Lucifer too reflected on those words. Perhaps it was Voldemort's intention to isolate Dumbledore from the larger Wizarding community, to weaken him by undermining his credibility. A divided world would only serve Voldemort's interests, and as long as he remained in the shadows, such misunderstandings would persist.
Yet another possibility occurred to him, one far more calculated. What if Dumbledore's expulsion had been orchestrated deliberately?
The newspaper had reported that the Wizengamot vote was 19 to 21, passing the motion to expel Dumbledore by a razor-thin margin of two votes. But Lucifer knew there were fifty full members of the Wizengamot with voting rights. Why had only forty participated?
Did the remaining ten abstain? Or had they been absent altogether?
A similar scenario had unfolded with the 'International Confederation of Wizards.' Once again, there were fewer votes cast, and the decision had passed by the same narrow margin.
If this had been part of a larger strategy, Lucifer could only speculate about Dumbledore's motives. Was he trying to lull Voldemort into a false sense of security? Or did he have an entirely different plan in mind?
He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it further. Instead, he picked up a peeled orange, "It was about Voldemort, remember?" Lucifer asked them. It was louder than usual in the Great Hall, so he wasn't afraid of being overheard, "He said, ' His gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust---"
"How do you remember stuff like that?" Ron asked, a look of admiration towards him.
"I listen, Weasely. I remember important things," Lucifer said with a touch of aperity.
"I listen as well, but I couldn't tell you exactly---" he started to say.
"The point is," Hermione said hastily, breaking the two, and peeled another bite of orange for her boyfriend, "is that this is 'exactly' what Dumbledore was talking about. Voldemort's only been back two months and we've started fighting amongst ourselves."
"And that's only because the Daily Prophet is apparently the 'Be All, End All' and that they must be one hundred percent right, all the time," Lucifer pointed out, while savoring the taste, dipping it on a green jelly like sauce, "If Fudge just acknowledged the truth, people would be more willing to stand united, And the Sorting Hat's warning was the same as what Dumbledore said, stand together, be uni----"
"And Harry said it last night, if we are to get all matey with the Slytherins, then it won't happen, will it?" Ron retorted, going for a cup of tea.
"I'm not saying--" Hermione started, but she paused and then said, "it's a pity because of them, inter-House unity can't be fully achieved, but we should at least try with the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."
As she stopped talking, a couple late arrivals to Breakfast, Ravenclaw girls, hurried past Harry, before they sat down; Lucifer didn't recognize either of the passerbys.
"Yeah, we really ought to be trying to make friends with people like that…" Harry said sarcastically, he had cut up his own portion of the Dragon fruit into uneven shapes of horror pumpkins. Professor McGonagall came up along the Gryffindor Table, handing out schedules her stern face set into a tight, line as she manually distributed the new fifth-year class schedules.
She stopped directly behind Lucifer and Hermione, her sharp eyes flicking briefly over the shattered armrest memory from the Common room that had undoubtedly been reported to her by now.
"Your schedules, Miss Granger, Mr. Morningstar," McGonagall said, her tone professional but laced with a heavy, underlying caution. She handed over the two long slips of parchment. "As Prefects, I expect you both to set a flawless example of academic discipline and conduct this term. The faculty will be monitoring your performance very closely."
"Of course, Professor," Hermione said quickly, her face turning a light shade of pink as she took her paper.
Lucifer merely offered a brief, mock-respectful tilt of his head, his fingers tracing the inked lines of his new classes. He let out a low, dry hum. "History of Magic, Double Potions, Divination, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. A truly stellar lineup for a Monday morning."
"Wait, let me see that," Ron groaned, snatching his own schedule from McGonagall as she moved further down the table. He compared it to Harry's slip. "Blimey... we've got Double Potions with the Slytherins first thing after breakfast. Snape's going to be absolutely brutal today, I just know it."
"He's always brutal," Harry said flatly, his thumb tracing the jagged scar on his forehead. "But look at the afternoon. We've got our first session with Umbridge right after lunch."
Hermione leaned across the table, her eyes scanning the ink on Harry's parchment with a sharp gaze. "We need to observe her closely. If Lucifer's right about the Ministry manually interfering with the Hogwarts curriculum, her lesson plan will reveal exactly how far Fudge is willing to push his agenda...."
"I don't need a lesson plan to tell me how far they'll go," Lucifer smirked, taking a long sip of his now almost empty coffee. His eyes briefly glinted with a dangerous, vibrant crimson. "But if she attempts to enforce her political garbage, I'll be more than happy to show her what real teaching looks like...."
