Chapter 216

Chapter 216

This was the first time Suer had learnt about his birth parents’ past from anyone else.

“What are you thinking about?” A small hand poked him. Hermione’s voice was muffled by the leaf in her mouth.

“Nothing, Hermione. Something merely occurred to me.” Suer shook the thoughts from his head. “It’s nearly time. Have you prepared everything?”

Hermione did not speak. She shook a small crystal bottle filled with bubbly saliva, which she had just found an opportunity to collect secretly in the lavatory.

With her other hand, she patted the satchel containing the Invisibility Cloak borrowed from Harry.

Harry had wondered why Hermione needed it, but had generously dug the cloak from the bottom of his trunk and lent it to her. His only real surprise was that Hermione wished to roam the castle at night.

Ron, who had been with Harry at the time, offered a single judgement: “The sun must have risen in the west today. Don’t come crying if Filch catches you.”

Suer naturally knew none of this.

“Shall we go?”

Hermione nodded vigorously, carefully placed the crystal bottle in her satchel and added a tiny bottle of pure dew and the pupa of a death’s-head hawkmoth–generously sponsored by Professor Snape.

The Invisibility Cloak settled softly over them, concealing every trace of their presence.

Thick banks of cloud pressed down upon the castle, yet moonlight still reached the lawn without obstruction.

“We’re lucky.” As they passed through a sixth-floor corridor, Suer glanced through a window and whispered beneath the cloak.

“Shh…” Hermione scratched a finger against Suer’s palm to silence him. Someone seemed to be in the corridor ahead.

They pressed themselves against the wall. Voices approaching from the other end gradually became clear.

From a distance, they saw Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang, apparently returning from the library. This corridor was the only route to the tower containing the Ravenclaw common room.

Suer noticed Hermione give him a surprised look.

“I don’t know when Cedric and Cho became a couple either,” he whispered in answer to her unspoken question.

Then something suddenly occurred to him.

Hmm… Wasn’t Cho Chang the first girl to stir Harry’s heart at Hogwarts?

It happened either this year or the next, when Harry’s first awareness of romance awoke.

Poor fellow. That love would arrive as violently as a storm and pass almost as quickly.

While Suer’s thoughts wandered, Cedric and Cho passed directly beside them, laughing and talking without noticing the two unwanted chaperones hidden against the wall.

Only when the couple disappeared around the corner did Suer and Hermione continue. They had to hurry. Before long, the clouds might conceal the moon completely.

The Mandrake leaf had to receive moonlight after remaining in place for a full month. Otherwise, Hermione would have to start again.

Fortune remained on their side. No one guarded the oak doors, and they slipped smoothly out of the castle, crossed the lawn and entered the moonlight.

Through the hazy veil of the Invisibility Cloak, Suer looked up. In the few minutes since they left the castle, the clouds seemed to have thickened and were slowly gathering together.

“We must move faster.”

The Forbidden Forest was particularly terrifying after midnight. This was Hermione’s first visit since first year without an adult wizard accompanying her–if one counted Hagrid, who had been expelled halfway through his schooling.

Throughout the journey, the young girl pressed tightly against Suer.

Ordinarily, Hermione’s faint scent and soft warmth would already have sent Suer’s thoughts spinning. Not here. His encounter with the Chimaera in the Forbidden Forest remained painfully vivid.
“We’re here.”

Suer carefully slipped from beneath the Invisibility Cloak and told Hermione to wait where she was. He swiftly assumed his Animagus form and vanished into the undergrowth.

Hermione bit her lip beneath the cloak and looked uneasily from side to side. Fortunately, Suer did not keep her waiting. With a rustle, a badger’s inquisitive head emerged from the bushes.

Hermione poked her own head from beneath the Invisibility Cloak. A fluffy head with no visible body floated in mid-air. Against the deep forest and sombre sky, the sight was indescribably eerie…

Suer shuddered and hurriedly became human again. “Quickly, get everything ready. The sky looks terrible. It will definitely rain if we wait much longer.”

Hermione immediately pulled off the Invisibility Cloak. Suer turned and aimed his wand at the undergrowth.

“Part!”

Magic opened a path wide enough for two people.

The meadow remained, but unfortunately the Bowtruckle colony had not returned. Hermione plainly remembered that the creatures ought to have been there and looked around in confusion.

“They moved. Probably because Malfoy’s attempt to take one frightened them.” Suer explained quietly and led Hermione to the only patch in the centre still touched by moonlight. He looked up at the sky.

“Hurry, or you’ll have to start again.”

Hermione had no desire to repeat a month of holding a leaf in her mouth and being unable to answer questions for House points. She brought out the prepared materials with extraordinary speed.

First, use your tongue to push the Mandrake leaf little by little into the crystal bottle of saliva. Take care not to drop the leaf upon the grass.

Next, place the bottle on the ground and let moonlight caress it. After soaking for a month, the Mandrake leaf had absorbed plenty of flavour. Moonlight was essential for bringing it to perfection, just as a flame was essential when cooking.

While it bathed, prepare one hair, the dew and the most important main ingredient: the pupa of a death’s-head hawkmoth.

Only one silver teaspoon of dew was needed. Any more might transform the dish into a culinary disaster, much like adding far too much salt. It would become extremely…

Once the fire had turned the fresh vegetables into something edible–no, once the crystal bottle had received the moonlight–add the hair, the seasoning, meaning the dew, and finally the meat, meaning the hawkmoth pupa. Shake gently until everything is evenly mixed.

Finally, bury the bottle carefully in the earth and allow time to mature it. Wait for a storm. At the instant lightning tore across the sky, this jar of fragrant wine–no, this potion–would be ready to drink.

At that precise moment, a raindrop struck Suer’s head with a pat.

He looked up. At the final possible instant, dense clouds swallowed the moon. The meadow, clearly visible moments earlier, plunged into darkness.

Suer calmly flicked his wand. A little light bloomed and illuminated them both.

“What extraordinary luck.”

“I think so too.” Hermione no longer needed to worry constantly about dropping the Mandrake leaf or accidentally swallowing the result of so much effort.

She breathed a long sigh of relief and smiled radiantly.

“I can’t wait to see my Animagus form.”

Suer chuckled. “I’m sure it will be as adorable as you are.”