Chapter Forty-Seven: The Journey to Hogwarts
Palmyitor had the same stony façade the next morning when Lottie carefully watched her at breakfast. Her lips pursed as she annihilated her bacon into a million pieces. Lottie sat with a piece of egg still dangling off the side of her fork. Palmyitor looked up and over the sea of cheery students, they made eye contact.
It was the slightest motion”something so particular that only the most observant would notice”but Lottie saw it. She saw a miniscule eyebrow raise”so tiny that it seemed more like a twitch. And in that moment, Lottie saw the most infinitely small amount of acknowledgement in her eyes.
Lottie looked away, a weary smile spreading across her face. “What are you looking at?” Andrea asked.
“What?” Lottie returned to poking at her eggs. “Oh”nothing”it just looks like I’ll get to go to Hogwarts after all.”
Lottie proved that her Occlumeny was not a fluke”and she continued to succeed in every lesson, leaving the other students eternally frustrated. By March, her reputation had grown and she was known throughout the school as the only one able to beat Snape. Lottie relished in her title and just grinned at the sixth and seventh years who glared at her.
The time came for their accelerated lessons, and Lottie was issued a new schedule. This one was much more intense; Lottie realized that it barely gave her time for meals in the middle of the day.
She began each morning with two hours of Charms”a class she shared with Ally Overton, and then had an hour of Transfiguration with Colm. After half an hour for lunch, she had two hours of Potions by herself, an hour and a half of dueling with the other three fifth years and then a bit of a break for homework and food. After dinner, she spent two hours with Snape, and ended each day completely exhausted. That didn’t even include weekends, when all of the ten students going to Hogwarts would have seven hours of training a day.
Snape’s instructions for Legilimency were very different from Breckenridge’s. Where Breckenridge let her use it to gather information, Snape seemed intent on using it to manipulate others.
“You’ll quickly find somebody’s most poignant memories,” he said one March evening. “They stand out clearly among the rest.”
“What if all their memories are happy?” Lottie asked. She sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by books on the subjects. Complicated diagrams which moved slowly were drawn carefully onto the pages.
“Nobody has only happy memories.”
Lottie frowned. “But how can you control what they see?” she asked. “Every time I””
“An accomplished Legilimens can. That is what the art is about”control.”
Learning Legilimency with Snape was not nearly as difficult as Occlumency had been. Since he never offered himself as a target, Lottie had to practice on other students. Usually, they were underclassmen in detention, which made it almost too easy. None of them were able to perform Occlumency, so Lottie never practiced at breaking down a complicated block.
The Palmyitors soon found out that getting detention from Snape meant becoming target practice, which led to an odd sequence of perfect behavior around him. With targets now few and far between, Lottie had little choice but to focus on theory.
Soon, another extra lesson was added, making Lottie’s schedule nearly unbearable. Alsemore students didn’t learn how to Apparate until sixth year, so Lottie and the other fifth years had to catch up. The three heads admitted that it was unlikely that they would even be able to Apparate on the Hogwarts grounds, but it was still worth learning.
So, early every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, the four fifth years marched to a special spot on the grounds out of sight from the other students. The first morning, Hermione stood beaming at them, wrapped in a thick cloak to protect herself from the biting March wind.
“Professor Stainthorpe,” Andrea said, “are you teaching us?”
Hermione smiled and said, “I wanted to be helpful somehow.”
Ally scoffed. “Then why don’t you come with us?”
“I’m afraid I can’t,” Hermione said. “All of us older players in the war are recognizable. And Polyjuice Potions emits fumes, so that would just draw more attention to our hideout.” Hermione clapped her hands and looked at the four of them. “So, Apparation is much more difficult than it looks,” she said before launching into a full-blown lecture.
Lottie stood with her arms crossed, shivering in the frosty morning. Hermione told them about objectives and angles, time of day and concentration. It all sounded horribly complicated”and Hermione was not surprised at all by the confused looks on all of their faces. “Let’s just try it, shall we?” she said, and flicked her wand, causing hoops of grass to illuminate across from them. “Now, just try to Apparate to the hoops. Don’t get too frustrated”it’s a tricky thing, jumping through space.”
