Chapter 19

Outside in the hall, Professor McGonagall wasted no time.

"I must leave Hogwarts shortly, and I did not have to time wait until you finished class to speak with you. I take it you noticed Hermione was not around this morning?" she asked.

"Yes," replied Imogen. "She wasn't at breakfast and she's not in potions."

"I can't tell you where she is, Imogen, but -"

"Professor," said Imogen in a tone that a slightly annoyed teenager might use with her parents, "I know where Hermione is. She's at 12 Grimmauld Place right now -"

McGonagall hushed Imogen before she could continue.

"Of course you know where she is - I should have expected that. But I wanted to tell you that I'm going to arrange for you to stay there over the holiday, if you would like."

Imogen thought for a moment. She had planned to spend the Christmas holiday at Hogwarts. The break was a long one - slightly over three weeks - and she thought that if she worked unceasingly, in those weeks she might manage to catch up with her peers. She had already achieved parity in defence against the dark arts, and there remained only potions, charms and transfiguration. She explained to Professor McGonagall what she had planned.

"Will I be able to get any work done at Grimmauld Place?" she asked the Professor.

"Yes, I assure you. I do not doubt that you will make greater progress there than at Hogwarts, for I will be there at times and can help you with transfiguration. Professor Snape, of course, can give you help with potions. Almost all the members of the Order are wizards and witches of the highest calibre, and will be able to give you valuable instruction."

With this assurance Imogen's concerns had been fully addressed, and she asked eagerly when she could go to Grimmauld Place.

"Before I spoke to the other members of the Order and got their consent, I first wanted to make sure you were interested. But I must get their consent, including of course that of the home's owner, Sirius Black. I should think I will have permission to take you there by Sunday at the latest."

It was Friday, the last day of term, and so Imogen would have one day virtually by herself in the castle, for almost the entire student body would be leaving Hogwarts that night. Imogen thanked the professor, and then returned to potions class.

As usual, Imogen shared a table with Neville, and so she hardly noticed the absence of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Over the last little while she had almost become accustomed to Neville's success in the class, and she watched as once again he turned out a first-rate performance.

Professor Snape held up a large glass container of Neville's potion so that the class could see it.

"Note the colour - you know this potion has been properly prepared when it achieves a perfect azure hue such as this one. Now of course you all know why it is important to be able to tell how well a potion is prepared before one consumes it. With this potion, it is critical, for as you noticed, it contains several lethal substances, including the same Foxglove that you used earlier this year for the Contendo potion. This particular potion is deadly when improperly made. I had not expected that any of you would be able to do an adequate job on the first try, because it's a very finicky potion. But Longbottom has managed it, and so I will use his result to show you what this potion does. The potion's name, by the way, is the "Asturias Potion" - named after the region of Spain native to the witch who first concocted it. Now observe closely."

While the class watched, Professor Snape uncorked the container, poured a small flask of the liquid, and then drank it. Neville felt the complement very keenly, for Snape was literally putting his life in Neville's hands. The class watched with eagerness and concern to see what would happen. They gasped as Snape disappeared.

"I am not completely invisible," said Snape's disembodied voice. "I have not moved - look very closely at where you last saw me."

Everyone watched, and after a minute they saw that Snape was not completely invisible - with effort his outline could be seen, especially if he moved slightly, when his presence could be sensed by what appeared to be ripples in the air in the shape of a man. The effect lasted only a minute or two, and then Snape gradually shimmered back to his normal form.

"I only took a small amount of the potion. A full cup would have kept me in that state for hours. Now not all of us are so fortunate to possess an Invisibility Cloak, nor the magical skill to render oneself invisible with a charm. For the ordinary wizard, the Asturias potion is the next best thing. Of course, the potion has great mischief-making potential, and so it is probably good that it is so difficult to make. But anyone with the skill to make it deserves to keep it, and so I will return Longbottom's potion to him. Twenty-five points to Gryffindor for a truly exceptional result."

The class burst into spontaneous applause as Neville accepted the potion, and Imogen was pleased to note that not a few of the Slytherins joined in. After the applause died down, Imogen held up her hand.

"Yes, Imogen?"

"Professor Snape," said Imogen as she stood, "such a powerful potion is bound to have side effects, even if made to perfection. What would happen to someone if she made regular use of the Asturias potion?"

"An excellent question. Does anyone have any thoughts on what the effect might be?" Anyone with a good knowledge of Herbology would be able to hazard a reasonable guess, and Snape ignored Neville's hand, for the boy had had enough success for the day. Malfoy's hand too had shot up right away.

"Malfoy?"

"From the ingredients, I think prolonged, frequent use could lead to heart trouble. Even in the short term, the strain on the heart would be considerable."

"Excellent, Malfoy. Ten points. The effect of the foxglove is not entirely masked by the other ingredients. In minute doses, foxglove is an excellent heart medication, but in larger it can stop one's heart in a trice. The elderly and infirm would be most unwise to consume the Asturias potion. In fact, it is most often used by Aurors, and only the younger ones, when they are on a mission which requires considerable stealth. I only took a very small dose, but my pulse is somewhat elevated. At my age I would not hazard a larger amount."

Later at lunch Imogen chatted away with Neville about his plans for the coming holiday. He would have to spend the first few days with his grandmother, but after that, was going to see cousins in Belgium, and was very excited. But then a frown crossed his face.

