Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling
Italian to English translations:
"Leoncina" : "Lioness"
Chapter Thirty One: Nott, a Friend ?
Ky wiped the sweat off her brow and added a drop of exploding fluid into the Revive Potion. It turned light orange with darker swirls like the picture depicted.
"Replace Bouncing Spider Juice with Exploding fluid but drop the dosage from three drops to just one. It takes ten minutes longer to brew but increases the shelf life by a month."
Ky watched as her words inscribed itself in bold black ink in her Potions Diary.
She cast a spell on the cauldron and waved her wand and the vials from the drawer behind her floated out of the box and lined themselves up as the cauldron poured its contents into the vial one by one.
She moved over to the other cauldron sniffing at the potion and frowning.
"Smells like vinegar."
Ky responded to the now familiar voice without looking up, "Maybe I shouldn't swap the Ashwinder egg for Baneberry."
"It's been ten days, Veritaserum is supposed to lose its smell on the seventh day, you do remember?"
She sighed, how could she forget. She spent all of New Year's Day in here which was a week after Sev and she started their first batch; she restocked Madam Pomfrey with strengthening solution that day.
That was little over seven weeks ago. And she must have brewed more than fifty potions since. Ky glanced up irritated at his light brown eyes which slowly became green as he shifted into the light.
"Would you shut the door after you leave?"
Nott smirked that annoying smirk of his and walked into the room. How she regretted not learning how to disillusion herself. She made a mental note to learn the spell. It would have prevented this Snake from following her into her lair two weeks ago. Now he seemed to pop by whenever he pleased.
She bottled a bit of the botched potion and labelled it failure no.3.
Ky hated failing.
"You look cute when you're angry Kitten." She snarled at the annoying nickname he had given her. He began adding the tops to the vials of Revive Potion. "So, how's Granger?"
She snatched the vials from Nott and started packing them to send up to Madam Pomfrey. She and her best friend had barely spoken in the past few weeks.
"Ky, wake up, breakfast. Come on Ky I barely ate last night. KY…Ky, what happened to your face?"
Ky woke up and pulled herself off the bed and then fell back down onto it, snuggling deeper into the blanket. She felt Mi's hands tugging at her,"No…nobody is home."
"Ky what happened to your face! Ky wake up or I swear I will march right down to the dungeons and yank Malfoy by his hair and and…I'll hurt him bad!"
Ky peeked up at her through the blankets. What was she going on about? She jumped up and walked to Parvati's mirror. Wow, how did she get that?
There was a purplish bruise on her right cheek bone. She didn't get it in the fight with Blishwick's gang, she kicked ass in that fight. And then it hit her. The bracket that is. When Harry hit it with his jinx, and it flung off and hit her face. She looked closer and saw that the skin was slightly burnt under her left eye. The bracket must have been hot from the torch. Oh well, she better get some burn paste…
"Mi…where are you going!"
She was already out of the room muttering nonstop about all the curses that she was going to use. "You know I hit him before, I think he needs a reminder!"
Ky finally caught up with her in the common room and practically had to carry her by the waist away from the portrait hole.
"What's going on?" Ky turned and looked at Ron. He glanced from her to Mi and back again. Mi got a strange look on her face which disappeared quickly.
"It's Malfoy Ronald, he has hurt Ky."
Oh, great and here was the shock of black hair.
Ky put her friend back on her feet, letting go of her waist,"Look Mi it wasn't Malfoy; he didn't do this. I got back late last night, and someone had put the torches out and it was dark, and I fell and hit the stairs on my way up. I forgot this morning because I didn't even think it would scar. Stop looking at me like that, you know how clumsy I can be, and I was wearing heels, and you think I would let somebody take advantage of me like that?"
She seemed to have calmed down a bit and sighed. "Ok, let's go down to the Hospital wing-"
"No, it's fine, I'll go down to the hospital wing, you go with the boys for breakfast. I'll be fine Mi, nothing Madam Pomfrey won't heal in a jiffy. Now I'm going to get dressed, see you down in a few."
Ky turned and headed for the staircase, but a hand stopped her. She turned around and looked into large apologetic green eyes. "Ky…"
"Don't. Get the fuck away from me Potter. I'm serious. Fuck off." She turned and stomped up the stairs, the accusations of last night burning bright in her mind's eye.
That was the last time she spoke to Harry.
It wasn't like before, where they would keep pleasantries. He was so small minded, and hot-headed. Flinging his theories carelessly, not even sparing a thought. He was a child.
She hadn't told Mi about the argument and neither did he, she did confront Ky on why she was avoiding her though.
It wasn't true, she always spent time with Mi when she wasn't with Harry. Unfortunately, this wasn't too often seeing as she was helping him with the tournament. Ky told her she wasn't avoiding anybody, just engrossed in her potion making and she was welcome to share her sanctuary.
Mi did take her up on the offer once or twice but with the second task looming closer she didn't spend much time away from Harry. However, she seemed to gather her problem was with him and was smart enough not to bring anything related to him up.
"Kitten?"
"Mi is okay Nott. Don't you have somebody else to torture with your presence?"
