dinner and working habits? Harry shook her head to herself; this world was crazy. Really crazy.
"Well, we will leave you to your Curse-breaking," Riddle stated jovially as he got to his feet. "A pleasure as always, Harry." He turned to Athenaïs and gave her a few more pats. "Good night to you too, Athenaïs."
The young Gargouille's face lit up and she let out an otherworldly and musical reply, which was essentially her wishing him a good night too. That was already a win for Riddle, if his face was anything to go by.
When Riddle shot her a winning smile, Harry found herself unable to resist smiling back. "Pleasure was all mine, Riddle."
"Please, call me Tom."
Harry watched Riddle and Avery leave the common room for the dormitories; she guessed they were Mulciber and Heron Lestrange's dormmates. Riddle would not be caught dead in a sleeping quarter with Nott and Orion, she knew that for certain.
Plus, Harry knew something not even Riddle did: Nott would become a Death Eater one way or the other. She wondered how that could have happened, if Nott and Riddle didn't get along with each other at all? Was it about ideology? Or did have Nott have such a firm belief in his friendship with Arcturus Rosier that he was willing to submit himself to a man who Rosier idolised and possibly betrayed their friendship for? Did Nott really allow himself to be swallowed up, out of loyalty?
And how did Orion and Druella go from being outliers in their own house to being part of the whole Death Eater fiasco? Druella could have been influenced by her husband, but Harry could tell nothing could persuade that girl to sell out her beliefs and morals. As for Orion and Walburga, they were not the Muggle-hating people that Sirius had described. In fact, the moment the subject of Muggles was brought up, Orion tried to immediately avoid it. Was it perhaps their marriages that changed them? Was that what had changed Nott, his marriage? What if Harry did befriend Nott and he … would feel something more? Could this screw up time even more than it already likely was?
Harry shook those ridiculous thoughts out of her head; Nott could never care for her. She had a Muggle surname after all and he was a pureblood bigot. She may be Lady Peverell, but that was a closely guarded secret. She could not trust a Slytherin with that kind of information. Grindelwald had supporters everywhere; the Death Eaters had built upon the legacy the man left behind. The last thing she needed was Grindelwald on her back.
Annoyed that the answer was not presenting itself as quickly as she had hoped, Harry expertly cast the History Revelation spell on the annoying little statue, Athenaïs's eager eyes on it the entire time. As the gold dust began to settle, images slowly began to form. Harry watched as an unknown witch wearing early 20th century clothing carved the statue and cast a Nightmare Hex and a nonverbal spell that was dark indigo in colour over it. Harry cursed; Nightmare Hex she could deal with but that other spell … She would need some more help with that.
"One answer, and yet one more question," Harry told Athenaïs.
The young Gargouille frowned and let out a mystic cry of disappointment.
Harry had no idea how, but she knew exactly what the young dragon meant. "I had hoped to solve it by now too, but at the same time I am not surprised it is this complicated or Gringotts would not have given it to me."
Athenaïs nodded her head in agreement, letting out a mystic chirp. Harry slammed all of her books shut in frustration, wrapped the statue in its paper before taking down the containment runes and putting them all back into her bag.
"Hey, Evans. You OK?"
Harry looked up slowly. It was Nott, holding a Potions book in hand and looking quite disgruntled. Athenaïs lay back down in front of the fire, watching them in silence with interest. Harry smiled at him. "Yeah. There is a variable on this cursed totem that isn't in one of my books and I have no idea what it could be."
"Perhaps you need a break," Nott suggested with a small smile. "That actually leads me to … well, I know you were almost a Ravenclaw and I heard how you managed to beat Binns over the head in History and saw that you managed to create a bunch of water creatures in Charms today. You also got a lot of the answers in Potions correct, your Wolfsbane Potion beat Tom's somehow and I was doing homework … Potions has always been one of my bottlenecks. I don't ever so slightly understand what I am supposed to be doing for Slughorn's essay and I was hoping you would help me out?"
Nott's expression had softened more and more as he spoke until he was shuffling nervously on the spot by the time he had finished babbling.
Harry smiled back at him genuinely. "Of course. I would love to."
Nott let out a sigh of relief and came to join her on the floor, giving a quick smile to Athenaïs, who greeted him with a kind, otherworldly howl. "Then let's get started."
Harry nodded as she retrieved her own Potions book from her bag. Nott joined her in front of the fire and flipped to the chapters they needed to study for the next Potions lessons. Harry regarded him for a moment. "Tell me, Nott. What has prompted you to request my assistance with your homework?"
Nott frowned deeply as he flicked one page after the other in his text book. "Am I not allowed to ask the help of a fellow Slytherin?"
"You have plenty of those, especially amongst your extensive friend group. Besides, I thought that you would ask for Rosier's help before anyone else, since you are best friends," Harry said carefully.
Nott regarded the girl before him coldly for a moment before he let out an exasperated sigh. "I did ask Arcturus for help. He always helps me with Potions, but that meddlesome Dolohov butted in with his wanting to revise Charms together. I told him to go and take a hike since Arcturus always helps me with Potions, but Arc had the raw nerve to sit there and say the both of us had to compromise. I sort of lost my temper. So I left-"
"To find someone who could play second fiddle," Harry finished lightly.
Nott opened up his mouth, as though he was about to refute what she said, but then quickly closed it again. They both knew that Harry had hit the nail on the head; there was no point in denying anything.
"It's OK, Nott," she reassured with a small smile. "It gives me the opportunity to get to know you better. So, what exactly is it that you're struggling with?"
"Remembering ingredients, mostly, and what effects they cause. Certain properties of some other potions," Nott muttered, looking slightly embarrassed to admit that out loud. "It just does not seem to stick, no matter how much I try."
"Then we shall focus on that. How about we go through the list of potions and their ingredients and after we have gone through them, I will make some flash cards and test how well you have remembered them?"
"What are flash cards?" Nott asked curiously, but flinching slightly at the fact he was asking a question.
"It's a study method. Hermione, Ron and I used it a bunch. I take some parchment or paper, I write the ingredient on one side and their properties on the other," Harry explained patiently. "I will give you some time to look them over, and then after a few minutes I will sporadically test you. Does that sound good to you?"
"Sounds great," Nott answered with a genuine smile, looking rather relieved that Harry wasn't sneering at him for needing an extra study method.
"Regarding Rosier, for what it's worth," Harry spoke up as she began to prepare some parchment to turn into flashcards, "I understand how you feel."
"What do you mean?" Nott asked in a dangerously quite voice.
"I know what it is like to feel betrayed by the ones who were supposed to always have your back," Harry answered. "I know what it is to have your closest friends turn against you in a split second, seemingly without any good reason. Especially if they are as close to you as family. I experienced it three times in my life. It … isn't a pleasant feeling."
Harry's second, fourth and fifth year suddenly flitted across her vision, the memories of the anger and hurt she felt at Ron and the betrayal when Hermione seemingly took his side in the argument above Harry's. The loneliness that entered her heart when the whole of Gryffindor House seemed to be against her, and then the whole school. With not a single ally in her corner. Attuned as ever, Athenaïs nuzzled her leg in an effort to comfort her.
Nott studied Harry closely for one moment before he folded his arms. "I warn you not to bad-mouth Arcturus in front of me, Evans."