"We've got Arithmancy in place of Divination," She said, looking at hers again, noticing the distinguished subject between Harrys'
"Binns, Snape, Firenze, and that Umbridge woman all in one day!" Ron was clearly not pleased, "I guess at least Divination is tolerable compared to the other three, but still!"
Just before Breakfast ended, a tall black girl with long, braided hair had marched up to the Gryffindor where the four were mulling over their schedules, "Hello you two."
"Hi, Angelina," Harry said.
Lucifer said nothing but made a motion acknowledging her arrival, "Good summer?" She asked, but didn't wait for a response, "Listen, I've been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."
"Nice," Harry said, grinning at her.
"Yeah, well, we need a new Keeper now Oliver's left. Tryouts are on Friday at five o'clock and I want the whole team there," Angelina said before turning to Lucifer, "that means you, too. I know you've been made a Prefect, and I know this is your O.W.L. Year, and I know Oliver didn't make you come to every practice, but you have to show up as well."
Lucifer eyed her carefully for a moment, "No."
Angelina acted like this wasn't unexpected, "I thought you'd say that, so you're going if you want to stay on the team," she smirked at him.
'This is how she's going to be, huh? Holding my position as Reserve Seeker hostage? I love/hate Quidditch, but I'm not going to be coerced into this, no matter how much I don't want to quit.' He stood up, breakfast ended in a moment, "Then consider this my resignation."
Hermione saw him turn around just as Angelina's face gave the look of her being slapped painfully hard. Her shock was immeasurable, to say the least. She stood up and quickly followed Lucifer out, "Did you have to do that?"
"This is hypocritical of me to say, I know, but I was not going to be coerced into staying on the Quidditch Team. If she didn't tell me I had' to show up, I would have, and yes I'm going to act childish with this. I'm not doing it if I 'have' to," he said, keeping his head up, his voice dignified.
Hermione shook her head, "You're impossible…"
"But not Improbable," he smirked.
"Prat!" She yelled and walked ahead of him to the History of Magic. She sat there, waiting for him to arrive as well, when she got to thinking about what Angelina said, that this is their 'Fifth' Year at Hogwarts, their O.W.L.S. She saw him sit on her left, "Hey, I know you said that you will have to go down after Hogwarts, but… have you given thought about....us?"
"I have," he said, "I will just have to come back at night from work. There's nothing I can do about the time gap between our realm."
"But that will be a year gone for you," Hermione said, flabbergasted as she looked at him, "And will that mirror even work so long away?"
"What do you want to do after Hogwarts?" Lucifer asked back instead.
She stared at him for a moment, before looking down at her desk, 'What do I want to do after Hogwarts?' She quite honestly wasn't sure. "Well… I wonder if I can take S.P.E.W. beyond Hogwarts, make it an actual organization recognized by the Ministry."
"If anyone can, Hermione, it's definitely you," Lucifer said, glancing over and smiling as Harry and Ron showed up with Binns starting class a moment later.
xxxxxxx
Even after it began, Seamus's thoughts remained tangled, until Professor Binns' soporific voice lulled him into a drowsy slumber. The epic tale of the Giant Wars, as narrated by him, became as dull and tedious as a House-elf's dishrag.
Hermione was the only one who stayed awake through the entire lesson, while Neville as usual had started snoring the moment his head hit the desk.
After class, she was glaring at Harry as he walked in between classes, going to the inner courtyard for a break before Potions started.
"How would it be if we both refused to lend you our notes this year?" She asked, having seen green-eyed boy playing 'Hang-Man' the last thirty minutes of their lecture.
"I'd fail my O.W.L.s," Harry said, flatly, "If you want that on your conscience, Hermione…"
"Then prepare to fail them, because we aren't going to this year," She said almost vindictively. "You don't even try to listen to Binns, do you?"
"We do try," Harry defended, shaking his head, "we just haven't got your brains, or your memory, or your concentration, you're just cleverer than we are."
"Oh, don't give me that rubbish," Hermione said with a sneer, "Flattery will get you nowhere, Potter."
A fine misty drizzle was falling, so that people standing in huddles around the yard looked blurred at the edges.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lucifer chose a secluded corner under a heavily dripping balcony, turning up the collars of their robes against the chilly September air----
Which Lucifer briefly commented on feeling like a Vampire from how Muggles perceived them to be, before they talked about what Snape was possibly going to set for them in the first Potions lesson of the year.
They had got as far as agreeing that it was likely to be something extremely difficult for anyone not of Lucifer's and Hermione's intellect.
