Helen Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

A/N: Two chapters down and we find ourselves at Hogwarts. Will Nina still be a Gryffindor? Will Helen really hang Ron over the lake? What about our missing girls? And What about dad? Sip some tea and calm down, we’re getting there! Onward, chapter 3!

Chapter 3
Of Sorting's, Feelings, and… Felonies

The Hogwarts Express pulled into the station at Hogsmead and Helen stepped from the train with the flood of students. The older students were hurrying from the platform but a loud voice was calling for first years. Helen stopped dead in her tracks and turned slowly toward the voice, a man taller than any she had met with a riot of black hair and a beard that covered most of his face stood with a large lantern. Her face broke into a grin as she sprinted at the tall man and leapt, his head turning just in time for him to catch her and swing her into a bone crushing hug.

“A’right there Helen?”

“Hagrid! I missed you this summer! I thought you were going to come with us to the rainforest?”

“I was, but some’it come up.” He set her down and she quickly straightened her robes, “Now, you just be following me, gott’r get you firsties to the castle.”

They made their way to a fleet of small boats and once they were all settled Hagrid gave his a tap and they set off. The giant squid slid beneath them lazily and Helen got distracted by the reflected light of the stars and moon as the surface rippled. When she looked back up the walls and towers of Hogwarts stood before them, the windows like a hundred gleaming gems in the night sky. There was a lazy breeze across the water that made the night comfortably cool and the smell of the lake and the trees relaxed her as they finally made land.

They had entered the cistern with its narrow stone steps where Hagrid handed them off to Professor McGonagall. She lead them into the immense entry hall, the floor was flag stone, the ceiling high arched and dark because it was so far away from the torches, and the sound of hundreds of voices floated out toward them. McGonagall lead them into a small chamber and they clambered around her.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” she said sternly, “The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your Houses will be like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.

“The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.

“The sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.

“I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly.”

“Professor,” Helen rushed forward, “could I have a quick second?”

McGonagall waved her back out into the hall, “What is it Miss Potter, you aren’t feeling ill from the trip are you?”

“No, nothing like that. I was wondering if it would be okay if I went by my dad’s surname.”

McGonagall gave her an understanding look, “I’m sorry Helen, but we have to go by your legal name and Severus never changed it when he adopted you. I know it is going to cause you some difficulties, if you need to escape once in a while you can always visit my office for a chat. Now, you should return to the others so we can sort you.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Minerva left her and she took a moment to collect herself. She had no problem with the name Potter, far from it, she was proud of her family and its history. What she did have a problem with was the gawking. She didn’t want to be set apart by events that she couldn’t have prevented and really played only a minimal part in. She returned to the small room just in time, McGonagall had returned and told them to form a line. She led them all into the Great Hall, its four tables of students filled the space and the high table finished it off with the professors watching over them. The ceiling looked like the clear night sky outside and Helen marveled at something she rarely got to see, and never at night before. McGonagall placed a three legged stool and a hat that looked old enough to have been worn by some prehistoric wizard on top of it.

She wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do with a hat, but a lifetime of fear of catching lice on one of their trips made her dread having to put the thing on. It probably had prehistoric cave lice that would be able to eat through her head. She shook her head at the ridiculous thought. A rip opened into a facsimile of a mouth and it started to sing.

"Oh you may not think me pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin,

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

She watched with mild interest as the other students were sorted into their houses, and wondered why McGonagall insisted on calling their last name first so it all ended up sounding like a rather strange roll call. She was so intent on these considerations she nearly missed the call of ‘Potter, Helen’ but the sudden murmur of whispers wouldn’t let her stay ignorant of it long. They all glanced at her, some going as far as staring as she made her way to the stool, head held high just as her dad had taught her, but before she picked up the hat she quickly flicked her wand and said calmly, scrougify. Now that she felt reasonably safe, and the hat looked less filthy she didn’t mind placing it on her head so much. Several of the people in the hall seemed to find the act amusing, but she didn’t get to see who as the hat slid over her eyes.

“Bloody hell,” a voice whispered in her ear, “I’ve wished someone would do that for ages! I get that I’m an old bit of magic and all, but that doesn’t mean I have to look the part. Now, Potter…Potter…oh, I know you! It's funny that you’re trying to down play who you are, and wanting to use the name Snape?”

“I’m nobody, not yet.”

