Chapter Thirty-Seven
Subverting Expectations
Thursday morning started out boring, after Sunset's strategy had proven more than sufficient to keep up with class the last time, the rest of the group followed her example. They had explained the memory treatment to those Gryffindors who hadn't gotten it thus far and promised to give it to them over the weekend.
They had complained, of course, but Harry, Luna and the Weasleys had explained that the symptoms of the slower version of the spell could be distracting and took a day or two to get used to, as well as that it would take a week or so before any noticeable improvements to their memory manifested at all. Even their memory, treated weeks before, was still spotty in places.
They had also badgered Sunset and Hermione to teach them how they had managed to apparate within Hogwarts. The two had explained to them that they hadn't actually apparated and didn't want to do so either. And they had promised that, yes, in time they would teach them to do that as well.
Still, none of that served to make History of Magic any less boring.
Charms was much better, but passed far less eventfully than it had the first time.
Their final round of Herbology for the week finished off their day with more basic plant care.
Now there was only one day left in the week. And only one class they had yet to experience. Thursday had come and gone. Now it was Friday, and they were set to experience a double period of Potions.
Saying that the subject and its teacher had a bad reputation wouldn't do reality justice. Professor Snape was the head of house Slytherin and notorious for giving them preferential treatment. He was also known to be extraordinarily strict in his teaching and unforgiving of mistakes. It wouldn't be long before they saw for themselves. With a bit of trepidation, the group made their way down to the dungeons where Professor Snape had set up his classroom.
As they approached, Sunset reapplied her masked scanning spell. Quirrell wasn't the only one bearing a dark magic she had yet to identify. As their first lesson with Snape, this was her first chance to check. Harry meanwhile had his hand in his pocket where, she knew, the message Hedwig had brought him at breakfast resided.
When they reached the classroom, they found the door locked and most of the Slytherins, with whom they shared the class, scattered through the corridor before it. Still put out after what had happened on the train, Malfoy chose to demonstratively ignore them.
Sunset was torn for a moment, but ultimately decided that she didn't want to rush her apology. As such, she decided against apologizing now when the teacher could come by any minute.
Mere moments later, there was a subtle clicking noise and the door swung open, revealing Professor Snape. He wordlessly turned around and stalked deeper into the room, the students following.
Looking around, Sunset found the décor to be rather peculiar. With the pickled animals and plants floating around in colorful and sometimes glowing solutions, it looked as though Snape had made an effort to make the room as creepy and intimidating as possible. She didn't know enough about the man to know how much truth there might be to that.
The class quickly spread out around the room and automatically segregated by house. The Slytherins took the left side of the room, while the Gryffindors took the right. Spreading out amongst the workstations, Sunset sat between Hermione to the left and Harry, a table over, to the right, sharing with Ron. Ginny and Luna were behind them. Seeing that the Gryffindors were an odd number, Snape barked a quick command, telling Neville, Dean and Seamus to form one group.
Like Professor Flitwick had done, Snape began by taking roll. It gave them a good chance to learn the names of the Slytherins they hadn't paid attention to during the Sorting. Snape halted when he came to Harry's name. "Ah yes, Harry Potter, our new celebrity." The Gryffindors collectively ignored the chuckles from the Slytherin side of the chamber.
When he finished, Snape looked up from his list, letting his gaze wander across the class. Staring back, Sunset saw that the dark magic on his person seemed to radiate from a point on his left forearm, but didn't seem to go far beyond skin level. Filing that information away for later, she refocused on Snape's words.
"You are here," he began, "to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making." His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, but the class was absolutely silent, so they caught every word. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic."
Sunset had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at that notion. Sure potions had never been something she had specialized on personally, but they were absolutely a form of magic. After all, in other situations where magical components were mixed together, wand-making for example, no one claimed the result or the process weren't magical.
"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ..."
Sunset wasn't entirely sure whether Snape was giving them an introduction or a sales pitch. She knew, however, that, half a year ago, that last part especially would have been very enticing to her.
"I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
When his little speech finished, the room was silent. After a second, Snape's gaze snapped to Harry. "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Sunset smirked. Had he spent the summer at the Dursleys', Harry probably wouldn't have been able to answer that question. But that wasn't what had happened. They had all committed each of their books to memory. She could see not only Harry but also Ron, Ginny and Luna squinting slightly as they matched the words to the pages they remembered before their minds' eyes from Magical Drafts and Potions, even as she quickly did the same. It only took Harry a split-second longer than it took her, likely due to the memory spell not having quite finished its work yet.
"The Draught of Living Death, Professor."
Snape looked surprised for a moment, then focused once again. "Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
This time, all of them found the answer faster yet. "The closest place would probably be the supply closet, or, barring that, the first aid kit. If I couldn't find one in either, I'd check at the medical wing. Finding a bezoar at the source could be a little difficult here as I haven't seen any goats around so far."
