F&L: Chapter 65

Despite Luna being petrified, life went on, and even though I wasn't happy about that, I could do little about it at the moment. I didn't want to delude myself into thinking I was ready to take on the Basilisk myself just yet, and though I placed an Owl Order for Mandrake Restorative Draught, the fact was that such things weren't common. J. Pippin's Potions would have to special-order it, and that would take time, as their suppliers had a backlog. Meanwhile, Dogweed and Deathcap had some Stewed Mandrake, but only enough for one session of brewing. That was good enough for me, however, and I placed an Owl Order for it.

Of course, that meant I had to learn how to brew the damn thing in the first place, but fortunately, Magnus Gamp came to my rescue there. In lieu of some of our usual lessons, he taught me how to brew the Mandrake Restorative Draught, though it would put me behind in the lesson plan. It wouldn't put me so far behind in the lesson plan that I couldn't make up the difference, however. As it turned out, the process for brewing the potion was easy enough that I could follow Magnus Gamp's instructions and manage to successfully brew the Mandrake Restorative Draught.

It required Stewed Mandrake, Crushed Unicorn Horn, Flobberworm Mucus, and Shredded Wiggentree Leaves. You had to add the Flobberworm Mucus first, then stir clockwise three times, then add the Shredded Wiggentree Leaves before stirring clockwise another three times. Once that had been done, you had to add the Crushed Unicorn Horn, then stir clockwise another three times, before adding the Stewed Mandrake and stirring clockwise a final three times. You had to do this over the course of an hour, adding new ingredients at fifteen-minute intervals, before letting the potion steep for three hours. At the end of the four-hour procedure, you should have a potion that was an Emerald Green in Color and smelled of freshly cut grass.

In the end, I managed to get enough of the Potion successfully brewed to cure Luna, and no more. Though it ate up one of my Training Sessions with Magnus Gamp to do so. I felt it was more than worth it, however. Of course, that was just one of my training sessions with Magnus Gamp, and I still had others left to go that week. It was in these that Magnus Gamp drilled me hard to make up for the lost time in the first training session that had been taken up by learning to brew the Mandrake Restorative Draught.

Sparring during those other sessions was extremely hard, as Magnus Gamp insisted on going all-out from the start. Once again, I found the progress I had been making over the past two months being erased as Magnus Gamp ratcheted up the difficulty of our spars, kicking me around the Training Ground once again. He would spar me into the ground, force-feed me potions to heal me and cure my fatigue, then start sparring with me all over again, repeating ad nauseam. It was brutal, but I knew that I would thank him for it later on. Of course, it wasn't the only lesson he taught me.

I also learned about Boggarts and Nocturnal Beasts, such as the Irish Dullahan, a type of Headless Fae with a deadly touch that rode a horse, or the Greenlandic Amaruq, a Giant, Dark-Furred, Man-Eating Wolf that had the ability to blend with the Shadows in order to stalk its prey. Finally, to round out the curriculum for Third Year Defense, I learned the Boggart Banishing Spell, which banished Boggarts and had the Incantation Riddikulus, as well as the Wand Movement of an upside-down Omega-shape, and the Whip Spell, which conjured an invisible whip, had the incantation of Flagellum, and had the Wand Motion of a swish and flick of the tip of your wand at the target you wished to whip. Finally, I learned the Tongue-Tying Jinx, which had the incantation of Langlock and the Wand Movement of a loop de loop.

By the end of October, I had finally managed to get through Third-Year Defense. Magnus Gamp would have me starting on Third-Year Potions in November. Of course, this wasn't the only thing I had to do for the rest of the month. I also had my regular class schedule for the Month, which were usually far less exciting. However, I still needed to go through with them in order to be a well-rounded wizard, not to mention graduate. Thankfully, there was at least one exciting thing happening during this batch of regular courses. It happened in Herbology in the last week of October.

Naturally, of course, I would wind up getting involved. . .

XXXX

In Herbology, we began to learn about Mandrakes, given how the Basilisk had petrified Luna. Of course, the Mandrakes we had wouldn't be ready before closer to the end of the year. In the First Week, we had begun to learn about their properties. About how they were the key ingredient in the Mandrake Restorative Draught that was the sole known antidote to Petrification, how they preferred forested areas with lots of fallen leaves and other detritus to nest in, and how they had a deadly scream that could slay an adult wizard if heard unprotected.