She said Lucifer with how much better he was at Potions, just to catch them off guard after a two-month vacation, when someone walked around the corner toward them.
"Hello, Harry!" Cho Chang said bounding up to them.
"Hi," he responded. Lucifer expected him to say more, but he just sat there with a dumb look on his face.
"You got that stuff off, then?" She asked, gesturing vaguely to his forehead. Hermione and Lucifer looked at each other briefly, each cocking an eyebrow in silent amusement.
"Yeah," Harry grinned, before awkwardly adding, "So did you… er… have a good summer?"
Lucifer instantly face-palmed. Hermione smacked his arm lightly as both Harry and Cho glanced over at him. She saw their friend's face go from scrunched-up confusion to regretful understanding in half a second as he realized his mistake. Cho looked like she wanted to burst into tears and run away right then, but she stood her ground and gave an almost autonomous response. "Oh, it was all right, you know..."
"Is that a Tornadoes badge?" Ron demanded suddenly, pointing aggressively at her robes.
"Alright, let's leave them alone, come on," Hermione said quickly, standing up alongside Lucifer. She grabbed Ron firmly by the arm and began practically dragging him away, but he ended up yelling back over his shoulder, "You don't actually support them, do you?"
"Shut up, Ronald!" Hermione yelled. The moment they got completely out of earshot, she rounded on him in the corridor. "You are so completely tactless!"
"What? I only asked her if—"
"Couldn't you tell she wanted to talk to Harry entirely on her own?" Hermione snapped.
"So? She could've done, I wasn't stopping—" Ron's mouth continued to move, but suddenly no sound came out of him.
She looked at her boyfriend and caught his eyes fading back to their normal dark shade. "Lucifer?"
"I just used 'Silencio,' nothing major. I simply couldn't fathom his voice any longer," Lucifer said casually, crossing his arms. Ron made a highly rude gesture with his arms that he clearly wouldn't dare do in front of his mother, glaring fiercely at the celestial boy.
Harry came up to them a moment later, just as the bell sounded across the courtyard. "That's the bell," he said hollowly, not even stopping as he walked right past them.
Lucifer's eyes briefly glowed red again, and Ron's voice snapped back into existence. "Not a single word, Weasley, or I will permanently remove your mouth."
Ron said absolutely nothing as they all marched down to Snape's classroom in the dungeons. Lucifer commented how odd it was that every single year so far they only ever had Slytherins in their Potions class.
Hermione found it equally odd that Cho had come up to Harry to speak to him specifically, but she didn't have the time to figure it out as she sat down with her two friends at a table near the back. She was brought from her thoughts by Snape's sudden arrival and his incredibly irritable, low drone of a voice.
"Settle down," he said coldly, slamming the heavy door behind him.
There was no real need for the call to order; the moment the class had heard the door close, quiet had fallen and all fidgeting stopped. Snape's mere presence was usually enough to ensure a class' silence.
"Before we begin today's lesson," Snape said, sweeping over to his desk and staring around at them all, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your O.W.L. or suffer my… displeasure."
It was obvious that his gaze lingered on Neville, who gulped.
"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," Snape went on. "I take only the very best into my N.E.W.T. Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying good-bye," his eyes rested on Harry and his lip curled, "and others… I will have to suffer for two more years…"
Snape glared at Lucifer specifically. It was clear that he hated to admit he could never find anything wrong with Morningstar's Potions.
"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," he said softly, "so whether you are intending to attempt N.E.W.T. or not, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high-pass level I have come to expect from my O.W.L. Students."
"Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the 'Draught of Peace,' a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned… if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing."
Hermione sat up straighter, displaying the utmost attentiveness.
"---The ingredients and method are on the blackboard," Snape waved his wand, "You will find everything you need," he flicked his wand again, "in the store cupboard… you have an hour and a half… Start."
Just as the four of them predicted, it was far from being easy, and would probably rank in the top five hardest Potions they would have to attempt this year.
The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right number of times, firstly in clockwise, then in counterclockwise directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added.
"A light silver vapor should now be rising from your potions," Snape called out, with ten minutes left to go.
Lucifer, who had barely broken a sweat the entire class period, had smirked at his Cauldron; a light silver vapor was protruding from the pewter container. He looked over and saw that Hermione also had the same vapor, it was almost identical to his.