Snape looked on with growing surprise, but, after a moment, seemed to decide on giving it one more try. "What is the difference, Potter, between Monkshood and Wolf's bane?"
Once more, they all thought back, this time to One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. After a short moment, Harry smirked slightly as he found the answer. "Semantics, Sir. Both describe the same plant."
"Also known as?"
"Leopard's Bane, Mousebane, Women's Bane, Devil's Helmet and, in muggle circles as the Queen of Poisons or the Blue Rocket. But I suspect you want the scientific term, which is Aconite."
"Well. You may have some of your mother's diligence after all." Seeing several confused faces around the class, Snape quietly sighed. "For those that didn't understand all that, the Draught of Living Death is a sleeping potion of immense power. Something you won't be brewing unless you manage to take potions at N.E.W.T. level, and a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat, and can protect you from most poisons. And, for the record, Mister Potter, there aren't any goats on school grounds, but there is a herd kept near Hogsmeade that is our primary supplier of bezoars."
When he looked into the class, seeing no reaction, he barked, "Well, why aren't you copying that down?"
From there, Snape set them out to brew a basic potion to cure boils. He stalked about the class, criticizing nearly everyone, except Malfoy whom he seemed to like for some reason. There was a bit of commotion when Dean and Seamus narrowly stopped Neville from adding an ingredient before taking the potion off the fire instead of after it, but otherwise, the class remained relatively calm.
At lunch, Percy came over to Sunset, waiting until she had finished. "Sunset, if you would come with me please. The headmaster has asked to speak with you. I'll show you to his office."
When her friends shot her questioning glances, Sunset shrugged. She told them to have fun at Hagrid's who had invited them over in his message to Harry, and explain to him why she couldn't come. Then she followed Percy out of the Hall, up to the second floor and then to several corridors until they arrived in front of a marble statue.
With a soft sigh, Percy said, 'Bubblegum', and the statue, suddenly animate, jumped aside, a passage opening behind where it had been before. "Go ahead. He'll be expecting you."
Sunset stepped through the passage which sealed back up behind her and onto the spiral staircase that was slowly moving upwards, like a spiraling, stone escalator. As she tended to do on escalators, Sunset walked up anyways, arriving at the office in moments. She raised her hand, but before she could knock, a calm 'Come in.' interrupted her and she instead gripped the handle and stepped through the door.
Looking around the office, she saw a multitude of small sliver instruments, making chirping and whirring noises, plinking lightly or puffing out small clouds of different colored smoke from small chimneys, stood on various small tables, shelves and some even on the desk. Sitting behind the desk in a pale blue robe, Albus Dumbledore smiled gently.
"You wanted to see me, Headmaster?"
"Indeed I did, I believe there are some matters we should discuss. Please, take a seat."
Thinking back to all she had done in this world so far, Sunset could see where he was coming from. "Alright, where would you like to start?"
"Let's start with a matter my old friend, Mister Ollivander has informed me of. According to him, you managed to turn Emma and Dan Granger, two muggles, into a wizard and a witch."
Sunset nodded. "I did."
"Such a thing was thus far believed to be impossible."
"It isn't." Taking a deep breath, Sunset prepared herself to explain. "The muggles, as you call them, and, to a lesser extent, I suspect, the so-called squibs, have a medical condition known in Equestria as Null Star Syndrome. Much like it is in this world, in Equestria it was long believed that those afflicted with the condition were born without magic. But roughly eight-hundred years ago. Null Star, eldest daughter of Void Star, founder of the House of the Stars, was born with that condition. Thanks to her exceptional expertise with magic, Void Star managed to identify the condition for what it was and develop a treatment."
"And exactly what is this condition?"
"Let me show you." Getting up, Sunset drew her wand and projected a life-size image of Emma in the air beside her. With a wave, it became transparent, allowing a network of lines to be seen within, interrupted by thousands of gaps. "These were Emma's thaumic pathways before the treatment." She conjured a second image, identical only without the gaps. "And this is what they look like now. See the difference?"
Getting up from behind his desk, Dumbledore moved to take a closer look at the two images. "The blockages?"
"Exactly. Muggles have several thousand of them in their thaumic pathways, squibs, I'd guess, would likely have a few hundred, but I can't verify that until I can scan one. Even wizards can have up to a few dozen of them, though those usually erode away once they start using their magic frequently."
"I see. How very interesting. We always thought muggles didn't have thaumic pathways."
"Huh? Really? How did you get that idea?"
"We couldn't find any when we scanned for them."
Sunset looked at him skeptically. "And how did you scan for them?"
"You have aura sight spells?" Lighting her eyes, Sunset nodded. "Good. Then allow me to show you." Drawing his own wand, Dumbledore let a magical scan pass over the girl.
