FicWad

Chapter 6

"Jamie, are you going home for the Christmas holidays?" Janie asked me one evening out of the blue.

"No - why?"

"You mentioned that you don't get along with your relatives," she nodded. "Would you maybe like to spend the holidays at my house? Maybe?" she asked uncertainly.

"The Book sort of hinted that I should stay at Hogwarts," I replied delicately.

"My version hinted that we should spend the holidays together. I just assumed that meant..." she trailed off.

"Hmm..." I considered. "Let's go someplace private and read those parts again."


"My version says, 'By spending the holiday break together with Harry, you will discover valuable information.' It doesn't say what the information is or whether it will be discovered by both of us jointly, or by only me," Janie noted. "The 'you' could be singular or plural," she pointed to the word, not remembering that I couldn't see it.

"Mine says, 'If you remain in the castle over the Christmas holidays, much will be revealed.'" I pointed to the same paragraph. "Back here - in the Ginny Weasley section..." I turned back several pages, "... it says, 'Share your Christmas gift with your allies - two heads are better than one.' So I'm to receive a Christmas gift..." I considered.

"That's in the Weasley Strategy," Janie shook her head. "It's probably not relevant."

"True - the gift could have been from Ron..."

"...And Ron's not here," Janie finished for me. "Both of our sections agree, however. We must spend the holidays together and in the castle if we want to learn something valuable. My parents will not be pleased."

"They're NPCs," I shrugged. "Who cares what they think?"

"I certainly do!" Janie replied crossly. "They're my parents! "

"You're going to risk our quest because of some NPCs!?" I accused her.

"I didn't say that, Potter! " she glared at me. "What I said was, they will not be pleased. I'll have to think of something to tell them."

"Oh," I nodded. "That's different, then. Sorry..."

"You should be!" she scolded, her eyes still narrowed at me. "Now help me decide on a plausible story."

"You got detention and you can't leave?"

Janie's scowl only deepened.

"You have a project that's due and you've put it off until the last minute..."

"You're not helping," she huffed, then brightened suddenly. "Wait! Yes you are! I was given the opportunity to complete a special project - for extra credit," she nodded to herself as the details fell into place in her head. I could almost see them filtering down and being sorted, each detail into its own little mental container.

"Alright!" she announced after several seconds of thought, "I'll be working on a special Potions project that will entail a partner - you - and that will require that we have the Potions Lab available to us. I'll use your owl to send my gifts to my parents and they can use it to send their gifts for me to Hogwarts. You still have that owl, don't you? You haven't eaten it or anything..."

"No - I was saving it for a special occasion," I confessed.

"Good! That's sorted, then! We'll be staying at Hogwarts over the holidays. What special project would you like to work on?"

"What!? What project!? You don't really plan to work over break!?"

"You don't expect me to lie to my parents, do you?" Janie was back in 'scowl mode.'

"Well..."

"We'll speak with Madam Hooch, explain to her that we're staying over, and ask her if she would approve a project for us - for extra credit, of course, even if it's only for a single point."

"You're serious!??"

"Of course! Which part of 'not lying to my parents' did you fail to grasp?"

"There's no need to be snarky about it," I frowned.

"Then help me think of a project," she demanded.

"You said it would have to require the use of the Potions Lab - that's the reason for us having to stay here. You're the one with the Potions Mastery knowledge," I pointed out.

"Right! Hmm..."

Let the cogitations begin, I thought to myself as I watched her. Cogitations, ruminations, reflections, postulations, deliberations and meditations. It's a wonder that her brain didn't simply short-circuit.

"Got it!!" Janie jerked to attention several minutes later. "Jamie, how would you like to become an Animagus?"

"What!? You mean like Professor McGonagall? Who'd want to turn into a cat?"

"Not everyone turns into a cat, although a feline form can be handy at times, I suppose," Janie considered.

"Well, I'd rather not, thank you very much!" I said. "Cats are useless."

"Mister Filch's cat isn't exactly useless," she retorted.

"A right pain..."

"Exactly! But not useless! Now - will you give me a chance to explain?"

"Go on..."

"In order to become an Animagus, you must first drink the Animagus Revealer Potion, which induces a trance-like state wherein you visualize what animal, bird, or whatever, that you will become. Now - and this is the good part - the Animagus Revealer Potion is very similar to the Sleeping Draught Potion. You change the third step and add two more ingredients at the end and the innocuous first-year potion suddenly becomes a controlled substance!"

Now she had my full attention!

"You mean like marijuana?" I gasped.

"Not in its effects, certainly, but it is regulated by the Ministry of Magic. They don't want just anyone to be disguising themselves as cats or whatever."

"Wicked!" I grinned. "When can we start? I'd want to be a wolf - or maybe an eagle! Yeah - definitely an eagle, so I'd be able to fly!"

"I'm not sure that you have a choice," Janie cautioned, "but we start by asking Madam Hooch if we can do a special project over the holiday break. We'll say that we'd like to experiment by changing the Flobberworm Mucus to Salamander Blood to see if the result makes the Sleeping Draught Potion more stable and gives it a longer shelf-life."

"Will it?" I asked the Potions Mistress.

"No, but with Madam Hooch's limited knowledge of Potions, she won't know that," Janie smiled.

"I love that smile!" I told her. "It's evil!"

She flashed it again for me, then continued, "We'll announce our failure and write our report, but we'll keep the resulting potion instead of dumping it. Later, we'll add the final two ingredients and let it simmer for three days in our off-limits third-floor corridor classroom. Then we can try it!"

"I hope I'm an eagle," I repeated.