The last week of October was when we began to work with the Mandrakes themselves. Of course, we were largely working with juvenile Mandrakes in order to avoid the deadly scream. Even so, we had to wear earmuffs to muffle the screams of the plants in order to avoid being knocked unconscious. The whole thing rendered every noise as if it were being spoken underwater, forcing us to have to shout in order to be heard at all. It made for an interesting experience, working with one of our senses hindered like this, and I began thinking about how it might work to duel with such hindrances. It might be an interesting exercise, after all, and with the Mind Arts, Blindfighting should be easy enough to learn for me.

"Careful, Dearies! Jostling the Mandrakes too much while repotting them will cause them to scream!" Proclaimed Professor Sprout, drawing me out of my thoughts.

"Yes, Professor!" Exclaimed Susan.

"Do you think we'll be able to harvest these in time to help out whoever else gets petrified?" I questioned in a raised tone of voice.

"What do you mean? Luna's Petrified now, right?" Queried Susan loudly in return.

"I have Luna covered!" I shouted.

"How?" Asked Susan noisily.

"I was able to brew a single dose of Mandrake Restorative Draught with Owl-Ordered Ingredients! I'm going to be giving it to Madame Pomfrey to use on Luna on Saturday!" I answered in a heightened volume.

"Really? That's a very expensive proposition!" Called out Millie from nearby, where she and Hannah Abbot were trying to repot their own Mandrake.

"I have the money, don't I?" I questioned in a loud voice.

"I suppose you do!" Agreed Hannah, noisily.

"Still, that's a lot of trouble to go through for Luna, isn't it?" Queried Millie loudly.

"She's a friend, Millie! I'd do the same for any of you!" I pointed out in a heightened tone of voice.

"True, but you did just meet her!" Exclaimed Hannah.

"Hey, a Friend is a Friend!" I insisted noisily.

"Right, what are mates for, aye?" Asked Susan in a raised tone.

"I suppose!" Acknowledged Hannah in a heightened voice.

Just then, however, Millie stumbled, tripping on a dug-up furrow of earth in the greenhouse. The stumble knocked her earmuffs askew and woke the sleeping Mandrake in her arms. The Mandrake blinked itself awake, realized it was out of its pot, and took a deep breath, preparing to cry out. As it was in Millie's arms, and her Earmuffs had been knocked askew by the stumble, that cry wouldn't be good for Millie. I had to do something, and fast. With a flick of my wrist, my wand was out of the spring-loaded holster I kept on me and in my hand, and I was casting at the Mandrake.

"Langlock!" I shouted, casting the spell I had learned from Magnus Gamp just the day before.

The Mandrake's tongue stuck to the roof of its mouth, and its bellow turned into a confused noise, just as Professor Sprout arrived to stun the Juvenile creature with a Stunning Spell, rendering it unconscious. Millie was breathing hard at the close call she'd just suffered, and if I was being honest, so was I. Still, nobody and nothing hurts my friends and gets away with it. Not even a Juvenile Mandrake. I was just happy that I managed to avoid the worst-case scenario here, though that didn't stop Professor Sprout from awarding points to Slytherin for it, not that I cared about the House Cup at all.

"Well done, Dearie! Twenty Points to Slytherin for such quick and decisive action!" Called out Professor Sprout.

The rest of Herbology class went by without much in the way of incident, as we finished repotting our Juvenile Mandrakes. Of course, the whole thing brought on another potential issue. Millie seemed to be emanating some sort of infatuation with me that I was able to pick up just with my Passive, Low-Level Empathic Abilities. It was a strong enough emotion at the moment that it was leaking past her Occlumency Shields. Meanwhile, from a few yards away, I picked up a sudden spike of jealousy with that same passive Empathic Ability, coming from Daphne, which had passed through her own Occlumency shields thanks to its strength. Daphne's face scrunched up momentarily in consternation as she looked over at Millie. Nearby Daphne, Tracey just rolled her eyes at the whole scene, clearly in on how Daphne felt.

