Runes Master

Chapter 15

AN: I actually posted this earlier than I thought I would, but I got sick and got bored, so this happened. I hope you enjoy :)

Herbology was one class Harry enjoyed a lot more now. To help something grow slowly by itself was incredibly relaxing. He understood Neville a little better now. His shyness and stress around others disappeared as he guided the plants in the right direction with a sure hand.

Harry left Hermione alone to boss Ron around, their hands sometime disappearing from sight. Harry would rather let the couple hold hands in peace while he talked botany with Neville.

Their common project looked much more promising than their first. The 'essence of light' they injected the sprout with would make it instinctively attack anything bad that would come near. Since unicorns couldn't stand anything evil, Harry asked Hagrid for as much unicorn hair, chips of hooves and other parts of the magical creatures he could find. Harry had a headache trying to extract the essence of all those ingredients into a single vial, but the result was stunning.

The small tree was growing way too fast, even for something magically enhanced. It was already as big as a three-year-old tree. There were silvery veins on the trunk, and the stumps were now tiny faces with closed eyes. They had serene, sleeping faces. They never made a noise. The leaves were a vibrant green, and the branches hung in the classical way of a weeping willow. It gave the illusion of hair on each side of the faces.

One accidental test proved its efficiency. Harry came into the greenhouse with his vial of basilisk poison that he had left in his trunk last year, after the third task. He had never had the chance to put that one back with the rest of his essences. The tree started screaming. It was enough to give someone a headache if they heard it for too long. But once it would be fully grown... They presented it to professor Sprout. She was impressed, to say the least.

Christmas came and went with its festive spirit and well-placed mistletoe. Harry noticed that he stepped under it an awful lot of times with Luna. She always had her wand out at those times to 'stop any witches who would try to take advantage of him,' right before taking the kiss she was entitled to. He knew she was just transfiguring more mistletoe around. Her skills were off the chart in that domain. Who was he to stop her fun? Wait until she saw what was hanging from the ceiling of the greenhouse! Harry planned to show it to her the next time that Neville would be absent for an hour or two...

Once Christmas vacation started, Hermione went back home for the break, and so did Luna. Most of Ron's family were already packing the Black Manor, but a bad surprise awaited Harry at Grimmauld Place for the holidays. Sirius was in bed, recovering from an attack two weeks prior. He had gone out merely to purchase new drapes for the windows. He could not stand that much silver, green and black all around. He wanted to change the walls' tapestries too. Sirius was ambushed in Diagon Alley, and made it out simply because he was near Gringotts when it happened. He rushed inside as the spells rained down on him. The broken bones were fixed, and so were the scratches and bruises. The cruciatus effect took some time to wear off. He was almost back to normal, but was still sleeping a lot. Some said he was simply brooding. Nobody had told Harry about it, since Sirius was out of danger. It infuriated Harry, though he couldn't really blame them for giving him the peace he'd sought so hard.

For his part, Sirius could brag of being a good duelist. Unfortunately, his attackers had caught him unprepared. He had been careless because Death Eater attacks were now sparse - down to almost nothing. He should have known that he would be targeted for being Lord Black. His enemies would try to seize his manor and fortune. Now as Dumbledore told him, it would be better if he stayed home for a while. Grounded - like a kid. Harry went up to him and offered him a lemon drop, saying it was all for "the greater good."