Lumos: Year Two

“Mum said she was going to send us new brooms!” Jude nodded.

Helena sat with her two older brothers during lunch, waiting for classes to begin within the next 20 minutes. She ate a few small sandwiches on her plate as she listened to their conversations with interest.

“She doesn’t have to, and I told her that. The Malfoy Family is going to send us Nimbus 2001’s for Quidditch!” Artemis smirked.

“I was actually thinking of trying out next year,” Helena smiled lightly.

“You should try out this year then, so you have a better understanding of what skills to work on for next year,” Artemis’s eyes twinkled, “What position?”

“Keeper,” Helena replied.

“Do it! Our current Keeper is on his last year,” Jude’s smile grew wider, “You’d be good, too! I see you play it at home with Victoria and her friends. Fast reflexes!”

Helena beamed at her brothers as they gave her praise. Jude and Artemis were both beaters. When Helena looked down the table, she saw Pansy sitting with Draco and his friends. Her grin faded as she looked back to her brothers, sighing.

“Ignore them. Slytherins who come from dark decent aren’t real friends,” Jude shook his head.

“Dark decent?” Helena mused.

“The Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle families were associated with You-Know-Who. The Parkinson family were not as close, but are followers,” he explained, “The Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle families had once been Death Eaters.”

“Death Eaters?” Why on earth would anyone…” Helena turned to Artemis who sighed, looking away. He always got very quiet on the subject, as if feeling uncomfortable.

“She’s too young to hear this!” Artemis then slammed his hand on the table as he got up, leaving immediately.

“Is Art okay?” Helena blinked.

Jude looked around for a moment before leaning in, “He says you’re too young, but I disagree. You should know now, while your judgment is innocent and you long to stay away from darkness.”

Helena pursed her lips, waiting for what Jude was trying to say.

“Our father was once associated with the Dark Lord, Helena. He was one of his most trusted Death Eaters, but You-Know-Who lost faith in him because he chose marriage with mother over the Dark Lord’s best interest. He settled down, had kids, but still follows You-Know-Who in spirit. I can tell…”

“Our father is a Death Eater?”

“Was a Death Eater. Don’t repeat any of this information to anyone Helena. Rumor has it that You-Know-Who will return again, and the Death Eaters will unify once more. Father has been acting suspicious… I bet that’s why he’s disappointed in you. He senses that you’ll be against his true alliance.”

Helena stayed inaudible, looking down at her bowl as she lost her appetite. She shook her head in disbelief as she looked up to Professor Dumbledore.

“Doesn’t he know? The spawn of Death Eaters are sitting in the Hall right under his nose…”

“He does know. He only hopes and expects us to make the right choices in the end.”

Helena didn’t know what to say after that. She got her books up quickly and waved to Jude goodbye. She then headed down toward the dungeons for potions. It would be her first day, but she didn’t expect much to change for Snape’s attitude. She had requested for a seat change and was left to sit next to someone she also disliked very much. Lanee Tonks.

“Welcome back to Potions,” Snape spoke coldly as he slithered toward his desk, “All of you are here because you actually managed to pass my class last year… surprising. Though I can’t say that you all passed with stupendous marks… many of you barely made it at all.

No one spoke as they looked down at their text books. It was time for a new experiment that everyone was likely to fail on.

“You will turn to page 422 and begin making the Wideye/Awakening potion with your partners sitting at your desk,” Snape sat down closing his eyes, “Seven minutes. Begin.”

Helena looked to see who the rest of her partners other than Lanee would be. It was Seamus and Dean, two other Gryffindors she was not fond of. They all stared at her with narrowed eyes as she curled her lip awkwardly.

“Right then… I’ll just go get the ingredients,” Helena backed away.

Looking to the text book, she read the ingredients to herself.

1x Snake Fangs
2x Wolfsbane
1x Dried Billywing Stings
1x Standard Ingredient

She went and got the needed ingredients needed as Lanee and her friends continued to stare at her.

“Well, we better start,” Helena laughed awkwardly.

“Um… what are you doing?” Seamus raised his brows.

“Trying to get good marks,” Helena crossed her arms, “I’m not pleased with the partner thing either, but no one gives a dragon’s arse what we think.”

Dean shook his head, “Fine, let’s work.”

Helena nodded as she read out the steps in the directions.

