Chapter Text
Sunday November 20th, 1994
The next morning, while the others were still asleep, Jacqueline beckoned Melissa to follow her into the loo.
“I- um- I talked to Lucy yesterday.”
Oh?! Hot damn! “How did that go?”
She bit her lip, looking embarrassed. “Apparently, she once asked me the same sort of questions I asked her yesterday, and I had completely disregarded them.”
“You did? When? Wait- she asked you? But that means-”
“Exactly!” She said in a hushed tone. Jacqueline rubbed her temple. “Which means I rejected her months ago and have made an absolute fool of myself!”
“Okay, but, the feeling’s mutual, right?”
“Yes, but, like you said, it’s illegal.”
“True…” she paused for a breath. “So where does that leave you two?”
“I- we- have decided to take things slow. We already spend so much time together, few would be suspicious of us, especially as no one has yet had a problem with how much time we spend together.” She blushed suddenly. “Though perhaps we should stop giving each other flowers.”
“What?! But it’s so cute!” Melissa argued. “Besides, wouldn’t stopping count as suspicious?”
Jacqueline looked unimpressed, “Wouldn’t continuing count as suspicious?”
“...Stick with spices and fruits over flowers?” Melissa suggested with a shrug. “You’re technically just giving her baking supplies, right?”
Jacqueline let out a long breath. “...I suppose.” A short pause fell between them. “I know this isn’t- if anyone ever found out- or, Circe forbid, if my family found out-” She let out a huff. “What I’m trying to say is- thank you- for telling me, for why I’ve been so… confused. I don’t know what will happen, but… I’m glad you’re my friend.”
Melissa gave her a gentle smile, “Of course, and you’re welcome.” She embraced Jacqueline with gentle reassurance, “It’s what friends do. We help each other, and protect each other. I’ve got your back.”
“Protect each other,” Jacqueline murmured, “Yes. That’s exactly what we do.”
Harry arrived at Professor Sprout’s office promptly at 9 o’clock. “Good morning, Professor.”
“Good morning, dear,” she smiled sweetly at him. “Did you have a nice breakfast?”
Harry gave a nod. He’d eaten light, knowing today would be harrowing, not to mention risky on a full stomach. “Thank you for signing me off for today.”
“It’s no trouble, dear. In fact, the Headmaster was happy to hear you’re taking your preparation seriously.” She suddenly scowled. “Not that you should have needed it in the first place, of course. It’s dreadful that they’re forcing you to compete.”
“I know,” Harry gave a playful shrug, “but at least our House gets all of the glory with having two champions.”
Professor Sprout laughed, “Now, Harry, we can’t be playing favourites too strongly.” The wink she gave him suggested that she only said that in faux humility. “Alright, dear, be off with you. And remember; the password back to my floo is ‘Mel Meles’.”
Harry stared at his Head of House, blinking slowly. “That password has something to do with honey or bees, doesn’t it?”
Her playful smile remained. “Two points for your knowledge of Latin, Mister Potter.” then she leaned in for a stage whisper. “Though meles is also Latin for badger.”
Realization dawned on Harry, and he gave a cheeky smile back. “That’s a great password.”
“Perfect for this year,” she agreed. “Now, off you go, dear!”
“Harry!” Sirius enveloped Harry in a hug as soon as he stepped through the floo. “Thank goodness you’re here! We should take the year off, keep travelling instead of sticking with this mess.”
“Too late for that,” Harry lamented. “Bagman and Wilkins say my magic’s on the line if I don’t compete.”
“Bah! Useless, the lot of them!” Sirius turned away from the Grimmauld floo and shouted towards the hallway. “Chiara! Harry’s here!”
“I’m coming down!”
Harry and Sirius caught up with each other briefly. Once Chiara arrived, however, Harry’s attention switched to the large bump on her abdomen. “Oh, wow! Chiara you look…”
“Enormous,” Chiara said with a groan, “I know.”
He wouldn’t say she was ‘huge’, not in the slightest. That said, the baby bump she was sporting was surprisingly prominent. “I thought that you’re only four months pregnant. When we met your sister, she was about that far ahead, too, right?”
“Yes, but she wasn’t pregnant with twins.”
His eyes went wide. “TWINS?!”
“Surprise!” Sirius chuckled nervously. “Trust me, we were surprised too.”
“But, how?! Is that normal?”
“In my family, no,” Chiara said.
“Same with mine,” Said Sirius. “Aside from a few magical families, twins are pretty rare. Well, outside of fertility potions.”