Athenaïs tilted her head to one side, and looked at him as though he had gone mad. Harry gave him a reassuring smile and simply shook her head. "I am not bad-mouthing him, Nott. I was simply telling you that I understand what you are feeling. I have a lot of respect for Rosier. After all, he has been nothing but gracious towards me. But I do not like how he has chosen to help another over the boy who is practically like a brother to him. Something tells me that this wasn't the first time he has done something similar to you. I wish someone had been there to point out to my friends-practically-family that what they were doing to me was not OK. Am I so wrong to defend you?"
Nott's expression had softened in stages as Harry spoke. Harry could tell that the poor boy was more used to the back-stabbing and the sniping of the Slytherin boys, Riddle's little cult included, than being treated with kindness and empathy as Harry was doing. It was just sad. Was Harry really the first person to defend him? Had not even Orion or Druella said something about Rosier's behaviour to Nott?
Harry sighed. "Look, they always come around, one way or the other. Especially close friends like Rosier."
Nott uncrossed his arms and lowered his eyes to the floor. Athenaïs nuzzled his right hand. "I am sorry for snapping at you. I understand what you mean." Nott smiled gratefully to the strange draconic creature that had tried to comfort him. He then raised his eyes to meet the viridescent gaze of the strange Lady Regnant sitting opposite him. Nott flushed as he noticed how intense those bright peridot orbs were; they were glowing in the fire. They were … beautiful. He flushed bright red. The blush increased when Nott realised just how beautiful she really looked in general. "T-thank you."
Nott kicked himself for allowing his voice to crack in such a wet and pathetic manner.
Harry in turn simply smiled at him as though she had not noticed his discomfort. "No need to thank me. We all need reassurance sometimes. I stand by what I said – your reaction was completely valid."
"I am pretty sure that Arc does not agree with you," Nott answered sheepishly, sharpening his quill almost absentmindedly.
"Probably. But, you were expressing yourself and the fact you do not agree with him shouldn't stop you from being yourself," Harry responded kindly. "Do not allow anyone tell you how to be, even if that person is Rosier."
Nott was nodding ponderingly. Harry smiled to herself; it seemed that the boy was already absorbing what she was telling him.
"Shall we begin with the properties and ingredients of Felix Felicis and Amortentia? I haven't got those ingredients into my head yet," Harry suggested, steering them back onto the subject of revision.
Nott lit up. "Fortunately for you, I am quite the expert on Felix Felicis. Not quite on Amortentia but then again love potions are not really my area of expertise – ever."
Harry grinned at him. "So I am in safe hands then."
Nott winked at her. "Quite safe, I assure you!"
Harry found herself quickly losing time with Nott. Not only did the two of them revise the potions set for their homework, but they also talked about potions that were not created yet but that they would like to brew. From there often came stories of people taking potions with out of date ingredients or had taken too much. Harry felt comfortable enough to tell Nott about her experience with Polyjuice Potion and Hermione's mishap with the cat hair, which had Nott splitting sides all the way through. Harry also told Nott of the time she took Felix Felicis once to get a secret out of the head of one of her tutors, which wasn't really a lie, and acted like someone who was under the influence of some kind of drug, acting rather ridiculously happy. Nott looked aghast when Harry told him of the plot by Cormac McLaggen and a bunch of other boys to poison her with love potion.
Those were her only good and bad stories on the matter of potions. Nott had plenty more than her, and in some cases were more entertaining and amusing than her own, especially the potions mishap that occurred during Nott's fifth year where a potion's smoke made half the class sing operetta for half the day. Harry found herself completely enraptured by Nott and his stories, as was her familiar. His comedic timing was spot on, he put in the right amount of dramatic flair; the boy would have made an amazing bard for the kings of old. The boy was so easy to talk to and spend time with, that when the both of them went to bed at ten minutes to one in the morning, Harry found herself quite relaxed.
She did finally make some time to answer Mr. Burke's letter – and to request his help in figuring out what that curse of violence could be.
However, Harry paid the price for staying up so late. When she awoke at seven in the morning, Harry felt utterly drained. She swished her curtains open with a non-verbal and groggily got out of bed. Her familiar was still fast asleep. Ophelia, who was packing her bag, chuckled. "Good morning, Harry. You look half-dead."
"Yeah, you came in really, really late," Druella piped up, coming out of the bathroom. "You were with Nott, I heard."
"I have hit a brick wall with my latest assignment so I stopped, which is when Nott asked me if he could revise Potions with me," Harry answered, then let out a jaw-breaking yawn. "We got a bit carried away."
"I'll say," Walburga purred. "The two of you looked pretty comfortable in front of the fire."
Harry flushed bright red as Ophelia and Ygraine giggled. Druella rolled her eyes. "We were only doing our homework for Thursday. Nothing more, nothing less," Harry replied insistently.
"He seemed pretty content with you and your little dragon," Walburga teased further. "I mean, I suppose you could do worse, Evans. The Notts are a respectable family."
"You are projecting," Harry countered dismissively. "We have awful lot of Potions homework and we thought we could simply get a head start on things. Nott enjoys talking and telling stories; that one simply needs an audience to thrive. It has nothing to do with me."
"Of course not," Ygraine stated, though did not look or sound convinced. Indeed, she looked set to burst out laughing.
"Altair is a professional night owl," Druella commented lightly. "I am surprised you managed to keep up with him."
"I enjoy being awake at night; I tend to suffer from bad dreams and once I'm awake I just can't seem to get back to sleep," Harry admitted innocently. "Keeping up with Nott wasn't too difficult."
She wasn't able to hide her blush though. As Harry scurried into the bathroom with her uniform – she had opted to wear her tartan skirt today along with the rest of her uniform – the other girls simply laughed teasingly. Morgana, Harry had not missed this at all. Parvati and Lavender had been quite unbearable to listen to, always gossiping about boys. Hermione had been the one to keep Harry sane. It turns out this insufferable teasing was something that all girls did, no matter what time period. Yes, Nott was attractive, Harry readily admitted to it. But he was just a friend.
The girls fortunately left the matter alone on the way to breakfast but when they saw Nott waving to Harry at the Slytherin breakfast table, they burst into peels of giggles except for Druella, who looked quite disgruntled at their behaviour. When Harry reached the Slytherin table with Druella and sat in their usual spots, she was greeted warmly by Orion and Avery, a polite good morning from Riddle and Lestrange, a civil greeting from Rosier and Mulciber and sheer indifference by Dolohov and Malfoy.
Nott immediately scooted over to her a little more closely. "Did you manage to get some sleep?" he asked with concern. "How is Athenaïs?"
"She was still asleep the last I checked. As for me, I did, thank you. I am grateful that the god of nightmares decided to skip me last night," Harry admitted with a smile.
"Well," Nott stated brightly and took out a vial that was only half full, "Arc brewed an Invigoration Draught this morning. I had my share already but I figured you would need it too." He then grinned mischievously. "Peppermint."
Harry grinned back. "Vervain infusion."
Nott lifted an eyebrow in challenge. "Alihotsy leaves."
Harry poured herself a cup of coffee. "Stewed Mandrake."
Nott began peeling his apple. "Infusion of wormwood."
"Honeywater."
"Scurvy grass."
"Dried billywig stings."
They paused for a moment before chorusing, "Lovage."
Nott grinned a full genuine smile before reaching into his inner pockets and handing her the vial. Harry swigged the rest of the mixture down, and felt the effects of the potion almost immediately. Damn, Rosier had made a strong one with, apparently, lots of fresh ingredients. Something told her that Rosier was extremely sorry for what happened last night.
"What was that?" Orion asked curiously.