"Wait. You used a passive thaumic wave scan?"
"What else would we use?"
"A thaumic wave resonance scan, of course. Muggles have thaumic pathways, but you won't get any thaumic waves from them with a passive scan since they don't have any magical flow."
Lighting his own eyes with a swing of his wand, Dumbledore observed her closely. "Could you show me?"
"Of course." Dismissing the illusions, Sunset cast the requested spell, sending out a thaumic wave pattern that Dumbledore realized would be refracted and absorbed by a thaumic channel, thus rendering them visible to a passive scan.
"I see. One moment please. I believe we should call someone else in on this." Walking over to his fireplace, he threw in a pinch of floo powder. "Hogwarts – Medical Wing." When the flames flared green, he poked his head into the fire. "Poppy, do you have a moment?"
Sunset couldn't hear whom he was talking to, but waited patiently. A moment later, Dumbledore pulled his head from the fire which returned to normal before flaring green again seconds later. A woman in nurse's garb came from it. "What do you have for me, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore nodded to Sunset. "Miss Shimmer, this is Madam Pomfrey, our school nurse. Since we are discussing matters of medical magic, I thought it wise to draw upon her experience." When Sunset nodded in understanding, he turned to the nurse. "Poppy, Miss Shimmer here has managed something truly impressive. Using the magical knowledge from her homeland, she has turned two muggles into a witch and a wizard."
"Pardon?"
"You have not misheard, Poppy. Miss Shimmer, if you would show her?"
With a wave of her still drawn wand, Sunset recreated the two illusory images, helpfully adding 'Before' and 'After' tags above them.
Dumbledore and Sunset watched in mild bemusement as Madam Pomfrey sat down in the chair Sunset had vacated, staring dumbly at the two images.
Sunset turned to the headmaster. "Do you think she needs a moment?"
"That would indeed seem likely. I will admit my reaction was not too dissimilar when I received Garrick's letter. Would you like a cup of tea in the meantime?"
Honestly I expect Both the Ministry of Magic and every Pure Blood in Britain. To be organizing a smear campaign like none other before the second they hear about what Sunset is capable of. Or quite possibly making every effort to silence in any way possible.
Sunset may be a power house but she likely underestimates the train-wreck the is magical politics in Britain.
Hey, you didn't make Snape an unreasonable jerk. Honestly, I'm sick of people having Harry actually answer the questions and still have Snape treat him like dirt. I love the idea of Harry unknowingly managing to appear more like his mother than his father in order to get on Snape's good side.
Nice, thirty minutes after I finished the last chapter, this one comes out. Thanks for the update!
9624278
Undoubtedly. But there's also the political power Dumbledore himself wields to take into consideration, and those that support him. Said be technique would be the proof that there's no such thing as a muggle, only such wizards, and refusing the right to magic to a wizard would be monstrous.
Sure, it could take centuries for it to become common practice... If not for the fact that techniques can be taught, and there's a considerable number of muggle born wizards that'd love to give magic to their families.
That's not to mention squibs. Sure, muggles might be forcing it, but seeing a squib as a stick wizard instead of an aberration? That's way easier to accept, and could be impossible to stop.
A Harry Potter that take seems to take more after his mother is less likely to recieve the ire of Snape, good call for showing that.
Finally! Someone doesn't have Harry volunteer aconite.
...
I'm honestly not sure how I would up with that particular pet peeves...
9624295
Yeah, there are so many other issues to consider here. Purebloods have no reason to complain because this helps them too sure some might still kick up a fuss but those few extremists are the minority. The main issue to worry about is how to actually use this knowledge since you can't just give every muggle magic because such an action would mean putting an end to the statute of secrecy. Then, of course, there is the problem of the muggle governments possibly objecting since giving everyone magic could cause a lot of problems for society that up till then didn't have it. Just to name a few possible problems.
Really enjoyed this chapter but I have a question in regards to this photographic memory spell. As we have seen there are no apparent restrictions to who the spell will work on and no real downsides to having it done to you other than some temporary pain. Given these facts does this mean that every pony has this spell cast on them? Because I can't really see a reason why everyone wouldn't use this spell.
9624329
I just looked up the plant and found it has a whole host of different names.
9624380
The spell isn't particularly far spread. Celestia never made it public and keeps the only written record of it in her private library. Sunset was the first one close enough to her to have acces to it and with enough cheek to steal from it.
9624515
How the bloody hell, is our farit truble makers supose to get around if he has magick?!?!
He'd be ten times worse.
9624897
I think you're confusing him with Ron. Neville's wand was never said to be a problem he even became a skilled spell caster with it before it got destroyed.
9624641
9624666
If Mr. Filch suddenly became a full wizard, I suspect that he'd be too busy catching up on all the magical studies he missed to bother tracking down students after hours.
