Chapter 18

As October continued, I more or less kept going with my training, classes, and social interactions. In the case of classes, most of what I was learning from Magnus Gamp was lecture-based. Lectures on Yetis, Gnomes, Cornish Pixies, and Banshees during Defense while I learned about the properties of Rat Tails, Bat Spleens, Salamander Blood, and Griffin Claws in Potions. Practical Work was primarily in charms, though I also learned how to make the Swelling Solution and Burn Heal Salve in Potions, and learned about the Fumos Dua Spell and the Impediment Jinx in Defense. Charms-wise, I learned the Tickling Charm, the Slowing Charm, the Skurge Charm, and the Glass-Breaking Charm.

Then, of course, there was the constant sparring. I'd been deemed 'acceptable' by Magnus Gamp for where I was in my age cohort, which meant that we weren't doing as much of it as we had been, but we still began and ended each lesson with a Spar. Of course, I was getting incrementally better, but I was still a long way from breaking even with Magnus Gamp. If I had been close to doing that as an eleven-year-old, I would have been worried.

After all, that was the sort of main character shenanigans that got you noticed by people like Voldemort, currently riding shotgun underneath Quirell's Turban. Granted there were a couple of things about me that would tick those boxes, Obviously the Self-Insertion thing was one, as were the multiple Bloodline Talents. Of course, then there was the fact that I had been born on April Fifth, the Feast Day of the Roman Goddess Fortuna, AKA The Goddess of Luck. This meant that I had been conceived in Early January, roughly around the same time as the Ancient Roman Feast of the Parcae, AKA the Fates.

Being born literally of Fate and Luck was the sort of massive red flag thrown up on such a checklist that I really wanted to avoid. My mother had obviously agreed because she'd specifically traveled back to Sicily to give birth to me in the Villagio del Mistero. The Office of the Royal Archivist of Magical Italy wouldn't give out that information to just anyone, not with my family being related to the King's. As far as the British Ministry knew, my Birthday was April Second, not nearly as problematic for flying under the radar. That also coincided with my Birthday from my former life as well in a bout of Multiversal Symmetry.

Regardless of whatever Main Character Flags I may or may not have been raising, I still got my arse handed to me good by Magnus Gamp in each of our spars, though I was improving in moderate increments. Those lessons weren't the problem I'd been having. Nor were my other classes, come to that.

In Herbology, we learned about Venomous Tentaculas and Spiky Bushes. I knew about both of those based on Mother purchasing a controlling stake in the New Bromehill Nursery in New Bromehill, a wizarding village on the coast a few miles away from the Muggle town of Lydd. She'd done so a few years ago, and her stake had passed to me after her death. I knew enough about the general pitfalls of both thanks to that to have enough expertise to share with my classmates.

Venemous Tentaculas enjoyed wet climates, like the kind in the Romney Marsh where New Bromehill was, while the sparse population in the area allowed Spiky Bushes to be cultivated in large quantities without really harming anyone. Both were large sellers, as Venomous Tentacula juice, extracted by pulping the leaves, was highly useful in a number of potions and poisons, while Spiky Bush Spikes were useful in a number of pain relief potions.

I partnered with Susan again and made a whole bunch of house points and Silver Points by successfully potting both our Spiky Bush and Venomous Tentacula quickly, efficiently, and without incident. Then I helped others do the same thanks to my personal knowledge. I needed the Silver Points, too, because there were other rituals I would need to use the Slytherin Ritual Chamber for that we would be taught about in Astronomy.

Those Rituals, it turned out, were the Rituals of Cunomaglus' Hand and Silvanus' Wisdom, both of which invoked Wilderness Gods, though for different reasons. Cunomaglus' Hand allowed a permanent steadiness of aim, as Cunomaglus was an ancient Brittonic Hunting God, while Silvanus' Wisdom allowed for a certain level of woodcraft to be magically granted to a person permanently, though the level of woodcraft varied by the sacrifice given.

For the former, it had to be performed at noon, when the sun was at its highest peak, and the supplicant had to create a hunter's stew of game meat, spring water, and forest vegetables, brewing it for an hour as the sun stayed high in the sky before sacrificing the resulting stew during high noon. It was a process that normally took three days to cook the stew and one to eat. That meant at least four uses of the Slytherin Ritual Chamber. It was worth it for better aim, however, especially in a life where I would most likely wind up fighting Dark Wizards.

