Post Tenebras Lux

Umbra Tenetur

{ Author's Note } 

The weeks started to fly by. Aelin began isolating herself from her friends and only left her room to attend classes. Her nightmares of Azkaban only got worse and worse, and she made weekly visits to the hospital wing to obtain dreamless sleep potions from Nurse Blainey.

She made sure to avoid Sebastian at all costs. If they were in the same class, she sat as far away as possible. If she saw him in the corridors, she turned and walked the other way.

Aelin even stopped talking to her own roommates. Anne and Imelda both tried to comfort her, but nothing they said or did seemed to make anything better.

After two months had passed, Professor Sharp sent for Aelin to inform her that she would be allowed to leave the castle without a chaperone going forward.

"The Ministry of Magic is pleased with your good behavior, Miss Malfoy." Sharp said as he directed her into his office.

"Does that mean I can leave the castle now, professor?"

"It does. You will no longer need my accompaniment to leave. I will ask that you steer clear of the Forbidden Forest, however. I'm aware that students often wander into the forest despite the fact that they are repeatedly told not to." He shook his head. "But I think it would be best for you to lay low for a while. Continue to focus on your studies. Don't go looking for any trouble."

Aelin nodded her head. "I'll try."

They were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. Sharp walked over to the door to answer it and reveal Professor Weasley standing on the other side. "I just need a moment of your time, Aesop."

"Ah, just give me one moment, Miss Malfoy. I have one more thing to discuss with you." Professor Sharp walked out of his office.

Aelin took a look around the office as she waited on him to return. He had quite the collection of rare potion ingredients; ones that were far too valuable to keep in the supply closet that students (namely, Garreth Weasley) had access to. He also had a large collection of books, one of which caught her attention almost immediately. The title was in Latin, but she fortunately knew enough of the language to translate it.

Umbra Artium

The Shadow Arts

She looked back towards the office door to ensure that Sharp wasn't returning yet and pulled the book from the shelf. She flipped through a few pages to find that the book was written entirely in Latin. And while she knew enough to translate the title, she wasn't nearly fluent enough in the language to read the full text.

Once she heard his footsteps approaching the office, she slid the book back in its place and took her seat near his desk. He opened the door and re-entered the office.

"Apologies, Miss Malfoy. Now, just one last thing before I send you on your way. I'd like to give you an opportunity to help you get caught up after missing a full year. I will give you a list of ingredients that I need that should be fairly easy to obtain. You bring them back to me in a timely manner and you'll be awarded bonus points on your upcoming exams."

"I appreciate the opportunity, Professor Sharp. I think that will be helpful."

~~~

Aelin left the potions classroom and headed to the library. The book on the shadow arts had piqued her interest and she wondered if she could find anything on it amongst the thousands of books on the shelves.

She eventually found a book on Latin which she decided to keep with her. She figured it would be helpful since the book in Sharp's office was written completely in Latin.