“But you already have the makings of greatness. Sorting you is rather a pain I’m afraid, so many good traits to choose from, and all of them lead down a different path. You have some friends over in Gryffindor, one in particular would probably be more than thrilled if I put you there. There is always Slytherin, your father would love that, both of them (and one very sarcastically) I don’t think you are quite a Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff takes anyone…do you have a preference?”

“You won’t tell anyone?”

“Child, who am I going to tell, I’m a hat! But, this is between you and I, so you don’t have to worry about your father’s reaction, even his potions won’t get it out of me.”

“I think Gryffindor would suit me, and its where my parents were.”

The hat hummed, “If you’re sure. You could do great things in any house. But only you can make this choice.”

“I’m sure. I have this feeling its where I belong.”

“Very well, in that case…Gryffindor!”

The Gryffindor table broke into loud applause, the twin Weasley boys going so far as to begin  to chant ‘We have Potter’. Helen glanced behind her and found her dad applauding politely and he gave her a small smile. She grinned back before walking to her House table and joining the rest of the first years. All told that put Seamus, Dean, and Draco along with two other boys named Larry Moon and Stan Roper with Hermione, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Nina Longbottom in Gryffindor.

She watched a few others sorted when McGonagall finally called, ‘Weasley, Ronald’ to the stool. The hat had barely touched his head before it shouted ‘Slytherin’. A gasp went up from the Gryffindor table but the other three Houses all clapped politely as he went and took his seat. Helen could see the twins whispering rapidly with a redheaded prefect and leaned towards the group.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“First person in our family to be sorted out of Gryffindor,” explained Percy.

“He’s a right prat and has been getting worse since dad got his latest promotion,” Fred growled.

“Forgot what it was like,” George shook his head. “We may not have had much but we didn’t need much. But he was never happy, always dreamed of being rich and famous. Guess his ambition shone through.”

Helen looked toward Ron at the Slytherin table talking animatedly with the others, “Well, he seems happy at least.”

Dumbledore stood and cleared his throat, “Before the feast begins, I figured a few words were in order. We have a clean hat. Now, tuck in.”

The platters filled and Helen fixed herself a plate. She was on her third bite when something struck her as odd. She had taken a bite of potatoes, steak, and carrots when it hit her. They were all subtly laced with calming herbs. The mix was going to make them all very sleepy by the end of the feast. Severus had always been happy that he didn’t have to patrol the first night back and she now understood why, they were using herbs and spices to put them into a food coma. She rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a green can emblazoned with the words Mountain Dew. Try to make her go to sleep would they, not on her watch. She wanted to write in her journal and enjoy checking out the upper floors of the castle. Bed would come when she was ready.

She looked up and caught her dad’s eyes, he seemed to be trying extra hard not to laugh as she sipped from the can. She raised it in a silent toast before an idea struck. She grabbed her pumpkin juice and tipped the can into it. She gave it a try and decided that it definitely made the pumpkin more palatable, with the added benefit of the caffeine to fuel her system. She was suddenly glad for the cases she had packed in her trunk. Maybe she could research a hidden expansion enchantment to give her more room for next year though. Something told her that she could do with a larger stockpile, especially come end of year exams.

When desert was finished and Dumbledore had warned them of the forest and the third floor corridor they made their way to their dorms. Helen was the only one who wasn’t dragging on the way up but she too was tired. Between the journey, the food, and the hour she was in a mellow mood that looked forward to some relaxation. The trick of the food was to not stuff yourself though. The more you ate the more mellow you became and the sooner you would want to sleep. The counter agent, desert, was always harder to eat loads of because by the time you had finished dinner you were just too full to do anything. She didn’t think it was a conscious effort to drug them, but instead just an interesting mix of kitchen spice and herbs that happened to have a happy side effect. At least, she didn’t want to think the food was drugged. But seeing as even the professors seemed to be heavy lidded by the end of the meal she figured it was just a happy side effect.

Once they were in their dorm Helen sat in one of the window seats, the one between her bed and Hermione’s, and wrote in her journal about her trip and first impression of Hogwarts. She wrote by moonlight as the other girls fell into deeper and deeper sleep. As the clock struck eleven she finally pulled on her night gown and settled into bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

They got their schedules the following day and set out to find their classrooms and learn the castle. It was easier said than done with shifting stairways, hidden passages, and doors that required a trick to open. The greenhouses were the easiest to find since there was no trick to walking across the lawns, but the rest of her classes were proving to be a pain. She had herbology three times a week with Professor Sprout, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Quirrell, History of Magic with the ghost Professor Binns, but the class she was most looking forward to was Friday’s double potion class.

