Dumbledore's Invitation

"Impedimenta! Scourgify!" Will fired off two spells, sweeping away the spilled potion. What Neville had made was a genuine Cure for Boils; one touch would bring out a whole crop of boils.

"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 had suddenly sprung 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? Gryffindor loses another point because of you." Snape seized another chance to dock Harry a point, then directed the attention toward Will. "Why not learn from Berens, hmm? He helped a classmate and dealt with the accident promptly. Slytherin gains two points for Berens's excellent work."

Will suddenly found the whole thing rather dull. He had earned hardly any experience throughout the lesson. At this stage, Potions Class gave him less experience than helping Snape prepare potion ingredients, so his opinion of the class dropped.

As Will left the classroom after Potions Class, he happened to overhear Ron muttering to Harry about him. "Look at that Berens. I bet he's Snape's little Dark wizard, planted here just to get at you. Snape certainly likes him, doesn't he?"

Will couldn't be bothered to respond.

Sylvia came up beside Will. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"Reading, practicing spells, and serving detention in the evening." All Will wanted was to grind experience!

"You're no fun."

"Fun? That six-inch essay on the Cure for Boils Professor Snape assigned sounds like fun," Will reminded her. "I don't think 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 spend the weekend buried in books. I'm going to the library now. Want to come?"

Sylvia thought for a moment. "Of course. But I want to see how you write your essay."

The Hogwarts library stood on the west side of the castle. Inside, it was many times larger than it appeared from outside, thanks to a space-expanding charm.

The library had several floors, with hundreds upon hundreds of bookshelves crisscrossing the space. Brown desks and young witches and wizards reading books were scattered among them. Ladders slid between the shelves on their own, which held tens of thousands of magical books. Deep inside, the Restricted Section was cordoned off, dangerous and mysterious.

Perhaps because it was Friday, the library was sparsely occupied and felt a little quiet. Will greeted the librarian, 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 his chosen seat carrying a towering stack of books, he found that Hermione had arrived at the library as well. He wasn't surprised. Hermione had always been one to study harder than anyone.

"Can you really read all those?" Hermione was astonished that Will had borrowed more than ten books. They ranged from Transfiguration to Charms, from Potions to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"I don't know anything, so of course I need to learn more." Will sounded modest, but to Sylvia and Hermione, it was pure humblebragging.

You don't know anything? Then who's been racking up points in class these past few days, answering every question the teachers ask?

Will waved it off. He really didn't know anything! He hadn't even maxed out the experience for any of his skills, and Voldemort would return in a few years. What would he do if he didn't grind his way up to becoming a great wizard? Didn't they understand the fear of not being strong enough?

Under the two young witches' reproachful gazes, Will buried his head behind his pile of books and began consulting references while writing the essay Snape had assigned.

[You acquired new Potions knowledge. Potions experience +1]

[You analyzed some Potions knowledge. Potions experience +2]

By the time the sun sank low and the library candles lit themselves, Will put down his quill and rubbed his aching eyes. It had taken him the whole afternoon to finish Snape's essay.

Beside him, Sylvia kept craning her neck to "draw inspiration" from his work.

"Hey, homework isn't for copying. You'll 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 extracted. It's all the best bits." Sylvia rubbed her forehead, sounding entirely convinced. Will pressed a hand to his own. When he first met her, he had thought she was the sort of arrogant Pure-blood girl who looked down her nose at everyone. As it turned out, she was nothing like 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 already written most of hers.

"You're right." Sylvia nodded. "Then let me see yours."

"You two can 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 hadn't heard what had happened in the Slytherin Common Room.

The Slytherins had kept the news to themselves.

People always assumed Gryffindor broke school rules more than any other house. In truth, every house broke them, and Slytherin students did so no less often than Gryffindors.

Gryffindors simply got caught more. The Slytherin children from the Wizarding World's "Pure-blood" families were hardly well-behaved. Many of their families had amassed wealth through underhanded means, and their upbringing had certainly not turned them into lambs.

In fact, fights broke out within Slytherin often. Everyone simply had an unspoken agreement to keep such matters inside the house.

Brawls like Will's were hardly rare among Slytherins. He had received detention because he had used a spell capable of causing harm on a large scale.

"Oh, Hermione, here's what happened." Sylvia quietly explained it to her.

"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? Does being from a noble family give them the right to bully people? Doesn't the Ministry of Magic do anything?"

She was still too young to understand how harsh society could be.

"But you're a Pure-blood too, and you don't discriminate against anyone."

"The Lestrange family is different. We have three branches, and ours doesn't care much about blood purity. My maternal grandfather was a Muggle, actually. There have been Death Eaters in the Lestrange family, but we're only distantly related to them now," Sylvia said. After a pause, she continued, "I was originally going to attend Beauxbatons. My grandmother wanted me to go to Durmstrang instead. She said one letter would be enough to get me the best treatment there. But I really wanted to come to Hogwarts, and my father supported me, so my family let me study here."

"...I see." Sylvia's words left young Hermione stunned. You could just 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 look at your essay, I might tell you a little sooner." Grinning, Sylvia leaned over to read Hermione's work.

For the moment, that was where things stood.

Elsewhere, in Snape's office, Will stared at him. "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 hands. 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 have to observe him further.

Will left Snape's office feeling a little dazed. Had I caught Dumbledore's attention already?