"If I weren't taking my trunk with me, I'd leave the Asturias potion in it. But my trunk's coming home with me, and the last thing I need is for my Grandmother to see this potion and start asking questions. She thinks I'm incompetent, and would probably take it from me. Imogen, can I leave it with you?"

"I'll look after it for you," said Imogen. "I will be leaving Hogwarts, too, but my trunk's staying behind, and if you don't mind me leaving it there, then that's what I'll do." Imogen was taking only her books, wand, two sets of muggle clothes and her owl - she had nothing else to bring with her.

It was evening now, and the school almost empty. Dinner had been a rather glum affair, a handful of students from different houses sharing the same table and talking very little. The other students had various reasons for being stuck at school. Some were orphans like Harry, thanks to Voldemort, and had no home to which to return. Others had parents away for work reasons and were too young to be left to their own devices. Imogen knew it would be cruel of her to mention that she would be leaving Hogwarts that Sunday, so she said nothing. Imogen secretly pocketed some bread rolls, and pretending to have finished eating, excused herself.

She left the Great Hall, and rather than return to a common room empty of friends, she threw on the cloak she'd brought with her, walked out the main doors and down the steps onto the school grounds. The sun had set long before, the school now a dark, silent shape with only the odd window illuminated by candle or torchlight. The only way Imogen could tell that the sky was not completely black was the towers of Hogwarts rising high, barely visible and even darker than the cloud-covered winter sky.

The Forbidden Forest too was just barely detectable, a great mass of blackness from which occasionally came a sound of a night creature. Imogen heard what sounded like the death shriek of a small mammal caught by a larger predator near the edge of the forest. As she listened to the sounds around her, she walked slowly towards the lake.

After almost four months at Hogwarts, Imogen was finally beginning to feel almost at peace with herself. The terrifying sense of being hopelessly behind was gone, and she now knew that she belonged at the school. She was no longer an outsider, attending the school at the mere sufferance of the authorities. She knew she was a talented witch, and was at Hogwarts as of right.

In the distance and in the direction of the school, Imogen heard the faint sound of a door closing, the slight noise traveling with unnatural clarity in the winter air.

It occurred to her that perhaps the best place to be on the grounds at night was not right next to the lake, the depths of which were even more unknowable than the dark regions of the Forbidden Forest. She turned around and headed back for the castle. She could not see the front doors, and if it weren't for the path to guide her, she would have had to stumble her way back, navigating by the few lights visible from the castle.

Imogen heard a rustling in the distance, and instantly froze. After a pause she started off again and heard the same noise, perhaps closer. Or perhaps not. It was also possible she had heard nothing but a mouse. She wished that Fred and George with her, or even better, Harry.

Imogen could have lit her way with the Lumos charm, but thought better of it. Her wand would illuminate the area immediately around her, but it also would reveal her presence to anyone within a hundred yards or more. Imogen was not sure why the thought of being spotted troubled her, but a sick feeling of fear washed over her at the notion of being watched, out here on the grounds alone. She therefore continued to walk in the darkness unaided by her wand. She also deliberately slowed her pace, deciding that it would be wise to continue as noiselessly as possible.

The walk back to the main doors took rather longer as a result, and once safely back in side the school, Imogen berated herself for her groundless fear.

Imogen had the Gryffindor common room all to herself. There was but one other member of her house at the school during the holidays, a third year. By now the girl had probably gone up to her dormitory, and Imogen decided she would do the same.

The dormitory felt so odd with her being the only one present, but her bed was comfortable, and Imogen settled down for a nice read. She preferred the light cast by her wand under the Lumos charm to a candle, for it was much easier on her eyes. Her wand tip emitted a warm glow from the stand next to her bed. Imogen had had no opportunity to read for pleasure since arriving at the school, but the history essays of Rita Skeeter were a good substitute. Tonight Imogen was reading Skeeter's paper, "On Wizard — Muggle Relations, 1850 to Modern Times." The paper was interesting enough in its own right, but what Imogen found most fascinating were minor details mentioned here and there, which the reader was assumed to have some knowledge of, but which were revelations to Imogen. She had not known that Disraeli was a wizard, nor that Niels Bohr was a squib.

Imogen was growing tired, but rather than put the book down, she looked at the index to see if there was anything of particular interest. She turned to the last chapter, on the efforts of the few Muggle scientists in the know to find a genetic basis for the differences between them and wizards. But Imogen lacked the science and math background to follow the discussion, and soon found herself nodding off. She pronounced the charm to extinguish her wand, and was fast asleep within minutes of putting her head on the pillow. Her last thoughts before sleep were speculations on what it was going to be like at Grimmauld Place.

Imogen thought she'd only been asleep an instant when she awoke with a start. Had she really heard a noise, or was it something she'd dreamed? But the sound was like the one made by the common room door, which had taken to creaking lately, Filch too lazy or too preoccupied with other chores to fix it. It could have been the third year girl leaving or coming in. Imogen looked to her alarm hourglass to check the time. It was just past midnight - impossible that a student could be coming or going from the common room at this hour.

Imogen was prepared to convince herself that she'd heard nothing, and to go back to sleep, when she thought she heard the faintest sound — far too quiet to be identifiable, but a sound nonetheless, just audible enough to be detected. Now Imogen was starting to be a bit alarmed. She knew she was probably imagining something, but she could not help herself. She sat up in bed now, listening intently to see if the sound would be repeated.