Possessiveness and Other Such Oddities

Undine

a/n: hey everyone!  sorry this chapter is so late.  not only was it super frustrating to write (i'm no good at filler chapters) but real life was kicking my ass.  anyways, enough of my complaining and onto the chapter! 

Yesterday had been quite exhausting emotionally, physically, and magically, so it was no surprise that Harry slept like the dead, and barely woke up in time for breakfast the next morning. He did, though, which was the important part. And, he woke up just in time -- and refreshed enough -- to cause absolute chaos. He did so, by quickly getting ready for the day, and shoving Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem that hadn't been seen in centuries into his school bag. Harry then proceeded to get to breakfast, sit down right next to Luna, and place the Diadem on Luna's head, right next to her massive Queen Alexandra butterfly hairpins.

To say the reaction was extreme would be a charitable understatement. As soon as Hermione and Michael caught a glimpse of it, they practically screamed, and news spread like wildfire. People were shouting, crying, and hyperventilating. It was complete pandemonium and Harry sat back on his bench and smiled. That smile quickly turned into a forced one, when he felt the Minister's burning stare. Didn't the man have a job and whatnot?? Why was he here still?? Harry wanted to cry at the Minister's overbearingness, and his own stupidity -- now the Minister knew someone (specifically Harry) was after his Horcruxes.

Merlin, Harry felt dumb.

He had to push that all to the side when people badgered him for answers -- not that he gave them any -- but he still had to turn them away and smile secretively. Thank Mother Magic and Morgana that class was in five minutes, so he used that as an excuse to all but sprint to his Charms class. Charms class was a welcome respite from the uproar at breakfast as Professor Flitwick would not have anything disrupt learning. The previous class had been a lecture, so now it was time for the practical.

"Pair up to work on gravitational charms," Professor Flitwick said to the whole class, voice amplified by a sonorous.

Harry and Millicent Bulstrode had partnered up to practice ascendio , decendio , and vecendio , which were a powerful lifting charm, the companion lowering charm, and the version of ascendio that worked similarly to apparition, respectively. As these were spells that covered quite a bit of area, each group of two was in their assigned pocket dimension, where gravity could be altered to better practice each charm (one never knew when they would have to cast a vecendio in 187.92 m/s 2 gravity).

After that class was DADA, where Professor Escrivá lectured on decapitation spells and their counterspells. It was really quite interesting, even though there were very few real-world applications for decapitation spells; much too messy and uncontrollable. She demonstrated a particularly gruesome one right before class ended, so the group of students left for lunch more than a little queasy.

Lunch was yet more mayhem, so Harry skipped it entirely and hung out in the library until it was time for Transfiguration. He finished some of the Charms homework and felt quite accomplished when he walked into Professor McGonagall's class. Harry's good mood was dashed by the magically taxing subject they were practicing: human to stone to human transfiguration. He wasn't the only one who had trouble with the subject since Helen Dawlish, Gregory Goyle, Hannah Abbot, and Vincent Crabbe all had to be sent to the Hospital Wing. The whole mess of the Diadem hadn't died down by dinner, and it didn't die down until the weekend when a much more juicy topic was unearthed. Aaron Woodbridge, a 7th year Ravenclaw, and Astoria Greengrass, a 6th year Slytherin were outed as having a pixie dust and blue genie elixir (along with other drugs) smuggling rings, bringing great shame to their families.

Daphne wasn't seen the whole weekend and the following Monday and Tuesday, and Pansy, the notorious gossip that she was, refused to talk about it. News still spread, of course, and as the names of their associates were leaked, the severity of the situation grew. In raids looking at the friends of the two already caught, Romilda Vane, a 6th year Gryffindor was caught trying to dispose of Amortentia ingredients with her friend Leanne Maxwell, and Morsen Johnson, a 5th year Hufflepuff was caught with three kilos of tobacco-grade Alihotsy and a sack of Galleons. All five of them were looking at three years in Sential Prison at minimum, and two years in Azkaban at maximum.

It was all anyone could talk about for weeks to come, and Harry quickly informed Tom, who was quite morbidly impressed and enraged. Aurors had flooded Hogwarts, and the students, and the teachers, were all in a muted frenzy. By the time Harry had classes again, and the weekend was over, he had heard thousands of theories, had been questioned by dozens of Aurors and was truly disappointed. These students had decided to throw away their futures in exchange for what, money? The thrill? The Greengrass name had been dragged through the mud -- it was worth less than a first-generation mundane-born. They were all looking at prison sentences, and that would likely mar their record for the rest of their lives. The rewards were meaningless when those five students began to face the consequences of their actions.

Harry eventually put it all behind him, and the rest of the school as well, to focus on his education. He brewed Veratiserum in Potions class, well, the beginnings of it, as the potion took a full lunar cycle to brew. Harry had worked himself into a loop for his Novo Novus project, so he mail-ordered some muggle books, but he had much more luck starting out his Alchemy project on limb regeneration. It was a surprisingly undersaturated topic, so Harry had a lot of wiggle room to test out his hypothesis and other ideas. Hermione had been quite giggly as of late which was both amusing and confusing -- of the three of them, Draco was the giggler. Lots of Ravenclaws had been giggly, now that Harry thought about it. Oh well, it wasn't any of his business.

The minister, on the other hand, was an oppressive, and depressive force in the castle. As the days counted down to Samhain, his presence lessened, though, which Harry thanked all the powers above for. Harry really had to focus on midterms (specifically in Transfiguration, Alchemy, and Arithmancy). He also focused on self-studying for Runes and Magical Theory which were both incredibly beneficial classes to take, and NEWTS to have if one wanted to be an Unspeakable like Harry.

Day after day passed by, Charms, Potions, DADA, Alchemy, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, one after another. Assignment, after assignment, spell after spell. Harry went through sheaves of parchment and dozens of quills as the school year progressed. He couldn't wait till the next break -- yet he also dreaded it with every fiber of his being, because Harry knew he would be expected back home. For the next break was Samhain. Day of remembrance. Day of the dead.

So Harry crossed each day off the calendar and lit candles for patience and good luck. Class, after class, after class; three, two, one.

Samhain.

a/n: 

some information:

sentinal prison is the prison that doesn't, you know, violate all human rights laws and is for nonviolent crimes (i.e., tax fraud, drug selling, etc.) though amortentia is the only drug that gets you landed straight in azkaban.

btw, if you're reading this as a complete fic, or when it has like 20+ chapters, this would be a good time to go get some sleep, drink some water, do that last h/w assignment, etc.  

let me know what you thought!!