“Which we didn’t use, obviously,” Chiara said. She looked about the room. “At least this home is good for a family. …Aside from the elf.”
“Is Kreacher being a problem?”
“Yeah,” Sirius said gruffly, “He keeps trying to get out of doing anything for Chiara, and I’ve heard him muttering about the babies in a way that… let’s just say it would make my mother proud.”
Harry winced. “Ugh.”
“Exactly.”
“Just have him live with your cousin,” Chiara said in a tone that suggested she’s said this before, “he loves Narcissa.”
“I asked, but with how he’s treating you, she’s worried Kreacher will do something to Phoenix.”
Harry considered the small argument. “Why not ask Grandfather Arcturus to take him in?”
“Heh! Please. If he hears about that, he’ll probably think having Kreacher here is a great idea.”
“You never know unless you ask. He cares about family,” he reminded Sirius, “I’m sure he’ll want the babies to feel safe. He could even have one of his elves come live with us, instead. Koby’s a good elf.”
Sirius’ face looked like he bit into something sour.
“He has a point, Siri,” Chiara said. “We won’t know unless you ask. As for me, I’ll take any chance to get rid of the monster.”
Silence reigned a few more seconds, then Sirius let out a petulant huff. “Fine! I’ll ask. Happy?”
“That’s all I ask.” She stepped forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Chiara then looked over to Harry, “You two are going to practice for your contest, yes?”
“Uh, yeah, we should get started on that.”
After an early breakfast, Melissa arrived at the potions lab where Professor Snape had her scheduled to continue her work on her ISP. She came prepared for the meeting. First, she presented to him her symptoms report. It didn’t have a lot of entries, with circumstances only happening for the last three weeks, but she tried to be as detailed as possible with the time, effects, duration, and even the distance with as much accuracy as she could manage.
Next, she brought up the subject of muggle music healing (along with an admission of most of it being future research) and the use of magically charged metal and gemstones. “Lev, one of the boys from Durmstrang, his mum and grandparents work in the instrument-crafting business; and the Weasley twins know a fair bit of metallomagy, so I’ve gotten some resources from them to get started on that avenue.”
“So long as you’re not depending on fellow students as sole granters of knowledge. Small mercies there.” He took her sheet of notes and pulled out his own sheet of parchment. “I’ve conducted research of my own into potential plantlife to be used in your experiments. I suggest you go over them carefully.”
Melissa took the parchment, eyes sweeping over a chart of plants and their components. Many were scratched out in red, while a select few had descriptions of their ‘reactions’. The notion eluded her. “What are these reactions based on?”
“Death magic,” he said simply. “That is what you are hoping to shield against, after all.”
Weird, but okay. She muttered a less offensive sentiment, then opted to look over the list. The list was alphabetical, and it took getting to the D’s before anything of note was written. Dirigible Plums, Dittany and Ginger all had the same note, reading ‘mild tolerance, mix with silver or other substance?’
Lady’s Mantle had an interesting set of notes. ‘Recommended by NF. Leaf and stem produce mild reactions. Promising results from dew harvest. Test harvest potency with various moon phases - Full and Waning most likely.’
NF… Nicholas Flamel?! Is he still alive? Or is that from Dumbledore’s notes? Either way this is a good avenue to go off of.
Moly - ‘Moderate tolerance...’ Makes sense, seeing as it’s used for healing potions. I bet Wiggenweld bark will be on this list too. …Pennyroyal and Rue are on this list, but not Sage? Aren’t all three of them useful in anti-curse and healing potions? Ah, well, you can’t win them all. Oh, look at that, Wiggenweld bark! ‘Strong tolerance to DH…’ I’m sorry, is DH what I think it is?!
“It is worth mentioning,” Snape said suddenly, his eyes on the notes she gave him, “that despite their reputations sunstone and moonstone will be of no use to you.”
“Good to know.” She paused, her previous thoughts returning. “I take it you had Harry try out his wand on those ones already?”
“I did.”
Geez, how is this man both sneaky and willing to admit hidden information that quickly? Then another thought occurred to her. So… Harry knows about the project? That's kind of sweet of him. Annoying, but I suppose if I’d run into him at all this month he would’ve told me. “And you two did these tests when?”
Snape had the audacity to glance at her symptom report before answering. “Last Saturday from ten until noon.”
Her expression flattened. “You know, a little warning would have been appreciated.”
Snape gave an oily smile. “And risk a placebo reaction? I think not.”
Dick! “So you’re fine with having me suffer for hours every weekend without any warning?!”
“Are you suffering at this moment, Miss Bennett?”