One by one the days of the week passed, the spells in charms with Professor Flitwick were easy enough, transfiguration was fun even if she hadn’t quite managed a proper pin, but DADA bothered her. There was something very off putting about Professor Quarrell. Beyond the heavy smell of garlic that filled his classroom there was the lingering smell of death that surrounded him. It wasn’t over powering, indeed it was covered by all the garlic, but she could detect the traces. It smelled like rotting meat and mold. She dreaded having to return to his class the following week.

Finally, Friday arrived and she was again at home in the dungeon with its jars full of pickled and preserved ingredients floating in a rainbow of colored solutions. She settled at a table with Hermione, Nina, and Seamus and waited. They didn’t have to wait long, as the bell sounded to start class the door opened and Snape strode in, the room at once going silent.

He took the roll pausing at each name and rattling off a basic question from their text to each. A couple of people had either taken the time to read the book, or got a lucky guess, but most didn’t have the answer. Helen was used to this, it was her dad’s way of seeing what he would have to teach, and who was the most serious about his subject.

He finally called, “Potter, Helen…there are fourteen different colored solutions in these jars, which one is only present once?”

She glanced quickly along the shelves, there were jars of cobalt blue, jewel red, pastel green, acid yellow, and several others that were repeated. Her eyes finally fell on one that made her smile. It was a bright pink and contained a single rose.

“Pink is only present once.”

“What does it contain and what is the solution?”

“A single red rose, the solution is a combination of water, alcohol, Mer blood, and phoenix tears.”

He continued down the roll until he finished, satisfied with her answer. The solution would, over two years, imbue the rose with certain healing qualities that would allow the petals to be brewed into several potions for the infirmary. She knew he had a large barrel of the same blooms that he prepared three times a year to keep the school matron stocked with supplies.

He finally stood and stalked to the front of his desk, “You are here to learn the subtle science and exacting art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death. Within these walls you will learn to handle poisons, toxins, and acids. You will slice, crush, and dissolve. One by one you will learn potions to heal and harm, cure and poison, to enrich the mind, capture attention, and intoxicate. You will learn the differences between unguents, salves, potions, drafts, draughts, and concoctions. I can teach you to create beauty in a bottle, wisdom in a phial, brilliance in a flask, all assuming you have the intelligence to follow instructions. Understand, once taken, a potion seeps into the very blood, so I advise you pay attention, or you may poison yourselves.”

He waved his wand and instructions appeared on the board. They were working on a boil cure, not a difficult potion but there were a lot of steps. Snape roamed the room checking on progress and asking random questions as he went. Helen was happy that she didn’t have to work very hard to answer the ones he asked everyone else, but he was asking her questions outside first year level. She wasn’t sure if he was showing off his live-in student or trying to trip her up, but either way she was keeping up with the questions and her brewing. They were an hour into the process and she had just removed her and Hermione’s cauldron from the heat to add porcupine quills when she saw Nina add hers while it was still on the flames. Immediately the harmless liquid turned into a churning mess that began to eat through the cauldron rapidly.

Helen didn’t think, she drew her wand and quickly cast evanesco to clear the potion before it could do any harm. Nina looked thankful but when he came around the desk Snape didn’t.

“Exactly what did you think you were doing Longbottom? I just said that you had to pay attention to the steps or you could harm yourself. You will write twelve inches on what caused your potion to become caustic, due next Friday.” He turned to Helen, “And you Potter, why didn’t you stop her adding those quills? Instead you vanish their potion without a care?”

“I didn’t see until they had already been added…I was just trying to stop Nina from getting hurt.”

“You do not make decisions in my classroom. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor and you will give your potion to Miss Longbottom and Mister Finnigan. You and Miss Granger will be taking a zero today.”

Helen swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and reached for the cauldron but Snape quickly snapped, “Not with your bare hands you stupid girl.”

That did it. Her eyes burning she left the room and headed deeper into the dungeons. Her dad had never spoken to her like that before, especially when she knew she had done the right thing. She slid between two walls that looked like one unless viewed from the proper angle and walked the dark corridor by wand light until she reach an old office. In a proper castle it would be called a cabinet, a meeting room for whoever’s space this was, now it was simply a spot she could disappear to when she wanted to avoid her dad. Today she really wanted to avoid him.

