24. Lazy sunday

The next day came and as usual I woke early. Today being Sunday meant I didn’t need to as there would be no classes. That however, didn’t mean my well rested body would fall back asleep easily, I have never been a lazy person and I wasn’t about to start today. 

My morning ablutions were more of a hassle today than any other day taking into account I couldn’t use my right arm. If I weren't ambidextrous things would have been even worse. Thankfully, I wouldn’t need to keep the cast on for that long. I would finish healing by the end of the day and it would be then I would go see madam Pomfrey to get the thing off. 

Clean and ready for the day I left a small note on my bed telling Sophia where to find me. The girl had a gown attached to me and so far although we got along with the rest of our housemates and classmates I wouldn’t go as far and say we are friends just yet. 

Seeing as the mess hall wouldn't have any food just yet I decided instead to snack on an apple. Fortunately, the common rooms had mini kitchens so students could make themselves snacks should they want to at night.  

Once outside the common room I made my way outside the castle. The sight of the rising sun reflected over the black lake made for a rather picturesque sight. Finished with my snack, I threw the core away onto some bushes. Who knows, maybe in the future an apple tree might grow there. 

Walking around enjoying the relaxing morning I got to thinking. Yesterday events would make the rounds through the castle. I do not doubt that by the end of the day most if not all within the castle will know. The question here is, what should I say? There is no doubt in my mind that questions will be asked. I better control the narrative, lest unfounded rumors start making the rounds.

I had already mentioned to Madam Hooch and Pomfrey yesterday a version of the story I wanted told. It would be easy, and necessary, to tell the same to my fellow students lest the professors believe me a liar. I would however need to choose my words carefully. I do not wish to be titled as a genius this early. Then again, my actions thus far might or rather have already made that a hard prospect. 

In the end I didn’t give it too much thought, what will happen will, and that was it. I would deal with the consequences of my actions when they came. Instead I decided to focus on something else. The troll on Halloween night. I had around seven weeks or so to decide what to do. 

Truthfully, I wanted to just let things run their course. Why bother involving myself when things would work out in the end? Yesterday however made me realize a flaw with that plan. Things weren’t going how they should. Who knows what might happen should I turn a blind eye to the event. 

Sure, fate would probably safeguard Harry as the child of prophecy. He can only be killed by Voldemort and all that. Would being killed by a troll unleashed under Voldemort's command count? Not to mention Ron and Hermione. I might not like Ron but I don’t dislike him enough to want him dead. As for Hermione, letting her die would be such a waste. 

In the end, I would need to get involved, if nothing else to make sure things go how they are supposed to. The question now is, should my direct action be necessary, what should I do? Trolls are resistant to magic. Many wizards misunderstand what this means. A troll will still be burnt by a fire spell, they will still be wet from a water spell and will still be electrocuted from an electric one.  

What a troll’s magic resistance amounts to in reality is an internal resistance to magic. What this means is that any spell attempting to have an effect within their bodies will require far more magic than usual. An example of this would be the stupefy spell or the many prank jinxes like tarantallegra. 

Even so, trolls are also ridiculously sturdy creatures. Trying to burn them or electrocuting them is a high order in itself due to their overall toughness. In the movie Ron managed to knock the troll out with blunt force meaning a bombarda could accomplish something similar. 

I could use the Palus spell as well. It liquifies the ground for a time, this would be a great way to immobilize the troll, especially so if after it falls I follow it by a finite incantatem turning the ground back to solid. There is a problem though, Hogwards is warded against direct modification by none authorized entities. 

It is then that I am reminded of a spell. It isn’t a spell from this world but instead one I made back in the day. I had grown tired of having to drink blood back then so I created a spell to absorb vitality directly without a medium. The results were… subpar. Over half of the vitality got lost to the surroundings. 

That however, isn’t the important point here. What makes this spell important for the troll situation is the fact it cares little for the state of the target. Meaning it can be used to steal the life out of the living. Of course, any living being will try to resist such a thing and the more vitality they have the better they can resist.

It is in truth like the game tug of war. The caster creates a link between themselves and the target using their own vitality, through this link both can tug at each other’s life essence with the one having the most having the advantage. Of course, there is also technique and a trick to it but that is besides the point now.   

I had completely forgotten about this spell as it is wasteful. However, now that I have mana I might be able to modify it somehow to increase the effectiveness! Mana and vitality are mutually repelling meaning that there is a clear way to add it in a beneficial way to the spell. 

My mind began to churn with formulas and ideas. By encasing the vitality link between the caster and target in mana it could be contained, drastically reducing the loss. With that in mind I abandoned my leisurely walk opting instead to march up to the seventh floor. 

Soon enough I found myself within the RoR, wand in hand and feeling like a complete idiot. To test my idea I would need a living target to form the vitality link first before trying anything else. Not to mention there would be a lot of wastage of vitality as I test things out, vitality I don’t have in enough abundance to be frivolous with. 