1. Add 6 Snake Fangs to the mortar
2. Add 4 measures of Standard Ingredient to the mortar
3. Add 6 Dried Billywing Stings to your cauldron
4. Heat on a medium temperature for 30 seconds
5. Finely crush the ingredients in the mortar
6. Add 4 measures of crushed ingredient to your cauldron
7. Stir 3 times, clockwise
8. Wave your wand
9. Leave to brew and seek Professor’s attention for observation

Helena took some of the Snake Fangs and Standard Ingredient and put them into the mortar as she started to crush them after Lanee had put the Dried Billywing Stings into the cauldron. Lanee shook her head quickly when she looked to Helena.

“What are you doing? You’re going to crush them too much!” Lanee grimaced at Helena.

“It says finely crush, Lanee. It’s fine. You’re just paranoid I’m going to screw up because of your detest for me,” Helena didn’t look away from her mortar.

“That’s way too much, they’re crushed enough!” Lanee grabbed onto Helena’s wrist to stop her.

“Don’t touch me,” Helena growled, “I’m doing everything correctly. If you could get that through your thick head—“

“The potion is going to be ruined,” Lanee squeezed harder.

Helena pushed back on Lanee forcefully as she tried to calm herself, “Stay away from me.”

Lanee pulled back on Helena’s hair, “Make me.”

Helena turned herself around and tackled Lanee to the floor as the two tumbled over; Seamus and Dean watched in silence.

“That’s enough!” Snape shouted as he lifted both Lanee and Helena by their robes, “Maybe you two can learn to settle your issues in detention by writing a full scroll essay on why cooperation in potions is a necessity. Fine ink, due tomorrow when you walk in. Go to the library and begin. now.”

Helena and Lanee both picked up their belongings as they headed to the library.

“Lanee, your parents will be written to for your foolish behavior,” Snape added just before the door was shut behind the two.

“Wonderful, you just had to keep going,” Helena rolled her eyes.

“Oh shut up. I’m sure if you decided to sit next to your snobby friends, none of this would have happened,” Lanee snarled.

“Snape assigned me to sit there after I requested to move. I’m no longer friends with those backstabbers.”

“Oh, so that’s the reason you were crying.”

“Have your entire House turn against you, and you’ll be upset too,” Helena walked a bit faster, trying to avoid conversation.

After a moment, Lanee spoke once more, “I’m sorry that happened to you, really.”

Helena narrowed her eyes without looking back at her, unsure what to say. She looked down as she nodded, “Thanks, I guess…”

“Parkinson will get what’s coming for her,” Lanee smirked, “Karma, you know?”

Helena laughed slightly, “I guess. I hope so. She deserves it.”

“Why did your House turn against you?” Lanee asked curiously.

“Pansy. She told everyone vicious rumors to make sure that I had no one on my side. The only people who seem to believe me are my siblings, but the lot of them are just as stuck up as Pansy. The only ones who turned out all right are Jude and Artemis.”

“Why would she do that?”

“I have a strange feeling that it’s because she was jealous. She’s a ‘leader’, too. She wants to be in charge of everyone and control them. I wouldn’t let her do that to me, so she did everything in her power to turn everyone against me.”

"Well, I think that's cool that you stood up for yourself. Maybe you’re not a Slytherin snob after all…” her voice trailed off as they reached the library. They quickly found a table to work at and started to write into their essays.

Helena was unsure what to say after that. She felt very awkward about the fact that she was getting along with someone who she loathed for so long. She felt embarrassed thinking about it, as though she knew that Lanee could tell what she thinking about. She kept her eyes to her paper and continued to write.

“Damn it,” Lanee pursed her lips as some of her ink smudged into her written words.

Helena looked over blankly.

“I just made a mistake. I gotta get a new scroll now,” she looked into her bag for another.

“What a waste,” Helena frowned, “That kind of parchment is expensive.”

“I know,” Lanee laughed awkwardly.

Once again there was a silence between the two of them. Helena glanced back at Lanee every so often as Lanee did the same. Soon, it had been silent for too long, and Helena found herself getting more and more distracted.

"Hey, Villar. Let's be friends, okay? Because I have a feeling if we get into another fight, we're gonna get expelled or die,” Lanee spoke as she stood up, staring at Helena.

Helena looked back with narrowed eyes for a moment, but nodded as she stood up, holding her hand out, “I agree. Friends?”

Lanee smirked as she nodded back, grabbing Helena’s hand, shaking it, “Friends.”