Reaper's Heir (Book 3)

Chapter 9

Chapter IX

I shuffled my feet, waiting outside Professor McGonagall's office. I had finished my exams for the day and the students who would be going home for the holiday would be gone at the end of the week. Even though I didn't feel like I needed to know how to fight off the dementors, I wanted to know why Professor McGonagall thought it was necessary. I knocked again, my knuckles rapping against the wood hollowly. Maybe she wasn't here? I'd already done my transfiguration exam earlier in the week, but I couldn't remember how late she held classes.

I'd just turned around to leave when the door opened. "Professor!"

"Miss Keres, I see you got my note." Professor McGonagall stepped aside, gesturing for me to come in. "Please come in."

I stepped inside the office, feeling almost the same as I had the year before. It looked like the office was the same as the year before as well. There were a few more stacks of paperwork than there had been after Lockhart's class, but otherwise, it was the same. I sat down on the one side of the desk, declining Professor McGonagall's offer of biscuits again. She sat on the other side of the desk, moving a stack of paperwork aside. "I'm glad you came to see me, Miss Keres. I believe these extra lessons would be beneficial to you."

"How would they be beneficial, Professor? The dementors don't affect me. Why would I need to learn how to fight them?"

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips. "You may not be affected by them, but the people you care about are." Visions of Harry, Daphne, Blaise, and Luna immediately flashed in my mind. Professor McGonagall nodded as if she could see the realization dawning on me. "It's better to know a spell you may never use than finding out the hard way that it would have been better to learn it." She seemed to regard me strangely for a minute before continuing. "And, all things considered, it would be good for you to know so that it's less likely for you to lose yourself in the future."

"Less likely to lose myself, Professor?"

Professor McGonagall sighed heavily. "Professor Dumbledore would not want me to tell you this, but I believe you should know. Your mother would have wanted you to know. Before I tell you, I must make one thing clear to you, none of this is your fault." I waited for her to continue with bated breath. She sighed again. "Due to reasons that will become evident to you in the future, you will notice that you have an affinity for dark magic. Professor Dumbledore believes that we should allow you to discover the extent of this on your own, but you've already surprised us by being sorted into slytherin instead of ravenclaw."

"Why would I have been sorted into ravenclaw?"

"It was your mother's house. It's common for families to be sorted into the same house for generations. We assumed that you would be sorted into gryffindor if you weren't in ravenclaw." She pursed her lips again. "Professor Dumbledore thought that growing up with your aunt and uncle would keep you and Harry safe, out of the limelight. All it's done since you learned the truth was put you both in more danger. Not knowing the truth has given those who work against you an opportunity to manipulate the story the way they want."

I wrung my hands, trying to wrap my brain around everything. "If you think the lessons will help, Professor, I'll do it. If there's a chance that I might put my friends in danger, then I need to be able to protect them."

"You are not the danger." Professor McGonagall said firmly. "You have potential that you need to learn to control and great power to inherit. We shall start your lessons after the holiday. Come see me tuesday nights until the end of the year. I'll teach you the patronus charm and whatever else you may want to learn."

The next few weeks passed in a blur. The holiday came and went with its usual isolation in the castle. Ron apparently stayed for Harry again this year, but I saw neither of them as I spent most of the day in the slytherin common room. Both Daphne and Blaise had offered to stay with me, but I had told them to go home and spend the time with their families. Astoria seemingly had no interest in staying, which I didn't blame her for in the slightest. She was probably feeling homesick.