"First, we'll prepare our project description for Madam Hooch's approval," Janie reiterated the plan, taking out parchment and quill.


-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


"How did you obtain that wand holster that you gave me for my birthday?" Janie asked me.

"Owl-order," I told her. "It's like mail-order but you use owls instead. "You have to have a catalogue unless you know exactly what you want. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering how I would be able to get Christmas gifts for everyone if I don't go home for the holidays. My original plan was for my parents to take me shopping, but that's out. Is there anything special on your list, by the way?"

The casual way she added that last bit threw me for a moment. I hadn't even considered what to get for her.

"Um - I don't know," I replied. "How about you?"

"If you could put in a good word for me with the Animagus gods, that would be helpful," she teased. "I've decided that I'd like to be a dragon."

"I'll see what I can do," I laughed. It seemed that she wasn't going to give me any useful clues as to a Christmas gift, so I was on my own.


Our Animagus Revealer Potion scheme was on track. Madam Hooch had approved Janie's idea and had accepted our project plan. We'd modified it to not mention Salamander Blood specifically, in case she showed it to Professor Dumbledore. We would substitute 'various ingredients' for the Flobberworm Mucus and report on our results. The project plan was carefully worded so that if our 'experiment' failed, we would still write up our findings and receive our five points of extra class credit. Learning from your mistakes is still learning, right?

To our surprise, the Potions instructor told us that we would be allowed to use the Potions Lab without her supervision. She would be out of the castle here and there over the holiday break and she didn't want to have to plan her schedule around our potions brewing. Besides, she told us, we were very good students and the Sleeping Draught Potion wasn't at all dangerous to brew.

With that in mind, there would be no reference made to our potentially suspicious use of Salamander Blood in our final report.


-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


Janie and I watched with amusement as the hundreds of students with their trunks queued up for the carriages for Hogsmeade. Happily, we would not be joining that melee, although Janie did seem a little wistful about the prospect of not seeing her parents. She was a trooper, though - the Quest came first!

When the last of the carriages had departed with the last of the students, Janie and I made our way to the dungeons to meet with Madam Hooch. Janie wanted to get started as soon as possible - before the Potions instructor could leave the castle.

"We have to brew the potions first thing, so we can allow them to age for a week and then test them," Janie explained her eagerness to Madam Hooch.

"Alright," the woman agreed. "Now - you are going to try the potions on rats, first, correct?"

"Um-hmm," we nodded.

"And have Madam Pomfrey check them over?"

"Of course, Madam Hooch!" Janie smiled. "Just like we said in our project outline."

"Very well, then," she nodded to us. "You know where everything is. The ingredients should be on the shelves here, somewhere. I'm going to Floo to Diagon Alley this afternoon to do some Christmas shopping. If you have any questions or difficulties, please see Professor Dumbledore."

With that, Madam Hooch left us alone in the Potions Lab.

"We'll set up two cauldrons," Janie informed me. "Each potion requires about two hours to brew, and we'll need to get them all finished in three days - including our 'special' batch - so they'll have time to age for a week before testing. Since the normal Sleeping Draught Potion lasts only three days, a week seems like a reasonable goal."

"Okay," I nodded as I began to set up a cauldron, but then I had a sudden thought. "What happens if Dumbledore stops by to check our progress?"

"Hmm... Good point!" Janie considered - apparently for the first time.

"Let's get the 'special' one going as one of the initial two," I suggested. "He probably won't show up first thing."

"Alright," Janie nodded. "Let's get two potions started, then we'll add the Salamander Blood, stir, do the holding incantation, then pour it off and hide it in that cabinet in the corner."

"And if Dumbledore walks in before we add the Salamander Blood, we'll add the Crushed Lacewing instead," I added. "I'll get some crushed and ready, just in case."

"We'll stagger the potions - starting them an hour apart," Janie decided. "Then if the Headmaster shows up, we'll have one ready for the Salamander Blood shortly after he leaves."

So that's what we did - and a good thing, too! Janie and I were sitting there on our stools tending our cauldrons when the door opened and Professor Dumbledore greeted us.

"Well, well! How are the two budding Potions students faring?" he asked with a pleasant smile. He walked over to our table and peered into each of the cauldrons. "What are you brewing?" he asked.

"Variations of the Sleeping Draught Potion, but we're changing things slightly to see if we can improve the shelf life," Janie summed up our project.

"This one's just about ready for some Crushed Lacewing," I added, nodding to the small mound of powder on the parchment square still sitting on my scales.

"That's in place of the Flobberworm Mucus, of course," Janie added.

"Ah! And this one?" he turned to her cauldron.

"Pickled rat stomach," she smiled up at him.

"Rat stomach ..." the Headmaster repeated, his eyes examining the ceiling as he seemed to search for some nearly-forgotten bit of knowledge buried somewhere in his formidable store of information. "Can either of you tell me what else rat stomachs are used for?"

Janie and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"Rats find them quite useful for digesting their dinners," he informed us with a wry smile.

"Urrrgh!" we groaned in unison at his joke, then we began to chuckle in spite of ourselves.

"Good one, sir!" I laughed.

Janie was shaking her head slowly and muttering "Rat stomachs," to herself.

"Yes - well - I'll just leave you to it, then," the Headmaster smiled genially and turned for the door. "Oh - before I go..." he paused in the doorway, "I originally came to inform you that during the holiday break, meals will be served in the Great Hall at eight, noon and six o'clock. Please be punctual."

"Yes, sir," we nodded.

We waited ten minutes after he'd gone.

"Salamander Blood in this one?" I checked with Janie.

"Yes," she nodded. "We'll sneak it up to the third floor at dinnertime.


-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-