The Ritual of Silvanus' Wisdom on the other hand had to be done at night under starlight, with the Constellation Auriga overhead, as Silvanus is associated with Shepherds. Then you had to build a fire from Cypress Wood and sacrifice either Grain, Wine Grapes, or Pork over the fire. Grain was considered the least of the Sacrifices, while Pork was considered the greatest. Quality also played a part, as did quantity. There were stories of those who sacrificed an entire Side of Tebo Pork gaining not only knowledge of how to survive in the Wilderness, but a vast wealth of knowledge about common magical creatures and plants to boot.

In Transfiguration, we primarily worked on various theoretical things, like the various long-hand Transfiguration Formulas or the Fundamental Laws of Transfiguration, some of which had already been covered as part of the safety instruction at the very beginning of the year, but which also included things such as Gamp's Law, which stated that some things could not be conjured from thin air, which includes Food, Material Wealth, Love, the Soul, and Sentience. The only other thing we learned here was the switching spell, which was enough like the Summoning and Banishing Charms that I finally managed to beat Parvati Patil and Tracey at being the first to successfully cast it.

That brought on another large influx of both House and Silver Points especially as I offered my help to both Parvati and Tracey, as well as took a lead role in ensuring the entire class could perform the Switching Spell. I would desperately need those Silver Points, though I could take or leave the House Points, given how I would need the use of the Slytherin Ritual Chamber for Four Days and a Night. Thankfully, my Cross-House Study Group was earning me a passive income of Silver Points.

Speaking of which, I was forced to miss one of those meetings. Apparently, I'd earned a second round of detentions from Professor Trelawney during dinner one evening, after I'd run out the week of detentions with Snape scrubbing cauldrons. Apparently, Trelawney had taken offense at how I'd come to dinner with my robes askew after spending my last Snape Detention.

"How can you be expected to dine with other wizards looking like that?" Questioned Professor Trelawney, blinking at me owlishly behind her thick spectacles, turning away to flag down another professor.

"Please. You want to lecture me on appearances?" I muttered under my breath.

Unfortunately, it hadn't been under my breath enough because Professor Trelawney rounded on me, face flushed red.

"What did you say?" She demanded.

"Nothing Professor." I sighed, looking down.

"Oh? Think I've gone deaf as well as being a fraud, eh?" Scowled Professor Trelawney.

It was then that I realized just what was happening here. I'd ticked the checkbox for Bully Professor on the Questionnaire, which seems to have landed on Trelawney using my prior comments as a medium for it. With that, I knew that there was no getting out of this. Questionnaire Complications were as immutable as ever.

Trelawney flagged down none other than the aged form of Professor Silvanus Kettleburn to try and really drive things in. She must have heard about my. . .difficulties with Magical Creatures and decided that this would be a detention that would really sting.

"Yes, Sybill?" Queried Professor Kettleburn.

"Silvanus, I have a student here in need of a serious detention. What is the most grueling task Hagrid currently has that a first-year can do?" Asked Professor Trelawney.

"He's due to muck out the Thestral Pen before the first snowfall. He claimed he'd get to it Saturday. It's supposed to take him until just after dinner. Apparently, one of the Herd had some sort of stomach bug and spread it around before she was quarantined." Informed Professor Kettleburn.

"That will do nicely, thank you, Silvanus." Grinned Professor Trelawney.

That was how I spent all day Saturday literally shoveling shit with Hagrid. Unfortunately, the dislike that Magical Creatures tended to have for me seemed to extend to Thestrals, as I was nipped, buffeted by wings, and almost trampled at multiple different points during the day. By the time we were finished, I had to spend the night in the Hospital Wing due to a Thestral Bite, missing the Cross-House Study Group for that week. Thankfully, I made it to the one after that, but now Trelawney knew that if she really felt like being vindictive, assigning me Detention with Hagrid was the way to go.

During that Cross-House Study Group Session, I picked up a few other spells, The Summoning and Banishing Charms from Cedric Diggory, the Brachiabindo Jinx, Fulgari Charm, and Emancipare Counterspell from Sophie Roper, and the Ritual of Geasa-Binding from Wayne Hopkins. Thankfully, people were going easier on me in terms of asking for lessons, owing to how I'd been forced to miss the last meeting. I'd wound up Teaching Harry, Terry, Daphne, Tracey, Susan, Millie, Hermione, Anthony Goldstein, Hannah, and Ron how to perform my Flashbang Spell, but that was it. They even gathered together in a group to learn it so as to take up the least amount of time they could.

