Voices (HP Fanfic)

Chapter 12: Silver and Opals

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts"-Eleanor Roosevelt

Chapter 12: Silver and Opals

Penelope's POV:

Where was Dumbledore, and what is he doing? I caught sight of the headmaster only twice over the next few weeks. I rarely appeared at meals anymore, and I was sure Hermione was right in thinking that he was leaving the school for days at a time. Had Dumbledore forgotten the lessons he was supposed to be giving Harry and I? Dumbledore had said that the lessons were leading to something to do with the prophecy; I had felt bolstered, comforted, and now I felt slightly abandoned.

Halfway through October came their first trip of the term to Hogsmeade. I had wondered whether these trips would still be allowed, given the increasingly tight security measures around the school, but was pleased to know that they were going ahead; it was always good to get out of the castle grounds for a few hours. I woke early on the morning of the trip, which was proving stormy, and whiled away the time until breakfast by reading my copy of Advanced Potion-Making. I did not usually lie in bed reading my textbooks; that sort of behavior, as some had rightly said, was indecent in anybody except Hermione and myself, who was simply weird that way. I felt, however, that the Half-Blood Prince's copy of Advanced Potion-Making hardly qualified as a textbook. The more I pored over the book, the more I realized how much was in there, not only the handy hints and shortcuts on potions that were earning me such a glowing reputation with Slughorn, but also the imaginative little jinxes and hexes scribbled in the margins, which I was sure, judging by the crossings-out and revisions, that the Severus had invented himself. I had Severus re-write everything he had in his original textbook into mine.

I had already attempted a few of the Severus' self-invented spells. There had been a hex that caused toenails to grow alarmingly fast (I had tried this on Crabbe in the corridor, with very entertaining results); a jinx that glued the tongue to the roof of the mouth (which I had twice used, to general applause, on an unsuspecting Argus Filch); and, perhaps most useful of all, Muffliato, a spell that filled the ears of anyone nearby with an unidentifiable buzzing, so that lengthy conversations could be held in class without being overheard. The only person who did not find these charms amusing was Hermione, who maintained a rigidly disapproving expression throughout and refused to talk at all if I had used the Muffliato spell on anyone in the vicinity.

Sitting up in bed, I turned the book sideways so as to examine more closely the scribbled instructions for a spell that seemed to have caused the Severus some trouble. There were many crossings-out and alterations, but finally, crammed into a corner of the page, the scribble:

Levicorpus (nvbl)

While the wind and sleet pounded relentlessly on the windows, and Cho snored loudly, I stared at the letters in brackets. Nvbl . . . that had to mean "nonverbal." I rather doubted I would be able to bring off this particular spell; I was still having difficulty with nonverbal spells, something Snape had been quick to comment on in every D.A.D.A. class.

Pointing my wand at nothing in particular, I gave it an upward flick and said Levicorpus! inside my head.

"Aaaaaaaargh!"

There was a flash of light and the room was full of voices: Everyone had woken up as Luna had let out a yell. I sent Advanced Potion-Making flying in panic; Luna was dangling upside down in midair as though an invisible hook had hoisted her up by the ankle.

"Sorry!" I yelled, as Cho and Padma roared with laughter, and Marietta picked herself up from the floor, having fallen out of bed. "Hang on — I'll let you down —"