Dark Magic

Especially Gifted

"Flew?" Dumbledore frowned, clasping his hands together with authority. Snape nodded in confirmation, "Flew."

"Unsupported?" The Headmaster continued, causing Remus to chime in from beside me, "Yes!"

The great Hogwarts Headmaster remained silent, his blue eyes twinkling in bewilderment, hundreds of thoughts that possessed his mind fluttered through my own all at once. I couldn't decipher any of them; the way Dumbledore's brain worked was too complicated for me to comprehend. Too many thoughts all at once. Perhaps, with time and age I, myself, would come to understand his way of thinking, one day...

"Headmaster, what do you think this means?" Snape spoke with a surprising amount of calmness beside me. The wizard before us twirled his long beard through his fingers. "Well, I'm not entirely sure what you expect me to think, Severus. Miss Potter has demonstrated powers well beyond her years since she first stepped foot in Hogwarts, if not beforehand." Dumbledore spoke with a smirk, slightly amused.

"Of course Emerald is gifted; she had James Potter for a father, out of everyone." Remus remarked with a slight sense of smugness to him, momentarily forgetting the seriousness of the situation at hand.

"And Lily." Severus added quietly, which Remus nodded in agreement to.

"But for a second year to have performed the spells Miss Potter has, alongside demonstrating unsupported flight...Is a rather extraordinary talent, Headmaster." Severus finalised, waiting patiently for Dumbledore to share his opinion. 

The head of Hogwarts leaned forth in his chair, now deciding he was more comfortable resting his head in his hand, "If you are implying that Miss Potter has a certain resemblance to Lord Voldemort, rest assure Severus, I have already informed both herself, and her brother of this likeness." His blue eyes darted onto me, to which I nodded in agreement.

"How do you feel about these talents of yours, Miss Potter?" Dumbledore's eyes glistened once more, remaining latched onto my own.

My stomach churned at the thought of having to answer such a question. Being a child, most choices had been taken from me. And now, such a huge responsibility had been placed right into my lap. Would I be able to control these powers, if my emotions were truly out of control? I couldn't be sure. Due to Severus and I's previous arguments, I knew my abilities had grown out of hand before...What was to stop me from truly hurting someone, due to my lack of control and experience with magic? I took a small breath to calm my nerves, thankful it had worked a smidge as I came to my own decision, in my head.

"I think..." I gulped to relieve the dryness in my mouth, "I think that, if any of you thought I was going to be a danger to other people, or myself, that you would have done something about these 'talents' by now. I might be like...Voldemort in ways...But I'm not him. And I won't spend my life worrying about becoming like him either." I nodded, rather to encourage myself than to convince the adults around me. 

The concern was evident in the men's eyes and emotions surrounding me, so I knew I would have to come to some sort of compromise. "But..." I paused, licking my lips as they became rather dehydrated momentarily, before continuing, "If there comes a time when any of you think I could put anyone in danger...Can you take them away from me, please?" My eyes drifted between the three of them, as the sadness grew in their expressions. 

"Emerald....You do not know what you are asking from us-" Remus began, to which I held my hand up dismissively, cutting his sentence short. "I do know, Remus. And I understand." I sighed, truly hoping with all my might that it would never come to such a thing...

Snape placed his hand over my shoulder, shaking his head adamantly, "But to relinquish yourself of your magical abilities is madness-"

"-Miss Potter has made her decision, Severus." Dumbledore cut my Potion Professor's protest short, eyeing him for a moment before averting his crystal eyes onto my own, evergreen ones. "We will accept your wishes, my dear. But, let us all hope that is does not come down to that."

The four of us came to a final agreement, noticing it had now grown very late and we had, in fact, missed dinner that night. My stomach grumbled by the Headmaster's desk, causing a small chuckle to emit from him in amusement. "Serious conversations often lead to an empty stomach, my dear. Severus?" He called, the Potion's Professor perking up from his slightly exhausted expression against one of the columns in the office. "Yes, Headmaster?"

"Would you mind escorting Miss Potter to the kitchens, and ask one of the elves to prepare her a small plate of dinner?"

Severus nodded, picking up his black cloak from the back of my chair. I grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder. "I would like to speak to Professor Lupin for a moment; Professor?" Dumbledore called, motioning to the now empty chair that I had been sitting in. I sent a small and worried glance at Remus' way, causing him to return a nod and small smile of encouragement. "It's alright. Goodnight, Emerald."

Forcing a smile towards them both, I wished them a 'goodnight' in return, before following my Head of House through the school corridors and in the direction of the main hall. It was completely deserted, and only lit by the, now dimming, candles that floated above the barren tables. Severus made a b-line for one of the doors towards the left side of the hall I had once almost ventured down during the school holidays, but Nearly-Headless Nick (one of the school ghosts), stopped me from getting inside; insisted it was private. 

The ghoul wasn't there to stop us in that moment, and I doubted he would stand up to a Professor. A portrait awaited us at the end of the steps, consisting of a simple fruit bowl; similar to the Gryffindor tower entrance Harry had talked about in the past. I tried my absolute hardest not to laugh as Severus leaned in towards it and tickled a pear. It began to giggle in response, before turning into a green doorknob.

"After you, my dear." Severus nodded, opening the door and allowing me to step inside. The kitchens were a huge, perfectly mirrored image of the Great Hall that sat above them; only instead of the Teacher's table, there sat a grand fireplace, bigger than the entirety of Wools' Orphanage. There were no tables or benches, however; but immense work stations for cooking, chopping and preparing food. I had always just assumed it appeared like magic. Little did I know there was a little army of elves down there cooking our delicious meals for us each and every day!

One of them stopped as they passed us, noticing we were not like any of their other workmates. The Elf's voice, however, was unexpectedly three times deeper than Snape's, catching me by surprise for a few moments. "Professor Snape. What can I get for you, this evening?" He looked slightly displeased at the sight of our presence. 

My teacher's gaze drifted onto my own, "Miss Potter?"

I smiled at the house Elf, hopefully, "Do you have any pancakes left, please?"

The Elf nodded with a smirk, "Coming right up."