Lottie screwed up her eyes in concentration and looked at the hoop. She had traveled through side-along Apparation, of course, and tried to replicate that feeling of being sucked through a straw. After a minute of futile focus, she stole a glance around.
Andrea seemed to be closer than any of them. She appeared calm, but Lottie knew how hard she was working under that façade. Ally, it seemed, had given up all together and watched them amusedly. Colm had moved, but not by Apparating. He inched just so slightly forward, trying to get to the ring without the rest of them noticing, so he could later claim he was successful.
“It’s quite all right,” Hermione said patiently. “It takes a lot of work, and there is no exact formula to it. You have to concentrate on where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.”
By the last week of April, all of the fifth years had successfully Apparated into the hoop. Andrea was first to succeed, with Ally following, not a day behind. Lottie got it right a week later, though she still occasionally left behind an ear or toe. It took Colm the longest, but eventually even he caught on too.
Lottie had also gotten very good at Legilimency by then. She was able to easily manipulate people’s memories and tell when they were lying, but she still had no experience with an Occlumens.
The week before they were scheduled to leave, all of the students had to get their wands checked. The elderly wandmaker glowered at Lottie as she examined her finger-printed and chipped wand. “Functional,” she said, “though you might want to consider taking better care of your possessions.”
Finally, the morning of their departure came, and in true Alsemore fashion, they gathered to leave outside at five in the morning. All of the students were clad in plain black robes, apparently the Hogwarts uniform.
They were leaving in two groups. Palmyitor was taking half of the students, including Ally and Andrea, by Apparation. They were Apparating to the surrounding area and sneaking onto the grounds. Lottie was part of the air team. With Maelioric as their leader, they were traveling by broomstick, keeping an eye out for Death Eaters on the ground as they did.
As the students stretched their legs and strapped their bags around their backs, Palmyitor motioned to Lottie and took her aside. “Listen, Rowe, this is a very important mission.”
“I know,” Lottie said.
“You have to be extremely aware.” Lottie’s quizzical look only seemed to irritate Palmyitor. “You’re not on the air team for your accomplished flying, Rowe,” she said. “If anything goes wrong, if anybody approaches you, you have to protect the others.”
“Me? What?”
“Nobody else can effectively block a Death Eater’s Legilimency. If somebody runs into you, Fornax knows to get out of there. You explain why you and four other students are flying across the country.”
“But”what am I supposed to say?”
Palmyitor made to leave, and didn’t even stop as she said, “You can think of something convincing.”
Lottie returned to her group with a new seriousness. Now that she knew that their lives were in her hands, she wasn’t sure how enthusiastic she felt about this whole thing.
“Hey,” Andrea said from behind her.
“Hi.”
“We’re about to go,” Andrea said.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll see you soon then, right?” Andrea tried to smile, but her nerves showed through.
“Right.” Lottie swallowed a lump in her throat. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” Andrea turned to leave, but stopped and added, “You’ll do great. Don’t worry.”
Lottie watched the Apparation group leave. With a deafening crack, they disappeared, and Lottie moved toward her group. Maelioric addressed them in a serious moment that completely contradicted his personality. “Now,” he said, “if anything happens”if you fall apart from the group, just land. Land and Apparate back here. And”” he glanced at Lottie “”if a Death Eater approaches us, I’m going to hide. They will certainly recognize me, and having me there would not help our chances. If anything happens, let Rowe talk to them. Let her tell the story, and agree with everything she tells them. Got that?”
The moment was too serious for jealousy. Everybody just nodded. “Ready then?” They all mounted their brooms. “Let’s go.” They kicked off the ground as one. Lottie stayed in the middle of the group and followed Maelioric as he led them higher and higher into the sky.