Did both Daphne and Millie have a crush on me or something? Had Tracey known this whole time about it? Would that cause disharmony in the friend group? I'd have to do something about that at some point. I didn't want the friend group falling apart over teenage Drama. After all, we would all turn thirteen this year, and thus become eligible for the sorts of shenanigans that you would see in bad teen movies. I didn't really want to do anything romantically this year. Of course, my Mental Age being a couple of years older than my Physical Age sort of put a damper on that, as it was a power imbalance that was kind of gross. Unfortunately, it was starting to look as if not weighing in on those matters personally was going to cause a big batch of Drama. It was just one more thing to think about this year.

Either way, the rest of Herbology class passed without any other Juvenile Mandrakes waking up and threatening to send someone to the Hospital Wing, thankfully. We got our Mandrakes repotted and even managed to pick up another five house points for helping others repot their own Mandrakes. By the time we left Class, we could be assured that we would have enough Mandrakes to unpetrify the entire student body should it be required. Eventually, at least.

After all, these Mandrakes were still juveniles, and thus wouldn't be ready for harvesting until close to the end of the year. . .

XXXX

Of course, I also had other classes. Transfiguration, History of Magic, and Astronomy. Mind you, History of Magic was a blow-off class with Professor Binns. I could get a much better overview of Magical History by reading books like La Strada dei Re, which meant that I really only had two other classes to worry about, Transfiguration and Astronomy. Both of which I was doing well in already.

In transfiguration, we began learning the Softening Charm, which I already knew. I volunteered to aid others in figuring it out, which earned me another five points to Slytherin. I focused on Neville and Ron, since both of them would likely have difficulty with it due to their mindsets. Fortunately, both of them managed to get it with my help, leaving me room to help out someone else. I chose to help out Seamus Finnegan, who seemed to be constantly lighting the end of his wand aflame. By the time class had ended, all three of them had the Softening Charm down, and Seamus told me he'd give the Cross-House Study Group a chance thanks to my help.

The second Transfiguration Class of October had us learning the General Transfiguration Spell, which had the incantation Mutatio Prima, and helped to aid in general transfigurations. As she spoke, Professor McGonagall, however, began to go over the limitations of the Spell, of which there were apparently more than just a couple.

"There are limitations to the General Transfiguration Spell. Can anyone guess what they might be?" Questioned Professor McGonagall.

"No Conjuration of Food?" Queried Harry.

"Are you telling me or asking me, Mister Potter?" Asked Professor McGonagall.

"Telling you, Professor." Insisted Harry.

"Well done, Mister Potter, Five Points to Gryffindor. Indeed, it cannot be used to Conjure Food. Does anyone know why that is?" Questioned Professor McGonagall.

"Gamp's Laws of Elemental Transfiguration, Professor." Called out Tracey.

"Indeed, Miss Davis. Five Points for Slytherin. The General Transfiguration Spell cannot be used to break any of Gamp's Laws of Elemental Transfiguration. Now, does anyone know of the other limitations of the General Transfiguration Spell?" Queried Professor McGonagall.

"It can't be used to aid the Animagus Transformation, Professor." I spoke up.

"Indeed, another five points for Slytherin. Mister Zabini is correct, Animagi must undergo a full ritual dedicated to the Goddess Artemis. You would not want to cheat a God of their due, that is how you get smote. Does anyone else know the last one?" Asked Professor McGonagall.

"It only works in specific ways on people and animals, Professor." Answered Parvati.

"Correct, Miss Patil, Five Points to Gryffindor. That is indeed true. Does anyone know what those ways are?" Questioned Professor McGonagall.

"It can only turn people into mice, and animals into mice or frogs, Professor." Chimed in Daphne.

"Correct, Miss Greengrass. Five Points to Slytherin. Those are the three major caveats of the General Transfiguration Spell. Now, want you all to practice the spell on the Mice and the Apples that have been laid out on your desks. You must have been wondering what they were for, yes?" Queried Professor McGonagall.

A chorus of affirmative noises responded from the assembled students in the classroom, myself included. Of course, Professor McGonagall then fixed the entire room with a gimlet glare before she spoke up again.

"Now, I'm sure I don't need to mention this, but I shall anyway. If I catch any of you transfiguring your fellow students as some form of prank under the guise of practice, I will have you out of this class and out of this school fast enough that it will make your heads spin. Am I clear on that?" Asked Professor McGonagall.