"The ingredients of the Invigoration Draught," Nott answered with a nonchalant shrug. "Harry and I played Ingredient Ping-Pong yesterday and it looks like it has paid-off." He gave her a subtle wink. Unfortunately, it was caught by Orion, Avery and Druella; all three of them gave blatant facial reactions to it. Orion was stifling giggles, Avery looked flabberghasted and Druella had to bite in the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. At Harry.
Harry flushed a little red. "Indeed it has, Nott."
"Oh, I think you should take a double dosage of coffee. You look worse than I do."
Harry let out a laugh. "I always do. I have untameable bird's nest, remember?"
"You are too hard on yourself," Orion commented as he put more jam on his toast. "I think your hair gives character."
"What, that she is wild and untameable?" Dolohov remarked snarkily, stirring sugar into his tea.
"That just about sums me up," Harry joked.
"A good marriage will soon sort that out," Malfoy sneered.
A cold tension suddenly descended on the group when they saw that tell-tale silver crackling in Harry's hair. Her peridot eyes were bright with anger. "A good marriage, you say?" she answered in an icy tone. "Let me make something abundantly plain to you right now, Malfoy – the only reason I would ever set foot into matrimony is if I fall into the deepest love possible. Since that likely will never happen, because Dark Lords love to hunt me down, I will end up an old maid. Well, young maid."
Harry popped a grape into her mouth, ignoring the shocked looks that she was getting from the pureblood boys. Only Druella seemed quite smug with that answer, though frowned when Harry talked about her own death in a very flippant manner.
"But you are a Lady Regnant!" Rosier scoffed. "Your duty is to-"
"My duty, Rosier, is to my family!" Harry snarled. "A family I no longer have. I am alone. I have no obligations to my father's House since I no longer see a reason to have any. Why should I when whoever I marry will be seen as the Lord of the Manor? It will get to his head, and he will believe he can overrule my authority." Harry scoffed. "My family has been betrayed too many times for me to put any more of it at risk."
As Harry finished her breakfast, she could feel the eyes of Riddle and his band of merry men on her at different intervals. Whether they were shocked or angry, Harry could only guess. But they needed to know she was not going to let anyone treat her like a heifer on the market.
Since she had a free period before Transfigurations, Harry decided, as soon as she finished her breakfast, to make her way to the library to sample the delights of the archive. Madam Ellis was just as protective of her books as Madam Pince was in Harry's time and looked a great deal more intimidating as well. She gave Harry stern instructions on how to handle the ancient tomes and manuscripts properly and kept a vigilant eye on Harry for the first ten minutes as Harry studied some 6th and 7th century spell books to make sure the girl treated these precious treasures with respect.
One of them was particularly stunning. It was bound with brown leather and adorned with gold. Harry felt her anger abide over the hour she spent translating and studying the spells and rituals before her. The ones on telekinesis, stunning and animation spells fascinated her the most. The fact that wandless magic had been the norm in the past fascinated Harry and showed her just how much wizards had come to rely on their magical conduits – they forget they are children of Magic itself. It was something Tom Riddle had learned early on, and it was now Harry's turn.
These Old English spells could mean the difference between life and death.
Harry moved quickly from the Early Medieval era to around the time of the Norman Conquest, which was when wizards began using a staff or a wand. Her favourite passage was on how the spells of the first Malfoy in England helped to build the Tower of London itself! Why had she never heard Draco boast of this before?! The alliance bound by blood magic between the Tower Ravens and William the Conqueror, though he did not know it, was so fascinating to read about that Harry almost lost track of time.
She would almost certainly be late for Transfigurations.
In her haste to leave the library, Harry – being the usually clumsy idiot that she was – ran straight into someone and sent the both of them flying.
"Oi! Watch it!"
"Sorry, I lost track of time and-"
Harry looked up at that moment and froze. The girl whom she had pancaked held a startling resemblance to her. The girl had oak hair that fell in deep curls that looked almost as wild and as untameable as her own. The girl had deep eyes that almost resembled topazes; the colour of a physical Imperius Curse. Another thing that made Harry's heart beat faster, was the fact the girl was a Gryffindor.
The girl blinked at Harry in shock before a grin appeared on her face. "Hey, you're Hera Evans!"
"Yes," Harry managed to reply as the Gryffindor girl got to her feet and picked Harry up off the floor as well. "But I prefer to be called Harry."
The grin on Harry's almost doppelgänger's face abated slightly. "Really? Oh that's a pity – it means I can't make my jokes now."
"Your … jokes?" Harry repeated in confusion.
The girl grinned mischievously and held out her hand. "I am Artemis Potter, pleasure to meet you."
Harry blinked but took the girl's hand. "You wanted to make mythology jokes!" she realised.
"Hera and Artemis – it really is too easy," Artemis grinned. "But if you insist on being called Harry, I will respect that."
"I might make an exception for you," Harry answered with a small smirk.
"Where were you off to in such a hurry?" Artemis asked curiously.
Harry looked a little embarrassed. "Transfigurations. I kind of lost track of time."
Artemis lit up. "Hey, me too! Let's walk together; Dumbledore won't shout at you too much if you are seen with a Gryffindor."
A Gryffindor … was being cunning. Oh boy, it seemed that snake in lion's clothing could also be genetic!
Harry smiled gratefully. "Thank you."
If Harry needed more proof that there was an indisputable resemblance between her and Artemis, she got the nail in the coffin from Dumbledore and the rest of the class. The moment she and Artemis stepped foot into class, Dumbledore looked ready to launch into a scolding, until he truly looked between the two tardy girls and he was gorgonised into complete shock. Harry spied looks of amazement from Orion, Nott and Avery. The other Slytherins kept their countenances suitably stoic, especially Riddle. The Gryffindors, on the other hand, gaped to the point flies could have flown into their mouths.
"Miss Potter, Miss Evans," Dumbledore stated as soon as he was out of his stupor. "Please take your seats and try to be punctual the next time."
"Yes, sir," Artemis answered brightly as she took her seat between two Gryffindor boys, who still looked at her in disbelief.
"Apologies, sir," Harry replied almost as the exact same time, as she hurriedly took the desk between Druella and Orion, which was saved for her and fixed her gaze firmly on the board. At least the topic was a fairly easy one – transforming inanimate objects into animals.
Plus, it seemed the matter of her and Artemis looking alike was soon forgotten because everyone soon sat back at watched the show that was Dumbledore Versus Riddle: The Transfigurations Showdown. What Harry had with Professor Binns, Riddle had with Dumbledore. The student and teacher were constantly trying to outdo one another: Dumbledore would pose a question and then Riddle would put his hand up to answer. Dumbledore would look around the classroom, desperate to call on anyone else but would then finally relent and let Riddle answer. Baby Voldemort was a treasure trove of knowledge, giving detailed and complex answers with more than just one spell or ritual as examples to illustrate his point. Dumbledore in turn would fire back with practical knowledge and various examples of the creative uses of the spells.
As she watched, Harry wished for a bag of popcorn. In fact, she was of half a mind to conjure one, because watching the verbal duel between Dumbledore and the fledgling Dark Lord was almost as good as their duel in the Ministry of Magic had been. She could see then why they were considered the best sorcerers of the 20th century.
Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Dumbledore let them all focus on turning the objects in front of them into animals of their choice. As soon as he did, Druella and Orion turned to Harry, as did the eyes of most of the Slytherins.
"I knew you looked familiar when I first saw you!" Orion exclaimed.