They flew in silence. It was almost unbearably cold, but nobody complained. They were an hour into the flight when a silvery leopard trotted up to them. Lottie was the only student who wasn’t surprised when it started speaking in Palmyitor’s voice. “Just got here,” it said. “The forest is more heavily protected than we thought, so we’re in the ruins at Hogsmeade. We made a makeshift camp underground.” The leopard vanished in a puff of smoke, and Maelioric nodded at where it had been.
“Expected,” Maelioric called back to the students. “We had only hoped to use the forest.”
They fell back into silence once again. Lottie shivered against her broomstick, as the pink sun crept over the horizon. The other students seemed frozen in anxiety. Their furtive glances told Lottie just how much they didn’t trust her. “All right, we’ll be getting near Hogwarts soon,” Maelioric called behind him. “We’re going to increase our altitude.”
They tilted their brooms upwards and climbed steadily higher. “We’ll pass Hogwarts in about ten minutes,” Maelioric said, “but we’re going to fly past it and above the camp. Naesa will give us word when it’s safe to land.”
Hogwarts broke into view suddenly. Lottie wasn’t the only one who audibly gasped. If she had thought Alsemore was impressive, it was nothing compared to this. Hogwarts was a dark, brooding castle, but twice the size of Alsemore. It had towers sprouting out of each side, courtyards that sprawled across acres, and brown twisting paths set against bright green grass. The grounds were complete with forest, stretching on for about a mile.
Lottie’s eyes flitted back and forth so quickly that they turned into blurs of hazel. The castle was beautiful. From this far up, Lottie could see smoke billowing up from several chimneys. The sun reflected off of the lake and cast dazzling patterns on the castle’s stone walls. There were no people outside. Maybe it was too early”and students weren’t out for classes yet. Even still”despite being deserted”Lottie could not imagine this place as a school for Dark Magic. She almost envied the students who lived on these beautiful grounds.
Soon they were passing the castle. They flew above a dark, thick forest. Lottie could only imagine what lived in there.
Maelioric gestured to them and pointed upwards, to a thick cloud. All of the students followed his lead and broke through the mist. There, they sat in midair as Maelioric addressed them, though they could hardly see him due to the fog. Lottie shivered as her robes quickly dampened.
“So,” Maelioric said. “As you can see, that was Hogwarts.” Lottie blinked to make out his blurry silhouette. “About a mile that way”” Lottie couldn’t see which way he was pointing “”is Hogsmeade. It’s almost entirely rubble now, but Naesa has made a hideout underground. So”we’ll have to head there in stages, obviously. We can’t have the whole flock of us appear at once. I’ll stay behind in case if anything happens. Rowe”” Lottie’s stomach plummeted. That was what she had been dreading. “Rowe, you take the lead. Naesa’s Patronus will appear at any moment. You follow it to the base and stay there. It will leave a path behind”the rest of you follow the path one by one. Rowe, you keep an eye out for danger. If anything approaches, shoot up red sparks. Got that?”
“Erm”okay,” Lottie said. “But”er”what if I run into a Death Eater?”
“Tell them you’re a student,” Maelioric said.
“But”what if they want to take me back to the castle?”
“Rowe, you’re creative. That’s why you got this job.”
Something stirred nearby. Entirely panicked, Lottie spun around and whipped out her wand, but it was only Palmyitor’s Patronus that approached. “Go, Rowe,” Maelioric said. “I’ll see you at the base.”
Lottie nodded, though she doubted whether anyone could see it through the mist, and spun to follow the Patronus. It started moving very fast. Lottie urged her broom to keep pace with it, but soon realized the broom just couldn’t move that quickly. She trailed just ten feet behind it, straining to stay on her broomstick as it led her in complicated patterns and loop-the-loops as if to throw a pursuer off guard. It was leaving a trail behind it. It was very faint, but the observant flyer would be able to see a light silver mist.
Lottie suddenly broke out of the cloud. They were no longer above the forest, but the remains of what looked like a village. The Patronus ducked into a dive, and Lottie followed.
She landed ungracefully on the cobblestones and looked at the leopard expectantly. It did not speak, but it padded off to a pile of rubble to her left. It stood significantly on top of a rather large piece of stone, staring at Lottie, before evaporating.