Another chorus of affirmative noises rose up from the assembled students in response, though as I agreed to the stipulation, I could see Draco wasn't happy about it. I had heard that he and his little clique had taken to hexing the other Gryffindors that weren't a part of my friend group, like Seamus Finnegan and Lavender Brown, whenever they thought they could get away with it. Likely acting out against them as proxies for venting his displeasure on my friend group, since he couldn't do that without breaking the magically binding agreement we had from our Duel.

Regardless, I managed to get the gist of the General Transfiguration Spell down before the end of class, though I only had enough time to help Neville out, thanks to being slow on the draw here. Parvati, Daphne, and Tracey had all managed to get it down before I did, after all, as did Harry, surprisingly. Still, it was a successful class, and one that had let me get more House Points, again, not that I cared too much about those. The Silver Points I earned from getting those house points, however, were definitely appreciated, however. That just left Astronomy for the classes I had remaining.

It would prove to be the least eventful of the classes I would have in this stretch of time. . .

XXXX

In astronomy class, we learned about no rituals during this stretch of time. Instead, we learned about how to track the movement of the constellations across the sky. After all, they would move over the course of a year, and being able to track their movements was vital in being able to successfully cast many of the rituals we would learn and had been learning. In this, I found myself partnered with Parvati, who generally had difficulties with these sorts of assignments thanks to her Undiagnosed ADHD. Of course, the potions I had gotten her helped, but that was no excuse not to help out a friend.

Regardless, we learned the theory first, before putting it into practice. This was done by virtue of a large-scale illusion that Professor Sinistra cast over the roof of the top room of the Astronomy Tower. That was a very impressive piece of spellwork, of course, and I stood in awe of the skill that our Professor had displayed, only to be chided for it by Hermione. She and Terry were partnered up next to where Parvati and I were.

"You won't get very far in the lesson by just staring at the Professor's Illusion, you know." Chided Hermione.

"What? Come on, Mione, it's impressive spellwork!" I protested.

"True, but I don't want to carry you through the lesson. I'm not sure I can even do that." Teased Parvati.

"She's got you there, Mate." Smirked Terry.

"Traitor." I scowled at Terry in mock-anger.

"It could be worse, Mate." Spoke up Ron, from nearby.

"Not you too?" I questioned.

"Ron has a point, Mate. You could be partnered with Malfoy." Added Harry, who was Partnered with Ron.

"Et tu, Harry?" I queried.

"Just get on with the lesson, Blaise." Insisted Hermione, rolling her eyes.

"I hope you know my vengeance will be both subtle and terrible." I deadpanned.

"You've been threatening that a lot." Pointed out Parvati.

"So?" I asked.

"So you never follow through." Added Terry.

"Traitors, all of you." I grumbled.

"Whatever, Mate. Not my grade that's gonna be docked by you gawking." Smirked Ron.

"He's got a point." Nodded Harry.

"Fine. Let's get this done, then." I muttered.

And with that, I turned back to the assignment. Parvati and I got to work. We charted the courses of Orion, Ursa Major, and Leo, which was one more constellation than we were supposed to track, and which netted us both five points to Slytherin and Gryffindor. Mind you, Hermione and Terry apparently earned ten points for Ravenclaw for tracking two more constellations, but Daphne and Tracey also earned five points for Slytherin by doing the same thing that Parvati and I did, as did Millie and Susan, and Hannah and Neville, all of which earned five points for tracking an additional Constellation.

As Astronomy Class let out, I couldn't help but snigger at the whole setup. Of course, it made sense that Hermione would go the extra mile. She was Miss Studying, after all. It was what had gotten her the spot in Ravenclaw when she had been in Gryffindor the first time around. Still, it seemed like I would have to up my game, as the House Points I'd netted had only gotten me minimal Silver Points, and I figured that if I had done the same thing Hermione and Terry had, I probably would have gotten more Silver Points out of it.

Regardless, that finished my classes for this particular stretch of time. All in all, I considered myself ahead of the curve there. Of course, classes and training with Magnus Gamp weren't the only things I did in the last two weeks of October.

There was also the Potions Club, Self-Study, and the Cross-House Study Group for me to partake in. . .

XXXX

I only made one meeting of Potions Club, having been given detention by Trelawney on charges of gross disrespect after Professor Trelawney caught me badmouthing Professor Binns. I would spend that club time polishing some of the suits of armor in the Great Hall without the aid of Magic. The Club I made, however, was a far easier brew than the ones I was used to. Professor Snape didn't even force me to sit back and take notes. What I was brewing was a simple Potion of Neutralization. It could be added to any food or drink that you suspected of being tampered with by means of poisons, drugs, or potions, and it would neutralize the harmful substance.

