Chapter 37. The End of First Year 2/?
Time passed relentlessly and, unlike in canon where it took almost half a year from the moment the trio learned there was some connection to Flamel to the moment they found out who he was, this time Hermione cheated with the help of the Room of Requirement, so the mystery was solved in a pathetic two days. After that, despite all her friendship with Harry and Ron—which was obviously not as strong as in canon—she fluttered over to us, continuing to learn new things, so although we did spend time with them now and then, including in the duelling club, for the most part our little group was split in two. The three of us plus Hermione, and, correspondingly, the duo of Harry and Ron, who preferred exploring the castle and various secret passages rather than books.
"Everything's ready. Shall we start?" Hermione asked, pulling us out of our thoughts.
What exactly was ready, and what were we about to start? That's simple: Hermione and we had spent half a year studying every bit of information we could find about paired communication mirrors, and today was the day for a practical experiment in the Room of Requirement.
We had two small compacts with mirrors inside, currently placed within a carefully drawn circle made up of runic chains. Unfortunately, unlike what we had initially thought, simple Protean Charms wouldn't be enough for such mirrors, because those charms have their own working range. So while that range would have been enough within Hogwarts and the surrounding area, including Hogsmeade, it definitely wouldn't give the effect of the mirrors that let you connect from any point in the world. That also explained why such mirrors were so rare. Almost no one could make them, simply because runes, although taught, were not taught in a way that would let you perform rituals or create artefacts. And certainly not in a way that would let you create enhanced versions of spells, especially ones like the Protean Charm, which is considered O.W.L.-level.
"Let's begin," we replied, and started a joint casting of the Protean Charm, which at once began being absorbed by the runic circle. The circle then slowly started peeling off and, in the form of glowing symbols, settled onto the compact cases.
Why compacts? Well, aside from being easy to carry, Andromeda is still a girl, and it's only natural that we want to look good.
We had to repeat the spell more than once to get the best possible result. In the end, we continued until the entire magic circle had settled onto the carriers we'd chosen. Then the symbols on the compacts went dark, as if they had never been there at all.
"Did it work?" Hermione asked nervously, slightly out of breath; for a first-year without our absurd reserves, this experiment was fairly exhausting.
"Let's check," Andromeda answered with a hint of impatience and, picking the compacts up off the floor, handed one to Hermione.
"Are you going to try it, or should we?" we asked the girl, opening our compact.
"Let me. After all, knowing you, I'll still be the one calling more often," our friend said a bit helplessly. But what can you do—that's just the way we are.
"All right," we nodded and, for the sake of a cleaner experiment, closed our compact.
Hermione opened hers and, looking into the tiny mirror, called:
"Vega."
As soon as the words left her lips, our compact grew noticeably warm—not enough to burn, but easily felt to the touch. We flipped the lid open; the heat immediately receded, and in the mirror we now saw Hermione's face, which instantly lit up with joy.
"It worked!" the girl actually jumped with happiness, and only the fact that there was at least some small distance between us stopped her from pouncing on us with a hug.
"It really did work," we smiled, not showing our excitement quite as brightly. "By the way, why don't we celebrate it? I think the others won't mind a little party on this occasion. Three first‑years have managed one of the most complex and rather expensive artefacts. That really is worth wash(I couldn't find an exact equivalent in English, but the idea is to celebrate a big purchase or achievement together with your close ones)."
"wash?" the girl repeated, baffled; she hadn't yet grown into such a glorious tradition.
"That, our dear friend, is a very cool tradition for marking something significant. Like when they used to 'wet' new ships when they were launched. Only, instead of wine we'll have butterbeer—but who cares about the details?"
No sooner said than done. Leaving the Room of Requirement, intending to brag just a tiny bit—after all, even introverts' egos sometimes need feeding, especially when it's tied to something meaningful—we went off in search of the twins. Who, by the way, actually do have quite a decent business streak. To manage to, so to speak, start up a little buy‑and‑resell operation while still in school and not get smacked down for it—that's pretty impressive. That, in fact, was exactly the sort of service we decided to turn to them for; and it's certainly not us, the Blacks, who should be complaining about money.
"A party?"
"On the eve of exams?"
The twins exchanged glances, and grins spread across their faces.
"McGonagall will be in shock, but you've come to the right place!" the brothers answered in sync. "Just give us the money and you can relax and go on creating your next super‑unique gadget; we'll take care of everything else."
Without thinking twice, we dumped the required sum into the twins' hands and, completely satisfied, started making our way back to the Gryffindor common room, not noticing one important detail—namely, how Hermione's expression had changed after the twins' words about exams.
Well, "didn't notice" only until we actually returned to the common room, where we finally saw that our friend looked rather crushed.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
"I forgot that we have exams in two weeks," the girl muttered, stunned.
"It's not a big deal," we shrugged. "You've already started learning Occlumency yourself; it shouldn't be hard for you to find the answer to any exam question in your own head."
"But, but…" the frustrated girl began to protest, when she was interrupted by two whirlwinds racing toward us, and it was a good thing the common room was almost empty, because…
"We've found out how Voldemort wants to get the Stone!" Harry blurted out, while Ron, running after him—who had been frightened with that name since childhood—choked and started coughing.
"…" We blinked in surprise for a moment, then finally replied slowly, "So, what's the method?"
"Snape! After practice I saw him threatening Quirrell; he clearly wants to find out how to get past the traps to get the Stone and pass it on!"
That actually made our lips twitch. Is this fate or something? Is Snape simply doomed to be suspected, no matter what? Then again, it's his own fault—he's such a bastard that, if you don't know a few key details, suspicions are bound to fall on him first.
"All right, Harry, that may be so, but believe me, right now we can't do anything about it. For now it's better if you relax with everyone else at tonight's party; this is your last chance to rest before the exams," we said through Regulus, smirking slightly at how pale the boys went when they heard such a terrifying word as "exams."