"Since when do you know Artemis, and why in the hell do you two look like you could be twins?" Druella hissed.
Harry blinked in shock for a moment and then shrugged. "I lost track of time in the archive and … literally ran into her just now."
"So you two have never met?!" Orion said in disbelief. "You look like you could be twins, if not sisters. Merlin, you both even have goddess names!"
"You think that I am not freaking out?!" Harry hissed back. "When I first saw her, I thought it was my mirror image somehow sentient and in Gryffindor. I thought exhaustion had gotten to me." She paused for a moment and then farrowed her brow. "Hang on, how do you guys know Artemis anyway?"
"She's one of the reasons we aren't exactly popular in Slytherin," Druella admitted. "The Potters are a Light aligned family, and well … we are traditionally Grey and Dark. Artemis is one of our fellow pranksters; she deals with the Gryffindors for us. We have an alliance of sorts. Not many in Slytherin approve of it. But Artemis spends most of her time with Charlus and Dorea Potter, so she isn't as Light as the rest of her family."
Harry nodded slowly and then turned to her right to look over her shoulder at Artemis. The girl was staring right back at her with an impish look in her eye and a slight smirk that told Harry that Artemis had a proclivity to be up to no good. She guessed James Potter inherited his Marauder traits from Artemis.
"Miss Rosier, Mr. Black, Miss Evans – quit nattering and get to work!"
Druella rolled her eyes as soon as Dumbledore's back was turned and promptly turned the candle in front of her into a sparrow without much effort. Orion turned the rose in front of him into an owl. Harry turned her attention onto the pile of rope in front of her and grinned impishly.
"Transverso ad serpentem!"
In an instant, the pile of rope was replaced by a very handsome bush viper, its tongue flickering out to Harry's fingers, taking in her scent. *You smell nice, walker. I am sure you have many potential mates.*
Harry tried to stifle her surprise at the fact she was still able to understand Parseltongue, and had the urge to speak it back. She had figured the ability would have died with the fragment of Voldemort's soul, but apparently her Parseltongue gift was indeed part of her own heritage. Harry also forced herself to ignore Riddle hiding a grin behind his hand, clearly understanding what the snake had said.
"Awww, he's so cute," Druella cooed.
"And really pretty," Orion added.
The bush viper preened proudly at the attention.
"Nice one, Evans!" Nott praised.
However, there was one who did not like the snake all too much.
"Miss Evans, I advise you to transfigure that snake into something more appropriate," Dumbledore cajoled firmly, looking at the viper with undisguised distaste and mistrust. The snake's head drooped, clearly saddened by the hostility.
"OK!" Harry answered brightly … and promptly turned the snake into a wolf. The creature jumped off the desk and began sniffing at her feet. "How's this, sir?"
She had expected another scolding. What surprised Harry, and the rest of the Slytherins, was that Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with amusement and he moved along to the Gryffindors to help them without so much as another dulcet word.
"Evans, that's a direwolf!" Avery whistled, watching Harry's creature try to catch Druella's sparrow and Orion's owl and then growl at the wild cat that one of the Gryffindors had managed to transfigure. "You really do have a repertoire of talents."
"Not really," Harry refuted with a blush creeping in her cheeks. Death Eaters praising her was something she would not get used to any time soon. "My father was a Transfigurations prodigy. He was also rather strict with me – I had to redo any spell I didn't know around fifty times until I got it."
McGonagall was a harsh but fair task master and often had told Harry stuff her own father managed to do during the class. That information was paying off.
"Just take a compliment and roll with it," Druella advised, rolling her eyes.
"I am not used to getting compliments, so forgive me if I have a few issues," Harry answered coolly as she lured her direwolf away from the conjured birds and cats around the room with a conjured piece of meat.
"I know something that could help you," Avery told her excitedly. "I am Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and I am holding Quidditch try outs this Friday. Do you play Quidditch, or did your condition stop you from playing?"
"No, it never affected me when I was in the air," Harry responded truthfully. "I played Quidditch with some of the local children."
"Which position?" Mulciber asked, for the first time truly interested in what Harry had to say.
"Seeker," Harry replied with a small smile.
"Well, I look forward to seeing you on Friday, if you still wish to play," Avery offered kindly.
Harry's bright green eyes sparkled at the prospect of flying again. "Sure. At what time?"
"5pm. On the Quidditch pitch."
"Cool. I will be there."
Avery's smile was blinding; Mulciber too finally showed some interest in Harry. Riddle, however, was not happy about this at all. Harry almost wanted to ask him what has gotten his boxers in a twist but she decided to ignore it was best to ignore him.
Once Transfigurations was over and their second free period started – Dumbledore had been chasing Harry's direwolf around the room after the creature had managed to steal one of his mismatching slippers – Orion and Druella kidnapped Harry and dragged her down to the Quidditch pitch, Artemis in tow.
Harry had wanted to protest – loudly – that their behaviour was completely unreasonable but she already knew that Orion was not going to be dissuaded, Druella was curious to put Harry on a broom and Artemis found this too entertaining to miss.
"I am the Seeker for the Gryffindor team," Artemis informed Harry as they approached the Quidditch pitch. "I hope you get on the team so I can whoop your ass in front of the entire school."
"Let's first see what she's got," Druella grinned.
Harry rolled her eyes. All she wanted to do now was get up into the air, just to escape her insufferable companions. This had not even been her idea to begin with! She wanted to escape back to the archives and leave practise until tomorrow. When no one was around to see her train. Orion, Druella and Artemis had really ruined that plan.
Artemis busted out a school broomstick from the extra supply lockers while Orion went to fetch the caskets full of the different balls used in Quidditch. Harry watched them, shaking her head. "We are going to get into some serious trouble," she warned them. "And I have Herbology next; I don't really fancy showing up to that lesson smelling like an old kipper. It is not really going to make a good first impression."
"Don't worry – just take a shower," Artemis brushed aside nonchalantly. "Professor Griffith is quite lax about it. He smells of compost half the time anyway so he has no right to judge."
"I don't think he is of the same opinion," Harry answered with a subtle eye roll.
"Less talking, more flying!" Druella ordered in a manner akin to a drill sergeant. "Orion is going to release five Snitches. You will have to catch all the Snitches in under twenty minutes in order to be considered good enough to try and challenge our current Seeker, Neil Lament, for his position."
Harry's eyes widened. "Is he really good?"
"Nope!" Orion practically sang. "We just want to have the opportunity to laugh at him and savour his humiliation!"
"You really are a sadistic bastard!" Harry laughed.
Orion puffed his chest proudly. "Of course. I am a Black, after all."
Harry chuckled, mounted her broomstick and kicked off. The broomstick was nowhere near as fast or as comfortable as her beloved Firebolt but Harry found that these old broomsticks weren't all too bad. But it did show her just how much the line of broomsticks changed in fifty years.
Out of the corner of her eye, Harry spied a flash of gold. Her old Seeker instincts kicked in and Harry found herself automatically chasing after the elusive tiny metal ball. The Snitch flew through the stands, Harry in hot pursuit. It made a stupid manoeuvre designed to throw in an incompetent Seeker off his or her broom, but Harry wasn't an amateur and she had seen the Snitch she used to chase pull that move before. As a result, it flew straight into Harry's viper-fast hand. One down; four to go. Almost as soon as she pocketed one, Harry spied two more of the Snitches zooming close to the faculty stands. Harry turned her broom as quickly as she could and chased her quarry across the pitch; the Snitches flew in all directions – around the tip top of the stands and directly under the stands – but they could not shake Harry off. Harry managed to snap up one of them as they made a steep ascend into the air, but the other took a few more minutes of zig-zagging in a seemingly erratic pattern to be caught.
