Chapter 72: 72: Transfiguration with a Red-Head
Scabbers and Crookshanks were still nowhere to be seen the next day. Lysandra and Hermione spent most of the earlier hours of the morning searching for the cat while Ron tried to lay traps with Scabbers's favourite treat. But it seemed his fear of Hermione's pet toppled any desire the rat could have for liver pudding.
Due to this, Ron was in a bad mood with Hermione the next day. He barely talked to her through Herbology, even though he, Hope, and Hermione were working together on the same puffapod.
"Have you found Scabbers yet?" Hermione asked timidly as they stripped fat pink pods from the plants and emptied the shining beans into a wooden pail.
"No," said Ron angrily, missing the pail and scattering beans over the greenhouse floor.
"Careful, Weasley, careful!" cried Professor Sprout as the beans bloomed before their eyes.
They had Transfiguration with the Slytherins next. Harry and Hope sat together in the seats at the fark back of the class, whispering to each other arguments they could use to convince their mother to let them go to Hogsmeade.
Lysandra and the other two sat on the desk before them, but while Ron and Hermione silently argued with a slip of parchment, Lysandra kept looking at her brother.
Alaric, Daphne, Blaise, Theodore, and Tracey sat on the desk closest to the chalkboard. They all seemed to be talking between chuckles and giggles, and seeing the enthusiasm in Blaise's expression, Lysandra could guess it was about Quidditch.
She watched how her brother slowly distanced himself from the conversation and reached for his bag, taking a small leathery notebook from it. Its weathered cover was unmistakable, and Lysandra questioned Alaric's sanity for reading a book filled with dark magic as they waited for Professor McGonagall.
At that moment, the professor opened the door, which was lucky; Hermione and Ron were looking daggers at each other, and Harry and Hope were almost in a fight over not agreeing with the other's plan.
As the lesson went by, Alaric found himself staring blankly at his grandfather's spellbook. For the first time in a while, he couldn't concentrate. He had various theories, one being that he spent so much time looking at this notebook in particular that his brain had grown tired of reading and practising the same spells so many times, even if he couldn't get half of them right.
The other was... simply put... Alaric thought that he was being haunted.
It'd started around two weeks ago when he was holed up in the library, two small towers of books on sensory charms on his table hidden between the shelves. A large piece of white parchment was spread open before him, and the tip of Alaric's wand was tracing along it, different glows emanating periodically.
At that point, Alaric had been working on the Gremlin's map for over a week, and it was pretty much complete, only needing the mapping of the castle, something either he or the Weasley twins could do in their spare time. They could've used the castle layout of the Marauder's Map, but Alaric reckoned it'd be better to map out the castle themselves in case anything was missing.
He had just finished the last magic detection charm, a spell that would allow them to know whenever magic was cast around Hogwarts when he noticed the protruding head of the Bloody Baron peeking from the ceiling.
It was staring at him, eyes wide and mouth closed; a silver and goey substance — akin to blood — was falling from his robes, and the chains around his body rattled as the spirit moved.
That was the second time he noticed his house's ghost stalking him. Since then, it started to follow Alaric around wherever he went. If Alaric had a lesson, the ghost would wait for him outside the classroom; if he went to the loo, the Baron would float outside the stalls. Alaric wasn't using the workshop that much these days after having it turned into a sort of 'lair' he and the Weasley twins could use for some experiments, but whenever he went there to fetch some things to take back to his suitcase, the spirit didn't seem to leave him alone.
Alaric was now closer than ever to experimenting with exorcism charms.
"What should we visit first in Hogsmeade?" Tracey asked in a whisper. Professor McGonagall had been teaching them all about Animagi for the last hour, and while Tracey thought that being able to turn into an eagle at will seemed cool, the excitement for the first Hogsmeade weekend kept leaking out.
"The moment we step out of the castle, I'm going straight to Honeydukes," said Blaise. He had asked his mother for a larger allowance than usual to buy as many sweets and candies as he could to last until the next Hogsmeade trip.
"How about we visit the Three-Broomsticks first?" Theodore suggested. "I want to see if their Butterbeers really are better than the ones you can get anywhere else,"
Daphne wasn't paying much attention to their conversation. She'd just finished copying down some notes McGonagall had given on Animagi when she noticed how spaced out Alaric was, twirling his pendant around with his fingers.
"Contrary to Human-Transfiguration, an Animagus can only transform into one particular species of animal, furthermore they can not choose what kind of animal they gain the ability to transform into. Rather, one becomes the animal which suits them best," said Professor McGonagall, an enchanted piece of chalk writing down what she was saying on the board behind. "Each Animagus has an identifying mark on their animal form that's caused by some visible trait on their human body. This could be physical, like their dental structure, or acquired, like glasses,"
While talking, the professor turned into a cat with lighter fur markings that looked like glasses. The cat leapt onto every table, showing off its face, and then hopped back to the front, turning back into the professor. The students clapped, amazed.
"Human transfiguration can go very badly if not performed correctly. Thankfully, you will only be learning its fundamentals in your sixth year. For now, we'll keep this class to a more simple animal transfiguration," McGonagall continued with a small smile of amusement. "Wands out, please!"