"You would think…but no." He flipped through the potions book she had lying open. The only reason why she actually tolerated his presence in her lair was that he was a decent potioneer. Sev said that he was the best in their class before she came along. Before Ky could retort that Mi had better marks than Nott, he explained that he thought Nott was the more natural brewer from the two. "I've been feeling a bit peaky, how about you whip me up some Vitamix Potion."
"I'm sorry. It seems there is a sign that says, 'Nott's personal brewer on my forehead.' It's supposed to read 'fuck off'."
"Oooh somebody is a bowl of rainbows today. Care to share."
"Nott, why don't you go and interfere with Greengrass?"
"I can't and I won't. Daphne is utterly boring, and she's probably being annoyed by Zabini right now."
"Thornton, wait…what happened to your face? "Ky turned around on her way to the Hospital Wing. It was Zabini.
"Walked into a cupboard door." The story sounded more and more like a lie…maybe because it was.
"Sure…hospital wing?"
"I wasn't looking for an audience."
That didn't get rid of him. He held the door open, and she walked in. Madam Pomfrey huffed up to them and fretted over the mark, shooting angry glances of accusation at Zabini. Ky managed to convince her that she did just get it in a confrontation with her cupboard and she let them go once she worked her magic.
Unfortunately, it would take applying burn paste regularly to prevent scarring. Thankfully the nurse hadn't questioned how she managed to get burnt.
Madam Pomfrey was strict, but not nosy. She chided but always chose having the students come to her if they were hurt rather than try to fix things themselves in an attempt to avoid unwanted questions.
Zabini held the door open, Ky realised she had been led to the Astronomy Tower.
"Serpente has slithered far from his pit."
"Leoncina wandered far from her den."
"I suspect you called me here for more than just teasing. Speak Zabini."
He turned his calculating brown eyes on her, "Malfoy was in a right state when he got back to the dorm."
"Ok. Is that what you called me here for?"
"No. I don't care about what makes Malfoy happy or sad."
"With friends like you-"
"Who said anything about friends? You think Malfoy and I are friends?" He chuckled darkly, "Malfoy and I let each other exist in our mutual worlds because we're too much alike for our own good. Best keep enemies close." He turned around and leaned against the banister of the balcony, she looked out at the grounds. "Nott's around because what he lacks in money and influence, he more than makes up for in intelligence and cunning. And Daphne…. I don't have to explain, a blind man would find Daphne beautiful."
"Because you do not need eyes to see true beauty."
He laughed at that, "Sure…it's not skin deep and all that. Notice how that garbage is always spouted by pretty people."
"You called me here for something Zabini, and I doubt it's to discuss my looks."
He smirked and then slowly his face transformed into a serious expression. "You saved my life last night."
"Don't take it personally. Ask Malfoy, he'd be glad to tell you how psychotic I am because of my penchant of not wanting people killed in front of me."
"Thornton…I owe you. And not like how you owed Malfoy because of a stupid potion ingredient, but something serious. Ask it and it is yours…obviously if I have the power to do so."
She looked at him, straight into his brown eyes, "I want nothing from you Zabini."
Ky turned to walk away but he stopped her, "Look, I don't know how it works in the den, but in the pit, we pay our debts. There must be something you want. Zabinis' are not indebted to people."
"Fine, I would really like you to return this coat to Malfoy. Consider your debt paid."
He huffed and kicked off the banister and walked to the door, grabbing the coat she brought down to return to Malfoy, "When you're serious come find me."
Ky walked into Sev's personal store ignoring Nott, knowing he couldn't follow her even if he wanted to. Sev had incredible security on his quarters, especially since he noticed a few items go missing of late; she walked back in with the ingredients and swore aloud. "Really! There must be something better to do than watch me make potions!"
"And there must be something better to do than make potions all night!"
Ky put the ingredients into her drawer. Her patience for people was wearing thin of late. "You're actually right Nott. I'm going. I honestly don't care enough to make an excuse so I'm off to be somewhere where you are not. Have a goodnight."
He smiled and walked out with her, "Goodnight Kitten."
She shook her head as she walked down the corridor, that boy was strange. She reached the Entrance Hall to find it deserted except for Hagrid. She smiled at the gamekeeper, happy to see him in better spirits after that awful story about him being half-giant in the Daily Prophet. Mi had a personal vendetta against the writer, Ky was proud of her.
"Hagrid!"
He turned around and beamed at her, "Ky, what ar' you doin'ou' so late."
"Nothing bad, no worries. How are the unicorns?"
"Ahhhh pretty as always. You should come visit. How about a little victory dinner tomorrow?"
"Victory?"
"Well, it's the second task ain' it? Come round afta and we'll celebrate Harry's triumph."
She had completely forgotten that the task was tomorrow. She couldn't help smiling back at the faith shining in Hagrid's eyes. She nodded and bade him goodnight, not wanting to kill his buzz. She'll think of an excuse not to pitch up tomorrow, let future Ky deal with that.
She suddenly remembered that she had left the potions for Madam Pomfrey downstairs. Oh, she'll get that to her tomorrow. Then a voice that sounded oddly like Mi said, 'What if a student is in dire need of Revive Potion tonight, you did say you'll have it to her by today, didn't you?'
