Blank Sheet

Breaking Free

"Miss ... Lane? While your unconsciousness, Poppy gave me reason to study your magical power." Dumbledore leaned in closer over Medea's Hospital bed. She gulped.

"Yes?" Thinking of the weird shots of pain and how it had started with the book and the quill which Hermione identified as 'The Book Of Acceptance' and 'The Quill Of Admittance'. Her thoughts were jumping from the hope the wise wizard could help her over the worry there was nothing he could do to the fear he might punish her.

"I found... strange magic that I doubt to be yours," The headmaster continued. He paused, watching the girl at his side. Dumbledore obviously waited for her to say something, probably about the Book and how she found that room, but her throat was so dry, even if she had tried to say something, it would have been nothing more than a croak. He examined her motions for a little time of awkward silence until he went on.

"I suspect this magic to belong to 'The Book of Acceptance' and 'The Quill Of Admittance'. Have you ever heard of these objects, Miss Lane?"

"Um...Hermione might have mentioned it," she whispered, feeling the heat come up in her head. She looked downward to hide her reddening face and escape the glare of the professor.

"Well, those two are powerful magical objects, responsible of deciding who will receive a Hogwarts letter ever since the founders established them. However, for a few months now, the Quill has not written down a single name. Since the start of the school year, you could say." - He paused another time- "Though I am unsure of how or why you might have done it, I must ask myself: Are you, Miss Lane, in possession of this power?"

"I - I don't know," she was afraid to answer, knowing that every option would be wrong. She went on to tell the headmaster about the pain, however, and the lines of worry on his forehead deepened.

"Well, Miss Lane, as I am very sure of this power running through your veins, I must say, we have got to extract it again." He looked at her worryingly.

"I thought so," she reluctantly replied, trying to be cooperative and nice, to convince the headmaster she hadn't done it on purpose. Thoughts about her fellow Slytherins came into her mind, manipulating the teachers just as they wanted it. A flashed smile, a whispered thanks in awe and they got just as they wanted. A lot of people thought this to be biasing and manipulating and even if Medea didn't completely disagree, she could not deny that the 'training' she had received by her fellow cunning students, had been very useful.

A twinkle in his eyes lighted up and he seemed to be reminded of someone. Medea, who wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign, went on, "I didn't intend to get these powers, I don't even really know how I did it. - I didn't go to you, headmaster, right away, because I didn't want to bother you as you are a busy man."

She was about to go on when somebody crashed into the room. A panting Professor Snape entered and beckoned Dumbledore to him. The old man got up and joined his employee. They whispered for quite some time and Dumbledore's facial expressions smoothed. Medea could tell the head of her house was appeasing his mild anger.

When Dumbledore came back to her, his voice was calmer and softer. Professor Snape had apparently done a good job and Medea sent him a grateful glance to which he replied an annoyed 'Was this necessary?'-look before he left the Hospital Wing again.

"Miss Lane, I fear your body is, though no doubt healthy, not capable of containing such magic. There is a way to get it back into the pages of the book. However, it won't be very nice," Dumbledore said and his voice was pitying while stern. Medea gulped once again and nodded. The headmaster then got up and left, leaving the poor girl in the dark as to when, where and what should happen about these powers.

She spent the next few days in the Hospital Wing, pitied by her friends. Ron came by every day, with a new box of sweets and a story to tell. That way she found out that everyone (excluding Sirius, of course) had gotten through the fight without severe injuries. Severe as in 'Mortal danger'. Tonks and Moody were still being nursed back to life. She also heard that Umbridge had vanished until Dumbledore brought her back. That she even found out first-hand because the despised Ministry-worker spent a night in the bed next to her, rambling about Centaurs and lies and whatnot. Harry and Hermione both visited her as well, Harry brought a little game to keep herself busy and Hermione gave her a book which she recommended very urgently. As it was a novel and not any school book, she decided to look into it and ended up having read it in less than two days. Even Dean stopped by, he wished a speedy recovery and brought a flower bouquet which he placed in front of the window. The lovely buttercups contrasted beautifully with the reddish sky.

When Medea had waited for the Headmaster to inform her about future actions for multiple days, she decided to go look for him. The young girl left the Hospital Wing in the night since Madam Pomfrey still refused to declare her recovered. The corridors were dark and just here and there a single torch lightened up the surrounding darkness. She could hear every breath she took and every step she made no matter how hard she tried to stay silent. Medea slipped around a few corners, went up some stairs and eventually stood in front of the headmaster's office. It was not until then that she realized she could not just knock and ask now. He would be angry, annoyed, tired. Anything, but pleased.

As the thought settled in her mind, she was already so agitated she could not go back to bed. Silently, she grabbed a nail thought to hold the suit of armour together and started to crack the lock. It didn't take her long and she suspected nobody assumed students of magic to break the lock with an easy muggle trick she had learned in the orphanages. She then entered the most intriguing room she had seen so far, behind the Mystery part of the Ministry, of course.

Albus Dumbledore's office was full of things spinning, whirring, hovering. Little machines that would have aroused the interest of the least nosy people. And as Medea wasn't one of them already, she felt as though she had stepped into Disneyland finally. Something on a little desk close to a window suddenly buzzed louder, couldn't hold itself on the table and fell down. She approached it cautiously and finally saw what it was: a necklace, with the charm of beauty but death. Hogwarts' crest was incorporated and on the other side a book and a quill were visible. Medea couldn't help but think it was what Dumbledore needed to give her, especially because it got warmer with every second she touched it.

She then saw the notes next to it and the headmaster's writing confirmed her assumption. In tiny, neat letters, Dumbledore had written:

The Founders' Locket

Possessing powerful magic, connected with the Book of Acceptance and the Quill of Admittance.

Dangerous. No knowledge about the consequences of human use.

Note: Possibly capable of taking its power back.

That last sentence made her quiver and she took a deep breath. Maybe this was not a good decision. But it was her only choice. She put on the necklace and it burned the skin it touched.  

***

Aaa! The next chapter is going the be the climax!

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Love y'all,

-Tonks