The Stars on the Staircase

Carrow, Cures and Curse Words

The second semester at Hogwarts was even more gloomy than the first. Instead of being refreshed and revitalised in their time at home, the students seemed even further flung into their emotional reactions to the changes at the school.

Those who had been sad returned more sad, the experience of their homes without the presence of loved ones in hiding weighed on them. There seemed an increased number of those spurred into anger. Not only was the amount of missing witches and wizards climbing daily, the corruption inside the government and the newspaper made it all seem not to be happening at all. A world in which good people had to whisper person to person the real news was not the one they had grown up in, and I did not blame them for their anger.

The students who were angry had noticed something they hadn't in the first semester. Those who did not agree with what was happening outnumbered those who supported the changes. Most were too timid to act on these feelings, but over the course of the bitterly cold January we saw students moving to act. There were more instances of students breaking into the mass detentions and causing disturbances.

One of my biggest secret projects was an underground trade of healing potions that somewhat reversed the damage done by those evil quills the Carrows used in detentions. I took Severus up on being assigned an office. There I was able to brew a not overly difficult to make, fast acting, topical salve. I was able to put my unofficial club members to good use. With their help I could brew two batches a day. The students would never guess that I was brewing a potion designed by the Headmaster they all hated so much.

Madam Pomfrey had been forbidden by the Carrows to aid in treating the wounds sustained in the course of detention, but Letisha had a brilliant suggestion of adding a non medicinal ingredient that would stain your hand when you used it. We would keep the school nurse out of hot water by purposefully making the potion seem like it was brewed by inept students. It was actually being brewed by a very talented group of muggle borns who kept this whole operation going by dropping by between classes to stir, add ingredients, and risking their safety by distributing vials.

Between overseeing my unofficial club, assisting professors, and pretending to help the Carrows chase down leads on the ever growing group of student rebels, I sometimes helped Severus with what we called the Potter problem. Albus had left all his hopes placed on a group of three barely-of-age wizards and after Severus had gotten them the sword, there was sort of nothing else we could do to help them. At first Severus had seemed relieved to have accomplished that task, but as time passed he began to anguish over the obstacles facing the boy.

I had walked in on heated conversations between Severus and the painting of the former headmaster. Sometimes I caught snippets like "insurmountable task" and "fate of our world on the shoulders of one". I was not told about the specifics of Potter's task but I did begin to brainstorm with Severus more general ways we might be able to help them in order to calm him from worrying.

One afternoon he and I were tracing our fingers over a map, looking for possible leads as to where Potter and friends might currently be. Mostly we had been plotting a way that we might find them and leave supplies for them in some way that might not arouse suspicion, like charming a muggle to leave a supply bag behind at a campsite.

There was not much we could do at this point to help them along. We had a feeling though that food and medical supplies might be sorely needed. They had been hiding for so very long. We bumped fingers as we had been enchanting the map to colour itself where we knew they had been and or could possibly be. A knock on his office door had us both sighing. "Who is it?" Severus called as he enchanted the maps to roll up and store themselves away.

"Carrows." Amycus called out. Severus practically growled in aggravation. He sat in his chair and just as I went to move he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me into his lap.