The quills when added while the potion was still being heated had two effects, both of which he had taught her, it turned the potion caustic and reversed its effects. She didn’t want to think about her dad at the moment, she just wanted to have a good cry. Let him worry about where she was, today she didn’t really care.

She had fallen asleep after a while but awoke to a presence in the room. She looked up from the cradle of her arms to find Severus staring at her. She would have walked away, but he was in front of the door. Instead, she settled for rubbing the sleep from her eyes and stoking the fire to supply a bit more light.

“We need to talk, Helen.”

“No, I don’t think we do dad. See, you have all the power now. We don’t discuss, you are the professor and I am the student. My opinion is meaningless now. So assign me detention, take off points, or whatever for leaving class and I will return to the Gryffindor common room.”

“There are procedures that need to be maintained in my class room, what if I allowed everyone to vanish a potion?”

“When that potion threatens harm to a student? You would have a much safer classroom.” She shook her head, “Maybe if Nina wasn’t terrified of you she would have paid more attention to the instructions on the board than where you were lurking with your next round of questions. The poor girl wasn’t even sure she would be allowed to come to Hogwarts until a few weeks ago and now she has to worry about the menace of Slytherin breathing down her neck.”

“You aren’t going to question my teaching,” he growled.

“I’ll question whatever I like dad. You may be able to take points and put me into detention but I want you to know that the first question I ever asked as a student was to be called Snape.”

He looked down at his shoes, “I know. Minerva told me. Maybe that is why I was so hard on you today. I acted like my own father.”

“Yea, and what did you always tell me about him? Come on dad, that is who you didn’t want to be.”

“You’re right, I wanted to be more like McGonagall than anyone else.”

“Then stop teaching through terror. You love potions, and you are fun when it is just us, why don’t you teach the same way?”

“What do you mean, make it a game, give prizes?”

“Why not? It worked with me. Be strict, but be fair, and stop being a terror. Because I have to tell you, the next time you treat me like that I’m taking the summer holiday with Uncle Albus.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me old man. I’m your daughter and you taught me how to play dirty.”

“Why did that damnable hat have to place you in Gryffindor. Of all the houses. It’s too much like….”

She knew what he was talking about, she knew enough about his early years at the school to understand. She couldn’t tell him though. She didn’t want to hurt him with the knowledge that she had followed her mum and dad instead of him. Not after ten years and all the good times, and not after spending those ten years thinking of him as dad. She decided on a lesser lie.

“Well, how many people are brave enough to stand up to the Bat of the Dungeons?” She smiled at his soft chuckled, “Now, I need to get up to the common room and start on today's homework list…I missed dinner?”

“No actually, only lunch.”

“Well, that’s good because I’m starving. You really should only be teaching Newt students, you aren’t really cut out for Owls.”

“No, I don’t have the patience for anyone who doesn’t really want to learn the art. Who knows, maybe one of these days.”

She hugged him tight and kissed his cheek, “I love you dad, even when you act like a git.”

“I love you to Helen. Go eat, before I give you detention.”

There was a reason for voluminous black robes. They allowed him to cast a spell that let him become the shadow his students accused him of being. In darkness, he slipped into those same shadows and only the whites of his eyes were visible. He left the school grounds and skirted the edge of the forest on his way to his destination. He had a meeting tonight, one that had been called. If one of his agents was calling him during a supposed time of peace there were problems afoot.

Hogsmead was awash in light, but he kept to the edges of the forest. He was the Order’s master spy, and he would be damned if he wasn’t going to live up to that even for a simple meeting. His goal was the Hogshead, the center of shady activity in the wizarding community. That was both good and bad for his purposes. But Aberforth let the place be seedy for that very reason. Few knew that the owner was Aberforth Dumbledore. Fewer still new he was a member of the Order and worked with his brother’s spymaster. Aberforth had set up a room for Severus to use and only a handful of his spies knew how to access it. He slipped to the rear of the dingy pub and quietly tapped out the pattern on the old stones of the street. When they were done rearranging themselves he descended the staircase and took a seat across from the hooded man waiting for him.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Lucius?”

The hood was dropped and the sheen of platinum hair replaced the heavy black velvet, “I am hearing rumblings from the others, old friend. They say the Dark Lord is in the country again and has been secreted into Hogwarts itself. A few have been directed to break into Gringotts and steal something he needs to return to the physical.”