It was just unfortunate that my social life and downtime training had to suffer thanks to Trelawney. Not only had the week's worth of detentions with Snape seriously eaten into my training and social time but the time spent on mucking out the Thestral Paddock had done the same. I'd only managed to get a little bit of Occlumency, Leglimency, and Dead Moment training in. Nowhere near the amount I normally managed, thanks to that.

I'd also only made it to a single Club Meeting, this one for the Potions Club in the two weeks between the Ambush in the Trophy Room and Halloween. The Duelling Club had noticed my absence, though they understood, but Malfoy had seemingly taken the opportunity presented by my absence to go around challenging random Cross-House Study Group Members to duels in order to prove that he didn't need anyone's help to be a superior wizard. He even managed to beat a couple of them, Hannah, Hermione, and Wayne Hopkins had all lost duels to Malfoy while I was out.

In the one Potions Club meeting I'd managed to make it to, we were brewing the Calming Draught, one of the reasons the Club was only lightly attended. I suppose people didn't think they'd need to brew Calming Draught all that often. Lightly attended may have been a misnomer, it was just me and the Second-Year Gryffindor of the Club, Katie Bell. She was one of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team's Chasers, and was surprisingly good company, at least off the field.

"Can you pass the Crocodile Hearts?" I asked, pointing to the tray of bloody, four-chambered, reptilian, organs.

"Sure, pass me the lavender?" Nodded Katie, moving to grab the hearts.

I headed for the vials of lavender sprigs and we swapped ingredients. Katie went to begin grinding the sprigs up with her mortar and pestle, while I began chopping crocodile hearts with my knife. Even brewing side-by-side, we worked at our own paces, each at different stages of the process. I was at the adding chopped crocodile hearts phase, which came after the add ground sprig of lavender phase. I had to admit, though, that Katie was at least friendly. She made an effort to engage me in conversation free of judgment, which was more than I could say for some people.

"So, your family's Italian, right?" Questioned Katie as we worked.

"Mum's side, yes. I never really knew my father, he died while Mum was still pregnant with me. I know he came from a pretty widespread Morroccan Wizarding Family, with branches throughout North Africa and the Middle East, but it's not really a part of my heritage like Italian is." I responded.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Offered Katie.

"Don't be. I never knew him so it doesn't matter. I appreciate the sentiment, though. Why are you curious about Italy?" I queried.

"I've always wanted to go there. Everyone I know who's gone on Holiday there has said it's a beautiful country." Answered Katie.

"It is. I've never been further north than Caserta, mind you, so I only know the South. I can tell you, though, the way the sun rises over the mountains, shining its rays across villages and fields before glinting off the ocean, it'll take your breath away. There's a lot of culture and history there, and the food is just the best." I confirmed.

"Huh, it sounds like you're really passionate about it." Mused Katie, a small smile on her face.

"Maybe a little. That's my heritage you're talking about, after all." I chuckled.

"I'd love to go. Maybe I'll ask Mum if we can go for the Summer Holidays." Grinned Katie.

We spent the rest of the club focusing on brewing. I managed to get a fairly good number of doses out of my cauldron, at least more than Katie did, which wasn't surprising given how Katie was more of a student of Transfiguration than of Potions by her own admission. Still, this might come in handy in the future, and I didn't have to use my own ingredients for it, given how the school supplied a certain amount of potions ingredients for the Club each month. Katie wasn't bad company either.

Unfortunately, as I made my way down to dinner that night, word had already gone around that I'd been at Potions Club alone with a Second-Year Gryffindor. I was, unfortunately, confronted by a group of my friends about it. That was simply the price I paid for having primarily female friends.

"I heard you and Katie Bell were in Potions Club alone." Opened Daphne.

"We were. So?" I asked.

"So people are talking. Pansy is already spreading rumors around the Girls." Added Tracey.

"What sort of rumors?" I pressed.

"The sort where you and an older Gryffindor were snogging while your potions began to steep. Is it true?" Demanded Millie.

"What? No! We're only eleven!" I sputtered, coughing on my glass of Goblin Juice Cola. The bubbles went right down the wrong pipe, and that precipitated a coughing fit, which Susan seemed to have a cure for as she pointed her wand at my throat.