“Obviously not; but when he’s using them-”
“Then there’s nothing to concern yourself over,” Snape said in a dismissive tone. He then, oddly, checked his watch and made a note on another sheet of parchment.
Harry dodged another of Sirius’ spells. In a flash, he fired an offensive spell back at his godfather, feeling the thrill of the Elder Wand course through him.
“You can’t keep hiding forever, Pup!” Sirius shouted.
He’s trying to make me talk. Don’t fall for it. He’d already made that mistake before. The Invisibility Cloak can hide him from Death itself. It doesn’t, however, prevent others from following his voice.
Two spells went in succession from Sirius’ wand. The first Harry dodged easily. The second didn’t need dodging in the right sense, as the ground beneath him was suddenly covered in a sheet of ice.
“AHH!” Harry crashed to the ground, the puff of ice particles exposing his location at once.
“Got you now! Rictusempra!”
The spell collided with Harry’s hidden form. At least, he thought it had… yet Harry wasn’t laughing. He didn’t think hard on Sirius’ missed aim. Instead he cast Fumos to obscure his location and make his escape. They fought for three more minutes, until Harry managed to catch Sirius with a body-bind that won the round. When released, they both agreed to a short break.
As they did, Sirius stared hard at Harry. “So, are we going to talk about it?”
“About what?”
“The fact that I hit you with at least four spells, and you didn’t react to any of them.”
“What? No you didn’t.”
“He did,” Chiara added with a nod. “There were very clear splashes of hitting something in the air. I just thought Sirius was going easy on you so that you weren’t hurt.”
“I mean, that’s true,” Sirius said, “but just because they aren’t strong spells doesn’t mean they do nothing. Yet you didn’t react at all. Not to a tickling charm, or a stunning spell, nothing.”
“What?” Harry said with shock. “How is that possible?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. So it’s not some fancy shield spell or charm protecting you?”
“No?” Harry paused a bit. “Are you absolutely sure you hit me?”
“Well, I can test that,” Sirius flashed a cheeky smile. “Impedimenta!”
The spell hit Harry square in the chest, and he could barely retaliate as the spell took hold, impending his movement. Seconds later the spell wore off, and he huffed angrily. “You could have warned me!”
“I thought I did,” Sirius chuckled, “that said, it’s nice to know that it actually worked this time. I know I got you with that one when you were talking.”
That… that does check out, actually. He was half-convinced he’d be hit by that spell during the fight, yet when he felt no effect, he just assumed Sirius missed. “But then how?”
“Maybe your invisibility cloak helped?” Chiara suggested.
“Nah, can’t be that,” Sirius waved dismissively. “I’ve gotten James while he was in the cloak loads of times.”
But things have changed, Harry thought, haven’t they. “Let’s try it anyway.” He put the cloak back on, hood included, and spoke clearly. “Hit me with a tickling charm.”
“If you say so,” Sirius said slowly. “Rictusempra!” The spell hit, but nothing happened. “Harry?”
“Yeah?”
“...We’re all seeing this, right?”
“Yes,” Chiara nodded slowly. “Did you do something to make your cloak stronger?”
Harry removed his hood, his expression pensive. “I think I have. I just didn’t realize until now…” He then exposed the Elder Wand for what it is, and Sirius listened rapt as Harry explained what happened between him and Dumbledore, and even what happened earlier on Halloween with Lucius Malfoy. By the end of it, Sirius remained wide-eyed, and had fingers to his temple.
“You have all three.”
“Yeah.”
“And you know what this means. What… what you’re capable of with all of this.”
“Not everything, clearly, considering the Invisibility Cloak. I’ll have to test them more to figure things out.”
Sirius shuddered. Chiara looked concerned as well, though not remotely disturbed, having not grown up with the stories or magic in general. “Well, on the bright side, you now have a shield against spells. Maybe it can work against your fire task, too?”
Both wizards looked at her in shock. “That… is a very excellent point.”
“If he’s facing dragons, though, the fire will be pretty brutal. Do you think it can stand up to it?”
“No ideas, but it wouldn’t hurt to test it against fire spells. Let’s see how much I can handle it.”
“An interesting theory, Miss Bennett,” Snape mused. “Though seeing as gold is what electronics use for circuitry, as you say, that may be a better option than silver.”
“True, but with the purifying qualities of silver, I’d feel more comfortable testing both of them, as well as reactions to stones in powder form, like you said.”
“Yes. Though what did you mean earlier about difficulties with some stones in powdered form?”