Once he's caught up, he might become a worse problem for the students. Or he may very well decide to leave Hogwarts in order to pursue an entirely different career away from all the bad memories.
herd
9624920
Neville's First wand actually originally belonged to his Father, Frank, and while not quite as bad a match as Charlie's Wand with Ron, it was still not properly matched with him. After the end of Order of the Phoenix, where Frank's wand was broken during the Ministry battle, Neville got a properly matched wand and showed a Significant improvement all around in his spell-casting. That he was able to do as well as he was with Frank's wand for five years is still quite impressive nonetheless.
9625219
I disagree unlike with Ron's wand it's never stated that Neville was ever hindered by his Father's wand. Just because the wand belonged to his father doesn't mean it was mismatched with Neville, the fact that Neville could go toe to toe with death eaters while using it proves that the wand was just fine for Neville. It's also never stated that the new wand magically made him a better spellcaster than he already was. The only thing that ever hindered Neville was his own lack of self-confidence and I object to the idea that all he ever needed was a new wand.
9625248
Maybe not Mis-matched, but still not Properly matched. As I said, it wasn't as bad a match as Charlie's Wand with Ron (which I would rate between 70-85% compatibility on a scale I didn't totally just make up in my head, no-sir. ), and for all either of us know it could have been within the 80-95% Tollerance range, rather than a true 95-100% compatibility that would come from a True matching. You know, enough where the wand would resist him for not truly having it's allegiance, but not enough to totally impede him, similarly to how Hermione's wand behaved in Deathly Hallows for Harry after his Wand was broken.
This is mostly Head-canon and speculation, however, so take of it what you will.
My original comment was more to point out that Neville's first wand wasn't originally his, similar cases of which have a Canon Precedent of not cooperating with their wielders unless their allegiance is somehow won or earned. Chiding someone else over their head-canon without an Iron Clad argument with its own Canon supporting evidence, rather than inciting open discussion while leaving your own position open, is merely you trying to superimpose your own headcanon's validity over theirs.
9625302
Well, we know Ron's issue was his wand because he didn't lack confidence he just couldn't get the wand to work at times. Neville never had issues getting his wand to work just getting the spell to work properly which was caused by a lack of confidence. As his confidence grew so did his magical ability. I feel it undermines the growth he went through when it's suggested that a new wand would have fixed things for him. I'm not saying it wouldn't make a slight difference but it wouldn't suddenly make him a competent spell caster.
I know they say the wand chooses the wizard but that doesn't mean that his father's wand couldn't choose him.
9625324
It could have, or it couldn't have. Saying anything either way is left to the purview of speculation and Headcanon, since Neville wasn't really a focus character until the fifth book, and we didn't actually See whether or not he struggled beyond what we know for certain. I'll agree that getting a new wand and "Magically" becoming a more competant wizard because of it would undermine a lot of his character growth, which is why I personally compare his relationships between his first and second wands to how Hermione's and Harry's Wands react to Harry. For the former, you have a wand that "Works". It'll do what he wants it to without causing a spell failure or, worse, a mis-cast, but it will still resist him, making him have to put in just that Little bit more effort to get the job done. For the latter, you have a properly matched wand that will work for you 100% of the time with only the base level of effort necessary to cast the spell from the first time you pick it up.
And who knows? Maybe something Neville did, or in the process of gaining his confidence, he Did manage to Earn the full allegiance of his Father's Wand, so by the time he got his second he (and by extension we) honestly wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. This is, after all, totally speculation and Headcanon we're discussing here, since there's no solid Canon evidence either way.
I loose internet access for more than a month, come back, and see 'RVS'. What does RVS mean? What is going on?
9624461
Oh no, your list was actually quite impressive. I was commending your delivery, most people just have Harry effectively recite the answer Snape gave from the book, but he had no reason to mention alternate names for the plant unless he was asked for them like you did here.
*does a double-take*
Say what now? Was that Professor Snape? Giving a compliment? To Harry?!
Either changelings have invaded Hogwarts and replaced the greasy-haired potions master, or Harry just yanked the rug right out from under Snape in regards to his expectations of how he thought Harry would turn out. And he mentioned Lilly in that compliment too, so not only did Snape give a compliment, but probably by far the HIGHEST POSSIBLE PRAISE he has ever given in the history of the planet!
9912261
Mind you, it was wrapped in qualifiers and maybes, but yes. When Harry came to Hogwarts, Snape fully expected him to be 'another lazy, boisterous fool' like his father. But he valued Lilly for her intelligence and dilligence, as well as her skill with and talent for potions. Seeing Harry display those same traits, suffice to say, would throw him off just a tad ...
Since this can or worm has been opened, will there be more in-depphs into the subject?
Possibly involving St. Mungo's as well?
if you don't want this too involved, just aim for the parents of Muggle-born and half-bloods? and possibly the Squibs?