Ugh, she turned and ran downstairs, why does Mi have to be so bossy. Ky grabbed the box and then looked at the ingredients she had taken out earlier. She had already taken them out…one more potion won't hurt anybody.
-x-x-x-
Ky entered the dorm and made for Mi's bed, pulling open her hangings, and frowning at the empty bed. She grabbed Bobby's hand and looked at her watch, 2:15. She flung it back onto her and the girl continued snoring.
Five minutes later she was in the library, sure Mi would be here helping Harry. She was surprised that he must have convinced her to sneak in, and she navigated through the large dark room. It didn't take long to find Harry; he was splayed across a table, his bottom half invisible as his nifty cloak slipped off him, drool falling from his mouth onto the open book he was using as a pillow. The problem was that there was no Mi.
Ky went to shake him awake and ask where she was when she saw scribbling on the parchment next to him. She picked it up and looked at it; it was a doodle of a mermaid. Then something that looked like aqualungs and then a weird poem.
She read the poem thrice, and then smiled as she guessed what it meant. They needed to find something that was taken away from them; the catch was that the merpeople had it. They needed to find a way to breathe under water.
Well, that was obvious. She just used it the other day in the Ice Potion. From the looks of him asleep on the library table, the great Harry Potter didn't think of the simplest answer. She knew her glare was pitiful as even in her angry state she couldn't help thinking how fucking adorable he looked asleep.
Ky should just leave him here, let him embarrass himself tomorrow, she thought unkindly as she fought the urge to brush the hair from his face. She thankfully remembered that she had to find Mi, and was about to wake him up when she saw a flash of silver to her left.
She looked up and saw Nearly Headless Nick floating by looking sadly at Harry.
"Hi Nick." She whispered.
"Oh Hi Ky. Didn't notice you there. It's sad, isn't it? I was so hopping he would win."
"Yeah, sure it's a crying shame. So, Nick, have you seen Mi anywhere? I mean Hermione Granger?"
He stifled a smile, "I shouldn't…"
"Come now Nick. It's me." Ky was always on good terms with the Gryffindor Ghost. He looked to the left and right of the deserted library.
"Well, she's taken, isn't she?"
"Taken?"
He pointed at the parchment, "We've taken what you'll sorely miss."
Ky straightened in fright at what the ghost said.
She picked the parchment up and ran out of the library. Damn Potter and his slowness. They took Mi and if he didn't get her back in the hour of the task, she'd be gone! He couldn't get her back if they gave him ten years seeing as he didn't even know how to breathe underwater judging by his current passed out in the library state, doodling aqualungs!
Ky dashed across her lab and into Sev's personal store. She was grateful for once that he was this neurotic about his things and ran to where she knew the Gillyweed was kept. Only what sat there instead was an empty bottle. But that was impossible; he never let anything run out! Ky had just used some the other day in the Ice Potion, and remembered there was some in the bottle and even if Sev used it afterwards he would have replenished the stock.
Those were the rules!
Ugh she didn't have time to think about this. Mona probably had some in her stores, but she didn't have access to it and what if she was out of stock too when they asked her in the morning.
She couldn't risk Mi's life on it!
Ugh why does it have to be three in the morning, she was exhausted and couldn't think straight.
Ok think Ky.
She needed Gillyweed but she didn't have it because Sev didn't buy any…. buy! Harry needed the Gillyweed at 9am and the shops at Hogsmeade only opened at 10am during weekdays. But there was no quicker solution…
She raced upstairs and spotted the one-eyed witch statue. Fred told her that this could lead to the cellar of Honeydukes when she told him she wasn't in the mood to go for the last Hogsmeade trip.
"If you change your mind, just tap it and say dissendium, you should find us at Zonko's…"
Honeydukes was right across from Dogweed and Deathcap. She just had to cross the road quickly and…break in? Oh, man that was stupid. But then again, it's not stealing if you pay for it, she'd just leave some gold behind. She had learnt a few ward breaking spells from the book Fil had given her for Christmas.
Cistem aperioshould do the trick and a quick silencing charm should work on an alarm if there was one. She just had to be quick, She could be quick. Mi was at stake!
Oh dang, stop thinking and just do!
She tapped the statue and muttered the passworddissendium…just do…
Thirty minutes later she made her way out of Dogweed and Deathcap. She put up the wards again, thanking the Founders that Fil had given her that nifty book for Christmas. She touched the Gillyweed lightly in her pocket, she should read more often.
She exited the shop and she shivered against the cold; her thin hoodie and pyjamma shorts was doing nothing to protect her from the brisk night. She just had to get this to Harry and then she could snuggle up in her warm, cosy bed.
Her head felt heavy with sleep. She looked left and right and quickly crossed the thankfully deserted street. She reached the door to Honeydukes smiling as if she crossed the ribbon at the end of a race. And Linus said she could never be a spy…maybe she was more robber than spy right now, but she was definitely stealthy.
She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door. A second later it went whizzing out of her hand.
Ky barely let out a gasp when her vision was obscured, and she felt something cold hit her back hard.
A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter!