It was late the next morning when Alayna finally woke up. Imelda and Johanna were already out of the room and Nerida was just finishing getting ready. Alayna tossed off her covers and quickly set about getting ready so she wouldn't be late to class. As she was doing so, she was painfully aware of Nerida's presence lingering in the room. She felt really bad about yesterday. She hadn't meant to yell at Nerida, she was the one girl in Slytherin who had been nice to her since her arrival. Johanna just made her so angry and that had carried over. Not that it had any right to.
"Nerida..." Alayna turned around to face the girl who was slowly gathering her school supplies for the day. She took a deep breath as she gathered the courage to apologize. "I'm really sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have yelled at you, you've been nothing but nice to me."
"Oh, Alayna, it's okay. Johanna is a piece of work and she drags Imelda into it too. I completely understand being heated after talking to her," Nerida stopped packing her things and walked over to stand by Alayna. She reached out to take her hands and smiled a little. "I really did mean it, about you standing up to her though. Most of the time I'm too scared to."
"Thank you...I'm glad you're not mad. I wouldn't want to mess up a potential friendship with the only person I get along with in this room." The both of them laughed a little at the thought.
"Then we can both face Johanna together and have our own little gossip corner," Nerida grinned. "But seriously, I hope we can become good friends. I used to be close with Imelda, but we grew apart years ago."
"Did you get along with Anne? I heard about Sebastian's sister, she would have been your roommate right?" Alayna found herself asking.
"Oh, Anne," Nerida laughed a little, but there was a hint of sadness as well as an awkwardness there in her expression. "We were roommates, but I wouldn't say we were friends. She spent most of her time with her brother and Ominis. They made quite the trio."
"I see..." Alayna wondered what they had been like. From what she knew of Sebastian and how Nerida reacted, she imagined they were quite troublesome. "I should get ready for class!" She realized then just how late she was running. She left Nerida to prepare for the day and managed to make her way out of the common room in decent time. On her way up the stairs, she caught the behind of Sebastian exiting the door up ahead.
"Sebastian!" she called out just as the door closed. When she exited herself, she found him waiting just on the other side.
"Good morning, Alayna," Sebastian flashed a tired smile.
"I heard you getting detention last night from Scribner. Thank you for not telling her about me," Alayna said. The two of them began walking in the direction of the Great Hall.
"Of course. At least one of us made it out of there unseen. Did you get what you were looking for?" His smile brightened a bit more.
"Yes, I think so. I found a book that I think may be important. I'm going to give it to Professor Fig after breakfast." She had it tucked into her robes' pockets for safekeeping.
"Important for what exactly?"
"I'm not sure. When we were in Gringotts, we saw a memory in a pensieve. The people in it mentioned some things about secrets and following a path," Alayna tried to explain briefly.
"That's all? It does sound confusing. I mean, no answers as to why you can see ancient magic?" Sebastian lowered his voice a little as they entered a hall with more students.
"None! I have no idea why, though it doesn't seem to be hereditary. There was another pensieve in the restricted section and it showed another girl who started as a fifth year like me. There's also an older man in the memories who can see ancient magic, but they're not related to each other." It felt nice being able to talk to Sebastian about these things. Professor Fig already knew about it so she couldn't exactly vent it out to him.
"So two people a long time ago could see ancient magic and they weren't related? Hm, I wonder what determines it then." Sebastian scratched at his chin.
"I'm not sure they knew either," Alayna sighed. "I was hoping I would get some more answers, but I feel like I'm just as clueless as before."
"Well, if you ever need any more help looking for said answers let me know. I must say, you have me intrigued." Sebastian smiled and pushed open the door to the Great Hall to let her through first. The way he said it had Alayna turning pink. She couldn't tell if he was being flirtatious though or not. He did, admittedly, seem like a bit of a flirt, so she wasn't sure she should take him seriously even if he was flirting with her.
"Ah, the two of you are finally awake," Ominis said as they sat down across from him at the Slytherin table. "I know Sebastian was sneaking into the restricted section again last night, but what kept you up late, Alayna?" The blonde sounded less than pleased that Sebastian had gotten in trouble again. Sebastian just shrugged with a smile.
"Actually..." she wavered on whether she should tell Ominis she had also been in the restricted section. Considering how mad he was at Sebastian, she didn't really want to be on that bad side either. "I just had a rough night. Still getting used to Hogwarts, I guess."
"You'll get used to it. I had to get used to Sebastian's snoring after all and now I hardly wake up because of it," Ominis teased though he kept his expression completely neutral.
"Hey!" Sebastian pouted and it was only then that Ominis smiled.
"I wondered if you might sit with me during potions today. You can see how rubbish I am then and decide if you really want to help me out." Ominis turned his head slightly in Alayna's direction. His eyes were directed down at his plate though.
"I'm sure I can help you out, Ominis. You can't be all that bad," Alayna smiled gently. "I do need to go speak to Professor Fig before class though, so I'll meet you guys in Herbology." She was hoping that he would be available for her to drop off the book to him and to explain what she had found.
Alayna finished her breakfast and quickly made her way to Professor Fig's office. As she was approaching the door, she thought she heard voices inside. So instead of just walking in, she lightly knocked on the door as she slowly opened it.
"Ah, it seems you have a visitor. We can speak more when you return, Eleazar." Professor Sharp stood in the room with Fig. She wasn't sure what they had been talking about, but the potions professor simply gave her a nod as he left.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Alayna apologized.
"Not at all! We were just finishing our conversation anyway," Professor Fig urged her to come further into the room.
"When you return? Are you going somewhere?" Alayna asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. I'm to visit the Ministry to speak to them about the carriage incident and....George's death," Fig explained.
"Oh, right..." Of course they would want to question him about the details. George had been a Ministry employee and a dragon attack was not a common occurrence. "Perhaps they will listen to you about the goblin rebellion now?"
"We can only hope...but I'm afraid it pushes our visit to the restricted section off the table for the time being."
"About that..." Alayna laughed nervously, clasping her hands behind her and rocking on her heels. Professor Fig raised a curious and discerning eyebrow. "I sort of went there already."
"You- what?" Fig was shocked to hear of it, but it quickly turned to amazement as a smile grew on his face and he shook his head. "I suppose I should have expected such a thing from you. Did you find something there?"
"Yes!" Alayna quickly stepped forward and presented the book. "There was another pensieve and it showed me two more memories. One was of Percival Rackham and Charles Rookwood and two others rescuing a hamlet from drought. And the other showed a young girl, like me who started at Hogwarts as a fifth year and could see ancient magic." She went on to explain the smaller details about the memories and proudly spoke of her fighting against more stone knights in the restricted section.
"How did you? You know what, probably best I don't know how you got into the restricted section to begin with," Fig chuckled. He laid the book out on his desk and flipped through the pages. Landing on a particular section, they both noticed a few pages that had been torn out with only fragments of them still stuck in the binding.
"Hm, it seems someone found this book before us."
"You don't think it was Ranrok or Rookwood do you?" Alayna looked worried.
"No, they couldn't have gotten into the castle. But either way, they seem to have taken the most important pages. The rest of the book will be of no use without them," Professor Fig rubbed his chin. "We'll have to try and track them down."
"How? We have no clue as to who else could have taken them." If it wasn't Ranrok or Rookwood, who knew who had taken them and when? They could be long gone, even destroyed.
"I'll think on it during my trip. Perhaps you can wait for me this time?" Professor Fig raised his head to look at her with a slight smirk.
"I make no promises, professor," Alayna grinned. If she did happen to find a clue, of course she would go after the pages. "Don't worry about me. I'm doing quite well at fighting on my own and I've made a few friends."
"Hm, yes. You do seem to be doing well on your own, but that doesn't mean you need to alright? I'd rather you not involve other students in this, but..." Professor Fig paused and laughed a bit. "I know quite a few of you are rather unruly and whatever I say won't matter."
"Of course it matters, professor. I'd rather not involve others if I can too. But at least one person already is, Sebastian was with me during the troll attack and when Rookwood threatened me," Alayna explained.
"I did hear that. I suppose you're right then. And he is a rather good duelist so I hear. I am just glad that you are making friends, Alayna." Professor Fig's smile warmed her heart. Despite the short time they had gotten to know each other, Alayna felt as though he were family. So hearing him praise her and be proud was heartwarming. "Just make sure you focus on your studies too." He gave her a pointed look though the smile remained on his face.
"Yes, sir." Alayna smiled back and left to hurry to Herbology before she was late.
"Not bad, newbie. You should hang on to those stems, we'll use them in potions class later," Leander Prewett commented. Professor Garlick had instructed them to trim some fluxweed plants she had on hand. Another plant that Alayna had plenty of experience with and so did not need Leander's 'useful' input. She rolled her eyes though knew technically that she had not told him that she knew these things already so it wasn't entirely his fault.
"I know, I grew up around plants. My parents are herbologists," Alayna explained.
"Really? I thought they must be muggles, but I guess they did teach you some useful things then." Alayna could feel her blood boiling as he talked about her parents that way. He was just as bad as the Slytherins judging her for her lineage. Was that all anyone cared about? Whether she was pureblood and had rich family history?
Before she could think about decking him or drawing her wand, she was saved by Natty sidling up next to her. Here was at least one Gryffindor she didn't hate yet.
"Alayna, I wondered if you would meet with me after classes today. There's something I'd like to talk to you about," Natty smiled kindly.
"Sure, is everything okay?" The way she said it did make Alayna a bit worried.
"Yes! I'm fine. Meet me in Lower Hogsfield?"
"Lower Hogsfield? You want to meet outside the castle?" She'd noticed the little hamlet just south of the castle before.
"Of course. It is good to stretch your legs, you know?" Natty smiled as if it weren't strange at all to meet in a random hamlet.
"All right, if that's what you want." Alayna shrugged, she wasn't going to complain. It might be fun to visit another hamlet near Hogwarts. Outside of Damerel, she had never visited any other wizarding villages or even been to London before. She wondered what other hamlets were like.
Natty hung around for the rest of class so Alayna was able to avoid interacting with Leander any more. Then at the end, she joined back up with Ominis and Sebastian as they headed to Potions. This time she joined them around one of the potion stations. They were, indeed, working on focus potions that day as Leander had so kindly mentioned before. While Alayna worked on her own potion, she tried to keep an eye on what Ominis was doing too.
"Careful!" she reached out to grab his wrist, but not in time to stop him from adding a little too much liquified dugbog tongue. The potion began turning the wrong shade and throwing off smoke. Ominis deflated as he realized what he'd done.
"I told you I'm hopeless at potions," he grumbled.
"Don't worry, it's still salvageable..." She grabbed his lacewing fly powder and added a few more pinches, cut off a little more fluxweed, and grabbed a vial of leech juice.
"Leech juice isn't a part of the recipe, Donellan," Garreth Weasley spoke up from another potion station. If she had to deal with one more arrogant Gryffindor today...
"Do shut up, Weasley. One of us actually knows what they're doing," she growled as she tipped a few drops of the leech juice into Ominis's cauldron. "Leech juice is actually a good neutralizer in case you've messed up a potion a little."
"You are correct, Miss Donellan. But perhaps you should focus a little more on your own cauldron?" Professor Sharp commented as he passed by. She looked over to see her own cauldron bubbling and quickly began stirring its contents.
"Thank you, Alayna. But I'll only mess it up again," Ominis sighed.
"Well...because you can't see it must be quite hard to measure things correctly," Alayna said it more as a question than a statement.
"Right, even with my wand there's only so much I can do. But I've already gotten out of Astronomy and Divination class because it's just not possible for me. Potions is required though and still technically feasible for someone like me," Ominis explained.
"There must be some way we can help you with measuring though. Besides that it seems to me like you know what you're doing." He had followed all the directions to the letter, she had watched him do so. It was just that he couldn't see how many drops fell from a vial into a cauldron.
"Let me know if you find something. I haven't had any luck." Alayna frowned. She wondered why the professors didn't work harder to accommodate Ominis. Perhaps they didn't want to show any preferential treatment, but honestly. She wondered if her parents might have any ideas. They'd spent their whole lives working with potions, maybe they knew of some unique techniques or tools that would help Ominis. She would have to write them a letter.
Exiting the castle this time to meet Natty took Alayna to the southern exit of the building. Another set of large doors led out into a large empty courtyard. There were no statues or fountains here, but quite a few students hung out here anyway. As she was walking across the cobbled ground, Alayna heard a voice that she recognized calling out to her.
"Going out, Alayna? Better be back before curfew, Clarissa isn't too kind to students who break it." Johanna stood in a corner of the courtyard joined by Imelda and two other Slytherins she didn't recognize. Older girls by the looks of them. "Or maybe I should just tell her now?" Alayna paused and slowly turned towards the girl with a sly smile.
"Worried about me, Johanna? I wasn't aware that you cared. Don't worry, I'll make sure I'm back before dark." She waited just long enough to watch Johanna's face contort with anger before continuing on her way out of the castle. This exit took her across a rather warped bridge. At one point, she imagined it must have been straight, but years of wear had twisted it in various ways but it was still miraculously standing. Tall stones had been erected around the exit for a reason Alayna couldn't make out. Looks maybe.
Lower Hogsfield wasn't very far from Hogwarts itself. It was actually closer than Hogsmeade, but the hamlet didn't have anything to offer compared to the larger village. A few houses were all that made up the hamlet along the lake, but it felt so much like home to Alayna. Natty was waiting for her near a gate in the fence that surrounded the hamlet.
"Alayna! I'm glad you could make it," Natty waved as she walked over and smiled.
"Of course, what is it you wanted to talk about?" Alayna asked as she joined the Gryffindor.
"I heard about what happened in Hogsmeade, obviously. I can't believe you defeated a troll! But I also heard that Rookwood confronted you in the Three Broomsticks?" Natty looked concerned.
"Sounds like everyone knows about that," Alayna laughed a little. "He did, but he got run out pretty quickly."
"Rookwood is a menace to those living in the Hogwarts Valley. His men poach and steal from the lands and its people. My mother and I left our home because of men like him. I thought we would be safe here, but it seems as though things have remained the same," Natty spoke with passion. Alayna was saddened to hear that she and her mother had left because of bad people. She had thought it was just because her mother got a job at Hogwarts before.
"I have heard only terrible things, that's true," Alayna wasn't quite catching on to what Natty was trying to say.
"I'm sick of what men like Rookwood do to innocent people, so I've decided I'm going to do something about it. Officer Singer hasn't been able to gather evidence on him or his right hand man Harlow, but if we could she would have to arrest him."
"Whoa, Natty. We're only students, we should be leaving that kind of work to the aurors," Alayna raised her hands in surprise at what Natty was suggesting. She had already dragged Sebastian into this mess, she had to keep Natty from getting involved too.
"The aurors haven't done anything. I don't want to stand by while Rookwood's men hurt more people either. If we can help Officer Singer get the evidence she needs against Harlow, locking him up will severely hurt the poachers' operations," Natty was insistent. That damned arrogant confidence again. At least from Natty, it wasn't so annoying.
"You cannot get involved in this Natty. You don't know what you're getting into."
"What are you talking about? Why do I get the feeling you know more about this than you're letting on?" Alayna had not wanted to tell anyone else about ancient magic and Ranrok, but if it would help to convince Natty not to go after Harlow maybe it was best to tell the truth.
"Rookwood is working with Ranrok. It's a long story, but they're both after something. I'm not sure what, but it has to do with ancient magic. Which conveniently, I can see traces of," Alayna did her best to explain.
"Ancient magic? That sounds incredible, but that is even more worrying. Which is all the more reason why we should stop Harlow. Without his right hand man, Rookwood will be less of a threat." Alayna really wanted to grab Natty by the shoulders and attempt to shake that arrogant confidence out of her. She had taken what she had said in the complete wrong direction, but it seemed there was no convincing her otherwise.
"Is there nothing I can say to convince you to drop this?" Alayna sighed.
"No," Natty smiled and folded her hands behind her back. "We are both skilled witches. Need I remind you that you took down a troll? I believe we can do this."
"And I am suddenly wrapped in to this too?" Alayna raised her eyebrows as Natty suggested that she would be helping. "Alright, if only to make sure that you don't get into too much trouble. Just be careful, okay? Ranrok and Rookwood are dangerous."
"I promise, Alayna. Thank you for hearing me out, I'm glad that we've become friends." Natty smiled and Alayna had to shake her head. Considering how not well she got along with the other Gryffindors, she was amazed that she and Natty had managed to become friends. Shared experiences meant a lot when forming a relationship though and they were more alike than it seemed.
"I'm glad too. You've helped to make my first week at Hogwarts a little better." Alayna smiled back. Amazing to think it had almost already been a full week of her being at Hogwarts. She had one more day before the weekend, which she was honestly looking forward to. Classes had been great, but having some time to relax after a busy week sounded nice too. Though she would, of course, have to put in some time studying to make sure she caught up with the others. It would be a good time to explore around the castle, spend time with new friends, study, and do whatever else she wanted. And then next week she would have an all new set of classes to attend.