 "Blandementum Mellus". She incanted.

As she did that, my throat opened up like I had just swallowed a lozenge. It tasted like it too, with hints of soothing honey helping to allow my coughing to subside. As it did, I wondered briefly if Puberty hit differently for Wizards and Witches than for Muggles. True, boys could start it as young as nine and girls as young as eight, but I didn't recall even feeling any kind of way about girls in my old life before the age of twelve. I certainly hadn't wanted to make out with a girl before then and had still been in the 'girls have cooties' phase at this point in my old life.

"So you're denying that you and Katie Bell snogged at Potions Club?" Questioned Hannah.

"Categorically. We had a conversation, she was friendly, that's it." I insisted.

"You wouldn't lie about this, right?" Queried Susan.

"Professor Snape comes to those meetings." I reminded.

"Right. I hardly think that Professor Snape would have allowed that. I told you all." Sighed Hermione, rolling her eyes.

"Terry, help me out here, Mate." I pleaded, looking over to Terry.

I received no help on that front, nor from either of my new Gryffindor friends, as both Harry and Ron had joined Terry in studiously ignoring the conversation that was going on. In fact, all three were actively heading back toward their respective tables. The traitors, my vengeance will be both merciless and creative. . .whenever I get around to wreaking it. Turning back toward the Girls, I saw that they seemed to be holding some manner of telepathic, girl conversation.

Eventually, they must have come to a decision, because Hermione, Susan, and Hannah simply nodded and walked off. Meanwhile, Daphne, Tracey, and Millie still were scrutinizing me with judging expressions.

"Say we believe you. Do you know why we've given you the third degree?" Asked Daphne.

"Because you've somehow suddenly all gone gossip-crazy?" I deadpanned.

"No. I can't speak for Hermione, Susan, and Hannah, but for the three of us it's because she's one of the Gryff Chasers." Informed Tracey.

"This has all been because of Quidditch?" I questioned in disbelief.

"Quidditch is serious business. Our first game's in a week and it's against Gryffindor." Nodded Millie.

"You can see why that would be an issue." Insisted Tracey.

"One must support their home team, after all." Sniffed Daphne.

"This is mental. I don't even like Quidditch!" I protested.

"It is what it is. You'll have to show up to the Game to support the Team now. It's likely to be the only way to head off whatever Rumors Pansy is spreading." Insisted Tracey.

"We'll save you a seat." Added Millie.

I could only groan in response. It looked like I was being forced into going to the first Quidditch Match of the Year on November Sixth. It just sucked because Quidditch sucked, it was practically meant to be played entirely by Main Characters and honestly, if someone told me the game had been invented in order to appease the King's Wizarding Brother or some other such thing, I'd believe it fully. The rules were literally designed so that only Seekers mattered except in a rare handful of matches. Besides, I already knew that Harry was going to win it for Gryffindor, anyway.

Mind you, with how things shook out with Snape, Quirell, Voldemort, and Harry's Broom, I was tempted to go incognito under cover of my concealing cloak to begin with, but that didn't mean I enjoyed being Shanghaied into it. Regardless, I took a bite of my roasted squash and sighed. First, the Trolls that would be coming on Halloween and now the Quidditch Match, it looked like I'd be taking a more active role in the plot in short order.

As Halloween dawned, I could only hope that I'd made enough of an impact behind the scenes so far to avert the grisly fate I'd foreseen for Millie. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here we have the second half of October. It's a bit timeskippy, but there are large swathes of time in between plot beats that need to be gone over, so you'll get timeskippy chapters.

Here we finally get to see how taking the Bully Teacher Drawback is effecting Blaise's life. The answer is not well. Trelawney can be surprisingly vindictive when influenced into it by CYOA choices, it seems. Meanwhile, the bit with Katie Bell and Pansy spreading rumors is meant to force Blaise's appearance at the Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch Match. A major plot beat happens there, and so long as Blaise is being forced to go, he might as well try and draw attention to Quirrel.

Who knows? Maybe he'll get lucky and Dumbledore will realize Quirell's possessed by Voldemort if he does? Probably not, but then, you never know how things can shake out. Of course, he'll have to deal with Halloween and the Trolls First.

Speaking of which, the Troll Encounter on Halloween is coming up next chapter.

Stay tuned. . .