She stood in the middle of the ruins with her wand drawn, spinning around at any noise. She felt suddenly very vulnerable, alone in the middle of a Death Eater training ground.
Lottie looked around. There weren’t many intact buildings left in the village. A run down, medium sized structure was standing, but only just. Parts of its ceiling had caved in, and bits of wall had fallen off completely. Ancient letters hung above the door and read, ‘ee Broo.’ Lottie had a suspicion that that wasn’t the entire sign.
She stood in silence for a good long time. She was just beginning to wonder if the Patronus’s trail had faded when something appeared that drove it out of her mind completely.
The village had suddenly become freezing cold. Lottie looked around. The sun was out”what had happened?
But then Lottie saw it. A tall figure that glided over the earth slowly approached. A scabby hand was drawn from its cloak as though waiting to grab onto anything. The cold permeated her bones. Lottie knew was she was supposed to do.
The dementor was fast approaching, but Lottie pulled out her wand and said, “Expecto Patronum.” Nothing happened. Feebly, she tried to think of something”anything happy. She thought of her family, Andrea, finding out she was a witch… “Expecto Patronum.”
Still nothing occurred. The dementor was steadily approaching her. She could feel her knees shaking and memories”horrible memories that she had done her best to forget”burst into her mind.
Andrea in first year, broken and tortured at the Death Eaters’ feet… François’s large, blank eyes… “Ex”expecto””
“Holy shit.” Another voice approached from above. One of the other students on the mission had appeared overhead. Still in a daze, Lottie looked up”it was a seventh year Clynalmoy. “Expecto Patronum,” he bellowed.
Immediately, a silver bat burst from his wand. It was small, but certainly mighty. The bat approached the dementor and drove it away almost immediately. Once it left, warmth returned to Lottie, but she was still feeling shaky. “Why didn’t you shoot up sparks?” the Clynalmoy asked fiercely. “I could have lost my soul.”
“I think I was in a lot more danger than you. I’m fine, thanks.” Lottie shot him a steely glare. “It’s sort of hard to remember shooting sparks when something is trying to suck out your soul.”
The Clynalmoy rolled his eyes and looked at her, making it very clear how much he doubted her competence. “Well?” he asked. “Where do I go?”
Lottie, still shivering slightly, pointed to where the leopard had sat. “There,” she said. “Move that big piece of stone out of the way.”
The Clynalmoy turned and marched up to the stone. Lottie watched him push it, with a considerable amount of effort, and peer down inside. Then he got up and cautiously stepped down, disappearing as though he were descending a ladder. Right when his head slipped below ground level, the stone moved back into place and another figure appeared overhead.
It was Colm this time. He landed clumsily and raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Under that piece of stone,” Lottie said. He marched off without a word. The next two students showed up with no trouble, and finally Maelioric landed gracefully beside her.
“No problems?” he asked as Lottie led them to the stone entrance.
“Er”well””
“Dementor?” He nodded knowingly. “Sorry about that. I probably should have warned you, but I didn’t want to spook you too much.” He smiled genuinely and Lottie felt slightly better, but couldn’t completely push aside her bitterness.
She reached the stone and pushed it aside. Inside was a thin, narrow tunnel going directly down. Lottie could see ladder rungs along the side, though she couldn’t see the bottom. The hideout must have been really far underground.
“Ladies first,” Maelioric said with his wand out. “I’ll make sure no dementors come by for a while.”
Lottie nodded and placed her foot on the first rung. Descending seemed to take years. Her hands were feeling raw as she plunged further into darkness. Her eyes took a while to get used to the lack of light. Finally, once her hands were feeling completely numb, she reached the bottom.
“Lottie!” Andrea’s relieved squeal greeted her and she stumbled back against the ladder as her friend caught her in a hug. “Oh thank Merlin. I was so worried.”
“What?” Lottie said shakily. “Think I can’t handle a little flight on my own?”
