//------------------------------//
// 37 - Subverting Expectations 
// Story: A Phoenix Beyond the Veil - The Philospher's Stone 
// by gerandakis 
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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?"