“Some of these- emerald, ruby, tourmaline, the quartzes, and unakite- are higher on the hardiness scale than moonstone. I’m not entirely sure if manually crushing them into a powder is even possible. I might have a similar problem with tigers eye and tiger iron. Unfortunately all of their benefits look really promising, so I have to try.”
“...Tiger iron?”
“It seems to be a hybrid of a few other stones on my list,” she explained. “Though, funny fact, it also goes by mugglestone.”
Snape let out a scoff. “You’d best hope it doesn’t have any negating effects on magic.”
“Mmm, no, it has magical properties and has been used for protective amulets.”
Snape nodded and continued down the list, comparing one section with the rest. “Most of these should be fine to make in powdered form, judging by the rating given to moonstone. That said, you need to also gather enough of these stones in raw and polished forms to conduct thorough tests.”
“That won’t be a problem. I have connections to someone that will help.”
Snape gave her a questioning look. “You do, do you?”
“Wystan’s family. I’m sure I can get some from him.” Well, from Jacinth’s squib uncle, Mal. Not that Snape needs to know that. She can probably ask Jacinth anyways, to cover her tracks. If he says no, she’ll just say relatives got some for her from the muggle world. It wouldn’t be a lie, afterall. Though, of course, he’ll likely ask for something big to trade for the major gemstones. It’s a pain, but that’s the cost of business and staying alive, she supposed.
“Well, Pup,” Sirius grinned, “I don’t know about dragon fire, but it looks to me like you’ll manage fine against most people going up against you.”
“I really hope so,” Harry nodded, stroking the cloak subconsciously as he put it back in his bag.
The three retired to the dining room, where Kreacher had lunch waiting for them. Tea was also poured and prepped for Harry and Sirius. The same could not be said for Chiara. He exchanged a look with her, communicating that this was just the tip of the iceberg with the bigoted elf. Harry opted to step in, in Kreacher’s stead, getting a drink ready for her.
Sirius, in contrast, ignored the erumpent in the room and moved on to other things. “How was your Hogsmeade visit? Did you do anything interesting?”
Harry froze mid-pour, a blush creeping on his face. He collected himself before the teacup could spill over, and put the pot down as he answered, “I, um, I went on a date.”
“WHAT?!” Sirius launched forward with glee. “A date? Why didn’t you tell me?! Way to go, Pup! Tell us all about it! Who’s the lucky bird? A fellow Puff?”
Chiara burst out laughing, “Let him answer one question before you ask more, Siri.”
Even Harry chuckled a bit, easing off some of his blush. “You were closer about her being a bird. She’s in Ravenclaw. Her name’s Cho.”
“Ah, a smart girl,” Sirius nodded sagely.
“What’s she like?” Chiara asked.
“She’s a seeker, like me. She’s a fan of the Tutshill Tornados and wants to try out for the team,” Harry explained, having only learned that information yesterday. “Um, she’s sweet and really pretty, and nice.” Harry paused for a moment, not sure how to continue.
“She sounds lovely,” Chiara said with an encouraging nod.
“Think you’ll go on another date?” Sirius asked.
“I-” He gave a shy nod, “I hope so.”
“Good.” Sirius gave a mischievous smile, “Maybe we should invite this Cho girl over for the holidays? Meet her parents, too.”
“WHAT?!”
The adults laughed, while Harry felt confused and mortified.
“I’m just teasing you, Pup.”
“Though if you want us to invite her over, just let us know,” Chiara added.
Harry squirmed in his seat, muttering a shy, “I guess.” The adults continued laughing as Harry fought the nervous flush. Another thought finally crossed his mind, one he was sure would stop their laughter. “Speaking of Christmas… I was wondering if we, uh, if we could invite Dudley over for the holidays.”
Sirius stopped laughing at once. “Dudley? Your muggle cousin?”
Harry nodded.
“Harry,” Sirius paused, as though still absorbing the words, “are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Truthfully, he wasn’t sure at all. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask. He mentioned in his last letter that he’s bringing his mum to London for an appointment, and I just thought- maybe- I don’t know-”
“Pup, your aunt abused you. She hates magic- and you-”
“But it’s different now!” Harry argued. “Muggles who leave Azkaban get their memories wiped of magic! She doesn’t remember any of it.”
“It won’t stop her memories of you, though,” Sirius said pointedly. “She’ll still remember that she hates you, and that she hated Lily.”
Harry frowned. “Maybe, but it’s not like she can do or say anything to hurt me anymore.”