The thought annoyed me to no end. I hated being unable to test new ideas but life was like that. In the end, I opted for practicing silent spell casting instead. Although I could silently cast the simpler spells, I still needed to practice for the more complex ones. 

A while later I made my way to the mess hall. Breakfast would be served soon and I was famished. Once seated on the comfortable seats at my house’s desk I waited for the food to be served. There were other students waiting as well as they engaged in conversation, filling the hall with the hum of many voices. 

It didn’t take long for the usual feast to appear in front of those present. As for me, I decided that breakfast was a simple enough affair and so I would eat whatever was served instead of asking for something specific. As I ate I looked around looking for any familiar faces, just at the right time as well since I saw Sophia walking through the wide open double doors. 

“You didn’t wait for me.” It wasn’t a question but a statement as the cute girl pouted with her eyebrows in a frown and her arms crossed. I had to fight with every bit of self control I had within me to not coo at how adorable she looked. 

“Come on Sophia, don’t be like that, I left you a note, didn’t I?” I tried to placate her anger(?) more like annoyance maybe, I couldn’t really tell. The very eloquent answer I received was a small indignant huff as she sat next to me feeling her own plate with food. 

“I went looking for you and you weren’t where your note said you would.” Ah, right, I had forgotten I abandoned my stroll midway through opting to go to the RoR instead… oops. Well, nothing to be done about that. Though I know a great way to get back in Sophias good grace. 

Knocking on the wood of the table I spoke in a whisper making sure Sophia couldn’t hear me. I wasn’t sure if the house elves would be able to hear me but I wanted to try. Five minutes later I was delighted to find a plate full of s’mores. To my good fortune Sophia hadn’t noticed a thing as she was currently turning around talking with Padma trying her best to look as if she was angry with me. 

Taking a s’more I gently poked her cheek. I knew that should I try and pat her shoulder to try and get her attention she would ignore me. By poking her cheek she would turn around. As if I were a seer she did turn around with that cute frown and pout. As she opened her mouth to say something I pushed the s’more against her lips. I didn’t want her to choke after all. 

I almost laughed out loud as her eyes widened in the light at the sugary treat. One thing was for sure, Sophia Lily Potter has a massive sweet tooth. I had learned this rather early and it made sense. Kids in general tend to like sweet things, not to mention that I doubt she had much if any sweets as a kid living under the Dursleys. The thought, sent a jolt of anger I swiftly placed aside, I would deal with the Dursleys in due time. 

The rest of breakfast was a simple yet enjoyable affair. I earned Sophia’s forgiveness by bribing her with the name of the treat I had gotten her. Afterall, she couldn’t ask for more without knowing the name… or so she thought, it would have been rather easy for her to give a description of the food she wanted. Afterall, no matter what anyone says, house elves are rather smart. 

With breakfast over I rushed back to the RoR… or so I tried, instead, I was captured by Sophia and her cute pout. The girl wouldn’t let me go saying she wanted to spend the free day with me. In the end, I surrendered myself to my fate. What can I say, I have a really soft spot for her. 

Funnily enough, we ended up spending most of the day either in the common room or the library seeing as we still had homework to do. Although we had been on top of it and worked on our homework during weekdays, we still had some left to finish, or rather, Sophia still had some to finish.

As smart as the potter girl is, and she is smart no other way to say it, she is still a kid. As any kid ought to do, she couldn’t focus on one thing for too long without growing tired, much less when said thing held little interest to her. 

Seeing as our first week of classes had been mostly theoretical it was rather comprehensible that she found little interest in some subjects. Like her mother, or what was said of the mother in the books, Sophia had an amazing talent for both potions and charms. Transfiguration on the other hand… let's just say she added two plus two and got five. 

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like she was Neville(terrible) in the subjects she didn’t like. It was more like she needed to put in a bit of extra effort. Talking about Neville, I am still figuring out which one is more hazardous to be around, Neville or Seamus. Seamus for example had the advantage that you would know beforehand what would happen, then again, explosions are dangerous even if you know they are coming. Neville on the other hand, it was a mix bag with the kid. It could be anything between an explosion, like seamus, to growing purple hair out of your tongue. Yes, that last one happened on the second day.

Then again, most of the time, Neville’s mishaps only harmed himself so I would argue it's safer to be next to him in most classes… except for potions, he should be banned from that class. How in Lucy’s name he managed to mess up a THEORETICAL potions class is beyond me. 

Snape only handed us some samples of reagents to check out and do nothing with, yet Neville somehow managed to get them reacting to make something akin to tear gas, bad smell and all. The only good thing about that class was the look of utter bewilderment on Snape's face for those few scant seconds before he got on top of things. I wish I had a camera to snap a picture then and there, unfortunately I didn’t.

I had been so lost in my own thoughts for most of the day that I didn’t realize most of it had gone by. The sun was about to set and curfew would start in a few hours. Overall, a nice leasure day. Now the fun truly starts, afterall, tonight the hunt would start.