Snitch four and five had tried to sneak up on Harry; Snitch number four was nabbed in less than a second and Snitch number five led Harry into a merry dance before Harry could catch it – Harry had lost count of the amount of feints she had to perform in order to keep up with the thing.
When she got back to the ground, Artemis was gaping at her and Orion and Druella were uncharacteristically jubilant. They were literally bouncing up and down in one spot like kangaroos!
"Merlin's beard, Harry! That was amazing! Fifteen bloody minutes!" Orion chirped. "And you're so elegant in the air; you should have been born with wings. You belong in the air. You're just like a dancing sparrow, or graceful hawk!"
Harry flushed, looking quite pleased. "Thank you. It isn't my first rodeo."
"You can say that again!" Artemis spluttered. "I was kidding when I said you could be a threat, but now I mean it. Holy Excalibur and Clarent. By the fires of Aithusa and Kilgharrah! I cannot wait to see you whip Lament's butt."
"You are going to watch?" Harry couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. "But you hardly know me. I only literally ran into you today."
"True, but I like you already, Hera," Artemis grinned, even as Harry's eyes flashed with silver. "I want to get to know you. Besides, if Orion and Druella think you're decent, then I want to be your friend as well. Plus, I have a feeling you will make life more interesting around here."
"You have no idea," Druella agreed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "She has already turned Slytherin on its head. Especially with what she pulled in History of Magic."
"Oh yes!" Artemis laughed. "Binns has still not recovered from that! He went to Headmaster Dippet and Professor Dumbledore to complain but they told him to calm down, and be happy that a student engages in his lessons."
"How would you know this?" Orion questioned curiously.
"Because I was in the room!" Artemis explained gleefully. "I had a meeting with them about my Defence grade and then Binns floats in – practically crying ectoplasm – and begins this tirade about a female Slytherin student 'being disrespectful' and 'giving him sass'. My meeting was practically forgotten as Dippet and Dumbledore spent the next half an hour practically talking Binns off a ledge, literally. It is a good thing he is already dead!"
"I regret nothing," Harry commented.
"You shouldn't! It is about time that someone told that ghost the truth," Artemis smirked at her and gave her a congratulatory pat on the back. "I cannot wait for your next battle with him. I expect a full report!"
Harry rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress her chuckle. Orion and Druella laughed too.
Harry had enough time to take a shower and muck about with Orion, Druella and Artemis in the library while finishing off some homework before Nott and Heron Lestrange came to collect her and drag her down towards the greenhouses for Herbology. Well, Lestrange was dragging both Nott and Harry, but that is beside the point.
"Where did Black, Druella and Potter drag you to?" Nott asked amicably on the way.
"The Quidditch pitch," Harry answered with a smirk. "Apparently all three have some kind of vendetta against the current Seeker and want to see if I am good enough to 'challenge' him for his spot. Like this is some kind of Machiavellian usurpation that I am planning."
"Well, they are Slytherins – Potter is so conniving she might as well be one of us – and when Druella wants to be, she is absolutely vicious," Nott informed her with a smirk. "She once shrunk Arcturus', Dolohov's and Riddle's man parts to embarrassingly small sizes because they gave her an embroidery set for Yule last year. But yeah, she and Black don't like Lament because of the hazing he did on them. Lament and his friends put them under some … really nasty pranks."
"What kind of pranks?" Harry wanted to know.
"They put Black and Druella in the dungeons with no easy way of escaping. Their familiars had to come to their rescue," Lestrange informed her. "Then they put some really nasty Dream Hexes on them – the two of them barely got any sleep for three weeks. That was when Black and Druella began retaliating."
"Yeah, but not only on Lament and his friends. On the rest of Slytherin as well," Nott added.
"It sounds like they were simply defending themselves," Harry observed. "I don't think I would have acted any differently had it been me."
"What, and include the rest of the House in your vengeance too?" Nott sounded genuinely surprised. "I never took you for being vindictive."
"That's because you don't know me at all," Harry pointed out. She then decided to steer the conversation to a much safer topic, as she could see the cogs wiring in the eyes of both Nott and Lestrange. "So, what will we be doing today, do you think?"
"Probably potting a Fanged Geranium or something," Nott sighed in irritation. "At least if I get bitten a few times and I get scars I can say I am tougher than Dolohov."
"Yep – plants can be utterly terrifying," Harry agreed, remembering the Devil's Snare she had to face at age eleven. "They can find ways to kill you in the most gruesome and imaginative ways."
"Hey, Evans, why is it that you and Potter look like you could be sisters?" Nott suddenly decided to ask the one question Harry hoped the brazen boy would not ask.
"No clue," Harry lied with a small shrug. "As far as I know, we are not related."
"Your parents never mentioned the Potters or being related to them, even distantly?"
Harry considered her next words quite carefully. She suspected that Nott, whether he meant to or not, was going to be telling Riddle and his happy bunch of Death Eaters everything that Harry told him. Knowing the animosity Riddle felt towards Nott, the former would have spies keep an eye on what Nott was saying so he would not have to listen to the boy himself.
"Nope. Not at all." Sorry, Riddle. I am not going to be feeding you information that easily.
Nott was persistent. "You never asked about them?"
Harry snorted. At least she could tell a half-truth here. "I never knew they existed until now."
"So running into Artemis Potter must have scared the life out of you," Nott teased with a smirk.
"It didn't scare me, exactly. It was mostly disconcerting and surprising," Harry replied with a small playful nudge, which made Nott laugh. Even Heron Lestrange cracked a rare smile. "I am glad there is enough of a difference between us so that people don't mistake us as twins."
"You could pass as fraternal if you wanted to," Lestrange replied. "Dumbledore's face was golden when he saw the two of you! In all my years I have never seen him drain so quickly the way he did then."
"Harry Evans makes life more exciting!" Nott slung an arm around Harry's shoulders. "Everyone is looking forward to your next verbal battle with Binns."
Harry sighed in exasperation. "Oh please, save me. I am half a mind to ask to take a different class. I had hoped for a competent teacher but if it is going to be like this every lesson-"
"Please don't switch!" Nott begged immediately. "We all need you there to survive!"
"Survive!" Harry scoffed, shaking her head. "You survived six years of him without me."
"Yes and I still don't know how any of us managed it, apart from asking Tom and Heron for help!" Nott wailed. "If you won't stay for yourself, stay for our sakes. You are our life line now."
Nott then pulled his trump card: it became known to Harry from that point on as the Pout of Doom. The boy stuck out his bottom lip and put on his best puppy-dog eyes that he could manage. Harry had to muster up every ounce of stoicism in her body to not crumble into swooning because it looked that adorable.
"If I die of despair, I am going to take it very personally," Harry deadpan-warned him.
"The funeral will be beautiful and I will make the best eulogy I can," Nott promised seriously.
Harry barked out a laugh. "Poxy tosser."
"Language, my Lady!"
Harry, Nott and Lestrange chuckled in unison. It was nice – it has been such a long time since she could laugh with people she could consider becoming her friends. It could never replace the feeling Harry had when she laughed and joked with Ron and Hermione, but it was more than enough.
