Dumbledore's Invitation
"Impedimenta! Scourgify!" Will fired off two spells in quick succession, sweeping away the spilled potion. What Neville had made really was Cure for Boils. Touch it, and boils would erupt across your skin.
"Idiot!" Snape roared. "I suppose you added the Porcupine Quills without taking the cauldron off the fire first, didn't you?"
Neville began to sob. Boils suddenly sprang up all over his nose.
"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape snapped at Seamus.
"Potter. Why didn't you tell him not to add the Porcupine Quills? Did you think his mistake would make you look good? Another point from Gryffindor, thanks to you." Snape had found another excuse to take a point from Harry, and he turned the class's attention toward Will. "Why not learn from Behrens, hmm? He helped a classmate and dealt with the accident promptly. Two points to Slytherin for Behrens's excellent work."
Will suddenly felt a little deflated. He had barely earned any experience all lesson. At this stage, Potions Class gave him less experience than helping Snape prepare ingredients did. His opinion of the class dropped accordingly.
As Will left the classroom after Potions Class, he happened to overhear Ron muttering to Harry about him. "Look at that Behrens. I bet he's Snape's little Dark Wizard, planted here just to make trouble for you. Snape certainly likes him, doesn't he?"
Will couldn't be bothered with him.
Sylvia came up beside Will. "What are you doing this weekend?"
"Reading, practicing spells, and serving Detention in the evening." Will just wanted to grind experience!
"You're no fun."
"Fun? That six-inch essay on Cure for Boils Professor Snape assigned us sounds pretty fun," Will reminded her. "I doubt he'll go easy on you just because you're in Slytherin."
Sylvia's face fell. "Oh no. We still have homework for Charms, Transfiguration, and History of Magic."
"Then you'll probably be buried in books all weekend. I'm going to the Library now. Want to come?"
Sylvia thought for a moment. "Of course. But I'd like to see how you write your essay."
The Hogwarts Library stood on the west side of the Castle. Inside, it was several times larger than it appeared from outside, thanks to space-expanding Magic.
Across its many floors, hundreds upon hundreds of bookshelves formed a maze, dotted with brown desks and young Wizards reading. Ladders moved on their own between the shelves, which held countless magical books. Deep inside, the Restricted Section stood cordoned off, dangerous and mysterious.
Perhaps because it was Friday, the Library was quiet and nearly empty. Will greeted Madam Pince, who warned him not to damage the books. Then he and Sylvia began searching for what they needed.
"Sylvia, you're here too."
"Hello, Hermione."
When Will returned to the seat he had chosen with a towering stack of books, he found that Hermione had arrived too. He wasn't surprised. Hermione had always studied harder than anyone.
"Can you finish all those?" Hermione was astonished that Will had borrowed more than a dozen books, ranging from Transfiguration and Charms to Potions and Defense Against Dark Magic.
"I don't know anything, so of course I need to study more." Will meant it modestly, but to Sylvia and Hermione, it sounded like pure showing off.
You don't know anything? Then who's been racking up points in class these past few days? There hasn't been a single question from the teachers you couldn't answer.
Will waved a hand. He genuinely didn't know enough. He still had skill experience to grind, and Voldemort would return in a few years. What was he supposed to do if he hadn't become a Grand Wizard by then? Didn't they understand the fear of being too weak?
Under the two young Witches' reproachful stares, Will ducked behind his stack of books and began consulting references as he wrote Snape's assigned essay.
[You gained new Potions knowledge. Potions experience +1]
[You analyzed part of your Potions knowledge. Potions experience +2]
By the time the sun sank low and the Library's candles lit themselves, Will finally set down his Quill and rubbed his aching eyes. It had taken him the entire afternoon to finish Snape's essay.
Beside him, Sylvia kept craning her neck to "draw inspiration" from Will's work.
"Hey, homework isn't for copying. You only learn if you do it yourself." Will flicked Sylvia on the forehead.
"You don't understand. I'm extracting knowledge from the knowledge you've already extracted. I'm getting straight to the good stuff." Sylvia rubbed her forehead, sounding thoroughly convinced. Will pressed a hand to his face. When they had first met, he had taken Sylvia for an arrogant young Witch from one of the Pure-blood families, the sort who looked down her nose at everyone. He hadn't expected her to be so different from her usual cool, distant self.
"Will's right, Sylvia. You can't keep copying his essay. It won't do you any good." Hermione had finished more than half of her own.
"You're right." Sylvia nodded. "Then I'll look at yours."
"You two keep writing. It's almost time for my Detention." Will gathered his books and put away his essay. He planned to ask Snape about it in person later.
"Detention? You got Detention? How is that possible?" Hermione still didn't know what had happened in the Slytherin Common Room.
The Slytherins had kept it quiet.
People tended to think Gryffindor broke school rules more than any other house. In truth, every house broke them, and Slytherin students did it no less often than Gryffindors.
Gryffindors simply got caught more often. No one should imagine that the young Witches and Wizards of Slytherin, many from the Wizarding World's "Pure-blood" families, were well-behaved. Quite a few of their families had amassed wealth through underhanded means. They certainly hadn't raised their children to be Sheep.
In fact, fights broke out within Slytherin all the time. Everyone simply had an unspoken agreement to keep such matters inside the house.
Brawls like Will's were hardly rare in Slytherin. He had received Detention because he had used a large-scale, destructive spell.
"Oh, Hermione, here's what happened." Sylvia began explaining it to Hermione in a low voice.
"Blood prejudice has always existed. Pure-bloods look down on Half-bloods, and Half-bloods look down on Muggles. That's normal in the Wizarding World." Sylvia told the sheltered Hermione about its problems.
Hermione's face filled with indignation. "How can they act like that? Do they think being from noble families gives them the right to bully people? Doesn't the Ministry of Magic do anything?"
At her age, she had yet to understand how cruel society could be.
"But you're a Pure-blood too, and you don't look down on anyone."
"The Lestrange family is different. We have three branches, and mine doesn't care much about blood purity. My maternal grandfather was a Muggle, in fact. There have been Death Eaters in the Lestrange family too, but we're only distant relatives." Sylvia paused, then went on. "I was originally going to attend Beauxbatons. My grandmother wanted me to go to Durmstrang instead. She said one letter would get me the best treatment there. But I really wanted to come to Hogwarts, and my father supported me, so the family let me study here."
"...I see." Sylvia's explanation left young Hermione stunned. You could choose which school to attend?
"Then why did you want to come to Hogwarts?"
"That's a secret. I'll tell you someday. Though if you let me see your essay, I might tell you a little sooner." Sylvia grinned and leaned over to look at Hermione's work.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
In the Office, Will stared at Snape. "So you're saying Headmaster Dumbledore wants to see me?"
"That's right. The Headmaster's Office is on the Seventh Floor of the Castle. There's a Waterspout Gargoyle statue at the entrance. The password is 'Sherbet Lemon.'" Snape held Will's essay in his hand. He was somewhat surprised that Will had finished it in a single afternoon. The boy's attitude was commendable. As for his talent in Potions, Snape would need to observe him further.
Will left Snape's Office in a daze. Had he caught Dumbledore's attention already?