“Was it Johnson and McGlint?”

Lucius nodded, “How did you know?”

“They were found dead the next day. Apparently failure was not an option for them.”

“No, this new batch of recruits is being given very little leeway by the old guard.”

“Anything else I should be worried about?”

“Just the usual. None of them are quite stupid enough to go against the man who was strong enough to break away from the Dark Lord, but they hatch their little plots. You are still having your mail checked, so none of their loving gifts get through. I would suggest that you start having Helen’s checked as well. They know she has come to Hogwarts finally. They may try something foolish.”

“Already being done. Now my friend, do you have anything for Draco?”

Malfoy nodded heavily, “Always. How is he? And Narcissa?”

“Awaiting your next visit. I arranged a trip for them over the winter holiday, perhaps you should consider a trip of your own.”

“Thanks Severus. This is all hard enough without having to worry about them. Keeping up appearances with them by my side would be too hard.”

“I know, but know they are proud of you. Now, I have to return to the school, I have a patrol to get to. I will leave you in the most capable hands of my number two.”

Severus smirked as he merged back into the shadows and another figure stepped forward. Her blonde hair flowed around her as she raced into her husband’s arms. Severus did not linger, he knew what would come before their time was up. There was a reason there was a bed in the meeting space, besides the occasional need to heal his agents. Instead he stalked back to the school and the duties that waited for him. He had far too many children and mothers looking to him for time with their men. A few husbands as well. But this evolution of their conflict wasn’t likely to last much longer and the final battle would be far sooner than he would like. He had lied to Helen, for the first time in her life. He knew the prophecy, word for word. And damn every word of it.

The month of September started to pass more rapidly. With classes and homework Helen was finally getting settled into her new life before long and she had to admit that she loved it. Her dad was making an honest attempt to curb his normal surliness in the face of inattentiveness, her homework was a joke (twelve inches was barely more than a single piece of muggle paper), and it seemed that actually reading the books (something most of her classmates seemed loathed to do) helped when it came time to demonstrate the spells for class. Meals at Hogwarts were amazing, although her dad had a flair for the culinary arts, and she had discovered she was putting on weight. She had taken to jogging the lake trail early each morning when curfew lifted to stay fit.

She needed to with her new position as Gryffindor’s seeker. She honestly couldn’t say that it had really been all that impressive. Nina had lost control of her broom during class and Helen had responded on pure instinct. She had mounted her broom and kicked off the ground before anyone realized there was a problem. She had pulled a terrified Nina onto her own broom, then made a diving catch for the poor girls remember-all before it smashed on the ground. But she had impressed Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall enough to warrant a place on the team. It wasn’t so hard, being a seeker. The snitch flitted about and her job was to find it and grab it, or as she had pointed out keep the other team from grabbing it until Gryffindor had enough points to win. It was pretty relaxing circling the pitch with nothing more than the occasional bludger to worry about. But being quick on a broom meant keeping the load light and aerodynamic, thus the jogging.

She had settled into breakfast October 1^st and was buttering her toast when the morning post arrived. She got plenty of mail, mostly foreign correspondence and magazines forwarding questions from readers of the articles her dad published under her name. But today the large and dark Horacio settled in front of her and nipped affectionately at her fingers.

“Well hello there handsome. Care for some toast?”

She fed the large owl toast while she unrolled the letter attached to its leg. The first half was a reminder about her classes with Albus that would start tonight, she was pretty sure that is what the school owl was waiting to tell her, but the second half was an invitation to dinner in her dad’s quarters. She found herself wondering if there were rules about this that governed things like how early in the semester, they were allowed to have dinner, proper locations, how long these dinners could last…she could probably look all that up, but today wasn’t going to be the day for that.

Her classes passed in a rush as she waited for evening to fall. She didn’t know what Professor Dumbledore had in store for her and the curiosity was getting to her. She was suddenly glad that she didn’t have potions today, Tuesday was a safe day for her to be bouncy and fidgety. Friday would have been bad, she was sure her dad would have put her in detention by this point. Every time her hand even brushed her wand it shot sparks. It was bad enough that she was going to have to get the sleeve repaired on the robes she was wearing and had taken to just leaving the shaft sitting on the desk. By the time dinner rolled around she was pretty sure her classmates thought she was chugging Pepper-up and mainlining caffeine.