Sirius gave a loud sigh, “Pup-”
Chiara raised a hand up. “If I can say something.” The wizards paused, both unsure of what Chiara could add to all of their family drama. Her eyes were focused on Harry. “Harry, if your aunt doesn’t remember magic, but hated it before, how will she react if she comes to this house, with its enchantments, house elves, and moving pictures?”
Harry’s eyes went wide, finding himself at a loss for words.
“I will tell you how she will react. She will be scared. Terrified. Sirius told me she has been living in a madhouse until recently. If she were to see these things, what would it do to her mind? Make it worse. Make her crazy again; and would your cousin forgive you for making his mother like this again?”
His shoulders sagged with defeat. “...No.”
“No, he will not.” She reached out across the table for his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “See him for their appointment. Take them around the city, if your aunt is being pleasant; but, for everyone’s sake, keep them away from all of the magical things. It will be much better that way.”
“Oh,” Harry blinked, “that’s a good idea.”
“Of course,” Chiara gave him a cheeky smile, “and I will come, too. Less likely to be an issue if I am the adult instead of Sirius.”
“What?” Sirius said. “Why not me?”
Chiara gave him a humoured smile. “Can you be polite to his family and not talk about magic?”
“Well-” he thought, “I suppose-”
“Not likely,” the words came out behind barely restrained laughter. “You’ll just be yourself, Siri.”
“Hey!” His eyes suddenly glinted, “Since you’re so sure about what I’ll do, I’ll show you what ‘being myself’ is like!”
Sirius launched towards Chiara, but she bolted in an instant, laughing and shouting back at Sirius as he chased her out of the room.
…Leaving a slightly dumbfounded Harry shaking his head at the ridiculous adults in his life.
Snape looked over the notes with a single satisfactory nod. “You appear to have a grasp of the next steps needed for your research. I suggest you get to work quickly, lest you find yourself in the infirmary before Christmas.”
“Duly noted, professor,” she said politely. On the inside, she scoffed, Right, as if I can make an Anti-Hallow amulet by Christmas!
With their meeting now over, she left the office and headed up to the owlery. She needs those stones, and soon. That said, writing to Mal isn’t an easy feat. Technically she has to write to her aunt in a cryptic enough script for her to pass on a request and bargaining price. From there it’s a lot of negotiating between the adults, leaving her in the dark until it's time for payment.
“Morning, Hootini! Morning, everyone!” She greeted the owls as she walked into the room. Many gave her annoyed hoots, having been interrupted from their sleep. Hootini, at least, gave a mild hoo as she gave him a loving head-stroke. “You can rest for a bit, I just got to write the letter first,” she promised. She took out a muggle notebook, thinking of how to best craft this latest cryptic message; but then a thought occurred to her. …She doesn’t actually need to be super cryptic this time, does she?
Dear Aunt Sophie,
Things have been pretty wild at school. The other day I threw a big birthday party for my friend, Lev, and yesterday we went on a date!
Her hand stilled. Why did I write that?! Fuck!
Then again… that is a painfully normal thing for a teenager to write about, isn’t it? That said, there’s no way she can tell her aunt but not her own mother, right? Maybe? Ugh… Fine… I’ll write a letter to mum after this. Though they’ll want details, won’t they? Ugh! This feels so weird!
After a breath, she started writing again.
We had a nice time. I showed him around the village and got to know more about him and his home life. We didn’t kiss or anything serious like that. I’m not sure if I’d rather we just be friends but you never know, right?
School itself is getting interesting. One of my professors said I can get started early on an Independent Study Project (usually you don’t get to do one until your final year!) It’s super exciting! I’ve decided to do an engineering project to see if I can invent an instrument out of only minerals (because who needs more reason to waste plastic or cut down trees, am I right?)
Since I can only use stones and crystals for my experiment, I was wondering if you can grab some stuff for me at that New Age shop near your place? I’ve got a list of ones I want to try out on the next page. Don’t worry about the price or if you can’t find them all, just let me know what I owe you and I’ll totally pay you back when I come home for Christmas.
Lots of love!
Melissa
Satisfied with the letter, she quickly penned a similar note to her parents, this time including a bit of the magical portion of the ISP and asking them to look into research on music therapy. She wasn’t fully sure how successful they would fare with such a request; but at least if anyone’s spying on her mail she has her bases covered. Is it paranoid? Maybe, but she IS a former convict involved in a Gringotts gold-printing scheme, so one can’t be too careful.
With the letters now sent, she made her way down to the library. There was still time before lunch, she decided, which meant plenty of time to do research on the life-protective and healing properties of magical gemology.