It was time for some hands-on work. The class was divided into pairs. They were supposed to turn a canary into a marble statue and make it walk across the desk to their pair for them to turn the statue back into a canary. Alaric had sat up already—
"NO!" McGonagall interrupted the sudden chatter firmly and abruptly. "No, no, no. Mr. Grindelwald and Mr. Zabini. Absolutely not. I simply haven't the strength today,"
Alaric and Blaise, whose body language suggested they were, as usual for Transfiguration, pairing up, wore bemused expressions. It was a ritual, of sorts, that in every practical Transfiguration class, they would complete the task faster and better than anyone, and proceed to mess around with their object of the day.
Almost everyone had a smile plastered on their faces. Hope and Hermione, who had chosen a table behind the two, smirked sideways at them before—
"Miss Potter and Miss Granger, please do my blood pressure a service and swap partners with Grindelwald and Zabini,"
Alaric and Blaise shrugged. As the four were sitting right next to each other, Hope quickly got up and shuffled her things over to Alaric's side.
"Are you that obsessed with me, Potter?" Alaric joked, showing her a rather roguish grin. Hope blushed but rolled her eyes. She wanted to have a serious talk with him about Lysandra.
After McGonagall gave each pair their canary, Alaric tossed his book on the table and took his wand out.
"Er," Hope said. "Professor McGonagall told us we should probably read over page 12 first,"
"Ah, it's just a bunch of rubbish about mastering the mind so you don't, you know, think of chocolate pie or something when you're meant to be transforming the canary into stone and end up with a marble cake,"
Hope had no idea why, but she laughed at this. "Who would've guessed? Alaric Grindelwald, reading ahead,"
"That's not very nice, Potter," said Alaric, flicking his wand at the canary, turning the bird into a marble statue who began to march to Hope's side of the table. "But you should've known since you like to stalk me so much,"
Hope grew so embarrassed that she completely forgot what she wanted to speak with Alaric about. "T-that was just a misunderstanding!"
"If you say so," Alaric shrugged, and Hope grew redder.
She desperately needed to change the subject. "So — er — have you experimented at all with human transfiguration?" Hope blurted what came first to her mind.
Alaric stopped making the statue move and eyed Hope suspiciously. He glanced at where his sister was sitting, but Lysandra was too busy trying to help Lavender turn the marble statue back into a canary.
"What makes you think that?" He asked, looking back at their own statue.
"Oh... I don't know... I just thought that maybe — because you always seem so ahead of everyone... you know — might have given it a try," said Hope, twirling a lock of her fiery hair.
"...fair enough," Alaric relaxed. With a last flourish, the marble statue did a pirouette before landing near Hope, who already had her wand out. They didn't speak for a while, entertaining themselves by making the statue do even more ridiculous stunts each time they transfigured it.
"Miss Potter!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall when she passed by their table. "I didn't pair you up with Grindelwald to have you horsing around with him as well!" She said in a strict tone.
"Yes," added Alaric in a lofty tone. "I for one, Professor McGonagall, am absolutely appaled. Shameful!" he said chidingly, shaking his head at Hope, who flushed crimson.
"Grindelwald, it would be the understatement of the century to say that I have heard quite enough out of you for one lesson. Get to work immediately or I'll remove you from this classroom,"
"Yes, sorry Professor," said Alaric, arranging his face so it was as serious as possible. But the moment he made eye contact with Hope, they both broke into silent laughter.
As far as Hope was concerned, it was nothing short of irritating how quickly she'd forgotten to speak with Alaric about Lysandra. She also found it weird how the twins were so uncommonly skilled at every subject, and transfiguration seemed to be one of Alaric's specialities. Hope could almost understand how the pair of them came to act so haughty — in a joking manner, of course — all the time, though she could never condone the way Alaric had tried to cut ties with Lysandra.
Strangely, Alaric was being more discreet today. When McGonagall had upped the difficulty, giving them a rat to transfigure into a living fish, he transfigured it with ease, and when it was Hope's turn, he offered several pointers. Eventually, she mastered it, and when the lesson only had ten minutes left, she finally found the right time to ask what she wanted to ask since the beginning of the lesson.
"Alaric," She called. Hope found it weird using his family name because of Lysandra, even if she and the blonde boy in front of her weren't that close. "I've been meaning to ask... well, about you and—"
"Is this about my sister?" Alaric interrupted her, though his tone didn't seem a negative one.
Hope nodded. "She's been really sad, lately. And I know it's not my place to intrude but—"
"Potter, listen," Alaric said. A faint smile was playing on his lips. "It warms my heart knowing you care this much about her, really. And Lysandra's one of your best friends, so you've got the right to chime in. But let us resolve this matter between ourselves," He continued, his voice more emotional than Hope had ever heard. "Truth be told, I admit I might've used words I didn't want to, but I still have to properly organize my thoughts, alright?"
She nodded again. When the bell rang, the Slytherins left before the Gryffindors, as McGonagall had to collect the permissions to leave for Hogsmeade. However, Alaric still had something to say.
"Don't let me catch you telling anyone about this conversation, capishe?" He said, with a small chuckle at the end.
Hope let out a laugh as Alaric left, before starting to pack her own things. Her mother wasn't going to convince herself.
**********
A/N: I thought this chapter had a timer, but apparently I forgot. Sorry for the delay.
Fun fact! The owls used for the movies were actually trained to carry letters.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to vote!
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