She was sitting in the library with Hermione working on an essay for charms and passing the time. She had taken to writing with a fountain pen, it had the same look as a quill but didn’t require constant dipping, which allowed her to write the essays faster than she had been. So long as she used a quill in class the professors seemed to be none the wiser. She used a blotter then rolled the parchment up and placed it in her bag.

“Nearly done?”

Hermione looked up, “I’m starting to think I should switch to a pen same as you. But yes, I am nearly finished. I miss spell check though, and word processors.”

Helen laughed, “Dad didn’t want us to have a computer but now that he has learned to type he does all of our article on it…and plays lots of chess and puzzle games. He thinks I don’t know but he isn’t that slick.”

“It’s so hard to rectify Professor Snape with being someone’s dad. He’s gotten better since our first class, but he just seems so strict.”

Helen nodded, “True. But he is also a lot of fun in his own way. Different situations though. At home we are a team, we work together, play together, and the structure is just part of the deal. There are expectations on both of us. Here at school he is responsible for a class of pubescent children playing with poisons, acids, caustic aerosols, you name it. In the end it's not that surprising that he is a bit of a terror, he doesn’t want anyone hurt or dead.”

“There is something that surprised me more than that though, no one seems to know just how many wizards and witches there are in Great Britain. I’ve heard three thousand, which is just stupid, to millions, which seems impossible to hide.”

Helen earned a glare from Madam Pince as she started to laugh, “Agreed. The problem is that we spread this myth that Hogsmead is the only wizarding settlement. It’s the first wizarding settlement, the oldest, but it isn’t the only one. There are the enclaves, wizarding communities in muggle cities and towns like Diagon Alley, then there are some towns and villages out in the middle of nowhere England, and of course you have all the farming communities that have wizards living in them. People don’t think too much about someone who won’t pay for electric and gas in the wilder country.”

“So we just don’t know,” Hermione said amazed.

“Well, you have to consider that the population is pretty spread out, not everyone goes to Saint Mungos to give birth, plus no one seems to want to get a count. Then there is the fact that not every member of the magical community is a wizard or witch, which muddies the waters even further. We have wizards and witches, warlocks, elementalists, alchemists, and a host of others that are all really part of the community but no one can decided that they really are.

“Then we take into consideration that not every student goes to Hogwarts, there are students at several smaller schools through England as well as those that are home schooled. There are several smaller hospitals, and of course private practices run by a small number of mediwizards, and finally those that practice old healing techniques. But, if you consider that the magical community is about ten percent of the world population and that the UK has a population of about 67 million people… you get about 6.7 million wizards. Hidden among the other sixty million that’s not so bad. Now we consider that there is a 3:1 ratio of adults to children making thirty three percent of the population children. You confused yet?”

“That’s insane. How do you govern a community you can’t even find?”

“You pretend of course. Half of the ministries job is just administrating magic, and the other half is covering ass.” She closed her books and started to put her things away, “To them, knowing just how many of us there are just isn’t that important. Instead they keep non-mag from finding out about us and pass laws to keep us from screwing each other over.”

“What you are telling me is that if there is an answer it is probably only known to the ministry. Think they would tell us?”

“Not a clue. Now, I have to go see Professor Dumbledore, care to tag along?”

“Sure,” she responded with a shrug.

They made their way up to the gargoyle that guarded the stairs to Dumbledore’s office and Helen gave a dazzling smile, “Hello! I am here for class with Professor Dumbledore, the password is Gobstoppers.”

The gargoyle nodded and stepped aside, “Correct, and thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

They mounted the revolving stairs up to the office and Hermione looked at her quizzically, “Why did it say thank you?”

“Oh, most people just shout the password and ignore him, but dad taught me that if I ever need to get past him in an emergency it is better that he actually like me. So I talk to him when I visit.”

“When you visit?”

“I grew up here, I have visited this office a lot.”

Helen knocked on the door and waited for the summons to enter. When Dumbledore called she opened the door and stepped in but quickly cleared a path for Hermione. The other girl stepped into the office and her eyes started to take in the spindly tables and the spinning and smoking contraptions on all of them. Some of them Hermione recognized from things she had read in the library, but others were obviously of Dumbledore’s own creation. When she turned away from the contents of the table she found Helen petting a phoenix and cooing at it happily.

“Ah, Miss Granger,” Dumbledore smiled, “Helen has brought you along?”