"Be warned, however, that there are such potions which cannot be neutralized with this. Weedosoros is one such poison, as are similarly rare and concentrated substances. Now, follow these instructions to the letter. I will not have this Club shut down because of dunderheadedness." Intoned Professor Snape before sitting back down at his desk.

The instructions to brew the potion were easy. They required crushed unicorn horn, powdered bezoar, ground billywig stings, crushed mistletoe berries, ectoplasm from a giant phantom rat, and essence of dittany, each added over twenty-minute intervals before stirring clockwise twice, then letting the potion steep for one hour. If the three-hour process was successful, you should wind up with a cobalt blue potion with emerald green whorls in it.

Thankfully, my potion was pronounced acceptable by Professor Snape, and I was able to bottle several doses of it before leaving from my cauldron. Unfortunately, as I left Potions Club, I saw a flyer had just been put up on the wall advertising the NEWT-level Girls Dueling Club. Apparently, Lockhart had gotten the OK from the Headmaster to form his little recruitment scheme and was now advertising for members. That would have to be dealt with at some point.

First, however, I had to make the one Cross-House Study Group that I had been able to make in these two weeks, thanks to my twin detentions from Trelawney for disrespecting Professor Binns. Honestly, I had been talking about it with Harry, but you didn't see her sending him off to detention. Regardless, I was still finishing my armor-polishing when the first week's Cross-House Study Group rolled around.

By the time I was finished, the Study Group had already ended for the week, leaving me only able to go to one for October. It was here that I picked up the Irish Flame Arrow Spell that Seamus had contributed, along with lessons in Irish Gaelic, which Seamus had also contributed. The first I learned the hard way, it's incantation being Dóiteáin Saighead and its wand motion being tracing a check-mark shape in the air in the direction of your target with your wand. The result was an arrow-sized bolt of white hot flame that would catch targets alight. Apparently, the Irish used it as a form of Roman Candle, as with a bit of tweaking of the spell, you could get it to produce arrows of flame that were blue, green, purple, and so on.

The Irish Gaelic, though, I cheated in learning, speaking with Seamus over the course of the back half of class while using the Mind Art of Xenoglossy to effectively absorb the language. Unfortunately, that meant I didn't have much time to teach this week, but I promised everyone that I would devote the next Study Group I could make entirely to teaching to make up for it. That just left personal training, which I cut short, thanks to two things, only training Leglimency and Occlumency this week.

The first thing that cut short my personal training was spending time getting a meeting with Madame Pomfrey and handing her the Mandrake Restorative Draught. Of course, getting that meeting was a problem, as she was busily tracking down any contacts she had that she could get Stewed Mandrake from. It required multiple tries to get the meeting, and it cut into my time for self-training. Eventually, however, I managed to do it, and she was able to use it to wake up Luna.

The second thing that ate up my time for self-study was my attempts to investigate Lockhart and his doings. I spent multiple evenings and nights under the cover of my Family Concealment Cloak, Sona Inferior, and Snape's Scent Neutralizing Potion, camped out near Lockhart's Office. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the last night of trying that I finally got a hit. Most of the time, he simply did normal activities. It was on the night of Halloween that I finally managed to catch Lockhart doing something he wouldn't have ordinarily been doing. It was eleven o'clock at night when I finally caught him.

Unfortunately, that excursion would also become my first run-in with the Basilisk of Salazar Slytherin. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. It's a bit of a timeskippy one, but you'll get a more granular chapter next time. In this one, not only does Blaise continue his school life, but he also picks up on a potential brewing romantic rivalry between Millie and Daphne over him, as well as manages to hand off the cure for Luna's Petrification to Madame Pomfrey. Unfortunately, it looks like any further petrifications are going to have to wait until the Hogwarts Mandrakes are ready. There just isn't a whole lot of call for it in Wizarding Britain. Basilisks are a Southeastern Europe thing generally, after all.

At any rate, the next chapter will include Blaise's stalking of Lockhart, as well as his first run-in with the Hogwarts Basilisk. Then we'll have another time-skippy interlude for the first two weeks of November before the results of the Board of Governors Meeting regarding Dumbledore become known.

Stay tuned. . .