"Merlin," Nott grumbled as he pulled his Slytherin scarf tighter around his neck. "It is so cold that I almost forgot it's only September."
"Maybe we will have snow on Yule," Harry responded with a grin. "I love white Yules. Snowball fights, sledding … ice skating." She sighed happily. Harry immediately snapped back into her home-schooled sick girl story. "Of course, for most of it I wasn't allowed to join. I could only watch."
"A bit stupid that they let you fly but didn't trust you with a bit of snow," Nott scoffed.
"My parents and uncles were over protective, but I know they meant well," Harry smiled. "I remember this one time that my friend Ronald's older brothers, Fred and George, enchanted snowballs to hit my tutor. Turns out he was an agent of Grindelwald sent to kill me. Looking back on it, it was even more satisfying." Harry could not help giggling at the memory. Oh yes, Voldemort getting hit with snowballs was in hindsight very funny!
"You really miss your family, don't you?" Lestrange asked carefully.
"More and more each day," Harry admitted readily. "I am getting more and more used to the fact that they are gone, and that I am on my own."
"But you're not on your own anymore," Nott pointed out with a grin. "You have Slytherin House now."
"That's nice of you, Nott," Harry found herself smiling a little.
The greenhouses of Hogwarts fortunately had not changed all that much. They were still made entirely of glass and were adorned with serpentine dragons. Harry gave a small sigh of contentment.
"Looks familiar?" Lestrange guessed.
"Very," Harry whispered. "They look exactly like the ones back home."
"Well then," the Lestrange heir gave her a genuine smile, opened the door to greenhouse 2 and bowed to her. "After you."
Harry bowed her head in thanks and walked in. Nott barked a laugh as he followed her in. "Wow! Heron, what has gotten in to you? You are never chatty, let alone dramatic like this."
"Don't tease him, Nott," Harry faux-scolded.
"Oh Merlin's dirty socks!" Nott burst out as he surveyed the room full of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, who had taken almost all of the seats in the back and middle of the class. "The only seats open are at the front. I am not going to survive."
Harry and Lestrange exchanged an exasperated but amused look before they each took hold of one of Nott's arms and escorted him to the free seats before he could hightail it away from the open desks.
"At least you two are sitting with me," Nott grumbled. "I wouldn't be able to do this without you guys."
"Drama queen," Harry commented.
"Am not!"
"Juvenile too," Lestrange added.
Nott stuck his tongue out and proceeded to sulk. Lestrange and Harry exchanged gleeful looks. Harry quietly wondered how these two quirky and different boys managed to get themselves caught up in Tom Riddle's Death Eater nonsense, but soon pushed the thought away from her mind.
It wasn't long until the eccentric Head of Hufflepuff waltzed in, hair still wet from a shower and looking like he had been in a rush to dress. "Apologies my students, I had a little hiccup with some of the assignments I have prepared for all of you and well … if I tell you I will spoil the surprise! I cannot wait to see your faces."
He put a giant silver platter covered with a blanket onto his desk, beaming at his students and clapped his hands together. "Today we will be discussing ingredients, but not the flora kind for once. You see, there is more to potions than mandrake root or vervain – some of the ingredients come from our delightful, magical fauna. One of my favourites is what we will be discussing today. My friend Newt Scamander helped me acquire these!"
With a dramatic lifting of the blanket, like a Muggle magician, Professor Griffith revealed a batch of over twenty pearly, silver eggs with patches of purple, pink and blue in them. Harry felt herself let out a small gasp of awe; she wasn't the only one either. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Nott and Lestrange look just as mesmerised as everyone else. Nott was even leaning in for a closer look. Harry almost chuckled; so much for staying away from the pansy teacher.
"Now, can anyone hazard a guess at what these beauties are?" Professor Griffith surveyed his class with a gleam in his eyes.
"They are Occamy eggs, sir," the Luna-look-alike girl answered serenely from her seat two seats behind Harry.
"Yes, very good, Miss Malfoy! They are indeed Occamy eggs."
Harry was glad she wasn't drinking anything at that moment, because she would have spat out her drink. Miss Malfoy?! No way. No bloody way! Harry looked over her shoulder at the dotty seventh-year that was Luna's ancestor. Luna was related to Draco?! Harry felt herself pale.
Then again, wasn't Luna pureblood? It was once pointed out that the purebloods were all somehow related to each other.
"Mr. Nott, what potion are Occamy eggs used for?"
"Felix Felicis, sir," Nott responded without missing a beat.
"Correct!" Professor Griffith practically jumped up in his spot in his enthusiasm. Nott turned to Harry with a gleeful look and Harry was more than happy to return his radiant smile. "Very good. We will be studying the Occamy eggs for all of their properties, not only for their use in Liquid Luck. But can someone tell me why Occamy eggs were added to the Felix Felicis potion?"
"Because the Occamy is closely related to Quetzalcoatl – the god of good fortune, which is the symbolic element of the ingredient. It is primarily used because it is a creature that embodies Occam's Razor," Harry answered smoothly.
"Very good, Miss Evans!" Professor Griffith praised. Harry flushed brightly as people looked at her, suddenly realising the new girl was in the room with them. The Ravenclaws looked either a little put-out or, if they took History of Magic, amused, while the Hufflepuffs gave her small smiles.
"Now, this term I am assigning you all an ingredient to study and write a dissertation about," their professor announced. "Naturally for the person who gets the Occamy egg, it will be a bit easier what with this lesson, but there we go. Now, I have already done the draw and I will tell you right before the end, to keep you guys in suspense a little more!"
The session on Occamy eggs was really rather enjoyable. It was made even better by the fact that one of them had hatched in the middle of class – apparently there had been one unhatched Occamy amongst the bunch of hatched ones. The issue was, the poor thing got scared of the amount of people around it and flew around the greenhouse, rapidly changing size. Griffith and the students had spent the majority of the lesson trying to get the baby Occamy to go into the professor's teapot. Apparently that had once worked for Mr. Scamander when one was lost in the city of New York.
Much to Harry's surprise, the Occamy was lured in by the prospect of a rodent to eat. To make matters worse, at the end of the class, Harry was assigned the Ashwinder egg to study. Not only were they snakes, but they were snakes that were born on fire! Fortunately the egg was frozen to keep it from burning anything but she couldn't help feeling nervous.
"Why do you get the cool thing?" Nott complained as he, Lestrange and Harry made their way back to the castle for lunch, Harry cradling the egg close to her. "I have to study bloody dragon scales! Lestrange gets the bloody Mandrake; we did that in second year and the one he gets to study can kill us!"
"I don't want to study something that can kill me!" Harry protested. "You can trade if you want."
Nott suddenly looked like a deer in the headlights. "Eeerm … on second thoughts best not. Orion Black might try to scramble it for his breakfast."
"Why do you have to be so mean?!" Harry half laughed and half scoffed.
"Oh, I forgot!" Nott exclaimed dramatically. "He is one of your new friends. Forgive me, oh high and might sovereign lady of a House I have never heard off-"
Nott laughed at Harry's indignation but winced as Harry wacked him around the head. "Damn, Harry! Did you have to hit me so hard?"
"Oh don't be such a wimp. That was nothing," Harry replied dismissively. "Now buck up or I will tell Dolohov you can be injured by one good hit around the head from a girl!"
Nott's eyes widened with mock shock. "You would not betray me in such a manner!"
Harry's eyes shone with mischief. "You forget that the Hat chose Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw for a reason, Nott!"
Nott grinned evilly. "Well, I think it may have been too hasty of me to think you belong in the smart, creative House given you resorted to hitting. Maybe on this rare occasion Dolohov was right!"
"You take that back!" Harry spluttered through laughter.
The two engaged in some playful pushing, being mindful of the Ashwinder egg in Harry's arms.
"Altair!"
By this point they had walked into the grand entrance hall of Hogwarts. A voice called down from one of the staircases. Harry looked up to see Rosier descending the stairs at quite a pace; given the direction of the staircase, she knew that he had just come from a Divination lesson. Morgana, she was glad that she wasn't putting herself in that position again. Bloody Trelawney had put her off that subject for good!
Tom, Mulciber, Dolohov, Malfoy and Avery followed behind Rosier at a more leisurely pace.
"You would not believe the amount of work and absolute boredom that class gives at N.E.W.T level!" Rosier stated as he almost prematurely jumped down from the staircase in his hurry to join Nott. "We spent our time reading tea leaves – again! We did that during third year. Next lesson we begin ornithomancy; as if a bird's action is actually an omen."
"You should have thought twice about taking it as an elective then!" Nott exclaimed with a grin. "You don't need an Inner Eye to predict that the class is about as useful as a hippogriff's fart."
Rosier grinned back and then his eyes caught sight of the Ashwinder egg in Harry's arms. He looked down at it with a cold smile, which made Harry frown a little at the sudden hostility she detected within it. "You babysitting or something, Evans?"
"Herbology dissertation project," Harry answered in a neutral tone. She had no idea what she had done to cause Rosier to sneer at her, but she was not going to give him further cause. "I am to study and research the uses of Ashwinder eggs. I cannot do that without one to study up close."
"That professor really is balmy," Rosier sneered, shaking his head in disbelief. "That egg will need to stay periodically frozen-"
"I know a few runes for that," Harry cut across with a little bit more ice than usual. "I have an enchanted statue to decurse, remember? So, don't worry – I am not going to burn the Slytherin dungeons down."
"I didn't suggest you were going to," Rosier replied with a little venom. He turned on his heel and goaded Nott into following him towards the Great Hall. Harry felt her jaw clench and her eyes turn silver. What in Merlin's name was Rosier's problem?
That is until a comforting hand placed itself onto her shoulder. Harry turned around to see Lestrange giving her a reassuring smile. She returned it but it disappeared quite quickly.
"Good afternoon, you two." Great. He just had to walk beside her.
"Good afternoon, Tom," Lestrange greeted as they commenced the journey towards the Great Hall. "How was Divination?"
"Avery managed to predict that his life would be saved by someone he has wronged. Mulciber will be saved by a werewolf, and Dolohov got the Grim in his teacup," Riddle listed as he fell into walking on Harry's right; Avery took her left. "Hopefully next lesson none of the birds will cause too much mess or Professor Chattox might have a breakdown of some sort."
"The Grim," Harry whispered, the image of her beloved godfather's Animagus form flashing in front of her eyes. "The omen of death. And yet, also a guardian."
"You know your omens?" Avery exclaimed with a smile. "Why aren't you taking Divination?"
"Nope. My old tutor has put me completely off," Harry answered truthfully. "Besides, I know for a fact I don't have an inner eye. Most of my predictions were made by sheer dumb luck. My friend Ron did, though he hated the subject."
"Why did your tutor put you off the subject?" Malfoy asked in a disinterested tone.
"She predicted my death every single lesson," Harry responded gloomily. "One time it was a set of rouge flamingos, other times it was going to be dragon fire, and then it was drowning. It becomes tiring after a while."
"Rouge flamingos?!" Avery spluttered.
"Please don't ask."
The group managed to get all the way to the Slytherin table without being split apart by leaving or arriving students once. Harry figured that was the power of being in a group with Tom Riddle. No one dared to stand in his way. She also noticed that several girls and boys in each House tried to catch the Riddle boy's eyes, or tried to avoid them as best as they could. Now and again Riddle would deign to give one of his best angelic and faux charismatic smiles, knowing fully well the havoc he would cause. It was actually quite funny to watch one Hufflepuff almost faint at receiving one.
Rosier and Nott were already seated at the table, piling their plates up with vegetarian and vegan options. Orion and Druella were also seated and immediately lit up when Harry joined them. Much to everyone's surprise, Lestrange decided not to sit next to Rosier and instead sat on Harry's right, opposite Druella. Malfoy and Dolohov looked scandalised. Rosier and Nott stopped mid-plating. Riddle and Mulciber simply raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Oooo, an Ashwinder egg!" Druella exclaimed. "Don't they usually catch aflame though?"
"Yes, which is why I have to keep it frozen," Harry answered as she began setting up the runes around the egg on the table, so she could eat with her arms free.
Orion's eyes shone with wonder – whether it was at the egg or Harry's rune work she couldn't tell. "Beautiful. I have to admit that Professor Griffith really does know how to make his classes interesting. I gather this is for that dissertation I have heard about?"
"Yes," Harry nodded with a smile. "6000 words is going to do my head in."
"You'll be fine!" Nott reassured with a beaming grin. "You are smart; you were almost a Ravenclaw after all. If anyone can write a dissertation on this thing it is you. Plus, we already know the two potions for which it is used! Felix Felicis and-"
"Amortentia," Harry finished grimly, doing every possible thing she could to make sure she didn't make eye contact with Tom Riddle, whose eyes she knew were boring into her as soon as she said it.
"Yes!" Nott cheered enthusiastically. "All that studying has paid off."
"Lots of love potions use eggs in them, don't they?" Orion mused.
"Yeah, they do," Harry agreed. "It is mostly for symbolic reasons but-"
"Harry, you need to eat," Riddle cut across, doing everything in his power to shut down this conversation. Harry blinked at him in disbelief before her eyes hardened and her jaw clenched together.
"I will eat when I want to," she growled. "I do not need to be patronised, especially by you."
"For once, Riddle has a point," Druella contradicted kindly. "You are still as thin as a stick and with winter not being too far off you need a little bit more meat on you. So with that in mind, do you want some beef stew?"
"No way, Dru, the vegetable soup is the better choice," Nott protested. "And fruit-loaf too!"
"Evans is not going for your weakling options. She is a battle-hardened woman," Dolohov sneered, taking a bite out of his whole-wheat bread.
Harry sighed. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with either vegetable soup or fruit-loaf. Surely food choices aren't something that are so grossly offensive to you, Dolohov?"
Dolohov glowered at her but then turned bright red when Nott added, "last time I checked, fruit-loaf wasn't a crime to eat. If it were, the Dementors would be doing a whole lot of baking in Azkaban!"
Harry smirked to herself. Nott standing up for himself without getting angry was exactly what she was hoping for!
Rosier said nothing but there was something dark and dangerous in his eyes that made Harry more than a little wary. Riddle was plating an oxtail number while focusing on the conversation; the boy had tactfully kept his mouth shut ever since Harry snapped at him for a blatant lack of manners. She was not one of his Knights and she was not about to let the baby You-Know-Poo treat her in the same manner as he did his followers.
Harry eventually settled for the beef stew and had some of the fruity-loaf to placate Nott. It worked, because the boy lit up the moment she unreservedly picked up two pieces of the loaf.
"That is an odd combination," Dolohov jeered.
"Don't you have anything better to do than sneer and jeer at anyone who doesn't agree with you?" Harry snapped as she buttered up one of the loaves, looking close to executing the bread. It shut Dolohov up for a while at least.
"At least your portion sizes are better," Orion commented. "At the start of the year, you took meagre amounts of food. You are a Noble and yet you eat like … a peasant. Perhaps worse than a peasant. Come to think of it, I have seen my house elf eat more than you."
Harry ignored him, focusing on eating her fruit-loaf and stew.
"Black does have a little bit of a point, you know," Lestrange said to her in a low tone so as not to be easily overheard. "You don't have to watch your portion sizes at Hogwarts too much. The elves accommodate. Plus, you are a Lady Regnant. You deserve to be treated like a queen."
Harry laughed shortly at that. "A queen. Now that's funny."
"Who or what is a queen?" Nott asked immediately.
"Lestrange was giving Harry some home truths," Druella answered with a small smile. "Says that Harry has the right to eat like a queen and that she doesn't have to worry about anyone else starving if she takes a little bit more than what she is used to."
"Oh!" Nott lit up. "I can totally see Harry being a Queen."
"She is a Lady Regnant; she might as well be," Avery added, giving Harry a genuine smile.
Harry scoffed, shaking her head as she picked up a piece of beef with her fork. "I am no Queen. Barely could even count as a princess. I know barely enough pureblood etiquette or customs to get through a ball. My parents … didn't think I would need any. I had to attend a ball once. It was pure hell."
The Dursleys also made sure never to bring Harry anywhere. That would mean acknowledging she exists. It was why she had spent the week before the Yule Ball panicking because she knew she would be stepping on her date's toes. Hermione, Ginny and Lavender had spent the entire week training her. Harry's date, a Durmstrang boy who had apparently been a scion of a Romanian pureblood family akin to royalty, had somehow accommodated to her, and had made her feel – if not elegant – then at least not like she was clumsy.
"Well, then we will teach you," Druella replied with a grin. "You're alive, against all the odds. You are Lady Regnant, against all the odds, so we will make a queen out of you yet."
Harry shook her head, suddenly looking rather flustered. "You don't have to. I don't want to bother you with my problems. I can just try and find a book or something-"
"Bother us with your problems?" Orion could hardly believe his ears, as could some of the others. "My Lady, you are our friend.We will teach you, and we will not take no for an answer," Orion stated firmly. "Etiquette, dancing, proper attire, table manners-"
"Am I that much of a slob?" Harry sighed, looking quite embarrassed.
"No, no, no," Nott reassured quickly. "It's just, well, at a dinner party, there are an overwhelming number of knives, folks and spoons, and not to mention different glasses for different drinks. Your parents didn't tell you this, did they?"
Harry's shoulders sank. "No. They did not."
"Well, there you go," Druella stated happily. "We will start tonight, OK?"
"Sure. I-"
The arrival of Endor broke up the conversation, much to Harry's relief. She smiled brightly and petted her friend's familiar before untying the letter and the parcel that was attached to the owl. She was fully aware of eyes on her as she opened the letter from Mr. Burke.
Dear Harry,
From what you told me it sounds like you are dealing with an artefact that has been forged using a combination of Siren's Call and the Maenads' Madness. Used in tandem it can cause quite a powerful hypnotic effect that lures the unfortunates who hear it into a madness that ensures they try to kill everything in their path, even if the victim was a loved one. That you managed to decipher any element of the curse upon it goes to show you have a natural talent for this line of work.
I have sent you two of the books that will help you in removing both the Siren's Call and the Maenads' Madness, but you will have to be careful. One small mishap could mean your own undoing and you may even fall under its effects if you aren't careful. That you use a suppression chamber is very good thinking.
The shop is doing pretty well at the moment. We have had a few high ranking costumers – a Lord Nott at one point and a Lord Malfoy. Fathers of two of your new compatriots if I am not mistaken. I can tell Nott Junior is nothing like his father, from what you told me. That must be a pretty picture at Yule. I will admit that the shop is a little quiet without your constant badgering and teasing. To that end, I have taken the liberty of sending you a two way journal so we can communicate much more easily. I hope you are not opposed.
Signed,
Thomas Burke
Harry couldn't help but give a short laugh. A hybrid curse! One of the Sirens and the other derived from the Maenads – whoever did this was a sick bastard indeed. It is a good thing that damn statue was kept well away from anyone and safely under lock and key.
"What is it, Harry?" Orion asked curiously.
"My … friend has given me the answer to my hypothesis. The one that Tom made me think about," Harry answered quickly as she put the letter aside and began opening the parcel. "Whoever cursed that statue is sick in the head and needs to see a mind healer."
"Why?" Avery enquired curiously.
"Because they combined the Siren's Call with a curse called the Maenads' Madness," Harry replied curtly.
Audible gasps rippled around the group. Clearly, those names rang a bell. Of course they did.
"Oh my!" Druella paled, looking close to puking. "Yeah … that is disgusting."
"Disgusting but genius!" Dolohov stated admiringly, his eyes shining with a nasty glint that made Harry want to hex his face off.
Harry lifted out the two ornately bound books and the leather bound journal from the ugly brown paper. Ancient Curses of Olde and How to Undo Them and The Unravelling of the Mind Hexes and Curses of the Ancients – Harry suddenly felt the urge to hug the dower man and risk getting hexed by him afterwards. Her delight was noted by everyone around the table.
"Those books are really rare," Nott breathed. "Apart from the third one. That's a two way journal, isn't it?"
"Yep. He wants me to be able to ask questions without waiting a day or two for a reply," Harry answered with a small smile as she carefully put the three tomes into her school bag. "Frankly, I think Endor deserves a break and I can't keep asking Druella to borrow her owl."
"Nonsense, Harry! Endor loves delivering mail," Druella reassured. Endor hooted in agreement and picked a piece of beef out of Harry's stew.
Harry spluttered indignantly. "Oi! I didn't say you could steal my food!"
Endor let out something that could have been construed as laughter before taking off, Harry shaking her head and laughing. "Cheeky bugger," she muttered.
Druella laughed. "That he is! Always guard your food around him."
"So, you have your answer," Riddle attempted to bring the conversation back to Harry's assignment. "Do you know how to undo them?"
"I have a pretty good idea," Harry replied as civilly as she could manage. She began to stand up. "I am going to bring this lot back to the dorms, including the egg. I cannot keep walking around with an egg all day."
"I'll carry the egg!" Orion volunteered. When everyone gave him a pointed look, he attempted his own version of the Pout of Doom. "What? I will be as careful as I possibly can with it. I won't drop it!"
"You had better. I do not want a T because you dropped an unhatched Ashwinder!" Harry threatened firmly. She frowned. "What lesson do we have next?"
"Defence Against the Dark Arts," Tom answered brightly, his burgundy eyes dancing with mischief. Oh no. Mischief in Tom's book meant trouble. Big trouble. For Harry.
"Brilliant," Harry muttered. Defence Against the Dark Arts with Riddle and the Slytherins. Everything could and would go wrong. She didn't need an Inner Eye to know this. It was just the Potter curse.
Harry sincerely hoped Artemis could relate on that at least.
#############
So Harry is getting to know Nott better, has a chance to fly again, has a solution to her assignment and has met Artemis Potter, a distant relative. I noticed how meagre the amount of Potters there were alive by the time Harry turned eleven, so I decided to play around with the Potter family tree a little. As far as I know, Artemis is not canon but I hope you like the addition of her. It will be fun to see how similar and different these girls are!
Stay tuned and reviews are appreciated!
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