Helen shrugged, “Practicing is much easier with a partner, and besides, I am going to tell her everything anyway.”

His eyes continued to twinkle over the edge of his half-moon spectacles, “Very well, let’s discuss what we will be learning then.”

He waved his wand and shutters closed over the windows, the candles and fire went out and a blue glow appeared from several of the silver instruments. One of them started to hum and it suddenly emitted a white light. The light did nothing to brighten the room but it did hit the ceiling and spread into stars. Helen and Hermione gasped as nebula started to form and stars moved across the ceiling.

“Alchemists and certain branches of the ministry have been studying magic for centuries, where it comes from, how it manifests, and ways to track it. There is a book here at Hogwarts, for instance, that records the name of every student to be invited to the school. The ministry can track under age wizards and witches who use magic and find convergences of magical energy to track communities. The one thing the ministry avoids is just how magic manifests in us. Nicholas Flammel has done the most work in magical manifestation over the centuries and discovered that everything in nature has a trace of magic in it.

“The question for the ministry and Hogwarts is who qualifies as a witch or wizard. For Hogwarts we judge by the ability to successfully complete classes. So long as a student is capable of the necessary power to cast the spells we teach they may attend. Some students are more powerful than necessary though…most are as a matter of fact. Few ever realize their full potential though. They graduate and settle into jobs with the Ministry, or Saint Mungos, or a private endeavor and never think to continue to explore magic. Others are born who can never hope to harness the necessary energies to cast some of the spells we teach.”

He pointed his wand in the center of the room and the stars started to zoom out and what they had thought were stars turned out to be parts of cells, “Inside every atom of every cell is the spark of magic. As wizards we harness our magic to control the energy within other objects and beings. Elementalists use their energy to influence elemental energy. Alchemists influence fluids and matter. Warlocks and Druids influence nature. We all have a different sphere of influence and how successful we are is entirely dependent on how much magical energy is within us.”

“One thing confuses me Professor,” Helen looked up at the cells now floating around the ceiling, “Why aren’t there more students here?”

“You noticed that the size of our community doesn’t match the number of students we have. Part of it is the fact that our birthrate declined during the war with Voldemort. People just didn’t feel safe having babies and there was also the fact that people who worked for the ministry were just too busy. Then there is the fact that some parents don’t feel safe sending their kids here. That has always been true but with Voldemort, and my being here, they don’t wish to send their children into what they consider harm’s way. There are also those who don’t trust the Ministry and refuse to allow them to educate their children. Finally are the parents from older darker families who personally educate their children in aspects of magic we would never teach at Hogwarts. But we should start to see an uptick in enrollment soon. Following a war there is always a boom in babies born.”

Helen shrugged, “Okay then, why are we here?”

“As I said, Hogwarts teaches the basics of what a proper witch or wizard needs to know. We are going to explore magic deeper than that though. It is my belief that Voldemort will return one of these days and when he does he will come for you. It is my intent that he fear you more than he ever feared me.”

Helen gave an involuntary shudder, “Why would he want to come…never mind, that is part of what you aren’t going to answer, I can see it in your eyes. So what is our first task?”

“Your first task is focus.” Dumbledore placed two glasses of water on the desk, “Your wand allows your energy to direct the energy of other objects and people, much like a conductor does music. We usually use spells to do this, it helps keep the focus. I am going to teach you to direct your focus without words and wand movements.”

Helen and Hermione glanced at each other excitedly before returning their focus to Dumbledore. For the next two hours Dumbledore walked them through exercises to teach them how to affect the world around them without words. At first it was frustrating, their water refused to move, but as the second hour moved along they started to get it to tremble then to flow out of the glasses and flow around the room. As their class time closed out Dumbledore gave them each an orb with a flat wooden pedestal and explained that they were to practice their focus by creating light within the ball. They left the office excited for their next lesson.

With everything that they were already learning at Hogwarts, being taught by Dumbledore how to harness magic on a primal level was a pretty deep level of amazing. When they returned to the dorm, they spent an hour making their orbs glow before finally falling into exhausted sleep. Neither of them gave it much thought, but performing magic had never made them this tired before.

A/N: Dumbledore teaching again, a source for magic in the world, and an idea of the wizarding community? We just keep delving deeper into what is what in the Potter world. So now, what will dinner hold for Helen and Severus, how much more will we see of the budding friendship between her and Hermione, and where will our story take us next? Stay tuned kids, all that and more after these messages.