“Not that,” Andrea said. “David Neil”you know, the seventh year”told me about the dementor.”
“Oh.” Lottie frowned. “That.”
“Watch out down there,” called Maelioric’s voice from above. Lottie and Andrea shuffled out of the way as he descended the ladder. “Well,” Maelioric said once he was on the ground. “Let’s see how Naesa did, eh?”
He lit his wand. Lottie looked around at her surroundings for the first time. They were in a corridor, long and narrow and almost completely dark. It had a musty smell and the ground squelched beneath their feet. Lottie had a mild suspicion that Palmyitor had excavated it mere hours before.
They walked for a minute in silence before they reached a long wall that seemed to be caved-in rubble.
“Er”now what?” Lottie asked.
“Just some extra security, Lottie,” Andrea answered as if explaining that the sky was blue. “Here. It’s only made to work with one of our wands.” She traced a large A over the rubble with the tip of her wand.
“What’s that for?” Lottie asked. “Andrea?”
“Alsemore.” Andrea looked at her as though she had just asked what her own name was. “Honestly.”
The rubble magically cleared itself. In the opening it created, Lottie could see a wide, dimly lit room. Students bustled back and forth, carrying bags of clothes and provisions, while Palmyitor stood in the center, directing.
“Oh, good, Fornax,” she said once she spotted them. “I was about to become anxious. No problems?”
“Just a mild dementor situation,” Maelioric said, nonchalantly, “but nothing serious.”
Palmyitor pursed her lips. “Yes, Neil told me about that.” The seventh year Clynalmoy rolled his eyes dramatically at Lottie. “Are you having troubles with your Patronus, Rowe?”
Lottie glanced from the Clynalmoy, David Neil, to Palmyitor. “I can’t produce one, Professor,” she muttered.
Palmyitor’s lips thinned. “I see.” She swept toward her, and for a wild moment, Lottie thought she was going to hex her, when she reached into her bag. Instead of pulling out her wand, though, she pulled out a small piece of chocolate, the size of Lottie’s thumbnail. “Here.” Palmyitor put the chocolate in Lottie’s hand. “We don’t have enough for this whole trip, so I suggest you be more careful.”
Lottie timidly nibbled the chocolate. It was like the ice was melting inside of her. Warmth spread through her limbs to her fingers and toes. Maelioric and Palmyitor began to talk between themselves and Lottie and Andrea turned to the rest of the busy room.
It was shaped like a beehive. The ceiling above them tapered into a pointed dome. A yellow light illuminated the entire room, but Lottie could not find its source. There were a few dark tunnels leading this way or that in the corners. “Bathrooms, probably,” Andrea said. On one side of the room, the students were setting up a row of camp beds, and on the other, they were organizing everything from Sneakoscopes to cauldrons.
“Oi, why don’t you two help?” called David Neil. “Don’t expect us to set up your beds for you.” After exchanging equally annoyed glances, Lottie and Andrea grudgingly went to the group of students.
That night, everybody sat on the ground, cross-legged, in a circle as they ate their meager rations. Palmyitor sat upon a wooden chair, as she explained, “It may take some time for any of you to actually do anything. We need to survey the daily activities to get an understanding for the castle’s schedule. Starting tomorrow, we will be sending you up in shifts to observe the movement around you.” Spotting Lottie’s excited grin, she quickly added, “Unfortunately, only those able to produce a corporeal Patronus will be permitted to go. This area is densely populated with dementors. So.” She stood up and headed to one of the tunnels, stopping only to spin around and say, “You’ll want to get a good night’s sleep. Even if you are unable to keep look out, you will be working.”
“Where’s she going?” Lottie asked as Palmyitor headed down the tunnel.
Maelioric pushed himself up, laughing. “You didn’t honestly think she was going to sleep on a camp bed in here, Rowe?” He laughed again. “Oh no. Goodnight, all.” He followed Palmyitor’s lead, but turned and went into his own, dark tunnel.
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: Thanks to coolh5000 for being an awesome beta!
This chapter is dedicated to my awesome English professor!