As he looked around the rest of the classroom, however, it was an absolute disaster. Neville's potion was emitting a foul, thick green sludge, while Crabbe and Goyle seemed to have produced something resembling hot tar. Yet, when Snape's dark, tunneling eyes swept over Lucifer's perfect brew, the professor didn't offer a single word of praise. Instead, a deeply irritated sneer twisted his pale face.
'It would be so fucking easy,' Lucifer thought, his fingers twitching slightly against the cold wood of the desk. His mind flashed with a sequence of vivid, dark images. 'To snap your spine like a dry twig. To tear the greasy skin right off your face, rip your intestines out, and strangle you with them right here in front of your precious Slytherins... it would be incredibly cathartic. I almost wish you could read my mind, you pathetic, arrogant cunt.'
But what truly pushed Lucifer past his limit was when Snape stopped directly in front of Harry's desk, his lips curling into an evilly satisfied smile."Potter," he said softly, his voice dripping with mock disappointment. "What is this absolute mess supposed to be?"
"The Draught of Peace," Harry said tensely, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his stirring rod.
"Tell me, Potter," Snape sneered, leaning in slightly. "Can you actually read, or has the fame completely rotted your brain?"
Across the room, Draco Malfoy let out a loud, mocking laugh, completely ignoring the fact that his own potion was exhibiting a similarly incorrect dark grey fume.
"Yes, I can," Harry said through clenched teeth.
"Then read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter."
Lucifer watched Harry squint through the thick haze of steam, his green eyes scanning the blackboard. "Add powdered moonstone, stir three times counterclockwise, allow it to simmer for seven minutes, then add two drops of syrup of hellebore…"
"Did you do everything on that third line, Potter?"
"No," Harry muttered quietly, his shoulders tightening.
"I beg your pardon?" Snape smiled widely, enjoying every microsecond of the boy's public humiliation. "Speak up."
"No," Harry said loudly, his voice echoing off the dungeon walls. "I forgot the hellebore…"
"I know you did, Potter. Which means that this useless sludge is utterly worthless to anyone." Snape lazily pulled his wand from his sleeve. "Evanesco."
With a cold flick, the entire contents of Harry's cauldron vanished into thin air, leaving only an empty pewter bottom. Lucifer's eyes narrowed to lethal slits as he watched the display. Snape hadn't vanished Neville's green sludge, nor had he touched the smoking disasters on the Slytherin side. The blatant, targeted cruelty was glaring.
"Those of you who 'have' managed to successfully read the instructions," Snape announced, sweeping back toward the front of the room, "fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name, and bring it up to my desk for testing. Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone, to be handed in on Thursday."
Enraged by the absolute unfairness, Lucifer's arm shot upward, his hand ready to take the room's attention. But before he could utter a word, Hermione's small, firm hand slammed down over his wrist, physically forcing his arm back down to the desk.
Lucifer snapped his head around, directing a fierce, blazing glare straight at his girlfriend. Hermione didn't flinch, but her eyes held a stern, desperate plea as she shook her head.
She knew his temper, knew that causing a reckless scene at the very end of class would only result in a Ministry report or a massive deduction of House points that would completely undermine their new status as Prefects.
His glare didn't let up for a single moment, burning with a heavy, frustration. Slowly, he pulled his wrist from her grip, turning his eyes away to lock them firmly onto the back of Snape's head until the loud, resonant ring of school bell shattered silence.
The exact second the bell chimed, Lucifer was the first student out of his seat. He swept out of the dungeon classroom like a dark gale, Harry practically running on his heels to escape the suffocating air.
By the time Hermione and Ron finally arrived in the Great Hall for lunch, Lucifer and Harry were already sitting in a heavy silence, lazily moving their food around their plates. The noise of chattering students felt distant.
As Hermione slid onto the wooden bench directly on his right, comforting scent of her vanilla parchment briefly cutting through his foul mood, Lucifer turned his head slightly to face her. "Why did you stop me?" he asked, his voice low, steady, and dangerously calm.
She reached out, serving herself a small portion of Shepherd's Pie before looking up to meet his dark eyes. "Because it would've caused a completely unnecessary, non-beneficial disturbance at the very end of class, Lucifer. It was entirely unfair of him to single Harry out like that, especially when Ron's, Neville's, Crabbe's, and Goyle's potions were all physically worse.... but there wasn't a single thing your intervention could have fixed in that moment."
Ron, who had just crammed a massive forkful of food into his mouth, looked highly offended by the casual insult, but he wisely chose to say nothing, seeking immediate solace in his lunch.
"I'm going to Dumbledore," Lucifer said flatly. He pushed his golden plate away from him, the metal scraping sharply against the wood.
xxxxxx
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